India Story: Economists vs. BusinessWeek

Posted on October 6, 2007 by indra

I am going through the two most respected business magazines of this week October 4, 2007, one from US and the other from UK.

Economist has a lead article on India, ‘Business and caste in India- With Reservations. It has all that normally pleases journalists from UK, as most of them just can’t forget that their forefathers ruled Indians. However, it contains the way Infosys is helping dalits to improve employability. The exercise is meant to avoid any imposition of reservations of jobs in private sector by the government.

Infosys launched last year a charitable training scheme for dalit university-leavers. In collaboration with the elite Bangalore-based International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Infosys is providing special training to low-caste engineering graduates who have failed to get a job in its industry. The training, which lasts seven months, does not promise employment. But of the 89 who completed the first course in May, all but four have found jobs. Infosys hired 17.

Infosys’s training scheme is a Pygmalion undertaking. Meeting the parents of his dalit students, he saw “almost an anger in their eyes”. For the first month the students were unresponsive. Their English was dismal. Mr Sadagopan felt compelled to introduce lessons in self-presentation, including table manners.

Matters improved. The course was based on Infosys’s 16-week basic training, which 31,000 Indian graduates underwent last year. The low-caste lot scored similar marks and gained confidence. At a bonding session, filled with meditation and dancing, they wrote themselves a slogan: “As good as any, better than many”.

The modernisation of India’s economy has brought more dynamic change. Among educated, urban Indians caste identity is fading. Inter-caste marriages are increasing. According to Jeevansathi.com, a matchmaking (or, as Indians say, “matrimonial”) website, 58% of its online matches involved inter-caste couples.

Business Week has another story ‘Firing Up India’s Factories’ that details how the manufacturing sectors are attracting the multinationals to India.

In the past two years manufacturing has emerged as the country’s new rising star. Industrial production jumped by 12.5% in the year ended in March, the highest rate in years. With its huge market, productive workers, and-finally-a government that is starting to help rather than hinder investment, India is becoming an attractive alternative to China for making everything from sneakers to SUVs. India generates fewer than 1 million new manufacturing jobs annually, but needs to create at least five times that. And to really lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, India, like China, must build up labor-intensive export industries such as textiles, toys, and electronics. Many of the new plants are intended to serve India’s growing market, but they’re also targeting sales overseas. While technology giants build vast outsourcing operations in India, manufacturing investment far outweighs theirs. In the verdant hills near Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor, General Motors, and a joint venture of Fiat and local automaker Tata are all building new factories, for a total investment of $4 billion. Korean steelmaker Posco is planning a $12 billion plant in the eastern state of Orissa, while Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal plans to invest $20 billion in two steel mills in Orissa and neighboring Jharkhand. In March, Hewlett-Packard Co. opened a factory near Delhi, its second Indian operation. And bathtub, sink, and toilet maker Kohler Co. is planning a $200 million plant in Gujarat. All told, 40% of 340 multinationals surveyed by consultant Capgemini plan to establish manufacturing operations in India by 2012.

The content shows the difference of American and British mindsets.

Incredible India cannot only seen in the government sponsored roads shows as one recently organized by India in NewYork. Media is covering India well.

I wish the Indian leftists could also become proactive and allow some process of reforms to continue rather putting brakes everywhere in name of policy or philosophy. That only lengthens the process of brining in prosperity for all.

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Bihar Leads- From Hopeless to Hopeful

Posted on October 4, 2007 by indra

Bihar might be at the bottom in the State of States survey of India Today. But many things are happening in Bihar with very little publicity in media that are unique and exemplary.

A New Holy Order

Acharya Kishore Kunal has been busy doing some excellent social engineering projects in Bihar. The Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts (BSBRT) that Kunal heads, are trying to make Dalits participate in social infrastructure in big way. As reported in media, Acharya Kishore Kunal recently made a Dalit, Janardan Manjhi, the chief priest of Ram Janaki temple at Paliganj, near Patna. Manjhi is, in fact, fourth such Dalit to head a temple.

The famous 300-year-old Khaki Baba Ram Janaki Thakurbari at Hilsa in Nalanda district came under the direct control of the Dalits. On August 10, the upper caste Hindus of the locality, with the support of Valmiki Das, a mahant, set up an all-Dalit Trust to break the Brahminical hold over society and religion. A Paswan was elected as the head of the trust while its members belonged to Ravidas, Chamar, Rajak and other Dalit sub-castes.

Is the castiest Bihar changing or revolutionizing? There hasn’t been any resistance from the local people, who not only enthusiastically participated in selecting and accepting Dalit priests, but also overwhelmingly attended the sangat-pangat, marking an end to untouchablility (at least at the local level).

Dalitisation is also being seen as a unique way of democratising trusts and temples as well as a cleansing drive to rid these religious bodies of goondas and land-grabbers. Last year, Kunal on getting appointed as the administrator of BSBRT last year discovered that about 90 per cent of the temples were directly or indirectly under the control of criminals. He succeeded to bring them out of the clutches of musclemen. He has taken up now the task of the Dalitization of the temple management.

Kunal’s success story started with the Mahavir temple near Patna railway station that is today one of the most important attraction for all those who visit Patna. Kunal got the temple renovated. And then on June 30, 1993, as its secretary, he took a revolutionary step by installing a Dalit priest, Phalhari Suryavanshi Das from Ayodhya, as its head. And he also made it accepted by all with the three highly respected priests-Ramchandra Paramahans, Mahant Avidhyanath of Baba Gorakhnath Dham and Mahant Avadh Kishore Das supervising the ceremony. And from the annual earning of about Rs 80 lakh from the Mahavir temple, Kunal is establishing super specialty hospitals and medical college in Begusarai, Hazipur, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur and Gaya.

I wish Kunak could make a point to attach a school and a healthcare unit with all the temples he looks after. Source: Based on a Story in India Today and personal communications from Patna.

Bihar comes out with an exemplary RTI model
In January this year, the Bihar government started a unique model wherein a person can file an RTI application by simply making a call to the help line. “As soon as the call is made to the RTI line, Rs 10 gets added to the person’s telephone bill. His voice is recorded and treated as an RTI application. Even if the person has to file an appeal under the RTI Act, a call is more than enough.” It has simplified the procedure of filing the applications. Instead of writing an application for seeking information, all one has to do is to dial a help line number. Arvind Kejriwal’s Parivartan has helped the state government set up the call centre. Magassay award winner Arvind Kajriwal recently urged the Delhi government to replicate the Bihar RTI model.

Law catches up with Bihar musclemen
People were skeptical of the “the speedy trial campaign” when the new state government of Nitish Kumar launched it. But the results are showing up now. Anand Mohan‘s sentence to death, Mohammad Shahabuddin’s life sentence and Pappu Yadav’s wait for his turn in Tihar Jail are certainly sending some strong messages already to the feared musclemen-politicians of Bihar and their followers. The fast-track courts must get its due credit. The deceased IAS Krishnaiah’s wife comments from Hyderabad on Anand Mohan’s sentence is good enough a reason for the people to be happy today: “I cannot get my husband, the son of a labourer and a dalit, back, but this judgment should deter powerful politicians or ruffians from killing simple people.”

I wish Nitish government could put some fast track administrative machinery for the development projects related to infrastructures such as power, road, and irrigation as well as education and healthcare too all around in Bihar. It must get visible to even the blinds in media. Without those, Bihar can’t build its image and can’t bring prosperity for its people.

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Social Engineering at Beauty Parlour and in Kitchen

Posted on October 3, 2007 by indra

While returning from my morning walk, I thought I must get my haircut and entered a saloon. It is good that in Noida, some shops are open even at that early hour. But still I had to wait. I grumbled but I did wait. And the experience was not bad as I could learn some lessons in social engineering.

I started the dialogue with the young entrepreneur who owns the shop and came in after cleaning his plastic chairs. “How are normally the boys get trained in this skill of hairdressing?” “Are there any vocational school?” “Are they from the caste that traditionally was in haircutting?”

I was amazed when he said there is one place in New Delhi where the boys are trained in the skill. As I remember, the center is named after one Habib. There is lot of reputation of that training center. I strongly feel hairdressing must be a part of vocational skills, as it provides a lot of well paying and respectable employment. I always keep on remembering Sotelal who really served me in my HM days and Lakshman who used to provide comfort in our village.

The owner further confirmed that the boys from other castes are not coming to this profession. But surprisingly, the young women of even higher castes, rather all castes, are working as lady hairdresser in parlours. I myself know many. Are not our young ladies bringing a social engineering based revolution to get themselves liberated and independent? I remember, Mansa, Yamuna’s niece at one time wanted to learn hairdressing and wanted to open a ladies parlour. But the elderly lady of the family threatened that she would not come to her place if she went for that profession. Bad luck Mansa! Things have changed now.

However, I was shocked when the owner said, “Sir, but you will not find our ladies, even the educated ones starting a parlour. Our community does not like it.” I got reminded of the good old days, the ladies from the families of the daily or contract labourers of the village were the only doing the transplantation during the paddy cultivation. Nowadays, it is a male domain and is done by outsiders on contract. Employment has gone outside the village. How do you crate the job opportunities in the village itself?

I recently came across a story and that too from Bihar. Some of the religious places are now having Dalit priests. And is it not great that the people are accepting it?

I do also remember how my grandfather wished to bring my uncles in business. He started with milk business, followed by a hotel in Sasaram. Lastly, he started a mill- rice and flourmill in the village for my youngest uncle. My uncle started enthusiastically, but it again failed. Surprisingly they kept on blaming their failure for the caste they were born in. I wonder I could have told them that the best of the businessmen in South are Brahmins and not Vaishyas. However, things are changing fast. The need to survive is making one go in all the nontraditional professions.

I wish Sankracharyas, Viswa Hindu Parishad and the orthodox Hindu organizations could d have come out with a fatwa against the practicing of caste discriminations of all sorts. If anyone wishes to call himself a real Hindu, he must help in getting this malaise of the community burnt forever.

And then I look at Yamuna for some additional material on the topic. She points her finger towards the kitchen. Do we know what are the castes of the maids that Yamuna is to employ so often for cooking? Why should we know that? She must just be cool help.

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Rural Employment Guarantee- Utopia or Real

Posted on October 2, 2007 by indra

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) ensures job for at least 100 days a year for one member of all the rural households, if demanded.

To celebrate the entry of the crown prince as the general secretary of Congress Party en route to reach at the prime ministerial chair in the next election, Sonia Gandhi’s party staged a political and media savvy drama to build an aam aadami -oriented image of the crown prince. After the enthronement, the prince went with a group of his sycophants in the party to the prime minister and suggested the extension of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to all 583 districts of the country. It covered 330 districts in the country with Rs 12,000 crore till now. 253 more districts will mean allocation of additional Rs 6,000-8,000 crore. Within less than 48 hours the government announced the extension.

I have been writing in favour of the project since its inception and wished if more and more agencies could get involved with the scheme to make it transparent and useful for the rural India. It can create huge lot of necessary assets such as social forestry, roads and water bodies for better availability of water all over the year.

If the government could execute the act with professional efficiency and effectiveness, no one in India would go empty stomach for sleep in the whole of the country. However, it has not happened and there is a little hope that it will happen now unless the administration does some bold restructuring. It is unfortunate that the government and the ruling political party assume that with framing of the policy its work is over and its announcements can befool the teeming ignorant millions that serve as vote bank.

The NREGA went operational with 200 districts covered in the first phase in February 2006 and got extended to 130 more districts from April this year.

As claimed, it provided employment to 2.1 crore households in the first phase districts (2006-07) and created 90.5 crore mandays of which more than 60 per cent were SCs and STs and 40 per cent were women.

Initially there was a lot of hue and cry about the resources. No one makes that complains now. The actual expenditure is much less than what it was being estimated. As reported, the allocation for the NREGA for 2006-07 was Rs 11,300 crore (200 districts) and the administration could spend only Rs 8,800 crore. And out of the allocation of Rs 12,000 crore for 2007-08 (330 districts) for this year, the expenditure is likely to touch Rs 10,000 crore.

The NREGA would require around Rs 20,000 crore annually to cover all 595 districts. It is just half of what many experts in economy thought of when the scheme was getting conceived. Rs 20,000 crore is not something that India can’t afford the scheme if it serves the purpose.

The main issues concern its low utilisation, woefully inadequate generation of employment, non-payment of minimum wages, absence of facilities at worksites, lack of sufficient number of useful projects and doubtful asset creations.

The Delhi-based Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) has come out with its second survey on the project implementation under NREGA. The PRIA survey covered 5,300 registered families in 21 districts across 14 states. Conclusions are shocking. A mere six per cent of the households managed the minimum employment of 100 days a year. The rest had either been employed for lesser number of days, or not at all. Many have also complained about non-payment and under-payment.

According to another study, the average days of work provided to rural households eligible under the NREGA was far lower than even 45 a year in most of the 330 districts it now operates in.”

In states like Bihar, the number of person days of work actually done per rural household that demanded work was as low as 18.46.

Many have even poorer views to express. “At least 30 per cent of the funds are wasted or misused. In some cases, the diversion is up to 60 per cent.”

Others contend that in any project, a minimum of 5 per cent of the funds goes to line the pockets of the CEO who oversees the project, 10 per cent goes to the engineering officials, 5 to the zilla panchayat, and another 10 to panchayat officials. The percentages can be much higher in some districts and states. Add to these percentages the fact that in many cases funds are allocated for the same project several times, or shortcuts by the officials lead to shoddy implementation and other irregularities. Overall performance appears to be dismal.

The government with two years experience has hardly reached at some solutions for the overall on-the-ground realities. What are the answers if “workers continue to face payment delays, or are not paid the minimum wages or if in many districts, there are no projects to allocate work”? Can it be believed that with so much of talent in the country, it is not possible to solve these issues?

Unfortunately, there is no dearth of the schemes and programmes to provide employment. The Prime Minister’s Rozgaar Yojana (PMRY) was another one that has been merged with NREGA. The proposed scheme, named Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), will set up 17 lakh entrepreneurial projects generating 1 crore job opportunities during the eleventh plan against the combined PMRY and NREGA target of 43.57 lakh jobs under the ongoing tenth plan. Out of these, 70 lakh jobs are proposed for SC, ST, OBC, minorities and the North-East, according to the concept paper formulated by the Ministry. Will this not mean the end of the poverty from Indian soil very soon?

However, there is at least one positive side of the scheme too. According to estimates, local employment has resulted in cutting down migration of labour by as much as 60% in certain areas.

Will an effective delivery system for this great scheme that could have changed the lives of millions remain a utopian objective? Will the thousands of B-schools in India come out to make this one programme of national importance that is unique in the whole world, succeed?

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Booming and Bubbling India- XX

Posted on October 1, 2007 by indra

While political marathon for 123 Indo-US agreement is on with left bent on spoiling the party and Sethusamudram Project is waiting in SC to restart, India has been winning on all the fronts from T20 cricket world cup to chess. Stock market is having its Bull Run creating trillionaire for the first time. India is trying to sell its smaller nuclear reactors to developed nations. Artists are fetching good money for their creations. Incredible India is creating a wave in New York. The boom is on going.

India wins: Everything that could go wrong for India did, but somehow, despite scoring what should not have been enough (157); despite the trailblazing Yuvraj Singh failing after getting them so far in the tournament; despite Imran Nazir hammering quick runs in quick time, India beat Pakistan by five runs to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup. The similarities between Dhoni and Kapil Dev are uncanny. Both are cricketers from small-town cricketing outposts, one the Haryana Hurricane, the other the Ranchi Rockstar.

India eyeing export market for Indian nuclear reactors: India is actively exploring the possibility of exporting indigenous 220 MWe Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) to developing nations that are eyeing nuclear power generation but have small-sized electricity grids. Currently, India is perhaps the only country to have an actively working technology, design and infrastructure for manufacture of small reactors with a unit capacity of 220 MWe.

‘Indian artists among the best in world’: India’s contemporary artists no longer seek accolades from just Indians, they compete with the world’s best, says Kent Charugundia of TamarindArt gallery. ‘

17K & beyond: India growth story intact… The Indian market has joined the global party, even celebrating its quickest 1,000-point rally in just six trading sessions, driven mainly by excessive inflows of funds from foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Now, the million-dollar question: How long will spring last?

Nine cos enter trillion club: Nine companies, led by Reliance Industries (RIL), have already entered the hall of fame after their market caps soared beyond Rs 1,00,000 crore (trillion) amid unprecedented rally in their shares in the past few months.

Nine Indian banks among top 50 in Asia: Nine Indian banks, led by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have made it to the list of top 50 Asian Banks. “This (achievement) is no surprise given the Indian economy is in overdrive, with buoyant consumption and investment demand driving the banking sector’s strong balance sheet growth.”

Tatas aim for 60% revenue from overseas operations: The Tata Group expects to earn nearly 60 per cent of its revenue this year (38 per cent last year) from its overseas operations following the acquisition of Corus Steel in UK. According to Mr Alan Rosling, Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd, the Group’s turnover is expected to increase to $50 billion from $29 billion last year.

Infosys is among leading global adopters of Microsoft Vista: Indian software services vendor Infosys Technologies Ltd has emerged as one of the largest users worldwide of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system, even as deployment of the latest offering from the Redmond, Seattle-headed software giant has had a slower pickupcompared to previous software versions among business customers

India among top 10 nations using high-end smart phones: Nokia Contrary to general belief that India is a market only for low-end cellular phones, world leader Nokia today said the country is among top 10 nations using smart phones offering mobile internet ideal for corporate and business professionals.

Wipro buys Japanese wireless design unit: Wipro Technologies, the global IT services arm of Wipro Ltd was acquiring the wireless design subsidiary of Tokyo-based Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd to help it expand in Japan and east Asia.

Infosys pays $1m to six employees: Six employees of Infosys Technologies posted overseas earn $1 million annually, perhaps making the company the highest paymaster in the Indian IT industry. The list does not end here.

Delhi University’s GM mustard gets process patent rights: The University of Delhi has been accorded process patent rights by the US Patent Office relating to the development of the transgenic mustard hybrid, DMH-1. “We have applied for two other process patent rights for developing the transgenic mustard seed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.”

Aircel to invest $2.5 bn for pan-India roll out: Maxis Telecom-managed Aircel will be investing $2.5 billion to have its presence in all the 23 telecom circles by 2009 against the current Aircel presence in 9 circles and has already received the licence to operate in another 14 circles.

Domestic automakers speed up patent filings: The number of patents filed by the six top local auto makers in the country jumped 85 per cent in just 18 months since January 2005 against the 10-year period between Januray 1995 and December 2004, according to data from Evalueserve, a firm that tracks patent filings.

IIT Kharagpur energy park: The project is a part of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharapur’s initiative to set up R&D parks for IT, biotechnology and energy sectors at Kharagpur.

60 space missions over next 5 years: India has planned about 60 space missions over the next five years that would include programmes in the field of navigation, positioning, advanced communications, space transportation, earth observation and space science which would increase opportunities for commercial and scientific cooperation.

Mukesh Ambani becomes first person with Rs 2 trn net worth: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani today (25 September) became the first person in the country with a net worth of more than Rs two trillion as a booming stock market pushed the value of his shareholding in various group firms.

IIM-B students bag highest number of PPOs this year: It is boom time for students of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore this year, with a record 70 Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) having been made for a batch of 250 students.

Indian PC market grows by 22% in Q2 of 2007: The overall client PC market in India grew 22.1%, recording 1.53 million shipments in the second quarter of 2007 calendar year as against 1.25 million in the corresponding period last calendar year, market research firm IDC said. Desktop PC shipments showed a growth of 11.3% while notebook PC spurted by 73.1% during the same period (April-June) this year.

Tech companies Accedit independently: Tech companies that need to hire in large numbers have been accrediting more institutions on their own, devising complex formulae that gauge everything from students’ competence to the college infrastructure. Tech giant Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) has accredited 400 technical colleges so far, a precursor to its on-campus placements. For more than four years, Wipro Ltd also has had an accreditation system in place, with a list of 1,500 engineering campuses.

Mittal to invest $20 bn in Indian plants: Steel tycoon Lakshmi Niwas Mittal has pledged an investment of about 20 billion dollars for building two 12-million-tonne steel plants in India, where the demand for the commodity is growing rapidly.

PC with Internet for Rs 5000! Chennai-based IT company, Novatium Solutions, has announced a strategic tie-up with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for the launch of its sub-Rs 5,000 Nova netPC.

Gremach acquires: Gremach Infrastructure Equipments & Projects Ltd has acquired 75 per cent controlling stake in 11 coal mine licences in Mozambique over an aggregate area of 13,520 hectares in the prime region of Moatize.

Indian M&A deal value overtakes $50 bn mark: The net value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving Indian companies announced till date in 2007 has crossed the $50 billion (Rs1.99 trillion), for the first time in a year, according to deal-data tracker Grant Thornton India.

Steel companies make a beeline for West Bengal: With more than Rs 100,000 crore worth investments in the pipeline, West Bengal has emerged as a hot destination for the steel industry, leaving behind the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh with the investments announced for greenfield and brownfield projects in the state standing at Rs 108,500 crore.

FY09 may see last of revenue deficit: “By 2030, India, with a population of 1.3-1.4 billion, will emerge as the world’s fourth-largest economy. “The average Indian may not be as rich as the average American. But India will be as rich as the US.”

France invites investment from India: Government-run Invest In France Agency (IFA), tasked with attracting overseas business, has identified 300 Indian companies, mainly in IT and pharma sectors, as prospective investors in this country and plans to launch vigorous campaigns to tap these.

GDP growth may breach 9%: A resurgent agriculture and higher foreign capital inflows could accelerate the country’s growth momentum to beyond 9% this fiscal, economic think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has said, while upwardly revising gross domestic product (GDP) estimates for 2007-08.

India Is Exporting Jobs: To fight on the shifting terrain, and to beat back emerging rivals, Indian companies are hiring workers and opening offices in developing countries themselves, before their clients do.

RBI eases forex outflow norms: Now Indians can transfer $2 lakh to acquire and hold immovable property, make investments in financial instruments or purchase any other asset abroad without any prior approval.

Doing business gets easier in India: India has been ranked at 120th position, up 12 positions from last year, in the ‘Doing Business 2008’ report released by the World Bank and its private sector lending arm IFC today. India has been ranked as the top reformer worldwide for trading across the borders. India’s integrity index has marginally improved to 3.5 in 2007 from 3.3 a year ago on a scale of 10 points, TI said in a report.

Core Projects buys two companies: Core Projects & Technologies Ltd has has finalised multiple acquisitions in the UK and the US in the field of education at a cost of a total of $45 million and will be funded from the FCCB proceeds raised in May 2007.

Mallya picks up 50 pc stake in US firm: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Wednesday acquired 50 per cent stake in US private jet maker Epic for 120 million dollars (about Rs 480 crore).

Bangalore scientists may hold key to taming diabetes enzyme: Apetulant, wild enzyme blamed for triggering a host of killer diseases from type 2 diabetes, arthritis, hypertension and to an extent, even cancer, and whose working has foxed international researchers may have been finally tamed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.

IOC to focus on rural areas: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) – the country’s largest oil marketer – is planning to set up the bulk of its 1,600 new retail outlets planned during 2007-08 in rural areas.

Power Sixes: Six Indian cos up global IT share 4-fold: The top six Indian information technology firms have increased their share in the global IT services market from 0.5% in 2001 to 1.9% in 2006, a study by research firm Gartner said.

FDI in retail not very distant: India will open up its $330 billion retail market to foreign investors after convincing mom and pop storeowners that their jobs are not at threat from big players, according to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

Rural retail to cross Rs 1.8 lakh cr by ’10: The Rs 140,000 crore rural retail market is expected to cross Rs 180,000 crore mark by 2010, according to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – YES BANK study, and is likely to go up to Rs 240, 000 crore by 2015.

Rs 100,000-cr power projects in 11th Plan: “The Cabinet is expected to shortly clear the APDRP and RGVVY projects for the 12th plan period to improve the transmission infrastructure as part of our target to meet 78,000 Mw during the Plan period. A circular power grid connecting the northern region to the western grid with 765 KVA lines would be a major component.”

Govt extends rural job guarantee to entire country: The Centre announced the extention of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to all districts of the country on 28 September.

India among top 10 in nurturing talent: China and India rank among the top 10 talent hotspots worldwide. India will retain 10th position as the world’s leading country for nurturing and developing talent over the next five years, says the first ever Global Talent Index (GTI). China moves from eighth to sixth.

Del Monte Invests in India: India’s plans to streamline its huge but disorganized farming sector received a lift today as Del Monte Pacific signed a deal to pay $20.9 million for a stake in FieldFresh Foods, an ambitious venture backed by Bharti Enterprises, the telecommunications giant, and a branch of the Rothschild banking family.

India pips US to become 2nd largest cotton producer: India has overtaken the US as the second-largest cotton producer in the world for the 2006-07 season.

India’s first moon mission to take off next April: India will launch a locally built rocket on the country’s first unmanned mission to the moon next April. ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) launched four satellites on a single rocket for the first time in January, including one that was brought back to earth to set the stage for the country to send an astronaut into space by 2014 and a manned mission to the moon by 2020.

The $17-billion US major GE Healthcare growing at the rate of 18-20% year-on-year, plans to nearly double its Indian business to $800 million by 2010 from the existing $475 million with a mission that mainly targets two disease areas – cardiao-vascular and cancer, through four segments – diagnostics, lifesciences equipment, clinical systems and healthcare IT platform. Bisleri to go global with ‘Himalayan’ water: India’s leading bottled water brand Bisleri has chalked out plans to go global and is in talks with distributors in Japan, UK and other parts of Europe to export the water brand which will be bottled at its facility in Uttarakhand. The company is in the midst of creating a new design, may be, a hexagonal bottle, that Bisleri will sport in the global markets. In India, the brand has a market share of around 60%, with the rest of the pie distributed among a host of local and multinational brands such as Aquafina, Kinley, Himalayan, among others.India will be a developed country: India’s growth – which was 9.4 per cent in 2006-07 – was driven initially by consumption but later by investment. “Unlike China, we did not prevent our people from consuming goods and services.” the productivity of capital and labour was also driving growth. “The working population will exceed dependent population by 2040,” “The Taj Mahal, the Himalayas and the Ganga stand as sentinels for India’s incredibility. But what can make it credible is when it become strong and prosperous.”

Five cities among the top outsourcing hubs: Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata are rated among the top five emerging destinations worldwide in the latest ranking of top 50 promising outsourcing cities around the globe. Bangalore, Delhi NCR and Mumbai, along with Manila and Dublin, are the five established hubs that are unlikely to fade from the outsourcing map, according to a study by services globalisation & investment advisory firm Tholons and media group Global Services.

Let me end the boom news with a win again. India’s ranking world number one chess player Vishwanathan Anand became the game’s world champion on Saturday, winning the global tournament in Mexico.

And one can hear the echos of ‘Chak De! India’all around.

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Gandhi Remains Relevant But For..

Posted on October 1, 2007 by indra

Last Sunday, we made an experiment with Gandhian approach. Residents of the sector, both men and women, I live in, could make the adamant, to certain extent rogue contractor stop the construction of the boundary wall right in the front of our houses that would have suffocated us and taken away the greenery that we have created in years. Finally, the project engineer came on a Sunday and himself suggested a way out, as we expressed our determination to not allow the work even if the CEO, Noida wishes.

As I understand, a recent poll on university campuses across the US put Mahatma Gandhi ahead of all political personalities anywhere in the world. Surprisingly, the only man more popular than him among the student community understandably was Bill Gates. It clearly shows the aspiration of the younger generation and who are inspiring them. I don’t mind Gandhi competing with Bill Gates or even Narayana Murthy in the student community if that were so.

Gandhi is very much relevant but for our politicians. It pains me and must be doing so for a large number of Indians. Sudheendra Kulkarani has expressed his pain in an article in Indian Express, ‘Some Gandhian lessons for the Gandhis.’

Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by her son Rahul, will be representing India at the UN General Assembly on October 2, when the world body will declare Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday as World Non-Violence Day. In what capacity she can represent India at the UN, one doesn’t know. It would have been in the fitness of things if our prime minister represented India. Kulkarni refers to the film ‘Gandhi My Father’ by Feroz Abbas Khan, which is one of the finest cinematic narrations of the greatest hero of modern Indian history. It tells how the Mahatma detested nepotism and would do nothing whatsoever to promote his son’s career using his personal influence.

Sonia pretended to became a Goddess after she refused the chair of the prime minister in favour of Manmohan Singh. Does she think that India is destined to be ruled by her family only?

Another headline in today’s ‘Times of India’ shows the moral standard of Indian politicians. HD DeveGowda is one former prime minister of India, and presently supreme of JD (S) in Karnataka, the state so famous as the Silicon Valley of India. HD Kumaraswamy has been the Chief Minister of the state because of an understanding with BJP. As agreed at the time of alliance, he is to give up his chair in favour of BJP’s CM-in-waiting B S Yediyurappa. But the former prime minister tells BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, ‘Let my son continue as CM’, and trying to adopt all the political meanness to have his wishes fulfilled. Can Gandhi be of any relevance to persons such DevGowda?

Another shocking news is from no other than Mayawati. I am sure Dr. Ambedkar must be getting restless in his grave with the news of her wealth. The latest is amazing. Let us go through the press report in Times of India.

Mayawati now not only figures among the country’s richest politicians, but also has officially become the highest tax-paying people’s representative. The UP chief minister and BSP supremo has, between July and September 15 this year, paid a whopping Rs 14 crore as advance income tax for the assessment year 2008-09.

It shall help Ms Mayawati legitimise her huge wealth acquired over less than a period of three years, when her declared income grew from barely Rs 1.67 crore – as recorded in the affidavit filed along with the nomination papers for 2004 Lok Sabha poll – to Rs 52 crore this year.

Is Gandhi, or if she doesn’t like Gandhi, Dr. Ambedkar laughing somewhere?

On this day, I think Gandhi must be in extreme pain with the way the politicians in power would have started behaving. According to his personal secretary, V Kalyanam, Gandhi on the night of August 14, 1947 wrote,

“I have repeatedly said that I have neither any part nor say in many things that are going on in the country today. The plain matter-of-fact is that I am no longer the current coin I fancied I once was. My voice is in the wilderness. Time was, when whatever I said the masses followed. Today, mine is a lone voice. I now say things which do not go home. I know that I am a back number. Yet, I go on saying what I believe to be true.

“Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep. My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest.”


Gandhi is thus relavant for all but the present politicians, otherwise Karunanidhi would not have gone for hunger strike for Sethusamudram Project and Dasmunsi wouldn’t have called it Gandhian. .

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From the Best and the Worst States

Posted on September 29, 2007 by indra

At the recent fifth State of the States conclave of India Today, ten chief ministers, one deputy chief minister and ministers from three states debated the causes of rising inequality and the need to push inclusive growth. INDIA TODAY Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie set the tone, “the good news is that there is growth but the bad news is that, far from being inclusive, it has increased inequality”. INDIA TODAY Editor Prabhu Chawla kicked off the debate. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, in his inaugural address, pointed out that “every square inch of India is ruled by states” and that the laws of economics would work in India, but all stakeholders must work together to find the country its place in the world. Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari delivered the magic mantra in his keynote speech by asking states to make “inclusive growth the sub text of all development.”

I have tried to pick up what the chief minister of the best state, Punjab and the deputy chief minister of the worst state, Bihar stated at the conclave. Punjab remains at the top and Bihar at the bottom of ‘India Today’s survey rankings for all the five years since the survey started. I find both have come out with two very important suggestions that may not be agreed upon but could have made a lot of difference.

Parkash Singh Badal: I would request Mr Purie and Mr Chawla to hold this meeting next time in a village, under a tree. We talk about these things in air-conditioned halls and even at the Planning Commission meetings. I have requested the members of the commission to stay for one day and one night in a village and then they will realize what is to be done. My suggestion is that the prices of foodgrains should be attached to a price index the same way employees now get enhanced pay packages.

I agree with Badal. Can the chief ministers of the states or the prime minister make the legislators spend the days the houses are not in session, in one or the other villages of the state? Can the professors and students of the institutions for agriculture sciences and engineering or rural management bee made to spend some nights in villages? I do also agree with Badal’s suggestion of getting the prices of minimum support prices of farm produces fixed on the basis of other essential consumer items that even farmers need to buy from the market.

Sushil Kumar Modi: I feel the Centre should suspend all the poverty alleviation schemes and deposit money in the accounts of the poor directly. There is so much of corruption and so much of leakage. The schemes have failed to uplift the poor.

Similar suggestions have come from many economists too. It would cut down the leakages that constitute the major portion of the allotment money spent on the programmes meant exclusively to help the poor. It requires a master list of the people below the poverty line. And this list must be available on websites as well as on the board outside every panchayat bhawan for verification by the aam aadmi and for a counterchecking by independent agencies.

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Chinese Toys- Lessons from Mattel Story

Posted on September 28, 2007 by indra

Many years ago, I had read a story in Readers Digest about the quality of a Japanese doll that was getting inspected. The inspector rejected it as the doll had some sharp feature that could hurt the child using it. The quality may not have a total definition. But the product must not harm the user in any manner, more so a toy.

The recent stories about the Americans rejecting all sorts of Chinese imported goods must not make Indian manufacturers rejoice. Unfortunately Indian manufacturers, particularly SMEs hardly keep themselves abreast with the latest in its business. The story of Mattel cautions that the manufacturer must understand the specifications in all its perspective. It is not only dimensional and visual acceptance. It also requires some imaginative thinking to go in. The process designer must appreciate all the finer aspects such as possibility of a child putting the toy in his mouth. Any material that can harm him must be avoided to make it safe.

Mattel is the world’s biggest toymaker. It has had to recall 21m toys this year. On September 5th Mattel had confessed to an American Congressional committee its own fault. It recalled 17.4m toys containing a small magnet that could be swallowed by children. It agreed that it was due a flaw in the toys’ design, rather than production flaws in China. Mattel also recalled some other toys because of allegedly hazardous levels of lead in their paint, Mattel admitted that it had been overzealous and is likely to have recalled toys that did not contravene American regulations on lead content. The Chinese had to bear with the unfair accusations of shoddy production. Once the Chinese came to know of the in-house problem of Mattel, the Chinese felt a public apology was long overdue. Mattel too couldn’t displease the Chinese, as it could have created a supply chain problem. Mattel tried to rescue its relationship with its Chinese suppliers.

“Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologises personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys.” said Thomas Debrowski, Matteel’s senior executive in a meeting in Beijing on September 21st with Li Changjiang, the chief of China’s quality watchdog.

Mr. Debrowski had not intended to talk to Mr Changjiang in the presence of journalists, but Chinese officials made it a condition for the meeting. But the Chinese are shrewd and tough. They made Mattel apologize.

For many Mattel’s apology to the Chinese was strange. Economist writes, ‘the apology was late, reluctant and was no sooner made than it was partly retracted’.

Mattel is dependent on cheap Chinese production for most of its wares. Of the roughly 800million toys Mattel produces every year, more than two-thirds are made in China. The subcontractors have to comply with safety and quality standards specified for each toy. But it is also up to Mattel to specify the process and material specifications that goes in the process, and even check for compliance.

It has become a common practice recently to blame the subcontractor for the quality of the product. According to the Western media, companies in China are operating in a largely lawless environment. There is hardly any effective regulation and little recourse to law. In August the Chinese government published its first white paper on food safety in the wake of 96 deaths from food poisoning in the first half of the year. With oversight of food safety spread between five different ministries, responsibilities are still murky. The Chinese have no culture of compliance and cut corners on safety and quality when squeezed on price.

So western firms doing business in China have a responsibility to do their homework and keep a vigilant eye on their suppliers. Buyers of toothpaste or dog food, which have also been subject to safety scares and recalls this year, should have known that more than one-fifth of China’s food products failed government safety-tests last year. Corruption, blackmail and counterfeiting are rampant. Eight buyers at Carrefour, a French supermarket chain, are under investigation for accepting kickbacks from suppliers. Zheng Xiaoyu, a former boss of the SFDA, was executed earlier this year for taking bribes to approve fake drugs and certificates claiming that the paint used by Mattel’s suppliers was lead-free.

Chinese firms, for their part, complain that they are bullied by foreign purchasing managers to cut costs. This forces them to squeeze their own suppliers, with unpredictable consequences. Local firms also moan about having to meet the complex logistical demands of foreign customers in a country where such costs are typically 15% higher than in the West.

Some feel, the Chinese focus on high-volume, low-cost manufacturing has worked well in the initial phase of the country’s economic take-off. But producers must now pay more attention to quality, brand development, governance and transparency or more harm will be done to “Made in China”. Almost 40% of British consumers are less likely to buy Chinese-made toys because of Mattel’s recall crisis, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by Marketing Week, a trade publication. Hamleys, a toy shop, says it is thinking about sourcing more toys from Europe and not from China.

The different regulatory agencies in India must caution Indian consumers who are falling for cheap Chinese products including the nicely packed alluring food items. All the Indian manufacturers, who wish to play big and export in the market of developed countries, must take the quality story seriously too.

Read : No child’s play by AMAN SETHI<

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Media and Frustrating Confusions

Posted on September 26, 2007 by indra

Many a time it becomes difficult to decide the real picture. We naturally base our opinion on the information available from media. Two recent confusions come to my mind.

Lalu Yadav and his turnaround story of the Indian railways has become a legend. Prof. G. Raghuraman of IIM-A prepared a case study on it and made Lalu talk with the best brains of the country in the institute. Lalu became an icon among management education circles not only in India but, as reported, also got invitation for presenting the turnaround story even in the best management schools of the world. Prime Minister who himself is a master in turnaround and globally reputed economist, talked publicly so highly about Lalu’s contribution to Indian railways as unprecedented and revolutionary. And then suddenly one comes across a story such as one in ‘Outlook’ (September 24 issue) by Bhavana Vij-Aurora that takes away all his clothes and makes his real image known calling all his turnaround of railways as the great sleight of hand.

  Rs 9,000 crore pension funds shown as cash surplus
  Miscellaneous funds-Rs 2,500 crore-included in earnings
  Rs 1,700 crore due to the Indian Railway Finance Commission as dividend for lease of wagons put in the profit account
  Profits shored up by showing advance earnings for 2007-2008 in last year’s balance-sheet
  Monies in the suspense account-funds promised but not yet transferred-reflected in the earnings/profits
  Tonnage carried by freight trains raised despite repeated objections and safety concerns. This brought in Rs 5,000 crore.
  Hidden costs to passenger tickets earned the railways Rs 325 crore

And then

Milking Tatkal: This was for passengers traveling in an emergency. Less than 10 per cent seats were kept in the tatkal quota and released on the scheduled day of departure. The surcharge was Rs 100 per ticket. Now 30 per cent seats have been set aside for tatkal and reservations open five days before departure. The surcharge is Rs 250 per ticket. Additional earning for railways: Rs 150 crore.

Declaring Trains Superfast: More than 100 express trains have been declared Superfast though their running time remains the same. The Superfast tag attracts a surcharge. This upgradation meant Rs 75 crore in the coffer.

Upping Cancellation Charges: Doubling cancellation charges has helped. Added profits: Rs 100 crore.

Costlier Return Tickets: Surcharge on return ticket earned the railways Rs 30 crore.

Pay More for Onward Journeys: You can no longer buy a single ticket if you have to change trains for an onward destination. For example, a person traveling from Mumbai to Guwahati could earlier buy a Mumbai-Howrah-Guwahati ticket for Rs 557. Now, he has to buy a Mumbai-Howrah ticket for Rs 517, and another ticket for the Howrah-Guwahati leg for Rs 369. Added profits for the railways: Rs 100 crore.

Which one should a person like me take it as correct? Should one believe Laluji for his benevolence towards the people of India, particularly aam aadami or a journalist?

And the ongoing war on Ram Setu is another example. I don’t bother if the project demolishes the so-called Ram’s bridge, but I am certainly concerned if it is economically or technically unviable project. Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar now in Sunday column of Times of India says, ‘Sethusamundaram project is a 150 years old idea for 150-year old ships.’ As against all the advantages and claims listed in its favour in the project documents, Aiyar quotes from a recent study by Jacob John in Economic and Political Weekly that exposes the claims as highly exaggerated.

Project documents claim that the canal will save ships 36 hours of time and 570 nautical miles of distance. But a recent study by Jacob John in Economic and Political Weekly exposes these claims as highly exaggerated. Up to 70% of the traffic through the canal is projected to come from Europe and Africa. And John estimates that the time saving from Europe to Kolkata will be only eight hours, and the distance saving 215 nautical miles. From Africa to Kolkata, the time taken will actually increase by 3.5 hours (being piloted through the canal is a slow process), and distance reduced will be only 70 nautical miles.

John calculates that ships could lose up to $4,992 per passage if they are charged the tariff laid down in project documents. In which case ships will find it cheaper to go round Sri Lanka. If the government cuts the proposed tariff to attract traffic, John estimates that the project’s rate of return could fall to an uneconomic 2.5%.

Sethusamundaram is designed for small ships (the project documents talk of 20,000 DWT), whereas the Panama Canal takes ships of up to 65,000 DWT and Suez takes ships up to 150,000 DWT.

Instead of making the project a religious issue and fanning the sentiments of the people to divide the country and its men on non-issues, why BJP as well as DMK not answer the relevant viability questions transparently? Why can’t we have data on the ships up to 20,000 DWT that could have taken the new route? Why can’t the specification be improved to make it up to Suez? .

Unfortunately, again Manmohan Singh does not bother to talk of this technical aspect of the project and give his views, and the ruling party and the government is busy sorting out the affidavit issues that are just useless for the people at large.

In all such cases, how does an ordinary citizen get confidence in justification of its huge cost to the nation when millions are still below the poverty line and something urgent in a fast manner still to happen?

Why are the parties not answering the most important question? Should the cost overrun of the project be also a consideration? At the project’s inception in 2004, the budgeted was Rs 2,400. As reported, the costs have skyrocketed to at least Rs4,000 crore. Even before the first dredger began its work in 2005, costs had already spiraled to more than Rs3,500 crore. Would Sethusamudram Corp. Ltd have to return to the drawing board, draw up new reports, sit with parliamentary committees and receive fresh approval?

I get reminded of Sudheendra Kulkarni, the IITian ideologue of BJP making a remark somewhere, ” I doubt if our two main political parties, Congress and BJP, are even aware of what is happening in India, thanks to their lopsided economic policies.” So perhaps all the Indians today have started to doubt.

And if the articles in Outlook and TOI are factually wrong, why should there be no action on it?

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Powering India-6 Nuclear

Posted on September 25, 2007 by indra

India produced over 1,30,000 MW last fiscal

India hopes to add another 78,000 MW by 2011-12.

Some estimates that India must add nearly 20,000 MW per annum in power capacity to sustain 9-10 per cent GDP growth that is one way to eliminate poverty.

According to the Union power minister, the electricity projects providing a capacity of over 50,000 MW, will make India “a power-surplus country by 2012”. These new plants will result in a power surplus of 5.6 per cent, and peak-time surplus of 0.7 per cent, by the end of the 11th Plan.

With a conservative estimated annual GDP growth rate of 7-8 per cent and an estimated energy elasticity of 0.80, India’s energy requirements are expected to grow at 5.6-6.4 per cent per annum over the next few years. This implies a four-fold increase in energy needs in the next five years.

The country’s energy basket is highly skewed towards coal (53.4 per cent), natural gas (10.2 per cent), and hydro (24.8 percent). http://powermin.nic.in/JSP_SERVLETS/internal.jsp

India’s nuclear power capacity has stagnated at 4,120 MW and contributes less than 3.1 per cent to our power generation. Nuclear Power Corporation Ltd has 14 pressurised heavy water reactors PHWRs under operation and four more are under construction.

In the best-case scenario, the increase in nuclear power’s share implies an addition of 16,000 MW by 2020, though PM targets 20,000MW or double of it.

Constraints such as the shortage of uranium are holding India’s existing reactors today to operating at 70 per cent of their capacity. Sanctions prevent India from buying uranium from the Nuclear Suppliers Group countries.

Global scenario

For the Western world dependent on a shrinking number of hostile or unstable countries for imports of oil and gas, nuclear power can eliminate the dependence.

Around the world, 31 reactors are under construction and many more are in the planning stages.

Nuclear reactors emit almost none of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.

Uranium, used as fuel in nuclear power plants is available in relatively abundant amount in reassuringly stable places such as Canada and Australia.

At the moment 439 nuclear reactors in 31 countries supply 15% of the world’s electricity.

The worldwide generating capacity of nuclear power plants will probably increase from about 370 gigawatts today to 520 gigawatts in 2030.

Each nuclear plant can cost several billion dollars to build.

Areva, General Electric (GE), Hitachi and Westinghouse, are today vendors for new nuclear plants.

Today France has 59 nuclear reactors supplying 78% of its electricity. After the oil crisis of 1973, France decided to pursue the goal of fossil-fuel independence.

All the commercial nuclear plants operating in France today were based on technology devised by Westinghouse, which licensed its PWR design to France in the 1960s.

Once up and running, nuclear plants have a distinct advantage over those run on coal or natural gas.

Although the price of uranium jumped from about $70 per pound in January to about $130 in mid-July, operating costs of nuclear power plants have changed very little. (Construction accounts for as much as three-quarters of the cost of nuclear generation.)

The new plants are safer and easier to operate with longer lifespan and reduced maintenance costs, and so improved economics.

Westinghouse’s new AP1000 has “passive safety” systems that can prevent a meltdown during an emergency without operator intervention. If the reactor loses pressure because of a loss of coolant, for example, pressurised tanks deliver water to the core, since the pressure in the tanks is higher than that in the core. The new reactor’s simplified design also means that fewer motors, pumps and pipes are needed, reducing not only the potential for mechanical errors, but also costs of maintenance, inspections and repairs. Westinghouse recently agreed to provide four new plants to China.

Areva, a French nuclear company, is engineering ever more powerful plants. Its first reactor, which began operating in 1977, was rated at 900 megawatts; its latest model, the evolutionary power reactor (EPR), is a 1,600-megawatt design. The company has already begun building two such plants in Europe: one in Finland, which is now expected to start operating in 2011, about two years late, and another in France.

The “pebble bed” reactor, scheduled to be built in South Africa starting in 2009 is small size (165 megawatts) that makes it comparatively fast and cheap to build; depending on power needs, several units sharing a single control room could be constructed on one site. And the uranium fuel is encapsulated in rugged “pebbles”, the size of tennis balls, which are designed to withstand a loss of coolant without disintegrating, making the reactor extremely safe.

Cost of Power- the main objection of Indian political parties
The cost of producing electricity from various sources: Combined cycle gas turbine running on gas or naptha – Rs 3 cr per MW; coal-based thermal power plants – Rs 4.5 cr per MW; indigenously-built nuclear reactors – Rs 7/8 cr per MW and imported nuclear reactors – Rs 10 cr per MW. (Yaswant Sinha in TOI on Sep 23)

Two separate studies by the University of Chicago (2004) and MIT (2003), computed the base line cost of new nuclear power at 6.2 to 6.7 cents per KWH, as compared to 3.3 to 4.2 cents for pulverised clean coal and 3.5 to 5.6 cents for natural gas. (Brahma Chellaney)

The cost in India of nuclear power plants could be anywhere between Rs 10 to Rs 12 crore per MW. (Former PM VP Singh)

“The Prime Minister has announced a target of generating 40,000 MW of nuclear power in the future. Of this, assuming that 10,000 MW would be generated from domestic reactors, the remaining 30,000 MW would cost us Rs 330,000 crore. Now the same 30,000 MW, if produced through coal, would cost us at best Rs 120,000 crore. Using gas and water, this would cost Rs 90,000 crore only. By using the nuclear option, India would be spending anywhere beyond Rs 2 lakh crore more than by using the available alternatives. Can India afford such an expensive option?” (Sitaram Yechury, CPM)

According to all these estimates an additional 20,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020 would need an investment of at least Rs 2,00,000 crore.

India must cut down its execution times in setting up of the generation plants.India must based its decision on scientists and technologists and certainly not on politicians. India must move on all sources simultaneously. It must go for clean coal based plant, more and more hydroplants and other alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. India must also shun its isolation from the rest of the developed nation on nuclear technology and so must go for Indo-US Nuclear deal and concentrate on high breeder and throrium-based technologies where it can be the pioneer. Indian researchers must also get ahead of the other nations on waste and proliferation management and improved economics.

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