Himalayan Deluge:some views

Posted on July 4, 2013 by indra

Indian defence forces have completed the evacuation of pilgrims. As claimed, it was the biggest such operation by the forces. However ever, as it appears, we as nation have never learn any useful lessons and do hardly plan and take actions that will avoid or reduce the impact of similar disasters as and when it happens in different parts of the country.

Char Dhams– Gangotri, Jamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath are important pilgrimages from perhaps epic period. And the people from even the remote villages have been visiting them. As child I had heard about them from my great grandmother who had visited these shrines in group, perhaps in early 90’s. I have also seen some priests from these shrines coming to our village in every summer to collect the annual donation promised by the visitors during their visits. It used to be wonderful time with their performing aarati and bhog every day in the morning and evening in the main front court yard of our house.

We also visited the dhams few years ago. It was a difficult trip even for us when a lot of work such as road construction has been done over years to make them more accessable since my great grand mother’s days. Kedarnath was still the most difficult part with no road between Gauri Kund and the main shrine at Kedarnath. The governments at centre have been neglecting the developments of the pilgrimage centres of India.

Here are some views based on this year’s worst deluge in my memory.

1.Char Dham yatra is pilgrimage and not pleasure holiday spots. People must avoid taking Little kids and full family to enjoy the trip as pleasure trip. The younger ones can visit the places in different programmes for trekking etc.

2. The government must record the persons in the habitation and separately all the pilgrims that visit these shrines.

3. A national volunteer force well trained in various activities is required for facing disasters and they may come from all fields including religious bodies and NGOs. Why should not the Congress Seva Dal and RSS cadre or senior NCC cadets under the guidance of army personnels be trained for helping the society in such situation? I wish the political parties with so much resources could do some social service too instead of focusing all their energy on nurturing the vote banks with false promises and useless doles.

4.I feel India must use the best possible technology and even set up a research institute for the roads to be built for the geological condition as it is there in Himalayas and use of the best materials and practices in building the hill roads of the desired quality and for reducing land slides from the hill sides. It is a technical problem and we must find the best engineering solution. The national calamity should be taken as the challenge by our governments for better work and the future must prove that we didn’t sleep again.

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ManufacturingIndia: News and Views-3

Posted on June 20, 2013 by indra

1.The Danish company Danfoss will invest close to $100 million in India over the next two years. The $6 billion company makes components that help improve energy-efficiency and are used in various industrial applications like air conditioning, heating buildings, controlling electric motors and powering commercial vehicles.

2. Engineering exporters are targeting up to 10 per cent exports’ growth in the current fiscal, the Engineering Export Promotion Council said today.Engineering exports include transport equipment, capital goods, other machinery/equipment and light engineering products like castings, forgings and fasteners. During 2012-13, engineering exports amounted to $56.7 billion.

3. Ford Motor Co. will make India an export hub for its compact sports utility vehicles, chief executive Alan Mulally said.Ford has invested a total of $2 billion to set up manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat besides an engine facility in Gujarat.Mulally was in Chennai to start production of the company’s compact SUV EcoSport at its Chennai factory, where it has invested $142 million to create a new production line that can produce as many as 10 variants of the model. The Chennai facility is one of the five plants that will produce this model, Mulally said.

4. Sanand has attracted investments from Tata Motors Ltd, followed by Ford India Pvt. Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. Non-automobile companies,the likes of Hitachi Ltd’s Indian unit Hi-Rel Power Electronics Pvt. Ltd, Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd, Nestlé India Ltd and Bosch Rexroth India Ltd, too, have flocked to Sanand.

5.Central public enterprises (CPSEs), like BHEL, Power Grid, Indian Oil, Steel Authority as well as defence PSUs,are aggressively investing in applied research and development (R&D) projects to improve their efficiency and keep up with competition.

6. HAL is a premier aeronautical complex in Asia with 19 production divisions and 10 R&D centres. Its expertise encompasses design, production, repair, overhaul and upgrade of aircraft, helicopters, aero-engines, accessories, avionics and systems. The 19 divisions of HAL are equipped with modern infrastructure for production of fighter aircraft, trainer aircraft, transport aircraft and helicopters. It provides one-stop solutions for all the design needs of aircraft and helicopters in airframes, airframe systems, avionics, mission & combat systems, using advanced design tools.
The defence major, being a technology driven company, continues its thrust on R&D, by incurring R1,749 crore, or 12% of its turnover, towards it. The company has filed a record 32 patents in 2012-13.
The year witnessed landmark events such as handing over of the first weaponised advanced light helicopter (ALH) “Rudra” to the Indian Army, exports of Cheetah helicopters to the Republic of Surinam and Do-228 light transport aircraft to Seychelles as well as the first flight of Jaguar DARIN-III and light combat aircraft (LCA) naval prototypes.
HAL has a workforce of around 33,600, with over 50% having more than a decade of aircraft industry experience. It has also diversified into manufacture and repair /overhaul of industrial and marine gas turbine engines, and manufacture of structures for aerospace vehicles.

7. A clutch of car makers with parent companies operating out of Japan, have lined up investments of about Rs 13,000 crore to enhance capacity. While Maruti Suzuki is set to invest about Rs 6,000 crore to add capacity of about 500,000 units across Haryana and Gujarat by 2015-16, Honda Cars India has commenced work to double production by making operational a second facility at Tapukara (Rajasthan) by 2014. Nissan, set to debut the Datsun brand in India later this year, is learnt to be evaluating possibilities to expand capacity to about 600,000 units at its Chennai unit.

8.Italian auto maker Fiat SpA is looking to make 600,000 units of Chrysler’s brands in India and 90% of the production will be exported, mostly to the Asia-Pacific region.Chrysler has a research and development centre in Chennai, the company’s third-largest after Detroit and Turin. The centre works on vehicle interiors, body and chassis, and engineering services for its global operations. It employs at least 1,200 engineers.

9. SECO shifted its operations from Singapore to India recently, now Swedish metal cutting tools manufacturer is planning to expand its base in India to capture business in the Asia Pacific region. Considering the demand for cutting tools, it is gearing up the investments in infrastructure, manpower and marketing as well as in research and development. The company has acquired around 25,000 square meter land adjoining its existing production facility in Pune to expand its production capacity in the state. Seco exports 70 per cent of its production from India and the company registered a turnover of Rs 230 crore in 2012. Currently, the Pune R&D centre works in close association with Seco’s other R&D units in Sweden, Czech Republic and France.

10. The gun being offered by the Indian firm L&T is learnt to have been built and developed in collaboration with South Korea’s Samsung Techwin and is based on its “K9 Thunder” self- propelled howitzer. According to the contract between the two firms, the Korean firm would provide key technologies to L&T for local production of the howitzer.

9. Over the last decade, India’s output per worker almost doubled, according to the International Labour Organisation. The do-more-with-less mantra affects the nation’s elite employees as well, whether bankers or engineers. Consider the challenges facing India’s bellwether $108-billion information-technology sector. To earn $1 billion in 2003, India’s large software companies needed 37,798 engineers, according to calculations done by Mint and Nasscom, a lobby group, earlier this week.In 2012, no more than 19,783 engineers were needed to earn $1 billion.

10. In a bid to rev up sagging sales, Tata Motors today launched eight upgraded models of its different passenger vehicles, including the CNG version of its entry level small car Nano. This is the first time that the company has introduced such a large number of new vehicles on a single.

11.Over the past two decades, there have been around 750 R&D centres established by MNCs in India, employing over 400,000 professionals. A recent survey of senior business innovation strategists by GE ranks India higher than the US on interest in innovation.

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Nitish Kumar out of NDA -an overview

Posted on June 16, 2013 by indra

I am sorry for the future of Bihar once Nitish walks out of NDA alliance. Nitish had been working overtime to build his sole image and to be independent one day. He has done that.

Nitish hardly bothered about the well beings of Mushahars or Muslims. His extensive yatras were not to educate the people in making Bihar exemplary with growth to take out the maximum mass from extreme poverty to a better living standard, but to keep his election campaign a permanent feature of his governance and policies to win election and to be in power.

Can Nitish answer why not the name of a single college of the state appear in any study appearing in media about the better ranked colleges of India? Why does anyone from other states not like to take admission in any of the state’s college? How is today UP having more than 600 professional colleges of engineering, management and even medicines? And Biharis in lakhs even today move to different states for higher education. The government schools of the state from primary to high schools hardly impart any education, and who but the lower deprived classes are falling behind.

I think Nitish Kumar made two biggest mistakes as a minimum of decency expected out of a so called good man in dealing with a chief minister of an important state. How can any one stop entry of a person from campaigning in any state of the country ?Does Nitish own Bihar through any inheritance deed? How can he publicly ask BJP leaders to announce that Modi will not be BJP’s PM candidate? His demands were unethical. Nitish is no less dictatorial than Modi. Modi is much more a representative of Adam aadami of India with his background. Does Nitish envy Modi as he is from a backward caste, son of a tea stall owner even though not an engineer by qualification, but with much bigger and popular image among the people of India?

With the breakup from NDA, Nitish has done the immense damage to Bihar. The next election will not be that easy for Nitish Kumar. And the losers will be the people of Bihar. I wish the people of Bihar could have some alternatives.

I don’t know how Nitish will react if, by some chance, the people of India elect and make Modi the prime minister of India

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ManufacturingIndia: News and Views-2

Posted on June 14, 2013 by indra

1. Bajaj Auto has developed a quadricycle, RE60. The quadricycles can ply now as public transport vehicles within municipal limits. I fail to understand why some big names in industry are trying to discourage this innovative product when Nano got so much of applause though has failed to be a commercial success.

2. Daimler, the world leader in commercial vehicles, recently announced that its Indian operations — Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) — will manufacture trucks for export markets under the brand name ‘Fuso’ and will start exporting five models from June to 15 countries in the Asia and African regions. Is it an indication that India is becoming a manufacturing hub?

3. With eight NIMZ under consideration as part of DMIC, cooperation between the defence ministry and DIPP will yield rich dividends. The Defence Procurement Policy is a step in the right direction but has many audits to undergo before it can contribute significantly to defence production. DMIC may help India to become a manufacturing power. I wish the government could invite someone like Ratan Tata to help India in becoming a manufacturing power.

4. Construction equipment manufacturer Tata Hitachi, a joint venture between Tata Motors and Hitachi Construction Machinery of Japan, plans to make the Kharagpur plant in West Bengal a global source for small and medium sized excavators. Can Tata Hitachi be the largest in India?

5. Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, VECV has invested Rs 1,300 crore in India since the JV’s formation in 2008. The plan is to infuse another Rs 1,200 crore till 2015 to meet the requirement of ongoing projects, in setting up an engine manufacturing unit, a bus body building facility, in developing new products and in expanding capacity expansion by 45 per cent to 8,000 units a month by 2015. Here is another competitor to Tata and Ashok Leyland for commercial vehicles.

6. It pays to listen to your employees, literally. Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest car maker, could save a handsome Rs 354 crore in FY13 by paying heed to their workers’ suggestions to improve productivity and cut wastage.During the last financial year, it received over 396,000 suggestions from its employees, which eventually resulted in the savings. In the previous year (FY12), there were 320,000 suggestions, which led to cost savings of over Rs 294.2 crore. I get reminded of the Suggestion Schemes and Quality Circles of our days in industry. The Japanese had been the leader in the world in participative management with its production management practices.

7. Tetra Pak, a food processing and packaging solutions company has invested Rs 700 crore in Chakan facility near Pune and will have a straw production unit, a processing systems workshop, a filling machine renovation and a technical training academy. India is expanding manufacturing in every field.

8.Here is another good news:Pilgrims to the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, once took long journeys by foot to the site in Amritsar, in Punjab, northern India. But now plans are in place to allow them to travel there in a fleet of driverless cars, the first of their kind in India. The driverless cars, also known as pod cars, are set to run on a dedicated double-decker roadway around Amritsar by mid-2016, according to Ultra Fairwood, a tie-up between a U.K-based and an Indian company, which is developing the cars for the city.

9. Voltas and LG are the top two AC makers in India, according to industry estimates. Smaller companies such as Haier and Carrier Midea are also contributing significantly. Air coolers are also making progress.Experts say the Symphony brand, market leader in the air cooler category with a 45 per cent share, grew ahead of the industry on the back of a range of products priced between Rs 6,000 and Rs 15,000. Kenstar and Bajaj, other key players in the air cooler market, also saw brisk sales this summer.

10.Apollo Tyres Ltd, India’s second largest tyre maker by market value, has agreed to buy Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. for $2.5 billion (around Rs.14,575 crore) to gain access to the US, the world’s second biggest auto market. After the acquisition of Cooper Tire, to be carried out through Apollo Mauritius Holdings Pvt. Ltd, Apollo Tyre will become the seventh largest tyre company in the world. Its turnover will rise almost three times to $6.6 billion from $2.4 billion in the year ended March. The company will also gain access to markets in China, Africa and Latin America, besides brands that include Cooper, Avon, Roadmaster, Mickey Thompson, Starfire, Mastercraft and Chengsan.

I wish the politicians make their own contribution. However, I doubt if they will change.

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Advani Revolt and Lessons

Posted on June 11, 2013 by indra

I am neither Advani nor NR Narayana Murthy. Both are in news, one for his unexpected resignation and for his recall after retirement.

In my professional life I faced a situation similar to what Modi is facing. I have documented my story in my photo-biography ‘Over the Years’ on my website.

“I can’t forget one incident of those days. I (1961) was the first among the graduate engineers from 1960 and 1961 batches to get promoted as superintendent. The seniors didn’t like that and went to Mr. BM Sharda, the Manufacturing Manager to protest. They took my friend Sandip Mehta too along with them. The same evening Mr. Sharda called me, informed about the objection raised by my seniors and asked, “How’s that Mehta was also with them? You have been kept on talking so high about him.” Next day I sent a note to Sandip Bhai, “How would you have reacted if you would have been working for Dilip (his younger brother) and the same would have happened?” Sandip Bhai came running. He was really repenting. It was some other senior who had pulled him along in the group.” Many seniors worked for me. And at the fag end of my stay in HM, I had to work for much younger and junior person brought in from another plant. For good working of an organisation, these things should hardly matter.

I was also recalled to run a division, when the managers couldn’t run it. Fortunately, I could give much better results than what was expected.

I know politics is a different game, but human beings are same. Media is questioning about the Advani if it is Advani vs. Modi, or Advani vs. RSS. I feel Advani is having a fight between Advani vs. Advani. Advani is not able to reconcile that he is 85. Someone from younger generation should take over and he can’t have a veto power in the decision of the organization anymore. Advani is not able to hear the voices of the cadres and the younger generation of the countrymen.

By his resignation letter, he had made all BJP ‘s leaders pigmy through the content of his resignation letter: ” Most of our leaders are now concerned just with their personal agendas.” What more damaging statement could one make about his own leaders who have been groomed by the same man?

Surveys after surveys conducted by different agencies in the country never placed Advani even near the top, whereas Modi has become people’s darling, if some surveys are to be believed. It was also evident when he addressed the students of Shri Ram College, Delhi or CII conclave. The survey, conducted by GFK for CNN-IBN, finds that 38 per cent of respondents prefer Narendra Modi as PM, while Manmohan Singh weighs in at a measly 13 per cent and Rahul Gandhi fares only slightly better at 14 per cent.

Yesterday, I heard a good analogy from Ramayana. When Parsuram came to know the strength of Rama, Parasuram bowed to him and went to forest for tapasya. Advani would have taken lessons from the story. Advani would have been silent and kept his position of mentor safe and respectable. In every family today, the eldest is to work hard to maintain his respectability of the younger generation.

Modi is today certainly the most popular leader of the country, though no one can predict if he can get the results expected out of him. But Advani’s resignation and adamancy can only benefit those in opposition. Modi will have to be tactful and humble, must seek interview with Advani and seek his blessings. BJP if wants to be in the race to run the government of the country must remain united. The party will be tested in the next election once for ever. It will have win what all sane people of the country wish.

Sonia and Rahul with their sycophants will be very happy today.

The people of India never expected this from Advani. How can he keep himself in the fray at this age. Afterall, he is not holding an appointed post as Manmohan does. Moreover, it was for Atal and Advani to prepare someone to succeed them.

I wish BJP gets over the problem with the old man and lay down a democratic system to elect the best among top leaders to lead the party and the country.

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गांवों की शादियां, बदलती परम्पराएं

Posted on June 7, 2013 by indra

मुझे बहुत सारी गाँव की शादियों की याद है ।अब जब सालों बाद किसी गाँव की शादी में भाग लेना पड़ता है, तब पुराने दिनों की शादियों की याद आने लगती है ।बहुत बदलाव आ गया है पिछले बर्षों में ।गांवों के लोग भी शादियां शहर में ही करना चाहते हैं ।पिछले दिनों मैंने बिहार में दो शादियों में भाग लिया ।दोनों बरपक्ष तिलक समारोह अपने गावों में करवाये ।

लड़की पक्ष तिलक के लिये पचास साढ घर एवं गांव के नज़दीकी लोगों को वातानुकुलित बस एवं कारों से ले ३००-४०० की.मी. की यात्रा तय कर लड़के के गांव गये । नाश्ता, तिलक चढ़ा, फिर खाना खाने के बाद बिदाइ और फिर बाहनों में बैठ  वापस आ गये ।

लड़केवाले इसी तरह बाहनों से शहर के बिबाह- स्थल के नज़दीक निर्धारित हॉटल पहुंचते हैं शाम या रात किसी समय। फिर सज सज़ा, बाजा वालों,रौशनी वालों, आतीशबाजी वालों और दूल्हे को फ़ुलों से सजी गाड़ी में बैठा बिबाह स्थल की तरफ बढ़ते हैं ।बच्चे, नवयुवक और कभी कभी कुछ लड़कियां भी ,बैंड के ताल पर नाचतीं दिखतीं हैं ।जयमाला के लिये सुसज्जित मंच पर दूल्हा दुलहिन एक दूसरे को माला पहनाते हैं ।यह प्रथा फिल्मों से होते हुए शहरों से गांवों तक आ पहुंची है ।पर शादियां अब भी घोर गरमी में ही ज्यादातर होती है ।

हम बचपन में कुछ साल गांव में रहे । उन दिनों कृषक परिवार में बैल रहते थे खेती के लिये, पकी सड़के बहुत कम थीं, बैल गाड़ी आम सवारी थी सामान एवं आदमी के लिये, काफी यात्राएं पैदल ही करना पड़ता था । कुछ थोड़े शौक़ीन परिवार में घोड़े रखने का रिवाज था ।यहाँ तक कि एक दो लोग किसी किसी गांव में हाथी भी रखते थे ।शादियों में बैल गाड़ी में बारात जाती  थी । ज्यादे दूर की बारात में दोपहर का बिश्राम स्थल भी रहता था, जंहा खाने की ब्यवस्था होती थी ।लिट्टी चोखा ज़्यादा लोकप्रिय था । बारात द्वारे लगाने के पहले किसे इनारे के पास रुक सभी तैयार हो लेते थे । लड़की पक्ष वाले समूह में बारात की आगवानी करने के लिये आगे बढ़ते । इसी समय घोड़े वाले दोनों पक्षों से घुड़सवारी की कला दिखाते थे । द्वारपूजा के समय हाथी दरवाजे तक आती थी और उसकी पूजा शुभ मानी जाती थी ।

तिलक राशि और लड़के पक्ष के स्तर के अनुसार शामियाना लगता था गांव के बाहर खुली जगह में या साफ  बराबर  खेत में जंहा पानी की भी सुबिधा होती थी ।नाश्ते के बाद बाराती सज धज कर शामियाने में बैठ जाते, आज्ञा मांगने आते लड़की पक्ष वाले, मंच पर नाच या भाँडों का दल मनोरंजन करता । उधर लड़की के आंंगन में डाल चढ़ाने, और शादी आदि का कार्यक्रम चलता रहता, फिर रात का भोज करते बाराती गांव की महिलाओंं की मधुर गाली के बीच ।
 
दूर की बारात एक दिन ‘मरजाद’ रहती थी ।लड़कीवाले सभी तरह से बारातियों का आवभगत करते थे ।तीसरे दिन बहू को ले या द्विरागमन के लिये छोड़ बारात लौट जाती थी ।लड़के और लड़की वालों में झगड़ा और लड़ाई भी हो जाती थी ।तिलक तो आज भी ख़ुलकर लोग ले दे रहे हैं, पर बहुत सी बातें सावधानी से की जाती है ।अब लड़की की मुंह दिखाई नहीं होती, रिसेप्शन होता है, उसी समय लोग गिफ्ट दे देते हैं ।लड़कियां पहले की तरह बिदा होते या घर के किसी के मिलने आने पर रोती भी नहीं, और न इसके लिये उसकी शिकायत होती है ।

समय के साथ बहुत बदलाव आता जा रहा है, पर पुरानी परम्परा का कहीं लेखा जोखा एैतिहासिक धरोहर की तरह अच्छा ही रहेगा ।

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Manufacturing India: Aviation

Posted on June 4, 2013 by indra

For all these years, HAL was the only manufacturing company in aviation sector with huge manufacturing facilities built over the years. HAL over the years has developed expertise in managing the technologies of aircraft building and has absorb new technologies in manufacturing areas like machining, forming, welding, assembly, testing and aircraft system checks.The aircraft airframes are made at Nashik, engines at Koraput, accessories at Hyderabad (communication and navigation), hydraulic, pneumatic and fuel aggregates and instruments at Lucknow and avionic displays and INGPS at Korwa.

The 2005 defence offsets policy turned things in favour of domestic manufacturing. Industrial groups, including the Tatas, Mahindras and L&T, formed partnerships and talked big investments in this sector.

Quest Global: A joint venture of Quest Global Manufacturing and Saab is planning to set up a manufacturing unit for aerospace and defence engineering services to be located in Quest Global’s Special Economic Zone in Belgaum, Karnataka. On the outskirts of Belgaum, the 300-acre special economic zone (SEZ) set up is already notified as the state’s first precision engineering region.

It will be another design-to-build capability in aerospace like state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics. Over the past four years, Quest has developed essential capabilities of an aerospace cluster, such as machining, surface treatment, forging and assembly. It has done some on its own; for others, it formed joint ventures with overseas partners: Magellan Aerospace of Canada, Saab of Sweden and Aubert & Duval of France. The ventures are to serve the global supply chain, although India’s share in the $100 billion commercial aerospace manufacturing is a paltry $100 million.

Mahindra Aerospace: Under the Karnataka’s 10-year aerospace policy with target $10 billion in investment, Mahindra Aerospace’s first greenfield project is nearing completion in Kolar that is dedicated to the production and innovation of the best utility aircraft and aerostructures that meet the varied needs of the global market.

Utility Aircraft:
Mahindra Aerospace, an AS 9100 Rev C certified company started with the acquisition of the Australian company, GippsAero in 2009. Over the years, GippsAero has grown into one of the largest Australian manufacturing companies with production of 20-25 aircraft per year. Gipps Aero has been assisting Mahindra Aerospace in manufacturingthe first 5-seater aircraft in partnership with CSIR-NAL.The combined strength in India and Australia is capable of realizing an idea of a perfect aircraft from its nascent stage to full-fledged certification and production level.

Aerostructures:
M&M acquired Aerostaff Australia for manufacturing aero structures. Aerostaff is an established supplier of close tolerance high-precision sheet metal and value-added products to aerospace and defense customers across the globe. Its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Bangalore will soon focus on component and aerostructures assembly in sheet metal, machining, and special processing. The 250,000 square feet facility, besides meeting all customer requirements, will also deliver all possible standards of high-quality finished products. In addition, the facility will house capability to make large parts and assemblies.

RIL in aerospace
RIL, one of the latest major private-sector entrants into aerospace, had cash reserves of Rs 82,975 crore as on March 31, 2013. The Mukesh Ambani-controlled conglomerate recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Boeing to grab the offset work when the aerospace giant begins work on supplying P8I naval reconnaissance aircraft to the Indian Navy. India’s biggest private sector company by revenue is looking to spend $1 billion (almost Rs 5,500 crore) in the sector and hire some 2,000 engineers over the next few years in its aerospace division; it has now agreed to partner with the world’s second-largest aerospace company in the latter’s offset programme — which requires for-eign aerospace sellers to source 30% of its inputs from domestic partners.

As per a recent report, Swiss aircraft maker Pilatus is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in India, starting with the manufacture of airframes.

With huge domestic requirements in aviation sector, big industrial houses must go whole hog for manufacturing with collaborations of reputed global companies and develop a large number of vendors for all parts and services .

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Visiting Bihar in Summer

Posted on June 2, 2013 by indra

I had to go to Bihar twice in last two months to attend two marriages, the first in Patna and the second in Dehri-on-Sone. I got rare opportunities to talk with a good cross section of the society. The law and order situation has certainly improved. Not a single person had any thing to say against the law and order situation. I found the people in marriage party travelling across Bihar whole night without any trouble. Roads have lesser and bearable potholes. In both the marriages, people moved from the western Rohtas to eastern Bhagalpur and Purnea and back. People preferred night journey by 4-wheelers, mostly Baleros of M&M. Only some took to trains. It was for escaping the scorching heat of the daytime.

Farmers are doing better. However, the government has hardly done any significant contribution in the field of irrigation. There is hardly any initiative to improve upon the existing canals or building new canal system. Bihar’s land is very fertile. With availability of water, the yield can be ensured. Bihar still lacks badly in having electricity for farming or for domestic uses. Farmers have gone for diversifying the crop for better earning. I was amazed to hear that many in my relationship are growing menthol mint(Mentha arvensis) instead of wheat between February and July. Interestingly, they have invested in extracting and processing for converting the plants into oil that they store for selling when the price is good.

Some young men are also exploring ways and means to get into business. A young man, the son-in-law of my wife’s younger sister has started a small manufacturing units for copies of different types (stationary)in Natwar. After the initial teething trouble, the business is stabilising and the revenue is reaching to about Rs 10 million. Interestingly, I found him well-informed about the prospect in the business and the competition from the large scale manufacturers that are setting up plants and his strategy to face the situation.

But the most disturbing situation is in education, particularly in the government schools in Bihar. The system is at the deathbed. And the most affected are the children of underprivileged class where education is most needed. The government perhaps does not want to do anything about that. However, the parents, particularly landholders are getting their kids admitted in private schools based on their resources. Most of them move the kids with a lady of the house to the nearest town to educate them there.

Nitish Kumar would have focused on effective education and skill training. People expect at least this much from him. But perhaps he hardly has any time for this important task.

Posted in bihar, economy, education | 1 Comment

Manufacturing India: And BanglaDesh

Posted on May 21, 2013 by indra

During my sole visit to BanglaDesh, I had some opportunity to visit some of facilities of apparel manufacturing in early 90s- basically huge halls with large number of sewing machines both in Dacca as well as in Chattogram. As far as I remember the women or girls working there used to get some 10-15 takas per day. It was the Chinese who provided the clothes and other materials including stitching thread and buttons. They managed the technical and marketing aspects of the organisations.

Over the years BanglaDesh has changed and march ahead. I was surprised that BanglaDesh exports more apparel than India. Manas Chakraborty rightly points out the way Bangladesh has gone ahead. “Over the past few years, Bangladesh has successfully used its low-cost advantage to become a base for garment manufacturing. This has led to the migration of millions of people from rural areas into the manufacturing sector, with women being the biggest beneficiaries. Significantly, the share of employment in the formal sector in Bangladesh is 27.9%, well above that in India, and the proportion of working women in formal employment is even higher.”

A natural question is : Why Indian states Bihar, West Bengal and Assam or for that matter, the north eastern states could not take the clue from the BanglaDesh to excel in textile trade?

A recent unprecedented mishap in BanglaDesh killed around 1200 of the employees of an apparel making company.

An article appeared in ‘The NewYork Times’-‘After Bangladesh, Seeking New Sources’. It made me think over a question. Why has a New York fashion company searched for other countries, from Guatemala to Vietnam to Indonesia including BanglaDesh, capable of supplying top retailers like Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus beside China but not India with teeming millions remaining unemployed? After the multistory factory collapse in Bangladesh, the mass-market retailers are again in search of alternative suppliers from different locations and their senior executive are planning trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and perhaps Indonesia to seek alternatives. Why are they not looking to India as another China like source?

Further as per news reports, the Chinese have reached Bangladesh to help and invest in the industry, but not Indians.

Interestingly, some Indian entrepreneurs also outsource the apparels for export and domestic consumption to Bangladesh and as an excuse they blame the non-availability of skilled labour in India. Why should Indian industrialists only talk about the labour law and government support without providing any leadership to skill and organise the unemployed millions of women in India who can do the job willingly and better?

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Manufacturing India: News and Views-1

Posted on May 20, 2013 by indra

Even in gloom around mainly because of political mess, many things are happening in India that are pretty inspiring.

1. Coram International, the Netherlands-based coordinated design bathroom company, which set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India in 2012, also has plans to set up a manufacturing facility for its flagship products in India, which is identified as the “sweet spot” for Coram. “India is likely to emerge as the manufacturing base for our operations in Asia over the next few years,” said Niels Pilaar, CEO, Coram International.

2. Karl Slym heads Tata Motors now and if we go by media he had a fix for the ailing Tata Motors, as its sales for most of the products are declining.

3. Automotive electronics maker Bosch has launched its electric drives manufacturing facility in Chennai. The plant, with an investment of Rs 35 crore, has a capacity to manufacture 2.2 million window systems, 7,00,000 wiper systems and 500,000 thermal parts systems per annum. The company expects to start with around 30 per cent localisation in the initial stage.

4. India has developed its first vaccine – Rotavac— under public-private partnership. The indigenous low-cost vaccine, to prevent rotavirus diarrhoea that claims the lives of about 1 lakh children a year, will soon hit the market. Priced at around Rs 54 ($1), it will be a boon for developing countries that are fighting the killer virus. Can someone responsible puts a figure for ‘soon’?Will there be one for malaria too?

5. Manufacturing must get it due priority if India is to remain in race for poverty alleviation. “Manufacturing strategy of most firms is still not addressing certain fundamental issues of competition: need to change product mix rapidly, need to introduce new products based on indigenous R&D, need to use process innovation and quality improvement process to reduce cost of operations and consequently price of product.”

6. Eureka Forbes, a Shapoorji Pallonji Group company, is acquiring Lux International, a Switzerland-based home appliance firm with a 100-year history, marking the group’s first overseas acquisition. Can every household in India get a water purifier?

7. Japanese auto manufacturer Suzuki Motor Corp. is reorganizing its Indian operations in an attempt to streamline production systems in a country where it is the biggest car maker by sales, but is lagging behind rivals in the motorcycle market.

8.India has proposed to set up three funds with a combined corpus of Rs.17,500 crore to boost local research and manufacturing of telecom products as it seeks to cut dependence on imports at a time when the current-account deficit has widened to a record and also to reduce security concerns posed by such imports, particularly from China.

9. The Osaka-headquartered Panasonic, which makes the Viera brand of TVs and the Econavi line of ACs, will continue investing at least Rs 300 crore on a yearly average in India till 2015 as it aims to launch products and take up share in key product categories.

Sony, which recently consolidated its mobile phone business with the company that markets its Vaio laptops, Bravia TVs and cyber-shot cameras in India, has said it would triple its investment to Rs 300 crore in mobile phones this financial year.

10. Sandvik Asia is planning to set up a facility to manufacture construction equipment and infrastructure machinery. The plant will be operational by mid of 2015.The company is planning to set up a facility to manufacture construction equipment and infrastructure machinery. The plant will be operational by mid of 2015.

11. G e r m a n l u x u r y c a r m a ke r Mercedes Benz plans to infuse a fresh investment of 250 crore into its Indian arm to double its production capacity to 20,000 vehicles by the end of this calendar.

12. The government’s decision to set up an inter-ministerial committee on quadricycles brings to sharp focus a debate that, if handled right, can have enormous beneficial consequences for India. Can Bajaj win the war?

I shall agree with TN Ninan that he expressed in his weekly column in Business Standard:
“Many Indian entrepreneurs, big as well as small, decided quietly in the last few years that they were better off investing in other markets. Despite their running battles with the taxman, many global giants can’t seem to get enough of India. Unilever wants to increase its stake in its Indian subsidiary, just as GlaxoSmithKline, Siemens and others have already done. Japan’s consumer products giants Sony and Panasonic are committing themselves afresh to the Indian market, after having ceded the first-mover advantage to Korean rivals.”

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