The week gone by

• Indian students held a rally in Melbourne to protest the racial attacks against Indians, demanding that the Australian government do more to protect them.
• Looks like the week belonged to WOMAN.Ms Meira Kumar, daughter of the late dalit leader Babu Jagjivan Ram is tipped to be the first Woman Speaker of Lok sabha.Also in state Sabitha Indra Reddy was given the Home Ministry, making her the first Woman HM in the country.Agatha Sangma, 28, is the youngest minister in the 79-member Union council of ministers of the Manmohan Singh government.Kansas girl, Kavya Shiva shankar,13, of Indian origin won the US National Spelling Bee championship for 2009
• India’s GDP grew by an impressive 6.7 per cent in 2008-09, at a time when other major econo-mies are in recession.Also per capita income has crossed Rs 3,000 per month for the first time ever.How-ever, agriculture grew just 1.6 per cent, against 4.9 per cent in 2007-08 and manufacturing grew just 2.4 per cent, against 8.2 per cent in 2007-08.But we should remeber that 2007-08 was an year of booming economy where 9% GDP growth was registered.
• The four-times champion Rafael Nadal was defeated by Sweden’s Robin Soderling.The Spanish player has not lost a match at Roland Garros since his debut on the claycourt grand slam in 2005, breaking his impressive record of 31-0.
  

Dr. Manmohan Singh and his 79 Ministers

People have given their verdict for 15th Lok Sabha elections in favor of United Progressive alliance. In the Euphoria of UPA getting a massive win a major point has been missed, in its last term UPA hasn’t really done anything special for the economy. Indian economy boomed in the initial 4yrs largely due to global conditions and to UPA’s credit they let it grow without too much meddling. In the current global conditions UPA led by Dr. Man Mohan singh cannot sit back and wait for things to happen. It is time for them to step up and take the country forward.

Cabinet has now been setup, decision of having 79 cabinet ministers didn’t please me initially. But to their credit Congress has withstood the pressures from their allies and managed to keep most of the Key portfolios with them, thereby managing to have a strong hold on key areas of governance. There are many interesting aspects in this cabinet. For the first time we see many new young faces in the cabinet, most of the key portfolios are put in the hands of clean politicians.

Here are some of the major issues that the government needs to tackle urgently.

Fiscal deficit

I have pointed out this in my article on Interim budget for 2008-09, our fiscal deficit was at 6 percent and for the current year it is likely to be over 10 percent one of the highest in the world. An emphasis has to be laid on the quality of spending. With seasoned politician like Pranab Mukharjee as Finance minister, we can be sure that this issue will be addressed with proper care.

Disinvestment

It is very important for the current government to resume the process of disinvestment. It was elected to run the country, not companies. Perhaps disinvestment was one of the achievements of previous NDA's govt. this process have come to a grinding halt when UPA took charge, this is time for it to be resumed.

Education

For a young nation like India, education must take a very high priority. Since the times of Nehru we haven’t had a Prime Minister who had focused on education and had made a positive impact. It is high time now for the government to improve the education system and provide its people quality education which they are longing for. It is heartening to see Kapil Sibal as HRD minister and is interesting to see Purandeshwari as MOS to assist him.

Infrastructure

To become a superpower, we first need power. There is consensus that India’s infrastructure is very bad. To grow at a fast pace for a long term we need a proper infrastructure in place. Power reforms and highway construction needs immediate attention. Kamalnath has been taken off from Commerce and is given this ministry, this is certainly a positive sign from the government that this area is been considered very important.

Food security and Agriculture

Agriculture growth in India has fell by 2.2 percent in the third quarter of 2008-09. With 68% of its population still in rural areas, agriculture should remain as one of the top priorities for the govt. A slightest improvement in agricultural production will mean that our imports will come down and our domestic consumption increases which will be a big boost our economy, especially in these times. It appears from the outside that Mr. Joshi has been carefully handpicked by Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan singh to head this ministry.

Land and other procedural reforms

A world bank report in 2007 ranked India at 134 out of 175 countries in terms of ease of doing business. This blame largely should fall on the administrative procedures and regulations which strangled hold any business. Take the example of SEZ’s(Special Economic Zones) in theory are a step ahead towards greater industrialization. But as the land acquisitions problems showed up, the policy has to be properly thought out to the last detail. Issues like Nadigram in West Bengal and Raigad in Maharastra should be avoided.I personally have a lot of hope on this government headed by Dr. Man Mohan singh, while most of political problems from last 5 years for him were solved by the decisive verdict, which kept Left parties out of the government. It is time for our prime minister to kick start reforms and take us forward.Finally I will say that this was a verdict of HOPE.

-Srikanth Achanta

Your Planet needs You

It is amazing how humans evolved as the rulers over the ages and how 99% of all the species that have ever lived are now extinct. Survival of the fittest, guess Darwin was right. It comes as no surprise as evolution is one of the inexplicably balanced phenomena of nature. What arrives as a problem is when this occurs unnaturally or is induced in the normal cycles, which as we all now is mostly attributed to the human interventions. According to a 1998 survey of 400 biologists conducted by New York's American Museum of Natural History, nearly 70 percent believed that they are currently in the early stages of a human-caused mass extinction, known as the Holocene extinction event. Studies have shown that global warming may drive one quarter of all land animals and plants to extinction by 2050.

One of the major challenges that the survival of species faces is the threat by mankind's insatiable demand for resources. The private sector has a huge impact on biodiversity through its use of natural resources, such as timber, soil and water, and extracted resources, such as minerals, oils and gas. Consumption is also being driven by our sheer numbers: the global population has more than tripled in 50 years to over 6.5 billion resulting in new businesses that are using up raw materials far more quickly than the planet can replenish them – having devastating impacts on species and ecosystems around the world.

There should be awareness in industries about creating great inroads into supply chains across entire business sectors, helping consumers to speak their minds through their purses. The solution lies in looking for alternative resources which do not portray going green as “hindrance to development”. The world needs a “Green New Deal” focused on investing in renewable sources of energy, eco-friendly infrastructure and energy efficiency. This will not only create jobs and spur recovery but also help tackle global warming. If we invest even part of the substantial new economic stimulus packages in the green economy, we can turn today’s crisis into tomorrow’s sustainable growth. Businesses also stand to gain from getting serious about sustainability, through boosting their competitiveness, increasing their profits and improving their reputation. Also, some thought should be given to establishment of sustainable societies designed to focus on issues such as balanced harvesting, poverty, deforestation, degraded soils, polluted water, disease and environmental crisis.

Mother earth is as much a home to the innumerous species as it is to humans. The impact that the depleting resources and extincting species will have on the balanced ecosystems is unfathomable. Humans have to find the thin line between consumption and conservation for their own good. As I always say, until we are able to live in Mars this is the only planet we have and somewhere the thought that “You need the planet” should inspire all of us to create sustainable businesses and work towards the theme of this year’s World Environment Day (June 5th, 2009) – “Your Planet needs you”.

-Sameera