Sigmoid Curve and Sri Lanka: Significant signals

Disaster preparedness is one practical way of applying Sigmoid Curve where taking proactive measures in mitigating the impact of an imminent disaster. Instead, we become hyperactive in the aftermath of a disaster to reactively manage the damage

– Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

 Monday, 18 June 2018 

Sri Lanka, often named as the ‘Wonder of Asia,’ has many citizens wondering what is going on.

We have a 92% literacy rate with rich conceptual skills. We are blessed with a tropical weather, of course with occasional rough times, still manageable. We have ample intellectual brilliance shown globally. As such, there are many positives for us to be pleased about.

Yet, the fundamental question remains as to why we are often more reactive than proactive. Let me attempt to share some salient insights connecting to the interesting concept of ‘Sigmoid Curve’.

Overview

The Sigmoid Curve is named after “sigmoid,” the Greek word for the letter “s”. It represents the curve of a new life cycle emerging from an existing one, much like an “S” on its side. It was much referred to by Charles Handy, the Irish-born management guru.

In the book ‘Age of Paradox,’ Charles Handy argues that to survive and grow, all individuals and institutions must plot the point on their present life cycle and then plan and implement transformational change. He surveys the state of the world and his observations are indeed interesting.

People have been adversely affected by change; capitalism “has not proved as flexible as it was supposed to be”; and increased technology and productivity have resulted in fewer jobs for some, increased consumption for others. His solution lies in “the management of paradox,” in essence planning for the unplanned.

Handy identifies nine global paradoxes. Among them, the US and Britain have the highest percentages of employed people but their workers are the least protected; in Bangladesh 90% of houses are owner-occupied, in richer Switzerland 33% – and notes that to cope with the turbulence of life, organisation must start in the mind.

Relevance of S Curve

In Western culture, life is seen as a long line starting on the left and going to the right, observes Rebeca O. Bagley writing to Forbes magazine. In fact, this is linear path leading from “Alpha to Omega” (first and last letters of Greek alphabet). Westerners typically see things in terms of separate chunks of beginnings and ends: ages, jobs, relationships, projects, tasks, even life itself.

As we are much aware, in eastern cultures, life is viewed as a series of cycles or waves. Everything is linked and connected. Everything has its own natural life span, so that in birth there is death and in death there is new birth. This has much relevance to what Charles Handy says about “S Curve”.

If you act too early on the cycle, you lose the fruits of the present lifecycle. If you act too late, you may be in the downward curve and not able to turn things around. The key to future success is to have the foresight and discipline to see the opportunities in what you are doing in the present cycle and then to make your moves while things are going well. It is against the natural order to embrace change when all is going well but, when you plan it right, it is the best possible time because you have time, resources, and morale on your side.

Picture 1 depicts a few scenarios associated with the S curve. As picture 1 illustrates, one has to be proactive in taking appropriate actions at the ideal transformation point. Else, it will be difficult and the actions are more of a reactive nature.

The secret of constant growth is to start a new Sigmoid Curve before the first one peters out. The right place to start that second curve is at point A, where there is the time, as well as the resources and the energy, to get the new curve through its initial explorations and floundering before the first curve begins to dip downwards.

We have many Sri Lankan examples to show that the real energy for change only comes when you are looking disaster in the face, at point B on the first curve. At this point, however, it is going to require a mighty effort to drag oneself up to where, by now, one should be on the second curve. To make it worse, some current business leaders are now discredited because they are seen to have led the organisation down the hill, resources are depleted and energies are low.

For an individual, an event like redundancy typically takes place at point B. It is hard, at that point, to mobilise the resources or to restore the credibility which one had at the peak. We should not be surprised, therefore, that people get depressed at this point or that institutions invariably start the change process, if they leave it until point B, by bringing in new people at the top, because only people who are new to the situation will have the credibility and the different vision to lift the place back on to the second curve.

Wise are they who start the second curve at point A, because that is the “Pathway through Paradox”. That is how Charles Handy advocates. The way to build a new future while maintaining the present. Despite that, the challenges still lie ahead. The second curve, be it a new product, a new way of operating, a new strategy or a new culture, is going to be noticeably different from the old. It has to be. The people also have to be different.

Those who lead the second curve are not going to be the people who led the first curve. For one thing, the continuing responsibility of those original leaders is to keep that first curve going long enough to support the early stages of the second curve. For another, they will find it emotionally difficult to abandon their first curve while it is doing so well, even if they recognise, intellectually, that a new curve is needed. For a time, therefore, new ideas and new people have to coexist with the old until the second curve is established and the first begins to wane.


Salient challenges of S Curve

Imagine the Sigmoid Curve as the curve of life of an individual, an organisation or an entire economic region. The curve initially declines in a time of experimenting and learning then rises in a period of growth and prosperity, and finally declines leading to the end. The key to sustaining a healthy life, a healthy business or a healthy region is to make a transformation to a new curve before the current one is too far in decline.

Every living thing has a natural life span. So do products, projects, organisations, teams, relationships. Life cycles are everywhere. In a day, it is wakening, preparing, activity and sleep. In a year, some countries, there is Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. In a life, it is birth, growing up, maturity and death. In evolution, it is ape-man, prehistoric man, modern man.

There are challenges that all organic entities face whether they are individuals, groups or organisations. Many organisations do not survive long. Tom Peters and Robert Waterman found this out when they re-visited the top organisations featured in their 1982 book, ‘In Search of Excellence’. Most had not maintained their position; some had gone under. Of 208 companies studied over 18 years by Peters and Waterman, only three lasted the course of the whole 18 years. 53% could not maintain their performance levels for more than two years.

“The sigmoid curve sums up the story of life itself,” says Charles Handy. “We start slowly, experimentally, and falteringly; we wax and then we wane. It is the story of the British Empire and the Soviet Union and of all empires, always.”

In another way, the Sigmoid Curve is a representation of how all animal species ensure their own survival by reproducing themselves when their adults are young, virile, fertile and healthy. Managing change and survival is at heart the way of all nature.

Lessons for Lankans 

S curve and be a stimulator for Sri Lankan managers to act proactively. It requires being aware of the nature of products and services in the context of an organisation. It reminds me the bestseller, ‘Who Moved my Cheese?’ by Spenser Johnson. He, though a simple parable, highlighted the need to change in saying “smell the cheese often so that you know when it is becoming stale”.

Disaster preparedness is one practical way of applying Sigmoid Curve where taking proactive measures in mitigating the impact of an imminent disaster. Instead, we become hyperactive in the aftermath of a disaster to reactively manage the damage. It is not just rules to be blamed but the whole machinery which is more reactive than proactive. It begins with the right positive mindset with preparedness to worst case scenarios.

From an individual point of view, it invites us to look at our capabilities to update them in “sharpening the saw”. From an institutional point of view, it invites us to renew, refresh and re-launch. Both involve transformational change. Sri Lankan managers can do much better than the current level in this context. They can show their metal in becoming more of “thinking performers” using their hands, head and heart.

(Prof. Ajantha S. Dharmasiri can be reached through director@pim.sjp.ac.lk, president@ipmlk.org, ajantha@ou.edu or www.ajanthadharmasiri.info) 

Medamulana Gota the ‘Chinese Sales propagandist’ , his election activities and his American beauty…

By Keerthi Ratnayake - a former State Intelligence officer

(Lanka e News -18.June.2018, 11.45PM) US ambassador Athul Keshap left for America after his term ended and the  notification reveals the vacancy arising there-from has been filled by AlainaTeplitz the former US ambassador to Nepal .

This appointment has received the approval of the US Senate and Trump has signed it. Going by her history it is apparent America is sending an ambassador  who can more than match  the Chinese ambassador in  S.L. If she is not entrusted with tasks even  beyond her diplomatic duties , it is a matter for  surprise. Her duties being to build a geopolitical opposition along with India to counter China , it is to  be expected that she will be controlling  the political factors in SL in consonance  with that   objective.

Who is AlainaTeplitz ?

In September 2015 , under the leadership of Kaga Prasad Sharma Oli the president of Nepal’s Communist party , a new constitution was propelled forward.  Under that constitution Nepal which was until then a religious state was proclaimed as  a non religious Federal State .It is worthy of note   , China  was  behind the formulation of the new constitution . India construed  this as a powerful clandestine maneuver  targeting India. In 2015 October Sharma Oli became prime Minister on a majority vote.

Soon after that he signed 9 huge projects with China. It is during that period AlainaTeplitz  received the appointment as the new Ambassador to Nepal. Since the day Alaina assumed duties she worked very closely with the  foreign affairs ministry of India which is  more powerful than the Nepal government in the region.

When an Internal Front in Nepal was launched with Indian support against China , it cannot be said , her blessings were not there. By July 2016 , the Nepal Internal  Front via  a no confidence motion in parliament succeeded to ‘paralyze’ Sharma Oli. 

Alaina made a huge contribution towards completely  halting  the hurtling down of  Nepal in the direction of  China .By the time she was leaving Nepal her  name was included  among those who saved Nepal from the clutches of China .

Evolution of Kings in SL history..

Based on the historical records   relating to  Sri Lankan  Kings and their lineage  , never has anybody become a king without the blessings of India. If there arose a king otherwise  , the King’s  brother had captured the kingdom  after going to India and returning with an army.

After independence in 1948 , until 2015-01-08 , India had played a decisive  role when enthroning  Kings in SL.  No matter who says what , India is  the only refuge and not anything else for SL’s internal forces .  Irrespective of whether the country  is a nerve center economically or politically , it is rarely China had intervened in the enthronement  of rulers.

It is China’s policy to put through deals with the government that is appointed. During the Indo – China war , Sirimavo intervened as an advocate of peace, and it is  well known Sirimavo’s  moves were in favor of China. However after J.R. Jayawardena was installed in power in 1977 , China which strengthened its relationship with him , let down the Bandaranaikes , its historical friends unconscionably.

Geopolitics and surveillance services.…

It  is the primary and paramount task of the intelligence divisions of other countries to closely monitor the conduct of a presidential candidate of a  country with which they are linked.  India and China undoubtedly  are watchful of the individuals who are potential presidential candidates in this country.

The two main organizations relied upon by Gotabaya under his presidency steeped  in crookedness and scandals   are “Viyath Maga’ and ‘Eliya’ .Gotabaya representing these organizations  is going around the country and addressing the people. Yet , in the process Gotabaya demonstrated that he is more a Medamulana ‘sales propagandist ’ of China and less a politician  who can address  the local  people  .

Medamulana ‘Sales propagandist’  programmed by China..

 ‘China will be  a world economic power overriding America’ is a line in  the baila  sung by Gota the American citizen wherever he goes. Gota  apart from making such speeches also creeps into  China frequently  without a schedule or any  known reason. 

Though Gotabaya conducts himself this despicably and self degradingly even stripping nude  before China , the other candidates on the contrary  do not stoop to do  the sordid biddings of other countries.  Gota who is under oath as an American citizen not incurring the resentment of America in the circumstances is  a matter for surprise. This  peacock dance of toffee nosed Gota is only provoking the fury and wrath  of  US and India , and he  is only  voluntarily inviting trouble.

China’s condom theory...

No matter what government comes to power in SL , China gets its work done. It is the condom theory China applies to whatever government in power. Wittingly or unwittingly Gotabaya has fallen prey to this theory. Gota is now only an exhibit of China. Poor  Sirisena who is an absolute ignoramus when it comes to geopolitics , is providing fuel stealthily to Gota who is  on the sure  road to perdition.

Gota attended the 2015-2016 security conference at  a diplomatic level and visited  China after obtaining permission from court temporarily to travel because a ban operated on his foreign travel . Instead of embarking on this tour silently , Gota made a  huge din about it.  After that he went to the Red Army Defence University for a month’s   in house training  provided with lodging.

Making a roof before the walls are constructed…

The dance recital Gotabaya performed with China were watched by America  and India silently hitherto , but now that has come to an end. Alaina the new ambassador appointed by Trump is arriving in Colombo to prepare the necessary geopolitical ground. 

Mahinda Rajapakse  recently met with Alaina’s predecessor Athul Keshap   who has now  left SL. At that meeting inquiries were made regarding the application made by Gotabaya to revoke his US citizenship . Keshap replied , that does not come within his purview .If  Keshap a friend had treated the request with such disdain ,how  Alaina would respond is a  foregone conclusion.

Sadly , Gotabaya and his think tank subordinates were trying to make a  roof before building the walls. While speaking about the American  frame he has now  fallen down  behind the Mahanayakes. His attempts to circumvent the 19 th amendment has also not received  the support of Sirisena he expected .

Those who rally around ‘Viyath maga’ and ‘Eliya’ organizations are those who vomit  on  the very  rice plates  they ate from . The military set including Kamal Gunaratne who is the ‘thailaya’ (oil) for all illnesses is  holding discussions to launch another organization under the name ‘Harimaga’

Gotabaya’s idle supporters are not second to the cooks who know only to spoil the soup . From  Gotabaya’s American beauty Manori Unambuwage to Nandikadal ‘hero’ , all of them are such cooks   who can do nothing worthy to themselves or others. They have all outlived their utility on earth. 

Gotabaya’s American beauty

It is a  Muslim friend who related the under -mentioned  story about Gotabaya’s  so called ‘great’ election activities …

Throughout the whole Ramazan period Gotabaya was struggling to  lure  the Muslim population.

With the commencement of the Ramazan fast the facebook of Gotabaya was abounding with pictures of Beruwala Ifthar  parties. Towards the end of the Fasting period   countless pictures  of Ramazan Ifthar parties at Galle Face and a number of Muslim functions were displayed. Among those was also an article that relationship with Israel will be severed . These are  classic examples of hypocrisy and sanctimonious humbugging . It is simply  thinking nothing but evil while doing nothing but  lip service to dupe all. The responsibility of handling the mass media and social media had been entrusted to Manori Unambuwa the beauty imported by Gotabaya  from America.

By Keerthi Ratnayake

A former State intelligence division officer

Translated by Jeff

---------------------------
by     (2018-06-18 22:01:20)

The Quasi ‘Director’ Of Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital Suspended From Board

JUNE 18, 2018

Dr Susitha Senaratne, regular medical officer and quasi-director of Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (SJGH), formerly attached to the National Hospital had been ordered to be removed from the Board of Directors of SJGH with immediate effect by the Court of Appeal in a verdict delivered today (18.06.2018) under the case hearing of CA WRIT 184/2018. Senaratne, possessing no qualifications what so ever to hold the post of Director SJGH has been occupying the office without as much a letter of appointment with the backing of the Chairman of the Board Dr. Athula Kahandaliyanage. Senaratne, previously unknown in UNP political circles is a political acolyte of Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health.  

Dr. Susitha Senaratne with the President

Senaratne appeared in the SJGH premises in March 2015 with a letter appointing him as a member of the SJGH Board occupied the office of the Director without any formal release in violation of the common law of the country, the Establishment Code and the Management Services Minutes stipulating the recruitment criteria of a Director to a General Hospital. This was the only time in the hospital’s 34 year history that a regular medical officer without professional or academic qualifications has occupied the office of its administrative head without as much a Board sanction on the appointment. Previously this position has been held by fully qualified senior medical administrators such as Dr. R.C. Rajapakse, Dr. Lakshman de Lanerolle and Dr. S.A.K. Gamage. While Senaratne was never formally released by the Public Service Commission he has been sitting in the Procurement Committee of SJGH responsible for making procurement decisions worth millions with tax payer money in his non appointed state, essentially making the Procurement Committee null. The grave financial irregularity surrounding this issue was highlighted by Colombo Telegraph in last October.

This illegal occupation of the office of the Director of SJGH by Senaratne whose only qualification was his subservience to Rajitha Senaratne was twice questioned by COPE and successive Secretaries to the Ministry of Health were strictly instructed to ensure that the post is immediately advertised and a qualified officer appointed. Secretary to the Ministry of Health Janaka Sugathadasa in a shameful attempt to scuttle justice delayed any administrative action advised by COPE subjugating to the will of the Minister of Health. Colombo Telegraph exposed the unbecoming acts of administrative delaying adapted by Sugathadasa, Kanhadaliyanage and members of the Board of Directors of SJGH to protect and perpetuate the non-appointed ‘Director’ Susitha Senaratne. Colombo telegraph reliably learns that only the three specialists representing the hospital at the Board, namely Dr. P.J. Ambawatte, Dr. Madhava Karunaratne and Dr. Kanishka Indraratne have been among the members of the Board consistently pressurizing, verbally and in writing, the Chairman and the Board to advertise the position and recruit a qualified Director. The rest of the members Prof. Janaka De Silva (Director, Post Graduate institute of Medicine), Dr. Anil Jasinghe & formerly Dr. P.G. Mahipala (Director General Health Services), Eng. Chamath De Silva (Chairman Waters Edge), R. Semasinghe & formerly Anula Harasgama (Deputy Director General Public Enterprises of the Treasury), Dr. Harsha Samaraweera, Nanda Lalith Senanayake along with the Chairman and Senaratne all executed a well-planned course of inaction and administrative manipulation for three and a half years. The tactics employed by Kahandaliyanage and the complicit Board members are reported to be manipulation of Board Minutes, consuming large amounts of time between writing letters to relevant institutions, claiming that the ‘letters was inexplicably not posted’ and paper pushing. 

In the beginning of the year SJGH closed down for 10 days where friction between Senaratne and a 600 cadre strong nurses escalated. Such breakdown of services compromising the lives of patients, pregnant mothers, ICU patients, and neonates was an unprecedented event in the history of SJGH and the Ministry of Health. Unyielding and obstinate, Senaratne went on a rampage of sending striking employees on compulsory leave and instigated ‘disciplinary inquires’ against them for questioning his qualifications and authority  to be Director of a General Hospital and a Post Graduate Institute. Essentially all documents, internship certifications, post graduate training certifications issued by Senaratne for the last 3 and a half years remain invalid as he is a mere medical officer neither appointed nor qualified to be signatory to such official documents. It appears that the learned members of the Board of SJGH and Janaka Sugathadasa, Secretary to the Ministry of Health who are appointed to uphold the sanctity of law, administration and the integrity of post graduate education have woefully and wilfully failed in their bounden duty. They are complicit to the violation of the law of the land and jeopardizing the lives of patients and the careers of young doctors.

Senaratne with Health minister Senaratne

Rajitha Senaratne was questioned in parliament about this appointment by Nalinda Jayatissa MP at the 2017 Health Budget debate where he smilingly kept mum. Dr. Sujatha Senaratne, wife and private secretary of Rajitha Senaratne who is also the President of the College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka has also been strategically silent, without as much as a protest against this illegal appointment. The Government Medical Officer’s Association which initially protested this appointment is largely known to have been egged on to transactionary silence through some of the members presiding on its Administration Subcommittee who are subservient to Rajitha Senaratne. 

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33 people shot dead this year; 24 murder cases solved

2018-06-18

At least 33 people were shot dead countrywide in first five months of this year, Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said today.

He said so far 24 murder cases had been solved and investigations are underway in regard to the rest.
SP Gunasekara said the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) had arrested 17 suspects in connection with organized crimes in Colombo and its suburbs during the same period.

He said among the arrested were accomplices of underworld leaders, Makandure Madush, Angoda Lokka, Keselwatte Dinuka, Dunagaha Sanjeewa and Samayan.

SP Gunasekera said special armed motorbike patrol units comprising CCD personnel had been patrolling the City of Colombo to curb organized crimes and said special teams of the STF, Organized Crimes Prevention Division and the CCD are conducting raids to stem organized crimes and detect illegal weapons countrywide and requested the public to inform the Police if they had any information. (Darshana Sanjeewa)

SriLankan purchased aircrafts on lease at 40% higher price: SLAPU Chair

SAPUMAL JAYASENA-JUN 18 2018

Chairman of the SriLankan Airlines Pilots Union (SLAPU) Ruwan Vithanage has said that the SriLankan Airlines had purchased aircrafts on a lease basis at a price that was higher than 40 percent and the resultant loss of revenue to the firm had been enormous.

He made this revelation while giving evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) which is probing the corruption that had taken place at the SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka.

Giving further evidence, Vithanage said that he had personally inquired about the continued losses made by the Airline from its then Chairman Ajith Dias.

Vithanage told the PCol that annually a sum of Rs 22 billion had been incurred on providing aircrafts on a lease basis while another sum of Rs 17 billion had been incurred for the repairs.

The evidence was given before a five-Member PCol while it was led by Deputy Solicitor General Neil Unnambuwa.

The PCol is set to convene again on 20 June.

Villagers resist threatened demolition

Settlers in nearby Israeli colonies have petitioned the state to demolish Khan al-Ahmar’s school.Faiz Abu RmelehActiveStills

Annelies Verbeek- 18 June 2018

The heat pressed down on the sheet metal structures of Khan al-Ahmar. Mistrustful of outsiders, villagers asked that their voices not be recorded when they sat down to discuss the threatened demolition of their village.

Children played near the village school over which a banner in Arabic proclaimed: “We are the Jahalin Bedouin Tribe, don’t demolish our homes that have been here for 50 years!”

On 24 May, an Israeli high court ruling authorized the demolition of the entire occupied West Bank village “any time the government sees fit,” as of June.

Israeli authorities are planning to relocate the Bedouin village’s inhabitants to a location near the garbage dump adjacent to Abu Dis, in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Any such action would require ignoring warnings by rights groups that this sort of forcible transfer amounts to a war crime.

On 11 June, more than 300 public figures from around the world, including parliamentarians, artists, musicians and intellectuals, signed an open letter opposing the transfer and describing it as a war crime.

“They can come any time. We know they will surprise us, at night or in the morning. And they will do it when you are not here to see it,” Nour, 30, who lives in the village, affirmed.

All villagers who spoke to The Electronic Intifada spoke on condition of anonymity and all names have been changed.

Eternally displaced

The Jahalin are part of five Bedouin tribes that were expelled from their ancestral homelands in the Naqab desert during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Many of them, like the people of Khan al-Ahmar, fled to the West Bank to settle in the desert along the Jerusalem-Jericho highway.

After Israel occupied the area in 1967, it refused to recognize the Bedouin villages as residential areas.

As a consequence, the community, like all Bedouin communities, has not been linked to water and electricity grids. The Bedouins were also prohibited from building new structures in the village, or from turning their tin shacks into concrete houses.

“You know, we don’t want to live like this,” Nour told The Electronic Intifada. “We want to build concrete houses. We want running water and electricity, and not have rain seeping into our houses at night.”

The village falls in Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank that is under full Israeli military and administrative control, and where Israel actively develops and expands its settlements, illegal under international law.

Consequently, and over the decades, Khan al-Ahmar became surrounded by the Israeli colonies of Ma’ale Adumim, Kfar Adumim, Nofei Prat and Alon.

Connecting settlements

“I used to live with my family on the hill across from here,” Sara, 56, said, pointing. “But they came and they hit my father and my uncle. My mother had a basin of yogurt. They threw it on the ground.”

After that assault, Sara said she and her family fled to settle in Khan al-Ahmar. The hill she used to live on now belongs to the settlement of Kfar Adumim.

She complains that settlers shoot the sheep when they stray too close and throw stones at the village children.

“But what can we do?” Sara asked. “They have weapons and we don’t. We can’t stop them.”
The community has also been subject to harassment by the Israeli military. “They arrest kids for coming too close to the settlement,” Sara explained. “Just to scare them.”

Israel’s high court ruled in late May that the village of Khan al-Ahmar can be razed “anytime the government sees fit.”Oren ZivActiveStills

As the settlements surround the small village, most of the nearby hills are now off-limits to the Bedouins who need the land to graze their sheep.

“The only way we are allowed to go now is towards the road,” Nour said.

Just days after the high court’s verdict on Khan al-Ahmar’s demolition, Israel announced the building of 92 new housing units for the nearby Kfar Adumim settlement, so close to the village it would almost render it, should it remain, a no-go area.

The land of the village, meanwhile, is also next to an area slated for development under the E1 master plan. That plan aims to create an unbroken developed area connecting East Jerusalem with Ma’ale Adumim, the largest Israeli settlement, effectively cutting off Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank for Palestinians.

Israel would in effect be expanding its illegal annexation of East Jerusalem to territory further inside the West Bank, making it easier to connect Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley through a corridor of illegal settlements that would divide the West Bank into northern and southern parts.

Struggling for education

Due to the village’s illegal status in Israeli law, the Bedouins have been deprived health care, education and municipal services even as neighboring settlements have flourished, provided with luxurious infrastructure and using extensive amounts of water.

Ma’ale Adumim, for instance, houses “several malls, intra-city transportation, and extensive library, health services, an art museum, sports and recreational facilities, a lake, a music conservatory, parks and more.”

But villagers have fought to improve their lot. With the financial support of an Italian non-governmental organization, Vento Di Terra, they built an elementary school that serves 170 children from the village and four nearby Bedouin communities, some having to travel 15 to 22 kilometers to get an education.

That, however, did not go down well with the neighbors. Since it was finished in 2009, settlers from the nearby colonies have petitioned the state to demolish the school.

Nour is convinced that the Israelis don’t want her community’s children to learn. “We started to read, get smarter,” she told The Electronic Intifada. “That’s why they are demolishing the school. They want Arabs to be ignorant.”

War crime

The Israeli high court has asked the state to provide an alternative location for the Bedouins to live. But human rights groups have warned that forcibly relocating residents of occupied territory constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law.

The alternate location, known as Jabal West, is wedged between the Palestinian town of al-Eizariya and the former Jerusalem municipal garbage dump near Abu Dis.

Ahmad, 45, said nobody wants to move to this new location, not just because it is being forced upon them, but because it constitutes an unhealthy living environment.

“There is ground water under the garbage dump, the filth seeps into it. Nobody can live there.”

“I only know we would have no space there,” Nour said. “And we would not be able to keep our sheep.”

For decades Israel has prevented villagers from building permanent structures in Khan al-Ahmar.Annelies Verbeek

The Bedouins would have to give up their pastoral lifestyle to adjust to an urban environment.

Nour remains confident they will find a way to stay. The Israeli authorities demolished her house two years ago, she said, and she and her family were forced to sleep under a tree.

“Then we rebuilt our homes,” she said.

“We want a place of our own,” Sara said, dismissing Israel’s plans. “Concrete houses, to be able to travel wherever we want. We will not go to the garbage dump.”

“Even if they demolish our homes, we will stay here.”

Ahmad agrees.

“We were there before them. We are not harming anyone. If they have a problem with us, they should leave.”

Annelies Verbeek is a Belgian journalist based in Ramallah.

ISRAELI FORMER GOVERNMENT MINISTER ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF SPYING FOR IRAN

BY TOM PORTER ON 6/18/18

Israel has arrested former energy minister Gonen Segev on suspicion of spying for Iran, Israeli media reported Monday.

Police arrested Segev last month on suspicion of assisting the enemy in a time of war, and of spying against the State of Israel following an investigation by the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency.


Former Israeli energy minister Gonen Segev (center) at the Tel Aviv district tribunal on April 22, 2004. Segev was remanded in custody after being arrested on suspicion of attempted drug trafficking. He now stands accused of spying for Iran.GETTY IMAGES

The Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Segev Friday, accusing him of aiding an enemy country, spying against Israel and passing multiple messages to an enemy.
egev served as energy and infrastructure minister from 1992 to 1995, and had been living in Nigeria. He was arrested during a visit to Equatorial Guinea in May and extradited to Israel, where he was indicted.

In 2005, Segev was jailed for trying to smuggle 30,000 ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands, and forging a diplomatic passport, according to reports. He was released in 2007.
Police in Equatorial Guinea had refused Segev entry to the country because of his criminal record, and handed him over to Israeli police.

He was arrested on his arrival back in Israel on suspicion that he had been working as an Iranian intelligence operative. According to investigators, Segev had been cultivated as an asset by sources in the Iranian embassy in Nigeria.

He is accused of traveling twice to Iran to meet his handlers.

Segev allegedly received an encrypted communications system from Iranian agents and supplied Iran with “information related to the energy sector, security sites in Israel and officials in political and security institutions."

The Shin Bet said Segev, 62, put some Israelis involved in the security sector in contact with Iranian intelligence agents, introducing the latter as businessmen.

Segev’s attorneys, contacted by Reuters, declined to comment.

No smoking, no sexism: Progressive Iraqi village hopes to be model for a nation

Al Bu Nahid village has created a green, clean-living, pro-gender equality setting free from religious and political sectarianism

Kadim Hasoon stands outside Al Bu Nahid with the village's rule board (MEE/Alex MacDonald)

Alex MacDonald

Monday 18 June 2018 

DIWANIYA, Iraq - Diwaniya province in southern Iraq is one of the most impoverished areas of the country. Most of the population are rural farmers, which made a drought in April all the more devastating.

The streets of Diwaniya city, like much of the rest of Iraq, are covered in rubbish and are choked with the exhaust fumes and the endless blaring horns of cars. 

Just outside of the city sits the village of Al Bu Nahid, where residents are setting out to create a new idea of what Iraq could look like.

At the entrace to the village are two signs - one in English, one in Arabic - that set out a number of (loosely enforced) rules to be observed in the village:

The Rules:

1. No smoking

2. No religious controversy

3. No car horns

4. No party political debate

5. Abide by the traffic laws

6. No cutting down trees, as "the environment is our responsibility"

In a country where more than 30 percent of the male population is clinically obese, the village has banned soft drinks and instead hosts an annual running festival which attracts thousands of participants.

In a country where oil is at the heart of the economy and politics, Al Bu Nahid celebrates World Environment Day on 5 June and carries out environmentally friendly initiatives.

In a country where the price of petrol is $0.63 per litre, bicycles rather than cars, are the preferred method of transportation in the village.

The village's initiatives are largely the brainchild of Kadim Hassoon, a local engineer who began implementing a number of projects in the village after travelling around Europe and the Middle East and being exposed to new ideas about health, social attitudes and the environment.

Hassoon returned in 2014 after 18 years in Dubai, and attempted to maintain a running-focused fitness regime, despite incredulity from other residents.

"Everybody was looking at me like I was a strange person but I continued," he told Middle East Eye.

Decked out in a tracksuit and running shoes, he kept up a regular jogging routine around the rural landscape.

"After one month, some people joined me. After two months, I had five people running with me. Frankly after six months, most of the people here - especially the teenagers and the people in their early 20s - were going with me."

As the running sessions increased in popularity, the participants eventually came up with the idea of establishing a "festival" of running. Every year people come from outside the village including from the city of Diwaniya, to take part in the event - Hassoon said 3,000 people regularly attended.

The surprise success of the festival which also attracted media attention, inspired Hassoon to create more projects to address what he saw as the various social ills afflicting his village, and Iraq as a whole.

Signs prohibiting car horns and smoking - both ubiquitous in Iraq - are dotted around the village. Hassoon is keen to stress that there is no authoritarian enforcement of the ban, but breaking the rules risks ostracisation by the rest of the village who have enthusiastically supported the changes.

A small, rundown building near the river is the Cultural House. Inside are shelves of fiction and non-fiction books on a wide variety of subjects, as well as creative materials for painting and crafts.

"I established the Cultural House and then I made a library - many people from inside the country and outside the country helped me by sending books, even from the UK, US and Sweden," said Hassoon. "Most of the book houses in Baghdad sent me books."

Karim Hassoon displays artwork produced by locals in the village (MEE/Alex MacDonald)

Walking around the Cultural House he showed off artwork created by local children. An artist came from Baghdad recently to help children produce a painting celebrating the role of Unicef.

Adorning the wall are pictures of some of Al Bu Nahid's patrons, including British-Iraqi writer Emily Porter, who has provided financial support to the village's initiatives.

"I really admire the new things that are going on in this village - all of this because Karim has made an effort to improve the situation with the help of people from the village," said Ali Ghanem, one of the village's 750 residents.

"We felt that sport was really good for us so we made the championship for running 200 metres. Then we changed other things, we prevented the soft drinks and smoking.

"We sense and felt there was something good here in this village and we see it by our eyes, and on the ground, we see the big change in this village."

I admire the new things going on in this village - all because Karim has made an effort 

- Ali Ghanem, village resident

Two issues which Hassoon sees as major sticking points in building his ideal community are sectarianism and the marginalisation of women.

"In this area, the [Middle East], I think the main issues that we are fighting over are because of religion," he said.

He said all the major problems afflicting the region were so often filtered through the prism of religion. Putting a block on this has been one of the village's main aims.

"Some people say to me that I am talking against the religion - I say no, I'm not against the religion, I am trying to protect your religion. Please keep this matter outside," he said.

"I say if you want to talk about religion, I say, okay, first go to the Cultural House, take any book on the religion and read it. Then come and discuss this matter."

And on the issue of women, he said the struggle had been even harder, particularly considering the "mentality" of people living in the villages in southern Iraq.

"I have two days for the ladies in the Cultural House," he said. "For these two days, the men cannot go inside, only the ladies."

Women in the village have access to numerous lectures and regular visits with NGO workers on social, medical and psychological issues.

Compared to other villages, the rigid segregation between the sexes in many areas of life is loosened.

A statue in tribute to education at the entrance of the village (MEE/Alex MacDonald)

Women in Al Bu Nahid go into the village hall, something that is not seen in other communities, where such venues are exclusively for men, said Hassoon, referring to the large thatched building at the entrance point of the village.

"But we broke this matter. We said 'no, there is no difference between you and her. She lives just the same, like you.'

"But this matter still needs time," he added.

It's not easy. But I am trying. At least I am trying

- Kadim Hassoon

The success and gradually spreading fame of Al Bu Nahid has led other villages and cities, to come and learn from its initiatives.

With the defeat of the Islamic State group, Iraq is seemingly finally emerging from the shadow of sectarian violence and the accompanying atmosphere of fear and repression.

As war and violence recedes into the background, Iraqis minds have begun to turn to the numerous social and economic ills afflicting their country.

For Hassoon, Al Bu Nahid presents a possible blueprint for how Iraq could begin to rebuild itself and create more open, healthy communities.

"It's not easy," he said. "But I am trying. At least I am trying."

ICICI Bank names Bakhshi interim head as CEO Chanda Kochhar goes on leave during probe

ICICI Bank's Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar listens to a speaker at a news conference in Mumbai, India March 15, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

Devidutta Tripathy, Abhirup Roy-JUNE 18, 2018

MUMBAI (Reuters) - ICICI Bank named group veteran Sandeep Bakhshi as its interim head, and said Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar would go on leave pending the completion of a probe over an alleged conflict of interest that has led to months of controversy for the lender.

Bakhshi, who currently heads ICICI’s life insurance arm, will take up a newly created position of chief operating officer at the bank for a five-year term beginning June 19, pending regulatory approvals, the bank said in a statement late on Monday.

Bakhshi will report to the bank’s board during the period of Kochhar’s leave and will be responsible for handling all the businesses and corporate centre functions, ICICI Bank said. All the executive directors of the bank and its executive management would report to Bakhshi.

Kochhar, 56, who has been CEO of ICICI Bank, India’s third-biggest lender by assets, since May 2009, has faced allegations of favouring Videocon Group, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company, in the bank’s lending practices. Videocon’s founders had an investment in a renewable energy company founded by Kochhar’s husband.

 

ICICI Bank’s board, which had initially backed Kochhar calling the alleged nepotism charges against her “malicious and unfounded”, last month said it would institute a probe headed by an independent person into allegations raised by an anonymous whistleblower.
“In line with the highest levels of governance and corporate standards, Ms. Chanda Kochhar has decided to go on leave till the completion of the enquiry,” the bank said.
The bank has yet to provide any details of the probe. Local media has reported B.N. Srikrishna, a retired judge of India’s Supreme Court, will lead the probe.

Bakhshi started his career with the ICICI group in 1986 and has looked after the group’s corporate, retail lending and insurance businesses. He has headed ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co Ltd since 2010 and helped take the company public in 2016.

“Bakhshi is part of the ICICI culture. So, from that perspective, he is the right choice as the senior-most person within the ICICI umbrella after Kochhar,” said Shriram Subramanian, founder of proxy advisory firm InGovern.

“That should be taken favourably by investors,” Subramanian said, although he criticised the bank’s board for not having acted more decisively in tackling the controversy.

FILE PHOTO: A municipal worker walks past a logo of ICICI Bank at its headquarters in Mumbai October 25, 2013. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo

 

The bank’s New York-listed shares rose 3.6 percent by 1647 GMT on the news. Its Mumbai-listed shares had closed 3.7 percent higher before the announcement.

Chanda Kochhar has not commented on the issue. Her husband Deepak Kochhar has denied any wrongdoing, as has the head of the Videocon group.

N.S. Kannan, currently an executive director at ICICI Bank, is set to be the new CEO of ICICI Prudential Life, the bank said.

The NHS funding boost is not a Brexit dividend

By Georgina Lee-18 Jun 2018

The NHS is to get an extra £20 billion a year by 2023, the government announced yesterday. Theresa May said the cash would be funded by a “Brexit dividend, with us as a country contributing a bit more.”

She even alluded to “a figure on the side of a bus a while back of £350 million a week in cash” – the now-infamous suggestion from the Leave campaign that the UK could spend more money on the NHS if we quit the EU.

But is this funding boost for the ailing health service really thanks to a Brexit dividend?

Is this the £350 million a week?

Regular FactCheck readers will know that the £350 million a week figure that was bandied around ahead of the Brexit referendum has a bad reputation round these parts.

For new readers, suffice it to say: our net contribution to the EU budgetis more like £234 million a week. Still a fair whack, of course, but significantly lower than the headline figure.

Indeed, the head of the UK Statistics Authority wrote to Boris Johnson over his repeated use of the number, calling it a “clear misuse of official statistics.”

But this week’s announcement – according to Mrs May – will see the NHS better off to the tune of £600 million a week in real terms by 2023-24.

That’s more than double the more accurate £234 million sum, so it’s hard to see how this can be wholly funded by what we save on EU membership fees by leaving the trade bloc.

And either way, the money we could have saved has already been earmarked to cover the costs of leaving.

The divorce bill – the severance fee that the UK has agreed to pay the EU in order to leave the trade bloc – is expected to cost Britain about £40 billion.

The government has also committed to replace EU funding so that any UK businesses, universities and industries that currently receive cash from EU institutions will have those costs covered by the government.

Paul Johnson, director of the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies, pointed out that the divorce bill and the government’s commitment to replace EU funding “already uses up all of our EU contributions in 2022.”

In other words, we’ve already spent our pot of savings from membership fees.
In the long term, there will be a saving of some kind from membership fees that we no longer have to pay. But we don’t know whether a future Brexit deal will involve contributions to the EU budget.

Could it be from some extra economic boost caused by Brexit?

Let’s ignore membership fees for a second: could this be about wider economic gains from Brexit?
We can argue indefinitely about whether in the long (or very long) term, Britain will be better off outside of the EU.

What we do know is that analysis from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility predicts Brexit will leave UK public finances £15 billion a year worse off by the early 2020s. They put this down to lower than expected investment growth, lower future net immigration, and greater inflation. A no-deal Brexit would be even more significant.

Indeed, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, has conceded that even if Brexit delivers no economic benefits, the extra funding for the NHS will still go ahead.

So where is the money coming from? We’re told that detailed funding plans will be revealed at the Autumn Budget, but the Prime Minister has already said that “we will be contributing more as a country.”

Many take this as a sign that the extra cash will have to come from tax hikes and increased borrowing. It’s been reported that the government is considering a freeze on tax thresholds to cover half of the £20 billion boost.

Is it about politics rather than economics?

There’s an argument that goes like this: the £350 million a week figure – although wrong – may have created an expectation among voters that leaving the EU would free up money for the NHS.

Therefore, the vote to leave the EU creates a political – or some might say, moral – obligation on the government to meet that expectation by increasing funding.

But there’s two big flaws in that argument.

First, the £350 million a week figure was not put forward as a formal pledge, like the sort of thing parties campaign on in a general election. Some say this is one of the problems of holding referenda: it’s harder to hold politicians to account when they’re campaigning on a single issue rather than forming a government after the vote.

The second problem with this argument is that it’s entirely possible that the government would have – eventually – felt obliged to increase funding for the NHS.

After all, the main pressures on the health service are independent of Britain’s membership of the EU.

We have an ageing population, a crisis in social care, and have seen eight years of government cuts. It’s likely that at some point – Brexit or no Brexit – the government would have succumbed to pressure from campaigners and the public to inject some cash into the system.

By the way, you might think that the pressures on the NHS will ease up if we have fewer EU migrants as a result of Brexit.  But it’s not so clear-cut.

The healthcare think tank, the Nuffield Trust, have looked at the major costs facing the NHS – they find that EU immigration is a small fraction of the wider pressures.

Indeed, several studies have shown that overall, EU migrants are net contributors to the UK economy. That means they put more in through taxes and GDP growth than they take out in public services. (Conversely, native-born Brits and migrants from outside the EU are, on average, taking out from the system more than they contribute.)

EU migrants also help to plug gaps in NHS staffing: just before the Brexit vote, 10 per cent of doctors and four percent of nurses were from the EU.

FactCheck verdict

Theresa May has suggested that planned rises in NHS spending could be funded by a “Brexit dividend”. However:

• The OBR and IFS predict that Brexit will leave the public finances in a worse state than they would have been if we’d stayed in the EU.
• We’re not saving any money on membership fees. The money we could have saved (the infamous £350 million a week, or the more accurate £234 million a week) has already been earmarked for the divorce bill and the government’s commitment to replace EU funding after Brexit.
• The government has already alluded to the fact that the UK will be “contributing more as a country” to inject more cash into the NHS – in the form of tax rises and borrowing. Both of these could have happened without Brexit.

It’s hard to sustain a reasonable case for the idea that the NHS cash boost is a result of Brexit.