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Economy in slow motion ABC of success |
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Energy trade with Pakistan
Life on the other side of the wall
Nigerian schoolgirls & hashtag activism
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Economy in slow motion For
the second consecutive year India's GDP growth rate has remained below 5 per cent. In the financial year ending March 2014, the economy grew by 4.7 per cent - a notch above 4.5 per cent in the year before. Normally this would have spelt trouble for the booming stock markets. But so strong is the positive sentiment generated by a handsome BJP victory that investors are reluctant to see reason. There is the hope that the Modi government would push up growth through faster clearances of projects, which had been held up for long years by red tape and the Environment Ministry during the UPA regime. Narendra Modi's known revival agenda, including the focus on manufacturing, proactive and head-on approach to issues and intolerance for delays in decision-making are keeping hopes alive for 'happy days
ahead'. However, the ground realties should not be ignored. First, there is the possibility of deficient rains this year. The 4.7 per cent growth last fiscal had a significant contribution of agriculture, which grew at a healthy 4.7 per cent. A below-normal monsoon can hurt agricultural growth even though there are enough food stocks and, if handled properly, food prices may not go up. Secondly, the government banks are saddled with huge NPAs (non-performing assets) and need fresh capital infusion to be able to fund infrastructure building. This may not be possible in the near term, given the state of the Union finances. Economic slowdown means lower-than-expected state revenues.
Thirdly, the RBI is unlikely to lower interest rates in the coming days. Raghuram Rajan has already made it clear (reaffirmed it in his address in Tokyo) that the RBI focus will remain on inflation control. This means there is little possibility of a rate cut on June 3 when the RBI reviews its monetary policy. This is bad news for investors betting on cheaper capital to spur demand and growth. Of course, the Modi government is sending right signals, like planning to open up defence production to greater FDI, but one should not get swept off one's
feet.
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ABC of success Two
young Indian-origin Americans -- Sriram J. Hathwar and Ansun
Sujoe, all of 14 and 13 years respectively -- are the latest entrants in the hall of fame of overseas Indian success stories. While they made news by becoming co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the famous American spelling contest for schoolchildren, they also kept the Indian-American flag flying high. In fact, Indian-origin Americans have won the championship -- students are asked to spell words such as 'feuilleton' and 'stichomythia' -- for the past seven
years. It was only recently that US President Barack Obama told Americans that they would face challenges from the Indian middle class. The well-educated Indians, who form the core of the diaspora success stories, often come from this very class. Even as we celebrate the success of these teenagers, and own them due to their origin and genes, can we also cast a look at the vast pool of Indians left behind? Where is India shining for them? The Right to Education is an Act but it has been far from active in providing schooling to all Indians. Not only this, even as it is well recognised that English language skills are an empowering tool, there is often opposition to the language by various political leaders.
"There even are places where English completely disappears," goes a dialogue in My Fair Lady. "Why, in America they haven't used it for years!" Yet it is in America that the spelling contest winners are celebrated and rewarded richly. And yes, so many of the recent winners trace their roots to a land where for many schoolchildren English is not just a second or third language, but it is often taught through translation. As such, any resemblance to Queen's English in the language as it is written or spoken is entirely co-incidental. The overseas success casts a curious shadow on the less-than-shining record of primary education in India. It shows the potential of what our children can do, provided they have a good environment and are given proper education.
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Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says ‘I need you because I love you.’ —Erich Fromm
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THE new Bill introduced by the Government of the South African Union amending the Immigration Act deals with the two main causes of Indian discontent, viz., the marriage question and the £3 tax. So far Mr Ghandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) thinks the position is satisfactory. But as regards other matters he thinks that an assurance is necessary from Government that the Immigration Act would be more sympathetically administered-especially in regard to the Gold Law and the licensing laws. We hope that the same conciliatory spirit will be shown and Indians will not be driven again to adopt passive resistance in regard to any unjust, unfair or irritating treatment. The India Council Bill
ON the India Council Bill, what Indians should do is to analyse the facts in so far as that is now possible. Such a course will help us to know the drift of the Bill and we shall then be able to judge whether we ought to join Anglo-Indians in denouncing the Bill. The first and the most important point is whether and if so what change has been made to alter the composition of the Council. The Council has long been so constituted that the Government of India could always depend upon its support for the continuance of its two-fold policy of perpetuating Anglo-Indian domination and Indian subserviency. What the bureaucracy enacts in Simla is ratified by its counterpart in Whitehall and what it proposes here is supported there. It is this family arrangement, so to say, that has been fatal to the reputation of the average civilian as a lover of progress.
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Energy trade with Pakistan Currently, electricity production in Pakistan is about 15430 MW against an installed capacity of 22797 MW because of poor infrastructure, old plants and theft of electricity. The inefficient transmission and distribution system is costing the taxpayers Rs 1.7 per unit over and above the cost of generation - averaging around Rs 7.3 per unit. Power theft alone amounts to Rs 8,500 crore per annum. Pakistan is producing 36% of electricity from oil, 30% from hydel, 29% each from gas and 5% from nuclear plants. A sharp decline in the share of gas in energy production from 52% in 2005 to 29% in 2014 has increased the cost of power in Pakistan. The country faces 7,000 MW power deficits. This turns out to be 31 per cent of the total annual demand. The decision of the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) at The Hague in February 2013 is likely to hurt its 980 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydro-Power Project being set up in occupied Kashmir, as the ICA allowed India to divert water from the Kishanganga river (called Neelum in Pakistan) to its 330 MW Kishanganga Hydro-Electric Project on the Jhelum river basin in Kashmir. Given Pakistan's internal energy situation, the total 1200 MW power imports from India will be acute and cannot simply be replaced by other sources. In this way, Pakistan will be more dependent on India for its electricity needs. The country imports 35 MW of power from Iran, and is considering to import another 1000 MW from Tajikistan by 2016. In recent times, China has agreed to invest US$20 billion in Pakistan's energy infrastructure, and in return, it will take ownership of coal plants.
Pakistan has also been negotiating the import of 200 million cubic feet (MCF) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) per day from India. The latter proposed to lay 110-km pipeline from Jalandhar to the Wagah border via Amritsar. LNG will be imported through ports in Gujarat and moved through the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)'s existing pipeline network up to Jalandhar. The cost of LNG imports to India is US$ 13.5 per million british thermal units (mbtu). After including the customs duty, transportation charges and local taxes, the delivery price works out close to US$ 21 per mbtu. Pakistan wants India to exempt LNG from taxes so that the delivery price does not exceed US$16 mbtu. India is likely to waive the duty on the proposed export. However, in case of sudden termination of the contract, GAIL has sought letters of credit from Pakistan for US$ 415 million to cover the estimated value of LNG supply for three months and a bank guarantee for $100 million. It will be a win-win situation for both countries to do gas trade, as India will earn a significant profit and Pakistan will get the commodity at lower prices as compared to the international import price of US$ 19 per mbtu. Moreover, the existing gas reserves in Pakistan are expected to last only 18
years. This gas deal will be a test case for the feasibility of the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline, which is being developed under the guidance of the Asian Development Bank and expected to be completed by 2017. The inter-governmental agreement on this pipeline was signed on December 11, 2010, in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan). This pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India, covering a distance of 1680 km. It is being constructed via Herat-Kandahar (Afghanistan)-Quetta-Multan (Pakistan) to Fazilka, Punjab (India). The estimated cost of this project is US$ 7.6 billion. Its capacity will be 90 million standard cubic meters per day (mcmd) of natural gas, of which 14 mcmd will be provided to Afghanistan and 38 mcmd to each Pakistan and India. India will pay a transit fee of US$ 0.5 per mbtu each to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the delivery price will be around US$ 13 per mbtu. Unlike the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project signed in 1995, from which India backed out in 2007 under US pressure, the TAPI is supported by the US.
Pakistan also signed an MOU with the Indian firm Universal Biomass Energy on December 27, 2013, to set up a 15 MW biomass power plant within two years in Pakistani Punjab. The energy generated by it would be linked with a 132-KVA supply line.
Cross-border energy trade can lead to effective utilisation of natural resources. It will act as the single most effective confidence-building measure between India and Pakistan. During the post-SAFTA period (2006 onwards), the two countries have accelerated the process of mutual trade and gained due to their geographical proximity and contiguity of territories, which helped them in saving the transportation and transshipment costs. Their bilateral trade in goods increased from US$ 0.8 billion in 2005 to US$ 2.6 billion in 2013. The Wagah border is very important for exploiting the mutual trade potential, and accounts for more than one-third of the total trade.
The writer is the Professor-cum-Programme Coordinator (South & Central Asia), Centre for Research in Rural & Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh
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Life on the other side of the wall My proposal to resign was opposed from all corners. My colleagues not only scorned my thinking rather warned me soon I would repent. Above all, homemaking was a thankless job. From the highest rung of the ladder I would nosedive to be a doormat and look longingly above later on. They told me if a button went missing on the hubby's shirt, I would be shouted at et al.
Even mother, herself a homemaker, disapproved my plan. I could taste that life after retirement, she argued. Should I wait till bones and joints ache and me limp? Should I wait till spectacles and denture 'adorn' my good
looks? But determined that I was, nothing could deter me from pursuing the other life; I did resign shortly. Now I am the master of my time and relaxing mentally as well as physically. Earlier, I felt like running an endless marathon with no finish line. Mornings were like an orchestrated choreography. One wrong step and the entire rhythm went wrong. Thank God, I got rid of the upheaval I faced every morning, swallowing breakfast, sometimes leaving for office without it. Gone are the days of rushing through madly, inviting stress to escape the ire of the boss. Blessed siesta! Nothing can keep me away from, you dearie! I enjoy all that I had to forgo for working in a dull and insipid atmosphere with eyes glued to the computer screen. No human touch, nothing personal. Only the click of the mouse ruled life. Instead of sending lifeless emails yours truly now write letters exuding love and warmth to friends and
relatives. I derive pleasure in spending quality time with my children instead of scolding them over trifles. I am happy that I have belied all fears of my well-wishers. I am cheerfully doing household chores which caused me immense irritation earlier. You can't imagine déjà vu I feel enjoying the new chapter of life. I am on top of the world while soaking myself in the cosy winter sunshine which I had yearned for years. Nature has opened itself before me and I cherish its beauties like Wordsworth and Keats. I feel grateful to the Lord for showering this grace upon me. Shouldn't one listen to the inner voice sometime in life?
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Nigerian schoolgirls & hashtag activism By now, you and everyone you know has demanded on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to #BringBackOurGirls. The hashtag has spread virally, rightly sparking global outrage over the violence inflicted on the young Nigerian women by the militant group Boko Haram. But are there unintended consequences to this kind of hashtag activism?
June 1 marked one-and-a-half months to the day that more than 200 Nigerian girls were abducted from a secondary school in the north-eastern village of Chibokby a group of Islamist militants known as Boko Haram. An obscure news story for weeks, it suddenly became ubiquitous with the viral hashtag #BringBackOurGirls raising a global outcry. The massive international response through social media activism has built pressure demanding international assistance in helping to recover the abducted girls. At a security summit this month, Nigeria and its neighbouring countries of Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, agreed to share intelligence and human trafficking information in a coordinated effort to find the girls, while France, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union agreed to provide technical expertise and training. The summit follows the release of two videos by Boko Haram claiming responsibility for the abduction of the schoolgirls. In the May 5 video, Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau threatened to sell the young women, calling them "slaves". In the video released a week later, he demanded the release of Boko Haram militants held as prisoners in exchange for the girls. The activism has also raised awareness about the environment of conflict instability and conflict in Nigeria. Boko Haram has been carrying out a deadly insurrection in the predominantly Muslim north since 2009. Officially, the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awatiwal-Jihad, which in Arabic means "People committed to the propagation of the Prophet's teachings and jihad," the group has come to be known as Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language. The group has killed thousands of people, bombing public places, and attacking schools. And this isn't the first time that it has kidnapped women and girls.
Violence against women In November 2013, the United States Department of State designated Boko Haram a foreign terrorist organisation. In such chaotic environments, there is an increased risk of violence against women (VAW), who are a particularly vulnerable group in conflict situations. "The objectification of women (and) denial of their humanity and fundamental personhood encourages VAW in armed conflict." The group has threatened to sell the young women as "slaves". Women's bodies often become the symbolic battleground for societal conflict. The abduction and subsequent treatment of the Nigerian schoolgirls is the most recent in high-profile cases of violence against women. In 2012, the Indian subcontinent was rocked by two incidents of VAW that received international attention. In December, a 23-year-old young woman studying physiotherapy was brutally beaten and gang-raped on a bus in Delhi. The assault sparked protests involving thousands of people, enraged and calling for justice against the rapists. Two months earlier, a gunman stopped a bus of schoolgirls in northern Pakistan and shot 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in the head. As Malala battled for her life, her bravery inspired the international campaign for girls' education, "I Am Malala", which spread through hashtag activism. Unlike the Malala hashtag, whose associated campaign was conducted by UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown, the hashtag#BringBackOurGirls is a homegrown campaign that went international, yet remains strong in Nigeria. Obiageli Ezekwesili, the former Nigerian Minister of Education, used the phrase in a speech she gave in April. Nigerian lawyer Ibrahim Abdullahi, watching the address, was the first to tweet the phrase and append the hashtag, "Yes #BringBackOurDaughters #BringBackOurGirls declared by @obyezeks and all people at Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014." Value of life It seems that hashtag activism has helped recognise the value of the lives of young women of colour from countries like Pakistan and Nigeria and roused policymakers to mobilise resources to protect and rescue them. At the same time, issues have emerged with the rapid outcry on social media and the ensuing activism. The photograph of a young woman outside of a school staring out from behind her hands has accompanied thousands of #BringBackOurGirls tweets. This image, along with two others, has been used to "put a face to the campaign". These photos, however, have nothing to do with the kidnappings; the women are not Nigerian and have not been trafficked. The young women are from the country of Guinea-Bissau, a country more than 2,000 miles from Nigeria. The photos were taken from the website of the Alexia Foundation (a social justice photojournalism organisation founded in honour of a young woman, herself a victim of the terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.) The photographer, Ami Vitale, voiced her concern about the misrepresentation and misappropriation. The incident raises questions about verification and accuracy in social media campaigns. Global outrage More disturbing is the attitude displayed by the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau in the videos the group released earlier in May. In them, he seems to revel in the global outrage over the kidnappings and tries to use the world's focus on the issue to his advantage. While the social media activism helped raise the international community's awareness about the plight of these young girls, it also raised the profile of the militant group responsible. As a side-effect of the Twitter campaign to rescue the young women, Boko Haram became infamous and its leader gloried in his new-found celebrity. While the netizens of the Western world have taken heart in their solidarity with the kidnapped young women and their ability to do something, they have come to the realisation that not only does terrorism continue to exist, it exists in other parts of the world beyond the Middle East. Muslims as the “other” Faced with yet another example of violent Islamist extremism, people question why Muslims aren't condemning the evil actions of such groups, which are located in another country. Notwithstanding that Muslims do speak out against extremists, such questions demonstrate that Muslims continue to be viewed as exotic and as the Other. Muslims themselves often buy into this notion and self-Other. We as Muslims are asked to constantly identify with or speak for Muslims abroad, but not asked to see how they are like the neighbours next door, regardless of whether they are Muslim or not. This pressure to be "Othered" persistently drives Muslims to be more concerned with what is happening abroad than what is happening locally. Such societal divides and Othering are part of the complexity within Nigeria that has contributed to the rise of extremism. Poorest nation The continent's most populous country with the highest oil production, Nigeria is also one of the world's poorest nations. It suffers from poor governance, entrenched corruption, sectarian violence, and vast wealth inequalities there is a sharp divide between the poor Muslim north and the richer Christian south. The strength of social media activism is also its weakness - it harnesses the public's attention around a specific incident without sustaining it to tackle the root of the problem. The world temporarily showed its solidarity with the people of Nigeria, who produced a rallying cry to bring back their daughters. While we amplified their clamour with tweets of our own, we need to think more carefully about how we contribute to the conversation and how we create attention through hashtag activism. Who are we naming and who are we shaming? The writer is an assistant editor at altMuslimah.com and a writer for Winnovating.com, a blog profiling women changemakers. She writes on issues of cultural identity, gender, and faith.
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