Saturday, May 5, 2012
Robert Lanza, M.D. – BIOCENTRISM » Does Death Exist?
Robert Lanza, M.D. – BIOCENTRISM » Does Death Exist? The ideas expressed by Biocentrism find resonance in the Hindu philosophy as explained in the Upanishads.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Saturday, November 27, 2010
30,000 Indian students have left Australia: Student federation - Yahoo! India News
30,000 Indian students have left Australia: Student federation - Yahoo! India News Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 27 (IANS) A spate of attacks, tough visa norms and denial of permanent residency have caused around 30,000 Indian students, mostly based in Melbourne, to leave Australia in the past year, claims the Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA).
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Economic cost of corruption in India
(Straight from the hip,20th November, 2010, www.equitymaster.com)
It is a sad statement that corruption is so endemic and is so deeply ingrained that the average citizen has become blasé about it! The costs to the nation are unbearably high. A recent study by Dev Kar, an economist with US think-tank Global Financial Integrity, has estimated that $462 b of Indian money has been salted away between 1948 and 2008.The unaccounted economy is half the official GDP! Imagine what could be done if that money went into Government coffers instead of to private bank accounts of scoundrel politicians!
A few things have become eminently clear after the recent telecom scandal that resulted in the resignation of the minister, A Raja, whom the CAG indicted as having caused a potential loss of Rs 177,000 crores by selling 2G spectrum cheaply, and out of turn, to a select few.
One, that all politicians of all parties are corrupt.
Two that they all have information about other politicians' wrongdoings. This information is brought out whenever required. In other words, the information on shenanigans is a tradeable commodity and not a prosecutable one.
Three, the media gets credit for investigative journalism but is actually fed documented information whenever the need arises.
Four, the worst that can happen to a corrupt official, senior enough, is that he resigns. The stolen money is never recovered. There is, after all, a heads I win, tails you lose, situation when it comes to senior politicians. When will we ever have a Government that actually prosecutes corrupt offenders and recovers the money?
Post 1992, economic liberalisation set in. The Government, with Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister, did away with a lot of the license-permit raaj and reduced tax rates. The economy boomed. Yet in big ticket items the writ of officialdom ran large. Telecom, airlines, banks, roads, property development (including SEZs) and now natural resources were some of the areas in which big money could be made and was. The bureaucracy and political class was unwilling to let this opportunity go. The 2G spectrum allocation scandal was in telecom. Ratan Tata recently commented on how a fellow industrialist told him to pay Rs 15 crores as a bribe to get an aviation license. The potential for kickbacks on large aircraft orders is huge and is what has driven some airlines into near bankruptcy. In real estate we have had the Adarsh scam in Maharashtra and now on in Karnataka where the BJP Government of Yeddyurappa is likely to fall (not because investigating agencies discovered the scandal now but because the Congress Government was attacked in the telecom scam).
How will this ever change? It cannot be through a change in laws, or better enforcement of them, because all politicians are in this together and are unlikely to want to cleanse the system. A feeble hope is that the electorate votes, in state elections such as in Bihar, to vote on the basis of economic performance and throws out those perceived to be corrupt. Another way would be for citizens to petition the Supreme Court to be allowed to deposit the tax into the hands of the Court; the resulting pressure would compel the Government to proceed against corrupt offenders or look at empty coffers.
We are fortunate that the economy is growing strongly to be able to absorb such rampant loot. Look at the conditions of other countries which have mismanaged their economies. Ireland is broke, and is begging the EU to rescue it. Greece has been unable to meet its bailout conditions and its budget deficit is going higher. Both these countries may have sovereign default and that could then cause fears of a contagion effect, with resultant nervousness of investors.
Despite the bonanza to the Government from sale of 3G spectrum and of divestment of PSU companies, the fiscal deficit is not likely to be lower, because expenditure is rising thanks to an increase in fertiliser and food subsidies and other things, including a Rs 1200 crores payment to BSNL employees. BSNL is, in fact, bleeding money, yet the Government does not want to privatise it. The reason is the same viz. the potential of kick back from a tender to expand telephone lines. Little wonder that when other telcos are making money and expanding overseas, BSNL is needing budgetary support!
With an estimate $ 462 b of unofficial funds lying in foreign banks, our banking sector also suffers. A McKinsey study says that Indian banks will have to grow 5 times in 5 years, if they have to fund the needs of Indian industry.SBI has to increase its assets from $ 200 b to $4000 b in 5 years. ICBC, China's largest bank, by contrast, has assets of $ 1700b.(8.5 times SBIs) and would grow to $4000 b. by 2015 But this growth can never happen for two reasons. One, because the Government refuses to relinquish control on public sector banks, which have 70% of the assets. And two because of the endemic corruption where 50% of our GDP is underground, as per the Dev Kar study.
It is a sad statement that corruption is so endemic and is so deeply ingrained that the average citizen has become blasé about it! The costs to the nation are unbearably high. A recent study by Dev Kar, an economist with US think-tank Global Financial Integrity, has estimated that $462 b of Indian money has been salted away between 1948 and 2008.The unaccounted economy is half the official GDP! Imagine what could be done if that money went into Government coffers instead of to private bank accounts of scoundrel politicians!
A few things have become eminently clear after the recent telecom scandal that resulted in the resignation of the minister, A Raja, whom the CAG indicted as having caused a potential loss of Rs 177,000 crores by selling 2G spectrum cheaply, and out of turn, to a select few.
One, that all politicians of all parties are corrupt.
Two that they all have information about other politicians' wrongdoings. This information is brought out whenever required. In other words, the information on shenanigans is a tradeable commodity and not a prosecutable one.
Three, the media gets credit for investigative journalism but is actually fed documented information whenever the need arises.
Four, the worst that can happen to a corrupt official, senior enough, is that he resigns. The stolen money is never recovered. There is, after all, a heads I win, tails you lose, situation when it comes to senior politicians. When will we ever have a Government that actually prosecutes corrupt offenders and recovers the money?
Post 1992, economic liberalisation set in. The Government, with Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister, did away with a lot of the license-permit raaj and reduced tax rates. The economy boomed. Yet in big ticket items the writ of officialdom ran large. Telecom, airlines, banks, roads, property development (including SEZs) and now natural resources were some of the areas in which big money could be made and was. The bureaucracy and political class was unwilling to let this opportunity go. The 2G spectrum allocation scandal was in telecom. Ratan Tata recently commented on how a fellow industrialist told him to pay Rs 15 crores as a bribe to get an aviation license. The potential for kickbacks on large aircraft orders is huge and is what has driven some airlines into near bankruptcy. In real estate we have had the Adarsh scam in Maharashtra and now on in Karnataka where the BJP Government of Yeddyurappa is likely to fall (not because investigating agencies discovered the scandal now but because the Congress Government was attacked in the telecom scam).
How will this ever change? It cannot be through a change in laws, or better enforcement of them, because all politicians are in this together and are unlikely to want to cleanse the system. A feeble hope is that the electorate votes, in state elections such as in Bihar, to vote on the basis of economic performance and throws out those perceived to be corrupt. Another way would be for citizens to petition the Supreme Court to be allowed to deposit the tax into the hands of the Court; the resulting pressure would compel the Government to proceed against corrupt offenders or look at empty coffers.
We are fortunate that the economy is growing strongly to be able to absorb such rampant loot. Look at the conditions of other countries which have mismanaged their economies. Ireland is broke, and is begging the EU to rescue it. Greece has been unable to meet its bailout conditions and its budget deficit is going higher. Both these countries may have sovereign default and that could then cause fears of a contagion effect, with resultant nervousness of investors.
Despite the bonanza to the Government from sale of 3G spectrum and of divestment of PSU companies, the fiscal deficit is not likely to be lower, because expenditure is rising thanks to an increase in fertiliser and food subsidies and other things, including a Rs 1200 crores payment to BSNL employees. BSNL is, in fact, bleeding money, yet the Government does not want to privatise it. The reason is the same viz. the potential of kick back from a tender to expand telephone lines. Little wonder that when other telcos are making money and expanding overseas, BSNL is needing budgetary support!
With an estimate $ 462 b of unofficial funds lying in foreign banks, our banking sector also suffers. A McKinsey study says that Indian banks will have to grow 5 times in 5 years, if they have to fund the needs of Indian industry.SBI has to increase its assets from $ 200 b to $4000 b in 5 years. ICBC, China's largest bank, by contrast, has assets of $ 1700b.(8.5 times SBIs) and would grow to $4000 b. by 2015 But this growth can never happen for two reasons. One, because the Government refuses to relinquish control on public sector banks, which have 70% of the assets. And two because of the endemic corruption where 50% of our GDP is underground, as per the Dev Kar study.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
May You Be Blessed Movie
May You Be Blessed Movie: "May You Be Blessed Movie" A fantastic & beautiful inspirational video.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Ancient bugs reveal early link from India to Asia - life - 25 October 2010 - New Scientist
Ancient bugs reveal early link from India to Asia - life - 25 October 2010 - New Scientist FIFTY-million-year-old insects preserved in amber are helping to rewrite the story of India's almighty crash into the Eurasian continent, suggesting that for as long as a few million years before the collision, India was connected to Asia by archipelagos.India spent tens of millions of years as an island before colliding with Asia. Yet the fossil record contains no evidence that unique species evolved on the subcontinent during this time, so India may not have been as isolated as it seemed to be.
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