DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

There have been beggars, rich landowners, retailers, wholesalers and industrialists who have been pocketing their fair shares by engaging in various businesses. Also, there are the typical politicians, civil servants and men with power who pocket their unfair share by engaging in dubious acts. But of late a new way to rake in millions or may be billions of dollars seem to be the order of some people and their 'prestigious' organisations. This is the business of global calamities and hazards.  The single biggest issue panning across the globe drawing ire of one and many is that of climate change and the man behind the erroneous reports, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is now making news for all the wrong reasons. Claims of the Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035 as well as issues of global warming leading to an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods have received a lot of criticism around the world. The fact that these claims are ill-researched and over-hyped, not only have political reasons to put pressure on policy-makers to take action, but also are laced with murky financial opportunities. For example, it has been claimed that natural catastrophes linked to climate change have left the world's insurers with a claims bill totaling $22 billion in 2009. The source of this information has been linked to Munich Re, the German re-insurer whose concern is to exploit the financial opportunities created by climate change. For some time, the lucrative re-insurance industry has been seeing several business opportunities in climate change.

Another leading research institute on climate change, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), which is under the guidance of Shonali Pachauri, daughter of Dr Pachauri – has also taken a special interest in climate change and insurance, alongside Oxfam and the WWF.

Not so long ago, an yet another global health hazard that had millions in a tizzy was H1N1. Recently, certain sections of the media reported that a campaign of panic was put into place by big drug companies which convinced the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a pandemic in order to increase profits. Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe conceded to a leading daily that H1N1 is just a normal kind of flu which does not cause a tenth of deaths caused by the classic seasonal flu. However, governments and heath bodies are already rubbishing such claims while some other are busy digging deep.

While the magnitude of such “global hazards” as claimed by their promoters/propagators/researchers is  being questioned relentlessly, its critiques are busy upping the ante by flushing out leaked confidential information, revealing names of unheard of organisations and their real motives. However, as both parties lock horns churning out questions never asked and yet to be debated, the common mass seems to be pushed into a quagmire of confusion, trouble, false alarms, rumours and anxiety. Add to that the billions of dollars of hard earned tax payer money that is at risk if the truth behind all such dubious funds is not dug out properly. It's high time we choose our leaders and men of knowledge carefully and responsibly and ask questions before giving them a pedestal to stand up on and profess.