Defense Ties May Deepen During Obama Visit to India

Article first published as Currency War to the Fore in G20 Ministerial Meeting on Blogcritics.

The US President Barack Obama is visiting India in second week of November. He is bringing several business people along with him while coming to India. Along with lobbying for contracts of billions of dollars, Mr. Obama has aimed at convincing India to be its strategic military partner in the region to secure its interests.

Relations

The relations between India and the US have only been speeded up since 1990 when USSR, the cold war alley for India, collapsed and India began opening up of its market to foreign MNCs, under the stewardship of the then Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. The improvement of relations acquired faster pace in BJP’s coalition government except a brief period of sanctions regime after India’s 1998 nuclear tests under BJP rule, which was lifted in late 2001, maybe partly as a result of September 11 attacks. And that pace increased further in Congress’ coalition government.

Strategic Partnership

The Strategic Partnership Agreement was reached between India and the US in March 2000 while Bill Clinton was in office. The raising presence of China militarily as well as economically and somewhat, though not on full scale, economic resurgence of Russia necessitated then for the US to take the relations with India to the top level. The US needs a reliable partner that too a strategic partner, in the region to counterweight the increasingly assertive China.

After two devastating wars of Bush administration, this necessity was multiplied in terms of the interests of the US. America's new relationship with India has come as a broad security, political, technological, and economic arrangement on par with America's relationship with Europe or NATO. The US was even talking about sharing roles in joint space missions. The ex-president of the US, Bush and his first secretary of state, Collin Powel have once talked, back in 2004, of India’s common interests in securing their positions in sea lanes from the Persian Gulf to Malacca Islands. India has already been patrolling with its navy.

India Malaria Deaths Underreported –The Lancet

Article first published as India Malaria Deaths Underreported on Blogcritics.

British medical journal The Lancet published a report on Thursday, October 21, 2010, that concluded WHO estimates of malaria deaths in India are hugely underestimated. It said WHO numbers are misleadingly low. According to the World Health Organization, about 15,000 die of malaria (5,000 early child hood and 10,000 thereafter) die each year in India. Whereas the survey funded by the US National Institutes of Health, Canadian Institute of Health Research and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute put the figure at as high as 205,000 each higher, nearly 13 times more estimates than that of ‘WHO.‘

Deaths at Home

The Lancet said most deaths in rural India take place at home rather than at health centers. So, it argues, most cases are undiagnosed due to absence of health personnel. The cases of malarial deaths reported by Indian government are centered primarily in a few states, called high-malaria states; Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and the states in the northeast India.

Malaria deaths in India are prevalent in tribal areas due to unavailability of health care facilities. With no lab test facilities and meager if not nil transport facilities force the tribal people remain at home leaving them untested for malaria fever. They get treatment from uncertified rural medical practitioners who offer general treatment for every fever case.

Andhra Pradesh Case

Andhra Pradesh, one of the four southern states is considered one of the wealth states in India. Five years back, the opposition leader and the leader of regional political party TDP, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, toured tribal areas in North and Central Andhra regions and brought to light how the tribal people villages were reeling under the wave of malaria fever that left unattended until then. A local vernacular daily “Andhra Jyothi” also published several reports of malaria deaths in interior regions that were left unreported.

India's Supreme Court Lashes Out at Government Wastage of Grain

Article first published as India's Supreme Court Lashes Out at Government Wastage of Grain on Technorati.

Supreme Court once again came heavily upon the attitude of the government towards wastage of grains outside the government warehouses even as millions of people are reeling under hunger and poverty. The court asked the central government to ensure no more waste of food grains and all the targeted beneficiaries are adequately supplied.

Court vs. Govt.

 

Justice Dalveer Bhandari, hearing the Public Interest Litigation filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), asked the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Prasaran, attending for the government, not to go by percentage regarding wastage of grain when Parasaran said the wastage was only 0.07 lakhs but not 0.7 lakhs. He also said he had figures for two states, Punjab & Haryana, viz. 67,539 tonnes almost ten times to that of national figure projected by the government. Even 7,000 tonnes wastage was huge that cannot be allowed, the other judge in the bench Justice Depak Verma added.

It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had asked the government for distribution of the grain kept outside the warehouses due to lack of space, to the poor as it was getting decayed. The agricultural minister Sharad Powar responded orally it was not possible, but agreed to look into the matter. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went further saying the courts couldn’t interfere in the policy decisions of the government, a comment refused by the apex court telling it did not ask their opinion and it only asked them to deal properly with the question of hungry poor and wastage of grain.

Welfare State System at Stake in European Austerity Measures

Article first published as Welfare State System at Stake in European Austerity Measures on Blogcritics.

As a result of austerity measures, proposed as part of the bailout package offered by the IMF and European Union, the workers throughout the European Countries are increasingly joining in strike actions. Ever since the Greece debt crisis surfaced, the European governments as well as financial analysts and economists talked and wrote about the need of maintaining fiscal discipline and reducing deficits and debts. The IMF has been the one that is pressurizing the European nations, particularly the countries under monitory union to implement austerity measures like spending cuts, jobs cuts and tax increases.

Greece to Hungary

When George Papandreou’s new socialist government came to power in Greece and revealed that the Greece’s budget deficit was actually 12.7 (again modified to 13.6 percent by Eurostat in April) percent of GDP, more than twice the previously published figure by the previous government, the market began to panic. Doubts rose whether Greece could meet its debt commitments in time.

The problem was aggravated with the top three credit rating agencies –Fitch, Moody’s and S&P- went on to threaten investors by downgrading sovereign debt ratings of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Hungary. By the end of April 2010, Greece’s government debt was downgraded to junk status. Weather the actual situation led to downgrading or downgrading prepared the ground for the so-called fiscal discipline measures remains a matter of concern.

Meanwhile a sense of urgency of fiscal consolidation was instilled through print, audio and visual media into the minds of the people. The markets and the people were so prepared by the frequent media news and analyses that everyone from common person to top investors began to believe that some drastic measures were inevitable.

Aid (Debt) Package

The run up for the announcement of the joint aid package by the EU and IMF for Greece as well as the Euro Zone was a big fiasco that equaled the stage plays scripted by the great “Bard of Avon.” Greece Prime Minister Papandreou repeatedly requested for a guarantee from the EU to prevent the rising sovereign debt costs. On one hand, Germany hesitated to announce any package; the reason said was that it feared it would have to bear major part of the aid package and that it would have to face severe opposition from its people. On the other hand, bond yields demanded by the investors to invest in Greece debt, peaked to more than 22 percent (on 2-year note) at one point.

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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