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Indian economy plunging headlong into recession By Prabhat Pataniak*
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EW DELHI, 16 August: Volume II of the Economic Survey which was brought out by the Ministry of Finance a few days ago paints an extremely grim picture of the Indian economy. The growth rate of real Gross Value Added (GVA which is the appropriate thing to look at, since the GDP measure includes net indirect taxes and hence does not truly reflect output trends), was 6.6 percent for 2016-17 as a whole, compared to 7.9 percent for 2015-16. More importantly, the quarterly growth rate (i.e. the growth rate of GVA in a particular quarter over the corresponding quarter of the preceding year) kept declining in every successive quarter during 2016-17, the fourth quarter growth rate being just 5.6 percent, which was roughly 3 percent below that of the fourth quarter of 2015-16. Besides, even this growth rate was artificially boosted by two factors: one was the unusually good agricultural performance because of favourable weather (real GVA growth rate in agriculture was 4.9 percent in 2016-17 compared to a mere 0.7 percent in 2015-16), and the other was the growth in Public Administration and Defence because of the 7th Pay Commission award. (This sector’s real GVA growth rate for 2016-17 was 11.3 percent compared to 6.9 percent for 2015-16). If we take out these two sectors then we get what the Survey calls “Core GVA”. The growth rate of “Core GVA” was just 6.2 percent in 2016-17
compared to 9.8 percent in 2015-16, a drop of 3.6 percent. And given the fact that the growth rate during the year was not just lower but declining through time, the fourth quarter growth rate in Core GVA was as much as 6.8 percent lower in 201617 compared to 2015-16. This is deceleration with a vengeance. What is more, this deceleration is certain to continue into the next year. There are at least three strong reasons for this. One is that the effect of the increase in Public Administration and Defence will no longer be there, which in turn will affect the economy in two ways. The obvious way is the slowing down in this sector’s own growth rate. But the less obvious one is the following. If the government increases salaries by say Rs.100, then this directly gets counted as an increase in output of that magnitude (which is methodologically bizarre but let us ignore that for the time being). In addition however this Rs.100 gets spent, which increases demand and hence output in some other sectors. And when that happens then additional incomes are generated in those sectors which in turn also get spent and thereby generate still further incomes, and so on. This is referred to as the “multiplier” effect of the increase in government expenditure. Such a “multiplier effect” ensures that the overall increase in GVA as a result of the increase in government expenditure of say Rs.100 is a multiple of this sum, something like Rs. 300 or thereabouts.
When the Survey talks of the increase in GVA because of increased government spending owing to the 7th Pay Commission award, it refers only to the direct effect of this increase (in boosting this particular sector’s GVA), not the total effect via the operation of the “multiplier”. The 2016-17 GVA growth rate even in the “core” sector in other words was buttressed by the expenditure which occurred in the “noncore” sector of Public Administration and Defence and which got expressed in this sector’s own GVA. If despite this fact the Core GVA growth in 2016-17 was just 6.2 percent, then what it would have been in the absence of this boost can well be imagined. By the same token however, next year not only will this boost not be there, but its “multiplier effects” too will not be there. Hence the slowing down in the overall GVA growth will be quite substantial for this reason. The second factor working in the direction of further deceleration in the growth-rate next year is the stressed balance sheets of several companies belonging to the power and the telecommunications sectors. Such stressed balance sheets in turn threaten the banking system, especially the public sector banks which have given them huge loans, with a crippling burden of Non-Performing Assets. The question needs to be asked: why are the nation’s public sector banks threatened, and not the private sector banks including foreign banks? The answer simply is that
DISCLAIMER South Asia Times (SAT) is a monthly newspaper published in English (2 pages in Hindi) from Melbourne, Australia. Contributors supply material to SAT at their own risk and any errors will be corrected as quickly as possible. SAT does not accept responsibility for the authenticity of any advertisement, text content or a picture in the publication. No material, including text or advertisements designed by the SAT or pictures may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the editor/publisher. Opinions/stories/ reports or any text content are those of the writers/contributors and not necessarily endorsed by the SAT.
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in the name of developing “infrastructure” the government coerced public sector banks into giving out large loans to private companies owned by the big corporates in these sectors. The private sector banks including foreign banks were smart enough to avoid falling into such traps and the government could not coerce them into doing so. As a result now it is the public sector banks that are facing a crisis and not the private sector ones. Faced with such a crisis they are now reluctant to give out fresh loans. Of course the demand for loans has also come down because of the recessionary situation (which has even meant that real Gross Fixed Capital Formation in the fourth quarter of 201617 was lower in absolute terms than in the fourth quarter of 2015-16); but the Survey notes that the disbursement of credit has been even lower than the demand for credit. This situation is not going to change; on the contrary it will become even more crippling in 2017-18, which would be a further constraint on growth. It is ironic that the stress of public sector banks is being used by the government to argue a case for privatizing them! Having coerced them into giving loans to private firms which were reckless in their investment decisions, and thereby pushed the banks into a crisis, the same government is now thinking of privatizing the same banks on the plea that the private sector is more careful and wiser in its decisions! CONTD. ON PG 5
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Melbourne named ‘World’s Most Liveable City’ for the seventh time BY SAT News Desk
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elbourne, 16 August: Melbourne has been named the World’s Most Liveable City for an incredible seventhstraight year. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Liveability Index ranks 140 of the world’s best cities and once again, Melbournehas come out on top – securing perfect scores for healthcare, education and infrastructure. Melbourne pipped Vienna for the top ranking, and finished well above Sydney, which did not make the top ten. Victoria has the best of everything and the Andrews Labour Government will continue investing in the things thatmatter to keep it that way. Melbourne is delivering the biggest pipeline of major transport projects in the country, building the Metro Tunnel,removing dangerous level crossings and delivering the vital second river crossing our road network needs. Premier Daniel Andrews says, “This is a win for all Victorians, who contribute so much to making Melbourne the best place to live in the world.” “We’ll continue working hard every day to make Melbourne even better, and create a fairer, safer and stronger state for all Victorians.” The world-class health care system is getting better and better, with new hospitals, more beds and improvedfacilities to provide the best care, close
Melbourne pipped Vienna for the top ranking, and finished well above Sydney, which did not make the top ten. to home, when it’s needed most. Every day new schools are being built, old classrooms are being upgraded and our kids are getting the best start in life in the Education State. Minister for Tourism and Major Events John Eren says, “Every Melburnian knows that they're living in the world's greatest city – and this proves it yet again.” “Victoria has the best of everything – big events, great schools and more jobs than anywhere in the country.” The economy is strong, with more than 100,000 jobs created in Victoria in the last year alone – more than everyother state and territory combined. There’s a buzz about the city that keeps bringing the world’s best to enjoy Melbourne – the biggest exhibitions,the best events, world-renowned restaurants and all night public transport to get you home safe. www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082
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GUEST EDITORIAL
southSouth asia times 5 Asia Times
Indian economy plunging ... CONTD. FROM PG 3
The third factor has to do with the external sector. It is clear that the U.S. is in no hurry at present to raise its interest rates, in which case countries like India where higher interest rates prevail will continue to get flooded with foreign financial investment which will lead to an appreciation of their exchange rates; at the very least India’s exchange rate which has been appreciating of late is unlikely to decline in the near future. And this so when China has further depreciated its currency recently. India’s exports therefore are likely to remain sluggish and witness a decline in their already meagre growth rate. This tendency will also get aggravated by Trump’s effort to prevent the outsourcing of activities away from the U.S. which would hurt India’s service sector exports. When we add to all these factors the inevitable decline in real growth of the GVA in agriculture, which must occur because of the higher base in 2016-17 if for no other reason, then it is clear that the growth rate of the Indian economy is
set to slow down further to a significant extent in 201718. The economy in short is plunging headlong into a recession. We have already been witnessing a sharp decline in job creation in the organized sector (for which we have data) in the last couple of years. This decline is going to be greatly aggravated. Faced with this looming crisis, all that the Survey can suggest is a cut in interest rate. A cut in RBI lending rates may reduce the stress on the banks somewhat, because they will now have access to cheaper funds, but it is unlikely to make much difference to the impending recession. Investment which is lower in absolute terms in Q4 of 2016-17 compared to 201516, will not revive simply because borrowing has got cheaper; exports will not get boosted in a crisis-afflicted world economy merely with a .25 or a .50 percent rate cut; government expenditure is tied to fiscal deficit targets where interest cuts will have little impact; and consumption is governed by income itself, i.e. depends on the level of activity itself instead being an
independent factor boosting such activity. True, one element of consumption, namely that which is stimulated by agricultural growth, could increase independently if agricultural growth increased. But we have seen above that the contrary will be true; and as for farm prices which have crashed for many crops, no significant improvement is on the horizon (in fact the Survey foresees a significant decline in inflation arising inter alia from subdued crop prices). It follows therefore that the government has no idea on how to combat this headlong plunge into recession. In fact the Survey’s commitment to “fiscal rectitude”, come what may, is revealed in a little exercise it does to show that farm loan waiver will be demand-compressing in the economy (which it cites as an additional contributor to recession). This exercise shows that if Rs.100, say, of farmers’ debt is taken over by the government (which is what loan waiver means), then the increase in farmers’ demand because of such a move is Rs.25, while the
government, because it is committed to maintaining the FRBM targets, will have to reduce its expenditure elsewhere almost to an equivalent degree, i.e. Rs.100, so that the net effect on aggregate demand is contractionary. It does not occur to the Survey to suggest that if this be the case then there is absolutely no reason why in a demand-constrained economy, which the Survey admits India to be, the FRBM targets should not be violated. Why should the government remain a prisoner of some absurd piece of legislation which it had itself enacted, when the economy is plunging into a crisis and when enlarging government spending in violation of that legislation can possibly do no harm? True, international finance capital may get upset if the FRBM target is violated. But is this country going to be run for the benefits of its own people or of international finance capital? And if the latter threatens pulling out, which it will not necessarily do, then in such an extreme case some controls on capital flows could be introduced, which
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India’s exports therefore are likely to remain sluggish and witness a decline in their already meagre growth rate. even the IMF now admits are not always “undesirable”. All this however is beyond the gumption of the NDA government. *Professor Prabhat Patnaik is a renowned economist. Views expressed in this article/editorial are those of the author.
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‘Plastic-free Victoria Alliance’ setup to fight plastic pollution By our community reporter
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elbourne, 14 August: Harnessing the current groundswell of concern over plastic pollution, representativesfrom 15 environmental, community and industry groups across Victoria joined forcesover the weekend to form a new partnership, Plastic-free Victoria Alliance(PVA), with
aview to strengthen the response towards the plastic pollution crisis. Growing understanding of the impacts of plastic pollution in the environment and on society has led to the implementation of effective legislations in other states, like plastic bag bans and container deposit schemes, but not Victoria. While community actions have resulted in plasticwise policies in some local councils, such as the Surf
Coast Shire, the group expressed their frustration at the lack of legislative action by the Victorian government. “The acronym of our name is PVA, like the glue, which is no coincidence because our groups are glued together by our mutual concern for the threat that plastic pollution poses to our environment, our health and ultimately, our economy. Together, we demand action in Victoria to stop
plastic pollution!” said the group’s spokesperson, Annett Finger from Boomerang Alliance. Plastic-free Victoria Alliance welcomes other like-minded community, environmentalor business groups to join them to increase their collective impact! This is their facebook group: https:// www.facebook.com/ groups/110047979673192/ Source: Plastic-free Victoria Alliance.
Dirty dozen By our community reporter
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elbourne, 15 August: Police are investigating thefts from clothing stores in the Maribyrnong and Footscray areas on 12 August. Investigators have been told 12 males, believed to be teenagers, entered a clothing store at a Maribyrnong shopping centre just after 4.30pm and walked out a few minutes later with up to six jackets that had not been paid for. The boys then caught a tram to the Footscray CBD, where they walked into a men’s clothing boutique. While inside, the group selected football jerseys, a number of hooded jumpers and several pairs of shorts before running from the store. It is believed the teens may have caught a V/Line train from
The boys then caught a tram to the Footscray CBD, where they walked into a men’s clothing boutique. Footscray towards Melton. Anyone with information or who may have witnessed the incidents is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 00 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic. com.au www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082
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Together, we demand action in Victoria to stop plastic pollution!” said the group’s spokesperson, Annett Finger from Boomerang Alliance.
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Robin Scott unveils Pak Consulate plaque
By our community reporter
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elbourne, 12 August: Hon. Robin Scott, State Member for Preston & Multicultural Minister unveiled the plaque for the Consulate office of Pakistan in Melbourne, whilst also celebrating the Independence day of Pakistan. This consulate will allow our respective governments to more readily collaborate on areas of shared interest.
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elbourne, 13 August: The independent panel investigating Victoria’s gas and electricity retail markets has recommended a range ofmeasures to drive down power prices, protect consumers and put people first. Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate change welcomed the release of the Independent Review into theRetail Electricity & Gas Retail Markets in Victoria, commissioned by the Andrews Labor Government. The bi-partisan review – undertaken by John Thwaites,
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“It also signifies Pakistan's growing presence in Victoria and the contributions that they make in Victoria, “Robin Scott said in a Facebook post. The event was organised by Her Excellency NaelaChohan, the High Commissioner of Pakistan to Australia. Once established, the Consulate General would facilitate the ever growing Pakistani diaspora in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
Review of Victoria’s gas and electricity markets released By our community reporter
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Terry Mulder and Patricia Faulkner – is the product ofdetailed research into energy retail prices, and extensive consultation with consumers and industry. Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio says, “We will carefully consider all recommendations that put people first and help drive down power prices.” “This review gives us a plan of action that will see a better deal for Victorians.” “This is about protecting consumers, promoting transparency and supporting hard working families and businesses.” It looks at whether the electricity and gas retail
markets are operating in the best interests of Victorians, andprovides 11 recommendations aimed at getting a better deal for Victorians. 4Basic service offer: require all retailers to provide an offer that is not greater than the regulated price 4Abolish standing offers 4Marketing information on prices to be easily comparable 4Contract periods, practices and variations to be clear and fair 4Promoting access to smart meter data to assist customers to manage bills and increase energy efficiency 4Protecting low income and vulnerable customers
with increased assistance and market awareness 4Brokerage and collective bargaining on behalf of low income and vulnerable customers 4Monitoring the market via the Essential Services Commission (ESC) 4An energy market code based around the customer following an ESC review 4Full coverage of new energy services via expanded powers to the Energy Water Ombudsman Victoria 4Request COAG Energy Council to review the structure of the energy market to ensure its working in the longterm interest of customers The Labor Government thanked the Panel for its work
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This is about protecting consumers, promoting transparency and supporting hard working families and businesses. and will formally respond to the review by the end of the year. Read the full report: http:// delwp.vic.gov.au/energy/ about-energy/policy-andstrategy
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IEEFA Australia: The Odds Against Adani’s Mega-Mine Are Growing
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By Tim Buckley and Simon Nicholas
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he news that Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest, has ruled out financing for the proposed Carmichael project because of the climate risk it comes with is but the latest in the long drip of events adding to the probability the megamine-and-rail complex will never be built. In fact, our view has only hardened that Carmichael is unbankable. The whole “pit-to-plug” rationale for the project, as we explained earlier this summer, is fraying at both ends. The mine was conceived as a conduit for coal to Adani Power Ltd (APL) in India, a plan that has become utterly unviable considering how Adani itself and India in general no longer have the need they once did for imported coal. With that piece of the puzzle collapsing, Carmichael is—or would be—left to compete on its own in global coal markets, which are in deep structural decline. ON THE INDIAN FRONT, WITH A DISTRESSED APL CONTINUING TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE GOVERNMENT about “selling” its stranded 4.6GW US$5bn Mundra import-coal-
The whole “pit-to-plug” rationale for the project, as we explained earlier this summer, is fraying at both ends. fired power plant for a token Rs1, the financial state of the company is clearly dire. APL acknowledges the Mundra plant is only generating enough cash flow to cover its interest-servicing costs, and we see a looming writedown on Mundra of up to US$2 billion. Energy Minister Piyush Goyal has long argued that India’s reliance on thermal coal imports undermines national energy security and is a no longer economically rational policy, particularly with solar electricity generation cheaper even
than existing domestic coalfired power generation (and that’s not even counting the many external costs of burning coal). The market is clearly in agreement with Goyal. Indian coal imports have declined by 6 percent annually since hitting a peak in 2014/15, and the rate of decline has accelerated this year, with coal imports down 13.4 percent yearon-year in the first seven months of 2017. APL’s most recent earnings report shows a
US$70 million loss in the second quarter of this year, almost double its US$36 million first-quarter loss. Net debts of US$7.6 billion against a market capitalization of US$1.6 billion is as clear a signal as it gets of financial distress. Operating profits will not even cover annual interest payments to banks, and auditors have raised doubts over the company’s “going concern” assumption given its US$1.6 billion shortfall in current assets relative to current liabilities.
Do you have a story to tell? By our community reporter
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re you suffering from an untreatable or terminal illness such as cancer of Motor Neurone Disease? Do you desire a change in the law that would allow you a choice in the manner and timing of your own death? Have you watched a loved one die in distress and suffering, and felt helpless because the law didn’t allow you to assist in their desire for a dignified, peaceful death? Go Gentle Australia would like to hear from you. Go
Gentle Australia was created in 2016 to spark a national conversation about voluntary euthanasia laws. We are seeking case studies to further our campaign for the right of all Australians to have a choice about what happens to them at the end of their lives and not to be forced, when they are at their most vulnerable,
into cruel and avoidable suffering. Soon, a new bill will be tabled for debate in the Victorian Parliament that would provide for conservative voluntary assisted dying legislation. This follows the Parliament of Victoria’s Inquiry into End of Life Choices (2016)
which documented the suffering, trauma, and harm being inflicted on the community by our existing laws around voluntary euthanasia – evidence supported by hundreds of personal testimonials we have gathered from across Australia. If you would like to tell your story, please contact john@ gogentleaustralia.org.au or John Elder on 0400 550120. For further information, see http://www.gogentleaustralia. org.au —Source: Go Gentle Australia
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Financial close on Carmichael is no closer than it has ever been. With the project’s strategic rationale having evaporated, IEEFA views the proposal, frankly, as a stranded asset in the making—and one that, should it proceed, will require enormous government subsidies. —Source: ieefa.org Tim Buckley is IEEFA’s director of energy finance studies, Australasia. Simon Nicholas is an IEEFA energy finance analyst.
Soon, a new bill will be tabled for debate in the Victorian Parliament that would provide for conservative voluntary assisted dying legislation.
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Tackling inequality: A Labor mission A By Bill Shorten MP
ustralians are asking themselves, their family, their friends, their elected representatives about the country’s future and where people fit in, in our nation’s future.They are asking about what sort of deal will we pass on to the next generation.Across our nation - hope, faith in that generational contract is retreating because inequality ison the march. Workers’ share of income is at its lowest level in a half a century. Too many people are working harder, for less. Less money in their pay packet, less security in their job. And for over one million under-employed Australians, they're working less hours than theywould like to.More and more Australians are part-time or casualised, denied a proper income that theycould live upon. We need a new focus on the biggest threat to our health as an economy and our cohesion as a society: inequality. • Inequality in wages and tax. • In job security and bargaining. • In education and healthcare. • Inequality for women – in pay, in leadership and superannuation. • Inequality for our first Australians on nearly every measure that we can think of. • And inequality for home-buyers, first homebuyers and renters alike. Every serious economic authority, from the International Monetary Fund to the chair of the US Federal Reserve is now warning that inequality threatens prosperity. And unless we act on the sources of inequality – then those gaps become tears, the tears become fractures and the fractures become chasms. Permanent fault
lines in our country. Inequality kills hope. For four years now the Liberals have invested in ideology and not in the nation. • There is no advance on climate and energy policy. • Negative gearing is still untouched. • There is a massive tax cut on its way for multinationals. • There's an income tax cut for the top tax bracket.
Not to mention: • Cutting funding for schools, for TAFE and for universities. • The penalty rates have been cut at long last. • Don't worry about the Medicare freeze, most of that's still there. • There'll be an income tax hike through the Medicare levy for low and middle income earners. But I want to suggest, that reheating and repeating these policies only exacerbates inequality and it certainly hurts confidence. It's an approach which is taking Australia nowhere. I did not run for parliament to shrug my shoulders, and say: "Oh well the invisible hand. That'll help you. The market will decide". I believe there are things that the Government can do and should do. I believe there are investments that we have to make, reforms that we have to drive. That is why tackling inequality will be a defining mission for a Shorten Labor Government. And this begins with taking responsibility. • Working with business to drive the industries that deliver decent jobs. Jobs that people can build a life around, gain a mortgage around, form meaningful relationships and have dreams and hopes. • It's the responsibility to end the toxic politics of climate and energy creating certainty
to boost investment and drive down prices. • It's about putting the great Australian dream of owning your own home back within the reach of working and middle-class Australians. • And its investing in Medicare, so that Australians are healthier at home and more productive at work. It's about recognising that the system as it stands is accelerating inequality rather that addressing it.It is entrenching unfairness, rather than alleviating it.A belligerent defence of trickledown economics is no kind of plan for Australia's future. Fiddling around the edges won't fund the vital investments in the human capital that we need- from the early years, to school, to TAFE and university.It's time for something bigger and bolder than that tired old prescription.A plan for the best. And if we're going to fund these vital investments for the future and keep our budget strong,we need to look at the growing and old faults lurking in our
tax system. The whole picture: revenue and expenditure, including tax subsidies. Including reforms in thepast that we might have dismissed as too hard, too politically difficult. Australians are ready for an authentic, nononsense debate about whether our tax system accurately reflects the values of our home, our nation. They're ready for a debate about who our system helps and how. About what kind of behaviour it rewards.We live in a great country. But if we want to stay ahead of the pack, we need to invest in the future now. Our health system is good, but pressure is increasing. Our energy market has tremendous potential, but prices are rising. Our growing cities and regions are great places to live. But if you live in the outer suburbs and you’re sitting in traffic two hours a day because of a government that chose not to investin public transport or build a better road.
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It will be a plan to tackle inequality and restore confidence in our economy. When there is confidence in the economy than anything is possible. My economic team and indeed my whole party are continuing their hard work on a comprehensive set of policies for a fairer tax system and a stronger budget. We will do as a government, what this government is not doing. We will reduce the uncertainty and give Australians a plan and commitment. I am determined to give Australians an agenda to believe in, an explanation of where they fitin. • Rewarding hard work • Investing in the future • Protecting the fair go all round It will be a plan to tackle inequality and restore confidence in our economy. When there is confidence in the economy than anything is possible. When all Australians are sharing the national dividends of our hard work on a fair basis, thenwe see things begin to hum. It is the vision we have for families, for businesses, for the future of this nation. That’s what we can do and that’s what we will do. —Supplied.
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Indian Cultural Precinct consultations By SAT News Desk
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elbourne: Indian Cultural Precinct (Little India, Foster St., Dandenong) consultation
for a shared vision was held recently at the Dandenong Council. Many ideas seem to be there with $ 500,000 Daniel Andrews Govt grant. One idea by SAT Editor was that the Dandenong
Station's (almost in Little India) name should reflect the Indian Precinct in it. This was taken positively. More consultations are planned. It's good the project is moving.
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COMMUNITY
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Matthew Guy needs to come clean: James Merlino By SAT News Desk
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elbourne, 15 Aug: Liberal Leader Matthew Guy must today come out of hiding and explain himself, following more revelations ofmurky deals for Liberal Party donors. Mr Guy was recently caught at a secret dinner eating lobster and drinking Grange with an alleged organised crimefigure, who police have banned from the casino and Victorian racetracks.
Deputy Premier James Merlino, “Everything about Matthew Guy gets murkier and murkier by the day.” “If he’s not having lobster dinners with alleged organised crime figures, he’s doing deals to line the pockets ofLiberal Party donors.” “It's clear Matthew Guy has neither the judgement or the character to be Victorian Premier.” It’s now been revealed that when he was Planning Minister, Mr Guy used his powers to approve a
skyscraper inChapel Street, which led to a Liberal Party donor gaining a $36 million profit. Matthew Guy needs to come clean. It’s not the first time Matthew Guy has acted to line the pockets of Liberal Party donors. His overnight rezoning of Fishermans Bend delivered windfall profits to developers and Liberal Party donors –something an independent panel has called “unprecedented in the developed world”.
India@ 70 celebrated across Melbourne By Our Community reporter
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elbourne: It was celebrated at the Indian Consulate with flag hoisting and a few days back by Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The Indian Consulate also organised cocktails and a cultural segment at the Bayview Eden Hotel, St. Kilda. Tose attending the event were addressed by Indian Consul General Manika Jain and Multicultural Minister Robin Scott among others. The cultural segment 'NrithyaUdantaSapthathi' was directed by Tara
Rajkumar. The event wrapped of after networking. The AIII for the first time organised the I-Day celebrations at the Harmony Sq., Dandenong with day long cultural performances and VIP guests addressing those present. The large screen at the Harmony Sq. was a big attraction as it added to the glitter of the event.
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BMW star struck at the Indian Film Festival Melbourne 2017 BY SAT News Desk
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elbourne, 14 August: As the city graced with the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017 (IFFM-2017), its celebrity film stars, directors and producers arrived at the annual celebration of Indian and subcontinent cinema events glittering through the city traffic. The sparkle of BMW and the cinema dream merchants mesmerised the fans as they reached the festival venues. The Westpac IFFM Awards Night at the Melbourne Recital Centre saw the stars arriving at the red carpet in a fleet of BMWs.Karan Johar, Simi Garewal and Sushant Singh Rajput arrived inBMW 7-series models, while Malaika Aroraand Aishwarya Rai Bachchanopted for BMW X6. At the Telstra Bollywood Dance Competition Sushant Singh Rajput and Karan Johar made a surprise appearance, exiting their 7-series BMWs to a cheering crowd of thousands. The masterclasses were no exception with Karan Johararriving at the Deakin Edge, Federation Squareto
a sold-out session in his 7-series BMW. Fans were quick to crowd around the
beloved Karan Johar at the end of the session in hopes of getting an autograph and
a selfie. No doubt, BMW - The Ultimate Driving Machine
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with timeless elegance became a talking point with the power of Indian cinema.
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Is privacy an elitist privilege? A dummies’ guide to the ongoing debate in India By Anuj Wankhede
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upreme Court this week finished hearings on one of the most significant and emotive issues – privacy. It will pass its judgement in next few days which will determine whether the billion plus Indians have the right to privacy or not. It may say Yes or a No or something in between the two – setting limits and standards. The judgement in itself is a suspense but even if the court grants even a modicum of privacy right, the government will make it as difficult as possible to execute or implement it in the real spirit behind the law. The stakes are too big. Privacy means many things and the intent of this article is not to go into its text book definition, it’s various interpretations (legally or otherwise) or even into the merits and demerits of privacy. The intention is to look at why this is so important for everyone cutting across religious, caste, social, educational, political, ideological, economic lines. Globally, privacy has gained attention largely due to the explosion in technology – particularly the advent of the internet. Technology has been around for decades now. It is difficult to even imagine how banks or railway ticketing worked prior to computerization. Few will recall the banking employee’s nationwide strikes to protest computerization when the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi announced it. Of course, the strikes were due to fears of job losses (a fear that has come true but much later due to artificial intelligence, automation, robotics and outsourcing) Nevertheless, all these years’ sundry government and non-government organizations have been the custodians of our data – banks have all the financial data, credit rating agencies have them, the Ministry of External Affairs has your biometric data as well as your demographics when you apply for passport, voter ID and census have your demographics. All
these and many others have this data. Nobody raised alarm bells then. What changed? What changed the whole notion of privacy is that this data is being shared. And shared blatantly for a price. (I am restricting to data or information privacy) The custodians of data mentioned earlier never really “monetized” their resources. This fancy management talk in plain English means “Sell the damn data to the highest bidder and make money.” Because quite often these new age companies have no other “resources” which can be sold. All they have is data – sourced legally or often illegally. These companies get fancy multimillion dollar valuations although they do not have a single tangible asset. Mukesh Ambani was uncharacteristically honest when he repeated the now famous line “Data is the new oil” As technology advanced, larger and larger networks got connected and “talk” with each other i.e. share data. The rapidly falling prices of connectivity as well as the rock bottom prices for server storage was complemented with exponential growth in processing speeds. Data became a commodity. The value of data as a commodity means different things to different people and the same group of people can either use it or misuse it. Let’s understand how. From a marketing or sales perspective, it becomes very
easy to find out which socio economic class is using a product, the geographic location, the frequency of purchase, which products get purchased along with which others, brand affinity etc. All this is what can be termed as raw “meta data” i.e. a broad collection. But within this, it is possible to still down to an individual person. Thus it can be said with reasonable accuracy that a person A, having B credit card with a monthly card bill of X and flying 3 times a month is most likely to buy product Y. Thus, the cost of reaching out to Mr. A is negligible and he can be enticed easily. It works all the time. That’s how you get all those amazing offers online about that thing “just on my mind.” They haven’t read your mind. They’ve just mined your data. From the corporate point of view transaction costs reduce, administrative costs, sales and marketing costs reduce drastically, targeted advertising brings instant sales, payments come in quickly, loan defaulters can be tracked and eliminated or excluded, background surveillance done on employees, prospects, rivals 24×7… The list is endless. All adding to the profits of companies. Financial services are most excited about Aadhaar. They are followed by the technology and mobile companies both of which benefit hugely from the hardware infrastructure and data boom. It is all about making money out of your private data. The same set of
demographic data with a grassroots NGO may allow it to better focus on the needy but in the hands of a greedy mining corporation may identify the most vulnerable section of society to pillage. It did not take long for the whole world to realize that this is extremely dangerous. Criminals quickly realized that they need not enter physically secured sites or break vaults to commit theft when they could do it from the comfort of a coffee shop. Hackers have repeatedly broken through the most secure database servers with impunity holding companies, governments and individuals to ransom, blackmailing them with public disclosure of financial or intimate personal data. Hacking, identity theft have become common crimes as technology has progressed. Data per se is not dangerous. It may be used or abused. But by itself, it has little value. It becomes dangerous when this raw unstructured data gets interconnected and linked elsewhere to provide meaningful, specific Information. The negligible cost of storing this information safely (not necessarily securely) without it getting damaged means that every bit of your life is being stored somewhere where it will reside permanently – long after you have died. Among data giants are the usual suspects like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook etc. The unimaginable amount of private data just with Google is mind boggling. Eric Schmidt, ex CEO Google famously said “as much information added every two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003.” And that was in 2010 when the data explosion had just about begun! When you consider the fact that mobile computing using apps for everything from shopping to paying bills, transferring money, booking tickets, watching movies, reading, sharing private and intimate details then you may realize why even Google does not know exactly how much data it has. This data gets analyzed
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and user profile made instantly and a person gets identified, slotted into a particular category. He may get branded as a cheat because some database somewhere had reference to an alleged crime committed by someone with the same name or data might not have been updated even after his acquittal. Mobile data can be a boon in tracking down a criminal but it can also be used to locate and silence political or business rivals. Everybody is on a digital leash. Hence, it is best to let the informed user judge for himself/herself whether they want to share data and if yes the quantum they wish to share. Corporations are monetarily rich but morally and ethically bankrupt. They have a long history of selling and sharing private information for their own greed. Governments have been worse than companies and have used these databanks to target and eliminate certain classes of society. Nazi Germany did that with deadly accuracy prior to World War II and in India, minorities have been identified using names, religion, caste and address in voter lists etc for selective elimination in riots. The Supreme Court of India heard the Right to Privacy case civil society has strong reservations about the Aadhaar program. Enough has been written about Aadhaar and how dangerous it is already. But when you see the whole government, the giant corporations in India and around the world drooling at the prospect of owning this dynamic data, you can be sure it cannot be too good for the common man. Nothing interests governments and corporates more than power and money. Let us hope that the nine wise men will now pass an appropriate judgement which will defuse the Aadhaar bomb. The author is a Mumbai based independent researcher. Email: benchmark.anuj@gmail. com —Source: India Resists
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What Ahmed Patel's victory in Gujarat means for both BJP and Congress By Venkatesh Kesari
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EW DELHI: Congress leader Ahmed Patel's victory in the Rajya Sabha elections against all odds is a bad omen for the BJP ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections. While it has boosted the morale of the Congress workers, it has also made Patel a 'fighter' who checked the BJP chief Amit Shah's plan to defeat him through rebellion and the resignation of the Congress legislators. A former Union minister of the Congress who had worked with Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi said that the BJP's countdown has begun from the Gujarat polls. "Now you will see how the BJP will see rebellion in the coming assembly elections in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh", he told The Citizen. Although the Congress and Ahmed Patel could not make a dent among the BJP MLAs and retained the seat merely on technical grounds, the Gujarat Rajya Sabha election for three seats was seen as a fight between the Congress chief 's trouble shooter and the BJP supremo, the most powerful person after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And hence, the poll outcome has put a question mark on the skill of ruling party's managers. Ironically this was so done by the BJP itself, as every dirty trick was used by the party to defeat Patel and bring down the Congress numbers in the Assembly through resignations, defections and rebellion. The Congress had publicly accused Shah and the BJP of engineering these. The results have also isolated Congress rebel leader ShankarsinhVaghela and his handful of supporters in the state Assembly and exposed the fence sitters. Now, they will find it difficult to create a credible third front in the state . Multi cornered contests always help the saffron party. Now,the Congress, morale boosted with this victory, plans to be more aggressive in the coming
Gujarat elections and try to fan dissidence in the ruling BJP, particularly amongst the legislators who are unsure of being renominated. Barring Delhi and Bihar, Amit Shah has never tested defeat.But the Gujarat
Rajya Sabha elections showed that the Congress can checkmate BJP's " Chanakyas", despite a campaign carried out by the ruling party on the media channels and in newspapers that had gone along with Shah indiscriminately on
this issue. Politically,it has made Ahmed Patel stronger as well, more so as he fought back largely on his own, with senior party leaders emerging only in the last days to visit the Election Commission on the matter
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of disqualification of two of its MLAs. Unlike the BJP where Shah was assisted by others in the party, Patel seemed to be fairly isolated at one point during the poll campaign. Source: The Citizen, August 14 2017
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Transcending Sri Lanka's partisan politics C By Jehan Perera
OLOMBO: The government has put on a bold face on the resignation of Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake by making the argument that it is demonstrating good governance in practice. Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe said in Parliament that the former Foreign Minister had set a good precedent by resigning from his portfolio. He said no member of the previous government had resigned no matter how serious the charges leveled against them were. It has not been the tradition in Sri Lanka for those holding public positions to resign when faced with a conflict of interest or to take responsibility for what has gone wrong. The Prime Minister said his colleague’s resignation to allow for impartial investigations into his role in the Central Bank bond scam showed the government’s commitment to good governance. He did not speak of the weakening of the government, even as its two constituent parties took different stands on the political survival of the former Foreign Minister. However, in the subtext of the political commentary is the reality of deep seated political rivalries between the personalities and machineries of the UNP and SLFP which form the two main constituent parties of the Government of National Unity. Those who have put the most amount of pressure on the former Foreign Minister to resign have been from the SLFP component of the government, including President Maithripala Sirisena. This is seen by the UNP component of the government as a measure to weaken them and gain political mileage with the general public. Although the government leadership is putting on a bold face, the price it is going to pay due to the resignation of Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake is bound to be steep. After he was shifted out of his previous job as Finance Minister, again at President Sirisena’s insistence, he made a strong effort to master his new role as the country’s face before the international community. It is noteworthy that President Maithripala Sirisena who has been vacillating on the issue of the international human
rights commitments made by the government to the international community seemed to be getting activated in a positive direction after Minister Karunanayake took over the reins of the Foreign Ministry. The presidential assent to the Office of Missing Persons, which is one of the most important of the human rights commitments made by the government to the international community, came during his brief watch as Foreign Minister. Prior to that for over eight months the president had delayed putting his signature to the law that had been enacted in parliament. Apart from Ravi Karunanayake’s undoubted capabilities as a minister, he was also the assistant leader of the UNP, which is the main constituent party of the government. He continues to hold this position. The former Foreign Minister had been a source of strength and support to the leader of the UNP, Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe during the period when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s grip over the country seemed unassailable and the blame for it accrued to the Prime Minister as the then leader of the opposition. Minister Karunanayake also played a leading role in winning the support of the Ven Maduluwave SobithaThero, the most revered Buddhist monk in his electorate, and in the larger society, who took leadership over the civil society movement against the human rights violations of the former government. It is a sign of the times that this very civil society movement is now planning a public demonstration on
August 15 to demand that the government live up to its commitments without faltering and without politicizing them for its own partisan advantage. The decision of Foreign Minister Karunanayake to resign has helped to avert a further loss of public credibility for the government which was elected to power on a platform of good governance and anti corruption in 2015. The general public, especially those who voted for the government in the hope that it would change the political culture of the country, and put an end to corruption, have been feeling badly let down by the government. Although the government leadership sought election in 2015 on a platform of good governance and anti corruption, there is much to be desired in their performance. Many of those from the previous government who were accused of sky high corruption continue to remain without substantial legal charges against them and even have the temerity to mock those in the government as having made false allegations against them merely to win the elections. President Sirisena has been one of the main critics of his own government when it comes to its failure to crack down on corruption both in the previous government and in the present one. As a result he has been able to maintain his reputation to some degree as a political leader who is serious about dealing with the problem of high level corruption. But these actions of the President are not being supported by others in the government,
and have undermined the unity of the government and created ill feeling and mistrust within it. Prior to the resignation of Foreign Minister Karunanayake, several membersf the government from its SLFP component publicly stated that they too would vote with the opposition if there was a vote of no confidence in parliament against the minister. These are all signs of the weakening of the government. Another sign of the weakening of the government is the fiasco over the proposed 20th Amendment to the constitution. What is especially disturbing about this constitutional amendment is that it has made is appearance when the government is coming close to finalizing its draft new constitution which is expected to be a model of good governance. Unlike its distinguished predecessor, the 19th Amendment, which was passed soon after the new government took office and which restricted the powers of the presidency, the 20th Amendment shows little idealism. In summary, the bill proposes that elections to the provincial councils will be postponed until such time as all provincial council elections can be held on a single day. It also gives to the central authorities, the power to run the provincial councils which stand dissolved until such time as the elections on one day are held. Such a transfer of power from the elected provincial councils to the central authorities would be a negation of both democracy and of the practice of devolution of power. The provincial council
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system was originally established in 1987 to deal with the escalating war against the Tamil militancy led by the LTTE. Even though the effort to draw the Tigers in to the envisaged political solution was not successful, the democratic Tamil parties have sought to utilize it to as a building block to progress to a greater sharing of power while respecting the existing unitary constitutional framework. It is in this context that the tampering with the provincial councils, by postponing the elections to them, and by further reducing their devolved powers even temporarily, needs to be viewed with the utmost concern. With both the SLFP, which is the second of the two main constituent parties of the government, and the Marxist inspired JVP, deciding to oppose the bill on the grounds that postponing of elections is unacceptable, the likelihood of getting the 2/3 majority in Parliament is remote. The 20th Amendment may be seen as a pragmatic but unprincipled measure to contain the political rivalries of the UNP and SLFP as two main constituent parties of the government, and to prevent the mutual tension between them from degenerating into open confrontation. The desire to postpone elections is due to the concern that it will be difficult to remain together in the government if the two parties contest each other on the ground. This is the contradiction that has dogged the government from the time of its first election victory in January 2015. At that election the President and Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe were on one side. They were the underdogs who won together contesting the election under one common electoral symbol (the Swan) rather than their two separate party symbols (the Elephant and the Hand). If the Government of National Unity is to continue, and the promises it made are to be kept, it is necessary that the President and Prime Minister rise above the political rivalries of their respective political parties, and look upon the challenges they face as national issues and not as partisan political issues. —Source: The Citizen, 14 August.
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China woos Nepal, Pakistan: "China-Pak Have a lips and teeth relationship"
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EW DELHI, Aug 15: China is now on an outreach offensive with Pakistan and Nepal, seemingly as part of a concerted strategy linked to its pressure on India to withdraw her troops from Doklam. The standoff that continues with threats of a military conflict from Beijing has also seen a diplomatic offensive by China insofar as India’s South Asian neighbours are concerned. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang, speaking at the 70th Independence Anniversary of Pakistan was particularly effusive, declaring “as close neighbours linked by mountains and rivers, China and Pakistan have a lips-and-teeth relationship. “And said at “We need close cooperation now more than ever,” without of course specifying the reasons. The rest of the speech was a virtual eulogy of PakistanChina relations, of how over the past 70 years, “the courageous and unyielding Pakistani people have resolutely defended their national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity against hegemony, power politics and external interference, achieving one heroic success after another in safeguarding the country's core interests and national dignity.” That most of the wars and skirmishes have been with India is the moot point. Wang heaped praise on the development of Pakistan and its “soaring” GDP; it’s “commitment to the path of peaceful development”; it’s “enormous sacrifice for world peace and regional stability”; it’s active involvement “in the international fight against terrorism”. The Chinese leader spoke of how “similar historical experiences and common struggles have brought our peoples closer together.” And went on to state that China will never forget Pakistans support “at the crucial moment when New China was striving to break the external blockade and restore its lawful seat in the United Nations.” And then if anyone was left in doubt, he asserted towards the end of his speech that China was ready
to strengthen all round strategic cooperation with Pakistan. And to support “the efforts of the Pakistani government and people to uphold independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and firmly supports Pakistan in developing and implementing counter-terrorism policies in light of its own national conditions, improving its external environment and expanding external exchanges and cooperation.” At a time when China is warning India of the Doklam standoff impacting on economic ties Wang spoke of Pakistan as an important partner in the Belt and Road initiative and promised increased economic cooperation between the two countries. And stated that the two countries share a friendship “based on shared aspirations and tested in adversity. It will not only last a lifetime, but also be passed on from generation to generation. No matter how the international environment may evolve and how China may grow, we will always be a good neighbor, a close friend, a trusted partner and a true brother for Pakistan.” Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang was recently in Nepal on a fourday visit. It might be recalled that the Chinese mission in New Delhi, singled out Nepal for a briefing in the wake of the tensions with India recently. In fact the Chinese
official media said as much with, “The border dispute with India has highlighted the necessity for China to accelerate investment and economic aid to Nepal.” According to a commentary in the Global Times on the visit, “Nepal has told its embassies in New Delhi and Beijing that it will maintain an independent and neutral position on its neighbors' standoff, and it
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will not be influenced by either China or India, according to media reports. For a landlocked country that shares a long open border with India and depends heavily on India for imports and exports, Nepal's stance clearly shows its intention of counterbalancing Indian influence. That stance also reflects China's diplomatic efforts in recent years.” The commentary highlighs the infrastucture investments made by China in Nepal in a bid to “ overshadow India's commitment of $317 million”. Nepal is also part of the Belt and Road initiative, that India has stayed out of. China however, is clearly looking to expand its role to a deeper economic relationship with Nepal to help revive its “ailing economy” as the commentary suggests. And then states very clearly the strategic importance of Nepal “which borders Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region (and) has played an important role in guarding against Tibetan separatists.” “There is every reason for China to offer more generous aid to such a small but important neighbour” is the conclusion. —Source: The Citizen
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Bangladesh’s governance decay
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By M Adil Khan
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he sad thing about democracy is that every time you vote, a politician wins and for Bangladesh its tryst with ‘democracy’ its politicians have been anything but happy. Most Bangladeshis feel that they have been betrayed by their politicians especially by their leaderships. They have witnessed how their leaders that sought votes and got themselves elected through democratic frameworks and thus were expected to govern through democratic norms trashed democracy as soon as they entrenched themselves in the seats of power and turned the system into autocracy or semi-autocracy, mainly to suit their own needs more than those of the people that voted them in. People also witnessed that almost every government that ruled the country since its inception in 1971 simply took turns to curtail freedom, suppress and repress opposition and plunder and pillage the national coffer with such regularity that in the name of democracy all they got is a retinue of ‘rotating plundering governments’. Among these there was also one particular political leadership that went one step further and made what may be termed as,Luichchami(in the absence of proper Englishthis local term has been used to describe a rare form of one human behaviour that mixed pornography and lying with theft), as a governing philosophy. Lately, even the language of political discourse has changed. Gone are the days when in spite of their differences leaders used to treat each other with respect and never ever strayed from decency and decorum and never departed from the accepted code of civility while criticising their political rivals. Not any more,these days obscenity and foul words are the norm and have become favoured and common epithets in political lexicon. Notwithstandingits impressive economic and social accomplishments, some however, argue and with some justification that much of these such
as reduction of poverty, improvements in education, gender equality, nutrition, sanitation etc. are mainly due to contributions made by the creative and enterprising men and women of the private sector that have used the market forces to expand manufacturing; toils and tears of migrant workers that fill the national coffer with foreign exchange (only to be stolen by the government and its agents) and the empathizing NGOs that have successfully filled the void that have been left by most governments in social sector, current trend is gloomy and risks reversing the gains made so far. Indeed, Bangladesh is a classic case where progress has been made despite government and the predatory behaviour of the government has become so dangerous that the coterie is starting to eat out the very soul of the country. What is also quite worrying that in order to hide their failures and most importantly, their plundering acts and this is being done quite aggressively now, that the government has resorted to nationalistic rancour that has diverted attention of people to non-issues and at the same time, divided the very people the leadership is expected not just to represent but also to serve,equally. As a matter of fact, parliamentarians that grace the hallowed hall
of the SangsadBhavan and warm its comfortable seats are anything but selfless crusaders of people’s cause. On the contrary, over the years these political elites have taken turns to rob the country and bully the opponents,while helping themselves and their cronies to become obscenely wealth and dangerously powerful so much so that the entire political system has now become a prisoner of these wealthy predators. Things cannot and should not be allowed to go on like this forever. But, given its control on the system, is there a way out? Indeed, there is a way out and it is within the very system that has betrayed the people of Bangladesh and made them powerless in the first place. The answer is in democracy itself – yes, in democracy but not in the democracy of the rich, the minority but in the democracy of the poor and the marginalized, the majority. José ‘Pepe’ Mujica, a former armed revolutionary,who until recently has been the President of Uruguay,someone who never stayed at the presidential palace but in his small hut for he firmly believed that presidential palaces, red carpets, flagged cars etc. are all colonial legacies,that were deliberately introduced to separate the ruler from the ruled should
have never been the norm in a democratic polity and someone who is also popularly known as ‘poor’ president for his frugal lifestyle who never used presidential plush state car and instead travelled in his beaten up beetle to conduct official business,who also donated 90 per cent of his presidential salary to charity firmly believes that democracy is not safe under rich people though rich per se are not the problem. Mujica believes that the rich are not the best people to represent the interest of the poor and this is because perspectives of the rich are very different from those of the poor and thus by linking democracy with lifestyle he once queried that if democracy is about representation and reflection of the majority “..should the heads of state not live like the majority and not like the minority.” These days in Bangladesh, lifestyles of the political leaders –the president, the prime minister, the ministers, members of the parliament etc. etc. – and the way the potentates manner they conduct themselves resemble more like the Arab Shiekhs (in every bit of its vulgar sense) and not the majority and thus the rich men’s(who are also crooks) ‘democracy’ has corrupted the entire society and marginalized the majority ever so aggressively
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that at the present time notions of justice, fair play, morality, honesty etc. are an anathema where inequality is on the rise, corruption is rampant, critical conversations are ignored or crushed either through menacing threats or through deaths . A cloud of despair has descended upon Bangladesh where a sedating mix of ‘development’ rhetoric and evocation of false nationalism is used to grease a good proportion of the civil society that acquiesce the ruling elite of their acts of plunder and murder (literally), where democracy sounds more like a death warrant! So what should the people of Bangladesh do to rescue democracy from the clutches of these wicked elites to make it work for the people again? Mujica has a solution. He believes that only democracy can cure democracy and that suggests in conditions such those that have gripped Bangladesh the way to resurrect democracy for the people is for people to shun the wealthy (and by extension, crooks) in politics, change is inevitable and rewarding at the same time. Prof M. Adil Khan is a social scientist and former United Nations Senior Policy manager. —Source: Counter Currents
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Value of water is on the rise By Rafiqul Islam
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HAKA, Jul 28 2017 (IPS) - In the wake of recent waterrelated disasters in Bangladesh, including water-logging and floods that displaced thousands of families, a high-level consultation in the capital Dhaka on valuing water will look at ways to optimize water use and solutions to water-related problems facing South Asia. While Bangladesh has been heavily affected, it is hardly alone in grappling with both chronic shortages and overabundance. According to the UN World Water Development Report, critical transboundary rivers such as the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra have come under severe pressure from industrial development, urbanization, population growth and environmental pollution.
Even a moderate rainfall inundates the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, creating severe water-logging. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPS Freshwater - a finite resource - is under particular pressure from population growth worldwide and other causes, compounding the challenges of extreme climate events like droughts and floods. In India, nearly two dozen cities face daily water shortages; in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, people wait in lines for hours to get drinking water from the city’s ancient stone waterspouts; in Pakistan, the Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) warned that the country may run dry by 2025 if authorities didn’t take immediate action. Regional cooperation will be a critical component in solving these interrelated problems. On July 31, ministers, senior and local government officials, businesses and representatives from nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and development partners will attend the Fourth Consultation on Valuing Water to be held at the BRAC Center in Dhaka. The consultation is being held as part of a high-level consultation on water called the ‘Valuing Water Initiative’. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 160 million people living within 57,000 square miles. Although it has made great strides against poverty in recent years, some 13 percent of Bangladeshis still lack safe water and 39 percent lack improved sanitation. In January 2016, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and then UN Secretary-General Ban KiMoon convened a High Level
Panel on Water (HLPW), involving 11 heads of state and government to accelerate change in the way governments, societies, and the private sector use and manage water. The members of the panel are heads of state from Australia, Bangladesh, Hungary, Jordan, Mauritius (co-chair), Mexico (co-chair), Netherlands, Peru, Senegal, South Africa and Tajikistan. According to Global Water Partnership, an organiser of the Dhaka water event, Bangladesh is one of several countries to host a HLPW consultation meeting, which aims at providing the leadership required to champion a comprehensive, inclusive, and collaborative way of developing and managing water resources, and improving water and sanitation-related services. Dr KhondakerAzharulHaq, President of Bangladesh Water Partnership (BWP), said that apart from its direct economic value, water has indirect value for environmental protection, religious, cultural and medicinal practices. This non-economic value is very high because water is declining across the world day by day, both in quality and quantity, he said. As a lower riparian country, Bangladesh faces multiple water problems each year. The country must depend on the water of trans-boundary rivers, experiencing plenty of water during monsoon and scant water during the dry season. During this monsoon season, Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong are facing severe water-logging and urban flooding due to the
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lack of proper storm water drainage systems. While visiting a waterlogged area in the capital last Wednesday, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor AnnisulHuq expressed frustration, wondering aloud to reporters, “Will any one of you please tell me what the solution to it is?” During monsoon, waterlogging is also a common phenomenon in Chittagong city. But this year, a vaster area of the city than usual has submerged due to heavy rainfall coupled with tidal surges. Dr.AzharulHaq says the “nuisance value” of water is also going up, with a good deal of suffering stemming from these problems. “So water management should be more comprehensive to obtain the [full] potential value of water,” he said. He added that the “nuisance value” of water, along with its economic and non-economic values, will be discussed at the July 31 event. Experts have long warned that if the authorities here don’t take serious measures to address these issues soon, within a decade, every major thoroughfare in the capital Dhaka will be inundated and a majority of neighborhoods will end up underwater after heavy precipitation. A 42-mm rainfall in ninety minutes is not unusual for monsoon season, but Dhaka will face far worse in the future due to expected global temperature increases. “If the present trend of city governance continues, all city streets will be flooded during monsoon in a decade, intensifying the suffering of city dwellers, and people
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Value of water is on...
will be compelled to leave the city,” urban planner Dr.Maksudur Rahman told IPS last year. He predicted that about 50-60 percent of the city will be inundated in ten years if it experiences even a moderate rainfall. Dhaka is home to about 14 million people and is the centre of the country’s growth, but it has practically zero capacity to cope with moderate to heavy rains. On Sep. 1, 2015, for example, a total of 42 millimeters fell in an hour and a half, collapsing the city’s drainage system. The HLPW’s Valuing Water Initiative is a collaborative process aimed at building champions and ownership at all levels, which presents a unique and mutually reinforcing opportunity to meet all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Freshwater – a finite resource – is under particular pressure from population growth worldwide and other causes, compounding the challenges of extreme climate events like droughts and floods. Water is essential for human health, food
A woman carries a container of drinking water in the coastal area of Bangladesh. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPS security, energy supplies, sustaining cities and the environment. Valuing water more appropriately can help balance the multiple uses and services provided by water and inform decisions about allocating water across uses and services to maximise well-being. The main objective of the
July 31 water consultation is to obtain views from a wide array of countrylevel stakeholders on the proposals from the HLPW on the valuing water preamble and principles. The water meet will encourage governments, business and civil society to consider water’s multiple
values and to guide the transparent incorporation of these values into decisionmaking by policymakers, communities, and businesses. The HLPW consultation will also create awareness and discuss the regional or country level relevance of global perspectives.
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Dhaka is home to about 14 million people and is the centre of the country’s growth, but it has practically zero capacity to cope with moderate to heavy rains.
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Women slowly break barriers in Bangladesh By Mahfuzur Rahman
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HAKA, Aug 18 2017 (IPS) - When one thinks of Bangladesh, its political leadership naturally comes to mind as the leaders of the country’s major parties are women, including the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and the Speaker of the National Parliament. When it comes to gender equality in daily life, the reality is still different, but many women in Bangladesh are breaking barriers by taking traditionally male jobs – once unthinkable. Take the case of six rural women working in a refueling station in the port city of Narayanganj near the capital Dhaka, a job that entails a degree of personal risk. A 2015 World Bank report said women in Bangladesh account for only 27 percent of the total labour force - a scenario the government and its development partners are determined to change. Happy Akhter of Magura, Lippi Akhter of Moulvibazar and Rikta of Patuakhali districts are among the six women employees of the refueling station, set up by Saiful Islam, a former police officer, in 2001. “It’s important to utilise the potential of everyone, including women. And the well-off section of society should come up to support them,” Islam told the Narayanganj correspondent of UNB, a national news agency. Lippi Akhter added, “My satisfaction is that I can support my family — two daughters and one son — with what I get from this job. I’m not at all worried about myself but I want my children to be educated.” Asked about their security as they are dealing with male motorists, Lippi said, “We’re safe here as our owner is an ex-police officer. We appreciate his concern about us. He has also made arrangements for our accommodation.” Taking such a job, where the women have to deal with transport workers, is a matter of great courage as violence against women is widespread. In the district where these women are working, a 15-year-old girl was raped a by a group of transport workers in a moving truck on the night of August 2. Police arrested the driver hours after the incident.
Four women’s groups from Mohalbari, Surail and Damoir villages in Northern Bangladesh participated in a two-day leadership and mobilization training in Dinajpur to spread the initiative of successful womenled cooperatives improving the livelihood of the rural poor. Among the 51 participants, most were landless women coming from Hindu, Muslim and indigenous communities. Credit: IFAD During a preliminary investigation, he confessed to committing the crime with the other men. In a press statement, Naripokkho, a women’s rights body, said, “The society is being affected due to the repeated incidents of violence against women and children. We’re aggrieved and concerned in such a situation. “Some 280 women and children fell victims to rape from January to June this year,” Naripokkho said referring to a report of Ain o ShalishKendro, a human rights body. It said 39 more were the victims of attempted rape during the period, while 16 were killed after rape, and five committed suicide after rape. Citing police data, Naripokkho said 1,914 rape cases were filed and 1,109 rape incidents took place between April and June, indicating 12 rape incidents every day. As elsewhere in the world, women account for almost half of Bangladesh’s total population. Today, the country’s total population is 1.65 million, including 49.40 per cent women, according to the Bangladesh Election Commission. However, a 2015 World Bank report said women in Bangladesh account for only 27 percent of the total labour force. Nepal has the highest female labour participation rate of 80 percent. “The labour market [in Bangladesh] remains divided along gender lines and progress towards gender equality seems to have stalled,” the World
Bank said. According to a 2014 study by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a civil society think tank of Bangladesh, “…the contribution of women to the national income has continued to remain insignificant when compared to men because of the under-representation of their contribution to the national income accounts.” Worldwide, women account for about onethird of the workforce in the unorganised sector. But the International Labour Organization says in Bangladesh, only 3.25 percent of employed women are working in the public sector and 8.25 percent in the private sector. The remaining 89.5 percent are employed in the informal sector with varying and often unpredictable earning patterns – or as it so often happens, work without any payment at all. Non-recognition of women’s unpaid activity, the CPD study says, also leads to undervaluation of their economic contribution. The situation is slowly changing as the government takes on various projects with support from international partners. To give women’s empowerment a boost, particularly in the country’s impoverished north, the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) of Bangladesh in collaboration with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has launched a project on Climate Resilient Community Development
(CRCD) Project with a greater focus on gender parity. The six-year project will be implemented in six districts, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, and Jamalpur, which are known as poverty pockets. The project seeks to achieve at least 33 percent of women in the overall labour market, and 15 percent in constructionrelated areas with relevant actions like subsidised courses for women, inclusion of informal sectors and incentives to employers to employ females, functional literacy, and skill development training. The project follows a gender sensitive design, noting that 10 per cent of households in the project areas are headed by women, and most of these households are extremely poor. As it does always, IFAD is promoting the active participation of ‘Labour Contracting Society (LCS). Coastal Climate Resilient Infrastructure Project (CCRIP) is one of them. CCRIP Project Director A.K.M. Lutfur Rahman said poverty alleviation, education, irrigation, agriculture, women’s empowerment and tree planting are the social aspects of the project apart from its engineering aspects, and women are participating. The project is expected to contribute to the construction of gender sensitive infrastructure that meets the needs of both women and men. In line
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with national development policies and IFAD’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy, the goal is to empower women and men to ensure equal access to project benefits. As security concerns prevail due to the growing violence against women, Professor SharmindNeelormi of the Department of Economics of Jahangir Nagar University in Bangladesh stressed the importance of ensuring a gender-friendly working environment in the project areas, in addition to revisiting the wage rate. Professor Sharmind came up with the suggestions on August 1 last in Dhaka while presenting the findings of a study she conducted with support from LGED and IFAD. Talking to IPS, MB Akther, Programme Director & Interim Country Director of OXFAM Bangladesh, said women’s empowerment is a continuous process. A woman needs five to six years of multidimensional supports, he said. She also needs help in building market linkages for incomegenerating activities. Akther said providing capital resources to women is not the only solution. They should also know how to invest resources for generating income and for that they need trainings, raising knowledge and cooperation to build market linkages. “ICT, particularly the operation of mobile phones, is also an effective tool for women to search job markets or market prices for a product,” he said, adding that he is aware of the IFAD projects. Talking about women’s contributions to both the household economy and the national one, Dr QaziKholiquzzaman Ahmad, Chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, a publicsector apex development body, told IPS in October last year that women’s contributions come from their participation both in formal and informal sectors, and even those, who work outside home in formal or informal sectors, also take care of household chores. “If women’s householdlevel activities and their works in informal sectors are economically evaluated and added to the national income, Bangladesh may already be a middle-income country,” he added.
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7 Things to Know About the Mindset of the Neo-Nazis By Kali Holloway
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he neo-Nazis with whom Donald Trump openly sympathizes fit a psychological profile for the most part, according to two psychologists who just released a survey on the subject. Patrick Forscher and NourKteily, researchers from the University of Arkansas and Northwestern University respectively, compiled their findings into a working paper titled “A Psychological Profile of the Alt-Right.” To arrive at their conclusions, they polled 447 neo-Nazis who self-identify as members of the “altright,” and compared their answers with 382 non-group affiliated survey subjects. Writing at Vox, Brian Resnick highlights Forscher and Kteily’s most salient conclusions. The two researchers found that much of what seems obvious about the neoNazis of the alt-right— their racist outlook, their dehumanization of others— holds true when members are questioned about their beliefs. Especially because the respondents were so forthcoming, as Resnick notes. The era of the loud and proud white racist is upon us, from Charlottesville to the White House. Forscher and Kteily also found a slight schism among the self-identified alt-right respondents, with some skewing more extremist than others. They labeled the less extreme altright members “populists,” while more extreme members were clustered into a subgroup they called “supremacists.” They note that the difference might be a matter of indoctrination level. “It is possible, for example, that the clusters represent two stages in a developmental trajectory of alt-right identification, with people starting in the populist cluster and then moving into the supremacist cluster as they acquire more altright friends—a possibility consistent with our finding that those in the supremacist cluster were relatively ideologically embedded among fellow alt-righters. Becoming more embedded within altright social networks may further motivate people to express prejudice, both for value-based and normative reasons, causing more dehumanization and aggression.”
Forscher and Kteily hope that examining the thinking of alt-righties may contribute to changing their beliefs. “If we can change the motivation to express prejudice,” they suggested to Resnick, “maybe that gives us a way to prevent aggression.” Here are seven things to know about the mindset of the alt-right. 1. They’re not lone wolves. Every time some white guy gets into major trouble, especially if it involves violence against others, someone brings up how quiet he was, what an unassuming loner he seemed to be. We’ve seen this a bunch of times before, from Dylann Roof to Adam Lanza, and now in the case of James Alex Field Jr., who viciously killed Heather Heyer with his car on Saturday. The New York Times cited sources who alternately described Field as a “very quiet little boy” who “had some trouble in school making friends” and “kept to himself a lot.” No one describes him as “no angel”—that kind of talk is reserved for unarmed black kids who are killed by cops—but it should be implied by the crime. In any case, this inherently sympathetic idea doesn’t hold up here. The researchers write that “compared to the non-altright sample, the alt-right reported relatively similar levels of closeness...to their friends.” Sure, that doesn’t discount the idea that maybe some of these guys are archetypal loners who found community in the altright. But that never seems to engender much sympathy for gang members when they commit crimes, so not sure there’s much difference here. 2. It’s not the economy, stupid. Producing articles about the economic anxiety that plagues Trump’s base has
become a virtual cottage industry at certain media outlets. (I see you, New York Times.) That’s a good way of ginning up sympathy for Trump’s most fervent supporters—including the alt-right—but a bad way of getting to the truth of what truly motivates them. The short answer to that question is, racism and bigotry. Forscher and Kteily had alt-right respondents “assess each of their personal economic” situations and “rate whether they expected their personal and the national economic situations to get worse or improve.” Not only did respondents not report any uniquely high worries about the economy, researchers write that “the alt-right expected more improvement in the state of the economy relative to the non-alt-right sample.” 3. They think other groups are less human. Unsurprisingly, alt-right adherents saw other racial and religious groups as less human and evolved than white people, who were rated, of course, as the most fully human of all. Using a scale of 1 to 100, respondents rated white people’s humanity at 91.8, Jews at 73.09, Mexicans at 67.75, black people at 64.72, Arabs at 58.77, and Muslims at 55.4. The respondents scored men’s humanness at 88.47 and women’s at 83.12, while feminists’ humanity ranked far below at 57.22. Weirdly, at the very bottom of the list was Hillary Clinton, whose humanity they placed at 54.83. Dehumanization is at the heart of every campaign of genocide and system of oppression. Dehumanization yields a justice system that criminalizes, over-polices and over-incarcerates entire groups, which is horrifying enough. When you continue the trend of describing people as not fully human, it becomes a lot easier to put
them in gas chambers and internment camps; render them as chattel property; or kill off the native people of countries you've colonized.
the alt-right. Those who researchers identified as supremacists were most likely to admit having perpetrated those acts.
4. They’re pretty open about their anti-black racism. Vox notes that altrighties co-signed statements including “I avoid interactions with black people,” “My beliefs motivate me to express negative feelings about black people,” and, “I minimize my contact with black people.” The outlet goes on to note: Forscher explains it like this. When he runs these questions on samples of college students, he usually sees average scores around 2 (out of 9, meaning people largely don’t agree with these questions). “In the alt-right samples, I’m seeing numbers around 3 or 4, relatively close to the midpoint. In all the samples I’ve worked with, I haven’t seen means at that level.” In other words, members of the alt-right are unabashed in declaring their prejudices. Why would you worry about expressing your prejudices when they're shared with people like the president? No wonder they’ve taken off the sheets and masks.
7. They believe in collective action for whites, and no one else. An actual majority of white Americans believes anti-black racism is over, and a significant number believe whites experience more racism than blacks. So it’s not that surprising that members of the overwhelmingly white alt-right think like most of their white American counterparts. Guess that makes that thinking not so “fringe,” huh? These are the beliefs, by and large, of many white Americans. Where alt-righties scored higher than other people is in their support for “collective action on behalf of white people.” In large part, they agreed with the statement, “I think there are good reasons to have organizations that look out for the interests of whites.” There’s a circularity here that seems self-evident: if you see yourself as a victim of some imaginary multicultural takeover and think groups that are focused on white power—like the alt-right or the Trump coalition— are doing the right thing, you’re likely to join those groups. The more indoctrinated you are as a member of those groups, the more likely you are to believe in their necessity, however much observable reality and peer-reviewed studies prove that thinking wrong. For the record, despite the alt-right’s insistence that everyone should be proud and fight for their own rights, alt-right members were less keen on the idea in practice. They were particularly likely to register opposition to Black Lives Matter, and to agree with the statement, “I think [BLM] has been very harmful to our country.” (BLM has been bad for the U.S., by this logic, but the Klan hasn’t. Absolutely stunning how these people will twist rational thought to fit an agenda.) It’s worth noting that both the altright populists and white supremacists gave high levels of support to these ideas. (This article was made possible by the readers of Alternet. It first appeared here) —Source: The Citizen.
5. They score highly in 'dark triad' traits. The alt-right grew out of trollism, a culture that festered and grew in the bowels of 4chan and Reddit. Studies of trolls have found they score highly in “dark triad” personality traits, a trio that includes narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Turns out that the apple doesn’t far fall from the rotting tree. Alt-right adherents have higher than normal levels of these traits. Forscher and Kteily emphasize that these personality traits are “associated with callous, manipulative behavior.” 6. They are unashamedly aggressive. Researchers looked into “the self-reported frequency of online and offline namecalling, physical threats, harassment, and making statements because others find them offensive” as well as doxxing “and sharing memes intended to offend others.” Altright respondents were much more likely to report engaging in those behaviors than non-members of
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FINANCE
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How to Organize Insurance Covers – Part I BY Balki Balakrishnan
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n the last few articles we explored the various types of personal risk insurances one should consider having such as Life, Disability, Trauma and Income Protection. In this article we will explain the types of cover you can organize within your super environment. The next article will describe the types of covers you can organize outside the super environment. The types of covers an insurer can offer within your super environment are limited in scope and features by the superannuation law. You can organize Life & Terminal Illness, Total & Permanent Disability (TPD ‘any occupation’) and Income Protection covers within your super environment. There are a couple of advantages in doing so. Firstly, the premiums required can be paid to superannuation using beforetax dollars via concessional contributions (salary sacrifice), effectively providing a tax saving on the premiums. Secondly, as the premiums are paid from your superannuation account they will not be a burden on your personal cash flow. However, you should be mindful that the super balance asset supporting your retirement will be depleted by the premiums paid and therefore you will have less in the way of super assets to support you in your retirement. In the event of your death or disability, benefits payable under the policy held within superannuation is paid to the Trustee of your super fund. The Trustee must then distribute the benefits to either your legal personal representative or one or more of your dependants (as defined under superannuation law). These distributions may raise certain taxation issues depending on to whom the money is distributed. You would need proper Estate
Planning and Financial advice to manage the distribution of the benefitseffectively. With respect to TPD and Income Protection, in general the Trustee of the superannuation fund will release these benefits in accordance with the Trust Deed and superannuation law. It may so happen that the Trustee may be unable to release this money to you because you do not meet the conditions of the Trust Deed and/ or the superannuation law even though the insurer has paid on your claim. In regards to Income
Protection, the cover organized within the super environment may have only limited features. This may or may not suit your purpose and could result in less than an optimal financial outcome on a claim. In the majority of the cases of working Australians, the Life & Disability covers are organized within the super environment by default by the fund when a person joins the fund. These are automatic covers and normally are not underwritten by the insurer taking in to account each individual’s health conditions at
that time. This approach could lead to unpleasant surprises at the time when you make a claim. The cover amounts are also set arbitrarily based on insurer’s criteria which may not suit your specific situation, goals and objectives. The covers may also be not indexed to increase automatically to keep up with inflation such that the cover amountsbecome irrelevant over time. You should also be mindful of how these covers are organized. If the covers were customized to your current employer you may receive certain amount of discount on the premiums negotiated by your employer with the insurer. However, once you leave your employer it may not be possible to continue with these covers or you may lose the discounts you were getting before. There also could be changes to the features of these covers once you leave your current employer. Especially with Income Protection covers the change could be such that you have to be employed at the time you make a claim. The Income Protection cover organized outside the super environment may not have this restriction. Thus far, we saw the types of covers you can organize within your super environment and also the benefits of such an arrangement. The article also touched upon a few of the things you should be aware of when organizing insurance through super. Any insurance arrangement should be ‘fit for purpose’, that is, it should have the features to suit your purpose for taking out insurance and ‘fit for use’, that is, it should produce the expected financial outcome when you make a claim on your insurance policy. It will be worth your while to consult a Financial Advisor who can assist you in identifying your needs, recommend the most appropriate way of organizing insurance and suggest suitable products such that the financial outcomes on a claim protect you and your loved ones.
Opes Financial Solutions Pty Ltd trading as Opes Financial Planning ACN618 122 795 is an Authorised Representative of Merit Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 409361. Balki Balakrishnan
Director | Financial Advisor Authorised Representative Number: 409415 Merit Wealth Pty Ltd. AFSL No: 409361 M: 0419 506 560
This article contains information that is general in nature. It does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. You need to consider your financial situation and needs before making any decisions based on this information. Please contact us at 0419 506 560if you want more information or need to review your insurance covers.
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SUNDAY Language Programs Hindi..................................9 am to 10 am – 93.1 FM BANGLA Urdu................................10 am to 11 am – 93.1 FM Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Tamil...............................11 am to 12 pm – 93.1 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio 2 Hindi.................................8 pm to 10 pm – 88.3 FM Monday & Saturday Singhalese.......................8 pm to 11 pm –97.7 FM 6-7 PM GUJARATI MONDA Y Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Hindi....................................3 to 4 pm – 93.1 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBSPm Radio Bengali...............................4 pm to 5 pm – 93.1 FM Wednesday & Friday 4-5 PM Hindi...................................6 pm to 8 pm – 88.3 FM Indian (Fiji)..................................6 pm to 8 pm 88.3 HINDI Punjabi........................1 1 am to 12 Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 noon 92.3 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio 2
Daily TUESDAY 5 PM Hindi..................................... 6 am to 8 am – 97.7 FM Hindi.................................... 2 pm to 4 pm – 97.7 FM kannada Sydney SBS Radio 3
Melbourne SBS Radio 3 WEDNESDAY Tuesday 3-4 PM Hindi.................................... .6 am to 8 am – 97.7 FM Hindi......................................... 12 to 1 pm – 93.1 FM Nepali Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS1Radio 2 12 pm - 92.3 FM Punjabi............................ 1 am to Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio Hindi................................... .8 pm to 92pm – 97.7 FM Saturday & Sunday 4-5 PM
THURSDAY PUNJABI Hindi............................... 5.30 am to 7 am – 97.7 FM Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 9 pm – 92.3 FM Tamil.................................... 8 pm to Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio 2 Sinhalese.......................... Monday & Saturday 1 1 pm to 3 am –92.3 FM Punjabi............................. 9 pm to 10 pm – 93.1 FM 9-10 PM SINHALESE FRIDAY Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Indian.................................. .8 am to 92am – 88.3 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri
11AM-12 PM SATURDAY Sinhalese............................ 7 am to 8 am – 92.3 FM TAMIL TSydney amil..................................... 12-12.30 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 pm – 88.3 FM Indian.................................... 5 am to 62am - 92.3 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio Sun, Mon, Wed, Sat Punjabi.......................................... 12-2 am – 92.3 FM 8-9 PM Indian................................ 9 pm to 10 pm – 92.3 FM Punjabi.................................................. 11 pm to 1 am urdu Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio24/7 2 Radio stations Melbourne FM & SBS Radio (Subscription) 2 Indian Link93.1 Radio Wednesday & Sunday 18000 15 8 47 6-7 PM Radio Santa Banta (Internet) Santabanta.com.au WORLD NEWS AUSTRALIA RADIO SydneyJhankar 1107AM88.6 & SBSFM; Radio 1 Thursday; 8 to Radio Every Melbourne 1224AM & SBS Radio 1 10 pm; Contact: 94668900 or 0411247320 or Monday & Friday 9404 2111 6-7 am & 6-7 PM
South Asian websiteS India TEHELKA – www.tehelka.com OUTLOOK – www.outlookindia.com FRONTLINE- www.flonnet.com THE HINDU: www.hinduonnet.com TIMES OF INDIA: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com HINDUSTAN TIMES: www.hindustantimes.com Pakistan DAWN: www.dawn.com THE FRIDAY TIMES: www.thefridaytimes.com THE NEWS INTERENATIONAL: www.thenews.com.pk Sri Lanka DAILY MIRROR: www.dailymirror.lk DAILY NEWS: www.dailynews.lk THE ISLAND: www.island.lk Nepal THE HIMALAYAN TIMES: www.thehimalayantimes.com KANTIPUR NATIONAL DAILY:
PLACES OF WORSHIP HINDU Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple 57 Boundary Rd, Carrum Downs, Melbourne, Vic 3201, Ph: 03 9782 0878; Fax: 03 9782 0001 Website: www.hsvshivavishnu.org.au Sri Vakratunda Vinayaka Temple 1292 - 1294, The Mountain Highway, The Basin, Vic 3154, Ph: 03 9792 1835 Melbourne Murugan Temple 17-19 Knight Ave., Sunshine VIC 3020 Ph: 03 9310 9026 Durga Temple (Durga Bhajan Mandali) Neales Road, Rockbank, Vic 3335 Ph: 03 9747 1628 or Mobile: 0401 333 738 Hare Krishna (ISKCON) Temple 197 Danks Street, Middle Park Vic 3206 Ph: (03) 9699 5122 Email: 100237.354@compuserve.com Hare Krishna New Nandagram Rural Community Oak Hill, Dean’s Marsh Rd., Bambra VIC 3241, Ph: (052) 887383 Fax: (052) 887309 Kundrathu Kumaran Temple 139 Gray Court, ROCKBANK Victoria 3335 Ph: 03-9747 1135 or M: 0450 979 023 http://www.kumarantemple.org.au/
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SHEPPARTON Gurdwara Sahib Shepparton 240 Doyles Road, Shepparton VICTORIA 3603 PH: (03) 5821 9309
JAIN Melbourne Shwetambar Jain Sangh Inc 3 Rice Street, Moorabbin, Vic - 3189, Australia. Phone: +61 3 9555 2439 info@melbournejainsangh.org http://www.melbournejainsangh.org
Melbourne West Mosque 66-68 Jeffcott Street, Melbourne Ph: 03 9328 2067
Indian Consulate Address: 344, St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia P.O. Box No: 33247 Domain LPO Vic 3004 Consular Enquiries: +61-3-9682 5800 (9.30am-12.30noon only) General Enquiries (other than Consular): +61-3- 9682 7836 Fax No:+ 61-3- 9696 8251 Email: consular@cgimelb.org Web site: www.cgimelb.org
Broadmeadows Mosque 45-55 King Street, Broadmeadows Ph 03 9359 0054 Islamic Call Society 19 Michael Street, Brunswick Ph: 03 9387 7100 Islamic Centre of Australia 660 Sydney Road, Brunswick Ph 03 9385 8423
Indian Consulate Consular services are handled by VFS Global Visa / Passport / PCC / IDLV / PIO / OCI services contact VFS +61 2 8223 9909. Address: Part 4 Suite, Level 12, 55 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Site : www.vfsglobal.com/india/australia/
Australian Islamic Cultural Centre 46-48 Mason Street, Campbellfield Ph: 03 9309 7605 Coburg ISNA Mosque 995 Sydney Road, Coburg North
Services handled by Indian Consulate Melbourne itself: OCI Misc. services, Registration of Birth, Birth Certificate, Renunciation of Indian Citizenship, Surrender of Indian Passport, New Passport Details on PIO, Transfer of Valid Visas, Marriage Certificate, Affidavit for Applying Child’s Passport in India, Documents Attestation.)
Coburg Mosque (Fatih Mosque) 31 Nicholson Street, Coburg Ph 03 9386 5324 Deer Park Mosque 283 Station Road, Deer Park Ph 03 9310 8811 United Migrant Muslim Assn. 72 George Road, Doncaster Ph 03 9842 6491, Footscray West Mosque 294 Essex Street, Footscray
SIKH
Heidelberg Mosque Corner Lloyd & Elloits Streets, West Heidelberg
CRAIGIEBURN Sri Guru Singh Sabha 344 Hume Highway, Craigieburn VICTORIA 3164 (see map), Ph: (03) 9305 6511 KEYSBOROUGH Gurdwara Sri Guru Granth Sahib 198 -206 Perry Road, Keysborough VICTORIA 3073 (see map) LYNBROOK Nanaksar Taath, 430 Evans Road, Lynbrook VICTORIA 3975, (03) 9799 1081 HOPPERS CROSSING Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha 417 Sayers Road, Hoppers Crossing VICTORIA 3029, Ph: (03) 9749 2639 WERRIBEE Gurdwara Sahib Werribee 560 Davis Road, Tarneit VICTORIA 3029 PH: (03) 8015 4707
Gas escape........................................... 132 771 Poisons information........................ 13 11 26 Maternal and Child Line................ 13 22 29 Parentline........................................... 13 22 89 Kids Help Line......................... 1800 551 800 Lifeline (provides confidential telephone counselling)................. 13 11 14 Suicide Help Line.................... 1300 651 251 Animal Emergencies.................. 9224 2222
INDIAN CONSULATE
MUSLIM
Sankat Mochan Temple 1289 A North Road. Huntingdale Morning: 10.30 am – 12.30 pm daily Evening: 4:30 pm – 8.00 pm daily Site: http: www.sankatmochan.org.au Contact: 0427 274 462
BLACKBURN Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha 127 Whitehorse Road, Blackburn VICTORIA 3130, Ph: (03) 9894 1800
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Glenroy Musala 1st Floor, 92 Wheatsheaf Road, Glenroy
Islamic College of Victoria (Mosque) 201 Sayers Road, Hoppers Crossing Ph 03 9369 6010 Huntingdale Mosque 320-324 Huntingdale Road, Huntingdale Ph 03 9543 8037
HIGH COMMISSION FOR PAKISTAN,CANBERRA
Al Nur Mosque 34-36 Studley Street, Maidstone Meadow Heights Mosque Hudson Circuit, Meadow Heights
4 Timbarra Crescent, O’Malley ACT 2606 (Australia), Tel: 61-2-62901676, 61-2-62901676, 62902769, 62901879 & 62901031, Fax: 61-262901073 Email: parepcanberra@internode. on.net, Postal Address: PO Box 684, Mawson ACT 2607 (Australia)
Springvale Mosque 68 Garnworthy Street, Springvale
EMERGENCY CONTACTS EMERGENCY CONTACTS Police, Fire & Abulance ........................ Victoria State Emergency Service (SES)....................................... Traffic hazards and freeway conditions..........................
Student Welfare Officer in the Indian Consulate Melbourne Consulate General of India, Melbourne Address: 344, St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC – 3000 Phone: 03-96826203 Fax: 03-96968251 Email: cgo@cgimelb.org Website: www.cgimelb.orgExternal website that opens in a new window Contact person for Students welfare: Mr. Nirmal K. Chawdhary Designation: Deputy Consul General Mobile: 0430020828
Sri Lanka Consulate 000
132 500 13 11 70
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Suite 536, No 1 Queens Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 Telephone: +61 3 9290 4200 Fax: +61 3 9867 4873 Email:mail@slcgmel.org Web: http://www.slcgmel.org
southSouth asia times 33 Asia Times
quick community guide
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VIEW POINT
South Asia Times
contd from previous page Bangladesh High Commission, Canberra 43, Culgoa Circuit, O’Malley, ACT-2606 Canberra, Australia, Ph: (61-2) 6290-0511, (61-2) 6290-0522, (61-2)6290-0533 (Auto hunting). Fax : (61-2) 6290-0544 E-Mail :hoc@bhcanberra.com
Consulate of Nepal, Melbourne Email: cyonzon@nepalconsulate.net.au Level 7, 28-32 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Ph: (03) 9650 8338 Email: info@nepalconsulate.net.au
TV GUIDE SBS1 – Daily NDTV News - 11:05 am - Monday to Saturday. (From New Delhi, India). Urdu news SBS1 - PTV News – 9.30 am - Every Sunday – (From Pakistan).
SOUTH ASIAN Garments Roshan’s Fashions 68-71 Foster Street, Dandenong, Vic 3175 Ph: (03) 9792 5688
Travel Agents Gaura Travels 1300 FLY INDIA or 1300 359 463 info@gauratravel.com.au Travel House 284 Clayton Road, Clayton 3168 Ph: (03) 95435123, Mobile: 0425803071 mail@travelhouse.com.au
lAWYERS
MLG Lawyers Ronny Randhawa 144 Sydney Road, Coburg Vic Ph 9386 0204 & 138 Walker Street, Dandenong Vic Ph: 9793 9917 Mobile : 0402 256 712 Vera Lawyers Kusum Vaghela Level 1, Suite 2, 373 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong Vic, Mobile: 0433 827 124
Jewellery Bhadra Laxman Jewellers 22ct Gold Jewellery / Silver Pooja (03) 9846 7661
Raj Rani Creations 83-A Foster Street, Dandenong, Vic 3175 Ph: (03) 9794 9398 desi estyle 76 Foster St., Dandenong 3175 (03) 87744853; 0413707685 Heritage India 54-56 Foster Street, Dandenong, Vic 3175, Ph: (03) 9791 9227 Site: heritageindia.net.au
DVDs, Music CDs & Film Stuff Baba Home Entertainment 52C Foster St., Dandenong 3175, (03) 97067252
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South Asia Times south asia the world 34 South Asia Timestimes
Business
A U G U S T
Social Media Marketing with Video video alone is not enough. Marketing video content itself has been a challenge, but thankfully, social media does come to the rescue. So, how can you use social media to get your video content out to your target market? Let’s look at five ways we can do this.
BY SHRIRAM IYER
V
ideo content is one of the most powerful forms of content for a business, small or otherwise. High quality video content is a great way to market one’s products / services but a good
Facebook Ads Facebook allows you to tailor your ad campaigns to certain objectives and one of the objectives is ‘video views’. When a business combines a clever sales funnel and a retargeting method, video can drive revenues through the roof. Make content that can be delivered in small bite-sized portions and deliver it as a series. Re-target those who
have previously engaged with your videos.
Twitter Ads When all you have are 140 characters, video content is a perfect way to work around that constraint. Like Facebook, Twitter also allows you to run ad campaigns that aim to increase video views. Unlike Facebook, you can even pay per video view. Get onto Twitter, if you haven’t already. YouTube When you upload videos to YouTube, makes sure you go hard in that first week. YouTube likes to back winners and they reward early traction. Make sure you use closed captions and
other features like ‘featured content’ which works very well for a series of videos (highly recommended). You must also customise your URL and get as many subscribers as you can. Handy tip with subscribers, annotate it onto your videos! Monetisation is another option, but it is not for everybody.
Instagram Instagram is the undisputed King of Engagement. While, you can only upload videos for a maximum of 60 seconds, use that constraint like people have used the Twitter constraint and deliver a series of little videos that help engage your potential customers to the point
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where they have no choice but to hand over their money to you! Snapchat If you have a target audience typically under 34, then you must use Snapchat. It really is here to stay. Approximately, there is more than four billion video views on Snapchat, every single day! Get on to it and make some money! What Next? If you are serious about marketing your video content then clearly articulate your target market and use the social media platform that best suits your audience. If you have questions, call me on +61 424 287 904.
book review
‘My book on Baba Ramdev is nothing but wellresearched journalism: Ashlinmethew
P
riyanka PathakNarain’s Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdevfocuses on all parts of his life backed by 52 interviews, over 180 public documents, eight RTIs and over a 100 ROC documents One would imagine that a man who practises and sells yoga and meditation for a living would be a much more secure and calmer person, one who wouldn’t give into these notions of selfimportance , unlike us mere mortals. Alas, many don’t practice what they preach. And Baba Ramdev is one such meditative soul. Baba Ramdev went to the Karkardooma district court in Delhi and obtained an injunction on ex parte basis, which means neither the publisher nor the author were asked for their version on the book about his life written by Priyanka Pathak-Narain and published by Juggernaut Books. Juggernaut cannot sell or publish Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev unless the injunction is overturned. Round one does seem to have been won by Ramdev, but the publisher and the author are sure they will be able to turn the order. Round two is when game,
set and match will happen. “Wherever possible, I have tried to back up my 52 interviews with over 180 public documents, 8 RTIs, over a 100 ROC documents and several government documents,” says PathakNarain, who used to be a business-of-religion reporter at Mint and is now an independent journalist. “I believe the book
highlights his achievements as well and I’ve been very admiring of his contribution not only to Yoga and Ayurveda, but also in using Ayurveda to transform the FMCG market in India. No one can take that legacy away from him,” stresses Pathak-Narain, “I can only restate my motive - which was to put together honest, objective, dispassionate
and thoroughly researched journalism. My work has neither political nor religious affiliations with anyone at all. It is exactly what it appears to be. ”Neither the publisher nor the author expected an injunction. And she refuses to speculate on what could have brought about the action. But, as any reportage would have both sides, her book also has stories from his farm days, death of his guru and his unmasking at the Ramlila grounds. Was it difficult to find people to speak about Ramdev? “Some sources were easy to find, others took months to identify and track down. Nearly everyone asked me: ‘Are you writing for him or against him?’ No one seemed to believe me when I replied, ‘I have no angle. I just want to hear the story as you remember it’,” said Pathak-Narain. “They all talked and connected me to someone else who wanted to talk. It felt as if they had been waiting for someone to knock at their door and ask them their story. It need not have been me. It could have been anyone. They were, all of them, ready to share their memories of their time with Baba Ramdev and his growing empire. I
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spoke to over 52 people who witnessed his rise at close quarters or were those who knew some details about it,” added Pathak-Narain. Being a journalist only helped the author who interviewed Ramdev, Balakrishnan, Gulabo Devi, Ramdev’s mother, AacharyaKaramveer, who was Ramdev’s early mentor, Kirat Mehta, former MD of Aastha India and SK Patra, the ex-CEO of Patanjali as part of her research to finish the book. Initially, however, PathakNarain had carried around an idea of a book about some of India’s top godmen and their enterprises. “When I pitched the idea, my publisher Chiki Sarkar came back in April 2016 with the idea of doing a book exclusively focused on Baba Ramdev and Patanjali. This book was important because Baba Ramdev has changed the landscape of the FMCG market in India. Yet, despite high visibility, there isn't enough known about a person who has dominated our public square for over a decade and half. Without context, I felt it would be impossible to truly appreciate the rise of Baba Ramdev,” added Pathak-Narain. —Source: NH, 12 August.
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digital zone
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southSouth asia times 35 Asia Times
Digitizing Family Planning: The Way of the Future
By Stella Paul
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ONDON, Jul 17 2017 (IPS) - Online shopping may have its pros and cons, but when it comes to buying products that have an invisible morality tag, it’s the safest possible option, believes Franklin Paul. One of India’s most vocal advocates for youth rights to sexual health, education and products, Paul has spent over two years studying and introducing digital technologies to India’s rural youths. “One day soon, nobody will have to walk into a store to buy condoms, face the nosey chemist and feel embarrassed. They will just order it from their mobile phone or tablet or laptop and and get it delivered on their doorstep,” he says . Talking to IPS on the sidelines of the London Family Planning Summit held last week, Paul shared his personal experiences of talking to youths in the East Champaran district of Bihar, one of India’s most underdeveloped states. The government has just introduced sex education in the state’s schools, but for young men and women, it is difficult to get the correct information on reproductive health. To help them, Paul and his fellow youths launched a cellphone application called M Sathi. Available now on Google Play, the app provides information in a fun and interactive way where users can learn about sex and related issues through games and quizzes. Digitizing SRHR In India, the government is currently running a special campaign on expanding digital connectivity and providing quality e-Governance. Named “Digital India”, the campaign envisions transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The campaign aligns well with the government’s plan to advance and improve sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the country, says Chandra Kumar Mishra, India’s secretary of health. “We are digitising our communication all along our supply chain,” he said, right after announcing that India would spend an additional one billion dollars in the
Digitizing SRHR communication: some of the popular mobile phone apps currently used in India by the government and an NGO. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
next five years to provide better reproductive health care to its population. With the new announcement, India’s commitment now stands at an impressive sum of three billion dollars. There are 100 million women in India who use contraceptives, according to government data. But not every one receives what she needs. This causes not just an imbalance in the demand and supply system, but also becomes a hurdle in achieving the overall SRHR goal of the government: providing contraceptives to an additional 48 million women and also reduce and eradicate diseases and deaths. Digital tools can help bridge the gap between the demand and the supply, says Mishra. Citing the example of E-mitra, a mobile phone based communication service launched by the government, Mishra says that the rapid expansion of digital network in India is sparking greater use of internet phones, especially in the urban and semiurban belt. Health service providers should leverage this opportunity to reach out more people and provide them with credible information through mobile phones and internet tools, he feels. Cellphones for Better Information Mishra’s words resonate
with KamlaMukhi, a 24-year-old young tribal woman community health campaigner in Daltongunj, a coal mining district in east India’s Jharkhand state. In Daltongunj, tribal women have to travel 2025 kilometers to reach the nearest health center for their need – whether it is for information or a product. A year ago, Mukhi visited one such health center. “An elderly woman health worker secretly slipped a box of condoms into a young woman’s hand. Later, the woman asked me, ‘Didi, how do I eat this? This is rubber.‘ I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The woman had earlier received cereals and birth control pills here, so she thought this new product was also for swallowing,“Mukhi recalls. With mobile phones, such situations would not occur because women can receive the information directly, without any added confusion, Mukhisays.“The health workers themselves feel embarrassed to talk of sex and contraceptives, but if that information is available on the mobile screen, nobody will have to be embarrassed.” The digitized information system can also be a big boon for women and young people who live in conflict areas, says Mukhi, whose own village falls in an area partially controlled by Naxals, an ultra-communist rebel outfit fighting against the government.
“Women walk long miles to a health center. Then they find out it’s been closed because there was a security threat or an attack. If such information is shared on a mobile phone, they need not undergo such unnecessary hassles,“ says the young health activist. Investing in Data But while it’s rather easy to share and give away information, collecting accurate statistics about how that knowledge is put to use remains a huge challenge. “Credible data is a very crucial area,” says Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who in 2016 had announced an 80-million-dollar fund for research and collection of reliable gender specific data. Such data, feels Gates, is vital to identify the economic and social issues affecting women and fulfill the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially goals 3 and 5. “When a woman health center worker uses and shares data with the women in her community, she knows its valuable because its credible,“ Gates says. Mishra agrees: “One of the technologies that we are using is Supply Chain Management, a software that will track the purchases and supply of all the reproductive healthcare commodities. We also have a current database on levels of contraceptive use which we are now going to digitize. Soon
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we will have an enormous volume of data and most of it we will make available to the public,” he says. Currently, the government is partnering with the Gates Foundation in developing Kilkari, a mobile application that will provide customized information to new mothers, including notifying them on next vaccination dates. The government also has two other mobile apps – Emitra and Anmol – that are used to give free information on family planning. Youth-Friendly Technologies None of the government’s technologies are specifically targeting youths, Mishra admits, but says that his department is planning to address it soon. Franklin Paul says that to encourage youths to use the technologies, they need to be ‘youth-friendly.‘ “The government apps are very text-heavy. But young people love something that is interactive and visually appealing and stimulating. This is why we are about to add videos to our Msathi apps. Just as we need to give them a basket of contraceptive products to choose from, we also need to give them a basket of technologies to pick. So, instead of just text messages, we should offer a bouquet of ecommerce, multimedia and social media that will help expand SRHR services among youths,“ says Paul.
south asia 36 South Asia Timestimes
IFFM-2017
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IFFM-2017 spices up Melbourne’s multicultural ethos By SAT News Desk
M
elbourne: The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017 (IFFM-2017) this year was highly grand and glittering in its sixth year. With sixty movies in 20 languages it was a treat never before experienced. Top cinema actors, directors, producers, celebrities, veterans and celebrities graced the most liveable city in the world with their august presence. Cinema lovers from India, subcontinent and mainstream Australia were mesmerised with offbeat movies and pieces of mainstream Indian cinema. Indian cinema’s top cream who were for the festival included Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karan Johar, Konkon Sen Sharma, Nitish Tiwari, Rahul Bose, Rajkumar Rao, Satish Kayshik, ShobuYarlagadda, Simi Garewal, ShoojitSircar, Sushant Singh Rajput, Tannishtha Chatterjee, TaranAdarsh, Rajeev
Masand, Malaika Arora, AlankritaShrivastava and many more. The Awards night was preceded by the tricolour hoisting by Aishwarya and the Telstra Bollywood Dance Competition. No doubt, the festival’s unprecedented success apart from the people also goes to the Mind Blowing Films, MituBhowmick& her team, volunteers and supporters who relentlessly worked hard. The sponsors Film Victoria, Westpac, Telstra, Hoyts, Singapora Airlines, BMW, La Trobe University, City of Melbourne, Western Union, Greater Dandenong, Fed Square, Around The World Consultency, Radio Melbourne, S&JMedi Group, RRR, FILMINK, SAT (South Asia Times) G’Day India and Radio HAANJI Melbourne need to be commended for their support. The festival is now a Melbourne icon and will remain so for many years to come! All photos courtesy – Mind Blowing Films, Melbourne.
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IFFM-2017
southSouth asia times 37 Asia Times
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south asia 38 South Asia Timestimes
SPECIAL ARTICLE
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Population aging: Hallmark of the 21st century By Joseph Chamie
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EW YORK, Aug 15 2017 (IPS) - While rapid population growth may be the defining feature of the 20th century, with world population nearly quadrupling from 1.6 to 6.1 billion, the hallmark of the 21st century is likely to be population aging.
The consequences of the population aging are reverberating across the globe. The evolving transitions to older populations are challenging the existing world order and impacting virtually every aspect of society, including economic activity, investments, politics, taxation, education, housing, household/family structure, retirement and healthcare services. Throughout much of human history population age structures were comparatively young. In the past century, for example, the percent elderly, those aged 65 years and older, averaged around five percent. In striking contrast, the proportion elderly will more than triple during the 21st century, reaching close to one-quarter of the world’s population (Figure 1). Although substantial differences in national age structures are evident
today, countries are heading to the same irreversible destination: significantly older populations. For example, the G20 countries, which together represent more than 60 percent of world population, are well along in the process of momentous aging transformations of the 21st century. Nearly all the G20
countries are expected to have no less than onequarter of their populations aged 65 years and older by 2100. And eight of those countries, including China, Germany, Italy and Japan, are projected to have one-third or more of their population elderly by the close of the century (Figure 2). As women make up the majority of the elderly in nearly all countries, population aging will affect women more than men. For example, in countries such as Japan, Portugal, Singapore and South Korea, the proportion of the female population aged 65 years and older is expected to reach 40 percent during the 21st century. Given that women typically survive their partners, many elderly women will need care and assistance, especially the growing numbers living alone. Another clear indicator
of the unprecedented population aging underway worldwide is the Historic Reversal, or the demographic turning point when children (0 to 14 years) in a population become fewer than its elderly (65 years and older). The Historic Reversal first occurred in 1995 in Italy. Today some 30 countries have experienced the Historic Reversal, including Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom. In 2075, and for the first time in human history, the world’s population will go through the Historic Reversal with the elderly increasingly outnumbering children (Figure 3). Lower mortality rates and living longer increase the numbers of elderly. But the primary driver of population aging is fertility. Low fertility results in age structures having relatively fewer children, a growing concern of many governments, and comparatively more elderly. In addition, the faster the decline from high to low fertility levels, such as has taken place in China, the more rapid the transition to older population age structures. Fertility rates below the replacement level of about two births per woman also mean declining populations for many countries, especially those with limited immigration. Today more than 80 countries, accounting for nearly half of the world’s population, have fertility levels below replacement, including China, United States, Brazil, Russia, Japan, Viet Nam, Germany, Iran, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The combination of declining birth rates,
increased longevity and growing proportions of elderly are raising serious economic questions and fiscal concerns within many countries. In particular, population aging is resulting in growing financial stresses on government-sponsored retirement, pension and healthcare programs that are challenging the sustainability of those programs.
When Germany’s Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1889 and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 established their respective pay-as-you-go retirement programs, their countries had in excess of ten people in the working ages per elderly person. Today those ratios have declined to less than a handful of people in the working ages per older person. In short, fewer workers are supporting more retirees. In addition to rising oldage dependency, declines in the proportions of young workers are believed to have negative consequences on innovation. Recent studies report that aging populations lead to declines in innovation activity. When combined with aging’s impact on savings and investment, declines in innovation have serious implications for the growth of GDP.
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Governments with extensive social programs for the elderly, such as income support, healthcare services and social benefits, are experiencing escalating costs as the numbers of elderly grow rapidly and the duration of support lengthens. Loathe to raising taxes, governmental attempts to address the escalating costs of those programs have by and large focused on adjustments in retirement ages, benefits, contribution rates and savings plans. Those adjustments alone, however, are likely to be insufficient to cover the rising costs. Shortfalls in many programs for the elderly will need to be financed by general tax revenue. This in turn may negatively impact economic growth and overall societal wellbeing if governments divert their current spending from education, infrastructure investments and social welfare to programs for the elderly. As consumption varies over the human life cycle, population aging is also bringing about noteworthy changes in the demand for goods and services. The prevalence and overall costs for health services and care giving, for example, can be expected to increase as populations become older. Housing and household structures are also being affected by population aging. In the past and continuing in some developing countries, elderly persons generally lived with adult children and grandchildren. With rising levels of urbanization, increasingly neither the elderly nor their adult children are choosing to live together, but prefer separate households with proximity. Population aging is certainly a significant human achievement, the result of smaller family sizes, lower mortality rates and increased longevity. However, this notable achievement comes with both challenges and opportunities for governments, businesses, organizations and private citizens. Those able to recognize and adjust to the 21st century’s demographic transformation are far more likely to benefit and prosper than those who ignore or dismiss the momentous consequences of population aging.
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southSouth asia times 39 Asia Times
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south asia 40 South Asia Timestimes
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