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.

27th March

Solo Fight

The article talks about the poor states of affairs with the Congress party as it is left alone in some of the major states like UP, Bihar and Tamilnadu. While fighting solo gives Congress an opportunity to rejuvenate itself in these states but at the same time there are risks too.

While NDA is in trouble with BJD ending its alliance with BJP, Congress too goes through similar pain. As Congress is left alone in UP and Bihar over seat sharing issue with RJD and LJP, Rahul Gandhi put a brave face in media calling it an opportunity to revamp the prospects of party in these two states. Similarly in the south as well, PMK signed up with Jaylalitha’s AIADMK to leave Congress alone. Congress is now left with only NCP in Maharashtra, DMK in Tamilnadu and Trinamul Congress in West Bengal. Even NCP leader Sharad Pawar revealed his intentions for the top job. Strategically the Congress move seems logical since regional parties gain a greater bargaining power as Congress tie up with them for the elections. But being alone as well has its own risks. Congress doesn’t have much time left as elections are less then a month away. The party has welcomes candidates who hasn’t got ticket from any party but that is hardly the way to rejuvenate the party. In South, even if Anbumani Ramadoss denies any strife with Sonia Gandhi, almost entire PMK was in favor of tying up with AIADMK instead of UPA. 

Finally, if Congress’ poll strategy works, it would be a big win. But if it doesn’t then it will have a weak hand in post-poll bargaining. 

Country Music

The article explains the role of rural sector in decoupling the global recession from Indian economy. As the demand increases in the overall rural market, it opens new opportunities for India Inc to improve economic health.

While urban areas show sluggish growth, or in some cases fall as well, rural market shows increase in demand everywhere from cars to two-wheelers, from readymade garments to flat-screen TVs and from DTH connections to life insurance. Demand for FMCG is also on rise. Presently, rural middle-class accounts for 45% of the total national demand in the array of consumer goods. While consumption of urban middle-class contracts, it’s the rural middle-class demand that defies recession. Agriculture has grown at 4% in the last 5 years and besides the bumper harvest it saw 40% increase in the floor price for foodgrains over two years. Besides huge public spending, NREGS scheme, Rs. 71k crore loan waivers and jobs-creating infrastructure projects have helped increased rural spending power. However, the spree may not last longer thanks to the structural anomalies like unviable farm sizes and inadequate marketing opportunities. With large dependency on agriculture, India needs Chinese model of industrialization to fight poverty. Non-farm sector like agro-processing is a sunrise sector with good employment and income-generating potential. Agri-business would prosper with upgraded post-harvest technologies and improved cold storage mechanisms to prevent food losses. 

Improving physical infrastructure is key to rural prosperity and as the industry faces its two major problems – demand decrease and banks’ risk averseness – it’ll take time to regain the business confidence. Proactive approach to rural sector is the key to improve the economic performance in these times. 

26th March

Game On

The article commends BCCI decision to shift IPL from India to South Africa, as it was the best decision in present circumstances. Moreover, game should go on in any circumstances and its hosting by a foreign country should not be associated with national pride.

To host the IPL in South Africa was both unavoidable and a path breaking experiment considering the fact that there was even question whether it would be held this year or not. Although England was the preferred choice earlier, South Africa scored on various points like favorable weather, huge Indian origin audience and small time difference. Another intriguing point is the possible reverberations of a successful hybrid tournament on the cricketing world at large. While the tournament is based on domestic identity of team which is city-based, it boasts on players from all over the world. If successful, it could open up exciting possibilities for future tournaments for countries like Pakistan, where the prospects are very bleak. 

As of now the decision to move IPL to South Africa is a very practical and sensible decision and any association of it to the national pride is unfortunate. National elections are any time more important then sports tournaments. Scoring political brownie points on it is pity. Any adverse fallout on IPL due to security could have grave implications. For now, it is more important for the game to move on.

Promises Galore

The article talks about the pledges season that has sprouted as the elections come near. However it expresses concern that pledges are seldom remembered post-elections and that the execution is often the hardest part.

As Congress unveils its election manifesto, it concentrates on its “aam-aadmi” while countering NDA’s “India Shining” slogan. It plays around the policies that are socially conscious and thus politically acceptable. While it plans to make NREGS individual-based or the food security proposal, it’s often seen that UPA hasn’t walked the talk. Although NREGS has helped stemming the rural migration to cities and lifting up the rural income, corruption and leakages has to be tackled to prevent the money going down the drain. PDS needs revamp and performance in the southern states is a benchmark. Also smart cards need to replace the traditional ration cards to prevent misuse. Besides execution, financing these projects is another major problem considering the fiscal profligacy of the UPA government so far. While taxing or borrowing sprees are unaffordable now, divestment from PSUs is a practical option. However, the govt hasn’t so far walked to talk although it has said that Indians can hold PSU stakes.

Finally, minority reservations is a sensitive issue. Private sector reservations would create a lot of discontent among India Inc and would discourage level playing field. What is needed is quality primary and secondary education as well as job opportunities. Congress could probably do away with political paternalism and electoral manipulation.

25th March

Make it better

The article welcomes the reforms introduced by UGC for the overhaul of higher education system in India at University level. However, it expresses concern over the implementation of the same.

While the move towards implementing the semester system into universities and allowing students to opt for elective courses was much needed reform for the universities in India, it would also enable faster learning for students and help them develop diverse capabilities to compete at international level. However, very ambitious but the reforms aren’t adequate considering the history of poor implementation of some of the best plans in the education sector. While semester system is already in place in some of the universities theoretically, teacher absenteeism and insufficient weightage to internal assessment are the major problems. Although UGC addresses these problems by linking funding to adoption of reforms, the central problem still remains at its place. 

Though we boast to have a significant chunk of our population under 18, but if we do not provide them quality education and make them employable, we wouldn’t be able to reap the demographic dividend. Reforms in higher education are necessary for the country to benefit from its workforce. 

Future at stake

While the article expresses surprise at the sudden change of stance of BJP over Varun Gandhi controversy, it asserts that such tactics may help the party at the short term, but on a long run it can isolate them nationally and make it difficult to gain allies. 

BJP showed a mature response by isolating itself from the Varun Gandhi comments but the later support to the youngster can prove detrimental to party’s future prospects. The comments of Varun Gandhi reflect the contradiction in the BJP politics. Communally biased comments cannot be defended by any means, but BJP is in a fix here. It depends heavily on Sangh Parivar heavily during elections to mobilize people while others like RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal posit the idea of Muslims and other minority religions to reinforce Hindutva agenda. Varun Gandhi’s comments are in perfect alignment with their perception. Although Varun’s comments have polarized the electorate in UP which has worked in favor of BJP in past but the strategy can be self-damaging on a long run. With much diversity in the country, exclusivity can isolate BJP nationally and make it difficult for them to gain allies. Even NDA happened when BJP dropped, albeit temporarily, the issues like Ram temple and uniform civil code. 

Leaders like Varun Gandhi can help BJP and Hindu radicals but not unite party nationally as it narrows down its vote bank to a narrow band of Hindutva supporters. At the end it’s party’s future which is at stake.

24th March

The Nano Effect

The article talks about the launch of Nano and the change it has brought in the Indian auto industry. However, it expresses concern over the abysmal infrastructure that is inadequate to cater such revolution. 

Nano is finally real from the time Ratan Tata dreamt of it in 2003. Had everything went well, it was scheduled to be launched from Singur plant in WB in end-October 2008, but the land raw made the Tatas to move from Singur to Sanand, Gujarat. While Bajaj plans to roll out its own model in 2011 with a price slightly higher then Nano due to better fuel efficiency, Maruti awaits Nano performance before framing the response. Hyundai, Toyota and Honda are coming up with their own responses. Used car segment has felt that heat as demand dips 25-30% just before the Nano launch. Small car models of Maruti and Hyundai are also expected to fall in price. In all these, the major beneficiary is the ‘aam-aadmi’, millions of whom aspire to shift up from 2-wheelers to 4-wheelers. Thus, Nano truly reflects India’s domestic demand-driven economy. 

However, one of the major concerns for Nano is the awful infrastructure in terms of weight of vehicular traffic on Indian roads, traffic congestion and vehicular pollution. While creating prohibitively expensive cars is socially unacceptable phenomenon in a country like India, improving the road infrastructure and user-friendly mass transport system is the only way out.

Take It Forward

The article appreciates the paradigm shift in the US policies towards Iran, especially after the mess created by the preceding government, as Obama tries to resolve the differences between the two nations through dialogue and partnership. 

As Hillary Clinton makes a point to make a stop at Tehran, Obama initiated a paradigm shift in the relations between the two nations by stating that Iran should take the rightful place in the community of nations. Expectedly, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed the statement, it’s neither a surprise nor should it discourage the improvement in bilateral ties between the two nations. US and Iran have been in bad terms since decades and it cannot be resolved overnight. But the two nations are inching towards the negotiating table as Iran considers US invitation to conference on Afghanistan. With three fold problems surrounding Iran i.e. rising instability in Iraq, bellicosity of Israel and Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, there are enough issues for Iran to worry. US stands to gain by engaging Iran in its battle against Taliban and broad-base its Middle East policy. Although Iran’s nuclear program might be a hurdle, it could not prevent any sort of deals between the two. 

So far, Obama has walked the talk about cleaning up the mess created by his predecessors with respect to foreign policy. But at the same time he would need to revisit some of the long-held American positions like balancing relations with Israel while dealing with Iran.

23rd March

Keep Watch

The article talks about the internal instability in Pakistan due to increasing insurgency in the eastern border as well as rising tension on LoC. 

While Pakistan faces tension on twin borders, it is unadvisable for India to revoke some of its troops from its western border considering the fact that tension in Pakistan can spill over to India as well. While the key to defeat Taliban is whether they can be denied safe heavens in Pakistan or not, US has already confirmed that the terrorists they are in search of are not in Afghanistan but in Pakistan. Already they have killed some 9 of the top 20 leaders of Al Qaeda but many of them still find a sanctuary in the areas of Quetta in Baluchistan province which includes Mullah Omar as well. If these safe heavens are denied then it is possible that their assets can come under direct attack which can destabilize Pakistan internally. Moreover, if dragged out of Baluchistan, these elements could possibly move to Pakistan heartland near Islamabad which is even more dangerous.

What is needed for India is to keep US and other key players in Pakistan engaged while keeping its vigil alive. 

Have a Heart

The article talks about the new artificial heart developed by the students at IIT-Kharagpur’s school of medical science and technology. The new heart is not only revolutionary but also affordable to common man with a price tag of Rs.1 lakh.

While scientists in US were the first to reach this breakthrough, US became the first country to approve such artificial device. On the other hand the scientists at IIT-Kharagpur created a heart 30 times cheaper then its US counterpart. The 13-chambered prototype, more resilient then the models anywhere else in the world has been successfully tried on frogs and experiments on goat is underway. If everything goes fine, permission from ICMR is what is needed. If the experiments go successful it would be a breakthrough in prosthetic research. It would also mean that the Bionic man would no more cost $6 million and the age of cyborgs would come sooner then we thought. 

However at the same time research is going on over regenerative medicines that use patient’s own tissue to generate a new heart. Its success would make artificial heart obsolete while eliminating the issue of organ acceptance in the body and naturally make cyborgs useless.

21st March

Think Bold

The article talks about the much needed measures to be taken by RBI as the WPI reaches 0.44% compared to 2.43% the week earlier. The caveat of deflationary trend would project a wrong picture which needs to be corrected on urgent basis by RBI.

All eyes are now on RBI to announce further rate cuts to prevent deflationary trend. However, we need to see that WPI is measured in comparison to the prices a year earlier in the same week and thus the effect of higher base is clearly visible. When we see CPI for industrial workers standing robust at 10.45%, it shows somewhat different picture although with a two-month lag. But the gist here is that we are in a disinflationary trend which is better then deflation. Deflation is an indicator of demand contraction which is clearly not the case since the demand in sectors like cement, steel and automobiles is picking up. The problem is somewhere else. WPI doesn’t give much weightage to food prices which is currently suffering from inflation of 7.24%. Recent drop in petrol and transport costs would take time to percolate down and the correction would be seen thereafter. 

But RBI cannot wait until the correction happens. Market sentiments are as good as reality. Although RBI says that there is enough liquidity in the market, it needs to cut down the rates and prevent the deflationary trend currently gripping the market.

Red Herring

The article comments on the possibility hinted by CPM’s Prakash Karat recently to join a future non-Congress non-BJP led government. 

As Karat expresses his disinterest to the top job, it is evident that CPM wants to shed off the old habit of exercising power without responsibility. With several political parties joining the third front with only one objective i.e. to hit the hot seat, the PM post, its no wonder that Karat has hold back the argument of the PM candidate from the Third Front. It is better to leave that debate post election. But Jyoti Basu, haunted by the famous 1996 blunder, is asking CPM’s ideological sticklers to become power savvy. While he backs Mayawati for the top post, he himself is much more eligible for the seat with a brilliant CV on his hand and stability of 25 years unmatched anywhere in the nation. However, if CPM comes to the power, it would only do bad for the nation as the party would push the nation to the pre-1991 regime where rich would be taxed for being rich, public money will flow, privatization would die and US would be sidelined along with the nuclear deal. All this would lead to nothing but another Cold War.

What is needed is post-poll backing of Congress in order to bring the revolution. Karat is not short on vision just as Marx but then what that vision leads to is anybody’s guess.

20th March

Shun Hate Speak

The article talks about the misconduct of Varun Gandhi when he gave provocative speech which has attracted EC’s attention. While BJP distances itself from the incident, the author suggests BJP should in fact ban Varun Gandhi from contesting election this time.

While BJP’s action is commendable, it is important that a consensus should be built among all the political parties in the country to resist any hate speeches against any community. So far only Shiv Sena has endorsed Varun Gandhi’s statements. Varun Gandhi faces a criminal case for inciting communal violence and EC has booked him as well as BJP for violating the modal code of conduct. The party is expected to reply to EC by Friday. What is needed for BJP at this time is to ask Varun Gandhi to side step from the election process. BJP is fighting elections to gain confidence at the centre and Varun Gandhi is not the face they should carry with them to build a credible and stable govt. He should be asked to clear his record first. This way BJP would also set an example for other parties to follow. 

Such misconduct should not only be confined to law. Political parties should adhere to the code of conduct and Constitution to ensure that political process is carried out in right manner. Proactive actions by parties in this direction would ensure communal topics remain distant from election agendas.

Play It Straight

The article condemns the political game played around IPL and elections which would only put the public life in danger.

Recently, the Delhi CM Shila Dikshit and Delhi Daredevils’ representatives held talks to bring back the IPL matches to Delhi despite explicit warning by the Delhi Police commissioner over insufficient security. This is serious because political and monetary gains are given preferences over security issues which is just not right. The CEC N Gopalaswami has hinted for more troops required for elections. The Central govt has thrown the ball on State govt’s court to provide security by refusing to provide paramilitary forces for IPL. UPA would never want to have a terrorist attack during IPL under its tenure. But cancellation is not a popular mandate. Passing on the game to State govt is a political tactic but BJP has tried to take political advantage of this situation. They offered to host games in BJP run states from Congress run states to point out that Congress has been soft on terror. 

Implications of attack on IPL would reach far beyond just cricket and Lahore is the most recent example. Due weightage should be given to inputs from security professionals and politicians should be kept out of decision making process.

19th March

Lone Ranger

The article talks about the current tussle going on between Congress and its allies in politically two of the most important states in the country, UP and Bihar, which might end up leaving Congress without any allies in the state.

In Bihar, the Lalu Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan clinched the seat sharing deal in the coming general elections leaving out Congress with only three seats to contest from. Even in UP, with currently on six seats to contest from, Congress has lost almost everything in the two states that contribute 120 seats in the LS. However, the history isn’t favoring Congress either who won 9 out of 80 seats in UP and 3 out of 4 seats in Bihar in the last elections in 2004. But the time has changed since. SP and RJD are no longer popular in their states. So practically Congress has nothing to lose there but in fact an opportunity to revive its prospects in these states. But this also seems a distant dream worth a try. One more consideration is that in these states pre-poll alliances are not the same as post-poll alliances as the regional parties tries to bargain with the national parties depending upon the power bestowed upon them at the centre. Ideological differences are often ignored. 

Both, Congress and BJP stand an equal chance of alliances with parties winning in these states post-elections.

Green is Gold

The article talks about the potential of green energy projects to help the global economic revival. 

It was feared that the free fall in the oil prices would lessen the investments in green technologies. This has been allayed since the announcement of Barack Obama to provide fiscal stimulus of $60 billion. These efforts would not only generate employment and income with infrastructure development but also revive the economy. Use of smart technologies, efficient energy and reduced emissions could be a boon at the time of recession. The track record of California’s Energy Commission in these areas have been very impressive and the per capita consumption of energy has remained unchanged in last 35 years. India also has evolved with National Mission for Energy Efficiency under PM’s National Climate Action Plan. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency would issue certificate to industries against the energy efficiency targets set in. Those who exceed the targets can trade their points with those who haven’t. 

To attain the energy efficiency, use of technology and products that assist them is imperative and human resource would require them to produce and distribute. It will also help the countries prepare for negotiation of new UN climate change protocol at Copenhagen in December this year. This could only be the possible option to revive the world economy. 

18th March

Put Heads Together

The article tries to cover various issues that the upcoming G20 summit faces with respect to global economic recovery. Financial reforms and regulations, protecting developing countries from the downturn and preventing economic nationalism would be the major challenges. 

The G-20 summit of finance chiefs last week promised almost everything that can be done to revive global economy. While there is a need of more coordinated fiscal stimuli, the need for financial reforms is more acute. However, the efforts should be according to fiscal and monetary capabilities of individual country. Reservations about such financial reforms and its affect should be kept aside. Protecting the developing countries with no fault of theirs in this financial turmoil is another major objective. Countries like India, China and Brazil, who are seen as forces for global economic recovery should have a greater say in the IMF decisions and any future financial architecture. Finally, economic nationalism, rightly opposed by India, should be duly prevented. Attempts of countries like US, France, Germany, UK and Switzerland to protect domestic jobs at the cost of economic efficiency would only add to trouble. 

What is needed is to have a greater economic interdependence and countries of G-20 should put their domestic policies backdoor.

World in my pocket

The article talks about the increasing popularity of smartphones and the way they are revolutionizing the way we communicate with our world.

PCs have been around us for hardly 25 years and WWW even less then that. Just as PCs changed the way we store and access information, cellphones changed the way we find and use the information. The newest cellphones with bundle of applications from word processor to e-mail client to web browsing are called smartphones. In US, it is 23% of the cellphone market in 2008 and heading northwards. The new smartphones are also containing GPS applications that help the users find their location, get information about the nearest restaurant or petrol station. With more innovative technologies, cell phones are deemed to perform some of the most complex tasks. India is home to 280 million cellphones out of 4 billion in the world. However, as expected the market of smartphones is abysmally low. But it’s just a matter of time that the technology would become cheaper just as color phones, which was high technology few years back, is now an industry standard. 

Future generations would see smartphones as Swiss knife of portable electronic devices and almost every one of them would have one.

17th March

Sharif Wins

The article urges a need for a political reform in order to restore stability in Pakistan. Although the present win of Sharif over the civilian govt has ensured a little stability but much more needs to be done to ensure long term solidity.

The present civilian govt announced reinstating of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chawdhry who was sacked by Musharraf when he was president. It also lifted the ban on the “long march” by Nawaz Sharif to Islamabad. Attempt to house-arrest Sharif failed. While in the Punjab province, electorally crucial province for govt, the police and govt officials resigned in protest to Asif Ali Zardari. All these events do suggest that it is just a matter of time that he would have to quit the Presidency. Pakistani polity is too simple to understand by just few people. Stability cannot come without removing the actual sources of instability. Excessive Presidential powers have been one of the major reasons for instability as these powers have often being misused by the Presidents so far. Presidents have often modified constitution to suit their interests. Many advocate return of pre-1973 constitution when Presidential powers were limited. Besides that, independence of judiciary is also what is much needed. Professional role of army, obeying the civilian govt and acting accordingly is what would ensure lasting stability.

Army, along with US and western powers, has played a major role in the recent defeat of civilian govt to its opposition. If so, they have played a credible role. Army has been one of the major strengths of Pakistani unity. It is its professionalism and adherence to constitutional norms that would determine whether Pakistan would succeed as a state or not.

Food for Thought

The article talks about the recent dinner meet organized by Mayawati inviting all the Third Front parties which showed the increasing clout of the BSP chief in the TF.

With only AIADMK objecting, it’s clear that BSP chief has total grip on the Front. BSP declared that it would be fighting the elections on their own in the coming general elections without being a part of TF. Many parties in the TF are following the suit. This shows that TF is presently nothing but a coalition of desperate parties who only want to serve their own interests. Presently TF projects itself as an alternative to BJP and Congress, none of them have strong base in UP like BSP and neither of them are willing to support BSP outside UP. The present strategy of BSP, as reported by its founder Kanshi Ram, is to win maximum seats in the elections and bargain later with parties at the centre. They don’t even mind leading the TF. As TF would declare the PM candidate post elections, it is clear that the party having the largest bloc of MPs would gain. 

In these circumstances, it’s no wonder that Mayawati revoked her wish to be the PM since she knows it is a very evident thing.

16th March

Look Everywhere

The article talks about the danger Indian defense industry faces with it’s over reliance on Russia for defense equipments. Quality issues are major concern. The current competition to Russia from US and Israel demands free market for the defense industry. 

As Russia plans to retire its fleet of MiG-29 aircrafts due to structural defects and found several of them unsafe to fly, it poses a danger for India who relies on Russia for most of its defense equipments like Brahmos and T-90 tanks and aircrafts like MiG-29, 23 and 21. In fact India is planning to procure 45 more aircrafts besides the 60 its operating presently. It’s time now for India to diversify its defense equipment sourcing. Russia is facing serious issues with respect to quality, capabilities, capacities, contract deadline overruns and costs. The R&D is of 1970s and 1980s time. With India planning to upgrade its defense technology, it cannot happen with Russia being the primary supplier. In monetary terms, Israel is its largest defense supplier with US and European countries bidding fiercely as well. Private and foreign investment would give boost to the much needed structural changes in the defense industry. 

However, this doesn’t mean that we should cut the defense ties with Russia altogether which is neither feasible nor necessary. But at the same time we need to modernize our defense technology with the help of US and Europe which could also give us a good bargaining power with Russia. 

Aye for Science

The article talks about the new policy announcement made by the US President Barack Obama that allowed Federal funding to the stem cell research currently undergoing to cure several human diseases. 

The ban, which was renewed every year since 1996, has been revoked this year. Stem cells are the undefined cells in adults; found in embryos and umbilical cord blood. It can grow into any tissue. It is particularly the embryonic stem cells that have greater ability to virtually grow in any part of the body. It has potential to cure diseases like leukemia, Alzeimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal cord and cardiac diseases. They are controversial because embryos are discarded once the cells are extracted from them. However, these days, due to rise in infertility treatments and people opting for assisted reproductive techniques, fertility clinic are flooded with greater number of embryos that they require. These embryos could be used of research rather then developing the new ones. 

Another objection is the use of stem cells for human reproductive cloning. US and several other countries have prohibited it. Even in India, the ICMR has laid strict guidelines for stem cell research. Cord blood banks are encouraged which might circumvent the need to source cells from embryos. The US policy change might be crucial to the stem cell research globally.

14th March

Apples and Oranges

The article talks about the new Third Front (TF) that launched itself to battle Congress and BJP in the coming elections but without any core ideology at the centre to hold them together and loads of contradictions within themselves.

The 10-party 84-MP TF formally launched itself on Thursday. The objective was to provide the public, an alternative to Congress or BJP regime. It expects NCP and BJD also to join them post-elections. However, it faces many contradictions that can be self-destructing. There is no core ideology to hold the parties together in the third front. It is a conglomeration of all the parties that have their own agendas and own priorities in mind. No party can claim to pan-India. None of the parties expect to touch the three-figure mark in the general elections. There are too many candidates for the top job unlike Congress (Manmohan Singh) and BJP (L K Advani). There is also a lack of coherent political programme. On the economic issues, Chandrababu Naidu and Jayalalita differ from Third front’s conservatism. Some of the parties are even ready to join BJP or Congress to form the govt if needed. 

Thus, a coalition based on negative agendas can hardly stay longer especially when there is no central ideology that holds them together. 

Relative Comfort

The article talks about the need of keeping the India growth story up despite the declining trajectory of most of the world economies. India is relatively less affected by the global economic crisis and it should leverage this fact to recover as soon as possible.

As the inflation hits the six-year low of 2.43%, everything but food prices has gone down. While the fear is of deflationary trend, it becomes confusing for RBI with respect to its monetary policy decisions if the food prices remain up due to global food crisis. Quick corrective actions are needed to fix the problem. However, there is room for optimism about recovery. Industrial production declined only 0.6% in December compared to the estimate of 2.2%. In January it is still negative but on a growth phase. Growth has been observed in consumer durables and goods and capital goods although manufacturing and mining sector slid. Revised estimates on industrial and agricultural outputs suggest revision in 5.3% GDP growth estimate for third quarter. 

What is to be noted is despite the world hit by crisis, India is better off with being a favored destination for investments. As IMF forecasts negative world GDP growth, first time after WW2, what is needed for India is constant fiscal stimulus and far-sighted monetary policy. Positive sentiments would play a major role in recovery then just govt measures.

13th March

Making history

The article praises the present Indian team for their spectacular performance in the New Zealand tour with a special mention of the new star of Indian cricket, Virender Sehwag. 

Dhoni’s men have led the team to win its first ODI series win in New Zealand in last four decades. Not only they won the matches, but won in convincing manner. Sachin Tendulkar, in fact, described the present Indian line up as the best he has ever played with. The most impressive of them has been Virender Sehwag. Dismissed in his early career due to his poor foot movement, but he used to play some of the most powerful strokes with impeccable timing. However, it was feared that he would fail on pitches like Australia and New Zealand with moving ball that bounced more often. Today he is feared and respected by the Australian team. He has scored the fastest ODI century by an Indian. His career strike rate is 100+ after 204 ODI and 6000+ runs. He has 50+ average in Tests with three triple tons, something which even Sunil Gavaskar didn’t achieve, with strike rate of 78. In the last and the present New Zealand tour, he is the most successful Indian batsman. He has been fearless and disregardful to reputation. He has always played to his strengths and not worried about his weaknesses. 

In fact this is true for most of the batsmen in today’s Indian team. Unconcerned about the past and determined to make a history.

Pakistan’s Lockdown

The article contemplates the current political situation in Pakistan and expresses an urgent need of return of constitutional and democratic principles in Pakistan.

It is a contrast that while Pakistan signs a deal with Taliban in the Swat and accepts its demands of Islamic laws in the region, it arrested hundred of lawyers and supporters of Nawaz Sharif for holding out ‘long march’ to Islamabad and banned any gathering of more then four people in Punjab and Sind. These tactics strongly draws parallel between Zardari and Musharraf who accumulated unprecedented powers around him. Zardari promised to rescind those powers but hasn’t walked his talks so far. New Delhi has no leverage in Pakistan but the world, at large, has to stand behind return of constitutional and democratic process in Pakistan. There are strong rumors of an Army Coup by General Kayani, but the General isn’t serious about executing that plan considering the ill-fame that dethroned General Musharraf just a year back. At present the only alternative to Zardari seems to be Nawaz Sharif, who is presently the most popular leader in Pakistan. But Sharif has not been in good repo with the western world. However, the policy cannot be person-specific.

What is needed is a person at the top job who engages itself in the public welfare work and gives the outer world enough points to work with him. Playing favorites is not the right way.

11th March

General Knowledge

The article points out to the internal political crisis of Islamabad which has resulted into the non-resolution of Kashmir issue so far. When Musharraf visited India a few days back he reiterated the Kashmir issue which he failed to do so in spite of ruling Pakistan for a decade.

New Delhi did well to keep his visit low profile contrary to his intentions. Musharraf spoke about quick resolution of Kashmir issue. If not done so, he warned India for further Kargils to come. General seems to be in a dilemma whether to be a loyal army men or a visionary statesman. This backdoor diplomacy has prevented resolution of Kashmir issue. If the General was so keen to resolve the issue then he could have done it while he was ruling the country for a decade. The tragedy with Pakistan is while the rulers remain engaged in consolidating their power and protect themselves from their opponents, there is hardly any room to resolve external issues. It happened with Musharraf when he sacked the high court justices as well as CJ. The same is the story with Zardari as he sacked some of the judges as well as cancelled the electoral candidacy of leader of opposition party Nawaz Sharif. As Nawaz Sharif plans a march to Islamabad against this along with lawyers and supporters, the pressure is on Zardari by General Kayani, the army chief, to settle the matter.

It is known that army rule has never been able to resolve the Kashmir matter. On the contrary, J&K region saw a stable and orderly transition of govt after the elections. Thus, before solving the Kashmir crisis, Pakistan needs to put his own house in order first.

Jurassic Peck

The article talks about the current developing undergoing at the Montana State University in US to reverse engineer a dinosaur from a chicken. Besides the possible consequences the article asserts the use of this technology for more productive purposes.

Studies have confirmed birds to be the direct decedents of dinosaurs. The reason they look different is because they have evolved proteins that suppress the dinosaur characteristics. Paleontologists at Montana State University at US are trying to reverse engineer a dinosaur from chicken. Although the creature thus formed wouldn’t be an exact replica of the original but retain some of the characteristics like claws, fangs or even tail like appendages. But there is no possibility of this experiment to have a Jurassic Park style ending since they are only playing around with chicken development and not the genome. Even if the creature escapes the reproduction possibility is zero and in case of mating, would produce only a normal chicken. However, in the event when action of some genes enhances, nobody can comment on consequences. It should be remembered that just because the technology is available, scientists should not go about experimenting blindly without thinking about consequences. 

Instead, such reverse engineering technologies should be used to regenerate endangered species or those species that recently got extinct. They would have their environment already set. There is no point in regenerating species that got extinct millions of years ago as they won’t have their ecosystem to survive anymore.

10th March

Breaking Point

The article contemplates the politics of chauvinism and opportunism that is currently played in Orissa as the BJP walked out of the coalition govt of BJD. 

The primary reason has been the uneven seat sharing proposed by BJD that ire BJP and eventually decided to walk out of the coalition. As said by CPM big shot Prakash Karat, it is a political game changer as BJP could be a prize catch for the third front in the making. Although, the CM Patnaik might have broke-up with the party on the secular ground but the timing suggests his political motives. BJP has long been a reason for the religious jingoism going on in the state right from the killing of Graham Stains to the recent attacks on the Christian churches. BJD has also been criticized for citing the Kandhamal conflagration as a reaction to the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanandana. What BJP needs to understand is to stop playing with religious sentiments as it uses sectarian polarization effectively in Gujarat but not so successfully in Orissa and Karnataka. It’s proclaimed religious pluralism is being questioned. 

Last general elections in 2004, loss of TDP cost dear to the NDA. This time it seems that BJD would prove the same. BJP should understand that benefits it reaped from playing with religious politics does have a date of expiry and doesn’t work anymore. 

Getting Better

The article praises the present increase in the participation of women candidates in the parliaments all over the world during the last decade.

As per the data compiled by Inter-Parliamentary Union, a UN body, women participation in the parliaments all over the world has increased by 60% to reach 18% compared to 1995. While Rwanda has majority parliamentary candidates as females, US also has 17% female participation in both the houses of Congress. The number for Nordic region stands at 41%. Even Saudi Arabia, which is completely male dominated country with strict laws against women, saw its first women minister. Even in India the number of women in LS stands at 49 which is just 9.1%. The women reservation bill which provides 33% reservation to women in parliament is yet to be passed. However, mandatory reservation for women reservation in village panchayats has been successful. This will help in developing women leaders from the lower level of polity which can later rise to the higher levels. 

Thus, parliaments are no longer the institutions only for men. Also, a democracy with hardly any representation from half of the population obviously fails to serve its purpose. But the good thing is that last decade has seen a considerable progress on this front.

9th March

A New Deal

The article talks about the growing relationships between the oldest foes in the world, US and Russia, which is very important to tackle some of the most serious issues on the global arena.

Recent visits by the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to the countries like China, Israel, Japan and Russia, makes it imperative what the foreign policy of Obama administration seeks to. The ire, Bush administration created, by ill-engaging with some of the countries needs to be allayed in order to create a support for US in its war in Afghan-Pak region as well as the Iran dispute. For India, the visits in Beijing and Moscow hold special significance. Moscow could become a crucial ally in the war to stop the Taliban from spreading its wings in Afghanistan and NWFP of Pakistan. It is evident that if that happens the effects could spill over the neighboring region. Russia also could prove useful in the Iran crisis given the legitimacy of feud between Tehran and Washington. 

Post-cold war, there had been series of small disputes between US and Russia, the most recent being Georgia. Thus, it is premature to believe that the relationships have started to normalize between the old enemies. But it is up to US to make Russia understand that it is not in Russia’s interest to let Taliban spread in the region. Russia can also act as a facilitator in solving Iran crisis. It is in the world’s interest if the two countries work collaboratively.

Simply Distribute

The article expresses concern over the grave failure of Public Distribution System (PDS) in India because of which India, today, outstrips the rest of the world in terms of number of hungry people as well as suffering from malnutrition.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) report revealed the inefficiency of the present PDS in India owing to corruption, faulty data and incorrect assessment of household characteristics and amount of grain entitled. The report says that the official poverty estimates do not include the calorie deficiency of the people who are not below poverty line (BPL) which is why PDS falls short of its overall aim of eliminating hunger which also includes malnutrition. As the statistics speak themselves, 50% of world’s total hungry people live in India and malnutrition is the cause in 50% of child deaths. Children below 5 years and suffering from malnutrition account for 47% which is far ahead of the next worst of Sub-Saharan African region at 28%. The first hunger index released by International Food Research Institute at the close of 2008 declared India’s status as “alarming” in terms of hunger and malnutrition.

Despite the PDS, Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-day Meal Scheme being there, poor aren’t able to access the food due to their inefficient execution. Thus, instead of developing a whole new network of distribution for such schemes, it is better to use the existing infrastructure of food distribution and empower the poor to have access to such outlets. With the failure of present systems, it is evident to implement innovative strategies to fix the problem.

5th March

Keep It Going

The article expresses grief about the recent attack of terrorists on cricket players directly and asserts that cricket should not be made hostage to the terrorist forces in the subcontinent.

The impact of the recent attacks on Sri Lankan team in Lahore would not be restricted to Pakistan. It would have impact on the entire subcontinent and especially the IPL and the ICC World Cup in 2011. With players’ security becoming the top most priority for the organizers, the IPL fears cancellation since the dates clashes with general elections in India. Postponing, as suggested by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, is not feasible since ICC already has a packed calendar for 2009. Although IPL admin is positive about organizing private security, it would not satisfy players. If the tournament gets cancelled the worst sufferers would be franchisees and broadcasters. Fate of ICC World Cup is anybody’s guess.

However, on the other hand ICC cannot do away with organizing cricket in the subcontinent which is responsible for majority of its revenues. Pakistan is also a country that has produced some of the finest cricketers but the domestic unrest has pushed it to the situation that the country didn’t host a single test match last year. Opportunities should be explored for offshore locations to organize matches and the players should be encouraged to play in other countries. While hosting international matches in India should be less of a concern but players’ security should be the highest priority at the same time.

Constantine and Us

The article tries to draw a parallel between Constantine in his later stages of life and the current propagators of Hinduism for their disrespect for the co-existence of a secular society. The author suggests that politics should be kept away from religious matters and visa versa.

When Constantine defeated the Roman Empire to end the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor, in the battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD, he issued an edict of Milan which stated the right of other divinities to co-exist with Christian God. This is similar to the Indian secularism which allowed all the faiths to co-exist in peace while keeping the state separate from the religion. Akbar’s Din-e-Ilahi also was a principle based on secularism. However, in his later life, Constantine was least secular. He renamed the city of Byzantium with his own and also removed all the non-Christian temples. Emperor Theodosius, his successor, made Christianity a state religion. This is similar to the current saffron activists who oppose the Indian principle of secularism. 

However, religion is too sensitive an issue to be left with politicians. The actions of Roman emperor were successful since his writ was unquestionable. However, such actions cannot be tolerated in 21st century. Although BJP president Rajnath Singh, reiterated his party’s commitment to build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, BJP has many other issues to corner UPA for the elections. Religion should never be mixed with state.

7th March

It’s A Slumfest

The article talks about the parties that are going all out to cash in the latest Slumdog Millionaire success while thrashing the Congress’ authority over the song even though Congress bought the copyrights of the movie’s signature tune.

The movie, besides just a box office success, has received acclaims and critics from all over the world. With Indian cast, British producer, Hindu-turned-Muslim music composer and American award, the movie literally belongs to the entire world. However, Congress would question it since they bought the copyrights of its signature tune to use it in their campaigns. Other parties, however, thrash this claim. From Narendra Modi to CPM MP Md Salim to Mamta Banerjee; every Neta has been using the song and the tune to attract voters. Nitish Kumar went a step ahead with his VVIP parade in the cycle-rickshaw to watch the movie. Clearly it was an election gimmick.

The crux here is that even if all parties try to trade in the Slumdog success, the party who will actually make the common man dance to the tunes would only come to the power.

Gandhi’s Things

The article, with reference to the recent auction of Gandhi items, comments on the excessive hoo-ha over possessing items of the man who himself never cared much for them. It also talks about the dual aspects of his legacy. 

The recent auction of Gandhi’s possessions was thankfully won by Vijay Mallya and thus ensuring the possessions remain in India. It was a dilemma situation for New Delhi, caught seemingly disrespectful to make efforts to restore the possessions of the great man back to his country while fighting the cash-crunch owing to economic crisis at the same time. But it’s surprising to see such possessiveness for the items of a person who himself never cared for it. Gandhi’s legacy is a dual faced. Father of the Nation makes him binding to politics apparently while the saintly veneration connects him to spirituality. Combining politics with spirituality is unhealthy as it pollutes the later one while dilutes the former. Such cult is not practical in 21st century and certainly some of the Gandhian principles don’t work like his emphasis on agriculture and anti-industry stand. 

Thus, it’s not good to put Gandhi at the pedestal since spirituality has no place in economics and politics and moreover Gandhi himself wouldn’t be comfortable there.

6th March

Think Ahead

The article advocates a forward looking monetary policy instead of a reactive one since rate cuts takes time to create an impact. The recent cut made by RBI is welcome but still a lot of work has to be done since the bankers expect more cuts in future to encourage lending.

The rate cut, announced by RBI, of 50 basis points make the repo rate and reverse repo rate stand at 5% and 3.5% respectively. The need for RBI to step in was evident since govt was running out of fiscal options, inflation stood at 3.03% with an anticipation of deflationary trend and the third quarter GDP growth of 5.3%. Apart from few nationalized banks like SBI, which announced reduced home and auto loan rates, lending rates remain at 12-13%; very high in present scenario. RBI justified delay in rate cuts by saying that it has injected enough liquidity in the economy. But this doesn’t help increasing in credit flow since bankers still expect more rate cuts and hold back lending which creates a vicious cycle. 

What is needed here is a proactive monetary policy instead of reactive one. As India gears up for G20 summit to seek to synchronize its growth boosting efforts with the rest of the world it cannot be out of sync in monetary policy. With govt shackled by EC poll code, it’s RBI who has to unleash the power India needs to sustain its growth.

Anybody Out There?

The article talks about the recent probe NASA is going to launch this month in order to search for extra terrestrial life. It also contemplates about the possibility of finding the life as the universe contains billions of galaxies and we are just searching in our own galaxy first.

The necessary condition for the life to exist on any planet is presence of water for which the planet has neither to be too far nor too near to its parent star. As the quest for extra-terrestrial life opens another chapter, NASA would launch its Kepler satellite to look for earth like object. With 95MP camera, it’ll survey about 100K stars in three years to capture their periodic dimming as they pass from it. It will help scientist determine how dense the universe is. Earlier probes have found that universe mostly contains Jupiter-like gas giants with no life at all but recent discoveries suggest that perhaps the lightweight rocky planets might just outnumber them. This will determine the probability of finding life in our galaxy and in turn the universe. Even if we find one life planet in our galaxy then also there are billions of galaxies all around which represents whole lot of living all around.

But then the question is that when the huge universe suggests that there ought to exists technologically advanced ETs somewhere then why they haven’t tried to contact us? One of the reasons can be the huge distance which is simply not conquerable. Or may be they didn’t find the need to search for us.

4th March

Beyond the Boundary

The article talks about the increasing muscle power of terrorist forces that are finding safe haven in Pakistan while creating unsafe environment for the world. The recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team just proves that.

The attack proves that sports is not beyond politics at all. This is the first time that cricket has been a direct victim of terrorism. The attack brings all the plans of hosting ICC World Cup in South Asia to hold. Pakistan is out of question now. Bangladesh is fighting mutiny from its own army while Sri Lanka is into a civil war owing to its war against LTTE. That leaves India who recently faced the worst terrorist attack on 26/11. With elections coming on, it’s another opportunity for terrorists to strike who currently, rightly said by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, find safe haven in Pakistan. Unless there is a concentrated pressure on Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure in the country, it will not only become a sports pariah but also make its economic rescue bleak. 

What is also needed for the Pakistani polity is to shun the internal tussle which has cost them their country becoming almost a failed state. While the centre in Pakistan cedes power in Swat to Taliban, the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif believes the war against terror is America’s war and not Pakistan’s. It’s high time to persuade leaders in Pakistan that while democratic debate is fine, it should not be at the cost of putting country in peril.

Power To The People

The article talks about the recent developments taking place in the social networking sites to tackle the issue of user privacy with Facebook announcing to put any future change in its terms and conditions to the user vote.

Facebook floated a document giving each of its 175 million users, a say on how the website should run. It also maintained that any change. Any protest on its terms and policies would only be binding if at least 30% of its users votes. However, the company reserves the rights to introduce new features without user consent. There are several social networking websites who face the issue of user content privacy and control and they cannot get away with it since their business depends on it. Many sites struggle to find the balance between profitability and user information privacy and control. Users feel to have stake in these sites since they contribute to it. However, they are often ignorant about what should be private and what should be public.

Efforts have to be made to make a striking balance in how much private information should be made public. But still it’s long way to go.

3rd March

Beyond Bengal

The article analyses the present situation of alliances in Bengal especially the one between Congress and Trinamul that would be a substantial damage to the Left front in the state for the coming LS elections.

Congress-Trinamul alliance can prove to be decisive for Left front prospects in the state since till date Left front won in West Bengal because of divided opposition. With Congress and Trinamul votes consolidate now, they have very less chance to win. Add to that the land controversy which has already strengthened the anti-Left sentiments in the state which would certainly be cashed-in by Mamta Banerjee. However, her anti-CPM politics could be a problem for Congress if they want to seek support of Left Front at the center and any compromise with LF would ire Mamta. But the chances are remote since this time the LF is expected to be far weaker in LS. 

However, the present priority for Congress is to have seat adjustments with allies in as many states as possible. However, Congress is against any pre-poll arrangement since they might have to give up some seats to the allies outside the latter’s stronghold. Congress doesn’t rule out post-poll settlements and thus remains open. Congress-Trinamul alliance is not an exception to that. 

Running Out of Time 

The article cautions the Delhi government with respect to its preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and expresses apprehension that the complacency may cost dear to the nation at large.

The parliamentary committee has slammed Delhi government for its lethargy in the organization of Commonwealth Games. However, the sports minister, M S Gill compares it with a typical Indian wedding where most of the things do get completed at the last moment. However, this is a very risky assumption when the prestige of the nation is at stake. And with extravaganza at the Beijing Olympics and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games lastly, the expectations are already high. Even a single flaw in the execution of the games or infrastructure facilities could damage our reputation. The attitude of govt and the sports minister reflects the attitude of country towards the infrastructure development in the country as a whole. Cumulative costs of 519 infrastructure projects have increased by 13.4% of which 258 are already behind the schedule.

With Commonwealth boxing championships already pushed behind from Dec 2009 and VP of International Swimming Federation criticizing the organizers for poor swimming facilities, it is inevitable for govt now to walk the talk. If the lassitude is not shed off, this wedding might have to be called off.

2nd March

We’re Still Second

The article talks about the much needed intervention of monetary measures to boost the ailing economy. Although we are the second fastest growing economy, this is not the excuse for complacency.

Recent quarterly growth of 5.3% is an eye-opener. Poor performance of the farm sector has been major reason with crop production growing down for all crops except rice. Although medium term reforms in landholding size, cropping pattern and freer marketing would help but focus should be more on non-farm sector like industries where investment is the key variable. Current govt would be content with increasing consumer spending and investment being a bigger priority then belt-tightening. However, increasing govt expenditure and DA would have limited effect. Instead emphasis should be on boosting export-imports. Private participation in the construction projects would help to provide some boost to the economy. However, property developers are yet to adapt their business models for affordable housing, for which govt has provided subsidies, then just heavy discounts. 

Center cannot go for any further fiscal spree since S&P and Moody’s have already downgraded India on account of its burgeoning fiscal deficit. What is needed is RBI intervention in monetary measures to rescue the already depreciating rupee and bring down the interest rates to encourage lending. Second fastest growing economy is no excuse for complacency.

Roll them out

The article advocates usage of more hybrid cars in India as it has the potential to reduce oil dependency for the nations and reduce the carbon emissions in future.

The recent study by US technology institute stated that if all US cars would be converted to hybrid cars, then the carbon emissions in 2050 would go to the same levels as that of 2000, taking into account the increase in future population density as well as 50 years data. For US the greater disappointment is that in India the hybrid cars found themselves into the showrooms in less then a year of its launch. However, the sales declined and almost stagnated on the account on account of 105% import duty and took off only when the dealers gave a flat 40% discount on the cars. Prospective buyers have to apply to manufacturer for the import duty license and wait for long period apart from paying the hefty duty. The alternative could be domestic production of hybrid cars probably with partnership of Japan. Besides high mileage (21 km/lt), hybrid cars also help in reducing pollution. Besides that, it is also more practical solution then Reva. 

What is needed is a duty waiver on hybrid cars and manufacturing hybrid cars while looking for other options like biofuels. Options can also be explored to bring hybrid cars besides petrol and oil like natural gas which has proven very efficient and less polluting.