President overthrown in Djumburo

DEUSTCHE PRESS-AGENTUER

28 August, Kota Bora: Troops have overthrown the first democratically elected government of Djumburo as problems spiral out of control in the African nation. The coup leaders say the cabinet and parliament have been abolished, but power will be returned to the people once the country solves its socioeconomic crisis. Trouble has been brewing in the tiny island nation of Djumburo in the Indian Ocean ever since the democratically elected government headed by Emmanuel Jinzi came to power a year ago.

The army occupied all major government buildings and closed down all major shopping centres in the capital Kota Bora. The T.V. stations broadcasted a live address by General Arnold Brinza in which he denounced the government of Jinzi for being corrupt, feudal, and communalist. The country has seen communal riots increasing daily with the majority ethnic Africans attacking business interests of the minority ethnic Chinese and Indian traders. The commander-in-chief of the army General Arnold Brinza declared himself the president and his aide Ramon Francis as the Prime Minister. In the four hour long speech the general outlined the new economic strategies and social engineering policies that the new government will implement in the coming few months. Djumburo has been badly affected by the global credit crunch, its main aid donor Mozambique has already filed for bankruptcy in the IMF.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

The UN and most African nations have condemned the act of overthrow as the murder of democracy, the end of a republic, and Africa’s misery. The UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon in a telephone interview to the CNN said “I am deeply saddened by the events in the African nation. The democratically elected government had all the political legitimacy to be in power, and this beastly act by the army ought to be condemned. What Africa needs now is food and peace not coups and violence. The UN assembly will convene a general meeting once President Bush is back from his overseas visit”.

Known for his staunch liberal values, the general is widely regarded among the people as the saviour and the best president Djumburo never had. The general has taken an oath to lift Djumburo out of poverty and corruption. The general said the martial law will be lifted once the leaders of the erstwhile government are executed and assured the people that the power will be returned to them in no time. With the news of the overthrow, thousands of Djumburites took to the streets and celebrated with shooting bullets into the air.

BLEAK FUTURE

Given the political volatility of the country even the most optimistic of the political observers suggest the military regime has no clue the gravity of the problems that Djumburo is facing. It will require a considerable amount of international support if the army aims to achieve its targets and judging by the response from the UN and the world nations it seems that Djumburo’s problems will have few takers.

DPA-

Financial Inclusion in Urban Areas

I did my summer internship as a Young Scholar at RBI Thiruvananthapuram. As a part of the internship I had to do a project on the topic Financial Inclusion in Urban Areas. Please note that it was one of my first efforts at creating a professional report so it might not be a publishable material and may contain mistakes. URL: FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN URBAN AREAS

Frustrations of a non-vegetarian environmentalist….

It’s August 2008, it has been a long 3 years of struggle for me. My friends still call me a pessimist, although I have always seen myself as a realist. The world hasn’t got much better either, in fact things have took a turn for the worst with spiralling oil and food prices, and an economy showing signs of recession. A big relief is the recent news of the Left withdrawing support to the UPA, after 4 ½ years of refusing to release the hand-brake on the govt, it has finally decided to call it a day. Then there is global warming and environmentalism. A subject I’ve had intense introspection for the past few months and a subject I would like to raise here.

Thank God for Al Gore, for if it wasn’t for him and his blockbuster documentary we would be swimming in neck deep water by now. Before I start, I would like to say that this post is not about throwing brickbats at the greens. I would like to say that I respect nature and I do accept the gravity of the problem of global warming. My cynicism at the greens or pseudo-greens (in case you are offended) is the fact that they have lost their way and sense of purpose due to too much emotion and very little Science. They turn to vegetarianism, start wearing t-shirts with MESSAGES written on them, and rubbish all corporate stuff. All good, coz all of it is politically correct. But, I say that turning yourself into a vegetarian isn’t going to help the world in any way. Vegetarianism (Vegans are no separate species of vegetarians, FYI) is the most obvious choice that a neo-environmentalist makes. I would like to tell them that our beautiful planet just doesn’t work like that. One animal dead is another animal’s food. It’s really basic high school Biology. We humans have literally screwed up our thinking, so we feel that by not eating Chicken and Beef, the Tigers in Ranthambore could be saved from poachers.

I wouldn’t advocate that humans should start to eat their dead relatives, but everything in life has to have a balance, especially with food. Instead of turning into Vegetarianism, try to control one’s diet and balance it with required carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and the taboo word for greens FAT (Fat is just as imperative for the body as any other vital nutrition). Environmentalism should be with a purpose and actions should be targeted at a particular end rather than doing it for the sake of doing it. Oh… One more thing…. Vegetarians, please stop Evangelizing. Respect the rights of the others to eat what they want to eat…