1 When IBM has a female CEO (San Francisco Chronicle) The appointment of a new chief executive at IBM has revived the debate over Augusta National's all-male membership just one week before the Masters. IBM hired Virginia Rometty as its CEO this year, which could mean a break in recent tradition if Augusta sticks to its history of never having a woman as one of its roughly 300 members. The last four CEOs of IBM all belonged to the club. However, a woman has never worn an Augusta green jacket since it opened in 1933.
"I think they're both in a bind," Martha Burk said Thursday evening from Washington. It was Burk who led an unsuccessful campaign 10 years ago for Augusta to admit a female member, demanding that four companies drop their television sponsorship because of the discrimination. Hootie Johnson, club chairman at the time, said Augusta would not be pressured to take a female member "at the point of a bayonet." "IBM is in a bigger bind than the club," Burk said. "The club trashed their image years ago. IBM is a corporation. They ought to care about the brand, and they ought to care about what people think. And if they're not careful, they might undermine their new CEO." Augusta National declined comment, keeping with its policy of not discussing membership.
2 India’s rich look beyond Mercs, BMWs (San Francisco Chronicle) Bentley Motors and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars are preparing to be occupied by India's 0.01 percent. Volkswagen AG's Bentley will announce this year plans to increase dealerships in the country, its second most important Asian market after China, said Amy Arora, brand director at distributor Exclusive Motors Pvt. Rolls-Royce said the BMW AG unit may triple its number of showrooms this year to six in India, home to the youngest person to ever buy a Ghost sedan, which starts at $570,000 (about Rs 29 million).
Their expansion illustrates the growing affluence of the burgeoning rich in India, where super-luxury vehicle sales are expected to quadruple by the end of the decade. While the World Bank estimates the majority of Indians live below the poverty line, CLSA Asia-Pacific estimates the number of millionaires will surge to 403,000 by 2015 from 173,000 in 2010. "India's new rich are looking to get a car that's different from the now-common Mercedes and BMW," said Deepesh Rathore, the managing director for IHS Automotive in India. "Growth at the top of the pyramid is much faster than at the bottom, and so we'll see many more millionaires rising in India, by hook or by crook."
The number of super-luxury cars - including Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Bentley and Rolls-Royce models - sold in India will jump to about 800 by 2020, compared with 180 last year, according to IHS Automotive.
3 When an employer seeks Facebook password (San Francisco Chronicle) Here are some suggestions to consider when discussing your social media use with an employer: If an employer asks for information you deem personal — outside of reference and background checks — ask for clarification and convey your sense of discomfort with asking such information. You have the right to decline not only from a personal perspective and because you may be violating Facebook terms of service by complying.
Be careful who you “friend” on social networking sites, and that includes your colleagues or employer. While you may receive numerous invitations and requests, use good judgment when accepting offers. Change your privacy settings and keep them updated. Weigh the pros and cons of accepting a job if an employer asks for such access, even if you really need a job. Their request can give you a glimpse of the company culture.
4 UK back to recession (The Guardian) The UK is heading back into recession and will be among the slowest of the world's largest economies to recover in the first half of this year, according to a study by the Paris-based thinktank, the OECD. Only Italy will struggle over a longer period to return to growth, highlighting the difficult situation confronting the British government as it battles to boost confidence and get the economy back on track. The OECD, which produces quarterly figures showing year-on-year growth, said UK output declined at an annual rate of 1.2% in the final quarter of 2011 and will decline at an annual rate of 0.4% in the first three months of 2012. The OECD also warned that the eurozone remained in a fragile state and would struggle to grow for the rest of the year. Germany and France will race ahead of the UK in the first half of the year but are forecast to slow down as the year ends.
5 To please Hu, India suspends Tibetans’ freedom (The Wall Street Journal) In an effort to shield Chinese President Hu Jintao from Tibetan protests, the Indian government placed extreme restrictions on exiled Tibetans, raising questions on the extent to which New Delhi is willing to compromise its democratic credentials for the sake of its ties with Beijing. For the past several days, many Tibetans living in New Delhi have been denied basic democratic freedoms, including the right to assemble and to protest peacefully. Law enforcement authorities have prevented many of them from leaving their homes or neighbourhoods for days, effectively placing them under house arrest. The measures were implemented following the dramatic act of a young Tibetan man, who on Monday set himself on fire in New Delhi to protest Chinese rule in Tibetan regions.
6 Corporates find India risky (The Wall Street Journal) If businesses like certainty, then India has been a big turnoff for foreign companies. A series of recent developments have greatly increased the perception that the country has a risky business environment where policies suddenly can turn hostile. Tax proposals in the national budget unveiled in March stunned foreign firms. They could create significant retroactive tax liabilities for international mergers stretching back a half-century and eliminate a tax exemption many investors now have, wreaking havoc on corporate deal making, legal experts say.
The government also singled out a UK-based oil producer for a multibillion-dollar levy that the company calls discriminatory. Internet executives from Google and Facebook are facing criminal prosecution for not removing Web content that some consider objectionable even though the companies have said they followed the letter of the law. And long-promised efforts to liberalize foreign investment in the retail, defense and insurance sectors have stalled. Foreign companies long have braved the risks of corruption and a stifling bureaucracy in the hopes of capitalizing on the fast-growing emerging Indian market. But the tax proposals, which are set for an April vote in Parliament and designed to reduce a yawning budget deficit, have helped heighten anxiety about doing business here.
7 When ‘Like’ button hurts planet (Dawn) Green groups around the world are turning to social networking to drive their campaign for Earth Hour on Saturday, when lights are turned off for an hour to signal concern about global warming. But here’s the irony. With every email, every tweet, every appeal watched on YouTube or “liked” on Facebook, environmentalists are stoking the very problem they want to resolve. Each time we network, we emit carbon dioxide (CO2) through the fossil fuels which are burned to power our computers and the servers and databanks that store or relay our message. In emails alone, the typical office worker is responsible for 13.6 tonnes of CO2 or its equivalent per year, a French government agency for energy efficiency, Ademe, calculated last year. The more people you cc and the bigger the mail, the greater the carbon emissions, Ademe said.
8 China tells Apple to care for workers (Straits Times) Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang has told Apple's new chief that foreign firms should protect workers, as the US giant fends off criticism over factory conditions in China. International labour watchdog groups have said workers in Chinese plants run by major Apple supplier Foxconn of Taiwan are poorly treated, and have blamed a string of apparent suicides on the conditions. Mr Li, who is widely tipped to be the country's next premier, met Tim Cook while the new Apple chief executive was visiting Beijing.
9 High price of honesty (Mint) If there is one thing that India has paid a high price for in the last five years, it is the personal honesty of its leaders. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, honest to the core, is unable to fix the country’s broken governance. Now, defence minister AK Antony – another honest minister – has proved incapable of providing high-level politico-military leadership. A few days ago, a letter written by the controversial chief of the army staff, General VK Singh to the PM, was leaked. The content makes for scary reading. The army chief states that India’s air defences are obsolete; the infantry lacks night-fighting capabilities and is handicapped with “deficiencies of crew-served weapons”; the army’s tank fleet is devoid of critical ammunition required to defeat enemy tanks.
The blame for the situation falls squarely on the defence minister. As the minister charged with the country’s security, Antony has shown woeful lack of understanding in this matter. His notion of honesty is quaint. To prevent any malfeasance in contracts, his solution is not to sign any contracts. This policy will work wonders in the horticulture department of the government; in the ministry of defence it has a different by-product: serious erosion in the country’s war-fighting ability.
The year 2012 is not a happy year for these controversies to break out. It is the 50th anniversary of India’s defeat by China. It is a coincidence that the then defence minister – who also hailed from Antony’s state – ignored calls for modernizing the Indian army in the face of serious threats from China. The present defence minister is, of course, very different from VK Krishna Menon. But the end product of his policies – a whimsical notion of honesty and somnolence at the helm – is yielding the same result: an under-prepared army facing a hostile geopolitical environment.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Bad politics and India's future; Feuds roil Asia's family businesses; Social media on Middle East fingertips; Expats endangered species in Asia
1 Bad politics and India’s future (Soutik Biswas, BBC) The quality of India's politicians, many argue, has declined drastically, as in many parts of the world. Most of them seem to be out of sync with modern day realities - expectations have fallen so ridiculously low that an iPad carrying politician is described by the media as a modern one! Most are also seen as greedy, corrupt and disinterested in serious reform. The increasing number of politicians with criminal records and the brazen use of money to buy party tickets and bribe voters erodes India's ailing democratic process.
It is not a happy picture. "Today the Centre is corrupt and corroded," historian Ramachandra Guha wrote recently. "There are allegedly 'democratic' politicians who abuse their oath of office and work only to enrich themselves; as well as self-described 'revolutionaries' who seek to settle arguments by the point of the gun." Only serious electoral reform can ensure a better breed of politician. But to believe that less politics is good economics is a bit fey. There is little evidence to argue that political instability has been bad for India's economy.
India's first flush of economic reforms was launched by a minority government headed by PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress party in the early 1990s. The reforms spluttered to a halt when the government secured a majority. Later, a rag-tag 13-party coalition United Front government helmed by two prime ministers in 18 months in the mid-1990s undertook significant reforms, slashing taxes, deregulating interest rates and moving towards capital account convertibility. Economist Surjit Bhalla has argued that political instability is actually good for economic reforms. “If political stability is present, the politicians are unlikely to make an effort because of their inherent short sightedness or complacence”, he said.
2 Feuds roil Asia family businesses (BBC) From Samsung in South Korea and India's Reliance Industries to Hon Hai, the Taiwanese maker of the iPad, family businesses dominate Asia's, and increasingly the world's, corporate landscape. But these corporate dynasties, most founded in the aftermath of World War II, are facing new challenges as their elderly founders hand over the reins to the next generation.
The business - and gossip - pages of Asia's magazines and newspapers are rife with examples of corporate families locked in bitter court battles over the family fortune: Last month, Lee Kun-hee, the 70-year-old the chairman of electronics giant Samsung, was sued by both his brother and sister over company shares left by their late father. In December, Winston Wong, eldest son of the late Taiwanese tycoon Wang Yung-ching, sued to recover $4bn worth of disputed assets that he claimed were siphoned off by members of his father's third family.
India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, became embroiled in a five-year dispute with his brother Anil over their father's vast Reliance empire. And in Hong Kong last year, a bizarre row erupted over the future of billionaire Stanley Ho's Macau casino business, that pitted Mr Ho against some of his own children. Given that many of Asia's tycoons are now in their 80s and 90s, the next decade will probably see a number of leadership successions.
3 Social Media on Middle East fingertips (Khaleej Times) On March 6, micro-blogging service Twitter announced the launch of its Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Urdu versions. It all started with the grassroots ‘Lets Tweet In Arabic’ campaign by a handful of users who wanted Twitter to be available in more languages. With these four new additions, Twitter is available in a total of 28 languages. On its blog, Twitter representatives said that right-to-left languages posed a ‘unique’ technical challenge that was overcome by its engineers. The translation itself was made possible thanks to the participation of over 13,000 volunteers who helped translate Twitter’s menu options and support pages.
The company explained that those who donated their time and skills are a diverse group including a Saudi blogger, Egyptian college students, Lebanese teenagers, IT professionals in Iran and Pakistan as well as an Israeli schoolteacher. Social networks were arguably important for successfully mobilising recent movements in the Arab world. The 13,000 volunteers’ efforts to make social media available in new languages are a testament to the desire and the need to make the Internet-democracy dream a reality. As online networks open up to more people around the world, access to online tools will slowly cease to be the privilege of an educated multilingual middle-class.
4 Leaked letter discomfits India Army (The Wall Street Journal) The battle between the India army chief and the government escalated yet again when a letter written by General VK Singh to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the army’s lack of preparedness was leaked to the media. The contents of the leaked letter confirm what has been said repeatedly in the past by defense experts: India’s army faces many shortcomings as a fighting force. Gen. Singh reportedly said in his letter that the army’s tanks were “devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks. The letter also said the infantry is “crippled with deficiencies of crew served weapon” and lacks “night fighting” capabilities.
This week, two months before he was due to retire, Gen. Singh told The Hindu that he was offered a bribe to clear the purchase of military vehicles, which he claimed were substandard. He had also claimed that he informed Defense Minister AK Antony of the incident and nothing was done. A day later, Mr Antony fired back, saying when he addressed Parliament that he had asked Gen. Singh to take action but the general “didn’t want to push this matter.”
5 Expats are endangered species in Asia (The Wall Street Journal) Forget expats. Western companies doing business in Asia are now looking to locals to fill the most important jobs in the region. Behind the switch, experts say, are several factors, including a leveled playing field in which Western companies must approach newly empowered Asian companies and consumers as equals and clients—not just manufacturing partners.
Three out of four senior executives hired in Asia by multinationals were Asian natives already living in the region, according to a Spencer Stuart analysis of 1,500 placements made from 2005 to 2010. Just 6% were non-citizens from outside of Asia. A failed expatriate hire can be a costly mistake and slow a firm's progress in the region, said Phil Johnston, a managing director at recruiter Spencer Stuart.
6 South Africa downgraded thrice in 4 months (Johannesburg Times) The government and analysts have criticised as "harsh" the latest downgrading of South Africa's economic outlook, its third in four months. This week, Standard and Poor's downgraded the nation's economic outlook from stable to negative, citing social unrest and continuing political debate as concerns. The US-based agency said the outlook was bleak because high unemployment and a bloated government wages bill were likely to be part of the 2014 national election debate and could push the ANC into a shift in policies.
It is not a happy picture. "Today the Centre is corrupt and corroded," historian Ramachandra Guha wrote recently. "There are allegedly 'democratic' politicians who abuse their oath of office and work only to enrich themselves; as well as self-described 'revolutionaries' who seek to settle arguments by the point of the gun." Only serious electoral reform can ensure a better breed of politician. But to believe that less politics is good economics is a bit fey. There is little evidence to argue that political instability has been bad for India's economy.
India's first flush of economic reforms was launched by a minority government headed by PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress party in the early 1990s. The reforms spluttered to a halt when the government secured a majority. Later, a rag-tag 13-party coalition United Front government helmed by two prime ministers in 18 months in the mid-1990s undertook significant reforms, slashing taxes, deregulating interest rates and moving towards capital account convertibility. Economist Surjit Bhalla has argued that political instability is actually good for economic reforms. “If political stability is present, the politicians are unlikely to make an effort because of their inherent short sightedness or complacence”, he said.
2 Feuds roil Asia family businesses (BBC) From Samsung in South Korea and India's Reliance Industries to Hon Hai, the Taiwanese maker of the iPad, family businesses dominate Asia's, and increasingly the world's, corporate landscape. But these corporate dynasties, most founded in the aftermath of World War II, are facing new challenges as their elderly founders hand over the reins to the next generation.
The business - and gossip - pages of Asia's magazines and newspapers are rife with examples of corporate families locked in bitter court battles over the family fortune: Last month, Lee Kun-hee, the 70-year-old the chairman of electronics giant Samsung, was sued by both his brother and sister over company shares left by their late father. In December, Winston Wong, eldest son of the late Taiwanese tycoon Wang Yung-ching, sued to recover $4bn worth of disputed assets that he claimed were siphoned off by members of his father's third family.
India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, became embroiled in a five-year dispute with his brother Anil over their father's vast Reliance empire. And in Hong Kong last year, a bizarre row erupted over the future of billionaire Stanley Ho's Macau casino business, that pitted Mr Ho against some of his own children. Given that many of Asia's tycoons are now in their 80s and 90s, the next decade will probably see a number of leadership successions.
3 Social Media on Middle East fingertips (Khaleej Times) On March 6, micro-blogging service Twitter announced the launch of its Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Urdu versions. It all started with the grassroots ‘Lets Tweet In Arabic’ campaign by a handful of users who wanted Twitter to be available in more languages. With these four new additions, Twitter is available in a total of 28 languages. On its blog, Twitter representatives said that right-to-left languages posed a ‘unique’ technical challenge that was overcome by its engineers. The translation itself was made possible thanks to the participation of over 13,000 volunteers who helped translate Twitter’s menu options and support pages.
The company explained that those who donated their time and skills are a diverse group including a Saudi blogger, Egyptian college students, Lebanese teenagers, IT professionals in Iran and Pakistan as well as an Israeli schoolteacher. Social networks were arguably important for successfully mobilising recent movements in the Arab world. The 13,000 volunteers’ efforts to make social media available in new languages are a testament to the desire and the need to make the Internet-democracy dream a reality. As online networks open up to more people around the world, access to online tools will slowly cease to be the privilege of an educated multilingual middle-class.
4 Leaked letter discomfits India Army (The Wall Street Journal) The battle between the India army chief and the government escalated yet again when a letter written by General VK Singh to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the army’s lack of preparedness was leaked to the media. The contents of the leaked letter confirm what has been said repeatedly in the past by defense experts: India’s army faces many shortcomings as a fighting force. Gen. Singh reportedly said in his letter that the army’s tanks were “devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks. The letter also said the infantry is “crippled with deficiencies of crew served weapon” and lacks “night fighting” capabilities.
This week, two months before he was due to retire, Gen. Singh told The Hindu that he was offered a bribe to clear the purchase of military vehicles, which he claimed were substandard. He had also claimed that he informed Defense Minister AK Antony of the incident and nothing was done. A day later, Mr Antony fired back, saying when he addressed Parliament that he had asked Gen. Singh to take action but the general “didn’t want to push this matter.”
5 Expats are endangered species in Asia (The Wall Street Journal) Forget expats. Western companies doing business in Asia are now looking to locals to fill the most important jobs in the region. Behind the switch, experts say, are several factors, including a leveled playing field in which Western companies must approach newly empowered Asian companies and consumers as equals and clients—not just manufacturing partners.
Three out of four senior executives hired in Asia by multinationals were Asian natives already living in the region, according to a Spencer Stuart analysis of 1,500 placements made from 2005 to 2010. Just 6% were non-citizens from outside of Asia. A failed expatriate hire can be a costly mistake and slow a firm's progress in the region, said Phil Johnston, a managing director at recruiter Spencer Stuart.
6 South Africa downgraded thrice in 4 months (Johannesburg Times) The government and analysts have criticised as "harsh" the latest downgrading of South Africa's economic outlook, its third in four months. This week, Standard and Poor's downgraded the nation's economic outlook from stable to negative, citing social unrest and continuing political debate as concerns. The US-based agency said the outlook was bleak because high unemployment and a bloated government wages bill were likely to be part of the 2014 national election debate and could push the ANC into a shift in policies.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Mozambique and Africa are no basket cases; Reason for superstition; Why sitting can kill you; UK riots: Blame it on upbringing
1 Mozambique and Africa are no basket cases (The Guardian) The shells of stylish colonial-era buildings, like shipwrecks on the ocean floor, still give Maputo a distinct character. But the capital of Mozambique no longer feels like an urban museum. Amid the crumbling grandeur rumble cranes and mechanical diggers, carving out a different skyline. A construction boom is under way here, concrete proof of the economic revolution in Mozambique. Growth hit 7.1% last year, accelerating to 8.1% in the final quarter. The country, riven by civil war for 15 years, is poised to become the world's biggest coal exporter within the next decade, while the recent discovery of two massive gas fields in its waters has turned the region into an energy hotspot, promising a £250bn bonanza.
From Cape Town to Cairo, there are signs of a continent on the move: giant infrastructure projects, an expanding middle class, foreign equity scrambling for opportunities in telecoms, financial services and products aimed at a billion consumers. Growth is no magic bullet for reducing inequality or fostering democracy, but the stubborn truth that it is still the world's poorest continent has done little to dull the confidence and hype about the African renaissance.
Africa has 16 billionaires, topped by Nigerian cement tycoon Aliko Dangote with an estimated fortune of $10.1bn, according to Forbes magazine. Economic growth across the continent will be 5.3% this year and 5.6% in 2013, the World Bank predicts, with some countries hitting double digits. "Africa could be on the brink of an economic take-off, much like China was 30 years ago and India 20 years ago," the bank says. Many of the African lions are already outpacing the Asian tigers.
2 Reason for superstition (BBC) Even pigeons can develop superstitious habits, as psychologist BF Skinner famously showed in an experiment. Skinner would begin a lecture by placing a pigeon in a cage with an automatic feeder that delivered a food pellet every 15 seconds. At the start of the lecture Skinner would let the audience observe the ordinary, passive behaviour of the pigeon, before covering the box. After fifty minutes he would uncover the box and show that different pigeons developed different behaviours. One bird would be turning counter clockwise three times before looking in the food basket, another would be thrusting its head into the top left corner. In other words, all pigeons struck upon some particular ritual that they would do over and over again.
Skinner's explanation for this strange behaviour is as straightforward as it is ingenious. Although we know the food is delivered regardless of the pigeon's behaviour, the pigeon doesn't know this. So imagine yourself in the position of the pigeon; your brain knows very little about the world of men, or cages, or automatic food dispensers. You strut around your cage for a while, you decide to turn counter clockwise three times, and right at that moment some food appears. What should you do to make that happen again? The obvious answer is that you should repeat what you have just been doing. You repeat that action and – lo! – it works, food arrives.
From this seed, argued Skinner, superstition develops. Superstitions take over behaviour because our brains try and repeat whatever actions precede success, even if we cannot see how they have had their influence. Faced with the choice of figuring out how the world works and calculating the best outcome (which is the sensible rational thing to do), or repeating whatever you did last time before something good happened, we are far more likely to choose the latter. Or to put it another way: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, regardless of the cause.
3 Why sitting can kill you (Sydney Morning Herald) Not only do we need to get more exercise but we also need to spend less of our time sitting down, Australian researchers say. Their study of more than 220,000 NSW residents found the longer you spend sitting down the greater your risk of dying early, even if you otherwise do regular exercise. Sitting can be detrimental for our health because when we sit down there is an absence of muscle contractions, explains Professor P David Dunstan. These contractions are required for the body to clear blood glucose and blood fats from the blood stream.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found adults who sat for more than 11 hours a day had a 40% increased risk of dying within three years, compared with those who sat for fewer than four hours a day. Half a century ago, a British study also showed that workers who were required to sit for long periods of time, such as bus drivers, had higher incidences of cardiovascular disease compared with workers who were required to stand, such as postal workers
4 UK riots: Blame it on upbringing (Al Jazeera) Poor parenting and a lack of support for disenfranchised young people played a major role in sparking last year's British riots, an independent panel reported. The report by Riots Communities and Victims Panel identified a series of problems facing inner cities, ranging from poor parenting and education to high joblessness that left many people with no stake in society and nothing to lose if they joined the riots. It urged the government to develop a strategy for helping half a million "forgotten families" who "bump along the bottom" of society. "When people don't feel they have a reason to stay out of trouble, the consequences for communities can be devastating - as we saw last August," panel chair Darra Singh said.
The panel said that up to 15,000 people took part in the riots, which broke out in north London but spread to other major cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, leaving a trail of torched buildings and looted shops in their wake. More than 3,800 people have been arrested in London alone in connection with the riots and cases are still being heard by the courts. Youth unemployment is at a record high of more than one million in Britain, or 22 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds.
5 When a parking lot is so much more (The New York Times) It’s estimated that there are three non-residential parking spaces for every car in the United States. That adds up to almost 800 million parking spaces, covering about 4,360 square miles — an area larger than Puerto Rico. Such coverage comes with environmental costs. The large, impervious surfaces of parking lots increase storm-water runoff, which damages watersheds. The exposed pavement increases the heat-island effect, by which urban regions are made warmer than surrounding rural areas. A better parking lot might be covered with solar canopies so that it could produce energy while lowering heat. Or perhaps it would be surfaced with a permeable material like porous asphalt and planted with trees in rows like an apple orchard, so that it could sequester carbon and clean contaminated runoff.
Architects and designers often discuss the importance of “the approach” as establishing the tone for a place, as the setting for the architecture itself. The parking lot at the Dia art museum in Beacon, NY, created by the artist Robert Irwin and the architecture firm OpenOffice, was planned as an integral element of the visitor’s arrival experience, with an aesthetically deft progression from the entry road to the parking lot to an allée that leads to the museum’s lobby. For something that occupies such a vast amount of land and is used on a daily basis by so many people, the parking lot should receive more attention than it has. We need to ask: what can a parking lot be?
6 India power distribution cos lose Rs 800bn (Press Trust of India) Power distribution companies are projected to have incurred a whopping loss of Rs 800bn, before accounting for government subsidies, in the current fiscal, according to rating agency, ICRA report. The agency projected the losses for discoms— before accounting for government subsidy— in the country at Rs 800bn in FY 2012, much higher than Rs 635bn seen in FY 2010. About 70% of the estimated loss was on account of discoms in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, the report said. The mounting losses of discoms, a major problem for the Indian power sector, has also raised concerns of default in the banking system.
From Cape Town to Cairo, there are signs of a continent on the move: giant infrastructure projects, an expanding middle class, foreign equity scrambling for opportunities in telecoms, financial services and products aimed at a billion consumers. Growth is no magic bullet for reducing inequality or fostering democracy, but the stubborn truth that it is still the world's poorest continent has done little to dull the confidence and hype about the African renaissance.
Africa has 16 billionaires, topped by Nigerian cement tycoon Aliko Dangote with an estimated fortune of $10.1bn, according to Forbes magazine. Economic growth across the continent will be 5.3% this year and 5.6% in 2013, the World Bank predicts, with some countries hitting double digits. "Africa could be on the brink of an economic take-off, much like China was 30 years ago and India 20 years ago," the bank says. Many of the African lions are already outpacing the Asian tigers.
2 Reason for superstition (BBC) Even pigeons can develop superstitious habits, as psychologist BF Skinner famously showed in an experiment. Skinner would begin a lecture by placing a pigeon in a cage with an automatic feeder that delivered a food pellet every 15 seconds. At the start of the lecture Skinner would let the audience observe the ordinary, passive behaviour of the pigeon, before covering the box. After fifty minutes he would uncover the box and show that different pigeons developed different behaviours. One bird would be turning counter clockwise three times before looking in the food basket, another would be thrusting its head into the top left corner. In other words, all pigeons struck upon some particular ritual that they would do over and over again.
Skinner's explanation for this strange behaviour is as straightforward as it is ingenious. Although we know the food is delivered regardless of the pigeon's behaviour, the pigeon doesn't know this. So imagine yourself in the position of the pigeon; your brain knows very little about the world of men, or cages, or automatic food dispensers. You strut around your cage for a while, you decide to turn counter clockwise three times, and right at that moment some food appears. What should you do to make that happen again? The obvious answer is that you should repeat what you have just been doing. You repeat that action and – lo! – it works, food arrives.
From this seed, argued Skinner, superstition develops. Superstitions take over behaviour because our brains try and repeat whatever actions precede success, even if we cannot see how they have had their influence. Faced with the choice of figuring out how the world works and calculating the best outcome (which is the sensible rational thing to do), or repeating whatever you did last time before something good happened, we are far more likely to choose the latter. Or to put it another way: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, regardless of the cause.
3 Why sitting can kill you (Sydney Morning Herald) Not only do we need to get more exercise but we also need to spend less of our time sitting down, Australian researchers say. Their study of more than 220,000 NSW residents found the longer you spend sitting down the greater your risk of dying early, even if you otherwise do regular exercise. Sitting can be detrimental for our health because when we sit down there is an absence of muscle contractions, explains Professor P David Dunstan. These contractions are required for the body to clear blood glucose and blood fats from the blood stream.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found adults who sat for more than 11 hours a day had a 40% increased risk of dying within three years, compared with those who sat for fewer than four hours a day. Half a century ago, a British study also showed that workers who were required to sit for long periods of time, such as bus drivers, had higher incidences of cardiovascular disease compared with workers who were required to stand, such as postal workers
4 UK riots: Blame it on upbringing (Al Jazeera) Poor parenting and a lack of support for disenfranchised young people played a major role in sparking last year's British riots, an independent panel reported. The report by Riots Communities and Victims Panel identified a series of problems facing inner cities, ranging from poor parenting and education to high joblessness that left many people with no stake in society and nothing to lose if they joined the riots. It urged the government to develop a strategy for helping half a million "forgotten families" who "bump along the bottom" of society. "When people don't feel they have a reason to stay out of trouble, the consequences for communities can be devastating - as we saw last August," panel chair Darra Singh said.
The panel said that up to 15,000 people took part in the riots, which broke out in north London but spread to other major cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, leaving a trail of torched buildings and looted shops in their wake. More than 3,800 people have been arrested in London alone in connection with the riots and cases are still being heard by the courts. Youth unemployment is at a record high of more than one million in Britain, or 22 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds.
5 When a parking lot is so much more (The New York Times) It’s estimated that there are three non-residential parking spaces for every car in the United States. That adds up to almost 800 million parking spaces, covering about 4,360 square miles — an area larger than Puerto Rico. Such coverage comes with environmental costs. The large, impervious surfaces of parking lots increase storm-water runoff, which damages watersheds. The exposed pavement increases the heat-island effect, by which urban regions are made warmer than surrounding rural areas. A better parking lot might be covered with solar canopies so that it could produce energy while lowering heat. Or perhaps it would be surfaced with a permeable material like porous asphalt and planted with trees in rows like an apple orchard, so that it could sequester carbon and clean contaminated runoff.
Architects and designers often discuss the importance of “the approach” as establishing the tone for a place, as the setting for the architecture itself. The parking lot at the Dia art museum in Beacon, NY, created by the artist Robert Irwin and the architecture firm OpenOffice, was planned as an integral element of the visitor’s arrival experience, with an aesthetically deft progression from the entry road to the parking lot to an allée that leads to the museum’s lobby. For something that occupies such a vast amount of land and is used on a daily basis by so many people, the parking lot should receive more attention than it has. We need to ask: what can a parking lot be?
6 India power distribution cos lose Rs 800bn (Press Trust of India) Power distribution companies are projected to have incurred a whopping loss of Rs 800bn, before accounting for government subsidies, in the current fiscal, according to rating agency, ICRA report. The agency projected the losses for discoms— before accounting for government subsidy— in the country at Rs 800bn in FY 2012, much higher than Rs 635bn seen in FY 2010. About 70% of the estimated loss was on account of discoms in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, the report said. The mounting losses of discoms, a major problem for the Indian power sector, has also raised concerns of default in the banking system.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
India impact on global health; Most visible of India's invisible class; An MA in English who did it in Hindi; Bank balance sheets to shrink by $1tn
1 India impact on global health (The Wall Street Journal) It’s difficult to overestimate the impact India’s private sector has had on global health. That was one of the messages of a new report on emerging economies and healthcare. In fact, India’s private sector arguably has played a bigger role in reshaping global health than has financial assistance from national governments, argued David Gold, head of Global Health Strategies initiatives, a New York-based non-profit that launched the report in New Delhi on Monday.
“The impact that the Indian pharmaceutical industry and India’s vaccine industry have on driving access to lifesaving drugs and vaccines has been extraordinary,” Mr. Gold said. In recent years, India’s pharmaceutical companies have revolutionized the industry by offering drugs and vaccines at low prices, dramatically increasing access for people around the world. A turning point was when, in 2001, Cipla introduced high quality HIV/AIDS treatments at a fraction of the existing market price. Other Indian firms, including Ranbaxy Laboratories, followed Cipla’s model and today India supplies 80% of HIV/AIDS medicines used by patients in developing countries, according to Médicins Sans Frontières, a humanitarian aid organization. Indian companies have also produced cheaper vaccines, including one for meningitis, designed mainly for African patients.
For all its achievements, India still faces important challenges at home. The country’s healthcare infrastructure is poor and many, especially children, suffer from malnutrition. India’s healthcare services are unlikely to significantly improve any time soon. Although malnutrition was one of the focus areas of the recent federal budget, the country spends just 1% of its gross domestic product on healthcare, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
2 Most visible of India’s invisible class (The Wall Street Journal) India’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has been thrust into the spotlight lately due to the Supreme Court’s ongoing case regarding the decriminalization of homosexuality. Hijras are somewhat unaccustomed to this scrutiny. Despite having existed in India for thousands of years within a unique subculture, the group has remained deeply marginalized by mainstream Indian society. As one activist said, “Hijras are the most visible of the invisible class.”
The term “hijra,” is the commonly accepted name for male to female transgendered people. They belong to a special caste, and their group dynamics and defined roles within Hindu culture differentiate them from Western male to female transgendered people. Once committed to the way of life, younger hijras typically have three ways of earning money, each with diminishing degrees of social acceptability: 1) Bhadai: providing blessings on auspicious occasions such as the birth of newborn babies. 2) Mangti: Begging at street signals, and other public spaces. 3) Pun: another word for sex-work.
3 An MA in English who did it in Hindi (Financial Chronicle) India’s higher education gross enrolment ratio is 11%, which is merely half of the world average and way behind developed countries (54%). A TeamLease labour report highlights the three tragedies in Indian higher education of low enrolments in colleges, lack of physical access to educational institutions and pursuing degree for social signalling value that don’t lead to employability or jobs. It suggests that India is in a higher education emergency because of the challenges of enrolment, physical access, and employability.
Mohit Gupta, senior VP of TeamLease, says: “The higher education situation in the country is pathetic. We once interviewed a candidate from one of the smaller towns in North India. He was an MA in English but could speak only Hindi. When asked why, he replied, ‘I am an MA in English but did it in Hindi!’”
4 Bank balance sheets to shrink by $1tn (The Financial Times) Investment banks are to shrink their balance sheets by another $1tn or up to 7% globally within the next two years, says a report that foresees a shake-up of market share in the industry. Higher funding costs and increased regulatory pressure to bolster capital will force wholesale banks also to cut 15%, or up to $0.9tn, of assets that are weighted by risk, a joint report by Morgan Stanley and consultants Oliver Wyman predicts. In addition, banks are expected take out $10bn to $12bn in costs by reducing pay, firing employees and paring back investments in areas that are no longer considered core. The report says investment banks have taken out about 7% of capacity last year and will cut up to another 10th in the next two years.
5 Executions as a tool to deter Arab Spring (The Guardian) Middle Eastern countries have stepped up their use of capital punishment, executing hundreds of people as rulers across the region seek to deter the wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab countries. Despite a significant reduction in the number of countries that used the death penalty worldwide last year, there was a sharp rise in executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen, according to Amnesty International’s annual capital punishment survey. China remained at the top of the list of the countries with the worst record of executions last year. Authorities in China maintained their policy of refusing to release precise figures on the death penalty in the country, which they consider a state secret.
Amnesty said it had stopped publishing figures on China, available from public sources, because they were likely to "grossly underestimate" the true number, but reported that the country had executed thousands of people, more than the rest of the world put together. According to Amnesty, at least 676 judicial executions are known to have been carried out in 2011 globally, excluding China, up from 527 in 2010. More than half took place in Iran, which executed at least 360 people. But reports about the regime's campaign of secret and mass hangings of prisoners have made it impossible for Amnesty to publish the true figures there too.
6 Father of the e-mail attachment (The Guardian) Twenty years ago this month, 100 American web geeks opened their inbox to find a bizarre email. Inside the message were two attachments. The first was a photograph of the Telephone Chords, and a capella quartet comprising four hirsute IT researchers. The second: the Chords’ recording of an old barbershop favourite, Let Me Call You Sweetheart.
But the attached content wasn't the weirdest thing. It was the attachment itself. This was the first functional attachment ever, or at least the first one most people could actually open. People had sent attachments before, but they were mostly useless because recipients couldn't open them unless they shared the sender's email system. This was the first time someone had sent something that was compatible across most email programs. Two decades and a day later, Nathaniel Borenstein's cardigan is now grey. But his eyebrows are as bushy as ever, and he sits cross-legged on a sofa next to London's Regent's Canal, scratching his ankle, and laughing about his brainchild. Each day in 2012, we send around a trillion Mime attachments (the technical term for the standardisation system invented by Borenstein and his collaborator Ned Freed) but in 1992, Borenstein says, it was a niche sport.
7 Dumbest criminal (Johannesburg Times) A man has been arrested after he asked for work from the owners of a house he had earlier robbed - pitching up wearing the same clothing he allegedly stole. According to the owner of the house in Nahoon Valley Place, East London, the man knocked on his front door asking for gardening work on Sunday at about 11am. He was decked out in the resident's shoes, socks, belt, a pair of trousers and one of his fiance's blouses. "When I opened the door I was surprised because he was wearing our clothing," said the resident. The man said he immediately went to the back garden and noticed their storeroom had been looted.
"My fiance and I were busy packing to move into a new house and most of our clothing and new linen were being kept there," he said. "I could not believe the audacity of this guy. I detained him after that and called the police but they did not pitch after 45 minutes," the resident said. The man then escaped but was later caught by security guards.
8 Extra Strong horns for India drivers (Dawn) German carmaker Audi makes special horns for its vehicles sold in India where local drivers hoot so much as they fight their way through chaotic traffic, the firm’s country director has revealed. “Obviously for India, the horn is a category in itself,” Michael Perschke, director at Audi India, told Mint newspaper. “You take a European horn and it will be gone in a week or two. With the amount of honking in Mumbai, we do on a daily basis what an average German does on an annual basis.”
Roads in India are often in poor repair, ranging from pot-holed major highways to dirt tracks in cities, while bullock carts, cows, rickshaws and bicycles often compete with cars and trucks for space. More than 133,938 people died on India’s roads in 2010, according to the National Crime Records Bureau – a rate of 366 deaths a day.
“The impact that the Indian pharmaceutical industry and India’s vaccine industry have on driving access to lifesaving drugs and vaccines has been extraordinary,” Mr. Gold said. In recent years, India’s pharmaceutical companies have revolutionized the industry by offering drugs and vaccines at low prices, dramatically increasing access for people around the world. A turning point was when, in 2001, Cipla introduced high quality HIV/AIDS treatments at a fraction of the existing market price. Other Indian firms, including Ranbaxy Laboratories, followed Cipla’s model and today India supplies 80% of HIV/AIDS medicines used by patients in developing countries, according to Médicins Sans Frontières, a humanitarian aid organization. Indian companies have also produced cheaper vaccines, including one for meningitis, designed mainly for African patients.
For all its achievements, India still faces important challenges at home. The country’s healthcare infrastructure is poor and many, especially children, suffer from malnutrition. India’s healthcare services are unlikely to significantly improve any time soon. Although malnutrition was one of the focus areas of the recent federal budget, the country spends just 1% of its gross domestic product on healthcare, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
2 Most visible of India’s invisible class (The Wall Street Journal) India’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has been thrust into the spotlight lately due to the Supreme Court’s ongoing case regarding the decriminalization of homosexuality. Hijras are somewhat unaccustomed to this scrutiny. Despite having existed in India for thousands of years within a unique subculture, the group has remained deeply marginalized by mainstream Indian society. As one activist said, “Hijras are the most visible of the invisible class.”
The term “hijra,” is the commonly accepted name for male to female transgendered people. They belong to a special caste, and their group dynamics and defined roles within Hindu culture differentiate them from Western male to female transgendered people. Once committed to the way of life, younger hijras typically have three ways of earning money, each with diminishing degrees of social acceptability: 1) Bhadai: providing blessings on auspicious occasions such as the birth of newborn babies. 2) Mangti: Begging at street signals, and other public spaces. 3) Pun: another word for sex-work.
3 An MA in English who did it in Hindi (Financial Chronicle) India’s higher education gross enrolment ratio is 11%, which is merely half of the world average and way behind developed countries (54%). A TeamLease labour report highlights the three tragedies in Indian higher education of low enrolments in colleges, lack of physical access to educational institutions and pursuing degree for social signalling value that don’t lead to employability or jobs. It suggests that India is in a higher education emergency because of the challenges of enrolment, physical access, and employability.
Mohit Gupta, senior VP of TeamLease, says: “The higher education situation in the country is pathetic. We once interviewed a candidate from one of the smaller towns in North India. He was an MA in English but could speak only Hindi. When asked why, he replied, ‘I am an MA in English but did it in Hindi!’”
4 Bank balance sheets to shrink by $1tn (The Financial Times) Investment banks are to shrink their balance sheets by another $1tn or up to 7% globally within the next two years, says a report that foresees a shake-up of market share in the industry. Higher funding costs and increased regulatory pressure to bolster capital will force wholesale banks also to cut 15%, or up to $0.9tn, of assets that are weighted by risk, a joint report by Morgan Stanley and consultants Oliver Wyman predicts. In addition, banks are expected take out $10bn to $12bn in costs by reducing pay, firing employees and paring back investments in areas that are no longer considered core. The report says investment banks have taken out about 7% of capacity last year and will cut up to another 10th in the next two years.
5 Executions as a tool to deter Arab Spring (The Guardian) Middle Eastern countries have stepped up their use of capital punishment, executing hundreds of people as rulers across the region seek to deter the wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab countries. Despite a significant reduction in the number of countries that used the death penalty worldwide last year, there was a sharp rise in executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen, according to Amnesty International’s annual capital punishment survey. China remained at the top of the list of the countries with the worst record of executions last year. Authorities in China maintained their policy of refusing to release precise figures on the death penalty in the country, which they consider a state secret.
Amnesty said it had stopped publishing figures on China, available from public sources, because they were likely to "grossly underestimate" the true number, but reported that the country had executed thousands of people, more than the rest of the world put together. According to Amnesty, at least 676 judicial executions are known to have been carried out in 2011 globally, excluding China, up from 527 in 2010. More than half took place in Iran, which executed at least 360 people. But reports about the regime's campaign of secret and mass hangings of prisoners have made it impossible for Amnesty to publish the true figures there too.
6 Father of the e-mail attachment (The Guardian) Twenty years ago this month, 100 American web geeks opened their inbox to find a bizarre email. Inside the message were two attachments. The first was a photograph of the Telephone Chords, and a capella quartet comprising four hirsute IT researchers. The second: the Chords’ recording of an old barbershop favourite, Let Me Call You Sweetheart.
But the attached content wasn't the weirdest thing. It was the attachment itself. This was the first functional attachment ever, or at least the first one most people could actually open. People had sent attachments before, but they were mostly useless because recipients couldn't open them unless they shared the sender's email system. This was the first time someone had sent something that was compatible across most email programs. Two decades and a day later, Nathaniel Borenstein's cardigan is now grey. But his eyebrows are as bushy as ever, and he sits cross-legged on a sofa next to London's Regent's Canal, scratching his ankle, and laughing about his brainchild. Each day in 2012, we send around a trillion Mime attachments (the technical term for the standardisation system invented by Borenstein and his collaborator Ned Freed) but in 1992, Borenstein says, it was a niche sport.
7 Dumbest criminal (Johannesburg Times) A man has been arrested after he asked for work from the owners of a house he had earlier robbed - pitching up wearing the same clothing he allegedly stole. According to the owner of the house in Nahoon Valley Place, East London, the man knocked on his front door asking for gardening work on Sunday at about 11am. He was decked out in the resident's shoes, socks, belt, a pair of trousers and one of his fiance's blouses. "When I opened the door I was surprised because he was wearing our clothing," said the resident. The man said he immediately went to the back garden and noticed their storeroom had been looted.
"My fiance and I were busy packing to move into a new house and most of our clothing and new linen were being kept there," he said. "I could not believe the audacity of this guy. I detained him after that and called the police but they did not pitch after 45 minutes," the resident said. The man then escaped but was later caught by security guards.
8 Extra Strong horns for India drivers (Dawn) German carmaker Audi makes special horns for its vehicles sold in India where local drivers hoot so much as they fight their way through chaotic traffic, the firm’s country director has revealed. “Obviously for India, the horn is a category in itself,” Michael Perschke, director at Audi India, told Mint newspaper. “You take a European horn and it will be gone in a week or two. With the amount of honking in Mumbai, we do on a daily basis what an average German does on an annual basis.”
Roads in India are often in poor repair, ranging from pot-holed major highways to dirt tracks in cities, while bullock carts, cows, rickshaws and bicycles often compete with cars and trucks for space. More than 133,938 people died on India’s roads in 2010, according to the National Crime Records Bureau – a rate of 366 deaths a day.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Europe's American cushion; North India and South Pakistan; Cameron descends to ocean depth; Repeat divorces rise; Messi v/s Pele; Mob and the minister
1 Europe’s American cushion (Khaleej Times) When US President Barack Obama spent 10 days in Asia last November to publicise the new US pivot to that region, the move was met with concern, not just in Beijing, but in Brussels as well. NATO members have reasons to worry about the new Asian focus of their principal North Atlantic partner. With the developed world drowning in debt and shrinking budgets, the American shift could mean trouble for the Western alliance unless properly managed. In rolling out the Pentagon’s new Defence Strategic Guidance, Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta explicitly stated that Europe has become a lower defence priority compared with Asia.. There is a risk that Europe will become increasingly irrelevant and unable to promote stability even in nearby regions.
2 North India and South Pakistan (Khaleej Times) The two regions of the sub-continent, Uttar Pradesh in India and Sindh in Pakistan to be precise, have a unique bond, and a disconnect too. First, the bond: A huge number of Muslims from Uttar Pradesh migrated in 1947 to Sindh in Pakistan. Every fifth inhabitant of Sindh belongs to third or second generation of migrants from India at large and UP in particular. They all had migrated in pursuit of a peaceful society and prosperous family lives and their children’s text books kept on reminding them over the next many decades that the cherished dream could never be realised with Hindus roaming around all over and dominating every thing.
The same Uttar Pradesh recently elected members for its 403-seat state (provincial) assembly. Muslims still live in that Indian state that is bigger than Pakistan in population. UP’s population according to a 2011 census is 199.6 million and 19.8% of these are Muslims. Or every fifth inhabitant of the present-day UP is a Muslim. Muslim candidates were serious contenders for around half of the general seats of the state. In fact 68 of them won to become a member legislative assembly (MLA) and another 64 stood second in contests.
This is not to say that everything is hunky dory in India. A massive number of Hindus migrated from Sindh to India in 1947. But a few hundred thousand did not migrate. Non-Muslims in Sindh are around 9% of the total population or half the percentage of Muslims in UP. Have you ever heard of a non-Muslim contesting elections on a general seat and winning too? That’s the disconnect between the two regions and the two states. It is not that Hindus in Pakistan consider politics haram, but political parties think that Hindu candidates are not halal enough for their pious voters.
3 Surge in church foreclosures (San Francisco Chronicle) A growing number of religious fellowships around the US may lose its house of worship to foreclosure. "More and more churches are facing this problem," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition civil rights advocacy group. "Churches are full of members who lost jobs, who face home foreclosures themselves," Jackson said. "Church is their place of refuge. If the refuge closes, they have no place to go." Financial issues span denominations but often are most acute for small to mid-size evangelical churches that are relatively new and are located in areas hard hit by the economic downturn. They are not unlike struggling homeowners: When the economy was booming, some churches took on extra debt to expand, rehabilitate or move to larger spaces. Risky lending fueled the situation.
4 James Cameron touches deepest ocean point (BBC) Hollywood director James Cameron has returned to the surface after plunging nearly 11km (seven miles) down to the deepest place in the ocean, the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. He made the solo descent in a submarine called "Deepsea Challenger", taking over two hours to reach the bottom. He spent more than three hours exploring the ocean floor, before a speedy ascent back to the surface. His craft was kitted out with cameras and lights so he could film the deep. This is only the second manned expedition to the ocean's deepest depths - the first took place in 1960.
The earlier descent was made by US Navy Lt Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard. They spent about 20 minutes on the ocean floor but their landing kicked up silt, meaning their view was obscured. Cameron spent the last few years working in secret with his team of engineers to design and build the craft, which weighs 11 tonnes and is more than 7m (23ft) long. He describes it as a "vertical torpedo" that slices through the water allowing him a speedy descent.
5 Repeat divorces on the rise (Straits Times) A small but rising number of Singapore couples are seeing their marriages crumble repeatedly. The number of men and women who have been divorced at least twice has quadrupled over a 20-year period, and experts expect this rising trend to continue. In 2010, 213 men in civil divorces had been divorced before - almost four times more than the 59 such men in 1990. These men made up 3.9% of all men in civil divorces in 2010, up from 2.7% in 1990. The number of women divorced at least twice is not far behind, going by Department of Statistics data.
6 Siddis: Karnataka’s Indian-African tribe (The Wall Street Journal) Siddis descend from a group believed to have migrated from Africa to India about 400 years ago. Many of them live in forests, on which they depend for their livelihoods. Although theories vary, with some anthropologists saying Siddis have been in India since ancient times, most agree they were brought to India from coastal Africa by Portuguese merchants, who sold them as slaves and servants to Indian rulers, along with horses and cattle.
7 Messi v/s Pele (The Wall Street Journal) Every couple of weeks, it seems, Lionel Messi does something stupendous. Last week it was his hat trick against Granada that made him Barcelona's all-time leading scorer. Earlier this month, it was his unprecedented five-goal Champions League game. But how does he compare to the greatest players ever?
The principal argument against Messi is his—and his team's—performance in international play. With Messi, the Argentine national team has never been past the quarterfinal in the World Cup or Copa América. The Brazilian legend Pelé, by contrast, won the World Cup three times, while Diego Maradona—Messi's countryman and former national-team coach—almost single-handedly led Argentina to a world title in 1986.
Pele Maradona Messi
Games 1,362 583 385
Goals 1,281 292 257
Scoring rate 0.94 0.50 0.67
8 Mob and the minister (The Times of India) Manoje Nath, one of Bihar's senior-most Indian Police Service officers, explains how it makes sense for the mafia and the politician to coexist. And why the mob boss is often rewarded with a party ticket: We just cannot wish away the mafia. And there are so many of them. The resource mafia -- illegally exploiting coal, timber, sand and even wild life -- depredates our environment. The development mafia -- bagging contracts for roads, bridges, railway lines -- takes away from us the fruits of planned growth. Then there's the land mafia, education mafia, health mafia, electricity mafia, cooperative mafia -- one could go on and on. These decentralised dictatorships mediate a host of functions of the state.
We do not find anything unnatural about it. Because we have come to accept the political culture wherein a politician is expected to provide avenues for his caste men and cronies for looting the state. Why are we reaping such a bountiful harvest of mafias? The answer must lead us to the nature of our politics which has now completely rid itself of its ideological baggage. In the absence of passion in the field of politics the pursuit of political power is less about mobilisation and more about managerial enterprise. In an environment where the political tenure is short and uncertain, a brutish and nasty mafia is the obvious mode of entrepreneurship. After all, has it not been said that the mafia is illegal capitalism, capitalism is legal mafia.
2 North India and South Pakistan (Khaleej Times) The two regions of the sub-continent, Uttar Pradesh in India and Sindh in Pakistan to be precise, have a unique bond, and a disconnect too. First, the bond: A huge number of Muslims from Uttar Pradesh migrated in 1947 to Sindh in Pakistan. Every fifth inhabitant of Sindh belongs to third or second generation of migrants from India at large and UP in particular. They all had migrated in pursuit of a peaceful society and prosperous family lives and their children’s text books kept on reminding them over the next many decades that the cherished dream could never be realised with Hindus roaming around all over and dominating every thing.
The same Uttar Pradesh recently elected members for its 403-seat state (provincial) assembly. Muslims still live in that Indian state that is bigger than Pakistan in population. UP’s population according to a 2011 census is 199.6 million and 19.8% of these are Muslims. Or every fifth inhabitant of the present-day UP is a Muslim. Muslim candidates were serious contenders for around half of the general seats of the state. In fact 68 of them won to become a member legislative assembly (MLA) and another 64 stood second in contests.
This is not to say that everything is hunky dory in India. A massive number of Hindus migrated from Sindh to India in 1947. But a few hundred thousand did not migrate. Non-Muslims in Sindh are around 9% of the total population or half the percentage of Muslims in UP. Have you ever heard of a non-Muslim contesting elections on a general seat and winning too? That’s the disconnect between the two regions and the two states. It is not that Hindus in Pakistan consider politics haram, but political parties think that Hindu candidates are not halal enough for their pious voters.
3 Surge in church foreclosures (San Francisco Chronicle) A growing number of religious fellowships around the US may lose its house of worship to foreclosure. "More and more churches are facing this problem," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition civil rights advocacy group. "Churches are full of members who lost jobs, who face home foreclosures themselves," Jackson said. "Church is their place of refuge. If the refuge closes, they have no place to go." Financial issues span denominations but often are most acute for small to mid-size evangelical churches that are relatively new and are located in areas hard hit by the economic downturn. They are not unlike struggling homeowners: When the economy was booming, some churches took on extra debt to expand, rehabilitate or move to larger spaces. Risky lending fueled the situation.
4 James Cameron touches deepest ocean point (BBC) Hollywood director James Cameron has returned to the surface after plunging nearly 11km (seven miles) down to the deepest place in the ocean, the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. He made the solo descent in a submarine called "Deepsea Challenger", taking over two hours to reach the bottom. He spent more than three hours exploring the ocean floor, before a speedy ascent back to the surface. His craft was kitted out with cameras and lights so he could film the deep. This is only the second manned expedition to the ocean's deepest depths - the first took place in 1960.
The earlier descent was made by US Navy Lt Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard. They spent about 20 minutes on the ocean floor but their landing kicked up silt, meaning their view was obscured. Cameron spent the last few years working in secret with his team of engineers to design and build the craft, which weighs 11 tonnes and is more than 7m (23ft) long. He describes it as a "vertical torpedo" that slices through the water allowing him a speedy descent.
5 Repeat divorces on the rise (Straits Times) A small but rising number of Singapore couples are seeing their marriages crumble repeatedly. The number of men and women who have been divorced at least twice has quadrupled over a 20-year period, and experts expect this rising trend to continue. In 2010, 213 men in civil divorces had been divorced before - almost four times more than the 59 such men in 1990. These men made up 3.9% of all men in civil divorces in 2010, up from 2.7% in 1990. The number of women divorced at least twice is not far behind, going by Department of Statistics data.
6 Siddis: Karnataka’s Indian-African tribe (The Wall Street Journal) Siddis descend from a group believed to have migrated from Africa to India about 400 years ago. Many of them live in forests, on which they depend for their livelihoods. Although theories vary, with some anthropologists saying Siddis have been in India since ancient times, most agree they were brought to India from coastal Africa by Portuguese merchants, who sold them as slaves and servants to Indian rulers, along with horses and cattle.
7 Messi v/s Pele (The Wall Street Journal) Every couple of weeks, it seems, Lionel Messi does something stupendous. Last week it was his hat trick against Granada that made him Barcelona's all-time leading scorer. Earlier this month, it was his unprecedented five-goal Champions League game. But how does he compare to the greatest players ever?
The principal argument against Messi is his—and his team's—performance in international play. With Messi, the Argentine national team has never been past the quarterfinal in the World Cup or Copa América. The Brazilian legend Pelé, by contrast, won the World Cup three times, while Diego Maradona—Messi's countryman and former national-team coach—almost single-handedly led Argentina to a world title in 1986.
Pele Maradona Messi
Games 1,362 583 385
Goals 1,281 292 257
Scoring rate 0.94 0.50 0.67
8 Mob and the minister (The Times of India) Manoje Nath, one of Bihar's senior-most Indian Police Service officers, explains how it makes sense for the mafia and the politician to coexist. And why the mob boss is often rewarded with a party ticket: We just cannot wish away the mafia. And there are so many of them. The resource mafia -- illegally exploiting coal, timber, sand and even wild life -- depredates our environment. The development mafia -- bagging contracts for roads, bridges, railway lines -- takes away from us the fruits of planned growth. Then there's the land mafia, education mafia, health mafia, electricity mafia, cooperative mafia -- one could go on and on. These decentralised dictatorships mediate a host of functions of the state.
We do not find anything unnatural about it. Because we have come to accept the political culture wherein a politician is expected to provide avenues for his caste men and cronies for looting the state. Why are we reaping such a bountiful harvest of mafias? The answer must lead us to the nature of our politics which has now completely rid itself of its ideological baggage. In the absence of passion in the field of politics the pursuit of political power is less about mobilisation and more about managerial enterprise. In an environment where the political tenure is short and uncertain, a brutish and nasty mafia is the obvious mode of entrepreneurship. After all, has it not been said that the mafia is illegal capitalism, capitalism is legal mafia.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Woes of Gen Debt; 4-year high in UK empty shops; India boycotts EU carbon charge; Young and 'lazy' in UAE; Water victory in Phnom Penh
1 Woes of Gen Debt (The Guardian) Next week the Office for National Statistics is expected to confirm the economy shrank in the last three months of 2011. It will issue its last review of survey evidence for the period and what it says about the state of retailing, manufacturing, construction and the rest. Most of the benefits of housing have been hoarded by older households, and bigger mortgages have been taken on by young families. Young families are the lifeblood of the economy and they remain up to their necks in debt. The budget did nothing to help young families. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said it did the opposite and punished them more than any other group. With tax credit and housing benefit cuts to come this year and next, families are likely to carry on delaying big ticket purchases and spending will remain subdued.
2 Empty shops in UK highest in four years (The Guardian) Britain's high streets have more empty shops than at any time in four years after retailers suffered a bout of post-Christmas closures, according to a survey. The Local Data Company reported its monthly barometer of shop vacancies had jumped to 14.6% in February after steadying last year at 14.3%. The figures paint a gloomy picture of high streets hit hard by shop closures and combine with official figures that show a fall in retail sales last month. A report by Deloitte this week added to the sense of unease, concluding that the longer-term outlook for Britain's high streets remains uncertain and warning that four out of 10 shops will have to shut in the next five years as consumers turn their backs on traditional stores in favour of online shopping. The Office for National Statistics said retail sales volumes fell twice as fast as expected last month.
3 India boycotts EU carbon charge (BBC) Indian airlines will not comply with the European Union's carbon charging scheme, according to civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. The EU has directed Indian carriers to submit the emissions details of their aircraft by 31 March. But Mr Singh told parliament that "no Indian carrier is submitting them in view of the position of the government". Last month, China said its airlines would not pay the EU charge. Many other countries, including Russia and the US, have also objected to the scheme, under which airlines that exceed tight emission limits must buy carbon credits.
They see this as a tax on CO2 emissions from aircraft flying to or from destinations outside Europe and say it fails to comply with international law. In December 2011, the European Court of Justice ruled that the EU charge was legal. The charge, which the EU says could make long-haul flights up to $16 more expensive, was introduced in January, though airlines will not have to start paying it until next year.
4 Young and ‘lazy’ in UAE (Khaleej Times) Residents of the UAE, especially youngsters, are continuing to eat more and move less despite the calls by policy-makers to adopt healthy lifestyles. Besides increasing tobacco consumption, watching TV and playing video games for more than three hours daily have emerged as a worrying trend among the youth, according to the 2010-2011 report issued by the health ministry. Obesity has also increased by up to four per cent in the past five years due to poor food choices and an inactive lifestyle.
A survey among school students in the UAE showed that in 2005, 38% of males and females between 13 and 15 years spent three hours or more watching TV or playing games. The numbers increased to 45% among males and 56% among females in 2010. The World Health Organisation and US Disease Control Centre recommend that TV must not be watched for more than two hours daily. According to the World Health Organisation estimates, the obesity rate will reach 44.6% among women by 2015.
5 Water victory in Phnom Penh (Khaleej Times) How many people in the world’s towns and cities can drink the water in their tap without risking their health? The 2012 update of the World Health Organisation’s report Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation estimates that at least 96% of urban dwellers in emerging economies like China, India, Thailand, and Mexico have access to “improved” sources of water. And yet a study carried out by the Asian Institute of Technology found that less than three per cent of Bangkok’s residents drink water directly from the tap, because they do not trust its quality.
It doesn’t have to be like this. When Ek Sonn Chan became Director-General of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority in Cambodia nearly 20 years ago, the city had a dismal water supply, with nearly 83% lost to leakages and unauthorised connections. With a low-key but firm management style, Chan began to turn things around. Fifteen years after he took over, annual water production had increased by more than 400%, the water distribution network had grown by more than 450%, and the customer base had increased by more than 650%.
Today, the Authority says that there are no unauthorised connections in Phnom Penh. Losses from the water system are just over five per cent, similar to what one would find in Singapore or Tokyo, two of the best water-supply systems in the world. Thames Water, a utility in Britain, reported losses in 2010 that were five times that rate. By most performance indicators, Phnom Penh now has a better water-supply system than London or Washington, DC.
6 Kerala co apologises for using slain US girl’s pic (The Wall Street Journal) A common Indian practice of using material without thinking about copyright or privacy rights recently had dramatic consequences for an Indian company. Jubeerich Consultancy, a company in the southern Indian state of Kerala, was reportedly using the picture of a dead American woman on billboards advertising its study-abroad consulting services. The News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh, North Carolina, said the picture was of Eve Carson, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was abducted, robbed and killed four years ago.
The story quoted a staffer at the University saying that Jubeerich’s use of Ms. Carson’s image doesn’t honour her memory and her family would want the company to stop it. On Friday, Jubeerich said it has taken steps to do so. “I’ve already given the directions to take off those billboards,” Justy Mathews, a director of the company said. Mr. Mathews said the billboards had been prepared by a contractor and that he was not aware of how the contractor got the picture. He said he had no idea where the contractor was now. Mr. Mathew has published an apology to Ms. Carson’s family and other people on his website. Still, the incident underscores the pervasive lack of awareness of copyright laws within India.
2 Empty shops in UK highest in four years (The Guardian) Britain's high streets have more empty shops than at any time in four years after retailers suffered a bout of post-Christmas closures, according to a survey. The Local Data Company reported its monthly barometer of shop vacancies had jumped to 14.6% in February after steadying last year at 14.3%. The figures paint a gloomy picture of high streets hit hard by shop closures and combine with official figures that show a fall in retail sales last month. A report by Deloitte this week added to the sense of unease, concluding that the longer-term outlook for Britain's high streets remains uncertain and warning that four out of 10 shops will have to shut in the next five years as consumers turn their backs on traditional stores in favour of online shopping. The Office for National Statistics said retail sales volumes fell twice as fast as expected last month.
3 India boycotts EU carbon charge (BBC) Indian airlines will not comply with the European Union's carbon charging scheme, according to civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. The EU has directed Indian carriers to submit the emissions details of their aircraft by 31 March. But Mr Singh told parliament that "no Indian carrier is submitting them in view of the position of the government". Last month, China said its airlines would not pay the EU charge. Many other countries, including Russia and the US, have also objected to the scheme, under which airlines that exceed tight emission limits must buy carbon credits.
They see this as a tax on CO2 emissions from aircraft flying to or from destinations outside Europe and say it fails to comply with international law. In December 2011, the European Court of Justice ruled that the EU charge was legal. The charge, which the EU says could make long-haul flights up to $16 more expensive, was introduced in January, though airlines will not have to start paying it until next year.
4 Young and ‘lazy’ in UAE (Khaleej Times) Residents of the UAE, especially youngsters, are continuing to eat more and move less despite the calls by policy-makers to adopt healthy lifestyles. Besides increasing tobacco consumption, watching TV and playing video games for more than three hours daily have emerged as a worrying trend among the youth, according to the 2010-2011 report issued by the health ministry. Obesity has also increased by up to four per cent in the past five years due to poor food choices and an inactive lifestyle.
A survey among school students in the UAE showed that in 2005, 38% of males and females between 13 and 15 years spent three hours or more watching TV or playing games. The numbers increased to 45% among males and 56% among females in 2010. The World Health Organisation and US Disease Control Centre recommend that TV must not be watched for more than two hours daily. According to the World Health Organisation estimates, the obesity rate will reach 44.6% among women by 2015.
5 Water victory in Phnom Penh (Khaleej Times) How many people in the world’s towns and cities can drink the water in their tap without risking their health? The 2012 update of the World Health Organisation’s report Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation estimates that at least 96% of urban dwellers in emerging economies like China, India, Thailand, and Mexico have access to “improved” sources of water. And yet a study carried out by the Asian Institute of Technology found that less than three per cent of Bangkok’s residents drink water directly from the tap, because they do not trust its quality.
It doesn’t have to be like this. When Ek Sonn Chan became Director-General of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority in Cambodia nearly 20 years ago, the city had a dismal water supply, with nearly 83% lost to leakages and unauthorised connections. With a low-key but firm management style, Chan began to turn things around. Fifteen years after he took over, annual water production had increased by more than 400%, the water distribution network had grown by more than 450%, and the customer base had increased by more than 650%.
Today, the Authority says that there are no unauthorised connections in Phnom Penh. Losses from the water system are just over five per cent, similar to what one would find in Singapore or Tokyo, two of the best water-supply systems in the world. Thames Water, a utility in Britain, reported losses in 2010 that were five times that rate. By most performance indicators, Phnom Penh now has a better water-supply system than London or Washington, DC.
6 Kerala co apologises for using slain US girl’s pic (The Wall Street Journal) A common Indian practice of using material without thinking about copyright or privacy rights recently had dramatic consequences for an Indian company. Jubeerich Consultancy, a company in the southern Indian state of Kerala, was reportedly using the picture of a dead American woman on billboards advertising its study-abroad consulting services. The News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh, North Carolina, said the picture was of Eve Carson, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was abducted, robbed and killed four years ago.
The story quoted a staffer at the University saying that Jubeerich’s use of Ms. Carson’s image doesn’t honour her memory and her family would want the company to stop it. On Friday, Jubeerich said it has taken steps to do so. “I’ve already given the directions to take off those billboards,” Justy Mathews, a director of the company said. Mr. Mathews said the billboards had been prepared by a contractor and that he was not aware of how the contractor got the picture. He said he had no idea where the contractor was now. Mr. Mathew has published an apology to Ms. Carson’s family and other people on his website. Still, the incident underscores the pervasive lack of awareness of copyright laws within India.
Friday, March 23, 2012
When the young lose interest in cars; Why India is world's top arms buyer; India outrage over 'Coalgate'; Parallel universe in Pakistan; Mumbai dreams
1 When the young lose interest in cars (The New York Times) Ross Martin, 37, is a published poet and a former drummer in an alternative rock band. He and his team are trying to help General Motors solve one of the most vexing problems facing the car industry: many young consumers today just do not care that much about cars. That is a major shift from the days when the car stood at the center of youth culture and wheels served as the ultimate gateway to freedom and independence. Today Facebook, Twitter and text messaging allow teenagers and 20-somethings to connect without wheels. High gas prices and environmental concerns don’t help matters. “They think of a car as a giant bummer,” said Mr. Martin. “Think about your dashboard. It’s filled with nothing but bad news.”
There is data to support Mr. Martin’s observations. In 2008, 46.3% of potential drivers 19 years old and younger had drivers’ licenses, compared with 64.4% in 1998, according to the Federal Highway Administration, and drivers ages 21 to 30 drove 12 percent fewer miles in 2009 than they did in 1995. Forty-six percent of drivers aged 18 to 24 said they would choose Internet access over owning a car, according to the research firm Gartner. Automobiles have fallen in the public estimation of younger people. In a survey of 3,000 consumers born from 1981 to 2000 — a generation marketers call “millennials”— Scratch asked which of 31 brands they preferred. Not one car brand ranked in the top 10, lagging far behind companies like Google and Nike.
2 Why India has become world’s top arms buyer (The New York Times) India has replaced China as the world’s largest arms buyer, accounting for 10% of all arms purchases during the past five years, a Swedish research group said. India purchased some $12.7 billion in arms, 80% of that from Russia, during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. China’s arms purchases during that time were $6.3 billion, 78% of which came from Russia.
India has tried, but failed, to create a sizable domestic manufacturing industry for weapons or even basic military goods, while China has increased production of defense supplies. About 75% of India’s weapons purchases came from imports during 2007-11, said Laxman Kumar Behra of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, a government-funded research organization. Some analysts in India attribute the failure to create a domestic defense industry to government involvement. “India’s public sector is very inefficient and the private sector is by and large kept out of arms production,” Mr. Behra said.
3 Outrage over India coal scam (BBC) There was outrage in India's parliament after a draft report by government auditors estimated India lost $210bn by selling coalfields too cheaply. Opposition politicians accused the government of "looting the country" by selling coalfields to companies without competitive bidding. Private and state companies benefited from the allocations between 2004 and 2010, says a Times of India report. But the auditor says the leaked draft is "exceedingly misleading". The Times of India, quoting the CAG draft, says the $210bn figure is a "conservative estimate, since it takes into account prices for the lowest grade of coal and not the median grade". India is one of the largest producers of coal in the world.
This is just the latest in a series of financial scandals to hit the Congress-led government. India has been hit by a number of mining scandals in recent months. Last August the chief minister of Karnataka state, BS Yeddyurappa, quit after he was implicated in an illegal mining scandal that an ombudsman said cost the state $400m - he denies the charges. And in November a report claimed that nearly half the iron ore exported from the western state of Goa is illegally mined. It was a CAG report that exposed the country's biggest corruption case to date, the so-called 2G scandal, in which mobile phone licenses were sold at a fraction of their value at an estimated cost to the exchequer of nearly $40bn in lost revenue.
4 Asia big three close to deal (BBC) Japan, China and South Korea have moved closer to signing a trilateral investment agreement that could pave the way for a free-trade deal. If signed it would be the first economic agreement that is backed by law between three of Asia's largest economies. The countries have been working on an agreement since 2008. Many Asian nations have been trying to improve ties as growth has slowed in markets such as the US and Europe. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said the three countries agreed to the terms of the investment pact at a meeting in Beijing earlier this week. The ministry did not provide details on the agreement but it is expected to protect the intellectual property rights of Japanese and South Korean companies currently running businesses in China.
5 Those were the books (Kyle Jarrard in Khaleej Times) That’s it, the world is truly coming to an end. Encyclopedia Britannica is going online only, after 244 years of print publication. A sadness comes over me, as when I see a book, any paper book, tossed into the maw of the Internet. We didn’t have Britannica in our house when I was growing up. It was a bit high-brow for our family. In our home we had World Book, which is still around in the actual real publishing world. I don’t recall exactly when it showed up, or how, but I think a man wearing a hat appeared at our doorstep in Texas in the 1960s offering them for sale. Deeply concerned about our education, Mom figured out how to pay for the books out of her meager piano-lesson earnings. Thank you.
They were great volumes. Ivory white, slick pages, colourful, full of things that could take you from here to there and back again. My sister and I competed reading each lettered volume, but she gave up first and I kept going. World Book put out a yearly supplement. It was even more exciting sometimes than the main set. Every year was a banner year for World Book because it was a banner world back then. Our humble home would have been a seriously lesser place without those venerable volumes. I don’t know where those World Books got off to after we all left home for institutions of higher education. They may be at my sister’s. I’ll have to ask. And tell her about Britannica.
6 Parallel universes in Pakistan (Dawn) Beyond the usual headlines on Pakistan, what many outsiders are missing is another story: an unprecedented consumption boom has been under way in Pakistan since the mid-2000s. How does one reconcile this reality that the economy is tanking, and has never before posted a worse set of yearly economic data in its history? Or, that too many Pakistanis are falling through the cracks? The data from household surveys is revealing, and points to two parallel universes existing side by side in Pakistan: an expanding middle class with a voracious appetite for consumption, and a large swathe of population that is increasingly food-insecure, let alone facing rising deprivation on other measures.
The estimates of the size of Pakistan’s middle class are truly astounding. The adjusted figure for the middle class is a staggering 70 million people, or 40% of the population. In absolute terms, it is the fourth largest middle class cohort in Asia, behind China, India and Indonesia. Affluent, educated, urbanised, and increasingly ‘globalised’, Pakistan’s middle class is not only growing, but is already a voracious consumer. The ADB report estimated total consumption spending by this group at $75bn. Nonetheless, the growth in incomes and opportunities will continue to increasingly be skewed towards the more affluent segments of the population, with inequality rising ever more sharply.
7 Life and death on India’s slow train to prosperity (Reuters) As the Kalka Mail train pulls into Delhi railway station at dawn, it is every man, woman and child for themselves. Before the train has stopped, crowds elbow and jostle into packed compartments destined for Kolkata, 1,500 km and 25 hours away on one of the largest, most decrepit and dangerous rail networks in the world. Another day on Indian Railways has begun – another day on which the nation’s aspirations to become a wealthy economy risk being derailed by a neglected asset whose potential remains to be unlocked by bold political leadership and fresh capital. Indeed, if that potential was unleashed, estimates suggest it could add as much as two per cent to India’s flagging economic growth.
By the end of the day, about 40 people on average will have died somewhere on the network of 64,000 km of track. Many will be slum-dwellers and poor villagers who live near the lines and use them as places to wash and as open toilets. Of the 20 million people who travel daily on the network, many will arrive hours, even a day, behind schedule, having clattered along tracks and been guided by signalling systems built before India gained independence from Britain in 1947.
For many Indians, who have seen their nation develop rapidly since the late 1990s to become Asia’s third-largest econom, the ramshackle state of Indian Railways has become an embarrassment. That is felt especially keenly when comparisons are made with neighbouring China, where bullet trains zip across the country at around 300 km per hour. By contrast, India’s fastest train runs – on just one stretch – at a top speed of 161 km per hour. Critics regard Indian Railways as emblematic of the nation’s problems overall: stifling bureaucracy, inefficiency and most importantly a lack of public funding and a political unwillingness to open up to abundant private capital.
A train returning from Kolkata is running five hours late. “The inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” announces a voice from loudspeakers.
8 The Mumbai of our dreams (The Wall Street Journal) The Mumbai of our dreams is here, currently on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art Mumbai. It’s a city of palm-lined walkways, sparkling waters, wooden jetties and emerald greenery as far as the eye can see. The beaches are clean, the pavements smooth and slum-free and the forests pristine. It’s a Mumbai of an alternate reality, a city we deserve, dammit, but somehow just can’t seem to make happen.
And just in case you get carried away the vast architectural renderings and statistics offer a sobering perspective. The city’s open spaces (encroached land thrown in) amounts to about 19 kilometers of our total land area or, in other words, about 1.58 square meters per person. Under current development plans, that figure would shrink to 0.87. In contrast, London offers up its residents nearly 32 square meters per person, New York, 26. The price tag for this spiffy-looking Mumbai is 23.9 billion rupees ($477 million). In short, the Mumbai of our dreams may stay just that: a dream.
9 The UN versus Sri Lanka (The Wall Street Journal) The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted in favor of a US-backed resolution on alleged war crimes and rights abuses in Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war, which ended in 2009. The resolution innocuously urges Sri Lanka to carry out the recommendations of its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. But it also calls for an investigation into allegations not covered by the commission, which only risks reopening sectarian divisions. The UN and foreign governments would do more good by focusing on current policies, leaving a thorough accounting of the war years for when there is a solid consensus for such a process within the country.
Sri Lanka's civil war killed more than 70,000 people and left hundreds of thousands displaced. The Buddhist Sinhalese majority, led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, eventually defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other militant groups fighting for an independent homeland for the largely Hindu Tamil minority in the north and east of the country. The LTTE was among the world's most vicious terrorist organizations. It pioneered modern suicide bombing as a war tactic. It also forcibly recruited thousands of child soldiers and used human shields to escape army shelling. Sri Lanka isn't ready for a blame game over a long war in which both sides were accused of abuses. The country's most pressing need is not a UN resolution, it is to win the post-war peace. Only once Mr. Rajapaksa or his successor begins to take seriously the task of reconciling with the Tamils and establishing an inclusive democracy can Sri Lanka conduct a thorough accounting of its past, in peace.
10 End of street for 6,000 India sub-brokers (The Financial Express) A lacklustre equity market, characterised by dwindling volumes, has seen a record 6,000 sub-brokers shut shop this year. This is also the first time that the number of sub-brokers has actually shrunk in any financial year. According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the total number of sub-brokers in the cash segment has fallen from 83,808 as on March 31, 2011, to 78,045 by the end of January 2012. In other words, 5,763 sub-brokers have moved out of the business in just 10 months.
The sub-broking business has been under pressure ever since the primary and secondary market went through the doldrums in 2011. Prior to that, the number of sub-brokers went up significantly every fiscal. In FY11, the number of sub-brokers rose by nearly 8,500 or over 11%. Sub-brokers who have shut shop may have moved completely out of the capital market as there has been no corresponding rise in the number of brokers in the cash or derivatives segments.
There is data to support Mr. Martin’s observations. In 2008, 46.3% of potential drivers 19 years old and younger had drivers’ licenses, compared with 64.4% in 1998, according to the Federal Highway Administration, and drivers ages 21 to 30 drove 12 percent fewer miles in 2009 than they did in 1995. Forty-six percent of drivers aged 18 to 24 said they would choose Internet access over owning a car, according to the research firm Gartner. Automobiles have fallen in the public estimation of younger people. In a survey of 3,000 consumers born from 1981 to 2000 — a generation marketers call “millennials”— Scratch asked which of 31 brands they preferred. Not one car brand ranked in the top 10, lagging far behind companies like Google and Nike.
2 Why India has become world’s top arms buyer (The New York Times) India has replaced China as the world’s largest arms buyer, accounting for 10% of all arms purchases during the past five years, a Swedish research group said. India purchased some $12.7 billion in arms, 80% of that from Russia, during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. China’s arms purchases during that time were $6.3 billion, 78% of which came from Russia.
India has tried, but failed, to create a sizable domestic manufacturing industry for weapons or even basic military goods, while China has increased production of defense supplies. About 75% of India’s weapons purchases came from imports during 2007-11, said Laxman Kumar Behra of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, a government-funded research organization. Some analysts in India attribute the failure to create a domestic defense industry to government involvement. “India’s public sector is very inefficient and the private sector is by and large kept out of arms production,” Mr. Behra said.
3 Outrage over India coal scam (BBC) There was outrage in India's parliament after a draft report by government auditors estimated India lost $210bn by selling coalfields too cheaply. Opposition politicians accused the government of "looting the country" by selling coalfields to companies without competitive bidding. Private and state companies benefited from the allocations between 2004 and 2010, says a Times of India report. But the auditor says the leaked draft is "exceedingly misleading". The Times of India, quoting the CAG draft, says the $210bn figure is a "conservative estimate, since it takes into account prices for the lowest grade of coal and not the median grade". India is one of the largest producers of coal in the world.
This is just the latest in a series of financial scandals to hit the Congress-led government. India has been hit by a number of mining scandals in recent months. Last August the chief minister of Karnataka state, BS Yeddyurappa, quit after he was implicated in an illegal mining scandal that an ombudsman said cost the state $400m - he denies the charges. And in November a report claimed that nearly half the iron ore exported from the western state of Goa is illegally mined. It was a CAG report that exposed the country's biggest corruption case to date, the so-called 2G scandal, in which mobile phone licenses were sold at a fraction of their value at an estimated cost to the exchequer of nearly $40bn in lost revenue.
4 Asia big three close to deal (BBC) Japan, China and South Korea have moved closer to signing a trilateral investment agreement that could pave the way for a free-trade deal. If signed it would be the first economic agreement that is backed by law between three of Asia's largest economies. The countries have been working on an agreement since 2008. Many Asian nations have been trying to improve ties as growth has slowed in markets such as the US and Europe. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said the three countries agreed to the terms of the investment pact at a meeting in Beijing earlier this week. The ministry did not provide details on the agreement but it is expected to protect the intellectual property rights of Japanese and South Korean companies currently running businesses in China.
5 Those were the books (Kyle Jarrard in Khaleej Times) That’s it, the world is truly coming to an end. Encyclopedia Britannica is going online only, after 244 years of print publication. A sadness comes over me, as when I see a book, any paper book, tossed into the maw of the Internet. We didn’t have Britannica in our house when I was growing up. It was a bit high-brow for our family. In our home we had World Book, which is still around in the actual real publishing world. I don’t recall exactly when it showed up, or how, but I think a man wearing a hat appeared at our doorstep in Texas in the 1960s offering them for sale. Deeply concerned about our education, Mom figured out how to pay for the books out of her meager piano-lesson earnings. Thank you.
They were great volumes. Ivory white, slick pages, colourful, full of things that could take you from here to there and back again. My sister and I competed reading each lettered volume, but she gave up first and I kept going. World Book put out a yearly supplement. It was even more exciting sometimes than the main set. Every year was a banner year for World Book because it was a banner world back then. Our humble home would have been a seriously lesser place without those venerable volumes. I don’t know where those World Books got off to after we all left home for institutions of higher education. They may be at my sister’s. I’ll have to ask. And tell her about Britannica.
6 Parallel universes in Pakistan (Dawn) Beyond the usual headlines on Pakistan, what many outsiders are missing is another story: an unprecedented consumption boom has been under way in Pakistan since the mid-2000s. How does one reconcile this reality that the economy is tanking, and has never before posted a worse set of yearly economic data in its history? Or, that too many Pakistanis are falling through the cracks? The data from household surveys is revealing, and points to two parallel universes existing side by side in Pakistan: an expanding middle class with a voracious appetite for consumption, and a large swathe of population that is increasingly food-insecure, let alone facing rising deprivation on other measures.
The estimates of the size of Pakistan’s middle class are truly astounding. The adjusted figure for the middle class is a staggering 70 million people, or 40% of the population. In absolute terms, it is the fourth largest middle class cohort in Asia, behind China, India and Indonesia. Affluent, educated, urbanised, and increasingly ‘globalised’, Pakistan’s middle class is not only growing, but is already a voracious consumer. The ADB report estimated total consumption spending by this group at $75bn. Nonetheless, the growth in incomes and opportunities will continue to increasingly be skewed towards the more affluent segments of the population, with inequality rising ever more sharply.
7 Life and death on India’s slow train to prosperity (Reuters) As the Kalka Mail train pulls into Delhi railway station at dawn, it is every man, woman and child for themselves. Before the train has stopped, crowds elbow and jostle into packed compartments destined for Kolkata, 1,500 km and 25 hours away on one of the largest, most decrepit and dangerous rail networks in the world. Another day on Indian Railways has begun – another day on which the nation’s aspirations to become a wealthy economy risk being derailed by a neglected asset whose potential remains to be unlocked by bold political leadership and fresh capital. Indeed, if that potential was unleashed, estimates suggest it could add as much as two per cent to India’s flagging economic growth.
By the end of the day, about 40 people on average will have died somewhere on the network of 64,000 km of track. Many will be slum-dwellers and poor villagers who live near the lines and use them as places to wash and as open toilets. Of the 20 million people who travel daily on the network, many will arrive hours, even a day, behind schedule, having clattered along tracks and been guided by signalling systems built before India gained independence from Britain in 1947.
For many Indians, who have seen their nation develop rapidly since the late 1990s to become Asia’s third-largest econom, the ramshackle state of Indian Railways has become an embarrassment. That is felt especially keenly when comparisons are made with neighbouring China, where bullet trains zip across the country at around 300 km per hour. By contrast, India’s fastest train runs – on just one stretch – at a top speed of 161 km per hour. Critics regard Indian Railways as emblematic of the nation’s problems overall: stifling bureaucracy, inefficiency and most importantly a lack of public funding and a political unwillingness to open up to abundant private capital.
A train returning from Kolkata is running five hours late. “The inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” announces a voice from loudspeakers.
8 The Mumbai of our dreams (The Wall Street Journal) The Mumbai of our dreams is here, currently on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art Mumbai. It’s a city of palm-lined walkways, sparkling waters, wooden jetties and emerald greenery as far as the eye can see. The beaches are clean, the pavements smooth and slum-free and the forests pristine. It’s a Mumbai of an alternate reality, a city we deserve, dammit, but somehow just can’t seem to make happen.
And just in case you get carried away the vast architectural renderings and statistics offer a sobering perspective. The city’s open spaces (encroached land thrown in) amounts to about 19 kilometers of our total land area or, in other words, about 1.58 square meters per person. Under current development plans, that figure would shrink to 0.87. In contrast, London offers up its residents nearly 32 square meters per person, New York, 26. The price tag for this spiffy-looking Mumbai is 23.9 billion rupees ($477 million). In short, the Mumbai of our dreams may stay just that: a dream.
9 The UN versus Sri Lanka (The Wall Street Journal) The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted in favor of a US-backed resolution on alleged war crimes and rights abuses in Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war, which ended in 2009. The resolution innocuously urges Sri Lanka to carry out the recommendations of its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. But it also calls for an investigation into allegations not covered by the commission, which only risks reopening sectarian divisions. The UN and foreign governments would do more good by focusing on current policies, leaving a thorough accounting of the war years for when there is a solid consensus for such a process within the country.
Sri Lanka's civil war killed more than 70,000 people and left hundreds of thousands displaced. The Buddhist Sinhalese majority, led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, eventually defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other militant groups fighting for an independent homeland for the largely Hindu Tamil minority in the north and east of the country. The LTTE was among the world's most vicious terrorist organizations. It pioneered modern suicide bombing as a war tactic. It also forcibly recruited thousands of child soldiers and used human shields to escape army shelling. Sri Lanka isn't ready for a blame game over a long war in which both sides were accused of abuses. The country's most pressing need is not a UN resolution, it is to win the post-war peace. Only once Mr. Rajapaksa or his successor begins to take seriously the task of reconciling with the Tamils and establishing an inclusive democracy can Sri Lanka conduct a thorough accounting of its past, in peace.
10 End of street for 6,000 India sub-brokers (The Financial Express) A lacklustre equity market, characterised by dwindling volumes, has seen a record 6,000 sub-brokers shut shop this year. This is also the first time that the number of sub-brokers has actually shrunk in any financial year. According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the total number of sub-brokers in the cash segment has fallen from 83,808 as on March 31, 2011, to 78,045 by the end of January 2012. In other words, 5,763 sub-brokers have moved out of the business in just 10 months.
The sub-broking business has been under pressure ever since the primary and secondary market went through the doldrums in 2011. Prior to that, the number of sub-brokers went up significantly every fiscal. In FY11, the number of sub-brokers rose by nearly 8,500 or over 11%. Sub-brokers who have shut shop may have moved completely out of the capital market as there has been no corresponding rise in the number of brokers in the cash or derivatives segments.
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