Here are some of my recent Editorials in The Gulf
Today (Posted for my records)
Increasing suicides
pose deadly challenge
Startling statistics unveiled by the
World Health Organisation (WHO) that
more than 800,000 people commit suicide every year – around one person every 40
seconds – presents a grave challenge to humanity as a whole.
The launch of WHO’s first report on suicide comes just a week before World
Suicide Prevention Day, observed on Sept.10 every year. The day provides an
opportunity for joint action to raise awareness about suicide and suicide
prevention around the world.
What is
distressing is suicide kills more than conflicts, wars and natural
catastrophes. There are 1.5 million violent deaths every year in the world, of
which 800,000 are suicides. Men are almost twice as likely as women to take
their own lives.
The most common methods of suicide
globally are pesticide poisoning, hanging and firearms. Evidence from
Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and a number of
European countries reveals that limiting access to these means can help prevent
people dying by suicide.
In addition to limiting access to
means of suicide, experts suggest that other effective measures to reduce
deaths include responsible reporting of suicide in the media, such as avoiding
language that sensationalises suicide and avoiding explicit description of
methods used.
Another key to reducing deaths by
suicide is a commitment by national governments to the establishment and
implementation of a coordinated plan of action. Currently, only 28 countries
are known to have national suicide prevention strategies.
Suicide
and attempted suicide are considered a crime in 25 countries, mostly in Africa,
in South America and in Asia.
India especially needs to take more
proactive action as it accounted for the highest estimated number of suicides
in the world in 2012. In the South-East Asia Region, the estimated suicide rate
is the highest as compared to other WHO regions. Suicide rates show a peak
among the young and the elderly.
The most suicide-prone countries were Guyana (44.2 per 100,000),
followed by North and South Korea (38.5 and 28.9 respectively). Next came Sri
Lanka (28.8), Lithuania (28.2), Suriname (27.8), Mozambique (27.4), Nepal and
Tanzania (24.9 each), Burundi (23.1), India (21.1) and South Sudan (19.8).
WHO officials are absolutely right
when they say that the report is a wake-up call for action to address a large
public health problem that has been shrouded in taboo for far too long.
Early identification and management
of mental and substance use disorders in communities and by health workers in
particular will go a long way in tackling the serious problem.
India
on Mars
cloud
nine
Wednesday turned out to be a proud day for
Indians and for right reasons. Scientists from the Indian Space and Research
Organisation (ISRO) managed to succeed where the US, Europe and Russia failed,
by becoming the first country in the world to enter Mars' orbit in its debut
attempt.
And, amazingly, it has been achieved with a
meagre budget. At just $74 million, the mission cost is less than the estimated
$100 million budget of the sci-fi blockbuster "Gravity."
It also represents just a fraction of the
cost of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration’s $671
million Maven spacecraft, which successfully began orbiting the fourth planet
from the sun on Sunday.
Of all the planets in the solar system,
Mars has sparked the greatest human interest. The conditions in Mars are
believed to be hospitable since the planet is similar to Earth in many ways.
For ages, humans have been speculating
about life on Mars. However, the question that is to be still answered is
whether Mars has a biosphere or ever had an environment in which life could
have evolved and sustained.
The spacecraft — also called Mangalyaan,
meaning "Mars craft" in Hindi — is chiefly meant to showcase the
country's ability to design, plan, manage and operate a deep-space mission.
India has already conducted dozens of
successful satellite launches, including sending up the Chandrayaan-1 lunar
orbiter, which discovered key evidence of water on the Moon in 2008.
The social media was abuzz with news of the
triumph, with many declaring "Mission accomplished" on Facebook and
Twitter.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) traversed
over 650 million kilometres through deep space for over nine months to
successfully reach the planet's orbit.
Radars at the earth stations of NASA at
Goldstone in the US, Madrid in Spain, Canberra in Australia and India's own
deep space network at Baylalu near Bangalore received the radio signals from
the Orbiter, confirming its insertion into the Mars orbit.
Five solar-powered instruments will gather
data that will help determine how Martian weather systems work and what
happened to the water that is believed to have once existed on Mars in large
quantities.
It also will search Mars for methane, a key
chemical in life processes on earth that could also come from geological
processes.
The success of the Indian scientists proves
that sky is the limit for achievers who have visionary zeal and committed goal.
The achievement will surely go down as a landmark in space history.
Suspense
ends,
unity
prevails
It was a
historic day that could have changed geography. Good sense prevailed and unity
scored over division. Scottish voters have rejected independence in an
extraordinary referendum.
In the process,
they have prevented a rupture of a 307-year union with England.
Despite a surge
in nationalist support in the final fortnight of the campaign, the
"No" secured 55.30 per cent of the vote against 44.70 per cent for
the pro-independence "Yes" camp.
The campaign
remained intense and stoked political passions across the country prompting the
highest ever turnout for an election in Britain at 84.6 per cent.
It became
obvious that a majority of voters did not embrace Scottish First Minister Alex
Salmond's impassioned plea to launch a new state, choosing instead the security
offered by remaining in the United Kingdom.
A
"delighted" British Prime Minister David Cameron has stated that a
“Yes” vote would have broken his heart to see United Kingdom come to an end. A
defeat in the referendum could well have cost him his job.
While the UK
survived, it will soon look very different.
The British
government must now deliver on promises made in the heat of the campaign to
give more powers over tax, spending and welfare to the devolved government in
Edinburgh.
Cameron has
promised that he would offer all parts of the UK greater local control -
heading off growing demands from right-wing Conservatives and the UK
Independence Party (UKIP) for England to be given more powers.
Salmond has
reminded Cameron of his promises: "Scotland will expect these to be
honoured in rapid course."
In that
context, Cameron clearly has some more sleepless days ahead.
It is not that
the Scots have been voiceless in London. Cameron's predecessor was a Scot:
Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, who served at No. 10 Downing Street for
nearly three years and, before that, was the powerful finance minister for 10
years under Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Several other
Scots held senior positions in Blair's governments, prompting one TV presenter
to quip in 2005 that Britain was living under a "Scottish Raj."
Whatever the
outcome of the exercise, Britain can be proud that it has set a perfect example
of how to roll a peaceful democratic process.
Also, what will
be highly consoling for Britain is that it can avoid a prolonged period of
financial insecurity that had been predicted by many if Scotland broke away.
Dubai’s driverless
wonder on a roll
The driverless
wonder on wheels, Dubai Metro, has captured the hearts millions of Dubai
travellers. No surprise, when it celebrated its fifth anniversary on Tuesday,
accolades poured in from varied sections of society.
It was on 9-9-9 that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai,
opened the Red Line of the Dubai Metro, which stretches 52 km and covers 29
stations comprising 4 underground stations, 24 elevated stations, and one station
at the grade.
Two years after the start of the operation of the Dubai
Metro Red Line, namely on 9/9/2011, Sheikh Mohammed opened the Dubai Metro
Green Line; which spans 23 km linking 18 stations including 6 underground
stations, and 12 elevated stations.
Sheikh Mohammed, whose brainchild Dubai Metro is, envisaged
the sophisticated facility to shape as the backbone of the transport system
that connects various vital areas in the emirate and provide easy and safe
mobility for passengers.
According to official statistics, the number of Dubai Metro
Red Line users since the start of operation on 9/9/2009 until last August,
soared to 333,661,032 riders. The number of riders has grown steadily, jumping
from 38,887,718 riders in 2010 to 60,024,794 riders in 2011.
In 2013, it continued its upward trajectory to touch
88,886,539 riders, and in the first eight months of this year, the number of
Red Line users climbed to 67,054,535 riders.
The total number of Green Line users, which was opened on
9/9/2011, until the end of last August, went up to the tune of 134,251,247
riders. The number of Green Line users in 2012 was about 37,577,000 riders, and
shot even higher in 2013 to as many as 48,872,719 riders, whereas in the first
eight months of this year the number has already touched 38,819,433 riders.
As Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads
and Transport Authority, Mattar Al Tayer, rightly put it, Dubai Metro has added
a beautiful new dimension to the landmarks and towering achievements of Dubai,
especially as it uses the latest technology in the rail industry and is
considered to be the longest driverless Metro line worldwide.
What is highly commendable is that over the past five years
of operation, no single incident was reported about breaching the code or
vandalising the facilities of the project. Besides, Dubai Metro has scored high marks on
sticking to timetables and offering high-level safety standards.
Positive
signals on Dubai
Expo 2020 preparations
The Dubai Expo 2020 Higher Committee meeting
on Monday to discuss preparations for the first-of-its-kind mega event to be
held in the Middle East North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region has made it
abundantly clear that arrangements are impeccably on track.
Just a week ago, heads
of three major business establishments that propel Dubai’s economy, along with
others, had vouched in an exclusive chat with this newspaper that preparations
for Expo 2020 were well on track and that Dubai was heading to become “a centre
of the world.”
“When
you talk of Dubai, it is going to become a much bigger and happening place,”
the top officials of Emirates Group, Dubai Duty Free and the Jumeirah Group had
remarked.
On Nov.22 last year, Dubai was declared
host of the World Expo 2020 in an announcement that was made in Paris.
Running October 2020 through April 2021
under the theme "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,” the Expo will launch the country’s
Golden Jubilee celebration and serve as a springboard from which to inaugurate
a progressive and sustainable vision for the coming decades.
A cursory look at the figures involved
leaves one amazed at the size of the event. The total
investment in the infrastructures related to Expo is estimated at AED25
billion. It will generate around 277,000 new job opportunities in Dubai over
the next seven years. Each new job opportunity will sustain other 50 jobs in
the region. The event is expected to attract over 25 million visitors, 70% of
those are coming from abroad.
That
is not all. The Expo will inject more than AED140 billion in Dubai's GDP. It
will enhance Dubai's trade and support its tourism development strategy
targeting 20 million tourists. Interestingly, some of the facilities are
multipurpose and will be re-used.
There
are other positive indications too. Online recruitment activity in the
hospitality and tourism sector rose 34 per cent year on year in the UAE, as a
spate of new hotel construction ahead of the Expo creates demand for new
workers, according to data from recruitment website, Monster.
As UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His
Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum himself remarked after winning
the Expo bid, Dubai will astonish the world in 2020. There is absolutely no
doubt that the Expo will breathe new life into the ancient role of the Middle
East as a melting pot for cultures and creativity.
