GREENHOUSE GASES AND THEIR EFFECT.

Suitable atmosphere or climate is a must for survival of an organism. 
It should not be either too cold or too hot and also possess sufficient water. Earth has the right type of climate to sustain life and that is the reason why
life flourished on it. But it now appears that the human race is 
squandering away this inheritance in a most blatant and irresponsible 
manner. This is nothing but cutting away the branch on which one is 
sitting. The temperature of the earth is becoming hotter due to man made events. Global warming mainly occurs on account of Greenhouse gases. 
Global warming affects the climate drastically and brings in a number of calamities. 
The concept of Global Warming through the Greenhouse effect was proposed as long back as 1824 by Joseph Fourier and was first investigated by Svante Arrhenius in 1896, nevertheless today some 120 years after that,all we have are discussions and no concrete action to put a stop to it or at least bring it down.The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty, based on the premise that global warming exists and man-made CO2 emissions have caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan in Dec1997.
WORLD CO2 EMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2014 DATA BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION
AREA --------------------KILOTONS------------------ %----------------KT/CAPITA
WORLD 35,669,000
CHINA 10,540,000 30 7.6
USA 5,334,000 15 16.5
EU 3,415,000 10 6.7
INDIA 2,341,000 7 1.8
RUSSIA 1,766,000 5 12.4
JAPAN 1,278,000 4 10.1
GERMANY 767,000 2 9.3
It can be clearly seen as to who is the main culprit. If we go by absolute figures it is China by far with 30% of the world’s total emissions. The US is second with 15% and India is third with 7%. But it is the per capita consumptions that show the real picture. The US produces 16.5 KT per capita which is more than double that of China. Poor India, although it looks to be the 3rd highest as per the absolute figures produces the lowest per capita at just 1.8 KT . The United States has not ratified the Kyoto protocol and its senate has voted unanimously against it in 1997. Actually the CO2 emissions by the world are mind boggling and I could not believe my eyes when I calculated. These figures indicate that the world produces about 100 million tons of CO2 each day and spews it into the atmosphere. The earth may be big but even it can be affected with such quantities.  As a part of the initiatives to bring down global warming a number of conferences were held at various places. They never produced anything.COP21 at Paris came along now. If nothing is done here too and countries simply have discussions and come back without any implementation, the entire humanity would be at risk. 
On the earth the normally occurring greenhouse gases have a warming effect to keep the average temperature of the earth at 33 degrees C.
Without the atmosphere and the greenhouse gases, the earth’s average temperature would be below the freezing point of water. 
The following are the Gases that cause the Greenhouse effect:
1. Water Vapor which causes 36 to 70%.
2. Carbon Dioxide which causes 9 to 26%.
3. Methane which causes 4 to 9%.
4. Ozone which causes 3 to 7%.
5. Clouds also affect the radiation. 
Of these only those at points 2 & 3 can be affected by humans. It has been estimated that since the year 1750, Carbon Dioxide and Methane concentrations in the atmosphere have gone up by 36% and 148% respectively due to human activity. The records for the past 20 years indicate that fossil fuel burning accounts for 75% of the increase in Carbon Dioxide emissions and the rest 25% increase is accounted for by deforestation.
There is a popular misconception about the linkage of the depletion of the Ozone layer and the Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere but that is not the case and there is only a minor correlation. 
The solar irradiance since 1978 till now has been measured and is found to be constant without any increase. Therefore this has nothing to do with global warming. Therefore global warming is essentially man made. 
During the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise by 0.3 to 1.7 degree Celsius with stringent controls and the worst possible scenario in their absence could be an increase of 2.6 to 4.8 degrees Celsius. 
Sustained global warming of more than 2 degrees centigrade can lead to a rise in the sea level by 1 to 4 meters. Approximately there would be an increase of 2.3 meters of sea level for every degree rise in temperature. 
Most ecosystems would be affected by changes in temperature of the earth. This leads to Extreme weather, sea level rise and flooding affecting our lives badly.

THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR.

Syria became an independent republic in 1946. The Democratic rule was however ended in 1949 with 3 coups taking place in the same year. In 1954 there was an uprising of the people and the power was transferred to civilians by the army.

Syria had a brief union with Egypt for 3 years between 1958-61. This union replaced the Parliamentary system with a highly centralized Presidential system.  The Baath Government came to power in 1963 by way of a coup. In 1970 General Hafez El Assad, the defense Minister seized power. He declared himself President and held power till 2000 when he died. 

Bashar Al Assad took over power from his father Hafez and became President in 2000. 10 leading activists from various forums called for democratic Government and for Civil Disobedience which led to their arrest in August 2001.

The problem is more sectarian as only 12% of Syria’s population is Shia and the rest are Sunni. But the ruling family is Shia.

Socio-economic inequality increased significantly after free market policies were initiated by Hafez al-Assad in his later years, and accelerated after Bashar al-Assad came to power. These reforms only benefited a select few. The country also faced particularly high youth unemployment rates.

This coincided with the most intense drought ever recorded on Syria which lasted from 2007 to 2010. Syria had also received in the same period around 1.5 million refugees from Iraq.

In December 2010 anti government protests began in Tunisia and spread to other parts of the Arab world including Syria. Revolutions occurred in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011 which inspired the fueling of unrest in Syria.

By 2011, Syria was facing steep rise in the prices of commodities and a clear deterioration in the national standard of living. Tension increased in the Kurdish areas of Syria due to discrimination.

There was a civil uprising in Syria in 2011 that initially demanded democratic reforms from the Government but the movement was met with force by the army  which later led to the call for overthrow of the Assad Government.

In April 2011, the Syrian army started military attacks on the towns backed by tanks, artillery and infantry killing 1000 people. Thousands were also imprisoned.

In June 2011 armed rebellion broke out against the Army and it continued and the severity of the army crackdown on civilians increased. In July, 7 defecting Syrian army officers formed the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to bring down Assad’s Government.

In October 2011 Turkey started supporting the rebel FSA. In November the conflict escalated and January 2012 the army started using large artillery against civilian homes. By April 2012, the death toll in the conflict rose to 10,000.

While Kofi Annan was negotiating a ceasefire on behalf of UN, the Syrian army mounted a large scale attack on towns and villages and executed many people. The ceasefire failed miserably.

In September 2012, the Kurds who were hitherto neutral entered the conflict as their civilians were killed by the Syrian army. 

In September 2013 ISIS also entered the conflict when it took a town held by the rebel FSA. The Syrian civil war turned into a mess now with a multiple number of groups fighting each other.

Syria held a presidential election in June 2014 where Assad secured some 89% of the votes cast. Allies of Assad from more than 30 countries were invited by the Syrian government to follow the presidential election and these include Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, Iraq, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela.

As per the observers no irregularities were found in the election. This result is extremely surprising and the only conclusion one can draw is that a majority of the people want peace and are on the Government’s side. The rebels are in a minority but seem to be causing all the problems.

In June 2014, ISIL seized substantial Iraqi territory in addition to heavy equipment which they brought into Syria to fight the Syrian army. The Syrian army now mounted an air offensive in coordination with Iraqi army attacked ISIL bases.

In August 2014 the FSA commander admitted to working with Israel and obtaining anti tank missiles from them. The injured FSA soldiers were also nursed in Israel.

In August the American journalist James Foley was executed by ISIL. At least 70 journalist covering the Syrian war have been killed and 80 were kidnapped.

In September 2014 American jest started bombing ISIL targets in Syria. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Jordan supported and aided the US strikes. Even the US Tomahawk missiles were used against ISIS. The FSA was informed beforehand about the airstrikes by the US.

In May-Aug 2015, the ISIL had resurgence and started capturing more Syrian territory.  

On 30^th Sep 2015, Russia in conjunction with the Syrian army striking at Army of Conquest targets. This is another rebel group in Syria which is against the Government. 

The problem in Syria is that there are too many actors.

Pro Government:

1.     Syrian Armed focres, 2. NDF militants. 3. Shabiha militants, 4. Christian Militias 5. The Hezbollah, 6. Iran, 7. Russia.

Anti Government:

1.     Syrian National Coalition, 2. Free Syrian Army, 3. Syrian national Council, 4. Islamic Front, 5. Salafist factions, 6. Al Nusra Front, 7. Syrian Kurds, 8. ISIL.

In addition, the US is against the ISIL and is also against the Syrian Government.

With so many factions it is impossible to ever arrive at a solution to the Syrian problem and countries entering the conflict would only enhance their pains. With such intense civil war, the position of the civilians is simply unthinkable and little wonder they are fleeing their country. Syria seems to have regressed to the days of the tribal wars and all civilization is forgotten.

CHENGIZ KHAN-THE FEARSOME AND RUTHLESS CONQUEROR!

I was fascinated by the name Chengiz Khan when I read about him in a book in my 4th Standard and felt later that he was neglected by the Historians. I have posted another note a long time ago on him.This is a much more comprehensive note on his life. I relied mostly on Wikipedia and a few other sources to make this compilation.

Chengiz Khan whose original name was Temuzin was born sometime around 1162 AD in Mongolia near the present capital of Ulaanbaatar. The Mongols were a congregation of nomadic tribes. The meaning of Temuzin in Mongolis Blacksmith. Temuzin’s father Yesegei Bagatur emerged as the leader of the leading clan of Mongols known as Borjigin.

Temuzin had 3 brothers, one sister and two half brothers.  At the age of 9 he was delivered by his fatherto his future wife Borte’s family of the Khongirad tribe. He lived there till 12 years of age.

Temuzin’s father was poisoned by the Tartars who had been the enemy of the Mongols. Coming to know ofthis Temuzin returned back and claimed the chieftainship of the tribe when hewas just 12 years old. The tribe refused to be led by a young boy. The tribe abandoned his mother Hoelun and her children without protection.

For many years Chengiz’s family lived in the desert surviving on wild fruits, ox carcasses etc. Slowly Temuzin’s older half brother Begter started exercising the role of the eldest male member in the family. After he reached adulthood Hoelun has to take Begter as a mate. He was born to another mother. Temuzin was against this. In one hunting expedition Temuzin and his brother Khasar killed Begter.

 In 1177 when he was just 15 years old, he was captured by his father’s erstwhile enemies theTayichiud tribe. Chengiz Khan escaped from their captivity with the help of as ympathetic guard. Chengiz’s reputation became widespread after this escape which was considered miraculous.

Chengiz grew up in the tough Mongolain environment which included thievery, raids, corruption and continual acts of revenge carried out between the various tribes.   

         

Chengiz married Borte as betrothed when he was 16 years old.Soon after their marriage Borte was kidnapped by another tribe called Merkits and given away as wife to another. Chengiz rescued her with the help of his friend and future rival Jamukha his blood brother ( brothers by the ritual of uniting their bloods physically)  and Togrul Khan, the blood brother of his father. Borte bore a son named Jochi just9 months after this which clouded the issue of his parentage. Borte gave him 3 more sons. Chengiz had many more children with his other wives.    

    

Jamukha and Temuzin slowly drifted apart as their mission is to be supreme and also due to the diverse methods they adopted. Chengiz favored meritocracy while Jamukha favored the Mongolian aristocracy.

In 1186 when Chengiz was just 24 years old he was elected as the Khan of the Mongols. Alarmed by Temuzins growth Jamukha launched an attack on him in 1187 with 30,000 troups. Temuzin was decisively defeated in this battle. But Jamukha acted cruelly and boiled some prisoners taken in the war which made the people sympathetic to Chengiz. 

The life of Chengiz is unclear for the next 10 years and we have no historic information on them. Around the year 1197, the Jin empire in China attacked their former vassals, the Tartars with help from Mongols. Chengiz commanded a part ofthis force and after his victory he and Toghrul Khan were restored by the Jinto positions of power. He then started defeating the rival tribes one after the other. Chengiz diverged from Mongol tradition and delegated authority based on merit and loyalty than on family ties.  

He devised the “Yassa” code of law that all the people under him have to follow. For people who swore allegiance to this code, he promised wealth from his future war spoils. Unlike the Mongol tribes at that time after conquest he took the conquered tribe under his protection and integrated its members into his own tribe. This act evoked strong loyalty from the conquered people making him stronger with each victory.

The son of Toghrul Khan felt jealous at the rising power of Chengiz and he hatched a plot to kill him. Toghrul Khan too yielded to his sons acts. Chengiz found out about the plot and defeated Toghrul’s son and his loyalists in a battle.  

Chengiz turned against Toghrul when he refused to give the hand of his daughter in marriage to Chengiz’s eldest son by Borte. As per Mongol traditions this is considered an insult. This led to war between Chengiz and Toghrul. In this his old rival Jamukha allied himself with Toghrul to attack Chengiz. However, an internal dispute between Toghrul and Jamukha as well as desertion of their allies to Chengiz led to Toghrul’s defeat. Jamukha escaped during the battle.

Jamukha and his followers took shelter with the Mongolian tribe called Naimans and later Jamukha was given the title of Universal ruler which angered Chengiz. Jamukha formed a coalition of tribes to defeat Chengiz. Before the battle, several generals abandoned Jamukha and joined Chengiz. After several battles Jamukha was turned in by his own men in 1206.

Chengiz again offered friendship to Jamukha which he declined and said there can only be one sun in the sky. He asked for a bloodless death from Chengiz which was granted and Jamukha’s back was broken.

After the defeat of the Naimans, entire Mongolia came under Chengiz’s power. The life of Chengiz is filled with a series of betrayals and conspiracies.

The “Yam Route” is a method for fast dissemination of information by Chengiz is a supply point route messenger system. Relay stations were used to give food, shelter and spare horses for Mongol army messengers. A Mongol horseman can travel 300 KM a day to relay information across the empire.His intelligence gathering system was excellent and he understood the psychologies of his rivals beforehand. He adopted new technologies from the Chinese in warfare. He was also absolutely ruthless when required.  

Chengiz Khans forces defeated the Western Xia dynasty, the Jin dynasty and Qara Khitai in China and the empire now bordered Kwarizim state in Central Asia ruled by a sultan. It contained the present areas of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhastan.

Chengiz initially sent a caravan of 500 people to Kwarizim seeing the advantage of commerce through the silk route. However, the Governor of one city in Kwarizim said that it contained spies and attacked the caravan. The governor later refused to return the looted articles and handover the people who did it. Chengiz then sent a group of 3 ambassadors consisting of 2 Mongols and1 Muslim to meet the Shah asking him to surrender. The Shah beheaded the Muslim and shaved the 2 Mongol ambassadors and made them carry back the head to Chengiz.

This affront enraged Chengiz who marshaled 100,000 soldiers for invasion of Kwarizim. He split his army into 3 groups and attacked Kwarizim in 3 places simultaneously after gathering sufficient intelligence. First the Mongol army seized the city whose governor defied Chengiz. The civilians were massacred wholesale and the rest were enslaved. The Governor was killed by pouring molten silver into the eyes and ears. The Sultan was utterly defeated and fled.

After the capital Samarkhand fell, Chengiz had every soldier who opposed him executed. All the population was driven into a plain and massacred. Pyramids of their severed heads were raised as a symbol of victory. Similarly in the trading city of Urgench 1.2 million people were massacred. Chengiz ordered 2 of his generals to completely destroy the remnants of the empire.Such was the ruthlessness of Chengiz Khan when provoked.

Although it is impossible to know how many perished during the Mongol conquests, it is said that he was responsible for the deaths of 40 million people which is around 11% of the world’s population at that time.

For a man of his temperament and ruthlessness Chengiz was surprisingly tolerant towards other religions.

Chengiz died in the year 1227 and his third son Ogedei Khan became Emperor. During his reign he conquered Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Hungary,Poland, Serbia and Bulgaria. Ogedei, then granted permission to his generals to conquer Europe up to the sea (Atlantic). To Europe’s luck Ogedei died and the generals had to go back to Mongolia to name the successor to the throne andEurope was saved.

Alexander was named the world conqueror by historians who donot mention about Chengiz Khan. The Mongol Empire was 5 times the size of Alexander’s empire. Of course Alexander being Greek was civilized whereasChengiz is a nomadic Mongol tribal at heart and is brutal.  

When I last posted a note on Chengiz Khan my friend JP Mishra reminded me that at least 0.5% of the world’s population had the blood of Chengiz in them. That is a fact as the following study suggests. In fact as many as 8% of the people living in the area of the then Mongol empire are considered to be the direct line descendants of Chengiz Khan.    

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/08/1-in-200-men-direct-descendants-of-genghis-khan/#.VfYtiZzWJN8

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN INDIA.

After the death sentence and execution of Yakub Memon, one of the accused in the Mumbai blasts case a number of human rights activists brought out the argument that the death penalty should be abolished altogether in India.

Their quote is that 105 countries in the world have abolished death sentences, and as no one can give life, no one should take life either.

Let us examine the issue with the statistics available on Wikipedia. 

Since the year 2000, 1617 prisoners were sentenced to death by the trial courts in India, but the capital punishment was confirmed by the higher courts in only 71 cases. 

Since 1997, only 9 death sentences were carried out. People are being rarely executed now and that too only for the most inhuman and heinous offences.

In 2004 Dhananjay Chaterjee was hanged for raping and killing a 14 year old girl. It took 14 years for the law to catch up with the crime as it was committed in 1990.

In the case of Ajmal kasab, the justice was swifter. For the Mumbai terrorist attack committed in 2008 along with Pakitsani terrorists he was hanged in Nov 2012.

Afzal Guru attacked the parliament in 2001 and was hanged for it in Feb 2013.

The courts took a long long time in the case of Yakub Memon. The crime was committed in 1993 but he could be hanged only in 2015. 

The Constitution Bench judgment of Supreme Court of India in the case of Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab (1980) made it very clear that Capital punishment in India can be given only in the rarest of rare cases.

In February 2014 , Supreme Court commuted death sentence of Rajiv Gandhi Killers on the basis of 11-year delay in deciding on mercy plea. It was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.

In March 2014, Supreme Court of India commuted death sentence of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, convict in 1993 Delhi bomb blast case to life imprisonment, both on the ground of unexplained/inordinate delay of 8 years in disposal of mercy petition and on the ground of insanity/mental illness/schizophrenia.

After the award of the death sentence by a trial court, the sentence must be confirmed by a High Court to make it final. Once confirmed, the condemned convict has the option of appealing to the Supreme Court. If this is not possible, or if the Supreme Court turns down the appeal or refuses to hear the petition, the condemned person can submit a ‘mercy petition’ to the President of India and the Governor of the State.

Our presidents have been inordinately lax in disposing of mercy petitions and no urgency is seen to dispose them immediately. One wonders why it should take a President years and years simply to decide on the mercy petition. There should be a time period within which the petition is to be disposed off. The President who is the theoretical head of the Government should speed up and not delay justice.

It is to the credit of Pranab Mukerjee that he rejected 24 mercy petitions in good time after he took office and these included those of Ajmal Kasab, Afzal guru and Yakub Memon. In June 2012 the then President Pratibha Patil has converted the death sentences of 35 people into life imprisonment.

If indeed a death sentence is abolished even for the most hardcore criminals and converted into a death sentence, then what would be the repercussions?

1.    Suppose the criminal escapes from prison and kills more people later, then who would be responsible?

2.     Suppose the criminal is released on parole and kills more people later, then who would be responsible?

Okay, we agree that since life could not be given, it should not be taken also. But is the criminal empowered to take lives totally against this principle and should he then be fed by the state from its revenues? Is this what we call justice?

Serious crime is of 2 different types. One that is committed in a fit of emotion impulsively due to relationships and the other that is committed deliberately with intent to harm people that are totally unconnected with them for personal or ideological benefit. The former variety is dangerous but only to the people connected to them but the latter are a threat to the society and the country as a whole. It is these people who should not be spared because the society cannot let a threat to itself exist perennially till their natural death. Of late only the latter variety is the persons who are getting executed in India and our courts have done an eminent job despite the delays.

The last 4 executions (just 4 in 11 years time) prove that India does not need a ban on death penalty. It has gone beyond that and made it very selective which is much more correct and refined than a blanket ban. In fact it is those 105 countries that have abolished death penalty that should hold India as an example to emulate rather than the other way round.

BAD DEBTS IN INDIAN BANKS.

The Indian Commercial banks can be grouped into three types.

1. State owned Public sector Banks. 

2. Private Banks under Indian ownership and 

3. Foreign Banks operating in India.

The PSB’s dominate the banking industry in the country, but their share of assets has gradually come down from 91% in 1990-91 to around 72% in 2014 due to the rapid expansion of private banks.

Private Banks increased their share from 3% to  22% during the same period. The assets and the Foreign Banks stagnated at around 6% throughout.

It is to be noted that the entire share of assets that has been dropped by PSB’s has been picked up by the Indian Private Banks.

As at the end of March 2013 the Gross NPA of the Banks in India was Rs 1,94,100 crores which was 3.3% of their total advances.  The gross NPA of PSB’s deteriorated to 4.45% as at the end of March 2015.

In terms of volumes the gross NPA’s of PSB’s accounted for Rs 1,64,462 crores as at the end of March 2013 but the net NPA’s were much less at Rs 90,000 crores.

In percentage terms the Gross NPA of PSB’s stood at 3.6% of the advances and Net NPA’s were 2.0% as at the end of March 2013.

The Gross NPA’s of Indian Private Banks volume wise were Rs 20,763 crores as at the end of March 2013 and the Net NPA’s were just Rs 5900 crores.

Their Gross NPA was 1.8% of their advances while the Net NPA’s were a mere 0.6%.

This means percentagewise the PSB’s are saddled with 3.5 times more net NPA than their private counterparts. There may be many reasons for this but the situation is alarming and measures have to be taken to evolve a better follow up of advances.  

Between the financial years 2001 to 2013, all Banks together have written off Rs 1,00,000 crores of loans of which Rs 95,000 crores are large loans. 

THE CRISIS OF GREECE THAT THREATENS EUROPE.

The Eurozone officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 19 European Union (EU) member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender.

The Eurozone  consists of 19 countries:                                 

1.  Austria, 2. Belgium, 3. Cyprus, 4. Estonia, 5. Finland, 6. France, 7. Germany, 8.  Greece, 9. Ireland, 10. Italy, 11. Latvia, 12.  Lithuania, 13. Luxembourg, 14. Malta, 15. Netherlands, 16. Portugal, 17. Slovakia, 18. Slovenia, 19. Spain. 

The Eurozone has a POPULATION of 33.46 crores with a GDP of USD 10.64 trillion.

Other EU states (except for Denmark and the United Kingdom) are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so.

As against the mighty Eurozone, Greece is a small nation in Europe with a POPULATION of just 1.08 crores and with a GDP of just 207 billion USD.

This means Greece accounts for only 3.2% of Eurozones POPULATION and 2% of its GDP.

Greece became a member of the European Union on 1 January 1981, ushering in a period of sustained growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast-growing service sector raised the country's standard of living to unprecedented levels. The country adopted the Euro in 2001.

However, presently Greece is creating a crisis and is putting pressure on the Eurozone. In the year 2010 Greece had a deficit of 15.4% of its GDP which is phenomenal. The public debt was estimated at 126.8% of its GDP which is crushing. The current deficit and the public debt of Greece are much higher.

The case of the Greek crisis has been a good example of how bad management of public finances can lead to an economic catastrophe. Greece has a long history of fiscal trouble, having spent much of the past two decades in default and economical inconsistency. Both fiscal and governmental corruption and contagious tax evasion lead its economy to become unstable and now it threatens the entire Eurozone dangerously. What is the problem of Greece?

Many factors contributed to the Greek economic crisis during the last decade, each of them playing an important role and have varying levels of significance. In particular, the Greek economic crisis can be attributed to some primary causes 1. The Eurozone, 2. Mass tax evasion,3. Corruption of the Government, 4. High Public Spending and 5. Inefficient Bureaucracy.

Greece was one of the weak members of the European Union and when the Global Financial Crisis broke out Greece is one of the most affected states in the European Union. The two mainstays of Greek economy, Tourism and Shipping  suffered a reverse and the economy registered a negative growth of 15% during the year 2009.

Underlying cause of the situation is that, in order to secure electoral support, Greek politicians have traditionally viewed the provision of public sector jobs and benefits as an important way to grant favours. In order to do that, Greece continued to borrow heavily from international capital markets to finance public sector jobs, pensions and other social benefits. Government expenditure has therefore been extremely high, much higher than government revenues. This created a huge budget deficit problems. As deficits and the country’s debt burden grew, the governments just kept on borrowing.

In early 2010, it was revealed that through the assistance of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and numerous other banks, financial products were developed which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy and many other European countries to hide their borrowing. Dozens of similar agreements were concluded across Europe whereby banks supplied cash in advance in exchange for future payments by the governments involved; in turn, the liabilities of the involved countries were "kept off the books" and were not revealed.

While government spending and borrowing increased over time, tax revenues which is the main sources of the government, weakened due to widespread tax evasion.

The other major causes behind the crisis were week co-ordination and organization in budget management process and inefficient bureaucracy. The implementation of financial reforms and policies are inappropriate, and the institutional, legislative and regulatory framework of Greece is unfavorable and complicated. There are simply too many laws, too many policies and too any overlapping control mechanisms that led to a systems failure.

.

As a consequence, there was a crisis in international confidence in Greece's ability to repay its sovereign debt. To avert such a default, in May 2010 the other Eurozone countries, and the IMF, agreed to a rescue package which involved giving Greece an immediate USD 65 billion in loans, with more funds to follow, totalling to USD 150 billion. To secure the funding, Greece was required to adopt harsh austerity measures to bring its deficit under control.

In 2011, it became apparent that the bail-out would be insufficient and a second bail-out amounting to USD 170 billion was agreed in 2012, subject to strict conditions, including financial reforms and further austerity measures. 

The economic health of Greece again deteriorated now and it is seeking a 3^rd bailout form Eurozone and has threatened to pull out form the grouping. This is a case of utter mis management of the economy. Spend money indiscriminately and expect other countries to foot the bill. Eurozone is being pressurized as they believe that if Greece pulls out then that would be the end of a single monetary currency for Europe. Moreover, the funding given to Greece already would also go down the drain. So Eurozone is ready to give another bailout but Greece refuses to cut its indiscriminate Government spending which is a pre condition for the 3^rd bailout. 

Yesterday Greece became a defaulter as it failed to pay the IMF loan repayment of around 1.5 billion Euro. The President is holding a referendum on the 5^th of July as whether Greece wants to continue in the Eurozone. If it votes to go out of the Eurozone then the biggest loser would be Greece. The President wants a 2 year loan package from the Eurozone without any pre conditions which is ridiculous. 2 years later they can always ask for another loan. I personally feel such countries should not be helped as they are surviving on someone else’s money.