These are five recent Editorials I wrote for our newspaper- The Gulf Today. (Posted for my records)
Mars mission lifts
Indian spirits
As an Indian rocket —
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C25 — soared from its launching pad on Tuesday
from the spaceport in Sriharikota, it also lifted the spirits of Indians and
space enthusiasts.
The country’s first Mars
orbiter was successfully placed in orbit in a copy-book style, becoming the
first Asian country and the fourth in the world going for a mission to the red
planet, a staggering 780 million kilometres away. Only the US, Europe, and Russia
have sent probes that have orbited or landed on Mars. India has never before
attempted inter-planetary travel, and more than half of all missions to Mars
have ended in failure, including Japan’s in 2003 and China’s in 2011.
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. 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 Mars Orbiter
Mission, known as “Mangalyaan,” was revealed only 15 months ago by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh. The gold-coloured probe, the size of a small car, will
aim to detect methane in the Martian atmosphere.
The mission has come
under fire from critics who see it as a waste of money. A few took to social
media to say that building toilets and offering basic amenities for the deprived
population deserve better attention than such missions.
But as Chairman of
Indian Space Research Organisation K. Radhakrishnan put it, India’s budget for
space exploration is only 0.34% of its total annual budget, of which seven per
cent has been allocated to planetary exploration. The probe’s 4.5 billion rupee
($73 million) price tag is a fraction of the cost of NASA’s Maven mission, also
due to launch in November.
Such missions have a
positive implication for the rest of the economy and help a great deal in
cyclone forecasting. The Mars mission is, in fact, cheaper than some of more
lavish spending schemes, including a $340 million plan to build the world’s
largest statue in the state of Gujarat, including surrounding infrastructure.
With such projects, India gets an opportunity to capture more of the $304
billion global space market with its low-cost technology.
Do not throw away
chance to end hunger
Approximately
870 million people in the world do not eat enough to be healthy. It means that
one in every eight people on earth goes to bed hungry each night. Yet, Oct.16,
2013 passed off as just another day without a stimulating debate or captivating
media attention even as the United Nations marked the World Food Day.
It
is disgusting to note that 1.3 billion tonnes of food go to waste every year --
around a third of the total food produced. With just a quarter of that, 842
million hungry could easily be fed.
On
the positive side, 62 out of the 128 countries monitored by the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have reached the Millenium Development Goal of
cutting by half the number of hungry people from 1990 levels, showing the
target is achievable by 2015. The number of the world's hungry has gone down
recently - mainly thanks to economic growth in developing countries and higher
farm productivity.
Nevertheless,
even some developed countries continue to face the hunger challenge. America is
seen as a land of plenty, but for one in six people in the United States,
hunger is a reality. Under the Supplemental Poverty Measure, there are 49.7
million people living in poverty, 3.1 million more than are represented by the
official poverty measure (46.5 million).
In
Britain too, the number of people resorting to food banks for emergency help to
feed their families has more than tripled following the squeeze on benefits
which intensified in April. The Trussell Trust, the country’s biggest food bank
operator, is said to have distributed food to 355,985 people, including nearly
120,000 children, between April and September compared with 113,264 during the
same period in 2012. It handed out food to more people during those six months
than in the whole of 2012.
Conflict
zones add to the problem. Some humanitarian crises around the world such as
North Korea and Yemen risk being forgotten. Logistics is a big issue in the regions where food products are in short
supply, like in Africa.
However, if there's a will, there's a
way. More vigorous steps should be initiated as part of a joint global action
to eradicate hunger. The goal should be to ensure balanced diets. Such
collective action should also be backed up by efforts to stem food wastage. It
will be a huge blot on humanity if the plight of the hungry is ignored.
Eastern
giants move
in
right direction
When two powerful “billionaire” nations
talk about peace and progress, the world better take a serious note of it.
Sounding an optimistic tone in relationship merely six months after a
three-week tense standoff along the boundary, India and China have inked a key
agreement to establish peace along the border when Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and Premier Li Keqiang met for talks in the Great Hall of the People on
Wednesday.
Li says that the meeting has injected
"new vitality" into the relations. Delhi has been seeking to gain
greater access to Chinese markets and readjust a trade balance tilted heavily
towards Beijing.
The two sides have now agreed to boost
communication about border manoeuvres, hold periodic meetings at designated
crossing points, and have patrols refrain from any provocations. As per the
agreement, patrols should not follow or "tail" patrols of the other
side in contested areas.
They have also agreed to hold joint
counterterrorism training in southwest China at an early date, strengthen
cooperation in international and regional affairs, and work together to tackle
terrorism. Another accord enables a Chinese power equipment service centre in
India. China has offered to help India with railway construction. The two
nations also are exploring a trade corridor.
India ran a $39 billion trade deficit
with China over the last fiscal year. With growing economies and a combined
population of 2.5 billion, the neighbours have set a target of $100 billion in
bilateral trade by 2015, up from $61.5 billion last year. The bilateral trade
is expected to touch $1 trillion by 2050.
Li Keqiang made his first foreign visit
to India on May 18, 2013 in a bid to resolve border disputes and to stimulate
economic relations. Li mentioned at that time that there were three main
reasons for his visit: To increase diplomatic co-operation, to cement relations
in trade and other areas and, finally, to formulate strategy for common
prosperous future.
China and India are two of the world’s
oldest civilisations and have co-existed in peace for millenniums. But in the
recent years, there have been strains in the ties. The two have failed to reach
a concrete solution to the long-standing border dispute. In fact, both the
countries have steadily established heavy military infrastructure along border
areas.
The latest agreements will help rebuild
trust and cooperation. The Asian giants need to convert these tiny steps into
leaps to achieve rapid progress and prosperity. After all, where there's a
will, there's a way.
UK needs to amend
visa rules for Emiratis
Talk about bilateral ties and
the UAE-British relationship, covering
economic, strategic and cultural interests, stands out as a shining example for others to follow.
There are over 100,000 British
citizens resident in the UAE and around 50,000 Emiratis visit the UK each year.
There are approximately 170 flights each week between the UAE and the UK,
operated by British Airways, Etihad Airways, and Emirates. Over one million
British visitors travel to the UAE annually.
Media
reports now indicate that the British government will shortly announce visa
exemption rules for UAE nationals. It may be recalled that British Ambassador
to the UAE, Dominique Jeremy, had confirmed in April that there were on-going
discussions on facilitating visa procedures for Emiratis visiting the UK.
Regular meetings of
the UAE-UK Taskforce help reinforce the relations. Hugh Robertson, MP, Minister
for the Middle East and South Asia, recently hosted the eleventh meeting of the
UAE-UK Taskforce in London. Closer consular co-operation, including that of
crisis management, was one of the hot topics of discussion at the meeting. The
meeting recognised the positive work of the UAE-UK Consular Committee in
providing regular and effective dialogue on consular issues.
Nothing can
highlight the close ties better than Britain extending strong support to Dubai's bid for Expo 2020.
Prince Harry gave his backing to Dubai’s bid at a charity event. Prime Minister David Cameron issued an open letter to the world in favour of
Dubai and, in May, Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was
pleased to announce that the UK would support the UAE as host nation.
As Cameron himself wrote, in just 50 years Dubai has been transformed from a
small fishing and pearling town into one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the
world. This is a city where you will hear Arabic, Urdu, Malayalam, Somali,
Tagalog, Russian and English all being spoken and where more than 200
nationalities live and work.
The UAE-UK Business
Council has helped increase bilateral trade, taking both the countries closer
to their 2015 target of £12 billion. The two are continuing collaboration on
clean energy, justice and law enforcement.
The UAE has striven to be a source of stability, economic growth and
innovation in the entire region. Considering the special relations between
the two powerful nations, it is imperative that London clears a long-pending
proposal to waive visas for Emiratis without wasting more time.
Syrian refugees’ plight worsens
In a
stunning revelation, the United Nations now says that 40 per cent of all
Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid. The war in the country has left 9.3
million Syrians requiring help from the UN and other aid organisations,
including the upwardly revised figure of 6.5 million people who are now
internally displaced.
The United Nations expects another two million Syrians to become refugees in
2014 and 2.25 million more to be displaced during the year within the Syrian
Arab Republic.
What is more distressing is that around three-quarters of Syrian refugees are
women and children, and almost 490,000 are women and girls of reproductive
age. The majority are facing economical and emotional difficulties and the
crisis is placing a strain on communities and infrastructure and services in
host countries.
As the ordeal of ordinary Syrians continues, international peace attempts are
yet to yield concrete results. The UN-Arab League envoy on Syria Lakhdar
Brahimi has declared that a peace conference he hoped to hold this month has
been delayed, but that he is still striving for a summit by the end of the
year. He has not announced a clear date for talks in Geneva.
Non-governmental organisations say that protection of civilians in the areas
of armed conflict and meeting health concerns, especially post-natal care,
have been challenging given the complicated security environment, reduced
capacity of public health facilities and the high fees for services in
private health facilities.
Due to the escalating violence, increased political tensions and
deteriorating economic conditions, women are being exposed in different
places to domestic and other forms of gender-based violence. Rising
psychological stress among women, their families and health care providers
have been observed by field workers and UN partners.
Almost 97 per cent of Syria’s refugees are hosted in the immediate
surrounding region, with around one million in Lebanon, followed by Jordan,
Iraq and Turkey. The spillover of the crisis into its four neighbouring
countries is impacting economic and human development outcomes in those
countries at the national and local levels. Key sectors including investment,
tourism, trade and local production are affected at varying levels of
intensity.
The crisis is also raising concerns over possibilities of triggering tensions
between refugees and local populations in those countries. The situation in
Syria urgently calls for a robust development response to complement ongoing
humanitarian and refugee efforts. It is imperative that international donors
do more to help Syrian refugees. Mere words of support will not do. It is
time for action.
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