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Going, going, nearly gone! Managing inflation |
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Organic Islands
It’s time for Indus-II
A lesson in bargaining
Cost of a new patent law Wrestling for an audience From Pakistan
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Going, going, nearly gone! Indian jungles are kingless. Those majestic tigers which ruled over them are as good as gone. Their last-ditch battle for survival has been a losing one of late, for the simple reason that impossible odds are stacked against them. For one, the men who matter do not even fully acknowledge the gravity of the situation. Take the Sariska sanctuary for example. It took many years for the authorities to concede that it might have been robbed of almost all its tigers. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s going to Ranthambore proves how bad the situation is. While it will help draw attention to the precarious situation, the visit itself won’t be enough. What is required is a holistic rescue mission on as big a scale as the magnitude of the problem. Poaching is a given. The returns that a tiger skin – as well as bones and other body parts – fetches are phenomenal. Chinese medicine believes these have therapeutic properties. That makes sure that the big cats are hunted ruthlessly. It is for the authorities to ensure that the marauders are not able to continue their murder-spree. What is undeniable is that such massive poaching cannot take place without official patronage. That does not mean that all those employed to take care of the vanishing species are out to hunt them but the few that are willing to sell their morals are enough to make a mockery of the whole exercise. Project Tiger was well-meaning all right but could not really make a difference, thanks to the official apathy and red-tapism. Another major cause for the alarming plunge in the population of lions and tigers is the running battle between the wildlife and the communities living on the edges of sanctuaries. The two fight for space and food. The latter feel that it is inhuman to take care of the animals at the cost of human lives. This clash for existence will continue till the government ameliorates their lot. At the same time, the shrinking forest cover has to be revived if the majestic animals are to have some place they can call their own. It will be a crying shame if they go the dodo way. |
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Managing inflation There are three challenges before the UPA government that it has to tackle if the proposed GDP growth rate of 7 per cent is to be achieved. The first is to keep inflation under control. That there are pressures on maintaining inflation is well known. The global oil prices have not come down despite weak OPEC efforts to increase production. The Petroleum Ministry is pressing for a raise in the oil prices as the entire burden of price rise is being borne by the oil companies. Addressing the Bombay Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Tuesday, the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, asked the manufacturers not to raise the prices as this would push up inflation and slow down the demand for their products. The second challenge before the Finance Minister is to keep the interest rates to the present benign level. The interest rates are linked with inflation. If the UPA government hikes the petroleum prices, an indication of which has been given rather frequently, despite opposition from the Leftist allies, then inflation would naturally go up. This, in turn, will lead to an increase in the interest rates. The RBI’s latest credit policy had already indicated an increased possibility of the interest rates moving up. This would affect the demand for consumer and housing loans, resulting in an industrial slowdown. The liquidity in the system is already high with the continuous inflow of foreign exchange. The RBI has already absorbed Rs 23,900 crore. This kind of money supply is bound to unleash inflationary pressures. The third challenge is to limit government borrowings. Aware of this, Mr Chidambaram says that all efforts will be made to reduce the government’s borrowings. This may mean that some of the populist measures outlined in the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme will get delayed. As for pruning wasteful government expenditure, the attempts have been, at best, half-hearted. If inflation and interest rates remain low and the government succeeds in cutting its borrowings, the year may well see the hoped-for growth of 7 per cent. But this is a big “IF”. |
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Organic Islands Turning the “Emerald islands” into one giant organic farm is an attractive idea, and the remoteness and rich bio-diversity of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, where 85 per cent of forest cover is still intact, make it a proposition worthy of serious consideration. The recommendation to develop the islands as the “organic islands of the world” is contained in the Action Plan for the “New Andamans Post Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme” submitted recently to the A & N administration by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF). Organic farming avoids the use of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and other harmful chemicals, relying instead on the creation of a diverse biological habitat where pest organisms cannot flourish. Soil fertility is maintained with crop rotation, mechanical tillage, and the use of animal and green manures. MSSRF scientists have found that current agricultural practices there are already more “biology than chemistry based” and a unique combination of factors covering precipitation, soil content, and the presence of large coconut and areca-nut forests provide “an ideal milieu for raising organic spices, vegetables and fruits.” The global demand for organic foods is estimated to grow at 20 per cent per year. Consumer awareness about the health benefits of organic food, not to mention increasing concern about the social and environmental aspects of conventional agriculture, is fuelling this demand. What is more, aqua culture is the fastest growing food sector in the world, and there is growing interest in adopting organic principles in marine farms as well. The tsunami demonstrated that conventional agri-fields and settlements are vulnerable in the islands; an organic model for the islands as a whole can benefit both tribals and settlers, while generating useful revenue. Conservationists will be happy, and the tourism potential of a very beautiful part of the world will be enhanced. A holistic approach will be needed, however, and the Government would do well to take up the suggestion for the constitution of an “empowered committee” to examine and implement the recommendations of the plan. |
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People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. — Logan Pearsall Smith |
It’s time for Indus-II
IT has throughout been India’s position that it has scrupulously abided by the Indus Treaty and should any genuine problem be pointed out by Pakistan, it would be prepared to make suitable modifications. Yet India will need to build storages to utilise the irrigation potential permitted under the Treaty. J&K also has considerable hydro potential that should be exploited for the benefit of the state and the country as a whole. These will stimulate development and employment in J&K and help open up remote areas by providing connectivity. The Indus Commission may undertake at the request of either Commissioner a tour of inspection of such works or sites as may be considered necessary for ascertaining relevant facts. This provision might appropriately be invoked as developments taking place or planned in the Northern Areas (NA) and PoK require better understanding. Bitter inter-provincial discords have come in the way of Pakistan building further Indus storages. The Kalabagh dam (gross storage of 7.9 MAF) has been stalled for years by NWFP and Sind. A run-of-the-river Ghazi Barotha hydro project came on stream in June 2004, but the Bhasha-Daimer storage dam on the Chitral-NA border has run into opposition at the feasibility stage. The Mangla dam on the Jhelum had a gross storage of 4.5 MAF but heavy siltation has reduced its capacity. Pakistan accordingly contracted a Chinese firm in June 2004 to raise the height of the dam by 30 feet to store an additional 2.88 MAF of water. This will also yield 12 per cent more energy. The project will displace 44,000 persons and is due to be completed by September 2007. Failure to pay adequate compensation and provide alternative connectivity for villagers displaced and divided by the Mangla lake in the 1960s led to a mass exodus of marginalized Mirpuris to the UK. Divided families on the Indian side must now hope that the resettlement and compensation package this time around does not lead to a further exodus. What has triggered far greater anxiety is the investigation by Pakistan’s WAPDA of a giant dam on the Indus at Katzara, downstream of Skardu. According to the Jang newspaper and its English stable-mate, The News, the 35 MAF Skardu Dam is likely to submerge the entire Skardu bowl and Shigar Valley leading up to K2, displacing a population of around 300,000. Fatehullah Khan, former Chairman of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA), and the chair of WAPDA’s Technical Committee on Water Resources, reportedly believe that the Skardu project could be more than a substitute for the Kalabagh and Bhasha dams and an answer to Pakistan’s long term water requirements. However, this will all but drown and obliterate the finest in Balti culture and heritage and displace possibly half the Balti population in the NA. This cannot be good news for the Indian Baltis in Kargil district. The Balwaristan nationalists are up in arms as are Pakistani conservationists and sections of the security community who fear the dam would submerge strategic roads, airfields and military supply lines in the region. The Skardu Dam may never move beyond the drawing board. But India should want to know more about it — and other PoK/NA projects — and could seek the necessary information and site visits if possible to ascertain the facts and assess the situation. Where would these 300,000 Baltis go? Such questions need to be asked and answered, whether through the Indus Treaty mechanism or otherwise. There has already been much demographic change in the politically closed Northern Areas to the detriment of the local Shia, Ismaili and Sufi communities. There is another and more rational way for Pakistan to seek water security. It finds mention in the Indus Treaty itself. Article VII on Future Cooperation points to a “common interest in the optimum development of the Rivers” and calls upon both sides “to cooperate, by mutual consent, to the fullest possible extent ….in undertaking engineering works in the Rivers”. The 1960 Treaty has served its purpose but leaves behind a possibly large untapped potential in the upper catchments of the three western rivers that are allocated to Pakistan but are under Indian control. This potential needs to be thoroughly surveyed and could thereafter be harnessed through joint investment, construction, management and control. Pakistan cannot continue to deny India its limited entitlement in the western rivers and also freeze all further development if it wants to grasp what could be a far larger prize by way of additional storage, flood moderation and hydro-power which both could share. India too could benefit from cooperative drainage arrangements in the middle and lower Indus basins. Were this to happen, Pakistan would not have even to think of grotesque schemes such as the Skardu Dam that spells doom to a proud civilisation. Article XII of the Treaty provides that its provisions “may from time to time be modified by a duly ratified Treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments”. Thus an Indus-II could be constructed on the foundations of Indus-I. Equally pertinent is the fact that, with climate change, glaciers are in retreat both in the Karakoram, one of the most glaciated regions in the world that has the largest glaciers outside Antarctica, as well as on the Tibetan Plateau, which is where the Indus and Sutlej rise. The Plateau is underlain by “tjale” or permafrost that shows signs of thawing. This suggests that enhanced glacier melt and thawing permafrost could increase flows in the Indus basin for some decades before declining sharply over the ensuing decades as the body of ice shrinks. This may be accompanied by shifts in rainfall patterns with a possibility of episodic bursts of precipitation in some areas. The uncertainty underlines the need for maximizing conservation storage within the limits of prudence and sustainability. Climate change will not respect boundaries and both Pakistan and Northwest India, as wards of the Indus, therefore, have a common interest in concerted action for the common good. Indus-II needs to be fed into the current peace process as a means both of defusing current political strains over Indus-I and insuring against climate change? It could reinforce the basis for a lasting solution to the J&K question by helping transform relationships across the LoC and reinventing it as a bridge rather than merely as a
boundary-in-the-making.
(Concluded) |
A lesson in bargaining
Coming from Bangalore, I knew next to nothing about air coolers. We had recently moved to Chandigarh, and as the mercury rose, it was decided that we needed a cooler. Get a desert cooler, said everyone. Whatever is that? I had a vision of a huge contraption sitting in the middle of the
Rajasthan desert blowing cool air over the sand dunes. I kept putting off the purchase, till the temperature hit 42 degrees. Off we went to Industrial Area, Phase II. Apparently there was something there known as the cooler market. I don’t think we found it, but we stumbled upon a manufacturing unit, with an inviting banner hung outside: “Get a free gift without buying a desert cooler.” I had done a little bit of research on the web, and was prepared to discuss things like “air throw distance” and quiz the salesman about the padding. Do you use “wood wool” or khas, I wanted to ask knowledgeably. The place itself needed cooling. Not the owner’s fault though. There was no power. We stood there sweating as he started showing us his range of models. I soon gave up my pretense of being a seasoned cooler buyer. So how does one install this thing? “I’ll send you my expert carpenter. He’ll take care of it.” “I don’t know if it will fit in my window”, I told him. Mr Choudhary offered to measure the front grill. “Ikkis inch,” he declared. “Ikkis kya hota hai?” I asked him, bringing forth startled laughter. I don’t know enough Hindi, I explained. “Aapne yeh to keh diya, ikkis kya hota hai!” He couldn’t stop laughing. Yes, I grinned. I can say a few things in a fairly flawless accent, but that was about it. Moreover, I don’t know the numbers. A longer conversation will catch me out. I had taken along a friend from the office for moral (and language) support. The cooler was promising, and it was time to finalise the deal. Is the rate fixed or can we bargain, he asked Mr Choudhary candidly. The latter came up with a response that was the best thing I have ever heard in a shop: “That depends on your bargaining capacity”! It was my turn for startled laughter. As you would have realised, I told him, if you decide to negotiate in Punjabi or Hindi, my bargaining capacity, on a scale of one to 10, could be considered zero. I might, in fact, end up offering to pay you a higher rate. More guffaws. In the end, he did knock off a couple of hundred bucks. And though the “expert carpenter” took his time in coming, the cooler is working well enough. I never did find out though, about the free gift one got “even without buying a cooler.” May be it was a lesson in the art of bargaining in Hindi!
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Cost of a new patent law Sunday, December 26, 2004, will be remembered for the tsunami havoc as also the patent peril, first in the form of an Ordinance and then the Amendment Act, 2005, heralding the death knell for the pharmaceutical sector, including agro-chemicals and food sectors. The opportunity cost of the new patent regulation is imposing a heavy burden on the drug/medicine users who are mere takers of the price offered in the drug market that operates in a “take it or leave it” mode. This is more destructive if we factor in the nexus among the physician, the manufacturer and the marketing agent. Mercifully, Indian consumers have been spared the trauma of suffering another nexus of insurance companies, lawyers and doctors. The consumers consequently are a hapless lot in the gross absence of any leverage mechanism for public action and genuinely courageous competition law in the country. The consumer’s plight has worsened in recent times, notwithstanding tokenism exhibited by the ministries concerned. The promulgated Ordinance, therefore, goes a great length to validate supremacy of the monopoly rights regulation over economic necessity of the poor millions. Was it so essential to provide protection to monopoly rights in the drug, foods and agro-chemicals sectors while domestic interests imminently deserve protection and safeguard actions? The TRIPs agreement as well as the Paris convention, we may note, provides enough flexibilities to protect national economic interests. The ostensible justification for the hasty promulgation is the WTO commitment. These commitments, we may recall, are on a multilateral platform based on the “single undertaking” principle. So there are no pick-and-choose options to be exercised by any country. As a result the orchestrated delay and inconclusive review of the entire TRIPs agreement and specifically Article 27.3 (b) initiated in 1999 brings to a naught the whole edifice of the commitment plaint. The second justification that the Ordinance will spur innovation and unleash creative energies, at least, of the domestic scientific community is not only vacuous, but is parroting the MNC spin doctors’ dictum of monopoly power. How is innovation created or reproduced? Alternatively to overcome this tricky situation, one may ask-how is an intangible like innovation measured in a market? The market valuation uses proxy, as there is no direct way of getting at innovation. The R&D expenditure, patent applications filed by resident Indians and non-residents, patent publications, trade mark applications and registrations, market share, etc. are some valuation tools to arrive at some value for the innovation ultimately getting a valid intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection. If the innovations in discovery of new drug molecules were indeed the major concern, the question that begs truthful answer is: what is the correlation between the invention of new drug molecules since 1995 and the number of patent applications in the “mailbox” that was opened in January 2005? It is less than 200 inventions globally to over 7,000 applications in the Indian “mailbox”. What is the economics in such wide divergence is not a matter of great speculation. The nature of competition and associated pressures, even from the stock market, will bring about wide variations in the market valuation, particularly across firms. Therefore, the ability of a firm to capture the benefits of innovation mirage is disparate and will in all probability follow the dictum “big fish eating the small fish”. Imperfect competition epitomised by the monopoly right to a product patent holder further aggravates the dictum. Society, in the final analysis, turns out to be the net loser. The state, therefore, cannot abdicate its responsibilities as the major engine to drive as well as fund innovations. Finally, the assurance of the Commerce Minister that drug prices would not spiral is yet again ridiculous. The ground realities are entirely different. For example, autonomous apex bodies in India like the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) are under different ministerial control, thus prone to turf-war games. The faultlines, therefore, do not make for a seamless and transparent mechanism to give primacy to the economics of consumer’s welfare. Otherwise, why should Indian consumers be witnessing a rise in prices of formulations using bulk drugs while bulk drugs have shown a fall in prices. There is no alternative but to consider utility patents by a fresh insertion in place of the repealed Section 5 of the Indian Patent Act, 1970. This is imminent on several counts that has firm foundations in economic principles and delightfully consistent to interface with the legal niceties. The sustainable economic interests and growth path of the country should determine the statutory provisions instead of the other way that the Ordinance has brought about very unfortunately. |
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Wrestling for an audience IN the village of Hoshiarpur, about 15 kilometres outside of Patiala, there are signs of change. In a place where the cost of cable television is determined by the size of one’s home, village resident Surjeet does not idolise Shahrukh Khan or Sachin Tendulkar. Surjeet pays 100 rupees a month for cable and runs a small cycle-rickshaw repair shop, walls of which are decorated with pictures of his heroes, men from World Wrestling Entertainment, including a giant-size poster of one of WWE’s most famous, seven-time world champion, Dwayne “The Rock” Douglas. Surjeet is not alone in Hoshiarpur. As I walked down the streets of this village, I talk to others who acknowledged being fans of the US-based professional wrestling shows broadcast on Ten Sports. They quickly name their favorite wrestlers: Triple H, Orlando Jordan, Chavo Guerrero, and others. Boys excitedly talked about their favorite shows: ‘smackdown’ ‘raw’ and ‘wrestlemania.’ Far from Hoshiarpur, in Stamford, Connecticut, in the WWE main corporate office, there is a sense of great elation. Globally, WWE programming now draws most male viewers aged 18 to 35. Christine Johnson, former head of the International division and a long-time producer for WWE, says that the international market is a huge one that the company is successfully tapping into. In India, WWE and Taj Television, the parent company for Ten Sports, recently signed a five-year deal which gave Ten Sports the right to broadcast the first-run hours of WWE original programming, one of the hottest properties on Indian television. Taj Television CEO Chris McDonald counts the success of WWE in India to Indians’ penchant for soap operas. “WWE has been promoted like a sports opera with a sequential storyline,” he said in a recent interview. Critics like Jonathan Katz and Sut Jhally, on the other hand, account for the rise in sexual violence and homophobia to the enormous popularity of WWE. In the name of entertainment, they argue, uncontested images of pro wrestling allow boys to learn about male dominance and violence. In their critically acclaimed documentary, Wrestling with Manhood, Katz and Jhally suggest that media, and particularly WWE, is a major place where modern masculinity is being defined, and that masculinity is virulently heterosexual, premised on intimidation, humiliation, control and verbal aggression. Ultimately, manhood is equated explicitly with the ability to settle scores, defend one’s honour, win respect and compliance through violence. Perhaps it is the hyper-masculine wrestling culture of WWE that fits with the culture of Punjab. Perhaps it is WWE’s clever promotional strategies which now include music albums, video games, wrestler dolls, clothing and what advertisers call “street-level grassroots mall-hopping guerrilla marketing.” Perhaps WWE, with its simplistic story-lines revolving around “good and evil”, is closer to the content of popular Indian films. It is difficult to tell precisely what is appealing about WWE to an audience in Hoshiarpur which hardly keeps up with issues of media globalisation, though it is undoubtedly a complicated phenomenon. |
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Steps to check trafficking
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Interior Dr Shahzad Waseem said on Monday that interior and other concerned ministries had jointly devised a mechanism to stop human trafficking. Speaking on a PTV programme, he said the government was fully determined to stop human trafficking at any cost. He said that an inter-ministerial meeting was held in Islamabad with special focus to initiate joint efforts and find out effective means and ways to control human trafficking. To control effectively the human trafficking menace, the government had introduced the Prevention and Control Ordinance in 2002, he added. The Ordinance is specially focused on controlling human trafficking. The minister said that the law enforcement agencies, the Navy, the Frontier Corps and the Coast Guards were jointly working in border areas to stop human trafficking. — The Nation Details of MPs’ funds
ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf has made it clear that the elected representatives would be asked to provide details of the funds provided to them for development projects in their respective constituencies. Talking to the members of national and provincial assemblies from Rahimyar Khan at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday, he stressed the need for monitoring the projects in their respective constituencies and urged for their timely completion. The president asked the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and its coalition partners to fully prepare for the local bodies polls so that people could elect them in the forthcoming elections.
— The News
Protest against price rise
RAWALPINDI: Scores of people marched on the busiest Murree Road here on Tuesday to protest against rising inflation, unemployment, poverty, low wages and a host of other socio-economic problems being faced by the common man. The protest call was given by the Pakistan Workers Confederation, a conglomerate of over dozen associations and trade unions. More than 500 workers participated in the demonstration. Similar protest demonstrations were also held in other big cities like Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Mardan, Faisalabad, etc. The trade union representatives saw the prevailing increase in prices and unemployment as unprecedented in the history of the country in which the common man was feeling it difficult to keep his body and soul together. The representatives of the PWC and its subordinate associations along with hundreds of workers gathered at the Press Club and marched up to Rialto Chowk blocking traffic on the Murree Road.
— The Dawn |
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From the pages of Mismanaged golden temple THE management of the Golden Temple does not show any improvement. The Manager, protected by the Government authorities, is indifferent to all that is said against him. But we think it will not be long before he will have to resign his office or things will assume a very serious shape. We have received a copy of a memorial which was a few days ago presented to His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor by the Pujaries, Mutsadis and Priests of the Durbar Sahib of Amritsar, and it discloses the utterly rotten state of the present management. Some of the charges that have been brought against the Manager in this memorial are indeed very serious, and we hope no time will be lost in making a thorough enquiry into them. The present manager is also an Honorary Magistrate and he has been charged by the memorialists for having abused his magisterial powers.... We do not know how far the charge that has been brought against Sardar Man Singh is true, but we hope the Government will make a due enquiry into the matter. |
Though a king may be bountiful, it does not behove a loyal subject to ask favours forever. When the needs are satisfied, one should desist and not keep increasing the needs and demands. — The Mahabharata Love, to be real, must empty us of self. — Mother Teresa Believe it! High expectations are the key to everything. — Eleanor Roosevelt Through His good will and love, we see His presence in all things and everywhere. — Guru Nanak Run to his (the Teacher) feet — he is standing close to your head right now. You have now. You have slept for millions and millions of years. Why not wake up this morning? — Kabir  |
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