HARD TO COMPREHEND

The death toll from a tsunami that hit several remote islands in Indonesia has risen to at least 400, officials say. Rescue teams on the Mentawai islands say hundreds are still missing, two days after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami in western Sumatra.

Officials say there were faults with an early warning system designed to alert locals to the 3m-high (10ft) wave. Indonesia’s president has cut short a trip to Vietnam to visit the islands and oversee the relief operation.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono flew back from a meeting with regional leaders to help deal with the tsunami aftermath. On Thursday he is expected to tour the region to monitor relief efforts. He will also be briefed on the rescue effort on Java, where an erupting volcano has caused chaos.

At least 10 villages on a series of islands known as the Pagai islands are thought to have been flattened by the tsunami, caused by the earthquake late on Monday. Waves reached 3m high and the water swept as far as 600m inland on South Pagai.

The first aerial images emerging from the Mentawai Islands showed bodies being collected from empty clearings where homes and buildings once stood before they were levelled by the power of the wave. Corpses were strewn along beaches and roads, said district chief Edison Salelo Baja.

Rescue teams are now finally on the ground, but they have yet to reach the worst affected areas, with bad weather delaying their work. The vast Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world’s most active areas for earthquakes and volcanoes.

More than 1,000 people were killed by an earthquake off Sumatra in September 2009.

In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed a quarter of a million people in 13 countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

The 2010 Commonwealth Games have begun with a spectacular opening ceremony in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Athletes from the 71 competing nations joined in a parade that began with 2006 hosts Australia and ended with India.

Prince Charles and Indian president Pratibha Patil announced the Games open, but organising committee chair Suresh Kalmadi was jeered by the crowd. The build-up to the Games had been blighted by concerns that venues and accommodation may not be completed.

However, the glittering opening ceremony, which charted both the heritage and present-day experience of India and featured about 9,000 performers went smoothly. In his speech, Kalmadi stated that India was ready to host the Games despite much-publicised problems in the build-up.

“There have been delays and many challenges but we have managed to rise above them all,” he said.

“Despite the adverse publicity on health, safety, rain and security, all the Commonwealth associations have stood by India as we have put together the biggest Games in Commonwealth history. “India is ready, ready to host the Commonwealth Games.” Kalmadi emphasised the legacy that will be left by the Games.

It has been estimated that as much as $6bn (£3.8bn) has been spent – 60 times the original estimate when the Games were awarded in 2003 – on infrastructure such as a new airport and metro system. Prince Charles described the staging of the 19th edition of the Games in India as “particularly fitting” as he spoke on behalf of the Queen. His message to the crowd arrived as the Queen’s baton completed a 112,000-mile relay that began almost a year ago at Buckingham Palace.

A vibrant performance of Jiyo, Utho, Bado, Jeeto, the theme song for the Games, by Bollywood’s AR Rahman, who composed the music for Slumdog Millionaire, marked the end of the ceremony.

The sporting action gets under way with the heats of the women’s 200m freestyle swimming at 0830 local time on Monday. Over the course of the following 11 days, 4,300 athletes will compete in 17 sports across 12 venues.

The Games, the first to be staged in India, have been dogged by problems with the athletes’ village being called “inhospitable” just last week. However, Games officials have worked round the clock to ensure competitions start as scheduled.

A GRIM SITUATION

The International Monetary Fund says the floods that have struck Pakistan pose a “massive economic challenge” and it will review the country’s budget and financial prospects.

The IMF will start talks with Pakistani officials in Washington on Monday to assess how best to give help.

Tens of thousands more Pakistanis have been fleeing the floods, with the south now bearing the brunt.

Overall, about 1,600 people have been killed and 20 million affected.

Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department of the IMF, said in a statement: “The floods which have hit Pakistan in recent weeks and brought suffering to millions of people will also pose a massive economic challenge to the people and government of Pakistan.

“The scale of the tragedy means that the country’s budget and macroeconomic prospects, which are being supported by an IMF-financed programme, will also need to be reviewed.”

Mr Ahmed said that the IMF stood by Pakistan “at this difficult time”.

The IMF agreed a rescue package with Pakistan two years ago as the country was then weighed down by soaring inflation, shrinking reserves and fighting militancy.

The Pakistan government has said that the cost of rebuilding after the floods could be as high as $15bn.

Extensive damage to the agricultural industry as a whole is another heavy blow because this is such an important part of the economy.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands more Pakistanis are being displaced in the southern province of Sindh, which is now being described as the country’s worst hit province.

The UN says it has now raised about 70% of the $460m it called for in its emergency appeal, as donors pledged more money.

Pakistan has also accepted $5m in aid from its rival and neighbour India.

RELEIF NOT REACHING FAST

At least 10,000 others were injured, the Xinhua news agency reported, and many victims, including school children, were buried under debris. Rescuers were struggling to clear debris with their hands and save those trapped below.

Nearly 60 of the dead were students at several schools in the province, authorities told Xinhua, and more than 50 are trapped in the debris with little chance of rescue.

Xinhua reported that 25 students were rescued from a vocational school, and another 23 from a primary school. Relief flights carrying medical workers and supplies have been landing in Yushu airport but the road to the town of 70,000 people has been blocked by a landslide, the Associated Press news agency reports from Qinghai’s provincial capital, Xining.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has called for an all-out effort to save as many people as possible and some 5,000 rescuers, including 700 soldiers, have been sent to the disaster area.

The civil affairs ministry said it was to send 5,000 tents, 50,000 coats and 50,000 quilts as local officials in Yushu reported a lack of tents, medicines and medical equipment. China has received messages of sympathy and offers of aid from foreign states including Japan, Russia and France.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs plans to distribute 5,000 tents, 50,000 coats and 50,000 quilts to the earthquake zone, Xinhua said.

The Hong Kong Red Cross said it had mobilized 200,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $27,700) to support the relief operation through providing tents, quilts, clothes and food to victims.

The headquarters of the Red Cross Society of China was also sending relief supplies and had dispatched a team to the area for assessment, the organization said in a statement.

Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil PRESIDENT OF INDIA

India is a nation where humanity has lived since ages. It is a country which is blessed with different religions, societies, cultures and languages, all interplaying with each other in harmony.

The month of January creates an aura of patriotism as Republic Day of India falls in this month. It was on 26th January, 1950 that Republic of India was formed and the Constitution of India came into force. Over these years India has come a long way in overcoming various obstacles and hurdles to rejoice in the moments of triumph, glory and the pride of being an independent nation. Republic Day reminds us of the fulfillment of the pledge that was made on the midnight of Independence as a “tryst with destiny”.

This day also marks the recognition that we Indians thrive in a sovereign, secular, and democratic land that stands for the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, the golden words that form the essence of our Preamble.

Republic Day is celebrated with much enthusiasm throughout the country. The patriotic fervour of every Indian on this day brings the whole country united. Republic Day is celebrated all over the country at all the administrative units like the capital cities, district headquarters, sub divisions, talukas, and panchayats with the same enthuse and vibe.

To honour the occasion, a grand celebration is held at New Delhi, the national capital. The celebrations begin with spectacular presentation projecting India’s military prowess. The President of India – External website that opens in a new window unfurls the National Flag, followed by the National Anthem. The different regiments of Army, Navy and Air Force march in-synchrony from Rashtrapati Bhavan, along the Rajpath and reach the India Gate saluting the President of India, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces.

This is followed by a massive parade by other military troops including State Regiments and Paramilitary Forces of India. A spectacular presentation from different parts of the country representing different folk dances, festivals, historical locations is displayed next. Children from various schools present folk dances from different States in picturesque costumes marking the cultural unity of India. Cultural events and traditional folk dances create an ambience of merriment and enthusiasm. Soldiers who have performed exceptionally are awarded the bravery medals, Param Veer Chakra, Veer Chakra and Maha Veer Chakra. National Bravery Awards are given to children who have performed outstanding deeds of bravery and selfless sacrifice. A streak of jet planes of Indian Air Force; leave a trial of coloured smoke, showering rose petals on the spectators marking the end of the grand day.

A CLOSER COOPERATION

President Barack Obama declared Tuesday that U.S. ties with India will be “one of the defining relationships” of the 21st century as he welcomed India’s prime minister for the first state visit of his administration.

At the conclusion of about two hours of talks, Obama said he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had agreed to “work even closer” on sharing information between law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Singh promised increased cooperation with Washington to battle terrorism.

Obama was quizzed about the tense relationship between India and Pakistan and said it was not the role of the United States to intervene and solve such problems. He said, however, that American should do what it can to ensure that Pakistan and India both feel secure and able to focus on developing their own countries for their own people.

On security, Obama said the U.S and India are natural allies. “We both recognize that our core goal is to achieve peace and security for all peoples in the region, not just one country or the other,” he said. The two leaders glossed over a dispute about commitments to reduce greenhouse gases in advance of the next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen, but Obama said they had moved a “step closer” to a successful outcome.

Noting that the United States was India’s largest trading partner, Obama said broadening trade ties would help create much needed jobs in both countries as governments continue trying to stimulate recession-hit economies.

In an elaborate welcoming ceremony earlier Tuesday, Obama showered praise on India and Singh, declaring it was only fitting the Indian leader should be the first state visitor of his administration. Obama said the United States and India share the “bold experiments” of becoming democracies after breaking from rule by a colonial power, and in modern times both have known the pain of international terrorism.

“Our nations are two global leaders, driven not to dominate other nations but to build a future of security and prosperity for all nations,” Obama said Chilly, damp weather led the White House to move the ceremony indoors, where Singh and Obama stood before photographers and television cameras in the East Room as a Marine band played the national anthems of their countries.

Singh said that India and the U.S. are separated by distance but bound by common national values of “democracy, pluralism, rule of law and respect for fundamental human freedoms.”
The White House was eager to show that, despite what some Indians see as a lack of attention during Obama’s first 10 months, it values Singh’s country as a key partner in dealing with extremists in South Asia, in settling international trade and global warming pacts and in steering the world economy out of turmoil.

Indians were looking for Obama to reverse a perception that he neglected India during his recent trip to Asia and seemed to endorse a stronger role for China in India’s sensitive dealings with Pakistan. Obama words sought to re-establish the strong feelings of goodwill the countries enjoyed during George W. Bush’s presidency. Bush is credited with transforming the relationship after decades of Cold War-era distrust.

The symbol of those new ties is a civilian nuclear cooperation accord signed into law last year after years of close communication and tough negotiation. Obama voiced his commitment to the accord, which has raised hackles in Pakistan, India’s bitter rival and a country the United States relies on in the fight against extremists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The two leaders were expected to have a memorandum intended to improve cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change, but there were no immediate details.
Developing and industrialized countries have bickered as they prepare to negotiate a new global climate change treaty in Copenhagen, meant to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on carbon dioxide emissions.

Developing countries argue that rich countries produced most of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases on their march to development and should therefore bear the costs of fixing the problem. Wealthy nations say all countries — including large polluters India and China — have to agree to broad cuts in emissions.

India is willing to work on any climate solution that does not hurt developing countries’ efforts to lift their populations out of poverty, Singh said before meeting Obama.

200 MILLION HUNGRY CHILDREN

Nearly 200 million children in poor countries have stunted growth because they don’t get enough to eat, according to a new report published by UNICEF Wednesday before a three-day international summit on the problem of world hunger.

The head of a U.N. food agency called on the world to join him in a day of fasting ahead of the summit to highlight the plight of 1 billion hungry people. Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said he hoped the fast would encourage action by world leaders who will take part in the meeting at his agency’s headquarters starting Monday.

The U.N. Children’s Fund published a report saying that nearly 200 million children under five in poor countries have stunted growth because they don’t get enough to eat.

More than 90 percent of those children live in Africa and Asia, and more than a third of all deaths in that age group are linked to undernutrition, according to UNICEF.
While progress has been made in Asia — rates of stunted growth dropped from 44 percent in 1990 to 30 percent last year — there has been little success in Africa. There, the rate of stunted growth was about 38 percent in 1990. Last year, the rate was about 34 percent.

South Asia is a particular hotspot for the problem, with just Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan accounting for 83 million hungry children under five. “Unless attention is paid to addressing the causes of child and maternal undernutrition today, the costs will be considerably higher tomorrow,” said UNICEF executive director Ann M. Veneman in a statement.

Diouf said he would begin a 24-hour fast on Saturday morning. The agency also launched an online petition against world hunger through a Web page featuring a video with Diouf counting from one to six to remind visitors that every six seconds a child dies from hunger.

The U.N. children’s agency called for more strategies like vitamin A supplementation and breast-feeding to be rolled out more widely. That could cut the death rate in kids by up to 15 percent, UNICEF said. Not everyone agreed.

“It is unrealistic to believe malnutrition can be addressed by any topdown U.N. scheme,” said Philip Stevens, of International Policy Network, a London-based think tank. “The progress UNICEF’s report points to in improving nutrition is almost certainly a result of economic growth, not U.N. strategies.”

The Rome-based FAO announced earlier this year that hunger now affects a record 1.02 billion globally, or one in six people, with the financial meltdown, high food prices, drought and war blamed.

The agency hopes its World Summit on Food Security, with Pope Benedict XVI and some 60 heads of state so far expected to attend, will endorse a new strategy to combat hunger, focusing on increased investment in agricultural development for poor countries.

The long-term increase in the number of hungry is largely tied to reduced aid and private investments earmarked for agriculture since the mid-1980s, according to FAO. Countries like Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam that have invested in their small farmers and rural poor are bucking the hunger trend, FAO chief Diouf told the news conference.

They are among 31 countries that have reached or are on track to meet the goal set by world leaders nine years ago to cut the number of hungry people in half by 2015, he said. “Eradicating hunger is no pipe dream,” Diouf said. “The battle against hunger can be won.”

FAO says global food output will have to increase by 70 percent to feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050. To achieve that, poor countries will need $44 billion in annual agricultural aid, compared with the current $7.9 billion, to increase access to irrigation systems, modern machinery, seeds and fertilizer as well as build roads and train farmers.

Agriculture investment from the private sector is also considered vital, and FAO is hosting a two-day forum in Milan starting Thursday with executives and business representatives to discuss how to coordinate such efforts.

INDIRA GANDHI A RARE GLIMPS

Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her bodyguards on this day 25 years ago. Looking at the legacy of India’s most controversial and best-known politician. In the summer of 1965, Indira Gandhi was thinking of shifting base from Delhi to London.

She was then serving as a junior minister in the cabinet of Lal Bahadur Shastri, who had succeeded her father Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister of India. With her political prospects fairly bleak, she was attracted to England for personal reasons. Her sons Rajiv and Sanjay were both studying in the United Kingdom; besides, living in London would allow her to further her interest in culture and the arts.

In the end, Mrs Gandhi chose to remain in her homeland and would reap a wholly unexpected reward. When Mr Shastri died of a heart attack in January 1966, she was asked to replace him as prime minister. The choice was made by the “Syndicate”, the group of crafty old men who ran the ruling Congress party.

They calculated that the elevation of Nehru’s daughter would reassure a nation reeling from the deaths in quick succession of two prime ministers; besides, as a novice in politics she could be easily manipulated. After a hesitant start in office, Mrs Gandhi grew in confidence.

In 1969 she cut herself loose from the “Syndicate” by portraying them as a bunch of reactionaries while she represented the progressive forces of history. She nationalised banks, mines, and oil companies; abolished the titles and privileges of the former maharajas; and comprehensively won the general elections of 1971 on the stirring slogan of “Garibi Hatao” (Remove Poverty).

The elections were held in January; in the last month of the same year, Mrs Gandhi played a key role in India’s military victory over Pakistan, which led to the dismemberment of that country and the formation of an independent Bangladesh. Among a certain section of the middle class, Mrs Gandhi remains very popular.

In polls conducted by English-language magazines she is usually chosen as “India’s best-ever prime minister”. This endorsement is principally based on her performance during the 1971 war, invariably contrasted with her father’s disastrous leadership during India’s border war with China in 1962.

Others admire her for her identification with the whole of India (although a northerner by birth and background she had a special affection for the south). Socialists sympathise with her pro-poor rhetoric.

On the other hand, there remain many Indians who are lukewarm about Mrs Gandhi’s legacy. They point to her authoritarian tendencies, which came to the fore after her annus mirabilis: 1971. At this point she asked for a “committed bureaucracy” and “committed judiciary”, seeking to make these previously autonomous institutions subject to the whims and fancies of politicians in power.

In 1974, the respected Gandhian politician Jayaprakash Narayan launched a countrywide movement against corruption in government. In June 1975 the Allahabad High Court found the prime minister guilty of electoral malpractices.

Mrs Gandhi’s response to this twin challenge, political and judicial, was to declare a state of emergency, censor the press, and put hundreds of opposition politicians in jail. The emergency lasted until January 1977. In elections held in March, the Congress were routed by the Janata Party, a coalition of four previously distinct entities.

However, the new government lasted less than three years, collapsing under the weight of its contradictions. In 1980 Mrs Gandhi and the Congress were voted back to power on the plank of “stability”.

The first two years of her fourth term were uneventful, but then, almost at once, Mrs Gandhi was confronted with discontent in the state of Andhra Pradesh, secessionist stirrings in the north-east, and a fully-fledged insurgency in the Punjab.

It was claimed at the time that the prime minister deliberately stoked the troubles in the Punjab, so that when elections were held in 1985 she could put herself forward as the one person standing between India and anarchy.

In June 1984 she ordered the army to storm the Golden Temple, where a band of Sikh extremists were holed up. The “terrorists” were killed, but the action also led to the destruction of the second holiest building in the complex.

Five months later, two Sikh security guards gunned down Mrs Gandhi in an apparent act of revenge.

The fact that she died a martyr’s death – and after contemptuously rejecting advice to purge her staff of Sikhs – has led to a posthumous evaluation of Indira Gandhi that exculpates or ignores her very many mistakes.

That she was a thoroughgoing patriot we may not doubt; nor, indeed, that she led India nobly and well during the refugee crisis of 1971 (when nine million East Pakistanis fled into India) and the war that followed.

RAY OF HOPE MILLIONS

Some of India’s richest men have joined forces with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to launch an ambitious campaign to teach 100 million illiterate Indian slum children to read by the end of 2010.

The task force, which includes British-based billionaire Gopichand Hinduja, are expected to lead a fundraising appeal for the campaign at the glitzy Indian Summer Garden Party in Chelsea this weekend.

Its supporters include film director Meera Sya and television comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar. Also on board are Indian billionaires Aditya Birla, Keshub Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani, and Dell, the owners of IT giants Google.

Many of them have pledged millions of pounds to the campaign, which is being waged by Pratham, India’s largest and most successful charity. The Gates Foundation has donated $9 million, via the Hewlett Foundation, while Google has given a further $2 million.

Their money will fund intensive courses in which the children of poor labourers will be taught how to read and write Hindi for one hour per day for six weeks, by which time they will be able to read stories unaided.

At Kotla Village in East Delhi yesterday, Pratham teacher Manju was reading twelve pre-school children a story to prepare them to learn the Hindi alphabet.

Their parents could not afford the books and uniforms they need for government schools, but even if they could, there are simply not enough school places.

Suman Pandey, Pratham’s local co-ordinator, said the group was aiming to teach five million children to read in Delhi alone in the next 18 months. “We have around 42 hours to teach them to read. There’s no homework, it’s simple rote learning, with 20 children per class,” she said.

Since it began its work in 1999, the charity has taught 33 million children basic literacy, several of whom have gone on to university and become community teachers themselves.

Gopichand Hinduja, who is leading the fund-raising appeal, last night told The Daily Telegraph that he hoped the campaign would take poor Indians from the slums and develop them into leaders.

“Indians are all over the world in important positions and it’s because of education,” he said.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

In an expansive gesture to Indians worldwide as much as to showcase his – and America’s– multi-cultural affections, US PresidentBarack Obama on Wednesday lit a ceremonial Diwali lamp at the White House to ‘’symbolize victory of light over darkness.”

Although it was the Bush White House that began celebrating Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, in 2003, Obama became the first President to personally grace the ceremony — a brief affair that began with a rather incongruous performance by the well-regarded Hindi a-capella group Penn Masala, and ended with a Sanskrit invocation by a priest from the local Siva-Vishnu temple.

”This coming Saturday, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, here in America and around the world, will celebrate this holiday by lighting Diyas, or lamps, which symbolize the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance,” Obama said on the occasion, adding, ”And while this is a time of rejoicing, it’s also a time for reflection, when we remember those who are less fortunate and renew our commitment to reach out to those in need.”

The Diwali ceremony shared the platform with another event where Obama signed an executive order re-establishing the President’s advisory committee and White House initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. By hosting both events together, the U.S President, who is clearly comfortable being a composite of American, Asia-Pacific, and African cultures, brought together an unusual coalition in the White House East Room of Asian-Americans, Indian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders. All three groups have much in common as successful minorities but seldom work together.

The half-hour East Room celebration was attended by a mixed crowd of hyphenated Asians, Americans, and Indians. India’s Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Ambassador Meera Shankar dropped by, and several Indian-Americans in administrative positions in Washington attended.

The White House kept it light and simple. A box of Indian mithai (sweets) was placed on some 150 chairs that filled the East Room but there was no food fest or song and dance.

After his remarks, much of which was devoted to the Asian-American initiative, there was a single lamp that Obama lit from a candle. The Siva-Vishnu temple priest, dressed in ceremonial togs with an enormous three-forked tilak on his forehead, kept his invocation short — chanting ”Asatoma Sadgamaya” (Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to liberation) from the Upanishads.

Obama, having lit the White House diya (a word he handled with aplomb) and wished everyone a ”Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak,” listened intently as the priest ended with ”Om Shanti Shanti.” He returned the priest’s Namaste and then shook his hands before striding out to attend to the business of war.

”Thank you Mr President for being the first president to come to the Diwali ceremony,” a gadabout journalist called out to Obama. ”Yes, how about that,’’ the President shot back.

The President spent much of the morning with his ”war council” (formally, the national security team) in the White House Situation room assessing US strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.