Sikkim Governor’s Book Released at Raj Bhawan

Sikkim Governor’s Book Released at Raj Bhawan  

Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Saturday, July 21, 2012
(Business Wire India)

Governor H.R. Bharadwaj released ‘Bahuda and The Post 9/11 World and India’s Culture: The State, Arts and Beyond, a set of two books authored by Sikkim Governor Balmiki Prasad Singh.

The book published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), were released at an event jointly organized by OUP and National Institute of Advanced Studies at the Raj Bhavan.

The book consists of two sets: Bahudha and Post 9/11 World and India's Culture. The first propounds the concept of Bahudha-an eternal reality or continuum-a dialogue of harmony and peaceful living. The second explores the fascinating aspects of India's diversified cultural base and examines the relationship between the state, market, and arts.

Commenting on the books, the former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachaliah said they were a reflection of the way humanity has conducted itself.

“The 20th Century has been the bloodiest in the history of mankind with over 220 million people killed in wars, civil strife and others. This book talks about that we have created and the way out of it”, he added.

M.V. Nadkarni, Honorary visiting professor of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, was also present.

Economists urge Singapore to redefine progress, Bhutan-style

By gailkcsy | SingaporeScene – Thu, Jul 19, 2012

Bhutan's unique people-centric growth model could teach a globalised Singapore a thing or two. (Getty Images)

By Bhavan Jaipragas

Landlocked and aid-dependent Bhutan may be worlds apart from Singapore and its globalised, advanced economy, but the Himalayan kingdom's unique people-centric growth model could still teach the city-state a thing or two, say two leading Singapore economists.

Bhutan embraces a development philosophy that it calls "Gross National Happiness" (GNH), which focuses on 72 "happiness indicators" including the mental health of its citizens, pollution levels, the crime rate, and income distribution. According to Yeoh Lam Keong and Manu Bhaskaran, this principle of looking beyond economic growth and setting meaningful targets is one that should apply in Singapore, even though the two countries' challenges and circumstances are entirely different.

"Whatever your level of opportunity, you can always raise the level of well-being if you focus on the indicators that matter," said Yeoh. "The development options that Bhutan has are completely different from ours. But what they do which we don't is to focus on key indicators."

Bhaskaran said Singapore should not view GDP growth "as the be all and end all".

"Are we really building the kind of economy that really services the needs of the citizens?," he added. "At the end of the day economics…is all about whether you can deliver things to the average guy and make his life meaningful."

Yeoh and Bhaskaran are adjunct senior research fellows at the Institute of Policy Studies, and were part of the team that penned a groundbreaking policy paper on the need for a new social compact in Singapore.

They were speaking earlier this month to a team of student journalists who are on their way to Bhutan to report on various aspects of life in the Kingdom. The trip is part of the annual Going Overseas For Advanced Reporting (GO-FAR) programme of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.

Unlike Singapore's open and globalised economy, landlocked Bhutan is forced to depend heavily on neighbouring India. …

The once-isolated Himalayan kingdom has become a prominent case study in international discussions about sustainable development. Bhutan was even debated in Singapore's Parliament last year, after opposition MP Sylvia Lim asked if the government would create its own GNH index after co-sponsoring a Bhutan-led UN resolution to make happiness a key development goal.

In response, national development minister Khaw Boon Wan — who had previously visited Bhutan — cautioned against viewing the kingdom as "Shangri-La on earth". He remarked that the only "happy" people he saw were wealthy tourists, children with "angelic innocence" and foreign volunteers who found meaning in helping the less privileged.

"Most of time, I saw unhappy people, toiling in the field, worried about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products," he said.

Yeoh and Bhaskaran agreed that Bhutan was a poor country whose people probably aspired to many of the comforts enjoyed in Singapore. Bhutan has a per capita income of US$6,000, compared with Singapore's US$49,700. Unlike Singapore's open and globalised economy, landlocked Bhutan is forced to depend heavily on neighbouring India.

Nevertheless, Bhutan's approach of measuring progress with relevant yardsticks is something that Singapore can learn from, the economists said.

In healthcare for example, possible indicators could be the proportion of citizens' "out of pocket" expenses compared with other developed countries, and the breadth of outreach of public hospitals. Yeoh noted that such targets —  instead of looking solely at costs and facilities — would result in more people benefitting from a higher standard of care.

Income inequality was also a relevant measure, he said. A widening wealth gap was known to lead to various social ills including higher juvenile delinquency, diminished social mobility and shorter life expectancy. "Singapore is not focusing on the key indicators," he said.

Vital inputs on Oranges

So, two years ago, Coke flew in over 10,000 saplings from Sucocitrico Cutrali, the largest producer of oranges in the world, in Brazil. Now the saplings, which were grown in a greenhouse at Jalgoan in Maharashtra, are being shifted to orchards in the state. If the pilot project works out as planned, the oranges will be used for making 100 per cent pure juices. Coke hopes that eventually it will not have to import orange concentrate as it does now from as far away as Florida in the US and Brazil to make Minute Maid Orange. It has also focused its attention on mangoes. Though mango drinks are hugely popular, only 12 per cent of the country’s produce is worth processing into pulp. So Coke has, along with Jain Irrigation, developed technology to double the productivity of mango plantations. “Instead of mango trees of 18-20 feet, we have developed trees which are only 8-10 feet. They take less land space, so we can plant double the number of trees in the same space,” says a Coke executive. The investment in this project alone is $2 million.

C B KARKI INAUGURATES IPR EXHIBITION AT STAR

Songtsan Travel Offers Private Tour of Kailash For Indian Pilgrims

Published 10:00 a.m., Thursday, July 19, 2012

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Songtsan Travel is one of only two Tibetan travel agencies licensed to take Indian tour groups on the Mt. Kailash pilgrimage. They now offer a private tour of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar for Indian pilgrims.

Lhasa, Tibet (PRWEB) July 19, 2012

Songtsan Travel is one of only two Tibetan travel agencies licensed to take Indian tour groups on the Mt. Kailash pilgrimage. They now offer a private tour of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar for Indian pilgrims.

Mount Kailash rises to 22,028 feet in one of the highest and most rugged parts of the Himalayas. Made of black rock, the symmetrical peak has a distinctive diamond-like shape with four steep faces. The source of some of the longest rivers in Asia, Kailash is a sacred mountain for four faiths: Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and followers of the indigenous Tibetan religion of Bön. Next to the mountain are two sacred lakes, the most important of which is Lake Manasarovar.

The landscape around the mountain is rocky and dry, crossed by blue alpine streams. Near the sacred mountain is the source of the Indus, Sutlej and Bramaputra rivers and on its south side are two freshwater lakes, the easternmost of which is the highly sacred Lake Manasarovar (Mapam). With an altitude of 14,950 feet, Mansarovar is the highest body of fresh water in the world. The other lake, Rakshastal, also has legendary significance.

The distance to Mt. Kailash from Lhasa is approximately 2000 kilometers. Songtsan Travel will bring food and camping equipment, and make all necessary arrangement to make sure that travelers will have a pleasant and comfortable journey to these holy sites.

Songtsan Travel is a Lhasa-based tour operator with more than 20 years of experience leading Tibet tours. The agency uses part of its proceeds to provide education to disadvantaged children. Songtsan Travel seeks to promote Tibetan culture and help Tibetans improve their livelihood.

For the original version on PRWeb visit:http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/7/prweb9715521.htm

Teesta III proj likely to be ready by Dec 2013

Teesta III proj likely to be ready by Dec 2013

PTI

New Delhi, July 19, 2012

The 1,200 MW Teesta-III hydro project in Sikkim, delayed by natural calamities and legal hurdles, is likely to be commissioned by December 2013. The project, which would supply power Sikkim, Haryana and Rajasthan, among others, is being developed by Teesta Urja, where four entities, including Sikkim government have stakes.

Power trading solutions provider PTC India, which holds 11% stake, said the project is expected to be ready by the end of next year.

"The construction activity of Teesta III project got affected due to the earthquake of September 2011. The project is now expected to be commissioned in December 2013," PTC India chairman and managing director Tantra Narayan Thakur told PTI.

Singapore-based Asian Genco Pte holds 50.1% stake in Teesta III while Sikkim government and Athena Projects Pvt Ltd has 26% and 11% shareholding, respectively.

Going by initial schedule, first unit of Teesta III was to be commissioned in August 2011, as per Teesta Urja website. The project would have six units of 200 MW each.

Sources said that more than 70% of work at Teesta III has been completed.

Apart from last year's earthquake that affected the project site, differences between Teesta Urja Ltd and Sikkim government have also delayed the implementation of Teesta III.

A Teesta Urja official said that delays have escalated the project costs, which is now estimated to be around Rs. 8,000 crore. Initially, the project expenses were projected at about Rs. 5,700 crore.

Earlier this month, issues regarding transfer of 26% stake to Sikkim government were resolved, sources said.

The Sikkim government had resorted to legal action on the issue of transfer of 26% stake in the project to itself.

On July 13, Rural Electrification Corp -- one of the lenders for the project -- had convened a meeting of Teesta Urja stakeholders. REC has proposed to take up cost over run funding to the tune of Rs. 1,000 crore.

According to the minutes of the meeting, Sikkim government officials assured support on all project-related issues including infusion of equity and issue of no objection certificate (NOC) for bridge construction.

The run of the river project was awarded by the Sikkim government to Teesta Urja Ltd on BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) basis for a period of 35 years.

Chronic Fatigue- How to rise

How To Rise Above Chronic Fatigue

By: Swami Kriyananda
source:The Speaking Tree

        
Chronic fatigue is not due to overwork -- we do not work nearly so hard as our ancestors did -- but rather due to a scattering of our forces.

Ours is not a “focused” age. Countless influences pull us in conflicting directions. We find ourselves trying to do a hundred things hastily, rather than one thing at a time carefully and well.

We measure achievement by numbers rather than by excellence. A result is the exhaustion one finds written on the faces of so many in our bustling cities, where strangers pass one another with never a smile or even a glance of greeting.

Fatigue is also a direct result of a loss of interest. Our energy supply depends not primarily upon food and other external causes, but our capacity for smiles, for enthusiasm. People lead “one-horsepower lives” when they forget how to smile, when they over-complicate their daily routine, and clutter their minds with the debris of useless desires and preoccupations.

The person who can simplify his life and marshal his energies to do a few things well, instead of scattering his forces restlessly, will find that he has more than enough strength for whatever he has to do.

Be willing in everything you do, for willingness begets energy. My guru Paramhansa Yogananda used to say, “The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy.”

“Will” in this context means willingness – not physical or mental strain, but a pleasant, steadily increasing focus of our whole attention upon a goal.

A good technique for drawing energy into the body is to stand facing the sun. Raise your hands above your head. Feel the warmth of the sun striking your forehead at the point between the eyebrows, and the palms of your hands. Feel that you are drawing warmth and energy into your body through those “windows.” After some time, turn your back to the sun, and feel its warmth upon the area of the medulla oblongata at the base of the brain. Keep your hands raised above the head. Again, draw the sun’s rays into your body.

The next time you feel fatigue, do some deep breathing. Then fill your mind with the sense of wonder that a child feels who sees this world with a fresh outlook.

Fatigue, finally, is a symptom of self-centeredness. One who can forget himself in helping others and in giving strength to them will find himself rarely exhausted.

Foods, too, can strongly affect our energy. The stimulation one receives from some foods is due not to the energy they give us, but only to their irritating influence upon the body. Loud noise, similarly, may seem to give us energy, but in fact it only whips up the nervous system into a frenzy.

Coffee is a well-known example of a stimulating food. While its immediate effect is sometimes uplifting, its long-range effect is depressing. Caffeine has been said to kill Vitamin B in the body. People who drink too much coffee find that their own natural supply of energy is, if anything, lessened. They require more and more coffee to get the “lift” they seek. The same may be said of tea, tobacco, and other stimulants.

In yoga teachings, much emphasis is placed on a harmonious, rather than a stimulating, diet. If the inner Self is allowed to work through a relaxed and peaceful nervous system, it will be able to fill the body with energy and strength. External stimuli prevent this harmonious expression from within. Dietary stimulants are therefore self-defeating.

Glaciers in the Himalayas are shrinking rapidly, says study

by R. PRASAD

Source:HINDU

   

Cause and effect: Indian monsoon is weakening and this has resulted in greater shrinkage of glaciers in the Himalayas. Photo: K.R. Deepak

The annual rate of shrinkage is 48.2 metres in terms of length and 0.57 % in terms of area

A majority of glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding regions are retreating, according to a study published recently in Nature Climate Change. The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions contain most of  the world’s glaciers outside the polar region. The total glacier area in this region is 100,000 square kilometres.

The authors found that the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions exhibited systematic differences in glacial shrinkage. The most intensive shrinkage is found in the Himalayas (excluding the Karakoram). Here the reduction is greatest both in terms of length and area, and also the difference between ice accumulation and loss (mass balance). In contrast, the least reduction is seen in the Pamir Plateau.

Contradictory results

The latest results contradict the Tibetan Plateau glacier loss results provided by the GRACE satellite. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite measurements found the glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau were actually growing, and Asian glaciers, in general, were losing ice much slowly than previously suggested.

According to the Nature Climate Change paper, the rate of shrinkage of Himalayan glaciers (southeastern Tibetan Plateau) in terms of length was 48.2 metres per year and the rate of area reduction was 0.57 per cent per year during the study period (1970s to 2000s). The mass balance was negative (meaning more ice loss), and it ranged from “-1,100 mm per year to -760 mm per year with an average of -930 mm per year.”

In the case of the Pamir Plateau, the rate of retreat was just 0.9 metres per year and area reduction rate was 0.07 per cent per year. What is really significant is that the Muztag Ata Glacier in the eastern Pamir region had a positive mass balance for four of the five years of observation.

“Mass balance is a direct and reliable indicator of glacier status,” they write. The mass balance of 15 glaciers was measured for three consecutive years.

The Indian monsoon in summer and westerlies (prevailing winds from Europe) in the winter are the two important atmospheric circulation patterns found here. The East Asian monsoon also influences glaciers, particularly those in the eastern margin. The interior of the Tibetan Plateau is dominated more by continental conditions.

There is a direct link between atmospheric circulation, and in turn precipitation, and glacier shrinkage.

The reason

The reason for intensive glacier shrinkage in the Himalayas can be traced back to the circulation pattern, and in turn the amount of precipitation.

The Himalayas gets its precipitation from the Indian monsoon, while the Pamir Plateau gets it from the westerlies.

Records confirm that the precipitation during the period 1979 to 2010 decreased in the Himalayas while it increased in the case of eastern Pamir Plateau.

“Recent studies found that the Indian monsoon is weakening and the westerlies are strengthening and this influences the precipitation patterns,” they write.

This has resulted in greater shrinkage of glaciers in the Himalayas, while the Pamir Plateau shows the “least reduction in length and area, and positive mass balance (meaning increased ice accumulation).

Effect of temperature

Temperature rise also affects glacier shrinkage. “An increasing warming trend at higher elevations has been observed over the Tibetan Plateau and the warming rate increases with elevation,” they write. They found the  warming to be “highest between 4,800 metres and 6,200 metres above mean sea level.”

“In places dominated by the westerlies, such as the Karakoram and the Pamir plateau, glaciers gain their mass mostly from winter snow, and so are less affected by warming because temperatures in winter are still below zero,” Nature notes. “In the eastern and central Himalayas, however, it snows mainly during monsoon season, and a slight increase in summer temperatures can affect glaciers drastically.”

Many glaciers were studied for three main factors — glacial retreat, area reduction, and mass balance.

Claim Interest on Income Tax Refund for delay

 Claim Interest on Income Tax Refund for delay

source:TAXGURU

DELAYS AREN’T DENIALS  – Before getting into the actual process, it is important to know some of the reasons that may have caused the delay. If your bank account details or your PAN number is entered incorrectly in the form or you end up filing your tax in the wrong ward/circle, then the chances for delay are high.Tax authorities have especially been known to cause delays in cases where the amount to be refunded exceeds Rs 5 lakh, citing additional approvals as the reason. Delay could also be caused if litigation is pending against the refund claimed or against any other issues with higher level of authority. For instance, if an individual is in appeal with Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) against an order passed by the assessing officer (AO) level, in our experience, the refund is generally not issued by the AO even though there is nothing in the law to this effect.

REMEDIAL ACTION  – Moving on to the actual process. In ideal circumstances, you should be able to trace the status of your refund online at the NSDL website using your PAN number and entering the year for which you are to get the refund. However, with the service being limited to metros, in most other cities you would need to check the status and claim your refund by visiting the tax office where you filed your returns.  You will need to fill Form 30, and attach a copy of the tax return filed, a copy of the withholding tax certificates and proof of tax deposited as advance tax or self-assessment tax. However, if you get no response from the assessing officer, then you will need to take this up further with a higher authority.

As the next step, the individual should write a letter to the Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax with a copy to the grievance cell and the concerned income tax officer and enclose copies of all the letters written to the assessing officer and a copy of the return filed. If this still doesn’t help, you could contact the income tax ombudsman who has been appointed to facilitate this process.

USING OTHER CHANNELS

Individuals also have the right to use the Right to Information (RTI) route to find out the reasons for delay of refunds.  If you don’t receive a response from the Income-Tax Office within 30 days of your submitting the letter, then you could file an RTI application in the name of the accounts officer of the income-tax department of the government of India, including the photocopy of acknowledgment and other such documents.

If no action is taken within 35-40 days of sending the RTI, then you could file a first appeal within the next 35-50 days. If you still don’t receive any response then you could approach RTI activists for help with the final appeal to the Central Information Commission. Meanwhile, remember to retain photocopies of all the letter and papers that have been used in your communication with the Income Tax department.

Meanwhile, remember that it is also your right to claim interest on the amount that is due to you as a refund .

Where the refund of any amount becomes due to the taxpayer under the provisions of the I-T Act, he shall be entitled to receive simple interest on the amount of refund due in the return calculated at half percent for every month (or part of the month) from the date of actual payment of tax till the time such refund is granted.

These calculations often involve mistakes and in the case of an error, would need to file a rectification application under Section 154 of the I-T Act. However, the rules are different for refunds dealing with advance tax money. If the amount of refund is less than 10% of tax, then you do not stand to get any interest on it.

Taxation of Services -CONFUSION

Taxation of Services – Confusion Persists

byDr. Sanjiv Agarwal 
Source:Tax Guru

India has migrated to new regime of Service Tax w.e.f. July 1, 2012 where in all services, except negative list of services and exempted services are liable to suffer Service Tax @ 12.36 percent. While the government expects over 125 lakh crore rupees from Service Tax in current fiscal, it appears that the task may be achieved easily but at the cost of rising disputes and confusion.
In the garb of simplification and trimming of the statutory provisions, the Act has become more complicated and too much dependent upon rules and subordinate notifications. While interpretation of law itself will pose lot of challenges to all stake holders including the law implementing officers, it will give rise to disputes, litigation and consequential delayed or no recoveries.

It is indeed laudable that CBEC has this time issued an education guide for assessees as well as officers to understand the changes in Service Tax law and procedures. This is a welcome move but it comes with a rider. On are hand, government says that ‘it is necessary that these changes are well understood by the tax payers as well as our staff’. To this end, CBEC has issued an elaborate educational guide. It has also specified, that any Board Circular that is contrary to the revised law will stand automatically superseded. This will create problems for assessee to ascertain which ones prevail and which one stand superseded. CBEC ought to bring out a comprehensive list of live Circulars.

It is shocking to see that while with this educational guide, CBEC claims to have elaborately and comprehensively explained the taxation issues, it at the same time disowns any responsibility for the same. It states that it is merely based on broad understanding of a team of officers. It is neither a Circular nor a manual of instructions. It does not command any legal backing to be binding. In such a situation, expecting compliance with the law in letter and spirit is itself on a shaky foundation. Even the tax liability can be disputed by the officers. It also leaves room for all types of disputes. If government can not take a stand on issues, where should the assesses look at!!

There are many loose ends in the present taxation and it is expected that CBEC should come out with a legally binding Circular with all sorts of clarifications duly owning the same. It also needs to instruct its officers not to indulge in invoking harsh penal provisions in the first year of the new law

Press Club marks decadal foundation day with Khangchendzonga Kalam Puraskar for Jigme N Kazi

GANGTOK, 17 July: Press Club of Sikkim [PCS] celebrated its decadal Foundation Day in grand manner today at Janta Bhawan. The function was chaired by former PCS president, CD Rai, while senior journalist and playwright, CK Shrestha, was present as the chief guest and Information and Public Relation Department Secretary, KS Topgay, the guest of honour.
On the occasion, the 8th Khangchendzonga Kalam Puraskar was conferred on senior journalist, Editor Sikkim Observer and Himalayan Guardian, Jigme N Kazi, while the correspondent of Hindustan Samachar news agency, Bishal Gurung was awarded the Laganshil Yuwa Patrakar Puraskar [Dedicated young journalist award]. Likewise, the Press Club of Sikkim also felicitated the Samay Dainik correspondent for Darjeeling, Mohan Lama, today.
Addressing the function, the chief guest, highlighted that journalists should not misguide readers and should always be proactive is searching out stories. He added that journalists are part of the society as others, but because they are part of the information media, had a more significant and more responsible role towards addressing social concerns.
IPR Secretary, Mr Topgay, in turn assured to extend all possible help and support for the development and welfare of the journalist fraternity and the Press Club.
PCS president, Bhim Rawat mentioned that the club has been working for the welfare and unity of the journalists in the state and urged everyone remain united. He expressed his gratitude to Mr. Shrestha for helping the PCS build a Journalist Welfare fund through his play performed by journalists in 2008.
The Khangchendzonga Kalam Puraskar awardee, Mr. Kazi, in his acceptance speech, said, “I believe that by conferring this award to this long-time black-listed man, who is forced to live in self-imposed exile in his own homeland, the Press in Sikkim is sending a clear message to those who care to listen. And that message is loud and clear: the Press in Sikkim wants to be more free and independent and those in power and the people at large should take note of it and respect its stand.”
The programme concluded with a vote of thanks speech proposed by Amber Gurung.

Source: Sikkim Now

the boson story

A Chennai link to the boson story

Source:the Hindu   

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From the first collisions in March 2010 till two weeks before the Higgs boson announcement, Chennai-lad Rajivalochan Subramaniam was right there at the heart of the experiments. Here, he tells Education Plus readers the story, in simple language, of the great discovery that unfolded at European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) lab, Geneva, Switzerland. And his own contribution.

I was involved in selecting interesting data from all the data collected at ATLAS detector. Let me explain what I mean by data. Hydrogen atom has one proton and one electron. If we strip off the electron from hydrogen atoms we will have protons.

In the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), we accelerate two counter rotating beams of protons to very high energy in a circular tunnel using superconducting magnets. Once the proton speed reaches near that of light, the two beams are allowed to collide. In such a situation each proton - proton collision is called an event or data.

If all the data from ATLAS were to be recorded, it would fill up 1,00,000 CDs per second. This would create a stack of CDs 450 feet high every second, which would extend up to the moon and back twice each year. The data rate is also equivalent to 50 billion telephone calls at the same time.

ATLAS actually only records a fraction of the data (those that may show signs of new physics) and that rate is equivalent to 27 CDs per minute. This is exactly the activity I was involved in. Along with other scientists, I designed a three-step process to check if the data needed to be saved or discarded. The time for this entire process is four micro seconds and so all these steps are automated. From time to time when the machine stops for maintenance we would have an opportunity to change these methods.

The discovery of the Higgs Boson-like particle did not happen on one day. It took two decades to build the machine. And we required enough statistics to actually declare the discovery. Any high school measurement experiment will involve several readings, and finally the average value of such readings will be computed. So this is somewhat similar to that but we were dealing with sizes that were much smaller than those at atomic scale and so we required two years of data to arrive at a conclusion.

On July 4, when the announcement was made, the atmosphere was electric. When I actually saw tears in the eyes of Peter Higgs who wrote this hypothesis 48 years ago I too felt very emotional. Everyone was under tremendous pressure and you were not spared for being a student. It is a several billion dollar experiment and we had to answer people.

The discovery was a great success. This is not the end as the entire characteristic of the new born particle is yet to be analysed. After all this, we were able to explain four per cent of the visible universe. Still, 96 per cent of the universe is dark energy and dark matter. In other words, we do not know anything about the mysteries of our universe. 

The failure of the Indian intellectual

Shashi Tharoor / Jul 14, 2012, 00:02 IST

source: Business Standard


India’s diplomats defend their turf from encroachment by academics. They’re not entirely wrong to do so, says Shashi Tharoor in this book excerpt, but the result is that they remain insulated from new ideas
I have no doubt,” Mrs Gandhi acknowledged early in her rule, “that our present administrative system uses the expert inadequately and indifferently.” As it proved, there was little she could do about it; the anti-intellectualism of the entrenched bureaucracy was too intractable. The concept of the non-governmental expert as a legitimate addition to established channels of policy was not a popular one among either politicians or bureaucrats. [...]

Intellectuals formed a segment of the educated class from which sprang the country’s rulers, but they did not constitute members of the “ruling class”. This, many intellectuals came to regret. In independent India they sat in judgement all too frequently on those whose seats they would gladly have occupied, if they could. Far from constituting a jury of peers in a people’s court on governmental performance, intellectuals are — as the subjects of their prescriptions realised — by and large passing verdicts on their betters. Sentenced to a lower social status, his livelihood subsidised by government grants, the Indian intellectual is a poor relative of the Indian bureaucrat, and he knows it.

 

The result is, as the sociologist Edward Shils noted, that government officials “do not learn to benefit from criticism emanating from the universities; instead, they maintain a secretiveness and touchiness which is injurious to efficiency in economic life and to political democracy.” K Subrahmanyam, who, as a government official appointed to head the scholarly Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, operated in the twilight zone between bureaucracy and academics, found to his dismay that even government-sponsored academic institutions were disregarded by the MEA in policy formulation. Subrahmanyam attributed this to the MEA’s insecurity about its own competence, and fear that ministers would soon bypass officialdom altogether. [...]
Policy-planners and MEA diplomatists are privately scathing in their contempt for intellectuals. Academicians, the bureaucrats argue, were inadequately informed about contemporary problems, and had no idea of empirical reality or the mechanics of policy-implementation; their involvement in policy-making would only introduce impracticalities and impair stability and continuity. Devoid of an independent socioeconomic base, unable (unlike journalists) to express their views in influential publications on a regular basis, and often anxious to please the government of the day, India’s intellectuals are not seen by policymakers as a respectable community of minds but as irrelevances not worth treating seriously. [T]he techniques by which the MEA keeps abreast of non-official opinion were few and far from searching, and the foreign policy bureaucracy remains insulated from most advances in thought outside the ministry.

To a great extent, however, the failure of the Indian intellectual goes beyond the imperviousness of officialdom. Standards, rarely high, have been further diluted under populist pressures for the expansion of higher education. In the upper reaches of academe, style rather than substance tends to prevail — when the Indian intellectual is not seduced by plausible theories, since ideology in Indian academia proves too often a facile substitute for original thought. [...] These traits particularly manifested themselves in foreign policy critiques. “With a very few exceptions,” one commentator noted, “the Indian intellectual has been incompetent when he has not been unctuous, and afraid of embarking on a rational inquiry when he has not been afraid of the establishment.” Since independence “there has not appeared a single significant work by an Indian writer discussing these fundamentals [national interests, options, means] with any depth or originality... To expect a good essay on the theoretical aspects of foreign policy is to expect the impossible.” Accordingly, an “air of unreality” prevailed in most analysis of foreign affairs, which suffered from what former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson had termed “the clichés, the moralism, the emotionalism, the bad history, faulty analysis and just plain ignorance” of much American foreign policy criticism in the post–Second World War years.

The Indian intellectual’s lack of interest in developing specialised knowledge in foreign policy led to an undue focus on marginalia, rather than on the conceptual basis of foreign policy. Foreign policy seminars tend, as one analyst put it, “to make major comments on external political issues, rather than to come to grips with India’s policies towards these issues”. The study of international affairs also lacks a solid academic infrastructure in the universities. Frequently conformism emerges, possibly because it was natural for the intelligentsia of a newly emergent nation to identify itself with that nation’s posture in world affairs, though this is fortunately waning six and a half decades after independence. This attitude extended even to attempts to acquire specialisation. Till the 1990s, the Soviet studies programmes at Jawaharlal Nehru University and similar institutions were more concerned with promoting Indo-Soviet friendship than with disinterested academics. It was, therefore, not very surprising that officialdom preferred to disregard intellectuals as lacking in critical integrity. Their anxiety not to offend the government only invited the scorn of those they wished to please. [...]

The only departure from this norm is when intellectuals turned to the daily newspapers, the proliferation of media outlets offering them multiple avenues for the expression of opinion. But despite exceptions, these had at best a limited impact on both the public and the MEA. Outside the academic community and some sections of the press, there is little interest or competence in foreign policy analysis. This is not true of the final category of intellectual who writes on foreign policy, the retired diplomat, though too many evade responsibility for conceptual soulsearching by devoting themselves to repetitive reminiscences, such as K P S Menon’s syndicated variations in the 1960s and 1970s on the theme of Indo-Soviet friendship. In more recent times, former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal has become a prolific commentator on foreign policy issues from a distinctly hard-nosed realpolitik perspective. But with honourable exceptions like Salman Haidar and T P Sreenivasan, there has been little attempt to put practical experience in the field, so lacking in other intellectuals, at the service of institutional re-examination.


There are also limitations on the Indian intellectual that run deep in the political ethos. There are few Indian equivalents of the contextual documents and White Papers issued by the British or Australian Parliaments (and earlier by Nehru). As for the annual report of the MEA, an inscrutable collection of banalities and itineraries, one critic bitingly observed that “the only explanation for this consistently dull, drab and un-illuminating document is the assumption at the political level that the conduct of foreign policy is an esoteric subject best known to its practitioners”.

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Excerpted with permission from Penguin India

PAX INDICA
INDIA AND THE WORLD OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Author: Shashi Tharoor
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 456
Price: Rs 799

Extend PPF account beyond 15 years

How to extend PPF account beyond 15 years

Source:TaxGuru

We have to initially open the Open the PPF account for 15 years and after the initial period of 15 years is over, one can keep on extending the deposit for a period of 5 years at a time. In fact, this is where the magic of PPF begins. One need not start a fresh PPF account and continue it for all of 15 years — just extend the old one for five years at a time, indefinitely. This way, the same PPF account offers additional liquidity to what is offered during the initial term.
Overall, then, after the initial 15-year period, you can convert your PPF investment into a 5-year deposit that offers tax-free interest, tax saving under Sec. 80C and immense liquidity —- and all this for your lifetime. Now, let’s briefly examine the rules of extension.

The PPF account can be continued (after the term of 15 years) either with or without further subscription.  The rules for contribution to the extended account remain the same as during the 15-year period. Once the choice is made for a block of five years, it cannot be changed.The only thing that investors should be careful of is that once an account is continued without contribution for any year, the subscriber cannot change over to with-contributions extension. [Notification F.3(6)-PD/86 dt 20.8.86].

The choice to extend the PPF account with subscription has to be made within one year from the maturity of the account. If this is not done, then by default the account is deemed to have been extended without further contribution for a period of five years.

Coming to liquidity, an investor, continuing his account with fresh subscriptions, can withdraw up to 60% of the balance to his credit at the commencement of each extended period in one or more instalment, but only one per year.

(Notification F.7/2/97-NS IIdt. 9.2.1998). For example, say the term of your PPF account is ending on March 31, 2007. The balance at that time in the account is say Rs 15 lakh. Now, you may opt to continue the account for 5 more years (i.e. till March 31, 2012) and invest regularly as you have been.

However, over the period of five years till March 2012, you may withdraw only Rs 9 lakh which is 60% of the balance standing to your credit on March 31, 2007.

But, what if you wish to continue but not invest further? In other words, you may wish to earn the tax-free interest but may not wish to commit further funds. That, too, is possible.

In case the account is extended without contribution, any amount can be withdrawn without restrictions. However, only one withdrawal is allowed per year. The balance will continue to earn interest till it is completely withdrawn

(Clarification 7 to Clause 9(3A) of the PPF Scheme, 1968).

Form: The investor has to submit Form H at the post office or bank where the account is held if he intends to continue with the subscription.

The form is available at http://www.indiapost.gov.in/pdfForms/PPFContinuation.pdf.

IOD FEARS

What will is a sea-based phenomenon within India’s neighbourhood, called the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).

The IOD results from the seesawing of temperatures in the Indian Ocean, and nearly mimics the El Nino-La Nina processes in the tropical Pacific.

Warming of the west of Indian Ocean sets up a positive phase of the IOD, which is beneficial to the Indian monsoon.

When it shifts to the east, it results in the negative IOD, which suppresses rainfall over mainland India.

The RIGC expects a negative IOD to emerge in the Indian Ocean in August-September.

Shyam Saran: The fragmentation of Europe

Shyam Saran: The fragmentation of Europe

Shyam Saran: The fragmentation of Europe

The great project of European integration is in danger, which India should view with concern

Shyam Saran / Jul 18, 2012, 00:36 IST source:Business Standard

In a recent swing through several European countries, one witnessed the ominous signs of a deepening fragmentation among member states of the European Union, with the historic fault lines in the continent resurfacing with a disturbing intensity. In dealing with the persistent financial and economic crisis, the member states are increasingly taking recourse to narrowly conceived policy measures.
The vulnerability of banks in several southern European countries like Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (the so-called PIIGS, itself a pejorative acronym) has frozen much of the normal inter-bank flow of funds, which is the lifeblood of economic activity, in particular trade finance. Despite having a common currency, there are significant outflows of money taking place from the more vulnerable countries to those regarded, at least for now, as relatively safe havens. A euro in Greece is no longer the same as a euro in Germany. Money being pumped into the banking system through funds provided by the European Central Bank is being retained in bank coffers rather than being used to extend credit to industry and business to kick-start economic recovery. Under the facade of a single market and a single currency, European states are increasingly reverting to the habits characteristic of nation states.

In parallel to the economic fragmentation, there is an even more disturbing political fragmentation under way in Europe. The European Union project was designed not only to generate the economic benefits of regional integration and an expanded single market. More importantly, it was aimed at overcoming the often destructive assertion of separate nationalisms that had plunged Europe into two debilitating wars within a generation. The members of the Union agreed to surrender some measure of their sovereignty into a collectivity that functioned on the basis of an agreed set of rules and more informal norms. What underpins this process of integration are the shared values of liberal democracy and free market economics. The setting up of the monetary union – and the adoption of a single currency by 17 of the 27 member states – was as much a political initiative as an economic one. As the economic bonds tying the member states together have begun to fray, the reassertion of nationalism is evident everywhere. There is a dramatic increase in the political fortunes of hitherto marginal right-wing parties, hostile to the very idea of the Union. They oppose immigration even from other states of the European Union itself. In states like Greece, there has been a worrying rise in violent attacks against immigrants, but xenophobic attitudes are apparent across the continent.
In several countries, the target of attack these days is usually Germany and, to a lesser extent, the Anglo-Saxon dominance over the global economy. Germany is criticised for what is seen as an obstinate and uncaring insistence on financial rectitude, fiscal discipline and further economic integration as conditions for bailing out vulnerable economies. These conditionalities are seen as a plot to create a “German Europe” instead of a “European Germany”. In Spain, the refrain was that Germany was attempting to achieve through economic means what it failed to do through the two world wars it had unleashed in the last century. One was taken aback by the intensity of hostility directed against Germany. If the economic crisis continues to linger and intensify, the spirit of solidarity and common purpose that underlies the Union will diminish, perhaps beyond repair.
It may be possible to carry the process of integration forward in response to the crisis. Judging by the mood in several European countries, the opposite appears more likely. There is a sense of partners stuck in a bad marriage who carry on somehow because separation may have even more negative consequences. This is a very far cry from the ideals that made the Union possible.
What is happening in Europe is of considerable significance to India, and not merely because the European Union is our largest trade partner. In a rapidly transforming and still uncertain geopolitical landscape, a strong and united Europe is a positive for India, which has an instinctive preference for multiple polarity. The Union also symbolised the success of a multiple-ethnic, multiple-cultural and multiple-lingual plural democracy, based on liberal political values that correspond to India’s own deepest aspirations and a view of its own civilisational heritage. In a world riven by the forces of extremism and intolerance, the success of the European experiment has been a source of reassurance and reinforcement for India’s own struggle to establish the ideal of unity in diversity. Europe is an undervalued partner. Its loss will demonstrate its immense relevance to India.

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The writer, a former foreign secretary, is chairman of RIS and a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research

Raveendran/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe team of wrestlers representing India at the London Olympics, scheduled for July 27, pose during the Indian Olympic Wrestling contingent send-off celebrations in New Delhi

Sub Himalayan northern West Bengal under high sedimentation risk

Sub Himalayan northern West Bengal under high sedimentation risk

Debasis Sarkar,ET Burea

17 july 2012 .SILIGURI: In contrast with southern half of West Bengal, suffering from shortage of rainfall, the Sub Himalayan region in northern half of the state has recorded around 15% higher than normal rainfall, highest in the country this monsoon. But, the rivers at foothills, badly suffering form high sedimentation and thus unable to carry heavy hydroload, have started putting vast forest, agro and tea land under trouble. 

As reported, South Bengal had around 30% lesser than normal rainfall this monsoon till 16 thJuly.

Against this, "Sikkim and Sub Himalayan West Bengal have received around 15% higher than long duration average rainfall. Percentile difference between rainfall this monsoon and long duration average of this region is the highest in country," said senior meteorologist Mr. G N Raha form Sikkim.

But, instead of making north Bengal happy, heavy water flow has put north Bengal under trouble. Many major rives were put under red alert, units of National Disaster Rescue Force have arrived, relocation of people have been started.

But more importantly, u ncontrolled human activities, in hills are causing loosening of the top soil. These cause landslide and increased discharge of sand, stone and debris to be carried out by water flow to the downstream foothills. Deposition of these increases height of river beds and thus reduces water retaining capacity. Now after every heavy downpour, water overflows these rivers and covers vast areas of forest, tea or agro land with sand making them sterile- explained eminent geologist Dr. S Sarkar.

"Deep within Buxa Tiger Reserve(BTR) core area, river beds are going up at even 25cm per year rate and we are loosing forest land," said Mr. L G Lepcha, Ex. Field Director of BTR. The picture is same with many other reserved or unreserved forests.

Satellite images revels that over 25% of agriculture land surface in north Bengal foothills is now under sand cover threat. "Many tea gardens have already lost huge area of productive land. But Government is silent," complained planters.

As a remedial measure, Dr Sarkar said, " To have a truly effective and long term result, we must allow the rivers to take their own course by withdrawing all human interferences as best as possible."

Mustafa Quraishi/Associated PressSunita Chaudhary, a female auto-rickshaw driver, mounted on a horse poses for photos as she leaves to file her nomination for India’s vice presidential post in New Delhi. The election for the next vice president is scheduled for Aug. 7.

THE BIG GET BIGGER The proposed measure of increasing the expense ratio is likely to benefit the biggies disproportionately, as they hold the lion's share of assets, earn hefty fees and spend little relatively Marketing /staff expenses of profitable fund houses (Rs crore)
AMC	Asset mgmt fee	Staff costs	mktg expenses	Mktg/AMC fee (%)	Staff costs/ AMC fee (%)
Reliance	597.19	126.60	30.09	5.04	21.20
HDFC	562.52	85.88	10.31	1.83	15.27
UTI	420.40	148.47	13.00	3.09	35.32
Franklin	354.53	106.67	9.46	2.67	30.09
Birla	313.87	100.68	15.28	4.87	32.08
ICICI	281.21	84.05	4.80	1.71	29.89
Fee/expense structure of loss-making funds (Rs crore)
AMC	Asset mgmt fee	Staff costs	Mktg expenses	Mktg/AMC fee (%)	staff costs/ AMC fee (%)
Fidelity	70.75	68.12	17.05	24.10	96.29
LIC	86.86	16.77	6.81	7.84	19.31
Religare	33.50	30.86	43.85	130.89	92.12
Axis	22.76	24.88	0.39	1.72	109.29
L&T	6.60	18.67	13.76	208.38	282.89
Pramerica	1.30	19.72	2.64	203.40	1,521.17
Figures for year ended March 2011.                Source: BS analysis of Value research data