Zimbabwe: A Nation in Crisis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6922441.stm

What's going on with Zimbabwe's economy?

By any measure, Zimbabwe is in deep financial trouble.

In many stores, the shelves are nearly empty much of the time, and prices are skyrocketing for what goods remain as hyperinflation sets in.

About four out of five people are estimated to be out of work - at least as far as the official economy is concerned.

The situation is so bad that about 3,000 people a day are thought to be crossing Zimbabwe's borders into neighbouring countries.

And increasingly, many Zimbabweans are dependent on support from relatives and friends abroad to keep food on the table and roofs over their heads.

Hyperinflation - what's that?

This is what happens when the value of money plummets.

In Zimbabwe's case, the near-5,000% annual rate of inflation means that a loaf of bread bought today is about 50 times more expensive - in cash terms - than it was a year ago.

And prices are continuing to accelerate, in some cases doubling in weeks - or even, on occasion, days.

Wages, on the other hand, are nowhere near keeping up.

One correspondent recently told the BBC News website that one candle can cost twice the official government wage for a farm worker, while the price tag for a single banana is 15 times what she paid seven years ago for a four-bedroom house.

Another effect is that people simply do not hang onto money. As soon as it is earned, it must be spent - because prices will have risen sharply even by the following day.

How did it get to be like this?

For many people, the key cause of the current problems is Zimbabwe's land reform programme.

Most of the country's most productive farmland remained in white hands after independence in 1979, and through the 1990s the government of President Robert Mugabe worked to shift ownership.

By 1999, however, with little movement, the government unveiled plans to seize land without compensation - a process which started in earnest the following year.

As hundreds of farms were taken over - sometimes by local people, often by senior government officials - production, and export, of grain and tobacco collapsed.

Huge spending on involvement in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo was also a drain on the public purse.

The result was a food crisis, and a battering for the economy as foreign exchange earnings slumped - both from farming and from tourism, amid violence surrounding the land reform programme.

Cycling: experience the difference

http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/10/04/notes-on-bicycling-in-copenhagen/

(Note: I need to have a second look at the site)

Copenhagen, Denmark is not a natural bicycling city. In the early 1960's it was very much of a car town. In 1962 the city created its first pedestrian street, the Stroget, and every year since then Copenhagen has allocated more and more of its public space to bicycles, pedestrians and people who just want to sit and take a load off. The result is a remarkably pleasant city. Danish urban designer Jan Gehl says that the single biggest key to the change has been the development of the city's extensive bicycle network and that the Copenhagen of great public spaces that we see today would not be possible without bicycles.

Indeed, there are bikes everywhere. Thirty-six percent of Copenhageners commute by bicycle. It's an astonishing number considering that this isn't exactly Miami Beach. It is cold and rainy for much of the year. The city is, however, extraordinarily flat.

Except for young children, hardly anybody wears a bike helmet. Young children do get around the city by bike, usually accompanied by a parent. There is currently some debate about helmets underway and a local group is pushing helmet legislation. Gehl's concern with a helmet law is that it might discourage people from hopping on a bike and running an errand. The city's goal is to get its cycling mode share up to 40 percent in the next few years.

It turns out that wide, busy thoroughfares, the favorite routes of motorized traffic, are also some of the very best biking roads. It turns out that cars and bikes pretty much want to do the same thing -- go fast and straight for long stretches without having to stop and start lots of times. People seem to ride their bikes fast and with extraordinary confidence that no car or truck is going to open a door or hang a right turn into their path. Moving at my slow, careful New York City riding speed I had Danish moms passing me hauling two kids and groceries. Which brings me to the next observation: People have all kinds of different bikes and they use them for everything; carrying two kids, delivering mail, hauling shopping bags and large pieces equipment. In one of his speeches, Jan Gehl, who used this conference as his retirement party, said, "every Copenhagener must have two bikes; one for the rain and a nice one as well."

Again and again I saw bicycles in the space that, in New York City, we would give to parking. This really seems to be where the ultimate choice lies when it comes to building a strong urban bicycle infrastructure. Do we want a city with abundant curbside parking that invites people to drive their cars into the city, or do we want a city where people can get around by bicycle? Forty-five years ago the City of Copenhagen made their choice. Slowly but surely, every year since then, the amount of land dedicated to parking space in the city center has been reduced, 2 or 3 percent annually, according to Gehl. The changes have continued because people continue to enjoy the results. Are the residents and merchants of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens ready to give up some of their on-street parking for better bike (and bus and ped) facilities? I wonder.

There are all kinds of different bike lanes. The lane below is marked off by little green LED lights running along this stretch with no overhead streetlights (see the close-up).

TOI report:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/Pune_leaves_mark_on_Khardung-La/articleshow/2385216.cms

Pune leaves mark on Khardung-La
20 Sep 2007, 0513 hrs IST,TNN

PUNE: Twenty avid cyclists from Pune, once considered the city of bicycles, recently pedalled on the world’s highest motorable road from Leh to Khardung-La and back at 18,350 ft above sea level.
With six doctors and two students in the group, the cycle rally was part of a medical conference at Leh, organised jointly by the Pune and Faridabad societies of obstetrics and gynaecology in the first week of September.
Inspired by a message from President Pratibha Patil wishing ‘good health and success’, the cyclists also pedalled 434 kms from Leh and Srinagar, braving hostile terrain and cold winds.
Other members of the team, which included retired Wing Commander Yashvant Marathe (76) and Vasanti Joshi, are all from the Pune Cycle Pratisthan, which was formed in August 1998 to promote pedalling for a clean environment and better and healthy living.
For any mountaineer, scaling the Mt. Everest is the ultimate goal. For a cyclist, pedalling to Khardung La is the same like climbing the Mt. Everest," Dilip Sarda, a founder-member of the pratisthan and part of the group said.
Marathe said, "While this is not the first time that people have pedalled to Khardung-La, as some foreigners visiting the area carry their bicycles up to Khardung La, and then pedal down the slope, ours was probably the first expedition where a group pedalled from Leh to Khardung-La and back."
The rally was aimed at creating awareness about women’s health, and more specifically eradicating anaemia, besides removing bias against females, said Shirish Patwardhan — the organising chairperson and president of the society.
"The second phase of the rally, during which the group covered a distance of 434 kms from Leh and Srinagar on bicycles, passed through Alchi, Lamayaru, Kargil, Drass and Sonmarg," Patwardhan said.
"Places like Kargil and Drass had seen thick military action during the 1999 conflict," Marathe said, adding that with a night halt at each of the above stops, the cycling "through a hostile terrain of Karakoram, Zanskar and Himalayan ranges, with high winds and undulating road at 11,000 ft" was completed on September 8 noon.
"Besides the freezing temperature, we had to scale a continuous upward gradient at the Zojilla pass, which is located at 11,000 ft above sea level."

Chinese versions of Budhia?

Source: "Pravda"

A father tied his 10-year-old daughter's hands and feet and watched her swim in a chilly southern China river for three hours in a task he said Thursday would help the girl achieve her dream of swimming across the English Channel.

Huang Li swam like a dolphin, sometimes paddling with her bound hands, for two or three kilometers (more than a mile) in the Xiang River on Tuesday, traveling with the current, her father said.

"Her swimming skills are perfect and she insisted on doing this," Huang Daosheng said in a telephone interview. The girl, who lives in the city of Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, got the idea after seeing something similar on a local television program, he said.

News photos showed Huang Li, wearing a skirted swimsuit, being picked up out of the water by her father. Her ankles were tied together with string and her hands were bound by a strip of cloth. A newspaper report said the girl was so cold her face had turned blue.

"It's not dangerous because, first, her swimming skills are really good and second, I was swimming with her, staying close to her," the father said. "I had her when I was 35, so she is my heart. I would never play around with her life."

The father, a teacher who enjoys swimming, coaches his daughter and said the family does not have enough money for her to have a better coach. The girl started the sport when she was six and her father said her goal is to one day swim across the English Channel.

"She asks me every day, 'Can I achieve this? Is the English Channel wide? Are the waves really big?"' Huang Daosheng said.

With the Beijing Olympics less than a year away, sports is grabbing greater attention in an already sports-crazed country. Huang Li's swim is at least the second time in recent months that a child athlete has drawn media attention.

This past summer, 8-year-old Zhuang Huimin ran 3,560 kilometers (2,212 miles) from her home on the southern island province of Hainan to Beijing in 55 days, her father trailing behind her on a motorscooter. The run drew criticism from some media commentators as being excessive for a young child.

US Leads Arms Sale Business

Source "Pravda"

The United States retained its lead in the value of actual arms deliveries in 2006, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.

The report says that the United States signed $16.9 billion worth of arms contracts last year, or 41.9 percent of the global arms market, Interfax reports. Russia ranked second behind the U.S. with $8.7 billion in deliveries, or 21.6 percent of the market. With $3.1 billion worth in deliveries, Britain is No 3 on the list of world’s top arms sellers.

“Compared with the United States, Russia has no such a large number of usual clients for its arms sales. However, Russia’s recent success in signing new arms agreements indicates that Russia is likely to remain one of the top players when it comes to the value of all arms transfer agreements to developing nations at least in the short run,” says the CRC report.

Taking into account that China and India are the major exporters of Russian-made arms and equipment, authors of the report stress the point that Russia “has also achieved a certain success” in signing new contracts for the supply of its arms to other parts of the world.

“The Russian Federation is still aimed at finding more opportunities for selling its arms to countries in North Africa, in the Middle East and South East Asia,” the report says.

The United States ranked first in the value of actual arms deliveries made to developing countries last year. It delivered about $8 billion worth of arms to the region. Russia ranked second with $ 5.5 billion in deliveries, followed by Britain ($ 3.3 billion). The global arms sales totaled $ 40.3 billion in 2006 – down from $ 46.3 billion in 2005, according to the report produced by the Congressional Research Service.

Cricket is a religion, let's talk about atheists

World billiards champion Pankaj Advani lodges his protest to step-motherly treatment
meted to non-cricketing fraternity.

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071001/asp/sports/story_8381305.asp

Justifying his decision not to attend the award ceremony Saturday, where 82 other sportspersons received awards, a miffed advani told reporters: “Had I been given the award eight years ago, I would have been happy, but now it is a case of too little too late.”

Protesting the discrimination meted out to other sportspersons after the state government announced awards for cricketers like Robin Uthappa, a member of the victorious ICC World Twenty20 team, Advani asked: “Why this discrimination? Why double standards?”

The state government, he said, should come up with a clear guideline on the specific amount of money to be awarded to the various title holders.

Stressing that the lacking of recognition for him was not an isolated incident, Advani said: “It applies to other achievers as well. Why do we have to fight for our rights,” he asked.

Was there some typing mistake?

Source: http://www.rediff.com/sports/2007/sep/05bonus.htm

A bonus amount of Rs 1000 has been offered for each goal scored by the Indian team in the ongoing BSNL seventh Asia Cup Hockey tournament; it was announced by the Indian Hockey Federation on Wednesday, 05 Sep, 2007.

IHF president K P S Gill said it is a token appreciation for the players for their fine showing in the ongoing tournament in Chennai.

A bunch of tribal students of Orissa have lifted an international trophy in rugby, a game almost alien to the vast majority of the population in India.

Source: http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20070929151515&Title=ORISSA&rLink=0

The boys from Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) in Bhubaneswar have beaten 10 nations to win the Touraid Under-14 International School Rugby Tournament at London’s Scottish Rugby Club on Saturday.

Jungle Crows, as they were named, defeated South Africa in the final by a huge margin of 19-5. Led by captain Bikash Chandra Murmu, the KISS team, which represented India in the tournament, started off as underdogs playing a foreign game on a foreign turf. But they went on to stun Zambia, Swaziland, Kenya and Romania in the Group B setting up a title clash with South Africa. South Africa, among the top rugby playing countries, had beaten Cambodia, Rwanda, Maldova and Kazakhstan in its Group A tier.

An old article showing the unbalanced sports coverage prevalent in the Indian media (online, television, print), by means of a case study of the leading English language Indian sports weekly Sportstar.

Source: http://www.bharatiyahockey.org/patrakaar/

This article focuses on the cover stories of Sportstar in 2002 and 2003. Cover stories have the benefit of prominent real estate on the magazine cover, a couple of in-depth articles inside the magazine, color photographs accompanying the text, and sometimes, a related editorial, interview or poster. A star or a sport gets much more exposure when featured on the cover than when hidden as an ordinary article in the inside pages of the magazine.

People who have recently watched bollywood film "Chak De India" can make more sense of the following accusation being made in year of 2003.

d. Sportstar ignored Indian women's hockey

The Indian women's hockey team won the 2002 Commonwealth Games hockey gold in Manchester and the 2003 Afro-Asian Games hockey gold in Hyderabad. In both cases, the Indian team upset much stronger teams like England, South Africa, New Zealand and South Korea en route to the titles.

Should not Indian women's hockey's double-triumph on the world stage be deserving of a cover story? Many of India's women hockey players are tribals from the Jharkhand-Sundergarh area of India, who came up the hard way in sports, and in life itself. Can't Sportstar do a human interest story on our tribal golden girls?

Economic State of Muslims

Ref: http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/200612141_Sachar_Report_Status_Indian_Muslims.htm

Lots of persons have heard about sachar comittee report, but not many know. People do realize this is a report about the reservation policy. Here is a summary of chapter 11 of the report:

Sachar Comittee report:

Summary of Chapter 11

The presence of Muslims has been found to be only 3% in the IAS, 1.8% in the IFS and 4% in the IPS. The share of Muslims in employment in various departments is abysmally low at all levels. Muslim community has a representation of only 4.5% in Indian Railways while 98.7% of them are positioned at lower levels. Representation of Muslims is very low in the Universities and in Banks. In no state does the representation of Muslims in the government departments match their population share. Their share in police constables is only 6%, in health 4.4%, in transport 6.5%. There is need to ensure a significant presence of Muslims especially in those departments that have mass contact on a day to day basis or are involved in sensitive tasks. Targeted programmes are required to be put in place. The coverage of Muslims in ICDS programme is poor in most states. For the Maulana Azad Education Foundation to be effective the corpus fund needs to be increased to 1000 crores. Total allocation in the four years 2002 to 2006 for Madarsa Modernization Scheme is 106 crores. The information regarding the Scheme has not adequately percolated down. Even if the share of Muslims in elected bodies is low they and other under represented segments can be involved in the decision making process through innovative mechanisms.

Indian Cinema Person : P. Sheshadri

Kannada film Thutturi directed by P. Sheshadri got the National Award for the best film on environment conservation for year 2006. Incidently, this is his fourth National Film Award in a row. The young director, who started out as a journalist, believes in a style that is easy and reaches out to a large number of people.

The choices made by him during his career are what helped him giving his best as a film director. During the mid-'80's, he took up a sub-editor's job with Suddi Sangaati. Even as he was on the film beat he had a fascination for the visual medium. Clearly he was in awe of the big screen's potential. "I would go out of my way to meet people, interact with them. Never did it merely as duty." Those 10 months on the beat was bliss. But how long could one survive on cerebral pleasures? Keeping the hearth burning on a salary of Rs. 1,000 was tough. "Also, it was a killing routine. A gruelling eight hours with hardly any productivity, and sometimes humiliating too. I longed to do something path-breaking."

Friends stood by him, urged him to follow his instincts and take the plunge. Seshadri started working as film director Nagabharana's assistant. Like many bright talents in the industry, Seshadri's learning didn't happen in the classroom of a film institute, watching the best of films and reading the best of film literature. All his learning was happening on the sets. Nevertheless, he was watching a lot of cinema and formulating his own thoughts, though he did miss someone with whom he could hold intelligent discussions. But he has no regrets. "When I did my journalism course, I thought I was prepared to work as a journalist. Eventually, I realised that my formal training had nothing to do with demands on field." He extends the same logic to his filmmaking. "When you see my films you realise that I'm not in any groove. My style is very individualistic and don't stick to a formula."

In his first big move towards film making, when he wrote the dialogues and screenplay for a Kannada film, he found that there were too many changes made in what he had created. “It was then that I realised that the captain of the ship was the director. If there was a way to directly reach the people with what I wanted to say, it had to be as a director.” Sheshadri had no illusions about the world of cinema when he made his first film, Munnudi. He knew how difficult it was to get a producer to finance his film and then distribute it. “I had no delusions that I could be part of the Gandhinagar network. One thing was very clear when I made my first film; we had to look after every stage of the making— from the direction to production, post-production and finally getting it to the people.”

For Munnudi & Athithee, Sheshadri and a group of close associates formed a film co-operative called ‘Nava Chitra’ consisting of nine people and repeated the effort with another group called Mitra Chitra for Beru. Each person invested money in the film and this included the cast, cinematographer, editors, music director and the technicians.

With a meagre budget of Rs 15 lakhs, Sheshadri went on to make Munnudi, which got him his first National award. “Only by investing in the film would everybody get a feeling that it belonged to him. It was in everybody’s interest to economise and work on a tight schedule. Anything that cost more than Rs 50 had to be paid for by cheque. Everybody tried to cut costs in his or her department.”

Athithee (The Guest) cost a little more (Rs 18 lakhs) and was helped by the fact that actor Prakash Raj did not charge a fee. Sheshadri says that more than getting big producers to finance the so-called ‘art’ films, it would help if big-budget actors volunteered to work in one such movie a year. “We call them ‘crowd-pullers’. If they act in such movies, then their faithful fan following would ensure that more people would come to cinema theatres.”

Thuthoori is the first Sheshadri-directed film that was not financed through his co-operative group. It would seem an interesting wait to see what happens in the life of this dedicated filmmaker. He certainly has many more stories to tell.

The Fantastic Four

Munnudi (Preface) is the story of a mother of a teenaged girl who lived in a small village on the coast of Arabian Sea, who raised the first dissident cry against a ritual where every woman of the village was to go to bed as temporary wife with a new husband annually.

Athithee (The Guest) is an attempt to examine flashes of humanity of a young man totally immersed in the cult of terrorism. The film revolves around two such characters – a terrorist and a well meaning doctor and examines how they affect each other.

Beru (The Root) is an attempt to give a wake-up call to raise the consciousness of society about corruption and bribery in the country’s governing system. It reflects the degradation of moral values, lack of commitment and the overall apathy of the public.

Tuttoori (Bugle), is a film by children and for children. Unlike other children's films that have mostly adults in their cast and are tediously moralistic, this one has mostly children and their battle against the system. Today's children, among other things, have a big problem of finding a space to play. Tuttoori addresses this issue in a playful manner.

Sources:
http://www.deccanherald.com/archives/aug282005/finearts632242005827.asp
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/07/01/stories/2005070103060100.htm
http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2005/10/07/stories/2005100702980100.htm

Sethusamudram Project

Sethusamudram Project

The project has become controvercial since the beginning. Here is an attempt to capture the key events .

Karunanidhi’s Strike Plans get changed to a fast after a supreme court order scuttling his plans. Tamilnadu, however, sees a bandh.

Chennai, Oct. 1 (PTI): A day after the Supreme Court stayed the Tamil Nadu bandh called by the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance for today,demanding speedy implementation of the Sethusamudram project, DPA leaders, led by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi began a state-wide day-long fast to press for the same.

The Chief Minister had clarified yesterday that the fast was not against the Apex Court ruling. "The hunger strike is for removal of 'Nandis'(obstacles) for the speedy implementation of the project," he told reporters shortly after the SC stayed the bandh.

Instead of the bandh we will be observing fast, he said.

While the Chief Minister and DPA leaders are observing the fast in front of the government guest house here, workers of the alliance are observing it in front of all district and taluk headquarters in the state.

Chennai, Oct. 1 (PTI): Speakers at the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance's day-long fast criticised the judiciary, saying that 'the judiciary should stay within its limits.'

Lankan expert says Sethu project can harm island's marine life

Colombo, Oct. 1 (PTI): Amidst the raging controversy in India over Sethusamudram, an expert here has warned that the project can harm Sri Lanka's coastal and marine life.

"The Sethusamudram project can cause problems to Sri Lanka's coastal and marine life," Malith Mendis, a member of the Sri Lankan delegation to study the project has said.

Mendis, the CEO of Lanka Hydraulic Institute, said if the project goes ahead, there will be considerable changes in the currents and that can affect marine life.

The project to create a shipping channel, dredging 167 km across the Palk Straits and Adam's bridge connecting Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mannar, is estimated to cost Rs 2,400 crore.

SSCP: 'Demolition of Adam's Bridge to cause natural disasters'

Chennai, Sept. 29 (PTI): Amidst debates on whether 'Ram Sethu' was man-made or a natural formation, geological experts on Friday warned that demolition of Adam's bridge for the implementation of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) might trigger natural disasters.

Environmental scientists and geologists who had come under the banner of 'The Movement Against Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project' said the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar area was not only fragile with respect to tectonic movements, but also highly sensitive for higher heat flow manifestations coupled with seismically vulnerable nature.

AIADMK stages demos, demands dismissal of DMK govt.

Chennai, Sept. 26 (PTI): The opposition AIADMK, led by its supremo Jayalalithaa, today staged a statewide demonstration, protesting against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's remarks against Lord Ram and sought the dismissal of the DMK Government for having "violated the Constitution by hurting the sentiments of Hindus."

Making it clear that the AIADMK was not against the implementation of the Sethusamudram project, she said the DMK had launched a misinformation campaign that her party was working against the project.

Center files controversial affidavit and then changes track

New Delhi: Sep 14: In a major development, the Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it would consider executing the Sethusamudram shipping channel project through an alternative alignment so that the 30-km-long Ramar Sethu/Adam’s Bridge could be protected from damage.

The feasibility of alternative alignments would be considered in three months, Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam told a Bench consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran. It was hearing a batch of petitions filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and others seeking a direction to protect and declare Ramar Sethu a national monument.

In view of this, he said, the Centre and the Archaeological Survey of India decided to withdraw the entire counter-affidavits filed on September 10/11 and sought permission to do so. He said, “The Central government is also keen that its decisions bind and bring society together, rather than cause any disruption in the religious and social psyche of one true India.”

The Centre had stated in one affidavit that the studies conducted by the Geological Survey of India between December 2002 and 2005 also conclusively established that Adam’s Bridge was a natural geological formation comprising compact clay, calcareous sandstone and fossiliferous limestone.

Recording the submissions, the Bench extended till January 2008 the August 31 interim order, which said “the dredging activity may be carried out, but till September 14 the alleged Adam’s Bridge/Ramar Sethu shall not be damaged in any manner.”

It posted the matter for further hearing in the first week of January 2008.

Congress says – BJP started the project

New Delhi, Sept. 13 (PTI): Congress on Wednesday sought to put the BJP on the mat on the Ram Sethu issue, saying the Sethusamudram project had been started during the tenure of the erstwhile NDA.

AICC General Secretary, Digvijay Singh, wondered why the BJP and the VHP had not protested when the then Minister, Vijay Goel, had started implementing the project.

Karunanidhi disparages Ram

He claimed that Ram was a Drunkard. Quoting Nehru, he said Ramayana is a fictional work.

FDI in Retail Sector in India

Source: http://in.rediff.com/money/2007/oct/05retail.htm

But what began as a protest against international chains coming into the country (the initial targets were Metro and Wal-Mart, though even Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets were subjected to attack), and which targeted the government's policy on foreign investment, has metamorphosed now into opposition to organised retailing itself.
The result is a variant of the old argument that small-scale industry needs protection, and therefore that large industry should be kept out of dozens of industries...............

It is odd, for instance, that political parties and state governments should make common cause with traders and ignore the interests of the far more numerous producers and consumers - indeed, farmers in UP had come out in favour of the store chains being opened, and consumers have definitely benefited from lower prices.
Small traders have already begun adjusting their prices, reducing them to match the new competition. All these developments are good for the economy.

Source: http://rupe-india.org/43/retail.html
Though FDI in retail trade is as yet restricted, the Government of India has a more liberal policy towards wholesale trade, franchising, and commission agents’ services, thus preparing the ground for FDI in retail as well. Foreign retailers have already started operations in India through various routes: (i) joint ventures where the Indian firm is an export house; (ii) franchising² (eg. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Nike); (iii) sourcing of supplies from small-scale sector; (iv) ‘cash and carry’ operations (Giant in Hyderabad, Metro in Bangalore)³; (v) non-store formats – direct marketing (Amway). Large international retailers of home furnishing and apparels such as Pottery Barn, The Gap and Ralph Lauren have made India one of their major sourcing hubs. Up to 100 per cent FDI is allowed in ‘cash and carry’ operations. The Great Wholesaling Club Ltd is one such example.⁴ In February 2002, the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, opened a global sourcing office in Bangalore. In November 2006, it announced its entry under a joint venture with the Indian corporation Bharti. For the time being, Bharti is to own the chain of front-end retail stores, while the two firms will have an equal share in a firm that will engage in wholesale, logistics, supply chain and sourcing activities.⁵ This is seen as a preliminary step by Wal-Mart pending the removal of all restrictions on FDI in retail trade. ................................

Thus major retail chains like WalMart and Tesco have already opened their procurement centres in India. For large-scale procurement operations, they will have to make substantial investments in infrastructure and develop an efficient supply chain. By opening retail chains in the host country they would like to exert monopsony⁹ power, eliminating other major buyers from the market. In this context, we must remember that India is fortunate to be part of two major centres of biodiversity out of the few remaining such centres in the world. The wide food variety and rich heritage of textile and other handicrafts makes India a very attractive source of supplies for retail giants. Wal-Mart procured goods worth $1.5 billion from India in 2004, which is expected to touch $2 billion this year. From India, Wal-Mart mainly sources home furnishings, T-shirts, night-suits etc.¹⁰ It has also been reported that Wal-Mart has already proposed to the West Bengal government to take over the fresh food markets of in and around Kolkata. Though the government has not accepted the proposal as yet, it has not rejected it either.¹¹ ............................................................

Global supply chains have created new opportunities for labour-intensive exports from low-cost locations. The result is a dramatic growth in the number of producers, heightening competition among the world’s factories and farms for a place at the bottom of the chain. At the top end, however, market share has tended to consolidate among a few leading retailers and brand names. Such an imbalance between intensely competing producers and relatively few buyers in the global market puts the small suppliers at the receiving end. The owner of a Brazilian shoe factory, facing intense international competition to sell to leading footwear retailers in Europe commented: “We don’t sell, we get bought”. .........................................

Since supermarkets increasingly control food retailing, the world’s farmers are competing for a place in their supply chains. It can be good business, especially for farmers selling top-quality and out-of-season produce. But fresh produce is a risky business. And the extreme imbalance in negotiating power between a handful of supermarkets and the world’s farmers means that most of the gains from trade are captured at the top. Supermarkets are pushing price and payment risks onto farmers and growers, controlling packaging and delivery requirements, squeezing producers’ margins, and focusing on technical, not ethical standards. The figure below captures the real picture. While the African producers as a whole get only 9 per cent of the retail price of an exported apple, the overseas retailers in UK corner a 42 per cent share. ......................

Mayawati sacks 7,400 more police recruits

http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/01/stories/2007100159561400.htm
Mayawati sacks 7,400 more police recruits

LUCKNOW: The Mayawati Government on Sunday sacked 7,400 more recruits and suspended 7 more IPS officers.

With this, the Bahujan Samaj Party government had sacked a total of 17,848 police and PAC recruits, besides suspending 25 IPS officers of the rank of the IG, DIG and the SSP.

Earlier, 6,504 and 3,964 recruits had been sacked in two instalments after an inquiry committee detected irregularities in their selection.

Principal Secretary (Home) J.N. Chamber told journalists that the action was based on the findings of the panel in the recruitment of constables conducted by 18 selection boards at different places in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr. Chamber said that among the 7,400 dismissed recruits were 1,900 PAC and 1,200 Police Radio Headquarters constables, who were undergoing training after the selection.

The IPS officers suspended were B.K. Bhalla ADG, ATC, Sitapur; A.D. Misra, IG, Inter-State Border Force, Mirzapur; K.K. Saxena, IG, PAC, Lucknow; Malkhan Singh Yadav, IG, Inter-State Border Force, Varanasi; Prabhat Kumar, DIG, PAC, Meerut; G.K. Goswami, Commandant, 11 PAC Battalion, Sitapur; and V.K. Agrawal, DIG, Economic Offences Wing.

Pulled up by panel

Mr. Chamber said seven other IPS officers who were suspended earlier were once again pulled up by the inquiry committee as they were the chairmen of the selection boards. These officers were R.N. Yadav, Daljit Singh Chaudhary, Ramendra Vikram Singh, Shailendra Pratap Singh, Chhavinath Singh, B.B. Bakshi and Akhilesh Mehrotra.

He said cases would be filed against the suspended officers and they would also face departmental inquiry.

Junior-level police officers who were members of the 18 recruitment boards were also hauled up by the probe panel. The official said departmental action would be initiated against them.

During the Mulayam regime, police recruitments were conducted by 55 selection boards, which were headed by IPS officers. The probe panel had submitted its report on the selections made by 43 boards.

The Fastest Man On No Legs

Oscar Pistorius (born November 22, 1986) is a South African Paralympics runner. Known as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs", Pistorius is the double amputee world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 meters events. His first strides were choppy Sunday, a necessary accommodation to sprinting on a pair of j-shaped blades made of carbon fiber and known as Cheetahs. Pistorius was born without the fibula in his lower legs and with other defects in his feet. He had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old. At 20, his coach says, he is like a five-speed engine with no second gear. He is one of a handful of runners around the globe who could make the Olympic qualifying time for 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He is less than a second away, but he may not be allowed to run in Olympics even if he qualifies. His artificial lower legs, while enabling him to compete, have also generated claims that he has an unfair advantage over other runners.

The issue opens a fascinating debate as to what is fair, what is a 'level playing field' and what is 'open' competition. Is it fair that Ian Thorpe was born with size-17 feet that act as flippers in the pool, that Michael Phelps has an unnaturally large arm span of 200cm (compared with his height of 193cm)? Neither of these physical advantages could be achieved by training. Is it fair that men over 7ft have such an advantage in basketball because they don't have to look up to see the net? Or that Willie Carson barely had to diet to keep his weight down as a jockey? Some people are naturally more flexible than others, some are stronger than others and some have sharper vision and faster reflexes.

Far from being a case of disabled equals disadvantaged and inferior, Pistorius's condition raises the fascinating concept that disabled equals unfair advantage. His case could change the perception of disability sport forever.

There are those who would argue that if Pistorius is allowed to compete, what is to stop athletes putting springs in their shoes to create the same upsurge he enjoys? In truth, the only way they could duplicate the sensation and the effect is if they chopped off their lower limbs. That might make a few think twice, although, given the propensity of some elite athletes to chance their health in favor of enhanced performance, it is not out of the question.

Disabled or Too-Abled?
Robert Gailey, an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Miami Medical School, who has studied amputee runners, asserts that a prosthetic leg returns only about 80 percent of the energy absorbed in each stride, while a natural leg returns up to 240 percent, providing much more spring. He further adds, “There is no science that he has an advantage, only that he is competing at a disadvantage.”

Foremost among the I.A.A.F.’s concerns is that Pistorius’s prosthetic limbs may make him taller than he would have been on natural legs and may unfairly lengthen his stride, allowing him to lower his best times by several seconds in the past three years, while most elite sprinters improve by hundredths of a second.

Pistorius, whose stated height is 6 feet 1 ¼ inches while wearing his sprinting prosthetics, says that the devices are within an allowed range determined by the length of his thighs. The peak length of his stride, he said, is 9 feet, not 13 feet as some I.A.A.F. officials suggest.

Another concern is raised by the IAAF communications director, Nick Davies, is: 'If you don't have calf muscles or shins or feet, you obviously cannot have any lactic acid there, and therefore you cannot experience the problems of tiring that other athletes do because of it. If you've got a guy who reaches top speed in the 400m after 150m but then keeps it for the rest of the race that's wrong. No one does that in athletics. Not even Jeremy Wariner is capable of doing that.'

Pistorius argues: 'I have the same ratio of blood per muscles in my body as everyone else, and the only way you'd get less lactic acid would be if that ratio was less.'

There are many disadvantages to sprinting on carbon-fiber legs, Pistorius and his coach said. After a cumbersome start, he needs about 30 meters to gain his rhythm. His knees do not flex as readily, limiting his power output. His grip can be unsure in the rain. And when he runs into a headwind or grows fatigued, he must fight rotational forces that turn his prosthetic devices sideways, said Ampie Louw, who coaches Pistorius.

“With all due respect, we cannot accept something that provides advantages,” said Elio Locatelli of Italy, the director of development for the I.A.A.F., urging Pistorius to concentrate on the Paralympics that will follow the Olympics in Beijing. “It affects the purity of sport. Next will be another device where people can fly with something on their back.”

Among ethicists, Pistorius’s success has spurred talk of “transhumans” and “cyborgs.” Some note that athletes already modify themselves in a number of ways, including baseball sluggers who undergo laser eye surgery to enhance their vision and pitchers who have elbow reconstruction using sturdier ligaments from elsewhere in the body. At least three disabled athletes have competed in the Summer Olympics: George Eyser, an American, won a gold medal in gymnastics while competing on a wooden leg at the 1904 Games in St. Louis; Neroli Fairhall, a paraplegic from New Zealand, competed in archery in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles; and Marla Runyan, a legally blind runner from the United States, competed in the 1,500 meters at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. But Pistorius would be the first amputee to compete in a track event, international officials said.

Performance Unleashed
The following are three time comparisons between Pistorius's times and the Olympic winning times over the same distance:
400m

• 44.00 - 2004 Olympic gold (men)
• 46.56 - Pistorius - world record (March 17, 2007)
• 47.8 - 1928 Olympic gold (men)

200m

• 19.79 - 2004 Olympic gold (men)
• 21.58 - Pistorius - world record (April 5, 2007)
• 22.0 - 1920 Olympic gold (men)

100m

• 9.85 - 2004 Olympic gold (men)
• 10.91 - Pistorius - world record (April 4, 2007)
• 11.2 - 1906 Olympic gold (men)

Pistorius’s time of 46.56 in the 400 earned him a second-place finish in March against able-bodied runners at the South African national championships. This seemingly makes him a candidate for the Olympic 4x400-meter relay should South Africa qualify as one of the world’s 16 fastest teams.

Limits and Accommodations

Historically, the I.A.A.F. has placed limits on devices that assist athletes. It prohibits an array of performance-enhancing drugs. And it does not allow wheelchair athletes into the Olympic marathon, given that wheels provide a clear advantage in speed.

But the governing body has also embraced technological advances. For instance, it permits athletes to sleep in tent-like devices designed to simulate high altitude and increase oxygen-carrying capacity.

“There is no real grounds to say he should not be allowed to compete” in the Olympics, said Juan Manuel Alonso of Spain, who heads the I.A.A.F.’s medical and antidoping commission. “We’d like to have more information and biomechanical studies.”

In 2007, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) amended its competition rules to ban the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device". It claimed that the amendment was not specifically aimed at Pistorius, and is monitoring his track performances using high-definition cameras to determine whether he actually has an advantage.

His own fear, Pistorius said, is that the governing body, which has not contacted him, will ban him on supposition, not science. “I think they’re afraid to do the research,” Pistorius, a business student at the University of Pretoria, said. “They’re afraid of what they’re going to find, that I don’t have an advantage and they’ll have to let me compete.”

“You have two competing issues — fair competition and basic human rights to compete,” said Angela Schneider, a sports ethicist at the University of Western Ontario and a 1984 Olympic silver medalist in rowing. The I.A.A.F. must objectively define when prosthetic devices “go from therapy to enhancement,” Schneider said. The danger of acting hastily, she said, is “you deny a guy’s struggle against all odds — one of the fundamental principles of the Olympics.”

Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6589763.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/sports/othersports/15runner.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,2126684,00.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,1484189,00.html

Kabul bus blast kills 27 troops

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7019419.stm

powerful suicide bomb attack on a bus in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed at least 27 members of the country's armed forces, officials say.

The bus was split in two by the blast and witnesses described seeing several dead bodies around the wreckage.

The Taleban claimed the attack, Kabul's second deadliest since 2001.

Responding to the attack, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he wished he could ask insurgent leaders why they were trying to destroy the country.

In June, a police bus was targeted in Kabul, killing 35 officers in the worst attack in the city since the fall of the Taleban.

Windows shattered

Defence ministry spokesman Gen Zahir Azimi told the BBC that a further 21 people were injured in the bus blast.

He said a man dressed in army uniform detonated an explosive device as he climbed on to the bus.

More than 3,000 people have been killed this year as Afghan and foreign forces battle Taleban fighters.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead, in Kabul, says the sound of emergency sirens has been ringing across Kabul since early in the morning after the blast.

The head of the Kabul police, Gen Alishah Paktiawal, said the bomb went off at 0630 (0200 GMT) on board a bus packed with army staff.

"For 10 or 15 seconds, it was like an atom bomb - fire, smoke and dust everywhere," a police officer who witnessed the explosion told the Associated Press.

The bus was ripped apart in the blast, and windows in nearby houses were shattered.

President Hamid Karzai said he wished he could contact Taleban leader Mullah Omar and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to ask why they were trying to destroy Afghanistan.

He said he would meet both men personally, and even offer them cabinet posts, if it would help to bring about peace.

When similar offers have been made in the past, the militants have insisted talks could take place only if foreign forces left Afghanistan.

President Karzai once again reiterated he would not agree to any troop withdrawal.

Huge Japan protest over textbook

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7020335.stm

More than 100,000 people in Japan have rallied against changes to school books detailing Japanese military involvement in mass suicides during World War II.
The protest, in Okinawa, was against moves to modify and tone down passages that say the army ordered Okinawans to kill themselves rather than surrender.
Okinawa's governor told crowds they could not ignore army involvement.
Some conservatives in Japan have in recent years questioned accounts of the country's brutal wartime past.
Saturday's rally was the biggest staged on the southern island since it was returned to Japan by the United States in 1972, according to the Kyodo News agency.

Grenades
When US soldiers invaded Okinawa at the end of World War II, more than 200,000 people died.
Hundreds of them were Japanese civilians who killed themselves.
The textbooks, intended for use in high schools next year, currently say that as the Americans prepared to invade, the Japanese army handed out grenades to Okinawa residents and ordered them to kill themselves.
Many survivors insist the military told people to commit suicide, partly due to fears over what they might tell the invaders and because being taken prisoner was considered shameful.
The governor of Okinawa, Hirokazu Nakaima, told crowds the episode should not be forgotten.
"We cannot bury the fact that the Japanese military was involved in the mass suicide, taking into account of the general background and testimonies that hand grenades were delivered," he said.
Japan's Kyodo news agency said Saturday's rally was the biggest staged on the southern island since it was returned to Japan by the United States in 1972.

Seperatist Threat to Turky : A Timeline View

30 Sep, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7020360.stm

Twelve people have been killed after Kurdish separatists ordered them off a bus in south-east Turkey and opened fire.

Civilians and armed guards were said to be among the victims of the ambush, and just two passengers survived. The attack, in Sirnak province near the Iraqi border, followed the killing of a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader.
On Friday Iraq and Turkey signed a security agreement aimed at curbing the activities of the banned PKK.
The Turkish government in Ankara says 4,000 PKK fighters are operating from the Iraqi side of the border. Turkey has been considering crossing the border to pursue the group.

Sticking point
But on Friday Iraq denied Turkey permission to pursue armed separatists onto Iraqi territory.
Instead they signed a wide-ranging deal, pledging to prevent finance, logistical support and propaganda for the PKK.
Ankara has warned Baghdad to crack down on Kurdish rebels in Iraq or face a possible incursion by Turkish troops.
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in south-eastern Turkey since 1984 and more than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
The PKK has been labelled a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU.

07 Oct, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7033075.stm

Kurdish fighters from the separatist group, PKK, have killed 13 Turkish soldiers in an attack close to the country's border with Iraq. It is one of the heaviest losses the Turkish military has sustained in clashes with the group. Reports say only one PKK fighter was killed.
The Turkish military shelled the border area in an attempt to prevent the fighters from fleeing to northern Iraq. Ankara says about 3,000 PKK fighters are based in Kurdish-run north Iraq.

Constant clashes
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford says there have been almost constant clashes between Turkish forces and the PKK since thousands of troops were deployed in the border region earlier this year. She says this latest ambush will increase military pressure on the Turkish government to send troops across the border. Last month Iraq denied Turkey permission to pursue armed separatists onto Iraqi territory. Instead Iraq and Turkey signed a wide-ranging security agreement, pledging to prevent finance, logistical support and propaganda for the PKK.

08 Oct, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7034442.stm

Pressure mounts for Turkish action
All day Turkish news anchors have been reading out the names of 13 soldiers killed in Sirnak by the PKK. There have been pictures of their families clutching photographs of young men in uniform.
This summer, pro-Kurdish politicians were elected to parliament for the first time in 15 years. The inclusion of the DTP party lifted hopes that the Kurds' complaints could be addressed in a peaceful, democratic forum instead. But the Sirnak attacks are likely to hinder that, particularly as the DTP refuses to label the PKK as terrorists. Those arguing for an exclusively militaristic approach are gaining the upper hand again.

09 Oct, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7035751.stm

The Turkish government is seeking parliamentary approval for a possible cross-border military operation to hunt down Kurdish separatists in Iraq.
Iraq said that the best way to confront the rebels was through a security accord signed with Turkey last month. The US also warned Turkey against making an incursion into northern Iraq. "If they have a problem, they need to work together to resolve it and I am not sure that unilateral incursions are the way to go," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

10 Oct, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7038350.stm

Several people have been injured by a bomb attack in south-east Turkey. Policemen and civilians were injured when a device was thrown at a police vehicle in the city of Diyarbakir. The attack came as Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships bombed suspected positions of Kurdish rebels near the Turkish-Iraqi border.