The anniversary of Ayodhya has come and passed. Once more, many of India's intelligentsia felt that the destruction of the mosque has signalled the end of a certain tolerant India, for which secularism was the unifying factor and has planted a dangerous seed of Hindu "nationalism" in India's psyche. Yet, one should remember that the Hindu 'fundamentalists' did not kill a single soul in Ayodhya, whereas the bombs planted a while later in revenge by Indian Muslims with the help of Pakistan, killed more than 350 innocent human beings. In fact, during its long history, Hinduism has been one of the most peaceful creeds in the world, accepting the reality of different beliefs, never trying to convert -even in a non-violent manner, like the Buddhists did in Asia - and submitting itself rather meekly, except for a Shivaji, a Guru Gobind or a Rani of Jhansi, to numerous invasions. The same thing cannot be said about Islam, whatever N. Ram says in Frontline. Many historians, amongst them Will Durant, Louis Frederick, or Alain Danielou, have remarked that the Muslim invaders were so certain that they were doing their holy duty by razing temples and killing Hindus, that they had recorded down carefully and proudly their deeds in their own archives.
Mahmud of Ghazni, for instance, who patronised art and literature, would recite a verse of the Koran every night after having razed temples and killed his quota of unbelievers. Firuz Shah Tughlak, personally confirms that the destruction of Pagan temples was done out of piety and writes: "on the day of a Hindu festival, I went there myself, ordered the executions of all the leaders and practionners of his abomination; I destroyed their idols temples and built mosques in their places". Aurangzeb did not just build an isolated mosque on a razed temple, as Romila Thapar would like us to believe, he ordered all temples destroyed, among them the Kashi Vishvanath, one of the most sacred places of Hinduism and had mosques built on a number of cleared temples sites. All other Hindu sacred places within his reach equally suffered destruction, with mosques built on them. A few examples: Krishna's birth temple in Mathura, the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujurat, the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares and the Treta-ka-Thakur temple in Ayodhya. The number of temples destroyed by Aurangzeb is counted in 4, if not 5 figures. This is a small excerpt of his own official court chronicles: "Aurangzeb ordered all provincial governors to destroy all schools and temples of the Pagans and to make a complete end to all pagan teachings and practices". Or:: "Hasan Ali Khan came and said that 172 temples in the area had been destroyed... His majesty went to Chittor and 63 temples were destroyed. Abu Tarab, appointed to destroy the idol-temples of Amber, reported that 66 temples had been razed to the ground".. Aurangzeb did not stop at destroying temples, their users were also wiped-out; even his own brother, Dara Shikoh, was executed for taking an interest in Hindu religion and the Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded because he objected to Aurangzeb's forced conversions. As we can see Romila Thapar and Percival Spear's statement of a benevolent Aurangzeb is a flagrant attempt at negationism (the negation of historical crimes). Even the respectable Encyclopedia Brittannica in its entry on India, does not mention in its chapter on the Sultanate period any persecutions of Hindus by Muslims, except "that Firuz Shah Tughlaq made largely unsuccessful attempts at converting his Hindu subjects and sometime persecuted them".
Indian school books seem to have taken their cue from the Encyclopedia Brittannica , as there is hardly any mention of this dark aspect of India's past. But why does India negate its history? We know that Nehru and Gandhi wanted to keep Pakistan within India and wished to avoid the splintering away of Muslim groups. But was it a good enough reason to suppress information about Muslim atrocities during ten centuries of bloody invasions and the massive destruction of Hindu temples ? On the contrary this has only created more terrorism. Denying and suppressing the history cannot keep the harmony. In its place, truth and reconciliation are necessary. Hiding the truth denies sympathy to the victim, civilization and culture. A nation unless, it is ready to face its own history - the Good and the Bad, the Courageous and the Cowardly - can never bloom into its full plenitude. Hidden aspects of its own history sooner or later will surface and bring with them the guilt, anger, regret, which are the necessary ingredients to wipe-off that particular black karma. In Germany, for instance, Germans have been reminded again and again about the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II, and that has brought a sense of guilt, which has acted as a deterrent to future atrocities
The Jews have constantly tried, since the Nazi genocide, to keep alive the remembrance of their six million martyrs. This has got nothing to do with vengeance. Do the Jews of today want to retaliate upon contemporary Germany? No. It is only a matter of making sure that history does not repeat its mistakes, as alas it is doing today in India : witness the persecution of Hindus in Kashmir, whose 250.000 Pandits have fled their 5000 year old homeland, or the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan. To remember, is to be able to look at today with the wisdom of yesterday. No collective memory should be erased for appeasing a particular community. Hiding the facts and justifying past Muslim crimes has led to terrorism in the Indian sub-continent. Muslims were never held accountable. One of the first steps to curb violence is to make one aware of past mistakes. Guilt in the culprit and forgiveness in the victim can put an end to self-righteousness and the kind of terrorism we see today in Kashmir, in spite of India's peace overtures.
FRANCOIS GAUTIER
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
How Wall Street operates
Once upon a time in a village in India, a man told the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs. 200 each.
The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.
The man bought thousands at Rs. 200, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped catching monkeys. The man further announced that he would now buy at Rs. 250. The villagers renewed their efforts and caught more monkeys. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to Rs. 300 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs 500 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.
In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: “Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that my boss has collected. I will sell them to you at Rs. 400 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for Rs 500.”
The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.
Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!
Welcome to WALL STREET
The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.
The man bought thousands at Rs. 200, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped catching monkeys. The man further announced that he would now buy at Rs. 250. The villagers renewed their efforts and caught more monkeys. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to Rs. 300 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs 500 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.
In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: “Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that my boss has collected. I will sell them to you at Rs. 400 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for Rs 500.”
The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.
Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!
Welcome to WALL STREET
Monday, October 13, 2008
Why industrialists prefer Modi to Buddha
Industrialists always like to deal with governments that are stable, can take quick decisions and are capable of handling political opposition to any idea or project they support.
Till the Left Front took charge of West Bengal in 1977, industrialists were scared of taking up new projects in that state. Even if the government gave the go-ahead, the opposition political parties, then led by the Left, would manage to obstruct the smooth implementation of projects. Even running projects would be a headache.
All this began to change after the Left Front came to power and Jyoti Basu was sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal. Industrialists realised that the Left Front at the helm was the best insurance they could hope for against industrial unrest affecting their factories and plants in West Bengal.
There were three distinct advantages. One, the Left Front government in the state was stable, with a huge majority the Left parties enjoyed in the Legislative Assembly. Two, Jyoti Basu was the undisputed leader of the government and he was empowered to take the final decision once he made up his mind. And three, the state was left with hardly any opposition political party of any significance.
So, all that an industrialist in West Bengal had to do was to have a good working equation with the Left Front chairman (who headed the Left coalition, of which the CPI-M was obviously the dominant partner) and Jyoti Basu (who headed the state government). Once the industrialists took care of these two offices, they would not face any problem - either from the government or from the employees' unions, which were invariably controlled by the ruling Left parties.
If industries still did not make a beeline for investments in West Bengal, it was primarily because the Jyoti Basu government did not pursue rapid industrialisation with private capital as one of its goals and, of course, it had to contend with an investor-unfriendly reputation that refused to die easily.
In any case, the first ten years of the Left Front rule saw Jyoti Basu spending most of his energies on land reforms and a sustained battle with the Centre to get more public sector investments in the state and a larger share in central taxes. He achieved significant success in his efforts at land reform and managed to convert centre-state fiscal relations into a national issue, but failed miserably in attracting central investments to the state.
A few years after the launch of the economic reforms by Manmohan Singh in 1991, Jyoti Basu also changed his industrial policy and began attracting private investment for industrial projects in the state.
His successor, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, built on this industrial policy. It appeared that Mr Bhattacharjee was making some headway in his plan for industrialisation in West Bengal with the help of private capital. If Ratan Tata decided to invest in Singur to produce the world-famous Nano from West Bengal, it was largely because he and his advisors had reckoned that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ruled the state like Jyoti Basu.
But what became clear to the Tatas in the last few months was that things had changed in Bengal and these were changes that even Mr Bhattacharjee and his administration failed to recognise and take appropriate remedial measures.
A powerful opposition political party by the name of Trinamool Congress had grown its roots in West Bengal and had won a majority of the seats in the Panchayat elections in Singur.
Worse, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee failed to act as a chief minister who was in complete command of the situation. His government was stable. Yet he failed to act decisively and quickly to resolve the crisis and face the challenge posed by the chief opposition party in the state. After the Trinamool Congress protests began and disrupted work at Singur, Ratan Tata waited for more than a month before taking the final decision to pull out from West Bengal.
If Tata Motors [Get Quote] has now gone to Gujarat to relocate the Nano project there, it is largely because its chief minister, Narendra Modi, offers those very qualities which industrialists love in a state government. Mr Modi's government is stable, he is known for taking quick decisions and has nothing to fear from any opposition political party in the state. There is no Mamata Banerjee in Gujarat.
Nothing else really matters for industrialists when they have to decide on the location of their projects. The riots in Ahmedabad, Surat and other cities in Gujarat after the Godhra train fire may have been condemned by industry leaders. Minority communities may still not feel safe in Gujarat today. For industrialists, however, Narendra Modi meets all the criteria for choosing his state as their next investment destination.
That is where Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has lost out to Narendra Modi. Panicked by riots in Gujarat after the Godhra riots, Kutubuddin Ansari, a resident of Ahmadabad, had fled his state and secured a safe refuge in Kolkata.
Narendra Modi lost Kutubuddin Ansari. But that did not come in the way of his convincing the Tatas to set up their prestigious Nano factory.
Till the Left Front took charge of West Bengal in 1977, industrialists were scared of taking up new projects in that state. Even if the government gave the go-ahead, the opposition political parties, then led by the Left, would manage to obstruct the smooth implementation of projects. Even running projects would be a headache.
All this began to change after the Left Front came to power and Jyoti Basu was sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal. Industrialists realised that the Left Front at the helm was the best insurance they could hope for against industrial unrest affecting their factories and plants in West Bengal.
There were three distinct advantages. One, the Left Front government in the state was stable, with a huge majority the Left parties enjoyed in the Legislative Assembly. Two, Jyoti Basu was the undisputed leader of the government and he was empowered to take the final decision once he made up his mind. And three, the state was left with hardly any opposition political party of any significance.
So, all that an industrialist in West Bengal had to do was to have a good working equation with the Left Front chairman (who headed the Left coalition, of which the CPI-M was obviously the dominant partner) and Jyoti Basu (who headed the state government). Once the industrialists took care of these two offices, they would not face any problem - either from the government or from the employees' unions, which were invariably controlled by the ruling Left parties.
If industries still did not make a beeline for investments in West Bengal, it was primarily because the Jyoti Basu government did not pursue rapid industrialisation with private capital as one of its goals and, of course, it had to contend with an investor-unfriendly reputation that refused to die easily.
In any case, the first ten years of the Left Front rule saw Jyoti Basu spending most of his energies on land reforms and a sustained battle with the Centre to get more public sector investments in the state and a larger share in central taxes. He achieved significant success in his efforts at land reform and managed to convert centre-state fiscal relations into a national issue, but failed miserably in attracting central investments to the state.
A few years after the launch of the economic reforms by Manmohan Singh in 1991, Jyoti Basu also changed his industrial policy and began attracting private investment for industrial projects in the state.
His successor, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, built on this industrial policy. It appeared that Mr Bhattacharjee was making some headway in his plan for industrialisation in West Bengal with the help of private capital. If Ratan Tata decided to invest in Singur to produce the world-famous Nano from West Bengal, it was largely because he and his advisors had reckoned that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ruled the state like Jyoti Basu.
But what became clear to the Tatas in the last few months was that things had changed in Bengal and these were changes that even Mr Bhattacharjee and his administration failed to recognise and take appropriate remedial measures.
A powerful opposition political party by the name of Trinamool Congress had grown its roots in West Bengal and had won a majority of the seats in the Panchayat elections in Singur.
Worse, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee failed to act as a chief minister who was in complete command of the situation. His government was stable. Yet he failed to act decisively and quickly to resolve the crisis and face the challenge posed by the chief opposition party in the state. After the Trinamool Congress protests began and disrupted work at Singur, Ratan Tata waited for more than a month before taking the final decision to pull out from West Bengal.
If Tata Motors [Get Quote] has now gone to Gujarat to relocate the Nano project there, it is largely because its chief minister, Narendra Modi, offers those very qualities which industrialists love in a state government. Mr Modi's government is stable, he is known for taking quick decisions and has nothing to fear from any opposition political party in the state. There is no Mamata Banerjee in Gujarat.
Nothing else really matters for industrialists when they have to decide on the location of their projects. The riots in Ahmedabad, Surat and other cities in Gujarat after the Godhra train fire may have been condemned by industry leaders. Minority communities may still not feel safe in Gujarat today. For industrialists, however, Narendra Modi meets all the criteria for choosing his state as their next investment destination.
That is where Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has lost out to Narendra Modi. Panicked by riots in Gujarat after the Godhra riots, Kutubuddin Ansari, a resident of Ahmadabad, had fled his state and secured a safe refuge in Kolkata.
Narendra Modi lost Kutubuddin Ansari. But that did not come in the way of his convincing the Tatas to set up their prestigious Nano factory.
10 Indian peacekeepers in Congo sex scandal
Fresh investigations into a sex-for-cash scandal involving Indian UN peacekeepers deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo have revealed that at least 10 soldiers may have had sex with prostitutes. The United Nations code of conduct in Congo prohibits peacekeepers from soliciting prostitutes.
Lifting the lid on their actions, the North Kivu Indian brigade has gathered sufficient evidence to prove the peacekeepers used children to hire Congolese girls for sex in Masisi, an exhausting five-hour drive from Goma.
The UN Organisation Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (known by its French acronym MONUC) is served by 4,554 troops.
Hindustan Times has learnt that five children have identified the peacekeepers from 1 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles after they were shown photographs of around 100 peacekeepers based in Masisi when allegations of sexual misconduct were made last year.
North Kivu brigade commander Bipin Rawat told HT, “Initial findings confirm their involvement. We have sent our report to the army headquarters in New Delhi and recommended a thorough probe in view of new evidence.”
The peacekeepers involved returned home in April as part of half-yearly troop rotation. Charges against them would be corroborated in India before prosecutions, Rawat said.
The 18,931-strong MONUC, the largest and costliest UN deployment across the globe, is the only mission where troops can be prosecuted for sex with prostitutes. The act falls within the definition of sexual exploitation and abuse.
The investigation conducted by the North Kivu brigade, on the orders of army vice-chief Lieutenant General M.L. Naidu who was here this May, challenges the findings of a previous inquiry by the United Nations' Office of Internal Oversight Services in Congo.
To the consternation of the Indian Army, the powerful UN investigating agency had charged almost 60 soldiers with soliciting sex from prostitutes and some 40 troops with employing child labour earlier this year. Considering the findings of the army inquiry, the rot may not run as deep as the UN agency had made it out. But pre-emptive measures have been put in place to discipline troops.
Brigadier Rawat has formed flying squads to snoop on his men garrisoned in and around North Kivu's capital Goma. Raids are regularly conducted at no-go places such as nightclubs, bars and red light areas. The squads include personnel drawn from the Bangladesh military police.
Troops finishing their tenure have been placed under surveillance as sexual abuse and exploitation usually takes place during the last two months, said an officer. There is evidence to prove that posts held by soldiers provide safe haven for such activities.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=dba2bd1a-440a-4bc9-a34c-5325b8368282
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Lifting the lid on their actions, the North Kivu Indian brigade has gathered sufficient evidence to prove the peacekeepers used children to hire Congolese girls for sex in Masisi, an exhausting five-hour drive from Goma.
The UN Organisation Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (known by its French acronym MONUC) is served by 4,554 troops.
Hindustan Times has learnt that five children have identified the peacekeepers from 1 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles after they were shown photographs of around 100 peacekeepers based in Masisi when allegations of sexual misconduct were made last year.
North Kivu brigade commander Bipin Rawat told HT, “Initial findings confirm their involvement. We have sent our report to the army headquarters in New Delhi and recommended a thorough probe in view of new evidence.”
The peacekeepers involved returned home in April as part of half-yearly troop rotation. Charges against them would be corroborated in India before prosecutions, Rawat said.
The 18,931-strong MONUC, the largest and costliest UN deployment across the globe, is the only mission where troops can be prosecuted for sex with prostitutes. The act falls within the definition of sexual exploitation and abuse.
The investigation conducted by the North Kivu brigade, on the orders of army vice-chief Lieutenant General M.L. Naidu who was here this May, challenges the findings of a previous inquiry by the United Nations' Office of Internal Oversight Services in Congo.
To the consternation of the Indian Army, the powerful UN investigating agency had charged almost 60 soldiers with soliciting sex from prostitutes and some 40 troops with employing child labour earlier this year. Considering the findings of the army inquiry, the rot may not run as deep as the UN agency had made it out. But pre-emptive measures have been put in place to discipline troops.
Brigadier Rawat has formed flying squads to snoop on his men garrisoned in and around North Kivu's capital Goma. Raids are regularly conducted at no-go places such as nightclubs, bars and red light areas. The squads include personnel drawn from the Bangladesh military police.
Troops finishing their tenure have been placed under surveillance as sexual abuse and exploitation usually takes place during the last two months, said an officer. There is evidence to prove that posts held by soldiers provide safe haven for such activities.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=dba2bd1a-440a-4bc9-a34c-5325b8368282
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Monday, September 15, 2008
Major general guilty of sexual misconduct
A military court has found a major general guilty of sexual misconduct and awarded him a sentence of dismissal from service.
Major General AK Lal, a former commander of the Leh-based 3 Infantry Division, faced a general court martial (GCM) in Bathinda after a previous inquiry found evidence against him. Captain Neha Rawat of the Corps of Signals had filed a complaint against Lal last September, alleging that he had misbehaved with her while conducting yoga classes at his residence. Lal is the senior-most officer in the army’s history to be awarded such a sentence on charges sexual misconduct.
The GCM, presided over by 10 Corps commander Lieutenant General R.S. Sujlana, delivered the verdict on Saturday. The sentence is subject to confirmation under the provisions of the Army Act. If a higher authority confirms the verdict, Lal won’t be eligible for retirement benefits. Even after the sentence is confirmed, he has the option of challenging it in a high court or the newly constituted Armed Forces Tribunal.
Maj Gen AK Lal faced a general court martial in Bathinda after a previous inquiry found evidence against him.
Major General AK Lal, a former commander of the Leh-based 3 Infantry Division, faced a general court martial (GCM) in Bathinda after a previous inquiry found evidence against him. Captain Neha Rawat of the Corps of Signals had filed a complaint against Lal last September, alleging that he had misbehaved with her while conducting yoga classes at his residence. Lal is the senior-most officer in the army’s history to be awarded such a sentence on charges sexual misconduct.
The GCM, presided over by 10 Corps commander Lieutenant General R.S. Sujlana, delivered the verdict on Saturday. The sentence is subject to confirmation under the provisions of the Army Act. If a higher authority confirms the verdict, Lal won’t be eligible for retirement benefits. Even after the sentence is confirmed, he has the option of challenging it in a high court or the newly constituted Armed Forces Tribunal.
Maj Gen AK Lal faced a general court martial in Bathinda after a previous inquiry found evidence against him.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Automobiles Can Banish Unemployment and Poverty
The Sindur controversy highlights a clash of perceptions. Firstly it tries to resist the increasing trend of marginal agriculturalists leaving rural areas for better urban opportunities. Secondly it reveals the old socialist perception that cars are toys of the elite and do not deserve encouragement.
The Nano is however belatedly making India's economists, planners and politicians realize that the automotive Industry is a huge driver of employment and growth. According to Japan Automobile Manufacturer's Association, automobiles contribute to 21% of Japan’s GDP and are the main engine of its economic growth employing 7.3 million people. According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the industry already contributes to nearly 12% of India's GDP.
The impact on employment can be seen from the example of Maruti that now directly employs just 5,500 people and plans to make 700,000 cars this year. But the 6,000 trucks needed to deliver them create employment for about 24,000 people. Their 1,500 dealers employ over 75,000 people. Maruti however makes only 20% of the car. They make no steel, castings, forgings, tyres, batteries, electricals, brakes, glass and components. The employment by the vendors, just dedicated to Maruti cars, must exceed 200,000. India’s trucks employ 15 million people as compared to just 2 million by the railways.
Put together, all the makers of Indian cars, trucks, tractors, and 2-wheelers may generate some 3,000,000 salaried jobs. But these salaries create another huge multiplier effect of tertiary employment for the millions who supply these salaried employees with food, clothing, shelter, education, medical facilities, entertainment, etc.
Anyone who has seen the sudden explosion of new townships like Surajpur, near the Honda, Daewoo, Yamaha and Honda plants, Sriperumbudur, near Hyundai's plant or Malaimaraipur near Ford's plant, Bidadi near the Toyota plant can see the quick impact automobiles have on employment and economic growth. Rather few jobs initially went to these towns because modern auto plants wanted educated engineers not skilled workers. But local teashops became hotels and hotels expanded into housing estates. Schools, cinemas, video parlours, groceries, fast food outlets and real estate developers multiplied. Doctors, architects, interior decorators and caterers streamed in. Unlettered locals prospered as masons, carpenters, mechanics and contractors. Prosperity quickly created even more prosperity.
And the impact spreads wider. The people who own and run India's 50 million two-wheelers, 12 million cars and some 8 million trucks and buses need many millions of people to service them in every small town. And these millions of local mechanics having learned technical skills and to work with their hands will never be unemployed. Academic education does not assure jobs but work with one's hands does.
India does not have too many cars. According to the World Bank India today has 12 cars per 1000 people as compared to 19 in Pakistan, 64 in Malaysia, 67 in Turkey, 426 in UK, 543 in Japan and 765 in USA,. So car density is a virtual index of economic prosperity. But more vehicles will need many more highways and much wider city roads and more parking spaces including parking in the basements of all new commercial and residential buildings. With rapid transport new satellite towns can be built near existing ones to decongest them. More highway police will be needed to manage the growing numbers. All these are big job generators.
India is not just a poor country but also a country with a horribly hot and dusty climate where the people should be allowed the comfort and efficiencies of motorized transport instead of the agony of bicycles and bullock carts. Few people realize just how heavily India's autos are taxed. The combined impact of 40% Modvat on components, 16 -24% excise duties, 12% local sales taxes plus octroi in some cities has a cascade effect to almost double the manufacturing costs of indigenous vehicles. In most other countries, there is just one tax like 15% VAT in EU and USA, 8% in Korea and 8 - 16% in Japan (according to size). With similar taxes, A Maruti 800 would probably cost about Rs. 1.20 Lakhs, a Honda City about 4 Lakhs to say nothing about two wheelers and transport vehicles. If this happened, India's automobiles would boom with a huge impact on employment and economic growth.
India’s planners had previously been so obsessed by the vision of automobiles being elitist that they crippled one the greatest generators of employment and economic growth. China who had earlier been a great crusader for socialism learned two decades ago that many objects of elitist consumption were good for the people. While India restricted production and levied huge taxes on bikes, cars, telephones, TV’s, soft drinks, white goods and mobile phones, China let them lead the way to a huge economic revolution. China did not feel that its independence or security was threatened by entry of any multinational. They considered the idea of a foreign company being capable of challenging the great Chinese dragon or its culture as laughable.
But India’s politicians and their bureaucratic `running dogs’, as the Chinese would have put it, had such a love affair with poverty that poverty is what they perpetuated. Taxes instead of being a necessary resource for economic development were greedily sought for creating a bloated bureaucracy and lining political pockets.
Automobiles drove America to prosperity and led the recovery of Germany, Japan and Korea after their wars. Hopefully our planners will belatedly see the light and lead India to a new prosperity. Automobiles transport 80% of all goods and 85% of passengers adding up to some 200 million people who are using the cars, 2-wheelers, buses and trucks every day. Perhaps the next election slogan should be: Tax ghatao, gaari chalao, unatti badhao.
The Nano is however belatedly making India's economists, planners and politicians realize that the automotive Industry is a huge driver of employment and growth. According to Japan Automobile Manufacturer's Association, automobiles contribute to 21% of Japan’s GDP and are the main engine of its economic growth employing 7.3 million people. According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the industry already contributes to nearly 12% of India's GDP.
The impact on employment can be seen from the example of Maruti that now directly employs just 5,500 people and plans to make 700,000 cars this year. But the 6,000 trucks needed to deliver them create employment for about 24,000 people. Their 1,500 dealers employ over 75,000 people. Maruti however makes only 20% of the car. They make no steel, castings, forgings, tyres, batteries, electricals, brakes, glass and components. The employment by the vendors, just dedicated to Maruti cars, must exceed 200,000. India’s trucks employ 15 million people as compared to just 2 million by the railways.
Put together, all the makers of Indian cars, trucks, tractors, and 2-wheelers may generate some 3,000,000 salaried jobs. But these salaries create another huge multiplier effect of tertiary employment for the millions who supply these salaried employees with food, clothing, shelter, education, medical facilities, entertainment, etc.
Anyone who has seen the sudden explosion of new townships like Surajpur, near the Honda, Daewoo, Yamaha and Honda plants, Sriperumbudur, near Hyundai's plant or Malaimaraipur near Ford's plant, Bidadi near the Toyota plant can see the quick impact automobiles have on employment and economic growth. Rather few jobs initially went to these towns because modern auto plants wanted educated engineers not skilled workers. But local teashops became hotels and hotels expanded into housing estates. Schools, cinemas, video parlours, groceries, fast food outlets and real estate developers multiplied. Doctors, architects, interior decorators and caterers streamed in. Unlettered locals prospered as masons, carpenters, mechanics and contractors. Prosperity quickly created even more prosperity.
And the impact spreads wider. The people who own and run India's 50 million two-wheelers, 12 million cars and some 8 million trucks and buses need many millions of people to service them in every small town. And these millions of local mechanics having learned technical skills and to work with their hands will never be unemployed. Academic education does not assure jobs but work with one's hands does.
India does not have too many cars. According to the World Bank India today has 12 cars per 1000 people as compared to 19 in Pakistan, 64 in Malaysia, 67 in Turkey, 426 in UK, 543 in Japan and 765 in USA,. So car density is a virtual index of economic prosperity. But more vehicles will need many more highways and much wider city roads and more parking spaces including parking in the basements of all new commercial and residential buildings. With rapid transport new satellite towns can be built near existing ones to decongest them. More highway police will be needed to manage the growing numbers. All these are big job generators.
India is not just a poor country but also a country with a horribly hot and dusty climate where the people should be allowed the comfort and efficiencies of motorized transport instead of the agony of bicycles and bullock carts. Few people realize just how heavily India's autos are taxed. The combined impact of 40% Modvat on components, 16 -24% excise duties, 12% local sales taxes plus octroi in some cities has a cascade effect to almost double the manufacturing costs of indigenous vehicles. In most other countries, there is just one tax like 15% VAT in EU and USA, 8% in Korea and 8 - 16% in Japan (according to size). With similar taxes, A Maruti 800 would probably cost about Rs. 1.20 Lakhs, a Honda City about 4 Lakhs to say nothing about two wheelers and transport vehicles. If this happened, India's automobiles would boom with a huge impact on employment and economic growth.
India’s planners had previously been so obsessed by the vision of automobiles being elitist that they crippled one the greatest generators of employment and economic growth. China who had earlier been a great crusader for socialism learned two decades ago that many objects of elitist consumption were good for the people. While India restricted production and levied huge taxes on bikes, cars, telephones, TV’s, soft drinks, white goods and mobile phones, China let them lead the way to a huge economic revolution. China did not feel that its independence or security was threatened by entry of any multinational. They considered the idea of a foreign company being capable of challenging the great Chinese dragon or its culture as laughable.
But India’s politicians and their bureaucratic `running dogs’, as the Chinese would have put it, had such a love affair with poverty that poverty is what they perpetuated. Taxes instead of being a necessary resource for economic development were greedily sought for creating a bloated bureaucracy and lining political pockets.
Automobiles drove America to prosperity and led the recovery of Germany, Japan and Korea after their wars. Hopefully our planners will belatedly see the light and lead India to a new prosperity. Automobiles transport 80% of all goods and 85% of passengers adding up to some 200 million people who are using the cars, 2-wheelers, buses and trucks every day. Perhaps the next election slogan should be: Tax ghatao, gaari chalao, unatti badhao.
Monday, September 1, 2008
IS SHABANA AZMI A LIAR??
"Four flats in Juhu, and a house in Khandala are what actor Shabana Azmi owns, if some of the prominent people from the film fraternity are to be believed.
Irked by the alleged irresponsible statement by Azmi, who claimed that she was denied a house in Mumbai because she is a muslim, people from the film industry called a press meet at Club Millennium in Juhu on Wednesday.
"It's the worst communal statement made by someone who has multiple houses. There are many societies who do not allow Hindus, but we respect their culture and don't condemn them." said filmmaker Ashoke Pandit.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1184725
Now, either she or he is telling the truth. And if it isn't her, then shouldn't the Income Tax Dept be interested?
Irked by the alleged irresponsible statement by Azmi, who claimed that she was denied a house in Mumbai because she is a muslim, people from the film industry called a press meet at Club Millennium in Juhu on Wednesday.
"It's the worst communal statement made by someone who has multiple houses. There are many societies who do not allow Hindus, but we respect their culture and don't condemn them." said filmmaker Ashoke Pandit.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1184725
Now, either she or he is telling the truth. And if it isn't her, then shouldn't the Income Tax Dept be interested?
Friday, August 22, 2008
Healthcare is a big opportunity in India
While private players are keenly entering this "social" infrastructure sector, innovative measures are needed to improve financial performance.
The last decade has seen a significant increase in private sector participation in healthcare delivery. Existing players such as Apollo, Wockhardt, Manipal, Care Hospitals and Narayan Hrudalaya have expanded aggressively.
New players such as Fortis, Max, Sterling, Global Hospitals, AMRI, Ruby Hall and Reliance, ADAG have entered the sector with plans to establish national and regional presence. International players such as Elbit, Columbia Asia and Parkway have also entered India with plans of establishing a network of hospitals.
These corporate players together operate around 25,000 beds across the country. Healthcare providers have also attracted investments from private equity players such as IDFC, Apax Partners, Actis, Indivision, ICICI Ventures, and Trinity Capital.
My colleague Monika Sood is an acknowledged thought-leader and strategist in the healthcare space. Over a long fireside-chat, she explained to me the dynamics of the private healthcare market.
Healthcare delivery can be segmented into primary, secondary and tertiary care. Primary care constitutes treatment on an out-patient basis. Secondary care refers to hospitalisation for "non-critical" ailments. Tertiary care relates to treatment of critical ailments and requires high-tech and expensive facilities and equipment.
As of now the corporate sector is focused on tertiary care. The opportunity exists because of the lack of adequate facilities, high investment requirement (which becomes an entry barrier for smaller players), higher revenue realisation per patient, less competition from doctor-entrepreneur led facilities as well as an ability to differentiate product offerings.
Five key factors are currently driving private participation in "for profit" healthcare delivery.
Increasing population base - Population growth of 1.7 per cent per annum for the next five years will result in a need for approximately 30,000 new beds every year.
Increasing income - The number of households with income greater than Rs 2,00,000 per annum is likely to increase from 95 million (8 per cent of population) to 404 million (32 per cent of population) by 2015.
Rising insurance penetration - Private medical insurance penetration has increased from 0.4 per cent of population in 2001 to 1.5 per cent of population in 2006.
Increasing incidence of "lifestyle" diseases - Cardiac ailments, diabetes, and the like result in an increased requirement of tertiary care beds.
Increase in the number of senior citizens - Driven by higher life expectancy, from 59 to 63 in the last decade, senior citizens (around 4 per cent of population) constitute around 20 per cent of in-patients at hospitals.
The above drivers are likely to result in an annual increase of 10-12 per cent in the size of the healthcare delivery market over the next five years.
However the financial performance of players has not been very encouraging. Average operating margins have been less than 18 per cent (and declining), and Return On Capital Employed has been less than 15 per cent. This is a key area of concern.
This rather lacklustre financial performance has been due to:
High capital expenditure per bed: Capital expenditure of Rs 50-75 lakh (Rs 5-7.5 million) per bed for tertiary care and Rs. 25-30 lakh (Rs 2.5-3 million) for secondary care, is essentially driven by high cost of land as well as high cost of medical equipment.
Given the importance of location while establishing a new facility, providers are forced to pay a high cost for acquiring land especially in the metros and Tier I cities.
Medical equipment typically comprises 30-40 per cent of project cost. State-of-the art medical equipment is being deployed to attract "star" physicians as well as being used as a marketing tool. Given the large share of imported equipment, providers have to pay dollar prices on par with international players thus increasing capital costs.
Increasing customer expectations have also resulted in an increased spend on hospital interiors and services.
Ongoing capital expenditure: Significant investment is required on an ongoing basis given the high obsolescence of medical equipment.
Limitations on revenue realisation per bed-night: Revenue realisation per bed-night has been limited by increasing competition especially in metros and Tier I cities. For example, the average price increase in competitive markets over the last five years has been only around 5 per cent per annum.
The large share (greater than 40 per cent) of secondary care patients at most tertiary care hospitals also results in low realisation per bed-night. Thus, while the facility has been created for tertiary care (high capex), it is being sub-optimally utilised to offer secondary care (low realisation).
Increasing share of bulk buyers (insurance, corporates etc.) also limits the ability to increase realisation significantly. The limited size of the population that can afford high-end tertiary care also restricts revenue growth.
Increasing operating costs: While most players in competitive markets have not been able to increase prices significantly, their operating costs have gone up disproportionately. This increase has been driven essentially by increasing human resource costs due to a shortage of trained personnel and increasing competition for talent.
At a key tertiary care hospital in Delhi while the revenue has increased by 5 per cent per annum over the last five years, personnel costs have increased by 14 per cent per annum. High costs associated with attracting and retaining "star" physicians (since they continue to be key drivers of patient volumes) have resulted in high fixed operating costs, especially for new players.
High costs incurred on marketing the facility over and above developing a referral network have also increased operating costs for most players.
High gestation period: High fixed operating costs and slow build-up of occupancy results in operating losses in the first few years. Patients have shown a preference for established facilities and physicians and are reluctant to try new facilities especially for critical ailments, thus increasing the gestation period for a new facility.
High capital expenditure, constrained revenue realisation per bed-night and increasing operating costs have resulted in shrinking operating margins (average range 10-18 per cent) and low asset turnover ratios.
Clearly, innovative measures are the order of the day to improve financial performance. Such measures would include:
- Better planning at the time of conceptualisation: Reducing capital expenditure through innovative hospital design, "optimal" selection of medical equipment, phased rollout, right choice of location, specialty-mix etc.
- Leveraging scale to reduce procurement price - for capital equipment as well as consumables.
- Having the "right" doctor engagement model and building an "institutional" brand.
- Focus on untapped opportunities - geographic locations as well as undeserved segments.
The burgeoning Indian market, if handled smartly, offers a challenging opportunity for value creation.
Healthcare, then, would definitely turn out to be a healthy business!
The Indian armed forces also have a lot to answer for
When the sixth pay commission recommendations came out earlier this year, the reaction in the rank and file of the Indian armed forces was strongly negative as it once again felt let down by the political-bureaucratic establishment. The veterans came out on the streets to protest and the Indian army chief was forced to take his case to the President, much to the annoyance of the government.
The issues related to the Military Service Pay, the exclusion of the rank pay from the pay scale of officers leading to a lowering of officers' status, introduction of running pay bands were, among others, issues that caused a lot of consternation within the services, especially as it reinforced a perception that it's all part of a well-established pattern of behavior on the part of their civilian masters.
Such turmoil within the ranks of any nation's armed services should be a cause for concern but in the case of India that aspires to join the ranks of world's major global powers this is a recipe for disaster.
The government has now decided to implement a modified version of the Pay Commission recommendations and the service chiefs seem to have given their blessings to the proposed changes. The navy chief has been quoted as saying that the concerns of the armed forces appear to have been suitably addressed. One hopes these views are shared by the rank and file of the nation's defence forces.
If the top leadership is indeed satisfied with the government's response, then the onus now is on them to give the Indian defence policy a new direction, a trajectory that does justice to India's rising stature in the global inter-state hierarchy. Blaming the government for all the ills afflicting the defence sector seems to be becoming the default position within the ranks of the military, and taking this too far can be really dangerous for the liberal democratic ethos of this nation.
India's armed forces need fundamental reforms, a restructuring that enables them to operate with utmost efficiency in a rapidly evolving domestic and global context. The armed forces can begin by putting their own house in order.
It is true that big macro issues remain beyond the influence of the armed forces as they have to work within the strategic framework set by the civilian leadership. The Indian economy will have to continue to grow at high rates of growth if Indian defence needs can be adequately catered to. High rates of economic growth over the last several years have given India the resources to undertake its military modernisation programme and redefine its defence priorities.
India, which currently has the world's fourth largest military and one of the biggest defence budgets, has been in the midst of a huge defence modernisation programme for nearly a decade that has seen billions of dollars spent on the latest high-tech military technology. This liberal spending on defence equipment has attracted the interest of Western industry and governments alike and is changing the scope of the global defence market.
A country like India does not have the luxury to make a choice between guns and butter and high economic growth is the only solution that will allow it to take care of its defence and developmental needs simultaneously. India's own version of 'revolution in military affairs' will force it to spend much more on sophisticated cutting-edge defence technology and on trained manpower. Without sustained rates of high economic growth, this will become very difficult to achieve as the defence forces will find it difficult to make demands on the government for greater resources.
The other issue is of appropriate institutional frameworks that enable a nation to effectively leverage its capabilities -- diplomatic, military and economic -- in the service of its strategic interests. India lacks such institutions in the realm of foreign and defence policies. While the prime minister laments the paucity of long-term strategic thinking in India, his government has done nothing substantive to stimulate such thinking.
The National Security Council still does not work as it ideally should. The headquarters of the three services needs to be effectively integrated with the ministry of defence and the post of the chief of defence staff is the need of the hour for single-point military advice to the government. The fact that successive Indian governments have failed to produce a National Security Strategy is both a consequence of the institutional decay in the country as well as a cause of the inability of the armed forces to plan their force structures and acquisitions adequately to meet their future challenges.
Yet, the Indian politico-bureaucratic establishment is not the only guilty party here as the Indian armed forces also have a lot to answer for. Their top leadership has shied away from making tough choices about reducing manpower strength; about adjusting the inter-service budgetary balance; and about restructuring the nation's professional military education system. No military anywhere in the world gets all the resources from its government that it deems adequate but an effective military organisation should be able to optimise the use of whatever is at its disposal.
Resources alone, however, will not make Indian armed forces the envy of its adversaries. It is the policy direction that is set by the military leadership and the quality of training imparted to its manpower that will make the difference. The debate on the wide-ranging changes that India's defence set-up needs should have been initiated long back by the armed forces themselves.
The questions that need to be debated and answered include: Do we have a 21st century military in terms of doctrine and force structure? Have the doctrines and force structures evolved in line with the equipments that the nation's resources are being spent on? Do India's command and control processes reflect the changing strategic and operational requirements? Does the Indian military have the capacity to initiate military actions on very short notice and actually conduct military operations that result in something other than a stalemate, something that India might have wanted to do during Operation Parakram in 2001-02 but could not? Have the Indian armed forces got the balance between capital and labour right?
Though high rates of economic growth have given and will, in the future, provide greater resources for defence, the changing socio-economic milieu will also make it increasingly difficult to attract young men and women to the services. As a result the armed forces will have to find a way to strike a balance between growing manpower shortage and the easing of budgetary constraints. The services have no option but to modernise their human resources policy -- recruitment, retention, promotions, exit et al which will make a huge difference to the satisfaction levels of the rank and file.
The armed forces need to do some serious introspection if these issues are to be sorted out before it's too late. It is disappointing to see the service headquarters continuing to resist greater integration and inter-services rivalry continuing to be as vicious as in the past. When the army came up with the doctrine of Cold Start, it found no support for it in the other services. The other services may have had genuine concerns about the doctrine but they have made no attempt to reconcile their differences, underlining Indian operational weaknesses.
The government, meanwhile, can always point to the malaise within the armed forces as an excuse for not undertaking any meaningful defence reforms of its own. India, for example, finds itself in a peculiar position of having a Strategic Forces Command but no CDS, partly because of the differences among the three services.
The debate has got stuck on the issue of the CDS whereas the nation needs to be thinking seriously about integrated theatre commands, allowing the three services to share their resources and enabling a reduction of manpower at various levels. Today's military challenges can not be tackled without a real integration up to the command level.
India desperately needs a defence policy that can do justice to its rising aspirations and its armed forces need to rise to this challenge. It is time for the Indian defence forces to start producing men and women of intellectual leadership and administrative acumen that this time in India's history demands.
The armed forces face a choice: They can keep blaming the political-bureaucratic establishment and do nothing or they can initiate a process of internal reforms forthwith. India's future, in many ways, will depend on the choice that they make.
by Dr Harsh V Pant teaches at King's College London
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Army orders probe against Indian soldiers in Congo
India’s Role in the Globalization of the IT Industry
During economic boom or bust, whether for import, domestic, or export, India has helped to drive globalization of the IT services industry; it is likely to create the second largest IT services labour pool after the United States within the next seven to eight years, as per an article published by the global research and analytics firm, Evalueserve.
In the article, Evalueserve provided the following statistics about the India’s IT services industry (which includes exports, as well as domestic IT services, engineering services, research and development services, and those related to software products):
• The Indian IT industry employed 450,000 professionals and earned USD 8.7 billion in revenue (i.e., approximately 1.75% of India’s GDP) in 2001–02.
• It employed 1,316,000 professionals and registered revenue worth USD 30.1 billion 2007–08. Since India’s GDP was approximately USD 1,050 billion during 2007–2008, the IT industry constituted approximately 2.86% of India’s GDP.
• The industry is likely to employ 3,750,000 professionals and record USD193.1 billion in revenue by 2015–16. Since India’s GDP is growing annually at 8.5% in real terms and 14% in nominal terms, this GDP is likely to be USD 2,400 billion by 2015–2016, and hence the IT industry is likely to constitute 8.05% of India’s GDP.
Consequently, if the forecasts by Evalueserve are accurate, then by 2015–2016, the number of professionals working in the IT industry will grow tenfold (from 2001–2002) and the total revenue by 22 times (in nominal terms). In other words, the industry is likely to witness significant growth even as many worry about the tough economic times ahead.
Unlike the Indian IT industry, the IT and software industry in the United States started in late 1950s, gained prominence due to mainframe computers in late 1960s and early 1970s, grew further due to the advent of personal computers in 1980s and due to the Internet that allowed organizations and individuals to be connected to each other in 1990s. Considering that all of these innovations occurred primarily in the United States, its IT industry has dominated those in other countries and continues to be significantly ahead even today.
According to Evalueserve, during 2006–07, the Unites States IT industry generated approximately USD452 billion in total revenue (i.e., domestic, as well as exports), which is almost fifteen times more than theUSD30.1 billion generated by the Indian IT industry. In 2007, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published its report, which stated that approximately 3.2 million IT professionals were employed in 2006 in different sub-sectors of the United States IT industry and forecasted that approximately 4.01 million professionals are likely to be employed in 2016.
Therefore, Evalueserve’s study concludes with the following:
• With respect to the number of professionals, the IT industry in India in 2016 is likely to be second in the world after the United States, with the latter employing between 1.25 and 1.33 times more professionals.
• Even in 2016, the IT industry in the United States is likely to generate approximately USD 810 billion in annual revenue, which would be approximately five times the revenue of the corresponding industry in India.
• The IT industries in both the U.S. and India have become inextricably linked with one another and with the rest of the world. Both the countries are likely to import, as well as export more IT services and products, at least for the next 7 to 8 years.
In the article, Evalueserve provided the following statistics about the India’s IT services industry (which includes exports, as well as domestic IT services, engineering services, research and development services, and those related to software products):
• The Indian IT industry employed 450,000 professionals and earned USD 8.7 billion in revenue (i.e., approximately 1.75% of India’s GDP) in 2001–02.
• It employed 1,316,000 professionals and registered revenue worth USD 30.1 billion 2007–08. Since India’s GDP was approximately USD 1,050 billion during 2007–2008, the IT industry constituted approximately 2.86% of India’s GDP.
• The industry is likely to employ 3,750,000 professionals and record USD193.1 billion in revenue by 2015–16. Since India’s GDP is growing annually at 8.5% in real terms and 14% in nominal terms, this GDP is likely to be USD 2,400 billion by 2015–2016, and hence the IT industry is likely to constitute 8.05% of India’s GDP.
Consequently, if the forecasts by Evalueserve are accurate, then by 2015–2016, the number of professionals working in the IT industry will grow tenfold (from 2001–2002) and the total revenue by 22 times (in nominal terms). In other words, the industry is likely to witness significant growth even as many worry about the tough economic times ahead.
Unlike the Indian IT industry, the IT and software industry in the United States started in late 1950s, gained prominence due to mainframe computers in late 1960s and early 1970s, grew further due to the advent of personal computers in 1980s and due to the Internet that allowed organizations and individuals to be connected to each other in 1990s. Considering that all of these innovations occurred primarily in the United States, its IT industry has dominated those in other countries and continues to be significantly ahead even today.
According to Evalueserve, during 2006–07, the Unites States IT industry generated approximately USD452 billion in total revenue (i.e., domestic, as well as exports), which is almost fifteen times more than theUSD30.1 billion generated by the Indian IT industry. In 2007, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published its report, which stated that approximately 3.2 million IT professionals were employed in 2006 in different sub-sectors of the United States IT industry and forecasted that approximately 4.01 million professionals are likely to be employed in 2016.
Therefore, Evalueserve’s study concludes with the following:
• With respect to the number of professionals, the IT industry in India in 2016 is likely to be second in the world after the United States, with the latter employing between 1.25 and 1.33 times more professionals.
• Even in 2016, the IT industry in the United States is likely to generate approximately USD 810 billion in annual revenue, which would be approximately five times the revenue of the corresponding industry in India.
• The IT industries in both the U.S. and India have become inextricably linked with one another and with the rest of the world. Both the countries are likely to import, as well as export more IT services and products, at least for the next 7 to 8 years.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Appeasement is never good for a nation
10,000 forest trees are chopped down to build the Mughal road in Kashmir. No one makes a noise.
Acres of land in the Kashmir valley are given to install mobile phone towers. No one screams.
Acres and acres of land in the Kashmir valley are allotted to lay sewage and drinking water pipes. No one objects.
But when 40 hectares of uninhabitable land is handed over to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to provide better facilities to the Amarnath Yatra
pilgrims, all hell breaks loose.
Why? Because the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board caters to Hindu pilgrims who want to visit the Amarnath shrine in the valley of Kashmir. It is as simple as that.
Politically correct politicians, policy-makers and administrators might try to tell you that it is not about religion, but the fact of the matter is that it is all about religion. It is a design by communal forces within the valley to completely Islamicise the valley by removing every symbol of Hinduism and other faiths from the valley.
Today, these communal forces are preventing the setting up of facilities for the yatra, tomorrow they will even go to the extent of banning the yatra altogether.
The land transfer fiasco has already consumed the Ghulam
Nabi Azad-led Congress government and is on its way to now adversely damage the state's economy. The fear psychosis has already resulted in a sharp decline of tourists to the valley. Counter-strikes and bandhs announced by the pro-land-transfer parties within the Jammu province have paralysed the life in that part of the state as well.
So far it has been a win-lose situation in favour of communal forces in the valley.
Let us take a hard look at the arguments presented by the locals who opposed the transfer of land:
1. The allotment would have adversely affected the environment around the area. One wonders where these tree-hugging environmentalists were when the same government allowed the felling of 10,000 forest trees to build the 89 km-long Mughal road.
40 hectares of land that was going to be used to provide temporary shelters and night-time facilities to pilgrims was in fact going to help in proper maintenance of the current day waste that actually pollutes the environment. But who can argue with senseless politicians who instigate people to come out on the streets?
2. The allotment is the government's ploy to settle Hindus from outside the state to change the demographics of the valley. Look, who is talking! One has to only go back 18 years in the history and check who changed the demographics of the valley.
Islamic terrorists changed the demographics of the valley by ethnically cleansing Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. I wonder where these we-do-not-want-to-change-demographics-folks were when Kashmiri Hindus were slaughtered and the valley's demographics were altered.
One would like to ask a few questions: a. Is 40 hectares of land enough to settle so many Hindus that it would change the demographics of the valley?
b. By putting this argument of demographic change, are the valley's Muslims implying that Hindus are not welcome in the valley anymore? And I do not mean the Hindus from outside Kashmir. I mean the Hindus from the state of Jammu & Kashmir itself.What if the Hindus, who hold the state subject certificate of J&K state and are legally allowed to purchase land in any part of the state want to purchase land in the area around the Holy Amarnath? Are the valley's Muslims saying that those Hindus cannot buy the land there and settle down? Is that what they are implying? Are they trying to protect the environment by preventing the Hindus from settling in the valley?
Another argument Kashmiri Muslims present is that the land cannot be allotted to the Shrine Board because Article 370 does not allow anyone outside of J&K to own land. Their argument is that since the J&K governor is the chairman of the board and he is an outsider, this transfer of land is illegal.
How dumb does one have to be to understand that the land is transferred to the Shrine Board which is an institution based in the state of J&K and created by the J&K government. The land is not transferred to the chairman or the CEO of the board per se.
Having touched upon the outlandish arguments of those who oppose the allotment of land, let us look at some facts and the real story:
It was during the first three years of the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-Ghulam Nabi Azad coalition government that the original proposal of land transfer was initiated and cleared. It was under Mufti Sayeed's leadership that his forest minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal and law minister Muzzafar Hussain Baig originally cleared the proposal. It just so happened that due to red tape, the proposal was finally approved by the cabinet when Azad had taken over as chief minister during the second three-year part of the six-year term.
The same PDP led by Mufti Sayeed was originally okay with this proposal. But as soon as the PDP smelt that terrorist outfits like the Hizbul Mujahideen
were not in favour of the allotment of land and realised that it could become a polarising issue to whip up sentiments to garner votes in the upcoming assembly election, it backtracked.
Since it is an election year, the National Conference and other smaller political parties would not let the PDP cash in on this opportunity alone. They jumped into the fray and whipped up sentiments by fooling the local Kashmiri Muslims. And that leaves the Congress. How could the Congress not try to cash in on this polarising issue in an election year?
Azad did not waste any time and revoked his cabinet's decision to appease the Kashmiri Muslim vote bank. He did not just stop there. In addition to revoking his own order, he also effectively disbanded the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. Now that is some level of appeasement! That is the real story behind the story.
It is an issue created by Mufti Sayeed to polarise the vote banks. It is his design of playing politics with the religious sentiments of lakhs of Hindus from all over the country.
Now that we know the real story behind the story, how about the Hindu pilgrims who want to visit the shrine and what about their fundamental rights to practice their religion with complete security, dignity and honour?
Isn't it a shame that Hindus living in India, where 80 per cent of population is Hindu, cannot freely visit the shrine and expect better facilities? It is only in India that the majority community has to make all the sacrifices in favour of minorities because our politicians believe in appeasing Muslims at the cost of Hindus.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on a television debate on this issue asked why there is a need for land and new facilities when the pilgrimage has been going on for many years.
Does Omar Abdullah mean to say that there is no need to improve the facilities provided during the treacherous pilgrimage? Is he implying that if the yatris were okay for so many hundred years, then why change and improve the facilities?
I have never heard him say such things with regards to the Haj pilgrimage. Every year Muslims from Kashmir and the rest of the country want better facilities and subsidies for Haj pilgrims. But when it comes to providing better facilities to Shri Amarnath pilgrims, it becomes a sore point for Kashmiri Muslims and their leaders.
Heavy rains, snowstorms, landslides and hostile environment took away 256 lives during the yatra in 1996. And Omar Abdullah has the audacity to promote the status quo!
Some of you might argue that it was not the valley's Muslims, but the political parties and terrorists who opposed the land transfer order and forced people to come out on the streets.
I can buy that argument, but that does not absolve the valley's people from their responsibility? They cannot always support these fundamentalist forces and then at the same time claim innocence.
They did the same in 1989 and in the early 1990s when they either stood as mute spectators or as vocal supporters while Kashmiri Hindus were ethnically cleansed. As a good citizen, it is incumbent upon them to raise their voice against these dreaded forces and stop this madness.
If they sincerely believe in peace, then they need to stand up and reject these terrorist outfits and their masters. Conversely, if they don't, then they are as much party to the madness as the principals and thus need to be held accountable.
Appeasement policies are never good for a nation, particularly for a nation like India that is so diverse in ethnicity and culture. Whether it is amending the Constitution during the Shah Bano case, releasing terrorists during the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case, freeing dreaded terrorists during the IC-814 hijacking or continuing the temporary Constitutional provision of Article 370, all such policies will one day result in the nation's doom.
It is incumbent upon the leaders of the nation as well as the citizenry to be on guard and not allow such appeasement policies to take effect in a nation that is based on the concept of secularism, democracy and fairness to one and all.
by Lalit Koul
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Corruption, officer shortage dent military's image
An alarming rise in the number of Indian military officers charged with corruption, senior ranks quitting due to frustrating service conditions and increasing instances of 'fragging', in which disgruntled soldiers have shot dead their seniors, are severely damaging the image of the country's defense forces.
There is no rush of youths to join the once-favored military, and the persisting shortage of officers in the 1.1-million-strong army is now around 11,000. The navy and air force too face a shortage of officers but not as severe as the army.
Senior officials cite expanding employment opportunities in the private sector as the reason behind this shortage.
But serving and retired officers said this was only part of the cause and that the services too had to take responsibility for lowering the military's image and overall standing in the country's order of preference for employment.
'Standards have changed. Bribery and corruption have seeped deep into the army ' retired Lt. Gen. Harish Chander Puri said. A larger number of officers in the army, particularly the senior ones, are increasingly becoming as corrupt, if not more so, than their civilian and political counterparts, he added.
Serving army officers say the 'rot' in service ethics has been steadily creeping into the services.
Till the 1980's military officers were considered upright men, respected in society and eagerly sought after by parents as suitable matches for their daughters.
Retired military men talk nostalgically of the days when a mere note from the commanding officer on behalf of any jawan to the local authorities back in his village carried weight.
Those were times when the esprit d'corps in the apolitical service was strong and invitations to riotous, albeit swinging, regimental officers' messes much sought after.
Salaries were low but the lifestyle was somewhat lavish in what was largely a gentleman's army.
'Many officers were, in reality, eager boys trapped inside grown bodies seeking to indulge in passions like shikar, riding, polo and outdoor living and danger at state expense,' said retired Brig. Arun Sahgal, an armoured corps officer. Colonial traditions made military service even more attractive.
From independence till the third war with Pakistan in 1971, there was ample opportunity for the latter.
And it was adequately vindicated, except for the disastrous 1962 war with China in which India came off badly. But in this instance, it was the political and not the military establishment that forced ignominy on the country.
The flamboyance, bravery and tactical brilliance of all ranks in the three wars with Pakistan are well recorded and form the subject of study in combat institutions around the world.
Politics was rarely, if at all, discussed by officers who if passed over for promotion retired gracefully, confident of their status in society.
Promotions were merit-based and, by and large, fair with undeserving candidates adhering to the Peter Principle and rarely ever crossing their limits of incompetence.
Army chiefs and senior commanders brooked no political interference in operational matters and were listened to with respect by the establishment.
When asked by prime minister Indira Gandhi to move into East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) in early 1971, the chief of army staff Gen. Sam Manekshaw (later Field Marshal) firmly told her that it would take at least 10 months before his force would be ready for combat. Gandhi paid heed and Bangladesh came into being in December that year.
In short, the olive green uniform enjoyed an exalted status it was soon to lose.
Its professionalism and apolitical stance began to slowly unravel after the Third Pay Commission in the late 1970's when officer ranks were diluted, ostensibly to enhance career prospects, but their responsibilities reduced in inverse proportion to their promotions.
Periodic cadre reviews further led to a lopsided rank structure, creating a situation where Lt. generals, among the seniormost army officers, and their equivalents in the navy and air force, discharged duties previously performed by middle ranking Lt Colonels and similar ranks in the other two services.
At present there are 732 brigadiers, 213 major generals and 60-odd Lt. generals, around a third of whom are replaced every two-three years. Pressure on promotions also meant that they served 12-18 months in their commands, leaving them little time to effect any meaningful change in the command and control structure.
The cadre re-assessment was the moment for which politicians and civil servants had long been waiting. Having always looked upon the military with suspicion after independence, they were simply waiting to gain ascendancy over the services.
Sadly, succeeding military chiefs and senior officers did not disappoint by seeking political and bureaucratic patronage for career enhancement.
As a consequence, the military's standing deteriorated over the years. It reached the unbelievable stage where it was almost entirely excluded from the 'security loop'.
The service chiefs, for instance, were told about Pokhran II, India's multiple nuclear tests in 1998, just hours before they happened; that too, as an insurance against any 'adverse reaction' from neighbouring Pakistan.
The military was also unaware of India's cache of chemical weapons stored at various Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratories across India that are now being destroyed under the global Chemicals Weapon Convention.
Today India's Mughal-like army, with one of the highest teeth-to-tail ratios, faces a crisis of confidence, most military officers concur.
Besides struggling against the slew of corruption charges exposed by tehelka.com, the news website, in 2001 and the more recent allegations levelled by the Central Bureau of Investigation against senior officers for arms imports, the military has also to battle lop-sided promotion and arbitrary equipping policies as it struggles to re-order and modernise itself within a nuclear weapon state.
by Rahul Bedi a defence analyst
Siachen scam: Army gets final warning
After allegedly failing to cooperate with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Army was served with a final notice to produce its officers and jawans for questioning in connection with the alleged pilferage of food and clothes meant for troops on the Siachen glacier.
This is the third and final notice and after this the police will approach a court for issuing non-bailable warrant against the officials besides seeking a direction to the Army for providing details about the scam, official sources said.
Defence Minister A K Antony had informed Parliament earlier this month that after an internal probe by the Army into the pilferage scam, the authorities had initiated administrative action against three officers and three junior commissioned officers.
The entire scam to light after the police found special rations meant for soldiers serving in Siachen Glaciers being sold in open market. Immediately, police wanted to question some of the officials including one in the rank of Brigadier stationed at Leh-based 14 corps.
Officials in Jammu and Kashmir Home Department said the Army top brass had assured cooperation once its inquiry was completed.
Now that their inquiry report is over, neither the report has been handed over to the police nor the officials handed over for questioning, senior officials said.
The army had filed a complaint against Leh's Senior Superintendent of Police Alok Kumar for his alleged aggressive attitude towards its personnel deployed in the Himalayan town located in north Kashmir, a charge vehemently denied by the state government.
An IPS officer of 1997 batch, Kumar was instrumental earlier in alleged Petrol and Diesel scam, where few army officials allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with petrol dealers and sold the oil in open market while filling the tankers with water.
In the present case, the Police have registered 11 FIRs since July this year after finding food packets and other equipment meant for Siachen being sold in the open market but the army has refused to cooperate in the probe.
Police arrested 31 people, including shopkeepers, in various areas in this Himalayan town located in north Jammu and Kashmir. Police registered the first FIR against shopkeepers and unknown army officers under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code related to cheating.
A few of them have made confessional statements before magistrates, during which they named senior army officers who allegedly supplied the materials to them, they said.
The police seized the boots and trousers at a time when the army's high command and the defence ministry are running from pillar to post for meet the requirements of troops in Siachen. The local command too had made a requisition for the special high altitude gear needed by the soldiers.
Recently, army rations including high-calorie food items meant for soldiers defending the borders in inhospitable terrain, were found on sale in the markets of Leh.
Chattisinghpura -Inquiry finds Indian troops did killings
Troops hunting terrorists killed and buried Indian civilians and passed them off as Pakistani militants responsible for killing Sikhs in Kashmir, an inquiry by India's top investigating agency has revealed. When villagers' protests led to the bodies being exhumed, the army doctored DNA tests to show that the remains were those of militants from across the border, India's Central Bureau of Investigation said in its final report two weeks ago. Human rights groups frequently report abuses by security forces in the Himalayan territory claimed by both India and Pakistan. But this was the first case of its kind handed over to the agency for investigation. The bureau found four army officers guilty of killing the civilians.
Hours before then-U.S. president Bill Clinton visited India in March 2000, 35 Sikhs were killed in Chattisinghpura village in Kashmir by suspected Islamic militants in army uniforms. India blamed Pakistan-based terrorists for the attack.
Four days later, 17 Muslim residents from three neighboring villages disappeared. Simultaneously, reports emerged that five Pakistani terrorists involved in the massacre of the Chattisinghpura Sikhs had been killed by the army. Juma Khan, a 45 year old from Brari Angan, was among the villagers picked up without explanation by the soldiers. "I thought they would not harm him because he was a family man and was not involved in anything," Khan's wife, Roshan Jan, said recently.
Two days after Khan's arrest, the army said its sharps******* had shot dead five "foreign militants" during a "ferocious encounter." There were no autopsies before the bodies were buried, but locals determined from clothing and personal items recovered at the gravesites that the bodies were those of missing villagers. As violent protests raged around Kashmir, local officials ordered exhumations. Although the bodies were charred, the army fatigues in which they were clothed were mysteriously intact. Relatives of a local cattle trader said his body was headless. There were no bullet wounds in another corpse. The chopped-off nose and chin of a shepherd was discovered in a grave holding another body.
Farooq Abdullah, then chief minister of the state, ordered DNA tests to determine identities. But that plan came under a cloud when two forensic laboratories said DNA samples from relatives of the dead men had been tampered with. "In one case, blood samples were said to belong to the mother and daughter of one victim. But not only were the samples male in origin, both belonged to the same man," a senior scientist at Calcutta's Central Forensic Science Laboratory told investigators. In three cases, samples allegedly collected from female relatives were found to have come from men. Another woman's sample contained the DNA of two individuals.
Two doctors involved in collecting the samples were suspended by the government, and a new team, headed by a senior police officer, collected fresh blood samples in April 2002. The new DNA tests established the dead men were "not foreign terrorists, as contended by the forces, but innocent civilians," a CBI investigator said this week.
The agency concluded the doctors, under pressure from the army, had tampered with the first DNA tests. "We have irrefutable evidence of at least seven such fake encounters, where Indian security forces killed 13 innocent Indian villagers in the last five years and passed them off as Pakistani militants," said Pervez Imroz, a human rights lawyer who spearheads the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons. "However, since 1989 more than 8,000 Kashmiris have disappeared from the custody of the security forces and we know nothing of their whereabouts."
Hours before then-U.S. president Bill Clinton visited India in March 2000, 35 Sikhs were killed in Chattisinghpura village in Kashmir by suspected Islamic militants in army uniforms. India blamed Pakistan-based terrorists for the attack.
Four days later, 17 Muslim residents from three neighboring villages disappeared. Simultaneously, reports emerged that five Pakistani terrorists involved in the massacre of the Chattisinghpura Sikhs had been killed by the army. Juma Khan, a 45 year old from Brari Angan, was among the villagers picked up without explanation by the soldiers. "I thought they would not harm him because he was a family man and was not involved in anything," Khan's wife, Roshan Jan, said recently.
Two days after Khan's arrest, the army said its sharps******* had shot dead five "foreign militants" during a "ferocious encounter." There were no autopsies before the bodies were buried, but locals determined from clothing and personal items recovered at the gravesites that the bodies were those of missing villagers. As violent protests raged around Kashmir, local officials ordered exhumations. Although the bodies were charred, the army fatigues in which they were clothed were mysteriously intact. Relatives of a local cattle trader said his body was headless. There were no bullet wounds in another corpse. The chopped-off nose and chin of a shepherd was discovered in a grave holding another body.
Farooq Abdullah, then chief minister of the state, ordered DNA tests to determine identities. But that plan came under a cloud when two forensic laboratories said DNA samples from relatives of the dead men had been tampered with. "In one case, blood samples were said to belong to the mother and daughter of one victim. But not only were the samples male in origin, both belonged to the same man," a senior scientist at Calcutta's Central Forensic Science Laboratory told investigators. In three cases, samples allegedly collected from female relatives were found to have come from men. Another woman's sample contained the DNA of two individuals.
Two doctors involved in collecting the samples were suspended by the government, and a new team, headed by a senior police officer, collected fresh blood samples in April 2002. The new DNA tests established the dead men were "not foreign terrorists, as contended by the forces, but innocent civilians," a CBI investigator said this week.
The agency concluded the doctors, under pressure from the army, had tampered with the first DNA tests. "We have irrefutable evidence of at least seven such fake encounters, where Indian security forces killed 13 innocent Indian villagers in the last five years and passed them off as Pakistani militants," said Pervez Imroz, a human rights lawyer who spearheads the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons. "However, since 1989 more than 8,000 Kashmiris have disappeared from the custody of the security forces and we know nothing of their whereabouts."
Monday, July 28, 2008
Narayana Murthy's words of wisdom
Way back in 1981, Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy and six other young engineering graduates launched an information technology company from a garage in Mumbai.
Murthy had borrowed Rs 10,000 from his wife (Sudha) to launch Infosys Technologies. Infy, as it is popularly known, recently, reported a net profit of Rs 1,302 crore (Rs 13.02 billion) for the quarter ended June 2008.
For 21 years Murthy served as the company's chief executive officer, before he handed over the reins to co-founder Nandan M Nilekani in March 2002.
To know more about the man, his life's philosophy and his success mantra, read on...
"We were huddled together in a small room in Bombay (now Mumbai) in the hope of creating a brighter future for ourselves, for the Indian society, and perhaps, we dreamed, even for the world."
"Our value system was like the British Constitution - it was all unwritten but extremely well practiced...Our value system is the true strength of Infosys."
"Unless we can sell well we cannot do anything, such as create jobs, pay good salaries and satisfy investors. Right from the beginning we realised that we have to focus on selling better and better in the marketplace."
"Truth is God. Our success at Infosys depends on our continual learning."
"Entrepreneurship is about running a marathon, not a 100 metre dash."
"Capitalism and Marxism intend to better the lot of humanity. Consequently, responsible Capitalism that creates wealth and allows it to percolate down seems to be a better option."
"I am a 100% free marketeer but I call myself a compassionate capitalist. While I'm very conservative in economic matters I'm very liberal about social matters."
"If we have to make life better for these (rural) people and give them reasonable standards of living, disposable incomes, healthcare and nutrition and education, I personally believe we have to look at low-tech manufacturing to start with and then high-tech manufacturing in a big way just as China has done because most of these people are semi-literate or educated at a very basic level."
"I define globalisation as sourcing material from where it is cheapest, talent from where it best available, producing where it is most cost-effective, and selling where the markets are -- without being constrained by national boundaries."
"Entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, (is) the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies."
"I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time."
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
China vs India: Which stock market is better?
For all of 2006 and till October 2007, the Chinese stock markets were on a roll. From a paltry 1,220 in December 2005, the Shanghai Composite Index multiplied 4.27 times to 6,429 by October, registering one of the most rapid rises in stock markets across the globe.
During the same period, the Dow appreciated by just 32 per cent, the FTSE by 20 per cent, the Nikkei by 8.5 per cent, Hang Seng by 114 per cent and Sensex by 115 per cent.
China is a nation of high savers. Their savings rate is known to be 40 per cent. In those 22 months, the Chinese poured their savings into the stock markets as if there was no tomorrow.
Brokerage accounts were opened at the rate of 2 lakh accounts per day. Even during the frenzy of the Reliance Power issue, the NSDL opened under 4 lakh accounts in the entire month of December 2007.
During the scorching rise, the benchmark index fell for just three months. The longest running bull phase was for 10 months from August 2006 to May 2007. The best phase that the Indian markets have had in the history since 1990 was for nine months during the Harshad Mehta-led rally, from July 1991 to March 1992.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. Shanghai is the worst performing stock market of the world in CY 2008. It has just replaced Vietnam at the top of the ladder among the worst performers with a 48.97 per cent fall.
Vietnam with 47.16 per cent comes second and our Sensex with a 35.17 per cent slide takes third place at the victory podium. From its rally peak of 6,429, the Chinese index is down 55 per cent.
But the Indian bourses are much better in many ways. There are just 893 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, compared to 4,909 companies listed on the BSE and more than 2,500 stocks traded every day.
Indian markets by comparison are much more advanced compared to their Chinese counterparts, which are still planning to introduce index futures trading. In India, we not only have index futures but also index options, stock futures and stock options apart from several sectoral indices.
Though we are ahead in terms of regulation and capital market reforms, China is huge in terms of overall size. Even after seeing a deflation of 58 per cent from the highs, their market cap is $2.58 trillion, compared to ours at $0.96 trillion.
At the peak, their market cap was $4.75 trillion and ours was $1.89 trillion. In terms of market cap to GDP ratio we are better placed at 0.97; the Chinese are at 0.67. At the peak, we were at 1.96 and the Chinese at 1.38.
While listed Chinese companies are smaller in number, they are huge by Indian standards. The IPO of the Industrial and Commercial bank of China, which came in October 2006, was a mammoth at $21 billion and the largest the world had ever seen. The largest we have had in India was Reliance Power, which raised just $2.9 billion.
China is a real giant when it comes to consumption of commodities. It consumes 34 per cent of the world's steel, 29 per cent of zinc, 28 per cent of aluminium and 25 per cent of copper. It also produces 36 per cent of the world's steel, 32 per cent of zinc and 30 per cent of aluminium.
As a result, if China catches cold, the world sneezes. Earlier this month, when China closed down a few smelters to improve the quality of air in and around Beijing ahead of the Olympics, aluminium prices raced to an all-time high.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is another area where China leads by a very wide margin. China has received $500 billion of FDI since 2000. India, by comparison, has got just $15.8 billion since 1991.
Till now, China was considered the world's workshop and India, the software lab. But the appreciation of the Renminbi by 21 per cent since October last has suddenly made Indian capital goods competitive. There was never an issue of quality with India. India could soon attract FDI in the sector. Hopefully, things will change for the better for India as the Dragon breathes a little easy.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Taxi + drive = smooth ride
Down a bustling hallway, across a call-centre and rows of busy executives, Neeraj Gupta, MD of Meru Cabs, paces restlessly. It's almost 4 pm, and he hasn't come up with a new idea all day "Every day, I need to come up with one new idea to help further the business," he said, as the turquoise blue of his firm's Maruti Esteem taxis seeped into his cabin's large bay windows. "It gives me sleepless nights if I don't manage to."
Idea
One thousand taxi drivers and a customer base of 30,000 passengers across the city are sure glad he came up the idea for a 24x7 call-taxi service in January 2007. An idea he got from Singapore's nearly 25,000-strong round-the-clock, on-call taxi service, which bowled him over.
Business
In July 2006, six months before he started up, the state government had announced it would grant licences to anyone who wanted to operate private taxi fleets.
His timing was perfect. Gupta set about creating his business plan. The 300 per cent growth of Gupta's four-year-old private fleet service V Links - from one bus to 13,000 vehicles - was testament to the fact Gupta was no Johnny-come-lately.
Over six months, he sat with global consulting firm Accenture's executives and convinced private equity firm India Value Fund to invest Rs 10 crore in the venture. He made three trips to Singapore to study its taxi system and finally sourced a state-of-the-art mobile communication device system - a mapping device to track the exact location of the taxi - from Australia at Rs 10 crore for 1,600 vehicles. His project was ready to roll.
"We carried out a survey on the passenger transport market and felt that Neeraj's concept had huge potential," said Prateek Roongta, vice president of the fund. "He had four solid years of experience in running a private fleet service - the perfect platform to securely invest in."
But manpower sourcing turned out to be a lot more difficult than Gupta had expected. The government had stopped issuing fresh permits to new drivers in 1997. "So we had to convince the existing black-and-yellow drivers to join us," said Gupta. "But the fear of losing their freedom to a corporate set-up with fixed works hours held most of them back."
But all it took was convincing the first batch of five to sign up in July 2007. "We told them that they were free to take as many street pick-ups as they wanted when they were not on call, as long as they submitted Rs 600 to the company daily," explained Sajid Rane, senior manager, operations at Meru cabs. "What they earned beyond this was theirs as the company managed maintenance and vehicular insurance."
The first batch of recruits then convinced their peers to make the switch. Within four months, the company had 1,000 drivers on its payroll. Mohammed Sheikh was one of them. He cannot believe how much his life has changed over the past nine months.
He is glad he took fleet service Meru Cabs up on its offer to Mumbai's taxi drivers: Trade your black-and-yellow taxi for an air-conditioned Maruti Esteem, wear a smart ochre and chocolate brown uniform and double your income.
It was a challenge when he changed over. The rattletrap had been the 32-year-old breadwinner's sole source of livelihood for two-and-a-half years, and helped him buy a one-room home in Mumbai. "But I don't regret my decision," said Sheikh of his giving up the familiar. "I now earn almost double what I did before, and my passengers treat me respectfully. I enjoy going to work everyday."
As Sheikh talks about the gifts he bought his family a month ago, ten clean shaven, uniformed men seated in the company's plush meeting room nod in unison to his testimony. Their lives changed too after they took a risk and changed course.
"As a Cool Cab driver, I would spend hours unengaged by the side of the road and make half the money I do today," said another Meru driver, whose earnings have even peaked to Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 a day over the last six months. "The permission to take both street pick-ups and phone appointments keeps me busy all day."
Success
Meru's drivers are not the only ones to praise Gupta's business plan. Smita Shrivastava, a corporate communications manager at Mastek India, uses only Meru cabs to ferry her to the airport for business trips. "I can be assured of a pick-up even if I make a call to Meru 10 minutes before I leave," she said. "The drivers are very polite and hand over a printed bill at the end of the journey. You feel safe knowing you are not being taken for a ride."
That's because Gupta's blueprint ensures that the entire service works with clockwork precision. A call on the helpline sets off a flashing red dot on a digital map stored in the call centre executive's computer. That helps him or her locate the caller's location and the number of engaged and free drivers in the vicinity.
The executive then sends a message with the caller's address to the closest free vehicle through the communication system. The address flashes across a digital screen inside the vehicle.
"I've timed the entire process," said Gupta, pointing to tiny maps with red and green dots across the call centre. "If executed perfectly, it shouldn't take more than two minutes. I've invested in GPS (global positioning system) and MCD (mobile communication device) because you will never be able to grow beyond a fleet of 200 without the right technology."
It's this eye for detail that is evident in Gupta's choice of drivers as well. Each of the 1,000 drivers has been picked after three rounds of scrutiny - a personal interview, a psychometric test and a five-day training programme at the Meru Academy, the small training division.
In fact, he picks just one percent of the 1,000 applications he receives every month. "One of the major complaints that customers had with the black-and-yellow cabs was bad driver behaviour," Gupta said. "We have to ensure that our drivers speak courteously, dress neatly and are on their best behaviour while on duty."
Erring drivers are counselled and put through monthly etiquette refresher courses.
Future
Gupta displays a similar perfectionism when chalking out his expansion plans. With his fleet of 500 having made a statement across Mumbai, Gupta is in the process of expanding to a fleet of 400 in Hyderabad, 250 in Delhi and 350 in Bangalore. And Roongta of private equity firm India Value Fund, which invested in Meru, said Gupta is bang on course. "Over the last year alone, Meru's services have grown so rapidly," he said. "Like all evolving economies, different transport formats will eventually co-exist, posing no threat to the other."
Gupta also has a team that is in charge of thoroughly researching the potential market in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune, with the aim of permeating every major metro by March 2009. "We're not even considering Kolkata, which already has a well-established private cab network," Gupta said. "But I am determined to have 5,000 Meru Cabs plying across the country by December. When your business plan is well thought-out, nothing can stop you from expanding."
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Ten mistakes equity investors generally make
1. Guided by greed
Many investors have been losing money in stock markets owing to their inability to control greed and fear. The lure of quick wealth is difficult to resist, particularly in a bull market. Greed augments when investors hear stories of fabulous returns being made in the stock market in a short period of time and, thus, lose their hard-earned money in many cases.
2. Following herd mentality
Following herd mentality is another reason for the investors’ losses. “It has been witnessed that the typical buyer’s decision is heavily influenced by the actions of his acquaintances, neighbours or relatives. So, if everybody around is investing in a particular stock, the tendency for potential investors is to do the same. But this strategy may backfire in the long run,” says Ashish Kapur, CEO, Invest Shoppe India Ltd
3. Resorting to speculation
Investors also face losses because they speculate and buy shares of unknown companies. They should, therefore, avoid relying on random tips and go for long-term gains only.
4. Lack of research
Proper research should be undertaken before investing in stocks. But this is rarely done. Investors generally go by the name of a company or the industry they belong to. But this is not the right way of putting one’s money into the stock market. “Therefore, if one doesn’t have time or temperament for studying the markets, one should always take the help of a suitable financial advisor,” says Kapur.
5. Creating leveraged positions
Many investors suffer from creating heavy positions in the futures segment without really understanding the risks involved. Instead of creating wealth, however, these investors burn their fingers very badly in case the sentiment in the market reverses.
6. Panic selling
In a bear market, investors panic and sell their shares at rock bottom prices. Trading on the bourses was suspended on May 17, 2004, May 18, 2006 and recently on January 22, 2008. Investors who had taken speculative positions lost heavily when blood was on the street. Even investors who had the capacity to hold on to their investments, lost faith in the markets and sold their investments in a hurry, thus incurring heavy losses.
Many investors have been losing money in stock markets owing to their inability to control greed and fear. The lure of quick wealth is difficult to resist, particularly in a bull market. Greed augments when investors hear stories of fabulous returns being made in the stock market in a short period of time and, thus, lose their hard-earned money in many cases.
2. Following herd mentality
Following herd mentality is another reason for the investors’ losses. “It has been witnessed that the typical buyer’s decision is heavily influenced by the actions of his acquaintances, neighbours or relatives. So, if everybody around is investing in a particular stock, the tendency for potential investors is to do the same. But this strategy may backfire in the long run,” says Ashish Kapur, CEO, Invest Shoppe India Ltd
3. Resorting to speculation
Investors also face losses because they speculate and buy shares of unknown companies. They should, therefore, avoid relying on random tips and go for long-term gains only.
4. Lack of research
Proper research should be undertaken before investing in stocks. But this is rarely done. Investors generally go by the name of a company or the industry they belong to. But this is not the right way of putting one’s money into the stock market. “Therefore, if one doesn’t have time or temperament for studying the markets, one should always take the help of a suitable financial advisor,” says Kapur.
5. Creating leveraged positions
Many investors suffer from creating heavy positions in the futures segment without really understanding the risks involved. Instead of creating wealth, however, these investors burn their fingers very badly in case the sentiment in the market reverses.
6. Panic selling
In a bear market, investors panic and sell their shares at rock bottom prices. Trading on the bourses was suspended on May 17, 2004, May 18, 2006 and recently on January 22, 2008. Investors who had taken speculative positions lost heavily when blood was on the street. Even investors who had the capacity to hold on to their investments, lost faith in the markets and sold their investments in a hurry, thus incurring heavy losses.
7. Timing the market
Many investors try to time the market. But this has not proven to be a great strategy. Historically, in fact, it has been witnessed that even great bull runs have shown bouts of panic moments. The volatility witnessed in the markets has inevitably made investors lose money despite the great bull run. Therefore, only prudent investors who put in money systematically, in the right shares and hold on to their investments patiently, have made outstanding returns. So it’s not ‘timing the market’, but ‘time in the market’ which creates wealth. Hence, it is prudent to have patience and always keep a long-term broad picture in mind.
8. Putting all eggs in one basket
Another mistake which investors generally make is non-diversification of their portfolio. They generally put all their money in limited and favourite stocks which are in momentum. So, investors should diversify their portfolio across industries and size of the companies. Also, it is important to diversify across asset classes – equities, real estate, bonds, commodities, cash etc.
9. Avoiding financial planning
Investors also do not apply financial planning practices in their investment approach. They should follow an asset allocation model and invest only in long-term funds in the equity markets. They should also keep rebalancing their overall portfolio from time to time to keep their exposure to equity markets at the desired ratio of the total portfolio.
10. No monitoring of portfolio
We are living in a global village. Any important event happening in any part of the world has an impact on our financial markets. Hence, we need to constantly monitor our portfolio and keep affecting the desired changes in it. If one can’t review one’s portfolio due to time-constraint or lack of knowledge, they should take the help of a financial advisor.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Pilgrims deserve better
It is distressing and alarming that communal tension is rising over the decision of the Jammu and Kashmir state government to transfer a little less than 40 hectares of land to the Sri Amarnathji Shrine Board to enable the latter to provide accommodation facilities to the thousands of Hindu pilgrims who visit the Amarnath shrine every summer. One cannot expect separatist and militant outfits in Jammu and Kashmir to make a sober and mature appraisal of the larger issues at stake. It is the attitude of mainstream political parties that is most disappointing and worrying.
The specious grounds for the the Peoples Democratic Party's objections are that the implementation of the decision of the state government would change the "eco-cultural character" of the state. What is the nature of this eco-cultural character of Jammu and Kashmir that is so fragile that it cannot survive the transfer of a small tract of land? Does the Kashmir valley have only a "Muslim" character? What happened to the much-touted Kashmiriyat? Or is that a politically correct platitude that has become an inconvenience to be ignored now that most of the Kashmiri Pandits have been hounded out of their homes in the Valley to Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere in India? Kashmiri politicians owe it to the rest of India to clarify their position on this issue.
To my mind, whether or not the land in question should be transferred to the SASB is only a technical question, not the heart of the issue. The more important thing is whether the state government feels that it has an obligation to improve the facilities that would make the pilgrimage of thousands of Hindu devotees more secure and more comfortable. For centuries pilgrims have been making the arduous trip to Amarnath cave without the benefit of any facilitation by the state. They relied on the local people for food, accommodation and other facilities. They lived in tents. But a caring State in independent India can and should do more.
It would be instructive to see what the Government of India does for Haj pilgrims visiting Mecca and Medina. The government is, in the words of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, "committed to ensure that the best possible arrangements are put in place for the comfort and well-being of Indian pilgrims to facilitate their sacred pilgrimage." The "welfare and well-being of Haj pilgrims," he says, "is always a matter of utmost concern to the government."
In keeping with these public policy statements, the Government of India makes elaborate arrangements for the welfare of Haj pilgrims and strives to improve the facilities provided to them every year. That is how it should be. The Government of India, and the ministry of external affairs in particular, deserves credit for providing perhaps the best arrangements that any government makes for their Haj pilgrims.
And what exactly does the Government of India do? For starters, it provides an airfare subsidy to about 100,000 pilgrims selected by the Haj Committee of India who go for Haj annually. Pilgrims pay only Rs 12,000 for their air travel. This figure has remained unchanged for at least a decade or more.
According to official figures, this subsidy was Rs 280 crores in 2006, or about Rs 28,000 per pilgrim. Today, with rising fuel prices, this figure would have gone up to Rs 350-400 crores. Although there is a 2006 Allahabad high court judgment ruling against this subsidy, it continues to be given because the government got the Supreme Court to pass a stay order.
Add to this the losses suffered by Air India, and the inconvenience to passengers because its planes are diverted to carry Haj pilgrims. For the convenience of pilgrims, charter flights are operated directly from 16 airports in India to Saudi Arabia. Returning pilgrims can transport 10 litres of holy Zam Zam water with them free of cost. At Delhi airport there is a separate Haj terminal. To improve the comfort of pilgrims, Air India has been advised to use wide-body jets in future for their Haj flights.
Great attention and care to Haj matters is given at the highest levels of government. The United Progressive Alliance government has successfully lobbied with the Saudi government to increase the quota for pilgrims from India, as a result of which the annual quota has increased by 38,000 over the last four years. It will go up by a further 3,000 or so this year because of the exertions of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to Saudi Arabia in April this year.
There is a separate Haj cell in the ministry of external affairs. The Haj Committee of India has its own premises in Mumbai. Similarly the State Haj Committees have their own premises in various other Indian cities. These facilities have been built on land provided by the state governments.
Very high priority is given to Haj matters in the mandate given by the government to both the Indian ambassador in Riyadh and the Indian consul general in Jeddah. Every government in Delhi has ensured that only Muslims are appointed to these posts, a practical decision intended to facilitate their travel to Mecca and Medina, where non-Muslims are not allowed. There is also a separate consul for Haj matters in the Indian consulate general in Jeddah.
Accommodation in Mecca and Medina is decided keeping in mind the need to provide maximum convenience and comfort to the pilgrims. Typically, all accommodation has lifts, telephones, running water, electricity and telephone at the minimum. There is total computerisation of pilgrim location and movement. During Haj, a large contingent of seasonal local staff, supervisors, data entry operators, as well as drivers and messengers (whose job is to round up and bring home safely elderly pilgrims who may have got lost) is appointed by the consulate general of India, Jeddah, during the Haj period.
For Haj 2007, a contingent of 115 doctors (including 63 specialists with post-graduate degrees) and 141 nurses and other para-medical staff, 3 coordinators, 46 assistant Haj officers, 165 Haj assistants and 186 Khadimul Hujjaj were sent from India on short-term deputation to Saudi Arabia. Special attention is given to medical facilities for the pilgrims.
Some of the facilities provided by the government are: arrangements for polio, meningitis and influenza vaccinations for pilgrims before departure; a 75-bed hospital and 12 branch offices-cum-dispensaries in Mecca; a 15-bed hospital and 6 branch offices-cum-dispensaries in Medina; three medical teams at Jeddah airport to provide medical care round the clock to Haj pilgrims; 17 ambulances in Mecca and Medina; supply of medicines, medical supplies and critical medical equipment from India. All this adds up to the total money spent by the government to facilitate a hassle-free Haj pilgrimage each year for tens of thousands of Muslims from India.
Perhaps our self-righteous and petty Kashmiri politicians in India's only Muslim-majority state should reflect over these facts and tell us whether they think it is at least their moral if not political obligation to be more caring and sensitive to Hindu pilgrims visiting Amarnath. If we can do so much for Indians going on a pilgrimage abroad, should we not be able to do as much if not better for pilgrims at home?
For a start, should not the Jammu and Kashmir government at least try to match the facilities given to pilgrims to Vaishno Devi shrine, which is located in the same state? And is it too much to expect our politicians and other "secular" leaders to be a bit more courageous and vocal in trying to knock some sense into the heads of shortsighted and irresponsible Kashmiri politicians?
As those in power, both in Delhi and Srinagar, ponder over this matter, the litmus test has to be whether the decision finally taken adds to the comfort and convenience of the pilgrims.
Indian citizens and taxpayers deserve honest answers to the questions posed above.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
