CARBIDE Pandemic Extended in CARBIDE Rule!Indians more worried than Chinese, Americans on climate change!Why humans outlive apes?Rising sea level threatens Sunderbans inhabitants!

CARBIDE Pandemic Extended in CARBIDE Rule!Indians more worried than Chinese, Americans on climate change!Why humans outlive apes?Rising sea level threatens Sunderbans inhabitants!


Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time -Two Hundred Thirty Nine

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

Indian activists marked the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas leak disaster on Thursday with protests and demands that those responsible for thousands of deaths finally be held to account.It is reminiscent of Early Eighties, Operation Blue Star, Sikh Genocide and failure of GREEN Revolution. I had just landed in Meerut from Ranchi where I had to witness the Military Revolt in ramgarh cant and read daily edits written by Prabhash Joshi and rajendra mathur Dictating Indira gandhi that the nation was on Operation table and the Army must act. Now it makes me laugh while I read about all the Rubbish that the Hindu Intelligentsia had been so much so concerned with the Persecution of Sikh Nationality. Bhopal gas Tragedy is essentially linked with the Resurgence of Hindutva and India becoming the Safe heaven of ZIONOISM and FREE Market whic made everything Chemically, Biologically and Nuclear inflicted. Since Neo Liebralism introduced by the BASTARDISED Politicians, Economists and Policy makers with the Decalration of death for Idelogy, History and Genres, LPG Mafia has inflicted the Nation with CARBIDE Pandemic as the Gandhian CARBIDES made the ZIONIST Dynasty tagged with United States as well as Israel and made Indian Ocean Peace Zone a Region of Constant Conflict, War and Civil War, Repression, Ethnic Cleansing, Exodus,Insurgency and Terror!

Hundreds of people marched through Bhopal with torches before dawn Thursday to mark the 25th anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster and demand the cleanup of toxic chemicals they say still contaminate the Indian city's soil and water.

Early on Dec. 3, 1984, a pesticide plant run by Union Carbide spewed about 40 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate gas into the city's air, quickly killing about 4,000 people. The lingering effects of the poison raised the death toll to about 15,000 over the next few years, according to government estimates.

Me and Sabita were still in Honeymoon mode as I was not quite OFF the way from my Social and Environment Activism. My Father, the Black Untouchable Refugee Leader leading Peasant Uprising and Mobilising Refugees for Civi and Human Rights were still active.I had just returned form the hot pot of Nationality Movement, Jharkhand and landed myself in the Jat Bastion where I witnessed Hindutva Festivals Presided by the SO Called Secular Gandhian carbides including Prabhash Joshi! Later, I witness how Meerut and the Rest of Uttar Pradesh were IGNITED with Communal Mass Suicide. It was the real back ground for Operation Blue Star, finalised in Meerut Cant. and Bhopal Gas Tragedy and Global Hindutva proved to be the best Stimulus for US Corporate Colonisation which followed very soon jsut after the Demise of Mrs ionmdira Gandhi with the Historical super Alliance of RSS, Gandhian Carbides, Socialst Oxides and Marxist Hypocrite with the single Goal, HINDU Corporate nation, the HINDU Swaraj, Ram rajya of Gandhi, the Greatest Zionist outside Israel, Americas and Europe!From which US President Barack OBAMA seeks inspiration very logically.

We had no TV at home. We rented a room in KL Dutta house in Nagala Battu near Meerut cant wherefrom I could see all RSS activities and Corporate Manipulation as I was In charge of a Prominent Hindi Daily Edition and had to deal with the corporates. I witnessed how the handlooms were destroyed! How Cottage Industries all over North India were lit on fire. I tarced well the Geography of Corporatisation annexed with Communalisation supervised the Ruling carbides.

The daughter in law of the land lord, Manju was a daughter of a Military Official from Lucknow. She had a sister in Bhopal where UNION Carbide exposed the Masses to Carbon Monoxide to experiment Chemical warfare which continues till this date with modertae termonology like Disinvestment, Foreign Capital Inflow, GDR, development, Urbanisation, Infrastructure, Industrialisation, retail chain, IT, Public Private venture, NGO, Maoism,Genetic Engineering and even on the name of Environment, Ecology,Life Cycles, Conservation, Global warming and Climate Change. Since I spent my entire student life in the Himalayas deeply indulged in Environment activism, I maty dare to distingush the Hidden Agenda out of PR Literature which I dealt well in Dhanbad, the Caol Fields!

Manju`s Sister and Brother in law withtheir chiled were entarpped in the Gas Envelop and we witnessed a Bhopal at home while the Couple suvived the tragedy and lost the child in a road accident later! The Tragedy NEVER Ended. rather it ESCALATED as CARBIDE Pandemic!

Demonstrators and survivors capped a week of commemorations with a march to the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, where on December 3, 1984 a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas killed up to 10,000 people within three days.

CARBIDE Pandemic Extended in CARBIDE Rule!Worried over 'urban chaos becoming a way of life', Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday called for radical reforms for the future of urban India.With food inflation shooting up and the Centre asking states to do something about it, Akali Dal-ruled Punjab today hit back, saying the union government's policies were to blame for the upward spiral in prices.The Reserve Bank today said the domestic banks do not have much exposure to the debt-ridden Dubai World and hence their balance sheets will not be materially affected from the crisis.

Local activists insist the real numbers are almost twice that, and say the company and government have failed to clean up toxic chemicals at the plant, which closed after the accident.

"Down with the government," and "Down with Union Carbide," the protesters chanted Thursday as they marched to the plant in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state.

"Punish the guilty and remove the toxic waste from the plant that still contaminates the soil and groundwater," said Rashid Bi, a victim who joined the march.

Union Carbide was bought by Dow Chemical Co. in 2001. Dow says the legal case was resolved in 1989 when Union Carbide settled with the Indian government for $470 million, and that all responsibility for the factory now rests with the government of the state of Madhya Pradesh, which now owns the site.

The government says at least 500,000 people were affected by the gas, also known as MIC. Activists say thousands of children born to parents directly exposed to the gas or poisoned by contaminated water are suffering from brain damage, cleft lips, missing palates and twisted limbs.

Skin, vision and breathing disorders also are common, they say.

"The enormity of that tragedy of neglect still gnaws at our collective conscience," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement Wednesday.

"I reaffirm our government's commitment to resolving issues of safe drinking water, expeditious cleanup of the site, continuation of medical research, and any other outstanding issues connected with the Bhopal gas tragedy," he said.

However, Babulal Gaur, the state minister for gas relief and rehabilitation, insists there is no current toxic contamination and dismisses assertions that the birth defects are related to the disaster. He says the diseases plaguing children are only a consequence of living in poor slums.

Investigations have found that the accident occurred when water entered a sealed tank containing highly reactive MIC, causing pressure in the tank to rise too high.

Union Carbide Corp., an American chemical company, said the accident was an act of sabotage by a disgruntled employee who was never identified, and not the result of lax safety standards or faulty plant design, as claimed by some activists.

Critics say the plant should not have used MIC, which is cheaper than less-hazardous alternatives, and should not have been located in a highly populated area.

'As infrastructure struggles to keep pace with demand, urban chaos is becoming a way of life. Our cities and towns are not an acceptable face of a rapidly modernising and developing economy. This must clearly change and change for the better,' said Manmohan Singh.He was speaking at a function here to mark the fourth anniversary of the government's flagship Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.The prime minister reiterated the 'government's firm commitment to the development of the urban sector'.

Rising sea level threatens Sunderbans inhabitants!At least 10,000 inhabitants have been turned into environmental refugees and another 70,000 are in the danger of meeting the same fate over the next thirty years, environmental experts say.After a 10-year study in and around the Bay of Bengal, oceanographers say the sea is rising at 3.14 millimetres a year in the Sunderbans against a global average of 2 mm, threatening low-lying areas of India and Bangladesh.

Why humans outlive apes?Chimpanzees and great apes have lifespans that barely exceed 50 years, in spite of their genetic similarity to humans. The difference is that humans evolved genes that enabled them to better adjust to levels of infection, inflammation and to the high cholesterol levels of their meat-rich diets, says a researcher.Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar Thursday said he will make certain 'startling revelations' about the razing of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya Dec 6, 1992, on the 17th anniversary of the incident Sunday.The debate on the Liberhan Commission report in the Lok Sabha has been rescheduled to Dec 7 and 8, while in the Rajya Sabha it will be held Dec 9 and 10, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said here Thursday.The Samajwadi Party Thursday said it will join hands with non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposition parties to hold a rally Dec 18 protesting rise in prices of essential commodities and issues concerning farmers.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)is likely to revise upwards growth forecasts for 2009/10 when it reviews policy in January and monetary action may be needed if inflation accelerates, senior officials said on Thursday.
Following in China's footsteps, India has also decided to slow down the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.Last week, China had claimed that it would cut carbon emissions up to 45 percent by 2020. India has decided to cut its carbon intensity by 24 percent by 2020.AsGold created history in the Mumbai bullion market, with the yellow metal crossing the Rs 18,000 level per 10 grams for the first time in the history.Menawhile,The two LeT militants, handed over to India by Bangladesh, have confessed to their involvement in the serial blasts that rocked Bangalore in 2008.

Hmar tribes of Manipur celebrated their community's colourful harvest festival, Hmar Sikpui Ruoi recently with much fanfare.On this occasion, various troupes presented cultural dances and songs during the festival.Though there is no particular date for holding this festival, it is celebrated on any convenient days during the winter in December (Mimtuk thla) and January (Tuolbuol thla).Sikpui Ruoi, in olden days, was celebrated for several days and sometimes, the celebration lasted a month. But usually, the celebration lasts for a week.

The all-embracing mood of the festival where everyone, rich and poor, young and old can participate without any social inhibition is a distinctive feature of the Sikpui Ruoi.

On this auspicious occasion, everybody be it young or old, rich or poor, dances in blissful harmony on a common platform.

Rising sea levels has forced thousands of families to leave their ancestral houses and lands in the Sunderbans area of West Bengal, and many more are living in the constant fear of losing theirs.

Sugato Hazra, an oceanographer at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, who led the team that conducted the study, said an increase in the sea temperature was compounding the problems for the islanders.

Studies released earlier this week showed the shanty towns surrounding the site were still laced with lethal chemicals that polluted groundwater and soil, causing birth defects and a range of chronic illnesses.

"The survivors of the tragedy, through these protests, are venting their ire against the state government for its inaction in clearing the toxic waste," said Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group of Information and Action.

Research by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) showed 25,000 people have died from the consequences of exposure since 1984.

After those studies concluded, government statistics said 100,000 people were chronically sick, with more than 30,000 people living in water-contaminated areas around the factory.

The state government of Madhya Pradesh, of which Bhopal is capital, assumed responsibility for the site in 1998, and has only partially cleared the hundreds of tonnes of toxic materials scattered around the plant.

Thousands more tonnes lie just yards away from the plant in man-made "solar evaporation ponds" where Union Carbide was dumping waste for years before the accident.

State authorities say the material is not harmful and, to prove this, last month said they planned to open the site to visitors. Officials later reversed the decision.

In a statement released to coincide with the anniversary, Dow Chemical -- which purchased Union Carbide in 1999 -- said a 470 million dollar settlement reached in 1989 with the Indian government "resolved all existing and future claims" against the company.

Union Carbide "did all it could to help the victims and their families" until the settlement and said the Indian government should be responsible for providing clean drinking water and health services to residents.

It said at the time and continues to insist that sabotage was behind the leak.

Most of the settlement money was used to pay compensation of 1,000-2,000 dollars to victims who were left unable to work or with long-term ailments, but many received nothing at all.

"People came and told us we could apply for compensation," Laxmi Narayan, whose wife suffers severe eye complaints apparently caused by the industrial accident, told AFP. "They took our name down, but we never saw a penny."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement describing Bhopal as a tragedy that "still gnaws at our collective conscience" and he vowed continued efforts to tackle the issues of drinking water and site decontamination.

Criminal cases against former Union Carbide executives are pending in various Indian and US courts which hold them and Dow liable for the catastrophe.

Amnesty International called on Dow to "cooperate fully in the ongoing legal proceedings in order to ensure that those responsible are held accountable."

What can states do? Everything is in the hand of the Central government," Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal said within days of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee blaming states for the rising prices. Food inflation rose to 17.47 per cent as of the third week of November, driven by high prices of onions and other edibles.

Badal was talking to reporters, who asked him about the rising prices of essential items, after a meeting with Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Asked what the state is doing to check the hoarding of essential commodities, Badal said the Centre has to see that.

Last week, Mukherjee and Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had put the onus on states, maintaining that reining in prices was not just a Central issue. Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha that when vegetable prices increase, blame cannot be squarely put on the Union Finance Minister or the Union Agriculture Minister.

"Surely, it is bad management (by some states)." Similarly, Pawar had told Parliament: "I have written to the Chief Ministers that if the state government machinery is not alert, it will be difficult to provide relief to people.

"In Sunderbans the impact (of global warming) is very high because not only the coastline is retreating and we are losing islands and losing land at the rate of say, in 30 years we have lost 90 square kilometre area including two islands. A lot of people have become environmental migrants but also high intensity cyclones are increasing in Bay of Bengal because of the rise in the sea surface temperature," said Hazra, director of the School of Oceanography at the Jadavpur University.

According to a United Nations climate panel report, human activity was causing global warming and it predicted more droughts, heat-waves and rising seas.

But for the Sunderbans, made up of hundreds of islands, criss-crossed by narrow water channels and home to many of India's dwindling tiger populations, the threat is more immediate.

At least 15 islands have been affected but erosion is widespread in other islands as well, Hazra said.

A combination of drought and then heavy rainfall this year plus increasing soil salinity have made it impossible to grow enough food to survive on traditional agriculture alone.

At least four million people live in the islands spread across 9,630 sq. km (3,700 sq. miles) of mangrove swamps.

Obama rejoining economic debate with jobs summit

Under pressure from Republicans and an impatient public to fix the sputtering economic recovery, President Barack Obama is refocusing on this politically potent issue by talking job creation with business and labor leaders at the White House.

The White House has lacked a unified economic message in recent weeks, with its attention focused instead on health care and Obama's three-month review of the Afghanistan war. With unemployment in double digits for the first time in decades, Democratic lawmakers are suggesting a second economic stimulus aimed directly at job creation may be needed.

Administration officials are hoping Thursday's jobs forum, an Obama trip to Pennsylvania on Friday and a major economic speech on Tuesday will help counter Republican critics who contend the administration's economic recovery efforts have failed and its oversight of the $787 billion stimulus package has been inadequate.

At the jobs forum, Obama planned to defend his administration's handling of the economy and argue that it would be in far worse shape had Congress not passed the huge stimulus bill earlier this year. Under intense GOP attacks, public support for the stimulus effort has faded.

"I certainly hope it's more than a photo op," said the No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. "All of us want to do anything we can to get Americans back to work. Past history has been, with this White House, that there's been a lot of pomp and ceremony with very little follow-through in terms of delivering results."

Administration officials said they don't expect major policy announcements from the president, Vice President Joe Biden or members of the Cabinet who were scheduled to be on hand.

"Increasing employment is everyone's responsibility, from government to businesses to households," Obama economic adviser Larry Summers said in advance of the forum. "The White House jobs forum will take stock of where we are on the implementation of the Recovery Act and explore new job creation measures, including infrastructure investment, incentives for small businesses, developing our green economy and promoting U.S. exports."

The nation's unemployment rate is 10.2 percent, the highest since 1983. Some 15.7 million Americans are out of work. The average jobless worker has been unemployed for more than six months. These sobering statistics spell potentially serious trouble for Democrats in next year's midterm elections.

The recession technically may be over, but analysts say many of the jobs lost in the downturn probably will not return and high unemployment is likely to persist.

Indians more worried than Chinese, Americans on climate change!

Just before world leaders assemble in Copenhagen to discuss climate change, a new global survey shows sharp differences among people in different countries about global warming.

Throwing up an interesting contrast in the world's two fastest growing nations, China and India, the Global Attitudes survey by the respected Pew Research Center shows 67 percent Indians are worried about global warming as against just 30 percent Chinese.

The survey, conducted from May 18 to June 16, shows that there is a lot less concern about climate change in the three major polluters US, Russia and China than in other leading nations.

Compared to 90 percent in Brazil, 68 percent in France, 67 percent in India, 65 percent in Japan, 61 percent in Spain and 60 percent in Germany, only 44 percent in the US and Russia say they are concerned about climate change. At 30 percent, the Chinese are least concerned about climate change, says the survey.

In fact, in India, China and Brazil which have enjoyed strong economic growth in recent years, eight in 10 people favour giving priority to the environment over rapid economic expansion. According to the survey, people in these countries are willing to make sacrifices such as having to pay higher prices to protect the environment.

Anxiety about global warming is also less pervasive among Israelis (48 percent), Kenyans (48 percent), Canadians (47 percent) and Indonesians (44 percent).

However, large majorities in every country believe that global warming is a serious problem, with majorities in 15 of the 25 countries say it is 'very serious.' Also, majorities in 23 of 25 countries agree that protecting the environment should be given priority, even at the cost of slower economic growth and job losses.

India is at present under immense pressure to pronounce the details of how it would cut its carbon intensity. New Delhi's position will strengthen at the Copenhagen summit if it is successful in its aim.

Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said, "We now have taken on performance targets in energy, building, forestry and various sectors of the economy. We are not going to be taking any legally binding emission cuts. That is simply out of the question, but we can look at various alternatives. Incidentally, our carbon intensity is very low.

"The Chinese have just announced a carbon intensity decline by 2020 and according to that, they will be in the year 2020 where India was in 2005 as far as carbon intensity is concerned."

With this stand, India is under immense pressure to set emissions targets ahead of the Copenhagen summit. The western countries are imposing their pressure on India to quantify the cuts.

To add to that, the developed countries want India to draw out and state a plan that India will follow to cut its emissions.

Caleb Finch, gerontology professor at the University of Southern California (USC) has revealed that these evolutionary genetic advantages, caused by slight differences in DNA sequencing and improvements in diet, make humans uniquely susceptible to diseases of aging such as cancer, heart disease and dementia when compared to other primates.

Finch said that a major contributor to longevity is human genes that adapt to higher exposure to inflammation.

"Over time, ingestion of red meat, particularly raw meat infected with parasites in the era before cooking, stimulates chronic inflammation that leads to some of the common diseases of aging," Finch said.

In addition to differences in diets between species of primates, humans evolved unique variants in a cholesterol transporting gene, apolipoprotein E, which also regulates inflammation and many aspects of aging in the brain and arteries.

ApoE3 is unique to humans and may be what Finch calls "a meat-adaptive gene" that has increased the human lifespan.

However, the minor allele, apoE4, when expressed in humans, can impair neuronal development, as well as shorten human lifespan by about four years and increase the risk of heart disease and Alzheimer disease by several-fold.

ApoE4 carriers have higher totals of blood cholesterol, more oxidized blood lipids and early onset of coronary heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

"The chimpanzee apoE functions more like the "good" apoE3, which contributes to low levels of heart disease and Alzheimer's," Finch said. Correspondingly, chimpanzees in captivity have unusually low levels of heart disease and Alzheimer-like changes during aging.

Finch hypothesizes that the expression of ApoE4 could be the result of the antagonistic pleiotropy theory of aging, in which genes selected to fight diseases in early life have adverse affects in later life.

"ApoeE may be a prototype for other genes that enabled the huge changes in human lifespan, as well as brain size, despite our very unape-like meat-rich diets. Drugs being developed to alter activities of apoE4 may also enhance lifespan of apoE4 carriers," Finch said.

The findings have been published in the December issue of PNAS Early Edition. (ANI)

Don't compromise in Copenhagen, MPs urge government

Ahead of the global climate talks in Copenhagen, Indian MPs Thursday urged the government not to compromise on development issues and commit to only what is practicable.

The Lok Sabha held a special discussion on the issue. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is likely to spell out various steps that the government is taking to tackle climate change.

Indian officials have calculated that the country will reduce its carbon intensity by 24 percent by 2020, compared to 2005, if the effects of its National Action Plan on Climate Change are quantified. India is the world's fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

India is under pressure from the US and China to do so after the two countries quantified their targets on carbon emissions. China has announced to cut its carbon intensity in the range of 40 to 45 percent, while the US has pledged to reduce emissions by 17 percent.

Speaking during the debate in the Lok Sabha, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi said India should lead poor nations for a development model.

He said the Western model of development and lifestyle needed to be changed to save mother earth.

'Earth is our mother. Ask the Western developed world to change their lifestyle,' Joshi told Jairam Ramesh in the house.

He said he would be happy if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attends the Dec 7-18 Copenhagen meet and 'sends out a message to the world that India will lead the poor developing nations in saving the earth. We should not compromise'.

Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit, while expressing concern at the hazards India is suffering due to climate change, said the government should only commit what can be done and achieved.

'Commit to what is possible. Be balanced. Don't commit what cannot be done,' Dikshit said.

Mangi Lal Mandal of the Janata Dal-United said India's problem is its poverty, but 'we are being told to accept what is suitable to the developed Europe and America'.

'It is learnt that India will commit to huge GHG emission cut and ask for new and renewable energy technology. Are they (Western countries) trying to make us a market of their technology in the name of climate change hazards,' Mandal said.
Indo Asian News Service

India''s drug industry is over Rs one lakh crore

The Indian Pharmaceutical industry has become the third largest in the world in terms of volume, valued at over Rs one lakh crore, Parliament was informed today. "The Indian pharmaceutical industry, now over one lakh crore (US $ 20 billion) industry, has shown tremendous progress in terms of infrastructure development,technology base creation and a wide range of products," Minister of State in the Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry Srikant Kumar Jena said in the Lok Sabha in reply to a written query.

The country now ranks third worldwide by volume and 14th by value thereby accounting for around 10 per cent of the world''s production by volume and 1.5 per cent by value, he added. "Globally, it ranks fourth in terms of generic production and 17th in terms of export value of bulk actives and dosage forms," Jena said.

The industry has established its presence and determination to flourish in the changing environment, the minister said. Indian exports pharmaceuticals to more than 200 countries around the globe, including highly regulated markets of USA, West Europe, Japan and Australia.

Three port projects cleared

Three port projects worth Rs.7,661 crore have been approved by a committee chaired by Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla, the government said Thursday.

The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee has approved a Rs.600-crore standalone container handling facility and a Rs.6,600-crore container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Additionally, it also sanctioned Rs.462 crore for coal handling facilities and upgrading of the general cargo berth at outer harbour of Visakhapatnam.

Since its constitution in January 2006, the committee has granted approval to 137 projects, with an estimated project cost of Rs.144,687 crore, the ministry said.

These include 121 National Highway projects, 11 ports projects, two airports and one each for tourism infrastructure and the railways.
Indo Asian News Service

Question hour facing crisis: Speaker

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Thursday expressed anguish over the frequent disruptions of question hour.

'The question hour is facing a crisis. We are unable to conduct it properly,' Meira Kumar said when Samajwadi Party MPs advanced towards the speaker's podium during question hour demanding a statement by the government on the divestment of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

The agitating MPs returned to their seat after the speaker assured them that their leader Mulayam Singh Yadav would be allowed to raise the matter during zero hour.

On Tuesday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi sought an explanation from party MPs on their absence from the Lok Sabha Monday when the question hour virtually collapsed because of missing members.
Indo Asian News Service

Music and human speech are biologically linked!

Duke University neuroscientists have shown new evidence that a deep biological link exists between human music and speech.

In two new studies, researchers found that the musical scales most commonly used over the centuries are those that come closest to mimicking the physics of the human voice.

They also said that we understand emotions expressed through music because the music mimics the way emotions are expressed in speech.

Composers have long exploited the perception of minor chord music as sad and major chord music as happy, and it is now that the researchers led by Dale Purves, a professor of neurobiology, found that sad or happy speech can be categorized in major and minor intervals, just as music can.

In the second study, Kamraan Gill, another member of the team, found the most commonly used musical scales are also based on the physics of the vocal tones humans produce.

"There is a strong biological basis to the aesthetics of sound. Humans prefer tone combinations that are similar to those found in speech," said Purves.

And the evidence suggests that the main biological reason we appreciate music is because it mimics speech, which has been critical to our evolutionary success, said Purves.

To study the emotional content of music, the researchers collected a database of major and minor melodies from about 1,000 classical music compositions and more than 6,000 folk songs and then analysed their tonal qualities.

They also had 10 people speak a series of single words with 10 different vowel sounds in either excited or subdued voices, as well as short monologues.

The team then compared the tones that distinguished the major and minor melodies with the tones of speech uttered in the different emotional states.

They found that the sound spectra of the speech tones could be sorted the same way as the music, with excited speech exhibiting more major musical intervals and subdued speech more minor ones.

The tones in speech are a series of harmonic frequencies, whose relative power distinguishes the different vowels. Vowels are produced by the physics of air moving through the vocal cords; consonants are produced by other parts of the vocal tract.

In the second paper, researchers argued that the harmonic structure of vowel tones forms the basis of the musical scales we find most appealing.

They showed that the popularity of musical scales could be predicted based on how well they match up with the series of harmonics characteristic of vowels in speech.

The first study has been published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), while the second appears in the online journal PLOS One. (ANI)

India could be a new pole of global growth: World Bank president

Change is the great constant of the world economy. India was still a colony when the allied powers shaped the international architecture at the end of World War Two. Today, India is a rising economic power that is contributing to world growth in new and powerful ways.

Economic reforms in India and China, and the export-driven growth strategies of East Asia all contributed in the last 20 years to a world market economy that surged from about 1 billion to 4 or 5 billion people. This shift offers enormous opportunities. But it has also shaken an international economic system forged in the middle of the 20th Century.

The international architecture needs to accommodate India and other powers whose growth rates far exceed those of developed countries. We must recognise this reality and anticipate the future - shape it or be shaped by it.

India is already an indispensable part of the global conversation. Its voice at the G-20 table is an important force for designing a future global architecture, not least because it has well-managed the impact of the economic crisis and is helping support the world's recovery.

Shifting influence is also reflected in the numbers. As India's $1.2 trillion economy returns to growth rates of eight to nine per cent, we can expect it to grow not only as a market but as a supplier of a range of services and increasingly knowledge-intensive goods.

With India's strong human capital and cutting-edge innovation, it is clear the knowledge and technology content - the real competitive smart-edge of India's exports - is going to rise. India's increasing globalisation will be driven by the country becoming a source for some of these specialised products. As it further integrates with global production chains, it will do so not by making more of the same, but by making products of new value. Of course, India still faces enormous challenges as a developing country yet if it can remove bottlenecks that slow its economy, then India is well positioned to become one of the new poles of global growth. India will need innovative financing to move on its massive infrastructure agenda. I hope the World Bank Group can help to attract global partnerships for knowledge and funding. Access to finance is another area where changes will mean a difference to the lives of millions of citizens, that difference being a share in the opportunity of India's growth. There are also huge technology advances that India can put to work to make government more efficient, to make service delivery easier to monitor and track, and public financial flows more visible. Half a billion Indians now have cell phones. This translates into a powerful information flow to - and critically from - some of the remotest and poorest areas.

A sustainable globalisation means an India that shares some of its remarkable achievements more widely. Call it South-South cooperation or good global citizenship, India has much to offer the world: lessons from its model of economic development; cooperation between private and public sectors to generate microeconomic efficiency and macroeconomic stability; working on global financial regulation as part of the G-20 task forces; and considering ways forward on migration and cross-border labour mobility. Everyone cites India's Green Revolution. But I'm even more intrigued by what is known as SRI, or system of rice intensification, and I know this is also an area of interest for PM Manmohan Singh. Using smart water management and planting practices, farmers in Tamil Nadu have increased rice yields between 30 and 80 per cent, reduced water use by 30 per cent, and now require significantly less fertilizer. This emerging technology not only addresses food security but also the water scarcity challenge that climate change is making all the more dangerous. These are all lessons for our world. India's status as a rising economic power is closely connected with how it can create opportunity and inclusion. It's not an option to exclude hundreds of millions of Indians from the country's growing prosperity. One in three of the world's poor are in India and the country has one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, with 44 per cent of children born underweight. Actions to address poverty widely - and education, health, rural roads and livelihoods more specifically -have a renewed urgency.
Robert Zoellick

Anlaysis blasts Obama for trickery on US troop deployment in Afghanistan

Former US President George W. Bush can no longer be held responsible for the bloody war in Afghanistan, for his successor-President Obama has decided to take that burden into his shoulders, an analysis appearing in CBS says.

According to the analysis, Obama might just have committed what could be the biggest political blunder of his years in office, and it adds that he has done so "knowingly, deliberately, and without blinders on."

It further goes on to criticise Obama for leaving sceptical Americans no choice: by setting a firm timetable to begin withdrawing troops.

It says that by twinning his troop increase (30,000) with a timetable to withdraw from Afghanistan by the middle of 2011, Obama has pulled off a bit of a trick.

"He's given Americans and Congress a meter reading, that, once triggered, will close down the conflict," it says.

Obama has allowed himself and his commanders room to keep a heavy presence in Afghanistan beyond his firm term, but he has created a strategy and structure that renders that option prohibitively expensive.

His timetable all but guarantees that his request for more troops now will be funded by a reluctant Democratic Congress.

In an hour-long interview today with a small number of political analysts and columnists, Obama said he was prepared for the political onslaught, particularly from within his own party.

"This has been an entirely transparent process," Mr. Obama said today, adding: "There's no Gulf of Tonkin here. We are having a wholesome debate about the best strategy forward and I am being held fully accountable to members of Congress, all of whom I think are going to be interested in holding me accountable and making sure that this strategy works. And if it doesn't, I think there is going to be enormous interest on the part of the American people and on the part of Congress in keeping me to my word that this is not a constant escalation." (ANI)

Cabinet papers can be disclosed under RTI Act: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has rejected the government''s plea that cabinet papers containing the deliberations of the ministers cannot be disclosed under the RTI Act even after a decision has been taken by it on an issue. Justice Sanjiv Khanna rejected the plea by the Centre which contended that the decision by the cabinet can be disclosed but not the cabinet papers which record the deliberations of the council of ministers, secretaries and other officers.

The Court, while elaborating the provisions of the Right to Information Act, pointed out that the exemption to make public such documents is only till the final decision is taken by the Centre. "A limited prohibition for a specified time is granted (under the Act).

Prohibition is not for an unlimited duration or infinite period but lasts till a decision is taken by the Council of Ministers and the matter is complete or over," the court said. "The prohibition in respect of the decision of the Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof and the material on the basis of which decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision is taken and the matter is complete or over," it said.

The court passed the order on a petition filed by the Centre challenging a CIC order directing the government to disclose cabinet papers.


UK banks have $5 bln exposure to Dubai World - FT

Four British banks have a $5 billion combined exposure to Dubai World, making them the biggest foreign creditor group at the Dubai state-owned conglomerate, the Financial Times said on Thursday.

The report, citing bankers and advisers, said Royal Bank of Scotland was the most exposed with between $1 billion and $2 billion. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Lloyds Banking Group had exposure of about $1 billion each, according to the report.

The estimates were broadly accurate, several bank industry sources told Reuters.

All of the banks declined to comment.

Emirates NBD was the biggest creditor with outstanding loans of $3 billion, the FT said. The bank declined to comment.

The report confirms that British banks have far greater exposure to potential problem debts in Dubai than their global rivals, as shown by several sets of loan data.

UK banks have loans totalling $50 billion into the United Arab Emirates, out of total loans of $123 billion by international banks, according to statistics from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).

But there remains a lack of clarity on where exposures to Dubai World lie and how wide the issue will spread.

The FT said much of the UK banks' lending is to the still functioning parts of Dubai World, including ports operator DP World and the Jebel Ali Free Zone.

Dubai World unveiled a $26 billion debt restructuring plan on Monday, after worries about debt problems have shaken investor and creditor confidence in the past week.

As a result of the restructuring plan RBS's exposure would be about $700 million and Standard Chartered's exposure would be about $350 million, the FT said.

The four UK banks are among six creditors who are leading a committee of Dubai World's creditors, which will meet the company next week, according to an Abu Dhabi bank executive.

(Reporting by Steve Slater and William James in London and John Irish in Dubai; Editing by Mike Nesbit)

Three ministers among 11 killed in Somalia blast

A bomb blast ripped through a hotel in the lawless Somali capital Mogadishu Thursday, killing three government ministers and at least eight others.

The apparent suicide attack took place at the Shamo Hotel during a graduation ceremony for dozens of university students, a DPA correspondent at the scene said.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the blast, but Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab - which the US says is linked to Al Qaeda - has increasingly turned to suicide bombings as it battles to oust the weak Western-backed government.

Government officials confirmed that Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali, Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow and Education Minister Ahmed Abdulahi Waayeel were among the dead. The Minister for Youth and Sports, Saleeban Olaad Roble, was seriously injured.

Hassan Subeyr Haji Hassan, a cameraman for Arabic TV channel al-Arabiya, and Mohamed Amiin Aden Abdulle, a journalist with Somalia's Radio Shabelle, were also killed, the Somali Journalists' Rights Agency said.

A doctor died on the spot, while medics said another five victims succumbed to their injuries after arriving at hospital. Over 40 people are being treated for injuries of varying severity.

Witnesses told DPA they saw a man enter the hotel and detonate a device strapped to his body. Other unconfirmed reports say the male bomber was disguised as a woman.

Dozens of guests, many of them bleeding, staggered from the partially destroyed building, while shocked onlookers gathered to cry and condemn the bomber in the wake of the attack.

Hundreds of students and their family members, lecturers and government officials were attending the ceremony for graduates from the local Banadir University.

The bombing raises further questions about the government and AU's ability to police the few areas they control in Somalia.

Seventeen peacekeepers died in a suicide blast at their main base in September, while Somalia's Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden was among dozens killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel in the central town of Baladweyne in June.

Diplomats and AU officials say foreign fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly flocking to the lawless Horn of Africa nation to fight alongside al-Shabaab - which controls much of the country - and attend terrorist training camps.
DPA