 |
|
RBI to farmers’ rescue Cheaper medicines |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
N. Korea back to talks It chooses the best option available North Korea agreeing to return to the six-nation talks on its controversial nuclear programme is a welcome development, though it is on the expected lines. Pyongyang finds itself in a better bargaining position after successfully conducting a nuclear test on October 9 despite the UN Security Council imposing sanctions on it.
A challenge before Europe
Flowering in Chaman
Development is about humans, not just incomes Punish guilty for police’s hour of shame The day that changed the climate
|
RBI to farmers’ rescue The RBI monetary policy review, changed from twice to four times a year now, affects both individuals and institutions, but banking jargon makes it dull and complicated. That is why an important announcement like one-time loan settlement for farmers got buried in details and the media failed to highlight it. Like sick companies, heavily indebted farmers too can avail the facility of clearing their dues on easier terms. Another significant change in the credit policy is regarding home loans. A bank can no longer change arbitrarily the floating interest rate on a home loan. The RBI has responded to reported malpractices like banks raising the floating interest rates thrice while hiking the prime lending rate only once. When the economy is on the right track and growing at a satisfactory pace, why tinker with the financial system? That seems to be the guiding factor for the RBI in announcing its mid-year review. The RBI has made only one key change: it has raised the repo rate — the rate at which the RBI lends funds to banks — by 0.25 per cent. The chief motive behind the repo rate hike is to tighten the money supply. The demand for home, commercial and consumer loans is growing at the rate of 30 per cent a year. The central bank has warned of a possible bubble in the making in the real estate. The RBI is keen to contain inflation. However, the prices of food and other essential items have not risen because of excessive money supply. There is not enough supply of wheat, pulses and other eatables. Although the RBI aims to keep inflation around 5 per cent, the ideal will be 3 per cent as was achieved in 2003. The declining global oil prices should help in achieving the target. The RBI growth rate projection of 8 per cent is rather conservative given the 8.9 per cent growth achieved in the first quarter of the current fiscal. There may be signs of overheating in select sectors of the economy. The RBI need not worry as its own evidence on overheating has been inconclusive. |
|
Cheaper medicines With even some cough syrups priced at a couple of days’ worth of daily wages, several essential drugs were simply out of reach of the poor man. Following the decision earlier this year to slash margins heavily, the government has now released the price reduction list of 866 generic drugs, to be effective on all batches manufactured after October 2. Profit margins for wholesalers and retailers have been fixed at 15 and 35 per cent, respectively, revised downwards from the hefty margins that existed earlier on some drugs. Generic drugs are those that are not sold under a brand name, and should ideally be cheaper. But some of these drugs were selling at margins as high as 1000 per cent, a fact acknowledged by both the ministry and the industry. In most countries, generic drugs are cheaper. Manufacturers do not incur branding and promotion costs. But in India, cost of these drugs used to be comparable to those of branded products. The ministry wished to encourage generic drugs by keeping them out of price controls, but such an approach was clearly not working. Earlier this year, the decision to cap margins was finally taken. The sharp cut was proposed by the Sandhu Committee, and its recommendations have prevailed despite the initial resistance from the trade and industry. Lower caps on margins exist for branded drugs as well. A whole swathe of generic medicines are now cheaper, covering anti-diabetes drugs, antibiotics, cough syrups, pain killers and several others. Compliance will be important and the ministry should closely monitor the ground situation. Quality should be monitored as well, and spurious drug manufacturers should be dealt with in a firm manner. The move to include taxes in the printed MRP on drugs has also come into effect and compliance should be enforced. Pharma companies will also have to include labelling in Hindi. All these measures should serve to inform and empower the consumer. A comprehensive pharma act is reportedly in the pipeline, and this should be utilised to benefit all stakeholders. |
|
N. Korea back to talks North Korea agreeing to return to the six-nation talks on its controversial nuclear programme is a welcome development, though it is on the expected lines. Pyongyang finds itself in a better bargaining position after successfully conducting a nuclear test on October 9 despite the UN Security Council imposing sanctions on it. North Korea, perhaps, demonstrated its nuclear weapons manufacturing capability in defiance of world opinion so that it could negotiate from a position of strength. The talks, which may begin in Beijing by the end of the year, are expected to be focused on the September 19, 2005, joint statement issued by the countries involved in the dialogue on the North Korean nuclear issue. Nothing beyond this can be said at this stage as there are no preconditions for the resumption of the negotiations, which had got snapped when Pyongyang refused to abandon the nuclear path before the incentives offered were actually made available to it in 2005. Yet, the development has led to optimism particularly in the US, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan, the countries involved in the talks, besides North Korea. The credit for this “step forward” is being given to China, the biggest trading partner of North Korea, but the breakthrough on the resumption of talks has been possible after a meeting in Beijing between representatives of the poverty-stricken communist country and the US. Interestingly, during the Beijing dialogue the US agreed to discuss the question of lifting the financial sanctions imposed on Pyongyang as and when the six-party talks begin. The development may not immediately ease the regional tension that followed the North Korean nuclear blast, but it is expected to help President Bush’s Republican Party in improving its image during the coming Congressional elections in the US. North Korea’s going ahead with its nuclear programme is considered a major policy failure for the Bush administration. Pyongyang, too, may be a gainer in the sense that there may be some change in the attitude of its major trading partners, particularly China. Or North Korea may use the time between now and the beginning of the talks to finalise its next course of action.
|
|
More things are wrought by prayer/Than this world dreams of. — Lord Tennyson
|
A challenge before Europe
THE 27 member European Union, stretching from the shores of the Atlantic to the Baltic republics, encompasses a region where economic integration and a growing consensus on foreign and security challenges are replacing old animosities and prejudices. The Russians view this development with suspicion — as an effort to contain their traditional influence in neighbours across their western borders. But President Putin knows that with Russia’s immense resources of oil and natural gas, he can strike partnerships with major powers like Germany and respond with equanimity and good humour to EU sermons about human rights and Chechnya. India has done well in the manner it has engaged its EU partners. With a population of around 470 million, the combined EU has a GDP higher than that of the US, a common currency in 12 member-states and accounts for 20 per cent of global trade. The EU is today India’s largest trading and investment partner. During a recent visit to Germany, I found that there is a growing interest in India’s economic potential, contemporary Indian literature and Indian democracy’s response to the challenges posed by terrorism and religious fundamentalism. India is one of the few countries with which the EU has a comprehensive strategic partnership, being implemented with a Joint Action Plan. This would be reinforced if a comprehensive trade and investment agreement is concluded in the next few years. With Indian industry showing signs of strong revival and growth, countries like Germany are ideally placed for investment in areas like precision engineering, transportation, automobile components and chemicals. Nearly 1600 Indo-German joint collaboration agreements and 600 Indo-German joint ventures are presently in operation. SAP AG, the world’s largest business software maker, plans to invest $ 1 billion in India over the next five years. I noted during recent visits to Ireland, the UK, Belgium and Germany that despite transparent norms on tolerance, respect for human rights and multiculturalism, countries like the UK, France, Germany and Spain are now finding that their greatest domestic challenges arise from what they perceive is the unwillingness of their growing Muslim immigrant communities to integrate with what are referred to as Judaic-Christian values. Recent rioting by Muslim immigrants in France has led to the emergence of political leaders like Mr Nicholas Sarkozy who are determined to see that immigrants integrate into French society. In the UK, recent terrorist incidents, engineered by reasonably well-to-do Pakistani immigrants, influenced by the growing jihadi culture in Pakistan, have led to controversies on issues like whether it is appropriate for women in the UK to wear a “niqab” (veil). While in Germany, I saw extreme sensitivity prevalent on anything that is regarded as intolerance by German political leaders. The performance of the Mozart Opera “Indomeneo” had to be called off following threats from radical Islamists, provoking an angry response from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who disapproved of the Opera house in Frankfurt backing off in the face of terrorist threats. Merkel had earlier called for Muslim immigrants to identify with “western cultural values based on democracy and freedom”. But the real spark for recent European anger at what is seen to be “Islamic intolerance” was lit when the Danish newspaper
Jyllands Posten published 12 cartoons on September 30, 2005, the most provocative of which showed Prophet Mohammed with a lit fuse and the Islamic creed written on the bomb. This sparked off defiance in Europe at the consequent protests across the Islamic world and even in India, which led to 151 people being killed. Responding with a show of defiance, the Danish cartoons were reproduced by newspapers across Scandinavia and in the Netherlands, Germany and France. It was in this volatile atmosphere that speaking in Germany on September 12 on “faith and reason,” Pope Benedict alluded to a statement by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II in 1392 where the Byzantine ruler proclaimed: “Show me just what (Prophet) Mohammed brought that was new and there you will find only evil and inhuman, such as to spread by the sword of the faith he preached”. This entire quotation was said to have been alluded to in the context of the contradictions between the Christian belief that “there is no compulsion in religion” and Islamic teachings that allowed “spreading of the faith through force”. Not surprisingly, the Pope’s words produced outrage and condemnation in the Islamic world. In Europe, President Chirac cautioned against “anything that increases tensions between religions”. But rulers in Italy, Germany and Switzerland felt the Pope had done no wrong. The EU described the Pope’s words as a “theological contribution to a theological debate,” adding that the reactions had been “disproportionate” and “unacceptable”. European countries, including even those noted for being laid back on issues of religion, like the Netherlands, are now experiencing growing pressures to crack down on perceived manifestations of separatism, exclusiveness and resort to violence by their Muslim immigrant communities. The Dutch Parliament has banned the “niqab” This has followed targeted killings of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn, a politician who wanted curbs on Muslim immigration. Similar bans exist in some Flemish cities. France has banned Muslim girls wearing head scarves to school. France, the Vatican and a number of European countries do not want Turkey, a Muslim country and member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), to be admitted to the EU. Anger and suspicions directed against Muslim immigrant communities and the Islamic world has increased after the Madrid train bombings of March 2004, the terrorist attacks on the London metro system in July 2005 and the foiled attempt to blow up transatlantic flights from Heathrow earlier this year. According to the US National Intelligence Council, there are 15-20 million Muslims in EU countries, constituting 5 per cent of the population. This population is likely to double by 2025. According to American analyst Robert Leiken, Muslims in Europe are “distinct, cohesive and bitter. In countries like France they are ghettoised and abysmally poor”. But these criteria alone do not explain the fact that most suicide bombers and those resorting to terrorism, like in London, come from urban, middle class and not, impoverished backgrounds. There seems to be a disinclination in the Western world to accept that militant Islam that one sees in Pakistan and elsewhere is a product of Western funding and encouragement of the jihad waged against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. India’s strategic dialogue with the EU should be designed to discuss challenges that democracies and pluralistic societies face today from religious intolerance and from recourse to violence and terrorism in the name of
religion.
|
Flowering in Chaman
BELI RAM and Kirpal Singh started a modest timber business in Jhelum. Beli Ram being senior in age and also semi-educated was the dominant figure in the firm. Being highly ambitious they expanded it within a very short time. When they became really prosperous, the firm was declared bankrupt. Kirpal Singh being a freedom fighter under my father-in-law’s guidance, was under arrest at that time. Beli Ram decided to abscond. Starting life afresh at Chaman; a border town of Balochistan, this bright ambitious man soon carved his way in this transitory home. In a few years he earned enough money to return and restart life under a more prestigious name — Bawa Beli Ram. As soon as he returned home, he assembled the timber merchants and paid back the full amount to all his creditors. He made all-out efforts to amend for the pain he has caused to his wife and children, not forgetting the extended family who were equally dear to him. His partner, Kirpal Singh, after being released from jail, had no money to restart business. My husband’s maternal uncle, on my father-in-law’s advice, invested seed money for the venture. Both as equal partners, decided to put aside 2 annas for my mother-in-law and 7 annas each, share for themselves. Knowing that my father-in-law, Lala Avtar Narain Gujral, was a freedom fighter and was in and out of the jail, she needed an independent income of her own to live with dignity in his absence. My husband was in college and the younger children were in school when this share proved substantial help to meet the family needs. Bawa Beli Ram, more prestigious and experienced man on his return to Jhelum, decided to set up his independent industry. “Bawa Springs”, the first springs industry started by him in Punjab is still on the top level of this industry though there are scores of them now. Absconding to Chaman was instrumental in bringing prosperity to not only Bawa Beli Ram’s life, but all success to Kirpal Singh’s life too. Working with a sleeping partner and later with his adolescent son, Ved Prakash Bindra, he acquired immense confidence in himself. By the partition time Bawa Beli Ram had left for his heavenly home. The rest of them, Kirpal Singh and Ved Bindra, migrated to different cities of India doing reasonably well in life. None of us, including my husband, met Bawa personally but his contribution to Jhelum life is still appreciated by even those individuals who had only heard of his transformation in
Chaman. |
Development is about humans, not just incomes IN the 70s and 80s, economists believed economic growth and its trickle down effect would reduce poverty. However, despite years of planned development, market-oriented policy measures and high growth rates in recent years in many developing countries including India, enormous development challenges continue to confront us. In the 1990s Professor Mahbub ul-Haq and Amartya Sen, both from the South Asian region, greatly influenced the development debate. The late Mahbub ul -Haq cautioned against growth that is “jobless, rootless and ruthless”. They reminded us that development is about “human well-being” and not just about incomes. Indeed, this unique partnership of ideas around the concept and practice of “human development” that places people squarely at the centre of development is a seminal contribution to the way we think today. The “human development” approach was articulated through UNDP’s Human Development Reports (HDRs) under the leadership of Mahbub-ul-Haq, and the first in an annual series of HDRs appeared in 1990. These Reports defined human development as a process of enlarging people’s choices, using the language of human capabilities. The concept of human development has gradually evolved to encompass all areas of societal development -- income and livelihoods; provision of social infrastructure and services that are made available on an equal basis to all citizens; special emphasis on gender concerns; and stress on providing equal opportunity for political participation and respecting human rights. Emphasis has also been laid on the sustainability of environmental and natural resources. All of these concerns have been systematically addressed in global Human Development Reports over the past 16 years. The Human Development Index (HDI), which combines three indicators -- education, health and income with equal weight to each — and in particular the ranking of countries has gripped the world’s imagination. Every year when the Global HDR is released politicians, journalists, and opinion leaders turn first to the HDI to see how their country has fared in the HDI ranking. The HDI has become the world’s Report Card. Inspired by the global HDR, more than 500 national, sub-national and regional HDRs have been published. These have been instrumental in introducing the concept of human development into national and sub-national policy. India published its first national Human Development Report in 2001 and work on the next Report is underway in the Planning Commission. India pioneered the sub-national HDR with the publication of the first Madhya Pradesh State Human Development Report in 1995. This had a ripple effect and till date 17 Indian states have prepared their state HDRs and five more are under preparation. In India, the State Human Development Reports (SHDRs) have been successful “tools” in promoting the concept of human development as a compelling basis for development planning. Since the state governments own these Reports, they have accountability for action taken on the recommendations of the Reports. There have been some notable achievements in this regard. Following the preparation of the Madhya Pradesh HDR in 1995, the Government increased its investment in social services from 18% in the Eighth Plan Period to 42% in the Ninth Plan. This increased level of expenditure has also been sustained in the Tenth Plan. The Government of Maharashtra declared its 2003 budget as a human development budget and has since then drafted a “Social Responsibility Legislation” to bridge the human development gap with regard to vulnerable and marginalized groups. Since many state HDRs highlighted issues related to livelihoods of the poor, several states have commissioned studies on developing and strengthening livelihood strategies. The Government of Rajasthan has constituted a state-wide Mission on Livelihoods to explore livelihood options for its people within a human development framework. In order to operationalise human development, the first step is to influence and engender planning processes at all levels -- district, state and national. The formulation of the Eleventh Five Year Plan has opened up opportunities at the national and state levels for mainstreaming human development and gender concerns in the plans and budgets. With 17 State HDRs already published these Reports should be a useful resource for an analysis of the development challenges facing these states as the formulation process of the Eleventh Plan gets underway at the state level. The Government of India has called for human development indicators to form the basis of preparing district plans. Many state governments are preparing district level HDRs as a precursor to district plans. This recognizes the fact that the district is the administrative level at which the success or failure of development initiatives is often determined. Development goals and targets – national or global – will be achieved with concerted action at this level. It is not surprising therefore, that the common development framework for the UN in India, the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the period 2008-2012, will focus on capacity development at the local or district level to achieve social, economic and political inclusion especially for women and girls. One of the UN’s collective priorities will be to contribute to strengthening governance systems at the district level to make service delivery more efficient, effective and inclusive. The State HDRs must now catalyse coalitions of activists and public-spirited citizens to act in the spirit of “here and now”. It is time now for all development players to join hands in building a human development movement in India. It is only when we are able to keep the promises made by successive governments in national plans and at global forums to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 can the dream behind the human development approach be realized.
The writer is Senior Deputy Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme in India |
|
Punish guilty for police’s hour of shame BY its inept and brutal handling of the peacefully protesting veterinary students during the Chief Minister’s visit to Ludhiana on September 21, the Punjab Police has added to one of the darkest chapters of its history, which in any case has often been laced with allegations of gross violations of human rights. What makes the inhuman assault on innocent young girls by the police personnel doubly shocking is not only the rapacious manner in which the cops behaved but also – and especially – the way the senior police officers and the government top brass tried to pass it off as a routine error by some overzealous members of the force. I am still wondering why none of them stepped in to stop the animal-like misbehavior of their men in this case of daylight molestation. Was it this implicit belief about seniors’ silence and even acquiescence that had so emboldened the junior and middle rung officials to indulge in such shocking acts? The girls’ assembly in Ludhiana could in no way be construed as violent. To the extent that it was unlawful (if the magistrate on the scene had declared it to be so) there were civilized options available to the police to deal with it, including ensuring the presence of lady police in adequate strength in advance. Even worse than the tragic incident was what followed it. The government gave the police a clean chit, even an appreciation certificate by declaring that the police ‘acted with responsibility.’ Some responsibility this, considering the shameful photographs published in newspapers. All the subsequent events including the registration of cases against 200 students, ordering of police and then magisterial inquiries, the CM justifying the police, the SSP owning the police guilt and apologizing, and also withdrawing cases against students - all betray what is known as the ‘Keystone Cops’ syndrome, where the police is doing everything except what is right. The worst having happened, the government still did not wake up to its ‘responsibility.’ In view of the brazen nature of the case and the availability of irrefutable evidence, including photographic proof, the first part of the response mechanism should have been a statement by someone in a position of high authority, owning the wrongdoing. That should have been followed, by the invocation of Article 311 against the guilty official - removal from office without inquiry - and the registration of a case under Article 354 -molesting a lady. (If there was a justifiable case for the use of this article, it was here.) This is exactly the course that was rightly followed in the case of ‘stung’ police officials of
Nawanshahr. The third step should have been an expression of apology by the highest ranked police officer of the state, in conformity with the principle of collective departmental responsibility. None of this happened. The time to reform our police is now. Why wait for the implementation of the Supreme Court’s directives on police reforms? It is time for us as a nation to demonstrate a will to reform ourselves without waiting for fresh commandments every time a Moses goes up judicial Mount Sinai.
The writer is a former DGP, Punjab
|
|
The day that changed the climate Climate
change has been made the world's biggest priority, with the publication of a stark report showing that the planet faces catastrophe unless urgent measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Future generations may come to regard the apocalyptic report by Sir Nicholas Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank, as the turning point in combating global warming, or as the missed opportunity. As well as producing a catastrophic vision of hundreds of millions fleeing flooding and drought, Sir Nicholas suggests that the cost of inaction could be a permanent loss of 20 per cent of global output. That equates to a figure of £3.68 trillion - while to act quickly would cost the equivalent of £184bn annually, 1 per cent of world GDP. Across the world, environmental groups hailed the report as the beginning of a new era on climate change, but the White House maintained an ominous silence. However, the report laid down a challenge to the US, and other major emerging economies including China and India, that British ministers said cannot be ignored. Its recommendations are based on stabilising carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere at between 450 and 550 parts per million - which would still require a cut of at least 25 per cent in global emissions, rising to 60 per cent for the wealthy nations. It accepts that even with a very strong expansion of renewable energy sources, fossil fuels could still account for more than half of global energy supplies by 2050. Presenting the findings in London, Tony Blair said the 700-page document was the "most important report on the future" published by his Government. Green campaigners said that at last the world had woken up to the dangers they had been warning about for years. Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and likely next Prime Minister, assumed the task of leading the world in persuading the sceptics in the US, China and India to accept the need for global co-operation to avert the threat of a global catastrophe. He has enlisted Al Gore, the former presidential candidate turned green evangelist, to sell the message in the United States, with Sir Nicholas. While the Bush administration refused to be drawn on the report, US environmental groups seized on it to demand a major change in policy. "The President needs to stop hiding behind his opposition to the Kyoto protocol and lay a new position on the table," said the National Environmental Trust, in Washington. The Washington Post said in an editorial that it was "hard to imagine" that the "intransigence" of the administration would long survive its tenure. "Will [Mr Bush] take a hand in developing America's response to this global problem," it asked, "Or will he go down as the President who fiddled while Greenland melted?" Sir Nicholas's report contained little that was scientifically new. But British ministers are hoping his hard-headed economic analysis will be enough to persuade the doubters in the White House to curb America's profligate use of carbon energy. In the Commons, Environment Secretary, David Miliband, confirmed that ministers were drawing up a Climate Change Bill, which would enshrine in law the Government's long-term target of reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. But he declined to go into any detail. Mr Blair said the consequences for the planet of inaction were "literally disastrous". "This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime," he said. "We can't wait the five years it took to negotiate Kyoto - we simply don't have the time. We accept we have to go further [than Kyoto]." Sir Nicholas told BBC radio: "Unless it's international, we will not make the reductions on the scale which will be required." Pia Hansen, of the European Commission, said the report "clearly makes a case for action". Charlie Kronick, of Greenpeace, said the report was "the final piece in the jigsaw" in the case for action to reduce emissions. "There are no more excuses left, no more smokescreens to hide behind, now everybody has to back action to slash emissions, regardless of party or ideology," he said.
By arrangement with
|
All are born as human beings and everybody knows this fact. The deceivers have divided humanity into high and low. The path he taught incorporates both intellectual progress, spiritual progress with practice that reflects compassion, morality, wisdom and concentration while at the same time seeing and understanding the world of existence as it truly is. Give not what you want not as a gift.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
