दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

In early 90s while working for my company’s truck project with Isuzu Motors, I frequently visited Vadodara. It was not having even a good hotel. While traveling from the city to Halol, where the plant was coming up, it used to be always dry even the so called water bodies on the way. Today, Gujarat is one of the best state but with a slur of 2002.

Modi is ruling Gujarat for almost two terms and facing electorate for the third time. Gujarat has become a model of development under Modi who wishes to compete with China in growth rate and in all fields of activities too. With many blaming Modi to be responsible for 2002 massacre, Gujarat story becomes difficult to understand. Particularly, the major minority community is not ready to forgive Modi and unlike other politicians Modi is not ready to seek public apology. Why can’t the country or a state move ahead forgetting and forgiving few? Why can’t all Indians celebrate the unique and incredible India that is a showcase of secularism? More and more development that Modi preaches will make India more secular. Development only can make the secularism sustainable for all the times to come..

The democratic India is exemplarily secular with all its drawbacks. It is only country with a staunch Hindu Brahmin as President, a person of minority Sikh community as Prime Minister, a Christian as the head of the major ruling political party, a dalit as the country’s speaker, and chief justice of the Supreme Court, vice-president and the foreign minister of the country belonging to Muslim community. Still Muslims vote in block to make the party of their choice win. It has made almost all political parties including the ruling and regional ones doing everything to keep the Muslims on their sides. Today and tomorrow, that may cause serious social problems. Modi, as it appears, hardly worries about it and may be sure of his win because of good governance and rapid development of the state.

Intellectuals and thinkers are also divided in two camps rather they are complicating the issue for the people like me and many like me.

Hindustan Times carried a story, ‘That date in history: Gujarat and 2002’ by Ashok Malik, whom I keep on seeing on various news TV channels and consider as a good thinker. I don’t think that Malik or Hindustan Times have any special love for Modi or BJP. And I wish to share his views that need serious consideration by the major minority community of Gujarat:

“The 10-year period since the violence of 2002 has been the longest phase in contemporary Gujarati history that has not seen a major religious riot… Narendra Modi’s role in this has been under-recognized, largely because his critics and much of the national media don’t want to admit there has been any sort of transformation at all…. Gujarat topped the list of states that got back to the Union home ministry with a numerical count of religious minorities in its police…. Gujarat is far less likely to have a riot today (or tomorrow) than ever earlier in free India. Like it or not, acknowledge it or not, that is also an element of Narendra Modi’s legacy.’

Recently, Bibek Debray, an economist by profession, has published a book on Gujarat and Modi’s role in it. Modi’s Gujarat story is unique in another way. It has given priority to manufacturing and agriculture. Gujarat has come from behind and become a big player in auto mobile manufacturing. I shall like to give one example. “Maruti plans to invest about Rs 8,000 crore in Gujarat for building a 1,110-acre production facility. At full capacity, this facility is expected to churn out 1.5 million cars a year.”

However, every one doesn’t think in the same way. Another article today ’No talisman anymore’ by Harsh Mander in Hindustan Times is almost against Modi and his Gujarat story.“The soil of Gujarat once nurtured the inclusive, ethical, non-violent politics of Mahatma Gandhi. Today it is in the grip of another entirely different kind of politics, aptly described by commentator Tridip Suhrud as ‘hyper-masculine’: divisive, pugnacious, authoritarian and surgically efficient.”

I don’t know when the opposition of Modi will end. What will happen in case Modi somehow becomes Prime Minister, if the majority so decides, as all opinion polls have indicated?

स्कूल फ़ाइनल की परीक्षा के बाद मेरे नज़दीकी दोस्त पूछते थे, कहाँ पढ़ना है आगे, कुछ जानकारी न रहते भी बड़े बिश्वास से कहता था, प्रेसीडेंसी कॉलेज  में । सच कहता हूँ मुझे कुछ पता नहीं था प्रेसीडेंसी के बारे में । बाद में कलकत्ता के प्रेसीडेंसी कॉलेज के अभूतपूर्व इतिहास के बारे में जाना और उसका आशिक हो गया ।बंगाल की सारी महान बिभुतियाँ वहीं से पढ़ कर निकलीं थीं ।

मार्च १९५५में स्कूल फाइनल के बाद मैं गांव चला गया था और मेरे सभी बिरोध के बावजूद भी मेरी शादी यमुना से कर दी गयी थी । हम जब वापस आये बिरलापुर तबतक रिज् लट निकल गया था। मार्क्स  सीट आने पर मैं  दादा जी के साथ कलकत्ता के कॉलेजों में भर्ती के लिये गया । सेंट जेवियर और Scottish Church फार्म दे दिये और प्रवेश परीक्षा की तिथि बता दिये । हम प्रेसीडेंसी पहुंचे ।काउंटर पर बैठा ब्यक्ति पूछा, ‘मार्क सीट लाये हो’। मैंने दे दिया । “फीस का पैसा भी”। दादाजी ने पैसे बढ़ा दिये, भर्ती हो गयी उस कॉलेज में जहां देश के पहले राष्ट्रपति डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद भी पढ़े थे । वहाँ से निकल हम कॉलेज के छात्रावास इडेन हिन्दु हॉस्टेल गये । बिरलापुर से रोज़ कॉलेज आना जाना तो सम्भव नहीं था अच्छी तरह पढ़ाइ के लिये ।वहाँ भी कुछ थोड़ी फीस दे प्रवेश मिल गया । यहीं डॉं राजेन्द्र प्रसाद भी रहते थे । हॉस्टल के बाहर दरवाजे पर ही एक संगमरमर की पट्टिका इस सूचना के साथ लगी थी । हम बड़े प्रसन्न थे और शाम तक बिरलापुर लौट आये । हमारे शिक्षकों को बड़ी ख़ुशी हुइ । संस्कृत के अध्यापक, जो  ‘पंडित मोशाइ’ कहे जाते थे, के अनुसार मुझे आर्ट स्ट्रीम लेना चाहिये था ।पर मैंने विज्ञान लिया था, क्योंकि इंजीनियरिंग में जाने के लिये वही जरूरी था ।

कॉलेज और हॉस्टल की जिंदगी कुल ६ साल की रही: प्रेसीडेंसी कॉलेज के लिये दो साल की, इंटरमेडियेट करने के लिये; आइ.आइ.टी, खड़गपुर  के लिये चार साल । दोनों ही जगहों में खाने की बड़ी तकलीफ रही ।हिन्दु हॉस्टल में रसोइयों को मालूम ही नहीं था कि कुछ लोग शुद्ध शाकाहारी होते हैं ।वे दाल, सब्जी सभी में छोटी छोटी चिंगड़ी मछली डाल देते थे ।बंगाल के लोग उसना चावल खाते हैं, जो मैं खा ही नहीं सकता था । कभी कभी हैरिसन ( आज का महात्मा गांधी) रोड के राजपूत ब्रदर्स में जा चार आने की पूड़ी सब्जी खा अपनी भूख मिटाता था । पैसे की भी कमी थी । खडगपुर में समस्या अलग थी । वहाँ के रसोइये सभी तेलांगाना के थे । तबतक  मैं इडली डोसा सॉम्भर देखा भी नहीं था । और उस समय कहीं बाहर भी कुछ नहीं मिलता था ।

एक समस्या हिन्दी माध्यम की मेरी शिक्षा के कारण थी, मैं शायद ही किसी बिषय वस्तु  की बारीकियों को समझ पाता था , क्योंकि सभी शिक्षक अंग्रेजी माध्यम से पढ़ाते थे । आज भी यही हालात है उन सभी लड़कों की जो हिंदी माध्यम से पढ़ उच्च शिक्षा के लिये जाते है ।अंग्रेजी की शिक्षा का स्कूल स्तर पर बहुत अच्छा होना जरूरी है ।अगर यह नहीं हुआ ,तो हम उच्च शिक्षा में पीछे पड़ते जायेंगे।

प्रेसीडेंसी कॉलेज और हिन्दु हॉस्टल का दो साल  १९५५-५७ जिंदगी में बहुत सम्मान दिया । सॉल्ट लेक की म्यूनिस्पेलिटि के सभापति दीलिप गुप्ता जो  मेरे हीं ब्लॉक में रहते बराबर कहते, ‘ शर्मा जी, मैं तो प्रेसीडेंसी के दो लोगों को जानता हूँ एक आप और दूसरे डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद’ । उन दो सालों में बहुत सी महान  हस्तियों के दर्शन का सौभाग्य मिला, कुछ से बातचीत भी सम्भव हो सका । डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद भी आये, हॉस्टल में भी, वहीं उनसे बात करने का सौभाग्य मिला ।उस समय वे देश के राष्ट्रपति थे ।प्रसिद्ध इतिहासकार सर यदुनाथ सरकार भी एक सरस्वती पूजा के समारोह में हॉस्टल में आये । हॉस्टल के वार्डेन प्रो० अमिय कुमार मजूमदार एक नामी दारशनिक थे ।उन्ही दिनों बंगाल के मुख्य मंत्री डॉ० बिधानचंद्र राय और अशोक सेन को उस क्षेत्र से चुनाव के लिये प्रचार करते देखा ।

मेरा चौथा बिषय जीव विज्ञान था । इसका चुनाव इसलिये किया गया था कि इंजीनियरिंग में दाखिला न मिलने की हालत में  मैं डाक्टर बन सकूं ।इस कक्षा में हिन्दी भाषी केवल एक शुक्ला थे, अन्य हिंदीभाषी मारवाडी थे,उनमें कुछ बहुत हीं धनी थे। उसी समय अहसास हुआ लक्ष्मी के कृपा पात्र सरस्वती के उपासक भी हो सकते हैं ।

कलकत्ता विश्वबिद्यालय की इंटरमिडियट की फाइनल परीक्षा की एक बात सदा याद आती रही है। पहले दिन की पहली परीक्षा केमिस्ट्री की थी, सवाल कठिन आये थे, मन उदाश था, सोच रहा था बाकी परीक्षा दी जाये या नहीं ।कुछ लड़के छोड़ रहे हैं, की अफवाह थी । ठीक उसी समय दादाजी आ गये थे अचानक बिरलापुर से । उन्होने समझाया, मैं पूरी परीक्षा दिया और फल निकलने पर पाया कि अंक भी ठीक हीं मिले । मैं बेकार ही चिंता कर रहा था ।

हिन्दु हॉस्टल में रहते हुए ही मैंने IIT, खड़गपुर का फार्म भरा और BECollege में प्रवेश परीक्षा के लिये बैठा ।ISM, धनबाद के लिये भी Scottish Church College में इंतहान हुआ । दोनों जगह ही दाखिला मिल गया था । दादाजी मुझे कोयला की खानों में मुझे फस्ट क्लास मैनेजर के रूप में देखना चाहते थे, जिससे रुतबा मिले और तनख्वाह भी अच्छी मिले। घर की सम्पन्नता उनकी चाह थी और मेरी भी ।पर धनबाद से भर्ती का न्योता देर से आया और तबतक खडगपुर में पैसा भरा जा चुका था । मैं इंजीनियर बन गया ।

I don’t know if the present political rumblings about the issue of FDI in multi-brand retail that had kept the government worrying and all the TV channels engaged for quite some time now will end soon.

I would have loved to be supporting FDI in multi-brands retail sector. I don’t think that it will mean much of a loss to the small retailers or the kirana shops But I have some apprehensions as some other distinguished persons are also having.

I will like to have any system in place including the FDi that must improve the earnings of the farmers of the low self- life produce such as vegetables and fruits which is very poor today, while the middlemen are flourishing with almost no value addition from them.

As reported, according to the research of Professors Jagdish Bhagwati and Rajeev Kohli, ‘Indian farmers earn typically a third — instead of the international norm of two-thirds — of the final price of their produce because of the greater waste and less efficient distribution.” Further, according to the 40 years long research of Shreekant Sambrani, ‘the farm-gate vegetable price is only about 20 per cent of the final consumer or 25 per cent of the semi-wholesale price.’

I shall be the happiest when I get assured that with FDI reform the farmers get significantly benefited. It has not come even after the entry of organized retail companies owned by Ambani, Goenka and even Mother Dairy. For example let us look at the price the consumers pay for the wheat flour (Atta) of Ashirbaad brand distributed by ITC Ltd. The MRP for 5 kgs is Rs 145- it means Rs 29 for a kilogram. How much does the ITC pay to the farmers? It must not be anything more than Rs 1299 a quintal or 100 kgs.

My second concern is about the Chinese invasion through these global retail MNCs. MNCs entering in FDI in multi-brands must not promote the import of cheap Chinese goods of low technology and household use. US may afford it but not India that must have its own manufacturing sector to cater to these low priority items.

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz , the Columbia University professor, one of the few economists who predicted the financial crisis of 2008, and who also credited with starting the “1% versus 99%” debate, was recently in India also had the same fear: “The advocates of FDI have probably put too much emphasis on it. India is in a different position than a small, developing country. You have a large pool of entrepreneurs. They are globally savvy, have access to global technology and they have a lot of wealth. So, if there were large returns to large-scale supermarkets, the domestic industry would have supplied it. Not having access to FDI is not an impediment in India. Wal-Mart is able to procure many goods at lower prices than others because of the huge buying power they have and will use that power to bring Chinese goods to India to displace Indian production. So the worry is not so much about the displacement of the small retail store but displacement further down the supply chain.”

Why shouldn’t Wal-Mart and other MNCs enter India retail markets with Indian products and produces only? Did they not start in the same way at the initial stage of the business, as China had not emerged by that time as the global factory? Why shouldn’t they develop Indian source as they did from China?

Further, while thinking about the employment creation by these MNCs in retails, I got reminded of my sons comment in 2005 while I was trying to study some case studies on Wal-Mart. They said the same thing what American intellectuals had expressed and what Arun Jaitley repeated: India will become a nation of ‘salesboys and salesgirls’.

One more point relates to their investment by construction of cold storages, warehouses and other facilities to cut down the wastages in the areas where the vegetables and fruits are grown. I don’t think it to come up without the availability of grid electricity. Running a cold storage based on diesel generators will hardly be viable…

Can the government of India ensure against the maladies in working of the MNCs in retails in India?

If the answer is yes, please go ahead.

In capitalist system a company works for profit and that too for very few of those working for it. However, it is is a poor and short-term strategy. Most of the big companies and business houses in good old days focused on developing human resources in many ways by establishing schools in the residential complexes of their factories, by having a separate and well-equipped training centres. Many such as Birlas used to provide full and free education for the children and even relatives of the employees at Pilani and employ them too if they so wished. Over the years, the new management found it unnecessary burden and cost affecting the profit and thus margin. Newers one joining the business community didn’t appreciate that expenditure and gradually even the old ones found it logical to go out of that.

I can only say that the management of the manufacturing company where I worked or that of Tata’s TELCO, Jamshedpur of our days that I knew we’ll, could have created tens if not hundreds of entrepreneurs in manufacturing as well as service sector that would have benefitted both those companies as well as other companies in the sector as well as the country in general.

Both the factories -one near Kolkata and the other in Jamshedpur, used to manufacture almost all small and big components. Later on they outsourced many of its components discarding or cutting down many manufacturing sections and units and sold its manufacturing equipment. It would have encouraged its willing, skilled and capable employees to buy these equipment on book value. It would have made many entrepreneurs who could have supplied to the parent companies and used the excess capacity to supply to other auto manufacturers.

Both these factories had a lot of very highly skilled persons in various service departments. Many could have set up companies to provide those services such as production engineering, plant services, industrial engineering, etc to the industry. Unfortunately, the management lacked that farsightedness.

Even today, the CEOs hardly take pride in encouraging even those who can’t be accommodated in the organisation and can easily be released for getting into business with the experiences earned.

One of the task of the CEO must also be to find out the talent and encourage them for entrepreneurship. Every big company can produce many entrepreneurs in the same sector or related ones, if the management widens the horizon of the mission of the business without any material loss to the company.

Indian entrepreneurship gets its due respect even in US. In India too, time and again, I come across many stories of successful start ups. However, one hardly find any story related to the entrepreneurs in manufacturing. India can get into manufacturing entrepreneurship if existing units both in private as well as public sectors take some initiative suggested above.

India could have got into manufacturing and excelled but for the big business houses failing it. After the liberalization in the policy in 90s, the big business houses with even significant manufacturing presence just walked out of the manufacturing to the greener and easier pastures of finance and services and followed US and the model of its business groups.

Both the business houses engaged in manufacturing of passenger cars left the game. Both Birlas and Tatas at one time were competing in manufacturing from electronics to heavy industries in 80s and 90s. With the huge resources available with them including great educational and research organizations, both could have become global players in electronics and even automobile. Tatas and M&M remained and grew in automobile manufacturing. M&M and Tata Motors are today third and fourth with almost every reputed automobile manufacturers, mostly on own, from all corners of the world are in the country. However, the Birla group manufacturing the famous Ambassadors and the Premier Group manufacturing in collaboration with Fiat are hardly of any significance today.

Perhaps the major contribution to India’s manufacturing sector comes from automobiles. India manufactures all types of it: two wheelers, passenger cars, commercial vehicles, tractors and naturally the auto parts. However, India is still no where an automobile power on its own. It has hardly the facilities to cope up with the new global class development. It lacks the building facilities for the toolings such die sets, capital goods of the manufacturing processes for the sector or the necessary R&D facilities.

Perhaps the new comers such as Ambani and Mittal didn’t have the zeal required for setting up manufacturing units, whereas both grew big in the industry that could have made them interested in manufacturing.

Is the demand base of 220 million tablets just for the students and the cell phones reaching a figure of almost 800 million not good enough to have its manufacturing in India? India does manufacture cellular phones but it is only those catering to the lower ends and most of the manufacturers are the MNCs. The electronics parts for the gadgets are almost all imported. Data wind, the vendor that has developed the low cost tablet, Aakash 2 claims to get it manufactured in India. Interestingly, even after a number of attempts India has not been able to get into the chip fabrication because of its very high investment, even though India is globally renowned for its semiconductor design. However, some entrepreneurs such as Saakhya labs, Cosmic circuits, Aura Semiconductor, Signalchip and Ineda Systems are also getting into the business of indigenous chips manufacturing

Few entrepreneurs such as Consure Medical, Forus Health, Bosense, or Diabetes are also trying their hands in manufacturing world-class medical equipment. It’s another big potential for the manufacturing sector. There are many other sectors that could have got into its share in manufacturing. If we look at the real estate sector from low end to the highest one with a flat costing few crores, there is huge potentials for manufacturing from high speed elevators to all those that go to a good living. However, with open economy, most like to import rather than getting it developed by domestic manufacturers. Can’t the associations of industries ponder over how Indians can get the most of the share?

And even the automobile manufacturing will have very soon a considerable portion of its cost in the electronics integrated in it. As per an estimate, ‘Electronics will account for 40 per cent of the vehicle costs globally in about four years (from 20 per cent today)’. Will India then only add the value of only assembling cost in vehicle manufacturing? Big business houses could have taken a lead in investing in the huge potential of the electronics industry because as per Assocham estimate India’s electronics market will grow from Rs 5trillion in 2012 to Rs20 trillion by 2020. For example, BITS Pilani, IITs and the huge R&D facilities of CSIR and DRDO could have assisted and encouraged entrepreneurs to set up facilities in the lucrative field of the electronics products and components.

One can hardly digest the capital and lack of talent as the excuses for the dismal performance of India in this sector. Surprisingly we keep on the credit for all the indigenous developments including the electronics when India built its satellites, missiles, rocket launching facilities and even the nuclear power plants with almost no import because of sanction against it for its nuclear test without signing a NPT?

If necessary, the country can have a separate ministry to develop the manufacturing sector in India as that only can sustain the growing working population and take the country out of poverty. It will also lead to innovation all along the supply line. If America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance, India badly needs to catch up in manufacturing on priority.

Let it be realized by all the policy makers that no amount of success in service sectors can alleviate India’s curse of poverty

India:Disadvantaged Democracy

If you are a little concerned about the future of this country, you must be worried today because of the total scarcity of good and capable leaders in almost all political parties who only constitutionally can and will run the government of the country.

I was amused while hearing the statement of Salman Khurshid whom I considered an intellectual. Khurshid appeared to me a sycophant of the highest order, when he was making the statement about his commander Rahul who has been recently selected to lead the election campaign in 2014 for Congress. It has come even though Rahul’s failure to win a single state election, be it Bihar or UP. And Gujarat is so scaring to him that he never dared to head the campaign there.

None in Congress can even dream of becoming the head of the Congress party, but one from the so called Gandhi Nehru family. None but Rahul can become the prime minister too even if he may not the right choice for running the government. And following the Indian inheritance tradition, Sonia long back decided to keep Priyanka with better potential out of the race.

Unfortunately, Rahul refused to get experience of administration under Manmohan. Perhaps the mother never wished to expose him as cabinet minister that could have been useful. Rahul even never tried to prove his parliamentary skill. The nation will have to wait to the administrative acumen of Rahul for some more time.

When Sonia couldn’t become the prime minister because of her foreign origin , she appointed an extremely loyal Manmohan to keep the seat warm till Rahul gets into it. And in the process, Manmohan has remained the prime minister for almost ten years now that will be the maximum period exceeded by only the first legendary prime minister of India.

As it appears Rahul will take the position if he can be lucky enough to make Congress win the next election.Unfortunately, even in Congress there is hardly any to lead the nation as the prime minister even if Sonia wishes so. Chidambaram has his own problem though he has gone sober over the years, others are just sycophants and also intolerably arrogant.

However, the crisis of leadership prevails in all parties. BJP is having too many top leaders and they can’t agree to elect one without the interference of the mentor, RSS that could have kept itself aloof of the working of BJP and focused on improving the social ills of the majority community. However, those who lead RSS must themselves change their mind sets to become more acceptable by the younger generation of the country that hardly like to be communal..

Regional parties also have similar problem. Who is the next man of Nitish Kumar? Mamta is another class that can win election but can’t run a government. Every one working for her must follow her. Under such a situation, a sound governance system can not get planted and grow. Even senior leaders in political parties such as TMC, BSP, or AIDMK or even Shiv Sena and NCP can’t freely express their views and participate in framing the policies in the interest of the country because of the fear of the boss.

With a large number of legal cases of corruption and misuse of the discretionary power against the top leaders such as Mulayam, Mayawati, Jay Lalita, or Sharad Pawar, the followers will hardly come clean when an opportunity knocks.

Unfortunately, none of these political parties have established sound norms for internal democratic working. Most of them are running one person show by and for the boss . None of them actually work in any constructive way providing social services such as education, healthcare or skilling at grassroots level to develop good performing leaders. The sole job of the party is to keep the vote bank happy and on its side at all cost, even that of the national interest.

Unfortunately, the induction of Manmohan in 2004 could have provided a good model if Sonia would have given him the free hand. Sonia has deprived the nation to have non political prime minister or president in absence of the right person through parliamentary democratic system.

It was really in spite of the government that India story became so attractive. Let us see what 2014 provides.

Years ago one used to hear ‘India is rich but Indians are poor’. In our village schools, our teachers taught us boastfully about the abundance of iron ore, coal and mica available in the state and the country. Mines particularly the coal ones were in private sector. I just missed getting into ISM and becoming a first class manager in a coal mine, the most lucrative job in those days. However, today many power plants are starving for coal. India is importing millions of tonnes of coal making the power generation comparatively. Indian government owned company Coal India dug preferably all the coal available on the surface and didn’t invest on the latest technology to go deep. Many genuine with some unscrupulous private companies recently got new coal mines allocated but hardly anything to produce.

Many projects worth many lakh crores including the famous Posco of South Korea are waiting for clearances and acquisitions of land to get it going.

Even the setting up of a National Investment Board proposed in recent reform steps has taken months to go in the system. However, there are still some good news and so hope in all the despair.

As reported, “projects worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore got completed in the first half of the fiscal and if CMIE’s projections for second half commissioning get realized, the total value of projects going on stream in 2012-13 can be Rs 5 lakh crore, that would be a sizeable improvement compared with completion of projects worth Rs 4.3 lakh crore in 2011-12.”

Many things make us pride. With all the constraints out of unnecessary fear of the government, India exported the maximum amount of rice last year. It can also top in the export of wheat, sugar, cotton and milk products too.

India has taken some great steps with technology. All the village panchayats in India are getting digital connections. Even some enthusiasts have taken the task as an individual. Bharat Broadband initiative envisages linking of 2,50,000 villages across India by the end of 2013 with an optic fibre network. It will ease the new entrepreneurs to make their products and services reach the consumer directly in the near future.

Ashrafpur Kichaucha, a small town of 15,865 people in Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh has a website that could be the ultimate in e-governance. And it has been created by one man without any financial help from the government or any other agency, using three computers and a scanner.

Aakash 2, the cheapest tablet of the world has been launched and will be in the hands of more than 220 million students in the next five years.

ATMs providing multiple functions are mushrooming. With installation of additional 1 lakh ATMs over a period of next two years, the average of the current 85 will go to 170 ATMs per million populations.

“Aadhar will be getting millions of Indians biometrically identified and opening accounts for them. Nandan Nilekani of Infosys fame, the brains behind it, expects that by the end of 2014 600m Indians will be enrolled, creating the infrastructure for a system of cash transfer for welfare cutting down the leaks.

Technology is also going to deliver a ‘personalized’ educational experience to students, even to many who don’t get the same in schools today. Just one such example is the offerings of the e-books including audio & video elements while others have interactive multiple choice questions at the end of a chapter along with InstaReports (test scores and solved solutions to test questions, even if you are offline).

India’s central and state governments are edging closer to an agreement on a design and deadline for the Goods and Services Tax, a comprehensive value-added tax that will replace many smaller taxes and levies and will make India a unified market. The proposed tax reform has been described as having the potential “to be the single most important initiative in the fiscal history of India.”

And in manufacturing, the MNCs are still investing in expanding the capacity and some, particularly in auto sector are focusing to make India a manufacturing hub for even export.

Let the honest Indian individuals not get daunted with the despair caused by unscrupulous politicians and industrialists or for that matter, any one, who could have made the difference, be he a vice chancellor of an university or a business man.

BJP: Change !

For a change BJP must behave as a responsible opposition party in the forthcoming parliament winter session. 

1. Their opposition to FDI in multi-brand must be limited to restrict the foreign multi-national companies to import all and every items of low technology household items from countries like China through specific conditionality. For every import of a certain value it must buy and export for its outlet abroad a minimum of two times by value the similar items. It must encourage Indian companies to develop items that are the preferred choices of the consumers in mass foreign markets.

2. BJP must support the government on other issues such as financial, education centric bills.

3. BJP must press for getting land acquisition bill passed even if it requires an extension or special session of the parliament, as it is one bottleneck for getting the infrastructure and manufacturing projects to expand at the desired rate.

4. But there is one more important issue that BJP must brought right on the first day. It must insist upon the government to set up an independent commission that completes the investigation of the corruption issues raised in media, be it of Vadra, Salman Khurshid, Gadkari, Mukesh Ambani or HSBC hawala. BJP must realize the controversial clean chit of RSS leaning chartered accountant Gurumurthy is not a sufficient enough logic to make Gadkari a good enough choice as a head of the party.

The top leadership of BJP and that of their mentor RSS must appreciate the worries and doubts of the millions of well-wishers and those who vote for it. They should not take them for granted and should play with their wishes to defeat the dynastic Congress and it’s sycophants in 2014 general election. By not going by the sentiments of the masses, BJP leadership is doing a great injustice to them.

आओ चुनौती दें फैलते अंधेरों को
असली ज्ञान दीपों को जला
लाखों करोड़ों में ।
अपने स्वेदों के स्‍नेह से
भरे रखें हरपल उनको ।
केवल अथक साधना, प्रयास
बुद्धि, और शक्ति देगी
असंख्य आसुरी
रावणी शक्ति पर बिजय ।
पर रहे याद हमें
बिजय के बाद की
कहानी सदा
उससे भी जरूरी
रहा लोभ का त्याग
सबका, चाहे राम
या साधारण बानर ।
न लिया दिब्य रथ,
न रत्न, स्वर्ण, आभूषण ।
और तभी जल सकी
कोशल में दीप माल्य
और आया राम राज्य ।

शुभ हो दीपावली

MIT publishes ‘Technology Review‘. It’s editors have selected 10 most important technological milestones reached over the previous 12 months. According to them, the technologies ‘will have the greatest impact on the shape of innovation in years to come. These are breakthroughs with the potential to transform the world.’

But TR35 of MIT is more unique as it selects 35 young scientists of ages below 35 years. Five scientists of Indian origin are in this year’s list. Their works are interesting. Here below are some details of those five scientists and their research areas.

1. Sarbajit Banerjee
Banerji is working to develop A window that changes in response to the heat. ” B­anerjee, a materials chemist at the University at Buffalo in New York, is applying his work on a compound called vanadium oxide to coat glass with a material that makes this possible.Windows block heat—but let it through when you want them.”

2.Shishir Mehrotra
Mehrotra, an MIT math and computer science alum had developed: skippable ads that advertisers would pay for only when people watched them. That would be a radical change from the conventional media model of paying for ad “impressions” regardless of whether the ads are actually viewed, and even from Google’s own pay-per-click model.

3.Pratheev Sreetharan
Mass-producible tiny machines snap into place like objects in a pop-up book
Combining tools used to manufacture printed circuit boards with the spirit of origami, Pratheev Sreetharan has found a way to build tiny machines and complex objects that were previously impossible to fabricate without assembling them manually. Some of the results: a robotic bee created in a day, a tiny, precise icosahedron, and a small chain of interlocking carbon-fiber links. The small, intricate items demonstrate a fundamentally new fabrication approach that ­Sreetharan believes can be broadly applicable in making a range of new medical devices, robots, and components of analytical instruments.

4.Saikat Guha
Saikat Guha is convinced that privacy and profit don’t have to conflict online. The Microsoft Research India computer scientist has developed a software platform that allows advertisers to precisely target potential customers without exposing the customers’ personal information.

5.Prashant Jain
Prashant Jain, a chemistry professor at the University of Illinois, has figured out a way to create tunable quantum dots that can be adjusted on the fly. His innovation could be key to designing optical computers and ultra-efficient solar panels.
I wish the government, major companies and institutions encourage their scientists to participate in this competition. However, five out of 35 is not bad.