Terrorist attacks in prime locations in Delhi mark a beginning of the never ending Diwali celebrations. You may accuse me of being frivolous but if you thing logically we should not expect anything else. Islamic fundamentalist the world over have taken up the war against or non Islamist nations. Though I would say their decision to attack India is a foolish one, but that they have been doing so is reality. Where on the planet will they ever find a country as liberal and as accommodative as India? Barring a few exceptions, ours is a quite secular country. The question then arises why do they resort to such detestable activities? The simple answer to this is ‘Lack of Education’. Our literacy rates are the poorest and we are also home to 1/3rd of the world’s poor. Poverty is also one of the reasons which make people susceptible to the incendiary speeches of the opportunist politicians. Ours is a country of diverse culture, traditions and languages. The social fabric of the country is such that it is highly vulnerable to differences of interests and clashes of opinions. More than 22 % of Indian population is Islamist. Now, India is, as much their motherland as it is for the Hindus or the Christians living here.
Many of our problems are however self created. In a country which has been facing the problem of terrorism for almost 3 decades before the world ever knew about it, by now should have had a strong policy to defend itself against the attacks. However, every time the terrorist strike we find ourselves discussing the same issues and the political parties resorting to blame game. At such crucial juncture the attitude shown by BJP, as the main opposition party is highly despicable. At a time when the country has been facing problems as grave as terrorism, I don’t feel it is the right time to lambast the government for its lackadaisical attitude. Surely the Congress lead UPA has to be blamed for whatever has happened not because it has happened but more so because of the lack of vision to deal with any such problem. It’s not in the hands of the administration to control such activities but if we have a well defined strategy to tackle the problem we can surely reduce the occurrences of such activities. You ask any government official about their anti terrorism policy and the all are dumbfounded. We have all the intelligence agencies and anti terrorism squads but the all are ineffective or rather I would say they are all to counter terrorism but what’s the action plan to curb such tendencies? Previously the politicians were very comfortable putting the blame solely on Pakistan for any act of terror. The present day government doesn’t have the same luxury as home grown terrorism is an established fact.
Another attitude of a few of our politicians perturbs me. These politicians are of the opinion that the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants be granted Indian nationality. The reason, you guessed it right – vote bank politics. Are we a country like Australia with a population of 3 crore, all people well fed that as a matter of philanthropic activity accept all the immigrants from Bangladesh and that too illegal immigrants who should be shot dead according to me if proved to be illegal immigrants. Don’t forget that’s it’s no longer only Pakistan, who is accused of sending terrorists in India we also have some Bangladeshi outfits who work on similar lines.
I would also take this opportunity to ask a problem to your readers. With the fears of global warming coming true it’s not long before the whole of Bangladesh would be under water (expected to happen by 2020). As of date, about 72 Sq kms of area of Bangladesh is supposed to have gone under waters of Bay of Bengal. This will cause an exodus of Bangladeshis form Bangladesh and the pervious West Bengal border provides them a readymade solution. How far that is acceptable to us, is the contention?
It’s high time we wake up and do away with our laggard politicians and ensure a safe and secure future for the posterity.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Lehman Brothers goes the Bear Stern’s way – Is Bankrupt and History
Lehman Brothers goes the Bear Stern’s way – Is Bankrupt and History
1. Sub prime crises –history
2. Bear sterns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
3. Richard Flud & O’Neal.
4. Merrill Lynch and AIG
5. Rumors of JP and City suffering equal sever losses.
6. Actual magnitude of the issue ($500 bn current write downs, expected around $ 1.5 trillion).
7. What it means of us in India? ( IIM B had 5 placements each form ML and LB)
“Sub prime crises”, the word I m sure will send a chill down many a spines. It all started with the subprime mortgage lending initiated by leading finance majors in the US and subsequently followed in Europe. Extremities in either direction are bad and this has been aptly justified by the current subprime crises. Interest rates as low as 0.5 % is unimaginable. Increased competition ensured that these banks have to innovate and come out with ( incomplete)
1. Sub prime crises –history
2. Bear sterns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
3. Richard Flud & O’Neal.
4. Merrill Lynch and AIG
5. Rumors of JP and City suffering equal sever losses.
6. Actual magnitude of the issue ($500 bn current write downs, expected around $ 1.5 trillion).
7. What it means of us in India? ( IIM B had 5 placements each form ML and LB)
“Sub prime crises”, the word I m sure will send a chill down many a spines. It all started with the subprime mortgage lending initiated by leading finance majors in the US and subsequently followed in Europe. Extremities in either direction are bad and this has been aptly justified by the current subprime crises. Interest rates as low as 0.5 % is unimaginable. Increased competition ensured that these banks have to innovate and come out with ( incomplete)
NSG Waiver for India specific agreements in Indo-US nuclear Deal
If you are aware of the happening s and if you have kept yourself updated with the happenings on the topic you would be able to better understand my points as they are quite terse. I would like to drives your attention to a few important points:-
1) Change in attitude of the US and other NSG heavyweights towards India.
2) Urgent need for us as a mature democracy to resolve our internal differences and portray a positive picture of our unanimous decisions.
3) Reckless opposition by the opposition
4) Advantages of the deal for India.
The Deal is almost being done and the hue and cry that it has generated around all the corners of the Country makes me feel proud not because we have some opinion of our to cast on such an important political and technical issue but because it shows that we are slowly turning form a passive democracy to an active democracy. Enough of digression I would straightway come to the point. But before I say my point I would like you people to think for some time on what could be the reason for US to suddenly take so much of interest in India. Don’t forget that it was the US who was instrumental in imposing trade sanctions on India post Pokhran – II (remember all that CTBT and NPT stuff). There are 2 main reasons that catch my mind's eye. First, the growing primacy of China in Asia makes US wary of the Dragon. If they can fall back on anyone in Asia to put a check on China then it is nobody other than India.
(incomplete)
1) Change in attitude of the US and other NSG heavyweights towards India.
2) Urgent need for us as a mature democracy to resolve our internal differences and portray a positive picture of our unanimous decisions.
3) Reckless opposition by the opposition
4) Advantages of the deal for India.
The Deal is almost being done and the hue and cry that it has generated around all the corners of the Country makes me feel proud not because we have some opinion of our to cast on such an important political and technical issue but because it shows that we are slowly turning form a passive democracy to an active democracy. Enough of digression I would straightway come to the point. But before I say my point I would like you people to think for some time on what could be the reason for US to suddenly take so much of interest in India. Don’t forget that it was the US who was instrumental in imposing trade sanctions on India post Pokhran – II (remember all that CTBT and NPT stuff). There are 2 main reasons that catch my mind's eye. First, the growing primacy of China in Asia makes US wary of the Dragon. If they can fall back on anyone in Asia to put a check on China then it is nobody other than India.
(incomplete)
The irresponsibly responsible
It would be better if our so called responsible national political parties act in a way befitting the world’s largest democracy.
The buzz word, as we all know today is communism and no longer democracy. This is specially highlighted by the runaway success of China as demonstrated during the 16 day Olympic event. One may always debate that China doesn’t practice communism in its true sense, but capitalism under the veil of communism. The Indian communists are no exception, brilliantly exemplified by the Tata’s Nano plant in Singur, West Bengal the heartland of communism in India. The argument that most have in support of communism is that it has transformed a country having world’s largest population into a superpower, Superpower enough to make Uncle Sam weary. The debate has gone long enough for some to propose it as a form of governance for India. Though most of us in India would not approve of it, I would say why not, if it really makes sense and solves us most of our problems. Now if that makes you think that this blog is going to highlight the differences in the two modes of governances then hold on.
I would just want to draw your attention towards the enormous progress made by China. This assumes heightened importance in the current scenario of affairs. If this is not taken as an overstatement we are slowly but surely being dragged into the cold war with China. History has been testimony to the fact that China has never been amicable with us. As I have already mentioned in the previous blog it’s a prime reason why we have been receiving such a support from all corners of the world as far as nuclear deal is concerned. I would also like to mention here the fact that the ostensible non alignment stance that we had taken also needs to be rethought. We have taken a lot many favors from the US during this current nuclear deal to deny any returns to them. Exactly this was the reason for the leftist to oppose the deal. With the clashes that we saw in Georgia has opened a fresh chapter in the decades long cold war between the two major powers. Amongst all these complex scenarios we have to be very clear with our thoughts. This time we would hardly be able to maintain any non alignment stance, which I suppose we should not take if we wish to see ourselves as a super power. I understand most of you would detest this citing many reasons but I would call it pusillanimous. The first thing we need to change in us is our servile attitude, its no surprise that world over we are known as cheap labors. All our techies who as proud to be a part of the booming service sector industry catering to the needs of the foreign markets and US in particular need to seriously rethink the role they play. No country ever became a superpower providing services. You can always cite example of the US but don’t forget that the two countries are in different stage of development. My views could be contrary to those of the legendary steel magnate L N Mittal, but the Singur episode would definitely affect our prospects of attracting foreign investment. Let’s not be overconfident of our advantages of cheap labor we should be careful not to repeat any such incident like the Singur In future. The Singur episode is an excellent example of how various state Govts are offering land to industries at a discount to attract them only to realize that they can’t subdue the injustice meted out to the farmland owners.
The buzz word, as we all know today is communism and no longer democracy. This is specially highlighted by the runaway success of China as demonstrated during the 16 day Olympic event. One may always debate that China doesn’t practice communism in its true sense, but capitalism under the veil of communism. The Indian communists are no exception, brilliantly exemplified by the Tata’s Nano plant in Singur, West Bengal the heartland of communism in India. The argument that most have in support of communism is that it has transformed a country having world’s largest population into a superpower, Superpower enough to make Uncle Sam weary. The debate has gone long enough for some to propose it as a form of governance for India. Though most of us in India would not approve of it, I would say why not, if it really makes sense and solves us most of our problems. Now if that makes you think that this blog is going to highlight the differences in the two modes of governances then hold on.
I would just want to draw your attention towards the enormous progress made by China. This assumes heightened importance in the current scenario of affairs. If this is not taken as an overstatement we are slowly but surely being dragged into the cold war with China. History has been testimony to the fact that China has never been amicable with us. As I have already mentioned in the previous blog it’s a prime reason why we have been receiving such a support from all corners of the world as far as nuclear deal is concerned. I would also like to mention here the fact that the ostensible non alignment stance that we had taken also needs to be rethought. We have taken a lot many favors from the US during this current nuclear deal to deny any returns to them. Exactly this was the reason for the leftist to oppose the deal. With the clashes that we saw in Georgia has opened a fresh chapter in the decades long cold war between the two major powers. Amongst all these complex scenarios we have to be very clear with our thoughts. This time we would hardly be able to maintain any non alignment stance, which I suppose we should not take if we wish to see ourselves as a super power. I understand most of you would detest this citing many reasons but I would call it pusillanimous. The first thing we need to change in us is our servile attitude, its no surprise that world over we are known as cheap labors. All our techies who as proud to be a part of the booming service sector industry catering to the needs of the foreign markets and US in particular need to seriously rethink the role they play. No country ever became a superpower providing services. You can always cite example of the US but don’t forget that the two countries are in different stage of development. My views could be contrary to those of the legendary steel magnate L N Mittal, but the Singur episode would definitely affect our prospects of attracting foreign investment. Let’s not be overconfident of our advantages of cheap labor we should be careful not to repeat any such incident like the Singur In future. The Singur episode is an excellent example of how various state Govts are offering land to industries at a discount to attract them only to realize that they can’t subdue the injustice meted out to the farmland owners.
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