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Colleges
without teachers New leader
of Tibetans |
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To a
hell called Iraq
US faces
slowdown
Submerged
buildings
Mothers
to infertile daughters’ rescue Egg
freezing took 50 years to develop
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New leader of Tibetans
The
election of Dr Lobsang Sangay as the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the Tibetans. He has taken up the reins of power at a time when the Dalai Lama has surrendered his political authority. The Dalai Lama’s role remains confined to only religious matters. Dr Sangay, the third elected leader of the Tibetans, has all the necessary qualifications to guide the destiny of his people. A product of Delhi University and Harvard Law School, he understands the intricacies of the Tibetan cause and the difficulties in leading a people living in exile. There may be much expectations from the new Prime Minister, and he may try to fulfil them to the extent possible. But there are serious limitations for a government which has to function in exile. There are peculiar difficulties the Tibetans are faced with as a people whose homeland remains under the control of a different government. Prime Minister Sangay has offered to hold negotiations with China so that the Tibetans are not denied basic human freedoms, justice, dignity and identity. He has no problems with the Chinese people, but is opposed to the Chinese policies for Tibet. China has been consistently trying to change the demographic character of Tibet by encouraging the majority Hans to settle in large numbers in Tibet. Tibetan cultural symbols are gradually disappearing. There is no proper upkeep of the historic monasteries there. Even the course of Tibetan rivers is being changed. The new political head of the Tibetans, therefore, has major challenges ahead. His people aspire to shift from Dharamsala, their temporary abode, to Tibet, the land of their forefathers. But this is unthinkable under the circumstances. The Chinese government is in no mood to give any concession to the Tibetans. Anyone in Tibet who dares to raise his or her voice against the Chinese government is given severe punishment. Prime Minister Sangay wants general autonomy for Tibet, but the Chinese are not prepared to negotiate on the issue. However, when the Tibetans have an independent political leader, it should be easier for the Chinese to hold a dialogue.
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To a hell called Iraq
There
is no end to the stories of young men from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh suffering in foreign lands due to their desperation for jobs abroad. However, what the boys who landed up in a huge farm in Iraq have narrated is too painful to hear. In all, nearly 40 youths were promised jobs in West Asia by some Punjab-based placement consultants. They did not know what kind of jobs they will get on reaching their claimed destination — Dubai and Iraq. This happens in most cases where unauthorised travel agents or placement consultants are involved. Sometimes these job-seekers end up as bonded labour and are given too risky work to do, as it happened in the case of these unfortunate boys. They were asked to clear live bombshells from farms near Karbala and Al-Najaf in Iraq. Their captives had the least regard for their lives. A few years back some Indian truck drivers were compelled to transport goods between Kuwait and Iraq, though entering Iraq at that time was like going to a hell on earth. The conditions in Iraq are very bad even now though insurgency there has declined considerably. Most areas in that war-ravaged country are not safe to travel. Live and used bombshells remain piled up in many areas. There is an elected government in Iraq, but it is not able to control law and order. It, therefore, remains a virtually lawless country. Immediately, the Government of India should do everything possible to save the lives of the trapped Punjabi youths in Iraq. The two young men who have managed to come back have provided enough details about their captors and the location of the farms they have been working under gruelling circumstances for nearly 17 hours. Besides getting them back home, the authorities should take their agents to task for their unpardonable conduct. All unauthorised agents should be identified and hauled up for playing with the lives of young job-seekers. No unauthorised company should be allowed to function as consultants for jobs in foreign lands. Those who do so clandestinely deserve to be punished severely.
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Difficulties mastered are opportunities won. — Winston Churchill
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US faces slowdown In
recent months, controlling inflation has been the main focus of the Reserve Bank of India. Since March 2010, for the eleventh time on July 26 it raised the repo rate — the key short-term lending rate — by half a percentage point to 8 per cent. Inflation control is becoming a major problem in China though its rate of inflation is much lower than India’s 9.4 per cent and is at 6.4 per cent. Inflation in China is partly the result of a huge amount of liquidity (4 trillion yuan) released in the economy after the Financial crisis hit the world in 2008. But even before the financial crisis, for years China gave subsidised loans to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the privates sector. This resulted in much over capacity in the real estate sector and the strengthening the SOEs, but because of its low interest rates China has been able to get a competitive edge over India. Inflation is now up in China mainly due to higher wage rates as its abundant labour supply is no longer assured because of fewer young people joining the labour force as compared to India due to its one-child policy. In a bid to control inflation, China has raised the repo rate by a quarter percentage point (third time this year) to 6.5 per cent. The government hopes that this will take care of the phenomenon of the negative real interest rate (interest rate minus inflation) and prevent money from flowing out to non-monetary assets. Despite all efforts, inflation in India remains unabated because of strong external factors like global oil price hike and higher international commodity prices that have jacked up industrial costs. Food inflation, however, remains volatile and seasonal with cereal prices climbing up due to higher minimum support prices offered to farmers by the state governments. The RBI, by raising interest rates, may help to suck out the extra liquidity in the economy and increase savings, but instead of bringing down inflation, it is likely to stave off demand and investment. Whereas in India a higher interest rate will affect investment and credit offtake, in China it is expected to influence the consumer demand more. In India, there has already been a decline in industrial growth which was only at 5.6 per cent in May 2011 as compared to China’s 15.1 per cent in June. China has built ultra-modern infrastructure in recent years and spent 50 per cent of its GDP on fixed assets like transport facilities and factories in 2010. Government enterprises have also become powerful and 39 out of 42 Chinese companies listed on the Forbes list of 500 world’s biggest firms are state-owned enterprises. They, however, have a low return to equity and have gained in weight and stature from low interest rates and easy access to land. They have also got staggering non-performing assets (NPAs) and with higher interest rates, their performance will worsen and there will be more NPAs. Higher interest rates and relatively higher growth prospects in both the countries, however, will attract foreign institutional investors to pour money into the Indian and Chinese stock markets, though there has been a crash in world bourses following Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US debt rating for the first time in history. There will be a temporary retreat of FIIs from these countries but not for long. The lower credit rating will mean that the US will have to raise interest rates from near zero, which will affect its own economic recovery as financing of public and private debt will be costlier. It could mean a slowdown in demand so that commodity prices will come down and oil prices may stabilise, which may bring down the inflation faced by China and India in due course. The biggest economy in the world, the US, is not facing inflation but a colossal public debt which crossed the government’s stipulated limit recently. Currently the US debt stands at $14.6 trillion. A default has been narrowly averted by a compromise deal between the Republicans and the Democrats, and the limit has been extended by $ 2.4 trillion, but it will also mean a huge spending cut and an austerity package and higher interest rate outgo. It could mean lower export growth for India and China and the rest of the world. Whether China, which holds the biggest amount of US Treasury bonds ($1.16 trillion), will keep buying them in future is the moot question. It cannot afford not to do so for fear that their value would crash which will in turn devalue its own holdings of US bonds. Growth in the global demand will also be constrained by Japan’s struggle with reconstruction after the March earthquake and the debt crisis in Europe. China, anticipating this problem, has been keen to boost domestic demand but may not be able to do so with higher interest rates necessary for containing inflation. If inflation continues and global demand recedes, India too will not be able to expand the capacity of the manufacturing or services sectors, resulting in unemployment. The huge government debt will require higher service charges. The government’s interest rate payments will take up more than 20 per cent of its current (non-Plan) expenditure, leaving less resources for Centrally-sponsored social development schemes. Apart from slow export growth, inflation will dampen the demand for consumer goods. Durables will be adversely affected in India as people will postpone their purchases. Even car sales have witnessed a stagnant demand recently. Infrastructure building in India may slow down. By contrast, China does not have to invest huge amounts in infrastructure. But its competitiveness may be eroded, which has been due to the low cost of capital, land and labour. Much of that advantage stands threatened by inflation pushed up by higher wages and higher interest rates. Its basic assets of a modern infrastructure, and educated and disciplined labour force will help in withstanding any serious decline in GDP growth. The FDI in China is also slated to grow. The US may undergo a slow recovery and unemployment will remain a problem. In India, the continuance of inflation for another year will undoubtedly spell misery for people with fixed incomes. But with growing clouds over the world economy, the lower global demand may dampen oil and commodity prices. India’s commodity exports may be hit and the RBI may be spared from increasing the repo rate further. India’s growth rate will decline more sharply than that in China, whose problem of rising wages and overcapacity will remain. In short, China will fare the
best!
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Submerged buildings When
the Aswan High Dam was under construction, the fact that a number of exquisite, ancient Egyptian temples would be submerged, aroused universal condemnation. Funds were raised to save the temples through relocation. We watched with fascination as the media reported the success of these efforts. With painstaking skill most of the temples were sawn into blocks, transported to higher ground and then reassembled. Some of the most wonderful buildings ever built by man were thus saved for posterity. But they were dead buildings. No priests had conducted prayers; no congregation had come to worship for centuries. I was reminded of these temples recently when I drove through Bilaspur. The monsoon had not set in and the level of the waters had receded sufficiently to reveal the ancient temples that the dam had submerged. They were temples that were alive, temples where people worshipped, where prayers were offered for the newborn, the newly married and the dead and blessings were sought for the sick and the ailing. Yet they were submerged without any effort to save them. My mind went further back and I remembered seeing the low summer water of the Tehri Dam revealing the remains of human habitations. They were just shells now, skeletons of the homes they had once been. I couldn’t help thinking of the wonderful homes that they had once been. A house becomes a home when it contains the memories that come with at least three generations having lived there. I looked at these houses and I swear I could see the smoke-charred walls, smell the dung of the animals who had been tethered in the ground floor, hear the voices of women as they called their children home from play in the gathering dusk. The ghosts gradually disappeared in the gathering gloom and the silent tombs were left as mute reminders of the pulsating life they had once been home to. My mind wandered again and I thought of another village in Wales which was submerged when a dam was built to provide water for the city of Liverpool. The displaced inhabitants were dispersed all over the world and the human suffering caused was all but forgotten. Yet seven years later, when the lake was emptied for essential repairs, the displaced inhabitants, those who were still alive and the descendants of those who weren’t , descended on the village, repaired their homes and a few even replanted their gardens. They would be submerged again, they knew, and yet for a little while they savoured the joy and comfort of being home again, something they sorely missed in the soulless, newly built, concrete houses that they now lived in. What is it with us as a people? We have the richest heritage in the world, most of us, at least in the villages, are deeply rooted in our homes and yet, when it comes to respect for the past we must be the most insensitive people in the
world.
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Mothers to infertile daughters’ rescue In a fascinating — and extremely moving development — a Canadian mother had frozen her eggs so that they could be later utilised by her seven-year-old daughter, who cannot have children naturally. Approximately six British mothers have frozen their eggs for their daughters, who later gave birth to their half brothers or half sisters. By this advanced technology, these fertilised eggs are inseminated with the sperm of the daughter’s husband with the help of conventional IVF or In Vitro Fertilisation. In the case of the daughters who suffer from MRKH syndrome, where there is absence of uterus in the body, mothers have even agreed to carry the baby for their daughter – becoming a surrogate for their own daughter and giving her the greatest gift of all – the gift of life.
Age limit But, it is also a point to note that there is a certain age limit within which the mothers can donate their fertilised eggs for the future use by their daughters. The age limit is 40 years, as after this age, the eggs are considered to be of poor qualitiy. It may also happen that an infertile woman can take the help of some other women to have the fertilised eggs, but according to the doctors the mothers are the best donors of the fertilised eggs for their daughters. According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, the maximum time period of storing the eggs or the embryos is 5 to 10 years. But, there are certain conditions to store the eggs, and if all of these conditions are properly fulfilled then the eggs can even be stored for 55 years. There are many psychologists who have criticised this idea of giving birth to the half siblings, as in the later stage the daughter may develop some psychological problems, as the babies would get confused about the relationship to their mother and grandmother. But, many other people have found this objection to be very silly, and according to them it is always better to have a child through such revolutionary means than being childless. The daughters can become parent one day with biological link, and this is more important.
Egg freezing In India also, egg freezing has definitely come forth as a boon to all the females who can now entertain their wish of delayed pregnancy due to their career, mutual agreement between couples and most importantly for women who could not bear children at all. Egg freezing gives the bliss of parenthood to many, research has it, and egg freezing increases the chances of having successful pregnancy by 20-30 per cent. Further, it is very important to know how the doctors gather the fertilise eggs from the mothers for their daughters and how it is implanted at last. Extraction: The growth of the eggs is induced with the help of injections and also with certain pills. The eggs are extracted from the follicles of the ovary, where there is a fluid that is surrounded by eggs. With the help of extraction this fluid and the eggs are brought out. Freezing: In the process of freezing the doctors remove the fluid from the eggs. In this process, if crystals of ice are formed, they can damage the eggs. To avoid this stage, the doctors soak the eggs in an “antifreeze” solution and freeze it there. There are two techniques of doing it, one is slow freezing and the other is vitrification. Fertilisation: When the daughter is ready to be pregnant, then the frozen eggs are activated. In this process there is a technique called ICSI, which means Intracystoplasmic Sperm Injection, and with the help of this technique the sperms are fertilized with the eggs, and after 48 hours of incubation in controlled sterile conditions the embryos are formed. Implantation: At the last stage with the help of a thin flexible tube, the embryos are implanted into the women’s uterus. These are the four techniques by which the egg implantation takes place with the help of the egg freezing.
Risks involved The women can be at risk due to the following reasons. Unprotected sex: It is always advisable to have safe sex. If you have unprotected sex and have slept with multiple partners then there are high chances of having sexually transmitted infections. This will lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and due to this a woman can even become infertile. So, to have a happy maternal life, you should always try to have safe sex, and try to avoid multiple partners. Smoking: There are many women who are in the habit of smoking. They should remember that smoking has a very serious effect on the estrogen production. This can damage the complete process of egg production. Smoking for women is very injurious, and it can even make her infertile. The eggs are at a great danger due to smoking and there are high chances of miscarriage due to this. Drugs and alcohol:
Alcohol disturbs the menstrual cycle, and so there will be many problems in conceiving and in the production of the eggs. The level of testosterone is increased due to the consumption of alcohol. This hormone is produced in men, and it has presence in the female body. If the level is increased then it can have serious impact on the growth and development of the future child leading to problems which include mental retardation. It is very important to set a limit on alcohol. In India egg freezing is not that common. Mothers are not that advanced to help their infertile daughters to become pregnant. But, with new advances, Indian women are also trying to freeze the eggs for future use. Dr. Shivani Sachdeva Gour is
Director and Fertility Consultant, ISIS Fertility Centre and Visiting Consultant
Fortis La Femme
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Egg freezing took 50 years to develop Human
sperm freezing has been there for quite some time, and it took about 50 years to develop the processes for human egg freezing. These days there are different processes with the help of which it is possible to freeze the fertilised eggs. The mothers can also be donors of the fertilised eggs for their daughters provided their fertility hormone levels are appropriate. There is much confusion regarding the process of egg freezing. Most of the people want to know whether the eggs survive in proper condition during the process of freezing. They are kept in the liquid nitrogen storage containers that help the eggs to remain protected for a long period of time. It has also been found that in a single group of eggs, some of them survive and some do not. The eggs that have survived are then inseminated with the sperms and amongst them some fertilise and some do not. There are different ways by which the eggs are obtained from the donor’s body; this is done with the help of four different processes. The four processes include extraction, freezing and storage in liquid nitrogen at minus 175 degrees temperature In the process of egg freezing, eggs are retrieved from the woman after hormonal stimulation – exactly 36 hours after the “trigger shot” and frozen. These frozen eggs are then fertilised with the sperms of the husband and the resultant embryo is inserted in the womb of the recipient. The success rate of pregnancies through egg freezing is about 30-40%. In fact many women of the age of 50-55 years can get pregnant through this technique. Now a days many women freeze their eggs because they opt for career rather than producing children. By the time they start planning for babies, they have crossed the fourth decade of their life or the peak time of conceiving. These women who are more than 37-40 years of age then resort to treatment of infertility by their gynecologist. If they still do not become pregnant they take help of newer technologies like IVF - In Vitro Fertilization (test-tube baby). This egg freezing procedure is legal in all the places and we are sure that very soon, it will also become commonplace in India, and the infertile women will also have a smile on their face with little babies along with them.
— SSG
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