Tag Archives: International

The Consequence!

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Those who love to watch cricket and those who are forced to watch it just because their boy friends or husbands suddenly seem to become more interested in the other love of their lives, might have noticed a tagline: “one over will change the World“.

Though I can go on talking about the game and the master himself, yet I would not do the same, instead would want to take you to another aspect of the tag line and would want to make little modification in the same: “one incident/decision will change your World“. 

There can be many broad interpretations of the tagline that I have used above. It could be related to the much awaited and much talked about topics in recent times, politics, with slogans ranging from NaMo to RaGa coming to the fore. And yes, one vote does make a difference and one election outcome does make governments topple (so go out there and cast our vote for it is not only your right but also your duty to do so).decision

It could be related to the economy of the World and in turn India, which due to globalization and other similar forces has become increasingly linked to the decisions being made in the international arena. One decision of the federal bank in US of withdrawing the stimulus that it has been offering for a considerable period of time, just after the financial crisis, is surely going to have a significant impact on the economy of not only India but also all the developing countries.

It could be manifested in international relations among countries fighting over different natural resources present Worldwide. If US and in turn NATO were to carry on with the sanctions on Russia over the issue of Ukraine, it needs no Einstein to declare that we might once again be treading the path to the much talked about event in the history of international politics, the cold war. Sometimes, I wonder whether the end of the cold war was just a hoax to make sure that the cold war (which in itself was not a direct confrontation and in a sense secret) could be carried in a pseudo-secretive manner.

It could be manifested in the society that we all, willingly or unwillingly happen to be a part of. One decision, such as getting married out of your caste or with a person belonging to a different religion, could bring doomsday to the lives of the couples, who dare to go beyond the caste system and the Khap panchayat which seems to function in a different world altogether, and which seems not to be bound by our own Constitution and the laws thereof, which are supposed to provide security to every citizen of this country.

At personal level, it could also be related to the various decisions that you take at various points in your life, ranging from the choice between Biology and Mathematics after high school to what career path you ultimately decide to pursue; from going for a love or arranged marriage to making a choice between living in India or abroad and so on.

If we were to tread deeper into our own nano-World and were to explore at the micro level, one decision made during that night when say you were partying at your friend’s place and decided to go for a drive when you were all drunk and happened to have met an accident could indeed bring about a huge change in your life. I guess that’s why our forefathers were so keen on voicing the precautionary principle. 

Whatever it might be, every decision and every little step that we take in our lives has a consequence, which makes me wonder whether we are just a cog in this machine of the consequential life that we all happen to be living.life race

Sounds depressive to the core? Yes, but what I intend to convey here is not some silly depressive thought but a possibility that we can all bend this consequential life in our favour by ensuring that whatever decisions we make in our lives are first of all based on rationality and secondly even if the rationality happens to go wrong, then too we must always try to maintain a positive mindset which will help us all in handling those unwanted situations and circumstances that we all happen to find ourselves in at some point of time in our respective lives.

Thus, it is absolutely essential for all of us to take the consequences (both positive and more so negative) in our respective strides and keep evolving and learning from the same, during this journey of life. This reminds me of the famous song:

“किसी  की  मुस्कुराहटों पे हो निसार किसी का दर्द मिल सके तो ले उधार, 
किसी के वास्ते हो तेरे दिल में प्यार, जीना इसी का नाम है. “

Source for Image: http://www.rkdf.ac.in/Result.php, http://blog.theravid.com/physical-therapy-2/physical-therapy-marketing-consumer-decision-making-process/

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Racism: Tamilians in the Line of Fire

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No matter how much we talk about equity, equal rights, incidents such as the comments given by the US Vice-Consul while delivering a lecture in SRM University makes us think whether racism can ever be eliminated from our minds and thought process.

May be the US Vice-Consul didn’t mean to ridicule the Tamilians, but being a diplomat herself, it was not at all good diplomacy to throw casual racist remarks at the audience, which has the potential of annoying a community and create a controversy. Firstly, it doesn’t reflect well on US with whom India is all set to improve her relations and secondly on the mentality of the individual who’s thoughts still belong to the Black-White controversial era.

It is true that the US consul has expressed regret for the remarks, but the issue that needs to be thought over is whether and if racism will ever be eliminated from the minds of people in our society.

Source for Image: http://library.thinkquest.org/28172/rarise.htm

http://www.issues.cc/complaints/racism/the-cycle-of-stereotypical-racism

Riots in England

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The past few days have not been in tune with the law and order situation in the oldest democracy in the World. It all started with shooting of a 29 year old man, Mark Duggan in Tottenham and now it has taken a dramatic shape with youths under the age of 21 being the major contributors in propagating the discontent in different cities including London, who have now organized their criminal activities with the help of social networking sites and mobile phones.

As if the floodgates have been broken and the long subdued discontent with government policies have found an outlet. Some observers believe that it just needed an ignition for the people to come on streets who have been marred for quite sometime with high unemployment rate and the failure on part of the government.

The government feels as if it had been sitting on the vent of an active volcano which has just erupted. The first thing it needs to do is to stop the riots and bring the law and order situation under control. Secondly it needs to review its policies due to which so much of anger and discontent had been built in the minds of the youth. Thirdly, instead of issuing policies which prevent the Asians from visiting their country, and in turn creating a hatred towards the community, the government should try to invest in sectors which create long term employment opportunities for the youth.

It is high time the government react quickly and amend its ways, else the situation might take the shape of what’s happening in the Arab World.

Source for Image: http://www.gev.com/2011/08/riots-in-london-after-police-kill-tottenham-man/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/international/is-technology-being-misused-to-identify-london-rioters/

Impact of US crisis on International Organizations

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After the WWII, a spate of international organizations became suddenly extremely important, one amongst which is UN. UN is supposed to provide a platform where the World can come to and discuss various issues at the same time phase out the controversies and differences in opinions and try to reach to a consensus.

Everyone knows about the influence that US has on such organizations, being the superpower that she is as well as the enormous amounts of funds that are being given to such organizations by US. Now with US all set to lose her status of an economic giant, will it hold the same kind of hegemony as before?

The world order is sure going to see a change with China all geared up to take the No.1 position from US. In fact, we can already see China evolving as “the” superpower. Everyone wants to be friends with China and no country wants to annoy “the Dragon“.

It will be interesting to see in the near future as to how power dynamics in international organizations will shape up considering that US would not want to give up its hold on the same and countries like Venezuela and Cuba wanting to get rid of this virus in the form of US hegemony that has plagued the world for so long.

Source for Image: http://www.uniosil.org/united-nations.html

http://www.chinadragononline.com/

 

Doomsday for US?

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Isn’t the condition in US deteriorating day by day? Though they have managed to bail themselves out of the immediate crisis, the troubles seem to be not ending with S&P recently degrading US of her AAA status to AA+.

What this means is that the investors would now be in a position to bargain when investing in US Treasury bonds, which were before this incident considered to be one of the safest propositions in the market. Now, the US would be forced to pay a higher interest on these bonds, which in turn would affect their debt position further and in turn the unemployment rate which doesn’t seem to go down with time.

This also might trigger a backlash in outsourcing with uproar going louder on jobs in US being outsourced to India and in turn might have an impact on India and her citizens who are living in US.

But do US have options left in her kitty to deal with the thunder storm arising due to ever rising borrowing limit and debt situation? For that matter do European nations and in fact the whole World have some solution for the same, as this is not going to be just a local effect. It is going to effect the entire globe and the consequences seem really bad.

Source for Image: http://www.nodebtusa.com/

http://www.debtmanagementtool.com/

Hats off to Japan and her Spirit

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There are many countries around the World which can learn from this 5 letter word country. It was in 1946 that Japan underwent a change in its administration to adopt a new democratic constitution. In just 2 decades from then, Japan fast-tracked to becoming an exemplary economy. Indeed, not having a military of her own helped to divert funds in other fields which would otherwise have been used up in setting and maintenance of the forces. But having said that, it takes nothing away from the efforts and human and capital investments made in technology and know-how.

If we have a look at the schooling system in Japan, the primary teachers are the highest paid for the shear reason that it is they who are influencing the mental framework of the children in their early ages which are supposed to be the character building years, and thus the teachers need to be of high quality, and in order to attract the best talents they pay extremely well. Coupled with the high quality of teachers, comes the methodology of teaching which encourages group cohesiveness and team-spirit.

If this was not enough, we must all bow down to the spirit that the citizens have shown while fighting the calamity in the form of Tsunami and the fallout of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant thereafter, which is considered to be one of the biggest calamities of all times.Recently a fitting tribute was given to this spirit by the country’s Women Soccer Team by winning the World Cup. In a post match press conference, the captain of the team went on to say that what made her more happy was that she was being able to bring some joy amongst the Japanese who are suffering from the deadly calamity.

Hats off to the spirit of the nation and hats off to her citizens. Long live the spirit!

Source for Images: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/asia/japan/

                                  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2689005/posts

                               http://www.theworld.org/2011/07/japan-celebrates-world-cup-win/

Impact of Globalization on Administration in Developing Countries

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Most of the countries that fall in the category of “developing “, today have evolved after getting freedom from the colonial rule. Thus, we surely can see a glimpse of what was there during the colonial times. A number of countries have not been able to bring about the amendments in the ways they used to function earlier and now. Things have certainly changed and today powered by the IT revolution, the phenomenon of globalization has taken everyone by storm.

On one hand, where media provides people in these countries to witness and know about the mode of governance in developed countries, which in turn enables them to demand more from the government; on the other hand there are institutions like World Bank/IMF/WTO which try to impose their own norms on the developing countries in lieu of the funds offered to these for their development.

One point of view is that since these institutions are basically controlled by US, it is all about the US forwarding her own agenda about finding more markets and making economies more dependent, thereby bringing more economies under its control, thus reorienting the ways in which government in these countries function.

What globalization is doing to the administration in these countries is that it is opening up sectors in these countries to private corporations, whose motive, at the end of the day, is to make profits and not to think about the welfare of the people in these countries. Many people believe that market forces can better serve the people than if the government were to take up all the sectors under its control.

I believe that every country has its own ethos and requirements. So, instead of blindly copying the developed countries, it is important to do a self-analysis on the needs of the people and steps should be undertaken based on this analysis rather than any other consideration. After all, its the people who matter the most, and the ultimate aim of any government around the world should be to meet the aims and aspirations of its citizens.

Source for Image: http://figgzsglobalization.blogspot.com/2011/05/globalization.html