In classical mythology, Prometheus was chained to a rock, where a vulture pecked out his liver every day. It would have been nothing short of a catastrophe, but, this being mythology, the organ grew back every night. In fact, liver tissue actually will regenerate, if less than half the organ is removed. (That's why transplants are possible from living donors.)
Now science wants to do for other parts of your tired, aching body what mythology did for Prometheus (minus the vulture). Need a new knee, bladder or esophagus? Why not grow one? "We all did it once, in the womb," says Alan Russell, director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
Leading the charge are doctors like Stephen Badylak, director of the Center for Pre-Clinical Tissue Engineering at the McGowan Institute. Already his research techniques have been applied to more than 1.5 million patients needing new tissue to repair the rotator cuff or lower urinary tract. Now he's working with the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) on a program to re-grow fingers and limbs lost in battle. He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Anne Underwood. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Your work sounds like science fiction.
Stephen Badylak: Starfish, salamanders and newts can regrow a lost limb. Human fetuses can also regenerate many structures during the early stages of fetal development. But that ability diminishes or disappears by the time we're born. The question is why, because the information is still there in our DNA. We want to resurrect fetal wound healing.
Tell me about your work with AFIRM.
Because of innovative explosive devices, soldiers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with lost fingers, lost hands, lost limbs. The only treatment options now involve prosthetic devices. For a 20-year-old, the rest of life is impacted in a negative way. The Defense Department is approaching this in a Manhattan Project mode. It's put $100 million on the table to address these horrific problems from a regenerative-medicine standpoint.
Will you really be able to regrow fingers and limbs?
In the foreseeable future, I doubt it. Fingers and limbs are very complex. They include nerves, bone, skin, muscle and blood vessels. They're also large. Limb formation in a fetus is on a scale of a few millimeters. In a human, you're talking 20 pounds of flesh and bones.
But you've been able to regrow large portions of muscle.
A soldier in Texas had been injured by an explosive device in Afghanistan and lost a large portion of muscle in the upper portion of his leg. This loss significantly compromised his strength and range of motion and his ability to engage in normal activities. We helped regenerate a portion of that muscle, which is amazing. That never happens spontaneously. Over the next year, we'll treat another eight to 10 soldiers.
How much of the muscle has grown back?
The results might be considered modest by some standards, but they're significantly better than anything tried before. He's had maybe a 12 percent increase in muscle mass, as measured by CT scan, and a 7 to 10 percent increase in strength over a two-month period. He wants a second procedure.
What made him a good candidate for this treatment?
The part of the muscle at the hip was intact, and the part at the knee was intact, so we were just replacing the section in between. Once you get the process started, the body takes over.
How do you initiate the process?
There are a number of approaches to regenerative medicine. But the one I've been working with involves harvesting the extracellular matrix (ECM) from a pig bladder or intestine and placing it at the wound site.
I doubt most people know what the extracellular matrix is.
If you take the bladder or small intestine and scrape away all the cells, what you're left with is structural tissue like collagen and functional molecules such as growth factors. There are literally hundreds of these proteins, all housed in the ECM. They instruct cells on how to behave—whether to multiply or migrate or differentiate into different types of cells. They tell cells at the site of a wound what to do. Equally important, they recruit cells to the wound site that wouldn't normally be there, such as stem cells. I wouldn't be smart enough to put them all together, but I can harvest what nature has done.
How does tissue from a pig's small intestine communicate to human muscle?
That's a great question. Certain things are so important to mammalian survival that they are conserved across species. The amino acid sequences are either identical or else so close to those in humans that they deliver the same message.
And because the ECM contains no cells, you can implant it in a person without causing an immune reaction?
Right.
Is that enough to stimulate growth?
Simply placing the ECM at the site might get cells interested. But if you don't recreate the micro-environment needed for tissue growth, it won't happen. That means you need the right pH, oxygen, moisture and nutrients. You also have to apply the correct mechanical forces. An Achilles tendon, for example, has to bear weight. Without those signals, it will turn into loose connective tissue.
I know you don't like to talk about this, but working with a powdered version of ECM, you helped three people regrow the tips of fingers that were accidentally severed.
The tips of fingers sometimes regrow anyway, especially in children, so we can't prove this was because of our work. You would need a clinical trial.
Obviously, you didn't start by regenerating large muscles. You began with smaller applications, such as rotator-cuff repair.
The rotator cuff is the tendon group around the shoulder that holds the arm in place and allows it to move in different directions. When it tears, there's nothing a traditional surgeon can use to repair it now. It's like trying to sew back wet Kleenex. But when we implant ECM, the body treats it as a scaffold on which it can build. The body's own cells invade. The scaffold is gone within 75 days, as the body replaces it with its own tissue. More than 1.5 million patients have been helped with our ECM product Restore—and those of two other companies. It's not true regeneration, because we're using a scaffold. But it might be just as effective.
Can you see this becoming standard practice one day?
There are lots of clever new approaches to regenerative medicine. We're learning which therapies work best for which applications. I believe we will get there.
Review
This has actually shown us the power of Science and Technology. Due to this vest advancement, we are now able to grow back lost muscles and who knows, in the future, we might just be able to regenerate our limbs and this is a great benefit to society.
Benefits enjoyed could be that the disabled would not be disabled anymore, casualties of war, people who loses their limbs for their country might be able to get them back, kids born with disability, has a chance to be normal when they grow up. It is helpful to the economy.
Let’s look at the point of the economy. With less disabled, it means that we do not need to specially cater to them, not saying that it is a nuisance but the resources used could have been put into better uses like pump into firms and R&D. There will be more working adults and more people to take the challenge of the working world. There will be more people working, boasting our economy.
It also reduce the number of depress patients due to disability; it reduces the suffering that this people have to endure. As they all have a chance to be able to be normal again.
Thus, it is seen that cellular healing has great future and prospect and brings great benefits.
However, there are some short term problems. For example, if everyone is normal, and the disabled no longer exist or one does not need to be disabled for long, how can we grow stronger? A famous saying goes”what doesn’t kills us, makes us stronger.” People who manage to survive their disability are actually excellent role models in terms of their determination and their will to live despite their disabilities.
These disabled people also teaches us moral values just by staying the way they are. We learn to be more caring and careful and responsible. Imagine, if the world is void of all these disabilities, there will not be ramps and handlebars. There would be people trying to invent the automatic wheelchair, lifts will not be placed in every story and every HDB flat.
Plus, this treatment is expensive and not liable to everyone, it will result in poor people having to stay disabled and the rich being normal. But I believe in the future things will change and everyone will get a chance.
Singapore will definitely benefit from this as people are our main source of income. It’s the people that is the generating the income for the country and they are therefore our most important resource. With more people becoming fit enough to work and at harder and more challenging jobs like engineering and biomedical, our chance of prospering and progress will be higher than it is now.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
British fundraiser wins "best job in the world"
By Belinda Goldsmith
CANBERRA, May 6 - British charity fundraiser Ben Southall won the "best job in the world" on Wednesday -- caretaker of an Australia tropical island -- after an innovative marketing campaign that highlighted the power of social media.
Southall, 34, was picked from 16 final contestants in a highly publicised contest by Tourism Queensland which attracted 34,684 video entries from almost 200 countries and surpassed all expectations in promoting tourism in the Australian state.
The job description? Explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for six months and report back to Tourism Queensland and the world via blogs, a photo diary, video updates and interviews.
Also, if you feel like it, feed the fish, collect the mail and clean the pool -- and collect a wage of A$150,000
While the job itself attracted global attention so did the campaign by the government body Tourism Queensland as it highlighted how companies can tap the power of online social media such as YouTube and Facebook, for marketing.
"This is probably the first time that a campaign has achieved this sort of reach with so little advertising spend other than a few strategically place job ads around the world," said Australian marketing analyst Tim Burrowes, editor of media and marketing website Mumbrella.
"This has all been about the power of people passing things on, largely through YouTube. The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don't need to spend huge on advertising."
The "Best Job in the World" campaign began in January with Tourism Queensland launching a tourism advertising campaign centered around the lure of "the best job in the world."
Within days the campaign went viral as applicants from all over the world sent in 60-second video applications and news of the contest spread on social networking sites such as Facebook and the video sharing site YouTube.
Review
Firstly I would like to agree that the power of the social media is beyond our imagination. Within a short period of time, it does the help to publicise this search in finding the most suitable caretaker for the island throughout the world. Another good example would be the recent event of a woman singing in Britain’s got talent show. From someone whom no one have heard of has now rocketed to fame after a phenomenal performance.
The next point I would like to point out is the phrase ‘ The best job in the world’. I would like to know what exactly the definition of ‘best’ is in this case. Although the job do may sound attractive and easy, just because you get to enjoy and get money! However, feel that the word ‘best’ is a too extreme word to use. For someone who just loves to enjoy and explore and island, definitely it would be the best job to him/her but to someone who doesn’t like doing those stuff, may just feel that it is torture. Just like your best friend may not be another’s best friend.
Another point is that they claimed that ‘The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don't need to spend huge on advertising’. I felt that this project has reached to so many people , partly is also because of the salary they are giving, which is not a small sum. Thus, although they did not spend much on advertising, but they are spending the money on another component of the job, which is the salary. So I think that they should actually change their claim to ‘ The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking about and have a high pay for incentive, you don’t need to spend huge on advertising!
CANBERRA, May 6 - British charity fundraiser Ben Southall won the "best job in the world" on Wednesday -- caretaker of an Australia tropical island -- after an innovative marketing campaign that highlighted the power of social media.
Southall, 34, was picked from 16 final contestants in a highly publicised contest by Tourism Queensland which attracted 34,684 video entries from almost 200 countries and surpassed all expectations in promoting tourism in the Australian state.
The job description? Explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for six months and report back to Tourism Queensland and the world via blogs, a photo diary, video updates and interviews.
Also, if you feel like it, feed the fish, collect the mail and clean the pool -- and collect a wage of A$150,000
While the job itself attracted global attention so did the campaign by the government body Tourism Queensland as it highlighted how companies can tap the power of online social media such as YouTube and Facebook, for marketing.
"This is probably the first time that a campaign has achieved this sort of reach with so little advertising spend other than a few strategically place job ads around the world," said Australian marketing analyst Tim Burrowes, editor of media and marketing website Mumbrella.
"This has all been about the power of people passing things on, largely through YouTube. The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don't need to spend huge on advertising."
The "Best Job in the World" campaign began in January with Tourism Queensland launching a tourism advertising campaign centered around the lure of "the best job in the world."
Within days the campaign went viral as applicants from all over the world sent in 60-second video applications and news of the contest spread on social networking sites such as Facebook and the video sharing site YouTube.
Review
Firstly I would like to agree that the power of the social media is beyond our imagination. Within a short period of time, it does the help to publicise this search in finding the most suitable caretaker for the island throughout the world. Another good example would be the recent event of a woman singing in Britain’s got talent show. From someone whom no one have heard of has now rocketed to fame after a phenomenal performance.
The next point I would like to point out is the phrase ‘ The best job in the world’. I would like to know what exactly the definition of ‘best’ is in this case. Although the job do may sound attractive and easy, just because you get to enjoy and get money! However, feel that the word ‘best’ is a too extreme word to use. For someone who just loves to enjoy and explore and island, definitely it would be the best job to him/her but to someone who doesn’t like doing those stuff, may just feel that it is torture. Just like your best friend may not be another’s best friend.
Another point is that they claimed that ‘The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don't need to spend huge on advertising’. I felt that this project has reached to so many people , partly is also because of the salary they are giving, which is not a small sum. Thus, although they did not spend much on advertising, but they are spending the money on another component of the job, which is the salary. So I think that they should actually change their claim to ‘ The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking about and have a high pay for incentive, you don’t need to spend huge on advertising!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Review on CIA's dumb intelligence (article below)
I agree with with the writer's view that "the best intelligence is obtained through persuasion rather than coercion." Persuasion and coercion are both very different. Coercion refers to the use of force and intimidation to dig out information from a certain party whereas the use of persuasion involves verbal interaction between 2 parties until a common and basic understanding is achieved. The use of persuasion would present the possibility of, for example, terrorists successfully acknowledging the other party's beliefs and might even 'change sides.' Not only does this avoid brutal, inhumane treatment to the convict, but it allows the exchange of information of greater reliabilty and accuracy.
Although better information can be obtained with the use of persuasion, it does not necessarily mean that it is indeed an ideal form of interrogation. Many terrorists are stubborn and places a lot of faith in their beliefs. In other words, it is not practical. It is due to this type of situations that agencies such as the CIA had to depend on coercion. Torture is certainly an efficient, reliable way to achieve obedience. As stated in the passage, it has enabled the CIA to obtain certain useful information. However, like what the writer stated, poeple will say anything to escape pain. The information they give might therefore not be trustworthy. The freedom to present false claims can never be eliminated. The risk of the information being totally out of place is indeed very high.
The writer stated that Obama is such who does not approve of CIA's interrogation methods which is the reason he claims for a more transparent system.
However, I personally feel that interrogations would never solve the issue on terrorism just as the writer stated in his concluding sentence. It only enables society to foresee upcoming dangers enabling us to anticipate certain attacks. Therefore, the main focus should be on how to reduce or eliminate terrorism as a whole. If not, terrorists would just continue their never-ending line of attacks against society.
I agree with with the writer's view that "the best intelligence is obtained through persuasion rather than coercion." Persuasion and coercion are both very different. Coercion refers to the use of force and intimidation to dig out information from a certain party whereas the use of persuasion involves verbal interaction between 2 parties until a common and basic understanding is achieved. The use of persuasion would present the possibility of, for example, terrorists successfully acknowledging the other party's beliefs and might even 'change sides.' Not only does this avoid brutal, inhumane treatment to the convict, but it allows the exchange of information of greater reliabilty and accuracy.
Although better information can be obtained with the use of persuasion, it does not necessarily mean that it is indeed an ideal form of interrogation. Many terrorists are stubborn and places a lot of faith in their beliefs. In other words, it is not practical. It is due to this type of situations that agencies such as the CIA had to depend on coercion. Torture is certainly an efficient, reliable way to achieve obedience. As stated in the passage, it has enabled the CIA to obtain certain useful information. However, like what the writer stated, poeple will say anything to escape pain. The information they give might therefore not be trustworthy. The freedom to present false claims can never be eliminated. The risk of the information being totally out of place is indeed very high.
The writer stated that Obama is such who does not approve of CIA's interrogation methods which is the reason he claims for a more transparent system.
However, I personally feel that interrogations would never solve the issue on terrorism just as the writer stated in his concluding sentence. It only enables society to foresee upcoming dangers enabling us to anticipate certain attacks. Therefore, the main focus should be on how to reduce or eliminate terrorism as a whole. If not, terrorists would just continue their never-ending line of attacks against society.
Dumb Intelligence
By Robert Baer
It's easy to forget that when the U.S. began interrogating al-Qaeda operatives in 2002, the CIA had no idea what it was doing. The last time the agency had been charged with conducting hostile interrogations was during the Vietnam era, and most of those officers were long retired. The wisdom inside the CIA has always been that the best intelligence is obtained through persuasion rather than coercion. New CIA recruits have even been counseled against using blackmail because the information it produced couldn't be relied on.
When the CIA was asked to resume hostile interrogations after Sept. 11, some agency leaders were dead set against it, arguing that the military was better equipped for the task. But Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld insisted the job belonged to the CIA. We now know that Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in one month. His interrogator, a former CIA colleague of mine, admits he had almost no training in the technique and knew nothing about how the cumulative effect of waterboarding might affect the quality of the information he was trying to extract.
President Obama's decision to declassify Justice Department memos detailing the interrogation techniques legalized by his predecessor has sparked a predictable partisan furor. Bush Administration officials say the release has somehow compromised national security and let the enemy in on our secrets--even though U.S. interrogators' use of harsh and even sadistic techniques has been known for years. Liberals criticized the President for initially rejecting the idea of prosecuting former Bush officials, though Obama later said he is open to a 9/11-commission-style inquiry into interrogation abuses.
That would be a start. Obama shouldn't stop at declassifying the memos. He needs to launch a full-scale investigation into our intelligence-gathering practices over the past eight years, because once you get past the details of what was made legal to fight the war on terrorism, there's an even starker realization: we tortured people for almost no verifiable information.
Obama apparently spent weeks debating the merits of releasing the documents and was lobbied by CIA Director Leon Panetta to keep them classified. In the end, the case for transparency was too great. The harsh tactics--isolation, sleep deprivation, humiliation, waterboarding--not only had been widely reported, but much of it was also acknowledged to have originated in "Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions from Air Force Prisoners of War," a 1957 article written for the Air Force about abusive Chinese interrogations of U.S. troops during the Korean War. Anyone who wanted to could find it via Google for years.
The crucial point, though, is that even the communists suspected that torture can't be relied on to produce more than false confessions--because people will say anything to make the pain stop. This is the history that Bush officials chose to ignore. I asked a former CIA officer privy to the decision-making that led to the waterboarding of al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah whether he thought the abusive tactics worked. His answer: to a degree. From the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, Mohammed and other al-Qaeda prisoners, the CIA learned a lot more than it knew before about the group's communications, its use of safe houses and codes, and the outlines of its worldview. Valuable stuff, but stuff that could have been extracted through patient and relentless persuasion.
In the declassified Justice Department memos, former CIA director Michael Hayden asserts that it was only after the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah that authorities learned about Ramzi Binalshibh, a midlevel al-Qaeda member who helped coordinate the Sept. 11 attacks. The memos also say it was because of the waterboarding of Mohammed that U.S. intelligence learned about a "second wave" of attacks planned for after Sept. 11. Was there truly another 9/11 in the works? Maybe. Or maybe Mohammed made it up to stop the waterboarding.
The use of torture has come at huge costs to American credibility and the morale and psychology of our intelligence agencies. If we're going to pay those costs, we ought to know what we're getting. A thorough clearing of the air will help discredit the idea that we either torture terrorists or become victims. This false choice is played out on shows like 24, leaving people with the notion that had the FBI somehow caught one of the hijackers in the hours leading up to Sept. 11, torture would have led to the arrests of the 18 others before those planes took off. The truth is less sensational and more unsettling--but ultimately one that Americans should learn to accept. There are ticking time bombs out there. But torture won't get us any closer to discovering when they're going to go off.
By Robert Baer
It's easy to forget that when the U.S. began interrogating al-Qaeda operatives in 2002, the CIA had no idea what it was doing. The last time the agency had been charged with conducting hostile interrogations was during the Vietnam era, and most of those officers were long retired. The wisdom inside the CIA has always been that the best intelligence is obtained through persuasion rather than coercion. New CIA recruits have even been counseled against using blackmail because the information it produced couldn't be relied on.
When the CIA was asked to resume hostile interrogations after Sept. 11, some agency leaders were dead set against it, arguing that the military was better equipped for the task. But Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld insisted the job belonged to the CIA. We now know that Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in one month. His interrogator, a former CIA colleague of mine, admits he had almost no training in the technique and knew nothing about how the cumulative effect of waterboarding might affect the quality of the information he was trying to extract.
President Obama's decision to declassify Justice Department memos detailing the interrogation techniques legalized by his predecessor has sparked a predictable partisan furor. Bush Administration officials say the release has somehow compromised national security and let the enemy in on our secrets--even though U.S. interrogators' use of harsh and even sadistic techniques has been known for years. Liberals criticized the President for initially rejecting the idea of prosecuting former Bush officials, though Obama later said he is open to a 9/11-commission-style inquiry into interrogation abuses.
That would be a start. Obama shouldn't stop at declassifying the memos. He needs to launch a full-scale investigation into our intelligence-gathering practices over the past eight years, because once you get past the details of what was made legal to fight the war on terrorism, there's an even starker realization: we tortured people for almost no verifiable information.
Obama apparently spent weeks debating the merits of releasing the documents and was lobbied by CIA Director Leon Panetta to keep them classified. In the end, the case for transparency was too great. The harsh tactics--isolation, sleep deprivation, humiliation, waterboarding--not only had been widely reported, but much of it was also acknowledged to have originated in "Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions from Air Force Prisoners of War," a 1957 article written for the Air Force about abusive Chinese interrogations of U.S. troops during the Korean War. Anyone who wanted to could find it via Google for years.
The crucial point, though, is that even the communists suspected that torture can't be relied on to produce more than false confessions--because people will say anything to make the pain stop. This is the history that Bush officials chose to ignore. I asked a former CIA officer privy to the decision-making that led to the waterboarding of al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah whether he thought the abusive tactics worked. His answer: to a degree. From the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, Mohammed and other al-Qaeda prisoners, the CIA learned a lot more than it knew before about the group's communications, its use of safe houses and codes, and the outlines of its worldview. Valuable stuff, but stuff that could have been extracted through patient and relentless persuasion.
In the declassified Justice Department memos, former CIA director Michael Hayden asserts that it was only after the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah that authorities learned about Ramzi Binalshibh, a midlevel al-Qaeda member who helped coordinate the Sept. 11 attacks. The memos also say it was because of the waterboarding of Mohammed that U.S. intelligence learned about a "second wave" of attacks planned for after Sept. 11. Was there truly another 9/11 in the works? Maybe. Or maybe Mohammed made it up to stop the waterboarding.
The use of torture has come at huge costs to American credibility and the morale and psychology of our intelligence agencies. If we're going to pay those costs, we ought to know what we're getting. A thorough clearing of the air will help discredit the idea that we either torture terrorists or become victims. This false choice is played out on shows like 24, leaving people with the notion that had the FBI somehow caught one of the hijackers in the hours leading up to Sept. 11, torture would have led to the arrests of the 18 others before those planes took off. The truth is less sensational and more unsettling--but ultimately one that Americans should learn to accept. There are ticking time bombs out there. But torture won't get us any closer to discovering when they're going to go off.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
THE first phase of India’s 15th general election commenced on Thursday across 17 Indian
states — from Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the south — marking the start of the world’s biggest democratic poll. The voting for the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of the Indian Parliament, will be held in five phases that will require nearly a month to complete, involving 714 million registered voters who will cast their ballot in more than 8 million polling stations. Streets across Indian towns and cities are festooned with political banners, buntings and flags, and the marathon election process features hundreds of political parties, veteran leaders and a colorful spectrum of Bollywood and cricket stars. Since the previous election in 2004, more young people
— approximately 43 million new voters
— are expected to cast their ballot.
Unlike the American presidential system, Indian elections are not dominated by a single personality. In the fray are several independent candidates and hundreds of political parties. Analysts predict neither the ruling Congress Party nor the opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will win enough seats to rule alone — a situation which has been the norm since 1989. And a coalition government is inevitable, analysts say. “It will be a coalition government again,” says Mr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. “But it is hard to predict which combination will form the government.” In the fray are three main alliances: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty led Congress party; the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is a loose coalition of parties led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); and the Third Front, a loose alliance of left-leaning and regional parties. Once the final results are declared on
May 16, in a bid to forge post poll alliances,political parties could indulge in good old fashioned backroom deals and horse trading. The leading candidates for Prime Minister are both veterans. The incumbent, Mr Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, is 76, while his main challenger, the BJP’s Lal Krishna Advani, is even older at 81. In the event neither the UPA or NDA can
obtain a majority, the Third Front could emerge as a power broker. The group comprises of
Ms Mayawati, a member of the Dalit — or “untouchable” — caste, who could emerge as
the Prime Minister if her Bahujan Samaj Party does exceptionally well. Her party has fielded
more than 500 candidates all over India, the highest number by any political party.
The Maoist agitation
This marathon election process demands formidable security measures. In view of the Mumbai terrorist attack last year, which claimed 166 lives, security has been beefed up in these elections. About 250,000 paramilitary forces are handling election security. The pressure on security forces is so intense that the avidly-watched Indian Premier League, the popular Twenty20 cricket programme, was shifted out of India because it clashed with the poll dates. But despite the stringent security, Maoist rebels, called Naxalites, on Thursday attacked nearly a dozen polling stations across Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa, all rebelprone states in eastern India, killing 17 people, including five election officials and 10 security personnel. They set afire some of the polling booths and snatched electronic voting machines, and blocked roads leading to polling stations, thus disrupting the democratic process. The rebel attacks are symptomatic of the difficulty in holding elections freely and fairly in this crowded democracy of 1.2 billion. This Maoist insurgency, active in 156 districts across 13 Indian states, is perceived to be the most serious internal security threat in India. The deteriorating economic situation,
which threatens to relegate millions of Indians back to poverty after a decade of growth,
is also a key voting plank in these elections, political pundits say.
It ’s all about the money
India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates that Indian businesses
could lay off nearly 25 per cent of their workforce this year, across sectors such as information
technology, real estate, construction, aviation and financial services. About 40 million middle-class workers are employed by these sectors. India’s Labour Ministry estimates that the small-business sector — which accounts for more than 60 per cent of economic activity — lost about half a million jobs in the December quarter. In these elections, the spectre of job losses,
expected to invite sharp electoral losses, is worrying the Congress-led UPA government. Mr Advani, the leader of the opposition BJP in India’s Parliament, recently said that job cuts
due to the global recession were posing “more danger than terrorism”. There is fear that mass layoffs could spark off social turmoil in this crowded democracy of 1.13 billion people. “The deteriorating economy will certainly have an impact on the electorate,” Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of India’s Planning Commission, said in an interview. “There will be no surprises on that front.” In a pre-election nationwide poll conducted in January by CNN IBN, a private news channel, 32 per cent of Indians cited the flailing economy and inflation as their top concerns. But Mr Yogendra Yadav, a senior fellow at Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, who helped conduct that poll, says he wouldn’t link that assertion
to the global economic meltdown. “If we had conducted the poll a year ago, when the economy was booming, we would have got the same response,” he said. Less than 10 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion people work in the organised sector, which is directly impacted by the global meltdown. “India’s economic boom bypasses the rest,” he said, “and they are not impacted by
the global slowdown. For them livelihood, poverty and a lack of purchasing power were issues in all previous elections. And it’s no different this time.”
Review:
In my opinion, India's democratic government has been based on a popularity contest rather than that of choosing a government where they can run the country. It can be seen that many of the candidates are mostly Bollywood stars or cricket players. It is true that India does have a history of being democratic. But with such kind of government, is it a benefit or is it a liability to India.
Futhermore, it can always be seen in the government of India that there are many conflicts. Question is that who is to blame? Answer, Nobody. This is so due to the simple fact that the government is always a 'Salad', never once is it cabinet rule by a majority but comprises of many parties mix to become one. This will cause conflict as different parties will have their own unique way to rule a nation.
Next, in this upcoming elections, 43m new people are going to vote. However, the illiteracy rate in India is 39% means in every 100 people, 39 people will vote who they are told to vote. Besides that, many of the people suffer from poverty, hence, the people will also vote for the government which will give them the most incentive rather then a government who will keep the nation safe.
Besides that, the reports also state of communist activities in many areas. This area have a large concentration of people who are in poverty. Yet the current government is not doing anything to help improve that area, causing it to be neglected and the loss of power to the communist. Even if the communist were once For-Democrats, with no improvement to the conditions, the people feel that they are not treated well enough. They will find substitutes who will help them improve their living conditions like the communist. Thus the formation of such communist-prone state is the cause of the inefficient democracy system of India.
Last but not least, economy for India has finally hit a U-turn. Its boom period is over and now it faces a recession (like the rest of the world), to such a poor country which main finance comes from small medium enterprises(SME/s), many of such SMEs have decide to fold up to prevent loss. They did prevent their personal loss but the stat of India do face a loss of over 1.13b due to the closure of the SMEs. The government has given incentives, but they are just too little for the public, hence the deciding factor of the this year election will be which parties will be able to solve the economic, social and even political problems that already exist in India.
Posted by: Ben =D
states — from Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the south — marking the start of the world’s biggest democratic poll. The voting for the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of the Indian Parliament, will be held in five phases that will require nearly a month to complete, involving 714 million registered voters who will cast their ballot in more than 8 million polling stations. Streets across Indian towns and cities are festooned with political banners, buntings and flags, and the marathon election process features hundreds of political parties, veteran leaders and a colorful spectrum of Bollywood and cricket stars. Since the previous election in 2004, more young people
— approximately 43 million new voters
— are expected to cast their ballot.
Unlike the American presidential system, Indian elections are not dominated by a single personality. In the fray are several independent candidates and hundreds of political parties. Analysts predict neither the ruling Congress Party nor the opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will win enough seats to rule alone — a situation which has been the norm since 1989. And a coalition government is inevitable, analysts say. “It will be a coalition government again,” says Mr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. “But it is hard to predict which combination will form the government.” In the fray are three main alliances: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty led Congress party; the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is a loose coalition of parties led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); and the Third Front, a loose alliance of left-leaning and regional parties. Once the final results are declared on
May 16, in a bid to forge post poll alliances,political parties could indulge in good old fashioned backroom deals and horse trading. The leading candidates for Prime Minister are both veterans. The incumbent, Mr Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, is 76, while his main challenger, the BJP’s Lal Krishna Advani, is even older at 81. In the event neither the UPA or NDA can
obtain a majority, the Third Front could emerge as a power broker. The group comprises of
Ms Mayawati, a member of the Dalit — or “untouchable” — caste, who could emerge as
the Prime Minister if her Bahujan Samaj Party does exceptionally well. Her party has fielded
more than 500 candidates all over India, the highest number by any political party.
The Maoist agitation
This marathon election process demands formidable security measures. In view of the Mumbai terrorist attack last year, which claimed 166 lives, security has been beefed up in these elections. About 250,000 paramilitary forces are handling election security. The pressure on security forces is so intense that the avidly-watched Indian Premier League, the popular Twenty20 cricket programme, was shifted out of India because it clashed with the poll dates. But despite the stringent security, Maoist rebels, called Naxalites, on Thursday attacked nearly a dozen polling stations across Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa, all rebelprone states in eastern India, killing 17 people, including five election officials and 10 security personnel. They set afire some of the polling booths and snatched electronic voting machines, and blocked roads leading to polling stations, thus disrupting the democratic process. The rebel attacks are symptomatic of the difficulty in holding elections freely and fairly in this crowded democracy of 1.2 billion. This Maoist insurgency, active in 156 districts across 13 Indian states, is perceived to be the most serious internal security threat in India. The deteriorating economic situation,
which threatens to relegate millions of Indians back to poverty after a decade of growth,
is also a key voting plank in these elections, political pundits say.
It ’s all about the money
India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates that Indian businesses
could lay off nearly 25 per cent of their workforce this year, across sectors such as information
technology, real estate, construction, aviation and financial services. About 40 million middle-class workers are employed by these sectors. India’s Labour Ministry estimates that the small-business sector — which accounts for more than 60 per cent of economic activity — lost about half a million jobs in the December quarter. In these elections, the spectre of job losses,
expected to invite sharp electoral losses, is worrying the Congress-led UPA government. Mr Advani, the leader of the opposition BJP in India’s Parliament, recently said that job cuts
due to the global recession were posing “more danger than terrorism”. There is fear that mass layoffs could spark off social turmoil in this crowded democracy of 1.13 billion people. “The deteriorating economy will certainly have an impact on the electorate,” Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of India’s Planning Commission, said in an interview. “There will be no surprises on that front.” In a pre-election nationwide poll conducted in January by CNN IBN, a private news channel, 32 per cent of Indians cited the flailing economy and inflation as their top concerns. But Mr Yogendra Yadav, a senior fellow at Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, who helped conduct that poll, says he wouldn’t link that assertion
to the global economic meltdown. “If we had conducted the poll a year ago, when the economy was booming, we would have got the same response,” he said. Less than 10 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion people work in the organised sector, which is directly impacted by the global meltdown. “India’s economic boom bypasses the rest,” he said, “and they are not impacted by
the global slowdown. For them livelihood, poverty and a lack of purchasing power were issues in all previous elections. And it’s no different this time.”
Review:
In my opinion, India's democratic government has been based on a popularity contest rather than that of choosing a government where they can run the country. It can be seen that many of the candidates are mostly Bollywood stars or cricket players. It is true that India does have a history of being democratic. But with such kind of government, is it a benefit or is it a liability to India.
Futhermore, it can always be seen in the government of India that there are many conflicts. Question is that who is to blame? Answer, Nobody. This is so due to the simple fact that the government is always a 'Salad', never once is it cabinet rule by a majority but comprises of many parties mix to become one. This will cause conflict as different parties will have their own unique way to rule a nation.
Next, in this upcoming elections, 43m new people are going to vote. However, the illiteracy rate in India is 39% means in every 100 people, 39 people will vote who they are told to vote. Besides that, many of the people suffer from poverty, hence, the people will also vote for the government which will give them the most incentive rather then a government who will keep the nation safe.
Besides that, the reports also state of communist activities in many areas. This area have a large concentration of people who are in poverty. Yet the current government is not doing anything to help improve that area, causing it to be neglected and the loss of power to the communist. Even if the communist were once For-Democrats, with no improvement to the conditions, the people feel that they are not treated well enough. They will find substitutes who will help them improve their living conditions like the communist. Thus the formation of such communist-prone state is the cause of the inefficient democracy system of India.
Last but not least, economy for India has finally hit a U-turn. Its boom period is over and now it faces a recession (like the rest of the world), to such a poor country which main finance comes from small medium enterprises(SME/s), many of such SMEs have decide to fold up to prevent loss. They did prevent their personal loss but the stat of India do face a loss of over 1.13b due to the closure of the SMEs. The government has given incentives, but they are just too little for the public, hence the deciding factor of the this year election will be which parties will be able to solve the economic, social and even political problems that already exist in India.
Posted by: Ben =D
Monday, April 13, 2009
Cows With Gas: India's Global Warming Problem
Cows With Gas: India's Global Warming Problem
By Madhur Singh / New Delhi Saturday, Apr. 11, 2009
Indolent cows languidly chewing their cud while befuddled motorists honk and maneuver their vehicles around them are images as stereotypically Indian as saffron-clad holy men and the Taj Mahal. Now, however, India's ubiquitous cows — of which there are 283 million, more than anywhere else in the world — have assumed a more menacing role as they become part of the climate change debate.
By burping, belching and excreting copious amounts of methane — a greenhouse gas that traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide — India's livestock of roughly 485 million (including sheep and goats) contribute more to global warming than the vehicles they obstruct. With new research suggesting that emission of methane by Indian livestock is higher than previously estimated, scientists are furiously working at designing diets to help bovines and other ruminants eat better, stay more energetic and secrete lesser amounts of the offensive gas.
Last month, scientists at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad in western India published a pan-India livestock methane emission inventory, the first ever, which put the figure at 11.75 million metric tons per year, higher than 9 million metric tons estimated in 1994. This amount is likely to increase as higher incomes and consumption rates put more pressure on the country's dairy industry to become even more productive.
Already the world's largest producer of milk, India will have to yank up production from the current 100 million metric tons to 180 million metric tons by 2021-22 to keep pace with growing population and expanding disposable incomes. Livestock such as cows, buffalo, goats, sheep, horses and mules are indispensable to India's rural economy — whether yoked to plow land, raised for milk and manure, or harnessed to pull carts to move goods and people. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that the animals contribute 5.3% to total GDP, up from 4.8% during 1980-81. But, says Dr. K.K. Singhal, head of Dairy Cattle Nutrition at the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal in northern India, "while livestock plays a crucial role in the economy, global warming is becoming a huge worry. We're trying to find indigenous solutions, because our realities are very different from the West."
For starters, most Indian livestock is underfed and undernourished, unlike robust counterparts in richer countries. The typical Indian farmer is unable to buy expensive dietary supplements even for livestock of productive age, and dry milch cattle and older farm animals are invariably turned out to fend for themselves. Poor quality feed equals poor animal health as well as higher methane production. Also, even when western firms are willing to share technology or when western products are available, these are often unaffordable for the majority in India. For instance, Monensin, an antibiotic whose slow-release formula reduces methane emission by cows, proved too expensive for widespread use in India. So the emphasis for Indian scientists is on indigenous solutions. "We know we cannot count on high quality feed and fodder," says Singhal, "No one will be able to afford it. What we have done instead is develop cheaper technologies and products." One example is urea-molasses-mineral blocks that are cheap, reduce methane emission by 20%, and also provide more nutrition so they're easier to sell to illiterate farmers who don't know a thing about global warming but want higher milk yields.
Most dietary interventions work by checking methogens — microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments such as cows' guts, where they convert the available hydrogen and carbon (byproducts of digestion) into methane, a colorless, odorless gas. "We encourage well-to-do farmers to use oilseed cakes which provide unsaturated fatty acids that get rid of the hydrogen," Dr. Singhal says. Another solution is herbal additives. Some commonly used Indian herbs such as shikakai and reetha, which go into making soap, and many kinds of oilseeds contain saponins and tannins, substances that make for lathery, bitter meals but block hydrogen availability for methogens. Dr Singhal says they are used in small quantities and the cows don't seem to mind the taste. "Imagine how much potential they'd have in the international market," he says.
Several other institutions, such as the National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology (NIANP) in Bangalore, are also researching herbs. "We're studying the effect of tannin compounds from various easily-available sources like tealeaves. We're also studying prebiotic and probiotic feed supplements," says Dr K.T. Sampath, director, NIANP. Other institutes, such as the New Delhi-based The Energy Research Institute (TERI), are working on methane capture strategies. One long-running project has been biogas production — cow dung is utilized to make biogas for use in kitchens and even compressed biogas for use in vehicles. "Biogas plants have been very successful," says R.K. Rajeshwari, a fellow at TERI, "Farmers are able to use biogas in their kitchens, to light lamps and to even drive vehicles." Such projects, she says, have been particularly successful at gaushalas, cow shelters supported by donations from the devout and by government grants, of which there are 4,000 across India now. Most gaushalas are for abandoned, dry and aged cattle, of which there are many since killing cows is illegal in all but two states (the communist-ruled West Bengal and Kerala). "This way they are put to some use at least," says Rajeshwari, "And by replacing conventional sources of energy, they help prevent global warming."
By Madhur Singh / New Delhi Saturday, Apr. 11, 2009
Indolent cows languidly chewing their cud while befuddled motorists honk and maneuver their vehicles around them are images as stereotypically Indian as saffron-clad holy men and the Taj Mahal. Now, however, India's ubiquitous cows — of which there are 283 million, more than anywhere else in the world — have assumed a more menacing role as they become part of the climate change debate.
By burping, belching and excreting copious amounts of methane — a greenhouse gas that traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide — India's livestock of roughly 485 million (including sheep and goats) contribute more to global warming than the vehicles they obstruct. With new research suggesting that emission of methane by Indian livestock is higher than previously estimated, scientists are furiously working at designing diets to help bovines and other ruminants eat better, stay more energetic and secrete lesser amounts of the offensive gas.
Last month, scientists at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad in western India published a pan-India livestock methane emission inventory, the first ever, which put the figure at 11.75 million metric tons per year, higher than 9 million metric tons estimated in 1994. This amount is likely to increase as higher incomes and consumption rates put more pressure on the country's dairy industry to become even more productive.
Already the world's largest producer of milk, India will have to yank up production from the current 100 million metric tons to 180 million metric tons by 2021-22 to keep pace with growing population and expanding disposable incomes. Livestock such as cows, buffalo, goats, sheep, horses and mules are indispensable to India's rural economy — whether yoked to plow land, raised for milk and manure, or harnessed to pull carts to move goods and people. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that the animals contribute 5.3% to total GDP, up from 4.8% during 1980-81. But, says Dr. K.K. Singhal, head of Dairy Cattle Nutrition at the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal in northern India, "while livestock plays a crucial role in the economy, global warming is becoming a huge worry. We're trying to find indigenous solutions, because our realities are very different from the West."
For starters, most Indian livestock is underfed and undernourished, unlike robust counterparts in richer countries. The typical Indian farmer is unable to buy expensive dietary supplements even for livestock of productive age, and dry milch cattle and older farm animals are invariably turned out to fend for themselves. Poor quality feed equals poor animal health as well as higher methane production. Also, even when western firms are willing to share technology or when western products are available, these are often unaffordable for the majority in India. For instance, Monensin, an antibiotic whose slow-release formula reduces methane emission by cows, proved too expensive for widespread use in India. So the emphasis for Indian scientists is on indigenous solutions. "We know we cannot count on high quality feed and fodder," says Singhal, "No one will be able to afford it. What we have done instead is develop cheaper technologies and products." One example is urea-molasses-mineral blocks that are cheap, reduce methane emission by 20%, and also provide more nutrition so they're easier to sell to illiterate farmers who don't know a thing about global warming but want higher milk yields.
Most dietary interventions work by checking methogens — microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments such as cows' guts, where they convert the available hydrogen and carbon (byproducts of digestion) into methane, a colorless, odorless gas. "We encourage well-to-do farmers to use oilseed cakes which provide unsaturated fatty acids that get rid of the hydrogen," Dr. Singhal says. Another solution is herbal additives. Some commonly used Indian herbs such as shikakai and reetha, which go into making soap, and many kinds of oilseeds contain saponins and tannins, substances that make for lathery, bitter meals but block hydrogen availability for methogens. Dr Singhal says they are used in small quantities and the cows don't seem to mind the taste. "Imagine how much potential they'd have in the international market," he says.
Several other institutions, such as the National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology (NIANP) in Bangalore, are also researching herbs. "We're studying the effect of tannin compounds from various easily-available sources like tealeaves. We're also studying prebiotic and probiotic feed supplements," says Dr K.T. Sampath, director, NIANP. Other institutes, such as the New Delhi-based The Energy Research Institute (TERI), are working on methane capture strategies. One long-running project has been biogas production — cow dung is utilized to make biogas for use in kitchens and even compressed biogas for use in vehicles. "Biogas plants have been very successful," says R.K. Rajeshwari, a fellow at TERI, "Farmers are able to use biogas in their kitchens, to light lamps and to even drive vehicles." Such projects, she says, have been particularly successful at gaushalas, cow shelters supported by donations from the devout and by government grants, of which there are 4,000 across India now. Most gaushalas are for abandoned, dry and aged cattle, of which there are many since killing cows is illegal in all but two states (the communist-ruled West Bengal and Kerala). "This way they are put to some use at least," says Rajeshwari, "And by replacing conventional sources of energy, they help prevent global warming."
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Review: Cows With Gas: India's Global Warming Problem
India, which has the most number of cows, is greatly contributing to the global warming problem that the world is facing. With a growing economy, the expected demand for diary products will surge, as nominal income will increase. However due to the economic downturn in 2008, quantity of cows reared may drop as people now with lesser disposable incomes would decide to reduce their demand. As a result, this will reduce the amount of methane emission from the cows.
Researchers and scientists are finding ways to develop cheaper and more effective products to reduce the methane emission from livestock. One of their products is the urea-molasses-mineral blocks which are cheap, reduce methane emission by 20%, and also provide more nutrition so they're easier to sell to illiterate farmers who don't know a thing about global warming but want higher milk yields. However, how well-received the product is to the farmers is another issue. This problem of huge methane emission from India livestock has been surfaced for quite a long period of time and yet the problem has not improved. Likewise, the low literacy rate in India has not improved significantly over the centuries. This shows the likeliness of the effectiveness of spreading new products to the farmers.
Research has shown that livestock-rearing generates more greenhouse gases than transportation according to a new report from the United Nations (U.N.), which adds that improved production methods could go a long way towards cutting emissions of gases responsible for global warming. The fact that farmers will not reduce their number of livestock unless an epidemic strikes, I feel that the government should step in further to give free supplies of products for a period of time to allow the farmers to experience better yields and thus, in the future they are more open to purchase new products. Of course, only if the product costs lower or equal to their usual expenses on livestocks’ food, as they may find it unnecessary and hesitant to switch the usual feed for their livestock.
India, which has the most number of cows, is greatly contributing to the global warming problem that the world is facing. With a growing economy, the expected demand for diary products will surge, as nominal income will increase. However due to the economic downturn in 2008, quantity of cows reared may drop as people now with lesser disposable incomes would decide to reduce their demand. As a result, this will reduce the amount of methane emission from the cows.
Researchers and scientists are finding ways to develop cheaper and more effective products to reduce the methane emission from livestock. One of their products is the urea-molasses-mineral blocks which are cheap, reduce methane emission by 20%, and also provide more nutrition so they're easier to sell to illiterate farmers who don't know a thing about global warming but want higher milk yields. However, how well-received the product is to the farmers is another issue. This problem of huge methane emission from India livestock has been surfaced for quite a long period of time and yet the problem has not improved. Likewise, the low literacy rate in India has not improved significantly over the centuries. This shows the likeliness of the effectiveness of spreading new products to the farmers.
Research has shown that livestock-rearing generates more greenhouse gases than transportation according to a new report from the United Nations (U.N.), which adds that improved production methods could go a long way towards cutting emissions of gases responsible for global warming. The fact that farmers will not reduce their number of livestock unless an epidemic strikes, I feel that the government should step in further to give free supplies of products for a period of time to allow the farmers to experience better yields and thus, in the future they are more open to purchase new products. Of course, only if the product costs lower or equal to their usual expenses on livestocks’ food, as they may find it unnecessary and hesitant to switch the usual feed for their livestock.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)