Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By Indu Prakash Singh

The former National Security Advisor, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, who was considered to be very close to Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has endorsed the civilian nuclear deal with USA, saying not signing it would be a "severe loss of face" for India. This has caused a deep discomfiture for the BJP, which is opposed to the nuclear deal along with the Left parties........more

Garbage management

By Bharatbhai Dwivedi

RBI measures for
inflation control

By S. Sethuraman

EDITORIAL

Nip the crime

Some outrageous events that have taken place in the State during the last few days deserve a surgical analysis. Anywhere else they would have shaken society as a whole. In our case they have hardly caused ripples beyond the areas of their occurrence. This is unfortunate. They are indicative of the malaise prevailing in our social order. On the one hand we have lecherous beasts among us. There is on the other hand a distinct lack of respect for law-enforcers. A minor girl is kidnapped from Bishnah which is as good as a part of this city whatever its administrative status otherwise. She is recovered later from R.S. Pura. The kidnapper is arrested but his three accomplices are still untraceable. Are we not stunned by the sheer audacity of those who have planned and executed the crime? What has emboldened them to think that they can get away after committing a heinous act like this? The same query is relevant in another similar happening in faraway Budhal in Rajouri district. Two teenaged girls are kept in illegal confinement by a nursing orderly of a local hospital. On learning about it the police raid the house to rescue them but their tormentor manages to escape. Understandably the people of the area are enraged. They have pelted the hospital with stones to protest against one of its employee's involvement in the evil doing. Only the insensitive can find fault with their reaction. Is there any other way in which parents, relatives and saner elements can respond to these situations? Why can't girls feel safe and roam around freely in our environment? At least twice in the past we have found them being exploited by their tutors, of all persons, in the same higher reaches. A positive sign is that the people are coming forward to report these episodes. The earlier tendency of brushing them under the carpet for fear of adverse social reaction towards the victims is no more visible. It augurs well for us all.

No effort should in fact be spared to bring the culprits to book and make an example of them. It hardly bears any reiteration that violence of every kind is in the air in our milieu. Mainly it is so because it is made in our minds. We are not including terrorism in this category: although obnoxious it is an altogether different phenomenon and is mostly remote-controlled. For the moment our focus is only on what we are face to face with in our normal everyday routine. How does one view the catch of two criminals in this city along with their pistols? The fact that they are stopped and picked up at the B.C. Road close to the Secretariat is enough to give the creeps to innocent citizens. In Mansar, a car is intercepted and its sole occupant is attacked with a sword leaving him in pain with grievous wounds.

Why should these "minor" experiences astonish us? Have not we been already exposed to murders and stabbings in the Winter Capital itself? We ought to resist the temptation of making any such comparisons. We should join hands to stop all assaults on our right to live with dignity. We must ensure that we are counted as we engage ourselves in this well-intentioned exercise.

Loss and lesson

By no stretch of imagination can the loss of 71 animals including goats and sheep in a road accident be described as small. It is enormous for their owner. They have been overrun by a truck on the Dhar road in Udhampur. Clearly it was being driven rashly. About 30 animals have also been injured. The dead animals got stuck in wheels and chassis of the vehicle. The road was painted red with their blood. One pities the Bakerwal shepherd who owned them. He is reported to have suffered monetary setback worth Rs 6 lakhs. It is doubtful whether this sum takes into account the hard work that he and the other members of his family and the tribe put in while bringing up the livestock. Nomadic economy is yet to develop on modern lines. Several of its aspects are taken for granted at present. A Bakerwal boy too was injured in the mishap and had to be rushed to the district hospital. For the greater part of the year we come across massive movement of animals on our roads and highways. Tenacious Gujjars and Bakerwals take them from one corner of the state to the other in search of pastures. It is a fascinating part of our lives. Viewed in the backdrop of tall and majestic mountains this movement is just spectacular. Normally it is free from any tragedies of the sort that has struck one flock now. One is left with admiration for the discipline with which goats and sheep are managed and made to move together on one side of the available passage. For their part generally the drivers are also very careful. From years of experience they know that they may be up against anything in our largely hilly terrain. There are too many blind turns to keep them on their toes all through. Negligence is obvious in the present instance. One immediate lesson, therefore, from this disaster is that drivers should be all the more vigilant while steering means of transportation. It is expected that they are watchful of herds of animals as much as they are of deep gorges and their counterparts coming from the opposite direction.

Having said this we wish to strike a note of caution. There are quite a few worshippers of monkeys among us. They have every right to follow their religious beliefs. However, while doing so they should ensure that their actions don't cause havoc on roads. We are constrained to make this observation in view of a common sight on the Jammu-Katra stretch. Many devotees of Vaishno Devi make it a point to offer loaves of bread to monkeys on the way. They do so by throwing their offerings from moving cars. As a result there is commotion with animals running wildly across the thoroughfare. This has the effect of unsettling drivers: they can make fatal errors while trying to stay clear of monkeys. A better course for the disciples of Pawan Putra Hanuman will be to stop their vehicles and coolly keep their contributions at one place. For this phenomenon, however, Gujjars and Bakerwals are not at all to be blamed. They observe exemplary care and order. Yet, one of them has been come to suffering. It is a matter of deep regret.

Indo American nuke deal

By Indu Prakash Singh

"I think we should go ahead with the deal," he said in an interview to a private TV channel. "Obviously, dual-use technology will not be available to us if we don't go through with this and, of course, it's a setback. Asked whether the government should go ahead with the deal even if the BJP and the Left parties were opposed to it, Mr. Mishra said: "That's a political question… my personal view is that given the harmful effects of not going ahead, perhaps, we should go ahead and do it." Renegotiating the deal with the next government in the US after the elections, irrespective of whether it has a Democrat or a Republican president, would be very difficult with the possibility of new provisions and clauses being added to the text, he said.

"It is now, it is now," he stressed when asked whether this was the best opportunity for India to get the "most favourable" deal. Losing the nuclear deal, aimed at reopening the doors of global nuclear commerce for the country after a gap of three decades, would mean India's "three-stage programme will suffer a setback". He allayed fears that the nuclear deal would curtail India's sovereign rights. "After the talks I've had with various representatives of the government of India at a fairly high level and some scientists. I'm convinced that there is not going to be any major impact on the strategic programme through the deal… this deal doesn't stop us from continuing our strategic programme," he said. Asked whether political parties were mistaken in rejecting the nuclear deal on the grounds that it could stop India from carrying out further nuclear tests and on the grounds that it could damage India's nuclear deterrent, Mr. Mishra replied: "Well, so far as these two questions are concerned, in any view we are not restricted from carrying out tests and, more or less, the programme we had devised before we left the NDA government is ongoing."

The compulsions of coalition politics have forced the UPA government to stall the deal, though Washington has recently clarified that there are no inconsistencies between it and the Hyde Act. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's recent visit to the US has only succeeded in buying some more time from the Bush administration in deciding the ultimate fate of the deal. There are apprehensions that any further delay in finalising the process of operationalising the deal will in fact kill the nuclear deal altogether.

Since the position of the Left parties and BJP differs with the UPA government sharply on various questions pertaining to the nuclear deal, it is still unclear as to whether the Congress will be able to reach a broad political consensus among its coalition partners in the next two months. The CPI(M) and other Left parties are arguing that the provisions of the Hyde Act are far wider than the 123 Agreement and could be used to terminate the latter not only in the eventuality of India conducting a nuclear test but also if India does not conform to the overall foreign policy interests of the US. And since the Congress and its other partners within the UPA have given utmost importance to the survival of the current government, it is unlikely that they will be too eager at this juncture to go for early mid-term general elections over the issue of nuclear deal.

There are many in the political establishment in the US who are of the opinion that the Bush administration bent too far backwards to salvage the deal. They are puzzled as to why New Delhi has been unable to win domestic political support for an agreement that is widely seen in the US as being lopsided in India's favour. It is quite possible that a Democrat administration in future will also favour strong ties with India, but is more likely to look at the issue of nuclear non-proliferation more closely than the Republicans, and impose more stringent conditions. Even a future Republican administration might reconsider options. India will be far more comfortable with the deal in its existing form.

There is no gainsaying that a complete collapse of the nuclear deal due to domestic political factors in India would be an enormous setback for India's aspirations to become a major power. The deal's failure would signal to the US and the world that India still lacks confidence to play a major role on the international stage. The Left parties seem to have missed the fact that a collapse of the nuclear deal because of domestic political reasons would damage India's credibility and reputation as an emerging global power. Moreover, for India, the failure of the nuclear deal would mean that it has undermined some of its own self-proclaimed goals in foreign policy. India has long craved the status of a de facto nuclear power, which has been granted to it by the deal.

The nuclear deal granted India a one-time exemption to retain its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which is unprecedented in the history of international diplomacy. It overturns a 30-year-old US ban on supplying India with nuclear fuel and technology, imposed since India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974. India has also for a long time sought to delink its international fortunes from Pakistan, which the deal has done more or less. The Left consider the nuclear deal to be deleterious to India's interests, but Pakistan is begging the US to for something very similar. In fact, for the first time, the US has signed a deal with big security implications with India and left Pakistan out of the loop.

If the nuclear deal fails in India over domestic political reasons, a new US administration in future, whether Democrat or a Republican, may want to let the dust settle over a period of time before considering what to do next. However, it would be wrong to think that a failure to operationalise the civilian nuclear agreement would lead to a complete downturn in US-India relations. A slow but steady transformation in the overall contours of Indo-US relations has happened since the end of the Cold War. The most significant change has been in the area of defence cooperation since the early nineties. The most recent manifestation of this was the bilateral Framework Agreement in June 2005.

There is no doubt that the US has its own interests in forging a strong economic and strategic partnership with India at the beginning of the 21st century. There is little doubt that the Bush administration's effort to develop better security ties with India stems in part from concerns about China's future role in Asia. Through developing more intensive security ties with India, the US's primary objective is to maintain its own pre-eminent position in the region by facilitating the rise of friendly centres of power like India that will constrain any Chinese bid for dominance and allow the US to retain its pre-eminence in Asia. (INAV)

Garbage management

By Bharatbhai Dwivedi

Civic awareness is a growing need. Today, garbage management has become a critical issue for every civic body on Earth because the ‘very sense’ of addressing, managing and attending to plastic waste at the ‘very source’ is missing. By ‘very source’ is meant the one who is throwing or discarding plastic of any kind, type or size and who needs to be made aware of attending, managing and addressing the issue at ‘that very moment’. Plastic has penetrated so swiftly in our day-to-day life that we forget that more than 60 per cent of waste usages have plastic in it.

The civic society has now accepted the segregation in terms of bio-waste, organic waste or inorganic waste. The problem does not get solved or restricted by just that. The larger concern is ‘plastic’ and/or ‘other than plastic’ waste. Households, traders, businessmen might not even be aware of such industrial garbage segregations. For them, understanding it as ‘plastic and plastic-related material’ to ‘non-plastic material’ is much easier and makes greater sense to conform with.

Throwing (discarding) food wastes in plastic bags has become common practice for every household. They are completely unaware of its ill-effects:- (a) consumption by animals can be fettered; (b) deformed and decomposed bio-waste develops unfriendly bacteria and bursts into stinking smell that may even be a cause of modern day epidemics; (c) downpour brings happiness to every life but plastic waste mingled with other wastes blocks water, acting as a plug to water running through the drainage system, and (d) water blockages cause hardships for local citizens.

One can overpower these bottlenecks simply by changing plastic and like-plastic waste discarding habits and developing a habit of addressing it ‘at source’ itself, by condensing, stuffing all waste into a thicker and relatively smaller plastic bag. Compress and condense as much as you can; accumulate to make bigger one solidly stuffed, condensed and turn it into a stout plastic waste ready to discard.

One is stunned when one starts listing every object, whether it be plastic, or having plastic, or related to plastic. Carry bags, sacks, packaging material, used ballpoint pen, furniture, toothbrush, various brushes–cleaners, service bowls, plates, trays, jars, spectacles, empty medical strips, bottles, syringes, plastic containers, tubes, sachets, mugs, buckets, briefcases, travel bags, shoes, chappals–sandals, soap box, mobile cover - the list is endless!!

Recently, a deep water expedition team of scientists found the presence of plastic contents at 10,000 meters under the water surface. This shocking revelation is mind-boggling. Draconian plastic waste is also evident at every mountain peak. Needless to say, even Mount Everest is not spared by it, rather, it is covered by plastic waste! The plastic that never dies. The Ghost Lives Nowhere, But Everywhere. Need Evidence Any More?

The plastic that never dies but can be addressed nicely by vibrant and finest creative innovative minds. Till then, we citizens can do our best by discarding each of the small pieces of plastic into a cumulated one-condensed, stuffed solid shell and feel content for our respective contribution, maintaining a planet Earth free from the murderous clutches of plastic waste.

Plastic is a critical waste; a direct threat to the environment and so is fly ash, another equally tricky and critical waste.

Irrigated land turns barren if spread with fly ash even once. Environment-threatening critical wastes, if dealt with together, would mean that war against it is won to a great extent. Since this issue concerns the public, the concept of making best use of wastes produced here and enabling whosoever is interested to make hands-on experiments should be encouraged. Come out with best innovative and creative experience and share it for the betterment of the greater cause!

Critical wastes like fireclay and plastic wastes can be used as raw material for products like bricks, small slabs, paved drainage slabs, etc. Metal dyes with fly ash compression-pressure functions, having multi angle, multi point, multi level, plastic-waste infusing functions can be used as a bonding material. Liquefied plastic waste can be infused by nozzle. Other suitable options too could be explored. Plastic being fire sensitive, usage of liquefied plastic waste is recommended to maintain the lowest possible cost as bonding material for end product. Pour hot fly ash into appropriate pressure dyes, compress it to enable it to take the required shape; infuse liquefied plastic waste and offload ready to use product.

A large scale production line can be worked out at an end where hot fly ash is available in abundance. Similarly, a small scale line can be planned at the source where hot fly ash availability is low. Social obligations like low-cost housing, relatively better tremor and earth-quake resistant building materials, low-cost compound walls, low-cost drainage systems, etc. can be met with increased use of the fly ash.

Such practices also create scope for self employment. A self-supporting, small scale manufacturing unit has the potential to serve society. Conceptualizing the concept has the advantages of:- (a) engineering marvel and directly benefitting humanity; (b) by addressing two of the most critical wastes, direct threat to environment is reduced; (c) needs no big production sites; (d) creates massive scope for self-employment for economically underprivileged class, and (e) reduces the need for massive dumping grounds/areas.

To sum up the few recommendations :

* Discarding/throwing plastic waste in open should be banned;

* Different colour wastage boxes should be planned and citizens’ understanding regarding segregation of ‘Plastic and related to plastic material’ and ‘other than plastic waste’ should be upgraded;

* inspiring massages such as "Learn, Discard Plastic Wastes and Go More Civilian" should be promoted, and

* Heavy penalties should be imposed for throwing waste in or near the water bodies. (PIB)

RBI measures for inflation control

By S. Sethuraman

The Reserve Bank of India has left interest rates unchanged while conveying grim warnings of the economy facing "more potent and real" inflationary risks and expectations due to international food, oil and metal price pressures, which would call for swift and even "unconventional" responses as the situation evolves. Economic prospects for 2008-09 have been "trimmed" by adverse developments, mainly external, and RBI has assumed for policy purposes 8 to 8.5 per cent growth which is currently mainly demand-driven.

Announcing the Monetary and Credit Policy for 2008-09, the central bank attaches high priority to price stability with anchored inflation expectations and orderly conditions in financial markets while sustaining growth momentum. In the wake of its April 17 hike in CRR to 8 per cent in two stages by May 10, RBI has increased the reserve ration to 8.25 per cent from May 24 as part of its liquidity management measures.

The Governor Dr. Venugopala Reddy said that its policy aims at lowering inflation from 7.4 per cent in the last week of March to "around 5.5 per cent in 2008-09 with a preference to bringing close to 5 per cent" as soon as possible. Monetary expansion would be moderated to 16.5 to 17 per cent (from 20.7 per cent in 2007-08) while aggregate deposit and non-food credit growth are placed at 17 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, at lower levels compared to 2007-08.

The Policy statement spoke of active demand management of liquidity through appropriate use of CRR stipulations and open market operations. It emphasises credit quality and credit delivery in the pursuit of financial inclusion.

In the context of possible losses of banks from derivatives and newer instruments as has happened widely in USA, Europe and some Asian countries, emanating from the US sub-prime mortgage market crisis, RBI would review prudential guidelines for specific off-balance sheet exposures of banks. It would also undertake supervisory review of the banks exposure to the commodity sector.

In its overall assessment, RBI says the pick-up in inflation (in February-March) has mainly emanated from supply side pressures such as the one-off increase in domestic prices of petrol land diesel to partially offset global crude oil prices increase over the year and rising prices of wheat and oilseeds and the adjustments in steel prices in March.

Though the upsurge in inflation in India has occurred when global energy, food and other commodity prices are volatile and at historically elevated levels, there are concerns that demand pressures, which have been reasonably contained so far, are being coupled with supply-side factors which, if not temporary, could impact domestic inflation significantly.

Also, in the fourth quarter of 2007-08, financial markets were impacted by unusual swings and high volatility in foreign exchange flows as well as in cash balances of the Government with the Reserve Bank with shifts in liquidity conditions.

RBI's Policy has belied expectations of monetary tightening via interest rates and has left the Bank Rate unchanged at 6 per cent as well as the policy rates, repo and reverse repo rates at 7.75 and 6 per cent respectively. The Policy Statement however refers to "unprecedented uncertainties and dilemmas" which call for "informed judgements" on timing and magnitude of policy actions. Such actions have to be based on evaluation of emerging developments on a continuous basis. At the same time, there is need to demonstrate determination to act "decisively, effectively and swiftly to curb any signs of adverse developments in regard to inflation expectations".

The Monetary and Credit Policy for 2008-09 has been framed against the background of a global crisis -affecting the financial markets, credit crunch, inflationary upsurge, weakening consumer confidence and slowdown in growth in advanced economies and the spill-over effects on the developing world, especially the impact of new highs in international oil, food and metal prices.

RBI said with significant shifts in both global and domestic developments in relation to initial assessments, the dangers of global recession have increased at the current juncture although consensus expectations do not rule out a soft landing. On the domestic front, though the growth outlook remained positive till January 2008, since then the risks to inflation from upside pressures from the prevailing global price levels in food, crude and metals have become more real than before.

On the fiscal side, RBI noted, the Union Budget is likely to provide stimulus to both private and Government consumption with reduction of tax burden and revenue expenditure implications from the sixth pay commission report. Fiscal developments on account of commitments like far debt waiver scheme and pay commission recommendations as well as bond issues to oil and fertiliser companies to cover under-recoveries and for subsidies would have to be continuously monitored in view of the current high and volatile global food prices and the incomplete pass-through of escalated crude prices to domestic prices.

Global financial market uncertainties and unusual policy responses of major central banks provide some indications of the threats to global growth and stability that loom over the near-term horizon. High volatility, still frozen credit markets. and massive losses suffered by large financial institutions could impact India's external financing conditions - trade, capital flows and asset prices - and, therefore, the evolving monetary policy stance in 2008-09.

RBI also referred to heightened uncertainty surrounding the outlook on capital flows to India, complicating the conduct of monetary and liquidity management. In view of the strong fundamentals of the economy and massive injections of liquidity by central banks in advanced economies, there could be sustained inflows, as in the recent past.

If the pressures intensify, it may necessitate stepped up operations in terms of capital account management and more active liquidity management with all instruments at the command of the Reserve Bank. At the same time, the likelihood of reversals of capital flows due to any abrupt changes in sentiments or global liquidity conditions also cannot be ruled out.

RBI said with headroom available, it could deal with these scenarios, with flexibility in the deployment of instruments for liquidity management complemented by prudential regulations and instruments for capital account management. (IPA)