Hamid Karzai elected President; No runoff

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan has been declared elected in the presidential election, which was held on 20^th August, this year. The Independent Election Commission’s Chairman Azizullah Ludin declared Karzai elected without going for the run off election, which was scheduled on 7^th November. The election held on 20^th August, was marred by large scale rigging and bungling in which involvement of UN officials was also established, making it dismal. Hamid Karzai even then could not achieve 50 percent of the votes as required under Constitution of Afghanistan to be declared elected.

This situation necessitated runoff election between Hamid Karzai and Dr Abdullah Abdullah. Dr Abdullah had been leveling serious charges of fraud and rigging in election by Hamid Karzai and his supporters. He also demanded dismissal of Chief of Independent Election Commission, because he alleged that he has been working in connivance with Hamid Karzai to confer undue favour on him. Dr Abdullah had given some suggestions to the President and UN with regard to conduction of a peaceful and fair runoff election and if these suggestions are not incorporated there is no point in participating him in the runoff fray, he added. As the dead line set by Abdullah expired, he decided to refrain and withdraw from the runoff election.

Now Independent Election Commission was left with two options. It may have gone for run off election even when there is no second candidate in the fray, because Article 61 of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan provides for runoff in case none of the candidates secure 50% of votes casted. Now this was a peculiar situation under which none of the candidates could secure 50% of votes but only one candidate was left in the fray. The Commission had been deliberating upon to conduct runoff but the USA and many European Nato countries and off course, the UN itself was not in favour of going for runoff as it could have risked lives of personnel. There was another risk of exposing country for fresh spell of attacks, which is already war ravaged. There was a serious apprehension of violence because Taliban has given call for boycott of the election.

It was under this situation and under tremendous pressure of  international community, the IEC decided to declare Hamid Karzai elected for the presidential election without a runoff.

Now there is no doubt that Karzai is going for the second tenure but his moral authority is at stake. He could not secure 50% of votes in the elections which itself has lost its credibility in the eyes of both international community and Afghani people. The USA on the other hand is desperately trying to win over Dr Abdullah to join the government under Karzai. It is noteworthy that Dr Abdullah has already served under Karzai as Foreign Minister.

Obama is facing tough time in Afghanistan. He is yet to decide on the issue of sending more 40,000 US troops to Afghanistan as demanded by Mc Crystal. The security situation in this country is fast deteriorating and writs of Afghan government do not run in majority of the provinces. The top Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders including Osama and Mullah Md Omar are still on the run. Pakistan is also under siege; its war against TTP is not yielding desired results. Hide and Seek game between Pakistan army and TTP is on. News of NUKE technology leak by Dr Abdul Quadir Khan has increased apprehensions of possible slip of N-tech to terrorists.

Under the prevailing situation, the South Asian region may witness some more troublesome years. It remains to be seen that whether grotesque legacy of Bush in the region could be shed or carried forward by Barrack Obama and Hamid Karzai. But one thing can be said for sure, that election in Afghanistan became a missed opportunity.                                           

RIC meeting in Bangalore; hope for future

Bangalore hosted trilateral meeting of RIC (Russia, India, and China) foreign ministers on Tuesday, the 27^th November. This is the first important meeting of international importance after SAARC, which was held in 1986, some 23 years ago. S.M.Krishna, Yang Jeichi and Sergei Lavrov, foreign ministers of India, China and Russia respectively, held discussions on wide ranging issues including international terrorism, climate change, international financial order, Afghanistan, trade and commerce and IMF and World Bank etc.

          This meeting had assumed immense significance in view of recent standoff between India and China on Arunachal Pradesh.  PM Dr. Man Mohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh was opposed by China. Dr Singh met Wen Jiabao, premier of China in Thailand and tried to diffuse the tension. It has been conveyed to the Chinese that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and Chinese stand on this issue is not acceptable to it. On Dalai Lama Indian premiere has categorically stated that he is an honored guest of India.      

The declaration singed after this meeting, demanded among other things, reforms in IMF and World Bank. The three leaders said that India, China and Russia are major players in world economy and therefore should be given at least 5% voting rights in these international financial institutions. Commending the role of international community in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, the leaders expressed hope that the effort would continue till the normalcy is restored.

Decision was also taken that next meeting of RIC would be held in China. On issues like climatic change, they resolved to take concerted effort and stand on Copenhagen. It is worth mentioning that India and China have signed a bilateral agreement on climate change and have resolved to work together in the field of climate change. These three nations put together constitute 20 % land mass and 39 % world population, and in this backdrop this meeting and decisions taken therein assume great significance.  

They also discussed issues related to trade and commerce and reiterated that more steps would be taken to ensure that trade volume between these countries increases.

If RIC work together in international forums like G-20, WTO and SCO etc can yield very good results. Although issues of Arunachal and Dalai Lama were also raised by Chinese counterpart, but SM Krishna downplayed it intelligently and this meeting remained confined to cooperation rather than confrontation.                     

   

JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS; SILENT DISEASE, KILLING PEOPLE IN BIHAR

SILENT KILLER; CAUSING EXODUS IN BIHAR

Following more than two dozen deaths in Gaya district of the state of Bihar in a couple of weeks, the government has given a wake up call to the health officials in the state headquarters and asked them to launch a special anti-encephalitis vaccination drive on 12^th the November 2009 in affected areas in Gaya district.

In a couple of weeks, more than 100 patients have reached to Anugraha Naryan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) Gaya who showed signs of Japanese encephalitis. Although government denies, many NGOs working in the areas say that more than 25 patients mostly children of poor family have lost their lives due this silent killer disease.

Japanese encephalitis has been taking heavy tolls in some areas in Bihar and Eastern UP. According to BBC, from 1974 to 2005 about 8000 people including many children have died due to this disease. Gazipur, Kusinagar,  Mirzapur, Gorakhpur in UP are badly affected by this disease and hundreds of people, mostly children die due to this it.

In Vashali and Muzaffarpur districts in Bihar, 39 people died in the month of August- September, 2009 itself which caused much furore in the government circle, but after some time again everything went as usual.

Similarly in Kharagpur sub-division of Munger district, more than 100 tribal died due this encephalitis and Union government had to send a medical team in the affected area to collect blood sample for making laboratory test in Delhi. What happened thereafter, hardly known to the people suffering from this epidemic.  

Japanese encephalitis is caused because Culex tritaeniorhynchus, mosquito carries Japanese encephalitis virus into human being from wild pigs and birds. These mosquitoes grow in dark and damp places especially near hilly and plateau areas therefore most of the victims are tribal or poor people who live in dark and damp conditions.

Unfortunately, since the victims are mostly neglected and marginalized sections of society, media also pay little or no attention on it. Death of one patient due to H1N1 caused hue and cry across the nation with electronic channels giving running commentary on it, death of thousands of poor people went almost unnoticed and unlamented in the country. This paradox has to come to an end.

  Hopefully the vaccination drive would help mitigate the woes of the suffering people and would give some respite to the people living  in the affected areas.     

NREGA GETS e-Shakti

NREGA; THE CHANGING LIFE OF POOR

Nitish Kumar, the CM of Bihar today started an e-shakti scheme in NREGS for all the districts of Bihar. It is a unique scheme in which the eligible job seekers ( registered labors having job cards) who have already been supplied with job cards under National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes can ask for job under the scheme on telephone. Toll free Numbers are being installed in the headquarters for this scheme.

The CM was very critical of the department of rural development because the overall performance of the NREGS is not satisfactory and the state could come only on the second last ladder of the performance on national basis.

The poor administrative infrastructure, ill trained personnel, rampant corruption at panchayat level and apathy amongst the departmental officials are the root causes of dismal performance of this flagship scheme, which had been started by the UPA government with much fanfare.  In order to improve upon this scheme  both in terms of financial and physical target achievement, the government took a decision only a couple of days ago that NREGS would be implemented though departments other than the rural development also. Departments like Water Resources, Welfare, Road construction, Building construction, REO and Minor Irrigation etc have also been asked to prepare plan to provided jobs to he labors registered under NREGS.

The rules with respect to the NREGA is such that any state which fails to utilize allocated funds under this scheme would get the next year’s allocation reduced by that proportion. Thus every year Bihar gets lesser amount in this flagship programme which is the most ambitious rural employment programme.

The e-shakti scheme is yet to start at full pace as in the inaugural event itself phone lines did not work properly and the questions asked on the phone could not be responded properly by the concerned authority. The CM has reprimanded the officials and asked them to complete the target before this fiscal and set the house in order. It is noteworthy that he has transferred as many as 32 Deputy Development Commissioners (DDC) out of 37 total districts. This huge transfer is being seen in this backdrop also. Comparatively young officers have been posted so that performance is enhanced because the government is left with less than a year only for the completion of its term.     

CHHAT FESTIVAL GETS GLOBAL

WORSHIPING SETTING SUN ALSO

Chhath festival, a festival to worship God Sun has been globalised now. Initially, this festival was parochial and localized and it was celebrated in eastern parts of India especially in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh only, but thanks to media, especially electronic media, this festival got wide coverage and now has transformed into an all India affair. News of the celebration of Chhath also comes from abroad like UK and USA and host of African, South Asian and European countries.

As far as story of its origin is concerned, according to Hindu Mythology, this festival was started during Mahabharata by Draupadi, the wife of Pandavas during the period in exile.  It is said that when Kauravas hatched conspiracy to kill Pandavas in the house of lac, Pandavas somehow survived. They had to escape into jungles to save their lives. They had to undergo unprecedented hardships in jungles. During the period, Arjun, the great archer, won Draupadi in a swayamvar. Draupadi wanted to mitigate woes of her family therefore she performed worship to god sun. it is said that this is how this festival marked the beginning.   

There is another popular belief that Chhath worship was started by the great warrior Karna, the son of Lord Surya, the sun and Kunti.

                   Initially this festival was localized and in anthropological terms it is known as parochial form or PAROCHIALIZATION. Gradually especially with the advent of private electronic news channels, this festival proliferated horizontally across the country. Now metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi also celebrate this festival with unprecedented fervors and gaiety. The occasion is also marked by political blending also and political persons and parties organize and provide facilities in order to attract people in their political fold.  The reports coming out in the press suggest that now this festival is being celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the country baring some exceptions. In anthropology, this expansion is called UNIVERSALIZATION.  Some people celebrate this festival in England and in other parts of Europe also. In south Asian and south-eastern countries, the celebration of this festival is very common.    

Chhath literally means 6(six). It is perhaps therefore it is celebrated six days after the Diwali, the festival of lights. Some people related to religious denominations say that this is the only festival in India in which setting sun is worshiped. Cleanliness is very important in this festival and in fact the whole city witness unfrequented cleanliness drive organized by community. The environment gets surcharged with religious fervor in such a way that even police admits that crime graph during chhath festival goes surprisingly down.  The devotees who are generally female, observe fasting of 36 hours and during this period she along with other members of families perform ARYA, offering, to GOD SUN both when it is rising and setting. Milk, water of holy river Ganges and fruits etc are offered during the rituals.

It is a community festival and therefore many other people unknown and unconnected to family are also allowed to participate and offer to the sun god in this ritual.

With passage of time, the festival has also got blended with market forces. The readymade items for this festival are flooded in the market and huge hoardings and other advertisement materials are conspicuously displayed. The country made earthen hearth and pots, hand made SUPS, a bamboo made flattened item used for keeping fruits etc during offering to the sun etc have been replaced by factory made items. But even then, what is not replaced is the zeal and religious fervor in this festival.        

NOBEL TO OBAMA; FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE OR FOR WHAT HE IS TO DO

ACHIEVING EVERYTHING TOO EARLY

 The conferment of Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 on Barack    Hussein Obama, the US President has triggered a debate across the world that whether it is a premature decision or it is a wrong decision altogether. Many news channels and newspapers have started online voting on this issue. Prior to Obama, three US Presidents, one after retirement and two in the office have also been awarded this prestigious and perhaps the most coveted and recognised award, they are Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and  Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Jimmy Carter in 2002. But in none of the case did controversy and public interests arise to such a magnitude.

The decision was so unexpected and surprising that even Obama himself, who was in sound asleep in White House was made to awake to break this news on him, was astonished on the decision.  Although diplomatically, he reciprocated with words like ‘Humbled and Honoured’, it was not easily palatable to him also; it was like a pleasant dream for him.

The decision of Norwegian Nobel Committee, which was established in 1901 by Alfred Nobel, the ‘Inventor of Dynamite’, the explosive, presently comprising of five eminent people from Europe and headed by Thorbjorn Jagland, the former PM of Norway, to award Obama was not an easy task because a all time record 205 nominations were on the board, including persons like Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and Chinese dissident Hu Jia, Martti Ahtisaari etc.

WHAT OBAMA HAS SO FAR DONE FOR PEACE- Many people including some think tanks and world leaders are asking that what Obama has so far accomplished? Walesa, the former President of Poland and himself Nobel Peace Prize winner also openly criticized this decision by saying that Obama has so far accomplished nothing. 

 People say that Obama has opened many fronts in international diplomacy of course, but results or logical conclusions of these ‘back or front door diplomacies’ have not yet come. He has been desperately trying to solve vexed and seemingly unending ‘West Asia problem’ and has appointed ‘George Mitchell’ as special envoy to initiate dialogue with warring factions including Hamas on the one hand and Israeli government on the other. The victory of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel has made Obama’s task only difficult as former has openly but diplomatically not accepted Obama’s ‘two Nation and Stop Settlement theory’. The famous ‘Cairo Speech’ of Obama which stirred hornest nest in the Muslim world and was termed as Obama’s bold and farsighted effort to avert the imminent ‘Clash of Civilisations’ as propounded by Samuel Huntington. Obama wanted to end or at least mitigate this hatred in the Muslim world for Americans in particular and European in general, a grotesque legacy which both senior and junior George Bush had left for him. Although, a lot more is required to be done both by the international community and Obama in this regard, a humble beginning was definitely made by Obama, for which he rightly deserves appreciation. At least, he could muster courage and showed political sagacity and diplomatic audacity to accept that America has done some wrongs, for which time has arrived to mend ways and rectify and nullify the wrongs done.

On Afghanistan, Obama’s policy is yet to take definite shape and yield results. By appointing Richard Holbrook as special envoy for Afghanistan, he sent signal to the world community, especially the Muslim world, that he is all set to change the old stereotypes and colonial mindset towards South-Asia. Although by the time Obama could arrive at White House, huge collateral damage had been done both in terms of man and money. Many American politicians and many security experts also including Stanley A. McChrystal, the chief of NATO forces in Afghanistan say openly now that America and West is fighting a lost war in Afghanistan. McChrystal in a 66 pages report has demanded 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan; otherwise, he said, US will lose the war. This report has shaken confidence security and defence establishments including Pentagon. Joe Biden in not in favour of sending more troops and Obama is not yet made up his mind, which way he will go. It is not possible for him either to eschew or to end the war abruptly and abjure attacks on Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The USA is to decide and choose between devil and the deep sea. Eight precious years and loss of billions of dollars has brought for America only causalities, defame and injuries. Obama has to overcome from this; a huge and stupendous task of finding an amicable but lasting solutions. The hope generated during Afghanistan election also is going to be a fiasco. But so far Obama has been able to play very cautiously and intelligently and he requires consistency as well as continuity in this regard and this award is definitely a prize and a go ahead signal for him.

As far as Nuclear disarmament and arms race are concerned, Obama has taken bold and decisive steps. Although, it is premature to give him a certificate of victory or accomplishment, a beginning is made, the process has been incited, which had been in hibernation for a long time. The controversial ‘Europe Missile Defence plan’ has been abandoned by Obama, a decision which was very difficult to take under the prevailing politico-strategic global environment. By doing so, Obama has tried to lessen the tension with Russia, the arch rival even after losing its superpower status.

Even during Georgian crisis, which led to establishment of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations, Obama maintained ‘outstanding restraint’, a posture which was unheard of during recent times by White House.

In UN General Assembly session, Obama’s initiative brought CTBT and NPT again on international agenda. In recent times, both these treaties had been put into ‘mode of pause’. The Nobel Committee must have taken into consideration these aspects also before taking a final decision on this issue. The US’ posture of ‘ready to take on those who dare to challenge’ has been bid good-bye by Obama. He repeatedly utters ‘conciliation and not confrontation’ and advocates for ‘peaceful co-existence’ rather than dominance. These are some of the steps taken by Obama, which has definitely ushered in a new era of difference, for which Obama must be encouraged.

The experience of ‘policy of economic and military sanction’ has been proved disastrous and has done more harm than good. This perhaps due to this mindset, Obama did not act the manner his predecessors would have acted with North Korea and Iran on their defiance of international opinion by test firing N-Missiles etc. He is trying to end economic sanctions of Myanmar also, but not unilaterally but by taking into confidence Suu Kyi also.

Last but definitely not the least is the decision of release of hundreds of detainees in Guantanamo bay. Though it was criticised by many including his compatriots, Obama did not hesitate and took a historic decision to show that he really cares for all what he says. The results in terms of prevail of good will in the Muslim world is still a distant dream, but Obama has tried to undo many wrongs which has been done by his predecessors including George Bush, the junior.

Thus there is no denying the fact that Obama’s actions have yet to be translated into achievements, his efforts are inculcated with sincerity and honesty for which he must be praised and suitably rewarded. And Nobel Prize for peace was definitely the best available option for the Nobel Committee.

However this award will ever be remembered for making a departure in the sense that all previous Nobel Prizes had been conferred for ‘What has been done’ but this year’s award perhaps for the first time has been given for ‘What is to be done’. Perhaps due to this departure, even chairman of the committee Thorbjorn Jagland also said ‘If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do’ he added ‘It was because we would like to support he is trying to achieve’. The message clear; Obama has been awarded for what he is to do and not what he has done.                                                

  

Vulgar salaries; Innovation versus Regulation

TO WHAT EXTENT WILL YOU GET FATTER?


The fattening and getting monster in size the salaries of hundreds of CEOs across India has invited both national an international media attention. The growing number of persons in the list annually published by Forbes Magazine has also invited attention of both common man and politicians in this country. The statement of  Salman Khurshid, the minister for corporate affairs has ignited the debate across the nation as to whether there should be any regulation vis-à-vis vulgar salaries of CEOs in India or not. Only few moths back, Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh had also advised corporate world to rethink over ever increasing salaries and perks of the CEOs which, he lamented, widens the gulf between rich and poor and haves and have nots. PM was also disapproving the vulgar and gargantuan salaries in social and ethical perspective and said that this heightens the social tensions in the society because when people see this huge gap and wants to imitate the ostentatious life styles of ‘rich and famous’ over TV screens often get frustrated and tend to resort to violent and unlawful means.


HUGE GAP- the list appearing in public domain through media regarding top 10 highest paid salaries CEOs, suggests that the number has increased both in size and numbers. Persons like Mukesh Ambani who tops the list gets more than 44 crore( 440 million) as annual salary, whereas as Pawan Kant Munjal of hero Honda gets more than Rs/-150 million per annum. The list is being added by new debuts every year meaning thereby that more and more people of fat and vulgar salaries are being born in India. Many people may argue that what is wrong in it? Apparently nothing unethical and lamentable appears in this new corporate culture. China, the third largest and fasted growing economy in the globe which has celebrated its 60^th anniversary of its birth of communism with huge pomp and prowess, has also witnessed incredible increase in numbers of HNIs and the number of millionaires  here has gone up to unbelievable  8, 25,000. The Chinese economy grew by 67 times since 1979, the year when Deng Xiaoping took over the rein of this Asian dragon. But this does not justify situation in our countries which is far from satisfaction. Our economy has also grown over a decade or so but at the same time and we too have occasions to celebrate, but we have created more deserts than oasis. More than 80% Indians do not spend even Rs/- 20 on them. Our country has still the stigma of having largest number of under nourished and mal nourished children. The health indicators and socio-economic indicators do not speak eulogy for us. The Human Development Index (HDI) launched by UNDP in 1990 has published its 2009 reports in which India slipped at 134^th position.  According to World Health Organization, about 49% of the World’s under weight children and 34% of the World’s stunted children and 46% of World’s wasted children live in India. On contrary to this, about 83, 000 Indians have liquid assets more than 1 Million dollars. There are millions of people who own more than 5 palatial buildings whereas there are hundreds of thousands of people who sleep under sky.
We have still hundreds of villages and towns which are not electrified and connected with good roads. We use mineral waters in cities whereas; people in many rural areas do not have access to safe drinking water. There are millions of homeless people and Indira Awas Yojna, a flagship scheme for providing homes to BPL families is still to provide even the minimum space required homes to all eligible BPL families. On the other hand there are people who spend 700 crore on one building to live in. what a dichotomy and contrast indeed! Under this backdrop how can India afford such vulgar salaries to some of the CEOs?  


INNOVATION versus REGULATION- Minister’s public utterance against the vulgar salaries of CEO’s has triggered a public debate and the society is vertically divided on this issue.   The people having views of no regulation on the salaries of CEOs suggests that any regulation from outside may be from government, would jeopardize the process of innovation in India. There shall be a brain drain if the salaries are put under a fixed ceiling, they warn. Some of the High Net worth Individuals (HNI) passes sarcastic remarks and say ‘you can keep monkey by paying grams’. But experiences in the past reveal another story. In India for example, all innovations and inventions have come from government aided or owned laboratories or from public sectors. Privates sectors do not simply bother to invest in Research and Development (R&D). The inspiration of opening of economy and pursuing policies of Liberalization, privatization and globalization came from government side. The stimulus of innovations has been coming from regulations and not from de-regulation. In fact the de-regulation and excessive leverage in the financial system has given us worst ever global financial crisis and it is the regulation which is providing stimulus to turn it round. Even in USA, ‘efficient market hypothesis’ of Eugene Fama which later became of less regulation in the financial market of the world did not belong to any commercial or investment bank, rather Fama belonged to academia. Therefore the logic of this kind is rubbish and need not deserve hearing. 
The government must come up with a comprehensive legislation with respect to providing a ceiling on the ever growing size of salaries of the CEOs otherwise it will further the dissent in our society and widen the gap between rich and poor. No society and economy can thrive and grow under such dichotomy and contradictions.  Amartya Sen has rightly said that growth without democratic distribution brings no prosperity in the country.                        

       

GANGA DOLPHIN DECLARED NATIONAL AQUATIC ANIMAL

SAVE ME I WILL HELP SAVE YOU
Ganga Dolphin, locally known as ‘Sauns’ has been declared as ‘National Aquatic Animal’. Decision to this effect has been taken by Forest and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on the eve of maiden meeting of Ganga River Basin Authority (GRBA) chaired by PM in New Delhi yesterday on the suggestion of Nitish Kumar, CM of Bihar.

Ganga Dolphin an endemic and endangered species are found in the holy river Ganga mostly between Patna to Bhagalpur. Environmentalists have been agitating for long time to protect this aquatic animal, the number of which is said to be around 2000 only in the world. About 2 to 2.5 meter long saus, the dolphin came into prominence in 1991 when the state government declared it ‘endangered species’ and declared  60 kilometre Ganga strip near Bhagalpur as ‘Ganges dolphin sanctuary’. This is the single zone in which about 160-200 Ganga dolphins have been counted. The fishing of this endangered species has been banned years ago but still then fisher men do not hesitate killing this animal largely due to ignorance. The feature of this endemic animal is such that it looks like ferocious one but on the contrary these saus are very harmless and human friendly. Surprisingly no such attention has so far been given internationally to this animal. Environmentalists are particularly very excited and happy on this decision and say that this declaration would now help in big way to protect and preserve this species.    

  

Naxalites kill 16 in Bihar

GUNS ROARED AGAIN IN BIHAR AFTER A LONG TIME

Left ultras have killed 16 People in Khagaria district of Bihar on 2^nd October night. The scheduled castes supported by naxalites  attacked people who were asleep in the village Ichwara in Khagaria district, some 200 Kilometers away from state capital Patna. The suspected maoists who were said to be 20 in numbers segregated the old and young and tied their hands and legs and then fired on them with firearms killing 16 of them on the spot. One man who saved his life by pretending to be dead narrated the whole  gruesome story to the police. The dead bodies were lying for autopsy to be done and the situation on the spot is pathetic. The helpless women and children are weeping bitterly making the environment very emotional. Among the dead bodies, there are some 10-12 years children also. Nobody understands why did they kill these children?  

The villagers were so angry that they did not allow deputy chief minister shushil modi to stay and talk to the villagers. He was hackled and forced to leave the village instantly. The chief minister Nitish kumar has announced ex-gratia payment of  one lakh and fifty thousand rupess to the next of the kin killed in this dastardly act of mayhem. The police says that land dispute is the reason for this attack. The 200-300 bighas of gairmazarua, the government land is said to be under the possession of the people belonging to keori and kurmi caste. The Mushars, a scheduled caste who are called mahadalits now wanted to take possession of these lands, they said that these lands belonged to their ancestors and farmers have fraudulently and forcefully grabbed this when they were innocent and helpless. There were some scuffles also few months back which was reported to the police, but they alleged that police in connivance of these farmers did not take any action. Therefore the Mushars decided to kill them in order to teach them a lesson, some people say on condition of anonymity.  They contacted the left ultras, the police says, and with the help of them, they perpetrated this violence.

Bihar had been not witnessing such type of massacres for quite some time and people were taking sigh of relief that perhaps the massacres are the incidents of past. But this incident has again exposed that smoulder of hatred and violence still exist in the society. In recent years, Nitish Kumar had earned reputation of being a good administrator who has set the house in order. Media houses has been flooded with reports of improvement in law and order situation. This incident has again raised eyebrows of doubts and the government witll have to leave no stone unturned to improve the state police machinery and deal with therse elements with iron hands.

Land reforms has taken back seat over a decade or more. No political party, for risk of loosing vote banks dare to touch this contentious issue on one pretext or the other. Nitish Kumar, just after coming to power some three and half years ago, set up one ‘Land Reform Commission’ under a retired IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, D. Bandhopadhyay, who had earned reputation in West Bengal for implementing some excellent measures in that state. This Commission has submited its recommendations also some six months ago. The report has been made public also. But due to setbacks received by NDA( alliance of JD(U) and BJP) in the recently concluded bye elections, Nitish Kumar is not daring to implement the recommendations. The political observers say that recommendations like giving statutory rights to the share-croppers, which government said would be implemented very soon has infuriated the farmers, mostly upper and other backward castes. These groups opposed this move and voted against the NDA, the alliacnce of which Nitish Kumar is the chief minister.   Thus this opportunity of implementation of land reforms has also been lost. It is being said that now onwards no political party will even like these issues to be raised and discussed on public forums.

Markel to be chancellor for second term

IRON LADY; FIRST AFTER MARGRET THATCHER


Angela Markel is all set to become the Chancellor of Germany for the second term as election held on Sunday gave her fractured mandate to rule the nation for second time in row. Markel’s party Christian Democrats (CDU) and ruling coalition partner Social Democrats (SPD) fought election on separate manifesto but SPD performed badly and won only 23%of the votes. On the other hand, a pro-business party Free Democrats (FDP) secured 14% of the votes. The Markel’s CDU/CSU won 33%. Markel is not set to end the grand coalition with Social Democrats and forge alliance with FDP.

Markel, who become first woman Chancellor of Germany in 2005, by overshadowing the towering personality like Helmut Kohl, has proved herself by spectacular performance in so many difficult times for Germany. Silencing the critics who call Markel as unimpressive and under-performer leader, she sometimes outsmarted leaders like Gordon Brown and Obama also on a number of occasions at international platforms.

TOUGH JOBS AHEAD- Speculation was rife in international media ever since recession took second toll in Japan after USA when 55 years of rule of LDP and 8 years of rule of Republicans came to an end after elections which were held after recession has begun in Japan and USA respectively, that Markel would not be able to hold the key. Nevertheless, the jobs ahead her are not easy. The largest economy of Europe and biggest partner in EU, Germany too is facing rough times due to recession. The unemployment is all time high and economic recovery is sluggish. Although, Germany is not as shopaholic as many other European countries, the recession has taken heavy too here also. The export is low and deficit is high. The public debt is also not very comfortable. In this situation, the task is tough and mandate is thin. The performance of Free Democrats (FDP) has aroused expectations of the business community all time high. She had to fine tune her economic and financial policies so that the workers and owners both are satisfied. The vote percentage of left parties has registered a growth of 3.2% and they have secured 11.9%, therefore the job of Markel vis-a-vis reforms and austerity would not be so easy.

The erstwhile partner Socialist Democrats’ leader Westerwelle has said that he would act as a vigilant but responsible opposition. Markel, sensing the mood of the people and vote percentage she got, has said that her job would be for ‘all Germans’. 

MARKEL; AN IRON LADY- Born in 1954, Markel’s rise in Germany’s politics is somewhat meteoric. She joined CDU in 1990, when the entire World, especially Europe was in turmoil. The collapse and dismemberment of the USSR and subsequent end of communist world put tremendous socio-economic stress on many European countries including Germany. The Unification of East and West Germany had stymied the economic progress of Germany for quite some time. It was a phase of transition when Markel joined the party.  Within four years of joining politics, she became environment minister and her interaction with political figures like Helmut Kohl made her political more mature and administratively more acumen. In 2000, she was elected leader of CDU and in the election held after in 2005 she was elected to lead this nation. She became the first Chancellor of Germany a country historically in turmoil for years. She embarked on the journey and led successfully her nation to the present situation where even USA and UK has to think twice before refusing Germany’s words on international politics. Germany’s ascendancy to this position could be made possible by many others including Markel. That is why she rightly deserves to be called as Iron Lady, but only after Margret Thatcher.                    

G-20 Summit at Pittsburgh, will it be second Bretton Wood?

ACCOMMODATE MORE OR QUIT THE PLACE 

The G-20 summit at Pittsburgh, once the epicentre of America’s heavy industries has aroused many hopes and placed the World at new horizons. The world leaders of both developing and developed countries met together to explore ways to tide over the ongoing recession and evolve system to protect world economy from similar global financial crisis in future. The World has changed ever since the Lehman brothers fell and failed; the too big to fail is now too big to survive, a conceptual change that has penetrated into the hearts, minds and system of the people in Europe and in USA as well. What a change indeed! The collapse of WTC on 9/11 changed the American psyche and so did the collapse of Wall Street on 9/15. Although many people, especially American, would not like this similarity to be drawn, the history once written cannot be rewritten.

The first Economic Crisis, the Great Depression in 1930s led to assemblage of world leaders at Bretton Wood in England in 1944 and this led to subsequent emergence of new world economic order, an order which till 9/15 remained unshakeable. Now the world is changed place to live and think. The G-20 summit at Pittsburgh where leaders of both developed and developing countries were rubbing shoulders in one conglomeration is testimony and witness to this change. The change has arrived, now it is up to the leaders of the developed nations to accept graciously or not, is to be seen.

AGENDA AND EXPECTATIONS FROM G-20- the G-20 is now gradually assuming the role of navigator of the ship of world economy. The association which was formed in 1999   to undo the after-effects of Asian crisis has now grown bigger and stronger. The official members of G-20 now are Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi-Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UK and USA. Thus, gradually this organisation is grown both in size and strength and world is likely to take the rein of leadership from G-8 and hand it over to G-20. In fact this would be the biggest success of this organisation, a success for which probably founders had also not thought and longed for. 

Underpinning the significance of this Summit and understanding the indispensability of this group, the developed countries like USA and developed continent, the Western Europe have agreed to rub shoulders with the east and north. The north-south divide is being blurred; the abhorrence towards east by west is now bygone. Even Obama had to admit in UN general assembly that distinction of north and south no longer exits.  

The macro agenda of the summit was to strengthen, revamp, reorganise and reorient global financial architecture. The focus is to remove aberrations which have developed in the financial systems over decades since the Bretton- Wood. The aberrations are too obvious and conspicuous to be discussed. The voting right in IMF has to be rescheduled. China has a double the size of French economy, but even then France has more voting right than China. In fact, Europe as a whole has as big as 40% of voting rights in IMF even when it is only 25% of the world economy, whereas USA has only 17% voting rights with 25% share in world economy. Thus USA is also singing in chorus with Asian countries. In this summit the demand again was raised that Europe should give up at least 7-8% of its voting rights for countries like china and India, a demand Europe is unlikely to accept. Thus perhaps for the first time in the economic-political history in the modern times, USA is seen standing on the side of developing nations on such important international platform.  It was perhaps due to mounting pressure, the summit agreed to give 5% voting rights to countries like India and China.

MAJOR DECISIONS TAKEN- The decisions taken at Pittsburgh has been published in a book titled ‘G-20 leaders statement’ which entails 32 major points on which either consensus is arrived or decision is taken. Important among them are constitution of one Financial Stability Board (FSB) which would take care of the financial systems across the globe. India has also been made member to it which signifies the emerging importance India vis-a-vis fiscal and financial system. In fact, world community is very much impressed to learn how smartly Indian banking and other financial systems survived the shock. The statutory provisions with regard to keep minimum reserve to be kept by banks found place in the G-20 deliberations and the world leaders agreed that this model should be made applicable to all the banks across the world.   The FSB shall monitor and regulate whimsical and unfettered functioning of financial institutions which the most important factor was contributing to the GFC.  On the issue of revamping world financial institutions like IMF, the summit committed to reschedule the ‘Quota Formula’ of governance and give weightage to the emerging economies like Indian and China vis-a-vis their share in the world economy. They pledged that this review would be complete by 2011, which means that performance of the economies of these two ‘Asian Giants’ would remain under watch for a couple of years.

Apart from above decisions on economic fronts, the summit also took some very important and valuable decision in areas of climatic change, international terrorism, narco-drug smuggling, trade and commerce and stimulus packages etcetera.

To sum up the whole discussion one can have reservations to say that this Summit was a huge success, but there is no denying the fact that the G-20 has now occupied the driving seat and the engine of the world economic and financial vehicle can no longer be driven by the small group of nations comprised of USA, UK, Germany, France and Italy etc. G-20 has assumed the role of global leadership and would write the history of years to come, it is however premature to say that India has been given her due and desired share on the board.              

ESIC to gift one medical college to Bihar

CM NITISH KUMAR; get going

Union government has gifted Bihar a model medical college cum hospital. The Ministry of labour and employment, government of India, has decided to setup a medical college in Bihar. Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), a corporation under Union Ministry of Labour and employment, working for the benefit and welfare of the state employees, has planned to open a 500 beds medical college cum hospital at Bihata, a place some 50 KMs away from state capital Patna. Foundation stone of this proposed Medical College cum Hospital was laid by Meira Kumar, the speaker of Lok Sabah, who hails from Bihar.

This project would incur Rs/-523 crore and would be completed within a couple of years. The 500 bed hospital will be come up in 25 acres of land which has been made available by the state government. Speaking on the occasion, Malikarjun Kharge, the union minister for labour, said that this hospital will be the first of its kind and the labour ministry will provide additional funds also if need arises.

CM Nitish Kumar requested the minister to ask his officials to start the construction work as soon as possible. He also requested Mera Kumar to direct union ministry of health and family welfare to complete the AIIMS project at Patna. The proposed hospital’s foundation stone was laid by Bhairon singh shekhawat, the then Vice President some 8 years ago, but nothing tangible has so far been done. CM was particularly referring to the delay and requested both speaker and Minister to ensure that this project is completed within stipulated time.

If the ESIC project is completed in time, the session can begin from 2011-12 itself.  Minister elaborated upon the scheme and said that out of total seats for medicos, 40% each will go to all India test and state government and out of remaining 20% seats will go to the children and wards of the employees of ESIC and wards of insured employees. The process to take nod of MCI is underway, the minister added. At present there are 19 dispensaries and one model hospital in Bihar which are catering to the needs of employees. If this project gets completed in time, it will be a great boon for state as well as employees of the state. At present, the State has only 6 government medical colleges and two private medical colleges catering to the needs of about 8.5 crores population. The need to open new medical colleges and hospital both in government sector as well as in private sector is urgently felt. The CM, nitish kumar is desperately trying to improve healthcare infrastructure by way of creating more administrative and building infrastructure. He has already planned to open as many as 6 new medical colleges but due to procedural and legal wrangle, none of them could be started. The Medical Council of India (MCI), a regulatory body to oversee medical education created under an Act, has declined to give its nod to start the session in these proposed medical colleges.

In this backdrop, this step is a big leap for the CM who is leaving no stone unturned to improve the ailing state.             

WATER ON MOON; CHANDRAYAN I PIONEERED THE WORLD

WATER ON MOON; WHAT ABOUT ON EARTH

Chandrayan I, the maiden lunar mission of India had detected the existence of water on the surface of Moon much before its demise just previous month. The instrument of NASA called Moon Mineralogy Mapper i.e. MMM or M3 onboard Chandrayan-I has sent data and images which confirm existence of water on Moon ending four decades of speculation. Speculation had been rife and ideas had been vacillating ever since Apollo astronauts brought some sample rocks from the Moon in a box which got contaminated because the box leaked. The scientists therefore could not draw any inference on the basis of these contaminated rocks.

What is MMM or M3- Moon Mineralogy Mapper or triple M, popularly known as M3 is one of the two instruments which NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) had fitted on Chandrayan-I to collect images and gather data from the Moon. Chandrayan was fitted with 10 more other equipments apart from this M3. This instrument is led by Principal investigator Carle Pieters of Brown University and was managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA. This instrument is manufactured and designed to the state of the art imagining spectrometer which can provide high resolution spatial and spectral map of the surface of Moon.  M3 is a discovery Program, a series of low cost instruments which focuses on scientific space missions. M3 is one such instrument which was installed into Chandrayan-I and sent some information. The instrument picked up electromagnetic radiations from the rocks of the lunar surface.

BASIS OF CLAIM- Scientists have drawn preliminary inference that water could have been formed due to interaction of Oxygen and Hydrogen. The Oxygen might have been present in the rocks and soil present on the lunar surface and Hydrogen might have come due to nuclear fusion taking place in the sun. In fact, due to ongoing nuclear fusion in the sun, the photons are emitted which contain hydrogen. The interaction of Oxygen and Hydrogen (O+H2= H20) forms water and this calculation is the basis on which it is being said that lunar surface has water.

M3 instrument analysed that how the sun light reflected from the surface of moon and mapped electromagnetically the presence of water on the surface. The wavelengths of received from M3 could be easily analysed because each matter gas or liquid has a different wavelength of electromagnetic image.

FINDING OF CENTURY- it is a being termed as the finding of century which brought to an end the four decades of speculation. Although the available water is not in abundant or in pool and is in form of moistures in rocks and soils, it is a big leap in scientific exploration. The NASA has also confirmed this findings with a sense of gratitude towards ISRO and Chandrayan-I.   

CLAMOUR FOR CLAIM- the findings has now been confirmed by NASA and subsequently it has been put to online edition of Science journal. With the completion of these formalities, the exploration is confirmed and the scientific communities have accepted the findings of M3. Although NASA has thanked ISRO for making this discovery possible, quarrel is likely to begin as to who is the real taker of credit, NASA or ISRO. The world and especially west would not like to accept this claim very easily due to inherent societal and scientific temperament whereas the Indian scientist community will leave no stone unturned to stake the claim in its accounts. Director of NASA Jim Green said ‘water ice on the moon has been something of a holy grail for lunar scientists for a very long time’. Commending the discovery, Carle Pieters, Principal Investigator said ‘for silicate bodes, such features are typically attributed to water and hydroxyl-bearing materials’. Downplaying excessive euphoria, she said that evidence of water on the Moon does not mean that it is in lakes and oceans or even puddles, it is in molecules and embedded in rocks.

There is no doubt about the fact that it is a big leap and discovery is made by an instrument which was built and installed by NASA, the association of Chandrayan-I with it can never be ruled out and name of India and ISRO have permanently been associated with this historic scientific event which will pass into the pages of history.     

                

BIHAR WATER POLICY ON ANVIL

TAP IT AS FLOWS INTO OCEAN

Bihar is a land of paradoxes. The northern part of the state is flooded with both under and surface water whereas; the southern and central part of the province not so lucky and richly endowed with this resources. But at the same time the north Bihar bears almost invariably every year the brunt of rivers like Kosi, Adhwara groups, Bagmati, Kamal balan etc. the districts falling under this region experience wrath of the virulent and furious rivers every year leaving hundreds dead and extensive damages. This year also, the state is marked by this dichotomy and paradox. The 26 districts of central and north Bihar have been declared drought hit whereas about 6-7 districts have been facing wraths of flood fury. The people of Bihar have accepted this state of affairs as nature’s injustice to them, but government, this time, seems determined to fight to finish this natural calamity once for all.

It is therefore and under this backdrop, the Government of Bihar is coming out with a comprehensive water policy very soon.  A draft has already been prepared by the Water Resource Department (WRD) and put to website for inviting suggestion from across the board and people at large. In fact, during the last year’s unprecedented flood in North Bihar caused by Kosi River, which devastated the socio-economic fabric of almost entire northern region of the state, necessitated the government to evolve such policy with respect to water management and flood control. The extensive damage caused by this flood, which according to many was nothing short of a catastrophe, had evoked public debate in the media and in government circles also. Many experts suggested that merely doing some anti-erosion and embankment strengthening would not work. A plethora of suggestions in forms of articles, columns and seminars were put into public domain regarding flood control and disaster management. It was during this period the details of steps suggested by the engineers and civil servants during British government also came up for discussion. Only few months ago, Rajendra Singh and Sandip Pandey, both Magsaysay award winner came to Bihar and delivered speech. They suggested ways to conserve and manage water resources. They were particularly averse to the idea of taming rivers by way of construction of dams and embankments. The duo was in favour of allowing the rivers to flow their natural courses.    

The ‘Saharsa Gazetteer’ a valuable document, which entails details about the flood control, safety of embankment of rivers etc, also drew government’s attention. Many engineers and experts are of the opinion that the government’s apathy and neglect towards these old but precious documents, which according to them are as valuable as anything and adoption of strategies on adhoc basis has allowed the situation to go from bad to worse.    

Taking cue from all such documents and suggestions, the govt has decided to formulate a comprehensive water policy of the state so that strategies to tackle the problems related to rivers are evolved. The objectives of this proposed policy are

·      Irrigation and flood management so that flood devastation is mitigated

·      To evolve water drainage system in the affected areas

·      Development of river basin system and transfer of river basin from excessive water availability area to scanty water availability area. The idea is to transfer water from north to south region of the state

·      Strengthening river embankment to tame the fury of river

·      Interlinking river on lines of river linking mega project of national government.

·      Deepening of river and de-siltation of rivers

·      To treat north and south Bihar rivers on different footing and evolve different strategies for these rivers.

·      Recycling of underground water and evolve and formulate rain water harvesting rules and laws. The excessive exploitation of underground water especially by commercial enterprise are sought to be regulated and the government is determined to enact law related to it also.

·      Evolve multi-sectoral approach  etc

Officials connected with the WRD say that the CM is committed to give final shape to this policy very soon and like to announce it on republic day celebration on 26^th January, 2009.

INDIA LAUNCHES 7 SATELLITES

MORE FEATHERS IN CAP

Indian Space programme got another further in its cap following successfully launch of seven satellites by rocket, the PSLV on Wednesday from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Out of the seven satellites launched, six belonged to foreign countries, meaning thereby that India’s share in multi-billion dollar international space market has been on increase. This is the first space venture by India after failure of Chandrayan- I, a setback which many called a fiasco. This success is being viewed as a major breakthrough and confidence building event because the failure of Chandrayan-I had stigmatised Indian space programme in eyes of cynical elements.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is a seven storeys and 230 tonne rocket and this launch was the 16^th mission by PSLV for India. The credibility of this satellite Launch vehicle has immensely increased because now more and foreign countries are showing confidence in this vehicle for launch of their satellites.

The 21^st century is era of space and satellites, and commercial launch vehicle can earn huge revenues in space market. Therefore India should augment its space programme and can further improve upon PSLV so that we can earn huge resources to finance our future space and defence programme.         

Global Mental Health Summit held in Athens

POISED TO TAKE ON LEADERSHIP


The first ever summit on Mental Health was convened in Athens, the capital of Greece on 2-6^th September, 2009. This Global Mental Health Summit (GMH) was hosted as a part of world federation for mental health biennial congress. It was the first global initiative in this regard to focus attention on the growing problem of metal disorders and mental depressions. This summit was supported by global organisations like Lancet, The welcome trust and World’s initiative on psychiatry etc.  The theme of this conglomeration was ‘working together for Mental Health’. The theme itself signifies the importance of this congress which is the first global concerted and serious effort in this regard. The participants deliberated upon among other things issues like scaling up mental health in low income countries, human rights and metal disorders (how human right violations take place of the mentally disordered patients, chaining, whipping etc are frequently reported in media in India and other countries also.) and strategies for future.

With the changing pace of time in terms of economic, social, political and ethical metamorphosis, the stress on mind, cutting across the social stratum, is now a global phenomenon. Its impact is devastating both in terms of mental agony and social disorder. The impact may not be as perceptible and discernible as any other pandemics like H1N1 etc, but its long term impact on social and psychological tapestry is more deleterious than any other disease. It is perhaps due to this fact, the mental health disorder or mental depressions are termed as silent and mute pandemic.

According to one rough estimate, because there is no census on this issue in India, there are roughly 40 million people suffer from mental depressions. Number of mental illness, which is an advance stage of mental disorder, is about 30 to 35 lakhs in India. According to National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), by 2010 this disease will be largest and shall overtake cardiovascular disease in this country. The global figure of metal depression persons is around 120 million, and this number is increasing by leaps and bounds. Many psychiatrics are of the opinion that the ongoing Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has only added to the agony. The uncertain future, job cuts, rising inflation and soaring unemployment have inflamed the situation. There is however no such survey or specific scientific study conducted on this issue, the recession has inflated depression and there is no doubt about it.

Under the prevailing circumstances, this summit is being attached immense significance both in India and abroad.  In India the availability of psychiatrics and psychiatric nurse is dismal. There is only 0.05 Psychiatric per one lakh patients in India whereas the trained nurses for this job are 0.16 per one lakh only.

Hopefully this World Summit would spread awareness and will make people acquainted with the horrifying scenario of this silent but deadly pandemic.  Although we have enacted legislation in 1987 itself, which is known as Mental Health Act, 1987, this law requires amendment because either most of the provisions have become obsolete or they are not in commensurate with the changing pace of problem. A comprehensive bill with respect to this disease or disorder, whatever one calls it, is lying pending; it therefore be discussed and with necessary changes be passed as soon as possible.