Social & cultural | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

03/03/2014

India to investigate suspected kickbacks in Rolls-Royce deal | Reuters

India’s defence ministry said on Monday it had ordered a bribery investigation over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited‘s (HAL) purchase of jet engines from Britain’s Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.L) in a deal worth at least $1.2 billion.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Central Bureau of Investigation, the country’s top crime-fighting agency, will look into more than 5 billion rupees ($80 million) in alleged kickbacks in the deal that was signed in 2011, a ministry official told Reuters.

No comment was immediately available from Rolls-Royce’s office in India.

Suspicions of corruption in India’s defense procurement program have for years delayed the modernization of the armed forces of the world’s most populous nation that continue to rely heavily on outdated Soviet-designed equipment.

The air force has been dogged by a series of crashes of its Russian-built MiG fighter jets, while an accident aboard a Soviet-made submarine that killed two officers last week led the navy’s chief of staff to resign.

India’s Congress party-led government is keen to be seen as tough on graft before parliamentary elections due by May. The party, lagging in the polls, has faced rising public anger over a string of corruption scandals in its current term.

The probe into the HAL deal follows the arrest in Britain last month of Indian-born businessman Sudhir Choudhrie and his son in a bribery investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into Rolls-Royce’s dealings in China and Indonesia.

Both men denied any wrongdoing and have been released on bail, their spokesman said last month.

via India to investigate suspected kickbacks in Rolls-Royce deal | Reuters.

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

Tags: Central Bureau of Investigation, China, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, India, Rolls-Royce, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Serious Fraud Office, Sudhir Choudhrie

03/03/2014

China’s bloody train station attack shows how terrorism is spreading out of Xinjiang

The map does seem to show that terrorism is moving well outside of Xinjiang into major urban areas.

Posted in China alert, Ethnic clash, Instability, Insurgency, Politics, Religious clash, terrorism | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, politics, Xinjiang

02/03/2014

Chinese Employers Discriminate Against Women Planning to Have Two Children – Businessweek

Late last year, China’s central government announced reforms to the controversial one-child policy—in particular, approving a resolution that would allow couples to have two children if at least one of the parents was an only child. But the change didn’t go into effect instantly; implementation is controlled locally. On Tuesday, Shanghai’s government approved measures to enact the so-called two-child policy, effective March 1. Shanghai is the seventh region in China to adopt guidelines for reforming, not abolishing, the country’s sprawling population-control bureaucracy.

To some extent, the number of children couples can have—and when they can have them—will vary by city. Shanghai’s policies are more liberal than Beijing’s, where new guidelines took hold last Friday. Shanghai parents qualified to have two children can do so regardless of their own ages or the time between births. But Beijing parents with one child must wait until the mother turns 28, or the first child turns 4, before having a second child, as independent newsmagazine Caijing reported.

China’s relaxed birth-control policies also bring unexpected consequences. According to state-run Global Times, some female job applicants are already facing increased hiring discrimination as potential employers appear reluctant to pay for two maternity leaves. “An interviewer asked me if I was going to have two children, and I did not know how to answer,” one young woman in Zhejiang province told the newspaper. “Having children is also making a contribution to society, but they [potential employers] treat us like enemies, which is so unfair.”

via Chinese Employers Discriminate Against Women Planning to Have Two Children – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Economics, employment, One-child policy, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, Central government, China, one-child policy, Shanghai, two children, Zhejiang

02/03/2014

The Right to Inherit Isn’t Working for Indian Women, Says U.N. Study – India Real Time – WSJ

As their husbands, fathers, and brothers migrate to cities in search of work, women across India have become the backbone of the country’s agricultural sector. Nearly 80% of all rural women in India labor in the fields.

A study released Sunday by United Nations Women India and Landesa, a U.S.-headquartered nonprofit working to improve land rights for women and men, found that despite their time spent working in orchards, cotton fields, and rice paddies, and changes to inheritance laws, women rarely inherit the land that has sustained them and that they have sustained.

In 2005, the government of India amended its inheritance laws to ensure daughters enjoyed equal rights to inherit their parent’s land and property. But the law seems to be having little impact.

The survey of more than 1,400 women and 360 men in agricultural districts with large numbers of women farmers in three Indian states, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, found that just one in eight women whose parents own agricultural land inherit any of it.

This has significance far beyond intra-family squabbles over divvying up the family fortune. It is fundamental to India’s rural development and progress on a host of development indicators.

Simply, if women farm the land but don’t own it, they are little more than migrant laborers tilling fields owned by others. Without legal control over the land, or any documentation that they have rights to the ground they farm, they can’t access institutional credit, such as bank loans. Nor can they take advantage of agricultural extension programs, such as government offers of subsidized seeds and fertilizers. All of this stymies agricultural development.

It also limits agricultural production. This doesn’t just mean women have fewer tools for climbing out of poverty, it can also mean that their children are stuck there too: Researchers have found that women simply direct more of their income than men towards their children’s education and nutrition, which in turn lowers child mortality and helps reduce diseases of poverty.

The 2005, Hindu Succession Amendment Act giving sons and daughters equal rights to inheriting family land and property was heralded as an important step forward for India’s women.

The study published Sunday, is the first substantial evaluation of the impact of that amendment and indicates that many women have yet to benefit from the legal changes.

via The Right to Inherit Isn’t Working for Indian Women, Says U.N. Study – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in agriculture, Economics, India alert, inheritance | Leave a Comment »

Tags: agricultural development, agricultural land, agricultural sector, agriculture, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, India, inheritance laws, Land law, Landesa, Madhya Pradesh, rural women in India labor, United Nations Women India and Landesa, Women in India

28/02/2014

Chinese criticize state firm behind Three Gorges dam over graft probe | Reuters

A scathing report on corruption at the company that built China’s $59-billion Three Gorges dam, the world’s biggest hydropower scheme, has reignited public anger over a project funded through a special levy paid by all citizens.

The report by the ruling Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog last week found that some officials at the Three Gorges Corporation, set up in 1993 to run the scheme, were guilty of nepotism, shady property deals and dodgy bidding procedures.

Between 1992 and 2009, all citizens had to pay a levy built into power prices across China to channel money to the dam’s construction, a project overshadowed by compulsory relocations of residents and environmental concerns.

“The relatives and friends of some leaders interfered with construction projects, certain bidding was conducted secretly … and some leaders illicitly occupied multiple apartments,” the graft watchdog said on its website(www.ccdi.gov.cn).

The Three Gorges Corporation published a statement on its website on Tuesday saying it would look into the issues the probe raised, and strictly punish any corrupt conduct and violations of the law and party discipline.

The accusations – made as part of President Xi Jinping‘s crackdown on deep-rooted corruption – have spread rapidly across China’s popular Twitter-like service Sina Weibo, and some of China’s more outspoken newspapers have weighed in too.

via Chinese criticize state firm behind Three Gorges dam over graft probe | Reuters.

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

Tags: China, China Three Gorges Corporation, China's Communist Party, Communist Party, President Xi Jinping, Sina Weibo, Three Gorges Corporation, Three Gorges Dam, Twitter, Xi JinPing

21/02/2014

Who Is WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora? – India Real Time – WSJ

Another renowned alumnus of IIT! See https://sites.google.com/site/123iitphysics/iitalumni

“As jaws dropped across the globe at the amount Facebook paid to acquire messaging company WhatsApp on Thursday, the media in India was quick to credit the deal to Neeraj Arora, an Indian who describes himself on his website as “all things business at WhatsApp!”

Mr. Arora is the vice-president of business development for the messaging service.

He studied mechanical engineering at one of the country’s most prestigious education establishments, the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, and received his Masters in Business Administration from the Indian School of Business in 2006, made the front page of The Economic Times on Friday with the headline, “This Chat is Laced with Indian Masala.”

Mr. Arora’s success story fits the beloved script of an Indian making a mark in California’s Silicon Valley or anywhere else in the U.S. for that matter.

He spent four years handling corporate development for Google Inc. before joining WhatsApp when it was still a fledgling startup in 2011.

Prior to Google, he was part of the Investments and Corporate Strategy teams at Times Internet Limited, a subsidiary of the Times of India Group, and an engineer and “self learnt hacker” at mobile file sharing company Accellion Inc., according to his LinkedIn profile.”

via Who Is WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora? – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in Economics, education, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: business development, Facebook, Google, India, Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Masala, Indian School of Business, LinkedIn, Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp

20/02/2014

China charges former mining magnate with murder, gun-running | Reuters

Prosecutors in central China on Thursday charged the former chairman of Hanlong Mining, which had tried to take over Australia’s Sundance Resources Ltd, with murder, gun-running and other crimes as part of a “mafia-style” gang.

Police last year announced the detention of Liu Han and an investigation into his younger brother Liu Yong – also known as Liu Wei – on suspicion of various criminal activities.

In a report carried by the official Xinhua news agency, prosecutors in the central province of Hubei said the two Lius set up the gang in 1993, along with 34 others, which “carried out a vast number of criminal activities”.

The gang was responsible for nine murders, the report said.

via China charges former mining magnate with murder, gun-running | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Good news, Politics, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Australia, Central China, China, crime, gang, Hubei, Liu, Liu Han, Liu Wei, Liu Yong, Sichuan, Sundance Resources, Sundance Resources Ltd

17/02/2014

Baby hatches reveal deficient children’s welfare in China – Xinhua | English.news.cn

Just two weeks after the first baby hatch was established in the south China city of Guangzhou in late January, nearly 80 abandoned infants had been collected from the safe place.

A baby hatch allows a parent to safely and anonymously abandon an infant and consists of an incubator, a delayed alarm device, an air conditioner and a baby bed. A person can place the baby in the hatch, press the alarm button, and leave. Welfare staff retrieve the baby five to 10 minutes later.

The Guangzhou case sparked public discussion, and more baby hatches are set to be established in China. However, experts say simply saving abandoned infants is not enough, and a better system is needed to protect the rights of children with illnesses and disabilities.

A total of 25 baby hatches have been established in 10 provincial regions in China, and more will be set up in another 18 regions, the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) told Xinhua.

The first baby hatch in China was set up in June 2011 in Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China’s Hebei Province.

Many have endorsed baby hatches, hailing them as a sign of social progress and a way to help save the lives of abandoned babies. However, others believe baby hatches encourage people to abandon their unwanted children, which is prohibited by Chinese law.

via Xinhua Insight: Baby hatches reveal deficient children’s welfare in China – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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

Tags: Baby hatch, China, Guangzhou, Hebei, Infant, Infant bed, Shijiazhuang

17/02/2014

The Other MIT: Microsoft CEO’s Alma Mater in India – Businessweek

Satya Nadella studied engineering at southern India’s Manipal Institute of Technology. Unlike its Massachusetts namesake, the Indian MIT isn’t so accustomed to the spotlight. The school is part of Manipal University, a private school that traditionally hasn’t enjoyed the same prestige as the Indian Institutes of Technology, the country’s elite public-sector schools launched by Jawaharlal Nehru shortly after independence.

Image representing Satya Nadella as depicted i...

Image via CrunchBase

“People’s general perception was the private universities were not able to bring out this kind of quality,” explains Ranjan Pai, Manipal’s chancellor. When it comes to higher education, “the private sector in India has generally been looked down upon.”

Having an alumnus from the Indian MIT in one of the world’s highest-profile—albeit most difficult—corporate jobs should help Pai, 41, as he tries to change that perception. His grandfather founded Manipal in the early 1950s, and today there are two campuses in the state of Karnataka as well as separate schools in the northern city of Jaipur and the Himalayan state of Sikkim. Combined, there are more than 30,000 students attending Manipal classes in person, with an additional 250,000 enrolled online.

via The Other MIT: Microsoft CEO’s Alma Mater in India – Businessweek.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2014/02/04/microsoft-names-satya-nadella-as-ceo-india-real-time-wsj/

Posted in Economics, education, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Alma Mater, India, Indian Institutes of Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru, Manipal, Manipal University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Microsoft, MIT, Satya Nadella, Sikkim, southern India’s Manipal Institute of Technology

14/02/2014

Kejriwal resigns as Delhi Chief Minister – The Hindu

Arvind Kejriwal on Friday night resigned as Chief MInister of Delhi after suffering a defeat in the assembly on the Jan Lokpal Bill, bringing to an end a tumultuous run of 49-days in power on top of an anti-graft civil society movement.

Goverment sources told PTI that he has sent his resignation to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung shortly after a meeting of the Cabinet.

Earlier, Mr. Kejriwal gave enough indications that his government may quit after the BJP and Congress combined to defeat introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill which he tabled in the Assembly defying Lt Governor’s advice.

“This appears to be our last session. I will consider myself fortunate if I have to sacrifice the chief minister’s post 1,000 times and my life to eradicate corruption,” he said in a brief speech in the Assembly after his government suffered defeat on its pet anti-graft legislation.

via Kejriwal resigns as Delhi Chief Minister – The Hindu.

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

Tags: Arvind Kejriwal, Bharatiya Janata Party, Chief Minister of Delhi, civil society movement, Delhi, Delhi Chief Minister, Government, Jan Lokpal Bill, Janlokpal Bill, Kejriwal, Najeeb Jung

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

Categories

Blogs I Follow

Archive for ‘Social & cultural’

Tags

Creative Commons

Archives

Meta

Blog Stats