Chidambaram asks US, Europe to 'set their house in order'

Chidambaram asks US, Europe to 'set their house in order'

Washington, Nov 15 (PTI) Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked the US and Europe to "set their house in order" to reverse the impact of the financial crisis on economies worldwide and help capital to flow back to developing nations.
"If they (US and Europe) set their house in order, surely capital will flow back to developing countries...Credit will flow back and things will be much better", he said in an interview to business news channel NDTV Profit ahead of the G-20 Summit here.

The Minister further said, "What India wants is that the country where this crisis originated...The US and some countries in Europe must do all that is necessary to reverse the impact of the crisis of the global economy, especially the economies of the developing countries".

Asked about the ways to encourage capital flow back to developing countries, Chidambaram said, "We do not have to do anything more. What we have had in place was enough to attract capital in the last three years. What is happening now is because of what is happening in their countries." PTI

 

PM@ G20->failure of regulatory and supervisory mechanism

 

 

Sharp focus on financial meltdown at G20 meet
PM seeks fiscal package
Washington, PTI:
Warning that the financial meltdown has exploded into a systemic crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asked the world leaders to work on a coordinated fiscal package to tackle recession that is hitting India and other developing countries.
Attributing the crisis to failure of regulatory and supervisory mechanism, Singh said “We must give the world a clear signal to take specific coordinated action to handle the crisis in a manner which restores confidence and which also responds to the needs of the developing countries.” A credible system of multilateral surveillance which can signal the emergence of imbalances, should be designed to protect the world from recurrence of such crisis, Singh said while addressing the G-20 Summit, convened by US President George W Bush.  He also suggested a multi-pronged approach to spur investment, global trade and capital flows to re-instill investors’ confidence. Advocating a coordinated fiscal stimulus to help mitigate severity and duration of the recession, Singh pressed for urgent steps to strengthen the global trading system and forestall any protectionist tendencies which surface during such crisis. Singh, an eminent economist himself, prescribed a slew of measures, including short-term swap arrangements, special incentives to counter shrinkage of capital inflows and activating a process of replenishing IMF resources. “Resorting to fiscal stimulus may be viewed as risky in some situations, but if we are indeed on the brink of the worst downturn since the Great Depression, the risk may be worth taking,” he told the Summit which has leaders from the United Kingdom, France, China, Japan Italy and other leading nations. The Summit deliberated on short-term, medium and long-term steps to overcome the financial crisis. The Prime Minister said industrialised countries could help revive trade flows in developing nations by expanding the scale of export credit finance available to them. What’s on * Leaders from major developed and emerging countries wrap up their G20 summit on Saturday (Sunday Indian time) * They are expected to unveil a plan for repairing the world financial system, ravaged by the credit crisis * On the agenda are: quick action to boost growth * A broad framework for further discussions on market reforms, financial regulation and revamp of the international financial order * The IMF’s role as policeman for financial and economic stability is under review * G20 leaders are likely to meet again in the first three months of 2009 — once Barack Obama takes over as US president * Britain, as next year's G20 chair, may be the host

 

Asian banks' employees come together to protect jobs

Asian banks' employees come together to protect jobs
New Delhi, PTI:
In the midst of the global financial crisis taking its toll on banks in the US and Europe, employees of Asian banks have joined hands to form the first transnational association of the financial sector workforce to protect their jobs.
"The association formed on Saturday will be called the Asian Regional Organisation of Banks, Insurance and Finance Unions (AROBIFU), having representation from 15 Asian countries," said All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam, who has been elected President of AROBIFU. To begin with, the association will have representation of 20 unions from countries including India, South Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he said. Venkatachalam said the association has twin objectives of ensuring job safety and resisting forces that may attempt to hinder the socio-economic growth of Third World countries, particularly Asian countries. It is now an established fact that the current global financial sector crisis is the result of the fallacy and failure of the policies of liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation, he said. "The myth of free market stands totally exposed all over the world," he said. Therefore, like-minded people in Asian countries have decided to form an association to safeguard the interests of employees and customers, he said. The secretariat will function from Chennai, he said, adding other office-bearers are from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

 

Global slowdown turns the heat on six lakh garment workers

Global slowdown turns the heat on six lakh garment workers

Bageshree S. and Sharath S. Srivatsa

Orders come down by 10 per cent; units resort to lay-offs

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Factories are facing problems with deferred purchase

Many are giving extended Deepavali break to workers

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— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Workers entering their factory in Bangalore in this file photo of April 15, 2008, are facing an uncertain future.

BANGALORE: This Deepavali has not brought cheer to owners and workers of apparel factories here with the slowdown in the world economy affecting the industry. Several factories here are facing problems with deferred purchase.

The orders for factories, which are dependent on exports, mainly to the U.S., have come down by about 10 per cent following deferred buying by big apparel brands.

Industry insiders say that the situation might become worse in the next quarter if the global situation does not improve by then.

Reduced spending

Rising unemployment and reduced spending by the Americans have forced some of the leading brands in the U.S. to close down their outlets, which in turn has affected the apparel industry here. The U.S. accounts for 55 per cent of all global apparel imports.

Sandeep Walia, Chief Executive Officer of Arwind Apparels, told The Hindu that the industry was in “recessionary mode,” and industries were looking at “building in efficiency” and “cutting out all the fat” by cutting down on expenses, such as avoidable air travel, and “increasing plant efficiency”.

While some of the smaller units have closed shop, many are giving extended Deepavali break to workers with a rider that they will make up for this when the orders start pouring in.

The fact that people in Europe and the U.S. are not walking into stores of branded apparels and buying brands such as GAP, Lands End, Ann Taylor, West Seal and J.C. Penny has affected business, said Ravi Kishore, an industry consultant.

“Many of these brands which have businesses in India have deferred purchase,” he said.

Acknowledging that there is an “anticipation of slowdown” by December if the present trend continues, Jagdish N. Hinduja of Gokuldas Images, said that orders were “reasonably good” at present.

Feeling the heat

Meanwhile, the downward trend has turned the heat on about six lakh garment workers in the city.

The industries are resorting to reducing the shift size and giving offs to the employees.

Kumari, a worker in a factory at Gowdanapalya near Uttarahalli, said that production targets were so strict now that workers found it difficult to take a break even to drink water.

She had no work between October 2 and 13 and is yet to know if she will be paid for this period.

Holidays

A company on Mysore Road, which employs 2,700 workers, has been giving week-long holidays to employees by turns.

“They have been paid for this period and told that they should compensate for it when work picks up again,” said K.R. Jayaram of Garment and Textile Workers Union.

Vishalakshi, who worked as a tailor at MD Apparels at Madanayakanahalli, lost her job when the unit closed down. She joined another factory in the same locality, but was paid only Rs. 120 a day as against Rs. 147 paid earlier.

“The market is down and they said I could quit if I was not happy with the pay,” she says. Ms. Vishalakshi is now looking for her third job within six months.

A manager of a unit near Nelamanagala said he had instructions to cut about 10 per cent of the employee strength after strict performance appraisals. Overtime wages had been stopped, he added.

 

Obama harps on 'change'; McCain calls him 'redistributionist'

Obama harps on 'change'; McCain calls him 'redistributionist' Washington, Oct 28 (PTI) With the election day just a week away, Republican presidential nominee John McCain sparred with rival Barack Obama over economy, charging that he was planning a "redistribution" of wealth, while the Democrat stuck to his pet theme of "change" from the "failed" policies. McCain, desperate to gain ground after trailing in a series of opinion polls, again sought to project Obama as a "socialist", a term that still arouses suspicion in the US. Campaigning in the key state of Pennsylvania, he dubbed the Democrat a "redistributor-in-chief", a reference to the allegation that if elected, he will be "redistributing" wealth instead of creating opportunities to increase wealth. "Senator Obama believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs. He said even though lower taxes on investment help our economy, he favours higher taxes on investment for 'fairness'," McCain said. "There's nothing 'fair' about driving our economy into the ground. We all suffer when that happens, and that is the problem with Senator Obama's approach to our economy." Obama, in campaign trail in the battleground state of Ohio, placed a "closing argument" before voters, asking them to choose "change" over the "failed" Bush-McCain policies that have led the US to present financial mess. Ohio has been hurting due to the financial crisis and both the nominees were pitching their economic plans there, including the routine take on manufacturing and outsourcing. The US is in the midst of the "worst economic crisis since the Great Depression", Obama said. "I can take one more week of John McCain's attacks, but this country can't take four more years of the same failed politics and the same failed policies. It's time to try something new," he said. PTI

 

Woman delivers baby in auto-rickshaw, court gives compensation

Woman delivers baby in auto-rickshaw, court gives compensation New Delhi, Oct 21 (PTI) A woman, who had to deliver her baby in an auto-rickshaw after being denied ambulance service, has been awarded a compensation of Rs 50,000 by the Delhi Consumer Commission which held the government-run ESI hospital guilty for deficiency in service. "These hospitals are meant for providing medical facilities particularly to the weaker sections of the society and making them to run from pillar to post for getting treatment is inexcusable and for such grossest deficiency in service, the hospitals are bound to compensate the patients," Commission President Justice J D Kapoor said. The Commission also into consideration the fact that the new-born baby could not survive due to lack of prompt medical care on the part of the hospital. Jasde Negi, a resident of Trilokpuri in east Delhi, was regularly visiting the Noida-based ESI hospital after she conceived. On June 21, last year, she was denied the ambulance services by the hospital when she was writhing in labour pain. The woman, was refused admission and was rather advised to approach GTB hospital for delivery. The harried woman delivered the baby in an auto-rickshaw on her way to the GTB hospital. The child, unfortunately, could not survive. The ESI hospital took the plea that its two ambulances out of three were out of order and it had no other option but to advise the woman to go to GTB on her own. "Ambulances are such vehicles, which have to be kept in perfect order and available at every given point of time... and the organisation did not pay any heed to such kind of deficiencies," the Commission said in a release. PTI

 

Emotions communicated via instant messaging 'contagious'

Emotions communicated via instant messaging 'contagious' New York, Oct 26 (PTI) Instant messaging, a form of online communication that allows real-time interaction through computers or mobile phones, has nowadays become popular with more and more young people due to its speed and ease of use. Now, a new study has claimed that just as with talking face-to-face, the emotions communicated via instant messaging (IM) are also contagious. Researchers at Cornell University in New York, led by Prof Jeffrey Hancock, have based their findings on an analysis of communication of 44 pairs of volunteers recruited for the study, the 'New Scientist' reported. Prior to taking part in the communication, one person in each pair was told to see either a harrowing film scene or a clip from another film depicting small talk. Subsequently, all the subjects were asked to chat online for 15 to 20 minutes. They were also instructed to find out more about each other and to discuss about something that was worrying them. The researchers found not only that each participant could accurately assess their partner's mood, but that those paired with someone who had watched the harrowing film scene felt sadder than before the chat. PTI