India Rising - Collection of news articles from International media on India's rising profile [Archive] - Page 3

2Paise

June 30th, 2008, 11:02 AM

Gay Pride Delhi-Style (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1818912,00.html)

For a city of 14 million people, a gathering of a couple of hundred may seem miniscule. But for Delhi's gay community, the turnout at their first-ever Queer Pride this Sunday was beyond belief. Over 500 marchers carrying rainbow-colored flags and 'Queer Dilliwalla' banners marched to bhangra beats, breaking into Bollywood-style pelvic thrusts and bust-heaving from time to time. Starting from Barakhamba Road in the heart of the city's business district — at which point the media seemed to outnumber the marchers — they walked 2 km to Jantar Mantar, an 18th century astronomical observatory that has become the unlikely hub of sundry protests in India's capital. Along the way, they were joined by NGO workers and advocates of all causes, droves of tourists and resident expatriates, and a handful of curious onlookers, all shouting "British Law Quit India!" They were evoking the famous slogan from India's freedom struggle, but referring here to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which was introduced by the British to criminalize sexual acts "against the order of nature." Perhaps even more unexpectedly, few marchers wore masks — which the organizers had provided for those who haven't come out — and there were no protests from religious or socially conservative groups. "This is amazing," said Ranjit Monga, a public relations executive, "No one would've believed 10 years ago a gay parade was possible in Delhi."
Sunday's march was a landmark, especially for a city long accustomed to sexual repression, and now grappling with a newfound permissiveness brought about by economic liberalization, and aided in no small measure by satellite TV and the Internet. Other metro cities like Kolkata and Bangalore have been holding Queer Pride marches for a couple of years now but this was the first in Delhi, considered more conservative than some of its metro sisters. Unlike the mostly university-educated, urban crowd that marched in Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore's marches attract people from all classes as well as rural areas.

It took years of activism and advocacy — particularly fervent over the last few years — to make Delhi's Queer Pride possible. In 2004, Voices Against 377, an umbrella group of 12 NGOs working on a range of issues from women's rights to HIV/AIDS, was formed to file a case in the Delhi High Court against Section 377. (The case will have its final hearing on July 2 this year.) In 2006, celebrated author Vikram Seth wrote an open letter against Section 377, which was signed by the likes of Nobel-laureate Amartya Sen. "We just felt the time was right and Delhi was ready," says Gautam Bhan, a city planner and gay activist, "We have come a long way from the ridiculous attitude that there are no gays in India. With this march, we hope to move from saying 'Hey, we exist!' to issues like respect and dignity." A steady gay scene has slowly evolved in most metro cities including Delhi, and mainstream magazines like Time Out list gay socials. "Even smaller cities have a thriving gay scene today," says Monga, "It happens on the quiet, but it's there. Attitudes have definitely changed. If you don't wave your sexuality in people's faces, they let you be. There are jokes sometimes, but no organized anti-queer violence as in the West." But, as Bhan admits, there may be greater resistance in future as the movement becomes more widespread and successful.

On Sunday, though, the mood was euphoric. "It's been great fun," said Mather George, an anthropologist from San Francisco, "I missed the dykes on bikes, the naked people and the music, but I guess they'll get there!" There was much back-slapping and an ecstatic sense of accomplishment. "Delhi has come out and spoken about the kind of people we want to be," said Bhan, "This is not just about queer rights, it's about women's rights, about Dalits, about justice for everyone." But the enthusiasm wasn't shared by the passersby, many of whom looked on perplexed or peeved. Passengers in a bus that stopped near the marchers said they had no clue what the rainbow flags stood for or what the marchers were doing. Even the three men beating the bhangra drums for the marchers — Monu, Mahesh and Inder Bhat — said they had no clue what the march was about. "We came to play so everyone could dance and have a nice time. That's all we know." The march was clearly only a beginning.

india

July 23rd, 2008, 10:48 AM

India's Workforce Revolution (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121675006375274155.html)
by Vivek Wadhwa - WSJ
July 23, 2008

American businesses are increasingly moving their research and development operations to India. Companies like General Electric and Cisco now have their second-largest research centers in Bangalore. Debates rage in the U.S. about whether this will lead to greater prosperity or threaten the country's global economic leadership. But it's more productive to ask how India is training a workforce capable of handling such complex work.

The global engineering and entrepreneurship project team at Duke University traveled to India several times between September 2006 and May 2008 to meet the executives of dozens of multinational and domestic Indian companies to review their R&D projects and operations. What we found was astonishing: Despite its low science and engineering graduation rates, India is rapidly becoming a global hub for R&D, with a momentum and scale similar to what it accomplished in information technology services.

But how? Adjusting for different definitions of which degrees count as "engineering" degrees, India graduated roughly 140,000 engineers in 2004, about the same as the U.S. Additionally, it graduated 17,000 at the masters level and 900 Ph.D.s -- a small fraction of the U.S. numbers and not even enough to meet the growing staff requirements of Indian universities. Nor is the quality of its graduates consistent. India's Institutes for Technology, for instance, are equivalent to the MITs of the world, but many other, smaller institutions aren't even licensed.

So if engineering education is so critical to global competitiveness, how is India succeeding? It's picking up on the best practices know-how it effectively imports from foreign companies outsourcing to India, and perfecting those techniques. This is hardly novel -- it's exactly the path Japan followed in the 1970s and '80s.

A new report by the Kauffman Foundation, which I co-authored, breaks the Indian innovations down into seven key areas:

- Employee recruitment: The companies we studied are innovative not only in how they recruit, but also in whom they recruit and where they look for talent. Most hire for general ability and aptitude, rather than specialized domain and technical skills. They rely on training and development to bridge skill gaps.

Technology companies like HCL and Wipro recruit from second- and third-tier colleges all across the country, and also in arts and science schools. India's largest call-center operator, Genpact, has recruiting storefronts in 22 cities, without even requiring a resume. It is also targeting retired bank clerks and housewives.

- New-employee training: Companies in India assume new recruits will have to be trained practically from scratch. So they invest substantial time, money and effort in the training function. Most large companies have built dedicated learning centers and some employ hundreds of training staff. The Infosys Global Education Centre at Mysore can train 13,500 people at a time. New recruits attend a 16-week boot camp which strengthens their technical, communications and management skills. For its science recruits, TCS provides seven months of training in computer programming, customer orientation and project management.

- Continuing employee development: Indian companies have to invest in making their employees more productive and rapidly moving them up the skill and management ladder. This increases billing rates and the productivity of employees, and lessens attrition because of the rapid career advancement that employees can achieve.

Employees are typically required to participate in a wide range of education programs, including not only technical and domain training but also soft skills and management skills encompassing training in quality processes; communication; and cultural, foreign-language and personal-effectiveness skills. Career advancement and salary increases are usually tied to the completion of such training.

- Managerial training and development: Shortages in managerial talent have made it necessary to foster talent from within. Managers are typically groomed through fast-track programs that provide management training and mentorship to high-performing employees. The average age of first-line managers in the Indian companies we studied is below 30. Preference is usually given to internal staff to fill management openings.

- Performance management and appraisal: All of the companies we studied have implemented sophisticated performance-management and appraisal systems to create greater transparency and fairness in evaluation and rewards. Managers are evaluated on a variety of nonfinancial measures, including employee satisfaction, attrition rates and mentoring.

- Workforce retention: Most companies have achieved dramatic reductions in employee turnover by carefully analyzing recruitment, performance and attrition data to identify patterns. This has led to constant refinements in recruitment, training and development, performance management and other human-resource practices. Corporate communications and employee engagement in the company and its programs are always a priority.

- Education upgrades: Indian companies appear to have an unusual level of interaction with the private colleges and universities that supply them with talent. This involves working with these institutions in developing customized degree programs; training the educators; creating new curricula and training programs; and negotiating deals to hire graduates in bulk -- without job interviews.

* * *

The result of this workforce productivity is clear to see. In the aerospace industry, Indian companies are designing the interiors of luxury jets, in-flight entertainment systems, and collision-control and navigation systems for American and European corporations. In pharmaceuticals, Indian scientists are discovering drugs and performing clinical research for nearly all of the largest multinational drug companies. In the automotive industry, Indian engineers are helping to design bodies, dashboards, and power trains for Detroit vehicle manufacturers -- and soon may develop entirely outsourced passenger cars.

The Indian experience highlights what can be achieved by investing in upgrading workforce skills. That lesson has implications for policy makers in the U.S. who worry about how the economy will adapt to globalization. If workforce training can take the output of an education system as weak as India's and turn its graduates into world-class engineers and scientists, imagine what could be done with an American worker base that has received amongst the best education in the world.

Mr. Wadhwa is executive in residence for the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University, and a Wertheim Fellow at Harvard Law School. This op-ed is adapted from a report, "How the Disciple Became the Guru," released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

ab041937

August 3rd, 2008, 09:09 PM

Time to get over India's nuclear bomb (http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/470818)
Ties have been strained since New Delhi tested weapon with plutonium from Canadian reactor

Ryan Touhey
The Star, Canada
Aug 01, 2008 04:30 AM

Once labelled by some as the "sick man" of South Asia, India is now an emerging economic power set to become the world's fifth-ranking consumer economy.

As a result, India faces no shortage of foreign suitors, and the governments of Australia, France, the U.K. and the United States are leading the charge. Canada? We've been among the slowest to recognize India's rise.

The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will meet today and consider approving the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Deal. Canada is represented on the board but it is uncertain how Ottawa will react to this significant event.

New Delhi and Ottawa still appear unable to shake off the lethargy that stems from a tumultuous bilateral history that still lingers. In order to move forward, Canada and Canadians might have to radically rethink the major bilateral gap between us: India's nuclear program.

There has been little government effort since the mid-1970s to address this issue. Equally, there has been scant public or academic debate on the merits of Canada's bilateral, and nuclear, relationship with India. But this is a difficult and delicate matter. A recent national survey by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada noted that only 34 per cent of Canadians polled agreed with the statement "Canada should accept India as a responsible nuclear power."

To say that Canada and India have a controversial past largely due to differences on nuclear proliferation is an understatement. The story remains largely unknown to the Canadian public. With generous terms, we sold our Commonwealth partner two CANDU reactors in the 1960s after donating a reactor the decade before. By 1974, India had tested ts first "peaceful nuclear device" using plutonium from our donated reactor despite assurances to the contrary. Ottawa was furious and condemned India harshly on the world stage.

This event coincided with a period of domestic turmoil under prime minister Indira Gandhi that included the suspension of civil liberties. Too many bureaucrats and politicians in Ottawa had had enough with a country once deemed by Canadian officials to be the most important in Asia. Their disdain was heightened by the fact that India's economy was anemic, it appeared democratically fragile, and neither government was willing to compromise on the nuclear question. It was then that Canadians opted to turn their backs on the subcontinent.

The 1980s were no better. Some elements in the Sikh diaspora sought to foment support in Canada for terrorist activities in the Punjab.

Prime minister Brian Mulroney, as his recent Memoirs reveals, was advised not to host the 1987 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver as a result of terrorist fears and possible threats to India's prime minister. The Air India tragedy followed. India believed Ottawa did not take the threat of Sikh terrorists operating from Canada seriously enough.

In the 1990s, our government's efforts to begin expanding trade ties as India began to open up its economy were largely dashed when New Delhi chose to test two more nuclear weapons.

Fast forward to today. What can we do?

A number of new drivers, particularly our provinces, the private sector and the growing Indo-Canadian community, are seeking to expand trade, education and people-to-people linkages. Ottawa is showing some interest in their efforts, even occasionally suggesting that Canada and India share similar values.

First off, it is imperative for Canadians to realize that while India shares a Westminster-style parliamentary system and Commonwealth connection with Canada, much of the similarity ends there, particularly in foreign affairs.

While these are positive factors, we discovered they only count for so much as we learned decades ago when both countries served on the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Vietnam and differed as we naively expected India to see the Vietnam War as we did – through a Cold-War prism. Instead, India tended to sympathize with the North Vietnamese, viewing them through the eyes of a people who themselves had once been oppressed by colonial powers. Two generations of young Canadian diplomats served on the ICSC. Most returned to Ottawa far from enamoured with their Indian counterparts.

Recently, both countries have adopted different stances to the troubles plaguing Burma and Sudan.

It is imperative for us to understand that democratic values alone will not ensure that Ottawa and New Delhi share a world view that will create common approaches to global issues, or even establish mutual linkages between us. If the Canadian government bases its approach to India on the assumption that both countries share similar values and concepts of democracy, Ottawa may well suffer from the disillusionment experienced in the past. In a globalized world economy, we can't afford to do that with a rising economic tiger and a country that provides the second-largest source of immigration to Canada.

India's academics, policy-makers and politicians regard their country as a great power. The current strains of hyper-realism circulating in Indian foreign-policy circles make it more difficult, whatever our past, for Canada to search for a finely tuned Pearsonian, middle-power pathway with New Delhi.

India and the world have changed.

So must we.

We have to rethink our relationship with India and to seize the opportunities India now offers Canada. Overcoming our nuclear past might not be a bad place to start, particularly in light of the recent U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Deal.

After the IAEA meeting, the deal will still need to be approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the U.S. Congress. Once completed, it will bring India's civilian nuclear power plants under the supervision of the IAEA. In turn, the agreement will allow India bilateral civilian nuclear co-operation with the Americans for the first time in more than 30 years.

The international community gets a say in this deal through the NSG, of which Canada is a member. Any one NSG member, including Canada, can veto the agreement.

The deal that only weeks ago appeared to be faltering due to splits within India's minority government has created a precedent and sparked debate among a number of Canada's allies, including Australia, France and Britain. But reaction in Canada has been remarkably muted. Debating the merits – and the faults – of the deal will show India that we are at least willing to consider this question in light of present circumstances. In doing, so we will be sending a strong and positive message to India.

Our India policy has been non-existent for decades regardless of which party has been in power.

It is time to look at India with fresh eyes and to move beyond a history characterized by disagreements.

Ryan Touhey is a fellow at the Canadian International Council (CIC).

ab041937

August 3rd, 2008, 09:27 PM

The new India (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/travel/travel-news/2008/08/02/the-new-india-91466-21454160/)
Rachel O’Brien
Wales Online, United Kingdom
Aug 2 2008

Forget backpacking on the hippy trail, Rachel O’Brien enjoys India in real style

IT feels a bit like the cheat’s way to enjoy India – reclining by the pool after a stress-busting massage, with Champagne in hand and an army of waiters standing by. It’s certainly a far cry from my friends’ tales of budget backpacking and Delhi belly.

But while this might not be a cheap hippy trail through South Asia, neither is our visit one of old-fashioned opulence, with exotic elephant rides or maharaja-style luxury, as was once sought after by the well-heeled visitor to the colonial “jewel in the Crown”.

This is the “new” India: one of the world’s largest economies, with a staggering growth rate of 8.5% in 2006 and 2007, a film industry rivalling Hollywood and a population set to overtake China’s by 2030.

Amid vast social and cultural changes, the typical tourist experience is undergoing its own transformation.

We’re staying at the Park Hotel in Delhi, which admittedly offers luxury beyond the means of most locals (it has an amazing staff-to-room ratio of more than two to one. But as one of the country’s first boutique hotels, its contemporary take on Indian hospitality seems a suitable starting point for exploring the changing subcontinent.

Set back from hectic Connaught Place – the commercial hub of New Delhi – the hotel’s funky design could be at home in any cosmopolitan city, but there is an emphasis on Indian traditions presented in a new light.

The hotel is inspired by the five elements of nature – water, fire, air, earth and space – from the Hindu science of Vastu Shastra. So while you may prefer to unwind at Aqua, the chilled out poolside area offering cocktails and international cuisine, for a spicy lunch or dinner you can enjoy the award-winning Indian restaurant, Fire.

Our mammoth meal kicked off with a plate of chaat – a sophisticated twist on the Indian snacks usually served at road-side stalls. Five courses later, a mouth-watering dish of ginger kulfi (frozen milk) and betel leaf rasmalai (sugary balls of soft cheese) is proof that it’s worth resisting second helpings of naan bread to leave room for the often-overlooked desserts.

After such a feast, it is tempting to collapse in Aura, the hotel’s day spa, for another 90-minute massage or a honey and milk facial. Again, this is luxury the Indian way: the spa uses local ingredients and traditional treatments from the ancient healthcare system of Ayurveda.

But Delhi is knocking on the door: we have sights to see (not to mention calories to burn), and walks around the beautiful Indo-Islamic Qutub Minar, the world’s tallest brick minaret, or the stunning Mughal-designed Humayun’s Tomb, are best appreciated in the late afternoon sun.

Juxtaposed with the stately calm of these must-see sights is the chaos of local people going about their everyday life, with their hands firmly pressed on their car horns wherever you go.

If your nerves are up to it, hurtle along in a cycle rickshaw towards the 17th century Red Fort, and get lost on foot in the winding bazaars around Chandni Chowk street. Here the pandemonium of Old Delhi is far removed from the gracious boulevards of Edward Lutyens’ New Delhi and the swanky surroundings of our hotel.

On our return to the Park, however, we were instantly thrown back into modern, upscale India at the trendy Agni bar, a popular spot to watch Delhi divas strut their stuff and dance until the early hours.

In contrast the next stop on our trip, Chennai, better-known by its former name Madras, has a relatively small-town feel – despite being home to more than four million people. The city, a two-and-a-half hour flight south from the capital, is India’s fourth largest and the state capital of Tamil Nadu.

Here in India’s deep south, there is plenty of culture to rival Delhi’s offerings. It’s well worth the 60km drive from Chennai to the 7th century temples and sculptures at Mahabalipuram, carved with intricate scenes from Hindu mythology and the Panchatantra animal fables.

For a modern-day, but no less impressive, flavour of Tamil Nadu culture, take a tour around the classrooms of the Kalakshetra Foundation, where ambitious youngsters learn the traditional dance form Bharatanatyam. It’s a fascinating glimpse into a monastic-like retreat, something akin to a strict spiritual Indian version of Fame Academy.

As one of the teachers explains to us, competition for places is fierce, but students are expected to devote four years to rigorous training in dance, music and fine arts – and it shows in their disciplined performances.

Conversely the feeling is festival-like down at Marina Beach in Chennai, where hundreds of locals gather at weekends to picnic, paddle and fly kites. It’s a perfect place to watch the sun set on another day of Indian adventures.

The relaxed vibe continues back at our base, the Park Hotel, where the pale, bamboo-themed lobby has a more laid-back atmosphere than its counterpart in Delhi.

Food-wise, the offerings in the south are largely vegetarian, but in a different league from your average UK balti house.

The Park’s all-hours 601 restaurant, one of three eateries in the hotel, offers a huge range of international and Indian dishes, from the unusual main dish of blueberry kofta (dumplings) to traditional south Indian fare such as the divine masala dosa (a crepe stuffed with potato, onion and spices).

There’s also a chance to do a spot of DIY, as enthusiastic head chef Rajesh offers kitchen demos on preparing favourites like Beans Poriyal and Chicken Chettinad.

Dedicated foodies may want to take home a copy of a book by local cooks Jigyasa Giri and Pretibha Jain, Cooking At Home With Pedatha. Jigyasa, who lives in Chennai and is also a professional dance teacher, tells me that the south is a far better place to bring up children than “fast paced” Delhi. But even here, she feels times are quickly changing.

“There is a new India on the horizon”, she says. “Even at a very personal, human level, the average Indian is changing their personality. Greater exposure to the world at large has brought about immense confidence and ambition in the youth of this country.

“I just hope coming generations remember their national and cultural roots and grow, using them as their anchors of support. For no tree grows and spreads branches without strong, living roots.”

TRAVEL FACTS

Rachel O’Brien stayed at The Park in New Delhi, where prices start at £172 per night for single, £198 for double occupancy. B&B rates at The Park Chennai start at £135 for single and £148 for a double occupancy.

ab041937

August 3rd, 2008, 09:33 PM

Innovative university sets the flavour of Indian town (http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/470068)
cleo Paskal, special to the star
The Star, Canada
Aug 02, 2008 04:30 AM

Manipal, India–Manipal is a typical college town. Which is what makes it so unusual. Here in India, most of the best universities are in the big cities. The rural colleges tend to be a bit parochial. But Manipal University, deep in the wooded hills of Southern India, is an excellent university, ranked in the top 10 in the country in several faculties.

Like Cambridge, almost the entire economy of the town is built around the college. Pretty much everyone you meet on the paved and well-lit streets is associated with the school.

The university has set the tone for the town, and it's an amazingly innovative tone. The campus is entirely non-smoking. In an attempt to keep the environment unpolluted, there is a policy to discourage motorbikes and cars, and students are given bikes to use when they arrive.

Going one step further, climate change education is being integrated across the curriculum.

All of this, combined with a very multicultural student body which uses English as a common language, makes Manipal an easy and fun place to visit.

This being a college town there are, of course, plenty of coffee houses filled with the bustle of students (and even a Subway), but there are also historic temples and, a short ride down the hillside, the Arabian Sea (where the Manipal Surf Club catches waves). There is a floodlit, well-tended jogging route, which overlooks rice paddies and coconut groves. There are rickshaws and nuclear physicists. And it is all seamless, relaxed and friendly. This is a place where it is easy to make friends and to feel as though you belong, wherever you are from.

This traditional, yet modern environment has been a big draw for Indians who have settled elsewhere but who want their kids to ``experience'' India. Students come from more than 30 countries, with a strong contingent from North America. Manipal also has agreements with universities in the U.S. and branch campuses in places such asDubai and Sikkim.

About 30 per cent of Malaysian doctors graduate from Manipal, and the Communications Institute has close to a 100 per cent hiring rate for its budding journalists.

Founded more than 50 years ago, the university and town are hitting their stride and growing rapidly with new departments being added all the time – the two most recent being e-banking and geopolitics.

It is unusual to come across a place that is settling in so firmly that you feel you are witnessing the beginning of a tradition.

But just as India is refinding its geopolitical and economic place on the world stage, it is also reasserting its place in world education.

2020vision

August 10th, 2008, 06:44 PM

Opportunity knocks with untraditional jobs in India
New, expanding professions are breaking norms (http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/08/10/opportunity_knocks_with_untraditional_jobs_in_india/)

By Emily Wax
Washington Post / August 10, 2008

Anand Mahesh, a salesman at REVA, India's first electric car company, didn't take the career path his parents envisioned.

BANGALORE, India - When Anand Mahesh was a boy, his parents dreamed that he would become a worker bee in India's mammoth civil service. Like many working-class people, they saw job security for him pushing papers or stamping forms in one of the world's biggest bureaucracies.

But young Mahesh dreamed of a career that his parents found peculiar: designing or selling private cars in a country where, at the time, transport usually meant bikes, buses, or trains.

A self-described "tech-head," Mahesh applied to work as a salesman at REVA, India's first electric car company, which is helping drive a surge in first-time car ownership here.

"This is a future job in India," beamed Mahesh, 27, as he turned on the gently purring engine during a recent test-drive of a dent-proof, bright yellow car that whizzed through Bangalore's traffic like a golf cart. "My parents think the car is kind of odd. But all my friends say I do a new, dream job." From sales, he hopes to move on to design.

In an increasingly affluent India, Mahesh's job is one of many new or rapidly expanding professions that are breaking norms and creating fresh opportunities for the country's young generation.

Women now work as gas station attendants, filling tanks and checking oil, shrugging off suggestions that they're prostitutes. Indian magazines are filled with stories about hip new career prospects: disc jockeys and bouncers at nightclubs that opened after many middle-class Indians gave up their habit of drinking only in private clubs or at home.

Bright billboards hang in nearly every small town with ads featuring stylish young women enrolled in flight-attendant training schools, a glamorous job in a country where trains were long the primary mode of long-distance transport. And women can now work as bartenders, after the Supreme Court of India recently overturned a 1914 British colonial-era law that blocked them from the profession.

The new jobs are especially empowering to India's middle- and working-class women. By becoming economically independent, they are delaying marriage, a trend that is slowly changing the male-dominated power dynamic in South Asia.

The new jobs also reflect changing habits and values in a society that is one of the youngest in the world, with 70 percent of 1.15 billion people under age 35.

"There's a massive loosening of family pressure. That's because today, the rising middle class doesn't have to worry about basic necessities anymore," said Jagdip Bakshi, head of the Contract Advertising agency in Mumbai, which tracks societal trends. "It's a complete shift in India for the 'Over my dead body you will become a golfer or a drummer' type of Indian parental mentality. Now, some parents are actually saying, 'OK, you want to try graphic art, well, go for it.' "

Women have seen the biggest growth in the range of opportunities. The women cleaning windshields and filling tanks at an all-female gas station in New Delhi wear baseball caps and neatly pressed yellow and green uniforms. Many say they had only a few years of basic education and came from poorer states, hoping to find employment as construction workers or servants. But those jobs are often low-paid, with long hours.

Rekhan Saksena made the move to New Delhi after her father died last year. She soon read in the paper about the all-female gas station. "It was such a good environment, working with other women in a clean place with shade. My sister also moved here and joined another station," said Saksena, 23, a thin woman with a confident demeanor.

Some of the male customers are rude, however. "They say, 'Fill up the tank faster. Or how do you know how to do this?' " lamented Mini Adhek, 24, who came from a farming village in Orissa. "We just act professionally."

On a recent afternoon, a retired secret service officer disparaged the women and said he was sure that they were prostitutes. In India, the old-generation thinking is that women who work must be desperate - and must also therefore be sex workers. Saksena and her co-workers said they ignore those kind of notions.

Saksena said her mother was horrified on first hearing that her daughter would be serving strangers, and at a gas station. But when her mother saw her plentiful monthly salary, part of which was shared with her, she cried, then went shopping for food and a sari.

"We are delaying marriage, we are living on our own," Saksena said, as she gave a customer change. "Now we have new jobs and our own lives."

Whiteeclipse

October 16th, 2008, 03:27 AM

--Goldman Sachs in 2005 had India at 12.8 trillion for 2040--

ADB puts India’s GDP at $35 t by 2040

The Asian Development Bank reckons that India will grow at 11.5 per cent (average) over the next 30 years.

By 2040, India’s GDP will be $35 trillion at 2007 prices, against $1 trillion now, said Rajat Nag, Managing Director-General, ADB.

ADB lowers GDP growth forecast to 7.4%

Addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, a conference of the Indian diaspora here, Nag said that by 2040, India would be the second largest economy in the world, only after China, accounting for 18 per cent of the world’s economy, against 2 per cent today.

He said that the Indian rupee would appreciate against the US dollar, contributing to the GDP, which is calculated in terms of the dollar. Of the 11.5 per cent growth projected, 9 per cent would be in terms of ‘real effective exchange rate’ (REER), and the appreciation of the rupee would account for the rest.

By 2040, India would be the second largest economy in the world, after China. India’s population would have risen to 1.7 billion people, but still, the per capita income would be $20,000.

The transformation of India from ‘poor’ to ‘rich’ would happen in one generation, Nag said.

Nag, an alumnus of IIT, Delhi, said that India has an edge over China in terms of demographics. While China’s labour force is ageing and will peak in a few years, India’s is young and the ratio of labour force to overall population is growing.

However, to achieve this growth, India would have to meet five major challenges, Nag said. First, there is rising inequality within the country. “India not yet integrated domestically, and a large faction of its people, depending on traditional agriculture, is not participating in the current economic boom,” he said.

Second, India will have to invest more in infrastructure. Nag noted that currently India invests about 5-6 per cent of its GDP on infrastructure. The country intends to raise this to 9 per cent in the Eleventh Plan period, but “we believe that the number has to go up to 12 per cent”.

Third, India would need to provide massive support and investments for technological upgradation to encourage innovation, “something like Japan and Korea have done in the last fifty years”.

Fourth, pointing out that India’s use of water and energy is “wasteful”, Nag said that India should “take up an environmentally sustainable path of development different from what it has taken in the past”.

Fifth, India must overhaul its relations with the neighbours in the sub-continent. South Asia is the last region in terms of regional co-operation. To illustrate: 55 per cent of the trade in goods and services among East Asian countries happens within the region, while in the case of South Asia, it comes to 5 per cent, Nag said.

There is a limit how far India and other South Asian economies can grow without co-operating with each other. Issues such as environment, common resources such as water and security cannot be tackled effectively in isolation, he said.

“In this context, we can learn from China’s recent strategy of extending its growing economic prosperity to its immediate neighbours despite past tensions,” he said.

http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14777698

ab041937

October 27th, 2008, 08:52 AM

India…Again (http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=14525)
By Hussein Shobokshi
Al Arabiya
26/10/2008

Once again, India has shown us the difference, in a practical manner, between a nation that works and an idle nation.

We have India launching its space shuttle – produced entirely by the hands, brains and technology of India – to the moon, joining the exclusive space club. The incredible India experience continues to captivate those who monitor its developments; it is the biggest of the world’s democracies reaping the fruits of its labor such as paying exceptional attention to education, training, and the bringing together of diverse segments of its society towards one outlook, motivated by the economy of knowledge that made India and its economic model a clear emblem of that.

All this took place whilst its Pakistani “neighbor” continues its foolish tribal and sectarian wrangling and the chain of assassinations and car bombs that claim innocent lives through indiscriminate savagery.

The developing world is watching in astonishment and wonder to the extent of envy and jealousy (where some arrogant people belittle India’s accomplishments expressed in a racist, despicable and reckless manner) as India transforms from a developing country of the Third World to join the major industrial countries, and this is well-deserved.

India today has transformed into a center of gravity and the backbone of the modern world of technology. One of India’s businessmen owns one of the biggest steel producing companies in the world and it is also home to one of the world’s most important companies, the Tata Group, which owns a number of major companies and hotels around the world. Today India has taken the lead role in cinematic production and its authors continue to receive the most prominent of awards.

The Arab world should carefully and seriously examine the Indian experience and how it largely benefited from its advantages because it presents important and eye-catching examples of what can be accomplished. The Indian model is similar to the Arab situation; there are the same challenges in development and the same social, political, cultural and economic challenges without doubt.

India still has some surprises in store; the anticipated Nano car produced by Tata is ready to be launched and presented to the world as the cheapest car in the world therefore giving scores of people from the world over the chance to own a car for a cheap price.

Universities, schools and technical institutes in India continue to improve their capabilities and programs to become more competitive and effective in transforming India into one of the most important elements of efficiency, success and excellence and its “price” in the labor market is higher than that of many of its counterparts of the old industrial world. There is no doubt that in Bangladesh, Pakistan, (and even Sri Lanka and Nepal) there are regrets that these countries are not on the same level as India and do not compare with its economic growth as the gap is widening between them and the motherland.

Yet again, the Indian option is about equality and education for all. They reaped a glory that the world envies.

The Indian example continues to amaze; it is a fascinating success story that deserves to be told…more importantly it deserves to be learnt from.

http://aawsat.com/english/images/writers/HusseinShobokshi.jpg
Hussein Shobokshi A
Businessman and prominent
columnist. Mr. Shobokshi
hosts the weekly current
affairs program Al Takreer
on Al Arabiya, and in 1995,
he was chosen as one of the
"Global Leaders for Tomorrow"
by the World Economic Forum.
He received his B.A. in Political
Science and Management from
the University of Tulsa.

ab041937

November 1st, 2008, 10:15 AM

India Shoots for the Moon (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122480526844364849.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)
How'd they learn to do that?

Wall Street Journal
OCTOBER 24, 2008

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-CO180_oj_2mo_DV_20081023215813.jpg
AP/Indian Space Research Organization
The Chandrayaan-I

The U.S. Congress needs a wake-up call. At the risk of our readers saying the laws of physics forbid any such possibility, we offer the following: On Wednesday India launched a space probe to the moon.

The Chandrayaan-I blasted off about dawn from the Satish Dhawan Space Center. It is expected to reach lunar orbit by November 8. The probe, whose principal goal is to "conduct mineralogical and chemical mapping of the lunar service," carries five scientific payloads from India and others from NASA and the European Space Agency. With this achievement, India joins the U.S., Japan, Europe, Russia and China in the lunar club.

India deserves congratulations for the Chandrayaan-I, which attests further to that nation's remarkable strides as an economic and scientific power. That said, we cannot fail to draw attention to how this event bears on the continuing lunacy of Congress in limiting visa quotas for highly skilled immigrants.

American universities are filled with foreign students, not least from India, getting degrees in engineering and science. Many dearly wish to stay and work in the U.S. Instead, we basically kick them out after training them, owing to the Congressional limit of 65,000 H-1B visas, which are used up the day they are released in March.

The Labor Department believes that by 2014 some two million high-tech jobs will be available here. U.S. companies from Microsoft down to start-ups have begged Congress to give them access to this skilled labor pool. Congress won't budge, bowing to arguments that foreign techs displace jobs from U.S. citizens. That's not how labor markets work in a dynamic economy. Bill Gates has noted that an H-1B hire creates several additional hires, as tech teams expand.

The irony is hard to miss. India's recent progress is the result of paring back state suffocation of its economy. But the U.S., with Barack Obama's antitrade policies and the GOP's anti-immigrant policies, may be turning inward. Here's hoping India and China aren't going to the moon just as the U.S. is headed into the sunset.

2Paise

November 1st, 2008, 02:14 PM

^^Laughable...Are they implying that India could achieve this only because of Indian students acquiring the requisite technical skills and know-how from American universities?

Maybe we should send our smartest kids to hollywood to gain the know-how for ISROs manned mission(Im just kidding...i love America)

kolkatausa

November 3rd, 2008, 10:28 AM

2Paise

November 3rd, 2008, 11:19 AM

...

Tron

November 4th, 2008, 03:46 AM

slashcruise

November 6th, 2008, 01:00 PM

India doing better than other economies: JP Morgan

NEW DELHI: Indian economy will not be affected as badly as other countries by the global financial crisis as it has a strong growth record, Jamie
Industry
2008: Year of global financial crisis
Dimon, chief executive of financial services firm JP Mrgan Chase and Co, said.

"India is doing far better than most other countries... Most important that you (India) might slow down a little bit but you have still a pretty good growth, so I don't think it needs to do quiet anything like it has been done elsewhere," Dimon said in an interview with a news channel.

He, however, said that the global economic scenario was alarming and the current crisis was "worst since the great depression" of 1930s.

Referring to the great depression, he said: "I don't think it will go that bad but that will be the worst."

With the three major economies - the US, Europe and Japan - facing downturn, Dimon urged the emerging economies to be prepared to deal with its consequences.

"The three 3 major economies in the world are slowing down... that it will have an effect on them (emerging economies)," he said.

slashcruise

November 6th, 2008, 01:56 PM

India, China, Gulf to be global economic leaders: Gulf experts

Dubai:The financial crisis will catapult India, China and the Gulf nations to a decisive leadership position in the global financial system, according to some leading economists of the Gulf.

Speakers at a seminar organised jointly by the Dubai Press Club, the Dubai School of Government and ABN Amro Bank here were of the opinion that the crisis would slowly but surely take the economic leadership of the world away from the
world.

Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have continued to do well despite the global meltdown, and the big advantage they enjoy is the immense liquidity at their disposal, according to a statement summarising the proceedings of the seminar.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) form the GCC.

"Since these countries will continue to pump in money to the western markets thirsty for liquidity, their role is becoming really crucial," Mohamed El Hedi Lahouel, associate dean of academic affairs, Dubai School of Government, said addressing the seminar.

"They will do more to stabilise the global economy than most other countries. We have to see the recent visits of Western leaders to the region seeking assistance in this context," he added.

Over the last week, several leaders and economic policymakers from the West have been visiting the region seeking the GCC states’ help in solving the ongoing crisis.

US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Department Robert Kimmit, who came on a whirlwind five-country tour of the Gulf, said his country was looking for investments from sovereign wealth funds of the region.

US Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson, in an interview to the Oxford Business Group (OBG) for 'The Report: Abu Dhabi-2008', said the Gulf nations, flooded with surging oil revenues, have a historic opportunity to make investments in foreign countries.

German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, who was also on a visit to the UAE last week, while admitting that the G8 group of industrial nations could not solve the current crisis on its own, called on Gulf countries and emerging economies to become more involved in reforming markets.

Then, over the weekend, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came on a tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, seeking contributions for his proposal for an expanded International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail out countries under pressure from the crisis.

Citing these visits, Lahouel said: "I therefore would like to rule out the possibility of a depression as happened in 1929. The situation is drastically different."

As for the implications of the crisis to the Gulf nations, he said some planned expenditures stood to suffer as these were budgeted keeping a $100-a-barrel oil prices in mind.

"The drop in prices will definitely have an impact here," he said, but added that unemployment would not be a problem in the region.

"Since much of the labour force in the region is imported, a possible unemployment scenario will hardly touch the population of GCC countries. At worst, it will affect those countries that export maximum labour force into the GCC coun
tries," he said.

Agreeing with Lahouel's assessment that the situation was vastly different from the times of the Great Depression, Didier Duret, global chief investment officer of ABN Amro Pvt Banking, said the system now enjoyed much more flexibility in terms of interest rates, foreign exchange and the process associated with it, and strong coordination between nations and central banks.

"The existence of countries with large surplus funds and sovereign wealth funds is also a significant factor. I am sure the negative impact of the meltdown could be stemmed to a considerable extent through sound policy and careful implementation," he said.

Duret, however, called on investors to keep their focus on the US where the crisis originated out of a credit crunch.

Francois Moute, chairman of Neuflize Pvt Assets, said the crisis was a culmination of the policy former U.S. president Ronald Reagan had put in place 27 years ago.

According to him, oil prices will rise only when western economies start to stabilise and emerging Asian economies like China and India revive their high growth rates.

But he added: "The western world is slowly but surely losing its leadership of the world. Countries in Asia, such as China and the GCC states, have begun moving to the centre as far economic leadership of the world is concerned."

slashcruise

November 7th, 2008, 12:32 PM

Global reputation will help Indian firms grow: Gates

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday said that Indian IT companies will be affected by the global economic slowdown but will continue to grow t
heir business as they have built a global reputation.

“IT companies in India are great partners of Microsoft. They are investing in the long term and they have a pretty incredible reputation. They are always considered whenever a global project comes up,” he said, speaking at a seminar at IIT Delhi.

Mr Gates is currently on a visit to India to promote anti-polio and other healthcare efforts, undertaken by his charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in the country.

Talking about the financial crisis that started with the US and has now spread to other markets, Mr Gates said that global markets had overreacted in gauging the spread of the crisis. “There is no doubt that the US is in somewhat of an economic recession but it doesn’t need to extend to other markets.

I think the markets have overreacted. The economy will have some weakness for more than six months but it will get back on track,” he said. A proponent of increasing the number of H1-B visas, the speciality worker visas for foreign nationals working in the US, Mr Gates also highlighted the shortage of right skills worldwide during his speech.

“The world continues to have a shortage of the right skills. So, we need more IITs, more universities. The shortage might be bridged in another 10 years when it will catch up with the demand, leading to a new set of challenges.

But there are always opportunities for those with the right skill sets,” he said. The Microsoft co-founder also unveiled a new programme, DreamSpark, on Wednesday that will provide the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools to students for free.

GJ10

November 8th, 2008, 11:28 AM

^^Laughable...Are they implying that India could achieve this only because of Indian students acquiring the requisite technical skills and know-how from American universities?

Possibly one of the most patronising excuses for an article that I've read in a long time.

And yet the Yanks wonder why the rest of us think of them as arrogant. :lol:

Prashasth

November 10th, 2008, 01:17 PM

NOVEMBER 10, 2008 - Wall Street Journal
By ERIC BELLMAN and JACKIE RANGE
India's Leftist Parties Hope to Gain Followers Amid the Financial Crisis

KOLKATA -- India's diehard Communists are hoping to parlay an "I told you so" stance on the global financial crisis into more parliamentary seats in the coming national elections, expected early next year.

Kali Ghose has been a card-carrying Communist for more than 60 years and is the general secretary of the Center of Indian Trade Unions, a group of unions in the Communist stronghold of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta.

Eric Bellman
In an interview in his office, decorated with photos of Karl Marx, Mao Tse-Tung and Ho Chi Minh, he said he foresaw today's problems of excess borrowing and volatility hurting the common man. He also claims that if India's Communists hadn't stubbornly and successfully opposed market reforms, the world's largest democracy would be in much worse shape.

"This is a crisis of the imperialistic economy," he said. "Now people understand that what we propagated all this time is true."

For the past 20 years, the Left Front, a group of political parties led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has typically held more than 50 of the up to 552 seats in India's legislature, even as India embarked on a series of reforms that turbo-charged its economy over the past few years. It hopes to attract new converts as disillusionment with unfettered capitalism spreads.

"There is a nonleft audience that is more receptive now to what we say," said Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPIM, in an interview. For instance, he said, the threat of unemployment as India's economic growth slows means young middle-class Indians have learned a lesson: "unionize or perish."

That lesson was dramatically demonstrated when Jet Airways Ltd., one of India's biggest airlines, recently tried to lay off 1,900 nonunionized flight attendants. After mass protests, the government persuaded the company to reverse course. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week called on business leaders not to fire employees in the downturn.

"The average guy doesn't know about layoffs. That's going to be a problem; they'll turn socialist as soon as they see any pressure," said Pramod Bhasin, chief executive of Genpact, a large Indian outsourcing firm based in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi. "I worry it will stop reforms and people will say, 'See what happens in a free market?' "

Even so, the Communists face a tough sell nationally. Many in India view them as dinosaurs whose ideas have been undermined by India's rapid economic growth. And there is no prospect of the Communists winning power on a national level. Either the Congress Party, which leads the current ruling coalition, or the right-wing opposition Bharatiya Janata Party almost certainly will form the next government. Both are expected to pursue further economic reforms, albeit in the context of threats from the crisis.

"The reform agenda had a dynamic of its own in a democratic process," said Duvvuri Subbarao, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, India's central bank, in an interview last month. "That dynamic will be affected, certainly, by what's happened around the world. But I don't think it will be the case that we'll put reforms in cold storage."

Still, neither Congress nor the BJP is expected to win a clear majority, leaving them scrambling for support among smaller parties to lay claim to a mandate for government. The Communists and other left-wing parties could play an influential role in the next government's agenda and in the debate over what economic model India should pursue.

The Communists already have shown they can be effective in that role. They were part of the current coalition before withdrawing their support from the government in July in protest against India's new civilian nuclear-technology pact with the U.S. Until the split, they were a key reason the government's privatization and economic liberalization efforts had stalled.

The Left Front helped block measures such as the revamping of the public pension-funds sector and increasing foreign ownership in banking. Instead, they advocated restricting capital flows, limiting foreign ownership in finance and controlling foreign exchange, food and fuel prices -- all policies the government has pursued to some degree.

Mr. Karat, the CPIM general secretary, said his colleagues deserve "much of the credit" for insulating India from the worst ravages of the economic storm engulfing the world. While bank lending has tightened dramatically, India is expected to emerge from the crisis relatively unscathed compared with many other countries.

"The Wall Street model of unregulated, finance-driven speculation and greed for quick profits has collapsed with disastrous consequences," the central committee of the CPIM proclaimed in a statement after its annual meeting in Kolkata last month.

The Communists "were quite right about the danger of some reforms and I imagine they will crow about it," said Bharat Karnad, research professor at the Center for Policy Research, a New Delhi think tank. "They will make a case that their advocacy has kept the Indian economy from spiraling downward."

Aditi Nanavaty, 27, came home to Mumbai with a master's degree in economics from the National University of Singapore and planned to join Lehman Brothers, or some other investment bank, early this year; but then, things got ugly. As more of the top investment banks announced problems, she had to dial down her salary expectations and change the companies she was interested in joining. While she is far from joining the Communist Party, she said, she better appreciates the job stability a union would bring.

Not even the Communists, however, have been immune to pro-market economics. In the state of West Bengal, where they have dominated politics for 31 years, the Communists have added a hefty dose of economic pragmatism to their beliefs. They are soliciting foreign and local companies to stimulate the economy. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, on a visit to India last year, met with West Bengal's chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, to discuss investment opportunities.

Even the party faithful concede that a revolution isn't in the cards. "We cannot take up all the industries run by [the private sector] overnight," said Mr. Ghose at the Center of Indian Trade Unions. But, he adds, "The capitalist system has to go and it will go eventually. That is our task."

skdubai

November 11th, 2008, 06:04 AM

^^ god forbid! all they want to do is send the country back to the stone ages!!!!

Prashasth

November 12th, 2008, 12:07 PM

3 Indians in the Wall Street Journal's 'Top 50 Women' to watch out for in the world ! :)

Photo CC - Wall Street Journal - Indra Nooyi - Rank 2
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq157/prashasth/Indra_N_2.jpg

Photo CC - Wall Street Journal - Padmashree Warrior - Rank 31
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq157/prashasth/padmashree_w_31.jpg

Photo CC - Wall Street Journal - Indrani Mukerjea - Rank 41
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq157/prashasth/Indrani_M_41.jpg

sanjupalayat

November 13th, 2008, 05:29 AM

KERALA is India’s southernmost state and its name literally translates to “the land of the coconuts”, of which there is an abundance.

Nov 9 2008 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury

The ever-so-friendly Keralites also claim it is “God’s own country”, and with Hindus, Muslims and Christians peacefully co-existing together, it is easy to understand why they think that way. The state is also one of the 10 Paradises Found by the National Geographic Traveller, because of its diverse geography and overwhelming greenery.

The last time we went to Kerala, we visited Cochin, Munnar and Alleppey. This time, to see more of this lovely state, we headed for Calicut, the birthplace of the famous quality cotton calico.

The Calicut area has many more claims to fame. For instance, the first European to reach India by the sea route around the southern cape of Africa — Vasco da Gama — landed at Kappad about 10 miles away in 1498 and heralded the period of Portuguese supremacy. From our base in neighbouring Goa it is possible to fly or take a train to Calicut.

We opted for the 70-minute flight down the west coast. Even before we landed at Calicut, the greenness of Kerala was clearly visible.

As soon as our friend Prakash, a Keralite who works in Goa, was aware we were going to Calicut, he insisted that we must visit his parents Chandran and Shobhana. They were excellent hosts and, with Prakash and his family coming south at the same time, we were fortunate to have them to show us their area. We were soon introduced to other relatives living nearby and enjoyed wonderful hospitality, including lovely traditional meals served on banana leaves.

A family trip took us on a thrilling drive three thousand feet up into the Ghats. On the way there were numerous hairpin bends and absolutely spectacular scenery. The journey took us through bustling towns and past fields of rice and pineapples and plantations of banana, rubber, spices and, of course, coconuts.

Our first stop was at Pookot Lake resort, before going on to Kalpetta for a typical local lunch called tali, consisting of rice, mixed vegetables and lots of sauces.

Then it was on through the beautiful tea estates that looked like a lush green carpet hugging the hills and, finally, to the magnificent Suchipara waterfall. The city’s Portuguese heritage is well evident and it still plays an important role in the international spice trade.

Elegant hotels

Close to our hotel was Calicut’s fragrant spice market. It certainly is an energetic city, but I did not mind the short forays into the crowded shops and markets, as the tranquillity and serenity of our temporary home was always so welcoming on our return.

Thanks to Prakash, we also took advantage of the nationwide one day strike to take a complete tour of Calicut city in an auto-rickshaw. We stayed at the elegant Taj Residency hotel, set amid groves of coconut palms and five acres of that lush greenery of which Kerala is rightly proud. It has 70 well-appointed and spacious bedrooms and four suites.

The hotel also houses the world famous Taj Ajurveda Centre. Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old science aimed at rejuvenation. Programmes are up to 35 days and attract patients from all over the world. However, it is not just a case of lying back and being pampered.

For those prepared to put in the effort, there is a well-equipped fitness centre, as well as a steam room and outdoor pool. And all of this as Kerala enjoyed 30C (86F) temperatures as winter set in back in the UK. Dining options at the resort are also excellent and allow one to eat casually or enjoy a fine restaurant with a great selection of delectable dishes and refreshing drinks.

We also ate breakfasts and light lunches in the Cape Camorin coffee shop and evening meals in the Coral Reef restaurant which overlooks the swimming pool.

The city of Calicut — now known as Kozhikode — is derived from the Malayalam expression Koyil Kodu meaning fortified palace, which was later anglicised to Calicut. It is the capital of Malabar and is on the northern coast of Kerala, so its beaches are lapped by the Arabian Sea.

The best place we found to learn more about the city’s history was the Krishna Memon Museum, a real storehouse of artefacts

Other local attractions there are the famous Thusharagiri waterfalls, Dolphins Point, where lots of them frolic in the sea, and the superb Science Planetarium, which reveals the mysteries of the universe. To end a wonderful trip, we decided on another first – an overnight train journey.

At every station we stopped at there seemed to be hundreds of hawkers jumping aboard, selling everything imaginable. Hopefully, they all managed to get off before the train departed.

Like the Goan people, the Keralites are cheerful, friendly and bright and, besides their people, Goa and Kerala have a lot in common. Both have beautiful beaches, natural beauty, bustling and interesting towns and a perfect climate when it is winter back home.

Sunday Mercury.Net (http://www.sundaymercury.net/travel/holiday-reviews/2008/11/09/kerala-is-india-s-southernmost-state-and-its-name-literally-translates-to-the-land-of-the-coconuts-of-which-there-is-an-abundance-66331-22209153/)

ab041937

November 14th, 2008, 05:41 PM

Space saving (http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.2466654.0.0.php)
INDIA: Moon mission set to take outsourcing industry to the final frontier

From Raymond Thibodeaux in Bangalore
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

INDIANS CROWDED around televisions in tea shops and streetside electronics stores to glimpse the launch of the country's first-ever Moon mission last month, a huge ego-boost for a country trying to shrug off its former standing as one of the world's poorest and least-developed nations.

In a moment of national pride, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the launch as the "first step" in India's exploration of space, cementing the country's status as a serious contender in a new space race with China and Japan.

Still, the two-year mission is not without its detractors. Among the patriotic machismo of most headlines and talk shows, a few critics griped about spending more than $80 million to map the Moon when there are urgent problems closer to home: crumbling roads, grinding poverty and child malnutrition rates higher than in many African countries.

But the spin-off benefits of India's space programme are too good to pass up, say analysts. It boosts India's military and diplomatic clout, coming on the heels of a nuclear deal with the US that ended its status as a nuclear pariah.

Its satellite capability is focused on helping speed up telecommunications development, weather forecasting, educational broadcasting, and resource mapping to help farmers improve their crop yields.

Arguably, one of the biggest benefits of the mission, Chandrayaan-1, is that it helps India's bid to win a larger share of the world's estimated $15 billion-a-year commercial satellite launch market. It is outsourcing with serious potential.

"People are recognising that our space technology is reliable. And we can do more with less money. That's why we're starting to attract other countries to our satellite launch programme," said S Satish, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

India's space agency crossed a milestone in April when it launched a rocket that dropped 10 satellites in space, all in one go. For $8000 a kilo, India can put your satellite in orbit, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better deal. That's the sales pitch from the final frontier of India's outsourcing industry: space.

It seems to be working. In the past few years, India has launched satellites for space agencies and research institutions in the US, Germany, Canada and Israel. Last year, India's satellite launches brought in more than $500m in revenue, about 75% of that from foreign clients.

Of the 52 commercial satellites put into orbit in the past year, nearly two-thirds were launched by the Big Three: the US's Sea Launch and Boeing, Russia's Krunichev and France's Arianespace. Experts predict that, within two years, China, India and Japan should capture at least 15% of the global launch market.

Still, the big money is in telecommunications satellites but these can weigh up to six tonnes and, for now, India's launch capability is limited to "nano" satellites, some only 3kg. ISRO adviser Jayant Narlikar said: "As India's space programme goes deeper into commercialisation, we need to develop our own technology for putting telecommunication satellites into space."

However, not everyone is ecstatic about India's new skills in the exosphere. Some industry experts are concerned that India might use its capabilities for military purposes, an unsettling prospect for its uneasy neighbours, particularly Pakistan and China.

But for the most part, India's aims in space have been to improve conditions for Indians on the ground, according to A S Padmavathy, a scientist at the space agency's Bangalore headquarters.

"Some Indians in the past asked, When India is so poor, why waste money on programmes in space?' But the new generation sees the value in making sure all citizens enjoy this technology. Fisherman get satellite advice from us and students in remote villages can attend a virtual lecture from Mumbai," she said.

Prashasth

November 22nd, 2008, 03:59 PM

India's Leaders Promise Policy Action to Sustain Growth, Protect the Poor
Wall Street Journal (online.wsj.com)
NOVEMBER 22, 2008
By PETER WONACOTT

NEW DELHI -- With the global economy darkening and a general election months away, two of India's top leaders pledged government action to sustain growth and protect the poor.

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AU182_WINDIA_D_20081121175137.jpg
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, center, and Sonia Gandhi, chief of the ruling Congress Party, in October inaugurated the first train service in the Kashmir region. Both face mounting challenges from opposition parties that have garnered wider support amid the global financial crisis.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, at a conference Friday, said India will be able to maintain 8% annual economic growth -- a rate that represents a slowdown from 9% last year but is still above the near-term forecasts of many economists. While the Indian prime minister didn't offer specific policy prescriptions, he suggested the response to the gathering economic troubles would be aggressive.

"No instrument of public policy will be spared," he said.

India is investing heavily in infrastructure, has raised salaries for government employees and offered emergency loan relief for farmers. More public spending carries risks, namely a government deficit that has expanded well beyond targets. But India's leaders must also shepherd a poverty-ridden country through a global economic crisis and avoid political upheaval.

In a speech that followed the prime minister, Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the ruling Congress party, said concerns for the poor would guide the government's economic decisions. Liberalization would be accompanied by "sensible but not heavy-handed regulation," she said.

Until recently, India's government officials were forecasting double-digit economic growth and the gradual further opening of sheltered sectors, such as retail, to foreign investors. But the remarks of the two Indian leaders reflect new economic and political realities. Economic trouble in India poses risks to the Congress party, which heads a coalition government, and openings for its opponents.

Six state elections will be held by the end of the year, and a national parliamentary vote -- which installs a new government and prime minister -- is expected early next year. The Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, is hoping to unseat Congress by cobbling together a majority in the national parliament.

"One thing is very clear among voters," said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a BJP spokesman. "The general mood is to change the present regime."

The BJP faces anti-incumbency pressures, too, and its declared prime ministerial candidate could cloud its message of change. L.K. Advani, an 81-year-old Hindu nationalist and former government minister, has been a fixture of Indian politics.

Mr. Advani, in his speech to the same conference, accused the Congress party of being in "denial mode" -- trying to shift blame for India's economic distress to global forces from its own mismanagement. The current government, he said, allowed food prices to rise before excessive credit-tightening measures stanched lending. He said the BJP management of the economy would be "radically different" and it would crack down on rampant corruption.

Scores of regional parties are vying for space in a changed political landscape. One of the most powerful of the new parties, Bahujan Samaj Party, is led by a Dalit -- those on the lowest rung of India's caste ladder.

The BSP leader, Mayawati, who goes by a single name, is chief minister of the country's largest province, Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. She has enlarged her party's base to include politicians disaffected with Congress and BJP.

The expansive nature of India's democracy also has exposed national and state governments to new pressures. Many Indian and overseas investors complain of political roadblocks to business and growth.

Prime Minister Singh counters that India offers the world a model of development. "We may have paid a price in terms of economic growth and efficiency, but we have gained as a free people," he said.

chithragupthan

December 11th, 2008, 12:20 AM

India's automakers rev up for run at U.S. car market

November 30, 2007

Source: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081130/NEWS14/811300337/0/NEWS08

By STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITER

MUMBAI, India — Yet another challenge is facing the U.S. auto industry. And this time, it isn’t coming from Japan, South Korea, or Germany — or the meltdown of the economy.

In the next few years, Indian automakers and parts suppliers, long outcasts because of lackluster innovation and stagnant technology, have ambitious plans to sell cars to American consumers and peddle parts to carmakers in this country.

India’s anticipated foray into the downtrodden U.S. automotive market poses an immediate threat to Detroit’s Big Three and their domestic suppliers, already teetering on the brink of bankruptcy because of lagging sales stemming from a
tightening credit market and competition from Asian automakers.

Indian automakers, aggressively recruiting top homegrown engineers and ramping up research and development teams, are emphatic that their entrance into the U.S. and global markets should be taken seriously.

For the first time, they believe they can compete globally.

“There’s a sea change,” said Pravin Shah, an executive vice president of Mahindra Motors, maker of SUVs and pickup trucks, during an interview with The Blade at Mahindra Towers in Mumbai, a sprawling west coast metropolis of 18 million that most Americans know as Bombay. “People see we are getting into manufacturing that is world class,” he said.

India’s entry into the U.S. auto market will have deep ramifications for the entire manufacturing sector of the United States, but especially in automotive centers such as Toledo and Detroit.

With the U.S. auto industry nearly at its breaking point, Detroit's Big Three is facing yet another threat from an overseas competitor.

This fall, The Blade spent three weeks in India reporting on the rise of the nation's burgeoning auto-industry.

Already looking for government bail-outs and contending with a credit crisis, the U.S. auto industry now must compete with India, a nation of more than one billion people on the cusp of becoming a major player in the worldwide automotive industry. India is aggressively preparing to take Indian-made cars global, and with growing confidence that it can compete everywhere — including the U.S.

To tell this story to Blade readers, so many of whose lives are connected to the automotive industry, we sat down face-to-face with the leaders of India's Big Three — Tata Motors, Mahindra Motors, and Maruti Suzuki. We also interviewed the CEOs of Ford India and General Motors India about the growing opportunities to sell cars to members of India's growing middle class. And, we went to villages to speak with peasants losing their land to make way for new auto plants.

The story we found in India hit close to home in the heartland of U.S. auto manufacturing.

Mahindra Motors is laying out its plans for launching the Scorpio, a clean-burning diesel-powered SUV that it believes can compete with Toledo's Jeep; Krishna Maruti, an Indian seat-builder, is unveiling its plans to begin building Jeep seats, and Tata Motors, the maker of the world's cheapest car, the Nano, is eager to sell its small cars in the U.S.

What The Blade found is that India — with its lofty goals to become an international leader in the automotive business and a pioneer in automotive research — should be taken seriously and is a concern now more than ever for the U.S. auto industry.

Mahindra Motors is setting its sights on the American SUV market, looking to place its diesel-powered Scorpio on U.S. roads in the near future and taking aim at Jeep, which already faces challenges from domestic and Asian automakers.

A Mahindra dealership is slated for Toledo’s Central Avenue strip, the heart of auto sales in the area, where the company expects to begin selling pickups late next year before introducing its SUVs.

Also next year, another Indian company, Krishna Maruti, plans to begin supplying seats for Toledo-built Jeeps.

The automotive products supplier, headquartered near New Delhi, India’s capital, has long built seats for Maruti Suzuki, India’s leading car maker. Krishna Maruti is expected to take a large share of the Toledo Jeep work from Johnson Controls of Northwood. The move could mean the loss of up to 75 local jobs.

And over the next several years, Tata Motors, India’s highest-profile automaker, plans to expand its global reach to include the United States. By next spring, Tata’s Nano, the world’s cheapest automobile at $2,500, will begin rolling off production lines and onto India roads.
A sense of urgency

The Blade spent three weeks in September reporting from India’s five largest cities — Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore — meeting with automotive executives, parts suppliers, autoworkers, politicians, and engineers to explore the rise of the Indian auto industry and how it will affect the U.S. auto industry.

India is well on its way to meeting its stated goal of joining the ranks of the world’s auto industry leaders.

Interviews with executives from India’s Big Three — Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, and Mahindra — show the urgency of the nation’s leading automakers to compete not only domestically, with an influx of foreign automakers laying roots in India, but to become global players in the world’s automotive industry.

“Today’s India is a very confident India,” said Debasis Ray, Tata Motors’ chief spokesman, in an interview in his office at the headquarters of Tata Group.

For Detroit’s Big Three, India’s entry into the North American market will present just one more competitor in an already crowded field, said Bruce Belzowski, an associate director and assistant research scientist with the automotive analysis division of University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.

“[Detroit’s Big Three] have enough competition as it is,” said Mr. Belzowski, who has studied India’s auto industry and co-authored the study “Inside India: Indians view their automotive future.”

Mr. Belzowski said India’s automakers must have near-perfect planning before they enter the “hyper-competitive” U.S. market.

“They have to be prepared with advertising, dealerships, aftermarket parts — with all of the things you need to get a brand off the ground,” Mr. Belzowski said. “For long-term survival, you have to have a variety of vehicles.”

Bernard Swiecki, a senior project manager with the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research, who has been on trade missions to India, said he doesn’t see India as a short or medium-term threat but potentially as a long-term threat.
“What the Big Three face today is so immediate that [India’s automakers] don’t really contribute to that whole crisis,” Mr. Swiecki said, adding that he expects it’ll take time for Indian automakers to build their volume and presence in the U.S. market once they’ve arrived.

Evolution of an industry

Until 1991, India’s government maintained strict control over the nation’s automotive industry, letting the bureaucracy determine which automakers could build which types of cars. As a result, there were few options for car buyers and little competition for carmakers, causing India’s research and development to stall.

For decades, India’s passenger car market included few options other than Hindustan’s Ambassador — a basic British-styled car, often in white, and a vehicle of choice for politicians dating to its inception in 1948 — and the Premier Padmini, often seen as black and yellow taxis dominating the rough Indian roads.

The deregulation of India’s automobile market, which began in 1991, shook the industry and ushered in massive changes that now have the nation’s largest automakers on the verge of becoming international players.

During the past 15 years, world automakers including Ford, General Motors, and Hyundai established themselves in India, slowly cutting their way into the domestic car market and forcing Indian automakers for the first time to compete.

India’s major automakers have responded by becoming bolder and more aggressive in competing to sell cars domestically and more ambitious about overseas markets.

A global vision

From his perch atop Mahindra Towers in downtown Mumbai, Pravin Shah has a vision that would make Mahindra Motors a name known not just to Indians but to people across the globe.

Mahindra Motors, the automotive wing of Mahindra & Mahindra, one of India’s premier businesses, already exports vehicles to 25 countries in Europe, Africa, South America, South Asia, and the Middle East.

If Mahindra sticks to its schedule, it will be the first line of Indian automobiles to be sold in the United States. And Mr. Shah is confident his company’s products will fill a need.

“People are looking for cost-effective transportation systems and clean-burning products,” Mr. Shah said. “It’s value for money — that doesn’t mean cheap, but delivering more than what you pay for.”

The executive vice president for international operations of Mahindra & Mahindra’s automotive sector said his company is being cautious and deliberate in its planning, commenting that Mahindra has no plans to be a short-timer in the U.S. auto market. Instead, Mr. Shah said, his company wants to enter the market “with the intent to stay.”

Mahindra, in a partnership with Georgia-based Global Vehicles, is planning more than 320 dealerships across the United States, including one in Toledo, operated by local car dealer Steve Taylor.

“The Indians definitely are on the way here,” said Mr. Taylor, who traveled to India this year to meet with Mahindra and tour its facilities. “I think they have some technology — diesel and engine technology — that is going to be state of the art. It is high quality. It is going to be a less expensive kind of a car that is going to fit a bigger niche than what we see with bigger cars.”

Jeep similarities

Mahindra got its start making SUVs by building Jeeps on a contract toward the end of World War II. And it has some familiarity with American consumers who use Mahindra tractors.

Its modern SUV offering, the Scorpio, as it is presented on India roads, looks and feels like a Jeep — although its current specifications and pricing don’t differ greatly from what Jeep is already offering.

The newly introduced automatic version of the Mahindra Scorpio sells in India for $23,800, which is comparable to the $23,640 starting price for the 2009 Jeep Liberty. It’s difficult to compare fuel efficiency since Scorpio models run on diesel engines, getting about 19 miles per gallon on mixed roads, and the Jeep Liberty uses a gasoline engine, reporting 22 mpg on highways. The Scorpio and Liberty have similar length and weight.

To Mr. Shah, the Scorpio is engineered unlike any SUV American consumers have seen. And before it is introduced on U.S. roads, Mr Shah expects that the Scorpio’s specifications and pricing will outmatch the Jeep.

“I don’t see a competitor that has a product in this size [that compares with the specifications of the Scorpio],” Mr. Shah said.

Mr. Shah denied knowing anything about reports that Mahindra earlier this year expressed interest in buying the Jeep brand from Chrysler.

A possible obstacle to Mahindra’s entry into the U.S. sport utility vehicle market is its need to meet safety and environmental standards.

“It’s in our DNA to make heavy duty, clean-running, fuel-efficient vehicles,” Mr. Shah said. “They will meet the standards.”

Mr. Shah said Mahindra’s products will be unique to the United States because of their size and capabilities, allowing for opportunities to find niches in the market where “you can’t find the Big Three.”

The SUV market

When gas prices soared earlier this year, U.S. car buyers moved away from bigger cars and into smaller, more fuel-efficient ones.

Asked why he is confident that American drivers will buy Mahindra’s SUV, Mr. Shah said: “You can’t separate the American from the SUV.”

Mr. Shah, who has worked for Mahindra since 1981, has seen firsthand how the deregulation of India’s automotive industry changed and inspired India’s automakers to be more innovative. He said automakers must focus more on customer service, volume of sales, and financial performance than ever before.

“The whole paradigm of doing business has undergone dramatic change in India,” he said. “This has transformed the whole business and the way we do things.”

Indian ingenuity

When Tata Motors earlier this year introduced the Nano, the world’s cheapest passenger car, it had every intention of taking it global.

Amid much fanfare, the $2,500 Nano put Tata Motors on the global automotive map and made it the symbol of Indian ingenuity when it comes to car design and forward-thinking. The Nano, which is within reach of middle-class Indians, would aim to replace the rickety three-wheelers that clog Indian roads and offer a safer alternative than motorbikes for transporting families across busy city streets.

On Jan. 10, the day the Nano was unveiled, Tata Motors’ Web site attracted 7.9 million hits from around the globe, giving a sense of the worldwide interest in the vehicle.

On a Tuesday morning in September, Debasis Ray’s office phone rang again and again with media calls from across the world inquiring about the Nano, which is expected to be available in standard and luxury lines by next spring.

“After the unveiling of the Nano in January of this year, we have seen the response that has come from countries across the world, including developed markets like the U.S.,” Mr. Ray said. “It does seem that an affordable car like this is a need across the world.”

Tata Motors plans for the Nano to initially be sold in India but later sold in other developing countries.

“When it come to India, you look at mobility,” Mr. Ray said. “Personal mobility is a fundamental desire. But a car made affordably to transport families has never been possible.”

In addition to its automotive division, Tata Group, headquartered in Bombay House in Mumbai’s financial district, boasts a portfolio of steel, communications, information technology, chemical, and engineering businesses. The Tata Group also owns Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, a hotel that was among the targets of last week’s deadly terror attacks in Mumbai.

Tata Motors hit stumbling blocks with the Nano project. After committing hundreds of millions of dollars to build a Nano plant in Singur, a 75-minute drive from Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), a major city along India’s east coast, Tata Motors pulled out of the region last month amid a dispute with villagers whose land was acquired by the regional government to make way for the 997-acre plant.

Villagers said they didn’t receive fair compensation from the government, and their protests caused the company to shutter the site and move its operations across the country to an 1,100-acre plot near Ahmedabad, which is north of Mumbai and southwest of Delhi.

Just as the world community was getting to know Tata Motors, the rapidly growing Mumbai-based company purchased the luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford in a $2.3 billion deal.

“We believe that the Jaguar and Land Rover are two iconic brands with global reach,” Mr. Ray said. “That is the reason to bring Jaguar and Rover under our fort.”

Mr. Ray called Tata, India’s largest carmaker, an “infant” in the realm of passenger carmaking. The company entered the passenger vehicle market only in the 1990s, making its major foray into the market with the 1999 launch of the Tata Indica, a basic and widely popular small car built for India’s rugged roads. The company has built commercial vehicles for more than 60 years.

Tata, like the other Indian automakers, has joined into agreements with other car companies across the world, including South Korea’s Daewoo, Spain’s Hispano, and Brazil’s Marco Polo.

Mr. Ray said those agreements are part of Tata’s strategy to increase its global reach.

Supplying parts

While India’s automakers map their entrance in the U.S. auto market, some Indian parts suppliers are already exporting to the United States.

There are hundreds of parts suppliers based in India, which historically have served Indian automakers such as Tata, Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, and Ashok Leyland. But as India’s reputation rises for producing quality auto parts, the demand for Indian-made components is increasing.

By next year, the seats for Toledo-built Jeep Wranglers will be built by Krishna Maruti, a parts supplier based in Gurgaon, near Delhi.

Krishna Maruti won the contract this year to build the seats, a contract currently held by Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls, which makes the Jeep seats at its Northwood plant. Chrysler officials later said Johnson Controls would continue building the Wrangler’s front seats, while the Krishna Maruti would be responsible for the backseats.

It was a milestone victory for Krishna Maruti, said A.K. Bedi, the executive director of operations, as Jeep will be Krishna Maruti’s first major international venture.

Krishna Maruti, founded in 1994 as a joint venture, builds more than 600,000 seats per year, with many of them landing in Maruti Suzuki cars.

The company, which has 13 factories in India in places such as Pune and Chennai, employs about 2,500 workers, with 40 working in research and development.

Mr. Bedi wouldn’t discuss how much Krishna pays its employees, but Indian auto workers are paid from $1.65 to $7.20 an hour — a wage that seems low by U.S. standards but allows many to own homes and motorcycles and send their children to private school because of India’s low costs.

‘The cost war is on’

Mr. Bedi, at an interview at Krishna’s headquarters in Gurgaon, said Krishna’s quality standards and its chairman’s philosophy — “the customer is God” — convinced Chrysler to award his company the Jeep contract.

“The quality is something we talk about, but it is the cost that the customers are looking for,” he said. “Like they say, the cost war is on.”

Krishna Maruti is planning to open a 50,000 to 60,000-square-foot assembly plant in the Toledo area and is looking at potential locations, Mr. Bedi said, adding that the plant is likely to employ about 100 people.

Mr. Bedi, who is leading the Jeep project and has visited Toledo, said he expects the job to be quite “challenging.”

But he is confident that the lessons learned working with Jeep, as well as the bolstering of Krishna Maruti’s global reputation, will lead to more chances to take its products global.

“There are a lot of opportunities,” Mr. Bedi said.

ab041937

January 3rd, 2009, 02:35 AM

With Chandni Chowk Goes to China, Warner Bros looks for riches of the East (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5380999.ece)
Hollywood has neatly bagged two key new movie markets

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00455/knowledge-china_455932a.jpg

Dominic Wells
The Times, UK
January 3, 2009

The penny first dropped a decade ago with Mulan. Finding this Chinese folk tale an odd choice for a Disney film, I asked a senior Disney exec whether their corporate ambitions in China had any influence over the subject matter. He looked at me as if I was the global village idiot. “Of course,” he said. Seven years later, Disney opened a $3.6 billion theme park.

And now Warner Bros has bankrolled its first Bollywood co-production, Chandni Chowk Goes to China, starring Akshay Kumar as an Indian chef who learns martial arts. It is also the first Indian film to have been shot in China. My initial reaction is not, as the Executive Vice-President of Warners International Richard Fox elegantly puts it, “a fusion of two rich cultures”, but “ker-ching!” These are the two nations Hollywood is most excited about, together in one film.

Tinseltown, you see, has finally discovered that the map of the world doesn’t end at California. A typical blockbuster can now double its revenues abroad (Mamma Mia! has made three times as much abroad as in the US). Thanks to the growth in multiplexes, the UK alone can contribute £20-£50 million to a film’s revenues.

Why do you think so many action movies have a Brit as the villain? Not just because global domination sounds sexy in Shakespearean tones, but because it’s an easy way to whip up interest in UK audiences. Why did Mamma Mia! cast a Swede, Stellan Skarsgård? To keep the Scandinavian Abba fans happy. Why did The Dark Knight stop the plot to go flitting off to Hong Kong? To sell toys in the Far East. And so on.

But some nations still refuse to abandon their own cinema entirely to giggle at Jim Carrey and gawp at Tom Cruise. In India, especially, US films account for only 5 per cent of revenues. So Hollywood has decided that if it can’t beat ’em, it’ll join ’em. Warners has been co-producing local films in a variety of countries for a decade — Fox was even made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts for his contribution to French film production — and India was the next logical step. Sony has also recently made its first Hindi film, Saawariya; Disney has several projects in the pipeline; and a few months ago Fox announced that it too was setting up an Asian unit specialising in local production.

As for China, the potential rewards are even greater. It hasn’t the same film-going tradition as India, and despite investment in hundreds of new cinemas by American studios there is still only one screen for every 400,000 people. Yet it’s the third largest producer of films, after India and America, and audiences are expected to double in the next few years. Add to that a strict quota system that permits a mere 20 foreign films to be screened each year, and it’s no wonder Hollywood studios are desperate to invest in local co-productions.

“These are more than emerging markets,” Fox says, “they are the powerhouses of the future. And each country presents its own opportunities and challenges. India is wide open, but how do you get the audience to connect? We have to adapt to a whole different culture, how the stories are told. Even the language is a problem.”

Last month, Warners announced a three-picture deal with People Tree films: an emotional drama with the same director and star as Chandni Chowk Goes to China; a romantic comedy; and a political thriller. Add to this a new Indian television channel to launch next year in a joint venture with Turner, and this could be very big business.

Pleasingly, the traffic is not just one-way. Bollywood is starting to be seen as “cool” in Western circles, in the same way that Japanese anime has acquired a pop-cultural cachet. And it’s already had a huge, if indirect, impact on Hollywood. Baz Luhrmann, the director of Moulin Rouge!, freely admits that its lush visuals, pop music soundtrack and characters’ propensity to break into song at any minute were influenced by Bollywood. The success of Moulin Rouge! paved the way for Chicago and a host of others, at a time when Hollywood was about to write off the musical.

But the real shocker was the $500 million deal, announced this autumn, for India’s Reliance ADA to take over half of Steven Spielberg’s studio, Dreamworks. Together with the Indian company UTV, in which Disney last month raised its stake to 60 per cent and which is building a cross-platform media business, this could truly herald a new dawn for India: the age of the Film Mogul Empire.

ab041937

February 12th, 2009, 02:15 AM

The Open-Door Bailout (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/opinion/11friedman.html?_r=1&em)
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
February 10, 2009
Bangalore, India

Leave it to a brainy Indian to come up with the cheapest and surest way to stimulate our economy: immigration.

“All you need to do is grant visas to two million Indians, Chinese and Koreans,” said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express newspaper. “We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them. We will immediately improve your savings rate — no Indian bank today has more than 2 percent nonperforming loans because not paying your mortgage is considered shameful here. And we will start new companies to create our own jobs and jobs for more Americans.”

While his tongue was slightly in cheek, Gupta and many other Indian business people I spoke to this week were trying to make a point that sometimes non-Americans can make best: “Dear America, please remember how you got to be the wealthiest country in history. It wasn’t through protectionism, or state-owned banks or fearing free trade. No, the formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat.”

While I think President Obama has been doing his best to keep the worst protectionist impulses in Congress out of his stimulus plan, the U.S. Senate unfortunately voted on Feb. 6 to restrict banks and other financial institutions that receive taxpayer bailout money from hiring high-skilled immigrants on temporary work permits known as H-1B visas.

Bad signal. In an age when attracting the first-round intellectual draft choices from around the world is the most important competitive advantage a knowledge economy can have, why would we add barriers against such brainpower — anywhere? That’s called “Old Europe.” That’s spelled: S-T-U-P-I-D.

“If you do this, it will be one of the best things for India and one of the worst for Americans, [because] Indians will be forced to innovate at home,” said Subhash B. Dhar, a member of the executive council that runs Infosys, the well-known Indian technology company that sends Indian workers to the U.S. to support a wide range of firms. “We protected our jobs for many years and look where it got us. Do you know that for an Indian company, it is still easier to do business with a company in the U.S. than it is to do business today with another Indian state?”

Each Indian state tries to protect its little economy with its own rules. America should not be trying to copy that. “Your attitude,” said Dhar, should be “ ‘whoever can make us competitive and dominant, let’s bring them in.’ ”

If there is one thing we know for absolute certain, it’s this: Protectionism did not cause the Great Depression, but it sure helped to make it “Great.” From 1929 to 1934, world trade plunged by more than 60 percent — and we were all worse off.

We live in a technological age where every study shows that the more knowledge you have as a worker and the more knowledge workers you have as an economy, the faster your incomes will rise. Therefore, the centerpiece of our stimulus, the core driving principle, should be to stimulate everything that makes us smarter and attracts more smart people to our shores. That is the best way to create good jobs.

According to research by Vivek Wadhwa, a senior research associate at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, more than half of Silicon Valley start-ups were founded by immigrants over the last decade. These immigrant-founded tech companies employed 450,000 workers and had sales of $52 billion in 2005, said Wadhwa in an essay published this week on BusinessWeek.com.

He also cited a recent study by William R. Kerr of Harvard Business School and William F. Lincoln of the University of Michigan that “found that in periods when H-1B visa numbers went down, so did patent applications filed by immigrants [in the U.S.]. And when H-1B visa numbers went up, patent applications followed suit.”

We don’t want to come out of this crisis with just inflation, a mountain of debt and more shovel-ready jobs. We want to — we have to — come out of it with a new Intel, Google, Microsoft and Apple. I would have loved to have seen the stimulus package include a government-funded venture capital bank to help finance all the start-ups that are clearly not starting up today — in the clean-energy space they’re dying like flies — because of a lack of liquidity from traditional lending sources.

Newsweek had an essay this week that began: “Could Silicon Valley become another Detroit?” Well, yes, it could. When the best brains in the world are on sale, you don’t shut them out. You open your doors wider. We need to attack this financial crisis with green cards not just greenbacks, and with start-ups not just bailouts. One Detroit is enough.

ab041937

March 24th, 2009, 03:30 PM

Forget Slumdog - India Has A New Star (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Joel-Hills-Writes-On-The-Launch-Of-Tata-Nano---The-Worlds-Cheapest-Car/Article/200903415247305?lpos=Business_News_Your_Way_Region_5&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15247305_Joel_Hills_Writes_On_The_Launch_Of_Tata_Nano_-_The_Worlds_Cheapest_Car)
John Holliday, Senior business producer
Sky News, UK
March 24, 2009

We are in India for the launch of the world's cheapest car - the Tata Nano.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2008/Aug/Week3/15082361.jpg
The Nano drives like any small car, journalists say

The TV stations in Mumbai (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Mumbai) are wall to wall with Nano (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Nano) coverage. The newspapers are using up acres of column inches and the marketing plan is in overdrive.

So how cheap is the world's cheapest car? The Nano, for the first 100,000 people at least, costs £1,400 or 1kahr (100,000 rupees). That's for the basic model. (There are two other models but they've a little dearer).

You have to ask: With the rising cost of commodities how can a car be made for that? When you see the Nano you can soon see why. It's got a 600cc engine and is made out of steel. It has no radio, no power steering, only one windscreen wiper and one mirror.

If you want air-con, and you certainly do in India, you use the old fashioned method - you wind down the window and hope for a stiff breeze. It has three nuts on the wheels instead of four. It has no petrol cap, as such.

It's been made for driving in cities, congested cities at that, in India (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/India). But it will be rolled out possibly as kit-car franchises to China (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/China) and Africa (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Africa).

Then, and the company puts a 2011 date on it, into Europe and finally one day to the US - if they can make enough of them. And that's the problem. In the short term at least Tata can't manufacture them quick enough to meet what they think will be a stack of demand.

Ken Gibson, motoring correspondent of The Sun, test drove the Nano on Sunday.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2009/Mar/Week4/15247339.jpg
Travel is a family affair in India

"It surprised me," he said. "It's got more room than a Mini and it's a proper car. For £1,400 you can't compare it to a normal car because it's made for people who ride motorbikes. And if you had to ride a bike with four people on it in the rainy season and now you now have the chance of a Nano, you'll be in heaven."

Well not maybe heaven but it seems well thought out. It's only available to the Indians at the moment. But cleverly you have to put your name down on a list for it.

The first 100,000 will be selected as random. The rest will have to wait, possibly up to a year. It's clever because it makes it like a top of the range Bentley (oh why can I never get my hands on one of them!) and people desire it more because of its exclusivity.

And when you finally get your hands on one, you can also buy the Nano T shirt, the Nano watch, the Nano teddy bear and the Nano key ring. A bit like BMW has done with the new Mini.

It all started with a dream. Six years ago. Ratan Tata, the boss of the Tata (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Tata) group who had the dream, never thought it would come to this.

"It wasn't designed to be the world's cheapest car. It started with an emotional desire to provide affordable and safer transport to the families of India exposed to the elements and it now represents the spirit of breaking conventional barriers."

So barriers broken, but there's also been a few punctures along the way. It's later than scheduled and Tata's plans to manufacturer it in one part of India had to be shelved after a protest by farmers.

But it has arrived. And when you cut through the marketing there is a car that will sell. The biggest question will be making enough of them to meet demand.

My gut feeling is for Indians at least, forget Slumdog Millionaire. A little car is the new Indian star!

india

June 19th, 2009, 09:56 PM

Special effects outsourcing grows in India (http://www.thestate.com/movies/story/831924.html)
By ERIKA KINETZ - AP Business Writer
Thursday, Jun. 18, 2009

Outsourcing to India, long dominated by software engineering and back-office work, is expanding in new terrain: special effects for movies. India's rise comes at a difficult time for U.S. special effects outfits, some of which have buckled as the 2008 L.A. writers strike cut productions and the financial crisis curtailed financing. Executives in India say cost pressures are pushing studios to send more work to India, where special effects projects are up to 40 percent cheaper than in the U.S.

To be sure, Indian shops are, for now, minor players. Hollywood's special effects industry is still dominated by U.S. companies like Industrial Light & Magic. Production standards are generally lower in India, and many moviemakers still won't send creative work thousands of miles (kilometers) away. But the distance between Hollywood and Bollywood is narrowing, and many say it's only a matter of time before the gap in skills, trust, and quality is closed. The domestic market is also maturing as Indian audiences develop a taste for high-tech Hindi flicks.

"Economic conditions are playing out favorably for us," said S. Nagarajan, the chief operating officer of Visual Computing Labs, based in Mumbai, the visual effects and animation unit of Tata Elxsi, one of India's most prominent studios. "People are more willing to experiment." His company, one of 18 special effects studios that worked on "Spider-Man 3," has billed as much in the first three months of this year as it did in nine months last year, he said.

"In 2003 and 2004, when I would visit the U.S. and meet with visual effects companies, I'd be told we can't outsource it. It requires creative control and you are too far away," said Pankaj Khandpur, the company's creative director. Now, he said, those naysayers are telling him, "'Hey, let's talk.'"

So far, most work Indian companies have done is midlevel rotoscoping and compositing, which allow filmmakers to blend complex shots. For "Spiderman 3," Tata Elxsi VCL cut out studio stunt shots of Spiderman and sent them back to California, where they were fit into urban landscapes so the hero appeared to be swooping in death-defying arcs from one tall building to another. Khandpur said smaller production companies have been more willing to send over complex shots. For "One Night with the King," a 2006 movie about the biblical figure of Esther, the young Jewish woman who became the queen of Persia, VCL used computer software to create and people entire landscapes, filling the land with castles, waterfalls, and hundreds of horsemen, elephants and villagers.

In the last few years a string of acquisitions and new ventures have started to build the relationships and expertise India needs to become a more of a destination for such higher-end work. Two old Hollywood hands recently opened visual effects companies in Mumbai: Geon, founded by "The Lord of the Rings" producer Barrie Osborne, and EyeQube Studios, headed by Charles Darby, whose credits include "Titanic" and the HBO series "Rome." Darby set up EyeQube with backing from the U.K.'s Eros International and plans to release his first film "Aladin" - an effects-driven live action film featuring top Bollywood talent - in July.

He hopes it will be his calling card in the West.

"Instead of smiling at India and saying it's not good at special effects, they'll say, 'Hey look at that...Where did that come from? Hell's teeth! It came from India," Darby said. EyeQube is also in "advanced talks" with a Hollywood studio, which he won't name, to do its first film for U.S. release, he added. EyeQube's ultramodern studios center on an egg-shaped screening room. The 20,000-square-foot (1,860-square-meter) space is filled with hushed, dusky rooms of computer terminals, where artists experiment with complex computer generated avalanches and digitally transform a man's face into vanishing particles of smoke. "Of course it's a threat" to U.S. firms, Darby said. But "competition is never a bad thing."

Geon's founders met while working on "The Lord of the Rings" in 2003. They opened an 18,000-square-foot (1,670-square- meter) office in October with funding - how much they won't say - from Sahara India Pariwar, a conglomerate with interests in real estate, finance, media and infrastructure. Geon ultimately hopes to get out of the effects contracting business, with its razor-thin margins, and start making - and owning - its own films. For now, Geon is focused on training a pool of Indian artists. Chief Executive Jon Labrie says he's looking to hire 50 more artists globally and plans to open a Los Angeles office. But he'll be taking on just one Westerner for every 5 to 10 Indians.

There has also been a spate of acquisitions. Sony Pictures Imageworks acquired the Chennai effects studio Frameflow for a reported $5 million in 2007. Last year, Mumbai's Pixion acquired U.K. special effects house Men-from-Mars, whose credits include "Elizabeth." Since 2006, India's Prime Focus has acquired four special effects companies in the U.K. and two in North America, which have worked on films like "There Will Be Blood."

All this is putting pressure on smaller U.S. special effects companies, like The Orphanage, a San Francisco-based company that shut its doors in February, laying off 100 people. "The average cost of a shot gets lower and lower every year," said co-founder Scott Stewart. "If they keep driving the prices down, it will keep driving it offshore. Fewer and fewer artists will be working in the U.S." Even the Orphanage had outsourced work to India to save on costs, he said. "Everyone's doing it," Stewart said. Indian companies have already established themselves doing low-end work and are now moving up the value chain, he added. "They're starting to get good at everything."

AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

mihir1310

July 9th, 2009, 03:35 AM

By TOM REDBURN
Published: July 8, 2009
MUNICH — “I’m delighted,” said Randolf Rodenstock, president of vbw, the Bavarian Business Association, “to welcome the many billionaires among us.”

At the opening reception last week of the Global India Business Meeting, a two-day conference sponsored by Horasis, a kind of junior league World Economic Forum for the emerging market set, Mr. Rodenstock wasn’t talking about the Europeans and Americans who were here, ostensibly to attend a series of panel discussions, but mostly to schmooze and exchange business cards. He was talking about the Indians.

They weren’t all billionaires, of course, but there were more than a handful: enough to send a knowing laugh through the crowd of 250 people or so gathered at the sumptuous Bavarian Royal Residence.

In business circles these days, India is hot. Hotter than China, even. And despite the global economic downturn (or more likely because of it), Western executives are looking at India as among the most promising places on earth to generate growth and profits.

There are plenty of good reasons for doing so. For one, India has held up comparatively well during the financial crisis.

“We’re proud that during this period of turmoil that India has been an oasis of calm,” said Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

And while the Indian economy clearly slowed in 2008 from its breakneck pace of 9 percent growth earlier in the decade, official projections from the International Monetary Fund and other economic seers suggest that it could pick up again to more than 8 percent next year and the year after, generating even greater gains than China. Given that the advanced industrial nations in Europe, the United States and Japan are expected to eke out, on average, no more than 2 percent growth next year, that kind of performance tends to stand out.

But for all its prospects for the future, the enthusiasm about India needs to be tempered with a more realistic assessment of both its current strengths and its myriad weaknesses. And when it came to dissecting not only what’s right about the Indian economy but also what’s wrong, the Indians themselves were remarkably candid.

contd................The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/world/asia/09iht-letter.html?ref=europe)

ab041937

July 21st, 2009, 04:53 PM

India: The Other Rising Power (http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=4097)
David Kampf
21 Jul 2009
World Politics Review

Has Washington forgotten about India? After increased engagement and improved bilateral ties under two successive American presidents, several commentators have wondered if President Barack Obama is undervaluing relations with New Delhi. With the new administration's attention centered on developing a partnership with China, stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan, re-engaging Russia, and containing Iran and North Korea, it's unclear whether India will be a strategic priority for the United States.

That Washington has been primarily focused on the U.S.-China relationship is understandable. Leadership from today's superpower and tomorrow's great power are seen as essential for addressing transnational threats. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the opportunities for America and China to "work together are unmatched anywhere in the world." But a heightened partnership with China will not happen overnight and will not solve all problems, making enhanced links with India essential.

As a leader of non-aligned countries with a burgeoning economy, nearly 1.2 billion people, one of the biggest navies in the Indian Ocean, and one of the world's most powerful militaries, India is unavoidable. What is more, the U.S. and India share many common concerns. From stability in South Asia to climate change to the future of nuclear nonproliferation, a strong relationship with Asia's other rising power is critical to U.S. interests.

The standard line in Washington during President Obama's first months in office was that the administration was waiting until after India's elections in May to begin serious diplomacy. That wait is now over. The result of the world's largest democratic elections was the best possible outcome for the United States. The unanticipated but decisive victory for the Congress Party and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will give the Indian government a chance to realize the country's unfulfilled potential and assert itself on the global stage.

Secretary Clinton is currently in India on the highest-level visit to the country by the new administration. Before departing, she said, "We see India as one of the few key partners worldwide who will help us shape the 21st century." In what she calls, "U.S.-India 3.0," she hopes the partnership between Washington and New Delhi "will be one of the signature accomplishments of both new governments in both countries."

That's not to say it will be easy. India's increasingly forceful foreign policy also brings challenges. It is generally believed that the U.S. and India work together better in bilateral settings than in multilateral negotiations. And some of the most prominent areas of common concern between Washington and New Delhi -- including relations with Pakistan, nuclear nonproliferation and climate change -- are also issues of possible contention.

Conventional wisdom in India holds that Washington should not insert itself into the dispute over Kashmir and push too strongly for rapprochement between Pakistan and India. But Kashmir is too important to ignore entirely, and the U.S. can indirectly help the situation by continuing to pressure Islamabad to bring terrorist networks to justice. Success in Afghanistan -- a war that President Obama has forcefully embraced -- depends on stability in Pakistan. Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors will inevitably remain for years to come, but normalized relations and a resolution over Kashmir is in everyone's interest.

Last year's agreement on civil nuclear cooperation was historic, and both the U.S. and Indian governments are committed to its implementation. While the agreement reduced contention over India's nuclear program, Washington remains concerned about the spread of weapons of mass destruction -- including an arms race in South Asia -- and President Obama has expressed his vision for a world free of nuclear weapons. He supports a reinvigorated Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, while India has resisted both.

India believes developed countries should shoulder the burden of reducing emissions to combat climate change. New Delhi points to the difference between the average carbon footprints of Americans and Indians and is concerned that strict restrictions will limit economic growth. But addressing climate change is in India's own self-interest, as environmental degradation and global warming will hurt the country's entire population.

Washington must elevate its relationship with New Delhi and effectively -- albeit carefully -- manage disagreements. India's relations with Pakistan and issues of regional stability and terrorism need to be handled delicately so that they don't completely overshadow other mutual interests. Despite resistance, Washington should hold firm on climate change and nuclear nonproliferation. With stronger influence comes greater accountability, and India is ready to assume a role of responsible global leadership. As Secretary Clinton said in New Delhi on Monday, the two countries need to pursue a "comprehensive strategic approach."

During President George W. Bush's administration, relations with India were often seen as a hedge against the possible emergence of a global rival in China. But the logic driving U.S. relations with India transcends traditional concepts of the global balance of power. If the U.S. truly wants international solutions to common challenges, India's involvement and leadership will help establish a global consensus. Hopefully Secretary Clinton's visit will be the first step towards forging a lasting friendship.

David Kampf is a writer and analyst based in Washington. He writes for the Foreign Policy Association's blog, Rising Powers, and is a columnist for Asia Chronicle.

ab041937

July 21st, 2009, 05:19 PM

Banking On Boom Times In India (http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=34410)
Conn. firm wants a piece of world’s fastest growing economy

By DOUGLAS S. MALAN
Connecticut Law Tribune

With five offices within about 200 miles of each other, Wiggin and Dana took a fairly drastic step in an expansion announced last week. It’s entered a legal market halfway around the world.

The New Haven-based firm hired lateral partner Niket J. Rele to its newly formed India Practice Group. Rele, based in New York, joins New Haven partner Mark W. Heaphy, who has been doing work for Indian clients for three years.

Wiggin and Dana is among many law firms – including some of the world’s largest – that are looking to tap into a market that has 1.1 billion people and, in the view of some, unlimited possibilities. Wiggin and Dana appears to be the only Connecticut-based law firm with a formal India Practice Group.

“India is a really exciting economy right now,” Heaphy said. “It’s attractive because it’s English-speaking. Since 2004, there’s been explosive growth.”

Some analysts predict that by next year India will surpass China as the world’s fastest-growing economy. For the past few years, it’s been growing at about a 7.5 percent rate.

Rele, who is licensed to practice in India, represents Indian companies of various sizes and maturity in mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing transactions, technology, pharmaceuticals and biotech licensing transactions.

He has several years of on-the-ground experience in India from practicing with a reputable firm in Mumbai before joining White & Case’s Singapore office and later Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s New York office.

Most recently, he was operating his own boutique firm in New York before he and Heaphy met in India through a common friend.

“He had too much work for his boutique firm to handle, which is a nice problem to have,” Heaphy said. Wiggin and Dana offered a larger platform but not so large that he would have to significantly raise his billing rates.

Rele maintained a busy schedule meeting with clients in India last week and was unavailable for comment.

Heaphy assists Indian clients by conducting outsourcing transactions and agreements with banks and companies in the U.S. and European Union. However, in this economy U.S. companies have been slower to outsource jobs to India.

“There’s not the cascade of deals that we saw for the past three or four years,” Heaphy said. But, he added, in the near future, “a lot of people believe outsourcing will accelerate, not decrease.”

Legal Monopoly

But there’s more to it than just a new practice group focused on one of the hottest economies in the world. There’s tension among lawyers in India who frown upon the idea of foreign law firms setting up shop in their country.

Currently, foreign firms are not allowed to practice law in India-based offices, due to a 1995 ruling by the Mumbai High Court. (And so Wiggin’s Rele can visit clients, but can’t formally transact business in the country.)

Older Indian lawyers’ opinions are shaped by their country’s fight for independence from Great Britain, said Reena SenGupta, a London-based consultant and expert on the Indian legal market. “The newer firms and the younger generation of lawyers are quite open about foreign law firms and many see them as essential to the development of the Indian legal market,” SenGupta told the Law Tribune last week.

So the pressure to open up opportunities based on India’s economic growth might be too great for opponents to withstand, she said. The economy of “India is like a coiled spring whereas other economies are near their elastic limit,” said SenGupta.

Heaphy added, “Everyone assumes [foreign law firms entering the country] will happen in the next couple of years. I don’t think India can afford not to let it happen.”

For now, law firms with a dedicated interest in India practice on the outskirts. Some operate from New York and London; others have set up offices in Singapore. Often, these firms establish formal referral agreements with the dozen or so largest Indian firms that feed them work.

Wiggin and Dana has shied away from a formal arrangement with any one law firm because it doesn’t want to limit its opportunities. Rather, Heaphy plans to use his business contacts and those of Rele to build the practice through their clients’ referrals.

“Niket definitely brings a lot of Indian relationships to grow the practice,” said Heaphy, noting that Rele also has relatives practicing law in India. “When we need folks on the ground in India, it’s easy to get that help.”

But setting up an India Practice Group is not an overnight decision, Heaphy noted.

“If you don’t travel to India, it’s challenging,” Heaphy said. “It’s still a culture built on personal relationships. Unless you have a client base and opportunities in India, I think it’s hard from afar to just decide to do this.”

ab041937

July 21st, 2009, 05:27 PM

India's crowded trains its lifeline (http://www.smh.com.au/world/indias-crowded-trains-its-lifeline-20090719-dpk6.html)
Matt Wade
Sydney Morning Herald
July 20, 2009

http://images.smh.com.au/2009/07/19/639718/indiacrop-420x0.jpg
Overcrowded but do the job...about 12 million passengers must opt for
unreserved seats on the hard wooden benches of second class.
Photo: Brendan Esposito

KARL MARX knew how important trains would be to India. In August 1853, a few months after the subcontinent's first passenger train travelled from Bombay to the nearby town of Thane, Marx wrote in the New York Daily Tribune that a rail network would be the forerunner to dramatic social change.

"Modern industry, resulting from the railway system, will dissolve the hereditary divisions of labour, upon which rest the Indian castes, those decisive impediments to Indian progress and Indian power," he wrote.

Not everything Marx predicted has come to pass: India's caste system is still alive and well. But the pivotal role that India's railways have played in its development is beyond dispute.

Like Bollywood and cricket, the railways help connect India's disparate population of 1.15 billion. Locals call it the nation's lifeline.

"Indians have a very positive perception of their railways," says Professor G. Alivelu, a railways specialist at Hyderabad's Centre for Economic and Social Study. "They could never get by without it."

Mahatma Gandhi can take some credit for India's affection for railways. Gandhi insisted on train travel and was photographed frequently around trains during the struggle for India's independence. Gandhi always travelled third class and even published pamphlets on the conditions in trains calling for better treatment of passengers.

There is no better place to hear about the importance of the railways to Indians than on a long train journey. The August Kranti Rajdhani Express is a high-speed, air-conditioned service that makes a 17-hour journey between Delhi and Mumbai each day. Its comfortable carriages are filled (but not crowded) with affluent passengers drawn from India's booming middle class. It is a modern face of the Indian railways.

There are power points to recharge laptops and mobile phones. Hindi muzak plays at a discreet volume over the PA system along with news bulletins.

Those I met on the train as it sped past flat fields in central India raved about train travel and the importance of the railways. "South to north, east to west everyone is connected by trains," said management student Yaduvir Singh. "Planes are not economic and roadways are too slow. Trains take less time and they are economic, so it's the best option."

Of the 15 million passengers who ride Indian railways each day, about 12 million must opt for unreserved seats on the hard wooden benches of second class. These compartments are often hot and crowded, but they are also cheap and reliable.

Devin Singh Chauhan, a 50-year-old factory worker from the central Indian town of Ratlam, is typical of those who rely on second-class train travel. I met him while he was perched in an overhead luggage rack in a packed train making its way slowly from Ferozepur in the far north of India to Mumbai. Chauhan was on his way to give out invitations to his daughter's wedding to relatives 150 kilometres away. His ticket cost just 42 rupees — about $1.30. Despite the cramped conditions, he seemed happy with the service.

"This is best way to make a journey around here. It is cheap, the facilities are pretty good and it doesn't take too much time. It is suitable for all classes."

Indians make 5.4 billion train trips a year and because so many of journeys are now booked online, the railways' website (indianrail.gov.in) is one of the busiest portals in cyberspace.

The post of Railways Minister has become one of India's most sought after portfolios given its scope for big announcements and pork barrelling. The former incumbent, the colourful Lalu Prasad Yadav, introduced a swag of changes designed to appeal to poor voters - his core political constituency. One innovation was a new class of service called the Garib Rath - "the poor man's chariot" - on which the single frill is air-conditioning.

Milind Sathye, an economist from the University of Canberra, says the railways' operations and all the other industries that feed off it, account for a significant proportion of the Indian economy. "The railways connect India; it's a bit like the country's bloodstream," he said. "Without the railways the Indian economy would virtually come to a halt."

ab041937

July 21st, 2009, 06:34 PM

Tata Nano finds its first customer (http://www.calgaryherald.com/cars/Tata+Nano+finds+first+customer/1808981/story.html)
Would you buy a Nano?

Author: Staff, Canadian Auto Press
Calgary Herald
July 21, 2009 8:47 AM
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.calgaryherald.com/cars/tata+nano+finds+first+customer/1808981/1809630.bin

A ' Nano' car belonging to one of its first owners,S.K. Thirani, drives down a road in
Mumbai July 17, 2009. Tata Motors' eagerly awaited Nano, dubbed the world's cheapest
car, were delivered to its first three owners in India on Friday.
Photograph by: Arko Datta, Reuters

Cute like a bug might be a suitable descriptor for Tata’s Nano, a tiny subcompact that could almost singlehandedly transform the Indian auto industry in the same manner that Ford’s Model T did in its day, putting a car in the driveway of more North Americans than ever before.

The Indian market represents close to a billion people, however, the second largest potential market in the world next to China, and the Nano is priced well enough to tap that market better than any car in history, with the hopes of getting entire families off of mopeds (often families of five can been seen riding a single moped) and into a safer enclosed car.

That dream has become real as the first of what is expected to be millions of Nanos has found a home, delivered to Mr. Ashok Raghunath Vichare of Mumbai who paid a mere 100,000 rupees ($2,292 CAD) to park on in his driveway.

The price might be low, but so are its fuel economy numbers, rated by the Automotive Research Association of India, and carbon emissions at 4.2L/100km and 101 grams of CO2 per km, respectively.

Numbers like these make the Nano a viable alternative for other markets too, with the Europe high on Tata’s priority list. A Euro-specified model just passed all necessary crash tests to make it legal in the EU, and Tata is also targeting the North American market, which has already embraced the smart car and will soon have Fiat’s 500 and Scion’s iQ to pave the way.

Unlike these European models, the North American-spec Nano would sell for a great deal less, although more standard features and the need to meet stricter North American regulations would mean its entry price would be significantly higher, yet still likely the lowest priced vehicle sold here, by a long shot.

..devil..

July 21st, 2009, 06:40 PM

Subin

July 21st, 2009, 09:10 PM

Thread is about articles on india buddy. not kerala.

Do you mean Kerala is not in India? :nuts:

..devil..

July 21st, 2009, 09:36 PM

Do you mean Kerala is not in India? :nuts:

yeah let us post articles of each and every state, district, corporation and municipality in India. I mean why not, they are all in India right?

ab041937

August 29th, 2009, 11:21 AM

The jewel in the crown (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25979972-16947,00.html)
India is now a bankable brand taking the world by force, writes Susan Kurosawa

Susan Kurosawa
The Australian
August 29, 2009

MOVE over, Cool Britannia and Luxe Dubai. The pop-culture pundits say India's time has come, that this sprawling subcontinental democracy, with its population power and exotic culture, is so hot it is emerging as the reigning It nation.

That's It as in Style Central, and not the more obvious IT, although India leads the world in exports of information technology services, too.

India as a creative arts, fashion, film and technology force has not arrived fully formed. But since its economic reforms and liberalisation of trade and investment in the early 1990s, the country has put out the welcome mat and accommodated the resulting rush.

These days, megastars such as cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar beam from India's billboards, extolling 21st-century standard accessories such as Visa credit cards. But a country once viewed as full of beggars and mayhem is still cut from its own colourful cloth. India's inherent exoticism, its English-speaking accessibility and sheer vibrancy have made it to many of us the most engaging destination.

Australian journalist Geoff Hiscock's two books -- India's Global Wealth Club and India's Store Wars (John Wiley and Sons, 2007 and 2008 respectively) -- focus on this newly affluent nation. Hiscock links India's soft power achievements in film, fashion and fiction to economic good fortune.

"Before (Aravind Adiga's) Man Booker Prize-winning white tigers and (Danny Boyle's) Oscar-winning slumdog millionaires took the world by storm, a decade of business expansion helped 1.2billion people grow in confidence," he says. "India's seven secrets of success are its market size, its science, its diaspora, its cultural history, its English literacy, its strategic weight and its switch to a globalisation mindset."

Hiscock reckons an early catalyst was Bill Clinton "charming his way across India in April 2000, imparting a can-do spirit". He was the first US president to visit in 22 years.

Tourism can thank Clinton, too. During that landmark visit he set up his mobile White House command centre at Rajvilas, a five-star retreat built by the Oberoi group in the reimagined style of a Rajput fort in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. Americans watched in fascination as images of a contented Clinton were beamed back; India didn't look like such a dump and tourism from the North American market took off.

India used to be the destination of choice for budget travellers but stories of Delhi belly, unreliable infrastructure and confronting images of poverty kept many potential visitors away. The delayed passengers hall at Kolkata's splendidly named Dum Dum airport, for instance, used to be the size of a football field; I swear some of the defeated travellers were covered in cobwebs. Pre-deregulation, the government-owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines had a monopoly and unexplained cancellations and indifferent service was the norm. Now there are privately owned airlines such as national cricket sponsor Air Sahara that offer new aircraft, on-time delivery of passengers and abundant low-cost deals.

The accommodation options, too, are wide and frequently five-star, from cruises aboard converted rice-boats in the southwestern state of Kerala to palatial suites with pleasure swings and mirrored mosaics in restored maharajas' palaces. In 2007, a reader poll of the top 100 hotels in the world by US magazine Travel+Leisure placed Udaivilas, a contemporary lakeside palace-hotel in Udaipur, Rajasthan, as the planet's best. Such gilt-edged publicity has proved to be priceless in reassuring sceptical tourists.

Last month another Travel+Leisure poll placed Udaipur as the world's No.1 city, well in front of survey stalwarts such as New York, Rome andSydney.

India's middle class is a well-educated, status-conscious group conservatively estimated by the US-based McKinsey Global Institute last year at 50million and projected to swell to 583 million by 2025. There is no labour shortage, no lack of customers here.

As commentator Mira Kamdar writes in Planet India (2007) -- a book in which she boldly contends that India's dynamic free-market economy is transforming the world -- "even if China forever eclipses India in sheer economic might ... it will never be able to match India's immense advantage as an (English-speaking) democracy". Kamdar's research for Planet India reveals there will be 550 million teenagers in India by 2015. "India is the world's youngest country; 50 per cent of India's people are under the age of 25," she claims.

Even in this doom-laden year, its economy, the world's second fastest developing, after China's, is expected to grow. "With a little bit of effort, a (gross domestic product) growth rate of about 8 to 9 per cent (is possible) ... notwithstanding the difficulties on the international front," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh predicted last month.

It has been a remarkable journey. In mid-1991, India's foreign currency assets had sunk to a dismal low and inflation reached a dizzy high; the country was in economic meltdown. The newly elected Congress party government of Narasimha Rao needed a bright new strategy. With circular synergy, the then finance minister who masterminded what became known as the new economic policy was Singh.

His policy of deregulation stabilised the economy, provided increased competition and dazzled consumers with a broad array of goods and services at lower prices. The government opened the market to multinationals and, as one example, Pepsi Cola was the first soft-drink conglomerate to race in. Suddenly global brands were shoving aside local players of the ilk of Limca lemonade and the quirkily named Thums Up cola.

So many South Korean car companies set up factories around Chennai that the Tamil Nadu state capital became known as Tamil Motown. No country had undergone such a broad transformation so rapidly. The hippie-era tourists who loved India for its spirituality and perceived wisdom, its rather quaint backwardness, began to bemoan the stirrings of the global-village homogenisation that would sweep the land. They mourned the rise of McDonald's and the loss of carefree only-in-India advertising, such as the Panama cigarettes campaign that promised "nothing comes between you and the taste ... not even a filter".

The importance of Arundhati Roy's 1996 Man Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things in repositioning India also should not be underestimated. Headlines recording its success, such as "The empire strikes back" and "Raj reversal", carried more weight than their quick-grab cleverness suggests. Roy's win wasn't the first of note among Indian-born writers but it really cut through to the West, marking a coming of age of Indian literature in English amid the country's spectacular economic growth.

"The 1980s and 90s have been the most productive and eventful decades ... in terms of (Indian literature's) abundance, variety and richness," Shyam Asnani writes in Caring Cultures, Sharing Imaginations: Australia and India, edited by Anuraag Sharma and Pradeep Trikha (2006). He credits Salman Rushdie's 1982 Booker for Midnight's Children as presaging the "phenomenal success" of new Indian literature and acknowledges the impetus of the record advance paid in 1993 to Vikram Seth for his whopping, 1350-page A Suitable Boy, set in 50s India. Seth received $US1.1 million from Indian, British and American publishers; the book subsequently sold 250,000 copies in hardcover and more than one million in paperback. (Seth is writing a long-anticipated sequel with a probable release date of 2013.)

"The Indian mind is on a rampage," Asnani contends, adding that what is most significant among recent novels is "the bewildering variety of thematic concerns ... that enthral the global audience". He cites recurring topics such as "Raj nostalgia" and "diasporic experience" as well as "fabular imagination".

In the past the colonial angle was strong, exemplified by Booker winners Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) and Staying On by Paul Scott (1977); in the subsequent 1983 movie based on the former, it was all white linen and dalliances with rajas, and Western cinema audiences lapped it up.

Scott's panoramic series based on the last gasp of empire, The Raj Quartet, was to captivate television audiences in the mid-1980s as The Jewel in the Crown, a 14-part miniseries, named for the quartet's first book, published in 1966. Mutinies and rebellions aside, viewers across the world were transported to an India of peacocks and palaces, glittering jewels and swishing saris. It was to make a star of Pakistani-born British actor Art Malik, who has since clocked up hundreds of small-screen hours in British productions and guest-starred in the spoof interview show The Kumars at No.42 with Sanjeev Bhaskar, whose series Mumbai Calling, recently shown here on ABC television, sends up India's call-centre and outsourcing phenomenon.

The juggernaut that is Bollywood, that wonderfully apt conflation of Bombay and Hollywood, shows no signs of slowing. With an estimated worth of $US15 billion last year (and growing), this is the world's biggest film industry, churning out an assembly line of formulaic romances and chorus-line extravaganzas known as masala movies. Like the masala spice mixture, they have a little bit of everything: action, comedy, romance.

Indian leading man Akshay Kumar was recently quoted in British newspaper The Guardian as saying Indian films are "one tone higher" in terms of emotions. "If someone is crying, they are a little more hysterical; if someone is angry, they shout a little louder; and if someone is happy, they smile a little wider. That's the difference between Bollywood and Hollywood."

There is a small movement in Bollywood to make more serious movies with themes that better reflect contemporary India's widening economic gulf between rich and poor. But only a few titles have broken through, notably Deepa Mehta's Water (2005) and Ashvin Kumar's Oscar-nominated short film Little Terrorist (2004). In a country where government estimates put 54 per cent of the population (some social commentators claim the figure is closer to 80 per cent) as living below the poverty line, audiences overwhelmingly want escapist pulp and their money's worth; Bollywood movies are typically 2 1/2 hours long.

Bollywood's stars are so wealthy, they even own sports teams. The seemingly unassailable demigod of the silver screen, Shah Rukh Khan, owns the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket series. Bollywood actress Preity Zinta owns the IPL's Kings XI Punjab, one of whose members is Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, no stranger to Indian cinema. Lee recorded a duet album with Bollywood diva Asha Bhosle in 2007 and will soon make his acting debut in the Indian-made Victory movie with fellow Australian cricketers Mike Hussey, Brad Hogg and Simon Katich.

Other foreign celebrities who've recently hit Bollywood to pad their pockets include Will Smith and Kylie Minogue. Tania Zaetta has been a hit in Bollywood but she wasn't the first Australian to appear in an Indian film. In the 30s and 40s, Mary Evans, a circus performer from Perth, rose to fame in Bombay and beyond as the kohl-eyed Fearless Nadia. Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards have small roles in an upcoming Bollywood-funded action flick shot in California. "The day India unseats America as the media and entertainment superpower may be coming sooner than we think," says Kamdar.

The latest trend is the Bollywood crossover movie. Indian (which can mean British-Indian or indeed any strain of the diaspora) producers and directors are harnessing the magic of the subcontinent into palatable packages for Western audiences. Mira Nair's New Delhi-set Monsoon Wedding (2001) was an early breakthrough example, and others such as Gurinder Chadha's Bride & Prejudice (2004), set in the Sikh city of Amritsar, have merged Bollywood tinsel and glamour with universal plots. Western audiences have related to echoes of the big musicals of the 30s and 40s in many such hybrid movies and been swept away.

Emerging, too, are films carved from bestseller novels by non-resident Indians (always NRIs in the slightly sneering shorthand of those members of the middle class who have stayed put) based on the emigrant experience, such as Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Mistress of Spices (2005) and Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake (2006). These are not niche or art-house films but mainstream releases with marquee-value US stars: Dylan McDermott stars in the former alongside 1994 Miss World and Bollywood's green-eyed It girl Aishwarya Rai.

But all else pales beside this year's eight-Oscar haul of Slumdog Millionaire, based on the well-regarded novel Q&A by Vikas Swarup, an Indian diplomat. Putting aside some critics' reservations about its glorification of the poor, the movie has catapulted India centre-stage and proved its gritty urban landscapes can work as cinematic backdrops just as well as fairytale palaces and crenellated desert forts.

And then there is Bollywood dancing. This sensuous style, with its fast-beat musical accompaniment, is often promoted as a fitness regime and classes are on the rise, from Melbourne to Montreal; participants get a quick cultural fix as well as a workout. In Australia, the choice includes studios such as Mango Dance and Bollygrooves. With a diaspora estimated at 25million, there is a ready-made market for almost any pop-culture export from India and even non-Indian dance studios are incorporating Bollywood moves.

With hot dancing comes cool clothing. Loose Indian garments were popular among hippies. Who can forget the Beatles, togged up with Nehru collars, tunics and garlands of marigolds, hanging out at the holy Ganges-side town of Rishikesh with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968? London socialite Jemima Goldsmith hurtled the salwar kameez into the fashion world's fickle glare when she wed Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan in 1995.

Then her friend Diana, princess of Wales, also donned the loose-fitting trouser suit and international runways swished with similarly floaty silken outfits. "One can walk in it, one can bicycle in it, one can even run a 100m race in it," boasts one Indian fashion house that fills one-size-fits-all salwar kameez orders from foreign customers. But for most of us with an interest in India, it's the continuing feed of good literature that sustains our appetite. Dynasties are starting to emerge, such as mother and daughter Anita and Kiran Desai, the latter scoring the Man Booker Prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss. The emigrant experience is the most common thread and the best examples -- US-based Lahiri's Pulitzer prize-winning Interpreter of Maladies (2000) and, from Canada, Anita Rau Badami's Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? (2006) -- range beyond the specifics of Indians abroad to encompass the sense of dislocation common to all exiled races. In doing so they appeal to a broad audience, especially female emigrant readers who relate to the tales of new brides from old lands, homesick women perpetually caught in an emotional version of the splits.

There is almost a factory line of Bollywood proportions packaging such takeaway bride literature, including some with names as blunt as Anne Cherian's A Good Indian Wife (2009). Well-received collections, such as Away: The Indian Writer as an Expatriate (2003), edited by Amitava Kumar, strive to analyse the past two decades of exile literature, with offerings from writers as stellar as Hanif Kureishi and Rohinton Mistry. Publishing has not seen such a seemingly unstoppable genre since the spate of Cultural Revolution survivor literature from China in the 80s and 90s.

Indian tourism is on a roll, too, in advance of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. As the world hospitality industry declines, Amanresorts has just opened a property in New Delhi with private pools and exclusive falderals worthy of the most moneyed of maharajas. In a move to snare some of the lucrative African safari business, the Taj Hotels group has built premium lodges covering four tiger reserves across Madhya Pradesh, a state the size of Italy with terrain that inspired Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. The facilities here are at least as luxurious as those enjoyed by the pooh-bahs of the Raj.

Nostalgia also sells holidays and there is what amounts to a Raj relic industry, with India-based companies such as Neemrana Hotels restoring bungalows, tea planters' cottages and hill forts to re-create a sense of colonial heyday. Somewhere just offstage one can almost imagine an imperious memsahib barking orders at the staff.

With entrepreneurial zeal far outweighing navel-gazing or raking the cruel coals of its subjugated past, the amazing life force that is Mother India just keeps redefining itself, doing whatever is takes.

Susan Kurosawa is the author of Coronation Talkies, a novel set in 1930s India that has recently been optioned as a film.

harsh1802

August 29th, 2009, 08:07 PM

^^ Hey dude,

Grt work with this thread! Really luv the stories.

ab041937

August 30th, 2009, 08:06 AM

^^For your reading pleasure, Sire

Marathaman

August 30th, 2009, 08:49 AM

yeah let us post articles of each and every state, district, corporation and municipality in India. I mean why not, they are all in India right?

Quit it devil. The article was fine.

sanjupalayat

August 30th, 2009, 01:42 PM

Thread is about articles on india buddy. not kerala.

Man, hope you have read the title!!!! thats about the articles from international media about India, since Kerala is an Indian state and the news comes from an international media, this news is relevant here!!! so please excuse me friend!!!!

:cheers:

MachuPichu

August 30th, 2009, 11:46 PM

Just noticed - Why arent there any international articles by Indian correspondents? It just seems strange that we dont see international articles by Indian correspondents about their own country. I think Indian correspondents need to assert themselves better.

MP

jaish

September 11th, 2009, 12:36 PM

Thread is about articles on india buddy. not kerala.

What do you mean by India.? dont you think kerala is part of India.

Marathaman

September 11th, 2009, 07:40 PM

For eff's sake, please, twenty people don't have to respond to a dumb post to prove that you're smarter.

robertashok

November 24th, 2009, 03:40 AM

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/special_reports/20090213outsourcing_.htm

Report on outsourcing by BW.

ab041937

November 24th, 2009, 05:58 PM

The Prize is India (http://www.newsweek.com/id/223794)
A relationship Obama should nurture.

Fareed Zakaria
Newsweek
Nov 21, 2009

http://ndn1.newsweek.com/media/26/Zakaria_237-thumb7.jpg (http://www.newsweek.com/id/173014)

Barack Obama has been criticized for kowtowing to the Chinese and the Russians over the last few months. But so far, this is all about atmospherics. The administration has not made any unilateral concession of substance to either country. It is taking a strategic view that developing strong relationships with both countries, particularly China, will yield long-term benefits. Strangely, however, that strategic focus has been lost in dealing with Asia's other rising giant, India. (Click here to follow Fareed Zakaria (http://www.newsweek.com/id/214587)).

At one level the administration is being extremely friendly. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes to Washington this week for the first official state visit of the Obama presidency. There will be toasts and celebrations and many nice words said in public about the ties between the two great democracies. But underneath this lies an unease about the state of the relationship.

Indian officials worry that the Obama team does not have the same fundamental orientation as the Bush administration regarding India's role in the 21st century. Some Obama officials publicly criticized the nuclear deal championed by George W. Bush, a deal that the Indians regard as basic recognition of their status as a major power. They worry that a Democratic administration could succumb to protectionism. They worry that it is too cozy with China.

These concerns will pass as the two sides get to know each other better. The more lasting danger is that the Obama administration, now intensely focused on the war in Afghanistan, will look at South Asia largely through that prism. Since Washington desperately needs Pakistan's cooperation in that conflict, it is tending to adopt Pakistan's concerns as its own, which is producing a perverse view of the region.

In his leaked report, Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that "increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures." This is a bizarre criticism. India is the hegemon of South Asia, with enormous influence throughout the subcontinent. Its GDP is 100 times that of Afghanistan (that is not a typo). As Afghanistan opened itself up after the fall of the Taliban, the cuisine, movies, and money that flowed into the country were, naturally, Indian. This is like noting that the United States has had growing influence in Mexico over the last few decades.

The Indian government's aid to Afghanistan has mostly gone to build schools and infrastructure. And while New Delhi is trying to gain influence with the Kabul government, U.S. officials tell me that Indian intelligence has limited operations in Afghanistan. America can't and should not want India to banish itself from its own subcontinent. In fact, India's objectives are exactly aligned with America's—to defeat the Taliban and to support the elected Afghan government.

Pakistan's objectives, on the other hand, are not the same as Washington's. Islamabad has long argued that it has a right to see a pro-Pakistani government in Afghanistan. Asia expert Selig Harrison has noted that in an interview with him in 1988, Pakistan's President Zia ul-Haq demanded "a regime to our liking" in Kabul. Last year a Pakistani general told the director of national intelligence that Pakistan had to support the Taliban in Afghanistan, "otherwise India will reign." Having created the Afghan Taliban, Pakistan has still not taken any steps to dismantle it. Even now, while attacking the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, it has not disturbed the leadership of the Afghan Taliban in Baluchistan.

The Obama administration has also seemed to endorse the idea that if only the dispute over Kashmir were resolved, Pakistan would suddenly attack all the terror groups it has supported over the years. Now, it's fair to say that India is far too prickly about Kashmir, but the only path to any resolution there will lie in building trust between Pakistan and India. That's unlikely to happen while Pakistan refuses to go after the terror group that also planned the Mumbai attacks, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Generals like McChrystal—no matter how smart or tough—should not make policy, because they confuse the imperatives of the battlefield with a broader view. Obama must keep in mind that South Asia is a tar pit filled with failed and dysfunctional states, save for one long-established democracy of 1.2 billion people that is the second-fastest-growing major economy in the world, a check on China's rising ambitions, and a natural ally of the United States. The prize is the relationship with India. The booby prize is governing Afghanistan.

Fareed Zakaria is editor of NEWSWEEK International and author of The Post-American World (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039306235X/?tag=nwswk-20)and The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393047644/?tag=nwswk-20).

Advait

December 1st, 2009, 08:30 PM

A nice speech by Shashi Tharoor

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/videoshow_ted/5284245.cms

EMP

December 27th, 2009, 05:47 PM

Five Myths About India

Info tech can't drive economic growth yet, and its education system faces great difficulties, but India is closer to catching China than many believe

India's 7.9% economic growth in the third quarter of 2009 vividly illustrates a dramatic transformation in the country's image, from a land of elephants and snake charmers to that of an IT powerhouse and an emerging economic giant. While both sets of perceptions are valid, they hide far more than they reveal. Indeed, when it comes to the Indian economy, what most people believe to be true contains more fiction than fact. We highlight below five common myths about India and discuss why the reality on the ground is quite different.

Myth No.1: The information technology sector has been the primary driver of India's economic growth.

India is indeed a global powerhouse in information technology and IT-enabled services. Yet the IT sector is little more than a tiny, though highly visible, niche in the Indian economy. The total revenue of this sector added up to $72 billion in 2008. Translated into value-added terms, the IT sector contributed only about 4% to India's gross domestic product last year. Its contribution to employment is even smaller: About 2 million people are directly employed, and an additional 8 million jobs are created indirectly. Those are tiny numbers in a country with a labor pool of 700 million people.

The fact that India's IT sector is just a niche is actually a blessing rather than a curse. Notwithstanding IT's annual growth rates of 25% or more, the bulk of the recent growth in India's economy has come from manufacturing and other services. Only the manufacturing sector has the scale to create jobs for hundreds of millions of people, most with relatively limited education. If India is to realize its potential as an economic superpower, it will have to keep following China's path by becoming one of the world's factories. The IT sector gives India a good brand image, but most Indian jobs will have to come from manufacturing.

Myth No.2: India is decades behind China.

Most visitors to India and China form their impressions about these countries by comparing such cities as Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore with Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. The difference between the two countries' urban centers is truly stark. China's top cities now look more modern and sleeker than New York or London. By contrast, India's premier cities are still vivid examples of the third world. Yet most people overlook the fact that, even though China is clearly ahead of India, the former looks stronger than it is while the latter is stronger than it looks.

In 2008, China's GDP was just a bit more than three times that of India. If India's GDP grows at 8% to 9% a year over the next decade—a reasonable prediction based on analyses by Goldman Sachs (GS), the U.S. National Intelligence Council, and other analysts—India's GDP in 2020 will be almost the same as China's in 2008. Of course, China would have powered ahead by then, but the fact remains that India's economy is about 12 to 14 years, not decades, behind China's. This is exactly the difference from 1978, when Deng Xiaoping launched China's reforms, to 1991, when India jumped onto a similar train.

Myth No.3: India's democratic politics will prevent a rapid build-up of the country's infrastructure.

Given its fiercely democratic political system, any Indian government will find it impossible to relocate quickly a few million people from a city's center to make way for gleaming office towers and elevated expressways. Note, however, that infrastructure consists of more than beautiful roads and buildings. It also includes ports, airports, power generation and transmission systems, telecommunications, airlines, and railways.

The only aspect of infrastructure that India's democratic politics hinders in a major way is the beautification of cities. The number of people who need to be relocated to build interstate highways, intrastate expressways, and most other infrastructure components is minimal and thus largely unconstrained by democratic politics.
From 1995 to 2007, China spent about 8.5% of GDP on infrastructure. During this period, India spent only about 4.2%. Today, though, the situation is radically different. India is currently spending about 8% of GDP on infrastructure and has plans to increase the figure to about 9%.

Ugly and crowded cities, while an eyesore, are unlikely to derail the ongoing manufacturing revolution, which needs interstate highways and intrastate expressways far more than easy-to-navigate city centers. In short, given its political system, India is more likely to become a manufacturing power long before its cities begin to look modern.

Myth No.4: Uncontrolled population growth is a major burden for India.

China's one-child policy has clearly achieved a major reduction in birth rates and population growth. In contrast, when one thinks of India, the enduring picture is one of cities overflowing with poor and teeming masses. Hence the question on many people's minds: How can India sustain uncontrolled population growth?

Notwithstanding the utter inability of India's democratic political system to impose any type of birth control policy, it is critical to remember that, as people become richer and better educated, they choose to have fewer children. Fertility rates (i.e., average births per woman) in India are declining rapidly—from 4.65 in 1980 to 3.25 in 2000, to 2.68 in 2007. A similar steep decline has occurred in the population growth rate—from 2.15% a year during the 1980s to 1.5% a year from 2000 to 2005 and 1.35% a year since then. If current trends continue, as is almost certain, fertility rates in India should drop to about 2.0 within the next 10 years, and the population's annual growth rate should fall to about 0.6% a year, similar to China's today.

In short, population growth in India is a self-correcting problem that is getting addressed on its own at a rapid rate. In any case, in a democratic country such as India, it is far easier and wiser for the government to focus on how to make the economy grow at, say, a 9% rather than an 8% rate. Over 10 years, that can be as effective a mechanism for population control as any other.

Myth No.5: India's education system is world class.

In launching the "Race to the Top" fund for educational reform in the U.S., President Barack Obama encouraged schools to develop internationally competitive standards so that American students can take on "folks in Beijing and Bangalore." President Obama is right on the money in noting that, in today's era, labor markets are global and that kids in Los Angeles are competing against not just their peers in Chicago but also those in Beijing and Bangalore. It would, however, be incorrect to conclude that India's education system is anywhere close to world class.

India is not just a large country but also one of the world's most diverse, with extremely high levels of income and educational disparities. The elite engineering and business schools (the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management) are tougher to get into than Harvard or MIT and have produced a disproportionately large number of CEOs and senior executives for some of the world's biggest corporations.

Yet one cannot overlook the fact that adult literacy in India runs at only about 61%, far below the 91% figure for China, the 90% figure for Indonesia, and the 89% figure for Brazil. During the past five decades, China has placed far greater emphasis on primary and secondary education. In contrast, India has placed far greater emphasis on tertiary education. The manufacturing revolution, which is now in full swing and must continue, will need high school graduates and vocationally trained people far more than highly trained engineers and scientists. As in the U.S., transformation of the educational system and rapid upgrading of the infrastructure will be two of the most desperate needs for India's economy over the coming decade.

Source:- http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/dec2009/gb20091224_238332.htm

sathya_226

December 29th, 2009, 09:36 AM

Recognizing confident India as indispensable

By DOMINIQUE MOISI
PARIS — "Do not forget India." That warning made sense 10 or 15 years ago; not any longer. India is now impossible to ignore, much less forget, owing not only to its rapid economic growth but also to the country's increasing geopolitical stature.

Europeans often speak of an emerging "Group of Three," implying an international system dominated by the United States, China and the European Union. But this ambition looks more presumptuous and unrealistic every day, particularly given the choices that Europe just made in naming its new "president" — Belgium's Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy — and "foreign minister" — the never-been-elected-to- anything Lady Catherine Ashton from Britain.

How can Europe pretend to stand for an ambitious message when it picks such low-profile — indeed, practically anonymous — messengers to deliver it?

Given this demonstration of Europe's Lilliputian instincts, if a G3 ever becomes a reality, the only serious contender nowadays to join the U.S. and China is India.

The very warm greeting and State Dinner given to India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington three weeks ago is ample testimony to India's new international status.

That reception was, of course, intended to nurture India's collective ego, which had sensed a Sino-centric tilt to American policy ever since Obama became president. But there is much more to it than that.

In 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union presented for India a serious strategic test, which the country has passed with flying colors. Partly in response to the Soviet collapse, India embraced capitalism without reservation, which has produced spectacular economic progress. And, like the economy, India's self-confidence has boomed.

India today sees that the wider world, particularly the West, regards it with growing respect, not only for the country's performance, but also for its essence — a young country and that is also an ancient civilization.

A little more than 60 years ago, India remained the crown jewel of the British Empire. Fifty years ago, if you sought to read about India in the West, you would mostly find books about spirituality. Today the books about India include topics like management and nuclear strategy.

Of course, contrary to China, India still finds it difficult to fully perceive itself as a world power, though it is well aware that it has become a regional giant.

At least for the foreseeable future, however, this status is highly dependent upon India's relationship with the U.S. The great diplomatic success of George W. Bush's presidency (and maybe the only true one) was to construct a strategic partnership with India.

One of the indirect consequences of this privileged relationship, however, has been the deepening of Japan's identity crisis. Forty years ago, Japan represented the "Asian West." Today the emergence of Chinese-style and Indian-style modernity is mentally destabilizing Japan. After all, if China is America's main economic partner in Asia, and if India is America's main diplomatic partner, what is left for Japan? Its aging population watches resignedly as the new, younger Asia, becomes as important for the U.S. as Europe was during the Cold War.

George W. Bush's approach was to view India as the "anti-China," and thereby to balance the "biggest democracy in the world" against the "oldest civilization in the world." As a result, India's leaders seem not to have understood the shift toward China in U.S. diplomacy in the first months of Obama's presidency.

Why, Indian officials seemed to wonder, change what works, and at a time when the U.S. needs India more than ever?

In terms of democracy, there is no competition of course between India and China. But India is also increasingly aware that nothing can be done without its help on issues from Pakistan to Afghanistan to Iran to global warming. For example, if Pakistan is to dedicate all of its forces to the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban, India must convince the Pakistani Army that it need not fear a stab in the back.

The time has come for India to recognize that with power comes responsibility, and to act like the indispensable nation for regional and world security that it has become. The period when India was forgotten or an afterthought is at an end, and with it the period when India could forget about the world.

Dominique Moisi is a visiting professor at Harvard University and the author of "The Geopolitics of Emotion." © 2009 Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org)

harsh1802

June 7th, 2010, 12:03 AM

Anil Ambani Is Go-To Billionaire for U.S. Media Firms (http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/05/31/anil-ambani-is-go-to-billionaire-for-us-media-firms/)

Anil Ambani has set his sights, yet again, on a major partnership with a U.S. media company – this time CBS. It’s becoming something of a ritual as the 50-year-old billionaire seeks to assemble a growing stable of valuable international film and TV content.

The CBS tie up, if it comes to fruition as expected within a few weeks, will be a joint venture to launch English and Hindi TV channels in India. At the start, the venture will bring popular programs like America’s Top Model and How I Met Your Mother to Indian satellite and cable TV via an English language channel.

That amounts to a bet by Mr. Ambani that the existing offerings in that category – via News Corp.’s Star TV and Zee Networks’ Zee Studio – aren’t fully tapping the potential English-language market.

While those channels do have a decent lineup of Western programming, including some CBS shows, top Reliance executives believe they haven’t been marketed very well to Indians yet, according to a person familiar with the situation. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Vasudha Jha, vice president of corporate communications at Star TV, declined comment. A Zee official had no immediate comment.

Mr. Ambani has shown a penchant for pursuing high-profile deals in the media world lately. A joint venture with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks was followed by a bid for debt-laden MGM Studios and its library (Pink Panther, James Bond) earlier this year. Reliance dropped out of the bidding along with several other players. Reliance also recently took a look at purchasing Miramax Films from The Walt Disney Co., the person familiar with the situation said, but thought it too costly of a deal.

Meanwhile, Reliance is well positioned to capture growth in film and TV viewing, through its roughly 300 multiplex theaters – the most of anyone in India – and nascent satellite TV outfit.

The entertainment investments Reliance is making will be dwarfed by the $40 billion it is expected to spend in coming years on telecom network upgrades, road infrastructure and power – the industrial core of the conglomerate. But Mr. Ambani appears to see a high value in becoming the go-to man for U.S. media firms looking to tap into the vast but under-penetrated Indian market.

KuwarOnline

June 14th, 2010, 10:42 AM

EMP@ Good article thanks :)

yashchauhan

June 15th, 2010, 09:11 AM

QLS-CJu_JMw&feature=related

Marathaman

June 16th, 2010, 10:33 AM

^B-tards showed the wrong map. Somebody should protest against this nonsense.

rakshit gowda

August 8th, 2010, 02:10 AM

QLS-CJu_JMw&feature=related

where is Jammu and Kashmir in the map?:ohno: Dont these people consult maps before making a film?:bash:

ashwa

August 8th, 2010, 12:29 PM

^^

Some production houses leave it out as it is a disputed territory but most of the times it's included.

ericos87

September 26th, 2010, 01:01 AM

India: The 3rd most powerful country.
Friday 24th September 2010

This news is in Hindi.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6227/screenshot20100925at610.png

Source (http://weeklyhindi.com/)

Here's more from weeklyhindi.com newspaper

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/9210/screenshot20100925at715.png

ericos87

September 27th, 2010, 09:22 AM

UK backs India's seat among top 5 in UNSC
September 25, 2010 10:23 IST

The United Kingdom on Friday came out openly in support of India's [ Images ] claim to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council as the British Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg called for a radical overhaul of the world body. :banana:

Addressing the UNGA plenary session Clegg called for enlarging the Security Council 'to make up for the failure to fully face new challenges posed by a global map' that has radically changed since the world body was founded 65 years ago.

Reform, he said, is essential and a good place to right at the United Nations.

'The UN Security Council must be reformed to reflect the new geography of power. The UK is clear and unambiguous in its support for permanent seats for Brazil [ Images ], India, Germany [ Images ] and Japan [ Images ], and for African representation. Put simply, the UN cannot speak for the many if it only hears the voices of the few….' he said.

'Let us be frank. Without a radical overhaul, the UN will not provide the leadership the world seeks from it, and needs from it.'
India's foreign minister S M Krishna [ Images ] had a brief bilateral meeting with the British deputy prime minister on the sidelines of the UNGA on Thursday. "It was kind of get-to know each other type,' the sources said, adding that there was no major discussion about India's claim to the Security Council seat.

"Although UK has supported India's claim to a permanent seat in the Council in the past, the statement by the British Deputy Prime Minister openly at the UNGA is significant, coming at a time when there is a chorus of demands from many member states for the reform of the UN system, particularly the Security Council," sources told rediff.com.

"In the past the British at several levels have supported India, but obviously it was good from India's point of view that they came out openly in UNGA in support of New Delhi [ Images ]," the sources added.

Calling generally for reform of multilateral institutions in line with the changing map of power, Clegg stressed the vital need for stronger action on international peace building, climate change and development, and the promotion of liberal values and human rights to win the conflict of ideas.

"Too many nations and international institutions have been too reticent about promoting enlightened, human values. We need to inject new life into our institutions, and new confidence into the expression of our ideals," he said.

Calling generally for reform of multilateral institutions in line with the changing map of power, he stressed the vital need for stronger action on international peace building, climate change and development, and the promotion of liberal values and human rights to win the conflict of ideas.

On Friday evening on the margins of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Krishna and his counterparts from Brazil, Germany and Japan, the countries constituting the group of four that together has launched a diplomatic effort to reform the Security Council and include new permanent members, reiterated the need for urgent reform of the Security Council.

The reform proposal, according to the group, should include expansion of both categories of membership, permanent and non-permanent as well as improvement in the Council's working methods to make it 'more representative, legitimate, effective and responsive' to the realities of the international community in the 21st century.

The ministers noted the overwhelming support among member states for expansion of both categories of membership in the Security Council, including developing and developed countries.

While reiterating their support for each other's candidatures as aspiring new permanent members, they reconfirmed their view of the importance of Africa to be represented in permanent membership, in an enlarged Council. They also reconfirmed the need for additional non-permanent members.

The G 4 countries, including India, reaffirmed their readiness to reach out to other countries and to work in cooperation with them towards the reform of Security Council.:)

Source (http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/sep/25/uk-backs-indias-seat-among-top-5-in-unsc.htm)

SSCaddict

September 27th, 2010, 01:05 PM

^^ don't be happy it will not happen till 2020

ericos87

October 11th, 2010, 08:18 PM

India 'to be given place at UN top table'
By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Published: 4:16PM BST 11 Oct 2010

India will be given a place on the UN Security Council in
a move seen as a step towards a permanent seat and
recognition as its status as a growing world power.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1765/un1654126c.jpg
The UN Security Council Photo: AP

According to Indian diplomatic sources, New Delhi will use its place at the high table of the world's leading powers to push for UN reform to reflect the rise of growing powers like itself, Brazil and South Africa.

India will take up its place on the 15 member council as a regional representative of Asia following a vote at the United Nations General Assembly. It will join its ally South Africa, Colombia and two countries out of Germany, Canada and Portugal.

Should Germany win the election, three members of the Group of Four alliance pushing for an expanded Security Council – Germany, Brazil, India and Japan – will form an influential pro-reform caucus. Brazil is currently serving the second of its two year term as a regional representative.

In any case, all four of the 'BRIC' countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China, the world's fastest growing economies – will sit together on the Council for the first time, strengthening the hand of the world's growing powers.:cheers:

Pranab Mukherjee, India's finance minister and second most powerful figure in India after the prime minister, last week intensified New Delhi's campaign for a permanent seat at the Security Council and a shake-up of the global power structure which emerged following the second world war.

During a visit to Washington last week, he said:"I do hope that as and when the expanded Security Council along with the general reforms of the United Nations take place, India's claim for being a permanent member of the Security Council will be considered and accepted.":banana2:

India's former foreign secretary and High Commissioner to London Lalit Man Singh said his country will now use its influence, along with its allies, to intensify the pressure for reform.:cheers:

"The Security Council needs reform. Permanent membership went to the victors of the Second World War but so much has changed since then. It should reflect the reality of 2010 not the reality of 1945.

"India joining the Security Council takes us a step closer to permanent membership, things are looking hopeful," he said.:banana:

Source (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8056489/India-to-be-given-place-at-UN-top-table.html)

sathya_226

October 12th, 2010, 06:47 AM

Ericos magic again sintilating this almost dead thread..... you Rock :rock:

ericos87

October 13th, 2010, 07:39 AM

India gets highest number of votes for UNSC seats in 5 years
PTI, Oct 13, 2010, 08.47am IST

UNITED NATIONS: With 187 votes in its bag, India has received the highest number of votes for getting into the United Nations Security Council in the past five years, according to Indian diplomat.

Hardeep Singh Puri, India's envoy to the UN, described this as a "ringing endorsement."

"This is the highest vote that any country has got in the last five years," he told PTI. "Now that's saying a lot."

Out of the 190 countries that voted, India received 187 votes.

After the vote in the General Assembly last morning, the diplomats of the Indian mission to the UN celebrated by openning a couple of bottles of champagne and serving a lunch of spicy Chinese food.

India, which is a founding member of the UN is returning to the Security Council after a gap of 19 years.

It has been on the Council six times before--having last served in 1992.

Other countries to be elected are South Africa, Colombia, Germany and Portugal.

Canada, which was also contending, received the least number of votes and eventually withdrew after the second round of voting.

The five new countries will be replacing Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda.

Three of the new members are part of the G4 (India, Brazil, Japan and Germany), which want to become permanent members.

After the vote, India made it clear that it would be pushing for change in the next two years as it serves out it term as a non-permanent member.

"Not only are we entering the council but we're entering the council when inter-governmental text based negotiations are underway and those text based negotiations are expected to progress for a final outcome in the next twelve months," Puri said.

The Indian envoy asserted that countries like Brazil and South Africa "are expected to utilise their tenure as non-permanent members in order to facilitate longer-term permanent membership for themselves while their serving this terms."

While India, South Africa, and Colombia were not challenged by any other country from their region, the two seats of the Western European and Others Group were contested between Portugal, Germany and Canada.

Germany made it in the first round of voting with 128 votes--just enough to scrape through, while Canada received the least number of votes and eventually withdrew after the second round of voting.

Puri did not comment on Canada's performance except to draw a parallel between the 1996 vote when India failed to make the cut and was trailing behind the Japan in the election.

"It took us more than a decade to overcome the trauma of our experience in 1996," he said.

"In successive rounds of voting Canada realised that it was not mustering the votes...it did what was honourable... it withdrew... what the impact of that is going to be I really don't know... lets wait and see."

Without answering which countries India voted for, Puri said that New Delhi was happy that Portugal and Germany had joined the Council.

Also present in the General Assembly Hall during the vote was veteran Congressman, Vidya Charan Shukla, who also served as India's Foreign Minister.

Shukla also asserted that the vote today indicated that India enjoyed support for a longer stint on the Council.

"I felt very elated and happy because this will show how strong we are as a candidate for the permanent membership," he told PTI. "The way people voted for us, it strengthens our case for permanent membership." :banana:

Responding to Germany's performance, which just made the cut, Shukla said,"Germany is also candidate for permanent membership but this kind of victory weakens their case for permanent membership."

Pointing out that UN member-states know about India's aspiration for permanent membership, Puri noted that the high number of votes indicated widespread support for its presence on the international stage.

"That is a clear and unmistakable signal that India and its role is not only acknowledged but respected by the international community," he said, adding "what is important is that you win the election not by a comfortable margin but by a massive margin." :cheer:

India will begin serving its two year term in January 2011.

Read more: India gets highest number of votes for UNSC seats in 5 years - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-gets-highest-number-of-votes-for-UNSC-seats-in-5-years/articleshow/6739738.cms#ixzz12DIAWgmj

jaggernaut

October 14th, 2010, 05:27 AM

I would really like to know which were the three that did not vote for India. One of them was Pakistan for sure, but the other two? Maybe China takes one more spot, but who takes the third?

Marathaman

October 14th, 2010, 05:28 AM

Pakistan voted for India

ericos87

October 14th, 2010, 06:53 AM

Pakistan voted for India

Ok, then what three countries did not vote for India? Ok, China could be one. Other two???

Aadhaar

October 15th, 2010, 12:22 AM

^^

I doubt it. I thought China was okay with us getting a permanent non veto seat so I doubt they'll have problem with us getting a non permanent one. Anyway is it actually going to enable us to do something? because without veto I doubt there can be much done.

ChennaiIndian

October 15th, 2010, 06:40 AM

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/After-Mahindras-10-mn-Tata-donates-50-mn-to-Harvard/articleshow/6751272.cms

WASHINGTON: Tata Group has given America's prestigious Harvard Business School a $50 million donation, the largest gift the school has received from an international donor in its 102-year history. :cheers:

Earlier this month Anand Mahindra, head of Mahindra Group, gave $10 million to Harvard where he earned his undergraduate and master's degrees.

The funds will be used to build a new academic and residential building on the school's campus in Boston. Harvard said it hopes to break ground for the building, which will be named Tata Hall, next spring. :cheers:

Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons Ltd since 1991, attended the school's advanced management programme - one of three leadership programmes offered by the school's executive education programme-in 1975 and received its highest honour, the Alumni Achievement Award.

...

sathya_226

October 16th, 2010, 08:53 AM

^^ wrong place to post... IN this thread please post only articles from foreign media about india's rise...

ericos87

November 10th, 2010, 04:06 PM

China may match Obama support for India for UN seat
10 NOV, 2010, 07.20PM IST,IANS

NEW DELHI: With US President Barack Obama declaring support for India's bid for a permanent seat, China may move beyond its stated position by announcing a more pointed support for New Delhi's place on the global high table during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit next month. The Chinese premier is expected to visit India Dec 16-17, his first trip to the country in five years.

Highly-placed sources told IANS there were some indications already that the Chinese premier may announce a more evolved position on India's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which will be more advanced than its articulation on the issue so far.

Sources disclosed that Beijing may surprise New Delhi and belie critics who think the US support was meant to counter China's ascent on the global stage. :eek: :uh:

"The Chinese premier may come out with a clearer support for India's Security Council ambitions. It's quite possible," :uh: Srikanth Kondapalli, a China expert who closely tracks Beijing's moves, told IANS.

India will seek China's support for its candidature for a reformed UNSC when External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna goes to Wuhan to attend the trilateral meeting of foreign minister of Russia, India and China Nov 14 and during National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon's boundary talks later this month, official sources said.

These meetings will also firm up the agenda for Wen's visit next month.

A day after Obama endorsed India's bid for permanent seat in the UNSC, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Tuesday said in Beijing that China was ready for consultations over the issue and values India's status in the international affairs and understands India's aspirations to play a greater role in the United Nations. Beijing's willingness to discuss the issue is seen here as "a step forward" ahead of Wen's visit. :uh:

Lalit Mansingh, a former foreign secretary, feels that Beijing may make feel-good noises, but is unlikely to announce unequivocal support, which would be deeply resented by its all-weather ally Pakistan.

"As with the nuclear deal, however, Beijing won't stand in India's way if the US throws its full weight behind India," he said.

President Pratibha Patil sought Beijing's support for Security Council seat during her visit to China in May. Chinese President Hu Jintao assured her that China was ready to discuss the complex issues relating to India's quest for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, a marked improvement over its earlier stance about India playing a bigger role in global affairs.
:uh: :shocked:
Wen has also said China wanted to ensure "a greater role for India in the UN especially in the Security Council." :shocked:

Wen is coming to India amid a stressful period in bilateral relations that has been clouded by a host of issues, including the Chinese stapled visas for Indian citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and massive investment plans in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

If the Chinese premier does declare Beijing's support, it could generate a powerful positive momentum in bilateral relations, sources said. Interestingly, Beijing has already begun to acknowledge India's surging global status. :tongue2: Recently, Beijing elevated China's ambassador to India Zhang Yan to the position equivalent to that of vice foreign minister, a status it gives to only Chinese ambassadors to P5 countries.

Significantly, Wen last visited India in April 2005 barely two months after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice proclaimed for the first time at a university in Tokyo that the US will help India in becoming a major power.

Wen's 2005 visit saw India and China elevating their relationship to the level of strategic partnership and finalizing guiding principles and political parameters to resolve the boundary dispute. Again, after India and the US struck the landmark nuclear deal in July 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited India in Nov 2006 during which the two sides finalized the 10-point strategy to deepen bilateral relationship.

"This is a pattern. Every time the US inches closer to the US, Beijing watches it carefully and tries to assure India that it's is not against India's rise.

"This time, China may announce support to dispel the impression of rivalry," Kondapalli said. With Obama declaring US support for India's permanent seat bid, only China remains to express its support among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Britain, France and Russia have already pledged support for India's permanent seat in the global body. French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev are also set to visit India in December and are expected to reiterate their support for India's UN aspirations, making 2010 the year of India's UN diplomacy. :applause:

India was elected by a record margin to a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council last month and will take charge in the council from Jan 1, 2011.

Source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/China-may-match-Obama-support-for-India-for-UN-seat/articleshow/6902467.cms)

Cov Boy

November 11th, 2010, 12:57 AM

Well done India for its diplomacy re: Security Council and China becoming more friendly.

FrankPanaMan

November 11th, 2010, 03:08 AM

SSCaddict

November 11th, 2010, 08:06 AM

interesting illustrations about India's position among world economies in 2015..
http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/g20/interactive/index.html?cnn=yes

Going by this graph..China was 2.3 Trill in 2005 and would reach 10 trill by 2015 so one can expect india 2 b a 10 Trillion $$ economy by only 2025 !!:nuts:

that is not possible unless until the land acquisition and environmental norms are not changed.... it is a shame for us that projects of such large investments do not start even 6 yrs after signing of MOU's due to environment and land acquisition problems....

Btw WTF the link is expecting india to grow 8% in 2012 and the rest of the yrs that is a joke!!! The planning commission is expecting that our country will grow by 9-10% in next 6-7 yrs...

bonoslack7

December 1st, 2010, 02:30 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/world/asia/01delhi.html?pagewanted=2

Mahitosh Sarkar came here from his distant village in West Bengal 12 years ago looking for a better life, and he found it. He abandoned the penniless existence of a subsistence fisherman to become a big-city vegetable seller. His wife found work as a maid. Their four children went to school. Their tiny household, a grim but weather-tight room in a dilapidated tenement, had a color TV and a satellite dish.

But these days Mr. Sarkar is counting losses, not blessings. His 10-year-old son died along with more than 70 others when their tenement collapsed on Nov. 15. His wife is in the hospital with a broken leg. All of their possessions, including that color TV, are gone.

The crumbled remains of the illegal building in which the Sarkar family lived in a riverside neighborhood of East Delhi have become an emblem of India’s failure to come to grips with its urban explosion.

After decades of being primarily a nation of farmers, India’s countryside is emptying out, as millions leave their stagnant villages and flock to the cities. But India’s urban infrastructure has not kept pace, and that failing now threatens to undermine the nation’s ability to vault its multitudes out of poverty and share the fruits of its nearly double-digit growth more widely.

A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that by 2030, 70 percent of India’s jobs would be created in cities, and about 590 million Indians would live in them. To provide enough housing and commercial space, it said, India must build the equivalent of the city of Chicago every year.

But it has no such plans, and the cities already here are buckling under the strain of their new arrivals. From Mumbai to Bangalore, Delhi to Chennai, roads are perpetually choked. Sewers, water lines and electricity are lacking. Perhaps most important, housing is desperately short, especially for impoverished new arrivals, leaving India with more slum dwellers than anywhere on earth.

“We require a radical rethinking about urban development,” said K. T. Ravindran, a professor of urban design who frequently works with the government on urban issues. “It is not that there are no ideas. It is that there is no implementation of those ideas.”

Like those of many Indian cities, Delhi’s building codes and zoning laws were written for a much smaller city in a different time, with policies that actively discourage growth.

The number of floors in most neighborhoods is capped at five stories, and in many areas fewer. The government largely controls land, and government approval for new development is difficult to obtain, even to house the wealthy and middle class, never mind the poor.

The dilapidated state of Indian cities is in some ways by design. For decades, Indian governments tried to discourage migration to cities by making city life unaffordable and unbearable for new arrivals.

These policies were driven at least in part by a Gandhian belief that India should be a rural nation, and more broadly by a centrally planned, socialist approach to development. But rural Indians have voted against these notions with their feet.

A recent report on urban slums published by the Center for Policy Research and the Centre des Sciences Humaines concluded that these measures “have made formal housing expensive and unattainable to a large share of the population, reinforced both chronic urban infrastructure shortages citywide and squalid, precarious living conditions in urban slums.”

Indeed, cheap rental housing outside of slums, like the tiny room Mr. Sarkar and his family shared, is almost impossible to find because it is very difficult to create such housing legally.

“If I want to build for the poor, the current building codes wouldn’t allow me to do it profitably,” said Sanjeev Sanyal, and economist and expert on urbanization. “There is a demand that is not being met, and the only way to meet it is by breaking the law.”

The building’s owner, Amrit Singh, appears to have flourished by bending the law. He had more than 25 criminal cases pending against him, according to the Delhi police.

His misdeeds included selling adulterated cement, the police said, and dealing in stolen goods. According to local news reports, he also bragged of having bribed building inspectors to avoid penalties for adding floors to his rental buildings.

Local residents said the building was notorious for its shoddy construction, and Mr. Singh well known for flouting building rules.

“The government didn’t do anything,” said Ratan Haldar, a social worker who helps migrants in the neighborhood. “They make rules but never implement them. Officials take bribes and ignore the rules. People died as a result.”

No one who lived in the building dared complain, however, because housing is so scarce in Delhi that they knew they would just end up back in a slum or on the street. That is precisely what happened to the residents of another building Mr. Singh owned, which was evacuated after the collapse.

Narayan Sharma, a 35-year-old carpenter from Bihar, stood shivering and barefoot in a downpour beneath a flimsy tarp surrounded by bundles of his family’s belongings. He had rented a room from Mr. Singh for about $50 a month and was grateful to have it. Life in Delhi beat the one he left behind, he said. His children could have much bigger dreams than he ever did.

“I am illiterate because I could not study, I had to work,” he said. “I am giving so much importance to education for my children so they don’t have to live the kind of life I am living.”

As miserable as living conditions in city slums and tenements might be, they are much better than the ones villagers leave behind. Abysmal as urban infrastructure is, a recent government report said 65 percent of villagers lacked toilets, while only 11 percent of city dwellers did. Cities also have much better access to piped water and proper sewage.

At a city morgue, workers prepared the flimsy wooden caskets of those who died in the building for the journey back to the villages from which they hailed. The bodies of 27-year-old Shahen Shah, from rural West Bengal, and 13-year-old Iftikhar, from Bihar, would be loaded on trains heading east. But few of those who survived the collapse plan to follow. Even the most precarious perch in the new India is too precious to be abandoned for the old.

“Our life is here now,” said Manoj Sarkar, Mr. Sarkar’s 20-year-old son. “We cannot live anywhere else.”

ab041937

December 8th, 2010, 12:37 PM

The world wakes up to India (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8183261/The-world-wakes-up-to-India.html)
Its economy is attracting global attention, but can the subcontinent deliver?
Adrian Michaels and Dean Nelson report.
Telegraph, UK

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01778/India-sarkozy-620_1778589b.jpg
Nicolas Sarkozy with Carla Bruni and Sufi Muslim priests during a visit to Fatehpur Sikri yesterday Photo: AP

If you were having a romantic getaway at the Oberoi Amarvilas hotel in Agra this weekend (rooms from £550 a night, each with a view of the gleaming Taj Mahal down the road), your style might have been cramped by the arrival of the Nicolas and Carla roadshow.

The French president, his glamorous wife and their entourage were taking in the sights prior to some high Indian summitry this week, including a meeting with Manmohan Singh , the prime minister, last night.

Mr Singh could probably afford himself a smile at this point. Mr Sarkozy is just one of an astonishing line of supplicants to pitch up on the subcontinent in the latter half of this year. Between the end of July, when David Cameron arrived, and the end of December when Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, turns up, India will have received all five heads of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (the others being Wen Jiabao of China and Barack Obama of the United States). Mr Singh is meanwhile attending a summit with the European Union next month and will stop off to see Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

His packed diary is the most potent sign yet that the rest of the world has woken up to India’s growth and new geopolitical role. While acres of real and virtual newsprint have been expended on the rise of China, the Indian story has been largely unscrutinised from outside. When India has been discussed it has often been about global security, its unstable northern neighbour Pakistan and, latterly, the disastrous organisational blunders of the Commonwealth Games that contrasted so starkly with the Beijing Olympics.

But as Mr Singh put it last month: “The rise of India is the rise of a nation of over a billion people fighting poverty, ignorance and disease, battling social prejudices, living with inadequate infrastructure, dealing with corruption and misgovernance. It is one of the great adventures of our times.”

World leaders are being drawn to that adventure because there are pots of money to be made. India’s growth in the middle of the worst global recession for 80 years was 7.9 per cent in 2009, will be 8.5 per cent this year and is heading for 9-10 per cent in 2011. Unlike China, which geared up mostly for an explosion of exports and then had to deal with buyers who had run out of money, the Indian story is mostly about internal consumption. The government has made clear that it wants and thinks it can sustain double-digit growth for the next two decades as its people spend and spend.

Gordon Brown, on a speaking engagement in New Delhi recently, said that in 30 years, the middle class of India would be 50 per cent of the population from 5 per cent now. What does that mean in practice? Ask Vodafone and India’s Essar, which run a joint mobile phone venture in the country. They had 20 million subscribers three years ago; now they have 120 million of the country’s 600 million mobile phone accounts.

India, Mr Brown pointed out, is also the largest consumer of Scotch whisky in the world. (Although malts such as Isle of Jura and Dalmore have been in the hands of a conglomerate from Bangalore since 2007.)

It is not only internal consumption that interests other countries. Indian companies are flexing their might internationally. Tata, the Indian company best known for its cars, is Britain’s largest manufacturer by dint of its takeovers of the Corus steel group and Jaguar Land Rover. Mr Cameron thanked the Indians for preserving 47,000 jobs in Britain. Essar, which apart from its partnership with Vodafone is mostly a power company, kept the London Stock Exchange in business this year with an initial public offering that raised £1.3 billion, the biggest in three years.

Being nice to India means a dose of realpolitik, too. Mr Obama offered his strong support, though no timeline, for India to gain a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. The new courting and positioning of India has been causing flutters in Pakistan. Sherry Rehman, a Pakistan MP and former minister, wrote in The Times of India last month: “India is now part of a larger economic bandwidth able to buy influence around the globe. As America’s businesses seek access to India’s 1.2 billion-strong consumer market as the driver of a broadening commercial relationship between the two countries, no one should be surprised.”

By 2030 India could have the third largest gross domestic product in the world after the United States and China. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, an influential policymaker and deputy chairman of India’s planning commission, says: “[The] lifting of a billion people out of low incomes to middle income levels represents an explosion of global demand, creating a new market that has huge importance to the rest of the world.”

But can India deliver? The problems it faces are in some cases polar opposites of those in China, its rival for superpower status. The Middle Kingdom has astonished the world with its devotion to building infrastructure. When a decision is taken to build a road, people in the way are moved, and the road appears. China has been building ports around the Pacific, and is thinking about rail networks connecting it to Europe.

In India, development has been hugely uneven. The Sarkozys, one imagines, were set to fly the 140 miles from Agra to Delhi. If they had tried to drive, the journey would have taken more than five hours. India lacks roads, rail, ports and power. Some 400 million people do not have electricity. Over 40 per cent of food rots on its way to market because there is no way to keep it cool.
A recent report by McKinsey, the consultants, said that double the number of Indians would be living in cities in 2030 compared with 2001, adding: “India has barely engaged in a national discussion about how to handle this seismic shift in the make-up of the nation.”

Kamal Nath, the minister for roads and a businessman, is trying to build 7,500 miles of road a year but is coming up short. “We have a huge deficit in infrastructure; we are catching up with the past,” he says.

Nevertheless, India approved contracts to build only 450 miles of road in 2008 and the rate is now multiples better than that. Pranab Mukherjee, the vastly experienced finance minister, says India will double its investment on infrastructure in the five years from 2012 to a trillion dollars (£650 billion).

The growing economic might of Indian workers is, however, starting to affect the country’s attractiveness as a low-cost centre. Research released last month by IHS Global Insight, a corporate information group, said that manufacturing labour costs in India had risen nearly 20 per cent this year and were set to eclipse those in China. “Indian workers have seen their wages increase sharply over the last year on the back of high inflation and a recovery in domestic demand… For multinational companies, understanding the labour costs …is a key issue when making investment decisions,” IHS said.
Floods in Pakistan and other factors have also sent cotton prices soaring, adding to the difficulties faced by textile companies working in India.

None the less, the gold rush is still clearly on. As far as Britain is concerned, our stock has risen since Mr Cameron’s visit but it may be some time before that goodwill translates into contracts. Prashant Ruia, group chief executive of Essar, explains that India’s immediate opportunities are in “frontline” projects such as roads and power plants, as well as in the sale of cars and televisions. But Britain has no rivals to LG or Samsung in electronics and lags behind construction firms such as Spain’s Isolux Corsan and Abertis.

Britain’s edge in financial services, supermarkets, education and logistics will not reap rewards in India until the government liberalises those areas for foreign investment. According to Mr Ruia, Britain must either wait for liberalisation and a surge in demand “or get in at the front end” and “dirty your hands”.

“Most of the British companies are more at the services end or at the consumer end. That’s the later part of the development… right now the big opportunity is at the basic end, providing the infrastructure, and at that end I don’t see too many British companies really investing.”

While many business people have lounged on Goa’s tropical beaches or taken elephant rides through the tiger reserves, few realise what they could achieve in India, he says. Following its London share offer, Essar is organising its own British-based programme of investor education. It sounds as though it ought to be playing to packed houses.

ericos87

December 23rd, 2010, 03:10 AM

Will support India against friendly neighbour: Medvedev
Kiran Wadhwa, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Mumbai, December 23, 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday said his country would support India if they ever had to take a hard decision against "a friendly neighbouring country". Addressing a packed hall at IIT Bombay, Medvedev, looking comfortable in an open neck blue shirt and black suit, said India and Russia have special relations "and it is not a figure of speech".

"I'm not disclosing a state secret but when I visited India four days after the Mumbai terror attacks I told them (the government)...we are ready to provide weapons, modern technology and know-how," said the dynamic 45-year-old President.

The President had requested to visit IIT Bombay because it was established with the help of the then USSR government. Though he walked in almost an hour late, a loud applause greeted Medvedev. "It was not that I woke up late but the airport was shut for an hour," he said.

He started off by requesting students not to be "strict with their questions".

The request fell flat when a student asked him how Russia would react if they had a terror attack like Mumbai and if their agencies were sure that the attack was rooted in Pakistan.

"You don't ask complicated questions but extremely complicated questions. But complicated questions have simple answers."

He did not rule out the use of armed force to protect the interest of the country: "…If Russia is attacked from a foreign state and we are sure the terrorists are housed by that foreign state, we will defend our national interests and even employ armed force".

Referring to Russia's glorious days, a student asked the President whether Russia would have been a superpower if the USSR had not disintegrated.

"If a state starts to feel and say they are a superpower and not…care about anyone else then it is the first step to failure... an attempt to be a superpower can be counter productive," he said. :? "USSR, too, had the illusion that they were self sufficient, could develop on their own and did not need anyone and this did not work."

Source (http://www.hindustantimes.com/Will-support-India-against-friendly-neighbour-Medvedev/Article1-641716.aspx)

Now, I got a question here. What does Medvedev means when he says that?
Can anyone elaborate on this by giving some examples?

psychedelic

December 23rd, 2010, 03:52 AM

My guess is that he was referring to USSR being behind the "iron curtain" during the good old days.

ericos87

December 26th, 2010, 05:10 AM

Russia, India, China Marching Towards A Multipolar World: By Dr. Sawraj Singh
Saturday, December 25th, 2010 | Posted by admin

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4295/diwalir.png

In the year 2010, the leaders of all of the permanent members of the security council of the United Nations visited India. President Obama of America, President Medvedev of Russia, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China, President Sarkozy of France, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the UK. It is obvious that India’s importance in the world in transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world is rapidly growing.

President Obama and the other western leaders want India’s support to maintain the status quo. That means that the western domination of the world for the last two centuries should continue and the American era which started after the fall of the Soviet Union should continue. The present unipolar world order is based upon the assumption that America is the only superpower in the world.

The Russian and Chinese leaders have tried to convince India that India’s interests will be best served in a multipolar world where there is no one leading power center and there are many centers of power which maintain equilibrium and balance of power in the world. This is the only way that peace can be maintained in the world and a third world war can be avoided. When there is a big tree, then the other trees cannot grow under its cover. Therefore, if India wants a status befitting its changed status in the world, then India has to work for a new world order.

The Chinese tell India that China and India have lived together as peaceful and friendly neighbors for thousands of years. They traded in ancient times through the silk route. India conquered China without sending a single soldier, through Buddhism. The Chinese accepted not only Buddhism, but also the concepts of Indian spirituality and philosophy. Acupuncture, acupressure, and the Chinese martial arts are all heavily influenced by the Indian concepts. Acupressure and acupuncture are based upon the flow of Chi, which is the same as Prana in the Indian spirituality. Similarly, the Chinese martial arts were developed from the basic techniques which were brought to China by the Buddhist monks from the Himalayas. These monks learned these techniques from observing nature. They watched different animals, birds, and snakes defending themselves or attacking the others.

The Chinese students studied in the ancient Indian universities of Texla and Nalanda. The study of the Indian history is incomplete without reading the writings of Song Yun and Fa Xian, who were both Chinese students in the ancient Indian universities.

Even in the modern times, the relations between China and India were very cordial. Dr. Dwarka Nath Kutnis, an Indian surgeon from a family of doctors in Maharashtra, laid his life in the service of the Chinese wounded during the Japanese invasion of China. He was a member of the team of Indian doctors who went to help the Chinese who became victims of the Japanese aggression. India and China laid the principles of peace and mutual coexistence among the nations. These are inspired from Buddhism and are called Panch Sheel. The border problem between the two countries is after all a legacy of the British colonialism. The colonialists never demarcated the border properly and left problems in the colonies which can later be exploited for their purpose, “Divide and rule.”

Russia has been India’s time-tested friend which stood by India in its time of need. Russia is unique among all of the European powers because the Ural mountains pass through Russia. These mountains form a natural border between Europe and Russia. Therefore, Russia is both a European and an Asian country. Russia and India voted together in the United Nations against America about 90% of the time, at one time. Russia used its veto power when America brought resolutions on Kashmir. Russia supplied India with heavy and sophisticated weapons. Even now, 70% of Indian military hardware comes from Russia. Russia also helped India in steel, civil nuclear energy, and chemicals. The Russian weapons helped India to win wars against Pakistan, which had American weapons. Who in India has not heard of the AK-47? This is how much the Russian weapons have become popular in India. Russia is not happy with the Indian tilt toward America, but is still willing to revive the traditional friendship with India. Russia is working with India in RIC (Russia, India, China) and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Russia is trying to help India to become a member of the Shanghai Corporation, which has China, Russia, and the Central Asian countries.

America is trying to start a third world war in Asia. There can be many reasons for that such as when the capitalist countries are faced with a severe economic crisis, then they want to start a war to come out of the economic crisis. America sees the Asian countries as the main rivals to its hegemony. If a war starts in Korea, then the three most developed Asian countries, Japan, China, and South Korea will be directly involved in the war and their economic and technological progress will be very adversely affected.

If a war starts in Asia now, Europe may not have any other choice except to support America. Therefore, a war may be the only way to preserve the collapsing western alliance because of the widening gap between Europe and America. If a person like Sarah Palin becomes President, then the western alliance is bound to collapse because Europe will not accept her as the leader of the western alliance.

Another American reason for starting a war in Asia can be that somehow it can lead to a break in the Russia-China alliance because Russia may not like to be involved in a full-fledged war in Asia. The coming together of Russia and China has always been an American nightmare. So far, the Russian and Chinese alliance seems to be holding firm. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is not willing to trust America again.

So long as Russia and China are together, then no country or group of countries can beat them. If India does not join the American-led alliance, then there is very little chance of starting a third world war. India seems to hold the cards whether the transition from a unipolar world to a multipolar world will be peaceful or it will happen after a third world war.

All peace-loving people are hoping that it will be a peaceful transition. The people of the world, including the American people, have much to lose if there is a third world war. In a multipolar world order, India has much to gain, but if India joins the side which wants to maintain the unipolar world then India may be the biggest loser in that struggle. Russia, India, and China should march together towards a multipolar world.

Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at sawrajsingh@hotmail.com or 509-962-3652.

Source (http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=2722)

think-tank

December 26th, 2010, 05:23 AM

^^ I don't think that's a very smart writer, some of his assessments are outright dumb.

ChennaiIndian

December 28th, 2010, 04:38 AM

Cross-posting from Chennai thread. Courtesy: bonoslack7

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/business/global/28sizzle.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9576/28sizzlespanarticlelarg.jpg

A massive, futuristic office complex is rising from a patch of spare, arid land here near the southern Indian city of Chennai. Six butterfly-shaped buildings dock like spacecraft to two long, metal-latticed terminals.

About 12,000 people already work at the campus, being built by India’s largest technology company, Tata Consultancy Services. It eventually will have space for 24,000 of Tata’s nearly 180,000 employees.

Meanwhile Infosys, one of Tata’s biggest competitors, has added a corporate campus for 15,000 employees with buildings that resemble the Parthenon, the Coliseum and the Louvre’s glass pyramid. Infosys plans to build an additional 10 million square feet of highly designed office space by mid-2012, at various sites, adding 25,000 workers to its current 122,000.

It is all part of a construction spree by India’s outsourcing companies, which are growing at a breakneck pace after the lull caused by the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.

But the building boom is about more than making room for more workers. The outsourcing giants, which include Wipro and others, hope that architectural sizzle can help them compete for the nation’s top software programmers, while also burnishing their reputations with overseas clients and prospective customers.

In this nation where world-class high-tech companies co-exist with urban slums and rural poverty, employers like Tata, Infosys and Wipro have set out to create avant-garde, environmentally enlightened corporate sanctuaries.

And even if some architects and critics complain about the wisdom and taste of the efforts, the executives behind the building boom say their ambitious projects put a modern face on Indian business.

T. V. Mohandas Pai, a director at Infosys, which has 15 campuses around India, said his company’s eclectic mix of designs from all over the world reflected this nation’s inclusive sensibility. “One singular thing is monotonous,” he said. “In India, we are a colorful people.”

Like China a decade earlier, India appears to be at that phase of economic development where buildings are meant to help advertise the nation’s arrival on the world stage. But unlike China, where the government and state-owned corporations took the lead, private companies in India have spearheaded the charge — not the government, which struggles to execute even basic construction projects.

And within India’s business world, technology companies have been more adventurous than others, perhaps because of their outsize financial success and their need to hire tens of thousands of workers to write lines of software for foreign clients. State and federal governments are aiding the effort by offering these companies generous tax incentives and choice pieces of real estate to build big campuses.

Competition for employees is intense, because while India produces about 500,000 engineers every year, most colleges provide such poor education that the industry says that just a quarter of graduates are employable. But among those worth hiring — typically graduates of elite places like the Indian Institutes of Technology and Birla Institute of Technology and Science — as many as 18 percent leave for other jobs every year. The outsourcing companies see lavish, environmentally friendly campuses as a way to help attract and retain the best and brightest workers.

With their manicured lawns, power generators and lakes, the campuses are a noticeable upgrade from most engineering colleges, which suffer from India’s standard infrastructure deficiencies — blackouts, water shortages and poor maintenance.

“I prefer a big campus,” said Aditya Mathur, a software engineer, 23, who joined Wipro a year ago, and now works at a four-year-old office in Gurgaon, south of New Delhi, as a software tester. “The facilities are better in a big campus.”

Tata Consultancy Services — or T.C.S., as the company is known — is spending $200 million on its Siruseri campus and has hired the Uruguayan-born Canadian architect Carlos A. Ott, who designed the opera house on the Place de la Bastille in Paris. The company is also building big campuses in Ahemdabad, Pune, Calcutta and Hyderabad.

But some critics say that too many of the industry’s new complexes are intended to make a big splash without much thought to how they will function and fit into the local surroundings.

“It is a haphazard reaching for something that will quickly make a statement about the place being world class,” said Himanshu Burte, an architecture critic who writes frequently for Indian newspapers.

But Rahul Mehrotra, a prominent architect who has designed an office building for the American computer maker Hewlett-Packard in Bangalore, the city at the heart of India’s technology industry, argued that rather than being too outré, too many Indian tech campuses had a hackneyed feel, evoking the sprawling suburban campuses of Silicon Valley or American companies like Google and Apple.

“The architecture in these cases symbolizes the fact that these are places of outsourcing, not cutting-edge research,” said Mr. Mehrotra, who lives in Mumbai and Boston.

Mr. Pai of Infosys, said he was unconcerned about such criticism. He said the people who mattered to the company — employees and customers — raved about its buildings, particularly those that resembled landmarks like the Coliseum at its new campus in the city of Mysore. “They like the fact that it’s so diverse,” he said.

Infosys probably set the standard for ambitious corporate campuses in India more than a decade ago. Many other companies grew helter-skelter wherever they could find space. But Infosys started building large complexes, beginning with its first campus on the southern edge of Bangalore, its home city, in 1995, just a few years after India started to open its economy to the rest of the world.

That first campus, which, after many expansions, can now accommodate 24,000 people, was considered cutting-edge for creating an ordered oasis of lawns and lakes in the midst of the urban chaos that envelops most commercial areas in India. The complex also established the company’s quirky style — with a glass pyramid for an auditorium and a building that resembles a washing machine — and helped set a benchmark for big campuses in the technology industry.

Mr. Pai, who sets the overall layout of the campuses with the company’s chairman, N. R. Narayana Murthy, said Infosys was determined to make every new campus “better than our last campus.”

Their rules include the tenet that no two buildings should look alike. Another audacious goal is that every campus should become a “carbon sink” in the next five years. In other words, trees, lakes and other natural features should absorb more carbon than is generated by the campus.

Some other firms, like Wipro, tend to be more understated, opting for standard-looking office buildings. But even these companies have trademark causes. Wipro prides itself on minimizing the use of power and, especially, water. It recycles water and creates lakes to harvest the rain. At one of its campuses in Bangalore, a training center appears to float on one of these reservoirs.

T.C.S., based in Mumbai, has long had significant operations in and around Chennai, the city formerly known as Madras, which is on the Bay of Bengal. But N. Chandrasekaran, chief executive of T.C.S., said the company previously had too many buildings arbitrarily sprinkled around that region.

The new Siruseri campus, 18 miles south of Chennai, is meant to help consolidate some of those outposts and give employees a sense of place and pride of ownership. “We had multiple buildings and we felt that we should have a campus where employees will feel empowerment, will feel good about working,” he said “and at the same time we have a place to host clients.”

For at least some employees, the plan seems to be succeeding.

Deenathajalan Sugumar, who works in production support, recently moved to the new T.C.S. campus in Siruseri from a smaller building in Chennai. He gushed about the campus, even though he now commutes by a company bus for more than an hour every day, more than double his previous travel time.

“It’s my home,” Mr. Sugumar, 24, said. “It’s my company.”

ericos87

January 4th, 2011, 03:04 AM

India enters UN Security Council after 19 years
3 JAN, 2011, 05.06PM IST,PTI

UNITED NATIONS: After a gap of 19 years, India today formally took its place in the UN Security Council as a new non-permanent member for a two-year term, a position from which it is expected to push its agenda for UN reform .

Along with India, Germany, South Africa, Columbia and Portugal too took their places at the powerful 15-member body of the United Nations.

Regarded as a key emerging political and economic power, India would be the president of the powerful Security Council in August and again later next year, most likely in November 2012, during its two-year term.

India is also likely to be given a key responsibility of heading one of the two key counter-terrorism committees of the Council during its term.

Diplomatic sources privy to the discussions at the United Nations headquarters in New York told PTI that talks are in advance stage to request India to head one of its two key counter-terrorism committees.

India, along with other emerging countries, has been pushing for a reform of the United Nations to reflect the realities of the present day world.

It has also sought an expansion of the UN Security Council to include new permanent members, and has joined hands with the G4 countries (Germany, Japan, South Africa and India) to push for the expansion.

Excluding Japan, all the three countries now find themselves in the Security Council as non-permanent members and are expected to push their agenda jointly.

The five existing non-permanent members are Bosnia, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria, while India along with Germany, Portugal, South Africa and Columbia joined the Security Council as its new non-permanent members on January 1. India so far has been elected to the Security Council for seven times including the current 2010-2012 term.

Issues related to counter-terrorism, UN peacekeeping operations and human rights would be the top priorities of India as it joins the powerful Security Council after a gap of 19 years, New Delhi's top diplomat to the world body said.

"One of our major pre-occupation is the issue of terrorism. I expect that in the coming months we would have to address that issue through the work of the Council," Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told PTI in an interview.

As such India will prepare for a key role in the two committees of the Security Council - the 1267 and 1373 committee, Puri said.

1267 is the Security Council Sanctions Committee concerning al-Qaida and the Taliban and individuals and entities associated with those organizations.

Source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/india-enters-un-security-council-after-19-years/articleshow/7210869.cms)

think-tank

January 5th, 2011, 01:13 PM

Writer Anand Giridharadas grew up in America, but it was in India — the country that his parents left — where he went to look for hope. "India has become — in a way that it has not been — a land of opportunity for millions and millions and millions of people," he says.

In his book, India Calling, Giridharadas describes how India's growing economy is creating growing opportunity — what many might recognize as American-style chances to get ahead. But Giridharadas also explains how he encountered a society riddled with ancient divisions of class and caste.

"In India, you're eternally a master and eternally a servant," Giridharadas tells NPR's Steve Inskeep. "Servants in many ways have been seen — and [have] been taught to see themselves — as being not someone who is situationally inferior, but someone who is eternally, intrinsically inferior."

Giridharadas experienced first-hand the different treatment of the servant and the served one morning when he visited friends for breakfast. A "typical elite Indian breakfast with all of the fussiness and all of the servitude" was presented by the family's obsequious and much-loved servant. Later that day, Giridharadas returned to the friend's house — this time in shorts and a T-shirt — to bring over a mattress. The same man who had served breakfast mistook Giridharadas for a delivery man and began gruffly barking orders at him.

When Giridharadas reminded the servant who he was, he says the man underwent a "total human metamorphosis ... he shrunk right in front of me from a master to a servant," Giridharadas says. "And you realize that almost every Indian is engaged in both of these transactions at different moments of their days: superior to some, inferior to others. As an Indian poet once said, 'never thinking to resist the one kick from above, nor to refrain from giving the kick below.'"

Though Giridharadas says the experience helped him understand the "truth about India," he also cites examples of a new generation of Indians who are transcending boundaries of caste and class. He describes the story of an ambitious young man named Ravindra, who Giridharadas says was "born close to the lowest of the Indian low" — yet managed to get ahead.
Hear Giridharadas Read From 'India Calling'
'The deepest change I witnessed in India ...'

"Something happened to him that has happened simultaneously to millions — maybe even tens of millions — of Indians who were also born as 'servants,'" Giridharadas says. Armed with the idea — from school and TV — that he didn't have to be a servant, Ravindra educated himself through the many courses and classes that are cropping up in small Indian towns. After completing dozens of courses, Ravindra became a computer teacher, and then secured a job at a travel agency.

"At the travel agency," Giridharadas says, "the real advantage of it was not the money, but the fact that he got to sit with middle class people many rungs above him in the hierarchy ... He watched how they dressed, how they gestured, how they talked, what kind of cars they drive. He memorized everything about them, and mimicked it, and slowly set out to become them."

Through self-directed education, careful observation and sheer tenacity, Ravindra slowly pulled himself to a higher place society. He now runs an English language academy and a roller skating academy (roller skating is all the rage in India's small towns, Giridharadas explains.) He's a lecturer at seven colleges teaching English and, as Giridharadas says, "he's made himself the guy who you need to go see in that town if you want to get out of that town."
Priya Parker

Anand Giridharadas writes the "Currents" column for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times online. He lives in Cambridge, Mass.

Giridharadas grew up in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Indian emigres, so he's well acquainted with the myths and the realities of both India and America.

"The defining narrative that Americans have told themselves about themselves for a long time is: anything can happen here, anything is possible," Giridharadas says. "That narrative in America today is in decline. I think it'll come back, but we're not in a good moment for that narrative."

Meanwhile, in India, the idea that you shape your own destiny is gaining traction. "Walking around India, watching TV in India, you feel that India is possessed by a narrative of hope right now and America is not," Giridharadas says.

The question is: when does reality catch up to the illusion? "I think in both countries we tend to underplay the extent to which it's the fundamentals, not the narratives that matter," says Giridharadas. With so much optimism and foreign investment flowing into India, he explains, it's easy for people to think the country will change overnight. "India still has a lot to work out, and one of the risks of a boom is that it becomes easy to forget that."

Excerpt: 'India Calling'

One of my clearest impressions about India as a child was that my parents' stories would have been impossible had they stayed. Of course, such a vision was self-serving, for it made a virtue of our displacement. But I looked at my father, a management consultant whose talents would later reveal him to be a masterful writer and wonderfully empathetic teacher, and I knew that in India he could never have dreamed of a career in such things. His father was an engineer whose sons became engineers. They did not question. Likewise, my mother found in America a new liberty to fashion a life undefined by others. She had known little freedom in India to live and spend her time as she pleased. Older relatives would comment on the complexion of her skin. She was scolded about what she ate and what conditions were folklorically believed to flow from her eating habits. In America, where no one judged or supervised her, where my father was too busy eating her cooking to notice whether she was eating it, too, my mother found herself newly enchanted by the taste of food.

They had met in French class, the two of them. My father had never studied the language but needed some bon mots for his job selling Indian trucks and buses in Francophone Africa; my mother, studying French in college, was burnishing her spoken skills. It was he, knowing nothing, who raised his hand constantly, becoming the teacher's pet, and she, knowing it all, who sat in silence, taking note of an eager engineer. The most she allowed herself was to stop her parents' chauffeur-driven car every day at the bus stop where he was waiting and offer him a ride. My father showed none of her restraint. He asked her out again and again, accepting rejection each time. He brought his gold medal from business school to class one day and pulled it slyly out of his pocket to show her. She beamed with admiration, but that was all.

My mother had good reason for her coyness. She was Punjabi, from the very north; he was Tamil, from the very south. She told herself from the beginning that it could never work between them. even if she let her mind go there, she knew it wouldn't happen in the end. They came from different universes, and she didn't want to lead a good man on.

Her parents were refugees of partition, the traumatic moment in 1947 when the subcontinent was cut in two by the departing British and a chunk of northwestern India became, overnight, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Her parents, my Nanu and Nani, grew up in Lahore, in comfortable and educated families that suddenly lost their possessions and their bearings in the world. In a newly independent India, their families, like so many Punjabi families, began anew, educated themselves, slogged their way back into the affluence and respectability that their families had known on the far side of a freshly drawn frontier. Partition's wound had become all but invisible for them by the time my mother was born, in 1955.

My mother's family lived in southern Bombay, the rarefied tip of a rarefied island city, where Nanu worked for Hindustan Lever, the Indian arm of the global Unilever enterprise. They did not feel wealthy, for few did in that age: at times, my grandmother's budgeted grocery money would dry up early, and she had to borrow from the allowance money she had earlier given her daughter. But their world was cosmopolitan and open. Nanu and Nani traveled the world on company-paid business trips, dining in Trafalgar Square in London, seeing the Lido in Paris, even attending a strip show in Amsterdam. Sitting on white cane chairs on his veranda, Nanu would leaf through one newspaper after another and by noon could dissect the politics of any country with more sophistication than many of its own citizens. He wore impeccably cut blazers, and his talk was peppered with "Well, you know, when I was in London in '57 . . ." My grandparents lived in some of Bombay's finest buildings, including a famous seaside property called Bakhtavar. There they entertained my grandfather's equally worldly colleagues with tumblers of whiskey as the velvet whine of Miles Davis's trumpet slid along the walls.

My mother grew up strong. She was a charismatic leader among her peers, staging plays, organizing projects, raising money for charity; she was fiercely protective of her younger brother, with whom she shared a passion for jazz and rock and roll. She read books by enid Blyton and Jane Austen and W. Somerset Maugham, and listened to the regular Western music hour on All India Radio as well as to Hindi film songs.

But the Westernization and modernity of their setting could be something of an illusion. Miles Davis notwithstanding, my mother was subject to the same culture of izzat — honor — that her mother had grown up with in Lahore, eased but never lifted with each successive generation of women. Running through the stories my mother would later tell of India was a theme of stifling, needless repression. As a teenager and even into her twenties, she was seldom allowed to go to parties. On one occasion, the adults let her and her cousins go to a discotheque, but on one condition: they had to take their towering, white-sari-clad, widowed grandmother along. (So deprived were they of entertainment that they accepted this deal.) As my mother got older, she was forbidden to go out to meals with male friends. Her mother feared that "society" would talk.

In her twenties, working as a French translator, my mother was the only woman in her office who was not a secretary. Starved gazes would follow her short hair and almond eyes as she navigated the desks. Some men showed interest in her at work, but she gave them no thought, for she quietly assumed that her parents would arrange her marriage and, with it, the rest of her life: in all likelihood to some nice Punjabi boy who would also live in Bombay, whose parents would distantly know her parents, who wouldn't upset the mango cart. The notion of marrying otherwise or, stranger still, migrating to America would have seemed far-fetched to her at the time. It would take a man no less persuasive than my father to bend her mind.

He lived close by and a world apart. He came from a family of Tamil Brahmins, a caste that deserved its reputation for piety verging on sanctimony and purity verging on the total absence of fun. There was little whiskey and even less Miles Davis in their home. His father was a stern, brilliant engineer in the Central Indian Railways who would rise to become one of its highest officials. Thatha was the archetype of the Indian paterfamilias: staunchly protective of his family, emotionally remote, verbally economical, above the fray of daily life, functioning like a chief justice who framed his family's values and monitored their compliance. He married a cheerful wife, tender and docile and eternally absorptive of his temper, who raised their four sons and one daughter with a gentleness and permissiveness that were rare in India.

My father, the middle child, spent much of his childhood in boarding schools, with his parents moving constantly for railway projects, and in those schools he forged a steely self-reliance that was also improbably un-Indian. When at home, he entered and left the apartment as he pleased. He played Ping-Pong and badminton and, in later years, bridge with friends whom his parents did not vet. He was trusted to fend for himself or lean on his siblings for help with homework or getting to after-school activities. I knew, from my mother's stories and those of others, that this style of childhood was not typical, that the norm was guilt-tripping micromanagement. When he would return to India later in life, the deep patience he showed in America would crack when faced with the endless interference in other people's affairs that was so endemically Indian but so foreign to him.

The story of his childhood shaped my earliest narratives about America, where he would one day choose to make his life. He had fallen for America and thrived there, I believed, because he had known freedom and self-determination as a child. I began to see those traits as peculiarly American, and I began to see my father as an American separated at birth from, and later reunited with, a land to which he naturally, psychologically belonged.

His path to America was through education. education was every generation's duty to its progeny, in the Indian way; the rest was in the progeny's hands. This idea was passed on to my sister and me in America. Sports, television, talking on the phone after school — these were the indulgences of Americans, of a land of plenty. For our family, learning was everything; homework came first; books, being sacred, were never to be left on the floor. But it was a lesson that my father had learned the hard way. In an early grade, he fared poorly in virtually every class. He brought home his report card, which had to be signed. His father flew into a rage, tearing the paper to shreds and spewing words that have remained with my father to this day: "I have no money to leave you. All I can give you is an education." In an instant, my father learned the concept of accountability: no one would tell him how to organize his Thursdays, but if he messed up at year's end, he would suffer for it.

That incident became a point of no return. My father studied like a monk from that day forward, threading the successive needles of India's higher-education system. He trained for a year to get into the Indian Institutes of Technology, the country's ultra-selective engineering school, and he did. He attended a leading business school and topped the class. He struggled, fought, succeeded. But then as he entered his middle twenties, all that drive and energy, the fruits of a bitterly learned lesson, collided with the stagnancy of a country that was not making the fullest use of its people.

It was the 1970s, and he worked in the export division of the Tata conglomerate, based in Bombay. It was a period of social and political turmoil known as the emergency, in which massive civic unrest had prompted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to suspend the constitution and take matters into her own hands. The society was tense; mass sterilizations were in progress, opposition leaders languished in jail, and protest was being squelched. But it was not politics that drove my father away. It was that he saw no future in a company where, as in most Indian companies of the era, success favored the tenured. Longevity, not talent, ruled. He saw his superiors, twenty years ahead of him in line, and concluded that he didn't want to spend his life becoming them. The thought was reinforced on those mornings when he trudged through the monsoon to work, as those executives, encased in their company cars, streaked through the water past their drenched trainees.

And yet he began to think about America almost casually, for he was not raised to ponder introspectively. He had heard of people crossing that ocean; some friends were applying to study at Harvard Business School. Why not? A photograph from his farewell party at Tata shows a young man, almost unrecognizable from the seasoned, worldly man who would become my father — beaming, skinny, fresh-faced, innocent, with curly black hair. He is receiving a leather jacket as a parting gift, about to embark on what my young mind would come to see as his actual life: a new beginning in a continent of new beginnings.

My mother had given him no reason to stay. Now he was gone. He wrote her regularly from Boston, and she wrote back. Their friendship deepened. He found a job in Cleveland as graduation approached and returned to India for a summer break before starting his new job in America. Two years had passed, and my parents' correspondence had worked its effects. When at last he asked my mother to marry him on that trip, in the dark of a cinema, it took days of stunned silence before she found her voice, but in the end that voice said "Yes." Her parents, who she feared would oppose her marrying outside the tribe, were broader minded than she realized, and they were impressed by my father's education and temperament. The world was changing, and Harvard graduates, whatever their family histories, were now a marriageable clan of their own. They were wedded ten days later, in my grandparents' home in Bakhtavar, because it was impossible to rent a venue so hurriedly. My father left immediately thereafter for America, alone, while my mother waited months for a visa. Her first steps outside India would come in leaving it for good.

So started their lonely, thrilling adventure. It was not long before my mother was backing a red Oldsmobile, larger than many Indian dwellings, down an icy driveway in Shaker Heights, not long before my father, with his Indian accent, was counseling the executives of America's leading companies. They learned together to drive, to shop in malls, to paint a house. The women in the neighborhood would stop to ask my mother the meaning of the red dot on her forehead; one preempted her by suggesting that it was blood from a hole in her head. She learned from an elderly Jewish neighbor the recipe for cheesecake. They found a regular restaurant they favored, Pearl of the Orient. They shoveled snow for the first time in their lives. They began a family.

What distinguished them in my eyes from the Indians in the Old Country was their perpetual growth and self-renewal. They discovered new music that was not their own music, new food not their own food. They took up new styles of dressing. They soaked in the world. They allowed their ideas to be upset by better ideas. They clung to pieties that made sense and jettisoned those that didn't. They kept reinventing themselves, discarding the invention, starting anew. My father would become an entrepreneur, then a human-resources executive, then a PhD candidate in his fifties, then a professor. My mother, who began as a homemaker, would learn ceramics, become a ceramics teacher, and then a school administrator. They moved us from Ohio to Paris, then back to Ohio, then to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. They refreshed themselves constantly and, what's more, came to see such refreshment as life's very goal.

It was extraordinary, and ordinary: this is what America did to people, what it always has done. They raised us with this borrowed heritage of self-invention. It was not our Indian heritage, a heritage they sought by and large to preserve. But this was one sphere of American life where the Old Country's values were not permitted to intrude. We were taught to respect our elders as Indians did, to sacrifice for family in the Indian way, to abstain from America's addictive consumption. But we were taught time and again to invent ourselves, to write our own stories. They never pushed us, as other Indian parents did, to become engineers or doctors: to do so would have stripped us of the liberties that they had come to savor for themselves. They selected for us not the math-and-science magnet schools that emigres adored, but liberally minded private schools that taught painting and history and literature, instilling in us the sense of open-road possibility, of the worthiness of multiple alternative existences, that their own childhoods had lacked. In high school, when I was reading The Great Gatsby and becoming enthralled by the novel's seductive, ominous vision of self-invention, my parents were paying steeply for me to become everything India taught the young not to be.

And so it was strange that now I had come to reinvent myself in, of all places, India. It was not a fate that they or I could have imagined. I wondered at times if they felt abandoned, not just by me but also by the invisible forces of history that make countries rise and fall. And I thought to myself: if they left that frozen land for us, if they built from scratch a new life in the West for us, if they slogged, saved, sacrificed to make our lives lighter than theirs, what did it mean when we returned to the place they left?

excerpted from India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking by Anand Giridharadas.

Copyright 2011 by Anand Giridharadas. Reprinted by arrangement with Times Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company LLC.

Source (http://www.npr.org/2011/01/04/132631222/india-calling-the-new-land-of-opportunity)

Book Copyright: Anand Giridharadas

ChennaiIndian

January 5th, 2011, 07:23 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/world/asia/06iht-letter06.html?_r=1

PONDICHERRY, INDIA — I spent the start of this decade in the same place that I spent the start of the last: outside the town of Pondicherry, in the countryside, amid the sound of firecrackers and the glow of oil lamps from surrounding villages.

Apart from my location, though, little else remains the same. Over the last 10 years, the countryside has been transformed. Villages have become towns. Mud huts have given way to concrete structures. Fields have been replaced by shopping complexes.

This has been a momentous decade for India. Economically, in particular, the nation has made huge strides. Although its revitalization began in the 1980s and ’90s, the last decade has been marked by a noticeable acceleration of growth rates.

In the 1960s and ’70s, India’s economy grew about 3.7 percent annually — the so-called (and much derided) “Hindu rate of growth.” By the end of the 1990s, the economy was growing about 6.5 percent. More recently, that figure has hovered between 7 percent and 9 percent.

High growth rates have not automatically translated into universal prosperity. India is still haunted by tremendous, often mind-boggling, poverty and inequality. Nonetheless, the widening of horizons and prospects is unmissable, and undeniable.

On this last day of the decade, I want to focus on the lives that have been lifted up since the start of the millennium. I only have room to tell four life stories. There are millions more like these. But these four men and women capture some of the hope that marks India today, and that casts little pools of light amid the shadows of deprivation that have for so long defined this country.

I want to tell you, first, about a 38-year-old woman named S. Rajalaxmi, from the South Indian village of Kuilapalayam. She was widowed at the age of 25, when her husband was hit by a bus. She had two children, a son aged 3 and a daughter aged 8. She was illiterate. She lived in a single-room thatched hut without running water.

No one would have bet on Ms. Rajalaxmi’s future, or on her children’s. A few years ago, though, a women’s college was built near Kuilapalayam, and today Ms. Rajalaxmi’s daughter is studying there for a degree in computer science. Her prospects are infinitely brighter than her mother’s. Ms. Rajalaxmi believes — she knows — that her daughter will get a good job and take care of the family.

...

ericos87

January 7th, 2011, 04:40 AM

Manmohan Singh: knowledge, not army might, determines a nation's strength

MUMBAI, January 6, 2011

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4432/th06manmohanpti1340373e.jpg

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flanked by Maharashtra Chief
Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Chief Mentor of Infosys N.R.
Narayana Murthy (left) during the Infosys Prize 2010 award
ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday.

Right to Education a special achievement of our government: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said making education a fundamental right was one of the special achievements of his government.

“If there is one initiative that our government has taken in these six and a half years in office I consider really special, it is the Right to Education that has now been enshrined in our Constitution,” he said speaking at a function here where he presented Infosys Science Foundation awards.

Acknowledging the importance of private institutions like the Infosys Science Foundation that had a large role to play in generating funds to reward excellence, Dr. Singh said: “The strength of a nation is no longer determined by the might of its army. It comes from the quality of collective knowledge, the productivity of its working people, the creativity of its entrepreneurs and the dedication of its professionals.”

The Infosys Prize 2010 was presented for outstanding achievements in scientific research. The awards were in five categories — Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering and Computer Science, Life Sciences and Social Sciences. The prize in each category comprises a 24-karat gold medallion, a citation expounding the laureate's work and Rs. 50 lakh in cash (tax free). Congratulating the recipients, K. Dinesh, co-founder, Infosys, and president of the Board of Trustees, Infosys Science Foundation, said: “Scientific research is of the utmost importance for India's rapid economic and social development. We endeavour to encourage the scientific community to make breakthroughs and discoveries that will drive the nation forward in the years to come. We hope that initiatives like this will go a long way in motivating and encouraging young minds to undertake research as a career.”

The Infosys Science Foundation was set up in February 2009 by the management of Infosys. The corpus has increased from Rs. 45 crore to Rs. 100 crore with about half the amount coming from the management of Infosys.

The winners

Professor Chandrashekhar Khare of the University of California, Los Angeles, got the award in the Mathematical Sciences category, in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the Number Theory particularly his solution of the Serre conjecture.

Professor Sandip Trivedi of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research won the award in the Physical Sciences category for finding an ingenious way to solve two of the most outstanding puzzles of Superstring Theory simultaneously: What is the origin of dark energy of the universe? And why is there no massless scalar particle?

Professor Ashutosh Sharma of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, won the award in the Engineering and Computer Science category for his fundamental contributions to mechanics, materials and manufacturing on small scale including self-organisation and instabilities, nano-patterning and functional multiscale interfaces.

Chetan Chitnis of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) won the award in the Life Sciences category for his pioneering work in understanding the interactions of the malaria parasite and its host, leading to the development of a viable vaccine.

The Social Sciences category award was jointly presented to Professor Amita Baviskar of the Institute of Economic Growth, in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding analyst of social and environmental movements in modern India, and Professor Nandini Sundar of the Delhi School of Economics, in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding analyst of social identities, including tribe and caste, and the politics of knowledge in modern India.

Source (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1046005.ece)

ericos87

January 7th, 2011, 07:26 AM

Do as I did, come back home, Manmohan Singh tells Indian diaspora
Published: Friday, Jan 7, 2011, 1:54 IST
By Lison Joseph | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

On his first visit to India’s commercial capital after a series of corruption scandals tarnished his government’s image, prime minister Manmohan Singh made an impassioned appeal to Indians abroad to return home to participate in India’s progress.

While calling out to Indian intellectuals abroad, Singh recalled his own decision to quit his job at the United Nations (UN) to and return home to teach at the Delhi School of Economics.

Between 1966 and 1969, Singh worked at the UN Secretariat in New York as the economic affairs officer and later as the chief of financing for the Trade Section at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). From 1969 to 1971, he taught international trade at the University of Delhi’s School of Economics.

The prime minister was addressing the audience after giving away the prestigious Infosys awards to six scientists for path-breaking research in the field engineering and computer science, mathematics, physical sciences, life sciences and social sciences.

The award, which carries a prize of Rs50 lakh each, is positioned as India’s equivalent of the much coveted Nobel Prize.

Singh lauded the awards, instituted by Infosys Science Foundation, a part of India’s second largest software services exporter Infosys Technologies Ltd, as they recognise Indian scientists working in India, especially considering that CV Raman was the last Indian scientist working in India to win a Nobel Prize in sciences.

Interestingly, professor Amartya Sen, a jury member for the awards, who won Nobel Prize for economics in 1998, was sharing the stage with Singh.

Even as he made an earnest effort to reach out to Indian abroad, Singh acknowledged the apprehension when it comes to leaving well-funded institutions abroad. “Many young people may think it is not exactly wise to leave the comfort of well funded institutions abroad to return home to work in India,” the prime minister said.

But he illustrated an example from his own life. When he quit his job at UNCTAD, the then head of that organisation and well-known Argentinean economist, Prof Raul Prebisch, told Singh that he was “being foolish” by leaving an UN job to return to teaching in India.

“But sometimes in life it is wise to be foolish,” Singh said, much to the delight of an audience packed with scientists, professors and businessmen.

“Having accepted all the inadequacies of India’s research infrastructure, if there are young men and women who are willing to work here and produce world class research despite all the constraints they may face, we must salute their wisdom, their grit and determination, and their love for their country,” Singh said.

The prime minister, who is in the city on a two-day visit, said that his government is working on removing barriers to acquiring knowledge and cited increasing government focus on instituting more scholarships to fund education. In particular, he cited the right to education as a special achievement. “If there is one initiative that our government has taken in these six-and-a-half years that I consider really special, it is the enactment of the Right to Education Act,” Singh said.

He also cautioned that the “growing share of privately funded for-profit educational intuitions” is emerging as a “worrisome barrier to freer access to knowledge”.

Source (http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_do-as-i-did-come-back-home-manmohan-singh-tells-indian-diaspora_1491310)

think-tank

January 7th, 2011, 11:54 AM

India can be the fastest growing economy by 2050: PwC

India has the potential to be the fastest growing large economy in the world over the period to 2050, says a report published by PwC today.

This is one of the conclusions from the latest in the series of PwC’s ‘The World in 2050’ reports. The most significant increases in share of world GDP at Market Exchange Rates (MERs) are projected to be achieved by India. In 2009, India’s share of world GDP at MERs was just 2 per cent. By 2050, this share could grow to around 13 per cent according to the findings of the report.

On the findings of the report, Jairaj Purandare, regional managing partner and leader – markets & industries, PwC India said “The global financial crisis has further accelerated the shift in economic power to the emerging economies. India, helped by its strong demographic dividend, is poised to overtake the US to emerge as the second largest economy in purchasing power parity terms by 2050. Over the coming decade, the Indian economy is likely to become less dependent on outsourcing and more focused on manufacturing exports, building on its strong engineering skills and the rising levels of education of its population.”

India’s trend growth is expected to overtake China’s trend growth at some point during the coming decade due to India having a significantly younger and faster growing working age population than China and due to it having more potential for growth as it is starting from a lower level of economic development than China and so has more catch-up potential.

However, the report says India will only fully realise this great potential if it continues to pursue the growth-friendly economic policies of the last two decades. Looking ahead, particular priorities will be maintaining a prudent fiscal policy stance, further extending its openness to foreign trade and investment, significantly increased investment in transport and energy infrastructure, and improved educational standards, particularly for women and those in rural areas of India, report said.

In the course of this process, the drivers of growth are likely to change. India is likely to become less dependent on outsourcing and more on manufacturing exports, building on its strong engineering skills and rising levels of education in the general population over the next decade. Consumer markets in major Indian cities will also become increasingly attractive to international companies as the size of the middle class there grows rapidly over time.

John Hawksworth, chief economist, PwC UK, said: “In many ways the renewed dominance by 2050 of China and India, with their much larger populations, is a return to the historical norm prior to the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries that caused a shift in global economic power from Asia to Western Europe and the US – this temporary shift in power is now going into reverse.”

source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-can-befastest-growing-economy-by-2050-pwc/121483/on)

think-tank

January 8th, 2011, 06:51 AM

Within two decades or less, a rapidly rising India will very likely become the world'sthird largest economy - after China and the US. It would be appropriate to start speculating now on what kind of a superpower India will be or could be when itbecomes one.

Complex adaptive systems cannot change their stripes once they have evolved. How a system evolves determines its end-state. In short,how India becomes a superpower will predefine its structure, its mindset and its behaviour.

First, India's emergence as a superpower will show that it is possible to lift millions of people out of poverty within one generation while embracing pluralism, a free press and a vibrant multi-party democracy. Most analysts predict that, over the next two decades, India's GDP will grow at a faster pace than China's. As the world's fastest-growing large economy on a sustained basis, India's rise will put to rest the idea that a command-and-control political system is the only viable route to rapid economic growth and that democracy is somehow antithetical to rapid economic growth.

Second, India has the potential to serve as a leading example of how to combine rapid economic growth with fairness towards and inclusion of those at the bottom rungs of the ladder. In a democratic system such as India's where even the poorest people exercise their political rights actively, fairness and inclusion will be even more critical for social stability than in China. A sit becomes a great power, these values will likely become an enduring part of the country's DNA.

Third, the prospects are high that, by 2025, India will likely emerge as one of the world's least corrupt developing economies.While widespread corruption is a reality in almost all developing economies (aswell as some of the developed ones), India is one of the very few developing economies with a free press that continues to be vigilant and merciless in exposing the corruption. It is very likely that a vigilant and free press will ensure that the likelihood of getting away with corruption will decline rapidly- with salutary deterrent effects.

Fourth, India will likely emerge as one of the world's leaders in leveraging information technology (IT) to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of its institutions - the corporations, the government and as well as civil society organizations. As 3G and 4G wireless connectivity becomes widespread over the next five years, it is a near-certainty that we'll see a rapid diffusion of low-cost tablet computers along with free or near-free applications aimed at self-learning, mobile banking as well as commercial productivity. India in 2025 could well emerge as one of the world's most connected and IT-savvy societies.

Fifth, India will almost certainly become a leading example of efficient resource utilization, especially in energy. India relies on imports for a bigger proportion of its oil & gas needs than any other large emerging economy. The situation is likely to get worse, with sustained growth. The consequences are clear. One possible out come is that India hits a resource-scarcity wall and economic growth comes to a screeching halt.

source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/7238752.cms)

think-tank

January 8th, 2011, 07:11 AM

Gujarat and Karnataka are the "role models" of a competent and transparent government and a progressive leadership that can attract investors in the coming years, a leading US business forum representative has said. "Competent, transparent, and progressive leadership are key attributes that will attract investors. Karnataka and Gujarat are two states that exemplify such progressive leadership," Ron Somers, president, US India Business Council, told PTI before leaving for India.

"There is a reason why Essar, Torrent, Reliance, Shell, Tata, Adani and some many others are thriving in Gujarat. Effective governance and administration, business- friendly policies, superior core knowledge infrastructure and an entrepreneurial culture combine to make Gujarat the premier business destination in India," he said. During his week-long trip to India beginning Friday, Somers would be travelling to Karnataka and Gujarat, which he believes should be the "role model" for other states for attracting investors and converting themselves into a business friendly destination. "In 2011, USIBC (US India Business Council) will feature such exemplary leadership in hopes of attracting investments to well-governed states, while spurring other states to become more business friendly,"

Somers said he was looking forward to meet the Karnataka Chief Minister Y S Yadiruppa and the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He would also meet the leadership of top companies in Bangalore -- Wipro, Infosys, IBM, Lanco, Biocon and Suzlon. "I am interested in assessing progress for business on the ground - gauging the forward-thinking of various State's leadership," he said, From Bangalore, Somers would be travelling to participate in Vibrant Gujarat business forum. Somers said in 2011 USIBC will feature exemplary leadership, in hopes of attracting investments to well- -governed states, while spurring other states to become more business friendly.

source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/gujarat-k%5Ctaka-%5Crole-model-states%5C-for-investment-us/421105/)

ericos87

January 9th, 2011, 07:22 AM

'Revival of Sanskrit will raise India to new heights'
Published: Sunday, Jan 9, 2011, 9:43 IST
By Shilpa CB | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

“We need to be proficient in Sanskrit to access ancient Indian wisdom, which holds the answers to today’s problems. This language is key to India’s success in all fields,” said scientists, management experts, technologists, at the Vijnana Sammelanam at the World Samskrit Book Fair.

“Scholar Charaka had long said all happiness is rooted in good science and science was well-developed in India and China before it was officially acknowledged by the West,” said professor Roddam Narashima, scientist in aerospace and atmospheric phenomenon.

“India is not a rags-to-riches story, but merely a nation striking back to acquire its place in the world. It was always a performing civilisation until the mid-19th century when its economy was destroyed,” said writer S Gurumurthy.

“Revival of Sanskrit will help India rise to the top,” he added. Professor B Mahadevan said Sanskrit texts provide solutions to many problems that management experts grapple with.

“We need inspirational leadership and there are many instances in literature that dwell on this topic. We need to get into Sanskrit to create a new world order, to be sustainableand inspirational, he said.

“The way to popularise the language is to create content that will appeal to the youth, to use modern fora like blogs and podcasts to take information expressed in the language to the end-user,” said Aruna Ramarathnam, a technology enthusiast. Manu Baligar, director of Kannada and Culture department, announced that Kannada books useful to youngsters would be translated to Sanskrit.

On the first day of the three-day fair, books worth `1 crore were sold. At the Pustaka Parishe, visitors can pick up a book free of cost and even donate books. Over 16,000 books were given away on Friday, the first day of the fair. About 25,000 Bhagavad Gitas were also sold. The 154 stalls are offering discounts and books are being sold by the sackfuls, said organisers.

Over 8,000 people from 500 districts, 24 states are attending.Among the attendees are 43 people from Jiree, a ‘Sanskrit village’ in Madhya Pradesh.

Source (http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_revival-of-sanskrit-will-raise-india-to-new-heights_1492167)

ChennaiIndian

January 10th, 2011, 01:57 AM

Do as I did, come back home, Manmohan Singh tells Indian diaspora
Published: Friday, Jan 7, 2011, 1:54 IST
By Lison Joseph | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Source (http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_do-as-i-did-come-back-home-manmohan-singh-tells-indian-diaspora_1491310)
...“Having accepted all the inadequacies of India’s research infrastructure, if there are young men and women who are willing to work here and produce world class research despite all the constraints they may face, we must salute their wisdom, their grit and determination, and their love for their country,” Singh said....

Truly marvelous! :cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

ericos87

January 11th, 2011, 04:46 PM

Rural India to be new engine for double digit growth
January 11, 2011 14:28 IST

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/3672/11rural.jpg

India's current economic growth would continue for at least 15-20 years and Rural India would be the new engine for a double digit growth, Chairman of the ICICI Bank Limited, K V Kamath said.

Delivering the third V O Abraham Memorial lecture on "The Dawn of the Indian Decade: 2010-2020" here last night, Kamath said that this would be India's decade.

India would also emerge as the largest contributor to the global workforce and global innovations in the current decade, he said.

The shares traded at the Bombay Stock Exchange [ Images ] (BSE -100 Index) was at $28 billion in 1995, shot up to $84 billion in 2000 and $170 billion in 20l0. The net profits over the transations was which was $3 billion in 1995, rose to $4 billion in 2000 and $20 billion in 2010.

Despite the global recession, the Country's per capita income had gone up to $1000 from $500 during the past five years, which was a temendous achievement.

India was poised for another steep change in the decade based on domestic drivers and growing global relevance, he said adding key priority should be given for infrastructural development - roads, rails, power, ports,airports and other basic factors.

Source (http://www.rediff.com/business/report/rural-india-to-be-new-engine-for-double-digit-growth/20110111.htm)

ab041937

January 29th, 2011, 07:35 AM

Look for new links across the global south (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/22ad4252-2a76-11e0-804a-00144feab49a.html#axzz1COrX5CRF)
By Luis Alberto Moreno
Financial Times, UK
January 28 2011

The first phase of globalisation saw industrialised nations build relationships with each other. In the second, those nations forged links with emerging regions. Now, a new phase is beginning, defined by the integration of emerging markets themselves. And nowhere is this “south-south” model more evident than in emerging links between Asia and South America.

This wasn’t always true. From 2001 to 2009 KPMG estimates China’s total investments in Brazil at a mere $215m. Yet last year Chinese energy and chemical groups quietly spent more than $20bn acquiring assets in Argentina and Brazil alone. Over the past decade Asia’s share of Latin American trade jumped from 9 per cent to 20 per cent. Increasingly led by China, but also with substantial investment from Japan and South Korea, Asian trade with the region topped $256bn in 2010 – more than Latin America’s annual trade with the European Union, and more than half its trade with the US.

This next stage of global development, however, is not a static picture. China’s search for natural resources has rightly drawn attention, but other Asian nations are increasingly important too. India, in particular, faces severe resource constraints. It must find more sources of food, minerals and fuel to sustain its impressive growth rates.

Indian multinationals know this, and trade patterns are already changing as a result. Reliance Industries imported a quarter of its petroleum from Latin America in 2010, up from 13 per cent in 2009 – as part of a strategy to improve refining margins by processing heavier and cheaper grades of oil. Renuka Sugar also recently invested some $600m in Brazil’s sugar sector, to diversify its supply sources. The elimination of tariffs on edible oils means soya (primarily from Argentina) has become Latin America’s largest agricultural export to India too.

Trade in commodities tends to dominate analysis of such growing connections, but in the future opportunities will also stem from complementary demographic and economic circumstances. One example came a few years ago, when a consortium of Colombian sugar producers went on a global search for technology to make ethanol that met strict environmental standards. At the same time, some of India’s biggest consulting firms wanted to use Latin America as a base for the US market. Today, 7 per cent of Colombian gasoline has been replaced by domestic ethanol, produced with green Indian technology – while Indian companies, including Infosys and Tata, now have 17,000 employees in Latin American and the Caribbean.

India and Latin America’s populations are also younger than most other Asian countries, and this decade will see tens of millions of young workers in both emerge from poverty, move to cities, and demand affordable food, healthcare and transport. This creates an opportunity that the private sector is taking up. Over the past decade, Indian pharmaceuticals companies such as Ranbaxy Laboratories and Strides Acrolab have started factories and joint ventures in Latin America that now sell $500m a year in low-cost generic drugs.

Of course, we must not get carried away with such developments. Latin American and Caribbean trade with India is only a one-10th of that with China, and one-sixth of that with Japan. Considerable challenges over the value of currencies remain, while more trade disruption cannot be ruled out. Governments in both regions must therefore do more to dismantle protectionism. The average Indian tariff on Latin American agricultural goods is 65 per cent. Although Latin American tariffs on Indian goods are not this high, a recent study by the Inter-American Development Bank suggests a 10 per cent reduction would, for instance, increase imports of Indian goods in Chile and Argentina by 36 per cent.

Moves to reduce shipping costs would also help. Currently, goods from both regions must be shipped via Singapore or Europe, increasing costs. Policymakers should push for better ports, lower maritime regulatory barriers, tax incentives to operators of new shipping routes and further open sky agreements to ease trade in perishable goods. China, like Japan before it, has shown how these policies can rapidly expand trade. Now India and its Asian neighbours are poised to deepen ties, and take measures to accelerate growth and improve the lives of those living in poverty. The world should take notice.

The writer is president of the Inter-American Development Bank

ab041937

February 2nd, 2011, 12:47 PM

India could teach SA a thing or two (http://www.iol.co.za/business/opinion/india-could-teach-sa-a-thing-or-two-1.1019193)
Ellis Mnyandu,
Independent Online, South Africa
January 31 2011

About a week ago I had the opportunity to visit India for the first time. The trip was an eye opener. When you get to New Delhi you soon realise that you have arrived at what must be one of the most fortified capitals in the world.

Since the co-ordinated terrorist bombings of hotels in Mumbai in 2008, India has had to beef up security immensely.

Visible policing is nearly everywhere – there are checkpoints with heavily armed police on about every stretch of the road in New Delhi. Even when you check into a major hotel your luggage has to be X-rayed before you are let in.

To an outsider all this might seem a bit of an inconvenience, but Indians say that the heightened security merely reflects a fact of their lives – that they live in a dangerous neighbourhood.

Security challenges to India are nothing new. Indian government officials say that the country has been a victim of terrorism for more than 30 years.

In conversations with financial editors from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa government officials were quick to point to neighbouring Pakistan as one of the biggest security challenges.

Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. While India is a strong democracy, Pakistan is beset with instability that the US and others say provides refuge for terror groups.

Even so, speaking to the Indians and observing how the country is transforming itself, one gets a sense of an India that has its eye confidently on the future. India’s economy is forecast to grow by between 8.5 percent and 9 percent over the medium and longer term.

If this growth trajectory is maintained for the next 25 years the Indian economy should become the third-largest economy in the world by 2035, when China is expected to be number one, ahead of the US at market exchange rates.

The other good news for India is that global investors view the country favourably, making it an attractive destination for foreign direct investment.

Total foreign investment in India in 2001/02 was about $4 billion (R29bn at Friday’s exchange rate), and by 2009/10 it had increased to $37bn. India’s domestic savings rate of about 35 percent also gives the country significant appeal.

But even with the rosy economic prospects, India pretty much has two parallel economies – one rich and the other poor. It is the very same problem that South Africa faces and currently has little foresight to tackle.

The slums of New Delhi and Mumbai underscore the fact that an increasing number of Indians remain shut out from the economic miracle that India is experiencing as its clout in such critical spheres as information technology grows and its push to liberalise its economy continues.

Likewise, the many South African shanty towns also illustrate how much little progress we have made to build an economy that is inclusive and rewards hard work, not political connections.

But as the world’s biggest democracy, India is acutely aware of the risks that are attendant to an economy whose gains accrue disproportionately to a few.

About 37 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people live below the poverty line, recent government figures show. That is more than 440 million people.

And as one of the fastest-growing emerging economies, India’s challenges offer South Africa the best case study from which to glean insights about how we could also deal with some of the very same problems that India is grappling with. Our shared history should make this easier.

One of India’s core strengths that became apparent during my visit is its institutional capacity, thanks to the country’s highly educated civil service.

Strong institutional capacity is one of South Africa’s major shortcomings. Without it, the government cannot deliver on its mandate, and policy formulation and implementation is fragmented and uneven.

As such, there is a lot that South Africa can learn from India in terms of building strong institutional capacity to improve such critical areas as education and health.

Likewise, India can learn from South Africa how it has been able, for example, to open up its financial services and retail sectors to foreign investors – the very same sectors that remain rather off limits in India.

Understandably, India has chosen to take a more measured and calibrated approach in opening up the rest of its economy, but what it must try to avoid is being seen as protectionist at a time when its growing breed of multinationals like Tata Group and Bharti Enterprises are making major international forays.

Ellis Mnyandu was in India as part of a delegation of financial editors from South Africa, Brazil, China and Russia, hosted by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

mangy

February 5th, 2011, 10:20 PM

Advertisements for India
The Observer on Sunday, Cayman Islands
http://www.compasscayman.com/observer/2011/01/30/Advertisements-for-India/

SIRUSERI, India – A massive futuristic office complex is rising from a patch of spare, arid land here near the southern Indian city of Chennai. Six butterfly-shaped buildings dock like spacecraft to two long metal-latticed terminals.

About 12,000 people already work at the campus, being built by India’s largest technology company, Tata Consultancy Services. It eventually will have space for 24,000 of Tata’s nearly 180,000 employees.

Meanwhile Infosys, one of Tata’s biggest competitors, has added a corporate campus for 15,000 employees with buildings that resemble the Parthenon, the Coliseum and the Louvre’s glass pyramid. Infosys plans to build an additional 9 million square meters of custom office space by mid-2012, at various sites, adding 25,000 workers to its current 122,000.

It is all part of a construction spree by India’s outsourcing companies, which are growing at a breakneck pace after the lull caused by the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.

But the building boom is about more than making room for more workers.

The outsourcing giants, which include Wipro and others, hope that architectural sizzle can help them compete for the nation’s top software programmers, while also burnishing their reputations with overseas clients and prospective customers.

think-tank

February 17th, 2011, 08:34 PM

Bangalore shines among India's booming cities: Morgan Stanley report

NEW DELHI: Tech hub Bangalore tops the list in a new Morgan Stanley report on how India's booming cities cope with problems from infrastructure to job creation, with Mumbai , India's financial capital, trailing in 21st place.

Asia's third-largest economy is home to one-quarter of the world's 20 most densely populated cities but the slow pace of urban development has been a drag on economic growth.

The report found that second-tier cities Mysore, in the southwest, and Meerut in the country's north, came in second and sixth places out of India's 50 most populated cities.

Nearly one-quarter of India's top 200 cities have no car dealership, less than 10 percent have a 5-star hotel, and nearly two-thirds were still waiting for a large-scale retail store or hypermarket, the report found.

Its findings are based on a City Vibrancy Index (CVI), which looks at, among other factors, infrastructure, job opportunities, modern consumer services and a city's ability to mobilise savings -- what it calls key drivers of urbanisation.

Bangalore, India's "Silicon Valley", came in first place, with Pune in third and Hyderabad in fourth while New Delhi, India's capital, ranked eighth.

Over the next two decades, India is expected to see an urban transformation the scale and speed of which has not happened anywhere except China, with many cities becoming larger than many countries, in terms of population size and GDP.

By 2030 India will be home to about 590 million people -- nearly twice the population of the United States today.

However, India is dwarfed by China on infrastructure spending. India spends a mere $17 per capita on urban infrastructure, compared to rival China's $116. Poor infrastructure is estimated to shave a whole 2 percentage points off India's economic growth.

source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/bangalore-shines-among-indias-booming-cities-morgan-stanley-report/articleshow/7517616.cms)

desiguy66

February 18th, 2011, 04:58 AM

Bangalore shines among India's booming cities: Morgan Stanley report

source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/bangalore-shines-among-indias-booming-cities-morgan-stanley-report/articleshow/7517616.cms)

"By 2030 India will be home to about 590 million people -- nearly twice the population of the United States today.":bash:

think-tank

February 18th, 2011, 05:31 AM

"By 2030 India will be home to about 590 million people -- nearly twice the population of the United States today.":bash:

I think they are talking about immigrants.

Marathaman

February 26th, 2011, 11:20 AM

We Indians are so naive. Somebody sitting in a Wall-Street bank praises the country for entirely vested reasons and we all start cheering. Better to look at why the praise is being given.

think-tank

February 26th, 2011, 01:32 PM

We Indians are so naive. Somebody sitting in a Wall-Street bank praises the country for entirely vested reasons and we all start cheering. Better to look at why the praise is being given.

It's not just the wall-street that's cheering- there are hundreds of examples, but you are right though- some Indians can be narrow minded and totally lack gratitude.

think-tank

March 6th, 2011, 04:34 AM

Two-trillion India

India is poised to join the coveted club of economies whose national income, or gross domestic product (GDP), exceeds $2 trillion. According to recently released data, India’s nominal GDP is expected to grow at 14 per cent in 2011-12, to reach Rs 90 lakh crores. At a dollar exchange rate of Rs 45, this works out to $2 trillion. However, if inflation is assumed to be 7 per cent and the real growth rate is 9 per cent as projected, the growth rate of 14 per cent may actually understate nominal growth rate by 2 percentage points, which means India’s nominal GDP in dollar terms will actually exceed $2 trillion this fiscal!

India’s nominal GDP crossed the $1 trillion mark in 2007-08, which implies GDP has doubled in four years. Applying the ‘rule of 72’ would mean India’s average annual growth rate of nominal GDP during the period is a stupendous 18 per cent! That it was achieved in a milieu of pervasive economic gloom makes the feat even more impressive. Amidst the prevailing euphoria, it may be time to take a pause. The future may well be less perfect than we imagined. First, the magic number of $2 trillion is based on an exchange rate of $45 to the dollar. If the rupee were to depreciate, India’s nominal GDP would be lower for the same level of output. Second, in celebrating the nominal as opposed to the real GDP, we may be losing sight of the contribution of inflation. The difference between real and nominal GDP is inflation, and so for a given level of real GDP, the higher the inflation the more rapidly would nominal GDP increase. This is clearly an undesirable outcome for everybody.

Statistical convolutions aside, the health of the Indian economy needs a candid review, particularly in light of potential downsides that could derail the genuine progress the Indian economy has made over the past two decades. The slowdown in virtually all sectors of the economy, barring a few select industries like ‘transport, logistics and communication’, which has been growing annually at 25 per cent, is indeed worrisome. Growth in the agriculture sector continues to be dampened by under-investment, despite some increase during the past five years. This has resulted in the sector being caught in a classic low productivity trap. Manufacturing too is spinning on its wheels, with annual growth rates stubbornly in the single digits. This reflects deeply embedded structural problems, which have been discussed in this space. India’s economic growth continues to rely on the service sector growing at or around 10 per cent annually, which renders it vulnerable to global shocks.

The situation on the supply side also leaves a lot to be desired. This particularly applies to the tardy progress in the development of infrastructure and investment in human development, which is already holding India back. Apart from the bottlenecks and the shortcomings that are holding India back, the recent spurt in growth has also been accompanied by increased inequality, with the rich becoming richer. Hence, even as India pursues policies that enhance and sustain growth, there is a need to ensure greater equity in the growth process. India has much to celebrate by way of economic progress, but there is still some way to go in making this growth process more socially, economically and regionally inclusive.

source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/two-trillion-india/427402/)

mangy

March 8th, 2011, 03:35 AM

In India, private business funds public education
The Observer on Sunday, Cayman Islands
http://www.compasscayman.com/observer/2011/03/06/In-India,-private-business-funds-public-education/

PANTNAGAR, India – The Nagla elementary school in this north Indian town looks like many other rundown government schools.

Sweater-clad children sit on burlap sheets laid in rows on cold concrete floors.

Lunch is prepared out back on a fire of burning twigs and branches.

But the classrooms of Nagla are a laboratory for an educational approach unusual for an Indian public school.

Rather than being drilled and tested on reproducing passages from textbooks, students write their own stories.

And they pursue independent projects – as when fifth-grade students recently interviewed organizers of religious festivals and then made written and oral presentations.

That might seem commonplace in U.S. or European schools.

But such activities are revolutionary in India, where public school students have long been drilled on memorizing facts and regurgitating them in stressful year-end exams that many children fail.

Nagla and 1,500 other schools in this Indian state, Uttarakhand, are part of a five-year-old project to improve Indian primary education that is being paid for by one of the country’s richest men, Azim H. Premji, chairman of the information technology giant Wipro.

Education experts at his Premji Foundation are helping to train new teachers and guide current teachers and administrators in overhauling the way students are taught and tested at government schools.

think-tank

March 9th, 2011, 06:44 PM

China, India growth could last decades: RBA's Stevens

LONDON: China and India could yet see decades more of strong growth, the Reserve Bank of Australia's governor Glenn Stevens said on Wednesday.

Answering a question about the sustainability of the mining boom which has bolstered the Australian economy, Stevens said that growth from emerging markets was likely to be durable.

"The Indian and Chinese emergence have a long way to go, quite possibly decades, not just years," Stevens said.

However he warned that all booms end at some point and stressed the need for prudence as well as the need to keep the economy as flexible as possible.

Stevens was answering questions after a speech at a business lunch at a hotel in London.

The RBA is the most aggressive central bank among developed nations, having raised interest rates by a total of 175 basis points between Oct. 2009 and Nov. 2010 as it sought to remove stimulus after the global financial crisis.

source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/china-india-growth-could-last-decades-rbas-stevens/articleshow/7665195.cms)

think-tank

March 10th, 2011, 05:28 AM

World looks at India more positively

WASHINGTON: Mark Twain and Max Mueller were captivated by India. Winston Churchill and Richard Nixon disdained her. In a far more complex 21st century environment, India continues to evoke mixed reactions across the world, although it is gradually increasing positive views from the international community even as it jostles for influence with key players such as United States and China.

A BBC World Service Country Rating Poll of 27 countries conducted with the University of Maryland shows India rated a 42% "mainly positive" view of its influence in 2010-2011, a 6% improvement over the previous year, with 29% "mainly negative". China rated 44-38 and the United States 49-31 in a poll that was topped by Germany 62-15, UK and Canada 57-12. The poll results released this week involved 28,619 citizens in major urban areas of 27 countries.

The broadly positive numbers for India masks a complex picture of country-by-country views that has ebbed and flowed with geo-political and economic developments. Of 27 countries polled, 17 lean positive towards India, four lean negative, and six are divided. Countries where there was a mainly negative view of India's influence include (not unexpectedly) Pakistan, and unexpectedly, Philippines, France and Spain. China and Australia were among the countries which are divided about India.

Although Americans and British still lean largely positive (56% and 50%, respectively), the poll showed their views of India's influence in world affairs have deteriorated over the past year, with negative ratings increasing sharply in both countries (29%, up 11 points in the US, 35%, up 19 points in the UK). The same trend is observed in Australia, where negative views are up 18 points compared to 2010, and Australian opinion shifted from being positive in 2010 to divided in 2011 (44% vs 45%).

Italy is the most favourable country towards India in Europe. More than six in ten (61%) lean positive, a 19-point rise since 2010. India also increased its positive views significantly in Turkey, South Korea and Nigeria. Even in China, the positive views of India went up from 29% in 2010 to 40% this year.

While most countries, including the United States and China, improved their positive view across the world, the three most negatively viewed countries saw their average ratings go from bad to worse, including Iran (59% negative, up 3 points since 2010), North Korea (55%, up 6 points), and Pakistan (56%, up 5 points).

Pakistan is having a particularly dismal time. Of the 27 countries polled in 2011, 23 lean negative towards Pakistan, three lean positive, and one is divided. Even China, Pakistan's much-vaunted ally, moved from being divided about Pakistan to leaning negative. While there was an increase in favorable ratings of seven points (37%), negative ratings grew by 13 points (47%).

A number of countries with clearly unfavorable leanings towards Pakistan have become even more negative, including the US (75%, up from 58%) and Australia (74%, up from 54%). Negative views of Pakistan in the United Kingdom jumped 24 points to 68%, and in Canada they increased by 18 points (67%). Turkey is the only country which has a positive view of Pakistan.

Views of the US continued their overall improvement in 2011, confirming the trend seen in 2010. Of the 27 countries surveyed, 18 hold positive views, seven hold negative views, and two are divided. In Asia, a majority of Chinese is now holding negative views (53%, up 9 points), and although views improved a bit in Pakistan, they are still largely negative overall (16% vs 46%).

source (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/World-looks-at-India-more-positively/articleshow/7667312.cms)

think-tank

March 22nd, 2011, 06:08 AM

Why Warren Buffett swears by IIT Kharagpur grad Ajit Jain

MUMBAI: Legendary investor Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders of his company Berkshire Hathaway is awaited by the market with almost as much excitement as a new Harry Potter book was (till J K Rowling decided to pull the plug). Amid all the change, there's been one constant in Buffett's letters: his lavish praise for Ajit Jain , the IIT Kharagpur grad who heads Berkshire's reinsurance business and is tipped as the one to succeed Buffet.

Last year, Buffett - who speaks to Jain almost every day - wrote, "If Charlie (Buffett's partner Charles Munger), I and Ajit are ever in a sinking boat - and you can only save one of us - swim to Ajit." He was just as fulsome in his praise this year: "From a standing start in 1985, Ajit has created an insurance business with float of $30 billion and significant underwriting profits, a feat that no CEO of any other insurer has come close to matching. By his accomplishments, he has added a great many billions of dollars to the value of Berkshire. Even kryptonite bounces off Ajit."

So, if the world at large isn't familiar with Jain, it's because he's chosen to be extremely low profile, to the point of being reclusive. The Times of India managed to catch him for a rare interview - his first in India and one of the very, very few he's ever given (we couldn't find any).

In the course of over an hour, Jain spoke about Buffett, Berkshire and succession; about how India's changed since he moved to the US in 1976; about the impact of the Japanese crisis on world insurance markets, and about a range of other issues. Every now and then, he would slip into Hindi.

According to him, his job is easy and fun because "we have a boss, we have a board and we have a company that can withstand a multi-billion dollar loss without affecting how we do our business and without blaming any individual for a wrong decision. The other side of the equation that makes my job easier is that despite having all the capital, we have zero pressure to deploy the capital, which is a huge tailwind. If I compare my job with CEOs of other reinsurance companies, they are under pressure to deploy capital; I can focus on the insurance business without having to worry about going into the capital issues."

Jain says BH, which owns GEICO, the world's largest direct auto insurance company, is keen to invest in a direct insurance business in India. But, with dominant stakes.

source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/why-warren-buffett-swears-by-iit-kharagpur-grad-ajit-jain/articleshow/7759534.cms)

think-tank

March 22nd, 2011, 06:36 AM

MIT award for 18 top Indian techies

A synthesiser inspired by physicist Stephen Hawking's talking gadget, a cell phone system that gives alerts on cooking gas cylinder leaks and robots that perform root canal treatment and underwater clean- up - innovations such as these have won a bunch of young Indian techies a prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT) award.

TR35, a MIT Technology Review initiative, will honour this year's 18 top Indian innovators - who are aged under 35 - here on Tuesday.

Over two days, these young women and men will share the stage with top scientists. The innovators have been selected for developing technological solutions to common problems and their contributions hold great promise, the award jury said.

The innovations will change the world of many people. Rohit Jain, born in Chennai with cerebral palsy that affected his brain and immobilised him into silence, finished high school last year thanks to one of these gadgets.

Jain now studies Sociology at Loyola College, Chennai.

Made by a team of IIT Madras graduates, AVAZ - a custommade speech synthesiser - is now available for tests in institutions like Delhi's Tamanna special school.

AVAZ helps the children convert their gestures with head or fingers into speech with the aid of a micro- processor and sensors.

Ajit Narayanan, the key person behind AVAZ, has won this year's TR- 35 Innovator of the Year award.

Gautam Kumar, 26, of RoboticWares, Bhubaneshwar, won the Social Innovator award for a gadget that detects the smell of a LPG leakage. And it automatically sends text messages to five designated people over their cell phones.

The trigger for the device was a Bhubaneshwar blast that reminded Kumar's colleague Kushal Nahata of an earlier blast at Chandni Chowk in Delhi, where his parents lived.

Deepak Ravindran, 22, of Innoz Technologies in Gurgaon, won the telecom prize for a text- based cell phone search engine.

SMSGyan is a platform that can work with different databases to give answers of up to 500 characters - from dictionaries, cricket, stock market and gadgets price lists.

The digital slate developed by Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan of Microsoft Research Lab in Bangalore finds application in Kalahandi, Orissa, among poor people.

" Earlier self- help group members had to write out their accounts and leave a copy in a box," Sabyasachi Kar of the NGO Pradan, said. A messenger would collect them and take it to a far- away place with computer and electricity every week. Now the local women just have to place a plain paper on the new slate and enter data with a special pen.

Sameer Jain - of MGV Dental College, Nashik - won an award for his root canal machine. Then, there are robots that go underwater and those that clean ducts.

Others have developed technologies to secure Internet service provider's routing network and make printing ink eco- friendly.

Technology Review India Editor Srinivas Rao who led the project said: " It is heartening to see an increase in technology innovation in India."

source (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/133052/LATEST%20HEADLINES/mit-award-for-18-top-indian-techies.html)

think-tank

March 26th, 2011, 09:13 AM

Indian innovators are morphing into entrepreneurs

NEW DELHI: Imagine a jacket that keeps you cool in the coming summer. Or a roof made of recycled tetra packs. Or using electricity generated by a micro- wind turbine on your rooftop. No, these aren't ideas in the air. These are products in the market by Indian innovators. They are testimony to a trend that has not shown up on any radar yet - that Indian innovators are morphing into entrepreneurs .

"The technology is my baby. I couldn't think of giving it to anyone else," says Kranthi Kiran Vistakula, founder of Dhama Innovations and innovator of ClimaCon, the technology which syncs clothing with body temperature on demand.

Wasn't he intimidated by the idea of setting up his own company? "No, I was willing to take the risk. As an MTech from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I could have gone back to the USA and landed a job. But I am passionate about building a global Indian brand," he says.

The market demands such innovator-entrepreneurs. Consumers want customised solutions for their problems. Products and services that meet their specific needs. But they don't want to pay a premium for these.

Despite runaway salaries and households with many earning members, India's per capita income is still low, $3,400, compared with the developed world, say $47,400 (annual 2010 estimates) of the US.

So innovations must offer decent quality at ultra low price. To convert an innovation into a successful business, innovators have to ensure the technology process can be standardised and scaled up.

Also, that the final product should have a design that appeals to end users.

This is why Parag Kulkarni and Vinayak Manmadkar, innovators of an indigenous micro-wind turbine have never stopped their research. They have built seamless blades that withstand high wind velocity and are more energy efficient than imported turbines. The business is estimated to earn Rs 10 crore in 2011-12. But the duo continuously improves technology to upgrades the turbines.

Increasingly, such innovators can find adequate support from mentors, incubators and government institutions. In fact, many venture capitalists claim they fund only those companies which offer an innovative product or service. Saurabh Srivastava, chairman of CA India, is one of India's leading angel investors and venture capitalists: "If the idea is not original, it is unlikely to work in the market. There is no space for mere cheap imitation. We have moved ahead of that stage."

People like Tushar Shah realise this. The Vapi-based entrepreneur was not satisfied with the family business of recycling newsprint. So he spent two years to research about recycling tetra pack cartons of milk and fruit juices. The result: tetra packs break down into diesel, roofing sheets and paper. There are many more stories of innovators. Several more lessons from their journey. For a complete picture, pick up the new Sunday ET tomorrow..

source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/indian-innovators-are-morphing-into-entrepreneurs/articleshow/7789981.cms)

ericos87

March 28th, 2011, 08:33 AM

4 Americans paint vibrant India in new light
Meenakshi Sinha, TNN | Mar 28, 2011, 06.40am IST

NEW DELHI: For many Westerners, India continues to be a land of tigers, princes, snake charmers and spirituality. Often these cliched images also dominate the imagination of artists from abroad. But four American artists - Carrie Fonder, Lily Stockman, Rebecca Layton and Jenny Mullins - have tried to break free.

In an exhibition titled Super/Power, their visual narratives are filled with a different set of images: autorickshaws, godowns, mobile phone towers and electrical transformers. The art works attempt to foster a dialogue between the mythologies of the old and vibrant India with New India. Curator Georgina Maddox says "each artist has employed multiple mediums to engage with the subject of India." Through paintings, sculptures, drawings and installations - they express themselves in an exhibition on view from April 1-16 at Threshold Art Gallery.

Detroit-based Fonder's sculptures deal with issues of gender and the way culture influences gender identity. Her work uses the ubiquitous autorickshaw that she purchased in October 2010 to illustrate her responses to the hijra (eunuch) community in India. "I was inspired by the beauty and boldness of the hijras that I encountered in my daily life in Mumbai as well as the rickshaws. Hijras got me thinking about the hardships they face not only as hijras but also as women," says Fonder.

Her creation titled Trans-co takes a multi-cultural look at gender while paying homage to hijras and autorickshaws. "It's a play on American car culture; at the same time it nods reverentially to the world of amazing rickshaw customisations visible throughout India," says Fonder who's fascinated by the dualities of India. Despite stereotypical and historical trappings, India is also contemporary and unique, she says.

LA based Stockman, who grew up on a farm in central New Jersey, was always attracted to the collision of the natural and built environment: how man shapes his surroundings. Last year she moved to India and was fascinated to see the same thing happening here.

Her works titled Full Humidity and Pink Mughal are contrastingly minimal as they play out areas of suburban India that sit between the rural and urban. "For centuries Western artists have come to India to capture masterpieces of Indian architecture like the Taj or the Humayun's Tomb. But I'm interested in the uncelebrated, the unglamourous and the banal monuments of contemporary India. Using grain elevators, silos, plinths and godowns as my unlikely subjects, I've depicted these structures as mechanisms for the measurement of production and consumption" says Stockman who researched newspapers, visited state-run ration godowns and new hydraulic-powered grain silos in Punjab for her project.

Layton came to India to study block printing and miniature painting in Jaipur. She uses contemporary images of new India such as mobile phone towers and concrete buildings as source material for her work.

"The project involved designing my own patterns, translating them into wooden block carving, then having those printed on fabric," she says.

meenakshi.sinha@timesgroup.com

Source (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/4-Americans-paint-vibrant-India-in-new-light/articleshow/7800980.cms)

sathya_226

March 30th, 2011, 07:54 AM

Karachi bleeds while Mumbai ready to flourish
By Mustafa Nemat
Published: October 21, 2010
Source: here (http://tribune.com.pk/story/65419/karachi-bleeds-while-mumbai-ready-to-flourish/)
KARACHI: It is ironic (for lack of a better word) that while commercial activity in the financial capital of the country has been held hostage to the string of violence that seems to be rippling out of control, our two mighty neighbours seem to be quite busy on the economic front.

The largest initial public offering in next-door India’s history kicked off on Monday and within three days has been oversubscribed 10 times. The offering of what also happens to be one of the biggest producers of coal in the world, Coal India, has invited more than enough investors to be referred to a whopping success.

“State-run Coal India’s IPO to raise as much as $3.5 billion was covered more than 10 times on the third day of the issue’s launch, exchange data showed, as large investors crowded in on the final day for institutional order,” read a Reuters report on Wednesday.

The only people not happy with the privatisation of the mammoth organisation seem to be its employees – who fear a cut in jobs. The share of the offering set aside for them has been severely undersubscribed but interestingly, private investors are more than happy to gobble up this share of the pie as well since most research houses have given a clear go-ahead for putting money into the company.

Meanwhile, our trusted ally in the north decided to go and increase discount rates in a surprise move on Tuesday – a similar stunt to the one pulled by the State Bank of Pakistan in its last monetary policy review. The first increase since 2007, which according to some has been executed to cool down the economy, takes one-year deposit rate to 2.5 per cent and one-year lending rate to 5.56 per cent.

Like in Pakistan, concerns have been expressed in China that the hike will be counter-productive in the fight against inflation. Albeit, there is one key difference between the situation in China and Pakistan – although interest rates there are still much lower than what we have to offer, the recent increase is expected to result in an inflow of foreign capital into the country which may result in appreciation of the yuan.

A clearer picture, however, will emerge after finance ministers of the G20 major economies meet in South Korea on Friday to discuss currency-related issues.

Back home, Karachi remained at a virtual standstill on Wednesday after the death toll on the back of target killings rose to 66 in a period of just four days.

Despite the relatively better performance of the benchmark KSE-100 index at the local exchange over the past few days, turnover remains low reflecting a general lack of interest in local equities. Even the sporadic buying by foreign heavyweights has failed to lift up average daily volumes at the Karachi Stock Exchange above the 100 million mark.

The only excitement in financial circles seems to be the Term Finance Certificates (TFCs) put up on the retail market by Engro Corporation on an attractive annual return of 14.5 per cent.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2010.

purty_trash

March 31st, 2011, 10:03 AM

^^^ man I'm not sure if it's more of an india shining article or a pakistan-in-tatters article. In my humble opinion, let's keep away from comparison stuff. It might end up eroding the sanctity of this page.

Just, my humble opinion.

sathya_226

March 31st, 2011, 12:08 PM

think-tank

March 31st, 2011, 12:39 PM

India's literacy level is 74%: census

India's literacy level has increased by 9.21% in the past 10 years to reach 74.04%, according to provisional data of the 2011 census released here today.

According to the data, literates constitute 74% of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26%.

The literacy rate went up from 64.83% in 2001 to 74.04% in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21%.

Interestingly, females literacy level saw a significant jump as compared to males between 2001-2011.

While female literacy in 2001 stood at 53.67%, it has gone up to 65.46% in 2011. The male literacy in comparison rose from 75.26 to 82.14%.

Kerala with 93.91% continues to occupy the top position among states in the field of literacy while Mizoram's Serchhip (98.76%) and Aizawl (98.50%) recorded highest literacy rates among districts.

Lakshadweep followed Kerala with a literacy level of 92.28%, while Bihar remained at the bottom of the ladder with a literacy rate of 63.82% followed by Arunachal Pradesh at 66.95%.

Ten states and UTs viz. Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Chandigarh, NCT of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands achieved literacy rate of above 85%, the target set by the Planning Commission to be achieved by 2011-12.

The gap of 21.59 percentage points recorded between male and female literacy rates in 2001 census has reduced to 16.68 percentage points in 2011. Planning Commission has set up target of reducing this gap to 10 percentage points by 2011-12.

source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india%5Cs-literacy-level-is-74-census/130831/on)

murlee

March 31st, 2011, 01:34 PM

Damn!! 74% is still low.. I thought we would atleast reach 80%

think-tank

March 31st, 2011, 01:42 PM

^^ stop being a cynic, it has risen considerably since 2001. Will reach 85-90 by 2020 because of the free education bill and many other science and research initiatives.

sathya_226

March 31st, 2011, 02:34 PM

74 is descent number as compared to dismal 60 odd 7-8 years ago! I will say its a trmrndous achievement from ministry of HRD and education taking into consideration of the exploding population india carries!

purty_trash

March 31st, 2011, 03:05 PM

Ohh I See... Well i dont think this article is flamable one as most of the forumers are better matured and grown up ! Bro, things have changed ..
One more thing.. Many are taking lot of efforts in compiling / posting informative articles, news and opinions to make most of the threads active and alive. So instead of making vague comments on others posts, do something productive by posting articles and pictures .. :)

Note : No offence intended to anyone...

hmmm...I have just joined in and I HAVE posted a few articles (check out the manufacturing sector and business and economy sector).

The reason I was worried because (and I'm trying to be specific)
1) The article you posted was very old
2) It talked only about one public offering and this forum is about India rising in general.
3) The general tone of the writer was more of concern for his own nation rather than that of praise for India (He mentioned china as well, I think.)

I'm new here and generally I have seen good comradeship between Indo-pak
users but things start getting a bit rough whenever comparisons begin and I hope that doesn't start here.

C'mon man! After last night's amazing visuals (India Pakistan players actually smiled a lot to each other) let's just be a bit careful. That's all.
:cheers:

PS: No offence taken. :)

sathya_226

March 31st, 2011, 03:47 PM

^^ Points Noted!

Thank You. :)

purty_trash

March 31st, 2011, 04:07 PM

^^ thank you, as well. :)

think-tank

April 2nd, 2011, 08:26 AM

India will attain total literacy in the next 10 years: Sibal
With the literacy level in the country climbing to 74 per as per the provisional 2011 census, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday exuded confidence that India will attain total literacy in the next 10 years.

He said the Census figures have shown that India would be able to achieve education for all in the age group of 6-14 by 2015 and "I am confident that if we progress at this pace India will have total literacy in the next 10 years".

Releasing a report on the completion of first year of Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, Sibal said the Census has also silenced critics including international organisations who said India will not achieve its millennium development goals.

"They said that literacy rate will be 72 per cent in 2015. We have proved the world wrong by achieving 74.4 per cent literacy," he said.

Sibal, however, expressed concern about eight million children who are still out of school, saying a lot of effort has to be done in this regard to reduce the number.

During the last 10 years, roughly 21 crore literates were added to the population while the country also saw a 12 per cent jump in female literacy level, he said expressing happiness.

During the last one year after the implementation of the RTE, he said 15 states have notified state rules while notification of academic authority has been done by 20 states.

He said 11 states have constituted state child protection council while 20 states constituted the academic authority and 28 states have enacted policies on eight year elementary education.

Similarly, 28 states have done away with corporal punishment and 18 states have banned private tuition.

Importantly, he said 18 states have banned screening procedure and capitation fees.

He said some of the provisions of RTE would be implemented in the next two years while the provisions related to teacher qualification would be implemented within five years time.

The financial commitment for RTE is 2.31 lakh crore between 2010-11 to 2014-15, which includes Rs 24,068 crore of the 13th Finance Commission.

Sibal said "there would be no change" in the fund sharing pattern between the Centre and States for implementing RTE which stands in the ratio of 65:35.

Asked how the Ministry plans to deal with the problem of enrolment of children of migrant labourers from states like Bihar, he said the situation cannot be addressed unless there is an improvement in socio-economic condition there.

"Ask the Bihar Government. Ask them why they sent children. Why do they come here? There is an economic-social problem. This has nothing to do with RTE. Unless there is improvement in socio-economic conditions, this issue cannot be addressed," he said.

Sibal, however, singled out the State for the robust growth in female and male literacy rates.

He said the growth in the female literacy level has been 107 per cent while the growth of the male literacy level was 74.83 per cent.

He also dismissed suggestions for a separate grievance redressal bodies to monitor effective implementation of RTE, saying states have already set up committees while the Government has set up various bodies for the purpose of implementation of the Act.

Several organisations including the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had suggested strengthening of the redressal mechanism.

source (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/134130/latest-headlines/india-will-attain-total-literacy-in-the-next-10-years-sibal.html)

gtmashok

April 2nd, 2011, 09:34 AM

india

April 2nd, 2011, 01:29 PM

India will attain total literacy in the next 10 years: Sibal

Sibal quacks yet again. I would say ~95% by 2030. Quality of education is the key. Fingers crossed.

think-tank

April 2nd, 2011, 09:09 PM

^^ It's literacy that's important, only 10% of the world population gets quality education. Most of the people in the world will have trouble guessing the number of alphabets in the English language.

ericos87

April 2nd, 2011, 10:45 PM

^^ It's literacy that's important, only 10% of the world population gets quality education. Most of the people in the world will have trouble guessing the number of alphabets in the English language.

^^ How can you say 10% of the world population gets quality education? White people constitute 12% of the world's population. That means 2% of the white population is not getting quality education. Even let's say 6% of the white population gets quality education, what about the rest 6%? It doesn't make any sense. Plus, its not like only white countries get quality education. Yellow countries like China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan also get quality education.

In the end, what do you mean by quality education? What's the definition of quality education? Who decides what quality education ought to be like? Who sets all these standards of what makes quality education? Should quality education only mean that we do well in Sciences and Math? or should quality education also mean Ethics, Moral Values, Work Ethics, Discipline, etc.. with a blend of religious and spiritual teachings along with academic courses like Math, Social Sciences, and Sciences?

Let me know

thanks

sathya_226

April 3rd, 2011, 12:28 PM

Sibal quacks yet again. I would say ~95% by 2030. Quality of education is the key. Fingers crossed.

The quality of education that u get in india is ok as compared to majority of the nations across the world. Its basic education that matters the most rather than degrees and doctorates. If we can provide quality basic education, we can make big strides in the areas of literacy, death rates, awareness on epidemic disease, cleanliness, abortion rates etc etc....

india

April 3rd, 2011, 02:36 PM

^^

Quality of basic education is what I meant in my previous post.

If one strictly applies UNESCO's actual definition of "literacy" to India's populace at large, then I doubt the figure would be as high as 74%. Now, I'm not undermining the government's concerted efforts in alleviating the burden of ignorance that the illiterates carry but I do feel that its not doing enough especially in qualitative terms in this regard.

Basic literacy is a necessity and undoubtedly the first step towards achieving greater knowledge for an illiterate human being. However, if the system is indifferent to the quality of basic education being imparted then whatever little such people might have learnt would not be of much use in real life situations.

think-tank

April 3rd, 2011, 03:14 PM

The quality of education that u get in india is ok as compared to majority of the nations across the world. Its basic education that matters the most rather than degrees and doctorates. If we can provide quality basic education, we can make big strides in the areas of literacy, death rates, awareness on epidemic disease, cleanliness, abortion rates etc etc....

Exactly, world class education is expensive and very few people prefer it, $300,000 for a medical degree at Harvard, $223,000 for a engineering degree at MIT. Literacy slowly rises the bar as the time goes by, twenty years from now literacy maybe interpreted differently but linking literacy to education is quite wrong.

^^ How can you say 10% of the world population gets quality education? White people constitute 12% of the world's population. That means 2% of the white population is not getting quality education. Even let's say 6% of the white population gets quality education, what about the rest 6%? It doesn't make any sense. Plus, its not like only white countries get quality education. Yellow countries like China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan also get quality education.

In the end, what do you mean by quality education? What's the definition of quality education? Who decides what quality education ought to be like? Who sets all these standards of what makes quality education? Should quality education only mean that we do well in Sciences and Math? or should quality education also mean Ethics, Moral Values, Work Ethics, Discipline, etc.. with a blend of religious and spiritual teachings along with academic courses like Math, Social Sciences, and Sciences?

Let me know

thanks

Quality education generally involves qualified teachers, great facilities, social etiquettes, ethics - everything that you need to succeed in life. I've come across Americans and Japanese folks who know less than an average Indian. It makes you think, because you are scaling top quality education and literacy- they two different things. Basic eduction around the world is on the same scale as in India but with good facilities and encouragement for sports. Indian students know more English grammar than British or the American ones but the speech is a bit accented, recently there was a spelling and grammar competition where Indians won. India is lacking in literacy levels which needs to be covered, but a literate Indian at this present time has the potential to do great things, he is not limited by anything...can you tell ?

india

April 3rd, 2011, 05:00 PM

...but linking literacy to education is quite wrong.

I would like to know your definition of "literacy".

think-tank

April 3rd, 2011, 05:16 PM

I would like to know your definition of "literacy".

Read/Write, communicate and do basic math.

india

April 3rd, 2011, 08:21 PM

Read/Write, communicate and do basic math.

I did in all honesty expect this standard boilerplate answer.

Unless a (newly?) "literate" person is able to clearly 'understand' and 'interpret' whatever he reads and/or writes, however basic a level that might be at, he will neither be able to communicate effectively nor do any justice to whatever he has purportedly learnt. That's the real difference between quality and lack of it.

Those reluctant few who are entrusted with the huge, noble responsibility of eradicating illiteracy neither practice such form of teaching nor encourage such form of learning. The gargantuan exercise of imparting quality basic education to millions of illiterates and barely-literates is an excruciatingly slow process that is not an option but a necessity in a country such as ours. The sooner we start, the better.

There are no short-cuts to human development. Nevermind the head-count. Statistics hide more than what they reveal sometimes.

think-tank

April 3rd, 2011, 09:17 PM

There are no short-cuts to human development. Nevermind the head-count. Statistics hide more than what they reveal sometimes.

Statistics don't tell the whole picture neither in India nor anywhere else. What we can derive from them is a crude picture as to how India is growing, in my opinion it's not going backwards and that's a very good thing in itself. But when you draw comparisons with other developed nations, there is a gross distortion of statistics. I've met the brightest and the dumbest of most countries, to be honest the quality of education does very little to the course of ones future, it tells me that education is limited to ones ability where as literacy isn't, the latter of course is more important in our day to day lives but the former is limited to our ability, Indian engineers, astronomers, scientists had very limited access to the so-called quality education yet they turned out alright. Yes, I understand not everyone has the temperament to go through all that nowadays but all these refined niceties will fall into place eventually.

Here is an example, it tells you education is same everywhere limited by our ability not by the quality. Again, this gives you a statistical perspective and not the whole picture.

fJuNgBkloFE

india

April 3rd, 2011, 11:42 PM

Statistics don't tell the whole picture neither in India nor anywhere else.

Right.

What we can derive from them is a crude picture as to how India is growing, in my opinion it's not going backwards and that's a very good thing in itself.

India is making progress w.r.t literacy, obviously. Just not the way I would like it to.

But when you draw comparisons with other developed nations, there is a gross distortion of statistics.

Gross assumption. I never drew any comparisons. My opinion on this issue is based on my own beliefs and standards.

In response to the rest of your post, I think you're trying too hard to differentiate between literacy and education which unfortunately is an effort in futility. They may appear to be two different words on the surface but in essence, though, they're two sides of the same coin. One either follows or precedes the other at various times under varied circumstances.

I repeat - without the ability to lucidly understand and interpret processes and results respectively even at a very basic level, "reading/writing, communicating and doing math" isn't going to be of much help. Hence the emphasis on quality. How could one adjudge a person who doesn't possess the aforementioned abilities, "literate"? I wouldn't. You see, certain things can be taught but then certain others called invisibles that can only be cultivated in the student (child and adult alike) with the assistance of dedicated teachers.

A truly literate person is someone who has successfully been able to receive quality basic education that provides him with a platform to develop his knowledge further if he wishes to do so in the future and the freedom to realise his potential with time.

Lastly, you're absolutely wrong to think that education itself does very little in shaping up ones future. It does, very much so. I do however agree with you that learning (call it education/literacy, its all the same anyway) and teaching depends upon an individual's capacity to absorb and ability to impart respectively. That's human frailty right there. Why blame it on education?

think-tank

April 7th, 2011, 11:36 AM

Literacy rate goes up across Karnataka, Bangalore is second-highest

The state’s literacy rate increased from 66.64% in 2001 to 75.60% in 2011. The male literacy levels have gone up from 76.10% in 2001 to 82.25% in 2011, and female literacy rates have gone up from 56.87% in 2001 to 68% in 2011.

Dakshina Kannada recorded the highest literacy rate of 88.62% and Yadgir the lowest rate of 52.36%. However, only three districts have female literacy rates above 80%: Dakshina Kannada, Bangalore, and Udupi.

Districts like Yadgir, Raichur, and Chamarajnagar are yet to perform well in literacy as the percentage of literates are 52.36%, 60.46%, and 61.12%, respectively.
Female illiteracy levels exceed that of female literacy in Raichur and Yadgir districts.

source (http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_literacy-rate-goes-up-across-karnataka-bangalore-is-second-highest_1529289)

ChennaiIndian

April 8th, 2011, 01:19 AM

^^ Wrong thread. Pls move it to the right thread.

ChennaiIndian

April 8th, 2011, 01:20 AM

Cross-posting. Courtesy: satishanu

AYKx1yMA

The skylines of India's major cities are changing fast as iconic new office buildings and luxury apartment blocks serve the burgeoning business elite.

In Chennai, an office complex shaped like six giant butterflies with a central spine will soon house 24,000 employees of Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest technology firm.

The huge glass and steel structure, called the Siruseri complex, cost $500 million and includes water features, landscaped gardens with 146 kinds of trees, solar panels and has a gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Chandra Sekaran, chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, said: "It represents our scale, it represents the aspiration of our people, it represents the success of the Indian IT industry. It represents the future.

"Many of our customers who visit here for the first time are absolutely awed and impressed by what we have been able to achieve."

Tata Consultancy Services has earmarked another $1 billion to spend on several state of the art office complexes in different architectural styles over the next five years.

Sekaran said: "The IT industry is young. Our average age is 28 and they all have huge aspirations. They want to build great careers.

"It becomes very important, as an employer, to offer our associates a holistic life. It's about giving them a great environment, an environment where they can ideate, collaborate. It will help us attract the right talent and more importantly, retain the right talent."

SRC: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/07/india.buildings/index.html

think-tank

April 8th, 2011, 07:16 AM

^^ Wrong thread. Pls move it to the right thread.

It's not the wrong thread, understand the difference between Literacy and Education.

ChennaiIndian

April 10th, 2011, 10:31 PM

It's not the wrong thread, understand the difference between Literacy and Education.
This thread is titled "India Rising - Collection of news articles from International media on India's rising profile". You had posted Blore's and KA's population and literacy statistics from local/national media site. That is why I said it is the wrong thread.

You can discuss that in the education or population statistics thread.

think-tank

April 11th, 2011, 05:47 AM

This thread is titled "India Rising - Collection of news articles from International media on India's rising profile". You had posted Blore's and KA's population and literacy statistics from local/national media site. That is why I said it is the wrong thread.

You can discuss that in the education or population statistics thread.

I just post news related to "india's rising profile" not just from the International Media but both. I cannot post some articles anywhere else because they don't fit into 'economy', 'education', 'science' categories.

ericos87

April 11th, 2011, 06:07 AM

Increased literacy is good but improve education quality too: Experts
10 APR, 2011, 10.48AM IST,IANS

NEW DELHI: Educationists have lauded the nearly 10 percent rise in India's literacy rate, which is around 75 percent now, but they say the quality of school education also needs to improve if the country wants to compete at the global level.

"If you see the increase in literacy rate with reference to India being the third largest Asian economy, then it is a boost for the country as it is likely to affect many other social variables such as employment, productivity, income growth and equitable distribution of the gains," Praveen Jha, associate professor of social sciences, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), told IANS.

"More importantly, this increase in literacy rate comes with a slowing growth rate of population and a pacy income growth. The decade has seen the slowest population growth in almost 100 years," pointed out Jha. :banana:

Experts remain optimistic about the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) pushing up the literacy rate further.

"You have to be optimistic to understand that this is a great achievement for India. But the approach towards education and related policies has a long way to go, especially after the right to education," Urmila Sarkar, chief of education with Unicef, told IANS.

According to the provisional data for Census 2011 that has just been released, India's literacy level has increased by 9.21 percent in the past 10 years to reach 74.04 percent. The literacy rate was 64.83 percent in 2001.

"The increase is mainly because of high school enrolment rate, better policies that involve states at the grassroots and the will to move towards a lifelong education approach," added Sarkar, referring to the Unicef policies.

"Focus on teacher sensitisation towards children's needs if you want to take the literacy rate higher. Monitor school management, be it public or private schools," said Sarkar.

The statistics also reflected that literates constitute 74 percent of the total population, aged seven and above.

However, not all is hunky-dory as the quality of education being delivered still needs to improve, said experts.

"The policymakers have to consider the quality of education also. Just a high literacy rate will not give the exact picture of the reality that exists in the countrywide schools," said Randeep Kaur, technical advisor for education at Plan India, a voluntary organisation.

The working definition of crude literacy rate in the Indian Census since 1991 is the total percentage of people of an area at a particular time aged seven years or above who can read and write with understanding, taking the total population of the area (including below seven years of age) as the denominator.

"When you talk about literacy rate, you take into account the definition of literacy and the parameters that decide its level. The variation showed by different states is also important to note," said Kaur.

Source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/increased-literacy-is-good-but-improve-education-quality-too-experts/articleshow/7932040.cms)

india

April 11th, 2011, 11:23 AM

It's not the wrong thread, understand the difference between Literacy and Education.

Broken-record. Read post 630 (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=75433307&postcount=630) again. Thanks.

I just post news related to "india's rising profile" not just from the International Media but both. I cannot post some articles anywhere else because they don't fit into 'economy', 'education', 'science' categories.

Whether or not you admit it, you are posting those articles in the wrong thread. Just stick to posting news in the international media about India's rising profile in this thread, all right?

By the way, why can't you just post news articles on "literacy" in the education thread? Doesn't it make any sense to you?

Soch-tunki, you really are some...thing. :lol:

think-tank

April 11th, 2011, 02:21 PM

Broken-record. Read post 630 (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=75433307&postcount=630) again. Thanks.

I've read it and your conclusions were wrong, I don't want to drag this topic, pm me for a piece of my mind.:lol:

ChennaiIndian

April 11th, 2011, 07:06 PM

I just post news related to "india's rising profile" not just from the International Media but both. I cannot post some articles anywhere else because they don't fit into 'economy', 'education', 'science' categories.
Read my post. Those are the threads where you can post such news.

india

April 11th, 2011, 08:25 PM

I've read it and your conclusions were wrong

You may know how to read but are definitely lacking in the ability to understand and interpret. You fit your own definition of a "literate person" to a T. :lol:

My sympathies.

think-tank

April 12th, 2011, 04:18 PM

^^ yeah, your middle finger says it all d*ckwad.

10 Countries With The Most Billionaires

No longer dominated by Americans and Europeans, the members of the world's billionaire club increasingly hail from around the globe, first and third world countries alike. And while some of the mega-rich might may spend more time on yachts than in their home countries, even billionaires have a place they call home. It's just becoming increasingly difficult to predict where that home is.

According to this year's annual Wealth Report, published by Scorpio Partnership, a wealth management consultancy firm, on behalf of Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank, new billionaires are increasingly likely to come from emerging economies like India and Russia, the latter of which increased its billionaire count by 30 percent last year, according to Forbes. The world's total number of millionaires has skyrocketed, too, increasing by 22 percent from one year prior, when the global economy witnessed a drastic drop in millionaires.

No country's elite, however, have benefited more from last year's rebounding economy than China's, with the country's tremendous economic growth raising the billionaire count by 140 percent. At this rate, many economists expect China -- ranked 35th in Forbes' billionaires list as recently as 2005 -- to soon claim the title of most billionaires in the world.

"That growth [in China] may be strengthened," Scorpio Partnership director Stephen Wall wrote in the rport, "by the range of wealth sources driving economic growth."

Of all their thriving industries, the Internet technology sector has perhaps treated China's elites the best. And no one better represents that industry better than China's richest man and Baidu search engine founder Robin Li. Still, Chinese billionaires will continue to face stiff competition from the U.S. in the future, as Facebook alone represents six of America's billionaires, including the youngest billionaire in the world: 26-year-old co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.

10: Canada
Number of billionaires: 22
Total Population: 33,739,900
Notable Billionaires Include: David Thompson (Chairman of Thompson Reuters), Jeffrey Skoll (ex-eBay President) and Guy Laliberté (CEO of Cirque du Soleil).

9. Japan
Number of billionaires: 23
Total Population: 127,560,000
Notable Billionaires Include: Masayoshi Son (CEO of venture capital Softbank Capital), Hiroshi Yamauchi (President and Chairman of Nintendo) and Tadashi Yanai (Founder and President of retail holding company Fast Retailing).

8. Switzerland
Number of billionaires: 27
Total Population: 7,731,167
Notable Billionaires Include: Ernesto Bertarelli (biotech entrepreneur known for Merck-Serono) and Esther Grether (art collector and Swatch shareholder).

7. Hong Kong
Number of billionaires: 29
Total Population: 7,003,700
Notable Billionaires Include: Li Ka-shing (businessman and Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited) and Thomas and Raymond Kwok (inherited Real Estate developer Sun Hung Kai Properties.)

6. UK
Number of billionaires: 42
Total Population: 61,838,154
Notable Billionaires Include: Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor (owner of Real Estate property company Grosvenor Group), Bernard Ecclestone (sports entrpreneur, CEO of Formula 1 racing Management) and Richard Branson (Chairman of Virgin Group).

5. Germany
Number of billionaires: 43
Total Population: 81,879,976
Notable Billionaires Include: Karl Albrecht (Founder of discount supermarket chain Aldi) and Susanne Klatten (shareholder in BMW and pharmaceutical manufacturer Altana).

4. India
Number of billionaires: 47
Total Population: 1,155,347,678
Notable Billionaires Include: Lakshmi Mittal (chairman and CEO of steelmaker ArcelorMittal) and Mukesh Ambani (Chairman and managing director of conglomerate Reliance Industries).

3. Russia
Number of billionaires: 58
Total Population: 141,850,000
Notable Billionaires Include: Vladimir Lisin (Chairman of Novolipetsk Steel), Vagit Alekperov (president of oil company Lukoil) and Roman Abramovich (Oil businessman and owner of England's Chelsea Football Club)

2. China
Number of billionaires: 72
Total Population: 1,331,460,000
Notable Billionaires Include: Robin Li (CEO and Founder of search engine Baidu), Liang Wengen (Chairman and main shareholder of manufacturer Sany Group) and Zong Qinghou (founder of beverage producer Wahaha).

1. United States of America
Number of billionaires: 396
Total Population: 307,006,550
Notable Billionaires Include: Bill Gates (Chairman of Microsoft), Warren Buffett (Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway) and Larry Ellison (Co-founder and CEO of enterprise software company Oracle Corporation).

source (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/10-countries-with-the-billionaires_n_847693.html)

purty_trash

April 12th, 2011, 07:00 PM

How is Lakshmi Mittal an Indian billionaire?

think-tank

April 12th, 2011, 07:32 PM

^^ he lives in UK but is an Indian citizen.

OldKool

April 14th, 2011, 06:21 AM

a freakishly rich indian called Pallonji Mistry who gave up his Indian citizenship and became Irish....

think-tank

April 19th, 2011, 05:30 AM

Millions of internet searches are queried each day on search engines by people all around the world. Have you wondered what people in different countries are looking for? You’d expect mainstream trends to transcend international borders; searches for social media sites and current affairs.

But people in Russia, just want to know “how to eat sushi” (number 3 search in the country).

http://www.economywatch.com/userfiles/IG-Searches-600px.jpg

source (http://www.economywatch.com/in-the-news/how-to-eat-sushi-was-a-top-search-in-which-country.19-04.htm)

sadly enough, India didn't think anything but cricket this year....

sixsigma1978

April 25th, 2011, 07:10 PM

Learning from India’s PPPs

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have become buzz-words in infrastructure development. Even though they have been known since the 1990s, only in the last five or six years has the government realized that to cover the infrastructure funding gap would require private sector participation.

Does this mean that before recently we never utilized PPPs? During the 1990s, the government implemented PPPs in such a way that only those close to the elite could bid for the projects.

The Asian economic crisis in 1997 changed almost everything in Indonesia. Political reforms reshaped the socio-economic environment. As a consequence, many PPP projects were cancelled.

One major impact of the crisis was poor infrastructure. In medium-term development planning for 2005-2009, the government realized that achieving the targeted economic growth rate of 7 percent per annum would require better infrastructure. Proper infrastructure is a necessary condition for development.

There are many countries that have succeeded in implementing PPPs that Indonesia can learn from, including India.

Currently, India is implementing an infrastructure development program worth over US$500 billion. As a developing country, India is becoming the focus of global investment. Domestic investors and local developers act as the locomotive for infrastructure investment in India with an average foreign direct investment (FDI) of 10 percent except in certain sectors (airports, seaports) where the FDI is significantly higher. In addition, India is relatively successful in administering all aspects that relate to infrastructure development in partnership with the private sector.

There are many similarities between Indonesia and India. Both are experiencing economic growth and striving to maintain and increase their economic growth.

India, like Indonesia, is a democratic country that adopts decentralization of government. Its robust economy needs massive infrastructure back-up to continually stimulate the growth. As a result, the need for huge funding calls for the involvement of the private sector to maintain the momentum of growth.

Furthermore, both India and Indonesia have large areas with diverse populations and face problems in infrastructure management such as growth versus equality of development and development versus social welfare.

India’s experience in implementing PPPs can be summarized in four major categories. First, paradigm shifts for all stakeholders. Successful reform initiatives have universally relied on leadership, i.e. the government head. Infrastructure reforms in India have been led by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI), chaired by the Prime Minister. PPPs have gained wide ownership and support throughout the government.

Second is funding for infrastructure provision. As in Indonesia, there are competing demands on budgetary resources for other public goods such as infrastructure, health, education and rural development. On the other hand, budgetary allocations cannot be increased beyond 9 percent per annum. In real terms, reliance on private investment is inevitable. In India, private equity is not viewed as a constraint and markets have responded well. Debt required by public sector and private sector enterprises is estimated at US$247 billion in the 11th Plan (2007-2012).

Unfortunately, the tenure of bank loans is inadequate as their deposits are short or medium-term.

Asset-liability mismatch is emerging as a serious regulatory issue constraining long-term financing by banks. Shorter tenures raise costs (user charges) and banks are exhausting their prudential limits in terms of sector, borrower and project exposure.

To solve problems in infrastructure financing, India has set up infrastructure debt funds to channel long-term insurance and pension funds through credit, introduce tax-free infrastructure bonds and a take-out financing scheme introduced by India Infrastructure Financing Company Limited (IIFCL).

Additionally, a high-level committee has been set up to recommend policy initiatives necessary for financing $1 trillion in investment.

Third is good governance. Typical problems related to good governance in India are incumbent mindsets, unwillingness of incumbents to cede control over construction and operation of projects, denial of a level playing field, rent-seeking, inadequate and inefficient project roll-outs and greater demand for PPP projects than supply.

One major step taken by the Indian government to create good governance is forming a Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) chaired by the Prime Minister. The CCI is supported by a PPP appraisal committee that evaluates and recommends all PPP projects for the central government.

The CCI is also equipped with an empowering committee to approve proposals by the state governments for viability gap funding. In both supporting units, planning commissions do the appraisals and are chaired by the Finance Minister.

The CCI creates greater reliance on inter-ministerial and inter-disciplinary dialogue to enrich outcomes and minimize conflicts of interest. In line with those efforts, the government enforces consultations with stakeholders, including users and investors, and also the simplification and standardization of documents and processes.

Last but not least is a clear and transparent procedure on PPP processes. For all stakeholders and mostly investors, clear and transparent PPP documentation is crucial.

There are two kinds of documents: substantive and process documents. Substantive documents consist of concession agreements, manuals of specifications and standards (general guidelines and sector guidelines) and rules for user charges.

Process documents are comprised of requests for proposals (RFPs) for the selection of consultants, RFQs for bidder pre-qualification and RFPs for financial bids. Some key points on PPP documentation are the assurance of independent and competent advice and the standardized RFP documents for selection processes, evaluations and agreements.

Standardized RFQ/RFPs establish generic guidelines and provide requisite sector-specific and project-specific flexibility to accelerate and to streamline decision-making through simplified matrices, both quantitative and transparent.

In the end, fair and transparent pre-qualification and bidding is a pre-requisite for competitive and efficient PPPs.

There are pains in implementing PPPs in India. To achieve our objective, better infrastructure provision for better development, we may not need to follow the other country’s path, but to be sure, India is a good example for us to learn from.

Source : thejakartapost (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/04/15/learning-india%E2%80%99s-ppps.html)

sixsigma1978

April 25th, 2011, 07:13 PM

sadly enough, India didn't think anything but cricket this year....

Interestingly, AIRTEL is one of the fastest rising searches in Nigeria!!

think-tank

April 25th, 2011, 07:51 PM

Interestingly, AIRTEL is one of the fastest rising searches in Nigeria!!

Yeah, Africa is an under utilized market - it's really good airtel pitched their tent early on.

sixsigma1978

April 26th, 2011, 04:52 PM

Brics herald a golden age for London

Frequently, many people in the UK and elsewhere in the West worry about the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called Bric nations that are becoming the key drivers of the world economy and possibly society.

When I tell people not to worry, that their success and prosperity will be beneficial to us, many give me (as the person who coined the acronym in 2001) that look, implying that the Bric phenomenon has taken me into some kind of world of mythology.

One country where I don't get this response much these days is Germany, where because of its remarkable success as a quality manufacturing exporter, the climb of the Bric nations, China especially, is helping the country enjoy one of its strongest economic phases since unification over 20 years ago.

Fine for them, say many Brits, but when people think about what we have to offer, they again roll their eyes, and say forget it. Not true. London, at least, looks to me increasingly like the Bric capital of the world. Not only the world's greatest international city, but also one that is set to harness the benefits of our rapidly changing world.

Let me give some evidence. Take Premier League soccer. Not without faults in terms of governance and standards, it has become the leading football league of the world. It is probably no coincidence that this is resulting in a re-emergence of London's football clubs and the clamour for ownership from wealthy foreigners.

One of course, Chelsea, is a direct consequence of one of the Brics, Russia. Arguably, another probable newcomer next year, Queens Park Rangers, is a product of another, with Lakshmi Mittal, the richest UK resident, of Indian descent. Could it be that more London clubs, buoyed by the attractions of our global reach, join the elite?

Already 25% of the teams in our league hail from London, unparalleled in any other world city I can think of. And football, to some extent, gives a rebuke to many of those who argue the spoils of globalisation are shared by the privileged few. For those clubs bought out with cash and not the dubious leverage of others, their fans rejoice in their chance to bask in the glory.

London's Bric benefits go beyond football. Our central London property market is generally driven by purchases from these countries, or other rapidly growing economic nations. Some complain this is driving housing out of the hands of normal citizens, but for Mayfair, Knightsbridge and similar areas, this is not new. Moreover, think of the spin-offs for others. Better restaurants for us all to enjoy, more jobs in services.

If it were just football and London house prices, I could see the benefits as more questionable, but it extends much further. I have often thought that if New York were to have the same time zone as us, modern life for London could be so different. The five hours' difference means New York is an awkward time for Beijing, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai and Moscow.

Of the four Bric countries, only Brazil works on a vaguely similar time zone. For international business of all shapes and varieties, London is perfectly placed. Centre of the world's time zones, well connected through technology and of course, our language the modern choice for communicating. For my business, international financial services, it is perfect. Despite the concerns about UK government policies towards banks, as well as a rolling back of tax benefits to non-domicile residents, London is highly attractive for international finance.

As some hedge-fund and private-equity operators disappear to Geneva, my guess is many will return, bored by the quietness and lack of choice. If they wait too long, they might not find the locations they want as they could be swamped by the London headquarters of expanding financial firms or other companies from the Bric world.

In January, I was invited to have lunch in a Schezuan restaurant, very close to Shepherd's Bush, the best in town according to my host. Soon after I arrived we were joined by the managing director of the UK operations of a major Chinese commodities firm. Its new office, it turns out, is the biggest building on Shepherds Bush Green.

Despite all the gloom about the retail world, the UK's luxury goods companies are thriving, as last week's results from Burberry demonstrated. Most of them are London based. It would be nice to have more.

I often get asked to speak to student events at LSE, LBS, City University and others. The halls are packed with students from the Bric countries, all paying probably highly attractive fees for their privilege. I can see the numbers multiplying dramatically if our policymakers allow it.

No doubt the challenges that go hand in hand with such a global city will remain immense, especially infrastructure, but the future for London as the Bric world marches forward looks bright. Let's celebrate that beyond just the Royal Wedding excitement.

Source : /www.thisislondon.co.uk (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/markets/article-23944351-brics-herald-a-golden-age-for-london.do)

think-tank

May 1st, 2011, 06:08 PM

India’s foreign policy: a Canadian view

Commenting on the writing of a friend and former colleague can be a daunting task. But the recently released volume, Does the Elephant Dance? by David M. Malone, president of Canada’s International Development Research Centre and former Canadian high commissioner to India, more than justifies that risk.

The book is an impressive tour de force of India’s foreign policy since independence. Despite its hefty 425 pages, which fill an important void in scholarship on the subject, it is an effortless read thanks to the inimitable conversational style of the author. Though written by a non-Indian-albeit an astute scholar of India and its foreign policy-the book is almost entirely based on Indian sources and writings.

The book makes two significant observations: First, that since 1991, “a new era of pragmatism” became evident both domestically and internationally. At the domestic level there was the “growing pragmatism of political parties, which were compelled to engage in electoral alliances, more often ones of convenience than of ideological sympathy”. This “ideological unmooring of the domestic sphere was reflected also in the international arena” when India embarked on a pragmatic policy of multi-alignment and built myriad strategic alliances in an uncertain world. Second, since 1991, foreign policy not only “assisted India in creating higher levels of economic growth” and allowed global opportunities to benefit “domestic constituents in the hope of ameliorating poverty”; it also provided a “pathway to great power status”. Thus, the nuclear deal was not sold in Parliament as a “strategic alignment” with the US, but as essential to ensure energy security. Consequently, economic growth and economic diplomacy are likely to be the principal driver and limiter of India’s foreign policy.

In its survey of India’s bilateral, regional and multilateral relations, the most insightful conclusions relate to the US, the Middle East and multilateralism rather than any of India’s neighbours. The book justifiably argues that the most dramatic positive change has been in India’s relations with the US although there still remains concern that “Washington will not always understand India’s inability to agree with it”. The decision not to shortlist US jets for its huge order of 126 combat aircraft will pose one such challenge, while the Iran file presents another.

Perhaps India’s most unnoticed successful regional relationship has been with the Middle East, which has provided “significant dividends” ranging from huge remittances from the Indian diaspora there to crucial energy supplies. Indeed, “this traditionally inhospitable terrain for the diplomacy of non-regional actors has yielded highly successful results for India”. In this context, the recent uprisings in the Arab world provide both a challenge and an opportunity for Indian diplomacy.

In contrast, the author, a staunch multilateralist and leading authority on the UN Security Council, argues that Indian diplomacy has been least impressive in the multilateral arena-be it trade talks, climate change negotiations or deliberations on disarmament and non-proliferation. On the one hand, India has revealed a preference for “global governance by oligarchy”. While this is not unique to India, it does reflect a shift from the perception of it being a poor developing nation depending on “strength in numbers” to one with the wherewithal “to hold its own” against major powers. On the other hand, multilateralism is seen “at best as a defence against the unilateralism of others”. This defensive approach is underlined by the fact that India has not been able to effectively use multilateral instruments to further its national interests.

In answering the question posed in its title, the book concludes that the elephant does dance but with difficulty and only under the instructions of the deftest mahout. Clearly, the present mahout is not up to the task.

W Pal Sidhu is senior fellow at the Center on International Cooperation, New York University. He writes on strategic affairs every fortnight

Comment at otherviews@livemint.com

source (http://www.livemint.com/2011/05/01205653/India8217s-foreign-policy.html)

purty_trash

May 16th, 2011, 10:23 AM

India’s Accidental Economic Formula (http://blogs.forbes.com/gordonchang/2011/05/15/indias-accidental-economic-formula/)
May. 15 2011 - 5:22 pm | 1,110 views

What is holding India’s economy back? It’s the restrictions that have survived from the days of Nehru’s infatuation with Soviet-style planning, the “maddening complexities” enforced by New Delhi’s entrenched bureaucracy.

Many had hoped that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, given his solid reformist credentials, would push liberalization hard. Yet he has presided over a weak government, stalling on promises of structural change in recent years.

Yet the economy is now in a “golden period.” Estimates put the increase in gross domestic product for the year ended March 31 at a robust 8.6%. Growth this year could be even better.

So why is the economy, in the absence of reform, doing so well? New Delhi’s excessive fiscal and monetary stimulus is part of the answer, of course.

And another reason lies in the feebleness of Singh’s government. The country’s constitution establishes a federalist system, so state governments can set their own course. As an April 29 editorial in the Wall Street Journal Asia points out, changes at lower levels of the political system are leading to a healthy competition for business and investment.

As the states try to outdo each other, India’s investment climate improves. A joint report, “Economic Freedom of the States of India: 2011,” highlights the differences among the 20 largest of the Indian states.

The rankings have substantially changed in recent years, indicating a vibrant rivalry. In the most recent report, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh—in that order—were the top stars in economic freedom. In the previous 2005 report, the list looked a lot different. Only Tamil Nadu was in the top three then, with Madyha Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh as numbers two and three, respectively.

This now-intense rivalry could even end up moving New Delhi in the right direction. Abheek Bhattacharya of the Wall Street Journal’s Asian paper noted that the strongest Indian states may end up pushing reform at the national level. The states are essentially laboratories for nation-wide change, he observed in an interview on the John Batchelor Show last Wednesday. And laggard states are realizing the need to catch up. They are, he says, loosening restrictions and removing other impediments to growth.

The reform-from-below model, a direct result of India’s lively democracy, runs counter to accepted wisdom that authoritarianism is needed for economic development these days. For instance, just about everyone agrees that strong central guidance has been the most important factor responsible for the spectacular rise of the Chinese economy.

Of course, the global narrative has been absolutely correct since 2008 in China, when that country’s growth has been driven by massive state investment. In 2009, for instance, the country’s planners, either directly or indirectly through the state banks, poured about $1.1 trillion of stimulus into their then-$4.3 trillion economy. Nobody, however, thinks Beijing’s spendathon is sustainable, especially now that China has built all the “ghost cities” it can afford and now that the country’s banks are burdened by trillions of yuan of questionable loans.

But the accepted narrative was not true before the global downturn, when Chinese growth was more in spite of national planning than because of it. In reality, the country prospered primarily because of the creation and the development of the private sector, something that President Hu Jintao and predecessor Jiang Zemin were ambivalent about or hostile to.

Even Deng Xiaoping, the so-called architect of reform, succeeded because of defiance of his edicts by the Chinese people, both in the countryside and the city. If there was one dynamic that existed from the end of 1978—the beginning of the reform era—until the middle of 2008—the beginning of the Great Recession—it is that the planners of the Communist Party have been trying to catch up with Chinese farmers and entrepreneurs as they sought to create their own livelihoods, independent of the mighty state.

There is no doubt that central guidance can jumpstart economic growth, something that has happened in both democratic and authoritarian societies. Yet both India and China are beyond that stage.

And now, it looks like the Indians, mostly through good fortune, have ended up with a decentralized model of local competition that can continue growth over time, even if paralysis in New Delhi continues. The Chinese top-down management of the economy—especially with Hu Jintao’s emphasis on renationalization—is a distant second choice for national development.

The vitality of competition will soon become evident as growth stalls in China and soars in India.

Sriram27

May 25th, 2011, 11:39 AM

This article may not be a positive development for India but it shows just how dire the situation will become if the abortion of girls continue. Truly eye-opening..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/24/india-families-aborting-girl-babies

raakshas

May 25th, 2011, 01:59 PM

^^ The Gaurdian is the most anti-India publication out there. And there is a discussion on this issue is going on in the 'In the News' thread. Why do you need to post the article here?

purty_trash

May 30th, 2011, 05:53 PM

India responds to China's challenge (http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=4&aid=1233&dir=2011/May/Monday30)

GERARD LYONS*
India is catching up with China after a slow start. China's economy opened up in 1978 and has witnessed phenomenal success.
India, by contrast, only opened up its economy after the crisis of the early nineties. But, for much of the first decade, little happened. So, the reality is that India's economic transformation only really took off around the turn of the century.
This was some 20 years after China, although India's starting position was probably somewhat better. Yet, particularly in the eyes of the world, it leaves India with much to do. The good news is India is making progress.
Whilst China's USD 6 trillion economy has overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest, the USD 1.7 trillion Indian economy, the 10th largest, has recently enjoyed rapid growth.Moreover, it has the ability to grow faster and catch-up with China over the coming decades. But this requires not just more of the same; it will mean over-coming some big challenges as well as continuing to unlock the country's huge potential.
These developments should be seen in the context of a global economy that is enjoying its third Super Cycle. A super cycle is a period of historically high global growth, lasting a generation or more, driven by increasing trade, high rates of investment, urbanisation and technological innovation, characterised by the emergence of large, new economies, first seen in high catch-up growth rates across the emerging world. The first super cycle was from 1870 to 1913 and saw the emergence of the USA as a super-power. The second, from 1945 to 1972, saw the emergence of Japan and rapid global growth.
In this super cycle, China could displace the US by 2020 as the world's major economy. Yet, India is likely to grow at a faster pace than China over coming decades. I would expect trend growth of 6.9 percent for China and 9.3 percent for India, over the next twenty years, allowing for set-backs along the way.
The implications are huge. By 2030, India could be 8.4 times bigger than today. China would be four times bigger; the EU and US 1.7 times larger. By then, India would be the world's third-largest economy. Within India, there is often a hesitation in acknowledging that the economy could grow at a faster pace. Often, consensus views about India's growth potential turn out to be too pessimistic.
Perhaps it is because, on the ground, the challenges are all too apparent. Yet, despite this, the economy has continued to do well. If anything, my 9.3percent projection for average Indian growth until 2030 may be too low.
Trend growth could even be nearer 12-13 percent per annum. India has many features to enable it to emerge as a winner in the super-cycle. The winners will be those countries which have one or more of the three C's: cash, commodities, or creativity. India may not have the cash or commodities, but it has creative potential in abundance.
However, this high growth path is not India's destiny, as there are challenges ahead that require urgent policy actions. Whichever country one focuses on, the outcome depends on the interaction between policy, the fundamentals and confidence.
For India, the policy framework will be particularly important. India needs to overcome its regulatory burden and address its infrastructure needs. The initial focus, perhaps naturally, is on its hard infrastructure, such as its transport system and its energy infrastructure.
But its soft infrastructure is also key, with the need to see continued improvement in education, healthcare and skills, as it provides a sizeable educated labour force for its private sector to grow. India's population is rising, and over the next 20 years the working-age population should increase by over 200 million.
In contrast, China's working age population will rise 4 million over the next decade and contract by 51 million in the following decade. By 2020, the average age in India will be 29 years compared with 37 in China and 48 in Japan. With half its huge population under 25, India has a demographic dividend - but only if it delivers the policies and economic growth needed. I think it will. Productivity could rise rapidly. Manufacturing and service employment will take the place of agriculture.
There will be rapid urbanisation. India's famed entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and its growing pool of English speakers and technical graduates will drive growth in the private sector, helping the economy move up the value curve.
India already has a head-start in IT and software. Other potential sources of growth include tax consulting, financial services, editing and publishing, law, accountancy and design. However, if jobs are not created, a demographic dividend could become a disaster.
Indeed, with that in mind, one significant development this year was India's announcement within its annual budget that it planned to raise manufacturing's share of its economy from around 16% to 25 percent over the next decade. This is crucial for jobs creation.
This points to a growing middle class, key to the sustainability of its domestic consumption-driven growth.
Indeed, India is at a major inflexion point in its economic history. Consider this: it took 33 years for per capita to rise from USD 100 to USD 500 between 1971 and 2004 and only five years for that average to double to USD 1,000 by 2009.
India's macroeconomic and institutional framework, with its flexible exchange rate and an independent central bank which is free to set interest rates is a big positive when compared with China. These attributes have helped offset long-standing concerns about India's high fiscal deficit and government debt.
Moreover, with faster economic growth, tax collections have been rising more than the growth in government spending, while privatisations have helped the government keep deficits in check. Despite a trade and budget deficit, India has the advantage over China of a better balance in its economy - the drivers of India's growth are domestic consumption and investments whereas China's economy is skewed towards exports and investment.
Meanwhile, India's dynamic financial markets, which are some of the most liquid and sophisticated in the world, have enabled the country to absorb and accommodate large capital inflows, whether equity portfolio investments or foreign direct investments.
However, bond markets need to be deepened and broadened further if the country is to successfully raise the estimated USD 1 trillion required to finance its huge infrastructure needs over the next five years. The authorities need to view the role of foreign money and investment in a positive light, as the economy opens up and the financial sector matures further.
Currently, India has an inflation challenge, to which the central bank is correctly responding by tightening policy.
But in recent years, one-way expectations, as well as the strong economy, have contributed to rising asset prices.
India needs to continue to make effective use of macro-prudential measures to keep its financial sector in check although, like a number of Asian economies, its policy tools and institutions held up well during the crisis. Other challenges to sustainable growth include growing inequalities in income and access to basic social amenities such as housing, healthcare and education. There is also regional disparity, with an increasingly affluent west and south contrasting with a poor hinterland in the east and centre. India also faces resource constraints, including growing scarcity of fresh water.
And there is the increasing vulnerability to rising energy prices which puts added pressure on India's trade deficit and its national budget which is burdened by fuel, food and fertiliser subsidies. Maintaining social stability in the midst of such challenges will be key in the coming years. India's democracy with its three million elected representatives, sometimes seen as a hindrance to economic development, may now start to be a real benefit.
This is notwithstanding the need to address corruption challenges highlighted over the last year. It's legal and property rights should also emerge as benefits, including the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Good economics can also be good politics in a democracy. People are seeking policies that generate jobs for India's young population.
This is forcing politicians to deliver change. India's growing domestic market, its demographics, strong democratic institutions, record of stable macroeconomic management, deep financial markets and a growing, more productive and creative workforce provide an opportunity to catch up China and regain India's prominent position in the world economic order. India is both tomorrow's story and today's opportunity.
*Dr Gerard Lyons is Chief Economist and Group Head of Global Research at Standard Chartered Bank.

ericos87

June 1st, 2011, 06:50 AM

A new India is in the offing in next three months, says Aditya Puri
Published: Wednesday, Jun 1, 2011, 3:08 IST
Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Aditya Puri, chief executive officer and managing director of HDFC Bank, feels the country is likely to see significant policy momentum soon. Directionally, this would mark a momentous shift, he tells Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley in this interview, reproduced here with the research firm’s permission.

What is your view on the Indian economy? Where are we heading?
First, we must understand India. We need to be on the same page for me to answer this question. India is an incredibly diverse country - religion, politics, education, geography, weather are all different across the country. We have the characteristics of a rich country as well as a poor country. Thus, we have the largest scooter manufacturer in the world and globally efficient steel plants and, then, we also have a large portion of our population below the poverty line. We have a lot to do but let us not forget that there are multiple ‘Indias’. There is lot of talk of governance from corporations to politicians - my view is that human frailty is not the monopoly of India. This happens all over the world. Maybe we shout a bit more and maybe have a bit more petty corruption, but none of this is unique to India. Of course, this does not mean we do not have to rectify it. People also say the Indian political class is very bad.

Let us understand that other countries may have to learn from Indian politics of how to manage a democracy when the cake is not large enough. Other democracies may go through this situation in the years to come.

Don’t let these temporary factors which I call the noise of a democracy in transition cloud your judgment about the vibrancy of India. I feel RTI (right to information) has proved to be excellent for the country. India’s problems are not unknown. The difference is that they are now being discussed on live television. However, this is leading to improvement. For example, which country has seen government-empowered ministers in jail, entrepreneurs in jail and bureaucrats on the docks? We are now introducing the Lokpal bill. I feel that our nadir is behind us.

Now that we are on the same page, I believe, that even if we do not solve our problems, we can grow at 7.5-8%. However, that will be foolhardy on our part. We have the potential to grow at 10%. Why? We are growing at 8.4% today. On a simplistic basis, if we take C+I+G - one can argue there has been some amount of “G” but “I” has been missing. When the investment cycle starts, “I” will kick in and we can easily sustain at 8%.

What we need to go from 7.5-8% growth to 10% is common knowledge. We need more infrastructure. However, it is wrong to say that infrastructure is not happening due to lack of funding. There is no viable infrastructure project in the country that is waiting for finance. There are other issues to be addressed such as land acquisition, mining or the plethora of approvals needed that is slowing things down. These are not difficult issues to resolve and infrastructure will therefore happen. Some of it is already happening. People are focusing on the 10 power projects that do not have coal supply. The fact is that we have installed 26,000 mw of power since public-private partnership was set up. This is more capacity than what we built in several years prior. Some projects may not take off, others will receive coal from players with surplus and several pending projects will hit the ground. We have been through the worst on infrastructure. We have already come a long way on ports. Airports look better. Power - some issues are still pending. Critical resolution required in roads and mining. I believe these will receive attention very soon.

Let’s take the subsidy issue - the triple “F” subsidy on fertiliser, food and fuel. These are damaging our economy for two reasons - the subsidies are not going to the right people and we need a clearer policy. As far as fertiliser is concerned, a new policy is in place and the burden is declining. On fuel, I am reasonably confident of market-based pricing in the next few months. And on food, whether it is through Nandan Nilekani’s project or through banks’ financial inclusion programme, the subsidy will start going to the right people. If we can get the subsidy right, disparities will start receding.

Now, let us discuss the next issue, the fiscal deficit. Oil prices are rising, fiscal deficit targets will go awry - that is a common concern. That said, the only economist who went right about F2011 GDP forecast was the government of India. Everybody else went wrong. I am not holding brief for the government. I am just saying it the way I see it. I believe that once the debt management office comes into play it will put tremendous discipline on the states’ borrowings and the overall deficit. GST (goods and services tax) will also bring the sizeable black economy into play with buoyancy in revenues. So together, the plan on subsidies and GST will eventually bring the deficit lower. Temporarily, you have an issue. You also have an inflation issue currently. Maybe we could have acted faster, maybe we couldn’t. One must understand this is both a demand and supply problem, some of it is imported. Monetary policy is not the way to resolve because then you could end up hurting growth.

If I had the option, I would look at breaking some of the fiscal targets but bring inflation under control. Inflation will come down partly because the developed world is not in good shape based on my interactions with managements of companies in these economies. Hence there is downside risk to commodities and India’s inflation can come under control. We need tremendous agriculture reform and delta there could be substantial in terms of growth. I have feeling that FDI will be allowed in retail very soon. I think we will see a new India in the next three months, directionally. Issues such as FDI in retail, supply chain reform, microfinance reform, and creation of cooperatives (like in milk) will happen sooner than most think. Again, our problems can be solved. Most people do not realise that we have more arable land than China. Our issue is that we don’t cultivate as efficiently. That is less of a problem than not having arable land.

Source (http://www.dnaindia.com/money/interview_a-new-india-is-in-the-offing-in-next-three-months-says-aditya-puri_1549715)

think-tank

June 23rd, 2011, 03:05 PM

Asia Now Has More MIllionaires Than Europe, Closing In On North America

HONG KONG -- Booming Asia had more millionaires than Europe for the first time last year and is fast closing in on North America for the top spot, a report released Thursday said.

The Asia-Pacific region was home to 3.3 million people in 2010 worth $1 million or more, excluding their homes, an increase of roughly 10 percent from the year before, according to the 15th annual World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch's wealth management division and consultancy Capgemini.

Asia's growth outpaced Europe, where so-called high net worth individuals increased 6 percent to 3.1 million, and puts it within reach of North America, where the number of wealthy rose 8.6 percent to 3.4 million.

The report's findings illustrate how Asia's economies are growing much more quickly than developed countries and, in the process, minting scores of new millionaires and billionaires. Asia's growth has been powered by China and India, whose economies grew 9-10 percent last year while European and North American growth was in the low single digits.

"It is entirely conceivable that Asia would overtake North America in the near future," said Wilson So, a managing director at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management. "I would be surprised if that does not happen very soon."

The U.S., Japan and Germany still account for just over half the world's 10.9 million wealthy, while China is in fourth place with 535,000, about 58,000 more than in 2009. Australia has moved up one notch to ninth place, edging out Italy, while India cracked the top 12 for the first time. It replaced Spain, which fell to 14th.

While 2010 was the first time that Asia has overtaken Europe in absolute numbers of wealthy people, it is the second year that Asia's combined wealth was bigger than Europe's.

The world's wealthy were worth a total of $42.7 trillion in 2010. Asia's share of that wealth amounted to $10.8 trillion, putting it in second place for the second year in a row, just behind North America's $11.6 trillion.

Six of the 10 economies with the fastest growing millionaire populations were in Asia, led by Hong Kong and Vietnam, which each saw annual growth of 33 percent. Others included Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore and India.

Asia also had a bigger proportion of young millionaires, with 3 percent aged 30 or under. All other regions had 2 percent or less.

Globally, women are increasingly in the ranks of millionaires. The report found that 27 percent of the world's wealthy last year were women, up from 24 percent in 2009.

While the majority of wealth is held by Americans, Japanese and Germans, the authors of the report expect the distribution to become more diverse over time as developing countries continue to grow faster than developed ones.

The superrich, defined as people worth more than $30 million, also fared well. Their numbers grew 10 percent to 103,000 last year.

source (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/asia-millionaires-europe-north-america_n_882774.html)

think-tank

June 23rd, 2011, 05:10 PM

Global Map of Social Networking

http://i51.tinypic.com/2ymsnzo.jpg

think-tank

July 7th, 2011, 10:24 PM

Working World

http://wac.1245.edgecastcdn.net/801245/blog.socialcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Working-World-v5.png

ericos87

July 21st, 2011, 08:21 PM

INDIA: ROLE MODEL FOR GOVT TRANSFORMATION
By Jianggan Li | 5 May 2010

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1892/governmentofindiagaller.jpg
India’s National e-Governance Plan

India’s government is transforming apace. Since the introduction of the National e-Governance Plan in 2006 it has leapfrogged into a new era of governance.

In a large country, building reusable infrastructure, integrating services and transferring knowledge present both real challenges and also good opportunities. “The scale of many projects here, such as the Unique ID programme, are huge and themselves a challenge,” says Joan McCalla, Distinguished Fellow, Internet Business Solutions Group at Cisco Systems. “But once India has gone through this, the impact will be profound.”

Before taking up her current role with Cisco, McCalla served as a public servant working for the Government of Ontario, Canada’s largest province, for 27 years. She was the Corporate Chief Strategist, in charge of Ontario’s e-government strategy between 1999 and 2006.

She then joined Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group, a division dedicated to providing strategic advisory services. She spends almost half of her time in India, working closely with the Department of IT and other agencies on strategy, capacity building and implementation.

Comparing the challenges facing India and her home country, McCalla explains that the difference in scope and scale struck her the most. “India is not comparable to my home experience, and many processes of the government are not automated,” she says. “India is taking giant strides forwards.”

Another key difference between India and Canada is the ‘general population readiness’, as McCalla puts it. While Canada already had relatively high computer usage and a high broadband penetration rate, in India access to technology tools and even general literacy remain challenges that the government IT planners have to contend with.

“It is a government transformation initiative, and people at all levels need to be engaged in this process,” comments McCalla, who says capacity building at multiple levels is vital for the success of this ICT-enabled plan to transform the government. She also says that specific project teams need to be built with the right expertise, sometimes leveraging the private sector.
Eventually the awareness programmes will be applied to the public such that they will know what the government is doing for them and how they can benefit from these initiatives.

India’s approach to e-governance is basically ‘centralised planning with decentralised implementation’. Plans are designed and priorities are set at the central level, so are the basic infrastructure components working with the State governments. Over time, the Department of IT has laid down the plans for many of the fundamentals: networks, data centres, Common Service Centres (CSCs). The states are now implementing those plans and, along with the central government line departments, filling up that infrastructure with services, “to begin their process of real business transformation.”

“It is important to have DIT championing the plan,” comments McCalla. “It is just like you need someone to put up solid scaffolding such that construction of a beautiful and durable house can start.”

As any other expert in government transformation, McCalla does not forget to mention the deciding role of political will and support of senior leadership. “The number one factor is always leadership – you need that to make things happen,” she says. “IT, as an enabler, sees the opportunity and is able to leverage that. But there are tough decisions to be made along the way – that’s where you need strong leadership.”

Another reason for political leadership is that while transformation process is ongoing, government has to remain operational and services available. “It takes extra resources and senior level support ensures that such resources are available when needed.”

CSCs are under different names in different states. “That makes sense in a particular setting with local languages, culture and practical conditions,” comments McCalla. While CSCs have been introduced to many rural areas and services are built on them, McCalla believes that the rapidly growing mobile phone penetration in the country presents another opportunity.

“The government is beginning to introduce the call centre concept,” she explains. “The ability to access public information and services via mobile devices will simplify access to many services and avoid many of the readiness problems the government is facing.”

“India is doing more than simple operations of government, but truly transforming how governments work,” she concludes. “Although there are undoubtedly many challenges ahead, I think it will become a role model for large developing countries.”

Source (http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2010/may/05/role-model-government-transformation/)

niknak

July 24th, 2011, 07:15 PM

India's Leading Export: CEOs (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2084441,00.html)

What on earth did the Banga brothers' mother feed them for breakfast? Whatever it was, it worked: Vindi Banga grew up to become a top executive at the food and personal-care giant Unilever, then a partner at the private-equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. His younger brother Ajay, after heading Citigroup's Asian operations, was last year named CEO of MasterCard — all without a degree from a Western business school and without abandoning his Sikh turban. When Ajay took over at the credit-card company's suburban — New York City headquarters, the Times of India crowed that he was the first "entirely India-minted executive" at a multinational's helm.

The brothers laugh when asked for their mother's breakfast menu, deflecting suggestions that they were raised by a Bengal-tiger mom. Instead, they cite an itinerant childhood as a key ingredient in their success. The sons of a lieutenant general in the Indian army, they moved to a new posting every couple of years — perfect training, it turns out, for global executives facing new markets and uncertain conditions. "You had to adapt to new friends, new places," recalls Vindi. "You had to create your ecosystem wherever you went." (See pictures of the tempestuous Nehru Dynasty of India.)

The Banga brothers are two of a growing roster of global Indian business leaders, a roster that includes CEOs such as Citigroup's Vikram Pandit and PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi as well as the deans of both Harvard Business School and INSEAD. Yes, ArcelorMittal's Lakshmi Mittal had the advantage of growing up in the family business, but now the family business has grown into a global powerhouse under his leadership.

What factors account for the rise and rise of India-trained business minds? "Our colleagues in our Asian offices are asking the same question," laughs Jill Ader, head of CEO succession at the executive-search firm Egon Zehnder International. "Their clients in China and Southeast Asia are saying, 'How come it's the Indians getting all the top jobs?'" It could be because today's generation of Indian managers grew up in a country that provided them with the experience so critical for today's global boss. Multiculturalism? Check. Complex competitive environment? Check. Resource-constrained developing economy? You got that right. And they grew up speaking English, the global business language.

It's risky to generalize about India, a subcontinent of 1.2 billion people, just as it's simplistic to stereotype the Western executive or the Chinese business leader. Motorola's Sanjay Jha or Berkshire Hathaway's Ajit Jain, one of those tipped as Warren Buffett's successor, succeed due to talent and drive, not because they're Indian. And bosses like Nooyi spend most of their formative career years outside the country. Is it that they may just happen to be Indian? As Ajay Banga notes, "You are who you are because of what you do, not the color of your skin." (See "India vs. China: Whose Economy Is Better?")

The data suggest Indians are scaling corporate heights. In a study of S&P 500 companies, Egon Zehnder found more Indian CEOs than any other nationality except American. Indians lead seven companies; Canadians, four. Among the C-suite executives in the 2009 FORTUNE 500 were two mainland Chinese, two North American Chinese and 13 Indians, according to a study by two professors from Wharton and China Europe International Business School.

For multinationals, it makes good sense to have leaders experienced in working with expanding Asian markets. And India is already the location of many of their operations. "If you look at companies like Pepsi or Hewlett-Packard or IBM, a huge chunk of their global workforce is sitting out in India," says Anshuman Das, a co-founder of CareerNet, a Bangalore executive-search company. "India and China are also the countries of future profits for the multinationals, so they may want their global leaders to come out of them."

Competitive and complex, India has evolved from a poorly run, centrally controlled economy into the perfect petri dish in which to grow a 21st century CEO. "The Indians are the friendly and familiar faces of Asia," says Ader. "They think in English, they're used to multinationals in their country, they're very adaptive, and they're supremely confident." The subcontinent has been global for centuries, having endured, and absorbed, waves of foreign colonizers, from the Mughals to the British. Practiced traders and migrants, Indians have impressive transnational networks. "The earth is full of Indians," wrote Salman Rushdie. "We get everywhere." Unlike, say, a Swede or a German, an Indian executive is raised in a multiethnic, multifaith, multilingual society, one nearly as diverse as the modern global marketplace. (See pictures of India's "slumdog" entrepreneurs.)

Unlike Americans, they're well versed in negotiating India's byzantine bureaucracy, a key skill to have in emerging markets. And unlike the Chinese, they can handle the messiness of a litigious democracy. "In China, you want something done, you talk to a bureaucrat and a politician — it gets done," observes Ajay. "In India, if you talk to a bureaucrat or a politician, there are going to be 600 other people with their own points of view." There's an old saw about Asian business cultures: "The Chinese roll out the red carpet; Indians roll out the red tape."

Maybe that's why Indian managers are good at managing it. They have cut their teeth in a country ranked 134th by the World Bank for ease of doing business. To be fair, it's also the reason some of them left home. They're practiced in the exasperating culture of local, state and national permits. "To build a factory in China, a CEO will have to get two or three different permissions from various departments," observes Signe Spencer, a co-author of The Indian CEO, a 2007 study from the HayGroup consultancy. "An Indian CEO may have to get 80 different permissions from 80 different places." No wonder Indian executives spend much of their time networking and lobbying — tasks Western CEOs leave to their corporate public-affairs departments.

India's economic liberalization, which began in 1991, was another blessing for this generation of executives. It gave them exposure to a young and fast-growing consumer market. "Liberalization unleashed a level of competition that makes you stand on your toes," recalls Vindi. "We had to learn to compete with international players but also with very good, extremely fast local ones." In 1987, when Vindi was CEO of Hindustan Unilever, the company's leading detergent, Surf, faced off against Nirma, a locally produced brand. "It didn't cost 5% less, or 10% less," says Vindi, shaking his head. "It cost a third of our product. We had to make a product that was better, for the same price." Within 12 months, they had.

See TIME's special report "India's 60 Years of Independence."

See "Wen Goes to India: Can Asia's Powers Make Peace?"

Competition starts early in India, as students vie for admission to the state-funded Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management. The system produces a self-selecting and highly disciplined elite; there are tales of children starting to study at age 7 for the exam they take a decade later. When the current crop of CEOs came of age, it was typical for 300,000 applicants to vie for 2,000 places. "People in India think Harvard and MIT are second choices and an IIT is their first," says Spencer. (Ajay Banga, an IIM alum, just like his brother, disagrees: "I'd have given my right arm to go to a Harvard or MIT!")

There's a spartan quality to these institutions, including shabby buildings and tiny dorm rooms. Two years ago, 1,500 IIT faculty members went on a Gandhian fast to protest their low pay. But what the institutions lack in glamour they make up in prestige and a tight-knit global network. "They all still know each other's test scores and class rank when they're 60 years old!" says Spencer. (See pictures of India's history.)

Once they leave and begin climbing the ranks, Indian managers tend to look abroad — or to multinationals within their country — more than their Chinese peers do. "In China a lot of the senior executives are political appointees," says Ader. "You get much more credibility leading a Chinese organization. If I call a Chinese candidate and say, 'Do you want to go on a board in the U.K. or U.S.?' they say, 'Why would I?' If you call an Indian, they will." The HayGroup study on the Indian CEO found Indian leaders' networking to be particularly "bold and focused," with the intent of obtaining useful information.

One of Indian managers' great advantages is their native disadvantage: they have learned their skills in a country with huge aspirations but an often faulty infrastructure. Ajay remembers his first day at Citibank in Chennai, when he wondered what the banks of machines "big enough to power jet engines" did — preserve data in case of power cuts — and then found out that this was only the first line of defense. "I learned that not only do you need a backup, you need a backup to the backup to the backup," he says. "That's not a bad way to think about management. You've got to have a Plan B and a Plan C, and they have to be somewhat robust."

Indian managers suit tough times, accustomed as they are to making complex systems work, even with finite resources. For Indians, "navigating uncertainties is an art, not a source of complaint," says INSEAD's dean, Dipak Jain. "We have the training to deal with complexities." Growing up in a nation where resources are often tight "forces you to blow through the constraints and find the answer," agrees Nikesh Arora, Google's senior vice president and chief business officer. "You tend to take a look at the problem, argue about the constraints, argue about the boundaries and see how to solve it within those boundaries." (See TIME's special report on India's 15 most influential.")

Early in the 1980s, when Ajay Banga was first working at Nestlé, he had the job of selling chocolate in India, where temperatures can hover above 38°C for months. Try selling Kit Kats in towns that don't have electricity, let alone refrigeration. Banga ended up having to create a refrigerated supply chain — with specially designed carts for cooling the chocolate en route to villages — then installing generators to run the air conditioners to keep shop storage spaces cool. "And we were doing it having been schooled in the fact that 'You will not compromise on the Nestlé products or value,'" recalls Banga. "Think about that. Think about trying to live that dichotomy!"

In Hindi, such adaptability using finite resources has a name: jugaad. Jugaad is the spirit behind Indian products like the $2,500 Nano car, designed to be assembled using chemical glues rather than expensive factory-based welding. It's also what Vindi Banga employed when trying to figure out how to sell Unilever products to rural Indian women. Instead of spending on advertising, the company established the women as small-business operators, providing loans to buy Unilever products and resell them in their communities. The women got jobs, and Unilever got a new distribution channel, notes Banga. "These ladies became brand ambassadors, brand teachers and brand distributors — all in one."

It is not surprising that Indian executives tend to pay particular attention to the lower-middle-class consumer and the so-called bottom billion, the poorest customers. After all, more Indians live on $2 or less a day than don't. But attention to value pays dividends when profit margins — and pocketbooks — are shrinking. "In emerging markets, companies work very hard to get the value equation right," Vindi observes. That's an ever more valuable skill in a climate where even wealthy consumers are looking for value. (Watch "Owning a Nano, the World's Cheapest Car.")

Another reason Indian executives are thriving in a world traumatized by the global meltdown: a sense that businesses need to do more than just make money. "When you talk to these top CEOs, there's a sense that the corporation is embedded in society," says Harbir Singh, a Wharton professor and a co-author of The India Way. "Most of the executives we surveyed said, 'You cannot succeed if you don't help society around you to have a better life.'"

Research on top executives shows South Asians tend to be guided less by the bottom line than by a bigger goal. "They think about what will not only benefit them but the greater good," says Spencer. "When they make business decisions, they take that seriously into account. You interview an American CEO and it's classic McKinsey strategic thinking: How do we make money in this market? But the Indians are showing us a level of business ethics that we don't see in the West."

Those ethics may get tested as Indians wrestle with the demands of institutional shareholders in the large corporations they are now running. But the HayGroup's leadership survey includes an inner-strength category, examining how morals and values affect leadership. The only groups that scored as high on inner strength as Indian CEOs did? Catholic nuns and monks.

think-tank

July 26th, 2011, 08:19 AM

Growing E-Commerce

http://www.invesp.com/ecommerce.jpeg

sixsigma1978

July 26th, 2011, 04:37 PM

think-tank

July 26th, 2011, 09:09 PM

^^ I love these graphical statistics - they put everything in the clear!!!
One Question : Its listed India as one of the highest growing E-Commerce nations in the world! I'm guessing that means the fastest.

On what parameters of comparison is India among the top and why isn't US listed here - considering I read somewhere that US has one of the highest number of E-Comm users on the planet?

E-commerce generally means Online Financial Transactions - including e-banking, e-shopping, e-booking and trading. India is one of the fastest growing e-commerce platforms and sites like ebay, infibeam, bitfang, rediff contribute to the growth.

sixsigma1978

July 26th, 2011, 10:46 PM

^^ Right - I was also referring to e-trading (i think thats what you meant by trading?) - I know DEMAT is rising in India - but has it caught on a mass scale as it is in US and China?

think-tank

July 27th, 2011, 06:22 AM

^^ Right - I was also referring to e-trading (i think thats what you meant by trading?) - I know DEMAT is rising in India - but has it caught on a mass scale as it is in US and China?

For e-trading you need special training but it's catching up but nearly every middle-class family has access to Internet either via mobile or landline and it's cheap. Nobody likes transferring money using a check, they prefer to do it from mobile. So it's not really hard to imagine, we are at number 4 when it comes to the number of people surfing the net.

GJ10

July 27th, 2011, 02:13 PM

Billionaires Rise Aids India, and Vice-Versa (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/world/asia/27tycoon.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all)

MUNDRA, India — On a recent wind-whipped morning, a steel-hulled behemoth arrived at a desolate stretch of India’s western coast groaning with enough coal to power a city of one million people for more than two weeks.

Ram Surat Yadav, 53, cleans coal off the train tracks at a port in Mundra, India. The coal, the rail spur and the port all belong to Gautam Adani.

Mr. Adani's development in Mundra has drawn thousands of employees but also local complaints of displacement and environmental damage.

The ship, the Vanshi, was carrying coal from Indonesia, a two-week trip across the Indian Ocean. India has its own abundant reserves of coal, which raises a question: Why did India need to go so far to get something it already had?

For Gautam Adani, the power mogul, the answer was simple: the easiest and most profitable way to meet India’s rising demand for electricity is to avoid the obstacles, divisive political confrontations and practical inefficiencies of India. In the spirit of the workaround ethos typical of India’s private sector, Mr. Adani is working around the subcontinent itself.

He owns the Indonesian coal mine, the Korean-made cargo ship (named for his niece Vanshi), the Indian power plant and, most important, the private Mundra port. He owns coal mines and a major port in Australia, and has built his own private railroad spur in India. His business plan is to do as much as possible without relying on the creaky infrastructure of the Indian state.

“He is able to do so well partly because he is very entrepreneurial and has found the right opportunity,” said Eswar Prasad, an economic adviser to India’s finance minister. “But it’s a symptom of a dysfunctional state. He is able to deliver something more effectively than the state.”

Today, India is increasingly turning to the private sector to deliver the electricity needed to maintain rapid economic growth into the future. India’s economy is growing at more than 8 percent annually, but is badly constrained by an inadequate power supply after years in which the government dominated the power sector and failed to keep up with growing demand.

The rise of Mr. Adani attests to a broader shift, as the private sector is playing a greater role in areas once controlled by the state like telecommunications, ports, airports, banks and infrastructure. At a global level, this contrasts sharply with China, where huge state-owned enterprises dominate strategic industries and lead the country’s global expansion. Mr. Adani recently had to outbid the Chinese for his Australian port.

Within India, though, the success of private tycoons has created a paradox: India’s moguls are essential to the country’s success and admired for their ability to get results. Yet their staggering wealth is made possible in part by their coziness with powerful politicians who help arrange environmental clearances, land use rights and other thorny issues. That raises accusations of crony capitalism.

India in the 21st century is now often compared to the United States during the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, when robber barons dominated the American economy. The country has 55 billionaires whose aggregate wealth of $250 billion is equivalent to almost a sixth of the nation’s annual economic output.

“No question, there is an oligarchy developing that has an enormous amount of influence,” said Arvind Subramanian, an economic adviser to the Indian government. “That is a matter of great concern. But in India, these are also the guys who are performing. In some cases, they may be gaming the system, but they are also performing despite how bad the system is.”

Mr. Adani is now India’s sixth-richest person, with a fortune valued at $10 billion. He was an import-export trader during the 1980s when the Indian government tightly controlled trade and industry through high tariffs and an abstruse licensing regime. During the 1990s, after India embarked on economic reforms, Mr. Adani expanded his trading business and befriended influential politicians, including the powerful and controversial chief minister of his home state, Gujarat.

Mr. Adani entered the power business partly because of criticism that traders were just “intermediaries” who did not own anything or contribute to society. He decided to start acquiring things, only to find that India’s new business climate would mean shopping around the world.

Going Vertical

It was a singularly Indian dilemma: tigers versus electricity.

In 2009, India’s power and coal ministries granted Mr. Adani initial approval to build a power plant in Maharashtra state, a deal that included the right to develop a coal mine. But the coal concession was in a forest near a wildlife reserve for endangered tigers. Protests mounted until India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests blocked the mine project.

The dispute underscored how often important national priorities — environmentalism versus expanding electricity — collide. India has the fifth-largest coal reserves in the world and depends on coal-fired power stations for electricity, yet much of India’s coal lies beneath forests in areas populated by tribal groups. Rare is the project without protests, controversy or violence.

Mr. Adani’s canceled mining lease was only part of his problem. He had plans to become India’s biggest private power company by 2020, yet he could not get domestic coal. Two other applications for domestic mining rights were snagged in red tape after India’s environment minister declared broad areas of the country to be “no-go” regions for mining.

His advantage was Mundra. He had spent a decade assembling tracts of land into a special economic zone and had transformed Mundra into India’s biggest private port. Now the port would become his Indian gateway for a global expansion.

He acquired mining rights in Indonesia. He bought two cargo ships (with two more on order) and began prospecting in Australia, where he bought a mine and, this year, the Abbot Point port. In short order, he became an overseas coal baron even as his Indian mining applications remained tangled in a ministerial turf war.

“He learned that it is difficult to get such clearances,” said Devendra Amin, a spokesman for the Adani Group. “The challenges are political, as well as logistical.”

Indeed, the logistics of transporting coal in India were another problem.

Indian Railways is a huge government bureaucracy with some of the world’s highest freight charges, even though Indian freight trains travel slowly and carry small loads. Mr. Adani found it cheaper, more efficient and sometimes faster to ship coal 4,000 miles by sea than 1,000 miles by train. (Indonesian coal is also of a higher quality than Indian coal.)

In the space of a few years, Mr. Adani had created a vertically integrated global supply chain reminiscent of when Henry Ford once owned Brazilian rubber plantations to supply his car factories in the United States. Outside of India, this model is seldom seen these days, as big companies often specialize in areas where they have expertise and outsource other activities.

“It’s quite atypical in the global context,” said Rajiv Lall, chief executive of the Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation, based in Mumbai. But in India, he said, “it’s probably the fastest, most likely to succeed approach in the current environment.”

In the past two years, India has become Indonesia’s largest customer for coal, as other Indian corporations have also bought mining rights to ensure a reliable supply for their private power projects. The Adani Group is currently constructing or planning seven power stations, with the largest at Mundra. When the port needed a 40-mile rail connection to the Indian Railways network, Mr. Adani decided that the fastest solution was simply to build his own line. It is the first such private rail spur in India.

“They took all the risk,” said P. N. Shukla, a former senior official at Indian Railways. “Now, the traffic is so high that they are building a second line.”

Analysts credit Mr. Adani with a bold vision and a world-class ability to execute projects. But he has also demonstrated talents in another realm: Few Indian billionaires get rich without playing politics, too.

The Billionaires’ Club

This year, Narendra Modi invited India’s most powerful tycoons to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. The glittering lineup of tycoons was, in essence, a homage to Mr. Modi, the state’s chief minister and highest-ranking official.

Mr. Modi is one of India’s most polarizing politicians, deplored by critics as a Hindu right-wing extremist and blamed for his role in the bloody 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. Yet within corporate India, he is a hero known for business-friendly policies that for much of the past decade have helped make Gujarat the country’s hottest state-level economy, with sizzling growth that has averaged 11.2 percent a year.

At the summit meeting, held in a sparkling new convention center, Mukesh and Anil Ambani, the feuding billionaire brothers who dominate several Indian industries, were both in the audience. Ratan Tata, chairman of the sprawling Tata Group, was on hand.

But the seat beside Mr. Modi during the inaugural ceremony was reserved for Mr. Adani, who used the occasion to announce an investment of an additional $17.8 billion in Gujarat. He also heaped praise on Mr. Modi as a brother and “an architect” responsible for building a grander state.

This nexus between tycoons and powerful politicians courses through the public-private relationship in India and forms the crux of a continuing debate on whether the rise of India’s billionaires is a sign of dynamism or cronyism.

India’s billionaires control a considerably larger share of the national wealth than do the superrich in bigger economies like those of Germany, Britain and Japan. Among the Indian billionaires included on the most recent Forbes rich list, a majority have derived their wealth from land, natural resources or government contracts and licenses, all areas that require support from politicians.

“Both in its rot and heady dynamism, India is beginning to resemble America’s Gilded Age,” Jayanth Sinha, the head of an investment and philanthropic organization, and Ashutosh Varshney, a political science professor at Brown University, argued in a column in The Financial Times.

Others are more sanguine. Swaminathan Aiyar of the Cato Institute considers the Indian economy far more open and competitive today, noting that of the 30 largest companies on India’s stock exchange in 1991, at the beginning of India’s market-oriented reform period, only 9 are still on that list today. He argues this turnover suggests fierce competition rather than a hardening oligarchy.

“Crony capitalism hogs the headlines,” he wrote in a recent column. “Yet industrial and financial deregulation since 1991 means that political discretion affects only part of the economy.”

Mr. Adani, 49, represents the new guard among India’s billionaires. A stocky man with a no-nonsense demeanor, he dropped out of college to enter the Mumbai diamond trade but returned home to do business in Gujarat, where he first ran a plastics factory before becoming a trader and industrialist. His career has not lacked drama: he was kidnapped and held for ransom in 1997 and was inside the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel when it was attacked during the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

In an interview at his corporate headquarters in Ahmedabad, Mr. Adani defended India’s style of capitalism, noting that the economy has grown far faster in the past decade than in the previous five decades. He described his career as propelled by circumstances: his trading in the 1980s led to his interest in the Mundra port, while having a port and a special economic zone led him into power generation. India’s coal predicament and poor domestic transport infrastructure led him overseas.

Throughout the years, Mr. Adani has benefited from various governmental approvals and also bought coastal land from the Gujarat government at very low prices — in one instance paying as little as $540 an acre. Once he completed infrastructure, Mr. Adani sold land at a handsome profit to corporations locating inside the economic zone, including one parcel to Indian Oil Corporation, a state-owned firm, for $54,000 an acre.

“Who made him so rich?” asked Babu Meghji Shah, an opposition state legislator and a vocal critic of Mr. Adani’s. “The Gujarat government had made him rich.”

Mr. Adani dismissed any suggestion of wrongdoing but said that no business leader could afford to alienate a chief minister. “You cannot put up infrastructure or a larger project without the blessing and active support of the state government,” he said. “You have to work along with the government, whoever the chief minister is, from whichever party he is.”

Winners and Losers

For generations, the barren, low-lying coastline near Mundra has provided a livelihood for 10,000 people who depend on the sea. Fishermen live at the water’s edge in shanties framed with driftwood. Not far away, the port is fast becoming an economic powerhouse, employing several thousand people.

The fishermen blame the Mundra development for dwindling populations of shrimp and plankton and the disappearance of huge areas of mangroves, a threat to the estuary that has drawn scrutiny from national environmental officials. Fishermen are fighting in court but say they cannot match Mr. Adani’s political clout. They say Adani officials have offered jobs to some people, though only menial work paying $2 per day.

“We don’t trust them,” said Hashim Haji, 55, an uneducated fisherman who supports a family of 18. “They just talk. They promised us schools, hospitals, job training. But they have not done anything.”

The anger of the fishermen could be said to represent the collateral damage caused by India’s work-around private economy in which the state often takes a back seat and does not do enough to bring along people displaced by development. This summer, India’s Parliament is expected to consider a national law establishing clear guidelines for development projects when land is acquired or residents are displaced. Yet legislative action is hardly certain: the land bill has already been under discussion for several years.

Mr. Adani acknowledged the fishermen’s concerns and said his company was working to address them, but he insisted that Mundra’s expansion would continue. “We are working together with the community in such a manner that their livelihoods should not be disturbed,” he said, but added, “At the same time, development also should not be stopped.”

In fact, Mr. Adani is trying to replicate the Mundra model as he pursues other Indian ports as hubs for importing coal and building new power stations. Inside Mundra, he is building his own world: There are housing developments for employees, including a gated community of gardens and modernist bungalows for top executives. Private schools serve the children, while a private health chain has opened a hospital. There is a private airstrip for jets.

And even though Mundra is a remote place, far from any major city, thousands of employees are willing to move here because they believe working for a company like the Adani Group represents the future.

“Everything was done by us,” said Javed Sindhi, a public relations manager for the company in Mundra. “That was the achievement. If you do it the government way, it would take years.”

ericos87

July 28th, 2011, 05:26 AM

Learning from India

BLOG | JULY 27, 2011 - 2:28AM | BY JONATHAN OKORONKWO

The recent adoption of India’s tricycle has drastically reduced the spate of unwarranted motor bike accidents and sometimes death, occasioned by the spurious and reckless driving of many young Nigerians.

This is thanks to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo who recommended to the National Poverty Eradication Programme of Nigeria, the adoption of “Keke NAPEP”. Keke NAPEP was an alternative to the fast increasing local transportation fares in the face of unrepentant dwindling economic woes bemoaning the nation on assumption of power on May 29th, 1999 from the hands of military juntas who siphoned and nearly marred the dreams and aspirations of the younger generation with wrong economic prepositions and implementations.

India is a land of diverse cultures. It is a vibrant and self-confident nation and has entered an exciting new phase. India as a nation, with variations in the practices based on their local needs and influences, the variations in physical, climatic conditions and the extent of exposure to other cultures has greatly influenced the traditions and culture of the different regions stressing the importance of friendly ties between India and Africa.

Nigeria can learn more from the India’s situation of steady economic progression and growth in areas such as education, energy, telecommunications, transportation, health, urban development, and power especially in relation to the development of leadership skills and civil activism. The latter’s skills and marshalling of civil interest is fundamental to developing and addressing community and social issues through purposeful cross-cultural interaction.

This integration of culture, science, technology, economic, legal and other humanistic directions had provided a forum where Indians are encouraged to think laterally and strategise meaningfully to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

The challenge of maintaining a competitive advantage accruing from upgraded information, communication and technology infrastructure is one that concerns us as a nation in present times. A typical example of where we are getting it wrong relates to the telecommunication tariff system where the poor masses are being made to pay more. Typically, in most developing countries, the populace are made to talk more and pay less locally while the upper class (especially foreigners) are made to spend more on international calls. In India, local calls goes as cheap at a ratio of 1: 167% to international calls, while it is 1:1.16% in Nigeria.

Also worth mentioning is the issue of electrical power management as it currently stands in Nigeria at the three levels of generation, transmission and distribution, which was systematically unbundled allowing private companies to take the leading roles. In India, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently launched a national program tagged “The Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission” - a major initiative by the Government of India to promote rooftop solar PV applications supported by new legislation to mandate all home-owners to use house roofs to generate power and sell to the national grid.

In March 2009, the installed power generation capacity of India stood at 1440.59 billion KWh while the per capita power consumption stood at 704 KWh. Due to India's economic rise, the demand for energy has grown at an average of 3.6% per annum over the past 30 years. About 75% of the electricity consumed in India is generated by thermal power plants, 21% by hydroelectric power plants and 4% by nuclear power plants. More than 50% of India's commercial energy demand is met through the country's vast coal reserves; yet frantic efforts are made to increase the power especially at the rural areas where off grid electrification are being currently encouraged. But the reverse is the case in our country where we are still struggling to maintain at 3000MW.

Another typical view that is driving the Indian economy is the private sector cruise where non-government organisations like TERI, manufacturing giants like Suzlon, TATA, Reliance and even the latest entrant into the Nigerian telecommunication sector, Airtel, are dictating the pace of the ever growing economic influence of the market. India has provided a forum where technological advances and cultural views are handled respectfully, especially in rural areas in order to improve regulatory efficiency; increase information technology literacy; favour information technology applications for the domestic economy to make production more efficient; and improve governance through new science and technological cultural heritage initiatives.

It is my hope that in studying and recognising India’s programs and policies, grassroot issues can be better reflected in policy. Learning from India’s experience will promote social, ethical, emotional, physical, and cognitive competencies which will aid in raising Nigeria’s ability to:

· analyze strengths and weaknesses

· set personal and vocational goals

· develop self-esteem, confidence, motivation and understanding

Our policy makers should shape their strategic thinking to attract organisations such as Sindicatum Climate Change Foundations (SCCF), and TERI on important issues as experienced today in our varying climatic conditions, especially in the Niger Delta where Nigerians are exposed to petrifying conditions and in so doing, proffer applicable ways of providing high level advice on renewable energy and engineering issues to implement high level low cost projects like the New Delhi Metro railway service.

The Indian experiences can help Nigeria unveil a holistic approach to development as our ministers settle to fulfil the integration of their various agenda to harness the great potential of the Nigerian people.

Jonathan Okoronkwo (http://dailytimes.com.ng/author/jonathan-okoronkwo), an Electrical Engineer, presently works on Reliability of Wind Turbine Generators in India.

Source: http://dailytimes.com.ng/blog/learning-india

rockystone

July 29th, 2011, 12:10 PM

Australia wants India to play greater role in Asia

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/australia-wants-india-to-play-greater-role-in-asia/768099.html

Australia wants India to play a greater role in Asia to ensure stability, the country's Defence Minister has said, labelling New Delhi as a positive force in the region, where China's military build-up is causing concern."It is in all our interests that India plays the role it could and should as an emerging great power in the security and stability of the region," Defence Minister Stephen Smith said, echoing similar appeal made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently.

Pointing out that Perth is closer to Chennai than Sydney is to Shanghai, Smith in a speech to the Brookings Institution think-tank in Washington yesterday, said, "Our region needs to look west, as well as east." The minister who spoke on security in the Asia-Pacific region, said Canberra sought co-operation with Beijing, but devoted much of his speech to dwell on rising India, AAP reported.Calling India as the largest democracy in the world, he said, New Delhi's role and significance could not be under-appreciated."India is the largest democracy in the world.

As India assumes the mantle of global influence accorded to it by its democratic status, economic size and strength, its strategic weight in the world is naturally increasing," Smith said.He urged a greater role for India in ensuring security and stability in the Indian Ocean region.His remarks assume significance in the context of rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific region over the tussle for rights in the south China's sea, where Vietnam and Philippines have accused Beijing of provocations in recent months.

bhargavsura

July 30th, 2011, 08:53 PM

I am wondering if this pays any heed to our old and traditional leaders.

think-tank

August 1st, 2011, 04:38 PM

^^ times change.

Top Android and IOS search queries
http://www.readwriteweb.com/android-search-chomp-june-1.jpg
http://www.readwriteweb.com/android-search-chomp-june.jpg

source: readwriteweb (http://readwriteweb.com)

You can notice 'productivity' keyword is missing from UK and Canada. wonder why is that?

ericos87

August 1st, 2011, 06:31 PM

^^ times change.

You can notice 'productivity' keyword is missing from UK and Canada. wonder why is that?

Productivity is also missing from Saudi Arabia.

think-tank

August 1st, 2011, 07:11 PM

Productivity is also missing from Saudi Arabia.

ok ok, thats makes three.

I'm sorry were you offended?:lol:

ChennaiIndian

August 2nd, 2011, 03:43 AM

Productivity is also missing from Saudi Arabia.
Indians are already there in big numbers. That's why! :lol:

bhargavsura

August 2nd, 2011, 04:19 AM

E-commerce generally means Online Financial Transactions - including e-banking, e-shopping, e-booking and trading. India is one of the fastest growing e-commerce platforms and sites like ebay, infibeam, bitfang, rediff contribute to the growth.

Really people buy through rediff? For me, its nothing but internet-space-wasted-site. It always get news and rankings through various websites.

But coming back to the topic, I have seen advertisements of sites like quikr or olx.com frequently during the ongoing test series. Seems like this thing is really picking up for the billion-population-nation.

sixsigma1978

August 2nd, 2011, 04:51 PM

^^ +1 - I wouldn't trust rediff with my Credit Card if my life depended on it!! Not sure about its cash payments though - but without a doubt - rediffmail HAS to be one of the worst email providers i've ever come across - their ADMINS now spam products in a special category email that you can't even block :lol:

think-tank

August 2nd, 2011, 05:11 PM

Rediff is a verisign class 3 trusted network, as long as the network is trusted and verified you can shop online.

sgups

August 2nd, 2011, 06:55 PM

^^ not really.. do they store your credit card info? if so, how securely they store that info?

think-tank

August 2nd, 2011, 07:04 PM

KuwarOnline

August 2nd, 2011, 08:17 PM

^^

Shopping sites verified by certificate authority do not store your CC info, it is processed automatically from the credit card payment gateway. So your number isn't stored anywhere unless you do shopping from a retail store.

+1

also I bought binoculars from rediff shopping in 2007 or 08, till date I didnt found anything wrong with my credit card.

KuwarOnline

August 2nd, 2011, 08:22 PM

ndians are increasingly rising to the top of global corporate ladders and just 10 of them are together managing business worth over $400 billion -- an amount nearly double the total exports from India in a year.

So, it does not come as a surprise when CEOs are being billed as the latest and leading export from India, given the multi-national giants like Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, PepsiCo, Unilever, Adobe, Mastercard and Motorola having Indian-origin persons in their top leadership positions.

International magazine Time also recently termed CEOs as India's leading export and said that the subcontinent could be 'the ideal training ground for global bosses'.

Experts believe that Indians' inherent focus on good education and their ability to work in difficult situations is aiding to the trend and more and more Indians could rise to top positions at global companies in near future.

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO
Anshu Jain, co-CEO, Deutsche Bank.
Vikram Pandit, CEO, Citigroup.
Sanjay Jha, CEO, Motorola Mobility.
Ajit Jain, CEO, Reinsurance Division, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe.
Harish Manwai, COO, FMCG giant Unilever.
Rakesh Kapoor, global CEO, Reckitt and Benckiser.
Ajay Banga headed Mastercard as its CEO
Arcelor Mittal chairman Lakshmi N Mittal.

Source
http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-10-indian-ceos-managing-global-biz-of-over-400-billion-dollars/20110802.htm

murlee

August 3rd, 2011, 09:17 AM

Well... But what use does it bring to India!! :|

sixsigma1978

August 5th, 2011, 04:36 PM

^^ Image! Indian Execs worldwide are recognized as execs FROM India!! Its part of a growing global economic reach of Indian Diaspora - that its not only Tatas and Birlas as we were associated with before the Economic reforms!!

CNBC US is a great example of this - I'm really proud when almost every other company interview usually features an Indian one way or another!! Even in firms folks in India would never had heard of - and these guys never forget to mention India as the source of their rise!

Any thing that slowly erodes the "cattle-class" image of the 50s to 80s reshaping towards a corporate and economic giant adds to our Image!

sixsigma1978

August 5th, 2011, 05:24 PM

Rediff is a verisign class 3 trusted network, as long as the network is trusted and verified you can shop online.

Didn't know that. but i DID know a friend who was good friends with a Sys Admin with rediffmail - who openly claimed to auction off all registered rediff email IDs to soliciting firms. In fact - IndiaTimes and Rediff do this regularly - if anyone of you who still use any of these mail sites - you can appreciate how 90% of your mails are spam!! :lol:

That was enough for me - I still would never trust Rediff with my CC - even if their shopping and mailing groups are mutually exclusive!! Call me paranoid :D

purty_trash

August 14th, 2011, 03:25 PM

Invest in a rising superpower where enterprise spirit thrives (http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/business-news/invest_in_a_rising_superpower_where_enterprise_spirit_thrives_1_3676260)

LAND OF OPPORTUNITY: The rise of India as a global powerhouse was confirmed when David Cameron made the country his first destination as Prime Minister. Picture: Andrew Parsons/PA

Published on Saturday 13 August 2011 10:30

CONAL Gregory looks at the prospects for the Asian superpower

India is on track to become the world’s second largest economy by 2050 and the globe’s largest country in population rising by more than one million a month. By 2030, its GDP growth will have multiplied five-fold.

Its cities were old when Nineveh was new. It can trace its principal religion, Hinduism, to 2,000 years before the birth of Christ. It has over 300 languages but its leaders speak with one voice against a return to pre-1991 trade barriers and protectionism.

Today India is a land where enterprise flourishes. Caste and ritual may be endemic but its economic revolution is transforming society. Unlike China, the other great Asian power, it is a mass democracy.

No investor here can ignore such exciting prospects even though the global turbulence this month, which might well become a ‘double dip’ recession, caught India like all economies. Yet its stock market fell less than most.

The Bombay Sensex dropped 4.9 per cent whilst the FTSE 100 fell 9.77 per cent, S&P 500 by 7.19 per cent, Paris CAC 40 by 10.73 per cent and Frankfurt Dax by 12.89 per cent.

Over the past 12 months, the Sensex has oscillated between 17,305-21,004 and last week fell to its lowest level. This could therefore be a good time to either invest in India or top up savings there.

Whilst the Sensex reflects just 30 stocks, two other stock market indices used are the Nifty, which covers 50 stocks, and the MCSI India with 72 holdings.

With some 4,900 listed companies, an investment needs to be through a collective fund or an exchange traded fund which reflects an index. Check that the latter is physically backed by assets (like the iShares S&P India Nifty 50 Index) rather than risk a derivative-based ETF (such as Deutsche Bank’s x-tracker).

According to Lipper research specially prepared for the Yorkshire Post, the top performers over five years are:

* First State Indian Subcontinent I, up 181.7 per cent;

* Pinebridge Global Funds India Equity A, up 165.7 per cent;

* Franklin India A, up 149.9 per cent;

* Aberdeen Global Indian Equity A2 Acc, up 148.6 per cent;

* Comgest Growth India and Danske Invest India A also both performed well, up 148.3 and 141 per cent respectively.

If investment trusts are preferred for their ability to borrow (gearing) and independent boards of directors, New India and JP Morgan Indian secured 120.5 and 75.3 per cent growth respectively over five years.

As India celebrates Independence Day on Monday, it can reflect on some short-term concerns. Inflation remains high at 8.6 per cent (although it averaged 7.99 per cent from 1969-2010) and is likely to be fuelled by higher wage costs with the minimum level expected to exceed 15 per cent.

The ruling Congress party has suffered from corruption scandals and political wrangling. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, appointed by Sonia Gandhi, has failed to use a stronger mandate from the 2009 elections to ensure economic reforms.

The government is working on a social security system which will provide sufficient economic benefits for the poorest whilst reducing subsidy leakage and tackling the black money markets.

India trades at a premium to other emerging markets but this reflects its attractive demographic outlook – more than 50 per cent are aged under 25 years – and generally better corporate governance standards. Ratings agencies are comfortable with the government’s progress. Standard & Poor’s has retained India’s BBB- investment-grade rating and ‘stable’ outlook to the country’s debt.

Mick Gilligan, of private client stockbrokers Killik, says “the market does not look expensive now given its growth prospects”. Bloomberg forecast earnings to jump by 18 per cent next year. Killik tips First State Indian and New India.

Inflation and “short-term slowdowns are unlikely to derail the long-term investment opportunity”, says Martin Payne, Leeds-based director at stockbrokers Brewin Dolphin.

Companies involved in India’s infrastructure projects – notably energy and transport – are among those likely to succeed. Jupiter, which has a noted Indian Fund (up over 82 per cent in three years), says 700-900 million square metres – the equivalent of Chicago – needs to be built each year for commercial and residential use.

It also calculates that 2,500m square metres of road will have to be paved – 20 times the capacity added in the past decade. India’s size is daunting. England would fit 22 times over with space for Scotland a couple of times.

Payne likes Jupiter India, which typically holds 50-60 stocks with large positions in consumer goods firms and financial stocks. He also tips JP Morgan Indian, the first UK investment trust to invest solely in Indian equities in 1994. It currently trades on a relatively wide 10 per cent discount to net asset value and a competitive 1.2 per cent annual management fee.

An actively managed emerging markets or Asian fund with a fair slice in India is the route suggested by Elizabeth Hastings, chartered financial planner at Leeds advisers AWD Chase de Vere. They include Aberdeen Emerging Markets and JP Morgan Emerging Markets.

Fidelity India Focus Fund’s manager expects GDP to grow by 7.9 per cent and inflation to fall in the second half of the year. For tax-efficiency, the fund is available both as an ISA and a SIPP with single investments accepted from £1,000 and monthly from £50.

Since its launch in 2004, the fund has attracted £2,200m and is primarily invested in financials, IT, consumer discretionary and industrials. Its top holdings are Infosys, Reliance Industries, Icici Bank and Tata Consultancy Services. Lipper says the fund rose 39.8 per cent over three years and by 85 per cent over five years.

Reliance Industries is an exciting choice. Last month the Indian government approved the UK’s largest single Indian investment – BP’s £4.4bn alliance with Reliance to increase oil and gas production.

A more recent fund, Neptune India, which started in December 2006, has already shown fair growth of 56.5 per cent over the last three years. Ewan Thompson manages around 35 stocks which include large holdings in financials and healthcare with a new position in Cairn India, which is in oil exploration.

HSBC’s flagship fund for the country is its GIF Indian Equity which has been running over 15 years, achieving only 27.3 per cent growth over the last three years but 86 per cent over the past five years.

This Luxembourg-registered fund has 109 holdings.

Recent purchases include a private sector bank and adding to IT. It is not available on a regular investment basis but in single purchases of at least US$ 5,000.

PROVING A WISE CHOICE

David Thackwray, 62, from Heslington near York, decided to make India one of his investments in 2003 when he transferred different pension pots into a SIPP (self invested personal pension).

He was impressed with the wealth and size of the Indian middle classes and expected corporate governance to be better in India than China and less volatile.

Selecting JP Morgan’s Indian Investment Trust, David says: “It has proved to be a very good choice and I have made several lump sum investments, both for my SIPP and now my ISA.”

His wife, Marion, has also opted for the same Indian fund, buying directly for her SIPP and not using a broker.

David is semi-retired and manages a family property rental business and the couple have two grown-up children[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

think-tank

August 14th, 2011, 08:41 PM

Great article, India is definitely a land of opportunity to tap into.

think-tank

August 20th, 2011, 09:45 PM

Distribution of Resources

Credit: British Geological Survey and mint.com (http://www.mint.com)

Note: India may well be the largest producer of Uranium in the future however at the moment Canada occupies the top place.

http://i52.tinypic.com/33dczeu.gif

think-tank

August 26th, 2011, 04:08 PM

Australian came to India with doubts, but will return cured

HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd, South Asia’s largest cancer care network, treated 17-year-old patient from Australia, Kahila Wilson for Ewing’s Sarcoma. The patient was first diagnosed in 2007 and had been living with it for four years.

Dr Nalini Rao, radiation oncologist, HCG, said, “Kahila was diagnosed for Ewing’s Sarcoma and has been on various treatments for the past four years. The disease had spread to both the lungs and the para-spinal region. She came to HCG for cyberknife treatment. We explained to the patient and the family about the cyberknife treatment, its potential to shrink the tumors and probably improve the quality of life. We have given cyber knife treatments to the lesions in both the lungs and she will need to be further evaluated for response after a period of two to three months.”

Kim Wilson, mother of the patient, said, “When we decided to come to India, some people asked us to rethink. But we are amazed at the technology and medical expertise Indian doctors have. As a mother, I feel very happy to see my daughter smile again. I plan to write a book when I get back home about the warm experience and treatment we received here in India.”

Dr BS Ajaikumar, chairman, HCG, said, “The patient has travelled down to India for the cyberknife treatment which is currently not available in Australia. She came here on a wheel chair, but now she is able to walk after the treatment. The knowledge the medical fraternity in India possesses is very high and we also advance ourselves with the latest technology. This has put India on the global map as a healthcare destination. In the past one year, our medical outcome has attracted more than 700 patients from different countries looking for the HCG network and our centre of excellence in Bangalore for treatment.”

source (http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_australian-came-to-india-with-doubts-but-will-return-cured_1579884)

think-tank

August 28th, 2011, 08:48 PM

4 Indians among MIT’s top 35 innovators

Two Indians and two persons of Indian origin figure among Top 35 Innovators under-35 in the latest list of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Technology Review, the world’s oldest Technology Magazine established in 1899.

Ajit Narayanan, Invention Labs, Chennai and Aishwarya Ratan, Yale University, who were part of TR35 India Winners announced in March 2011, have made it to the annual list of people who exemplify the spirit of innovation in business and technology.

The honourees are blazing new paths in a wide range of fields, including medicine, energy, communications, IT, consumer technology, entertainment, and robotics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, based institution announced Wednesday.

Chennai—based Ajit Narayanan, 30, was selected for his work on affordable speech synthesizers. He is currently working with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to improve the quality of the speech synthesis. He also plans to use mobile app stores to distribute a version of his software with about 90 percent of the full Avaz system’s functionality.

Aishwarya Ratan, 30, was working with Microsoft Research in Bangalore when she won the prestigious honour for her work on converting paper records to digital in real time. Ratan has since moved to Yale University, but the NGO that she was partnering with continues to test the slate in villages.

Two winners of Indian origin include Bhaskar Krishnamachari, 33, University of Southern California who has been selected for his work on smarter wireless networks and Piya Sorcar, 33, for Teachaids software that can be localised to teach taboo topics.

The TR35 will present their work and be honoured at an awards ceremony during the 2011 EmTech MIT conference, taking place Oct 18—19 at MIT’s Media Lab, USA.

source (http://in.news.yahoo.com/4-indians-among-mits-top-35-innovators-031804824.html)

adam_india

September 1st, 2011, 12:41 AM

Emerging India summit 2011 @ Emory University

VkGqbnGoRLI

think-tank

September 1st, 2011, 08:13 AM

^^ nice one.

think-tank

September 2nd, 2011, 08:15 AM

Work hours around the world

http://blog.tribehr.com/Portals/116839/images/110819.TribeHR-Work-Hours.png

source (http://blog.tribehr.com/bid/90228/HR-Environmental-Scan-Work-hours-around-the-world-infographic)

Sriram27

September 2nd, 2011, 11:21 AM

I'm never going to complain about my work hours again! :runaway:

rockystone

September 17th, 2011, 08:31 AM

New Australia-U.S. push deals India in to Pacific

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/1707/319247110917ausmin2011.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/844/319247110917ausmin2011.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
From left: Stephen Smith, Kevin Rudd, Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta in San Francisco this week for the Ausmin conference to advance the Australia-US alliance

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/new-australia-us-push-deals-india-in-to-pacific/story-e6frg76f-1226139302534

THIS week's 60th anniversary Ausmin meeting in San Francisco deserves the overworked adjective historic. It marks a pivot point in which the US and Australia begin to redefine their region not as the Asia-Pacific, but as the Indo-Pacific.

The annual meeting of foreign and defence ministers from Australia and the US - respectively Kevin Rudd, Stephen Smith, Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta - took the US-Australia alliance into new territory; into cyberspace and into the Indian Ocean.

The meeting, like the contemporary alliance, was dominated by three technologies and three outside nations. The technologies are cyber warfare, missiles and nuclear weapons. The external nations are China, India and North Korea.

The addition of cyber war was the most important change in the scope of the alliance since New Zealand left in the mid-1980s. In a communique on cyber security, Australia and the US declared: "In the event of a cyber attack that threatens the territorial integrity, political independence or security of either of our nations, Australia and the US would consult together and determine appropriate options to address the threat."

That language might seem bland. It is not. It is close to the formulation of words in the ANZUS Treaty. You might argue that cyber attacks, like any attacks, are already covered by the treaty, so why make an extra declaration they can trigger the alliance?

There are two reasons. One is to draw attention to, and provide a framework for, the deep US-Australia co-operation on cyber security.

But much more important is the desire to send the strongest possible message, especially to Beijing. The author of the overwhelming majority of cyber intrusions the US and Australia experience is China, with Russia a distant second.

Everyone knows this, and you can see occasional references to it in US and Australian defence documents. The Ausmin communique makes the allied response crystal-clear. It may very well provoke a political reaction from Beijing.

The cyber attacks, at this stage predominantly to steal information, are mainly directed at US and Australian defence facilities, but also at government institutions, and at companies of strategic interest to China, especially Australian mining companies.

This year's cyber declaration follows the establishment of a joint cyber working group at last year's Ausmin meeting in Melbourne. Australia set up a similar level of co-operation with Britain at the Ausmin meeting in Sydney. The lead agencies are the Defence Signals Directorate in Canberra, the National Security Agency in the US and the Government Communications Headquarters in Britain.

The US and Australia already conduct many intense cyber security exercises. This kind of co-operation requires the greatest operational intimacy and trust. The US/Britain/Australia intelligence relationship is the core Western intelligence club.

It is the case that the US, and to a lesser extent Australia, are developing offensive cyber capabilities in the event of a cyber conflict, or a general conflict with cyber dimensions. Cyber security generally has experienced huge expansion in recent years in the US, Britain and Australia.

The missile and nuclear technology concerns at Ausmin were centred on North Korea. With everything that is going on in the world, North Korea is slipping under the radar at present. But Western assessments of Pyongyang are intensely pessimistic.

This emerges from two deadly judgments. The first is that China is not really helping on North Korea, and looking back, has not really helped in the past. Beijing enjoys too much strategic benefit out of the status quo with North Korea. Its difficult neighbour is a costly irritant to the US, a source of leverage for Beijing, which can offer or withhold help on Korean issues, and provides a territorial buffer between China and the US ally of South Korea.

Secondly, there is a widespread apprehension that leadership tension in Pyongyang could have destabilising results. The most worrying likely scenario is a series of further long-range missile tests by North Korea, combined with work to miniaturise nuclear warheads sufficiently so they can be carried on missiles. This is a strategic threat in itself and makes North Korea a more dangerous player in nuclear proliferation.

Australia is ramping up its co-operation with the US on missile defence, despite the theology on the Labor Left that holds missile defence to be the work of the devil.

Conceptually, Ausmin saw a significant move forward into the era of the Indo-Pacific as the replacement paradigm for the Asia-Pacific. An important dialogue is under way between Canberra and Washington here. Essentially, Canberra is asking Washington to view the whole Indo-Pacific region as an integrated theatre of operations.

This is partly because the rise of India is changing the region's centre of gravity. Parts of the US system hold the same view, but the US system is so vast that, as has often been the case, Australia is playing a role in moving the consensus of the US military/diplomatic/political establishment.

The US Quadrennial Defence Review last year described India "as a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond".

A number of Australian non-government institutions are belatedly beginning to understand the significance of India's rise. The Lowy Institute's Rory Medcalf has just published a paper on Australia's Future between China and India, which seeks to understand some of these implications. Lowy is sponsoring a big dialogue which it hopes will become the Indian version of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue. And the University of Melbourne's Australia India Institute is beginning to hit its straps.

At the grand Ausmin level, the official communique called for deeper strategic ties between Australia, the US and India, welcomed India's engagement in East Asia and called for greater co-operation with India in providing for maritime security.

It is noteworthy this declaration came just a few weeks after the Chinese navy confronted an Indian ship, the INS Viraat, after it had made a visit to Vietnam. China claims exclusive sovereignty over most of the South China Sea - a claim no maritime Asian nation accepts or recognises. It was significant that the Ausmin communique declared in relation to the South China Sea that "both the US and Australia have a national interest in freedom of navigation" there.

Two big Australian conceptual arguments were carried in an important speech by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to the Asia Foundation in San Francisco.

The first was the redefinition of the region from the Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific.

Rudd said: "The critical region for our future now extends to include the Indian Ocean as well. It is in the interests of both the US and Australia for India to play the role of a major international power. India is increasingly looking east with interest, both for strategic and economic reasons, and because of long-standing cultural connections."

He drew the necessary distinctions between China and India, but in assessing the new economic ascendancy of Asia, he said: "It goes without saying that China and India are the main drivers of the new ascendancy."

So the message is clear. India is shaping up to be of similar consequence to China, though from both a US and Australian view vastly more benign. It is up to Washington and Canberra to maximise their leverage and connections with India.

But Rudd had another message for the US too, and that was the importance of a sustained - indeed deepened - US engagement in Asia.

By the way, Rudd also drew attention to a statistic more Australians might like to take notice of. Two-way cumulative US/Australian investment stands at $960 billion. Two-way cumulative Chinese/Australian investment stands at $31bn. Those foolish analysts who continually parrot the line that Australia might face a choice between its main strategic partner and its main economic partner are operating in apparent ignorance of the fact that economic partnership involves trade and investment. As a result, they get the identity of our main economic partner wrong.

But back to Rudd's main message to his US audience. In an era of extremely tight fiscal conditions in the US, there will be acute strategic choices for Washington to make. Rudd was telling them to place their bets on Asia.

It would of course be wrong to overstate the importance to the US system of a single speech by an allied foreign minister, even one as well-respected and well-connected as Rudd. But it is critically important that the US hear this message as often as possible, especially from Asia and especially from friends it respects.

Rudd said in part: "As the world changes, it's even more critical that the US builds its engagement in our region. President Obama talked of the need for a more centred course, and that lies in deep US engagement in Asia . . . The vast majority of countries in Asia welcome that."

As the US defence budget suffers serious cutbacks, Australia will in effect be arguing as part of the Washington decision-making process on budgets not to make those cuts in Asia.

In the new US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, Canberra may well have an ally. He is a native San Franciscan with a natural Pacific Ocean outlook. As a veteran of the CIA and with a lifetime of Washington wheeling and dealing, he is a good man to have dealing with Congress in what is certain to be a taxing time.

The pre-Ausmin high-profile expectation of new US force dispositions and commitments in Australia will be slightly delayed while the US finishes its force posture review, and the two militaries, the US and Australian, work on exactly what the best options for an increased US military presence in Australia might look like.

This was a very big Ausmin indeed.

truckin

September 17th, 2011, 01:51 PM

And the irony is that Indian leadership itself doesn't understand or know abc of this..

think-tank

September 29th, 2011, 09:59 PM

Female Leaders around the world.

http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/2011/SEP/FEMALE_KP.jpg

reuters (http://blog.thomsonreuters.com/index.php/female-leaders-graphic-of-the-day/)

dreadathecontrols

October 11th, 2011, 03:05 PM

sunday times u k had a 15 page pull out called 'india the growth story' in it this wkend in association with the world buiness times.

was about dalal st, india bulls , jet, kingfisher, the big 6 industrialists, f1 in delhi, tata nano, kamal nath, m singh,a sharma, p mukerjee,chanda kochar,and taj group.

mostly writen by karen robertson.(??)

Sun Times is the main 'serious' wkend news paper in the uk.
D

RohanNZ

October 24th, 2011, 01:35 PM

amhrpi

October 24th, 2011, 03:06 PM

In the latest issue of The Economist, there is a 14 page special report on Indian business.
check it out: http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/10/special-report-business-india

barrykul

October 26th, 2011, 08:47 AM

Emerging India summit 2011 @ Emory University

I hope these so called strategists examine their own strategy. The Biggest Blunder that the US faces from policies of Kissinger (Bangladesh Murderer) and I am not a crook Nixon is China. The twin problems that the US would face is the Worldwide Muslim challenge and China. The Muslims insurgency in Xinjiang is real problem for the Chinese and they are using Pakistan to hedge their bets. All other threats including cold war Russia would fade away. And suddenly these great US strategists would be wondering what hit their collective backsides.

Stephen Cohen is disingenuous and peddling all kinds of falsehoods. He claims authoritatively that the occupation of India was by a private company called East India Company. Everyone knows that is a tall claim when East India Company was under her majesty's service and the recent most Viceroy was Lord Mountbatten ( and The viceroy used his wife Edwina to bait Nehru). On the claim of Britain giving an organizational structure (albeit borrowed from the french) to the Indian army is laughable. India had armies prior to the Brits, the Mughals had one, the Cholas who conquered south east asia had one, Tippu Sultan had one, Maurya's had one. Talking about the Mauryas, Chanakya wrote the book on strategy called Arthashastra. The Game of Chess teaches you about complex tactical and strategic maneuvers. Tippu Sultan is credited with introducing rockets into warfare and we know that British Colonel Congreve took a sample and propagated it to the rest of Europe, ergo German V2, NASA's Saturn rocket, etc. Stephen also gives mythological powers to Pakistan' army, when the world is coming to know of Pakistan nation as one continuous terrorist belt, with a shaky army in control.

sixsigma1978

October 31st, 2011, 09:57 PM

Must be doing something right. Amazing what the changes the end of Lalu's murderous reign is bringing to Bihar!

Pilgrims flocking to india

Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Thailand and worldwide are flocking to the holy sites in northern India and Nepal in what is becoming one of the travel industry's biggest growth sectors: religious tourism.

The numbers are growing in line with significant improvements being made in infrastructure as well as the quality of supporting travel and transport arrangements. Roads, airports and railway services are being upgraded. Dozens of hotels have emerged. One of them in Bodhgaya is appropriately named "Thai International".

The circuit incorporates various holy sites in Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Rajgir, Varanasi, Nalanda, Lumbini, Kushinagar and Sravasti, all associated with places where the Buddha was born, preached, attained enlightenment and died.

Known as "Following the Footsteps of the Buddha", the sites attract several hundred people a day. Most appear to be Sri Lankans who also come in the low-season summer months to enjoy lower hotel rates and airfares.

In the winter, from October-March, the regular traffic includes Thais and visitors from industrialised countries, both regulars and new Buddhist devotees. Last week, my group alone included people from Mexico, Mauritius, Italy, Hong Kong, the UK, Canada and India.

Separately, two other large all-Thai groups were also travelling on the Mahaparinirvan Express, a special rail journey organised by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, a division within the massive Indian railway system that caters to foreign visitors.

The rolling stock is leased from the railway enterprise and the price of US$150 to $160 per person per night is affordable to a middle-class market, preventing it from becoming too elitist.

Leading one of the groups was Narierut Pantong, managing director of Nisco Travel, which specialises in Buddhist tours. She says that everything is getting better by the year: the roads, quality of hotels, food and the tour arrangements.

"When I started these tours several years ago, the toilets on the train were always in a mess, and the hotel food was terrible. Now the Indian Railways people have evaluated the feedback and taken positive steps," she says.
Nalanda, site of what is claimed to be the world's oldest university, has been cleaned up extensively, with security guards posted to stop graffiti scrawling, one of the biggest problems at the sites.

Thais are coming in droves, to the extent where the young urchins in one village near a holy spot can even now count in Thai. The entire area is dotted with numerous Thai temples and monasteries that are well-maintained, thanks to the huge funds coming in via donations as well as purchases of souvenirs, amulets and Buddha images.

At one stop just before crossing the border to Nepal, a temple that functions as a rest and refreshment stop is manned entirely by Thai monks.

In Sravasti, Uttar Pradesh, where the Buddha spent 25 monsoon seasons, a huge Buddha image and a 110-metre stupa now under construction are under the aegis of the World Peacefulness Foundation, whose chairman and patron is Maha Upasika Sitthipol Bankot.
The entire area of several thousand square metres began with the planting of 9,999 banyan trees, creating a natural forest and a fresh-water reservoir. A huge meditation centre houses six large halls of 3,000 capacity each.
The area boasts several more temples and monasteries of various Buddhist denominations from Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Tibet. Some are supported by governments but many are self-funded via donations.

But there is a considerable way to go. Some hardship is a necessary part of being on a pilgrimage. The Buddha sought to keep the focus on human suffering, and there is plenty of that in India, both in the villages as well as all along the roads and pathways.
Signage and waste disposal facilities are still poor. Civic sense remains a challenge. Garbage is strewn in many places, with plastic bottles even floating in the ponds at some sites. Beggars and vendors wait outside the holy spots, ready to swarm over pilgrims.

Carrying capacity will soon become an issue. The temple at Bodhgaya, the site of Buddha's enlightenment, can barely cope with the numbers and will soon face more pressure as the hundreds of daily visitors soon become thousands.

Indeed, Bodhgaya should see much improvement following a change of government in Bihar,long impoverished by the corrupt former administration.
Other states are also looking at starting similar rail journeys. Our tour included the head of Punjab Tourism, which sees high potential for a rail trip through Sikh holy spots, starting with Amritsar, home of the famous Golden Temple.

Source : Link (http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/263977/pilgrims-flocking-to-india)

murlee

November 1st, 2011, 08:47 AM

Awesome! Felt so good to read this..

Definitely, this Religious tourism is a great opportunity for Bihar to improve. Am sure, with better facilities and growing affluence in the Buddhist countries of East and S.E. Asia, people should throng these holy sites!

We must really market them and arrange for proper facilities though.

SSCaddict

November 1st, 2011, 07:15 PM

yup hope that Nitish publicize it as modi did, this will bring a lot of prosperity and jobs :cheers:

murlee

November 6th, 2011, 02:27 PM

India’s Innovation Stimulus

THE world hit seven billion people last week, and I think I met half of them on the road from New Delhi to Agra here in India. They were on foot, on bicycle, on motor scooters. They were in pickups, dented cars and crammed into motorized rickshaws. They were dodging monkeys and camels and cows. Somehow, though, without benefit of police or stoplights, this flow of humanity that is modern India impossibly went about its business. But just when your mind tells you that this crush of people will surely overwhelm all efforts to lift the mass of India out of poverty, you start to notice a pattern: Every few miles there’s a cellphone tower and a fresh-looking building poking out of the controlled chaos. And the sign out front invariably says “school” — engineering school, biotechnology school, English-language school, business school, computer school or private elementary school. India is still the only country I know where you can find a billboard advertising “physics degrees.”

All these schools, plus 600 million cellphones, plus 1.2 billion people, half of whom are under 25, are India’s hope — because only by leveraging technology and brains can India deliver a truly better life for its masses. There are a million reasons why it won’t happen, but there is one big reason it might. The predicted really is happening: India’s young techies are moving from running the back rooms of Western companies, who outsourced work here, to inventing the front rooms of Indian companies, which are offering creative, low-cost solutions for India’s problems. The late C.K. Prahalad called it “Gandhian innovation,” and I encountered many examples around New Delhi.

Meet Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, the C.E.O. of Ekgaon. His focus is Indian farmers, who make up half the population and constitute what he calls “an emerging market within an emerging market.” Ekgaon built a software program that runs on the cheapest cellphones and offers illiterate farmers a voice or text advisory program that tells them when is the best time to plant their crops, how to mix their fertilizers and pesticides, when to dispense them and how much water to add each day.

“India has to increase farm productivity,” explains Aditya, “but our farms are small, and advisers from the Agriculture Department can’t reach many of them. So they go for hearsay methods of planting, which leads to low productivity and soil desertification.” Using cloud computing, Ekgaon tailors its advice to each farmer’s specific soil, crop and weather conditions. Some 12,000 farmers are already subscribing ($5 for one year), and the plan is set to grow to 15 million in five years.

Meet K. Chandrasekhar, the C.E.O. of Forus Health, whose focus is “avoidable blindness” among India’s rural poor. A quarter of the world’s blind people, some 12 million, are in India, Chandrasekhar explains, and more than 80 percent of those are blind as a result of a lack of screening and a lack of ophthalmologists in rural areas. In the past, comprehensive screening required multiple expensive diagnostic devices to check for diabetic retinas, cataracts, glaucoma, cornea and refraction problems, all of which cause 90 percent of the avoidable blindness in India. So Forus invented “a single, portable, intelligent, noninvasive, eye prescreening device” that can identify all five of these major ailments and also provide an automated “Normal or Needs to See a Doctor” report; it can be run by a trained technician, who through telemedicine connects patients to a doctor.

“We work with a Dutch company on optics, and the University of Texas supports us in business development,” Chandrasekhar adds. “We are talking to a Brazilian company that is interested in manufacturing our technology and selling in Latin America.” Outsourcees are becoming outsourcers.

Meet Aloke Bajpai, who, like others on his young team, cut his teeth working for Western technology companies but returned to India on a bet that he could start something — he just didn’t know what. The result is iXiGO.com, a travel search service that can run on the cheapest cellphones and helps Indians book the lowest-cost fares, whether it is a farmer who wants to go by bus or train for a few rupees from Chennai to Bangalore or a millionaire who wants to go by plane to Paris. iXiGO now has one million unique users a month and is growing. Bajpai used free open-source software, Skype and cloud-based office tools like Google Apps and social media marketing on Facebook to build his software platform and grow his company. They “enabled us to grow so much faster with no money,” he said.

Finally, there’s Nandan Nilekani, the former C.E.O. of Infosys Technologies, India’s outsourcing giant, who is now leading a government effort to give every Indian citizen an ID number — a crucial initiative in a country where most people have no driver’s license, passport or even birth certificate.

In the last two years, 100 million people have signed up for an official ID. Once everyone has one, the government can deliver them services or subsidies — some $60 billion each year — directly through cellphones or bank accounts, without inept or corrupt bureaucrats siphoning some off.

“We’re bringing the most sophisticated technology to the most deprived,” said Nilekani. “The hyperconnected world is giving us a chance to change India faster, at a larger scale, than ever before.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/opinion/sunday/friedman-indias-innovation-stimulus.html?_r=1&smid=tw-NYTimesFriedman&seid=auto

KavirajG

November 8th, 2011, 05:10 PM

India's online population 'tops 100 million', World's third largest (http://news.yahoo.com/indias-online-population-tops-100-million-132843557.html;_ylt=AuDGC90i5jayU0pWwcImo1q8aw8F;_ylu=X3oDMTRvY2ZwYmFkBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwMyMWY3YzhhZS1jMDBkLTM0ZmEtYmM2YS00MjQ2MzU5M2QwMzAEcG9zAzIEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDMGZlNzkyODAtMGEwZS0xMWUxLWJlYTEtYWE0M2VjOTgxZTU3;_ylg=X3oDMTM2NWFpZW1wBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDZmFkNGQ2ZWQtNWU3OS0zZTA0LThjZDEtYWIzMjg3M2EwOWJlBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxsYXRpbiBhbWVyaWNhBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=3)

India's Internet users have topped 100 million, a study said Tuesday, and its online population could overtake the United States' within two years.
India's Internet population stood at 112 million by September, making it the third-biggest globally after China and the United States, the Internet and Mobile Association of India said.
"It's good news that we've crossed the 100 million milestone, but it has taken us a long time to get here," association president Subho Ray told AFP. "Internet use in India now is entering a critical growth phase," he added.
India is adding 5 to 7 million Internet users every month, increasingly in small-town India and among the less wealthy.
At the current pace, the country will overtake the United States in less than two years, the study projected.
China's online population is the world's largest at 485 million while the United States has around 245 million users.
The Indian government expects the number of Internet users in the country to total around 600 million in the next five years, Ray noted.
"The 600 million target is realistic if the government follows through with its ambitious plans to put in place the infrastructure for Internet usage," he said.
Internet giant Google said last week it expects India's Internet growth to be driven by mobile phone users, predicting they will form the majority of new online users in the country as low-priced smartphones become available.
As Internet usage has grown, online shopping has climbed sharply with retail chains and consumer goods companies jumping on the Web bandwagon to lure new e-customers.
According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, the online retail industry is expected to grow by 35 percent annually to touch 70 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) by 2015, up from 20 billion rupees now.

murlee

November 11th, 2011, 02:52 PM

The Case for India: Free to Succeed

If I have to endure another corporate executive blindly praising China and reflexively trashing India, I might actually gag. I'm often trapped in conversations with suits that follow the same, excruciating pattern. First, they swoon over China's stellar roadways and airports, the superior wisdom of Beijing's policy mandarins and the clinical efficiency of its authoritarian regime. Then they turn 180 degrees to rail against the feebleness of India's infrastructure, the ineptitude of New Delhi's bureaucrats and the convoluted course of Indian democratic politics. How, they ask, can India ever catch up?

When comparing India and China, most economists and business folk simply look at the wrong things. Beijing's bureaucrats may be better at building roads, but government dictates and human-rights abuses won't ensure the country's economic success. The past half-century of Asian economic history tells us that sustained development ultimately depends on entrepreneurship, a strong private sector, rule of law and political openness. India, not China, possesses these crucial building blocks of economic progress. And that is why India will overtake China as the world's premier emerging economy.

When I make this argument, I usually get bewildered stares — probably the same response you're having right now. Yes, I can see why many people believe India is stuck sucking fumes behind China's great industrial machine. The Indian economy hasn't been growing as quickly as China's, nor has its industry imprinted as deep a mark on the global economy. India has more than twice as many people trapped in desperate poverty, while its fractious democracy entangles policymaking in long-winded debates and ideological tussles unthinkable within China's autocratic government. Beijing and Shanghai are connected by high-speed trains; their thoroughfares are lined with modern office towers. In New Delhi and Mumbai, the dusty lanes remain lined with barefoot beggars and cluttered with soot-belching motorized rickshaws.

But to discover which nation will win out over the long haul, we need to dig past surface appearances, down into the guts of the two economies, to learn how they tick. China's economy appears lovely on the outside but is rotten at the core, like a brightly polished Ferrari with the innards of a Pinto. India's growth engine may occasionally get smeared with manure and lost in detours, but check under the hood, and you'll find it is much more powerful than it looks — more powerful, in fact, than China's.

Part of the reason is simple mathematics. Since the Chinese economy is more than three times the size of India's, the Middle Kingdom's growth rate will inevitably slow, allowing India to close the gap. For a developing economy, China is aging rapidly because of the distortions caused by its controversial one-child policy, giving India a demographic advantage in generating future growth. Much more important, and contrary to what many believe, India possesses a superior economic model to China's — sturdier, healthier and better equipped to maintain rapid progress over the long term.

That's because India's economy has balanced sources of growth. Strong domestic demand drives India's GDP, offering the economy protection from external shocks. China has no such cushion. Its economy is overly dependent on investment and exports. Economists believe China needs to encourage more domestic private consumption — to "rebalance" — to promote sustainable economic growth. In other words, China has to become more Indian. That became obvious during the Great Recession. India charged through the downturn because the resilient Indian consumer propelled the economy forward. When the financial crisis hit China, however, Beijing was forced to unleash a tsunami of government stimulus and credit from state-controlled banks to keep growth going. Even though the world's economists lauded the effectiveness of China's recession-fighting methods, these were, in fact, a sign of the economy's frailties.

Money Talks
Beijing's stimulus effort also exposed another Chinese weakness — a faulty, immature financial system. Though the state owns large chunks of the banking sectors in both countries, China's bureaucrats interfere much more intrusively in the credit decisions of its financial institutions, turning them into little more than arms of government policy. That makes Chinese banks more vulnerable and less efficient in allocating resources. Indian banks, on the other hand, are run on a more commercial basis. They have greater expertise in risk management and credit analysis, and as a result, they tend to lend money more intelligently and have stronger balance sheets. We cannot understate how important that is for India's future performance. "Indian banks are stronger [than China's]," explains Mark Young, head of Asian banks at rating agency Fitch in Singapore. "There is a clear link between the health of the banking sector and the capability to support economic growth."

India's corporate sector beats out China's too. Indian companies are more dynamic, better managed and financially sounder than Chinese enterprises. According to data crunched by investment bank CLSA, Indian firms outperform China's, with both wider profit margins and higher returns on equity. That's not about to change. Chinese corporations are not only burdened by more debt, they are adding debt at an alarming rate. Fitch figures that at the end of 2010, bank credit represented 139% of GDP in China compared with a mere 49% in India.

We can also make the case that India is more entrepreneurial than China. Indian firms like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro practically invented the entire offshore IT-services industry — a sector China is now attempting to copy. At their ever expanding campuses, these companies train and absorb thousands of new hires each year while extending their reach to every corner of the globe — management challenges Chinese executives would struggle to tackle. Arvind Subramanian, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., says the evidence can be found by evaluating how companies from China and India operate outside their home markets. Indian firms, he notes, not only invest more heavily overseas than China's (as a percentage of GDP), but they also tend to operate core manufacturing and service businesses in advanced economies. China, meanwhile, has focused outward investment on natural resources in Africa and other emerging economies. That, Subramanian contends, shows Indian managers can better compete head-to-head with the world's top CEOs in the most demanding markets.

Such management expertise will prove decisive as China and India lose their low-cost competitiveness. The only way either economy can keep growth roaring is to develop high-tech industries and innovative companies — a difficult leap that demands the type of smartly run companies India already has. It also requires democracy and civil liberties. By censoring the Internet, controlling the press and stifling debate, Beijing is suppressing the open exchange of information and risk-taking spirit necessary for entrepreneurial innovation. Indians, enjoying full freedom of expression and association, face no such hurdles. These basic rights in India, furthermore, are protected by an independent judiciary that can be trusted to uphold the rule of law — a crucial ingredient for economic progress.
Whether you believe India or China will own the future depends on whether you think the state or the market can generate the best economic results over the decades to come. True, China's government is more competent than India's. But can China's bureaucrats take the economy into the ranks of the most advanced? History tells us the answer is no. I dare you to name one example of an authoritarian, state-dominated economy that developed creative, innovative industries and world-beating companies. China faces that risk. On the other hand, we can make a long list of democratic, market-oriented economies with well-managed private companies that have excelled. There is every reason to believe India will be one of them.

So don't be fooled by Shanghai skyscrapers and Beijing propaganda, or misled by the chaos of Mumbai's streets and India's tendency for self-deprecation. China's state may give it an edge today. But India's private economy will give it the edge tomorrow.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2099180_2099179_2099176-2,00.html

mihir1310

November 12th, 2011, 07:12 PM

India: The World's Secret Silicon Valley

By Nirmalya Kumar & Phanish Puranam

You might not know it, but a key cog in the global innovation machine is hiding in plain sight in the world's largest democracy

For many firms, developing new products for consumers around the world is the most visible manifestation of innovation - the "real deal." But many people still see India as a place where other people's ideas are made or executed and not where innovation begins. (After all, you don't hear about an Indian equivalent to Google, iPod or Viagra.) Bu they're wrong. In more than 600 captive research and development (R&D) centers across India today, corporations are designing and building amazing new things.

For example, GE's John F. Welch Technology Center has developed a string of technological marvels. A transparent roof spanning 300 meters without any central supports. Adevice to display integrated anatomical information from a CT scan with live functional information from a PET scan. A car bumper that self-destructs on impact (rather than destroying, say, the leg of an unlucky pedestrian). The markets for these wonder products are truly global, encompassing the United States, Europe, Asia and, of course, India itself.
secrets-of-innovation/bug.png

.......
But global consumers rarely recognize India as the country of origin because most of this innovation is invisible. How so? The innovation occurring in these Indian captive units is visible only to other business units and is not revealed to end consumers.

To understand the nature of this invisibility, consider how new complex multicomponent products such as engines, IT hardware, or even major software are currently developed in multinational companies. Using horizontal segmentation, the various components involved are often developed in parallel, in different countries, only to be assembled at a later date. And India plays a large role in this multi-country orchestration of development of new products.

Because no country unit is solely responsible for the final result, it's difficult to associate any particular place with the innovation. Thus, the head of the GE unit in Bengaluru took great pains to state clearly that the unit in Bengaluru helped develop everything, but would not take sole credit for the aircraft engines and wind turbines. Equally important, no other R&D unit in the GE network can claim sole credit, either, which begs the question: "Where was it really innovated?"

....

With this efficient model and high-quality talent in place, India is positioned to be recognized not just for successful offshore services, but as the next global innovation hub.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/india-the-worlds-secret-silicon-valley/248341/

zenith_suv

November 15th, 2011, 07:38 PM

GNwfqy_r5m4&feature=player_embedded

raakshas

November 15th, 2011, 11:38 PM

^^ Americans, y'all stop stealing our goddamn jobs!

:lol:

varunssc

November 16th, 2011, 12:00 AM

^^ That's an old vid from 6 months ago, but good to see nonetheless

phaedrus

November 18th, 2011, 01:22 AM

^^ Americans, y'all stop stealing our goddamn jobs!

:lol:

tGZ1nK4mOuw

kalkibhagwan

December 10th, 2011, 06:12 AM

For e-trading you need special training but it's catching up but nearly every middle-class family has access to Internet either via mobile or landline and it's cheap. Nobody likes transferring money using a check, they prefer to do it from mobile. So it's not really hard to imagine, we are at number 4 when it comes to the number of people surfing the net.
we are number 3 according to a recent report and will be No.2 within the next 2-3 years:)

kalkibhagwan

December 10th, 2011, 06:21 AM

kalkibhagwan

December 10th, 2011, 07:20 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5QTPvIj1bI&list=FL5Fk8ld_uc2vQbEXXdzYtXQ&index=38&feature=plpp_video

A very interesting analysis of Indian and chinese economy by an american economist/professor

think-tank

December 11th, 2011, 07:27 AM

Narayana Murthy
7a_4Z8yhWVo

kalkibhagwan

December 29th, 2011, 04:00 AM

L7BbzOamUR4

V5QTPvIj1bI&feature=relmfu
A good video explaining the pros and cons of capitalist society and the so called NWO

kalkibhagwan

December 29th, 2011, 04:18 AM

TED: HIDDEN HOTBEDS OF INVENTION

JHk9YVjhk7c&feature=channel_video_title

vGSUM4mjA-E&feature=channel_video_title

Some local scientific projects in India

So0gFEFgr2c&feature=channel_video_title

sixsigma1978

January 4th, 2012, 04:19 PM

India was Australia's 5th best customer and 3rd best supplier in 1949 with a 2 crore trade balance in our favor!! :)

http://i43.tinypic.com/rbmsz4.jpg

kalkibhagwan

January 4th, 2012, 10:20 PM

^^^^^^ I dont get how this is relevant to this thread?

livelyfire

January 17th, 2012, 11:24 AM

Starwood Hotels & Resorts said it will open about 20 additional hotels in India by 2015, as it scales up presence in Asia’s third-largest economy.

International hotel companies like Starwood and Marriott International Inc are keen to tap into the opportunity that an emerging middle class in fast-growing countries like India and China present.

Best Western International, said last week, it plans to open 66 additional hotels in India over the next five years, which will take its total number of hotels in the country to 100.

Starwood will focus on expanding its luxury and mid-market segment, in 2012, which includes its Luxury Collection, Westin and Aloft brands. The company will introduce its super luxury hotel brands W and St Regis in the country in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

“Starwood continues to widen our long-standing lead in India, which is second only to China in terms of our future global growth,” said Vasant Prabhu, Starwood’s vice chairman and chief financial officer.

Starwood, which has a market value of $10.15 billion, currently operates 33 hotels in India. The company plans to have 100 hotels either under
development, in operation or contracted in India by 2015.

livelyfire

January 18th, 2012, 09:53 AM

New Development Control Regulations for Mumbai a positive step

Many real estate players have welcomed the new Development Control Regulations (DCR) in Mumbai, pointing out that the move will help maintain
transparency in deals and benefit customers. However, they have also expressed some concerns over implementation and rising construction costs, among other things.

Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) has supported and welcomed the new rules. Paras Gundecha, President, MCHI, says, “The amendments are a step in the right direction. The Chief Minister’s initiative will be in the best interests of citizens and more specifically, property buyers in Mumbai. This will not only establish a level playing field for the developer community, but will also reduce arbitrary decision-making. Most importantly it is expected to bring about stability in property prices.”

Boman Irani, CMD, Rustomjee Group adds, “The new rules will bring about transparency.” However, he points out that much depends on how they will be implemented and feels commercial development should be treated on par with residential.

Similarly, Dhaval Ajmera, Director, Ajmera Realty and Infra India, says, “The new DCR is a good move by the government. This rule would ensure that it
would bring in transparency in dealings from both ends; the customer as well as developer. It will also boost organised development in the city. Home
buyers will cherish the move as it could also lead to stability in property prices.”

However, there are some developers who believe that property prices will go up as a result of the new DCR. Lalit Kumar Jain, CMD, Kumar Urban
Development Limited and National President, CREDAI, puts it strongly when he says: “It is imperative for the government to implement customer-friendly rules rather than DC rules that punish them for trying to buy property.” Jain believes that while it is an initiative for better transparency, the new DCR will turn out to be inflationary and inadequate. While he hopes it will reduce delays in permissions, he points out: “The fresh premiums on FSI consumed on areas like balconies and flower beds will add to the cost of the property and therefore the burden on the buyer is bound to increase.”

Jain also observes that experts have repeatedly asked for relaxing FSI norms so that large housing complexes could come up at affordable cost. “Today
the cost of property is bound to look very high since the cost of the land is distributed among fewer FSI,” he explains. “But if we allow limitless FSI by
strengthening physical infrastructure, the land cost could be spread thin thus making available huge stock at reasonable prices.”

Rajesh Shah, Executive Director, Dosti Group, also believes that the new rules will result in increased construction costs and therefore higher prices. “The new rules are appreciable,” he says; however, according to him, certain areas like staircases and passages should not be charged extra.

Likewise, Sandeep Runwal, Director, Runwal Group, points out that construction will become expensive owing to the premium FSI involved, and this will cause prices to “shoot up.”

Runwal says, “Residential as well as commercial property will be affected by the new DCR. With regards to residential, there will be a large amount of
transparency in the approvals. Customers will know what they are paying for. But, in certain areas, special permission is required from the commissioner,
which is quite confusing. This means that it will take a long process to get the approvals done.”

Manoj John, VP- Corporate Planning and Strategy, RNA Corp, says, “With the new rules, there will be an elimination of discretionary approvals and a level
playing field is created.” His only concern is regarding the 60% premium of ready reckoner rates for residential projects. “This translates to more than
100% and costing for FSI should be according to land rate, not building rate,” he says. The positive aspects of the rules, according to him, are mainly for
smaller projects with regards to open spaces. Due to this redevelopment can take place, he feels.

Commenting on the amendments, Himadri Mayank, Manager, Research and Real Estate Intelligence Service, Jones Lang LaSalle India, says, “To increase
transparency and remove layers of regulations, an all-in FSI calculation has been stipulated, which includes the FSI-free design features. Developers can
build 35% extra (as Fungible FSI) by paying a certain premium. This could keep the construction volumes nearly the same, as developers used to
overbuild nearly 25%-30% as FSI-free features.” Mayank also suggests that we could see more box-like residential towers which provide a maximum
habitable area to the tenant, instead of lavish architectural projections such as balconies.

While some issues do need to be ironed out, on the whole the new DCR is expected to boost much-needed transparency in the real estate market.