Inter- Web : 02

Hi !!!

With Inter-Web : 01 , focusing more on diverse topics, felt it would be better to focus on few issues in each capsule. 

Before we start with the capsule lets pay homage for a second to this futurist who predicted the rise of the Internet we know of. 

James Martin dies at 79; futurist who predicted the rise of the Internet. In 1978's 'The Wired Society,' Martin saw a planet networked by computers. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Since 2005, he donated more than $150 million to the University of Oxford.

James Martin dies at 79; futurist who predicted the rise of the Internet

Here is a set of articles on issues that is slowly gathering steam in terms of social media discussions. 

 Riots in Brazil : Brazil , when he hear this name, 3 things come into our mind. Football, Football and Football. We have always known it to be a country with insatiable football craze. Could anyone would have imagined that millions would turn up on streets to protest against the World Cup that is going to happen in their own country. 



Millions turned up in every major city of Brazil and the riot wasn't just about World Cup. It was a reason for people to protest against running inflation, lack of public infrastructure and contracting economy. 

Here is a piece by Luiz Felipe Lampreia , a former foreign minister of Brazil (1995-2001) on the background of Brazil riots which is just not about Football World Cup. 

Exhausted Brazil by Luiz Felipe Lampreia

Brazil Protests: The Craziest Photos & Vines (with images, tweet) · thedailybeast

Prime Minister of India : With India, facing a next General election soon, there is a clear divide in public opinion on who should be the next Prime Minister. Though people have been tired of a decade of rule by Congress , there is a clear majority who doesn't want this person to assume the mantle of Prime minister of India. The Man is Mr. Narendra Modi,who has served consecutive three terms as chief minister of Gujarat, an Indian State known for its recent advances in Overall infrastructure and Investment climate. 



So here is a piece by a noted Historian , Ramachandra Guha on this personality , Mr. Narendra Modi. 

thehindu.com

The man who would rule India

Latest Buzz on Snow Den : A piece on why China and Russia behaved in way that they were never expected to . When the whole world expected China and Russia to give protection to Snow Den , a defector and whistleblower from NSA ( National Security Agency ), they didn't do the same.

Squeal Like a Pig - By James Traub


Is GDP - a real measure : Here is a piece on why GDP isn't a real measure of well being of a country's citizens nor economic growth. The example with which the article started off was interesting . // The 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – with clean-up and damage costs of $90 billion – added about $300 to the average American’s “income.” But it added nothing to our well-being. The world’s most expensive prison system, costing almost $40 billion per year, adds another $125 per person. This doesn’t make us better-off than people living in countries that don’t incarcerate one in every 100 adults. //

Limits to Growth - of What?


Lets finish this capsule with these imposing images on the fast disappearing tribes of the world we are living in by British photographer, Jimmy Nelson. These images are from his latest book ,  Before They Pass Away . 

Before They Pass Away - An FP Slideshow

Wish to hear your views on the content here. Criticism and Debate on the above topics are most welcome.

Inter-Web : 01

With the declining editorial standards in Indian Newspapers and the lack of importance that they give to well written pieces on the issues that could change the world we live in , felt this platform could be a way to curate interesting content across the Web. 

The links shared here would always accompany a small note to have an idea of what to expect from the article. 

So lets start with the first capsule of Inter-Web. 

A Riveting essay by celebrated Historian, William Dalrymple about Afghanistan. Here he throws light on a not-well known paradigm on Afghan issue, that is the proxy war between India and Pakistan. With U.S contemplating upon leaving Afghanistan , he looks at India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as a Deadly Triangle and forwards this conjecture based on real accounts.

http://www.brookings.edu/researc...

People are always intrigued on why there are no pure forms of Capitalist or Socialists governments across the globe. Here is a short talk by Dr. Stephen Hicks on Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy . 

http://newmedia.ufm.edu/hicksevo...

Here, is a Op-Ed by Noble Laureate Amartya Sen on a much debated topic on why India is trailing China for so long and is there a possibility for India to bypass its limitations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/opinion/why-india-trails-china.html

An article on how Barter system made its comeback in Argentina, when it was hit by an economic crisis in 2001-02. Truly remarkable read for it shows how a society creates alternate financial instruments when an existing system is unreliable or in verge of collapse. 

http://www.time.com/time/world/a...

And coming back to the present world, here is one technology that is creating so much buzz. Yes. The 3-D printing .

Liver transplants are very complex and usually the constraint is not the technical ability of the doctor but the availability of donors. What if some one say, "Sir, Your Liver Is Ready and it just got Printed ". Enter the world of 3-D printers which are enabled by some awesome Engineering from a startup called "Organovo" and CAD software from Autodesk to Design, 3-D Print Living Tissue.

 http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/07/gallery-bio-printing/all/

Hope you all enjoyed the first capsule of Inter-Web. 

See you on next Inter-Web. 

Looking forward for your views.

A post that am really proud of : Global Economic Crisis

I wrote this on July 19, 2009 after reading a Paul Krugman column in The Hindu . And interestingly this was my first blog post ever. 

It was about how the recession would affect the face of the world that we know of . I had limited understanding of macroeconomics then ( Am still no expert !!! ) , but still was able to capture the currents , thanks to columns of Paul Krugman, Thomas Friedman who took it as their task to explain to commoners on what was happening with the world. 

So here is my post :

// In the current scenario of global recession,the most hit is not the banks which wrecked due to their toxic assets,not the hedge funds which played with imaginary assets and certainly not the egoistic,narcissistic Neo-liberals but the workers belonging to the middle-class,all over the world.

"Socializing pains and Privatizing gains",would happen in recessional and post-recessional periods. The carefree spending of countries on bailouts would be dubbed as welfare schemes and common people would bear the brunt of balancing the fiscal deficit due to bailing out fiscally non-compliant MNC's. This would then lead to a vicious circle of lower spending due to high taxes,lay-off's in name of company restructuring and couple that with inherently faulty system of oil futures trading and disastrous energy policy of converting food crops to fuel, which would automatically lead to higher food prices. Here is going to be a generation in developed world where they are going to be worse off than their previous generation. 

Hence this recession would prove to be a breeding ground forultra-nationalism and xenophobic societies which would defeat the whole concept of Globalization itself.

In my view,to tackle recession we need to have better regulated financial systems,time tested financial instruments,highly invasive micro-financial systems to empower people, An independent World Bank and IMF in contrast to their current functioning which is to act as a proxy US financial corporation catering to the needs of US by clinging to ever failing dollar economy and upholding its(US) hegemony in global financial system in the world. 

Thus we need to rethink about the existing monetary policies,redraw contours of global trade and relive the glorious periods of regulated financial systems and better social welfare schemes which increased the real buying power of people across the world and alleviated people from poverty. //

Though I could see that some strong words came from me, it was my reaction to the news which I had seen on newspapers on a daily basis, more of a reactionary outburst you could say. But still am surprised for some projections which I had mentioned is now a reality in Southern Europe.

Do the United States Derive Benefits from Dollar's Position as the Primary Trade Currency? by Balaji Viswanathan on Zingfin: The Big Picture

India - Through the Lens of Data : 01

India has always been a land of diverse cultures , languages, cuisines and what not.

And with more and more Indians feeling positive their Nation as an Economic power, its time we see on how the states within India are performing and competing with each other.

But before that, lets see how India as a nation is performing in the global race to achieve higher GDP growth.

In drawing rooms, we would have heard random conversations on how China has pipped Japan in terms of GDP, which is Gross Domestic Product and how it will soon overtake U.S, which isn't as simple as our Armchair economists think.

Coming back, GDP can be explained as below.

GDP = consumption + investment + government spending + (exports – imports) 

With ever changing global scenario up in action, it is predicted that India will soon rise up as one of the top 5 nations in terms of GDP.

Currently India stands 10th globally with respect to GDP .

Top 10 Nations in terms of Gross Domestic Product according to International Monetary Fund Report (Report for Selected Countries and Subjects) 

1. United States
2. China
3. Japan
4. Germany
5. France
6. United Kingdom
7. Brazil
8. Russia
9. Italy
10. India   

In addition to that, European Union as a single Economic Unit, stands first in comparison with U.S . With an impending economic crunch , it's a wait and watch game for us to see on how this numbers would turn up next year.

In addition to this,this also signifies the growing clout of BRIC Nations in this ever changing world with all 4 nations making into Top 10 List. ( Brazil, Russia, India and China ).

In the next post, lets see how nations fare by the measure of GDP - PPP ( Purchasing Power Parity ). 



More on BRIC grouping :

BRICS countries dump the euro, establish bank

BRIC //The acronym was coined by 

wikipedia.org

Jim O'Neill in a 2001 paper entitled "Building Better Global Economic BRICs". The acronym has come into widespread use as a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed G7economies towards the developing world. It is estimated that BRIC economies will overtake G7 economies by 2027// Wikipedia