India's logistics structure to store and distribute food is vital to the nation, one reader says. Altaf Qadri / AP Photo
India's logistics structure to store and distribute food is vital to the nation, one reader says. Altaf Qadri / AP Photo

The National

Failing India's farmers

With so much of India dependent on agriculture, the government's failure to ensure proper storage and transport of harvests is shameful, a letter writer argues. Other letter topics today: discrimination in the workforce, Algeria's vote, school violence and Jordan's reforms.

Letters to the Editor

May 13, 2012

I refer to your report India's bumper wheat harvest is left to rot (May 12). It is a shame that an otherwise responsible government would ignore the basic task of securing food for future consumption.

With the increasing production of food crops, it is an absolute requirement to maintain a secured storage scheme to benefit India's massive population.

The situation is due to a lack of proper infrastructure facilities to maintain food commodities.

India has a large portion of its population that depends on agriculture-related activities.

It is, therefore, the responsibility of the federal and local governments to ensure that such negligent actions should not lead to increasing prices of basic commodities.

Ramachandran Nair, Oman

Better oversight of schools needed

School-based governance can work in the private sector to monitor and assess teaching and learning quality (Let schools improve by competition, May 10).

Oversight from a central authority needs to provide enforcement functions, either from a corporate entity like the Gems school system, or from a government body to assure appropriate resources are allocated.

Public education cannot work at the level of individual schools, particularly when parental support is lacking.

In this case there must be a centralised body to assure quality, equality and equal opportunity.

Gerald Robertson, Abu Dhabi

Emiratis also face discrimination

I was sorry to read the very genuine account of an Emirati graduate's experience of job discrimination in his own country (Letters to the editor, May 10).

Foreign nationals should be ashamed of behaving in a prejudiced way towards the people of their host nation (your writer wished to remain anonymous).

Such arrogance should be addressed straightaway, and expatriates who show signs of superiority over Emiratis should think very carefully about their reasons for being here.

Anyone living in a foreign country has a duty to respect the people of that land. It is shameful to think you are better than the people who have welcomed you and who, on so many occasions, go out of their way to understand your lifestyle.

I shall be leaving the UAE shortly after three years of living and working here. I shall take with me some great memories of the Emirati children I have taught, many of whom are going to help shape this country's future.

I shall also tell my friends back in England how determined and intelligent the young Emirati women are, and how they break the many stereotypes we have of them in the West.

Nargis Walker, Abu Dhabi

Algeria's victory for the status quo

Ruling party gains in Algeria election (May 12) was good to read.

The recent election results in Algeria show that after more then five decades, the ruling party maintains the confidence that the people have bestowed on them.

K Ragavan, India

School violence major issue here

I strongly disagree with the comments of Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, the director general of ADEC, that there are clear processes in dealing with bullying in the schools, and that there is violence less than in other countries (School assault girl returns home, frail but healing, May 12)

My experience teaching in a public school is that bullying and fighting are far worse than I have experienced in my home country, and I come from a so-called "gang town".

Teachers here have never been told what the policies and processes are. I don't think I have ever seen them carried out, either. I have had to call in other teachers to stop two large group fights in the halls and the courtyard this year, never having been told by the principal what we should do in these situations.

At the beginning of the school year, a teacher was attacked by a student, then set upon by a gang of them. The school tried to expel the students but ADEC would not give permission for the school to do so. You cannot change what you don't acknowledge.

Name withheld by request

Jordan's reform push is threatened

Four prime ministers in 14 months (Jordanian protesters demand 'radical' reform, May 12)? Jordanians are growing impatient with the slow pace of reforms.

King Abdullah believes that the opposition still wants to preserve the monarchy. This might be true, but it would be wrong to assume that changes are not in order.

Marwa S, Jordan

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

A State of Passion

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