Curious Case of Mobile Phones Lifting Poverty

Article first published as Curious Case of Mobile Phones Lifting Poverty on Technorati.

Last year a cinema was released in Hollywood named, “A curious case of Benjamin Button” that won nomination for Oscar awards. It tells the story of Benjamin Button, who starts aging backward. He takes birth as an old man and dies as an infant. One can understand that such things are only possible in movies. It is quite unnatural. Winning nomination for best picture category is another surprise.

Yesterday, on October 14, a UN study revealed a curious case of Cell phones. It said mobile phone could improve the livelihoods of poorest people in developing countries. UNCTAD, United Nations Conference on Trade And Development said in its information economy report “Mobiles have spawned a wealth of micro-enterprises, offering work to people with little education and few resources.” It advised Governments to monitor how poor people were using mobile phones and design policies to build on that.

This is a curious case of mobile phones lifting poverty instead of policies of the government that enable poor to have honorable employment. The UNCTAD’s suggestion is somewhat like tail wagging the dog. Mobile phones are no doubt a revolutionary invention that enables people to get information faster than before.

But, what information is shared by poor people through mobile phones? Small business people can order products and get them next day. Previously land phone did the same job. Transport facilities in the poorest areas of the least developed countries have not yet been developed as pointed out by the same report. And, the small business people are not poorest people, and they are placed above poverty line in developing and LDC nations.

Currency War between China and the West

Article first published as Currency War between China and the West on Blogcritics.

“Currency War” is the term coined by the IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Khan during the annual meetings of IMF and WB in Washington, D.C that began on October 8. The meetings will be concluded on October 10. Mr. Strauss Khan latter backed down from his comment saying “war was probably too strong a word.”

Tensions on Rise

Tensions have been rising over China’s Yuan policy ever since the US President depicted China as “currency manipulator,” during his earlier days in office. Western countries along with some emerging economies are of the view that China is deliberately manipulating Yuan’s value not allowing it to appreciate. They opine, China is following various means to keep Yuan value low, like buying dollars and other forex currencies, pegging it to the dollar etc… IMF managing director also shares this view and called several times on China to allow Yuan to appreciate to correct global economic and trade imbalances.

Not Fair

Lower Yuan value is making Chinese products more competitive in the global trade, due to which China is able to amass trade surplus in hundreds of billions of dollars, according to the developed economies. China disagrees with the west’s contention and says that it is not responsible for the problems faced by the Western countries. China says the developed countries have many problems created by themselves that require immediate attention. It is not fair for the west to attack Chinese Yuan Policy without reforming their financial regulatory laws, due to which the western states are not in a position to control the “too-big-to-fail” (or “too-important-to-fail” according to the IMF) financial conglomerates, China says.

Australian Envoy Tries to Downplay Racial Email Scandal

Article first published as Australian Envoy Tries to Downplay Racial Email Scandal on Blogcritics.
 

     It is another manifestation of racism, rampant in Australia. Racial attacks on Indian students have been recorded high in number in Melbourne, Victoria of Australia for last two to three years. Indian students studying in Melbourne are also high in number as compared with other cities in Australia. So, Victoria police are expected to be more sensitive towards racial issue that has been haunting the state. But, the Victorian police have proved otherwise.

Email Scandal

     Top Victorian Police officials are caught in a sting operation conducted by an Australian newspaper “the Herald Sun,” joking about a video that showed an Indian passenger travelling on the roof a train being electrocuted when he was contacted with high-tension wire. The video was circulated by Victorian police officers joking, “It could be a way to fix Melbourne’s Indian student problem.”

     The NDTV news web site reported on October 9, 2010 that some of the highest rankings officers had been implicated in the scandal that also involved pornographic material. At least fifteen officers will be dealt with disciplinary hearing in the coming weeks, Herald Sun report was quoted as saying by the NDTV news. The emails probed by Ethical Standards Department’s Operation Barrot contain pornographic, homophobic, racist and violent material.

Downplaying

     After the Australian High Commissioner to India, Peter Varghese, was handed a demarche by the Indian foreign ministry on Saturday, he condemned the incident as “offensive and unacceptable.” But, he went on to say that the incident involved two police officers, neither of them were senior police officers. He added that he did not think we should tar the entire Victorian police with the action of two police officers.

Has Unfair Downgrading by Rating Agencies Exaggerated Europe Debt Crisis?

Article first published as Has Unfair Downgrading by Rating Agencies Exaggerated Europe Debt Crisis? on Blogcritics.

The IMF expressed concerns over high vulnerability of sovereign balance sheets to growth shocks, releasing its semi-annual “Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR)” today, September 5, 2010. The report said the recent sovereign debt crisis in Europe highlighted increased vulnerabilities of banks and sovereign balance sheets emanating from the Euro crisis. Though mature economies are transitioning from temporary support to self-sustaining private demand, the policy makers must stick with fiscal tightening and regulations unless private demand becomes more self-sustainable.

The IMF is still not ready to advocate the withdrawal of fiscal support, (termed nicely as “temporary support” in the report) unless the “still-impaired financial sector” is proven to be out of risk from its toxic mortgage debt assets. Until then Fiscal tightening measures have to be continued, and of course, without caring for working class people’s protests and agitations, at the cost of budget spending for the people.

Government Role in Recovery
 

The IMF report acknowledged the role of the governments in recovery from the financial crisis. It said in its report, “To a large extent, the apparently modest capital needs of U.S. banks reflect the large scale of government-sponsored enterprises and other government interventions without which those needs would have been substantially higher. This highlights the extent to which risk has been transferred from private to public balance sheets, as well as the need to address the burden placed on public institutions.”

Even as recognizing this, the IMF looks for self-sustaining private demand where private demand is still based on temporary support from the government. The governments need to interfere where private firms that are “too-important-to-fail,” (referring “too big to fail”) fail to deliver, but private firms do not come to rescue the government from the difficulties of maintaining fiscal discipline and from lacking funds for social welfare measures. Even then, the governments are inclined to resort to spending cuts, withdrawal of welfare measures, wage freezes, benefit cuts and so on.

CWG Village Threatened with Used Condoms

Until now, the Commonwealth Games organizers have faced criticism for shortcomings in arrangements made at the venues of CWG and Athletes’ village. Now the blame turns to the athletes who complained on quality of arrangements in Athletes’ village for another reason.

Somehow, the Indian authorities could regain the tarnished image with the amazing cultural performance on the inaugural day, but it remains to be seen how they are going to resolve the problem of clogged drains.

Clogged Drains

Now the authorities are facing somewhat a peculiar problem. The village has been provided with at least 8,000 free condoms to prevent unwanted infections. Four thousand condoms are said to be picked up already, within four days of the beginning of the event. The problem is not about scarcity of condoms but with used condoms.

The used condoms are flushed in the toilets into the drains choking the drainage system in the village. The CWG authorities are happy that the condoms are being used, but worried that they are not able to find an easy way to clear the clogged drains.

Accolades

Once the games are begun the organizers won applauds for winning race against time in making quick arrangements. The army built the collapsed foot over bridge within four days. Inaugural session concluded with everyone’s satisfaction. Indian athletes are performing well placing India at the second place in medals tally.

No Berlusconi Day in Italy

No Berlusconi day was observed in Italy on 2nd October 2010. The people were angry over the corruption scandals erupted recently. Thousands of protestors marched across Italy to express their denial of the leadership of their Prime Minister Berlusconi.

Italian Prime Minister was accused of subverting justice system in his favor. No-B day was observed once last year on December 5, 2009 protesting against sexual scandals unleashed to an extent that his wife Veronica declared she was giving divorce to her husband.

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Obama’s Comments are Disgusting

This article first published on Blogcritics.org.

This is not about supporting Ahmadinejad and not about opposing President Barack Obama. This is about how President Barack Obama responded to the comments made by the head of a state. This is about what context the President of the US chose to condemn the comments of the Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

How should he respond?

Mr. Obama should have responded by directly addressing the comments of Mr. Ahmadinejad. Condemning notionally such comments is a way of responding, but it cannot suffice to a head of the state of the United States of America, who repeatedly talks about humanity, reputation of America, support for America, relevance of American supremacy, the pride of the USA and the uniqueness of the USA.

Let us see the remarks of Mr. Ahmadinejad. He said, "Some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy, and its grips on the Middle East, in order to save the Zionist regime." He said most of the people of the world and the US believe this theory. This was the essence of comments of Mr. Ahmadinejad on the UN podium regarding 9/11 attacks. These comments involve the aspects of politics, economics, sociology and culture of the Politics.

It would be perfect if Obama asked Mr. Ahmadinejad to reveal the sections of the US establishment he believed to be behind the 9/11 attacks. He should have said why the American economy was not declining then. He should have rejected that the US was up for grips on the Middle East, and he should have told the people of the US and the world why and how the US regime did not intend to save the Zionist (or Israeli) regime if it was not.

Possibility

Furthermore, Mr. Ahmadinejad linked the interests of the US in the Middle East to the 9/11 attacks. President Obama should have explained how they were not linked. He should have revealed that there was a possibility and it

Commonwealth Games Likely to Affect India’s Image in Economic Front

Article first published as Commonwealth Games Likely to Affect India’s Economic Image on Technorati.

Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2010 is going to remain a big fiasco for third largest Asian economy, India after China and Japan. Political and financial corruption could remain a scar on the face of ability of India in conducting such big events.

There have been many reports coming in about corruption scandals surrounding CWG – 2010, well in advance for two months. But the government, especially the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh seemed completely unaware of what was up to regarding CWG arrangements.

Missed Link

The idea of conducting international events stems out from the wishes of the rulers to keep their country at spotlight for improving business, attracting tourists and finally contributing more for the growth of the country. It is surprising that the growth-figures-oriented Prime Minister has missed the link between CWG’s success and his aspirations for surpassing Chinese growth rate.

Many international news networks have expressed doubts whether India could make it. The doubts remained unsolved even as the date is just 3 days away. The government appointed ministerial body of three ministers only five days before the inaugural date, i.e. 3 October.

Image Blurring

Indian rulers are keen for not letting any spats like H-1B visa fee hike, outsourcing ban and restrictions on exports from the US side, to play spoilsport during the visit of the US President Mr. Barack Obama in November second week. However, they seem to forget how a failure or even a partial failure in conducting CWG is going to affect the Indian image on the economic front.

Foreign Investments Invited in Indian Roads

Foreign investments are invited in building Indian roads according NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) official J N Singh, Reuters reported. Indian infrastructure is thought to be a biggest hassle for the development of India by many foreign and domestic analysts in recent years.

Reuters news agency is one of such firm that has relentlessly been advocating the theory that the Indian infrastructure has become a biggest obstacle for India to equate the double-digit growth rate of neighboring China. It says underdeveloped infrastructure is one of the contributors for the high inflation rate of India.

$18 Billion Roads

India is expecting 30 percent of the total $18 billion cost of Indian road projects in the present fiscal year would be met by the foreign investors. The NHAI official revealed in the ‘Reuters India Investment Summit’ that the government has so far awarded 3000 km road from April to August and looking to award 6000 km road in the remaining part of the present fiscal year up to March 2011.

India is awarding the road building contracts on BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model, a type of partnership model formulated for the convenience of private contractors. The BOT system is nothing but a veil to privatization of Indian infrastructure, stitched and embroidered some ten years back.

What is BOT?

“Build” term in BOT implies that the roads will be built by the private contractors. “Operate” implies the built roads will be operated by again the private contractors. It includes mainly the setting up of tollgates at different points of the highways and collecting toll tax from the users.

Strategic Alliance between India and the US Begins to Materialize

Article first published as Strategic Alliance between India and the US Begins to Materialize on Blogcritics.

India is preparing a gift pack to felicitate the US President Mr. Barack Obama, who is visiting India in November of this year. The strategic alliance agreement reached between India and the US, back in 2005, begins to materialize during president’s visit to India. The Indian government is working to finalize the defense deal worth $5.8 billion (approximately Rs. 2.75 lakh crore) that was signed in July 2009. Another deal of buying 126 fighter jets will also be signed during the visit, defense officials revealed.

For the prosperity of the US

Mr. Obama’s visit to India was announced by himself in the first week of June when Indian External Affairs minister S M Krishna met the President in the US. “When it comes to the sphere of our work, building a future of greater prosperity, opportunity and security for our people, there is no doubt; I have to go India,” Obama said in June in a press meet attended jointly with S M Krishna. The US officials said Mr Obama’s visit to India would be from November 7 to 10.

Therefore, for the prosperity of the US people (read, for helping the US to come out of the financial crisis) the Presidents of the US tour the world to sell their defense goods. They visit India on one side and Pakistan on the other side and sell their arms enabling India and Pakistan to protect themselves from their neighbors. Sometimes, they settle defense contracts with both countries in the same tour and of course on deferent legs.

Big Visit

According to rediff.com news, President Obama did not want his visit to remain merely a symbolic, and wanted to imprint his own signature through the visit. As the nuclear agreement was signed in the era of his Republican predecessor, President Obama wanted at least two big deals that could