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Save energy, do not use computers! Duh!Economic recession has hit countries the entire world hard. It included even the most booming ones like India and China, where the estimated growth was not reached. In case of India, it happened to achieve lesser growth than the expected even though the economy did expand. So, a question remains which countries survived the economic recession best?
Answer – Australia
Servcorp carried out the survey. The countries that were worst hit were all the Western ones. The unemployment is growing high in the developed West, whereas it went up even in the Third World Arab countries, which are traditionally having a high unemployment. In the survey too, the list does not have any name in the top 10 except for Canada.
Image Credit : Digital Inspiration
It seems having a not – so – open economy helps. The external diseases do not hit hard enough, but conversely when the world economy booms, the external growth does not come in fast too. Followed by Australia were China and India/Singapore. New Zealand stands at ninth stop. Many names are from the Eastern world. Clearly, this is the century where rise of the Asian countries phenomenon can be seen. In his book, ‘The Post – American World’, Fareed Zakaria talks in detail about the phenomenon which he calls ‘The Rise of The Rest’. It means the rise of other powers apart from America.
The 19th century belonged to the British, the 20th century belonged to the Americans, and it seems the 21st century belongs to Asians!
As for the major western powers, there were all booming when the world markets were booming. The effect of recession they felt was also high when the global recession took place.
It is not so easy to say whether an open economy helps or not. In most cases, an open economy only helps. If the whole world opted for open economies, well, the world would be much more free, peaceful and prosperous then. Countries indulging into free trade do not have any skirmishes or any problems with each other. That is the beauty of free trade.
A British politician, Richard Cobden once (1857) said:
“Free Trade is God’s diplomacy and there is no other certain way of uniting people in the bonds of peace.”
[Source]
At this time of recession, Obama’s policies are turning out more protectionists. Pranab Mukherji, earlier Foreign Minister of India had also accused him for the same. This same mistake was done by the Western countries back in ‘70s and the outcome was nothing good. What different can we predict in case of America?
Coming to the survey, when people in Australia were asked which countries do they find surviving the recession best, Australia was the answer from their side as well!
Still, I do have a doubt. The survey was carried out by Servcorp. It seems an Australian based firm, and if you observe, the countries that you find there in the survey list are very close to the ones where the firm has its locations!
Now, that is quite fuzzy, but still I would rather rely this as Australian Dollar is hitting high from last eight months even in the times of recession.
The survey is can be found by clicking here.
The top countries best surviving the global recession:
1st – Australia
2nd – China
3rd – India and Singapore (equal)
5th – Hong Kong
6th – Canada
7th – Japan and Qatar (equal)
9th – New Zealand
10th – Malaysia, Sweden and Vietnam (equal)
Never before have I seen a Marathi movie as good as this. No, I generally do not watch Marathi movies, and the number of them focusing on the urban middle class audience is less. This was one is a gem of a movie I must say. It is released at a right time, as the media hype over the local politics was high some time back. Mahesh Manjrekar is excellent in all he does, be it writing, directing or acting. Some of the incidents in Shivaji’s life were very excellently correlated with scenes in the movie and the theme is about a common person voicing opinion in politics. The movie is somewhere similar to Nayak only that this one has a high focus on the Marathi cause and people. As a matter of fact and coincidence, the protagonist in the movie Nayak: The Real Hero was also Shivaji Rao (played by Anil Kapoor). Nevertheless, the presentation is awesome. Before the time comes that saying ‘I am proud of being Marathi’ means your affiliation with some right – wing political party, a movie that brings of sense of pride among the people was certainly the need of the hour.
A movie still from Mee Shivaji Raje Bhosle Boltoy
The protagonist (Sachin Khedekar) of the movie is a clerk in a bank in south Mumbai, from a typical middle class Marathi household with two kids. The son (Abhijit Kelkar) is a computer-engineering aspirant, and the daughter (Priya Bapat) is an aspiring actor. The protagonist is more like a loser living in the heartland of Mumbai, in a thwarting big old bungalow. The movie is all about his personal experiences of being discriminated as a Ghaati (a term used for lower middle class Maharashtrians), the loser feeling that he gets and the encounters with a builder (Vidyadhar Joshi) who wants to vacate his bungalow. The builder intends to build a multi – storey complex at the place of his bungalow, and send Mr. Bhonsle to Badlapur, a town in the outskirts of Mumbai along with the gift of a car. The drama is all about this fight. Typically, a middle class person would not go for any fight with a builder who already has contacts with goons and the government offices. Nevertheless, Mr. Bhonsle despite being the kind of a looser he is goes on to fight against the builder when Shivaji starts appearing to him the Lage Raho Munnabhai style. The fight is no that smooth, there are wonderful vicissitudes midway.
When his son is attacked, he refrains from the fight anymore as the matter has reached his home, but then followed by a powada, (a form of Marathi song) his imaginary Shivaji starts motivating him again. The fight between Shivaji and Afzal Khan is presented in between the powada very wonderfully. He rises up again, and then there is the episode when his whole family is kidnapped, and again the imaginary Shivaji comes up with another incidence.
The 10 – minute speech on politics is a good one. The important point that politics is dirty because we people are dirty is a notable one. After all, it is rule by the people. The discrimination faced in the first half, and answered in the second half is a must-watch. This movie will bring your pride of being a Marathi up, and on a very positive note. This movie does not look for bringing up a Marathi spirit by any common hatred (the way dictators look for doing), but by binding of some common goals. This film does not have any racial slurs, or anything against any community.
However, I do feel the case of the protagonist is somewhere exaggerated; it does not represent the common middle class Marathi man. The middle class Marathis too are having their own achievements and a decent education, openness to modernity and modesty. The average middle class Marathis are not that naïve as much as shown in the movie (my personal perception). We can say this one is for the naïve, who has not waked up for the caliber he has, and the opportunities in front of him in MH itself.
The dialogues are very exact, with those in the first half being a little on the losing side, whereas those in the second half were glorifying. A must watch for the Marathi pseudo – liberals and the extreme right – wingers (hoping both will have a shift in their opinion).
The best part of the movie was the presentation of the story. The way incidents of real life of Shivaji are connected with the story of the movie are something worth seeing. This one will not make you to give any jingoistic ‘jai Bhavani, jai Shivaji’ chant, but one filled with a meaning!
My rating: ****
This was a post return prior to the elections. Due to connectivity issues, I am uploading it now. The elections are over by now and the result is also declared. Will soon come up with a post on the post – poll scenario. Take this as a pre – poll scenario. Thanks.
With all the media focus on voting, I was sure many young voters would queue for voting at the booths. Nevertheless, the things turned otherwise. We have one of the least voter turn – out this election. If this trend is considered, the time is not so far, when we have some narcissist taking over the country and there would be no elections! Bal Thackeray put it saying, voting should be compulsory as if political manipulations would not stop if we go to the other extreme of making voting compulsory.
Image Credit: The Hindu Business Line
It is quite a sad fact to say but the governance and the kind of politicians we get is an outcome of the thinking of public. In a democracy, the government is a direct output of the wish of the public. It is after all rule of the people. It is, we, ourselves to blame for the apathy, anarchy that has quite groped in. At some 65% literacy and at 50% people living below at $2 per day, is it a surprise to see what a banana republic India is? This is a common problem ailing the III World democracies. Nevertheless, what we should be thankful for is that people have elected politicians quite wisely despite all this. India has not seen any military coup; India has not seen any dictator overthrowing power (except for Indira Gandhi’s 22 months) and serious attempts to overthrow democracy at present are negligible. In the long term, democracy always pays. If one looks at the journey of the Far Eastern nations, and how they come up after their independence from absolute poverty, no one would stop giving the credit to democracy. It is a thousand times better option than a monarchy, for any monarchy has high unemployment. Look at the unemployment statistics of any Arab country, from Tunisia to Jordan, and even Iran (which happens to be a Persian country and not Arab), the official unemployment figures there aren’t less than 10%, whereas the real figure is always higher than what the data these monarchies provide.
As far as Indian elections go, there are two main contestants. Congress and the BJP. Third Front or other parasites do not have any chance to take over. Polls until now show that results favor Congress. Well, that is a good sign. It is the lesser evil of the two. Lesser evil, but still evil.
Both parties have their own strengths. Congress has some good economists like P. Chidambaram, Manmohan Singh (who is likely to become the PM again), Montek Singh Ahluwalia of the Planning Commission, Sheila Dikshit in Delhi, and there is this recent addition of Shashi Tharoor that is very likely to work in favor of Congress. This party’s strength lies in the fact that they have shown good economic stability even in times of recession, controlled inflation, and a decent growth. The single biggest impressive thing that this govt. did was the Indo – US Nuclear Deal. Manmohan has a wise brain and has the guts to talk tough things at times. There is no person better than him who would give India a good stance, geopolitically. On Mahmoud Ahmedijenad’s visit, he clearly taunted on Bush saying, ‘no one advise on two of the world’s ancient civilizations’, when Bush was dictating terms to India, whereas he had kindly said to George Bush before that ‘India loves you’. He had the audacity to stand very firm on Indo – US Nuclear Deal despite all the petty opposition from Communists and Advani. He signed the Nuclear Deal and was bold enough not to visit Iran for an Iran – Pakistan – India pipeline that Iran is very curious to go for with India. The proposed IPI would go from Baluchistan in south – West Pakistan and no other information is required further. When almost no country of all the countries from OIC was not of any help to India, post 26/11 and were passively in support of Pakistan, he came out with a statement, ‘the entire civilized world is in threat from terrorism’.
Where this Govt. lacks is on many fronts. It is a pseudo – secular government, there is no doubt about it, but still a better choice than communal Advani. The border with Bangladesh needs to be sealed urgently. There entry into India has caused many a bomb blasts, especially all those that we see happening in Assam, North East, the growing slums of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Mumbai and various other issues. But, a smooth entry in India with Rs. 5000 that gives them Indian citizenship ensures vote bank for Congress. Even Manmohan Singh did not take any tough measure for this. It is true that his stance on terrorism is soft, but the use of more technology emphasized by him would surely give out good returns over time. It is not an easy task to manage a banana republic ands a billion plus country.
Regarding BJP, there are not many good prospects, as Advani is the proposed PM. Had it been Modi, well, the whole of young India was sure to vote him up. There are many pseudo – liberals in India, that is a problem with Indian youth, but all of them would certainly vote for him if one sees the tremendous change that he has demonstrated in Gujarat. Right from cutting the funding of terrorism without harassing people, every step hat he took is admirable. Something like Vibrant Gujarat at the India level would make great sense. Suhel Seth was one of his most ardent critiques, but his change of opinion is worth noting. His Financial Times article is revealing in this regards. Modi had clearly said in an interview that if he is found guilty in Godhra incident, he should be hanged to death. Delhi would not have stopped hanging him were he to be guilty, but you never know the truth. He has shown a good turn around, even gave order to raze some 1000 temples in Gujarat, and distanced himself from VHP after the incident. There is no looking back for him since then.
BJP has a very good record of accomplishment if we consider their regime of 1998 – 2004. India started to boom truly in that time. Their infrastructure projects were pioneering. All their proposed projects literally stopped under INC, and 2007 was termed the slowest year for all infrastructure projects across India. Under the BJP – Shiv Sena state of MH, a completely new Mumbai – Pune expressway was built on state expenditure. A proposal for Mumbai – Nagpur maglev train would have took off had it been there for the second term. The real reason why they lost is only urban focus.
BJP’s stand as a political party may be centrist with right – wing affiliations, but their leaders at present are pathetic. If control of the nation is given to Advani, he is bound to destroy the nation in the best possible manner. Playing the Ayodhya card has cost BJP very badly. It is time they should understand that divisive politics, communal politics has no place in Indian public’s priority.
What an average person needs is more than $2 per day.
A good thing about leaders of all non – Congress leaders, is that they have toiled to come this far, that toil may include rapes, assassinations, murders, etc. but nevertheless they weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth. In case of INC, we find half – monarchy of the Gandhi – Nehru dynasty. Now, that must stop. People like Man Mohan Singh should be given another chance, rather than any Gandhi.
The manifestos of various parties had economic growth on their agenda even at the state level, like, someone of Andhra Pradesh who revamped Hyderabad (a long time back), Modi of Gujarat, and all ministers in MH and even the new dictator Raj Thackeray promises the same for voters in Mumbai. That on one hand, and what one would find happening in other part of the nation is a party promising ‘removal of English and computers in government offices’, only to keep the region backwards forever. This was said by some party in the state of UP, the most highly populated state. This will only add fuel to the fire for others in MH, Goa, Assam and Delhi for the voice they have raised against hordes of Bhaiyyas entering in.
Populist measures need a break when the public is highly illiterate, uneducated, and does not know what is good for them. With India’s literacy and middle – classes growing, let us hope that the new majority of voters push the politicians towards newer issues that would benefit all.
After the success of his other books like ‘Lexus and the Olive Tree’, ‘Longitudes and Attitudes’ and more recently, ‘The World is Flat’, the new theme the New York Times columnist has got in is global warming. Global warming is a problem common all throughout the world. Well, for one it is real. There is an astonishingly high number of people for whom it took too late to understand that ‘global warming’ is not any political innovation. It is already happening. Your experiences in May (in case you are in Northern Hemisphere) give you a receipt of this repeatedly. The 2006 European Wave that took some 35, 000 lives is one big receipt. Of course, Hurricane Katrina and 2004 Tsunami were other that affected other parts of the world.
Image Courtesy: Treehugger.com (A Mirage in Finland)
Globalization or rather flattening of the world has brought up many a people from poverty into middle classes. More and more people coming into middle classes marks a new phenomenon and that is, ‘flat meets crowded’. The case with world is such that it doesn’t matter how many people live on earth, what matters is the number of people living a typical American Dream, where the energy consumption is high. Fighting global warming is quite an urgent issue, but Thomas Friedman leaves no bone in elaborating his well researched points that can help economically as well.
There are five major reasons that Friedman gives in his books: Energy and natural resources supply and demand, petro – dictatorship, climate change, energy poverty and biodiversity loss. There are chapters dedicated to almost each of this term in the first half of the book.
Supply and Demand: The oil price rise that we saw in May 2008, when oil peaked at $147, was driven by the imbalance between supply and demand. This was not about geopolitics as it was in case of the 1970s oil embargo. This was purely because the demand had grown, from China and India and from other developing countries.
Petro – Dictatorships: This is another important issue in combating global warming and in coming up with alternative energy / fuels. Oil as a resource, is found with mostly all authoritarian regimes of the world. Saudi Arabia, Russia (which is a complete autocratic state at high oil prices), Nigeria (democracy was best there at oil $10 in 1995), Venezuela, etc. Graph of oil price vs. freedom is given in the book.
Climate Change: ‘Global warming’ is kind of a misnomer. In fact, it is ‘global weirding ’or rather‘climate crises’. Al Gore had first called it global warming, but later on he named his website of his documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ as www.climatecrisis.net .The term climate crisis describes the term more aptly.
Energy Poverty: This is all about load shedding/blackout and I am experiencing it greatly! Yes, this problem is grave. Developing countries are rising, and so is the demand for electricity. Blackout is common all across Africa, especially Zimbabwe and South Africa, and in India as well. Renewable energy is necessary now, also for environmental concerns, and for business concerns. The country that will come up with something substantial in energy technology is going to lead the world next. US and China both are doing well in this regards, and Obama administration has paid heed to this pressing issue. Can you imagine a day without electricity? No computers, no internet!!
Biodiversity Loss: This mainly deals with the deforestation that is taking place at a very fast speed in Brazil, and Indonesia, two of the countries in the world that have claim to one of the biggest and dense forests. Different species have started becoming extinct, and let us hope human race is not one of them!
This revolution, green revolution is unlike other. There is not a single revolution in the history of the earth, in which no one got hurt. In green revolution, everyone is enjoying. It is going to help us all as it is a question of human survival in the end. It is rather a green party.
The second part of the book is well researched and provides solutions to the American industry on what to do next. It gives a 7 – page example of an experiment that was carried out in Washington, US on efficient electricity utilization. It saved electricity by 70%! This is no exaggeration. The model is described in detail in the book. It is all about a smart grid to be used, in every home as well in every block.
After the recession in 1991 that gave birth to IT it is the turn of ET after this global recession equivalent to The Great Depression. It will make a good entertainment to see which country gets a major share in it. As of now, US and China have the highest chance of getting it, though Israel has a good chance too owing to a successful electric car experiment there. India has all resources but no political will.
The world at present is all about going green.
‘Google for the terms that you do not know’, ‘I’ll Google for it’ is an oft-repeated statement that I found people telling each other online. The days of scholastic are gone. There is nothing special about the ‘walking encyclopedias’ now, as all that work can be easily done by the internet now. Information is available at your fingertips like never before and all it takes is less than a second for any search result.
I am sure most people in the world use Google as their default search engine. It is anytime a better pick over MSN, Yahoo or many other such websites. Despite Google’s popularity, I was surprised to know that Yahoo! was the number one ranked website for a long time. Well, it seems to have slide down to number 2 on the Alexa rankings. With Google Chrome’s popularity, the ranking seems to have gone up, as Google is its default search provider.
An entry for Google as a noun, and as a verb has also come up on various dictionaries. Check this one at dictionary.com!
| Main Entry: | google1 |
|
Part of Speech: |
v |
|
Definition: |
to search for information about a specific person through the Google search engine |
|
Example: |
She googled her high school boyfriends. |
Why people use Google? This image will tell you that. More than 50% say for spell – checking! Doesn’t MS – Word help you in spell – checking? That is better I must say. In my case, the use of Google is for the first purpose, second and third purpose given in the image. I really do not like typing in complete ‘.com’ thing in the address bar.
Image from www.nonsenseplanet.com
The suggestions that come up while typing a search term are also helpful at times. I do not know how Google comes to it and on what basis, but they are interesting to see.
Here are some half – searched terms and its suggestions below, they really made my day! It’s said, ‘how’, ‘why’ and ‘what’ are one of the toughest questions to answer on earth. Just go through all the suggestions listed and you will something crazy!
Well, the above one made for some interesting read!! No one will ever get answers on that.
And this one on girls!
If girls get scientific answers for this, I would agree that reason of humans has reached a peak like never before.
Surprised to see many good entries suggested!
That made for a good laugh! Stink, smell, cows, beef… hmmm… And Indians cannot be terrorists.
Some desperate women might have searched that! I am quite confident not many are going to get answers. Not even Google is going to help them! 
Was curious to see the suggestions on this. Ok, only one entry came down, fine.
Interesting ones… Women can’t read maps is something new for me!
One of the toughest questions ‘why’. Decent suggestions… For the second query, I don’t get why don’t people try it for themselves and enjoy the magic?
If any of the search queries were interesting, go ahead and have it. Screenshots taken accurately, without the address bar and section above it using SnagIt software. All the suggestions were on Google India. You may get something different based on your geographic location.
