Indian Current Affairs: 11.05.2007

I noted something about the ‘monsooning’ of Malabar coffee in today’s Discover It blog. Take a look at it here.

Indian companies are expected to give away over Rs. 30,000 crore in charity and save around Rs. 5,000 crores tax.
With a view to curb tax evasion happening in this form, the government is making it mandatory to identify the charities to which the companies are donating money.

Effective June 27.
He is the longest serving Prime Minister from the Labour party. He came to power in 1997.

The tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment about 2550 years ago is threatened by an unknown disease. Hundreds of fresh leaves are falling off like never before.
This tree grew from the original banyan tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment.
IN 2002, UNESCO declared the Mahabodhi temple a world heritage site.

Today’s editorial in ET cries “No more Luddites, please” while arguing the case for GM crops in cotton.
Who exactly is a Luddite? Take a look at the following lines from Wikipedia:

The Luddites were a social movement of English textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested — often by destroying textile machines — against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt threatened their livelihood.
This English historical movement has to be seen in its context of the harsh economic climate due to the Napoleonic Wars; but since then, the term Luddite has been used to describe anyone opposed to technological progress and technological change. For the modern movement of opposition to technology, see neo-luddism.
The Luddite movement, which began in 1811, was named after a mythical leader, Ned Ludd. For a short time the movement was so strong that it clashed in battles with the British Army. Measures taken by the government included a mass trial at York in 1813 that resulted in many death penalties and transportations (removal to a penal colony).
Their principal objection was to the introduction of new wide-framed looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many textile workers.

What could be the answer to fake encounters and naxalism and insurgency plaguing India?

While the dysfunctional legal system (it takes years, if at all, to get a conviction against a crime – even when it is publicly committed) is compelling some police people to take the law into their own hands, it is the unequal distribution of social and political power that is the root cause of naxalism and insurgency.
The way out is a two pronged strategy:

A legal system that will dispose of any case in about a year’s time.
Transformative politics, which can be tackled by political parties, not government. I can say that a feeble attempt is being in this regard by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan in Andhra Pradesh.

I was also asked by some of you whether I support the judicial activism that is seen of late. I answered with a thumping YES. The political process has only divided and sub-divided the society. It is only perpetrating the unequal distribution of social and political power. So for a population that is fed up with a non-performing executive (non-performing because it is able to see majority of the issues only in terms of articulations by various vote banks, and consequently the executive decisions are iniquitous most of the time) judiciary is proving to be the escape valve – albeit an inadequate one.
While there are people who argue that the signs of judicial activism being witnessed are in indication of a maturing democracy, the real solution lies in dispensing speedy justice. Even that calls for increasing the size of the judiciary exponentially.

NCAER’s study on the impact of FDI on rural economy.
ICRIER’s study on impact of large scale retail stores on neighborhood retail shops.

Power: is the capacity to enforce one’s preference on others.
Authority: is the capacity to create and enforce rights and obligations that are accepted as legitimate and binding by those who are subject to it.
The greater the gap between the above two, the closer we are to anarchy.

The Central government has exited by selling its 10.27% stake to a number of financial institutions for Rs. 2,360 crores and thus ended its 23 year long association with the company.

World’s scientists plan to compile everything they know about all of the earth’s 1.8 mn known species and put it on one website, open to everyone at http://www.eol.org.
Take a look at what the project says about itself:

Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating all known data about every living species. And ultimately, to increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.

Indian Current Affairs