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Not on whims India as super power |
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Well done, Sania
Drug law causes concern
A tonic for free
Broadbanding your way to .in servers Chatterati
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Not on whims THE Supreme Court ruling against peremptory withdrawal of criminal cases against individuals is welcome as it is expected to remove arbitrariness in the actions of the government and uphold the rule of law. Unfortunately, most governments at the Centre and in the states have been withdrawing criminal cases against individuals, especially politicians, at their whims and fancies. The apex court has now applied brakes on this highly partisan and opportunistic decision-making in the administration of justice. Its directive to all the High Courts and the trial courts that the prosecution can withdraw a case only after due consideration of all the relevant facts would hopefully put an end to the earlier practice which was not only improper but also in gross violation of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Bihar is a classic example of how the Rabri Devi government misused its discretionary power in withdrawing the charges of attempted murder against Union Minister of State for Civil Supplies Mohammed Taslimuddin. The complainant, who sought justice as most witnesses turned hostile, was persuaded to apply for the withdrawal of the eight-year-old case. Even before the court could take note of this plea, the government stepped in and suo motu withdrew the case. The Supreme Court promptly halted this arbitrary and questionable move and issued notice to the state government. Similarly, in September 2000, the Supreme Court passed severe strictures against the then S.M. Krishna government in Karnataka and stayed the release and withdrawal of cases against 115 associates of forest brigand Veerappan in exchange for Kannada film star Rajkumar, who was taken hostage by him. The court asked the Chief Minister to either fulfil his constitutional responsibilities or quit office. The judgement enjoins a special responsibility on both the government and the courts to handle the issue of withdrawal of cases with utmost circumspection so that justice is not derailed and the due processes of law are not subverted. Similar care and attention need to be given to the cases at the investigation stage also so that the guilty are punished and the innocents not harassed. |
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India as super power THE latest Central Intelligence Agency report mentioning that India will be a super power by 2020 is more amusing than true. Nevertheless, it should prompt introspection. The CIA’s aim is to prepare the US for future economic challenges from China and India. The spurt in growth in the two countries is credited to the IMF-World Bank’s reform agenda, which aims to push privatisation, deregulate trade and open up markets. The growth story, commendable no doubt, has to be seen in perspective. As is now admitted openly by the Prime Minister, the reforms have not benefited rural India. Hence, his government’s thrust on agriculture and the rural poor. The urban middle class, aided by easy availability of loans, is expanding and lapping up Western-style consumerism, buying whatever is available, with all the attendant consequences. Here is a reality check: one bad monsoon can destabilise the whole economy. Here is an emerging super power dependent on the rain god! Pressure on land, water and energy resources is growing to dangerous levels. Drinking water is either inadequately available or polluted. Fifty lakh Indians are HIV positive today — progressing from one case in 1986. A vast majority is still illiterate. The government is heavily debt-ridden, burdened with a ballooning fiscal deficit. Institutions required to support a growing state are weakening. Criminals in politics use the administration for personal benefits with a bureaucracy either indifferent to or conniving in the misuse of state power. There is no scam-free financial system. Also, there is not a single global-level financial institution to boast of. The CIA report recognises some of these weaknesses. The need is to understand and tackle them as also to build on strengths, which are also well known. China is much ahead of India in sustaining a higher growth rate and attracting foreign investment but it lacks democratic institutions, a reliable political power structure, transparency in economic data and a developed capital market. Both can join hands and, along with other Asian countries, promote common interests to ensure peace and prosperity in the region. |
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Well done, Sania SANIA MIRZA won handsomely, even as she was defeated by former world champion Serena Williams at the Australian Opens. The 18-year-old Hyderabadi, capitalising on a wildcard entry, had already become the first Indian woman to have reached this far in a Grand Slam event, before she lost 1-6, 4-6 to Serena. It was an expected end to what had become a glorious run for Sania, who was ranked 166 in the world. She was playing against an opponent ranked seventh. By reaching the third round after defeating Petra Mandula of Hungary in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, Sania had scaled unprecedented heights for Indian women. Earlier, Nirupama Vaidyanathan (Sanjeev) had got to the second round of the Australian Open in 1998. Sania's performance against Serena has raised the hope of her fans, and indeed, the entire nation. Her coach, Krishna Bhupathi, father of Mahesh Bhupathi, says that Sania's performance against Serena had made him reassess his opinion about her potential. He sees a great future for her, an assessment many Indians would love to see come true. Sania has become one of the very few non-cricketing icons in India. Indeed, Sania, who started playing tennis when she was six, has done more for this game at a younger age than even earlier legends like Vijay and Anand Amritraj, Leander Paes and Ramesh Krishnan. Her positive attitude and a balanced approach have won her many admirers. She has emerged as a role model for the youth who would be enthused to take up sports as a career. Tennis has benefited greatly from her success. India has some good tennis facilities, but more needs to be done. Sania Mirza's success will surely provide a fillip to the game in particular and to sports in general. |
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Home is where you come to when you have nothing better to do. — Margaret Thatcher |
Drug law causes concern
ON December 27, the Union government promulgated an ordinance introducing a new product patent regime for pharmaceuticals by amending the Indian Patent Act of 1970 for the third time. The ordinance is pursuant to the Government of India’s decision to sign the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement in 1994 under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation committing the country to a product patent regime with effect from January 1 this year. The Bill to amend the Act is expected to be debated in Parliament and/or its standing committees — and the debates are expected to be rather acrimonious. Although government spokespersons have claimed that the ordinance is a “balanced” one that would provide opportunities to manufacturers of pharmaceuticals to develop new drugs while protecting the interests of society at large, it has been vehemently opposed by different sections for a wide variety of reasons. Social activists have argued that the new regime would result in the prices of particular medicines shooting up making them completely unaffordable by the poor. Domestic manufacturers have argued that the new regime would intensify unfair competition from giant multinational corporations and result in sharp increases in the imports of certain drugs. Interestingly, even large pharmaceutical MNCs have expressed their unhappiness with particular provisions of the new law on grounds that these do not provide adequate protection for new innovations, inventions and discoveries, that these do not apply retrospectively and because official procedures allegedly remain unwieldy. There are some who have argued that since the ordinance has not pleased anyone, it may not be all that bad. According to N. K. Singh, former member, Planning Commission: “It may well be that since all parties are equally unhappy, the statute appropriately balances the rights and obligations of all stakeholders!” Yet others, such as lawyer Rajeev Dhavan, are of the view that by rushing through the amendment without proper parliamentary scrutiny, the Indian government “is short-changing its post-Doha (round of the WTO) obligations to both its own and to the world’s poor” thereby putting the country’s “sovereignty, prestige and obligations at risk”. It is difficult in a short article to delineate in detail all the complex issues that are involved in the patents debate, but a few key concerns can be summarised. Since 1970, the Indian pharmaceuticals industry has expanded by leaps and bounds and an important reason for the industry’s expansion has been on account of the fact that the country’s law had patented processes and not products. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had dramatically stated in May 1981 that her “idea of a better world is one in which medical discoveries would be free from patent and there will be no profiteering from life and death”. The process patents regime enabled local companies to “reverse engineer” drug molecules that were patented in other countries. This made medicines available to the poor at very low prices, in fact, at rates that were perhaps among the lowest — if not the lowest — anywhere in the world. What was described as reverse engineering was derogatorily dismissed as “successful copying” by large international firms. Pharma MNCs argued that such practices discouraged innovation and research into new drugs, since the development and commercialisation of a new drug is extremely expensive (around $ 500 million) and time-consuming (around a decade). Critics of this argument would, in turn, point out that the rights of the inventor would have to be circumscribed by his/her obligations to society. This conflict of interest is best illustrated by the examples of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS that are so highly priced as to render them beyond the reach of the vast majority of those afflicted by HIV/AIDS, especially those residing in Africa. To some extent, the WTO summit at Cancun in September 2003 recognised the existence of this dilemma and allowed manufacturers in developing countries (such as this country’s Cipla) to sell anti-AIDS medicines to African countries at prices that were a fraction of the rates charged by Western pharma MNCs. Spokespersons of the Indian government such as Industry Secretary Ashok Jha have argued that the impact of the new product patents regime on medicine prices would be “minimal” as 97 per cent of the drugs that are currently available in the market are off-patent. Besides, there are alternatives to even the remaining 3 per cent of the drugs that have patents on them, he has stated, adding that the World Health Organisation has specified only 350-odd drugs as “essential” none of which has patents on it.. There are counter-arguments to this line of reasoning. While it may be true that over 90 per cent of the drugs currently being marketed in India are off-patent, this proportion would decline to around 70 per cent in the coming years as more and more new medicines would have product patent protection. As far as specific consumers are concerned, especially those belonging to the underprivileged sections of society, they would have to pay exorbitant prices should they require patented medicines. It is apparent that sharply divergent interests are involved in harmonising the requirement of pricing drugs as low as possible with the need to encourage investments in research and development of new pharmaceutical products. Under the TRIPs Agreement, India had to provide for a “mailbox” or a mechanism to accept patent applications till such time as the amended law was put in place. There are reportedly around 12,000 applications in the mailbox and it would take the government between three and four months to open all the applications. Thereafter, it would take another three years, perhaps longer, before the first patent under the new regime is granted. The new law provides for pre-grant opposition that would have to be filed within three months of the publication of the patent application — a period that is considered by some to be too short. There are many other aspects of the new product patents regime that are certain to prove even more contentious, including the provision for compulsory licensing that could, at least theoretically, enable the government to check profiteering by a monopolistic medicine manufacturer. These debates have only just begun and are surely going to become bitter —more than even the most foul-tasting medicine — in the months ahead. Scottish Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) who discovered penicillin did not patent it in the hope that this would help develop the product as a cheap and effective drug. He sneered at those who suggested that he could have made a huge personal profit for himself and remarked: “I can only suppose that God wanted penicillin and that was his reason for creating Alexander Fleming”. Inventors like Fleming are hard to find in today’s materialistic world. |
A tonic for free
THE Almighty, in his infinite wisdom, blessed me with four daughters but overlooked the necessity of providing me and my wife with a son who might have been a prop in our old age. I say “might” because one never knows how a cherished son may turn out while passing through the various stages of his life. He may, for instance, take to drugs while still in his teens. A little later he may develop a fondness for “borrowing” parked cars to take out his girl-friends for a “spin” and what else. Worst of all, he may become a politician and get you into trouble by making investments and buying real estate in your name. All things considered, it was just as well that after our fourth attempt to produce a son we decided to call it a day. And, reading a rather astounding report in a foreign newspaper the other day, I am thankful that in the prime of my life I did not take to that ungainly form of exercise known as “jogging” which involves shaking one’s head from said to side and propelling one’s arms back and forth like a pair of pistons. The eye-catching caption of the news item said, “Jog for will-power, sex and confidence.” What it said in its first paragraph must have given our “sex specialists”, whose clinics throng our bazaars, sleepless nights. So much so that a foreigner visiting our country, and unaware of our census figures, must wonder if we are a nation of impotent males and infertile females. According to Dr Igor Dorno of Moscow, “In addition to acting as an invigorating tonic, jogging tones up the urogenital system thus leading to an overall improvement in sexual performance”. “Hypokinesis”, says the learned doctor, “or low mobility in present-day society has a direct adverse effect on the male urogenital system.” What, obviously, the doctor does not know is that we Indians are the least mobile people in the world and this pleasant and unflustered way of life has in no way affected our reproductive capabilities. Statistically, only the Chinese are ahead of us in this respect being more philosophical in their outlook on life and more prolific breeders. Not being Chinese, or a philosopher, I have not achieved that “sublime state of happy inactivity” that Dr Lin Yutang speaks of in his book, “The Importance of Living”. But I do view with kindly tolerance the men and women of all ages and shapes who jog past my gate as I step out to collect the morning newspapers. As a rule, the male joggers wear gym-shorts and singlets and the women, track suits. If some of the latter copied the men I may, perhaps, be happy to join them in their “toning up” exercise but, then, at my age, to what purpose?
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Broadbanding your way to .in servers
.in This signifies that the website has been registered in India. Every country has its top-level domain on the Internet. Thus for the United Kingdom, it is .uk, for India it is .in, for Canada, it is .ca. Every nation has its own registry that allocates domain addresses, and recently the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has allocated domain names to big companies that hold various trademarks. The .in Registry is an autonomous body primarily responsible for maintaining the .in country-code top-level domain and ensuring its operational stability, reliability, and security.
blog An abbreviation of Weblog, it is a Web page that is accessible to the public, often used as an online personal journal. An early promise about the Web was that it would put some of the power of the press back in the hands of regular people, and blogs do that to a certain extent. There are more than 30 lakh bloggers on the Web and about 3 per cent of those who access the Net access blogs. Typically, people read blogs because of curiosity, and to get varied opinions on news, issues, and other matters of interest, to find people with similar interests and ideas and for entertainment. Blogs are often lauded for originality but can be disorganised, just as most personal journals can be. However, blogging has become an important sub-culture on the Net and has gained respectability since it is often seen as an alternative to the pro-establishment media releases. The recent US occupation of Iraq has produced some provocative anti-establishment blogs. Here are some interesting ones: www.filmfodder.com www.dvdverdict.com (movies) Econlog.econlib.org www.argmax.com (economics) www.metafilter.com www.blogcritics.org (media) and wvs.topleftpixel.com www.adayinthelife.org (photography).
broadband Technically, the term is used to define a wire that can carry several channels and can support a wide range of frequencies. However, in the context of the Internet, it means any Internet connection with a download speed of more than 56-128 kilobits per second (kbps). More and more companies are promising broadband connectivity at affordable rates in India now, which will certainly make it easier for IT professionals to communicate with each other and work together. When we say that the Internet is slow, we are normally referring to the speed of the connection that we are using, not the Net in itself. A typical dial-up connection is not more that 56-128 kbps, whereas broadband connections offer many times more in connectivity, many a times over 1mbps
Domain name Your domain name is the address of your website on the Internet. Typically, you would want the name to be identified with your product or your name. In most cases, the name is given on a first-come-first-served basis. Due to misuse, such allocation has been successfully challenged legally, and a name given back to the rightful owners, but the process is cumbersome. In India, for the .in registration by NIXI, the domains are initially being allocated only to respective trademark owners, thus on the Tata company can get the Tata domain name. Actually, the domain name is not a real address on the Internet; it is more like a post office box. The real address is your IP address. Domain names are stored in thousands of servers, called Domain Name Servers (DNS), which match these names with the IP addresses, so as to make browsing on the Net more pleasurable.
IP address A particular number that identifies computers connected through the Internet or other networks. It is a long string of numbers and full stops. A typical network IP address would be 10.0.0.5 Technically speaking, the addresses are 32-bit numeric written as four numbers separated by full stops. Each number can be zero to 255. Given the difficulty of dealing such numbers, the domain name system was created. In this, easily-remembered domain names are stored in servers along with the correct IP addresses. When a domain name request is typed in a browser, the DNS server matches it with the IP address and directs the user to that server.
Server A computer that serves other computers, connected to it via a network, by providing a specific service or services. Servers are used in small networks and large networks may have many interconnected servers. There can be many kinds of servers, such as application servers, chat servers, video servers, audio servers, file transfer servers, mail servers etc. A dedicated server is one that performs no other task. Of course, there are computers that act as servers also, rather than being only servers by executing several programs simultaneously.
SMS Short Messaging Service is the transmission of short text messages to and from a mobile phone, fax machine and/or a computer. The text could be numbers and alphabets and should not be longer than 160 characters. It can contain no graphic images, though sometimes the text is so arranged to look like graphics. A SMS centre holds the message till it has been delivered.
MMS An enhanced SMS, the Multimedia Message Service (MMS) transmits graphics, video clips, sound files and short text messages from one mobile phone to another. The service is expensive, requires special servers, and the users must have expensive phones to send as well as receive such messages. |
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Maya’s b’day party by Devi Cherian AS a kid I remember my parents going to attend political friends’ b’day parties. Even carrying flowers was a no, no. Things seem to have really changed now. Politicians celebrate their b’days now by literally having feasts and collecting funds. Maybe politics has become a real expensive business now. Now b’day parties are lavish with song, drama and strong political messages. In the past it was an intimate dinner with some friends and colleagues. Well recently Mayawati celebrated her b’day without a single leader visiting her to wish her. Though it was Kanshi Ram’s day out. Of course, his own family was missing. The b’day girl cut her cake, scooped a slice and gave her mentor the first mouthful. Amidst shouts of greetings from party workers, a numb and emotional Kanshi Ram fed Behenji some cake too. Even though the grandeur of two years ago was missing, it didn’t make any difference. It seems as if the UPA had given Mayawati the best b’day present she could ever hope for — the closure of the Taj corridor case. It seems the Sonia-Mayawati chemistry may be at work again. The Congress may like to firm up the support of Mayawati’s 19 MPs who back the UPA government from outside to offset the possibility of others like Laloo becoming difficult.
Page 3 style for dogs Oh, yes! Every dog has its day. Especially when it interacts with a member of the opposite sex and does some socialising page 3 style. A salon called Tailwaggers, which is ultimate in luxury treatment for dogs, is to co-ordinate rather novel meetings by hosting “doggie events”. They keep in touch with their bimonthly newsletter “Tailwagers’ news and views.” Fun themes like the Hawain bash and the Christmas party were great hits. At these gatherings there are tarot card readers, tattoo artists, caricature artists to attend to the odd pets and their owners. Fashion shows, political debates and even find-your-soulmate contests. Well, next on the list is a romantic Valentines Day bash in February. The owners recount that a lot of eyebrows were raised when they’d just started out. But now people have stopped scoffing and are more serious. They also provide high maintenance and grooming services. Nail clipping, ear cleaning, teeth brushing, aroma oil massage the works.
Cashing in on superstition We thought only politicians were superstitious. Surprisingly at the trade fair in the Capital superstition could qualify as a fast-moving consumer good if sales of a glass be claimed by the LA Turca, an Ankara-based firm. The glass depicts a blue eye that is said to be powered to counter envious looks or the evil eye, believed by many to bring a bad luck. You will see that the glass is worn by every second lady in the Capital today. This Turkish “nazar bonjuk” sounds familiar to the Indian “nazar pattu”, a nazar mark applied on the fact to ward off an evil look. |
Kam, Krodh, etc which are called the agents of Maya, have not been crushed, as some people think. —Guru Nanak The clever king grants wealth and domains to his mighty friend to arouse his gratitude. And in return, he seeks only friendship. It is this friendship which will bring his mighty friend to fight on his side during times of adversity. —The Mahabharata Peace will not come out of a clash of arms, but out of justice lived, and done, by unarmed nations in the face of odds. ‘Tit for tat’ is the law of the brute, of unregenerate man. —Mahatma Gandhi As you do to others, so will others do to you. Thus if you think well for others; they too will think well for you. Everything in life has a reciprocal relationship. If one returns bad for the good that we do to him, rest assured that he will suffer the results of his action. —The Bhagavadgita  |
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