Archive for December, 2013

« Older Entries  |   Newer Entries »
11/12/2013

India and China Move Ahead in the Asian Space Race – Businessweek

It’s been a rough year for the government of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Economic growth has cratered and the currency has wobbled. The Hindu nationalist party just clobbered Singh’s Congress Party in state-level elections and opposition leader Narendra Modi is the favorite to replace Singh in nationwide elections in the first half of 2014.

Engineers working on the Mars orbiter at the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore

Amid all the gloom, Singh and the rest of India just received some much-needed good news. The country has an ambitious program to explore space, and today the government-run mission control announced that India’s first mission to Mars had cleared a major obstacle on its way to the Red Planet. The Mars Orbiter, informally dubbed the Mangalyaan, successfully carried out its first Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM), the Indian Space Research Organization said on its official website. That keeps the Mangalyaan on track to reach Mars by September next year.

India’s Mars probe (PDF) is the country’s entry in an Asian space race; for those of you keeping score, the Indians win points for aiming farthest. Japan in September launched the Epsilon rocket, designed to be an inexpensive way to put satellites into earth orbit. China is shooting for the moon, having launched its first lunar rover mission on Dec. 2. South Korea in January launched its first space rocket and last month unveiled plans for a lunar mission (albeit one that won’t launch until 2020).

via India and China Move Ahead in the Asian Space Race – Businessweek.

Posted in Aerospace, China alert, Chindia Alert, Economics, GeoPolitics, India alert, Politics, Technology | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11/12/2013

China Explores Smoking Ban in Effort to Reduce Tobacco-Related Deaths – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Chinese officials are exploring ways to curb smoking as deaths mount and medical costs rise, an effort that has generated one proposal to take apart the nation’s vast and politically connected government-run tobacco monopoly.

Within the next year, China’s legislators will accelerate efforts to enact a national regulation banning smoking in public places in China, said Yang Jie, deputy director of Tobacco Control Office for the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at a news briefing on tobacco-related health problems in China. Mr. Yang said China’s State Council, the country’s cabinet, is currently planning the regulation and it is expected to be enacted next year.

“We can see what is happening in the rest of the world,” said Mr. Yang, suggesting that China is due to follow the smoking cessation trends of other countries.

The statement follows the release of a book by China’s Central Party School, an elite Chinese Communist Party think tank, in recent months urging officials to shake up China’s tobacco monopoly, which is responsible for tobacco production and sales and has the freedom to donate to schools and sell cigarette cartons without pictures of black lungs for warnings. Its authors call for higher tobacco taxes, halting government financing to tobacco companies and encouraging them to find alternative business models.

China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration wasn’t immediately available for comment. The tobacco industry pulled in 865 billion yuan ($142.5 billion) from taxes and profit in 2012, up 16% from a year earlier, according to the State Tobacco administration.

A farmer smokes in a cabbage field in Huaiyuan county, eastern Anhui province. Associated Press

China is the world’s largest consumer and producer of tobacco, home to more than 300 million smokers and 43% of the world’s cigarette production, according to the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation. Tobacco is also a leading cause of death in China, causing 1.2 million deaths annually and expected to cause 3.5 million deaths annually by 2030, the groups said.

Nearly nine out of 10 Chinese children aged 5 and 6 are able to identify at least one cigarette brand, according to a recent study by Johns Hopkins University on the effects of tobacco marketing on children in low- and middle-income countries. “Rather than thinking ‘I’m going to be Superman,’ young boys are aspiring to smoke,” said Bernhard Schwartländer, the World Health Organization’s representative in China.

via China Explores Smoking Ban in Effort to Reduce Tobacco-Related Deaths – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Good news, Social & cultural | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
11/12/2013

Santander ups bet on China with Bank of Shanghai stake | Reuters

Santander (SAN.MC), Spain\’s largest bank, is to buy HSBC\’s (HSBA.L) 8 percent stake in Bank of Shanghai, just as many international rivals are beginning to sell out of China.

A man uses an ATM machine at a Santander bank branch in Madrid September 16, 2013. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Santander, which already has a consumer finance venture in China as well as a car financing business, said on Tuesday the Bank of Shanghai deal also included a cooperation agreement, taking the value of its investment to 470 million euros ($647.3 million).

Several major U.S. and European banks including Bank of America (BAC.N) and Switzerland\’s UBS (UBSN.VX) have started shedding their Chinese holdings for a variety of regulatory and business reasons.

via Santander ups bet on China with Bank of Shanghai stake | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
11/12/2013

China cuts more red tape, paves way for NDRC slim-down | Reuters

China has stripped dozens of powers away from central government ministries as it bids to cut red tape and prevent Beijing\’s army of bureaucrats from micromanaging the world\’s second-largest economy.

Paramilitary policemen stand in formation as they pay tribute to the Monument to the People's Heroes on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, November 17, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer

China\’s cabinet, the State Council, announced on Tuesday that it was removing 82 powers from a number of central government ministries, including the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In a series of sweeping reforms published in November, China\’s ruling Communist Party promised to free up the market by simplifying administration and \”restrict central government management of microeconomic issues to the greatest possible extent\”.

via China cuts more red tape, paves way for NDRC slim-down | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Good news, Politics, Reform | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
11/12/2013

BBC News – India top court reinstates gay sex ban

India\’s top court has upheld a law which criminalises gay sex, in a ruling seen as a major blow to gay rights.

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community and supporters attend the 5th Delhi Queer Pride parade in New Delhi on November 25, 2012.

The Supreme Court ruling reverses a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court order which had decriminalised homosexual acts.

The court said it was up to parliament to legislate on the issue.

According to Section 377, a 153-year-old colonial-era law, a same-sex relationship is an \”unnatural offence\” and punishable by a 10-year jail term.

Several political, social and religious groups had petitioned the Supreme Court to have the law reinstated in the wake of the 2009 court ruling.

Correspondents say although the law has rarely – if ever – been used to prosecute anyone for consensual sex, it has often been used by the police to harass homosexuals.

Also, in deeply conservative India, homosexuality is a taboo and many people still regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate.

The BBC\’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says some politicians have spoken out against the court decision – but many believe it is going to be difficult for them to take on the anti-gay lobby.

via BBC News – India top court reinstates gay sex ban.

Posted in India alert, Social & cultural | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
10/12/2013

Anna Hazare begins fast for Lokpal Bill – The Times of India

Veteran activist Anna Hazare launched an indefinite hunger strike at his village to press for the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

English: Hon. Anna Hazare in Nanded , Maharastra .

English: Hon. Anna Hazare in Nanded , Maharastra . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the chilly 6 degrees Celsius temperature sweeping Maharashtra\’s Ahmednagar district, Hazare went on his usual morning walk and then started his hunger strike near the Yadavbaba temple in the village, under the banner of his new organization, Jantantra Morcha.

The Jan Lokpal Bill, also referred to as the Citizen\’s Ombudsman Bill, is an anti-corruption legislation drafted by civil society activists, seeking appointment of an independent panel to investigate cases of corruption.

Post a comment

via Anna Hazare begins fast for Lokpal Bill – The Times of India.

Posted in corruption, India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
10/12/2013

Public Ouster in North Korea Unsettles China – NYTimes.com

North Koreans had long known Jang Song-thaek as the No. 2 figure in their country, the revered uncle and mentor of Kim Jong-un, the paramount leader. Then on Monday state-run television showed two green-uniformed guards clutching a glum-looking Mr. Jang by the armpits and pulling him from a meeting of the ruling party after he was denounced for faction-building, womanizing, gambling and other acts as dozens of former comrades watched.

The spectacle of Mr. Jang’s humiliating dismissal and arrest was a highly unusual glimpse of a power struggle unfolding inside the nuclear-armed country. But the major impact may be outside, and nowhere is the downfall more unnerving than in China.

North Korea’s longtime protector and economic lifeline, China has considered strategically close relations with North Korea a pillar of foreign policy and a bulwark against the United States military presence in South Korea. Despite Chinese irritation with North Korea’s nuclear tests and other bellicose behavior, China had built a good relationship with Mr. Jang as the trusted adult who would monitor Mr. Kim, who is less than half his age.

Any shift by China concerning North Korea has the potential to significantly alter the political equilibrium in Asia, where the divided Korean Peninsula has been a fact of life for more than 60 years. While there is no indication that the Chinese intend to change their view, it seemed clear that even Beijing’s top leaders were surprised by Mr. Jang’s abrupt downfall on Sunday, and even more on Monday by the North Korean state television broadcast.

“Jang was a very iconic figure in North Korea, particularly with economic reform and innovation,” said Zhu Feng, professor of international relations at Peking University, and a specialist in North Korea. “He is the man China counted on to move the economy in North Korea. This is a very ominous signal.”

Mr. Jang’s dismissal was a shock not only because he had long been considered a core member of the country’s ruling elite and a regent and confidant of Mr. Kim, who assumed power only two years ago upon the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. The way that Mr. Jang was dismissed also was considered extraordinary, as the North Korea government has almost always maintained secrecy over its inner workings, power struggles and skulduggery during the more than six decades of rule by the Kim family.

via Public Ouster in North Korea Unsettles China – NYTimes.com.

Posted in China alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
10/12/2013

White-collar jobs for rural women needed to enhance gender equality – new book | India Insight

Family planning, health and education programmes have done a lot to improve the lives of women in rural India, but getting more young rural women to work in jobs that don’t involve wage labour is the next step for gender equality and the country’s economic health, according to Dr. Carol Vlassoff, author of a new book, “Gender Equality and Inequality in Rural India: Blessed with a Son.”

Vlassoff, 69, has been studying the village of Gove in Satara District of Maharashtra state since 1975. She determined through her work there that bringing rural women into the modern economy in India means making more job opportunities available to them, particularly professional, white-collar jobs.

Doing this also could lead to slowing population growth in India, one of the world’s most populous countries with an estimated 1.2 billion people. She found, according to a press statement accompanying the book, “that self-employed and professional rural women were more likely to use contraceptives and delay having their first child than unemployed women with the same amount of schooling.”

This, she said, also helps promote gender equality at a time when parents, although fond of their daughters, consider a son essential. Daughters can be a financial burden on parents because, despite the abolition of dowry, grooms’ parents often expect substantial gifts. As a result, in Gove and elsewhere, parents sometimes choose to abort a female fetus. Half of the women Vlassoff interviewed in the village said they knew of women who have done this, she said.

Vlassoff, who worked at the World Health Organization on women’s empowerment, has been conducting studies in the village, which now has a population of 3,600, since 1975. The nearly 500 women in her latest study are 15 to 49 years old.

via White-collar jobs for rural women needed to enhance gender equality – new book | India Insight.

Posted in Economics, Gender issues, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
10/12/2013

Business of new and worn banknotes thriving in Delhi: India Insight

Rakesh Kumar is not like most of the street vendors in Old Delhi. The hand-painted sign on his wooden counter, “exchange damaged, old notes,” reveals a different story. He sells money.

For the past 40 years, Kumar has offered customers new banknotes for soiled or damaged ones for a fee that earns him about 100,000 rupees ($1,600) a year. It has also helped him pay for the marriages of his three children.

“We charge commission depending on the condition of the note,” the 58-year-old Kumar said while examining some 1,000-rupee notes nibbled by rats. “Around 30-40 people come to us daily.”

Getting fresh banknotes or using soiled ones can be difficult in India. Shopkeepers and other merchants routinely refuse to accept such notes, while people require loose change and fresh notes for regular use.

This business of notes is livelihood for hundreds in Old Delhi, with vendors offering convenience to customers by charging a fee of up to 20 percent to replace damaged banknotes. A mildly damaged 500 rupee note, for instance, can be exchanged for 480 rupees, while a bundle of crisp, new 10 rupee notes valued at 1,000 rupees is priced at 1,050 rupees.

via India Insight.

Posted in Economics, India alert, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
10/12/2013

China to judge local governments by their debt: Xinhua | Reuters

China will soon rate the performance of local governments partly by how much debt they incur, as Beijing tries to wean the country off heavy government investment, state media said.

A farmer carries a shovel over his shoulder as he walks to tend his crops in a field that includes an abandoned building, that was to be part of an amusement park called 'Wonderland', on the outskirts of Beijing December 5, 2011. REUTERS/David Gray

The central organization department, which oversees the appointment of senior party, government, military and state firm officials, said debt will be key when evaluating performances, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

Large-scale government investment has helped China\’s gross domestic product expand at double-digit rates for the past three decades. But analysts say China\’s economy has now hit a turning point, and domestic consumption must grow and investment fall to ensure a healthy expansion.

via China to judge local governments by their debt: Xinhua | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, debt, deficit, Economics, Good news, local government debt | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries  |   Newer Entries »
CCChang

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India