Solutions to Change

 By Tarun Nair* The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has been in the news off late, mostly for the right reasons. Heralded as the answer to the World Bank’s deficiencies which include its exclusive representation of European interests, it is touted to be a mechanism which will singularly fulfil Asia’s development needs through timely funding. Considering that a recent report pegs Asia’s infrastructural development to require around 8 trillion dollars’ worth of investment, the AIIB may indeed occupy a place of great importance, with its 100 billion dollar capital allocation.  (china.org.cn) However, though the initiative must be welcomed, no extreme positions can be taken as of now, for it has certain aspects which must be carefully evaluated first. Until the shares, voting and veto rights are announced, it is early to comment on the role played by the organisation. Other concerns abound about whether the bank will be dominated by Chinese interests as an...

 By  Pallavi Rachel George * “It’s Road Safety, Not Rocket Science” is the road safety program of the city of Philadelphia. The program provides extremely catchy phrases like “objects in the mirror appear only when looked at- its road safety not rocket science”, telling its citizens to be smart on the roads. The initiative has received a lot of attention. The reason why I began the article with this example is to quickly make the reader wonder about a ny such programs in their locality. If you were able to come up with one, kudos. If however, like the majority of the people, you weren’t able to find one, then we need to do some thinking. Every year, approximately 1.3 million people die as the result of road traffic collisions — more than 3,500 deaths per day. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), road traffic accidents kill more people around the world than malaria, and are the leading cause of death for young people aged five to 29 – especially in de...

By Tarun Nair* A terrible death seems to have befallen the United Nations in recent times, an entity which was born out of the horrors of the great wars and was instituted as a collective to serve mankind in the times to come. Today, it is an endeavour devoid of the very direction and purpose it was endowed with at its inception, failing time and again to grasp the demands of contemporary realities. The foremost platform of incisive international action has turned into a farce of sorts, a tool in the hands of prominent powers, myopic as they are in the confines of their own interests. So do we need UN anymore? One cannot discount the fact that the organisation has certain glaring loopholes in its existing structure which prevent for its optimum functioning. The debate regarding reforms and more importantly, what kind of reforms are needed, has been going on for several decades now, with extreme positions being taken up on the spectrum of consensus. The process of reforms how...