Economists call for deep reforms of global financial system

World output will reach a meagre one per cent in 2009

Developing world will surpass five per cent growth

Borrowing costs for developing countries will rise

CHENNAI: United Nations economists have called for deep reforms of the global financial system to prevent a recurrence of the current crisis, including stronger regulation of financial institutions, adequate international liquidity provisioning, an overhaul of the international reserve system and a more inclusive global economic governance.

They wanted coordinated global economic stimulus packages, linked with sustainable development measures, beyond liquidity and recapitalisation steps already taken, to counter the worldwide economic meltdown.

“World per capita income is expected to decline next year, export growth and capital inflows will fall, borrowing costs for developing countries will rise as contagion spreads from the major economies, and the U.S. dollar is set to resume its decline, with a possible hard landing in 2009,” according to the UN annual economic report, issued at the international Financing for Development review now under way in Doha, Qatar.

The report on World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 notes that according to the baseline scenario, world output will reach a meagre one per cent in 2009, compared to 2.5 per cent in 2008 and global growth rates of between 3.5 and 4 per cent in the preceding four years. The 2009 projection includes a decline in output of 0.5 per cent in developed countries and 4.6 per cent in the developing world.


Optimistic scenario

“Under a more optimistic scenario, factoring in fiscal stimulus of between 1.5 and 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) of the major economies and further interest-rate cuts, developed economies could post a 0.2-per cent rate of growth, and the developing world would surpass five per cent growth, the economists calculate.

“But given the great uncertainty prevailing today, a more pessimistic scenario is possible.

“If the present credit squeeze prolongs and confidence in the financial sector is not restored in the coming months, developed countries could enter into a deep recession, causing world output to fall and GDP growth in the developing world to drop to 2.7 per cent, dangerously low for the ability of countries to sustain poverty reduction efforts and social and political stability.”

Broad range of steps

To shore up weaknesses which led to the extraordinary damage brought on by the downturn and prevent this from happening again, the UN economists recommend a broad range of steps including: Fundamental revision of the governance structure and functions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for enhanced international policy coordination and more inclusive participation of major developing countries; Fundamental reforms of existing systems of financial regulation and supervision to stem past excesses; Reform of the present international reserve system, away from the almost exclusive reliance on the U.S. dollar and towards a multilaterally backed multi-currency system; Reforms of liquidity provisioning and compensatory financing mechanisms backed, among other things, by better multilateral and regional pooling of national foreign exchange reserves, and avoiding onerous policy conditionality, says a United Nations press release.

'Embarrassing welcome' for Anand on return

New Delhi, October 15: Unruly scenes were witnessed at the airport when chess world champion Vishwanathan Anand arrived in India after winning the crown.

The organisers, one of the top IT education companies of the country for whom Anand is a brand ambassador, failed to control the situation as a result of which the champion had to unceremoniously make his way out from the airport amidst chaotic scenes.

The waiting posse of photographers and cameramen almost climbed over each other to get a shot of the champion which didn't amuse Anand, who quickly made his exit. There was a lot of hackling, shoving and pushing and even Anand was not spared as the organisers as well the Delhi Chess Association

officials tried to get photographed with him.

Anand, who became the undisputed chess world champion in Mexico city recently, arrived well passed midnight and was supposed to talk to the waiting media persons at the airport but the situation got out of control and he had to leave without doing so.

The organisers had hired a large number of 'volunteers' who were supposed to greet Anand wearing especially prepared T-shirts but they were the once contributing to the chaos which precipitated the embarrassing situation.

It was surely not the type of welcome that the world champion would have envisaged on his return after winning the title in Madrid.

Several chess players including prodigy Sahaj Grover were there at the airport but did not get a chance to meet their idol.

Indian children work despite ban

By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi

Thousands of children work in roadside food stalls

A year after India banned children under 14 from working as domestic servants or in food stalls, millions continue to be employed, a study says.

The study released by Save the Children says these children are routinely subjected to different forms of abuse and a lot still needs of be done.

Many of the child workers are denied food, and are beaten up, burnt or sexually abused, the study says.

According to official estimates, India has more than 12 million child workers.

Of these, about 200,000 are estimated to be working as domestic servants and in teashops, restaurants, spas, hotels, resorts and other recreational centres - the areas from where they were banned last year.

No difference

But unofficial figures, quoted by groups working with children, say the country has up to 20 million children working at homes and in food stalls.

And the ban does not seem to have made any difference.

"I recently met a 12-year-old girl, Sonali, in the eastern state of West Bengal. She had been working for the last two years as a domestic servant in the city of Calcutta," Anuradha Maharishi of Save the Children told the BBC.

(Pic: Geeta Pandey)" border="0" height="152" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="203"> Current child legislation is not effective

Sonali's job was to cook for a five-member household and clean a three-storey house. One day there was a delay in serving dinner and her employer poured burning hot food on her hands.

She managed to escape with help from a neighbour and Save the Children have now restored her to her family.

"Although she is 12, she looks like she could be eight or 10. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she showed me her burnt hands. She didn't cry, she's a very brave girl," says Ms Maharishi.

Save the Children says that in Delhi alone, close to a million children are still employed at homes or in food stalls. Another 40,000 work in the southern city of Hyderabad and 50,000 more work in Calcutta.

Lax laws

Since last year when the government announced the ban, officials say only 2,229 violations have been reported.

Save the Children - which works in the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra - says that most of these child workers are routinely subjected to abuse and are in unsafe working conditions.

The study says in Delhi 99% of child domestic workers are girls and in a large number of cases they are open to sexual abuse.

Poverty forces parents to send their young children to work

"Most of these young girls who come from poor families are forced to work up to 15 hours a day with no breaks and little or no pay," Ms Maharishi says.

She says protecting children working as domestic servants is difficult because it is carried out within the confines of private homes and information about their condition does not filter out easily.

Announcing the ban last year, the government had warned "firm action against those violating the law".

Punishments range from a jail term of three months to two years and/or a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 rupees ($225 to $450).

But child rights activists question the effectiveness of the ban in India.

India bans the use of young workers in hazardous industries, but thousands of children continue to work in firecracker and matchstick factories or are involved in carpet-weaving, embroidery or stitching footballs.

Many parents say crippling poverty forces them to send their children, sometimes as young as five or six, to work in other people's homes or in factories.

Higher education a sick child: Arjun Singh

Thursday October 11 2007 01:43 IST

IANS

NEW DELHI: Exhorting over 300 Vice-Chancellors to accelerate the pace of higher education in India, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh on Wednesday said the sector is a “sick child and time has come to face reality”.

“Higher education in India is a sick child of education either by design or default,” Arjun Singh said in a conference of Vice-Chancellors here, which began on Wednesday.

“It is not a place for reproach or accolades but the academic world should come to terms with reality. Neglecting higher education is no longer serving the cause of young India.

“I am not blaming anyone but we have to come out of this. As VCs, you have the opportunity and duty to find a way out for it. To prescribe is not my ideology. Let us now inscribe. Give the country a roadmap of higher education,” he told the VCs from across the country.

“The Eleventh Five Year Plan will give enough room to experiment in education,” the Minister said.

These educational experts along with officials of the HRD Ministry and the UGC will finalise a roadmap for India’s higher education sector for the next five years.

“India is not knocking at the doors of the world, but the world is knocking at the doors of India. It is up to us to open the door or keep it shut,” he said.

Five pc of GDP for education in 11th Plan

IANS

NEW DELHI: Confessing that higher education in India has not peaked adequately since independence, Planning Commission member B. Mungekar on Wednesday said that the country will spend five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the 11th Five Year Plan on education.

“Since 1966, India has had a mission to spend six percent of its GDP on education but failed so far,” Mungekar said. Currently, India spends nearly 3.5 pc of its GDP on education. Addressing the national conference of vice-chancellors in Delhi, he said education had somehow “divorced” from the realities of the country.

Over 300 Vice-Chancellors are participating in the discussion to prepare a higher education roadmap for India.

“Currently only 9-10 pc of students passing out of colleges are skilled enough to get employment. There is a need to drastically restructure the university set up, curriculum, and the examination system.”

“The annual examination system in India is completely useless. We should scrap it and go to semester system. I think we have done little for the upward mobility of the higher education sector and there is a need for skillbased education system,” Mungekar said.

He said a few thousand students passing out from the IITs and IIMs every year will not take India to greater heights.

“We have to go for a holistic approach. The fourth largest economy of the world cannot lag behind in education,” he said, and added that the aim in the next five years is to achieve a growth of 10 percent in the enrolment in higher education.

On revision of fee structure and introduction of large-scale self-financing courses at the university level, Mungekar said: “The fee hike fees should be reviewed properly before putting a system in place.”

University Grants Commission chairman S.K. Thorat said: “For the benefit of students and overall development of higher education, the semester system should be adopted by the varsities.”

He said the conference will deliberate on six major issues: access, inclusiveness, support to needy colleges and universities, bridging the quality gap, focus on colleges and universities in the states, and the issue of finance.

Doctor couple arrested for son's bizarre death

IANS

ROHTAK: A doctor couple has been arrested here for causing the bizarre death of their son by attempting to transfuse into him the blood of his more intelligent sibling, police said.

In the process, the younger and intelligent Piyush died while Abhishek is battling for his life in a hospital.

All this happened because the mother wanted Abhishek to clear the medical entrance test and study to become a doctor.

The Rohtak police on Wednesday arrested the couple - Ashok Malik and his wife Promila - in this Haryana town. Both of them hold MBBS degrees.

"The couple has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. They wanted their elder son to become a doctor and the mother cut arteries of her sons (to transfuse blood between the siblings)," district police chief Hanif Qureshi said here.

Investigating officers said that Ashok Malik told them that his wife recently had a dream in which their "guruji (godman)" told her that if she transfused Piyush's blood to Abhishek, he would clear the medical entrance test.

The couple brought instruments to their home and attempted the transfusion by making an incision near the neck of both boys. While doing so, the younger one died of excessive bleeding.

Seeing the whole thing going horribly wrong, the mother slit her wrists. She is now being treated at a hospital here.

The couple initially tried to mislead the police by saying that unidentified masked men had attacked them and killed Piyush.

The police are also investigating whether the mother was under the spell of a "tantrik (mystic)"

The police have seized the instruments used in carrying out the illegal operation on their sons.

Advocates to continue indefinite court boycott

A. Subramani

CHENNAI: Not satisfied with Law Minister Durai Murugan’s assurance to striking advocates that penal action would be taken against the head constable who allegedly assaulted two advocates on October 1, the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) has resolved to continue its indefinite court boycott. Alleging that yet another advocate was assaulted by a police patrol team near Anna Nagar on Tuesday night, the MHAA members took out a rally in the morning and entered all court halls exhorting advocates to join the agitation. The extraordinary general body meeting of the association also adopted a resolution to continue the strike, reiterating its demand that the head constable, who had allegedly attacked two advocates at Stanley Hospital, be arrested forthwith.

The MHAA president, R.C. Paul Kanagaraj, said the Anna Nagar incident of advocate Thirumalai Nambi being assaulted by the police had turned the advocate community against the police yet again. “Though Tuesday’s meeting with Mr. Durai Murugan had assuaged the temper of advocates to a large extent, the latest incident left the association with no option but to reiterate its demand for the arrest of the erring policeman,” he said. “I have no answer to our members’ apprehension that such excesses would continue if a deterrent action was not taken now,” he said. G. Mohanakrishnan, secretary of the MHAA, said advocates took out a campus rally on Wednesday morning holding aloft the bloodstained clothes of Mr. Thirumalai Nambi.

The decision to continue the boycott was taken after the MHAA general body felt that the proposed action against the head constable was inadequate, he said.

K. Santhakumari, president of the Women Lawyers’ Association (WLA), said an extraordinary general body of the forum would meet on Thursday. The court boycott entered fifth day on Wednesday, affecting normal court proceedings.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/11/stories/2007101157620100.htm