Tripura Times, Agartala, Sunday, August 04, 2013

TRIPURA TIMES After initial criticism, consensus on massive

SUNDAY, AUGUST 04, VOL.50, ISSUE NO-282

ASTRO TODAY
Aries : This is an excellent day in which your thinking is clear and your emotions stable, Aries. Use this powerful combination of a solid frame of mind and compassionate feelings to express yourself in a sincere, positive fashion. Theres a great deal of power on your side helping you track down your goals and get exactly what you want. Taurus : Turn your energy inward today, Taurus. Make a detailed list of what you need to get done in order of priority. Its time to take inventory and get organized. Detail-oriented projects are favored, and you have much more patience and concentration than usual. Slow down the pace and remember to smell the roses as you pass by. Gemini : Your head and heart are working in concert today, Gemini. Things are coming together just as you expected them to. Have confidence in yourself. More than likely, you have the perfect solution to every situation. Maybe your incredible perception of the circumstances will catch someone off guard. Be prepared for some surprised reactions. Cancer : Get in touch with your vulnerable side today, Cancer. Dont pretend to be someone youre not. Realize that you can be yourself and still have a good time without needing to hog all the attention. Stabilize your mind and create space to grow. Take some of the advice that you give to others and apply it to yourself. Leo : This is your day, Leo, so dont let anyone take it away from you. The key will be to get a head start on whatever goals you wish to accomplish. Dont waste time thinking about exactly how youre going to accomplish them. Just get started. The first step is the most important. Youre grounded right now, helping you get a better handle on what it is you need to do. Virgo : Open up and reveal more of your sensitive side, Virgo. The more willing you are to share with others, the more they will feel comfortable sharing things with you. Your head and heart are in agreement, so use this to your advantage. Ground your mind and use it to take a rational approach to your feelings. The truth of the situation will become clear. Libra : Things should go well for you today as long as you can keep the drama to a minimum. You can jump over any hurdle in your way, so dont worry about a thing. You have a sharp, intuitive wit about you thats grounded in the real world. Take care of the details and plan your next big move. Clean, organize, and throw away things that no longer serve you. Scorpio : You may have to bring yourself down to ground level in a rather sobering fashion, Scorpio. Maybe youre forgetting an important piece of a goal that youve been shooting for. This is a good day to review your progress and deal with any details that require attention. Keep your adventurous spirit alive, but have at least one foot on solid ground. Sagittarius : You have a tremendous ability to understand the inner workings of any situation, Sagittarius. You may need to give someone a reality check to make sure theyre on the same page as you. Use your criticism constructively so you dont alienate yourself from the people. Help to fill in the blanks in a situation that isnt fully understood by all parties, and move the project to the next level. Capricorn : Dont say anything about someone behind his or her back that you wouldnt want to say if the person were standing right next to you, Capricorn. Feelings are easily hurt on a day like this. People will instinctively know that youve been saying negative things about them. Come clean with any confessions that you might need to make toward someone you love. Be honest and open with your feelings.

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.

- Albert Einstein

poverty reduction during UPA rule

Prashant Panday When the NSS (National Sample Survey) report indicated to a much bigger reward as well. It is because Ambani can that poverty had reduced sharply during the UPA rule profit so much, grow his wealth so fast, that acts as his since 2004-5 (@2.18 % per annum), the usual happened. incentive. Something the communist, state driven model The opposition scorned the Congress for putting out such of governance can never deliver. Somehow, none of us lies just before the elections. The activists cried that the likes to admit to this obvious truth. If this is true that data was all wrong and poverty was actually worse now. capitalism creates inequality then there has to be an Even the intellectuals (the economists) tore apart (once automatic justification for redistribution of wealth. again) the Tendulkar poverty line of Rs 32 (or is it 33?) per No one can deny that poverty has come down. And the capita per day. All of this took the shine off the Congresss Congress must rightfully claim full credit for it. No only claims. And even made it doubt its own achievements. So can also deny that growth is one of the major factors for much so that even the well-regarded Montek Singh this reduction. We today forget this fact, but as recently Ahluwalia agreed that Rs 32 was too low. as in 2010-11, India grew at 10.2% per annum. Its only in But now, as the froth settles, the truth is starting to emerge the last two years that we have floundered. But even (why dont we have a law in this country that we will not now, we are the 2nd fastest growing major economy in the express any opinions for at least one month after world. The fall in growth in unfortunate, but is hardly an something happens!). And the truth is that a) the poverty Indian problem alone. cut-off of Rs 32 is indeed correct, and in line with a global The primary architect of the economic progress is no doubt reference point articulated by the World Bank, which is the PM. His actions in 1991 opened up the economy. That $1.25 per capita per day on PPP (purchasing power parity) is when Indias growth started to skyrocket. The only basis. Why is Rs 32 the same as $1.25? Because of a much time when the growth rate slowed down was during the lower cost of living in India. And why is that so? Because BJPs six years of rule. Growth was faster before, and after, of the massive subsidies that the GoI gives to its poor. the BJP rule. Surely, there were some local factors that led But for sensation-seeking media anchors, PPP is too fine to this, but the real reason for this was that the BJP was a point to appreciate b) poverty has dramatically reduced more focused on its identity priorities (defending Narendra because of rapid growth. The estimate of poverty is Modi on Godhra, promoting Hindu mumbo-jumbo in accurate since it is based on the respondents own recall schools) than on anything remotely economic (save and of weekly, monthly and annual expenditures. Surjit Bhalla except for starting the Highways program, bulk of which explains this beautifully in his 20th July piece in the Indian the UPA finished). Aakar Patel has argued convincingly Express. He also explains why the sudden and dramatic that for a Brahmin (the core of the BJP/RSS), protecting fall of 9.4% in just the last two years between 2009-10 his identity (religion) is most important, while for a baniya and 2011-12 is so credible. party (not a party for baniyas!) like Congress, doing Even noted columnist Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar business was most important. Since 2004, Manmohan said the same thin in the TOI on 28th July (Why no Singhs government was doing the right thing when it applause for 138 million exiting poverty?):When China continued with 2G subsidized license fees, but the reduced people in poverty by 220 million between 1978 lunatic CAG made a big fuss out of it. It did the right and 2004, the world applauded this as the thing in bringing in coal auctions, but the same lunatic greatest poverty reduction in history.India has just CAG again put the blame for the previous policy (pursued reduced its number of poor from 407 million to 269 since 1993) on the same PMs neck. How ironic. The man million, a fall of 138 million in seven years between 2004- who changed a corrupt system stood accused of allowing 05 and 2011-12. This is faster than Chinas poverty corruption. It is such politically motivated, completely reduction rate at a comparable stage of development, destructive pronouncements of the CAG that have hurt though for a much shorter period. Are the China-cheerers India in the last two years. Any government would go hailing India for doing even better?What economists into paralysis. Fortunately, it has now regained its wits. or at least those belonging to one particular ideology And policy paralysis is quickly morphing into policy still dont like to give credit to the Congress for is for the activism. Hopefully, growth will resume. And poverty partys direct poverty alleviation programs such as reduction will start again in right earnest. In the meantime the NREGA and the Food Security Ordinance . They it would help if our pseudo intellectuals, and unintelligent believe that the poverty reduction is entirely because of media anchors refrained from commenting on things they growth. They believe in the trickle down impact of dont understand. growth. But there are others like the much attacked The real truth is that no matter what BJP supporters think, Amartya Sen who believe that while a capitalistic model the fact is that growth has been highest during UPA rule, can deliver growth, it also simultaneously delivers and poverty reduction as well. The experts are saying so, inequality. Its obvious. A Mukesh Ambani can help hasten and forcefully. This is a moment for us to feel proud, not industrial growth, but at the same time, he helps himself play politics.

EDITORIAL

PROVINCIALISM A CHALLENGE BEFORE THE NATION

United we stand divided we fall. Unity is real strength in every sphere of life so the unity has a great value for a society, for a nation. It is observed alarmingly that ugly heads of provincialism raising day by day at different corners of the country. Impact of such provincialism is very bad in nature, which helps the slackening the greater unity of the nation. Ugly trend of provincialism helps to grow meanness of mind among country people. They forget that each and every citizens first and foremost identity is that he is Indian first his all other identity is secondary matters. The union government has declared Telengana a separate state the twenty ninth new state of the country which was earlier a part of Andhra Pradesh. The union government declared the new Telengana state just ahead of the Lok-sava poll scheduled in the first quarter of 2014. It may be a vote catching target of the ruling government of the country. Impact of Telengana may yield positives result for the ruling congress party in the newly formed Telengana and Andhra Pradesh states. But formation of the new state may invite chaos throughout the country in the coming days. Man while ugly demand raised that we want Gorkhaland we want Boroland we want karbi anglong we want kamtapur and so many shall entail in the demand list. Agitation started in support of their demands in the form of evil design of observing bundh and other violent activities of all such provincialism supporters. Gorkha people started indefinite bundh in Darjeeling hill. Karbi people, Boro people in Assam separately started agitation demanding separate states for each of them. Kamtapur of North Bengal also started agitation towards their controversial demand. Ugly provincialism frequently insert violence and even secessionism. Such ugly trend is threat before the nation. Secessionist evil forces are already active at different parts of the country. Maoist secessionist forces Laskar-e-taiba, Indian Mujahideen, and many other small groups evil in nature are threat before the country and they hamper development of the nation. All these evil secessionist forces must try to exploit the situation of the ugly provincialism. So Telengana formation is not the remedy of the provincialism rather it will invite many more fresh demands throughout the country.

Business sutra by Devdutt Pattanaik

Abhijit Bhaduri
Devdutt is a prolific writer with more than twenty five books and over 400 articles on Indian mythology. For those who remember the beautifully illustrated stories of Amar Chitra Katha , Devdutt has taken over the task of continuing that education. He had done a television series called Business Sutra which in some senses would have been the inspiration for this book. The book, Business Sutra attempts to answer the basic question, is there an Indian way of doing business? The central argument is that management practices today are a reflection of the western beliefs which are convergent, and uni-dimensional. The Indian ethos can be better understood through our stories, symbols and rituals. The book attempts to take different aspects of business and craft what would be an Indian approach to management. For example, in the Western world, time that has gone by can never return. It is unidirectional. Indians view time in a circular fashion. What has gone by will return again whether it is rebirth or lapsed time. Maybe that explains why our meetings start late and rarely finish in time. If they do finish in time, all the agenda items are rarely completed. The book uses sutras or aphorisms from mythology to draw lessons that can be applied in todays organizations. What he does really well is to draw from an enormous range of stories from Jain, Buddhist and Hindu mythology and put them in relevant contexts. Myths and legends can be sources of deep insight. The stories that people share in any organization give us insights about the culture of the organization better than anything else. It tells us what is valued in the organization. Even something as innocuous as the office dcor can give us insights into the firms culture. Therefore the premise of the book is very strong: understand the beliefs of Indians to get insights that can be leveraged in running organizations in India.I believe Devdutt has an uncanny ability to make sense of mythology and help us make meaning of every day questions. When Ganesha looks at the world from two elephant eyes and some other god looks at the world with six pairs of human eyes, they may see different things.The bindi or the tilak is applied on the forehead between the eyes. The seat of imagination is also right there. Could it be that the ritual was a reminder to use the greatest gift of humans ie imagination? Yet, the book does not create the magic that some of his previous books did. I enjoyed reading Myth = Mithya and Jaya which is the story of Mahabharata. In this book when Devdutt connects the stories and beliefs that make up the Indian culture, to the complex world of business he muddies the water even more. We know that in organizations, the leaders have to manage several stakeholders eg customer, employee, reporting manager, colleagues, support staff etc. Devdutt likens this to the yajaman depending on many devatas for success. If he had left it at that, people would draw their own meaning. Instead he illustrates each such concept through a mythological story (or sutra), adds his beautifully drawn sketches which are a treat, and amplifies it one last time through a mini case or business scenario. What eventually distracts the reader is the overdose of terms such as yajaman, sattra, bhagavan, devata, asura , etc. makes it hard to keep track of and after a point it was just easier to read the stories and study the illustrations. Svaha is what a yajaman invests: goods, services and ideas. Tathastu is the return on investment: revenue in the marketplace or salary paid by the employer. It all depends on who plays the role of yajaman, who initiates the yagna. The yagna can operate both downstream, as well as upstream, so the devata can either be the buyer or the seller, the investor or the entrepreneur, the employer or employee, director or doorman . Navigating the book is like learning a new language. So it is important that something complex is presented in simple terms to be able to become part of the leader s conversations. This book disappointed me because a very powerful idea gets lost in translation.

Voice of the people

Unbearable sufferings due to Loadshedding
Sir, Will you please ventilate the following through your much esteemed newspaper? Thanks to Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited, we in Barpathari have been living in a kind of hell for the last couple of years load-shedding is a miserable part and parcel of our life. We know that the citizen have to share the difficulty or inconvenience when the total supply is limited. But there should be time table. No time table is followed in respect of loadshedding. As a result the students, particularly the examiners are the worst sufferers. To save us from utter despair, the authority should declare its clear policy. If the load-shedding can not be done away with. Let it be made bearable at least. Yours, Joyanta Baidya Barpathari, Belonia Sir,
Would you kindly allow me little space to ventilate my grievances about pollution over the area through the column of your esteemed daily, Environmental pollution a matter of great concern throughout the world. Global warming the burning issue before the world people, an worse impact of environmental pollution, affects in many forms, like as earthquake, flood, typhoon and so many. Before two decades our village was a total green village. But in course of time green gradually disappeared due to merciless deforestation in the name of urbanisation. Thus the earlier coolness atmosphere of the village disappeared. A mass awareness campaign is essential towards aforestation for betterment of future generation. Authority should take appropriate measure to plant trees over the area.

Aquarius : When it comes to decisions, Aquarius, do whats best for you today. Dont feel like you need to perform certain tasks just because of guilt over a past situation. Do things because you want to, not because you feel obligated to someone else. The only obligation you have is to you. If its truly your desire to help someone out, then go for it, but dont sacrifice too much of yourself in the process. Pisces : Its time to settle down from the rapid-fire activities of the past few days and retreat to a quieter state of mind, Pisces. Take care of the details you failed to attend to while you were out having fun. Now is the time to turn inward and reflect. Rely on your inner reserves as opposed to your outwardly directed actions. Stay grounded and let your emotions work with your rational side.

Save the green

MESSAGE
Swami Vivekananda
Proudly proclaim at the top of thy voice: The Indian is my brother, the Indian is my life, Indias gods and goddesses are my God. Indias society is the cradle of my infancy, the pleasure-garden of my youth, the sacred heaven, the Varanasi of my old age.

24 Hrs. Ambulance Service 1. Colonel Chowmuhani Yuba Sangstha 2. Sanghati Club 3. Ramkrishna Club
Ph.9862570116

Yours, Srirupa Chakraborty Indranagar,