IF the opinions of some of Internet users are anything to go by, Narendra Modi should not be the next chief minister of Gujarat. Instead, he should be the next Prime Minister of India. Free social networking sites on the Internet is galore with communities and postings, which project Narendra Modi as BJP’s best bet for prime ministerial candidate for the general elections in 2009. 

A posting in Orkut, a social networking site, apparently sent from Meerut, said, “It is time Narendra Modi is promoted as PM and not just as CM of Gujarat. A thumping victory in Gujarat can force the BJP leadership to hand over the mantle to Narendra Modi. This will help BJP to encash on Narendra Modi’s popularity amongst the Hindus and save their own seats and deposits in 2009 elections. Uttar Pradesh election results have shown what is going to happen in future. Gujaratis must not miss this opportunity.” 

Another scrap, by an apparent non-resident Gujarati from New Jersey, said, “Missing BJP here in America. A great personality is handling BJP Government in Gujarat, so have created this community in order to honour the one and only courageous and talented Mr Narendra Modi and his ministry. Yeh Woh Modi Hai Jisne Hame Hamare Dushmano Ke Samne Sar Uthake Jina Sikhaya, Jo Hamare Gujarat Me Ham Hi Pe Raj Kar Rahe The. (Narendra Modi has taught us to face our enemies and live with pride). So, make him the next Prime Minister.” 

Some entries also provide a list of reasons why Narendra Modi is the best candidate for the next PM. One list read: 

“1. He has stood by Hindutava no matter what the situation. He is loyal and must be rewarded. 

2. He has stood by the party unlike Uma Bharti, who is also a popular leader but had spoken against the party. 

3. Gujarat is India’s best state under Narendra Modi’s leadership. 

4. Narendra Modi is an OBC and I think the time has come that we should bring OBC candidates to lead Bharat.” 

BJP Supporter’s Group, a community in Orkut, with a membership of well over 8,000, had carried out a poll on prime ministerial candidates. Out of the total 365 votes casted, Narendra Modi had a clear majority. However, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Bharat Singh Solanki said, “These are the manifestations of his propaganda. How much of public support he really has will be seen only after the elections.” 

Suspended BJP leader Gordhan Zadaphia went a step ahead. “He (Narendra Modi) is a master of manipulation. With the kind of fabricated picture he has projected outside, people are bound to get influenced,” he said.

Narendra Modi was born on 17th September 1950 in a small town of Vadnagar in Mehsana district in North Gujarat in India.

  Narendra Modi completed his schooling in Vadnagar and did his masters degree in Political Science from Gujarat University. Even as a boy he was interested in social services. During the Indo-Pak war in early sixties, he went to help the soldiers in transit in railway stations. In 1967 he offered voluntary services to the people affected in Narmada Tapti floods. He continued serving the victims of major disasters in various parts of the country in his student and adult life. 

  Narendra Modi's abilities and leadership qualities were seen in the early days of his student life when he became the student leader of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (All India Students Council). He played a prominent role in the anticorruption movement in 1974 in Gujarat. 

  He entered politics in 1987 by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. Within a year, he was elevated to the level of General Secretary of the Gujarat unit of the party. In 1995 he was made the National Secretary of the party in-charge of five major states in India – a rare distinction. He traveled extensively through out the world, which helped him to develop a global perspective.

  After carving a niche for himself in the national politics as a master strategist, he took over as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7th October 2001.

  Narendra Modi, who is ever capable of turning an adversity into an opportunity made use of his inexperience to start afresh, on a clean slate without the burden of the past. His beginner mind was a blessing in disguise for him to learn things without any bias and without the need to unlearn the dead past. Though he was a wandering type of Sangh Pracharak he had a wealth of national and international exposure with him. Immediately after the swearing in ceremony he swung into action. His administrative acumen, clear vision and integrity brought him a landslide victory in the general elections held in December 2002 and he was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the second term on 22nd December 2002.

  The biggest challenge which Narendra Modi had to face when he took over as the Chief Minster was the reconstruction of the earthquake affected areas. Bhuj was a city of rubble. People were living in temporary shelters without basic infrastructure. Earthquake recovery became his first priority. His dynamic vision and quick decisions have put Gujarat Reconstruction Programme as one of the best reconstruction programmes on the global map and set a benchmark for reconstruction and disaster recovery, not only in India, but also in the entire Asia. Earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation in Gujarat achieved global recognition.

  Narendra Modi as soon as he took over as the Chief Minister focused quickly on integrated overall development. Along with industrial growth and economic development, he also focused on rural development, improvement in education, education of girl child, development of the deprived, agricultural development, science and technology and disaster management. Gujarat had always focused on industrial growth, but Narendra Modi made an attempt to correct the imbalance in development by focusing appropriately on social sectors, integrating social and economic growth. He put Gujarat on the road to integrated development with a special focus on five sectors namely – education, water, energy, human resources and safety & security.

  Narendra Modi quickly shifted the gear from government centered administration to people centered administration. People's participation became the foundation of all development programs. Efficient application of information technology for governance, focus on agriculture, human resources development, and delivery of health services, rural development and thrust on post disaster recovery has made Gujarat emerge as the leader among the Indian states in spite of a series of disasters.

  Attention and priority given by Narendra Modi to education as compared to any other past Chief Minister of the state is also noteworthy. His realization that no amount of economic, industrial or commercial resurgence can be sustained on a long-term basis without the foundation of proper academic and professional education has made him re-work the whole system of education in Gujarat state. Successive annual campaigns for enrolment of all children in schools, with a special focus on enrolment of the girl child have brought lakhs of children back to school, which otherwise would have been left out. The concern of the Narendra Modi for education of the girl child is reflected in the fact that he has specially created a fund called “Kanya Kelavani Nidhi”. Now it is a well-known fact that all the gifts received by Narendra Modi are auctioned and the funds are credited to this account.

  Narendra Modi has been constantly innovating for improving the efficiency and productivity in various sectors. One such innovative step is the decision to involve private sector for development of huge wastelands. Another innovative step is celebration of traditional festivals, and covert them into events of major tourist attraction. In a mobile world in order to make citizens really mobile, roaming ration cards and roaming school cards have been introduced. Provision of soil health cards to the farmers is another innovation to help farmers improve the land quality and ultimately agricultural productivity. “Sujalam Sufalam” scheme launched to create a grid of water resources in Gujarat is another innovative step towards water conservation and its appropriate utilization.

  Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor's meet is an innovative bi-annual submit organized by Narendra Modi to attract investment from rest of the country and abroad. Narendra Modi in his five years of rule has ensured all round development of Gujarat in all areas including agriculture, rural development, education and industrial development. His vision is to make Gujarat emerge as the leader, not only in the Indian sub-continent, but also in the entire Asia to compete with Japan, Taiwan, and China.

  Narendra Modi looks beyond the immediate gratification for the purpose of getting votes. The programmes such as Krushi Mahotsav, River Grid, Chiranjeevi & Matru Vandana schemes, schemes for reduction in infant mortality rate, Beti Bachavo campaign (save the girl child), Jyotigram, Karmayogi Abhiyan etc. aim at multi-dimensional development of Gujarat in the long-term. The vision, concept and implementation of such programmes make Narendra Modi rise as a statesman, who thinks of the next generation in the backdrop of politicians who think about the next elections. 

  UN Sasakawa Award for disaster reduction, CAPAM award for innovation in governance, UNESCO award, CSI award for e-governance, No.1 state in industrial investment (MOUs), No.1 among major health care services, availability and utility of infrastructure, Indiatech award in power sector etc. is an indicative list of what Gujarat achieved under the able Chief Ministership of Narendra Modi. The very fact that Narendra Modi has been ranked as the number one Chief Minister by the public for the second consecutive year speaks volumes about his achievements.

  Narendra Modi is a powerful orator – avid reader and an original thinker. Apart from numerous articles and Essays, he also has authored three books.

Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishen may soon join the increasing number of celebrities who have become poster boys for political parties in the run-up to the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Bigg Boss finalist, who had earlier wished to stay away from politics after claiming to have got similar offers from the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, now seems to have made up his mind about joining politics.

"I am in talks with the Congress leadership both in Maharashtra and at the Centre. I have put forward some conditions to them and as soon as things materialise in that direction, I will take the final decision," Ravi Kishen said.

The actor, who has featured in several Bhojpuri and Hindi films, has a considerable fan following in Uttar Pradesh  and Bihar. He is also expected to campaign for the Congress along with its youth icon Rahul Gandhi .

Kishen added that he will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi soon. According to sources close to Kishen, the actor has demanded a party ticket from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, which happens to be his home turf as he hails from Kirkat village of the constituency.

"It will give me an opportunity to work among the people of my region and also benefit the party by strengthening its base," he said. The actor claims that the BSP and the BJP were interested in fielding him in the forthcoming elections.

The BSP had reportedly asked him to contest either from Varanasi or Jaunpur. Kishen had turned down the proposal, saying he had no plan to join politics and would concentrate on his acting career.

His move is also being seen as a counter to Samajwadi Party's decision to field popular Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari from Gorakhpur constituency.

Political parties are on a scouting spree for Bhojpuri actors, as they are supposedly helpful in wooing a large number of voters in eastern Uttar Pradesh, who speak Bhojpuri.

On the day of 2 February 2009, Gunmen kidnapped an American national working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, after killing his driver in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, on Monday. After 20 days  suspense hung over the fate of American United Nations diplomat John Solecki who was kidnapped in Pakistan's Balochistan province with an unidentified caller claiming that he had been killed, and hours later the Baloch group which had abducted him saying he was alive. 

An unidentified caller had telephoned the Quetta Press Club to claim that Solecki had been killed by his abductors. The caller also said that his body would be brought to Quetta Press Club after two hours.

However, a spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation United Front, the group that kidnapped Solecki, later called media persons in Quetta and told them that the UN official was safe. He denied the report that Solecki had been killed.

The BLUF spokesman said medical facilities were being provided to the ailing Solecki. He also said no harm had been caused to Solecki.

Officials said they were investigating the anonymous call to the Press Club, which was traced to Noshki, a district located 250 km west of Quetta and near the Pakistan border with Afghanistan.

Solecki, who heads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in south-western Balochistan province, was kidnapped on February 2 by gunmen who killed his driver. The hitherto unheard of BLUF claimed responsibility for the abduction. 

Samajwadi party is leaving no stone unturned for their star candidate Sanjay Dutt’s campaign plans. They have arranged an extremely luxurious bus worth a whopping Rs. 3 crore for him to travel around Lucknow for campaigning in his constituency.

A source reveals, “Since the Loksabha elections are taking place close the summer  season, and Sanjay Dutt has to campaign through the whole of Lucknow and its adjoining areas, it was necessary that he would do so in the most comfortable way. It is his first election and it would end up being very tiresome for him. Therefore a Rs. 3 crore luxury Volvo caravan fully equipped with a shower and a toilet is being readied for him. This luxury cruise caravan is being built on an original Volvo chassis and is complete with all the comforts of a home.”

Revealing more about the luxurious caravan van the source further added, “The front section will have an office lounge. The central section will have a bar and a setup which will house many DVDs, a play station and computers. The bus has been designed by D. C. Designs Pvt. Ltd. under Dutt’s guidance and took nine months in the making. It will be delivered to Sanjay very soon.” 

Match Fixer Azharuddin also came in politics

Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin is all set to join the Congress Party.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Veerrappa Moily, in an interview to Times Now declared on Thursday that Azharuddin would be given primary membership in the party.

However, they are still to decide the constituency from where he will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Justifying his induction in the Congress despite his involvement in the match-fixing case, Moily said, "There is no criminal case against Azhar. If there is a case at all, then it is only between the BCCI and him, which has been filed by Azhar himself against the ban."

"Remember, he served Indian cricket for nine years as a captain with outstanding performance. He has filed a case against the ban imposed by the BCCI and that is not a criminal matter," he added.

Moily's declaration came after Azharuddin had a late evening meeting with some of the senior party leaders on February 18.

There were speculations about the former cricketer joining politics since January 20, when he expressed his interest to contest elections 'from a prestigious seat'.

He had verbalised his interest in front of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, according to sources.

There were rumours last February, when Azharuddin had lunch with Telangana Rastra Samiti President K Chandrasekhar Rao, that he may campaign or contest elections for the Telangana Rastra Samiti in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls.

Later on January 22, Azharuddin's plans became all the more apparent when he had a long meeting with Moily, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and PCC president D Srinivas in Hyderabad.

In 1991 he was named 'Wisden Cricketer of the Year'. BUT………….However, towards the end of his career, Azharuddin was accused of match fixing and banned from playing by the BCCI. Because This is one and only field where more progress for corrupted people. Jaaaaago…….India………Jaaaaaaaago.

Sector: Oil and Gas

Particulars: Tax Holiday for gas production

Current Status: There is 7 year tax holiday on oil production but there is no clarity on gas production

Proposed measures: 7 year tax exemption also given for the gas production

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Positive for Reliance Industries, ONGC and Cairn India.

Sector: Real Estate

Particulars: Interest deduction on housing loan

Current Status: Rs 1.5 Lakh

Proposed measures: Rs 2-2.5 Lakh

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Positive To stimulate demand from housing sector

Particulars: Concessional housing loan

Current Status: up to Rs 20 lakh

Proposed measures: up to Rs 30 lakh

Impact (on sector & major stocks): To stimulate demand from housing sector

Sector: Textile

Particulars: Repayment of term loans

Current Status: Currently moratorium is available for initial 1-2 years

Proposed measures: 2 year moratorium on repayment of term loans

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Companies with high debt like Alok Industries, Bombay Rayon Fashions, Vardhman Textiles, Welspun India would benefit

Particulars: Repricing of cotton

Current Status: Domestic prices higher than international prices

Proposed measures: Align domestic cotton price with international price

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Companies using cotton as raw material like Alok Industries, Bombay Rayon Fashions, Vardhman Textile, Welspun India would benefit

Particulars: Withdrawal of excise duty on manmade fibers

Current Status: 4%

Proposed measures: 0%

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Positive for most of the players in the manmade fiber segment

Particulars: Incentives to exporters

Current Status: 2%

Proposed measures: Align Restoration of 4% interest rate subsidy on bank loans of exporters

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Positive for exporters

Sector: Telecom

Particulars: License charges on revenue share basis

Current Status: There 10% of AGR adjusted gross revenue) in metros and A category circles, 8% of AGR in B category and 6% of AGR in C category circles.

Proposed measures: Single levy of 6% of AGR in all the circles.

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Rcom, Spice Communications and MTNL

Sector: Media

Particulars: Service tax (Broadcasting)

Current Status: 12.24% service tax is levied on Broadcasters and not on the print media companies

Proposed measures: Services Tax to be in line with the print media for broadcaster. However, we do not expect any changes.

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Benefit for all the broadcasting companies like ZEE Entertainment,TV18, Sun TV

Particulars: Service tax (Multiplexes)

Current Status: 12.36% services tax is levied.

Proposed measures: Removal of 12.36% services tax or allowed to set off against sales tax. We expect this to remain unchanged

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Benefit PVR, INOX, Cinemax, Fame.

Particulars: Custom Duty Current Status: 12.5% duty charged on Broadcasting equipments

Proposed measures: To be eliminated. We expect this to reduce.

Impact (on sector & major stocks): WWIL, Dish TV

Sector: Metals

Particulars: Import duty on steel

Current Status: Import duty of 5% on finished steel products

Proposed measures: Hike in import duty to 15% for flat products and 10% on long products

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Domestic steel producers would benefit on better demand and sales prospects. JSW Steel, Tata Steel would be major beneficiaries

Particulars: Import duty on non- ferrous metals

Current Status: Import duty of 5% on aluminum and zinc and 3% on copper

Proposed measures: Hike in import duty up to 10% for aluminum and zinc and up to 5% on copper

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Domestic non-ferrous metal producers would benefit. Major beneficiaries: NALCO, HINDALCO, Sterlite Industries, Hindustan Zinc etc.

Particulars: Impacts from measures on real estate and automobiles

Current Status: Present tax exemption of 1.5 lakhs on home loan; Excise duty of 12% and 20% different automobile categories

Proposed measures: Tax exemption is likely to be hiked to 2-2.5 lakhs; Excise duty is likely to be cut to at least 10% and 16% on different automobile categories

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Indirect positive impact on metal companies regarding Improvement in demand

Sector: Power

Particulars: Depreciation Proposed measures: Accelerating the rates of depreciation in the initial years

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Accelerated depreciation to provide tax savings to companies incurring capex, thereby providing additional incentive to the sector.

Particulars: Benefit under Section 80IA

Current Status: Benefit to the projects starting till March 2010

Proposed measures: Extension of the deadline

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Will increase the investments in the sector. The new proposals

sanctioned will take around three to five years to commence operations.

Particulars: Allocation from the Government

Proposed measures: To hike its allocation to stateowned power companies NTPC, NHPC and Power Grid Corp

Impact (on sector & major stocks): Will lead to increased spending by the power companies.

Working Experience [INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS] :

1966: Economic Affairs Officer

1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD

1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform

1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings

1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting

1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting

1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna

Working Experience [Politics]:

1988-1990: Husband of the Prime Minister

1993–1996: Minister of Environment during his wife's second term as the Prime Minister

Un till 1999: Senator

30 December 2007: Appointed himself as the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

September 9, 2008: Zardari was elected president of Pakistan . Sworn in by Abdul Hameed Dogar, whose position as the Chiefe Justice of Pakistan remains a contested issue by an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani legal fraternity.

Working Experience [Government Positions]:

1971-72: Economic advisor, mini stry of foreign trade

1972-76: Chief economic advisor, mini stry of finance

1976-80: - Director, Reserve Bank of India; Director, Industrial Development Bank of India;

- Alternate governor for India , Board of governors , Asian Development Bank;

- Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, IBRD

- November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, mini stry of finance (Department of economic affairs);

- Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission ; Member,finance, Space Commission

April 1980 - September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission

1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committee

September 16, 1982 - January 14 , 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank of India..

1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund

1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister

1985: President, Indian Economic Association

January 15 , 1985 - July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission

August 1, 1987 - November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva

December 10 , 1990 - March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs

March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC

June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996: Union finance mini ster

October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket

June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha

1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the mini stry of finance

August 1, 1996 - December 4 , 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce

March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha

June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance

August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules

Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member,

executive committee, Indian parliamentary group

June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha

Aug 2001 onwards: Member, general purposes committee

2004: Prime Minister of India

Working Experience [Other]:

Other experience of Mr Zardari includes his widely believed but not proven involvement in

- Several murders - most famously of his brother in law, possibly his wife

- Wrapping a bomb to the leg of a famous UK businessman to ask for money

- Embezzlement & looting of Billions of Pakistan's wealth

BOOKS:

India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press, Oxford University , 1964;

also published a large number of articles in various economic journals .

BOOKS:

None on record

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Adam Smith Prize , University of Cambridge, 1956

Padma Vibhushan , 1987

Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;

Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia , 1993 and 1994

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Marrying the then future and now ex (RIP) Prime Minister of Pakistan

Only serving politician to have spent 10 years in Jail

Told the US VP Candidate that she is "gorgeous" and said : "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you". When the photographers asked the two to keep shaking hands, he replied : " If he insists, I might hug you". This was one day after the President delivered an emotional speech at the UN in new York waiving a photograph of his deceased wife only months after the murder of his wife.

Here I compare the talent of Indian Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari. And I remark two possibilities first one, all Pakistanis are blind who elect every time such types of Leaders and second one is, there are no democracy in Pakistan, I hope you will also select second option because first one is nearly impossible thing. Comparison is as under, please read it carefully.

Dr. Manmohansingh

Chief Executive of India

Title: Prime Minister

Name: Dr Manmohan Singh

Chief Executive of Pakistan

Title: President of Pakistan

Name: Asif Ali Zardari

Dr. Manmohansingh

EDUCATION /Qualification:

1950: Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Punjab University, Chandigarh,

1952; Stood first in MA (Economics), Punjab University, Chandigarh,

1954; Wright's Prize for distinguished performance at St John's College, Cambridge,

1955 and 1957; Wren bury scholar, University of Cambridge,

1957; DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness

EDUCATION /Qualification:

High School from Cadet College Petaro Details of higher formal education not known; Claims graduation from London but not available to be verified. As per some account. His official biography says he attended a commercial college called Pedinton School. But a search of tertiary educational institutions in London showed no such school.

Dr. Manmohansingh

Working Experience [Teaching]

Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;

Reader, Economics, 1959-63;

Professor, Economics, Punjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;

Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi , 1969-71;

Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,1996 and Civil Servant

Working Experience [INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS] :

1966: Economic Affairs Officer

1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD

1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform

1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings

1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting

1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting

1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna

Working Experience:

Early days: Working at the family owned Bambino Cinema at Karachi. Some accuse Mr. Zardari of small-time ticket frauds to steal money from the family business.

Up till 1987 (marriage to the future Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto): No record.

1988 to date: While no official record of any business exists, Mr. Zardari is widely believed to be one of the (if not the) richest man in Pakistan. An unofficial list of family owned businesses, property and accounts exists but the completeness of the same cannot be verified. Mr. Zardari has however been involved in various national and international cases relating to his businesses. The most significant European cases are a Swiss money-laundering inquiry and British civil cases.

Global Financial Crisis 1929 and The Recession of 1958

The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. It was the largest and most important economic depression in modern history, and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the world's economy can fall. The Great Depression originated in the United States; historians most often use as a starting date the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. The end of the depression in the U.S is associated with the onset of the war economy of World War II, beginning around 1939.

The depression had devastating effects in virtually every country, rich or poor. International trade plunged by half to two-thirds, as did personal income, tax revenue, prices and profits. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by roughly 60 percent. Facing plummeting demand with few alternate sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as farming, mining and logging suffered the most. However, even shortly after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, optimism persisted; John D. Rockefeller said that "These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again.

The Great Depression ended at different times in different countries; for subsequent history see Home front during World War II. The majority of countries set up relief programs, and most underwent some sort of political upheaval, pushing them to the left or right. In some states, the desperate citizens turned toward nationalist demagogues—the most infamous being Adolf Hitler—setting the stage for World War II in 1939

The Great Depression ended

The turning point in the depression was in 1933, as can be seen in the above Industrial Production graph. Some economists attribute the subsequent recovery to monetary expansion that began after the bank holiday a few days after Roosevelt was inaugrated on March 4, 1933 and devaluation of the U.S. dollar that was then tied to gold.

Financial Crisis - 1929 Repeated in 2009

Indian Perspective

November 2008 Global Meltdown 1929 Repeated... Stock Market is at all time low and everyone is discussing about Global Meltdown and its all possible effects on Indian economy and Indian Investors. Fear has taken toll over Greed and now everyone is worried with one Common Question – What’s NEXT?

Stock Market is always acting as a barometer of any Economy. Current level of stock market has pushed us to the year 2006 where Sensex was at the level of 10,000. It took 28 years for Sensex to reach at the level of 12000 in year 2007 and Sensex took only one year to reach at the level of 21000 from 12000. What happened during 2007 to 2008? Was it over optimism? The current downfall of Sensex is attributed by unprofessional practice and misjudgments of so called Master Brains. Analysts say that the current global meltdown is similar to Great Depression of 1929. Let's look at great depression and check its similarity with current slowdown. World war in any case is root cause of any In 1927, Britain ran into trouble with its gold development or devastation of economy. The freeing standard again and Ben Strong lowered US of capital from government to use to commercial use interest rates in sympathy for a second time. Following World War 1, caused commodity price to This ignited the boom into the speculative frenzy inflate. In 1920, Ben Strong of the US Federal Reserve that brought the market to its peak on Bank of New York raised interest rates sharply to September 3, 1929. It was like pouring gasoline prevents inflation. This caused a recession and the stock onto a fire? the flames rose up, no lasting fuel market to fall. Once hard assets like commodities and was added, but the economy sure looked great. Real estate were no longer rising in price, money began Ben Strong died in October 1928. George to pour into stocks and bonds. The Dow started Harrison, his successor immediately lobbied for climbing from its low at 63.90 in 1921 and rose 150% higher interest rates to cool the speculative over the four years to 1925.fervor. Rates were finally raised 1% in August of 1929, but by then it was way too late. The Dow It was in 1925 that Ben Strong made a secret peaked at 381.17. The market and the economy commitment to Montague Norman, Governor of the had buoyed itself from one source of hope to Bank of England, to help England reinstate the Gold the next for a whole decade. First it was the end Standard. This action would later be shown to have of war? related inflation and booming exports for undermined the British economy but the Pound had war reparations, next artificially low interest been the main medium of international exchange at rates in 1925 and 1927 and booming exports that time and it was felt to be in everyone's interest to due to a reduced value of the Dollar vs. they have it be exchangeable for gold. With moral support Pound. There was major tax reductions from the US Treasury, Strong chose to help strengthen instituted by the Republicans under Hoover and the value of the Pound by depressing US interest rates. Finally in June of 1929 an international accord This depressed the value of the US Dollar and caused was struck with the Germans (albeit short? lived) the already robust economy to boom. It was suddenly over the financing of war reparations, a major cheaper to borrow money to invest in the stock market issue of the decade.(Called margin investing).With artificially low interest rates and a booming economy people and companies were more apt than ever to invest in grandiose business expansions and over? Priced stocks. Mergers and acquisitions soared.