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vignaniasacademy · 5 years

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Daily Current Affairs - News Analysis

Virus-hit Wuhan locked down

Trains and planes indefinitely suspended; travel curbs in neighbouring cities too.

-China on Thursday locked down some 20 million people at the epicentre of new coronavirus outbreak,banning planes and trains from leaving in an unprecedented move aimed at containing the disease. -It has claimed 17 lives and infected hundreds. About Coronavirus: Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Symptoms: Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. Transmission: Human coronaviruses most commonly spread from an infected person to others through: the air by coughing and sneezing.close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands.touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands.rarely, fecal contamination.

The condemned can’t fight endlessly, says CJI-

“It was important for capital punishment to reach its finality” In the context of Nirbhaya case death convicts. -Recently government made an application to Supreme court to set short deadlines for death row convicts to seek legal remedies. -It wanted the court to limit the time for filing curative petitions. -A mercy plea should be filed within a week of issuance of death warrant. -If mercy plea is rejected, death warrant should be issued within next 7 days and the execution carried out a week thereafter. India again rejects Trump offer on Kashmir issue- Hence ruled out any role for a “third party” in Kashmir issue, clarifies the MEA spokesperson. India slips 2 places on Corruption perception index 2019- Ranks 80th with a score of 41/100 among 180 countries (2018- 78th rank)(Denmark tops-Score-87). Below the global average of 43 mainly because of “unfair and opaque political financing ”,” undue influence in decision making”,”lobbying by powerful corporate interest groups. Released by Transparency International. No coercive action for missing AGR date-Telecom Department. AGR-Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) is the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). It is divided into spectrum usage charges and licensing fees, pegged between 3-5 percent and 8 percent respectively. How is it calculated and what’s the contention? As per DoT, the charges are calculated based on all revenues earned by a telco – including non-telecom related sources such as deposit interests and asset sales. Telcos, on their part, insist that AGR should comprise only the revenues generated from telecom services. What’s the issue now? In 2005, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) challenged the government’s definition for AGR calculation.Later in 2015, the TDSAT said AGR included all receipts except capital receipts and revenue from non-core sources such as rent, profit on the sale of fixed assets, dividend, interest and miscellaneous income, etc.The regulator has also included forex adjustment under AGR apart from ruling that licenses fee will not be charged twice on the same income. It, however, exempted bad debt, foreign exchange fluctuations, and sale of scrap to be calculated for AGR.The government has also raised the issue of under-reporting of revenues to duck charges. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) called out telcos for understating revenues to the tune of Rs 61,064.5 crore.The Supreme Court has upheld the definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) calculation as stipulated by the Department of Telecommunications. This means that telecom companies will have to pay up as much as Rs 92,642 crore to the government. ICJ orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya- -It ordered Myanmar to take immediate measures to protect them from genocide and report back within 4 months. -A lawsuit launched by Gambia in November at ICJ for disputes between states accuses Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya in violation of a 1948 Genocide convention. Rohingyas- The Rohingya people are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam with a minority following Hinduism and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar . More than 7,30,000 rohingyas fled Myanmar after a military-led crackdown in 2017. ICJ-The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial body of the UN. Established in 1946 to replace the Permanent Court of International Justice, the ICJ mainly operates under the statute of its predecessor, which is included in the UN Charter. It has two primary functions: to settle legal disputes submitted by States in accordance with established international laws, and to act as an advisory board on issues submitted to it by authorized international organizations. Nepal invites Modi , Imran for Sagarmatha dialogue.- Sagarmatha Sambaad/dialogue is a multi-stakeholder, permanent global dialogue forum initiated by the Government of Nepal. It is scheduled to be held biennially in Nepal. Rising CO2 levels may double floods,storms- Risk of extreme floods could double every 13 years, say scientists. Karnataka government notifies “Karnataka Prevention and eradication of inhuman evil practices and black magic act.” -Law bans made snana(rolling over on parttaken food of others), coercing to perform firewalk, causing physical injury, baibiga practice(piercing rods), pelting stoned in the name of banamati and matamantra on residential houses. Bharatanatyam Costumes- 3 types 1] Skirt costume - that resembles half sari. 2] Sari costume - that looks like kachche sari. 3] Pyjama costume – that has intricate and permanently pressed frills(widely used). Aharya - the abhinaya through costume, jewellery and make-up, enhances look and mood for the performance. A classical dance form that encompasses Bhav, Rag, Ras and Taal is ‘Bharatanatyam’. Bha: Bhava which means emotionsRa: Rag meaning musical notes.Ta: Taal meaning the Rhythm.Natyam: The Sanskrit word for Drama. (others classical dance forms- kathakali, mohiniyattam, sattriya odissi, Manipuri, Kathak, Kuchipudi ) Editorial analysis Needless impatience- -Nothing will be lost if death row convicts are allowed to exhaust all remedies. -Condemns the centre’s application in SC for additional guidelines regarding execution of condemned prisoners. -Present Guidelines laid down in Shatrughan Chauhan Case which are considered to be “accused-centric”. - 14 day time lag between the closure of clemency/mercy route their hanging is aimed at preventing secret executions. -To believe that these are matters that contribute to substantial delay is misconceived. -However there is no more than a few days delay. Budgeting for jobs, skilling and economic revival- -The budget needs to provide direction to India’s tottering economy and a boost to aggregate demand and investment. -Future of country’s youth depends on this budget. -Unemployment rate is at 45-year high at 6.1%(2017-18)(urban youth-22.5% for 15-29 aged). -Periodic labour force survey-LFPR come down to 46.5%.(37.5%-urban youth). -“Employment poverty” due to low wages. -Ongoing slowdown main reason. -Aggregate investment is less than 30% of GDP. -Schemes like PM-KISAN and MGNREGA can boost rural demand immediately because farmers and landless labourers spend most of their income. -Rural unemployment can be reduced by raising budgetary allocation for irrigation projects rural infrastructure like roads,cold storage and logistical chains. -In urban areas construction is major of employment but many real-estate projects are caught up in legal disputes with multiple authorities having jurisdiction(RERA,NCLT). -Hence focus should be on projects under implementation rather than new projects. -Tax exemption on home loans is a remedy. -20,000 crore gets stuck with government annually in form of Input Tax credits , hence increasing cost of business of SMEs. As India prepares to honour Bolsonaro- -Focus should be on intra-BRICS p’ship and trade. -Each country has different economic and political leverage,and its own burden of domestic external issues. -Group’s informal structure is an advantage for coordination. -The BRICS group can survive only if its members maximise their congruences to the extent possible, despite the growing intensity of Sino-Russian ties; the pro-American leanings in Brazil; the socio-economic difficulties of South Africa after nine years under the controversial Jacob Zuma; and India’s many difficulties with China, including its abstention from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. -Main achievement of BRICS is the New Development Bank, with each country contributing equally to its equity. -They are also developing a joint payments mechanism to reduce foreign trade settlements in U.S. dollars. -An offshoot of the group, dealing with climate change, is BASIC (BRICS without Russia), which met at the Spain conference last month and reiterated its support to the Paris Agreement. -Could justify his invitation to Mr. Bolsonaro with references to the enduring quality of BRICS, Brazil’s agreement to waive visa requirements for Indian citizens, and the potential for Brazilian investments in the sectors of space and defence, agricultural equipment, animal husbandry, post-harvest technologies, and bio-fuels. Will Budget suspend the FRBM(Fiscal responsibility and budget management act)’s fiscal deficit goals? -Any fiscal review needs to ideally redirect spending priorities to capital from consumption. -In principle,FRBM is basically an expenditure switching mechanism from consumption to capital, but we are actually seeing the opposite. -Hence revisit the FRBM act ,revert to the original FRBM, try to focus more on the revenue deficit. -Nominal GDP growth is 7.5% lowest in last 42 years, hence clearly an evidence of lack of demand. -We need to give high priority to for recapitalization wherever necessary, isolating bad assets and let credit grow at 15-20%. -Also don’t let go off revenue sources. -This year its better to take refuge in some of escape clauses instead of fiscal deficit control and wait for growth revival next year. The origin of the constitution- -The history of constitution stretches to over 40 years before its enactment. -Founding document of the Indian Republic is believed to have been completed solely by the Constituent Assembly, working flat out in just two years, eleven months and 17 days. - In fact, the Constitution’s long history stretches to over 40 years before its enactment, going all the way back to the Indian Councils Act of 1909. -This law, for the first time, brought Indians into governance at central and provincial levels, albeit in a very limited way, through a highly restricted and unrepresentative electorate split on communal lines. - The Government of India Act, 1919 was a vast improvement on the Indian Councils Act but remained unrepresentative. -In its report submitted in 1930, the Simon Commission, constituted to evaluate the Government of India Act of 1919, recommended much greater Indian involvement in the governance of the country. -What followed its report were three extraordinary roundtable conferences — in 1930, 1931 and 1932 — all held in London to see how best Indians could administer their country. -They were remarkable for discussing, debating and comprehensively documenting a range of issues — federalism, civil services, regional representation, fundamental rights and universal adult franchise. -Even the idea of linguistic states and reservation emerged from the discussions at the three roundtable conferences. -Led to the passage of the Government of India Act of 1935, much of which found its way into the Constitution. Read the full article

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agritecture · 8 years

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This Software Engineer Sold His Company to Start a Vertical Hydroponic Farm in Goa (India)

The below article originally appeared on The Better India and was written by Tanaya Singh. We at Agritecture found ourselves so intrigued, in addition to reposting the story, we interviewed the entrepreneur highlighted in this piece ourselves.

Why are we so intrigued by this story? Simply because India has a huge population and we very rarely see stories about vertical farms there. When we saw photos of such a pristine farm in India - we were curious to know more about the business and the entrepreneur behind it.

Below is our interview with Ajay and below that is the original The Better India piece:

Andrew: Your background is as a software engineer, are you using any software in your farm? Did you develop that software yourself?

Ajay: Yes we are using a fertigation system which is imported. Other than that we have installed timers for lights and AC which is developed by us using raspberry pi.

Andrew: Are you going to continue growing the produce or are you planning to help others start growing themselves now?

Ajay: We are going to mainly focus on helping others to grow themselves. This way we will be able to achieve our goal of growing healthy food, faster. We have already received lot of inquiries to setup similar farms for them, we will be starting those projects from March 2017.

Andrew: What is your favorite part of your new job?

Ajay: I love to see the plants growing and it feels good to help people to grow healthy food.

Andrew: Who are your main customers?

Ajay: We package and sell it to supermarkets and local farmers market.

Andrew: You grow on 150 sq meters, what is the square footage of actual growing space though given that you’re cultivation is stacked?

Ajay: 1000 sq ft growing area.

Andrew: Last question, How many levels high are your grow racks?

Ajay: 6 levels

What follows is the original The Better India piece:

“You are what you eat,” they say. And that’s what Ajay Naik, a Goa-based hydroponic farmer, believes in. After quitting his job and giving up his company, this software engineer decided to help farmers across India learn about hydroponics and the use of technology in agriculture.

“For several years I have been noticing that many farmers’ children prefer to go for an MBA or engineering degree these days instead of taking up farming. This is because agriculture is not always lucrative. But then, not many of us are focusing on the root of the system we live in – that is good quality food. Only when you have healthy food can you have a healthy country,” says Ajay Naik, a Goa-based software engineer-turned hydroponic farmer. In times like these when the younger generation of farmers choose to opt for anything but agriculture, the case of Ajay would seem to be a paradox of sorts. The 32-year-old has turned to hydroponic farming in an attempt to grow quality food because a lot of vegetables and fruits supplied to markets today are grown using harmful chemicals that are detrimental to health.

He believes that the right use of technology can improve a field’s produce but the problem is that Indian farmers are already struggling with finances and are reluctant to take risks “They fear that if their investment in technology does not work out, it may lead to huge losses,” he says. Ajay wants to change the equation by taking technology to as many farmers as he can. And that is where hydroponics comes into the picture.

Hydroponics is the process of growing plants in water with added nutrients without the use of soil.

What attracted Ajay towards this form of agriculture is that it limits the use of chemicals. After initial research he came to know about a person in Pune who has a doctorate in plant nutrition and manages a hydroponic farm. Ajay met him, saw his farms and learned as much as he could.

“It was inspiring and motivated me to start a farm of my own as well. The fact that hydroponics involves technology, like developing a system for automatic circulation of water, controlling the parameters of temperature, humidity, etc. made me like it even more. I have been working in the IT industry for the past 10 years and I understand these things. In fact, it would have been difficult for me to understand traditional forms of agriculture,” he says.

Fully equipped with the required knowledge, Ajay started his farm two months ago in Karaswada, Goa. With a team of six people, he now grows exotic vegetables like lettuce and salad greens using the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT). This is a hydroponic technique in which a shallow stream of water containing nutrients for plant growth circulates past the bare roots of plants in watertight cylindrical tubes also called channels. The water flows from one end and is re-circulated into the system from the other end, thus reducing water consumption by 80% when compared to traditional farming.

Since there is no soil involved in the process, there is no need for pesticides. Ajay has set up his system in a vertical farming model with racks that have seven levels to save space.

He claims that this is Goa’s first vertical hydroponics farm, which occupies an area of 150 square metres. “I grow three tonnes of lettuce every month. The farm is set up in a controlled environment that enables me to grow exotic vegetables all-year-round without being dependent on the weather,” he says. In addition, he is now trying to convince other farmers to adopt this technology. “I have already started showing the technique to farmers in vegetable expositions conducted by the agriculture department in different places in Goa. The department is also keen on collaborating with me so they can take it to more farmers,” he says. Other than this, he sells his produce to local vendors and also in supermarkets. “I am planning to grow bell pepper, cucumber and strawberries too. In the future, I would also like to shift to other hydroponics techniques and increase the produce,” he adds.

Originally from Karnataka, Ajay came to Goa to work with a software company, which he quit in 2011 to start his own enterprise to develop mobile applications.

He then sold his company this year and used his savings to start this farm. He also received help from two investors. While the initial cost of setting up the farm is high, Ajay feels that he will be able to recover it over a period of time with hydroponics farming because of the high turnover.

“Producing food nowadays is becoming a real challenge. With the increasing population, water scarcity, and the ecological impact of transportation, hydroponics is the best choice for commercial as well as home-based farming. Among many advantages, hydroponics allows you to produce more (20 to 30%) high-quality vegetables and fruits, save on water and nutrient consumption, and grow fresh food everywhere – including sterile and unproductive lands, or in big cities and capitals. It helps cutting down on expensive intermediaries and shipping costs,” he concludes.

You can contact Ajay by writing to him at [email protected]

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indiaemperor · 10 years

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How India’s Failed And Psychotic Ultrasocialist Experiment, That Has Left 40% Of Its Children Suffering Malnutrition, With The World’s Highest Child Mortality Rate, Could Lead To A Globally Apocalyptic Nuclear War, And Destruction Of The Entire Ozone Layer

“India’s per capita arable land is comparable to that of Italy and Germany. Thus the nation as large as it is in terms of population, is not over populated in terms of its agricultural recourses while compared to its highly developed European counterparts.”

Despite it being the cradle of civilization, by some estimates over 10,000 years old, the question that riddles the mind is, why is India still so poor in the 21st century? After an immense effort for independence, what really went wrong for democratic Republic of India, nearly a century on? 

These questions indeed, do still painfully linger. Particularly in light of a Millennium Development Goals report by the United Nations, which indicates that one third of the world’s poorest people live in India. This makes India, the sovereign state, that is home to the largest population of poor people in the history of the planet. 

India’s Socioeconomic and Caste Census (SECC) dismally reveals, that in rural areas only 10% of the population have a salaried job, and that just 3.5% of students graduate. The tragic failure is even more sickening, when one discovers that over 600 million citizens of India, have no access to a toilet.  According to the World Bank 99.62% of the nation’s 1.3 billion population live on less than $5 dollars a day. This has become the sad fate of the world’s oldest continuous advanced civilization, and largest democracy, that was formed at a time of great technological and industrial advancement in 1947.

So why did India, fail in adopting successful macro-economic principles throughout the entire 20th century, and the early part of the 21st century, despite having such an illustrious legacy and access on modern industrial means? 

To understand the underlying fundamental economic issues, it is worth considering the example, and comparison to another Asian country. South Korea, gained its independence from the Japanese Empire, around the same time India had done so from the British Empire in 1947. 

South Korea’s neighbor, North Korea exemplifies the causes of this style of abject and extended poverty, illiteracy and hunger still rife in many Asian states today. The source of cultural and economic failure, rose from the application of communist and what can now be considered extremist socialist economic principles. 

These protectionist, anti-competitive economic policies had further implications, as they have caused decades of harm, to the collective creative phycology of the populace. This aggression against evolved, liberal and innovative human culture, was levied via a centralist controlled propaganda and media, which had been under close government control and censorship. Thus, nearly a century on from India's independence today, their exists an incapacity by all political parties to practically apply liberal economic, and social models to stimulate structural growth, in-order to end poverty for good. The entire nation had been censored and shut down for too long. 

The comparison of India, and South Korea is rather telling. It highlights the positive development and economic results that could have been achieved, through economic liberalization, even under the duress and threat of nuclear armed conflict.

Both India and South Korea have been burdened, with high military expenditure in their recent histories. South Korea, has had to manage decades of constant animosity with its communist neighbor North Korea. India, since 1947, has been at a constant state of conflict with Pakistan, in regards to the sovereignty of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Both conflicts have posed a threat of nuclear war to the world.

With a population density of 505/sqkm, South Korea is more densely populated than India, which is 385/sqkm. In percentage terms, that equates to South Korea being 31% more populated than India per square kilometer.

India, possesses the world's second largest area of cultivated land for farming and producing food. This is ahead of China, with only the USA having more arable farm land than India. Cultivated land in India, stands at 1,535,063 sqkm, where as South Korea has 18,254 sqkm. These figures compared to ratio to population, give India 788 people per sqkm of cultivated land, South Korea thus faces more stress on its resources having to feed 2,810 people / sqkm of cultivated land. 

Despite India, having 350% more cultivated land resources per capita than South Korea, India's economic productivity and growth has been massively stunned. India is one of the worst afflicted nations in regards to child malnutrition.  

In 1961, India had a GDP per capita of $121.70, which was approximately 15% more than South Korea’s $105.13. However by 2013, while India’s GDP per capita had grown to $1,498.87, South Korea’s GDP per capita, had catapulted, and reached a staggering $25,976.95 in comparison. 

Despite being stressed by far more per capita population, and having far less agricultural resources, how could South Korea not only overtake India's per capita GDP, but exceed it by a colossal 1,600%?

One thing that India did, and still does differently from South Korea is its foreign trade. 

Oddly India, the world’s second most populous nation, with a population of over a billion people, had the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as its largest trade partner in 2013. The UAE, had a population of 9 million people at the time.

In contrast India's bordering neighbor, China’s biggest trading partner at the time was the United States of America. Once again more harmoniously relative to its population and geolocation, the Russian Federation’s largest trading partner was the European Union. 

In 1960, total trade stood at 11% of GDP for India, and 15% for South Korea. India's trade grew to around 14% of GDP in the 1990s. By contrast, South Korea’s trade figure had grown far more, to 55% of its GDP by then.  In 2013, South Korea’s foreign trade reached 103% of GDP.

This rapid growth in trade, occurred in South Korea based on the back of liberal economic policies, during a period of dictatorship under General Park Chung-hee, who rose to power following the May 16 coup d’etat of 1961.  After the collapse of India's main cold war ally, the communist Soviet Union in 1991, India was forced to adopt market economic policies, under IMF dictates, in order to borrow emergency finance and stay solvent. Following the application of these forced IMF economic policies, India’s trade eventually rose from 14% to 53% of GDP by 2013.

Prior to 1991, Indian government policy was to close the economy. Under its extreme socialist, and protectionist principals. These were designed to restrict autonomy of business under a preposterously long strip of centralized red tape.

The Indian Rupee could not be converted freely. Foreign imports were restricted by extremely high tariffs, and abstruse import licensing laws. Central government planning, strictly controlled what business and sectors should receive investment. Businesses had to acquire licenses, and approval through a draconian bureaucratic process, to simply invest or pursue development goals.  This cumbersome feat, could mean satisfying up to 80 governmental departments, and agencies prior to approval of one single license, and with the government still deciding on what could be produced, its price point, supply quantity and permitted source of capital. Corruption, under such impossible circumstances was massively rife, with politicians, bureaucrats, and business people engaging in cronyism, election rigging and monetary theft; in this the largest democratic market ever collated in human history in terms of the sheer number of consumers. Thus this was corruption applied on a scale impacting more people, as never witnessed before in all known history.  

However in 1991, India's attempted protectionist economy, that was ultimately an ideologically Soviet dependent satellite state collapsed miserably, as its fatally miss-planned economy imploded. As the Soviet Union headed for disintegration, India was faced with bankruptcy. India had been dependent on the Soviet Union, for its exports at the time, and most crucially, it had been dependent on subsidized Soviet oil imports to meet the energy demands of its large population. 

In 1991, not only was the Soviet Union heading for a complete crash, but also Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. This sent oil prices sky-rocketing. India, being dependent on net oil imports was doomed, and its cumbersome command style economy could not react rapidly enough. It was a major balance of payment crisis for India. The nation, direly was left with only two weeks of foreign reserves, prior to it going insolvent. India was forced to urgently seek assistance from the IMF. 

The opportunity to request assistance from the IMF, had existed since March 1988, when the Managing Director of the IMF, Michael Camdessus, had offered aid to then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress (INC) party. 

However, Gandhi, who at the time was suffering from a corruption scandal, that revealed he had stolen $9.3 million, in the Boffer arms trade deal with Sweden, chose not to take IMF assistance, as a general election was on the horizon.   Rajiv Gandhi, was grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, who was an ardent and hardened socialist believer. His daughter Indira Gandhi, in 1966 became the 3rd prime minister of India, following the death of India’s second prime minister Lal Shastri, under mysterious circumstances, during a visit to the Soviet Union. Lal Shastri had wished to loosen Nehru’s central planning of the economy, which deviated from the Soviet Union’s desires.   Nehru’s grandfather, Gangadhar Nehru, was Head Magistrate and Chief of Police for Delhi, in the court of Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah II, up until 1857. His son Motilal Nehru, served his second term as president of the Indian National Congress in 1928, at the time Nehru wrote and indoctrinated his daughter Indira, then just 10 years old, with his extremist socialist beliefs critical of private ownership and alternate governance models, as documented in the following letter. 

“Everything in [the early] days belonged to the whole tribe and not to each member separately. Even the patriarch had nothing special to himself. As a member of the tribe, he could only have a share like any other member. But he was the organizer and he was supposed to look after the goods and property of the tribe. As his power increased, he began to think that these goods and property were really his own and not the tribe’s. Or rather he thought that he himself, being the leader of the tribe, represented the tribe. So we see how the idea of owning things for oneself began. 

“But as soon as the patriarch started grabbing at the things belonging to the tribe and calling them his own, we begin to get rich people and poor people.  When the patriarch’s office became hereditary, that is son succeeded father, there was little difference between him and a king. He developed into a king and the king got the strange notion that everything in the country belonged to him. He thought he was the country. … Kings forgot that they were really chosen by the people in order to organize and distribute the food and other things of the country among the people. They forgot that they were chosen because they were supposed to be the cleverest and the most experienced persons in the tribe or country. They imagined that they were masters and all the other people in the country were their servants. As a matter of fact, they were servants of the country. 

Later on … kings became so conceited that they thought that people had nothing to do with choosing them. It was God himself, they said, that had made them kings. They called this the “divine right of kings.” For long years, they misbehaved like this and lived in great pomp and luxury while their people starved.” 

Later, his daughter, Indira Gandhi, as prime minister of India, would pass the 26th Constitutional Amendment of 1971, abolishing recognition of over 500 Indian monarchies, their royal titles and their payments from the government. A 1985 declassified CIA report alleged, that 40% of MPs in Indira Gandhi’s INC party were being paid money by the Soviet Union.

 Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Harvard University journalism fellow and PhD Dr. Yevgenia Albats, was appointed by Boris Yeltsin, to investigate the secret activities of the KGB. Dr. Albats disclosed in her book, that KGB chief Victor Chebrikov in December 1985 had sought in writing from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), “authorization to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ms Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi.’ CPSU payments were authorized by a resolution, CPSU/CC/No 11228/3 dated 20/12/1985; and endorsed by the USSR Council of Ministers in Directive No. 2633/Rs dated 20/12/1985. These payments had been coming since 1971, as payments received by Sonia Gandhi's family, and ‘have been audited in CPSU/CC resolution No. 11187/22 OP dated 10/12/1984.”  In 1992 the media confronted the Russian government with the Albats disclosure. The Russian government confirmed the veracity of the disclosure and defended it as necessary for ‘Soviet ideological interest’. The Hindu newspaper of July 4, 1992 carried this report, following a news report in November 1991 by Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate, that had published an article revealing that prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had 2.5 billion Swiss francs, equivalent to roughly to $2 billion US dollars, in numbered Swiss bank accounts. 

Plagued by the Swedish Boffers scandal, Gandhi lost the 1989 election. The incoming prime minister V.P. Singh, of the JD, then agreed to execute the IMF bailout. However, V.P. Singh's government lasted less than a year, and it was then left to the next prime minister Chander Shaker, of the SJP, to agree terms with the IMF. 

In order to receive the bailout, India had to compromise its sovereignty, and under duress, was forced by the IMF to make market economic reforms, or else not get paid by the IMF, and consequently would have gone bankrupt.  The prime minister, was required to comply with the IMF's orders, (in contravention to Section 29A of the Constitution of India), in order to receive the monetary support. Thus a program of economic liberalization, based on foreign intervention was forced onto India. 

Under IMF rules, trade tariffs had to be lowered, government monopolies were finally broken, and the private sector and market competition started to find their fledgling beginnings in India. 

This short period of fruitful IMF dictatorship over a sector of India’s economic legislation, led to its greatest period of growth and success since its independence in 1947. However, as the economic liberalization of India was induced by the IMF, against the will of the nations corrupt political elites, the pace of economic reforms and privatization post, has remained excruciatingly slow, and dismal to the detriment and loss of opportunity of its own majority of citizens. 

India to the gross detriment of its population, still gravely suffers from a debacle of ultrasocialist bureaucracy, and the sizable vestiges of a central command style economy. 

Indian politicians for the majorly vast part, regardless of political party affiliation till date, lack a modern understanding of market economics, and effective liberal business policies.

During the long term government control of media, that disseminated radical socialist propaganda, to both India’s masses and its elites, political leaders too have been underexposed to liberal market and cultural models.  In essence, these leaders too believed their own failed protectionist hype. They had been indoctrinated to defend an evidently failed socialist model that became tied to the very core belief of their nationalistic identities. 

Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated in May 1991, by a member of LTTE that were fighting for a Tamil state in Sri Lanka, who had believed in adopting more liberal economic principals. Rajiv Gandhi since 1989, had sent the Indian army to support the socialist Sri Lankan government status quo, fighting against the LTTE. 

Following Gandhi’s assassination, prime minister Chandra Shekhar’s short-lived SJP government, that had agreed initial terms with the IMF fell. In June 1991, it was followed by prime minister Nershima Rao of the INC, who along with his finance minister Manmohan Singh, implemented a few further set of IMF fiscal dictates to get money, including devaluing the Indian rupee currency, raising fertilizer prices, lowering export subsidies, and raising petro product prices.   However, beyond this, these ultrasocialist politicians that hand been financed by the communist Soviet Union, balked at the further suggestions by the IMF. Which had included the crucial reforms for the privatization of state-owned companies, and the freeing of labour markets.

India from 1991 to 1993, borrowed $3.6 billion from the IMF, to stay afloat and solvent.

Due to a threat of nuclear conflict in the impoverished region, India’s economic failure, and that of its neighbor Pakistan, now concerns the security of the entire world. As the people's default to mass religious sentiment in Hindu majority India, and Muslim majority Pakistan could at worst lead to a globally apocalyptic nuclear war. Stemming for the long lasting dispute over the sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), and the abundant fresh water resources in J&K that irrigate the rivers of India and Pakistan. 

According to a report by Boston based, Nobel peace-prize winning body the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a nuclear war for J&K, between India and Pakistan would contaminate global food supplies, and kill over two billion people. 

Scientists further believe that a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, could destroy half of the Earth's protective ozone layer. This would mean the end of civilization, and the natural habitat as we know it, and the probable extinction of most animal species on Earth. 

The desperate lack of any political party genuinely focused on market economics in India, can be pinned to actual written legislative discrimination, unveiling the fallacy of India’s claimed democratic status. Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. That is contradictory to the the freedoms of belief and expression enshrined in the Constitution of India.  Section 29A is a dictatorial law that has for over half a century, forcibly, and in malicious contradiction to democratic constitutional freedoms of speech and expression, required all political parties to hold allegiance, to only socialist economic policies. 

This is a must in India, in order to be lawfully registered with the Election Commission. In other words, a political party with capitalist liberal market policies, cannot simply be registered by Indian law. All political parties in India have to be socialist by rote of law. 

Thus, by such draconian central laws that plunged so many into dire poverty, one can actually question, if India should be considered a democracy at all. As by Section 29A, the entire nation was reduced to what was in all practical implementation a single party socialist state, albeit with multiple brand variations. Neighboring, China which has a similar population to India, is a one party communist state. However, even it has adopted greater liberal economic reforms than India. China’s GDP exceeded 9.5 trillion in 2013, whereas India’s GDP was less than $2 trillion in comparison. 

So tragically, nearly thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, failed soviet style planning of domestic trade, agriculture and foreign investment restrictions continues to linger in India. This soviet ideological legacy and political paralysis to modernize, is the foremost cause of India’s mass poverty and child hunger. 

The negative impacts of such can be witnessed most evidently by the 2012 report that found 40% of children under 5, in India, suffer from malnutrition. With child malnutrition levels twice as high as sub-Saharan Africa. India’s then prime minister, Manmohan Singh of the INC, admitted to the failure, calling it a “national shame.”   Manmohan Singh, a protectionist economist, had previously been responsible for leading the design of India’s extreme socialist economy since 1972, when he was appointed as Chief Economic Advisor.

Manmohan Singh had been educated by British economist Joan Robinson, at University of Cambridge To put this extreme socialist indoctrination into perspective, as more akin to religious practice, than a rational governing policy. Joan Robinson, had most erroneously, praised the North Korean premier Kim Jong-un, as a "messiah”, despite his most grossly failed planned economic policies, that have stolen the livelihoods and bright prospects of generations of North Koreans.

Tragically, these misplaced economic preachings from Cambridge, have enslave India's citizens to poverty, hunger and suffering on a scale as never witnessed before. Had India kept to its monarchies, in lieu of ultra socialism, it would have been far better off place today and the world would have been far safer, with less threat of nuclear war.

Manmohan Singh, had been finance minister, during the the IMF bailout process in 1991, who decided not not abide with further suggestions by the IMF of privatizing state-owned industries and labour reforms, which done then would certainly have greatly reduced child malnutrition in India today.  This most heinous, and unnecessary suffering of children in India is a monumental tragedy in world history. As India, has the world’s second highest total of cultivated farm land available for producing food for its starving children.

India’s per capita arable land is comparable to that of Italy and Germany. Thus the national as large as it is in terms of population is not over populated in terms of its agricultural recourses while compared to its highly developed European counterparts. 

Under the ultrasocialist dictatorship of Indira Gandhi, the 42nd Amendment of 1976 was passed, this was after India’s dictator was being paid money by the Soviet Union according to Harvard scholars. Gandhi under the 42nd Amendment, then forcefully and undemocratically, added the words "Socialist Secular” to the name of the Republic of India.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 by her own bodyguards of the Sikh religious fate. This occurred after she had ordered, the Indian army to attack main Sikh’ religious center the Golden Temple, and killed the leaders of the Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) who were fighting for a theocratic but also more commercially liberal Sikh state, opposed to the secular socialist dictates of the Soviet Union, that was paying hypocritical Indira Gandhi billions of dollars to maintain. This also coincided with Operation Cyclone in the war for nearby Afghanistan when the CIA supported the Mujahideen rebels to fight against Soviet Union’s invasion of the country. 

Thus, India that was once over 600 diverse royal principalities and kingdoms, has become trapped in a vicious cycle of mad and twisted sadomasochistic economic and cultural policies. Forced by a corrupt, idiotic, anti-competitive, and inept leadership profiting billions for themselves , based on governing a majority that was kept as vastly illiterate and controlled serfs.

Perhaps it was from good intention, or more ill from jealously, but the result has been the complete failure and ruining of the world’s oldest civilization, the Congress India will be remembered worse than any of the Emperors, that had governed it before, and thus reduced this illustrious and magical realm into sickeningly, the largest barbarian feudal serfdom ever constructed in all known human history.

#india #economics #freemarket #freetrade #emperorofindia

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digitalafinoz-blog · 6 years

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Easy, Fast and Flexible: Lending Kart Business Loan

Whether you are setting up a business startup or already having an established business, business loans can perform a perfect ‘supporting role' to meet your day-to-day operating expenses or in case of impending business expansions. Indian entrepreneurs have acknowledged this fact and made business loans a useful source to satisfy their working capital requirements. Understandably, lots of options are available in the Indian financial market for the borrowers of business loans, but few can offer safe, irresistible and hassle-free business loans like those offered by Lending kart. Founded in 2014, Lending Kart Finance Limited is a leading non- deposit taking NBFC offering best business loans and working capital loans to SMEs across India.

Lendingkart business loans are designed keeping in mind the distinct needs of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Small & Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) so that they can diversify and expand their business to new heights. Lendingkart has assimilated a nice blend of technical and analytical tools to assess the creditworthiness of small businesses quickly and accurately. It strives in providing easy and transparent working capital finance so that entrepreneurs can focus more on ensuring business growth, instead of losing sleep over a possible cash-flow crunch.

Why you should go for Lending Kart?

- Scaling up business exponentially - Cash discounts

- Online fests

- Manage cash flow gaps

How much you can avail as a business loan?

The minimum amount that you can get is Rs 50,000 and the maximum amount is Rs 1 Crore. Here you can calculate your eligibility for Business Loan What are the criteria for availing business loans from Lending Kart? If you are an Indian citizen, have your own business, have residual income and ability to repay a loan, and then you are eligible for a LendingKart business loan. Other parameters of the business loan eligibility criteria are as follows-

 Business Categories-Your business must belong to any of the following categories- a) Partnership Firm b) Proprietorship company c) Private Limited company d) Unlisted public limited company e) Self-employed professional/non-employed f) Societies, trusts and section 25 companies (primarily educational institutions or hospitals)  Age - You should be at least 21 years of age at the time of loan application and at the most 65 years of age at the time of loan maturity.  Turnover -Your company must have an annual gross income ranging from Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 2 Crore.

 Business Vintage- Your business should be in operation for the last three years and should be a well-established one.  Work experience- If you are self-employed, you should have a minimum of two years of work experience in the present field or line of business. What are the documents required for business loan from Lending Kart?

To avail a LendingKart business loan, you should be able to produce the below-mentioned documents related to your business profile-

A) For Self-employed and proprietorship companies-

 Last 3 years’ P&L and balance sheets (verified by a CA) /IT returns  Bank statements for the last 6 months  Shop & establishment certificate/Tax Bill/ Proprietorship deed certified copy/ Service Tax certificate

B) For Private limited companies

 Form 60/PAN card and individual ITR for last 2 years, for all the directors concerned  ITR for last 3 years with complete financials of the company  Utility bill to show residence/office ownership  Memorandum of Association  Registration proof of the company  List of directors and shareholders  Statements of all major accounts for last 1 year  VAT and Service Tax return for the current year  Running loan schedules, if any

C) For partnership farms

 PAN card of the firm as well as for all the partners  Residence address proof for all the partners(house tax receipt/utility bills)  Last 2 years’ ITR for all the partners  ITR for last 2 years with complete financials of the firm  Any business continuity proof for the last 3 years  Office address proof ( telephone bill not later than 2 months) of the firm  Registration proof in the name of the firm  Copy of the partnership deed.  Statements of the main account for last 1 year  VAT or Service Tax return for the last 4 quarters  Running loan schedules, if any, along with their statements

Why Lending Kart?

Lendingkart Finance Private Ltd. (previously known as Aadri Infin Limited) is an NBFC (Non- Banking Financial Company) registered with the RBI for providing SME lending and other financial services in India. It came into existence on 15 th December 2014 and has been registered as a Non- Government Company with the Registrar of Companies, Ahmedabad. Lendingkart has got its footprints in more than 135 cities across 22 states in Indian and has an employee force of more than 500. The company offers quality services in the fields of retail and corporate banking, investments, advisory, lending and treasury services along with lending agricultural loans and micro-financing services.

“Lending Kart has been very helpful! They are very professional and the best thing is the timely service. A true savior for startups I must say!” Shital Thakkar, Indian Experts Training Academy Pvt. Ltd. The bottom line:

Avail a Lendingkart business loan from the safe, efficient and hassle-free platform of Afinoz We have got exclusive tie-ups with Lendingkart and applying for a Lendingkart business loan through us makes the entire process quicker and easier for you.

if you have any quary about sbi personal loan, best personal loan. feel free to contact afinoz team.

#business loan #lendingkart business loan #lendingkart #lendingkart finance

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cryptswahili · 6 years

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Through The Looking Glass: The Future Of AI In India 2025

This article was originally published in Inc42’s The State Of The Indian Startup Ecosystem 2018 report. This 400-page report provides deep analyses of and data-driven insights on startup investments, the industrial landscape, prominent startup hubs, government policies, etc, with a view to influence strategic decision-making in governance, startups, investments, growth, and other core areas.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is the new elixir. Everyone is talking about it. Everyone wants to know what we can do with it. But before we talk about the future of AI in India, circa 2025, let us understand the current scenario and the factors at play.

Last week, two of my classmates called me. They wanted to show me what their kids (both in Class X) have built using ML. I was stunned. They had made fairly sophisticated algorithms — one to detect lazy eyes using just a smartphone camera and one to detect abnormal ECGs with a normal stethoscope! No wonder India is among the top five countries globally when it comes to the number of AI-driven startups.

AI startups can be divided into four main buckets to understand the Indian landscape better:

AI-first companies: These are companies that exist only because they have an AI solution — for instance, those developing self-driving cars/ Alexa-type systems. Their algorithms are decently mature to create fully automated data-driven systems but there are just a handful of them as the talent pool is still limited.

Human-Assisted AI companies: These are companies that use AI to automate part of a solution but typically require a human in the loop to complete the work. Most of these systems are driven by natural language processing (NLP) engines. The use cases in this category range from customer support/engagement to security alert systems to automated credit risk analysis etc.

AI-second companies: These companies are applying AI to improve parts of their solutions for their customers to significantly improve efficiencies. For example, most logistics automation platforms use rule-based allocation engines. Most of the startups we meet are in the third category.

AI infra companies: All the above three categories are in the space of applied AI and are solving vertical use cases using AI. Then there are horizontal AI companies or AI infra companies that are creating solutions to make the development/monitoring of AI systems easy and practical. Most of this work in India is in the early stage and there are only a handful of startups in AI infra.

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What Is Changing?

Now, let us look at what factors are changing in India and are likely to play a large role in shaping the AI scene in 2025.

Data laws: While data privacy is super important, data laws need to balance the need of privacy with easy data usage for research and development purposes. If the laws become too difficult, they can stifle innovation and growth in AI.

AI is becoming horizontal and more available: Eventually, every product will have an AI layer. With many off-the-shelf tools available, it is becoming easy for people with minimal exposure to AI to experiment with the technology.

Understanding of where to use AI is improving: Currently, everyone is jumping on the AI bandwagon irrespective of whether or not their solution needs it. But, as our understanding of where AI can really make a difference increased, stronger and deeper use cases will emerge.

Local buyers are opening up: Indian businesses are becoming increasingly open and willing to buy from startups. This is crucial as startups can work with local customers and mature their solutions at much lower price points.

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AI In India In 2025

If, at present, our regulatory framework continues to remain open and back innovation, we have a great story building for the future. In a country, where there’s a big mismatch in demand and supply, technology can play a huge role in closing that gap. We believe most products will be using AI by 2025 and many AI-first companies will emerge across sectors. Here’s a look at them:

Robotics: AI has breathed new life into robotics. Progress in core AI in the next few years will give robots an ability to understand human speech and vision. Robotics will develop in three main areas — industrial robotics; remote-assisted robotics; and social robotics. Drones and AI-enabled hardware will enable robots to replace humans in dangerous jobs like sanitation, construction, electric linemen etc.

Agriculture: Developments in computer vision and satellite imagery will cause a mini revolution that can potentially rival the green revolution. Completely autonomous farms are a possibility in the near term and robotics use in agriculture can greatly reduce use of human labour and wastage, bringing down prices.

Real Estate: One of the key reasons for the high cost of real estate is lack of transparency in pricing and shortage of labour. AI, along with blockchain, can potentially increase transparency in pricing. Real estate construction time and costs will come down due to increased use of robotics.

Supply Chain: AI in supply chain will help companies discover vendors, price purchases, optimise inventories, scale logistics seamlessly, and forecast demand better. In the near term, we are bullish on AI’s ability to create tangible benefits in supply chain management and financing.

Utilities: Consumer consumption of utilities like gas/power/water can be regulated efficiently using AI. Switching between power sources or water sources and demand forecast can also be managed more effectively by AI.

Government Work: AI is the best resource allocator, free of human error and biases. AI also works round the clock and can be corruption free. Licenses allocation, public distribution systems, subsidy management, workflow optimisation can all be managed quickly and efficiently by AI.

To conclude, I would say that we are on a strong path towards adoption of AI in India in the coming years. There are a few pinch points along the way in terms of the regulatory environment and growth of talent. Hope we can jump over these humps to make India AI capital of the world by 2025!

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The post Through The Looking Glass: The Future Of AI In India 2025 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

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activistnewsnetwork · 6 years

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What’s Behind Israel’s Growing Ties With China?

China and Israel are not natural partners. In sheer size, demography, and geopolitical orientation, they appear vastly different. China has ten cities larger than Israel’s entire population. China has no indigenous Jewish community, and Israel has no indigenous Chinese community. Israel is closely aligned with China’s main competitor in the world, the United States. However, the China-Israel relationship has been expanding rapidly on a number of fronts. The past few years have seen stark upticks in trade, investment, education exchanges, and tourism between the two countries.

What is driving this? Despite their many differences, Chinese and Israeli motivations are similarly pragmatic. Both countries seek to expand partnerships outside of their regions as they tap into new markets and trade opportunities. In particular, China is attracted to Israel’s vaunted technology sector, and Israel welcomes China’s investments and potential as a research collaborator. It also views a relationship with China as a rebuff to boycott and divestment efforts by some other states.

Trade and Investment

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After a period of broad diplomatic isolation, Israel in recent decades has been developing new bilateral relationships powered by trade. In particular, it has leveraged its reputation as a hub of innovation, entrepreneurship, and research. Meanwhile, China has taken on a staggering number of investment and infrastructure projects in recent years, embarking on new projects in new markets.

Trade between the two countries has surpassed $11 billion, a small figure when compared to China’s trade with the United States or Europe but two hundred times larger than it was twenty-five years ago. In the same period—1992 to 2017—U.S.-China trade only grew twenty times larger.

What do the Chinese see in tiny Israel? Its main interest appears to be in tapping Israeli research and innovation.

What do the Chinese see in tiny Israel? Its main interest appears to be in tapping Israeli research and innovation. “In China’s view, Israel, despite its small size, stands out for its scientific achievements, its number of startups, and the number of its Nobel Prize laureates,” wrote former Israeli Ambassador to China Matan Vilnai, along with Assaf Orion and Galia Lavi, in March 2017. China’s investments also include high technology, agriculture, food, water, and biotechnology.

Bright Foods’ acquisition of Tnuva, the largest Israeli dairy company, in 2014 marked the first major Chinese corporate foray into the Israeli market. In April 2018, Chinese conglomerate Fosun purchased the Ahava company, maker of Dead Sea lotions. But the China-Israel economic relationship runs deeper than private Chinese acquisitions of Israeli corporate entities.

While visiting Beijing in 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an Israeli interviewer that China accounts for one-third of the investment in Israeli high technology. Chinese investment in Israel is also focused on Israeli infrastructure projects. “China is also involved in building infrastructures in Israel, such as digging the Carmel tunnels in Haifa, laying the light rail in Tel Aviv, and expanding the Ashdod and Haifa seaports” and is entering the residential construction industry, said a 2017 report from Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

Chinese investment shows no signs of letting up. A 2017 Sino-Israel Global Network and Academic Leadership (SIGNAL) report notes that ten bilateral agreements and business agreements, amounting to a total value of $25 billion, were signed during Netanyahu’s 2017 visit to China. This, the report also noted, came on the heels of an impressive $16.5 billion of Chinese investment in Israeli technology in 2016—a ten-fold increase from 2015.

Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma visited Israel, joined by thirty-five executives, in May, and some Israeli media speculated the trip was connected to Alibaba’s plan, announced in October 2017, to inaugurate a research hub in Israel.

Tourism

The influx of Chinese tourists to Israel has also risen rapidly, doubling to more than one hundred thousand from 2015 to 2017. In percentage terms, China is Israel’s fastest growing source of tourists. In 2016, Israel became the third country, after the United States and Canada, to sign a ten-year multiple-entry visa agreement with China.

Education Exchanges

As the relationship between China and Israel has deepened, educational exchanges have increased. At the University of Haifa, for instance, Chinese student enrollment has gone from twenty to two hundred in the past five years.

However, it is Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology that has been at the forefront of these exchanges. In 2013, Technion, along with Shantou University in China, was awarded a $130 million grant from the Li Ka Shing Foundation, founded by Hong Kong entrepreneur Li Ka-shing some forty years ago, to establish a branch in Guangdong Province. The province and Shantou municipality provided an additional $147 million and land for campus construction. Similarly, in 2016, the University of Haifa announced plans to build a joint laboratory at East China Normal University in Shanghai to research ecology, data, biomedicine, and neurobiology, an effort funded by the Chinese government.

This followed Tel Aviv University’s 2014 announcement that it would partner with Tsinghua University in Beijing to build the CIN Research Center, where research would focus on biotech, solar, water, and environmental technology development.

A 2017 SIGNAL report found that as bilateral ties have deepened over the last two decades, so too has Israeli academic interest: Since 2002, Asian studies programs have been founded at the University of Haifa, Bar Ilan University, and Tel Hai College, while Confucius Institutes operate at both Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University.

Political and Military Relations

Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed his hope that broader economic relations with China would translate to more alignment at the United Nations.This has happened in the case of India, whose trade with Israel has surged in the last two decades. Following this uptick in trade, India, on several occasions in recent years, abandoned its previous pattern of voting with Arab states against Israel in the UN system. However, China has not changed its voting pattern, and it aligns against Israel whenever there is a vote in the UN bodies.

While Chinese navy ships have docked in Israel, arms sales and military cooperation are limited due to U.S. pressure.

Israel’s growing relationship with India also includes significant arms sales, but that is not true with China. While Chinese navy ships have docked in Israel, arms sales and military cooperation are limited due to U.S. pressure.

In 2004, the George W. Bush administration demanded that Israel renege on its pledge to upgrade the Harpy missile system, which Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) had sold to China in 1994 for about $55 million. U.S. officials cited security concerns and claimed the missile system contained American technology. Israeli officials denied the allegations, and IAI followed through on contractual commitments to China.

As a result, the United States suspended Israel from the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project—which led to what is now known as the F-35 stealth fighter—and demanded the resignation of General Amos Yaron, the Israeli Defense Ministry’s director general. Israel did return to the JSF a few months later but at considerable cost: The Defense Ministry had to establish a department for overseeing defense exports, and the director general did in fact retire. The U.S.-Israel military relationship includes exercises, intelligence sharing, and $3.8 billion in U.S. military aid, and the United States remains in a powerful position to curtail Israeli military sales to China.

Possible Obstacles Ahead

Despite growing China-Israel ties, there are looming challenges. As part of what has been identified as a broader Chinese strategy to expand engagement in the Middle East, China has cultivated ties with all major actors—including various Arab states, Iran, and Turkey. While Chinese President Xi Jinping has walked a fine line between Israel and its regional adversaries, deepened ties with Israel could create tension with some of China’s other regional partners, particularly Iran.

The Chinese state line on settlements could also be a source of friction. The government has refused to allow its laborers to work in the West Bank, citing its opposition to Israeli settlement construction there.

In Israel, there is some opposition to the recent expansion of bilateral relations. There are skeptics in several Israeli political parties and among former national security officials, who warn of potential security issues and possible friction with the United States resulting from Chinese involvement in Israeli infrastructure projects. In late 2013, former Mossad Director Efraim Halevy argued that “China holding the trans-Israel railway, owning it and operating it, will not be understood by the U.S.” and warned against China’s control of “political and economic pressure points” within Israel.

Those worries extend to the financial sector and labor industry. Finance Ministry insurance supervisor Dorit Salinger has repeatedly blocked sales of the Phoenix and Clal insurance companies to Chinese companies, citing fears of foreign control over hundreds of billions of shekels of Israeli pension funds. The Association of Contractors and Builders has advocated against Chinese involvement in construction and infrastructure projects.

Still, the growth in the China-Israel relationship has clearly benefited both sides. In Israel, China has found new investment opportunities and a new source of cutting-edge technology. For Israel, the relationship is the latest success of Netanyahu’s strategy of developing ties beyond the United States and the EU; China, as the world’s most populous country, is also a market for Israeli exports. In light of past friction with the United States over high-tech sales by Israel to China, Israel should be careful lest it find itself at odds with its greatest ally regarding products with any potential military uses. However, for Israel, growing ties to China are a reminder that, despite the small nation’s many local and regional challenges, it can build important relationships around the globe.

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dragnews · 6 years

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U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project

WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear accord and re-impose sanctions on Tehran threatens to derail a project to help build Afghanistan’s economy, endangering a key goal of the U.S. strategy to end America’s longest war.

An Afghan security guard stands while supply trucks carrying containers for export line at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/ Parwiz

The Indian-backed Chabahar port complex in Iran is being developed as part of a new transportation corridor for land-locked Afghanistan that could potentially open the way for millions of dollars in trade and cut its dependence on Pakistan, its sometimes-hostile neighbor.

Building Afghanistan’s economy would also slash Kabul’s dependence on foreign aid and put a major dent in the illicit opium trade, the Taliban’s main revenue source.

But Trump’s decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran and penalize financial institutions for doing business with Tehran is clouding Chabahar’s viability as banks, nervous they could be hit with crippling penalties, pull back from financing.

“President Trump’s decision has brought us back to the drawing board and we will have to renegotiate terms and conditions on using Chabahar,” a senior Indian diplomat said. “It is a route that can change the way India-Iran-Afghanistan do business, but for now everything is in a state of uncertainty.”

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Launched in 2016, the joint Iran-India-Afghanistan Chabahar project already was facing holdups. It has yet to see significant traffic apart from some containers of donated wheat from India, and the first shipments of Afghan dried fruit to India are not expected before July.

At least three contracts to build infrastructure at the port now have been delayed, with two Chinese companies and a Finnish group left hanging while bankers seek clarity from Washington before approving guarantees, a person close to the project said.

Afghan men sit in front of supply trucks carrying containers for export at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

In addition, Afghan traders, who were hoping for an alternative to Pakistan’s port of Karachi, now find themselves cut off from funding and forced to rely on the traditional hawala money transfer system, which is insufficient on its own to transform an economy. Hawala is a trust-based system commonly used in Afghanistan that involves the movement of funds between agents in different countries.

“We know our correspondent banks would not let us pay for imports coming through that port,” said a senior executive at one major Afghan lender.

Chabahar is among a number of projects of transport and energy networks projects designed to boost Afghanistan’s trade and lay the foundations for a mining industry capable of exploiting its billions of dollars in untapped mineral reserves.

Bypassing the border with Pakistan, which last year was closed for some 50 days over various disputes, Chabahar is seen as a way for Afghanistan to consolidate its relationships with India and other regional powers.

“The only way to get India more involved” in Afghanistan’s economic development “is through Chabahar,” said Barnett Rubin, an expert with New York University’s Center for International Cooperation and a former adviser to the State Department and the United Nations. “Our Iran policy is headed for a train wreck with our Afghanistan policy.”

Slideshow (2 Images)

FOREIGN AID

Some 17 years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban from power, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest countries, highly dependent on foreign aid.

Apart from illegal opium exports estimated at some $2 billion by the International Monetary Fund, its main products are dried and fresh fruits, and carpets, none of which amount to more than a fraction of the value of the drugs trade.

Initially Afghanistan would export agricultural produce – such as pomegranates and grapes – through Chabahar, utilizing a section of a road India paid for and then an extension to the Iranian border that New Delhi built, experts said.

Eventually, those exports could expand to mineral resources, something Trump has expressed an interest in gaining for U.S. firms. For India, this would mean using a planned railroad to Chabahar to export iron ore from two tracts at the Hajigak iron mine in central Afghanistan that it won the rights to exploit, the experts said.

“The economic piece is really important to get a glimmer of hope for Afghanistan to move beyond a land-locked, poppy-based economy. We are now shooting that in the head,” said Thomas Lynch, a National Defense University expert and a former U.S. Army officer who advised the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on South Asia policy.

“There is no other legitimate and reliable way to do that. You can’t do it by air, you can’t do it through Pakistan because they just extort for everything they do,” said Lynch. “The lifeline runs through Chabahar.”

In addition, by hindering the development of Chabahar, the United States will leave Afghanistan dependent on Pakistan, historically its main trade partner and outlet to the world.

That would undermine another Trump goal of pressuring Islamabad to shutter Afghan insurgent sanctuaries on its side of the border and force the militants into peace talks.

Afghan officials have lobbied hard for exemptions to the sanctions for Afghan companies operating though Chabahar without success and are waiting for clarity from Washington.

“Now the uncertainty is that we don’t know what’s going to happen with Chabahar,” said Atiqullah Nusrat, Chief Executive of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We haven’t heard anything so we have to wait and see what happens.”

Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in KABUL and Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI; Editing by Philip McClellan

The post U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project appeared first on World The News.

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dani-qrt · 6 years

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U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project

An Afghan security guard stands while supply trucks carrying containers for export line at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/ Parwiz

Building Afghanistan’s economy would also slash Kabul’s dependence on foreign aid and put a major dent in the illicit opium trade, the Taliban’s main revenue source.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Afghan men sit in front of supply trucks carrying containers for export at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

“We know our correspondent banks would not let us pay for imports coming through that port,” said a senior executive at one major Afghan lender.

Slideshow (2 Images)

FOREIGN AID

Some 17 years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban from power, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest countries, highly dependent on foreign aid.

In addition, by hindering the development of Chabahar, the United States will leave Afghanistan dependent on Pakistan, historically its main trade partner and outlet to the world.

That would undermine another Trump goal of pressuring Islamabad to shutter Afghan insurgent sanctuaries on its side of the border and force the militants into peace talks.

Afghan officials have lobbied hard for exemptions to the sanctions for Afghan companies operating though Chabahar without success and are waiting for clarity from Washington.

Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in KABUL and Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI; Editing by Philip McClellan

The post U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project appeared first on World The News.

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newestbalance · 6 years

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U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project

An Afghan security guard stands while supply trucks carrying containers for export line at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/ Parwiz

Building Afghanistan’s economy would also slash Kabul’s dependence on foreign aid and put a major dent in the illicit opium trade, the Taliban’s main revenue source.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Afghan men sit in front of supply trucks carrying containers for export at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

“We know our correspondent banks would not let us pay for imports coming through that port,” said a senior executive at one major Afghan lender.

Slideshow (2 Images)

FOREIGN AID

Some 17 years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban from power, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest countries, highly dependent on foreign aid.

In addition, by hindering the development of Chabahar, the United States will leave Afghanistan dependent on Pakistan, historically its main trade partner and outlet to the world.

That would undermine another Trump goal of pressuring Islamabad to shutter Afghan insurgent sanctuaries on its side of the border and force the militants into peace talks.

Afghan officials have lobbied hard for exemptions to the sanctions for Afghan companies operating though Chabahar without success and are waiting for clarity from Washington.

Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in KABUL and Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI; Editing by Philip McClellan

The post U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project appeared first on World The News.

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party-hard-or-die · 6 years

Text

U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project

An Afghan security guard stands while supply trucks carrying containers for export line at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/ Parwiz

Building Afghanistan’s economy would also slash Kabul’s dependence on foreign aid and put a major dent in the illicit opium trade, the Taliban’s main revenue source.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Afghan men sit in front of supply trucks carrying containers for export at the Customhouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

“We know our correspondent banks would not let us pay for imports coming through that port,” said a senior executive at one major Afghan lender.

Slideshow (2 Images)

FOREIGN AID

Some 17 years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban from power, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest countries, highly dependent on foreign aid.

In addition, by hindering the development of Chabahar, the United States will leave Afghanistan dependent on Pakistan, historically its main trade partner and outlet to the world.

That would undermine another Trump goal of pressuring Islamabad to shutter Afghan insurgent sanctuaries on its side of the border and force the militants into peace talks.

Afghan officials have lobbied hard for exemptions to the sanctions for Afghan companies operating though Chabahar without success and are waiting for clarity from Washington.

Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in KABUL and Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI; Editing by Philip McClellan

The post U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2Ljd1BB via Breaking News

#News Headlines #News Update #Sports Update #Business Update #World The News

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wionews · 7 years

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Opinion: Few jobs, rural hardship, weak investment weak spots of Union Budget

The upcoming Union Budget is the last full budget of the present government before the 2019 general election. As expected the question doing rounds is, will the finance minister present a “populist” budget with a view to the elections or “stay the course” of fiscal consolidation and related reforms.

The question is made sharper by the likelihood of the central government exceeding its expenditure target for 2017-2018. The prime minister’s recent comments that he does not believe the “common man” wants “freebies and sops” have been interpreted as indicating a non-populist budget.

It is very unfortunate that the “populist” versus “reform” frame continues to dominate discussions on the budget. Such a framing is useless for any real analysis because both the magnitude and the direction of government spending are equally crucial as are the magnitude and sources of government revenue. There may be good and bad reasons for exceeding the expenditure targets for the year, as well as good and bad reasons for falling short of revenue targets. Hence, creating more fiscal room in the budget by revising the deficit target upwards is not in and of itself either good or bad. If it is done with a clear path to raising future incomes for the vast majority, it is very welcome and will pay for itself in the future.

Let me illustrate by taking the three main issues that are of widespread concern leading into the budget: rural distress, lack of jobs, and weak private investment.

First, consider rural distress, an issue that is, sadly, on the agenda nearly every year. The recent Gujarat elections have given a much needed political boost to the issue since it is cited as one of the reasons behind the BJP’s reduced majority. The rural sector “wish-list”, at a minimum would include,

* Implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of minimum support prices equal to 50% in excess of the costs of cultivation.

* Complete rural electrification in substantive terms. That is, not the token delivery of power, but adequate and timely power supply on par with that available in urban areas.

* Increased overall public investment in agriculture, particularly in irrigation, sustainable practices, and so on. It is noteworthy that investment in agriculture which was around 3.8 percent of GDP in the early 1990s has steadily fallen since then.

* Strong push for the non-farm sector, which is obviously the future of sustainable employment in the rural economy. This is also where the rural distress issue meets the jobs crisis squarely.

Second, take the jobs crisis. In his recent interview, the prime minister has, unfortunately, chosen to trivialise the issue by equating low-paying informal livelihoods, such as selling tea and pakoras with secure, well-paying employment. The demand is for the latter, the former already exist in great numbers. He has rightly been criticised for this.

The prime minister also claimed a large increase in formal employment based on a recent study of data from the Employee Provident Fund Organisation and other similar institutions (such as ESIC and NPF). The study is a novel attempt to use administrative payroll data from such agencies to estimate employment. Its main conclusion is that an estimated 7 million new accounts were added into the system in FY 2017-2018. This is welcome news.

But it cannot be used straightforwardly to draw conclusions about job creation for two reasons. First, the approach measures new PF, insurance, and pension accounts. Not new jobs. As Jairam Ramesh has pointed out, some of the new accounts may be existing jobs without benefits being converted into jobs with benefits. A welcome development, but not to be confused with an increase in employment. The authors partly correct this problem by excluding those accounts that were created during the PF amnesty period. But this does not address all the problems arising out of demonetisation and GST implementation raised by Ramesh.

Second, even assuming that new accounts mean new jobs, to say something about the employment situation we need to know how many jobs were lost during the same period. The study does not address this. If recent work based on Labour Bureau annual household surveys is to be believed, the Indian economy has been losing jobs on a net basis. Even if payroll data adds another dimension to our knowledge on employment, taking both this factors into account, the net new jobs created may be far less than 7 million. Using this data uncritically to support job creation claims is jumping the gun.

On a more optimistic note, a National Employment Policy has been widely reported to be on the cards for this year’s budget. But there are no details on what such a policy would entail. One hopes to see more direct job creation say via public investment in services. There is likely to be some focus on public investments in infrastructure for job creation. But a broader approach to public job creation would be welcome in the policy. Particularly creating jobs to improve the quality and delivery of services the government is already committed to providing, such as health, education, housing, and transport.

I have also chosen these as examples deliberately because data show that these are the largest part of the household budget (except food). Indeed, there is evidence that poor households are cutting back on food consumption to pay for health, education, housing, and commuting expenses. Recently, NITI Aayog VC Rajiv Kumar has also observed that low-cost or free provisioning of such services would go a long way in raising real incomes.

There are legitimate concerns here, of course, to do with the quality of public service provisioning. Do we really want the government spending more money on schools and hospitals when the quality is so bad that anyone with sufficient resources chooses to exit the system? In fact, as I mention above, exiting the public system and “going private” has its costs. The obvious solution is to repair the system, not abandon it.

Third, take the weak private investment climate. This is not a long-run structural issue like rural distress or the jobs crisis. But nevertheless, it is important in the short-run. Here too the fiscal implications are straightforward. An increase in public investment will most likely “crowd-in” private investment. That is, when the government spends in such a way that incomes rise, this creates demand that will bring forth private investment. In the face of lack of demand, as is the case right now, no amount of tax or other incentives really work to stimulate investment.

Obviously making a serious dent in any of these problems requires fiscal resources, both in the sense of increased spending and possibly foregone tax revenue. But if all the above make additional demands on the fiscal, all also have the potential to pay back many times over with increased incomes and increased demand. This brings me to my original point about the nature of government spending and revenue generation.

Failing to meet the fiscal deficit target due to increased public investment in agriculture or healthcare is not the same as failing to meet it due to foregone tax revenues on highly profitable large corporations or high net-worth individuals, both of which are increasing rapidly in India. Conversely, insisting on meeting the target at the cost of raising incomes and demand is not sound economic policy.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

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ecopulsebelize-blog · 7 years

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Belizean Solar Power Bonanza: Imminent Reality or Pipe Dream?

Capstone project by Ida Collins

Ida Collins is a retired schoolteacher who is on a mission to fulfill long-held ambition to work as a writer. In this essay, she explores the status quo of solar energy in Belize and provides arguments and ideas for its wider implementation.

Sunshine! Magnificent, intense sunshine!

We enjoy this brilliance in remarkable abundance almost throughout the year.

Recorded averages of direct sunshine hours have been shown to range normally between 5.0 to 9.9 hours. This is without doubt a priceless gift for the taking.

Belize has needs--urgent economic and developmental needs. We also share a global and regional problem: climate change, including global warming.

Can Belize use this gift?

Toledo in southern Belize reached out and accepted the gift. An insightful and enterprising Mayan woman, Florentina Choco, traveled to India to learn and master the basics of solar panel technology.

WATCH: Belize's First Indigenous Solar Engineer

She returned home and literally illuminated her village and the lives of her fellow villagers. Through her initiative, the candle and kerosene lamp have become emergency standby. Children study by electric light and link up with the rest of the wider world via television.

It now remains for the application of that expertise to spread further afield, to the crowded urban areas of our country, for instance to Belize City. What would accepting that priceless gift mean in an urban setting?

It would mean a seamstress using her electric sewing machine, not having to cringe on receiving her monthly electricity bill.

A family selling ideals (popsicles) as a sideline would make a few dollars more profit.

Corn tortilla factories could switch to cleaner electrical power and discontinue subjecting their neighborhood to smoke during production hours.

In other words, average people would gain a little more control of their destinies.

“Is it beneficial to all concerned?”

This is a line from the Rotary Club advertising jingle which holds true for the widespread adoption of solar power in tandem with the national power grid.

All concerned would benefit: energy consumers, energy suppliers, distributors and the environment.

I mention the environment last not as an indication of its position on the scale of importance; but simply because often individuals’ perception of their self-interest takes precedence over other equally or more important factors in decision making.

If solar energy is seen to generate good cost savings, it stands a good chance of being adopted on a widespread basis more readily. The environmental benefits would automatically follow.

The amount of fossil fuel needed to run our national power grid would be reduced, thus also reducing the quantity of damaging carbon dioxide emissions produced and released into the atmosphere.

Financial benefits might also be forthcoming, depending on the type and size of solar installation--whether it is a self-contained system or one linked to the power grid.

However, any configuration of solar panels would lessen the total amount of fossil fuel now required, and decrease the load of carbon dioxide released atmospherically, that much less fodder for the alarming waxing greenhouse effect and global warming.

SOLAR PANEL USE IN BELIZE

A look at the existing pattern of solar panel usage in Belize shows the following two broad user categories:

Off–the-grid users too far away from the national power grid system to connect to it, often in remote rural locations.

Solar panel users connected to the national power grid who realize energy and cost saving benefits by using both systems to complement each other--given the lack of precise predictability of bright sunny daylight conditions and cloudy overcast or rainy days. Also factoring in are night-time high energy demands.

Off-the-grid users:

Hotels, tourist resorts and some agro-business operations located far from the main grid

Small rural localities in isolated parts of the country. Good examples of these are in the southern district of Toledo mentioned previously, and the Belize River Valley in the Belize District.

A woman from the Belize River Valley came to Belize City on business and proudly described how, with her solar panel system, she now had her own adequate independent power source at an affordable cost.

Another group of small off-grid users is comprised of fishermen on the smaller cayes, who use solar energy to help preserve their catch of fish and conch until they bring them to market.

It is not surprising that groups of small-scale users like these continue to explore and expand their use of solar panel technology to transform their lives and to enjoy additional benefits and conveniences the technology makes possible.

The lifestyle transformation that occurs when electrical power is brought to areas that were previously without it can be dramatic. It affords time-saving through the use of labor saving power tools and electrical appliances that allow people time for other beneficial pursuits. Additional income generating activities are spawned or expanded. For instance, wood carvers and craftsmen revel in their new found ability to increase their output several times over and increase their income.

This circumstance probably does not often come up for mention, but the fire hearth, which produces some of the tastiest of dishes, relies on a wood fire. It can be a very smoky affair at times which many rural women are glad not to have to deal with on a daily basis any longer. It can be a threat to both health and the environment.

On-the-grid users

Quite a number of major consumers of electricity such as big businesses, government institutions and luxury home owners have installed solar panel systems while remaining linked to the power grid.

Their aim is to reduce the cost they pay for electricity. Since they have access either to loan capital or expendable funds they can afford the installation and maintenance costs of the solar power systems that meet their power consumption requirements.

Often, in the case of hotels, energy saving lighting and hot water systems are main areas of cost saving. Retaining both operating systems, the national electricity grid and their solar systems and using them strategically, yields worthwhile cost savings.

While the sun shines and their solar system storage capacity is not exhausted, solar power is brought into service. Conversely, when there is no sunshine and the storage batteries for the solar system are depleted the national grid meets the power demands. This is undoubtedly a win-win situation once the initial installation costs have been cleared.

ELECTRICITY IN BELIZE

The country’s sole electricity provider, Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), declares itself ready to move with the times.

It prides itself on providing electricity in a reasonably efficient way and at a comparatively manageable cost. Many residents of Caribbean islands pay higher electric rates than Belizeans.

The scattered small villages countrywide are gradually being added to the power grid, but not quickly enough for the villagers. Hydro-electricity from the Chalillo and its companion dam supply a portion of BEL’s electricity.

Imported fossil fuel still looms large in the energy supply configuration, together with electricity purchased from neighboring Mexico at fairly favorable prices depending on surplus availability.

BEL, aware that some of our Caribbean neighbors have ventured boldly into the use of solar energy, publicized its commitment to expand the use of more green and environmentally friendly energy sources. It invited tenders for solar and other forms of cleaner energy. A submission for a solar project to supply 10% of the country’s current peak demands was received.

An extremely informative interview with a BEL staff engineer was characterized by a keen awareness of the inevitability of BEL shifting further toward utilizing green energy in fulfilling its function of energy transmission and distribution.

He highlighted and clarified some of the technical, legal and organizational issues that would need to be addressed. These included the following:

The legal preliminaries needed to govern the new provider-consumer relationship to be worked out with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). This body regulates and controls the functioning of the utility companies, including rates charged for services.

A metering mechanism to regulate the process of accepting customers’ surplus solar energy into the grid in the interest of efficiency and grid stability.

In fact, some customers with medium to large solar installations already have been pressing for an arrangement to sell their surplus power to the grid.

These preparatory provisions take time and cost money, but it would happen in due course. The BEL engineer concluded with the bit of good news that the cost of solar technology systems continued to drop.

Planners and policy makers in the Caribbean are on the alert for sub-standard equipment from abroad and are looking into the possibility of manufacturing their own jointly in the region.

FINANCING SOLAR ENERGY

The average citizen with limited financial resources seems to have extremely limited access to loan funds for solar technology acquisition.

In Belize the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) offers “Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Financing” This, however, is specifically for businesses.

The loan brochure lists DFC’s target sectors: Tourism, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Agro-processing, Business services and Residential (apartments).

Average home owners do not qualify for this 6% p.a. interest rate payable on the reducing balance.

Large-scale project funds from other sources do of course exist. A large-scale solar energy project for a salt water reverse osmosis desalinization plant at Caye Caulker, one of our well populated cayes, clearly demonstrates the environmental benefits of solar power.

This US $200,000 project, a 70kwh three phased photo-voltaic solar system connected directly to the grid, was implemented by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre with the cooperation of Belize Water Services Ltd., BEL and relevant government ministries. It avoids 95 – 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.

The proposed Belize City initiative could conceivably begin with as little as a single panel or two per house, with expansion graduated over time as cost savings permitted if government savings were unavailable. This is where the Toledo experience would prove invaluable.

CONCLUSIONS

The cost quotes from our local solar panel suppliers put the minimum price tag of the smallest available solar panel system at $3,000 in Belizean currency-- equivalent to US $1,500--well above the comfort level of affordability for the majority of average Belizeans.

It therefore seems that a special small project can be drawn up for a limited area. This could be implemented as a pilot project with the collaboration of certain institutions with interest and expertise of this sort, starting with our Institute for Technical and Vocational Training (ITVET).

The Orange Walk branch of the ITVET might be particularly interested in such an experiential opportunity for their budding technicians and their instructors. The University of Belize (UB) should not be bypassed in this exciting experiment either. heir Engineering Department could play a valuable and key role in this project.

If a sweat-equity element were built into the project, and also a small percentage of cost as a homeowner’s contribution, perhaps arranged through our credit unions, this would add a desirable element of self-help and entrepreneurship to the project.

The proposal could be submitted to some of the many development agencies that champion human resource enhancement.

The project’s success would then justify its replication. Would this be “beneficial to all concerned?” It would be worth finding out.

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

Belize Weather Bureau – Ms. Catherine Cumberbatch (Chief Meteorologist)

Regional Climate Change Centre (Belmopan) – Mrs. Ann Gordon

Belize Electricity Limited - Mr. Herschel Armstrong (Engineer)

Development Finance Corporation (Loans)

Pro Solar Engineering Ltd.

Karl H. Menzies Ltd - Ms. Kay Menzies

Love FM Radio & TV - Mrs. Ava Diaz ( Santa Teresa, Toledo solar project interview )

Photo of the Sunrise & Graph of Hours of Direct Sunshine are courtesy of Belize Weather Bureau.

ABOUT THE CLASS

#solar energy #solar #electricity #Belize #energy #power grid #sunshine #sunlight

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orfonlineorg-blog · 8 years

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Removing local, old bottlenecks

It would be interesting to see how the new restructured Central scheme announced in the Union Budget for exporters and trading agents, and good on paper, unfolds in the coming days and what it holds in store for exporters and other trading agents

Indian exports are showing a downward trend since the past several years. Merchandise exports declined at a compound annual rate of 3.8 per cent, from $305.96 billion in 2011-12 to $262.29 billion in 2015-16. The constant poor export performance has alarmed policymakers who are devising strategies to reverse the trend. Rating agency Crisil remarked that the fall in Indian exports is not due to cyclical factors such as prices and world GDP growth, but due to structural (or infrastructural) bottlenecks that are internal to the country. Poor infrastructure at border check-points is one of the main obstacles for reviving Indian exports. A new scheme announced in the Union Budget for building export infrastructure at the state level, leveraging the Union Government’s support, is critical to expanding export activities.

The scheme,Trade Infrastructure for Exports Scheme (TIES), appears to be a re-packaging of an old one, the Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development of Exports (ASIDE), but with few additional features such as equal sharing of the cost burden (except for projects in the North-East and the Himalayan region States), creating modern export infrastructure in the form of common testing, labelling and packaging, and cold storage facilities at ports and custom check-points. Union Minister for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned recently that around 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures (or norms on food safety and plant/animal health standards) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) notifications issued by WTO member countries each month, can potentially impact India’s trade. Inadequate infrastructural facilities in the form of testing laboratories for these measures and standards, certification centres, etc at border check-points are the major source of transaction costs for most Indian export industries. Due to limited provision of testing facilities at the check-points, complemented by stringent rules and regulations and complex administrative procedures, exporters face procedural delays, resulting in high transaction costs for them. The high costs thus make Indian exports non-competitive in the global market.

Read also | Rethinking China’s non-market economy status beyond 2016

There is an immediate need to improve export infrastructure, particularly port-related infrastructure which impacts the smooth transit of goods across borders. The development of port infrastructure is critical to improving efficiency of Indian exports. Ports in India handle nearly 95 per cent of the country’s total trade volume and about 70 per cent of the total trade value. The 12 major ports and 200 notified non-major ports in India are administered by the Union Government and State Governments and Union Territories respectively.

Since ports are key junction points, ensuring their connectivity with various other modes of transport (roads, rail and inland waterways) is essential. About seven major Indian ports including JNPT, Paradip, Tuticorn, and Haldia have four-lane road and double-line rail connectivity, whereas only six out of 61 minor ports (responsible for handling export-import cargo) have road and rail connectivity. This highlights that Indian ports, especially the minor ones, are plagued with the problem of last mile connectivity. Some minor ports do not have requisite roads or rail network to connect them with external hinterlands. Even those that have road connectivity, have narrow roads inadequate for containers/cargo movement. This makes these ports non-feasible and unattractive for transit by exporters. The poor quality of roads, including their load-bearing capacity, needs to be upgraded for faster flow of goods within the domestic territory as well as across countries.

Moreover, many ports and border check-points in India have poor support facilities in the form of intermittent Internet connectivity, absence of storage/warehouses, quarantine testing laboratories etc. The absence of quarantine testing facilities at the border causes delays as the products then need to be sent to nearby testing laboratories. For example, due to an absence of a testing lab at the Petrapole border, the samples of goods are sent to labs in Kolkata, which increases time and cost of trading for exporters. Additionally, poor Internet connectivity affects EDI (electronic data interchange) platform established at ports to facilitate trade across borders. The absence of storage units/ cold storage also creates problems, particularly for exporters of agricultural products (fruits, vegetables, grains).

Read also | Making BITs Less Biting: India’s Reform of the Investment Regime

About 20 per cent to 30 per cent of total food grain harvest is wasted due to inadequate storage facilities in India. The new scheme aims to bridge the existing infrastructure gaps, further boosting Indian exports. The special feature of the new scheme is that the Union Government would support State regimes financially as well as supplement their efforts to create necessary export infrastructure at minor ports.

The States are also requested to align their individual export strategy with the national policy on trade.Till date, around 17 States have submitted their export strategies, including potential products for exports, potential export markets, technical standards they have to conform to and their competitors in the global market.

The recent Budget allocation of about Rs 100 crore to the new scheme, TIES, is nearly double the amount allocated to the old one — ASIDE — before its delinking from the Budget in 2015-16. The enhanced Budget would be shared equally by the Centre and State regimes to build appropriate export infrastructure at major and minor ports in India. Since the details about the projects/activities to be financed under the new scheme are not out yet from the Ministry of Commerce, it is difficult to comment on whether the new idea would create a favourable trading environment for exporters and importers. However, a recent article released by Press Trust of India disclosed a few details about the projects to be covered under the new scheme. The Government would not get involved in areas such as road construction, power sub-stations or parking spaces under TIES. Rather, it would focus on infrastructure projects like border haats, custom check-points, last mile connectivity and cold storage at ports. Still, the scheme would certainly strengthen Centre-State relations by enabling equity participation between the two.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has remarked that TIES would require sufficient funding to make an impact in the trading environment. In this way, the scheme is likely to provide greater avenues to the private sector as well to cooperate with governments at Centre and State level and synergise efforts to build adequate export infrastructure at the ports and land custom stations. It would be interesting to see how the new restructured Central scheme unfolds in the coming days and what it holds in store for exporters and other trading agents.

This commentary originally appeared in The Pioneer.

#COMMENTARIES DEVELOPING AND EMERGING ECONOMIES ECONOMY AND GROWTH INDIA INDIAN ECONOMY TRANSPORTATION

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dairynewsin-blog · 8 years

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New Post has been published on Dairy News India

New Post has been published on http://dairynews.in/budget-2017-food-industry-biggies-want-year/? utm_source=Tumblr

Budget 2017: What food industry biggies want this year

The Union Budget 2017 is almost upon us. Even as the food industry grapples with the effects of demonetization, they hope for sops and incentives that will make up for the losses they incurred post the note ban. Here is a wish list of industry biggies…

Sanjana Desai, Head – Business Development, Mother’s Recipe: The FMCG sector, which saw marginal improvement in the beginning of the year 2016, is again reeling under pressure – marked by low volume growth due to demonetisation impact, especially in the rural area.

With the upcoming union budget, the industry expects government to provide necessary thrust to the agri-based Industry by introducing reforms promoting growth to lift the overall consumer sentiment and drive demand. Apart from this we expect support from the government in providing export benefits on food processing along with revisiting the service- tax structure for marketing and advertising done for international markets (outside India).

Also with GST scheduled to be rolled out from July 1st along with sufficient re monetisation we anticipate revival in demand providing necessary boost to the overall FMCG sector & especially to the organised food-processing national brands like Mother’s Recipe and others.

Vikrant Batra, Owner, Cafe Delhi Heights

“A great move by our Prime Minister for initiating and taking the bold step of demonetization to eradicate black money in the economy. It is still too early to predict how successful it has been but it would be safe to say that the move took every by a storm. Talking about this year’s budget, we will expect a lot of opportunities from our Finance Minister to settle the economy and help everyone.

I feel the motive behind demonetization was to get everybody into the tax bracket and subsequently bringing the tax down so that the people are encouraged to go through the process of taking the route of eradicating black money. Each and every transaction should be monitored and taxed. Having said that the government will also have to give a relaxation in the slab of taxes, the percentage has to come down so that people are encouraged to pay taxes.”

Devendra Shah, CMD, Parag Milk Foods Ltd.

“The Government’s focus is on implementation of cashless economy which supports long-term economic growth. All eyes are now on the Union Budget for clarity on taxation policy and regulatory issues, and norms for support of cashless economy. We hope to see supportive policies for the Dairy Sector.

1. Boost Investment in Dairy Sector – Dairying in India, is not just an economic activity. It is an integral part of our society, our culture. No other industry can claim to touch lives of millions of farmers; more than half of them landless. Given market access, remunerative prices to farmers, dairy can become a potent tool for equitable growth and income distribution.

Genuine impetus to the dairy sector leading to its growth will lead to that elusive balanced and inclusive growth where our villages progress alongside urban India. Given, over 40 per cent of population of India is vegetarian, milk is now the largest crop of India and milk products are the primary source of protein for nutritional development of population. It is reasonable to assign a status of agriculture products should be assigned to milk products. Therefore bringing milk and milk products to NIL under GST is warranted.

2. Create Alternate Livelihood for Farmers – There have been some external reports stating farmers difficulty to see Rabi crops due to the unavailability of new currency notes in sufficient numbers. If the reports that large areas of agricultural land have remained unsown are true, food inflation can become a challenge. With unpredictable monsoon season, we shall look for alternate source of earnings for farmers. Keeping this in mind, private dairy sector should be provided with additional incentives for ease of farmers.

3. Boost Dairy Growth Through Private Sector – India is the largest producer of milk. The Indian dairy industry presently contributes about 15 per cent to the total milk production of the world. Dairy Industry in India presents a plethora of opportunities. Earlier, dairy industry was dominated by co-operatives but since last 20 years with the entry of private players, we have seen a sharp rise in demand for milk and milk products. The private sector having overtaken the cooperatives today.

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The overall industry is underdeveloped and extremely fragmented. Private sector is now willing to further speed-up its investment in Indian dairy industry but an extremely poor state of farmers and no incentive for private dairy to develop farmers is becoming a real hurdle. A subsidy on purchase of milk from farmers under cashless conditions shall be initiated to bring double advantage in terms of supporting farmers from vagaries of monsoon and also bringing economy to cashless.

4. Develop Infrastructure – To maintain quality, longer shelf life and to keep it fit for human consumption, proper packaging of milk products is essential. It is therefore be promoted to investment in cold chain infrastructure and support in terms of subsidy and tax relief be granted. Packing of milk products should also be construed as processing for preservation and the packaging industry should be exempted from all duties like excise, GST, Octroi etc. and should be considered under the food processing industry. If a meaningful impetus were to be given to the dairy industry, all machinery and equipment used by the industry should be exempt from import duty.

5. Avoid Loss of Nation’s Crop – Also, when there is a thrust on increasing the milk production, then there should be ample amount of facilities to handle it. There is a dearth of required infrastructure of chilling plants and bulk coolers due to which so much of milk goes waste due to spoilage. There are long distances to be covered to reach bulk milk coolers from the collection centre. There is a shortage of refrigerated vans and insulated tankers for ferrying the chilled milk to the processing plants. Government should create a fund to support these activities by subsidising these investment to a large extent for economic growth of the country.”

Anuj Kushwah, Managing Director & Founder of Kaama Impex Pvt. Ltd (Wittlinger Beer)

Beer drinking habits are changing in the country on a very fast pace. People are looking for good quality beers with varied taste. Imported beers offer solution to this new need. This segment has great potential to grow. Since domestic beers do not offer similar quality and taste, government should look into slashing custom duty on beer.

Once imported beer brands see bigger market in India their next step will be to brew domestically, thus creating huge employment opportunity. However liquor is kept out of the GST and it is a big hurdle in smooth distribution.

Therefore, the beer industry can look forward to ‘Budget 2017’ for two main elements: reducing custom duty on imported liquor in India and including alcohol beverage in proposed GST. This will give a shot in arm to the overall business as well as create more avenues for consumers to enjoy their favorite drink.

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