A load of crap from an idle brain

Shouldn’t these have been done earlier considering the fact that much of the products that originate from China are not only spurious, of inferior quality,  harmful to humans and the security of the nation (especially the cellphones with no IMEI numbers).

The government on Wednesday put quality restrictions on mobile phones, dairy products and toys in a measure aimed mainly to block their imports from China and which may trigger another round of wrangling at the WTO between two of Asia’s biggest economies.

The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade said mobile handsets without the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number, which helps authorities to track the sale and use of the phones, cannot be imported from now on. An estimated eight lakh such phones come into the country every month from China. These are unbranded and cost a lot less than the branded variety.

Security agencies had raised concern over the use of these phones, many of which, they said, were being used by terrorists to set off bombs and communicate among themselves. Since these sets do not have the 15-digit IMEI number, or cloned numbers, the authorities find it difficult to track the sale or usage. Approximately 30 million such phones are in use at present.

The DGFT also banned till January 2010 the import of toys that do not meet international safety standards and norms. This move too will hit imports of toys mainly from China and several other countries. India had blocked import of toys from China in January on health grounds, after concerns over their safety were raised in developed markets. But the restriction was eased later after Beijing questioned the restrictions on the ground that New Delhi did not put such curbs on toys from other countries.

More than a dozen countries in Asia and Africa had also banned milk and dairy product imports from China, while several others had recalled the products suspected to be contaminated. India, world’s largest milk producer, does not import milk products from China. The ban is being seen as a preventive measure.

Meanwhile, the government has asked its missions in the African region to step up vigil against bootlegged drugs being sent to those markets with fake `Made in India’ tag. The commerce department last week lodged a complaint with the Chinese embassy here and the Indian embassy in Beijing and sought action against the impostors.

The Indian action comes after Nigeria’s pharma regulator reported the detention of a large consignment of fake drugs for treating malaria. The consignment carried `Made in India’ labels but was produced in China. A laboratory test of a recent consignment of anti-malaria drugs Maloxine and Amalar tablets proved these were fake. Had the drugs flowed into the market, about 642,000 lives would have been affected.

/Newslink/

Hope the ban stays long enough.

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Funny video in BBC of the Chinese police in plain clothes using umbrellas to block the reporter from reporting on the Tianenmenn Square 20th anniversary.

Watch and have a good laugh at the stupidity of the Chinese undercover police

CNN video link here and AFP video link here

More on the 1989 protest at Tiananmen Square here at Wikipedia

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An interesting article by Paul Krugman in New York Times

Back in the early stages of the financial crisis, wags joked that our trade with China had turned out to be fair and balanced after all: They sold us poison toys and tainted seafood; we sold them fraudulent securities.

But these days, both sides of that deal are breaking down. On one side, the world’s appetite for Chinese goods has fallen off sharply. China’s exports have plunged in recent months and are now down 26 percent from a year ago. On the other side, the Chinese are evidently getting anxious about those securities.

But China still seems to have unrealistic expectations. And that’s a problem for all of us.

Read the full article here.

Lots of work related pressures mean that iam quite sporadic here.  As for the little time i have on hand, iam sometimes found here.

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Another legendary investor, Jim Rogers has no more confidence in the US, its bailout of the banks, the US dollar. He’s gung ho about China and the Renminbi.  So much that he now shifted with his family to South East Asia (Singapore).  He believes the future of the world is in Asia, more importantly in China and wants to stay as close as possible to the action.

America is bankrupt. American government bonds are extremely overvalued. “The world’s last bubble.” America is in debt for over 13.000 billion (13 trillion) dollar and adds a 1.000 billion dollar debt each year. According to Rogers this can not continue for long. Therefore, he went short in long-term US goverment bonds. “These bonds have peaked.” By the way: Rogers owns Dutch government bonds. “They are safe.”

“The fact that the dollar is gaining rapidly is only temporary”, Rogers says. “All hedge funds were short on the dollar and because of the appreciation of the dollar there is a short squeeze for the dollar. Managers have to close thier positions and they have to buy dollars instead.” “This is temporary, within a year you have to get rid of the dollar. Fundamentally it is a drama.”

“The question is not if the price of a barrel of oil will increase again, but how expensive a barrel of oil will be eventually?”

Rogers is not a big fan of Bernanke, the president of the Federal Reserve. With a big smile Rogers tells us: “Bernanke will continue to print money until there are no trees left in America.”

According to Rogers, farmers have a bright future. “within a few years farmers will drive Maserati’s and all stockbrokers will be cabdrivers.”

Read the full article here and also watch the interview with Jim Rogers here

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After a 8 year hiatus, the Democrats are back in power.  Looking at the way with which the previous Democratic President, Bill Clinton left, its a no-brainer to see that the Republican government under George Bush has screwed up not only America, but the whole world itself.  Its been a systematic destruction of ‘Brand America’ by George Bush and his government.

Though Bush has been the best President when it came to India-US relations, it needs to be seen how Obama would take the already warm relations further.  It would be an interesting first 100 days to see how Obama would start attacking the domestic as well as foreign issues facing America.  The economy is in the ICU, the war in Iraq is still continuing, Afghanistan is on a boil with active support of the Taliban by the rogue Pakistani intelligence unit, ISI. North Korea behaves erratically.  Russia under Putin has transformed radically.  There are indications of a new cold war starting.  China is still dumping goods into the US.  America is not loved globally as before. Every terrorist group on this earth wants to have a go at the US.

The real challenge for Obama was not winning the elections. The anti-incumbency factor assured his victory. His real challenges start now.

Above picture courtesy: BBC

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For all that they claim, when it came to the crunch, the only man standing was Manmohan Singh and his convictions. When history will be written, Manmohan Singh will be credited with 2 of the most path breaking changes in the history of India.

• Liberalizing the economy in the 90s as Finance Minister with Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

• Breaking the shackles of nuclear isolation in 2008

Its an envious stature for a person who was always mentioned as the “reluctant PM” unlike so many of his detractors and rivals who believe the PM’s post is god given for them.

Encyclopedias of data are around to stress either sides of the nuclear deal.  Only time will tell who was right or wrong. As of now, let’s see how this deal will affect India.

The deal with the US entails India to continue with its dual path of nuclear technology; for both military as well as civilian uses (energy, medical, space etc).  The nuclear reactors for civilian purposes will be open to IAEA inspections.  The reactors meant for military purposes will be out of bounds for the IAEA. India can buy / tie-up for nuclear material and technology from any country.   In fact, India has already signed a treaty with France that has given it unlimited access to technology as well as reprocessing of the spent fuel.  A similar deal with Russia is expected to be signed when the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev visits India in December. India can still pursue its nuclear weapons technology without any hindrance. In short, the world now, has the 6^th declared nuclear power in the form of India.

If India explodes a nuclear bomb (for testing purposes)

The US will stop all nuclear co-operation.  India will have to return all the fuel given to it till then.  There will be a one year cooling down period where both parties (India & USA) will talk, deliberate and break heads on how to go along or if not they should part.  During this one year period, if they reach a deal, they continue or else its all over between them.

How does this affect India’s deal with France (already signed, details yet to be released) or Russia (details of which will be available only after the December signing), will be only known in some time to come.

India’s position on nuclear testing

Soon after the nuclear testing in 1998, the Vajpayee led BJP government declared a unilateral moratorium over further testing.  The Vajpayee government assured the world, that it would keep its promise of keeping a lid on further testing.  So, that demolishes all the opposition that BJP has over testing.  The Congress government has merely reiterated what the BJP government had proclaimed in 1998.  Its an accepted fact that India no longer needs any more testing (according to scientists and the party in power in 1998).  Any more noise that the BJP makes over this issue is just plain politicking which can be ignored.

Economic benefits for India due to the nuclear deal

• The agreement could open up around $27 billion in investments in 18-20 nuclear plants over the next 15 years, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry.

• By 2030, the overall economic benefits that will accrue to India’s economy as a result of nuclear trade could touch $500 billion, says Imagindia Institute, an Indian lobby group.

• The deal is expected to double nuclear power’s share in India’s electricity supply to five to seven per cent in the next two decades.

• With nuclear fuel in short supply, India’s nuclear power plants are running at 55 per cent of their capacity of about 4,000 megawatts.

• India’s electricity supply, about 15 per cent short of demand in peak hours, will get a boost after the deal, but any new nuclear power plant may take a decade to be completed, leaving the country dependent of coal and liquid fuels.

• Indian media say the country’s monopoly Nuclear Power Corp has tentatively picked four suppliers, including US-based Westinghouse Electric and France’s Areva, for planned new projects. Westinghouse is a unit of Toshiba Corp. Areva said on Monday that it hoped to sign a contract with Indian authorities to deliver two advanced EPR reactors.

• India is also reported to be negotiating with General Electric, Hitachi and Russia’s atomic energy agency Rosatom.

• Russia is already building two 1,000 megawatt reactors at Kudankulam in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as part of a deal signed in 1988. Indian officials say the two countries will begin discussions on a multi-billion dollar agreement to build four more nuclear reactors in Kudankulam which has been delayed because of international restrictions against New Delhi. Russian nuclear reactors cost up to $2 billion each but India could expect to get a hefty discount on such a major deal, as Russia competes with the United States for influence in India.

Above info courtesy: IBNlive

This is not to count the approximate generation capacity of 60,000 MW of power by nuclear means by the year 2030 and the billions of dollars of technology exchange between India and the other countries in Space technology, Medicine, Science and other high tech industries.

Why is the Left against the deal?

Simply because their masters in China have paid them to behave that way.  The Left (CPI – CPM) never had any issues with China being a nuclear power or their nuclear testing. They sided with China during the 1962 war.  Its just natural that the mongrel is being faithful to the master.  The Commies have problems with everything US and when asked why they were not complaining against the Indian deal with France, they had no comments.  That simply shows how hollow their ideology is.  They love to oppose for the sake of opposing.

Why is BJP against the deal?

Because they just cant believe that a person who was so reluctant to be the Prime Minister has pulled off the deal.  Its a known fact that the BJP was on the verge of signing the NPT deal and giving away the nuclear sovereignty on a platter.  Even though the BJP was in power when the nuclear testing happened, its the Manmohan Singh government that has brought India out of a 34 year nuclear isolation.  They simply can’t accept the fact that their Iron man (sic) LK Advani, the perennial PM in waiting couldn’t get a chance to negotiate the deal.  Its a plain and simple case of the fox that didnt get the grapes and declared it sour.

Why the SP is in favour of this deal?

The Amar Singh – Mulayam Singh combo of Samajwadi Party needed someone to cling on to.  The Mayawati government was hot on the heels of the SP duo in UP fostering cases of corruption against them, hence the temporary deal with Congress.

So, will the Congress win the elections on this issue?

NO.  They wont.  The Indian electorate still loves mandir, masjid, gurudwara, church, SC, ST, OBC, hindutva, swadeshi, sycophancy, religion, region, family kinda politics.  And then they wonder why the country is so screwed up.

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You can trust a snake, but not China, is a well known adage.  China has always been hostile towards India and opted for a dual faced diplomacy.  It has used Pakistan to clandestinely supply weapons and nuclear technology.  In spite of signing the NPT treaty, China is one of the world’s worst proliferator when it comes to nuclear technology.  Its track record of selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Libya is well know.  Pakistan is known to buy weapons from China, paint it green and give it a muslim name and pass it off as authentic production from its own factories.

So, its least surprising to know that inspite of the assurances given by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on their previous meeting, China used the non-proliferation supporters (Ireland, New Zealand, Netherlands etc) to torpedo the NSG waiver to India. It was only after a personal call from George Bush to Hu Jintao and his typical “My way or the highway” straight talk that the Chinese relented.

Under criticism from India on the nuclear waiver, China is on the defensive for its role at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna. But the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has denied that China tried to sabotage India’s chances at getting the NSG waiver.

India has reportedly registered its strong disappointment with Yang over the country’s role at the NSG meeting in Vienna.  Chinese President Hu Jintao had assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Beijing would do nothing to spoil India’s chances at the NSG.

But at the NSG, China relented only after a phone call from US President George W Bush, apparently disregarding India’s own missives in that regard. China, which had earlier given to India signals of positive cooperation in the NSG came out openly with reservations at the Vienna NSG meet last week joining some ‘hold out’ countries virtually threatening to stall the move for NSG waiver to New Delhi.

The Chinese Ambassador in Delhi was reportedly summoned to the External Affiars Ministry in the early on Saturday to convey the Indian government’s unhappiness over Beijing’s role. In Monday’s statement, China welcomed the NSG granting a waiver but hoped this cooperation should be “conducive” to safeguarding the global nuclear non-proliferation efforts.

“China hopes that the decision will contribute to peaceful use of nuclear energy and international cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation,” the statement said.

Beijing’s statement is being seen as a move to assuage New Delhi which has conveyed its unhappiness over the Chinese position at the NSG meet. The tough negotiations in Vienna went down to the wire after China, which had sounded positive in the run-up to the NSG  meeting, took a different line creating problems for a consensus on the waiver.

Full news report here.

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After all the overhyped candidates in tennis, long jump, boxing, shooting and archery fizzled out, the news about Sushil Kumar winning the bronze in the freestyle 68kgs wrestling is indeed heartening.

Wrestler Sushil Kumar gave India one more reason to won cheer when he won the bronze medal in the freestyle 66kg category at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday.

Sushil defeated Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan 3-1 in the repechage match of the men’s freestyle wrestling 66kg to win India’s India’s first wrestling medal since the 1952 Helsinki Games.  He is only the second Indian wrestler after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav to win an Olympic medal. Jadhav had won a bronze medal in the 1952 Games.

In the earlier rounds of repechage Sushil overcame the challenge of USA’s Doug Schwab and Belarrussian Albert Batyrov in the first two repechage rounds. Sushil had lost to Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik in his quarter-final bout.

This is also the first time since 1952 that India has two Olympic medals. Earlier, Abhinav Bindra won first-ever Olympics gold medal for the country in the 10meter air rifle event.

Update – Vijender Kumar assured of bronze in 75kg boxing

Vijender Kumar assured India of yet another medal when he entered the semi-finals of the middleweight (75kg) category on Wednesday. Vijender defeated Ecuador’s Carlos Gongora 9-4 at the Workers’ Gymnasium.

In the Olympic boxing event even the losing semifinalists get a bronze medal. Earlier, Jitender Kumar lost his 51kg quarter-final bout and missed the Olympic medal by a whisker. Jitender lost to European champion Georgy Balakshin of Russia in the last eight stage 15-11.

Above picture and news courtesy: IBNlive

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