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

26/03/2012

* Indian Govt orders probe into allegation of bribe by Army chief

Times of India: “The government on Monday ordered a CBI inquiry into the allegation made by Army chief Gen V K Singh that he was offered a Rs 14 crore bribe by a lobbyist. A CBI probe was ordered by defence minister A K Antony in the wake of the Army

chiefs allegation, defence ministry officials said.

Earlier, both houses of Parliament were adjourned till 2pm after the opposition MPs created a ruckus over the disclosures made by the Army chief. Terming Gen Singhs allegations as “serious”, Antony told reporters outside Parliament, “We have to handle it…I have taken action.” When asked if the Army chief had informed him about the bribe offer, he said, “Parliament is in session.”

In an interview to a newspaper, the Army chief alleged that an equipment lobbyist offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, which he had reported to the Defence Minister. He said the lobbyist offered him the bribe in order to have a tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles of a particular make cleared for purchase. “Just imagine, one of these men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche, he would give me Rs 14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me, to the Army chief. He told me that people had taken money before me and they will take money after me,” Gen Singh said.”

via Govt orders CBI probe into allegation of bribe by Army chief – The Times of India.

Wow, bribery at the highest levels!

Posted in corruption, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Bribery, Central Bureau of Investigation, Chindia, Chindiapedia, defence minister, India

24/03/2012

* Anna Hazare demands withdrawal of UPAs Lokpal Bill

The Hindu: “Even as the political parties failed to arrive at a consensus on the Lokpal Bill at a meeting convened by Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh here on Friday, social activist Anna Hazare urged the government to withdraw, what he said “was a useless Bill that was too weak to effectively tackle corruption.”

Indicating his intention to launch a bigger anti-corruption agitation than last year if the government did not bring in a strong Lokpal Bill, Mr. Hazare said: “Today, there was an all-party meeting, but no decision was taken because of the failure of the parties to arrive at a consensus. Now, we think whether the government brings Jan Lokpal [formulated by India Against Corruption] or not, we will go to the people’s Parliament.”

Charging the government with “betrayal,” Mr. Hazare said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had gone back on several assurances. He added that the proper thing would have been to discuss all versions of the Bill, including a comprehensive and effective Jan Lokpal in the all-party meeting.”

via The Hindu : News / National : Anna Hazare demands withdrawal of UPAs Lokpal Bill.

Posted in corruption, India alert | 2 Comments »

Tags: Activism, Anna Hazare, Chindia, Chindiapedia, India Against Corruption, Jan Lokpal Bill, Lokpal Bill, manmohan singh

23/03/2012

* Indian government committed to an effective Lokpal: Manmohan Singh

Times of India: “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said that the United Progressive Alliance UPA government is committed to an effective Lokpal to check corruption. “Our government stands committed to an effective Lokpal legislation,” Manmohan Singh said at an all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill with Rajya Sabha members. “We look forward to benefiting from the wisdom and guidance of all leaders present here in the task that we have set for ourselves,” he said.

The Lokpal bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha during the winter session last year due to opposition moving a number of amendments and the government insisting that it needed time to study them. The bill could not be put to vote even after hours of debate on the last day of the winter session.

The opposition had charged the government with shying away from a vote.”

via Government committed to an effective Lokpal: Manmohan Singh – The Times of India.

The Lokpal (People’s Ombudsman) is the embodiment of the efforts of anti-corruption activist Shri Anna. Its protracted delay is causing not only the opposition but the person in the street to doubt the sincerity of the government in enacting the bill.

Posted in corruption, India alert | 1 Comment »

Tags: Chindia, Chindiapedia, India, india prime minister, Jan Lokpal Bill, Lok Sabha, Lokpal, manmohan singh, Rajya Sabha

23/03/2012

* China arrests 300 over contract frauds

Xinhua: “Chinese police in the cities of Hefei, Wuhan and Chengdu have arrested more than 300 suspects for a number of contract fraud cases involving over 10 million yuan (1.59 million U.S. dollars), the Ministry of Public Security announced on

Friday. Police in the three cities busted 13 groups and over 40 companies suspected of contract fraud crimes, and closed 90 illegal sites for such crimes in the past few weeks, the ministry said in a statement.

The actions are part a campaign that police launched at the start of March to crack down on economic crime. Contract fraud involves intentional misrepresentation to deceive the victims into entering into contracts. In most of the cases, the suspects persuaded the victims to become their franchised outlets or producing contractors, took the victim’s money as “equipment fees” or “training fees” and refused to repurchase the products as they previously promised.”

via China arrests 300 over contract frauds – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

The fight against corruption carries on.

Posted in China alert, corruption | 1 Comment »

Tags: China, Chindia, Chindiapedia, Fraud, fraud crimes, Law

22/03/2012

* Outrage over report that India lost $210bn in coal scam

BBC News: “There was outrage in India’s parliament after a draft report by government auditors estimated India lost $210bn by selling coalfields too cheaply. Opposition politicians accused the government of “looting the country” by selling coalfields to companies without competitive bidding. Private and state companies benefited from the allocations between 2004 and 2010, says a Times of India report. …

… the Times of India, quoting the CAG draft, says the $210bn (£133bn) figure is a “conservative estimate, since it takes into account prices for the lowest grade of coal and not the median grade”.

India is one of the largest producers of coal in the world.

This is just the latest in a series of financial scandals to hit the Congress-led government and the revelations caused such anger among opposition politicians that both houses of parliament had to be temporarily adjourned.”

via BBC News – Outrage over report that India lost $210bn in coal scam.

Nation full of scams: Why it is possible to loot Rs10.67 lakh crore worth of coal? (requestingtruth.wordpress.com)

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

Tags: Business, Chindia, Chindiapedia, Coal, economy, Government, India, politics, Procurement

19/03/2012

* $77m embezzled from Chinese high-speed rail project

China Daily: “China’s auditing authorities said on Monday that 491 million yuan ($77.84 million) had been embezzled from the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway project. In a report based on an audit conducted between June and September in 2011, the National Audit Office NAO listed some irregular practices in the construction and management of the project. Purchases that were not made through standard bidding involved 849 million yuan, while the cancellation of wind-shielding barriers construction in some sections meant 413 million yuan of purchasing funds was not used, according to the report.”

via $77m embezzled from high-speed rail project|Economy|chinadaily.com.cn.

Related pages:

Posted in corruption | 1 Comment »

Tags: China, Embezzlement, High-speed rail, Rail, Transportation and Logistics

16/03/2012

* India: ‘Need for urgent reforms as corruption, civil society activism delay decisions’

The Hindu: “The government on Thursday gave a clarion call for urgent economic reforms while conceding that corruption scandals and compulsions of coalition politics have slowed down the decision-making process, as a result of which it is faced with fiscal slippages in 2011-12.

Making a strong pitch for raising tax resources and higher compliance, the Economic Survey 2011-12, tabled in Parliament on Thursday in tandem with the Reserve Bank in its mid-quarter policy review, expressed serious concern over the deteriorating state of government finances and stressed the need for fiscal consolidation if inflation is to be tamed.

Highlighting inflation and fiscal slippages as among the major challenges confronting the economy, the Survey said a slackening in the pace of reforms and high-profile corruption scandals along with “welcome civil society activism” have led to delay in decision-making by civil servants.

Tabled in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Survey said “coalition politics and federal considerations played their roles in holding up economic reforms on several fronts, ranging from diesel and LPG pricing to FDI in retail” and also pointed to the economic slowdown partly resulting from domestic issues “like pressures of democratic politics.”

In concert with the apex bank on the need for fiscal consolidation, the Survey said: “The principal way in which this has to be achieved is by raising tax-GDP ratio and cutting down wasteful expenditures.”

The Survey noted that the dismal economic performance this fiscal should be a “wake-up call” but, at the same time, expressed cautious optimism that the GDP growth in 2012-13 would go up to 7.6 per cent following a moderation in inflation and consequent low interest rates.

“The growth rate of real GDP [is expected] to pick up to 7.6 per cent [plus or minus 0.25 per cent] in 2012-13 and faster beyond that,” the Survey said and noted that economic expansion this fiscal would moderate to a three-year low at 6.9 per cent. Arguing out a case for fiscal consolidation, tax reforms, opening of the multi-brand retail to global chains, freeing of diesel prices and the need for honesty among political leaders and policy-makers, the Survey said that although government’s fiscal deficit was likely to significantly go off the target of 4.6 per cent of GDP this fiscal, it would narrow down to 4.1 per cent in 2012-13 on the strength of a pick-up in economic activities. After tabling the pre-budget document, the Finance Minister said: “It [the Survey] charts economic development and challenges faced during the fiscal year. It is a vital input for the preparation of the budget.”

At a press briefing later during the day, Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu, prime architect of the document, said growth in manufacturing and agriculture sectors were likely to be key drivers in the next fiscal. “There could be one more year of a slight slowing down of investment and saving rates. We expect… rates to pick up handsomely after that,” he said.”

via The Hindu : News / National : ‘Need for urgent reforms as corruption, civil society activism delay decisions’.

Posted in corruption, Economics, India alert, Reform | 1 Comment »

Tags: Economic growth, economy, Fiscal year, Foreign direct investment, GDP, Government budget deficit, Gross domestic product, politics

16/03/2012

* India to be a youngest nation by 2020

The Hindu: “India will be one of the youngest nations by 2020 and this changing demographic condition, while providing great opportunities, could pose some challenges too, the Economic Survey 2011-12 has said.

India is passing through a phase of unprecedented demographic changes, wherein the proportion of the working age population (15-59 years) is likely to rise from around 58 per cent in 2001 to over 64 per cent by 2021, according to the Survey. The comparative figures for China and the U.S. are 37 years, while it is 45 for West Europe and 48 Japan.

The ‘demographic dividend’ would pose a challenge, as the average Indian will be only 29 years old in 2020, the Survey notes. In absolute numbers, there will be around 63.5 million new entrants to the working age group between 2011 and 2016. These changes are likely to contribute to a substantially increased labour force. However, it will benefit India only if the population is “healthy, educated, and appropriately skilled.”

The bulk of this increase is likely to take place in the relatively younger age group of 20-35. According to the Human Development Report (HDR) published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India is still in the ‘medium human development’ category, while countries such as China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Egypt, Indonesia, South Africa, and Vietnam have a better rank.

Notwithstanding the fact that life expectancy in India has increased by one percentage point from 64.4 in 2010 to 65.4 in 2011, it was way behind the global average and some other nations, including Sri Lanka. Life expectancy at birth in Norway was 81.1 years, Australia (81.9), Sri Lanka (74.9), China (73.5), while the global average was 69.8 years.

Similarly, the performance of India in terms of mean years of schooling is not only much below that of countries such as Sri Lanka, China, and Egypt, which have higher per capita incomes, but also below that of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Vietnam that have lower per capita incomes. It is also much lower than the global average.

In terms of the gender inequality index, there is a higher degree of gender discrimination in India compared to countries such as China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, as also the global average.”

via The Hindu : News / National : India to be a youngest nation by 2020.

The young Indian population is one of the main reasons some economists cite to predict that India will overtake China sometime during the 21st Century.

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

Tags: youth

12/03/2012

# China Revealed – The Concept of Face

The concept of Face refers to 2 separate but related beliefs in Chinese social relations for judging conduct — lian and mianzi.

Lian represents the confidence of society in the integrity of a person’s moral character. Mianzi represents social perceptions of a person’s prestige; a reputation achieved through getting on in life, through success and orientation.

It’s imperative for a person to maintain face, as it translates into power and influence, and affects goodwill. A loss of lian could verily result in a loss of trust within a social group, while a loss of mianzi could verily result in a loss of authority. To gossip about a person stealing would cause a loss of lian but not mianzi. Continually interrupting your boss while they’re speaking could cause them a loss of mianzi but not lian.

This is a true story of one man’s journey in China as he experiences some of the little-known cultures within.

read on … China Revealed – The Concept of Face.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Also: “FACE” – A CULTURAL THING

For those of you not well-versed in Chinese culture, there is something you should know about the concept of face or having face. Stemming from this, there are also the related concepts of losing face, of saving face, and even of lending face.

Face is a concept not hard to understand because, even as Westerners, everyone has face. When equated to Western values, face is very similar to the notion of reputation. Face is a dynamic which applies to both personal and business relationships in China.

Corollary to face is the inseparable concept of guanxi or “relations”. Face and guanxi work hand-in-hand. One without the other renders useless the dynamic these two concepts collectively work together. I will write about guanxi in a separate article.

So, now we will see how face works curiously as a commodity in the business and personal realms…

read on … The Concept of “Face” in Chinese Culture – Yahoo! Voices – voices.yahoo.com.

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

Tags: Chinese culture, Face, Face (sociological concept), Guanxi

12/03/2012

* Found: genes that make Chinese more collective in outlook

This image shows the coding region in a segmen...

Image via Wikipedia

London, Sunday Times: “They may seem like cultural stereotypes, but the traits of rugged British individualism compared with Chinese conformity may be rooted in genetic differences between races, say scientists.

Their study suggests that the individualism seen in western nations, and the higher levels of collectivism and family loyalty found in Asian cultures, are caused by differences in the prevalence of particular genes. The scientists looked at a gene that controls levels of serotonin, the brain chemical which regulates mood and emotions.

They found one version of the gene was far more common in western populations where, they said, it was associated with individualistic and free-thinking behaviour.

The other version, which was prevalent in Asian populations, was associated with collectivism and a greater willingness to put the common good first. People with this gene appeared to have a different response to serotonin.

If confirmed, the findings would suggest that races may have a number of inherent psychological differences — just as they differ in physique and appearance. “We demonstrate for the first time a robust association between cultural values of individualism–collectivism and the serotonin transporter gene,” said Joan Chiao, from the department of psychology at Northwestern University, in Illinois. …

The findings, published in a paper, and in a new book called Pathological Altruism, found that Asian nations, including China, Japan and Korea tended to have higher proportions of the “collectivist” gene in their population.

Such findings will need further confirmation but could provide a tentative explanation of why the Japanese economy, for example, tends to be based around large companies showing high levels of loyalty between managers and employees. Economists often contrast such enterprises with the hire-and-fire culture of the West.

via Found: genes that make Brits free-thinkers | The Sunday Times.

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

Tags: Collectivism, Gene, research, science, Social Sciences, society, Sunday Times

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

Categories

Blogs I Follow

Archive for ‘Social & cultural’

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

———————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Also: “FACE” – A CULTURAL THING

================================================================================================

Related articles

Tags

Creative Commons

Archives

Meta

Blog Stats