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Miss World 2010, the 60th Miss World pageant was held on October 30, 2010, in Sanya, People’s Republic of China, after Vietnam backed out of the hosting contract. Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar crowned her successor Alexandria Mills from United States as Miss World 2010.
Blonde, blue-eyed American eighteen-year-old Alexandria Mills won the Miss World crown for 2010 on 30.10.2010, defeating more than 100 other hopefuls at a glittering ceremony in Sanya, southern China. This is the 60th year of the Miss World Competition.
Second place went to Emma Wareus of Botswana, and Adriana Vasini of Venezuela came third.
The host country’s own contestant, Tang Xiao, also was among the final five.
According to a brief biography on the Miss World website, Mills calls Louisville, Kentucky, her hometown, and she recently graduated from high school. She would like to become a teacher. “I’ve never met a stranger and enjoy meeting new people,” she says in the bio.
Mills, an 18-year-old from the southern US state of Kentucky, wept as outgoing Miss World Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar placed the tiara on her head and led her to a diamond-shaped throne marking the pageant’s 60th anniversary.
The 1.75-metre (5’9”) beauty in white—a professional model listed with the Elite Models agency—waved to the cheering crowd at the 2,000-capacity Beauty Crown Theatre in the resort town of Sanya on Hainan Island. During the two-hour competition, which annually draws a global television audience of about one billion, Mills said her month spent touring China with the other 114 Miss World hopefuls had made a “big impact” on her life.
Botswana’s Emma Wareus was second, and Venezuela’s Adriana Vasini placed third in the pageant, which was first held in 1951.The pageant got off to a colourful start with a performance by dancers and drummers from China’s Li ethnic minority group, who mainly live on Hainan Island, which was hosting the event for the fifth time in eight years.
Before the contestants whirled in national costume for the “Dances of the World” segment, viewers were treated to a video montage of the women’s whirlwind tour of China — from the Great Wall to the shopping malls.
Early, favourite Mariann Birkedal of Norway, listed by British bookmaker William Hill as the woman to beat ahead of Mills, finished in the top seven. A win for Norway could have caused a stir in Beijing, where the government is furious that the Oslo-based Nobel committee awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Aldorino, 24, said she had enjoyed her year as Miss World, saying that in all the countries she had visited, one thing had remained the same: “The smile on a child’s face, and that’s what has captured the moment”.
The competition emphasises the importance of charity work. Miss “Beauty with a Purpose” — Kenya’s Natasha Metto, who has worked on combatting an epidemic of parasitic Jigger fleas in her country — earned a “fast-track” spot in the final group of 25, but was then eliminated.
Ireland’s violin-playing Emma Waldron, who won the talent contest and finished in the top five, wowed the audience by greeting them in Chinese, while Miss China, Xiao Tang, spoke mostly in English.
The event rivals the Miss Universe pageant owned by US tycoon Donald Trump, which was won by Mexico’s Jimena Navarrete in August, 2010.
In 1951, Sweden’s Kiki Hakansson became the first Miss World. Oscar-winning American actress Halle Berry was a finalist in 1986.
North Korea has finally on 30th September 2010 released video footage and a photograph which appear to show the heir apparent a. It is the world’s first up-to-date glimpse of the young man who appears set to succeed his father, Kim Jong-il, in a gradual transfer of power.
The TV footage shows him in a rare meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, where he was promoted to top political and military positions. Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be about 26 years old, was named vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party and was appointed to its central committee, state media said.
Mr Kim was also given the rank of a four-star general. Kim Jong-il, thought to be in poor health, was re-elected as leader at the party’s first congress for 30 years. A North Korean delegation has now gone to China, reportedly to brief officials about the meeting.
The official photograph was published on the front page of a state-controlled North Korean newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun. It showed 200 officials at the Workers’ Party convention. Seated in the front row, just two seats along from his father, is Kim Jong-un.
The next leader of North Korea from the only ruling family the isolated nation has ever known made his public debut, clapping and smiling as tanks and long-range missiles rolled past in what was said to be the largest military parade staged by the communist state.
Two weeks after he was made a four-star general and set on the path to succession, Kim Jong Un sat next to his father, current North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and waved from an observation platform to a raucous crowd cheering below.
Although the caption did not identify him, state media reported that he had attended the photo session. Previously only grainy images from his childhood have been seen in the West.
The BBC’s John Sudworth in Seoul says the family likeness is clear, and North Koreans, seeing the photo for the first time, are unlikely to miss the significance. Kim Jong-un is Kim Jong-il’s third son and had already been identified as the most likely successor to the Communist dynasty started by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, in 1948.
There can now be little doubt that Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un has been chosen to eventually take over from his ailing father, who is thought to have had a stroke in 2008. Analysts say that, at least, confirms that, although thin and frail, he is well enough to attend and seemingly still in control.
Military Parade
10th October 2010
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his son, heir apparent Kim Jong Un, appeared together for a massive military parade described as “the biggest in history” by officials of the reclusive state.
The two Kims stood on a reviewing stand at Pyongyang’s central Kim Il Sung Square, named after the country’s national founder, where goose-stepping military personnel marched by and military hardware, including tanks, passed below.
The festivities – officially to celebrate the foundation of the country’s ruling party – were broadcast on state television, giving the North Korean people one of their first good looks at their future leader, who will succeed his father to carry the communist dynasty into the third generation.
The elder Kim entered the venue to huge cheers from the crowd. He was accompanied by his son and other top officials including Kim Yong Nam, the president of the country’s parliament.
The parade is part of celebrations marking the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the Workers’ Party of Korea. The party last month held a landmark political convention, its most significant gathering in 30 years, at which Kim Jong Un was promoted to vice chairman of the organization’s central military commission.
State TV showed military personnel marching past the reviewing stand and being saluted by Kim Jong Il and later Kim Jong Un, who was not dressed in military uniform as some analysts had expected. He wore the same dark, communist-style outfit he has been seen photographed in recently since making his public debut late last month.
Dressed in a dark blue civilian suit, the younger Kim watched over a plaza named for his grandfather, North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung, who led his nation during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Thousands of troops from every branch of the 1.2 million-member military goose-stepped to the accompaniment of a military brass band while citizens waved plastic bouquets.
Trucks loaded with katyusha rocket launchers rolled by, but they were dwarfed by a series of missiles, each larger than the last and emblazoned with: “Defeat the U.S. military. U.S. soldiers are the Korean People’s Army’s enemy.”
“If the U.S. imperialists and their followers infringe on our sovereignty and dignity even slightly, we will blow up the stronghold of their aggression with a merciless and righteous retaliatory strike by mobilizing all physical means, including self-defensive nuclear deterrent force, and achieve the historic task of unification,” Ri Yong Ho, chief of the General Staff of the North Korean army, said at the event.
Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the parade included three never-before-shown types of missiles and launching devices, including one thought to be a new Musudan ballistic missile with a range of up to 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers), capable of hitting Japan and Guam.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could not immediately comment on the report, and a call to South Korea’s top spy agency seeking comment went unanswered Sunday.
The sight of the two Kims side by side, later waving to the crowd above a huge portrait of the late dynastic founder Kim Il Sung, drew cheers of “Hurrah!” and tears from North Koreans attending the parade in the heart of the capital Pyongyang. Some 300,000 people packed the streets to see the parade, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
“Kim Jong Il! Protect him to the death!” ”Kim Jong Il, let’s unite to support him!” they chanted as the 68-year-old leader walked the length of the platform, appearing to limp slightly and gripping the banister.
The Kims later also appeared at an evening gala featuring fireworks at Kim Il Sung Plaza, which was transformed into a massive set filled with tens of thousands of dancers with Pyongyang’s iconic Juche Tower as a backdrop.
The theatrical multimedia performance, combining dance with archived footage shown on two huge screens, was designed to remind the people of Kim Il Sung’s role in building the nation from the ashes of the Korean War, and to instill pride in Kim Jong Il’s skill in leading the country and ruling party. Footage was shown off homegrown achievements, including the long-range rocket launch that was widely condemned by international powers in 2009.
“If Kim Il Sung could see us now, he’d be so happy,” one slogan projected onto Juche Tower read.
“Hurrah! Hurrah!” the dancers shouted at the end, all eyes trained on the veranda where Kim Jong Il was watching the performance with his son and top officials. He appeared and waved to the performers, leaving many sobbing with emotion.
‘Historic task of unification’
Earlier, a North Korean flag was raised and military officers in full dress uniform watching as a band played rousing music and the large crowd looked on.
Even in a country known for its elaborately staged displays of military might, the scale and pomp of the weekend festivities — less than two weeks the news that Kim Jong Il’s 20-something son would succeed him and grandfather as leader — suggested something special.
In a radical policy shift by a government typically wary of the international press, foreign reporters and television crews were invited to cover the event.
North Korean minders reminded journalists constantly that the military parade would be “the biggest in history” for the country.
The latest appearance by Kim Jong Un was a heady debut for the mysterious young man who until two weeks ago was a virtual unknown outside North Korea’s inner circle of military and political elite.
Kim Jong Un is the third son of Kim Jong Il but his name never appeared in state media until late last month, and even the exact spelling of his name was unclear.
Nor were they any photos of him as an adult until the state’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper last week published a group shot of the young man seated with his father and other top party leaders. State television showed still images of father and son watching a military unit carry out live-fire drills.
The Swiss-educated son said to be his 68-year-old father’s favorite emerged in recent months as the rumored front-runner to inherit the mantle of leadership, despite his youth and inexperience.
Odes to ‘Young Commander’
There were reports that children were singing odes to “the Young Commander,” and that his January birthday had been made a national holiday like those of his father and grandfather.
He won his first military post with the promotion to general late last month, and was appointed during the nation’s biggest political convention in 30 years to the Workers’ Party’s central military commission, as well as the party’s Central Committee — strong signs he was being groomed to eventually succeed his father.
The question of who will take over leadership of the nuclear-armed nation of 24 million has been a pressing one since the last big military parade in 2008.
Power struggle
At the parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in September 2008, Kim Jong Il was noticeably absent. U.S. and South Korean officials said Kim had suffered a stroke, sparking concerns about a power struggle and social upheaval if he were to die without a clear successor.
Though thinner and grayer, Kim Jong Il has resumed busy rounds of tours to factories and military units. And a surprise trip to China in late August may have been to introduce his son to top officials in the neighboring nation that is North Korea’s most important ally and source of aid.
Kim Il Sung was a former guerrilla who fought against Japan’s colonization of Korea and built a cult of personality around himself and his son. Kim Jong Il took over as leader when his father died in 1994 in what was the communist world’s first hereditary transfer of power.
Kim Jong Il rules under a “songun,” or “military first,” policy with a 1.2 million-member military that is one of the world’s largest. Along with military manpower and weaponry, North Korea under his leadership has been building up its nuclear arsenal, much to the consternation of other nations.
SEOUL, Oct. 26, 2010 (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his heir-apparent son, Jong-un, visited a historic building used as the command of the Chinese military during the Korean War, one day after the 60th anniversary of China’s entry into the war, the North’s media reported.
According to the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Kims also visited a tomb of Chinese patriotic martyrs located near the former Chinese military command in Hoechang, north of Pyongyang.
During the 1950-53 Korean War, China sent massive forces to fight alongside North Korea against the U.S.-led allied forces.
After looking around key facilities of the former military command, leader Kim stressed that the baton of North Korea-China friendship should be further developed and relayed to the next generation, the KCNA report said.
Meanwhile, a Chinese high-ranking military delegation led by Col. General Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, left for home after holding talks with North Korea’s National Defense Commission in Pyongyang, the KCNA said in a separate report.
Ri Yong-ho, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, who is emerging as a key figure in the communist state’s hereditary power succession, led the North’s delegation at the military talks with China, it noted.
“At the talks, both sides exchanged deep-going views on the issue of boosting the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the armies of the two countries and matters of mutual concern. The talks took place in a comradely and friendly atmosphere,” the report said, without elaborating.
Priority of food over weapons
The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun Monday quoted Kim as saying, “It was okay without food in the past as long as we had guns and bullets, but it`s not okay without food now even if we have guns and bullets.”
The newspaper based its report on sources familiar with the North’s relations with China.
Kim reportedly made this comment late last month while on an inspection tour of Kimchaek, North Hamkyong Province, as the ruling Workers’ Party held a convention in Pyongyang. Documents containing what he said were distributed to senior party officials.
Sources on North Korea-China relations also quoted Kim as saying, “We have a smaller territory and population than other countries. We’re not as rich as other countries in wealth and natural resources. But we have Dear Leader Kim Il Sung (his grandfather and North Korea’s founder) and the General (his father and incumbent leader Kim Jong Il). So we can enjoy happiness and joy for generations to come.”
Kim Jong Un’s comment is seen as trying to justify the power succession of his family.
Kim Jong-Un and his father Kim Jong-Il have paid an inspection visit to the communist state’s secret police agency, official media said.
Father and son, accompanied by top military leaders, inspected the command of the Korean People’s Army Unit 10215, the country’s news agency said. The unit serves as the North’s secret police agency, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency said.
Leader Kim “praised the unit for having prepared its servicemen as fighters strong in ideology by successfully building entertainment and cultural facilities and dynamically conducting diverse political work”, the North’s news agency said.
The son, along with his father, also attended a meeting with the high-level Chinese military delegation, state media reported.
China, the North’s sole major ally and its economic prop, has apparently given its blessing to another dynastic succession.
His Background
Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong Un is the second son of Kim Jong Il’s third wife, Ko Yong Hi, who died five years ago of breast cancer at age 51. At 26, he is seven years younger than his father was when he was designated as the future leader. Kim Jong Il got the nod in 1974, two decades before the death of his father.
Analysts had expected Kim Jong Il to name a successor in 2012, the centenary of the birth of his father. But his health appears to be failing. In recent video clips he has looked gaunt, tired and much older than his 67 years.
He has two other sons. But the eldest, Jong Nam, 38, lost favor in 2001 when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a phony passport. He told Japanese officials he wanted to visit Disneyland in Tokyo.
The middle son, Jong Chol, 28, was regarded by his father as unfit for leadership and too feminine, according to Kenji Fujimoto, a former Japanese sushi chef for the North Korean leader and author of the memoir “I was Kim Jong Il’s Cook.”
His age has never been revealed by North Korean officials, but the South Korean government believes the younger Kim to be 26, born Jan. 8, 1984. On Sunday, he was poised in public, every inch his father’s son in both looks and demeanor as he joined Kim Jong Il in raising a hand to salute the troops parading past.
Kim Jong Un, 26, who attended a Swiss boarding school and reportedly admires basketball great Michael Jordan, is the third son of Kim Jong Il, the “Dear Leader” who suffered a stroke last summer and who has since appeared thin and frail. He is the grandson of the late Kim Il Sung, the “Great Leader” and founding dictator of North Korea.
Kim Jong Un attended the International School of Berne, which is about 15 minutes from the Swiss capital and a few hundred yards from the North Korean Embassy. While Kim was at the English-language school, which has about 280 students from 40 countries, he befriended the children of American diplomats and learned French and German, according to the Swiss weekly L’Hebdo.
Kim attended the school under the false name of Pak Chol, the weekly said, and school officials and his classmates “thought they were dealing with the son of the driver of the embassy.” Friends and staff at the school remembered a shy boy who enjoyed skiing, loved the National Basketball Association and spoke highly of action-movie actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. He reportedly left the school at age 15 to return to North Korea, and little about his life there is known to the outside world.
Link to Military Tension
The younger Kim’s name surfaced about four months ago as his father’s likely successor, but it wasn’t until after last week’s underground nuclear test in the North that Kim Jong Il informed top officials in Pyongyang and diplomats in foreign missions that Jong Un would be his successor, intelligence officials told members of the National Assembly in Seoul.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service declined to confirm the reports. But one of the lawmakers, Hong Jung-wook, a member of the ruling Grand National Party, said intelligence officials think the recent spike in military and political tension on the Korean Peninsula is closely related to the transition underway in Pyongyang. He said in an interview that the South Korean government has created a “special team” to analyze the succession.
New Songs, Slogans
Schoolchildren in Pyongyang have already begun singing the praises of Kim Jong Un, according to a report from Rescue the North Korean People, a relief group in Osaka, Japan, that has informants inside North Korea.
“That fact that schools are teaching students to sing such songs is tantamount to officially declaring the heir,” the report said. “Elementary school children on a street corner in Pyongyang are singing a song about Gen. Kim Jong Un. They said they sing this song all day without doing any other regular classes.”
Soldiers, too, are shouting new slogans, including “With all our hearts, let’s protect Kim Jong Un, the young general, the morning star general who inherits the bloodline of Paektu,” the report said.
Snow-covered Mount Paektu is the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula and a revered place. North Korea claims that Kim Il Sung organized guerrillas to fight Japanese occupation from bases on the mountain and that Kim Jong Il was born there. But records show that the communist resistance and the Dear Leader were born in what was then the Soviet Union.
It has been state policy in North Korea since the 1950s to create cults of personality around the Kim family. Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were ascribed godlike powers and unlimited knowledge. The practice has been supported by relentless propaganda that dominates school curriculums and by strict government control over access to foreign media or any outside information.
An absolute Monarchy
“North Korea is an absolute monarchy and one of the last in the world. If the new one dies before his son is of age, they will appoint a regent to rule until the child is of legal age. It has no progressive traditions at all and is simply a throwback to centuries past.” This is the sentiment shared by some critics in the world.
At this point, it has become impossible to miss the rapid and convenient ascendancy of Kim Jong Il’s third son, Kim Jong Un, to power and specifically into a status positioning him to take over the (half) country’s top job at some point down the line. The convention and the lead-up thereto, among other things, saw Kim Jong Un appointed a 4-star general despite having no military experience whatsoever, and saw him made Vice Chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission (the most powerful political organ in the country; Kim Jong Il himself being the chairman thereof), as well as elected to the party’s Central Committee. These were all striking moves especially given his young age. He’s generally believed to be but 27 or 26. More recently, in a rare event, he has been shown with his father to global media. Furthermore, there are likewise reports now that the regime is planning to soon distribute fully 10 million portraits of Kim Jong Un shown alongside his father around the country. There is now, in other words, very strong evidence that reports of a dynastic succession underway in North Korea are, in fact, true. Kim Jong Il ascended to power in a very similar way.
In 1980 the party convened its last congress up to now for the purpose of elevating Kim Jong Il to senior political and military posts, from which he would ultimately be brought into his role as the ruler of the country. So this is now the second consecutive occasion on which the rulership of North Korea will have passed from father to son. In recognizing that, it’s difficult to miss the fact that, just beneath a thin layer of socialist rhetoric, the truth is that North Korea today is a feudal monarchy. (Feudal in the sense that the king owns most everything) So how did things get to this point?
After the Korean War, Kim Il Sung and the Korean Workers’ Party led the country in a broad socialist transformation of the economy, based on the Soviet model. In the middle of this process though, Khrushchev came out with his (in) famous speech denouncing Stalin and revolutionary war and announcing that the USSR was now a “state of the whole people” led by a “party of the whole people” rather than a dictatorship of the proletariat led by the proletariat and its vanguard party, as well as laying out a collection of objectively attractive liberal reforms. To their credit, North Korea at the end of 1955 became the first country to recognize this turn in Soviet politics as revisionist.
North Korea’s leadership, in response to this development, and in denouncing it, now called for what they described as Juche (literally, “self-reliance”). The Chollima Movement that was launched the following year is broadly considered the first application of this principle there. It marked the start of an attempt to pursue a more original approach to socialist development. When Mao in 1958 criticized an array of Stalin’s mistakes while (significantly, in that context!) upholding most of his legacy and launched the Great Leap Forward, in which China would be broadly reorganized into large-scale popular communes, as a means by which to correct the mistakes, North Korea began applying secondary aspects of the Leap domestically. Though they never regarded the communal form of socialism as per se correct, let alone China’s opting to broadly promote moral incentives for production and free supply systems, they did that same year adopt a production approach based on mass mobilization and the concept of conducting economic development in leaps rather than gradual steps. In particular, I refer to the nationwide “speed battles” (motivated by the chance for individual firms to win bonuses) as allegedly a form of “socialist competition” aimed at substantially increasing the rate of production. In 1960, the Chinese Communists were also denouncing the USSR as revisionist. The following year, they were joined by Albania in that regard. The Chollima Movement concluded in 1961 with the inception of the Chongsan-ri Method of state officials providing advice and material incentives to win the peasants back over and the Taean Work System, whereby workplace management was reorganized to a significant degree along the lines of the new work system in China. By the mid-1960s, the Soviet authorities worried that North Korea was “leaning toward China” in the Sino-Soviet Split. Both were escalating the hostility of their rhetoric vis-a-vis the USSR. By 1965, Kim Il Sung had developed Juche into a set of three basic principles: political, economic, and military independence. He was also gradually reshaping the country into a police-state, as the Chinese Communists observed throughout the period from the mid-’50s.
China’s Cultural Revolution, however, marked a souring of relations between the two countries. In 1967, Kim Il Sung denounced the Cultural Revolution as a form of Trotskyism and proposed the revisionist argument that the Korean nation-state would exist forever. This marked the birth of North Korea as a dictatorship, as signified in the publication of a new theory on the inherent role of individual “great leaders” in holding nations together. From this point on, Kim Il Sung’s personality cult would be omnipresent in the (half) country. Amidst bankruptcy (the direct result of Pyongyang’s ongoing dependent relationship to its parasitic patron states), the dictatorship was transformed into a monarchy at the 1980 party congress. No longer would party congresses be held regularly, as officially required. They only occur now to select new monarchs in the lineage, it appears.
On a similar note, Kim Jong Il’s 1996 piece “The Juche Philosophy is an Original Revolutionary Philosophy” puts forward the notion that Juche is not to be understood as simply a domestic application of Leninist Marxism, as it had been traditionally understood, but rather that Juche is an original, non-Marxist school of communism birthed in North Korea but applicable worldwide. The subsequent year, he was officially named ruler. Kim Jong Il’s synthesis of Juche, “Kimilsungism”, adds to the traditional application the Songun ideology, which holds that the military deserves the leading role both in revolutionary war and in socialist society. Thus has North Korea come virtually under martial law.
In the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, upon which Pyongyang had consistently relied, they entered into a perpetual recession. Attempts at escaping this have revolved around finding a new, effective patron state. First South Korea was sought out and a deal was even reached in 2000. (In the early ’80s, coinciding with Kim Jong Il’s initial elevation, North Korea abandoned the objective of the revolutionary reunification of the Korean Peninsula for a new plan to negotiate reunification with the existing regime in the South.) But American and Japanese belligerence throughout the last decade has clearly undermined that effort. Now China is sought out instead. Earlier this year, a deal was concluded whereby China would invest an amount equivalent to 70% of North Korea’s whole present economy into the country. This reveals the rather phony character of the basically Titoist Juche ideology. From the mid-’60s especially, North Korea’s was clearly a Soviet satellite regime in essence and never attempted to rupture with bourgeois commodity-centric relations, either at home or in international relations.
The point here is that North Korea hasn’t been authentically socialist really since the mid-’60s and has continually, and especially since that time, degenerated into more and more authoritarian and even feudal politics and negotiationist strategies, especially as it descended increasingly into perpetual poverty by way of its indefinite dependence on reactionary and imperialist regimes. A great deal of industry may be state owned, but the real point is that the “great leader” at any given time, decided by family lineage, is the embodiment of the state. Hence it is considered a monarchy.
Under pressure from the government, the French Senate voted to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, a victory for President Nicolas Sarkozy after days of street rage, acrimonious debate and strikes that dried up the supply of gasoline across the country. The bill before the French Senate was introduced by President Sarkozy’s government as part of a reform package to move consciously toward a more “American” economic and business structure.
The vote all but sealed passage of the highly unpopular measure, but it was unlikely to end the increasingly radicalized protests. The coming days promised more work stoppages and demonstrations by those who feel changing the retirement age threaten a French birthright.
Sarkozy made overhauling the money-losing pension system a centerpiece of his project to modernize France. Undaunted by weeks of strikes, he ordered measures to unblock fuel depots and refineries to get gas flowing again to desperate motorists.
He declared that history will remember who spoke the truth. With about a quarter of gas stations on empty — down from a third earlier in the week — motorists have been forced to reinvent their lives, particularly at the start of a school vacation period.
The vote came after some 140 hours of debate, with senators casting ballots by hand into a large green urn, approving the bill 177-153. The measure is expected to win final approval by both houses of parliament next week.
Sarkozy’s conservative government cut short the debate via a constitutional article that accelerates the process — and gives the government final word on which of more than 1,000 amendments will get into the bill. He accused strikers of holding the French and their economy “hostage.”
Speaking before the Senate vote, Labor Minister Eric Woerth said the day will come when opponents of the change “will be grateful to the president, to the government and the parliamentary majority for having had the courage to fully assume their responsibilities.”
Impact on fuel
Hours before the retirement vote, riot police forced the reopening of a strategic refinery to help halt crippling fuel shortages.
The impact on the crucial energy sector was an ominous specter for whole sectors of the economy. Employment Minister Laurent Wauquiez said this week that 1,500 jobs have been lost daily since the strikes began in earnest on Oct. 12.
Hours before the Senate vote, helmeted riot police in body armor shoved striking workers aside to force open the gates of the Total SA refinery at Grandpuits, east of Paris, one of four refineries in the Paris region. A bastion of resistance, Grandpuits had been shut down for nine days — one of the nations’ 12 refineries on strike.
“The strikers have opened the valves,” said Franck Monchon, a delegate of the hard-line CGT union. Protesters symbolically burned a coffin after the police intervention.
Despite the government’s efforts to conquer union resistance, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said it would take several days to end gasoline shortages.
The government began unblocking fuel depots days ago and is allowing tanker trucks on the road on a Sunday, when they are normally forbidden. It has ordered oil companies to pool fuel to ensure gas stations are stocked.
The prime minister convened oil industry executives to review the country’s lagging fuel supplies.
The head of the national petroleum industry body, Jean-Louis Schilansky, says it is struggling to import fuel to make up for the shortfall, because strikers are also blockading two key oil terminals, in Le Havre and Marseille. Dozens of tankers remained anchored in the waters off Marseille, unable to unload.
“The problem isn’t so much finding the oil; it is getting it in to the country,” he said. “If the depots and refineries remain blocked, we will not make it.”
Nevertheless, Schilansky insisted that France has weeks or months of fuel reserves.
Marc Touati, head economist for Global Equities, was somber about the consequences of prolonged protests by the fuel sector, saying such a scenario could wipe out between 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points of economic growth. The government predicts economic growth of 2 percent next year, after 1.5 percent in 2010.
Criticism of the vote
Leftist critics called the move a denial of democracy by an increasingly confrontational president.
“No, you haven’t finished with retirement. You haven’t finished with the French,” said Socialist Sen. Jean-Pierre Bel, alluding to an apparently unflagging determination by unions, now joined by students, to keep protests alive — even through the upcoming week of school holidays.
Students planned to block schools, and unions scheduled strikes and protests on Nov. 6 2010.
Sarkozy says overhauling the pension system is vital to ensuring benefits for future generations. Many European governments are making similar choices as populations live longer and government debts soar.
But French unions say the minimum retirement age of 60, in place since 1982, is a hard-earned right and maintain the working class will be unfairly punished. Many fear it is also a first step to dismantling an entire network of benefits, including long vacations and state-subsidized health care, that make France an enviable place to work and live.
Guy Fischer, a Communist senator, denounced the pension overhaul as “brutal, unjust and inefficient.” Like other critics, he said that under the proposal, 85 percent of costs are paid by workers, leaving companies off the hook.
The legislation phases in the new system, with retirement at 62 in force in 2018. It also raises the age for retirement with full benefits from 65 to 67.
Violence around student protests have added a new dimension to the volatile mix.
“It is not troublemakers who will have the last word in a democracy,” Sarkozy told workers at a factory in the Eure-et-Loir region, promising to find and punish rioters. “If we stop companies like you from working, who will pay?”
Disruption in Day-to-day Life
Everyday life in France has been disrupted for the past week as union members, transport workers, students, and concerned citizens demonstrated across the country to protest a plan to raise the retirement age (for partial benefits) to 62 from the current age of 60. Reactions have been strong and onoing: it’s estimated between one and three million French people (of a total population of 62 million) took to the streets this past weekend in a series of protests that continued this week. Nine oil refineries have been blocked, disrupting airline and road travel. The Guardian reports that up to one-third of French service stations are empty or running low on gas, and sSeveral websites have launched maps designating availability of gas and whether stations are open.
Nicolas Sarkozy was elected on a platform of bringing American-style “reform” to France. However he also ran on a pledge not to increase the retirement age. Protests or no, the bill is expected to pass next week.
Despite the inconvenience, a strong majority of the public supports the actions and opposes the government plan for pension “reform.” A poll conducted this week found that 59% of French people wanted strikes to continue after the contentious Senate vote This report from Australian TV includes footage of the massive protests…it should be noted that the vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful.
French labor unions vowed to further challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to increase the retirement age by organizing more nationwide marches, even after next week, when Parliament is expected to turn a pension bill into law.
A coalition of France’s largest unions called Thursday the 28th October 2010 for workers to hold at least two more days of nationwide demonstrations, on Oct. 28 and Nov. 6, as rolling strikes by refinery workers continued to cause widespread disruption to gasoline supply on the eve of autumn school holidays.
The common man’s problem
Battling for benefits is a tradition in the Gilly family, passed from generation to generation — as it is for families across the country. And that goes some way toward explaining why the protests against plans to raise France’s retirement age have shown such determination and ferocity.
For Gilly and many other Frenchmen and women, social benefits such as long vacations, state-subsidized health care and early retirement are more than just luxuries: They’re seen as a birthright — an essential part of the identity of today’s France.
The protest against a government plan to raise the retirement age to 62 has special meaning for five members of the Eric Gilly clan who are demonstrating in the streets of Marseille.
“We want to stop working at 60 because it’s something our parents, our grandparents and even our great-grandparents fought for,” says Gilly, 50, a union representative at Saint-Pierre Cemetery, the largest in this bustling Mediterranean port city.
“And over the years … you can see that we’re losing everything they fought for. And that’s unacceptable.”
In Marseille, strikes to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s planned retirement reform have shut down docks, left tons of garbage putrefying on sidewalks and drawn tens of thousands into the streets for each of six protest marches since early September.
Gilly, with huge drums strapped over his shoulders, led the parade for the Workers’ Force union Monday. His sister, two daughters and a nephew weren’t far behind.
The nation usually watches with care over its citizens, who for decades have used street power to help shape French policy, sometimes pulling the rug from under politicians’ feet.
Retirement benefits are coveted, by some, perhaps even more than a higher salary, making the issue particularly sensitive. Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age hits a nerve deep in the French psyche.
“France is showing some of its old cultural reflexes,” said Etienne Schweisguth of the Center for European Studies at the Foundation for Political Science. “When there is something we aren’t pleased with we must protest.”
Trying to undo what the state wants dates back to an anarchist tradition of the 19th century, when unions first led a struggle against capitalism and a refusal to align with political parties, said Schweisguth. One wing of the hard-core CGT union, which is leading many of today’s protests, still looks to that tradition.
Despite the anti-government protests, it is the French state that has for centuries been charged with protecting individuals and their rights.
“The state is the guarantor of the moral good,” said Schweisguth, who studies changes in attitudes and values in society.
It was in 1982, under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, that the minimum age to stop working was lowered from 65 to 60. The measure, emblematic of the 14-year Mitterrand presidency, was adopted by a special ordinance that bypassed parliament.
Sixty has since become a golden number — and the battle cry for entire families fearful of losing benefits bestowed on grandparents, parents or colleagues at work. Including the Gillys.
“This is a family affair because unionism is our big family,” said Stephanie, 22, who is among Marseille’s striking garbage collectors. “Our elders fought for retirement at 60.”
“We have all the generations represented,” she said. “There’s me, my little sister, Dad. There we go. And then there will be our children, too. We will teach them.”
Schweisguth said, that despite the ruckus, strikers represent a minority of the population and that, while polls show backing for such actions, they do not measure the fervor of the backing, which he called “flaccid.”
Sarkozy, a conservative, has made pushing the legal retirement age back up a priority.
“The French are moaners, sometimes grouches. But at the same time they’re lucid, intelligent and responsible,” the daily Le Figaro quoted him as saying in May, when he criticized Mitterrand’s 1982 decision. “They will be able to acknowledge that there is no alternative to our reforms.”
But Sarkozy is increasingly unpopular, and he may be off the mark.
Gilly, a burly man dressed in red from his baseball cap to his Workers’ force union bib, pounds the huge drum hanging from his neck at a street protest against the retirement reform, keeping time to the chorus of voices singing “The International,” the Communist anthem.
“You’re not really going to push up the age of people who retire with this reform,” says his nephew, Mathias Gilly, a retailer. “In reality, it’s going to mean a smaller pension for people when they do retire.”
Gilly packs up his drum for another day, vowing that he and his family will keep up protests — “for as long as it takes.”
October 27, 2010
France’s massive strikes appear to be losing momentum as garbage collectors in the southern city of Marseille went back to work and workers at three oil refineries voted to end their protest.
Striking garbage collectors in Marseille on Tuesday started chipping away at the trash that has piled up in the streets during two weeks of protests over plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. The FO union has voted to end the protest out of concerns over “hygiene and safety.”
Nine oil refineries are still blocked by strikers, but workers at three plants voted to return to the job Monday the 1st November 2010. It is expected to take a few days to return to normal operation.
About one in four gas stations in France has been shuttered, and trains and schools have also been affected.
Law graduates intending to take up legal practice now have to pass an All-India Bar Examination (AIBE) to be conducted by the Bar Council of India on December 5, 2010. Every graduate after enrolment as lawyer in the respective State Bar Council will have to clear this examination, which will test skills and basic knowledge critical for a new entrant to the profession. It is intended to check for eligibility, rather than expertise.
Candidates may apply to appear for the examination only after enrolling as an advocate under Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961, and will have to submit suitable proof of such enrolment along with the application form for the AIBE.
Once in six months
The All India Bar Examination is mandatory for all law students graduating from the academic year 2009-2010 onwards. The examination will be held once in six months and anyone failing in the first test can re-appear. AIBE will be conducted in nine languages across 27 cities – Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Dehradun, Dharwad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla and Vishakapatnam.
The nine languages are Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya and English and the preparatory materials provided to each advocate will be in the language in which they choose to appear for the examination. An advocate will have to pay Rs. 1,300 as fees to appear for the examination, which will include the cost of receiving preparatory materials. Candidates appearing more than once for the examination will be required to pay only Rs.700 which shall not include the cost of receiving preparatory materials.
Candidates will be free to choose an examination centre of their convenience. It will be conducted by the Bar Council of India with the cooperation of the Ministry of Law and Justice.
The last date for submission of application form is October 31, 2010. Preparatory materials in nine languages will be provided to all candidates. Application forms along with an instruction sheet are available with all State Bar Councils and at the Bar Council of India, New Delhi. Candidates can also apply online for the AIBE through www.barexam@barcouncilofindia.org. The Indian legal profession consists of approximately 11 lakh registered advocates, 1,000 law schools and five lakh law students. Every year, approximately 60,000 law graduates join the legal profession.
Opposition
However, final year students strongly opposed the BCI’s decision to introduce examination for fresh graduates to enable them practice in courts. Students’ organisations argued the decision had been taken in haste. They said that for improving any profession, there needs to be systematic planning and consultation. A consensus should be formed before implementing any such important decision, which affects lakhs of law students across the country.
They said that the final year students passing out in June 2010 will be jobless till the Bar examination results are declared. As per the present curriculum, all students have completed the three months’ compulsory internship and secured pre-placement orders. Unfortunately, after the examination was announced, many companies, law firms and offices were revoking their offers, citing the examination and there was no guarantee that they would get back the placement offers after January 2011, they said in a representation to the Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily.
The methodology
According to the Bar Council of India, the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) will have 100 multiple-choice questions spread across various subjects. The subjects are taken from the syllabi prescribed by the Bar Council of India for the three-year and five-year LL.B. programmes at law schools in India (as set out under Schedule I to the Bar Council of India Rules).
These subjects are divided into two categories: the first comprises subjects that may be considered ‘foundational’ in nature, those that form the basis for large areas of law; the second comprises other subjects, which a new entrant to the legal profession must also have a basic understanding of. Schedule I to this document contains the list of subjects that will be tested in the AIBE and the weightage ascribed to each of these areas.
The AIBE shall be structured with multiple-choice questions (that is, the correct answer will have to be marked out in the Optical Mark Recognition (‘OMR’) format answer sheet provided, and no writing of an answer will be required.)
These questions will be divided into ‘knowledge-based’ and ‘reasoning’ questions, and advocates will be allowed a maximum of 3 hours 30 minutes to complete the examination. The emphasis throughout is on assessing an advocate’s understanding of an area of law, rather than on the ability to memorise large texts or rules from different areas of law.
The examination will be ‘open-book’, which means that advocates may bring in any reading materials or study aids that they choose, such as the preparatory materials provided, textbooks and treatises, and even handwritten notes. Advocates may not bring any electronic devices such as laptop computers, mobile phones, or any device equipped with a radio transceiver (such as pagers) to the examination centre.
The results generated after the answer scripts are corrected will simply state whether an advocate has or has not qualified for practice (that is, whether the advocate has passed or failed the examination). No percentage, percentile, rankings, or absolute marks will be declared.
The rural touch that brings some romanticism to Civil Services with successful candidates springing up from remote villages and poor economic and deprived social backgrounds may be a thing of the past. Making English mandatory in the preliminary test and introduction of mathematical-based testing in the changes announced for Civil Services examinations from next year certainly strengthen the view that it is loaded in favour of urban students.
A vast majority of students in smaller towns see the changes as a big impediment to reach their goal while those hailing from urban areas argue that changes provided a level playing field. However, students who are tuned to management and technology courses will have an upper hand, feels V. Gopalakrisna of Brain Tree that trains Civil Services aspirants.
From next year there will be no optional paper which will be replaced by an aptitude test. The preliminary examination would consist of two papers – Paper-I and Paper-II with 200 marks each. The paper-II will have seven segments including Comprehension, Interpersonal skills including communication skills, · Logical reasoning and analytical ability, Decision making and problem solving, General mental ability, Basic numeracy and Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency. The 33 per cent negative marking, however, continues.
The paper-II looks certainly in favour of students who prepare for management tests and banking examinations.
In fact, coaching institutes say the syllabus has been picked up from management and banking segments. Though the testing style and content may differ but those well-versed with such tests will definitely benefit. “We can see more MBAs and engineers cracking the test now,” feels Hariprasad, a Civil Services aspirant. However, Mr. Gopalakrishna says that instead of jumping to conclusions one should wait for the model papers, which are likely to be released along with UPSC notification.
Though the syllabus prescribed is of 10{+t}{+h} class, trainers express apprehensions that UPSC may not stick to it while preparing the question paper.
They say the paper will be more dynamic with the pattern likely to change every year maintaining the surprise element on the lines of IIT-JEE.
With environment taking centre stage, General Studies paper will have environmental studies that would test candidates for their knowledge in environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change.
The changes have paved way to an argument that those memorising subject-based text material and reproducing them in the test will now find it difficult. The modifications will provide a level-playing field to all candidates as they have to answer the same set of questions. Earlier, different cut-off marks were being taken for different optional subjects.
Will the new pattern increase burden on candidates? The opinion is strongly in favour of it. As a teacher at R.C. Reddy Study Circle in Hyderabad feels candidates have to study optional subject from a new angle.
Earlier, candidates used to choose an optional subject right from preliminary and continue it till the Main exam. But now they have to prepare for English and Maths related questions separately for prelims and start afresh for the optional subject after clearing prelims.
Nearly 25,000 students from the State apply every year but only half of them end up taking the test. The number might increase now as employees and those working in the industry feel that they too have a chance with the introduction of English and mathematical-based questions. With State students known for their Maths prowess one can expect more aspirants and more successful candidates from the State in the near future.
The 2010 Asian Games (XVI Asiad) are held from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Athletes are scheduled to come from about 45 countries all over Asia to compete in the Asian sports Olympics. They had competed in standard sports like track and field, gymnastics and soccer (football) and in Asian sports like several styles of Asian martial arts. All together, athletes will compete in about 42 different sports. Besides seeing Asian athletes in action, spectators can see the opening and closing ceremonies and see one of China’s relatively prosperous megacity regions.
Guangzhou was awarded the right on July 1, 2004, as the sole bidding city. This came after the withdrawal of several cities, from Amman, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul.
Duration: November 12 to 27, 2010 Host City: Guangzhou, China Co-Host Cities: Shanwei, Dongguan and Foshan. Features:
42 different sports and athletes from 45 Asian Nations.
It is an Asian Olympics and the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics.
Like the Olympics, the Asian Games are held every four years.
History of Asian Games
Asian Games, the comprehensive sports competition in Asia, is the biggest sports games in Asia, which is held by the member of Asian Sports Federation by turns. Just like such world-wide sports games as Olympics and World Cup, it is held every four years. Far East Games, the predecessor of the Asian Games, was initiated in 1911 by Philippine Sports Association and since then it was held every two years by turns in Manila (Philippines), Shanghai (China), and Osaka (Japan). It was totally held for 10 times until 1937 when the world war broke out. In 1948, people from Asian sports circles who had taken part in Olympics gathered and suggested to resume the Far East Games in a way that it should be held every four years in a larger scale with a new name “Asian Games”. Then the Asian Games will not clash with Olympics. In March of 1951, the first Asian Games was held in India’s capital New Delhi with only 489 participants. When it came to the eighth Asian Games in 1978, the participants had increased to more than 4000. Nowadays, Asian athletes have become a force to be reckoned with in the world sports world and particularly China is undoubtedly the country with great achievements in Sports and the outstanding one among Asia countries.
During the 14th Olympics, Summer Olympics in London in July of 1948, people from sports circles in China and Philippines planned to resume Far East Games, gathering the counterparts from other Asian countries for consultation. At that time, Guru Sandy, the leading figure in India believed that Far East Games couldn’t well represent the competition level of Asian sports and the Asian people’s spirit of union, therefore, he put forward a Asian Games belonging to all the Asian countries. He visited every Asian sports delegation for London Olympics and invited the representatives from 13 countries such as South Korea, China, Philippines, etc. for a conference to establish an Asian sports organization. During it, the relative documents and regulations were drafted and the first Asian Games was agreed to be held in New Delhi in February 1949. (Because of the incident within India, the Asian Game delayed and went on in 1951.)
After the World War II, many Asian countries got rid of colonial domination, regaining independence and liberation and establishing a new regime. As the harm caused by the war faded, people lived a stable life and the sports gradually became popular. Then, the Olympic Games, interrupted for 12 years because of the war, resumed. Under such a historical condition, people in Asian sports circle hoped to set up a unified and authorized Asian sports institution, bringing the Asian sports forward.
XVI Asian Games (Asiad) in Guangzhou, China
Popular sports in China and East Asia include table tennis, soccer, badminton and martial arts. Along with these sports, there will be weightlifting, softball and rugby competitions. Basketball has become very popular among China’s children and young people due to watching American NBA games and Yao Ming.
The competitions will actually be held in four cities of the Guangzhou metropolitan region. These are Guangzhou itself, Foshan, Dongguan and Shanwei. Dongguan is a large and somewhat polluted industrial city that is one of China’s largest exporting areas. It is on the CHR bullet train between the Louhu border in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, so travel there is convenient and quick and takes only about 40 minutes.
As part of the games, there will be opening and closing festivities that can be watched at Haixinsha Island in the Pearl River. People expect a light show, a mysterious lightning show, and the usual choreographed marching and dancing, etc. The opening ceremonies are directed and organized by Chen Weiya who was the assistant director of the 2008 Summer Olympics. He said that the ceremony will “surprise the world.” The show will begin about 8pm and the”mysterious lightning” will be unveiled at 9:42.
This is the second time that China has hosted the games. The first time was in 1990 when Beijing hosted the 11th Asian Games. The Asian Games are the world’s second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games and are held every four years. Hosting the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou gives southern China a chance to showcase its new economic power and prosperity. Guangzhou is part of one of China’s major megacities. It is in Guangdong Province, which is a major electronics manufacturing area of the world. Tickets are already on sale.
Mascot and Emblem
The mascots of the Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou are five sporty goats, respectively named Xiang, He, Ru, Yi, Le Yangyang which mean harmony, blessings, success and happiness. The mascot design is based on the legend of the Five Goats in Guangzhou. Legend goes like this: in over 2000 years ago, Guangzhou was a barren countryside, and people of Guangzhou were suffering famine. One day, five immortals who took five goats which have an ear of corn in the mouth fly on Guangzhou. The immortals prayed for an end to famine, then flew into the sky as the five goats turned into fossils. Since then Guangzhou became a beautiful and affluent place. The five goats’ fossils become the sign of Guangzhou, and the 2010 Asian Games LOGO design is also based on the fossils. There is a complex historical myth and story associated with these names. But all together, these names actually form a catch phrase with a kaleidoscope of meanings and connotations including “joy” and “foreign.”
The emblem of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games was announced in 2006. In this emblem, there is the Asiad sun symbol that is the emblem of the Asiads, four tracks and the Olympic flame. There is an unofficial emblem with the biggest goat at the top and the four little goats representing the four tracks.
Participating Countries and Regions
East Asia: China, Hong Kong China, Macao China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, South Korea, Mongolia
Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor, Vietnam
South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
West Asia: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, United Arab Republic, Yemen
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Kabaddi
Karate
Modern Pentathlon
Roller Sports
Rowing
Rugby Union
Sailing
Sepak Takraw
Softball
Shooting
Squash
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Tennis
Soft Tennis
Triathlon
Volleyball
Beach Volleyball
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Wushu
Guangzhou is ready to host 2010 Asian Games
Twelve new stadia have been built. Three new subway lines have opened, and six others extended. The athletes’ village has been polished and scrubbed — the bathrooms have already been fitted with shampoo and toilet paper.
There are few signs in this sprawling southern port city of the last-minute scramble to the finish-line that dominated headlines ahead of the Commonwealth Games in India. Several of the 70 stadia that have been readied for the Games — 58 existing venues have also been renovated — have already held test events.
Guangzhou, a city that is often in the shadows of Beijing and Shanghai, is using the Asian Games to undergo an expensive image makeover, transforming an old, crowded port city into a modern business hub.
The city has spent 123 billion yuan ($18.49 billion or Rs. 82,400 crore) for the Games on widening roads, building bridges, expanding the airport and cleaning its famously polluted waterways. Much of this amount — 109 billion yuan (Rs. 73,000 crore) — went towards urban development projects, dwarfing the reported Rs. 28,248 crore New Delhi spent on the Commonwealth Games.
The most ambitious project has been upgrading the metro rail system, which has been lengthened from just one 18 km-line eight years ago to over 236 km.
Eighty per cent of the venues will be connected by new subway lines, which have already opened ahead of the November 12, 2010 inauguration.
A much-publicised clean-up campaign has also had mixed results. Roads and parks are cleaner, and the government has spent millions on new sewage treatment plants, but many are yet to open. Statistics say the air quality during the Games will be markedly improved, but largely because of the vehicle ban and a government order temporarily closing down nearby factories.
The infrastructure overhaul has also seen one of China’s oldest cities lose much of its heritage. Many of Guangzhou’s 138 urban villages — neighbourhoods of narrow alleyways and homes which date back to the 12th century — are being demolished to make way for new apartment complexes as part of the modern makeover. The project, though unrelated to the Games, has been rushed through in recent months.
China to deploy massive 1454 member delegation for Asian Games
Hosts China will be deploying its biggest ever delegation comprising 1,454 members, including 977 athletes, in 2010’s Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou.
Chinese athletes will participate in 41 sports and 447 events to retain its top position in the Asian Games beginning from November 12. The Asian Games feature 28 Olympic sports and 280 Olympic events.
Thirty five former Olympic champions including Chen Yibing, Liu Xiang, Lin Dan, Zhou Suhong, Zhu Qinan and Wang Liqin will take part in the Games besides rising stars such as Feng Zhe, Zhang Chenglong, Liu Shiwen will be part of the Chinese delegation.
Since the ninth Asian Games in 1982, China has dominated the medal rankings. At the last Asiad, in Doha four years ago, China claimed 165 gold medals, 88 silver and 63 bronze.
The Asian Games is believed to be the largest-scale sporting event in the world. Besides the 28 Olympic sports, it also involves 14 non-Olympic sports, including wushu, cricket, rugby and chess.
China all set to floor the world
The stage is set, and China is ready to set the Pearl River on fire. Even as suspense builds up as to who would light the cauldron, and how it would be done, there is no mystery as to who would dominate the 16th edition of the Asian Games that is set to spring to life on Friday.
Once it floors the rest of the world with what promises to be a breathtaking opening ceremony, China will get to the business of scooping the gold medals, and possibly end up with a record haul.
Phenomenal growth
The growth of China in the world of sports has been phenomenal. Beijing Olympics showed the Chinese in fine light as the host collected 51 gold medals to top the table ahead of the super powers, the US and Russia. Japan managed to win 13 gold, and Korea, nine.
Yet, China has already set such an imposing record in the Asian Games that it would need some doing to better its own mark.
The team had won 164 of the 426 gold medals in the last edition in Doha, which pales in comparison to the 183 of 313 gold medals that it had won in Beijing, two decades ago, when it hosted the Games for the first time.
Though Korea and Japan were reduced to clutching 58 and 50 gold medals respectively in 2006, when the Chinese women alone had accounted for 91 gold, it may not be possible for China to crush the former leaders of the region any further and unrealistically set a target of 200 gold medals from a total of 476 that would be on offer.
Launching pad
Though the organisers trumpet that ‘Citizens before gold’ as the motto of the Games, so as to use the opportunity of hosting the mega event to improve the quality of life for its citizens in the region, there is no doubt that the event would serve as the launching pad to elevate China to greater heights two years hence, in the Olympics in London.
China has a string of World and Olympic champions, with the evergreen Liu Xiang looking for a hat-trick in the 110-metre hurdles in the Asian Games.
Badminton stars Lin Dan, Chen Jin, Lu Lan, Cai Yun, Fu Haifeng, divers He Chong, Qin Kai, Luo Yutong, Huo Liang, Wu Minxia, Chen Ruolin, swimmers Wu Peng, Chen Zuo, Chen Huijia, Jiao Liuyang, gymnasts Chen Yibing, Yan Mingyong, Yang Yilin, shooters Cao Yifei, Zhu Qinan, Pang Wei, Liu Yadong, Yi Siling, Guo Wenjun, Li Xueyan, Li Rui, table tennis exponents Ma Lin, Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Guo Yue, lifters Wu Jingbiao, Lu Yong, Wang Mingjuan, Li Ping, Li Xueying, Liu Chunhong, Cao Lei, wrestlers Zhao Shasha, Zhang Lan and Li Dan will be some of the familiar Chinese names, ready to share the responsibility in the gold hunt.
The Koreans will try to beat Japan in the total number of medals as well, apart from the gold tally, after having won 193 to Japan’s 198 in the last edition.
World and Olympic champion, Tae-Hwan Park who had launched his career with gold medals in the 200, 400 and 1500-metre freestyle swimming events in the last edition (apart from 100m silver and three bronze medals in relays) on way to the ‘most valuable player’ award, would once again attempt to spearhead Korea’s assault on the gold medals, with support from the archers, judokas and lifters among others.
Japan’s challenge
Japan with a contingent of 1,078 that includes coaches and officials, will look up to the two-time double Olympic and World champion, swimmer Kosuke Kitajima, apart from two-time Olympic and eight-time World champion, wrestler Saori Yoshida.
Japan was overtaken at the top of the medals table in the 1982 edition by China, and pushed to the third spot in the following edition in Seoul.
Kazakhstan (23 gold), Thailand (13), Iran (11) and Uzbekistan (11) had all finished ahead of India (10) in Doha. The equation may not change much though Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Qatar and Singapore would attempt to overtake India.
Pakistan will try to show its prowess in cricket and hockey. In short, there will be something for most of the nations to prove, leading to a lively fortnight.
After having given a glimpse of its growing economy with the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo earlier this year, spending about $90 billion in all, China would take the opportunity to improve its stature, a shade better than the 610-metre tall Canton Tower.
Anti-doping measures
With 1,500 urine and blood tests planned as part of the anti-doping measures, 300 more than Doha, it could lead to the proclamation of another ‘clean Games’, expected to feature 9,704 athletes.
Little drops of water make the mighty ocean. China will start its campaign with a little drop of water, at the opening ceremony, and possibly wind up with a pot of gold at the end of the Games. China is bound to win the heart of the world in the bargain, yet again!
609 Athletes to represent India in Asiad
Indian Olympic Association said that as many as 609 athletes, including 249 women, will represent the country in 35 different disciplines in the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China, from November 12 to 28.
It will be India’s largest ever contingent to take part in the Games.
“We are delighted with the progress made by Indians in a number of Olympic sport in the past few years and are confident that our athletes will do well in the Asian Games as well to sustain the national sports fans’ interest,” said IOA president Suresh Kalmadi.
“Our contingent will draw confidence from India’s wonderful showing in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games where our athletes won a record 101 medals including 38 gold.
They are aware of the different challenges presented in the Asian Games and are geared up to deliver their best efforts,” he said.
The Indian contingent will include 127 coaches, 44 managers, eight doctors, seven physiotherapists, six masseurs, nine technical officials, 12 contingent officials, six government observers (athletics, cycling, kabaddi, rowing, shooting and wrestling), five nominees of the Sports Authority of India and 10 other officials.
In the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, India sent 432 athletes to compete in 31 disciplines and finished with a total of 53 medals including 10 gold, 17 silver and 26 bronze.
Scintillating start to Asian Games – 12.11.2010
China painted a memorable canvas on the sky, as lithe girls danced on water and strong men jumped around high in the air, in front of four huge sail-boat screens that towered above the arena to mark the opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games Guangzhou, China on 12.11.2010. The city was lit up beautifully — the Canton tower stood majestically on one side and the skyscrapers with colourful lighting formations provided a brilliant backdrop.
From an arena on the Pearl River that had speed boats whizzing past, spraying water all around and fountains rising into the sky, the stage turned into a platform. White horses galloped across it and eventually it turned into the stage for the athletes to march. And then the cauldron emerged. Gagan Narang carried the flag for India and the contingent was almost in strength to imbibe the energy of the electrifying atmosphere.
Novelty
In another novelty, the cauldron was lighted like a firecracker by Olympic diving champion He Chong. A flower pot threw sparks so high that it lit the cauldron that was 26-metres high. And then it was time for massive fireworks. The 600-metre tall Canton tower, the tallest TV tower in the world, had fireworks from the top to bottom.
The president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah aptly said, “we are proud of the opening ceremony.” It was a ceremony that surpassed everything that has been performed in all the Olympics including the Beijing Games. In taking the opening ceremony away from the limitations of a stadium, Guangzhou turned the whole area into an amphitheatre. It was art and craft at its best.
With 45 floats, depicting 45 Asian countries and regions in a fabulous spectacle on the river, it was time to set sail on the wings of imagination. A boy floated from the sky on a leaf, and poured water from a bottle, and that stretched into the venue.
Then it was time to set the Pearl River on fire at the Haixinsha island. The Chinese did it in great style, in a spell binding programme that did not lose momentum through two-and-a-half hours.
Beautifully painted
It was tough for the 100 television cameras to capture the huge mosaic that was so beautifully painted. Words fail, and one is not ashamed of it, for it was a spectacle that was beyond imagination, let alone description.
The Chinese told the story of the Maritime Silk Road, and a dozen others, with dance and energy. Their energy showed why they win so many gold medals at the Olympics or Asian Games. The dance of the red Kapok petals threw up a charming Canton girl who danced with water. That was followed by 180 girls in light-emitting skirts.
The ship from the ocean made a round in front of the audience with sailors at their robust best, and the fisherwomen bidding them adieu, providing a captivating picture. It set out on a voyage, carrying the red lanterns along with hope. Mermaids then lit up the water with their antics, and eight motorboats swept across the water, enacting difficult stunts to wow the audience into silence.
Another high
Another high point was when 180 performers presented a four-dimensional show on the huge sail-shaped screens, with 1320 operators on the ground moving them into various patterns by pulling the strings. The sight of the gymnast on roman rings, rising from the water and jumping from a height was indeed stunning.
The Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, declared the Games open. Badminton star Fu Haifeng took the oath of honour on behalf of the athletes while gymnastics referee Yan Ninan took the oath on behalf of the referees.
2006 Asian Games Top Ten Medals Winners
Country (Team) Position Number of Medals Gold Silver Bronze
China 1 316 166 87 63
South Korea 2 193 58 53 82
Japan 3 198 50 71 77
Kazakhstan 4 85 23 20 42
Thailand 5 54 13 15 26
Iran 6 48 11 15 22
Uzbekistan 7 40 11 14 15
India 8 53 10 17 26
Qatar 9 32 9 12 11
Chinese Taipei 10 46 9 10 27
A commendable effort by the Indian contingent
It was a commendable effort by the strong Indian contingent of 626 athletes to come up with a decent performance of 64 medals including 14 gold, to be ranked sixth in the Asian Games.
It may be unfair to compare the fare with the rich show in the Commonwealth Games last month when India won 101 medals including 38 gold, to finish second behind Australia.
It is a good sign that India’s performance did not slump after such a high, as it had more athletes who could rise to the occasion and deliver the results when the heroes struggled to find another peak so soon.
Somdev Devvarman was a glorious exception as he followed the Commonwealth Games individual tennis gold, with the singles and doubles gold medals in the Asian Games. He also became the only Indian athlete to win two gold medals along with A.C. Ashwini who won everyone’s heart with the 400m hurdles gold, apart from her role in the relay triumph.
In fact, the biggest Indian athletics squad also acquitted itself honourably with five gold, two silver and four bronze medals. Preeja Sreedharan, Sudha Singh and Joseph Abraham made the athletics buffs happy though many would not have been able to digest the fact that Tintu Luka only won the bronze.
Back to tennis, Sania Mirza played her part well despite ill health, as she and Vishnu Vardhan made the the mixed doubles final apart from playing her firebrand game in singles till she bowed out in the semifinals to take the bronze.
Pankaj Advani was one of the rare athletes to defend his gold medal won in billiards in Doha in 2006. In fact, he opened the gold count for India.
The hero of Indian sport for the last two years, the charming Vijender Singh, the World and Olympic medallist, helped India finish on a high by beating the two-time World champion Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan. It was a breakthrough gold for him, after the bronze in Doha.
With Vijender’s admirer, the 18-year-old Vikas Krishan making another breakthrough with gold the previous day, 12 years after the last gold medal in boxing in Asiad by Dingko Singh for India, the future of the sport looked bright.
The 13 boxers returned with nine medals, though it was a disappointment that the five-time World champion Mary Kom had to settle for bronze.
The shooters, at the end of a long season, were unable to gather the energy for a final thrust.
Yet, Ronjan Sodhi was brilliant in silencing the Chinese in their backyard with a stupendous fare in double trap when he won by a four-point margin, after making the final four points behind the leader.
Obviously, a collection of one gold, three silver and four bronze medals was no reflection of the true strength of Indian shooting which has been shining consistently on the big stage.
Bajrang Lal Takhar was another classic case of four years of hard work paying dividends as he graduated from the silver in Doha to a memorable gold. The rowers won three other silver medals and a bronze.
Kabaddi continued to be the foundation for Indian performance, as it delivered a double gold, though the women’s team was given a scare by Iran in the semifinals.
In 1990, India had won a solitary gold medal through kabaddi, in the Asian Games in Beijing.
Virdhawal Khade won the first swimming medal since 1986, after missing another by 0.03 seconds. Ashish Kumar continued to excel in gymnastics though it was a bronze medal in the floor exercise.
Tarundeep Rai winning the individual silver was another breakthrough effort in archery, in which the Indian teams were stopped by the mighty Korea and had to settle for bronze.
Golf and sailing provided precious silver medals, but other sports, to name a few, such as badminton, basketball, table tennis, volleyball and weightlifting drew a blank.
It was disappointment for Indian hockey fans after winning just the bronze medal, but the team was vibrant in defeat and could develop into a strong unit.
The women’s team needs to focus on the game and train harder. World No.3 Saina Nehwal’s early exit in badminton was a blow, and it showed that she still had to put her game together so as to be able to tackle different situations and varied opponents.
Overall, it was a healthy improvement from the 53 medals won in the last edition, and it was the best collection for India, beating the 57 won in Delhi in 1982, when the team had won 13 gold medals. India had won 15 gold medals in 1951 in the inaugural edition that featured 489 athletes from 11 nations.
The Chinese won 199 gold medals in a total of 416 with a contingent of 960. India had many disciplines that were just making the numbers, as it fielded athletes in 37 disciplines but won medals in only 18 of them.
Wushu and roller sports also made the right impact with medals. But, the wrestlers managed only three bronze medals in the absence of world champion Sushil Kumar. Squash was as good as wrestling with three bronze medals. In Indian sports, the problem is not with the numbers but the lack of quality preparation.
Asian Games 2010 Medal Tally and Status (Nations Wise) – Final Day (27.11.2010)
Ranking
Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
1
China
199
119
98
416
2
Korea
76
65
91
232
3
Japan
48
74
94
216
4
Iran
20
14
25
59
5
Kazakhstan
18
23
38
79
6
India
14
17
33
64
7
Chinese Taipei
13
16
38
67
8
Uzbekistan
11
22
23
56
9
Thailand
11
9
32
52
10
Malaysia
9
18
14
41
11
Hong Kong, China
8
15
17
40
12
DPR Korea
6
10
20
36
13
Saudi Arabia
5
3
5
13
14
Bahrain
5
0
4
9
15
Indonesia
4
9
13
26
16
Singapore
4
7
6
17
17
Athletes from Kuwait
4
6
1
11
18
Qatar
4
5
7
16
19
Philippines
3
4
9
16
20
Pakistan
3
2
3
8
21
Mongolia
2
5
9
16
22
Myanmar
2
5
3
10
23
Jordan
2
2
2
6
24
Viet Nam
1
17
15
33
25
Kyrgyzstan
1
2
2
5
26
Macao, China
1
1
4
6
27
Bangladesh
1
1
1
3
28
Tajikistan
1
0
3
4
29
Syria
1
0
1
2
30
United Arab Emirates
0
4
1
5
31
Afghanistan
0
2
1
3
32
Iraq
0
1
2
3
33
Lebanon
0
1
2
3
34
Lao PDR
0
0
2
2
35
Nepal
0
0
1
1
Oman
0
0
1
1
Total
477
479
621
1577
Medals won by India in Asian Games, 2010 Gold Medals
1. Billiard Sports ADVANI Pankaj – Men’s English Billiards Singles Gold medal
2. Rowing TAKHAR Bajrang Lal – Men’s Single Sculls Gold medal
3. Athletics SINGH Sudha – Women’s 3000m Steeplechase Gold medal
4. Athletics SREEDHARAN Preeja – Women’s 10,000m Gold medal
5. Tennis Somdev Devvarman / SINGH – Men’s Doubles Gold Medal
6. Shooting SODHI Ronjan – Men’s Double Trap Gold medal
7. Somdev Devvarman won Gold medal in Tennis Men’s Singles for India
8. Ashwini Chidananda won Gold medal in women’s 400m hurdles event
9. Joseph Abraham won Gold medal in men’s 400m hurdles event
10. Krishan Vikas won Gold medal in Men’s 60kg Boxing
11. India Kabaddi India won the Men’s Gold medal
12. India Kabaddi India won the Women’s Gold medal
13. India Athletics India won the Women’s 4 x 400m Relay Gold medal
14. Vijender Singh Men’s 75kg Boxing Gold medal
Silver Medals
1. Billiard Sports India Men’s Snooker Team Silver medal
2. Shooting Shooting Gagan Narang Silver medal
3. Shooting Women’s 10m Air Pistol Team Silver medal
4. Shooting Men’s 10m Air Rifle Team Silver medal
5. India achieved Silver medal in the Rowing Men’s Four
6. India achieved Silver medal in the Rowing Lightweight Men’s Four
7. India Sandhyarani Wangkhem achieved Silver medal in the Wushu Women’s Sanshou 60kg
8. Golf – Men’s Team – Silver Medal
9. Indian Team won Silver medal in Rowing Men’s Eight
10. Sailing – Open Match Racing – Silver Medal
11. Kavita Raut – Athletics Women’s 10,000m – Silver Medal
12. Tennis Sania Mirza / VARDHAN Mixed Doubles Silver Medal
13. Tarundeep Rai won Silver medal in Archery Men’s Individual
14. Dinesh Kumar won Silver medal in Men’s 81kg Boxing
15. India Boxing VIROTHU Santhosh Kumar won the Men’s 64kg Silver medal
16. India Athletics SREEDHARAN Preeja won the Women’s 5000m Silver medal
17. India Boxing SINGH Manpreet won the Men’s 91kg Silver medal
Bronze Medals
1. Shooting KUMAR Vijay Men’s 10m Air Pistol Bronze medal
2. Billiard Sports KUMAR Alok Men’s 8-Ball Pool Singles Bronze medal
3. Artistic Gymnastics Ashish Kumar Men’s Floor event Bronze medal
4. Chess Dronavalli Harika Women’s Individual Bronze medal
5. Swimming Virdhawal Vikram Men’s 50m Butterfly event Bronze medal
6. Wushu Men’s Sanshou 60kg event Bimoljit Singh Mayanglambam Bronze medal
7. India KUMAR Vijay achieved Bronze medal in the Shooting Men’s 25m Center Fire Pistol
8. India KHADE Virdhawal Vk achieved Bronze medal in the Swimming Men’s 50m Butterfly
9. India Bimoljit Singh Mayanglambam achieved Bronze medal in the Wushu Men’s Sanshou 60kg
10. Billiard Sports – Aditya Snehal Mehta – Men’s Snooker Singles – Bronze Medal
11. Rowing Women’s Pair – Pratima Puhana , Pramila Prava Minz won Bronze medal
12. Shooting Men’s Trap Team – Bronze medal
13. Shooting Men’s Double Trap Team – Bronze medal
14. Squash Saurav Ghosal – Men’s Individual
15. Sania Mirza won Bronze Medal in Tennis Women’s Singles
16. Ravinder Singh won Bronze Medal in Wrestling Men’s Greco-Roman 60 kg
17. Sunilkumar Rana won Bronze Medal in Wrestling Men’s Greco-Roman 66 kg
18. Krishna Poonia won Bronze in Athletics Women’s Discus Throw
19. Pramila Ganapathy Gudandda won Bronze in Athletics Women’s Heptathlon
20. In Boxing Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte Women’s 48-51kg won the Bronze medal
21. In Boxing Suranjoy Singh Mayengbam Men’s 52kg Bronze medal
22. In Boxing Kavita Goyat Women’s 69-75kg Bronze medal
23. In Boxing Paramjeet Samota Men’s +91kg Bronze medal
24. In Squash Men’s Team won Bronze medal
25. In Squash Women’s Team won Bronze medal
26. In Women’s 800m event of Track and Field Tintu Luka won Bronze medal
27. Mausam Khatri won Bronze medal in Wrestling Men’s Freestyle 96 kg
28. India won Bronze medal in Men’s Hockey match
29. India Roller Sports PANCHAL Avani Bhar.. won the Pairs Skating Bronze medal
30. India Athletics RAUT Kavita won the Women’s 5000m Bronze medal
31. India Boxing GOYAT Kavita won the Women’s 69-75kg Bronze medal
32. India Chess India won the Men’s Team Bronze medal
33. India Roller Sports YAMA Anup Kumar won the Men’s Single Free Skating Bronze medal
The 20th Commonwealth Games in 2014 will be held in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The winning city was announced by the Commonwealth Games Federation on 9th November 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 will take place for 11 days commencing from 24th of July to 3rd August 2014. It is expected to be the largest ever sport event that took place in Scotland, although the country previously hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986 in Edinburgh. Over the last 10 years however Glasgow and Scotland have also staged World, Commonwealth, European or British events in all 17 sports proposed for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, including the World Badminton Championships in 1997.
Handover Ceremony Cast members fly to Delhi
Cast members from all over Scotland have travelled to Glasgow and Edinburgh airports to make the next leg of their journey to Delhi, as they prepare to perform in the JLN Stadium when Glasgow officially becomes the next Host City of the Commonwealth Games.
The 352 cast members will be spending the short period of time they are in Delhi making their final preparations before making their way to the Stadium. The cast come from all walks of life, represent many ages and many have little or no performance experience. For many it is the first time they have travelled outside of Europe.
The creative performance will showcase the best of Scotland’s heritage and history, and will bring to life the Glasgow 2014 brand and give a flavour of the Games that will be staged in four years time.
John Scott, Chief Executive of Glasgow 2014 said:
“The 352-strong cast has travelled from all over Scotland to proudly represent their country at the Flag Handover Ceremony of the Delhi 2010 Handover Ceremony on Thursday. Each volunteer has spent months preparing for what will truly be a once in a lifetime experience and I can’t wait to see all the hard work in action on the field of play.”
Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council and the Executive Member for the Commonwealth Games, Councillor Archie Graham said that it wouldbe a very special Handover Ceremony, and that it has been fantastic to see the excitement amongst the cast in the build up to their departures. When they embarked on this journey they wanted to not only create a performance that would show Scotland and Glasgow’s proud cultural heritage but also one that would create a real and lasting legacy. He feels that Glasgow and the whole of Scotland can be very proud of those taking part.
Centrepiece to the Delhi Flag Handover Ceremony
Glasgow 2014 has revealed the centrepiece to the performance – a 17m high and 30.5m long inflatable replica of the Clyde Auditorium, affectionately known as the “armadillo”.
The replica “Armadillo” is made out of 4,500 square metres of high tenacity nylon fabric and will be inflated and managed by 16 cast members using powerful backpack “leaf blowers” with ultra high air throughput. Three of those cast members’ usual job is working for Glasgow City Council to clear the city’s parks of leaves.
The inflatable was designed using the building’s architectural drawings and then modelled in 3D where it underwent rigorous testing for wind resilience.
Glasgow 2014 Chief Executive John Scott said:
“With only a matter of weeks to go, it’s great that rehearsals have kicked off on such a high note. The Armadillo is a famous and highly recognisable landmark that will be centre stage in Delhi on 14th October, and I think that it will make many Glaswegians feel very, very proud to see their city being represented by genuine, down to earth Scots in front of the entire Commonwealth.”
Archie Graham said that this is a fantastic opportunity for people from Glasgow to be part of this once in a lifetime event on a world stage.
Three Glasgow City Council, Land and Environmental Services Gardeners and Horticulturists who will be inflating the giant prop with the equipment they would normally use for blowing leaves off Glasgow City Council park paths throughout the winter had this to say about their part in the Delhi Flag Handover Ceremony.
The 346 cast members and two hero pipers will be put through their paces during three intensive weeks of rehearsals and inductions at Bootcamp, which will take place in three secret locations across Glasgow.
Why Glasgow was selected
The first country that was considered for hosting the 2014 CWG was Scotland. The bidding which began in March 2006, for the selection procedure, finally ended on November 9, 2007 with Glasgow being announced as the hosting place for the Commonwealth Games 2014. Glasgow won the race and was selected by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at a meeting in Sri Lanka to host the games. Glasgow won to Abuja with each receiving 47 and 24 votes respectively.
Glasgow won over as the Scottish candidate city over Edinburgh (which hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986, and the inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in 2000) after a cost-benefit analysis was conducted by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland.
The bidding process began in March 2006 with the Glasgow Bid team presenting their case, along with the other confirmed candidate cities; the Nigerian capital, Abuja and Halifax (which later withdrew its bid on 8 March 2007, following the withdrawal of funding from the municipal government) in Canada. In October 2006, the first voting delegates arrived in Glasgow, in order to inspect the city’s existing and proposed amenities and facilities. Glasgow announced on 16 January 2007, the 17 sports to be included should its bid be successful..
With Abuja and Glasgow as the remaining bidders, Abuja was seen as a likely favourite due the basis of its campaign that an African nation has never before hosted the Commonwealth Games. Both bids were highly recommended, though Glasgow’s bid team had made use of extensive benchmarking against the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and as a result, its bid was deemed technically superior according to the CGF Evaluation Report that was released in September 2007.
The final decision on the host city of the 2014 Commonwealth Games was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 9 November 2007. Each bid city made a presentation to the General Assembly, the order of which was determined by drawing lots. The CGF members subsequently voted for their preferred candidate in a secret ballot. As there were only two bids, the winner was announced by the CGF President, Mike Fennell, after the first round of voting, with the winner only requiring a simple majority.
Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 Venues
Glasco’s victory also pertains to the fact that city already has 70 percent of the planned venues in place. The vast majority of venues are located within 20-minutes driving time of the Athletes Village in Dalmornock and are broadly grouped into three clusters; in the East End, South Side and West End districts of the city. The only sports held outside the Greater Glasgow area will be the Diving and Full-Bore Shooting events
Main Stadia
Hampden Park, Scotland’s National Football Stadium for Athletics, Closing Ceremony,
Celtic Park for the Opening Ceremony
East End Cluster
New National Indoor Sports Arena and the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome Complex is for Parkhead, Badminton and Track cycling
Glasgow Green for Road cycling, Field hockey, Cycling Time-trial events,
The Athletes’ Village will be situated adjoining the National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome in Dalmarnock. Spreading over 35 hectares the village will house 2,500 residential units and 6,000 officials and athletes.
Tollcross Park Aquatics Centre for Race swimming events
Strathclyde Country Park for Triathlon event
West End Cluster
The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre for Wrestling and Judo
The Clyde Auditorium for Weightlifting
New Scottish National Arena for the Gymnastics and Netball events
Kelvingrove Park for Bowls
Kelvin Hall for Boxing tournament
Scotstoun Sports Centre for Table tennis and Squash
South Side Cluster
Ibrox Stadium for the Rugby Sevens tournament
Hampden Park for the Marathon
Cathkin Braes for Mountain biking
Satellite Venues
Royal Commonwealth Pool for Diving
The Shooting competitions will be held at 2 different outdoor venues namely the Strathclyde Police ranges at Jackton and Clay Target Ranges at Barry Buddon.
Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 Venues Sports
Total of seventeen sports events have been planned for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014:
Aquatics
Swimming
Diving
Badminton
Boxing
Athletics
Cycling
Road
Track
Mountain
Gymnastics
Artistic
Rhythmic
Field hockey
Judo
Netball
Lawn Bowls
Rugby sevens
Squash
Table Tennis
Shooting (Small Bore Rifle, Full Bore Rifle, Pistol and Clay Target)
Weightlifting
Triathlon
Wrestling
Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014- Logo
The logo of the 2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow depicts 2 Sprinters inter-woven to a tartan motif which represents Scotland. The official logo for the Commonwealth games 2014 Glasgow was revealed on March 8th, Commonwealth Day.
19th October 2010
Council Leader Gordon Matheson hoisted the flag just hours after returning to the city from Delhi. It was presented to the city at the closing ceremony of the 2010 Games marking the official handover to Glasgow which will host the sporting event in 2014.
It travelled back to the city with Mr. Matheson and Lord Provost Bob Winter who had accepted it from India in front of a television audience of around one billion people.
The flag will spend some time at the top of the flagpole on the council HQ on George Square before being taken round a number of city schools.
Mr. Matheson said: “What a proud and happy day as the Commonwealth Games flag flies high above Glasgow City Chambers.
“A billion people around the world saw the flag being handed over to Glasgow and now we have brought it back to our great city.
“We staged a spectacle at the handover ceremony which demonstrated for the whole world that Glasgow and Scotland can put on a show and anyone who watched it on television would have seen that for themselves.
“We have always said we wanted Glasgow 2014 to be the best Common-wealth Games ever.
“Now that the Games belong to Glasgow we can get on with the work of making sure that happens.”
Mr. Matheson added: “We will be taking the flag around some of our schools to encourage young people to share in the enthusiasm that exists in the city around the Games.
“The flag is a tangible sign that the Games is on its way and what better way to get our school children involved than to take it to them.
“It us also a possibility that the Delhi ambassadors, who were chosen from our schools to visit India during the Commonwealth Games, can take part and talk about their experiences.”
The council leader said it is now time for the city to face up to the challenges which face it in the four year run up to the Glasgow Games.
He said: “Our focus has now switched to the hard work ahead in the run-up to 2014.
“Together with the organising committee, the city council is absolutely determined to deliver outstanding games in less than four years time that will be of lasting economic and social benefit to Glasgow.”
New Syllabus and Content for Civil Services Preliminary Examination, 2011
The Union Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Ministry has on 18.10.2010 announced changes in the pattern of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2011.
A statement issued on 18.10.2010 said the UPSC Preliminary Examination 2011 examination will consist of two papers. Paper I and II are each worth 200 marks and have been allotted two hours each.
No. 13018/4/2008 – AIS – I
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training
Dated: 18.10.2010
Paper I - 200 marks, Duration Two Hrs – candidates will be tested on their knowledge of:-
a. Current events of national and international importance
b. Indian history and Indian national movement
c. Indian and world geography, including the physical, social and economic geography of India and the world.
d. Indian polity and governance – Constitution, the political system, panchayati raj, public policy and Rights Issue etc
e. Economic and social development, sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics and social sector initiatives etc and
f. General Issues on Environmental Ecology, bio-diversity and Climate Change- that do not require subject specialization
g. General Science
Paper II –200 marks –Duration Two Hrs- will consist of:-
a. Comprehension
b. Interpersonal skills including communication skills
c. Logical reasoning and Analytical ability
d. Decision making and problem solving
e. General Mental Ability
f. Basic Numeracy (numbers and their relation, orders of magnitude etc (Class X level), Data Interpretation (Charts, Graphs, Tables, Data sufficiency etc – Class X level)
Though ancient Indians were known to have knowledge about rocket science- it being used in during wars- it was only after independence that the process of exploring space really accelerated. India’s experience in rocketry began in ancient times when fireworks were first used in the country, a technology invented in neighbouring China, and which had an extensive two-way exchange of ideas and goods with India, connected by the Silk Road.
Military use of rockets by Tipu Sultan during the Mysore War against the British stimulated William Congreve to invent the Congreve rocket, predecessor of modern artillery rockets, in 1804. After India gained independence from British occupation in 1947, Indian scientists and politicians recognized the potential of rocket technology in both defence applications, and for research and development. Recognizing that a country as demographically large as India would require its own independent space capabilities and recognising the early potential of satellites in the fields of remote sensing and communication, these visionaries set about establishing a space research organisation.
Our first biggest success was on April 19, 1975, when India launched its first satellite into space. It was launched by the Soviet Union from Kapustin Yar using a Cosmos-3M launch vehicle. The ‘Aryabhata’ was named after a 5th century Indian mathematician, who founded concepts of the numerical value zero and many astronomical calculations in around 500 AD.
After that India has sent a number of satellites into space, notably the Apple (1981), Bhaskara –I (1979) and Bhaskara –II (1981), INSAT-1 series (1A, -1B, -1C and -1D), INSAT-2 series (2A, -2B, -2C and -2D), IRS-Series (1A, -IB, -1E, -P2, -1C, -P3, -1D), Rohini (1A, 1B, 2 and 3) and Sross.
Also, India has developed various Launch vehicles that make a space programme independent and are the most important technological measure of its advancement. Prominent among them are Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV), Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
1960-1970:
Dr. Vikram Sarabhai was the founding father of the Indian space program, and is considered a scientific visionary by many, as well as a national hero. Once Sputnik was launched in 1957 he recognized the potential that satellites provided. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who saw scientific development as an essential part of India’s future, placed space research under the jurisdiction of the Department of Atomic Energy in 1961. The DAE director Homi Bhabha, who was father of India’s atomic programme, then established the Indian National Committee for Sapce Research (INCOSPAR) with Dr. Sarabhai as Chairman in 1962.
The Indian Rohini programme continued to launch sounding rockets of greater size and complexity, and the space programme was expanded and eventually given its own government department, separate from the Department of Atomic Energy. On August 15th 1969 the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was created from the INCOSPAR programme under the DAE, continued under the Space Commission and finally the Department of Space, created in June of 1972.
1970-1980:
The sixties had witnessed Sarabhai taking part in an early study with NASA regarding the feasibility of using satellites for applications as wide as direct television broadcasting, and this study had found that it was the most economical way of transmitting such broadcasts. Having recognized the benefits that the satellites could bring to India from the very start, Sarabhai and the ISRO set about designing and creating an independent launch vehicle, capable of launching into orbit, and providing the valuable experience needed for the construction of larger launch vehicles in future. The ISRO recognized the advanced capability India had in building solid motors with the Rohini series, and also that other nations had favoured solid rockets for similar projects, and set about building the technology and infrastructure for the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV). Inspired by the American Scout rocket, the vehicle would be a four-stage all-solid vehicle.
Aryabhatta – India’s first Satellite
Meanwhile, India began developing satellite technology anticipating the remote sensing and communication needs of the future. India concentrated more on practical missions, directly beneficial to people instead of manned space programs or robotic space explorations. The Aryabhata satellite, launched in 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Soviet Cosmos-3M launch vehicle, was India’s first satellite.
SLV – India’s first Satellite Launch Vehicle
By 1979 the SLV was ready to be launched from a newly-established second launch site, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC). The first launch in 1979 was a failure, attributed to a control failure in the second stage. By 1980 this problem had been worked out. The first indigenous satellite launched by India was called Rohini-1.
After successfully testing the first indigenous launch vehicle SLV-3 in 1980, ISRO built the next generation Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV). ISRO’s Launch Vehicle Programme had a giant leap with the successful launch of IRS-P2 spacecraft onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in October 1994. On 18 April 2001, India successfully launched is Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Technology development for advanced launch vehicles made good progress with the breakthrough achieved during the year in Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (SCRAMJET) to be employed in Air-Breathing engine. This is an important element in the launch vehicle technology development. Concepts for reusable launch vehicle are also being studied.
1980-1990:
Following the success of the SLV, ISRO was keen to begin construction of a satellite launch vehicle that would be able to put truly useful satellites into polar orbits. Design of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was soon underway. This vehicle would be designed as India’s workhorse launch system, taking advantage of both old technology with large reliable solid-stages, and new liquid engines. At the same time, it was decided by the ISRO management that it would be prudent to develop a smaller rocket, based on the SLV, that would serve as a testbed for many of the new technologies that would be used on the PSLV. The Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) would test technologies like strap-on boosters and new guidance systems, so that experience could be gained before the PSLV went into full production.
Eventually, the ASLV was flight tested in 1987, but this launch was a failure. After minor corrections, another launch was attempted in 1988, this launch again failed, and this time a full investigation was launched into the cause, providing valuable experience, specifically because the ASLV’s failure had been one of control – the vehicle could not be adequately controlled on removal of the stabilizing fins that were present on the SLV, so extra measures like improved maneuvering thrusters and flight control system upgrades were added. The ASLV development had also proven useful in the development of strap-on motor technology.
Indian National Satellite System
The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia-Pacific region. In the 1980s, it initiated a major revolution in India’s communications sector and sustained the same later. The satellites of INSAT system, which are in service today, are INSAT-2F, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, KALPANA-1, GSAT-2, EDUSAT and INSAT-4A, that was launched recently. The system provides a total of about 175 transponders in the C, Extended C and Ku-bands. Being a multipurpose satellite system, INSAT provides services to telecommunications, television broadcasting, weather forecasting, disaster warning and Search and Rescue fields.
INSAT system is also providing meteorological services through Very High Resolution Radiometer and CCD cameras on some of its spacecraft. This apart, cyclone monitoring through meteorological imaging and issue of warnings on impending cyclones through disaster warning receivers have been operationalised. For this, 350 receivers have been installed along the east and west coasts of India.
Indian Remote Sending Satellite System
India has the largest constellation of Remote Sensing Satellites, which are providing services both at the national and global levels. From the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) Satellites, data is available in a variety of spatial resolutions staring from 360 metres and highest resolution being 2.5 metres. Besides, the state-of-the-art cameras of IRS spacecraft take the pictures of the Earth in several spectral bands. In future, ISRO intends to launch IRS spacecraft with better spatial resolution and capable of imaging day and night. The satellites of IRS system which are in service today are IRS-1C, IRS- ID, IRS-P3, OCEANSAT-1, Technology Experimental Satellite (TES), RESOURCESAT-1, and the recently launched CARTOSAT-1 capable of taking stereo pictures. The upcoming Remote Sensing Satellite are Cartosat-2, RISAT (Redar Imaging Satellite) and Oceansat-2.
1990-2000:
It was not until 1992 that the first successful launch of the ASLV took place. At this point the launch vehicle, which could only put very small payloads into orbit, had achieved its objective. In 1993 the time had come for the maiden flight of the PSLV. The first launch was a failure. The first successful launch took place in 1994, and since then, the PSLV has become the workhorse launch vehicle – placing both remote sensing and communications satellites into orbit, creating the largest cluster in the world, and providing unique data to Indian industry and agriculture. Continual performance upgrades have increased the payload capacity of the rocket significantly since then.
Under pressure, Glavkosmos halted the transfer of the associated manufacturing and design technology to India. Until then, ISRO had not been affected by technology transfer restrictions thanks to the political foresight of Sarabhai in indigenizing technology. However, elements of the ISRO management cancelled indigenous cryogenic projects in anticipation of the Russian deal. Instead of canceling the deal, Russia agreed to provide fully built engines instead, and India began developing an indigenous cryogenic engine to replace them, in the GSLV-II. There is still some controversy over the issue of the cryogenic engine acquisition, with many pointing to the decision to cancel indigenous projects as being a grave mistake – India would have likely had a fully indigenous engine operating by the time the GSLV launched if indigenous development had started from day one. Despite this one uncharacteristic slip in an otherwise extremely successful programme, and the loss of potential payload capacity over the decade that occurred as a result, ISRO pressed on.
2000-2010
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
The four stages PSLV is capable of launching upto 1,600 kg satellites into a 620 km polar orbit. It has provision to launch payloads from 100 kg micro-satellites or mini or small satellites in different combinations. It can also launch one-two class payloads into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). So far, it has performed nine missions with eight consecutive successes. The latest launch of PSLV (PSLV-C6) was on 5 May 2005 during which the vehicle precisely placed the 1560 kg CARTOSAT-1 and the 42 kg HAMSAT into a 620 km high polar SSO.
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
The GSLV was successful on its very first test flight. After its successful second flight on 8 May 2003, it was commissioned. This was followed by the success of its third flight on 20 September 2004. The GSLV is capable of launching 2,000 kg class satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The development of Indigenous cryogenic stage to be used as the third stage of GSLV made further progress during the year. The cryogenic engine which forms part of this stage, has already been successfully qualified. GSLV-Mk III, a new version of GSLV and capable of launching spacecraft weighing upto 4 tonnes to GTO is under development.
Infrastructure
An elaborate launch infrastructure exists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota Island on the East Coast of India which is about 100 km from Chennai. Sriharikota is located at 13$dG North latitude. From here, satellites can be launched into a variety of orbital inclinations starting from 18$dG and extending upto 99$dG. Full-fledged facilities for satellite integration, assembly and launch exist there. Sriharikota also houses a Telemetry, Tracking and Command network for tracking satellites and monitoring them. The newly built Second Launch Pad at SDSE SHAR as a redundancy to the existing launch pad, and to cater to the requirement of GSLV-Mk III as well as other future launch vehicles, was commissioned on 5 May 2005 with the successful launch of PSLV-C6.
Currently the most powerful Indian launch vehicle in operation; the first development flight of the GSLV took place in 2001. The program’s benefits have been scrutinized due to frequent payload cutbacks and delays. The indigenous cryogenic engine for the GSLV’s upper stage was tested in 2007. ISRO has reconsidered the effectiveness of the GSLV for the needs of the 2000-2010 decade and began development of an indigenous and new heavy launch vehicle, GSLV III. The latter is not related to the GSLV-I/II and will be based around the proven format of liquid main stages and two solid strap-on boosters. It will resemble the Ariane 5 and other modern launchers and will have sufficient payload capacity for manned spaceflight. The inaugural flight is scheduled for 2008.
Chandrayaan 2008: ISRO intends to send a small robotic spacecraft into lunar orbit mounted on a modified PSLV. It will survey the surface of the moon in greater detail than ever before and attempt to locate resources. Countries, including the US have expressed interest in attaching their own payloads to the mission. ISRO and NASA have an agreement to carry two NASA probes as a payload.
AVATAR Scramjet: This is a long-term project to develop a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) restricted to the launch of satellites. Theoretically, AVATAR would be a cost effective launch vehicle for small satellites and therefore a commercially competitive launch system. A scaled-down technology demonstrator is scheduled to fly c.2008. Recently ISRO successfully tested a scramjet air breathing engine which produced Mach 6 for seven seconds. ISRO will continue research related to using scramjets in RLVs after 2010.
ISRO has entered the lucrative market of launching payloads of other nations. Prominent among them are the launches of Israel Space Agency’s, TecSAR spy satellite, and Israeli Tauvex-II satellite module. The CARTOSAT-2, launched on the July 2006, carried a small Indonesian payload of 56 kg.
Leveraging its expertise in cryogenic technology to design Hydrogen fuel cells to store and handling of hydrogen; ISRO teamed up with Tata motors to develop a prototype hydrogen passenger car for Indian market, expected to hit road by end of 2008.
On November 15, 2007 ISRO achieved a significant milestone through the successful test of indigenously developed Cryogenic Stage, to be employed as the upper stage of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The test was conducted for its full flight duration of 720 seconds on November 15, 2007 at Liquid Propulsion test facility at Mahendragiri, in Tamil Nadu. With this test, the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage has been fully qualified on the ground. The flight stage is getting ready for use in the next mission of GSLV (GSLV-D3) in 2008.
On April 28, 2008 ISRO successfully launched 10 satellites in a single mission further boosting it’s capabilities in space.
This includes 690 kg CARTOSTAT-2 and another 83 kg mini Indian satellite, IMS-1; and eight other nano satellites made by various universities; and research and development institutions in Canada and Germany offered at a subsidized price as part of a goodwill gesture by the Indian Department of Space.
ANTRIX
Antrix, the commercial front of the Department of Space, is a single window agency for marketing Indian space capabilities. It is playing a key role in the worldwide availability or IRS data through Geoeye, USA. Antrix also provides IRS data processing equipment.
Antrix offers launch services using India’s PSLV. Two German, one Korean and one Belgian satellites have already been successfully launched by PSLV. Through Antrix, Telemetry, Tracking and Command support from the Indian ground stations are offered. Similarly, lease of transponders from INSAT system is possible. In this regard, 11 transponders have already been leased to INTELSAT. Customers for the spacecraft components offered by Antrix include world’s leading spacecraft manufacturers.
During the year, an agreement was entered into with EADS Astrium, Paris for the joint manufacture of 200 kg and 300 kg class satellite platforms for the telecommunications market. Besides, Antrix won contracts from Europe and Asia for launch services in the highly competitive international markets. After the successful development of a low cost, compact, modular and rugged Automatic Weather Station (AWS) in co-ordination with industry, the technology has been licensed to industry for regular production.
Thus, in addition to successfully developing spacecraft and launch vehicle technologies indigenously, India has also been successful in the application of satellite technology to benefit its national economy. At the same time, India has also been sharing space-based information with the international community and providing commercial space services globally.
International Cooperation
From the days of its inception, ISRO has had a very good record of international cooperation. It has Memoranda of Understanding / Agreements with 26 countries / space agencies. A UN sponsored Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP) set up in India has trained more than 400 personnel of the Asia-pacific region. during the year, CSSTE-AP completed 10 years. In addition, ISRO provides training in space applications to personnel of developing countries through its Sharing of Experience in Space (SHARES) programme. ISRO has launched scientific payloads of other space agencies like Modular Opto-electronic Scanner of DLR, Germany that was flown on IRS-P3 spacecraft and the data is being shared by scientists of DLR, India and the US. It has a co-operative agreement with NASA / NOAA for the reception of meteorological data from INSAT spacecraft by those agencies.
Megha-Tropiques is a joint satellite mission of ISRO and French Space Agency CNES for atmospheric studies. The satellite will be built and launched by ISRO and CNES will develop two of the payloads and the third payload jointly with ISRO. At the same time, scientific instruments developed in the United States, Germany, Sweden, UK and Bulgaria will be launched on board India’s Chadrayaan-1 spacecraft. This apart, an Italian scientific instrument will be included onboard India’s OCEANSAT. 2 satellite. Instruments for astronomical observation jointly developed with Israel and Canada will be flown onboard India’s GSAT-4 and RISAT satellites respectively. And, an Indian scientific instrument to study solar physics and solar-terrestrial sciences will be flown onboard Russia’s CORONAS-PHOTON satellite.
India has also set up three local User Terminals and a Mission Control Centre for the international COSPAS / SARSAT programme for providing distress alert and position location service. A search and Rescue Transponder is included in INSAT-3A spacecraft. India is a signatory to the International Charter on Disaster Management and is providing remote sensing data for the same.
Interface with Academic and R&D Institutions
The ISRO has an active programme to interact with academic and research institutions all over the country for the benefit of our space programme. In this regard, the Sponsored Research Programme (RESPOND) is an important component of DOS. Under RESPOND, DOS support research and educational activities at universities, individual colleges, and at the Indian Institutes of Technology as well as other research institutions. During the year 2005-2006, 13 projects were successfully completed and 62 new projects were initiated at 42 academic institutions comprising universities, colleges and research institutions. In addition to research projects, DOS supported 73 conferences, symposia, educational and promotional activities in the areas of importance to ISRO, besides providing support to ISRO-institutional chairs at reputed institutions.
India in Space: A Timeline
1961: The government put “Space Research” under the jurisdiction of the Department of Atomic Energy
1962: Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established with Dr. Sarabhai as Chairman; Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) also formed
Nov 1963:
TERLS launched the first sounding rocket
1969: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) formed
April 19, 1975: Aryabhata- the first Indian satellite launched
1979:
Bhaskara-I fired into space on June 7
On August 10, ISRO launched SLV-3 with Rohini Technology Payload on board. However, the satellite could not be placed in orbit
The Second Experimental launch of SLV-3; Rohini satellite successfully placed in orbit on July 18
1981:
An experimental geo-stationary communication satellite – APPLE successfully launched on June 19
Bhaskara-II launched on November 20, 1981. (The Bhaskara satellites are named after a 17th Century Indian astronomer and was meant to study ocean and land surface data at a cost Rs. 65 million)
From 1982 to 2003, India sent a series of INSAT or the Indian National Satellite System into space proving its mastery in space science. INSAT is a series of multipurpose Geo-Stationary satellites for telecommunications, broadcasting and meteorology needs.
April 10, 1982: INSAT-1A launched
1983: INSAT-1B, launched on August 30
1984: Indo-Soviet manned space mission on April 1984
July 21, 1988: INSAT-1C
June 12, 1990: INSAT-1D
July 10, 1992: INSAT-2A launched
July 23, 1993: INSAT-2B
December 7, 1995: INSAT-2C
June 4, 1997: INSAT-2D
April 3, 1999: INSAT-2E launched by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana
May 26, 1999: Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT), launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C2) along with Korean KITSAT-3 and German DLR-TUBSAT from Sriharikota
March 22, 2000: INSAT-3B launched by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana,
October 22, 2001: PSLV-C3 successfully launched three satellites — Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) of ISRO, BIRD of Germany and PROBA of Belgium.
January 24, 2002: Successful launch of INSAT-3C by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana
September 12, 2002: PSLV-C4 successfully launched KALPANA-1 satellite from Sriharikota
2003:
• INSAT-3A launched by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana, (April 10, 2003). • Successful launch of INSAT-3E on September 28, 2003. • ISRO`s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C5, successfully launched RESOURCESAT-1 (IRS-P6) satellite from Sriharikota(October 17, 2003).
2004: Maiden operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F01) launched EDUSAT from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota (September 20, 2004)
2005: • PSLV-C6 carries CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT satellites from Sriharikota on May 5, 2005 into orbit.
• Launch of INSAT-4A by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana, (December 22, 2005).
2007:
• ISRO launches India’s CARTOSAT-2 and Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) and Indonesia’s LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina’s PEHUENSAT-1 at one go on January 10, 2007.
• Successful recovery of SRE-1 from Bay of Bengal after it reenter the earth’s atmosphere on January 22, 2007 – a crucial operation that will help India in mastering the know how of reentering earth atmosphere from space.
• Successful launch of INSAT-4B by Ariane-5 from Kourou French Guyana, (March 12, 2007).
• PSLV-C8 successfully launched Italian astronomical satellite AGILE from Sriharikota on April 23.
• Successful launch of GSLV with INSAT-4CR on board from SDSC SHAR on September 2.
2008:
• PSLV-C10 successfully launches TECSAR satellite under a commercial contract with Antrix Corporation on January 21, 2008.
• PSLV-C9 successfully launches CARTOSAT-2A, IMS-1 and 8 foreign satellites from Sriharikota on April 28.
Chandrayaan-1 launched by a modified version of the PSLV XL on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 06:23 IST
Moon Impact Probe lands on Moon`s south pole on November 14, 2008
Celebrating India’s moon moment- Courtesy: The Hindu
Two years ago, India’s destination moon began on a wet windy morning from an island on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. As most of India slept, on rainy October 22 when the sun had barely peeped out of an ominous cloud band, a 300-tonne monster belching fire and thunder leapt up from the coast. It was literally a new dawn for India, showcasing the country’s technological prowess at its best. It was with nervous energy that I watched India’s coming out party, one may suggest, in launching its maiden mission to the moon.
It was a dramatic moon rise for a country where over a billion hearts were beating in anticipation of the success of its maiden mission to the moon. The successful takeoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDCS), Sriharikota, at 6.22 a.m. on October 22, 2008, was a spectacular, copybook launch for Chandrayaan-1 and one that catapulted India into a small clutch of powerful, space-faring giants across the world. Calling it a historic moment achieved against tremendous odds, G. Madhavan Nair, then Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said: “Today what we have charted is a remarkable journey for an Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the Earth’s closest celestial body and its only natural satellite.”
A remarkable journey had undoubtedly begun. The success of the launch finally allayed concerns at lightning that was occurring in the atmosphere due to rain and stormy weather; also a fuel leak in the launch pad caused some worry.
Almost a year after its launch, the first-ever evidence of water on the moon made worldwide news. Space science experts from NASA and India said “the moon is not bone dry” and the real impact of this discovery is only beginning to hit us. Led by Carle Pieters, Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University, Rhode Island, U.S., who was also principal investigator of the Moon Minerology Mapper (M3) on board Chandrayaan-1, the team published what is now termed a game-changer discovery — of these “distinct signatures of water on the moon.” The Indo-American team discovered water on the moon as a thin, invisible film covering on what we for half-a-century thought was a parched, waterless pock-marked moonscape.
When Chandrayaan-1 was aborted 10 months after launch, a year and more before originally planned, there was intense scientific debate on whether the mission had succeeded or failed. The finding of water has changed the flavour and direction of that debate forever. Mr. Nair emphatically stated, when quizzed about the mission’s premature end, that it was a success because the mission had achieved 95 per cent of its original goals before the official termination. Nearing the second anniversary of the historic launch, a high-power review committee set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has concluded that “the scientific experiments could only cover 70 per cent of the moon.” The panel also revealed, for the first time, that it was a tiny 110-gram part that cost merely $5000 which brought down the $100-million mission. As one ISRO engineer remarked, “it was an ant that killed the elephant.”
A part called a ‘DC-DC converter,’ very much akin to a tiny transformer that was imported from an American company, Modular Devices Inc., is what failed. Not one but five of them sequentially failed onboard Chandrayaan-1, causing the premature termination of the mission. The probe committee, in its 50-page report, faulted ISRO on its testing and quality assurance for not having detected the poor quality of this vital imported component. But at the same time the panel concluded, “the management of Chandrayaan-1 mission particularly after the occurrence of failures, clearly points out to the maturity of ISRO in mission management.” Dubbing the mission “quite successful,” the Prime Minister’s panel concluded that Chandrayaan-1 “has brought great prestige to India.”
There can be no doubt that the mission united India like never before and the discovery of water was the icing on the cake. “Never seen before images of the permanently shadowed craters of the Moon have been captured,” said Paul D. Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, principal investigator of the payload sent to search for water. “The new radar images are not only visually arresting, but they will be extremely useful in unravelling the complex geological history of the Moon as a whole,” he says.
The real impact and significance of this finding may make its dimensions felt only in the years to come. As Dr. Pieters herself says: “This opens a whole new avenue [of lunar research], but we have to understand the physics of it to utilise it.” Isn’t it intriguing that moon rocks available after the Apollo missions never showed any sign of water on analysis, which is why experts always held that the moon was dry, except possibly for some pockets of water ice in the shadowy craters at the poles?
Chandrayaan-1 also began a rather unique spirit of international partnership and collaboration as it was an Indian mission with international partners, carrying onboard six scientific instruments from the U.S., the European Space Agency and Bulgaria. No extra fee or travelling ticket was charged by India to fly these instruments over 4,00,000 km — all overseas partners really got a free ride to the moon.
Despite its premature death, India’s maiden mission returned many scientific goodies, including the life giving message that the moon is moist. This startling discovery came about even though Chandrayaan-1 was the cheapest mission to go the moon in decades. Now the excitement is so high that a whole new generation of interplanetary missions is on the anvil. A revisit to the moon this time with a lander and a rover is planned for 2013; a mission to study the sun called Aditya is cooking; a fly-by mission to an asteroid is being considered; and scientists are already nurturing dreams of sending an unmanned mission to Mars within a decade. On its second birthday, let us celebrate India’s moon moment!
(By Pallava Bagla – He is the correspondent for SCIENCE magazine and co-author of the book Destination Moon — India’s quest for the Moon, Mars and Beyond. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at pallava.bagla@gmail.com)
India was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council on 12.10.2010 with an overwhelming number of countries endorsing its sole candidature from the Asian group.
After A gap of 19 years, India will once again be at the UN high table — the Security Council — as a non-permanent member, in what is expected to give a fillip to its bid for a permanent seat.
In polling for 10 seats that took place at the U.N. headquarters in New York, as many as 187 countries in the 192-member UN General Assembly voted for India, the largest support received by any country for a non-permanent seat in the past five years. India has been on the UNSC six times in the past.
Five votes that didn’t come to India, one country backed Pakistan while another rooted for Swaziland. Another member wasn’t present, one abstained and the fifth voted against India. Since it is a secret ballot, the identities of these countries are not known.
Other non-permanent members elected today were Germany, South Africa, Colombia and Portugal.
To win, India needed support of two-thirds of the 192-member General Assembly. After Kazakhstan pulled out of the race early this year, India was the lone candidate from Asia. Its two-year term at the Security Council begins on January 1, 2011.
It is of significance that, for the first time, the Security Council will witness the simultaneous presence of all BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) countries, and three of the four G4 countries (India, Brazil and Germany). The Council will also include a number of developing countries with which we have close ties as well as some of our global strategic partners.
India had no competitor from Asia group after the withdrawal of Kazakhstan earlier in 2010.
The last time India was part of the UNSC was in 1991-92. It suffered a shock defeat in 1996 when it lost to Japan despite banking on solidarity among developed countries. India will take over as a UNSC non-permanent member from Japan on January 1, 2011, for the seventh time.
The UNSC has five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom — who have veto rights. There are also 10 rotating members who have the right to vote, but cannot veto a resolution.
“This resounding endorsement of India’s candidature at the United Nations reaffirms the overwhelming support India enjoys in the international community,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said at a press conference in New Delhi soon after the results were known on 12.10.2010.
While thanking all the member states who supported India’s candidature, Mr. Krishna said the country would have to live up to the responsibility entrusted by such a large number of countries. He also hoped India’s objective approach would pave the way for its entry as a permanent member. “India will demonstrate to the world that India is good for the world,” he added.
UNSC - India’s non-permanent membership and the road ahead
C.S.R. Murthy
India’s latest election, with the highest number of votes cast in the United Nations General Assembly, to serve a two-year term as non-permanent member of the Security Council commencing in January 2011 is a worthy development that should prompt informed appreciation of its importance. On the one hand, the election, no doubt, is a clear recognition of the long and rich reputation our country has earned in the U.N., besides being an acknowledgment of the growing importance India continues to gain in matters of multilateral governance. On the other hand, it could be dismissed as being too little too late a development to quench India’s vexatious thirst for status of a permanent member. What are the opportunities and challenges awaiting India in its new role? How is the non-permanent membership relevant to pursuing our aspiration for permanent membership? A useful basis for such speculation should be a stock-taking of the patterns in India’s performance in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the occasions when it served as a non-permanent member previously.
At the San Francisco Conference where U.N. structural architecture was finalised, India not only supported the need for permanent members in the UNSC, but also persuaded the powerful countries to accept an eligibility criteria for election to the non-permanent membership category. No comparable criteria guided the selection of permanent members, while the non-permanent members are to satisfy tough criteria of contribution to peace and equitable geographical representation. Our approach to the U.N. is characterised by, to borrow Jawaharlal Nehru’s words, “wholehearted co-operation” through full participation “in its councils to which her geographical position and contribution towards peaceful progress entitle her.” How tough, nevertheless, is the route to non-permanent membership became clear from the fact that, after establishment of the U.N., it took four years for India to enter the UNSC through the election route. Inclusive of the ensuing stint, India has to its credit only seven terms (mostly) representing the Asian region in a span of 65 years.
Between the first two terms it had during the 1950s-1960s, there was a gap of 15 years, while India will assume its seat now after a lapse of 19 years since its previous term ended in 1992. The years it served in the Council coincided with “testing times” for the Security Council and the U.N. at large. Major conflict situations occurred during the time India was a member, the Korean war during 1950-51, the two Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and then in 1973, Israel’s first invasion of Lebanon (1977), and the first Gulf war against Iraq (1991). During the time of its non-permanent membership of the UNSC, the Indian delegations had espoused certain fundamental principles that should govern relations among Member States. These are the principles of non-use of force, the respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of States, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The principle of the inadmissibility of territorial acquisition by force is absolutely fundamental to India’s approach.
In terms of quality of participation, strikingly India’s contribution at the UNSC mirrors the larger picture of India’s role at the United Nations, encompassing a good mix of maturity, moderation, pragmatism and propriety. India not merely abstained in the vote on the resolutions adopted on the question of Jammu and Kashmir, but also ceded its turn to preside over the Council meeting in March 1951 because the Kashmir question appeared on the agenda. Moderation was manifest in the total absence of a negative vote, while abstentions remained few and far between. The characteristics of flexibility and pragmatism were evident in plenty in terms of a willingness to work with others in helping the process of drafting or refining texts that had the potential of obtaining the widest possible support. It is naturally difficult to categorically assert whether such an undoubtedly enviable performance decorated by the gifts of devotion and dexterity is a rarity among countries (developed or developing) which have served on the Council as non-permanent members.
Again, India strove to be part of the democratic majority helping in the adoption of broadly acceptable decisions and resolutions. On the one hand it was part of 59 per cent of the resolutions adopted either unanimously or without a vote. Even in regard to the aggregate of 113 adopted resolutions (41 per cent) which attracted division, India cast an affirmative vote on 101 (89 per cent). Only on no more than a dozen occasions has it stood aside without joining the concurring majority. To be sure, India had not voted against any resolution, but has resorted to abstentions only to signal its reservations. Interestingly, India was never a loner as an abstaining country; it had the company of China, the USSR, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe on many occasions. Six abstentions (50 per cent) pertained to the last term during 1991-92. Those abstentions exemplified India’s sensitivity to negative implications of the adopted resolutions for such important issues of principle as respect to state sovereignty, non-discrimination among Member States of the U.N., unconditional and immediate ceasefire, recourse to coercive action after exhausting all other options, respect for the jurisdiction of other organs, and so forth.
India sought to take pains to bring Non-Aligned member countries together in the UNSC. Side by side, India seemed to place high hopes in the potential of the non-permanent members in the Council to play the role of constructive peace makers. Such a strategy was advocated, although in vain, during the Gulf war soon after it entered the Council in 1991. Earlier in the mid-1980s, India moved a proposal aimed at a long overdue increase in the non-permanent seats in the Council reflecting “more adequately the enhanced membership of the Organisation.” However, the primacy of this move was lost when it became a part of the larger demand since 1992 to expand the Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories.
No doubt, India’s self perception is more robust than what it was in 1991-92. Whether India will make a difference to the deliberations and outcomes in the UNSC during its upcoming tenure will depend less on solo heroic propensity than on the effective partnerships and positive consensus it is able to build and sustain involving, first, sister non-permanent members and then the permanent members. It is encouraging that India, Brazil, and South Africa will be working together for a year in the Council which could become a nucleus of a larger coalition on salient issues. Will these three countries make history in the Council by being together or miss the opportunity as the Non-Aligned troika (India, Egypt, and Yugoslavia) did when they sat in the Council when the Korean conflict erupted in 1950 will be the moot question. If the past is a guide, India may not be keen to adopt a confrontationist posture and vote alone against a resolution, but more keen to work to be part of legitimate, transparent, effective Council.
(Professor C.S.R. Murthy teaches at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.) Courtesy: The Hindu
Two Americans, Peter Diamond and Dale Mortensen, along with British-Cypriot citizen Christopher A. Pissarides won the the 2010 Nobel Prize for Economics for their studies of markets and the nature of problems such as high unemployment.
Peter A. Diamond of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and fellow American Dale T. Mortensen, a professor at Northwestern University, will share the $1.5 million award with Christopher A. Pissarides, a British and Cypriot citizen who teaches at the London School of Economics.
The prize committee said the trio’s work had emerged as an important guide to why unemployment may remain high, even as new job opportunities emerge following the recession. Christopher Pissarides, a 62-year-old professor at the London School of Economics, who was born in Cyprus, said he believed he was working in an area where economists could be of real help to society.
The three men pioneered and developed models that help explain, among other things, why there are so many jobless people even as there are a large number of job openings — a problem that is particularly relevant today as the United States and other developed countries grapple with stubbornly high unemployment.
The prize highlights one aspect of a policymaking problem which has bedevilled Governments of advanced countries since the oil shocks of the 1970s: high unemployment which has risen even higher because of the global economic crisis. The jury lauded the trio “for their analysis of markets with search frictions”, which helps explain how unemployment, job vacancies, and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy.
According to traditional theory, labour markets should work on their own, with job-seekers finding available jobs, thus creating balance.
The three Nobel laureates, however, help show with their model — the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides, or DMP model — that markets do not always work in this way.
Owing to small glitches, buyers may find it difficult to find sellers and job-seekers may not find the employers looking to fill a position.
For instance, a small cost faced by employers looking for labour may mean they decide not to take on workers even though they need them.
The trio’s model helps explain why unemployment persists and proves stubbornly resistant even when economic circumstances improve. It also helps identify areas for government policy action, pinpointing for instance what governments can do to improve employment and prevent long-term unemployment through training.
The jury noted the trio’s work in search theory can also be applied to other areas besides the labour markets, including the housing market and public economics. Mr. Diamond (70) is associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr. Mortensen (71) with Northwestern University and Mr. Pissarides (62) is at the London School of Economics.
In 2009, Elinor Ostrom — the first woman to ever win such a prize — and Oliver Williamson of the United States won the Economics Prize for their work on the organisation of cooperation in economic governance.
Sri Krishna Sweets and Jeywin congratulate the Top 50 Rankers and they will be receiving separate emails and SMS from Sri Krishna Sweets about the further contact programmes.
We thank all the Civil Services Aspirants for enthusiastically participating in the Competitive Online Test conducted in www.jeywin.com. We assure YOU in providing very good support for the Civil Services Exams continuously. Seeing the tremendous response to this contest, we hope to conduct more such programmes shortly. Stay in continuous touch with www.jeywin.com to find out. Jai Hind! Dream Dare Win
The following are the Names and Roll Numbers of the Top 50 Rankers of the
Sri Krishna Sweets and Jeywin Online Competitive Objective Test
conducted on 10.10.2010 and 11.10.2010
Jailed Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize on 8.10.2010 for decades of non-violent struggle for human rights, infuriating China, which called the award “an obscenity.”
The prize puts China’s human rights record in the spotlight at a time when it is starting to play a bigger role on the global stage as a result of its growing economic might.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Liu for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China” and reiterated its belief in a “close connection between human rights and peace.”
Liu is serving an 11-year jail term for helping to draw up a manifesto calling for free speech and multi-party elections.
China said the award went against the aims of Alfred Nobel and would hurt ties between China and Norway, which are currently negotiating a bilateral trade agreement.
“This is an obscenity against the peace prize,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.
But Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said China, the world’s second biggest economy, should expect to be under greater scrutiny as it becomes more powerful, just as the United States was after World War Two.
“We have to speak when others cannot speak,” Jagland told reporters. “As China is rising, we should have the right to criticize … We want to advance those forces that want China to become more democratic.”
Liu’s wife, Xia, said she had not expected her husband to win the prize: “I can hardly believe it because my life has been filled with too many bad things.
“This prize is not only for Xiaobo but for everyone working for human rights and justice in China,” she said in an emotional telephone interview with Hong Kong’s Cable television.
Rights groups said the prize came at a time when human rights have dropped down the agenda of Western governments focusing on China’s growing economic power.
Nicholas Bequelin, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, called it “a victory for all the courageous Chinese dissidents, activists, lawyers and human rights defenders who have continued to stand up to tyranny for all these years.”
Earlier this year, Deputy Foreign Minister Fu Ying had warned the head of the Nobel Institute against granting the prize to Liu, saying it would damage ties between China and Norway as they negotiate a bilateral trade deal.
China strongly criticized Norway after the 1989 prize went to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Peruvaian author Mario Vargas Llosa has won 2010 Nobel Prize for literature, the Swedish Academy announced in Stockholm on 7.01.2010.
The Swedish Academy’s citation said it honoured the 74-year-old author “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt and defeat.” His international breakthrough came with the 1960s novel “The Time of The Hero.”
Vargas Llosa is the first South American winner of the prestigious Nobel Prize in literature since it was awarded to Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982.
The Swedish Academy announced the award in Stockholm, praising Mr. Vargas Llosa “for his
Mr. Vargas Llosa’s body of work includes more than 30 novels, essays and plays that have been widely translated in English, French, Swedish and German. Some of his best-known works include “The Green House,” “Conversation in the Cathedral,” “Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter,” “A Fish in the Water: a Memoir,” “The Feast of the Goat” and “The Storyteller.” His other honors include winning the Cervantes Prize in 1995, the highest literary honor in the Spanish-speaking world.
Vargas Llosa was born in 1936 in Arequipa, Peru. He lived for few years in Bolivia with his family, returning to Peru in 1946. His father opposed his ambitions to be a writer and sent him to military school. His work found a wide international audience in the 1960’s with the publication of “The Time of the Hero,” a novel based on the time he spent at the military academy that aroused controversy in Peru.
After a period in France where he worked as a language teacher and journalist, he returned to Peru and became heavily involved in politics. In 1990 he became a candidate for president, losing in a run-off election.
Mr. Vargas Llosa is currently spending a semester teaching Latin American studies at Princeton University.
The awards ceremony is planned for Dec. 10 in Stockholm where Mr. Vargas Llosa will receive 10 million kronor, or about US $1.5 million.
The last South American to win literature Nobel was the Colombian Gabríel García Márquez, who was awarded the prize in 1982. The last Spanish-speaking writer to win the prize was the Mexican Octavio Paz in 1990.
List of Nobel Prize Winners in Literature so far
2010 — Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru
2009 — Herta Mueller, Romania and Germany
2008 — Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, France and Mauritius
2007 — Doris Lessing, United Kingdom
2006 — Orhan Pamuk, Turkey
2005 — Harold Pinter, United Kingdom
2004 — Elfriede Jelinek, Austria
2003 — J. M. Coetzee, South Africa
2002 — Imre Kertesz, Hungary
2001 — V. S. Naipaul, United Kingdom
2000 — Gao Xingjian, France
1999 — Gunter Grass, Germany
1998 — Jose Saramago, Portugal
1997 — Dario Fo, Italy
1996 — Wislawa Szymborska, Poland
1995 — Seamus Heaney, Ireland
1994 — Kenzaburo Oe, Japan
1993 — Toni Morrison, United States
1992 — Derek Walcott, Saint Lucia
1991 — Nadine Gordimer, South Africa
1990 — Octavio Paz, Mexico
1989 — Camilo Jose Cela, Spain
1988 — Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt
1987 — Joseph Brodsky, United States
1986 — Wole Soyinka, Nigeria
1985 — Claude Simon, France
1984 — Jaroslav Seifert, Czechoslovakia
1983 — William Golding, United Kingdom
1982 — Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia
1981 — Elias Canetti, United Kingdom
1980 — Czeslaw Milosz, Poland and United States
1979 — Odysseus Elytis, Greece
1978 — Isaac Bashevis Singer, United States
1977 — Vicente Aleixandre, Spain
1976 — Saul Bellow, United States
1975 — Eugenio Montale, Italy
1974 — Eyvind Johnson, Sweden; Harry Martinson, Sweden
1973 — Patrick White, Australia
1972 — Heinrich Boll, Germany
1971 — Pablo Neruda, Chile
1970 — Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Soviet Union
1969 — Samuel Beckett, Ireland
1968 — Yasunari Kawabata, Japan
1967 — Miguel Angel Asturias, Guatemala
1966 — Shmuel Agnon, Israel; Nelly Sachs, Sweden
1965 — Mikhail Sholokhov, Soviet Union
1964 — Jean-Paul Sartre, France
1963 — Giorgos Seferis, Greece
1962 — John Steinbeck, United States
1961 — Ivo Andric, Yugoslavia
1960 — Saint-John Perse, France
1959 — Salvatore Quasimodo, Italy
1958 — Boris Pasternak, Soviet Union
1957 — Albert Camus, France
1956 — Juan Ramon Jimenez, Spain
1955 — Halldor Laxness, Iceland
1954 — Ernest Hemingway, United States
1953 — Winston Churchill, United Kingdom
1952 — Francois Mauriac, France
1951 — Par Lagerkvist, Sweden
1950 — Bertrand Russell, United Kingdom
1949 — William Faulkner, United States
1948 — T.S. Eliot, United Kingdom
1947 — Andre Gide, France
1946 — Hermann Hesse, Switzerland
1945 — Gabriela Mistral, Chile
1944 — Johannes V. Jensen, Denmark
1943 — No prize awarded
1942 — No prize awarded
1941 — No prize awarded
1940 — No prize awarded
1939 — Frans Eemil Sillanpaa, Finland
1938 — Pearl Buck, United States
1937 — Roger Martin du Gard, France
1936 — Eugene O’Neill, United States
1935 — No prize awarded
1934 — Luigi Pirandello, Italy
1933 — Ivan Bunin, stateless domicile in France
1932 — John Galsworthy, United Kingdom
1931 — Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Sweden
1930 — Sinclair Lewis, United States
1929 — Thomas Mann, Germany
1928 — Sigrid Undset, Norway
1927 — Henri Bergson, France
1926 — Grazia Deledda, Italy
1925 — George Bernard Shaw, United Kingdom
1924 — Wladyslaw Reymont, Poland
1923 — William Butler Yeats, Ireland
1922 — Jacinto Benavente, Spain
1921 — Anatole France, France
1920 — Knut Hamsun, Norway
1919 — Carl Spitteler, Switzerland
1918 — No prize awarded
1917 — Karl Gjellerup, Denmark; Henrik Pontoppidan, Denmark
1916 — Verner von Heidenstam, Sweden
1915 — Romain Rolland, France
1914 — No prize awarded
1913 — Rabindranath Tagore, India
1912 — Gerhart Hauptmann, Germany
1911 — Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgium
1910 — Paul Heyse, Germany
1909 — Selma Lagerlof, Sweden
1908 — Rudolf Eucken, Germany
1907 — Rudyard Kipling, United Kingdom
1906 — Giosue Carducci, Italy
1905 — Henryk Sienkiewicz, Poland
1904 — Frederic Mistral, France; Jose Echegaray, Spain
American Richard Heck and Japanese researchers Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki won the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry on 6.10.2010 for developing a chemical method that has allowed scientists to test cancer drugs and make thinner computer screens.
Richard Heck of the University of Delaware, Ei-ichi Negishi of Purdue University, and Akira Suzuki of Hokkaido University in Japan came up with efficient ways to link carbon atoms together. This process is important in synthesising, among other things, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and coatings for electronic components. The 10 million Swedish Kronor (£1m) prize will be shared equally between the three Nobel laureates.
In nature, everything from penicillin to hormones, the scent of a flower and the colour of a person’s eyes is the result of carbon-based molecules. Understanding how to synthesise chains of carbon atoms has given scientists skeletons upon which to build molecules with specific functions or properties, leading to the discovery of new medicines and materials such as plastics.
Building the carbon skeletons, however, is not easy. Carbon atoms are stable and do not react easily with each other. Today’s Nobel winners found ways of using palladium to catalyse reactions between carbon atoms without producing lots of unwanted by-products.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the award honors their development of palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic systems. The academy called that one of the most sophisticated tools available to chemists today, and one that is used by researchers worldwide and in commercial production of pharmaceuticals and molecules used to make electronics.
The method has been used to artificially produce discodermolide, a cancer-killing substance first found in marine sponges, the academy said in its citation. It added that no cancer drug based on the substance has been developed yet. “Only the future will tell if discodermolide turns out to be a life-saving drug,” it said.
David Phillips, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “The metal-based ‘coupling’ reactions pioneered by this year’s three chemistry Nobel laureates have led to countless breakthroughs. The Heck, Negishi and Suzuki reactions make possible the vital fluorescent marking that underpins DNA sequencing, and are essential tools for synthetic chemists creating complex new drugs and polymers.”
Richard Heck, 79, is a professor emeritus at the University of Delaware. Ei-ichi Negishi, 75, is a chemistry professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and 80-year-old Akira Suzuki is a professor at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.
The awards were established by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel — the inventor of dynamite — and are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of his death in 1896.
Two Russian-born scientists in United Kingdom shared the Nobel Prize in physics on 5.10.2010 for “groundbreaking experiments” with the thinnest, strongest material known to mankind — a carbon vital for the creation of faster computers and transparent touch screens.
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two professors at the University of Manchester in Britain, demonstrated the exceptional properties of graphene, a form of carbon that is only one atom thick, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
Experiments with graphene could lead to the development of new superstrong materials and innovative electronics, the academy said in announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.
“Graphene transistors are predicted to be substantially faster than today’s silicon transistors and result in more efficient computers,” the academy said in the citation. “Since it is practically transparent and a good conductor, graphene is suitable for producing transparent touch screens, light panels and maybe even solar cells.”
Andre Geim, 51, is a Dutch national while Novoselov, 36, holds British and Russian citizenship. Both are natives of Russia and started their careers in physics there.
Novoselov is among the youngest winners of a prize that normally goes to scientists with decades of experience. The youngest Nobel laureate to date is Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 when he shared the physics award with his father William Bragg in 1915.
Andre Geim last year won the prestigious Korber European Science Award for his discovery of two-dimensional crystals made of carbon atoms, particularly graphene, which “has the potential to revolutionize the world of microelectronics,” the University of Manchester said.
“Graphene is the thinnest material in the world, it’s one of the strongest, maybe the strongest material in the world. It’s an excellent conductor. Electrons move through it very quickly, which is something you want to make circuits out of,” Schewe said.
He said graphene may be a good material for making integrated circuits, small chips with millions of transistors that are the backbone of all modern telecommunications. Its properties could also lead to potential uses in construction material, Schewe said, but added it would take a while “before this sort of technology moves into mainstream application.”
The prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.5 million), awarded by the Nobel Committee for Physics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, was the second of 2010 Nobel prizes.
The prestigious awards were created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel and first given out in 1901. The prizes are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896.
Robert Edwards, the British scientist whose pioneering research with his late colleague Patrick Steptoe led to the birth of the world’s first “test-tube baby” in 1978, has won 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine.
Born in Manchester in 1925, Professor Robert Edwards started his research on human fertilization at the National Institute for Medical Research in London in 1958, and later moved to Cambridge where, with Steptoe, he founded the Bourn Hall Clinic, the world’s first IVF centre.
Steptoe died in 1988. Despite his significant contribution, he cannot be jointly awarded with Professor Edwards because rules do not permit for the prize to be awarded posthumously.
The Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, which awarded the prize worth ten million Swedish Kronor, described his work as “a milestone of modern medicine.” “His work has made possible the treatment of infertility, a medical condition that affects a large proportion of humanity including more than 10% of couples worldwide,” it said in a statement.
The 85-year-old scientist Robert Edwards was reported to be too ill to comment. “The success of this research has touched the lives of millions of people worldwide. His dedication and single-minded determination, despite opposition from many quarters, has led to the successful application of his pioneering research,” his family said.
He brought hope to millions of childless couples
Reacting to the Nobel award for British scientist Robert Edwards, Professor Basil Tarlatzis, past-president of the International Federation of Fertility Societies, said it was “a well-deserved honour.” Mr. Tarlatzis said the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) had “opened new avenues of hope for millions of couples throughout the world.”
But, perhaps, no one was more delighted than Louise Brown, who owed her birth to the IVF treatment devised by Professor Edwards and his late colleague Patrick Steptoe. “It’s fantastic news. Me and mum are so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves. We hold Bob in great affection and are delighted to send our personal congratulations to him and his family at this time,” said Ms. Brown, now 32. Her birth on July 25, 1978 prompted headlines around the world. Since then some four million babies have been born using IVF.
For Professor Edwards and his colleagues it was a “Eureka” moment they discovered that they had succeeded in creating a fertilised human embryo in 1968 but it took another 10 years before the procedure was sufficiently refined to enable the birth of a baby. “I’ll never forget the day I looked down the microscope and saw something funny in the cultures. I looked down the microscope and what I saw was a human blastocyst gazing up at me. I thought: ‘We’ve done it,’” Professor Edwards recalled in a speech two years ago.
Ajikumar Parayil has tinkered with the digestive system of a common gut and sewage bacterium to produce in abundance a chemical compound that promises an inexpensive route to a blockbuster cancer drug.
Parayil, an Indian scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has helped coax E. coli bacteria to make taxadiene, a precursor compound for paclitaxel, a drug widely used to treat breast, lung and ovarian cancers.
Paclitaxel was first isolated in the 1970s from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, but early production methods required cutting down two to four fully grown trees to extract enough of the drug to treat a single patient.
Recent production methods involve harvesting the drug from plant cells grown in the laboratory, but even this process yields small quantities, and the drug is still expensive — about $10,000 per dose in the US.
Now Parayil and his colleagues at MIT and Tufts University in Boston have analysed the complex sequence of steps in the synthesis of paclitaxel and used that knowledge to engineer genes of E. coli to produce taxadiene. They have described their results in the journal Science on 1.10.2010.
“This bacteria produces 1,000 times more of this precursor than any other engineered microbe,” said Parayil, a postdoctoral associate at MIT, who had obtained a PhD from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
Parayil first engineered E. coli to eliminate a bottleneck that was interfering with the synthesis of taxadiene, and then gave the bacteria two genes from the Pacific yew tree to get them to produce copious amounts of taxadiene.
“There are several more steps to obtain paclitaxel from taxadiene, but the taxadiene synthesis is the most challenging step,” Parayil told.
Although organic chemists possess the knowhow for chemical synthesis of paclitaxel, their methods involve anywhere from 35 to 50 steps, and in any case yield quantities that are not economically viable.
“If you can make (paclitaxel) a lot cheaper, that is good, but what really gets people excited is the prospect of using our platform to discover therapeutic compounds in an era of declining new pharmaceutical products and rapidly escalating costs for drug development,” said Gregory Stephanopoulos, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.
The election of 2010 is a historical turning point in Swedish history. The Social Democrats traditional dominance in almost a century seems to be broken (for good?) and the far-right Sweden Democrats will become part of the Swedish Government for the first time.As a Swedish newspaper did put it: “A centre-right government (The Alliance) without a majority, a crashed social democracy and a kingmaker party with roots in the far-right”.
Given below is a low-down on who the main contestants of the Swedish election are, the way they have risen to power and the outcome of the elections.
The Alliance
The Alliance (Alliansen) coalition consists of four centre-right parties – the Moderates, Liberals (Folkpartiet), Centre, and Christian Democrats. Party leaders are current prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, education minister Jan Björklund, enterprise minister Maud Olofsson and social affairs minister Göran Hägglund, respectively. The coalition has together formed the government since gaining the majority of parliamentary seats in the 2006 election.
The Alliance was formed as Alliance for Sweden (Allians för Sverige) by party leaders Fredrik Reinfeldt, Maud Olofsson, Lars Leijonborg and Göran Hägglund on August 30th 2004 with a declaration to work towards a viable centre-right government alternative to the centre-left Social Democrats, who had by then held power for 23 of the previous 26 years.
The 2006 election came to be defined by the concept of “Utanförskap” (Alienation). The Alliance regularly cited figures of up to 1.5 million Swedes living on the margins of the labour market and society, proposing to address the problem. When the votes were counted the Alliance parties had won 178 seats in parliament and the opposition parties 171.
The Alliance parties are going to polls on their record of being the responsible alternative for Sweden’s public finances.
Finance minister Anders Borg repeatedly emphasises the fact that Sweden has fared the financial crisis and subsequent recession better than many other EU countries but warns that caution remains with regard to the challenges that lie ahead both at home and abroad.
The Alliance, like the Red-Green opposition, were keen to emphasise that there were two clear alternatives available to voters on September 19th. They argue that while the centre-right parties offer a platform for jobs, the centre-left offer welfare.
The Red-Green coalition
The Red-Green coalition consists of three parties – the Social Democrats, the Green Party, and the Left Party. Party leaders are Mona Sahlin, Peter Eriksson/Maria Wetterstrand and Lars Ohly, respectivley. The Left Party and the Green Party previously supported the minority Social Democrat government that held power from 1998-2006.
The centre-left Red-Green coalition was formally announced on December 7th 2008 after the parties had managed to reach agreement on basic principles of their economic policy.
The formation of what has become known as the Red-Greens (de rödgröna) came after several months of negotiations following the breakdown of talks in Bommersvik in 2008. The Left Party declined to budge on key economic issues – such as the independence of the Riksbank and budgetary discipline.
The Social Democrats and the Green Party presented a joint budget proposal and announced a cooperation which excluded the Left Party. Following internal criticism from leading Social Democrat groups, as well as significant shifts in Left Party economic policy, the parties were able to patch up their differences and in December announce a ”deeper cooperation” with the goal of building a coalition government after the 2010 election.
On August 31st 2010, The Red-Greens presented an election manifesto entitled: Responsibility for the whole of Sweden (Ansvar för hela Sverige), promising to match the Alliance reform budget of 12.8 billion kronor ($1.72 billion) for 2011.
The Red-Green parties are going to the polls on a platform of welfare investment over tax cuts. While the coalition has promised tax cuts of up to 17 billion kronor for pensioners, it rejects further tax cuts for wage earners and proposes the reintroduction of some form of wealth tax.
Mona Sahlin and Social Democrat economic affairs spokesperson Thomas Östros, regularly point out that unemployment has increased over the past four years and argue that government policies on sick pay and unemployment benefits have lead to greater divisions among groups in society.
The Social Democrats
The Social Democrats are the largest party within the centre-left Red-Green coalition that is fighting to wrestle back power after four years in opposition. Mona Sahlin is the party leader and is bidding to become Sweden’s first female prime minister. Other noteable figures within the party include economic policy spokesperson Thomas Östros, former justice minister Thomas Bodström, party secretary Ibrahim Baylan, and Stockholm politician Carin Jämtin.
The Social Democrats were founded in 1889 and are thus the oldest party in Swedish politics. The party is the most successful in Swedish political history, dominating post-war government and credited with being responsible for the massive expansion of Sweden’s welfare state.
The Social Democrats, then led by Göran Persson, succumbed to a crushing defeat in the 2006 elections, receiving 34.99 percent of the votes, its lowest showing since universal suffrage.
Mona Sahlin replaced Persson in 2007 to become the first female party leader. Sahlin was something of a compromise choice after several leading figures ruled themselves out of the race and has struggled to unite factions of the party. She was roundly criticised by Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) for launching a two party coalition with the Green Party, and excluding the Left Party, in October 2008. The Left Party later joined what became the Red-Green coalition. The party ideology is based on a social corporatist economic model and strongly support feminism and advocates equality, taking an active stand against discrimination and racism.
The Social Democrats are campaigning on a theme of Sweden as a “country of possibilities” under the slogan – ”We can’t wait”. The party’s platform has the development of the welfare state at its heart, promising measures to adress inequality in society and boost job creation and thus tax revenue. The Social Democrats’ priorities are made clear in their election declaration – ”Welfare must go before major tax cuts”. The party going to the polls on a programme of investment in public services, with the only major tax cuts directed at pensioners.
Mona Sahlin’s leadership of the party is under scrutiny and there is widespread speculation that she would not survive a second successive election loss for the party.
The Moderates
The Moderates are the largest party in the centre-right Alliance coalition that has been in government since 2006. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is the party leader. The party has a further nine ministers – Finance Minister Anders Borg, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Justice Minister Beatrice Ask, Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Migration Minister Tobias Billström, Trade Minister Ewa Björling, Development Aid Minister Gunilla Carlsson, Social Insurance Minister Christina Husmark Pehrsson, and Defence Minister Sten Tolgfors.
The Moderates are a centre-right, liberal conservative political party founded on October 17th 1904. By the early 1970s, and under the stewardship of Gösta Bohman, the party shifted from traditionalist conservatism to a more liberal approach to the economy and the party governed in various coalition constellations from 1976 until 1982.
After the crisis government and reform years under Carl Bildt between 1991 and 1994, the party had a long period in opposition. Having lost the 2002 in disastrous fashion, the Moderates elected Fredrik Reinfeldt as party leader and a process of change towards the political centre was begun.
Reinfeldt relaunched the party in Blairite fashion as ”the New Moderates” and worked to form a viable political alternative to the Social Democrats as part of the four-party Alliance for Sweden.
Fredrik Reinfeldt’s ”New Moderates” campaigned as the ”New Workers’ Party” on a platform of job creation and adressing alienation in Swedish society, winning 26.23 percent of the vote to help the Alliance to victory.
In power the Moderates have dominated government policy holding key ministerial posts in the finance, defence, trade and foreign ministries.
Job creation has remained the focus of the mandate period with measures such as in-work tax credits, lower payroll charges for the young, and the RUT deduction for household services, key initiatives.
The Moderates have also pushed through the end of national service and the abolition of wealth tax.
The Moderates campaign is very much focused on Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Finance Minister Anders Borg. The party is pushing its line on jobs and crime, and argues that it is the party to trust with the public purse.
The Moderates have stated their ambition to wrestle the role of default party of government from the Social Democrats and recent opinion polls indicate that it could become the largest parliamentary party.
The Liberals
The Liberals are one of the three smaller parties which make up the centre-right Alliance coalition that has been in government since 2006, having polled 7.5 percent in the 2006 general election. Education minister Jan Björklund is the party leader. The party has a further three government ministers – Minister for Higher Education and Research Tobias Krantz, Minister of EU Affairs Birgitta Ohlsson and Minister for Integration and Gender Equality Nyamko Sabuni.
The Liberal Party (Folkpartiet liberalerna – fp) is a social liberal political party with roots dating back to the end of royal autocracy in 1809. The party’s base is mostly among the middle-class and is known for its positive stance toward the euro, EU, nuclear power, and Nato, and for its no-nonsense profile on education issues.
Aside from taking its place in a war-time coalition government, the Liberals first experienced power in a three party coalition government in 1976 under Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin, which ultimately came to an end in 1982.
After being part of the crisis government and reform years under Carl Bildt between 1991 and 1994, the party had a long period in opposition.
The Liberals enjoyed a successful 2002 election, in an otherwise disappointing year the centre-right, but was criticised for adopting populist right-wing rhetoric when proposing a language test requirement for obtaining Swedish citizenship.
The party leader since 2007 is Jan Björklund, a former army major and school-teacher, known for his tough stance on order in schools. Björklund recently aired his view on the re-nationalisation of the public schools system, currently the reserve of municipalities.
The party supports more open immigration, especially for economic migrants. The Liberal Party under Jan Björklund has been described as standing for a strain of liberalism dubbed ”law and order liberalism” and the party regular defends the ”right to place demands” on groups in society such as immigrants and the unemployed.
Gender equality minister Nyamko Sabuni has meanwhile been criticised from some quarters for declining to identify herself as a feminist.
The Liberals campaign is very much focused on party leader Jan Björklund and equality minister Nyamko Sabuni, and the party is pushing its education and integration line as the party of action which does not shy from tough choices.
The Liberals have enjoyed a rebound in the polls recently with Björklund’s straightforward approach putting the party in a strong position to wrestle the position of the Alliance’s second party away from the Centre Party.
The Greens
The Greens are bidding to become the second largest party within the centre-left Red-Green coalition that is fighting to wrestle back power after four years in opposition.
Maria Wetterstrand and Peter Eriksson are the party spokespersons. Other noteable figures within the party include economic policy spokesperson Mikeala Valtersson, former MP turned journalist Gustaf Fridolin, and Ship-to-Gaza activist Mehmet Kaplan.
The Swedish Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna) was founded in 1981 and is thus the youngest parliamentary party. The party emerged out of the movement opposing nuclear power and first gained parliamentary seats in 1988.
Long a 5 percent party, the Green Party has enjoyed the support of around 10 percent of the electorate in a slew of recent opinion polls, and the party had set itself a target of 12 percent at the September 19th election.
The party’s appeal has extended from its original environmentalist hardcore to attract most of its support among the young, female, urban middle-classes.
In the mid-1990s the party took a stand against Sweden’s membership of the European Union, although the policy demanding a new referendum was finally discarded in September 2008.
While acting as a support party for the Social Democrats from 1998-2006, the Greens pushed their green tax agenda advocating a general shift in taxation policy towards higher taxes on unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly practices and products.
The party was the first to raise the issue of climate change in Sweden and is credited with pushing the issue into the political mainstream.
The party has long campaigned as a party that looks forward and not to the left, or the right on the political scale. The 2010 election campaign is no exception with the party pledging to ‘Modernise Sweden”.
One of the Green Party’s principles is to work against political careerism. In practice this means that elected representatives are limited to three terms in office and so the popular Maria Wetterstand, and co-spokesperson Peter Eriksson are required to stand down in 2011, regardless of the election result.
The Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna – SD) polled 2.6 percent of the votes in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Jimmie Åkesson is the party leader.
The Sweden Democrats were founded in 1988 and in contrast to other far-right parties across the EU, has roots in the neo-Nazi movement, specifically the Keep Sweden Swedish (Bevara Sverige Svenskt) group.
The party under Mikael Jansson, and now Jimmie Åkesson, has worked hard to tone down its more extremist elements in recent years in an attempt to attract a broader base of support outside of its core of young working class males. The party’s ideology is based on nationalism and social conservativism.
Immigration underpins all of the Sweden Democrats’ policy positions, with immigrants and Sweden’s culturally mixed society argued to be the source of all of the country’s perceived ills.
The party campaigns against immigration and multicuralism and argues for the construction of a culturally homogenous Sweden.
The Sweden Democrats are inspired by the electoral success of Pia Kjærsgaard and the Danish People’s Party.
While, like Kjærsgaard, SD rejects accusations of racism, the party’s election campaign has been notable for a series of mishaps which have damaged the party’s attempts to present a shift away from the political extremes.
Despite, or perhaps because of, these electoral campaign controversies, polls indicate that the party is on course for seats in parliament but, regardless of the result, is unlikely to gain any influence on government policy.
Swedish Election 2010
A far-right party in Sweden has won seats in parliament for the first time, denying the governing centre-right coalition an overall majority. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats have won 20 of the 349 seats in the country’s single assembly, following the general election.
The alliance, led by centre-right Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, fell short of a clear victory with 172 seats. Mr Reinfeldt says he will seek the support of the opposition Green Party. The Greens are currently allied with the centre-left Social Democrats.
One Swedish newspaper wrote: “the nightmare scenario has happened”…
Sweden’s ruling center-right coalition won the re-election, marking a historic moment as a non-socialist government was elected to a second term for the first time in the country’s political history.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s center-right four-party coalition — made up of the Moderates, the Liberals, the Christian Democrats and the Centre party — held on to power, but lost its outright majority.
“The Swedish people have cast their vote, and they have ruled that we are the ones who should keep governing,” Reinfeldt said at his party’s election night celebration.
His coalition won 49.3 percent of the vote, officials at the Swedish Election Authority said after all 5,668 voting districts reported. The opposition “red-green” coalition — consisting of the Social Democrats, the Left party and the Green Party — had 43.7 percent of the vote, election officials said.
The far-right anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party also made a strong showing, winning 5.7 percent of the vote and a place in the national parliament for the first time. With possession of 20 seats, the party could wind up tipping the balance of power between the two major coalitions, although party leaders, including Reinfeldt, have vowed not to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats.
The leader of Sweden’s red-green opposition coalition, Mona Sahlin, conceded defeat. She told her supporters they were not able to regain the trust of the voters.
“We have lost,” she said, stressing that the center-right coalition also failed to get an outright majority. The ruling coalition won 172 seats, while Sahlin’s group took 157 in the 349-seat parliament.
Sweden has a long tradition of socialist rule, with a cradle-to-grave welfare system. But the global financial crisis threw Sweden into one of its worst economic downturns since World War II.
The ruling conservative coalition, which came into power in 2006, imposed a string of austerity measures and managed to turn Sweden’s economy into one of the strongest in Europe, with an expected growth of 4.5 percent this year. The crisis management appears to have impacted many voters.
“I think the economy is the key issue,” said one man at a Stockholm polling station. “I think Sweden has done very well for the last few years during the global financial crisis, and I hope the government will stay on.”
But with a tightening of fiscal policy, several groups in Swedish society have seen their situation worsen. Pensioners and sick people are among the hardest hit, and the leader of the red-green coalition had urged voters to vote for change on.
“There is a clear difference between the left’s and the right’s tax policies towards working people and pensioners,” said one elderly woman who had just cast her ballot. “My pension has gone down during these last years.”
“The moderate party and the center-right alliance seeks the confidence of the voters,” Reinfeldt said in a televised speech, the eve of the election. “We do this with a promise to take responsibility. We have taken Sweden through a difficult economic crisis. Many decisions have been hard to make, and not everything has been right from the beginning.”
But, he said, “After a difficult financial crisis, confidence in the future is now growing in our country. It is great to see how Sweden gets back on its feet. We are seeing more jobs and the unemployment is going down. Sweden today has Europe’s strongest economy, but there is a risk for new troubled times. There are countries in our surroundings that have lost control over their economy and have had to make hard cuts and increase taxes. This will always hit the weakest the hardest. Don’t put Sweden in this situation.”
Meanwhile, Sahlin said, nearly all Swedes want “a health care based on their needs, not their wallet, and a school that helps all children gain knowledge, regardless of their background … I want to take responsibility for Sweden, the welfare state. If we can handle the jobs situation, then our economy will grow, and we can impose our welfare.”
“I am for reductions in tax but not at any cost,” she said. “Don’t vote away Sweden the welfare state. What we sell and tear down now will never come back.”
The far-right Sweden Democrats, which received 2.9 percent of votes in 2006, nearly doubled its votes this year. But its anti-immigration policies have caused all the main party leaders to vow not to cooperate with it, even as it won seats.
“I think it is more important than ever that everyone goes to vote today, so that we can stop them,” one young woman voter said, referring to the Sweden Democrats. “I think it would be a day of shame for all Swedes if those people would come into parliament.”
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said his party had been treated unfairly in the election
A far-right party in Sweden has won seats in parliament for the first time, denying the governing centre-right coalition an overall majority. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats have won 20 of the 349 seats in the country’s single assembly, following Sunday’s general election.
The alliance, led by centre-right Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, fell short of a clear victory with 172 seats. Mr Reinfeldt says he will seek the support of the opposition Green Party.
The Greens are currently allied with the centre-left Social Democrats.
Green Party co-chair Maria Wetterstrand said the opposition bloc – which won 157 seats – remained united.
Mr Reinfeldt also did not rule out working with the Social Democrats.
“On many questions there is a possibility for broader co-operation,” he told reporters. “We have to see how the Social Democrats define their road ahead.”
However the prime minister reiterated that his four-party Alliance for Sweden would not form a coalition with the far-right.
We will not co-operate, or become dependent on, the Sweden Democrats”
“I have been clear on how we will handle this uncertain situation,” he said. “We will not co-operate, or become dependent on, the Sweden Democrats”.
Media boycott
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said his party would use the opportunity to make itself heard, as it had not been invited to official debates during the campaign. He claims that they have in many ways been treated as anything but a political party in this election. Even so, today they stand there with a fantastic result. The situation is a bit uncertain just now, but he claims that they have four years ahead of them to speak out on the issues that matter to them and influence Swedish politics.
BBC regional reporter Damien McGuinness said the success of the far right has shocked many voters in Sweden.
Winning 20 seats in parliament, the Sweden Democrats have obviously touched a nerve, he adds.
The party appears to have tapped into voter dissatisfaction over immigration, saysa correspondent, with the result undermining the image of Sweden as a tolerant and open-minded country.
Women Take Control of Swiss Government
The election of Simonetta Sommaruga in Sweden is a historic step in a country where women only got to vote on a national level in 1971.Ms Sommaruga becomes the fourth female in the seven-member Federal Council.
Switzerland is not the only country in Europe to have a female majority in cabinet although it is rare. Spain’s cabinet formed in 2008 has more women than men. Finland and Norway also have cabinets with female majorities. However Switzerland is regarded as rather conservative and did not allow allow females to vote nationally until 1971 and the last canton granted female voting rights only in 1990!
Women in Switzerland, who weren’t allowed to vote or run for office just 40 years ago, now control the country’s government. Women gained a four-person majority in the country’s ruling seven-member Federal Council with the election of Social Democrat Simonetta Sommaruga, who defeated a candidate from a right-wing party.
Economics Minister Doris Leuthard currently holds the country’s rotating presidency. Switzerland, which granted women the right to vote in 1971, now becomes the fifth country in the world—after Norway, Spain, Finland and the Cape Verde Islands—to have a female majority government. Advocates hailed the milestone, but warned that the country’s business and academic spheres have a lot of catching up to do.
