Palashbiswaskl's Weblog http://palashscape.wordpress.com Just another WordPress.com weblog Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:30:53 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ en hourly 1 http://www.gravatar.com/blavatar/41dae4bb27fb1d0778dd5b6f882f8af1?s=96&d=http://s.wordpress.com/i/buttonw-com.png Palashbiswaskl's Weblog http://palashscape.wordpress.com Full MOON Looks like a BURNT Chapati!Hunger SOS to a Billion! http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/full-moon-looks-like-a-burnt-chapatihunger-sos-to-a-billion/ http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/full-moon-looks-like-a-burnt-chapatihunger-sos-to-a-billion/#comments Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:30:52 +0000 palashbiswaskl http://palashscape.wordpress.com/?p=1292 ]]>

Full MOON Looks like a BURNT Chapati!Hunger SOS to a Billion!
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time -Two Hundred Ten

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

Can the US stock market rally last?

15 Nov 2009, 1912 hrs IST, AGENCIES

Dow is trading above 10K for first time since Oct 2008, it is still 27% below its peak. Good news could be bad news for the bull. ‘US not threatened by emerging China’

 


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

India's

India’s spin legends hail Tendulkar’s genius

Kolkata/New Delhi, Nov 14 – India’s spin bowling legends Saturday doffed their hats to little master Sachin Tendulkar, crowing over his discipline and work ethic which kept him fresh even after 20 years of international cricket and ahead of oth… More

 

http://www.indiainteracts.com/

Hunger SOS to a billion

- UN body issues first call for cash to people
REUTERS AND OUR BUREAU

Nov. 14: One billion hungry people, the largest such cluster in history, are depending on another one billion to donate small amounts of cash to find food.

The World Food Programme, facing a funding shortfall with donor governments hit by the financial crisis, has issued its first direct appeal to one billion individuals to stump up what they can to help others beat hunger.

Josette Sheeran, head of the UN food aid body, said the aim of the Internet appeal launched today was to get people in wealthy nations to give just 1 euro ($1.50 or Rs 69) a week, which would be enough to end hunger for another billion people in the developing world.

An official at the WFP’s Delhi office said anyone, including Indians, could contribute. The website payment field does not have a rupee option but the amount can be entered in dollars, the equivalent of which will be deducted in the Indian currency from the credit card. A cross-border fee may apply, depending on the policy of the credit card company or bank.

The WFP, the world’s largest food aid organisation, runs projects in 10 states in India and has spent around $1 billion in the country.

“We now have hunger galloping ahead — over a billion people now for the first time in history — and because of the financial pressure on governments we think it’s really important now to call on the citizens of the world to help solve this problem directly,” Sheeran said.

It is the first time the WFP, which is mainly funded by national governments, has launched such an appeal.

“We are cutting rations, but we would rather send a message to the citizens of the world to help us fill this food cup,” said Sheeran, holding a red food cup taken from a WFP programme in Rwanda. “Because it’s just not an acceptable choice to not stand with those hungry right now.”

If even a fraction of the number of people targeted donates, it will provide a massive boost to the organisation’s revenues, which are entirely funded by donations — unlike some other UN agencies that draw revenues from the world body’s budget.

Speaking ahead of a World Food Summit that starts on Monday in Rome, Sheeran said the WFP was on track to raise only around half the $6.7 billion it had targeted for this year, with most of it coming from national governments.

While this year’s forecast $3.7 billion in donations would be the WFP’s second highest ever, it was still not enough to tackle the humanitarian crises around the globe, she said.

Sheeran said the WFP faced “a year of tough choices” as drought in the Horn of Africa, floods in the Philippines and conflict in northern Pakistan stretched its ability to cope with emergencies.

This came against a backdrop of tens of millions more people being forced into hunger by stubbornly high food prices in the developing world after the 2007-2008 food crisis.

“The problem at the moment is that the WFP probably has 10 or 12 acute emergencies on its hands, each one complex, each one with its own compelling situation and none that can really afford to be neglected,” Sheeran said.

The WFP expects to feed around 100 million people this year in 72 different countries, providing an estimated 28 billion meals. Only 7 per cent of funds are spent on paying overheads, with the rest going to food aid, Sheeran said.

“We are saying to people… if they contribute, it will go to the intended purpose,” said the former US trade official. “Of the 25 cents it costs to get a cup of food to a child, 93 per cent is for food and logistics.”
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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091115/jsp/frontpage/story_11743165.jsp

  1. Food security – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    - 23 Oct

    Food security refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it. A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or …
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security – Cached -

  2. Food Insecurity – Internet Resources

    Millions of people worldwide suffer from hunger and undernutrition . A major factor contributing to this international problem is food insecurity. …
    www.faqs.org/nutrition/Erg-Foo/Food-Insecurity.html – Cached – Similar -

 

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Shrimps boats are seen at the coastal area of Bayou La Batre, Alabama November 10, 2009. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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Fishermen like Steve Patronas struggle to make a living, but high costs, low prices for their catches and competition from countries like Vietnam or China are putting many of them out of business and choking off their way of life.  Blog | Video

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5AE0W620091115

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Archive for SUKANTA BHATTACHARYA

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{ November 29, 2006 @ 9:27 am } · { SUKANTA BHATTACHARYA }
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হে মহাজীবন

সুকান্ত ভট্টাচার্য

হে মহাজীবন,আর এ কাব্য নয়

এবার কঠিন,কঠোর গদ্য আনো,

পদ-লালিত্য ঝংকার মুছে যাক

গদ্যের কড়া হাতুড়িতে আজ হানো।

প্রয়োজন নেই কবিতার স্নিগ্ধতা-

কবিতা তোমায় দিলাম আজকে ছুটি,

ক্ষুধার রাজ্যে পৃথিবী গদ্যময়;

পূণির্মা-চাঁদ যেন ঝলসানো রুটি।
http://hummingbird.wordpress.com/category/sukanta-bhattacharya/

সুকান্ত ভট্টাচার্যের কবিতা

–: সূচীপত্র :–
ছাড়পত্র
অনুভব
আগামী
আগ্নেয়গিরি
আঠারো বছর বয়স
ইউরোপের উদ্দেশে
একটি মোরগের কাহিনী
খবর
চট্টগ্রাম : ১৯৪৩
চারাগাছ
ছাড়পত্র
ঠিকানা
দেশলাই কাঠি
প্রস্তুত
প্রার্থী
বোধন
মধ্যবিত্ত ‘৪২
মৃত্যুজয়ী গান
রবীন্দ্রনাথের প্রতি
রানার
শত্রু এক
সিগারেট
সিঁড়ি
সেপ্টেম্বর ‘৪৬
হে মহাজীবন

ঘুম নেই
১৯৪১ সাল
১লা মে–র কবিতা ‘৪৬
অদ্বৈধ
অনন্যোপায়
অবৈধ
অভিবাদন
অলক্ষে
আমরা এসেছি
উদ্বীক্ষণ
কবিতার খসড়া
কবে
দিনবদলের পালা


নিভৃত -১
নিভৃত -২
রৌদ্রের গান
সব্যসাচী
সূচনা

পূর্বাভাস
অসহ্য দিন
আমার মৃত্যুর পর
আলো–অন্ধকার
উদ্যোগ
জাগবার দিন আজ
নিবৃত্তির পূর্বে
পূর্বাভাস
প্রতিদ্বন্দ্বী
বিভীষণের প্রতি
মৃত পৃথিবী
সুতরাং
স্বতঃসিদ্ধ
স্বপ্নপথ
স্মারক
হদিশ
হে পৃথিবী

মিঠেকড়া
অতি কিশোরের ছড়া
আজব লড়াই
জ্ঞানী
পুরনো ধাঁধা
ভেজাল
মেয়েদের পদবী
রেশন কার্ড
সিপাহী বিদ্রোহ

অপ্রচলিত রচনা
আজিকার দিন কেটে যায়
সুচিকিৎসা
সুহৃদবরেষু

http://www.kolkata-online.com/bangla/sukanta/

Full Moon looks like a BURNT Chapati, typical Indian Bread.It is written by Bengali Evolutionary Poet Sukanta Bhattacharya in the Context of Bengal Famine during World War Two just after the Recovery in America and Europe.Meanwhile, Stimulus spending and other emergency measures have set the stage for global economic recovery, but nations must push ahead with free trade and investment to ensure growth, President Barack Obama and fellow Asia-Pacific leaders said Sunday.

Sukanta Bhattacharya  (August 15, 1926 – May 13, 1947) was one of the most honored poets of Bangla literature. He was called ‘Young Nazrul’ and ‘Kishore Bidrohi Kobi’.Sukanta was born at his uncle’s house in Kolkata. His ancestral home in the village Unshiya in Kotalipara, Gopalganj, Bengal (now part of Bangladesh). His father, Nibaran Bhattacharya, was in the book selling business in Kolkata.

He died of tuberculosis at Jadavpur (Kolkata) at a very young age of 21. He was a communist and was a worker of the party.His work is deeply marked and influenced by his communist experience. One of his shorter poems compares the moon with a burnt roti, a prosaicness born of hunger:

“Poetry, we do not need you anymore. A world devastated by hunger is too prosaic, The full moon now reminds us of toasted bread”

It is quite amusing that in modern context as Recovery from current recession in America and Europe strike the headlines, Famine , Food insecurity, Man Made Calamities, Global Warming, Climate Change and Pandemic Clouds loom large all over the Third world Sky including India despite the claims of Shining, Glittering, Resilience and growth rate, foreign capital Inflow and Investment spree! The NASA related Scientists are Planning to colonise the Moon amidst the reports of abundant Water Resources but the Earth is struck by Unprecedented DROUGHT. We may not indulge in War with China in near Future but the Water war is IMMINENT between India and China.We must realise the meaning of the Poem written by Sukanta right in forties. Provided you may get it, just see the reporting of the great famine by SOMNATH Hore or just go through the Short stories written by Manik Bandopaddhyaya. Tragedy is that the SCENARIO has not changed at all. We have been amid Food Riots in Bengal enveloped by Singur, Nandigram, lalgarh and Gorkhaland Insurrections. Entire Indo Bangla Border is Inflicted with Hunger, Job Loss, human Trafficking and Drug addiction.Death Processions never stop in tea gardens.Indian Peasants commit suicide anywhere anytime in any part of India. Victims of Development, the Aboriginal Indigenous Communities of central India have been selected for Ethnic Cleansing. Glaciers are melting and Hunger looms large in the Himalayas.

It is very hot in Kolkata.past November.The Metro has Turned a Boiling Biryani pot with Humidity and suffocation. Sabita was indisposed late in the Night. her stomach revolted and we had to get medical help. It has been quite Uneasy to travel in Local trains and stranded anywhere. Warm cloths have no use in Kolkata these days. last day , some parts of the Metro  got some showers but it enhanced Humidity unbearable.

I have been writing about the Grave Yards in Industrial belts all over. The Rural India face the unprecedented EXODUS and the MIGRATION makes the Greatest SLUM Dog world all over the Urban and suburban Geopolitics not only in India, but even in Americas and Europe, south east Asia.

I am told that my mother Basanti Debi and my Grand Mother Shanti Debi had visited West Bengal just after the Dhimri Block Peasant Uprising in 1958. I was an Infant and my father had been in Jail in east Pakistan where he participated in BHASHA Andolan. The ladies had to beg for sustenance in Kolkata while I was in their lap as an INFANT. i do not remember but any Mother and child inflicted with Poverty and Hunger reminds me that UNSEEN Scene afresh.We are Resettled Bengali refugees. My father started his life in India before the Partition as a Light man in a Picture Hall  in Dutt Pukur. My Grand Ma Shanti Debi and my Jethamoshai and Jethima landed in Sealdah station just after partition. Though Chhotokaka was working as a police man in East Bengal and my Chhotokaka served as a police man in Kolkata and faced the Direct action in 1946.According to my Jethamosahai, CHHOTOKAKA fired on Miscreants indulged in Riots on kokata street without waiting the Order of the Magistrate. Finally he left the Police service and Joined Army which he deserted very soon. My Father joined the family in Sealdah and then they got admission in Ranaghat Coopers camp. Later in Sixties, seventies and Eighties, I have been regular Visitor in refugee camps and witnessed the Self Destruction, Arson,  Genocides all over India and saw the Resultant hunger very close.

We also witnessed the Agrarian Crisis after the demise of Green revolution. I myself burnt Acres of sugar cane field just because we could not get the Labour Cost. Since we discontinues to harvest Paddy and wheat, we had to get Credit for Food Security. I saw the Western Uttar Pradesh , perhaps most Rich in Agrarian crisis and had been an Eye witness to Peasant uprising led by Mahendra Singh Tikait during Eighties until it was overlapped by the Babri Mosque Dispute and khalistan Insurgency as the Indian Peasants were DISILLUSIONED by Green Revolution and they had to be SUBVERTED thus. The Subversion continues.

In tribal belt, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Maharashtra, Chhattishgarh, MP and Andhra, it was  always HUNGER looming large on landscape and Human scape. Though Personally I have Never Been Well to do or that successful in my career, but we Never faced FOOD Insecurity. But My family had Never Been so NUCLEUS and we had to SHARE the Plight of Our people, their Persecution, exodus, hunger and Unemployment!

Shukanta was born in Calcutta in 1926. By the time he grew up Second World War was going on and the heat of the war was also felt in the British ruled Bengal. It was a crucial time in the history of Bengal. The anti British movement was going on and also the economy of Bengal was in a very bad condition which resulted in a man made famine in 1943. Sukanto was born, observed and depicted the problems of society and suffering of people of that time. Sukanta during his school life became involved into leftist political movement. He was deeply influenced by Marxist thoughts and ideals.

In his poems he described the contemporary social problems such as famine, war, suffering of poor people especially farmers and day laborers. During the famine of 1943 he became a relief worker for the peasants who came to calcutta. He also worked with jute mill trade organizations. Sukanta died of tuberculosis when he was only twenty one years old. Within such a short span of time he wrote many poets and plays. Some of his works are Chhadpatra (1947), Purbabhas (1950), Mithekada (1951), Abhiyan (1953), Ghum Nei (1954), Hartal (1962), Gitiguchchha (1965).

“Chhadpatra,” is a famous Sukanta Bhattacharya poem where the poet talks about an infant who has just taken birth and declaring his arrival through crying. The poet says that the baby has come to this world and now we have to make place for this baby. The poet says that some times the baby is crying, sometimes laughing and making noise but nobody understands it. The people are getting irritated but the poet understands his language. It is the hope of a new world, a new place. The people will die and this new born baby will take their place and in this way the cycle of human life will move forward. Here the poet is actually referring to the contemporary condition of his time war, piece, famine and instability in life. The poet did not lose his faith on human being. He hopes that the next generation will learn from the faults of their elders and try to make the world a better place. The new born baby is that sign of hope.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World

Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned

2009 has been a devastating year for the world’s hungry, marking a significant worsening of an already disappointing trend in global food security since 1996. The global economic slowdown, following on the heels of the food crisis in 2006–08, has deprived an additional 100 million people of access to adequate food. There have been marked increases in hunger in all of the world’s major regions, and more than one billion people are now estimated to be undernourished.

About the series

The State of Food Insecurity in the World raises awareness about global hunger issues, discusses underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition and monitors progress towards hunger reduction targets established at the 1996 World Food Summit and the Millennium Summit. The publication is targeted at a wide audience, including policy-makers, international organizations, academic institutions and the general public with a general interest in linkages between food security, human and economic development.

For more information, contact: David.Dawe@fao.org from FAO’s Economic and Social Development Department

Key messages

  • Even before the food and economic crises, hunger was on the rise.
  • FAO estimates that 1.02 billion people are undernourished worldwide in 2009.
  • In trying to cope with the burden of consecutive food and economic crises, poor people reduce their dietary diversity and spending on essential items such as education and health care.
  • A healthy agriculture sector can provide an economic and employment buffer in times of crisis, especially in poorer countries.
  • Safety-net interventions should address the immediate impact on the vulnerable while also providing sustainable solutions to the underlying problems.
  • The fact that hunger was increasing even before the food and economic crises suggests that present solutions are insufficient and that a right-to-food approach has an important role to play in eradicating food insecurity.
Video
FAO’s David Dawe presents the new hunger report.

http://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/en/

    UN food organisation chief holds hunger strike

    AFP - ‎18 hours ago‎
    … Jacques Diouf went on a 24-hour hunger strike on Saturday to put a spotlight on chronic malnutrition worldwide ahead of a UN summit on food security. …

    Muhyiddin in Rome for World Summit on Food Security

    Malaysia Star - Choi Tuck – ‎3 hours ago‎
    ROME: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin flew in Sunday to attend the three-day World Summit on Food Security 2009 starting …

    FAO, IDB sign $1-billion agreement for poor countries

    Xinhua - Wang Guanqun – ‎1 hour ago‎
    Today, sustained investment in agriculture, especially smallholder agriculture, is acknowledged as the key to food security, the FAO said. …

    Apec pushes free trade, disaster aid

    Business Mirror - Estrella Torres – ‎1 hour ago‎
    … sustainable and reliable sources of nutritious, safe and affordable food as part of the comprehensive approach to global hunger and food security. …

    Can India Achieve Food Security?

    Treehugger - Collin Dunn – ‎Nov 13, 2009‎
    The World Summit on Food Security convenes next week in Rome, and the buzz leading up to it has focused on …

    WFP: 1 Billion Hungry People in World

    Voice of America - ‎Nov 14, 2009‎
    The huge amount of people facing food insecurity has prompted the UN organization to appeal to individuals for the first time. WFP launched the Billion for …

    Pope to address food security summit

    United Press International - ‎19 hours ago‎
    14 (UPI) — Pope Benedict XVI is to call for global cooperation in addressing hunger when he speaks at the World Summit on Food Security in Rome, …

    Minister Oda to Attend World Summit on Food Security

    Benzinga - ‎2 hours ago‎
    15, 2009) – The Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, will participate in the World Summit on Food Security in Rome, …

    Nehruvian Model can solve financial crisis

    Financial Express - ‎Nov 14, 2009‎
    The continuing spate of farmers’ suicides and apprehensions about food insecurity compels us to remember and act on the noble words of Pt Nehru …
    India’s National Children’s Day SOS Children’s Villages Canada

    Lula heads to Europe to talk food security, climate

    Space Daily - ‎Nov 13, 2009‎
    Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrives in Europe Saturday to attend a UN food agency meeting in Rome and discuss climate change and military …

     

    Obama’s In The Club Now — APEC’s ‘Funny Shirt’ Club, That Is

    NPR - Mark Memmott – ‎1 hour ago‎
    President Barack Obama, attending his first annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, was in Singapore yesterday for this year’s funny photos. …

    Obama tells Myanmar to free Suu Kyi

    Hindustan Times - ‎8 minutes ago‎
    US President Barack Obama used a meeting on Sunday with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to urge pariah state Myanmar to free …

    Obama no better than Bush, says Iranian parliament speaker

    Reuters - Fredrik Dahl, Robin Pomeroy – ‎1 hour ago‎
    TEHRAN (Reuters) – US steps to renew sanctions and seize a New York skyscraper linked to Iran show that President Barack Obama is no better than his …

    Climate change talks ‘need Obama‘

    BBC News - ‎37 minutes ago‎
    US President Barack Obama and other world leaders “need to” go to the environment summit in Copenhagen, cabinet minister Ed Miliband has said. …

    Obama’s popularity in China to depend on his actions: Report

    Zee News - ‎4 hours ago‎
    Beijing: As Barack Obama embarks on his maiden state visit to China, the official media here has warned the US President that his popularity in the world’s …

    Profile: US President Barack Obama

    Xinhua - ‎19 minutes ago‎
    15 (Xinhua) — US President Barack Obama begins his first state visit to China on Sunday at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao. …
    Obama kowtows to China Daily News & Analysis

    ‘PM visit reflects Obama’s high priority to Indo-US ties’

    Hindustan Times - ‎Nov 14, 2009‎
    Economic ties are expected to form the cornerstone of the new framework that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama hope to create to take …

    Fort Hood tragedy exposes Obama’s strategic shortcomings

    Boston Herald - Jonah Goldberg – ‎1 hour ago‎
    Let me say up front, I don’t think President Obama is to blame for the Fort Hood shootings, and I don’t think it’s fair to say otherwise. …

    US jail ‘may take Guantanamo men’

    BBC News - ‎2 hours ago‎
    The Obama administration is considering moving some Guantanamo detainees to a near-empty top security jail in north Illinois, unnamed US officials say. …

    Obama watch

    Boston Herald - Edward Mason – ‎9 hours ago‎
    President Obama is in Asia until Thursday for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference, as he hits Japan, China and South Korea. …
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next

     

    China’s fear of a black president

    Barack Obama is viewed with suspicion by Chinese leaders because he’s a political rock star – and because he is black

    Race is an insensitive issue in China. The sighting of someone who is not of the majority Han race does not stop conversation here, but sparks comments of all sorts – of surprise, wonder, bewilderment and defensiveness. Being cautious about what one says about colour or heritage in China is seen as silly and blinded.

    That is not to say that talking about race in China is a dialogue suffused with respect. For example, during the late summer, Luo Jing, a resident of Shanghai of mixed-race descent (her father an African-American, her mother is Chinese) appeared on a television talent show that was seen across China. The farther Lou advanced in the contest, the louder the voices and vitriol became, especially against her mother for having slept with a black man and producing what many Chinese saw as an impure prodigy.

    Only a precious few saw Lou as a contestant, instead of some sort of a specimen of an ill-fated union. Her singing voice and presence in front of the cameras were fine (although she ended up eventually losing the contest). It was her colour and ancestry that dominated the conversation online and in the streets here.

    And now, Barack Obama is walking into this conversation.

    Obama arrives to see a society that is increasingly self-confident about its identity and national power, and more open to debating issues. But while the rest of the world agonises over race and identity, the vast majority of Chinese know precisely who they are: they are Han, and the rest of the world is not. That world may be the source of some envy where hardware is concerned, but it is also populated with peoples who have a barbarian quality and an uncultured approach to life, according to many here.

    Globalisation has shaken this simplicity somewhat – the idea of China being the centre of the world, with the rest of the globe populated by “outsiders”. Yet globalisation has also tossed many Chinese back into a more strident tone of traditionalism, one that accentuates differences between nations, peoples and races instead of celebrating the sort of diversity that helped bring Obama to high office in the United States.

    Many Chinese do not know what to make of Obama. That he is immediately identifiable here in China does not make his policies or views well known. Obama is as perplexing to many residents as he is popular, as many see him as a famous black person on par with Michael Jackson instead of, say, Thomas Jefferson.

    Still, for more than a few Chinese, his triumph indicates a better system of selecting officials, whereby someone who is inexperienced and yet unique can rise to the top of government. For these folks, Obama is noteworthy for his sizeable talent as well as his skin colour.

    Obama is a political rock star, his image emblazoned on T-shirts and bags for sale in the odd tourist shop and storefront. Those products made enough bureaucrats nervous that products bearing his face were removed from many stores, reflecting not race but the nervousness of certain cadres about his popularity relative to some Chinese officials.

    And it is the Chinese government that will endeavour to dictate the discourse while Obama is here. At a press conference this past week, a foreign ministry spokesperson implored Obama to understand the Chinese position on Tibet because, in Beijing’s view, the Communist party liberated Tibetans from serfdom. Obama “is a black president and understands the slavery abolition movement,” the spokesperson intoned, and should therefore be sensible on such matters.

    Chinese society appears to be convinced about the issue of race, and the government seems to have made up its mind on how Obama should act. It will be up to Obama to shake up that self-certainty and perhaps begin to change the contours of the conversation about race here.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/13/china-race-obama

     

    Copenhagen climate summit hopes fade as Obama backs postponement

    • US supports delaying difficult decisions on emissions targets
    • Copenhagen summit to concentrate on political deal

    Barrack Obama speaks with Thailand prime minister Abhisit VejjajivaBarack Obama speaks with Thailand prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Photograph: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images

    Barack Obama acknowledged today that time has run out to secure a binding climate deal at Copenhagen and began moving towards a two-stage process that would delay a legal pact until next year at the earliest.

    During a hastily convened breakfast meeting in Singapore, the US president supported a Danish plan to salvage something from the moribund negotiations by aiming for a broad political agreement and postponing contentious decisions on emissions targets, financing and technology transfer.

    While this falls short of hopes that Copenhagen would lock in place a new action plan for the world, it recognises the lack of progress in recent preparatory talks and the hold-ups of climate legislation in the US Senate. “There was a realistic assessment … by the leaders that it was unrealistic to expect a full internationally legally binding agreement to be negotiated between now and when Copenhagen starts in 22 days,” said Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for economic affairs.

    The deferral plan was outlined to 19 leaders, including Obama and Chinese president Hu Jintao, who were in Singapore for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

    “Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries we must, in the coming weeks, focus on what is possible and not let ourselves be distracted by what is not possible,” the Danish prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, told the leaders after flying in overnight for the unscheduled discussion. “The Copenhagen agreement should finally mandate continued legal negotiations and set a deadline for their conclusion.”

    Obama was said to have spoken in support of the proposal, cautioning the group not to let the “perfect be the enemy of the good”, Froman said.

    The proposal by Denmark, the host and chair of the climate talks, would set the stage for a political accord at Copenhagen next month and the setting of a new deadline for countries to agree on targets, levels of funding and verification of commitments.

    This would give breathing space for the US Senate to pass carbon-capping legislation, allowing the Obama administration to bring a 2020 target and financing pledges to the table at a UN climate meeting in Mexico or Germany in mid-2010.

    It was unclear if China, the world’s biggest emitter, supported the delay, but other leaders said there was little choice.

    “Leaders … were clear in their view that the current officials-led process is running into all sorts of difficulties, and therefore it is time for leaders, politically, to step in,” the Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, told reporters after the meeting with Rasmussen. “It’s going to be tough as all hell, but let me tell you I believe everyone is seeking, right now, to put their best foot forward, and that was reflected in what transpired around a small table of 20 world leaders this morning.”

    The extension of the process is not unexpected, given the flurry of downbeat statements by world leaders in recent weeks. It may avoid a total breakdown at Copenhagen, but the delay has frustrated those who feel time is running out to prevent calamitous levels of climate change.

    “Heads of states must go beyond simply discussing the problems. They have to start solving them,” said Diane McFadzien of the Worldwide Fund for Nature. She noted that the APEC leaders deleted emission reduction targets in their final declaration.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/15/obama-copenhagen-emissions-targets-climate-change

     

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    TEHRAN (Reuters) – U.S. steps to renew sanctions and seize a New York skyscraper linked to Iran show that President Barack Obama is no better than his predecessor George W. Bush, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday.

    Larijani’s statement, which was followed by chants of “Death to America” among MPs in the legislature, was the latest from Tehran voicing disappointment in the new U.S. administration’s policies toward the Islamic Republic.

    It came as Obama, during a visit to Asia on Sunday, said time was running out for diplomacy in a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but which the West suspects has military aims.

    Since taking office in January, Obama has sought to reach out diplomatically to Iran, but the dispute over Tehran’s atomic activities continues.

    “After one year of giving speeches and baseless slogans, it is a disgrace to see the behavior and the attitudes of this president are not better than his predecessor’s,” Larijani told parliament, the official IRNA news agency said.

    U.S. prosecutors filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday to seize control of a New York City skyscraper they say is owned by companies illegally funneling money to the Iranian government.

    The suit seeks to revoke the Alavi Foundation and the Assa Corporation’s ownership of a 36-storey building at 650 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The original lawsuit filed in December only sought Assa Corp’s building share.

    Prosecutors said both companies were sending money to Bank Melli, owned by the Iranian government. The U.S. Treasury has designated the bank as a weapons proliferator and banned U.S. citizens from dealing with it.

    Also on Thursday, Obama renewed some long-standing U.S. financial sanctions against Iran. Obama notified Congress that, as expected, he was extending a set of existing U.S. measures against Tehran for another year, saying: “our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal.”

    The sanctions that Obama renewed, which involve certain frozen Iranian assets, stem from a “national emergency” the U.S. government declared in November 1979 near the start of the Iran hostage crisis. Such sanctions have to be extended annually by the U.S. president to remain in effect.

    Larijani said: “Extension of restrictions and sanctions against the Iranian nation for another year, and also blocking the accounts and assets of the Alavi Foundation in America, show how deep are the changes in the United States.”

    He also accused Washington of “childish actions” after Iran’s disputed June election as well as “irrational proposals” on the nuclear issue. This showed that the “claimed changes by Obama were nothing but deceiving signals,” Larijani said.

    (Reporting by Reza Derakhshi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

     

    Obama warns over imbalances; APEC shuns exchange rates

    Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:16am IST
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    SINGAPORE (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday the world economy was on a path to recovery but warned that failure to re-balance the global economic system would lead to further crises.

    Obama was addressing Asia Pacific leaders in Singapore, where officials removed any reference to market-oriented exchange rates in a communique after disagreement between Washington and Beijing over the most sensitive topic between the two giants.

    The statement from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum endorsed stimulus measures to keep the global economy from sliding back into recession and urged a successful conclusion to the Doha Round of trade talks in 2010.

    An earlier draft pledged APEC’s 21 members to maintain “market-oriented exchange rates that reflect underlying economic fundamentals”.

    That statement had been agreed at a meeting of APEC finance ministers on Thursday, including China, although it made no reference to the Chinese yuan currency.

    An APEC delegation official who declined to be identified said debate between China and the United States over exchange rates had held up the statement at the end of two days of talks.

    That underscored strains likely to feature when Obama flies to China later on Sunday after Washington for the first time slapped duties on Chinese-made tyres.

    Beijing fears that could set a precedent for more duties on Chinese goods that are gaining market share in the United States.  Continued…

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      ]]>       http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/full-moon-looks-like-a-burnt-chapatihunger-sos-to-a-billion/feed/ 0 palashbiswaskl India's Top Email This Page Print This Page Photo Shrimps boats are seen at the coastal area of Bayou La Batre, Alabama November 10, 2009. REUTERS/Carlos Barria RSS Feed Photo Photo Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Tourists walk beside Royal Caribbean's cruise ship "Enchantment of the Seas" after they arrive in Cozumel, Mexico May 27, 2009. REUTERS/STR New Photo Contributor picture Barrack Obama speaks with Thailand prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Photo Photo Good Times Buy or Sell In One Word Human Billboard Play Video Should Indian cable TV operators become telcos? Smart gold deal by RBI Choice environment is more challenging China's President Hu Jintao (L) speaks to Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang after speaking at the APEC Summit in Singapore November 13, 2009. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video A British Airways passenger jet taxis past Iberia jets at the Barajas airport in Madrid, November 12, 2009. REUTERS/Nacho Doce personal finance Photo RBI leads the world Sanjay Sinha Nipun Mehta Photo Robot Asimo Slideshow Photo Photo Photo James Saft Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee attends India Economic Summit in New Delhi. REUTERS/B Mathur Repo Rate Cash Reserve Ratio Reverse Repo Labourers work at a riverfront construction site near the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad in this July 2, 2009 filoe photo.REUTERS/Amit Dave A bank employee counts currency notes at a cash counter in Agartala, in this October 26, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Jayanta Dey Photo Hotmail Live Planet – NEW Messenger Free Videos Kareena is so beautiful: Aamir Khan The Hunt For The Kingfisher Calendar Girl 2010 MSN Matrimony AM Rain Fair Fair Clear Meghna Naidu Hot hits: Lords of terror, tainted celebs & more "Sachin is the Bradman of our times": Read all tributes Pond's 'Share Your Miracle’ Expand Collapse Expand Collapse IITF opens in India       Memoirs of Self Sufficient Indian Villages and Post Modern MICRO Metro Hubs as Obama Arrives in Singapore for APEC Summit http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/memoirs-of-self-sufficient-indian-villages-and-post-modern-micro-metro-hubs-as-obama-arrives-in-singapore-for-apec-summit/ http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/memoirs-of-self-sufficient-indian-villages-and-post-modern-micro-metro-hubs-as-obama-arrives-in-singapore-for-apec-summit/#comments Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:10:57 +0000 palashbiswaskl http://palashscape.wordpress.com/?p=1289 ]]>

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      1. Green Revolution – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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      1. Genetically modified food – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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      US welcomes strong China – Obama

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      http://www.voanews.com/english/Asia.cfm
      Nov 14
      , 2009 08:06 PM
      4

      Friends,
      I began my Professional career from Dhanbad, Jharkhand,the capital of Indian Coalfields. I was involved in CHIPKO movement and we were fighting for Himalayan Communities and their Identities. AK Roy, the Marxist co Ordination committee and Koyla Kamgar Union Leader from Jhrakhand and Shankar Guha Niyogi, the leader of Chhatishgarh Mukti Morcha worked in alliance with us. I left my village Basantipur and got admission in GIC, Nainital. I had Visited Kolkata and New Delhi meanwhile beside some other excursions. But like a typical Hill Man, I did know nothing about the plains. We said only the thing which we really meant.I went to Allahabad University for PHD in Poetry, but had been disillusioned as DR. Manas Mukul Das was not available for guidance and I could not adjust with others. I shifted myself and JNU with a plan to join M phil course in linguistics. Meanwhile , I had been offered Lecturership in Kumayun University which I neglected as I wanted to pursue Higher studies. But URMILESH, the PSO leader in JNU visited Dhanbad and offered me to work in Dainik Awaz for some time. I was so much so interested tha I RUSHED to Dhanbad to know Indian Economy and Production system, labour conditions leaving my studies abegging and joined the Hindi New paper as a Trainee Journalist with a salary of 350 Rs. per month. Immediately I was involved in the Aboriginal Life and livelihood thanks to Comrade AK Roy ad Mahashweta Debi. I was a NOVICE in Journalism and could not adjust with the typical syntax and style in Hindi. My friends were fond of making a Donkey of me.

      It made me STRONGER and Determined. So, I engaged myself in the studies of coal Mines, Mining and Mines accidents, trade union Phenomenon and Jharkhand Movement. I worked round the clock for Four years.

      I joined Classes in Indian School of Mines and CMRS to know technically the Mining affair and mines Safety, Mining Engineering.I was never afraid of Underground Fire and Pollution and would roam anywhere in Jharkhand and Bengal in BCL and ECCL Coalfields. I have seen day to day working in Koyla Nagar, the BCCL headquarter. I had been visiting Mines to find that Survey reports being sidelined and with the absence of Mining Engineers,Agents, Managers, the Mining Sardars had to bear the load of Mining. The Contacters would get payment without doing any work. Illegal Mining was in Vogue. I have visited many spots of Illegal mining and combed the neighbourhood villages to know the Dead persons in cases of Illegal Mining. Near Nirsa, in Chapapur Colliery I succeeded to get some Human Bodies trapped in the illegal Mines involving the Police and not Publishing the news of the Accident. But I could not locate a single member of the Victims` family. In Giridih, near a Hundred people were trapped with the Illegal Mining Pits in SUBSIDENCE. I camped there but could not trace the dead persons.

      I witnessed the Manipulation very closely in Mining Industry in case of accidents. My short story, ISHWAR KI Galti deals with this topic. I knew personally Coal India Management and PR Officials, DGMS, CMRS official and exposed them very well until my Newspaper defended me.

      I had to join the Cocktail parties in Coal Mines every night. I had to interact with the Politicians who were themselves Gang leaders in Mafia Empire.

      I saw the leaders like SHIBU Soren and Suraj Mandal being Changed. I saw KS Chaterjee, a pure Demogogue. Stefan Marandi, Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda were no where in the LIFE and Politics of Jharkhand who emerged the leader with marginalising Jharkhand leaders, movement and people.

      It was a case study of Indian Economy as we saw as Eyewitness how the Natural resources and Minerals were SOLD Off and the Masses left in death procession in INFINITE Starvation. I witnessed the dealing, package and Recharge so often.I also knew well about the CFRI affairs. PUBLIC Money and tax Payers Money being MISUSED. Jharkhand being the RICHEST in Minerals, was the Victim of Mismanagement and Corruption, persecution and Ethnic Cleansing. AS Jharkhand became a separate state, I had been closely watching the Budget Plans, Non budget Plans, Financial management and Flagship Welfare Progrrames, NGOs working, Political parties, People`s representaton and Resistance and the Resource and human Resource Management inflicted by GRAFT.

      Madhu KODA case is just a tip of an ICEBERG! It is well in the tradition of Jharkhand and Indian. Nationalisation, Privatisation, Modernisation and licensing of Mines at the COST of the livelihood and Life of Tribal People in central and eastern India have been the GREATEST Source of Resources of Indian parliamentary Politics.

      Every One is Black in Coal affairs. just see the case of Orrissa Mines which have been closed in large Number as IRREGULARITIES could not be hidden.
      Palash Biswas
      Kolkata, India
      Nov 14, 2009 02:52 PM
      3

      “Koda has only set an example of benevolence-par-excellence; by staring Charity at Home.”
      Rajneesh Batra
      New Delhi, India
      Nov 14, 2009 02:35 PM
      2

      Scams in India, are another name for ‘joke’.

      NOTHING, seemingly can be done to cure this pandemic, since everyone ( the judiciary, police and even the media ), get a share of the pie too.

      While Kodas scam has got ‘caught’ ( we know he will never actually be sentenced to jail though ), minister Raja who got away with a cool 4k-50k C scam, will never be caught. Why this partiality? Todays Congress has too many friends in the media, it seems!

      TN politicians are legends of corruption. While MGRs money, even divided among his former ministers, is itself a fortune, Karunanidhis nephew is currently the richest man south of the Vindhyas.

      The media is too engrossed in spreading anti-male hatred and the Congress chief is busy with anit-male politics, while the judiciary and police are morally and ethically bankrupt.

      The politicians meanwhile, are SPIRITING the money ( through hawala, etc. ), ABROAD – into safe havens in the west, Swiss accounts, Dubai, etc.

      Through these, we INDIANS are the biggest losers. Not only has our system been corrupted institutionally, but OUR MONEY is finding its way away from our shores!

      Corruption is modern day slavery, since the money we make is finding its way outside the nation.
      Partha persistent spammer
      chennai, India
      Nov 14, 2009 02:05 PM
      1

      Guess a new “Koda of Konduct” is required? MOU in sms-ese now means “My (place) Or Ur”? Madhu (honey) gets stung by his own bees (from his own bonnet)!!
      Harsh Rai Puri
      Bhopal, India
      http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262840

      U.S. President Barack Obama arrived late Saturday in Singapore, where he joins leaders of Pacific Rim economies in meetings to discuss recovery from the global financial crisis and promotion of free trade.

      U.S. President Barack Obama is calling for a new era in trans-Pacific relations. In a speech in Tokyo, the president said America is determined to partner with Asia to meet the global challenges of today.

      President Obama says America is and always has been a Pacific nation. “The United States of America may have started as a series of ports and cities along the Atlantic ocean, but for generations we also have been a nation of the Pacific. Asia and the United States are not separated by this great ocean; we are bound by it,” he said.

      We feel the change and mood all over the Globe. Free Market democracy plays HAVOC in South east Asia resembling Africa, Latin America and East Europe! We Indian are GA GA Boom Boom with the Revival of dead Capitalism from grave yard Shaping into Post Modern Manusmriti Apartheid Brahaminical System of Tri Iblis Zionist Fascist Corporate galaxy Imperialism. India Urban and Semi Urban DEMOGRAPHY is made with EXODUS, Displacement, Migration, Destruction on name of DEVELOPMENT, Industrialisation , Urbanisation and realty Boom.More than half of the Urban Semi Urban  Population consists of SUMDOG Indians belonging to SC, ST, OBC and Minorities Communities, the Black Negroid Untouchables Indigenous Aboriginal. While the Rural India has been Captured. Free Market Democracy and Technology, Consumer Culture and Cell Phones, retail Chain and Strategical Marketing have changed the Character of Rural Human Scape and land scape with the Exception of the Tribal belt in North East and Central India which have become MOW Zones declared as Maoist as well as Insurgency frontires. We have NO Representation in any sphere of Life and are deprived of everything, Citizenship, human Rights,Civil Rights, Right to Information, right to Employment and Livelihood, right to Food security, right to education as our world, our Traditional Agricultural villages have transformed into MICRO Metro Hubs! Without any Awakening! Without any Empowerment!We have CEASED to be Human Being and converted ourselves into CONSUMERS only!

      I have been in MARAM Valley in Senapati District of Manipur in 2000 while shooting with Joshy Joseph his first feature film as a writer.The Village Head picked me to show the Village and atop the Hills he told me that it was the CENTRE of the Universe. he explained the Geography as locating Manipur in the South, Nagaland in the North, Burma in the East and India in the west as Foreign territories. they Insisted quite Violently that the language of the Film should be in the Dialect of their Village.They could speak English also as most of them were converted and schooled in christian Mission. But they hated to speak any other Indian Language including Manipuri. They were the NAGA people who could pass Capital Punishment for the Defaulter. they lived a traditional self sufficient village despite being Enlightened.
      Many of you must have been read the BIBHUTI Bhushan classic Novel, ARANYAK which had no Protagonist and not even a central theme. the Book is full of the Fragrance on aboriginal Indigenous Life and Livelihood Self sufficient.

      I remember my childhood in Basantipur in sixties while we had to grow Everything we needed. Our People just used to buy Cloths,Fishes, Meat, Kerosine Oil to light the Home and books and copies meant for education.Cereals, Oilseeds, ,Sugar were ABUNDANT and it was before Green Revolution while the fertilizers, machines, genetic seeds, Chemicals were introduced for the first time in Indian Agriculture. pant Nagar University, the Centre for GREEN revolution is only Six KM away from Basantipur and we were partners of the experiments in green revolution and within the end of the decade, we found ourselves STARVING.the Reaction was Little late as we witnessed Khalistan Insurgency in Eighties which heralded as the IMMINENT agricultural Crisis and we never Identified it. When Sharad Joshi in Bidarbha and Mahendra Singh Tikait in Meerut and Western UP, the leaders of SHETKARI Kamgar Union and Bharatiya Kisan Union led the Peasant uprising , I was working in Meerut.But the Movement was SUBVERTED with Ram Janma Bhumi Movement and Babri demolition followed by nationwide Communal Riots leading to further persecution of Minorities in Bangladesh as Taslima Nasreen has written well in her controversial Novel, LAJJA.

      Bust Remembering the Self sufficient Rural India, I must suggest you who Never knew it , to read Mahashweta Debi,Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Victor Hugo, Pearl Buck, Galsworthy, Lu Shun and Manik Bandopadhyaya , Premchand, tara shnkar bandopaddhyaya works and only then you may Understand what Free Market democracy means to India.

      Meanwhile, the exodus of Rural world to aliegn Metro Cities have created Violent ETHNO Nationalism. As Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has warned the State Bank of India (SBI) not to recruit any “outsiders” during Sunday’s exams in which the bank will recruit for 1100 vacancies.

      In a warning letter written by MNS leader Bala Nandgangkar, the party has demanded that only Maharashtrians or those living in the state be allowed to take the exam for the Maharashtra openings.

      So far, the SBI has not alerted the police to the MNS threat.

      Himanshu Roy, a Joint Commissioner of the Mumbai Police, said the police will discuss the issue with the bank to ensure that Sunday’s exams “are conducted smoothly.”

      In the recent Maharashtra assembly elections, the MNS won 13 Assembly seats.

      Earlier this week, SP leader Abu Azmi was manhandled by MNS legislators for taking his oath in Hindi.

      As Azmi started to take his oath, several MNS members swooped on him and pushed him aside. Legislator Ramesh Banjle uprooted the microphone from the podium.

      When Azmi attempted to save himself, MNS member Ram Kadam slapped him and hit him on the face and chest, shocking the 288-member house that had converged for the oath-taking ceremony.

      The house was adjourned for 30 minutes. Action followed soon, with four MNS legislators-Vasant Geete, Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam and Ramesh Wanjale-were suspended for four years by the pro-tem speaker for the violent incident.

      Air Force One landed at Singapore’s Paya Lebar military airbase on a flight from Japan for the latest stop of a nine-day Asian tour that will also take Mr. Obama to China and South Korea.

      Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders have stressed that the global recovery is still fragile, and more coordinated efforts are needed to overcome protectionism and maintain stable growth.

      Mr. Obama was accused by some APEC leaders Saturday of backtracking on free trade.

      Mexican President Filipe Calderon singled out Washington for “going in the opposite sense of free trade.”  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev made the same point.

      Mr. Calderon mentioned increasing “buy American” clauses in U.S. legislation.

      Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd spoke Saturday to propose a European Union-style model for cooperation, which he called the Asia-Pacific Community.

      U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said a high standard regional trade agreement under the Trans-Pacific partnership would be good for America.

      President Obama said Saturday the United States will engage members of the TPP, which consists of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.

      Leaders of Pacific Rim economies are gathering in Singapore to discuss recovering from the global financial crisis and promoting free trade.

      Leaders of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation have stressed that the global recovery is still fragile, and more coordinated efforts are needed to overcome protectionism and have stable growth.

      The Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, spoke Saturday about establishing a new model for cooperation that he calls the “Asia-Pacific Community”.

      Mr. Rudd said, “Our vision for the future is how do we create an institution which draws all these economies.  And, most importantly, together with an agenda which covers the political, security, and economic space.”

      The U.S. trade representative, Ron Kirk, gave further details on President  Barack Obama’s announcement in Tokyo that the United States would engage members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

      “We believe that a high standard regional trade agreement under the Trans-Pacific partnership can help bring home to the American people the jobs and economic prosperity that are in fact the promise of a global trading society,” said Kirk.

      The TPP’s members are Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.

      President Obama, on his first official visit to Asia, arrives in Singapore late Saturday to join the APEC leaders.

      BLOGS / Sundeep Dougal
      Goonda Raj And ‘Hindi Hegemony’

      The ugly scenes in Maharashtra Assembly — where legislators of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) slapped and [roughed up a Samajwadi Party legislator for taking the inaugral oath not in Marathi but in "national language" Hindi provide a lot of food for thought and are bound to keep the commentariat busy. Three perspectives:

      First, Samar Halarnkar in the Hindustan Times:
      The chattering classes of Mumbai’s high-rises hate and fear the Senas, ascribing to them a lunacy beyond understanding. But scratch many seemingly sensible Maharashtrians, and they will gradually talk of culture, tradition, language and the fear of being swamped by Mumbai’s great and growing diversity. Of course, they will insist, the way Raj is going about this is wrong, there must be no violence, but you know, what he says isn’t really wrong...

      Next, Rajeev Dhavan in the Indian Express, like a good lawyer that he is, doesn't lose sight of the crux of the matter and has useful practical suggestions:

      The correct course of action is for the Speaker to issue breach of privilege notices to those who directly participated in this breach, as well as those who conspired to make it happen. This means notices should go to Raj Thackeray to ask him of his complicity in the conspiracy. If he says he was not part of the conspiracy to disrupt the assembly, he would knock himself down a peg or two on this issue. If he admits his involvement, he must be punished along with the others, albeit by token suspension for the legislators and censure for the non-assembly conspirators. At this stage, to punish by imprisonment would make martyrs of such persons. But, issuing process of breach of privilege is a must.

      Meanwhile, in the DNA, R Jagannathan, while not questioning Abu Azmi's constitutional right to take oath in Hindi, joins issue with the Hindi hegemonism that his supporters have adopted:

      Speaking about Hindi as a national language is no different from speaking about Hinduism as India's official cultural expression. Hindi is a great language, but it is not any more national than Marathi or Kannada, or Bengali or Telugu. Ironically, it was left to the MNS to point out the obvious: that Hindi is just another regional language of India.

      Constitutionally though, while there may not be a "national" language,  Hindi indeed has been privileged, and as Dhavan points out:

      There was always a Hindi version of the Constitution. But if there is any doubt, the 58th amendment mandates the president to publish an authoritative text of the Constitution and every constitutional amendment of it in Hindi (Article 394A). If someone wants to take their oath in Hindi, they are doing no more than following authoritative text of the Constitution itself!

      Dhavan also comes to the heart of the matter in his usual no-nonsense style:

      What is even more ironical is that even in the Maharashtra assembly, two BJP members took their oath in Sanskrit (Girish Bapat, Girish Mahajan). Congress members took their oath in Hindi (Amin Patel, Ramesh Singh Thakur) and English (Baba Siddique). It is said the Samajwadi Party MLA, Abu Asim Azmi, drew attention to himself and his choice of language. Suppose he did, so what?

      http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=2131&eid=5

      jitender gupta
      Ill-gotten: Koda being discharged from hospital
      cover story: the koda files
      Miner Sins
      All of Jharkhand was his stage, and Koda a major player. So, who rewrote the script?

       

      At one level, the life of Madhu Koda and the Rs 4,000-crore scam he allegedly scripted is a meteoric rags-to-riches story. At another, it is a complex web of intrigue involving mining contracts, hawala transactions and property deals. How did the 38-year-old Koda pull it off? Outlook brings you the man, his method and the politics behind Jharkhand’s biggest scam....From Labourer To Chief Minister: In the early ’90s, the son of Rasika Koda was nothing more than a labourer in the iron ore mines of Chaibasa, 160 km from Ranchi. By 2000, he was contesting the Bihar assembly elections on a BJP ticket. In 2005, he was denied a BJP ticket, forcing him to contest as an independent. He won, and wrested the mines portfolio in return for supporting the Arjun Munda-led BJP government. A year later, he and a few other independents withdrew that support, reducing the BJP government to a minority. Subsequently, he became the state’s first independent chief minister with the support of the Congress, Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shibu Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and independents.

      Significantly, Koda continued to retain the mines portfolio even after becoming CM. Everyone, it seems, was happy under him. If he made money, as the allegations and the evidence now indicate, he also shared his wealth generously with friends, key aides, national and state political leaders as well as state government officials loyal to him.

      High office in Jharkhand opened up several opportunities for Koda. With nearly 18 per cent of the country’s mineral wealth in his state and with enough discretionary powers to help companies get mining leases there, Koda made full use of his position till he had to resign as CM in 2008 ahead of a trust vote because he did not have the numbers.

      How The Money Was Made: The mines portfolio in Jharkhand has always been a lucrative one for any government in power. Since Koda held charge of the ministry under the BJP government and retained it as CM, he had the power to clear mining deals. Every recommendation for a mining lease, say I-T, ED and state government officials, brings in anything between Rs 10 and Rs 12 crore as bribe. And state mines secretary Jayashankar Tiwari is said to have cleared 47 mining leases on a single day during Koda’s tenure.

      The scam broke when a local daily owned by the Usha Martin group—whose proposal Koda rejected—began a series of exposes.

      The second lucrative source of illegal funds was in the 25 per cent cut of the total turnover that a few powerful politicians demanded from the existing mine leases. Companies had to pay for the state’s continued patronage. Officials in the government point out that key Koda aides such as brothers Binod and Vikash Sinha, Sanjay and Dhananjay Chowdhury and Arun Kumar Shrivastava also began partnerships to invest in existing mine leases or in transporting ore to ports such as Haldia in West Bengal. Hundreds of tonnes would be lifted out of mines overnight in trucks belonging to Koda’s key aides. But the amount of ore extracted would be undervalued to enable mining companies to pay the state a lesser percentage of royalty. So, if 30 truckloads were dispatched, only two truckloads would be shown on record.The final cash cow was the transfer-of-bureaucrats business. Anything between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore is said to have been the going rate for a lucrative posting during Koda’s time.

      How Koda Got Exposed: A series of investigative reports from 2007 onwards in local Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar apparently blew the lid off the scam. Strange, one might think, as the newspaper is owned by Neutral Publishing House, whose majority shareholders, the Jawahar family, are also the promoters of Usha Martin Group: among the state’s oldest and biggest mining companies.

      Paper haul: I-T officials cart away documents from Koda’s house

      This group had been trying to set up a joint venture with the state-owned Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation even before Koda became mining minister. This JV, it was proposed, would have Usha Martin holding 76 per cent stake. But Koda opposed the proposal, and redrew the contract when he became CM, reducing Usha Martin’s proposed stake to 49 per cent. Finally, after several deliberations, he rejected the proposal. This, many now say, proved to be his undoing, as a series of exposes began appearing in Prabhat Khabar.

      Prabhat Khabar has a long and enviable history of investigative journalism, but questions began surfacing about how the documents on Koda were sourced. The rumour mill in Ranchi has it that private detective firms were hired and hackers employed to dig out information that was later also furnished to the I-T department. Neither the I-T department nor the ED denies any of these rumours. When contacted by Outlook, representatives of the Usha Martin Group refused to comment. Also, advocate Ritu Kumar had filed a PIL  in August 2008, but the I-T and ED investigations have been stepped up only this year, perhaps to mar the Koda camp’s chances in the assembly elections in November-December.

      The Money Trail: So, what was Koda doing with the huge cuts he made from the mining lobbies? An army of aides, led by Binod Sinha, his brother Vikash, and the Chowdhury brothers, Sanjay and Dhananjay, invested the slush money in several national and international ventures. Money was also being routed through Mumbai-based businessmen Arvind Vyas and Manoj Punamiya. Documents now available with the ED show that Punamiya’s Mumbai-based import-export firms under the Balaji Group had invested in mine leases in places such as Liberia and South Africa.

      Binod Sinha and Sanjay Chowdhury also created several companies—including Camtech Manufacturing and Blue Techno—that would invest in infrastructure projects in Dubai and also help route over Rs 1,450 crore to shell companies abroad. Blue Techno also entered into various MoUs and agreements with companies in Thailand and South Africa for purchase of land for development of ports and mines. The company is reported to have offices, functioning as fronts for money transfer, in Mumbai, Singapore, Nigeria and Indonesia, besides a central Asian country.

      Punamiya’s Balaji Group—basically Balaji Universal Trade and Balaji Bullion—was central to Koda’s operations to siphon off the money he made by issuing mining licences post-September 2006. Based in Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar with a small office at Nariman Point, Punamiya helped Koda & Co launder money by providing them the import-export cover they needed. Investigators say Koda zeroed in on Punamiya through his political connections. In fact, Koda’s associates Binod Sinha and Sanjay Chowdhury are directors of Balaji Bullion.

      Punamiya, through his companies, made cash deposits of Rs 650 crore in the Zaveri Bazaar branch of the Union Bank of India between late 2006 and 2008. The total transactions are worth Rs 990 crore in these accounts. Investigators say they are yet to open some almirahs and lockers on various premises of the Balaji Group, which could add to the volume of cash that has been discovered.

      Is It The End For Koda?: In Ranchi, they say he’ll win the elections and that the case will drag on and be forgotten.

      By Saikat Datta in Ranchi and Smruti Koppikar in Mumbai

      http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262840

       

      SPECIAL REPORT-India's food dilemma: high prices or shortages

      Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:04am EST
      [-] Text [+]

      * Growing calls for a different sort of Green Revolution

      * Looming scarcity opens door to genetically modified crops

      By Himangshu Watts

      NEW DELHI, Nov 12 (Reuters) – For a man who will inherit vast tracts of fertile farmland in Punjab, India’s grain bowl, Jaswinder Singh made what seemed to him a logical career move — he took a job with a telecoms company in New Delhi.

      “I can’t go back to the village after an M.B.A. Delhi has more money, better quality of life. The job is more satisfying, and you don’t depend on the weather or prices set by the government,” said Singh, who earns rent from his farm, while a tenant tills the land.

      Singh’s choice reflects a growing and worrisome trend in the nation’s agriculture sector: Indian farms are failing to attract capital or talent, either from rich landlords like Singh, or the 21,000 students who graduate from India’s 50 agricultural and veterinary universities.

      “At present, most of the farm graduates are either taking jobs in the government, or financial institutions, or in private sector industry. They are seldom taking to farming as a profession,” a report by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation said.

      The views of the foundation — set up by M.S. Swaminathan, who led India’s Green Revolution in the 1960s that helped make this vast nation self-sufficient in food — were echoed in a poll by the National Sample Survey Organisation, a government body. The survey showed 40 percent of Indian farmers would quit farming, if they had a choice — an alarming revelation for a country where two-thirds of the billion-plus people live in villages.

      SLOW GROWTH

      India’s farm sector has changed remarkably little since the advent of the Green Revolution, while other industries have been transformed over the past two decades. As a result, agriculture’s share of the Indian economy shrank to 17.5 percent last year, from nearly 30 percent in the early 1990s.

      “We are not realising that farming is becoming an increasingly less profitable profession. There was a time when farmers had very little choice. Things have changed. Farmers would like to make a shift,” said T.K. Bhaumik, a leading economist.

      This has raised concerns that India’s farm output could lag demand and the country — which ranks among the world’s top three consumers of rice, wheat, sugar, tea, coarse grains and cotton — will become a large food importer unless yields jump.

      “The increase in yields in the past decades have been insignificant. India sorely needs another Green Revolution,” says Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, joint managing director of Bajaj Hinduthan (BJHN.BO), India’s top sugar producer, which is importing raw sugar after a drought ravaged the domestic cane crop.

      But the next revolution faces a tougher challenge — in part because of the environmental damage done by the previous one. Back then, abundant groundwater was available and the soil was not degraded by pesticides and fertilisers, which initially helped boost productivity.

      P.C. Kesavan, distinguished fellow at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, said chemicals used in agriculture had destroyed the sustainability of productivity in the long run.

      “Yes, a second Green Revolution is indeed very essential — the very need of the hour. But, it should not be the same kind of Green Revolution that the first was,” he said.

      In India’s Punjab state, the flagship of India’s Green Revolution, groundwater is declining rapidly.

      “The water table of Punjab is falling at an alarming rate, especially in the central districts, due to excess drawing of groundwater,” said Karam Singh, an agricultural economist at the Punjab State Farmers Commission.

      Sardara Singh Johl, an economist and former chairman of India’s Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, said there would be very little water available for farming in the state. “This could severely compromise the food security of India. Government should realise the gravity of the situation and allocate funds for research to conserve groundwater,” he said.

      To prevent food shortages, economists and scientists are calling for a range of policy initiatives, such as allowing genetically modified crops, greater investment in irrigation, better economics in farming and greater government attention to agriculture.

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      http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN11217118

      An institution builder

       

      A. R. VENKATACHALAPATHY

       

       

      A prolific writer, M. N. Srinivas was an inspiring teacher nurturing generations of sociologists

       

       

       

       

      THE OXFORD INDIA SRINIVAS: Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 995.

      M. N. Srinivas (1916–1999) was undoubtedly India’s most distinguished and accomplished sociologist. His long and active intellectual life that started during the period immediately preceding Indian Independence extended up to the end of the millennium. As an intellectual of the Nehruvian generation, his interest in the study of social transformation in India was not merely academic. It is symbolic perhaps that his first stint of fieldwork in what later became & #8220;the remembered village” of Rampura was interrupted by the assassination of Gandhiji.

      Srinivas’ was a productive life and he authored a number of papers and monographs. His writings were rich in empirical detail and, even though he did not wear theory on his sleeves, were marked by analytical and theoretical rigour. Notwithstanding his essay ‘Social Anthropology and Literary Sensibility’, which is included in the volume under review, he was no literary stylist. However his writing was always clear and lucid, and engaging with understated humour. Apart from being a prolific writer, he was an inspiring teacher who nurtured generations of sociologists and social anthropologists, and an institution-builder.

      Brought out under the series, ‘The Oxford India Collection’ that brings together “writings of enduring value published by OUP,” this volume has articles that figured M.N. Srinivas’ Collected Essays (2002). It has an Introduction by Ramachandra Guha and a Foreword by A.M. Shah. Classified under eight rubrics, the essays cover a wide gamut of areas that have concerned not only Srinivas but Indian sociologists as a whole. Many of them have been frequently cited, discussed, and debated.

      Study on village

       

      The first set of essays relates to village studies, the staple of Indian sociologists. Here Srinivas draws from his decades-long fieldwork in Rampura. In the first essay, he takes on several persistent myths about the Indian village — that it is self-sufficient, to cite an example — and dispels them. He traces these myths to the writings of early British administrators and maintains that they were disseminated by thinkers such as Marx and Maine.

      His seminal formulation of “dominant caste” — a numerically preponderant caste fairly high on the hierarchical caste school with considerable landholding — which explains much about the Indian countryside, finds a place in this section. A few essays study village disputes, another area where Srinivas is a pioneer. The second section has essays on ‘caste and social structure’, an area of equal importance. At the very beginning of his career, Srinivas formulated the concept of ‘Sanskritisation’ that postulates a process of mobility, wherein castes, lower down the ritual scale, aspired to a higher position by imitating the practices of the upper castes. Although his characterisation of the Brahmin as a role model is deeply problematic, his delineation of the process has been very useful in understanding the dynamics of change in caste society. Understandably, this concept has not only been used widely in academic studies but it has had a wider currency. Even if one does not agree with all that Srinivas has to say about caste as a system, there is no doubt that his essays have furthered our understanding of the relation between caste and varna, the dynamics of caste mobility, and the changing role of caste in a democratic and electoral society. The term ‘vote bank’, which he conceived in the limited sense of a patron’s ability to deliver a bloc of votes for the politician, has since expanded its meaning and acquired huge dimensions so much as to permeate the political discourse.

      There are brief, yet illuminative, sections on gender, religion, and cultural and social change. As a pioneer sociologist, Srinivas had an engaging relationship with the discipline, of which he was a master practitioner. Given the difficulty in demarcating the province and practice of the disciplines of sociology and social anthropology in the Indian context, he wrote some insightful essays. His heyday came before the self-reflexive moment in anthropology. But, again as a pioneer of the fieldwork method in Indian sociology, his essays reveal much about participant observation and ethnographic research, and they should be mandatory reading for students. The last section of five autobiographical essays makes for delightful reading.

      On caste

       

      In the wake of ‘Mandal’, Srinivas received a bad press for his ambiguous views on caste as a category for state’s positive discriminatory action. Ramachandra Guha has, over the years, valiantly retrieved Srinivas’ importance and it is appropriate that he should have written the Introduction. Chris Fuller’s interview, barely a year before Srinivas’ death, rounds off the book.

      It is customary to sign off a review with the remark that the book under notice is indispensable reading for the intelligent layperson and it should adorn his/her bookshelf. Maybe a cliché elsewhere, but in this case it is certainly meaningful and appropriate.

      http://www.hindu.com/br/2009/11/10/stories/2009111050051300.htm

      A land of breathtaking beauty and charm

      Newton GUNARATNE -Sri Lanka Ambassador in Myanmar

      ‘Mangalaba’, is a word similar to ‘Ayubowan’ people of Myanmar use to greet people they meet.

      President Mahinda Rajapaksa is greeted by Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe in Myanmar. Courtesy – President’s media photo division

      During my brief stay I have been able to view some of its ancient kingdom’s and the famous floating villages on a lake which are popular tourist attractions. During these trips I was able to savour Myanmar’s village life.

      Five months ago, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his entourage visited Myanmar.

      A Head of State of Myanmar will visit Sri Lanka after 43 years.

      The last visit of a Myanmar Head of State was that of Prime Minister U Nu in 1966.

      This is the first time the present Myanmar Head of State Gen. Than Shwe is visiting Sri Lanka.

      Myanmar was the first country President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited after defeating terrorism and re-uniting the country.

      After a very successful visit, President Rajapaksa invited General Than Shwe to visit Sri Lanka as a reciprocal gesture.

      General Than Shwe and his entourage will arrive in Sri Lanka today.

      During his tour, he is due to visit the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy and the Anuradhapura Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi to pay homage.

      Cultural relations between Sri Lanka and Myanmar date back to several centuries.

      Sri Lanka and Myanmar are two countries professing Theravada Buddhism.

      It was Bhikkhus from Myanmar who helped to establish the Amarapura and Ramanna Maha Nikayas in Sri Lanka.

      Prior to that when Buddhism deteriorated in Myanmar Bhikkhus from Sri Lanka had visited Myanmar to re-establish the Sasana.

      They had introduced our architecture and arts to that country.

      The lifestyles of the people of Myanmar are very similar to that of Sri Lankans.

      Their environment and climate are also much similar to that of Sri Lanka.

      But the political system is different in that Burma is administered by a cabinet of military rulers. Above this, cabinet is a supreme authority called the ‘Council for Peace and Development’. It is headed by Gen. Than Shwe.

      He had been in this position for nearly 20 years. Last year a new constitution was drawn up following a referendum.

      A general election is to be held in 2010 to elect members to parliament. Law and order is strictly implemented in Myanmar.

      Although Myanmar is almost 10 times the size of Sri Lanka geographically it’s population is only thrice that of Sri Lanka. Majority of people in Myanmar lead a frugal life and their main occupation is agriculture.

      There is no shortage of water for agriculture as there are seasonal rains as expected and a large number of rivers and tributaries and canals crisscrossing the country. The use of human labour in agriculture is maximised with minimum use of machinery. According to statistics, there is an excess of paddy harvest every year.

      Myanmar is not only self-sufficient in rice but has an excess which is exported to other countries.

      Sugarcane is also grown extensively resulting in a very large sugar production in the country. Vegetables, potatoes and yams, other cereals and spices seen in Sri Lanka are found aplenty in markets in Myanmar.

      For weights and measures, Myanmar does not use the imperial system or the metric system. Their measurement and weights system is known as viz. 1,600 grammes go to make a viz. Their currency is known as vat. One viz of the best quality rice is priced at 1,000 vat. 1,000 vat is equal to about 100 Sri Lankan rupees.

      People of Myanmar are accustomed to simple attire. People of all walks of life from the highest echelons to the simple man on the street are dressed in cotton sarong and shirt while women wear cloth and jacket. At all state functions, all VIPs except military chiefs wear an expensive sarong and a coat along with a hat sewn in cloth.

      Students in Myanmar wear a white shirt and a green sarong. Instead of shoes they wear sandals. the teachers also wear a similar uniform.

      People in Myanmar are devoted Buddhists. Myanmar has a large number of temples and dagobas surpassing many other Buddhist countries. In the ancient Bagan kingdom alone, there are 4,400 temples and dagobas. People visit temples for worship in the morning and evening and youth especially can be seen in deep meditation during these times. They also recite Pali stanzas.

      There are several lakhs of bhikkhus in Myanmar. Hundreds of them reside in ‘Sanghavasas’ set up in all regions. Separate universities have bene set up to teach the Abhidhamma to the Bhikkhus.

      The Maha Sangha doing Pindapatha rounds is a common scene in Myanmar in the morning and forenoon. They always use the ‘alms bowl’ for partaking of food and are always seen barefooted.

      It is customary for youth in Myanmar to don the robes for a small period before marriage.

      Females outnumber males in Myanmar. Women in Myanmar are accustomed to heavy labour like men and they can be seen at construction sites working even on scaffolding. The majority of employees in supermarkets and other shops are women.

      People in Myanmar are honest and trustworthy.

      They never try to cheat people who does not know their language. This is evident even in the shops and hotels, where people get the correct balance after paying for an item they buy even if you cannot converse with the staff.

      Humility and hospitality are inborn qualities of the people in Myanmar.

      According to the normal lifestyle in Myanmar, people get up early in the morning and have their breakfast around 5.30 a.m. They normally have their lunch at 11.30 a.m. and dinner at 6.30 p.m. All state banquets are held between 6.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. Bhikkhus partake of their forenoon dana at 10.30 a.m.

      People in Myanmar are talented in folk art. I had the occasion to view some art exhibitions which showcased their creations which have a fine and excellent finish. Fancy lacquer goods produced in Bagan are most outstanding and world class.

      Forest cover in Myanmar is almost 50 percent of its total land area. Teak is widely used in the manufacture of furniture. Myanmar is internationally famous for its Teak known as ‘Burma teak.

      In the countryside, most of the houses of the ordinary people have been built on timber logs or pillars. This is mostly to prevent flooding during rains.

      Lakhs of people live in a wide expanse of water called Inlay lake situated in the central hills in houses built on logs. These are called floating villages. They have small vegetable cultivations, shops and schools in this lake built in this manner and their chief mode of transport is by boat. These floating villages are a popular tourist attraction in Myanmar.

      Charges in most tourist hotels in Myanmar are very moderate. A large number of tourists from all parts of the world visit Myanmar daily notwithstanding economic sanctions imposed by certain western nations.

      I wish to recommend Myanmar as an important destination especially for Buddhist pilgrims who wish to pay homage to places of religious interest.

      http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/11/12/fea01.asp

       

       

       

      They want to break free

      Elmer Derrick, chief negotiator of the Gitxsan Treaty Office, says ‘the status quo is not working and it has to change.’

      Elmer Derrick, chief negotiator of the Gitxsan Treaty Office, says ‘the status quo is not working and it has to change.’ The Globe and Mail

      Propelled by despair, the Gitxsan are seeking to shed their dependence on the Indian Act to achieve economic self-sufficiency. But the unprecedented proposal has stirred fierce debate among the people, who are not all eager for such drastic change

       

      Justine Hunter

      Hazelton, B.C. — From Saturday’s Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 10:34PM EST Last updated on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 3:19AM EST

      On a hot afternoon last July, a distressed teenager called the RCMP. They found him at the edge of a sheer cliff 80 meters above the Bulkley River, threatening to jump. They spent four hours trying to talk to him. Then he went over.

      This month, Shawn Michael Webber’s grandmother sang a lament to release his 18-year-old spirit in a ceremony of the Gitxsan people, a collective of 61 aboriginal groups, called houses, in northwestern B.C.

      It helped drive away his mother’s recurring nightmare where he is falling and calling for her. But his death has fuelled an already-fierce debate within the Gitxsan people about their collective future.

      Youth suicides are only the most visible part of that debate. Gitxsan leaders acknowledge their people are struggling with endemic sexual and physical abuse, rampant alcoholism, neglected children in overcrowded homes, and generations who don’t know what it is like to earn a regular paycheque.

      What Shawn needed, said Beverly Clifton Percival, one of the Gitxsan’s hereditary chiefs, was hope for his future. It’s a story that has been told on other Canadian native reserves, but here in this northern community, she is part of a team pushing for a groundbreaking treaty proposal. It is a plan shaped by the Gitxsan’s traditional culture – but it’s propelled by despair.

      Chief Clifton Percival believes the Gitxsan people can achieve economic self-sufficiency and walk away from their dependence on the welfare of the Indian Act. “What you’ll see will be thriving communities, sustainable and wealthy – not Donald Trump wealth, but wealth enough to be independent.”

       

      The Globe and Mail

      Alice Jeffrey stands in the now-abandoned village of Gisgaga’a, where she was born in 1944. She hopes to revive the settlement.

      It is a plan that depends on the governments of Canada and British Columbia entering into an unprecedented agreement to give the Gitxsan’s hereditary chiefs a measure of control over resources within the 33,000 square kilometres they claim as their traditional territories. In exchange, the Gitxsan would give up their reserves and their status under the Indian Act and become regular, taxpaying Canadians.

      Today, Canada and B.C. are trying to assess whether they can make such a treaty with the Gitxsan. It contains some elements of the contentious 1969 White Paper that proposed to end the dependence of Indians by giving them equal status with other Canadians. That policy was abandoned in the face of fierce opposition from aboriginals. Now, 40 years later, some Gitxsan leaders are reshaping that notion in their own design.

      The B.C. government in particular has expressed interest in the treaty proposal – Premier Gordon Campbell has pledged to make reconciliation with aboriginals a priority, but has been frustrated in his pursuit of a “new relationship.”

      But it has also exposed a rift within the Gitxsan leadership. The two sides are set to face off in court, battling over who can claim to speak for the Gitxsan people – and therefore who controls the land base.

      Marjorie McRae, chief councillor of the Gitanmaax Indian band, is leading the opposition to the new way of life proposed by the Gitxsan Treaty Office.

      At an annual general meeting on her reserve Tuesday night, a buffet dinner was served before official business began. There was a family atmosphere as kids at play dashed around. But Chief McRae was furious over a report that Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl is ready to look at the proposal.

      “People are scared,” she said. “The safety net is being threatened here.”

      Chief McRae, along with 10 other chiefs and councillors, gathered around a boardroom table in Hazelton. In turn, they argued the Gitxsan Treaty Office does not have a mandate to negotiate for them, that the proposal is dangerous, and that the hereditary system is undemocratic.

      “The Indian Act is a protection for our culture,” said Billy Blackwater, a hereditary chief of the Basxha’laha house. “It’s there for you when you need it.”

      Earlier in the day, another meal was laid out.

      Alice Jeffrey unpacked a small banquet in the woods close to the remote, and now abandoned, village of Gisgaga’a, where she was born in 1944. She cheerfully reported that the local bear population is still healthy – she saw a grizzly bear sow with four cubs near her cabin this spring.

      Chief Jeffrey produced fragrant local blueberries, smoked sockeye salmon, fried bread and more. There was no snow on the ground, but still a bite in the air, as a small group huddled around a roaring fire while the matriarch directed the meal.

       

      Family members and friends hold a prayer circle for Shawn Webber (pictured in the frame) who committed suicide in July. He was 18 years old.The Globe and Mail

      Family members and friends hold a prayer circle for Shawn Webber (pictured in the frame) who committed suicide in July. He was 18 years old.

      She is the hereditary chief of the Gisgaga’a, who are one of the 61 Gitxsan houses, each with its own claim to specific tracts of land. “It’s a community that’s vacant of people,” she explained. The residents were persuaded to leave in 1946 by government agents who promised them housing on reserves. “I’m the third generation who wants to go home.”

      The log cabins have been reduced to shells. But a blue tarp covers what remains of a church. She hopes to restore it, the first step toward a revival of the settlement.

      In the village of Gitwangak, 30 kilometres southwest of Hazelton, big families crowd into tiny homes. A line of weathered totem poles – they would be a museum curator’s treasure – dominate the skyline.

      Marcel Fowler moved here eight years ago when he inherited a home from his grandfather. He is Gitxsan by birth, but could shed no light on the provenance of the totem poles. He offers no opinion on the debate over the treaty proposal either. What do the Gitxsan want? Mr. Fowler said he just wants a job.

      At a Remembrance Day ceremony at Hazelton’s cenotaph, about 300 people turned out to pay respect to the town’s war dead. The poem In Flanders Fields was recited in both English and Gitxsan. Brigitta van Heek, a local school district official, moves easily through the group, chatting up veterans and young boys on bikes. She came to Hazelton in 1970 and has watched the collapse of the forest industry eat away at the community.

      “A lot of the role models here have left to chase jobs,” she says. It shows up in the classrooms as kids come to school hungry and apathetic.

      Elmer Derrick, chief negotiator of the Gitxsan Treaty Office, said the welfare of the Indian Act has proved to be a trap. “People are on their hands and knees – that’s what the Crown policies have done to our people,” he said. “The status quo is not working and it has to change.”

      But he faces strong opposition from people in the community who fear change. “Everybody claws at my back because they believe we are giving away our medicine chest rights.” That is, the entitlement to health care – and other benefits – that flow from the Indian Act. He believes that the Gitxsan would fare better as ordinary Canadians, and that their cultural traditions would be safeguarded.

      Sadie Mowatt, Shawn Webber’s 75-year-old grandmother and a hereditary chief, said the Gitxsan traditions remain strong but their family structure has eroded over her lifetime. She followed her mother’s prescription for taking care of your own: “Make sure your windows are clean.” There was no welfare back then – but there were trees and fish, enough to provide jobs and feed a family. Now she looks around and sees a community that is unrecognizable. “Too many kids having kids.”

      This week, Shawn’s family returned to the bridge that spans the canyon where he fell to his death. They looked at the cliff face, and speculated on what might have made a difference.

      His mother clutched a photo of her young boy who loved basketball and wanted to join the Armed Forces, unable to explain how he came to the place where he lost all hope.

       

       

      Al Gore calls for a green building revolution

      Los Angeles Times - ‎Nov 12, 2009‎
      … spoke Wednesday night at Greenbuild, the world’s largest sustainable design conference, calling for a green revolution to solve the country’s problems. …

      Africa: Climate Change Boosts Need for Policies to Support African Farmers

      AllAfrica.com - ‎19 hours ago‎
      Akin Adesina, vice president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), talked to AllAfrica about the work of the young, Nairobi-based …

      SPECIAL REPORT-India’s food dilemma: high prices or shortages

      Reuters - Himangshu Watts – ‎Nov 11, 2009‎
      The views of the foundation — set up by MS Swaminathan, who led India’s Green Revolution in the 1960s that helped make this vast nation self-sufficient in …

      Can India Achieve Food Security?

      Treehugger - Collin Dunn – ‎Nov 13, 2009‎
      Not a lot has changed since the Green Revolution of the 1960s, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to turn a profit. As a result, more and more are …

      SPECIAL REPORT-Food: Is Monsanto the answer or the problem?

      Reuters - Carey Gillam – ‎Nov 10, 2009‎
      LOUIS, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, had only months to live when he received a visit from …

      ‘NREGA to lead country to a 2nd Green Revolution‘

      Press Trust of India - ‎Oct 30, 2009‎
      But the first Green Revolution came about as a result of very high water guzzling cropping systems from the irrigated regions of the country. …

      The green revolution is coming to local wineries

      Santa Rosa Press Democrat - Kent Porter – ‎Nov 8, 2009‎
      “It’s going to be increasingly important for consumers to know that the wines they choose are participating in the green revolution that our planet is going …

      The media and the farm sector

      The Hindu - ‎Nov 10, 2009‎
      A major trigger for the Green Revolution, which was a term coined by Dr. William Gaud of the US Department of Agriculture in 1968 to mark a significant …

      Norman Borlaug, 1914-2009: Pioneer of the Green Revolution

      Voice of America - ‎Nov 9, 2009‎
      Borlaug became known as the “Father of the Green Revolution.” Some people say he saved more lives than anyone else in history. Yet one American newspaper …

      Africa bolsters food security through agriculture investment

      Buenos Aires News - ‎Nov 12, 2009‎
      The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa has teamed up with the New Partnership for African Development to convince African governments to increase …
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      ]]>       http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/memoirs-of-self-sufficient-indian-villages-and-post-modern-micro-metro-hubs-as-obama-arrives-in-singapore-for-apec-summit/feed/ 0 palashbiswaskl Damaged vehicles at site of a suicide car bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, 14 Nov 2009 Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Video clip available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Audio Clip Available Play Video Play Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Elmer Derrick, chief negotiator of the Gitxsan Treaty Office, says ‘the status quo is not working and it has to change.’ Family members and friends hold a prayer circle for Shawn Webber (pictured in the frame) who committed suicide in July. He was 18 years old.       Capitalism Alive boom Boom! Zionism, Global Hindutva, Fascism and US Corporate IMPERIALISM Go for the KILL!95 percent Indians wake up late to diabetes! 600 mn to get Unique Identification number by 2014 http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/capitalism-alive-boom-boom-zionism-global-hindutva-fascism-and-us-corporate-imperialism-go-for-the-kill95-percent-indians-wake-up-late-to-diabetes-600-mn-to-get-unique-identification-number-by-20/ http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/capitalism-alive-boom-boom-zionism-global-hindutva-fascism-and-us-corporate-imperialism-go-for-the-kill95-percent-indians-wake-up-late-to-diabetes-600-mn-to-get-unique-identification-number-by-20/#comments Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:03:30 +0000 palashbiswaskl http://palashscape.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/capitalism-alive-boom-boom-zionism-global-hindutva-fascism-and-us-corporate-imperialism-go-for-the-kill95-percent-indians-wake-up-late-to-diabetes-600-mn-to-get-unique-identification-number-by-20/ ]]>

      Capitalism Alive boom Boom! Zionism, Global Hindutva, Fascism and US Corporate IMPERIALISM Go for the KILL!95 percent Indians wake up late to diabetes! 600 mn to get Unique Identification number by 2014

      Troubled Galaxy destroyed Dreams, Chapter 420

      Palash Biswas

      http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

      Capitalist Crisis Makes Socialism Necessary

      Bulatlat - Jose Maria Sison – ‎3 hours ago‎ JOSE MARIA SISON Since the fall of the Berlin wall on 9 November 1989, the world capitalist system has sunk deeper into crisis. …

      SC Policy Council unleashes capitalism

      The Palmetto Scoop - Adam Fogle – ‎11 hours ago‎ The South Carolina Policy Council kicked off their “Unleashing Capitalism” campaign in Columbia Thursday night. Guests including Gov. Mark Sanford, Sens. … Capitalism, Unleashed FITSNews Unleashing Soap Operas FITSNews all 3 news articles »Email this story

      Memo to Michael Moore: Workplace Democracy and Capitalism Go Together

      U.S. News & World Report - Matthew Bandyk – ‎19 hours ago‎ I missed Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story when it was in theatres (and I wasn’t alone, apparently, as it did not do nearly as well … Film review – Capitalism: A Love Story Illawara Mercury all 2 news articles »Email this story Globe and Mail

      Leverage Stinks, But “Capitalism Is Great” Says Bill Gates

      Wall Street Journal (blog) - Scott Patterson – ‎Nov 12, 2009‎ But while both megabillionaires had upbeat comments about the strength of the US economy and, more broadly, capitalism, neither would say they expected a … Buffett and Gates May Believe in Capitalism, But Obama Does Not RushLimbaugh.com (subscription) Gates, Buffett to biz students: We’re still bullish on capitalism…Okay … Daily Finance (blog) Buffett, Gates tell students worst is behind us The Associated Press CNBC all 395 news articles »हिंदी मेंBRK.A – MSFT Email this story

      Your Opinion: Left seeks to end capitalism, freedom

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      Gavin Davids, Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:39:46 GMT

      Sachin Tendulkar: 20 years of memories- Part 2

       

       

      First he was the fresh faced prodigy, barely old enough to shave, then he was the light that illuminated Indian cricket in the 1990’s, and now he’s the elder statesman in a team of talented, driven youngsters, yet one thing has always remained constant, and that is the adoration that Sachin Tendulkar has received.

      Source : India Syndicate

      Sachin Tendulkar: 20 years of memories-part one
      T20: Tendulkar@Twenty
      14/11/2009

      There will be no unique ID numbers, says Nilekani

      Paying some extra money allows people to choose the number they want for their vehicles or cellphones. But there will be no such provision when it comes to the unique identification (UID) number which the government will implement soon. The unique ID numbers would be generated by the system randomly and could not be changed by any means, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani asserted here today.

       

      Speaking at the BangaloreIT.Biz 2009, Nilekani said the UID number would have no intelligence and there would not be any special provision to get a desired number.

      UIDAI plans to come out with a manual which will provide detailed guidelines to the organisations that are planning to use the unique identity numbers to make them UID-ready. Nilekani said the manual which was expected to be made public in the next six months, would help the partners to modify the existing applications in their systems to make it compatible with the UIDAI software.

      “If you are going to become our partners, and want to put the UID numbers in the database, then you will have to fit our enrolment software into your applications … all these will come in a manual on how to become UID ready which will be out in about six months from now,” Nilekani said.

      On the progress of the unique ID project, Nilekani said two committees had been appointed to expedite the process. The first committee on biometric is being headed by National Informatics Centre Director General B K Gairola, while the data standards and verification committee which oversees the data enrollment and verification process, is being headed by N Vittal, the former chief vigilance commissioner of India.

      Both the committees were expected to come out with their reports in the next couple of months, Nilekani added.

      Besides, UIDAI is soon going to appoint a consultant who will help it in preparing the request for proposals and selecting the managed services provider who will manage the data centre.

      The UID is a complex and ambitious project with technology sophistication and scale of 1.2 billion people. The department would work on private-public partnership (PPP) model for various tasks and process. The UIDAI will be the regulatory authority managing a central ID Data Repository (CIDR) which will issue UID numbers, update resident information and authenticate the identity of the residents as required.

      Nilekani said that the first set of UID numbers was expected to be issued within the next 12 to 18 months from August 12 this year. In the first 5-6 years, UIDAI aims to provide unique identity numbers to at least 600 million residents. Even though UID has not been made mandatory in the beginning, the government would revisit the decision when the number becomes ubiquitous in the next 5-10 years, he added.

      Source: Business Standard
      14/11/2009

      Mag on sex, nudity, free speech changes hands

      Los Angeles: Playboy founder Hugh Hefner changed American pop culture, one centerfold at a time.

       

      Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine and girlfriend, Playmate Holly Madison attend a party in Los Angeles California in this May 8, 2008 file photo. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner changed American pop culture, one centerfold at a time. Reuters

      With his Playboy Enterprises Inc in talks to be sold for about $300 million, the 83 year-old Hefner will be giving up control over the iconic adult entertainment empire he founded that was instrumental in shaping society’s opinions on nudity, sex and free speech.

      With $600, Hefner in 1953 published the first Playboy magazine with a partially nude photo of Marilyn Monroe at its center. The magazine would become not only one of the most successful publications ever, but also a brand that led many Americans to think about sex in a more carefree way.

      “Hef” turned Playboy and its bunny head logo into a symbol for a lifestyle he embodied as bachelor extraordinaire, living in a mansion surrounded by wealth and beautiful women.

      “This guy was one of the major players in the transformation of American culture in the second half of the 20th century and not just because he had a magazine with naked women in it,” said Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University.

      In 1972, Playboy had a worldwide circulation of 7 million, but that has been in decline ever since, as the liberalization of sexual attitudes Hefner promoted became more mainstream — and more competitive.

      But even as it grew ever more popular, the magazine created rivals such as Penthouse and Hustler. In the 1980s, adult videos grew into a major business and by the late 1990s, the rise of the Internet and free pornography on the Web became Playboy’s greatest rival for an audience.

      Hefner remains in the limelight today, showing up at media events with numerous girlfriends by his side. He enjoyed a role in reality television show “The Girls Next Door” on cable network E! and his dating life and break-up with model Holly Madison made him a staple of celebrity magazines.
      Hefner has said that growing up during the depression he always looked back wistfully to the 1920s age of flappers as an era of freedom he had missed.

      He has described himself as having liberated America from its Puritan past and experts agree he did make sexual images and content more acceptable to Americans.

      But Playboy magazine also showed men how to enjoy stylish clothing, good liquor, sports cars and other luxuries, and became a standard bearer for that lifestyle — real or imagined.

      “All that kind of stuff just piled up issue after issue — promoting that idea of consumer abundance as being synonymous with the good life in this country — and Hefner is very important in promoting that idea,” said Steven Watts, author of “Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream.”

      But as Playboy’s fortunes waned, some of the symbols of wealth that surrounded Hefner became harder for him to hang on to.

      In the early 1980s, he had to give up a private jet plane with a bedroom, a miniature disco and a kitchen, Watts said.

      Through the decades and despite the loss of business, Hefner continued to live the good life and made sure everyone knew it.

      “Hefner really tries to completely disengage the notion of guilt and sin from having a good time and, the last couple of generations, that has pretty much prevailed,” said Thompson, the Syracuse professor. “Certainly, when I talk to my students, I don’t get a sense they’re feeling guilty about the good deal of fun they’re having.”

      Source: Reuters

      Moon crash works; there is water there: NASA

      Washington: Scientists who crashed two spacecraft into a crater on the moon said on Friday they found water in the dust they kicked up, just as they had hoped.

       

      NASA’s Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and its Centaur booster rocket are on course to crash into the moon in this artist’s illustration released October 9, 2009. Scientists who crashed two spacecraft into a crater on the moon said on Friday they found water in the dust they kicked up.

      The barely visible plume knocked into the air by NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite or LCROSS mission last month contained at least some water. Scientists are now working to find out more about it.

      “We’re unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbour and, by extension, the solar system,” Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA, said in a statement.

      Water had already been found on the moon but the NASA scientists had hoped they could find significant deposits in the permanently shadowed regions of craters, in this case, a crater called Cabeus.

      13/11/2009

      Coming soon: Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak!

      London: The dream of every Harry Potter fan of owning an “invisibility cloak” seems to be soon coming true, with British scientists developing such a garment which will render the wearer invisible to the human eye.

      A team at Imperial College hopes to create a cloak from a new material that can manipulate light. Normally, when light hits an object, it bounces off the surface and into the eye, making the object visible.

      According to the scientists, the invisibility cloak made from “meta-material” would work by “grabbing hold” of light waves and making them flow smoothly around an object, in the same way that water in a river flows round a stick.

      Putting the cloak on will allow the wearer to move around unseen, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.

      Source: PTI

      Capitalism Alive boom Boom!

      600 mn to get Unique Identification number by 2014

      Zionism, Global Hindutva, Fascism and US Corporate IMPERIALISM Go for the KILL!Capitalism is still alive and well, say the world’s two richest men, despite lingering shocks from the longest, deepest recession since


      the Great Depression.

      “The financial panic is behind us,” said famed investor Warren Buffett, who recently made what he called an “all-in wager” on the US economy by acquiring railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe. “The bottom has come in stocks. Don’t pass on something that’s attractive today.”
      Over 600 million people, about half of the country’s 1.2 billion population, will get their unique identification (UID) numbers by the

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      end of 2014.

      The rollout of the 16-digit UID number will commence in 12 to 18 months. The second half of the work is likely to take more time to complete as coverage will be slow in remote areas where people don’t even have a basic identity.

      The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will soon appoint a consultant to help identify an external agency to manage a data centre for the project.

      Speaking at BangaloreIT.biz 2009’s Vision 2020 Leadership series here on Friday, UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani said the committees constituted for biometrics, data standards and verification will submit their reports in a couple of months.

      Nilekani said a large eco-system will be created to plan, execute and support the UID project in the next few months. Enrolment agencies and registrars will be appointed to monitor the work of 1000s of enrolment points.

      Data collection and enrolment can also happen when citizens walk into utility service outlets, banks, tax offices or any citizen service kiosks for other services. However, no smart card is proposed to be issued to people with the numbers.

      The eco-system will comprise central/state government agencies, banks, insurance companies, utility companies, telecom firms, banks and tax departments. Some of these agencies also may make the UID number mandatory for their customers.

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      Nilekani said the idea is to make the system work under a ubiquitous, low bandwidth, mobile-phone kind of environment. It will be supported by a massive security layer and fraud management. Technologies like cloud computing, virtualization andmassive memory management also could be used to run the system.

      Sitting facing each other in an auditorium filled with nearly 1,000 cheering people at Columbia University in New York, Buffett, CEO of investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates fielded questions from Columbia Business School students on the recession, investing, mentors and what’s the next Microsoft.

      There were at first reassurances that the US economy had not collapsed since the last time the two sat in front of a student audience, in Nebraska in 2005. “We proved that we can make mistakes,” said Gates. “The fundamentals of this system … that’s continued.” Even in the country’s “darkest hour,” he said, American businesses were still innovating.
      “Last fall was really blindsiding,” Buffett said later. Still, “I did not worry about the overall survival of our economy.” The two endeared themselves to the audience with tips. Buffett exhorted students to “marry the right person” and said, “The worst investment you can have is cash.”

      Gates, meanwhile, said he sees big opportunities in environmentally friendly energy and medicine.

      “Capitalism is great,” he said. Gates wore a suit and tie, flashing the inner red lining of his jacket as he walked to his chair. Buffett, who earned a master’s degree from Columbia in 1951, wore a sweater with the Columbia insignia.

      Students in the audience said they were glad the two were so confident about the economy. “That probably weighs a lot to a lot of people to hear Buffett say we’re out of the crisis,” said Andrea Basche, an Earth Institute student at Columbia.

      The government on Tuesday said it is looking at steps to cut subsidy on fertiliser and oil sale with an aim to cutting non-plan expenditure and contain fiscal deficit.

      Addressing the economic editors’ conference, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee [ Images ] said that the fiscal deficit would be rolled back to 5.5 per cent in the next financial year from 6.8 per cent in 2009-10. However, he said stimulus packages given to industry last year would continue.

      He said a few more PSUs have been identified for disinvestment after the overwhelming response to NHPC and Oil India [ Images ] IPOs. Market capitalisation of both these companies increased significantly after the public offer.

      The disinvestment department on Friday said it is in talks with administrative ministries of 60 CPSUs, including SAIL [ Get Quote ], BSNL, Coal India, for selling government stake.

      In his first interactions with the media, Disinvestment Secretary Sunil Mitra said, “We are in interactions with the Ministry of Steel for SAIL, we are in interactions with the Coal Ministry on Coal India. On BSNL also, we are in interaction with the IT and Communication Ministry.”

      However, Mitra refused to set a time-frame for the process. A lot of factors have to be taken into consideration before the process is set in motion, he said.

      The Government recently stated that profitable unlisted PSUs should hit capital markets and all profitable listed PSUs should increase their public holding to at least 10 per cent.

      Mitra informed that there are 10 listed PSUs where the public holding is less than 10 per cent and around 50 state-run firms which are profitable but unlisted.

      “We are in interaction on a large number of these 60 companies with their administrative ministries. We are in interaction with them but it does not mean that we are close to divesting them… All this is a function of a number of factors,” he said.

      To a query whether the opposition by Trinamool Congress [ Images ] chief Mamata Banerjee [ Images ] and DMK would mean that PSUs located in West Bengal [ Images ] and Tamil Nadu would not be on the priority list of disinvestment, Mitra said there was no such guidance from the government.

      When pointed out that a section of analysts termed the NHPC and Oil India listing as “too aggressive”, Mitra pointed out that all PSU shares listed in the past few years are ruling at above their listing prices, except for the hydel power major NHPC. He described NHPC as a long-term stock.

      Oil India was listed on September 30 at Rs 1,050 but closed the day at a hefty premium of 8.62 per cent at Rs 1,140.55 on the BSE. Today its shares closed at Rs 1,189 on the BSE.

      NHPC was listed on September 1 on an issue price of Rs 36, but it was a dampener with a just 1.94 per cent rise at Rs 36.70 on the BSE. NHPC closed at Rs 32.25.

      To a query, whether the Government would adopt a mechanism to offer shares to qualified institutional investors at differential prices, Mitra said the Government would consider such options for the follow-on public offers.

      He refused to name any companies that would be listed other than NTPC, REC and Satluj Vidyut Nigam, which have already been cleared by the Cabinet and would be listed this fiscal itself.

      He also refused to put a figure to the amount to be realised by the Government from the divestment process.

      The listed CPSUs that are making profits and have public holding of under 10 per cent include trading firm MMTC, mining major NMDC, Neyveli Lignite Corporation [ Get Quote ], Engineers India [ Get Quote ], State Trading Corporation, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, National Fertilisers [ Get Quote ] and Andrew Yule.

      At present, the public holdings in these companies range from 0.67 per cent in MMTC to about 9.6 per cent in Engineers India.

      Unlisted and profitable CPSUs include big names like the telecom behemoth BSNL and coal major Coal India among others.

      The government on Friday said it is expecting to raise about Rs 8,100 crore (Rs 81 billion) from the five per cent stake sale in power PSU NTPC through a Follow-on Public Offer (FPO).

      “We anticipate more than three times what we got last time (at the time of IPO in 2004),” Disinvestment Secretary Sunil Mitra said.

      In 2004, NTPC had raised about Rs 2,700 crore (Rs 27 billion) through the IPO when the government diluted 5.24 per cent of its stake, he said.

      The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) last month had approved the stake sale in NTPC. After stake dilution, the government’s holding in NTPC would come down to 84.5 per cent from the current 89.5 per cent.


       

      Asian Development Bank [ Get Quote ] on Friday warned that hasty withdrawal of economic stimulus could derail the recovery process in the developing countries, even as India [ Images ] debates on timing of winding down incentives given to the industry to combat impact of global slowdown.

      “As our region returns to the trend, exit strategies for fiscal stimulus must be carefully timed. If left too long, deficits will be unsustainable; if withdrawan too soon, the region’s recovery could be derailed”, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said in a speech at Singapore.

      ADB chief’s statement comes at a time when India is debating over the timing of withdrawal of three stimulus packages provided to the industry to combat the impact of global slowdown.

      Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ] told India Inc last week, “we will take appropriate action next year to wind this (economic stimulus) down.”

      Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee [ Images ], however, held the view that incentives needed to be continued till there was robust recovery in the developed world which account for bulk of India’s exports.

      RBI, on the other hand, started the process of withdrawing stimulus last month. “The balance of judgement at the current juncture is that it may be appropriate to sequence the exit in a calibrated way … the exit process can began with the closure of some special liquidity support measures,” Governor D Subbarao [ Images ] had said.

      The monetary and fiscal stimulus measures taken by Asian economies appear to have worked with the region that is now showing signs of a V-shaped recovery, ADB President Kuroda said.

      The regional development bank expects developing Asia’s GDP growth to slow from 6.1 per cent last year to an estimated 3.9 per cent in 2009, returning to 6.4 per cent next year, ADB said in a statement.

      Kuroda stressed that Asia must move forward on reforms that build on national priorities to bolster the regional agenda, while strengthening domestic demand as a more powerful source of economic growth.

      He said the global financial crisis offers an opportunity for developing Asia to accelerate regional cooperation and integration, dialogue and institution-building. It is crucial to move forward on regional policy coordination, especially on exchange rates, he said.

      Further, he said more action is needed on climate change, which poses a dire threat to the region’s poor, food supplies and financial prosperity.


      95 percent Indians wake up late to diabetes

      India is becoming the diabetes capital of the world with over 50 million people affected by the lifestyle disease that is all too often discovered only in the advanced stages.

      A new study conducted by doctors at the Artemis Health Institute (AHI), Gurgaon, near here, found that close to 95 percent people got to know about the disease only at an advanced stage despite the fact that they had developed obvious symptoms much earlier.

      The doctors tested the blood samples of 300 people who came for a routine checkup within a span of two years and found that 15 percent of them were in pre-diabetes stage.

      “Most of them knew they had obvious symptoms like increased appetite, constant thirst and high urine formation for the last few years but they did not get themselves tested until their condition deteriorated,” Ashutosh Shukla, head of internal medicine at AHI who conducted the study, told IANS.

      According to Shukla, awareness and early detection are the key to managing diabetes.

      “Those with risk factors like obesity, high work stress, sedentary lifestyle, faulty diet and family history of diabetes must undergo a health check-up at least once a year and those without risk factors should take it once in two years,” Shukla said.

      “Diabetes no longer remains an urban phenomenon or is restricted to adults,” Nikhil Tandon, professor of endocrinology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), told IANS.

      He said due to urbanisation and industrialisation, villages were now becoming towns. “Small towns have been industrialised. So the urban-rural divide has been blurred. And this means lifestyle changes,” said the endocrinologist.

      According to medicos, massive awareness campaigns should be launched by both government and educational institutions. Healthy eating habits should be taught from childhood to curb the growing threat of the lifestyle disease.

      “We are seeing young children suffer from diabetes. It is only through education that we will be able to communicate the dangers of the chronic disease. Good habits start from childhood. Teachers and parents have to understand that physical exercise is important,” said Shubhash Wangoo, a diabetologist with Apollo Hospital.

      He said small steps such as not serving junk food in school cafeterias, parents sending wholesome food for lunch and teachers and parents ensuring time for children to play would make a difference.

      The International Diabetic Federation report released last month warned that diabetes will impose a huge economic burden on India and other countries. Apart from losing billions in productivity, the report said, India will also be spending $2.8 billion annually on diabetes control measures by 2010.

      There are estimated to be 285 million diabetic cases worldwide, accounting for seven percent of the world’s population.

      Diabetes, along with cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases, accounts for 60 percent of all deaths worldwide.

      10 doomsday predictions already gone amiss

      The 21st century has begun in earnest! And despite the cries of doomsayers, psychics and prophets, the world has not come to an end! Is the idea that the End is near a recent phenomenon? Far from it. Indeed, Chicken Littles have crying doom since ancient times.

      Predictions and superstions have a been a part of our lives since ages. Though all most all predcitons made by ‘experts’ have failed, people continue to believe in them. On the other had superstition is an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear. There are superstitions for almost all aspects of our daily lives and most have unknown origins. 10 doomsday predictions have already gone wrong.

      We bring to you a list of doomdsday predictions that didn’t pan out and 13 wierd superstions:

      The Prophet Hen of Leeds, 1806

      History has countless examples of people who have proclaimed that the return of Jesus Christ is imminent, but perhaps there has never been a stranger messenger than a hen in the English town of Leeds in 1806. It seems that a hen began laying eggs on which the phrase “Christ is coming” was written. As news of this miracle spread, many people became convinced that doomsday was at hand – until a curious local actually watched the hen laying one of the prophetic eggs and discovered someone had hatched a hoax.

      The Millerites, April 23, 1843

      A New England farmer named William Miller, after several years of very careful study of his Bible, concluded that God’s chosen time to destroy the world could be divined from a strict literal interpretation of scripture. As he explained to anyone who would listen, the world would end some time between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. He preached and published enough to eventually lead thousands of followers (known as Millerites) who decided that the actual date was April 23, 1843. Many sold or gave away their possessions, assuming they would not be needed; though when April 23 arrived (but Jesus didn’t) the group eventually disbanded-some of them forming what is now the Seventh Day Adventists.

      Mormon Armageddon, 1891 or earlier

      Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, called a meeting of his church leaders in February 1835 to tell them that he had spoken to God recently, and during their conversation he learned that Jesus would return within the next 56 years, after which the End Times would begin promptly.

       

      US needs to maintain strong dollar: Geithner

      11 Nov 2009, 2209 hrs IST, REUTERS
      TOKYO: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday he believes strongly in the need to maintain a strong dollar and said the United

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      States was determined to get its budget deficit down.

      The dollar’s decline has been a source of concern in the export-heavy region, especially since top exporter China keeps its currency’s value closely managed against the US dollar and so felt less impact on prices for its exports than other Asian nations that let their currencies float freely.

      “I believe deeply that it’s very important to the United States, to the economic health of the United States, that we maintain a strong dollar,” Geithner said in a meeting with Japanese reporters at the US embassy.

      The Treasury chief was visiting Japan before heading on Wednesday night to Singapore to join a meeting of finance ministers from the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) on Thursday. It was his first trip to Japan since assuming the post in January.

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      → Dollar hits 15-month low, stocks firm on rate view
      → Dollar drops in Asia on upbeat economic data
      → Strong dollar ‘very important’ for US: Geithner

      The dollar index, which measures the dollar’s value against a basket of six major currencies, has fallen 7.6 percent this year and hit a 15-month low of 74.889 on Wednesday. Geithner said the United States was well aware it must work to keep investors’ confidence in US economic policymaking.

      “We bear a special responsibility for trying to make sure that we are implementing policies in the United States that will sustain confidence … in investors around the world that as growth recovers and growth strengthens that we’re going to bring our fiscal position back to a sustainable balance,” he said.

      The US budget deficit soared to a record $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year that ended on September 30 and is expected to be about the same this fiscal year. Geithner talked with reporters after meeting Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and before a lunch meeting with Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa. He met Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii on Tuesday night.

      In a separate interview with public broadcaster NHK on Wednesday, Geithner said that while the US economy was growing again, the recovery was still in the very early stages. “It̵