March 2017 Archives

India Today, in the Light of Octavio Paz

Poetry that listens to history can contribute to the recovery of the past, of the many pasts that make up the fragmented memory of this nation.

Octavio Paz in 1988. Credit: John Leffmann

India has always learnt about itself, known itself, throughout its history, from outsiders. The records of two Chinese travellers, Fa-Hien and Xuanzang helped Ambedkar fix “the date of birth of untouchability”. The controversial writer, Nirad C. Chaudhuri, often approvingly quoted the Iranian scholar and traveller, Al-Biruni’s critical comments on India and Hindus. Outsiders, either in their praise or criticism, hold up another mirror before us, which helps us break our narcissism, and offers us the chance to look at ourselves through other eyes. Whether we choose to accept, ignore, welcome or reject this mirror, it exists as a document about ourselves we can’t wish away. The interest that made these travellers come to India to study it and write about their observations, shows how much the civilisation of this country fascinated people beyond its borders. The Belgian-born French poet and writer, Henri Michaux memorably wrote in his book, A Barbarian in Asia: “In India there is nothing to see – everything to interpret.”

When I once asked the Indian poet and critic, K. Satchidanandan, who comes to his mind when he thinks of poems that have been written on the various historical sites in India, he said, “Octavio Paz.” I asked him the question to find out if there were other poets apart from Paz, but clearly none. On Paz’s 103rd birth anniversary, it is time to revisit his reflections on the country he much loved. Though Paz travelled to India first in 1952, he spent most years when he returned as the Mexican ambassador in 1962. He left in October 1968, resigning from his post in protest against the Mexican government’s massacre of student demonstrators at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, the main square of Mexico City.

In the poetry he wrote during his stay in India, Paz merges Michaux’s distinction by interpreting what he sees. His poetic interests veer around the cultural topography of places, especially Delhi, where he lived. In ‘The Tomb of Amir Khusro’, Paz discovers,

Trees heavy with birds hold
the afternoon up with their hands

and ends by connecting the Sufi poet and musician to the language of a landscape that outlasts him:

“Amir Khusro, parrot or mockingbird:
the two halves of each moment,
muddy sorrow, voice of light.
Syllables wandering fires,
vagabond architectures
every poem is time, and burns.”

Images and memory, past and present, story and life, jostle in the lines of the poem. The body of a poem is not its own body; a poem does not have a body of its own. A poem is a resurrection of the past in the body of a present where the poet lives, sees and imagines. The poem’s body consists of time, split into a dizzying row of images that hold together in the poem, “beggars, flowers, leprosy, marble”. For Paz, poetry is another vision of history that weaves sight and insight, with the poet as witness. Speaking about other things, other people the poet talks about himself, not merely as himself but as someone arrested by the images of time. It is his commitment to a poetics of the present that leads Paz to decipher the bewildering layers of history in India’s fragmented landscape, where he also discovers the fragments of time. As Paz explains in his Nobel Prize speech in 1990, “The search for the present is neither the pursuit of an earthly paradise nor that of a timeless eternity: it is the search for a real reality.” This present is also, “the source of presences”, where Paz discovers the essence of plurality.

Today, when India’s plurality is under threat, what would be a poetic response against it in the light of Octavio Paz? In ‘The Balcony’, he writes about Delhi,

You were covered with poems
your whole body was writing
remember
recover the words
you are beautiful
you know how to talk and sing and dance.

Poetry that listens to history can contribute to the recovery of the past, of the many pasts that make up the fragmented memory of this nation. These pasts are also presences, where different ways of praying, eating, dressing, and speaking move us with wonder. It is this sheer wonder of many pasts living together that excite Paz and his poetry in India. There are poems on Vrindaban, on Shiva and Parvati, as well as on Khusro and Humayun’s mausoleum. India is Hindu and Islamic, and to try erasing any one of those heritages would mean inflicting a monochromatic shade into the country’s history and culture. In the Light of India, Paz makes a decisive statement in favour of that heritage, asserting “India, as a country and as a history, is much greater than Hinduism.” He finds Hindu nationalism “a political corruption of religion,” and a “caricature of monotheism”, where it borrows from “the negative aspects… of Arab civilisation”, that only has place for “one God, one law and one ruler.” This leads the Hindu idea of the nation to imagine an India where “there is no place for Akbar or the poet Amir Khusro, the Red Fort in Delhi or the Taj Mahal in Agra, not to mention the Sikhs or the great Buddhist philosophers.”

Paz was deeply invested in learning about all these traditions. In Conjunctions and Disjunctions, Paz writes “Inside India, Hinduism and Buddhism were the protagonists of a dialogue. That dialogue was Indian civilisation”. But the dialogue had “degenerated into the monologue of Hinduism”. Paz commends Hinduism’s enormous powers that “digested all its heterodoxies and contradictions” but finds its “excessive affirmations” lacking the “counterweight of negativity” intrinsic to Buddhism.

Paz’s historical verdict on the waning of Hinduism’s creative energies is sharp enough: “It was not the invasions of the Huns that put an end to Indian civilisation but that civilisation’s inability to reconstruct itself or fecundate itself.” Many scholars have found reasons for the decline in the caste system. Though Paz addresses the question of caste only through a critical reading of Louis Dumont, one of his central conclusions is strikingly close to Ambedkar’s. In Alternating Currents, Paz writes, the “caste system lacks substance: it is a chain of relations.” Remember Ambedkar writing in The Annihilation of Caste, calls caste a “wrong relationship”, lacking any (philosophical) property of its own.

In India, as students are currently playing a key role against the authoritarian tendencies of the ruling regime and its ideological cohorts, Paz’s reflections are perhaps key to the context of our times.

“The ideology of the young.” Paz writes in relation to the Mexico of his era, “is often a simplification and an acritical reduction of the revolutionary traditions of the West.” He finds newness not so much in “the ideology of youth but their attitude, their sensibility more than their thought.” He admires the “splendid indifference” of youngsters in his time towards “selfish interests” and aiming for a “renunciation of privilege.” That time of rebellion has reappeared on the horizon, as free ideas as much as lives are in danger. But Paz’s warning for any revolutionary thought is equally pertinent: “Criticism of Marxism as an ideology is indispensable if there is to be a rebirth of revolutionary thought.” What is the way out? Paz has a simple and difficult suggestion to make: Self-criticism, imagination and everything to prevent the death of the soul.

(Octavio Paz was born on March 31, 1914)

Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee teaches poetry at Ambedkar University, New Delhi. He is a frequent contributor to The Wire and has written for The Hindu, The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, Outlook and other publications.

‘As of Now the Standards for Licensing Proprietary AYUSH Drugs Are Pretty Lax’

In a wide-ranging interview with The Wire, the outgoing secretary of the AYUSH ministry, Ajit M. Sharan, says the rules to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act will soon be changed to have strict guidelines for safety trials of AYUSH medicines.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Wire, the outgoing secretary of the AYUSH ministry, Ajit M. Sharan, says the rules to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act will soon be changed to have strict guidelines for safety trials of AYUSH medicines.

AYUSH ministry secretary Ajit M Sharan. Credit: Anoo Bhuyan

AYUSH ministry secretary Ajit M Sharan. Credit: The Wire/Anoo Bhuyan

New Delhi: It’s been three years since the Modi government set up the AYUSH Ministry. What has the ministry achieved and what are its policy priorities? The Wire sat down with the outgoing secretary Ajit M. Sharan, for an interview. He says the inspections of AYUSH institution are lacking, and Indian Ayurvedic drugs are not exported as they find it difficult to meet global norms on safety and efficacy. But the government is soon going to introduce new rules that make safety trials of AYUSH drugs necessary.

The ministry of AYUSH was set up in 2014. What would you say are its achievements over these last three years?

AYUSH has been there for a long time, but previously as a department only. Among the different components, yoga has had the biggest increase in visibility and acceptance. The credit for this goes to International Yoga Day. People are accepting yoga both for wellness and therapy. Enrolment in yoga schools, yoga tourism, yoga as a career and research into yoga has all gone up.

In Ayurveda, the second big thing, we are in the process of is creating a number of new institutions. The All India Institute of Ayurveda in Delhi is functional. But with Ayurveda, there are two kind of people. One says there’s no credibility at all. Absolute skeptics. They are the rough lot of people to address. The second are those who would like to experience Ayurveda but are apprehensive about quality concerns. So we are trying to address the quality of drugs in the market and of Ayurvedic services. For this we have undertaken major amendments to the rules under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to address quality concerns. Hopefully in a couple of months from now they would take care of a majority of the concerns. At the moment, licensing of Ayurvedic drugs is a state subject. So there was no uniformity in the approach of different states – some were strict and some were liberal.

Do states make their own rules for licensing?

The rules are the same but yardsticks are ambiguous. Basically it says that licensing authorities should be satisfied on the safety and efficacy of the new drug. What we are trying to do by amending the rules is put in place a mechanism where there’s a central technical authority which will vet all applications for new formulations from the view point of safety and efficacy. So that the same uniform yardstick is applied. Once its cleared here, it can go to the state licensing authority for licensing. Also in terms of labeling, today whether it’s for cosmetics or geriatric care, it’s all under one label. Now we’re trying to put in place a mechanism where we can specify if it is pediatrics, geriatrics, cosmetics or general medicine or so on. So these are the two major amendments we are putting in- on uniform licensing of new drugs and on labeling. The legal vetting is going on so I presume in another month or so it should go through. The third aspect of this is on mis-branding of Ayurvedic drugs. Especially in the electronic medium, advertisements on Ayurvedic drug formulations seem to have a solution for everything on earth.

And the Advertising Standards Council of India is looking into it right now…

Yes, we have tied up with ASCI to have a 24×7 surveillance on advertisements which come out in all media, to curb mis-branding. This just started about a month back. They are an independent regulatory body. So these are measures we have taken for drugs. For Ayurvedic services, in terms of quality, we have taken up the accreditation of panchkarma centres and Ayurvedic hospitals, by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH), who has developed and published the guidelines. For teaching hospitals we have made it mandatory in the next two years they have to acquire NABH accreditation. For panchkarma centres we have to create a pull-factor so that they see the value-add for NABH accreditation. So the standards are there and we should see change over the next few years.

What is the status of inspections of these hospitals and centres, in the way that MCI does random inspections?

There are 350 Ayurvedic colleges in the country. We also have a similar regulatory body which is the Central Council for Indian Medicine (CCIM) which is parallel to MCI. So far hospitals had to get approval only from CCIM on infrastructure, but now they have to get NABH accreditation as well, which focuses on their processes.

But the same ills which plague MCI affect CCIM. The credibility of the inspections by CCIM is suspect. So about two months back we have put in place a system where only senior faulty from government colleges go for inspections. They will be selected on the basis of a random computer draw, similar to MCI.

We often hear AYUSH being talked about in the same breath as ‘Make in India’ – that we want to take AYUSH to the world. But is the priority to promote this domestically or internationally?

Both. But internationally the hurdles are bigger and higher as there are many regulatory issues – most Ayurvedic drugs go as food supplements. It’s very difficult, the type of scientific-based standards they want for efficacy and safety. They are not willing to accept the evidence we have.

What is wrong with our evidence that makes them concerned about the safety and efficacy of Ayurvedic drugs?

All Ayurvedic drugs are herbal and plant-based. Sometimes they want the passport-data of the drugs used in trials such as the information on where the ingredients were harvested. This data is not maintained in the scientific trials we do here. Secondly, the approach of Ayurveda is individualised. The same thing doesn’t work for all people. Because of this, the approach to scientific evidence also has to be different, it cant be looked at through the same prism as non-traditional medicine.

So given that these are the hurdles, where is our priority? On the domestic or international drug market?

My personal view is, there needs to be a local demand for it. For example, in Switzerland and Germany, there’s a big constituency of Ayurveda lovers. Two of the biggest conferences on Ayurveda are held in Germany annually. If local citizens ask for it, then local governments will listen. Otherwise, no matter how much we push or evidence we send from here, local governments will not listen. So we’re trying to reach out to these constituencies through conferences. We are also having joint research and publications in association with Western universities. Recently there was some research we supported on osteoarthritis in collaboration with Charity University in Germany. The papers which they published got far more publicity and acceptability. We are in the process of setting up an international Ayurveda alliance which will provide a common platform internationally to set standards of teaching, examinations and licensing.

So right now in terms of breaking into the European Union for example, are we making any headway with even a few drugs?

This is not a matter of negotiation. It’s not like a trade negotiation. So we are following the model of joint research.

We have lost control over our indigenous knowledge many times in the past. But to confirm… are we close to having more Indian Ayurvedic drugs exported? Yoga has been easy in its transferability, but how is ‘Make-In-India’ progressing on the drug front?

It’s a bit of all these things. In terms of misappropriation of knowledge, it has already been documented in the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), where this documented knowledge has been transferred and stored. Most patent offices look at this before granting a patent. Doing research on active molecules in these Indian Ayurvedic herbs is something which we can’t prevent and I think we should encourage it. This is not the same as doing Ayurveda. If people are able to find leads that serve the purpose of humanity, from Ayurvedic knowledge, why not? But in terms of us trying to push Ayurvedic drugs across the world, I think with much lesser effort if we try to promote inbound Ayurvedic tourism, it will have much better dividends.

Which brings me back to my earlier question. Are we interested in fostering AYUSH domestically or globally? What is the available infrastructure to reach there?

The benefits we can reap from inbound Ayurveda tourism would be far more. But there’s also the issues of infrastructure. We have a very limited number of good world-class Ayurveda hospitals, even though there is a high demand from tourists. Personally I think its much easier and more beneficial to India, to develop India as an attractive destination itself. Exporting Ayurvedic drugs is good for individual companies or for branding the country but very difficult. Exporting AYUSH services may be a bit easier, so you have Ayurveda spas coming across the world. I think the Ayurveda alliance, if it matures, will go a long way in globalising Ayurveda by setting standards across these three segments.

On a related note is the issue of trials and standardisation. Western countries expect us to adhere to their standards but as you have explained, it is difficult to fit into their structures. The Ayurvedic community here has raised oppositions to clinical trials. But even for us domestically – what is our guarantee on safety and efficacy of these drugs? What standards do we have and what standards are we developing? What should we ourselves be worried about?

There are two categories of drugs here. Classical medicines have been there for thousands of years. In terms of safety of medicines and efficacy, the fears here are largely unfounded. For others, there are good manufacturing practices which are mandatory. But how rigorously these are followed and how strong are our inspections and surveillance mechanisms, that’s an issue which is debatable. So inspite of these practices and certifications, the quality may still not be up to the mark.

But if you stick to standard reputed brands, it may not be an issue.

But what about proprietary drugs?

As of now the standards for licensing proprietary AYUSH drugs are pretty lax. When you go in for a new drug, best is to look at the ingredients, the reputation of the manufacturer and take the indications with a pinch of salt, and you will be fine.

‘Pinch of salt’ is somewhat unscientific…

In the sense, don’t believe all the indications. For example, if it says, “You’ll grow six inches in six months” – these are the kind of advertisements, so take it with a bit of skepticism.

Maybe one won’t lose 20 kg and will lose only 18 kg. That’s not very grievous. But with things that are more serious, like diabetes, even a completely harmless but useless drug will still be a setback to a patient if she is not on another regimen.

On this I always suggest: don’t give up your current treatment. This is always a very gradual adjunct treatment, especially in the case of diabetes where a lot of drugs are coming in the market. At worst they may not work. But don’t give up your allopathic treatment.

Staying on the subject of trials, you’re saying there are a few companies we can trust. But what is the policy right now in terms of safety trials? Clinical trials require a very large sample size and across different centres. What happens here?

That was the lacuna. Right now it is up to the state licensing authority to satisfy itself and say that safety trials have been carried out. What those trials are is not specified. Now in the new rules, we have devised a risk-profile and made classifications of low risk, high risk and medium risk drugs and then specified the kind of trials to be carried out. Broadly it is in conformity with what is followed in the allopathy side. This will come in the next few months.

So as of now if a state licensing authority gets an application saying the drug has been tried on ten people, and nothing bad happened, they could be given a license?

They are supposed to give evidence that safety trials have been done. Broadly there was a consensus but state to state it differed. Some states like Kerala require a very rigorous proof. With Ayurveda, if the ingredients are okay, most of them are not dangerous like chemical molecules. The ones with metals and minerals will be classified as high risk and there even pre-clinical trials would be insisted upon.

The Wire has done a few stories on BGR-34, a diabetes drug which was developed by CSIR and then handed over to a private company for manufacture. For this drug, the company advertised that they are approved by the Ministry of AYUSH and that they had clinical trials, on about 48 people in one centre. What does it mean to be ‘approved by Ministry of AYUSH’ when that is not even a legal requirement?

With BGR-34, Ministry of AYUSH is nowhere in the picture. It’s from CSIR.

But in the case of BGR-34, the report in The Wire found that it was not listed in any journals. They claimed to have a patent but on cross-checking, they were not found in the Indian Patent Registry. They claimed to have done clinical trials but they weren’t registered in the Indian Clinical Trial Registry (ICTR). Yet they claimed to be approved by the Ministry of AYUSH. And they got a lot of publicity.

They would have got a license from any of the state licensing authorities.

Does an Ayurvedic drug have to be registered on the ICTR?

On that also there is an issue. As of now they are not registering for clinical trials.

And do they have to apply for a patent?

They just have to apply for a license, but a patent is voluntary.

Academic researchers have talked about the allopathisation of traditional medicine. One of the reasons they cite is the demand-supply issue. For example, very few Ayurvedic drugs are found in various districts and doctors begin to prescribe allopathic drugs instead. The government has only one manufacturer and they make only about 100 of the 1,600 approved formulations. It seems private manufacturers are more interested in over-the-counter type of products.

There is no monopoly of supply anywhere. There is one central government manufacturer and six or seven decent enough state level ones. But there is no monopoly supplier and it’s a free and open market so there should not be issues in demand-supply.

But what about other reasons for the allopathisation of traditional medicine?

This happens but it is not due to shortage of Ayurvedic medicines. It is because majority of Ayurvedic colleges, especially in the north, produce registered medical practitioners who often don’t have intention of practicing Ayurveda. They want to practice allopathy, especially in rural and semi-urban areas.

So are Ayurvedic degrees a backdoor entry for a lot of people who want to do biomedical science instead?

This is not necessarily a wrong thing as no MBBS doctors are willing to go there. In Ayurvedic degrees, about 40-50% of their syllabus is common with biomedical science. The health ministry is creating a small bridge course for these doctors to practice primary healthcare.

So is the policy perspective here to curb allopathisation and focus on traditional medicine, or to create a bridge?

There are competing opinions and I wouldn’t say one is right or wrong as there is merit in both. The solution is to give them a small bridge course and allow them to practice, up to a certain extent.

What stage are we at? Are we approving the course or still creating it?

The course is ready. It needs some resolution with MCI.

One might have thought that this ministry would be interested in curbing allopathisation instead.

I often cite the China-model, which is a ratio of 75:25. Every Chinese traditional doctor studies about 25% allopathy and is allowed to practice 25% allopathy, and vice versa. That’s the kind of integrated pluralistic health treatment there.

Once again on the basket of Ayurvedic drugs: we all seem to be thinking of Chavanprash kind of products. It seems to be where the money is, as evidenced by Patanjali. What is the policy perspective here? To push the medicinal drugs or the FMCG model?

I think its best left to the market. If the market wants FMCG kind of products with an Ayurvedic base, why not. But as a ministry, our focus in terms of research is for more clinical products. But there’s space enough for all the segments.

Finally, over the last few years we have had Indian scientists make some startling claims. An institute in Gujarat says cow urine can be distilled to get gold. Another said Indian cows don’t contribute to global warming. Minister of state for AYUSH, Shripad Naik, told the Lok Sabha that the CSIR is researching the effectiveness of cow urine in cancer treatment. Does this kind of research help what your ministry has been trying to do?

These kind of arguments are best rebutted by peer scientists [sic]. But there are strong mentions of the five elements of the cow in many texts. To what extent they can take it forward, the claims they make, I don’t know and wouldn’t like to make a comment. Let me put it this way: It shouldn’t be brushed aside simply because it talks of cow urine but we shouldn’t rule out research into these things.

Ajit M. Sharan retired on March 31. This interview was done prior to his retirement.

Month After ABVP Violence, Ramjas College Cancels Four Plays on Theme of Nationalism

The censored event, Mukhatib, got converted to a space of silent protest, vibrant discussion, songs and poetry.

Students of Ramjas College during their protest march against ABVP violence at North Campus in New Delhi on February 28. Credit: PTI

New Delhi: Delhi University’s Ramjas college is in the eye of the storm yet again. According to the students involved with ‘Mukhatib’, Ramjas’s annual street play festival, four of the plays to be performed on campus on Friday were cancelled by the college authorities.

“The event that took place today got converted to a space of silent protest and vibrant discussion,” a member of ‘Shunya’, the dramatics society of Ramjas which conducted the event told The Wire. According to the student, the police and the authorities sought to hush up even this “peaceful, harmless session”.

The organising group which was preparing for the event on March 31 was called for an emergency meeting on Thursday evening by acting principal P.C. Tulsian. He questioned the students about the content of the plays to be performed the next day. He apparently told them that he had news from the outside that the content of some of the plays was not appropriate.

A member of the dramatics society that The Wire spoke to said, “The dramatics society has been conducting the event for many years now and the content of our plays has never been screened.”

A group of professors, which included the extra curricular activities convener Reetu Sharma, got the students to read out the synopses of the seven shortlisted plays. Four of the plays which centred around the theme of nationalism and the present quelling of dissent in university spaces were deemed controversial by the teachers and the students were told not to stage them. To add to the intrigue, a member of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who was involved in the violent incidents at Ramjas on February 21 and 22 was also present in the room. When students from the dramatics society protested, he said that he was invited by the principal.

The students were further asked to give an undertaking that they will not deviate from the submitted scripts. The fact that they had not disclosed the content of the plays to the authorities beforehand was also mentioned.

“The organisers as a collective decided that some sort of protest needed to be registered at the event,” the society member told The Wire. “But considering the present situation of a pervading sense of violence, we decided that we will have to do it smartly,” he added.

SGTB Khalsa college students sitting with mouths taped on stage during their play. Credit: Member of dramatics society, Ramjas college.

The event started off on time. The performers of the first play, The Trump Card, by SGTB Khalsa college sat with their mouths taped, silently on the stage. The ECA convener and the principal were in the audience watching everything closely. The former came in at this point and asked the students about this “deviation from the script”.

Kirorimal college next performed its play, Ek Aur Durghatna and Lady Shri Ram college called off its performance, Ek Shunya Nau Char, in protest. Representatives from both groups then spoke about the ongoing silencing of voices and the fact that their competitors were not allowed to perform.

After all this, when the students were sitting, singing, discussing, jamming and reading poetry, they were told to wrap things up by the authorities. All this happened in the presence of police personnel. The students also alleged that a few ABVP members sat in the audience as the plays were performed. ‘We felt the gaze of the state creep up on us all through”, said one student

According to a Facebook post by a student who was present at the event, “Some of the [dramatics society] members tried to talk but the teachers were adamant. Next moment, the police asked the dhol walas to stop.”

Intolerance Has Never Been Allowed in India, says President Pranab Mukherjee

“Mutual co-existence, mutual understanding is our strength,” said Mukherjee at the Namami Brahmaputra festival.

President Pranab Mukherjee. Credit: PTI

Guwahati: President Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday, said India’s traditions never allowed the practice of intolerance as unity in diversity with mutual coexistence and understanding is the strength of the country.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the ‘Namami Brahmaputra’ festival here, Mukherjee said he does not agree when people label Indians as intolerant.

“There are 200 languages spoken in India across its length and breath. All major seven religions are practised in India. Nowhere in the world is found so much ethnic diversity,” he said, adding, “despite this, India is one nation having one Constitution, living under one flag, one system maintaining regional identity”.

“We are one nation. This mutual co-existence, mutual understanding is our strength. Managing this diversity is our greatest strength. If it is said Indians are argumentative, I will agree. But if it is said Indians are intolerant, I refuse to agree. Intolerance has never been allowed,” he said.

Mukherjee said Assam, which is an emerging economic hub of India, is perfectly positioned to become the corridor of the country to the ASEAN nations as the ‘Act East’ policy takes forefront.

He said India would soon celebrate 25 years of its link with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The president said South East Asia is an important destination for India’s investment and trade.

Development potential

Stating that Assam has “immense development potential”, Mukherjee added that inland water transport system in the national waterways can change its economic scenario.

“The development of this national waterway can give Assam access to international ports like Chittagong in Bangladesh. This will give Assam an exposure to international trade and commerce. With the Act East Policy taking forefront, Assam is perfectly positioned to become the corridor of the country to the ASEAN nations,” he said.

Mukherjee hailed Assam’s richness in natural resources and its hardworking people to underline that all it needed was “strong drive, right policies and effective implementation.”

“We have to join hands to make the dream of Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi – first Chief Minister of Assam becoming a front runner in the field of socio-economic progress – a reality,” he said.

The president said Assam has overcome a prolonged spell of insurgency and the central government is supportive in rebuilding the state.

‘Africans Are Cannibals,’ and Other Toxic Indian Tales

The local BJP and Hindu Yuva Vahini are backing rioters accused of racist attacks on African students in Greater Noida.

Noida (Uttar Pradesh): ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ is a phrase Indians are fond of wheeling out but when it comes to African members of the human family, some residents of Greater Noida seem to prefer the epithet ‘cannibal’. Such is the ignorance prevailing among the population of this bustling, modern extension of the capital that when an Indian boy went missing last week, local residents demanded the police search the refrigerator in the house of a group of Nigerian students for his body parts.

Last year, African students in Bangalore bore the brunt of local xenophobia but the events of the past few days have demonstrated that good old fashioned racism is alive and kicking in the national capital region.

For the African residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida – mostly students studying in private universities that have mushroomed in the area – life has become difficult and stressful after five Nigerian students were blamed for the death of Manish Khari, a Class XII student of Jaypee International School, last Saturday.

The incident has triggered stray incidents of attacks against Africans residing in the area and the students have now been advised by the police to stay indoors till they are confident of guaranteeing their security on the streets.

The locals still keep a watch at the neighbourhood where African nationals live in the rented apartments. Credit: Shome Basu

Suspicious locals still keep a watch at the neighbourhood where African students live in rented apartments. Credit: Shome Basu

So far, the Noida police have arrested six Indian men for their alleged involvement in the racist assault at Pari Chowk. The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindu Yuva Vahini – the vigilantist outfit headed by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath – have come out in support of the accused race rioters.

According to the Hindustan Times:

On Thursday, Harish Chandra Bhati Gurjar, a state functioning member of the BJP and a former minister, wrote a petition to senior superintendent of police Dharmendra Singh, asking him to stop arresting the people booked.

“The police had released all the Nigerians booked for Khari’s death, which angered the public. Due to the acts of a few rioters, 1,200 people were booked. We demand that the police take strict action against the guilty in Khari’s death and stop making any more arrests among the 1,200 people who have been booked,” said Gurjar.

Samuel Bukola, one of the leaders from the African Students Association is coordinating the needs of the students confined at their homes after the recent xenophobic attacks in Greater Noida. Credit: Shome Basu

Samuel Bukola, one of the leaders from the African Students Association is coordinating efforts to look after the needs of the students confined at their homes after the recent xenophobic attacks in Greater Noida. Credit: Shome Basu

Khari’s parents alleged that their son died due to an overdose of drugs allegedly supplied to him by their Nigerian neighbours, who are students of Noida International University (NIU). Before that, when he was missing for a day, local residents, egged on by the boy’s family, accused the students of cannibalism and barged into their house to check the fridge to see if they could find the Manish’s body inside. The five students were arrested on charges of murder but later released as no evidence was found against them.

The incident nevertheless prompted sporadic racist attacks in which African students have been singled out and assaulted by mobs in Greater Noida.

Imran Uba, a 24-year old Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) student at NIU was one among the several students attacked. He was beaten up by a mob near Pari Chowk on Monday evening when he was returning from his sister’s house in Delhi Police Society.

(Sitting, left to right) Abdoulaye Ibrahim Mahamat and Samuel Bukola are representatives of the Association of African Students in India. Credit: Hina Fathima

Food and emergency materials to be distributed from a home at Greater Noida to the students & other African nationals confined at their homes after the recent attacks on them. Credit: Shome Basu

Food and emergency materials to be distributed from a home at Greater Noida to the students and other African residents confined to their homes after the recent racist attacks on them. Credit: Shome Basu

With an off-white bandage wrapped around his forehead and both his wrists, Uba is now determined to leave India. While speaking to The Wire, one could sense the deep exhaustion and despondency that had enveloped him, as he is still trying to recover from the psychological shock caused by the racist attack.

“Our parents are now afraid. They do not want their children to study here anymore. They are asking me to come back to Nigeria and relocate to some other country like Dubai or Malaysia for studies,” says Najib Hamisu Umar, who is the coordinator for Nigerian students in the Association of African Students in India (AASI). Umar is currently doing his Ph.D in electrical engineering at Sharda University.

Abdoulaye Ibrahim Mahamat, former president of African students association co-ordinates by calling other African nationals to check their safely. He is also working along with the state administration check the law and order situation. Credit: Shome Basu

Abdoulaye Ibrahim Mahamat, former president of the African Students Association co-ordinates the effort to call other African residents in the Greater Noida area to check on their safely. He is also working with the state administration to check the law and order situation. Credit: Shome Basu

The injured wrist and fingers of 24 years old Imran Uba. Credit: Shome Basu

The injured wrist and fingers of 24-year-old Imran Uba. Credit: Shome Basu

According to Abdoulaye Brahim Mahamat, senior advisor and former president of AASI, events went out of hand after the disappearance of Manish Khari last Friday. Locals accused Nigerian nationals living two blocks away at the NSG housing society in Greater Noida. The boy returned home the next morning and subsequently passed away, which led the locals to assume it was death by drug overdose.

Although the initial autopsy reports say the cause of Khari’s death was a heart attack, people in Greater Noida refuse to listen and continue to blame Africans. The attacks which followed highlight the underlying xenophobia and racism that is driving a section of residents.

“There are many African students here. Their safety has now become a big concern. We need justice for the students. These kinds of racial attacks should be stopped,” says Mahamat.

$Imran Uba, a 24 year old BB student from Noida International University was returning from his sister's home. While changing a public transport he was nabbed by some Indians and assaulted fracturing his forehead and hurting this wrist. Credit: Shome Basu$

Imran Uba, a 24 year old BB student from Noida International University was returning from his sister’s home. He was grabbed by some Indians and assaulted. His forehead was fractured. Credit: Shome Basu

After being treated at a hospital Imran's bill came around 16,000 INR. He had to pay from his own as no government came for help. He is determined to leave India. Credit: Shome Basu

After being treated at a hospital, Imran’s bill came around Rs 16,000. He had to pay from his own pocket as no government department came forward to help. He is determined to leave India. Credit: Shome Basu

For the past few days, life has resembled solitary confinement as all African students have been advised by AASI to remain indoors until the violence ebbs. Volunteers of the association have been distributing food and emergency care packages which they say have been donated by their ‘good Indian friends’ through their Facebook page.

Umar said that although the police has released the five Nigerian students who were arrested in connection with Khari’s death, their passports are still being held by them. “We welcome the investigation but there should be a fair investigation”, he added.

$Imran Uba, a 24 year old BBA student from Noida International University was returning from his sister's home. While changing a public transport he was nabbed by some Indians and assaulted fracturing his forehead and hurting this wrist. He's a Nigerian national. Credit: Shome Basu$

Imran Uba, a 24 year old Nigerian, is a BBA student at Noida International University. Credit: Shome Basu

Najib Hamisu Umar a post doctoral student from Nigeria has been the caretaker for his own countrymen in Delhi & NCR. He cordinates with the injured and keeps an update for all students confined at their homes after the recent attacks. Credit: Shome Basu

Najib Hamisu Umar, a post doctoral student from Nigeria, has been the caretaker for his own countrymen in Delhi & NCR. He coordinates with the injured and keeps an update for all students confined at their homes after the recent attacks. Credit: Shome Basu

The situation is still grim in Greater Noida as the relationship between the Indians and African residents has been ruptured. But the African students are hopeful that things will improve. They say that the police have been cooperative and they have been receiving support from friends and teachers at their universities. While incidents of racism and ‘micro aggression’ are a daily reality for the students, they also point to positive examples of hospitality and friendship they have received from their Indian counterparts.

An African lady of Nigerian origin waits for the police & an ambulance as she is unwell and needs an escort. After the recent clashes none of the African nationals are venturing out by their own. Credit: Shome Basu

A Nigerian lady waits for the police and an ambulance as she is unwell and needs an escort. After the recent clashes none of the African nationals are venturing out on their own. Credit: Shome Basu

Samuel Bukola of AASI hopes that this wave of attack is the last one of its kind. African nations and India have great ties and they look forward to maintaining those, he says.

SEBI Cracks Down on Misuse of Penny Stocks

Data reveals bogus long term capital gains tax claims being raised through manipulation in penny stock deals

Data reveals bogus long term capital gains tax claims being raised through manipulation in penny stock deals.

Tax payers fill up forms before submitting their income tax returns on the last day of filing in New Delhi July 31, 2013. Indian government revenues are expected to increase by 21 percent in the 2013/2014 fiscal year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTX125QG

Tax payers fill up forms before submitting their income tax returns on the last day of filing in New Delhi July 31, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Files

The misuse of penny stocks or lowly priced stocks of companies with weak fundamentals by their operators, stock brokers and owners for raising bogus long term capital gains tax benefits has reached alarming proportions and prompted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to act against 13 such companies and debar another 1,336 entities.

This disclosure was made by state finance minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha on Friday. He said certain companies listed on stock exchanges – which were either non-operational or had weak fundamentals and unsupportive price volume movements – were being misused by some of the entities for manipulations, including tax evasion.

The minister said that the Income Tax Department (ITD) has conducted investigations (including searches and surveys on more than 100 groups during financial year 2015-16 and 2016-17) and in a large number of such cases, action had been taken as per provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Gangwar said the IT department has also referred to SEBI for more than 140 unique scripts which were “apparently found having been manipulated”. Based on information received from the IT department and also through its own surveillance systems, he said SEBI had passed orders under section 11(B) of the SEBI Act, 1992, in case of 13 such companies and debarred 1,336 entities.

Gangwar also said that in order to further clamp down on such activities, the exchanges had suspended trading in the shares of 203 companies and reduced the price band of 168 companies to the lowest band of 2%.

Incidentally, only earlier this month, it was reported that Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India had put 774 companies under a graded surveillance measure as their price movement was not supported by fundamentals.

The move had come soon after the income tax department moved against companies, operators and stock brokers who were manipulating penny stocks to claim bogus long term capital gain tax.

Gangwar said that systems and practices are in place to promote a safe, transparent and efficient market and to protect market integrity. “The systems instituted include advanced risk management mechanisms comprising continuous monitoring and surveillance, various limits on positions, margin requirements, circuit filters, etc,” he said, adding that whenever any violation of SEBI rules and regulations are observed, appropriate action is taken by SEBI.

On why and how these penny stocks are being manipulated, the minister said, “Under the existing provisions of Section 10(38) of the Income-Tax Act, 1961, the income arising from transfer of a long term capital asset, including equity share of a company, is exempt from tax if the transaction of sale is undertaken on or after October 1, 2004, and is chargeable to Securities Transaction Tax under Chapter VII of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004.”

Therefore, he said, there is a need “to check the practice of tax evasion by declaring unaccounted income as exempt long term capital gains arising from manipulated transactions in shares of listed companies”.

In order to address the issue, Gangwar said in the Finance Bill, 2017, the Centre has proposed to amend section 10(38) of the Act to provide that exemption under this section for income arising on transfer of equity share acquired on or after 01.10.2004 shall be available only if the acquisition of share (except acquisitions to be notified as exempt to protect genuine investors) is chargeable to Securities Transactions Tax under Chapter VII of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004.

New Pakistan Ambassador to US Begins Tenure By Blaming Afghans

Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhury’s comments show he wants to ensure Afghanistan doesn’t become a beneficiary of the US’s disenchantment with Pakistan.

File photo of Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhury. Credit: Reuters

Washington: Pakistan must be nervous about the Trump administration and the likely policy changes otherwise why would its newly arrived ambassador go on a rampage against Afghanistan in his first public appearance, a country ravaged by wars designed in Islamabad?

Not only did Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry blame the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Pakistan on Kabul, he also accused Afghanistan of manufacturing hate and “propaganda” against Islamabad. He called it a “magnet for militants” – a description that better suits Pakistan in light of the many terrorist leaders found and eliminated on its soil by US forces.

When two young questioners called him out during the question and answer session after his speech at the US Institute of Peace, he snapped. He berated a young Afghan woman, a former refugee who he thought was not sufficiently grateful to Pakistan for shelter and also unschooled in matters of state, when she questioned Pakistan’s shelling at the border.

“At the end of the day, it was Pakistan’s land you were living on. It doesn’t matter if you don’t recognise it. I can live with it. But I would like to correct your perspective… (You are) barking (up) the wrong tree. You need to come to grips with what’s happening on the ground,” the ambassador said. He went on to lecture the young questioner about how “civilised” countries manage their borders.

On display was not only the South Asian man’s innate incapacity to be respectful to women but also the Pakistani establishment’s profound inability to treat Afghanistan and its people with dignity.

Among other questionable pronouncements by the ambassador: the Ahmadis are not persecuted in Pakistan and that surveys showing that Pakistanis dislike the Americans are dubious.

Fact check: the second amendment to the constitution of Pakistan declared Ahmadis were not Muslims and reports of violence against Ahmadis and destruction of their mosques are a constant in the Pakistani media.

As for America’s unfavourability ratings, surveys by Pew and Gallup – both respected organisations – show that an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis consider America an enemy.

In the end, it was not a master class in diplomacy. If anything it had a whiff of desperation, the kind that comes when you see Washington’s doors closing, and bad reviews piling up.

It was clear that Chaudhry was trying to open channels of communication with the Trump administration amid calls for a complete review of US policy towards Pakistan and US commanders accusing the “non-NATO ally” of continuing to provide sanctuaries to various terrorist groups.

Chaudhry wanted to ensure Afghanistan doesn’t become a beneficiary of the US’s disenchantment with Pakistan in the ongoing policy review. Relations between the two neighbours deteriorated sharply following a spate of terrorist attacks across Pakistan in mid-February, which left nearly 100 people dead and around 500 injured.

Pakistan blamed Afghanistan for the attacks even though a faction of the its very own Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the bombing near the Punjab Assembly and ISIS claimed the attack on Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a Sufi shrine in Sindh. The Pakistan army closed two crucial border crossings in retaliation and shelled alleged “militant camps” inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan surely knows terrorists don’t use regular border crossings but as in the past, the shut down was a way to force the Afghans to do its bidding. The closure has huge economic impact as prices rise since much of the Afghan trade is conducted via Pakistan.

“The present government in Afghanistan is hostile to Pakistan. We haven’t made one hostile statement,” Chaudhry told his audience, forgetting that President Ashraf Ghani made deliberate efforts to woo Pakistan early in his tenure, even suffering the humiliation of having to call on the army chief on his first visit.

Ghani put the India relationship on hold and delayed long-standing requests for military equipment in deference to Pakistani demands only to find there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

When Pakistan showed no signs of changing or cooperating in curbing terrorism inside Afghanistan, Ghani turned away. Relations currently are at a nadir.

Chaudhry’s attempt to paint Pakistan as a victim of Afghan designs comes from a deep belief among the ruling classes that in the ultimate analysis Pakistan is more important to US strategic goals than Afghanistan, a belief promoted by Pakistani proxies at various think tanks in Washington.

Part of this narrative building is to exaggerate the threat of ISIS in Afghanistan and exploit both US and Russia’s fears. Chaudhury said Afghanistan had “huge ungoverned spaces” which provide ready shelter to TTP and Haqqani network terrorists who fled Pakistan after the army’s belated operation, Zarb-e-Azb, which he claimed was a roaring success.

Pakistani intelligence claims the operation broke the back of the terror network, forcing leaders to use Afghan suicide bombers to wreak havoc in Pakistan. The success of Zarb-e-Azb is questioned by independent scholars not in the pay of or visa threats from the Pakistan army for their research.

More to the point, the Pentagon no longer believes or pretends to believe Pakistan’s story line. It already has slowed the gravy train for Pakistan, blocking $300 million in “coalition support funds” last August because of Rawalpindi’s failure to act against the Haqqani network.

Earlier this year, General John Nicholson, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, blamed Pakistan for the “stalemate” in the US’s longest war. While calling for a “holistic review” of US policy, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February that it is “very difficult to succeed on the battlefield when your enemy enjoys external support and safe havens.”

“The Taliban and Haqqani network are the greatest threats to security in Afghanistan. Their senior leaders remain insulated from pressure and enjoy freedom of action within Pakistan safe havens,” he said. The message couldn’t have been clearer.

“As long as they enjoy external enablement, they have no incentive to reconcile. The primary factor that will enable our success is the elimination of external sanctuary and support to the insurgents,” Nicholson told lawmakers.

US senators listening to the general were in complete agreement even as Senator John McCain acknowledged the sacrifice of Pakistani soldiers at the hands of terrorists.

Add to this a recent report on Pakistan by two conservative think tanks in Washington close to the Trump administration – Hudson Institute and the Heritage Foundation – which argued for a stronger, stricter policy and more sticks than carrots. The report recommends tying US aid to specific, clearly defined goals and if all else fails, declaring Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

This is the Washington Chaudhry has to tackle and so far his strategy seems to be to muddy the waters and then change the minds of key generals in the Trump administration.

US defence secretary, General James Mattis, who headed US Central Command and oversaw the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is known for talking bluntly. Even if he were to give Pakistanis some time, he is likely to be tough on the conditions and focused on results.

Then there is Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, who has strong ties to Mattis. Said to be the army’s “smartest” officer, he too served in Afghanistan and is known for speaking truth to power.

Chaudhry will find a tough audience as he tries to revive the relationship, especially when Islamabad is playing with Moscow and Beijing in the region to edge Washington out.

Seema Sirohi is a Washington DC-based commentator.

In China and Pakistan’s Coal Romance, Where’s the Love for the Climate?

Massive new coal plants planned for Pakistan will further harm the environment in a country already suffering the effects of climate change. Solar energy is a clear alternative.

A boy is silhouetted against smoke while playing cricket in a littered ground in a slum area on the outskirts of Karachi October 18, 2011. Credit: Reuters

If you were travelling via motorway from Islamabad to Lahore during November or December 2016, you might have felt like your head was in the clouds. That’s thanks to the smog that engulfed large parts of Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces in that period.

This was clearly “not a natural phenomenon”, as the Pakistani newspaper Dawn recently noted. Beyond causing acute ailments such as asthma, lung tissue damage, bronchial infections and heart problems, the smog also resulted in dozens of fatal road accidents due to poor visibility.

Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, former director general of Pakistan’s meteorological office and now an international climate change specialist at the Asian Development Bank, attributed the smog primarily to toxic car emissions and atmospheric pollutants coming from coal-based industries in neighbouring Indian Punjab.

A road near the historical Badshahi mosque, as dense smog engulfed the neighbourhood of Lahore in November 2016. Credit: Foxnews/Wikimedia. CC BY-NC

Imagine, then, what will happen to the environment when Pakistan begins mining billions of tonnes of coal, in part due to its plan to open at least five new coal power plants by 2018 under a new agreement with China.

Smog would spread across cities and rural areas, including in the Thar region, which spreads across Pakistan and parts of India. The poor indigenous people there might have to be relocated to other areas thanks to planned coal projects, losing their livelihoods, lands and villages to new mines.

A global challenge for climate change

Burning coal is not just a matter of local social and environmental concern. It is clear today that the coal that powered the developed world’s industrial revolution has also triggered global climate changes.

According to Greenpeace International, coal is the single greatest threat to our climate. Emissions from burning coal fuel global warming, and coal mining is also a source of climate-warming methane gas.

Pakistan is responsible for a mere 0.43% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it is among the world’s ten most vulnerable countries to climate change. Domestic climate change experts see the issue as a bigger threat than terrorism.

The country is grappling with many issues, including receding glaciers, floods, heatwaves, droughts, shifting weather patterns and declining ground water levels – and the list goes on.

Agriculture, which comprises 21% of Pakistan’s GDP, 60% of exports and employs 45% of the national labour force, is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

China reduces coal investments at home but not abroad

In the landmark December 2015 Paris Agreement, 195 countries agreed to curtail climate change by keeping global warming to “well below 2°C and … pursu[ing] efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”.

All told, 141 countries (including Pakistan and China), jointly responsible for over 82% of global greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified the agreement.

China – world’s second biggest economy and largest coal consumer, which also has the world’s highest coal-fired power plant capacity – is considered a crucial player in the success of the Paris Agreement.

Domestically, China has realised that its over-dependence on coal causes severe air pollution and other environmental impacts. The most recent data shows reductions in coal use for the third year in a row.

Yet China also invested $25 billion in coal projects worldwide between 2007 and 2015, according to a recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The report criticises China and other G20 countries for such investments, which are in conflict with their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.

It shows how some of the world’s leading polluters have, on one hand, pledged to control climate-changing carbon emissions within their borders, and, on the other, continued to finance fossil fuel projects elsewhere.

That’s precisely what happened with Pakistan. After most international financial institutions turned away from coal, China established itself as Pakistan’s partner in developing the new coal power plants.

Under the 2015 China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, the Chinese government and banks have planned to finance companies to invest $27.6 billion in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan over the next six years, of which Pakistan is contributing $18.1 billion. According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, coal-fired plants with a combined capacity of 7,560 mW will be established as CPEC-energy priority projects.

In the guise of bringing energy, this investment will harm the air, water, public health and environment of Pakistan. The costs and lifespans of such coal projects can stretch over decades, trapping developing nations in a system of carbon-intensive energy use.

Climate analytics. Credit: Fahad Saeed

Rapid utilisation of coal – the “dirty” energy-generation option – has given many Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, the world’s worst air quality.

Pakistan’s proposed Port Qasim Power Project, a 1320-MW coal plant in Sindh province, will be located near Karachi, a metropolis of 25 million. This could cause disastrous damage to air quality and environment.

Location map of the Port Qasim project in Karachi, Pakistan. Credit: Port Qasim Authority Pakistan/Wikimedia

Potential for clean energy

No country can be expected to compromise on development, and development requires energy. But, as the cases of Jordan, Peru and Mexico demonstrate, it doesn’t require dirty energy. Instead of using coal, Pakistan could drive development with renewables, in particular solar energy.

Much of Pakistan’s territory is arid or semi-arid, an ideal setting for harnessing solar energy with more than the necessary number of sunny days per year.

In addition to providing clean energy, solar solutions can produce energy in the same places it is consumed, making it useful in remote areas that may lack transmission infrastructure.

Recent research suggests that the deployment and maintenance of renewable energy projects are also likely to create better quality jobs than coal.

The costs of renewables are declining rapidly worldwide. Solar and wind now cost the same or less than new fossil fuel in more than 30 developing and developed countries.

India’s energy minister noted last year that solar tariffs had become cheaper than coal-based electricity, and India is pushing ahead with its renewables plan.

China, too, has realised the economic potential of leading in renewable sources. By the end of 2016, its solar energy capacity hit 7,742 mW, double that of 2015, and this year it claimed the title of world’s biggest solar power producer.

The investment bank Lazard reckons that, given proper infrastructures, prices will continue to decline in the near future.

Solar-powered street lights in Gwadar city, Pakistan. Credit: wetlandsofpakistan/Wikimedia. CC BY-SA

Yet under the CPEC, there is only one sizeable solar project in Pakistan, the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park project, with a relatively skimpy total capacity of 1,000 mW.

So why is China, a leader in renewable energy technologies, investing in coal-based projects abroad? It may be a way to provide overseas business opportunities for Chinese coal-plant equipment manufacturers, engineering and construction companies as a recent Bloomberg article pointed out.

Pakistan’s domestic interests are otherwise. Instead of seeking foreign investment to fulfil its energy needs with fossil fuels, it can ride the renewables wave, developing its workforce and technical and institutional capacity to harness solar energy. Climate conditions suggest the country could produce enough power to both cover domestic needs and to export, along with associated equipment and technology.

What Pakistan needs now are forward-looking policies to foster renewable development, innovative business models, and strong leadership in obtaining financial and technical partnerships, both local and international. The World Bank’s new solar maps of Pakistan can support these clean-energy efforts. Transparency in costs and production also need to be ensured.

One thing is certain: winning the future will not be done with technologies of the past.

Fahad Saeed is an adjunct professor at the King Abdelaziz University.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

A Year Into Power Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Acknowledges Slow Pace of Reforms

With a festering Rohingya crisis, increased fighting with ethnic armed groups and a slower economic growth, Suu Kyi has struggled to match expectations.

Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to the Myanmar community living in Singapore, on the island of Sentosa in Singapore September 22, 2013. Credit: Reuters

Yangon: A year after sweeping to power in a historic vote, Myanmar’s first de-facto civilian leader in about half a century, Aung San Suu Kyi, acknowledged on Thursday the public’s frustration with the slow pace of reforms and development.

With a festering Rohingya crisis, increased fighting with ethnic armed groups and a slower economic growth, Suu Kyi has struggled to match the sky-high expectations that swept her National League for Democracy (NLD) to power a year ago.

“We did what we can for the sake of our country and the people in one year,” said the Nobel Peace Prize winner in a televised address.

“We know that we weren’t able to make as much progress as people had wanted … One year is not a long period,” she said.

NLD lawmakers have told Reuters that voters in their constituencies feel frustrated because of pervasive low-level corruption, ramshackle public services and wages among the lowest in Southeast Asia.

In a major blow to Suu Kyi’s reputation as the legendary defender of human rights, the UN last week announced an investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority by soldiers during a security operation last year.

As a result of the military crackdown, about 75,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh. The UN investigators have accused the soldiers of widespread abuses, including rapes, killings, arson and looting.

Suu Kyi also talked about her number one priority of ending the myriad ethnic conflicts involving about 20 rebel groups that have kept Myanmar in a state of near-perpetual civil war since independence in 1948.

“Peace process is not easy. We have a lot of hope … But hope is just hope – nothing is for sure yet. We have to keep trying,” she said.

Around the time of her speech, the government announced that five more groups had decided to join the landmark peace deal engineered by the previous semi-civilian administration.

Still, major rebel armies engaged in active clashes with the military have not come forward. Several conflicts have reignited since Suu Kyi took office, displacing an estimated 160,000 more people, according to UN data.

“Last year, I said the motto was, ‘It’s time for change’. Now … I want to say the motto is: ‘Together with people’,” she said.

(Reuters)

Fluorescent Frogs, Bees’ Feet-Smelling Signatures and Mites That Smite with Chemicals

A quick review of interesting research on living things from the last month.

Sea lampreys in their larvae phase. Credit: R. McDaniels, Great Lakes Fishery Commission

Rate of growth as a youngster decides the sex of sea lampreys

Chromosomes are not the universal arbiters of gender. In some reptiles, it’s incubation temperature. Researchers have discovered that in sea lampreys, it’s the rate at which they grow as larva that makes them males or females when they metamorphose into parasitic bloodsucking adults.

When the fry don’t have enough plankton to eat, they grow slowly and take longer to mature. Most of the impoverished young sea lampreys become males. Fry that gorge, grow fast and reach adulthood earlier are usually females. In the US, sea lampreys are a major invasive pest of native fish species. Fisheries managers hope to use this new research in their efforts to control lamprey numbers.

Elephants are insomniacs

African elephants may sleep as little as two hours a day. Researchers tracked the sleep patterns of two African elephant matriarchs in Chobe National Park, Botswana, by fitting an actiwatch in their trunks. A gyroscope collar told the humans if the elephants were standing or lying down. Often, elephants sleep standing up so their rapid eye movement phase is likely to suffer. They also stay awake for up to 46 hours, trekking as much as 30 kilometres in that time. No other land mammal naps for so short a time. In captivity, with no disturbance from predators or poachers, they sleep four to six hours a day.

Caption: Two recumbent bull elephants sleeping

Male nematodes mate without penis

A new species of soil nematodes has no penis. Protorhabditis hortulana, discovered in an orchard’s compost heap in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, eats bacteria. While other male nematodes have two genital structures called spicules, similar to a penis, the newly discovered species has none. Instead, it pumps a capsule filled with its sperm into female’s genital orifice using its cuticle. Once inside the female’s body, sperm emerge from the capsule to fertilise her eggs.

How do animals keep track of seasons?

Most animals mate, and shed and grow new coats according to season. How do they know when the time is right? In birds and mammals, the hormone melatonin, produced by the pituitary gland at night, plays the main role. The length of time that melatonin is produced controls the secretion of a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by a part of the pituitary close to the brain. In summer, one form of VEGF stimulates growth of blood vessels, and in winter, another form prevents it. Researchers say the differences in VEGF allow the pituitary to communicate with the brain that directs another part of the pituitary to produce fertility hormones.

Bumblebees recognise each other by their smelly feet

A mixture of hydrocarbons produced in bumblebees’ feet sticks to flowers when they walk on them. Each can recognise its own feet odour as well as others’. This skill tells them not only if another bumblebee has visited a flower recently but who that insect was. They can differentiate between the footprints of their nest mates from those of strangers from other nests. The chemical signature of the feet scent changes over time, enabling bumblebees to assess whether a flower visited a while ago would have had time to replenish its nectar.

Caption: Bumblebees can tell the difference between the smell of other bumblebees of differing relatedness. This behaviour is demonstrated in this video through the bumblebee’s preference for one flower type (top-right & bottom-left) but avoidance of the other (top-left & bottom-right) due to the smell (scent-mark) on the flower being from bumblebees of differing relatedness. Credit: Richard Pearce

Why do guillemot chicks leap off cliffs before they can fly?

Thick-billed murres, belonging to a group of Arctic birds called guillemots, nest on narrow ledges on steep coastal cliffs. When the chicks are less than a month old, they leap hundreds of metres into the water followed by their fathers. Why do they abandon their nests when they aren’t flying fit? Were the chicks too large for their parents to feed them? Wouldn’t staying put on cliff ledges afford more protection from predators? Scientists have an explanation for this suicidal behaviour. They say it’s a toss up between safety and growth.

Chicks that took the premature leap grew twice as fast as the ones that stayed home. When their young dive to catch their own supper, their fathers don’t have to hunt and carry their meals. Guillemot fathers invest a lot more than their mates in raising their offspring. While mothers dove an hour or two daily foraging for fish, fathers spent up to six hours underwater every day. The dangers to precocious chicks were no more than those they face at the nest. Therefore, the benefits of taking the leap into sea outweighed the costs of safety at the nest.

Caption: Guillemot chicks hurl themselves off cliff ledges. Credit: BBC Scotland

The world’s first fluorescent amphibian

The polka-dot tree frog of South America is the first amphibian that is naturally fluorescent. Many corals, fish, scorpions, and even the hawksbill sea turtle reflect long wavelength light that causes fluorescence. While researchers don’t know why other creatures give off an eerie blue, green, or red light, these DayGlo frogs can see each other’s funky colours. At dusk, when the translucent frog starts its day, it glows greenish-blue. The fluorescent molecules, called hyloins, are found in the frog’s lymph, skin, and glandular secretions. They may use it to communicate during courtship. Researchers suspect other frogs may give off similar light.

A polka-dot frog showing its fluorescent colours. Credit: Julián Faivovich and Carlos Taboada

A mite poisons with prussic acid

Soil-living oribatid mites are not parasitic bloodsuckers. They live on decomposing plant and animal matter while some prey on nematodes. A common species, Oribatula tibialis measures half a millimetre long but is nothing to trifle with. It wages chemical warfare, producing the deadly hydrogen cyanide to ward off predators like other mites and centipedes. No other insect or spider is known to produce this toxin. How does the creature store and produce the gas without any harm to itself?

The mite’s oil glands are full of an ester, mandelonitrile hexanoate. When in danger, the mite squirts out the liquid that combines with the predator’s saliva and produces the toxic prussic acid. The colourless, almond-smelling hydrogen cyanide causes suffocation, an unpleasant experience for the predator – but causes no harm to the mite.

Janaki Lenin is the author of My Husband and Other Animals. She lives in a forest with snake-man Rom Whitaker and tweets at @janakilenin.