Kolkata International Financial Hub

[AbhishekDatta]

Originally Posted by AmitavaGhosh

No, I don't agree with them..such problems are rampant everywhere in India..look at maruti gurgaon for instance; there were perennial problems in cotton mills in Mumbai;land acquisition is a problem almost everywhere;Bangalore has 3 CMs in the past 1 year;Hyderabad has a very serious telengana issue, but these things don't deter investment prospects there.
I agree governance plays an important part in industry.But I think that's just part of the problem.The real problem with bengal is it's argumentative elites and it's diaspora.They have created such a negative image about bengal to the rest of the world that we are still grappling to come out of problems which we had resolved long back.
I don't know what intellectual orgasm do they enjoy when they project Bengal in such a low light.Like, "look at the that goddam place we left, still fighting over communism, strikes, lock outs etc etc".
Such perceptions are hard to get over by, unless projected properly by the media and accentuated by the non resident bengalis to the investment fraternity(which, unfortunately, is mostly outside bengal).
I have stayed in all major Indian cities during the lat 5 years, and what really upsets me is that Kolkata as a city is much more fundamentally strong than many metro cities.Yet, investments scenario in Kolkata is bleak ; people still look down at Kolkata as a 'failed city'.
Say for example,
Electricity: Kolkata much better than gurgaon, hyd or bangalore.
Water availability: Probably the best city in this perspective.
Public transport : cheap;huge, if not in quality but quantity wise.Non existent in Gurgaon, autos are awful in bang,hyd.
Health: Very good network of private hospitals.
Strikes: We have put them behind.
Education:very good public colleges and private schools, also the private engg colleges are good.
Government:boisterous but stable.
Roads:Probably one aspect that Kolkata lacks behind.But it is good in sector 5 ,Rajarhat.

perfectly crafted and very true... sob bisoye expert comment mara r nak shitkonor jonnei ei haal ....let some good sense prevail

[Suncity]

The quizmasters, bibek debroys, didis, telegraphs, abps, bartamans were the biggest demonizers of Bengal in the past several years with a lot of negative fiction propaganda.

Not sure why nobody advised them then of not to cut the nose of the state just to gain the throne of Bengal. In fact a huge section of folks actually cheered them on.

[anirban_ban]

Originally Posted by AmitavaGhosh

No, I don't agree with them..such problems are rampant everywhere in India..look at maruti gurgaon for instance; there were perennial problems in cotton mills in Mumbai;land acquisition is a problem almost everywhere;Bangalore has 3 CMs in the past 1 year;Hyderabad has a very serious telengana issue, but these things don't deter investment prospects there.
I agree governance plays an important part in industry.But I think that's just part of the problem.The real problem with bengal is it's argumentative elites and it's diaspora.They have created such a negative image about bengal to the rest of the world that we are still grappling to come out of problems which we had resolved long back.
I don't know what intellectual orgasm do they enjoy when they project Bengal in such a low light.Like, "look at the that goddam place we left, still fighting over communism, strikes, lock outs etc etc".
Such perceptions are hard to get over by, unless projected properly by the media and accentuated by the non resident bengalis to the investment fraternity(which, unfortunately, is mostly outside bengal).
I have stayed in all major Indian cities during the lat 5 years, and what really upsets me is that Kolkata as a city is much more fundamentally strong than many metro cities.Yet, investments scenario in Kolkata is bleak ; people still look down at Kolkata as a 'failed city'.
Say for example,
Electricity: Kolkata much better than gurgaon, hyd or bangalore.
Water availability: Probably the best city in this perspective.
Public transport : cheap;huge, if not in quality but quantity wise.Non existent in Gurgaon, autos are awful in bang,hyd.
Health: Very good network of private hospitals.
Strikes: We have put them behind.
Education:very good public colleges and private schools, also the private engg colleges are good.
Government:boisterous but stable.
Roads:Probably one aspect that Kolkata lacks behind.But it is good in sector 5 ,Rajarhat.

I agree with most points with Amitava. All cities and cultures which have grown big have had their local entrepreneurs, who had dreamt big. Bengali (Fake) Intellectualism is the main culprit, to my mind. They talk a lot and do very little, and often do not practice what idealism they preach.

[AbhishekDatta]

@sun what quizmasters,didis did was perfectly correct as a politician or as an aspiring one...they time and again made it clear that nothing was against any industry if you are concerned about singur protests...do u expect current opposition will sit quietly if incidents like singur/nandigram/netai happens...an will that be correct?

bad press that Bengal got during last 10-15 yrs of Jyoti Basu's rule was perfectly fair... he is responsible for the entire mess we see now..Budhdha babu tried to resolve that mess but created a bigger mess of mass murder because of his futile ego and communists inspired execution style...Budhdha babu was never criticized for his stance on industry in fact the same telegraphs and abps were jumping in joy for the brand budhdha and rightly so... if surjakantas or bimandas make some negative fiction now one should not care because that is what their role is..

the whole point is bengal has seen a change after a generation and its not like Mr. yeddy going out and Mr. shettar coming in....

I understand if we criticize when Infosys actually decides to leave or Jindal decides to walk away..those are major happenings and should be criticized if and when it happens...but nowadays it has become a fashion to propagate expert comments to each and every things... eta hochchena,ota erokom hole bhalo hoto,dhush rongta thik manachche na,amar abar maroon pochondo,issh akhono start holo na(tarpor haturi mara chobi) .... sick of it!!!

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by AbhishekDatta

@sun what quizmasters,didis did was perfectly correct as a politician or as an aspiring one...they time and again made it clear that nothing was against any industry if you are concerned about singur protests...do u expect current opposition will sit quietly if incidents like singur/nandigram/netai happens...an will that be correct?

If the current opposition does what Didi did in Singur, I would be opposing them too. Driving out the Tatas was a big mistake.

Originally Posted by AbhishekDatta

@but nowadays it has become a fashion to propagate expert comments to each and every things... eta hochchena,ota erokom hole bhalo hoto,dhush rongta thik manachche na,amar abar maroon pochondo,issh akhono start holo na(tarpor haturi mara chobi) .... sick of it!!!

I have already stated several times that I like the initiatives taken to beautify the city.

I only want this new government to give up socialist left wing nonsense when it comes to business and economy. Is that too much to expect?

[AbhishekDatta]

Originally Posted by Suncity

If the current opposition does what Didi did in Singur, I would be opposing them too. Driving out the Tatas was a big mistake.



I have already stated several times that I like the initiatives taken to beautify the city.

I only want this new government to give up socialist left wing nonsense when it comes to business and economy. Is that too much to expect?

Tatas unfortunate exit was a fall out of a completely different cause...I don't regret the cause...and Sun I guess u know that everyone in this forum or in general is not as objective as you...so u don't fall in that naak shitkono category...

[anirban_ban]

Originally Posted by Suncity

If the current opposition does what Didi did in Singur, I would be opposing them too. Driving out the Tatas was a big mistake.



I have already stated several times that I like the initiatives taken to beautify the city.

I only want this new government to give up socialist left wing nonsense when it comes to business and economy. Is that too much to expect?

Sun, Didi did what an aspiring politician should be doing, capitalizing on the grievances of the people, though I do not support Tata's leaving. But my point is what Didi did was a reaction to what the police did for vacating the land. The Govt of the day needs to understand that you can not throw out people from their residences by lathicharge for industry. It was utter foolishness and Buddha babu paid the price for that.

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by anirban_ban

Sun, Didi did what an aspiring politician should be doing, capitalizing on the grievances of the people, though I do not support Tata's leaving. But my point is what Didi did was a reaction to what the police did for vacating the land. The Govt of the day needs to understand that you can not throw out people from their residences by lathicharge for industry. It was utter foolishness and Buddha babu paid the price for that.

The land was acquired using a certain law which is controversial but legal. No wonder the Kolkata High court ruled that it was legal many years ago.

Nobody's residence was taken away as far as I know. And everybody who was legally entitled was offered compensation.

Yes there are issues about whether compensation was enough or not, whether the law was controversial or not, whether non owners also were entitled to compensation.

Politicians like Mamata ad Buddha will come and go. They will never pay any price. Bengal paid the price for the obstinacy drama of 400 acres.

[Suncity]

West Bengal has potential. It is for the current government to make sure the investments happen.

Live investment proposals till end of 2011 as per Assocham study

Gujarat Rs 16.28 lakh crore
Maharashtra Rs 14.14 lakh crore
Andhra Pradesh Rs 12.09 lakh crore
Odisha Rs 12.09 lakh crore
Karnataka Rs 9.85 lakh crore
Tamil Nadu Rs 9.13 lakh crore
Jharkhand Rs 7.16 lakh crore
West Bengal Rs 6.23 lakh crore
Madhya Pradesh Rs 5.65 lakh crore,
Uttar Pradesh Rs 5.38 lakh crore,
Haryana Rs 4.98 lakh crore,
Chhattisgarh Rs 4.56 lakh crore
Rajasthan Rs 2.54 lakh crore
Bihar Rs 2.38 lakh crore
Punjab Rs 2.16 lakh crore
Kerala Rs 2.12 lakh crore
Jammu and Kashmir Rs 1.11 lakh crore
Uttarakhand Rs 1.07 lakh crore
Himachal Pradesh Rs 84,062 crore
Assam Rs 58,179 crore

Interestingly of its total investment of Rs 4.98 lakh crore as on December 2011, the real estate sector accounted for Rs 2.48 lakh crore in Haryana, which has other towns like Faridabad, Sonepat, Ambala, Panipat and Karnal where the realty sector is growing fast, even though they are no match for Gurgaon. The other states attracting sizeable interest in the sector included Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Punjab, according to the study on investment pattern mostly in the last one decade.

[Stranger99]

Finally some stats... thanks Suncity.
WestBengal has definitely potential-whether its geographic or socio economic or in terms of human resource.Had it not been the case British would have never made Kolkata as their capital. West Bengal on whole was fine until 70s when Left came on power. Since then we all know what happened. And i agree, these intellactuals are all paler goda..all lectures and does nothing. Unfortunately certain section of media also give them unnecessary support & publicity.

As for AmitavaGhosh, post i agree with him partially. Due to my job i had the opportunity to live not only out side of West Bengal but outside of India as well.

Originally Posted by AmitavaGhosh

Investments scenario in Kolkata is bleak ; people still look down at Kolkata as a 'failed city'.
Say for example,
Electricity: Kolkata much better than gurgaon, hyd or bangalore.
Water availability: Probably the best city in this perspective.
Public transport : cheap;huge, if not in quality but quantity wise.Non existent in Gurgaon, autos are awful in bang,hyd.
Health: Very good network of private hospitals.
Strikes: We have put them behind.
Education:very good public colleges and private schools, also the private engg colleges are good.
Government:boisterous but stable.
Roads:Probably one aspect that Kolkata lacks behind.But it is good in sector 5 ,Rajarhat.

Point No -2: Water availibility is good not because of Govt policy but due to Maa Ganga & partially the British made Talar Tank. The way water has been wated in Kolkata , you can not see anywhere else in the world.It should be stopped immidiately else Kolkata would be no better than Chennai/Bangalore. But i dont see that happening in near future.Last time when left govt tried to impose tax on water, which i think very pracitcal approach our didi opposed it strongly for so called 'Sadharon manusher opor bojha'. Even in US where there is no such crisis of water still each & every one pays a certain amount for that (dont get me wrong, i am not comparing US & Ind)
Point No -3: No doubt public transport is huge & cheap but at the same time the quality & service is pathetic, probably the wrost in all the metros in India. I have lived in Chennai & Delhi, their transporation system is far better & much more organised. When you get out of your house in Kolkata you truely take your life in your hand. Those contractors & their driving, the less we say the better for them. The whole trafiic system is simply unbearable.
Point No -4: Strikes - yes there is marked improvement in last couple of years. But still we have the calture of meeting-michil-mahamichil etc making the entire city stand still, example recent TMC rally in esplanade. We need to get rid of such calture asap.
Point No -5: Government: Stability is definitely most important factor but its not all. Left ruled WB for 30 yrs - what happened we all can see. Lalu/Rabri rules Bihar for almost 15 yrs - we all know wht happend. If the policy & the politicans are not performaing then its better to have change in every 5 yrs than having the same non performing govt yr after yr. WB is the wrost example of this along with Bihar.
Point No -6: Roads: This is probably the most important aspect of infrastructure. And Kolkata along with the rest of bengal is lagging behind like anything. Maharashtra/TN/AP/Gujrat even UP made huge stride in this regard. Chennai is the most dramatic change you can imagine when i went recently its truely magical. Kolkata stands far behind against all the other tier I cities. This hawker calture & 'jabar dakhal; has given kolkata a kind of village look. One Sector V or a section of Rajarhat will not change the overall picture.

[NiladriG]

Originally Posted by Suncity

West Bengal has potential. It is for the current government to make sure the investments happen.

Live investment proposals till end of 2011 as per Assocham study

Gujarat Rs 16.28 lakh crore
Maharashtra Rs 14.14 lakh crore
Andhra Pradesh Rs 12.09 lakh crore
Odisha Rs 12.09 lakh crore
Karnataka Rs 9.85 lakh crore
Tamil Nadu Rs 9.13 lakh crore
Jharkhand Rs 7.16 lakh crore
West Bengal Rs 6.23 lakh crore
Madhya Pradesh Rs 5.65 lakh crore,
Uttar Pradesh Rs 5.38 lakh crore,
Haryana Rs 4.98 lakh crore,
Chhattisgarh Rs 4.56 lakh crore
Rajasthan Rs 2.54 lakh crore
Bihar Rs 2.38 lakh crore
Punjab Rs 2.16 lakh crore
Kerala Rs 2.12 lakh crore
Jammu and Kashmir Rs 1.11 lakh crore
Uttarakhand Rs 1.07 lakh crore
Himachal Pradesh Rs 84,062 crore
Assam Rs 58,179 crore

Interestingly of its total investment of Rs 4.98 lakh crore as on December 2011, the real estate sector accounted for Rs 2.48 lakh crore in Haryana, which has other towns like Faridabad, Sonepat, Ambala, Panipat and Karnal where the realty sector is growing fast, even though they are no match for Gurgaon. The other states attracting sizeable interest in the sector included Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Punjab, according to the study on investment pattern mostly in the last one decade.

Nice stats Sun, we have fallen behind Odisha and Jharkhand, that is not good. We need to pull up socks and be in top 5.

[NiladriG]

Originally Posted by Stranger99

Finally some stats... thanks Suncity.
WestBengal has definitely potential-whether its geographic or socio economic or in terms of human resource.Had it not been the case British would have never made Kolkata as their capital. West Bengal on whole was fine until 70s when Left came on power. Since then we all know what happened. And i agree, these intellactuals are all paler goda..all lectures and does nothing. Unfortunately certain section of media also give them unnecessary support & publicity.

As for AmitavaGhosh, post i agree with him partially. Due to my job i had the opportunity to live not only out side of West Bengal but outside of India as well.


Point No -2: Water availibility is good not because of Govt policy but due to Maa Ganga & partially the British made Talar Tank. The way water has been wated in Kolkata , you can not see anywhere else in the world.It should be stopped immidiately else Kolkata would be no better than Chennai/Bangalore. But i dont see that happening in near future.Last time when left govt tried to impose tax on water, which i think very pracitcal approach our didi opposed it strongly for so called 'Sadharon manusher opor bojha'. Even in US where there is no such crisis of water still each & every one pays a certain amount for that (dont get me wrong, i am not comparing US & Ind)
Point No -3: No doubt public transport is huge & cheap but at the same time the quality & service is pathetic, probably the wrost in all the metros in India. I have lived in Chennai & Delhi, their transporation system is far better & much more organised. When you get out of your house in Kolkata you truely take your life in your hand. Those contractors & their driving, the less we say the better for them. The whole trafiic system is simply unbearable.
Point No -4: Strikes - yes there is marked improvement in last couple of years. But still we have the calture of meeting-michil-mahamichil etc making the entire city stand still, example recent TMC rally in esplanade. We need to get rid of such calture asap.
Point No -5: Government: Stability is definitely most important factor but its not all. Left ruled WB for 30 yrs - what happened we all can see. Lalu/Rabri rules Bihar for almost 15 yrs - we all know wht happend. If the policy & the politicans are not performaing then its better to have change in every 5 yrs than having the same non performing govt yr after yr. WB is the wrost example of this along with Bihar.
Point No -6: Roads: This is probably the most important aspect of infrastructure. And Kolkata along with the rest of bengal is lagging behind like anything. Maharashtra/TN/AP/Gujrat even UP made huge stride in this regard. Chennai is the most dramatic change you can imagine when i went recently its truely magical. Kolkata stands far behind against all the other tier I cities. This hawker calture & 'jabar dakhal; has given kolkata a kind of village look. One Sector V or a section of Rajarhat will not change the overall picture.

Yes, I agree, Kolkata needs to present itself as a clean, green city of future. Rampant political patronage of hawkers will make it look like a big slum. With the new terminal going to be operational soon, the cityside also needs to be spruced up to a great extent to leave a positive impression on a visitor.

[NiladriG]

Originally Posted by Suncity

If the current opposition does what Didi did in Singur, I would be opposing them too. Driving out the Tatas was a big mistake.



I have already stated several times that I like the initiatives taken to beautify the city.

I only want this new government to give up socialist left wing nonsense when it comes to business and economy. Is that too much to expect?

Mamata will never give up socialist agenda, because that's what fetches her good number of votes. The strategy is talk about poor all the time, keep the state poor and do nothing.

[niljee]

Originally Posted by NiladriG

Mamata will never give up socialist agenda, because that's what fetches her good number of votes. The strategy is talk about poor all the time, keep the state poor and do nothing.

Just before last Assembly elections somebody said the choice is between the Philosophy of poverty and Poverty of Philosophy. MB is now blending them together with great dexterity.

[Sumanb]

As far as economic development is concerned, the current govt is all talk and no substance. If cheap talk can get you vote, why not? Any complaint, blame central govt, 'Prabasi', media etc. Its the formual preached by JB and is now being put into perfection by MB.

[soumalya747]

Originally Posted by NiladriG

Yes, I agree, Kolkata needs to present itself as a clean, green city of future. Rampant political patronage of hawkers will make it look like a big slum. With the new terminal going to be operational soon, the cityside also needs to be spruced up to a great extent to leave a positive impression on a visitor.

Look Mr. try to understand, Hawker problem is not a short term problem. It's a long term problem. There are more than 1 lakhs hawkers you can find at Kolkata. if suddenly you evict all of them two major problems will raise up.

1. Unemployment rates will go up.

2. Crime rates will go up.



So before evict those hawkers Govt has to create jobs for them which will take time.And also give them proper shops for doing business.


And firstly we have to change our mentality and thinking. For an example if you go to Dalhousi Square or Park street areas, you can fine lots of Big Big officers are purchasing lunch/snacks from those food hawkers. Recently when I went to South City I've seen a man who purchased cloths from FCUK and ESPIRIT had Pani Puri from outside Hawkers.

If we do not buy any single product from those hawkers and if Govt is really keen to solve this hawker problem then only we can get relief from this terrible Hawker problem.

[NiladriG]

Originally Posted by soumalya747

Look Mr. try to understand, Hawker problem is not a short term problem. It's a long term problem. There are more than 1 lakhs hawkers you can find at Kolkata. if suddenly you evict all of them two major problems will raise up.

1. Unemployment rates will go up.

2. Crime rates will go up.

So before evict those hawkers Govt has to create jobs for them which will take time.And also give them proper shops for doing business.

And firstly we have to change our mentality and thinking. For an example if you go to Dalhousi Square or Park street areas, you can fine lots of Big Big officers are purchasing lunch/snacks from those food hawkers. Recently when I went to South City I've seen a man who purchased cloths from FCUK and ESPIRIT had Pani Puri from outside Hawkers.

If we do not buy any single product from those hawkers and if Govt is really keen to solve this hawker problem then only we can get relief from this terrible Hawker problem.

By your logic, we should stop going by cars, since rickshawwallahs will become unemployed. Don't talk like a "goriiber neta". As long as hawkers are there people will buy from them. The divide between rich and poor keeps increasing, so no point beating the pro-poor drum. If not at once, hawkers have to be removed in phases.

[soumalya747]

Originally Posted by NiladriG

By your logic, we should stop going by cars, since rickshawwallahs will become unemployed. Don't talk like a "goriiber neta". As long as hawkers are there people will buy from them. The divide between rich and poor keeps increasing, so no point beating the pro-poor drum. If not at once, hawkers have to be removed in phases.

Look dude what I said is not my thinking/ideas. Last month I mate Honorable Finance minister Mr. Amit Mitra in a meeting where I asked about this Hawker Problem. So he described me and that's what I shared with you.


Now hawker problem is not in your hand not in mine. neither you can solve nor I. So no more discussion please.

[niljee]

Originally Posted by soumalya747

Look dude what I said is not my thinking/ideas. Last month I mate Honorable Finance minister Mr. Amit Mitra in a meeting where I asked about this Hawker Problem. So he described me and that's what I shared with you.


Now hawker problem is not in your hand not in mine. neither you can solve nor I. So no more discussion please.

A followup question to Mr. Amit Mitra could have been that what is his government doing to reduce unemployment? Although the CM claims every now and then that she has already created employment for 3-5 lakhs people, a little more perspective from the FM would have been good.

[NiladriG]

The political parties get hafta and votes from the hawkers, then they want us to pay for the rehabilitation. This is outright ridiculous. Unless hawkers are gone, Kolkata will always be portrayed as "dying or decaying city".