Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Top 10 Things for India to Achieve its 2050 Potential according to Goldman Sachs:

Here are the list of Top 10 Things for India to Achieve its 2050 Potential according to Goldman Sachs:

Improve governance.

Without better governance, delivery systems and effective implementation, India will find it difficult to educate its citizens, build its infrastructure, increase agricultural productivity and ensure that the fruits of economic growth are well established.

Raise educational achievement.

Among more micro factors, raising India’s educational achievement is a major requirement to help achieve the nation’s potential. According to our basic indicators, a vast number of India’s young people receive no (or only the most basic) education. A major effort to boost basic education is needed. A number of initiatives, such as a continued expansion of Pratham and the introduction of Teach First, for example, should be pursued.

Increase quality and quantity of universities.

At the other end of the spectrum, India should also have a more defined plan to raise the number
and the quality of top universities.

Control inflation.

Although India has not suffered particularly from dramatic inflation, it is currently experiencing a rise in inflation similar to
that seen in a number of emerging economies. We think a formal adoption of Inflation Targeting would be a very sensible move to help India persuade its huge population of the (permanent) benefits of price stability.

Introduce a credible fiscal policy.

We also believe that India should introduce a more credible medium-term plan for fiscal policy. Targeting low and stable inflation is not easy if fiscal policy is poorly maintained. We think it would be helpful to develop some ‘rules’ for spending over cycles.

Liberalize financial markets.

To improve further the macro variables within the GES framework, we believe further liberalization of Indian financial markets is necessary.

Increase trade with neighbors.

In terms of international trade, India continues to be much less ‘open’ than many of its other large emerging nation colleagues, especially China. Given the significant number of nations with large populations on its borders, we would recommend that India target a major increase in trade with China, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Increase agricultural productivity.

Agriculture, especially in these times of rising prices, should be a great opportunity for India. Better specific and defined plans for increasing productivity in agriculture are essential, and could allow India to benefit from the BRIC-related global thirst for better quality food.

Improve infrastructure.

Focus on infrastructure in India is legendary, and tales of woe abound. Improvements are taking place, as any foreign
business visitor will be aware, but the need for more is paramount. Without such improvement, development will be limited.

Improve Environmental Quality.

The final area where greater reforms are needed is the environment. Achieving greater energy efficiencies and
boosting the cleanliness of energy and water usage would increase the likelihood of a sustainable stronger growth path for India.
I highly advice you to read the full white paper published by Goldman Sachs.

Top 10: Things you didn't know about Ramdev

Here are some facts about Ramdev
1.He works 18-20 hours a day, waking up at 3 am every morning to begin his exercises, fuelled by a diet of milk, green vegetables and seasonal fruit.
Top 10: Things you didn't know about Ramdev
2. The yoga guru claims to have a follower in every household in India, and at least 30 million people tune in every day to his yoga programme that describes methods and teachings for treating anything from diabetes to high blood pressure.
3. Ramdev's main yoga centre in Haridwar, in Uttarakhand, can hold 6,000 people, and is the heartbeat of a global business spread across three trusts with a turnover of $ 40 million every year.
4.His assets include a Scottish island now renamed "Peace Island", a two-campus university dedicated to yoga teaching and a pharmaceutical company producing ayurvedic medicine and herbal products.
5. Ramdev has promised to form a national political party to challenge the ruling Congress party at the 2014 general elections, and contest all 543 seats across India.
6. Ramdev has claimed that homosexuality is a mental disease, and that mentally stable people do not become homosexuals.
7.When the Delhi High Court decriminalised homosexuality in 2009, local media reported Ramdev said: "The verdict will encourage criminality and sick mentality. This kind of thing is shameful and insulting."
8. Ramdev was also sent a cease and desist order by the health ministry after he said that sex education in schools should be replaced by yoga education to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS.
9. Ramdev's trust runs courses and workshops in Britain, the United States, Canada, Mauritius and Nepal, and a book and CD business with a monthly turnover of around $ 500,000. He is scheduled to travel to Russia in late July for a series of workshops and lectures.
10. He says he has never eaten an egg, nor drank alcohol.

Top 10 Terrifying Prehistoric Sea Monsters

Here are 10 of the scariest monsters to ever call the ocean home in prehistory.

10. Megalodon

Megalodon
Megalodon is probably the best-known creature in the list; it’s hard to keep the idea of a shark the size of a school bus out of pop culture. Plus, science-minded entertainment sources like the Discovery Channel love creatures that could pass for a movie monster. Despite the popular idea that Megalodon coexisted with dinosaurs, they lived from 25 to 1.5 million years ago, meaning that at best they missed the last dinosaur by 40 million years. On the other hand, this meant they might have still been around for the first humans. Eek.
Megalodons swam the warm oceans that were around until the last ice age in the early Pleistocene, which may have robbed them of their breeding grounds and food. Sometimes, it seems nature has our back.

9. Liopleurodon

Liopleurodon
If Jurassic Park had an aquarium scene, and actually featured more animals from the Jurassic period, liopleurodon probably would have been in it. Although the actual length of these beasts is contested (some scientists have claimed lengths in excess of 50’), most agree that it was around 20 feet in length, with a full fifth of that being pointy-toothed head. When the mouth of the “smaller” estimate is still plenty large to eat you whole, I think that is perfectly huge enough.
Scientists have tested the paddle design of these creatures on small swimming robots and found that although they would not have been incredibly fast, they were incredibly agile. They also would have been able to make short, fast burst attacks like crocodiles, which in no way makes them any less intimidating.

8. Basilosaurus

Basilosaurus
Despite the name and appearance, that is not a reptile, but actually a whale (and not even the most fearsome on the list!) Basilosaurs were predatory ancestors of modern whales, and could be 50 to 85 feet long! It is described as being the closest a whale has ever come to being a snake because of how long and sinuous it was. Imagine swimming in the ocean with an 80+ foot long alligator-snake-whale. Now imagine being afraid to even take a bath ever again.
Physical evidence suggests that basilosaurus did not have the cognitive ability of modern whales, nor the ability to echolocate, and could only navigate in 2 dimensions (so no deep diving or breaching). So at least this monster whale was dumber than a bag of prehistoric hammers and could not chase you if you dove or scrambled out on dry land, probably forever.

7. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae

Jaekelopterus rhenaniae
Nothing about the words “sea scorpion” are comforting to begin with, so this should not come off as too awful: this was one of the two largest arthropods to have ever lived, reaching a length of over 8 feet of armored, clawed horror. Most of us freak out at the thought of inch-long ants and foot wide spiders, so it’s easy to imagine screaming like a little girl if you ever stumbled across a living one of these.
On the plus side, sea scorpions (Euripterids) have been extinct since before the dinosaurs, having been wiped out in the Permian Triassic extinction event (which killed 90% of all life on earth) and are only survived, to some degree, by horseshoe crabs, which are even less formidable than regular crabs. There is no evidence that any sea scorpions were actually venomous, but the structure of their tail is similar to a modern scorpion’s, so it might have been.

6. Mauisaurus

Mauisaurus
Mauisaurus was named after the Maori god Maui, who pulled the islands of New Zealand up from the sea floor with a fish hook, so already you know this thing is going to be enormous. The neck of Mauisaurus measured up to 49 feet long; the longest proportionate (and really, “actual”) neck of any living thing aside from some sauropod dinosaurs. Their overall length was about 66 feet, and that ridiculously long neck had plenty of vertebrae, implying that it was flexible. Imagine a snake strung through a sea turtle with no shell, and you have an approximate idea of what this thing looked like.
It lived back in the Cretaceous era, meaning that creatures that jumped in the water avoid Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurs had to contend with these; the jury is out on which is worse. As far as science can tell, Mauisaurus was limited to the New Zealand area, showing that the area that would one day become Australia and its neighbors was always a land of terror.

5. Dunkleosteus

Dunkleosteus
Dunkleosteus was a 30 foot long carnivorous tank. It was outlasted by sharks, but I am sure that is small consolation for the variety of creatures this beast ate. Instead of teeth, it had bony ridges, like a turtle. It has been calculated that they had a bite force of 8,000 pounds per square inch, putting it on par with crocodiles and T-Rex in terms of being history’s strongest biters. They also believe, based on the evidence in the skull regarding its musculature, that it could have opened its mouth in one fiftieth of a second, meaning it vacuumed food into its guillotine of a mouth.
The plates that made up the “teeth” changed as the fish aged from a solid, rigid jaw to segments that allowed it to hold prey easier, and made it more effective in biting through the bony plate armor of other armored fish. In the arms race that was the prehistoric ocean, Dunleosteus was a predatory super tank.

4. Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus
Kronosaurus is another short-necked pliosaur (like Liopleurodon up at number 9), and like Liopleurodon, its overall length has been contested. It was a “mere” 30 feet long and the longest teeth in its massive mouth were up to 11 inches long. This is why it was named after Cronus, the king of the oldGreek Titans.
Guess where it lived? If you guessed “Australia”, then you  have been paying attention to life (and are correct). The head was up to 9 feet long. They could eat an entire modern man whole, and still have room left over for half of another. It has also been suggested that since their flippers are so similar in design to those of modern sea turtles, that they may have crawled out onto land to lay eggs. You can be sure no one was digging up these thing’s nests to get at the eggs.

3. Helicoprion

Helicoprion
These sharks grew to be about 15 feet long, and had a lower jaw that was made of a “tooth whorl”. It looks like a cross between a circular saw and a shark, and when you mix apex predators with power tools, the world quakes in fear.
Helicoprion’s teeth were serrated, implying that they were definitely carnivores, but there is some debate as to whether their teeth were in the front of the mouth, as shown in the picture, or if they were farther back, which would suggest a softer diet, like jellyfish. However it was arranged, it clearly worked; Helicoprion survived the Permian Triassic extinction, which means they may have been smart enough to create bomb shelters. Or maybe they just lived in the deep sea.

2. Livyatan melvillei

Livyatan melvillei
Remember me mentioning “hypercarnivorous” whales? Well here it is. Imagine a cross between an orcaand a sperm whale. Livyatan melvillei was a whale that ate other whales. It had the largest teeth of any animal to ever use their teeth to eat (elephant tusks are bigger, but they just look impressive and help them smash things; they don’t eat with them) topping out at 1.18 feet. They lived in the same oceans and ate the same food as the Megalodon, so this whale actually had to compete with the largest predatory shark ever.
Not to mention their head was 10 feet long and featured the same echo-locating equipment as modern toothed whales, making them much more effective in murky water. In case it was not obvious, this beast was named after the leviathan, a giant sea monster from the bible, and Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick. If the great white whale had been one of these, it would have eaten the Pequot and everyone aboard as a snack.

1. Giant Stingray

Giant Stingray
What grew 17 feet across, had a 10 inch poison spike in its tail and was strong enough to drag a boat filled with people? In this case, a prehistoric super-fish that is still lurking around in fresh and brackish waters from the Mekong river to northern Australia. Stingrays have been around since a few million years after the dinosaurs died out, and have proven to be a successful design, much like the sharks they descended from.
The giant stingrays use that tried and true ancient design, but have somehow managed to survive ice ages and even the catastrophic Toba event. They were featured on Animal Planet’s River Monsters, and despite the host’s tendency to exaggerate damn near everything, they are incredibly dangerous to fool around with, even if you don’t know you are fooling around with one. They are notorious for putting their neurotoxin covered spike completely through limbs. I guess, on the plus side, if there is one, at least they won’t try to eat you.