Maoists backtrack, want prisoner swap on their terms
Sandeep Mishra, TNN, Feb 24, 2011, 01.05am IST
Malkangiri collector R Vineel Krishna
BHUBANESWAR: A day after agreeing to release Malkangiri collector R Vineel Krishna, the Maoists backtracked and issued a fresh demand that more of their jailed comrades be freed, bringing the total number of prisoners to be swapped to nine, official sources said here on Wednesday. The demands were made in a letter that junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi, abducted along with the collector, returned with after a week of captivity.
The letter says the Maoists want at least three of the nine prisoners to swapped with the collector in a public exchange, adding that they want the mediators to meet them along with Swami Agnivesh at a place of their choice. Chief secretary Bijay Patnaik confirmed saying, "We've got a letter in Telugu. We're examining it," he told TOI.
The three interlocutors, R Someswar Rao, G Haragopal and Dandapani Mohanty, expressed shock over the Maoists fresh demands and appealed to them through the media to release Krishna by 6pm, Thursday. "We're shocked," said Mohanty, adding, "The Maoists want us to physically go there (Malkangiri). It won't be possible as Rao and Haragopal are unwell."
Haragopal said, "They've set some new conditions. We feel it would not be possible to abide by these new conditions and this will complicate matters."
The Maoists letter stated that Krishna would be released after incarcerated Maoists Ganti Prasadam, Padma, and Sriramalu Srinivas, are set free. The other prisoners are Ashutosh Sen, Tapan Mishra, Gananath Patra, Iswari, Sarita and Gokul Kulpidia (a truck driver arrested with Padma, Iswari and Sarita on Nov 13 in Koraput) get bails. While the Orissa high court gave bail to Ganti arrested on November 20 on charges of sedition, it's yet to decide on bail to Padma, Iswari, Sarita and Kuldipia.
On Tuesday evening, the mediators along with Ganti and Hyderabad-based Maoist sympathizer Vara Vara Rao had assured the government that the two would be set free within 48 hours. It followed the state government and the mediators agreeing to resolve 14 Maoists demands, including withdrawal of cases against Ganti, Padma, Iswari, Sarita and Kulpidia and examine release of Sriramalu, Ashutosh and others on merit. The government also committed to review cases against around 700 jailed tribals within three months. "We request them to honour our word and release Krishna by 6 pm on Thursday. I am making the appeal also on behalf of Ganti and Vara Vara Rao," Haragopal said.
Officials fear the Maoist strategy is to drag the hostage drama. Maoists, sources said, are planning a public meeting at one of the three gram panchayats, Badapada, Raleguda and Papermetla, from where they had kidnapped Krishna and Majhi on February 16. Their aim is to justify the collectors' abduction before the villagers. The time and venue are not yet known. "They possibly want to make a public show of the swapping prisoners with the collector," an officer said.
"Collector Sir is fine. Maoists told me they will release him within 48 hours," Majhi told reporters in Malkangiri. The Kudumulugumma block junior engineer said a group of Maoists escorted him up to Jantapai village before freeing him. From there he traveled on a motorcycle to Janbai ghat and crossed the Balimela reservoir in a country boat. He later reached district headquarter town of Malkangiri. He said Maoists kept him and the collector together and did not torture them.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook-How to Start a Revolution, will be released in spring 2011-21 February 2011
21 February 2011 Last updated at 10:42 GMT
Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook
By Ruaridh Arrow Director of Gene Sharp - How to Start a Revolution
Gene Sharp
In an old townhouse in East Boston an elderly stooped man is tending rare orchids in his shabby office. His Labrador Sally lies on the floor between stacks of academic papers watching him as he shuffles past.
This is Dr Gene Sharp the man now credited with the strategy behind the toppling of the Egyptian government.
Gene Sharp is the world's foremost expert on non-violent revolution. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages, his books slipped across borders and hidden from secret policemen all over the world.
Continue reading the main story
Key Steps on the Path to Revolution
Gene Sharp book
* Develop a strategy for winning freedom and a vision of the society you want
* Overcome fear by small acts of resistance
* Use colours and symbols to demonstrate unity of resistance
* Learn from historical examples of the successes of non-violent movements
* Use non-violent "weapons"
* Identify the dictatorship's pillars of support and develop a strategy for undermining each
* Use oppressive or brutal acts by the regime as a recruiting tool for your movement
* Isolate or remove from the movement people who use or advocate violence
As Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia and Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine fell to the colour revolutions which swept across Eastern Europe, each of the democratic movements paid tribute to Sharp's contribution, yet he remained largely unknown to the public.
Despite these successes and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 2009 he has faced almost constant financial hardship and wild accusations of being a CIA front organisation. The Albert Einstein Institution based on the ground floor of his home is kept running by sheer force of personality and his fiercely loyal Executive Director, Jamila Raqib.
In 2009 I began filming a documentary following the impact of Sharp's work from his tranquil rooftop orchid house, across four continents and eventually to Tahrir square where I slept alongside protesters who read his work by torchlight in the shadow of tanks.
Gene Sharp is no Che Guevara but he may have had more influence than any other political theorist of his generation.
His central message is that the power of dictatorships comes from the willing obedience of the people they govern - and that if the people can develop techniques of withholding their consent, a regime will crumble.
For decades now, people living under authoritarian regimes have made a pilgrimage to Gene Sharp for advice. His writing has helped millions of people around the world achieve their freedom without violence. "As soon as you choose to fight with violence you're choosing to fight against your opponents best weapons and you have to be smarter than that," he insists.
"People might be a little surprised when they come here, I don't tell them what to do. They've got to learn how this non-violent struggle works so they can do it for themselves."
Catching fire
To do this Sharp provides in his books a list of 198 "non-violent weapons", ranging from the use of colours and symbols to mock funerals and boycotts.
Designed to be the direct equivalent of military weapons, they are techniques collated from a forensic study of defiance to tyranny throughout history.
"These non-violent weapons are very important because they give people an alternative," he says. "If people don't have these, if they can't see that they are very powerful, they will go back to violence and war every time."
After the Green uprising in Iran in 2009 many of the protesters were accused at their trials of using more than 100 of Sharp's 198 methods.
His most translated and distributed work, From Dictatorship to Democracy was written for the Burmese democratic movement in 1993, after the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
It was important because some of the Gabonese were talking about a violent option - I was able to say: 'Hang on guys there's another option here'”
End Quote Supermodel Gloria Mika
Because he had no specialist knowledge of the country he wrote a guide to toppling a dictatorship which was entirely generic. But Sharp's weakness became the strength of the book allowing it to be easily translated and applicable in any country of the world across cultural and religious boundaries.
The book caught fire figuratively and literally.
From Burma word of mouth spread through Thailand to Indonesia where it was used against the military dictatorship there. Its success in helping to bring down Milosevic in Serbia in 2000 propelled it into use across Eastern Europe, South America and the Middle East.
When it reached Russia the intelligence services raided the print shop and the shops selling it mysteriously burned to the ground.
The Iranians became so worried they broadcast an animated propaganda film on state TV - of Gene Sharp plotting the overthrow of Iran from The White House.
President Hugo Chavez used his weekly television address to warn the country that Sharp was a threat to the national security of Venezuela.
Serbian connection
After recent allegations of vote rigging in her home country of Gabon, supermodel and activist Gloria Mika travelled to Boston to meet Sharp.
Continue reading the main story
A Nonviolent Life
* Born January 1928 in Ohio
* Jailed for nine months in 1953-4 for protesting against conscription of young men to fight in Korean War
* Albert Einstein wrote the foreword to his first book - Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power: Three Case Histories - published in 1960
* His 1968 Oxford University D Phil, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, formed the basis of a book with the same title, published in 1973
* Professor (now emeritus professor) of political science at the University of Massachusetts since 1972, while simultaneously holding research positions at Harvard University
* Founded the Albert Einstein Institution in 1983, a non-profit organisation advancing the use of non-violent action in conflict around the world
"I felt like I was going to meet the main man in terms of non-violent resistance in the world," she says. "It was important because some of the Gabonese were talking about a violent option. They were saying, let's go and kill some people and I was able to say: 'Hang on guys there's another option here.'"
The Serbs who had used his books as a theoretical base for their activities founded their own organisation called the Centre for Applied Non Violence (CANVAS), and alongside their own materials have carried out workshops using Sharp's work in dozens of other countries.
When I met Srdja Popovic the director of CANVAS in Belgrade in November he confirmed that they had been working with Egyptians. "That's the power of Sharp's work and this non-violent struggle," he says. "It doesn't matter who you are - black, white, Muslim, Christian, gay, straight or oppressed minority - it's useable. If they study it, anybody can do this."
Photocopies in Arabic
By the time I arrived in Tahrir square on 2 February many of those trained in Sharp's work were in detention. Others were under close observation by the intelligence services and journalists who visited them were detained for hours by the secret police. My own camera equipment was seized as soon as I landed.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
This is an Egyptian revolution - we are not being told what to do by the Americans”
End Quote Mahmoud Tahrir Square protester
When I finally reached one of the organisers he refused to talk about Sharp on camera. He feared that wider knowledge of a US influence would destabilise the movement but confirmed that the work had been widely distributed in Arabic.
"One of the main points which we used was Sharp's idea of identifying a regime's pillars of support," he said. "If we could build a relationship with the army, Mubarak's biggest pillar of support, to get them on our side, then we knew he would quickly be finished."
That night as I settled down to sleep in a corner of Tahrir square some of the protesters came to show me text messages they said were from the army telling them that they wouldn't shoot. "We know them and we know they are on our side now," they said.
One of the protesters, Mahmoud, had been given photocopies of a handout containing the list of 198 methods but he was unaware of their origins. He proudly described how many of them had been used in Egypt but he had never heard of Gene Sharp.
When I pointed out that these non-violent weapons were the writings of an American academic he protested strongly. "This is an Egyptian revolution", he said. "We are not being told what to do by the Americans."
And of course that is exactly what Sharp would want.
Ruaridh Arrow's film, Gene Sharp: How to Start a Revolution, will be released in spring 2011
Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook
By Ruaridh Arrow Director of Gene Sharp - How to Start a Revolution
Gene Sharp
In an old townhouse in East Boston an elderly stooped man is tending rare orchids in his shabby office. His Labrador Sally lies on the floor between stacks of academic papers watching him as he shuffles past.
This is Dr Gene Sharp the man now credited with the strategy behind the toppling of the Egyptian government.
Gene Sharp is the world's foremost expert on non-violent revolution. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages, his books slipped across borders and hidden from secret policemen all over the world.
Continue reading the main story
Key Steps on the Path to Revolution
Gene Sharp book
* Develop a strategy for winning freedom and a vision of the society you want
* Overcome fear by small acts of resistance
* Use colours and symbols to demonstrate unity of resistance
* Learn from historical examples of the successes of non-violent movements
* Use non-violent "weapons"
* Identify the dictatorship's pillars of support and develop a strategy for undermining each
* Use oppressive or brutal acts by the regime as a recruiting tool for your movement
* Isolate or remove from the movement people who use or advocate violence
As Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia and Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine fell to the colour revolutions which swept across Eastern Europe, each of the democratic movements paid tribute to Sharp's contribution, yet he remained largely unknown to the public.
Despite these successes and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 2009 he has faced almost constant financial hardship and wild accusations of being a CIA front organisation. The Albert Einstein Institution based on the ground floor of his home is kept running by sheer force of personality and his fiercely loyal Executive Director, Jamila Raqib.
In 2009 I began filming a documentary following the impact of Sharp's work from his tranquil rooftop orchid house, across four continents and eventually to Tahrir square where I slept alongside protesters who read his work by torchlight in the shadow of tanks.
Gene Sharp is no Che Guevara but he may have had more influence than any other political theorist of his generation.
His central message is that the power of dictatorships comes from the willing obedience of the people they govern - and that if the people can develop techniques of withholding their consent, a regime will crumble.
For decades now, people living under authoritarian regimes have made a pilgrimage to Gene Sharp for advice. His writing has helped millions of people around the world achieve their freedom without violence. "As soon as you choose to fight with violence you're choosing to fight against your opponents best weapons and you have to be smarter than that," he insists.
"People might be a little surprised when they come here, I don't tell them what to do. They've got to learn how this non-violent struggle works so they can do it for themselves."
Catching fire
To do this Sharp provides in his books a list of 198 "non-violent weapons", ranging from the use of colours and symbols to mock funerals and boycotts.
Designed to be the direct equivalent of military weapons, they are techniques collated from a forensic study of defiance to tyranny throughout history.
"These non-violent weapons are very important because they give people an alternative," he says. "If people don't have these, if they can't see that they are very powerful, they will go back to violence and war every time."
After the Green uprising in Iran in 2009 many of the protesters were accused at their trials of using more than 100 of Sharp's 198 methods.
His most translated and distributed work, From Dictatorship to Democracy was written for the Burmese democratic movement in 1993, after the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
It was important because some of the Gabonese were talking about a violent option - I was able to say: 'Hang on guys there's another option here'”
End Quote Supermodel Gloria Mika
Because he had no specialist knowledge of the country he wrote a guide to toppling a dictatorship which was entirely generic. But Sharp's weakness became the strength of the book allowing it to be easily translated and applicable in any country of the world across cultural and religious boundaries.
The book caught fire figuratively and literally.
From Burma word of mouth spread through Thailand to Indonesia where it was used against the military dictatorship there. Its success in helping to bring down Milosevic in Serbia in 2000 propelled it into use across Eastern Europe, South America and the Middle East.
When it reached Russia the intelligence services raided the print shop and the shops selling it mysteriously burned to the ground.
The Iranians became so worried they broadcast an animated propaganda film on state TV - of Gene Sharp plotting the overthrow of Iran from The White House.
President Hugo Chavez used his weekly television address to warn the country that Sharp was a threat to the national security of Venezuela.
Serbian connection
After recent allegations of vote rigging in her home country of Gabon, supermodel and activist Gloria Mika travelled to Boston to meet Sharp.
Continue reading the main story
A Nonviolent Life
* Born January 1928 in Ohio
* Jailed for nine months in 1953-4 for protesting against conscription of young men to fight in Korean War
* Albert Einstein wrote the foreword to his first book - Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power: Three Case Histories - published in 1960
* His 1968 Oxford University D Phil, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, formed the basis of a book with the same title, published in 1973
* Professor (now emeritus professor) of political science at the University of Massachusetts since 1972, while simultaneously holding research positions at Harvard University
* Founded the Albert Einstein Institution in 1983, a non-profit organisation advancing the use of non-violent action in conflict around the world
"I felt like I was going to meet the main man in terms of non-violent resistance in the world," she says. "It was important because some of the Gabonese were talking about a violent option. They were saying, let's go and kill some people and I was able to say: 'Hang on guys there's another option here.'"
The Serbs who had used his books as a theoretical base for their activities founded their own organisation called the Centre for Applied Non Violence (CANVAS), and alongside their own materials have carried out workshops using Sharp's work in dozens of other countries.
When I met Srdja Popovic the director of CANVAS in Belgrade in November he confirmed that they had been working with Egyptians. "That's the power of Sharp's work and this non-violent struggle," he says. "It doesn't matter who you are - black, white, Muslim, Christian, gay, straight or oppressed minority - it's useable. If they study it, anybody can do this."
Photocopies in Arabic
By the time I arrived in Tahrir square on 2 February many of those trained in Sharp's work were in detention. Others were under close observation by the intelligence services and journalists who visited them were detained for hours by the secret police. My own camera equipment was seized as soon as I landed.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
This is an Egyptian revolution - we are not being told what to do by the Americans”
End Quote Mahmoud Tahrir Square protester
When I finally reached one of the organisers he refused to talk about Sharp on camera. He feared that wider knowledge of a US influence would destabilise the movement but confirmed that the work had been widely distributed in Arabic.
"One of the main points which we used was Sharp's idea of identifying a regime's pillars of support," he said. "If we could build a relationship with the army, Mubarak's biggest pillar of support, to get them on our side, then we knew he would quickly be finished."
That night as I settled down to sleep in a corner of Tahrir square some of the protesters came to show me text messages they said were from the army telling them that they wouldn't shoot. "We know them and we know they are on our side now," they said.
One of the protesters, Mahmoud, had been given photocopies of a handout containing the list of 198 methods but he was unaware of their origins. He proudly described how many of them had been used in Egypt but he had never heard of Gene Sharp.
When I pointed out that these non-violent weapons were the writings of an American academic he protested strongly. "This is an Egyptian revolution", he said. "We are not being told what to do by the Americans."
And of course that is exactly what Sharp would want.
Ruaridh Arrow's film, Gene Sharp: How to Start a Revolution, will be released in spring 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Egypt revolt becomes global case study-"Thank you, Tunisia and Egypt, for making us realize what is possible with people power,''-21/2/11
Egypt revolt becomes global case study
AP, Feb 20, 2011, 12.55am IST
CAIRO: It seems naive to hope the fallout from cataclysmic events in the Middle East and North Africa can spill beyond the region and stir distant, repressed populations with no cultural or historical affinity. Yet successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have captivated dissidents and activists around the world who have campaigned in vain for radical change, in some cases for decades.
This week, South Korean activists even hoisted helium balloons into the air and watched them drift into North Korea with a message attached: discard your leaders, just as the Egyptians did.
``The Egyptian people rose up in a revolution to topple a 30-year dictatorship,'' said one of the leaflets coasting over the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. ``The North Koreans too must revolt against a 60-year-old dictatorship.''
The strain of poverty and inefficient government in North Korea, which has been targeted by international sanctions, matches or exceeds that of Arab autocracies currently buffeted by street protests. Its human rights record, along with those of Myanmar and Zimbabwe, is routinely condemned in international forums.
But there are no clear signs that these countries will face the same kind of upheaval sweeping Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere.
``Everything depends on local conditions,'' said Charles Ries, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based RAND Corp. who recently oversaw economic issues while stationed at the American Embassy in Baghdad.
North Korea, after all, has a cult-like leadership rooted in its World War II-era separation from the south; Myanmar brutally stamped out revolts in 1988 and 2007; and Zimbabwe has a shaky coalition government and plans elections later this year.
Dissidents and authoritarian governments on other continents are undoubtedly reviewing the playbook of their counterparts in the Middle East, social media networking for the protesters, and hasty reform pledges and thugs in civilian clothes for the leaders. Unrest even spread to Djibouti, a city-state across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, where protesters reportedly clashed with security forces on Friday.
Fear of bloody retaliation, sharp curbs on information, tactical decisions to avoid a showdown and the lack of a trigger, severe food shortages or a fuel price hike, for example, are deterrents to popular revolt in repressive systems.
Protesters in Egypt and the region used Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to organize, and benefited from pan-Arab media outlets such as Al-Jazeera television that spread word of the uprisings.
But there is no sign of an organized opposition in North Korea, where most people do not have access to outside TV and radio, or the Internet. The leadership had long-standing ties to ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. On Jan. 23, two days before protests broke out in Egypt, ruler Kim Jong Il, who rarely meets foreigners, hosted the head of Cairo-based Orascom Telecom, which built a 3G telephone service network in North Korea.
Dissidents in military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, want to know more about what happened in Egypt despite a state media blackout.
"Everyone is trying to find out information and is interested,'' said Mark Farmaner of the Burma Campaign UK, which is based in London. Dissidents are ``talking about whether they can learn anything from this, and what examples there are,'' he said.
However, Farmaner said there no signs that anti-government groups want to try a revolt similar to the 18-day uprising in Egypt, where a military council took power and promised to oversee a democratic transition. The military sided with protesters in pushing out Mubarak.
In Myanmar, "the army has always been prepared to shoot when it's ordered to,'' Farmaner said. ``There's no separation of president and military in any way.''
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for dialogue with Myanmar's leaders, reflecting concern that a popular upheaval that could end in bloodshed.
"We are interested in the parallels in Egypt and the parallels with Burma but the institutions are not exactly the same. I think protests are one way of bringing about change but not necessarily the best way,'' she told the BBC in early February, before Mubarak was ousted.
There are plenty of precedents for politically potent ideas taking flight across continents. Ries, the former US diplomat, said European thinkers provided some intellectual backbone for the American Revolution, which did the same for the French Revolution, which in turn inspired Haitian slaves in their revolt against French colonizers, all in the space of a few decades in the late 18th century.
"You look at other places where there are huge numbers of people who have little to lose by banding together and applying these new techniques,'' Ries said of today's uprisings. "It also exposes, in a sense, the impotence of repression against huge numbers.''
Some Arab countries, however, have not yielded to protests, responding instead with deadly force. Prof. Hurst Hannum, an international law expert at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, cautioned against predictions of a worldwide ``outbreak of 'democracy.'''
In an e-mail, he recalled the "rather premature'' thesis of Francis Fukuyama, a US academic whose 1992 book, "The End of History and the Last Man,'' declared that Western-style democracy would prevail over other systems in the wake of communism's fall.
On Feb. 3, state-run radio in Zimbabwe accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a former opposition leader, of trying to spark anti-government uprisings similar to those in Tunisia and Egypt. Tsvangirai said before he joined the governing coalition that he would not lead his followers into danger and that he stood for peaceful change.
State radio is controlled by loyalists of President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power for three decades.
Political scientist John Makumbe wrote an essay titled "Is Egypt possible in Zimbabwe?'' in which he speculated that the military would crack down on any revolt, but he drew inspiration from the uprisings to the north.
"Thank you, Tunisia and Egypt, for making us realize what is possible with people power,'' he wrote on the website of Nehanda Radio, an independent station.
The North Korean system, which survived a famine in the 1990s, has long defied predictions of collapse. Kim Jong Il, who inherited power from his father, has tightened his grip with perks for the military and a propaganda machine that seeks to rouse national pride by demonizing declared enemies.
North Korean state media have not reported events in Egypt, and it is doubtful that the leaflets of the South Korean activists, who also send short-wave radio broadcasts to the north, will reach or convince many people. But they draw a clear dynastic parallel - some images show Mubarak and his son, Gamal, once thought to be his successor, and Kim Jong Il and his third son and heir, Kim Jong Un.
Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the Sejong Institute research center near Seoul, speculated that top government and trade leaders in North Korea were ``definitely aware'' of what is happening in Egypt. But a similar uprising is unlikely, he said.
``There are so many differences in terms of ideology, in terms of power structure, in terms of domestic and external relationships,'' Paik said. "North Korea is basically an isolated, socialist regime, protected by a most reliable and most supportive big power, China.''
China itself portrayed the protests as the kind of chaos that comes with Western-style democracy, underscoring how wary it is of any potential source of unrest that might threaten its power. As Mubarak's hold slipped, Chinese censors blocked the ability to search the term "Egypt'' on microblogging sites, and user comments that drew parallels to China were deleted from Internet forums.
In Myanmar, many people with access to satellite dishes followed the historic events in Egypt, quietly wishing for the same thing.
``Tears welled in my eyes when I watched the Egyptians, overjoyed after Mubarak left. I want to tell them that your fight has paid off but we don't know where our future lies,'' said a 53-year-old private tutor in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. The tutor spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the authorities.
AP, Feb 20, 2011, 12.55am IST
CAIRO: It seems naive to hope the fallout from cataclysmic events in the Middle East and North Africa can spill beyond the region and stir distant, repressed populations with no cultural or historical affinity. Yet successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have captivated dissidents and activists around the world who have campaigned in vain for radical change, in some cases for decades.
This week, South Korean activists even hoisted helium balloons into the air and watched them drift into North Korea with a message attached: discard your leaders, just as the Egyptians did.
``The Egyptian people rose up in a revolution to topple a 30-year dictatorship,'' said one of the leaflets coasting over the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. ``The North Koreans too must revolt against a 60-year-old dictatorship.''
The strain of poverty and inefficient government in North Korea, which has been targeted by international sanctions, matches or exceeds that of Arab autocracies currently buffeted by street protests. Its human rights record, along with those of Myanmar and Zimbabwe, is routinely condemned in international forums.
But there are no clear signs that these countries will face the same kind of upheaval sweeping Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere.
``Everything depends on local conditions,'' said Charles Ries, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based RAND Corp. who recently oversaw economic issues while stationed at the American Embassy in Baghdad.
North Korea, after all, has a cult-like leadership rooted in its World War II-era separation from the south; Myanmar brutally stamped out revolts in 1988 and 2007; and Zimbabwe has a shaky coalition government and plans elections later this year.
Dissidents and authoritarian governments on other continents are undoubtedly reviewing the playbook of their counterparts in the Middle East, social media networking for the protesters, and hasty reform pledges and thugs in civilian clothes for the leaders. Unrest even spread to Djibouti, a city-state across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, where protesters reportedly clashed with security forces on Friday.
Fear of bloody retaliation, sharp curbs on information, tactical decisions to avoid a showdown and the lack of a trigger, severe food shortages or a fuel price hike, for example, are deterrents to popular revolt in repressive systems.
Protesters in Egypt and the region used Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to organize, and benefited from pan-Arab media outlets such as Al-Jazeera television that spread word of the uprisings.
But there is no sign of an organized opposition in North Korea, where most people do not have access to outside TV and radio, or the Internet. The leadership had long-standing ties to ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. On Jan. 23, two days before protests broke out in Egypt, ruler Kim Jong Il, who rarely meets foreigners, hosted the head of Cairo-based Orascom Telecom, which built a 3G telephone service network in North Korea.
Dissidents in military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, want to know more about what happened in Egypt despite a state media blackout.
"Everyone is trying to find out information and is interested,'' said Mark Farmaner of the Burma Campaign UK, which is based in London. Dissidents are ``talking about whether they can learn anything from this, and what examples there are,'' he said.
However, Farmaner said there no signs that anti-government groups want to try a revolt similar to the 18-day uprising in Egypt, where a military council took power and promised to oversee a democratic transition. The military sided with protesters in pushing out Mubarak.
In Myanmar, "the army has always been prepared to shoot when it's ordered to,'' Farmaner said. ``There's no separation of president and military in any way.''
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for dialogue with Myanmar's leaders, reflecting concern that a popular upheaval that could end in bloodshed.
"We are interested in the parallels in Egypt and the parallels with Burma but the institutions are not exactly the same. I think protests are one way of bringing about change but not necessarily the best way,'' she told the BBC in early February, before Mubarak was ousted.
There are plenty of precedents for politically potent ideas taking flight across continents. Ries, the former US diplomat, said European thinkers provided some intellectual backbone for the American Revolution, which did the same for the French Revolution, which in turn inspired Haitian slaves in their revolt against French colonizers, all in the space of a few decades in the late 18th century.
"You look at other places where there are huge numbers of people who have little to lose by banding together and applying these new techniques,'' Ries said of today's uprisings. "It also exposes, in a sense, the impotence of repression against huge numbers.''
Some Arab countries, however, have not yielded to protests, responding instead with deadly force. Prof. Hurst Hannum, an international law expert at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, cautioned against predictions of a worldwide ``outbreak of 'democracy.'''
In an e-mail, he recalled the "rather premature'' thesis of Francis Fukuyama, a US academic whose 1992 book, "The End of History and the Last Man,'' declared that Western-style democracy would prevail over other systems in the wake of communism's fall.
On Feb. 3, state-run radio in Zimbabwe accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a former opposition leader, of trying to spark anti-government uprisings similar to those in Tunisia and Egypt. Tsvangirai said before he joined the governing coalition that he would not lead his followers into danger and that he stood for peaceful change.
State radio is controlled by loyalists of President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power for three decades.
Political scientist John Makumbe wrote an essay titled "Is Egypt possible in Zimbabwe?'' in which he speculated that the military would crack down on any revolt, but he drew inspiration from the uprisings to the north.
"Thank you, Tunisia and Egypt, for making us realize what is possible with people power,'' he wrote on the website of Nehanda Radio, an independent station.
The North Korean system, which survived a famine in the 1990s, has long defied predictions of collapse. Kim Jong Il, who inherited power from his father, has tightened his grip with perks for the military and a propaganda machine that seeks to rouse national pride by demonizing declared enemies.
North Korean state media have not reported events in Egypt, and it is doubtful that the leaflets of the South Korean activists, who also send short-wave radio broadcasts to the north, will reach or convince many people. But they draw a clear dynastic parallel - some images show Mubarak and his son, Gamal, once thought to be his successor, and Kim Jong Il and his third son and heir, Kim Jong Un.
Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the Sejong Institute research center near Seoul, speculated that top government and trade leaders in North Korea were ``definitely aware'' of what is happening in Egypt. But a similar uprising is unlikely, he said.
``There are so many differences in terms of ideology, in terms of power structure, in terms of domestic and external relationships,'' Paik said. "North Korea is basically an isolated, socialist regime, protected by a most reliable and most supportive big power, China.''
China itself portrayed the protests as the kind of chaos that comes with Western-style democracy, underscoring how wary it is of any potential source of unrest that might threaten its power. As Mubarak's hold slipped, Chinese censors blocked the ability to search the term "Egypt'' on microblogging sites, and user comments that drew parallels to China were deleted from Internet forums.
In Myanmar, many people with access to satellite dishes followed the historic events in Egypt, quietly wishing for the same thing.
``Tears welled in my eyes when I watched the Egyptians, overjoyed after Mubarak left. I want to tell them that your fight has paid off but we don't know where our future lies,'' said a 53-year-old private tutor in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. The tutor spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the authorities.
Obama seeking reform in Libya-Saif Gadhafi also acknowledged changing times need "radical" reforms -bolstering local govt,relaxing restrictive lawsan
Obama seeking reform in Libya, official says
By the CNN Wire Staff
February 21, 2011
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, left, and President Obama meet at the G-8 summit in Italy in 2009.
* American officials are exploring possibilities for reform in Libya
* The Obama administration is stressing the need to avoid violence against protesters
* Gadhafi's son has warned of a possible civil war if protesters do not back down
Washington (CNN) -- U.S. authorities were keeping a close watch on Libya's rapidly unfolding political crisis Monday, in part to see what possibilities might exist for meaningful reform, a senior Obama administration official said.
Among other things, Washington was taking a close look at a speech delivered Sunday by Saif al-Islam Gadhafi -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son -- which included warnings of a civil war if demonstrations in the North African country don't stop.
In the same speech, Saif Gadhafi also acknowledged changing times regionally and proposed "radical" reforms -- like bolstering local governments, relaxing restrictive laws, raising salaries, extending loans, and drafting a constitution, which doesn't now exist.
Obama officials continued to discuss with their Libyan counterparts the need to avoid violence against peaceful protesters, the official added.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation in Libya by his national security adviser, Tom Donilon, on Sunday night, the official also said.
Despite the warning from Gadhafi's son, Libya's protesters are showing no sign of an intention to back down. After Gadhafi's government apparently lost control of the city of Benghazi, some angry protesters in Tripoli said they hoped for a similar turn of events in the nation's capital.
Tripoli residents said state-run al-Shababiya TV was attacked Sunday evening by anti-government protesters. CNN, however, could not immediately confirm reports. The Libyan government maintains tight control on communications and has not responded to repeated requests from CNN for access to the country.
CNN has interviewed numerous witnesses by phone.
The current unrest, spurred largely by demands for freedom and angst over high unemployment, has left at least 233 people dead in Libya, according to Human Rights Watch, citing information from hospital sources.
CNN's Alan Silverleib and Jill Dougherty contributed to this report
By the CNN Wire Staff
February 21, 2011
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, left, and President Obama meet at the G-8 summit in Italy in 2009.
* American officials are exploring possibilities for reform in Libya
* The Obama administration is stressing the need to avoid violence against protesters
* Gadhafi's son has warned of a possible civil war if protesters do not back down
Washington (CNN) -- U.S. authorities were keeping a close watch on Libya's rapidly unfolding political crisis Monday, in part to see what possibilities might exist for meaningful reform, a senior Obama administration official said.
Among other things, Washington was taking a close look at a speech delivered Sunday by Saif al-Islam Gadhafi -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son -- which included warnings of a civil war if demonstrations in the North African country don't stop.
In the same speech, Saif Gadhafi also acknowledged changing times regionally and proposed "radical" reforms -- like bolstering local governments, relaxing restrictive laws, raising salaries, extending loans, and drafting a constitution, which doesn't now exist.
Obama officials continued to discuss with their Libyan counterparts the need to avoid violence against peaceful protesters, the official added.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation in Libya by his national security adviser, Tom Donilon, on Sunday night, the official also said.
Despite the warning from Gadhafi's son, Libya's protesters are showing no sign of an intention to back down. After Gadhafi's government apparently lost control of the city of Benghazi, some angry protesters in Tripoli said they hoped for a similar turn of events in the nation's capital.
Tripoli residents said state-run al-Shababiya TV was attacked Sunday evening by anti-government protesters. CNN, however, could not immediately confirm reports. The Libyan government maintains tight control on communications and has not responded to repeated requests from CNN for access to the country.
CNN has interviewed numerous witnesses by phone.
The current unrest, spurred largely by demands for freedom and angst over high unemployment, has left at least 233 people dead in Libya, according to Human Rights Watch, citing information from hospital sources.
CNN's Alan Silverleib and Jill Dougherty contributed to this report
NDA discusses floor strategy for Budget session “It is sad that the issues were merely raised and no solution was suggested-
NDA discusses floor strategy for Budget session
PTI
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said it will allow Parliament to function if formation of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam is announced by the government tomorrow but would continue to raise irregularities in the Commonwealth Games-related projects and Adarsh Housing scam.
NDA leaders, who met at the residence of BJP leader L.K. Advani here to chalk out the floor strategy for the Budget session, decided that they will allow both Houses to run smoothly after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announces the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
“We met today...we had been demanding a JPC. There is a possibility that the government will announce formation of JPC in Parliament tomorrow. Once that is done, we will allow the House to function smoothly...we will participate in the parliamentary business with all seriousness,” NDA convenor Sharad Yadav told reporters after the meeting on Monday.
He said the JPC into 2G spectrum allocation was not the only issue and NDA, along with other opposition parties, would raise other issues during the session.
“The issue of (irregularities in) CWG and the Adarsh Housing Society scam will be raised. Allotment of fertile land for development projects is another issue....NDA had raised the issue of price raise but the government did not respond,” the JD (U) leader said.
He said the issues identified by NDA to be raised during the Budget session were referred to by the President in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
“It is sad that the issues were merely raised and no solution was suggested. We have today decided to raise these issues for the benefit of the common man through constructive debates,” he said.
PTI
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said it will allow Parliament to function if formation of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam is announced by the government tomorrow but would continue to raise irregularities in the Commonwealth Games-related projects and Adarsh Housing scam.
NDA leaders, who met at the residence of BJP leader L.K. Advani here to chalk out the floor strategy for the Budget session, decided that they will allow both Houses to run smoothly after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announces the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
“We met today...we had been demanding a JPC. There is a possibility that the government will announce formation of JPC in Parliament tomorrow. Once that is done, we will allow the House to function smoothly...we will participate in the parliamentary business with all seriousness,” NDA convenor Sharad Yadav told reporters after the meeting on Monday.
He said the JPC into 2G spectrum allocation was not the only issue and NDA, along with other opposition parties, would raise other issues during the session.
“The issue of (irregularities in) CWG and the Adarsh Housing Society scam will be raised. Allotment of fertile land for development projects is another issue....NDA had raised the issue of price raise but the government did not respond,” the JD (U) leader said.
He said the issues identified by NDA to be raised during the Budget session were referred to by the President in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
“It is sad that the issues were merely raised and no solution was suggested. We have today decided to raise these issues for the benefit of the common man through constructive debates,” he said.
We will redouble our efforts to deal effectively and credibly with the challenges of inflation, cleansing our governing processes, national security..
To blunt Opposition's attack, Govt plans to fast-track corruption cases
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: January 02, 2011 17:08 IST
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of an unrelenting Opposition targeting it over the issue of various scams, the government seems to have decided to set up an anti-corruption mechanism to fast-track corruption cases against public servants, including politicians.
The modalities are being worked out at the highest levels of policy making and it may involve bringing in a special ordinance in the Budget Session of Parliament.
Sources said the issue was discussed at a meeting of the Congress Core Group in New Delhi in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present.
The meeting discussed a note prepared by the Prime Minister's Office in the light of Gandhi's five-point action plan to fight corruption suggested in her address at the recently held Congress Plenary.
Sources say the new mechanism will be in line with what Gandhi had suggested:
* Fast-tracking corruption cases against public servants, including politicians
* Legal steps to ensure transparency in procurement and contracts
* Suspension of discretionary powers of CMs and ministers
* Open and competitive system for exploiting natural resources
* Protection of whistle blowers
The government's attempt to demonstrate its seriousness to tackle corruption is perhaps a move to blunt the Opposition's attack. It is seen as an answer to the Opposition's move to checkmate the government by stepping up its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe. At meeting on Saturday evening, the Opposition reportedly decided that it will keep pressing for the JPC in the next Parliament session as well.
The mechanism, the sources said, may be different from that of the Central Vigilance Commission which deals with only corruption by officials.
There was no official word on whether the ordinance could be the precursor to the long-pending Lok Pal Bill and whether the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) would be covered by it.
In his New Year message to the nation, Prime Minister had referred to Gandhi's five-point action plan and said the government would pay careful attention to the agenda set out by her.
Gandhi, in her valedictory address, had said they would take the issue of corruption head on and demonstrate through actions and not words that they meant what they say. "I had made specific suggestions and the Prime Minister has assured us that they will be taken forward," she had said.
At the plenary, Rahul Gandhi had also demanded severe punishment for those guilty of corruption.
In his message on Friday, the Prime Minister had made a pitch for making a "new beginning" in the year ahead.
"We will redouble our efforts to deal effectively and credibly with the challenges of inflation, cleansing our governing processes, national security and making our delivery system work for the aam aadmi", he had said.
(With PTI inputs)
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: January 02, 2011 17:08 IST
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of an unrelenting Opposition targeting it over the issue of various scams, the government seems to have decided to set up an anti-corruption mechanism to fast-track corruption cases against public servants, including politicians.
The modalities are being worked out at the highest levels of policy making and it may involve bringing in a special ordinance in the Budget Session of Parliament.
Sources said the issue was discussed at a meeting of the Congress Core Group in New Delhi in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present.
The meeting discussed a note prepared by the Prime Minister's Office in the light of Gandhi's five-point action plan to fight corruption suggested in her address at the recently held Congress Plenary.
Sources say the new mechanism will be in line with what Gandhi had suggested:
* Fast-tracking corruption cases against public servants, including politicians
* Legal steps to ensure transparency in procurement and contracts
* Suspension of discretionary powers of CMs and ministers
* Open and competitive system for exploiting natural resources
* Protection of whistle blowers
The government's attempt to demonstrate its seriousness to tackle corruption is perhaps a move to blunt the Opposition's attack. It is seen as an answer to the Opposition's move to checkmate the government by stepping up its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe. At meeting on Saturday evening, the Opposition reportedly decided that it will keep pressing for the JPC in the next Parliament session as well.
The mechanism, the sources said, may be different from that of the Central Vigilance Commission which deals with only corruption by officials.
There was no official word on whether the ordinance could be the precursor to the long-pending Lok Pal Bill and whether the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) would be covered by it.
In his New Year message to the nation, Prime Minister had referred to Gandhi's five-point action plan and said the government would pay careful attention to the agenda set out by her.
Gandhi, in her valedictory address, had said they would take the issue of corruption head on and demonstrate through actions and not words that they meant what they say. "I had made specific suggestions and the Prime Minister has assured us that they will be taken forward," she had said.
At the plenary, Rahul Gandhi had also demanded severe punishment for those guilty of corruption.
In his message on Friday, the Prime Minister had made a pitch for making a "new beginning" in the year ahead.
"We will redouble our efforts to deal effectively and credibly with the challenges of inflation, cleansing our governing processes, national security and making our delivery system work for the aam aadmi", he had said.
(With PTI inputs)
Kasab verdict enhances Indian legal system's prestige:in which the case was conducted in India has "raised the prestige" of the country'-Chidambaram-
Kasab verdict enhances Indian legal system's prestige: Chidambaram
NEW DELHI: Welcoming the confirmation of death penalty of 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab by the Bombay High Court, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said it had enhanced the prestige of India's legal system but rued the lack of progress in the case in Pakistan.
"I compliment the prosecution. This is a tribute to our legal system," he told reporters while commenting on the Bombay High Court's decision.
He said the manner in which the case was conducted in India has "raised the prestige" of the country's judicial system.
"I think, we should allow our legal system to deal with case in the manner every other cases dealt with," the Home Minister said.
At the same time, he observed that the trial in the case was making no headway in Pakistan.
"Between the High Court and the trial court in Pakistan, in a way there has been no movement at all (on 26/11 case)," he said when asked whether, in the light of the judgement, India would call for a speedy hearing of the case in Pakistan.
He noted that when the case came up a couple of days ago in Pakistan, the prosecution had asked for an adjournment on the ground that the matter was pending in the High Court.
"But in the High Court, the judge, who was dealing with the case had retired," he noted.
Law Minister Veerappa Moily also welcomed the judgement and said the Indian judicial system was fair and equal to everybody and the same was demostrated by the Bombay High Court in upholding the death sentence of Kasab.
"Entire world knows how our judicial system works... very methodical, very systematic....it reflects well of our judiciary," he said.
Terming the judgement as "well carved out", he said the justice delivery system has dealt with the subject in a fair and equal manner.
"It is fair to everybody..equal to everybody and that is what is demonstrated by this judgement on Kasab," the Law Minister said outside Parliament House.
NEW DELHI: Welcoming the confirmation of death penalty of 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab by the Bombay High Court, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said it had enhanced the prestige of India's legal system but rued the lack of progress in the case in Pakistan.
"I compliment the prosecution. This is a tribute to our legal system," he told reporters while commenting on the Bombay High Court's decision.
He said the manner in which the case was conducted in India has "raised the prestige" of the country's judicial system.
"I think, we should allow our legal system to deal with case in the manner every other cases dealt with," the Home Minister said.
At the same time, he observed that the trial in the case was making no headway in Pakistan.
"Between the High Court and the trial court in Pakistan, in a way there has been no movement at all (on 26/11 case)," he said when asked whether, in the light of the judgement, India would call for a speedy hearing of the case in Pakistan.
He noted that when the case came up a couple of days ago in Pakistan, the prosecution had asked for an adjournment on the ground that the matter was pending in the High Court.
"But in the High Court, the judge, who was dealing with the case had retired," he noted.
Law Minister Veerappa Moily also welcomed the judgement and said the Indian judicial system was fair and equal to everybody and the same was demostrated by the Bombay High Court in upholding the death sentence of Kasab.
"Entire world knows how our judicial system works... very methodical, very systematic....it reflects well of our judiciary," he said.
Terming the judgement as "well carved out", he said the justice delivery system has dealt with the subject in a fair and equal manner.
"It is fair to everybody..equal to everybody and that is what is demonstrated by this judgement on Kasab," the Law Minister said outside Parliament House.
UPA may settle for a 30-member JPC to include smaller parties- similar to the parliamentary standing committees that also have 30 member-18/2/11
UPA may settle for a 30-member JPC to include smaller parties
UPA may settle for a 30-member JPC to include smaller parties
February 18, 2011 19:44 IST
The United Progressive Alliance [ Images ] is seriously considering increasing the strength of the proposed Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam from 21 to 30 members to accommodate more parties, but it is in no mood to expand the scope of the JPC to cover the Commonwealth Games [ Images ] fiasco, the Adarsh Society scam and the cancelled ISRO S-band spectrum sale.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal [ Images ], however, hinted at a media briefing on the upcoming Parliament session from Monday, that the government wants to accommodate more parties by making the JPC a 30-member body, with 20 members from the Lok Sabha, but said the final decision would be taken on the floor of the House.
The government will move the resolution for the JPC in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, a full working day after the customary adjournment on the opening day which is devoted to the President's address to the joint session of Parliament.
Bansal, however, made it clear that a JPC can take up only one issue and as such the government was committed to have it on the 2G spectrum allocation. He said it is up to the House to decide the terms of reference of the probe but they should be limited to the 2G issue, while the government will suggest it to cover the telecom policy since 1998 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was in power.
In an informal arrangement with BJP leaders Arun Jaitley [ Images ] and Sushma Swaraj [ Images ], Lok Sabha leader Pranab Mukherjee [ Images ] had agreed to a JPC which was to have 14 members from the Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha. This would mean that the Left parties and other smaller parties would not be represented on the JPC.
The Communist Party of India [ Images ]-Marxist and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam [ Images ] are mounting pressure to have a large-sized JPC as otherwise they may not find a place on it.
However, the AIADMK may not find any berth even in a 30-member JPC as it has just 9 members in the Lok Sabha. Though there are no separate rules, a berth in the JPC is conventionally decided on the basis of proportional representation.
Besides the Congress and the BJP getting eight and four seats respectively from the Lok Sabha on the basis of their strength in the House, one seat each may go to eight other parties on the basis of their numbers in the Lok Sabha: Samajwadi Party which has 22 MPs, Bahujan Samaj Party which has 21 MPs, the Janata Dal-United which has 20 MPs, the Trimanul Congress which has 19 MPs, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam which has 18 MPs, the Communist Party of India-Marxist which has 16 MPs, the Biju Janata Dal which has 14 MPs and Shiv Sena [ Images ] which has 11 MPs.
The AIADMK will protest that the proposed JPC will be dominated by the Congress and the BJP whose irregularities in the telecom sector are to be probed by it and therefore it should have more members from the parties who are not under scrutiny.
By tradition, a member from the ruling party becomes chairman of the JPC and that also gives advantage to the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechuri underlined while advancing the case for a 30-member JPC -- similar to the parliamentary standing committees that also have 30 members.
After the government agreed to the JPC, there will be now be a tussle over the JPC's terms of reference as the Congress wants specific terms while the BJP wants a broad-based probe to bring under the JPC's scanner, any new aspects that may emerge in the course of its proceedings.
A Correspondent in New Delhi
UPA may settle for a 30-member JPC to include smaller parties
February 18, 2011 19:44 IST
The United Progressive Alliance [ Images ] is seriously considering increasing the strength of the proposed Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam from 21 to 30 members to accommodate more parties, but it is in no mood to expand the scope of the JPC to cover the Commonwealth Games [ Images ] fiasco, the Adarsh Society scam and the cancelled ISRO S-band spectrum sale.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal [ Images ], however, hinted at a media briefing on the upcoming Parliament session from Monday, that the government wants to accommodate more parties by making the JPC a 30-member body, with 20 members from the Lok Sabha, but said the final decision would be taken on the floor of the House.
The government will move the resolution for the JPC in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, a full working day after the customary adjournment on the opening day which is devoted to the President's address to the joint session of Parliament.
Bansal, however, made it clear that a JPC can take up only one issue and as such the government was committed to have it on the 2G spectrum allocation. He said it is up to the House to decide the terms of reference of the probe but they should be limited to the 2G issue, while the government will suggest it to cover the telecom policy since 1998 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was in power.
In an informal arrangement with BJP leaders Arun Jaitley [ Images ] and Sushma Swaraj [ Images ], Lok Sabha leader Pranab Mukherjee [ Images ] had agreed to a JPC which was to have 14 members from the Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha. This would mean that the Left parties and other smaller parties would not be represented on the JPC.
The Communist Party of India [ Images ]-Marxist and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam [ Images ] are mounting pressure to have a large-sized JPC as otherwise they may not find a place on it.
However, the AIADMK may not find any berth even in a 30-member JPC as it has just 9 members in the Lok Sabha. Though there are no separate rules, a berth in the JPC is conventionally decided on the basis of proportional representation.
Besides the Congress and the BJP getting eight and four seats respectively from the Lok Sabha on the basis of their strength in the House, one seat each may go to eight other parties on the basis of their numbers in the Lok Sabha: Samajwadi Party which has 22 MPs, Bahujan Samaj Party which has 21 MPs, the Janata Dal-United which has 20 MPs, the Trimanul Congress which has 19 MPs, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam which has 18 MPs, the Communist Party of India-Marxist which has 16 MPs, the Biju Janata Dal which has 14 MPs and Shiv Sena [ Images ] which has 11 MPs.
The AIADMK will protest that the proposed JPC will be dominated by the Congress and the BJP whose irregularities in the telecom sector are to be probed by it and therefore it should have more members from the parties who are not under scrutiny.
By tradition, a member from the ruling party becomes chairman of the JPC and that also gives advantage to the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechuri underlined while advancing the case for a 30-member JPC -- similar to the parliamentary standing committees that also have 30 members.
After the government agreed to the JPC, there will be now be a tussle over the JPC's terms of reference as the Congress wants specific terms while the BJP wants a broad-based probe to bring under the JPC's scanner, any new aspects that may emerge in the course of its proceedings.
A Correspondent in New Delhi
Delhi Govt may shut plastic bag makingover 400 manufacturing units of such items across the city. -February 21, 2011
Govt may shut plastic bag making units
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, February 21, 2011
First Published: 00:01 IST(21/2/2011)
Last Updated: 00:03 IST(21/2/2011)
With the existing ban on use of plastic bags not being very effective, the Delhi government is now considering closing down over 400 manufacturing units of such items across the city. A top official said the government was determined to rid the city of plastic bags and a final decision on shutting d
own the manufacturing units is expected to be taken very soon.
"There are practical difficulties in enforcing the ban on use of plastic bags. So we are considering closing down the manufacturing units of plastic bags so that these bags are not produced at all," the official said.
Currently, around 400 plastic bag manufacturing units are operating in the city and the total yearly turnover of these units is be in the range of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, an industry expert said.
The Delhi government had in January, 2009 imposed a ban on the use of plastic bags in various markets, shopping malls, hotels and hospitals but it has not been very effective.
About 250 traders have been fined in the last two years for violating the ban.
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, February 21, 2011
First Published: 00:01 IST(21/2/2011)
Last Updated: 00:03 IST(21/2/2011)
With the existing ban on use of plastic bags not being very effective, the Delhi government is now considering closing down over 400 manufacturing units of such items across the city. A top official said the government was determined to rid the city of plastic bags and a final decision on shutting d
own the manufacturing units is expected to be taken very soon.
"There are practical difficulties in enforcing the ban on use of plastic bags. So we are considering closing down the manufacturing units of plastic bags so that these bags are not produced at all," the official said.
Currently, around 400 plastic bag manufacturing units are operating in the city and the total yearly turnover of these units is be in the range of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, an industry expert said.
The Delhi government had in January, 2009 imposed a ban on the use of plastic bags in various markets, shopping malls, hotels and hospitals but it has not been very effective.
About 250 traders have been fined in the last two years for violating the ban.
Tackling corruption and inflation,graft,sustaining growth while ensuring equity and ushering in reforms top priority: President-2011-02-21
Tackling graft, ushering in reforms top priority: President
Tackling graft, ushering in reforms top priority: President
2011-02-21 19:50:00
A Quick, Secure, and Anonymous Place to Report Demands Wordwide www.BRIBEline.org
New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) Tackling corruption and inflation are high on the government's agenda, President Pratibha Patil said inaugurating the important budget session of parliament Monday. She also underlined that sustaining growth while ensuring equity and ushering in reforms would be among the priorities.
'My government's foremost priority will be to address frontally the concern regarding lack of probity and integrity in public life,' Patil said in her 45-minute address to the joint sitting of both houses in the packed Central Hall of parliament.
The emphasis on anti-corruption measures by the president comes a day before the 21-month-old United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II government is likely to announce the formation of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
However, there was no mention in the presidential address of the impasse in parliament during the winter session caused by opposition protests over the spectrum scandal and other corruption issues like the Commonwealth Games and Adarsh housing society scams.
Contrary to the noisy scenes all through the winter session, the address of the president on the inaugural day of the two-month budget session passed off by and large peacefully.
However, some Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh raised slogans and flashed placards demanding that a separate Telangana be carved out of the southern state.
About a dozen MPs rose from their seats and shouted slogans demanding Telangana state.
They got back to their seats as soon as the president concluded the speech.
Another priority of the government will be to 'combat inflation and, in particular, to protect the common man from the impact of rising food prices,' Patil said. The president's speech customarily lists out the government priorities and is cleared by the cabinet.
She said the government will 'sustain the momentum of economic growth, while ensuring that the poor, weak and the disadvantaged get a fair share in the fruits of growth.
Indicating the government is planning new economic reforms soon, the president said: 'We have to maintain the momentum for reforms on a wide front.'
The government, as a priority, will 'pursue a foreign policy which will ensure that our voice is heard and our interests are protected in the global fora,' she added.
The president made a significant reference to the popular uprisings in West Asia and said India would welcome democracy everywhere in the world. 'As a democracy ourselves, we welcome the dawn of democracy elsewhere.'
Asserting that the government stands committed to 'improving the quality of governance and enhancing transparency, probity and integrity in public life', she said the group of ministers (GoM) looking into the issue is expected to submit its report soon.
The GoM will consider all measures, including 'legislative and administrative, to tackle corruption and improve transparency', she said.
The president gave an indication that the discretionary powers of ministers may be scrapped.
The GoM will review the 'abolition of discretionary powers enjoyed by ministers, introduction of an open and competitive system of exploiting natural resources and fast tracking cases against public servants charged with corruption', she said.
Regarding economic and welfare schemes, Patil said the issues that the government will specifically target include a new legislation to ensure food security, access to energy, rapid industrial development with social inclusion, a new minerals policy and safe and reliable transportation system.
'I had announced earlier my government's commitment to bring a food security law that will entitle statutorily every family below poverty line to food grains at highly subsidized prices. The states are being consulted as success of the programme hinges on their commitment to reforms in the public distribution system.'
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani and other leaders were present during the presidential address.
Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said outside the house that he hoped the budget session will be peaceful. The budget will be presented Feb 28.
'This budget session of parliament is very crucial. The budget has to be debated and passed by two houses of parliament. We also hope to give some important pieces of legislation,' he told reporters.
'It is our sincere hope that this session will be peaceful and productive,' he said.
However, the BJP described the president's speech as 'insipid and non-inspirational' and the 'listing of government schemes'.
'The government failed to show the direction to the nation on the vital issues of crisis in governance,' S.S. Ahluwalia, deputy leader of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha, told reporters.
The budget session will continue till April 21, with an 18-day recess from March 17 to April 3. The first part of the session will have 17 sittings while the second part will have 12 sittings.
All About: National,Politics,New Delhi
Tackling graft, ushering in reforms top priority: President
2011-02-21 19:50:00
A Quick, Secure, and Anonymous Place to Report Demands Wordwide www.BRIBEline.org
New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) Tackling corruption and inflation are high on the government's agenda, President Pratibha Patil said inaugurating the important budget session of parliament Monday. She also underlined that sustaining growth while ensuring equity and ushering in reforms would be among the priorities.
'My government's foremost priority will be to address frontally the concern regarding lack of probity and integrity in public life,' Patil said in her 45-minute address to the joint sitting of both houses in the packed Central Hall of parliament.
The emphasis on anti-corruption measures by the president comes a day before the 21-month-old United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II government is likely to announce the formation of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
However, there was no mention in the presidential address of the impasse in parliament during the winter session caused by opposition protests over the spectrum scandal and other corruption issues like the Commonwealth Games and Adarsh housing society scams.
Contrary to the noisy scenes all through the winter session, the address of the president on the inaugural day of the two-month budget session passed off by and large peacefully.
However, some Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh raised slogans and flashed placards demanding that a separate Telangana be carved out of the southern state.
About a dozen MPs rose from their seats and shouted slogans demanding Telangana state.
They got back to their seats as soon as the president concluded the speech.
Another priority of the government will be to 'combat inflation and, in particular, to protect the common man from the impact of rising food prices,' Patil said. The president's speech customarily lists out the government priorities and is cleared by the cabinet.
She said the government will 'sustain the momentum of economic growth, while ensuring that the poor, weak and the disadvantaged get a fair share in the fruits of growth.
Indicating the government is planning new economic reforms soon, the president said: 'We have to maintain the momentum for reforms on a wide front.'
The government, as a priority, will 'pursue a foreign policy which will ensure that our voice is heard and our interests are protected in the global fora,' she added.
The president made a significant reference to the popular uprisings in West Asia and said India would welcome democracy everywhere in the world. 'As a democracy ourselves, we welcome the dawn of democracy elsewhere.'
Asserting that the government stands committed to 'improving the quality of governance and enhancing transparency, probity and integrity in public life', she said the group of ministers (GoM) looking into the issue is expected to submit its report soon.
The GoM will consider all measures, including 'legislative and administrative, to tackle corruption and improve transparency', she said.
The president gave an indication that the discretionary powers of ministers may be scrapped.
The GoM will review the 'abolition of discretionary powers enjoyed by ministers, introduction of an open and competitive system of exploiting natural resources and fast tracking cases against public servants charged with corruption', she said.
Regarding economic and welfare schemes, Patil said the issues that the government will specifically target include a new legislation to ensure food security, access to energy, rapid industrial development with social inclusion, a new minerals policy and safe and reliable transportation system.
'I had announced earlier my government's commitment to bring a food security law that will entitle statutorily every family below poverty line to food grains at highly subsidized prices. The states are being consulted as success of the programme hinges on their commitment to reforms in the public distribution system.'
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani and other leaders were present during the presidential address.
Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said outside the house that he hoped the budget session will be peaceful. The budget will be presented Feb 28.
'This budget session of parliament is very crucial. The budget has to be debated and passed by two houses of parliament. We also hope to give some important pieces of legislation,' he told reporters.
'It is our sincere hope that this session will be peaceful and productive,' he said.
However, the BJP described the president's speech as 'insipid and non-inspirational' and the 'listing of government schemes'.
'The government failed to show the direction to the nation on the vital issues of crisis in governance,' S.S. Ahluwalia, deputy leader of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha, told reporters.
The budget session will continue till April 21, with an 18-day recess from March 17 to April 3. The first part of the session will have 17 sittings while the second part will have 12 sittings.
All About: National,Politics,New Delhi
'China's response to Jasmine revolt shows its nervousness'-Jasmine Revolution, Beijing response, pro-democracy demonstrations Mon Feb 21 2011
'China's response to Jasmine revolt shows its nervousness'
Jasmine Revolution, Beijing response, pro-democracy demonstrations
Mon Feb 21 2011, 14:31 hrs New York:
Jasmine revolution
Police urge people to leave as they gather in front of a cinema that was a planned protest site in Shanghai.
A day after China used force to squelch a mysterious online call for a "Jasmine Revolution", a media report here today claimed that Beijing's response to the call for protests inspired by pro-democracy demonstrations in the Middle East highlighted the country's "nervousness".
"The outsize government response highlighted China's nervousness at a time of spreading unrest in the Middle East aimed at overthrowing authoritarian governments," the New York Times reported.
The newspaper reported the words "Jasmine Revolution," borrowed from the successful Tunisian revolt, were blocked on sites similar to Twitter and on internet search engines.
Cell-phone users were unable to send out text messages to multiple recipients and a heavy police presence was reported in several Chinese cities, the NYT said.
Yesterday, several hundred gathered in front of a McDonald's restaurant in Beijing's Wangfujing Street apparently after a message circulated by a US based website calling on people to launch Egyptian style protests against the one party rule in China.
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People started to gather at around 2 pm on the busy shopping street in downtown Beijing, and together with onlookers and foreign journalists, the gathering people were numbered in hundreds at their peak, according to the witness.
Yesterday's protests were the first visual action by dissident groups which appeared to have been galvanised after the jailed prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo was awarded Nobel Peace Prize, which was strongly resented by China.
The messages calling people to action urged protesters to shout, "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness," an ostensible effort to tap into popular discontent over inflation and soaring real estate prices, according to the report.
Several reports said that a young man was encircled by police after he placed a jasmine flower near the front of the McDonalds. But he was released after reporters gathered in the area. The calls for campaign first appeared on Boxun.com, a US based Chinese language website.
The Middle East has been sent into upheaval in the wake of revolutions across the region and North Africa, toppling presidents in Tunisia and Egypt and sparking unrest in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere.
Jasmine Revolution, Beijing response, pro-democracy demonstrations
Mon Feb 21 2011, 14:31 hrs New York:
Jasmine revolution
Police urge people to leave as they gather in front of a cinema that was a planned protest site in Shanghai.
A day after China used force to squelch a mysterious online call for a "Jasmine Revolution", a media report here today claimed that Beijing's response to the call for protests inspired by pro-democracy demonstrations in the Middle East highlighted the country's "nervousness".
"The outsize government response highlighted China's nervousness at a time of spreading unrest in the Middle East aimed at overthrowing authoritarian governments," the New York Times reported.
The newspaper reported the words "Jasmine Revolution," borrowed from the successful Tunisian revolt, were blocked on sites similar to Twitter and on internet search engines.
Cell-phone users were unable to send out text messages to multiple recipients and a heavy police presence was reported in several Chinese cities, the NYT said.
Yesterday, several hundred gathered in front of a McDonald's restaurant in Beijing's Wangfujing Street apparently after a message circulated by a US based website calling on people to launch Egyptian style protests against the one party rule in China.
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People started to gather at around 2 pm on the busy shopping street in downtown Beijing, and together with onlookers and foreign journalists, the gathering people were numbered in hundreds at their peak, according to the witness.
Yesterday's protests were the first visual action by dissident groups which appeared to have been galvanised after the jailed prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo was awarded Nobel Peace Prize, which was strongly resented by China.
The messages calling people to action urged protesters to shout, "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness," an ostensible effort to tap into popular discontent over inflation and soaring real estate prices, according to the report.
Several reports said that a young man was encircled by police after he placed a jasmine flower near the front of the McDonalds. But he was released after reporters gathered in the area. The calls for campaign first appeared on Boxun.com, a US based Chinese language website.
The Middle East has been sent into upheaval in the wake of revolutions across the region and North Africa, toppling presidents in Tunisia and Egypt and sparking unrest in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere.
Amartya Sen presses for universal access to health care-Workshop on social equity -February 20, 2011
Amartya Sen presses for universal access to health care
by Varma.gbsnp - February 20, 2011
Nobel Prize winner economist Amartya Sen says there is a need for the right to universal access to public health care, just as the country has guaranteed the right to education for all.
0diggsdigg
Nobel Prize winner economist Amartya Sen says there is a need for the right to universal access to public health care, just as the country has guaranteed the right to education for all.
At an event to announce the setting up of the Pratichi Institute in Kolkata on Thursday, Dr. Sen said, education for all is an unfulfilled promise but in health care it is not even a promise. “We want to press for it.”
As for Right to Education, he said, “a lot more is to be implemented, especially for girls. Not only China, but also Bangladesh is way ahead of India.”
Healthcare in India
India’s healthcare system is in shambles. One look at our public health system is enough to wonder how people, especially the poor, survive any disease. It also looks as if government has vacated public health field and leased it out to private sector.
In India, poor people suffering from illnesses cannot approach private sector hospitals. Lamenting the over-reliance on the private hospitals, Dr. Sen, said, it led to “a situation in which quite often very poor peasants are exploited.”
Dr. Sen compared universal healthcare in every country in Europe, America, Canada, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore with that of India and said, “people in India should have a right to public health.”
Dr. Sen’s views
While taking stock of what has gone on in one year since the passing of the Act, Dr. Sen feels a lot has been achieved but a lot needs to be done. He further observed:
“The right to education was in some ways not as radical as some of us would have liked. On the other hand it was a big change. Has it achieved anything? Yes. Has it moved fast enough? No.”
He also said that Bangladesh is way ahead of India, especially in girl’s education. In Bangladesh, number of girls going to school is larger than the number of boys.
Stressing that Bangladesh has outscored India on human development indicators other than per capita income, Dr. Sen said, "One of the probable reasons is the activism of liberated Bangladeshi women.”
Lamenting the fact that some people opposed draft Food Security Bill on the grounds that the country needs only economic growth, he said, “Economic growth is not an end in itself; it must be used for proving food, basic education and healthcare to the people.”
In his assessment of the development of education in West Bengal, he said it was a mid-ranking state, and that the decline started at the turn of the last century.” It is not the best, but there is no reason that it should not be the best.”
The Pratichi(India) Trust was set up with his Nobel Prize money. The Pratichi Institute, a research wing of the Pratichi (India) Trust, will focus on research in primary education and healthcare.
by Varma.gbsnp - February 20, 2011
Nobel Prize winner economist Amartya Sen says there is a need for the right to universal access to public health care, just as the country has guaranteed the right to education for all.
0diggsdigg
Nobel Prize winner economist Amartya Sen says there is a need for the right to universal access to public health care, just as the country has guaranteed the right to education for all.
At an event to announce the setting up of the Pratichi Institute in Kolkata on Thursday, Dr. Sen said, education for all is an unfulfilled promise but in health care it is not even a promise. “We want to press for it.”
As for Right to Education, he said, “a lot more is to be implemented, especially for girls. Not only China, but also Bangladesh is way ahead of India.”
Healthcare in India
India’s healthcare system is in shambles. One look at our public health system is enough to wonder how people, especially the poor, survive any disease. It also looks as if government has vacated public health field and leased it out to private sector.
In India, poor people suffering from illnesses cannot approach private sector hospitals. Lamenting the over-reliance on the private hospitals, Dr. Sen, said, it led to “a situation in which quite often very poor peasants are exploited.”
Dr. Sen compared universal healthcare in every country in Europe, America, Canada, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore with that of India and said, “people in India should have a right to public health.”
Dr. Sen’s views
While taking stock of what has gone on in one year since the passing of the Act, Dr. Sen feels a lot has been achieved but a lot needs to be done. He further observed:
“The right to education was in some ways not as radical as some of us would have liked. On the other hand it was a big change. Has it achieved anything? Yes. Has it moved fast enough? No.”
He also said that Bangladesh is way ahead of India, especially in girl’s education. In Bangladesh, number of girls going to school is larger than the number of boys.
Stressing that Bangladesh has outscored India on human development indicators other than per capita income, Dr. Sen said, "One of the probable reasons is the activism of liberated Bangladeshi women.”
Lamenting the fact that some people opposed draft Food Security Bill on the grounds that the country needs only economic growth, he said, “Economic growth is not an end in itself; it must be used for proving food, basic education and healthcare to the people.”
In his assessment of the development of education in West Bengal, he said it was a mid-ranking state, and that the decline started at the turn of the last century.” It is not the best, but there is no reason that it should not be the best.”
The Pratichi(India) Trust was set up with his Nobel Prize money. The Pratichi Institute, a research wing of the Pratichi (India) Trust, will focus on research in primary education and healthcare.
China moves to improve health care & HIV/AIDS programmes Feb 21, 2011 09:50 AM
China moves to improve health care & HIV/AIDS programmes
Feb 21, 2011 09:50 AM
Over the last decade, China has introduced a series of healthcare reforms aimed at introducing universal medical coverage and improving basic and primary healthcare services.
Already, 1.23 billion of China’s 1.33 billion people have some kind of healthcare insurance and the government has recently announced how it intends to improve the scheme.
Currently the state runs two health insurance programmes, one for urban workers and a separate rural cooperative scheme. The Chinese State council this week said it intended to raise the subsidies paid for each person in the scheme from around 18 dollars to 30 dollars. In a statement from the central government reported by Reuters, Chinese officials said the aim was to “significantly increase the level of protection” for both urban and rural citizens. There are also plans to build another 1,000 hospitals and over 13,000 clinics in villages across China. With some hospitals charging high fees or wanting payment for treatments up front, the changes are designed to bring basic medical care within the reach of ordinary Chinese citizens.
The Chinese government have also been addressing the task faced by health services in combating HIV/AIDS. Chinese officials are conscious that in some regions AIDS prevention work is poorly coordinated and further efforts need to be made in tackling the spread of the disease. In the statement reported by Reuters, the Chinese authorities talk of “stepping up work” to halt the “rapid rise in cases in key areas and among key groups.....so that by 2020 the virus is brought under fairly good control nationally”. According to the latest UNAIDS report, China has between 560,000 to 1,000,000 people (estimate for 2009) living with HIV and the disease is now spreading primarily through sexual contact. Without vaccines, the government recognises it is a matter of “complex and long-term” prevention and control.
HIV/AIDS first became a problem in the country during the 1990s when hundreds of thousands of poor became infected through blood-selling schemes. After initially being slow to acknowledge the problem, China has recognised the disease represents a major threat and senior leaders have recently been shown in the media meeting with AIDS patients in order to tackle issues of stigma and discrimination. Though much progress has still to be made in healthcare, UNAIDS experts recently commended China at an Asia-Pacific meeting as one of the few countries in the Asian region to reform policy and develop a strategy for combating the disease.
Feb 21, 2011 09:50 AM
Over the last decade, China has introduced a series of healthcare reforms aimed at introducing universal medical coverage and improving basic and primary healthcare services.
Already, 1.23 billion of China’s 1.33 billion people have some kind of healthcare insurance and the government has recently announced how it intends to improve the scheme.
Currently the state runs two health insurance programmes, one for urban workers and a separate rural cooperative scheme. The Chinese State council this week said it intended to raise the subsidies paid for each person in the scheme from around 18 dollars to 30 dollars. In a statement from the central government reported by Reuters, Chinese officials said the aim was to “significantly increase the level of protection” for both urban and rural citizens. There are also plans to build another 1,000 hospitals and over 13,000 clinics in villages across China. With some hospitals charging high fees or wanting payment for treatments up front, the changes are designed to bring basic medical care within the reach of ordinary Chinese citizens.
The Chinese government have also been addressing the task faced by health services in combating HIV/AIDS. Chinese officials are conscious that in some regions AIDS prevention work is poorly coordinated and further efforts need to be made in tackling the spread of the disease. In the statement reported by Reuters, the Chinese authorities talk of “stepping up work” to halt the “rapid rise in cases in key areas and among key groups.....so that by 2020 the virus is brought under fairly good control nationally”. According to the latest UNAIDS report, China has between 560,000 to 1,000,000 people (estimate for 2009) living with HIV and the disease is now spreading primarily through sexual contact. Without vaccines, the government recognises it is a matter of “complex and long-term” prevention and control.
HIV/AIDS first became a problem in the country during the 1990s when hundreds of thousands of poor became infected through blood-selling schemes. After initially being slow to acknowledge the problem, China has recognised the disease represents a major threat and senior leaders have recently been shown in the media meeting with AIDS patients in order to tackle issues of stigma and discrimination. Though much progress has still to be made in healthcare, UNAIDS experts recently commended China at an Asia-Pacific meeting as one of the few countries in the Asian region to reform policy and develop a strategy for combating the disease.
Religious leaders in state to join fight against AIDS-people who are infected with the virus. They are just human beings like us. Feb 19, 2011
Religious leaders in state to join fight against AIDS
TNN, Feb 19, 2011, 11.40pm IST
GUWAHATI: A two-day convention, organized by the Art of Living, a non-profit educational and humanitarian NGO, in collaboration with the Assam State Aids Control Society (ASACS), began on Saturday where religious leaders from across the state will participate to spread awareness against HIV/AIDS.
Swami Divyananda of Art of Living said on Saturday with active participation of religious leaders, the disease can be thrown out of society."Initially, we started our mission in 2008. Since then gradually we have stepped up our campaign. With participation of all, we will be able to throw away AIDS from society," he said.
The Art of Living believes in spreading the message of love and humanity to deal with people infected with HIV.
"I have met several people who are infected with the virus. They are just human beings like us. They need love and care from us to lead their lives normally," said Richa Chopra who has been involved with various humanitarian activities across the country.
"We can definitely help people by extending our care for them and encourage them to lead a normal life. A word of love could be a vital medicine for some people," she said, adding that the seminar would help the religious leaders to experience the idea and spread the message across to people.
Assam health commissioner and secretary Prateek Hajela who was also present during the inaugural session of the seminar said prevention was the best way to pluck AIDS out of our world.
"The number of people infected with the virus has crossed 25 lakh in India and we need to be more conscious to stop its spread further. Besides, we need to be generous to those who have been infected already. We should not hurt them with our behaviour," he said.
Ashish Bhutani GMDA commissioner and secretary stressed on the role of religious leaders and teachers in the society to prevent spread of AIDS. "People believe more in religious leaders. If they decide to shoulder the responsibility, I think they can bring about a change," said Bhutani.
Religious leaders from various parts of the state actively took part in the session and exchanged their feelings and experiences.
TNN, Feb 19, 2011, 11.40pm IST
GUWAHATI: A two-day convention, organized by the Art of Living, a non-profit educational and humanitarian NGO, in collaboration with the Assam State Aids Control Society (ASACS), began on Saturday where religious leaders from across the state will participate to spread awareness against HIV/AIDS.
Swami Divyananda of Art of Living said on Saturday with active participation of religious leaders, the disease can be thrown out of society."Initially, we started our mission in 2008. Since then gradually we have stepped up our campaign. With participation of all, we will be able to throw away AIDS from society," he said.
The Art of Living believes in spreading the message of love and humanity to deal with people infected with HIV.
"I have met several people who are infected with the virus. They are just human beings like us. They need love and care from us to lead their lives normally," said Richa Chopra who has been involved with various humanitarian activities across the country.
"We can definitely help people by extending our care for them and encourage them to lead a normal life. A word of love could be a vital medicine for some people," she said, adding that the seminar would help the religious leaders to experience the idea and spread the message across to people.
Assam health commissioner and secretary Prateek Hajela who was also present during the inaugural session of the seminar said prevention was the best way to pluck AIDS out of our world.
"The number of people infected with the virus has crossed 25 lakh in India and we need to be more conscious to stop its spread further. Besides, we need to be generous to those who have been infected already. We should not hurt them with our behaviour," he said.
Ashish Bhutani GMDA commissioner and secretary stressed on the role of religious leaders and teachers in the society to prevent spread of AIDS. "People believe more in religious leaders. If they decide to shoulder the responsibility, I think they can bring about a change," said Bhutani.
Religious leaders from various parts of the state actively took part in the session and exchanged their feelings and experiences.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
I-T crackdown on politicians lying about their wealth-d commission had sought d services of 150 IRS offices 4 deployment in 5 states inApr-May-21/2/11
I-T crackdown on politicians lying about their wealth
Pradeep Thakur, TNN, Feb 21, 2011, 12.53am IST
NEW DELHI: For the first time, the Income Tax department has launched a drive to cleanse dirty money from politics and initiated action against at least 300 high networth politicians for alleged misreporting of wealth in their yearly returns. This includes those who have not filed returns despite huge accumulation of assets over the years.
The measures were taken following a prod from the Election Commission (EC) which wanted the department to match I-T returns with the statement of assets declared by candidates in their affidavits. The election watchdog had found alleged misuse of political funds by some netas and their outfits besides allegations of disproportionate assets accumulated by others.
In an action taken report, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) told the EC that it had already proposed action against 103 politicians "where (their) affidavits did not match the I-T returns", and against 195 who had not filed returns despite having affirmed substantial assets in their poll affidavits.
The status report talks about cases reviewed till March 2008. More irregularities are likely to emerge with I-T field formations investigating actual assets of these politicians against their known sources of income. These include those who contested the 2009 parliamentary elections and recent Assembly polls.
Citing one such case, sources said former Bihar CM Rabri Devi had assets worth Rs 24 crore according to her poll declarations but her I-T returns showed an annual income of Rs 7 lakh.
The government had refused to divulge names of politicians against whom action had been initiated. Anil Bairwal of the Association for Democratic Reforms, who had been campaigning for disclosing the names of politicians against whom action has been initiated, said his RTI queries had not been considered by the I-T department. Whatever had come out was the result of 12 letters that EC sent to CBDT between May 2004 and June 2008, seeking updates on its investigation. ADR had obtained copies of the communication.
The exercise of matching affidavits with returns and the action taken reports prepared by I-T investigation will be archived at the election expenditure monitoring cell of the EC. The data will be verified during scrutiny of poll papers in future.
"The correspondence shows that CBDT responded very sluggishly to the EC requests," Bairwal said. The EC had earlier sent the affidavits of candidates who fought Lok Sabha elections in DVDs to CBDT to scrutinize whether the assets were acquired by known sources of income or not. The commission had also sought an action taken report outlining the results of the investigation to be submitted to the commission in a time-bound manner.
Starting from Bihar elections in November 2010, the EC had involved the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation (DGIT) to keep a close watch on all poll-related expenditure of candidates and cash movements in and out of the states going to polls.
The commission had sought the services of 150 IRS offices for deployment in five states which go to polls in April-May 2011.
Pradeep Thakur, TNN, Feb 21, 2011, 12.53am IST
NEW DELHI: For the first time, the Income Tax department has launched a drive to cleanse dirty money from politics and initiated action against at least 300 high networth politicians for alleged misreporting of wealth in their yearly returns. This includes those who have not filed returns despite huge accumulation of assets over the years.
The measures were taken following a prod from the Election Commission (EC) which wanted the department to match I-T returns with the statement of assets declared by candidates in their affidavits. The election watchdog had found alleged misuse of political funds by some netas and their outfits besides allegations of disproportionate assets accumulated by others.
In an action taken report, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) told the EC that it had already proposed action against 103 politicians "where (their) affidavits did not match the I-T returns", and against 195 who had not filed returns despite having affirmed substantial assets in their poll affidavits.
The status report talks about cases reviewed till March 2008. More irregularities are likely to emerge with I-T field formations investigating actual assets of these politicians against their known sources of income. These include those who contested the 2009 parliamentary elections and recent Assembly polls.
Citing one such case, sources said former Bihar CM Rabri Devi had assets worth Rs 24 crore according to her poll declarations but her I-T returns showed an annual income of Rs 7 lakh.
The government had refused to divulge names of politicians against whom action had been initiated. Anil Bairwal of the Association for Democratic Reforms, who had been campaigning for disclosing the names of politicians against whom action has been initiated, said his RTI queries had not been considered by the I-T department. Whatever had come out was the result of 12 letters that EC sent to CBDT between May 2004 and June 2008, seeking updates on its investigation. ADR had obtained copies of the communication.
The exercise of matching affidavits with returns and the action taken reports prepared by I-T investigation will be archived at the election expenditure monitoring cell of the EC. The data will be verified during scrutiny of poll papers in future.
"The correspondence shows that CBDT responded very sluggishly to the EC requests," Bairwal said. The EC had earlier sent the affidavits of candidates who fought Lok Sabha elections in DVDs to CBDT to scrutinize whether the assets were acquired by known sources of income or not. The commission had also sought an action taken report outlining the results of the investigation to be submitted to the commission in a time-bound manner.
Starting from Bihar elections in November 2010, the EC had involved the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation (DGIT) to keep a close watch on all poll-related expenditure of candidates and cash movements in and out of the states going to polls.
The commission had sought the services of 150 IRS offices for deployment in five states which go to polls in April-May 2011.
Swami Agnivesh opens talks for IAS officer's release with Maoists-Feb 18, 2011
Swami Agnivesh opens talks for IAS officer's release with Maoists
Rakhi Chakrabarty, TNN, Feb 18, 2011, 02.49am IST
(EVEN MY HEARTY APPEAL TO MAOIST THAT THEY SHOULD FREE HIM AND OPEN THE DOOR FOR PEACE AND FRUITFUL TALK...VIBHA)
NEW DELHI: Social activist Swami Agnivesh established contact with the Maoists late on Thursday after the Orissa government requested him to negotiate the release of abducted Malkangiri district collector RV Krishna. Based on their conversation with Agnivesh, the Maoists extended the deadline for the release of the officer. ( Read: To free Orissa IAS officer, Maoists want 700 in return )
''I insist chief minister Naveen Patnaik should now take the initiative and intervene and talk to me to discuss the modalities of the officer's release,'' said Agnivesh. Earlier in the day, Orissa's principal secretary (home) U N Behera had called Agnivesh. ''The home secretary assured me that the state government will not conduct combing operations until the district collector is released,'' said Agnivesh. ( Read: Reds abduct Malkangiri collector )
''I have appealed to the Maoists not to harm the collector,'' Agnivesh said, adding that the Orissa government should announce 72-hour ceasefire and suspend all operations against the Maoists. ''The Maoists will respond positively to this move and help the peace talks,'' he said. ( Read: Orissa forces call halt to operations )
Agnivesh last week successfully negotiated the release of five Chhattisgarh cops abducted by the Maoists. After returning from Raipur, he sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. ''The government is treating each incident on an ad hoc basis. It doesn't help. The Centre should have a policy in place to deal with such situations,'' he said.
Rakhi Chakrabarty, TNN, Feb 18, 2011, 02.49am IST
(EVEN MY HEARTY APPEAL TO MAOIST THAT THEY SHOULD FREE HIM AND OPEN THE DOOR FOR PEACE AND FRUITFUL TALK...VIBHA)
NEW DELHI: Social activist Swami Agnivesh established contact with the Maoists late on Thursday after the Orissa government requested him to negotiate the release of abducted Malkangiri district collector RV Krishna. Based on their conversation with Agnivesh, the Maoists extended the deadline for the release of the officer. ( Read: To free Orissa IAS officer, Maoists want 700 in return )
''I insist chief minister Naveen Patnaik should now take the initiative and intervene and talk to me to discuss the modalities of the officer's release,'' said Agnivesh. Earlier in the day, Orissa's principal secretary (home) U N Behera had called Agnivesh. ''The home secretary assured me that the state government will not conduct combing operations until the district collector is released,'' said Agnivesh. ( Read: Reds abduct Malkangiri collector )
''I have appealed to the Maoists not to harm the collector,'' Agnivesh said, adding that the Orissa government should announce 72-hour ceasefire and suspend all operations against the Maoists. ''The Maoists will respond positively to this move and help the peace talks,'' he said. ( Read: Orissa forces call halt to operations )
Agnivesh last week successfully negotiated the release of five Chhattisgarh cops abducted by the Maoists. After returning from Raipur, he sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. ''The government is treating each incident on an ad hoc basis. It doesn't help. The Centre should have a policy in place to deal with such situations,'' he said.
JAISE AAP BAATON KO PRESHIT KARNA CHAHTEIN HEIN,VAISE HI BATEIN SAMPRESHIT HON,ISSKE LIYE ZAMMEEN PER KAAM KERNA BHI BAHOOUT ZAROORI HEI....VIBHA
KAI BAAR AAP JO BHI KAHNA CHAHAATEIN HEIN,
LOG SAMBHAVT USSE USSS NAZARIYE SE GRAHAN NAHIN KAR RAHE HOTE HEIN,
YA SAMBHAVTE AAPNE NAZARIYE SE BATON KO DEKAHNE/KAHNE KE LIYE,
AURON KA NAZARIYA SAMAJHNA NAHIN CHAAHTEIN HEIN.
ISS LIYE ZAROORI HAI,SWAYAM KAM KER KE DIKHANA
....CHAHE AAP SAFAL HO PAYEIN YA NAHIN,
AAAP KE KAAM KA TARIQA AASSAAL MEIN KYA RAHA HAI
....VARNA GALAT SAMAJHNE WALE AAPKE MARNE KE BAAAD BHI AAPKO GALAT HI SAMJHEINGE.
ISS LIYE SIRF KALUM-DAWAT/COMPUTER INTERNET HI NAHIN,
FIELD MEIN AGGRESSIVLY KAAM KARNE KA MAUKA DHOONDH,
USSE BHI SABEET KARNA ZAROORI HAI,MUJHE YAKEEN HAI,
ISSHWAR/SUDHIRJI MUJHE BHI MAUKA DENGE...,
AS I DON'T NEED ANYONE ELSE'S CERTIFICATES
AS NO ONE WANTS TOOO BE OR REMEMBERED AS,
IN WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY...AND NOW I'LL GO TO MY MAYKA
(WON'T TALK ABOUT PEOPLE HERE IN SASURAL),
WHEN I'LL PROVE THAT!!!.....VIBHA TAILANG
LOG SAMBHAVT USSE USSS NAZARIYE SE GRAHAN NAHIN KAR RAHE HOTE HEIN,
YA SAMBHAVTE AAPNE NAZARIYE SE BATON KO DEKAHNE/KAHNE KE LIYE,
AURON KA NAZARIYA SAMAJHNA NAHIN CHAAHTEIN HEIN.
ISS LIYE ZAROORI HAI,SWAYAM KAM KER KE DIKHANA
....CHAHE AAP SAFAL HO PAYEIN YA NAHIN,
AAAP KE KAAM KA TARIQA AASSAAL MEIN KYA RAHA HAI
....VARNA GALAT SAMAJHNE WALE AAPKE MARNE KE BAAAD BHI AAPKO GALAT HI SAMJHEINGE.
ISS LIYE SIRF KALUM-DAWAT/COMPUTER INTERNET HI NAHIN,
FIELD MEIN AGGRESSIVLY KAAM KARNE KA MAUKA DHOONDH,
USSE BHI SABEET KARNA ZAROORI HAI,MUJHE YAKEEN HAI,
ISSHWAR/SUDHIRJI MUJHE BHI MAUKA DENGE...,
AS I DON'T NEED ANYONE ELSE'S CERTIFICATES
AS NO ONE WANTS TOOO BE OR REMEMBERED AS,
IN WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY...AND NOW I'LL GO TO MY MAYKA
(WON'T TALK ABOUT PEOPLE HERE IN SASURAL),
WHEN I'LL PROVE THAT!!!.....VIBHA TAILANG
Friday, February 18, 2011
Meet the 2010 SEED Award Winners-30 innovative start-up ventures in: Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, etc
Meet the 2010 SEED Award Winners
30 innovative start-up ventures in: Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka.
Click on the red stars in the map below to view a full description of each SEED Winner, or visit SEED's Winners' database.
Amatola Wild Trout Fishery
* [Click to view more information about this project - Amatola Wild Trout Fishery]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Sustainable Tourism|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Backpack Farm Agriculture Program
* [Click to view more information about this project - Backpack Farm Agriculture Program]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Biofuel Production in Promoting Sustainable Land Manage...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Biofuel Production in Promoting Sustainable Land Management]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Energy / Renewables|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
BOSQUE HUMEDO BIODIVERSO
* [Click to view more information about this project - BOSQUE HUMEDO BIODIVERSO]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Colombia
o Region:Latin America & Caribbean (GRULAC)
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
information coming in the next few weeks View project details
Claire Reid Reel Gardening
* [Click to view more information about this project - Claire Reid Reel Gardening]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Education|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon View project details
Commercialization of Prosopis Juliflora Products from A...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Commercialization of Prosopis Juliflora Products from Affected Areas]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Community-Based Medicinal Plant Enterprise for Biodiver...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Community-Based Medicinal Plant Enterprise for Biodiversity Conservation]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
DeCo! - Decentralized Composting for Sustainable Farmin...
* [Click to view more information about this project - DeCo! - Decentralized Composting for Sustainable Farming and Development]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
EcoPost - Fencing Posts from Recycled Post-Consumer Was...
* [Click to view more information about this project - EcoPost - Fencing Posts from Recycled Post-Consumer Waste Plastic]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Environmental technologies|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
Nairobi generates over 2,400 tonnes of waste everyday, 20% of which is plastic. Lack of an organised system of waste management has resulted in crude dumping of the waste leading to heaps of garbage littering streets and open fields. Cleanup is left mostl ... View project details
Efficient Charcoal Production and Smoke Recycling
* [Click to view more information about this project - Efficient Charcoal Production and Smoke Recycling]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Rwanda
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
FLOWER OF H.O.P.E
* [Click to view more information about this project - FLOWER OF H.O.P.E]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Senegal
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Education|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Food & Trees for Africa
* [Click to view more information about this project - Food & Trees for Africa]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Food security|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
G-lish: Income Generation, Re-Generation, Next Generati...
* [Click to view more information about this project - G-lish: Income Generation, Re-Generation, Next Generation]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative
* [Click to view more information about this project - Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Micro-enterprise development|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
High-value Syrup from 'Prekese' Fruits for Community Li...
* [Click to view more information about this project - High-value Syrup from 'Prekese' Fruits for Community Livelihood Empowerment]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Food security|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Initiative for Promoting and Distributing Bio-Pesticide...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Initiative for Promoting and Distributing Bio-Pesticides]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Burkina Faso
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Education
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
IziWasha
* [IziWasha]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Micro-enterprise development|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Water and sanitation
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Kayor Rural Energy, Rural Electrification by Photovolta...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Kayor Rural Energy, Rural Electrification by Photovoltaic Solar Energy]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Senegal
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Linking Small-Scale Farmers to Input-Output Markets thr...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Linking Small-Scale Farmers to Input-Output Markets through Rural Enterprise Network (REN)]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Sri Lanka
o Region:Asia (including Pacific)
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Energy / Renewables|Fisheries|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Micro-enterprise development|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available: information coming soon View project details
Manufacture and Popularization of Biomass Briquettes
* [Click to view more information about this project - Manufacture and Popularization of Biomass Briquettes]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
Micro Power Economy for Rural Electrification
* [Click to view more information about this project - Micro Power Economy for Rural Electrification]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Senegal
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Energy / Renewables|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
ORIBAGS INNOVATIONS (U) LTD
* [Click to view more information about this project - ORIBAGS INNOVATIONS (U) LTD]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Uganda
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Education|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon View project details
Papyrus Reeds, Our Future Hope
* [Click to view more information about this project - Papyrus Reeds, Our Future Hope]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Production and Distribution of Pressurized Biogas in Ga...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Production and Distribution of Pressurized Biogas in Gas Cylinders]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Rwanda
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Reclaiming Livelihoods – Mooi River Waste Reclaiming
* [Click to view more information about this project - Reclaiming Livelihoods – Mooi River Waste Reclaiming]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Resentse Sinqobile Trust Trading as Zondi BuyBack Initi...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Resentse Sinqobile Trust Trading as Zondi BuyBack Initiative]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Education|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Solanterns: Replacing 1 Million Kerosene Lanterns with ...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Solanterns: Replacing 1 Million Kerosene Lanterns with 1 Million Solar Lanterns]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
SolSource
* [Click to view more information about this project - SolSource]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:China
o Region:Asia (including Pacific)
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon View project details
The Shea Economic Empowerment Program (SEEP)
* [Click to view more information about this project - The Shea Economic Empowerment Program (SEEP)]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Education
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Village Cereal Aggregation Centres (VCAC)
* [Village Cereal Aggregation Centres (VCAC)]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Results 21 - 30 of 30
o Country:Burkina Faso
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Education|Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
30 innovative start-up ventures in: Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka.
Click on the red stars in the map below to view a full description of each SEED Winner, or visit SEED's Winners' database.
Amatola Wild Trout Fishery
* [Click to view more information about this project - Amatola Wild Trout Fishery]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Sustainable Tourism|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Backpack Farm Agriculture Program
* [Click to view more information about this project - Backpack Farm Agriculture Program]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Biofuel Production in Promoting Sustainable Land Manage...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Biofuel Production in Promoting Sustainable Land Management]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Energy / Renewables|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
BOSQUE HUMEDO BIODIVERSO
* [Click to view more information about this project - BOSQUE HUMEDO BIODIVERSO]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Colombia
o Region:Latin America & Caribbean (GRULAC)
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
information coming in the next few weeks View project details
Claire Reid Reel Gardening
* [Click to view more information about this project - Claire Reid Reel Gardening]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Education|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon View project details
Commercialization of Prosopis Juliflora Products from A...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Commercialization of Prosopis Juliflora Products from Affected Areas]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Community-Based Medicinal Plant Enterprise for Biodiver...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Community-Based Medicinal Plant Enterprise for Biodiversity Conservation]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
DeCo! - Decentralized Composting for Sustainable Farmin...
* [Click to view more information about this project - DeCo! - Decentralized Composting for Sustainable Farming and Development]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
EcoPost - Fencing Posts from Recycled Post-Consumer Was...
* [Click to view more information about this project - EcoPost - Fencing Posts from Recycled Post-Consumer Waste Plastic]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Environmental technologies|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
Nairobi generates over 2,400 tonnes of waste everyday, 20% of which is plastic. Lack of an organised system of waste management has resulted in crude dumping of the waste leading to heaps of garbage littering streets and open fields. Cleanup is left mostl ... View project details
Efficient Charcoal Production and Smoke Recycling
* [Click to view more information about this project - Efficient Charcoal Production and Smoke Recycling]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Rwanda
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
FLOWER OF H.O.P.E
* [Click to view more information about this project - FLOWER OF H.O.P.E]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Senegal
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Education|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Food & Trees for Africa
* [Click to view more information about this project - Food & Trees for Africa]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Food security|Forestry / Non-timber forest products
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
G-lish: Income Generation, Re-Generation, Next Generati...
* [Click to view more information about this project - G-lish: Income Generation, Re-Generation, Next Generation]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative
* [Click to view more information about this project - Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Micro-enterprise development|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
High-value Syrup from 'Prekese' Fruits for Community Li...
* [Click to view more information about this project - High-value Syrup from 'Prekese' Fruits for Community Livelihood Empowerment]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Food security|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Initiative for Promoting and Distributing Bio-Pesticide...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Initiative for Promoting and Distributing Bio-Pesticides]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Burkina Faso
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Education
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
IziWasha
* [IziWasha]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Micro-enterprise development|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Water and sanitation
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Kayor Rural Energy, Rural Electrification by Photovolta...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Kayor Rural Energy, Rural Electrification by Photovoltaic Solar Energy]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Senegal
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Linking Small-Scale Farmers to Input-Output Markets thr...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Linking Small-Scale Farmers to Input-Output Markets through Rural Enterprise Network (REN)]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Sri Lanka
o Region:Asia (including Pacific)
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Energy / Renewables|Fisheries|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Micro-enterprise development|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available: information coming soon View project details
Manufacture and Popularization of Biomass Briquettes
* [Click to view more information about this project - Manufacture and Popularization of Biomass Briquettes]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
Micro Power Economy for Rural Electrification
* [Click to view more information about this project - Micro Power Economy for Rural Electrification]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Senegal
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Energy / Renewables|Micro-enterprise development
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
ORIBAGS INNOVATIONS (U) LTD
* [Click to view more information about this project - ORIBAGS INNOVATIONS (U) LTD]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Uganda
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Education|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon View project details
Papyrus Reeds, Our Future Hope
* [Click to view more information about this project - Papyrus Reeds, Our Future Hope]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Forestry / Non-timber forest products|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Production and Distribution of Pressurized Biogas in Ga...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Production and Distribution of Pressurized Biogas in Gas Cylinders]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Rwanda
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Reclaiming Livelihoods – Mooi River Waste Reclaiming
* [Click to view more information about this project - Reclaiming Livelihoods – Mooi River Waste Reclaiming]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Resentse Sinqobile Trust Trading as Zondi BuyBack Initi...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Resentse Sinqobile Trust Trading as Zondi BuyBack Initiative]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:South Africa
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Biodiversity / Natural resource management|Education|Waste management
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Solanterns: Replacing 1 Million Kerosene Lanterns with ...
* [Click to view more information about this project - Solanterns: Replacing 1 Million Kerosene Lanterns with 1 Million Solar Lanterns]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
SolSource
* [Click to view more information about this project - SolSource]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:China
o Region:Asia (including Pacific)
o Subject:Climate change adaptation/mitigation|Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
not yet available. Information coming soon View project details
The Shea Economic Empowerment Program (SEEP)
* [Click to view more information about this project - The Shea Economic Empowerment Program (SEEP)]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Ghana
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)|Education
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Village Cereal Aggregation Centres (VCAC)
* [Village Cereal Aggregation Centres (VCAC)]
*
o SEED Winner
o Year of participation:2010
o Country:Kenya
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Agriculture (incl. aquaculture)
not yet available. Information coming soon. View project details
Results 21 - 30 of 30
o Country:Burkina Faso
o Region:Africa
o Subject:Education|Energy / Renewables|Sustainable consumption and production (recycling)
China changing, hope 4 Tibet:Has been a lot of change in China over the last 30 years despite d same 1 party system n d totalitarian regime-Dalai
China changing, hope for Tibet: Dalai Lama
There has been a lot of change in China over the last 30 years despite the same one party system and the totalitarian regime that was in place, the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said here on Friday during an interaction with Mumbai University students.
“In China, it is the same one party system, the same totalitarian regime but compare it to 30 years ago, there has been a lot of change. These are signs of change, the world is changing,” the Tibetan leader said. He also said that he was hoping for a solution to the Tibetan problem as he had seen a change in the attitude of Chinese people over the years.
Citing the example of Europe, he said that while Germany and France had been enemies during the world wars, they were working in unity in the European Union. Speaking to students on ancient wisdom, modern thought, he said modern universities should provide students with a holistic approach to education. The Dalai Lama said that violence was never a constructive way to any problem and exhorted the principles of Ahimsa.
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There has been a lot of change in China over the last 30 years despite the same one party system and the totalitarian regime that was in place, the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said here on Friday during an interaction with Mumbai University students.
“In China, it is the same one party system, the same totalitarian regime but compare it to 30 years ago, there has been a lot of change. These are signs of change, the world is changing,” the Tibetan leader said. He also said that he was hoping for a solution to the Tibetan problem as he had seen a change in the attitude of Chinese people over the years.
Citing the example of Europe, he said that while Germany and France had been enemies during the world wars, they were working in unity in the European Union. Speaking to students on ancient wisdom, modern thought, he said modern universities should provide students with a holistic approach to education. The Dalai Lama said that violence was never a constructive way to any problem and exhorted the principles of Ahimsa.
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Bihar growth projected at 10.49% by CSO, more dn national average dis year-"Our pleas 4 special category status 4 Bihar still remain big issue-19/2/11
18 Feb, 2011, 10.33AM IST, Ashok K Mishra,ET Bureau
Bihar growth projected at 10.49% by CSO, more than national average this year
PATNA: Bihar is back again to double digit growth. Preliminary estimates based on the data available till December last year and projections for the remaining three month period from January to March, 2011, project the state growth rate for 2010-11 at 10.49%, which is likely to be more than the national average of 8.6%.
"The Central Statistical Organisation ( CSO )), after having worked on its calculations, has made these growth projections. The last few years have seen Bihar clocking growth rates more than national growth rates, which are largely an outcome of development initiatives taken by the state government," Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said.
The state's growth was in double digit in 2008-09, when it had touched 13.06%. In 2009-10, the growth was down to 8.56%. The comeback expected in the current financial year is confidence boosting, although the state is yet to touch the mark it had achieved two years back.
"This certainly augurs well for Bihar, which for decades was classified as being among the Bimaru states. But our good work has started yielding results. The Centre should now back our policy initiatives to help force the pace of development in the state," Modi said.
"Our pleas for special category status for Bihar still remain a big issue and these needs to be addressed by the Centre.
"The kind of growth we are now witnessing is mostly driven by public investment. But private investment was also necessary to give a further push to the state economy . Bihar will readily become an investment friendly destination for private players if the centre accorded special category status to the state" Modi told ET.
Bihar Chamber of Commerce president O P Sah said that the double digit growth projections lend credence to the turnaround story of Bihar . "The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government deserves all praise for extricating the state from the morass it was in even a few years back. At least I can talk of the business community which now does not have to fear anything about law and order issues" Sah said.
Bihar growth projected at 10.49% by CSO, more than national average this year
PATNA: Bihar is back again to double digit growth. Preliminary estimates based on the data available till December last year and projections for the remaining three month period from January to March, 2011, project the state growth rate for 2010-11 at 10.49%, which is likely to be more than the national average of 8.6%.
"The Central Statistical Organisation ( CSO )), after having worked on its calculations, has made these growth projections. The last few years have seen Bihar clocking growth rates more than national growth rates, which are largely an outcome of development initiatives taken by the state government," Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said.
The state's growth was in double digit in 2008-09, when it had touched 13.06%. In 2009-10, the growth was down to 8.56%. The comeback expected in the current financial year is confidence boosting, although the state is yet to touch the mark it had achieved two years back.
"This certainly augurs well for Bihar, which for decades was classified as being among the Bimaru states. But our good work has started yielding results. The Centre should now back our policy initiatives to help force the pace of development in the state," Modi said.
"Our pleas for special category status for Bihar still remain a big issue and these needs to be addressed by the Centre.
"The kind of growth we are now witnessing is mostly driven by public investment. But private investment was also necessary to give a further push to the state economy . Bihar will readily become an investment friendly destination for private players if the centre accorded special category status to the state" Modi told ET.
Bihar Chamber of Commerce president O P Sah said that the double digit growth projections lend credence to the turnaround story of Bihar . "The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government deserves all praise for extricating the state from the morass it was in even a few years back. At least I can talk of the business community which now does not have to fear anything about law and order issues" Sah said.
Victory March' in Egypt; top cleric for sacking cabinet-"The world has changed, the world has progressed, and the Arab world has changed within19/2/11
Victory March' in Egypt; top cleric for sacking cabinet
PTI, Feb 18, 2011, 09.04pm IST
RANIA CAIRO: Tens of thousands of Egyptians today packed the Tahrir Square here, the flash point of the pro-democracy protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, for a " victory march", even as an influential cleric asked military to sack the cabinet dominated by old-regime figures.
In a Friday sermon held in the Egyptian capital's Tahrir Square, Qatar-based Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, close to Muslim Brotherhood, asked Arab leaders to listen to their people and acknowledge their region has changed.
"The world has changed, the world has progressed, and the Arab world has changed within," al-Qaradawi said.
"We want a new government that doesn't include the old faces ... When people see the old faces, it reminds them of hunger, poverty, misery," said Qaradawi, who is widely considered one of Islam's top scholars.
"Don't obstruct the people," Qaradawi said, addressing his message to the Arab world's leaders. "Don't try to lead them on with empty talk. Conduct a real dialogue with them."
Qaradawi, who has close ties with Muslim Brotherhood, asked the military to sack the cabinet dominated by old regime figures, a key demand of pro-democracy activists.
Keeping up pressure on the new military rulers to carry out democratic reforms, the groups, which had organised the uprising, called it the "Friday of Victory and Continuation," reflecting both their achievement in forcing 82-year-old Mubarak out and their concerns about the future.
On the day of prayers and celebrations, many flag-draped protesters played musical instruments at the Square, which wore a festive look and where a large number of children were also present.
The Coalition of the Revolution Youth, an alliance of pro-democracy groups that helped launch the revolt, called on the gathering to "remember the martyrs of freedom and dignity and justice," Al-Jazeera reported.
Before stepping down, Mubarak sacked his government and ordered former air force commander Ahmed Shafiq to form a new cabinet. The move that was aimed at placating the protesters. But Shafiq kept on most of the members of the old cabinet dominated by Mubarak's National Democratic Party.
At least 365 people were killed and 5,500 injured during the protests against Mubarak's 30-year regime, according to Egypt's Health Ministry.
Pro-democracy activists also sought an investigation into the killings during the uprising, lifting of the decades-old emergency law and support for the pay strikes by workers across the country.
"We are going today to commemorate the martyrs and in doing so we are awaiting justice," Mohammed Waked, a protest organiser, was quoted as saying by the pan-Arabic satellite channel.
PTI, Feb 18, 2011, 09.04pm IST
RANIA CAIRO: Tens of thousands of Egyptians today packed the Tahrir Square here, the flash point of the pro-democracy protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, for a " victory march", even as an influential cleric asked military to sack the cabinet dominated by old-regime figures.
In a Friday sermon held in the Egyptian capital's Tahrir Square, Qatar-based Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, close to Muslim Brotherhood, asked Arab leaders to listen to their people and acknowledge their region has changed.
"The world has changed, the world has progressed, and the Arab world has changed within," al-Qaradawi said.
"We want a new government that doesn't include the old faces ... When people see the old faces, it reminds them of hunger, poverty, misery," said Qaradawi, who is widely considered one of Islam's top scholars.
"Don't obstruct the people," Qaradawi said, addressing his message to the Arab world's leaders. "Don't try to lead them on with empty talk. Conduct a real dialogue with them."
Qaradawi, who has close ties with Muslim Brotherhood, asked the military to sack the cabinet dominated by old regime figures, a key demand of pro-democracy activists.
Keeping up pressure on the new military rulers to carry out democratic reforms, the groups, which had organised the uprising, called it the "Friday of Victory and Continuation," reflecting both their achievement in forcing 82-year-old Mubarak out and their concerns about the future.
On the day of prayers and celebrations, many flag-draped protesters played musical instruments at the Square, which wore a festive look and where a large number of children were also present.
The Coalition of the Revolution Youth, an alliance of pro-democracy groups that helped launch the revolt, called on the gathering to "remember the martyrs of freedom and dignity and justice," Al-Jazeera reported.
Before stepping down, Mubarak sacked his government and ordered former air force commander Ahmed Shafiq to form a new cabinet. The move that was aimed at placating the protesters. But Shafiq kept on most of the members of the old cabinet dominated by Mubarak's National Democratic Party.
At least 365 people were killed and 5,500 injured during the protests against Mubarak's 30-year regime, according to Egypt's Health Ministry.
Pro-democracy activists also sought an investigation into the killings during the uprising, lifting of the decades-old emergency law and support for the pay strikes by workers across the country.
"We are going today to commemorate the martyrs and in doing so we are awaiting justice," Mohammed Waked, a protest organiser, was quoted as saying by the pan-Arabic satellite channel.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
मिश्र के बाद बहरीन, यमन, लीबिया में क्रांति.-बुधवार को हजारों लोगों ने देश में 'असली संवैधानिक शासन' की मांग की.- १७ फरवरी २०११
बृहस्पतिवार, १७ फरवरी २०११
मिश्र के बाद बहरीन, यमन, लीबिया में क्रांति.
Posted by रजनीश के झा (Rajneesh K Jha) Thursday, February 17, 2011
गुरुवार को बहरीन में पुलिस ने राजधानी मनामा के एक चौक पर विरोधी प्रदर्शन कर रहे लोगों पर फाइरिंग की, जिसमें चार लोग मारे गए. आसपास के देशों लीबिया और यमन में भी सरकारें विरोध प्रदर्शनों को दबाने में लगी हैं.
मनामा के पर्ल चौक पर पुलिस ने गुरुवार तड़के तीन बजे प्रदर्शनकारियों पर आंसू गैस और रबड़ की गोलियां चलाईं. पुलिस के साथ झड़पों में चार प्रदर्शनकारियों के मारे जाने की खबर है. 95 लोग घायल भी हुए हैं. चश्मदीदों का कहना है कि पुलिस ने बिना चेतावनी भीड़ पर गोलियां चलाईं जिससे भगदड़ मच गई. बहरीन में सरकार विरोधी प्रदर्शनों में अब तक कुल छह लोग मारे गए हैं. झड़पों के बाद पूरे शहर में पुलिस को तैनात कर दिया गया है. सड़कों पर चेकपोस्ट लगाए गए हैं.
गृह मंत्रालय के प्रवक्ता जनरल तारिक एल हसन ने कहा कि लोगों से बातचीत के सारे विकल्प खत्म होने के बाद ही पुलिस ने पर्ल चौक से प्रदर्शनकारियों को बाहर निकालने की कोशिश की. अल हसन ने कहा कि कुछ लोग अपने आप इलाका छोड़ कर चले गए और कुछ लोगों को जबरदस्ती वहां से निकालना पड़ा.
देश में विपक्ष के मुख्य शिया नेता ने पुलिस कार्रवाई के बारे में कहा कि यह "एक जगह शांतिपूर्वक जमा हुए लोगों पर बेबुनियाद और जाहिल हमला था." बुधवार को हजारों लोगों ने देश में 'असली संवैधानिक शासन' की मांग की. बहरीन में सरकार के रवैये की अमेरिका ने आलोचना की है. बहरीन अमेरिकी नौसेना के फिफ्त फ्लीट का मुख्यालय है जो ईरान से खतरों को टालने के अलावा खाड़ी में तेल के रास्तों को सुरक्षित करता है.
लीबिया में भी विरोध प्रदर्शनों पर रोक लगाने के लिए पुलिस और प्रदर्शनकारियों के बीच झड़पें हुईँ जिनमें चार लोग मारे गए. देश में इंटरनेट पर पाबंदी का विरोध कर रहे लोगों ने आक्रोश दिवस का एलान किया है. लंदन से चलाई जा रही एक वेबसाइट के मुताबिक लीबिया के नेता मुआम्मर गद्दाफी के शासन के खिलाफ प्रदर्शन कर रहे लोगों पर सुरक्षा बलों ने गोलियां चलाईं.
हिंसा में कम से कम चार लोग मारे गए हैं और कई लोग घायल हैं. मानवाधिकार संगठन ह्यूमन राइट्स सॉलिडैरिटी के मुताबिक प्रदर्शनों में 13 लोग मारे गए हैं. यूरोपीय संघ और अमेरिका ने लीबिया के अधिकारियों से हिंसा से बचने की अपील की है और अभिव्यक्ति की संवतंत्रता की मांग की है.
अरब जगत के एक और देश यमन में भी विरोध प्रदर्शन आम बात हो गए हैं. प्रदर्शनों के सातवें दिन बुधवार को अधिकारियों ने लोगों पर लाठियां बरसाईं. प्रदर्शनकारी राष्ट्रपति अली अब्दुल्लाह सालेह के इस्तीफे की मांग कर रहे हैं जो तीस साल से भी ज्यादा समय से सत्ता में बने हुए हैं.
वैसे विश्लेषकों का कहना है कि अमेरिका के करीबी दोस्त सालेह को पद से हटाना मिस्र में मुबारक को पद से हटाने से कहीं ज्यादा मुश्किल साबित हो सकता है. लेकिन लगातार प्रदर्शनों से सरकार अपनी नीतियों में सुधार ला सकती है.
मिश्र के बाद बहरीन, यमन, लीबिया में क्रांति.
Posted by रजनीश के झा (Rajneesh K Jha) Thursday, February 17, 2011
गुरुवार को बहरीन में पुलिस ने राजधानी मनामा के एक चौक पर विरोधी प्रदर्शन कर रहे लोगों पर फाइरिंग की, जिसमें चार लोग मारे गए. आसपास के देशों लीबिया और यमन में भी सरकारें विरोध प्रदर्शनों को दबाने में लगी हैं.
मनामा के पर्ल चौक पर पुलिस ने गुरुवार तड़के तीन बजे प्रदर्शनकारियों पर आंसू गैस और रबड़ की गोलियां चलाईं. पुलिस के साथ झड़पों में चार प्रदर्शनकारियों के मारे जाने की खबर है. 95 लोग घायल भी हुए हैं. चश्मदीदों का कहना है कि पुलिस ने बिना चेतावनी भीड़ पर गोलियां चलाईं जिससे भगदड़ मच गई. बहरीन में सरकार विरोधी प्रदर्शनों में अब तक कुल छह लोग मारे गए हैं. झड़पों के बाद पूरे शहर में पुलिस को तैनात कर दिया गया है. सड़कों पर चेकपोस्ट लगाए गए हैं.
गृह मंत्रालय के प्रवक्ता जनरल तारिक एल हसन ने कहा कि लोगों से बातचीत के सारे विकल्प खत्म होने के बाद ही पुलिस ने पर्ल चौक से प्रदर्शनकारियों को बाहर निकालने की कोशिश की. अल हसन ने कहा कि कुछ लोग अपने आप इलाका छोड़ कर चले गए और कुछ लोगों को जबरदस्ती वहां से निकालना पड़ा.
देश में विपक्ष के मुख्य शिया नेता ने पुलिस कार्रवाई के बारे में कहा कि यह "एक जगह शांतिपूर्वक जमा हुए लोगों पर बेबुनियाद और जाहिल हमला था." बुधवार को हजारों लोगों ने देश में 'असली संवैधानिक शासन' की मांग की. बहरीन में सरकार के रवैये की अमेरिका ने आलोचना की है. बहरीन अमेरिकी नौसेना के फिफ्त फ्लीट का मुख्यालय है जो ईरान से खतरों को टालने के अलावा खाड़ी में तेल के रास्तों को सुरक्षित करता है.
लीबिया में भी विरोध प्रदर्शनों पर रोक लगाने के लिए पुलिस और प्रदर्शनकारियों के बीच झड़पें हुईँ जिनमें चार लोग मारे गए. देश में इंटरनेट पर पाबंदी का विरोध कर रहे लोगों ने आक्रोश दिवस का एलान किया है. लंदन से चलाई जा रही एक वेबसाइट के मुताबिक लीबिया के नेता मुआम्मर गद्दाफी के शासन के खिलाफ प्रदर्शन कर रहे लोगों पर सुरक्षा बलों ने गोलियां चलाईं.
हिंसा में कम से कम चार लोग मारे गए हैं और कई लोग घायल हैं. मानवाधिकार संगठन ह्यूमन राइट्स सॉलिडैरिटी के मुताबिक प्रदर्शनों में 13 लोग मारे गए हैं. यूरोपीय संघ और अमेरिका ने लीबिया के अधिकारियों से हिंसा से बचने की अपील की है और अभिव्यक्ति की संवतंत्रता की मांग की है.
अरब जगत के एक और देश यमन में भी विरोध प्रदर्शन आम बात हो गए हैं. प्रदर्शनों के सातवें दिन बुधवार को अधिकारियों ने लोगों पर लाठियां बरसाईं. प्रदर्शनकारी राष्ट्रपति अली अब्दुल्लाह सालेह के इस्तीफे की मांग कर रहे हैं जो तीस साल से भी ज्यादा समय से सत्ता में बने हुए हैं.
वैसे विश्लेषकों का कहना है कि अमेरिका के करीबी दोस्त सालेह को पद से हटाना मिस्र में मुबारक को पद से हटाने से कहीं ज्यादा मुश्किल साबित हो सकता है. लेकिन लगातार प्रदर्शनों से सरकार अपनी नीतियों में सुधार ला सकती है.
Egypt cannot be replicated in India, including Jammu & Kashmir,as India is a functional democracy where people have d right 2 change govt-17/2/11
Egypt cannot be replicated in India, a democracy
Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 17, 2011
First Published: 01:08 IST(17/2/2011)
Last Updated: 01:10 IST(17/2/2011)
The political developments in Egypt and its ripple effects in parts of the Arab world cannot be replicated in parts of the country, including Jammu & Kashmir, as India is a functional democracy where people have the right to change governments, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. The Prime Minis ter also talked about the growing stature of the country internationally. Citing the visit of all P-5 leaders last year as something that has “never happened before”, Singh stressed on how the world marvels at India.
When asked whether the incidents in Egypt can influence areas such as the North-East, J&K and Maoist-hit areas, Singh said, being a functional democracy means the protests leading to political upheavals cannot be replicated in parts of India.
“Whatever happens in the Gulf or in West Asia including is a matter of concern to us...No (replication of such events is not possible in India) because India is a functioning democracy,” Prime Minister said. Singh pointed out that in India people have the right to change the government and country has a free press.
“We are a functioning democracy. Though we do not believe it is our business to advise other countries, we welcome the dawn of democracy everywhere.”
On Sri Lanka
On the politically-sensitive issue of fishermen being apprehended in Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister said India takes a “very serious view” of the matter and would take it up with the neighbour. Singh said the Sri Lankan government had already been told in strong terms that such behaviour was not acceptable.
“I have been told that 118 fishermen have been taken into custody. We are taking up this matter with the Sri Lankan Government. We take a very serious view,” he said.
The arrest comes close on the heels of the killing of two Indian fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy — that has also become a huge political issue in poll-bound Tamil Nadu.
In his opening remarks, Singh spoke about India’s strengths that make the world take note of it — a functional democracy committed to the rule of law, seeking social salvation of its masses and yet managing a 8-9% growth.
Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 17, 2011
First Published: 01:08 IST(17/2/2011)
Last Updated: 01:10 IST(17/2/2011)
The political developments in Egypt and its ripple effects in parts of the Arab world cannot be replicated in parts of the country, including Jammu & Kashmir, as India is a functional democracy where people have the right to change governments, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. The Prime Minis ter also talked about the growing stature of the country internationally. Citing the visit of all P-5 leaders last year as something that has “never happened before”, Singh stressed on how the world marvels at India.
When asked whether the incidents in Egypt can influence areas such as the North-East, J&K and Maoist-hit areas, Singh said, being a functional democracy means the protests leading to political upheavals cannot be replicated in parts of India.
“Whatever happens in the Gulf or in West Asia including is a matter of concern to us...No (replication of such events is not possible in India) because India is a functioning democracy,” Prime Minister said. Singh pointed out that in India people have the right to change the government and country has a free press.
“We are a functioning democracy. Though we do not believe it is our business to advise other countries, we welcome the dawn of democracy everywhere.”
On Sri Lanka
On the politically-sensitive issue of fishermen being apprehended in Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister said India takes a “very serious view” of the matter and would take it up with the neighbour. Singh said the Sri Lankan government had already been told in strong terms that such behaviour was not acceptable.
“I have been told that 118 fishermen have been taken into custody. We are taking up this matter with the Sri Lankan Government. We take a very serious view,” he said.
The arrest comes close on the heels of the killing of two Indian fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy — that has also become a huge political issue in poll-bound Tamil Nadu.
In his opening remarks, Singh spoke about India’s strengths that make the world take note of it — a functional democracy committed to the rule of law, seeking social salvation of its masses and yet managing a 8-9% growth.
Govt serious about dealing with corruption:and the wrong doers will be brought to book, regardless of their positions. PM-Feb 17, 11
National News Back
Govt serious about dealing with corruption: PM
Feb 17, 1:42 PM
The Prime Minister says that the government is very serious about dealing with corruption and the wrong doers will be brought to book, regardless of their positions. Speaking to senior editors of electronic media in New Delhi yesterday, Dr. Manmohan Singh said it is important that self confidence of the nation is not shaken. Dr. Singh asserted that he is ready to appear before any committee including a JPC to probe any corruption case. He said, India is not a scam driven country and this projection by a section of media has tarnished the image of the country.
On 2G scam involving former Telecom Minister A. Raja, Dr. Singh said the decision to allocate licences on first cum first serve basis was exclusively dealt with by the Telecom ministry and the matter was never referred to him or the cabinet.
Admitting that some compromises had to be made in managing a coalition, the Prime Minister said he had never thought of resigning halfway, and that his government will run full course to complete the tasks it has been assigned. In reply to a question he said that he would reshuffle the cabinet after the budget session of Parliament.
Dr. Singh was confident that inflation rate will come down to seven percent by the end of this financial year. He said, government is trying to tackle the situation without hurting growth.
On reforms, the Prime Minister said that a host of initiatives will be unveiled in the budget to be presented in Parliament on 28th. He charged the opposition with delaying the introduction of crucial bills in Parliament, including amendment of goods and services tax.
Govt serious about dealing with corruption: PM
Feb 17, 1:42 PM
The Prime Minister says that the government is very serious about dealing with corruption and the wrong doers will be brought to book, regardless of their positions. Speaking to senior editors of electronic media in New Delhi yesterday, Dr. Manmohan Singh said it is important that self confidence of the nation is not shaken. Dr. Singh asserted that he is ready to appear before any committee including a JPC to probe any corruption case. He said, India is not a scam driven country and this projection by a section of media has tarnished the image of the country.
On 2G scam involving former Telecom Minister A. Raja, Dr. Singh said the decision to allocate licences on first cum first serve basis was exclusively dealt with by the Telecom ministry and the matter was never referred to him or the cabinet.
Admitting that some compromises had to be made in managing a coalition, the Prime Minister said he had never thought of resigning halfway, and that his government will run full course to complete the tasks it has been assigned. In reply to a question he said that he would reshuffle the cabinet after the budget session of Parliament.
Dr. Singh was confident that inflation rate will come down to seven percent by the end of this financial year. He said, government is trying to tackle the situation without hurting growth.
On reforms, the Prime Minister said that a host of initiatives will be unveiled in the budget to be presented in Parliament on 28th. He charged the opposition with delaying the introduction of crucial bills in Parliament, including amendment of goods and services tax.
Deep Green: Debt, Human Rights and Nature-Good economics will be good for everyone, not just enrich the wealthiest people on Earth.February 16, 2011
Deep Green: Debt, Human Rights and Nature
Blogpost by Rex Weyler - February 16, 2011 at 16:12 Add comment
Deep Green is Rex Weyler's monthly column, reflecting on the roots of activism, environmentalism, and Greenpeace's past, present, and future. The opinions here are his own.
“For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.” -Martin Luther
February 2011
In January, the bankers and corporate executives at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, presented a plan to create $100 trillion US dollars (about €700 billion or ¥7 trillion) in new international debt.
During the last decade, world debt nearly doubled from $57 trillion to $109 trillion. Banks created ‘toxic assets’, ‘mortgage derivatives’ and ‘default swaps’ without substantial collateral to back them up. These schemes made bankers very rich, but helped collapse the world financial system 18 months ago. Public taxpayers have since bailed these bankers out with about $11 trillion in new debt. Now the financiers want more.
As some economies slightly recovered, energy prices rose to trigger inflation, slowing real recovery. Thus, the WEF bankers published ‘More Credit, Fewer Crises’, proposing that the world double its debt once again to $210 trillion by 2020. This debt would be over three times the entire world annual economy.
This debt, the printing of new money based on nothing substantial, has profound impacts on society and nature through resource inflation, the rising costs of food and energy, conflict, fraud and ecological destruction.
Out of thin air
These bankers are not proposing to loan their money to the world. Rather, they propose creating new money out of thin air, likely through International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘Special Drawing Rights’, a synthetic currency beyond the control of any sovereign nation. By loaning currency rights to national treasuries, the bankers create $100 trillion with a few computer keyboard strokes. Then, they loan the fabricated money, collect interest payments and demand the principal back in real money from the debtors. It’s a lucrative scheme if you’re on the inside.
What bankers call ‘Credit’ the rest of world experiences as ‘Debt’ owed to the bankers. Interest payments alone on $100 trillion debt (at a modest 5% annual rate) comes to $400 billion a month. However, as the ‘Drawing Rights’ pass down the chain of international, national and local banks to become money in the hands of enterprising citizens, the total interest and fees to banks will be higher, perhaps 9 or 10%.
Furthermore, banks expect the principal back. To retire these debts over the next 20 years, the world’s borrowing enterprises would have to pay the bankers about $1 trillion a month. At the end of 20 years, bankers would have received about $140 trillion in interest payments and fees, plus the $100 trillion principal that they originally created out of thin air: $240 trillion profit (€175 trillion Euro, ¥1.5 quadrillion) for creating money out of nothing.
The authors of the WEF debt proposal are executives from JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Rothschild & Cie, Deutsche Bank, Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank, Russia’s Sberbank, China’s International Capital Corp., Shell Oil, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, BNP Paribas and other international bankers, corporate capital funds and national sovereign funds. These firms naturally stand to profit from the plan.
Even if some loans pass through the gauntlet of fraud and corruption to reach enterprising citizens, who create useful products and services for their communities, a harsh social and biophysical impact remains for communities and environments around the world. The quarter-quadrillion dollars that would be paid back to the banks becomes an endless debt burden for every project and every nation.
In the end, this debt-creation represents a massive transfer of wealth from global citizens to the world’s richest people. However, there is more.
The cost of debt
Forty years ago, Greenpeace was founded to campaign for peace and ecology. Today, Greenpeace continues those campaigns while working with communities around the world to retain civil rights and local autonomy. Massive debt undermines each of these social values:
1. Inflation
Since this money is illusory, created from nothing, it dilutes all world currency and makes all citizens poorer through inflation. We have seen this in the last few months, as food and energy inflation has soared, caused by the last $11 trillion of debt imposed on the world to save the banks from economic collapse. The proposed $100 trillion of new money would have ten times the inflation impact.
Debt causes inflation, inflation acts as a tax on the poor and this leads to civil unrest. The Commodity Research Bureau food price index rose 44% this year and 22% in the last two months. In December, food prices in India rose 16% in three days. In Indonesia, rice prices rose 30% last year. In relatively rich Western Europe and North America families spend 12 to 15% of their income on food. In Egypt last year, families spent 40% of their income on food. The civil uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt began as food inflation crises. Eastern Europe, China, Jordan and Sudan face similar food-inflation unrest.
Inflation, linked to the creation of un-backed money and debt, taxes the poor most severely. We will discover that debt also leads to the depletion of resources, soil erosion, water shortages and other environmental impacts that further advance inflation and the debt cycle.
2. Ecological destruction
Nations must account for both private and public debt because during economic crisis, companies often default and private debt becomes public. Many countries now possess public and private debt three to four times their annual gross economy. The UK debt is six times its gross economy and Iceland 12 times. Massive debts put pressure on countries to expand their economies, but they are caught in a vicious cycle. Debt depresses growth, so nations relax environmental laws to increase industrial projects, corporate profits and tax revenues to pay off the debt.
Debt pressure drives nations deeper into the ocean for oil and gas and deeper into wilderness for minerals. Desperate nations bulldoze forests for cash crops, dam rivers and burn coal for energy, open parks to mining and logging and obliterate national treasures to create cash to pay interest on debts.
In Canada, where I live, our public and private debt stands at about two-and-a-half times our annual economic production. To grow our economy at all costs, our government opened the boreal plains to tar sands production, reduced environmental standards and created one of the world’s most ecologically destructive industries. The tar sands project devastates local indigenous communities, drains aquifers, pollutes groundwater, destroys rare habitats, fills lakes with black sludge and heats the atmosphere with low-net-energy hydrocarbons.
Environmental destruction makes the debt cycle ever more vicious, as depleted environments provide less economic potential and rob indigenous and rural communities of self sufficiency. Governments may then find it expedient to suppress angry citizens who have lost their local economic base.
3. Human rights
A large portion of international debt goes to corrupt dictators, who restrain public resistance by suppressing human rights. In Odius Debt, Patricia Adams documents the human rights impact of debt. One third of World Bank loans over 65 years ended up in the private hands of dictators and corrupt officials through bid-rigging, bribes, kickbacks and outright theft.
Over the last 50 years, 20 to 30% of all developing nation debt has gone to dictators such as Zaire’s Mobutu Seko, the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos, Indonesia’s Suharto, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Turkmenistan’s Saparmurat Niyazov. The banks often justify loans to tyrants because they are ‘allies’ of rich western nations. Mobutu stole billions of dollars loaned to Zaire; he jailed, tortured and killed political opposition and enslaved his own citizens. When International Monetary Fund (IMF) agent Edwin Blumenthal reported the loan theft and ‘sordid and pernicious corruption’, the IMF ignored him and awarded Zaire the largest African loan in history. Patricia Adams estimates that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos pocketed one third of all loans to the Philippines during their regime. Once these dictators fall, the banks expect their victims to repay the loans.
Loans to corrupt dictators will likely get worse with the new SDR credits, set to be awarded by the IMF without even basic safeguards. The Wall Street Journal warns that ‘all governments qualify, including those that lock political dissidents in dungeons and steal from their own people’.
Cephas Lumina with the UN Human Rights Council, reports that private ‘vulture funds’ buy the defaulted debts of poor nations ‘at deeply discounted prices’ and then seek ‘repayment of the full value through litigation, seizure of assets and political pressure’. In the last 10 years, 12 nations designated as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries have been served with 54 lawsuits by such debt profiteers.
Some African nations spend 40% of government budgets on debt service, draining money from much needed health and education, which average about 14% of budgets. Debt breeds poverty.
4. War
We can see that the current structure of international debt creates inflation, poverty, fraud, oppression and environmental destruction. Finally, through currency and resource crises, debt fuels war. The world, while increasing debt, spends over $2 trillion each year on military and warfare, exacerbating the vicious debt cycle.
Sudan dictator Omar Al-Bashir, for example, received loans from the World Bank, China and others, helping finance Sudan’s 20-year civil war, causing 2 million deaths and creating 4 million refugees. Meanwhile, Al-Bashir’s army bombed innocent villages, tortured and massacred opposition and kidnapped citizens, particularly in the rich oil-producing regions of Sudan.
The US meanwhile spends about $12 billion each month to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan, to secure oil fields and pipeline routes. European nations, Russia, China and others have waged war to ‘protect national interests’, particularly dwindling resources. These large countries also arm the dictators that hold their debt, enabling more war and bloodshed.
Alternatives exist
Into this powder keg of corruption, violence, war, oppression, fraud and ecological devastation, a few wealthy bankers want to inject another $100 trillion of debt burden on the world. Their scheme would not create ‘less crisis’ as they claim, but more crisis, more financial bubbles, more corruption, more dictators, more war, more ecological destruction, inflation and poverty.
Alternatives exist. The poor nations of the world indeed need and deserve support to help develop their economies that have been wracked by colonialism, war and resource plunder. The UN should manage international debt, base all money on real assets and return profits to the human community. Loans can be designed to support local enterprise, solutions that benefit local communities, sustainable farming that protects soil and localised self-sufficiency. The current international banking schemes undermine these community values.
Good economics will be good for everyone, not just enrich the wealthiest people on Earth.
-Rex Weyler
You can respond to "Deep Green" columns at my Ecology, where I post portions of this column and dialogue with readers.
Blogpost by Rex Weyler - February 16, 2011 at 16:12 Add comment
Deep Green is Rex Weyler's monthly column, reflecting on the roots of activism, environmentalism, and Greenpeace's past, present, and future. The opinions here are his own.
“For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.” -Martin Luther
February 2011
In January, the bankers and corporate executives at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, presented a plan to create $100 trillion US dollars (about €700 billion or ¥7 trillion) in new international debt.
During the last decade, world debt nearly doubled from $57 trillion to $109 trillion. Banks created ‘toxic assets’, ‘mortgage derivatives’ and ‘default swaps’ without substantial collateral to back them up. These schemes made bankers very rich, but helped collapse the world financial system 18 months ago. Public taxpayers have since bailed these bankers out with about $11 trillion in new debt. Now the financiers want more.
As some economies slightly recovered, energy prices rose to trigger inflation, slowing real recovery. Thus, the WEF bankers published ‘More Credit, Fewer Crises’, proposing that the world double its debt once again to $210 trillion by 2020. This debt would be over three times the entire world annual economy.
This debt, the printing of new money based on nothing substantial, has profound impacts on society and nature through resource inflation, the rising costs of food and energy, conflict, fraud and ecological destruction.
Out of thin air
These bankers are not proposing to loan their money to the world. Rather, they propose creating new money out of thin air, likely through International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘Special Drawing Rights’, a synthetic currency beyond the control of any sovereign nation. By loaning currency rights to national treasuries, the bankers create $100 trillion with a few computer keyboard strokes. Then, they loan the fabricated money, collect interest payments and demand the principal back in real money from the debtors. It’s a lucrative scheme if you’re on the inside.
What bankers call ‘Credit’ the rest of world experiences as ‘Debt’ owed to the bankers. Interest payments alone on $100 trillion debt (at a modest 5% annual rate) comes to $400 billion a month. However, as the ‘Drawing Rights’ pass down the chain of international, national and local banks to become money in the hands of enterprising citizens, the total interest and fees to banks will be higher, perhaps 9 or 10%.
Furthermore, banks expect the principal back. To retire these debts over the next 20 years, the world’s borrowing enterprises would have to pay the bankers about $1 trillion a month. At the end of 20 years, bankers would have received about $140 trillion in interest payments and fees, plus the $100 trillion principal that they originally created out of thin air: $240 trillion profit (€175 trillion Euro, ¥1.5 quadrillion) for creating money out of nothing.
The authors of the WEF debt proposal are executives from JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Rothschild & Cie, Deutsche Bank, Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank, Russia’s Sberbank, China’s International Capital Corp., Shell Oil, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, BNP Paribas and other international bankers, corporate capital funds and national sovereign funds. These firms naturally stand to profit from the plan.
Even if some loans pass through the gauntlet of fraud and corruption to reach enterprising citizens, who create useful products and services for their communities, a harsh social and biophysical impact remains for communities and environments around the world. The quarter-quadrillion dollars that would be paid back to the banks becomes an endless debt burden for every project and every nation.
In the end, this debt-creation represents a massive transfer of wealth from global citizens to the world’s richest people. However, there is more.
The cost of debt
Forty years ago, Greenpeace was founded to campaign for peace and ecology. Today, Greenpeace continues those campaigns while working with communities around the world to retain civil rights and local autonomy. Massive debt undermines each of these social values:
1. Inflation
Since this money is illusory, created from nothing, it dilutes all world currency and makes all citizens poorer through inflation. We have seen this in the last few months, as food and energy inflation has soared, caused by the last $11 trillion of debt imposed on the world to save the banks from economic collapse. The proposed $100 trillion of new money would have ten times the inflation impact.
Debt causes inflation, inflation acts as a tax on the poor and this leads to civil unrest. The Commodity Research Bureau food price index rose 44% this year and 22% in the last two months. In December, food prices in India rose 16% in three days. In Indonesia, rice prices rose 30% last year. In relatively rich Western Europe and North America families spend 12 to 15% of their income on food. In Egypt last year, families spent 40% of their income on food. The civil uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt began as food inflation crises. Eastern Europe, China, Jordan and Sudan face similar food-inflation unrest.
Inflation, linked to the creation of un-backed money and debt, taxes the poor most severely. We will discover that debt also leads to the depletion of resources, soil erosion, water shortages and other environmental impacts that further advance inflation and the debt cycle.
2. Ecological destruction
Nations must account for both private and public debt because during economic crisis, companies often default and private debt becomes public. Many countries now possess public and private debt three to four times their annual gross economy. The UK debt is six times its gross economy and Iceland 12 times. Massive debts put pressure on countries to expand their economies, but they are caught in a vicious cycle. Debt depresses growth, so nations relax environmental laws to increase industrial projects, corporate profits and tax revenues to pay off the debt.
Debt pressure drives nations deeper into the ocean for oil and gas and deeper into wilderness for minerals. Desperate nations bulldoze forests for cash crops, dam rivers and burn coal for energy, open parks to mining and logging and obliterate national treasures to create cash to pay interest on debts.
In Canada, where I live, our public and private debt stands at about two-and-a-half times our annual economic production. To grow our economy at all costs, our government opened the boreal plains to tar sands production, reduced environmental standards and created one of the world’s most ecologically destructive industries. The tar sands project devastates local indigenous communities, drains aquifers, pollutes groundwater, destroys rare habitats, fills lakes with black sludge and heats the atmosphere with low-net-energy hydrocarbons.
Environmental destruction makes the debt cycle ever more vicious, as depleted environments provide less economic potential and rob indigenous and rural communities of self sufficiency. Governments may then find it expedient to suppress angry citizens who have lost their local economic base.
3. Human rights
A large portion of international debt goes to corrupt dictators, who restrain public resistance by suppressing human rights. In Odius Debt, Patricia Adams documents the human rights impact of debt. One third of World Bank loans over 65 years ended up in the private hands of dictators and corrupt officials through bid-rigging, bribes, kickbacks and outright theft.
Over the last 50 years, 20 to 30% of all developing nation debt has gone to dictators such as Zaire’s Mobutu Seko, the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos, Indonesia’s Suharto, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Turkmenistan’s Saparmurat Niyazov. The banks often justify loans to tyrants because they are ‘allies’ of rich western nations. Mobutu stole billions of dollars loaned to Zaire; he jailed, tortured and killed political opposition and enslaved his own citizens. When International Monetary Fund (IMF) agent Edwin Blumenthal reported the loan theft and ‘sordid and pernicious corruption’, the IMF ignored him and awarded Zaire the largest African loan in history. Patricia Adams estimates that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos pocketed one third of all loans to the Philippines during their regime. Once these dictators fall, the banks expect their victims to repay the loans.
Loans to corrupt dictators will likely get worse with the new SDR credits, set to be awarded by the IMF without even basic safeguards. The Wall Street Journal warns that ‘all governments qualify, including those that lock political dissidents in dungeons and steal from their own people’.
Cephas Lumina with the UN Human Rights Council, reports that private ‘vulture funds’ buy the defaulted debts of poor nations ‘at deeply discounted prices’ and then seek ‘repayment of the full value through litigation, seizure of assets and political pressure’. In the last 10 years, 12 nations designated as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries have been served with 54 lawsuits by such debt profiteers.
Some African nations spend 40% of government budgets on debt service, draining money from much needed health and education, which average about 14% of budgets. Debt breeds poverty.
4. War
We can see that the current structure of international debt creates inflation, poverty, fraud, oppression and environmental destruction. Finally, through currency and resource crises, debt fuels war. The world, while increasing debt, spends over $2 trillion each year on military and warfare, exacerbating the vicious debt cycle.
Sudan dictator Omar Al-Bashir, for example, received loans from the World Bank, China and others, helping finance Sudan’s 20-year civil war, causing 2 million deaths and creating 4 million refugees. Meanwhile, Al-Bashir’s army bombed innocent villages, tortured and massacred opposition and kidnapped citizens, particularly in the rich oil-producing regions of Sudan.
The US meanwhile spends about $12 billion each month to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan, to secure oil fields and pipeline routes. European nations, Russia, China and others have waged war to ‘protect national interests’, particularly dwindling resources. These large countries also arm the dictators that hold their debt, enabling more war and bloodshed.
Alternatives exist
Into this powder keg of corruption, violence, war, oppression, fraud and ecological devastation, a few wealthy bankers want to inject another $100 trillion of debt burden on the world. Their scheme would not create ‘less crisis’ as they claim, but more crisis, more financial bubbles, more corruption, more dictators, more war, more ecological destruction, inflation and poverty.
Alternatives exist. The poor nations of the world indeed need and deserve support to help develop their economies that have been wracked by colonialism, war and resource plunder. The UN should manage international debt, base all money on real assets and return profits to the human community. Loans can be designed to support local enterprise, solutions that benefit local communities, sustainable farming that protects soil and localised self-sufficiency. The current international banking schemes undermine these community values.
Good economics will be good for everyone, not just enrich the wealthiest people on Earth.
-Rex Weyler
You can respond to "Deep Green" columns at my Ecology, where I post portions of this column and dialogue with readers.
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