A Euro III diesel car emits 7.5 times more particulate matter and three times more NO2 than a similar petrol car. A litre of diesel emits more carbon dioxide than a litre of petrol when burnt.LiveMint: Diesel could be more injurious to health
The Euro III norms that are currently in force in Indian cities use diesel with sulphur concentration ranging from 350 to 550 ppm. Diesel particulate filters require ultra-clean diesel with sulphur content of less than 10 ppm.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Subsidizing Pollution
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
ishwar sharan: A sinister power struggle in the Vatican to get an Italian pope next time round – RIC
From: Ishwar Sharan <ishwarsharan@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, May 30, 2012 at 7:34 AM
Subject: [New post] Vatileaks: A sinister power struggle in the Vatican to get an Italian pope next time round – RIC
To:
|
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
'Making Loud Noises Is Not Journalism'
As soon as I step out of my urban comfort zone, I know that the media is not a priority in life, or in most cases, not even a part of life. The more you talk to this segment, the more you realise what a spectacular failure the Indian media has been in understanding, reflecting and empathising with this 'other India'. Even for our urban people, what difference does the media make in terms of painting the 'big picture' of India?Rediff: Sheela Bhatt on the Indian Media
Take the issue of dynastic politics or the maladies of Indian democracy. The Indian media has not been effective in generating public opinion against them. In fact, it has shamefully indulged in 'paid news'.
Iran Hit By Virus More Powerful Than Stuxnet
Telegraph: Iran Hit By New Virus More Powerful Than Stuxnet
WSJ on Devi Shetty: The Henry Ford of heart surgery
From: sri
Date: Tue, May 29, 2012 at 3:21 AM
Subject: WSJ on Devi Shetty: The Henry Ford of heart surgery
To:
A 2009 article from the The Wall Street Journal The Henry Ford of heart surgery: Devi Shetty's business model delivers
cheap medical care by: Geeta Anand
From: The Wall Street Journal November 21, 2009 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/business-old/the-henry-ford-of-heart-surgery-devi-shettys-business-model-delivers-cheap-medical-care/story-e6frg90x-1225801548287 HAIR tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed
magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an
11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta
onto his stopped heart. As Dr Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads
aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the
Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of
lower-cost medical care. The agreement is inked a few days later,
pending approval of the Cayman parliament.
the chinese propaganda agency likes hollande. [bad news for france]
From: B
The new broom Hollande
By Shen Xiaoquan, China.org.cn, May 28, 2012
The author is a researcher and senior editor at the International Affairs Research Center of Xinhua News Agency.
As the saying goes, "a new broom sweeps clean." The French new broom Francois Hollande recently participated in three diplomatic events since he was elected as president on May 15. He met with Germen Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on May 15, attended the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in Camp David in the U.S. on May 18 and later flied to Chicago for the NATO summit. His busy schedule gave the press an opportunity to observe France's new leader's diplomatic concepts and policies. Media in Paris commented that Hollande brought a new look to French diplomacy.
Hollande's diplomacy focuses on two issues: One is the euro zone crisis; the other is the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Both issues affect France's relationships with two of its major international partners: Germany and the U.S. The two partnerships form the basis of France's diplomacy.
Initial victory at G8
Before he was elected, Hollande had questioned the EU's financial contract with member states for resolving the sovereign debt crisis. In January, he asked for a renegotiation on this contract that was accepted by the vast majority of the EU countries.
According to Hollande, articles on stimulating growth must be included in this contract like those on strengthening the fiscal discipline of EU member states. Otherwise, France would block it. But Merkel flatly rejected Hollande's proposal. Their sharp opposition has caused concern for potential tensions between the two countries.
Shortly after his inauguration on May 15, Hollande visited Germany and met with Merkel. Both expressed their own views while keeping the door open to further negotiation. Both agreed to discuss the issue again at the EU summit to be held in late May. From the Berlin meeting, we can see that the essence of their divergence is the priority whether to reduce deficit or promote growth. Hollande's proposal reflected a wide concern that countries like Greece, Spain and Italy could not bear the growing pressure of austerity policies.
The euro zone crisis and Greece's potential exit have also dominated the G8 Summit agenda. Hollande's view gained supports from U.S. President Barack Obama and many other leaders, making Merkel to look somewhat isolated at the summit. In their summit communiqué, leaders said that bolstering economic growth and job creation was critical to the global economic recovery. Hollande proudly announced at a press conference after the summit that he wasn't the only one to have the desire for growth, and his mandate by the French public had been honored.
On the Greece issue, Hollande, together with other leaders, pledged to have Greece remain in the euro zone while respecting its commitments. A strong and cohesive euro zone is important to global stability and economic recovery. According to Le Figaro, Hollande's debut on the global stage claimed an initial victory.
Hollande's flexibility
The NATO Summit in Chicago is crucial to Obama because ending the Afghan War honorably tops his agenda. Hollande proposed to withdraw French troops ahead of schedule, which set a new trend in the Franco-U.S. relations.
According to an agreement signed by former President Nicolas Sarkozy and his U.S. counterpart, French troops along with the allied troops would withdraw from Afghanistan in phases starting from 2014. But Hollande pledged to withdraw all French troops by the end of this year. This change put Obama in an awkward situation because it not only upset the original plan, but also could cause a chain reaction in other allied countries. Of course, Obama would not agree with Hollande on his plan. But any escalating of divergence will negatively affect the NATO summit and Obama's bid for his second term as U.S. president.
Luckily, negotiations before the summit were successful. On May 19, Hollande and Obama as well as respective defense ministers held talks in Washington. Hollande emphasized that his plan of an early withdrawal has been made after a full negotiation with the allies. Considering the technical and diplomatic needs, only part of the combat troops, not the whole, will pull out from Afghanistan. The rest will stay until the supplies and materials have been transported safely and the mission of training local armies and policemen are completed, Hollande declared in a conciliatory tone after the summit. French Defense Minister Le Drian also said that the French troops' pullout would not affect the NATO "unity." They have not left the allied troops. Thanks to Hollande's flexibility on this issue, a row had been avoided and a consensus was reached at the NATO summit.
Hot west, cold east
Hollande's diplomatic performance on the three occasions implies that the French diplomacy turns its focus to the West rather than to the East.
Located to the east of France, Germany has a big dispute with France on solutions to the euro zone crisis. Without a compromise, the two parties would not be able to reach an agreement, and that would weaken the function of their alliance as an engine in Europe. The two countries' relationship is not only important to the development of themselves, but also to the EU, which is in need of a great political leadership to get out of the crisis.
To the west is the U.S. Former President Sarkozy was considered a pro-U.S. politician. During his term, the U.S. and France broke the stalemate caused by the Iraq War and later France returned to integrated military structure of NATO. Although Hollande is not as much a U.S. supporter as his predecessor, he gained Obama's backing on the euro zone crisis and his understanding on French troops' pullout from Afghanistan. Both have shown that the France-U.S. relationship is headed to solidity. Not long ago, in an interview with U.S. media, Hollande said that although it's important to keep the French diplomacy unconstrained, he would not have wanted to cause President Obama any trouble. Therefore, some analysts said that Hollande will not change the "pro-U.S. route" followed by Sarkozy.
This "hot west, cold east" phenomenon may be superficial and temporary, but it does show the new president's diplomatic philosophy: to keep the coherence of the country's foreign policies; to show insistence on matters concerning the economy and its people's livelihood; and to show flexibility on defense issues concerning U.S. interests. This is the pragmatic diplomacy of Hollande who styled himself as "Mr. Normal" during the election campaign.
TAPI is the mother of all scams: India to guarantee safe transit of Tapi Gas from Turken-Afghan border!
From: sanjeev
India on May 23 signed agreement to buy natural gas from Turkmenistan at a rate equivalent to 55 per cent of crude oil price which, at $ 100 a barrel, translates into $ 9.17 per million British thermal unit, sources privy to the development said.
After adding transit fee and transportation charges, the gas through Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) line would cost $ 12.99 per mmBtu at Indian border, three times the price paid to ONGC and Reliance Industries for producing natural gas from domestic fields, they said.
The rate agreed to flies in the face of oil ministry which has been stonewalling any increase in price to be paid to domestic producers arguing that a higher gas price would lead to an increase in power tariff and cost of fertiliser, thereby entailing higher government subsidy outgo, they added.
Besides the higher price, India has also in the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) signed in Caspian Sea resort of Avaza, Turkmenistan agreed to take delivery of natural gas at Turkmen-Aghan border.
State-run gas utility GAIL India, which signed the GSPA, will then entrust the delivery of the gas to a consortium which will operate the TAPI pipeline, they said, adding that GAIL will be a prominent member of the consortium building and operating the 1,680-km line.
Sources said GAIL will pay Turkmengaz, the national oil company of Turkmenistan, on delivery of gas at Turkmen-Afghan border. Thereafter, the consortium which will have GAIL as partner, will take responsibility for transit of the gas through Afghanistan -- one of the top high security risk countries in the world, and terrorism hotbed Pakistan.
Stuck with $4.2 a million British thermal units (mBtu) price for its natural gas till 2014, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has sought from the government an import-parity price for sale of gas from its D6 field in the Krishna-Godavari basin (KG-D6).
Doing so would allow KG gas to be sold at the import price for liquefied natural gas (LNG). If approved, this would mean KG gas could be sold at over three times its current price. “We are asking for what we are entitled to. The pricing needs to be economical. It should give us sufficient return on costs and all the risks,” said a senior RIL executive. The market price could be lower if LNG prices fall, he added.
If the government agrees, it will be a first where any country’s domestically produced gas is priced equivalent to LNG rates, analysts said. Due to the costs involved in converting gas into liquid form at minus-zero temperatures and shipping it before regasifying, LNG is priced higher than domestic gas.The current $4.2 price had been arrived through a formula linked to the Brent crude oil price. While setting it, the government had capped the crude price at $60 and fixed it for five years from the start of production. This period ends on March 31, 2014. Though the company has been seeking a revision in the price, the government has not agreed.
Besides pricing, RIL and the government have differences over the minimum work programme for the field, that has seen its gas production falling. Gas volumes have fallen to 27million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd), against the 62 mscmd committed by RIL. The RIL executive said decline in output had primarily happened due to water ingress and approvals had been sought to carry out procedures like workovers and side-tracking to overcome the hurdles.
Blaming the petroleum ministry for artificially suppressing gas prices, he said, “We are not suppressing gas production; it is the government which is suppressing the price.” They are paying $16-18 per mBtu for import of LNG but do not want domestic companies to be paid remunerative prices, he said.
He cited the production sharing contract (PSC) governed the government and operator relationship, guaranteeing the market price and marketing freedom. The government currently decides the price, as well as the customers for RIL. “The need of the hour is to restore contractual sanctity,” said another RIL executive.
The company has taken the government to court, seeking arbitration, even as the ministry of petroleum has retaliated by disallowing over $1 billion in cost recovery for the field. RIL has maintained there was no provision in the PSC to link cost-recovery to production, The ministry had served a notice on the company, on the grounds that it had failed to drill nine of the committed 31 wells. “That we have recovered all the KG-D6 capex is not true. We invested close to $10 billion and are yet to recover a significant part,” said the company executive.
RIL said the company had sought regulatory approvals to implement its plans to increase output from the D1 and D3 wells in the same field. The executive said if approvals were received in the next six months, it expected output to increase in about two years. “The second phase of D1 and D3 has not been done. Whatever requirement will come, will be all integrated with the development of other fields in the block,” said the executive.
sanjeev nayyar
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Monday, May 28, 2012
“Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet”
The relentless drive for productivity may also have some natural limits. Ever-increasing productivity means that if our economies don’t continue to expand, we risk putting people out of work. Like it or not, we find ourselves hooked on growth.What, then, should happen when, for one reason or another, growth just isn’t to be had anymore? Maybe it’s a financial crisis. Or the need to rein in growth for the damage it’s inflicting on the planet: climate change, deforestation, the loss of biodiversity. The result is the same. Increasing productivity threatens full employment.
By easing up on the gas pedal of efficiency and creating jobs in what are traditionally seen as “low productivity” sectors, we have within our grasp the means to maintain or increase employment, even when the economy stagnates. At first, this may sound crazy; we’ve become so conditioned by the language of efficiency. But there are sectors of the economy where chasing productivity growth doesn’t make sense at all. The caring professions are a good example: medicine, social work, education. What sense does it make to ask our teachers to teach ever bigger classes? Our doctors to treat more and more patients per hour? What — aside from meaningless noise — would be gained by asking the New York Philharmonic to play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony faster and faster each year?
livemint: China's expanding core by Yuriko Koike
From: sanjeev
China is now engaged in bitter disputes with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, both located far beyond China’s 200-mile-wide territorial waters in the South China Sea. Indeed, so expansive are China’s claims nowadays that many Asians are wondering what will satisfy China’s desire to secure its “core interests”. Are there no limits, or does today’s China conceive of itself as a restored Middle Kingdom, to whom the entire world must kowtow?
So far, China has formally referred to Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang province as “core interests”, a phrase that connotes an assertion of national sovereignty and territorial integrity that will brook no compromise. Now China is attempting to apply the same term to the Senkaku Islands in its dispute with Japan, and is perilously close to making the same claim for the entire South China Sea; indeed, some Chinese military officers already have.
Illustration by Shyamal Banerjee/Mint
The Senkaku Islands, located to the west of Okinawa in the East China Sea and currently uninhabited, were incorporated into Japan by the Meiji government in 1895. At one time, there were regular residents working at a bonito-drying facility. In 1969, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) completed a seabed survey of the East China Sea and reported the possible presence of vast underground mineral resources, including abundant oil and natural gas reserves near the Senkakus. Two years passed before Taiwan and China claimed sovereignty over the islands, in 1971, but the Japanese government’s stance has always been that Japan’s sovereignty is not in question.In April, Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, a famous and articulate patriot, announced that the metropolitan government that he leads plans to acquire four of the Senkaku Islands, which are currently privately owned by Japanese citizens. Donations for the purchase from the people of Japan now exceed 700 million yen.
China reacted to Ishihara’s proposal with its usual sensitivity: it refused to receive the scheduled visit of Ishihara’s son, who is secretary general of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the country’s main opposition party.
... deleted
©2012/Project Syndicate
Yuriko Koike is Japan’s former minister of defence and national security adviser
Less Noisy Railway Tracks
Tata Steel plans to bring to India a unique railway track laying technology called ‘SilentTrack' which will reduce noise in the vicinity of tracks by up to 50 per cent.The steel major's European arm has successfully developed and laid ‘SilentTrack' in the UK. It has installed the tracks at Blackfriars station in London. Noise and vibration from moving trains cause lot of discomfort not only to the passengers but also to the people residing in proximity to the stations.
BusinessLine: Tata Steel develops SilentTrack technology
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Finding the deity everywhere and in all [pantheism being used against us?]
From: K
Mr. Srinivasan, As you are aware, the Pagan scriptures exhort adherents to perceive the deity everywhere and in all beings, e.g. Bhagavad-gita 5:18. However, methinks this is a dangerous thing to do, especially if indulged in before one's notion of deity and powers of discrimination have appropriately matured and crystallized or if you happened to choose the wrong type of Ishtadevata to start with. Recently the Congress demonstrated the truth of my assertion by seeing their Ishtadevata - Joseph Goebbels - in others. As you are aware, inspiration from this Ishtadevata of theirs is the reason why our students are fed the following sutras with their mother's milk, as it were: 1. India was never a nation until Lord Mountbatten gave diksha to Nehru. 2. All Indian children need a loving 'chacha' and that happens to be Nehru, who was allegedly immeasurably fond of the urchins. 3. What Nehru did not discover about India is not worth discovering. 4. The Republic of India is the 'Gift of Nehru' (with apologies to Herodotus). After six decades of devoted tapas and sadhana (not to mention saguNopasana and namajapa) dedicated to the aforementioned Teutonic devata, the Congress has graduated from the purely 'family-centric' stage to the 'vasudhaiva kutumbakam' stage, and the resulting enlightenment is causing it to perceive its Ishtadevata in other beings as well! 'Incisive analysis of contemporaneous religious praxis in a subaltern mode' - don't you think? Sincerely, |
constitutional democrats (frequently friends of congress) boast about rubbing out political adversaries
huffpo - Vote for Dharun and forward
From: Community Event <iacommunity02@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, May 26, 2012 at 12:54 AM
Subject: Fwd: Hoffington Post - Vote for Dharun and forward
To:
center of gravity of oil/gas shifts to the americas, away from OPEC via @chellaney
Saturday, May 26, 2012
nyt: Poor Calcutta [yet to recover from the ghoul-of-calcutta's propaganda]
From: sri
Date: Sat, May 26, 2012 at 1:42 PM
Subject: Poor Calcutta - New York Times
To:
Poor Calcutta
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/opinion/05banerji.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin By CHITRITA BANERJI
Published: September 5, 2007
Cambridge, Mass. ONE morning in January 1997, I walked into my office at a nonprofit group
here after a visit to my hometown, Calcutta. A very senior colleague, whom I
would have, until then, characterized as being the "sensitive" sort, greeted
me: "Welcome back. And how is everyone in Calcutta — still starving and
being looked after by Mother Teresa?" At first I thought this might be a bad attempt at humor, but I soon realized
that my colleague was seriously inquiring about my city's suffering humanity
and its ministering angel — the only images Calcutta evoked for him and
countless others in the West. When Mother Teresa died eight months later, 10
years ago today, foreign dignitaries and the Western news media descended on
the city. The reports on the funeral portrayed a city filled with starving
orphans, wretched slums and dying people abandoned on the streets, except
for the fortunate ones rescued by Mother Teresa. They described a city I didn't recognize as the place where I had spent the
first 20 years of my life. There was no mention of Calcutta's beautiful
buildings and educated middle class, or its history of religious tolerance
and its vibrant literary and cultural life. Besides, other Indian cities
also have their share of poverty, slums and destitution, as would be
expected in a country where a third of the population lives on $1 a day —
for example, more than half of Mumbai residents live in slums, far more than
in Calcutta. Why were they not equally damned in the eyes of the world?
rjagannathan: French vs Taseer: Indians need to reclaim their history
From: sri
Date: Sat, May 26, 2012 at 6:02 PM
Subject: French vs Taseer: Indians need to reclaim their history
To:
A Must read article.. please read the comments as well French vs Taseer: Indians need to reclaim their history
http://www.firstpost.com/india/french-vs-taseer-indians-need-to-reclaim-their-history-293948.html
Pics of Golden Temple Amritsar by sanjeev nayyar
From: sanjeev
what the US isn't telling us all about china's military: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/23/5_things_the_pentagon_isn_t_telling_us_about_the_chinese_military
Think of it like an iceberg: The top lies in plain sight, but a lot more hides beneath the surface.
In its annual appraisal of the Chinese military published last week, the U.S. Department of Defense seems to be describing an object it finds both familiar and mysterious. The report certainly answers many of the important issues concerning China's military, including its attempts to develop an anti-ship ballistic missile and its continuing fixation on Taiwan.
Yet for many crucial aspects of China's strategy, the Pentagon seems like it's just guessing. Here are the five most important questions about Beijing's defense strategy that remain stubbornly unanswered.
1. What are China's long-term defense spending plans?
... deleted
Exploring Solutions For Traffic Mess
The bigger the city, the smaller a vehicle must be to get around. Whoever has been to Paris, Rome or Beijing knows this has been the case for a long time. This will become a universal principle in the future, as urbanization is on the rise along with people's need for mobility. Smaller ways to get around are in demand: bicycles, scooters and small cars.
Electric cars as an extension of conventional vehicles with other means don't solve a single problem. Big cars need big batteries in order to provide them with sufficient range. In a vicious circle, this makes the cars not only heavier, but also more expensive. They are too expensive, don't do anything to relieve traffic and are only of marginal use to improve the CO2 situation.
Spiegel Online: Congested Streets Spark E-Scooter Trend
Friday, May 25, 2012
my rediff piece on how to rescue the #rupee. basically, tighten belts of parasitic neta-babu classes.
with admirable restraint, even if i say so myself, i have eschewed the idea of lining up a bunch of these people and ... beating them with (in the immortal words of an old-fashioned person i knew) brooms dipped in excrement.
or worse.
[actual phrase i was thinking of was: 'klanjil amedhyathil mukki adikkuka' -- hard to translate from the malayalam]
council on foreign relations: INDIA'S STATES: A SILVER LINING AMID ECONOMIC GLOOM
From: Ram Narayanan
Date: Sat, May 19, 2012 at 12:30 AM
Subject: INDIA'S STATES: A SILVER LINING AMID ECONOMIC GLOOM
To:
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/05/17/india-s-states-a-silver-lining-amid-economic-gloom/ EAST ASIA FORUM India’s states: a silver lining amid economic gloom May 17th, 2012 Author: Evan A. Feigenbaum, CFR
In recent months, there has been little but gloom about India’s economic prospects in the financial markets, for the following six very good reasons: First, India’s tumultuous politics have, from a corporate perspective, stalled essential reforms. Tax, pension and FDI reforms have made little headway under the United Progressive Alliance government, and parliamentary business has been tied up in knots as the leading national and regional parties squabble. Second, there has been mixed news from the capital markets. Inbound FDI was higher in 2011 than over the same period in 2010, but Mumbai’s SENSEX stock index was the world’s worst major performer in 2011. And the rupee has been among Asia’s worst-performing currencies, floundering amid fiscal problems, not least India’s current account deficit and persistent concerns about capital flows. These factors recently led Standard & Poor’s to downgrad India’s credit rating. ... deletedIndia’s states, then, are increasingly masters of their own fate. And those most likely to succeed will be those that also recognise the need for good governance. After all, good governance turns out to be smart politics: while India has seen the highest rates of anti-incumbency of any democratic country in the world, there are now strong signs that this trend is slowing. This is especially true at the state level, where governments that have successfully improved governance, for example in Bihar and Orissa, have held on to power. Strong managers and competent chief ministers have, in some places, delivered striking results. And the good news is that such improvements should be good for growth and, ultimately, for investment too. Even A. Feigenbaum is Adjunct Senior Fellow for East, Central and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations If you wish to respond to this message, do NOT hit the "Reply" button; please try ramn_wins@roadrunner.com
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one is a fable, the other is true. identify which is which. nadeem in dawn vs. aakar in mint
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Rajeev On The Rupee Debacle
There is an empirical observation that those countries that escape a particular financial crisis (and pat themselves on the back) are quite likely to fall prey to the next financial crisis.
There was an orgy of self-congratulation and complacency about the wisdom of the Indian 'third way' when the West self-destructed and India did not. That chicken may now be coming home to roost.
The second reason is structural: The Congress is happy with a certain economic climate; and if presented with any other, they will quickly convert it into what they like.
Rediff: The saga of the rupee and why it is falling
did the US pressure india on iranian oil to push the TAPI gas pipeline? [a truly bad idea, this pipeline, a hostage-taker's dream]
trivandrum girl tops ISC; relative of dr palpu
mobius: reform in india a work in progress
Our India Agenda by tanvir a khan DAWN
at the end of the day, pakistan is clear about its goal: kashmir as entitlement.
From: sanjeev nayyar
It is also true that some Indian hawks, in an exact replica of the Cold War, reduce it to a numbers game and wait for a tipping point when India would militarily prevail.
sanjeev nayyar
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