Civil aspirants never let failure deter them

Civil aspirants never let failure deter them
When the going gets tough, the tough get going

Almost everyone agrees that it is one of the toughest exams in the world to crack; normally a person dedicates four or five years of his life to crack the exam so that he/she can become an IAS or IPS officer. Many aspirants with dream in their eyes usually head to the Capital, known for its coaching centres and the “right environment,” for this vocation.

But staying motivated till the time they actually crack the Civil Services exams remains a tough task for most of the aspirants. And the challenge grows tougher with every passing year and with every failed attempt.

“When you get older you start to mistrust yourself, you cannot concentrate for as many hours as you could earlier. All of your friends would have moved on. All the people I grew up with have successful careers. One best friend is an army Captain on his way to becoming a Major, another good friend is in Germany making money. My father is retired and still partially supports me... however, I really want to be a civil servant, so I intend to keep studying despite the fatigue...,” said 30-year-old Sunil Kumar Singh, who is left with two more attempts.

Raman Patel’s best friend, whom he sometimes helped aced the exams about two years ago and is currently a successful bureaucrat in U.P. but 32-year old Raman is still living in the same house and has given five attempts. “When the exam dates are announced, I start studying for 20 hours a day but at other times, the hours are restricted to five. I make it a point at this time to enjoy myself, go for movies, catch up with friends and have lots of fun. The fun is a must. If I don’t do this, then it will be difficult for me to survive the rigour. And, I am not yet ready to give up,” he said.

Incidentally, Raman had almost cleared the mains once and lost out in one subject. “It was Philosophy and that year was especially tough,” he says.

Abhishek Kumar cleared the preliminary exam in his first attempt and was confident of achieving his goals. Now, six years later after many more preliminaries and mains, he is not so sure anymore. “The answer sheets are not available, they don’t give you any feedback, so you never know the reason why you fail again and again. I do the things most other people in my position do, change my books, change my coaching centre, try to study differently, more hours sometimes, less hours sometimes. However, you never know where you are going wrong. I am 29 years old and still financially supported by my father whereas all my friends who entered academics have been independent for several years now,” he said.

Vikas Kumar from Bihar has it tough as well. His father, a farmer, has been supporting him all these years and he has only one attempt left to crack it. “It is difficult for me to accept defeat,” said the 32-year-old.

“Ever since I have been in the grind for a year, I have been studying for about 15 hours. I am very motivated but I don’t think I will be able to do this for many years,” is how Abhas Jha describes his zeal.

His four friends say they were once like him, they were topping exams their whole lives and were not used to failure. However, now they are not too sure but still hope for the best.

Google is building a car without a steering wheel.

Sergey Brin, co-founder of the technology titan, told a Southern California technology conference on Tuesday evening that Google will make 100 prototype cars that drive themselves and therefore do not need a wheel. Or brake and gas pedals.

Instead, there are buttons for go and stop.

A combination of sensors and computing power takes the driving from there.

To date, Google has driven hundreds of thousands of miles on public roads with Lexus SUVs and Toyota Priuses outfitted with the special equipment.

This prototype is the first Google will have built for itself.

It won’t be for sale, and Google is unlikely to go deeply into auto manufacturing. In a blog post, the company emphasised partnering with other firms.

Focus on South Asia

The decision by new Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invite members of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) for the swearing-in ceremony of the new government has been a great beginning, underscoring the resolve of the new government to embed India firmly within the South Asian regional matrix.

The fact that all of India’s neighbours in South Asia and the wider Asian region have reached out to Modi also augurs well for the new government. Pakistan will remain a major challenge for the new government. The civil-military divide continues to be a significant factor in shaping of Islamabad’s foreign policy and in particular its approach towards India. New Delhi remains far from convinced that the Nawaz Sharif government is either willing and/or able to make a decisive positive move towards India. The decision to grant India the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status remains stuck while the rhetoric on Kashmir has become shrill in recent months.

Pakistan has for some time recognised the futility of engaging with the lame duck Manmohan Singh government in Delhi and has been waiting for the new government to take over. Many in Pakistan have been suggesting that a strong Modi government would provide an opportunity to achieve a long lasting settlement with India. After Modi’s election, the Pakistan government has been quick to put the ball back in the new Indian government’s court suggesting that it is up to the new government to make the first move.

The BJP has indicated that high-level talks with Pakistan would proceed only if some basic conditions are met, especially those pertaining to bringing the masterminds behind the Mumbai terror attacks and terror emanating from Paksitani soil. How this rhetoric gets operationalised into actual policy remains to be seen but by inviting the Pakistan prime minister to his swearing-in ceremony, Modi managed to successfully regain the initiative. Bangladesh has also welcomed the arrival of the Modi-led BJP government to the helm of the Indian polity.

Bangaldesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in her congratulatory message to Modi suggested that he should make Dhaka his first destination abroad. There is considerable merit in the suggestion. Hasina has been a valuable partner for India over the last few years but the UPA under pressure from Mamta Banerjee was not able to deliver on some key issues which Dhaka feels strongly about. Dhaka is seeking expeditious Indian response to its demand for the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers on Bangladeshi products.

There has also been little movement on the boundary issue and on transit rights. India has failed to reciprocate fully to Hasina’s overtures. Modi government will have an opportunity to start with a clean slate and deliver on Indian promises to Bangladesh, thereby generating some trust in the relationship. A stable, moderate Bangladesh as a partner is in India’s long-term interest. Constructive Indo-Bangladesh ties can be a major stabilising factor for the South Asian region as a whole.

Difficult country

Sri Lanka remains a difficult country for India. Colombo matters because Indian Ocean matters. The ‘great game’ of this century will be played on the waters of the Indian Ocean. Though India’s location gives it great operational advantages in the Indian Ocean, it is by no means certain that New Delhi is in a position to hold on to its geographic advantages.

China is rapidly catching up and its ties with Sri Lanka are aimed at expanding its profile in this crucial part of the world. Indian policy makers need to shape up soon or else they are in the danger of losing this ‘game’ for good. There is a new hope in Colombo that with Jayalalitha’s AIADMK not part of the new coalition governing in Delhi, India will have an opportunity to stabilise its sputtering ties with Sri Lanka.

Nepal continues to make its tentative journey towards democratic stability. With political and economic instability causing more uncertainty in recent years, India is viewed as part of the problem too involved in the domestic politics of the country. The political uncertainty in Nepal has flamed anti-India feelings and allowed China to enlarge its presence.

The Himalayan kingdom is going through a crisis and India is being blamed for pulling strings from behind the scenes. It is this insecurity that Beijing is exploiting in Nepal to serve its own interests. Nepalese polity, cutting across party lines, has welcomed the assumption of power by Modi, with most expressing hope that Nepal would be a beneficiary of Modi’s developmental agenda. Afghanistan stands at a critical juncture in its political transition and it is also making it expectations known to India.

The debate on what sort of security footprint India should have in Afghanistan have been going on for years in New Delhi and there has been no urgency in coming up with a coherent response. The bitter truth is that all the developmental investment that India has made will come to naught once the western forces leave Afghanistan if India doesn’t make it unequivocally clear that it intends to strongly protect and enhance its security interests even in the absence of western presence.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been hitting on the same theme during his recent India visits and indeed presented a “wishlist” to India on the sort of defence support he is seeking from New Delhi. For all the pretensions of being a global power, India has been steadily losing its profile as a credible South Asian state. It is now time to keep the focus firmly on South Asia and to manage the multiple crises in the region. Because if New Delhi would seem disinterested, others will fill the vacuum and that would not always be to India’s advantage.

Mauritius for automatic exchange of tax info with India

Seeking to allay apprehensions about Mauritius being used for money laundering activities, its Indian-origin Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam on Tuesday said the island nation has decided to provide automatic exchange of tax related information with India.

Ramgoolam, who was here to attend BJP leader Narendra Modi’s swearing—in as Prime Minister on Monday, also said that Mauritius would not allow anybody to abuse or misuse its jurisdiction for any illicit activities.

Speaking to reporters after a bilateral meeting with Modi on Tuesday morning, Ramgoolam said he has also invited the Indian Prime Minister to visit Mauritius.

On the contentious issue of revision of a tax treaty between the two countries, the Mauritius Prime Minister said that “there must be a quick resolution to resolve all issues related to the direct tax avoidance agreement between the two countries“.

“We both agreed that there must be quick resolution (on the issues) for certainty, clarity and predictability,” he said.

A proposed revision of the tax treaty has been hanging in the balance for a long time and there have been reports that Mauritius was not agreeable to certain suggestions made by India, which has been seeking to make the agreement stronger to check any possible round tripping of Indian funds through the Indian Ocean island nation.

The people of Indian descent account for a vast majority (about 70 per cent) of Mauritius population. The current Prime Minister’s father, late Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (also referred as Chacha Ramgoolam) was a leader in Mauritian independence movement and also served as the first Chief Minister and Prime Minister of Mauritius.

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is also known as ‘Father of Nation’ of Mauritius and for leading the Labour Party for the rights of labourers and getting Mauritius independence from the United Kingdom in 1968.

Centre forms SIT on black money

In its first decision after forming the government, the union cabinet Tuesday announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.

 In the first decision after assuming office, the Narendra Modi government today constituted a special investigative team (SIT) to unearth black money.

The SIT will be headed by former Supreme Court judge M B Shah and will include Revenue Secretary, CBI and IB directors, Enforcement Directorate official, CBDT Chairman and RBI deputy governor. Former Supreme Court judge Arijit Pasayat will be the vice-chairman of the panel.

The Supreme Court had last week granted the government one week to constitute the SIT for monitoring of all black money cases.

"In the first Cabinet of the new government...in the light of the directions of the SC, we have constituted an SIT for unearthing black money... This was an important issue for us," Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after a one-and-a-half-hour long Cabinet meeting.

Prasad said setting up of the SIT "indicates the commitment of the new government to pursue the issue of black money."

He said that earlier, the Supreme Court had given certain orders, but there were some delays.

"Tomorrow is the last date (for setting up of SIT), therefore the very first agenda in accordance with its policy commitment was to have this very high-profile SIT."

According to a press release, other members of the SIT are Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, Director General of Revenue Intelligence, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Director of the Research and Analysis Wing and a Joint Secretary in the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

It stated that the SIT has been charged with the responsibility and duties of investigation, initiation of proceedings and prosecution in cases of Hasan Ali and other matters involving unaccounted money.

The panel will have jurisdiction in cases where investigations have commenced, are pending, are awaiting to be initiated or have been completed.

The SIT will prepare a comprehensive action plan, including creation of an institutional structure that could enable the country to fight the battle against unaccounted money. It should report on the status of its work to the court from time to time, the statement added.

About 5.5 million babies (around 3 million neonates + 2.6 million stil-births) die every year globally. Every day, about 8,000 neonates die and about 7, 000 are stillbirths. Stillbirths occur at about 28 weeks of gestation and also during labor. Nearly half of all stillbirths are those who die during labour- just 5 minutes before birth.

Five countries account for half of all the newborn mortality across the world. These are:

1. India (highest): 7,79,000 deaths
2. Nigeria: 2,76,000
3. Pakistan: 2,02,400
4. China: 1,57,000
5. Democratic Republic of Congo: 1,18,000

While significant achievement has been made in reducing the number of deaths in children aged under-five by half, the progress in bringing down the number of newborn deaths has been slower.

The progress is even worse in the case of stillbirths. Stillbirths are not counted in the Millennium Development Goals.

What is shocking is that most of the 2.6 million stillbirths every year across the globe go unrecorded as in most countries stillbirths do not get birth or death certificates, which makes these births and deaths “invisible”.

How will climate change affect livelihoods in South Asia?

How does a warming environment affect rainfall, cropping patterns, livelihoods? What could be the alternatives that people whose livelihoods are hit by the effects of climate change do to cope? An initiative by Britain and Canada seeks to study and tackle the effects of climate change in South Asia, in tandem with TERI and Jadavpur University in India and similar institutes in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) have launched a research programme to "take a fresh approach to understanding climate change and find ways to adapt" in some of the hot spots.

The programme, named Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), a seven-year Canadian dollar 70 million research initiative, seeks to study the effects of climate change in three hot spots — semi-arid regions, river deltas and Himalayan river basins.

K S Murali, senior programme officer with IDRC, told IANS: "We try to understand what are the different scenarios that can happen with one degree rise in temperature, with a two-degree rise in temperature."

In semi-arid regions, for example in Madhya Pradesh, where there is relatively high temperature and the rainfall hovers between 300-700 mm a year, rise in temperature can badly hit cropping patterns, said the researcher.

Semi-arid areas are dominated generally by dry land and agriculture is rain fed, or dependent on rainfall. "If the rain becomes erratic, or the area receives less rain, or it is not distributed equally, the cropping pattern is affected badly and cultivation is hit. Not just the summer temperature, the winter temperature too gets affected, and there is high rate of evaporation," he said.

The effects of climate change on river deltas, where the river meets the sea, and coastal estuaries are also to be studied. This includes the Sundarbans mangrove forest shared between India and Bangladesh.

Estuaries have very high productivity in the form of marine life and support the ecosystem.

"There is fear that climate change will lead to rise in sea temperature and in sea levels, which could lead to submergence of small islands over time. This could affect the Sundarbans too," he added.

Climate change would also affect another hot spot - the Himalayan river basins.

The Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers would be affected by snow melting. High temperatures will make the glacier snow melt faster. This will lead to more water flowing down the river, leading to flooding. The faster disappearance of glaciers is also of concern," he added.

"We try to understand how a degree rise in temperature can affect the hydrology of mountain rivers, the flow of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. This will help predict river flow, how it will affect cropping and productivity and what alternatives can be offered to the locals," he said.

According to Murali, IDRC and DFID along with the partner organizations in the area try to address the climate change issues in tandem with the local people, the local communities, NGOs and policy makers. "Our aim is to benefit the people in solving the situation."

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India is involved in the study of climate change in Himalayan river basins. The Jadavpur University is involved in the study of deltas, while the Indian Institute for Human Settlements is working in the field of semi-arid areas. These institutes are working in partnership with institutes in Bangladesh and Pakistan to address the issues of climate change.