the hindu imp. news feb. 21st 2012

8/3/2019 The Hindu Imp. News Feb. 21st 2012

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A goal is a dream with a deadline.

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THE HINDU

Imp. News

Feb.21ST

2012

FRONT PAGE

Centre rules out bailout, Kingfisher blames it on I-T:

The prime reason for the current disruption in our flight schedules is the sudden attachment of

our bank accounts by the I-T department. This has severely affected our ability to make

operational payments, leading to the present curtailment,'' Kingfisher spokesperson Prakash

Mirpuri said in a statement. We are in dialogue with the tax authorities to agree upon a

payment plan and get the bank accounts unfrozen at theearliest. We are appealing to them to

see reason that inconvenience to the travelling public is not in anybody's interest.''

IAEA talks could ease Iran tensions:

A team ofexperts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in Tehran for talks that

promise to start a process, which could help ease tensions between Iran and theWest. On

Sunday, Iran announced that it was suspending oil exports to Britain and France, whichhave

been at the forefront of targeting Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, Iran's key ally.

Nitish joins chorus against NCTC plan:

Eleven State Chief Ministers have so far written to Dr. Singh opposing the plan to institute the

agency, which is expected to be operational from March 1. In a strongly worded letter, Mr.

Kumar termed theentire process flawed, chiefly because the agency would come under the

Intelligence Bureau, which is not accountable to Parliament.

Arguing that the State police had been providing the Central government agencies with

valuable operational support on a case-to-case basis, he said the order did not specify the

kind of assistanceexpected from the civil authorities. Mr. Kumar also questioned the need for

creating such new centres with provisions to arbitrarily trample upon the

existing constitutional safeguards designed to protect the balance of power between the

Centre and the States.

Rumour' behind Gujarat temple stampede:

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced an immediate relief of Rs. 1 lakh

each to the next of kin of those killed and Rs. 25,000 to each of the injured in the stampede

near the Bhavnath Shiva temple in Junagadh. Seven persons were killed and over 40 injured in

the incident on Sunday.


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Five planets to be visible in rare event:

In a rare celestial coincidence, five planets, including the Saturn, will bevisible in the night for

two weeks from February 23.

EDITORIAL

India's destiny not caste in stone:

Many are now coming to believe that, despite the undeniable demographic, technological and

economic changes taking place in the country, the division into castes and communities

remains the ineluctable and ineradicable feature of Indian society. They also believe that to

ignore those divisions or to draw attention to other divisions such as those of income,

education and occupation is to turn our backs on the ground reality. The more radical among

them add that ignoring those realities amounts to an evasion of the political responsibility of

redistributing the benefits and burdens of society in a more just and equitable manner. The

leaders of the nationalist movement who successfully fought for India's freedom from colonial

rule believed that India may have been a society of castes and communities in the past but

would become a nation of citizens with the adoption of a new republican constitution. They

were too optimistic. The Constitution did create rights for the citizen, but it did not eradicate

caste from thehearts and minds of the citizens it created. For many Indians, and perhaps the

majority, thehabits of theheart are still thehabits of a hierarchical society.

Democracy was expected to efface the distinctions of caste, but its consequences have been

very different from what was expected. Politics is no doubt an important part of a nation's life

in a democracy, but it is not the only part of it. There are other areas of life in which the

consciousness of caste has been dying down, though not very rapidly or dramatically. Thetrends of change which I will now examine do not catch the attention of the media because

they happen over long stretches of time, in slow motion as it were. In the past, restrictions on

inter-dining were closely related to restrictions on marriage according to the rules of caste. The

restrictions on marriagehave not disappeared, but they haveeased to someextent. Among

Hindus, the law imposed restrictions on inter-caste marriage. The law has changed, but the

custom of marrying within the caste is still widely observed. However, what is happening is that

other considerations such as those ofeducation and income are also kept in mind in arranging a

match. At any rate, it will be difficult to argue that caste consciousness in matrimonial matters

has been on the rise in recent decades.

The consciousness of caste is brought to the fore at the time ofelections. Elections to the Lok

Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas are now held all the year round. For logistical and other reasons,

elections to even the Vidhan Sabhas may be stretched out over several weeks. There are by-

elections in addition to the general elections. Election campaigns have become increasingly

spectacular and increasingly costly, and they often create the atmosphere of a carnival. The

mobilisation of electoral support on the basis of caste is a complex phenomenon whose

outcome gives scope for endless speculation. The averagevillager devotes far more thought


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and time to home, work and worship than to electoral matters. It is well known that thevoter

turnout among urban professional Indians is low. But even when they do not participate in the

elections to theextent ofvisiting their local polling booths, they participate in them vicariously

by following on television what happens in the outside world. Television provides a large dose

ofentertainment along with a modicum of political education.

The Railways need funds:

The Kakodkar high-level railway safety review committee, which submitted its

recommendations to Railway Minister DineshTrivedi on Friday, It may not have said anything

new or different from the past but it has chosen to tell the Railways how to mobilise the funds

for a long overdue, massive safety upgrade programme over the next five years, with an

estimate for Rs.1 lakh crore. What needs to be done for toning up railway safety is already well

known: modern signalling, doing away with unmanned level crossings, replacing over-aged

assets, and even introducing a new generation of coaches.

After Nitish Kumar brought the Railways back from the brink, and Lalu Prasad took all the credit

for prudent financial management, Mamata Banerjeehad virtually brought the Indian Railways

to a situation of a financial collapse. Even now, her nominee in Rail Bhavan, DineshTrivedi,

seems utterly unwilling to raise passenger fares. For 10 years, therehas been no revision. And

heexpects the Finance Minister to grant him a budget support of Rs.20,000 crore or more next

month. It is time the Planning Commission and Finance Ministry took a serious look at the state

of the Railways. For if India's biggest employer is unwilling to takeeven small steps towards

better managing its finances, there is no sense in it having a separate annual budget.

For oil and peace, India must stand up in the two Sudans:

India's trade and investment in Africa has soared to amazing heights in recent years with Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh pledging $5 billion for development initiatives at last year's India-

Africa Summit. Today, there is no better place to take India's African engagement forward than

in helping Sudan and South Sudan find a lasting peace. Since South Sudan won its

independence from Sudan last year, a dispute over oil is edging the former foes closer to

reigniting one of Africa's longest and deadliest wars. When South Sudan broke off, it took three

quarters of Sudan's oil with it. But Sudan still controls the only existing pipeline route out to

international markets. South Sudan's plans to build an alternative pipeline to Kenya will

probably take two years to realize. In the meantime, the two sides have been locked in heated

negotiations over the transit fee Sudan should receive, but remain in stalemate.

Since India's leading national oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) set foot in Sudan in 2003 it

has invested over $2.5 billion. But South Sudan's shutdown of its 350,000 barrel-daily

production dealt a major blow to the company's overseas oil ambitions. For much of the past

decade, over half of its international oil production has come from Sudan, and with it, an ample

share of its profits. Beyond oil Sudan has also been a major international destination for India's

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. through a $450 million power plant investment. The Indian Export-


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Import Bank has dispatched over $550 million in lines of credit to projects contracted to India

Inc. in Sudan. Bajaj auto-rickshaws are a common sight on the capital Khartoum's congested

streets as Indian exports have gained a foothold. However, the Sudanese government has been

dithering on repaying the loans, particularly after it lost the majority of its oil wealth. War

between the two Sudans puts India's investments in even further jeopardy.

India has a cherished history in Africa. Jawaharlal Nehru helped Africa break its colonial chains

and South Africa wrestle free of apartheid's oppression. But if India truly wants to make a

unique mark, it must roll up its sleeves and lend a hand in ending Africa's longstanding conflicts.

It's time for India to heed the call and stand up in the two Sudans.

Seeding a farm policy without the dirt on climate change:

A recent international conference on climate change and sustainable agriculture in New Delhi

brought forth the shocking realisation that there are no conclusive studies in India on the

prospective impact of climate change on the agriculture sector including livestock and fisheries.

Much of the country's understanding comes from global data provided by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, theWorld Meteorological Organisation and other

world bodies.

The conference theme paper contained the following admission: The climate system is

extremely complex and poorly understood in terms of extent, timing and impact. Thus, the

knowledge and understanding of implications of climate change at the national level is

inadequate and fragmentary.

The statement is telling, coming as it does from the organisers the Indian Council of

Agriculture Research (ICAR) and non-government institute, National Council for ClimateChange, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership; the government has entrusted the

ICAR with the task of coming up withmitigation and adaptation technologies.

For years, the 80 per cent small and marginal farmers with a landholding of less than an acre

have delivered in the face of natural calamities and adapted to poor irrigation, unaffordable

credit, lack of proper crop and self insurance and un-remunerative price for the crop.

Going by the limited studies put forward by the ICAR, the drought in 2002 affected food

production by 10 per cent; the cold wave in January 2003 hit cultivation of mustard, mango,

guava, papaya, brinjal, tomato and potato. High rainfall in 1998 and 2005 affected kharif and

late kharif onion crop, resulting in pricehike. But the issue is: can these single-year events be

quoted as examples of long-term climate change? In general terms, the ICAR says that

continuous higher temperatures during critical growth stages of rabi crops reduces yields

considerably. This is not borne by the increase in wheat production that has gone up over

a decade from 69.68 million tonnes in 2000-2001 to a record 88.31 million tonnes in 2011-

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The simple requirement of farmers on the ground in States like Punjab and Haryana is advanced

and accurate information on weather. They want quick movement of kharif stock so that they

can bring forward the sowing of rabi-wheat. But the government has done precious little

towards this.

Coastal States situated along the 7,500-km coastline seek policies to sustain productive andprotective habitats such as mangroves, coral reefs wetlands and fisheries. Hilly States want

development of traditional forest land from which they draw green feeds and grasses to

indigenously manage natural resources. High-altitude States, which face droughts, frosts,

torrential rains and landslides, prefer integrated soil and watershed management in a farming

system mode to sustain them through the year.

Still sprouting after 32,000 years:

For the first time ever, scientists have been able to grow ancient flowering plants ( Silene

stenophylla ) from immature fruit tissues buried 38 metres under the North-eastern Siberian ice

deposits about 32,000 years ago. The tissues were recovered from the burrow of a ground

squirrel.

The regenerated plants flowered and also produced seeds. These seeds were in turn able to

grow into plants that were identical to the parent plants. If immature tissues and organs are

known to be more regenerative than mature ones, this study published today (February 21) in

theProceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences journal has proved it conclusively. They

used tissue culture and micropropagation to make the immature placental tissue grow into

healthy and sexually reproducing plants.

Interestingly, S. stenophylla (perennial herbaceous plant from the family Caryophyllaceae) hasnot goneextinct. At present, plants ofS. stenophylla are the most ancient, viable, multicellular,

living organisms, the authors noted. Hence scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences,

Pushchino, Russia, were able to grow the ancient plants and compare them with those found in

the same region. The ancient plants and those still in existence (extant) were morphologically

identical till the flowering stage. Differences cropped up only when the plants started

flowering. The petals of the plants found today were wider and dissected, and all the flowers

were bisexual. However, the petals of the ancient plants were narrower, and the primary

flowers were strictly female, followed by bisexual flowers that formed later. The study helped

understand the rate of microevolution in the plants.

About 70 fossil burrows have been found in the region, of which more than 30 have been

investigated. The burrows contain invaluable supply of plant seeds and fruits. The number of

seeds and fruits reaches up to 600,000 to 800,000 in some chambers, they wrote. Squirrel

burrows with seeds deposited around the same timehave been identified in Alaska and Yukon

as well. This indicates that the whole of Beringia has a great potential as storage of ancient life

preserved in permafrost, the authors underlined.


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INTERNATIONAL

U.S. warns Israel against Iran strike:

After years of relentlessly seeking to bring the weight of international pressure against Iran

through sanctions, the US and other Western powers appeared to be backing off from ahawkishview against that country as they cautioned Israel against launching a direct strike on

Iran's nuclear facilities.

Destabilising

Speaking to CNN 's Farid Zakaria over the weekend General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said such an air strike was not prudent at this point and would be

destabilising. The General's comments came even as the public discourse against Iran has

heated up in theWest and the prospect of an Israeli airstrikehas gained salience in certain

policy circles. His remarks also come in the wake of similar comments by British Foreign

Secretary William Hague, who was quoted saying that the potential attack, which could

reportedly involve as many 100 Israeli jets in a complex and dangerous operation, was not a

wise thing at this moment. Both senior officials spoke even as representatives of the

International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Tehran on Monday for further talks with Iran on

its alleged nuclear activities.

In China, a police chief with no policing background:

The appointment of a new police chief in the south-western municipality of Chongqing, in the

wake of a political scandal that has cast doubt on the future of one of China's rising political

stars, reflected the growing influence of a powerful party faction ahead of this year's leadershiptransition, analysts said. The new police chief, Guan Haixiang, replaced Wang Lijun, who earlier

this month appeared at the United States Consulate in Chengdu reportedly seeking asylum

after falling out withhis former boss, the Chongqing party chief and Politburo member Bo

Xilai. According to reports, Mr. Wang, who rose to national prominence following a corruption

crackdown that brought down more than 1,500 officials, was himself the subject of an

investigation by central authorities. President Hu Jintao himself spent three years working for

the CYL in theearly 1980s. Mr. Guan served at the CYL during the same time as Vice Premier Li

Keqiang, and according to reports in the media worked as his secretary. Several media reports

also said Mr. Guan was the son-in-law of State Councillor Liu Yandong, who spent a decade at

the CYL.

Pakistan again summons U.S. official over Balochistan:

For the second time in a week, the U.S. Charge d'Affaires was called to the Foreign Office on

Monday to register Pakistan's strong protest over American Congressmen's interventions on

Balochistan. And on the streets of Islamabad, hardline groups held a protest meeting against

U.S. interference in Pakistan's internal affairs. Pakistan has reacted sharply to the resolution


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introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by three members asserting Balochistan's right

to self-determination. The resolution was introduced by Republican Congressman Dana

Rohrabacher who had earlier this month chaired theexclusivehearing held by the U.S. House

Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations on human rights violations in

Balochistan. Meanwhile, hardline right wing organisations that have banded together under the

banner of the newly formed Difa-e-Council Pakistan held a protest meeting in Islamabad wherethey threatened death to America''. Among those on the platform set up at Abpara junction

near theheadquarters of the ISI was Maulana Sami-ul-Haq who is regarded as the father of

theTaliban' as heheads the Darul Uloom Haqqani, the alma mater of theTaliban leadership

including Mullah Omar.

Pullout , Kyrgyzstan tells U.S.-

Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev told visiting U.S. officials that all foreign troops

must be withdrawn from the Manas international airport in 2014.

Speaking about U.S. military presence in the republic thehead of state said no foreign military

contingent should be in the Manas Civil Airport after the summer of 2014, the presidential

press service said in a statement on Mr. Atambayev's meeting in Bishkek on Monday with a U.S.

delegation headed by Susan Elliott, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central

Asia. The U.S. airbase, established at Manas in December 2001, serves as a vital transit hub for

U.S. troops and aircraft involved in the NATO Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Mr.

Atambayev first called for shutting down the U.S. base after his election as Kyrgyz President last

November.

Drought declared in south and eastern England:

To many, the idea that a country where it seems to be always raining could face drought might

appear odd, but on Monday several parts of Britain were officially declared to be facing drought

with groundwater levels in some areas falling to alarmingly low levels after two consecutive dry

winters.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced that much of

southern and eastern England was now in a state of drought as the Environment Secretary

Caroline Spelman held a drought summit'' of farmers, experts and water companies to discuss

the situation said to be particularly serious in south-east England, East Anglia and the East

Midlands with some rivers having already dried up. Warning that more areas could be affected,

Ms Spelman said: Drought is already an issue this year with the South East, Anglia and other

parts of the UK now officially in drought, and more areas are likely to be affected as we

continue to experience a prolonged period ofvery low rainfall. It is not just the responsibility of

government, water companies and businesses to act against drought. We are asking for the

help ofeveryone by urging them to use less water and to start now. She appealed to the

people to save water as experts called for a long-term plan but opinion was divided on ``piping''

water from the wet and water-rich north to the dry south-east of England because of thehuge


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cost involved. Water companies favoured more interconnections between regional water

networks arguing it would be cheaper than individual companies augmenting their own

resources. Thewildlife charity WWF accused the government of dragging its feet.

Agony, ecstasy over Windows' logo:

Microsoft itself appeared somewhat defensive about it, with Sam Moreau, Principal Director of

user experience for Microsoft, writing a column in his blog titled, It's a window, not a flag. Mr.

Moreau however added that his company wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic

by echoing the International Typographic Style.

Using bold flat colours and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of way-

finding design systems seen in airports and subways, Mr. Moreau noted of the logo's wider

visual appeal, explaining that the idea was to align the logo with the basic style ofWindows 8

itself, whichhe said was fast and fluid... [and the logo is] humble, yet confident.

Some industry experts however clearly did not share Mr. Moreau's enthusiasm about the logo.

Forbes magazine's E.D. Kain wrote, It's hard for me to seehow this is a great leap forward in

design from theWindows 1.0 logo... I realise that this is all very much a matter of taste, but to

me the blue window panel in the original is moreeye-catching than the tilted blue panel in the

Windows 8 version.

In a similar vein VentureBeat's Sean Ludwig said, It's a simple one-colour logo that emphasises

Windows 8's simple design, but it's so bland that it doesn't convey anything important about

the new operating system. Likewise, ZDNet's Larry Dignan remarked, TheWindows 8 logo

gives me a window, but I want to jump out of it.

Such acerbic criticism notwithstanding thevery fact of intense debate and scrutiny surrounding

the new logo however suggests that Microsoft's grip on the global computing market is as

strong as it has ever been.

BUSINESS

PMO meet on exploration delays in NELP blocks:

With the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry's spat with the Defence Ministry and the

Department of Space remaining unresolved, a worried Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has

convened an urgent meeting on February 27 on the delay in carrying out exploration activities

in blocks under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and also delay in announcing NELP-IX

round. Interestingly, the meeting notice issued by Prabhat Kumar, Joint Secretary in the PMO to

Joint Secretary (Exploration), A. Giridhar, has sought specific details about ENI operated AN-

DWN-2003/2 (NELP-V). The AN-DWN-2003/2 block was offered under NELP-V and was awarded

to ENI-ONGC-GAIL consortium. The PMO had, in January, also held a meeting to discuss the

issue of oil and gas blocks that had been hanging fire for want of clearances by the Deference


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Ministry and the Department of Space but nothing concretehad emerged out of that meeting

with all sides maintaining their stand on the issue of nearly 19 blocks.

Tikona Infinet to explore enterprise data services market:

Broadband and IT service provider Tikona Digital Networks (TDN) on Monday said it hascompleted the 100 per cent acquisition of HCL Infinet, the data services arm of HCL, by way of

purchase of equity. The new entity, Tikona Infinet (TI), will jumpstart TDN's entry into the

rapidly-expanding enterprise data services market. Tikona Infinet combines the network assets,

organisational capabilities and customer base ofTDN and HCL Infinet.

New consumer price index today:

Starting Tuesday, the government will release the nation-wide Consumer Price Index (CPI) on a

monthly basis for better reflection of retail price movement and to help the Reserve Bank of

India take effective monetary policy steps to deal with inflation. The new CPI, according to

experts, will eventually replace theWholesale Price Index (WPI) for policy actions to deal with

the price situation. The monthly CPI will be in addition to the three retail price indices for

agricultural labourers, rural labourers and industrial workers prepared by the Ministry of

Labour.

Page 18

In rare occurrence, Venus & Jupiter coming very close on February 25:

In a rather not-so-common astronomical occurrence, Venus and Jupiter will comevery close to

each other in the western part of the sky and be joined by a crescent moon, the three celestialbodies forming a kind of triangle on February 25. According to B.G. Sidharth, Director-General

of the B.M. Birla Science Centre, the two planets, already visible to the naked eye, will keep

coming closer after February 25.

Brightest Mars

This phenomenon will be followed by Mars rising from theeast on March 3. In fact, the red

planet will be at opposition when the Sun sets in the west. Around this time, it will be the

closest to theearth in a period of 12 months, and also brightest. Mr. Sidharth said planet Saturn

would also bevisible.

the hindu imp. news feb. 21st 2012

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