If the Manmohan Singh government appears to have made a faltering start, the blame falls on the unavoidable exigencies of coalition politics. However, of all its partners, it is the regional ally from Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which must be held responsible for creating most of the problems.
Its antics started with its ailing leader, M. Karunanidhi, leaving Delhi in a huff and returning to Chennai with his band of relatives and party members because he was unhappy with the ministerial berths being offered to the party.
Although the differences were subsequently sorted out, it left a bad taste in the mouth. What is more, it is the DMK whose reputation suffered the most because Karunanidhi's demands showed that the party has been reduced to virtually a family concern.
In the end, however, only one of the ageing patriarch's sons, M.K. Azhagiri, was sworn in along with his grand-nephew, Dayanidhi Maran, but the fact that his daughter, Kanimozhi, opted out suggested that there was a row within the family before the final decision was taken.
That the family drama hasn't ended was also evident from Kanimozhi's absence during Thursday's swearing-in ceremony.
While the DMK evidently did not come out of the episode smelling of roses, neither did the Manmohan Singh government. The latter's acquiescence in the appointment of the former telecommunications minister, Andimuthu Raja, who did not really excel with his performance and made some dubious decisions, in the same position disappointed those who had presumed that the prime minister would make a new beginning free of the scandals of the past.
The only consolation was that another controversial former minister, T.R. Baalu, belonging to the DMK, did not find a place in the ministry. But the fact that his name was mentioned as a possible deputy speaker underlined the unwarranted influence which the DMK wields over the Congress at the national level.
It is noteworthy that Baalu's earlier portfolio has gone to the Congress' Kamal Nath, who is known for his efficiency. He is expected, therefore, to clear the mess left by Baalu in the surface transport ministry, which handles the important national highways project. However, to cap a period of unedifying haggling, Maran went on record to say shortly after being sworn in that the DMK should have had more ministers.
Since the Congress, with its 200-plus seats, now holds the whipping hand in the new United Progressive Alliance (UPA), one would have expected it to be more stern with greedy allies. But it probably did not want to illtreat the DMK lest it lost ground to its equally demanding rival in Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which was earlier regarded as a possible winner.
In contrast to the DMK, the other allies exhibited exemplary behaviour, accepting the Congress's prerogative as the No. 1 party to allocate portfolios. As expected, Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress became the railway minister. As the leader of a one-person party, she did not seem to favour anyone else from her party becoming a cabinet minister. So, six from her party became ministers of state.
The Congress has also been quite generous towards the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) considering that it gave its leader, Sharad Pawar, all the portfolios he held in the last cabinet - agriculture, food and civil supplies, consumer affairs and public distribution. This gesture was somewhat surprising since Pawar did not seem totally loyal before the elections when he hobnobbed with the Third Front. His name was also proposed by the Shiv Sena, among others, for the prime minister's post.
Not surprisingly, when Pawar entered the room in Congress president Sonia Gandhi's house where the UPA's first meeting was being held, he first took a chair away from the big guns before his party member, Praful Patel, escorted him to a more prominent place.
Patel, however, suffered a relegation as he was made a minister of state, though with independent charge, despite being a full minister before. Another minister of state from the party is Agatha Sangma, who, at 28, is the youngest member of the cabinet. Her induction was also surprising since her father, former Lok Sabha Speaker, P.A. Sangma, had been cozying up to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the elections and had made a political issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins.
Against the background of the reports that the Congress intends to part company with the NCP in Maharashtra before the assembly polls in the state, the relations between the two parties at the centre will be watched closely.
The choice of the Congress ministers and their portfolios was along expected lines except for the selection of S.M. Krishna as the external affairs minister. The former Karanataka chief minister and Maharashtra governor may initially feel a little out of his depth in his new, unaccustomed position, especially at a time of turmoil in the neighbourhood with Pakistan imploding, Sri Lanka still coping with the bloody aftermath of a civil war and the Maoists in Nepal uncertain about their role in a democracy.
Otherwise, the continuation of Pranab Mukherjee in finance, P. Chidambaram in home and A.K. Antony in defence was expected. Mukherjee, the Congress's man for all seasons, will undoubtedly focus on the revival of the economy at a time of recession while Chidambaram will carry on his task of strengthening internal security, with which he was entrusted after 26/11.
The arrival of the aerial-borne radar system from Israel soon after Antony's reappointment as the defence minister shows that he remains engaged in his job of boosting the strength of the country's armed forces.
Among those who fell by the wayside was the former human resource development minister, Arjun Singh, a sulking heavyweight who became an embarrassment for the government with his penchant for striking out on his own on sensitive policy matters, such as reservations for the backward castes in higher educational institutions. It was no secret that he was driven by resentment over Manmohan Singh's elevation to the prime minister's post.
His place has been taken by the eminent lawyer, Kapil Sibal, who is expected to restore a semblance of sanity in the ministry, which needs to pay greater attention to primary education.
Similarly, Ghulam Nabi Azad is expected to bring the healthy ministry back on track after the antics of the former minister, Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK, derailed it. The latter's sole concern was to deprive premier institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences of their autonomy.
Another prominent omission was of former law minister, Hansraj Bhardwaj. Perhaps his suspected role in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) giving a clean chit to Italian businessman, Ottavio Quottrocchi, whose name is related to the Bofors gun purchase scandal, was not appreciated because it gave the Congress, and especially the Gandhi family, a bad name.
For all the drama before the two swearing-in ceremonies, Team Manmohan has a settled look, suggesting that it should be able to act more purposefully this time than during the last five years when the Congress was heavily dependent on pushy allies like the Left. It also has the satisfaction of knowing that its principal opponent, the BJP, is too demoralised to create any problems in the immediate future.
The prospects for the government, therefore, are reasonably bright.
India and the US Friday discussed their growing strategic ties when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rang up External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and congratulated him on assuming the office.
The two also discussed the forthcoming visit of US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, likely early next month.
Burns will be the first high-level US official to visit India after the Manmohan Singh government took charge this week following the victory of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in the elections.
The two also discussed possibilities of taking their strategic cooperation to a new level, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said here.
Burns is expected to meet Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and discuss a host of issues, including the situation in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, the Mumbai terrorist attacks and non-proliferation.
Burns' trip to Delhi will also set the stage for Hillary Clinton's first visit to India, likely in July, after she became secretary of state early this year.
Krishna, who took charge of the ministry last this week, also got a congratulatory call from his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.
The initiatives have been taken following the Delhi serial blasts last year
Under a public-private initiative, Delhi Police with the help of local business houses and traders' associations will install high-end cameras and security gadgets at markets and business centres which see footfalls of over 100,000 a day, officials said Friday.
Under the initiative, south Delhi's Nehru Place business centre, the capital's biggest IT market, has become the first centre where 32 CCTV cameras have been installed.
"The police, with the help of local business houses and traders associations, has set up high-end cameras at strategic points of the Nehru Place business centre that consists of several multi-storied buildings that see a footfall of over one lakh a day," Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) Ajai Kashyap told reporters here.
"We are planning to replicate this model at several other markets like Lajpat Nagar, CR Park and Sarojini Nagar," Kashyap said.
The initiatives have been taken following the Delhi serial blasts last year, which especially targeted crowded markets.
"Crowded business centres like Nehru Place are also vulnerable due to various other reasons, besides the militant threat," he said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the people of India to assess whether going by its track record Bharatiya Janata Party is capable of forming a decisive and strong...
Pakistan Friday blocked its hockey and squash teams' tour of India because of the tense relations between the two countries, with Sports Minister Aftab Shah Jilani saying the authorities were concerned about the players' security in India in the current circumstances.
"We sought advice from the foreign ministry and took the decsion that it's not advisable to send the teams to India over security fears," Jilani told reporters here.
Pakistan's hockey team was scheduled to feature in a four-nation tournament at Chandigarh Jan 31-Feb 8 alongside Germany, Holland and hosts India.
The national squash team was readying for the Asian Junior Squash Championships at Chennai Jan 16-23.
The Pakiastani government decision was not surprising, considering the fact that India cancelled its cricket team's tour of Pakistan last month following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. After that decision, Pakistan was expected to retaliate by refusing to let its sportsmen travel to India.
The minister stressed that sporting ties between the countries could be revived if the situation improved.
"Once we have normalcy in the situation, we can review of our participation in sporting events in India," Jilani said.
In 2001 too, Pakistan and India broke off sporting ties in the wake of the terror attack on the Indian parliament. India lifted the ban in October 2003, paving way for its cricket team's visit to Pakistan a year later.
India Tuesday indicated it was keeping all options open, including a military strike against terrorist camps in Pakistan and suspension of bilateral dialogue, and underlined that it will take "appropriate action" to protect its territory from terror attacks emanating from the neighbouring country.
"We will await the response from Pakistan to the demarche (formal protest note)," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the India-Arab Forum Tuesday morning.
"We have in our demarche asked for the arrests and handing over of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitives under the Indian law," he added.
"There are lists (containing the names) of about 20 persons. (These) lists are sometimes altered and this exercise is going on and we have reviewed it in our demarche," Mukherjee said.
"What I am saying is every sovereign country has its right to protect its territorial integrity and take appropriate action as and when it feels it is necessary to take that appropriate action," Mukherjee later told the NDTV news channel in an interview.
"As and when it takes place you will get to know. Nobody publicises or advertises it. I am not making any comment on military option," he replied when asked whether he would rule out military option against terrorist groups like the Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) which are suspected to have engineered the Mumbai terror strikes.
"What will be done, time will show and you will come to know," Mukherjee said.
India's "most wanted 20" list includes known terror masterminds like mob boss Dawood Ibrahim, Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) which was suspected behind the Dec 13, 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, and LeT chief Hafez Mohammed Sayeed.
New Delhi has suspected these fugitives to be behind major terror strikes in India over the years.
India has, however, not set a time-frame for Pakistan to the demarche it issued Monday that included the return of India's 20 most wanted men, the dismantling of terrorist camps and the proscription of anti-India militant outfits.
"We have not set a time-frame for Pakistan's response to our demarche. We will give them a reasonable amount of time," a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
"All options are open. Nothing has been decided as yet," he replied when asked what steps India will take in case Pakistan refuses to concede to its demands.
Pakistan has responded by offering India a joint team to probe the Mumbai attacks and underlined it will "frame a response" to New Delhi's demand for handing over 20 of India's most wanted men.
But India has cold-shouldered what it sees a diversionary ploy by Pakistan to impress the international community about its sincerity. "We want action on the ground," the official said.
The bilateral composite dialogue process has not been stalled yet, but if Pakistan fails to address India's concerns, New Delhi may decide to suspend the talks on the remaining items in the ongoing fifth round, said reliable sources, privy to the government's thinking on the subject.
"There is a stress on the dialogue process. The atmosphere has been vitiated by the Mumbai attacks," the official admitted.
The menu of likely actions by India in case of Pakistan's refusal to act on the ground could include military action. But this last resort action is not being considered yet. "You can't rule out anything. We will cross the bridge when it comes to it," the official said.
Investigations have disclosed that the Nov 26 Mumbai terror strikes bore the imprint of LeT, a banned militant outfit.
The probe has produced enough damning evidence that led New Delhi to officially tell Islamabad Tuesday that it holds elements in Pakistan responsible for the Mumbai terror strikes.
Pakistan has denied any link with the Mumbai blasts.
"The government of Pakistan has offered a joint investigating mechanism and a joint commission to India," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a nationwide telecast in Islamabad.
At the same time, India and Pakistan should not allow their composite dialogue to get derailed in the wake of the Mumbai killings, he said.
"We want better relations... and it is in the larger interest of the two countries to continue the composite dialogue process.
With Pakistan in the denial mode, India Tuesday briefed envoys of those countries whose nationals were killed in the NOv 26 terror carnage about the investigation and underlined that New Delhi expected Islamabad to act against militants based in its territory who engineered it.
Vivek Katju, special secretary (Political and International Organisations), held a meeting with the envoys and expressed India's deepest condolences to them.
The heads of missions from Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Thailand, Israel and Mauritius were present at the meeting, official sources told IANS.
India's diplomatic offensive comes in response to repeated denials by Pakistan and Islamabad's frenzied calls to world capitals to convince the international community of its claimed innocence.
It's not just coffee. It's conversations, connections and more...
-Ankita Khare
Just as every man has his hobbyhorse; coffee has its own fans. It enjoys a long history and rich culture. Complimenting this heritage, the modern coffee corners in Delhi, like many others around the world, have created a special niche for themselves. There is no doubt that these coffee joints have created an atmosphere which is more addictive than the caffeine itself.
“The hip-hop music, an economical menu and a ‘classy’ ambience act like opium for people of all genres. It is amazing to watch an old staunch man reading his newspaper while the couple sitting next to him continues to get intimate with every passing moment. It is a perfect place for social interaction,” says Parth Goswami, a Delhi University final year law student and Barista-addict.
It all started in the nineties with the boom in the Indian economy taking off. One symbol of change was the sudden mushrooming of Baristas and Café Coffee Days not only in metros, but also in small towns. It was a refreshing change for the young who till then frequented the typical coffee houses.
Confirms K S Rao, a middle-aged real-estate agent and a casual Barista visitor: “Some two decades ago, there were hardly any coffee shops in the city. I can only recall Indian Coffee House at Connaught Place. The environment there was extremely informal. The crowd was mainly dominated by old people while students hardly approached these places...Baristas and Café Coffee Days are a welcome change to this scenario.”
Almost everything within is adorable. Loud music. Semi-formal interiors. Decorated coffee froth. Someone playing the guitar. Air conditioned wi-fi environment. An affordable menu.
Yet, there are some who want a change.
“The arrangement is not very comfortable. The music is too loud. It is better in America. They have more options there. We have a lot of catching up to do in India,” suggests Harsha Misra, an America-returned business executive.
Some even blame these new social networking places for “westernizing our good old Indian Culture,” says 50-year-old home-maker Aditi Asthana, “The youth has suddenly discovered a new meaning of being in love—it is all about hanging out at a coffee shop, blowing their parents money and getting cozy. Youngsters are turning into nocturnal animals, courtesy these 24X7 coffee bars.”
However, even after all the criticism, the city’s coffee culture continues to gather steam. And when it comes to social networking, Baristas, Costas and Café Coffee Days are considered no less than Orkut or Facebook--only with a better face value.
So as people continue to discover new meanings of networking at these bars, even a coffee hater is compelled to tell his buddies… “see ya at the coffee shop.”
The consecutive suicide attacks in Islamabad and on Indian embassy in Kabul clearly show how much SAARC countries are inflicted with terrorism. The countries in subcontinent have always been soft targets for terrorists. No stringent laws, poor condition of intelligence and lack of active joint mechanisms between nations in Indian subcontinent have been the favouring factors for rising incidents. Although India and Pakistan set up a joint mechanism on terrorism, and similarly Pakistan also has a Pakistan-Afghan Accord to Obliterate Terrorism, but there are no results. The individual mechanisms are of no help in war on terrorism, we clearly need a combined forum to talk and find solutions and SAARC is that forum. During the 12th and 13th SAARC summits, extreme emphasis was laid upon greater cooperation between the SAARC members to fight terrorism, but the countries need to come out with a suitable framework in upcoming summit at Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Al Jazeera on Kabul Blast:
At least 28 people have been killed and more than 100 others wounded in Afghanistan's capital Kabul after an attack on the Indian embassy, offficials say.
Abdullah Fahim, the spokesman for the Afghan public health ministry, said the explosion wounded 141 people in addition to the deaths.
The ministry collected information from the scene and several Kabul hospitals.
James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Afghanistan, said the blast on Monday may have been the work of a suicide bomber.
"This is the deadliest attack in Kabul for some months now," he said.
At least two of the dead were Indian paramilitary soldiers guarding the embassy, Indian foreign ministry officials said.
Bays said the road in the main centre of Kabul along which the interior ministry is situated should be one of the most secure roads in the city and "yet a suicide bomber managed to drive his four-wheel drive vehicle packed with explosives towards the gate of the embassy where he detonated his bomb".
He added: "It is a scene of utter devastation. The bomb has taken away the gate of the embassy, taken down trees, blown out windows and destroyed many cars which were parked outside the road ... pools of blood in the road and, of course, the most of awful thing it has done is kill alot of people ... Among the dead are a number of Indian staff working at the Indian embassy."
"Our information says two personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been killed in the attack," a foreign ministry source said.
The blast, which was felt across much of Kabul, took place near a row of metal turnstiles outside the Indian embassy, where dozens of Afghan men line up every morning to apply for visas.
Show of support
Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, the Afghan foreign minister, visited the embassy soon after the attack to show support, Sultan Ahmad Baheen, his spokesman, said.
"The enemies of Afghanistan and India's relationship cannot hamper our relationship by conducting such attacks," Baheen said.
India has provided significant support to Afghanistan's efforts to restore order after the removal of the Taliban, which seized power in 1996 until they were pushed out.
Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister, has called an emergency meeting of defence, foreign and home ministry officials to discuss the security situation, Indian officials said.
"There is no report of major damage to the embassy building but a watch tower has been destroyed as per our preliminary information."
The Indian embassy sits on a busy, tree-lined street in central Kabul near the interior ministry offices.
The ministry building is a large Soviet-built concrete complex.
Several nearby shops were damaged or destroyed in the blast.
The Associated Press news agency quoted witnesses as saying the bomb exploded during morning rush hour.
Monday's explosion was the deadliest attack in Kabul this year and the worst since a suicide bomber attacked an army bus last September, killing 30 people.
While Afghanistan has seen increasing violence in recent months, Kabul has been largely spared from random bomb attacks that Taliban fighters use in their fight against Afghan and international troops.
Canadian killed
In a separate incident on Monday, a Canadian soldier with Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) died in an explosion that hit a patrol in the country's south, a Canadian commander said.
Private Colin William Wilmot was taking part in a security patrol when an explosive device blew up near him, Brigadier-General Denis Thompson said in a statement.
Canada has deployed 2,500 soldiers in southern Afghanistan as part of the 40-nation Isaf, which numbers about 53,000 soldiers.
The latest death brings the Canadian death toll in Afghanistan since 2002 to 87 soldiers and one diplomat.
The rapid growth in Indian media has come at the cost of ethics, an Indian newspaper editor said here, even as the leading executive of another said the job of a newspaper like his was to “purvey optimism” and not “gloom and doom".
Indian media and Bollywood were the subjects of discussion at the Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Speakers, who included film director Shekhar Kapur and Raju Narisetti, managing editor of Mint, the business daily from the Hindustan Times group, cautioned that while the media in India had recorded dramatic growth, it had come at the cost of professionalism and a laxly enforced code of professional ethics.
The Indian media's rapid growth, in contrast to the recession in the industry in the US, attracted enthusiastic comments from two speakers - Sarbvir Singh, managing director of Capital 18 and Rahul Kansal, brand director of Times of India.
"Today there are 2,100 daily publications with 225 million readers (in India)," said Singh. He noted that even a one percent growth in literacy adds five million readers.
Their comments came at a panel discussion on "Indian media and entertainment industry: the world's window to India", which was part of the India Business Conference at Kellogg. The conference, an annual event for more than a decade, was attended by a record number of over 400 students, entrepreneurs and executives. The theme for this year's conference was "Branding India, Indians and Indianness".
Kansal spoke about the success of his group in interacting with young readers, adding that purveying optimism was the key.
"Newspapers tend to be purveyors of gloom and doom," he said. "Optimism resonates with youth. Moreover, young people today are not content to be mute recipients."
The Times of India group had championed various causes, including greater civic responsibility and greater accountability among elected officials, he said. "Our campaigns like 'Chalo Dilli' - from walled city to world city - were a big success."
Kansal said he owed the rise in his newspaper's circulation to three factors - low pricing, efficient distribution and a strong orientation towards young readers.
In contrast to Kansal's exuberance, Narisetti, a former editor for Europe of the Wall Street Journal, now the managing editor of Mint, expressed cautious optimism. Narisetti said the Indian media needed a stronger code of ethics and had to monitor itself better.
He also hinted that the market for newspapers, especially business newspapers in India, could be overestimated. "There is no country where there are more than two business newspapers. Delhi will soon have five. Add to this the fact that the average reader spends eight minutes on the newspaper," he said.
Narisetti said the below cost price of Indian newspapers tends to devalue the product.
"The trend among Indian newspapers is to cap the price of a copy at three rupees. This is counterproductive. You cannot even get a cup of tea for three rupees. This naturally leads the reader to form the impression that the newspaper is not worth more than three rupees. We are thus a captive of advertisers and they are aware of it. Fundamentally, you have created a long term problem," he said.
Narisetti referred to the dilution of editorial quality, some of which was at the behest of advertisers. "The increasing trend towards paid-for editorial content is detrimental to long term credibility. You cannot have a product whose credibility is continually in doubt," he said.
Shortage of experienced journalists was also a serious problem, Narisetti said.
"We do not have a pipeline of good journalists (in India). We have journalists with six months experience. This is, of course, great for companies because the public relations officer has only to dictate the story to the reporter, which gets printed without any critical comment," he said.
Moreover, the rapid turnover of journalists among Indian publications discourages training, Narisetti said.
"There is no code of (editorial) conduct, which has pretty much disappeared from Indian newsrooms. It is common knowledge that many of India's largest companies have journalists on their payroll."
Kapur spoke of the growing space for Indian and Chinese cinema in the near future.
"If 'Spiderman' takes his mask off, the face underneath it will be a Chinese or an Indian. The media and entertainment industry is projected to grow to $1.8 trillion. My view is it is going to be double that," he said.
Kapur, however, noted the contradiction between the brand and the product. "Today, Bollywood is a huge brand name, but where is the product? No one (in the west) has seen a Bollywood film. You need patience to sit through three hours."
Kellogg dean Dipak Jain, in his closing remarks, urged the students to develop the quality of caring, which, he said, was embedded in Indian 'sanskar'.
"You have to be successful to make a significance (to others)," he said. Jain divided human life into three time zones - 25 to 50, which he said should be focussed on success, 50 to 75, on making significant contribution to society and 75 onwards on sacrifice.
Jain paid tributes to Bala Balachandran, the professor who was instrumental in starting the India conference at Kellogg more than a decade ago. "He built the brand of the Indian faculty at Kellogg," Jain said.
Balachandran expressed satisfaction at the conference's dramatic growth over the years. "It is so nice to see that the seed we sowed has grown and become a trend setter for other business schools (in the US)," he said.
Indo-Asian News Service
Over 16,000 school and college students in India committed suicide in the last three years, says the health ministry, shedding light once again on the sorry state of mental healthcare in the country.
As per the ministry, 5,857 students committed suicide in 2006 and the figure for 2005 was 5,138. Similarly, in 2004, 5,610 students committed suicide.
"We know about the gravity of the situation and are going to re-strategise the national mental health programme," Anbumani Ramadoss told IANS.
Experts, doctors and even the World Health Organisation (WHO) believe that a multi-pronged strategy needs to be put in place to tackle problems ranging from anxiety, depression, stress and finally suicidal tendencies.
Cherian Verghese, a specialist with WHO India, said: "The mental health system needs an overhaul. Our schools might be giving good education but we need education in life skills. From counselling to increasing the number of mental health workers, the strategy should be holistic."
"Students are a vulnerable group. Age, competition and relations in the family are all contributing to the growing cases of suicide among schoolgoers," Verghese said.
He said some private schools in India had started appointing counsellors but "government schools across the country need to make a move now".
"There is a gamut of problems; India lacks the required number of psychiatrists as well. The social taboo around mental health also fuels the problem. A country which houses a huge number of youngsters must not take mental health lightly," Verghese added.
He said since India faces a lot of natural disasters and deaths thereof, the country needs a brigade of social counsellors. Their job is to counsel people during post-disaster trauma disorder.
Nimesh Desai, a leading psychiatrist in the national capital, said: "India needs a 10-fold increase in the number of psychiatrists. Across the country, there are not more than 3,500 such processionals."
"The doctor-patient ratio, social stigma, growing competition and the desire to succeed in every field are leading to a higher level of anxiety, stress and acute depression," Desai said.
Health ministry officials said the mental health programme in India would be revamped. Under the new plan, regional mental health institutes would be established.
All mental health hospitals would be modernised and the district authorities would be asked to go for community mental health services, life skill education and counselling would be introduced in schools.
Indo-Asian News Service
India is expected to retain its current position as the second largest producer, user and exporter of cotton in the new season beginning in August, says the Washington-based International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).
India overtook the US to occupy the number two position after China during the 2006-07 cotton season, says the ICAC. According to ICAC's analysis of the current global cotton situation, India does not face any challenge to its position as American farmers are shifting to other crops like corn.
The ICAC, in which India is a founding member, is an international organisation dedicated to promoting cooperation in cotton trade.
Agreeing with the projection of the Cotlook Index, the ICAC said: "India is expected to continue in the same position in the next season as well, as in addition to US farmers, growers in other countries are also inclined to shift to the production of soybeans and wheat besides corn."
Cotlook is a Britain-based organisation that provides international cotton market information and analysis on natural fibre.
The ICAC noted that India has so far produced 4.74 million tonnes (MT) of cotton in the current season as compared to 4.7 MT of the US. This season, India's output has been pegged at 5.34 MT as against 4.14 MT of the US. According to Cotlook's estimates, India's production next season is likely to touch 5.61 MT while that of the US would decline further to 3.19 MT.
China continues to be the number one in production, consumption and imports. This despite a fall of over 100,000 tonnes in cotton production. Beijing is estimated to produce 7.62 MT cotton this season against last year's 7.72 MT.
The fall in Chinese cotton crop has led to increased exports by other countries. The world cotton exports are expected to rise by 10 percent to 9.1 MT from last season's 8.2 MT.
The ICAC has also forecast that the cotton prices will go up in the international market because of an expected decrease in the stocks-to-mill use ratio in the world.
Indo-Asian News Service
Bharti Retail Ltd Wednesday opened here its first retail store called Easy Day.
The store would sell products of daily usage, ranging from personal care products, stationery, household articles, hosiery items, daily-need groceries including staples, processed foods, bakery, dairy products, meat, poultry and fresh produce.
The company has plans to open three more such stores by the middle of the year and employ local manpower that would be trained by Bharti Academy of Retail.
Bharti Retail had also entered into a joint venture with US retailer Wal-Mart, for wholesale cash and carry operations, a segment where India allows 100 percent foreign direct investment.
The joint venture is expected to open 10 to 15 wholesale cash and carry facilities and employ approximately 5,000 people over the next seven years.
Indo-Asian News Service
The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) will be setting up a committee to examine if anti-conversion laws in India throttle people's freedom to practise any faith, says panel chief Mohammad Shafi Qureshi.
"Several states have enacted legislations to regulate conversion from one religion to another and maintain public order. It is high time to examine if the provisions of state legislations violate the constitution that guarantees freedom of religion," Qureshi told IANS.
"A committee will be set up to look into different aspects of conversion laws and suggest remedial measures to remove irritants, if any, for communal peace and harmony. People's constitutional rights need to be protected," said Qureshi, a former governor and union minister.
Several states, including Orissa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh have enacted legislation to check religious conversion through "fraud, force and inducement" or any other such means.
"Nobody can support religious conversion through coercion. The law of land must prevail if anyone is found guilty of effecting conversion through coercive measures. At the same time, it must also be ensured that the people's absolute right to practise and preach any religion is preserved," Qureshi said.
He said the panel would formalise the blueprint for the new committee in the next meeting of the commission.
"It is one of the priority concerns of the commission, and will set up the committee as soon as possible," Qureshi added.
There are many takers for preserving the constitutional right to freedom of religion.
Said J. Kuldip Singh, senior vice president of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee: "The people should be allowed to practise the religion of their choice and no organisation should be permitted into acts of religious conversion and re-conversion through coercion or inducements. Such things disturb communal peace and harmony."
Chairperson of city-based Friends For Education Firoz Bakht Ahmed added: "We do not need any anti-conversion laws. Indians are mature to take decisions like which religion they should practise. Yet many states have enacted legislation on conversion.
"There is a need to see that such laws do not subvert the people's constitutional right to practise a religion of their choice."
The National Commission of Minorities Act 1992 puts those practising Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism as minority communities.
The conversion controversy has always veered around "tribals and others". They are found to be more vulnerable to conversions effected through "inducements" or other such means.
On March 17, the NCM had called a closed-door meeting of minority MPs here to discuss "the state laws on conversion and their impact on the right to freedom of religion".
Participants at the meeting expressed the need to look into anti-conversion laws and other issues confronting minorities.
According to the 2001 Census, minorities account for 18.4 percent of the country's total population.
Muslims constitute 13.4 percent, Christians 2.3 percent , Sikhs 1.9 percent, Buddhists 0.8 percent and Parsis (Zoroastrians) 0.07 percent. Muslims constitute 72.8 percent of the country's total minority population of 189.5 million.
The government has decided to establish four new Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and six Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) campuses, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said Friday.
The new IITs will come up in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab, while the IIMs will be set up in Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana.
Singh told reporters: "The prime minister has approved the proposals made by us for the location of these four new IITs and six IIMS."
Indo-Asian News Service
The Indian home ministry never tires of finding newer classifications to present a much diminished perception of the intensity and spread of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, better known as Naxalites.
Based on information provided by his officials, Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Rajya Sabha March 19 that "a mere 14,000 villages out of a total of 650,000 villages are Maoist-affected, which accounts for just two percent of the total number of villages in the country".
It is intriguing why mention was not made of the number of towns that are Maoist affected, and their percentage. The omission was perhaps made because no violent activities were reported from towns and cities. Nevertheless, it is by now well known that the rebels use towns and cities for rest, recreation and recuperation as well as for logistics support.
It is an altogether different issue that the Maoists have a certain 'urban presence', and have devised an action plan to build a strong and vibrant 'urban movement'. In 2007 alone, three top-ranking leaders of the all-powerful Central Committee and the Central Military Commission (CMC) were caught in towns/cities: Malla Raji Reddy in Kerala, Sridhar Krishnan Srinivasan alias Vishnu in Mumbai and Misir Besra alias Bhaskar alias Sunirmal in Jharkhand.
Barely three weeks ago, the West Bengal State Committee secretary of the rebels, Somen alias Sumanand alias Suman, was arrested in Kolkatta. It is believed that Somen heads the five-member Urban Sub Committee set up by the Central Committee in January 2007 to review the Urban Perspective Plan -- which is some kind of blueprint to spearhead the urban movement.
The home ministry, it appears, is of the view that as long as statistics present a 'rosy picture', it does not really matter if the Maoists run an elaborate logistics network stretching across towns and villages in various states. Thus, one should turn a blind eye to the unearthing of an arms-making-cum-R&D unit of the Maoists in Bhopal Jan 10, 2007.
On Jan 12, 2007, another arms-making unit was busted in Rourkela, Orissa. Raids in Andhra Pradesh in September 2006 led to the unearthing of an elaborate pan-India network -- involved in manufacturing empty rocket shells and knocked-down kits of rocket launchers -- which originated in the Ambattur industrial estate, a suburb of Chennai.
For long, the home ministry has maintained and disseminated statistics about the number of affected districts. At the time the Congress took power in 2004, the common perception was that 53 districts in nine states were Maoist-affected. The previous government was revealing just the number of highly affected districts. The figure 53 corresponded to this.
Breaking from practice, in early 2005 the government informed parliament that 126 districts in 12 States were Naxalite-affected; of these 76 districts in nine states were said to be "badly (highly) affected". The 126 districts included "highly affected", "moderately affected", "marginally affected" and "targeted districts". Thus, suddenly, the expanse of the Maoist presence seemed huge. This created a flutter. Ever since, the home ministry has made tireless efforts to retrieve lost ground, to present a diminished view of rebel-presence.
As part of its efforts to address the issue, the home ministry has an initiative known as "Public Perception Management". Its objective is to create antipathy among the people towards the Maoists by highlighting their misdeeds, mistakes and macabre violence. Instead, this exercise has degenerated into 'managing the people's perception' of the Maoist problem through a clever concealing of facts and playing with numbers.
Thus, in 2006, in the annual report of the home ministry and in the "Status Paper on the Naxal Problem", the ministry introduced this "new" classification of the number of police stations where Maoists were active. It contended that a mere 509 police stations of the total 8,695 police stations in 12 states had reported Maoist violence. This would account for 5.85 percent of the total.
Two points need to be noted. One, the home ministry statistics relate to the number of police stations from which Maoist violence was reported, not the number in which Maoist presence has been noticed. Two, if one were to consider the 509 stations as a percentage of the total number of police stations in the country -- 12,476, then the figure will be different -- and lower. In its annual report for 2006-07, the ministry noted: "Of the total 12,476 police stations, Naxal violence has been reported during 2006 from 395 police stations..." This would give the impression that only four percent of the stations are problematic.
Patil also said in his reply on March 19 that 300 police stations in the country were Maoist affected - this comes to 2.14 percent of the stations nationwide.
By merely changing the denominator from total number of police stations in affected states to the total number of police stations across the country, the percentage figure just dips!
As it were, in their latest endeavour to assure us that we are safe and secure, home ministry officials seem to have prompted Patil to say March 19 that "the Naxalite problem is confined to only two percent of the country's 650,000 villages". It was added that the number of Naxal violence related incidents at 700 accounts for a mere 1.1 percent of the total extremist-related incidents.
(P.V. Ramana is Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. He is author of "The Naxal Challenge - Causes, Linkages and Policy Options" and can be contacted at talepuramana@gmail.com)
Indo-Asian News Service
Only nine percent of Indians enrol in higher education. Almost half the states and union territories are even below this poor average.
According to a report of the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) released recently, 15 states and union territories (out of 35) have reported an enrolment rate lower than the national average.
The report has pointed to glaring regional disparities in enrolment.
"The enrolment ratio in higher education is as high as 29 percent in Chandigarh - a union territory - but less than five percent in states like Jammu & Kashmir and Nagaland," the report said.
But University Grants Commission Chairman Sukhdeo Thorat does not agree with the argument of regional disparity. He believes the discrepancy lies in a rural-urban divide. "Urban areas record 27 percent enrolment in higher education - rural areas 7-8 percent," he said.
Among the states with low enrolment ratios are Orissa (8.71 percent), Uttar Pradesh (7.03 percent), Madhya Pradesh (7.77 percent) and West Bengal (8.21 percent).
A report released by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) confirms the regional disparities in both higher and primary education. It shows how southern states have outperformed northern and eastern regions in respect of economic growth and literacy.
In order to remove disparities in higher education, the central government earlier identified 370 districts - as educationally backward - having enrolment ratios lower than the national average of 9 percent.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late last year announced one college for each of these 370 districts. They are expected to start functioning by 2012.
The secretary, Higher Education, R.P. Aggarwal had told CABE members recently that the states will have to bring the required finances for taking care of these institutions, once they come up.
Indo-Asian News Service
Speaking before his visit, Mr Gates said the improved relationship between India and US had been one of the most significant changes since he was last in government 15 years ago.
"I want to see what we can do to not only strengthen that [relationship] but perhaps expand it in other ways," he said.
India earlier this month agreed a $1bn deal to buy military transport aircraft from US firm Lockheed Martin.
However, a key deal that would see the US supply India with nuclear technology for civilian uses has yet to be approved by India.
The deal, which would end a three-decade US ban on nuclear exports to India, is opposed by the Indian government's communist allies.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has arrived in Delhi on a two-day visit aimed at bolstering military ties and promoting US arms manufacturers.
US firms are competing with Russian and European rivals for a multi-billion dollar deal to sell India fighter jets.
Mr Gates has said he wants to "expand" India's "significantly improved relationship" with the US. India has largely relied on Russian arms imports.
India meanwhile says it successfully tested a new type of ballistic missile.
The nuclear-capable missile was launched from an underwater platform off the south-eastern coast of India, a defence ministry official told the AFP news agency.
The new missile is expected to serve a nuclear submarine being built by India.
Over 1,090 Indian children under five years of age die every day battling pneumonia, less talked about but fatal disease that is common across the country.
Nineteen percent of the total under-five mortality in India is due to pneumonia, according to the latest 'State of the World's Children Report' by United Nations Children fund (Unicef). The illness claims the lives of 399,000 children in India every year.
"Pneumonia is a silent killer. It kills more children than malaria, AIDS, measles and injuries together do," said Marzio Babille, head of children's health at Unicef India.
The report has revealed that every year 2.1 million children in India do not survive to celebrate their fifth birthday.
Of all the children who die, 19 percent die due to pneumonia, 17 percent due to diarrhoea, eight percent due to malaria, four percent due to measles and three percent each due to AIDS and injuries.
"The country has done a good job in many areas, but a lot of focus is required on the pneumonia front," Babille said, adding: "It's a forgotten killer of children".
Pneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lungs. It can result from a variety of causes, including infection due to bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. It can also be caused by chemical or physical injury to the lungs.
The disease affects the lungs' capacity to absorb oxygen from air. Symptoms include cough, chest pain, fever and difficulty in breathing.
Another global report published by WHO has said that more than half of all pneumonia cases worldwide occur in the Asia-Pacific region. Of the 133 million childhood pneumonia cases around the world, India accounted for 44 million and China accounted for 18 million.
According to health ministry officials, India has not devised a potent strategy to tackle this health menace.
"The country needs to have a nationwide drive against pneumonia. The drive should be modelled after AIDS, polio and TB immunisation drives," an official told IANS requesting anonymity.
He said pneumonia vaccine circulation in the country is less than 10 percent as against over 70 percent in South Korea and over 40 percent in Hong Kong.
He, however, said that the National Rural Health Mission has taken note of the situation and efforts are on "to boost the vaccination programme".
The Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal Disease Prevention (ASAP), a conglomerate of experts from 20 countries, recently met in Seoul and expressed their concern over the problem.
Said Nitin Shah, ASAP member from India: "Nearly 50 percent of these under-five pneumonia deaths are caused by pneumococcal pneumonia. Creating awareness of pneumococcal disease would be a great initiative."
Pneumococcal pneumonia causes lung and ear infections and could also lead to meningitis - a brain fever that could be fatal.
In its report, Unicef said: "Since a large proportion of severe pneumonia cases in children of the developing countries are bacterial in origin, they can be effectively treated using inexpensive antibodies at home."
Indo-Asian News Service