Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at combating global warming. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".

India signed and ratified the Protocol in August, 2002. Since India is exempted from the framework of the treaty, it is expected to gain from the protocol in terms of transfer of technology and related foreign investments. At the G8 meeting in June 2005, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out that the per-capita emission rates of the developing countries are a tiny fraction of those in the developed world. Following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, India maintains that the major responsibility of curbing emission rests with the developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time. However, the U.S. and other Western nations assert that India, along with China, will account for most of the emissions in the coming decades, owing to their rapid industrialization and economic growth.

Kyoto Protocol: India’s Stand. - I would say although all of us are affected by the climate change, the historical accumulation of carbon dioxide is not as a result of anything that we have done. It is largely a consequence of 150 years of industrialization in major developed countries of the world. India has to put in place a national action plan for climate change to improve our response mechanism meeting the challenge of climate change. We do not have to succumb to the hegamony of the US & Australia led coalition.

India should try to maximize its gains from the treaty when the members meet again in Copenhagen; through technology transfers as well as help in R&D. India should lead the developing countries at such forums, and also leverage its position as a significant world player in its advantage. The developed countries can wait, but India can’t; its time India shows some steel by coming out of such baseless treaties that hinders its growth.

UN climate treaty being renegotiated in Copenhagen this December, The US who is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases signed, but refused to ratify, the Kyoto Protocol. Similar are stories of Australia and Japan who claimed to cut emission down by 2020, it was just a dress reharsal which failed badly.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has suggested to the PM that India opt out of the Kyoto Protocol, jettison the G77 developing countries, and voluntarily accept cuts in emission without any guarantee of funding or technology from industrial nations in return. This goes against every principle which India has articulated on behalf of all developing countries.

Last Month India, indicated that it was ready to undertake cuts of emissions, although it couched this as part of its internal adaptation strategy. India was even prepared to quantify the cuts over a period of time. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had told Hillary Clinton on her visit to Delhi after the G8 meets in Italy precisely the opposite. No less a person than the prime minister has gone on record to refuse to specify what cuts India will undertake, stating that it will never allow its per capita emissions to rise above the current global average of 4.4 tonnes.

Since then the Congress party is already in damage-control mode, In September, Ramesh told the Indian Express regarding the acceptance of voluntary cuts by India: “Yes, there is a nuanced shift. But the shift is not in our negotiating stand. That stand remains the same. We are not going to accept any legally binding commitments on reducing carbon emissions. We will not allow the dilution of the per-capita principle. There can be no compromises on these. The shift is in the atmospherics around the negotiations. For long, this canard is being spread that India has been holding up an agreement…that India is not proactive on climate change. This should be able to nail those lies.

He went on to say that “We are already taking a number of actions that will result in significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. We are in a position to quantify these reductions into a broadly indicative number that can be shared with the rest of the world. I see no problem with that…it will completely demolish the myth that India is doing nothing to reduce its emissions. India, which has no historical liability in polluting the atmosphere and has no commitment to reduce its emissions, is doing much more than the countries which are responsible for the current mess and bound by international law to take targeted emission cuts.”

Kyoto Protocol was born out of this convention which the US also signed, and therefore it is the only valid international treaty on which to negotiate when the first phase of the protocol ends in 2012, not the protocol itself. EU has revealed that it already decided on scrapping the protocol one whole year ago. The only reason why the EU was contemplating a change of setting for the drama was the obduracy of the US to the K word, the very mention of ‘Kyoto’.

EU further mentioned that, this had much to do with President George Bush’s explicit statement that the US wouldn’t sign the protocol not only because major emerging countries like China and India weren’t coming on board. He also made the atrocious remark that when it came to cutting emissions, and thereby hurting less energy-efficient sectors of the US economy, it wasn’t kosher because “US lifestyles can’t be compromised”, or words to that effect.

The proposal, which the US has lobbied India in bilateral forums and in multilateral meets to accept, asks all countries regardless of existing status, to take obligations. In its present form, when read with other proposals, it seeks to cap India's emissions by 2020 and force further reductions later on. A cap on emissions automatically converts into a cap of how much energy India can use".

India has less than a quarter of carbon dioxide and total greenhouse gas emissions of the leading emitters of the world, China and the United States, in both annual and per capita terms. India’s per capita carbon dioxide emissions are almost a third of the world average of 4.4 tonnes. Each American emits on average 20 tonnes a year. The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its Reference scenario, projects that India’s emissions will grow at about 4% per year, contributing less than 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 (though India is home to almost a fifth of world population).

At the Bangkok meet, the EU, which has been the most proactive on climate and has announced a 20% cut below 1990 levels by 2020, rising to 30% if the US comes on board, itself came in for criticism by several international green organisations.

The G8 declaration, astonishingly, left it to individual countries to determine the baselines from which emission levels have to be reduced: 1990 “or later years”. Germany, the UK and other European countries, which are the greenest in this regard, want to cut theirs by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

The US, which accounts for a fifth of all emissions, wants to reduce its emissions from current levels. Industrial counties’ emissions have grown both in absolute and per capita terms till 2007. This was precisely at a period when President Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol on the grounds that China and India weren’t agreeing to cut their emissions.

While there is a consensus even in the US that 2050 is the ultimate deadline for the world to get its climate in order, the intermediate goals are by no means settled. For any long-term goals, there have to be credible mid-term goals. If major industrial countries intensify their efforts only as this date looms near, it will be virtually impossible to prevent temperatures from rising beyond 2 degrees, the “tipping point”. The much-vaunted Waxman-Markey bill in the US, which seeks to cap emissions by the world’s biggest polluter, kicks in only towards the end of this period. By some calculations, to keep within 2 degrees, global emissions must reduce by 10% from 2010 itself and 25% by 2012, which no country will accept.

The Obama administration is hoping to win new commitments to fight global warming from China and India in back-to-back summits next month. China and India are both critically important to achieving our international goals on carbon,’’ said Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat who serves on the Foreign and Environment Committees. India wants help in speeding its adoption of new, greener technologies and expanding its use of solar power.

The US has a time-honoured method of entering into bilateral relationships with developing countries to further, if not force, its national interests, as we have seen in trade talks. On global warming, the Bush administration had introduced the abortive Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Energy & Climate, with Canada, Australia (the erstwhile Ophelia and still a strong contender for the role), Japan, South Korea and India precisely to bypass the UN climate change convention, with its compulsory emission cuts and penalties for violations. The sectors it targeted for an exchange of technologies, like cement, steel and power generation, are precisely those which the US and Australia fear China and India will have a competitive advantage in, if they do not undertake to cut their emissions.

If, as the US and EU are now proposing, the Kyoto Protocol is scuttled and a brand new entity comes into effect, it will presumably funnel some of the funds that will be paid by industrial countries to mitigate climate change but also have the powers to monitor the moves in each country to reduce emissions, rather like the World Bank with its loans or International Monetary Fund with its structural adjustment policies or World Trade Organisation with its eagle eye on removing trade barriers , all of which have plunged the world economy into deep crisis.
These institutions, if formed are far from being democratic, since there is no “one country, one vote” system. The very fact that the US always chooses the head of the World Bank from one of its nationals, and the French, the IMF, speaks for itself.

On October 21st 2009, India signed an agreement with China, the world’s biggest polluter, to increase cooperation on tackling climate change after the countries rejected calls from rich nations to set binding caps on carbon emissions. China and India say wealthy countries including the U.S. should lower emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and share technology with poorer nations to help them fight climate change.


Winston Dsouza

Doing Business in China

China is said to be leading the world out of the recession but MNCs are finding it difficult to set their foot properly in the land of Dragon. In spite of having the largest population in the world and a thriving economy it contributes to less than 2% of sales of global pharma companies like Pfizer,Bayer and Astrazenca. The FMCG giant P&G gets $3 billion from China which is far less than 5% of their global sales , Unilever gets almost $1.2 Billion from China and is running at very thin profit margins. AIG earns more from Taiwan than China which has just 2% of the population as compared to its Mainland estranged brother.

The foreign firms which are doing good are the two extremes of the value chain one being luxury goods, aeroplanes etc and other being Oil, Ores and recyclable waste. But all the firms in between these two extremes face lots of hurdle in spite of Chinese reforms since it joined the WTO in 2001. Several sectors like telecommunications, oil exploration, marketing, pharmaceuticals, banking and insurance all remain either fiercely protected or off-limits to foreigners altogether. To top it all the corruption and redtapism hamper all foreigners in the business.

Event though all the promises to be investor friendly any American business to start in Shanghai with one year licence may take 6 months , this would need clearance from US state department, Chinese Embassy in USA, Mayor’s office of Washington and Shanghai, Local Tax Authority etc .This is very costly affair but still silver lining is that there is a procedure indeed !!. On its entry in WTO China agreed to allow foreign firms to compete to offer booking systems to local airlines,but the promise is yet to be fulfilled.

State run companies get preferential treatment in allocation of land and credit or by easing the bureaucratic procedures for them. Multinational law firms are not allowed to function in China even if they employ Chinese lawyers. Govt also controls the advertisement rates which make the cost of reaching to the Chinese customers far more than that in US and Europe on the other hand rewards are not good as large chunk of Chinese population is poor.

Firms are trying to overcome this hurdle by producing locally in China and they are spending huge amount of money and time in order to setup distribution network and creating brand awareness. Companies also need to cater to the local tastes. Other obstacle faced by the MNCs are the about subsidised competition, restricted access, conflicting regulations, a lack of protection for intellectual property and opaque and arbitrary bureaucracy.

One strategy which helps MNCs to succeed in China is to price high which is a surprise looking at the low profits which they earn from China. The psyche of Chinese people that foreign goods are of better quality if they are expensive is the reason for this strange behaviour.

If China need to stay ahead of its western neighbour ,which is growing at just 2% lesser growth rate and has more liberal political system coupled with economic reforms , She needs to work on liberalisation of its economy and limit the protectionism which may not be totally eliminated looking at the communist regime in China

Paritosh Sharma

Roll No 26, Trendsetters

(Reference The ECONOMIST Oct 09)

Matheran – The Break we Partied.

Hmmm... 7:00 am is not a good time to stand at Malad station... Actually 7:00am is not a good time to stand at any station. But as fate would have it, we were there carrying our bags. Mine was heavier than average thanks to my (n*X)L size. Sometimes I wonder... anyways.. So where was I.. Oh yes... Malad station. So I was waiting along with half my batch waiting for the Zuk-zuk gadi to arrive. We were on our way to Matheran. Supposedly the smallest, tiniest, hill station in the country.

Half way through the journey, past Dadar, we had half the bogie to ourselves. So we were cracking jokes, teasing each other. This was one time the entire admin team was with us taking part in our antics. We reached Neral by 10, had breakfast, got divided in groups of 5 and headed for the Hills in rickety cabs. The fun had begun. We were looking forward for this break for a long time, Since Zeitgeist.

The cab ride was good. The winding roads up the Sahyadris were smooth and loaded with some really picturesque locations. By the time we reached the taxi stop up hills, we were actually midst clouds. It was magical. We had to trek for almost 5km to reach Matheran and another 4km to reach the Hotel. The modes of transportation in Matheran are horses and feet. In my case both were inadequate to carry my weight for a long time. Anyways, so we were walking-

and-walking and walking some more. We were followed by our very own Smiling SamuRai and Prof Girish with his wonderful camera. That day there were 30 more monkeys in Matheran hills.

The hotel was called ‘Radha Cottage’. Decent place. We saw some guys setting up mise en place for some adventure tasks. Deja vu. Dabosa memories... Luckily things were relatively pleasant. Prof. Parvez Jokhi was with us. He and his team had set up a few fun tasks for us... We did those post lunch... Good fun... Walking on planks, erecting tents with group members tied together, Passing groups members through rope webs, balancing a ball by threads... Good fun... Roadies would die of awe... Post that we had a session by Mr. Shubrotho Sen.

24th September was an important date. It was the day the college was setup. Anniversary of our very own MBS. It was also Kevin’s, one of our batchmates’, birthday. So we had two cakes. There was a bonfire which refused to light up even after guzzling a litre of kerosene. It was raining too. We all partied till wee hours. Next day comprised of some more games and then we embarked on the return journey. We came down in a more relaxed manner. Bathing in the beauty of nature. Felt close to mother earth. Felt good. Felt relived. Felt reclaimed.
Dabosa, as Nikhil had rightly said, was an ice- breaker for our batch. Matheran was a unity-maker. We hung around with friends we generally just knew. Sat till 3:00am with them. Shared anecdotes, nostalgia, ghost stories, past heartbreaks and recent patch ups. We always knew each other, but it was different this time. This break gave everyone some peace of mind they needed. Some sought it in company of others. Some regained their energies by spending time with themselves. The school didn’t meddle with any of our leisure activities. They gave us what we yearned for. Some solace from the daily grind.

We came back with refreshed bodies and calm minds. That small vacation did wonders. Missing those magic moments.

A hidden treasure

Today, emerging markets represent the fastest growing economies in the world. Growing industry consolidation and slowing growth abroad has drawn focus from multinational companies on emerging countries such as India and China that offer significant untapped growth opportunities. The institutions that operate within emerging markets—governments, education, health and private enterprise—are beginning to recognize that without rural sector development they would not be able to grow significantly or improve the standard of living of their people.
Rural India accounts for more than 50% of the GDP and the rural consumption expenditure registers around 60% of the total consumption expenditure in the country. On the other side, the Chinese economy is experiencing unprecedented growth, largely in urban areas, but the need is growing for rural populations to have the same advantages and access to technology as those people living in cities.

In order to tap the rural phenomenon more efficiently, initiatives such as Unlimited Potential by Microsoft, One Laptop Per Child concept by MIT Media Labs, World Ahead program from Intel and 50x15 program from AMD are already been in place. The aim of these companies is at providing the low-cost computing/ PCs to emerging nations to create a win-win situation for all. Recently, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program unveiled the second version of its XO laptop, while Intel announced its next-generation Classmate PC for developing countries.
However, low-cost PCs may not be the relevant technology to reach rural people in emerging nations. A sustainable rural mobile development program can create all-round growth in under-developed areas of emerging countries as cellular technology is far more reachable than PC penetration.

The rural areas in China and India are experiencing explosive growth in mobile communications, as falling tariffs and rising incomes are bringing mobile phones within the reach of millions of new customers. The Ministry of Information Industry, China announced that the number of mobile phone users had reached 501.64 million by the end of June 2007 and the higher growth came from the rural areas. On the other side, India has emerged as the fastest growing telecom market in the world. The number of rural mobile phone users is around 40 million, accounting more than 22% of the total mobile subscriber base in India. This figure is expected to go up to 35-40% by 2010 in the country.

Although I am of the opinion that rural markets in emerging nations will trigger new types of competition in the years to come, there will be a number of issues to face due to a lack of infrastructure, poor coordination among government bodies, funding and technical support in countries such as India and China.

The active efforts from companies are just getting started, and we believe it will be early to comment that a particular technology will have a solid impact on rural areas growth. As seen in any emerging country, the cost will play a key attribute based on demand, feasibility, and user needs. It will be interesting to see how the business model of various companies evolves to target the big and untapped opportunity in the rural segment.

Winston Dsouza

MBS - Rocks!!

The Stock Market

The stock market plays a significant role in the health of the economy. The economy has to be strong for its country and its citizens to prosper. The stock market appears in the news every day. You hear about it any time it reaches a new high or a new low, and you also hear about it daily in statements like "The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 percent today, or the more familar statement of " Aaj Bazar 200 point oopar, with advances leading declines by a margin of ..." Obviously, stocks and the stock market are important, but you may find that you know very little about them. What is a stock? What is a stock market? Where does the stock market come from to begin with, and why do people want to buy and sell it? If you have any questions like these, read on......

In the financial market, stock refers to a supply of money that a company has raised. This supply comes from people who have given the company money in the hope that the company will make their money grow. The term "stock market" refers to the business of buying and selling stock. The stock market is not a specific place, though some people use the term " Dalal Street" the main street in Mumbai where BSE is located or they use the term"Wall Street"--the main street in New York City's financial district--to refer to the U.S. stock market in general.

If a company wants to grow--maybe build more factories, hire more people, or develop new products--it needs money. It could get a loan from a bank. But then it would owe money. By issuing stock, a company can raise money without going into debt. People who buy the stock are giving the company the money it needs to grow. Not every company can issue stock. A business owned by one person (a proprietorship) or a few people (a partnership) cannot issue stock. Only a business corporation can issue stock. A corporation has a special legal status. Like a school, its existence does not depend on the people who run it. Under the law, it is separate from the people associated with it, and has special legal rights and responsibilities as well as its own unique name.

Owning stock in a company means owning part of that company. Each part is known as a share. If a company has issued 100 shares of stock, and you bought one, you own 1% of that company. People who own stock are called stockholders, or shareholders. Stockholders hope the company will earn money as it grows. If a company earns money, the stockholders share the profits. Over time, people usually earn more owning stock than leaving money in the bank, buying bonds, or making other investments. The terms "up" and "down" are used to describe the rise and fall of the market as a whole.

Stockholders in a company usually have voting rights. They vote on such issues as who will be elected to the board of directors--the group of people who oversee company decisions--and whether to buy other companies. Stockholders typically have one vote for each share they own. Every vote counts, but a stockholder with 5,000 shares will have more influence on the company than someone with only one share. Most companies have annual meetings, where stockholders cast votes and ask questions of the company's leaders. If they cannot attend, stockholders may use an absentee ballot to vote. Shareholders also receive quarterly and annual reports that tell them how the company is doing.

Bears are cautious animals who don't like to move too fast. Bulls are bold animals who might charge right ahead. An investor is said to be "bearish" if he or she believes the stock market will go down. A "bearish" investor will buy stock cautiously. A "bullish" investor believes the market will go up. He or she will charge ahead and put money into the market. An investor can be bearish or bullish about a particular kind of stock. Likewise, the term "bear market" describes a time when stock prices have been falling on the whole. A "bull market" is a period when stock prices are generally rising.

I have learned a lot from the stock market. I have also learned a lot from being in Economics. When I get older, I will be able to use this information to make money. Economics is a huge part of life.

Winston Dsouza

MBS - Rocks!!

Softening Judgment

Softening Judgment
Moving Beyond Appearances


It is our natural inclination to judge people, since it happens without our even thinking about it. We take one look and summarize a whole person—overweight, pretty, stylish, sloppy. When we judge, we are looking for pertinent information, trying to determine whether the person approaching is a threat, an ally, or someone we don’t need to worry about. This way of looking at people makes sense in a dangerous context, but in our daily lives it leads to an overly simplistic reading of the people we meet.

If you have ever judged someone, only to have them become a dear friend once you got to know them, you know the hazards of the judgment cycle firsthand. An experience like that may have led you to soften your natural tendency to believe your first impressions. We will always notice things about the people we meet, but as we become more conscious of the shortcomings of judgment, we won’t be satisfied with our surface observations. We may notice that someone is driving an expensive car, but we will decide whether to befriend him based on getting to know him over time. We will not rule out a friendship with someone with messy hair, especially if he turns out to have a great sense of humor and a kind heart. Liking or disliking a person is a choice you will naturally make, but it will be after you have gotten to know them.

Next time you notice yourself judging somebody, try to send love, light, or blessings to the person you were judging. Then try to listen to them openly or look them in the eye and learn something about them. If this is not easy for you, remember not to judge yourself either. Trust that with practice, you will successfully disable your habitual patterns. As you do, you will find a whole new dimension of perception opening up to you, allowing you to see beyond the surface and into the essence of the people you meet..


Cheers!!!
Haider J

Outlining Your Intentions

Outlining Your Intentions
Making a List of What You Want


The universe is aware of both the concrete goals we actively pursue and the dreams we have not yet begun to refine. Neither our struggles nor the daydreams that inspire us are beyond the range of universal perception. Yet to manifest our aspirations, we not only need to know what it is we generally wish to achieve; we also need to clearly articulate these aims to ourselves and the universe. When we create a list of what we want, citing each item in as much detail as possible, our aspirations take on new substance. What was once a mere wish becomes real and achievable when put into words. As you pour the contents of your heart and soul into your list, your well-defined ambitions become a part of you, and the universe responds to your new determination by placing opportunities related to your objectives in your path.

Whatever the nature of your desires, your list can help you channel your intellectual and emotional power into your efforts to realize them. The list you create should not simply be a record of your individual goals. Rather, it should be a comprehensive, exhaustive catalog of each target you want to reach and your reasons for aiming for them. This may mean that your list will encompass many pages of text, since when you write down and review your ambitions, you empower yourself to more accurately direct your goal-realization efforts. You then also have a framework in place that helps you distinguish success from setbacks. If you keep your list in a convenient spot and review it daily, you will inadvertently reaffirm your conviction to your aspirations, demonstrating that you are truly devoted to your chosen path while keeping your objectives fresh in your mind. If you have an altar, this would be a great place to keep your list.

As you compose your list, try not to edit or judge what you have written. Some of what you want may seem outlandish when considered in the context of your current circumstances. Whether you are destined to fulfill the items on the unique long-term agenda you create in a year, 10 years, or 20 years, if you are free with your ideas and understand that you may not bring these dreams into reality for some time, your list will attract the universe’s benevolence even as it energizes and inspires you.


Cheers!!!
Haider Jasdan