30th April

A Smoking Gun

The article talks about the latest developments in the Bofors case that has raised new controversy as CBI requests Interpol to drop Ottavio Quattrocchi from its red corner notice list. CBI is often accused of being a puppet of the politicians which is not a healthy perception.

Bofors case has often been the reason for Congress’ discomfort; especially during elections with the opposition parties have made the case, an election issue to corner Congress. However, now the case has lost its potential as an election issue out of its over-usage. Also that out of last 19 years, centre has seen non-Congress government for 9 years and so the opposition cannot accuse Congress for the lethargy exhibited by CBI to get the main accused of this case behind the bars. As of now, Quattrocchi doesn’t fear arrest when he is out of Italy even when the case against him continues in India. However, Italian government can, at any time, extradite him to India on government’s request, if he is found guilty. Although CBI argues that the revoking of notice was only a legal opinion given by Attorney General in October 2008, which it followed since it feared that the warrant may lose its validity with respect to CBI’s failures to extradite him from Malaysia and Argentina, there are very few takers for this argument.

CBI has been viewed as a handmaiden to those people in power and has always worked with servility to the interests of the party in government. This is not a healthy perception for the country’s premier investigative agency. CBI’s credibility needs to be restored for the nation’s interest.

Ebb Tide

The article talks about decreasing water levels of some of the major rivers of the world and its reasons. The author calls for a strong check on the climate change and pollution that is causing these changes in the water flow.

As National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, USA, warns that the fresh water availability would be severely compromised in the coming years, it also reports a decrease in the water flow of some of the major rivers of the world like Ganga, Niger and Yellow. The research was carried out for 50 years on some 9000 rivers up to 2004. While the sea levels have increased over the years, it is mainly due to melting of tropical ice rather then the injection of fresh water from rivers. Rising temperatures have brought a change in the rainfall pattern and increased the rate of evaporation. Oceans are expanding due to warming of its waters and it is feared to gulp the coastal areas of India and Bangladesh and ofcourse San Francisco, London and NYC. Besides the climate change another major threat to rivers across the world is the water pollution that is increasing day by day. As the effluents, garbage, sewage and other solid/liquid waste goes into the rivers, it poses a grave threat to the aquatic life. Recently, thousands of liters of petrol spilled into the river Sutlej as the pipe burst at a local thermal power station in Punjab. Such accidents should be avoided as the oil obstructs the oxygen in the water which is much needed for the marine life. 

Thus, the only way to ensure the freshwater supply for our posterity is to deal with the problems of climate change and pollution on urgent basis.

27th April

Learning a Lesson

The article insists on schools across India to learn the lesson from the recent two incidents happened in the national capital and upgrade their medical facilities on urgent basis. The author strictly believes that an end to the corporal punishment must be enforced and followed. 

The incidents of Shanno Khatun and Akriti Bhatia are not the isolated ones. Such incidents have happened and continue to happen in the schools across India since ages. The doubt is to what extent schools are sensitive towards children especially the ones with medical conditions. Schools argue that they cannot function as hospitals. But there is certainly a need to upgrade the health facilities at schools with respect to human resource and medical equipments. First aid is the matter of past now and schools need to move ahead. Better life saving drugs, oxygen cylinders, stretchers, vehicle to move student quickly to hospital, an in-house doctor and a trained nurse is what is the idea of an ideal medical system in schools. Schools can even have arrangement with neighbouring hospitals to move students in case of emergency. Private schools that charge high fees can certainly afford this upgradation. For government schools, its time to improve their general conditions, be it staff or medical facilities. There should also be strict resistance to corporal punishment. 

While there is a ban on corporal punishments, seldom it is followed. Thus, rigorous enforcement of ban on corporal punishment is the only way out to stop such incidents. 

Virtual War

The article asserts that India needs to follow the steps of US to upgrade its cyber security systems to protect its precious data from being hacked. 

Recently, hackers successfully penetrated the Pentagon’s network and copied several terabytes of data of US DoD’s $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter, its costliest weapons programme ever, and its air force’s air traffic control system. Before that, US electricity grid was also hacked by a malware that could have caused disruptions in the grid, if activated. India’s National Informatics Centre (NIC) was also attacked in March this year by a worm originating from China. It’s high time that nations need to protect their data stored in computers and servers from falling into the wrong hands otherwise the time is not far when the countries would be attacked by computers rather then bombs. Taking a cue from the attacks, US govt has planned to set up a Pentagon cyber command that would coordinate computer-network defense and direct US cyber attack operations. India should also follow the lead and protect its NIC that can give access to all the departments, including defense and home, if attacked. It is all the more important considering the fact that NIC has been attacked as much as 12 times in the past two years. Worrying thing is still the nations aren’t all probing each other’s computer systems. Involvement of unofficial groups adds to complexity.

As the cyber espionage increased the attacks become more and more sophisticated. India needs to strengthen its cyber security in order to protect the country.

25th April

The Endgame

The article expresses concern over the events that are unfolding in Pakistan with respect to Taliban’s insurgency into the nation that began from NWFP. With military action, the only feasible option to stop this, India should also begin preparing for response in case Pakistan collapses.

With Taliban’s push into Buner, the situation in Pakistan is reaching its flashpoint. Even US has acknowledged that Pakistan is now a mortal threat to US and the world. But Pakistan has failed to realize that Taliban, and not India, is its enemy. Taliban’s push into Buner placed them very near to Mardan, the second largest city in NWFP, and the arterial road between Peshawar and Islamabad. Pakistan has in fact blamed India for insurgency in Baluchistan when the fact is that it wasn’t Delhi who called for Sharia laws throughout Pakistan or offered Osama Bin Laden a sanctuary in NWFP. More danger poses with the insurgency because several of the nuclear assets of Pakistan – believed to number about 85 weapons – are situated near Islamabad. If the Taliban advance remains unchecked these assets can be jeopardized, as told by PM Manmohan Singh. In this situation, compromise or political solution is not possible. Only military assertion is the way out if Pakistan wants to exist as a nation state. 

For Delhi, it is best to keep the communication open with Washington. Any unfolding of situation in Pakistan would have the most direct effect on India. This also requires Delhi to be ready with the contingency plans to respond in case Pakistan collapses. 

Urban Futures

The article talks about the speed of urbanization that is going in India and the pressure on building adequate infrastructure and providing services because of it. 

60% of the world population after 20 years would be in cities according to the State of World’s Cities Report 2008-09. For India, it might not be so good news since urbanization is happening at much faster rate then the growth in urban infrastructure expansion and development. The biggest cost of urbanization would be public health and environment. Water, electricity, transport, waste-management and energy-efficient buildings would be some basic urban services that needs to be in place. Governance would be the sixth most important service according to a report by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI). Inadequate transport facilities lead to more private vehicles and in turn pollution, parking problems and traffic congestion. It also leads to cardiac and respiratory diseases among children. Thus, transport infrastructure is the major aspect of improving city life. India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change has called for intervention to improve quality of urban services to reduce emissions and energy use. TERI has recommended strengthening and empowering local bodies and encouraging PPP to provide urban services, which needs to be taken seriously. 

Thus, government should first of all collect data regarding system of indicators to monitor sustainability in provision of urban services followed by analysis. Actual delivery of services has to be done to put the public on new, urban growth trajectory. Better cities are the way out for a better future of India.

24th April

The Affluent Society

The article talks about the increasing number of millionaires entering the politics. This trend has its pros and cons. But the election funding system should be more transparent and reformed in order to prevent these millionaires from using our polity as money making machine.

With 193 crorepatis out of 1715 candidates in the first phase of LS elections, it, obviously, raises concerns. However, Indian polity has never been made up of poorest of the poor with average wealth of an MP being Rs 1.6 crore which is comparable to the wealth of urban middle class. Also a huge part of it might constitute of real estate properties inherited which have shot up in valuation many fold. However, these millionaires are not all from cities. They come from even the extremely poorest parts of the country. What has to be seen is whether it is mere coincidence that there are so many millionaires in our electoral politics or they have entered the arena with the intention of minting more money. It is important to note that elections in India are costly affair and not all political parties have money to fund the campaigns. So they invite candidates who can fund these campaigns. Even auctioning tickets is an increasing trend these days. All these invites a change in the way elections are funded. One way is to explore state funding of election campaigns but it will only invite additional load to the exchequer and an incentive for people to get into politics to access these funds only. Another way is to check each and every funding received by each and every political party and establish accountability. Using technology and mass media techniques to reach out more people would be more cost efficient.

Thus, curbing expenses and providing greater transparency in funding is the only way out to prevent electoral process from being favorable only to rich.

US and its Neighbours

The article talks about the change that US has been observing as their relationships with many of the neighbours taking a paradigm shift after the President Obama took over.

While it started with Russia and Iran, the US President has moved closer home to make amends with Cuba and Venezuela. In the recently concluded summit in Trinidad, Obama extended a hand to his counterparts in the region. Cuba is facing trade and travel embargo since J F Kennedy in 1962 and Venezuela, whose democratically elected leader, Hugo Chavez, acts like a dictator, holds no respect for US and even called Obama’s predecessor as devil. But with Obama the things are different and these countries seem positive about the relationships with US now. The travel and remittance restrictions have been lifted while the trade embargo stays. It is even naïve to expect lifting up of trade embargo at this stage when Obama is facing little resistance from within US itself with respect to his goodwill gestures so far. But he is on the right track and with present circumstances it is better for US to go for pursuance to get support rather then punishing these countries.

The way Obama has handled the things so far, reinforces his pre-election commitments to bring the change. Now it is up to Russia, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela to take the cue.

23rd April

Take the Cue

The article urges the banks to take the cue from the positive signals send by RBI by announcing the rate cut in repo rate and reverse repo rate by 25 basis points. It is only then the economic recovery is possible.

While RBI has been conservative on monetary policy in recent times, it claims that it has sent enough positive vibes in the market since October last year. But it has to keep its ammunitions dry since economic recovery hasn’t started yet although some of the sectors show some growth like auto, cement, steel and capital goods. Although RBI needs reserve power for future needs and the present rate cuts have struck the balance between present and the future. But gradualism in monetary policy leads to expectations of more rate cuts in the future and thus reluctant lending. What India needs presently is boosted consumption and investment. Government has two fold constraints because of poor fiscal situation as well as election code of conduct. Thus, it’s all on RBI to boost the growth and keep the engine running. But banks also need take some responsibility to boost demand especially from the urban middle-class. While blaming RBI for low credit growth, banks continue to sideline retail customers over government and big industry for lending. The conservatism for commercial interests is understandable but RBI has already created a platform for them to widen their lending base by cutting the rates six times in six months and thus decreasing their borrowing costs.

While ICICI has taken a cue from the RBI rate cuts, it is also the responsibility of other banks to do the same.

Desperate Tactics

The article talks about the desperate but unsuccessful attempts of Maoists to stall the election process but people of India hasn’t shaken from their trust in democracy and continue to exercise their right to vote.

While previously the Maoists used violence to scare the people on the day of election, this time they have done it a day before. Besides blowing up a railway station, they also hijacked a train in Jharkhand. This signals their desperation to seek attention and scare people away from polling booths. Despite killing 16 people in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra and Orissa, large number of people exercised their vote in these states which clearly signals that they ignored the boycott. While Maoists’ attempt to keep the people off the election booths comes on their apparent disbelief in democracy, the public in India thinks otherwise. While no democracy or political system is perfect, it is, at the same time, the best possible option to solve the social and economic issues and improve the life quality. Elections are crucial to the democracy since it gives people a chance to elect their representative and participate in the nation-building process. 

While the poorest of the poorest in India knows the importance of the right to vote, Maoists themselves need to think the reason why people have ignored their repeated attempts to boycott the elections. At the same time security forces should also make sure that the elections go undisrupted.

22nd April

Help The Civilians

The article expresses concern for the civilians trapped in the battle between SriLankan Army and LTTE in what is called the final battle of the ethnic war that has lasted for more then a quarter century. 

With around 40k people moved to the NFZ (No Firing Zone) in Wanni region, under the Sri Lankan Army control, this is a welcome development considering the allegations that LTTE as been using these people as a human shields and not allowing them to move to refugee camps. However, Colombo must extend the ceasefire as demanded by UN since two days aren’t enough to move over a lakh Tamilians trapped in the war zone. Both, Sri Lankan Army and LTTE, have been alleging each other for the civilian casualties and that the other side is using civilians as human shields. Without independent sources it is difficult to confirm the truth. It is high time that international community should step in and make the warring sides put a pause to these casualties. LTTE has urged International Committee of the Red Cross for medical supplies and help the evacuation of injured people. Colombo should also facilitate entry of Red Cross and other international aid agencies considering that fact that it is seen as hostile to Tamilians in the region. It would also help Colombo counter the LTTE argument that refugees refuse to enter the camps for the sake of their safety. As world expects Colombo to adhere to human rights, the history says otherwise. Both LTTE and Colombo is accused of using war tactics that has led to huge amount of casualties and can be considered war crimes by UN Commissioners. 

It is important for Colombo to keep the track of its international commitments while fighting for what is considered the last battle of ethnic war of over 25 years. 

Misplaced Morality

The article criticizes the opposition by some of politicians to implement sex education into the schools as it is ‘morally incorrect’ and against the Indian culture. 

Sometime back, a bunch of state governments opposed the inclusion of sex education into the school curricula. Now a parliamentary committee on petitions – led by BJP’s Venkaiah Naidu – has opposed sex education in schools by saying that it ‘promotes promiscuity’. Its weird in which world these politicians live in as 14 to 18 is not considered by them as an age to know about sexuality. All the more at 18 you have the right to vote but not the right to get credible information about the reproductive health through your school. As the politicians call it as against ‘Indian Culture’ it is to be reminded that getting children married off had a social sanction not very long ago. It has to be accepted that sex is a reality in today’s society and there shouldn’t be any taboo in talking about it. In this internet age where any information is just a click away, it is just not safe to believe that our youth live in an asexual world. More important is to educate them through right channels with right information. Schools, along with parents, play a vital role in this. Unfortunately, our society indulges into morality games instead of growing up. Youth, today, is more sexually active then it was before.

Thus, it is in their interest and health, physical and emotional, that we need to talk to them sensibly about sex.

21st April

Watch the Watchmen

The article urges the Indian corporate structure to seize the opportunity, opening up after Satyam saga, to clean itself up and increase the transparency and accuracy of corporate governance in the private sector which is often depicted as a model for public sector as well.

While PW is under intense pressure after the CBI charge sheets against the auditor on the grounds of negligence in the auditing, its defense is getting weaker and weaker. However, the episode provides us the opportunity to inspect system’s shortcomings and correct them as soon as possible. While the current corporate governance structure in the private sector is held as an example to the public sector, rightly said by Narayana Murthy, the current corporate management paradigm is a form of feudalism with a kind of opacity and the centralized authority creates an environment where financial objectives take priority over best practices. In this scenario, it is important for the auditing firms to become the integral part of the system. Also the system should make sure that perpetrators of any financial crime get punished without fail to restore the credibility. Even the audit firms should be kept under the scanner. ICAI made a wise move by making all companies audited only by peer review certified firms and also restricting the period of time, an auditor can be associated with a company. 

PW needs to be asked why they ignored the recommendations regarding Satyam made by other PW teams. Current situation should be taken up as an opportunity to clean up the Indian corporate structure. 

Let there be light

The article talks about the initiative California based power company has taken to source the electricity from space based solar energy. Although expensive, it is a step forward to move towards green energy sources. India should also follow the lead.

The solar panels in the satellite would beam the solar power through radiofrequency transmissions to the antennae in California which would be converted to electricity and fed to the regular power grid. Although a highly expensive exercise, the present climate change and decreasing solar energy costs indicate a paradigm shift in our energy sourcing alternatives very soon. Such innovations are necessary to decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. While Britain takes initiative to become a leader in electric car manufacturing with incentives up to £5000 for people who want to buy electric cars in order to slash down the carbon emissions by 26% by 2020, it is also investing money to provide proper infrastructure to charge these cars along with £10 million for research to the companies. 

India should also follow the lead by providing incentives to green technology car manufacturers and provide adequate infrastructure for research. It should also provide impetus to exploit its geography and commission research to produce solar power on commercial scale.

20th April

A Crumbling Pitch

The article advises Pakistan to introspect to solve the current boycott it is facing at various levels, recently being the banning of ICC to host any level of cricket tournament till 2011 including the ICC World Cup.

The reaction is coming right from within the Pakistani team after the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan team as the Pakistani captain apprehended to quit the game if any such attack happened on his team. This would devoid, the world of cricket, some of the finest players who have originated from the country. The present solution should be to encourage the team to tour more and play at neutral venues as well. IPL was a golden chance for Pakistani cricketers had the foreign ministry given permission. The primary reason for all the mess seems to be the constant state of denial, the governing elite of Pakistan has exercised over the period, leading to the perception of pariah state by the world. With respect to Taliban elements, Islamabad has cited the Swat deal as a measure to contain Taliban which, evidently, hasn’t worked at all and now the insurgents are intruding into the heartland of Pakistan, Punjab. While Pakistan continues to blame its favorite villains, US and India, it is not able to see that the real problem is within their administration and polity. 

Taliban’s growth isn’t happening in vacuum. There are elements fueling their intrusion and intensification and Pakistan needs to recognize these elements immediately and eliminate them otherwise ICC World Cup would soon turn out to be least of its worries. 

Save the Reefs

The article talks about the latest Japanese technology that would help revive some of the most endangered reefs. Later on it emphasizes on the need for awareness among the general public to prevent the factors that lead to decline of reefs.

Japanese technologists have spent $2million and transplanted 13k pieces of fledgling corals into the dying reefs of East China Sea in 4 years. The technique had a success ratio of 33% and it would help preserving the genetic diversity of the corals. Similar project is going on in Andaman Sea, albeit, at a smaller scale. Coral reefs are considered as rainforests of the ocean. However, rising temperatures and greenhouse effect is causing bleaching and weakness in the reefs. This, in turn, endangers all crustacean creatures. Several creatures like fish and algae feed on the Global reef systems which also get endangered because of this. While techniques to revive reefs like giving jolts of electricity and seeding artificial undersea grids with cloned coral fragments have yielded positive results but that hasn’t prevented the death of reefs arising out of overfishing with dynamite in reef areas due to 1998 Asian economic crisis, toxic waste, intrusive tourism and global warming. If timely actions aren’t taken 75% of reef systems would die within next 50 years. 

Besides technology support, what is really needed is awareness among local people and tourists for coral reef conservation. More difficult task is concerted efforts from all the countries of the world to reduce greenhouse emissions before it’s too late.

18th April

IPL 2.0

The article talks about the second version of IPL T20 that would kick off at Cape Town today and is poised for a success around the entire cricketing world.

While stars from Lalit Modi to Shahrukh Khan and Shane Warne to John Buchanan would share the stage on the streets of Cape Town, the missing entity would be Saurav Ganguly who has been replaced by Brandon McCullum as captain of KKR. For the next 36 days, the entire cricketing world would be glued to the tournament, anybody likes it or not. Following the security concerns post-Lahore attack, the tournament was shifted to South Africa. But this can in fact prove a blessing if the League proves to be a big hit outside the continent. This would help to0 disprove the theory of home ground crowd behind IPL’s success. The 7.5 minutes break between each 10 overs would help BCCI earn more revenue from advertisers and invest that money into cricket.

Finally, it doesn’t matter of Bollywood stars pout and preen; or Dada struggle one more time to another Australian bete noire. The show must go on!!!

Kashmir, Texas

The article tries to draw parallel between the cases of Kashmir and Texas wherein some of the locals are demanding to secede from their respective nations i.e. India and US. However, it also points out the difference in the legitimacy of the demands.

Texans are feeling that the Federal government is charging too high taxes from the state which resulted in nationwide protest in the form of Tea parties and throwing tea bags into the White House lawns resembling to the Boston Tea Party of 1773. However, the colonists who opposed taxes in 1773 weren’t allowed any representatives, but that logic is not true for today. Moreover the protest is more of a weapon for the Rights to take on the President. Although the President is accused of being socialist and communist, it is the duty of him to uphold socialism, at least with reference to the Indian Constitution. Moreover, protestors are overlooking the fact that due to economic crisis there are several job losses and thus there is a need for the government to bail them out which is not possible without money. Back home, even some Kashmiris are thinking to secede from India. However, the problem here is of different nature. Texans think that they are paying too much tax to the federal government while Indians think that huge proportion of their taxes go to Kashmir to keep it with Indian Union. 

Islamabad has always tried to get the US intervention in the Kashmir issue in order to capture it but India has hardly ever made it successful. And now even if Uncle Sam intervenes, India can safely put them off by quoting the Texas example.

17th April

Democracy Works

The article talks about the successful first round of elections that got completed yesterday, despite violent attacks by Maoists that killed 18 people across the country. The author expresses that just as various sections of the society saw this democratic process as a way to solve their problem, even the external agents like Maoists would follow the suite. 

Indian Elections are the unique phenomenon in the democratic world owing to the huge size of its electorate – 714 million – and the complexity of the issues facing the nation. Thus it’s apparent that the occasion is also a chance for the extremists to express their opposition as reflected in the Maoist violence in the first phase of elections. While security forces are playing their duty, it also becomes all the more responsibility of the elected representatives to ensure delivery of public services to the electorate who risk their lives and go for voting. Earlier, Hurriyat used to boycott the elections in J&K but the popular belief made them change their stand. Because of this, J&K saw successful assembly elections last year since the public saw it as an opportunity to participate in state affairs and influence public policies. Even the history suggests that election boycotts have rarely been successful in India except for J&K, Punjab and Assam when they are held in extraordinary circumstances. 

Early India saw election boycott allegations by the lower caste people over the upper caste but it gradually vanished owing to social churning post-independence and now it’s mainly because of external agents like Maoists and other terrorist groups. Hopefully some day they would also see the light.

The China Tantrum

The article talks about the dirty game played by China to obstruct India’s progress in every possible way it could. The main reason unofficially is the issue of Arunachal Pradesh that prompts China to apply every possible pressure on India.

While China has decided to withhold its approval of the ADB loan to India, it is very much visible that the issue of Arunachal Pradesh is the primary reason that was also reflected in the Beijing’s protests against President Pratibha Patil’s visit to the state few days back and PM Manmohan Singh’s visit last year. However, such obstructionism has no place for the two countries that are growing healthily in the current economic scenario. Instead synergies, like the one by collaboration between ONGC Videsh Ltd and China National Petroleum Corporation for joint bidding for projects, have paid well. Or even more relevant example of Sikkim settlement in 2003. Although New Delhi can hardly do anything substantial in retaliation except for the Tibet issue that has been an international shame for China, such step would only be more counterproductive. China has used all possible international forums to pressurize India, be it ADB or attempt to block NSG waiver or resisting India’s membership to ASEAN Regional Forum and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. 

Finally it should be made clear to Beijing that its relationships with Delhi is more based on quid pro quo and that it should more concentrate on its positive implications rather then negative.

16th April

Don’t Pass The Buck

The article asserts that despite India’s duty to carry on the trial on Kasab, the lone captured terrorist in the 26/11 attacks, with a fair speed and without any unnecessary delay, the fact that the entire attack was masterminded planned in Pakistan and executed y Pakistani nationals makes it a responsibility for Islamabad as well to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Even after passing on, the much demanded, evidence to the Pakistani investigators in the form of 400 page dossier and a CD containing conversations between attackers and their handlers in Pakistan, backed up by further evidence from US and British security agents, Islamabad is still busy in its fault-finding play. Demand of a transcript of conversation by Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik, after 3 months of handing over the CD, just shows Pakistan’s reluctance to go ahead with serious investigation. Although the authorities there have detained five people with respect to attack, the main accused LeT commanders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah are still at large. Nor has the results of investigation been passed on to the Indian authorities while the demands for more evidence from Indian investigators persists. 

Such stonewalling in investigation does not only affect the peace talks between the two countries but also endangers Pakistan’s sovereignty as it tries to separate “good jihadis” from “bad jihadis”, former being the ones exporting terrorism to its neighbor India while the latter being dangerous for Pakistan itself. 

City Lights

The article demands more administrative and financial power to be given to the local/city governments in order to create better infrastructure for the rising population in the Indian cities in future.

Like NYC that plans to transform itself into green metropolis, a dream shared by many European cities as well; there is a need for Indian cities as well to look forward for such dream owing to its growing urban population and insufficient infrastructure to support this rise in population. By 2050, it is said that half of India’s population would be in cities. This demands a radical change in the city administration. However, unlike US where significant amount of administrative rights and finances remains with the local/city government, such a dream is not possible to envision by the local authorities in India. State and the Central government controls much of the funding received to the cities as well as its administration which results in overlooking of specific needs of local population. Moreover, the local bodies lack the skilled personnel as well to execute the plans since they are reserved by the state and central authorities. This leads to huge bureaucracy and inefficient usage of resources owing to the two-fold disadvantage. 

What is needed is involvement of public policy institutions and universities to augment the skills and capabilities of personnel in local governments while at the same time transferring skilled personnel from state and central bodies to local bodies. Sufficient funds and skilled personnel are the key to transform our cities into livable urban spaces.

15th April

A Quick Bailout

The article, while praising the quick bail out of Satyam as it was bought by Tech Mahindra, argues that the kind of agility government showed to keep Satyam afloat, similar nimbleness must also be shown to punish the perpetrators of the scandal as well as the audit firm.

The buy out of Satyam by Tech Mahindra is the result of alacrity showed by government to keep the company afloat and secure the future of its 48000 employees as well as clients. The IT industry also showed the support by not poaching the Satyam’s clients and employees. The acquisition would place Tech Mahindra at forth position in the IT industry, give readymade access to the clients of Satyam and give an opportunity to diversify from its telecom business. However, the main part of Satyam saga is yet to be concluded i.e. punishing the perpetrators in which government has hardly showed any enthusiasm. It took a court order for SEBI and SFIO to get access to Raju brothers, not to forget the hurdles put by the AP Police earlier. ICAI has, meanwhile, extended the show-cause deadlines for PWC who Okayed Satyam’s fudged accounts. 

It’s fortunate that Satyam didn’t go the Enron way but this does not undermine the need to break the nexus between promoters of the company, audit firms and BODs. For shareholders’ trust to remain intact, an example has to be set by punishing the Satyam perpetrators as soon as possible.

Follow Their Lead

The article urges India to take the lead from the recent US response to the pirates attack from Somalia in the Gulf of Aden region. 

While the situation is worsening in the Gulf region with the pirates of Somalia becoming ever audacious, it is time for all the other countries, including India, to take the lead. Pirates are becoming ever similar to the terrorists as they have an open support from the Somali Islamist insurgents and have declared US as their enemy no.1. It can be safely assumed that the terrorist organizations must be studying these pirates who have exposed the weakest part of nations considered enemies by the pirates. For India, as over $100b of its total sea trade passes through Gulf of Aden, it is a warning signal. Although Navy patrolling has increased, the recent attacks suggest that more needs to be done. The US example also suggest that while brute force is often ineffective in these situations, counterinsurgency tactics used on land can be adopted in naval context using agile specially-tasked forces. 

The learning here should be that if the pirates problem remains unattended, owing to the failed state and economic chaos in Somalia, it may well entangle itself with the terrorism issue and can become a larger issue at a global level.

14th April

More Than a Pause

The article talks about the worsening situation in Sri Lanka which cannot be resolved merely by ceasefire. The author demands Sri Lankan govt to go beyond ceasefire and solve the political issue through dialogue and not through military action. 

While Sri Lankan govt proposes the ceasefire not only as a measure to vacate the civilians trapped in the warzone but also as a gesture to mark Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, LTTE declares it as an “insult to the Tamil community”. Colombo has played smart by putting the onus of civilian safety on LTTE by alleging that LTTE uses civilians as human shields. Tigers, obviously, refuted the claim. There is a deadlock in the situation with Rajapaksa govt firm on wiping out the LTTE followed by a political solution to the Tamilian dissatisfaction while LTTE considered itself a sole representative of Tamil minority and doesn’t want to settle with anything less then a separate state. While civilians face the burnt of the situation here, what is needed is that Colombo should call for a constructive dialogue following the ceasefire hoping that LTTE, or at least its over ground sympathizers like Tamil National Alliance, would welcome the gesture. 

A political problem must be solved using diplomacy and dialogue and not through military action since the end of LTTE might not necessarily end the Tamil separatism.

Down The Drain

The article talks about improving the technology and management for more effective and efficient use of water so that the least of it gets wasted. Majority of world water problems are due to huge wastage and inefficient management.

An election candidate, fighting from Kakrola, Delhi, promised to solve the water problems of its constituency by providing water tankers just before the elections. However, this might solve the problem temporarily, but it does not address the core issue of huge wastage of water and the mismanagement that leads to inefficient use of water. While the global demand for water goes up by 2-3% every year, greenhouse effect in fact infuses fresh water into our oceans more or less constantly. What is missing is prudent management of water i.e. protection of water bodies, reducing public wastage and equitable distribution. Fifth World Water Forum held at Istanbul was allegedly biased towards private interests. Thus, in future all the water forums must be held under the auspices of UN to ensure more egalitarian approach. More efficient irrigation systems could reduce the water usage into agriculture significantly. Efficient usage and reducing wastage at individual level could also contribute significantly to prevent depleting of water resources. It is estimated that by 2075, 7 billion people around the world would live in the regions with chronic water shortage. 

With 75% of world water going into agriculture, mainly due to inefficient irrigation, it is important that countries like India and Brazil, that consume much more water for wheat then US or China, to adopt more efficient technology and management for smarter agricultural practice rather then making water expensive for farmers.

13th April

Casting a New Order

The article talks about the paradigm shift in the foreign policy of US post-Obama which aspires to restore the image of US as a truly world leader in a more respectful manner. 

While the first step went towards making amends with Iran, Obama also made sure Iran participates in resolving the Middle-East crisis especially in its neighborhood Afghanistan. Obama also asserted that Tehran should be accorded its true place on the international table. Iran has also responded positively to Obama’s overture. Besides that Obama’s team, lead by Hillary Clinton, also reached China and Russia since US had a very rough time with these two economic giants during the Bush era. Collaboration with these two countries is necessary for the Af-Pak strategy to succeed, especially China since it has the muscle to bring out US from this deep economic crisis. Obama is also negotiating with the European powers to find the way out of the mess as during the G-20 summit. However, his recommendations were treated with caution. He is also expected to improve relations with Cuba.

With no boasting of a messiah and a realpolitik, Obama is ought to succeed owing to the honesty in his diplomacy and it is evident that the new world order is taking shape under his leadership.

The XX Factor

The article expresses concern over the increasingly skewed gender ratio in China which has 32 million more male babies then females. The author then shifts the discussion of the problem in India’s perspective where the problem is acute irrespective of educational or financial affluence. 

With strict once child policy in China affective from 1979, Chinese parents are seeing girl child as a burden and have resorted to abortions till their first child is male. With 1/6th of the world population residing in China, the problem is huge. Although the government in China has relaxed the one child policy, there is still a huge market for male babies who are kidnapped and sold later on. With respect to China, India also needs to put its house in order. Both the countries have almost similar gender ratio of 10:7. Even in the affluent areas of Punjab and South Delhi the gender ratio is worse then other parts. Rich can afford the expensive technology-aided tests to determine the sex of the unborn. At workplace, equal pay to women employees is yet a distant dream. The awareness about gender equality has to come from education at primary and secondary level. 

At the end, more needs to be done with respect to financial incentives and ensuring inheritance rights to women rather then just tax reliefs.

8th April

A win to cheer

The article praises the Team India’s success abroad in the recent Test Series against New Zealand. While it was, undoubtedly, a historic win, had Dhoni not been so defensive in his tactics, it could have been a 2-0 win instead of 1-0. 

The most important part of the success was that it was a team effort in all. However, the major stars of the tour were Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan. While Gambhir proved his caliber to bat in any conditions as he slammed two centuries, one while defending the team and the other while launching the attack on the opposition, Zaheer crushed the opposition bowling by his impeccable swing and seam bowling. However, both the players had their partners to support their success. While Gambhir-Sehwag pair has become indisputably most destructive pair in the world, Zaheer-Ishant complements each others bowling attack. Sachin and VVS Laxman also played to their reputation while Dravid broke the world record of most catches by Mark Waugh. Harbhajan Singh also followed the lines of E A S Prasanna of 1958 to bag highest wickets in the tour. 

Finally, had the hostile weather and over-defensive tactics of Dhoni not played the spoil sport, India would have wrapped up the series by 2-0. Dhoni’s men are on a winning mode and winners take risks to maximize their winning chances just like Australia.

Bombs Again

The article contemplates on the worsening situation in Assam as the terrorist organizations regularly bomb the state and get away with it. Better cooperation between Bangladesh and India is the only solution to the problem.

While high security alert in the state ahead of PM’s visit did not prevent serial bomb blasts in Guwahati and other parts of the state, it signals rising confidence of militant groups. While groups like ULFA and HuJI (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami) have linkages with Bangladesh were even LeT has set up their cells, the world focus is on Pakistan only. The troublemakers are there in Bangladesh as well whose major objective is to destabilize the government as reported by Mainul Islam, head of reconstituted BDR after its director general and senior officials fell victim to the mutiny. While New Delhi can do very little to help any group in Bangladesh since any help to any group there would mean a kiss of death for that group. However, this leads to the core of the problem where lack of trust and skepticism on intentions leads to non-cooperation which in turn is beneficial to the insurgent outfits. Bangladesh’s refusal to allow transit rights leads to poor connectivity between North-Eastern states and rest of India. However, there is still a ray of hope for Bangladesh as it not as worse off as Pakistan. Bangladesh army is not so keen to support Islamists as in Pakistan and even the mutiny was quelled easily. Hasina government is considering setting up of consulates in Shillong and Guwahati to boost trade with the country. 

Thus, only the cooperation is the solution to allaying the troubles and ending the nightmare of Assam.

7th April

Vital Signs

The article indicates positive signals that reflect the fact that India is comfortably positioned even as the global crisis grips the world stronger in the coming year.

While the coming year’s growth rate in GDP is expected to be 5% or below with 5.3% growth in the last quarter of the last fiscal, it’s far positive compared to the contraction of US economy by 6.2% and Japanese economy by 12.7% in the same period. Worrying thing is plunge of 21.7% in exports while a drop in non-oil imports indicate slump in the domestic demand. Domestic activity could play a major booster for growth. Even Planning Commission indicated 7.4% growth in 2009-10 with boosted public investment in construction. Growth in auto, steel and cement, thanks to construction in rural and semi-urban areas, could boost the economy. While urban demand falls, the rural demand buoys. While capital outflow increases, FII seem to be coming back. Even Committee on Financial Sector Assessment was positive about Indian banks having lower cost-to-income ratio or capital adequacy. However, focus has to be on expanding, innovating and modernizing the banking sector in a country heavily underbanked. 

While the deflationary trend was just prevented with inflation rising marginally to 0.31 from 0.27, there is a huge scope for RBI to take monetary actions at the time when falling receipts and rising debt is making it difficult for government to balance fiscal expansion and consolidation.

Show Restraint

The article urges the world not to overreact on the recent crisis manufactured by North Korea. While US and other important nations should react sagaciously, China and Russia should also show some maturity and look the issue from global perspective rather then regional.

Just when US President came out with his major speech on non-proliferation and disarmament, North Korea launched Taepodong-2 missile to put a satellite into the orbit. This incident invited criticism from world over. On the other hand the emergency meeting of UN Security Council also failed as Russia and China played a spoil sport. The important thing here is that while N. Korea shouldn’t be allowed to escape, it should also not be given a reason to withdraw from Six-party talks; Russia, China, Japan and US being the other members. It has been an old tactic of Pyongyang to seek greater attention and concession, manufacture crisis and then extract price for backing down. While camouflaging the missile launch as satellite launch, it has given Moscow and Beijing a reason to block any new sanctions. But this time Pyongyang should not be allowed to succeed. This launch is not much of a threat considering that North Korea already has the sufficient missile capability to act against South Korea and Japan. This would allow Pyongyang to demand concession in exchange of a roll back. New sanctions would help it to walk out of the Six-party talks. 

Effective would be to refurbish the existing sanctions. This would not give Russia and China, a reason to oppose. China should also be convinced to look at the issue from global, rather then regional, perspective if it intends to lead the world in the coming times. China must show maturity and foresight to match its new profile.

6th April

Be My Valentine

The article talks about the political bull-fighting that is taking place ahead of general elections. While this time the fight is more on seat gaining rather then ideological differences, all political parties have kept their options open for post-poll alliances. 

While none of the alliances have come up with a common manifesto, the primary objective for both the national parties, Congress and BJP, would be to improve their individual seat tally to be in a better bargaining position in the case of much evident hung Parliament. NCP’s Sharad Pawar’s speech against Congress and BJP in Orissa, even though party is ally of Congress at the centre, is the evidence that the parties are keeping their options open. As per the statement of PM, Congress is still open to alliances with every major regional party as well as CPM post-elections. On the other hand, leaders like Mulayam Singh, Lalu Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan have also endorsed Manmohan Singh as a leader. CPM sees UPA as a more natural ally then NDA. 

While the post-poll coalition is almost a reality this time, it is necessary to have a stable and cohesive government at the centre considering the economic scenario as well as the situation in the neighborhood. 

Anything Goes

The article condemns overgenerous promises made by both, BJP and Congress, on eve of general elections without even a thought of how they would execute it after coming to power. 

While BJP promised 35kg rice/wheat at Rs.2 per kg for families below poverty line as against Congress promise of 25kg rice/wheat at Rs.3 per kg, none of the parties gave idea of how exactly they would provide it and if it was possible then why didn’t they do it when they were in power? While Congress has promised reservation quotas in private sector it never thought about the capital outflow it would cause in a situation when country desperately needs capital. BJP promised tax exemption for army men and paramilitary forces but never thought that it is the time when country needs to widen the tax net and not narrow it. Even subsidized interest rates for housing loans is a bad idea since it would cause huge diversion of funds. Loan waiver to all farmers indiscriminately would end up helping rich farmers as well. None of the parties have taken into consideration the abysmal state of government finances before going for such spending spree. There is no clarity on execution of this extravaganza. Also no idea has been told to prevent the huge amount of social spending that gets leaked during execution. 

While BJP’s idea of raising the personal income tax limit and revoking FBT are welcome and would act as stimulus, they have redisplayed their 20th century mentality by promising the Ram Temple construction at the exact site where Babri Masjid was demolished.

4th April

London Calling

The article talks about the success of G-20 summit, recently held in London, and various measures taken to revive the global economy through cooperation among world economies.

While the critics were silenced, the summit confirmed cooperation from each and every country. The G-20, besides pumping in the funds into IMF, also showed patience to the promised revamp of the governance structure. With $1.1 trillion injected into the global economy, IMF would have its share of $500 billion to help out distressed economies. Investment into emerging markets would ensure counter-cyclical spending. However, the issue of Global Financial monitoring remains pretty vague as to whether the supervision of global banks would have supranational jurisdiction or issue early warnings against overheating banks’ finances. While Basal committee sets standard for capital adequacy, supervisory review and market discipline, Financial Stability Forum would help in anticipating and identifying world’s financial hot spots. India would have participation in both. While its demand to contribute to IMF on the basis of quota was legitimate, but had India put the money on the table like China that would have been a stronger signal of it being a global player. It is also worthwhile here to note that according to WTO figures, the global trade could shrink to 9%, the biggest since WW2. In these circumstances, even slightest protectionism can have significantly ugly effects.

Clearly, such sentiments could soon stifle the global trade. G-20 must go beyond the rhetoric to its announcement to prevent protectionism.

Loosen Up

The article talks about the loosening stuffy protocols at the high offices of Presidents and Royals of Britain. The recent G-20 summit in London saw a lot of examples of this. 

While the objective of the summit was at the center stage, there were other interesting news items as well that floated around the world like the dinner menu that left out pork or Carla Bruni’s surprise absence. There were many gifts exchanged between the guests and the hosts like the engraved iPod gifted by the Obamas to Queen Elizabeth which contained Broadway tunes and Queen’s pictures of her last US visit. But the talk of the town was Michelle Obama’s putting up of arm around the Queen which was the violation of protocol. But that seems past since the Obamas have projected themselves different from their predecessors. The president has already done away with mandatory jacket in the Oval while Michelle Obama has already posed bare hands for an official portrait. In the coming four years, many other norms are also expected to be relaxed. 

For India also it’s time to relax the protocols for the, British Queen equivalent, President’s position which is absurdly exalted presently.

3rd April

Beyond the Law

The article talks about the imprudence shown by the state government of UP in dealing with the Varun Gandhi case when it, unnecessarily, invoked NSA act against him. The case should have been dealt politically and lawfully.

While the state government was right in invoking the relevant laws of Indian Penal Code against Varun Gandhi, by stretching itself to National Security Act, it went overboard. NSA is generally used against terrorists and more so it is used in case any act is committed by an individual which is a threat to national security. Hate speech doesn’t amount to threat to that extent. Hate speech is a political tactic during elections to polarize votes and thus it should be dealt politically. Excessive dependence on law to tackle it defeats the very purpose of challenging it. While the UP government argued that it invoked NSA after Varun supporters indulged in violence in the court premises on Saturday. But then there are IPC provisions to deal with this situation as well. As Varun Gandhi’s supporters allege a political conspiracy in this action, it is now up to SC to take a call on UP government’s decision. The incident signifies the lack of responsibility shown by political leaders while exercising freedom of speech. But such extreme measures of unnecessary invoking laws that should be used sparingly and only in special circumstances, at the end aids the abuser itself. 

However, young leaders like Varun Gandhi should know what is acceptable in political discourse while BJP should show some prudence instead of comparing the situation with Emergency.

Green Leap Forward

The article talks about the steps taken by two of the world’s largest economies, US and China, to switch to green technologies. At the end it talks about the steps needed to be taken by India since it also one of the largest contributors of carbon dioxide emissions to the world.

US President Obama has proposed a slew of new projects to replace the traditional gas-guzzlers with more fuel efficient cars while China, too, seeks to attain the position of lead producer of hybrid and all-electric vehicles in three years. Besides bailing out the ailing car manufacturing industry, the stimulus by Obama reflects the change in policy from oil-friendly Bush era. The new policy also aims to create 5 million green-collar jobs besides promoting energy efficiency in public and private buildings. China also came up with $870b stimulus package for projects in renewable energy and railway transport. While both, US and China, faced criticism on emission of huge amount of greenhouse gases, both the countries have now taken a lead in developing green economy apparently through new technology, increasing public awareness and bypassing conventional fuel-dependent modes of transport. China is also on to provide support services to green technologies like setting up electric vehicle charging stations and subsidizing clean public transport.

For India, Nano is all set to flood the Indian middle-class market. Although it is highly fuel efficient, the aim ought to be to overcome dependence on fossil fuels. Being second most populous country, India is a big polluter. In terms of per capita we may be lowest but then volumes does matter and it is in our own interest to speed up the green projects that are in melancholy for want of incentives.

2nd April

Denying Justice

The article condemns the Shiv Sainiks for their lack of jurisprudence and belief in democracy as they oppose providing Ajmal Kasab a defense in order to trial him.

While the protest is in accord with the popular belief, but the Indian judiciary and Indian Constitution allows a defense to anyone that is accused for any crime. Boldly, Anjali Waghmare has taken a step to act as a defense counsel for Kasab and ensure justice is delivered. Judiciary is based on the principle of innocent till proven guilty and it holds in Kasab’s case as well. Guilt or the lack of it has to be decided by the appointed authority and not the public. It is ironical that Beant Singh & Satwant Singh – assassins of Indira Gandhi, Nalini Sriharan – accomplice of Rajiv Gandhi’s killer and even Nathuram Godse were given these privileges, not only to defend themselves but in some cases also to elaborate on their motives or the mitigating circumstances behind the crime. It is confusing to understand the objectives of the protestors. The CJI has already said that Kasab may well be acquitted if not provided a lawyer. But this is certainly not the objective of Shiv Sena. Their intentions seem to be a sentence without any trial by assuming the guilt which is certainly unacceptable. This is a path to mob justice or say kangaroo courts. 

Creditably, Waghmare has decided to go against this. But it is disheartening that she has to require a Z-level security to do this. 

Overhaul is overdue

The article talks about the much needed overhaul in the new economic order especially with respect to the existing structure of IMF and World Bank that does not reflect the 21st century realities. 

All eyes are now set on the emerging countries to revamp the global economy. One of the ways is to increase the coffers of IMF which has regained its position as global lending agency. However it requires funds in tune of $500b, significantly more then the current level of $250b to bail out the sinking economies. However, with the post-war governance structure, it is not possible. IMF has to reflect the 21st century realities i.e. an increased say in the decision making for the emerging economic giants like India, China and Brazil. The IMF quota system, established in 1944, fixes, among other rights, voting rights, financial obligations as well as low interest loans on the criteria of size and stability of economy of a country, its foreign exchange reserves and trade volumes. But even today, China, world’s third largest economy has powers at par with Belgium and Netherlands. Even India, Brazil and Russia, having larger economies then Belgium aren’t any better. The post-war agreement between World Bank and IMF has maintained transatlantic dominance. Even Japan’s leadership in Asian Development Bank is not the reflection of reality. Under IMF quota today, while US and EU has 17% and 32% voting rights respectively, the same for China is just 3.2%. Thus, the demands of India and China on structural overhaul are perfectly legitimate. 

While British and Australian Premiers call for more inclusive global financial architecture, this is not possible without reflecting the true world economic scenario in IMF and World Bank, at first place.

1st April

Time For A New Cast

The article talks about the importance of the coming G-20 summit in London to bring in tune, the global efforts to recover from crisis. However, such recovery is not possible without providing the emerging powers i.e. India, China and Brazil, their deserved say.

While the world countries prepare for the summit, it is a platform to bring in sync the efforts of all the countries to fight the recession as otherwise the recovery is impossible. However, no dialogue on the issue would be meaningful without the right inclusion of India, China and Brazil who assert a significant clout these years, both politically and financially. While the past big-brothers bleed today world turns to India and China to act as shock absorbers in the economic turbulence. However, these countries haven’t been given the say proportional to their clout. While Obama urges the world to follow the American path of recovery though bail out packages, it hardly impresses anybody, especially Angela Markel of Germany, which indicates the decreasing dominance of US in the economic issues after the failure of its much acknowledged financial and regulatory system. For European economies it is imperative to pull their weights together in order to avoid disaster. Some countries are submitting to protectionist tendencies to placate their citizens but such tendencies can be self-defeating at the time when the world needs collective efforts.

For India, the opportunity is to sell its model to the world community and position India firmly in the global management structure. All eyes would be on him. 

To Be A Great Power

The article acknowledges the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s statement that China is a “great power” with its growing diplomatic and economic clout but at the same time points to its immature and irresponsible diplomacy especially in the case of Tibet. 

As the world again becomes bipolar with US finding a new resistance from emerging China, it is disheartening to see Beijing’s ham-handedness in dealing with the Tibet issue. From cyber attacks against Tibetan exiles to diplomatic force exerted on various countries, the Dragon has shown a lot of immaturity. It forced South African government to refuse visa to Dalai Lama who wanted to attend a peace conference there. It also cancelled a European Union Summit since French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Dalai Lama. Government is also accused of discouraging a diplomat who wanted to meet Dalai Lama. Although government has denied all such charges, it is evident from the diplomat’s issue that there is some level of participation. While it is not surprising that China has spy operations, what’s more surprising is the ease with which they were discovered. However, such cases undermine Beijing’s ambitions to be the super power. 

With power comes a huge responsibility and the way China has involved itself over the Tibet issue, disregarding the global opinion, using its economic and diplomatic clout, hardly suggests any maturity or responsibility.

31st March

Push Forward

The article explains the two-pronged strategy of US to resolve the Af-Pak crisis and insists that having set the correct approach, Obama must deliver it as well.

While reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar Chawdhry has been projected as interregnum, it is business as usual in Pakistan. The Taliban incursion in the region becomes profound as evident from the suicide attacks in Lahore and the attack on Police school in the Lahore outskirts. The increase in the intensity of the attacks after unveiling of Af-Pak policy by Obama is no coincidence. All Obama needs to do is to push his two-pronged strategy to turn the tide. The first is the unprecedented internationalist approach to the Af-Pak problem. Involving India, China, Russia and Iran could be strategically important. India has an obvious interest to resolve the crisis in its neighborhood. China, being Pakistan’s big brother de facto is essential. Russia could prove an important interlocutor with vital Central Asian nations and an alternate supply route could be vital. Iran has an obvious interest in its neighbor’s stability from the security point of view as well as to suppress the increasing command of Saudi in the region. US has been able to involve Iran in spite of its differences which is commendable. The second facet of the strategy has been a correction in dealing with Pakistan. With open condemnation of ISI nexus with Taliban and Al-Qaeda, Obama has called for better cooperation from Pakistan and linking civilian aid as important to survive for it along with verifiable action against insurgents.

As the war enters the vital stage it should be kept in mind that this is the same Taliban that harbored the men responsible for 9/11. Obama has the vision to solve the problem. Now he has to deliver it.

Brains Thrust

The article talks about the path-breaking invention made by scientists at Ashton University, Birmingham to develop a tiny artificial brain in the lab and its capabilities to find cures for several diseases in the world.

Dementia is one of the most common diseases around the world yet hugely underfunded for research. However, the scientists at Ashton University were still able to produce an ace as they were able to reprogram cells from cancerous tumor to create a tissue identical to that found in human nervous system. In a way they developed a tiny human brain in a lab. According to Michel Coleman, the leader of the team, what they have developed is an artificial brain capable of functioning at most basic level. But the breakthrough will help in majorly in understanding dementia and how neurodegenerative diseases develop and ultimately its cure. It would also prevent testing of medicines on animals since animals react differently then humans which can lead to possible side effects of the final medicine on humans. With this advance it is believed that cure of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is few years away.

However, another community that would be hugely interested in this invention would be researchers of cognitive and computer sciences as it would give them a powerful tool to understand the origin of individual conscience, one of the greatest mysteries of science and humanity.

30th March

Wheels of Justice

The article talks that the recent arrest of a top level minister in the Modi government in context of Gujarat riots 2002 sends a strong message that gone are the times when ministers use to get away with such crimes. 

Arrest of Maya Kodnani on Friday under the charges of murder, abetment to murder and arson comes as a significant development in the 2002 riots case. Equally significant are the remarks made by Gujarat High Court justice D H Waghela that religious fanatics who organize mass murders of people are comparable to terrorists. While since past many years only few perpetrators of 2002 riots were booked, Supreme Court finally intervened to establish a Special Investigation Team to pursue the cases and the results are showing now. As the law enforcement in India remains poor in context of riot cases, it is only the foot soldiers that get booked under law while the masterminds often get away with it. Even in the case of 1984 Sikh riots, several of Congress party leaders, who later on became MPs and Ministers, got away in absence of sustained pressure from judiciary and human right groups. However, now the scene seems changing on account of sustained pressure from civil society groups and mass media, technological advancement and interest by apex court to make sure rioters are punished. 

While political class and other sections of the society tend to undermine the gravity of crime like riot against terrorism, Waghela’s remarks could be an eye opener. Police and political class should understand that they cannot get away with law every time. 

Persona Non Grata

The article condemns the South African govt’s refusal to issue a visa to Dalai Lama for the peace conference of other Nobel Prize winners he wanted to attend. At the same time it highlights the lack of commitment South African government has often showed towards human rights issues. 

The denial of visa has invited criticism from all over the world with the loudest voice coming from within the South African govt itself as the Minister of Health Desmond Tutu condemning it as a “disgraceful” and “total betrayal” of South Africa’s freedom struggle. Even in the Zimbabwe crisis, the govt showed little concern towards the violation of human rights. These days the foreign policy decisions of the governments are based on economic considerations rather then moral grounds. China’s growing diplomatic assertiveness, coupled with its economic clout, even made the British PM Gordon Brown to meet with Dalai Lama at an interfaith conference rather then his official residence to avoid political color to it. For South Africa, China is its largest trading partner with $6 billion being invested by the latter. 

However, Dalai Lama had a last laugh over the incident since the conference he intended to attend got postponed for indefinite time while the controversy provided huge publicity. Had the visa been issued to him, it would have remained a quite low profile visit. By the incident both, Chinese and South Africans, have given a new fillip to the Tibetan cause.

28th March

Clean it up

The article expresses the need to remove the opacity in the funding of election campaign as the opacity is detrimental to the Indian democracy. 

Tata Communications’ Chairman Subodh Bhargawa’s Claims of alleged demands to the corporates by the political parties for funding the election campaign is a no surprise. So are Rahul Bajaj’s claims of slush of funds being rife. Seeing at the unrealistic cap of Rs. 25 lakhs on the candidates for the election campaigns, there is an ample room for such practices. What is needed is to raise the cap to realistic mark since it is absolutely insufficient for the election campaigns. Also since there is no clear way to distinguish the spending by the candidate and its supporters, there is an ample room for opacity. By increasing the cap, it is possible that such practices would come under control and also the corporates would not be compelled to show lesser contributions. Also it might incentivize corporates to route the funds through trusts adding transparency to the process. However, increasing cap can be an uneven advantage for financially strong parties over the regional parties. But this can also be offset by public funding and by providing free airtime on national television to such underprivileged parties. 

Campaign financing needs reforms as the cartel between the corporates and political parties can have strong incentive for hidden funding. While there is no clear solution to this but coming the elections, it is time to hunt for answers right now. 

Don't spoil the fun

The article talks about the recent algorithm devised by an American computer science specialist to crack any given Sudoku puzzle in the world. However, author asserts that no computer program can provide as much fun as provided by the intuition, imagination and judgment skills of human brain.

The most beloved game all over the world and one of the all-time-great time-pass games, Sudoku, has been surmounted by a computer program devised by James Crook that can crack any given Sudoku puzzle. All a person needs to do it is to fill in the numbers already given into the computer program and see the program compute the solution. However, he also knows that people still love the thrill of sitting with pencil and paper to work out the Sudoku solution. Just like in chess, people don’t hold up honing their skills although they know that there is a computer program that’ll defeat them anyway. However, in Sudoku case, there’s good news. The algorithm devised is too lengthier and too laborious that it takes about an hour to complete. We all know that an average Sudoku puzzle doesn’t take more then 20 mins to get solved by a human being. The main reason is that human brain works more intuitively, depends on judgment skills and also some luck. While machine strategies are time-bound, rigid and involve lot of number crunching, human brain is rather game-bound, flexible and relies on mental dexterity. 

Finally, author hopes that one day computers would also work just like human brains. A human brain excels in leaps of imagination, enjoys the perils of adventure and fears failure and that’s what we call fun.