Tuesday, November 20, 2012

hottest property markets in the world

Zurich's main shopping street Bahnhofstrasse.

With the seismic shifts taking place in economies, power structures and societies around the world, a very different economic landscape is developing in which the rise of the emerging economies looks set to be a permanent feature. But what does this mean for the world's global cities? Traditionally the likes of London and New York have reigned supreme, but will they be able to maintain their dominance in the face of growing competition?

Research by Knight Frank suggests that, for now at least, their position looks safe.

Let's take a look at some of the hottest property markets in the world, according to a recent report by Knight Frank.

London

When asked what makes a global city, the top-scoring indicators were personal safety and security, economic openness and social stability, which is perhaps unsurprising given recent geopolitical turmoil around the globe, and goes some way to explaining London's impressive performance.

Though deemed less important, the availability of luxury housing and excellent educational opportunities, as well as the presence of other high net-worth individuals, were also noted as key attributes.

New York

The most signiﬁcant driving force of any city is its people. It is crucial to have a liveable environment for increasingly mobile populations, and to attract a signiﬁcant foreign workforce. More than one-third of people in New York and London are foreignborn.

Despite their astonishing growth, Asian economic powerhouses fail to reach that level of cosmopolitan culture.

Hong Kong

The attempt to control prices in China has seen investors switch their focus to commercial property markets and also to the prime residential market in Hong Kong. Mainland Chinese buyers now make up 25 per cent of prime market purchases in Hong Kong, where prime apartment prices rose by a further 4.6 per cent in 2011, compounding the 60 per cent growth seen since the beginning of 2009.

View of rooftops and the Montmartre's Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris.

France

Commercial property markets around the world have seen a rebound in purchases over the past two years by private wealthy individuals taking advantage of the price drops that occurred during 2008 and 2009.

Geneva

Knight Frank expects further growth in investment from wealthy individuals, forecasting a purchase volume of $74.1 billion in 2012, a five per cent year-on-year increase, as investor caution favours the safety of bricks and mortar.

Shanghai

"Shanghai prime prices might have fallen 3.4 per cent in 2011, but they are still 37.5 per cent higher than they were in early 2009," says Thomas Lam Ho Man, Knight Frank's Head of Research for Greater China. In addition, the Chinese government has made a concerted effort to halt runaway price growth.

This objective conﬁrms two key issues that will become more and more important for future performance in the prime residential market.

Beijing

The statistics on China's growth are remarkable. Its luxury goods market is growing 35 per cent annually and luxury brands such as Prada and Gucci are opening stores in cities mostly unknown outside China. But the relative anonymity of these secondary cities could well change in the near future.

Even the most conservative forecasts suggest that by 2025 China will have around 130 cities with over one million inhabitants, more than the US and Europe combined.

Berlin

The global economy expanded, but the pace of growth was much slower than in 2010. The US economy grew by just 1.8 per cent and GDP in the troubled eurozone rose just 1.6 per cent. In contrast, Asia managed to chalk up economic growth of 7.9 per cent, although even this was down on the 9.5 per cent achieved 12 months earlier.

When LUST got the better of these powerful men

Men who cheat on their wives -- and there are many of them -- should at least make sure they cover their tracks.

This is especially true for philandering men who happen to be in powerful positions. They stand the risk of losing their reputation, jobs, and being publicly humiliated.

The only thing worse than being a lying, cheating jerk is being publicly exposed as one.

In the wake of the scandal caused by Central Intelligence Agency chief David Petraues's affair, we take a look at some powerful men who thought, mistakenly, that they could have a little extra-marital fun on the side and get away with it!

As the chief of the world's biggest intelligence agency, David Petraues managed a complex network of spies, aliases, intrigues and conspiracies.

At irony at its best, the keeper of the world's most dangerous secrets could not hide the one secret that he needed to guard the most – his affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.

Petraues and Broadwell are both married, to other people, and have two children each.

Petraues is a four-star general of the United States Army and has served as the top commander of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgement by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours," he said in a statement before stepping down from the CIA chief's post.

Someday, when the dust settles, General John Allen and David Petraues can bond over the many things they have in common -- an exemplary track record in the US Army, serving at the commander of American troops in Afghanistan, getting involved with another woman and suffering severe setbacks in their career because of their sexual indiscretions.

To be fair, allegations that General Allen had an affair -- with married socialite Jill Kelly – have not been proved yet.

But in an obvious slap-on-the-wrist, US President Barack Obama has put on hold the nomination of Allen as the next commander of the US European Command.

To make matters worse for the general, the FBI is probing the 'affair' and its ramifications on national security.

"If you are the President of this country, you can start a war, you can cheat, you can lie, you can bankrupt the country, but you can't f the interns."

This is a piece of advice offered by campaign manager Stephen Meyers to presidential candidate Mike Morris in the critically acclaimed film Ides of March.

Bill Clinton, US President between 1992 and 2000, probably didn't have the counsel of such wise campaign managers. He went ahead and did the undoable -- he had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

It does not take an Einstein to figure out that when you are serving as the world's most powerful man, maybe you should not have an affair. Even if you do have one, maybe you should not enjoy your sexual romps inside the Oval Office. And even if you end up doing that, maybe you should not lie about it on national television to the entire nation.

(Top) John F Kennedy with wife Jacqueline and Marilyn Monroe

Yet another US President who could have used the help of Meyers. Kennedy is remembered as much for his charisma and his tragic end as he is for his alleged affair with the sultry actress Marilyn Monroe.

Kennedy was married to Jacqueline Kennedy who was considered an icon of style and beauty by women across America.

That did not stop the US President from having a string of extra-marital affairs with a host of actresses, singers and socialites.

But the most talked-about dalliance was the one he allegedly had with Monroe. Her untimely and mysterious death -- ruled as a case of probable suicide -- led to conspiracy theories about the role the US President played in that event.

We could call John Edwards a sleazeball, but we are afraid that sleazeballs across the globe may take offence at that.

Where do we even start with the former North Carolina Senator?

Long, long ago, Edwards was a darling of the Democratic Party and a front-runner for the presidential candidate's post.

That was before he decided to throw it all away by cheating on his devoted wife of 32 years who was dying of cancer, impregnating his mistress, refusing to take responsibility for the child and claiming to the whole world that his married assistant was actually the father of his illegitimate daughter.

Phew!

Arnold Schwarzenegger with wife Maria Shriver in happier times

Blame it on the heady mix of fame, power and wealth. But actors and politicians probably make the most prolific philanderers.

So when you are an actor and a politician, it is almost a law of physics that you will end up having one, or many, extra-marital affairs.

At the end of his eight-year-tenure as the governor of California, Schwarzenegger dropped a veritable bomb when he declared that he had fathered a child after a torrid affair with his maid.

Hushed whispers about the former bodybuilder's amorous ways had done the rounds of Hollywood for years, and no one was really surprised by his not-so-shocking admission.

That is, no one except Maria Shriver, his wife of 25 years, who promptly filed for divorce.

A screen grab of the website Biggovernment.com shows the photo of Anthony Weiner which was allegedly emailed to a young woman

This former US Congressman can give fellow Democrat John Edwards a run for his money for the sleazeball title.

A rising politician from New York, Weiner lived up to his unfortunate name by sending sexually graphic photographs of his ... err...body parts, to a bevy of young women whom, he later claimed, he had never met.

He also sent sexually explicit messages to these women and allegedly indulged in phone sex with some of them, while his wife Huma Abedin was pregnant.

Yuck!

Weiner then went through the familiar routine of initial denial-reluctant admission-grovelling apology-eventual resignation.

Ironically, Abedin is a long-time associate of Hillary Clinton, wife of Bill and the poster child of wronged women everywhere.

Vladimir Putin with Alina Kabayeva and (left) Yana Lapikova

The Russian strongman likes taking off his shirt and flaunting his chiselled body for the cameras. He also likes, if rumours are to be believed, the company of nubile women less than half his age.

Sometime last year, he hired a 25-year-old former glamour model as his personal photographer, insisting that it was due to the Miss Moscow contestant's 'professional merit'.

He also allegedly fathered a love-child with 28-year-old Alina Kabayeva, a former gymnast and a member of the Russian parliament.

And in a reminder of just how dangerous the former KGB official can be, his wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva has not been seen in public for over a year; some media reports claim that she had been 'locked away' so that the Russian President can enjoy his many trysts peacefully.

A carnival float depicting France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn

He was once the chief of the International Monetary Fund and touted to be the next President of France.

Today, Dominique Strauss Kahn is a disgraced man who is being investigated for allegedly hiring prostitutes for a sex party. He has also faced charges of being involved in a gang-rape in Washington, DC as well as attempt to rape a journalist in France.

Oh, did we mention that he was also accused of raping a maid who was cleaning his room in a New York hotel?

Though he screamed hoarse about his innocence, he was forced to resign from the IMF chief's post over the scandal.

The charges against him were later dropped.

Strauss Kahn, a much-married father of four, finally admitted that he had 'inappropriate' relations with the maid but there was no violence involved.

And here we thought we had misjudged the poor man!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Top 10 Bizarre Festivals

Every year thousands of people gather to take part in, or witness bizarre festivals. Many of these festivals are ancient but some are much more modern. While they are all extremely different, they have one thing in common: they are totally weird. If you wish to mention other festivals that you know of, be sure to do so in the comments. NOTE: Some images may be Not Safe For Work.

La Tomatina

On the last Wednesday of August every year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain, 9,000 locals and 20,000 – 40,000 foreigners descend on the town to throw tomatoes at each other in honor of the Virgin Mary and St. Louis Bertrand. This tradition has been around since the 1940s, though it was briefly suppressed under the reign of Franco. The festival starts with a person attempting to scale a greased pole to capture a cooked ham. Once the ham is taken down from the pole, water canons are fired at the participants and over 100 tons of tomatoes are dumped into the streets for throwing. Women are expected to wear white and men to wear no shirts. Anyone caught wearing a shirt inevitably has it ripped off – including women and especially tourists who tend to be the main target of locals.

Cheese Rolling Festival

The Cheese Rolling Festival is held every May in Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom. The festival involves an official tossing a cheese down the extremely steep hill, after which hundreds of people begin to run down the hill (risking life and limb) in order to catch the cheese. Each year the event results in casualties and for this reason children are not allowed to participate, though oftentimes boys from the local town will join in anyway. For the children, there is an uphill race. Women and men race separately in the main event.

Bonfires of Saint John

The Bonfires of Saint John is a popular festival in Spain held on the 19th to the 24th of June. The strange festival involves the lighting of bonfires (frequently fueled by old furniture). The locals share hot chocolate whilst watching the bonfires. But then it gets weird. The children of the villages then take turns in running through the fires. The entire week is filled with festivities including fireworks displays and eighty-six women and eighty-six young girls are elected the “Beauties” of the bonfires. These “beauties” preside over the festival as Queens.

Goat Tossing Festival

The Spanish certainly like their odd festivals. Every year on the fourth Sunday in January, the locals of a small town named Manganeses de la Polvorosa gather together for the goat tossing festival, in honor of St Vincent de Paul, their patron saint. The festival has been around for so long that no one knows when it started. It involves a young man who finds a goat in the village, ties it up, and takes it to the top of the local Church belfry. He then tosses the goat over the side and it falls 50 feet where it is (hopefully) caught by villagers holding up a sheet of tarpaulin. The village officials banned the event but it continues regardless. Various animal rights agencies have complained about it – though their complaints have also been ignored.

Hadaka Matsuri

Hadaka Matsuri is a Japanese festival in which the participants are all but naked. The festival is celebrated many times throughout the year in various parts of Japan and those involved usually wear a type of traditional loin cloth. Some of those involved go completely naked which is not frowned on at all – in fact it is considered healthy. The festivals often involve the use of mud (for entertainment) and there are often separate women’s and men’s festivals. In some towns special festivals are held for children – as a rite of passage, but sometimes children participate in the adult festival. The festival has its origins as a religious event, but these days the religious aspects are virtually forgotten.

El Colacho

Dating from 1620, El Colacho (or baby jumping) is a festival in Spain held every year on the feast of Corpus Christi. The festival involves the laying on mattresses all babies born in the previous twelve months. The adult men of the village of Castrillo de Murcia then dress up as devils and take turns jumping over the babies. The festival often results in injuries (usually of the adults) and it is believed that the jumping rids the babies of original sin – a bizarre kind of baptism. Pope Benedict XVI has recently asked the local priests to distance themselves from the festival as it is dangerous and contrary to the Catholic religion.

Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme

Every year in Las Nieves, Spain, people who have suffered a near death experience in the previous year get together to attend Mass in celebration of Saint Marta de Ribarteme, the Patron Saint of resurrection. But here is the twist: they turn up at Mass carrying a coffin, or being carried in a coffin. After Mass, the coffins all proceed to the top of a nearby hill with a statue of the saint. Despite the somberness of the event, people light fireworks and shopkeepers fill the streets to sell religious objects.

Goose Clubbing Festival

Until recently, an annual festival was held in Germany in which a goose was tied by its feet to a post and then clubbed by the local men until its head came off. As a result of complaints from animal rights activists, the festival-goers now hit a goose which has previously been killed. A very similar event occurs in Spain (surprise surprise) every year in which a man hangs from the goose until the head comes off. Again the goose is killed prior to the event which dates back 350 years. The Spanish festival is called Antzar Eguna.

Kanamara Matsuri

Every year in spring, the festival of Kanamara Matsuri (The Steel Phallus) is held in Kawasaki, Japan. It is a Shinto fertility festival and, as you would expect, it involves a rather large penis statue. During the festival, people can buy candies, vegetables, and gifts in the shape of a phallus. The festival was very popular amongst prostitutes who thought that participation would help to prevent them getting sexually transmitted diseases.

Thaipusam

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival (celebrated mostly by Tamils) held in January/February each year to celebrate the birth of Murugan (the son of gods Shiva and Parvati). The participants shave their heads and perform a pilgrimage, at the end of which they shove very sharp skewers through their tongues or cheeks. Some of the practitioners put hooks into their back and pull heavy objects like tractors. The aim is to cause as much pain as possible – the more you endure, the more “blessings” you receive from the gods. The festival is popular in India, but the largest celebrations take place in Singapore and Malaysia, where it is a public holiday.
Contributor: JFrater

Bizarre Top 10 Bizarre Medical Anomalies

[WARNING: some images and content may disturb and are not work safe.] Gone are the days of sideshows displaying freaks of nature, but the diseases that caused these so-called “freaks” are still with us. Political correctness has made it impolite to display the sufferers of these illnesses, so we are left with the Internet – the last resort of those with a fascinating for the bizarre. This list looks at some of the most unusual (and sometimes horrifying) anomalies of medical science.

Diprosopus

Diprospus (sometimes called Craniofacial duplication) is a rare disorder in which the face is duplicated on the head (as in the picture above). This is not to be confused with fetus in fetu (item 9) which is a joining of two separate fetuses; diprosopus is caused by a protein called (believe it or not) “sonic hedgehog homolog”. The odd name is due to a controversial tradition in molecular biology to use unusual names for genes. The protein determines the makeup of the face, and when there is too much of it, you get a second face in a mirror image. If you do not have enough of the protein, you can end up with underdeveloped facial features. Children with this defect are normally stillborn, but a young girl, Lali Singh, born in 2008 survived for 2 full months before dying of a heart attack.

Fetus In Fetu

The man pictured above is Sanju Bhagat aged 36 from India. He is fully pregnant with his own twin. Because Sanju lacked a placenta, the fetus inside him attached directly to his blood supply. Doctors delivered the twin which was severely malformed and did not survive. Fetus in fetu is an extremely rare disorder in which a twin somehow becomes connected (internally or partly externally) to its twin while still in the womb. In some cases the fetus in fetu will remain inside the host twin unknown until it begins to cause problems. In more common cases, the signs are visible from the outset and are often initially confused with cysts or cancers. In a recent case a 7 year old boy was discovered to be carrying his twin when his parents noticed that something was moving in his stomach. You can read more about that here.

Proteus Syndrome

The Elephant Man (Joseph Merrick) is probably the most famous case of Proteus Syndrome. The disease causes excessive bone growth, excessive skin growth, and frequently comes with tumors. Only 200 cases have been confirmed worldwide since the disease was officially discovered in 1979. It is possible to have a minor form of this disease which can go undiagnosed. The case of the Elephant Man has been the sole reason that this disease is so widely known. Sufferers have normal brain function and intelligence.

Möbius Syndrome

Möbius Syndrome is a rare disorder in which the facial muscles are paralyzed. In most cases the eyes are also unable to move from side to side. The disease prevents a sufferer from having any facial expressions, which can make them appear to be uninterested or “dull” – sometimes leading to people thinking they are rude. Sufferers have completely normal mental development. The causes are not fully understood and there is no treatment aside from addressing the symptoms (such as an inability to feed as a baby).

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome (progeria) will be familiar to people old enough to remember the television program That’s Incredible from the ’80s in which a young sufferer of the disorder appeared. The disease causes premature aging – so rapidly that a young child can look like a very old man (or, if I may be so callous as to point out the obvious, an alien – as in the photograph above). The disease is especially interesting for scientists as it may lend clues to the natural aging process in man. The disease is caused by a genetic mutation, and does not pass from parent to child. There is no known cure, and most children with the disease do not live beyond the age of thirteen – usually dying of stroke or heart attack (diseases usually associated with old age).

Cutaneous Porphyria

Cutaneous porphyria is a disorder that causes blisters, excess hair, swelling, and necrosis of the skin. It can cause red colored teeth and fingernails, and after exposure to sun, urine can turn purple, pink, brown, or black. The disease is thought to be connected to the many werewolf and vampire legends of the past, where a sufferer (who would have lived apart from society) might have been confused for a monster. The disease is part of the more general group of disorders called porphyrias which cover a range of mental and physical disorders due to the overproduction of certain enzymes in the body. The disease gets its name from the Greek word “porphura” which means “purple pigment”.

Elephantiasis

First off, note the spelling – it is Elephant-iasis not Elephant-itis as many people wrongly think. Elephantiasis is a thickening of the skin (as opposed to proteus syndrome which is a thickening of the bones as well as the skin). Unfortunately, this is a disease that any one of us can get as it is caused by parasitic worms passed on through mosquito bites. It is, consequently, not uncommon in tropical regions and Africa. A slightly different form of the disease is caused through contact with certain types of soil. In some parts of Ethiopa, up to 6% of the population suffers from the disorder. It is one of the most common disabilities in the world. Efforts to eradicate the disease are well underway and it is hoped that it will be successfully relegated to the annals of history by 2020.

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP for short) is a very rare disease that causes parts of the body (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) to turn to bone when they are damaged. This can often cause damaged joints to fuse together, preventing movement. Unfortunately surgical removal of the bone growths is ineffective as the body “heals” itself by recreating the removed bone. To make matters worse, the disease is so rare that it is often misdiagnosed as cancer, leading doctors to perform biopsies which can spark off worse growth of these bone-like lumps. The most famous case is Harry Eastlack whose body was so ossified by his death that he could only move his lips. His skeleton is now on display at the Mütter Museum. There is no cure.

Lewandowsky-Lutz Dysplasia

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Lewandowsky-Lutz Dysplasia (also known as Epidermodysplasia verruciformis) is an extremely rare inheritable disorder in which warts form on the skin. It normally affects the hands and feet and while it can start in middle ages, it normally begins between the ages of one and twenty. There is no known effective treatment for the disease though surgery can be used to remove the warts. Unfortunately, after surgery the warts begin to return and it is estimated that a sufferer would need at least two surgeries per year to remove them each time they grow back. In 2007 a sufferer had surgery for the disease and thirteen pounds (5.8 kilos) of warts were removed. 95% of the warts were removed.

Diphallia

Diphallia (also known as Penile Duplication) is a condition in which a male is born with two penises. It is a rare disorder with only 1,000 cases recorded. Sufferers are also at a higher risk of spina bifida than men with one penis. A person with diphallia can urinate from one or both of his penises. In most cases, both penises are side by side and the same size, but occasionally one smaller penis will sit atop another larger one. One in 5.5 million men in the United States have two penises.
Contributor: JFrater

Sunday, September 16, 2012

The shame of Sivakasi: Dead eyes in its living children

That Sivakasi has also killed over time, albeit very slowly, numerous child-workers engaged in matchbox production is scarcely registered on the national conscience, says Shreekant Sambrani

Every so often, Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, the firecracker and calendar printing capital of India , breaks into national news because of an accident in one of the factories causing many fatalities, as happened on September 5. This is soon forgotten in a country inured to such safety lapses, however horrific they may be.

Sivakasi and the surrounding districts of Tamil Nadu are particularly suited for manual match production because of the hot, dry climate and large labour availability due to paucity of occupations. The first match units came up in the 1930s. The activity picked up after the 1960s for two reasons. First, the government policy favoured small, manual manufacturing facilities over large, mechanised ones. Second, India's sole mechanised match manufacturer, Wimco, faced daunting restrictions including frozen capacity.That Sivakasi has also killed over time, albeit very slowly, numerous child-workers engaged in matchbox production is scarcely registered on the national conscience. Current media reports just barely mention Sivakasi's connection with exploitation of children, even in this age of heightened awareness of social evils. In the same week, the Lok Sabha passed a bill banning child labour amidst the prevailing din.

It was a FERA company, a subsidiary of the pioneering Swedish Match, which refused to dilute its ownership below 40 per cent. Wimco's market share dwindled from 75 per cent in the 1950s to under 20 per cent by the mid-1980s. Manual units, using no machinery and comprising small scale and cottage categories, grew in numbers and capacity. Cottage firms could employ no more than 10 workers each and produce no more than 50 million matchboxes a year. By contrast, Wimco's five factories together had an annual capacity of five billion boxes.

The cottage sector is estimated to have over 10,000 units, 60 per cent of which are in the South. It is common knowledge that most of these are fronts for the 18 dominant middle segment firms, formed under benami ownership or as co-operatives to avail of the benefits offered.

The smaller units were always charged a lower excise duty as compared to Wimco. The 1979 Charan Singh budget increased the difference substantially: Wimco had to pay Rs 7.20 per gross while cottage units were taxed at Rs 1.60. The gap was later reduced by ND Tiwari but was still considerable at Rs 5.80 for Wimco and Rs 1.60 for cottage companies. State sales taxes also discriminated in favour of handmade matches.

The heart of the handmade process is dipping sticks first in wax and then in the hazardous "head" mixture of potassium chlorate and other incendiary chemicals. The sticks are fitted into a wooden frame with 50 grooves (one for each match in a box). After air-drying, the matches are removed, sized and filled in boxes. This requires dexterity and small fingers. The obvious option is to employ small children, many under 10, or young women. Boys and girls above 15 are deemed unsuitable because of larger fingers.

Almost all manual units depend on juvenile workers for this delicate yet dangerous operation. The growth of the firecracker industry has reduced the availability of adult workers and pushed up their wages, making a recourse to child labour even more attractive for the match factories.

Swedish media, obviously not unbiased, published accounts of children's employment to persuade their government to protest to India. Indira Gandhi ordered a crackdown on children's employment in the early 1980s. Within a week, massive demonstrations by child workers and their families in Sivakasi and Delhi , demanding dole as an alternative, made the government backtrack.

Kamaljit Singh, the long-time Wimco managing director, asked me in 1987 to make an independent assessment of the situation (without consulting the Wimco staff) for a presentation to the Swedish Match board. I travelled extensively in the area and visited dozens of units. No one made any effort to hide the children or withhold information.

What I found was too stark for even one who had spent over 15 years researching rural poverty in all corners of the country. A typical unit was a 20 sq m shed, which also stored raw materials. About eight children and two adults was the labour complement. They worked from dawn to dusk, with two 15-minute breaks for meagre refreshments. Most children were under 10, and worked squatting on the floor, bent from the waist.

No one spoke. They answered in monosyllables when interviewed. Almost all had racking coughs and scabbed, calloused fingers from their exposure to the chemicals. Mention of schools brought forth wistful shy smiles, implying that they were not for them. Everyone was worried as to what they would do in a few years even as they were still children. Many parents said that older children often fell sick. Nearly all the families had histories of early deaths of their children.

For all this, the children were paid piece rate wages, seldom exceeding Rs 5 a day. Many had a part of this grand sum deducted towards repayment of the advance or loan to their families.

I told the Swedish Match board that not just the duty differential but even the basic cost structure of the handmade sector put Wimco at a disadvantage. Massimo Rossi, the managing director, recalled that a similar situation existed in his native Sicily half a century ago, but the efficient large scale Swedish Match mechanised manufacturing overcame that handicap. "No machine yet invented is more cost-effective than the nimble fingers of a 10-year old paid starvation wages," was my answer.

I have since revisited the area, the last being in 2002, and found no significant changes. The Swedes finally pulled out of Wimco, now a subsidiary of ITC. Its production stagnated and caused losses. The cottage units continue as before. Perhaps fewer children work now, in view of the overall prosperity and better relief programmes such as MNREGS. But I am sure I would still find numerous children dipping those frames in the explosive mixture day after day.

Of the many blemishes on our record, none is worse than the ill-treatment of children. It is bad enough that 42 per cent of them under the age of five are undernourished. Continued child employment in such inhuman and dangerous conditions is decidedly shameful.

The publicity material for Sivakasi calls it "kutty" (mini) Japan, as a testimonial to its enterprise. I shudder to think how the diligently law-abiding and safety-conscious Japanese would react to this empire based on sweated child labour and disregard of even the rudimentary precautions.

A haunting picture of a dead little girl, her unseeing eyes wide open, appeared on the cover of Time Bhopal gas tragedy issue. I have seen the same dead eyes, devoid of all hope, in the living children of Sivakasi.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Indians are no more the highest numbers for call centers

Tech drives Philippines call centre success

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14 May 2012 Last updated at 23:05 GMT Help

More and more companies are outsourcing work to call centres on the other side of the world.
The Philippines has recently overtaken India as the country with the most call centre workers - and it has been taking great strides in trying to prove that it is the outsourcing destination of choice.
But what makes all this possible is the technology behind the scenes - to enable these centres to not only be cost effective, but also provide a high-quality, reliable service.
Kate McGeown reports from Manila.