India, the Largest TV piracy in Asia

Pay TV piracy has cost Asia $1.13 billion so far this year, according to a study by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Assn. of Asia and Standard Chartered Bank.

The worst offender was India, with $685 million in losses to the industry.

Part of the problem lies with the thousands of different companies owning the last mile of cable pipes not declaring their full income.

Thailand saw the second highest loss with $160 million

.

For more details, you can vist the source.

Three Chinese groundbreakers in Biotech and nanotech

This is a report from Time magazine (Source). It reveals the Chinese achivements in R&D.

From biotech to nanotech, three Chinese pioneers look to lead the nation to a new scientific frontier

Nowhere is Asia's scientific revolution unfolding more dramatically than in China, where researchers are taking advantage of bounteous funds and pushing hard to fulfill a government mandate to innovate. Here are three Chinese scientists whose discoveries in the emerging biotech and nanotech fields could transform the way we live and help secure China's position as a scientific superpower:

More details could be reached here.

Miserable Muslims in Democratic India

A recent report of the Sachar Committee reveals astonishing result:

Muslims in India may be actually scraping the bottom of the education barrel, falling even below Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes when it comes to enrolment in literacy schools.

(Source)

--------1965----2001
Male (Urban)
Muslim---72%-----80%
SC/ST----72%-----90%
Others---90%-----95%

--------1965----2001
Female (Urban)
Muslim---52%-----80%
SC/ST----40%-----83%
Others---80%-----92%

--------1965----2001
Male (Rural)
Muslim---60%-----75%
SC/ST----50%-----85%
Others---80%-----90%

--------1965----2001
Female (Rural)
Muslim---32%-----68%
SC/ST----19%-----72%
Others---40%-----80%
Enrollement in Literacy Schools (from the report of the Sachar Committee)

From the above data, Muslims enrollement in literacy schools was higher than pitiful SC/ST communities. But today, Muslims lag behind.

According to the report:

Barring infant mortality and sex ratio, Muslims way behind others, even SC/STs, in social, health indices

The Scheduled Caste peoples are also known as Dalits or Untouchables; Scheduled Tribe people are also referred to as Adivasis. Both are living at the bottom of Indian society. If you think situation of lower castes in India is bad, imagine how bad it is for the Muslims.

India government did realize the problem and of course, it has good policies.

In 1983 a high-powered panel for minorities was appointed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and headed by Dr Gopal Singh. Its report revealed a gloomy picture of Muslim backwardness, especially in education. In the same year, the prime minister’s 15-point programme was proclaimed. It stated, “India of our dreams can survive only if Muslims and other minorities can live in absolute safety and confidence.” The 15 points covered all factors which resulted in backwardness, such as communal riots, lack of representation in state and Central services and nil access to the 20-point development programme.

(Source)
As usual, it's easy to find good policies from India government, but most of them are poorly implemented.

Committee of governors on the welfare of minorities submitted its report in 1998, lamenting the dismal implementation of the 15-point programme. It said: “The very purpose of the 15-point programme seems to have been defeated as a result of negligence on the part of the authorities who have failed to implement the programme.”

(Source)
How are Indian Muslims living today?

Post-Babri, post-9/11, the world seems to have split into two camps: Muslim and non-Muslim.

In Malegaon. In a town of seven lakh, there is no health facility, 85 per cent of the population is crammed into slums. There are open drains, flies and mosquitoes abound, chikunguniya and dengue, detected and undetected, take their toll. Children are everywhere, but where are the schools? Most of the older ones are dropouts who work on powerlooms. A survey revealed that 33 per cent of primary school students are hearing-impaired because of the deafening din of the powerlooms.

Indian Muslims from being mishal-e-raah (pathfinders) have, over the last 60 years, become raah ke pathar (stones on the path). The slide has been unrelenting, and neither the community itself nor its leaders have made any move to arrest this. Nor has the media. The Gudiyas and Imranas have hogged headlines. Images of veiled women appear with or without reason, to titillate readers.

(Source)

China fights back over patent rights

More detail of the article can be obtained from the Source

CHINESE companies have begun to defend their patent rights with increasing aggression in US courts, legal experts say. "Within the past year or two, the Chinese have begun standing up for themselves and testing the limits of intellectual property (IP) rights that are asserted against them," said Mark Hogge, a patent attorney at the law firm Greenberg Traurig.

Some Chinese companies are even going on the offensive in the US for the first time, and filing their own patent lawsuits against US competitors.

"Over the past 10 years, patent owners have won in about half of ITC cases against Chinese companies, but in the other half, Chinese companies have either won, forced the patent owner to withdraw the complaint, or obtained an agreed-upon settlement," said Mr Jarvis.

"The Chinese are now at a place where they aren't taking the hit and are going to take a stand," said Mr Hogge. Like Japan, Korea and Taiwan before it, China is becoming more aggressive in protecting its IP as Chinese industry becomes more sophisticated, moving away from copying foreign products and towards innovation.

The growing importance of IP to Chinese firms was demonstrated earlier this month by figures from the World Intellectual Property Organisation showing patent filings in China (half of them by Chinese) had risen sevenfold in the past 10 years. Getting sued for patent infringement in the US is very costly, but it can have benefits, said Mr Chen. Chinese companies are increasingly realising "it may not be a bad thing to be a defendant in a lawsuit because we get free publicity".

Comparing China With India by Numbers

1. The Geo-demographics of China and India
Land Area: China 9.6 million sq km; India: 2.97 million sq km
Population: China 1.3 billion; India 1.1 billion
Labor force: China 791.4 million; India 496.4 million
Population growth rate: China 0.59% (death rate 0.697%, birth rate 1.325%); India 1.38% (death rate 0.818%, birth rate 2.201%)

2. Economy in General
GDP in 2005: China US$2.225 trillion; India US$719.8 billion or
China US$8.859 trillion; India US$3.611 trillion by PPP
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html

Economy sectors:
China: Agriculture: 15% of GDP, Industry 52% of GDP, Manufacturing 35% of GDP, service 33% In 2001
India: Agriculture: 24% of GDP, Industry 27% of GDP, Manufacturing 16% of GDP, service 48% In 2001
These data comes from World Bank. You can conclude that China's industry size is almost 6 times of India's after a very simple calculation. You can see how little India's industry is. More important, China’s industry is still growing much faster than India’s.

3. Agriculture
India has more arable land than China. Indian produced 250 million tons of grains in 2003 (Thanks for the good weather).
China usually produces 450 million tons of grains each year no matter how tough the weather is (record is more than 500 million tons) (Thanks for the biotech R&D and expansion of the technologies in agricultural filed in China).

India produces 87.6 million tons rice from 42.4 million hectares on the other hand China produces 178 million tons of rice from a mere 29 million hectares. There is only one big difference; China embraced ‘hybrid rice’ technology in a big way, while India has had a slow start.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/15440.html

In 1980, China grew 4100 kg of rice per hectare; India, 2000. In 2005, China grew 6300 kg, India 3000 kg. The difference in yields had increased from 2100 kg to 3300 kg per hectare. For wheat the comparable figures were 1900 kg versus 1400 kg in 1980; and 4200 kg versus 2700 kg in 2005. For seed cotton, 1700 kg versus 500 kg in 1980; and 3200 kg versus 800 kg in 2005. For vegetables, 14500 kg versus 8300 kg in 1980; and 19300 kg versus 11300 kg in 2005.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/16111._.html

4. Industry
As data in “Economy in General” section shows, China’s industry scale is 6 times of India’s. China’s industry is still growing at around 16% pace for many years. That means one year increase in China’s industry revenue equals to the total size of India’s industry. The gap is huge.
China’s industry revenue is about 3.5 times of the revenue from agriculture, but for India, its industry revenue is almost equal to the agriculture.
Around 43 million tons of iron and steel was produced in India in 2005 (An important index of infrastructure construction.) China produced around 349 million tons of iron and steel.
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/12/eng20061012_310940.html

55% of the world cement (Another infrastructure construction index) was used in China. See http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2446908

By the data from CIA fact books, India produced around 36 million tons of oil (A natural resource index) in 2003 and will face the resource problem soon.
China produced 160 million tons of oil in 2003 and imported more than 100 million tons in the same year.

Here talks about the Sino-India trade in 2004. It clearly tells that India is only a raw material supplier to China and China mainly sells industrial products to India.
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/full_story.php?content_id=81415

India’s average tariff fell from 56% in 1990 to 28% in 2004. By comparison, China’s average tariff dropped from 32% to 6% over the same period. That means, India has to use tariff to protect its weak industry. While, China’s industry competes against others fairly even in domestic market.
In 2002 the typical monthly wage of a manufacturing worker in India was US$23.80 while in China the figure was US$110.80, according to the IMF.
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/US_ChinaIndiaReality_Research.pdf
Even India’s industry is under the protection of high tariff. India still has a huge trade deficit. The deficit could reach US$50 billion in the fiscal year of 2005-2006.
http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0109.htm
But China always has a trade surplus. I even don’t bother to provide the links.

5. Service Industry
Calculating from the GDP numbers of both China and India and the percentage of service industry in them, China’s service industry contributed US$742.5 billion to China’s GDP, it is almost the total of India’s GDP. India’s service revenue was only US$345.5billion.

Chinese airlines carried 138 million passengers in 2005, and the loads will nearly double to 270 million passengers in 5 years.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-10-02-china-airports-usat_x.htm
Passenger traffic grew to 52.12 million in the last fiscal in India, from 43.47 million in 2004-05, to register a growth of 19.9 percent.
http://investinginindianews.blogspot.com/2006/07/indian-aviation-soaring-into-greater.html

The annual insurance premium currently collected in India is $23 billion, which is expected to increase ten fold to $ 239 by 2020. In the same period, China’s insurance premium will rise to $863 billion from the present level of $60 billion.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1821048,00020008.htm

Retail sales surged 12.9 percent in 2005 over the year before, to 6.7 trillion Yuan ($847 billion). By 2020, industry forecasts say the market could expand to about $2.4 trillion.
http://www.forbes.com/business/energy/feeds/ap/2006/10/17/ap3096453.html

India’s total retail market reached US $230 billion in 2005 and will grow to US$370 billion in 2011
http://sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=27553&hilite=
http://www.etretailbiz.com/feb06/SPECIALfeature.htm

India’s travel and tourism market was valued at US$42 billion in 2005. 340 million people traveled in 2005. The outbound travelers from India grew to 6.2 million in 2005. This was almost twice the number of arrivals witnessed by the country. That means only 3.1 million visited India in the same time.
http://www.euromonitor.com/Travel_and_Tourism_in_India
China received 47.11 million visitors in 2005. This number should not include the vistors from Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan.
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=199299
There were 31 million outbound tourists from China in 2005.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/05/17/world/asia/17travel.html
In 2005, inbound tourists reached 120 million (including Chinese from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan economies).
Overseas tourists contributed over $29.3 billion to the Chinese economy. But their contribution was far outweighed by that of domestic Chinese tourists, who contributed $66.7 billion.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/HC07Cb06.html

In 2004, China’s service exports were US$62 billion versus US$40 billion for India. On the other hand, 60% of China’s service exports were travel and transportation services while in India the figure was 22%.
In 2003, India’s exports of commercial services other than travel, transportation, and finance amounted to US$18.9
billion. The figure for China was US$20.6 billion. In other words, China may already be ahead of India in selling IT
services to the world.
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/US_ChinaIndiaReality_Research.pdf

6. Financial Industry and financial stability
Indians always say that their financial industry is better than China’s. This claim can cheat a lot when Chinese banks were completely state-owned. But today, three of the top four Chinese banks were listed in Hong Kong stock market. When it goes to the truth in market, Indian financial industry looks so pitiful comparing with China’s.
After the IPO of The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, its market value is about US$87 billion, This is almost one and half times of the collective market capitalization of all listed Indian banks - for the 37 listed Indian banks, this is about $ 62.76 billion (Rs 2,86,859 crore). Bank of China's market capitalization is now around $105 billion and that of China Construction Bank $ 99 billion.
India’s ICICI Bank tops the market capitalization chart with $ 13.59 billion (Rs 62,177 crore), followed by the State Bank of India with $11.89 billion (Rs 54,380 crore) and HDFC Bank with $6.29 billion (Rs 28,774 crore). None of the other listed Indian banks has over $5 billion worth of market capitalisation. Punjab National Bank, the fourth bank when it comes to market capitalization, is worth just $3.62 billion. Canara Bank is worth just $2.52 billion.
China’s ICBC has total assets of over $ 812 billion, close to the size of India's GDP! State Bank of India, which accounts for almost one-fifth of total banking assets in India, however, has an asset base of only $84 billion.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/oct/07bank.htm

How China’s banks are welcomed in the stock market? The institutional tranche, which makes up 95% of the ICBC offering, attracted more than US$300 billion in orders and is 23 times oversubscribed. In Hong Kong, ICBC's initial public offering (IPO) of H-shares was 76-times oversubscribed with one million retail investors putting in HK$420 billion. This broke the previous record, held by Bank of China, which attracted HK$286 billion (US$36.7 billion) earlier this year. This enables ICBC to price its shares at the upper limit.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/HJ21Cb03.html
After IPO, ICBC's market capitalization jumped to $156.5 billion, trailing the $165.6 billion of the world's fourth-biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase & Co in the world.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afBgyU3agIzY&refer=home

Budget deficit: 10% of GDP in India versus 2% in China. This could have big impact on financial and economical stability.
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/US_ChinaIndiaReality_Research.pdf

China has almost US$1 trillion forex reserves with total of US$ 297.9 billion external debt
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/09/content_5180188.htm
http://www.cctv.com/program/bizchina/20061023/102290.shtml
India has US$165.275 billion forex reserves with US$132.1 billion external debt.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/30/stories/2006093001431800.htm
http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=143426

India has a huge public debt, the ratio of public debt to GDP was 82% in 2005 and still growing fast, which is above the globally recognized alarm level of 60 percent.
http://www.indexmundi.com/india/public_debt.html
China’s public debt was 28.8% of GDP.
http://www.indexmundi.com/china/public_debt.html

7. Software Industry
India is famous for its software and back office service. China's software industry is actually much bigger than that of India even China keeps silent. Chinese companies rely on huge domestic market while India has almost no IT market comparing with the big countries around. China has its own software brands such as KingSoft, Rising(anti-virus), Jiangming (Anti-virus), RedFlag(Working on Linux), WPS ( office software), ufsoft(Enterprise), KINGDEE (Golden Butterfly in Chinese) ( Enterprise), Shanda (Games).
China’s Software industry revenue reached 390 billion RMB (around US$50 billion) in 2005.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200603/17/eng20060317_251505.html
India’s software industry revenue reached US$29.6 billion in the fiscal year ended in March 2006.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=11050

8. Infrastructure
India has total of 127 million cellular users as of the end of September 2006 and around 50 million landline phone users. See
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/10/business/AS_FIN_India_Mobile_Phones.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_India
China has total of 437 million mobile users and 368 million fixed-line phone users as of the end of August 2006. Total of 800 million phones are being used in China.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200609/21/eng20060921_304974.html

India had 27.7 million internet users by year-end 2005, and had only 1.3 million broadband users. China had 111 million internet users through the end 2005, among which 41.2 million were broadband users. See:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004144
Don’t forget India defines access speed of 128 kbps as broadband even in 2004.
http://www.dot.gov.in/ntp/broadbandpolicy2004.htm

Railroad: In 1949, there were only 21,800 km of railway lines in China, with only 11,000 km opened to traffic. See: http://www.macrochina.com.cn/english/china/resources/20010412000136.shtml
As of the end of 2004, China had 74, 000KM of railroad with much better quality. See: http://english.people.com.cn/200501/26/eng20050126_171976.html
India had total of about 55,000 km Railroad in 1951. That’s much more than China had in 1952. See: http://irfca.org/faq/faq-history4.html .But India has fewer railroads than China now.

China's expressway (at least 4 lanes, speed limit 110KM/hour or 120KM/hour) reaches 42, 000KM at the end of 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressways_of_China
India has only 4,885 km are central-separated expressways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressways_of_India
In 2002 China spent US$128 billion on power and transport infrastructure compared to US$18 billion for India.
A very small share of India’s roads is composed of highways. Of 3.3 million kilometers of roadway, only 195,000 kilometers are highways. China, on the other hand, has roughly 1.4 million kilometers of highway.
Due to insufficient port capacity, the lead time for Indian exports to the US is roughly three to four times greater than Chinese exports.
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/US_ChinaIndiaReality_Research.pdf

Indian industry has to pay double of what Chinese factories pay for power; for ferrying freight by railways, Indian industry pays three times what Chinese factories pay.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/16111._.html

India has electricity capacity of 130,000 megawatts.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/13/business/power.php
At the end of 2006. China will have the power capacity of 590 million kilowatts (590,000 megawatts)
http://english.people.com.cn/200601/03/eng20060103_232522.html
India's power sector, infamous for its distribution sector inefficiencies, shares the top slot in the company of countries such as Nigeria and Nicaragua when it comes to overall transmission and distribution (T&D) loss levels.India's average loss in transmission and distribution (T&D) is about 33 per cent, The T&D lose in China is only 7%.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/12/03/stories/2005120303300900.htm

9. Education
Around 30% of Indian male cannot read newspaper and 52% of female cannot read. that means around 40% of Indians cannot read. See
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html
Less than 10% of Chinese cannot read (most of are old person and they missed the education opportunity in the old time). See
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html

Indians are very proud of their software industry. But for the computer science education, China's education quality is much higher than India.

Here is the final list of the famous worldwide IBM ACM contest in 2006. So many Chinese universities were in the top list. You can clearly see Chinese students had much better performance than Indian counterpart.
http://icpc.baylor.edu/past/icpc2006/Finals/Standings.html
Here is another world-wide programmer contest. China and Chinese universities got much better scores than India.
http://www.topcoder.com/stat?c=country_avg_rating (Ranking by country)
http://www.topcoder.com/stat?c=school_avg_rating (ranking by school)
Here is the final list of Google Code Jam 2006, in which, there are 14 Chinese programmers entered the final competition, but you cannot find any Indians in the list.
http://www.google.com/press/annc/codejam06finals.html

Roughly 15% of China’s population aged 18 to 23 is enrolled in higher education compared to 7% in India. 91% of Chinese adults are literate versus 61% in India. Among females, the numbers are 87% and 45% respectively. In China, there are 18 pupils per teacher in secondary schoolsversus 34 in India. Clearly, China has an advantage when it comes to education.
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/US_ChinaIndiaReality_Research.pdf

China’s education also more connected with outside.
South and West Asia is the origin of 194,000 mobile students, with two-thirds coming from India, according to a report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) titled 'The Global Education Digest 2006'. (That means about 130,000 students from India)
Between 1999 and 2004, the number of mobile students worldwide surged by 41 percent from 1.75 million to 2.5 million, according to the Digest. China sends the greatest number of students abroad - 14 percent of the global total - primarily to the US, Japan and Britain. (That means 350,000 students from China)
http://www.indiaenews.com/business/20060604/10169.htm

140,000 international students came to China for studying in 2005. The number will be doubled in 2020.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Aug/177200.htm
About 8,000 foreign students are studying in India.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12586.html


Today, on every parameter for basic education, China is far ahead of India. In 2000, only 47 per cent of all children managed to complete grade 5 of primary schooling in India, as opposed to 98 per cent of Chinese children. The pupil-teacher ratio for primary education in China is one teacher for every 20 students compared to one teacher for every 40 students in India. According to World Bank estimates, youth male illiteracy in India is 20 per cent. In China it's less than one per cent.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/08/10/stories/2006081005691000.htm
Gross enrollment ratio is estimated to be more or less the same in both countries — but the drop out rate in India is 21 per cent, in China it is 1 per cent.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/16111._.html

10. Science and technology R&D
China spent 245 billion Yuan (30.6 billion U.S. dollars) on scientific research and development (R&D) in 2005, a rise of 24.6 percent. The investment accounted for 1.34 percent of China's 2005 GDP. R&D funds coming from enterprises stood at 167.4 billion Yuan, making up 68.3 percent of the total investment.
http://english.people.com.cn/200609/14/eng20060914_302806.html
India's total domestic spending on R&D rose an estimated 9.7% to $4.9 billion, or 0.77% of GDP, in the fiscal year ended March 2005.
http://www.plunkettresearch.com/
Based on PPP value of the investment on R&D, China invested US$124.03 billion in 2005 and India did US$36.11 billion in the same year. The numbers will go to US$149.80 billion and US$41.81 billion in 2007.
China’s R&D investment was 12.7% of the total of the world, comparing with 32.7% of US, 12.7% of Japan and 3.7% of India in 2005 based on PPP.
57.6% of the R&D investment in China came from industry, 33.4% from government, 2.7 from abroad, 6.3% from others.
23% of the R&D investment in India came from industry, 74.7% from government, 23% from others.
http://www.battelle.org/news/06/2006report.pdf

Even China’s R&D is not high comparing with the developed countries, but it was 6 times of what India did. The huge investment gap can tell many things. The results are so obvious:
The number of papers that are being published by China and India in high-caliber journals - ones that are accessed by Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index, papers originating from China had was almost thrice those from India in 2005.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12493.html
In 2005, Indians published only 4 articles in the prestigious Journal of American Chemical Society (JACS) versus just 22 for China, 8 versus 28 in the Physical Review of Letters (PRL) and 2 versus 13 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC).
While China's score on the Knowledge Index has risen from 3.03 in 1995 to 4.21 today, India's has fallen from 2.76 to 2.61 -- that is, India has slipped even relative to itself!
In terms of innovation, which includes the articles published in scientific journals, apart from the number of R&D personnel and the number of patents, India's score has improved from 3.51 to 3.72 -- China, however, has improved from 3.94 to 4.74, another instance of that country's stupendous progress.
http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/jul/17china.htm
On public expenditure on higher education, India lags way behind at $406 per student, just a fraction of countries like China (US $2,728), Brazil (US $3,986) and Malaysia (US $11,790)
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12640.html

Many Indian and west media say India has advantage in innovation over China. Let’s compare the patents from the two countries. The number of Patent applications of a country pretty much stands for the creative and innovation of this country’s economy. In 2004, over 130,000 patent applications were received in China and China became the No. 4 in the world. India only had 17,466 applications in the same year. China filed 51 applications per million people, while India had only seven filings per million people. India was second to last
http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/oct/18forbes.htm
China made 2,452 international patent applications in 2005, a growth of 43.7 percent compared with the previous year. http://china.org.cn/english/2006/Feb/156849.htm
India filed 648 PCT applications in 2005, compared to 723 in 2004 and 764 in 2003. The trend is so obvious.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/05/stories/2006020502761300.htm

Indians are always boasting about their high technologies even supercomputer technologies. Let's compare the super computer because Indians are always claiming India is the second IT country in the world.
China's homemade supercomputer listed as No. 14. But the fastest one used in India is No. 105. It was made by IBM. India's homemade one is listed as No. 258. Legend (now Lenovo) built another more powerful one this year. It could be listed as No. 3 or No. 4. More powerful and more supercomputers were used in China than in India. See http://www.top500.org/list/2003/11/
China’s Lenovo is working on 1,000 TFLOPS supercomputer already, and it could be ready before 2010.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/07/28/HNlenovosupercomputer_1.html?CLUSTERING
The super computer will have domestic CPUs: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/03/content_4254337.htm

Thanks for the large market scale and the recent progress in the technology, China is able and trying to set the international or national technology standards, such as TD-SCDMA, EVD, WAPI, AVS, RFID.
TD-SCDMA was accepted worldwide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TD-SCDMA
FiberHome is the presenter of ITU-T X.85、X.86和X.87 international telecommunication standard: http://www.fhn.com.cn/fhneng/gyfh.asp?class=About_us
ZTE To Edit Key ITU Standard For Optical Network Technology. http://www.totaltele.com/View.aspx?ID=1226&t=1
China also has its own HDTV, IPTV standards. We know the standard can make more and easier money than the simple production and present the development level of technology in one country. I never hear any international industrial standard come from India.
AVS: http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/12/07/afx2376962.html
WAPI: http://english.people.com.cn/200610/13/eng20061013_311470.html

In the telecommunication technology, China is already one of the forerunners in the world.
Huawei along had registered over 8000 patents already. http://www.china.org.cn/english/BAT/142904.htm
Huawei’s global contract sales jumped up 40 pct to US$8.2 billion. http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2006/01/15/afx2451344.html
Huawei became the largest supplier in the Optical networking market in the world in 2006.
http://telephonyonline.com/finance/news/huawei_alcatel_optical_090606/

China's IC industry is making great leap in recent years. China uses about 13% of the ICs in the world and will be one of the top IC producers in 2010.
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/2006-1-28/138@296061.htm

China is to complete its first very-high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR) by the year 2010. This will be the first such reactor in the world.
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/2006-2-2/135@296739.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11080908/site/newsweek/
China’s fusion research and achievements,
http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/29/stories/2006092901421800.htm

China today is actually one of the leaders in nano-technology research. 18.3 percent academic publications on nanoscale science and engineering topics were from China in 2004. http://www.smalltimes.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=270358&p=109
China's nanotechnology patent applications rank third in world even before 2003.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-10/03/content_269182.htm

In agriculture, China is the place where hybrid-rice came from. Yuan Longping is called the “father of hybrid rice” in the world. http://www.china.org.cn/english/2001/Mar/8452.htm
China developed high-yield "super maize": http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=China&doc_id=9797&start=16&fullsearch=0China aims for 30 pc increase in "super wheat" output by 2020.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/015200610061211.htm
China has taken the lead among developing countries in the research of genetically modified (GM) plants.
http://english.people.com.cn/200512/05/eng20051205_225772.html

11: International Trade
China’s international trade topped US$1.4 trillion (import: US$660 billion, export: US$762 billion) in 2005, and China became the 3rd largest trader in the world. See: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/11/business/yuan.php
India’s international trade reached US$240.8B (export: US$100.6B, import: US$140.2 billion, import > export) in 2005 (ended in March 2006) with huge trade deficit (40% of its export). http://www.sunmediaonline.com/indiachronicleapril/bilateraltrade.html
From the data above, China does not only can sell a lot more to the outside and also provide a much larger domestic market to the outside. China’s market is not only huge on paper or by mouth. It is real.

12: Living standard
Infant mortality rate: China 2.312%, India 5.463%
Life expectancy at birth: China 72.58 years, India 64.71 years
(From CIA facts books)
People living with HIV/AIDS: China 0.64 million, India 5.7 million (The world No. 1 in 2005)
http://www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data/2006GlobalReport/default.asp

46% of general population in Bombay carries an active sexually transmitted disease (the greatest risk factor for HIV spread). Do you believe it? See: http://www.globalchange.com/indi.htm

Indian PC sales hit 4.6 million in 2005 (ended in March 2006) in the so-called the second IT superpower. See: http://www.boston.com/
About 20 million of PCs were sold in China in 2005 (ended in December 2005). China is actually the No. 2 PC market in the world, only after US. See: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2150574/china-pc-sales-hit-billion-2005

Only 32% of Indian families have TV. See:
China's number is 94% which is was almost as high as in the developed countries. India will be 2/3 of this number at the end of decade.

India’s health system is worse than neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=262521&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=
The proportion of children underweight in India is 47.5% higher than the proportion of children underweight in Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=143751
According to UNICEF, India in fact has 57 million children suffering from malnutrition compared to only seven million in China.
In China, underweight prevalence in children under five was reduced by more than half from 19 per cent in 1990 to just under seven per cent in 2005. The under-five mortality rate also sharply dropped from 49 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 31 in 2004.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/08/10/stories/2006081005691000.htm
India ranks 93 among 116 developing countries in the global hunger index. India’s score on the index for 2003, the latest year for which data is available, was 25.73, worse than Sudan at 27.20 but better than Burkina Faso (25.80). The index, comprising three indices - child malnutrition, child mortality and estimates of the proportion of people who are calorie deficient - ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best and 100 being the worst.
nearly 50 percent of the world’s hungry live in India. Around 35 percent of India’s population - 350 million - is considered food-insecure, consuming less than 80 percent of minimum energy requirements.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1058371

The long list of Chinese medal winners at Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: See: http://www.sportorganizer.com/2000sydney/2000sydney16.htm
Let's congratulate to the only one Indian winner in 2000: See: http://www.sportorganizer.com/2000sydney/2000sydney34.htm
2004 Olympics in Athens, Please look for China from the top of the list and India from the bottom:
http://www.athens2004.com/en/OlympicMedals/medals

13. Political system
Even Indians claim India is a democratic country. But its corruption is worse than China. see
http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=5299 (The research result for 2003, Corruption Perception Index)
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781359.html (The research result for 2006, Corruption Perception Index)
Another research report said India's corruption is much worse than China too: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,238369,00.html
Do you believe Democracy works in India?

Human Rights in India? See here: 3000 farmers committed suicide in a 11million farming area in one year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3855517.stm
Suicide rate for women is as high as 148 per 100,000, and 58 per 100,000 for men in Tamil Nadu. http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/15spec.htm
At least 5% of Mumbai's people live on the roads, and 2% are simply nomads. Another 2.5 million people live in dilapidated buildings which have been officially tagged as 'dangerous'. See the report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4222525.stm
Over 12 per cent of disabled women in Orissa have been raped and 25 per cent of those mentally challenged have been sexually assaulted in the state. Isn't that horrible? See: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=42099

Twelve protestors killed in police shooting in January, 2006
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/oris-j17.shtml
Four killed in protests in India's Gujarat state in May, 2006
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/article_1159863.php
Four were killed in the Violence over Indian star's death in April, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4905880.stm

The ill-treated Indians have to take their weapons to stand up against Indian government
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1770612,00.html
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/06/02/1611463.html
Maoist rebels spread across rural India.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0822/p06s01-wosc.html

The religious conflicts, fighting happens in India over and over again. You can see how divided India is as a country.
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/12/06/ayodhya.background/

Don’t forget the caste system in India and 160 million Untouchables are living in India.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1868080.ece

In India, :At least 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have died in fighting between government forces and separatists since 1979."
http://www.localnewswatch.com/jordanfalls/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=40638

More than 50 were killed in India's Independence movement
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/06/ap/world/mainD8MFTQF03.shtml

It is well known that there is no space for the discrimination against other domestic ethnic groups In China. Women are enjoying the equal rights. Chinese minorities often have more rights or privileges than Han people.

To artificially make Kolkata "shining", gov "bought from farmers for 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per acre and sold to builders for Rs 300,000 to Rs 400,000 per acre ". This can happen in a large city in India.
http://specials.rediff.com/election/2006/apr/27sld2.htm
To make Mumbai as shining as Shanghai, so many slum residents losted their place to live in one day. Around 60% of Mumbai residents are living in slums.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-1487253,00.html
60% poor people cannot beat 40% rich people in making policies in a democracy country. If you read the comments after the news, few think about the poor. See the comments: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=40309
Also please see the pitiful poor India after their slums were destroyed by Indian government: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

These two articles were written by the same foreign visitor (sounds like a biz man) after he visited both India and China in the same year (2000).
His view about India: http://berclo.net/page00/00en-impressions-india.html
His impression about China: http://berclo.net/page00/00en-impressions-china.html
He also described so-called Indian democracy in this article: http://berclo.net/page00/00en-india-1.html
"India is said to be the world's largest democracy. There is no dispute about its size, one billion is large, but I don't think that a country whose major priorities in the last 50 years have favored a small minority at the expense of the majority can be called "a democracy". "

Socialism or capitalism both are economical models and both can push economy ahead.
Socialism is not associated with slow development in history. USSR was converted into a modern economy in a short time in its socialism era. Germany was also developing very fast before ww2 even the government controlled economy tightly.
China's economy growth was also around 7% every year before the reform even China’s more attention was put on national security. 7% growth can not be thought as slow development even today, let alone China was under embargo.
India's problem was not because of social system. It was largely because the government did not have strategy and had no ability to implement its policy if it has some. That's why India sometimes has good policies, such as education, health care...., but the results are poor.
Today, China's system has both flexibility in policy and ability to implement changes. This can allow us to keep the good policies and makes changes on bad decisions quickly. Good example is China’s education system. Our old education system worked very well at low cost. China's illiterate rate dropped to less than 15% even before the reform when China was much poorer. But we trusted market economy too much and we commercialized many parts of the system. After years, it is now proven a disaster and government got a lot of complains. Government input into the system decreased percentage-wise (not by absolute value). a lot of burden was shifted to families. As a country, the total investment into the education system increased a lot, but families’ burden increased a lot faster, especially for the poorer family.
Now we are making changes again. The totally free compulsory education will be provided before 2007 nationwide. China decided to make changes in 2005, but now many provinces implemented the new policy already. We are very confident that the new policy will be pushed to all the country in time.
China even CCP does not take care of any ideology any more. As long as we think some new policy is good for China, we can try it and then expanded all over the country quickly if the test proves it works.

In Asia, at least in East Asia, countries or economies can only get rich under the dictatorship not democracy. S Korea, Singapore, Taiwan area and Hong Kong, even Japan. There was no exception.
Japan was de facto one party government arranged by US until recent years the rival party could win. S Korea was completely a dictatorship with the support from US before 1990s. Taiwan did not have real election until 2000 (but it is real unfortunate for Chinese on the island. The election is proven to be disaster. Look at what is happening in Taiwan). Singapore is a dictatorship controlled by Lee family even today. There was no any election in Hong Kong until it was returned to China in 1997.
On the contrary, Philippines were some sort of rich. It was even considered as luck if a Taiwan people could find a job there in 1960s. Philippines has the democratic government that is almost a copy if US's. But now it is almost the poorest country in SE Asia. Taiwan’s fast development happened under the dictatorship. Its economy has been stagnant for almost 10 years since election happened on the island.
From both history and today’s truth, democracy does not translate into economical development as many people take for granted. You should understand why Goldman asked India government to following China’s political model.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=142344

14. Economical History
Data show that China developed much faster than India even before China's reform. India was much better than China before the Chinese Communist Party took power. In 1950, India’s GDP per capita was almost 1.5 times of China’s. But China's GDP caught up India in 70s last century. Now China’s GDP per capita is almost 2.5 times of India’s
GDP Per capita ( I believe it is based on PPP)
Country...1820....1870....1913....1950....1973...1998…2003
China.......600......530......552......439......839....3,117…4392
India........533......533......673......619......853....1,746…2160
http://www.ggdc.net/Maddison/Historical_Statistics/horizontal-file_2006.xls

This is only the economical data. China was doing much better than India in social development before the reform, such as education, health service, scientific R&D, …. These laid down a very solid foundation for China’s economical reform that happened in late 1970s. Many people say India lags behind China because of its late economical reform. It is not true in fact. The truth is: China did better than India before the reform and is continuing to do better than India after the reform.

15. Some more links
India asks how its economy can catch up with China's
http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2003/11/19/rtr1154472.html
India Versus China-- Was written by some Indians
http://www.samachar.com/tech/archives/techtalk51.html
Can India Catch-Up With China? -- Was written by some Indians
http://www.indiadefence.com/ind-china.htm
The Population Bomb that can devastate India, actually it is a comparison between India and China
http://www.india-watch.com/4.htm
Can India catch up with China?
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1715/17150480.htm
Can India Overtake China? -- The famous article saying India will overtake China
http://www.alternatives.ca/article1053.html

16. Conclusion
The above links come from various resources. I collect these data to show the facts to people because I have heard too much from Indian high rank officials and Indian and western media that say: India is better than China, India has more potential than China, India is more innovative than China, India is better in quality and China is better in quantity… All of these claims are basing on no facts, at least today.

India’s economy is doing well in recent 3 or 4 years and the trend could continue for some time. I wish Indian people can enjoy their good life and make progress.

China has been high economical growth since 1949 even China had some setback during the Great Leap during 1959-1961 and the early stage of the Cultural Revolution during 1966-1970. The Cultural Revolution lasted for 10 years from 1966-1976, but China’s economy recovered and was in growth path after 1970.

In the past about 60 years, India’s economy was caught up by China and was put behind by China. Today, China’s economy is still growing at more than 10% pace, India, around 8%. These are simple facts.

Undoubtedly, China is a developing country with population of 1.3 billion. It has a lot of issues in the past, in today and in the future. I don’t deny that.

It's official: China is India's security threat

According to the AsiaTimes report, India has put China in its short blacklist of countries whose investment in India that India government thinks a sensitive for India's national security.

New Delhi has long been wary of allowing Chinese to invest in sensitive sectors, such as ports and telecommunications, but the new edict will extend security reviews to all sectors, including such innocuous sectors as household appliances. For the firsttime China will be officially labeled a "security risk".

Although the two countries have settled many of their differences in the ensuing four decades, the paranoia about China as a security threat seems to be increasing daily in India. For instance, India now feels, said one recent report, that investments from not only China but those from Hong Kong and Macau should also be screened. Besides, investments from North Korea, Taiwan and Afghanistan, too, are being included in the sensitive list. The current FDI norms just categorize Bangladesh and Pakistan as "security risk" countries.

Pakistan , Bangladesh , China...., India looks like have no friends around. It is really a lonely poor country under the leadership of a ridiculous government.

China also has some potential enemies for historical and geopolitical reasons and some countries also treat China in the same way. But in China, business is always business. Confident China never has the similar business policy to deal with other countries in the peace time. China treats foreign investment and business equally no matter which country they come from.

The reasons why India government does this:
1. Insecurity before the stronger China
2. Inferior complexity of India before China
3. The strong memory of their defeat of Sino-India war in 1962
4. No deplomatic ability of India government.

Untouchables Protest by Converting from Hindus to Buddhism

Thousands of Untouchable Hindus converted to the Buddhism this month across India to protest the discrimination of their caste. More than 100,000 people have been converted this time as the organizers claim.

Untouchability has been illegal in India since independence, but it is still commonly practised. In many villages Dalits are not allowed to drink clean water from a well. In some areas, tea shops keep a different glass for Dalits to use, so higher-caste Hindus are not "polluted" by drinking from the same vessel, even after it has been washed. After the 2004 tsunami, Dalit survivors in Tamil Nadu were prevented from sharing water in relief camps.

Many Dalits are forced to work as scavengers and latrine cleaners.

Even at university, Mr Durai says he was badly beaten by higher-caste students enraged that a Dalit had got better marks than them.

Conversion is a highly charged political issue. Several states have passed laws this year making it harder to convert, and the mass ceremonies will infuriate Hindu nationalist parties that have been campaigning to stop lower caste Hindus changing their religion.

This year several states, including Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have introduced laws that anyone wishing to convert will have to obtain official permission first. Gujarat, home to some of the most hardline Hindu groups, has introduced a more controversial law under which Buddhism is considered part of Hinduism.
(Source)

B R Ambedkar, one of the tallest leaders of India and an untouchable, embraced and revived the lost Buddhism religion of India along with 15 lakh of his followers. Ambedkar took to Buddhism, after announcing in 1935 that "I was born a Hindu, but I will not die as a Hindu".

To mark the golden jubilee of the mass religious conversion of Ambedkarites, there was a grand congregation this year at Deeksha Bhoomi, Nagpur. This event is an annual feature, observed on Asoka Vijaya Dashami Day (Dussehra for Hindus), which fell on October 2.

On that day, Nagpur bowed to an estimated 20 lakh Dalit Buddhists who came to Deeksha Bhoomi and the stupa to have a glimpse of the casket where Ambedkar's ashes are placed.

They were joined by western and South East Asian scholars, monks and Dalit diaspora. The Western Buddhist Order, Birmingham, UK, celebrated the event in September in London as 50 years of Dhamma Revolution.

Sadly enough, Indian television, which scours for stories to pack each minute of air time, lost the golden opportunity to bring this unique event into the public domain. It did not report a minute of it. Is it a case of marked indifference?

Buddhism in India has a predominantly Dalit following, as a result of the revival by Ambedkar. For this reason, it appears that our society prefers to treat Buddha as an untouchable.(Source)

Superpower, super hunger

The Washington-based International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI)recently released a report about the rankings of Global Hunger Index (GHI) of 119 countries worldwide. The GHI combines three indicators: child malnutrition, child mortality, and estimates of the proportion of people who are calorie-deficient. India's poor score in the ranking does compromise India's superpowr claims.

The following messages comes fromhere.

India ranks 93 among 116 developing countries in the global hunger index

India’s score on the index for 2003, the latest year for which data is available, was 25.73, worse than Sudan at 27.20 but better than Burkina Faso (25.80). The index, comprising three indices - child malnutrition, child mortality and estimates of the proportion of people who are calorie deficient - ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best and 100 being the worst. The worst country (Burundi) had an index value of 42.70 and the best (Belarus) had an index value of 1.59.

And what of the other members of the celebrated BRIC quartet, of which India is a part? Their index values are less than 10. Brazil—5.43, Russia—2.93 and China—8.23.

The report’s observations on India ties in with what the UN World Food Programme observes - that nearly 50 percent of the world’s hungry live in India. Around 35 percent of India’s population - 350 million - is considered food-insecure, consuming less than 80 percent of minimum energy requirements.

As reported by IndianPad Among the three indicators of GHI,

India ranks 117th for the prevalence of underweight children. Only Bangladesh and Nepal are worse-off.

The proportion of children found underweight in India, according to the latest figures is 47.5 per cent, which makes it worse than conflict-plagued, drought-stricken Sub-Saharan Africa, where the figure is some 30 per cent on average.

Google Announces Global Code Jam 2006 Finalists

On sept. 25, Google released the Global code Jam finalists. From this list we can have some idea of It education in the world, especially the computer science education.

Students from more than 100 countries registered the global competition, but coders from only 23 countries entered the final contest that will happen on Oct. 27 in New York.

The following list comes from Google. For more details, you can refer the source.

The Finalists

Petr Mitrichev, Russian Federation
Andrey Stankevich, Russian Federation
Hubert Hwang, United States
Michal Forisek, Slovakia
Mike Mirzayanov, Russian Federation
Tomasz Czajka, United States
Jimmy Mrdell, Sweden
Mikhail Dvorkin, Russian Federation
TianCheng Lou, China
Pawel Gawrychowski, Poland
Marcin Michalski, Poland
Marcin Pilipczuk, Poland
Robin Nittka, Germany
Semen Dyatlov, Russian Federation
Andrey Lazarev, Russian Federation
Pablo Heiber, Argentina
Nikolay Permyakov, Russian Federation
Witold Jarnicki, Poland
Rui Li, China
Pavel Mavrin, Russian Federation
Michael Levin, Russian Federation
Jiangwei Yu, China
Tomasz Idziaszek, Poland
Weidong Hu, China
Reid Barton, United States
Luka Kalinovcic, Croatia
Aidin Kashigar, Canada
Denis Nazarov, Russian Federation
Tomasz Kulczynski, Poland
Ivan Romanov, Russian Federation
Yauhen Hanchar, Belarus
Vitaly Goldshteyn, Russian Federation
Bruce Merry, South Africa
Maral Garolera, Spain
Catalin Stefan Tiseanu, Romania
Sergey Nazarov, Russian Federation
Roman Alekseenkov, Russian Federation
Przemek Dbiak, Poland
Dmitry Mescheryakov, Russian Federation
Christoph Schwirzer, Germany
Yi Yang, China
Zeyuan Zhu, China
Ulan Degenbaev, Germany
Paul Jefferys, United Kingdom
Pawel Parys, Poland
Jan Kuipers, Netherlands
Oleg Eterevsky, Russian Federation
Spirichev Maxim, Russian Federation
Evgeny Cherepanov, Russian Federation
Hiep Dinh, United States
Man Hon Chan, Canada
Viacheslav Medvedev, Russian Federation
Dmitry Klenov, Russian Federation
yvind Grotmol, Norway
Jakub Radoszewski, Poland
Michal Bartoszkiewicz, Poland
Vyacheslav Tokarev, Russian Federation
Ivan Krasilnikov, Russian Federation
Sorin Stancu-Mara, Germany
Wolfgang Hess, Germany
Xiantao Jiao, China
Aleksandrs Saveljevs, Latvia
Egor Kulikov, Russian Federation
Rostislav Rumenov, Bulgaria
Cheng Sheng, China
Takahashi Shuhei, Japan
Daniel Czajka, Poland
Yiu Cho Leung, Hong Kong
Ying Wang, United States
Roman Satyukov, Russian Federation
Xiao Hang, China
Yifei Zhang, China
Jason Wolfe, United States
Won-seok Yoo, Republic of Korea
David Narum, Norway
Emilian Miron, Romania
Roman Elizarov, Russian Federation
Yuriy Znovyak, Ukraine
Dmitry Korolev, Russian Federation
Lukas Polacek, Slovakia
Per Austrin, Sweden
Yiming Li, China
Sergey Bankevich, Russian Federation
Michael Haddox-Schatz, United States
Frank Chu, Canada
Konstantin Azarov, Russian Federation
Sergei Pupirev, Russian Federation
Adrian Kuegel, Germany
Xiaoshi Lu, China
Nikolay Archak, Russian Federation
Erik-Jan Krijgsman, Netherlands
Shixi Chen, China
Slava Romanov, Russian Federation
David Pritchard, Canada
Alexey Zhevak, Russian Federation
Andrey Khalyavin, Russian Federation
JongMan Koo, Republic of Korea
Peter Kosinar, Slovakia
Maks Verver, Netherlands
Jan Oravec, Slovakia

China Pays Attention to Environmental Issue

With the rapid economical development, environment protection becomes a urgent issue and China gets a lot of criticism for it.

The Good news is that China government is awaking up to address the big problem. According to the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC), China will spend 1.5% of its GDP on the environmental projects, which translates the total investment of 1.4 trillion yuan (US$175 billion) during 2006-2010.

Source

At a cost of 180 billion yuan, sewage treatment facilities with a combined daily capacity of 40 million tons will be built in 10 river valleys to dispose of waste water discharged by cities, said He. And a total of 200 billion yuan will be used to treat industrial waste water, according to the official.

Part of the funds will be used to reduce the amount of sulphur dioxide and dust in 113 major Chinese cities.

China will also set up 31 provincial-level dangerous waste disposing centers to treat domestic garbage.

According to the plan, the investment will also serve to build facilities to guarantee nuclear safety and prevent nuclear radiation, He said.

Official estimates show that the annual output value of China's environmental protection industry will top 880 billion yuan by the end of 2010, with an annual growth rate of 15 percent.

How Valuable Are Indian and Chinese Banks

Many are talking about Indian banks are superior to Chinese ones. But the facts are so different with many assume. For more details, please go to Rediff.com, an Indian web portal.

ICBC (The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) is planning to float 24 per cent of its enlarged share capital and could even sell more shares by exercising the greenshoe option. After the IPO, its valuation will roughly be about $87 billion. This is almost one and half times of the collective market capitalisation of all listed Indian banks - for the 37 listed Indian banks, this is about $ 62.76 billion (Rs 2,86,859 crore).

China's second-biggest lender, Bank of China, raised $13.2 billion in June by offering 10.5 per cent of its capital to the public and the country's third largest bank, China Construction Bank, raised $9.2 billion last October. Bank of China's market capitalisation is now around $105 billion and that of China Construction Bank $ 99 billion.

In terms of market capitalisation, ICBC will still be far behind Citigroup ($140 billion), but it is a giant vis-�-vis Indian banks. ICICI Bank tops the market capitalisation chart with $ 13.59 billion (Rs 62,177 crore), followed by the State Bank of India with $11.89 billion (Rs 54,380 crore) and HDFC Bank with $6.29 billion (Rs 28,774 crore). None of the other listed Indian banks has over $5 billion worth of market capitalisation. Punjab National Bank, the fourth bank when it comes to market capitalisation, is worth just $3.62 billion.Canara Bank is worth just $2.52 billion.

Indian banks do not have the scale. ICBC has total assets of over $ 812 billion, close to the size of India's GDP! Despite such large assets, the large Chinese banks have recorded annual growth rates of over 10 per cent in total assets over the past three to four years.

State Bank of India, which accounts for almost one-fifth of total banking assets in India, however, has an asset base of only $84 billion.

International investors believe the potential is huge and things can only get better in China. In the case of India, it is a story of missed opportunities, an interfering government-owner and a micro-managing banking regulator.

China's Overseas Engineering Contracts Grow 45.5% in value

According to Xinhua news on Oct. 6th, China completed 17.1 billion US dollars of overseas contract business in the January to August period, up 45.5 percent year on year.

The statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce show that total of US$32.7 billion new contracts were signed in the first eight months, a 105.6 percent jump.

The US$6.25 billion western sections of the Algerian East-West Highway project won by China's CITIC Group and China Railway Construction Corporation is the largest one by value.

China had accumulated revenues of 152.9 billion US dollars on overseas contracts and signed contracts worth a total of 218.6 billion US dollars.

China plans five-year leap forward in railway development

According to People's Daily report on Oct 7th, China had a ambitious plan for the national railroad network development during 2006-2010.

China today has has 75,000 kilometers of railways, among which 6,500 kilometers were built in the last five years.

Minister of Railways says that

in the five years from now to 2010, China will build 19,800 kilometers of new railway lines, modernize 15,000 kilometers of existing railway lines, boost passenger train speed to 200 km per hour with fast trains traveling at more than 300 km an hour, and increase the load of freight trains with a single engine hauling over 5,000 tons.

Under the railway development plan approved by the Chinese government, every year 4,000 kilometers of new tracks will be laid, 3,000 kilometers of existing tracks electrified, and more fast passenger trains, including the maglev trains, and large capacity freight trains introduced.

In modern era, speed is important, the railroad is not an exemption. China has raised its train speed for five times since 1997. The sixth acceleration will happen nest year, which will allow passenger trains to run at 200 km/hour on 6000 km railroads. In the next 5 years, China will further raise the speed of passenger trains to 200 km/hr on another 13,000 km of the existing rail tracks, and of freight trains on all tracks will be raised to 120 km/hr by 2010.

Some dedicated express passenger railroads will be built. The first of such railroad was put in service in 2003. The 404-km Qin-Shen railway was designed at 300km/hour standard. China will build 9,800-km dedicated passenger railway lines before 2010, among which 5,457 km will accommodate trains running at a speed above 300 km/hr.

To increase the efficiency of existing roads,

China will introduce 70-ton freight cars which carry more goods than the 60-ton freight cars presently in use.

According to the plan of the Ministry of Railways, China will roll out 70-ton cars for general use, 80-ton cars for coal and 100-ton cars for ore, iron and steel in the next five years.

China will also develop railway container transportation, making 10,000 km of tracks able to accommodate double-deck container transportation, and establishing an annual capacity of 10 million TEUs.

To realize the planned leap-forward in railway development, Liu says China will invest 1.25 trillion yuan (150 billion U.S. dollars) in the next five years.

The Middle-long term planning for China's railroad networks (until 2020)
The bold red lines stand for the new express passenger railroads that will be completed before 2020. According to the plan, China will have 100,000KM railroads before 2020, among which 12,000km are express passenger railroads, 50,000km are double-track railroads and 50, 000km will be electricified.

China aims for 30 pc increase in "super wheat" output by 2020

China is doing pretty well in applying biotech in agriculture.

We had hybrid rice since 1974 and now China's "super rice" technology is expanding worldwide. United Nations is helping Yuan Longping, the "Father of hybrid rice of the world", to extend his tech to other countries.

Controversial Gene modification technology is also used in agriculture in China. such as BT-cotton.

Only with the successful development and implementation of those innovative technologies, China can feed 20% of the world polulation by 8% of world arable land. That's also why China can produce more than twice grains than India in less arable land.

Source

Beijing, Oct 6. (PTI): China will develop 50 new breeds of "super wheat" in the next 15 years, raising the output capacity in major wheat production areas by 30 per cent, the state media reported.

According to the target set at a recent national seminar on super wheat breeding, the planting areas of the new breeds of super wheat will be about 33.3 million hectares during the 15-year period, and the expected unit output will be 10,500-12,000 kilograms per hectare.

President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhai Huqu said super wheat refers to high quality and high yielding breeds of wheat.

Currently, China's super wheat breeds are still restricted in small areas because of poor adaptability and high input.

He said the super wheat project will significantly promote China's food safety. So far, related scientific research institutes have had necessary reserves of materials, technologies and methods, and a joint effort by different research teams will help raise China's innovative capacity in wheat breeding, he said

Follow Chinese Political model: Goldman

The artical originated from Financial Express.

MUMBAI, OCT 3: Indian policymakers may find this shocking, but some foreign investors are recommending radical changes if India wishes to be one of world’s largest economies. Jim O'Niell, MD and chief of economic research, Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank, on Tuesday suggested that if India wanted to be the third largest economy by 2050, “it might just have to follow the Chinese mode of political system”.

Speaking in Mumbai at the 2nd annual Funds World India 2006 conference, he said, “For India, being democratic might not be the key to economic progress. An important dynamic for the next stage of economic development and globalisation for India would be to adopt another form of political system.”

O’Niell explained that in order to be the third largest economy (after the US and China) by 2050, India would need to make considerable labour reforms, and that would be difficult in the country’s current political scenario. He added, “Labour reforms is the need of the hour for India, and it might just have to take a leaf out of the Chinese political system.”

So how realistic is India’s BRICs dream? O’Niell said, “Though the lowest of BRICs on GES (growth environment scores), India has the potential to be fifty times bigger and thirty times wealthier by 2050. However, India needs clear and accountable macro policies, more openness to trade and FDI, and much broader quality education.”

O’Niell said, the future growth of the Indian economy would also be linked to its ever-increasing population. He stressed that it was here that India should cash in, and have more and more skilled labour.

“India’s work force will cross that of China’s, and there will be a rush for skilled labour. And with the present labour law high-handedness in India, the picture doesn’t look that convincing,” he said.

He also added that, to ensure conditions of growth, India should have sound and stable macro-economic policies, strong and stable political institutions, and a high level of education.

O’Niell’s research claims that by GDP 2010, India’s annual increase in demand could match that of the G-6 countries.

IndianExpress Lied about India's block against Chinese Cpompanies

Here is an incompleted list of Chinese business cases that were denied by Indian government for its insecurity feeling about china.

The Communist Party of India has sought clarification from the United Progressive Alliance Government on its decision to "block" Chinese firms from investing in India's telecommunication and modernisation of ports.

"The ground given is threat to our national security. How is it that FDI [Foreign Direct Investment] from other countries are welcomed in our telecommunication sector and our Ministers are seen frequently wooing them, but the line is drawn where Chinese firms are the bidders? How is it that a South Korean firm is invited to build a port of its own adjacent to our own Paradeep Port, which actually threatens the port's existence?" CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said in his letter to Prime Minster Manmohan Singh.

Source

But when IndianExpress reported the case. It said:

Chinese companies bidding for big projects would prefer to bring in labour force from home and India opposes this. That’s at the core of the current controversy.

Source

Apparently, IndianExpress was lying. For big egineering projects, China companies may need bring some egineers, managers or some skilled workers to host countries for project purpose. But, how about the Huawei and ZTE's request for R&D research center expansion? and how about Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH)’s bid for the Mumbai offshore container terminal? How about Shenzen Cimac-Tianda Airport Support Ltd's bid for supplying aerobridges for Indian airports?

When Indians are boasting about India's "competitiveness" over China, Indians have strong insecurity feeling about China.

Economic growth masks the other side of India

Even India was reported to have fast economical gowth and the medias claim the country is shining. But the truth is too bitter to imagine if human development is concerned. In some factors, India is even worse than some African countries.

The following report originated from The Guardian. The more details can be reached here.

In these heady times it is easy to forget the other 'real India'. This is the country in which 2.8 million children die annually as a result of poor nutrition and easily preventable illness - almost one quarter of the global total. Almost half of all Indian children are underweight for their age - a larger proportion than in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, some 300 million Indians survive on less than 50p a day.

Bangladesh is poorer than India and its economy is growing far more slowly. But over the past decade, child deaths have been falling at an annual rate 50% faster than in India, and Bangladesh now has a better child survival record.

When it comes to India's income poverty the picture is more mixed. The good news is that overall poverty rates are falling at about 1% a year. The bad news is that this is a derisory return on the high growth of the past decade.

Consider the hi-tech boom. This is seen by some as a force that is transforming Indian society, but the reality is more prosaic. The IT sector employs about 1 million people in a country where 8 million join the labour force each year. Employment in the formal manufacturing sector has fallen over the past decade. Meanwhile, agriculture, the source of livelihood for three in every four people, is trapped in a cycle of low growth and under-investment.

Uttar Pradesh, with a population bigger than Germany and Britain combined, has immunisation rates that compare unfavourably with those in Mali, and child death rates to match Sudan's.

The public education system is in a parlous state, with fewer than 10% of children making it to tertiary education. Business leaders such as Narayana Murthy, the head of the IT group Infosys, have warned that a first-world industrial system cannot be built on a foundation of mass illiteracy, exclusion from education and huge gender inequalities.

Gender inequality is another powerful impediment to social progress. Girls are 50% more likely than their brothers to die before the age of five - a death differential that translates into 130,000 missing female children each year.

While some observers are dazzled by growth rates, Indians themselves have a more sophisticated perspective. Last year, voters decisively rejected a government that went to the polls with the feelgood slogan 'India shining', reflecting a perception that social justice had been left off the agenda.

India: vegetables turn harmful by toxic wastes

The more detail report can be accessed from here.

Most vegetables coming into the city from peripheral areas contains toxic residues harmful to humans, according to Dr Jasiumuddin Ahmad, environmentalist and Professor of Jahanghirnagar University.

Research was conducted by him and his student Abdul Gani on eight lethal metals that were found in different vegetables picked from industrial areas like DEPZ, bank town and Hamayetpur in Savar. Metals like lead, copper; zinc, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, nickel and iron were measured in the different sources like water, arable soil and in the different parts roots, stems, leaves and edible areas of crops and vegetables plants.

"One will find large quantities of colourful water emerging from several industries on the way to Aricha from Savar. This water pollutes the environment in many ways," said Jasimuddin. "The plants and vegetables that grow in this soil also harm humans and by consuming these vegetables we are unknowingly affected by the process," he added. Most of the plants that possessed very high amounts of metals much higher than World Health Organisation's (WHO) permissible limit said Jasimuddin.

Long term consumption of these contaminated crops and vegetables can cause different diseases in the human body," he further said. The rate of cadmium of 12.34 pp (milligram per kilogram) is high in red spinach and low at 1.05 ppm in Luffa Gourd. According to WHO per measurable level for cadmium is 0.5 to 1.00 ppm. This high amount of Cadmium could be responsible for kidney and lung diseases, hypertension and cancer.

Nickel was found as high as 120.26 ppm in sweet potato and according to WHO 3-25 ppm is the tolerable rate. This high amount of nickel may cause headaches, nausea, weakness, dizziness, muscle pain, fatigue, and lung damage. According to WHO the tolerable level of arsenic is 0.01- 1.00 ppm but in these areas arsenic is found high as 0.74 ppm in radish which may cause central necrosis, cirrhosis, damage in bone marrow and skin cancer.

While the tolerable amount of chromium is 0.5- 5.00 ppm according to WHO chromium is found high 19.75 ppm in radish in these areas, which may cause ulceration of skin and irritation. Lead is found high 62.45 ppm in red spinach and according to WHO 10-20 ppm is tolerable. This high amount of lead may cause disruption of haemoglobin, synthesis, brain damage, damage to nervous system and kidneys.

Jasimuddin found zinc at 73.04 ppm in bottle gourd and WHO's permissible level is 10-100 ppm, which may cause vomiting, headache, lethargy, depression and dizziness. According to WHO the tolerable level of iron in human body is 70-300 ppm but in these areas iron is found as high as 1354.21ppm in radish that may work as combined action in developing cancer in human body.

During the research Jasimuddin also found copper at 24.82 ppm in luffa gourd as and WHO's permissible level is 2-10 ppm, which could give rise to thalassemia, damage in brain tissue.