Nano Project: From Singur to Sanand

Posted on October 9, 2008 by indra

Tata Motors has really moved fast. It has not only dropped the Singur as the mother plant for manufacturing its prestigious Nano cars, but also quickly taken the decision to shift to Gujarat and signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Gujarat government too.

Modi has given Tatas 1,000 acres of land in Sanand, 30 kms from Ahmedabad. It’s a land of Anand Agriculture University. Uttarankhand has also given the land of GB Pant Agricultural University to Tata Motors and other automakers in Rudrapur. Naturally, one can have few questions. Why was the university allotted so big land initially? Was it not for experimentation of agricultural innovations originating from the researchers at the universities? Why has it gone access? Was it access without any proper planning initially itself? Have the universities become complacent rather ineffective in its task of researches for the Indian farmers who feed the nation or export? Or do the political leaders, be it Tiwari or Modi force the universities to spare the fertile land of agricultural experimentation to attract the big businesses? Unfortunately, I don’t have answers for these questions and those who can provide will not do that at least in the interest of the nation.

Let me confess that I am pretty happy with Tata Motors’ choice for Gujarat (Sanand). I consider myself one of the first to perhaps suggest Gujarat as possible location in one of my writings, when the dispute at Singur started troubling Tata Motors’ dream project. There are some more reasons for my happiness. I was one of the key players for an automobile plant near Vadodara that Hindustan Motors set up to produce trucks in collaboration with Isuzu Motors of Japan. I cherish many good memories of those days when I used to visit the place quite often with Japanese technical staffs, executives and bankers. Hindustan Motors failed to produce Isuzu trucks from Vadodara plant as it took a lot of time and in the process yen appreciated high enough to make the project unviable. The untimely death of Mr. NK Birla, an aggressive executor and mishandling of the project implementation by the executives hired by the management from TELCO (present Tata Motors) were also the reason to suspend the project after producing few hundreds from the CKDs. Ultimately, Hindustan Motors handed over the plant to General Motors when it entered India to produce cars. I still wonder why GM selected Vadodara as location for manufacturing cars. Vadodara didn’t have any infrastructure in those days required for car industry. GM has gone for its second plant that it is setting up in Maharashtra.

Interestingly, Hindustan Motors had initially started automobile assembly operation near Okha Port in Gujarat in early 40s. In late 40s, it got shifted at Hind Motor near Calcutta. Some one has called Tata Motors’ selection of Gujarat for location of Nano mother plant after driving out of Singur that is so near to Hind Motor as a sweet revenge for Gujarat. However, I don’t agree to that.

I still repeat my appeal to the plant engineers and industrial engineers as well as senior executives to innovate on the concept of the buildings for a car manufacturing and go up in height with multi-floors or with any other concept that minimizes the land requirement. Land resources of the country are limited. Can they educate the country with some benchmark figures from auto plants of similar scale of production in Japan and South Korea? I remember my recommending Buddha Babu to request Birlas to give its 743-acre plant at Hind Motor that is almost dead and most of its land has now been sold to some realtor. I don’t know if Birlas paid for the land to the then West Bengal government, and if at all it did how much.

However, West Bengal must create a condition so that Tata Motors can have an assembly plant in the buildings already constructed at Singur. For cars planned at extra low cost, East India that will have to grow fast will be the best market. And the 1- million or more volume projected for Nano and various models based on its platform may require a number of assembly plants, perhaps one in each zone.

I wish Tata Motors could do a faster work at Sanand with neither monsoon nor Mamta to trouble. Let Bengalis for the time being be happy with the outsized model of Nano, the ultra-cheap car from Tata Motors at the Durga Pooja festival in Kolkata this year. Let Modi win over Mamta and her rival Buddha, more so over Bengal.

Posted in industry, manufacturing | Leave a comment

Workers, Politicians, Management, and Goons

Posted on October 7, 2008 by indra

With the expansion and spontaneity of digital media, the sad news of Lalit Kishore Chaudhry of Greater Noida reached all corner of the globe. It may appear amazing but that’s the change the world has undergone in the Friedman’s famous flattening process.

Rakesh knew it through manufacturing.net and Rajesh through huffingtonpost.com here in USA. All my sons who are now in profession have bitter memories and consequences of labour agitations at Hindustan Motors, West Bengal. While it shocked my sons, and me, I was also shocked with the reactions rather conclusions from individuals and institutions. While the remarks of Oscar Fernandez and Amar Singh pained me, the police as usual unnecessary came out with some irresponsible remark. The leaders in India Inc. may be right in denouncing the minister’s remark but must have some introspection. Over the years, the bigger units with good HR embedded in system have improved the labour relation. However, there are many smaller and medium size industrial enterprises with effective heads that hardly believe in learning and changing and have remained feudal and consider themselves masters instead of fathers or facilitators of the workforce at the bottom of the pyramid. The salaries and perks of the people that constitute the majority have been kept poor. Basic facilities are neglected. Training and education is considered unnecessary and drain on revenue.

On the same line, the leadership of the union goes very often in irresponsible hands. Either the goons can win the union election or many a times the management gets its preferred candidates in. With goons in union, both the parties loose and sometimes heavily in long run, while the second situation makes workers feel helpless. Let the managers no more consider workforce as foolish lot and use it as assets. Management and its executives must build a good system for grievance handling and be in constant dialogue with the workforce. Training for hard professional skills as well as soft skills of problem-solving, team-building, value improvement and lifestyle management must be a regular affair along with other tools and techniques to involve all the people at work in the company’s goals of all types. The prime task of the executives must not only be to please and satisfy the boss, it must equally relate to benefit the peers and those who work at the bottom of the organizational pyramids.

With politicians already exploiting the workforce in name of democratic right, India Inc must take the responsibility to manage its people more humanly and rationally. It must not come out with the traditional way of solving an odd situation such as slowdowns with cutting down of the compensation and remuneration that are still very poor in comparison with even many developing countries. It must not go for downsizing. It must honestly try to use them with innovations in useful activities and diversified businesses. It must cut cost in other places improve quality and innovate new products and services.

Further, the CII or FICII must work for training the executives and heads of the smaller and medium size companies in sound and well-proven management practices. It must take up with the government more forcefully the cases when inter-union rivalry or support from outside unions may be trying to wrest negotiations that can spoil the situation and result in violent outcomes. It must threaten and force the government and its machinery to work in time.

Management must not shirk this responsibility. Let me tell the India Inc emphatically something. They can’t any more run the company through in mean manner. They can’t exploit the prevailing poverty for long. They can’t resort to illogical hire and fire. They will have to bring up contract labour at par with regular employees or very near to that. They will have to take care of the aspirations of the workforce that constitutes quite a large percentage of somewhat educated youth of the country.

It is unfortunate that some of the MNCs coming in the country also follow the tricks of the local companies. Why can’t they set better examples?

Posted in indian politics, management | Leave a comment

Manufacturing Miracle

Posted on October 7, 2008 by indra

Yesterday, when I was visiting the electronics’ store to see the latest gadgets, Anand had mentioned of the Apple’s Brick and its manufacturing process. As reported, Apple will build the notebook out of a single piece of carved-out aluminum-a brick.

A radically different production method might well boost costs, at least at the outset. However, the savings from the change are clear too. An analyst at market research firm says, “If you’re working with one single unit of metal, you’re reducing a lot of the materials costs and also a lot of labor time on assembly.”

The advantages may be following:
– Carving out of aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal and create weak spots or microfolds and rifts.
– There are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth.
– Screws aren’t needed to tie the products together.
– The shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap.
– You can be a whole lot more creative with the design if you don’t have to machine it.

Apple and its chief executive, Steve Jobs wish to keep its lead and remain distinctly different.

But coring out a block of aluminum, while fairly common in some products is a slow process. As the analyst says, “The issue for Apple, which would presumably be doing it millions of times, would be speed.” “It’s very time-intensive.” Presumably, Apple has brought in the innovation aimed at streamlining the manufacturing process.

While some call Brick a revolutionary manufacturing process, some doubt.

The manufacturing engineers keep on using processes to provide better quality and reduced cost. Years ago, Boeing started making aluminium frames from solid aluminium blocks cutting down the number of parts and reducing the assembly errors. Before Tata’s Nano was launched, there were many rumours about some revolutionary manufacturing processes going in its making.

Perhaps Apple Brick may reconfirm the might of innovative America. Why should it not remain leading the manufacturing? It must start the renaissance of American manufacturing.

I am sure the dream of the future cars with 100 miles or more a gallon can come out of some similar innovative approaches in manufacturing.

If India is to take a lead, it must take manufacturing more seriously. Its prowess in IT will make it easy to excel in manufacturing. I wish those who matter will listen to the call.

Posted in industry, manufacturing | Leave a comment

Chinese Quality- Myth or Reality

Posted on October 6, 2008 by indra

I have a respect for the Chinese, the way they have gone in manufacturing. This time, I find, American stores and households having almost everything manufactured in China. The other day Anand and Shannon bought a frying pan. After a careful observation at home, they found its cover not matching because it was deshaped at periphery. But as usual, no American bothers about the poor quality of the Chinese products. Anand went and got it changed. However, I never had any idea that China has been exporting processed food products that also milk-based ones too. The reports about the Chinese ‘killing milk’ have appeared from New York Times to Business Week.

The Chinese didn’t traditionally used milk extensively as it is done in India. But with the splendid GDP growth of China, the Chinese farmers had taken up dairy farming for extra earning in big way and china was exporting milk products too. As it appears from recent milk contamination reports in media, more than 20 countries have banned the Chinese dairy products.

The stories of poor quality products and dangerous fakes from China are pretty popular with Western media persons. I had come across that last time too. Nothing much has changed in China or US since then. US and for that matter almost the world have become dependent on the Chinese in many ways. With all the problems of quality or piracy, the Chinese share in trade of every commodity has kept on increasing.

Is the concern in Western media really genuine? Perhaps Americans at large don’t bother much? They keep on buying, returning or trashing the Chinese products without much concern. For them, there are no alternatives to this.

A recent report talks about the counterfeit, defective computer components from China are getting into U.S. warplanes and ships that may be dangerous to the country’s security. But perhaps US can even afford that. Many like Yasheng Huang, a professor at Massachusetts Institutes of Technology keep on coming out with their doubts about the Chinese story, but China keeps on gaining remarkable heights in every field of activities, be its Olympics or the space walk. And one can’t and mustn’t doubt its quality of education, governance or manufacturing.

Posted in manufacturing | Tagged | Leave a comment

Tata Motors’ Final Ta..Ta.. To Singur

Posted on October 4, 2008 by indra

Ultimately Buddha looses his brave war against Mamta. Tata Motors has finally abandoned Singur, the place that could have become the Detroit. Ratan Tata rightly refused to work under police protection promised by Buddha. It is not practically possible, as Tata claimed, because of ‘the continued aggression and agitation by the Opposition led by Mamata’. I am sorry for the region that could have become prosperous and the young men who could have been employed. I am really surprised and shocked to read what Tata said at the briefing, “If someone had put the gun to my head I would not move away but I think Banerjee has pulled the trigger.” I consider Tata as a wonderfully great gentleman. What made him say so?

Unfortunately Mamta is still not sorry about it and considers Tata’s decision as ‘a part of the joint game plan of the CPM and the Tatas’. Will the people affected keep on tolerating such political terrorism?

The people and leadership of Bengal must take it seriously. They must say ta..ta… to their unique invention years ago of violent agitations of different forms in name of democratic protest that has spread all over the country now, otherwise the entrepreneur will dare not come to West Bengal to get run its establishment on the dictate of party or union goons. The government at the center must also look into the land policy and labour laws more seriously and on top priority, otherwise it can’t stop the industrialists to go for investments in foreign acquisitions rather than trying to come up with Greenfield projects of large scale inside the country. The national interest must be above the crazy political principles.

Tata Motors did a smart job by removing the dies and dedicated equipment meant for Nano manufacturing in time from the plant site. Perhaps it was possible with the government of West Bengal on its side. Otherwise the agitators would have obstructed that operation that could have made the production of Nano difficult. Perhaps Mamta would never have dreamt it. After all, she has never been that intelligent.

I get a veiled joy. I have been writing on the subject for a long time. Right in the beginning I expressed my utter amazement to Tata’s decision to come to Bengal. I had also written against excessive amount of land demand by Tata. That was on my first hand experiences of West Bengal. Bengal has hardly changed. The name of the political party taking the lead might have changed. I still get scared when I see red flags fluttering high in large numbers, wall full with posters of all kind of agitations even in Sector 5 of Salt Lake that houses prestigious IT companies, or processions of people in the streets carrying all types of banners all over the years.

However, I still feel Tata Motors and for that matter all the industrial plants must try to keep the requirement of land at the minimum even for the greefield locations. Plant designers must innovate. They must go high. The plant must preferably not take fertile land to locate large plant. Tata Motors in Pantnagar is also on a very fertile land that was taken away from the GB Pant Agricultural University.

I still think Tata Motors should keep Singur plant with it and have an assembly plant of Nano in it some day sooner or later. East India with Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Northeastern states must and will certainly grow fast and will be a good market for Nano.

Overall the Singur episode is a black spot on the country’s endeavour to get ahead in manufacturing sector. Nano is a prestigious product with potential to get globally accepted. Politicians have again failed India.

It is great that Tata still promises to try to be as close to the deadline as possible for the production launch of Nano.
————–
PS May 18, 2006 – October 3, 2008
···Latest Nano Story
Views ofGURCHARAN DAS When everyone lost
Views of prem shankar Jha Whose brakes failed?

Posted in indian politics, industry | Leave a comment

Transforming India -2

Posted on October 1, 2008 by indra

Some views of the Indian intellectuals about the ‘Transforming India’ in special Issue of ‘India Today’ are as follows:

Ajimji Premji The day when the local government school is able to attract children from across the social spectrum, that will be the day we can proudly proclaim that India is on the threshold of transformation.

Rajat K Gupta The nation should focus on providing preventive and promotive medicine, which can help people avoid illnesses before they occur; on delivering timely access to primary care, which can treat medical problems in their early stages and encourage a holistic view of health; and on strengthening health education, which must train a larger workforce to apply advanced methods of promoting healthy living.

Dipankar Gupta If there is one big idea we can pursue, and pursue realistically, then that is to put our might, mouth and money where R&D is. All our ideas about modern knowledge come primarily from the West, and often do not suit our demands. We have millions who are sick and ailing, but we are yet to conduct appropriate research that could help them. Endogenous growth takes place when R&D is locally produced and applied.


LN Mittal has set up the Mittal Champions Trust (MCT) targeted at improving our medals haul at the London Olympics in 2012. We need a supreme national and individual effort to improve our results across all sports. We need to start now. It won’t be easy, but we have the talent and determination to do it.

Narayan murthy talks of his experiment Special Training Programme. The solution to the problem of social injustice is not reservation, as it will damage the psyche of the youngsters permanently. The solution is to invest heavily in producing high-quality, committed teachers and create incentives for them to provide special attention to the disadvantaged children right from primary schools.

RK Pachauri Just like Japan treated the energy crises of 1973-74 and 1979-80 as an opportunity, India is in a similar position to gain competitive advantage in a world whose future rests on low carbon technologies, products and processes. India can within a period of 10 years emerge as a leader in a range of technologies and equipment to exploit the abundance of energy from the sun.

Tarun Khanna Dusty public sector laboratories and universities are returning to life aided by unexpected visitors- business development managers from multinationals, students and researchers from international universities, young local entrepreneurs from startups and the who’s who of global private equity. India’s government-funded space and satellite programme generates world-class research. Herbal medicine is another area of heartening scientific developments-between 1976 and 2003, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was granted 33 US patents in this area, the highest in the world.

E. Sreedharan Any city with a population of more than three million and where any transport corridor sees a density of more than 8,000-10,000 people per hour per direction of traffic needs a metro system. The economic rate of return and benefits to society from a metro system are evident within five years of its inception. Phase one of the Delhi Metro has taken 39,600 vehicles off the roads, slashed the consumption of petrol, diesel and CNG by 57,800 tonne and saved Rs 288 crore on road maintenance and traffic management. The aim is to bring a metro station within half a kilometre of each person’s residence and workplace, which will discourage the use of private vehicles. It has been credited with following a work culture setting it apart from other government bodies by focusing on transparency, professional knowledge and punctuality. Re-inculcating a forgotten value system is the only way to root out corruption.

C.K. Prahalad If we stop thinking of the poor as victims and start recognizing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value-conscious consumers, a whole world of opportunities will open up. The focus should be on dealing with social inequities as a business and not through charity. Worldwide, aid and subsidies have proven to be mostly ineffective. Most importantly, subsidies create dependence and rob people of dignity. Without a long-term, self-sustaining solution that reduces poverty, we are likely to create higher levels of inequality.

Anuradha Joshi The creation of mechanisms for the easy dismissal of public officials is nessary. The process of firing bureaucrats should be kept out of the hands of politicians. Control over transfers and promotions by politicians have made public officials more responsive to political considerations than the rule of law. In a country where politicians are not part of the process of selecting candidates for public service, there is no reason for them to be part of the process of dismissing them.

It is necessary that India take up the task of transformation seriously, when it knows the hurdle in the process of transformation. India Today has done an immense service to the nation by bring in the thoughts of so many celebrities in one issue.

Posted in economy | Leave a comment

PM’s Belated Reactions on Singur

Posted on October 1, 2008 by indra

(On Board PM’s Special Aircraft): With the row over Tata’s Nano car project in Singur eluding a solution, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said it is in the interest of West Bengal and India that the issue is resolved “satisfactorily.”

I found the above news report today. It is unfortunate that the reputable economist PM always reacts very late on every issue of national interest. It also happened in Indo-Nuclear Deal. Why can’t he take timely action? Who stops him from timely intervention?

Nanos got applause from world over for its uniqueness. Tata Motors with exemplary support from the West Bengal government did its best to construct the plant in record time. The whole country was eagerly waiting to see Nanos with domestic consumers in this festival month. And then Mamta appeared right out side the factory gate at Singur like Sursha for Hanuman. Tata had to stop the work and move out. Today, it is not known when Nanos will be seen in the showrooms of Tata Motors. Why can’t Mamta and all the politicians appreciate that the production of a new car at large scale with global marketing potential is not something like organizing a Durga Puja in a new location?

Man Mohan Singh could have certainly intervened right at initial stage and impressed on Mamta to get out of the course. And I am sure if he could find an Amar Singh to get the Deal through in the parliament, he could have used him or some other Amar to get the Nano Project through too.

I, for one can’t appreciate the indifference of the PM in intervening in the total chaos in the industrial sectors, be it Orissa, Haryana, or Maharashtra, where almost all the promised investments have gone in ‘freeze-mode’ with no progress in last four years he is in chair.

His comments on Singur appears too be very formal.

Posted in indian politics | Leave a comment

Transforming India

Posted on September 29, 2008 by indra

India is certainly getting transformed. For instance, according to one estimate, by 2010 RIL, in which Mukesh Ambani holds a 52 per cent stake, would overtake companies such as Boeing ($66 billion), Dell ($61 billion) and Microsoft ($51 billion), and would be within striking distance of Nokia ($69.9 billion), Vodafone ($71 billion), and Procter & Gamble ($76.5 billion) in the Fortune 500 list.

It can’t just be mere luck that with KG Basin and other finds by ONGC, Cairn and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation have raised hopes that domestic energy fields will meet 40-60 per cent of the country’s fuel requirements.

With rising consumer demand and greater disposable income, the country’s retail sector is projected to grow to $700 billion, while organized business is expected to be 20% of the total market by 2010. According to the report prepared by global consultancy Northbridge Capital, the retail market, which is currently worth $400 billion, is clocking an annual growth rate of 30%.

The number of High Networth Individuals (HNIs), with investible surplus of more than $1 million, in India has gone up by 23 per cent to 1.23 lakh as of December 2007, according to a DSP Merrill Lynch and Capgemini report.

The curbs on financing by banks and financial institutions have not prevented the domestic tractor industry – the segment most heavily dependent on financing – from treading on the growth path.

With Indo-US Nuclear Deal, and the end of nuclear isolation, India hopes to become a hub for manufacturing nuclear components and reactors, with domestic engineering companies forging global alliances to serve the international nuclear energy market.

Even in nontraditional areas, India’s performance is excellent. For instance, could one think of an Indian hospital group going global? Apollo is one. Narayana Hrudayalaya, the Bangalore-based globally renowned cardiac hospital chain, is set for an Rs 1,000 crore Health City project in Mexico.

India has retained its position as the second most-preferred global location for foreign investment in 2008 and will continue to do so till 2010, lagging only behind China, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has said in World Investment Report 2008.

India is helping the developed economy too. It is not only IT trio that are having their presence felt all over the world. As reported, amid the worsening financial crisis in the US, Forbes has named legendary investor Warren Buffett and Indian billionaire Anil Ambani among the world’s richest business people who are investing heavily in the American economy.

But some of the recent incidents are shocking. It is difficult to say if the transformation is for good and can continue if the government remains inactive and politicians don’t even try to solve some critical problems such as land acquisitions, terrorism, and Naxalite movement. Be it Mamta’s adamancy, Raigad referendum for Mukesh Ambani’s SEZ, Pasco failure to start construction in Orissa, or the murder of Lalit and recent incident in Noida are all just shocking. Can it all be overlooked or some serious retrospection essential?

India must keep transforming and transforming fast for a strong and powerful India. It is possible too. The latest edition of ‘India Today’ has wonderful articles providing views and solutions by great celebrities from all fields such as Sam Pitroda, Narayanmurthy, Premji, Tarun Khanna, Medha Patkar, and many. I request every one to go through them and try to build some local groups for transforming India.

Posted in economy | Leave a comment

The Indian Champions

Posted on September 26, 2008 by indra

As back in India Indo-US Nuclear Deal had made big news, I was amazed not to find any coverage in US media. Ultimately, I found ‘Business Week to carry a report, ‘Wall Street Threatens India Nuclear Pact’.

However, in a recent special report, ‘The new champions’ in Economists, Indian companies got its glorious share as ‘companies that are worth investing in, and that are even starting to take on and beat the best of the developed world’s multinationals.

Antoine van Agtmael’s book “The Emerging Markets Century” includes Infosys, an Indian software giant; and Ranbaxy along with Haier, a Chinese white-goods firm; Cemex, a Mexican cement company; and Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft-maker.

“Globality”, a new book on the latest phase of globalization by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) includes the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate that spans cars and steel, software and tea along with Goodbaby, which has an 80% share of the market for baby buggies in China and a 28% share in America.

Tata has operations in 85 countries, and has been making a series of high-profile acquisitions that are fundamentally transforming the company set up in 1868. In 2000 it bought London-based Tetley, an iconic tea company. In 2007, after a fierce bidding war with CSN, a Brazilian steel firm, it paid $12 billion for Corus, a European steel company. In March this year it paid Ford $2.3 billion for two legendary car businesses, Jaguar and Land Rover. Short-term market pressure may have forced Ford to sell two firms that it had done good work restructuring, says Alan Rosling, Tata’s (British) chief strategist: “Tata will reap the benefit of all Ford’s hard work.”

Another reason to be optimistic about Tata’s growing global reach is its Indian origin, which makes it more sensitive to cultural differences than many of its peers in developed countries, claims Mr Rosling. And in its strategy, the firm has benchmarked itself against some of the world’s best companies. It has borrowed ideas from firms such as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Mitsubishi, a Japanese conglomerate, and GE, says Mr Rosling.

Tata Consulting Services, along with Indian counterparts such as Infosys and Wipro, has built up a large organization for outsourcing business processes, serving companies around the world. Increasingly, it has moved into higher-value businesses, as have its Indian peers.

In January it unveiled its long-awaited Nano, a new “people’s car” that will be sold for just $2,500. This was “not just the result of using cheap Indian engineers”, says Mr Rosling. Nor is it about accepting lower standards on safety or environmental emissions. The company used state-of-the-art virtual design technology and global teams to drive genuine innovation. Mr Tata saw the Nano as a safer alternative for Indian families currently travelling by motorcycle, but consumers in developed countries are already talking of it as a possible second car for use in towns because, being small, it is easy to park. Still, the Nano will probably sell best in other emerging markets.

Unfortunately Mamta can’t understand or applaud these champions.

It was also interesting to go through the entry,’ Is Innovation India’s Next Big Thing?‘ by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee on Wipro.

Wipro is currently “the largest third-party R&D services company in the world,” according to an interview this week with InformationWeek and “R&D is the next big thing in India.”

Many NRIs are doing great work for the improvement that has global impacts through from USA. One of them is Vinod Khosla,who is one of the clean-tech industry’s most vocal cheerleaders, and most of today’s clean technologies fall short of his 1-billion-car test. .

What Indian companies are doing gets noted and recognized with respect in the developed world all around the globe. And that is the only hope for India. Even with all the undoing of Indian hardheaded politicians such as Mamta Devi by delaying Nanos, and inaction of Man Mohan government to sort out the issues of land acquisition for industry in last 4+ years, India may move ahead to the league of powerful economies of the world.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Krish Arrives Today

Posted on September 26, 2008 by indra

Valleycare Medical Center, Pleasanton 7.58 AM Thursday September 2008,
Krish arrives. It is a great day for the family and us. Emma gets a brother. Anand and Shannon get a son.



Let the Almighty give Krish a very long life with sound health and mind. Let Mother Earth makes him strong and kind. Let Goddess of Wealth make him rich and compassionate. Let the Goddess of Learning make him learned and humble. Let all the Gods and Goddesses bestow on Krish their kindness and affection.


As grandparents, who have come here so far to welcome him, we give of our blessings in tons and request our acquaintances, relations, and friends to bless the new born.


My happiest moment today was the divine happiness on the face of one year plus Emma when she saw Krish for the first time. At this age, she tried to take Krish in her lap. God has given us everything in life. We can’t but just obliged to HIM.

‘Sarve Bhavantoo Sukhinah.’

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment