Blog Mauritius
Blog: Irish anti-abortion bigotry leads to the death of Savita Halappanavar
Abortion to save the life of the mother is the only clear-cut case in the justification of abortion, which decision doctors always take when delivering a baby. Why did the Catholic Irish authorities let Savita Halappanavar die by refusing her right to abortion when her unborn baby clearly posed a great risk to her life?
19 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Budget 2013 - The Gloss and the Reality
The 2013 Budget Speech may appear to have been lacklustre in its delivery but what matters is its substance. Navin Ramgoolam has praised one of his former Ministers of Finance, Rama Sithanen, for having undertaken the appropriate reforms that enabled our economy to be resilient in the teeth of the global financial crunch that is still dogging the USA and Europe.
16 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Unity in Diversity is still Unity
It is not what our leaders say on the political rostrum that constitutes reality in its totality. It is the ground reality that makes nationhood or disturbs it. Here are certain disturbing events culled from the harsh reality of the ground.
16 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Budget 2013 - Bold Measures missing
Is there a Minister of Finance in the world who can satisfy the wishes, expectations and dreams of the citizens of his country in a Budget Speech? Is there a government or country which has all the resources or means to do so?
16 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Corruption as seen by the Opposition
Paul Bérenger, Pravind Jugnauth and Sir Anerood Jugnauth are obsessed by two issues: power and corruption. They see corruption everywhere when they are in the opposition. Whatever projects are started is tainted with corruption. The latest finding of Pravind Jugnauth is that the contract awarded to a firm in Singapore for the preparation of new identity cards is very suspicious and that this is the latest scandal among others attributed to the present government.
10 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Budget 2013 - A non-Event
Budget 2013 which will be presented this evening seems to be a non-event. The high expectations of the yesteryears are gone. There used to be a time when everybody was rushing back home to watch the minister of Finance reading is speech and announcing measures to improve the life of the population.
09 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Do not expect a miracle from Duval
We have reached it, it's finally here, we are on the eve of the 2013 budget that will decide how our economy will perform over the next 12 months.
08 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Plus déterminé pour un second mandat
Barack Obama a remporté une large victoire à l'élection présidentielle de mardi aux États-Unis, au grand dam de ce que prédisaient tous les sondages d'opinion publiés ces dernières semaines et même jusqu'à la veille du scrutin.
08 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Obama in Africa - Mauritius, the Chagos Archipelago and the Indian Ocean
At the onset, I must say I am NOT qualified to talk about the whole of the African continent with its 54 or so states, but I can respond regarding the American policy under Barack Obama towards my tiny country, Mauritius.
06 Nov 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Doctors - Continuous Education Plan
Navin Ramgoolam has given a public support to the plan of Health Minister Lormesh Bundhoo to introduce continuous education and training for our doctors. The Prime Minister said that a similar scheme will be introduced in the UK as from December this year. He added that research in the field of medicine is a continuous process and the findings and knowledge acquired should be put at the disposal of our doctors for the delivery of better health care.
26 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Municipal Election - Where is the Issue ?
The issue of holding local government elections has been an ongoing debate for some time now. The Local Government Act 1989 and the Local Government Act 2003 were amended to provide for the election of councillors of local authorities to be held in 2011 instead of 2010 and the extension of the mandate of municipal, district and village councillors, currently in office, until 2011.
25 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: An anonymous Pearl craving for Discovery
Modern science is still young on its path to discovery of truth. When Western medicine raises its hands at the vast number of resolved mysteries it still has to create bridges with Ayurvedic medicine in order to explain according to its own logic the cures that take place with the simple practice of breathing. Will Western science go on dismissing the miraculous cures of incurable diseases by Swami Ramdev as the inventions of a greedy charlatan?
25 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: The Chagos Islands dispute that just won't go away
Former colonial power Britain won't cede, Mauritius won't let up. And caught in the middle of a ping-pong game of diplomacy over a patch of islands in the Indian Ocean are some 40,000 inhabitants forcibly removed decades ago in a territorial dispute that at times has thrown up dark undertones of neo-colonialism.
25 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Finance Minister Xavier Duval usurps powers of Governor of Bank of Mauritius, Rundheersing Bheenick
« In many countries the world over, the central bank has been given the mandate to preserve price stability as its single or primary objective, and been granted autonomy from government to make sure that short-term political considerations do not interfere with achieving this objective. Accountability to the legislature and the public at large balance the central bank’s autonomy » (Paul Moser-Boehm)
22 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Biased financial market
It's official that Mauritius will grow by only 3.2% this year. While personally I believe this number is very good compared to the insignificant GDP growth in developed economies such as India, United States or even France, the finance minister was not very satisfied with it.
22 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Quest for Quality
We must rise above subsistence level and find in quality the vehicle of improvement that will sustain excellence and help Mauritius to face challenges in all domains of endeavour. The civil service will remain a sad-agglomeration of 83,000 officers who are governed by precedence, procedure and the habit of protection from blame.
19 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: The unruly Horses
In the Annual Report of the Pay Research Bureau for 2009 an explanation is given on the establishment and functioning of the PRB. This is what is stated: The Pay Research Bureau (PRB), set up in 1977 as an independent organisation under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s Office, became operational in March 1978. Its main function is to carry out continuous review of Pay and Grading Structures and Conditions of Service in the Public Sector (the Civil Service, Parastatal and other Statutory Bodies, Local Authorities, Rodrigues Regional Assembly) and the Private Secondary Schools.
19 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: PRB - Irrational Behaviour
Do you know of anybody who is happy at the salary rise given to him by PRB? Do you know of anybody who will refuse to sign the option form allowing him to benefit from the new salary scale? An observer told me that the first ones to sign the option forms will be those who are most loudly opposing the PRB recommendations.
19 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: It's Time for Mauritius to Take Ownership of Its Waters
The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior has spent the past few days hosting all the key players in one of the Indian Ocean's prime tuna hubs - Port Louis in Mauritius. This is a welcome turnaround.
17 Oct 2012, Le Matinal
Blog: Has Hinduphobia vanished?
The history of independent Mauritius stored with a fear for Hindu hegemony. The rise and the vigour of the Labour Party at the dawn of independence was equated to the hegemonic greed of a community to win power to force others to adopt a Hindu way of life.
12 Oct 2012, Le Matinal