'No authentic figures' on black money deposits: Fin Min
Apr 23, 8:19 AM
AIR
As the tussle seeking disclosure of names of people who have stashed black money abroad continues in Supreme Court, the Finance Ministry says it has "no authentic figures" about the quantum of money deposited in Swiss banks.
The Ministry also said that certain "references" have been received on the black money issue but declined to make the information public since it will "impede the process of investigation" as the case is being heard in the apex court.
"There are no authentic figures about the amount of deposits held by Indian citizens in Swiss Banks, which are exclusive of their lawful and legitimate deposits," the Ministry said in reply to an RTI query.
"Certain references have been received on this issue on which appropriate action is being taken. However, as furnishing of information at this stage may impede the process of investigation in the matter, the information sought is exempt from disclosure under the provisions of Section 8 (1) (h) of the RTI Act 2005," it said.
The applicant had asked the Ministry of Finance to give information on the names of individuals/companies who have deposited black money in Swiss banks along with the steps taken by the government to check it.
"It is stated that efforts have been made from time to time to seek details of the bank accounts held by Indians in Swiss Confederation under the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Switzerland.
"However, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration has expressed its inability to exchange the information regarding bank deposits of Indian citizens as the information was not necessary for the application of the DTAA between India and Swiss Confederation but was required only for the enforcement of India internal laws," the RTI reply said.
"They (Swiss Authorities) also replied that such information was not at their disposal under Swiss Laws in the normal course of tax administration," it added.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Go the natural way
S. S. KAVITHA
When Ms. S. Balachitra met a diabetic couple pondering over a list of powdered millets, each packed separately, she began a culinary crusade. Her shop, Diya's Health Food, promotes a simple, traditional alternative to foods loaded with pesticides and junk calories. Her forte is millet-based readymade food mixtures. Also cashing in on people's newfound health consciousness is Gaja Dayalan's The Organic Store.
“Health-conscious people chant a new mantra — organic and natural — that had faded into oblivion with the emergence of herbicides and pesticides,” says Ms. Balachitra. She stocks about 11 products made of millets and cereals like varaharisi, solam, kambu, ragi, thinai, kuthiravalli and maize. She customises the products to suit the modern-day kitchen, processing them into puttu flour, adai dosa flour, venthayakali, sprouted health drink and murukku flour. She also packs parruppu podi with manathakkali keerai (green) and vilva roti flour, which are good for stomach-related problems. Now she is working on packaging drumstick leaves in powder form.
“People are familiar with foreign food stuff like pizzas and burgers but they are not aware of millets,” she feels. Millets have more fiber and minerals that help in controlling diabetes and obesity – major health problems of the century. But how organic is millet? “It is organic,” says Ms. Balachitra.
“Millets do not require artificial agents as they have the capacity to counter pests naturally.” They grow in dry lands and need less water, and animals never graze on them because they have too many layers of husk. She adds that millets are nutritious, tasty and healthy and can be used to prepare any food commonly made with rice.
“I have been consciously trying to break the idea that organic food is more expensive by selling at the lowest margin possible,” she says. When she first saw that couple searching for individual ingredients, she put her mind to making healthy eating easier. “There I decided that I should make value-added products in millets that could enable working women to make flavorful dishes,” she says. This postgraduate in management joined the training courses conducted by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai. After months of trial and error, she now supplies her products to a few city-based shops. She creates her own customer base through word of mouth, mostly from satisfied beneficiaries.
Gaja Dayalan of Grow by Green's The Organic Store feels that people are ready to pay more for healthy products, but the supply chain is very small. Ms. Dayalan sold vegetables and fruits grown in her Kodaikanal farm at a stall near Pandikovil, and people flocked to it. At the shop, she sells unusual foods like horsegram appalam, sprouted rava and mango pickle with no oil.
“Everything is produced naturally and even drying and powdering processes are done manually under the sun,” says Ms. Dayalan. The flours such as ragi, wheat, unpolished rice, sprouted rava, sprouted dalia, and unpolished masuri fly off the shelves. The shop also stocks spices, pickles, teas, jaggery, dry fruits and nuts, and cholesterol-free virgin coconut oil extracted from tender coconut. There are eco-based gift articles, including baskets made of palm and korai leaves. Within a year, The Organic Store has attracted about 100 regular customers, of which 80 are doctors.
“In fact, we are not able to display products as people order for their groceries in advance,” says Ms. Dayalan. “After getting the consignment we straightaway deliver to their homes.”
She is now creating a chain of producers and also thinking of selling seasonal vegetables and fruits grown on her farm.
The consequences of our agricultural excesses have come home to roost. People who connect the dots between pesticides and the protests of their own bodies are ready to shift to natural and organic foods. And Balachitra and Gaja Dayalan are ready to give them what they are looking for.
S. S. KAVITHA
When Ms. S. Balachitra met a diabetic couple pondering over a list of powdered millets, each packed separately, she began a culinary crusade. Her shop, Diya's Health Food, promotes a simple, traditional alternative to foods loaded with pesticides and junk calories. Her forte is millet-based readymade food mixtures. Also cashing in on people's newfound health consciousness is Gaja Dayalan's The Organic Store.
“Health-conscious people chant a new mantra — organic and natural — that had faded into oblivion with the emergence of herbicides and pesticides,” says Ms. Balachitra. She stocks about 11 products made of millets and cereals like varaharisi, solam, kambu, ragi, thinai, kuthiravalli and maize. She customises the products to suit the modern-day kitchen, processing them into puttu flour, adai dosa flour, venthayakali, sprouted health drink and murukku flour. She also packs parruppu podi with manathakkali keerai (green) and vilva roti flour, which are good for stomach-related problems. Now she is working on packaging drumstick leaves in powder form.
“People are familiar with foreign food stuff like pizzas and burgers but they are not aware of millets,” she feels. Millets have more fiber and minerals that help in controlling diabetes and obesity – major health problems of the century. But how organic is millet? “It is organic,” says Ms. Balachitra.
“Millets do not require artificial agents as they have the capacity to counter pests naturally.” They grow in dry lands and need less water, and animals never graze on them because they have too many layers of husk. She adds that millets are nutritious, tasty and healthy and can be used to prepare any food commonly made with rice.
“I have been consciously trying to break the idea that organic food is more expensive by selling at the lowest margin possible,” she says. When she first saw that couple searching for individual ingredients, she put her mind to making healthy eating easier. “There I decided that I should make value-added products in millets that could enable working women to make flavorful dishes,” she says. This postgraduate in management joined the training courses conducted by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai. After months of trial and error, she now supplies her products to a few city-based shops. She creates her own customer base through word of mouth, mostly from satisfied beneficiaries.
Gaja Dayalan of Grow by Green's The Organic Store feels that people are ready to pay more for healthy products, but the supply chain is very small. Ms. Dayalan sold vegetables and fruits grown in her Kodaikanal farm at a stall near Pandikovil, and people flocked to it. At the shop, she sells unusual foods like horsegram appalam, sprouted rava and mango pickle with no oil.
“Everything is produced naturally and even drying and powdering processes are done manually under the sun,” says Ms. Dayalan. The flours such as ragi, wheat, unpolished rice, sprouted rava, sprouted dalia, and unpolished masuri fly off the shelves. The shop also stocks spices, pickles, teas, jaggery, dry fruits and nuts, and cholesterol-free virgin coconut oil extracted from tender coconut. There are eco-based gift articles, including baskets made of palm and korai leaves. Within a year, The Organic Store has attracted about 100 regular customers, of which 80 are doctors.
“In fact, we are not able to display products as people order for their groceries in advance,” says Ms. Dayalan. “After getting the consignment we straightaway deliver to their homes.”
She is now creating a chain of producers and also thinking of selling seasonal vegetables and fruits grown on her farm.
The consequences of our agricultural excesses have come home to roost. People who connect the dots between pesticides and the protests of their own bodies are ready to shift to natural and organic foods. And Balachitra and Gaja Dayalan are ready to give them what they are looking for.
Silver and Gold prices touch new peaks
Apr 22, 8:22 PM
Gold rose 30 rupees, to a record 22,090 rupees per ten grams at Delhi's bullion market, today. Silver surged 1,400 rupees, to another all-time high of 70,000 rupees per kilo, on sustained buying by stockists amid a rally, overseas. Silver coins climbed 1,000 rupees, to a new record of 75,000 rupees for buying, and 76,000 rupees for selling of 100 pieces.
Apr 22, 8:22 PM
Gold rose 30 rupees, to a record 22,090 rupees per ten grams at Delhi's bullion market, today. Silver surged 1,400 rupees, to another all-time high of 70,000 rupees per kilo, on sustained buying by stockists amid a rally, overseas. Silver coins climbed 1,000 rupees, to a new record of 75,000 rupees for buying, and 76,000 rupees for selling of 100 pieces.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Four Armymen killed in copter crash
source: The Hindu
File photo shows Dhruv helicopters aerobatics team in action in Bangalore. Four Army personnel were killed in a Dhruv helicopter crash in north Sikkim on Thursday.
Four Army personnel were killed in a Dhruv helicopter crash in north Sikkim near the Sino-India border, days after a Pawan Hans chopper went down in the northeast claiming 17 lives.
Wreckage of the advanced light helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, which had gone missing on Thursday, was traced in the Shiv Mandir area by Army choppers at 9.30 a.m on Friday and ground parties reached the spot an hour-and-a-half later, Eastern Army Command sources said.
The bodies of two pilots and two soldiers were found at the spot, they said.
“Though it seems that the helicopter had crashed due to the inclement weather in the region, a Court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the reasons behind it,” they said.
The sources said the helicopter was carrying two pilots of the rank of major and two technicians, one of whom was a junior commissioned officer while the other a non-commissioned officer.
The helicopter had taken off in tandem with another Dhruv yesterday at 9.30 a.m. from Sewak road base in Siliguri on a routine training exercise but lost contact with it around 11.30 a.m. over the Shiv Mandir area.
The chopper was flying at about 15,000 feet near the Yumisamdong area which is now under a thick blanket of snow and covered with dense forest.The area is around 15 km north of Lachung village in north Sikkim.
The army had on Thursday launched a major search operation but had postponed it after five hours till the morning due to inclement weather.
On April 19, a Russian-origin MI-17-2 chopper -- owned by Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (PHHL) -- crashed claiming 17 lives after it took off from Guwahati for Tawang.
Dhruv is an indigenously-developed helicopter and has been inducted into the Army and the IAF. A total of five accidents involving the ALH Dhruv have taken place in the last six years including two fatal ones.
In the first incident in 2005, the whole fleet of the chopper was grounded after it experienced a forced landing in Andhra Pradesh due to problems in the tail rotor.
In 2007, before the Aero India, two pilots were killed in a Dhruv crash involving IAF’s aerobatic display team Sarang.
Similar incidents had taken place in 2009 and 2010 also. A Dhruv helicopter of the Ecuadorian Air Force hit the ground after veering off course while flying in formation with two other helicopters over an air force base near Quito.
In 2010, a Dhruv helicopter team of the Indian Air Force was forced to make a crash landing while rehearsing for the “Vayu Shakti” show.
MODERN 10 COMMANDMENTS.........
Someone has written these beautiful sentences. Try to understand the deep meaning of it. They are like ten commandments to follow in the life all the time.
1} Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.
2} Do you know why a Car's WINDSHIELD is so large & the Rearview Mirror is so small?
Because our PAST is not as important as your FUTURE. Look ahead and Move on.
3} Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it
takes years to write.
4} All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they can't last long either.
5} Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamond! If you get a
Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!
6} Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles
from above and says, "Relax, sweetheart, it's just a bend, not the end!
7} When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities;
when GOD doesn't solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.
8} A blind person asked Swami Vivekanand: "Can there be anything
worse than losing eye sight?"
He replied: "Yes, losing your vision!"
9} When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them,
and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.
10} WORRYING does not take away tomorrows' Trouble, it takes away today's PEACE.
“Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when they are open.”~ Sir James Dewar
1} Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.
2} Do you know why a Car's WINDSHIELD is so large & the Rearview Mirror is so small?
Because our PAST is not as important as your FUTURE. Look ahead and Move on.
3} Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it
takes years to write.
4} All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they can't last long either.
5} Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamond! If you get a
Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!
6} Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles
from above and says, "Relax, sweetheart, it's just a bend, not the end!
7} When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities;
when GOD doesn't solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.
8} A blind person asked Swami Vivekanand: "Can there be anything
worse than losing eye sight?"
He replied: "Yes, losing your vision!"
9} When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them,
and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.
10} WORRYING does not take away tomorrows' Trouble, it takes away today's PEACE.
“Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when they are open.”~ Sir James Dewar
SIBLAC ‘dissatisfied’ with NCST Chairman’s statements
source:Sikkim Now
GANGTOK, 21 April: The Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) has expressed ‘dissatisfaction’ on comments made by Dr. Rameshwar Oraon, Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) as reported in newspapers on Wednesday.
SIBLAC has questioned as to why the Chairman, “who holds such a responsible office”, said that he would recommend increase of Assembly strength to make seats for Limboo and Tamang communities in the Legislative Assembly on the formula suggested by the Burman Roy Commission. This format has been objected to by SIBLAC which has demanded commensurate increase in BL seats in the event of any increase in Assembly strength.
According to SIBLAC, Sikkim already enjoys “special status” within the Union which is explicitly governed by Article 371F which was an over-riding and non-obstante provision against all other constitutional powers.
“We welcome him to Sikkim and hope that his visit will ensure the socioeconomic and political rights of the Sikkimese people as per Article 371F of the Indian Constitution but he should have first studied and scrutinized the different aspects of the special provisions which is provided to the Sikkimese before making any public statement,” stated the SIBLAC convener, Tseten Tashi Bhutia at a press conference held here in the capital yesterday.
While explaining that the issue was “very sensitive and emotional”, the SIBLAC convener reiterated that SIBLAC and many of the opposition parties here have ‘rejected’ the Roy Burman Commission report “since it does not reflect the special provisions guaranteed to the Sikkimese by the Constitution of India”.
“The Chairman has commented without studying the facts and the history of Sikkim”, alleged the SIBLAC convenor.
While explaining that the Chairman should have ‘pondered’ upon certain “solemn instruments”, including the May 8 Tripartite Agreement of 1973 and Article 371F of the Constitution, while dealing with the political rights of the Bhutia- Lepchas and Nepalese of Sikkimese origin, the SIBLAC convener said that all Sikkimese had already been granted special rights and privileges by the constitution which could not be equated by others.
“Before coming to any conclusion on the sensitive seat reservation issue on the constitutional provisions of the Bhutia Lepchas (BL), the Chairman who has just been appointed in October last year should have accordingly deliberated on the recommendations made by his predecessor Urmila Singh to the Government of India on the particular matter vide her D.O. No. Sikkim-2/Inclusion/ service/ 2006/ RU-II dated 3 September 2008 including SIBLAC’s numerous submissions with the Commission, the UPA Chairperson and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs,” Mr. Bhutia said.
Further, Mr. Bhutia said that it was “pertinent to mention that dealing with such a sensitive issue with regard to Sikkim should be taken with utmost care given the state’s strategic location amid international borders wherein uncertainties still prevail over China’s fluctuating policy on Sikkim and India’s national security concern followed by continued disturbances in the surrounding region”.
“We also request the Chairman to involve SIBLAC in any dialogue process, that may be taken on this most sensitive issue since the Sikkimese Bhutias, Lepchas have always maintained their faith and conviction on the Indian Constitution and Article 371F”, concluded Mr. Bhutia.
source:Sikkim Now
GANGTOK, 21 April: The Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) has expressed ‘dissatisfaction’ on comments made by Dr. Rameshwar Oraon, Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) as reported in newspapers on Wednesday.
SIBLAC has questioned as to why the Chairman, “who holds such a responsible office”, said that he would recommend increase of Assembly strength to make seats for Limboo and Tamang communities in the Legislative Assembly on the formula suggested by the Burman Roy Commission. This format has been objected to by SIBLAC which has demanded commensurate increase in BL seats in the event of any increase in Assembly strength.
According to SIBLAC, Sikkim already enjoys “special status” within the Union which is explicitly governed by Article 371F which was an over-riding and non-obstante provision against all other constitutional powers.
“We welcome him to Sikkim and hope that his visit will ensure the socioeconomic and political rights of the Sikkimese people as per Article 371F of the Indian Constitution but he should have first studied and scrutinized the different aspects of the special provisions which is provided to the Sikkimese before making any public statement,” stated the SIBLAC convener, Tseten Tashi Bhutia at a press conference held here in the capital yesterday.
While explaining that the issue was “very sensitive and emotional”, the SIBLAC convener reiterated that SIBLAC and many of the opposition parties here have ‘rejected’ the Roy Burman Commission report “since it does not reflect the special provisions guaranteed to the Sikkimese by the Constitution of India”.
“The Chairman has commented without studying the facts and the history of Sikkim”, alleged the SIBLAC convenor.
While explaining that the Chairman should have ‘pondered’ upon certain “solemn instruments”, including the May 8 Tripartite Agreement of 1973 and Article 371F of the Constitution, while dealing with the political rights of the Bhutia- Lepchas and Nepalese of Sikkimese origin, the SIBLAC convener said that all Sikkimese had already been granted special rights and privileges by the constitution which could not be equated by others.
“Before coming to any conclusion on the sensitive seat reservation issue on the constitutional provisions of the Bhutia Lepchas (BL), the Chairman who has just been appointed in October last year should have accordingly deliberated on the recommendations made by his predecessor Urmila Singh to the Government of India on the particular matter vide her D.O. No. Sikkim-2/Inclusion/ service/ 2006/ RU-II dated 3 September 2008 including SIBLAC’s numerous submissions with the Commission, the UPA Chairperson and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs,” Mr. Bhutia said.
Further, Mr. Bhutia said that it was “pertinent to mention that dealing with such a sensitive issue with regard to Sikkim should be taken with utmost care given the state’s strategic location amid international borders wherein uncertainties still prevail over China’s fluctuating policy on Sikkim and India’s national security concern followed by continued disturbances in the surrounding region”.
“We also request the Chairman to involve SIBLAC in any dialogue process, that may be taken on this most sensitive issue since the Sikkimese Bhutias, Lepchas have always maintained their faith and conviction on the Indian Constitution and Article 371F”, concluded Mr. Bhutia.
Banana fiber paper for lasting currency notes | |
 The Navsari Agriculture University (NAU) in Gujarat has standardised a process of manufacturing high value paper from Banana fiber, which it claims has the property of making currency notes lasting for about a century. The paper has been tested in the Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology. During the research, it was found that paper made out of this fiber has shelf life of over 100 years as it is the strongest of the long fibers ever found amidst natural fibers. It can be folded for as many as 3,000 times. According to Dr B N Kolambe, a scientist at Navsari Agriculture University this fiber has the potential to find application in making of the paper required for the printing of currency notes and other valuable documents". Dr B N Kolambe said that according to references in few leading journals, he found that Japan uses Banana fiber to manufacture the paper required to print its currency Yen. He said the commercial application of Banana fiber is viable as its availability is not a constraint. It is generated from stem of the plant which usually goes as waste and has no other application". Dr. Kolambe said, we estimate that from one hectare of Banana cultivation about 600 to 800 kilogram of fiber shall be available. The university has filed five different patents from various usage of Banana plant, which includes making of yarn for textiles, paper and candy. The NAU has submitted the findings of its research on Banana plant to the National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP), quoting the reference from journals on Japan using Banana fiber to manufacture its currency Yen.Banana is one of the most important fruit crops grown in India. After harvest of fruit, huge quantity of about 60 to 80 tones per hector of waste biomass (pseudostem, leaves, suckers etc.) is generated. Presently, this biomass is discarded as waste. Present project envisages development of effective value chain for efficient utilization of each and every component of banana pseudostem. Considerable work has been done in the field of direct use and product development from banana fruits. However, not much attention has been focused on effective utilization of the huge biomass generated in the form of pseudostem, leaves, suckers etc.  In India, presently this biomass is dumped on roadside or burnt or left in situ causing detrimental impact on environment. Though, the technologies for extraction of fibers and paper making from pseudostem are available, yet it has not been adopted by the industries mainly due to high transport cost. However, there exist a vast potential of extracting fibers from pseudo stem. The quantity and quality of fibers show wide variability with cultivars. The fiber extracted from banana pseudostem could not command proper market owing to its restricted use in cottage industries. There appears to be good scope of profitable use of this fiber in textile and paper industries on commercial scale.  Yogesh Panday, AIR correspondent, Ahmedabad |
Apr 22, 8:56 AM AIR
The 12th Five Year Plan proposes re-designing of government programmes for sustainable growth and aims at achieving 9 to 9.5 per cent growth with focus on health and education.
Targeting 100 per cent adult literacy, the next Plan from 2012 to 2017, proposes to increase expenditure on health from 1.3 per cent to at least 2 to 2.5 per cent of GDP. Addressing the full Planning Commission meeting in New Delhi the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said the 12th Plan objective must be faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth. Outlining the need to identify critical areas where existing policies and programmes are not delivering results, Dr. Singh called for strengthening or even restructuring them. He said, the country needs to tackle new challenges which call for new initiatives.
The Prime Minister specifically asked the Commission to examine challenges relating to energy, water and urbanisation which are likely to become more severe. He asked the Planning Commission and Finance Ministry to work in close cooperation on the availability of resources for the 12th Plan, consistent with the objective of ensuring fiscal viability.
Dr. Manmohan Singh said, in a scenario of resource constraint, focus must be on efficiency of resource utilisation as well as supplementing public resources with private investment.
The Prime Minister also urged the Commission to prepare estimates of poverty based on the latest data and make them available for public discussion as soon as possible. He said, despite severe drought and global economic slowdown, the 11th Plan will end with 8.2 per cent GDP growth which is short of 9 per cent target but it is a commendable achievement. Dr. Singh said, though progress was made in areas like enrollment in schools reducing gender gaps but progress falls short of the target set for the 11th Plan.
A presentation about the ongoing 11th Plan and objectives of the 12th Plan pointed out that some of the challenges that Indian economy faces include higher inflation, global pressure on food and oil prices, quality of governance and weak manufacturing performance which can be given a boost by liberalising the policy on the foreign direct investment. It said health and governance received less than projected resources in the 11th Plan. The growing Indian economy will need a minimum additional power capacity of one lakh MW during the 12th Plan.
While pointing out there was a need for further safety measures, the meeting emphasised that the nuclear power must be expanded. Expressing concern over less than expected inclusive growth and the likelihood of missing the UN Millennium Development Goals, it noted the concerns on governance and empowerment. The Commission for the first time used Internet to reach out to broader community including hundreds of sectoral experts. A series of regional consultations with the states are planned next month in the run-up to the National Development Council meeting, the highest policy making body comprising the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers.
12th FY Plan sets target of 9 to 9.5 percent economic growth
Apr 21, 8:39 PM
All India radio
The 12th Five Year Plan targets 9 to 9.5 per cent economic growth with focus on health and education. It has also proposed re-designing of government programmes for sustainable growth. Aiming at 100 per cent adult literacy, the next Plan, 2012-17, proposes to increase expenditure on health from 1.3 per cent to at least 2 to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Addressing the full Planning Commission meeting on Thursday in New Delhi the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the 12th Plan objective must be faster, more inclusive and also sustainable growth.
Outlining the need to identify the critical areas where existing policies and programmes are not delivering results, Dr. Singh called for strengthening or even restructuring them. He said, the country needs to tackle new challenges which call for new initiatives.
The Prime Minister specifically asked the Commission to examine challenges relating to energy, water and urbanisation which are likely to become more severe. He said, a critical issue in any plan is the availability of resources and asked the Planning Commission and Finance Ministry to work in close cooperation on the resources for the 12th Plan, consistent with the objective of ensuring fiscal viability.
Dr. Manmohan Singh, however, added that in a scenario of resource constraint, focus must be on efficiency of resource utilisation as well as supplementing public resources with private investment.
The Prime Minister also urged the Commission to prepare estimates of poverty based on the latest data and make them available for public discussion as soon as possible.
Dr. Singh said, despite severe drought and global economic slow down, the 11th Plan will end with 8.2 per cent GDP growth which is short of 9 per cent target but nevertheless a commendable achievement. Dr. Singh said, though progress was made in areas like enrollment in schools reducing gender gaps but progress falls short of the target set for the 11th Plan.
The presentation about the ongoing 11th Plan and objectives of the 12th Plan said that some of the challenges that Indian economy faces include accelerated inflation, global pressure on food and oil prices, quality of governance and weak manufacturing performance which can be given a boost by liberalising the policy on the foreign direct investment. It said health and governance received less than projected resources in the 11th Plan.
The growing Indian economy will need a minimum additional power capacity of 1 lakh MW during the 12th Plan. While there was a need for further safety measures, the meeting emphasised that the nuclear power must be expanded. Expressing concern over less than expected inclusive growth and the likelihood of missing the UN Millennium Development Goals, it took on board the concerns on governance and empowerment.
The Commission for the first time used Internet to reach out to broader community including hundreds of sectoral experts. Its website for the 12th Plan, which is linked to Facebook, received 32,000 visitors leaving insightful comments.
A series of regional consultations with the states are planned next month in the run-up to the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC), the highest policy making body comprising Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers.
Apr 21, 8:39 PM
All India radio
The 12th Five Year Plan targets 9 to 9.5 per cent economic growth with focus on health and education. It has also proposed re-designing of government programmes for sustainable growth. Aiming at 100 per cent adult literacy, the next Plan, 2012-17, proposes to increase expenditure on health from 1.3 per cent to at least 2 to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Addressing the full Planning Commission meeting on Thursday in New Delhi the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the 12th Plan objective must be faster, more inclusive and also sustainable growth.
Outlining the need to identify the critical areas where existing policies and programmes are not delivering results, Dr. Singh called for strengthening or even restructuring them. He said, the country needs to tackle new challenges which call for new initiatives.
The Prime Minister specifically asked the Commission to examine challenges relating to energy, water and urbanisation which are likely to become more severe. He said, a critical issue in any plan is the availability of resources and asked the Planning Commission and Finance Ministry to work in close cooperation on the resources for the 12th Plan, consistent with the objective of ensuring fiscal viability.
Dr. Manmohan Singh, however, added that in a scenario of resource constraint, focus must be on efficiency of resource utilisation as well as supplementing public resources with private investment.
The Prime Minister also urged the Commission to prepare estimates of poverty based on the latest data and make them available for public discussion as soon as possible.
Dr. Singh said, despite severe drought and global economic slow down, the 11th Plan will end with 8.2 per cent GDP growth which is short of 9 per cent target but nevertheless a commendable achievement. Dr. Singh said, though progress was made in areas like enrollment in schools reducing gender gaps but progress falls short of the target set for the 11th Plan.
The presentation about the ongoing 11th Plan and objectives of the 12th Plan said that some of the challenges that Indian economy faces include accelerated inflation, global pressure on food and oil prices, quality of governance and weak manufacturing performance which can be given a boost by liberalising the policy on the foreign direct investment. It said health and governance received less than projected resources in the 11th Plan.
The growing Indian economy will need a minimum additional power capacity of 1 lakh MW during the 12th Plan. While there was a need for further safety measures, the meeting emphasised that the nuclear power must be expanded. Expressing concern over less than expected inclusive growth and the likelihood of missing the UN Millennium Development Goals, it took on board the concerns on governance and empowerment.
The Commission for the first time used Internet to reach out to broader community including hundreds of sectoral experts. Its website for the 12th Plan, which is linked to Facebook, received 32,000 visitors leaving insightful comments.
A series of regional consultations with the states are planned next month in the run-up to the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC), the highest policy making body comprising Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers.
Bribes: a small but radical idea
BY P. Sainath
To ask a people burdened with systemic bribery to accept bribe-giving as legal is to demand they accept corruption and the existing structures of power and inequity it flows from.
Let's get this right. The Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, wants a certain class of bribes legalised? And says so in a paper titled “Why, for a Class of Bribes, the Act of Giving a Bribe Should be Treated as Legal.” The paper is up on the Finance Ministry's website: http://finmin.nic.in/WorkingPaper/Act_Giving_Bribe_Legal.pdf
And the author, Kaushik Basu, modestly describes his contribution as “a small but novel idea.” And again, as “a small but fairly radical idea.”
The timing is radical. Something like a plan to make sailing less risky issued by the Chief Officer of the Titanic between the first and the second icebergs. (The Skipper being too busy trying to stay afloat in all that gushing floodwater from CWG, CVC, CAG, 2G, DB, Radia, cash-for-votes, WikiLeaks, illicit funds overseas, Supreme Court censures and more.) And with the country sick of corruption — a giant issue in the polls in States like Tamil Nadu.
There are “harassment bribes” and there are “non-harassment bribes,” says Dr. Basu. He is mainly concerned with the former. Consider an exporter who has fulfilled all formalities but “is asked to make an illegal payment before getting a customs clearance.” Or the bribe someone gives an income tax officer to get one's tax refund cleared. All these are “harassment bribes.”
Dr. Basu's solution? “The central message of this paper is that we should declare the act of giving a bribe in all such cases as legitimate activity. In other words, the giver of a harassment bribe should have full immunity from any punitive action by the state.” He does clarify that the “act of bribery is still being considered illegal.” But he is suggesting a change in law. He argues that the “entire punishment should be heaped on the bribe taker and the bribe giver should not be penalised at all, at least not for the act of offering or giving the bribe.”
The Chief Economic Adviser even says where bribery is proved in court, the bribe should be returned to the giver. At present, the bribe giver and taker share a “collusive bond” since both have violated the law. Giving the former immunity, he says, will break that nexus. In his view, the changed law would incentivise the bribe giver to rat on the bribe taker, since he himself faces no punishment. Presto! A ‘dramatic drop in the incidence of bribery.' As Dr. Basu proudly says: “The reasoning is simple.” It is, actually, simple-minded.
The Chief Economic Adviser dresses up these arguments for middle classes forced to make payoffs. For instance when a person allotted subsidised government land “goes to get her paperwork done ... she is asked to pay a hefty bribe.” Yet, his law will in no way curb bribery where scarcity exists. For instance putting a child into school where seats are hard to get. Or even getting that flat or the land he speaks of, allotted. Raising the stakes Dr. Basu's way could mean the victims face heavier demands. After all, the bribe taker needs to be compensated for the higher risk he now runs. And there is no focus at all on government failures that lead to scarcity. Nor on priorities that gift the corporate sector over $103 billion in write-offs in just this budget. Nor on spending policies that cut food subsidies and punish the poor.
The idea of legitimising this culture is an obscene one. Bribery is systemic. To ask a people burdened with it to accept bribe-giving as legal is to demand they accept both corruption and the existing structures of power and inequity it flows from. This is a perverse idea. And it is nowhere as “novel” as he makes it out to be. As early as the 1960s, Gunnar Myrdal trashed such claptrap for seeking to create “resignation and fatalism” amongst the poor and less privileged. And for projecting such “asocial behaviour” as normal. Decades ago, debates on this idea ended up acknowledging how morally corroding such practices were. But I guess with a government as embroiled in corruption as the one he advises, there's a need to exhume the corpse of that argument and dress it up as “novel.” Dr. Basu dolls up corruption — for that is what bribery is — at precisely the time the Indian people are showing their revulsion to it.
Dr. Basu's “small but fairly radical idea” suits those who can pay. And devastates those who cannot. Those who can and do make payoffs are unlikely to upset a system that works for them. Where bribery is systemic, the “collusive bond” of giver and taker will strengthen if this dishonest idea becomes a law.
Take this assumption: “Under the new law, when a person gives a bribe, she will try to keep evidence of the act of bribery — a secret photo or jotting of the numbers on the currency notes handed over and so on — so that immediately after the bribery she can turn informer and get the bribe taker caught.” Poor people taking secret photos with hidden cameras (available at the nearest malls) and subtle pens which mark notes so the bribe taker won't know? How dumb an idea is that? The assumption that bribe givers will ring the bell after the bribe ignores the realities of power equations in our society and assumes access to legal recourse. Where the giver is poor, Dr. Basu's law will favour the taker. Where the giver is rich, it will favour the system of bribery.
Consider these situations:
The perpetrators of the cash-for-votes scam that corruptly kept this government in power would walk scot free in Dr. Basu's law. (Maybe that's the intention?) Can you see them saying, ‘hey, these are the MPs who took our cash?'
What if a 2G scamster says he felt legitimately entitled to spectrum and paid “harassment bribes?”
It would be fine for candidates to buy off voters during elections. After all, it is the takers who are to be punished, even if they turn out to be a few million.
Will a person offering a bribe to a judge be punished if the latter reports it? If the judge accepts the payoff, will the giver report it?
A bribe giver exploits the drug-abuse habit of an official. The drug peddler has full immunity from any punitive action by the state?
An Indian agent of a foreign intelligence outfit successfully bribes Defence Ministry officials. Would that agency then say ‘Aha! They accepted kickbacks?' Great! We lynch the officials and congratulate the espionage ring — which is also entitled to its money back.
These situations would be brushed off by Dr. Basu as “non-harassment bribes.” He asks: “Should the bribe giver be given full immunity in such cases? The simple answer to this is a — no.” Dr. Basu says, “A full answer to how the law should treat such cases will have to await further analysis.” However, he is “inclined to believe that even in such [non-harassment] bribery cases ... the punishment meted out to the bribe taker should be substantially greater than on the giver.”
Is he wanting a certain “class of bribes” to be legalised or is he really asking for the bribes of a certain class to be okayed? It seems the latter. The companies behind the 2G kickbacks will do fine in Dr. Basu's law. Their conduct will have to “await further analysis.” Dr. Basu half admits his scheme could leave public servants “vulnerable to blackmail and false charges of bribe-taking.”
Interestingly, about half the references listed at the end of the paper hark back either to other papers by the author himself; to papers co-authored by Dr. Basu with others, to those by still others in books he has edited: or to papers by yet others citing him in the title. Modesty would surely be a small but novel idea here.
Other, clever ideas from Dr. Basu:
This year's Economic Survey of India (referred to by cloying TV commentators as ‘Kaushik's Survey') links inflationary pressures to financial inclusion of the poor. “This must not deter us from pursuing financial inclusion ...” but we “need to be aware of all its fallouts.”
In the middle of 2010, he favoured decontrolling of fuel prices — which would, he argued, help tackle the price rise, even if it “might raise inflation in the short-term.” (The Hindu, June 14, 2010). Again, this came at a time when food price inflation was pushing past the 15 per cent mark. And even as the FAO was warning against rising food prices worldwide and the immense hardship they would bring. (In December 2010, the FAO's food price index touched a record high.) And India since 2005-06 has seen possibly its worst five-year period in terms of food price increases.
Much earlier, Dr. Basu wrote a piece in The New York Times (November 29, 1994) titled “The Poor Need Child Labour.” In it he explained, among other things, why he had once continued to employ a 13-year-old at his home. (Another small but novel idea?) Dr. Basu is also an expert on ‘development' who has long argued against banning child labour.
A ‘small but fairly radical idea' for this government: can we get somebody who talks sense?
SOURCE:tHE hINDU
BY P. Sainath
To ask a people burdened with systemic bribery to accept bribe-giving as legal is to demand they accept corruption and the existing structures of power and inequity it flows from.
Let's get this right. The Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, wants a certain class of bribes legalised? And says so in a paper titled “Why, for a Class of Bribes, the Act of Giving a Bribe Should be Treated as Legal.” The paper is up on the Finance Ministry's website: http://finmin.nic.in/WorkingPaper/Act_Giving_Bribe_Legal.pdf
And the author, Kaushik Basu, modestly describes his contribution as “a small but novel idea.” And again, as “a small but fairly radical idea.”
The timing is radical. Something like a plan to make sailing less risky issued by the Chief Officer of the Titanic between the first and the second icebergs. (The Skipper being too busy trying to stay afloat in all that gushing floodwater from CWG, CVC, CAG, 2G, DB, Radia, cash-for-votes, WikiLeaks, illicit funds overseas, Supreme Court censures and more.) And with the country sick of corruption — a giant issue in the polls in States like Tamil Nadu.
There are “harassment bribes” and there are “non-harassment bribes,” says Dr. Basu. He is mainly concerned with the former. Consider an exporter who has fulfilled all formalities but “is asked to make an illegal payment before getting a customs clearance.” Or the bribe someone gives an income tax officer to get one's tax refund cleared. All these are “harassment bribes.”
Dr. Basu's solution? “The central message of this paper is that we should declare the act of giving a bribe in all such cases as legitimate activity. In other words, the giver of a harassment bribe should have full immunity from any punitive action by the state.” He does clarify that the “act of bribery is still being considered illegal.” But he is suggesting a change in law. He argues that the “entire punishment should be heaped on the bribe taker and the bribe giver should not be penalised at all, at least not for the act of offering or giving the bribe.”
The Chief Economic Adviser even says where bribery is proved in court, the bribe should be returned to the giver. At present, the bribe giver and taker share a “collusive bond” since both have violated the law. Giving the former immunity, he says, will break that nexus. In his view, the changed law would incentivise the bribe giver to rat on the bribe taker, since he himself faces no punishment. Presto! A ‘dramatic drop in the incidence of bribery.' As Dr. Basu proudly says: “The reasoning is simple.” It is, actually, simple-minded.
The Chief Economic Adviser dresses up these arguments for middle classes forced to make payoffs. For instance when a person allotted subsidised government land “goes to get her paperwork done ... she is asked to pay a hefty bribe.” Yet, his law will in no way curb bribery where scarcity exists. For instance putting a child into school where seats are hard to get. Or even getting that flat or the land he speaks of, allotted. Raising the stakes Dr. Basu's way could mean the victims face heavier demands. After all, the bribe taker needs to be compensated for the higher risk he now runs. And there is no focus at all on government failures that lead to scarcity. Nor on priorities that gift the corporate sector over $103 billion in write-offs in just this budget. Nor on spending policies that cut food subsidies and punish the poor.
The idea of legitimising this culture is an obscene one. Bribery is systemic. To ask a people burdened with it to accept bribe-giving as legal is to demand they accept both corruption and the existing structures of power and inequity it flows from. This is a perverse idea. And it is nowhere as “novel” as he makes it out to be. As early as the 1960s, Gunnar Myrdal trashed such claptrap for seeking to create “resignation and fatalism” amongst the poor and less privileged. And for projecting such “asocial behaviour” as normal. Decades ago, debates on this idea ended up acknowledging how morally corroding such practices were. But I guess with a government as embroiled in corruption as the one he advises, there's a need to exhume the corpse of that argument and dress it up as “novel.” Dr. Basu dolls up corruption — for that is what bribery is — at precisely the time the Indian people are showing their revulsion to it.
Dr. Basu's “small but fairly radical idea” suits those who can pay. And devastates those who cannot. Those who can and do make payoffs are unlikely to upset a system that works for them. Where bribery is systemic, the “collusive bond” of giver and taker will strengthen if this dishonest idea becomes a law.
Take this assumption: “Under the new law, when a person gives a bribe, she will try to keep evidence of the act of bribery — a secret photo or jotting of the numbers on the currency notes handed over and so on — so that immediately after the bribery she can turn informer and get the bribe taker caught.” Poor people taking secret photos with hidden cameras (available at the nearest malls) and subtle pens which mark notes so the bribe taker won't know? How dumb an idea is that? The assumption that bribe givers will ring the bell after the bribe ignores the realities of power equations in our society and assumes access to legal recourse. Where the giver is poor, Dr. Basu's law will favour the taker. Where the giver is rich, it will favour the system of bribery.
Consider these situations:
The perpetrators of the cash-for-votes scam that corruptly kept this government in power would walk scot free in Dr. Basu's law. (Maybe that's the intention?) Can you see them saying, ‘hey, these are the MPs who took our cash?'
What if a 2G scamster says he felt legitimately entitled to spectrum and paid “harassment bribes?”
It would be fine for candidates to buy off voters during elections. After all, it is the takers who are to be punished, even if they turn out to be a few million.
Will a person offering a bribe to a judge be punished if the latter reports it? If the judge accepts the payoff, will the giver report it?
A bribe giver exploits the drug-abuse habit of an official. The drug peddler has full immunity from any punitive action by the state?
An Indian agent of a foreign intelligence outfit successfully bribes Defence Ministry officials. Would that agency then say ‘Aha! They accepted kickbacks?' Great! We lynch the officials and congratulate the espionage ring — which is also entitled to its money back.
These situations would be brushed off by Dr. Basu as “non-harassment bribes.” He asks: “Should the bribe giver be given full immunity in such cases? The simple answer to this is a — no.” Dr. Basu says, “A full answer to how the law should treat such cases will have to await further analysis.” However, he is “inclined to believe that even in such [non-harassment] bribery cases ... the punishment meted out to the bribe taker should be substantially greater than on the giver.”
Is he wanting a certain “class of bribes” to be legalised or is he really asking for the bribes of a certain class to be okayed? It seems the latter. The companies behind the 2G kickbacks will do fine in Dr. Basu's law. Their conduct will have to “await further analysis.” Dr. Basu half admits his scheme could leave public servants “vulnerable to blackmail and false charges of bribe-taking.”
Interestingly, about half the references listed at the end of the paper hark back either to other papers by the author himself; to papers co-authored by Dr. Basu with others, to those by still others in books he has edited: or to papers by yet others citing him in the title. Modesty would surely be a small but novel idea here.
Other, clever ideas from Dr. Basu:
This year's Economic Survey of India (referred to by cloying TV commentators as ‘Kaushik's Survey') links inflationary pressures to financial inclusion of the poor. “This must not deter us from pursuing financial inclusion ...” but we “need to be aware of all its fallouts.”
In the middle of 2010, he favoured decontrolling of fuel prices — which would, he argued, help tackle the price rise, even if it “might raise inflation in the short-term.” (The Hindu, June 14, 2010). Again, this came at a time when food price inflation was pushing past the 15 per cent mark. And even as the FAO was warning against rising food prices worldwide and the immense hardship they would bring. (In December 2010, the FAO's food price index touched a record high.) And India since 2005-06 has seen possibly its worst five-year period in terms of food price increases.
Much earlier, Dr. Basu wrote a piece in The New York Times (November 29, 1994) titled “The Poor Need Child Labour.” In it he explained, among other things, why he had once continued to employ a 13-year-old at his home. (Another small but novel idea?) Dr. Basu is also an expert on ‘development' who has long argued against banning child labour.
A ‘small but fairly radical idea' for this government: can we get somebody who talks sense?
SOURCE:tHE hINDU
sikkim’s Organic Mission
SOURCE: iSikkim
The efforts to make Sikkim as the first organic state in the country are on a fast track. Educating farmers and training them with new practices are going on at present.
An apex committee “Sikkim Organic Mission” headed by the Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling, has been constituted to oversee the implementation of organic farming programmes in Sikkim.
By 2015, the plan is to bring 58,000 hectare land under organic cultivation. This needs to be complete by 2013 and the rest two years are needed for the certification.
Topchen Lepcha, Executive Director, Sikkim Organic Mission, said “For the year 2010-2011 our target was to cover 18,000 hectare land for organic farming which we did. We have allotted that land to service providers who will collect all the information and do the registration and training of farmers. By May, 2011 we are planning to add 18,000 more.”
Getting status of an organic state is not an easy process. It needs meticulous planning and high standard of agriculture practices. The output should be of world class quality so that it can find its place in the international market.
End customers of organic products may not even see the fields so how they would identify whether the product is organic or not. D. Tenzing Bhutia, Additional Executive Director, Sikkim Organic Mission explains “we follow two steps before claiming it to be an organic. First is Internal Control System, it takes approximate 3 years to complete this step. Here we need to collect the data and document it. All the information about farmer, his plot size, which crop he grows etc. need to documented. After this farmer goes under training and learn organic farming methods”.
It is on the basis of this documentation an external agency conducts its survey. Agency finds whether farmers are trained or not, data has been properly maintained, products are of standard quality or not. After getting fully assured they provide certification which is called as C 1. After a year they again follow the same process and finally give the certification. This process takes 2 years.
To bring in quality and to make products marketable anywhere in the world, government is joining hands with foreign experts in organic farming. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between FIBL Institute of Organic Research Centre, Switzerland and the agriculture department of Sikkim for a long term partnership. With this agreement in place the department will get the knowhow, technical expertise and support from the institute on research and training and other possible knowledge on organic farming.
Benefits of organic farming
1.Fertility of soil is sustained for a longer period
2.Low cost on production of organic farming
3.Nurtures a healthy nature and environment
4.Use of organic food helps prevent many diseases
5.Healthy body and profitable price
6.Adopt organic method for a better health and better future.
As of now “Sikkim Organic Mission” project is in its first step. Topchen Lepcha says “we are collecting data and providing farmers training to farmers on organic farming techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests”.
It is a big challenge to part away with traditional agricultural practices and follow the new techniques. But not true for all. Some farmers have adopted organic farming quite well and won accolades for themselves.
Dhanpati Sapkota is one such award winning farmer, won a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakhs in a vegetable growing competition during the International Flower Festival at Gangtok.
Deviating from the traditional cultivation of Dhaan (paddy) and Makai (maize) for domestic consumption, Sapkota had introduced horticulture crops on 2 acres of his individual land after undergoing training on organic farming held at Uttaranchal which was supported by the State Horticulture Department.
But even if state becomes fully organic by 2015, there are various challenges which need to addressed. Sikkim still lacks infrastructure in the form of required number of warehouses and cold storages, given the lesser shelf-life of organic produce and proper channels of marketing such produce — from acquiring it from remote areas in the mountains to the marketplace.
But as Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamiling once said “Though the task ahead is challenging, we are absolutely committed to go totally organic by 2015,”
Areas in Sikkim Targeted for Organic Farming
1 North Sakyong-Pentong 2 East Sumin Lingzey 3 East Rhenock Tarpin
Aritar 4 East Sudunglakha
Tingbong
Passingdong-Safo
Barfok-Lingdong
Hee Gyathang
Lumgor Santok
Central Pendam
East Pendam
Pacheykhani
Aritar
Dalapchen
5 South Yangang-Rangang 6 West Sangadorji 7 West Chingthang 8 West Yangthang
Ravang-Sangmo
Ben-Namprik
Rameng Niz-Rameng
Chuba-Perbing
Phongla
Maneydara
Nagi-Pamphok
Turung-Mamring
Tanji-Bikmat
Sadam-Suntaley
Mellidara-Payong
Turuk-Ramabong
Salghari
Assangthang
Polok-Denchung
Tinik-Chisopani
SOURCE: iSikkim
The efforts to make Sikkim as the first organic state in the country are on a fast track. Educating farmers and training them with new practices are going on at present.
An apex committee “Sikkim Organic Mission” headed by the Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling, has been constituted to oversee the implementation of organic farming programmes in Sikkim.
By 2015, the plan is to bring 58,000 hectare land under organic cultivation. This needs to be complete by 2013 and the rest two years are needed for the certification.
Topchen Lepcha, Executive Director, Sikkim Organic Mission, said “For the year 2010-2011 our target was to cover 18,000 hectare land for organic farming which we did. We have allotted that land to service providers who will collect all the information and do the registration and training of farmers. By May, 2011 we are planning to add 18,000 more.”
Getting status of an organic state is not an easy process. It needs meticulous planning and high standard of agriculture practices. The output should be of world class quality so that it can find its place in the international market.
End customers of organic products may not even see the fields so how they would identify whether the product is organic or not. D. Tenzing Bhutia, Additional Executive Director, Sikkim Organic Mission explains “we follow two steps before claiming it to be an organic. First is Internal Control System, it takes approximate 3 years to complete this step. Here we need to collect the data and document it. All the information about farmer, his plot size, which crop he grows etc. need to documented. After this farmer goes under training and learn organic farming methods”.
It is on the basis of this documentation an external agency conducts its survey. Agency finds whether farmers are trained or not, data has been properly maintained, products are of standard quality or not. After getting fully assured they provide certification which is called as C 1. After a year they again follow the same process and finally give the certification. This process takes 2 years.
To bring in quality and to make products marketable anywhere in the world, government is joining hands with foreign experts in organic farming. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between FIBL Institute of Organic Research Centre, Switzerland and the agriculture department of Sikkim for a long term partnership. With this agreement in place the department will get the knowhow, technical expertise and support from the institute on research and training and other possible knowledge on organic farming.
Benefits of organic farming
1.Fertility of soil is sustained for a longer period
2.Low cost on production of organic farming
3.Nurtures a healthy nature and environment
4.Use of organic food helps prevent many diseases
5.Healthy body and profitable price
6.Adopt organic method for a better health and better future.
As of now “Sikkim Organic Mission” project is in its first step. Topchen Lepcha says “we are collecting data and providing farmers training to farmers on organic farming techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests”.
It is a big challenge to part away with traditional agricultural practices and follow the new techniques. But not true for all. Some farmers have adopted organic farming quite well and won accolades for themselves.
Dhanpati Sapkota is one such award winning farmer, won a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakhs in a vegetable growing competition during the International Flower Festival at Gangtok.
Deviating from the traditional cultivation of Dhaan (paddy) and Makai (maize) for domestic consumption, Sapkota had introduced horticulture crops on 2 acres of his individual land after undergoing training on organic farming held at Uttaranchal which was supported by the State Horticulture Department.
But even if state becomes fully organic by 2015, there are various challenges which need to addressed. Sikkim still lacks infrastructure in the form of required number of warehouses and cold storages, given the lesser shelf-life of organic produce and proper channels of marketing such produce — from acquiring it from remote areas in the mountains to the marketplace.
But as Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamiling once said “Though the task ahead is challenging, we are absolutely committed to go totally organic by 2015,”
Areas in Sikkim Targeted for Organic Farming
1 North Sakyong-Pentong 2 East Sumin Lingzey 3 East Rhenock Tarpin
Aritar 4 East Sudunglakha
Tingbong
Passingdong-Safo
Barfok-Lingdong
Hee Gyathang
Lumgor Santok
Central Pendam
East Pendam
Pacheykhani
Aritar
Dalapchen
5 South Yangang-Rangang 6 West Sangadorji 7 West Chingthang 8 West Yangthang
Ravang-Sangmo
Ben-Namprik
Rameng Niz-Rameng
Chuba-Perbing
Phongla
Maneydara
Nagi-Pamphok
Turung-Mamring
Tanji-Bikmat
Sadam-Suntaley
Mellidara-Payong
Turuk-Ramabong
Salghari
Assangthang
Polok-Denchung
Tinik-Chisopani
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: HEALTH
1) Don't put your mobile closer to your ears until the recipient answers. Because directly after dialing, the mobile phone would use it's maximum signaling power, which is: 2watts = 33dbi. Please Be Careful. Please use left ear while using cell (mobile), because if you use the right one it may affect brain directly. This is a true fact from Apollo medical team.
2) Do not drink APPY FIZZ. It contains cancer causing agent.
3) Don't eat Mentos before or after drinking Coke or Pepsi coz the person will die immediately as the mixture becomes cyanide.
4) Don't eat kurkure because it contains high amount of plastic. If U don't Believe burn kurkure n u can see plastic melting. News report from Times of India .
5) Avoid these tablets as they are very dangerous:
* D cold
* Vick's action- 500
* Actified
* Goldarina
* Co some
* Nice
* Nimulid
* Cetrizet-D
They contain Phenol- Propane -Amide PPA.Which Causes strokes , and these tablets are banned in U.S.
6) Cotton Ear Buds... Please do not show sympathy to people selling buds on roadside or at Signals..... ... don't buy those packs of ear buds you get at the roadside. It's
made from cotton that has already been used in hospitals.. They take all the dirty, blood and pus filled cotton , wash it , bleach it and use it to make ear buds. So , unless you want to become the first person in the world to get Herpes Zoster Oticus (a viral infection of the inner , middle , and external ear) of the ear and that too from a cotton bud , DON'T BUY THEM!
5) Avoid these tablets as they are very dangerous:
* D cold
* Vick's action- 500
* Actified
* Goldarina
* Co some
* Nice
* Nimulid
* Cetrizet-D
They contain Phenol- Propane -Amide PPA.Which Causes strokes , and these tablets are banned in U.S.
6) Cotton Ear Buds... Please do not show sympathy to people selling buds on roadside or at Signals..... ... don't buy those packs of ear buds you get at the roadside. It's
made from cotton that has already been used in hospitals.. They take all the dirty, blood and pus filled cotton , wash it , bleach it and use it to make ear buds. So , unless you want to become the first person in the world to get Herpes Zoster Oticus (a viral infection of the inner , middle , and external ear) of the ear and that too from a cotton bud , DON'T BUY THEM!
China and the end of the Deng Dynasty
19,april 2011 | 0855 GMT
By Matthew Gertken and Jennifer Richmond
Beijing has become noticeably more anxious than usual in recent months, launching one of the more high-profile security campaigns to suppress political dissent since the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Journalists, bloggers, artists, Christians and others have been arrested or have disappeared in a crackdown prompted by fears that foreign forces and domestic dissidents have hatched any number of “Jasmine” gatherings inspired by recent events in the Middle East. More remarkable than the small, foreign-coordinated protests, however, has been the state’s aggressive and erratic reaction to them.
Meanwhile, the Chinese economy has maintained a furious pace of credit-fueled growth despite authorities’ repeated claims of working to slow growth down to prevent excessive inflation and systemic financial risks. The government’s cautious approach to fighting inflation has emboldened local governments and state companies, which benefit from rapid growth. Yet the risk to socio-political stability posed by inflation, expected to peak in springtime, has provoked a gradually tougher stance. The government thus faces twin perils of economic overheating on one side and overcorrection on the other, either of which could trigger an outburst of social unrest — and both of which have led to increasingly erratic policymaking.
These security and economic challenges are taking place at a time when the transition from the so-called fourth generation of leaders to the fifth generation in 2012 is under way. The transition has heightened disagreements over economic policy and insecurities over social stability, further complicating attempts to coordinate effective policy. Yet something deeper is driving the Communist Party of China’s (CPC’s) anxiety and heavy-handed security measures: the need to transform the country’s entire economic model, which carries hazards that the Party fears will jeopardize its very legitimacy.
Deng’s Model
Former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping is well known for launching China’s emergence from Mao’s Cultural Revolution and inaugurating the rise of a modern, internationally oriented economic giant. Deng’s model rested on three pillars.
The first was economic pragmatism, allowing for capitalist-style incentives domestically and channels for international trade. Deng paved the way for a growth boom that would provide employment and put an end to the preceding decade of civil strife. The CPC’s legitimacy thus famously became linked to the country’s economic success rather than to ideological zeal and class warfare.
The second pillar was a foreign policy of cooperation. The lack of emphasis on political ideology opened space for international maneuver, with economic cooperation the basis for new relationships. This gave enormous impetus to the Sino-American detente Nixon and Mao initiated. In Deng’s words, China would maintain a low profile and avoid taking the lead. China would remain unobtrusive to befriend and do business with almost any country — as long as it recognized Beijing as the one and only China.
The third pillar was the primacy of the CPC’s system. Reform of the political system along the lines of Western countries could be envisioned, but in practice would be deferred. That the reform process in no way would be allowed to undermine Party supremacy was sealed after the mass protests at Tiananmen, which the military crushed after a dangerous intra-Party struggle. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police would serve as Deng’s “Great Wall of steel” protecting the Party from insurrection.
For three decades, Deng’s model remained mostly intact. Though important modifications and shifts occurred, the general framework stands because Chinese-style capitalism and partnership with the United States have served the country well. Deng also secured his policy by establishing a succession plan: He was instrumental in setting up his immediate successor, Jiang Zemin, and Jiang’s successor, current President Hu Jintao.
Hu’s policies have not differed widely in practice from Deng’s. China’s response to the global economic crisis in 2008 revealed that Hu sought recourse to the same export- and investment-driven growth as his predecessors. Hu’s plans of boosting household consumption have failed, the economy is more off-balance than ever, and the interior remains badly in need of development. But along the general lines of Deng’s policy, the country has continued to grow and stay out of major conflict with the United States and others, and the Party has maintained indisputable control.
Emergent Challenges
Unprecedented challenges to Deng’s model have emerged in recent years. These are not challenges involving individuals; rather, they come from changes in the Chinese and international systems.
First, more clearly than ever, China’s economic model is in need of restructuring. Economic crisis and its aftermath in the developed world have caused a shortfall in foreign demand, and rising costs of labor and raw materials are eroding China’s comparative advantage even as its export sector and industries have built up extraordinary overcapacity.
Theoretically, the answer has been to boost household consumption and rebalance growth — the Hu administration’s policy — but this plan carries extreme hazards if aggressively pursued. If consumption cannot be generated quickly enough to pick up the slack — and it cannot within the decade period that China’s leaders envision — then growth will slow sharply and unemployment will rise. These would be serious threats to the CPC, the legitimacy of which rests on providing growth. Hence, the attempt at economic transition has hardly begun.
Not coincidentally, movements have arisen that seek to restore the Party’s legitimacy to a basis not of economics but of political power. Hu’s faction, rooted in the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL), has a doctrine of wealth redistribution and Party orientation. It is set to expand its control when the sixth generation of leaders arrives. This trend also exists on the other side of the factional divide. Bo Xilai, the popular Party chief in Chongqing, is a “princeling.” Princelings are the children of Communist revolutionaries, who often receive prized positions in state leadership, large state-owned enterprises and the military. This group is expected to gain the advantage in the core leadership after the 2012 transition. Bo made himself popular by striking down organized-crime leaders who had grown rich and powerful from new money and by bribing officials. Bo’s campaign of nostalgia for the Mao era, including singing revolutionary songs and launching a “Red microblog” on the Internet, has proved hugely popular. It also has added an unusual degree of public support to his bid for a spot on the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012. Both sides appeal to the inherent value of the Party, rather than its role as economic steward, for justification.
The second challenge to Deng’s legacy has arisen from the military’s growing self-confidence and confrontational attitude toward foreign rivals, a stance popular with an increasingly nationalist domestic audience. The foreign policy of inoffensiveness for the sake of commerce thus has been challenged from within. Vastly more dependent on foreign natural resources, and yet insecure over prices and vulnerability of supply lines, China has turned to the PLA to take a greater role in protecting its global interests, especially in the maritime realm. As a result, the PLA has become more forceful in driving its policies.
In recent years, China has pushed harder on territorial claims and more staunchly defended partners like North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar. This trend, especially observable throughout 2010, has alarmed China’s neighbors and the United States. The PLA is not the only institution that seems increasingly bold. Chinese government officials and state companies have also caused worry among foreigners. But the military acting this way sends a particularly strong signal abroad.
And third, Deng’s avoidance of political reform may be becoming harder to maintain. The stark disparities in wealth and public services between social classes and regions have fueled dissatisfaction. Arbitrary power, selective enforcement of the law, official and corporate corruption, and other ills have gnawed at public content, giving rise to more and more frequent incidents and outbursts. The social fabric has been torn, and leaders fear that it could ignite with widespread unrest. Simultaneously, rising education, incomes and new forms of social organization like non-governmental organizations and the Internet have given rise to greater demands and new means of coordination among dissidents or opposition movements.
In this atmosphere, Premier Wen Jiabao has become outspoken, calling for the Party to pursue political reforms in keeping with economic reforms. Wen’s comments contain just enough ambiguity to suggest that he is promoting substantial change and diverging from the Party, though in fact he may intend them only to pacify people by preserving hope for changes in the unspecified future. Regardless, it is becoming harder for the Party to maintain economic development without addressing political grievances. Political changes seem necessary not only for the sake of pursuing oft-declared plans to unleash household consumption and domestic innovation and services, but also to ease social discontent. The Party realizes that reform is inevitable, but questions how to do it while retaining control. The possibility that the Party could split on the question of political reform, as happened in the 1980s, thus has re-emerged.
These new challenges to the Deng approach reveal a rising uncertainty in China about whether his solutions are adequate to secure the country’s future. Essentially, the rise of Maoist nostalgia, the princelings’ glorification of their Communist bloodline and the CCYL’s promotion of ideology and wealth redistribution imply a growing fear that the economic transition may fail, and that the Party therefore may need a more deeply layered security presence to control society at all levels and a more ideological basis for the legitimacy of its rule. Meanwhile, a more assertive military implies growing fears that a foreign policy of meekness and amiability is insufficient to protect China’s access to foreign trade from those who feel threatened by China’s rising power, such as Japan, India or the United States. Finally, a more strident premier in favor of political reform suggests fear that growing demands for political change will lead to upheaval unless they are addressed and alleviated.
Containing the Risks
These emerging trends have not become predominant yet. At this moment, Beijing is struggling to contain these challenges to the status quo within the same cycle of tightening and loosening control that has characterized the past three decades. Though the cycle is still recognizable, the fluctuations are widening — and the policy reactions are becoming more sudden and extreme.
The country is continuing to pursue the same path of economic development, even sacrificing more ambitious rebalancing to re-emphasize, in the 2011-15 Five-Year Plan, what are basically the traditional methods of growth. These include massive credit expansion fueling large-scale infrastructure expansion and technology upgrades for the export-oriented manufacturing sector, all provided for by transferring wealth from depositors to state-owned corporations and local governments. Modifications to the status quo have been slight, and radical transformation of the overall growth model has not yet borne fruit.
In 2011, China’s leaders also have signaled a swing away from last year’s foreign policy assertiveness. Hu and Obama met in Washington in January and declared a thaw in relations. Recently, Hu announced a “new security concept” for the region. He said that cooperation and peaceful negotiation remain official Chinese policy, and that China respects the “presence and interests” of outsiders in the region, a new and significant comment in light of the U.S. re-engagement with the region. The United States has approved China’s backpedaling, saying the Chinese navy has been less assertive this year than the last, and Washington has since toned down its own threats. China’s retreat is not permanent, and none of its neighbors have forgotten its more threatening side. But China has signaled an attempt to diminish tensions, as it has done in the past, to avoid provoking real trouble abroad (while focusing on troubles at home) for the time being.
Finally, the security crackdown under way since February — part of a longer trend of security tightening since at least 2008, but with remarkable new elements — shows that the state remains committed to Deng’s general deferral of political reform, choosing strict social control instead.
The Deng model thus has not yet been dismantled. But the new currents of military assertiveness, ideological zeal and demand for political reform have revealed not only differences in vision among the elite, but a rising concern among them for their positions ahead of the leadership transition. Sackings and promotions already are accelerating. Unorthodox trends suggest that leaders and institutions are hedging political bets to protect themselves, their interests and their cliques in case the economic transition goes wrong or foreigners take advantage of China’s vulnerabilities, or ideological division and social revolt threaten the Party. And this betrays deep uncertainties.
The Gravity of 2012
As the jockeying for power ahead of the 2012 transition has already begun in earnest, signs of vacillating and conflicting policy directives suggest that the regime is in a constant state of policy adjustment to try to avoid an extreme shift in one direction or another. Tensions are rising between leaders as they try to secure their positions without upsetting the balance and jeopardizing a smooth transfer of power. The government’s arrests of dissidents underline its fear of these growing tensions, as well as its sharp reactions to threats that could disrupt the transition or cause broader instability. Everything is in flux, and the cracks in the system are widening.
One major question is how long the Party will be able to maintain the current high level of vigilance without triggering a backlash. The government effectively has silenced critics deemed possible of fomenting a larger movement. The masses have yet to rally in significant numbers in a coordinated way that could threaten the state. But the regime has responded disproportionately to the organizational capabilities that the small Jasmine protests demonstrated, and has extended this magnified response to a number of otherwise-familiar spontaneous protests and incidents of unrest.
As security becomes more oppressive in the lead up to the transition — with any easing of control unlikely before then or even in the following year as the new government seeks to consolidate power — the heavy hand of the state runs the risk of provoking exactly the type of incident it hopes to prevent. Excessive brutality, or a high-profile mistake or incident that acts as a catalyst, could spark spontaneous domestic protests with the potential to spread.
Contrasting Deng’s situation with Hu’s is illuminating. When Deng sought to step down, his primary challenges were how to loosen economic control, how to create a foreign policy conducive to trade, and how to forestall democratic challenges to the regime. He also had to leverage his prestige in the military and Party to establish a reliable succession plan from Jiang to Hu that would set the country on a prosperous path.
As Hu seeks to step down, his challenges are to prevent economic overheating, counter any humiliating turn in foreign affairs such as greater U.S. pressure, and forestall unrest from economic left-behinds, migrants or other aggrieved groups. Hu cannot allow the Party (or his legacy) to be damaged by mass protests or economic collapse on his watch. Yet, like Jiang, he has to control the process without having Deng’s prestige among the military ranks and without a succession plan clad in Deng’s armor.
More challenging still, he has to do so without a solid succession plan. Hu is the last Chinese leader Deng directly appointed. It is not clear whether China’s next generation of leaders will augment Deng’s theory, or discard it. But it is clear that China is taking on a challenge much greater than a change in president or administration. It is an existential crisis, and the regime has few choices: continue delaying change even if it means a bigger catastrophe in the future; undertake wrenching economic and political reforms that might risk regime survival; or retrench and sacrifice the economy to maintain CPC rule and domestic security. China has already waded deep into a total economic transformation unlike anything since 1978, and at the greatest risk to the Party’s legitimacy since 1989. The emerging trends suggest a likely break from Deng’s position toward heavier state intervention in the economy, more contentious relationships with neighbors, and a Party that rules primarily through ideology and social control.
source: STRATFOR
By Matthew Gertken and Jennifer Richmond
Beijing has become noticeably more anxious than usual in recent months, launching one of the more high-profile security campaigns to suppress political dissent since the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Journalists, bloggers, artists, Christians and others have been arrested or have disappeared in a crackdown prompted by fears that foreign forces and domestic dissidents have hatched any number of “Jasmine” gatherings inspired by recent events in the Middle East. More remarkable than the small, foreign-coordinated protests, however, has been the state’s aggressive and erratic reaction to them.
Meanwhile, the Chinese economy has maintained a furious pace of credit-fueled growth despite authorities’ repeated claims of working to slow growth down to prevent excessive inflation and systemic financial risks. The government’s cautious approach to fighting inflation has emboldened local governments and state companies, which benefit from rapid growth. Yet the risk to socio-political stability posed by inflation, expected to peak in springtime, has provoked a gradually tougher stance. The government thus faces twin perils of economic overheating on one side and overcorrection on the other, either of which could trigger an outburst of social unrest — and both of which have led to increasingly erratic policymaking.
These security and economic challenges are taking place at a time when the transition from the so-called fourth generation of leaders to the fifth generation in 2012 is under way. The transition has heightened disagreements over economic policy and insecurities over social stability, further complicating attempts to coordinate effective policy. Yet something deeper is driving the Communist Party of China’s (CPC’s) anxiety and heavy-handed security measures: the need to transform the country’s entire economic model, which carries hazards that the Party fears will jeopardize its very legitimacy.
Deng’s Model
Former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping is well known for launching China’s emergence from Mao’s Cultural Revolution and inaugurating the rise of a modern, internationally oriented economic giant. Deng’s model rested on three pillars.
The first was economic pragmatism, allowing for capitalist-style incentives domestically and channels for international trade. Deng paved the way for a growth boom that would provide employment and put an end to the preceding decade of civil strife. The CPC’s legitimacy thus famously became linked to the country’s economic success rather than to ideological zeal and class warfare.
The second pillar was a foreign policy of cooperation. The lack of emphasis on political ideology opened space for international maneuver, with economic cooperation the basis for new relationships. This gave enormous impetus to the Sino-American detente Nixon and Mao initiated. In Deng’s words, China would maintain a low profile and avoid taking the lead. China would remain unobtrusive to befriend and do business with almost any country — as long as it recognized Beijing as the one and only China.
The third pillar was the primacy of the CPC’s system. Reform of the political system along the lines of Western countries could be envisioned, but in practice would be deferred. That the reform process in no way would be allowed to undermine Party supremacy was sealed after the mass protests at Tiananmen, which the military crushed after a dangerous intra-Party struggle. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police would serve as Deng’s “Great Wall of steel” protecting the Party from insurrection.
For three decades, Deng’s model remained mostly intact. Though important modifications and shifts occurred, the general framework stands because Chinese-style capitalism and partnership with the United States have served the country well. Deng also secured his policy by establishing a succession plan: He was instrumental in setting up his immediate successor, Jiang Zemin, and Jiang’s successor, current President Hu Jintao.
Hu’s policies have not differed widely in practice from Deng’s. China’s response to the global economic crisis in 2008 revealed that Hu sought recourse to the same export- and investment-driven growth as his predecessors. Hu’s plans of boosting household consumption have failed, the economy is more off-balance than ever, and the interior remains badly in need of development. But along the general lines of Deng’s policy, the country has continued to grow and stay out of major conflict with the United States and others, and the Party has maintained indisputable control.
Emergent Challenges
Unprecedented challenges to Deng’s model have emerged in recent years. These are not challenges involving individuals; rather, they come from changes in the Chinese and international systems.
First, more clearly than ever, China’s economic model is in need of restructuring. Economic crisis and its aftermath in the developed world have caused a shortfall in foreign demand, and rising costs of labor and raw materials are eroding China’s comparative advantage even as its export sector and industries have built up extraordinary overcapacity.
Theoretically, the answer has been to boost household consumption and rebalance growth — the Hu administration’s policy — but this plan carries extreme hazards if aggressively pursued. If consumption cannot be generated quickly enough to pick up the slack — and it cannot within the decade period that China’s leaders envision — then growth will slow sharply and unemployment will rise. These would be serious threats to the CPC, the legitimacy of which rests on providing growth. Hence, the attempt at economic transition has hardly begun.
Not coincidentally, movements have arisen that seek to restore the Party’s legitimacy to a basis not of economics but of political power. Hu’s faction, rooted in the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL), has a doctrine of wealth redistribution and Party orientation. It is set to expand its control when the sixth generation of leaders arrives. This trend also exists on the other side of the factional divide. Bo Xilai, the popular Party chief in Chongqing, is a “princeling.” Princelings are the children of Communist revolutionaries, who often receive prized positions in state leadership, large state-owned enterprises and the military. This group is expected to gain the advantage in the core leadership after the 2012 transition. Bo made himself popular by striking down organized-crime leaders who had grown rich and powerful from new money and by bribing officials. Bo’s campaign of nostalgia for the Mao era, including singing revolutionary songs and launching a “Red microblog” on the Internet, has proved hugely popular. It also has added an unusual degree of public support to his bid for a spot on the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012. Both sides appeal to the inherent value of the Party, rather than its role as economic steward, for justification.
The second challenge to Deng’s legacy has arisen from the military’s growing self-confidence and confrontational attitude toward foreign rivals, a stance popular with an increasingly nationalist domestic audience. The foreign policy of inoffensiveness for the sake of commerce thus has been challenged from within. Vastly more dependent on foreign natural resources, and yet insecure over prices and vulnerability of supply lines, China has turned to the PLA to take a greater role in protecting its global interests, especially in the maritime realm. As a result, the PLA has become more forceful in driving its policies.
In recent years, China has pushed harder on territorial claims and more staunchly defended partners like North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar. This trend, especially observable throughout 2010, has alarmed China’s neighbors and the United States. The PLA is not the only institution that seems increasingly bold. Chinese government officials and state companies have also caused worry among foreigners. But the military acting this way sends a particularly strong signal abroad.
And third, Deng’s avoidance of political reform may be becoming harder to maintain. The stark disparities in wealth and public services between social classes and regions have fueled dissatisfaction. Arbitrary power, selective enforcement of the law, official and corporate corruption, and other ills have gnawed at public content, giving rise to more and more frequent incidents and outbursts. The social fabric has been torn, and leaders fear that it could ignite with widespread unrest. Simultaneously, rising education, incomes and new forms of social organization like non-governmental organizations and the Internet have given rise to greater demands and new means of coordination among dissidents or opposition movements.
In this atmosphere, Premier Wen Jiabao has become outspoken, calling for the Party to pursue political reforms in keeping with economic reforms. Wen’s comments contain just enough ambiguity to suggest that he is promoting substantial change and diverging from the Party, though in fact he may intend them only to pacify people by preserving hope for changes in the unspecified future. Regardless, it is becoming harder for the Party to maintain economic development without addressing political grievances. Political changes seem necessary not only for the sake of pursuing oft-declared plans to unleash household consumption and domestic innovation and services, but also to ease social discontent. The Party realizes that reform is inevitable, but questions how to do it while retaining control. The possibility that the Party could split on the question of political reform, as happened in the 1980s, thus has re-emerged.
These new challenges to the Deng approach reveal a rising uncertainty in China about whether his solutions are adequate to secure the country’s future. Essentially, the rise of Maoist nostalgia, the princelings’ glorification of their Communist bloodline and the CCYL’s promotion of ideology and wealth redistribution imply a growing fear that the economic transition may fail, and that the Party therefore may need a more deeply layered security presence to control society at all levels and a more ideological basis for the legitimacy of its rule. Meanwhile, a more assertive military implies growing fears that a foreign policy of meekness and amiability is insufficient to protect China’s access to foreign trade from those who feel threatened by China’s rising power, such as Japan, India or the United States. Finally, a more strident premier in favor of political reform suggests fear that growing demands for political change will lead to upheaval unless they are addressed and alleviated.
Containing the Risks
These emerging trends have not become predominant yet. At this moment, Beijing is struggling to contain these challenges to the status quo within the same cycle of tightening and loosening control that has characterized the past three decades. Though the cycle is still recognizable, the fluctuations are widening — and the policy reactions are becoming more sudden and extreme.
The country is continuing to pursue the same path of economic development, even sacrificing more ambitious rebalancing to re-emphasize, in the 2011-15 Five-Year Plan, what are basically the traditional methods of growth. These include massive credit expansion fueling large-scale infrastructure expansion and technology upgrades for the export-oriented manufacturing sector, all provided for by transferring wealth from depositors to state-owned corporations and local governments. Modifications to the status quo have been slight, and radical transformation of the overall growth model has not yet borne fruit.
In 2011, China’s leaders also have signaled a swing away from last year’s foreign policy assertiveness. Hu and Obama met in Washington in January and declared a thaw in relations. Recently, Hu announced a “new security concept” for the region. He said that cooperation and peaceful negotiation remain official Chinese policy, and that China respects the “presence and interests” of outsiders in the region, a new and significant comment in light of the U.S. re-engagement with the region. The United States has approved China’s backpedaling, saying the Chinese navy has been less assertive this year than the last, and Washington has since toned down its own threats. China’s retreat is not permanent, and none of its neighbors have forgotten its more threatening side. But China has signaled an attempt to diminish tensions, as it has done in the past, to avoid provoking real trouble abroad (while focusing on troubles at home) for the time being.
Finally, the security crackdown under way since February — part of a longer trend of security tightening since at least 2008, but with remarkable new elements — shows that the state remains committed to Deng’s general deferral of political reform, choosing strict social control instead.
The Deng model thus has not yet been dismantled. But the new currents of military assertiveness, ideological zeal and demand for political reform have revealed not only differences in vision among the elite, but a rising concern among them for their positions ahead of the leadership transition. Sackings and promotions already are accelerating. Unorthodox trends suggest that leaders and institutions are hedging political bets to protect themselves, their interests and their cliques in case the economic transition goes wrong or foreigners take advantage of China’s vulnerabilities, or ideological division and social revolt threaten the Party. And this betrays deep uncertainties.
The Gravity of 2012
As the jockeying for power ahead of the 2012 transition has already begun in earnest, signs of vacillating and conflicting policy directives suggest that the regime is in a constant state of policy adjustment to try to avoid an extreme shift in one direction or another. Tensions are rising between leaders as they try to secure their positions without upsetting the balance and jeopardizing a smooth transfer of power. The government’s arrests of dissidents underline its fear of these growing tensions, as well as its sharp reactions to threats that could disrupt the transition or cause broader instability. Everything is in flux, and the cracks in the system are widening.
One major question is how long the Party will be able to maintain the current high level of vigilance without triggering a backlash. The government effectively has silenced critics deemed possible of fomenting a larger movement. The masses have yet to rally in significant numbers in a coordinated way that could threaten the state. But the regime has responded disproportionately to the organizational capabilities that the small Jasmine protests demonstrated, and has extended this magnified response to a number of otherwise-familiar spontaneous protests and incidents of unrest.
As security becomes more oppressive in the lead up to the transition — with any easing of control unlikely before then or even in the following year as the new government seeks to consolidate power — the heavy hand of the state runs the risk of provoking exactly the type of incident it hopes to prevent. Excessive brutality, or a high-profile mistake or incident that acts as a catalyst, could spark spontaneous domestic protests with the potential to spread.
Contrasting Deng’s situation with Hu’s is illuminating. When Deng sought to step down, his primary challenges were how to loosen economic control, how to create a foreign policy conducive to trade, and how to forestall democratic challenges to the regime. He also had to leverage his prestige in the military and Party to establish a reliable succession plan from Jiang to Hu that would set the country on a prosperous path.
As Hu seeks to step down, his challenges are to prevent economic overheating, counter any humiliating turn in foreign affairs such as greater U.S. pressure, and forestall unrest from economic left-behinds, migrants or other aggrieved groups. Hu cannot allow the Party (or his legacy) to be damaged by mass protests or economic collapse on his watch. Yet, like Jiang, he has to control the process without having Deng’s prestige among the military ranks and without a succession plan clad in Deng’s armor.
More challenging still, he has to do so without a solid succession plan. Hu is the last Chinese leader Deng directly appointed. It is not clear whether China’s next generation of leaders will augment Deng’s theory, or discard it. But it is clear that China is taking on a challenge much greater than a change in president or administration. It is an existential crisis, and the regime has few choices: continue delaying change even if it means a bigger catastrophe in the future; undertake wrenching economic and political reforms that might risk regime survival; or retrench and sacrifice the economy to maintain CPC rule and domestic security. China has already waded deep into a total economic transformation unlike anything since 1978, and at the greatest risk to the Party’s legitimacy since 1989. The emerging trends suggest a likely break from Deng’s position toward heavier state intervention in the economy, more contentious relationships with neighbors, and a Party that rules primarily through ideology and social control.
source: STRATFOR
Jan Lokpal: an alternative view
by K. N. Panikkar
Given the scale of corruption in India, the constitution of a Jan Lokpal will be a welcome initiative. But the proposed Lokpal has the makings of a super-monster.
After 42 years of hesitation and uncertainty, an institutional mechanism to deal with the all-pervasive incidence of corruption in India is in sight. What apparently moved the state machinery was the agitation spearheaded by Anna Hazare, which drew spontaneous support primarily in the metropolitan cities. Within five days of Anna Hazare starting a ‘fast unto death' at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the Government of India conceded his demand to constitute a committee to draft a bill to establish the institution of a Lokpal at the Centre.
This was quite different from the past practices of the Indian state. Remember Potti Sriramulu, who at the end of a prolonged fast sacrificed his life for the formation of Andhra Pradesh. And Irom Sharmila has been on a hunger strike for more than 10 years, demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
Nevertheless, the developments leading to the constitution of the committee to draft a Lokpal bill, and the provisions of the draft bill, raise fundamental questions about the working of Indian democracy. Some of these questions demand urgent attention before a bill is piloted in Parliament.
In the matter of deciding the composition and the terms of reference of the committee, Anna Hazare appears to have exercised decisive influence. He chose the “representatives of civil society” and the government accepted his suggestions. The committee consists of five “representatives of civil society,” and five Union Ministers representing the government. Welcoming the initiative, the Prime Minister has said that the “coming together of the government and civil society is a step that augurs well for democracy.” But it should be apparent that no democratic principle was followed in the constitution of the committee. The civil society representatives were handpicked by Anna, and the government nominees do not reflect the diverse political opinion that is represented in Parliament.
A Magsaysay award winner, Anna Hazare brought to the movement against corruption his considerable reputation and the moral strength derived from his social work in a village in Maharashtra, Ralegan Siddhi. But the methods he has adopted to press his demand have raised eyebrows. Many people believe that the hunger strike he undertook and the ultimatum he served were coercive in nature and have no place in a democracy. The attempt made by some of his followers to equate him with Gandhiji need not be taken seriously, as neither his ideas nor his methods justify such a claim. Nevertheless, his Gandhian credentials have earned him recognition from the state and civil society. Although he claims to be apolitical, he entertains a deep distrust of politics and politicians.
Paradoxically, he has sought the help of the political system to deal with the malaise of corruption. If he had chosen the moral path, he would have addressed the social conditions that made corruption possible. Yet, supported by a few civil society activists and projected by a section of the English media as a saviour of the nation, Anna acquired a larger-than-life stature that appeared to have punctured the government's self-assurance.
His agitation has been lionised by some people as a second freedom struggle. But it appears to have escaped general notice that “the assertion of a few to represent the majority” without any representative character is essentially anti-democratic. The emotional, even unthinking, support that Anna Hazare commanded is understandable, given the widespread corruption indulged in by the political elite and the bureaucracy.
However, it is the timing of the agitation rather than the moral content of the campaign that accounts for the popular response. The neo-liberal policies pursued by the ruling elite had opened up the possibility of corruption in the massive transfer of public assets and the promotion of corporate interests through political patronage. Both the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the United Progressive Alliance under the leadership of the Congress were bedfellows in promoting privatisation and inviting foreign capital to modernise India. The unprecedented levels of corruption in recent times are a concomitant of the economic conditions created by liberalisation.
Corruption is a complex issue that is embedded in bureaucratic rigidity and issues of economic access and political power. In this sense, the state is the main promoter of corruption. It cannot be reduced to a question of morality alone, nor can a solution be found by punishing individuals as a deterrent. Such a solution, however, will be most welcome to the state and its functionaries, and even to the liberal intelligentsia. It appears that corruption is a great unifier. For Anna Hazare's anti-corruption platform attracted the former police officer Kiran Bedi and Arya Samaj leader Swami Agnivesh, along with communalists like Ram Madhav and religious entrepreneurs such as Baba Ramdev and Sri Ravi Shankar on the same platform. Not only were communalists and rightwing elements part of his entourage, but Anna extended his ‘blessings' to the likes of Narendra Modi by praising the Gujarat model of development, ignoring in the process the moral problem that is so dear to his heart.
It is tragic that a person who believes that morality is neutral is being celebrated as the ‘saviour' of the nation in some quarters, including the government. But the state's favorable demeanour towards Anna is not surprising. So long as Anna Hazare, or for that matter anybody else, does not raise systemic and institutional issues, and only champions reformist measures, the state will have no problem in promoting them. In fact, the state's attempt will be to ‘instrumentalise' them.
As a result, Anna Hazare and his committee may end up as apologists for the state-run machinery of corruption. For it is not the absence of law that prevents action against the guilty, but the absence of a political will to do so. For a crisis-ridden government, the periodic appearance of the likes of Anna Hazare, and their reformist agendas, are safety valves. The government functionaries who are sharing the table with Anna now may help create another fortress around the beleaguered state.
The committee that was quickly constituted on the basis of mutual consent between Anna and the government has started its deliberations. More than one draft bill was presented at its first meeting, and therefore it is premature to discuss the provisions. Yet, there are some visible directions. Anna Hazare's authoritarian approach to social problems, as is evident in the social ambience created in Ralegan Siddhi, and the principle of centralisation of authority that the state follows (in the matter of the National Council for Higher Education and Research Bill, for instance) find a common resonance in the drafts. They envision the Lokpal functioning in a social vacuum as a super-judicial authority, undermining the existing judicial system — which, all said and done, has withstood the pressures and preserved the rights of citizens. There is nothing in the draft to suggest that the Lokpal will bring to bear a greater sense of transparency and accountability of the system than what the existing institutions have so far achieved.
The aim of the bill is not to prevent corruption but to punish the corrupt. In this respect, the draft does not provide an approach that is qualitatively different from that of the existing institutions of the state. Only when a transparent system is put in place will the prevention of corruption become possible. Social audit does not necessarily create such transparency. The process of decision-making has to be fundamentally altered in order to ensure transparency. The targets should be the conditions that make corruption possible; that requires a complete overhauling of the existing mode of government management.
Given the scale and influence of corruption in India, the constitution of a Jan Lokpal will be a welcome initiative. But the proposed Lokpal has the makings of a super-monster. By absorbing all existing anti-corruption agencies, the Lokpal will have complete powers of independent investigation and prosecution. It will be an institution with overriding powers — but without any accountability. As such, it goes against all norms of democratic functioning. If the Jan Lokpal is to live up to its jan character, its authoritarian and centralised structure should be dispensed with and it should be turned into an instrument of people's empowerment. A beginning towards this end should be made at the formative stage itself by sending the draft bill to every panchayat for discussion, so that nation's conscience is truly aroused.
(Dr. K.N. Panikkar, a former Professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, is at knpanikkar @gmail.com)
source:The Hindu
by K. N. Panikkar
Given the scale of corruption in India, the constitution of a Jan Lokpal will be a welcome initiative. But the proposed Lokpal has the makings of a super-monster.
After 42 years of hesitation and uncertainty, an institutional mechanism to deal with the all-pervasive incidence of corruption in India is in sight. What apparently moved the state machinery was the agitation spearheaded by Anna Hazare, which drew spontaneous support primarily in the metropolitan cities. Within five days of Anna Hazare starting a ‘fast unto death' at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the Government of India conceded his demand to constitute a committee to draft a bill to establish the institution of a Lokpal at the Centre.
This was quite different from the past practices of the Indian state. Remember Potti Sriramulu, who at the end of a prolonged fast sacrificed his life for the formation of Andhra Pradesh. And Irom Sharmila has been on a hunger strike for more than 10 years, demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
Nevertheless, the developments leading to the constitution of the committee to draft a Lokpal bill, and the provisions of the draft bill, raise fundamental questions about the working of Indian democracy. Some of these questions demand urgent attention before a bill is piloted in Parliament.
In the matter of deciding the composition and the terms of reference of the committee, Anna Hazare appears to have exercised decisive influence. He chose the “representatives of civil society” and the government accepted his suggestions. The committee consists of five “representatives of civil society,” and five Union Ministers representing the government. Welcoming the initiative, the Prime Minister has said that the “coming together of the government and civil society is a step that augurs well for democracy.” But it should be apparent that no democratic principle was followed in the constitution of the committee. The civil society representatives were handpicked by Anna, and the government nominees do not reflect the diverse political opinion that is represented in Parliament.
A Magsaysay award winner, Anna Hazare brought to the movement against corruption his considerable reputation and the moral strength derived from his social work in a village in Maharashtra, Ralegan Siddhi. But the methods he has adopted to press his demand have raised eyebrows. Many people believe that the hunger strike he undertook and the ultimatum he served were coercive in nature and have no place in a democracy. The attempt made by some of his followers to equate him with Gandhiji need not be taken seriously, as neither his ideas nor his methods justify such a claim. Nevertheless, his Gandhian credentials have earned him recognition from the state and civil society. Although he claims to be apolitical, he entertains a deep distrust of politics and politicians.
Paradoxically, he has sought the help of the political system to deal with the malaise of corruption. If he had chosen the moral path, he would have addressed the social conditions that made corruption possible. Yet, supported by a few civil society activists and projected by a section of the English media as a saviour of the nation, Anna acquired a larger-than-life stature that appeared to have punctured the government's self-assurance.
His agitation has been lionised by some people as a second freedom struggle. But it appears to have escaped general notice that “the assertion of a few to represent the majority” without any representative character is essentially anti-democratic. The emotional, even unthinking, support that Anna Hazare commanded is understandable, given the widespread corruption indulged in by the political elite and the bureaucracy.
However, it is the timing of the agitation rather than the moral content of the campaign that accounts for the popular response. The neo-liberal policies pursued by the ruling elite had opened up the possibility of corruption in the massive transfer of public assets and the promotion of corporate interests through political patronage. Both the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the United Progressive Alliance under the leadership of the Congress were bedfellows in promoting privatisation and inviting foreign capital to modernise India. The unprecedented levels of corruption in recent times are a concomitant of the economic conditions created by liberalisation.
Corruption is a complex issue that is embedded in bureaucratic rigidity and issues of economic access and political power. In this sense, the state is the main promoter of corruption. It cannot be reduced to a question of morality alone, nor can a solution be found by punishing individuals as a deterrent. Such a solution, however, will be most welcome to the state and its functionaries, and even to the liberal intelligentsia. It appears that corruption is a great unifier. For Anna Hazare's anti-corruption platform attracted the former police officer Kiran Bedi and Arya Samaj leader Swami Agnivesh, along with communalists like Ram Madhav and religious entrepreneurs such as Baba Ramdev and Sri Ravi Shankar on the same platform. Not only were communalists and rightwing elements part of his entourage, but Anna extended his ‘blessings' to the likes of Narendra Modi by praising the Gujarat model of development, ignoring in the process the moral problem that is so dear to his heart.
It is tragic that a person who believes that morality is neutral is being celebrated as the ‘saviour' of the nation in some quarters, including the government. But the state's favorable demeanour towards Anna is not surprising. So long as Anna Hazare, or for that matter anybody else, does not raise systemic and institutional issues, and only champions reformist measures, the state will have no problem in promoting them. In fact, the state's attempt will be to ‘instrumentalise' them.
As a result, Anna Hazare and his committee may end up as apologists for the state-run machinery of corruption. For it is not the absence of law that prevents action against the guilty, but the absence of a political will to do so. For a crisis-ridden government, the periodic appearance of the likes of Anna Hazare, and their reformist agendas, are safety valves. The government functionaries who are sharing the table with Anna now may help create another fortress around the beleaguered state.
The committee that was quickly constituted on the basis of mutual consent between Anna and the government has started its deliberations. More than one draft bill was presented at its first meeting, and therefore it is premature to discuss the provisions. Yet, there are some visible directions. Anna Hazare's authoritarian approach to social problems, as is evident in the social ambience created in Ralegan Siddhi, and the principle of centralisation of authority that the state follows (in the matter of the National Council for Higher Education and Research Bill, for instance) find a common resonance in the drafts. They envision the Lokpal functioning in a social vacuum as a super-judicial authority, undermining the existing judicial system — which, all said and done, has withstood the pressures and preserved the rights of citizens. There is nothing in the draft to suggest that the Lokpal will bring to bear a greater sense of transparency and accountability of the system than what the existing institutions have so far achieved.
The aim of the bill is not to prevent corruption but to punish the corrupt. In this respect, the draft does not provide an approach that is qualitatively different from that of the existing institutions of the state. Only when a transparent system is put in place will the prevention of corruption become possible. Social audit does not necessarily create such transparency. The process of decision-making has to be fundamentally altered in order to ensure transparency. The targets should be the conditions that make corruption possible; that requires a complete overhauling of the existing mode of government management.
Given the scale and influence of corruption in India, the constitution of a Jan Lokpal will be a welcome initiative. But the proposed Lokpal has the makings of a super-monster. By absorbing all existing anti-corruption agencies, the Lokpal will have complete powers of independent investigation and prosecution. It will be an institution with overriding powers — but without any accountability. As such, it goes against all norms of democratic functioning. If the Jan Lokpal is to live up to its jan character, its authoritarian and centralised structure should be dispensed with and it should be turned into an instrument of people's empowerment. A beginning towards this end should be made at the formative stage itself by sending the draft bill to every panchayat for discussion, so that nation's conscience is truly aroused.
(Dr. K.N. Panikkar, a former Professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, is at knpanikkar @gmail.com)
source:The Hindu
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Government approves questioning of Puducherry Lt. Governor
Apr 19, 5:21 PM
The government has given its approval for the questioning of Puducherry Lt.
Governor M Iqbal Singh by the Enforcement Directorate over his alleged links to controversial businessman Hasan Ali.
Ali was arrested last month for tax evasion and money laundering. The Prime Minister's Office sanctioned the interrogation of Iqbal Singh this morning. Ali has been accused of stashing up to 8 billion dollars' worth of black money in foreign bank accounts. He is also being investigated for links to international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
AIR correspondent reports, in 1997, Mr. Singh was a Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress Party when he allegedly helped expedite a passport application for Ali.
In a letter of explanation sent to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram last week, Mr Singh said that he asked for the passport to be granted on humanitarian grounds because he had been told that Mr. Ali needed to travel abroad urgently to visit his brother, who was sick.
Mr Singh wrote that he did not know Mr. Hasan personally, but intervened at the request of Amalendu Pandey, a Congress leader from Bihar. He also met the Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram on Monday and explained his position.
The Congress Party, however, said that it is up to Mr. Singh to resign or not.
source:All India Radio
Apr 19, 5:21 PM
The government has given its approval for the questioning of Puducherry Lt.
Governor M Iqbal Singh by the Enforcement Directorate over his alleged links to controversial businessman Hasan Ali.
Ali was arrested last month for tax evasion and money laundering. The Prime Minister's Office sanctioned the interrogation of Iqbal Singh this morning. Ali has been accused of stashing up to 8 billion dollars' worth of black money in foreign bank accounts. He is also being investigated for links to international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
AIR correspondent reports, in 1997, Mr. Singh was a Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress Party when he allegedly helped expedite a passport application for Ali.
In a letter of explanation sent to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram last week, Mr Singh said that he asked for the passport to be granted on humanitarian grounds because he had been told that Mr. Ali needed to travel abroad urgently to visit his brother, who was sick.
Mr Singh wrote that he did not know Mr. Hasan personally, but intervened at the request of Amalendu Pandey, a Congress leader from Bihar. He also met the Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram on Monday and explained his position.
The Congress Party, however, said that it is up to Mr. Singh to resign or not.
source:All India Radio
For information only. No liability from our side
Dr Hiten Shah
ALTERNATIVE TO BY-PASS SURGERY
There is a new therapy in the market which is known as - Chelation Therapy. Or Calation Therapy.
According to this therapy any patient who has to undergo by-pass need not undergo the same.
The patient is given appx. 18 bottles of blood where in some medicines are injected along with it.
The blood cleans the system and removes all the blockages from the heart.
The no. of bottles may increase depending upon the age factor and health of the patient.
The cost of the blood per bottle would be appx. Rs.2,500/- The treatment takes of appx. 1 month.
There are only 4 doctors in India and one of them is Dr.Dhananjay Shah at Malad (Mumbai) another at Karnataka.
He has a list of patients who had to undergo by-pass from Lilavati, Hinduja and other major hospitals but after undergoing the above treatment they are absolutely fine and leading a normal life.
I give below the Doctor's details for your info:
Dr. Dhananjay Shah.
Hospital Tel: 0091-22-2889 2089 0091-22-2889 2089.
Mob: 98194 39657.
Email: shahdhananjay@ rediffmail. com
Hospital Tel: 0091-22-2889 2089 0091-22-2889 2089.
Mob: 98194 39657.
Email: shahdhananjay@ rediffmail. com
Dr Hiten Shah
Integrative Cardiac -Vascular Clinic Heart Rehab Centre 230, Satyam Mall, Ashirwad Poly Clinic, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad,, 380015, Gujarat, India
Tel: +91 09998848590 +91 09998848590 or 9898077966
Fax: 07940067882
Phosphatidylcholine therapy for traetment of blockage in artery like to treat heart attack, restenosis after angioplasty or bypass surgery, leg gangrane, stroke, dementia, less blood supply, metal toxicity
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
DR HITESH SHAH
209, SAMRUDDHI, LINK RD., MALAD WEST, MUMBAI, 400064, India
Tel: 91 22 28773777 91 22 28773777 / 09869035111
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Dr Nirupa Mehta
Oxymed Hospital, 320/E; 9A Main, 40 Cross, 5 Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore, 560041, Karnataka, India
Tel: 080-56533273; 9986162526
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Oxygen Therapy
Dr.B.Ayaz Akber
Oxymed Hospital No:6,First Main Road, Kasthurba Nagar, Adyar,Chennai - 600 020, 600020, Tamil Nadu (madras), India
Tel: 044-24452753
Treatments:
Acupuncture
Chelation Therapy
Colonic Hydrotherapy, Colonic Irrigation
Lymph Drainage Therapy
Oxygen Therapy
Dr.Vidyut.K. Shroff
1-C, Mahavir, Lajpatrai Road, Vile Parle [W], Mumbai, 400056, Maharashtra, India
Tel: 91-22-26133889 91-22-26133889 ; 91-22-26631157 91-22-26631157
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Safe Health
6-3-1100/5, TVS Suzuki Lane, Raj Bhavan Road. Hyderabad, 500 082, Andhra Pradesh, India
Tel: 040 2341 4418
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Dr. Rathna Alwa MD, M.R.C.P. et.al.
428, 9th. main road, HRBR layout, 1st. block, Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore-560043, India.
Tel: 5455166 / 5454025
Treatments:
Acupuncture, Chelation Therapy
Tel: +91 09998848590 +91 09998848590 or 9898077966
Fax: 07940067882
Phosphatidylcholine therapy for traetment of blockage in artery like to treat heart attack, restenosis after angioplasty or bypass surgery, leg gangrane, stroke, dementia, less blood supply, metal toxicity
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
DR HITESH SHAH
209, SAMRUDDHI, LINK RD., MALAD WEST, MUMBAI, 400064, India
Tel: 91 22 28773777 91 22 28773777 / 09869035111
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Dr Nirupa Mehta
Oxymed Hospital, 320/E; 9A Main, 40 Cross, 5 Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore, 560041, Karnataka, India
Tel: 080-56533273; 9986162526
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Oxygen Therapy
Dr.B.Ayaz Akber
Oxymed Hospital No:6,First Main Road, Kasthurba Nagar, Adyar,Chennai - 600 020, 600020, Tamil Nadu (madras), India
Tel: 044-24452753
Treatments:
Acupuncture
Chelation Therapy
Colonic Hydrotherapy, Colonic Irrigation
Lymph Drainage Therapy
Oxygen Therapy
Dr.Vidyut.K. Shroff
1-C, Mahavir, Lajpatrai Road, Vile Parle [W], Mumbai, 400056, Maharashtra, India
Tel: 91-22-26133889 91-22-26133889 ; 91-22-26631157 91-22-26631157
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Safe Health
6-3-1100/5, TVS Suzuki Lane, Raj Bhavan Road. Hyderabad, 500 082, Andhra Pradesh, India
Tel: 040 2341 4418
Treatments:
Chelation Therapy
Dr. Rathna Alwa MD, M.R.C.P. et.al.
428, 9th. main road, HRBR layout, 1st. block, Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore-560043, India.
Tel: 5455166 / 5454025
Treatments:
Acupuncture, Chelation Therapy
Every drop counts
The Hindu BE AWARE Of the requirements for a rare bloog group
ISSUE How do those with rare blood groups cope with medical emergencies? Experts tell HEMA VIJAY the right way to go about things
Do you have a rare blood group? Then, you need to be more equipped than the average person to handle a medical emergency requiring blood transfusion. Since rare blood groups occur in less than one in a 1,000 people, the donation of blood of a rare group, and consequently, its supply, could be that much scarcer. Blood banks may also not have adequate volumes of blood of rare groups.
So, what happens when there is a mismatch in blood groups? “Back pain, vomiting and chest pain are the symptoms that show up when a blood transfusion is mismatched. It can end in death too,” says A. Karthikeyan, senior consultant haematologist, Fortis Malar.
The ABO system is the most important grouping system for human blood. Next is the Rh system. Apart from this, there are scores of other blood typing systems such as the Bombay blood group, Kell, Duffy, and Kidd blood types (positive or negative). In fact, many more new systems are being identified all the time.
Who is at risk?
“In the ABO system, AB -ve, B -ve and A -ve are rare. And, since 90 per cent of our population is Rh positive (their blood carries the Rh antigen), the Rh -ve blood type is rare. Besides the ABO and Rh systems, the rare blood system that is most clinically relevant for the Indian population is the Bombay blood group, wherein the red cells in the blood lack the H antigen normally present in others,” informs P. Prabu, consultant haemato-oncologist, Apollo Hospitals.
The Bombay group occurs in one in 10,000 persons, according to rough estimates, and is more common in Western and South India. Blood bank physicians and technicians must also be alert for special blood types. For instance, if blood grouping is not done properly, the Bombay blood group may not get detected. Reverse grouping or Serum grouping has to be performed to detect the Bombay blood group.
Besides people with rare blood groups, those who undergo repeated blood transfusions are at high risk and need to have extended typing of blood. So do those with thalassemia, chronic haematological conditions, chronic anaemia, sickle cell anaemia, and pregnant women.
“If you keep exposing yourself to new antigens from repeated transfusions, your blood becomes increasingly sensitive and produces antibodies to the new antigens. So, a few years down the line, finding compatible blood might become difficult,” says Dr. Prabu.
Then, there is the issue of childbirth and Rh incompatibility. If the foetus in the womb is Rh +ve, and if the mother happens to be Rh -ve, during any intervention during pregnancy and childbirth, a little of the foetal blood may come into the mother's circulation and cause formation of Rh antibodies in the mother's blood. “In a future pregnancy, these antibodies may attack the new foetus (if it is Rh +ve) and cause haemolytic diseases of the newborn, jaundice, anaemia and even fatality,” warns Dr. Prabu.
Preparing for an emergency
Being part of a blood donation network is an important way of preparing for an emergency — so, if you have a rare blood group, donate often. That way, you help create enough stores of that particular blood group.
“A person weighing over 50 kg can safely donate about 350 ml of blood, once every 90 days (for whole blood) and once in two weeks (for platelets),” informs Sai Babu, haematologist and senior consultant, blood bank, Frontier Lifeline.
Your blood of rare group could give a lease of life to someone. And someday, you may need it yourself.
LIFE SAVERS
If anyone in the family is known to have a rare blood type, get your blood checked for that group
Maintain a network of people with the same blood type from whom you can get blood during an emergency. Register yourself in rare blood group registries such as rarebloodgroups.org
Mention your ethnic group in the blood donation registration card; this would save time when the blood bank has to locate the rare blood type common in that ethnic group
Keep the numbers of reliable blood banks handy
If you are going to have a surgery, check if your hospital has stores of your blood type, and also keep in touch with potential blood donors
Autologous blood transfusion (storing your own blood for emergency use) can be considered for a planned surgery
source:The Hindu
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