WASHINGTON, Aug 1: US President Barack Obama recognises the importance of a strong relationship with India, which is not only multifaceted, but there exists an important national security relationship, the White House said today.
Obama, who has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a meeting at the White House in September, is looking forward to hearing from his administration officials on the talks by Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzeker, currently in India for the fifth annual Strategic Dialogue, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, told reporters at his daily news conference.
“The President certainly recognises the importance of a strong relationship between the United States and India. That relationship is multifaceted. There’s an important national security relationship that exists there,” he said.
“There are obviously very important economic ties between our two countries. There exists the potential for us to build on some of those economic ties. I know that was the subject of some discussion during the talks earlier this week. I know the President is looking forward to being briefed by officials at the State Department and at the Commerce Department about the results of those conversations,” Earnest said.
At the State Department, Deputy Press Secretary Marie Harf told reporters that there has been no policy change towards India after Modi became Prime Minister.
“We have always said during the election we will work with whoever is elected to be the next prime minister of India. We made that very clear,” she said.
“Regardless of who that was, we look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to Washington this fall and think this was an important trip, even at a time when there’s a lot of other crises going on in the world. So it’s not a policy change towards India. We’ve always said we will work with whoever is the leader of India because our relationship is so broad and so deep and so important,” Harf said. (PTI)
Obama knows importance of strong Indo-US relations: WH
US condemns Israel over civilians deaths
WASHINGTON, Aug 1: The shelling of a UN facility in Gaza this week by the Israeli military is “totally unacceptable and indefensible”, the United States has said while appealing to the Israeli military to better its efforts to protect innocent civilians in the Gaza conflict.
“We have continued to urge Israeli military officials to live up to their high standards that they have set for the protection of innocent civilians. There is clearly more that can and should be done to ensure the safety of innocent civilians,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
Referring to the killing of civilians in an Israeli attack at a UN facility in Gaza, the White House official said the Israeli government has acknowledged that its forces were responding to Hamas’ firing in the area.
“We have steadfastly defended the right of the Israeli government and Israeli military leaders to take the actions that they feel are necessary to protect their people and to defend their country.
“The steps that they have taken have also been taken with the standards that they put in place to protect the lives of innocent civilians,” Earnest said.
“But the shelling of a UN facility that is housing innocent civilians who are fleeing violence is totally unacceptable and totally indefensible. It is clear that we need our allies in Israel to do more to live up to the high standards that they have set for themselves,” he insisted.
“What we have said is that Israel clearly – based on published reports about the significant, tragic loss of life experienced by innocent Palestinian civilians – is that the Israeli military can and should do more to protect the lives of those innocent civilians,” he further said. (PTI)
US Kashmiri Pandits ask Modi to allow Kashmir yatra
WASHINGTON, Aug 1: Kashmiri Pandits in the US have sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing the Kousar Nag religious yatra in the valley to proceed after the Jammu and Kashmir government rescinded the order permitting the event.
Expressing dismay and anger on the recent decision of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to rescind the order permitting Kashmiri Pandits to proceed with the annual and peaceful religious yatra to Kousar Nag, the Kashmiri Overseas Association (KOA) in a letter to Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urged that the Kousar Nag yatra should be allowed to continue with immediate effect.
“The Kashmiri Pandits have historically been guardians of the ecology of Kashmir where every spring, river and mountain has been treated with respect as opposed to the degradation that has been caused in recent decades by the forces who oppose them and who do not want the Pandits to expose this destruction of the environment of Kashmir through unrestrained illegal activities,” the letter said.
“We note that this is the third disturbance that has been created in the Valley following reports that your administration is looking at plans to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Pandits who had been expelled from the Valley in 1990 and have been living in exile for the last twenty five years,” the letter said.
KOA has called for a general body meeting on August 31 in California to review the situation and determine their next course of action. (PTI)
Russia faces deepening isolation from intl community: WH
WASHINGTON, Aug 1: Russia faces the prospects of more economy sanctions and further isolation from the international community if it doesn’t stop supporting separatist rebels in Ukraine, the White House has said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to use his influence with the Russian-backed separatists and prevent the transfer of heavy weapons from the Russian side to across the border, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
“Until he does them, he will face deepening isolation from the international community and the possibility that the international community would impose further economic costs on Russia for his failure to live up to basic international norms,” Earnest said.
Early this week, the United States and European Union slapped additional and tougher sanctions on Russia for its alleged interference in Ukrainian stability and sovereignty.
“Many of the leaders of that separatist movement are actually Russian citizens. So presumably, their President would have some influence over them. Getting them to agree to lay down their arms and agree to a ceasefire with the Ukrainian government would be an important first step and something important for President Putin to do,” he said.
“We’ve seen the Russian military, at the direction of President Putin, conduct training exercises to ensure that those Russian-backed separatists know how to use that heavy equipment to maximum effect. There have been some tragic consequences for those decisions. And those are just three examples of the kinds of things we would like to see President Putin do,” he added.
Earnest said the sanctions regime that has been put in place against Russia is one that has been carefully coordinated across the global community.
“Many of our G7 partners have also put in place some tough economic sanctions against Russia, and that will limit Russia’s access to the international financial community and it will deepen their isolation. That is specifically a result of steps that President Putin has taken to destabilise the area in Ukraine,” he added.
Putin, he alleged, has failed to accept and acknowledge and abide by generally accepted international norms.
“There have been consequences for that. We hope that by putting in place these economic costs, it will cause him to reevaluate his strategy in Ukraine,” he said. (PTI)
Crude oil futures fall on weak Asian cues
NEW DELHI, Aug 1: Crude oil futures fell 0.25 per cent to Rs 5,991 per barrel today as speculators trimmed positions amidst a weak trend in Asian markets.
The trading sentiment turned weak in futures trade following fall in crude oil prices in Asian trade due to sell-off on Wall Street and concerns about unplanned refinery shutdowns in the US midwest, analysts said.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for delivery in August shed Rs 15, or 0.25 per cent, to Rs 5,991 per barrel in 1,145 lots.
The oil for September delivery moved down by Rs 11, or 0.18 per cent, to trade at Rs 5,981 per barrel in a volume of 86 lots.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for September delivery eased 19 cents to USD 97.98 a barrel, while Brent crude for September was down 13 cents to USD 105.89 per barrel in mid-morning trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (PTI)
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie exchanged love letters
LOS ANGELES, Aug 1: Hollwood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie exchanged romantic love letters when they were forced to be apart last year while they were filming movies in different parts of the world.
The 39-year-old actress, who has six children with fiance Pitt, said he was very supportive when she spent three months directing her upcoming biopic, ‘Unbroken,’ in Australia, even though he was filming his film, ‘Fury,’ in London at the same time, reported People magazine.
“He was supportive from a distance, and it was quite romantic in a way. We decided to be of that time, when we could imagine he was in the European theatre and I was in the Pacific theatre, and we wrote handwritten letters to each other that were very connecting for us, thinking of the people that were separated for months, if not years, at a time back then,” she said.
The ‘Maleficent’ actress recently admitted she plans to take on less work in front of the camera in the future, so that she can focus on her family and her humanitarian work. (PTI)
Smart Cities Corecting urban chaos
Dr S Saraswathi
The Union Budget has provided a sum of Rs.7,060 crore for development of 100 smart cities as promised in the election manifesto of the BJP. While presenting this, the Finance Minister stated that unless new cities are developed to accommodate the bourgeoning number of people, the existing cities would soon become unliveable. He pointed to the rapid pace of migration from rural to urban areas as a result of development.
The basic idea is to make urban infrastructure network and delivery of services more efficient to cope with the needs of increasing population.
This, in a sense, is an unfinished plan of the previous UPA Government that planned two smart cities in each of the 28 States in the country in the second phase of the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) in 2012. The plan was to convert cities with 5 lakh to one million population like Ujjain and Jabalpur into smart cities, i.e. cities endowed with all facilities, and are “carbon neutral”, and “energy efficient”.
All over the world, the concept of smart cities has become popular and a part of sustainable development. Europe is said to be ahead of the US in creating smart cities. Urbanization on fast track, climate change, globalization, demographic changes, and migrations combine to determine and alter the future of cities and city life.
Companies working all over the world are drawn in the business of building infrastructure necessary for converting cities into smart cities. IBM, for instance, is said to be working on around 2,500 smart cities across the world. China and Brazil are said to be seriously working on hundreds of smart cities projects.
It is estimated that by 2030, about 600 million people will be residing in cities in India – nearly double the number of city population enumerated in the 2001 census. Urban population has increased from 27.80 % of the total population in 2001 to 31.10% in 2011.
However, India remains one of the countries with low level of urbanization. Still, the urban chaos grows day-by-day and cities are minute-by-minute fast turning to be “unliveable” geographical area. There is uneven growth in urbanization as Class I cities increase fast and medium and small towns experience declining population. Big cities face tremendous infrastructure, managerial, and environmental problems. Their growth naturally causes deterioration in the quality of life. Demand for better services has to be met to prevent the breakdown of city life itself.
This situation is termed “pseudo-urbanization”. It refers to formation of large cities without adequate functional infrastructure. It occurs wherever urban population grows without corresponding growth of infrastructure – housing, educational institutions, health care system, water supply, transportation, roads, waste management, etc. Several cities across the country including the mega cities suffer from over-urbanization and under utilities.
Several concepts and plans have gone into the development of cities in accordance with needs from time to time. But, they are insufficient and have faced many problems and obstructions in implementation. Town planning goes to pre-independence era, but towns have overgrown much beyond the plans.
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched in 2005 was to focus on planned development of identified cities. It focused on urban infrastructure, basic services for the urban poor, safe drinking water, clean surrounding, improved transport system, etc.
Construction works to replace or restore old buildings were taken up under this scheme. City modernization schemes were launched to improve urban infrastructure. E-governance has been introduced in many cities. Municipal governance is strengthened to participate in local development. But the JNNURM has resulted in more questions than achievements.
Smart growth is a concept in urban planning that emerged after the Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 which gave to the world the concept of “sustainable development”. It became popular in the US. It advocates compact urban centres that are sustainable in the long-term. It values promotion of a sense of community and neighbourhood among the residents as well as development of the region’s natural and cultural resources. It concentrates on achieving certain realistic aims such as education, employment, housing, power and water supply, transportation, and healthcare institutions.
A similar concept was developed in Europe also particularly in Britain. Transportation, employment, and housing choices got priority with emphasis on long-term regional considerations of sustainability. Known as “compact city” and “urban intensification”, Government planning of cities in many countries in Europe rested on what is called the three pillars – human capital, natural capital, and created capital.
The concept of smart growth stems from the idea that economic development should enhance quality of life also. It evolved to counter uncontrolled development resulting in urban sprawl, deteriorating urban infrastructure, traffic congestion, inadequate public services and amenities, and increasing pollution level, etc. – in short, to address the mismatch between supply and demand in city life.
Smart cities are an improvement over earlier “digital cities” and “connected cities” built on the new technology. Introduced as a strategic device to cover urban production factors, the concept of smart city is built on the growing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and also banks on social and environmental capital that are not properly exploited in conventional urbanization.
In the place of emphasis on construction of roads, bridges, buildings, railway lines, etc., smart cities are developed by using broadband network, mobile towers, cameras, wireless and satellite communication, and rapid mass transport. Resources are used more efficiently for improving every aspect of urban life. From the quality of air and water to transport and communication systems, from garbage clearance strategy to safe and secure environment, smart cities will be different from the rest.
In fact, the concept of smart cities is looked upon as a “technological project” in India whereas in the West, it is considered to be a “management project”. This is due to the high level of technological progress already made by western nations. India has to face the twin task of improving our technology as well as our techniques of management. The much publicized public-private participation must become a reality within and beyond the role of local Government institutions.
Smart cities are not grown, but built with human endeavour in several dimensions. Knowledge and application must come into play as the essential capital for the smart city projects. Simultaneously, all that hampers urban development like corruption and bureaucratic lethargy must be rooted out. It is common knowledge that projects involving constructive work contain tremendous scope for corrupt practices.
Smart cities project must include inbuilt mechanism for smart administration that is responsible, accountable, transparent, and efficient. E-governance cannot be taken as foolproof arrangement to eliminate corruption.
In India, it is expected that the proposed conversion of small and medium towns into smart cities would help arrest population movement towards mega cities. This may work as short-term solution. But cutting down uneven growth cannot be achieved without a check on population growth.
Smart cities will help correct prevailing urban chaos in India for some time. But, the mess cannot be eradicated without nationwide promotion of basic infrastructure and delivery of services. Our situation is such that we have to ensure that our achievements on one path are not nullified by our failings on another. -INFA
Sugar futures remain weak on adequate stocks
NEW DELHI, Aug 1: Sugar prices remained weak and fell further 0.39 per cent to Rs 3,061 per quintal in futures trading today as speculators reduced positions amid ample supplies in the spot market.
At the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, sugar for delivery in September fell by Rs 12, or 0.39 per cent to Rs 3,061 per quintal with an open interest of 8,640 lots.
Similarly, the sweetener for delivery in August contracts traded lower by Rs 11, or 0.36 per cent to Rs 3,006 per quintal in 20,810 lots.
Analysts said adequate supplies in the market against low demand from bulk consumers weighed on the sweetener prices at futures trade. (PTI)
Kelly Rowland expecting baby boy
LONDON, Aug 1: Singer Kelly Rowland has confirmed that she is expecting a baby boy with husband Tim Witherspoon.
The 33-year-old singer, who is expecting their first child, accidentally revealed the gender of their unborn baby while discussing all the gifts their family members have already purchased for the tot, reported Contactmusic.
Asked about her pregnancy, she said, “We’re very excited. So far, everything has been good. I just feel like the baby is already (spoiled) rotten-like literally, my Caress family has gotten him all of his little bathing stuff, his toys. It’s just so cool,” she said.
The former Destiny’s Child singer immediately realised her blunder and said, “It’s a boy. It’s a boy!” (PTI)
Nickel futures gain 0.62% on spot demand, global cues
NEW DELHI, Aug 1: Nickel prices moved up by 0.62 per cent to Rs 1,135.20 per kg in futures market today as speculators enlarged positions amid a firming trend in spot market on increased demand from alloy-makers.
Besides, an encouraging trend in select base metals in the global markets supported the upside.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, nickel for delivery in August gained Rs 7, or 0.62 per cent, to Rs 1,135.20 per kg in a business turnover of 472 lots.
Similarly, the metal for delivery in September rose by Rs 6.70, or 0.59 per cent, to Rs 1,140 per kg in just one lot.
Analysts said besides rising demand from alloy-makers, a firming trend at the London Metal Exchange (LME) as stronger than expected manufacturing data in China, the largest metals consumer, signalling improving demand, influenced nickel futures here.
Globally, nickel for delivery in three months climbed as much as 1 per cent to USD 18,688 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange. (PTI)