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Getting back on track
Common entrance exam |
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Towards smart PDS
Road map for Afghanistan
A time to cheer?
Indians are susceptible to cardiovascular diseases. Almost 60 per cent of the world's heart patients are in India. One-fifth of all deaths in India are due to heart disease, which, it is estimated, will be responsible for one-third of all deaths by 2020 Dr Arun Kochar About 17 million of the world population dies annually from heart disease and stroke, of which 80 per cent of deaths occur in developing countries like India. Indians tend to develop heart disease at an average of 10 to 15 years earlier than the population in west.
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Getting back on track Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has extended the interest subsidy and export promotion capital goods (EPCG) schemes by another year. Exporters engaged in labour-intensive sectors like handlooms, handicrafts, textiles, sports goods and food processing are allowed loans at 2 per cent cheaper interest rates. The EPCG scheme helps exporters upgrade their machinery through duty-free imports with the obligation to make exports eight times the value of the duty saved. The incentives will cost the exchequer less than Rs 1,300 crore. India’s exports shrunk 5.7 per cent for the first time since 2009 in March this year but picked up slightly in April. Though official export targets are often ambitious, it would be quite creditable if Indian exports grow more than 10-15 per cent this year. Imports have risen faster than exports, resulting in an unacceptable trade deficit. The rupee has depreciated against the dollar but volume of trade may not go up significantly as Europe is on the edge due to a possible Greek exit and the US economic data is hardly encouraging. India will have to look for markets other than Europe and the US if it wants to push export growth to the targeted 20 per cent level this fiscal. Apart from African countries Asian nations such as Myanmar, China and Pakistan are attractive markets where increased trade may also improve bilateral relations. In a difficult economic environment selling goods is hard. India has never been an aggressive exporter like China. Its growth is largely driven by domestic consumption. Producing world-class goods at competitive rates is a challenge which is difficult to meet in view of high interest rates, infrastructure bottlenecks and project delays. The government is under pressure to remove policy and other hurdles to fast growth. Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma are reportedly trying to soften political opposition to FDI in airlines and multi-brand retail. The RBI too may further cut interest rates at its review meeting later this month. These positive developments contributed to the sharp stocks rally, which lifted the country’s economic mood a bit on Wednesday.
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Common entrance exam
Our
roads remain workable, thanks to the patchwork done here and there to avoid catastrophes. So can our higher education system, believes Human Resource Development Minister (HRD) Kapil Sibal, who is adamant about implementing the common entrance examination for all engineering colleges from 2013. This insistence on his part ensures that premier institutions like IITs resort to patchwork in a rush to implement his will. The faculty for 14 IITs, barring Guwahati and Patna, their administrative bodies and powerful alumni associations have opposed the decision of the minister, stating they are not prepared to implement the new one-nation, one-exam policy in a rush. Every year over five lakh students take the entrance exam for 10,000 seats in IITs. The proposed common entrance exam will have two steps — ‘main’ and ‘advanced’. The results of class 12 board exams will also play a decisive role. The ministry had proposed a 40:30:30 formula - with class 12 board results counting for 40 per cent, and the two stages of the entrance exam counting for 30 per cent each. However, IIT officials objected and won the right to form their own formula. Starting next year, IITs will give equal weight (50 per cent each) to class 12 results and to the performance of the candidate in the main exam. Some 50,000 short-listed students will then move on to the advanced exam. The assurance given by Sibal that the common entrance exam will reduce the pressure on students and discourage coaching centres has met with resistance from the faculty of IITs. They say both the processes and content of the new examination will not be clear to them any time soon and insist that in no case the new system should be introduced before 2014. The HRD Ministry should at least respect the wisdom of existing institutions of excellence by not meddling in their autonomy to implement its ‘political will.’
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Towards smart PDS
Punjab
has decided to introduce smart cards to issue rations under the Public Distribution System (PDS). It is high time the system that has been dumb to extreme corruption since its inception was smartened up. A 2005 ‘India Corruption Study’ by Transparency International and the Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies had found that 69 per cent of the wheat released under the PDS in Punjab ended up in the open market. In some states it was even 100 per cent. Such is the expanse of the distribution network that mere ‘close supervision’ cannot work. The system itself has to be such that it does not leave any scope for pilferage. Various ways have been considered, including distribution of ration coupons to the beneficiaries, which may be exchanged for food at any shop, and the government could pay the shop for the coupons thus collected. Technology now provides for going a step further. Smart cards can function on the lines of an ATM card, except that you get ration at the fair price shop after swiping it in machine there. Instantly, the quantity purchased gets tallied against the quota for each beneficiary as well as the total ration supplied to the shop owner. To show ration sold, the owner will thus have to have physical access to a card. That drastically limits the scope for faking sales. Beneficiaries can also possibly make purchases at any fair price shop, as their entire record will be on the card. Once the system is in place nationally, it may even be used to serve inter-state migrants, who otherwise get left out. Jurisdiction issues have, however, delayed countrywide implementation of the system. A taskforce headed by Unique Identification (UID) Authority chief Nandan Nilekani had been initially asked to make recommendations to use its database to set up the system. The Union Food and Public Distribution Ministry, however, subsequently proposed its own system to be implemented through the National Informatics Centre. The government has to take a call on this data collection war — and duplication — that has gone on just too long.
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Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. — Robert Kennedy
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Road map for Afghanistan Meeting officials and academics in Washington just prior to the Chicago Summit gave me an interesting insight into the mood in Washington, even as the “end game” in Afghanistan gets under way. Amidst much fanfare, President Obama administered two direct snubs to the Head of State of “major non-NATO ally,” Pakistan. After making it clear that he had no intention of meeting President Zardari unless the supply routes to Afghanistan from Pakistan were reopened, President Obama chose to conclude the Chicago Summit by paying handsome tribute to Russia and Central Asian countries, which had facilitated the transit of American supplies to Afghanistan, while pointedly excluding any mention of Pakistan. Even American journalists and academics, who have for years been apologists for Pakistan’s military, now fret and fume at the very mention of its name. It is a pity that it was the affable President Zardari, and not the crusty and jihadi-oriented General Kayani, who was to be the Pakistani recipient of this American dressing down. Nothing surprising emerged from the Chicago Summit, with NATO members falling in line for an extended commitment of assistance to Afghanistan, well beyond the day they would end combat operations. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen averred: “We will stay committed and see it to a successful end”. Standing beside President Obama, President Karzai made it clear that Afghanistan intends to do its best to ensure that it “is no longer a burden on the shoulders of our friends in the international community”. There is little doubt that if allowed to determine their own destiny, free from Pakistani malevolence, Afghanistan, which has huge natural resources of coal, copper, iron ore, cobalt, gold and lithium, estimated to be worth $1 trillion, can become an economically vibrant country. It could serve as a conduit for Central Asia’s natural gas to India. And, it has substantial potential for the export of agricultural products. But, will the Generals in Rawalpindi, blinded by their quest for “strategic depth” and “jihad” against India, even as their own country is consumed by extremist violence, have the good sense to allow this to happen? The road map for future American policies was set out in the Strategic Partnership Agreement that President Obama signed with his Afghan counterpart of May 2, the first anniversary of the day the American Special Force targeted Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad and exposed to the world (but evidently not to our “romanticists” in Pakistan), the duplicity that characterises the policies of General Kayani and his cohorts. This agreement is valid till 2024.The Strategic Partnership Agreement confirms that American combat operations in Afghanistan will end in December 2014. The US has, however, pledged to provide military assistance to Afghanistan “so that Afghanistan can independently secure and defend itself against internal and external threats, and help ensure that terrorists never again encroach on Afghan soil and threaten Afghanistan, the region and the world”. The assurance is, therefore, that Afghanistan will be assisted to deal not only with threats to its security, but also to eliminate terrorists who operate across international borders. While the lead role for counter-insurgency operations will be handed over to the Afghans next May, after substantial reduction in force levels, the US and Afghanistan will have to negotiate a Bilateral Status of Forces Security Agreement in the next year to provide the framework for a continued presence of US forces in a counter terrorism role beyond December 2004. Clearly recognising Russian and Iranian anxieties, the agreement stipulates that Afghan soil will not be used against any third country and includes an American assurance that it does not seek permanent facilities in Afghanistan. Alluding to efforts for dialogue with the Taliban, the Afghan Government has pledged that any agreement reached with the Taliban “shall uphold the values of the Afghan Constitution”. While these affirmations may appear reassuring to some, one has to carefully see how the situation plays out in Afghanistan. While American officials proclaim that the US will not leave Afghanistan till their task is completed, there is a body of Americans who feel that what happened following American military interventions in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somali could well be repeated. There is, however, realisation that an ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan will only embolden radical Islamists to target American interests across the world. While the Americans and their NATO partners have been able to hold firm in rejecting Pakistani conditions and extortionist demands for reopening of supply lines to Afghanistan, it is evident that the process of American and NATO engagement with Pakistan will continue. In the meantime, Pakistan’s economic woes are mounting as its internal debt reaches 65% of GDP and its external debt exceeds $60 billion. Pakistan has already defaulted on payments to foreign power producers. While General Kayani and his colleagues know that their grandiose plans for military modernisation will suffer grievously as the US Congress places tight conditions for further American assistance, the civilian government will have to face the public backlash, should it choose to reopen supply routes for the Americans. But it does appear a face-saving way will be found in course of time for reopening NATO supply routes in Pakistan, whose air space remains open for such supplies. The focus of attention in the coming years is thus going to be on whether the Afghan forces will be able to hold major towns in Southern Afghanistan like Kandahar and Jalalabad in the face of Taliban attacks. It appears unlikely that the Afghan National Army (ANA) will be able to hold rural and mountainous areas near the Durand Line, particularly in South-Eastern Afghanistan. This will necessitate a continuing “counter-terrorism” role for the Americans. There are, however, doubts if the war-weary American public will relish this. So an important question which remains is whether the Americans will fulfill their commitment to ensure that “terrorists never again encroach on Afghan soil and threaten Afghanistan, the region and the world”. Pakistan has two alternatives to choose from. The first will be to join the international community and regional powers in building a stable and self-reliant Afghanistan through regional trade, oil and gas pipelines and development of Afghanistan’s vast resources of gold, copper, lithium, coal and iron ore. India and China are already in the process of investment in resources like iron ore, coal and copper and in oil exploration and steel. Alternatively, General Kayani can continue on the present path of jihad and “strategic depth,” unleashing more destruction and misery on the hapless people of Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
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A time to cheer? Truly, retirement is a great teacher. It compels you to learn, and relearn what you knew already. As the customary trappings of office vanish, how you wish that you had learnt to type. “Never too late to start!” you convince yourself. The dust-ridden computer beckons; the steering wheel of the car adjusts reluctantly to your amateurish handling, and you to the wife’s uncomplimentary backseat driving. The city’s streets and markets are strangely unfamiliar, you observe on your maiden drive as a retiree. Suddenly, it seems, all parking spaces are occupied. More motor cars imply an enlarged middle class, goes your economic logic. Over the years the class of car owners has also become much younger, you notice, as your bid to park at an inviting point is thwarted by an outflanking movement by a dashing teenager in a bright red sports car. His “sorry uncle” is more a cry of triumph than an apology, a remark that rubs in the factor of your age. No office hours to maintain, you console yourself, so there’s plenty of time to do it all yourself. Just a few bills to pay, and bank accounts to settle, that is the listed business. Surely an enjoyable morning’s enterprise is in the offing. “Will be back home in an hour,” you announce cheerily as you enjoin the wife to have lunch ready for your return. As you move from office to office, accosting sundry bank tellers, club accountants and surly receipt clerks, the magnitude of the unfamiliar task sinks in. Several home visits intersperse your odyssey, as you have perforce to retrieve your election voting card, your pension payment order and the like, for production before the authorities. The tempting repast of lunch is delayed. The afternoon siesta is cancelled on account of the “unforeseen circumstances”. If you anticipated retirement as a period of comfortable languor and “honeyed indolence” celebrated by English poet Keats, you are sadly mistaken. Superannuation is a deadly serious, time-consuming business. Retirement is, fortunately, not all drudgery. This is demonstrated vividly on the first day of the month. It’s the day when all retired officers of the IAS meet over high tea. This monthly meeting is conducted with unfailing regularity and punctuality, with a degree of diligence that was seldom displayed by the members when they were in service. Gone are the intra-service and inter-state rivalries, the race for coveted assignments, the currying of favour with the high and powerful. Forgotten is the weight of hierarchy, for all retirees are now equal. A rare camaraderie pervades the environment. The evening is replete with good humour, as aged bureaucrats let down their hair. Unsuspected gifts of creativity are on display, as hidden artists, musicians and writers emerge. On the agenda is discussion on revised pension, but such financial issues are considered of marginal interest. Of greater value to the company are spontaneous witticisms, the banter and repartee. It is a delicious irony when the erstwhile pillars of the establishment, the constituents of the steel frame, rail against the oppressive red tape of the day. On one thing there is unanimity. “Grow old along with me”, the members echo the famous poet, for “The best is yet to be.” Retirement can be great
fun.
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Indians are susceptible to cardiovascular diseases. Almost 60 per cent of the world's heart patients are in India. One-fifth of all deaths in India are due to heart disease, which, it is estimated, will be responsible for one-third of all deaths by 2020 About
17 million of the world population dies annually from heart disease and stroke, of which 80 per cent of deaths occur in developing countries like India. Indians tend to develop heart disease at an average of 10 to 15 years earlier than the population in west. Causes According to this hypothesis, early human civilisations experienced periodic famine or abundant harvests to survive. The early human race developed a genetic mechanism to store fat for "a rainy day" when there was abundance of food. Now even when this abundance has become omnipresent, our bodies still keep accumulating belly fat for a potential nonexistent future famine. India is poised for an economic revolution. This has certainly improved the living standards of masses, as it has brought new swanky cars, lap tops, video games and junk-food joints. Drinking water has been replaced by soft drinks, football by playstations and aalu tikki by big Mac’s burger. Most children too, have less active lifestyles. The only exercise most professionals do is typing on the keypad or going to the washroom. A young patient, a rich married man, had abnormal cholesterol levels and severe hypertension. He used to get breathless on minimal exertion. On questioning, he admitted to have drunk only soft drinks and no water for past 10 years and had avoided home cooked food for these many years. Another teenager having rich, famous and busy parents, had a haemoglobin of 8 gm, as he was living on instant noodles and junk food for months together. Stress has slowly crept in to our lives as inevitable certainty. We are scared of failure. We take pride in our super-human achievements and being workaholics. Sadly, for getting these milestones, stress is as big a risk factor for heart disease as diabetes and high blood pressure. Perhaps, the average urban Indian is now more comfortable but less happy. Diabetes is perhaps the most important emerging risk factor for the rising heart disease rates. It is very much a lifestyle disease due to poor eating habits, lack of exercise, taking undue stress and eating excessive sweets. Diabetes and heart disease feed upon each other and three out of four deaths in diabetic patients are due to cardiovascular disorders. Experts report that diabetes decreases life expectancy by five to 10 years. With highest number of cardiovascular disease and diabetic patients in the world, healthcare in India would be extremely expensive and a substantial amount of our economy would be exhausted in checking a disorder, which is preventable. Consuming alcohol is another risk factor. Many believe that it is beneficial and start consuming it on a regular basis. Though only two pegs are recommended but often this advice is disregarded. Also most people consume alcohol, along with a variety of fried or junk food, which also has unhealthy trans fats. Modern scientific Indian research has proved that Indians do not metabolise alcohol as efficiently and even small amounts of alcohol are detrimental for us. Smoking is another common, but preventable, risk factor not only for heart disease, but for many cancers as well. High blood pressure and cholesterol are other major risk factors for heart disease. Hypertension, often referred to as "the silent killer" is the first manifestation of this disease. It affects various other body systems but hypertensive heart disease is the no. 1 cause of death associated with high blood pressure. Hypertension is the most common cardiovascular disorder in India. It is a principle risk factor for stroke and a major risk factor for heart disease. It is extremely important to keep blood pressure controlled as even 2 mmHg population-wide decrease in blood pressure can prevent 1,51,000 stroke and 1,53,000 coronary deaths annually in India. High cholesterol in India has often a specific pattern as generally triglyceride levels are high. Nonetheless, it is important to control blood cholesterol as it has been proved that even 1 per cent increase in cholesterol level is equivalent to a 2 per cent rise in the incidence of heart disease. Obesity or being overweight is another major risk factor for heart disease. Even osteoporosis, many cancers, gall bladder disease, diabetes and sleep apnoea disorders are related to it. Even apnoea in itself is fast becoming an important risk factor for heart disease. Overweight people, who start snoring at a moment’s notice, are at risk of
apnoea. Experts have estimated that this disorder increases a person's risk of having a heart attack or dying by 30 per cent over a period of four to five years. Management Eating with the family, away
from television at the dining table not only improve relationships but also curbs overeating. Smoking and alcohol consumption should be discouraged. It is extremely important to maintain a healthy weight and regular exercise is an important way of doing so. Regular brisk walking for 40 minutes a day is the best regular exercise. Regular health checks, at least annually, too, are must. To "know your numbers" is important as many disorders attack us silently. Everyone should know his/her blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, exercise capacity and ideal body weight. Sleep is as important as work to achieve our goals. At least six to eight hours of sleep is essential for optimal functioning and health. To keep stress away is impossible in this modern, competitive, target-oriented world. So, it is helpful to take a break now and then to "recharge" your energy. If risk factors like diabetes or hypertension or sleep apnoea are present,
it is important to meet your cardiologist regularly and to take medicines religiously. Those who have already suffered an attack need to realise that modern medicine has almost made their life longevity identical to those who have never suffered before. Lastly, to get back to simple Indian lifestyle is perhaps more heart healthy than the artificial, junk food-ridden modern existence.
— The writer is a senior consultant, interventional cardiology, Fortis, Mohali
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Due to predilection towards the younger population, we are losing about a million people from our productive work force. For an individual who suffers a heart attack, not only there is physical disability, there is great emotional, psychosocial, vocational and economical trauma for the family and the community as well. A potential bread earner is either made ineffective or is lost due to the inability to practice simple lifestyle measures. Thus, heart disease is a heath as well an economic issue. 
Be healthy