Fundamental Rights

In our day to day busy life, we tend to forget our basic fundamental rights. Hence, just a recap.

The Constitution offers all citizens, individually and collectively, some basic freedoms. These are guaranteed in the Constitution in the form of six broad categories of Fundamental Rights, which are justiciable. Article 12 to 35 contained in Part III of the Constitution deal with Fundamental Rights. These are:

1. Right to equality, including equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment;
2. Right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association or union, movement, residence, and right to practice any profession or occupation (some of these rights are subject to security of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency or morality);
3. Right against exploitation, prohibiting all forms of forced labour, child labour and traffic in human beings;
4. Right to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion;
5. Right of any section of citizens to conserve their culture, language or script, and right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice; and
6. Right to constitutional remedies for enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

KASHMIR

A Kashmiri, a reporter and a tough old soldier were captured by terrorists in Kashmir. The leader of the terrorists told them he'd grant each of them one last request before they were beheaded and dragged naked through the streets.

The Kashmiri said, 'Well, I'm a foodie, so I'd like one last plate of tandoori chicken.'

The leader nodded to an underling who left and returned with the Chicken.

The tourist ate it all and said, 'Now I can die content.'

The reporter said, 'I'm a reporter to the end. I want to take out my tape recorder and describe the scene here and what's about to happen. Maybe, someday, someone will hear it and know that I was on the job till the end.'
The leader directed an aide to hand over the tape recorder and the reporter dictated his comments.

He then said, 'Now I can die happy.'

The leader turned to the soldier and asked, 'And now, Havaldarji, what is your final wish?

'Kick me in the ass,' said the soldier.


'What?' asked the leader, 'Will you mock us in your last hour?'

'No, I'm NOT kidding. I want you to kick me in the ass,' insisted the soldier.

So the leader shoved him into the yard and kicked him in the ass.

The soldier went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled a 9 mm pistol from inside his cammies and shot the leader dead. In the resulting confusion, he emptied his sidearm on six terrorists, then with his knife he slashed the throat of one, and with an AK-47, which he took from one of the already dead terrorists, sprayed the rest of the terrorists killing another 11. In a flash, all of them were either dead or fleeing for their lives.


As the soldier was untying the Kashmiri and the reporter, they asked him,

'Why didn't you just shoot them all in the first place? Why did you ask him to kick you in the ass?'

'Because' replied the soldier, 'if I had shot first, you two assholes would have reported that I was the aggressor and the root cause of all the blood shedding in Kashmir?'

... Such is the irony of Indian Democracy!!!!!!!

No One Killed Corruption

The consequences of abysmal governance and the lack of will to tackle to cancerous growth of corruption is having horrible consequences. Danger signs are there for all people to see, except the Dhithirashtras who rule.

The continuation of subsidized diesel has created a mafia industry which steals it. Official estimates of the stolen diesel are 40% of the subsidy of Rs 30,000 crores, or Rs 12,000 crores. An amount large enough to kill for! The mafia burnt to death a district collector who was seeking to prevent thieves caught in the act. Will the Government finally stop the nonsense of differential pricing which has negative consequences? Does loss of human life matter at all to those sitting in the rarefied political echelons of Delhi? Or, like Nero, are they still fiddling away? A far better, and oft suggested, way to distribute subsidies to those deserving it, is to use the technologies available, of smart cards. If so, the social ends could be met and the single, market determined price for diesel would obviate the need for theft and, by the way, of murder of officials preventing it. The fact that the Dhithirashtras of Delhi are not even talking of different delivery mechanism and a single price for diesel suggests that they have other considerations.

The evil portends for India emanate from the trend of citizens taking matters into their own hands. The wheels of justice need to be oiled. People are fed up of the guilty being let free because of poorly drafted charges by investigating agencies. It is for this reason that a vigilante knifed DSP Rathore, let off because the charges were poorly filed and slowly followed up on; the same vigilante knifed Dr Talwar, the father of murdered Aarushi, whose case has been closed following blotched up investigation. An MLA in Bihar was recently knifed to death by a woman who claimed to have been raped by him.

Poor governance also shows itself in poor planning for the future. When government does not do its job, the other pillar of our democracy steps in. The Madras High Court has given an order to shut down dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur, which were badly polluting the Noyyal river. Some 50,000 workers will be out of a job and textile mills will see an increase in costs as these units shut down. Now, surely, pollution of the river is not an overnight phenomenon. Surely the units have been warned by the administrative branch of Government. Surely they, in turn, have bribed their way around it, continuing to pollute the river with impunity. Surely the political branch of Government turned the Dhithirashtric blind eye. The cost for all this laxity would be borne by the 50,000 unemployed workers. This is how bad governance and corruption affects, over time, the economy.

A similar thing will happen to the auto industry, perhaps 2 decades into the future. There is no official planning for the day of reckoning, when fossil fuel (crude oil) prices will peak as the world runs out of oil. Suddenly the capacities being added now, to produce cars, will need to be shut down, as petrol prices would be too high. A sensible Government would be busy building a network of efficient and affordable public transport and would discourage, through fiscal policy, the use of private transport.

A decade ago it was the Supreme Court that stepped in when the administrative branch of Government could not enforce norms to control vehicular pollution that was engulfing Delhi, and mandated the use of CNG. A responsible Government ought to have enforced it, instead of relying on the judiciary to clean up its misdeeds.

Now, the Supreme Court has stepped in again on the issue of black money and has asked why the Government does not inquire about its source. The Government claims that it is obliged to retain confidentiality of names of owners of Swiss/Lichstentien bank accounts but will recover its dues. Pardon me for being skeptical of that intention. It only means that it will give Government the option to pursue those people who are nettlesome to it and let go those who are a part of the coterie.

There is no denying that such rampant loot is a factor behind inflation, which is now a major cause of concern. Last week the RBI raised, as expected, its base rate by 25 basis points (0.25%) and will undoubtedly do so again. Foreign investors are selling in a big way, both on domestic as well as international factors. As re domestic factors, rising inflation and unbridled corruption are the main issues, as is the laxity of a spineless Government to tackle them. Globally, the US economy seems to be faring better, leading investors to shift part of the investments back home. The IMF has increased the forecast of global GDP growth to 4.4%.

The sensex dropped 611 points last week to 18395, for all the reasons mentioned above which leaving investors are filled with dismay. The Nifty dropped 184 to end at 5512. Corporate results for the quarter ended December are not too bad, but investor psychology has become so.

The sensex is above a crucial support level of 18,000. If this is breached, as seems likely, given the investor mood, the next stop is 16,000-16,500. Politically all parties are busy trying to bring down the other, instead of bringing up the nation.

Here's why the corrupt need not fear the law

The accompanying article explains just what is wrong with the mechanism we currently have to deal with corruption. Lest you think that is just a theoretical argument, take a look at the official data on the subject and your doubts should be settled. The rapidly diminishing circles depicted alongside show how just a fraction of those accused of corruption actually end up getting nailed.

The data presented here is all from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The first set of circles pertains to the status of investigations by the state anti-corruption or vigilance wings under the Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant section of the IPC.

In 2008, the latest year for which data is available, there were 8,554 cases for investigation across all states and Union territories. Of these, 7,292 were actually investigated during the year, while 2,543 resulted in chargesheets. In other words, only about a third of the cases investigated resulted in chargesheets as a proportion of the cases available for investigation, the figure drops even further to about 30%.

But chargesheeting is only the first stage in the tortuous road to nailing the accused. The next set of circles depicts what happens to those being tried for corruption. In 2008, there were 29,783 people facing such trials.

Of these, trials were completed only for 2,985 people. Of those, 977 were convicted. That translates again to about a third of all those whose trials were completed being convicted, but when compared to those facing trial, the proportion drops to a mere 3%.

Is this reading too much into one year's figures? After all cases tried in one year might lead to conviction in a subsequent year. True, but the fact is that we looked at figures for the last few years and found that in each case these proportions are roughly the same.

Now, let's look at happens when cases are reported for departmental action against the accused. That's the third set of circles. In 2008, there were 736 such people, of whom 268 were punished in some form or the other by their respective departments. But only 65 of them lost their jobs. That means less than one in eleven reported for action actually were sacked.

Put all these figures together and the picture you get makes it clear why public servants can indulge in corrupt practices with such impunity in our country. The chances of the investigation leading to charge sheeting are slim, even if they do get charge sheeted the chances of the trial concluding any time soon are even slimmer and finally when the trial does conclude the odds are on being let off.

A final thought. We are dealing here with a few thousand people being investigated or tried in any given year. Now consider the fact that there are about 10 million central and state government employees. Assuming conservatively that just 1% of them are corrupt, that would mean about a lakh of people indulging in corruption.

With less than 1,000 getting convicted, the corrupt can be 99% sure they'll get off. That's the problem.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Heres-why-the-corrupt-need-not-fear-the-law/articleshow/7330860.cms

India vs China: An economic battle

The rise of the fastest growing economies of China and India has taken the world by surprise. Post-recession, while developed countries continue to struggle, the India-China growth story still seems to be intact.

As China surges ahead as an economic superpower, here's a look at how the two economic giants score on various growth parameters.

ECONOMY
China

This year China became the world's second largest economy, surpassing Japan. China's economy was valued at $4.98 trillion in the second quarter of 2010.
China could become the world's largest economy (by nominal GDP) by 2020.

India

The Indian economy is the eleventh largest in the world, valued at $1.23 trillion by nominal GDP and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).

ECONOMIC GROWTH

India

India is poised to achieve the 9 per cent economic growth in the current financial year itself, driven by the robust performance of agriculture and industry sectors.

The economy grew by 8.9 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.

China

In the first three quarters of this year, China's GDP grew by over 10 per cent. The gross domestic product (GDP) grew 9.6 percent in the third quarter.

GDP Per capita

China

With a GDP (PPP) per capita of $6,778, China is ranked at 97. Today, about 10 per cent of the Chinese population (down from 64 per cent in 1978) live below the poverty line of $1 per day (PPP). Inflation stands at 4.40 per cent.

Moreover, Hong Kong has a GDP (PPP) per capita of $42,653.

India

India with a per capita GDP of $3,015 has one of the lowest ranks at 127, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Inflation currently stands at 9.82 per cent.

Around 70 crore (700 million) Indians live on $2 per day or less, but there is a growing middle class population of about 30 crore (300 million) with a rising disposable income that is creating an unprecedented consumer boom in the country.

ECONOMIC REFORMS

India

In the 1990s's India ushering in economic reforms that saw the country transform from a socialist economy to a market economy. The liberalization of the economy led to high economic growth and industrialization.

China

In the 1970s, reforms called 'Four modernizations’ improved agriculture, industry, technology and defense, heralding a fast pace of growth and rise in living standards.

In the 1990s, the Chinese economy continued to grow at a rapid pace, at around 9.5 per cent.

FISCAL DEFICIT

China

From January to October, China's fiscal revenue increased by 21.5 per cent year-on-year to nearly 7.09 trillion Yuan.

India

India's fiscal deficit will be at around 5.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010-11. India's fiscal deficit has risen to Rs 4, 12,307 crore (Rs 4.12 trillion).

EXPORTS

China

China is also the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods in the world. China's exports jumped 34.9 per cent from a year earlier to $153.3 billion.

India

India's exports during November jumped by 26.8 per cent to $18.9 billion year-on-year. India's exports during April-September aggregated to $103.65 billion registering a year-on-year growth of 28 per cent.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

China

China's continues to attract more foreign direct investment. The foreign direct investment volume in November jumped 38.2 percent year-on-year to $9.7 billion.

During the January-November period, FDI in China grew by 18 percent year-on-year to $91.7 billion, and was expected to exceed $100 billion by the end of 2010.

India

India, China and Brazil are the top three target countries for foreign direct investment until the end of 2012 with the United States, for years number one, now in fourth place, according to the UN Trade and Development Agency (UNCTAD).

Foreign direct investment inflows in to the country dipped by about 40 per cent to $1.4 billion in October over the same period last year.

In October 2009, FDI was $2.3 billion. During the first seven months of 2010-11, India received FDI inflows worth $12.40 billion.

GOLD RESERVES

China

According to the World Gold Council, the share of global gold demand in China doubled from 5 per cent in 2002 to 11 percent in 2009.

China has 1054.1 tonnes of gold, which is 1.5 per cent of its total foreign reserves.

India

In 2009, total Indian gold demand reached $19 billion, or Rs 974 billion, which accounts for 15 per cent of the global gold market, according to WGC.

While Indian consumers continue to stock gold despite rising prices, when it comes to total gold reserves in the country, India ranks 11th in the world with 557.7 tonnes of gold.

MANUFACTURING SECTOR

China

China's manufacturing sector continues to grow with a booming consumer base in the country. China's manufacturing sector gained momentum in September with the Purchasing Managers Index rising to 53.8 in September from 51.7 in August 2010.

India

India has emerged as one of the world's top ten countries in industrial production. The nation's industrial production grew at the fastest pace in three months at 10.8 per cent. Manufacturing grew 11.3 per cent in October after a 4.6 per cent gain in September.

UNEMPLOYMENT

China

China, the world's second-largest economy after United States has a low unemployment rate of 4.20 per cent.

From 2002 until 2010, China's unemployment rate averaged 4.15 per cent reaching an historical high of 4.30 per cent in December of 2003.

India

Post-recession, the unemployment rate in India is at 9.4 per cent during 2009-10, according to the Union Labour and Employment Ministry.

About 40 million persons are unemployed in India as per the government's statistics.

The unemployment rates are estimated at 101 and 73 out of 1,000 persons in the rural sector and urban areas, respectively.

FOREX RESERVES

China

The world's fastest growing economy, China saw its foreign exchange reserves rise to a record $2.65 trillion by the end of September 2010.

According to People's Bank of China, currency holdings rose about $194 billion.

China's trade surplus and inflows of cash from foreign direct investment also drive up the reserves, which rose 16.5 per cent by the end of September from a year earlier.

India

India's foreign exchange reserves grew by $2.41 billion during the week ended December 3 to $296.40 billion. Foreign currency assets rose by $1.98 billion to $267.23 billion during the week ended December 3, as per the data.

PROSPERITY INDEX

China

India has slipped 10 places to the 88th spot, way below China, in the World Prosperity Index due to poor healthcare and education systems coupled with a weak entrepreneurial infrastructure.

China is ranked 58th in the list of 110 countries according to London-based Legatum Institute's Prosperity Index 2010.

China ranks 30 places higher than India in the overall global rankings and outperforms India on the economy sub-index, where the Asia's second largest economy spots at 24th position.

India

India ranked low on education ground (89), health (95), entrepreneurship and opportunity (93) and social capital (105).

Besides, economy (44th) and governance (41st) are two measures on which India ranks highest.

STOCKS MARKETS

China

With two stock exchanges Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, China has become the world's third largest stock market. It is estimated to be the world's third largest by 2016.

India

The Bombay Stock Exchange has been rated as the world's best performing stock market recently. With a 13 per cent gain, Sensex is among the world's 10 biggest markets, according to data collected by Bloomberg.

AVIATION

China

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China is set to take on world's biggest airline manufacturers Airbus and Boeing Co.

China's aviation industry has witnessed double-digit growth in the past five years. China's civil aviation fleet is set to nearly double to about 5,000 aircraft in five years.

India

India is yet to manufacture commercial aircraft though the aviation market is booming. India's civil aviation sector will be among the top five in the world in the next five years.

Indian domestic air traffic is expected to reach 160-180 million passengers per year, while international traffic will exceed 80 million.

MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO GDP

China

The two most important sectors of the economy have traditionally been agriculture and industry, which together employ more than 70 per cent of the labour force and produce more than 60 percent of GDP.

India

India's services sector, backed by the IT revolution, remains the biggest contributor to the country's GDP, with a contribution of 58.4 per cent. The industry sector contributed 24.1 per cent and the agriculture sector contributed 17.5 per cent to the GDP.

TELECOM REVOLUTION

China

China has 842 million mobile phone subscribers and 300 million fixed line phone subscribers.

India

The Indian telecommunications industry is the world's fastest growing telecommunications industry, 723.28 million telephone (landlines and mobile) subscribers and 687.71 million mobile phone connections as of September 30 2010.

INTERNET USERS

China

Broadband Internet subscribers rose 19.19 million from end-2009 to hit 123.16 million. The telecom industry revenue generated total revenue of RMB 2.53 trillion ($382.34 billion) over the period, up 20.7 per cent year-on-year.

India

The number of Internet users in India is estimated at 81 million. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India pegs the number of broadband subscribers at 10.08 million in August 2010. India will see its number of Internet users triple to 237 million by 2015.

SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES

China

Special Economic Zones were born in China in the early 1980s. The most successful Special Economic Zone in China, Shenzhen, has developed from a small village into a city with a population over 10 million within 20 years.

India

India has also played a significant role in the founding and establishment of Special Economic Zones. Around 574 SEZs have already received formal approvals from the government, of which 350 have been notified under the SEZ Act. Currently, 105 SEZs are operational.

IT/BPO

China

While 7 Indian cities are listed among the world's top 10 BPO, only one city from China, Shanghai is in the list.
China will have a 28.7 per cent share of the outsourcing industry globally. It will end the year with revenues worth $35.76 billion from the BPO sector alone.

China's IT services point out how exports last year amounted to only $9.6 billion. India, on the other hand, made $49.7 billion.

India

The Indian IT-BPO Industry is expected to exceed $70 billion in fiscal 2011. Indian IT-BPO exports are projected to grow by 13 per cent to 15 per cent while domestic IT-BPO will grow slightly more by 15 per cent to 17 per cent during fiscal 2011.

Roads

China

The total length of China's expressways is 65,065 km at the end of 2009. It has world's second longest after the United States.

Until 2015, the Chinese government will invest $600 billion (four trillion yuan) to develop high speed railroads, and fast railroads, and long-distance railroads.

India

The road ministry has unveiled an ambitious programme to construct 35,000 km of roads by March 2014 and has called for foreign investment to meet the financial requirements.

The highways ministry is keen to implement mega projects, each with a length of about 500 km and a total project cost of $500 million.

COUNTRY BRAND

China

China was down to 56th position. Perceptions about political freedom, censorship battles with Google and the nation's handling of environmental issues were contributors to China's weak performance this year, the study said.

Russia, on the other hand, had to grapple with issues concerning both political freedom and corruption, the study said.

India

India is ranked 23rd in the Future Brands' annual country brand index, a comprehensive study of nations based on levels of awareness, familiarity, preference, consideration, advocacy and active decisions to visit.

India has slipped down five places from its perch in 2009, when it stood at 18th position.

RAILWAY

China

Aiming to break the 574.8 km/hour speed record set by France, China has signed agreements with Thailand and Laos to build high-speed railways.

On December 3, a high-speed passenger train manufactured by CSR Corporation hit a record speed of 486.1 km/hour on a test run on the Beijing-Shanghai line.

Chinese railway officials said the CRH380A is designed to operate at a cruising speed of 380 kph, is the fastest train in operation in the world.

India

While China is conducting test-runs for one of the fastest trains in the world, Indian Railways are conducting a pre-feasibility study on running high-speed trains between Delhi and Agra and between Lucknow and Patna via Varanasi.

The study would seek to assess the feasibility of constructing high speed corridors on these routes, the route alignments and the ridership study among others.

AUTO INDUSTRY

China

In 2009, China beat Japan to become the largest automobile maker in the world, manufacturing 13.759 million vehicles.

The number of registered cars, buses, vans, and trucks on the road in China reached 62 million in 2009, and is expected to exceed 200 million by 2020.

The value of China's auto industry rose to 2.1 trillion yuan during the January-June period, up nearly 49 per cent from last year. China's automobile sales rose 26.9% in November.

India

India is one largest and fastest growing auto markets. It manufactures over 11 million vehicles and exports about 1.5 million every year. It is also the world's second largest manufacturer of motorcycles.

By 2050, the country is expected to top the world in car volumes with approximately 611 million vehicles

In November, car sales rose by 20.8 per cent in November to 161,497 units.

STARTING A BUSINESS
China

It takes 99 days for foreign companies to set up shop in China, says a World Bank report.

China has 18 procedures for foreign firms to fulfil. However, here it takes just 129 days for firms to access industrial land.

China lacks legal and regulatory transparency, according to the Index of Economic Freedom.

India

It takes as many as 46 days for a foreign company to set up business in India, but this is faster than in China.

India scores slightly better in terms of number of procedures (16) required for overseas firms to set up operations in the country.

However, it takes a whopping 295 days to lease public land in India.

AGRICULTURE

India

India ranks second in farm output globally. India is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper.

China

China ranks first in worldwide farm output. The agriculture sector employs 300 million farmers. Only 15 per cent of its total land area can be cultivated.