Month: April 2014

Unlike in Kashmir (Srinagar recorded only 25% votes yesterday) there seems to be fresh hope for electoral democracy in Chattisgarh. Two key things will have to happen for democracy to flourish: maximum possible devolution of power to the lowest level possible, and implementation of social schemes without fear or favor.

Congratulations are due to the Raman Singh led BJP govt for doing well on the governance front. However the Maoist menace will remain for a long time to come (it cant be wished away). The worst thing (as in Nigeria) is for the govt to become complacent.
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Defying the Maoist threat of poll-boycott, Chhattisgarh
has indeed created a record of sorts in the just concluded Lok Sabha
polls in the state, registering not only the highest ever turnout of
69.48% but also witnessing an overwhelming participation of 68.04% women
voters.

As compared to a turnout of 55.29% in 2009 and about
52.09% in 2004, nearly 70% of the 1,76,23,818 electorate exercised their
franchise in these elections. Even the so-called “red areas”, where
Maoists had given called for a poll boycott, voters remained undeterred,
with Bastar and Kanker regions recording a turnout of 59.4% and 70.29%
respectively, another first in the state.

Statistically
speaking, the second phase of polling in Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund and
Kanker witnessed the highest turnout of 73.04%. This was followed by
69.60% in the third phase, which concluded on Thursday.

Poling
in the first phase in Bastar was the lowest in the state at 59.40%.
However, this turnout was much larger than the 43.33% in 2004 and 47.33%
in 2009.

The increase in the participation of women voters has
been the other hallmark of these polls. As compared to 52.33% in 2009
and 45.50% in 2004, 68.04% of the 8714762registered women voters
exercised their franchise.

Even in the Maoist infested areas of
Bastar and Kanker, women participation was high at 49.85% and 49.27%
respectively. In fact the near 50% participation of women in Bastar has
been the highest in the state.

Reasons for high turnout: While
increased voter awareness, thanks to the massive campaigns undertaken by
the EC, is being considered the main reason for the high voting trends,
the hype surrounding the high pitched polls has also contributed to the
turnout. The BJP, which is hoping to come to power at the centre with
Narendra Modi at the helm, had been virtually in the poll mode for the
last one year and didn’t lose steam even after winning the assembly
elections. Some even attribute the advent of AAP on the state’s
political scene for the increase turnout.

The BJP has a lot at
stake and thus a lot to lose in these elections. It had won 10 of the 11
seats in the last two Lok Sabha polls and observers feel that it might
not be that easy for it to repeat the same performance. With punters
betting on 9 seats for the BJP, the gain of even one seat for the
Congress would mean a 100% increase for them.

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Link:
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regards

The Nigerian school girls abducted by Boko Haram apparently have been sold as slaves to jihadists. This is not exactly a surprise. A million-women march may help put pressure on a complacent government. But chances of recovering the girls (especially if they have crossed international borders) is close to zero.

We @ BP would like to appeal to our readers to highlight this important event on social media and hope for success in a difficult cause.
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Link:
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regards

Economy #3 as ranked by the International Comparison Program (ICP), hosted by the
Development Data Group at the World Bank.

These gross numbers are a bit meaningless anyway, still India would do much better off if the conflict level was lower in the sub-continent, OTOH the situation is more stable than Middle East North Africa (MENA) nations which are superior in HDI rankings.
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In a
matter of six years, India emerged as the world’s third-largest economy
in 2011 from being the 10th largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan,
while the US remained the largest economy closely followed by China,
latest figures have revealed.

“The economies of Japan and the
UK became smaller compared to the US, while Germany increased slightly,
France and Italy remained the same,” according to data released on
Wednesday by the International Comparison Program (ICP), hosted by the
Development Data Group at the World Bank Group.

“The relative
rankings of the three Asian economies — China, India, and Indonesia — to
the US doubled, while Brazil, Mexico and Russia increased by one-third
or more,” the report said. The world produced goods and services worth
over $90 trillion in 2011 and that almost half of the total output came
from low and middle-income countries, it said.

According to the
major findings of the ICP, six of the world’s 12 largest economies were
in the middle-income category (based on the World Bank’s definition).

When combined, the 12 largest economies accounted for two-thirds of the
world economy and 59 per cent of the population, it said.

The
purchasing power parities (PPPs)-based world GDP amounted to $90,647
billion, compared with $70,294 billion measured by exchange rates, it
said, adding that the share of middle-income economies in global GDP is
48 per cent when using PPPs and 32 per cent when using exchange rates.

The six largest middle-income economies — China, India, Russia, Brazil,
Indonesia and Mexico — account for 32.3 per cent of world GDP, whereas
the six largest high-income economies — US, Japan, Germany, France, UK
and Italy — account for 32.9 per cent, the report said.

Asia
and the Pacific, including China and India, account for 30 per cent of
world GDP, Eurostat-OECD 54 per cent, Latin America 5.5 per cent
(excluding Mexico, which participates in the OECD and Argentina, which
did not participate in the ICP 2011), Africa and Western Asia about 4.5
per cent each.

“China and India make up two-thirds of the Asia
and the Pacific economy, excluding Japan and South Korea, which are part
of the OECD comparison. Russia accounts for more than 70 per cent of
the CIS, and Brazil for 56 per cent of Latin America. South Africa,
Egypt, and Nigeria account for about half of the African economy,” said
the report.

“At 27 per cent, China now has the largest share of
the world’s expenditure for investment (gross fixed capital formation)
followed by the US at 13 per cent. India, Japan and Indonesia follow with 7 per cent, 4 per cent, and 3 per cent, respectively,” the report said.

China and India account for about 80 per cent of investment expenditure in the Asia and the Pacific region. Russia accounts for 77 per cent of CIS, Brazil for 61 per cent of Latin
America and Saudi Arabia 40 per cent of Western Asia, it said.

The report said low-income economies, as a share of world GDP, were
more than two times larger based on PPPs than respective exchange rate
shares in 2011.

Roughly 28 per cent of the world’s population lives in economies with
GDP per capita expenditure above the $13,460 world average and 72 per
cent are below that average.

The approximate median yearly per
capita expenditure for the world — at $10,057 — means that half of the
global population has per capita expenditure above that amount and half
below, it said.

The five economies with the highest GDP per capita are Qatar, Macao, Luxembourg, Kuwait and Brunei. The first two economies have more than $1,00,000 per capita, the ICP report said.

Eleven economies have more than $50,000 per capita, while they
collectively account for less than 0.6 per cent of the world’s
population. The US has the 12th-highest GDP per capita.

Eight
economies – Malawi, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Niger,
Burundi, Congo, Comoros and Liberia — have a GDP per capita of less than
$1,000.

The five economies with highest actual individual
consumption per capita are Bermuda, US, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and
Luxembourg.

The world average actual individual consumption per capita is approximately $8,647, it said.

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Link:
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regards

It’s increasingly leading to a culture of hypocrisy in the public sphere but a shadow culture, where such vices flourish. As long as you espouse the “correct” views in public you can get away with practically anything short of murder in the real clubby elitist world that these movers & shakers actually occupy.

It’s maybe a sign of the times when a Great Civilisation on the wane doesn’t have much else to do but fight imaginary wars all the while not offering any real solutions.

At any rate almost down to the tee any Englishmen or American in Uganda would be a reliable lefty, almost a sure voter for the Labour/Liberal party or a Democrat/Independent.

While these self-professed liberals (after all most of them are NGO types) regularly declaim the Tory party or the right wing for their racism and proclaim their paens to diversity, in many of their gatherings I end up being the only “dark-haired” person about. Now that’s another level of homogeneity and it’s only happened to me once before in the West (forget about being the only dark skinned person but dark haired to boot).

At any rate I find that while their adhere to the cult of diversity and multi-cultural ism in practise the Tory party gatherings (even the far-right UKIP) will be more diverse in terms of race & ethnicity. In part because the right insists on a minimum standard of acculturation/assimilation (which is easily accomplished depending on your class levels, immigration is fraught as a two-edged sword since underperforming immigrants “sponge on welfare” high performing “take jobs”) they are able to accommodate racial diversity.

Whereas I’ve noticed that the left liberals won’t notice anything amiss about their all-vanilla gatherings, it’s as though their ideological leaning insulate from any actual criticism. The right considers any superiority/arrogance to derive from wealth & the creation of wealth whereas the left seems to hold itself apart from a complex interlocking of race, class & ideology that makes it far more opaque and inaccessible to get into. Essentially the easiest pass is to blend in by just fudging the boundaries (understand the rules & play them to your advantage).

Andhra Pradesh goes to vote today for the last time as an united entity. It is a bitter-sweet moment which has been 65 years in the making (an un-making).  

There
are two parties presently in the battle-field led by (supremely astute)
Servant-Leaders: Jaganmohan Reddy (YSR Congress) and Sonia Gandhi
(Indian National Congress). While YSR Congress is expected to
shine in coastal Andhra (estimated 90% Dalit Christian population), the
fortunes of the INC (and the all-important Mission 115) will depend on its
performance in Telengana.

Bishop G Dyvasyrvadam and Archbishop of Hyderabad Thumma Bala have issued an S.O.S. on behalf of The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches for today’s (April 30) and the May 7 ballot. The Bishops have also presented a detailed Charter of Demands.
John Dayal, a noted (Catholic) Dalit activist reports from the Christian foxhole:
 ……
The Andhra Pradesh Bishops’ group has perhaps gone a step further and
presented a charter of demands to the political parties and candidates
in the election fray.  
These demands included setting up of a Christian
finance and development corporation,
….removal of the ban on propagation and practice of Faiths in certain
areas,  and Christian representation on various government
organisations. They ….also
demanded an Assembly seat in each district and two Lok Sabha (seats), …..apart from
land for building churches. 
………

John Dayal is not happy with the mix of Church and Politics but he appears to be in the minority. Everyone recognizes that desperate times call for desperate measures (also every Sadhu and Mullah is doing it, so why not the Bishops?). That said the Bishop’s Charter of Demands on behalf of his flock are indeed nothing short of extraordinary.

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The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches has written a letter to
churches within its jurisdiction asking them to “elect leaders…. Who
uphold secular character and promote communal harmony”.


 
The APFC is body of several Christian denominations including
Catholic, CSI, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Mennonite, Salvation Army,
Seventh Day Adventist, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal Churches and other
Christian Denominations. It functions under the Andhra Pradesh Bishop’s
Council.


 
Christian leaders say they are “worried” about the violence in Kandhamal, Odisha and hence they had taken the step.


 
The letter asks Christians to “elect leaders who are close to people
and their needs, and only vote for those who uphold secular character
and promote communal harmony”


 
It has been signed by Bishop G Dyvasyrvadam a moderator of the Church
of South India and the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches. It has
also been signed by Archbishop of Hyderabad Thumma Bala.




The letter will be read out on a Sunday before the state goes to
polls. Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections will be held on April 30 and May
7.
.……
Link (1): http://johndayal.com/church-politics-mix-india/
Link (2): http://www.thenewsminute.com/stories/AndhraPradeshchurchesaskChristianstovoteforsecularcandidates
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regards

On the eve of the April 30th ballot, the bookies have closed their books on the dynasty. Enough said.

……..
As May
16 nears, leading bookies in Rajkot, Indore and Ahmedabad have stopped
offering bets on Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister of India,
suggesting that the Congress VP does not stand much of a chance to move
into 7 Race Course Road after the Lok Sabha poll results are out in
mid-May.  Even a month ago, some bookies were offering odds of about Rs
6-7 for Gandhi to be the PM, while the rate for Arvind Kejriwal, the
founder of Aam Aadmi Party, was about Rs 500-525.

In contrast
to Rahul Gandhi, the rate for Narendra Modi, the BJP candidate for the
PM post, is 45 paise, nearly unchanged from what the rate was about a
month ago. This means if one bets Rs 100 on Modi to assume the coveted
office in Delhi’s South Block, and he actually becomes the PM after May
16, one would get Rs 145.

“Rahul Gandhi is not a running item
any more,” said a person who is aware of the rates. According to the
person, the rates in other parts of the country would differ by 1-2
paise, and not much.

In the Rajkot-Indore circles, the rates
for the NDA coming to power is 44 paise. The rates for the BJP, which
led the alliance that ruled the country from 1999-2004, getting 200 Lok
Sabha seats is 46 paise and 58 paise for 250 seats.  This rate has
slightly changed what was offered about 10 days ago, — 50 paise to 75
paise for the BJP getting 250 seats — indicating the party has a lower
chance of getting to that level.

Bookies are also betting
heavily about the Congress getting less than 100 Lok Sabha seats, with
the rates for it getting 85-90 seats at Rs 1.60-1.70, the person related
to bookies said.
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Link: http://www.siasat.com/english/news/no-betting-rahul-gandhi-bookies
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regards

People hate wind turbines because they are an eye-sore (and in the proximate zone, ear-sore as well). This is a fact. People who hate wind turbines for other reasons accuse the technology for causing a genocide of the bird population. This is not supported by facts.

If you really want to protect birds, start building underground (which will kill rats, snakes etc) or at the least, seal off all the windows.
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Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-21/beware-the-blades-of-death-world-s-top-serial-bird-killers-.html
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regards

What is not remarkable is that John Kerry uttered the A word (which is common-place in the left universe led by Jimmy Carter). What is remarkable is that he made the point at all, in the face of humungous support for Israel from the American public. The Gallup poll shows it all:

A quick (if shallow) analysis shows that prior to 9/11 the factions of Americans saying that they have sympathy with Israel and those who claiming sympathy for both Israel/Palestinians were roughly equal. Things changed drastically after 9/11 and now Palestinians are completely in the dog house.

This unconditional support for Israel also is reflective in terms of the massive amount of aid and diplomatic backing that Israel receives. Israel, Egypt, and Pakistan have always been amongst the top in-countries for US civilian/military aid, the case for Egypt is actually that it agrees to respect a formal peace pact with Israel- thus a quid pro quo for US funding.

If the US wall breaks down (it will not), it is possible that Israel will face a lonely fight to the finish against the combined forces of the Arab League and the Euro-American Left (which is leading the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions campaign). Kerry’s words are an amber signal in that direction.
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If there’s no two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
soon, Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state,” Secretary of State
John Kerry told a room of influential world leaders in a closed-door
meeting Friday.



“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real
alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid
state with second-class citizens—or it ends up being a state that
destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry told the
group of senior officials and experts from the U.S., Western Europe,
Russia, and Japan. “Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality,
which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to
the two-state solution, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they
remain deeply committed to.”




According to the 1998 Rome Statute, the “crime of apartheid” is
defined as “inhumane acts… committed in the context of an
institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one
racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with
the intention of maintaining that regime.” The term is most often used
in reference to the system of racial segregation and oppression that
governed South Africa from 1948 until 1994.




Former president Jimmy Carter came under fire in 2007 for titling his book on Middle East peace Palestine: Peace or Apartheid. “Apartheid is a word that is an accurate description of what has been
going on in the West Bank, and it’s based on the desire or avarice of a
minority of Israelis for Palestinian land,” Carter said.

Leading experts, including Richard Goldstone, a former justice of the
South African Constitutional Court who led the United Nations
fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict of 2008 and 2009, have argued
that comparisons between the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians and
“apartheid” are offensive and wrong.




 
Kerry has used dire warnings twice in the past to paint a picture of
doom for Israel if the current peace process fails. Last November, Kerry warned of a third intifada of Palestinian violence and increased isolation of Israel if the peace process failed. In March, Democrats and Republican alike criticized Kerry for suggesting that if peace talks fail, it would bolster the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

…..
American
support for Israel really is quite extensive. The U.S. has given Israel
$118 billion in aid over the years (about $3 billion per year
nowadays). Half of all American UN Security Council vetoes ended
resolutions critical of Israel. ………

Link(1): http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/27/exclusive-kerry-warns-israel-could-become-an-apartheid-state.html
Link(2): http://www.vox.com/2014/4/29/5664444/kerry-compared-israel-apartheid-palestine
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regards