Dirty War --->> Argentina -- >> World History

{this was in news recently as the new Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was the subject of allegations regarding the kidnapping of two Jesuit priests during Argentina's "Dirty War" and many other allegations with his role in this episode }







Q: What was the "dirty war" and how did it start?

• The "dirty war" was a campaign waged by Argentina's military rulers against left-wing opponents. 
• It began when a military junta led by Gen Jorge Videla seized power on 24 March 1976, in response to a period of political instability and growing violence after the death of President Juan Peron.
• The military's aim was to wipe out left-wing terrorism - but the terror carried out by the state exceeded anything previously seen in Argentina.
• Between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed or disappeared before Argentina returned to civilian rule with the election of President Raul Alfonsin in October 1983.

Q: What is known about what happened?

• Initial details about the fate of "the disappeared", as they are known, came from the accounts of those few who lived to tell the tale. 
• According to their testimony, people suspected by the military of being "subversive" would be abducted in raids by plainclothes men.
• Once kidnapped, they would be taken to one of more than 300 detention centres. 
• The most notorious of these was the Naval Mechanical Centre in the capital, Buenos Aires - known by its initials in Spanish as Esma.
• Many were tortured using electric shocks and other methods. 
• Children were tortured in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. 
• The ordeal could last for weeks or even months, usually ending in the death of the victim.

Q: More than 20 years have now passed since these gruesome events. Why are they still causing so much controversy?

• Because the military did its best to ensure that no-one would ever be brought to justice for them. In the run-up to the return to civilian rule, the junta granted a blanket amnesty for all offences connected with the "dirty war".
• President Alfonsin revoked that amnesty. But after pressure from the military, including several uprisings, efforts to try the perpetrators ground to a halt.
• Various laws and decrees passed by Mr Alfonsin's government and that of his successor, Carlos Menem, gave protection to military officers who might otherwise have faced prosecution.
• Finally, in August 2003, Congress voted to scrap the amnesty laws, paving the way for fresh trials.

However, the decision needed the support of the country's Supreme Court in order to take effect - and judges waited another year before ruling that there was no time limit when it came to prosecuting crimes against humanity.

The final Supreme Court ruling to uphold the overturning of the amnesty laws came nearly two years after the original vote in Congress.

Tsunami Early Warning System in India --- Deciphered

• The Indian Tsunami Early Warning System has the responsibility to provide tsunami advisories to Indian Mainland and the Island regions. 
• Acting as one of the Regional Tsunami Advisory service Providers (RTSPs) for the Indian Ocean Region, ITEWS also provide tsunami advisories to the Indian Ocean rim countries along with Australia & Indonesia

Establishment of ITEWS

• The December 26, 2004 earthquake and the subsequent tsunami exposed the vulnerability of the Indian coastline to Oceanic hazards. 
• Following the event, India started its own interim tsunami warning center in the first quarter of 2005 to issue tsunami bulletins generated from seismic information. 
• The interim services were succeeded by setting up of a state-of-the-art Indian Tsunami Early Warning System (ITEWS) at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, under the Earth System Sciences Organization (ESSO), Govt. of India. 
• The system implemented in phases became full-fledged 24X7 operational early warning system in October 2007.

Components of ITEWS

The Tsunami Early Warning System comprises a 

• real-time network of seismic stations
• Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR)
• tide gauges 
• 24 X 7 operational warning centre 

to detect tsunamigenic earthquakes, to monitor tsunamis and to provide timely advisories following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), to vulnerable community by means of latest communication methods with back-end support of a pre-run model scenario database and Decision Support System (DSS). 

• The Warning Centre is capable of issuing Tsunami bulletins in less than 10 minutes after any major earthquake in the Indian Ocean thus leaving us with a response/lead time of about 10 to 20 minutes for near source regions in the Andaman & Nicobar and a few hours in the case of mainland.

• Currently Warning Centre disseminates tsunami bulletins to various stakeholders through multiple dissemination modes simultaneously (Fax, Phone, Emails, GTS and SMS etc.). 
• Users can also register on the website for receiving earthquake alerts and tsunami bulletins through emails and SMS.

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Recent news -----

Early Tsunami Warning System that can alert in 3 minutes installed in Rangachang 

Chief Scientist of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Vinith Kumar on 11 June 2013 announced that the Early Tsunami Warning System (ETWS) installed at Rangachang in Andaman and Nicobar Islands can predict a tsunami immediately after an earthquake. Vinith Kumar claimed that the new technology installed can predict the Tsunami within 3 minutes after the initial tremors are felt and can send alerts. 

Health Ministry -->> Bans Painkiller and Diabetes Drugs --->> Medicine Industry -->> :(:(

• The health ministry has suspended the sale of two drugs —painkiller Analgin and anti-diabetes drug Pioglitazone and all its combinations. 
• While the ban on Analgin in India has come after almost 36 years after the drug was banned in the US (which banned it in 1977).

• • Pioglitazone was pulled out of France in 2011 for an increased risk of bladder cancer.
  • Analgin was withdrawn from Sweden in 1997 for the risk of causing a sharp fall in white blood cells, a potentially fatal condition. It is still being marketed in India, the house panel noted. The drug is also banned in France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan among a host of other countries.
  • Experts say that the glitazone class comprises only two molecules - pioglitazone and rosiglitazone. The latter was banned three years ago due to reports of cardio vascular side effects. 
  • Pioglitazone, however, continues to be sold in most other major markets, including the US, the UK, Japan, Canada. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Why is the drug industry protesting ? The domestic drug industry is protesting the move, saying this ban would force lakhs of patients to move to more expensive alternatives and insulin.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  So what will diabetes patients wl hav to do noe ???? Most of the patients would have to shift to gliptins class of molecules, which are at least 3 to 4 times more expensive or insulin, which is the next line of treatment.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • In the Indian market, Pioglitazone is marketed as a single drug as well as in combinations with other drugs such as Metformin, Glimepiride, Alogliptin. Some of the well-known brands in the category include Glizone by Zydus Cadila, Pioz by USV. 
  • The government has told the Parliament that it plans to suspend sale of medicines that are banned in one of the six major global drug markets for harmful side-effects.
  • If a drug is banned by the US, the UK, Canada, Japan, European Union or Australia, its sales will be stopped in India until clinical data proves that it will not have an adverse effect on patients in the country, if government’s new plans are enforced.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  What do doctors say ? Doctors here in India had said in a study last year that more robust data on use of pioglitazone on Indian patients was needed.  Till that time, the patient should be adequately informed about this adverse effect and the drug should be used in as small a dose as possible, with careful monitoring and follow up.  Earlier this month, the ministry had suspended sale of dextropropoxyphene, sold as Wockhardt's Proxyvon, a widely-used pain-killer.

  
  
  
  

ROSHNI - >> 24 Naxal -affected districts - >> A MoRD initiative

The Ministry of Rural Development on 7 June 2013 launched a new skill development scheme designed to offer employment to tribal youth in 24 Naxal -affected districts. 

The scheme, which is named Roshni is supposed to provide training and employment to an anticipated 50000 youth in the 10-35 years age group, for a period of three years.



As per the Ministry 50 per cent of the beneficiaries of the scheme will be women only. 

The scheme is designed in light of the Himayat project model, which was launched in Jammu and Kashmir has been implemented in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, and West Singhbhum, Jharkand, on a pilot basis over the last 18 months. 

Implementation of the Scheme Roshni



• The Scheme Roshni which is a 100-crore Rupees project that will be mutually funded by the Union and State Governments, with the Centre providing 75 per cent of the funding. 
• The scheme will be implemented on a public-private basis, with private agencies providing job training and employment. 
• It is worth mentioning here that the scheme has achieved success in the two districts where it was implemented on a pilot basis.

Veer Rani Velu Nachiyar - Vyakti Vishesh

Velu Nachiyar:

Rani Velu Nachiyar was an 18th century Indian Queen from Sivaganga.

Rani Velu Nachiyar is the first Queen of Tamil Origin to fight against the British in India.

Her life

• She was the princess of Ramnad, and the daughter of Chellamuthu Sethupathy. She married the king of Siva Gangai and they had a daughter - Vellachi Nachiar.
• When her husband was killed, she was drawn into battle. Her husband and his second wife were killed by a few Britih soldiers and the son of the Nawab of Arcot.
• She escaped with her daughter, lived under the protection of Hyder Ali at Virupachi near Dindigul for eight years.
• During this period she formed an army and sought an alliance with Gopala Nayaker and Hyder Ali with the aim of attacking the British.
• In 1780 Rani Velu Nachiyar fought the British with military assistance from Gopala

Nayaker and Hyder Ali won the battle.

• Rani Velu Nachiyar formed a woman's army named “udaiyaar” in honour of her adopted daughter — Udaiyaar, who died detonating a British arsenal.
• Nachiar was one of the few rulers who regained her kingdom and ruled it for 10 more years.

The Queen Velu Nachiar granted powers to Marudhu Brothers to administer the country in 1780.

 

Velu Nachiar died a few years later, but the exact date of her death is not known (it was about 1790). Marudu brothers are the sons of Udayar Servai alias Mookiah Palaniappan Servai and Anandayer alias Ponnathal. They are native of Kongulu street of Ramnad. They belonged neither to the family of the ancient poligars nor to their division of the caste.

On 31-December-2008, a commemorative postage stamp on her was released..

Discrepancies in the Microfinance sector of India !!!

The limited outreach and scale of Indian MFIs, relative to the MFI giants in Indonesia and Bangladesh, reflects, at least in part, the absence of an enabling policy, legal and regulatory framework. MFIs suffer from the fact that their regulatory oversight is fragmented across many government agencies. Problem of mobilizing fund (The NBFC clause) !!! ü MFIs are not allowed to mobilize deposits (even from their own members) unless they convert themselves into a non-bank finance company (NBFC). ü And even as NBFCs, an ‘investment grade’ rating from corporate rating agencies is required for mobilizing deposits. ü This is difficult for most MFI-NBFCs; based on past examples, on account of the typically geographically concentrated and non-collateralized portfolios that MFIs have, rating agencies, in almost all cases, have not assigned the required credit rating. ü The minimum start-up capital requirement for registering as an NBFC (Rs 20 million or US$450,000) is typically beyond the reach of most MFIs. ü Similarly, the minimum capital requirements for insurance companies (Rs 1 billion, or US$23 million) are high. . NGOs not allowed !!!!! ü MFIs have problems raising equity: NGOs are not allowed to invest in MFI equity, because of the charitable status of NGOs under the Section 11 and 12 of the Income Tax Act. And regulation on equity investment in MFIs dictates that foreign equity must be a minimum of US$500,000, and cannot exceed 51% of total equity; this implies that bringing in US $500,000 foreign equity requires raising an equal amount (almost Rs 23 million) from India – an amount that is considered far too high by most Indian MFIs. Foreign Funding (not allowed) !!!! ü What’s more, since 2002, MFIs are no longer allowed to raise debt from foreign donors and development finance institutions through the ‘External Commercial Borrowing’ (ECB) route. Comparing Indian MFI with that of Bangladesh  and understanding our limits !!!!! ü Second, the cost of funds for Indian MFIs is relatively high, and unlike in Bangladesh and a number of other countries, the Indian MFI sector has not benefited from grants/subsidized funding. ü Unlike in, say, Bangladesh, where PKSF lends to MFIs at 4-6% p.a. (less than half the market interest rate), Indian MFIs, right from inception, tend raise debt (from SIDBI, FWWB or commercial banks) at market rates (between 11-13.5% p.a.). ü While, in many ways, this is a more sustainable way to grow, in practice, the high cost of funds combined with problems in accessing equity, has meant that achieving profitability and growth has been more difficult for Indian MFIs than their counterparts in countries like Bangladesh. Lack of Professionalism !!!! ü Third, the Indian MFI sector suffers from capacity and skills constraints, and inadequate support systems. ü As microfinance is a specialized activity and given that many MFIs have evolved from NGOs that have otherwise been focusing on grant based activities, staff tend to have stronger inclination towards social development issues and tend to possess limited skills in finance, accounting and business management. ü Thus, sensitization to issues like internal controls, importance of credit discipline amongst groups/members, MIS, financial control and management, financial analysis, business planning, systems development, new product design, etc tend to be of relatively low quality. ü MFIs need considerable technical assistance to scale up skills in these aspects. Constraints !!!!! ü Fourth, most MFIs in India lend to SHGs. ü This means that MFIs in India are constrained by many of the same factors that have held back the outreach and scale of SHG Bank Linkage. ü In particular, capacity, time and cost issues related to group formation have posed constraints

If  we mitigate with these issues.....we could definitely have a bright future for MFI in India !!!!

India - Japan and Rare Earth Element Diplomacy !! :):) ---->> China :(:(:(

Why Rare Earth Element is so important in international politics?

• China presently controls almost 97 per cent of the world’s REE market and has developed a monopolistic hold on it. 
• Japan is the world’s largest importer of REE, mainly because of its major industrial base in electronics and the consequent demand for a significant amount of REE. 
• REEs are required for computers, laptops and televisions. They also have significant usage in mobile telephony and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment. 
• Countries are overprotective about imports and exports of REEs because of their utility in strategic sectors such as missiles. 
• For sometime now China has been found linking exports of REEs to Japan with territorial disputes. 
• Naturally, Japan has been on the lookout for alternate supply chains. Sensing this opportunity India is trying to fill the void, at least partially.

Rare Earth Elements as far as China is concerned ?

• REEs include elements like Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Erbium, Gadolinium, etc. 
• China has been effectively controlling the global REE market for many years. 
• In 2012, it published the first ever White Paper on REE tilted "Situations and Policies of China's Rare Earth Industry", which highlighted the need for the ‘sustainable and healthy development of this industry’. 
• But in reality China has not followed the ‘healthy’ trend and has begun to use REE exports to Japan as a diplomatic lever especially over their maritime territorial dispute.

How does India come into picture between China and Japan ?

• India is known to be the second largest producer of REEs. 
• According to one estimate made in 2010, China produced 1.3 lakh tonnes of REEs while India’s output was 2,700 tonnes. 
• India, in spite of being a small player in comparison with China, has been in the business of REE since the 1950s when Indian Rare Earths Ltd. was established. 
• The recent agreement between Japan and India on REE could also be viewed as a continuation of their existing relationship in the field of REEs. 
• Japan has already made investments in this regard in India. A subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho called Toyotsu Rare Earths India Pvt. Ltd. is based at Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and is involved in the production of some rare earth elements. 
• The company operates a monazite sand rare earth production base and is involved in the making of rare earths such as neodymium, lanthanum and cerium. It receives the supply of monazite sand from Indian Rare Earths Ltd.

How is India and Japan moving forward on this aspect and involving the third world in this aspect?

• The most interesting aspect of India and Japan coming together is that they are also proposing to engage with other states where REEs are available for excavation. 
• India and Japan want to develop a joint venture (JV) in third countries, particularly in under-developed states. 
• They are proposing to engage states such as Afghanistan and Kazakhstan basically to secure their supply sources. 
• The rare-earth resources in Afghanistan (Helmand province) are estimated to be one million tonnes; and, particularly for India, engagement in Afghanistan has considerable strategic significance too. 
• With regard to Kazakhstan too, India and Japan aim to undertake joint development of rare-earth assets. All these efforts could assist India and Japan to develop a global market for REEs.

Rare Earth Elements as far as India is concerned ?

• Japan is aware of India’s huge reserves of REEs in Odisha. 
• Recently, Indian Rare Earths Ltd., which comes under the Department of Atomic Energy, has sought clearance for rare earths mining from sand in the coastal stretch of around 2,500 hectares at Bramhagiri (Puri district). 
• Japan has earmarked a $1.5-billion corpus for developing alternative sources of rare earths and India needs to attract Japanese investment.

Both India and Japan understand that the REE sector offers commercial, strategic and diplomatic advantages. At the same time, ensuring the regular supply of REEs is going to be a time consuming process. If they invest today in various projects then it could take approximately five years to double or triple output. Over the years many countries in the world had stopped making investments in the mining of REEs because financially it was more viable to import from China. However, this had led to China developing a monopoly in this sector.

Strategic,Economic importance of REEs 

for India ?

• For countries like India there is much to learn from the REE experience. 
• It is important to appreciate that with regard to critical materials and major minerals it is essential to plan thoughtfully. 
• There should be minimal dependence on other countries with regard to the strategic materials required in the energy, aerospace, nuclear and defence sectors. 
• Also, there is a need to constantly monitor the ongoing trends in areas like semiconductors, silicon technology, chips manufacture, thin films, nanotechnologies, etc. 
• This could assist in undertaking mid-course corrections in policies with respect to strategic materials, if necessary. 
• The presence or absences of strategic materials do have both short-term and long-term impacts on the country’s economy as well as on military readiness.