In recent decades, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters has been on the rise! Disasters are recurrent and therefore national development planning should involve increasing resilience and readiness over time.
Too often, urgent care could not be provided because critical care facilities were no longer functioning or there was no way to access the services. Not too much effort has been made towards reconstruction efforts or ensuring the importance of functioning lifelines - notably potable water and first aid during disasters.
Much can be done in the immediate term by making vital installations - hospitals and emergency shelters more diaster resistant. They should have uninterrupted power supply and secure provision of safe water and sanitation.
The ability to provide urgent care in critical situations has a cascading effect on the entire recovery process. Where basic connectivity to emergency medical care and water continues, it is easier when it is time to pick up the pieces as there would be more able-bodied individuals then.
India has improved its ability to provide early warning systems and hurricane shelters and evacuate areas most at risk. Under a 1990 World Bank-supported cyclone response project, mangroves have been planted on the shores which have saved the lives of many fishermen in Andhra Pradesh during the 1996 cyclone.
Earthquake-resistant building codes, enforcement of construction standards and oversight of material procurement practices are likely to pay off significantly - which is what the Chile earthquake so dramatically illustrated. And, everywhere better land use planning is proving to be essential to ensurong that people are not putting up homes in harm's way.
If we are ready to invest sizeable funds to establish mechanisms to avert financial crisis, we need to do the same with the escalating hazards of nature. Once the tragedy drops off the front pages of newspapers, international donors like the affected countries themselves, find it hard to stay engaged with prevention efforts.
When rebuilding, one must ensure that facilities vital to crisis response are linked to networks that will not fail them. So, when the the earth shakes or the waters rise, critical networks will be disaster-resilient!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
A necessary approach to "Energy Security'
With India's economy poised for a robust growth in the next few years, 'energy security' has become the focal point for policy formulation. From domestic finds in oil and gas to acquiring hydrocarbon assets abroad, dealing woth foreign investors and negotiationg trans-national pipelines - all these issues have become key points in India's quest to secure it's energy future.
Energy Security has to be one of the focal points of our diplomacy at least till the middle of this century. Though we have a hydrocarbon deficiency, our immediate and proximate neighbourhood is simply soaked in hydrocarbons. The largest availability of natural gas in the world in in Qatar!
The fact is that thorium based energy would not be useful at least till the middle of this century. There is a need to competitively access oil and gas instead of finding ourselves stranded in a sellers' market.
We have to become 'predators and hunters for energy sources to keep our economy boiling.
An Appropriate Energy Policy.... Few pointers:
1. We need to pursue an aggressive oil and gas diplomacy. We need an effective 'National Energy Policy' and a 'National Energy Security Advisor'.
2. We need to have an explorer-friendly exploration policy if the domestic natural gas outut is to surge. Indeed, the role of natural gas should be given high priority.
3. The number of blocks for exploration as well as the number of awards must be increased for the private bidders. Production-sharing contracts should be unambigously drafted and terms redefined to the advantage of the investor. This is the only way we can encourage both international and domestic investors.
3. Being geographically fortunate, we need to utilise access to the gas reserves of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and other CIS countries. We need to build a network of pipelines to access natural gas reserves in Myanmar and South Korea as well as Sakhalin, where we have a switch deal to transfer gas to Sumatra. We need to find a way towards accessing the enormous gas reserves of Australia too.
The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline or, peace pipeline momentum should not be derailed.
4. Shale gas is catching the global imagination. Europe and China are emerging as the leading producers. We need top quickly assess our reserves, locate them and prepare an open acreage licensing policy.
We need to fully acquire mastery over the 'underground coal gasification technology' too.
5. Nuclear Energy, the future fuel has tremendous prospects and we are doing well in this field, especially, by signing nuclear peace deals with nine major countries. We now need to rapidly develop our mastery over the nuclear fuel reprocessing technology.
6. Research and Development efforts need impetus by way of pumping in more resources. Determined efforts needed to develop knowledge networking across the world. We need to try and bring the ASEAN gas producers and consumers together on one single platform.
According to a US Survey, India is poised to attract $169 billion USD Investments in Clean Energy - wind, solar, biomass, energy from waste, small hydro, geothermal and marine energy projects. It is also indicated that India would be among the top 5 nations in the G-20 group in terms of clean energy investments in the world.
(* India imports 75% of its crude oil requirement and about one-fifth of natural gas needs)
Energy Security has to be one of the focal points of our diplomacy at least till the middle of this century. Though we have a hydrocarbon deficiency, our immediate and proximate neighbourhood is simply soaked in hydrocarbons. The largest availability of natural gas in the world in in Qatar!
The fact is that thorium based energy would not be useful at least till the middle of this century. There is a need to competitively access oil and gas instead of finding ourselves stranded in a sellers' market.
We have to become 'predators and hunters for energy sources to keep our economy boiling.
An Appropriate Energy Policy.... Few pointers:
1. We need to pursue an aggressive oil and gas diplomacy. We need an effective 'National Energy Policy' and a 'National Energy Security Advisor'.
2. We need to have an explorer-friendly exploration policy if the domestic natural gas outut is to surge. Indeed, the role of natural gas should be given high priority.
3. The number of blocks for exploration as well as the number of awards must be increased for the private bidders. Production-sharing contracts should be unambigously drafted and terms redefined to the advantage of the investor. This is the only way we can encourage both international and domestic investors.
3. Being geographically fortunate, we need to utilise access to the gas reserves of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and other CIS countries. We need to build a network of pipelines to access natural gas reserves in Myanmar and South Korea as well as Sakhalin, where we have a switch deal to transfer gas to Sumatra. We need to find a way towards accessing the enormous gas reserves of Australia too.
The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline or, peace pipeline momentum should not be derailed.
4. Shale gas is catching the global imagination. Europe and China are emerging as the leading producers. We need top quickly assess our reserves, locate them and prepare an open acreage licensing policy.
We need to fully acquire mastery over the 'underground coal gasification technology' too.
5. Nuclear Energy, the future fuel has tremendous prospects and we are doing well in this field, especially, by signing nuclear peace deals with nine major countries. We now need to rapidly develop our mastery over the nuclear fuel reprocessing technology.
6. Research and Development efforts need impetus by way of pumping in more resources. Determined efforts needed to develop knowledge networking across the world. We need to try and bring the ASEAN gas producers and consumers together on one single platform.
According to a US Survey, India is poised to attract $169 billion USD Investments in Clean Energy - wind, solar, biomass, energy from waste, small hydro, geothermal and marine energy projects. It is also indicated that India would be among the top 5 nations in the G-20 group in terms of clean energy investments in the world.
(* India imports 75% of its crude oil requirement and about one-fifth of natural gas needs)
Saturday, January 8, 2011
A conscious effort needed...
Few days ago, I read an article which while contemplating on the problems facing the Indian society highlighted the need to alter the mindset of the people that would in turn catapult the much needed progressiveness among the masses. Indeed it is essential to do so but are we actually prepared to take pains to shed off the traditional orthodox beliefs and practices which seem to have embedded in to our genes since centuries? More importantly, are we capable of identifying the parts that need to be disposed and those that need retention?
The problem with the Indian society is that most have misinterpreted the meaning of "change" with "modernisation". And worst still, they naively relate modernity with Western culture alone. True, the Westerners are a progressive people and have proved their mettle when it comes to establishing revolutionary trends in SoL, lifestyles, fashion and use of technology. However, the way we try to imitate these trends is wrong. It is intra-dermal on our part to import a style from them without the necessary substance compatible with it. As a result, more often than not, we are nothing but a good mindless consumer market for these so-called trendsetters. We Indians always had enough resources but never learn to manage them effectively. This has caught the nerve of the foreign market and so they find it exploitative.
So, before embarking on changing this mindset, each of us needs to doa self-introspection as a first step. it should be unbiased and fair. We need to acknowledge the good things in our culture while at the same time acceot the fact that not everything in the name of "modernisation" is cool! The lower classes of the society needs to be enlightened witht the real picture. Since they are mostly deprived of the priveleges, they are vulnerable to discriminatory feelings and may as well start cursing their lives and fate. Their youth tend to develop comtempt towards their traditions and culture and blindly try to imitate what they see around. We all need to join hands to make a robust change in our attitude and develop an appreciating sense of wisdom to prevail....In doing so, we can lead ourselves to attain epic proportions of peace and prosperity in the country...
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Courtesy - Indian Express!
POST POLLS
To say that Nitish Kumar's victory negates identity politics is overstating or perhaps even misreading the situation ... But perhaps a beginning has been made The results have made it clear that people of Bihar have broken the shackles of caste. The large participation of women has added a new chapter in democracy.
NITISH KUMAR Bihar chief minister.
Bihar has changed, and for the better. But the nature of this change is more complex than “development winning over caste and identity politics“.
Development and governance were indeed factors that contributed to the sweeping victory for the JD(U)-BJP combine, but so did a formidable caste confederation that Nitish Kumar stitched over the last five years.
Kumar's campaign speeches rode on the theme of development with the subtext of caste and religious identities.For his rival, Lalu Prasad, caste was the only text and the subtext as well.
In contrast, Kumar tailored his development agenda to address the concerns of all such groups that had been left out of the social engineering Bihar saw in the past two decades.
He carefully crafted and nurtured a political strategy that put extremely backward castes and women at its core, while not ignoring the expectations of the relatively privileged sections of society.
Development is not a concept that has any universal meaning, particularly in a society that is driven by sharp faultlines along caste identities.
The roads were built, the schools got teachers, and the doctors were present at the primary health centres (PHC), at least once a week. But that much is not good enough to win a political battle in Bihar, yet. Who has got the contracts for building the roads, what is the caste of the teacher at your school and the doctor at your clinic are important questions in Bihar. Development in Bihar cannot have a caste-neutral outcome. Kumar's real success is in understanding this and building in the caste component in everything that he did -from local body elections to teacher appointment to general political discourse.
An uncharitable interpretation of Kumar's caste politics is that he mopped up all sentiments against two particular castes -the Yadavs and Paswans, who were the prime beneficiaries of the first wave of lower-caste politics in Bihar. Non-Yadav backwards have been at the receiving end of Yadav empowerment under Prasad. Non-Paswan Dalits have been getting a raw deal, economically and politically, all through.Kumar mobilised their frustration and anger.
A more charitable take is that Kumar widened the umbrella of political participation, offering some fruits of development to the hitherto neglected and lowest in the caste hierarchy. He courted Muslims by quickly dealing with the remaining Bhagalpur riot cases of 1989, providing funds for madrasas and burial grounds and keeping controversial Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi out of Bihar's political equation. In that sense, Kumar took social empowerment from where Prasad left it and built on it.
In this hugely successful and imaginative journey, Kumar created three new identities, which go beyond caste -women, youth and Bihari.
Kumar addressed the development and empowerment aspirations of these three categories in tangible measures and promised a lot more in the second coming. By introducing 50% reservation for women in local bodies and distributing cycles to girls in schools, Kumar awoke the latent urge of the state's women to be part of the progress. In 23 districts out of the 38 in the state, more women than men showed up to vote, and more women, perhaps, voted for the ruling alliance.
Kumar compared his governance with that of his predecessor and declared that it's no longer a shame to be known as a Bihari -a slogan that instantly caught on with the youth of the state who travel outside and face humiliation. He urged the youth to empower by learning -a departure from the Lalu-brand of politics. “I am proud to be Bihari,“ said the BJP's spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi. That view is being echoed in many parts of Bihar, although the Bihari identity is still nebulous To suggest that Kumar's victory negates identity politics is overstating or perhaps even misreading the situation. Kumar did change the vocabulary of politics in the state. That's why everyone in Bihar and outside is calling the verdict a victory for development over caste. But it's too early for Bihar to put an end to caste and identity politics.
Perhaps a beginning has been made, and the credit is fully due to its new leader.
To say that Nitish Kumar's victory negates identity politics is overstating or perhaps even misreading the situation ... But perhaps a beginning has been made The results have made it clear that people of Bihar have broken the shackles of caste. The large participation of women has added a new chapter in democracy.
NITISH KUMAR Bihar chief minister.
Bihar has changed, and for the better. But the nature of this change is more complex than “development winning over caste and identity politics“.
Development and governance were indeed factors that contributed to the sweeping victory for the JD(U)-BJP combine, but so did a formidable caste confederation that Nitish Kumar stitched over the last five years.
Kumar's campaign speeches rode on the theme of development with the subtext of caste and religious identities.For his rival, Lalu Prasad, caste was the only text and the subtext as well.
In contrast, Kumar tailored his development agenda to address the concerns of all such groups that had been left out of the social engineering Bihar saw in the past two decades.
He carefully crafted and nurtured a political strategy that put extremely backward castes and women at its core, while not ignoring the expectations of the relatively privileged sections of society.
Development is not a concept that has any universal meaning, particularly in a society that is driven by sharp faultlines along caste identities.
The roads were built, the schools got teachers, and the doctors were present at the primary health centres (PHC), at least once a week. But that much is not good enough to win a political battle in Bihar, yet. Who has got the contracts for building the roads, what is the caste of the teacher at your school and the doctor at your clinic are important questions in Bihar. Development in Bihar cannot have a caste-neutral outcome. Kumar's real success is in understanding this and building in the caste component in everything that he did -from local body elections to teacher appointment to general political discourse.
An uncharitable interpretation of Kumar's caste politics is that he mopped up all sentiments against two particular castes -the Yadavs and Paswans, who were the prime beneficiaries of the first wave of lower-caste politics in Bihar. Non-Yadav backwards have been at the receiving end of Yadav empowerment under Prasad. Non-Paswan Dalits have been getting a raw deal, economically and politically, all through.Kumar mobilised their frustration and anger.
A more charitable take is that Kumar widened the umbrella of political participation, offering some fruits of development to the hitherto neglected and lowest in the caste hierarchy. He courted Muslims by quickly dealing with the remaining Bhagalpur riot cases of 1989, providing funds for madrasas and burial grounds and keeping controversial Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi out of Bihar's political equation. In that sense, Kumar took social empowerment from where Prasad left it and built on it.
In this hugely successful and imaginative journey, Kumar created three new identities, which go beyond caste -women, youth and Bihari.
Kumar addressed the development and empowerment aspirations of these three categories in tangible measures and promised a lot more in the second coming. By introducing 50% reservation for women in local bodies and distributing cycles to girls in schools, Kumar awoke the latent urge of the state's women to be part of the progress. In 23 districts out of the 38 in the state, more women than men showed up to vote, and more women, perhaps, voted for the ruling alliance.
Kumar compared his governance with that of his predecessor and declared that it's no longer a shame to be known as a Bihari -a slogan that instantly caught on with the youth of the state who travel outside and face humiliation. He urged the youth to empower by learning -a departure from the Lalu-brand of politics. “I am proud to be Bihari,“ said the BJP's spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi. That view is being echoed in many parts of Bihar, although the Bihari identity is still nebulous To suggest that Kumar's victory negates identity politics is overstating or perhaps even misreading the situation. Kumar did change the vocabulary of politics in the state. That's why everyone in Bihar and outside is calling the verdict a victory for development over caste. But it's too early for Bihar to put an end to caste and identity politics.
Perhaps a beginning has been made, and the credit is fully due to its new leader.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Truth!
Found this gem somewhere!!! Thought I should share:
The Devil was talking to his friends when they noticed a man walking along a road. They watched him pass and saw that he bent down to pick something up. "What did he find?" asked one of his friends. "A piece of Truth," answered the Devil. The friends were very concerned. After all, a piece of Truth might save that man's soul - one less in Hell. But the devil remained unmoved. "Aren't you worried?" asked one of his companions. "He found a piece of Truth!". "I'm not worried," answered the Devil. "Do you know what he'll do with the piece?". The Devil replied, "as usual, he'll create a new religion. And he'll succeed in distancing even more people from the whole Truth."
- Paulo Coelho
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Prostitution...A serious issue unattended!
-The word originates in Latin: Pro + Stature which literally means "to expose" and its a pan-universal issue.
-It has diverse considerations in different societies and nations. In some countries, it is legal, while in some, death penalty is given. In Sweden, Iceland paying for prostitution is illegal. In India, UK, Canada, USA prostitution is not a crime but associated activities such as pimping activities of brothels & soliciting in open is a crime. In several countries it is legal in a limited form.
-According to a survey by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, 2.8 million sex workers have been identified while unofficially it is 15 million.
-The troubling part: India has 35.47% of prostitutes belonging to the under 18 years age group. As per official estimates, Mumbai has the largest concentration.
-There are many variants of prostitution: common prostitues to singers and dancers, call girls and even the dev-dasi traditions being generated at certain places.
-Section 497 of IPC - Consensus sex is not a crime if the lady is 16 years old or more. For the married woman too, consensus sex is not a crime. However, concealment of information is a crime.
-The legal complexity of the provision was adopted under SITA Act-Suppression of Immoral Trafficking, 1956 but couldn't be effected. It was ammended again in the form of IT(P)A [Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act], 1986.
-The Law forbids sex workers to carry out their profession within 200 yards of public places. However this Act does not recognise male sex workers or gigolos, who sell sex services to women or husslers, also known as rent boys who sell sex as a part of MSM (men having sex with men). Both are illegal.
Causes that contribute to prostitution:
>Family prostitution
>Poverty
>Migration (of illegal nature esp., from Nepal and Bangladesh)
>History of rape, divorce, peer factors, bank company, poverty
>Technological factors - websites, chat sites etc.
>For the payment of rent/borrowing, the lady spends sometime with the person - Chukri System. (It is the oldest system in India).
Should it be legalised???
In favour:
>This group can then be better attended
>Better policies can be framed for them
>Better rehabilitation can be done
Against:
>It would then become an industry and pimps would become entrepreneurs
>Organised crime associated with it wouls also become difficult to handle
>Child-rights violation will become more rampant
>Efforts of controlling this problem would cease
Facts::
1. It is one of the gross violations of human rights and it has been considered as a modern day slavery.
2. Acc. to a UNICEF study, India has the largest number of child prostitutes while in terms of ratio, it is Cambodia.
3. In ILO Convention of 182, it is rated as the worst form of child labour.
4. As per WHO survey of India, more than 50% of sex workers of Mumbai and Kolkata are HIV+ve.
5. In July, 2005, the MHR Govt. passed a law, banning bar dancers but it MHR High Court maintained it as unconstitutional. The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court. Irrespective, the stoppage of bar dancing has added to the large number of prostitutes thus contributing to the problem.
6. In a PIL filed by "Bachpan Bachao Andolan" (an NGO), SC Justice A.P. Patnaik and Justice Davir Bhandari has called upon the Govt. to make strict provisions to deny bail to those people who are engaged on child prostitution. Retired CJI K.G. Balakrishnan is of the opinion that it should be legalised to have better monitoring and medical facilities provided.
{Note: Just because we are unable to stop it, it doesn't imply that we should legalise it!}
-It has diverse considerations in different societies and nations. In some countries, it is legal, while in some, death penalty is given. In Sweden, Iceland paying for prostitution is illegal. In India, UK, Canada, USA prostitution is not a crime but associated activities such as pimping activities of brothels & soliciting in open is a crime. In several countries it is legal in a limited form.
-According to a survey by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, 2.8 million sex workers have been identified while unofficially it is 15 million.
-The troubling part: India has 35.47% of prostitutes belonging to the under 18 years age group. As per official estimates, Mumbai has the largest concentration.
-There are many variants of prostitution: common prostitues to singers and dancers, call girls and even the dev-dasi traditions being generated at certain places.
-Section 497 of IPC - Consensus sex is not a crime if the lady is 16 years old or more. For the married woman too, consensus sex is not a crime. However, concealment of information is a crime.
-The legal complexity of the provision was adopted under SITA Act-Suppression of Immoral Trafficking, 1956 but couldn't be effected. It was ammended again in the form of IT(P)A [Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act], 1986.
-The Law forbids sex workers to carry out their profession within 200 yards of public places. However this Act does not recognise male sex workers or gigolos, who sell sex services to women or husslers, also known as rent boys who sell sex as a part of MSM (men having sex with men). Both are illegal.
Causes that contribute to prostitution:
>Family prostitution
>Poverty
>Migration (of illegal nature esp., from Nepal and Bangladesh)
>History of rape, divorce, peer factors, bank company, poverty
>Technological factors - websites, chat sites etc.
>For the payment of rent/borrowing, the lady spends sometime with the person - Chukri System. (It is the oldest system in India).
Should it be legalised???
In favour:
>This group can then be better attended
>Better policies can be framed for them
>Better rehabilitation can be done
Against:
>It would then become an industry and pimps would become entrepreneurs
>Organised crime associated with it wouls also become difficult to handle
>Child-rights violation will become more rampant
>Efforts of controlling this problem would cease
Facts::
1. It is one of the gross violations of human rights and it has been considered as a modern day slavery.
2. Acc. to a UNICEF study, India has the largest number of child prostitutes while in terms of ratio, it is Cambodia.
3. In ILO Convention of 182, it is rated as the worst form of child labour.
4. As per WHO survey of India, more than 50% of sex workers of Mumbai and Kolkata are HIV+ve.
5. In July, 2005, the MHR Govt. passed a law, banning bar dancers but it MHR High Court maintained it as unconstitutional. The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court. Irrespective, the stoppage of bar dancing has added to the large number of prostitutes thus contributing to the problem.
6. In a PIL filed by "Bachpan Bachao Andolan" (an NGO), SC Justice A.P. Patnaik and Justice Davir Bhandari has called upon the Govt. to make strict provisions to deny bail to those people who are engaged on child prostitution. Retired CJI K.G. Balakrishnan is of the opinion that it should be legalised to have better monitoring and medical facilities provided.
{Note: Just because we are unable to stop it, it doesn't imply that we should legalise it!}
Saturday, November 6, 2010
being emote is a very good reason for heart burn! So chuck those sentiments away...
Being mechanical sure helps these days! Thanks to so much of advancement in technology, one can do away with emotions and let the keypads talk for us.... We don't really feel much when using a technology platform to commute thoughts...So why bother? Lets keep moving where it leads to! Noone's complaining and I too don't need to...
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