'Aaj ki taaja khabar' - my views on news

New middle-class political activism

2009-04-02T22:42:00.006+05:30

Check out the NDTV video below of the 27 March 09 episode of We The People on NDTV

Link at: NDTV.com Video: New middle-class political activism

The video needs a fast net speed. If you have trouble watching on this page, see it on NDTV website at: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/new/NDTV-Show-Special.aspx?ID=44

Tough times

2008-06-05T21:39:00.007+05:30

The Gujjars are at it again.

The Jantar Mantar seems to be having a particularly tough time of late. The inanimate anyway suffer the most. We can at least have pseudo-intellectual conversations in air conditioned lounges and in front of plasma televisions. The architecture, the open spaces, the history, the brick, the mortar, the greens - stay witness to centuries, and do just that - stay witness.

This week was a particularly hard one. And it is just day 4.

Wednesday, the farmers from Punjab protested.

Thursday, the Gujjars.

By late tonight, the Jantar Mantar was a mess. But only till the sweepers descend early morning and clean the grounds for the next protest in line.

Freedom

2008-03-03T23:19:00.004+05:30

One cannot even begin to imagine the will power needed to survive almost solitary confinement for thirty five years. "..has not seen the sky or received a single visitor.." Survival is amazing, powerful, and yet swamped with sadness at all the time lost. What a grief, for both sides of the border. And what a waste.
------------------------

Indian freed after 35 years' jail

The Pakistani government has released from jail an Indian man who had spent 35 years on death row.
Kashmir Singh was sentenced to death for spying in 1973 and is set to be reunited with his family.

Mr Singh was discovered by Ansar Burney, a social worker who tracks people lost in Pakistan's jail system.

Hundreds of servicemen and civilians were imprisoned by India and Pakistan during hostilities between the two sides in 1965 and 1971.

Spies

Mr Burney discovered Kashmir Singh on a recent trip to a jail in Lahore and persuaded President Musharraf to revoke his death sentence and order his release.

The elderly Indian was a former policeman who had become a trader in electronic goods.

"I feel better. I am happy," Mr Singh told reporters.

He was arrested in the city of Rawalpindi in 1973 and convicted of spying.

Pakistan and India frequently arrest each other's citizens, often accusing them of straying across the border - some are treated as spies.

Mr Burney is currently the government's caretaker minister for human rights.

He first heard of Mr Singh during a radio call-in show some years ago. He recently won a presidential pardon for the prisoner.

The BBC's Barbara Plett says that Mr Singh is expected to be reunited with his wife and three children on Tuesday morning.

Mr Singh told Mr Burney that he had a love marriage rather than an arranged marriage.

His wife confirmed this to the minister when he called her.

"Why else would I have waited 35 years for him?" she asked.

Local media reports say that she has been waiting at the border since she first heard news that her husband would be pardoned.

Mr Burney said last week that Mr Singh was held in a condemned prisoners cell for most of the time since his conviction and had become mentally ill.

He said that he was first informed about Kashmir Singh several years ago by members of the Indian community in London.

But he was unable to locate Mr Singh, despite visiting over 20 prisons across the country in relation to his campaign for prison reforms and prisoners' rights.

The minister said that Mr Singh had not received a single visitor or seen the open sky and like other condemned prisoners, was locked in an overcrowded death cell for more than 23 hours a day in conditions which the minister described as "hell on earth."

Mr Burney said he will travel to India on Tuesday to see Mr Singh re-unite with his wife as well as their two sons and a daughter.

"My real purpose in going with him to India is that when this pair of swans meet after 35 years, I want to capture it with my own eyes," he said.

See the original BBC story of 3 March at this link

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Kudos to those not giving up for long lost family. And to humanitarian organisations helping the cause. See: Ansar Burney Welfare Trust

Corruption of the mind. ..and why not?

2007-10-24T00:32:00.000+05:30

Here is a post which I had originally written for the One At All Project blog, on June 4, 2007. One At All was a unique initiative of D.J., - a blog where one person from each country of the globe, shared thoughts on common threads/ topics. The nature of the initiative was such that the the blog was only as successful (or not) as most members wanted to make it. Sadly the level of involvement of most members did not sustain. D.J. has kindly agreed to me recreating this post here on my blog.
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Since we are trying out the free for all (I mean, the post-on-anything concept), let me kick it off with a big vent, on an issue not totally unrelated to corruption and gun control and suchlike. Its about the what we call in India 'bandh'-mentality. 'Bandh' in Hindi means closure. So, the concept is really quite simple. Let me illustrate with a few examples:

We are a group of traders, and we are against the law enforcement machinery carrying out the demolition of illegal construction in the markets in the city. So, we call for a 'bandh'. That is, we go out in the streets, forcing even those establishments which want to stay open, to close. Otherwise, we break and loot public (and private) properties, we beat up those who do not agree with us. Legality be damned. Why? - hey guess what. We are a mob. We are right. We have corrupt politicians on our side. And hey, everyone declares illegal bandhs, so why not us?

Or lets take another example. We are the moral force of the country. We are the guardians of the Indian culture. We are unemployed, uneducated hoodlums, (with neverthelss political ambitions), and we will force a bandh to protect our country. And what exactly is this protection against. Its against universty arts students. Its against the enemies of India who dare to disrupt our ancient culture, by having art exhibitions, which we might not even have seen. But, which we are convinced are immoral and degrading. So we will storm into a private university, force the art department to close down, beat up the student who dare make such paintings. We will burn effigies, we will break windows, we will close down the education institution. And what the heck, while we are at it, we will also declare a 'bandh' for all educational institutions in the city. Why? - hey guess what. We are a mob. We are right. We have corrupt politicians on our side, so why not. After all elections are not too far off.

And here is the latest one. We are a community which haven't been given our due. So we will demonstrate on the streets. Oh and Gandhi be damned. Peaceful protests don't get us anywhere, so we will gather in thousands with sticks, arms, weapons and massive stones, we will block national highways, we will burn tyres, shoot in the air and go around forcing the closure of the towns, schools, markets and railways. And while we are at it, we will burn transport buses and declare a 'bandh' unless the government (corrupt or not) is arm-twisted into giving-in to our issue. Obviously going around as armed mobs is the correct way forward. Otherwise who would care about us. We don't care about the crucial basic issues of long-term structural changes regarding access to resources. No. Do you know what we are fighting for. We are fighting to be declared 'backward'!! Yes siree, so we get our hands on the tempting honey-pot of 'reservation' that every other community seems to be getting a benefit of.

So dear readers, you are perhaps witnessing the first illegal community revolt, not for equality - but for preferential treatment: to be officially declared backward. Amazing but true. Illogical but true. Short-sighted but true.

Meanwhile, we plunder, we loot and we happily declare more bandhs.
And why? You guessed it....We are a mob. We are right. We have corrupt politicians on our side. So why not. Period.

Reflex action

2007-07-02T20:46:00.000+05:30

Some things are a definite no-no. And almost on top of the list is corruption/cheating/bribing. Just one of the things which one determines not to give in to - ever. So far, the naivette has survived. So when one hears of cheating during a sponsored 'test' - its hard for me to keep my mouth shut. "Forget it." "How does it concern you?" "Let them do whatever." Oh so common phrases. And such nonsense. So, as of last week, a somewhat respected colleague has taken a plummeting in my opinion. I remember another incident from more than a year ago, when I saw teh staff from a pollution checking booth, repeatedly take bribes - in broad daylight, from autorickshaws which came to get the pollution level checked, and either weren't at par or simply found it easier to pay up and take the stamped paper. Having witnessed this while stuck in a traffic jam, a good four hours of my time was spent in complaining to the booth, traffic police, police helpline, Delhi transport service and about three other related police stations, before I got tired of being passed around from one department to other, - simply because no-one seemed to have ever got a complaint from a civilian before (and lets not even go into a 'woman' complaining). My colleagues, bemusedly chuckled as I got more and more worked up on phone before giving up close to lunch time. The latest one on the receiving end being the gas connection shop demanding some 'eenam' for 'chai-pani'. Well, at least it'll be a good few months before I tackle the gas people again. Humphf. Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I'd rather stick to my line than pay money simply because 'chalta hai yaar'...

Here's a related article from past December's The Economist. The second in line from my 'clear gmail list'.
--------------------

HOW TO GREASE A PALM
Dec 19th 2006

Corruption has its own elaborate etiquette

GIVE people power and discretion, and whether they are grand viziers or
border guards, some will use their position to enrich themselves. The
problem can be big enough to hold back a country's development. One
study has shown that bribes account for 8% of the total cost of running
a business in Uganda. Another found that corruption boosted the price
of hospital supplies in Buenos Aires by 15%. Paul Wolfowitz, the head
of the World Bank, is devoting special efforts during his presidency
there to a drive against corruption.

For most people in the world, though, the worry is not that corruption
may slow down their country's GDP growth. It is that their daily lives
are pervaded by endless hassles, big and small. And for all the
evidence that some cultures suffer endemic corruption while others are
relatively clean, attitudes towards corruption, and even the language
describing bribery, is remarkably similar around the world.

In a testament to most people's basic decency, bribe-takers and
bribe-payers have developed an elaborate theatre of dissimulation. This
is not just to avoid detection. Even in countries where corruption is
so common as to be unremarkable and unprosecutable--and even when the
transaction happens far from snooping eyes--a bribe is almost always
dressed up as some other kind of exchange. Though most of the world is
plagued by corruption, even serial offenders try to conceal it.

One manifestation of this is linguistic. Surprisingly few people say:
"You are going to have to pay me if you want to get that done."
Instead, they use a wide variety of euphemisms. One type is
quasi-official terminology. The first bribe paid by your correspondent,
in Ukraine in 1998, went to two policemen so they would let him board a
train leaving the country. On the train into Ukraine, the customs
officer had absconded with a form that is needed again later to leave
the country. The policemen at the station kindly explained that there
was a SHTRAF, a "fine" that could be paid instead of producing the
document. The policemen let him off with the minimum SHTRAF of 50
hryvnia ($25).

Another term widely used at border crossings is "expediting fee". For a
euphemism it is surprisingly accurate: paying it will keep your bags,
and perhaps your contraband, from being dumped onto a floor and sifted
through at a leisurely pace. (A related term, used in India, is "speed
money": paying it can get essential business permits issued
considerably faster.)

Paul Lewis, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit (a sister
company to THE ECONOMIST), describes the quasi-business terminology
typically used for bribery in the post-communist privatisations of
eastern Europe. A mostly useless but well-connected insider at the
company is hired as a "consultant". The consultant is paid a large
official "fee", nominally for his industry expertise, on the
understanding that he will cut in the minister and other
decision-makers.

A second type of euphemism dresses up a dodgy payment as a friendly
favour done by the bribe-payer. There is plenty of creative scope.
Nigerian policemen are known to ask for "a little something for the
weekend". A North African term is "UN PETIT CADEAU", a little gift.
Mexican traffic police will suggest that you buy them a REFRESCO, a
soft drink, as will Angolan and Mozambican petty officials, who call it
a GAZOSO in Portuguese. A businessman in Iraq told Reuters that
although corruption there is quite overt, officials still insist on
being given a "good coffee".

Double meaning can help soothe the awkwardness of bribe-paying.
BAKSHEESH, originally a Persian word now found in many countries of the
Middle East, can mean "tip", "alms" and "bribe". Swahili-speakers can
take advantage of another ambiguous term. In Kenya a
machine-gun-wielding guard suggested to a terrified Canadian aid
worker: "Perhaps you would like to discuss this over tea?" The young
Canadian was relieved: the difficulty could be resolved with some CHAI,
which means both "tea" and "bribe".

BROWN ENVELOPES
Along with the obscurantist language, bribe-taking culture around the
world often involves the avoidance of physically handing the money from
one person to another. One obvious reason is to avoid detection, which
is why bribes are known as "envelopes" in countries from China to
Greece. But avoidance of a direct hand-over is common even where there
is no chance of detection. There will always be some officials who will
take money right from a bribe-payer's hands, but most seem to prefer to
find some way to hide the money from view. A bribe to a border guard
may be folded into a passport. A sweetener to a traffic cop is often
placed in the ticket-book that is handed to the driver. Parag Khanna,
who is writing a book about countries on the edge of the rich world
that are trying to get rich themselves, describes a bribe-taker he
spotted in Georgia who he was sure was a rookie. Why? The scrawny young
soldier, forgoing any subtleties, merely rubbed his fingers together in
an age-old gesture.

Journalists are an obvious target for bribe-seekers. They often find
themselves trying to get past bored, poorly paid guards and officials
to see someone or something more important. Moreover, they are often
foreigners--and around the world white faces, foreign passports,
foreign car number plates and a few other distinguishing features are
like blood in the water for those seeking a pay-off.

A journalist for a Western newspaper in Moscow was running late for an
important meeting at the Kremlin for which he had waited a long while.
On his way he was stopped by the traffic police for some real or
invented infraction. In a hurry, the reporter negotiated a modest
bribe--but found he had nothing smaller than a 1,000 rouble ($30) note
in his wallet. Inspired by desperation, he agreed to pay 1,000 roubles
in exchange for a ride to the Kremlin in the police car, with sirens
blaring, to make sure he would be on time. The policeman tried to hold
out for 1,500 roubles, but the steely nerved journalist got his ride
for his offer price.

INAPPROPRIATE GIFTS
Journalists can be on the receiving end of bribes, too, to ensure
favourable coverage. A former Africa correspondent for THE ECONOMIST
says that in Nigeria, one of the world's most corrupt countries,
journalists are given hundreds of dollars in brown envelopes "for
expenses" simply to attend press conferences. An ocean away, Armstrong
Williams, an American columnist and television host, was paid $240,000
by the Department of Education to comment "regularly" on "No Child Left
Behind", an education-reform bill. He claimed that he was not a
"journalist" but a "commentator", but conceded that the deal had been
ill-judged. Similarly, Maggie Gallagher, another conservative
columnist, was paid to promote the Bush administration's "healthy
marriage" programme. When challenged, she asked, "Did I violate
journalistic ethics by not disclosing [the contract]? I don't know. You
tell me."

THE ECONOMIST lays down clear rules for its journalists. An envelope
stuffed with cash, much less a $240,000 contract, would be
inappropriate. Any gift, says the policy, must be consumable in a
single day. So a bottle of wine is acceptable, a case of wine is not.

Rich Westerners may not think of their societies as plagued by
corruption. But the definition of bribery clearly differs from person
to person. A New Yorker might pity the third-world businessman who must
pay bribes just to keep his shop open. But the same New Yorker would
not think twice about slipping the maitre d' $50 to sneak into a nice
restaurant without a reservation. Poor people the world over are most
infuriated by the casual corruption of the elites rather than by the
underpaid, "tip"-seeking soldier or functionary.

Indeed, in the world's richest economy, what many see as simple bribery
is an integral part of lawmaking. In Washington, DC, it is accepted
that a lobbyist's generous campaign contribution to a crucial
congressman may help to steer some spending to the lobbyist's client.

But proving corruption requires proving the intent to exchange one
favour for another. Brent Wilkes, named as a co-conspirator in the
bribery case of a Californian congressman, told the NEW YORK TIMES
about a lesson he was taught early in his lobbying career: a cheque
must never be handed over at the same time as a lobbying pitch is made.
Much better to wait and do it in a hallway later. Proving intent in a
courtroom is famously hard to do, so few such exchanges result in
convictions. But many ordinary Americans are aware of what is going on.
No surprise, then, that Congress is, by some measures, the least
popular branch of government.

Yet corrupt practices in America and western Europe are nothing like as
pervasive as in other parts of the world. There is no single cultural
factor that inclines a society towards corruption, but economic factors
play a big part. Most clearly, poverty and bribery go together.

But which causes which? Mr Wolfowitz's crusade at the World Bank is
based on the idea that corrupt countries fail to develop. But several
countries in Asia have grown rapidly at a time when cronyism was
common, including Indonesia and South Korea in their time. Today's most
conspicuous example is China with its explosive growth. Polls
consistently show that corruption is the top complaint of ordinary
Chinese. From time to time the Chinese government executes particularly
egregious offenders, to no apparent avail. And yet foreign investors
cannot pile into the country fast enough. Although most economists
agree that corruption slows development, a corrupt country is
nevertheless capable of rapid growth. Countries may be corrupt because
they are poor, and not the other way round.

Jakob Svensson, an economist at Stockholm University, has cut through
cultural stereotypes to search for hard data on corrupt economies. He
has found that socialist and recently socialist economies show higher
levels of corruption than others. Among the factors he has tested for
correlation with corruption is the overall education level of the adult
population. A second is openness to imports (measured by imports as a
proportion of GDP), which is linked with opportunities for smuggling. A
third is freedom of the press (as ranked by Freedom House, a
civil-liberties watchdog), on the hypothesis that independent
journalists will expose, and thereby curtail, corruption. The fourth is
the number of days needed to start a business, a proxy for the number
of permits required, and therefore red tape. Mr Svensson found clear
correlations between all these variables and the overall level of
corruption.

Among the many factors that determine the level of corruption in a
country, one stands out. Whether it takes the shape of an American
congressman dispensing a $2 trillion budget or a horde of petty
officials administering a Bible-sized rulebook, where there is a lot of
government, there is a lot of bribery. Corruption thus offers yet
another confirmation of the dictum attributed to Thomas Jefferson that
"the government is best which governs least."

For the original article see: The Economist

Hichory dickory dock

2007-07-01T22:25:00.000+05:30

Finally going through my old gmails one by one. This BBC report caught my eye in Oct last year. And talking of time, half of this year is almost over. And its almost just yesterday that a colleague had mentioned having a new year's party, which we've been postponing every month, - and now six months are almost over. I try not to think about time too much. It scares me. The rate at which it rushes past, especially when one is working. One day in the office melts into another, one deadline into next..and all around things are changing... Its hard to get a grip on the bigger picture. And that is somehow scary. Oh well, enough waffle. Here is the article:
------

Time out of mind

We can't touch time, or smell it. Yet it is utterly inescapable. But, research shows, time is - at least partly - something we control in our heads.
It's four in the morning, and schoolgirl Bethany McQuerry is starting her homework. Her dad, Clay, does the family's washing before going to the 24-hour supermarket. Meanwhile, Bethany's mum and brother, Janelle and Casey, sleep on.

But Bethany is no swot and Clay is no housework obsessive. They just wake up early every single day, whether they like it or not - it's as if they have permanent jet lag.

Bethany and Clay have to get things done early in the morning, because they also fall asleep in the early evening. The difference in timekeeping has divided the family, from North Carolina, US.

"There have been times when I wished we would function the same as other families," says Janelle. "It does make it hard when you're wanting to be together."

Only recently did Clay discover there was a biological explanation for his and Bethany's unusual behaviour, known as ASPS, or Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome - a disorder of the body clock that shifts their day forward.

Caveman experiment

The body clock determines our most fundamental behaviours: when we wake up, go to sleep, and eat. But it also determines our physical strength and performance over a day.

However basic the clock's functions seem to us today, its existence was only proved in 1962, by a French caver.
Michel Siffre had been planning to study the movement of a glacier through an underground cave, when he realised the enormous potential of his experiment for the field of biology.

"I had the idea of my life: I decided not to take a watch in the cave. I decided to live without time cues," he said.

By isolating himself underground, away from daylight, clocks or routines, he hoped to discover whether the body had its own rhythm. And if so, what it was.

"I decided to live following my feelings of hunger, my feelings of going to sleep. In the cave it's always dark, then your body follows its own sense," said Mr Siffre.

His plan was to call a surface-team of assistants every time he woke, ate, exercised or urinated so every one of his biological functions could be monitored.

Each time, he would give an estimate of the date and time, and the surface-team would compare this with the real time. This he did for two months, before emerging into the real world. Mentally, he had completely lost track of time, but the results showed his body had kept up a rhythm.

While the length of Siffre's waking days varied widely, from 40 hours to just six, a clear pattern emerged. The average length of his days was just over 24 hours. Evolution, it seems, had tailored his body's clock to run closely to the Earth's day length.

It's now known that the body clock is controlled by a tiny pea-sized organ in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN. This tiny region commands a chain of chemical and nervous instructions that ripple through the body, controlling how each organ and tissue functions over the 24-hour day.

It's this mechanism that has gone wrong in the case of Clay and Bethany McQuerry. Their early rising is due to the inheritance of a single mutation that throws the whole body clock off kilter.

Does time fly?

While the body clock keeps the rest of us "in synch" with the world around us, that's not our only experience of time. We also have a completely separate sense of time passing.

Mostly, we're pretty good at estimating durations of time - how long you've been online, for example. But people also speak of "time flying" when they're enjoying themselves, or slowing right down in perilous situations such as car crash.

But is there any real distortion of perceived time here, or are people re-inventing their experiences after the event?
Psychologist Dr David Eagleman, of the University of Texas, recently set out to nail this assumption, and a BBC film crew was there to record it. He asked volunteer Jesse Kallus to perform a terrifying backwards free-fall of 33 metres.

If the anecdotes are correct, Jesse's perception of time would be slowed by the terrifying experience. But how could one monitor such a thing?

Mr Eagleman came up with a cunning device: the "perceptual chronometer", a wristwatch-like device which flicked blindingly fast between two LED screens.

Normally the flicker would be so fast Jesse could only see a blur. But if time slowed down for him, he might be able to discern the two different screens and read a random number on one of them.

"There's no way to fake this test," says Dr Eagleman, "because if time is not running more slowly, they can't see the sequence."

All Jesse had to do was jump, and read. As he ascended the 33ft metal cage no-one seemed to believe this curious experiment might work.

When Jesse landed, he noted he had seen "98". Dr Eagleman checked. In fact the number was 96. Not quite spot-on, but the two numbers look very similar on a digital screen.
"I would have loved it if he had seen the numbers exactly," says Dr Eagleman. "But this at least suggests to me that he's able to take in information faster than he was before".

Further jumps got similar results - all suggesting that time did seem to slow down for Jesse during the jump.

So while time on the clock may be constant, the time in one's brain is elastic and personal - something to remember in a boring meeting when time seems to grind to a halt. Time is not simply a fourth dimension in which we exist. It's something we, at least partly, create in our minds.

See the original at the link

Kudos

2007-06-08T23:46:00.000+05:30

Bravo once again to the Supreme Court, for pulling up the state governments for the destruction caused during the recent spate of violence by the gujjars. Shameful that the law enforcement agencies did not control the mob violence. And shameful that mob mentality prevailed once again. When will the nincompoops understand that they are destroying their own public property. Can't condemn it strongly enough. Crib crib, vent vent on this happened at my post 'Corruption of the mind..and why not? on the One at All site.

Between Mr fair and Ms fairly

2007-04-23T22:02:00.000+05:30

Ecowas observers described the Nigerian polls as 'fairly acceptable'(!) rather than 'free and fair'!!!

For more reports by election monitors in the country, see the BBC link

Pocketfulls of pay packets

2007-04-02T23:01:00.001+05:30

Even in my extremely busy work day, early last month, this news item just caught my eye, - and refused to let go. Glutton to punishment (oui, se moi) I read and re-read it, while musing over the wrong choice...;-(..maybe there is 'some' method to every other Indian going, lemming-like (!!), for medicine, management or engineering. Anyway, here is the story in question:

Fattest ever pay pack for IIM grad

Two students of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) have bagged the highest-paying placement offer in IIM history, worth $250,000 - or Rs 1,12,50,000 per annum. An investment bank has offered them the money for a job in its New York unit. The bank, in fact, has offered two other IIM-C students annual salaries in crores. They are going to be paid 120,000 pounds, or Rs 18,00,000, a year for posts in the London office of the company The highest salary offered in 2006 was $152,000. "This year, we have four students with a pay package of over Rs 1 crore per annum. Two of them have got the highest offer made to any IIM student till date. IIMC specialises in finance, which is why in- vestment banks have made all the top salary offers," said Sarfaraz Khimani, a first-year student and external relations secretary of the institute. But if the highest foreign salaries offered this year have seen a growth of 70 per cent, the domestic salaries have had a 100 per cent jump. While last year's highest salary was Rs 23 lakh per annum, this year's - offered by an investment bank again - is Rs 43 lakh. IIM-C also recorded another first in Indian business school history - all the four students in the crore club have been offered the post of associates. This brings them on a par with graduates from American business schools, such as Harvard, not just in terms of salaries, but positions too. Joining as an associate will give them at least a two-year head start over others, apart from a significant bulge in their pockets. "Indian B-School pass-outs had never been associates before. Instead, the position always went to students from Harvard, Stanford and Wharton. This year, however, we have proved that IIM-C students now get global-level placements," said Khimani. There were 21 slot Zero companies this year compared to 17 companies last year Among them, IIM-C regulars included Mckinsey, Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney, Merill Lynch, Barclays Capital, UBS and Deutsche Bank. Companies recruiting from the institute for the first time included Barclays Capital, ING (Netherlands), Bain Consulting, Trikona (Real Estate and Private Equity), CIC (Real Estate and Private Equity), Value Partners (Strategy Consulting) and Optiver (Market Maker). Among the exclusive recruiters at IIMC, there were JP Morgan Chase, BNP Paribas, Sun Group (Private Equity) and Optiver The slot-one company placements start from Monday and are expected to get over by Thursday Students will have to join their respective companies by mid May.

The only good thing in this whole depressing episode is that, it seems the HT website has gotten (at least) some of its bearings, seeing that I could access almost a month old article. A few weeks ago I was deeply disappointed to learn that the numerous D,C,T articles I had come across over the past few months, and which I had diligently emailed myself, for future use in my RP analysis, opened up to 'page does not exist' links. Now, with the current story, it seems HT has rectified the long-lasting problem. Or, wait a minute, is it just the money talking?

Gaia is out to get me

2007-02-09T00:37:00.000+05:30

Having heard heat horror stories (brrr) from colleagues around the world, and Gaia here: having got to me, well, lets just say, today was yet another deeply depressing day. What if it really IS too late to do anything?! And folks I live in a tiny top floor flat, which becomes a live oven during the summer, - and THAT is during the nights. Daytimes, well, those are another thing althogther but let me just say, the summers see me staggering around like a half roasted chicken (blogger passes out for two minutes,..groggily wakes, wipes the brow, and resumes typing)...

And this article below, well, I think I will walk to work tomorrow!

World faces hottest year ever, as El Niño combines with global warming
By Cahal Milmo
Published: 01 January 2007

A combination of global warming and the El Niño weather system is set to make 2007 the warmest year on record with far-reaching consequences for the planet, one of Britain's leading climate experts has warned.

As the new year was ushered in with stormy conditions across the UK, the forecast for the next 12 months is of extreme global weather patterns which could bring drought to Indonesia and leave California under a deluge.

The warning, from Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, was one of four sobering predictions from senior scientists and forecasters that 2007 will be a crucial year for determining the response to global warming and its effect on humanity.

Professor Jones said the long-term trend of global warming - already blamed for bringing drought to the Horn of Africa and melting the Arctic ice shelf - is set to be exacerbated by the arrival of El Niño, the phenomenon caused by above-average sea temperatures in the Pacific.

Combined, they are set to bring extreme conditions across the globe and make 2007 warmer than 1998, the hottest year on record. It is likely temperatures will also exceed 2006, which was declared in December the hottest in Britain since 1659 and the sixth warmest in global records.

Professor Jones said: "El Niño makes the world warmer and we already have a warming trend that is increasing global temperatures by one to two tenths of a degrees celsius per decade. Together, they should make 2007 warmer than last year and it may even make the next 12 months the warmest year on record."

The warning of the escalating impact of global warming was echoed by Jim Hansen, the American scientist who, in 1988, was one of the first to warn of climate change.

In an interview with The Independent, Dr Hansen predicted that global warming would run out of control and change the planet for ever unless rapid action is taken to reverse the rise in carbon emissions.

Dr Hansen said: "We just cannot burn all the fossil fuels in the ground. If we do, we will end up with a different planet.

"I mean a planet with no ice in the Arctic, and a planet where warming is so large that it's going to have a large effect in terms of sea level rises and the extinction of species."

His call for action is shared by Sir David King, the Government's chief scientific adviser, who said that 2006 had shown that the "discussion is now over" on whether climate change is happening. Writing in today's Independent, Sir David says progress has been made in the past year but it is "essential" that a global agreement on emissions is struck quickly. He writes: "Ultimately, only heads of state, working together, can provide the new level of global leadership we need to steer the world on a path towards a sustainable and prosperous future. We need to remember: action is affordable - inaction is not."

The demands came as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the United Nations agency that deals with climate prediction, issued a warning that El Niño is already established over the tropical Pacific basin. It is set to bring extreme weather across a swath of the planet from the Americas and south-east Asia to the Horn of Africa for at least the first four months of 2007.

El Niño, or "the Christ child" because it is usually noticed around Christmas, is a weather pattern occurring every two to seven years. The last severe El Niño, in 1997 and 1998, caused more than 2,000 deaths and a worldwide damage bill of more than £20bn.

The WMO said its latest readings showed that a "moderate" El Niño, with sea temperatures 1.5C above average, was taking place which, in the worst case scenario, could develop into an extreme weather pattern lasting up to 18 months, as in 1997-98. The UN agency noted that the weather pattern was already having "early and intense" effects, including drought in Australia and dramatically warm seas in the Indian Ocean, which could affect the monsoons. It warned the El Niño could also bring extreme rainfall to parts of east Africa which were last year hit by a cycle of drought and floods.

Its effect on the British climate is difficult to predict, according to experts. But it will probably add to the likelihood of record-breaking temperatures in the UK.

The return of El Niño

* Aside from the seasons, El Niño and its twin, La Niña, are the two largest single causes of variability in the world's climate from year to year.

Both are dictated by shifts in temperature of the water in the tropical Pacific basin between Australia and South America. Named from the Spanish words for "Christ child" and "the girl" because of their proximity to Christmas, they lead to dramatic shifts in the entire system of oceanic and atmospheric factors from air pressure to currents.

A significant rise in sea temperature leads to an El Niño event whereas a fall in temperature leads to La Niña.

The cause of the phenomenon is not fully understood but in an El Niño "event" the pool of warm surface water is forced eastwards by the loss of the westerly trade winds. The sea water evaporates, resulting in drenching rains over South America, particularly Peru and Ecuador, as well as western parts of the United States such as California.

Parts of the western Pacific, including Indonesia and Australia, suffer drought. The effects can last for anything from a few weeks to 18 months, causing extreme weather as far afield as India and east Africa.

The co-relation with global warming is as yet unclear. Archaeological evidence shows El Niños and La Niñas have been occurring for 15,000 years. But scientists are investigating whether climate change is leading to an increase in their intensity or duration.

(Original article at The Independent. See link)

The long and winding road

2007-01-11T22:31:00.000+05:30

This article, published today on BBC News online website, caught my eye. Sigh..wish someone would enforce such laws here in good ol' Delhi. But wait, I just searched on the net and it seems no such laws exist here. Which, in itself is not severely distressing, (very) unfortunately, it is not very uncommon that laws which exist on paper, are not enforced on ground due to varying reasons including negligience, corruption, and oft, apathy. And whats a few people crossing the road when we're dealing with gender violence, discrimination, communalism, terrorism, corruption'ism' etc. you might say, eh.

Well BBC definitely reminded me of a stretch of road I have to face every morning and evening, on way to and back from work. The said stretch near the Yusuf Sarai market sets a milestone of sorts, with a multitude of people crossing the road every two metres. With the result that the traffic moves at a snail's pace for about 80 metres of this stretch of road. Oblivious to the glares of drivers, the people happily walk across the road at their own chosen points, with barely a few using the actual zebra crossing I might add. It goes without saying that this problem is a common occurance in many parts of, not just Delhi, but almost everywhere in India (See this). Frustrating frustrating frustrating. And believe me, they (yes, it is as in 'they' the pedestrians, and yes it is ahem 'us' vs 'them' !) come up with new tricks every week. Last week, it was, 'them' gathering in a big mass and nonchalantly walking across the road, while the traffic was at a standstill. This week, it is 'them' trooping behind a group of young schoolkids who dash across the road as and when they feel like. And believe me, once you've seen a kid madly rush across the street, your heart forever thumps like mad whenever you cross that road again, madly looking left and right for another kid bracing to break into a mad dash...Hm..wonder what they'll think of next..

What every Brit should know about jaywalking

In the UK no one would bat an eyelid. In Atlanta, you could be wrestled to the ground.
It is a cautionary tale for any traveller - distinguished historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto tried to cross the road while in Atlanta for the conference of the American Historical Association, only to find himself in handcuffs and surrounded by armed police.

"I come from a country where you can cross the road where you like," said the visiting professor of global environmental history at Queen Mary College, University of London. "It hadn't occurred to me that I wasn't allowed to cross the road between the two main conference venues."

The bespectacled professor says he didn't realise the "rather intrusive young man" shouting that he shouldn't cross there was a policeman. "I thanked him for his advice and went on."

The officer asked for identification. The professor asked for his, after which Officer Leonpacher told him he was under arrest and, the professor claims, kicked his legs from under him, pinned him to the ground and confiscated his box of peppermints.

Professor Fernandez-Armesto then spent eight hours in the cells before the charges were dropped. He told the Times that his colleagues now regard him as "as a combination of Rambo, because it took five cops to pin me to the ground, and Perry Mason, because my eloquence before a judge obtained my immediate release".

Not every jaywalking Brit abroad will be similarly blessed, nor enjoy the intervention of the city mayor.

Culture clash
Just because you can do something in the UK doesn't mean it's OK in another country. Jaywalking is an offence in most urban areas in the United States - although enforcement varies between states - and Canada, and in places such as Singapore, Spain, Poland, Slovenia and Australia.

JAYWALKING
Pedestrian who crosses without regard to traffic regulations, who steps out anywhere other than a specified crossing, without a green light
Word originated in the US in early 20th Century
'Jay' was slang for a newcomer unfamiliar with city ways

In Brisbane, police have begun doling out fines after complaints from motorists involved in near-misses with jaywalkers. In Beijing and Shanghai, city officials have clamped down on jaywalkers in an attempt to improve public behaviour ahead of the 2008 Olympics and 2010 World Expo respectively.
But there is no such offence in the UK, where it is considered a personal responsibility to cross the road safely (although London mayor Ken Livingstone last summer proposed making jaywalking illegal). The Highway Code recommends that all pedestrians abide by the Green Cross Code: "Where there is a crossing nearby, use it. Otherwise choose a place where you can see clearly in all directions."

In Germany and the Netherlands, the onus is more on the motorist. Not stopping for pedestrians on crossings is an offence, and a driver can be issued with a ticket even if they are waiting on the curb (again, the expectation is that pedestrians should cross safely).

Some road safety campaigners claim that with traffic heavier, where light phases are timed to allow as many vehicles through an intersection as possible, pedestrians are increasingly taking risks in order to cross the road.
At least Prof Fernandez-Armesto can relax in the knowledge that it's not just outsiders who commit such heinous offences as crossing the road where they please.

Back in 1915, the Atlanta Constitution reported that the practise of "jay walking" was all too commonplace.

"People cross the streets any and everywhere, without regard to traffic, darting in front of fast-moving motor vehicles, dodging horses and street cars, and even braving ambulances and fire apparatus with no satisfaction except the consciousness that 'they did it,' and then having plenty of time to turn and contemplate the danger they have escaped."

Having been carted off in a "filthy, foetid paddy wagon" as the professor described it, that last observation was one denied to him.

(Article taken from BBC News online. See link)