The First Month of the Decade!

The first month of the decade just flew by and interesting is the only word that I could conjure up to describe it. Jan 2010 courted controversy - the bread and butter for folks like me who are always on the look-out for interesting stuff.

A disclaimer - This post contains material that may not appeal to sensitivities of all people. So exercise caution and if you feel, you are sensitive, you are advised in your best interests to stop reading further.

Here goes the snippets of month gone by -

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire? - William Blake

1. Tiger Woods - No explanations needed here. The saddest part was the media. What Tiger Woods does in his personal life is his personal life. Media instead went all guns blazing... Latest reports coming in - John Terry - Chelsea defender - is not far behind


2. Aman ki Asha - A commendable initiative by Times of India to bring peace between India and Pakistan. A lot of people laugh at this initiative (myself included) especially after 26/11 and thereafter. However, we have fought to resolve for more than 50 years. Why not give peace that much time?


3. No Pakistani players were bought in IPL auction-3. This is exactly what we do not want and what the extremists want. As a journalist said, the Indo-Pak politics is the barometer of the cricket ties. I would put the blame for the fiasco on Hand-of-God.(read government)


4. Indian Hockey Players - No pay, no play. Another low for Indian sports just before the Hockey World Cup. Hockey players were never given their dues citing no funds. Funds started coming in from everywhere to help them. Yet the federation simply gave them the choice - nation or pay. Ironically yet expected, federation was more bothered about the upcoming elections rather than world cup.


5. Global Warming - Happening or another money making machine. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) goofed up big time in its report on Himalayan glaciers. Surprisingly Michael Crichton's State of Fear also talks about the manipulation of data by the NGOs working on Climate Change to divert funds. So what about Global Warming - Author's take - "In this world, there is enough for everybody's need but not enough for anybody's greed." - Mahatma Gandhi. Efficient and effective utilization of natural resources with minimal wastage and afforestation. In the long run an holistic approach towards development without exploitation of natural resources may well be the trump card for sustainable growth.


6. Pakistan cricket team - "You need to be a superman to lead Pakistan." Geoffrey Boycott on cricinfo. Its sad to see a bunch of such talented cricketers under-performing. Bad for Pakistan and bad for cricket. Probably a cricket series with India can help them ;). Cricket is the only secular religion both countries follow religiously.


7. Sensex - It started on a high note but then just went southwards. This was despite the fact that 2010 would be better. Sensex always prove one thing right. Whatever the level of maturity, people still are moody and have wild mood swings. Another, observation - when sensex, you read the business page of newspaper, you will see profits of companies going up and when it goes down, most company reporting results will be showing loss or less than expected growth. Is it something psychological or am just selectively seeing???
   
8. Telangana - a call for separate statehood or is it a call for development by the marginalised portion of Indian society. Government have simply tried to diffuse it by creating a committee. Author's take - Seeing the development of the newly forged states does make sense to have smaller states. However, the manageability of a state should be the criteria and not the others. Else there is a danger of turning the entire country into small states - much like the small kingdoms that ruled before the Britishers coming in.


9. Meghalaya - A tale of two CMs. Since its inception, only two chief ministers could last out their entire 5-year term. This is other end of spectrum when state size is concerned. To quell instability, a decision has been made to create two CMs. Indian democracy performing wonders. A lot to come on this front.


10. The Hottest - Bal Thackeray - A saffron-clad lunatic commanding such power who may not be even fit to read this entire post is the most feared person in Bombay (Mumbai to be politically correct) even when people have voted him out. Such is the intricacies of Indian democracy. Probably he has read Dylan Thomas' poem - Do not go gentle into that good night, so he is making noises. Cricket, bollywood, industry - everything is suffering. But the noises have taken out the fizzle out of Raj Thackeray. Poor guy is now busy defining who a Marthi-manoos is. Salute to SRK, AK, MA here. They haven't bowed before him. Or have they? SRK has not. That's a good sign. We need somebody to stand up to lunatics. Sadly people in power don't think it is their responsibility. Again the Shiv Sainiks were arrested when they marched towards AK's residence. Nobody touched the Tiger. You can read an Unposted letter to him here


11. FedEx pockets his 16th Grand Slam title beating Andy Murray. It was perfection personified. Its a privilege to see him play. Frankly only Nadal can test the perseverance of perfection in Federer. Else nobody can beat him on current form. Good news for Indian fans too. Leander Paes wins his 11th career grand slam title in doubles, catching up with Mahesh Bhupathi.


12. Apple launches I-Pad. Was not much impressed by its features. It has all the features of IPhone minus the phone and plus the e-book reader. Probably once it comes into the market and reviews from early adopters may fuel.


13. Google threatens to quit from China after some of the accounts of human rights activists were hacked by Chinese hackers and remove censorships by the Chinese government. The red-dragon has derived its power by blocking everything which is uncomfortable. Google just stands for the opposite. It was inevitable sparks would fly some day.


14. China banned Avtar for fear of popular uprising. Clearly the Dragon is feeling insecure. The Indian elephant at least doesn't have to worry about this. Else I would not be able to write such posts. True value of Indian Democracy.


15. Racial attacks against Indian in Down Under - Though it is sad to see racism against Indians, India cannot preach anti-racism to Australia. Racism is a form of discrimination. And most of us discriminate against fellow-Indians all the time based on religion, caste, region. Attacks against north Indians is just another example. Who are we who cannot stop discrimination in our own country against our own fellow-man, ask somebody else to stop discrimination against us in their country?


16. Bihar clocks second fastest growth after Gujarat. CM Nitish Kumar definitely should be given a pat on his back. Another example of effectiveness of Democracy - People voted out Lalu Prasad Yadav and growth in return.
    
    
17. After the stinging loss in to Democrats, Obama turns populist. Talks of stopping tax breaks to US companies who outsource. But the actual impact on IT seems to be minimal, as many US companies depend on getting services from India like IBM, Accenture. So US in its own interest may not implement it.

There is still a lot of news to cover. For example the earthquake in Haiti, Indo-Bangladesh test series, CPM Jyoti Basu passed away, three-idiots, where all wazz not well, Kumbh Mela, etc. But citing the length of the post, other news were given lower precedence. Really thank Sree, for his posts do give me lot of food for thought and also new types of post. This idea too from Sree's monthly rants :)

Do drop in your comments about the special news edition. Do let me know if a monthly edition of news does sound a good idea or not? Leaving on climatic note -

Why India should not agree on carbon emissions?

Though this post was planned as the continuation of my earlier posts, the real inspiration to write this post came on reading this article from The Economist. Some of the facts on climate change -

1. India is the fourth largest carbon emitter in the world. See link
2. That is India account for 5% of the total world carbon emission. Whereas US and China accounts for a total of 40% of the world's total emission. Adding Russia and European Union's contribution the total comes to whopping 61%.
3. If we consider the carbon emissions per head then India lies at 139th position. See link

Well this sums up the entire post. :)

All the countries especially the US, Russia and the European Union have exploited the environment without giving a thought to the environment. Even China had started growing from the 1970s period. India on the other hand has started the last in terms of sustained economic development. Thus when India starts developing, world especially developed countries wants India to curb its growth by putting cap on its emissions.

All the world literature surrounding the Copenhagen conference in December, 2009 is pushing India to a corner and making it a villain in the whole scheme of things. In this endeavor, at the forefront is the US which still has not signed the Kyoto protocol. It has come up with a declaration to cut its emission by 80% by 2050. But here it expects the world to follow suit by cutting the emissions by 50%. On the other hand countries like Russia, Japan, Canada and European Union members have agreed to cut their emissions to 15-21% below the 1990 levels. This again excludes US & China who contributes 40% of the total emissions. See link.

So the argument that India should follow suit denies opportunity to India or the other developing countries to grow.

Another bone of contention is the transfer of clean technology. Here again, the developed countries are not promising free transfer of clean technology to the developing countries. This despite the fact the current world's climate is the entire making of the western economies who ruthlessly exploited Mother Nature.

Again I do not deny that India should not cut its emission. (Check out my previous post.)India needs to cut its emission but that cannot be imposed by the world's richest countries. More Indians are aware about the impact of GHG than most people of other democracies. Additionally, India has a vibrant democracy - the nature of which it will ensure imposition of carbon-emission cuts.

Still this leaves out the current scenario. Are the developed countries pledging to help the developing countries to tackle the current problems that have arisen due to their past activities?? The answer is a big "NO". So in any case the pressure on India is completely unjust and it does looks like bullying by developed countries.

For example, most of India depends on agriculture. Any climate change will impact agriculture. So the issue of climate change will feature in every Indian’s mind. Already there is a talk of inclusive growth - inclusive meaning the climate as well and this as come from none other than India's Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

So the western countries instead putting pressure needs to first tackle US which still won't curb its emission until India agrees to cap its emission (meaning growth). In a nutshell, India does not need the western powers to tell of its responsibilities. It is fully aware of it. What they can do is help India in getting access to cleaner technologies so that would help India in preserving its and the world’s environment.

Ending the post on another old saying –

Those living in houses of glass should not throw stones at other people’s houses.

PS: - Message to US - First implement and then preach. At least members of European Union have implemented some of the decisions.

PPS: The image is for the year 2006. At present India has surpassed Japan in its emission.

Why India should cut its emissions?

The answer is very simple. India depends on mother nature far more than any other country. The dependence of India's agricultural ouput is the best example. A drought or a flood has a major impact on the amount of foodgrains that country is able to produce. Another major reason is that India is essentially started to feel the imacts of global warming already.

1. The Himalayan glaciers are shrinking at a rate of 10 to 15 metres every year. This means water shortages for about 500 mn people.See link.
2. Sea levels - As the global warming sinks in the sea levels are bound to rise. This would cause the low-lying areas to be submerged in sea. The danger can clearly be seen with the last week's high tide warning on mumbai. If high tide would have happened, many parts of Mumbai - the financial capital of india would have been under water for quite some time. See link
3. Due to very limited scientific approach to agriculture, most of the Indian farmer rely on rain for a good yield. However, with the increasing global warming, the weather pattern has become more erratic directly impacting the yield of the farm. See link
4. Finally, looking at the place where I live - Pune. A simple observation here - The winter was warmer in 2008-09 compared to the one in 2007-08. Similarly the summer was hotter than normal. There was a delay in the onset of monsoon. This resulted in water shortages and cut in daily water supply.

Sceptics can say that I am taking a sample data of one year and India most part of in its history have faced such situations. Yet, scores of studies on climate change across the world and india has come up with the same result. Global warming is for real and its impact life-threatening.

Thus it is imperative for India to look at global warming as a problem it has to solve rather than put the ownership on the international community. Ending this post on an english translation of sanskrit subhashita learned during school

"It is not wise to start building a well when a house is on fire"

PS: In my last post, I had said that India rightly has rejected caps on its emission. Why I said? More on that in my next post.