With each win we tend to gain something valuable; with each loss something within us gives in. In the dull drudgery of living, some see dreams for themselves and pursue them till the end; the majority gain fulfillment from the achievements of others. Time never stands still and life goes on. When, at Perth, India did almost the unthinkable, many images flashed in the mind’s eye. When, in the early seventies, India beat the West Indies and then went on to win at the Oval, one felt proud of being part of something bigger. Those were early pages of a life in its formative years and a Sunil Gavaskar or a Chandrasekhar became larger than life. The world seemed a wonderful place to be in, especially as a teenager living in India. But somehow we could never win regularly and defeats were so common that each time we beat a strong team, we could feel a throbbing elation, a sense of having something in us which could one day make us an unbeatable team. Like the ebb and flow of life, Indian sports too gave you intense moments of euphoria, only to bring you down to the harsh reality that we are not good enough. The heart-breaks are many, the peaks few: A few Test wins abroad, the 1983 World Cup win and a few memorable performances that spur you on to still watch cricket with expectation and hope. Indian cricket, mired in corruption, apathy and greed of the administrators but fuelled now by the Corporation, which is keeping it alive in the drawing rooms of India, still comes alive now and then, like it has done now. Just a year back we had almost given up, like during the match-fixing days and were wondering, are the end near, where to dream is to be silly. Somehow, somewhere and all of a sudden it all changed and we started winning again, this time more often than we had ever done in the past. There are more images of victory celebrations jostling for space in the mind, and one is almost tempted to believe that at long last we have arrived. We as cricket fans in India know what victory means after a spate of defeats. We have never known what it would mean to lose a match after 16 consecutive victories: A despondent feeling that the Indians must have [...]
Archive for February 2nd, 2008
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IS THE MERCURY RISING?
February 2nd, 2008 
krishna Even in a country habituated to the periodic spread of epidemics, the current outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal fraught with disastrous consequences for human life and poultry; needs to be combated on a war footing. Its spread, however, in winter appears a trifle unusual. Link this with the recent surfacing of chikungunya in Italy; a disease so far confined to warmer tropical climates. Suddenly the recent global summit on climate change emerges critical to this horizon. For nearly a decade, experts had been warning that global warming is fuelling the spread of epidemics in areas hitherto unaffected. Climate change is not merely confined to the growth of such life-threatening diseases; it threatens the very future of human civilisation. The Human Development Report (HDR), 2007-08, shows that global temperature is expected to increase by 5° Celsius in the 21st century; while the danger mark threatening the sustainability of life on the planet would be crossed at 2° Celsius. If this is not arrested, then the worst sufferers would be 40 per cent of the world’s poor people – 2.6 billion. This will come on the top of the fact that around ten million children die each year before the age of five and around 28 per cent of all children in the developing countries are undernourished. Climate change occurs through the emission of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, which trap heat in the atmosphere. The current global release of such gases has exceeded the normal range of the last 650,000 years in the life of our planet. The main reason for this is the pattern of capitalist industrialisation, in pursuit of ever higher profits. The US’s carbon emission footprint is over 15 times that of India. If every person in the developing world were to have the same carbon footprint, then the level of emissions would be nine times higher than the limit required to sustain our planet, not merely life on Earth. Climate change will impact rainfall, temperature and water availability adversely; affecting the livelihood of billions dependent on agriculture in the world. Needless to add, India would be one of the worst sufferers. The melting of glaciers will affect the flows of river waters, affecting the lives of billions of people. Particularly; the whole of South Asia would be affected with the retreat of the Himalayan glaciers. A three-four degree increase in temperature will displace millions [...]
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH DIPPED
February 2nd, 2008 krishna In a development that could force RBI to do a rethink on its stringent monetary policy stand, country’s industrial growth dipped to 5.3 per cent in November 2007 due to fall in consumer spending and slow down in manufacturing sector. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. The index of industrial Production Index(IIP) fell from 15.8% in November 2006 while manufacturing output during the same month slipped to 5.4% from 17.2. According to official data, growth in mining output declined to 3.5% during the month from 8.8 % a year ago. Electricity sector recorded a growth rate of 5.8% from 8.7% in the same month previous year. During April-November 2007 IIP fell to 9.2% from 10.9% during the corresponding period a year ago. Manufacturing growth rate during the eight month period stood at 9.8% down from 11.8%during the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. According to analysts high interest rates have become a deterrent to first time purchasers of consumer durable like automobiles. Reacting to the data, commerce minister Kamal Nath said he was confident industrial growth would accelerate in the coming months even as he pitched for lowering interest rates. “I don’t see this as a slow down. I see this as signal to relook at consumer spending and may be loosening a bit (of monetary policy)”. On the decline in industrial production, Nath said that the rate of industrial growth has been affected but “I am confident hat on an annualized basis it will be made up. We have some moments of ups and downs in manufacturing”. He, however, expressed optimism that the situation would improve in the near future and said exports, which have been hit by a sharp rise in rupee value, would show an upturn in the near future.
