PETA offers Kingfisher a vegan lift
One of the many benefits of vegetarianism, so animal rights activists say, is that it cures impotence. To that end, the global rights group PETA is offering a way to give flagging Kingfisher Airlines a lift.
The airline, once the flashiest in the Indian aviation industry with well-groomed hostesses and gourmet food, is struggling to stay upright after running up a debt of about $1.3 billion. It has been wooing investors, pleading with banks and sounding out anyone who could help.
Now, help is being offered from an unlikely quarter.
PETA has made a “tempting offer to help keep Kingfisher Airlines out of its financial crisis and flying sky-high”, the group said in a statement. Condition: The airline — whose advertisements once featured tastefully served lobsters and baked chicken — covers its planes with anti-non-vegetarianism slogans.
“Want Good Times? Go Vegan. Meat Consumption Leads to Impotence,” the slogans would say if Kingfisher accepts the proposal.
Impotence affects more than half of India’s males aged over 40, and this condition can be “prevented or even reversed” with a pure vegetarian diet, PETA says.
It’s certainly an innovative form of promoting PETA’s case, which “operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment.”
Assam ferry tragedy not newsy enough?
On Monday, India’s remote northeastern state of Assam saw probably its biggest tragedy in recent memory, when an overloaded ferry carrying about 300 people sank in the Brahmaputra river, killing at least 103 people.
However, the bigger tragedy perhaps was the minimal coverage it got in the national media. Apart from The Hindu, which had the accident as its top story, none of the leading dailies in the country gave it much coverage beyond a mention on the front page.
Considering that the news first surfaced at around 6 p.m. on Monday, newspapers had ample time to give it more space if they so wished before they went to print, again putting the spotlight on the much-discussed question of whether the northeast is ignored by the national media.
“Has #Assam ferry tragedy been ignored on Twitter/ television? We’ll be RTing all responses,” the New York Times tweeted on Tuesday to a massive response.
What was even more interesting was to see prominent journalists posting tweets even as news channels kept speculating on a bail plea for a dentist accused of killing her daughter in New Delhi, and even more far-fetched speculations on India’s next president.
“Assam n northeast doesn’t mean anything to us! We r a nation obsessed with big cities n their celebs!” Twitter user Ambreen Zaidi wrote.
The recent tragedy is not an isolated instance. The same debate creeps up every time a major event happens in the remote northeast region, and the Indian media is accused of not giving it enough coverage.
Glad you wrote this Anurag. Sad that it took another foreign news organisation posting a twitter campaign to set this in motion.
from Pakistan: Now or Never?:
India, Pakistan detente: don’t trust, verify every step
It's clear for some time now that India and Pakistan are on the cusp of the kind of open trade relationship they had until the 1965 war when all business links were snapped, border trading posts shut and overland Indian access to Afghanistan blocked. It was never to be the same again, despite fitful progress over the years.
On Saturday, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has invested a great deal of personal credibility in a rapprochement with Pakistan, inaugurates a $4 billion refinery in the northern state of Punjab , not far from the border with Pakistan. While the bulk of the refinery, which is a joint venture between billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and an Indian state oil company will feed the hungry energy markets of India's booming northern triangle, it stands to reason that some of the fuel sales will flow westwards, to Pakistan. The distance from Bhatinda where the 9 million tonne refinery is located to Pakistan's heartland city of Lahore is about 100 miles. If you don't sell it to the market next door where else would you begin from ? Pakistan's refining capacity is half the domestic demand and last year it opened up diesel imports from India, although petrol and other petroleum products are still on a rapidly dwindling negative list.
If they begin piping fuel from the plant in Bhatinda to the Pakistani part of Punjab, and down the coast in Gujarat, if Reliance Industries' huge refining complex in Jamnagar ships products to Karachi, you can imagine the game-changing effects of such interlocking economic stakes. Next up will be the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline which has been hobbled not just by security fears in Afghanistan, but the deep distrust between India and Pakistan, the two big markets at the far end of the pipe. If Pakistan can buy refined fuel products from India, then perhaps New Delhi will have less fears about being held to ransom by Pakistani shutting off its natural gas supplies traversing through Pakistan soil.
Are the two over the hump then, ready to bury 65 years of hostility ? Not quite, going by an opposing series of actions. India fired off its longest range missile this month which scientists said gives it the capability to launch inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and within days Pakistan tested its own long range nuclear capable missile. While India can argue that the 5,000 km range Agni V was aimed at closing the deterrence gap with China, Pakistan's Shaheen missile which defence experts say is capable of hitting targets 2,500 km away brings virtually all of India in its range. You could ask why does Pakistan need long range missiles when it can target Delhi which is barely 700 kms from Islamabad. Presumably the idea is to negate India's strategic depth that Pakistan does not have. Then there is a steady Indian conventional arms buildup in line with its growing economy, and again, to find some level of parity with China. But some of that armour including state-of-the-art Rafale fighter planes, an aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarines could just as well be deployed on the west.
There is similarly little forward movement on the hot-button territorial disputes that have kept the two countries apart . Last month's tragic accident in Siachen in northern Kashmir where 138 Pakistani soldiers and civilians were buried in rock and ice brought the focus back on a remote high altitude battlefield that many believe is best left untouched, given its questionable strategic value. Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, responding to calls from anguished countrymen, said the civilian and military leaders of the two countries should hold talks to resolve the brutal standoff in the icy mountains. But the general's call has met with a measured response from New Delhi which wants the positions of the two armies to be authenticated before considering a withdrawal from the remote area. This along with the row over Sir Creek off the Arabian Sea was considered a low-hanging fruit which the two sides could pluck before tackling the dispute over Kashmir, really at the core of the decades of hostility.
But distrust has only deepened over the years, and as Vikram Sood former head of India's external intelligence agency wrote recently, Pakistan's refusal to accept the actual positions of the troops - in which India holds the advantage - only sows suspicion in the Indian mind that should there be a withdrawal from the Saltoro heights, Pakistan would "want to alter the position at first dawn." It would be another folly on the lines of returning 90,000 prisoners and territory sezied from Pakistan after the 1971 war without permanently resolving disputes with the country, he says.
As predicted sheer economics will compel the Pakistanis to finally make peace with India. As the relationship with the US becomes testier, and as China has failed to back up its friendship with cheques, the Pakistanis have no choice but to start addressing their economic shortcomings. And the only way to do that is to start an economic relationship with India.
For Pakistan, this is make or break. Economic failure could well result in the collapse of the state in due course. Nuclear weapons can’t really pay the bills, even if you are proliferating. And they’ll be utterly useless as the US tightens the economic noose to compel cooperation.
For India, well, it would finally stop distracting them from their competition with China.
India needs a tough hostage policy
The abductions of two Italians and two government officials by Maoist guerrillas in just over a month must have left Indian authorities with a sense of déjà vu as they search for ways to end the cycle of negotiations and eventual accession to demands made by the rebels.
For the Maoists, who say they are fighting for people left out of India’s economic boom, the tactic of taking hostages instead of engaging soldiers brings huge dividends — obtaining freedom for jailed comrades and suspension of military ‘combing’ operations in areas controlled by them.
The method is not new, with government records showing hundreds of kidnappings since 2008 by Maoists, who have fought for decades in a wide swathe of central and eastern India including many resource-rich regions. Authorities stumble along on a case-by-case basis because there is no set procedure on how to handle such situations.
But the recent pattern of high-profile abductions which have grabbed national headlines have worried the central government enough to consider drafting a long overdue policy on dealing with hostage situations.
Countries like the U.S., with its “no negotiation” policy and Israel’s deadly responses to militant attacks have all been contrasted to India’s handling of hostage crises, which most agree is not tough enough to stop or discourage future cases.
No details are known of the policy draft, but for any policy to be effective, India must shed its ‘soft’ image and include the politically risky option of rescue operations, without which the only option of hostage release in most cases is agreeing to the abductors’ demands.
And there are quite a few precedents to learn from – starting from the famous 1999 ‘Kandahar Hijacking’ where three Kashmiri militants were released, to the recent events in Orissa where authorities freed a Maoist leader’s imprisoned wife and promised to facilitate the release of several other rebels.
Sachin Tendulkar: from Wankhede to parliament
So it’s just a matter of time, according to media reports, before Sachin Tendulkar swaps his India jersey for starched white and walks into the Rajya Sabha.
While the clamour was growing to honour him with the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, few expected him to be nominated to the upper house.
That too when he is not yet done with cricket.
Tendulkar’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Thursday was probably the early inkling of a new innings and by afternoon, political parties were falling over each other to congratulate him.
In a cricket-crazy country that considers him ‘God’, the reaction was pretty much on expected lines.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said in a tweet that former Hindustan Lever chairman Ashok Ganguly, who occupies seat number 100 in Rajya Sabha, is even ready to vacate it for the 39-year-old Mumbaikar who has scored 100 international centuries.
For a man not really known for speaking his mind out on issues other than cricket, not many are sure how much Tendulkar can contribute as a parliamentarian.
from The Human Impact:
Does marriage stop prostitution? Indian village thinks so
Is marriage a guarantee that a woman won't be prostituted?
It's a question that played heavily on my mind recently when I went to the remote village of Wadia in India's western region of Gujarat to cover a mass wedding and engagement ceremony of 21 girls, which was aimed at breaking a centuries-old tradition of prostitution.
I arrived in the small, neglected hamlet on the eve of the big ceremony. Preparations were well underway.
Soon-to-be-brides sat inside the mud-walled compounds of their homes surrounded by singing female relatives, with "haldi" or turmeric paste smeared on the faces and arms - a South Asian pre-wedding ritual believed to make the skin "glow".
Sporting long, curled moustaches, large turbans and gold studs in their ears, old men idled on charpoys outside, smoking beedis under the shade of trees.
They told me they were from the Saraniya community - a once nomadic group who inhabited the arid landscape of Gujarat and the neighbouring Rajasthan.
Congress reshuffling an empty deck?
The clock is ticking for the ruling Congress party. Ever since the national auditor’s report blew the lid off the 2G spectrum scandal, the second term of the UPA government has been clouded by incessant talk of premature general elections or who will lead India in 2014.
As rumours do the rounds of a possible reshuffle of the Congress party after the Budget session, one gets the sense that India’s grand old party is starting to prepare for national elections, even if they are two years away. And rightly so, especially after its disastrous performance in Uttar Pradesh, the state that sends the largest number of lawmakers to parliament. While no political party is likely to secure majority if national elections were to be held today, regional parties could hold sway.
The Congress’ present situation is a throwback to the 1960s when the party was trying to revitalise its functioning in the face of declining popularity and vote share. Indira Gandhi ruled India for eleven consecutive years, followed by another term later that was cut short by her assassination. After her son Rajiv came to power and his destiny followed his mother’s, the Congress returned to power for only one term until the UPA government came to power in 2004.
This time it is unlikely the reshuffle will actually revive the party — with a generation of leaders close to retirement and a severe shortage of mid-level talent, Congress has few obvious options. There is still little clarity about succession.
It is also unlikely Manmohan Singh will be the prime ministerial candidate again. There is uncertainty over whether party president Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul can run both the party and a government, if required. Nor does the party nurture its leaders to lead from the front. And with no other option in sight, Sonia Gandhi ailing and unwilling to lead, and the current PM conspicuously inert, the Congress party is increasingly faceless.
The Congress’ leadership vacuum could boost the fortunes of regional political parties, their rising power evident in the recently concluded assembly elections. As for the BJP, which has its eyes on New Delhi ever since its 2004 India Shining campaign bombed, there could be two scenarios — elections could cost the party dear if it doesn’t put its own house in order; or the unpredictable Indian voter might just have a typical mood swing and decide to elect the pro-Hindu party once again.
Tea, milk or lassi — is the beverage war worth it?
From a hefty trade deficit to shocking child malnutrition, there is no dearth of social or economic problems to be dealt with in India. Yet in the midst of all these issues, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission has, in his wisdom, decided to wage a beverage war in India.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia wants to declare tea as the national drink of India by next year to commemorate the birth anniversary of India’s first indigenous tea planter who was also part of the 1857 mutiny against British rule.
Ahluwalia’s declaration has already sown the seeds of another mutiny in India. Milk producers have thrown down the gauntlet, and are demanding that the “honour” should go to, well, milk.
Lassi (buttermilk) drinkers in Punjab argue the distinction should go to the original Indian drink, not something which is a British legacy.
It seems only a matter of time before the filter coffee, lemonade, coconut water, mango juice or whisky drinkers jump on to the bandwagon as well.
Or would they?
After all, things have not gone well for many other title holders. The population of the Bengal Tiger, India’s national animal, has dwindled alarmingly in the past few decades. Field hockey, India’s national sport, is defined by inefficiency and mediocrity. The Ganga, India’s ‘holiest’ river, is also perhaps one of the dirtiest in the world.
Well, the Plannin Commison knows best. It does so much of research into any given issue that we cant question its authenticity. When PC can decide that the BPL limit is Rs.29, then who can argue if it wants Tea as the national drink. Next what, they national food?
from The Human Impact:
Undernourished and anaemic – the plight of India’s teen girls
The U.N.'s latest report on the state of the world's 1.2 billion adolescents gives food for thought, especially on the plight of India's girls aged between 10 and 19.
The report explores a range of issues affecting teenagers around the globe, from nutrition and health to sexual behaviour, knowledge on HIV/AIDS, attitudes towards gender violence and access to education.
Data from surveys of adolescent girls in India, and South Asia in general, are once again a reality check - which we shouldn't need but unfortunately still do.
Soon to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2050, India already has the highest number of adolescents in the world at 243 million, says the report by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Yet nearly half of Indian girls aged 15 to 19 are underweight, and more than a quarter are underweight in 10 other countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, Niger, Ethiopia and Cambodia.
"Such undernutrition renders adolescents vulnerable to disease and early death, and has lifelong health consequences," says the report. "In adolescent mothers, undernutrition is related to slow foetal growth and low birthweight."
Who wants to be India’s next president?
It’s probably easier for actor Amitabh Bachchan to become India’s president than your average politician.
The ruling Congress party coalition looks like it will at best limp its way to general elections in 2014, stung by a rash of corruption scandals that have tarnished Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term in office and led to a dismal performance in state assembly elections earlier this year.
Now the political establishment is abuzz about who will be the next president, a largely ceremonial post that comes open in July.
The incumbent by all accounts bears the hallmarks of the government she represents — ineffectual and damaged by accusations of corruption. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, whose tenure ends in July, was controversially allotted defence land to build a cosy retirement nest. With 12 trips overseas since taking over, she’s also racked up foreign travel bills that cost India more than 2 billion rupees ($39 million), the most by any Indian head of state.
Such lavishness has even led some to question the whole presidential institution within a parliamentary democracy. The president is the constitutional head but has limited powers, similar to that of the monarch in the United Kingdom, despite living in a 340-room palace that was once the British viceroy’s residence.
Weak as it is and with just a 30 pct share in the electoral college that selects the next president, the Congress party will struggle to impose its choice of candidate — such as current Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who is thought to covet the post — especially since most parties say the next president should not be a politician.
The name of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Patil’s more popular predecessor, is being bandied about for a second term. Scientist Kalam, often called the father of India’s missile programme, is admired for his unassuming personality. If successful, the man dubbed the “people’s president”, now 80, would be the first former president to be re-elected.
President of India should be like a ‘Life time achievement award.
Sanjay
http://www.kaapro.co.in
