Historic achievement for palestinians

·         Palestinian liberation organisation formally recongised israel as a state under oslo accord 1993 and gave up its armed struggle against israel

·         Hamas was formed in 1987 and it doesn’t recognise israel and has continued armed struggle

o   It is led by khaled mishal

·         Hamas had won palestinian elections in 2006 but the west opposed it and cut of all aid which is main source of funding for palestine

·         Fatah party is supported by west and it currently rules west bank while hamas is in control of gaza

o   Hamas is backe by iran and syria

·         Following this agreement there is every chance hamas may come to power

·         It remains to be seen how US and EU respond to this new development

·         This new deal has be brokered by egypt

·         Under the unity agreement they have agreed to form a joint caretaker government, with presidential and legislative elections to be held in 2012

Sex ratio, patriarchy and ethics

1.

·         Since 1961, there has been a steady decline in child sex ratio

o   1961- 976  2011-914

·         2011 census indicates that many districts have a sex ratio of elss than 850

·         Another surprising finding is that sex ratio in urban areas is lower than that in rural areas

·         This clearly indicates that prosperity and education are ahving no impact on the value systems of people

·         Medical technology which were aimed towards detecting genetic disorders are being  misused for sex selective abortions

·         The skewed sex ratio in 1991 census led to the enactment of pre natal diagnostic techniques act 1994

·         But it failed to arrest the slide in ratio because of collusion between people and medical fraternity

·         The root cause for this trend lies in the patriarchal society which is supported by religious customs and beliefs

·         It is this that leads to dastardly acts like

o   Female infanticides

o   Dowry

o   Sati

·         There has been an ethical collapse in our society

·         For long government has tried tackling the issue from a medico legal angle

·         But this problem needs to be looked at from socio cultural angle

·         The only way to arrest this trend is to replace patriarchal society with an egalitarian society

caveats to an upbeat outlook

·         released twice a year

·         world GDP to grow at 4.4% in 2011 and 4.5 % in 2012

·         Develoepd countries @ 2.4% and 2.6%

·         Developing countries @ 6.5% in both years

·         India at 8.2% in 2011

Key points

·         Many developing economies are now growing at pre crisis rates

·         Developed economies still recovering

·         In early phase of recovery, growth powered by India and China . but now the growth is more broad based

CHALLENGES

·         Two paced growth makes it difficult for countries to coordinate on global issues

·         Weak sovereign balance sheets

·         Ultra soft monetary policies in develoepd economies may lead to destabilising capital flows into emergin economies

·         Rising food prices

new great game in west asia

·         There is growing sunni –shia rivalry in west asia

·         Who are sunnis and shias?

o   After prophet’s death in 632 AD. There was a divided opinion on succession

o   The sunnis wanted an elected successor while shias wanted the succession to be according to blood line

·         This divide has deepened over the years

·         Islam is fastest growing religion in world

·         Sunnis are a majority, shia make up only 15% of total muslim population

·         Shias are inmajority in iraq, iran, azerbaijan and bahrain

·         Sunni-shia division has deepended over the years

·         For long in iraq, shia majority was suppressed

o   Iraq came into existence in 1932

·         Following american invasion of iraq in 2003, shia came to power and resorted to ethnic cleansing

·         Post US invasion of iraq, iran’s stature in region has strengthened

·         Iran has a key rôle to play in afghan problem

·         Shia poptln in other nations

o   Pakistan-20%

o   Kuwait-25%

o   Lebanon-40%

o   Egypt-negligible

·         In bahrain sunni kingdom rules shias

·         The current revolt in bahrain is being strongly suppressed with help of saudi

·         Saudi is worried coz of shias gain power in bahrain, it might strengthen the say of shia in saudi who mostly live oil rich areas

An alternative to nuclear fuel

·         Natural gas half the carbon content of coala dn its extraction requires elsser water than that of coal

·         In power sector, natural gas based power plants have a hgiher efficiency factor(electricity generated: heat content of fuel) than coal based plants

·         In developed countries natural gas makes up 25% of energuy basket while in India it is less than 10%

·         Natural gas came into limelight first in 1960s with finds in cambay basin

·         In 1997 government opened up exploration to private sector through new exploration and licensisng policy

·         Coal bed methane: gas floating above coal seams is called CBM

o   It is a high calorific content fuel

·         CBM projects are considered for carbonc redit under CDM

DEMAND

·         India produces nearly 170 mmscm per day

·         But demand is twice that of domestic supply

·         It is cheaper to export natural gas through pipelines than as LNG

o   India has LNG terminals at dahej(PetroNET LNG, 5 btu cap) and hazira(SHELL, 2.5 btu cap)

o   2 more proposed at kochi and pipavav

·         Also it is cheaper to make use of domestic antural gas then imported antural ags

WAY AHEAD

·         Accelerate exploration of natural gas and CBMs

·         Increase imports through pipelines

oil exploration in arctic

·         Oil exploration possible only in july-oct when ice receeds

·         Cairn plans to drill wells in baffin bay

·         US etimated 13% of worlds unexplored oil reserves are in arctic

CONSEQUENCES OF AN OIL SPILL IN ARCtic

·         It will impact the rich artict marine life

·         Wifficult to clean due to harsh weather

·         Oil may trap under ice and will be impossible to clean

·         MAJOY OIL SPILLS BY US

o   Exxon valdez in 1989

o   2010 deep water hroizon

o   1969 santa barabara off california