mediavigil: The Big Picture - Confusion over NPR and Aadhaar

Thursday, February 07, 2013

The Big Picture - Confusion over NPR and Aadhaar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpe37lkGDkQ

Published on Feb 2, 2013

Guests: Uday Singh (BJP MP), Usha Ramanathan (Independent Law Researcher) ; Dr. M Vijayanunni (Former Registrar General and Census Commissioner) ; Vinay Kumar (Sr. Asst. Editor, The Hindu) ;
Gopal Krishna (Member, Citizen forum for Civil Liberty)
Anchor: Girish Nikam

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: no confusion in govt to trap all citizens of india digitally. bobbitise freedom. caprisoned citzens none understands implications of fallout corrrupt rulers go scot free.; 11:39 PM
Anonymous said...: WHY INDIAN RLY NOT ACCEPTING ITS OWN ICARD ON LOCAL TRAIN TO TRAVEL IN THRO TRAIN. jockers, need pil to reform you.; 11:40 PM

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General, NATO, a 28-nation intergovernmental military alliance

Rasmussen on Sunday conveyed his condolences to the Pakistani families, government and people with regard to the Nato attack in Mohmand Agency on Saturday that left 24 soldiers dead. Commenting on the incident on Twitter, Rasmussen said in a series of successive tweets: “Deepest condolences to Pakistani families, government and people following regrettable incident at border.” “Wrote (to the) Prime Minister of Pakistan – deaths of Pakistani personnel are as unacceptable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel.” “Isaf is investigating to determine what happened at Afghan-Pakistan border. Lessons will be drawn to avoid such tragedies.” “Nato strongly committed to work with Pakistan to improve cooperation. We have joint interest in fighting cross-border terrorism.” An early Saturday morning attack by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) helicopters killed at least 24 security personnel and injured 12 soldiers on a Pakistani check post in Salala, which is located in the Tehsil Bayzai area of Mohmand Agency on the Pak-Afghan border. “This incident has my highest personal attention and my commitment to thoroughly investigate it to determine the facts,” said General John Allen, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) on Saturday. “My most sincere and personal heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of any members of Pakistan security forces who may have been killed or injured,” he added in the statement. The United States has been told by Pakistan’s military leadership to evacuate a logistically key airbase it operates in Balochistan – Shamsie Airbase – within 15 days. In addition, Pakistan’s fury was driven home with an official statement that it will shut down Nato supply routes operating through its territory – something that has happened for the first time, though supply routes have previously been temporarily blocked unofficially following similar attacks. During the 2011 Libyan uprising, violence between protestors and the Libyan government under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi escalated, and on 17 March 2011 led to the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which called for a ceasefire, and authorized military action to protect civilians. A coalition that included several NATO members began enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya shortly afterwards. On 20 March 2011, NATO states agreed on enforcing an arms embargo against Libya with Operation Unified Protector using ships from NATO Standing Maritime Group 1 and Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1, and additional ships and submarines from NATO members. They would "monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries". On 24 March, NATO agreed to take control of the no-fly zone from the initial coalition, while command of targeting ground units remains with the coalition's forces. NATO began officially enforcing the UN resolution on 27 March 2011 with assistance from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. NATO is also training the ANA (Afghan National Army) to be better equipped in forcing out the Taliban. In August 2004, following US pressure, NATO formed the NATO Training Mission - Iraq, a training mission to assist the Iraqi security forces. The September 11 attacks caused NATO to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter for the first time in its history. The Article says that an attack on any member shall be considered to be an attack on all. The invocation was confirmed on 4 October 2001 when NATO determined that the attacks were indeed eligible under the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty. In 1998, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council was established. The policies of French President Nicolas Sarkozy have resulted in a major reform of France's military position, culminating with the return to full membership on 4 April 2009, which also included France rejoining the integrated military command of NATO, while maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent. In 1966, all French armed forces were removed from NATO's integrated military command, and all non-French NATO troops were asked to leave France. To secure Soviet approval of a united Germany remaining in NATO, it was agreed that foreign troops and nuclear weapons would not be stationed in the east. "the Americans promised that NATO wouldn't move beyond the boundaries of Germany after the Cold War". During the Cold War, most of Europe was divided between two alliances. Members of NATO, with members of the Warsaw Pact. In November 1983, NATO manoeuvres simulating a nuclear launch caused panic in the Kremlin. In 1954, the Soviet Union suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. The NATO countries, fearing that the Soviet Union's motive was to weaken the alliance, ultimately rejected this proposal. Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany. This was in response to North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949.

Hu Jintao & Wen Jiabao, People's Republic of China (PRC)

China's President Hu Jintao (right) and Premier Wen Jiabao. Communist Party of China (CPC) led by President Hu Jintao, who won a second five-year term on 15 March, 2008 as the party boss till 2012. Hu was also reappointed Chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) of the CPC, the top military organ of the party. Hu succeeded Jiang Zemin as party leader at the 16th CPC National Congress in November, 2002. He was elected a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee in 1992. He could not his protégé Li Keqiang as his potential successor because Jiang Zemin although 80 years old still wields considerable clout. In the pecking order of the CPC, Xi Jinping, 54, the Communist Party boss in Shanghai, was ranked ahead of Li, who is considered Hu’s choice. Xi, 52, is seen as a candidate of Jiang, also based in China’s commercial capital, Shanghai. Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin and Li Changchun, who are members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the 16th CPC Central Committee. Wen Jiabao became the Prime Minister on 16 March 2003.

UN Security Council

Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, Westminster, London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in continuous session, has travelled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 10 elected non-permanent members with two-year terms. This basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Security Council members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time. This requirement of the United Nations Charter was adopted to address a weakness of the League of Nations since that organization was often unable to respond quickly to a crisis. Security Council's five permanent members have the power to veto any substantive resolution. The only countries recognized as nuclear-weapon states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.They are France, China, United Kingdom, USA, and Russia represented by Gérard Araud, Li Baodong, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Susan Rice and Vitaly Churkin. Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms starting on 1 January, with five replaced each year. The 10 non-permanent members are chosen by regional groups and confirmed by the UN General Assembly. They are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa. Hardeep Singh Puri represents India, Baso Sangqu, South Africa, Ivan Barbalić, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Peter Wittig, Germany, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Brazil, Joy Ogwu,Nigeria, Néstor Osorio Londoño, Colombia, José Filipe Moraes Cabral, Portugal, Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, Gabon and Nawaf Salam represents Lebanon. Elections held on October 21–24, 2011, saw Morocco, Togo, Guatemala, Pakistan and Azerbaijan selected as non-permanent members for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2012. India supported Pakiastan's bid. The role of president of the Security Council involves setting the agenda, presiding at its meetings and overseeing any crisis. The President is authorized to issue both presidential statements (subject to consensus among Council members) and notes, which are used to make declarations of intent that the full Security Council can then pursue. The Presidency rotates monthly in alphabetical order of the Security Council member nations' names in English. Under Article 27 of the UN Charter, Security Council decisions on all substantive matters require the affirmative votes of nine members. A negative vote, or veto, also known as the rule of "great power unanimity", by a permanent member prevents adoption of a proposal, even if it has received the required number of affirmative votes. Abstention is not regarded as a veto despite the wording of the Charter. The Security Council made its second such referral in February 2011 when it asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the Libyan government's violent response to the 2011 uprising. The veto power was adopted at the insistence of the Soviet Union after World War II, it is claimed. UN is also undemocratic, by representing the interests of the governments of the nations who formed it and not necessarily the individuals within those nations. The UN Charter gives all three powers of the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches to the Security Council. Council members are five of the top ten largest arms exporting countries in the world. Israeli-Arab conflict has been discussed the most in the UNSC. Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan are demanding to become permanent members. China has opposed Japan's membership. The designated Security Council Chamber in the United Nations Conference Building, designed by the Norwegian architect Arnstein Arneberg, was the specific gift of Norway. The mural painted by the Norwegian artist Per Krohg depicts a phoenix rising from its ashes, symbolic of the world reborn after World War II. UNSC's intent has been undermined in Iraq and Libya. Soon corporations will a place in UNSC overtly!

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia with wife Lyudmila Putina

Putin once again became the President on May 7, 2012. Putin previously served as President from 2000 to 2008 and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin began his career in the KGB but entered politics in his native Saint Petersburg in 1990. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined president Boris Yeltsin's administration where he rose quickly, becoming acting President on 31 December 1999 when Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly. Putin won the 2000 presidential election and was re-elected in 2004. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term in 2008. His PhD thesis was titled "The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations" and it argued that Russian economic success would depend on creating national energy champions. While at university he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and remained a member until the party was dissolved in December 1991. At the University he met Anatoly Sobchak who later played an important role in Putin's career. Anatoly Sobchak was at the time an Assistant Professor and lectured Putin's class on Business Law. From 1985 to 1990, the KGB stationed Putin in Dresden, East Germany. In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University. Putin grew reacquainted with his former professor Anatoly Sobchak, then mayor of Leningrad. Putin finally resigned from the active state security services with the rank of Lieutenant colonel on 20 August 1991 on the second day of the KGB-supported abortive putsch against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Putin was called to Moscow and in June 1996 became a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department headed by Pavel Borodin. He occupied this position until March 1997. During his tenure Putin was responsible for the foreign property of the state and organized transfer of the former assets of the Soviet Union and Communist Party to the Russian Federation.[31] On 26 March 1997, President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin deputy chief of Presidential Staff, which he remained until May 1998, and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department (until June 1998). On 27 June 1997, at the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute, Putin defended his Candidate of Science dissertation in economics, titled "The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations". In his dissertation, and in a later article published in 1999, Putin advocated the idea of so-called National champions, a concept that would later become central to his political thinking. On 25 July 1998, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB (one of the successor agencies to the KGB), the position Putin occupied until August 1999. He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999. On 9 August 1999, Vladimir Putin was appointed one of three First Deputy Prime Ministers, which enabled him later on that day, as the previous government led by Sergei Stepashin had been sacked, to be appointed acting Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation by President Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin also announced that he wanted to see Putin as his successor. On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned and, according to the constitution, Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation. He was first was inaugurated a president on 7 May 2000. Putin was reinaugurated in the Kremlin on 7 May 2012. Massive public protests had taken place in Moscow on 6th May. Putin's Russia maintains strong and positive relations with other BRIC countries. The country has sought to strengthen ties especially with the People's Republic of China by signing the Treaty of Friendship as well as building the Trans-Siberian oil pipeline geared toward growing Chinese energy needs. The mutual-security cooperation of the two countries and their central Asian neighbours is facilitated by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Joint Russian-Chinese military exercises happened first-ever in history on Russian territory. These developements were seen as emergence of anti-NATO bloc or the Asian version of OPEC. On 16 October 2007 Putin visited Iran to participate in the Second Caspian Summit in Tehran, the first visit of a Soviet or Russian leader to Iran since Joseph Stalin's participation in the Tehran Conference in 1943. Putin has warm relations with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. In November 2008, both countries held a joint naval exercise in the Caribbean.In 2000, Putin re-established stronger ties with Fidel Castro's Cuba.In September 2007, Putin visited Indonesia and in doing so became the first Russian leader to visit the country in more than 50 years. Putin allegedly declared at a NATO-Russia summit in 2008 that if Ukraine joined NATO Russia could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea. On 4 July 2007 Putin made a full fluent English speech while addressing delegates at the 119th International Olympic Committee Session in Guatemala City on behalf of the successful bid of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympic Games in Russia. On 9 May 2007, Putin said, "threats are not becoming fewer but are only transforming and changing their appearance. These new threats, just as under the Third Reich, show the same contempt for human life and the same aspiration to establish an exclusive dictate over the world." On 15 November 2011 the China International Peace Research Center awarded the Confucius Peace Prize to Putin, citing as reason Putin's opposition to NATO's Libya bombing in 2011 while also paying tribute to his decision to go to war in Chechnya in 1999.[330] According to the committee, Putin's "Iron hand and toughness revealed in this war impressed the Russians a lot, and he was regarded to be capable of bringing safety and stability to Russia".

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, President of India

Delivering his first speech as President, he said, "I was a boy when Bengal was savaged by a famine that killed millions; the misery and sorrow is still not lost on me...There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India." He contended, "We are in the midst of a fourth world war; the third was the Cold War, but it was very warm in Asia, Africa and Latin America till it ended in the early 1990s. The war against terrorism is the fourth; and it is a world war because it can raise its evil head anywhere in the world." He argued, "Few minutes of peace will achieve far more than many years of war." He said, "In my view, education is the alchemy that can bring India its next golden age. Our oldest scriptures laid the framework of society around the pillars of knowledge; our challenge is to convert knowledge into a democratic force by taking it into every corner of our country. Our motto is unambiguous: All for knowledge, and knowledge for all. The weight of office sometimes becomes a burden on dreams. The news is not always cheerful. Corruption is an evil that can depress the nation's mood and sap its progress. We cannot allow our progress to be hijacked by the greed of a few." He conlcuded saying, "I envisage an India where unity of purpose propels the common good; where Centre and State are driven by the single vision of good governance; where every revolution is green; where democracy is not merely the right to vote once in five years but to speak always in the citizen's interest".

Sonia Gandhi & Manmohan Singh

Indian National Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) emerged victorious again in the 2009 parliamentary elections. The process of government formation is underway. It is currently heading the government of India. UPA was formed soon after the 2004 general elections. Sonia Gandhi was made the Chairperson of UPA. On 18 May 2004, after her Congress party won the parliamentary election, she was slated to become Prime Minister, but declined after fierce opposition and the promise of future turmoil from the Bhartiya Janta Party led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the current opposition party. She was elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party and was expected to become the Prime Minister. She nominated Dr Manmohan Singh and secured his the nomination for prime minister on 19 May 2004 from the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. She renounced Italian citizenship on 27 April 1983 and became a citizen of India on 30 April 1983. India will hold general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha by May 2009. Dr Singh would resign and approach the President in the coming few days to form his government.

Mukesh Ambani, son of Dhirubhai Ambani, founder, Reliance Industries

Mukesh Ambani, chairman & managing director, Reliance Industries & the fourth richest man in the world. He has personal wealth of $29.0 billion. He is an MBA drop-out from Stanford University at the first year. Mukesh joined Reliance Industries in 1981 & initiated its backward integration journey from textiles into polyester fibres & further into petrochemicals, petroleum refining & going up-stream into oil & gas exploration & production. His company is one of the clients of Niira Radia, an "economic terrorist" who is caught in India's biggest telecom scam. Radia's Vaishnavi Advisory Services Pvt Ltd created NeUcom Consulting in September 2008 under an entrepreneurial model with Manoj Warrier as its head. Warrier was the executive director of Vaishnavi looking after operations in the north & west. Vaishnavi has a significant shareholding in the company. NeUcom began its journey with Reliance Industries by handling its media relations & media strategy. It also handled the internal communications of Reliance & its subsidiaries. The new outfit has been set up to head off the risk of a potential conflict of interest with Vaishnavi’s other clients. Vaishnavi Corporate Communications handles the accounts of the Tata group and the Confederation of Indian Industry as well. The rise of Dhirubhai Ambani has been documented in "The Polyester Prince". Congress Party & Indira Gandhi government had assisted the Ambanis in a huge way. Dhirubhai put his resources behind Indira Gandhi's efforts to split the janata coalition, which focused on the ambition of the then Finance Minister, Charan Singh. Another book "Ambani & Sons" shows how Ambani's story is central to an understanding of India today because they shape its political geography.

Asif Ali Zardari, President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Zardari won the presidential elections on September 5, 2008. He is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister. A Balochi from a tribe based in Sindh, Zardari rose to prominence after his marriage to Bhutto in 1987. Between 1993 and 1996, he held various cabinet positions in the second Bhutto administration. He was arrested on the charges of corruption in late 1996, following the collapse of the Bhutto government. Although incarcerated, he nominally served in Parliament after being elected to the National Assembly in 1990 and Senate in 1997. He was released from jail in 2004. He subsequently went into self-exile in Dubai, but returned in December 2007 after Bhutto's assassination. As the Co-Chairman of the PPP, he led his party to victory in the 2008 general elections. He spearheaded a coalition that forced Musharraf to resign and was elected President on 6 September 2008. As president, Zardari has been a consistently strong U.S. ally in the war in Afghanistan, despite prevalent public disapproval of the nation's involvement in the conflict. In late 2008, his government obtained a three-year multi-billion dollar loan package from the International Monetary Fund in an effort to steer the nation out of an economic crisis. In early 2009, his attempt to prevent the reinstatement of Supreme Court judges failed in the face of massive protests led by Nawaz Sharif, his chief political rival. The passage of the 18th Amendment in 2010 reduced his vast presidential powers to that of a ceremonial figurehead but the failure of the Prime Minister to pursue corruption cases against him despite Supreme Court's orders shows that he remains politically more powerful than the Prime Minister. In 2005, Daily Pakistan reported he was the second richest man in Pakistan with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion. New York Times reported that In 2007, he received $60 million in his Swiss bank account through offshore companies under his name. He is reported to have estates in Surrey, West End of London, Normandy, Manhattan, and Dubai, a 16th century chateau in Normandy. He bought a 365-acre (148-hectare) 20-bedroom luxury estate in Rockwood, Surrey in 1995 through a chain of firms, trusts, and offshore companies in 1994. After denying it now he has claimed that he was its beneficial owner. For eight years he denied that he owned the property and no one paid the bills for the work on the unoccupied mansion. Creditors forced a liquidation sale in 2004 and the Pakistani government claimed the proceeds because the home had been bought with money obtained through corruption. The proceeds are in a liquidator bank account while a civil case continues. Pakistan's parliamentary lower house National Assembly has 342 seats. The upper house Senate has 100 seats. The four provincial assemblies are Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan respectively. Zardari became the co-chiarperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on 27 December 2007. After the 2008 General Elections the PPP won the highest number of seats among all political parties, gaining a total general seats 93 from all provinces in the National Parliament. appealed to the Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to form a coalition controlling over half the seats in Pakistan's 342 seat parliament. On 9 March 2008 in a press conference held in Muree, Punjab, PML-N Leader Nawaz Sharif and PPP Co-Leader Asif Ali Zardari officially signed an agreement to form a coalition government. Titled the PPP-PML summit declaration, the joint declaration both parties agreed on the reinstatement of judges deposed during the emergency rule imposed on 3 November 2007 by Pervez Musharraf within 30 days after the new federal government was formed. This treaty was later on was violated by PPP government, after which PML(N) withdrew from collation and federal government. PPP has managed to maintain a large vote bank in Sindh and South Punjab. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League (N) are it's main competitors. On 22 June 2012, PPP nominated Raja Pervez Ashraf was elected as the new Pakistan PM after Sureme Court sacked Yousuf Raza Gilani on June 19, 2012 for not . At heart of the present crisis is the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) of October 5, 2007 by General Pervez Musharraf provided selective amnesty to Zardari for cases instituted for offences between January 1, 1986, and October 12, 1999, i.e., during the civilian interregnum between years of military rule.The NRO was Struck down by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on December 16, 2009. Subsequent developments led to the Pakistan Supreme Court ordering the prime minister to write to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases against Zardari, Gilani's refusal to do so, his conviction for contempt on April 26, 2012, the Speaker's ruling in Gilani's favour, PILs against the ruling by opposition parties and Gilani's eventual dismissal.

François Hollande, President, Republic of France.

François Hollande of Socialist Party (Parti socialiste)took office on 15 May 2012. He is the second Socialist President of the Fifth French Republic, after François Mitterrand who served from 1981 to 1995.He is the 24th President of France and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra.The president is the Commander-in-Chief of the armies. All decisions of the president are countersigned by the Prime minister, except dissolving the French National Assembly.The French Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system. Unlike many other European presidents, the office of the French President is quite powerful. Although it is the Prime Minister of France and parliament that oversee much of the nation's actual lawmaking, the French President wields significant influence. The president holds the nation's most senior office, and outranks all other politicians. The president's greatest power is their ability to choose the Prime Minister. However, since the French National Assembly has the sole power to dismiss the Prime Minister's government, the president is forced to name a prime minister who can command the support of a majority in the assembly. A 1962 referendum changed the constitution, so that the President would be directly elected by universal suffrage and not by the Parliament. In 2000, a referendum shortened the presidential term from seven years to five years. A maximum of two consecutive terms was imposed after the 2008 constitutional reform. Valérie Trierweiler, a French political journalist is the partner of François Hollande since 1988. She works with French magazine Paris Match.

Chen Bingde, Chief of General Staff, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA)

General Chen Bingde was the Director-General of the PLA's General Armaments Department until September 2007. In this position he acted as the head of the space program of China. PLA was established on August 1, 1927 as the military arm of the Communist Party of China (CCP). The PLA is the world's largest military force, with approximately 3 million members, and has the world's largest (active) standing army, with approximately 2.25 million members. The PLA comprises five main service branches consisting of the PLA Ground Force, PLA Navy (PLAN), PLA Air Force (PLAAF), Second Artillery Corps (strategic nuclear or missile force), and the PLA Reserve Force. The People's Armed Police (PAP), a Chinese paramilitary force under the dual leadership of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of Public Security, is sometimes confused as a branch of the PLA (both the PLA and the PAP are under the lead of Central Military Commission). In 1962, the PLA also fought India in the Sino-Indian War (October 1962 to November 1962) successfully neutralizing Indian defenses and achieving all objectives. The PLA is formally under the command of the Central Military Commission of the CCP; there is also an identical commission in the government, but it has no clear independent functions. Troops around the country are stationed in seven military regions and more than 20 military districts. US Army Chief of Staff General George W. Casey Jr. got an earful of criticism from Chinese General Bingde during his visit to China in August 2010 accusing the USA of failing to respect China's interests. Bingde took the unusual step of allowing foreign news reporters to listen in during a photo session before the meeting when he told Gen. Casey that the USA was "challenging and violating our core national interests, and we have to react." Earlier, Bingde had told Casey that the USA had undermined China's trust by selling arms to Taiwan and that Washington is only friendly when it seeks Beijing's cooperation on terrorism and piracy, but then does "anything they want, even to offend the Chinese people." He said, "I don't think that kind of cooperation can continue." Casey stated that "it's difficult to build a lasting relationship when we start from a point that 'we have a problem and it is you.’”

Field Marshal Abdo Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi, President, Yemen

Hadi was the sole candidate in the presidential election that was held on 21 February 2012. His candidacy was backed by the ruling party as well as the parliamentary opposition. The Election Commission reported that 65 percent of registered voters in Yemen voted during the election. Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi took the oath of office in Yemen's parliament on 25 February 2012. He was formally inaugurated as the president of Yemen on 27 February 2012, when Saleh resigned from the presidency and formally ceded power to Hadi. In a meeting with British Foreign Secretary, William Hague in his first days at office Hadi said "We intend to confront terrorism with full force and whatever the matter we will pursue it to the very last hiding place". Between 4 June and 23 September 2011, he was the Acting President of Yemen while Ali Abdullah Saleh was undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia following an attack on the presidential palace during the 2011 Yemeni uprising.

Moncef Marzouki, Interim President, Tunisia

Marzouki studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg in France. He returned to Tunisia in 1979. He founded the Center for Community Medicine in Sousse and the African Network for Prevention of Child Abuse. He also joined Tunisian League for Human Rights. In his youth, he had travelled to India to study Mahatma Gandhi's peaceful resistance. He also travelled to South Africa to study its transition from apartheid. After 23 years of dictatorship of Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party led by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali & Leila Trabelsi fell to a wave of student protests on 14th January, fleeing into exile. It is believed that the Libyan secret service may have helped Ben Ali flee the country. Ben Ali is now in exile in Saudi Arabia. Tunisian Republic is the northernmost country in Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west & Libya to the southeast. The UN has put the death toll at 100. The center of the capital, Tunis faced a week of demonstrators demanding the dismissal of ex-ruling party members from the new interim coalition government. Tunisia's interim president Fouad Mebazaa, the former parliamentary speaker pledged in a statement the proclamation of a general amnesty. Tunisia achieved independence from France in 1957 led by Habib Bourguiba, who later became the first Tunisian President in November 1987, doctors declared Bourguiba unfit to rule and, in a bloodless coup d'état, Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumed the presidency. He and his family subsequently were accused of corruption and plundering the country's money. Some 33 members of Ben Ali's family have been arrested and their assets have been seized by the government.

Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister, Japan

In Japan, nuclear radiation spread from the three reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in one of the hardest-hit provinces in 11th March’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami In a nationally televised statement. Govt told people living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant to evacuate and those within 19 miles (30 kilometers) to stay indoors. WHO says, "Government of Japan’s recent actions in response to events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are in line with the existing recommendations for radiation exposure. The Government evacuated individuals who were living within a 20-kilometre radius around the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Those living between 20 km and 30 km from the plant are being asked to shelter indoors. People living farther away are at lower risk than those who live nearby...WHO is following the situation closely." Notably, WHO has an agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the promoter and the regulator of nuclear commerce. This 50-year-old agreement with the IAEA has effectively gagged the WHO from telling the truth about the health risks of radiation. Fifty years ago, on 28 May 1959, the World Health Organisation's assembly voted into force an obscure but important agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency – the United Nations "Atoms for Peace"organisation, founded just two years before in 1957. The effect of this agreement has been to give the IAEA an effective veto on any actions by the WHO that relate in any way to nuclear power – and so prevent the WHO from playing its proper role in investigating and warning of the dangers of nuclear radiation on human health. The WHO's objective is to promote "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health", while the IAEA's mission is to "accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world". Although best known for its work to restrict nuclear proliferation, the IAEA's main role has been to promote the interests of the nuclear power industry worldwide, and it has used the agreement to suppress the growing body of scientific information on the real health risks of nuclear radiation. Investigations into the health impacts of the Chernobylnuclear accident in Ukraine on 26 April 1986 have been effectively taken over by IAEA and dissenting information has been suppressed. The health effects of the accident were the subject of two major conferences, in Geneva in 1995, and in Kiev in 2001. But the full proceedings of those conferences remain unpublished. The British radiation biologist Keith Baverstockis another casualty of the agreement, and of the mindset it has created in the WHO. He served as a radiation scientist and regional adviser at the WHO's European Office from 1991 to 2003, when he was sacked after expressing concern to his senior managers that new epidemiological evidence from nuclear test veterans and from soldiers exposed to depleted uraniumindicated that current risk models for nuclear radiation were understating the real hazards. Since the 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in April 2007, a daily "Hippocratic vigil" has taken place at the WHO's offices in Geneva, organised by Independent WHOto persuade the WHO to abandon its the WHO-IAEA Agreement. The protest has continued through the WHO's 62nd World Health Assembly. the scientific case against the agreement is building up, most recently when the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR) called for its abandonment at its conference held in May 2009 in Lesvos, Greece. At present, IAEA and WHO cannot be trusted with sharing truth about the nuclear catastrophe in Japan.

Asma al-Assad & Bashar al-Assad, President, Syria

Assad faces democratic calls to dismantle a pervasive security and military apparatus, free political prisoners and reveal the fate of tens of thousands of dissidents who disappeared in the 1980s. Pro-democracy protesters are demanding repeal of the emergency law which is in place since 1963. Several of these protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces and government supporters in towns and cities across the country. The unrest in Syria came to a head after police detained more than a dozen schoolchildren for scrawling graffiti inspired by pro-democracy protests across the Arab world. Diana Jawabra, a lawyer along with 15 others were arrested for taking part in a silent protest demanding the release of the children responsible for the graffiti have been freed. There are news reports suggesting release of some 260 political prisoners. Asma al-Assad is the British-born wife of the Syrian President.

Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain

Bahrain’s interior minister apologized for the killing of two people in clashes with security forces this week, as protests resumed for a third day at the funeral of one of the victims. The protesters in Bahrain chose 14th February as a day of protest to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the National Action Charter. a package of political changes that was endorsed by the people of Bahrain on February 14, 2001, in a popular referendum that saw a 98.4% vote in favour.Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, a Sunni Muslim is the King since 1999. The country was declared a kingdom in 2002. It formerly was considered an emirate and officially called a "state."He is the premier’s nephew. He has ordered an increase in food subsidies and social welfare payments, and a grant of 1,000 dinars ($2,653) to each Bahraini family.Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. Shiites, who represent as much as 70 percent of Bahrain’s population.Among other issues, the referendum paved the way for national elections and for the country to become a constitutional monarchy, changing the country's official name from the State of Bahrain to the Kingdom of Bahrain (a change which took effect in February 2002). Parliamentary elections took place on 26 October 2002 with the new legislature, the National Assembly, beginning work the following month. The opposition led by Islamic parties boycotted the 2002 election in protest at the bicameral nature of the parliament, because the appointed upper chamber, the Shura Council, has the power to veto legislation. Shura members have responded by pointing out that an appointed upper chamber is a feature of long established democracies.

Queen Rania & King Abdullah II of Jordan

King has called for national unity disregarding call for democracy in Jordan by protesters. Reflecting King's control over Jordan's Parliament, the legislature has rejected calls for downgrading constitutional authorities of Abdullah II. Jordan's government on March 14 formed a national dialogue committee and invited 52 people including three top Muslim Brotherhood leaders as well as former ministers, politicians, trade unionists and writers to join in. Pro-democacy Jordanianshave held protests since January 2011 demanding democratic changes but Western corporate media is underming their protests by describing them as Islamists.

Julian Assange, Founder, WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website

Assange founded WikiLeaks website in 2006. He has published on extra-judicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the African coast, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer among other documents. His publication of classified material documenting details about the involvement of the USA in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five media partners began publishing the US diplomatic cables leak. According to The Guardian, this has placed Assange "at the centre of intense media speculation and a hate campaign against him in America". On 30 November 2010, Interpol placed Assange on its red notice list of wanted persons; at the same time, a European Arrest Warrant was issued for him. He was wanted for questioning on suspicion of "sex crimes"; it is alleged that while having consensual sex his condom broke and he either did not disclose the breakage to his partner or continued after his partner asked him to stop. He has not been formally charged with any crime.He was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police on 7 December by appointment, after a voluntary meeting with the police.

Ratan Naval Tata, Chairman, Tata Group, a Multinational Conglomerate Company

Ratan Tata, over from his uncled J R D Tata in 1991. He was born to Soonoo & Naval Hormusji Tata. Ratan is the great grandson of Tata group founder Jamsedji Tata. His immediate family includes brother, Jimmy, and two sisters. Noel Tata, son of Simone Tata, is his stepbrother. Jimmy & his three half-sisters aren't involved in Tata businesses. In 1971, Ratan was appointed the Director-in-Charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco). The venture did not survive. In 1977, Ratan was entrusted with Empress Mills, a textile mill controlled by the Tatas which was finally closed down in 1986. In 1981, Ratan was named director of Tata Industries, the Group's other holding company and was made responsible for transforming it into the Group's strategy think-tank and a promoter of new ventures in high-technology businesses.Tata Group has operations in more than 85 countries across six continents and its companies export products and services to 80 nations. The Tata Group comprises 114 companies and subsidiaries in seven business sectors. Tata Group as the 11th most reputable company in the world in the survey that included 600 global companies. “There is a big conversation between Mr Ratan Tata and Mrs Radia which establishes that Mr Tata wanted to prevent Dayanidhi Maran from Telecom Minister at any cost,” according to some documents and taped conversations recently published. The documents that are in circulation as Top Secret ones have the names of Mr Ratan Tata, Mr Saghvi and Ms Barkha scattered all. It says- “On Mrs Radia’s and Kanimozhi’s behalf Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi were negotiating for ministerial birth”.

Ayatollah Khāmene’i, Supreme Leader of Iran

Khamenei was the victim of an attack aimed to assassinate him in June 1981 which paralyzed his right hand. He was president of Iran from 1981 to 1989, and has been Supreme Leader of Iran since June 1989 when the Assembly of Experts appointed him to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khamenei helped guide the country during the Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s. His remarks in his message to hajj pilgrims was issued on 8th November, 2010 wherein he raised the issue of Kashmir saying, "Today the major duties of the elite of the Islamic ummah are to provide help to the Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, to sympathize and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime, to safeguard the solidarity of Muslims and stop tainted hands and mercenary voices that try to damage this unity, and to spread awakening and the sense of responsibility and commitment among Muslim youth throughout Islamic communities." India issued a demarche to Iran on Friday, the third since June, after Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei mentioned Kashmir in his message to Haj pilgrims. On all the three occasions, Iran called on the Muslim community to support the “struggle” in Kashmir and mentioned it with Gaza and Afghanistan.

Barack H.Obama, President, USA

On January 20th, 2009, Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the USA- the first African-American ever to hold the office of U.S. Commander-in-Chief. He sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. Rev. Joseph Lowery gave the benediction during the inauguration of Barack Obama as the President. Obama has set up an executive office for healthcare reform at the White House on April 8, 2009 sayng the overhaul was one of the biggest priorities for the first year of his presidency. He issued an executive order that says the U.S. healthcare system "suffers from serious and pervasive problems." Studies suggest Americans get poorer care than people in other industrialized countries that have national healthcare plans, and 46 million Americans have no health insurance at all. The crushing cost of health care causes a bankruptcy every 30 seconds, and by the end of the year it could cause 1.5m Americans to lose their homes.Obama brought up the issue of lobbying and which presidential candidate would truly stand up to the special interests during his elction campaign. He mocked opponents suggesting that lobbyists “wont even get past the front gate”. He asked, “My question is – who is going to stop them?

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister, Republic of Turkey

Erdogan is the Prime Minister of Turkey since 14 March 2003. He is also the chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He is a former mayor of Istanbul. The AK party won the elections of 2007 making it the first time in 52 years that a party in power has increased its votes for a second term. He was given a prison sentence after he had read poetry regarded as a violation of Kemalism by judges in 1998. It included lines translated as "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...." On 29 January 2009, Erdoğan attended the World Economic Forum in Davos and vowed never to attend another Davos forum again. He called the recent Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip a "crime against humanity" and "barbaric." He said a "curse" would fall on Israel for their actions during the 22-day military operation and then stalked out of the session after complaining that the moderator was not giving him the chance to respond to Israeli President Shimon Peres. alked out of the televised debate Moderator refused to allow him to rebut the Israeli president's justification about the war that left about 1,300 Gazans dead. Before storming out, Erdogan told Shimon Peres, the Israeli president: "You are killing people." Peres told Erdogan during the heated panel discussion that he would have acted in the same manner if rockets had been falling on Istanbul. Moderator David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist, then told Erdogan that he had "only a minute" to respond to a lengthy monologue by Peres. Turkey accused Israel on Friday of breaking biblical commandments against killing and said it could cut ties with its one-time ally to a minimum after nine Turkish activists died in a raid on a ship bound for Gaza. "I am speaking to them in their own language. The sixth commandment says 'thou shalt not kill'. Did you not understand?" Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in his harshest words yet since Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara. "I'll say [it] again. I say in English 'you shall not kill'. Did you still not understand? So I'll say to you in your own language. I say in Hebrew 'Lo Tirtzakh'," he said in a televised speech to supporters of his AK Party. Erdogan also compared the Israeli actions to those of Kurdish militants in Turkey and stood up for Hamas, calling them "resistance fighters fighting for their land".

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President & Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the last Prime Minister of Iran

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader has ordered an inquiry into the allegations of rigging in the elections. Results of the inquiry is expected in 10 days time. Iranian President is elected by direct vote. Candidates need to win majority (50% plus one of the votes cast in the election) to become President. Iran has a two-round system: if none of the candidates win the majority in the first round, two top candidates from the first round will go to a second round, and whichever wins the majority of votes in the second round is elected President. The first round was held on 12 June 2009. The second round, if necessary is held one week later. All Iranian citizens of age 18 are eligible to vote. There are around 46 million eligible voters. On 20 May, Guardian Council officially announced the list of approved candidates. The main contesttant Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the last Prime Minister of Iran has challanged the veracity of the election results.Notably, European leaders from France and Germany & others did not express a similar outrage when elections were rigged in the US during the Bush regime. Iran's electoral watchdog is due to take a decision on the complaints of vote-rigging filed by defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the Guardians Council head said on state television that "I hope it will not take long that the noble people will see that the question has been examined in the best way and we will give the result to the people". Jannati said the council, a 12-member body, has been instructed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to examine the issue. "We said yes to his call... we are doing what he asked us to do," he said. Earlier, state television quoted Khamenei as saying he had advised the council to "precisely examine" the complaint filed by Mousavi, while a council spokesman had said a decision would take 10 days.

Heads of world's two biggest greenhouse-gas polluting nations

China and the US each account for about 20 percent of all the world's greenhouse gas pollution, created when coal, natural gas or oil are burned. The European Union is next, generating 14 percent, followed by Russia and India, which each account for 5 percent. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, "The climate negotiations are proceeding at glacial speed. The world's glaciers are now melting faster than human progress to protect them – and us." Failure to reach a new international pact on climate change "would be morally inexcusable, economically shortsighted and politically unwise," Ban warned. "The science demands it. The world economy needs it." EU has urged other rich countries to match its pledge to cut emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, and has said it would cut up to 30 percent if other rich countries follow suit.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

Netanyahu was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 31, 2009. Netanyahu chaired his first cabinet meeting on April 5, 2009 in the backdrop of what his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at the foreign ministry handover ceremony on April 1. Lieberman said that the new right-leaning government was not bound by a US-backed 2007 agreement to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland. "We will never agree to skip any of the stages -- and there are 48 of them -- and go straight to the last stage on negotiations on a permanent agreement." The roadmap is a step-by-step international peace plan launched in 2003 under which Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state -- a concept that Netanyahu opposes. It calls for Israel and the Palestinians to take a series of steps -- among them a freeze on Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and an end to violence -- eventually leading to talks on a final peace deal. In Annapolis, the two sides agreed to jump to its final phase and relaunch peace talks on core issues while at the same time implementing the other phases of the plan, although the talks have produced little visible progress since. He is opposed to the two-state solution. Netanyahu's stance on the peace process has to dove tail his policy with that of US President Barack Obama who has vowed to vigorously pursue a settlement to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution. Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear that his top priority was arch-foe Iran's nuclear programme, which perturbs Israel because it feels that it is aimed at manufacturing atomic weapons, a charged Tehran has repeatedly denied. Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East's sole nuclear-armed nation, something it has never confirmed or denied. Netanyahu was previously the country's Prime Minister from June 1996 to July 1999. He is also Chairman of the Likud Party. He is the first (and, to date, only) Israeli prime minister born after the State of Israel's foundation. Prior to him it was Ehud Olmert who was the Prime Minister who had boasted that his intervention ensured that US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice abstained from a key UN vote on the Gaza war. Tzipi Livni tried unsuccessfully to form a new coalition government. After Livni announced she could not form the new government, new parliamentary elections were set for 10 February 2009, and Olmert will remain in power, as the law dictates, until after the elections

Mario Monti, Italian Prime Minister

Monti was appointed by President Giorgio Napolitano to lead a technocrat government, replacing Silvio Berlusconi who lost his parliamentary majority as the euro debt crisis threatened to push Italy's borrowing costs out of control. Monti also holds the finance and economy portfolio. He has said he intends to remain in office until the next scheduled elections in 2013. Monti served as a European Commissioner between 1995 and 2005, first as internal markets commissioner and later as competition commissioner, where he made his name in high profile battles against corporate giants Microsoft and General Electric. He was President of Milan's Bocconi University before being named Life Senator by Napolitano and asked to form a government after Berlusconi's resignation. He has close connections to European policy makers from his time in Brussels. He is a former adviser to Goldman Sachs and Coca Cola and a member of the Bilderberg group of business leaders and other influential figures.

Ismail Haniya, Prime Minister, Palestinian National Authority

In a televised speech Haniya said, "The blood of [Palestinians] has not been shed in vain and Insha'Allah (God willing) it will bring us victory." Haniya also said that the "blood of children" who have been killed in the conflict would serve as a "curse which will come back to haunt (US President) Bush." Haniya is the 5th Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. He is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist paramilitary organization and political party which holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority. Hamas was created in 1987. On February 16, 2006, Hamas nominated Haniyeh for Palestinian Prime Minister, and was formally presented as such to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on February 20, 2006. In December 2005, Haniyeh was elected to head the Hamas list, which won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections the following month. Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan. Australia and the United Kingdom list only the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. The United States and the European Union have both implemented restrictive measures against Hamas on an international level. Haniya became Prime Minister in a 2006 election, which was described as free and fair by independent monitors. Months later, however, the Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas sacked Haniya and appointed a premier from his Fatah party. Following the incident Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June 2007.

Bernard L. Madoff, a US Businessman

US Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Bernard L. Madoff and his investment firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, with securities fraud for a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme that he perpetrated on advisory clients of his firm. The SEC is seeking emergency relief for investors, including an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm. SEC's complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges that Madoff yesterday informed two senior employees that his investment advisory business was a fraud. Madoff told these employees that he was "finished," that he had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie," and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme." The senior employees understood him to be saying that he had for years been paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from other, different investors. Madoff admitted in this conversation that the firm was insolvent and had been for years, and that he estimated the losses from this fraud were at least $50 billion.

Ramalinga Raju, the founder & Chairman, Satyam Computers

Until January 7, 2009 when he resigned from the Satyam board after admitting to corporate fraud. Raju has allegedly admitted overstating its cash reserves by one billion US dollars. Allegations have been made that the company's assets were not inflated, but instead siphoned off by Ramalinga Raju. Ramalinga Raju is currently lodged in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda jail as Prisoner No. 213 on various criminal charges including fraud, forgery, cheating, embezzelment and insider trading to name just a few. It has been estimated that more than One Billion US Dollars worth of investor's wealth was illegally siphoned out of Satyam Computers into numerous private accounts by prime accused Raju and possibly a few others in what has become known as the single biggest corporate fraud in India'a history. Satyam was created by Ramalinga Raju and others and was until recently perceived to be amongst the top Indian IT vendors.

Mahinda Rajapakse, President, Sri Lanka with the Indian PM

Rajapakse argues that following the closure by the LTTE of a reservoir supplying water to 15,000 people named "Mavil Aru" in government controlled areas on July 21, 2006, the Sri Lankan military launched an offensive against the LTTE, bringing the entire reservoir under government control. Further military engagements have led to the LTTE been driven out of the entire Eastern Province of Sri Lanka and lost 95% of the territory they controlled. Rajapakse is a lawyer by profession has previously served as the country's Prime Minister from April 6, 2004 until his swearing in as President for a six-year term on November 19, 2005. He is the current Chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Following the 17 November, 2005 presidential elections, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected President of Sri Lanka - winning 50.3% of the votes cast, although having only part support from his split party. The party is generally considered as having a centre-left or pro-socialist economic agenda and is often associated with hard-line Sinhala parties. The Visva Bharati University of Calcutta in India conferred on him the title Professor Emeritus for his record on human rights.During the Rajapaksa administration, press freedom in Sri Lanka became the "worst in any democratic country",according to the Reporters without borders index, ranking 165th among 173 countries in the index.

Pascal Lamy, Fifth Director-General, WTO

Lamy is the Director-General, WTO since September 2005. Previously, he was the Trade Commissioner of the European Union in Brussels from 1999 to 2004. He is a member of the French Socialist Party. Lamy is also politically active in the Mouvement Europeen. Lamy states "the speed of globalisation impacts on social and economic fabrics in unprecedented ways" and describes free trade as "welfare efficiency creating". About the current crisis in the world financial markets, he opined that international finance is less regulated than the international goods trade, "a little more prudent regulation could have helped".

Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General, UN

"World’s poorest can bank on UN support," says. Ban Ki-moon. On 13 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly. On 1 January 2007, he succeeded Kofi Annan. was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from college, accepting his first post in New Delhi. On 25 October 2008, UN and the World Bank signed an agreement to strengthen their commitment to work more closely together in countries struck by conflicts or natural disasters. Emphasising that the financial crisis has triggered the need for an international cooperation to tackle global issues, United Nations has asked the nuclear weapon States, including India, to take the advantage of the atmosphere to revitalise the world disarmament agenda. He has called on called on the N-weapon States to move towards total elimination of nuclear weapons. Advocating a five point proposal to achieve the aim, Ban urged the nuclear weapon States, including the five permanent members of the Security Council to keep their promise to launch negotiations to achieve total disarmament. Besides P5 the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons and Israel is widely believed to have them.

Svetlana Bakhmina, former lawyer, Russia

Bakhmina is a middle-ranking legal executive for Yukos, the Russian oil company. She was arrested and tried on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement. She is currently imprisoned. On 26 September 2008 a Bakhmina's classmate sent an open letter to President Medvedev appealing for clemency and calling for an immediate release of Bakhmina who is currently in her seventh month of pregnancy. Bakhmina, now 39, has twice been denied early release. Russians have been especially moved by the plight of Bakhmina’s two children, now seven and 11, who do not know their mother is in jail and believe their father when he tells them she is away working. On October 8, 2008 a site was launched featuring an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev titled "Help Svetlana Bakhmina". As of November 1, 2008, the letter has been signed by 76,950 supporters. “Svetlana Bakhmina has already completed the greater part of her term,” said Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet president, who backs the campaign. “She has two little boys, is pregnant and is due to give birth in December. Why hold her behind bars?” Last March Bakhmina saw her children for the first time in more than three years when she was allowed home for 10 days for good behaviour. That was when she became pregnant. A rival letter launched on October 19 calls for Bakhmina serving out her full sentence, and as of November 1, 2008 has 2,249 signatures. Yukos was a petroleum company in Russia which, until recently, was controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky and a number of prominent Russian businessmen. Khodorkovsky was convicted and sent to prison. Yukos headquarters was located in Moscow. In August, 2006, a Russian court declared Yukos bankrupt. Yukos was one of the world's largest non-state oil companies, producing 20% of Russian oil—about 2% of world production. Its assets were acquired in controversial circumstances from the Russian Government during the privatization process of the early 1990s. The initial period of "oligarchic privatization" was characterized by bloodshed, and Yukos was certainly no exception. In April 2003, Yukos agreed to a merger with Sibneft, but the merger was soon undone in the aftermath of the arrest of Yukos CEO Khodorkovsky in October, 2003.

Susanne Klatten, an heiress to carmaker BMW's fortune

Germany's Richest Woman Blackmailed by Gigolo. She was blackmailed for millions of euro by a Swiss lover, who threatening to release sex videos with her. Klatten had begun an affair with the Swiss man, identified as Helg Sgarbis, in 2006. The two met in luxury hotels in Monte Carlo and Munich, where Sgarbi's accomplice, Italian resident Ernano Barretta, apparently made the secret films of their intimate encounters. Klatten, who owns a 50 percent stake of chemical firm Altana and 12.5 per cent stake in BMW eventually paid Sgarbi EUR 7.5 million after he started to blackmail her a year after they first met. Sgarbis allegedly threatened to send the sex tapes to newspapers unless Klatten paid him 40 million more. She complained to the Munich authorities that she was a victim of fraud and blackmail.

Rahul Gandhi, MP & Amita Singh MLA from Amethi, UP

Rahul listens to 'Rani' Amita Singh, Amethi MLA during the foundation stone laying ceremony in Raipur Phulwari village in his Amethi constituency, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, July 15, 2008. Rahul is a supporter of privatization of education. As a member, Parliamentary committee on Human Resource Development, he has argued against government control of education. This 32-member committee is headed by senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi and includes Rahul Gandhi and Brinda Karat (CPI-M) as one of its members. After studying in St. Stephens College, New Delhi, Gandhi went to do his BA from Rollins College, Florida. He comleted his BA in 1994. Later, he went on to receive an M Phil in Development Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge University. He worked in London with the strategy consultancy firm Monitor Group, before returning to India in late 2002 to run an engineering and technology outsourcing firm in Mumbai. Amita Singh is the second wife of Sanjay Singh, former Union Minister who faces opposition from Garima Singh, his estranged first wife. Amita Singh is the former wife of late Syed Modi who was killed in 1988). Modi was a famous Indian badminton player like Prakash Padukone.

Lyonchen Jigmi Y. Thinley, Prime Minister, Bhutan

Thinley, is the first democratically elected prime minister of the Bhutan. India and Bhutan signed an updated version of the friendship treaty last year. The updated treaty allows Thimphu, which was earlier guided by New Delhi in its defence and foreign policies since 1949, greater freedom in running its foreign policy and non-lethal military purchases. Bhutan has emerged as a vital source of hydropower. The two countries are proactively collaborating in the hydropower power sector as New Delhi plans to assist in the setting up of more power plants in Bhutan. On November 6, Bhutan crowned a 28-year-old Oxford graduate as the Himalayan kingdom's new monarch in a ceremony attended by dignitaries including the President of India, Pratibha Patil, attended the coronation along with India's Congress Party president, Sonia Gandhi, and her children Rahul and Priyanka.

Hamid Karzai, President, Afghanistan

Barack Obama, the would be Forty-fourth President of the US says, “The most important thing we’re going to have to do with respect to Afghanistan is actually deal with Pakistan." Karzai became the President of Afghanistan, since December 7, 2004. He became a prominent political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001. The Loya Jirga of June 13, 2002, appointed Karzai Interim holder of the new position as President of the Afghan Transitional Administration. From December 2001, Hamid Karzai had been the Chairman of the Transitional Administration followed by the Interim President from 2002 until he won the 2004 Presidential election of Afghanistan. He won 21 of the 34 provinces, defeating his 22 opponents and became the first democratically elected leader of Afghanistan. He comes from a family that were strong supporters of the former king, Zahir Shah. He has six brothers and one sister. Karzai is well-versed in several languages, including Dari, Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, English and French. Karzai took a postgraduate course in political science at Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. He then returned to work as a fund-raiser by supporting anti-Soviet Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet intervention for the rest of the 1980s. After the fall of Najibullah's Soviet-backed government in 1992, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. When the Taliban emerged in the 1990s, Karzai was at first one of their supporters but later he broke with them and refused to serve as their U.N. ambassador. His father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was assassinated, presumably by Taliban agents, on July 14, 1999, and Karzai swore revenge against the Taliban by working to help overthrow them. In 2001, Hamid Karzai worked closely with the Ahmad Shah Massoud to help gather support for the anti-Taliban movement. Karzai has also been criticized for protecting Pashtun drug lords and poppy farmers in southern Afghanistan, where his political base lies as well as for blocking poppy crop aerial eradication efforts. Karzai worked for Unocal, infamous Union Oil Company of California according to Le Monde, a French newspaper. He was preceded by Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Ma Ying-jeou, Republic of China ("Taiwan")

The Republic of China (ROC) was founded in 1911 governing the whole of China. As a consequence of the Chinese Civil War, however, the ROC has since 1949 lost control of mainland China to the Chinese Communists while still maintaining control of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other islands. Communist Party founded People's Republic of China (PRC) on mainland China claiming to be the sole government of China. Is Taiwan really part of China? It depends whom you ask. Those who say "yes" have political reality and a billion Chinese on their side. Those who say "no" have economic reality, a different view of history, and millions of Taiwanese voters on theirs. The People's Republic of China (PRC) certainly thinks Taiwan is part of China. Beijing has threatened to invade the island if it ever declares independence. As far as the PRC is concerned, Taiwan is a renegade Chinese province controlled by an illegitimate government.

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO, News Corp

News Corp. is a global force across the board - film, television, print, and even online. He acquired Dow Jones too. Fortune noted, it was the crowning achievement of a career that started in 1953 when he inherited control of two Australian newspapers. Murdoch expanded to Britain in the 1960s, the U.S. in the '70s, and Asia in the 1990s. In Britain he owns the biggest tabloid, the Sun, and in the U.S. the New York Post and his Fox News Network. He purchased the Wall Street Journal. Murdoch is on his sixth visit to India to step up his push into one of Asia's fastest growing economies. Murdoch's last arrival was three years back, at a time when the DTH licence was awaiting government clearance. He wishes to promote Star India. His Wall Street Journal has an arrangement with financial daily Mint, a joint venture with Hindustan Times.

Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)

Rai joined as CAG on January 7, 2008. Formerly, he was a Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. A 1972 batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, he was the MD of Kerala State Co-operative Marketing Federation from 1977 to 1980. Since 1980, he has held various positions in different Ministries. A 1972 batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, he was the MD of Kerala State Co-operative Marketing Federation from 1977 to 1980. Since 1980, he has held various positions in different Ministries. He took over from V.N. Kaul, who has joined the Audit Advisory Committee of the U.N.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Member of Parliament, Jodhpur, Rajasthan & Supreme Court lawyer

Singhvi is former Additional Solicitor General and is representing Ship Recycling Industries Association (SRIA), India seeking to ensure indiscriminate dumping and entry of contaminated ships in India. SRIA has illegally beached 30 foreign ships without pre-cleaning. Winner of "Money Can Buy You Law" award, Singhvi is the spokesperson of the Indian National Congress. He straddles the two worlds of law and politics. He also represents Dow Chemicals company in the Bhopal Gas Leak disaster case for which he got Mir Zafar award. Documents show the legal advice given by Singhvi saying that Dow could not be held responsible for the disaster and also not be held liable for any alleged contamination and consequent cleaning up of the Bhopal site. This advice forms part of the file in Prime Minister's Office.

Justice S H Kapadia, Chief Justice of India

Blue Lady (SS Norway) beached Illegally in Alang but beaching is Irreversible so accept the fait accompli!! The bench in its order in the Blue Lady/Hazardous Waste case dated September 11, 2007 had this to say citing the order in the forest case: The concept of "balance" under the principle of proportionality applicable in the case of sustainable development is lucidly explained by Pasayat, J. in the judgment of this Court in the case of T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union of India and Ors. reported in (2002) 10 SCC 606 vide para 35 which reads as under: "35. It cannot be disputed that no development is possible without some adverse effect on the ecology and environment, and the projects of public utility cannot be abandoned and it is necessary to adjust the interest of the people as well as the necessity to maintain the environment. A balance has to be struck between the two interests. Where the commercial venture or enterprise would bring in results which are far more useful for the people, difficulty of a small number of people has to be bypassed. The comparative hardships have to be balanced and the convenience and benefit to a larger section of the people has to get primacy over comparatively lesser hardship." The above paragraphs indicate that while applying the concept of "sustainable development" one has to keep in mind the "principle of proportionality" based on the concept of balance. It is an exercise in which we have to balance the priorities of development on one hand and environmental protection on the other hand.

Victims of 'Development' Fundamentalism

Sen's book Development as Freedom is mentioned by Justice Pasayat and Justice Kapadia in the Blue Lady case to invoke, "The concept of "balance" under the principle of proportionality" and argue that "...A balance has to be struck between the two interests. Where the commercial venture or enterprise would bring in results which are far more useful for the people, difficulty of a small number of people has to be bypassed. The comparative hardships have to be balanced and the convenience and benefit to a larger section of the people has to get primacy over comparatively lesser hardship". Some of the chapters of this book were delivered as lectures to World Bank staff at the behest of James Wolfensohn. The court orders reads, "This concept of balancing is given importance by Dr. Amartya Sen" in this book. This interpretation and citation of Sen does not appear to be relevant and correct. Sen describes five requirements that should ideally work together in order to bring true development. This freedom is “seen in an "instrumental" perspective. These include political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees and protective security. The indisputable fact is that ship-breaking workers of Alang and 30, 000 villagers have no secuirty from chemical exposure.

Colin Veitch, Owner of SS Oceanic & Blue Lady, Norwegian Cruise Liner of Star Cruise Ltd

Veitch is now towing the Asbestos & PCBs laden SS Oceanic in the same way as Blue Lady (SS Norway). In the case of Blue Lady he took it to Bremerhaven, Germany that was headed for Singapore to be reused as a floating hotel but ended up in Port Klang, Malaysia on October 14, 2005. In Malaysia, Veitch left Malaysia by informing them that the ship is going to Dubai for repairs. Instead, it reached Alang, India on humanitarian grounds after it was refused entry in Bangladesh. The departure of this dubious ship, SS Norway (now SS Blue Lady, SS France) on May 23, 2005, triggered a continuing criminal offense that persists to this day. This company is indicted of Environmental Crime by US Justice Department. He has unlawfully breached Basel Convention and, through dishonest subterfuges managed to get the Blue Lady (SS Norway) to Alang for dismantling amid rumours of paid-offs to high officials in India to allow its dismantling. But so far the ship remains caught up in legal wrangles. Colin Veitch is attempting to escape huge decontamination cost by dumping it in India. It is estimated that over 17 million Euro would be needed to decontaminate a portion of the asbestos but in Alang workers and villagers are going to be exposed because the ship has not been pre-cleaned. Attempts to dispose of the vessel in Bangladesh early 2006 failed. In the case of Oceanic, a similar track is being followed.

Ruby Kaur Dhalla, Canadian MP

Dhalla is a Canadian politician. She has represented the riding of Brampton—Springdale in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004 as a member of the Liberal Party. Dhalla and British Columbia Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Nina Grewal are the first Sikh women to serve in the Canadian House of Commons. A former movie star Dhalla is involved in a raging controversy for trying to block DVD sales of Bollywood-style movie, she co-starred in before becoming a lawmaker in 2004. Dhalla, 35, ire against her role in a low budget film is that the movie's publicity material, including posters and photos show her dressed in flimsy and revealing clothes. The lawmaker who represents Brampton-Springdale claims these were morphed--- putting her face on someone else's body, Toronto Sun quoted her as saying. "We've never seen a copy of the film," she said adding that "They are misrepresenting me they put my face on someone else's body in clothes I never wore." The 2003 Hindi film called 'Kyon Kis Liye' which was shot in in Hamilton is based on the local Sukhinder Dhillon murder case, in which the wife was poisoned by her husband to collect insurance money. In the film, Dhalla had been shown in some steamy scenes with the film's producer and co-star Charanjit Sihra. The film has already been shown in Toronto and India.

JIm Puckett, Guru of global toxic waste trade & its adverse environmental health impact

Founder of Basel Action Network (BAN) that is working for environmental justice globally. He is the most authoritative voice of sanity on the issue of gross immorality of free movement of hazardous waste from rich nations to poor nations. He says, the developed countries are throwing salt into the wounds of the developing countries by their past and current externalisation of pollution cost. At COP 9 of Basel Convention in Bali, he appealed to the countries to avert the chemical crisis that inflict huge health cost on the poor. He sought immediate ban on the ongoing toxic waste trade to save the poor from adverse health effect. To that end, he has attended all the 10 meetings of COP since 1989 and remains optimistic even now.

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat at the 52nd meeting of National Development Council

The Import Duty on Ships, which are coming here for ship-breaking, is levied @ 5%, which has affected the ship-breaking industry negatively. As per September 2006 guidelines of the Ministry of Environment, Government of India, instead of State Governments' clearance, prior permission from Government of India has introduced for Ship breaking. This is retrograde step for the process of industrialization. Port led development should be integrated with ship breaking, ship repairing and shipbuilding. It could be a major area of trade during the 11th Plan, which however, has not been mentioned in the Approach Paper. He made this statement on 9th December 2006. The saddest part is that he supports use of asbestos, a known carcinogen. Gujarat is the only state which have proven cases of asbestos victims. Gujarat High Court is seized with incurable & fatal asbestos disease compensation case. The compensation is a meagre amount of Rs 1 lakh as per a Supreme Court order. Evidence received through Right to Information shows how National Institute of Occupational Health that certifies the victims have joined hands with the asbestos industry.

'Global Constitutionalism' of Europe allows asbestos exposure of Alang workers

Lord Goldsmith, former Attorney General, UK. He stepped down alongwith Tony Blair. He talks of principle of proportionality and balance and is quoted in Blue Lady (SS Norway) order. Although the matter relates to violation of several International and European environmental laws, when approached to comment on the violation, he said, "it is clear to me that this is a matter for the Indian Courts and I do not believe it would be appropriate for me to offer any comment." European laws seem to have changed after Le Clemenceu verdict by French court even then the Indian court was seized with the matter. Germany and Europe allowed violation of Basel Convention and its laws by permitting illegal traffic of Star Cruise's ship. Thus, shipowners escape decontamination cost in Europe. This is waste colonialism.

Time Bombs

Valmiki's Ramayana, Mahabharata by Ved Vyas, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Plato's The Republic, The Quran, The Communist Manifesto & Das Kapital by Karl Marx, Franz Kafka' The Trial, Khalil Zibran's The Prophet, Don Quixote by Cervantes, Quotations from Chairman Mao, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Freidrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth, Sigmund Freud's Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Scott Sandage's Born Losers, Jesus Never Existed by Kenneth Humphreys, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, The Indian War of Independence by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Documents of "Two Historical Trials", P C Joshi's Rebellion 1857

mediavigil

Thursday, February 07, 2013

The Big Picture - Confusion over NPR and Aadhaar

2 comments:

Undertrials in India

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General, NATO, a 28-nation intergovernmental military alliance

Hu Jintao & Wen Jiabao, People's Republic of China (PRC)

UN Security Council

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia with wife Lyudmila Putina

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, President of India

Sonia Gandhi & Manmohan Singh

Mukesh Ambani, son of Dhirubhai Ambani, founder, Reliance Industries

Moments

Asif Ali Zardari, President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

François Hollande, President, Republic of France.

Chen Bingde, Chief of General Staff, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA)

Stat Counter

Field Marshal Abdo Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi, President, Yemen

Moncef Marzouki, Interim President, Tunisia

Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister, Japan

Dr Baburam Bhattarai, Prime Minister, Nepal

Asma al-Assad & Bashar al-Assad, President, Syria

Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain

Queen Rania & King Abdullah II of Jordan

Blog Archive

Julian Assange, Founder, WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website

Ratan Naval Tata, Chairman, Tata Group, a Multinational Conglomerate Company

Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro & Eva Morales

mediavigil

Ayatollah Khāmene’i, Supreme Leader of Iran

Barack H.Obama, President, USA

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister, Republic of Turkey

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President & Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the last Prime Minister of Iran

Heads of world's two biggest greenhouse-gas polluting nations

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

Mario Monti, Italian Prime Minister

Ismail Haniya, Prime Minister, Palestinian National Authority

Bernard L. Madoff, a US Businessman

Ramalinga Raju, the founder & Chairman, Satyam Computers

Mahinda Rajapakse, President, Sri Lanka with the Indian PM

Global Market Watch

Pascal Lamy, Fifth Director-General, WTO

Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General, UN

Svetlana Bakhmina, former lawyer, Russia

Susanne Klatten, an heiress to carmaker BMW's fortune

Rahul Gandhi, MP & Amita Singh MLA from Amethi, UP

Political Trade

Lyonchen Jigmi Y. Thinley, Prime Minister, Bhutan

Hamid Karzai, President, Afghanistan

Ma Ying-jeou, Republic of China ("Taiwan")

Anil Ambani

mediavigil

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO, News Corp

Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Member of Parliament, Jodhpur, Rajasthan & Supreme Court lawyer

Justice S H Kapadia, Chief Justice of India

Victims of 'Development' Fundamentalism

Colin Veitch, Owner of SS Oceanic & Blue Lady, Norwegian Cruise Liner of Star Cruise Ltd

Ruby Kaur Dhalla, Canadian MP

JIm Puckett, Guru of global toxic waste trade & its adverse environmental health impact

Dawood Ibrahim

Keeping Track

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat at the 52nd meeting of National Development Council

'Global Constitutionalism' of Europe allows asbestos exposure of Alang workers

Time Bombs