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April19, 2006 - [India Thinkers Net] Posts1-7 >> |
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[6] From: "Arif N. Khan" <ank2000pk@yahoo.com> Date: Sat Apr 15, 2006 Subject: Is Jama Masjid Blast in Delhi revenge of Vanarsi Bomb Blast? Nine hurt in Delhi Mosque blast At least nine people have been injured in two explosions inside the Jama Masjid (Grand Mosque) in the Indian capital, Delhi, police say. The mosque's chief cleric, Imam Bukhari, told the BBC the blasts inside the complex came in swift succession. He has appealed for calm. It is not clear what caused the blasts which came soon after Friday prayers. The 17th century mosque is one of the largest in India. A bomb disposal squad is at the site, police say. Delhi police chief KK Paul told the BBC that one of those hurt was in a serious condition. The other eight received minor injuries. Religious leaders, including Imam Bukhari, were swift to call for calm and stress the need for communal harmony. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also called for calm and condemned the blasts in Delhi and in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, where at least five civilians were killed in grenade attacks and shooting. Anger The explosions came within minutes of each other at about 1700 local time (1130 GMT). "The blasts took place near a water tank used by worshippers," a mosque official, Mr Amanullah, told the BBC. He said that most worshippers were inside the mosque and not by the tank when the blasts took place. Imam Bukhari said he thought worshippers had been deliberately targeted. "We did not see the first explosion but the second one definitely originated from a plastic bag that was kept inside the prayer grounds," Imam Bukhari told the AFP news agency. "The second blast went off as people were helping those injured and if this is not a terror attack then what is?" "There is anger among our people but I am appealing to them to maintain calm." The Jama Masjid is located in Delhi's old city which is mainly populated by Muslims and has a history of religious tension. Last month, suspected militants targeted the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, where simultaneous explosions killed 15 people. In October last year, more than 60 people were killed and hundreds injured when three bombs exploded in busy shopping districts in the Indian capital. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/4910028.stm -------------------- [7] From: rkurian@bgl.vsnl.net.in Date: Sat Apr 15, 2006 Subject: China Reduces its Poverty... http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329456475-108142,00.html Comment Development in defiance of the Washington consensus China has carried off the world's largest reduction in poverty by grasping that market economies cannot be left on autopilot Joseph Stiglitz Thursday April 13, 2006 Guardian China is about to adopt its 11th five-year plan, setting the stage for the continuation of probably the most remarkable economic transformation in history, while improving the wellbeing of almost a quarter of the world's population. Never before has the world seen such sustained growth; never before has there been so much poverty reduction. Part of the key to China's long-run success has been its almost unique combination of pragmatism and vision. While much of the rest of the developing world, following the Washington consensus, has been directed at a quixotic quest for higher GDP, China has again made clear that it seeks sustainable and more equitable increases in real living standards. China realises that it has entered a phase of economic growth that is imposing enormous - and unsustainable - demands on the environment. Unless there is a change in course, living standards will eventually be compromised. That is why the new plan places great emphasis on the environment. Many of the more backward parts of China have been growing at a pace that would be a marvel, were it not that other parts of the country are growing even more rapidly. While this has reduced poverty, inequality has been increasing, with growing disparities between cities and rural areas, and coastal regions and the interior. This year's World Bank world development report explains why inequality, not just poverty, should be a concern, and China's plan attacks the problem head on. The government has for several years talked about a more harmonious society, and the plan describes programmes for achieving this. China recognises, too, that what separates less developed from more developed countries is not only a gap in resources, but also a gap in knowledge. So it has laid out plans to reduce that gap. China's role in the world and the world's economy has changed. Its future growth will have to be based more on domestic demand than on exports, which will require increases in consumption. Indeed, China has a rare problem: excessive savings. People save partly because of weaknesses in government social-insurance programmes. Strengthening social security (pensions) and public health and education will simultaneously reduce social inequalities, increase its citizens' sense of wellbeing, and promote consumption. If successful, these adjustments may impose enormous strains on a global economic system that is already unbalanced by America's huge fiscal and trade imbalances. If China saves less - and if, as officials have said, it pursues a more diversified policy of investing its reserves - who will finance America's trade deficit of more than $2bn a day? This is a topic for another day, which may not be far off. With such a clear vision of the future, the challenge will be implementation. China is a large country, and it could not have succeeded as it has without widespread decentralisation. But decentralisation raises problems of its own. Greenhouse gases, for example, are global problems. While America says that it cannot afford to do anything about it, China's senior officials have acted more responsibly. Within a month of the adoption of the plan, new environmental taxes on cars, petrol and wood products were imposed: China was using market-based mechanisms to address its and the world's environmental problems. But the pressures on local government officials to deliver economic growth and jobs will be enormous. They will be sorely tempted to argue that if America cannot afford to produce in a way that preserves our planet, how can they? To translate its vision into action, the Chinese government will need strong policies, such as the environmental taxes already imposed. As China has moved toward a market economy, it has developed some of the problems that have plagued the developed countries: special interests that clothe self-serving arguments behind a veil of market ideology. Some will argue for trickle-down economics. And some will oppose competition policy and corporate governance laws. Growth arguments will be advanced to counter strong social and environmental policies. Such allegedly pro-growth policies would not only fail to deliver growth; they would threaten the entire vision of China's future. There is only one way to prevent this: open discussion of economic policies to expose fallacies and provide scope for creative solutions to the challenges facing China. George Bush has shown the dangers of excessive secrecy and confining decision-making to a narrow circle of sycophants. Most people outside China do not fully appreciate the extent to which its leaders, by contrast, have engaged in extensive deliberations and consultations as they strive to solve the enormous problems they face. Market economies are not self-regulating. They cannot simply be left on autopilot, especially if one wants to ensure that their benefits are shared widely. But managing a market economy is no easy task. It is a balancing act that must constantly respond to economic changes. China's plan provides a road map for that response. The world watches in awe, and hope, as the lives of 1.3 billion people continue to be transformed. · Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate, is professor of economics at Columbia University and the World Bank's former chief economist © Project Syndicate www.project-syndicate.org ----------------------- [8] From: Subho <subhomukti@yahoo.com> Date: Sat Apr 15, 2006 Subject: reservation : to or not-to-be Dear Sandeep, In last few days, there have been so many emails in different mailing lists on reservation for OBCs. While reservation is in genreal beneficial for the upliftment of the society (this is reconfirmed after seeing plight of the black community in USA), we must not ignore the importance of taking appropriate precautions to avoid a backlash in the long-term. It is true that "meritorious" students are "partly" responsible for "many" social "maladies", we can not infer that "educated are a burden on society" unless they go abroad and serve that society. Unfortunately, that is true for many "meritorious" students in India, specially those out of IITs, IIMs. We all are fighting against corruption and understand its adverse effect on development, we can not correlate more education with more corruption. Otherwise all countries infested by "educated" indians would equally face corruption. Corruption is a socio-political malady that powerful section of the society that advantage of. Currently "forward castes" (non-SC, non-ST, non-OBC) are privileged to enjoy the moolah through corruption, reservation is a mechanism to assure a certain share to people belonging to SC/ST/OBC (at least the way quota system is implemented in India). Though it originated as a noble notion by Babasaheb Ambedkar and his team, definitely it comes out of vote-bank politics in the last two decades. While we shall always remember V.P. Singh for his contribution in bringing financial transparency to indian political system, it was his mistakes to pull out B P Mandal's recommendations from dustbin. I do not believe that the governments (NF, UF, UPA, NDA or whatever) have time or goodwill to welfare the poverty-striken citizens, given their track record in Kashmir, Punjab, Babri, Bhopal, Kalahandi, Narmada, and so on. Otherwise they would have taken more constructive measures by enabling free education, better training, proper health care for the backward sections of the society. IT IS HIGH TIME THAT WE MUST STOP OUR POLITICIAN FROM USING OUR CITIZENS AS VOTERS. Long Live Election! Long Live Reservation! take care, Subho [NB : This is solely my personal opinion, not necessarily official stand of any organization] =================================================== --- DailySouthAsian <DailySouthAsian@yahoogroups.co.uk> wrote: > INSIGHT: (reservation issue): by social activist > Sandeep Pandey > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > dear anjani, > the so called 'meritorious' students who go on to > become bureaucrats, engineers, doctors, scientists, > managers have cheated the poor of this nation. with > some exceptions, the more educated you are the more > corrupt you are. the educated become careerists. for > them their career comes first - then the society or > nation. tell me how many educated people will > actually do service (work without a salary) of the > society by being self employed and not just seek > employment in 'service' sector for the benefit of > their career. in my view the educated are a burden > on society - whichever caste they belong to. they > take more from the society than they give. so, i > cannot support your movement. > love, sandeep > > (Dr Sandeep Pandey is a senior social activist and > recepient of Ramon Magsaysay Award 2002. He can be > contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com) > ------------------------------------------------------------------ [9] From: Logically Genius <gurudatta_raut-socialengineer@yahoo.co.in> Date: Sat Apr 15, 2006 Subject: Power to the people ! Hello ancient people, Humans evolved to follow the leader but that is no longer required. http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-7601.html By the people for the people of the people and hence forth, With the people. Power to the people ! - Saint Scientist ----------- [10] From: rkurian@bgl.vsnl.net.in Date: Sun Apr 16, 2006 Subject: Stark Warning over Climate Change.. BBC NEWS Stark warning over climate change The Earth is likely to experience a temperature rise of at least 3C, the UK government's chief scientist says. Professor Sir David King warned this would happen because world governments were failing to agree on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. He told the BBC that nations had to act now to tackle the warming expected to happen over the next 100 years. And he said even if a global agreement could be reached on limiting emissions, climate change was inevitable. The UK government and the EU want to try to stabilise the climate at an increase of no more than 2C, but the US refuses to cut emissions and those of India and China are rising quickly. A recent report called Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, produced by the Hadley Centre, one of the top world centres for projecting future climate, modelled the likely effects of a 3C rise. It warned the situation could wreck half the world's wildlife reserves, destroy major forest systems, and put 400 million more people at risk of hunger. [.... ...........] Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4888946.stm Published: 2006/04/14 15:03:54 GMT -------------------- [11] From: "Ram Narayanan" <ramn_one@adelphia.net> Date: Sat Apr 15, 2006 Subject: Time to step up and take responsibility http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C04%5C15%5Cstory_15-4-2006_p\ g3_8 DAILY TIMES (PAKISTAN), APRIL 15, 2006 Time to step up and take responsibility Sir: The recent bomb blast in Karachi that killed 57 people is a reminder that Pakistan is in serious trouble. The rise of militaristic Islamic parties determined to go for Jihad against those who disagree with them is threatening the very foundation of the country. Pakistan is reaching the end of its political tether because of army action in Balochistan and NWFP; increasingly tense relations with neighbouring Afghanistan; and fragile relations with India and Iran. The citizens of Pakistan need to step up and take control of the situations instead of waiting around for our government to take action. Blaming the US, India or other states won't help either and will probably complicate the recovery process further. If we fail to take responsibility for letting our country deteriorate into anarchy, we will have no one to blame but ourselves. BILAL QURESHI Washington DC |
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