Supreme Court ordered the government to solve the water shortage problem

Supreme Court of India has taken a remarkable step in its judgement on an PIL filed by Mr. M. K. Balakrishnan and others on the issue of supplying water to all the people of the country.

Supreme Court has linked the access to pure water with the fundamental right to live as guaranteed by the article 21 of the Constitution of India. Supreme court has ordered the central government to constitute a committee to solve the problem of water shortage in the country. The court is of the opinion that the solution to this problem lies in the scientific research. The court has appointed the secretary of science and technology department as the chairman of the committee and secretary of water management department as the member of the committee. The court has also ordered the government to provide all the financial and infrastructural support for the functioning of the committee.

Though the whole country is suffering from the shortage of water, the court has cited example of Punjab that is believed to have high level of water and best irrigation facilities, but court has particularly asked to focus the scientific research on the purification of saline water. The court is of the opinion that the current methods, distillation and reverse osmosis, are very expensive to be used on large scale in a country like India.

The court order had done wonder in case of reducing pollution level in Delhi by using CNG gas for transportation. If same enthusiasm and sincerity is shown in this case then it will not be less than revolution in the life of people of the country. The court has asked the chairman of the committee to appear before the court and present the progress to the court at interval of 2 months. Lets hope something happens.

Breast milk is the best

Breast feeding has been the main source of food for the infants for centuries. In some extraordinary circumstances it used to be replaced by the cows milk. But time changed and in the last 50 years we assumed to believe that we have learnt everything and can make anything in the laboratory. This kind of enthusiasm is good and needed for scientific development. Formula milk is one of the product of this development. This is very good, easy to prepare and feed to kids. Despite all benefits some organizations, trusts, national governments and religious leaders are promoting breastfeeding. I am trying to understand the problem with the formula milk. Can it really be a substitute for the breast milk?

One of the biggest problem with the formula milk is that it considers the new born baby as all of us. I mean adults with full grown organs but that is not the case. Baby does not become baby just after coming out of the womb, it is 'sort of baby' for couple of months even before it comes out of womb. It develops its organs slowly and the mother's body produce milk (in fact colostrum) to feed this baby.

Other important thing is changing composition of the breast milk. It changes its chemical composition not only every day based on the diet of the mother but also during each feeding session. Both of these changes are good. Formula milk can not replicate the varying and healthy composition of the breast milk. It is important to emphasise varying composition. You can not imagine to produce one hundred varieties of formula milk. Other change is freedom of the baby to control what it wants during its feeding session. During each feeding, baby can have foremilk and/or hindmilk. Foremilk is low in fat and high in carbohydrates and hindmilk is opposite. Baby can switch breast if it wants more of foremilk that gives energy. On other side if the baby wants to sleep it will be interested in hindmilk that has sleep-inducting effect. How these effects be produce at the same time in same formula milk? And who will ensure what the baby wants at a particular time?

Mother's milk also produces antibodies that helps the baby in fighting against diseases, at least after the birth. These are the antibodies that mother's body knows suites the baby. Overall, it is a very customised solution to the babies by her mother. It seems mass production of this can not replicate the benefits of mother's milk. When there is choice of formula milk, mothers can not be forced to breastfeed but they need to make an awared and educated selection so that they do not regret later on.

Swine Influenza: Frequently Asked Questions

I am compiling swine influenza related frequently asked questions here from different sources. I am giving links to the original source of information so that you can directly read from those sources as well.

What is swine influenza?

Swine influenza, or “swine flu”, is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease of pigs, caused by one of several swine influenza A viruses. Morbidity tends to be high and mortality low (1-4%). The virus is spread among pigs by aerosols, direct and indirect contact, and asymptomatic carrier pigs. Outbreaks in pigs occur year round, with an increased incidence in the fall and winter in temperate zones. Many countries routinely vaccinate swine populations against swine influenza.

Swine influenza viruses are most commonly of the H1N1 subtype, but other subtypes are also circulating in pigs (e.g., H1N2, H3N1, H3N2). Pigs can also be infected with avian influenza viruses and human seasonal influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. The H3N2 swine virus was thought to have been originally introduced into pigs by humans. Sometimes pigs can be infected with more than one virus type at a time, which can allow the genes from these viruses to mix. This can result in an influenza virus containing genes from a number of sources, called a "reassortant" virus. Although swine influenza viruses are normally species specific and only infect pigs, they do sometimes cross the species barrier to cause disease in humans.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

What are the implications for human health?

Outbreaks and sporadic human infection with swine influenza have been occasionally reported. Generally clinical symptoms are similar to seasonal influenza but reported clinical presentation ranges broadly from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia resulting in death.

Since typical clinical presentation of swine influenza infection in humans resembles seasonal influenza and other acute upper respiratory tract infections, most of the cases have been detected by chance through seasonal influenza surveillance. Mild or asymptomatic cases may have escaped from recognition; therefore the true extent of this disease among humans is unknown.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

Where have human cases occurred?

Since the implementation of IHR(2005) in 2007, WHO has been notified of swine influenza cases from the United States and Spain.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

How do people become infected?

People usually get swine influenza from infected pigs, however, some human cases lack contact history with pigs or environments where pigs have been located. Human-to-human transmission has occurred in some instances but was limited to close contacts and closed groups of people.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

Is it safe to eat pork and pork products?

Yes. Swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The swine influenza virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C, corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

Which countries have been affected by outbreaks in pigs?

Swine influenza is not notifiable to international animal health authorities (OIE, www.oie.int), therefore its international distribution in animals is not well known. The disease is considered endemic in the United States. Outbreaks in pigs are also known to have occurred in North America, South America, Europe (including the UK, Sweden, and Italy), Africa (Kenya), and in parts of eastern Asia including China and Japan.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

What about the pandemic risk?

It is likely that most of people, especially those who do not have regular contact with pigs, do not have immunity to swine influenza viruses that can prevent the virus infection. If a swine virus establishes efficient human-to human transmission, it can cause an influenza pandemic. The impact of a pandemic caused by such a virus is difficult to predict: it depends on virulence of the virus, existing immunity among people, cross protection by antibodies acquired from seasonal influenza infection and host factors.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

Is there a human vaccine to protect from swine influenza?

There are no vaccines that contain the current swine influenza virus causing illness in humans. It is not known whether current human seasonal influenza vaccines can provide any protection. Influenza viruses change very quickly. It is important to develop a vaccine against the currently circulating virus strain for it to provide maximum protection to the vaccinated people. This is why WHO needs access to as many viruses as possible in order to select the most appropriate candidate vaccine virus.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

What drugs are available for treatment?

There are two classes of such medicines, 1) adamantanes (amantadine and remantadine), and 2) inhibitors of influenza neuraminidase (oseltamivir and zanamivir).

Most of the previously reported swine influenza cases recovered fully from the disease without requiring medical attention and without antiviral medicines.

Some influenza viruses develop resistance to the antiviral medicines, limiting the effectiveness of treatment. The viruses obtained from the recent human cases with swine influenza in the United States are sensitive to oselatmivir and zanamivir but resistant to amantadine and remantadine.

Information is insufficient to make recommendation on the use of the antivirals in treatment of swine influenza virus infection. Clinicians have to make decisions based on the clinical and epidemiological assessment and harms and benefit of the treatment of the patient². For the ongoing outbreak of the swine influenza infection in the United States and Mexico, the national and the local authorities are recommending to use oseltamivir or zanamivir for treatment of the disease based on the virus’s susceptibility profile.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

What should I do if I am in regular contact with pigs?

Even though there is no clear indication that the current human cases with swine influenza infection are related to recent or ongoing influenza-like disease events in pigs, it would be advisable to minimize contact with sick pigs and report such animals to relevant animal health authorities.

Most people are infected through prolonged, close contact with infected pigs. Good hygiene practices are essential in all contact with animals and are especially important during slaughter and post-slaughter handling to prevent exposure to disease agents. Sick animals or animals that died from disease should not be undergoing slaughtering procedures. Follow further advice from relevant national authorities.

Swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The swine influenza virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

How can I protect myself from getting swine influenza from infected people?

In the past, human infection with swine influenza was generally mild but is known to have caused severe illness such as pneumonia For the current outbreaks in the United States and Mexico however, the clinical pictures have been different. None of the confirmed cases in the United States have had the severe form of the disease and the patients recovered from illness without requiring medical care. In Mexico, some patients reportedly had the severe form of the disease.

To protect yourself, practice general preventive measures for influenza:

• Avoid close contact with people who appear unwell and who have fever and cough.
• Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly.
• Practice good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.

If there is an ill person at home:

• Try to provide the ill person a separate section in the house. If this is not possible, keep the patient at least 1 meter in distance from others.
• Cover mouth and nose when caring for the ill person. Masks can be bought commercially or made using the readily available materials as long as they are disposed of or cleaned properly.
• Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after each contact with the ill person.
• Try to improve the air flow in the area where the ill person stays. Use doors and windows to take advantage of breezes.
• Keep the environment clean with readily available household cleaning agents.

If you are living in a country where swine influenza has caused disease in humans, follow additional advice from national and local health authorities.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

What should I do if I think I have swine influenza?

If you feel unwell, have high fever, cough and/or sore throat:

• Stay at home and keep away from work, school or crowds as much as possible.
• Rest and take plenty of fluids.
• Cover your mouth and nose with disposable tissues when coughing and sneezing and dispose of the used tissues properly.
• Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly, especially after coughing or sneezing.
• Inform family and friends about your illness and seek help for household chores that require contact with other people such as shopping.

If you need medical attention:

• Contact your doctor or healthcare provider before travelling to see them and report your symptoms. Explain why you think you have swine influenza (for example, if you have recently travelled to a country where there is a swine influenza outbreak in humans). Follow the advice given to you for care.
• If it is not possible to contact your healthcare provider in advance, communicate your suspicion of having swine influenza immediately upon arrival at the healthcare facility.
• Take care to cover your nose and mouth during travel.

(Courtesy: World Health Organisation)

CBI takes name of Quattrocchi off from interpol red alert

Finally, Quattrocchi must be feeling relieved that India has taken his name off from the Interpol red alert. But India will have lot of political shouting between the parties on this issue. Though Attorney General is very much right in asking the CBI to take this initiative because CBI should not be allowed to held someone's name forever in the red alert.

It is not right to blame the government intervention in this decision because it is instigated by legal advice. What the CBI has to be blamed for its inefficiency in solving the pending cases? They might be over loaded with the work but they can not deny the fact that they have no apparent success in solving any major case.

In almost 20 years, CBI has not been able to collect any reasonable and sufficient evidence to prove him guilty. It might be because of the political intervention and lack to solve the case. If they had any evidences, court of Argentina would have ordered his extradition to India when he was caught there.

There are little chances that this case will ever be solved. After a quarter century it will be hard to recollect all the evidences to prove him or any one else guilty in the case. But the question remains if he is not guilty than who is guilty? CBI will never take charges back against him and at the same time it will not try to proceed further either. If CBI takes the charges back then he will demand for compensation from the government of India for defamation and legal fees. It will be big embarrassment for any government so it will not happen in this life time.

CBI is becoming an agency for delaying any judgement on high profile cases. In its current form it is difficult to understand any utility of keeping this agency alive and it has lost all credibility in public eye.

'Air Conditioned' Indian society

It is very hot in Kolkata in late April and most of the commuters have to travel by very old tram in the city. This tram does not even have any air-condition. What a shame! Isn't it? These are not my views rather I picked these lines from the reporter of NDTV's election express bus when she was touring in the tram in Kolkata.

It surprises me where on earth she was born, definitely not in India. If we notice the latest Human Development Report from UNDP then we find that still, even officially, 28.6% population is living below the national poverty line. That means one out of every 3-4 people is living below poverty line and over 20% population is undernourished. If these facts were known to a journalist then she would have not made such comment. At another place, in their blog, Sunetra Choudhury has written that the local kids in a remote village needs to learn English language for their development. Is it laughable? I disagree. In reply to her blog post (The Jharkhand boys) one person, Nandkumar, has commented that during the polling people should be provided "air conditioned waiting halls with all basic amenities such as food, drinks while voter is waiting in the queue to vote". This gentleman further goes to comment that people should use PIN (personal identification number or password) to cast their vote. If we refer to the same report from UNDP we see that just 60% population is literate and he talks about using Internet and password for polling. He needs to go out of his small town called Jamsedpur.

In the light of fact, the demand of air conditioners in India seems rubbish. People need employment and food rather than air conditioned waiting rooms. This kind of demand or discussion can only make the divide between the rich and poor people clearer. There is so-called middle society that does not know or want to acknowledge the needs of the almost 300 million people living in the country. Most of these are the people who exercise their franchise despite being threats from naxals and other local goons. They deserve better respect at least from us.

Rapists of TISS' American student should deserve privacy

By no means a civil society accept a heinous crime like rape. It is not about sexual assault on an individual but it is about abusing human rights. It is neither physical torture but mental trauma.

Indian media has adopted a policy to keep the rape victim's identity anonymous though they give enough hints to identify the victim if someone is interested. At the same time, should the accused not get the opportunity to hide their identity? In this case, name and their addresses have been revealed by the media. Not only this, some of the news channels have taken the pride of showing the pictures of the accused as well. We need to ask is this correct when they can be victim of public outrage? I read comment somewhere that goes like

"ALL THOSE WHO ARE ACCUSED OF RAPING SHOULD BE MADE IMPOTENT , THEIR ORGANS SHOULD BE AMPUTATED SO THAT THEY REMEMBER THIS SIN FUL ACT THROUGH OUT THEIR LIFE".

Apparently all the guys have accepted that there was sexual encounter. But sex encounter between two or multiple mature people does not make it a crime to be punished very seriously, if it is a crime at all. If we read what has been reported in the media, prima facie there is no strong case against the guys to punish them under Indian law for various reasons. First of all, the victim has said that she did not know that she was raped until she woke up next morning. If we see the time line then there was not enough time for rape and sleep. They reached the house around 2AM and she woke up around 10AM. Second, she took 3 days to report the case to authorities so there are chances there will not be enough medical evidences to prove rape. Surprisingly, why she decided to go and sleep with relative less known guys and not with her friend from TISS.

Whatever happened that night is sad but to make some accused criminal before listening their case is little too fast. Should we not follow our constitutional ethos that says, "Innocent until proven guilty"? If out of six only five found guilty, it will make life difficult for the innocent one.

Why Narayan Murthy wish legislators be english speaking?

Most of us, including me, have very high regards for Mr. Narayan Murthy. He is considered visionary, intellectual, iconic face of Indian IT industry and leader. We should also appreciate his decision to give away his personal wealth to NGOs and fieldwork organisations. It is good that he decided to pen a book about his thoughts on India (A better India, A better world). I have not yet read the book yet but during his interview with IBN network he revealed some of his thoughts that are little difficult to understand in plural society of India.

First, he has recommended that most of the parliamentarian should be English speaking. I assume that he might give some more explanation on this issue later on. But if he really meant as it is then it is difficult to understand why he said so. Does he think that the non-English speaking legislators are less educated or competent than their English speaking counterparts? Forget about Hindi, why a Assamese, Tamil or Telugu speaking legislator not good for India? There is no theoretical proof or empirical evidence to support this kind of argument other than our obsession for British colonial mentality.

One can argue that the only advantage we have against China is our large English speaking populations. But, are we looking for only outsourcing work for our skilled population? Are we happy to listen that they are called slumdogs by Rush Limbaugh? This also goes without saying that we are so incompetent in doing anything else that our future growth is hinged to (IT) outsourcing work. China, Japan, South Korea, all of these countries have done very well in last 50 years. None of these countries have any support for English speaking population. I did not name France, Germany, Holland, in spite of the fact that they non-English speaking developed countries, because they were colonial ruler as well so they might not have English obsession.

It is not to say that I do not support English language education but I do not support obsession for English language at the expense of our regional languages that have been identified as national languages by our constitution. I did not say that I support English medium education. This is a very 'elite' concept and it is creating a separate class in our society. English medium educated are considered as educated but the rest are not in the same category.

Other issue that I find difficult to agree with is his idea to differentiate society into three classes. First masses (he calls them population with values), leaders and the elite. Why do we need a elite class? Why there can not be middle class people doing their jobs. This concept comes from the system of British colonial past where we had some ICS (now IAS) officers who will live in bungalow and have all the government-funded facilities. These are the people with lots of power but little money. To align their power status with their financial status, many a time they resort to corruption. This corruption may not always be in the form of bribe. It can be favor for fellow elites as well. As it happens. A babu (clerk) from electricity board get favorable treatment from babu in the telephone department in the expectation of getting favor in return.

No doubt, my criticism for some of his thoughts does not demean the commendable job he has done in writing the book.

Was Bahadur Sonkar victim of Mayawati's caste-talibanisation?

Rise of Mayawati in UP has been phenomenon. Though it is not for the first time for a regional leader to gain power in a state. Lalu had done same and ruled Bihar for almost 15 years. There was apparently no opposition to him but his charisma soon vanished and now he is fighting for his survival in the politics. Now Mayawati is on her peak and she has sparked the imagination of the weaker society in the caste-driven society in UP.

Being from dalit family, she has natural advantage of getting the votes of the dalits. She plays this trick of 'dalit ki beti' again and again by shouting her lungs out. But she has understood that she can be in power unless she gets support from other section of the society. Realising this she has not only dropped her party slogan (Tilak, tarazu and talbar, inko maro jute chaar) but also increased the representation of the 'upper' caste in her party leadership. She has a very large number of brahmin and thakur MLAs in her party and now she has again chosen to give tickets to people from same 'upper' caste for parliament election. Many of them will win not because they have been chosen by Mayawati but because they are the powerful mafia or rich on those localities.

In this game of power hunger she has already forgotten the real cause of existence of her party, social and economical upliftment of the dalits. In spite of initiating any project that might have helped the dalits in real life, she has chosen to play with their sentiment by having Ambedkar's statues everywhere in the state and converting the name of every other park to 'Ambedkar park'. She gets support for these initiatives at the moment but it is not sustainable and people will eventually realise that she is not doing anything for them. She has not built any new primary schools for the dalits and neither she has invited any industry for generation of jobs.

No doubt the youth of the dalit families want equal right to live in the society. They want to be considered as any other person in the society. Rise of Mayawati has given them voice or arrogance to some extent. They know that the police and other administration is with them they go beyond their right and threat other people. But after a while they realise that they do need employment and this is something not being addressed by this government.

Bahadur Sonkar was such young man who had understood that the dalits are being exploited for votes and get nothing in return. He was working for the social upliftment for the dalits in his area. He also decided to enter the election foray thinking that his hard and good work will be appreciated by the people. That is what should matter in a democracy. Perhaps he did not realised that he was not in a democracy but a state run by Taliban. A state where Mayawati is playing the game of caste-talibanisation and public hanging of an activist is considered the best way to send message in the masses that anyone opposing the supremacy of the Mayawati will be executed.

Well, police report has claimed it was case of suicide but there are enough sign to suggest it otherwise. There is demand for CBI enquiry in the case but everyone knows that CBI is of not much use. It is just a political machinery to threaten the opposition.

It is not the first case anyone opposing the Mayawati rule has been executed. Few months back there was an engineer met the same fate for refusing to pay for her birthday celebration.

Does it not tell that UP is already under caste-taliban? Taliban is a philosophy. If we can say Hindu Taliban then it is even narrower version of Taliban. Indian public is intelligent enough to understand, though slow, these attempts and throw away such leaders.

11 years old Delhi girl Shanno died after punishment in school

It is a said news that a girl who went to school to study and learn something had to face this. We should offer our sincere condolences to her family.

Unfortunately some of our news channels too busy in making it questions of online poll. I saw on one of the news website from delhi, question is

"Should the teacher who tortured Shanno for homework be treated as a criminal?"

and the overwhelming answer is YES as expected. It is weird that the media and people have already decided to punish the teacher as criminal. This kind of voices are coming again and again. Last week it was in case of Ajmal Qasab. Who we are to decide if someone is criminal or not? It is the matter for the court to decide. Otherwise what is the difference between us and the Taliban.

First of all in this case, no one has seen any evidence against the teacher. There is no medical report yet to suggest that she died of head injuries. On top of that is it not a common practice in India for the teachers to punish the pupils. To some extent all of us will defend this. or are we in favour or bringing legislation that bans any form of punishment for the pupils by the teachers or even parents?

Question for the debate can be how education can be provided to the next generation. We need to reduce the burden on the teachers. We need to provide better facilities for the schools. Are we not aware of poor conditions of the public schools in India and the generally, municipality run schools are considered as lower caste schools in the education hierarchy.

At the moment, we should give space to the family of shanno khan to bear the pain of losing their little sweet daughter.

Naxal Problem in India

Indian election Phase 1 completed despite Naxal protests

Finally, the first phase of election is completed despite some protest from the Naxal groups. I have used word 'protest' rather than attack with a purpose. No doubt they are against the system of democracy but that is not a cause of worry for the nation because there will be many thousand people/citizen in India without much faith in democracy. Concern for the nation is massive support for the Naxalite movement in almost one third of the country.

They must be getting support for some reason. As I discussed in my other post that they are not terrorists but they have a cause and they are frustrated with the negligence by the nation. How many of us know the name of all the states in the North-east other than Assam. (These are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura). Of course Assam is the largest state in that region but other states have their identity as well. National media always talk about them as a single entity but unfortunately that is not the truth.

Our (people sitting in the Delhi) expectation is that the people living in these states should sit and obliged to exercise their franchise whenever we decide to conduct election. We do not need to provide them road connectivity with rest of the country and neither need to provide them universities or industry. We can offer them some seats in JNU and Delhi university as reservation and let them feel that they are foreigner in their own country by calling them 'chinki'. Or the worse consider each girl from that region as prostitute. I have no data to prove or discard these allegation. If some of them involved into prostitution it is even shame for us and not for them because they might have to involve into this profession to survive in expensive city like Delhi and we will not like to give them job either if we have other candidates who look similar to us.

In such conditions great people of India still dare to come out to exercise their franchise. We should salute them. But we should not forget that the solution to the naxalite movement is not in fortifying our cities and elite institutions but in providing in providing the people outside cities with the basic facilities and opportunities as we have. This should be done without reservation because they are not weak whatever caste or religion they belong to if they do. If we can do that in next five years we will not have to deploy so much army and police in that region and we will see peaceful elections because people in that region are not inherently violent.

Are Naxalites another form of terrorism?

It was expected and it happened. Naxalites have attacked polling officers and the polling booths in many places and they have killed many security personnel along with other innocents. First question that comes to mind is that what the government was doing and why the state governments do not provide adequate security cover at the polling booths and the officers on duty? Without any further thinking this reminds of challenge of terrorism country is facing from Taliban and other groups. This is where most of us sitting in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumabi mixing everything together and started calling Naxalites movement as terrorism. I saw some Internet comments where the people says that the Naxalites are danger for the sovereignty of the country. Many of us who have never lived or visited any of the naxal affected area demand for strong military action against the naxalites and crushing them like America is crushing Taliban.

It seems very valid argument and they are terrorist by definition of terrorism on dictionary.com that says

"The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."

Similar definition has been used in the United Nation Security Council resolution 1373. These definitions do not make any distinction between the act of terror against the public and the government. There is no room to understand the cause of the act either. But one should not forget that this resolution was moved by the USA after the 9/11 attack. It was passed without any discussion in less than 3 minutes because everyone was horrified by the attack on AMERICA and Bush declared that countries had options to be either with America or against America. We should not forget that America is also a country where everyone with a beard is considered taliban and they can not differentiate different kind of turbans either. So using this definition is not fair and can not do any good for India.

We are very proud of freedom and equal rights to all the citizens of the country but we can not ignore that it is only the rich and educated class that think that everyone in the country has freedom. In reality it is very different. This is not about religion or the caste. It is matter of survival for the people. Millions of people in some of the states are living without proper food and water. They are living a worse life we will expect for refugees. But unfortunately no one talk about them. Even the media does not talk about their problems. What is talked in the media is how many police or army men have been killed by the Naxalites in some village. How many times we hear that the public distribution system does not work there. Teacher does not come to school. Doctors do not come to hospitals. All these are elite in some respects and they do not want to work in the villages with the tribes. They want to be posted in the Patna, Ranchi or Bhubneswar but not in the remote areas. They have easy option to live away from these horrible looking remote villages. Bribe to their boss and sign the attendence register for whole month in one day.

All the parties talk about giving rice at Rs 2 and 3 if they come to power but there are two problems. First of all this rice will not reach the area where is needed most. It is insane for any 'intelligent' person to give away rice at such a low rate when the price in the market is over Rs 10 for the same rice. Why not sell in the market. Who care about the poor or the system. Give Rs 1000 to the PDS inspector.

Second these people do not have enough money to buy rice at even discounted price. How can they have money? There are no jobs and no industry.

It is as simple as that. When we hit a small ant too much it will hit us back. Same thing is happening in the Naxal affected areas as well. We (the people living in cities and rich and relatively powerful) are treating them worse than animals for over 60 years. What can they do other than taking arms and hitting back on the administration.

They are not terrorists. They are fighting for some reason. They are not separatist. They do not need separate state. They are not fundamentalist. They are looking for survival.

I hope it will help you in understanding the difference.

What attracts international students to UK?

A very large number of international students come every year to UK. One wonders what attracts them? One of the biggest advantage UK has is that it colonized a large part of the world. Though it sounds weird but it is the main reason. Everyone has heard of it and its cities and universities. A large number countries still follow the same education system as in UK. But it is not the only reason why international students come to UK. Other reasons are

- relative ease of admission into the universities in comparison to USA
- chances of employment were high when the economy was booming
- language is known to most of the world
- local communities from many countries
- shorter duration degree program

The paper work one has to do is much less to get into an university in UK than in many other countries. In many cases, one does not need to write GMAT, GRE or other test to get admission. Even English language test is waived for a large number of students. So one wonder how the admission happens. Well, it is based on the marks one achieved in previous degree and recommendations. Yes it is that simple in most of the cases.

London and Manchester were center of booming economy. Though it seems surprising but most of the students who decide to reside here were able to get some sort of employment. It might be more difficult for some than the others. Though it might not be that true after the economy went bust and banks declared bankrupt.

English language is known to a very large population of the world. People can have different dialects but it is not too difficult to learn for most of them. On top of this, there are communities living here from many parts of the world. One can find Indian society, Palestine refugees or from other countries as well. So one does not feel too much alien.

Duration of the program is also one of the consideration for the students. In UK, master degree is for one year and Phd for 3-4 years. So anyone who wants to get degree quickly also consider UK as a viable option.

All said, it has been a great experience for the international students to live and study here. But now the scenario is changing because of recession and job losses and terrorism, policies are becoming too restrictive. In future it might not remain that nice. Hope it does not happen and international keep enjoying the life here.

UPA government without Manmohan Singh as PM is a possibility

Honourable prime minister Manmohan Singh has thrown a new twist into the post-election alliances. He said at an interaction with members of the Editors' Guild that "an alliance with Left parties is possible only after the elections and circumstances will decide if we go with the Left". On the other side left has answered this by saying there is no possibility of post-poll alliance with Congress. They are claiming they had bitter experience with the congress on the policies issues defined in the common minimum program (CMP) of UPA government.

Though it is very obvious that the left did not withdraw support from the government on the issue of not implementing CMP but rather it was because of the personal ego of Prakash Karat for Manmohan Singh. Left made nuclear deal as the scapegoat to get out of the alliance. Now for the same reason, it will be difficult to see congress led government where Manmohan Singh becomes prime minister candidate.

As it is expected that Congress will have around 150-160 seats in the election and they will need another 100 seats from somewhere to form the government. There is every possibility if Manmohan Singh is dropped from the PM post in the next government then many parties will come forward to support UPA. It is expected that left and BSP (Mayavati) each will have around 50 seats. Since left might not get support from other party so there is question who will become the prime minister. In Congress it is Sonia Gandhi who can decide the prime minister candidate. If Manmohan Singh is dropped from the scene then Rahul Gandhi is the only person to be next PM from Congress but Mayavati and left might not support him. In such a scenario, left might propose and support Mayawati as next PM.

Manmohan Singh has no power to make alliances or playing number game. He is PM because Sonia Gandhi has supported him. So it is upto Sonia Gandhi if she is ready to have Mayawati as next PM and UPA government without Manmohan Singh is feasible indeed.

Did Qasab's lawyer Anjali Waghmare use the media for personal benefit?

Another day in the trial of lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Qasab of Mumbai attack and another twist in the story. Now Anjali Waghmare has been removed by the court for professional misconduct. It can safely be assumed that she is competent lawyer if she was appointed as defence lawyer but still she choose not to report to the court about her other cases where she is represnting the victims of the same case. It can not be said that it is a new development against here since it was in the news full two week back that she was representing two victims of the attack.

Ofcourse court has taken the right decision in removing her from the case but she wasted two weeks of a case of importance for the world. This case was center of media attention and any lawyer who will take this case will become famous as criminal defence lawyer in Mumbai, if not India. It is pity that she was appointed at the first place and the agencies did not take care to check the media reports about her involvement in the case.

She did get benefit of not telling her involvement. She become media star and her video and images were beamed accross the world. She enjoyed VVIP status for 2 weeks. Anjali Waghmare also got Z-category security at the expense of the tax payers. She can not plead innocent in this case. She knows the law and knowingly used the system.

Shouldn't she be charged for her unprofessional behaviour. She should also be made liable to pay the cost of the Z-category security she enjoyed for two weeks. Tax payers money can not be spend on anyone who knowingly use the system for their benefit.

Do Independent candidates play spoilers in Indian elections?

This comment has come from strange quarter. Honourable prime minister Manmohan Singh made this comment during an election campaign in south Mumbai. PTI reports that he said that the independent candidates can not win and they are their to spoil the game and take a few votes from the Congress party. It seems that he has gone too far in his comments.

Every party has a right to promote their candidates and criticise other parties. That what the democratic election all about but criticising the role of independent candidates is an attack on the institution. There are around a thousand party in the election fray this time. Many of these parties will have only one candidate and they might not even get 1000 votes in total. They are not better or different from the independent candidates in any sense. So should the prime minister criticise the role of these small regional parties as well. If these parties or independent candidates are spoilers than why the constitution allow them to contest?

In fact this remark is not on individuals but on the institution. This remark can be compared to a situation when he starts promoting that BJP or CPI or Akali party is spoiler rather than saying saying do not vote for Adwani or Karat or Badal. If we are so much concerned about the independent candidates than why not merge all the parties in two or three parties like corporate mergers and then ban formation of any new party or independent candidates. In fact this is the beauty of our system that it gives freedom to anyone to contest. Indian political party system is so undemocratic that many people can not think of ever getting ticket to contest or any significant post in their life time. Be it Congress, Shiv Sena, SP or BSP, all parties are run by a family or individuals. There is reward for hard work in the parties. People who have money, name or power can come from nowhere and contest election. Otherwise how come Sanjay dutt, Nafisa Ali, Shashi Tharoor, Azharuddin, Navjot singh can ever get ticket. None of these have ever done anything for the people of the constituencies they are contesting from in particular and country in general. They were busy in their fields making money and enjoying life.

Manmohan Singh himself is not better than any independent candidate and can be considered spoiler as well. He has rented a house in Assam for around last 20 years to get himself register in the polling list but he rarely lives there. In fact, he does not even bother to cast his vote. What example he creates for rest of the country? There can not be any excuse for not to cast his or her vote by the prime minister of the country and he has no right to condemn an institution of independent candidates.

Is world concern about the Indian elections?

Largest democracy in the world is going to start the process of election in next couple of days. It is a month long process. Many of us think that India has become very important player in the world politics because of over 8% GDP growth in last 10 years or so. We have become part of many Gs (G20, G8 and many other G). We are apparently playing important role in Asian and other Asian groups. People also talk about BRIC countries. But the important question is are we really important in the world politics? Is the world worried or concerned or even bothered about the election in the India or the party that will lead the coalition after the election? It seems that the answer is NO.

The answer to this debate lies in the economic and foreign policies after the election. We are a very matured democracy. Time and again we have proved that the only way our chaotic country be run is the democratic manner. It is not only the last 60 years but also before that. Most of the kings or emperor who became very successful or famous are those who cared about the people's opinion. Be it Akbar or Ashok. Anyone who showed arrogance to the public was thrown out sooner than later. So the world has nothing to worry about this issue.

India constitute a single digit of the world economy and the international trade. We have very large population but we are self sufficient in most of the basic commodities so we can not think of exercising pressure in the international trade. We are not like America that consumes around 25% of the world's oil production and it is also the biggest importer. So the USA has vested interest in twisting the arms to get cheap oil. Thus the oil producing countries get concerned about USA. We do not have any such advantage. We are still not too materialistic and do not consume cheap cloths or electrical equipments or dolls made in china. At the same time we do not export anything of major importance to the world. So from the economic point of view it does not matter which party leads the next government. It will continue to run.

Foreign policy is something that the world can be bothered about to some extent. But none of the party manifesto talks much about foreign policy. Even if they talk it is something very ambiguous and superficial. In fact, next government can not change much about the foreign policy. Next government will continue to blame Pakistan for all the bomb blast in the country. We will continue to buy defence equipments from America, submarines from Russia, intelligence equipments from Israel and Nuclear plants from France. So most of the major economies will be happy to get some money from India. It can be just reshuffling number of contracts from one country to another but they will receive some contracts and money and jobs in their countries.

Some countries are concerned about the terrorism and hatred against the Christians (mind you not minorities because Muslims and Parsis or Sikhs are not in their radar) but it is an issue that will not require extra or different effort from the world leaders. Whichever party come, it will remain same.

Since all the parties have same attitude of being in power any means rather than thinking on big issues world in not much concerned. On top of India does not have system of replacing all the top bureaucrat es (many of them have fixed term by constitution) as a new party comes into power so things keep moving in the same direction. It is only the pace of the progress on different issues increase or decreases with change in the party.

Nothing to worry about for the world in Indian election. Leave your opinions here.

Does it matter if Manmohan singh answered Adwani weak PM accusation

Who wants to be PM of India? is real question roaming in the media and elite class of India. News channels have done surveys that shows that there are number of people as hopeful PM but Manmohan Singh and Adwani are the main contestant for the post. It is expected from them that they will talk about some sensible topics and some sense but unfortunately what they are talking about is completely non-sense.

Adwani started claiming that Manmohan singh is a weak PM. Recently Manmohan Singh has responded to all these criticism. He said that he will not go to Pakistan and praise Jinnah that will hurt the sentiments of every Indian. if we dig little into the past, his remarks had hurt a lot of Indians when he went to oxford university and said that the India has benefit ted a lot from the Raj rules. He further added that the institutions of higher education, English language and school system is offering of British Raj that India cherish. Though my knowledge is very limited but still I think many of the education institutes were built by India after independence or by Indians during British Raj. English Language and the system of private commercial (popularly called 'Public') school came from British Raj. It has done good for a fraction of rich and upper middle class families because they could create a new class of Englsih speaking elites. These people were the first one to benefit from the liberalisation of economy and outsourcing of work to India but remember this is very small fraction of Indian population.

Both of these gentlemen have been in power or the government for long time and they must know that there are problems in the systems. Terrorists attacks have happened during NDA and UPA governments. It is a matter of luck that history will decide which was the worse period. it was worse to face the attack on parliament or Taj hotel. It was said to release Masood Azhar or not hanging Afzal guru for years even after he is convicted.

Our police in particular and whole administration in general is corrupt and weak. Corruption allows the terrorists to use the system for their favor and the weakness allows them to hit the back bone of social life and spread horror in public life. These politicians have made a joke of national security issue. They need Z-grade security that has couple of hundred of guards for Prime minister at any time at any place he visits but they try to convince the public that the public is safe.

Today is dangerous for the common man to walk on the streets for work without the fear of being hurt in any attack, tomorrow it will be unsafe for the prime minister as well despite the fact they have Z security. We appeal to these to gentlemen that give a genuine try for national security otherwise you will not be spared either by these terrorists. Talk on some issues that concern the common people. Both of you are educated and intelligent and I am sure you know real issues better than many of us.

Jai Hind.

Our mania for Indian origin people in the list of richest and powerful

- Forbes' richest Americans list has 4 Indian-origin men
- Three Indian-origin people among Singapore's richest list
- Bobby Jindal set to recreate history
- Indian-origin executives head a dozen Fortune 500 firms
- Sonia Gandhi and Indya Nooyi among world 100 most powerful women

These are some of the news headlines that keep coming in media. Most of the news have same purpose, to boost our India pride, but have different Individual in focus or a different year. For example, every year as soon Forbes will publish the list of richest people in the world or America or Britain or any other part of the world, we will search for someone with any relation to India. Relation can be as remote as 4th generation Indian-origin from Kenya or Uganda or Fiji or Mauritius or any country on the earth (we have not yet started considering species from Moon or Mars or Venus).

It is difficult to understand the purpose of these news with hyphenated 'Indian-origin'. No doubt most of these individuals have achieved something extra-ordinary in their life and that is commendable indeed. Bobby Jindal has become governor in a very orthodox and not-so-pro-minority state. Vikarm Pandit became CEO of world's largest financial institution. Amar bose has created best quality sound systems.

For their achievements they do not need to be told that they have Indian origin. In fact many of them will not recognise that they have any Indian origin. If we start including everyone in 'Indian origin' category by their name and/or skin colour or body structure or spiritual believes then probably 40% percentage of the world population will fit into our broad definition of 'Indian origin'. If we use the definition of PIO (People of Indian Origin) from Ministry of Overseas Indian affairs, I think many of the British people can also be included as 'Indian origin' because it says

"he/she or either of his/her parents or grand parents or great grand parents was born in and permanently resident in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935 and other territories that became part of India thereafter provided neither was at any time a citizen of Pakistan and Bangladesh".

Risk with mania for looking Indians is that we include Mother Teresa and Sonia Gandhi and possibly Rudyard kipling in our list as well. We consider Mother Teresa Indian because she not only spend her life in India but she she worked for the humanity and particularly Indian poor and disadvantage people. She got completely integrated in India. Sonia Gandhi is apparantly trying to integrate with India as well though there are controversies of her owning her only house in Italy. None of them are celebrated to in their home or country of origin. In fact most of the Italians do not know much, if they know anything, about Sonia Gandhi. It was same about Mother Teresa in Albania.

Sociologists broadly divide people living in different countries from their country of origin between assimilationists and atavists. Assimilationists are those who try to adopt the culture, language, accent and every possible thing of the country they are living in. Sonia Gandhi and Mother Teresa lies in that category. By the same definition Bobby Jindal and Amar Bose lies in the same category. Bobby Jindal has not only adopted the culture of the country but also name and religion.

Atavists are those who do not want to integrate with the country of their residence. Generally they are first generation immigrants. But we should definitely leave the second generation from our maniac love for 'Indian' achievments worldwide. India is a great country in its own rights and we can found and celebrate it that way only.

Samajwadi Party (SP) oppose english medium education and computers

I tried to look at the SP manifesto on the party website but it seems that they have not got time to upload the manifesto yet but the newspapers have found two topics in the manifesto that have triggered a war of words between the parties. First, party wants to stop the English medium education and second, they see computers as causing unemployment in the country.

At surface, these two proposals looks very backwards and anti-development but I see some merit in these two. Party may have proposed these without much thought and good intention but arguments can be put in favour of these proposals.

We are so much amused these days with the large English speaking Indian population and competitive advantage it creates against China that we ignores the fact we are losing our culture and language. We should not forget that India was founded and celebrated for 'unity in diversity' but unfortunately some of the English speaking schools and other institutions have created a class in the country that is considered better than other. Most of the jobs go to this elite and so-called educated section. People who can not speak English fluently are considered less educated even if they have better and higher education.

Most of the middle class families aspire to send their kids in the 'public' school so that they can learn English and compete in the job market. In the big cities, and now in tier 2 and 3 cities as well, kids can not count in their local language. They have no idea about the local stories, art, history and fables. They know better about the work of English authors and poets.

I have nothing against learning English as a language but not the expense of losing our local language. English is language of universal conversation so we can not live in the global economy without it. Probably SP party did not had thought the issue from this perspective but they have raised a valid concern as a true socialist party.

The other issue of computers is difficult to understand. It has created social and psychological problem for the young generation. This I will discuss at other time.

Why the Indian government is in denial passive mode

Recently I was watching an interview of Honourable minister Chidambaram with Barkha dutt on NDTV. It is painful to watch how casually he or the government takes the issues of national importance. I am using the word government here because home minister is one of the most important post in the government and it matters a lot to the government on the matters of national importance. I will discuss here some particular questions from the interview.

On the issue of invoking NSA (National Security Act) against Varun Ganghi and not against Vaiko, first he argues that it is the matter for the state government to decide. But he adds that Vaiko has remarked similarly in the past so it is best to ignore him rather than invoking NSA. This suggests that there is no rule about how and when to use NSA against someone. This leaves a room to misuse it against the political rivals. Surprising it has not be invoked against Mumbai terror attack suspect Ajmal Qasab who all of us believe is the lone surviving terrorist from the incidence.

The news channels are showing footage of terrorist infiltration and journalist have read the conversation between them where they are discussing about the talibanisation in India. But the Home Minister ignores this just by saying that is the interpretation and no credible source that they are talibans. Does this mean that we need to sit back and wait till we have sharia laws implemented in some part of the country as it is happening in Pakistan. How can we ignore the fact that Pakistan is on the verge of collapsing in the hands of talibans. Our cities are not very far from the Swat valley in the Pakistan.

The issue of nation preparedness against the terror attack like Mumbai is not that important any more. He can argue just by suggesting that the first trigger was Parliament attack during the BJP government and they did not do much to avert such attack so UPA or Congress also need some trigger to do something. Does it not sound like rubbish blame game. It happened after the Congress was in power for four years and it is a question of national security how does it matters which party is ruling?

List goes on and on but his casual style of leading with problem is quite apparent. Probably he does not like the work and life style of the home ministry. He was happy to meet the CEOs and economists in the finance ministry rather than meeting with the police and intelligence officers talking about subject he has no clue about.

We can only say to our politicians please take some issues seriously because we know you are not capable of and willing to facing all the challenges country is facing.

Chidambaram on national issues in an interview

Real issues vs the political issues in the quest of power/ Indian election 2009

As it is expected during the national election, all the politicians and the journalists are busy in projecting themselves how close to the 'aam aadmi' they are. The party manifestos talk about various issues ranging from foreign policies to education to employment to health care. Though going through the party manifestos one can realised how superficial they are. I have looked the manifestos of BJP and Congress party. It is hard to believe that Congress has a Prime minister candidate who is Phd in economics but the manifesto looks like a report of university graduate. BJP has thicker manifesto and has touched on many points of national importance. They are right or wrong on the stand they take is different issue but they have at least touch them and wrote their opinion in the manifesto. It might be that many of the promises are not feasible. For example reducing the income tax and increasing the salary of Armed forces and other benefits without generating lots of income from export or national consumption.

But party manifestos are there to be released by the party and then forgotten right away. Because for a country like India that has a very large young population and a large proportion living in the villages, these topics are not of much importance anyway. If from the development point of view, political parties segregate the voters then they should concentrate more on following issues

- Education and employment for the youth across the nation, not only in Delhi or Bangalore or other metros
- Health care facilities across the country at affordable prices
- Better irrigation and loan facilities for the farmers
- Pension and support for the old and disabled people of the country

But in the election rallies, politicians are not seen talking about these issues or concerned at all back stage either. Politicians are concerned about the segregating the constituencies on the basis of religion, caste or popularity of the film stars. What everyone is concerned about is how many Hindu or Muslim votes each party can get by supporting or condemning Varun Gandhi. Now congress is worried how much votes they will lose because of the Sikhs riots of 1984.

Even the most powerful pillar of our democracy is talking about popular subjects only rather than the real issues. Whole election campaign started by projecting Manmohan Singh and Lal Krishna Advani as Prime minister candidates but now it has moved away from them and each regional party is concentrating on winning 5-10 seats so that the head of the party can become cabinet minister in the next government. Issues of the 'aam aadmi' are forgotten in this quest of achieving power.

'After shoegate' election politics in North India

Incidence of throwing shoe over Mr. Chidambaram by Jarnail Singh has changed the election environment in North India. It is apparent that Mr. Jagdish Tytler would have asked for this favour before the end of current election but Congress has done mistake by obliging to accept this request. Well there is no question of CBI working independent from home ministry so it is the government that decides the Major actions of the CBI.

1984 Sikh riots has been a very emotional issue for the community. By giving clean chit just before the election, the government has ignited the fire in north India. By throwing the show Jarnail Singh has brought this issue to national media and most of the TV channels are also giving enough attention now.

Now legally, Mr Tytler is eligible to contest election from anywhere in the country but as a congress party candidate, he brings lot of burden on the national party to justify to the people about his candidature. Sikh population is not too much in the Delhi to be considered from the electoral point of view but it has send wrong signal in other states as well. Punjab is seeing strong protest against this and this will reach other states very soon.

For the parties it is not about the moral issues while selecting the candidates any more. Parties needs someone who can win the seat so that the party has more numbers to get benefits of being party in national politics. Jagdish Tytler can bring one seat to the congress party but the problem is some of the party candidate might lose in other states where is close fight between the congress and BJP and Akali dal.

BJP is considered a party of upper class hindus rich people and anti-muslim. If BJP promises to reopen the cases against Mr. Jagdish Tytler, it can see a large swing of vote in its favour. So congress has to consider this issue. But at the same time if they dump Jagdish Tytler at this moment, they will lose one seat from Delhi and it might also send signal that Party did support his candidature despite knowing his crimes.

Other option of the Congress is to let him not fight the general election and bring him into the Rajya Sabha, upper house. In couple of months, issue will be relatively calm and other parties will not shout their lungs out so can again slip into the Parliament from back door.

Whatever happens, this incidence has completely changed the election politics in some of the Northern states and decisions will be taking by the parties in the light of larger political interest rather than moral values, people's choice or welfare.

Jarnail Singh throws shoe at Home Minister, P chidambaram

It seems that our democracy has gone low to such an extent that we can no longer protest or ask questions in open forum. One side Dr Amartya Sen is writing about Argumentative India and on other side in real India home minister does not allow even the senior journalists to ask question on an important issue.

What has happened is not a question of Jarnail Singh becoming famous or infamous in India or Singh community. We need to see it in the context. When the home minister is having a press conference about giving clean chit to Mr. Jagdish Tytler then he is supposed to face the questions from journalists. We can see in the video how rude Mr. home minister was. He was blaming the journalist to use the forum. It is difficult to understand what the press conference is all about then. On the other hand Jarnail Singh was quite relaxed even after throwing the shoe over the PC. He sit back comfortably.

It is pretty obvious that his intention was not to harm P Chidambaram. If he had other intentions he would have gone forward and hit him. He was sitting in the front row anyway. He was frustrated by the way Mr PC was behaving. As a young man he has seen the killing of thousands of Sikhs in the national capital and today the culprit is going free.

This also raises a question on whole functioning of the government machinery. No one has been convicted for the Sikh riots in 25 years. Then how on earth the thousands of Sikhs were killed. I believe they did not suicide in depression of seeing Indira Gandhi dead. Prima facie it can only be Congress activist to spread the killing of Sikhs and masses can not be blamed for killing. It has to be leaders. Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were leading activist in those days in Delhi.

Now the government is defending itself by saying that it is the decision of the court to let these accused go free. But the court can work only on the basis of the evidences provided to them. The court has no authority to conduct its own investigation. Investigation agency, CBI, does not go to record the testimony of the witnesses and says they are missing. Many of the witnesses are living in USA and UK because there is no security in the country. Everyone knows their addresses in the western countries. They have given their testimony at every possible forum but in vain.

We helpless people have no other option but to hit back by our shoes over the post bearers in the country and that is what Jarnail Singh has done.

Journalist throws shoe at P. Chidambaram

G20 meet finished without any major result

Leaders of 20 most powerful economies met in London to discuss the solutions for the economic crisis and global recession. They had pretty good time in London amid fierce protests on different issues but there are no signs of any apparent success.

They are projecting that the biggest success of the meeting is that they have pledged over 1 trillion US$ for IMF and World bank so that the struggling economies can be survived from complete collapse. Though this is a very big number but they did not have to meet for this. The biggest problems the world facing is the low customers confidence and low level of lending by the financial institutions. Other problems are the toxic assets the banks are carrying in their balance sheets and global warming. This meeting has not been successful in addressing in these problems.

Most of the developed economies are taking the course of protectionism and this will eventually hurt them and as well the developing economies. More and more people are still loosing jobs and those who are in employment are worried about the security of their jobs. Unless some massive construction or manufacturing plans are drawn and executed, there is now chance to create new jobs.

Financial executives are used to of earning fat bonuses so they are finding themselves in dilemma and they do not know how to cop with this problem. One of the problem is with their attitude. They do not produce anything of real value. Only thing these executives know is number crunching but they believe they are doing some great production or welfare. It will take some time for them to learn the realities. Or the capitalism might not come back ever in the form it had been for last 40-50 years.

The most difficult problem is the global warming. It is the developed countries that are responsible for world pollutions directly or indirectly but they are not ready to accept this. Now the America says that they can only act pragmatically on the environment issues. Mr Obama says that the America can only reduce carbon emission by 2050. A far target by any means. He just want to avoid this issue in his life time. But this attitude will not help anyone.

Well, hopefully they had good sea food and champagne during the meeting because that is what they will remember out of this meet.