Small steps that matter

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/small-steps-that-matter/
September 22, 2014 12:05 am
Lu Yang
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, his first since he assumed office in March 2013, has now come to an end. Xi’s trip was the first state visit by a Chinese president to India in eight years. The last stop in Xi’s four-nation tour in Central and South Asia, it was the most important, and the interaction between Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last few days set a positive tone for ties between the two countries.
Xi’s India visit should be understood in the context of China’s new periphery diplomacy strategy for the next 5-10 years. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee convened a neighborhood diplomacy conference in October last year, marking the beginning of Xi’s periphery diplomacy, which is based on the principles of qin (amity), cheng (sincerity), hui (benefit) and rong (inclusiveness). Xi also put forward a series of important cooperation initiatives, such as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road — “one belt and one road” — and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. These reflect China’s commitment to bringing more benefits to its neighbours and contributing to common development through its own growth. Given that China shares most land boundaries with South Asian countries, it is natural that the region’s importance will continuously increase under these new initiatives. India is the most significant piece on China’s South Asian chessboard.

China aggression

Despite the dissonance between the warm welcome laid out by Modi for Xi and the congruent standoff along the India-China border, the dispute was not allowed to overshadow the spirit of cooperation blooming between the two countries. Both leaders seem to be pragmatic in their wish to establish deeper bilateral ties, with economic development a major shared concern. If Modi needs growth to deliver on his promise of “achhe din”, China too is at a critical juncture. It is Xi’s mission to secure domestic stability and keep up the steady growth of China’s economy.
In that vein, compared with previous high-level visits, many of the bilateral agreements signed this time allow China to make massive investments in India’s infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. For years, this was stymied by New Delhi’s security concerns. China runs huge trade surpluses with India, more because of the Indian demand for cheap Chinese goods than any conscious policy on the part of the Chinese. This imbalance can only be addressed if the volume of India’s exports to China is enhanced, and increasing Chinese investment in India is one way to do so. Moreover, overcapacity in industry has threatened China’s growth, and it needs to relocate manufacturing sectors in countries where labour costs are lower. The agreements on railways and industrial parks and the five-year trade and economic development plan could be the building blocks for mutually beneficial economic cooperation in the long run.
Among Beijing’s main expectations from this visit was the hope that Delhi would clarify its position on the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor and give China concrete support, since the BCIM is an integral part of Xi’s “one belt and one road” project. China views India’s position on the BCIM as a barometer of its attitude towards Beijing’s South Asia policy and the degree of its strategic trust. There was a positive response at least at the rhetorical level, as Modi remarked that “India believes that reconnecting Asia is important for its collective prosperity” while welcoming Xi. But how cooperation on the BCIM will evolve remains to be seen. China also
reiterated its support for India’s aspiration to play a more active role in the UN and the Security Council, and it will support Delhi’s membership to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Although the border issue will continue to hinder India-China relations and true political trust will be impossible to establish in the absence of a settlement, there is enough space to develop cooperation on common concerns. Shortly before Xi’s visit, Modi coined a new terminology to describe India-China relations — “inch (India-China) towards miles (millennium of exceptional synergy)”. This adequately describes the development of India-China relations over the past two decades: though there were tensions and ups and downs, the general tendency was towards intensified contact and communication between the two Asian giants. We cannot expect one high-level visit to result in a major step forward. But the accumulation of small steps could lead to a grander vision.
In a speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs, Xi said, “One who wishes to be successful, seeks to help others to be successful. One who wishes to be understood, understands others.” The political leaders of India and China are taking the initiative to foster a shared culture based on reciprocity and common interests. Hopefully, a deeper understanding of each other could lead to a better future.
The writer is a political scientist at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany

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Rajnath Singh assures CBI probe into RSS activist’s murde

Thiruvananthapuram: The CBI will probe the murder of Kannur RSS leader Kathiroor Manoj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday. Rajnath, who was in Kerala, met Manoj’s family members and assured justice would be done. He also interacted with relatives of other political leaders who had been murdered.

“The Kerala government must end political violence in the state,” he said, even as he indicated that the growth of BJP could be the reason behind the killings of Sangh Parivar activists in the state.

“State government should take strong action. State government must try to end the environment of fear. There should be an environment where people fearlessly live in Kerala and work fearlessly,” he told PTI.

Kerala: Rajnath Singh assures CBI probe into RSS activist’s murder
Rajnath, who was in Kerala, met Kathiroor Manoj’s family members and assured justice would be done.

The Home Minister said the state government must make an honest assessment on why these political killings were taking place, what were the reasons and give assurance that such types of violence would not take place in future.

“Problem of violence must be resolved. Freedom of speech, freedom of religious practice and freedom of political activities must be ensured. State government must take action on it. I want to assure the state government that whatever assistance will be required, the central government will provide,” he said.

Asked whether the growth of BJP and other organisations could be the reason behind the killing of Sangh Parivar members, Singh said, “That possibility cannot be ruled out.” The Home Minister said the Central government was concerned over the political killings in Kerala as well as in West Bengal.

Describing the killing of Manoj as “very unfortunate”, the Home Minister said no political ideology could be suppressed by violence and one should counter any political ideology only through another ideological view and “not through gun or violence.”

“We have to take action to check the political violence. All political parties must come on board and oppose the killing of innocent people,” he said.

Singh said the Kerala government has already recommended a CBI probe into the killing of Manoj and the Central government will issue a notification handing over the probe to the premier investigating agency soon.

The Home Minister said no religion permits violence but if anyone thinks that by adopting the means of violence a sense of fear could be created among the supporter of any particular ideology, it will never happen.

“Such attempts should be condemned by all political parties,” he said. On the reports that in some places in Kerala some political parties have created fear psychosis among the common people, Singh said if such reports were true, it was very unfortunate and the state government should take cognisance of it and take action.

“All action should be taken by the state government,” he said.

The Home Minister also appealed to socio-cultural organisations in Kerala to come forward and launch a mass movement against political violence in the state.

With additional information from PTI

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*KINSUK PALLAB BISWAS*

Jayalalita got her new home ( jail ) for four year

Tamilnadu chief minister Jayalalita got her new home ( jail ) for four year in disproportionate assets case by special court.
1996 – The DMK government registers a first information report (FIR) against Jayalalithaa for having disproportionate assets known to her source of income.

1997 – The court frames charges against four: Jayalalithaa, VN Sudhakaran, VK Sasikala and J Illaarasi.

2002 – Jayalalithaa becomes chief minister again. Several witnesses turned hostile.

2003 – DMK leader K Anbazhagan urges the Supreme Court to shift the case out of Chennai. The apex court orders shifting of the case to Bangalore where a special court was set up.

2010 – Trial in the disproportionate assets case begins in a serious manner.

2011 – AIADMK back in power and Jayalalithaa becomes chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa appears before the trial court and answers over 1,300 questions.

2012 – Supreme Court clears the appointment of G Bhavani Singh as the special public prosecutor.

John Michael Cunha appointed as the special court judge.

2014 – Conclusion of trial and judgment day was initially fixed for September 20. The date was postponed to September 27 at Jayalalithaa’s request citing security reasons.

2014 – Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa held

New method to harvest hydrogen fuel from Sun

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/new-method-to-harvest-hydrogen-fuel-from-sun/1293190?rhnews

PTI | London | Published: Sep 26 2014, 18:27 IST

Scientists have developed a new and efficient method of producing hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, led by Michael Gratzel, have developed methods for generating fuels such as hydrogen through solar water splitting.

To do this, they either use photoelectrochemical cells that directly split water into hydrogen and oxygen when exposed to sunlight, or they combine electricity-generating cells with an electrolyzer that separates the water molecules.

By using the latter technique, Gratzel’s post-doctoral student Jingshan Luo and his colleagues were able to obtain a spectacular performance.

Their device converts into hydrogen 12.3 per cent of the energy diffused by the Sun on perovskite absorbers – a compound that can be obtained in the laboratory from common materials, such as those used in conventional car batteries, eliminating the need for rare-earth metals in the production of usable hydrogen fuel.

This high efficiency provides stiff competition for other techniques used to convert solar energy, researchers said.

“Both the perovskite used in the cells and the nickel and iron catalysts making up the electrodes require resources that are abundant on Earth and that are also cheap,” said Luo.

“However, our electrodes work just as well as the expensive platinum-based models customarily used,” Luo added.

On the other hand, the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen makes its storage possible, which addresses one of the biggest disadvantages faced by renewable electricity – the requirement to use it at the time it is produced.

“Once you have hydrogen, you store it in a bottle and you can do with it whatever you want to, whenever you want it,” said Gratzel.

Such a gas can be burned – in a boiler or engine – releasing only water vapour. It can also pass into a fuel cell to generate electricity on demand, researchers said.

They hope the 12.3 per cent conversion efficiency they achieved will soon get even higher.

The study is published in the journal Science.

India creates history, keeps date with Mars

Arun Ram & Chethan Kumar,TNN | Sep 24, 2014, 07.42 AM IST

CHENNAI/BANGALORE: India created history on Wednesday, becoming the first country to successfully get a spacecraft into the Martian orbit on its maiden attempt.

Indian Space Research Organisation’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft started orbiting the red planet at 7.47am, but it was only 12 minutes later —because of a time delay in radio signals travelling the 680 million km — that scientists at Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore, could erupt in joy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood a happy witness.

For most of the time the main engine was firing — 20 of the 24 crucial minutes — MOM was hiding behind Mars, adding to the suspense.

The scientists had waited for more than 300 days as MOM journeyed on through space, but the last 54 minutes were virtually unbearable. For, it was during this period that the orbiter first reoriented itself and then fired its engine and thrusters for about 24 minutes to get into the Mars orbit.

For all the action at the ground station, there was not much the scientists had to do. More than 10 days ago, they had uplinked all the commands for the manoeuvres to the spacecraft. MOM, like an obedient child, carried them out perfectly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Isro scientists over the success.

“MOM never disappoints,” he told applauding scientists at the Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore.

“India is the first country to get this right in the first attempt,” he said.

Modi turned philosophical while talking about the scientific achievement. “Jab kaam mangal hota hai, irade mangal hote hain, tho yaatra bhi mangal hota hai (When the task is holy, and so is the intention, the journey has to be a success),” he said.

Congratulating and prodding on Indian space scientists, he went on: “Unless you enter the waters you don’t learn to swim. Risk tho lena hi padtha hai (You have to take risks,” he said.

He urged the scientists to continue to inspire the future generation. “Despite our many limitations, we have succeeded. It is a shining symbol of what we are capable of as a nation … A successful space programme generates efforts across multiple domains,” Modi said.

Switching between English and Hindi, the Prime Minister said the scientists were changing our lives and speed of achievement.
For many months — if not years — MOM will remain a satellite of Mars, clicking pictures and sniffing out details on the atmosphere and morphology of the red planet.

Through its journey since November 5, 2013 when PSLV-C25 lifted off from Sriharikota with the spacecraft in its nosecone, MOM has had a perfect journey. The first litmus test came on Monday when it was to carry out time-tagged commands to reignite its main engine which had been idling for about 300 days since it left the Earth orbit on December 1, 2013. MOM did this in style, burning for the designated four seconds to show that the engine is in fine shape. On Wednesday, it proved its resilience.

As it goes around Mars on an elliptical orbit with the closest point around 420km and the farthest around 80,000km, MOM will employ five equipment that collectively weight 15kg to do scientific studies.

The Lyman alpha photometer would measure the relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen in the upper Martian atmosphere to understand previous presence of water on the red planet. A methane sensor will look for sources of the gas. While the Mars colour camera clicks away, a thermal infrared spectrometer will study heat emission, minerals and soil on Mars.

Before India, various countries have launched Mars missions, but out of the 51 attempts, only 21 were successful. India now joins the Martian club that comprises the US, Russia and the European Space Agency. Only the European Space Agency has got its orbiter right in the first attempt (Mars Express in 2003), but India can claim a first since the agency is a conglomeration of several countries.

Mangalayan succesfully complited 67,00,00,000Km journey for Bharat

1. INDIA becomes the first country in the world to do so in its maiden attempt, leaving behind US, Europe and Russia.
2. INDIA becomes the only Asian country in the world so far to successfully accomplish this mission , not even China.
3. INDIA completes this mission in just 450 crores, 1/10th of the cost incurred by NASA for similar Misson ‘Maven’.
4. It’s less than the cost of many of the Hollywood movies.
5. This mission has been executed without any association with any foreign country. ..its completely indigenous.
6. The spacecraft has traveled more than 650 crore kilometres in around 300 days to complete this journey.

DYNASTY’S RUTHLESS LAND-GRAB OPERATION

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/usual-suspects/dynastys-ruthless-land-grab-operation.html

Sunday, 21 September 2014 | Swapan Dasgupta

A few passage from All These Years (Penguin Books, 1991), Raj Thapar’s candid insider account of court life in the age of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi may be relevant in today’s irreverent age when an outsider Prime Minister is questioning the fundamentals of entitlement.

“It was within ten days of Nehru’s death that Indira rang Romesh (Thapar) one morning, sounding desperate. Meher Chand Khanna, the then Housing Minister, had apparently sent his minions to ask her if they could remove the furniture and that she plan to vacate the (Teen Murti) House as soon as possible. She was alarmed. ‘What shall I do?’ she asked, almost in tears. He told her to sit tight, take her time, and he would see that no one dare throw her out…”

“Teen Murti House seemed to have a life quite independent of the occupants. Rumour had it that Shastri’s wife declined to use it as a residence because Nehru’s ghost must haunt the rambling structure since the kriya ceremony had not been performed and his spirit not been released in the way it should have been… No way could Shastri be persuaded to step into a defiled space. It was not a question of contaminating his soul but of putting an uncertainty over his future, his political future.”

“Meanwhile Indira called a meeting of a hundred citizens, from the big industrialists downwards, to form the Nehru Memorial Trust. She co-opted Romesh on to the panel of original trustees…The Fund was created, Teen Murti was dedicated to the nation and the ‘people of India’ and new expansion plans were put into operation…”

What Raj Thapar, with a charming measure of feigned innocence, described in her memoirs was a well-executed and ruthless land-grab operation. First, Indira Gandhi is tearfully outraged that she is asked to vacate a public building that served as Nehru’s official residence for 17 years. Encouraged by her courtiers, she is determined to not lose control of a property she now views as an inheritance.

Therefore, after seeking sympathy that naturally comes to any family after a bereavement, her supporters whisper that the un-refined Lal Bahadur Shastri is not fit to occupy a place that housed the great Nehru. The point of this psychological warfare is two-fold. Shastri must be intimidated into believing that it would be sacrilegious for him to move into Teen Murti. In the process, there is a distinction made between Teen Murti House, the Prime Minister’s official residence, and Teen Murti House, the residence of Nehru. Once Shastri is bullied into not moving into Teen Murti, it loses its undefined status as the PM’s official residence. It comes to be associated solely with Nehru.

The dynasty then moves fast. It sets up the mandataory trust, arm-twists the industrialists it otherwise despises into making handsome contributions and creates the conditions for Teen Murti House to become a family shrine. True, Indira didn’t get to live in Teen Murti House — I guess she didn’t factor the possibility of her becoming PM in less than two years — but at least a principle was established: the dynasty doesn’t relinquish real estate that easily.

A casual look at the map would indicate the extent of land-grab. Teen Murti houses the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library that is nominally under the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India. It was deemed sufficiently important for the Congress dispensation for its tenured Director to be appointed in the interregnum between the last date of polling and the declaration of results in May 2014. The Director is no doubt an eminent historian but the manner of his appointment was distinctly dodgy.

Then there is Indira Gandhi Memorial at the junction of Safdarjung Road and Akbar Road — two Lutyen’s bungalows that also doubled up as the unofficial headquarters of the Congress(T) in the last years of the Narasimha Rao Government, before Sonia assumed charge of the party. There is also the single bungalow office of the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust on Willingdon Crescent.

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is located on Raisina Road, on premises that were initially given to the Congress to use as its permanent headquarters. The Congress remains exactly where it was in a spacious Akbar Road bungalow but the new building has been transferred to the dynasty’s trust. The same fate would have befallen the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts that had proposed Sonia Gandhi for a lifelong role. But with a change of Government, this institution can perhaps be salvaged and made to play the role it was set up for.

And this is not to forget the case of Herald House, the prime property on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg that now serves as a Passport Office. The irony of the Government paying rent to a family-controlled Trust that secured Government land at subsidised rate for the ostensible purpose of bringing out a publication is inescapable.

Maybe someone should do an audit of the value of the real estate in Delhi that is under the direct or indirect control of the Gandhi family. The nation, it would seem, owes this family everything and it has repaid the debt by entrusting prime real estate to institutions set up by them. And this does not include the Government-provided residences in Lutyens’ Delhi — some, no doubt, legitimate — to all of Nehru’s remaining heirs.

Is it any wonder that Ajit Singh, the son of Charan Singh, believes he is being short-changed by a Government that views Government buildings as a hotel—where you check in but must also check out? The Modi Government is being pilloried because it doesn’t view the state as private property.

Signs are clear: Modi is taking down the Nehru-Gandhi nameplate Inbox x

http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/analysis/how-modi-is-taking-down-the-family-nameplate/article1-1266577.aspx

Abhijit Majumder, Hindustan Times
September 20, 2014 –

From the time PM Narendra Modi’s government arrived, it has done what all of us do when we take over a house from another occupant: Change the signage.

Only, this is no ordinary change. It is not just about bringing down old photographs and nameplates and putting up a new set. It is far bigger in scale, far-reaching in ambition, profound in its desired result.

So far managing to keep the media noise low, the Modi government has set out to unfix the nuts, bolts, nails, dowels, hinges and fixings of the Nehru-Gandhi architecture.

It won’t be easy. The family has been in power for about 50 of India’s 67 years of Independence, the last 10 of which with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as the real power centre watching over her party’s PM. This is excluding PV Narasimha Rao’s days in office, on which the family had very limited influence.

After the BJP came to power in May, it had said it would review the use of Nehru-Gandhi family names in 650 schemes, projects and institutions.

From roads, parks, colleges, ports, airports, sanctuaries to stadiums and tournaments played therein and trophies distributed, perhaps no part of the country is untouched by these signs of what is variously explained as gratitude and servitude.

Of the many mysterious ways the family exercised and perpetuated its power over nearly seven decades, signage was the most visible but, paradoxically, the most subliminal. One encountered it almost at every turn of everyday life.

The Modi establishment wants to change that. One thought it would. It is predictable that a party which comes to power with a daunting majority would try to stamp its ideology in the names of institutions, rewrite a bit of much-rewritten history, and draw up a fresh pool of icons.

But interestingly — a reconfirmation that Modi places pragmatism over ideology — not all in this growing pool of revived icons are being drawn from the Hindutva pantheon.

Modi’s recent praise of Kerala Dalit leaders Mahatma Ayyankali and Narayana Guru foretells us that he will draw from a wider set of ideologies, consider caste and regional aspirations. It politically makes sense to do so, especially if the BJP wants to grow out of its Hindi belt stronghold and Brahmin-Bania image.

Rajiv Awas Yojna for slum development is going to be named after Jai Prakash Narayan, a socialist and India’s best known anti-corruption activist. In the Union Budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley spoke about setting up the Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in Humanities in Madhya Pradesh.

Modi has repeatedly spoken about the contribution of former Congress PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, even mentioned PV Narasimha Rao.

Vallabhbhai Patel and Vivekananda — neither fit the RSS mould — have been the PM’s enduring idols. His other favourite, Aurobindo Ghosh, icon of Hindu nationalism during the freedom struggle, also does not ideologically fit snugly in Golwalkar or Savarkar’s world.

But the Sangh’s mentors too have started finding a prominent place in NDA’s scheme of things.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will, for all practical purpose, be merged into the Syama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission which the government has announced. The urban development ministry has already scrapped the JNNURM.

This Budget also mentioned the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Teaching Programme, which is supposed to begin soon. Malaviya, a Hindu Mahasabha leader, founded the Benaras Hindu University.

Quietly but surely, the Gandhis are being edged out. The Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana has been changed to the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, while the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana has the replaced the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme.

Former PM Indira Gandhi’s name has also been dropped from the Indira Vikas Patra. We now have the Kisan Vikas Patra.

Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi Airport is likely to be named after former Andhra Pradesh CM NT Rama Rao.

The churning of icons which started with Modi’s campaign last year will go on as long as this government is in power. What kind of signage emerges in the next five or ten years is difficult to foresee, but it is surely not going to be an ovation to the Nehru-Gandhi family legacy.