Saturday, April 7, 2012
By 2037, half the world will live in cities of emerging markets
Hindu
Commuters in the
Capital travelling by the Metro. New Delhi will be the fastest growing city
between 2020 and 2025 (file photo). – Rajeev Bhatt
London, April 6:
A huge shift in urbanisation “from the West to India, China and
other fast growing economies” is happening. According to a a report,
Opportunities in an Urbanising World, published this week by Credit
Suisse, by 2037 half the world's population will live in cities in “emerging
markets.” The report is based on UN data and estimates.
Year 2044 will be a crucial milestone for India: when 50 per cent
of the country will be urbanised, the report estimates.
By 2015, there will be 52 cities in India with more than 1 million
people. While India will be one of the last major countries to shift from a
majority rural to a majority urban population, between now and 2050 that rate of
urbanisation will step up markedly, with a compound annual growth rate of 2.1
per cent “nearly double China's 1.2 per cent CAGR. By 2050, 875 million people,
or 54 per cent of India's estimated population in 2050 will live in cities (a
level of urbanisation still well below Brazil's 94 per cent, or China's 73 per
cent).
Up until 2050 six of the 25 fastest growing major cities in the
world will be in India, with seven in China and not a single one in the
so-called developed world. And while Kinshasa is set to be the fastest growing
city from 2015 to 2020, New Delhi will take that title between 2020 and 2025.
The shift from the West will be accompanied by potentially huge
economic gains for the newly urbanising countries: the Credit Suisse study
estimates that a 5 per cent increase in urbanisation leads to 10 per cent gain
in per capita economic activity with a particular “sweet spot” for countries
with an urbanisation rate of 30 to 50 per cent (India's, it estimates is 31 per
cent).
However, while the report is mostly positive about China's ability
to capitalise on the economic opportunities presented by urbanisation, with
India the report expresses reservations, warning that “underinvestment in cities
is at critical levels”.
“It is not too late for India to create an economic succession
from its progression to an urbanised nation if the Government begins immediately
to implement the necessary bold policy measures to tackle the underinvestment,
poor planning and management and lack of infrastructure development which has
thus far characterised the expansion of its cities.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Amritsar Episode | ||
Overview
Massacre at Amritsar (cartoon from Simplicissimus 21 January 1920)
(Mary Evans Picture Library) Source: BBC The Massacre was a British response to the growing sense of revolution in India. The anti-British feeling among Indians extended from the Indian communities abroad - for example, those in California where the Ghadr Party was founded in San Francisco in 1913 - to the increasing vociferous independence groups throughout the subcontinent. At the start of WWI, the Indian Revolutionary Committee [Independence Committee] was started in Berlin and Indians volunteered to fight for the Germans against the British. The Germans in return, financed anti-British groups in the hope of turning the Sikh and Ghurkha regiments. Gandhi had returned, only to find the radicals already wide spread. One example was Annie Besant. She thought the British raj was an injustice and in 1915 started her Home Rule League. She said she wanted to free India from what she called the humiliation of dependency; she took her example from Irish Home Rule politics. The Punjab, once the most reliable of the provinces, was no longer so. The Provincial Congress met in Amritsar, the centre of the Punjab, and became the focus of political agitation. The British hadn't understood the depth of feeling now running through the Punjab. Tens of thousands attended protest meetings against the Rowlatt legislation restricting public protest. The British in Amritsar called for military reinforcement. In Delhi, Dyer was ordered to Amritsar to take command. He arrived on 11 April with 475 British and 710 Indian soldiers. Martial Law was declared. The Indian leaders called on people to assemble in, Jallianwala Bagh, a one time walled garden. Dyer arrived with Ghurkha and Sikh riflemen and two armoured cars. With few preliminaries, he ordered his men to fire. The demonstration was over in minutes - 379 killed and more than 1200 wounded. HH Asquith called it one of the worst outrages in British history. Yet the British view was that Dyer had saved a second Indian Mutiny. Later he was forced to resign. The Morning Post newspaper set up a fund for Dyer. It made more than £26,000, one third coming from India where much of the European community seems to have believed that Dyer saved the empire. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/empire/episodes/episode_83.shtml | ||
Financial Inclusion Network to expand into North-East including Sikkim
More to be banked: Mr
Mario S. Roche, Vice-President, National Head of Zonal Operations of the
Financial Inclusion Network and Operations ( FINO) displays the point of
operations gadget, in Hyderabad on Thursday. — P.V. Sivakumar
Hyderabad, April 5:
Financial Inclusion Network and Operations Ltd is planning to
expand its operations in the north-eastern states.
“We have tied-up with some private banks and also State Bank of
India to expand financial inclusion services in the north-east. At present,
experimental operations are going on,’’ Mr Mario S. Roche, Vice-President and
head of zonal operations, told newspersons here on Thursday.
Private banks which have tied up with FINO, include ICICI Bank and
Axis Bank, he said, adding that banks were expecting to have about six million
accounts in the region initially.
The Mumbai-based company conducts its operations through business
correspondents on behalf of banks. It operates on a business technology platform
using biometric smart cards and hand-held devices.
Pulling Together
| Pulling Together | |
|
| 10 Rules for teamwork—Pulling Together by John Murphy. John Murphy presents ten rules that anyone can understand: | ||
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GREETINGS ON HANUMAN JAYANTI
I salute the son of Wind God, the abode of immeasurable strength, possessing
a body shining like a mountain of gold, a fire to consume the forest of the
demon race, foremost among the wise, storehouse of every excellence,
Lord Rama’s noble devotee.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Deakin & TERI Open Nanobiotechnology Lab In Gurgaon, India
Deakin University and The Energy and Resources Institute have opened a state-of-the-art nanotechnology laboratory in Gual Pahari, Gurgaon.
Called the TERI-Deakin Nanobiotechnology Research Center, the center was established based on a 2010 memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two institutions.AsianScientist (Feb. 24, 2012) – Deakin University and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) officials inaugurated on Wednesday a new research facility in Gual Pahari, Gurgaon, located 35 minutes away by car from New Delhi.
Present at the signing ceremony were Hon’ble Louise Asher, MP and Minister for Innovation, Services & Small business, Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Australia; along with Professor Jane den Hollander, Vice Chancellor, Deakin University; and Dr. R. K. Pachauri, Director General of TERI.
“Research at TERI seeks to find solutions to problems related to attaining sustainability and environmental degradation and has made a difference to the lives of many people,” said Dr. Pachauri, Director-General, TERI.
The center will have a total of 70 researchers, and provide a hub for up to 50 Ph.D. students enrolled at Deakin University under the Deakin India Research Initiative (DIRI).
The new laboratory is expected to bring together Deakin University’s expertise in the design and characterization of novel nanomaterials and TERI’s experience in biotech applications, with the aim of providing solutions towards a greener and more advanced use of nanotechnology to tackle agricultural, biomedical, and sustainability issues.
Located at TERI Gram, scientists at the center will research into new formulations for coating seeds with nanomaterials and biological materials, synthesis of nanoparticles from waste, and understanding enhanced interaction and secondary metabolites production in a reactor system.
Other research projects include developing environment friendly ways of synthesizing nanoparticles using plants and microbes, innovative biofuels, and DNA-based nanocarriers or chimeric molecules for target specific gene delivery and drug therapy.
Aadhar and its success
The government's Unique Identification program, Aadhar, could beIndia's answer to end corruption. This is what the villages across Jharkand are witnessing. Aadhar has helped to simplify the payments made under the government's various social welfare schemes. It includes payments made under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as well. Aadhar has helped in reducing the number of scrupulous payments by assigning a unique identification to each beneficiary. This has helped identify and remove all ghost applicants from the system. For example, a family is supposed to have only one job card. But it had 2-3 job cards by way of ghost applicants. With the introduction of Aadhar the ghosts were removed from the system. This way the siphoni ng off of funds on account of MG NREGS has come down. In addition to this, the payment method has also become simpler and easier and beneficiaries are able to receive funds immediately rather than having to wait for nearly two to three months. All in all, Aadhar is becoming a success in the state.
Bhutan: concept of Gross National Product be replaced by Gross National Happiness
AP / MICHAEL ASTOR Tuesday, Apr. 03, 2012
(UNITED NATIONS) — Should happiness figure in a nation's bottom line? And should the concept of Gross National Product be replaced by Gross National Happiness?
Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley told a high-level U.N. meeting Monday that it not only should but that it must if mankind is to avoid its current unsustainable and self-destructive course.
What�s the Happiest Country in the World? Not the United States
Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan nation which tops Asia in the United Nations' First World Happiness Report, convened the meeting seeking to develop a new economic model based on principles of happiness and well being.
"The GDP-lead development model that compels boundless growth on a planet with limited resources no longer makes economic sense. It is the cause of our irresponsible, immoral and self-destructive actions," Thinley said. "The purpose of development must be to create enabling conditions through public policy for the pursuit of the ultimate goal of happiness by all citizens."
The conference titled "Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm," brought together hundreds of representatives of government — including Costa Rican President Laura Chincilla — academics and other civic leaders to discuss the issue. All endorsed the importance of happiness, though not necessarily Bhutan's proposed index.
Jeffery Sachs, a prominent development economist at Columbia University in New York who edited the World Happiness Report along with John Helliwell and Richard Layard, said that happiness could be achieved independent of economic well-being as measured by GNP. The report was released to coincide with the conference.
"GNP (gross national product) by itself does not promote happiness," Sachs told the conference. "The U.S. has had a three time increase of GNP per capita since 1960, but the happiness needle hasn't budged. Other countries have pursued other policies and achieved much greater gains of happiness, even at much lower levels of per capita income."
Although wealthy nations like Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands lead the rankings of happiest countries while poor nations like Togo, Benin, Central African Republic and Sierra Leone ranked among the least happy, the report noted that social factors such as the strength of social support, the absence of corruption and the degree of personal freedom were more important than wealth.
Japan's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Joe Nakano told the conference this was certainly true in his own country.
"A number of recent studies have shown that, in many developed countries, including Japan, happiness is not proportional to economic wealth," Nakano said. "This finding, often called the 'Paradox of Happiness,' has given rise to international discussion on how to enhance individual well-being through government policies."
The report also listed a number of practical suggestions for governments to promote happiness among their citizens including helping people meet their basic needs, reinforcing social systems, implementing active labor policies, improving mental health services, promoting compassion, altruism and honesty, and helping the public resist hyper-commercialism.
Last July, at the urging of Bhutan, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution endorsing a holistic approach to development that could lead to individual happiness and well-being around the globe.
Thinley said "practical policy recommendations" from the conference will be gathered in a report to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and presented to participants at the "Rio plus 20" Earth Summit scheduled for June in Brazil. The conference is being held two decades after the first U.N. Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2110914,00.html#ixzz1r8dUwcio
M P Govt subsidy for pilgrimage to SriLanka, Angkor Wat temple
TNN | Apr 5, 2012, 07.10AM IST
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government has expanded the subsidy scheme for pilgrimage to places of religious importance in other countries. Now, after pilgrimage journeys to religious places in China and Pakistan, the State Government will now provide 50% subsidy on expenses (maximum Rs. 30,000) to the state's residents for the journey to pilgrim centres in Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
Six years ago, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had taken the initiative of scheme for providing financial assistance to citizens of the state for pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. A beneficiary pilgrim has to make claim for reimbursement within 60 days after the journey to Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation along with details of expenses.
Under the scheme, a domicile of Madhya Pradesh is eligible to avail this subsidy once in lifetime. The Corporation has granted subsidy to 113 citizens of the state for pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar.
Only those pilgrims of the state are entitled to get subsidy under the scheme whose selection for pilgrimage is made by the Union Government. Since the year 2007-08, the State Government has also introduced a provision of providing subsidy for pilgrimage to Hinglaj Mata Mandir and Nankana Saheb situated in Pakistan.
A person desirous of pilgrimage to Sita Mandir (Sri Lanka) and Angkor Wat (Cambodia) will have to apply to Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, Bhopal. The Corporation will make payment after examining the documents. Rules and instructions to this effect have been issued by the Principal Secretary, Religious Trusts and Endowments.
High-income individuals, HUFs also under mandatory digital return regime
by S. MURLIDHARAN
Vide notification 14 of 2012 dated March 28 2012, the CBDT has brought new categories of taxpayers under the mandatory digital return regime.
For the upcoming assessment year 2012-13 and later, individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) having total income in excess of Rs 10 lakh will have to compulsorily file income-tax return electronically.
The Budget 2012-13 had proposed mandatory filing of income tax return by resident individuals and HUFs having assets abroad including financial interest in any entity abroad or whose signing authorities in respect of foreign bank accounts were residing abroad even if they did not have any taxable income during the relevant previous year.
The notification, taking forward the object of the Budget move, mandates that these persons too come under the mandatory digital return regime. Digital returns lend themselves to special and pointed scrutiny.
Enterprise: Commercial beverages
By Shailaja Sharma | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Coca-Cola India has its task cut out for the next 20 years — get newer consumers to taste its products.
The country is a veritable goldmine for packaged beverages players, feels Sumanta Datta, vice-president - customer and commercial leadership, Coca Cola India.
Per capita consumption remains extremely low even though category sales have sustained double-digit growth over the last 17 quarters. In November 2011, Atlanta-based parent Coca-Cola had announced a $2 billion investment in India over the next five years.As such, India figures among the company’s top 10 markets and it is working towards growing the category through modern retail and getting first time consumers with lower price points on a daily basis, Datta tells DNA in this interview. Excerpts:
How does consumption look? There’s talk of a slowdown in rural markets…
There is no slowdown. And for us it’s all about working to segmented execution strategy with our brands and our packaging. We don’t see any slowdown, we don’t expect any slowdown. When you look at rural markets, you really want to have a very affordable pack there so that consumers can try it. And we believe that Coca-Cola is an amazing product that drives people first time into the category and enables them to stay back in the category. The `8 offer is for recruiting new consumers into the category.
Is it a challenge to maintain low popular price points?
Though the Rs8 price point is an offer, to maintain a price point of Rs10 is a challenge. But that is also something we believe in. So right now, the 200 ml glass bottle looks perfectly priced. Going forward, in the next 5-10 years, we might have to innovate further to maintain the price point.
What innovations are possible?
Innovation could be in packaging. It could be smaller glass bottles; it could be a different form of packaging... all so we can keep costs under control in order to address pricing, because we are going to continue to recruit new consumers for the next 20 years at least. Even in urban markets where we feel we have to recruit newer consumers into the category, you will see that our coolers will have more of the lower priced products. In Breach Candy of Mumbai, for example, you will get much higher-end products going into the coolers, while outside, on the Thane-Pune road, we have a larger audience to recruit within the category so those will have many more glass bottles of Rs10 or Rs8. In rural markets, 100% of our coolers are only glass bottles and you will find very little of it in the middle of the city where people don’t want glass bottles but the convenience of a PET bottle or a can.
From glass bottles accounting for a major chunk of sales, has your sales ratio changed with demand for PET bottles?
As modern retail grows, as metros continue to rapidly grow, existing consumers graduate to PET. The ratio of contribution is still significantly in favour of glass bottles but changing as modern retail grows. PET consumption is growing much faster than returnable glass bottles, but the good thing is that returnable glass bottles continue to grow as well.
Would you look at a price point like Rs5 that PepsiCo is using to cater to bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers?
We continue to evaluate. We have a few products there, but those are more for the social causes we are working on. We have a project for iron deficiency, which is a major concern in women and children. We have a product called Vitingo, which is a powder-based product that is given to women and children through our social network partners. We are not selling it yet. Bottom-of-the-pyramid is going to be a nice mix, but we are still looking at it. The product offering that we need to have here needs to be a little more developed compared with the regulars.
How rural have you been able to go?
It varies from market to market, if you go to Punjab or Andhra Pradesh; we are available probably in every village. In Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, we have got a long way to go. The real focus there is on expanding reach, while in a Punjab and Andhra Pradesh it’s about expanding our portfolio and range of products. There are different stages of development. Some of them (states) have done very well, actually hand-in-hand with the economic development in those states; in the others, as the economy gets better, we are able to increase penetration.
Any innovation in distribution that the company is using to grow penetration?
We have through our R&D created the first solar cooler. In places where there is no electricity, we can’t sell Coca-Cola warm. The solar-powered environment-friendly cooler not just helps the retailer but also to use the power to charge mobile phones. We tested it last year in a village outside Agra first and have rolled out quite a few of them since. Though this will help us expand faster, it is just one part of the entire chain. Cooling is a solution at retail end; supply chain, where we do hub and spoke, and product innovation, whether in glass bottle or price points like `3 and `5, are factors that will enable the larger turnover from beverages.
What kind of a balance do you expect to see between carbonated and non-carbonated drinks in your India portfolio?
Whether sparkling or juices, I think commercial beverages are going to explode. People will want to buy beverage than prepare it on their own, and all segments will grow. And why do I say that? Science. Biology. Two litres of liquid is what the human body requires every day. And if you are looking at all Coca- Cola products, the per capita is only 2-3 litre per year in India. Imagine the scope for development. It will also lead to rise in new categories. New drinks in the industry — energy drinks, flavoured water, sports drink, mixture of dairy and juice — are coming up because consumers want them. In India, the journey for most categories has just started. The focus on growing the category with modern retail and expanding the category base, and recruiting the consumers is something we are doing every single day.
Any words you speak have a frequency, and the
moment you speak them they are released into the Universe. The law of attraction
responds to all frequencies, and so it is also responding to the words that you
speak. When you use very strong words, such as "terrible", "shocking" and
"horrible" to describe any situation in your life, you are sending out an
equally strong frequency, and the law of attraction must respond by bringing
that frequency back to you.
The law is impersonal, and simply matches your frequency. Do you see how important it is for you to speak strongly about what you want, and not to use strong words about what you don't want?
OM SAI RAM
The law is impersonal, and simply matches your frequency. Do you see how important it is for you to speak strongly about what you want, and not to use strong words about what you don't want?
OM SAI RAM
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
India thanks Bangladesh for honouring 1971 heroes
Published: Wednesday, Apr 4, 2012, 18:28 IST
Place: New Delhi | Agency: IANS | |
India and thanked Dhaka for its decision to honour Indian nationals and groups for their role in the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has written to his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni, expressing the government's sentiments.
Krishna said the “cause of liberation of Bangladesh has been very close to our hearts, and the government and the people of India have been extremely proud of their association with the historic liberation war”.
According to official sources, Krishna said the Bangladeshi initiative would “further strengthen the friendship” between the people of the two countries.
This will also have a significant impact in preserving memories in the mind of the young and in educating future generations, he wrote.
Last year, Bangladesh conferred the Bangladesh Freedom of Honour posthumously on Indira Gandhi, who was prime minister when Pakistan and India fought the 1971 war.
Last week, Bangladesh honoured a host of Indians and Indian organisations for their contribution to the 1971 war which included, among others, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, Lt Gen JFR Jacob and Arundhati Ghose.
Bangladesh celebrated its 41st independence day Monday with rich tributes to war heroes.
On March 26, 1971, the people of then East Pakistan began a military campaign against Pakistani armed forces following largescale killings of civilians opposed to Islamabad.
The civil war led to the eventual India-Pakistan war in December 1971, leading to the break-up of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh.
On Monday, Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia laid wreaths at the National Monument at Savar, some 30 km north of capital Dhaka.
Get, set, go!
Article on Practical-Living:
Most of the time we spend on our lives thinking of what to do! We are not able to be our own inspirational center. Something else, something other than me is required to prompt me, to flog me, to exhort me. The more external factors required to bring out the contributory aspect in one’s personality for society, the more weak a person would be in time.
Geeta says, “Uddharet atma natmanam...” meaning, “Lift yourself by yourself; you are your own enemy and your own best friend”. We have to be our own “Prerana Srot” – source of inspiration. Nobody from outside can inspire us for a very long time. One person went to Gurudev and said, “Swamiji, there are hardly any realized masters in the world now”. Gurudev said, “Yes, why don’t you become one?”
On Your Mark
A goal has to be all-pervasive. Academic goal should accompany emotional goal. Emotional goal consists of two points:
1.Eradicating the lower emotions of expectation, demands and complaints;
2.At the same time increasing the emotion of love for God and Teacher in time.
A time should come when I do not expect anything; when I am not attached to anything in this world. Let me not be dependent on anyone. Our emotional goal in life should be focused on bringing down three things - Reaction, Demand and Complaint. We demand; when it is not fulfilled we react; if reaction is still not working we keep on complaining. When these things come up, we are not emotional; we are commotional! More commotion is generated than emotions! Set a time for yourself that in the next six months, I will eradicate any negative emotions I have. We have to set our own goals; we have to find the means to fulfill the goals. Get set and go, but get set first.
Secondly, we should develop those emotions that we should have, but are not having. I should have the emotions of being prompt, but I am not prompt, I need reminders. I should have the emotions of “quietness”, but I am not quiet. I should have the emotion of love for the Lord, but I don’t; I should have the emotion of happiness in seeing somebody else’s success, but I don’t have. That goal I should keep, that “this is my goal”.
Get Set
There should also be intellectual goal. Intellect means “cutter” and “penetrator”. Mind is the “identifier” and intellect discriminates. It will clear right and wrong, do’s and don’ts. The intellect should be used to see what negative tendencies are, which then should be cut again and again.
We live a life of compromises. Where compromise is there, sacrifice is not. Compromise is winning of the mind over the intellect. Sacrifice is winning of the intellect over the mind. Intellect should have a strong say over the mind. It should say, "shut up", and the mind should say “yes”. Such a strong intellect with strong determination, discrimination and dedication is required, so that the mind will fear it. The second intellectual goal is to read the scriptures, as depth should be there.
Go!
Third is the spiritual goal. We don’t have a spiritual goal at all. My faith should be so strong that even if the whole world falls on me, my faith should be there that Lord is still with me. Prahaladji had this faith. When Hiranyakashipu had him dropped from the mountain top, he was still with the conviction that Lord was embracing him from behind. Everything in this world is for providing security, whether it is hospitals, schools or insurance. We struggle to secure our future. But the more we try to secure the more insecure we become, because we cannot catch hold of anything. Faith is the answer; tremendous faith has to be there. One Mahatma told me about the faith that we have (he was saying about himself): “An evolved person does not have more than 30% faith that is required”. What to say of an ordinary person, his faith is in decimals! There is probably not even point one percent. Faith is the mother of quietness. Quietness is not possible without strong faith. What is faith? “Lord is with me; He is helping me. He will help me to attain what I want”. This faith has to be there. This is called spiritual goal.
Nurturing the emotional and intellectual goals is called “Getting set”. Spiritual goal is “Go”. Those who have not met their emotional and intellectual goals cannot have spiritual goal. The second part of spiritual goal is to have a life one day – I may not know when the day will come when I hope my whole time, my whole energy, my whole body and intellect, will be for God alone and I will realize that Truth behind this pulsating world of diversity. I will realize That.
We may have progressed with science and communication, but the globe has shrunk and so has the heart. We have become selfish an isolated selflessness is not there. Spiritual goal is required. Life has more to offer than what we are taking. Life is like a big Ganges, and we are just having a cup of water from it and saying this is what the Ganges is giving me. It is a mountain if sweetness, but we are only taking a bit of that. Instead, we are taking more bitterness from life. We are taking frustration, anxiety, bitterness and worry from life. Divinity is not there. Quietness is not there. Faith is not there. Depth is not there. Emotion is not there. Life has all his and more to offer and we have rejected all that. The problem is, we are not “Getting set” in something. Our goal is decided by the situation. Then how can we go? When the racing starts, we don’t know whether we are participating or not. On the starting line they announce, “On your mark, get, set, go!”. We are not ready and so we lose the opportunity. We are only in the setting mode. Some are there who start running even before the “Go”. These people are disqualified and have to go back. We have to run at the right time. We are not ready. We are not prepared. We are not enthusiastic. We are not inspired. We have a routine life and situations have all the sway. We cannot assert our Godliness.
Discover the Timeless
We don’t know that the human being is the only creation that can have a goal in life. He can change his nature. We have never explored the possibilities. We are whipped and tossed. Our goals are very small. Please note that the material goal can never inspire a person for a long time. The moment you attain it, you would find that the goal was too low. We all had the goal of passing Grade 5. We passed. After that? We all had the goal of graduation, marriage ... any goal you attain in the world, you will find that it was not that big a goal. We make our goals small after sometime.
Our goals have to be above the material. Material goal should be used for the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual goals. Emotional and intellectual goals should not be used for the material goal. Today we are using our intellect only for the material goal; emotions only for the material goal, and there is no spiritual goal at all. We are neither on the mark, nor is there any setting. How can we “Go” then? Those who are not on the right track will get whipped by the situations.
Assert your Godhood. Claim the best in life. Go ahead with a smile on your face. Face the world. Don’t think of success and failures. Success and failures have nothing to do for a confident person; he will use both as stepping stones and not as stumbling rocks. Use the success for higher success. When tired, smile. When exhausted, rest. When disgusted, surrender to God. When nothing strikes, strike your head at His feet. When nothing works, just look into the Eyes of the Lord, the spark of hope in His Eyes, remember the Teacher, remember Gurudev, go ahead.
Keep emotional goal much higher than the material goal. Keep the intellectual goal much higher than the material goal. Let the spiritual goal stand tall above all other goals. That should be the guiding factor of our lives. Life is waiting for the one who has given to life, taken for life. Let the time wait for us; let the people wait for anything. You go as a masterpiece; you go as a master in this flow of time and discover the Timeless. In this world discover That which is beyond the world. That is the purpose of living; that is the fulfilment of life. Go, but never come back. That is the final thing “Yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama”. This “coming and going” should stop.
Author: Swami Abhedananda
Chinmaya Mission-Australia
KARMA
"Karma" literally means "deed" or "act", and more broadly means the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction.
According to the Vedas, if we sow goodness, we will reap
goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our
actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which
determine our future.Human beings are said to produce karma in four
ways:-
* Through thoughts
* Through words
* Through actions that we perform ourselves
* Through actions others perform under our instructions
* Through thoughts
* Through words
* Through actions that we perform ourselves
* Through actions others perform under our instructions
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| Data source: RBI |
The extent to which global economic risks can impact the Indian economy is evident from the extent of global economic integration. As per data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), both India's trade balance and balance of payment (capital and current account) has increased manifold as a percentage of GDP over the past 4 decades. Since this is likely to increase, India will stand more exposed to global uncertainties.
Know Your Prime Minister
Personal Profile
India’s fourteenth Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is rightly acclaimed as a thinker and a scholar. He is well regarded for his diligence and his academic approach to work, as well as his accessibility and his unassuming demeanour.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was born on September 26, 1932, in a village in the Punjab province of undivided India. Dr. Singh completed his Matriculation examinations from the Punjab University in 1948. His academic career took him from Punjab to the University of Cambridge, UK, where he earned a First Class Honours degree in Economics in 1957. Dr. Singh followed this with a D. Phil in Economics from Nuffield College at Oxford University in 1962. His book, “India’s Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth” [Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1964] was an early critique of India’s inward-oriented trade policy.
Dr. Singh’s academic credentials were burnished by the years he spent on the faculty of Punjab University and the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. He had a brief stint at the UNCTAD Secretariat as well, during these years. This presaged a subsequent appointment as Secretary General of the South Commission in Geneva between 1987 and 1990.
In 1971, Dr. Singh joined the Government of India as Economic Advisor in the Commerce Ministry. This was soon followed by his appointment as Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance in 1972. Among the many Governmental positions that Dr. Singh has occupied are Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission; Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Advisor of the Prime Minister; and Chairman of the University Grants Commission.
In what was to become the turning point in the economic history of independent India, Dr. Singh spent five years between 1991 and 1996 as India’s Finance Minister. His role in ushering in a comprehensive policy of economic reforms is now recognized worldwide. In the popular view of those years in India, that period is inextricably associated with the persona of Dr. Singh.
Among the many awards and honours conferred upon Dr. Singh in his public career, the most prominent are India’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan (1987); the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress (1995); the Asia Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year (1993 and 1994); the Euro Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year (1993), the Adam Smith Prize of the University of Cambridge (1956); and the Wright’s Prize for Distinguished Performance at St. John’s College in Cambridge (1955). Dr. Singh has also been honoured by a number of other associations including the Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Dr. Singh is a recipient of honorary degrees from many universities including the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
Dr. Singh has represented India at many international conferences and in several international organizations. He has led Indian Delegations to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Cyprus (1993) and to the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.
In his political career, Dr. Singh has been a Member of India’s Upper House of Parliament (the Rajya Sabha) since 1991, where he was Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2004. Dr. Manmohan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister on 22nd May after the 2004 general elections and took the oath of office for a second term on 22nd May 2009.
Dr. Singh and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur have three daughters.
North-east India - an emerging gateway
If India is to capitalise on improved Indo-Bangla relationship and the potential to physically connect with mainland Asean, New Delhi must reshape relations with its north-eastby Ajai Shukla
Since Independence, India has treated its north-eastern states as unproductive black holes into which New Delhi pours vast amounts of treasure and obtains resentful ingratitude in return. But this backwater is in focus after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s successful visit to Dhaka earlier Sept 2011, which has not just built bridges with Bangladesh but it also holds out the promise of creating a new relationship with south-east Asia. If India is to capitalise on the improved Indo-Bangla relationship and benefit from its potential to physically connect this country with mainland Asean or the the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, New Delhi has no choice but to reshape its relations with its north-east.
The potential for our eastern provinces to disrupt this opportunity has already been highlighted by Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal’s chief minister, who pulled out of the delegation to Dhaka in annoyance at the plan to give Bangladesh more water from the Teesta River. While Ms Banerjee’s absence somewhat dampened the euphoria in Dhaka, the blame for her embarrassing boycott lies in New Delhi, not Kolkata. Aware of the political sensitivity of water sharing anywhere, but especially between agricultural West Bengal and the erstwhile East Bengal, New Delhi failed to obtain Ms Banerjee’s unequivocal agreement on a water deal with Dhaka.
It is telling that Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s prime minister, seemed more aware than New Delhi of the importance of West Bengal’s leader. Ms Banerjee was slated to receive an especially warm welcome in Dhaka and a meeting of the Bangladesh cabinet discussed at some length whether a Dhakai jamdani sari would be a befitting gift for her. Ms Banerjee might well – after some political grandstanding for the voters in North Bengal who rely on Teesta water – climb down and climb aboard a flight to Dhaka for her own little summit with Ms Hasina. But the fact remains that New Delhi’s insensitivity towards its peripheries created this muddle. Unless this approach changes, there is the risk of greater, and possibly irretrievable, debacles.
Beyond the Mamata fiasco, the PM’s visit to Bangladesh was an unalloyed strategic success. The agreement on demarcating the land boundary between the two countries eliminated a long-standing irritant. But the real triumph, both for bilateral ties and for regionalism, was the opening up of land, sea and riverine communications (“multi-modal links” is the term in vogue). These will provide a physical backbone to the “Look East” policy, so far just a strategic slogan. As Dr Singh and Ms Hasina noted, “road, rail and waterways [are] building blocks to an inter-dependent and mutually beneficial relationship among the countries of the region. The establishment of physical infrastructure would promote exchange of goods and traffic, and lead to the connectivity of services, information, ideas, culture and people.”
For now, there are only modest steps. New land ports and immigration stations are being established to facilitate trade and the movement of people. Trial runs have begun for moving cargo on the Brahmaputra between Ashuganj (in Bangladesh) and Silghat (in Assam). A rail line will link Agartala (in Tripura) with Bangladesh. Additional rail connections (Chilahati-Haldibari and Kulaura-Mahishashan) will be reactivated “in the spirit of encouraging revival of old linkages and transport routes between the two countries”. And goods could soon move between India’s north-east and Chittagong and Mongla seaports.
This is part of a far more expansive project: the linking of India’s Indo-Gangetic plain with its north-eastern states; and then expanding those linkages to the mainland Asean states of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam; and through them to China. Currently the Seven Sisters – the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura – are connected to India only through a 21-km-wide sliver of land, the so-called Siliguri corridor. Through this chicken’s neck runs all infrastructure to the north-east, including roads, railway lines and power transmission lines. Transit through Bangladesh, with its 4,000-km border with four Indian states (our longest land border with any neighbour) would magically open up the north-east.
Within striking distance of the north-east, major transport links are being built. China is building roads, a railway and pipelines from Yunnan to Myanmar’s Kyauk Phyu port on the Bay of Bengal. While China is connecting with the Bay of Bengal to bypass its “Malacca problem”, saving a week in transit time through that strait, New Delhi tends to see this infrastructure as a direct threat to India. But infrastructure is seldom a zero-sum game; it has the potential to simultaneously benefit multiple players.
Further inside Myanmar, but within easy reach from the north-east, is the Dawei Development Project, a deep-water port on Myanmar’s Arakan coast, which is being connected to Thailand through a multi-modal transport corridor. From Thailand this will link up with the three economic corridors of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. The railway from Dawei would also link up with a railway that China is building from Kunming, which will connect through Laos, to the Thai railway network.
Then there are the direct linkages between the north-eastern states and China: the existing border trade post at Nathu La, Sikkim; potential border crossings through Tawang and Walong in Arunachal Pradesh; and the much-discussed Stilwell Road that used to connect Dibrugarh (in upper Assam), through Myanmar, with Kunming.
India has traditionally shrunk from operationalising these connections even while espousing a “Look East” policy. But the people of the north-east understand how crucial these cross-border linkages are for their future. That is why the chief ministers of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura accompanied the PM to Dhaka. Despite New Delhi’s fears, this is an idea whose time has come. The Seven Sisters are poised to be India’s gateways to a strategically and economically vital neighbourhood. New Delhi has to quickly learn the political nuances of the north-east. The lessons of Mamata must be quickly absorbed.
Changes in fiscal policy over 50 years
by AARATI KRISHNAN
Indian tax laws are much simpler today than they were earlier.
India has drastically pruned its taxes and moved towards more sensible spending. But how much control really does the government have on its finances?
Anyone watching the annual Budget exercise, with its minor tweaks and corrections, would find it hard to believe that there is a grand design behind it all. Nor would a reading of the latest Finance Bill suggest that Indian tax laws are much simpler today than they were earlier.
But a study of India's fiscal policies since the 1950s shows that the country has actually come a long way in pruning tax rates and generally moving towards more sensible government spending.
Researcher Supriyo De, writing for the Finance Ministry in the working paper “Fiscal Policy in India,” (http://finmin.nic.in/WorkingPaper/FPI_trends_Trajectory.pdf) reaches these conclusions by recounting the complete history of India's fiscal policies since the 1950s. The eagle's eye view offered by this research paper, presents some heartening changes.
TAX REDUCTION
During a forty-year span, India has made a decisive shift from policies that imposed exorbitant and complicated taxes on a chosen few, to a more liberal tax regime that seeks to raise revenue through better compliance. Until the 1970s, fiscal policy was devoted mainly to re-distributing wealth from the private sector to the State, and taxing the ‘wealthy' to give to the poor.
The Shylock-like policies contributed to personal income tax rates as high as 77 per cent, and corporate taxes of 45-75 per cent in the mid-70s. Customs tariffs, even as late as the nineties, were as high as 400 per cent. The burden was made worse by dozens of tax categories and cascading levies. But with policymakers realising that high taxes lead to high evasion, they initiated several reforms. By 1997-98, these reforms had brought peak personal tax rates down to 30 per cent and corporate rates to a moderate 35 per cent.
Introduction of MODVAT credit (set-off of taxes paid on inputs against those due on final goods), simplified tariffs, and fewer categories also reduced indirect taxes for companies.These changes actually resulted in many benefits to the fiscal. Compliance improved, with the tax-to-GDP ratio rising from the single to the double digits. Direct taxes replaced indirect taxes as the key revenue generator for the government. Between 1970 and 2006, direct taxes improved their share in the revenues from 16 to 35 per cent, while indirect taxes reduced their share from 58 to 43 per cent.
EXPENDITURE REFORMS
But the ‘go easy on tax' policy called for changes to the expenditure side too. With the government resorting to more borrowings to fund expenditure, Budget surpluses turned into deficits. The gross fiscal deficit (and borrowings) began to climb steadily from the mid-70s to reach a crescendo in 1991, exposing the country to a full-blown balance of payments crisis during the Gulf War.
This jolt had the desirable effect of focussing policy attention on the dangers of foreign borrowings and persisting deficits. A concerted effort to curtail expenditure kicked off in the early nineties, culminating in the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) Act of 2003.
This set out an overall limit (3 per cent of GDP) to fiscal deficit and mandated regular review of government expenditure. Though FRBM targets had to be put forward during the 2008 credit crisis, ‘fiscal prudence and the desire to limit public debt', the author notes, had become ‘institutionalised in the policy matrix'.
FISCAL POLICIES
Overall, this paper, by taking a multi-decade view of the problem, does demonstrate that India's fiscal policies are generally changing for the better. But it does dwell much on the less-comforting aspects of these policies in recent times. For one, the disconcerting tendency of the government to ‘meet' its deficit targets by keeping certain items off the books. If it was oil and fertiliser bonds until 2010, it is the concept of “effective revenue deficit” in the recent Budget.
Two, the paper argues that the government has been on a consistent path of expenditure control and deficit reduction, but for unexpected bolts from the blue like the Gulf War and the Lehman collapse. It points to the good progress in curtailing the gross fiscal deficit to 3.3 per cent of GDP by 2007-08, before it ballooned once again. But facts suggest that it wasn't just the stimulus package unleashed after the crisis which impacted the deficit.
Populist give-aways, in the form of farm loan waivers, large pay revisions to government employees, and the NREGA payments, which have played a big role in ballooning government expenditure, flagged off before the credit crisis. That current deficits have been achieved after accounting for one-off receipts from telecom spectrum auctions and stake sales in PSUs, also raises questions of sustainability.
LIMITED CONTROL?
The impression created, therefore, is that despite good intentions, the government has had limited control on the fiscal situation in recent times. It has been able to neither increase its revenues nor curtail its expenditure, at will.
Increasing tax revenue has clearly depended on buoyant economic growth. And growth isn't guaranteed, with global factors intervening every so often. Reducing expenditure isn't easy either, given the policy priority to ‘inclusive' growth and political ramifications of tightening the purse strings.
(This article was published in Hindu on April 3, 2012)
Associated Press
23-year-old Dalai Lama, bespectacled, astride the white horse, crosses the Zsagola pass in Southern Tibet along with his escape party on March 21, 1959, after fleeing Lhasa. Pursued by Red Chinese troops, the Dalai Lama was on the fourth day of his flight to India, in this file photo.
Rs 1269.15 cr rehab package cleared for Sikkim
Source:Assam Tribune
GANGTOK, April 2 – The Sikkim Government has been sanctioned Rs 1,269.15 crore from the Central Government as a package for the rebuilding and restoration measures to be undertaken in the wake of the devastating earthquake on September 18 last year.
This includes Rs 1,000 crore package announced by the Prime Minister during his Sikkim visit after the earthquake.
Of this sanction, the State has received Rs 296 crore so far, it was informed. The remaining amount is expected to be released with the submission of detailed project reports (DPRs)by the respective departments.
It is informed that the DPRs of most of the line departments have been submitted. With the formality completed, it is expected that the remaining amount, along with further funds under different schemes, will now be released soon.
Apart from the Rs 296 crore, the State has also received Rs 227.51 crore from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) which was sanctioned to the State to undertake immediate relief and restoration measures such as the restoration of power lines, road network, classrooms, etc. Another Rs 41.64 crore was released for restoring rural water supply infrastructure in the State.
Of the Rs 1,000 crore sanctioned by the Central Government under the Prime Minister’s package and of which Rs 96 crore has been received, Rs 193 crore is for rebuilding and reconstruction of the damaged Tashiling Secretariat; Rs 391 crore for rural housing woks; Rs 216 crore for roads; Rs 170 crore for reconstruction of damaged buildings including schools and other Government buildings and Rs 30 crore for restoration and rehabilitation of drinking water supply in different areas in the State.
Mauritius row over Sikkim institute
by Anubhuti Vishnoi : New Delhi, Tue Apr 03 2012, 03:57 hrs
source:indian express.com
Sikkim-based Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (EIILM), a university recognised by the University Grants Commission, has set up an offshore campus without the UGC’s permission. The campus has been set up in Mauritius, and has run into controversy with political parties in that country demanding a commission of inquiry to look into the ‘scam’.
Even as the institute doles out degrees to students at its Mauritius campus, varsities in India are refusing admission to students of the ‘unrecognised’ institute.
Set up as a state university in 2006, EIILM sought UGC recognition in 2008. To a query by the UGC on whether it had an offshore campus, the varsity replied in the negative. However, the varsity, in contravention of rules, set up a campus in Mauritius in 2007. As per UGC rules, a varsity can set up a campus within the state they operate in only after five years of being established. EIILM has not only set up a centre a year after it was established but also set it up outside the country.
On March 28, Leela Devi Dookhun, spokesperson for Monuvement Socialiste Militant, a political party in Mauritius, held a press conference demanding a ‘commission of inquiry’ to look into the ‘scam’. While N Bodha of the Monuvement Socialiste Militant, as the leader of opposition, raised the issue in 2007, the UGC had largely stayed quiet. Only when a Mauritius campus student wrote to it last year, the UGC responded on October 25, 2011. “... the UGC has not granted any permission to EIILM University (Private), Sikkim, to establish offshore campus... Therefore the degree obtained from the Mauritius campus cannot be treated as valid,” the communication read.
An admission request sent by a student from the Mauritius campus to Delhi University was rejected on January 31. Kurukshetra University denied an admission on February 23. The reason given in both cases was that the degree was not recognised in India.
N Bodha said an inquiry must be done to ‘set the record straight’. “The UGC had in 2007 responded to my letter saying that EIILM was not recognised by them at that point. So how could they come to Mauritius and set up a campus. Even the agreement between Mauritius Tertiary Education Commission and UGC has been flouted by this institute,” Bodha said.
Sunil Jeetah, CEO, EIILM, Mauritius, said UGC has nothing to do with the Mauritius campus. Jeetah’s brother Rajeshwar Jeetah is the Tertiary Education Minister of Mauritius and this, he says, is the real reason for the “political campaign” against EIILM. “The Government of Mauritius has given us the licence to operate. EIILM is recognised by the UGC, which is the grant-giving body. EIILM does not need the grants and is established by the state legislature,” Jeetah told IE over telephone.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
HAS WATER ENTERED MY SHIP.....?
In 1923, eight of the wealthiest people in the world met. Their combined wealth, it is estimated, exceeded the wealth of the government of the United States at that time. These men certainly knew how to make a living and accumulate wealth.
But let's examine what happened to them 25 years later.
1. President of the largest steel company, Charles Schwab, lived on borrowed capital for five years before he died bankrupt.
2. President of the largest gas company, Howard Hubson, went insane.
3. One of the greatest commodity traders, Arthur Cutton, died insolvent.
4. President of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was sent to jail.
5. A member of the President's Cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from jail to go home and die in peace.
6. The greatest "bear" on Wall Street, Jessie Livermore, committed suicide.
7. President of the world's greatest monopoly, Ivar Krueger, committed suicide.
8. President of the Bank of International Settlement, Leon Fraser, committed suicide.
What they forgot was how to make a life and how to spend wisely the accumulated wealth! Flowing river doesn't stink, but when there is no outlet for the water to flow it starts stinking. Money in itself is not evil nor earning it! That is what artha purushaartha is all about. Money provides food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, clothes for the needy. Money is only a medium of exchange. There is nothing wrong in possessing wealth, but it is disastrous to be possessed by wealth, because money may be a good slave, but a really bad master. Moreover, when we are obsessed with wealth and are attached to it, any decrease, loss or destruction of it will be painful and will be the cause of our biggest sorrow and misery.
We need two kinds of education. One that teaches us how to make a living and one that teaches us how to live.There are people who are so engrossed in their professional life that they neglect their family, health and social responsibilities. If asked why they do this they would reply that they were doing it for their family. Our kids are sleeping when we leave home. They are sleeping when we come home. We see them grow horizontally not vertically. Twenty years later, we'll turn back, and they'll all be gone.First we neglect our health in pursuit of wealth and then spend the accumulated wealth in regaining health. Can we fully regain our former health? There has to be healthy balance between personal, family, social and professional life.Without water, a ship cannot move. The ship needs water, but if the water gets into the ship, it will be disastrous. What was once a means of living for the ship will now become a means of destruction. Similarly, earning is necessary for living and to sustain our homes, but let not the earning enter our hearts, for what is a means of living will be become a means of destruction.When water enters the ship and wealth our minds, both need to be discarded with both hands quickly to avert disaster.
So we need to take a moment and ask ourselves....has water entered our ship?
(Above information provided by Swami Avdhutanada)
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