 |
|
Sensex tumbles A white elephant |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cops and
caps
Crucial talks on N-deal
All for a break
Hillary surges ahead in fund raising Wood hungry China a threat to ecosystems Morality and utility are all in the mind
|
Sensex tumbles MONDAY’S fall in the stock market was as sharp as it was unexpected, especially after the indices rose last week. The trigger was the Reserve Bank of India’s decision, on Friday, to raise the cash reserve ratio and the repo rates for banks with a view to tightening money supply. This is of a piece with the RBI’s moves in recent months to check inflation by making credit more expensive. Inflation and rising prices of essential commodities, which affect the common man, are at the core of the central bank’s concerns, and inevitably when liquidity is sucked out, the share market takes a dive. Although the fall has affected investor wealth, there is no cause for panic; it is a reminder to the common investor to remain cautious. Just as the anti-inflationary measures of the RBI are unlikely to show immediate results, the one-day plunge may not dramatically depress the growth rate. The share market is driven more by sentiment than economic sense. Otherwise, it is only to be expected that anything, including the Sensex, which goes up must come down. The stock market has had a four-year bull run, despite big falls. During this dream run, money was cheap and equity prices raced ahead of earnings, factoring in future profits. Sooner or later, a correction —whether influenced by global factors or domestic developments — had to set in. The signs of a correction were all too evident in the volatile snakes-and-ladders play witnessed after the Sensex peaked around 14,700 points. In a country where the stock market accounts for only a small percentage of economic activity, a downturn in share prices does not portend a staggering economic setback. In fact, RBI Governor Y. Venugopal Reddy may have intended this treatment for an economy perceived to be “overheated”. If the phenomenal rise of the share market in the last four years was actually driven by long-term structural changes in the economy, then, by that very logic it is premature to paint a doomsday scenario. True, less money in the market and higher borrowing costs will impact corporate earnings and profits and slow down the momentum of growth. But if the RBI’s monetary policy serves to curb inflation, which affects all classes, then the long-term growth story will revive on the more sustainable foundation of an equitable economy.
|
|
A white elephant THE revival of the Legislative Council in Andhra Pradesh, 22 years after its abolition, raises serious questions on the Rajasekhara Reddy government’s rationale for its decision. Having revived the Upper House, the Chief Minister may have fulfilled the Congress’ electoral promise to the people, but at what cost? Nowadays, bicameral legislatures are increasingly becoming irrelevant and a luxury poor states cannot afford. That’s why states are abolishing councils one after the other. The N.T. Rama Rao government abolished it on the ground that it served no purpose. The same was the case with Tamil Nadu and Punjab. One cannot overlook the serious financial implications of the Andhra government’s decision. Consider how much it will be forced to spend now on the salaries and perks of the new Council members. In addition to Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir have legislative councils. What is distressing is the fact that Punjab too may go the Andhra Pradesh way if Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has his way. Mr Badal has said that he will revive the Upper House “to rope in exceptionally talented people as lawmakers”. Involving experts in day-to-day governance is laudable, but why should Mr Badal take the Council route to achieve this goal? It will be a heavy burden on the state exchequer. If Mr Badal indeed meant business, he should have given party tickets to such experts in the recent Assembly elections. Unfortunately, second chambers have in no way contributed to the growth and enrichment of parliamentary methods and practices. One doubts whether any Council can ever boast of serious debate and discussion at any time since its inception. On the contrary, these have become hotbeds of politics and help the ruling party to rehabilitate defeated politicians or those who could not be given tickets to contest the Assembly elections as in Andhra Pradesh. Clearly, instead of serving any useful purpose of bicameralism, as visualised by the founding fathers of the Constitution, the second chambers have proved to be a rendezvous for the powerful men of the ruling party. Consequently, states would do well to refrain from wasting taxpayers’ money on such luxuries of democracy.
|
|
Cops
and caps THERE is no empirical study whether policemen are at their ruthless best in the summer or in the winter but, if necessary, reports can be certainly manufactured proving that their demeanour has everything to do with the season of the year and they themselves are blameless. If you find them hot under the collar every now and then, it is merely because the heat has done them in. There are some cool tidings on the horizon - for the cops and the public. Tamil Nadu has come out with hats for policemen which prevent excessive heating and sweating. This will, hopefully, help them discharge their duties better. The specially designed hats with a layer of coir pith with a mesh will protect them from direct sunlight — and the public from their legendary ire. The heat in northern states is no less and the policemen here will be better off with these hats. The headgear may not exactly turn them into cool cats but will certainly help in controlling the temper and temperature somewhat. Hotheads will function better at an optimum temperature with suitable facility for ventilation, just as the computers do. But there is a catch. Policemen here are known not only for hot heads, but also searing tongues and itching palms. Those responsible for their welfare should go back to the drawing board and should In fact, there is need for giving an entirely new persona to the cops. Sunscreen creams should be officially issued. The next in line should be designer sunglasses. Perhaps, tummy tuck operations at government expense will also help to turn them into real-life heroes and write sagas of heroics.
|
|
You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth. — Henrik Ibsen
|
Crucial talks on N-deal IS the Indo-US nuclear accord about to take off? That would be good news for the Indian economy, for it would give a big boost to building nuclear power capacity in India. Yet, the talks ahead on the 123 Agreement between India and the United States are going to be tough because the most vital issues involved in the Indo-US nuclear deal have to be tackled now. These issues relate to India’s moratorium on nuclear weapon tests, and the terms on which the US exports reactors, uranium fuel for these reactors, and other nuclear material to India. The issue of India’s right to reprocessing spent fuel from reactors is also being mentioned as a contentious point in some quarters, but such differences may relate only to the specific low-enriched nuclear fuel that the US supplies for exported reactors. India’s right to reprocess spent fuel, as Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar has pointed out, is not negotiable. For the simple reason that reprocessing of spent reactor fuel is the most important plank on which India’s nuclear power programme rests. Take away this right, and the very base of India’s nuclear power programme -- recycling of plutonium and depleted uranium obtained from spent fuel in fast breeder reactors -- is knocked off. That is the key link in Dr Homi Bhabha’s three-phase nuclear power programme for India which aims at opening the thorium fuel cycle — the target for India’s futuristic nuclear power security, since thorium reserves are abundant in India. Some confusion arose when a US Congress member raised some time ago the demand that enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technology exports to India should be debarred under the Indo-US civilian nuclear accord. There was expected hue and cry in India that these constraints on nuclear items that America exports to India will greatly reduce the value of the nuclear accord. Both sides missed the point that India had developed the capability for reprocessing nuclear spent fuel as a result of a momentous technology breakthrough as early as 1965, when only four other powers — the United States, the former Soviet Union, France and Britain — had developed this technology. Not that India would not like to benefit by interaction with the US and other nuclear leaders on the advanced technology of reprocessing spent fuel. But if this is denied, India’s nuclear power programme would not remain stagnant -- it will continue to march forward. This has been demonstrated by three decades of experience since the Nuclear Spent Fuel Reprocessing Test Plant was built at BARC in 1965. It was weapon-grade plutonium 239 extracted by this plant that was tested in 1974 at Pokhran. And this was proof that India’s nuclear scientists could on their own build a viable nuclear spent fuel reprocessing plant. That evidence should, in fact, have entitled India to a weapon-state ranking according to the NPT rules that came into being much later -- in 1969. But the Indian government had an obsession with not being lumped with the atomic weapon states, and did not press for India’s claim to a weapon-state placing under the NPT. Subsequent technology advances by the Indian nuclear establishment have gone to underline India’s reprocessing capability. India now has four spent fuel reprocessing plants. The test plant at BARC has been further expanded and developed into a full reprocessing plant. India, therefore, is not bereft of reprocessing technology, but would be happy if as a result of the nuclear accord interaction with American institutions takes place on this front-end technology. The US government, however, appears intent to raise the issue of taking back the spent fuel emanating from LEU fuel that is provided by General Electric and Westinghouse reactors, hopefully, as part of the anticipated civilian nuclear power deals. This would be unjustified since the Indo-US nuclear accord envisages placing all imported reactors and other nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. There is no possibility of diversion of this nuclear spent fuel to weapons. Moreover, India would be paying for the imported LE uranium fuel under negotiated, commercial deals. On the other hand, for the Indian side the key issue is assurance of uranium supplies in perpetuity for the reactors placed under safeguards — whether imported or those built indigenously. This is especially important in respect of imported power reactors since the fuel they are based on is low-enriched uranium. As yet, India has not built a uranium enrichment facility of commercial dimensions. India is, therefore, keen to have clear definitive clauses on assured uranium supplies placed within the 123 Agreement. The focal point of the 123 Agreement is the issue of India’s voluntary moratorium on nuclear weapon tests. This is a contentious point because the US government is under an injunction to break civilian nuclear cooperation with India if there is a resumption of nuclear weapon tests by this country. At the moment, the question is theoretical since India has no proposal to resume nuclear weapon testing. But India’s moratorium is voluntary and cannot be brought within the ambit of the 123 Agreement. The Indian government is equally under an injunction to safeguard India’s autonomous rights in this regard. The question of nuclear weapon tests, in fact, forms part of the global security horizon. What happens if Pakistan, China, or the US itself resumes weapon testing? Can India be debarred from weapon tests for all times to come? The issue can be dealt with only as part of the global negotiations on the CTBT, as and when they are resumed. Indian foreign policy abhors the brandishing of nuclear weapons by any power -- whether it is the big powers or developing nations like Pakistan. India can, therefore, be a useful ally of the US along with other nuclear-weapon states if and when worldwide nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament moves are undertaken. The issue of nuclear weapon tests cannot form part of the Indo-US civilian nuclear power agreement. Considering the constraints of the Indian and US governments, the right approach would be to work for a viable solution that strengthens relations between the two countries. Such a solution can be reiteration by India to pursue global non-proliferation objectives and India viewing its nuclear weapon capability as a credible deterrent. These affirmations can be made between governments as part of the developing Indo-US relationship, not within the 123 Agreement, which is limited to civilian nuclear cooperation. Placing the voluntary Indian moratorium within the 123 Agreement would jeopardise the autonomous nature of Indian security
parameters.
|
All for a break WE’LL manage fine on our own,” my friend Bindaas and I asserted for the nth time. Two single women going on a holiday with two seven-year-olds in tow wasn’t going well even with my intrinsically broad-minded parents. You could get stranded somewhere… could get separated too…what if a child gets hurt…there could be muggers… cheaters too… people try getting familiar…. The list of ominous could-happens was endless. Troubles - foreseen and unforeseen, real and imagined - were announced. With such menacing forebodings, the initial task was to do an honest reality check. Could we control the kids plus mind ourselves in a fun place called Goa? But with this being probably our last holiday together, as Bindaas was migrating later that year to the UK, we had no intentions of vacillating over the issue. Before we could track down the most suitable locomotive, we had our fill of concern expressers and their witless queries such as why weren’t we catching a flight. Wasn’t the reason obvious enough? Moreover, trains are still the best bet with under-twelves. Zeroing in on budgeted accommodation was no less trying. Travel agents, for all their claims, had nothing truly economical yet inviting to offer. At this point, The Lonely Planet pages came to our rescue. But, again, sifting through all that info to pinpoint what would be the best for us miles away was just a test-your-luck effort. With our bags, kids and tonnes of counsel in place, we comfortably settled in our second AC three-tier berth, which had two other occupants - uninteresting-looking middle-aged businessmen. Soon enough, the children got chatty with them. With little better to do on the 36-hour journey, Bindaas got talking to the businessmen too. Heading for Nasik, one wearing two gold chains belonged to Ludhiana, while the sober one came from Faridabad. Mr Goldchains was more garrulous of the two: spoke about his teenaged sons, nail-making business, even his upset tummy due to overeating the previous evening. It wasn’t long before his Punjabi curiosity made him pry: “Bhai sahib nahin aye?” Bindaas and I exchanged amused looks before she confidently lied with a smile, “They couldn’t manage leave.” “It is remarkable that the two of you have decided to come so far on your own. Our wives would rather buy gold,” he confided. His inquisitiveness again refused to leave him and us alone. “What does bhai sahib do,” he directed the query to me. I racked my brains for a second before blurting out the first thing that came to me: “He is in the Army.” “No wonder,” he clapped his hands gleefully, “you are so buland.” Bindaas and I exchanged another amused-cum-exasperated look. Ah, for all our hard work! The bhai sahibs had gotten away with the
kudos!
|
Hillary surges ahead in fund raising
Hillary Clinton raised a record $26 million in the first quarter of this year, her campaign announced - a display of financial muscle calculated to scare rivals and create a sense of inevitability about her bid for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. The first quarter figures were legally required to be made public only in mid-April. But by jumping the gun, the New York senator forced most other Democratic candidates to do likewise, confirming in the process that the campaign now under way will be by far the most expensive in US history, costing at least $1 billion in all. John Edwards, for instance, reported total fundraising of $14 million, which also beat the previous record for the quarter, set by the then vice-President Al Gore at the equivalent stage of 1999. It was not clear how much of that total flowed into his war-chest in the last 10 days, since his wife Elizabeth revealed she was suffering from incurable breast cancer - an event which has generated immense public sympathy for the couple. The conspicuous absentee on Monday however was Barack Obama, the young Illinois Senator who runs second to Ms Clinton in most polls, and who would, if elected, be the first black President to occupy the White House. The Obama camp claims to have attracted an enormous sum in small individual donations, particularly via the internet, and seems to be delaying an announcement to garner the maximum publicity possible. After transferring $10 million left over from her Senate re-election campaign last year, Ms Clinton now has a total of $36 million on hand. The first quarter figures were “staggering,” her campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said, and “dramatically exceeded our goals and expectations.” Her rivals however affected indifference, with an Edwards spokesman noting that success in the fundraising ‘silent primary’ was anything but a reliable indicator of who would triumph in the real primaries. Next year the bulk of these will be bunched into a few hectic weeks between mid-January and early March, by which time both parties’ nominees will probably be known. Ms Clinton’s campaign has however been hugely helped by the increasing involvement of her husband. Bill Clinton’s old network is the basis of his wife’s impressive financial machine, and during the last fortnight the former President has notably stepped up his appearances on her behalf. On the Republican side, the picture is more clouded. None of the leading candidates have announced figures, and one of them – Senator John McCain of Arizona – has publicly played down speculation about his financial performance, saying that only lately has he gone into full fundraising mode. But Mr McCain’s efforts to lower expectations also reflect the problems faced by all three ‘top tier’ Republican candidates. He himself has failed to generate the excitement of his insurgent White House bid of 2000, while the current front runner for the nomination, the former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani, has been hit by a string of allegations about his personal life and business dealings. Neither man is much trusted by conservatives, and much the same goes for the third prominent candidate, the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. The latest Gallup poll gave him a derisory 3 per cent, far behind Mr Giuliani’s 31 per cent and Mr McCain’s 25 per cent. Instead, the current buzz surrounds a man who is not running and who has made no effort to organise support. Despite this lack of activity, the Gallup poll of likely Republican voters put actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson at 12 per cent, a remarkable level of support given that Mr Thompson gave up his Senate four years ago. Since then he has been best known for his portrayal of a gruff New York prosecutor in the TV series ‘Law and Order.’ But for the Republican faithful, especially conservatives satisfied with none of current entrants in a crowded field, he is a re-incarnation of their greatest hero Ronald Reagan, the last actor-politician to occupy the Oval Office. Mr Thompson recently told Fox News that he had no plans to run, but was nevertheless “keeping the door open”. — By arrangement with The Independent
|
|
Wood hungry China a threat to ecosystems China’s voracious appetite for foreign timber is the direct result of its campaign to protect its own forests, even as its demand for wood has exploded. In 1998, floods along China’s Yangtze River killed 3,600 people. The government, blaming deforestation, imposed logging bans – particularly in Yunnan province, bordering Myanmar. What logging goes on must adhere to plans for regeneration. China also unleashed an ambitious replanting effort, expanding its forest cover by an area the size of Nebraska from 2000 to 2005. A 2005 assessment of the world’s forests by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) pointed to China’s replanting as the primary reason Asia’s total forest cover grew during that period, even as deforestation continued worldwide “at an alarmingly high rate.” But in those same years, unprecedented expansion has unfolded at China’s factories, requiring enormous quantities of wood. In 2005, China exported $8.8 billion worth of wood furniture, an eightfold increase from 1998, according to Chinese customs data. About 40 percent landed in the United States. China’s exports of all timber products, including plywood and floorboards, exceeded $17 billion in 2005, nearly five times the 1997 level. All that wood had to come from somewhere. In the years since China enacted its logging bans, it became the world’s largest importer of tropical logs, according to the FAO. Its log imports swelled nearly ninefold in a decade, reaching $5.6 billion in 2006, according to China’s State Forestry Administration. China’s imports of wood and exports of finished wood products are both expected to double again over the next decade, according to Forest Trends. Whatever environmental benefits have resulted from China’s replanting have been undone by the damage to the tropical regions now supplying so many of its logs, said Mette Wilkie, the U.N. officer in Rome who coordinated the FAO report. China is primarily adding tree plantations with little biological diversity. Much of the logging in Myanmar, the Russian Far East, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea is assailing natural forests that hold creatures and plants found nowhere else. The FAO report found grave environmental risks – particularly in Indonesia, home to 10 to 15 percent of all known animal, plant and bird species. Several species are imperiled, among them the Sumatran tiger, according to the World Conservation Union in Switzerland. In Myanmar, tigers, red pandas and leopards are threatened as logging roads open forests to a range of exploitation, a dynamic at play across Southeast Asia. “Whole ecosystems are being wiped out,” said Horst Weyerhaeuser, a forester with the World Agroforestry Centre research group who advises the Chinese government.
|
|
Morality and utility are all in the mind imagine
that killers have invaded your neighbourhood. They’re in your house, and you and your neighbours are hiding in the cellar. Your baby starts to cry. If you had to press your hand over its face till it stopped fighting – if you had to smother it to save everyone else – would you do it? If you’re normal, you wouldn’t, according to a study published last month in Nature. But if part of your brain – the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) – were damaged, you would. In the study, people were given hypothetical dilemmas: Would you throw a fatally injured person off a lifeboat to save everyone else? Would you kill a healthy hostage? Most normal people said no. Most people with VMPC damage said yes. It’s easy to dismiss the damaged people as freaks. But the study isn’t really about them. It’s about us. Neuroscience is discovering that the brain isn’t a single organ. It’s an assembly of modules that sometimes cooperate and sometimes compete. If you often feel as though two parts of your brain are fighting it out, that’s because, in fact, they are. Emotion tells you one thing, reason another. Often, the reasoning side makes calculations: Throwing the wounded guy off the lifeboat feels bad, but if it will save everyone else, do it. Philosophers have a name for this calculating logic: utilitarianism. Three years ago in the journal Neuron, the neuroscientists illustrated their point. They showed that utilitarian decisions involved “increased activity in brain regions associated with cognitive control.” From this and other data, they surmised that the moral debate reflects “tension between competing subsystems in the brain.” On one side are “the social-emotional responses that we’ve inherited from our primate ancestors.” On the other is a utilitarian calculus “made possible by more recently evolved structures in the frontal lobes.” The war of ideas is a war of neurons. That’s where the new study comes in. The idea was to find out what happens when the emotional side, through the VMPC, gets knocked out. As predicted, calculation then takes over. If it’ll save more lives, sure. Some of the study’s authors think this finding vindicates emotions. Since people with VMPC damage are “abnormally ‘utilitarian,’ “they argue, emotions are necessary to produce “normal judgments of right and wrong.” In fact, the authors add, “By showing that humans are neurologically unfit for strict utilitarian thinking, the study suggests that neuroscience may be able to test different philosophies for compatibility with human nature.” So brain science has discredited religion and philosophy, but don’t worry: Morality won’t disappear. Brain science is offering itself as the new authority. What’s moral in the new world is what’s normal, natural, necessary and neurologically fit. And evolution doesn’t stop here. Look around you. The world of touch, tribe and taboo is fading. Acceptance of homosexuality is spreading at an amazing pace. Trade is supplanting war. Democracy and communications technology are forcing governments to promote the general welfare. Utilitarians welcome these changes, and so do I. But utility unchecked can become a monster. The Internet is liberating us from physical contact. Economic globalisation is crushing resistance to the bottom line. Companies are sending employees abroad for cheap medical care. Brokers are buying organs from slum-dwellers. In a utilitarian world, you do what it takes. It’s all about helping people. If you’re out of step with this world--too squeamish to slash the payroll or pull the plug – we can help. Books by neuroscientists will teach you the appeal of utilitarianism and the illogic of your aversion to it. If that doesn’t work, maybe we can tweak your brain. Not that we want you to go around killing people. At least, not until you join the military. Five years ago, in a government report, scientists proposed using microscopic technology to screen soldiers’ brains for emotional interference. Today, the US Neurotechnology Industry Organization (NIO) is lobbying for a federal initiative to study the ethics as well as the mechanics of brain science. “Right now, we’re discovering the seat of morality,” warns NIO Director Zack Lynch. “In 10 to 15 years, we’ll have the technologies to manipulate it.” But there’s the other catch: Once technology manipulates ethics, ethics can no longer judge technology. Nor can human nature discredit the mentality that shapes human nature. In a utilitarian world, what’s neurologically fit is utilitarianism. It’ll become the norm, the standard of right and wrong. Sure, a few mental relics of our primate ancestry will be lost. But it’ll be worth it. I think. — By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post
|
There is none except of God, the Only Supreme Lord, to go to (for refuge and sustenance). — Guru Nanak He is a fool who never allows another to speak. For he then remains ignorant of their knowledge. —The Upanishads No one has attained to God without the grace and guidance of the True master. — Guru Nanak
|
| 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 | |
