OPinionatED

or

VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 166                                    Date:  29.08.2016

Contents:

1.       Harassing Consumers Over Transfer Of LPG Subsidy

2.       Caterpillar Train System Conceptually Weak

3.       Ban Keeping Of Dogs & Other Pets Altogether

Harassing Consumers Over Transfer Of LPG Subsidy

The Oil Marketing Cos. (OMC) are lately creating needless hurdles in releasing the LPG subsidy to consumers. In cases where the LPG connection is taken based on the Aadhar card as the identifying document in the KYC, the excuse being given sometimes is that the dealer has not seeded the Aadhar card in the DBT (Direct Benefits Transfer) module of the OMC computer systems and therefore the subsidy has not ben transferred. This is rather surprising since then how was the connection given in the first place and further how was the subsidy being transferred without any difficulty until now. In fact earlier a sms would be sent to the consumers indicating that the subsidy had been transferred. It seems this system has been dispensed with or working irregularly since people have to remind the dealer about the subsidy and they admit that the sms mechanism does not work sometimes and it is best we update the bank passbook. Lately for cylinders supplied in first week August 2016, the subsidy is not being credited to the bank passbook even beyond three weeks. Thus anyone will understand that the consumer is not responsible for inefficiencies in the OMC and their distributor channel and by any logic should not be penalized. Moreover, senior citizens do not have the energy and inclination to tackle such issues and would expect the system to work without a glitch when they have complied with all requirements. The simplest thing to do would be to check whether the consumer had given the Aadhar card details for the KYC and transfer these details to the DBT module. There have been other instances, it is understood, where consumers have been denied supply of cylinders and asked to give affidavits about their income being below Rs. 10 Lakhs so that the LPG subsidy would be given only to those whose income falls below that level. These are all the various forms of harassment that the government, the OMC’s and their dealers, in collusion are inflicting upon the hapless consumers just for a nominal subsidy. The subsidy is not important for the consumer but the irresponsible attitude of the government and its agencies to make things difficult on something which it is committed to give is disappointing. In fact the government can come out in the open and state that it does not want to give the LPG subsidy since it is a small amount anyway right now. But unfortunately it does not have the guts to do that because of the fall-out it will have in the sentiments of the people at large and with elections coming up in major States the government is running scared. But in the name of a subsidy the government through the OMC’s should not send the hapless consumer from pillar to post to get his cooking fuel, which at other times the government says is an essential item. The consumer has no choice but to comply with the demands of the OMC's since he normally does not have an alternative for cooking. The intention of the harassment is also clearly to get the consumer to give up the subsidy in disgust. In all this process the ordinary consumer is treated as a fake and the onus of establishing his bonafides and correct entitlements are thrust upon him, when he would have complied with these requirements in the first place. This is rather unfortunate that this government does not believe in its own people. Therefore it is best that the government gets its act together and streamlines the subsidy delivery under the DBT program and not harass people needlessly who are either senior citizens or people involved in their work and who do not have the time to run around submitting affidavits etc and/or correcting the operations of the OMC’s and their dealer network. Postscript: This is the state of the affairs of the government which widely touts that the DBT with linkage to the Aadhaar card will form the basis of transfer of funds direct to beneficiary accounts starting from MNREGA, scholarships to students, pensions and all other subsidies and benefits under government schemes. One wonders that when it is not able to manage the DBT of LPG subsidy to consumers which is a typical scale in size for other similar transfers, how will it handle larger number of transfers to MNREGA and pension beneficiaries in the future. The problem with government is because of their lethargy, non-working, errors, inconsistencies and general inefficiency, the brunt is borne by the aam admi who for fear of not getting a document or his pension or whatever complies with the government officials demands or instructions.

Caterpillar Train System Conceptually Weak

There was a news item about the concept of Caterpillar train transport as an option for urban transportation to enable customers to get to about 1 Km. from their place of stay. The system is expected to function through moulded coaches strung over any existing 5 meter road and supported by an arc over the road held up by poles on both sides of the road. This arc will support rails on which, both above and below the coaches will run. The passengers will be seating only and limited to say 20 persons.  This project is understood to have won in a design competition conducted by MIT, USA. More details are available at - http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/caterpillar-train-model-indian-railway-global-award-mit-2991429/.

The judges at the competition are understood to have raised questions about accidents in adverse weather conditions where wind velocities are high and the coaches being moulded plastic and being lightweight could get dislodged from its moorings resulting in accidents and loss of human life and/or damage to public property. This is a valid concern since there has been an accident while conducting trials of the SkyBus project of the Konkan Railway Corporation in Goa about ten years ago. The SkyBus was similar to the Caterpillar train mooted as a urban public transportation solution and was planned to use fibreglass moulded coaches suspended from concrete pillars set up in the central divider of any road. During trials at nominal speeds itself on a test track because of the lightweight nature of the moulded coaches and not having accounted for forces that would be encountered on turns, one of the engineers working on the project was flung out of the coach and fell to his death onto the road some 30 ft. below. The SkyBus project launched with great fanfare was thereafter scrapped. It would not be surprising to find out that the Indian engineer who conceptualised the Caterpillar train who is reported to be from the Indian Railways and may have been possibly involved in the ill-fated SkyBus project.

In any case the Caterpillar train system efficacy is doubtful since apart from operational reasons as above but also because it will be unsuitable for mass transit which is the crying need of our urban centres. Where traffic is low density such systems could work but these are conceptually unsuitable also when we look ahead into the future. With the existing infrastructure of roads within our cities limited for widening and expansion there is thinking that the space above the roads should be used for allowing traffic to move faster and without any hindrance or obstructions. Thus designers are looking at compact cars that can fly hovering  30 - 40 feet above the existing road in Star Wars style. There has also been talk of allocating such airspace for these new generation vehicles which makes the idea more realistic and not too far into the future. The Caterpillar train system will thus be a hindrance to such futuristic options and seems relatively outdated technology when you look at flying cars which have advantages of moving faster and have also more maneuverability in restricted city spaces. Amazon is  also looking at using drones for delivery of packages to households which may become a reality by next year which will also see the Caterpillar train system as an impediment. Conceptually any overground transportation system should not seek to reserve space for itself but space should be seen as a resource to be utilised in a time-sharing mode by different transportation systems since essentially space is scarce particularly in urban environments.

Ban Keeping Of Dogs & Other Pets Altogether

The Kerala government has been correct in taking measures to cull 'dangerous' dogs after some dogs attacked and killed the unfortunate old woman recently. How they will identify 'dangerous' dogs is another matter?  In the same locality, again another woman was attacked but she is reported to have luckily survived. Not only that there have been attacks by dogs on young children and infants in our cities mostly Bangalore which has also led to fatalities. The experience of dogs attacking you can be traumatic for the victims particularly for children who survive the attacks and they will carry the scars on their body and mind for life. Apart from this there is the difficult treatment process in the event of being bitten by dogs more so by rabid ones. . In this context Maneka Gandhi's comment that the Kerala government's action is illegal, seems to be out of context. Our governments are here to protect the life of human beings and surely not of the canine population is what Maneka Gandhi should realise. The dog menace is rampant across India in both its cities and villages because of the littering and open garbage disposal and needs to be tackled seriously. In fact as a humanitarian measure that benefits the animal population also is that keeping pets of all kinds should be banned. It does not make any sense for animals and birds to be held captive with restricted movements when nature has ordained that they should be free to roam the lands and the skies. Keeping pets is a selfish gesture by human beings for their benefit and pleasure and is  a kind of torture on the pets. At the worst, pets can be allowed to be kept by people but in the case of dogs all strays should be culled or rounded up and released in jungle areas of the country. For those keeping pets they should ensure that  they keep them in healthy condition with periodic visits to the vets, toilet train them and also comply with the requirements of safety and public hygiene when they take them out. In fact when people keep dogs as pets, it is a nuisance for others living in the locality since the pet owner takes out his dog and gets it to poop in front of the houses of others. This is not acceptable since abroad the dog owner has to collect the poop and deposit it in special bins or they have to carry it back to their homes for proper disposal and not litter the roads and parks as we see here. For safety, the bigger dogs should be muzzled when brought out while leashes are mandatory. Thus we should bring in legislation to either ban pets or at the least regulate the keeping of pets so that they are not a nuisance and a clear and present danger to society.

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VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 165                                 Date:  22.08.2016

Contents:

1.       Baloochistan Another Modi Gaffe In The Making

2.       India An Ageing Democracy To Be Handled With Care

3.       The Olympics Spectacle

Baloochistan Another Modi Gaffe In The Making

The raising of the issue of Baloochistan by PM Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech is going to open a can of worms with Pakistan. They have already taken the comment to confirm that India has been inciting the people of that region in Pakistan. Just like we have been stating for decades that Pakistan should not raise the issue of Kashmir considering that it is a wholly integrated part of India, we should not have raised Baloochistan since it is an integral part of Pakistan. It is one thing to have covert operations in a disturbed region of an enemy country which should be kept away from the glare of international comment but it is a completely another thing to interfere publicly in the matter and encourage it. This will only encourage Pakistan to raise the ante on Kashmir including fomenting terror activity. We have thus played into the hands of Pakistan. We should have tried to win over the people of Kashmir particularly their youth in which we have miserably failed. By blaming Pakistan for the current trouble in Kashmir Modi’s government is taking the easy way out since accusing Pakistan has been the de rigueur strategy of all earlier governments in Delhi. It is also acknowledging that they have miserably failed there even after being a part of the government in that State. What next – is the question that Modi should have asked himself? The Baloochistan issue will be just like making needless noise without any concrete results emerging out of it. This is precisely what happened with the chai pe charchha with Nawaz Sharifi that Modi bumbled into and within a matter of months we had Pathankot and now we have a complete reversal of our earlier stand with Pakistan. Modi would be better advised to heed Sushma Swaraj’s advice on foreign affairs considering that the National Security Adviser Doval seems to be another yes-man, dancing to the tune of Modi’s play of the damroo.  

India An Ageing Democracy To Be Handled With Care

The 70th anniversary of India's independence from the British colonial yoke was celebrated with gusto. However, we need to consider that even a nation at this age carries signs of aging.  India has over the years  generated  its own problems, difficulties and biases. It therefore needs to be considered warts and all as we go towards the future. It is unfortunate that poverty eradication has not kept pace with the development of the country. In fact instead of citing GDP growth, the better judge of the Indian economy would have been a metrics to measure poverty eradication. Just prior to any elections that are held in the country garibi hatao slogans are raised by all political parties to be hurriedly consigned to the corner upon the declaration of results. With agriculture continuing to be rain-fed there is an urgent need to focus on irrigation so that a guaranteed minimum of agricultural production takes place to feed our burgeoning population. In growth of agricultural income is the solution to poverty eradication since more than 60% of India’s population lives in its rural areas. With our rural areas flourishing there will be less compelling reasons for our people to migrate to our urban centres thus reducing the pressure of population on our cities. Recently PM Narendra Modi exhorted the Niti Aayog – the new entity that has replaced the Planning Commission – to look for out-of-the-box solutions to resolve India’s problems. In India with various estimates of population ranging from 28 – 40% being under the poverty line, it is still too early to ask our planners to think differently. We will have to trudge for at least another 10 years with the focus remaining on roti, pani, kapda, makaan to reduce poverty levels to below 10% of the population and then these event management headlines that Modi is fond of like Smart City etc. will become relevant. The continuing attempt by the present government to tailor economic policies to benefit the middle class and the rich will turn out to be disastrous for the country. The other lesson that India teaches the present government is that you cannot forget history. If you do so, it is to your own peril. Many a time in the last two years or so that the Modi government has been in power there has been an attempt to recast our history which is wrong, since you have to live with what is and move forward. Further, many a time you also hear the comment from this present government that ‘we are not responsible’ for something or the other and attempts are made to blame the previous dispensation. This is not a sign of a responsible government and will not allow the ruling parties to see matters  with a clear perspective. Right now what is happening is that the Modi government is trying to paint the picture of a vibrant economy while the reality is that India in its 70^th year is like the proverbial dhobi’s donkey being flogged with the whip of vibrancy while being overburdened with its acquired problems and its tired legs likely to give way at any moment. 

The Olympics Spectacle

The Rio Olympics 2016 concluded for us on the morning of Mon, 22^nd August with the closing ceremony. For all the criticism that the Rio Games, the first ever to be held in South America, has received in its administration and operational matters, for television viewers like us it has been a wonderful spectacle right from the opening ceremony for a clear two weeks of exciting and fun-filled watching of the best athletes in the world striving to show that they are the best of the best. Star Sports need to be commended for bringing us the television coverage live from Rio for which it dedicated almost exclusively 4 complete channels. On land, water and air (for gymnastics and diving) the athletes have followed the motto of the Olympics – Faster, Higher, Stronger – in letter and spirit. After witnessing two of the best athletes of this century, Phelps in the water and Bolt on land, amass their gold medals from one Olympics to another, it will be a sad thing not to see them perform at Tokyo 2020, the next venue of the Olympics. Apart from Phelps and Bolt, you had many athletes repeat their feat of capturing the gold medal in their event at successive Olympics. Notable among them was Mo Farah of the UK who took the title in both the 5000 meters and the 10,000 meters races. Many added the Olympic gold medals to the World Championships title that they held like Kipchoge of Kenya who took the men’s marathon. Overall one would say that the Rio Olympics had fewer records, both Olympic and the World, compared to the earlier Olympics maybe because of the weather or whatever which was hotter for some of the athletes. But even then for us avid watchers the sight of a Usain Bolt sweeping past his co-runners and crossing the finish line with that wry grin on his face was enough to send us in raptures. Thank you, International Olympics Association (IOC), for maintaining the tradition to challenge the body and mind to achieve performances at the very edge of human capacity and to bring it live into our homes wherever we live across the world.

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OPinionatED

or

VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 164                                  Date:  15.08.2016

Contents:

1.       Our Athletes @ Rio Olympics Deserve Praise

2.       Falling Into The Arms of The US

3.       Newspaper Coverage Does Not Enhance India’s Happiness Index

Our Athletes @ Rio Olympics Deserve Praise

Our athletes have put up a stupendous show at the Rio Olympics and barring injuries to some of our stars we would have seen some medals in India's kitty. For those who have been critical about the performance of our athletes, one needs to ask these heartless critics as to how many get a chance to perform on an international stage like an Olympics. By just going there they are amongst the maybe Top 100 in the world in their event or discipline. For the critics, are we not entitled to ask whether they have represented the country in their discipline or profession at any important international event equivalent to the Olympics? For that matter even India rarely ranks above 100 in the world rankings for any sphere of activity except in corruption and maybe cleanliness. Thus we should not take away any credit from our athletes participating at Rio. As for medals, Baron de Coubertin, one of the founders of the Olympic movement had said that it is the participation that is important, medals are secondary. Consider the stunning performance of Deepa Karmakar in the finals of the Vault event of the gymnastics finals, where she lost the bronze by just 1.5 points. But the young athlete from Agartala, Tripura participating in an event like gymnastics which for India is a relatively unknown discipline, would have motivated lakhs of young children in our country to go out there and try gymnastics. The same is true for Abhinav Bindra who was deprived from being among the medals by just 0.5 points in his shooting event. It is not that easy to compete at that level and those of us who have had no equivalent experience should not be needlessly critical and try to take away any iota of credit from our athletes at the Olympics. If the medals are not coming, it is not only the fault of the athletes but also of the system where at least in the past there were more officials in the Indian contingent to the Olympics than athletes and our ministers go and make a fool of themselves. We always tend to slight others but think highly of what little we do ourselves, which is patently unfair. 

                                                       Falling Into The Arms of The US

The tilt towards the US by India is getting more and more pronounced under Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised by the US-style Town Hall meeting that he conducted at New Delhi recently to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of his MyGov initiative. One does not know whether Modi is practising to fight the elections for the US Presidency encouraged by the fact that if Donald Trump could stand for the presidency, so could he! The tilt by India towards the US was becoming apparent starting with the number of visits made by Modi to the US which have been four in just the two years that Modi has been in office, a record of sorts.  We were also almost falling at the feet of the US for the NSG membership at which we came a cropper. What we need to understand is that the US will play India along as long as it suits them. At the present moment the US is keeping India happy be it on the NSG membership or otherwise is because it wants business from India. The nuclear reactors business with GE cannot go forward smoothly unless the NSG membership of India is cleared. Again all this bonhomie as expressed by the US is to maintain their large chunk of India's defence equipment business which in any case is coming to them. Lately contracts worth billion of dollars have been placed with US Cos. for artillery guns, long range reconnaissance aircraft, missile systems etc. and it is not known whether any competing suppliers from other countries were called to participate in this procurement. No wonder the smirk on US faces is getting fixed and more permanent. After having been kept out of the main combat fighter requirement for the IAF which went to Rafael from France, the US has more than made up with other deals as listed above. Not only that it is understood that with the opening of the dairy farming segment to foreign investment the PM on one of his visits to the US has asked them to come and set up their plants in India. Further Nitin Gadkari during his recent visit to the US enamoured by the scenic coastal highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco has promised something similar for the Mumbai-Goa highway, currently under expansion, that runs parallel to the sea and asked for know-how from his US counterparts for this project. That apart he has asked for assistance to reduce the number of accidents on our highways from the US! This is rather surprising since do we after 70 years of Independence not know how to build a highway and to keep it safe for users. At the same time we do not question the US on their agricultural subsidies to the grain industry - maize and corn, as well as the dairy industry as expressed by Joseph Stiglitz, the celebrated economist, on one of his recent visits to India while we stand tight-lipped while the US hammers us on our export subsidies. After the success that ISRO has had in launching satellites in space including some from US organisations and even universities, the US has put a partial ban on such launches by US entities from using ISRO. Is the ban being imposed because ISRO launches the satellites at a fraction of the cost of NASA and other international launch organisations? Is this then free trade?  And if not, why are we hesitant to take it up with the US. Again the US lectures us on human rights in Kashmir and other places but we do not raise the issue of blacks being blatantly mowed down by the guns of their police across the US. There should be some give and take in any relationship while with the US it is all one-sided. The US in reality as part of its long-term global strategy needs a yes-man and have been feeling that gap after Tony Blair, George Bush II's personal lap dog, relinquished the PM's office in the UK. Cameron was a tough nut to crack for the US and the new PM May is an unknown quantity. That is why they have been cultivating India by making appropriate statements criticising Pakistan's terror network aimed at Kashmir & India. This outreach is more so because of India's geographical location where it can play point-counterpoint to China in line with US initiatives with the latter country playing increasingly intransigent to the US requests particularly relating to the South China Sea.  Thus India is filling up this void without knowing where this road will take it. It is not beyond the US after the new President takes over to dump India and move on to a completely new path leaving India in the lurch. In international diplomacy Modi would have learnt his lesson that excessive engagement only begets negative results as the chai with Nawaz Sharif had shown. The best position with any country and even the US is an arms-length relationship purely depending on the merits of the issues of engagement. 

Newspaper Coverage Does Not Enhance India’s Happiness Index

These days when you open the papers you are immediately exposed to the news that is horrifying, nauseous, disturbing and shocking. One does not understand whether this is what people want to read? But why would newspapers publish this if this is not what people want to read. Papers facing the brunt of the onslaught on their readership by news on the Internet and supplied on the Mobile will surely print only what drives their circulation up. But for those of us who cannot do without their paper with morning cuppa of tea or coffee, it is a difficult matter to wade through the 10 -12 pages of essential news that a paper carries without creasing one’s brow or shaking our heads in disgust. There are different ways to relieve your mind and take it away from the disturbing things that are happening around you. Some take to spirituality, others to mediation, while some like me take to watching sports on TV. Particularly over the last 2 months there has been a surfeit of good sports-watching what with the Confedrations Cup or the Americas Cup for football held in the US, then followed the Euro Cup again for football and now we have the Olympics. In the middle the sports bouquet was boosted by the coverage of cricket around the world involving England, Pakistan, West Indies, India, Sri Lanka and Australia. Satellite TV has been a boon since it beams into your home programs of different nationalities and languages from across the world. Re-visiting the aspect of disturbing news that is carried in the papers, one wonders what papers our PM Narendra Modi reads everyday or if at all he reads any, maybe waiting for one of his flunkies to come in and show him the coverage relating to his own headlines and photo opportunities. Because one would believe if he reads any paper he would have decided to expand his Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to cover the cleaning the hearts and minds of the majority of the Indian people.

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OPinionatED

or

VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 163                           Date:  08.08.2016

Contents:

1.       The 'Foot in the Mouth' Disease Is Back In The BJP

2.       Swimming In High Inflationary Waters Until End-2017

3.       The Human Brain: Research’s Last Frontier

The 'Foot in the Mouth' Disease Is Back In The BJP

The 'foot in the mouth' disease that had been plaguing the BJP close to almost 6 months ago now seems to have come back with renewed vigour and it seems to be hitting right at the top echelon of the Cabinet at this time. The first victim of this disease is the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who for no rhyme or reason and without any undue provocation raised the issue of Aamir Khan's statements in the past about intolerance spreading in the country and how his wife had mentioned that they should consider leaving India. The matter was for all purposes dead as a doornail to use a cliched phrase and had been forgotten until Parrikar with his immaturity gave it new life by saying that people like Aamir Khan have to be 'taught a lesson'. The paternalistic overtones that the words raised were compounded by the pettiness of the further comments by the country's Defence Minister saying how the BJP/RSS cadres forced an e-commerce Co. to drop Aamir Khan as brand ambassador by mass placements of orders and then canceling them. This kind of vindictiveness is clearly not appreciated and is tantamount to goondagiri with shades of blackmail which a senior minister indulges in a public gathering. It is time therefore that PM Narendra Modi cautioned his senior ministers and sent them and the rest of his Cabinet for a refresher course in public relations. This should at least encourage them to have a civil tongue in their mouths when they speak in public. The PM had suggested a refresher course for bureaucrats but the priority seems to be the public relations course for the Cabinet. Another related aspect that this incident brings out is that senior ministers need to realise that when they speak it is considered the official and sanctioned line of the government particularly when you consider how our illiterate masses take these things. Thus at this time where we have the cauldron already simmering across the country with the attacks on the Dalits by the 'go rakshaks', we will have the communal issues adding to the tension. The last thing that we need to realise is that people like Aamir Khan have the resources to face such situations and look after their security and that of their family. But when an atmosphere of uncertainty and division is created by such statements then the lower ranks of the Hindutva brigade will take it upon themselves to pick on unsuspecting and helpless people around the country leading to unfortunate deaths for no fault of the poor victims.

Swimming In High Inflationary Waters Until End-2017

With the passage of the GST bill in Parliament and the likelihood of a flat rate of direct tax across the country from April 2017, we should be prepared for an incendiary mix of runaway inflation starting from now and until end 2017. The reason for this is as follows, the 7th Pay Commission will be implemented  by the Centre from this month, August 2016 and some of the states will follow accepting it as we go into the new year. With this there will be more money in the hands of the salaried class to be extracted by rising prices. At the same time food prices particularly fruits and vegetables which showed a dip last month are likely to go up with news already coming in from Delhi that an increase of 35 - 40 % in prices of vegetables has happened because of the rains and floods dislocating supply lines. This pattern will follow across the country since with copious rains many parts of the country are reeling under floods particularly Bihar, Assam & Orissa. Already onions which prices had come down are likely to go up through September to November since the market will have to wait for the rabi crop to come in to stabilise prices. The prices of pulses have not changed much though the media has been used by the government in its drum-beating exercise of claiming that farmers have increased the acreage under pulse cultivation on the back of the hike in the MSP and that with the good rains there is a likelihood of a bumper harvest. But like they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating and with the gap in the demand and supply being so large, there is not much likelihood that prices of pulses will change dramatically. Thus as we go into the new financial year we will have then the GST implementation, if things happen according to plan, from April 2017 and it is expected that there will be a spike in inflation by doing this. This has happened in all countries that have moved to the GST plan and India will be no exception. This spike will be more accentuated by the fighting between the Centre and the States to set the GST rate in excess of the revenue neutral 18% to around 21-22% so that the States do not lose out on revenue. Where in the developed world you see the equivalent of GST being levied in single digit numbers, in India we are going to almost double of what is considered normal! This rate in excess of 21% will fuel the rising of inflation to exorbitant proportions. Why the governments, both the Centre and that of the States, not take a considered and unanimous decision that they will insulate the common man from these additional inflation woes and set the GST rate at 15% is something that the average citizen cannot fathom? Why is it that the common man has to always shoulder the financial burden of any government measure? For once let the government bear the cross and spread the under-recoveries into the future. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the advocate turned quack economist has said that the spike in inflation because of GST will be short-term. Little does he realise or he realises but does not say so, that in India nothing  which goes up ever comes down back to the level where it started its upward journey. If questioned in the future Jaitley, will bow out by saying - You know how it is? Try and Manage. That is the typical reaction of our jugad ministers in a jugad country. Thus concluding one must say we have stoked our inflation engine with enough fuel to fly until end 2017 and God help the common man.

The Human Brain: Research’s Last Frontier

Even after the wonderful advances in science and technology that we have seen in the last 150 years, understanding the human brain still remains in equivalent terms to the Dark Continent as Africa was called in the early 19th century. The brain’s structure remains largely unknown and it’s functioning mysterious and elusive to researchers. That is the reason why it is called the last frontier for research today.

Have you wondered how a thought can transport you through time and put you in a situation or event in your life that you cherish? Maybe the pictures are a bit hazy of the other people who were at that moment present or related to that memory but it still warms the cockles of your heart and brings that contented smile to your face. This journey is like you are placed in a vehicle somewhat like a space/time machine that is triggered by a thought related to an image or a taste or a smell or a touch while you are going through your daily schedule of work. The process of transporting yourself does not require you to remove yourself from what you are doing at that moment in time but the feeling co-exists. These fleeting moments give you joy and relieve you from stress or the tedium of what you are then doing. If you so desire you can settle back in a kind of reverie indulging yourself in that memory. This transportation is not limited by any boundaries of space and time but finds you flying across continents or through decades of years depending upon how variegated your life has been. That similar taste will remind you of some food that your wife or mother cooked or that you had in some restaurant many long years ago or the smell of flowers or a perfume will bring back memories of a happy event or of that girl on the street that passed you by some 50 years ago.

Can this experience which elevates you mentally without having to take anything like imbibing alcohol or indulge in substance abuse be made to be available on call or on demand for each one of us? The necessity being that if this experience gives us joy and pleasure and gets us into a frame of mind that is enervating, then it enhances one’s happiness index which is a catalyst to help us perform better at whatever we are doing and share this happiness with those around us. Would this not make the world a happier place to live in?

The present status of research into the human brain is to assist those who are physically and mentally challenged to be able to do routine tasks and somewhat also ease their condition and reduce their suffering. Additionally the human brain is being investigated to perform tasks with computers and maybe long-term serve as a memory for computers or at best form the model on which computer memories would be based on if they can be created out of living tissue. Thus you see or will see paraplegics and those mentally challenged perform day to day tasks with the help of computers. You have also the brain interfacing with computers as some of the advanced labs in the US have shown. It is understood that the CIA has been working for long on telepathy and telekinesis, the manner of communicating of thoughts with another individual or a group of individuals in the first and the ability to move things with the brain. Most of this is hush-hush and shrouded behind the veils of secrecy. The seeming lack of path-breaking progress in any research on the human brain is implied in two seemingly innocuous statements. The first made in the attached article that the human brain is being investigated with tools of artificial intelligence that we have currently available. This means that something like the human brain with a higher order of performance is being attempted to be assessed by devices or techniques which are of an order of much lower performance. The question therefore is – Will we see any success or will success be delayed? The other is that sometime back it was reported in the papers that electric shock is again being used on mentally ill patients. The use of electric shock widespread until the early part of the 20^th century for treating mental patients was sought to be dispensed with since it involved essentially cruelty to the patient and gave no remarkable and repeatable results for cure. Is going back to the electric shock treatment an admission by our researchers that they are at sea with alternative methods of treatment? These comments are not to denigrate or make light of those who are working in this area of research into the human brain but to position that possibly we are not getting anywhere and we need to look at using more different and more advanced methodologies to decipher the mystery of the human brain.

The research on the human brain as it is reported to the outside world seems to be concentrating as covered earlier into helping those who are a small proportion of humankind, that is the physically and mentally challenged.  This though a crucial and necessary area tends to be limited and restricts the understanding of the brain for the larger benefit of the whole of humanity. The proposition here is that we should look at this matter in another way and that is focus on what can be done with the human brain to help the larger majority.  As mentioned at the beginning if we can make an apparatus that can control at will the transportation of humans into a state of re-enjoying their memories in a navigable manner then we will enhance the happiness of the world many times over. This apparatus can be in the form of a headgear which we see today being used for experiences relating to virtual reality. It will have electrodes or hardware to stimulate the brain to re-create what is required by the individual. Since we know at least that the brain works through neurons or electrical impulses, such an apparatus is not absolutely beyond the scope of reality. If such a device can be made then it will have a mass market which will create the necessary resources to invest further into the research into the brain. This apart from bringing down the cost of the headgear will also help in more allocation of money to be given to help in making devices to assist those who are mentally and/or physically challenged, the present focus of research.

For those who would like to read up a little more on the human brain an article entitled – Unknown Regions of the Brain – that came out recently in the Deccan Herald, Bangalore is attached.

Taken From The Deccan Herald, Bangalore Spectrum Supplement 2.8.2016

Unknown regions of the brain...

Carl Zimmer August 2, 2016, The New York Times

The brain looks like a featureless expanse of folds and bulges, but it’s actually carved up into invisible territories. Each is specialised: Some groups of neurons become active when we recognise faces, others when we read, others when we raise our hands. Last month, in what many experts are calling a milestone in neuroscience, researchers published a spectacular new map of the brain, detailing nearly 100 previously unknown regions — an unprecedented glimpse into the machinery of the human mind. Scientists will rely on this guide as they attempt to understand virtually every aspect of the brain, from how it develops in children and ages over decades, to how it can be corrupted by diseases like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. “It’s a step towards understanding why we’re us,” said David Kleinfeld, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the research.

Scientists created the map with advanced scanners and computers running artificial intelligence programmes that ‘learned’ to identify the brain’s hidden regions from vast amounts of data collected from hundreds of test subjects, a far more sophisticated and broader effort than had been previously attempted. While an important advance, the new atlas is hardly the final word on the brain’s workings. It may take decades for scientists to figure out what each region is doing, and more will be discovered in the coming decades. “This map you should think of as version 1.0,” said Matthew F Glasser, a neuroscientist at Washington University School of Medicine, USA and lead author of the new research. “There may be a version 2.0 as the data get better and more eyes look at the data. We hope the map can evolve as the science progresses.”

The first hints of the brain’s hidden geography emerged more than 150 years ago. In the 1860s, physician Pierre Paul Broca was intrigued by two of his patients who were unable to speak. After they died, Pierre examined their brains. On the outer layer, called the cortex, he found that both had suffered damage to the same patch of tissue. That region came to be known as Broca’s area. In recent decades, scientists have found that it becomes active when people speak and when they try to understand the speech of other people. In the late 1800s, a group of German researchers identified other regions of the cortex, each having distinct types of cells packed together in unique ways. In 1907, Korbinian Brodmann published a catalogue of 52 brain regions. Neuroscientists have relied on his hand-drawn map ever since, adding a modest number of new regions with their own research.

Establishing a new standard

“This is the standard for where you are in the brain,” said Matthew. Three years ago, Matthew and his colleagues set out to create a new standard. They drew on data collected by the Human Connectome Project, in which 1,200 volunteers were studied with powerful new scanners. The project team recorded high-resolution images of each participant’s brain, and then recorded its activity during hours of tests on memory, language and other kinds of thought. In previous attempts to map the cortex, scientists typically had looked only at one kind of evidence at a time — say, the arrangements of cells.

The Human Connectome Project has made it possible to study the brain in much greater detail. In addition to looking at the activity of the brain, the scientists also looked at its anatomy. They measured the amount of myelin, for example, a fatty substance that insulated neurons. They found sharp contrasts in myelin levels from one region of the cortex to the next. “We have 112 different types of information we can tap into,” said David C Van Essen, a principal investigator with the Human Connectome Project at Washington University Medical School.

Using these variables, the scientists trained a computer with data from 210 brains to recognise discrete regions of the cortex. Once the computer profiled the distinctive combinations of myelin, activity and other characteristics, they tested it on 210 other brains. The computer pinpointed the regions in the new brains 96.6% of the time. The scientists found that only a small number of features were required to map the brain. That means that researchers will be able to use their method to map an individual’s brain in a little over an hour of scanning. The map produced by the computer includes 83 familiar regions, such as Broca’s area, but includes 97 that were unknown — or just forgotten. In the 1950s, for example, German researchers noticed a patch on the side of the brain in which neurons had little myelin, compared with neighbouring regions. But the finding was soon neglected. “People tended to ignore it, and it was lost in the literature,” said David.

The computer rediscovered the odd territory and David and his colleagues found that it becomes unusually active when people listen to stories. That finding suggests the region, which they call 55b, is part of a language network in the brain, along with Broca’s area. In other parts of the cortex, the scientists were able to partition previously identified regions into smaller ones. For example, they discovered that a large region near the front of the brain, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, actually is made up of a dozen smaller zones. The region becomes active during many different kinds of thought, ranging from decision-making to deception. It’s possible that each of the newly identified smaller parts is important for one of those tasks.

Adept mapping

The computer program developed by the scientists became so adept at mapping the cortex that it could identify hidden regions even when they took on unusual shapes. Twelve of the research subjects, for example, have a 55b region that’s split into two isolated patches. Other neuroscientists hope that the new map will sharpen their experiments, allowing them to discover how the brain’s cogs mesh. “The next big step is seeing what this can do for us in terms of buying more power,” said Emily S Finn, a graduate student at Yale University, USA who has used Human Connectome Project data to find links between brain activity and intelligence.

David predicted that other researchers will find ways to verify the new map’s accuracy. Genetic testing, for example: If 180 regions of the cortex really are distinct, then the neurons in each should share a distinct combination of active genes. “You can imagine going to these 180 regions, taking a punch of tissue, and seeing if you can really genetically differentiate them,” said David. Many experts believe that the brain, on closer inspection, will turn out to be an even greater collective of regions that somehow cooperate for the common good.

David said that he and other scientists will be using the map to track the development of young brains and to look for changes caused by disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. “We shouldn’t expect miracles and easy answers,” he said, “but we’re positioned to accelerate progress.”

**************************

OPinionatED

or

VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 163                           Date:  08.08.2016

Contents:

1.       The 'Foot in the Mouth' Disease Is Back In The BJP

2.       Swimming In High Inflationary Waters Until End-2017

3.       The Human Brain: Research’s Last Frontier

The 'Foot in the Mouth' Disease Is Back In The BJP

The 'foot in the mouth' disease that had been plaguing the BJP close to almost 6 months ago now seems to have come back with renewed vigour and it seems to be hitting right at the top echelon of the Cabinet at this time. The first victim of this disease is the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who for no rhyme or reason and without any undue provocation raised the issue of Aamir Khan's statements in the past about intolerance spreading in the country and how his wife had mentioned that they should consider leaving India. The matter was for all purposes dead as a doornail to use a cliched phrase and had been forgotten until Parrikar with his immaturity gave it new life by saying that people like Aamir Khan have to be 'taught a lesson'. The paternalistic overtones that the words raised were compounded by the pettiness of the further comments by the country's Defence Minister saying how the BJP/RSS cadres forced an e-commerce Co. to drop Aamir Khan as brand ambassador by mass placements of orders and then canceling them. This kind of vindictiveness is clearly not appreciated and is tantamount to goondagiri with shades of blackmail which a senior minister indulges in a public gathering. It is time therefore that PM Narendra Modi cautioned his senior ministers and sent them and the rest of his Cabinet for a refresher course in public relations. This should at least encourage them to have a civil tongue in their mouths when they speak in public. The PM had suggested a refresher course for bureaucrats but the priority seems to be the public relations course for the Cabinet. Another related aspect that this incident brings out is that senior ministers need to realise that when they speak it is considered the official and sanctioned line of the government particularly when you consider how our illiterate masses take these things. Thus at this time where we have the cauldron already simmering across the country with the attacks on the Dalits by the 'go rakshaks', we will have the communal issues adding to the tension. The last thing that we need to realise is that people like Aamir Khan have the resources to face such situations and look after their security and that of their family. But when an atmosphere of uncertainty and division is created by such statements then the lower ranks of the Hindutva brigade will take it upon themselves to pick on unsuspecting and helpless people around the country leading to unfortunate deaths for no fault of the poor victims.

Swimming In High Inflationary Waters Until End-2017

With the passage of the GST bill in Parliament and the likelihood of a flat rate of direct tax across the country from April 2017, we should be prepared for an incendiary mix of runaway inflation starting from now and until end 2017. The reason for this is as follows, the 7th Pay Commission will be implemented  by the Centre from this month, August 2016 and some of the states will follow accepting it as we go into the new year. With this there will be more money in the hands of the salaried class to be extracted by rising prices. At the same time food prices particularly fruits and vegetables which showed a dip last month are likely to go up with news already coming in from Delhi that an increase of 35 - 40 % in prices of vegetables has happened because of the rains and floods dislocating supply lines. This pattern will follow across the country since with copious rains many parts of the country are reeling under floods particularly Bihar, Assam & Orissa. Already onions which prices had come down are likely to go up through September to November since the market will have to wait for the rabi crop to come in to stabilise prices. The prices of pulses have not changed much though the media has been used by the government in its drum-beating exercise of claiming that farmers have increased the acreage under pulse cultivation on the back of the hike in the MSP and that with the good rains there is a likelihood of a bumper harvest. But like they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating and with the gap in the demand and supply being so large, there is not much likelihood that prices of pulses will change dramatically. Thus as we go into the new financial year we will have then the GST implementation, if things happen according to plan, from April 2017 and it is expected that there will be a spike in inflation by doing this. This has happened in all countries that have moved to the GST plan and India will be no exception. This spike will be more accentuated by the fighting between the Centre and the States to set the GST rate in excess of the revenue neutral 18% to around 21-22% so that the States do not lose out on revenue. Where in the developed world you see the equivalent of GST being levied in single digit numbers, in India we are going to almost double of what is considered normal! This rate in excess of 21% will fuel the rising of inflation to exorbitant proportions. Why the governments, both the Centre and that of the States, not take a considered and unanimous decision that they will insulate the common man from these additional inflation woes and set the GST rate at 15% is something that the average citizen cannot fathom? Why is it that the common man has to always shoulder the financial burden of any government measure? For once let the government bear the cross and spread the under-recoveries into the future. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the advocate turned quack economist has said that the spike in inflation because of GST will be short-term. Little does he realise or he realises but does not say so, that in India nothing  which goes up ever comes down back to the level where it started its upward journey. If questioned in the future Jaitley, will bow out by saying - You know how it is? Try and Manage. That is the typical reaction of our jugad ministers in a jugad country. Thus concluding one must say we have stoked our inflation engine with enough fuel to fly until end 2017 and God help the common man.

The Human Brain: Research’s Last Frontier

Even after the wonderful advances in science and technology that we have seen in the last 150 years, understanding the human brain still remains in equivalent terms to the Dark Continent as Africa was called in the early 19th century. The brain’s structure remains largely unknown and it’s functioning mysterious and elusive to researchers. That is the reason why it is called the last frontier for research today.

Have you wondered how a thought can transport you through time and put you in a situation or event in your life that you cherish? Maybe the pictures are a bit hazy of the other people who were at that moment present or related to that memory but it still warms the cockles of your heart and brings that contented smile to your face. This journey is like you are placed in a vehicle somewhat like a space/time machine that is triggered by a thought related to an image or a taste or a smell or a touch while you are going through your daily schedule of work. The process of transporting yourself does not require you to remove yourself from what you are doing at that moment in time but the feeling co-exists. These fleeting moments give you joy and relieve you from stress or the tedium of what you are then doing. If you so desire you can settle back in a kind of reverie indulging yourself in that memory. This transportation is not limited by any boundaries of space and time but finds you flying across continents or through decades of years depending upon how variegated your life has been. That similar taste will remind you of some food that your wife or mother cooked or that you had in some restaurant many long years ago or the smell of flowers or a perfume will bring back memories of a happy event or of that girl on the street that passed you by some 50 years ago.

Can this experience which elevates you mentally without having to take anything like imbibing alcohol or indulge in substance abuse be made to be available on call or on demand for each one of us? The necessity being that if this experience gives us joy and pleasure and gets us into a frame of mind that is enervating, then it enhances one’s happiness index which is a catalyst to help us perform better at whatever we are doing and share this happiness with those around us. Would this not make the world a happier place to live in?

The present status of research into the human brain is to assist those who are physically and mentally challenged to be able to do routine tasks and somewhat also ease their condition and reduce their suffering. Additionally the human brain is being investigated to perform tasks with computers and maybe long-term serve as a memory for computers or at best form the model on which computer memories would be based on if they can be created out of living tissue. Thus you see or will see paraplegics and those mentally challenged perform day to day tasks with the help of computers. You have also the brain interfacing with computers as some of the advanced labs in the US have shown. It is understood that the CIA has been working for long on telepathy and telekinesis, the manner of communicating of thoughts with another individual or a group of individuals in the first and the ability to move things with the brain. Most of this is hush-hush and shrouded behind the veils of secrecy. The seeming lack of path-breaking progress in any research on the human brain is implied in two seemingly innocuous statements. The first made in the attached article that the human brain is being investigated with tools of artificial intelligence that we have currently available. This means that something like the human brain with a higher order of performance is being attempted to be assessed by devices or techniques which are of an order of much lower performance. The question therefore is – Will we see any success or will success be delayed? The other is that sometime back it was reported in the papers that electric shock is again being used on mentally ill patients. The use of electric shock widespread until the early part of the 20^th century for treating mental patients was sought to be dispensed with since it involved essentially cruelty to the patient and gave no remarkable and repeatable results for cure. Is going back to the electric shock treatment an admission by our researchers that they are at sea with alternative methods of treatment? These comments are not to denigrate or make light of those who are working in this area of research into the human brain but to position that possibly we are not getting anywhere and we need to look at using more different and more advanced methodologies to decipher the mystery of the human brain.

The research on the human brain as it is reported to the outside world seems to be concentrating as covered earlier into helping those who are a small proportion of humankind, that is the physically and mentally challenged.  This though a crucial and necessary area tends to be limited and restricts the understanding of the brain for the larger benefit of the whole of humanity. The proposition here is that we should look at this matter in another way and that is focus on what can be done with the human brain to help the larger majority.  As mentioned at the beginning if we can make an apparatus that can control at will the transportation of humans into a state of re-enjoying their memories in a navigable manner then we will enhance the happiness of the world many times over. This apparatus can be in the form of a headgear which we see today being used for experiences relating to virtual reality. It will have electrodes or hardware to stimulate the brain to re-create what is required by the individual. Since we know at least that the brain works through neurons or electrical impulses, such an apparatus is not absolutely beyond the scope of reality. If such a device can be made then it will have a mass market which will create the necessary resources to invest further into the research into the brain. This apart from bringing down the cost of the headgear will also help in more allocation of money to be given to help in making devices to assist those who are mentally and/or physically challenged, the present focus of research.

For those who would like to read up a little more on the human brain an article entitled – Unknown Regions of the Brain – that came out recently in the Deccan Herald, Bangalore is attached.

Taken From The Deccan Herald, Bangalore Spectrum Supplement 2.8.2016

Unknown regions of the brain...

Carl Zimmer August 2, 2016, The New York Times

The brain looks like a featureless expanse of folds and bulges, but it’s actually carved up into invisible territories. Each is specialised: Some groups of neurons become active when we recognise faces, others when we read, others when we raise our hands. Last month, in what many experts are calling a milestone in neuroscience, researchers published a spectacular new map of the brain, detailing nearly 100 previously unknown regions — an unprecedented glimpse into the machinery of the human mind. Scientists will rely on this guide as they attempt to understand virtually every aspect of the brain, from how it develops in children and ages over decades, to how it can be corrupted by diseases like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. “It’s a step towards understanding why we’re us,” said David Kleinfeld, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the research.

Scientists created the map with advanced scanners and computers running artificial intelligence programmes that ‘learned’ to identify the brain’s hidden regions from vast amounts of data collected from hundreds of test subjects, a far more sophisticated and broader effort than had been previously attempted. While an important advance, the new atlas is hardly the final word on the brain’s workings. It may take decades for scientists to figure out what each region is doing, and more will be discovered in the coming decades. “This map you should think of as version 1.0,” said Matthew F Glasser, a neuroscientist at Washington University School of Medicine, USA and lead author of the new research. “There may be a version 2.0 as the data get better and more eyes look at the data. We hope the map can evolve as the science progresses.”

The first hints of the brain’s hidden geography emerged more than 150 years ago. In the 1860s, physician Pierre Paul Broca was intrigued by two of his patients who were unable to speak. After they died, Pierre examined their brains. On the outer layer, called the cortex, he found that both had suffered damage to the same patch of tissue. That region came to be known as Broca’s area. In recent decades, scientists have found that it becomes active when people speak and when they try to understand the speech of other people. In the late 1800s, a group of German researchers identified other regions of the cortex, each having distinct types of cells packed together in unique ways. In 1907, Korbinian Brodmann published a catalogue of 52 brain regions. Neuroscientists have relied on his hand-drawn map ever since, adding a modest number of new regions with their own research.

Establishing a new standard

“This is the standard for where you are in the brain,” said Matthew. Three years ago, Matthew and his colleagues set out to create a new standard. They drew on data collected by the Human Connectome Project, in which 1,200 volunteers were studied with powerful new scanners. The project team recorded high-resolution images of each participant’s brain, and then recorded its activity during hours of tests on memory, language and other kinds of thought. In previous attempts to map the cortex, scientists typically had looked only at one kind of evidence at a time — say, the arrangements of cells.

The Human Connectome Project has made it possible to study the brain in much greater detail. In addition to looking at the activity of the brain, the scientists also looked at its anatomy. They measured the amount of myelin, for example, a fatty substance that insulated neurons. They found sharp contrasts in myelin levels from one region of the cortex to the next. “We have 112 different types of information we can tap into,” said David C Van Essen, a principal investigator with the Human Connectome Project at Washington University Medical School.

Using these variables, the scientists trained a computer with data from 210 brains to recognise discrete regions of the cortex. Once the computer profiled the distinctive combinations of myelin, activity and other characteristics, they tested it on 210 other brains. The computer pinpointed the regions in the new brains 96.6% of the time. The scientists found that only a small number of features were required to map the brain. That means that researchers will be able to use their method to map an individual’s brain in a little over an hour of scanning. The map produced by the computer includes 83 familiar regions, such as Broca’s area, but includes 97 that were unknown — or just forgotten. In the 1950s, for example, German researchers noticed a patch on the side of the brain in which neurons had little myelin, compared with neighbouring regions. But the finding was soon neglected. “People tended to ignore it, and it was lost in the literature,” said David.

The computer rediscovered the odd territory and David and his colleagues found that it becomes unusually active when people listen to stories. That finding suggests the region, which they call 55b, is part of a language network in the brain, along with Broca’s area. In other parts of the cortex, the scientists were able to partition previously identified regions into smaller ones. For example, they discovered that a large region near the front of the brain, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, actually is made up of a dozen smaller zones. The region becomes active during many different kinds of thought, ranging from decision-making to deception. It’s possible that each of the newly identified smaller parts is important for one of those tasks.

Adept mapping

The computer program developed by the scientists became so adept at mapping the cortex that it could identify hidden regions even when they took on unusual shapes. Twelve of the research subjects, for example, have a 55b region that’s split into two isolated patches. Other neuroscientists hope that the new map will sharpen their experiments, allowing them to discover how the brain’s cogs mesh. “The next big step is seeing what this can do for us in terms of buying more power,” said Emily S Finn, a graduate student at Yale University, USA who has used Human Connectome Project data to find links between brain activity and intelligence.

David predicted that other researchers will find ways to verify the new map’s accuracy. Genetic testing, for example: If 180 regions of the cortex really are distinct, then the neurons in each should share a distinct combination of active genes. “You can imagine going to these 180 regions, taking a punch of tissue, and seeing if you can really genetically differentiate them,” said David. Many experts believe that the brain, on closer inspection, will turn out to be an even greater collective of regions that somehow cooperate for the common good.

David said that he and other scientists will be using the map to track the development of young brains and to look for changes caused by disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. “We shouldn’t expect miracles and easy answers,” he said, “but we’re positioned to accelerate progress.”

**************************