"After India summoned a senior US diplomat to lodge a protest over remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Washington...stressed that it encourages fair, transparent, timely legal processes and 'we don't think anyone should object to that'." ET. Earlier, "India lodged a strong protest...regarding the German envoy's comments on the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor policy case. The ministry of external affairs stated that the German envoy's remarks constituted a 'clear interference in India's internal affairs." ET. Delhi's elected chief minister has been arrested even though former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has been incarcerated in prison in the same case since 26 February 2023 without allegations against him being proven in court or any shred of evidence being produced to corroborate the allegations. Repeated applications for bail have been rejected by Delhi courts. India Today. But on what evidence? A short list of key opposition leaders, who could make a difference in the coming election, charged with unproven allegations has been compiled by Reuters. Since citizens are intimidated mute in a police state, foreign governments and media hint at their distaste. Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala labeled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "washing machine" because those opposition leaders who have joined the BJP have seen criminal charges against them being dropped. The Wire. Demonstrating the power of the BJP, "Rameshbhai Chhotubhai Patel, a BJP MLA from Jalalpore, Gujarat, candidly mentioned a '2 percent' commission within the BJP system." He warned government contractors not to give money to anyone else. "He clarified his stance on graft in BJP system, stating that any contributions beyond the stipulated 2% were unacceptable." TNIE. Honorable corruption, as it were. In February, the Supreme Court "scrapped a seven-year-old election funding system that allows individuals and companies to make unlimited and anonymous donations to political parties, calling it 'unconstitutional'." Reuters. These were called 'Electoral Bonds'. So, who bought them? "Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd bought electoral bonds worth Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million) - and every single one was redeemed by the BJP." The same company was building the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand which collapsed "trapping 41 laborers for 16 days, till they were pulled out by rat-miners." The Wire. Laborers rescued by rat-miners, company rescued by Electoral Bonds. P Saratha Reddy, who was arrested in the excise policy case. donated Rs 595 million to the BJP through Electoral Bonds. Initially he denied any link to Kejriwal but later turned approver for the government. Sisodia and Kejriwal have been imprisoned on his accusations. Reddy may have been washed clean. Very expensive 'Washing Machine'. Definitely not honorable.
India Dying.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Hurun List and hysterectomies.
"India's recent economic success, solid momentum, and promising prospects are making the country ever more influential both regionally and internationally. But the experience of other countries suggests that" "An action that makes sense domestically may conflict with what other countries expect from a systemically important economy. Meanwhile, actions that make sense internationally could complicate domestic economic progress," wrote Profs Mohamed A El-Erian & Michael Spence. "Improved capital formation in the economy, accompanied by various government measures, will generate more jobs opportunities in this decade than the previous one, chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said." ET. The previous decade, from 2014 till date, has been under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government since he won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019. wikipedia. If it has not happened in ten years, why should we believe it will happen now? While we get a promise of jam tomorrow (wikipedia), "Mumbai has swiftly emerged as Asia's billionaire hub, surpassing Beijing for the first time, according to Hurun Research's 2024 Global Rich List," with 92 billionaire's to Beijing's 91. ET. "The Modi years have been exceptionally generous to the affluent." Their billions came "not by putting innovative products and services in global markets, but by carving up domestic industries such as transportation, telecom, power and gas, metals, retail, media and new energy. The Modi government rewarded large businesses with tax cuts and awarded them prize monopoly assets like airports. The billionaires got juicy deals when buying bankrupt firms and lobbied - often successfully - for protectionist trade policies. At the same time, India's rules on foreign direct investment protected the national team from muscular global rivals." Mint. According to a paper "titled 'Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj," "inequality in India now is worse than during the British Raj and is at its highest level in history," with "1% of the population owning as much as 40.1% of wealth and accounting for 22.6% of income in 2022-23." DH. The Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) found that 112 million jobs have been created between 2017-18 and 2022-23, but 37% of these 112 million were unpaid family workers (also known as self-employed helpers in household enterprises), wrote Abhishek Jha. The sugar industry in India runs on female slave labor. "Young girls are pushed into illegal child marriages so they can work alongside their husbands cutting and gathering sugar cane. Instead of receiving wages, they work to pay off advances from their employers," so that "An extreme yet common consequence of this financial entrapment is hysterectomies." "Hysterectomies keep them working, undistracted by doctor visits or the hardship of menstruating in a field with no access to running water, toilets or shelter." NYT. Hysterectomies have also to be paid for. Cut more cane.
Monday, March 25, 2024
It's not about Putin.
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Catch 22 of power.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Brothers in arms.
Friday, March 22, 2024
Beware of Americans bearing gifts.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
A panacea for all problems.
"Fertility rates in nearly all countries will be too low to sustain population levels by the end of the century, and most of the births will be occurring in poorer countries, according to a study." "Over three-quarters of live births will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries by the end of the century, with more than half taking place in sub-Saharan Africa." "The global fertility rates - the average number of births per woman - has fallen from around 5 children in 1950 to 2.2 in 2021, data show." Reuters. 2.2 is almost the replacement level of fertility. "Replacement level fertility is the level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next." In developed countries it is 2.1 per woman but in countries with high infant mortality rates it can be much higher. NIH. It is also a fact that total fertility rate (TFR) declines with rising levels of education in women. In India, "At the national level, TFR for women having educational status 'illiterate' in 2018 was 3. This is much higher than the literate group which has a TFR of 2.1" TOI. Except for just 4 states, Bihar, Meghalaya, Jharkhand and Uttar Pardesh (UP), all other states of India had a TFR well below 2 in 2024. findeasy.in. India's TFR will collapse to 1.29 in 2050, warned a study in Lancet. This may lead to challenges such as "an aging population, labor force shortages, and potential social imbalances due to gender preferences." TOI. Since April 2023, India is estimated to have surpassed China to become the most populous country in the world and is expected to keep growing for the next few decades. BBC. China's population declined for two years in a row to reach 1.409 billion at the end of 2023, a decrease of 2.08 million from 2022." BBC. "Many hospitals in China have stopped offering newborn delivery services this year," and "the number of maternity hospitals dropped to 793 in 2021 from 807 in 2020." Reuters. But, "In 2023 there were 7.68 million newlyweds in the country, 12.4% more than in the previous year, data shows." BBC. However, China is not unique. In South Korea, "A total of 193,657 couples got married last year, up 1.0% from 191,690 a year earlier and the first increase since 2011." Reuters. Even in the US, "in 2020, the marriage rate was down to 5.1 per 1,000 people," but "by 2022, the number of marriages had reached 6.2 per 1,000 and over 2 million in a year." Number of divorces fell to 2.4 per 1,000 in 2022. CNN. In India, although 86.8% of children in the age group 14-18 years are enrolled in educational institutions, 25% of them "cannot read a Class-2 level text fluently in their regional languages", according to the latest report by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). More than half of them struggle with simple division problems. DH. Fewer people will mean less demand for food, housing and natural resources. There will be no shortage of water as Bengaluru is experiencing at present (NDTV). As for an aging population, rapid advances in robotics and Artificial Intelligence may fill the demand for labor. And, fewer people will allow forests to regrow and stop, or even reverse, global warming as happened in the Americas when Europeans began to settle there (India Today). A TFR of 1.29 will be a panacea for all our problems. Those born in 2050 will be lucky.