Aung San Suu Kyi at the Singapore Summit conference
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Aung San Suu Kyi said Myanmar’s government is committed to improving the country’s economy. she emphasized that a key part of that will be changes to the constitution and improving the rule of law to boost inclusiveness and unity in the country.
Suu Kyi was speaking on Saturday at the Singapore Summit conference held in Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel.
Suu Kyi emphasized that genuine reform will depend on how much inclusiveness and unity Myanmar can achieve and the key to that is changing the constitution and improving the rule of law.
She said: “A lot of our problems in recent months have arisen from the fact that we have been lacking in transparency. Business deals that have turned sour, the demands of the people for their wrongs to be put right so transparency is very important.
“But transparency is linked to confidence. We need a leadership that has enough confidence in themselves to be transparent and enough honesty to accept criticisms and to meet it in the best way possible which is to say by redressing what needs to be redressed but by standing up for what they believe is worth preserving or worth pursuing.”
Indonesia’s former vice-president, Yusuf Kalla also weighed in on how Myanmar can work towards resolving the conflicts among its different communities.
“It is how to make compromise. We should compromise to make prosperity for each other. What we can do in any country or Myanmar is to improve in the equality of life between the others,” he said.
As many are also keen on investing in Myanmar, Suu Kyi called on businesses to insist on transparency in order to help the country develop,there sounded a word of caution.
“This is what the international community can do for us. To be honest in their assessment of the situation and not to let their hopes colour what they really see. You must not see what you want to see. You must see what there is to see. It is not by painting an over optimistic picture of our country that you can help us. It’s only by being realistic about what we need to do that you’ll be able to help us.”
Some have questioned whether such views may deter investors from entering the market but Suu Kyi is cognizant that Myanmar needs foreign funds.
Singapore Summit’s chairman George Yeo said: “She did say that businesses have got to make profits and if you don’t make profits, you shouldn’t be in business. But please aspire to higher goals and not just be concerned with making money.”
Suu Kyi certainly did not mince her words when she said that Myanmar is a nation that’s still divided.
What she said is crucial is that the people in her country must come together to discuss and resolve the differences for the sake of living together in a society which has to be at peace with itself.
Resolving deep-seated issues in Myanmar will be a challenge, but substantial reforms must be seen by next year before the country’s elections in 2015. Media agencies
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Global News
23092013
Myanmar approves UNESCO’s peace education project
Myanmar has approved UNESCO’s peace education project in northern Rakhine state reaffirming its commitment to promote peace education as a means of fostering mutual respect for cultural diversity at the school level, official sources said on Sunday.
The project is to be jointly implemented by the UNESCO and the government in three townships in the state –Maungtaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung with the fund support by the Belgium government.
Under the project, 350 teachers from 40 conflicted-affected schools will be trained in peace education and it will benefit 10, 000 students, the sources said.
The project also aims to reactivate 40 parent-teacher associations and set up three community learning centers, the sources added.
Following the recent communal violence in Rakhine state which has affected hundreds of schools and thousands of students, the government and international community have identified peace education as one of the priority to address underlying causes of the communal tension.
The overall aim of the peace education project is to enhance the capacity of schools teachers, students and their parents to facilitate inclusive problem-solving process and consensus- building around community priority and to strengthen the commitment to an inclusive civic national identity
Snake on plane forces Qantas to ground flight
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Hundreds of Qantas passengers were stranded in Sydney after the discovery of a tiny snake on board the plane at Sydney Airport on Sunday night, local media reported Monday.
A Qantas spokeswoman said the 20-centimeter snake was found by a cabin crew member near the doorway of the aircraft on Sunday night before the 370 passengers boarded the flight, which was bounded for Tokyo.
The flight was canceled and the 370 passengers were put up in accommodation in Sydney overnight, the spokeswoman told the Australian Associated Press (AAP).
The spokeswoman said it was yet to be determined what type of snake it was and where it had come from.
“The snake has gone into quarantine to determine where it’s come from,” she said.
A replacement flight was scheduled to leave Sydney at 10:15 a.m. (local time) on Monday.
Cambodian opposition boycotts parliament over alleged election rigging
The Cambodian opposition boycotted the opening of parliament Monday over alleged cheating in the July 28 elections. Fifty-five lawmakers elected from the opposition were absent in the National Assembly, while 68 ruling party lawmakers attended the session. Prime Minister Hun Sen was poised to continue his 28 years in power during a re-election vote scheduled for Tuesday’s session. Hun Sen, 61, made no comment about the boycott. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party claims it was cheated out of a victory because of electoral fraud.
Sudan’s president, wanted by ICC, plans to travel to UNGA
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on genocide charges, said he plans to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly this week, Reuters reported. Bashir said Sunday that he had already booked a hotel in New York. However, he did not say whether the US had granted him a visa. A senior US State Department official said last week that Bashir would “not receive a warm welcome” if he traveled to the US. Washington led calls for the Sundanese leader to face international justice over his role in the conflict in the troubled Darfur region.
US Navy helicopter crashes in Red Sea with 5 people on board
A US Navy helicopter has crashed in the central Red Sea with five military personnel on board, the US Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement. The status of the personnel is unknown. The MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6, crashed while operating with the guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence. The aircraft was not engaged in hostile activity. The incident is being investigated.
Iran demands West recognizes its uranium enrichment right
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has demanded that the West recognizes Tehran’s uranium enrichment right in any nuclear deal. “If they accept these rights, the Iranian people are a rational people, peaceful and friendly. We stand ready to cooperate and together we can settle all the region’s problems and even global ones,” he said on the eve of his departure for talks at the United Nations, according to AFP. He added that Iran is ready for negotiations with the West, provided that “there are no preconditions, the talks are on equal terms and there is mutual respect,” AP reported. Rouhani is set to deliver a key speech in New York and hold talks with world leaders on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting.
WWF calls for release of Greenpeace activists in the Arctic
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is calling for the immediate release of 30 crew members of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise vessel which was detained by Russian authorities, the organization said in a statement. The Russian Coast Guard boarded the Greenpeace vessel and arrested activists after the crew tried to hinder the work of a Gazprom oil rig in the Barents Sea on Thursday. Two additional activists were arrested on Wednesday after they tried to climb Gazprom’s Prirazlomnoye oil platform, protesting against drilling in the Arctic.
16 killed in suicide bomb attack in Baghdad Sunni district
At least 16 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in a mainly Sunni district of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The attacker blew himself up inside a tent filled with mourners on Sunday, Reuters cited police and medical sources as saying. Thirty-five people were wounded in the Dora neighborhood. The attack comes just one day after a string of bombings killed at least 96 people and injured dozens of others in a Baghdad suburb and the northern city of Baiji, adding to the worst year of violence since American troops began leaving Iraq in 2008.
Iran to take control of Bushehr nuclear power plant on Monday
Iran will take control over the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant on September 23.For two years, or “7,000 hours,” the country’s first atomic power station will operate under Russian warranty, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said, as cited by Press TV. Several Russian specialists will remain on site to assist their Iranian colleagues. At the end of the two-year period, the Bushehr station will be fully controlled by Iranian technicians. The 1000-megawatt station, working under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), became fully operational in September 2011. Despite having the third largest oil reserves and second largest gas reserves in the world, Iran was striving to use its energy more efficiently. Energy wastage has previously cost the country millions of dollars.
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Cambodian King appoints Hun Sen as PM
23092013
Cambodian King appoints Hun Sen as PM today opens new parliament despite opposition boycott
Cambodia opened the fifth legislature of the National Assembly successfully on Monday even though the opposition party boycotted the session because it did not recognize the results of the July 28 election that handed victory to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party.
King Norodom Sihamoni opened the new parliament session, which was attended by only all 68 elected lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the 55 elected lawmakers from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy did not join it.
The opposition CNRP boycotted the session since it did not recognize the results of the July 28 election, claiming serious vote fraud and demanding the formation of an independent poll probe committee, but the CPP rejected the request, saying the move was against the country’s constitution and the election results were already ratified.
Addressing the session, King Sihamoni called on all newly- elected lawmakers to see the country’s interest as the top priority and should unify for the nation’s prestige. “This is a new opportunity for our legislative body, all elected lawmakers, to try all your best both physically and mentally to serve the nation by seeing national interest as the top priority,” he said.
He also urged all lawmakers to work closely in order to lead the Cambodian people to live in happiness, peace and stability in the context of ensuring freedom and human rights respect.
“To achieve these excellent duties, the Cambodian people should have highly-national unity and solidarity based on the implementation of democratic principles and rule of law that the kingdom has carried out since 1993,” he said.
The king also said that the nation needed to further construct social justice to a higher level through more active reforms on legal and judicial systems.
“I hope that the fifth legislature of the National Assembly will function well and fulfill its duties successfully for the interest of the nation and the Cambodian people,” he said.
After the opening session, the king appointed incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen as the prime minister for the new five-year-term government after the CPP’s victory in the July 28 election.
“The prime minister of Cambodia has duties to prepare the members of the Cambodian government in order to ask for the adoption of confidence from the National Assembly,” the king said in the royal decree of appointment.
In response to the appointment, Prime Minister Hun Sen thanked the king and vowed to put all his efforts to fulfill his duties in order to serve the nation and the people.
The premier said that he would submit the members of the new government to the dean of the parliament on Tuesday in order to ask for the adoption of confidence.
According to the official schedule, Hun Sen, 61, who has been in power for 28 years, will be sworn in for another five-year term on Tuesday.
The opposition CNRP issued a statement on Monday, saying that the new parliament was the one-party parliament and did not represent the whole Cambodian people. “This opening session is a violation of the constitution,” the statement said. “It is completely contrary to the principle of multi-party liberal democratic regime.”
However, according to the country’s constitution, a new government would be formed by a 50 percent plus one majority, or 63 lawmakers, in the new parliament.
Security has been tightened on Monday and anti-riot police have been deployed along streets in the city with barbed wire barricades being used to block roads surrounding key government’s buildings, the Royal Palace, and the National Assembly.
“We have used thousands of security forces to ensure security and public order during the session,” National Military Police spokesman Kheng Tito told Xinhua, adding that protests were not allowed during these days.
Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Monday appointed incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen as the prime minister for the new five-year-term government after his ruling party won the July 28 election, according to a royal decree.
“The Prime Minister of Cambodia has duties to prepare the members of the Cambodian government in order to ask for the adoption of confidence from the National Assembly,” said the royal decree.
In response to the appointment, Prime Minister Hun Sen thanked the king and vowed to put all his efforts to fulfill his duties in order to serve the nation and the people.
The premier said that he would submit the members of the new government to the dean of the parliament on Tuesday in order to ask for the adoption of confidence.
According to the official schedule, Hun Sen will be sworn in for another five-year term on Tuesday.
The appointment came after King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the opening session of the fifth legislature of the National Assembly, which was attended by only the ruling party’s elected lawmakers as the opposition’s elected legislators boycotted it.
Sixty-eight elected lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’ s Party (CPP) of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen were present at the opening session, while all the 55 legislators from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy did not attend it.
The opposition CNRP boycotted the session since it did not recognize the results of the July 28 parliamentary election, claiming serious vote fraud and demanding the formation of an independent poll probe committee, but the CPP rejected the request, saying the move was against the country’s constitution and the election results were already ratified.
The CNRP issued a statement on Monday, saying that the new parliament was the one-party parliament and did not represent the whole Cambodian people.
“It is completely contrary to the principle of multi-party liberal democratic regime,” it said.
However, according to the country’s constitution, a new government would be formed by a 50 percent plus one majority, or 63 lawmakers, in the new parliament. Media agencies
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Angela Merkel win German Vote
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel drinks a glass of vine during the election party of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at the party’s headquarters in Berlin on September 22, 2013
Merkel’s CDU has won with its associate has won 42.5 percent of the vote and other alliance FDP falls short to garner parliament seat with total percent of 4.8percent.
Angela Merkel falls short of absolute majority to form the government so she has to explore new partner but her next four year will be daunting task and she has failed to gain absolute majority and need to garner support in Upper house on issue to issue basis.
Social Democrats won 25.7 percent, Green Allies won 8.4 percent of vote and hard liner left party scored 8.6 percent of the vote.
Angela Merkel falls short of absolute majority to form the government so she has to explore new partner but her next four year will be daunting task and she has failed to gain absolute majority and need to garner support in Upper house on issue to issue basis.
Social Democrats won 25.7 percent, Green Allies won 8.4 percent of vote and hard liner left party scored 8.6 percent of the vote.
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MAHINDRA RACING CREATES HISTORY
23092013
MAHINDRA RACING CREATES HISTORY AT ITALIAN NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE RACING CHAMPIONSHIP (CIV) 2013
WINS ‘CONSTRUCTORS TITLE’ FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR
Mumbai, September 23, 2013 - Mahindra Racing – the first and only Indian manufacturer to enter the world of international motorcycle grand prix racing – created history by winning the prestigious ‘Constructors Title’ in the Moto3 class (250cc) at the Italian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (CIV) in Italy. The exciting final race of the 2013 season concluded at the Mugello Circuit yesterday, where the team won the prestigious title. Last year, Mahindra had won the title in the 125 cc class.
Mahindra Racing riders, Andrea Locatelli and Michael Rinaldi also wrapped up the 2013 season with an incredible 1st and 2nd place finish in the Riders’ Championship.
“This historic victory at the CIV marks a new high for Mahindra Racing in its journey towards becoming a global motorsports brand. Winning the Constructors Title for the second year in a row in this highly competitive series is also a remarkable achievement for Indian motorsport and we are very proud to have played our part in making it happen,” said Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group.
“Hearty congratulations to the riders, technicians and support staff of Mahindra Racing. They have demonstrated remarkable team spirit and worked very hard to win the Constructors Title at the CIV Championship, which is among the most competitive in the world. This win motivates us to work even harder during the next year”, added Mr. S. P. Shukla, President, Group Strategy and Defence Sector and Chief Brand Officer, Mahindra Group.
Commenting on the win, Mr. Mufaddal Choonia, CEO of Mahindra Racing said, “Last year, we created history by winning the Constructors Title at the Italian National Motorcycle Racing Championship for the very first time. Today, we have won the competition for the second year in a row and are thrilled with our success. This is a significant achievement for Mahindra Racing, considering that our MGP3O bike is still in its first year of development. We hope to continue to do well and rise to greater heights in the seasons to come.”
Championship winner Andrea Locatelli said, “We fought all the way through the season and finally we can say we’re the Italian Champions! Today’s race was all about getting it done, I really didn’t want to waste my chances with a silly mistake. I want to thank my family and Team Mahindra Racing. They have done an incredible job and gave me the perfect bike. I hope to keep working with them in the future.”
Wrapping up the championship in second place, Michael Ruben Rinaldi said, “What a fantastic race! It’s a shame I missed winning the last race by just 0.017 seconds, but I’m happy because I gave my best and rode my Mahindra as hard as I could. I tried to pull away in the early stages but once I saw it was not possible, I tried to keep myself in the mix up front. It’s been an amazing season and I would like to thank Mahindra Racing and everyone who has supported me. I would like also to congratulate my team mate for the well-deserved title.”
In the 2013 season of Italy’s leading national track competition, the team entered the Moto3 (250cc – 4 stroke) class with two very talented riders, Andrea Locatelli (16, from Alzano Lombardo) and Michael Rinaldi (17, from Rimini, Emilia-Romagna). Throughout the championship, the riders pulled off a number of hard-fought podium finishes in 10 gruelling rounds, with some fantastic double podiums and top two finishes.
Demonstrating its expertise on a stage where Italy’s best young riders compete, the Indian team led the Constructor’s standings with a good margin throughout the season. Both riders demonstrated just why their names are included in the list of Italy’s most promising young racing talent. While Andrea Locatelli won the Riders Championship with 167 well earned points, teammate Michael Rinaldi finished the season in second place with 145 points.
Mahindra Racing is one among a handful of entrants, which has chosen to develop its own technology for chassis and engine, while at the same time challenging the might of established racing factories that fill the rest of the grid at the CIV. This win is significant, considering that the MGP3O is still in its first year of development and was assembled for the first time only in January 2013.
CIV Moto3 Final Standing
Constructors’ Standing Points:
1) Mahindra – 201
2) Honda – 187
3) Oral – 72
Riders’ Standing:
1) Locatelli 167 (Mahindra)
2) Rinaldi 145 (Mahindra)
3) Coletti 144 (Honda)
About Mahindra Racing
Mahindra Racing became the first Indian team to participate in the FIM MotoGP™ World Motorcycle Racing Championship in 2011 and the Italian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (CIV) in 2012.
Racing in the Moto3™ class in MotoGP, Mahindra Racing entered the 2013 season with its own new 4-stroke, single-cylinder, 250cc motorcycle: the Mahindra MGP3O, developed with experienced Swiss firm Suter Racing Technology AG. Experienced Spanish rider Efrén Vázquez (26, from Bilbao) is teamed with exciting Portuguese teenager Miguel Oliveira (18, from Pragal near Lisbon). The team has been recording consistent Top 5 finishes and has already achieved a pole position and two circuit lap records in the first 12 rounds of the World Championship.
At the opening round in Qatar, the Mahindra duo had a dream debut with a double Top 10 result for the only Indian team in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. In the Catalunya round, Vázquez crossed the line in fifth and Oliveira was sixth; this double Top 6 being the best result for Mahindra Racing so far, as a pair. Riding to perfection at the Assen Round, Oliveira was just inches from scoring the team’s historic first podium, when he crossed the line in fourth place just 0.096 seconds from third, and 0.378 behind the leader. In Sachsenring, the team scored another double top six finish. The team continues to be in the Top 3 in the Constructor’s rankings.
In the 2012 CIV season, Mahindra Racing competed in the 125 GP Class and became the first team from India to win an international motorsport event, eventually recording six victories from eight races and securing the Constructors’ Title. In the 2013 CIV season, the team has entered the Moto3 (250cc – 4 stroke) class with talented riders Andrea Locatelli (16, from Alzano Lombardo) and Michael Rinaldi (17, Rimini, Emilia-Romagna). The Mahindra riders have already achieved 7 podium finishes in 8 Rounds so far in this season, with the best results being the double podiums with 1st and 2nd finishes at Round 5 in Misano and Round 7 in Imola. Mahindra Racing currently leads the Constructor’s standings with a wide margin.
Breaking new ground as an Indian Constructor, Mahindra Racing created history for Indian automotive engineering, when Ambrogio Racing – a team in the Moto3TM World Championship decided to switch to the Mahindra MGP3O racing bikes, becoming Mahindra Racing’s first customer.
Mahindra’s bold decision to take on the world’s best at the highest level of motorcycle racing won the team prestigious awards such as the ‘ZigWheels Motorsport Award of the Year, 2012’, and the NDTV Car and Bike Awards ‘Mobil 1 Motorsport Award of the Year, 2012’.
For further information please visit: www.mahindraracing.com.
About Mahindra
The Mahindra Group focuses on enabling people to rise through solutions that power mobility, drive rural prosperity, enhance urban lifestyles and increase business efficiency.
A USD 16.2 billion multinational group based in Mumbai, India, Mahindra employs more than 155,000 people in over 100 countries. Mahindra operates in the key industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility vehicles, after-market, information technology and vacation ownership. In addition, Mahindra enjoys a strong presence in the agribusiness, aerospace, components, consulting services, defence, energy, financial services, industrial equipment, logistics, real estate, retail, steel, commercial vehicles and two wheeler industries.
In 2012, Mahindra featured on the Forbes Global 2000 list, a listing of the biggest and most powerful listed companies in the world. In 2013, the Mahindra Group received the Financial Times ‘Boldness in Business’ Award in the ‘Emerging Markets’ category.
Visit us at www.mahindra.com.
| For further enquiries | ||
| Ms. Roma Balwani
Senior Vice President
Group Communications
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Phone: +91-22 24975176
| Mr. Carlo Baldi
Mahindra CIV consultant
Phone: +39 0564071367
Mobile: +39 3351312708
| Ms. Camilla Truzzoli
Team Coordinator, CIV Team
Mahindra Racing
Mobile: +39 3497448971
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SHAMEFUL GAME OF IDENTITY POLITICS
23092013
It is that time again when all of us Indians should hang our heads in shame. What has happened in Muzaffarnagar is beyond mere repentance and regret.
It is a national shame and we should have our national flag at half mast all over Uttar Pradesh and indeed in Delhi for the next month in the memory of the victims.
We should also ensure that the governments in Lucknow and Delhi do not easily forget their culpability in this totally avoidable tragedy. Our political parties should resolve to not send their glib spokespersons ( offensive at times in their arrogance and compulsion to shift blame) to any TV discussion on this issue as that just helps to trivialise this horrific act. Instead, they should be introspecting and examining their role in this latest episode of subhuman behaviour.
Social fabric We should impress upon our government and political leaders that government energies should rather be spent on putting an end to this cycle of communal violence and identity politics rather than vying for a seat in the UN Security Council ( UNSC). Will it behove India to be a member of the UNSC, while thousands are internally displaced and human rights are routinely violated in hundreds of incidents of communal violence every year? . Having experienced it at first hand in 1984, I can imagine the extent of human despair and cold fear when one feels completely vulnerable realising that there is no protection from the marauding gangs. One simply waits to be killed or worse still, be burnt alive or be converted overnight into life- long refugees. All those horrific images that I had thought I have banished from my consciousness come rushing back — of children traumatised, of women unable to save their dignity and men having to change their appearances to avoid certain death. How can our politicians, who act with such cold calculus to let matters take their own course, not realise that their behaviour amounts to treason against the Indian Republic because each time such bloodletting happens it palpably weakens the already fragile social fabric of this country.
With each communal riot, divisions deepen in the psyche and hearts of our people and surely if this deepening continues, physical separation cannot be prevented. And yet our politicians do not hesitate to add fuel to the fire and bake their electoral bread in the fires
that devastate homes and ruin lives forever.
My real fear is that the expectation that such incidents will become rarer over successive generations with improvement in living standards appears to be misplaced. If anything, greater material prosperity seems to be providing more resources to fuel the frenzy and more dangerous weapons to exact the highest toll of human lives. Clearly, we need conscious, deliberate collective action to remove this malignancy from our society. Who will lead the effort is the question before it is once again too late.
Venal ambitions There are is always the blame game and shouting matches, on television channels on who started it all. But does that really matter? What is it that makes the other side react in such a ferocious and sub- human manner? And why does not the administration, whose bounden duty it is to prevent such carnage, act in time? The failure of the State to do its job and accept responsibility is nauseous. This is a State, which has been debilitated by the venal ambitions of those who hold its offices and who will not flinch from leading it to complete paralysis and inaction if that served their immediate purpose.
Two questions arise. First, to what extent is the identity politics of our political parties
either in the name of secularism or on openly opportunistic grounds responsible for the continued communal violence in our country? Second, is there any practical way in which the state machinery can be insulated from the consequences of identity politics? I am sure there are many complex determinants of identity politics.
The growing social malaise caused by poor quality of education, declining moral norms and rampant corruption among political leaders and their bureaucratic henchmen surely contribute to perpetuating this vicious form of identity politics.
However, I think that the principal factor for continued expansion of identity politics comes from the rent seeking nature of a growing number of political workers at all levels. I hear about cases of liquor being sent to community leaders for municipal council and university union elections, let alone legislative and parliamentary elections. Surely that is done in the expectation of mobilising particular communities by whatever means and then earn a hefty return once in office.
For a large majority who have joined politics ( and, unfortunately, for an increasing number in senior bureaucracy as well), the sole objective is to secure the people’s mandate to get into office and then use it without any compunction to maximise private gains and raid the exchequer. These political functionaries ( they cannot and should not called leaders), who are opportunists to the core, have no concern whatsoever for people’s welfare or for the progress of our country or indeed the challenges it may be facing. This must change.
Need for change The change could begin if we squarely face the question of a possible trade- off between the politics of so called secularism ( which in effect become a euphemism for identity politics) and politics of good governance and development. As far as I can see, political parties have used the excuse of safeguarding secularism to almost wilfully neglect economic development. This serves their purpose rather well because economic backwardness traps the youth in the clutches of identity- based politicians who then use them as cannon fodder. We are witnessing a frightening trend towards the lumpenisation of our youth, from Srinagar to Muzaffarnagar. This is a direct consequence of the slow pace of development, poor skilling and scarcity of jobs. It is time that the electorate gives a resounding rebuff to those who practice identity politics.
We should force our politicians to focus only on development, good governance and employment generation. It is time that we start the process of putting into the dustbin of history all those who want to make their fortunes by dividing our people, robbing them of their human dignity and endangering this country’s destiny.
The author is Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
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“Future of Jobs in India: Race to a Job Initiative”
23092013
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to invite you to the Wadhwani Foundation- CNBC 18 Forum on“Future of Jobs in India: Race to a Job Initiative” in New Delhi at 6:30 p.m. onOctober 4, 2013 at The Claridges Hotel, New Delhi.
The Forum will feature distinguished speakers including Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission; Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju, Union Minister for Human Resource Development; Mr. S. Ramadorai, Chairman, National Skill Development Agency; and Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, Founder Chairman, Wadhwani Foundation. The panel discussion will be followed by a networking dinner.
For India to become an economic leader, it is critical that we harness India’s demographic dividend. This is reflected in the goal set out by the Prime Minister to provide skills to 500 million people by 2022 – an unprecedented scale. Merely mobilizing traditional skill-generating methods will not suffice. India has the opportunity to leapfrog by leveraging modern technology to not only scale but also allow unparalleled quality and consistency. To catalyze such an innovative technology solution, Wadhwani Foundation launched the “Race to a Job” (RTAJ) initiative last year. Through use of multi-media and massively open access technologies, RTAJ aims to transform student learning and teacher training for high-demand, mid-skill jobs in collaboration with industry and academia.
We believe influential leaders like you can collectively provide a wealth of ideas and valuable recommendations to further enrich our efforts. With this objective, the Wadhwani Foundation, in partnership with CNBC TV18, is hosting this forum. CNBC will also broadcast a 30-minute segment of the panel discussion following the event.
We hope that the Forum will also give you the opportunity to discuss your own efforts and network with other experts in this area.
We would be honoured if you could join us for this event and the dinner. Please do send your confirmation early for us to reserve a place for you.
Warm Regards,
Ajay Kela
President and CEO
Wadhwani Foundation
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INAUGURAL LECTURE OF Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities
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Thanks and best regards
Raj
Professor Dr. C. Raj Kumar
LL.B. (Delhi), B.C.L. (Oxford), LL.M. (Harvard), S.J.D. (Hong Kong)
LL.B. (Delhi), B.C.L. (Oxford), LL.M. (Harvard), S.J.D. (Hong Kong)
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