 |
|
Too little, too
late Fanatics at play |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Collapse of safety Builders and babudom to blame THE frequency with which under-construction structures or old, ill-maintained buildings keep falling is quite alarming and points to abysmally low safety standards followed in this country. On Sunday seven persons lost their lives as a 23-year-old four-storeyed hotel building fell in Ahmedabad.
Impending recession
Jam jamboree
A wonder called
Nano The world's rubbish
dump in Pacific Ocean Bush proposes $3.1
trillion budget
|
|
Fanatics at play SANIA MIRZA has done the country proud. And, the country ought to be proud of her, right? No, wrong. If our countrymen were proud of this promising young tennis phenomenon — ranked No.1 in Asia and 29 in the world — she would not be stalked and persecuted as is being done by fanatics of all types. This is also ‘Incredible India’, where incredible talent is deprived of conditions to pursue her game. Instead, she is picked upon, and repeatedly, by petty minds fixated on the obscenely inconsequential and driven to the extreme: of opting out of playing in India rather than put up with the pressure of non-issues. It is a cruel irony that everything in Sania’s favour has been seized upon to create problems and thwart her game. She is young and hit the headlines when she was even younger; she has presence on court — which she can set on fire — and off the court, too, where she is the cynosure of all eyes. Attractively dressed as girls of her age and class are all over the world, she makes a daring style statement with her earrings and nosering. Her strikingly good looks, matched by her stunning form on court, together with her intelligent articulations and graceful manner make her an iconic figure for a young and aspiring India unafraid of global competition. Yet, these very attributes have stirred the fanatics to create problems and distract her from tennis, at which she works very hard despite the attendant risks and injuries. There are religious fanatics who target her attire and demand that she submit to a ‘dress code’. It is not her religion, it is she, Sania, who plays tennis. There are nationalist fanatics who falsely portrayed her as showing disrespect to the National Flag. Rightly, the court threw out the case. Then there are media fanatics, purveying photographs of her to pander to the prurient. With such small and tawdry minds at work, it is a wonder that she has got this far. If, at some stage, she decides to desist not only from playing in India but for India, too, then Indians — including the majority which is a silent about her being stalked unrelentingly — have only themselves to blame.
|
|
Collapse of safety THE frequency with which under-construction structures or old, ill-maintained buildings keep falling is quite alarming and points to abysmally low safety standards followed in this country. On Sunday seven persons lost their lives as a 23-year-old four-storeyed hotel building fell in Ahmedabad. The next day, nearer home, came reports about the collapse of a lintel of the main gate of the Mansa Devi complex in Panchkula while construction work was underway. One labourer died and seven others received injuries. A few months ago the roof of a building in Chandigarh’s Sector 26 grain market had crumbled resulting in the loss of precious lives. After every such incident an inquiry is routinely ordered and the authorities concerned wash their hands off by paying some compensation to the next of kin of victims and there the matter is allowed to rest. One hardly gets to know what follow-up action has been taken, what punishment awarded to the guilty and what safety measures, if any, have been implemented. In a country where few lessons are learnt from disasters like the Bhopal gas leakage, Delhi’s Uphaar cinema blaze and the Dabwali fire, smaller incidents like the ones in Panchkula and Ahmedabad are unlikely to be taken seriously. There is the obvious need to put the process of justice on the fast track so that severe punishment can be awarded to those guilty of negligence or dereliction of duty. Inquiries should have a reasonable time limit and no extensions should be given as a norm. The builders, whether private or from the government, using substandard materials in construction deserve exemplary punishment. Courts should steeply raise the compensation amounts, especially for families losing their sole bread-earners. The public in general and the babudom in particular must shed the “chalta-hai” attitude and adopt zero tolerance towards tragedies caused by greed and carelessness. |
|
The world of the emotions that are so lightly called physical.
— Colette |
Impending recession The
world economy is faced with a downturn. The issue is how deep and how quick it will be. The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are trying to keep the flag flying and rallying the troops so that the rout is delayed. It is variously being suggested that India will not be affected by the downturn in the US economy which, according to some analysts, is already in a recession but since the data comes with a delay, it has not been officially acknowledged that the recession has started. The cuts in advertising expenditures in the US are an indication of the downturn. The stock markets the world over are indicative of the negative mood of the investors. Adverse news is being greeted by huge declines in the indices. The US Central Bank, the Fed, has already cut interest rates twice in quick succession by a total of 1 per cent (unprecedented in recent history) signalling/acknowledging that indeed things are bad. In the US, for the first time in many years, employment is falling. The Indian stock markets have also followed the overseas markets in the rapid fluctuations and more so because it was way beyond what the fundamentals justified. Indian industry and exports have been showing signs of slowing down. Due to rising inequality, the market in India is narrow and dependent for growth on investments and exports. Without doubt, exports will be adversely affected by the slowdown in the US. Investments are likely to slowdown because of the industrial downturn and also because of the international trends. Both these factors will result in unutilised capacity appearing and leading to slowdown in investments and in the rate of growth. The rate of growth of the economy which rose on the back of a rise in the investment rate (from 25 per cent to 32 per cent) can show an equally dramatic fall. We may be back to a 4-5 per cent rate of growth which prevailed five years back. The economy has been facing infrastructure bottlenecks, like in power and transportation. The food prices have been rising resulting in inflationary pressures and political problems. Oil prices have been high and even if they moderate due to the recessionary tendency, they will cause pressure on prices and profit margins. In other words, the problems already confronting the Indian economy leading to its slowdown will be aggravated by the international trends. The optimists have been suggesting a decoupling between the US economy on the one hand and the EU and Asian economies on the other hand. It was being suggested that the growth momentum in the latter would compensate for the downturn in the US so that the world economy would still sail through with a minor slowdown. Indian analysts depending on this have been arguing that India would not be badly hurt by the slowdown in the US economy. They argue that India is not a large exporter and so the affect of slowdown would be small. This line of argument misses the central point that now many of the markets are fairly integrated with the international markets. That has been the central point of the Structural Adjustment Package (SAP) being implemented in India since 1991. Even without full capital account convertibility, we have had elements of it. FIIs and NRI funds can come in and go out. Indian businessmen have been allowed to keep capital abroad, etc. Thus, the financial and real estate markets have been substantially integrated with the world markets. No wonder what happens abroad has immediate impact on Indian markets. We have known that energy and food markets are integrated the world over. We have been witness to the impact of oil prices and rise in wheat prices. Thus, many of our markets are now open to influences from abroad. While it is true that we are not as open as many other economies (like Germany or Sri Lanka), we are twice as open today as we were in 1991. Hence the US economy has a much bigger impact today than earlier. Given the size of the US economy, a 1per cent reduction in its rate of growth would be bigger than a 10 per cent increase (to 20 per cent and that is unlikely) in the rate of growth of the Indian economy. It may be argued that the cutting of the interest rates in the US and actions elsewhere will have a positive effect and prevent a downturn there. President Bush has announced a $150 billion package. He is putting purchasing power into the hands of individuals to boost demand. This would be about 1 per cent of the US GDP. However, what individuals may have lost in the sub-prime markets may be much larger and hence inadequate. Further, the decline in the stock markets and the fall in the paper wealth is also likely to far exceed this amount. In other words, some feel that this effort may be too little, too late. There is nothing unusual in this since in business cycles it has been mostly found that in the downturn, intervention is usually too little too late so that the downturn becomes inevitable. In Japan, in the nineties when the interest rates even turned negative, the economy could not pull itself up. The reason is that once the investors’ sentiments turn negative, there is little that the government can do to turn them around. This situation is currently aggravated by the free market philosophy where any form of government intervention is seen to be bad and, therefore, resisted till it is too late. Even when it does come, it is of the wrong variety. Governments following free market philosophy give concessions to the investors, hoping that they would invest more. However, because demand does not rise and unutilised capacity continues to rise, they invest little and the concession simply ends up raising unutilised capacity further. The medicine aggravates the disease. Usually, in the downturn, the poor and the poorer countries are affected worse than the rich ones. For instance, the impact of the sub-prime crisis has been the greatest on the poor and the blacks in the US. The situation is being aggravated by the environmental consequences of the development path being followed in the recent past. With environmental costs of growth rising in a recession, the poor will suffer even more. In India, where large infrastructure projects had been planned and companies were rushing to raise capital from the booming stock markets, there would be over-capitalisation and consequent losses. Indian companies have also been rushing to acquire expensive overseas assets. Such companies are likely to suffer substantial losses. For India, the negatives seem to far outweigh any positives. Further, the impending slowdown/recession/
|
Jam jamboree I have no reason to disagree with Haryana Director-General of Police Ranjiv Dalal when he says he develops a “jet lag” after travelling(?) through the Delhi and Gurgaon traffic snarls, although I have been immensely benefited, having been caught up in these gridlocks, very frequently. And I gainsay, jams do help reduce stress in their own peculiar way. You learn not to give a kneejerk reaction, at even listening to the news about a repentant Musharraf stepping down to allow himself being “judicially” dealt with, since your legs are always busy with the brake-and-clutch operations. Yes, you may give in to jumpstarts, and it is good for nursing ambition, and bolster your self-esteem. I have even heard lovers say they met for the first time caught up in a jam. Their eyes met, at the same time when their vehicles “met”. And there was no looking back thereafter. Also there was no point, for nothing was visible except bonnets and windscreens. The reinforced stability in the lovers’ character stood reassured, besides a tendency to fall in line, for there was no “lane cutting” or “sidetracking” possible. Driving through the melee of a traffic jam gives you a feeling as if you are driving a world-class vehicle. You can read a newspaper, plonked on the steering wheel itself, for it may not be your turn, to turn it for long. And you may enjoy the thrill of driving a car, with automatic transmission, since you do not need to jazz up the gear, and continue with the same, even after going five feet. Road rage has become unthinkable for me, at least. I rather exchange smiles, with the one who hits my rear with a fender (no pun intended please); now look, how humble have I become. In fact some of us regular jam-jelled have really developed a bonding, as should be expected between “jam pals”. “Hi there! Still there? Wish you tortoise speed!” Zoom, vroom, zap and screech have lost all meaning for me, and I now like only a revved-up whirr, ghurr, dhum and pataak! I have observed a change for the better, in people’s attitude, and now they give way to others, while caught up in a jam. The realisation dawning on them that the straggler has come thus far, and may go no further, is altogether a different issue. I always take calls on my cell phone, telling the caller, “it really is a good time calling me now” without worrying for the prying eyes of a traffic constable, since he cannot be seen around, for as long as the line of sight travels — yes, and who said nothing travels in a traffic snarl. The jams have come to afford a roaring business for beggars as also the vendors. Believe me, for I have seen many behind the wheel, patronising the favourites among them. Office-going Babus now proudly claim their files move faster and that experienced jam jockeys at least should not complain of red-tapism anymore. I have found the jam- prone areas, to be crime- free stretches, for none can dare to execute a successful robbery, and find an escape route. You can jolly well leave your handbag by your side, on the car seat, with a windowpane wide open, even if it amounts to an open invitation, for being looted at leisure. The jam-packed bounties have made me overcome my phobia of getting suffocated if, God forbid, a fire broke out and there was no escape for me. Obnoxious fumes? My foot! I now jam care for them! And many road users may tow the lane, when I say, “I enjoy the jam jamboree.” Do
you? |
A wonder called Nano Let
me not jolt or surprise anyone: Nano was born in the dreams of the great scientist Homi Bhabha, father of India’s nuclear programme. Barely a year before his demise in a plane crash in 1967, Dr Bhabha outlined the path that would lead to India’s emergence as an industrial nation, parallel to the Western industrial powers. Nano is one of the glittering prizes from this path outlined by Bhabha. In an elaborate lecture “Science and Problems of Industrial Development”, Homi Bhabha advocated creating a strong base of modern science and indigenous technology in India. “The question (is) whether a self-generating industry can be established without establishing a powerful scientific base,” he observed. The answer was in the negative. Indian industries’ development had so far proceeded on the basis of setting up plants and industries almost exclusively with foreign collaboration, he said. And added that nuclear industry’s experience, however, “makes it quite plain that this method can never lead to a self-generating industry without establishing a powerful scientific research and development effort to support it.” Bhabha’s successors have carried forward his mantle and played a worthy role in bringing high-end technology to the aid of Indian industry by their scientific research and development. The three premier nuclear R&D centres — BARC, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT) — have brought into the process of Indian industrial development an elevation through the products of their scientific R&D. In fact, a close interaction between industry and the nuclear R&D centres is now part of the mandate for the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Atomic Energy. Such advanced technologies as non-destructive materials’ testing and evaluation, lasers for industry and surgery, radioisotope-based tools and techniques, seamless welding, developing special material and alloys — light but strong — and robotic electronic devices, are among the boons from nuclear R&D centres. Further, nuclear technology’s impact on industry has the distinction of imparting precision, stringent quality checks, and standards assurance to Indian industry. Now, a new chapter has opened in science-backed technology elevation for industry by the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Dr R.Chidambaram, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, together with the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C). Their first commendable plank is to bridge the gap between industry and public sector R&D agencies such as those belonging to atomic energy, space, defence and agriculture. Among the first to benefit from this industry-public sector R&D interaction is the automobile sector. A core advisory group on automative R&D (appropriately called CAR) was constituted in April 2003, with leading automobile industry representatives, including the chief designers of Tata Motor’s Indica/Indigo and Mahindra’s Scorpio and eminent scientists. Included in CAR is Dr S.M, Shahed, an NRI (ex-President of Society for Automative Engineers), and Prof S. Mohan of the Indian Institute of Science is the Chairman. CAR has set very high goals in technology enhancement for the automobile sector — from two-wheelers through cars to heavy vehicles. One of its first actions has been to draw up a charter, creating a list of technologies that are critical to the development of world class automobile sector, and alongside, listing out top experts with an eye on building an automobile technology board. The charter also seeks to draw up a “prioritised list of R&D programmes” that need to be taken up. The concept is to identify emerging frontier technologies in the automobile sector on which R&D has to be focussed. The strength of the software industry in India is to be availed for the needs of the automobile industry so as to use this synergy to develop international expertise in the emerging area of automative electronics and controls. Tomorrow’s car, with 40 per cent of its functions performed by microprocessors and sensors, is going to be a virtual computer on wheels. So work has to be done on advanced materials, telematics, low-cost safety, new fuels like hydrogen and allied areas. While there is little doubt that the entire automobile industry in India is immensely benefiting from the working of CAR, those constituents capable of integrating the new pool of high-end technology of global standards with their own R&D such as Ratan Tata’s dispensation, will gain the most. Science and technology will here generate the right mix for the automobile sector, spreading out to all segments of Indian industry. That has been Homi Bhabha’s dream of India’s industrial advancement. Nano is one of the fruits of this new industrial enhancement, thanks to Ratan Tata’s capability. Ratan Tata has many a surprise to unveil when Nano takes to the street, bustling through busy urban traffic. The name “Nano” is no fluke, and one surprise that the car project will unveil is of its advanced technology component springing from science-based technology. India — perhaps the world at large — is keenly waiting for this story to unfold: the industrial story that incorporates Dr Bhabha’s dream. |
|
The world's rubbish dump in Pacific Ocean A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said. The vast expanse of debris - in effect the world's largest rubbish dump - is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan. Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "trash vortex", believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore founded, said yesterday: "The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States." Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and compares the trash vortex to a living entity: "It moves around like a big animal without a leash." When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. "The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic," he added. The "soup" is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About one-fifth of the junk - which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags - is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land. Mr Moore, a former sailor, came across the sea of waste by chance in 1997, while taking a short cut home from a Los Angeles to Hawaii yacht race. He had steered his craft into the "North Pacific gyre" - a vortex where the ocean circulates slowly because of little wind and extreme high pressure systems. Usually sailors avoid it. He was astonished to find himself surrounded by rubbish, day after day, thousands of miles from land. "Every time I came on deck, there was trash floating by," he said in an interview. "How could we have fouled such a huge area? How could this go on for a week?" Mr Moore, the heir to a family fortune from the oil industry, subsequently sold his business interests and became an environmental activist. He warned yesterday that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade. Professor David Karl, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, said more research was needed to establish the size and nature of the plastic soup but that there was "no reason to doubt" Algalita's findings. "After all, the plastic trash is going somewhere and it is about time we get a full accounting of the distribution of plastic in the marine ecosystem and especially its fate and impact on marine ecosystems." Professor Karl is co-ordinating an expedition with Algalita in search of the garbage patch later this year and believes the expanse of junk actually represents a new habitat. Historically, rubbish that ends up in oceanic gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics are so durable that objects half-a-century old have been found in the north Pacific dump. "Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere," said Tony Andrady, a chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute. Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just below the water's surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs. "You only see it from the bows of ships," he said. According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food. Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating
plastic. By arrangement with The Independent |
|
Bush proposes $3.1 trillion budget President
Bush unveiled a $3.1 trillion budget on Monday that would boost military spending and trim health benefits for retirees. The proposal immediately was tagged by Democrats as "irresponsible." The first spending plan in history to top $3 trillion would freeze or eliminate many domestic spending programs yet still rack up a $407-billion deficit for fiscal 2009, which begins Oct. 1. The Pentagon is the only department for which Bush proposes a significant increase; its budget would grow 7.5 percent to $515 billion. "It's a good budget," Bush said after meeting with his Cabinet. "It's a budget that achieves some important objectives. One, it understands our top priority is to defend our country, so we fund our military as well as fund the homeland security." Because Bush is leaving office in a year, his budget proposal is largely an academic exercise. The Democratic-controlled Congress has responsibility for proposing and passing budget bills, and it's unlikely to adopt his priorities. The plan's significance is mostly political. Bush's proposal seeks to codify the policies he considers his legacies as president, namely the tax cuts he won in 2001 and 2003; significant increases in military spending; and a few education programs, including his No Child Left Behind legislation. For Democrats, the Bush budget provides a summary of the policies of his administration they find most egregious: the war in Iraq, tax cuts that worsened the federal deficit and the squeezing of social programs such as Social Security and Medicare. "This budget is fiscally irresponsible and highly deceptive, hiding the costs of the war in Iraq while increasing our skyrocketing debt," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "President Bush's fiscal policies are the worst in our nation's history -- he has turned record surpluses into record deficits -- and this budget is more of the same." Bush said the proposal would balance the federal budget by 2012. But Democrats said it would do so by relying on accounting tricks, including ignoring most funding for the Iraq war and pretending that the government essentially would permit a huge tax increase on the middle class by not rescinding the alternative minimum tax after Bush leaves office. "The president proposes more of the same failed policies he has embraced throughout his time in office -- more deficit-financed war spending, more deficit-financed tax cuts tilted to benefit the wealthiest and more borrowing from foreign nations like China and Japan," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. The deficit projections are worsened by the $146-billion economic stimulus package negotiated between the administration and Congress in an effort to soften or forestall a feared recession. The budget assumes a 3 percent increase in gross domestic product this year, an unlikely figure if the economy continues to slow down as it has in recent months. "When President Bush took office, the national debt stood at $5.7 trillion," said Rep. John M. Spratt Jr., D-S.C. chairman of the House Budget Committee. "Today it is $9.2 trillion and rising, projected to increase to $9.7 trillion by the time President Bush leaves office -- up by $4 trillion in eight years. This is the legacy our children and grandchildren will inherit from the fiscal policy of this administration." In a cost-saving gesture, the government for the first time did not provide free copies of the four-volume proposal to Congress, instead releasing it online and charging $200 per printed copy ordered through the Government Printing Office. "It's not only an innovative budget, in that it's coming to Congress over the Internet, it's a budget that's balanced -- gets to balance in 2012 and saves taxpayers money," Bush said. A hefty chunk of the proposed savings would come from the government's two giant health-care programs, Medicare and Medicaid, but leading Democratic lawmakers have called the cuts unacceptable. Medicare, which serves about 44 million seniors and disabled people, would be squeezed by $178 billion over five years, reducing its growth from an average of 7.2 percent a year to 5 percent a year. Hospitals and other providers in traditional Medicare would face the sharpest cuts, and private health insurance plans that now constitute one of the fastest-growing parts of the program would get only a light trim, critics said. Although the scale of Bush's Medicare reductions appear to be far beyond what Congress would accept, some of his specific proposals might make into law. Congress must act by the summer to roll back a scheduled cut in Medicare fees to doctors, and it will have to consider cutting other parts of the program to offset the added costs of protecting physicians. Addressing other health priorities, Bush proposed a modest increase in the Food and Drug Administration's food safety budget, but some critics said it would do little more than offset inflation. And public health advocates protested a proposed 7 percent cut for the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post |
| 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 | |
