दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

We are in USA at a time when the campaign for presidential election is at peak. A close observation helps me to firm up some views about this democracy and its people. A very clear uniqueness of American leadership is its emphasis on America as nation. In speeches of the presidential candidates or senators, one hears only about America and Americans. “This is a crucial moment in America’s history and that’s why we need to reverse the trend from 2004 when millions of young Americans opted out of voting on election and making history.” The campaign appears to be pretty negative. Both John McCain and Barack Obama are running negative ads and sniping at each other. But it addresses to American public not to any specific community or region. “We need a plan that gives hardworking Americans relief instead of using taxpayer dollars to reward CEOs on Wall Street… Well that might be true for the profits of a few CEOs, but it’s certainly not true for America’s….. That’s the America idea…I promise you – we will change America together.”

It is so different from how Indian leadership speaks. We keep on hearing ‘Marathi Manush’ ‘Gujarati Greatness’, or ‘Sonar Bangla’.

I keep on reading the books written by Americans, be it Tarun Khanna’s ‘Two Billion of Entrepreneurs‘ or Thomas Friedman’s latest ‘Hot, Flat, and Crowded’. The theme rotates around what America can do to keep up its lead as superpower or largest economy with challenges from the emerging economies of China and India.

In every passage one reads, America and the concerns for America is the main theme. See this: “Yet beneath the gloom, economists and business leaders across the political spectrum are slowly coming to an agreement: Innovation is the best-and maybe the only-way the U.S. can get out of its economic hole. New products, services, and ways of doing business can create enough growth to enable Americans to prosper over the long run.”

I wish we Indians talk more about India and Bharat and identify everything with it rather than stick to the same old politically motivated attachment to the regions. The regionalism gets manifested when I talk with Indians working in US too. In the era of a bigger world where Indian business leader and CEO of Arcelor Mittal or Pepsico are setting role, Indians must shake off those regionalism at least in public statements and writings.

While going through Friedman’s ‘Hot, Flat, and Crowded’, I started pondering how’s India performing and preparing for the Energy Climate Era. There are certainly good news from different areas. I have at east one story to share. Latest ‘Economist’ has a report on the endeavours in India for bio-fuels.

D1-BP Fuel Crops, a joint venture between D1 Oils, a British bio-fuels firm, and BP, an energy giant, is promoting plantations of Jatropa in India. The black seeds of Jatropa yield a viscous oil that burns with a clear, clean flame. The oil can run a generator or a pump. Or it can be refined into bio-diesel that can fuel tractors, trucks or trains. Interestingly, Jatropa does not require good agricultural land nor require too much water rather regenerates dry and denuded soils, and create jobs for impoverished farmers. India accounts for about two-thirds of the world’s jatropha plantations, according to New Energy Finance, a research firm. By 2017 India aims to meet 20% of India’s diesel demand with fuel derived from plants rather than fossils.

Roshini International Bio Energy, a firm based in Hyderabad is working on ‘a more elegant rival in pongamia pinnata, or Indian birch’ for getting bio-fuel. Its seeds can yield about 30% of their weight in oil. The company has joined hands with the Andhra Pradesh government to plant the trees in three of Andhra Pradesh’s 23 districts an has an elaborate dream “to plant 1 billion trees on this planet.”

I have been interested in bio-fuels as it can make rural farmers self-sufficient for the fuel that they require for their farm equipment similar to the crop of mustard seeds that provides edible oil for their kitchen. I wish the Indian scientists carried on researches to make the bio-fuel plants more productive with better and faster yields, and the equipment manufacturers made the modifications to use the crude bio-fuels from the seeds without requiring sophisticated refining.

As reported, Indian Railways have a grand plan to run its diesel locomotives on bio-diesel from Jatropa grown in its own land. Wiith one of the largest producers of sugarcanes, ethanol can be another replacement for fossil fuels for India. If it can happen in Brazil, it can happen also in India.

There may be many skeptics about the potential of bio-fuels. However, the scientists of the country who can launch Chnadrayan and contribute in Big Bang experiment can also work and innovate ways to remove the hurdles of commercializing bio-diesel and ethanol that can easily save billions of petrodollars.

——————

It is seven days that we are in USA. These seven days had also shook the stock markets all over the world. USA is in turmoil. While the campaign for the election of the new president on November 4 is on peak with all news channels covering every bit of what the candidates say and do plus something more that makes it spicy, the Washington DC is under fire with the financial collapses that never happened in the history of US. The 158-year-old Lehman Brothers failed and Merrill was sold to Bank of America. The government provided an $85 billion bailout for AIG. And, the officials have proposed to purchase the troubled mortgage assets of financial firms, a move that could cost $900 billions or more. Wall Street is suffering the worst financial storm since the Great Depression. I along with many have a question. Why was Lehman not bailed out, when the government did help sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase and the effective nationalization of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

When Man Mohan government decided to waive off the loans amounting to Rs 60,000 or more of farmers, many considered that as one for vote bank and as a disincentive to the honest farmers who had paid back. When the government still goes on granting huge amount to support sick and loosing PSUs such as HMT and HEC, I get critical. I think all waivers and financial supports must go with some condition so that the same condition doesn’t get created again. The beneficiaries must start working hard and don’t take this benevolence as their rights.

How should I feel, when US is bailing out its mega private companies for their misdeeds through taxpayers money amounting in trillion? Will the executives at the top who amass a lot of asset through different perks, huge salaries and remunerations be asked to part with some? Will they continue to draw the same even after the survival fund from the government? Where were the regulators who would have blown the whistle in time to avoid the present situation? Why the discrimination?
All Americans and perhaps the people, particularly investors world over are worried, as what happens in USA affects the rest of the world too either immediately or on long term. Russia’s stock markets had been among the hardest hit by recent financial turmoil. European and Asian markets can’t remain insulted.

Unfortunately, I hardly understand this capitalism. How can you go on living on credit without building the capability and intention to payback? How long the banking system keep on deceiving itself by loaning 100% for buying the houses and cars to the people with no capability to pay back?

It is unfortunate that many countries are following the American models and its people try to copy all that happens in USA. Will they be ready to face similar collapses too?
——————
$700 Billion Bailout-Revival Counteraction

Few days before we left India, Anand had informed that Friedman’s new book is waiting for me. Perhaps both, Anand and Rajesh, are his fans. I did also join them after my last visit to US in 2005, when I went through his book ‘The World is Flat’. The ‘World is Flat’ had many success stories about the rise of India’s IT/ITeS sector. Along with CK Prahalad, Friedman became the second most visible celebrity in India.

I like his style of narration, simple and forthright. His new book ‘Hot, Flat and Crowded’ deals with the issues of global warming and the role he wishes US to play. As one review rightly said, “On the issues related to the future of our economy and the heady questions around America’s rank and influence as a global power–there are few authors more knowledgeable or passionate than Thomas Friedman. Hot, Flat, and Crowded challenges US to lead the green revolution.”

Making America the world’s greenest country is not a selfless act of charity or naïve moral indulgence, but now a core national security and economic interest. Friedman emphasizes on what David Rothkopf, an energy expert and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment has said, “Green is not simply a new form of generating electric power. It is a new form generating national power-period.” It is not just about lighting up our house; it is about lighting up our future. Friedman wants to choose between two America: an America that is addicted to oil and thereby fueling the worst autocracies of the world, or a green America that is building scalable alternative to crude oil and thereby freeing ourselves from the grip of countries who have drawn a bull’s eye on our back and whose values we oppose?

The hot, flat, and crowded world is dramatically intensifying five key problems- the growing demand for scarcer energy supplies and natural resources, a massive transfer of wealth to oil-rich countries and their petro-dictators, disruptive climate change, energy poverty, which is sharply dividing the world into electricity haves and electricity have-nots, and rapidly accelerating biodiversity loss, as plants and animals go extinct at record rates.

Friedman propounds ushering of an’Energy-Climate–Era’ that can save the world and ‘how we move forward’.

But interesting and informative are his prescriptions: ‘205 Easy Ways to Save the Earth’. I quote just one set to avoid doubling of CO2 by mid-century that quantitatively must target at avoiding the emission of 200 billion tons of carbon between now and then:

· Double fuel efficiency from 30 miles per gallon to 60 miles per gallon.

· Drive the cars only 5,000 miles per year rather than 10,000, at 30 miles per gallon.

· Raise efficiency at large coal-fired plants from 40 to 60 percent and replace with natural gas powered facilities.

· Install carbon capture and sequestration*

– At large coal-fired plants, so that the CO2 can be separated and stored underground.

– At new coal plants that would produce hydrogen for hydrogen-powered vehicles.

– At coal gasification plants.

Add twice today’s current nuclear capacity and increase wind power forty fold and solar power 700 fold to displace all coal-fired power.

Drive 2 billion cars on ethanol.

Halt all cutting and burning of forests

Adapt conservation tillage, which emits much less CO2 from the land. Conservation tillage uses half as many tractors to cultivate a field as conventional tillage, translating to lower fuel consumption. In total, savings have been estimated between $40 and $75 per acre per year.

Cut electricity use in houses, offices, and stores by 25%, and cut carbon emission by the same amount.
*Carbon Capture and Sequestration: is an option to reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gases. CCS requires capturing carbon dioxide from power plants and other industrial facilities, transporting it to suitable locations, injecting it into deep underground geological formations, and monitoring its behavior.

While going through Hot, Flat and Crowded at every moment I felt India must go by all Friedman talks about in the book as roadmap to renew America. The government, India Inc, researchers and the society at large must get into the business so that India becomes one of the leading countries to save mother earth for the posterity and get economically benefited in turn. With many institutions and celebrities such as RK Pachauri, it appears that India is alive to the problem and the opportunity from the global warming. “Fighting climate change is the largest economic opportunity of the next century.”

I wish all Indians who matter must read Hot, Flat and Crowded.

Mamta mayn’t realize but she is helping many of the automakers world over who got amazed and somewhat scared after the showcasing of Nano at auto shows from Delhi to Detroit and the great applauses it received. Tata Motors and so the country had an opportunity to get into the group of automating countries with its own product with global appeal. Tata Motors did a wonderful job of getting the construction work started fast and was almost readying to get into the market commercially by October 2008. And then came a female monster that surrounded the horizon of Singur and forced Tata Motors to stop the construction and commissioning work at Rs 15,000-crore plant.

The Singur has by now become a known name all over the world for wrong reasons. Be it Knowledge Wharton, New York Times, Washington Post, Business Week, Economist, all covered this impasse that has created a nightmare for the government as well as the people of West Bengal in particular. The subject has become one of the favourite hot topics for media to write. While Knowledge Wharton debates ‘West Bengal’s Nano Impasse: A Roadblock for Tata – and for Investment, New York Times generalizes with a headline ‘India Grapples With How to Convert Its Farmland Into Factories‘. Business Week that had storied ‘Tata’s Nano: An Ingenious Coup‘, and called for ‘Learning from Tata’s Nano‘ reports ‘Why Indian Farmers Are Fighting Tata’s Nano’. Economist also covers ‘Nano war‘ with interest. ‘Nano, Singur, and Mamta’ is still keeping many media persons busy and at toe for ‘what next’. Many a times, these reports appear to be pretty biased to me, but with a free press, India can’t help the damage it causes.

Tata Motors and its vendors that were constructing the integrated manufacturing facilities in Singur to produce the cheapest car of the world has suffered the immense loss, not only in money terms but also in the delay to put Nano in the market. Unfortunately neither Mamta has the width or depth of the statesmanship to understand the damage she has already caused to the country nor the people of West Bengal and the government have the moral strength and perhaps the will to win over Mamta.

It is not that Tatas and engineers can’t launch Nano in market from its other facilities, but they must be cursing Mamta for the mental agony of this unexpected challenge to get into launch from another facility of Tata Motors. And the Devils must be laughing. It has certainly delayed the planned scale of production of Nano.

Car manufacturing particularly a new model is a difficult task. It’s not a software creation. It needs getting huge number of machinery and equipment from all the best sources in the world. It requires a lot of tryout exercises and initial runs for debugging the manufacturing processes to meet the tact time and quality output. It requires on-the-job training specific to the model. It is unfortunate that hardly few in the opposition and even in the government at the center understand it.
One can hardly expect the people at large to understand this. However, why should Mamta and her henchmen appreciate the trouble till they can keep the crowd intact with emotional exploitations? And even if they wish to withdraw the agitation, there will emerge some other groups in Singur, be it leftists or Naxalites to carry on some or the other so-called democratic protest making the lives of employees miserable and its own purpose served.

And unfortunately after spending the whole life in automobile industry, I can’t detach myself from Nano and Singur even when I am having the best days of my life here in this wonderful home of Shannon-Anand in pollution-free pleasing Pleasanton, California with sweet Emma and beautiful surrounding along with good food without any input from me unlike that in Noida.

Mamta’s continued tirade against the Nano Project is just annoying. It has already raised questions in the minds of the business managers all over the world if India can any day become a powerful economy. On short term it has already delayed the entry of an Indian car with potential of huge global demand. The engineers and managers of the company must be under a great mental stress because of the unique situation created by Mamta’s adamancy. Everything on the project was going smooth with a date fixed for the start of production in October. And suddenly they had to suspend the work at the project site and asked to create the required facilities and produce the car from a different location. Hardly few in India can appreciate this manufacturing challenge, certainly not the politicians such as Mamta and her supporters. It is a shame for the country and an unnecessary challenge for the engineers created by the madness of an individual. All my sympathies and well wishes are with the engineers and managers of Tata Motors. I wish this became the part of management strategies for all the big projects in India. As in most of the cases it will be impossible, it only means careful weighing of decision to start pouring money in a big project with a potential of some Mamta appearing on the scene and create the situation as one at Singur for Nano.

Mamta wishes to keep the fire alive. I don’t know if it for the next election. However, it is pretty visible and hot issue. Mamata can keep on emotionally exploiting the farmers who consider the land almost with the same respect as their mother. Mamata seems to show that she can fight any force, however strong it may be, for the farmers. She has succeeded, as the leftists are afraid of loosing their strong base support of the farmers. Unfortunately, the Buddha’s attempt to reach the farmers through leftist cadres has failed.

Tata Motors doesn’t want to yield to Mamata’s demand of the 300 acres out of the total of 400 acres allotted for vendors’ park, as it will embolden Mamata. The proximity of vendor-park is for achieving the competitive productivity of plant operation. As otherwise too, the farm and the factory can’t coexist the way Mamta wishes. Even if the vendors hand over the land to the farmers, they will very soon sell it for commercial gains.

I don’t understand why the farmers are not agreeing to part with those marginal holdings that may not be more than an acre for any of them. The compensation offered after the Mamata’s agitation and mediation by Governor Gandhi is pretty lucrative. And they could have got it further enhanced in absence of the adamancy of Mamta. And today as reported in media, many of the farmers are confused having two minds. Some are ready to go for compensation offered. They have been looser till now. The Mamta’s impasse has neither got them their land nor any money. Many among them may be doubtful of a win for Mamata with so much of the external support for the immediate start of the project from the people of India. I don’t know why the media can’t organize those candle light marches as done for getting the justice in the criminal cases in New Delhi or Kolkata. Mamta’s action is nothing less than a serious crime against a project of national importance.

However, the farmers perhaps don’t believe the present government and its offer and want a guarantee that the promises would be fulfilled. They are tired of unrest, and now perhaps are also wary of promise. Why shouldn’t Tata appreciate this aspect and assure the affected farmers from its side that that the promise would be kept and in case of contingencies it will compensate? I am sure in the present situation Tatas may be believed.

I feel the government has not used the right machinery to take its message of the advantages from the industrialization to those opposing the project. Tatas would have helped the government through its managerial and administrative skills, tools, and techniques. Rallies and cadres can’t win over the beneficiaries or losers.

It was and is necessary, as many opposing the project with vested interest must be emotionally instigating the affected farmers for not giving up their rights. Many must be telling alluring stories about the increasing advantage of keeping the possession of land with spiraling land prices in proximity of the plant and highways. But it is all due to the Nano project that the prices have gone sky-high. With Nano shifted or Singur becoming only one of the plants for Nano, the future of the land may not be that bright.

Even if the government and Tata agree to give up the project and return all the land to the farmers, will they be able to deconstruct the plant and start using the land for agriculture?

It is the bad luck of the West Bengal and Singur that it is missing the bus of prosperity that came so near. But who can prevail over the indomitable and arrogant Mamata. She has already inflicted the dangerous damage. She wishes to see the death of the project. And how does it matter for a heartless lady like her? After all, today Mamata has become messiah for some.

With the insistence of the governments at the center as well as the state for not pulling out of Singur, Tata Motors must try to use its soft skills to win over the farmers. There can be hundreds of ways to do that. Once the farmers and the other affected people get the confidence in Tata’s sincerity of offers, it will be win-win for all. Let us see the ultimate of the war between the evil and the right.

Since school days, I read how Aryans, our ancestors entered India from North-West passes. But there were some who thought that our ancestors didn’t come from outside India. As I remember the noted Hindi poet Jai Sankar Prasad was of the later opinion. Perhaps genetics may remove the confusion about the origin of Indian.

Raj Chengappa presents some findings in the latest ‘India Today’ September 10, 2009 in its cover story, ‘The great Indian gene findings‘ providing a new scientific theory on ‘Who is an Indian

Now a growing body of geneticists and anthropologists believe that India was a major first stop in that outmigration of humans out of Africa. That the tremendous genetic diversity originated in the sub-continent itself rather than as a result of the so-called ‘Aryan invasion’ that historians have theorized about.

Recent studies by Indian researchers show that their influence of Central Asia on the Indian gene pool was minor. One by CSIR’s Samir Brahmachari in collaboration with major Asian countries such as China and Indonesia and the other done by Lalji Singh, former director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in collaboration with American Universities, are likely to overturn all conventional theories about India’s role in the spread of the gene pool.

Singh had postulated recently that the “genetic diversity evolved in India itself as waves of settlers moved both north and south of the country, intermixing before migrating to other countries” and the results of his study to be out later this month are eagerly awaited. So after Africa, India became both a major genetic bridge and a pool for the rest of the world.

R. Pitchappan, Professor Emeritus, Immunology, Madurai Kamaraj University, compares the journey of early migrants as arriving on different trains from Africa-some came earlier and others later.

Those who subscribe to the theory of a single wave of migration to India believe that all the caste groups evolved from the same genetic pool, whether Brahmin or Shudra. And if it is true why should there be so much animosity and politics of castes in India.

And the findings of the Indian researchers lead to some other useful inferences: That some regions in Northern India are more susceptible to heart diseases while some populations in Rajasthan and Jammu have a genetic immunity that puts them at lower risk of HIV infections. As claimed, the trigger for Indian researchers has been the most spectacular scientific achievement since man walked on the moon: deciphering the book of human life.

Enthusiastic CSRI head Brahmachari talks of the promise of pharmacogenomics: “We should soon be able to do rapid tests to determine a patient’s genotype and then guide treatment with the most effective drugs apart from reducing adverse reactions.”

There is also the growing clamour to resort to gene therapy or the potential of using genes themselves to treat disease or enhance particular traits much like the research into stem cells. While genetics holds up the promise of revolutionising health care, there is need to be cautious about its use.

Genetic profiling would reveal some of the innermost secrets that could, for instance, be used by employers to weed out candidates found to be susceptible to certain ailments or diseases.

As claimed by the CSIR chief, Brahmchari, “India is the first country to do a disease-specific drug-response mapping on large populations.”

Let India and its scientists come out with more and more with similar solutions.

It was perfect time to reach San Francisco. However, as Yamuna couldn’t have walked that long, she took wheelchair route. It was easily available, but later on we found that the same man is to move at least three persons. He took three stops to reach the immigration counters. It was due to more flights reaching simultaneously. As usual, it is easy and affordable to have more machines, but hardly prudent to have equal number of persons to man them when required. It was the case at San Francisco airport. It took quite a time in the immigration because of the strict scanning for any possibility of one being terrorist. Everyone had to give three scans- 4 fingertips of right hand and then left hand as well as for the tips of the two thumbs. A camera also took the photograph of the face. I got reminded that similar cameras were in use at the reception of Noida Authority’s administrative office for issuing the entry passes. However, with the CEOs changing so frequently, the practice has been discontinued.

While custom personnel hardly took anytime, it was a mess at the baggage collection conveyor. The suitcases had arrived, but it took time to search them. The porter of Yamuna’s wheel chair had vanished to help the other passenger. But Yamuna by now was excited enough to meet the family and agreed rather forced me to walk. And as soon as we came out in the arrival lobby, it was a happy moment again with Keshav, Anvita and Svanik touching the feet followed by their parents. Naturally Shannon had to miss. She waited for us at the residence with Emma. We never wanted to inconvenience her.

Anand drove us to his residence with Rajesh, Shephali and Svanik. Rakesh drove in separate vehicle and later on joined us at the residence of Anand. And then it was a joy and celebration that they had planned for Yamuna’s birthday in advance, as Shannon may move for maternity on any day. Emma got mixed with us. I kept on watching her playing and enjoying with her brother and sisters. I made Anvita to make a sketch of mine. Keshav kept himself glued with a book. Svanik was mostly on his own or with Emma. But Svanik hardly ate anything. As grandfather I felt bad.

By night, we could find the major causality of the Cathay. Even a tag of ‘handle-with-care’ hadn’t saved my laptop in its case in the suitcase getting broken at the hinge. Perhaps I never thought about the extra precautions that it deserved. It is my old age and the last minute adjustment that caused it. However, it is working fine and Anand helped me to put me on line for blog.