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A deal with Maoists
Together on climate change |
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Setback for BJP-SS
Sustaining recovery
We still have role models!
US steps up assistance to Pakistani
army
India can be education hub
Windows 7 may help jump-start tech sector
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A deal with Maoists
Any deal with people who have declared war on the state and challenged the country’s Constitution is not just dubious but is bound to keep haunting the government. The West Bengal government, therefore, set a dangerous precedent this week by succumbing to Maoists’ pressure to secure the release of a police officer abducted by them. By doing so the state government has also made itself vulnerable to similar deals in future.
The CPM government’s weak-kneed response is even more glaring in the context of two police constables who were abducted by the Maoists earlier and who officially remain ‘missing’. A Maoist spokesman Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji has virtually ruled out the chances of the constables being alive by declaring that ‘Maoists do not keep hostages for so long’. The state government’s capitulation is, therefore, even more disappointing. The CPM government can take consolation from the fact that the Maoists did not press it too hard and demand the release of top-ranking Maoist leaders arrested in recent months. At the same time, by not opposing the bail for the 21 ‘elderly tribals’ and by its failure to produce any evidence of subversive activities by them, the government has conceded that in its war against Maoists, it has merely been hitting soft targets so far and arrested tribals who may not have been guilty of the string of more serious criminal offences they were charged with. By demanding the release of the arrested tribals, Maoists clearly hoped to win over the local tribal population and paint the state government as the oppressor. Even as Maoists keep taunting the government through hysterical television channels and through brutal killings, the government’s only response so far has been to hold the threat of an offensive. But the rebels’ attack on the Sankrail police station, where the police failed to fire a single bullet while Maoists killed two unarmed policemen, reveals how ill-prepared the police force is. It is time the government took steps to prove this growing perception wrong. |
Together on climate change It is wise of the Indian and Chinese governments to have signed a five-year agreement to jointly fight climate change and coordinate their stands during international climate negotiations. Coming in the backdrop of angry diplomatic exchanges on the border issue, the agreement is a welcome whiff of fresh air. Much ado has been made of the differences in perceptions on the border tangle. The climate agreement therefore offers a great opportunity to repair some of the damage in mutual trust.
The Joint Working Group that has been set up will soon hold annual meetings alternately in China and India to discuss respective domestic measures and implementation of related cooperative projects. The climate change agreement will be welcomed by the developing nations for the bargaining power they would command as a group at the critical Copenhagen summit in December being held to work out a possible multilateral climate change treaty to supersede the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012. Considering that there is a strong possibility of arm-twisting by the western powers to bring the developing countries to agree on fixed targets for reduction of carbon emissions, the agreement between the two Asian powers to work in unison will serve as a deterrent. Significantly, while the western powers are crying themselves hoarse claiming that they are going all out to cut carbon emissions while India and China are refusing to make on stronger commitments, data released this week by the United Nations has shown that greenhouse gas emissions from the rich nations increased 12.8 per cent between 1990 and 2007. This only shows that the western nations that are the original polluters, who played havoc with the world’s ecological balance through reckless industrialization bringing it close to a catastrophe, need to do a lot more than paying mere lip service to the need to curb gas emissions. That the newly-industrializing countries like India and China have a responsibility not to repeat the mistakes inherent in the western style of growth is, however, beyond question. While the two Asian giants must resist fixed targets for reduction of emissions, it would be imprudent to duck the issue of emission cuts and slow down economic development for satisfying the western demands. |
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Setback for BJP-SS
The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine in Maharashtra has won the Assembly elections for the third consecutive term despite heavy odds — the Mumbai terror attack, price rise, drought and farmers’ suicides and power cuts. The Congress and the NCP bagged 82 and 62 seats respectively this time as against 69 and 71 respectively in 2004. Congress president Sonia Gandhi kept the alliance with the NCP intact despite some party leaders’ appeals to the contrary. She kept the decision on this issue pending till the last minute and convinced the NCP to settle for a lesser number of seats. As the NCP contested only 112 of the 288 seats, its score of 62 is impressive. Now when the details are known, it appears that the ruling coalition would have won the elections comfortably even if there were no splitting of votes between the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The BJP and the Shiv Sena have to do introspection over their miserable performance. The Shiv Sena got 44 seats, the BJP 46 and the MNS 13. The Marathwada region, said to be the saffron alliance’s fortress, has rejected the BJP- Shiv Sena combine. The BJP led by Gopinath Munde has been badly mauled. The Shiv Sena won just seven seats in this region while the Congress (18) and the NCP (13) have each won more seats here than in the Mumbai-Thane region. The MNS won a seat in Aurangabad, a part of Marathwada, but spoilt the BJP-Sena’s chances in only four seats here. In Vidarbha, the BJP-Shiv Sena won fewer seats than the Congress-NCP because of its failure to capitalise on the farmers’ suicides. The media hype on Raj Thackeray is unwarranted. People have squarely rejected his Marathi Manoos theory. And why blame him for the Shiv Sena’s defeat? Although the MNS has opened its account with 13 MLAs in the 288-member House, it is no force to reckon with in Maharashtra. Creditably, the Shiv Sena’s focus this time was on development, but it did not cut much ice with the people. |
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Tit for tat is the law of the brute, of unregenerate man. To answer brutality with brutality is to admit one’s moral and intellectual bankruptcy. — Mahatma Gandhi
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India can be education hub Over the years prominent citizens in various fields have been lamenting over the brain drain from India. They were actually pointing out the lack of opportunities for the educated in India for more paying jobs and were forced to seek more lucrative careers outside the country. There was hardly a realisation that the brain drain was in a way a compliment to the education system in India as it confirmed the quality of education that was able to mould minds and prepare them to successfully participate in any competition with any race in the world, especially in countries that were known for their quality education. For years, India has been an importer of education as more and more young men and women were forced to seek higher technical education abroad since facilities were non-existing in India. Some might have preferred as a better stamping on their certificates that could open doors for lucrative future careers, but the majority had turned to American and British Universities in a belief that they would receive quality education to prepare themselves for a meaningful role in serving the humanity. Despite its frequent criticism, the quality of education has got better in India, especially since some institutions of excellence in engineering, medicine and business administration have made a mark of their own to attract world attention and draw multinationals to the Indian shores to recruit best brains emerging from these institutes. There have been four distinct waves in the field of higher education. The first was of Indian students travelling to other countries for higher education. The second phase was of twinning when foreign universities moved to export channels. The third phase was linkages with Indian institutes of foreign universities. The fourth phase started when foreign universities began establishing their campuses in India. However the stage has reached when India can turn from being an importer to an exporter of education even to the West as it has already become an exporter in medical tourism with a large number of patients of foreign origins landing in India for treatment. It has also led to the creation of more health care facilities. India has 257 universities now but few are recognised as world class universities and hardly figure in the top 200 universities of the world. Despite the University Grants Commission granting autonomy to the universities, state intervention remains the sore point. India has a great potential of becoming an education hub to attract students from the developing and developed countries because of the costs involved. There is no need to emphasise the economic viability of such a development. The American and British education system is being subsidised by students of Indian and Chinese origins. Indian universities too can achieve economic viability and avoid dependence on state financing. The five institutes for business administration courses and eight institutes of technology that are known the world over give a confidence that India can achieve its potential. There is no dearth of land needed for setting up campuses that can rival other known and established campuses in the Western world. India has a vast bank of qualified and capable teaching faculty. Politicians have messed up education by introducing the concept of reservations in the name of social justice. They would argue that this would divide the education system, but it has already been in parts for five decades. Private unaided schools have been imparting quality education while no attention has ever been paid to the quality of education in aided and government schools. Scores of research papers have proved how the public sector has failed in this regard. The Human Resources Development Minister has been gradually converting education into an industry by his plans to set up nearly a dozen institutes on the pattern of the existing ones in the next five years. But he needs to seek approval of other parties to launch India as a potential exporter of education. And it would eventually benefit Indian students as well. Given the resource constraints, there is need for making university education self financing. It can be done without adding too much burden on Indian students by attracting more students from abroad.n |
Windows 7 may help jump-start tech sector Can Windows 7 repair Microsoft Corp.’s reputation and trigger enough sales to pull the technology sector out of its financial funk?That seemed to be the overriding question as Microsoft on Thursday officially took the wraps off of its latest operating system, much of which was already public knowledge with more than 8 million testers having used it since January. With every release of a new Windows operating system, thousands of technology companies could always count on Microsoft to deliver its own economic stimulus as millions of consumers rushed out to buy faster computers and companies splurged on more powerful computer systems. This time, the recession has pulled the plug on spending, leaving many to wonder how much of a jolt Windows 7 can deliver to a beleaguered sector. “Windows 7 represents a significant opportunity for many companies,” said Richard Shim, an analyst with technology research company IDC, which forecast that global PC sales in 2009 would be flat at best, “but it’s coming at a time when the industry is struggling.” Much rides on the success of Windows 7. Microsoft is counting on it to lift its sales, which fell last fiscal year for the first time since the company went public in 1986. Computer makers and software companies are praying that Windows 7 will set off a wave of demand for their products and services. Even consumer electronics companies see Windows 7-based computers as a way to make their devices sexier as gateways for entertainment programs on-demand. “Windows 7 may not be the second coming, but it is something that the entire industry has been waiting for,” said Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies who has done consulting for Microsoft. “With almost all corporate buying of technology on hold for the past year, Windows 7 finally gives them something they can sink their teeth into.” Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, certainly hoped so. “Today is an important day for the computer industry, certainly for Microsoft and I hope perhaps even most importantly for all of the customers around the world,” Ballmer said during the company’s event. According to a study conducted by IDC and paid for by Microsoft, for every dollar the Redmond, Wash., company generates from selling Windows 7, other companies stand to reap more than $18.50 by selling products and services related to the operating system.n — By arrangement with |
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