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India News Clips
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Kerala - Indian State A
Model For Development
Excerpt from:
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/277646
VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STAR November
19, 2007
Craig and Marc Kielburger
On a bright fall morning in the Indian state of Kerala, among
bustling tea shops and markets, we watch as a remarkable daily
ritual unfolds: long streams of children in their brightly
coloured uniforms march steadily to school.
While a sight like this would be considered normal on any
Canadian street, in India where millions of rural children
never set foot in a classroom it's something that catches
our attention.
But Kerala is not your typical Indian state. That's because,
despite the overwhelming poverty in many areas of the country,
Kerala has a standard of living that rivals any in the
developed world.
The statistics are sometimes hard to believe. Kerala's life
expectancy, literacy rate and infant mortality rate are
roughly equal to those in Canada and the United States, and
dramatically better than in anywhere else in the developing
world, including other states in India.
In Kerala, located on the country's southwestern tip, it's as
easy to have a well-informed conversation with a businessman
as with a taxi driver. Women play an integral role in public
policy and child labour is virtually non-existent.
Streets are clean, beaches beautiful, and the lush countryside
dotted with historic temples and churches.
To outsiders, Kerala seems to have got development right.
What makes these accomplishments extraordinary is that the
state has one-seventieth the wealth of the United States. In
fact, Kerala is even poor by Indian standards with a per
capita income of $320 a year, compared with $770 in the rest
of the country.
Historians and anthropologists have long tried to explain how
this state, with a population the size of Canada's, has become
such an anomaly. They point to the fact that since India's
independence, Kerala has been governed by a series of
left-wing governments, which have invested heavily in health
care and education.
Land was transferred from rich to the poor, a minimum wage
established, and regulations put in place to reign in
industrial development.
This emphasis on personal and social growth over unlimited
economic expansion was even given a name: the "Kerala model."
Despite the praise, Kerala is not without problems.
Unemployment is rampant as high as 25 per cent and low
levels of industrialization mean there are few suitable jobs
for its well-educated youth.
As a result, many have been forced to leave. Nearly two
million Keralites live abroad, mostly in the Persian Gulf,
pursuing jobs that don't exist at home. While they send home
$5 billion a year, many are separated from their families for
years.
Kerala isn't perfect. But this small Indian state does serve
as a development model for emerging countries, while also
redefining what it means for a region to be developed.
Kerala has a low per capita income, the traditional marker of
success, but it has a healthy, well-educated and literate
population. The state's Human Development Index ranks first in
India and is comparable to western countries.
And without the overconsumption in other parts of the world,
Kerala has found a way to provide for its citizens with little
impact on the environment. As countries like China grow
rapidly, Kerala offers an alternative path to development
one increasingly attractive as fears over climate change
intensify.
The state may be poor, but the lessons it holds are priceless.
Craig and Marc Kielburger are children's rights activists and
co-founded Free The Children, which is active in the
developing world. Online: Craig and Marc Kielburger discuss
global issues every Monday in the World & Comment section.
Take part in the discussion online at
thestar.com /
globalvoices. |
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Pakistan keen to
transfer Iranian gas to India, China
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200711121502.htm
Dubai (PTI): Pakistan has
said it is eager to transfer Iranian gas to India and China
after it finalised the text of a multi-billion IPI gas
pipeline project with Tehran.
Mokhtar Ahmad, advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat
Aziz, made the remarks after the three-day Iran-Pakistan talks
on the $ 7.4 billion pipeline project which resulted in
finalisation of the text over the weekend in the absence of
India, which is the third partner.
"As we expected, the text of the peace pipeline has been made
ready for the signing by the two states' heads," he was quoted
as saying by Iranian news agency.
"We faced no obstacle during negotiations and all articles of
the peace pipeline contract were smoothly restudied," Ahmad
added.
Under current conditions, the Pakistani side had openly and
officially announced it would welcome the transfer of Iran's
gas to India, China, and any other point via its territory,
officials said.
Meanwhile, Iranian Oil Minister's special envoy for pipeline
talks Hojjatollah Ghanimifard said India was also willing to
rejoin the pipeline project, expressing hope the contract
would be signed by the three sides. |
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New Paddy
Varieties Yield Bumper Harvest
.Lower Production Cost Is Another Spin-Off For Farmers
Pest and disease-resistant variety
Lower quantity of fertilizers needed
Excerpts from The Hindu
Article By: G. Prabhakaran
PALAKKAD: Two new pest and
disease-resistant dwarf and short-duration paddy varieties of
the PC series have helped farmers get record yields at low
costs of cultivation in the State.
These had been developed from the traditional Thavalakannan
and Chenkazhama varieties and are best suited for cultivation
in Kuttanad and the Kole land of Thrissur. The rice produced
tastes good.
With a height of 1 metre less than that of other varieties,
the plants record reduced loss of grain. K.K. Surendran,
farmer at Chittur in the district, has obtained a bumper
harvest of 6,250 kg a hectare, using organic manure and not
chemical fertilizers.
Less tolerance to major pests and diseases and the higher
nitrogen requirement that the IRRI varieties demand are major
problems faced by farmers.
P. Chandrasekharan, former Dean and Professor of Plant
Breeding and Genetics of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University,
who developed these varieties and cultivated them in various
parts of the State during the past 10 years, says the Santham
(PC-5) variety has brought down the costs. A farmer who has
farmyard manure need spend only Rs. 1,500 a hectare for the
new varieties. The cost of fertilizer (90:45:45 NPK)
recommended by the Kerala Agriculture University for tall
varieties comes to Rs. 3,200.
Thus, with the new varieties, the farmer saves Rs. 1,700 a
hectare in fertilizer and Rs. 300 in pesticides, a total
saving of Rs. 2,000, Dr. Chandrasekharan says. The Kerala
Agriculture University (KAU) has advised that dwarf varieties,
such as TKTM (PC varieties), need only 40:20:20 NPK for medium
duration of 135 days.
The tall varieties cannot make use of excess nitrogen for
higher grain yields.The varieties I have developed, that is
the PC series, do not require more than 40:20:20 NPK. As a
precaution, I would suggest to all the farmers to grow them
first with five tonnes of farmyard manure an acre [0.4
hectare] and watch the growth of plants. Maximum that he needs
to apply is only 35 kg of urea in two split doses, Dr.
Chandrasekharan says.
Mr. Surendran obtained the seeds of PC-1 from the Kerala
Agriculture University and treated the germinating seeds as
recommended by it. Coarse varieties Dr. Chandrasekharan says
that another important aspect is that coarse varieties, such
as this, yield one tonne more a hectare than fine varieties
do.
In addition, the starch quality is excellent. Rice-procurement
agencies prefer coarse varieties with bold grain and red
endorsperm (Matta), which can fetch an extra Rs. 300 a
cartload (500 kg) over white rice, he adds. |
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Non-Hindus To Get Full
Adoption Rights
17 Nov 2007, IST,
Mahendra Kumar Singh,TNN
SMS NEWS
NEW DELHI: In a
significant move to enhance the legal rights of both adopted
children and the couples who give them a home, the Centre has
changed the law to allow non-Hindu parents to claim full
parenthood instead of just "guardian" status that they were
allowed till now.
The changes in law also seek to encourage adoption by
simplifying procedures.
Under the law so far, only Hindu couples who adopted children
could claim to be "parents". Non-Hindus were just guardians to
their adopted children. This led to the children being denied
rights to inherited property besides creating procedural
hassles for parents at the time of school admissions etc.
Some clarifications may still be needed on whether the changes
would apply to Muslims as the community has its personal laws.
These will be cleared in the guidelines to be framed by
Central Adoption Research Agency. The new law also makes
adoption by inter-faith couples easier.
Under the new guidelines issued by the women and child
development ministry under the Juvenile Justice Act 2000,
amended last year and notified on October 26, the new rules
will also cut red-tapism in adoption procedures while
increasing the number of recognised adoption agencies. |
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India Sends Most
Students To US
13 Nov 2007,
SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
WASHINGTON: For the sixth
year in a row India sent the most number of students to the US
in 2006-07 with a 10 percent increase taking the numbers to
83,833, according to a new report on international educational
exchange.
China remained in second place, with numbers up eight percent
to 67,723 and South Korea, in third place, increased six
percent to 62,392, said the annual Open Doors report released
on Monday by the Institute of International Education.
India also dominated with one in seven (14.4 percent) of the
total of 582,984 international students who together
contributed about $14.5 billion to the US economy through
their expenditure on tuition and living expenses, said the
report.
The US Department of Commerce considers US higher education as
the country's fifth largest service sector export as these
students bring money into the national economy and provide
revenue to their host states for living expenses, health
insurance, support for accompanying family members, and other
miscellaneous items.
Published with support from the US Department of State's
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Open Doors
2007 report noted that 61.5 percent of all international
students receive the majority of their funds from personal and
family sources.
When other sources of foreign funding are included, such as
assistance from their home country governments or
universities, a total of two thirds (66 percent) of all
international students' primary funding comes from sources
outside of the US.
Not only did India send the most students to the US, it also
attracted more US students with their numbers going up to
2,115, up 20 percent. Israel followed with 1,981, up 22.5
percent, and Peru was third with 1,135, up 31 percent.
However, Britain was once again the leading destination for
study abroad by American students, with a total of 32,109
followed by Italy (26,078) and Spain (21,881) in the third
place. The total went up by 8.5 percent to 223,534.
The majority of students from India were enrolled for study at
the graduate level (71.1 percent) in academic year 2006-07.
While 15 percent joined at the undergraduate level, 12.8
percent joined at other levels and 1.2 percent came for
optional practical training. |
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British Beauty Industry
Ignoring Asians
Excerpt from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
17 Nov 2007,
SMS NEWS LONDON: The
strength of the 'brown pound' - the term referring to the
purchasing power of British Asians - is growing exponentially.
But the multi-billion pound British beauty industry largely
ignores this important segment of consumers.
Shop owners in areas with large minority of Indian origin such
as Southall, Ealing, Harrow and Wembley in London, Leicester,
Birmingham and Bradford continue to stock favour beauty
products that are imported from the Indian sub-continent. Few
prefer to buy mainstream British beauty products.
Products imported from India are endorsed by film stars such
as Aishwarya Rai and others and are popular among women with
roots in the Indian subcontinent. Recently, a men's beauty
product produced in India and endorsed by actor Shah Rukh Khan
proved popular in Southall.
A new report by market analyst Mintel reveals that the 3.7
billion pound-a-year beauty industry is failing women from the
Indian subcontinent and those of Afro-Caribbean origin. It is
also critical of stereotypical advertising featuring American
style 'white teeth and big hair'.
The report estimates the market for black, Asian and other
minority makeup, skin and hair care to be worth 65 million
pounds annually. But there is no indication that the figure
includes the large number of beauty products that are imported
from the Indian subcontinent. People categorized as 'ethnic
minorities' comprise 7.9 per cent of the British population.
The report says that women of ethnic origin are big spenders
of beauty products, and mainstream brands are starting to
recognise this with the introduction of their own specialist
ethnic lines. However, major retailers are yet to spot the
potential of the ethnic beauty market, which remains
concentrated within the independent retail sector. |
Goan Voice designed and compiled by
Demerg Systems India,
Campal Trade Centre, Next to Military Hospital, Campal,
Panjim, Goa-403001
Tel: +91 832 2420797 Email:
info@goanvoice.ca
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