Thursday 9 October 2014

BRICS – Game Changer in 21st Century?

The 6TH BRICS summit in Brazil ended with quite a few concrete outcomes such as the founding of the BRICS New Development Bank. This left many observers pondering whether this association of these countries of growing economic muscle could be a serious competition to the G8. It is obvious that one can’t question the supremacy of the BRICS  in terms of population, landmass, and economic size as compared to other countries of the world. However, these countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), until the formation of BRIC in 2001 with South Africa a late entrant in 2010, had been largely muddled along outside the global market economy; and their economic policies had often led to disastrous results. Each needed to experience deep and critical crises that would propel them onto a different and faster mode of development. When once they got onto the right track, they tapped into their vast unrealised economic strength with their total GDP of close to $14 trillion nearly equalling that of the United States.

But now the emerging question is whether the BRICS has the capacity to convert itself into a formidable force to influence the world economy and sustain it for long. In reality, none of the countries is fully accepted as capable leader even in its own region. India and China continue to have resentments and brushes with each other on matters like J&K and Tibet. Similarly, Russia is constantly involved in tussles with the west and US, making its economy more susceptible to western sanctions. South Africa on the other hand, doesn’t yet have the population and the growth potential as the other four to be the ‘equal’ member. Cohesiveness is also an issue the BRICS face as a unit. Russia and Brazil are way ahead in per capita income beating India and South Africa. China, meanwhile, dwarfs the other BRICS, whose combined economic size isn't expected to catch up to that of China in the coming years.

But does this mean BRICS cannot become a good competitor to the other international associations anytime soon? Answer to this can be given in two parts. No and Yes.

BRICS can give other associations a run for their money, as they enjoy great benefits from their abundant workforce, ability of higher productivity, and a competitiveness to catch up with their well off rivals. Over the past years, these countries have undergone great transformations. China has become the world’s manufacturing hub, Brazilian and South African beer companies have become leading global brewers. BRICS can be credited to have performed far better than some other developed markets with their growing GDPs. So of course, it makes perfect sense for investors to not ignore such a huge, successful part of the global economy. Research and development too in the BRICS is paving the way for increasingly high-value-added production. Therefore, together they could dominate the global economy later this century the way Europe and the United States once did.

However, the BRICS are going through a rough patch right now, which is why the answer to the question of their becoming a formidable force cannot always be in affirmative. While, the spread of democracy and free markets in much of Americas and much of Europe is impressive, two of the five BRICS have been laggards in this area. In the rest three countries, political checks and balances still remain in their infancy. Although we do read about new fancy airports in China and how Russia can bulldoze entire neighbourhoods at its will, their political conditions rarely give them an edge. Even for democratic members like India, Brazil and South Africa, politics are often overwhelmed by corruption, lack of political will, crippling crime records and political scandals.

The consequential scenario thus holds the future of BRICS in a mid-way. Some tailwinds that have benefitted the BRICS may turn into gales. For instance, these countries have low budget allocations to military spending that might have benefitted them relatively to the higher military budget allocations of major countries like U.S.A., allowing them to allocate more money to developmental activities such as improving health and education. Yet, there may be as serious change or disturbance at a hand away distance if conflicts broke in the Indian subcontinent, unfriendly neighbours posing nuclear threats or internal socio-political crisis. In fact, the latest reported happenings of Economic malpractices in China, the upheavals of the Arab spring and power blackout in India are the red flags that show the dramatic impact of sudden events. So, sure BRICS will have to face tough adjustments to meet the heavy growth expectations and the ever increasing demands of their rapidly growing populations.  Let us hope BRICS crosses these roadblocks and embarks upon its endeavour to put its stamp on the 21st century.


C. Krishna Priya 

THE PRESIDENT'S PROMISE

The devastating attacks by U.S.A, along with her Arab allies launched air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria late on Monday, according to a Pentagon statement.

As we know that the US President, Barak Obama recently promised to  “degrade and ultimately destroy,” the group that now controls vast tracts of Syria and Iraq, this action was seen as consistent with his promise.

According to John Kirby, Pentagon Press Secretary Adm. 14 air strikes were carried out against IS targets — many in the vicinity of Raqqah, the group’s stronghold in northern Syria by using “a mix of fighter and bomber aircraft and Tomahawk Land Attack missiles.”

It is also said that the strikes had destroyed or damaged multiple ISIL targets in the neighbouring area of Ar Raqqah, Dayr az Zawr, Al Hasakah, and Abu Kamal and included ISIL fighters, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance centre, supply trucks and armed vehicles as well.

The US President Mr. Obama emphasised that Washington was one among a broad coalition of nations fighting IS, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, and Qatar.

He also said that the  strength of this coalition would  make it clear to the world that this it  is not America’s fight alone. Above all, the people and governments in the Middle East rejected ISIL and stood up for the peace and security that the people of the region and the world deserve.

The President added that in total, over 40 nations had offered to help in a comprehensive effort to confront this terrorist threat.

India is not on the list of nations comprising this effort. However, Mr. Obama is expected to bring up the question of participation when he would meet the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in Washington on September 29, as the news is all about.

Credits : The Hindu

Akshara Bhargava



ARE THEY OR WE THE REAL CULPRITS?

“They soon lost interest in Sofya. She was just one more prisoner -with no more idea of her destination than anyone else. No one asked her name and patronymic; no one remembered her surname. She realized with surprise that although the process of evolution had taken millions of years, these people had needed only a few days to revert to the state of cattle, dirty and unhappy, captive and nameless.” ― Vasily GrossmanLife and Fate

While the US and her “partner nation forces” are busy launching air strikes  against the Islamic State[ISIL] in Iraq and Syria, some Yazidi women are  bemoaning their fates  at the hands of the ISIL. Their cries are loud and the whole of the Kurdish region in Iraq  resounds with their grief, yet these vociferous wails seems not to have broken the impregnable wall of either the Pentagon or the innumerable human minds spread across the world, both of which are reputed for  their steadfastness in spontaneous judgement and action.

Hundreds of Yazidi families  bivouacking  across the slopes of Mount Sinjar are familiar with the agony of leaving their homes, their material possessions, their home-towns and even more with the irreparable and irrevocable loss of the lives of their dear ones. But it appears that there is no end to their sorrow . God has decided to test their faith by using all malevolent forces to bring them down to their knees and yet they cry out the name of the immaculate Allah in utter devotion and wondrous patience. They have been chased away from their homes like a pack of stray dogs  and now they are being forced to trek across difficult terrain, to live in makeshift camps and even under bridges,  to scavenge and feed upon whatever they get  and wait for their deliverance from such pathetic predicament which violates all laws of human living conditions to a much better , hospitable and habitable area where they can be free from the constant dangers which threaten their lives, whether they be human or natural. Apart from their daily woes which have become the mainstay of their lot, their primary concern lies with the well-being and safety of their women.

During their hastened flight with their families, some female members were either abducted or captured by the ISIL militants who are treating them as “spoils of war” and compelling them to forced prostitution and slavery.  Mr. Khidher Domle, a minority expert has talked about the horrific encounters of some Yazidi women with the militants to Yolande Knell of BBC News. He has collected some information on their plight and the reports presented by him are gripping and shocking tales of violence against women, the bravery shown by a few lucky ones and the unchanged conditions of the others. The world, at large, is still aloof to the miseries of these hapless people who are still hoping for their emancipation. The men and their women in this militant- infested region live in fear of being killed or even worse...

The solidarity and the strength they show are impressive but that is not going to help their women who are being trafficked, raped, abused and forced to convert by these inhuman militants. The happenings in Iraq are very shameful and atrocious and unless the people invested with power and authority or even the wider media and populations across the globe do something to aid them, their annihilation by these nihilistic militants will be complete and we will be left with only fragments of this nightmarish story and with more tumult and cacophonous disturbances  around the world.  It is high-time that we shift our focus from the beheading of a few Westerners and start thinking about and working for the emancipation of  the people who inhabit these war-ridden zones.

After all they are men and we are also men and our inhumanity and aloofness should not be the reason for the mourning of countless thousands in this de-humanized age.

Irandati Pal