Million Mysteries Lying Undiscovered

Posted on February 14, 2008 by indra

As reported, ‘from under the ruins of an ancient fort on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, archaeologists have dug out the remains of a 2,500-year-old “huge” city which they believe was bigger than classical Athens.’ Remnants include 18 pillars that were part of a gigantic structure, probably used for public gatherings, household pottery and terracotta ornaments. The polished potteries even have ownership marks on them. It was Sishupalgarh once ruled by the Kalinga kings. ”The city had four gateways and could have housed up to 25,000 people. Even classical Athens had only 10,000 people.”

It is interesting the excavation team consisted of Monica L Smith, head archaeologist from the University of California and R K Mohanty from Deccan College, Pune beside some members from the Archaeological Survey of India.

It appears ASI has limited fund and human resources. One hardly hears much about its works. Most of the excavations and its findings are from Raj days. Britishers were more interested in the history of this ancient land. The governments thereafter perhaps took hardly any interest in the ruins scattered over the country that can reveal many mysteries and myths about India’s glorious past. Perhaps one of the reasons was the policy of secularism that prohibits glorifying the country’s past. Look at the members of the team. The head from the University of California gets interested into the excavations but not the ones of Indian universities. I got pained to visit the Kumbhrar at Patna last year, when I found all the huge pillars of a hall of ancient Patliputra buried by the ASI or the government under sand. ASI has hardly done any work to discover out any significant sites near around Patna from Asokan period. Perhaps India lacks the archeologists with a missionary zeal in this era of materialism.

If the place would have been in a developed country, perhaps by now an archeological park would have come up earning revenues in millions and providing employments to thousand.

And I feel to quote the correspondent of Telegraph about Shisupalgarh. “If one asks what does Bhubaneswar have in common with archaeological sites such as Giza, Tikal and Lepcis Magna, the answer would be Sishupalgarh, located 12km from the capital, the remains of an ancient city containing evidence of a life both urban and economically strong.”

I visited Bhubaneswar many years ago and roamed in Udaigiri and Khandgiri. I wish I could go again. Whenever, I think of Kalinga War and Ashoka I get an unknown thrill and excitement.

Read Nayanjot Lahiri ‘ What lies beneath?’

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Collaborating Arundhati and Outlook

Posted on February 12, 2008 by indra

‘Outlook’, February 4, issue has a cover story ‘Listening to Grasshoppers- Genocide, Denial and Celebration’ by Arundhati Roy. It is an abridged version of her lecture delivered in Istanbul on January 18, 2008.
As usual, I got the copy of ‘Outlook’ from my advocate neighbour, Y P Singh. After going through, I had returned it. But Mr. Singh came back again with the magazine and a manuscript that he wrote for the editor on Arundhati’s article. He is basically a fan of Arundhati and likes her style and particularly well-research contents that she incorporates well in all of her writings. However, he had not liked her this view in this article: “It was in 1989, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, that the Government of India turned in its membership of the Non-Aligned Movement and signed up for membership of the Completely Aligned, often referring to itself as the ‘natural ally’ of Israel and the United States. (They have at least this one thing in common-all three are engaged in overt, neo-colonial military occupations: India in Kashmir, Israel in Palestine, the US in Iraq.)”

For the editor, Mr. Singh wrote,

“On page 54, she writes that India is engaged in an overt neocolonial military occupation in Kashmir and she has compared India with USA’s role in Iraq and Israel’s handling of Palestinian people. This observation is recklessly erroneous and objectionable. She has ignored the facts, which have taken place in near enough past that are still quite fresh in the mind of many Indians. The State of J&K was a part of Ranjit Singh’s empire. Later on, Dogras ruled it with Hindus and Muslims living there peacefully. In 1947, when the Muslim intruders aided by Pakistan invaded it, India sent her army in Kashmir to save it from them on request of the then King Hari Singh after he had signed a treaty of accession to India. But the Muslim intruders and militants from Pakistan kept on entering and creating trouble in the state and the situation forced the Kashmiri pundits to leave their homes and hearths. Since then the pundits are living in refugee camps of India under miserable conditions. Is this action of India neocolonial? In her account of genocides, why is she silent about the atrocities committed by the Muslims in Mediaeval Period? Why is she silent about the atrocities met out to Parsees so that they had to take asylum in India?”

Mr. Singh wanted me to look into his writing and give my views.

I am not a fan of Arundhati. Arundhati came into eminence with her Booker prize winning novel. Thereafter, I don’t remember if she has written any more novels. However, she had become celebrity and I found her joining the ever-aggrieved activists sometimes even Medha Patkar. She has also written on developmental projects and she feels the country policy makers and entrepreneurs would have taken the country into stone age rather than doing something to compete with other developed and developing nations and to reduce the poverty of the masses that was inherited by the country because of centuries of slavery and rules by foreigners.

Arundhati must provide some alternative models for the poor and deprived of the country that can improve their living conditions. Instead, for Arundhati every one is either fascists or sycophants of industrialists or politicians, be it Rattan Tata or Mukesh Ambani or Shahrukh Khan or Ram Chndra Guha. Arundhati must have some reasons for so great a negativity in her thinking that comes out clearly in her cover story. Here is some portion of her story for you to judge.

I use the word Genocide advisedly, and in keeping with its definition contained in Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In the state of Gujarat, there was genocide against the Muslim community in 2002. The genocide began as collective punishment for an unsolved crime-the burning of a railway coach in which 53 Hindu pilgrims were burned to death. In a carefully planned orgy of supposed retaliation, 2,000 Muslims were slaughtered in broad daylight by squads of armed killers, organised by fascist militias, and backed by the Gujarat government and the administration of the day. Muslim women were gang-raped and burned alive. Muslim shops, Muslim businesses and Muslim shrines and mosques were systematically destroyed. Some 1,50,000 people were driven from their homes.

Even today, many of them live in ghettos-some built on garbage heaps-with no water supply, no drainage, no streetlights, no healthcare. They live as second-class citizens, boycotted socially and economically. Meanwhile, the killers, police as well as civilian, have been embraced, rewarded, promoted. This state of affairs is now considered ‘normal’. To seal the ‘normality’, in 2004, both Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, India’s leading industrialists, publicly pronounced Gujarat a dream destination for finance capital.

In Gujarat, the genocide has been brazenly celebrated as the epitome of Gujarati pride, Hindu-ness, even Indian-ness. The helmsman, Narendra Modi, has become a folk hero, called in by the BJP to campaign on its behalf in other Indian states.
Babu Bajrangi, one of the major lynchpins of the Gujarat genocide, recorded on camera in the sting operation mounted by Tehelka a few months ago:

We didn’t spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire…hacked, burned, set on fire…we believe in setting them on fire because these bastards don’t want to be cremated, they’re afraid of it…. I have just one last wish…let me be sentenced to death…I don’t care if I’m hanged…just give me two days before my hanging and I will go and have a field day in Juhapura where seven or eight lakhs of these people stay…I will finish them off…let a few more of them die…at least 25,000 to 50,000 should die.

I hardly need to say that Babu Bajrangi had the blessings of Narendra Modi, the protection of the police, and the love of his people.

Is it reasonable to worry about whether a country that is poised on the threshold of “progress” is also poised on the threshold of genocide? Could the India being celebrated all over the world, as a miracle of progress and democracy, possibly be poised on the verge of committing genocide?

You must read the whole story through the link and yourself judge her real input as representative of India. Is it something those foreigners whom we find taking photographs of all odd things such as filths and beggars in India for the domestic consumption? Why should Arundhati vomit so many of her confusingly complex views to her listeners in Istanbul about the India that people all over the world have started respecting? Is it not an act of treachery or treason?

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Indian Education System- Traditional vs. New Approach

Posted on February 11, 2008 by indra

My primary education was very much non-traditional. It got divided between my village school and Birlapur, a small factory town near Kolkata. Fortunately, I didn’t undergo the rigour of rote learning; particularly of tables that were the way the teachers in the rural India wished the best of his pupils to do. Many in rural schools could repeat the table up to 30 or more. Some memorized even multiplication table of fractions such as ¼, 1/3, 1/5, and 3/4. Beside the table, they could very easily, almost mentally, solve some arithmetical problems of day- to-day use such as one used to calculate the price of grain sold to the rural traders at some odd rates. However, I had to use my slow systematic way. My mother used to get surprised why I couldn’t do that as the traders could do.

While in rural school, I got interested in Hindi poems. I was very good in Antachhari. I went for regular schooling at Birlapur. I had to resort to some rote learning to answer the questions asked in those days. For many subjects, it was essential. I remember some of the friends used to memorize even essays that were expected to be asked in examinations. However, I tried to write the answers on my own. I can say it varied from individual to individual. At least in those days for subjective questions, it was not possible to memorize all.

Today I hardly remember anything that I studied in my school and colleges. But I get amazed when my friend Mr. Singh who is advocate by profession recites poems of many poets.

F. Max Muller in his a ‘must-read’ wonderful book ‘India: what can it teach us?’ refers to India’s education system as documented by the Chinese visitor I-tsing. ‘Vedas, containing 100,000 verses…are handed down from mouth to mouth, not written on paper. There are in every generation some intelligent Brahmans who can recite those 100,000 verses… I myself saw such men.’ For mastery of Sanskrit, the education system emphasized on rote learning. Was it deficient in any way? Perhaps, Indians still take pleasure in that system.

Chidanand Rajghatta in his Sunday column writes on the subject in ‘Banking on memory’:

Indian education typically involves teaching by repetition. Learning by heart, cramming, mugging is some of the terms we use for memorization. To this day I can recite reams of Shakespeare, sundry shlokas and mantras, several laws of physics, and multiplication tables deep into double digits

In contrast, American kids are less into learning by rote or trivia, although one does come across the oddball who can reel off the 1969 Mets V Orioles World Series scores. My friend Adam cares diddly squat about Boyle’s Law or the Bible, but he gutted his entire bathroom down to pot and plumbing, tub and tiling, and rebuilt it himself for less than $5,000 (half of what a contractor would have charged). Meantime, I blew a gasket paying $80 to get my lawnmower fixed ($56 labour, $24 parts), thanks to an education system that didn’t allow me to get my hands dirty.

But, it turns out that there is something to be said for our desi system of bending our brains rather than our backs, beyond paraphrasing a successful Indian who insisted he wouldn’t bother about paying $56 an hour if he could bill $500 an hour.

Recent reports say there is now a growing craze in Japan for Indian style education. The few Indian schools in Japan are reporting a surge of application from locals. Bookstores are filled with titles like Extreme Indian Arithmetic Drills and The Unknown Secrets of the Indians. And newspaper reports speak with awe about how Indian children memorise multiplication tables far beyond nine times nine, the standard for young elementary students in Japan.

I don’t know if the Japanese are doing the right.

Indians did develop some wonderful knowledge. Last Monday, Mrs. Bharatiya announcement after our kirtan session at Nagpals’ residence surprised me. A teacher was going to take a short course on Vedic Mathematics for four days 2 hours a day in evening for Rs 1000 as course fee. I had a chance of learning a little of it. It is a unique short cut method to do many big numerical without the help of a calculator (Try by going to the link).

I sometimes wonder why should any system be considered better. Perhaps each system has some merit. The education must serve the purpose- such as improving employability. It must inculcate the interest in keeping on furthering the knowledge, and in innovating in every sphere where we work. If it is successful in doing that, it is the right system. In short, the education system must make a student interested in at least o

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Can Tata’s ‘Nano’ Go Global? My Expectations

Posted on February 9, 2008 by indra

It was one of those days when Auto Expo 2008 was going on in New Delhi. I called Alok to find out if uncle was coming to meet Anand. Right after recognizing my voice, he jumped to ask me to book a ‘Nano’ as soon as it gets available here in Noida. Alok lives in the remote village of Bihar. But with digital connectivity, he had seen Rattan Tata launching Nano at Auto Expo 2008. Courtesy Nitish’s initiative our village is now well connected with an all weather road. My small village of 2000 and odd population have about 50 tractors and almost the same or more number of motorcycles, besides three combine harvesters too. And I am sure once Alok gets Nano, many will follow.

Is the marketing manager of Tata Motors listening? I wish Tata Motors would have gone to rural markets as priority for Nano and would have developed its dealers network also accordingly. I am confident Tata Motors would have got a ready market for a million or more Nanos. With rural road programme moving on fast track through out the country that seeks to connect all habitations with population of 1,000 people or more in plain areas and all habitations with population of 500 or more in hill states, tribal and desert areas with an all-weather road by 2009, the number of the prospective buyers will be unimaginably high.

But naturally some obvious questions crop up.

Has Tata Motors considered this aspect in its strategy and design? Is Nano robust and reliable enough for the rural India? Tata Motors would have answered its critics claiming increased damage to the environment better too. Rural India as on today is hardly having a miniscule of the total cars or vehicles in the country. With good agricultural earnings, many in rural India can certainly aspire, acquire and afford Nano at its price. Nano would have connected its owners with the urban India and helped PURA concept.

But more important is the first time advantage for Nano. Nano must go in production fast and hit the market soon, though certainly after the debugging of all the technical weaknesses, if any. Tata Motors shouldn’t repeat ‘Indica’ story where the cars from initial production had major problems with suspension systems. Initial poor reactions that go like forest fire by words of mouth may damage the market prospects. Tata Motors would have started simultaneous production, at least the assembly of Nanos at all its plants to serve the regions. It must establish its lead before the competition gets in.

Tata Motors is showcasing Nano at Geneva Motor Show to charm Europe. It has already made a stir at the motor show in Detroit. Nano is today the world’s most talked-about car and the people will not like to just keep on talking. As reported, a survey conducted in late January by Canadian Press suggests the Nano would be a hit in Canada if Tata Motors, which expects to start production this fall, decides to export the car. I am sure Nano is the best suited to CK Prahalad’s concept of designing a product for the people at the bottom of pyramid. Many in Asian, African and South American markets will find Nano as the best to meet their requirements. But has Tata Motors planned a scale of production big enough if the demand comes from all over the world? Has it an ambition so big?

As reported, Maruti, Hyundai and perhaps even Volkswagen, GM and Ford will try to challenge Nano with its products, and all of them are having deeper pockets and technical strength.

Tata Motors shouldn’t also underrate the auto manufacturers of China that are hankering to get into global auto market. Chery and Geely, both have big plans for its vehicles in developed markets. Nano doesn’t have some thing that can’t be integrated by the cost innovative Chinese in its products. It is an opportunity for Tata Motors and its manager to get into the global club of automobile manufacturers with Nanos penetrating the market all over the world. As on today no one can offer such a car at this price. Moreover Tata Motors also have to keep price advantage with constantly innovating technologies. With companies such as Tata Steel, TCS, and TACO as sister units, Tata Motors can do it, if it so wishes.

As I meet more and more people, the enthusiasm about Nanos get known to me from various quarters. Yamuna says all the ladies in her kitty party will like to have one for them. I have myself decided to get one for Yamuna. She on her own also can buy it. I wish small entrepreneurs encouraged by Tata Motors start many drivers training schools, as rural owners and housewives will like to drive Nano themselves.

It must certainly be a testing time for Tata Motors. Its employees from all levels of organization must work hard and meet the aspirations of prospective buyers and well-wishers. Nano if successful will change the thinking process of Indians.

Latest_ Tata to take Nano to Europe in 4 years: Report

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Bihar in News For Bad Reasons

Posted on February 9, 2008 by indra

I was already morose with what Raj Thackeray and Tejinder Khanna are trying to do in Maharashtra and Delhi. But news yesterday on small screen of a reputed channel and today in print shocked me. The old practice in Bihar that I know was to donate the land for the purpose of construction of temples and schools. My own family did the same in small way. But today the people of Nalanda created history by mud slinging on their Chief Minister. The Chief Minister, who is proud to come from the same area, is recreating the old Nalanda University with his endeavour as an International University that can bring back the lost glory of Bihar. A presentation on the project was underway in a tent in presence of the former president Abdul Kalam. The CM was attending it too. A crowd collected outside began shouting anti-Nitish slogans and demanding compensation at current market rates for their land, which was acquired for the university. With an over-confidence about the righteousness of the cause and faith in his people, Nitish rushed out to talk to them. And the crowd instead showered the CM with wet mud and slippers. As reported on NDTV, some stone also hit CM. As clear from the photograph, CM took a brave step. Fortunately for Bihar, it didn’t hurt him critically that could always happen. However, he must avoid that instinct to prove himself brave and daring, particularly with violent crowd.

Is it the way democracy works? And who decides how much should be the compensation? Can any one in the crowd claim himself aggrieved enough to start taking an extreme step such as on reported? Is it not a blatant case of taking law in hand? Did the crowd and its leader, if any, followed the conventional route of appeal against the state? Was the grievance communicated to the CM, when he is freely meeting every one in Patna that is so near? As reported, the compensation provided has been much more than what other states had given. Further, all the villages that comes in the region of the university will be specially assisted and developed.

However, I again blame Nitishji for soft approach. His police and home ministry would have provided information about the possibility of the trouble. Further, a nicely designed and planned strategy would have sold the importance of the project to the people of the area and particularly to the opinion builders.

Is it not a shame for all the people of the state? Should the people involved not apologize for their mistakes? Why can’t the people realize that after decades they have a CM who is doing many things to make Bihar brand respectable?

But still I feel the media and the government as well as some other social institutions would have taken up the task of marketing the project and its importance among the people of the region. Let the people understand Nalanda International University will not be business enterprise of Birlas, Tatas, or Ambanis for profit. It will make the whole area as famous as the most reputed temple of the world. Will they not contribute their land for that temple that will spread the ancient knowledge of India and the region all over the world again? Are they not proud that dignitaries such as Abdul Kalam and Amartya Sen beside many more learned people from many countries are leading the project of their area?

Let the people be told about the proposed university and its purpose. Let them know that it is neither going to be an SEZ nor car factory. It will be an education center of international importance with its schools of philosophy and Buddhist studies, informatic, basic and applied sciences, development studies, natural resources management, international studies and language studies that will incubate the best minds and souls of the world. “The proposed university will try to “recapture” the holistic traditions of knowledge creation, acquisition and dissemination as practiced in Nalanda University centuries ago – in a more modern context.”

It will also materially benefit the people living around, as it was the case when Nalanda was at its prime. After all, an infrastructure of services will be necessary for supporting a 21st Century University with 10,000 students and 1,000 or more teachers coming from all parts of the world. It will upgrade the educational and cultural level of the population of the regions all around and create sufficient number of employment too.

I appeal to the people of Bihar that let them not resort to such a step as they did yesterday with their honest CM and provide additional fuel about the poor perception about Biharis.

Let them give some of their perspirations in building of Bihar. “Bhagna Mandir Baan raha hai swed ka jal do.”

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Recent Trips- Some Observations

Posted on February 6, 2008 by indra

After many years, I took a flight this time for Kolkata with Anand, Shanon and Emma. With Emma who is just going to be of 7 months on January 9, I felt the air travel is not suited for the children. From New Delhi to Kolkata, it was only a two hours flight. What would have happened in the flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco that took more than 10 hours or so? Why can’t the designers of these aircrafts come out some innovations that can make the long flights comfortable for the kids at least? Can a separate area specially designed for the kids with safe facilities be created where some airhostesses can take care of the kids? We mayn’t have a solution today, but I am sure one day some one will produce some wonderful idea to the problem. I have another question too. Can’t the airlines keep the passengers informed about the status of the flight through SMSs?

While moving around the country, one gets an impression that the whole country is undergoing a reconstruction. From Kolkata to Agra or Panipat to Jaipur, one can see malls, multiplexes, shopping centers, and naturally the expressways that are already in place or are coming up. Even the link roads for instance Jaipur-Agra road, is getting widened. Surprisingly, before the work on a project ends, we discover it is under-capacity and expansion is necessary. NHAI has decided to convert all the GQ from 4-lane to 6-lane. Why couldn’t it happen in the first go? But more than that I feel the country must simultaneously also take up the task of some training with subjects such as 5Ss, the road etiquettes and rules at all levels of formal and informal education. While driving on these Expressways, one sees all sorts of odd and shabby structures, habitations, shanties, and constructions right up to the edge of the road. Can’t the local communities and administrations be made to follow some rules? Can’t some width of area adjoining the road be allocated for planned greenery or forestry? Can’t NHAI create a place at regular distance for the parking of trucks? Can’t the slow vehicles-tractors, camel carts, autorikshas, be made to ply on the adjoining service roads? Can anything but a legal ban duly executed by the administration stop the mushrooming of illegal and filthy eyesores growing along the Expressways? Will anyone love to see what is shown in some photographs?


During my road trips from Noida to Jaipur and then Agra to Noida through GQ, I expected some rural malls on the model of ITC Choupal Sagar. I couldn’t see any. Its presence would have certain meant the success of the model. However, I expect that NHAI will induce all the petrol pumps to have and maintain compulsorily a good clean toilet and if possible a snack bar.

However, I could see how fast has been the growth of consumerism. Stocks of the quality handicrafts in different cottage industry malls, super markets, and one roadside restaurant that we happened to go in, are mind-boggling. I only wonder why still our craftsmen remain poor. Perhaps, it is only because the traders and middlemen are taking away the profit without paying the craftsmen their due. I wish it could have been improved through skill training and high-tech route or organized retailers outlet incorporating a section of handicrafts directly procured from the craftsmen.

And final shock came from the car (Innova) driver, when he presented a bill for 1315 kms at the rate of Rs 8.50 per km. As we calculated, the total distance traveled wouldn’t have been anything more than 850 or 900 kms. The distances by road for all the destinations were known. We didn’t use the vehicle once we reached the hotels in the evenings. But the driver used it. We were not smart enough to check the readings on every day before the start and the end of driving. I hope others will learn from our mistakes. One another lesson. Don’t go to any shop the driver or any guide recommends.

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Shocking India

Posted on February 5, 2008 by indra

Many a times we all must be feeling ashamed of what gets on repeating in this country. Last evening when we switched the cable to watch the news, we got shocks after shocks.
In our own country, one is not safe. Bachhan family in Jaipur confabulates if they proceed to their home in Mumbai. Sania Mirza decides for not playing in India.

Can anyone think of Amitabh Bachhan’s house in Mumbai getting attacked, as he is building a school in UP or because he worked as a brand manager for UP, or more so because he worked in a Bhojpuri film? What a great service is being done by the followers or more correctly the goons of Raj Thakre by attacking a street vendor earning few rupees a day or by damaging a taxi, as the vendor or the driver was assumed as one from UP or Bihar? Is it a secular India when Raj where seems to be educated talks against a festival that is there since Vedic days? Why should he be not behind bar? Why have not Bal or Udhav Thakre appealed the local people to stop the vandalism?

And then comes the shocking news of kidney racket and its added information that shakes me. How much money one needs? Can one go down to such a level for money making? Since last few days, all the print and digital media are full of the depth and breadth of this news in which not only the doctors but also all the big hospitals are involved.

The news from Patan, Gujarat came as the final blow. Our respectable teaching community or some black sheep are not sparing even the girls in teen to satisfy their beastly lust.

Can any Maharashtrian feel proud of what is happening in Mumbai? Can any Haryanavi be proud of the doctors of kidney racket? Can any Gujarati take pride in the acts of the teachers of Patan?

Unfortunately, nothing happens to the real culprit. FIRs are filed. Media remains vocal for few days. Few local people agitate. And more unfortunately, the community as whole hardly bothers. It must come out, punish them and if not anything, boycott such people. Is this the democracy or the centuries old culture of the country that we pride in?

And I finally handed over the remote to Yamuna to enjoy her silly serials.

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Booming and Bubbling India-XXIX

Posted on February 5, 2008 by indra

While the news from share markets may be shocking, India appears to be doing fairly good. Is it because of the great democracy that India is? Even Late Benjir Bhutto in her autobiography excerpted in ‘The Sunday Times’ recently mentions, “Democracy cannot be sustained in the absence of a stable and growing middle class. The growth of India into a regional and international economic power occurred – not coincidentally – as its middle class exploded into a huge economic and political force.” India may be a country of “extreme paradoxes” with 48 “dollar billionaires” on the one hand and 260 million below poverty line people on the other, as former top UN official Shashi Tharoor says. India is certainly to move a little faster and also to grow inclusively.

But the enterprising India brings hope. Exports are still on track and so is the per capita income. India Inc gives hope.

Exports up 16.04% to $12.31 bn in Dec’07 India’s exports registered a growth of 16.04 per cent to 12.31 billion dollars in December 2007, as against 10.61 billion dollars in the same month of 2006. For April-December period of 2007-08, India’s exports stood at 111 billion dollars, registering a growth of 21.76 per cent, from 91.20 billion dollars in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Per capita income up by 14.2% in 2006-07: The per capita income at current prices is estimated at Rs 29,642 in 2006-07 as against Rs 25,956 for the previous year, depicting a growth of 14.2 per cent, according to the figures released today by Central and Statistical Office (CSO). GDP records growth of 9.6% in 2006-07: Economy grew by 9.6 per cent during the year 2006-07, up from 9.4 per cent in the previous year, on the back of strong showing of manufacturing sector The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has revised its current fiscal gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the economy to 9.1 per cent, against the 8.9 per cent it had forecast in October 2007.India ranks 11th, China 48th on Global Integrity’s index India is ranked 11th among 55 countries for governance and anti-corruption standards in the recent report released by the independent watchdog organization, Global Integrity.

India is thinking big. India can send crew to space in seven years. The Indian government has been “sensitized” on the issue of manned space flights and India’s space agency will be able to send crew to space in seven to eight years. India and the US have agreed to cooperate in the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes, including in human space flight, under an agreement signed between their space agencies.

MNCs in the country are investing. Strengthening its bid to make India its global small car hub, Korean car major Hyundai Motor today said it will invest $1 billion by 2013, to beef up operations in the country. The company today commissioned its second plant set up at a total investment of $528 million (Rs 2,429 crore).

Indian companies are going ahead with its acquisition plans. Tata Chemicals (TCL) has signed definitive agreements to acquire US-based soda ash maker General Chemical Industries Products Inc (GCIP) for $1.05 billion (about Rs 4,000 crore) to become the second largest producer of soda ash in the world.

MNCs are setting up its R&D units in India. Chemicals and polymers manufacturer Dow Chemicals plans to develop its Pune unit into a global research and development centre that will focus on a wide spectrum of products which give it an edge in the Indian and international market. Swedish vehicle giant Volvo plans to turn a new Indian manufacturing facility into a low-cost export hub to tap rising Asian demand for public bus transport, the company said on Wednesday.

Government is slowly but steadily going for reforms. In a bold move aimed at attracting foreign capital in its fast-expanding economy, the Union government has relaxed foreign ownership norms in six businesses including aviation, commodity exchanges and oil refining, braving opposition from Communist allies in a year of 10 state elections.

Indian companies are performing better. A survey conducted by CyberMedia’s Glogal Services and neoIT reveals more than one-fourth of the 100 best information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) service providers across the globe are headquartered in India. The survey identified India as the hub for global delivery with 57% of the employees engaged in delivery centers located in India, followed by 18% in the US. India’s largest software provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) ranked first in list of best performing IT services companies. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd has secured around Rs 784 crore order from Sun Life Financial of Canada for offering outsourcing services. The order was bagged by Diligenta, a UK-based financial services authority-regulated subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS).

Indians in world’s wealthiest CEOs: Forbes: Out of the world’s 10 wealthiest CEOs, four positions have been grabbed by Indians: Lakshmi Mittal is ranked at the 2nd place followed by Mukesh Ambani (6th place), Anil Ambani (7th) and Wipro chief Azim Premji (9th).

BPO Industry can touch $50 bn by 2012: Nasscom: The Indian BPO industry can reach $30 billion by 2012 but has the potential to grow five-fold to $50 billion if the “right choices” are made by the industry stakeholders, says a joint study between Nasscom and Everest Group, a global strategy consulting group. India Takes Outsourcing to New Heights: Indian companies were the main engine behind the growth, accounting for US$4.9 billion, up from US$2.7 billion in 2006.

India IT to cross $10 bn by 2011: The Indian information technology (IT) services industry is poised to touch $10.73 billion by 2011, predicts research firm Gartner. Despite high attrition rates, the industry will grow at a five-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.2 per cent, says the study. http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=8&autono=311825

Indian firms still big in IT services: Indian firms came first in four out of 10 information technology service categories in a global survey that selects the 100 best IT services providers. US-headquartered IT firms topped in four other categories and one firm each from Mexico and China took the other prizes in the 4th Cybermedia Global IT Services Survey.

Boeing in tech venture with Wipro, HCL: Boeing Co has entered into an agreement with the Indian Institute of Science and software firms Wipro Technologies and HCL Technologies to develop wireless technologies and other network technologies.

In ’06-07, India invested $2.2b in US: In 2006-2007, Indian FDI into US was $2.2 billion while US investment in India was $850 million (minus the Mauritius route), according to US ambassador David Mulford. In UK, where India is now the second largest investor, second only to the US, at well over one billion pounds. With over 500 Indian companies operating in the UK, India has established a presence in sectors like IT and ITES, and now manufacturing.

<a href="http://www.livemint.com/2008/01/28190758/India-not-vulnerable-to-US-rec.html “>India not vulnerable to US recession: S&P: Unlike South Korea and Singapore, India is not vulnerable to fallout of the US recession, says a report by the international credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s.

IITs to invest over Rs 1,500 crore to set up virtual varsity: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are in talks with US-based Carnegie Mellon University to set up a Virtual IIT. To be set up at a cost of over Rs 1,500 crore over the next three to four years, it will enable aspiring IITians and engineering students who could not make it to the premier engineering institutes of technology to bag an IIT-equivalent degree online.

12 Indians on Forbes list of top 100 dealmakers: As many as 12 Indian-origin persons have made it to a list of 100 dealmakers with ‘midas-touch’ prepared by the renowned business magazine, based on the value of the companies these people have taken public or sold in the past five years as well as the capital and involvement it took to get there.

Auto majors scout for Indian design acumen: A number of automobile majors are now testing waters in various engineering and design schools of the country through design contests, diploma projects and interactions to discover innovative designs. Italian design house Pininfarina, which designs cars like Ferrari, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo, took the first step towards Indian designs when it signed a statement of intent to pursue collaborative automobile design activities with Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design (NID). Nano has spurred the present breed of designers to take India to the world through their designs
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ISB among top 20 B-schools in the world: FT: The Indian School of Business (ISB) has become the first business school from the country to figure in the top 100 business schools ranked by the Financial Times.

Tata mini-truck to roll into US: Tata Motors is considering making its first foray into the US with a tie-up to sell its Ace “mini-truck” with an electric motor in the country. The Indian automotive company, which earlier this month unveiled the world’s cheapest passenger car, the $2,500 Nano, plans to co-operate with a US company to assemble and sell the fast-selling Ace truck in North America.

Mahindra launches Scorpio SUV, delivery vans in Brazil: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the country’s top utility vehicle maker, today announced the launch of Scorpio SUV and its Pik-Up range (single and double cab) in Brazil with Bramont-Montadora Industrial e Comercial de Veiculos. A facility has been set up to assemble the vehicles with an annual capacity of 5,000. Body assembly would be undertaken by Usiparts – a Usiminas System company – while the chassis, suspension and engine (power-train) would be assembled by Bramont at its plant in Manaus (AM).

India is still booming.

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Manufacturing India Must Compete China

Posted on February 4, 2008 by indra

Media reports these days are pretty rosy about the arriving of manufacturing India on global scenario. Tata’s Nano at recent Auto Expo 2008 has raised the hope bar. The special report ‘Made in India’ in Sunday Times of India tracks the rise of the label. “From cars to tractors, refrigerators to laptops, made-and-designed-in-India is becoming a sought after label.” The other day my friend was enthusiastically mentioning the reported preference of Indian goods by the Americans. Chiidanand Rajghatta and many are reporting the wonderful work done by the NRI. How tall can be the claim of ‘NRI brains power world’? I request my readers to go to the entries and read it. Somehow I am of an opinion that India must undergo an overhaul of mindsets about the need of manufacturing to survive and compete. It must not be limited to some few big and small industry leaders and some government institutions. The government, trade associations, engineering colleges must encourage the talents in design and innovations. Schools of management must study how can India become a manufacturing power. The Chinese manufacturers are to be the examples for India. It is interesting to understand how China has moved from low-end manufacturing to high-end too and today is dominating and challenging even Korea and Japan.

Everyone connected and concerned with manufacturing in India must read, understand, and help India learn from the real revolutionary stories of the manufacturing companies of China and the way its cost innovation is disrupting global competition.

I am going through ‘Dragons at your door’ written by Ming Zeng, Professor of Strategy at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Beijing and Peter J. Williamson, Professor of International Management and Asian Business at the INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau and Singapore, that Harvard Business School Press has published. It answers many pertinent questions with the stories of many Chinese companies.

How do the emerging Chinese companies, with limited resources and often little experience, pull off the cost innovation feat?

The Chinese companies are delivering high technology at low cost by leveraging cheap R&D resources; betting on low-cost, alternative technologies; and using the rise of open architecture to blow apart competitors’ high-margin, proprietary systems.

Dawning makes high-performance computers (HPCs), and has become one of the world leaders. It produced its first supercomputer by improving the capability for the processors to work together and then made a technological advance in the hardware and software required to get standard processors to work together at super fast speeds. And today it has transferred some of its supercomputer technologies to bring the benefits of HPCs to the low-end server market.

Zhongxing Medical developed direct digital radiography (DDR) X-ray machine based on line-scanning technology that cost around $20,000 to build, compared with between $ 150,000 to $200,000 for a flat panel DDR. That was more than adequate for the high-volume, every day radiography needs in a hospital, such as chest scans and routine medical examinations. The company then invested heavily in R&D to upgrade the performance of its line-scanning technology. Today its much cheaper machines are almost matching the expensive flat panel products of the competition (for example, the scanning time has been reduced from ten seconds to about two seconds and thus the procedure is much more comfortable for patients).

Teknova is another leading manufacturer of the medical diagnostic equipment and created an all-digital machine for ultrasound scanning using open architecture so that data produced by its digital ultrasound machines could be processed by standard IT equipment that most hospitals already had. Neusoft had used a similar approach in magnetic response imaging (MRI) equipment and digital X-ray machines to become the seventh largest supplier of medical equipment in the world.

The Chinese companies are today able to offer to customers massive variety and choice at mass-market prices through a focus on process innovation and recombination of existing technologies. A good example is BYD, the maker of rechargeable batteries, now second only to Sanyo in global market share. BYD developed its own Ni Cad production line by breaking the automated production processes down and replacing expensive machines with manual procedures that could be completed by ordinary workers. Even with extra workers, BYD could produce a Ni Cad battery for a total cost of $1, compared with cost of $5 to $6 incurred by rivals in Japan. Chint, a maker of electrical equipment such as transformers and power supply units has also achieved a similar cost innovation for achieving variety at low cost.

Haier innovated a high performance washing machine by combining the advantages of the existing machines that were in use in Asia, Europe and US: European machines used less water. American ones were usually faster, and the Asian models generally made better use of electronic sensors. The newly developed Haier machine used only half the water of conventional machines and close to 50% improvement in cleaning power at twice the speed. Additionally, it also reduced the wear and tear on garments by 60%.

The Chinese companies are applying scale intensive technology to specialty products, transforming these businesses by dramatically reducing the costs and prices and hence increasing volumes. Shinco developed its own VCD system from scratch to enable consumer to get quality viewing even from poorly duplicated pirated disks. Shinco then designed and developed its own DVD player and launched in 1999 with superior error correction that cost $129 less than its nearest global competitor. Today Shinco sells more portable DVD players than any other company in the world.

While reading ‘Dragon at your door’, I feel the Chinese way must get the same or more attention in our business schools and industry as once the Japanese way of manufacturing was getting.

Let Indian manufacturers learn from these stories. India has all that is required to be the leader in manufacturing. The number of the missionary leaders in manufacturing segments must grow fast.

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Projects that make me proud

Posted on February 2, 2008 by indra

I get delighted to read and know about the great projects that bring about a major change in improving the quality of life and will take us in the league of the developed countries of the world. Two recently announced projects come under that category.

First is Delhi Metro’s Airport Express Link. With a dedicated fast track, that will take commuters from New Delhi Railway Station to IGI in 20 minutes flat speeding at 135 kmph. It will also have check-in facilities too at the railway station where the travelers abroad will be taking the train. What a great thing to dream of the day! IGI will be in line with or better than many international airports. After reaching IGI station, the people can straight walk to the terminal’s lobby. DMRC promises that the new service should be operational by July 2010. It will be on the lines of Heathrow Express, London and Narita Express at Tokyo. The total cost is estimated at Rs 3,800 crore. With personal experience of Heathrow and Narita, the DMRC project becomes more exciting for me. And with DMRC’s record of completion of all its projects before the schedule time, I am confident about having it in place in time.

Second is Ganga Expressway Project of Mayawati running across Uttar Pradesh from east (Ballia) to west (Noida). Jai Prakash Associates Limited, as expected, has bagged the contract with its lowest bid of Rs 29,355 crore. In a one-page ad in the national print media with a prayer to Ganga, Jai Prakash Associates vows to complete this 8-lane, 1047- km Expressway in the next three years. The expressway will certainly lead to massive development all along the river and will connect the backward eastern region. As economists say the region through which the expressway passes, gets the per capita income of the people there improved considerably and automatically.

Let me confess I am not a fan of Mayawati rather I hate her brand of politics. However, I appreciate her developmental projects. She initiated Taj Expressway to connect Agra with Noida, and also some flyovers in Noida in 2003 when she headed BJP-BSP coalition. Unfortunately, Mulayam stalled it. I wish JP Associates completed the Taj Express project as soon as possible. It would have given confidence to the people. Interestingly, it was JP Associates who completed Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. And as some in Noida associated with the project claimed while the Expressway was in making, the lady used to get Rs 1 crore in cash every week. Is the Ganga Expressway being expedited to accumulate the money required to reach the highest chair of the country in New Delhi?

However, it hardly concerns me if the project gets completed in time and the quality of work is maintained to the world-class standard. The three expressways running through the UP, beside Ganga expressway will include East-West Corridor, and Golden Quadrilateral. It will mean a great excitement for the motoring population and prosperity for the state.

It can happen only if Myawati could win over the protests of the opposition parties, making forcible acquisition of agricultural land as issue that had avowed to continue the agitation till the project is withdrawn.

Will it have a fate of Buddha’s Nandigram?

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