The new Congress led government has indicated its priorities and areas of action as outlined in the President’s speech, Thursday. It reads as a continuation of the expansionary policies, followed by the UPA hitherto. While the idea of food security with subsidized food for the poor is a good one in a country which boasts of the highest concentration of poverty in the world, other spending plans read more like pork barrel politics, than serious economic programs.

The fiscal deficit increased to 6.2% of the GDP in the year ending March 31st. However this does not take into account the oil bonds, bank loans write off and such ‘off budget’ items. Taken together the deficit would soar well into the double digits. Such high levels of deficit are unsustainable in the medium term. Indeed after a bout of fiscal profligacy in the later eighties the economy was left on its knees and had to go to the IMF hat in hand to be bailed out. In the current international scenario many countries are busting their budgets like there was no tomorrow. The IMF has its hands full of failing economies in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. Thus India would find it difficult to get fiscal succor if it gets into trouble.

On the bright side, the government proposes to narrow the burgeoning fiscal deficit by selling minority stakes in State-owned companies as also by encouraging foreign direct investment. In a world of increasing capital mobility when Indian firms have made big ticket acquisitions across the world, this sounds like a tired old mantra from the Nineties of the previous century. Further, battered by the free fall in the global economy investors across the world are chary of putting their money anywhere than in commodities, least of in Indian public sector companies of dubious value. Again, with the government itself resorting to heavy doses of borrowing to shore up its sagging finances, domestic investors are likely to be crowded out of the market. A sure indicator of this is the banks’ reluctance to reduce interest rates.

Wholesale price inflation slowed to 0.48% on an annual basis, for the week ending 23rd May, a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy scenario. However on closer examination even this is not so comforting after all. Lack of inflation can also mean lack of enough demand. The flip side of this is that once demand picks up, so will inflation, particularly of commodities. In any case large deficits as seen in the last two years are bound to fuel inflation. Thus whichever way one turns one is faced with a daunting economic hurdle, while the government’s cavalier handling of these serious issues leaves one a sense of déjà vu. As he steps into his second term, the economist in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would do well to remember that in order to get rid of poverty, the challenge is not to make the poor rich but to make the poor productive, to quote Peter Drucker.

Three top officers of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, ATS, were gunned down even as they walked as lambs to slaughter. It is not in our culture to disrespect the dead and we share the pain their families must be going through even now. However, quite clearly the ATS officers did not have any inkling of what was going on and seem to have acted in a cavalier and unprofessional manner. Donning helmets and largely useless bullet-proof vests, they sought to confront the terrorists who packed AK- 47s, armed with nothing better than pistols. Such scenes are of course the stuff of Bollywood. Without realising the gravity of the situation they simply walked into the hands of the terrorists and were easily shot off, confirming the contempt in which these terrorists hold Indian security forces, particularly the Police forces.

Authorities had had ample warning of an impending strike against Mumbai as revealed by those apprehended in the earlier bomb blasts in Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. In fact, the media was replete with reports that something big was being planned for Mumbai. However the government both at the Centre and the state chose to ignore these warnings. Indeed the Maharashtra Govt and the ATS seemed to be more fixated on the Malegaon blasts than in looking out for other possible threats. In fact the ATS went so far as making the astounding statement that the Samjhauta Express blast was caused by RDX whereas both the central agencies and the Haryana Police had earlier filed reports including forensic evidence that no RDX had been used in that incident. The State Govt and the ATS appeared to have been busy with irrelevant leads and speculation, rather than in dealing with the real stark challenge of death dealing terrorism.

The Mumbai attacks are a defining moment and people want action from the authorities and quickly. Persons and organisations which trivialise the incident and remain stuck in pious platitudes are doomed to the dust bin of history. Clearly, the ATS lacks the stature to handle such an important investigation. While setting up a national agency to deal with these incidents would be ideal, yet that would take weeks and months, if not years. The Central government’s immediate reaction should be to set up a Special Investigation Team, SIT. The SIT may be drawn from the senior officers of the Central Intelligence agencies and the Armed forces, thus providing a de facto national intelligence force. It should be the nodal agency for probing the previous blasts and the Mumbai outrage, while the ATS can be tasked with the field work. The SIT will report to the Union government and hence would be in a position to act in concert with the intelligence agencies of the other countries like the FBI, Scotland Yard etc.

Information management and briefing the press is another area which should be handled with care. Even now, the ATS should stop its habit of giving bits and pieces of information to the press on a daily basis. Similarly the SIT when it is set up, should investigate and make public only solid information backed by cross verified facts Otherwise we may end up damaging relations with our friends and well-wishers as well as with countries inimical to us. Already Britain has rejected charges that its citizens were involved in the attack, citing lack of credible evidence and proper identification of the perpetrators of the terror.

The final lesson is as inevitable as it may be unpalatable: the terrorists are going to keep coming back. This is the grim reality. And this is not just about Mumbai, this about the whole country which today stands shoulder to shoulder with Mumbai in its hour of travail. We must be prepared for a long and hard battle and we must learn to fight together and yet fight smarter. If the terror elements find safe havens in other countries, we must find innovative methods to get to them. Above all we must understand that this now is war, with a capital W. There can be no pussyfooting and political correctness in dealing with these elements. Let’s make bold to say that if these people are labelled “Islamist” terrorists then the blame is squarely on them as they identify themselves as such.

Threescore and ten years and a little more on, a couple of young at heart men are at it again. Only this time the aircraft will breach the imaginary Karman line 100 kms above the earth, which marks the beginning of space. Welcome back to the future.

‘The start of what we believe will be a new era in the history of mankind, one day making the affordable exploration of space by human beings a real possibility,” proclaims Sir Richard Branson, the iconic Chairman of the Virgin group.

Virgin Galactic, a group company proposes to offer a joy ride to sub-orbital space and back for a US$ 200,000 fee starting late in 2008 or early 2009. For this amount, you will get your health thoroughly checked before embarking on three days of bonding, pre-flight training and preparation, at the company’s proposed spaceport in Mojave Desert. Then you will be hurled aloft in a craft that will cruise for a few minutes in sub-orbital space, for the most incredible experience in your life, the company promises.

Is this a commercially viable venture you ask yourself? “It is impossible to run a business without taking risks. Virgin would not be the company it is today if risks had not been taken,” says the inimitable Sir Richard with his charming smile.

The spacecraft that will transport people up to space and back again is the brainchild of the now legendary Burt Rutan. His two-ship composite design successfully reached space and returnedto the earth twice in fourteen days to take the US$10 million Ansari-X-flight prize in 2004.

The space flight will be two-stage affair. The spaceship will hefted by a carrier aircraft, dubbed the White Knight to a height of 50,000ft. This flight will mirror any ordinary airline flight and take about 45 minutes. At that point SpaceOne, the “mother ship” that is tagged on to the carrier craft will be released and its hybrid rocket motors ignited.

The spaceship then accelerates to more than three times the speed of sound reaching the Karman line in just 90 seconds. The passengers inside watch as they hurtle through the edges of the atmosphere, the large windows showing the cobalt blue sky turning to mauve and indigo and finally to black, as the company blurb puts it.

At the apogee of the flight, a 110 kms above the Earth, the engines are switched off and the blaring roar of the engines suddenly shifts into deep silence bringing you the first taste of the awesome majesty of space.

As you crane your neck to catch a sight of the blue ball that is the Earth, you find that you are falling out of your seat. You clutch despairingly at the hand rests, to no avail. Welcome to zero gravity! For the first and may be only time in your life you are free from gravity, that comforting pull which keeps us all glued to Mother Earth. Time for a graceful somersault or two, in zero gravity. You look down or is it up? You get an incredible view of the earth, a map or the world without the usual lines marking boundaries; familiar yet disconcerting,

The cockpit is airtight and like a submarine; the structure able to withstand large forces caused by pressure differentials. To keep the air breathable in the cabin, oxygen is added at a small rate, while carbon dioxide from the exhaled air is removed by an absorber system. Humidity is controlled by passing the air through another absorber material, which soaks up the water vapor. The craft’s windows are designed small and circular to provide a light strong craft, which is also cheap to build.

The first intimation that it is all over comes when the pilots warn the passengers to return to their seats. It is indeed a short period of about 4 or 6 minutes but will be remembered the longest by all who experience it. The deceleration produces strong forces but you handle it like an old pro, lying down just as you have been taught in the preparatory classes.

The Spacecraft turns back with its wings folded,” the shuttlecock or feather effect,” as an unassuming Rutan says. This helps to slow down the craft early in its descent back to the earth in a “care-free re-entry” reducing pilot workload and obviating the need for expensive and unreliable heat resistant tiles. You feel the strong drag as the spacecraft ploughs through the increasingly thicker atmosphere till at 60,000 feet, the pilots open the wings and glide down to land.

Pilots don’t need to wear a space suit, the Scaled Composites website assures us, as the cockpit with its dual seals and windowpanes is essentially space worthy. It will not be physically stressful, insists the manufacturer as the pilots and the passengers sit in reclined
seats. The highest forces occur only during re-entry, gradually building up to and peaking at 5G. This is about the same as some modern theme park rides, observes Rutan.

The spacecraft lands like any other aircraft back at the Mojave Space port. As the craft slows to a stop, the celebrations begin and passengers are feted to a hero’s welcome. Later the company presents passengers with their Astronaut’s wings at an impressive ceremony.

It is the end of an exhilarating ride for an individual, maybe changed forever by that glimpse of the little blue ball as the Earth appears from space, vouchsafed by all astronauts. Yet, this is a dream that can come true for you too, someday. The company already has plans to reduce costs and prices, though this may take a few more years to materialize.

Virgin Galactic’s space adventure is just beginning, portending a new odyssey for mankind. Let us salute the magnificent men whose daring have made this possible and their wonderful flying machines.