The Truth v/s Hype of FDI

One of the most recent problems which had shaken the UPA
government is decision of allowing 51% foreign direct investment
(FDI) in multi brand retail sector. The government had suffered severe
criticism from all sides on this decision because of the concern about
the loss of livelihoods it is likely to create. Let us analyse what actually
is FDI in multi brand retail and how is it likely to impact the Indian
economy. Retailing means selling of goods to the end consumer for
final consumption. The Indian retail sector is divided into two groups
that is organised and unorganised sector. Organised retail sector
includes trading activities of licensed retailers which are registered for
sales tax, income tax etc. These retailers are publicity-traded
supermarkets, corporate backed hypermarkets and also privately
owned large retail businesses. Some examples in India include Big
Bazaar, V Mart, Shopper’s Stop etc. Unorganised retailing on the other
hand consists of traditional retailing formats like local kirana shops,
mandi, beedi/cigarette shops, fruit and vegetable vendors and alike.
The share of the organised retailing sector in Indian retail setup is
extremely low which is about only 10% and rest 90% of retailing is
done by the unorganised sector which mostly employs family
members and lack adequate storage and logistics facilities.
Though the current level of opposition which led to the holding back of
the FDI in retail policy tends to generate a very negative public opinion
towards this but the true picture as not as dark as it is shown. There
are many flaws associated with the present retailing set up of
unorganised sector which leaves the consumer with very little choice
and poor quality goods. From a study it is found that about 30-40% of
the farmer’s produces gets destroyed because of lack cold storage and
warehouse facility. The various riders attached by the government to
the opening of multi brand retail in India is likely to take care of such
problems. According to these conditions the establishing retail store
must invest at least 50% of its total investment in developing back end
infrastructure and facilities like modern product sourcing
management, logistics, supply-chain management, cold
storage,packing,transportation,sorting and processing, refrigeration
etc.
Which will prevent post-harvest losses and will also lead to
infrastructure development and employment generation in diverse
sectors as according to the commerce minister around 10 million jobs
will be created in three years and farmers will be able to get better
prices for their products. Also the mandatory sourcing of at least 30%
of their products from small and medium scale enterprises will boost
small scale industries as these chains will procure the same for their
foreign outlets also. Customers will be benefitted by competitive prices
and variety. It will also help to control food inflation. An example can
be taken from China and Thailand where similar protests took place in
the beginning but after allowing FDI in multi-brand retail these
countries had been actually accelerated their economic growth. In
India these stores will be allowed only in the cities having a population
of million plus thus only about 53 cities will be covered in initial phase.
Moreover the final decision to implement the policy will be left with
the state governments only allowing them to either accept it or reject
it. Hence we can say that if FDI in retail is allowed it will boost the
Indian economy by allowing inflow of foreign funds and investment.
Also customers will get access to quality products at competitive
prices.
But we must also keep in mind that may lead to large scale
unemployed in unorganised retail sector. These stores may
monopolize the prices. Hence opening up of the FDI retail sector
should take place in a gradual phased manner so that small retailer’s
interests are also taken care of. A possible policy may provide these
small retailers with cheap credits, subsidies and technical facilities to
increase their efficiency and make them competitive. Government
could make it mandatory for these stores to provide certain proportion
of employment to rural youth. Appropriate legal frameworks can be
implemented to prevent them from resorting to predatory pricing and
monopolistic tendencies.
Hence we can say that if FDI in retail is allowed with certain
preconditions it will help boost the Indian economy in the long run and
will project a positive image of India regarding its liberalisation
policies. It will help growth of exports and employment generation.
Therefore it must be allowed and at the same time interests of small
retailers be also protected.
 CENSORSHIP ON NETWORKING WEBSITES
Networking websites-a place where all meet virtually and talk, discuss,
comment about almost everything a human kind talk about.
Networking websites have undergone a drastic change in terms of
personality as well as soul from the times they have been introduced.
Well this is wonderful as well as ironical that a mere website being
given attributes as personality and soul. But this is the practical picture
of networking websites in the market today.
Networking websites have laid down the platform which can be used
for arrival and departure of anyone’s train. In simpler words, we have
the whole world to talk to, discuss with, question on, appreciate,
change, know of and what not on these networking websites.
This was the gist of networking websites. Now the concern is to
discuss and justify/question the censorship on networking websites.
To everyone’s surprise, censorship on networking websites does exist
since the time they were introduced but not in the terms of what it is
for news today. Censorship of these website is strongly necessitated
for it is used world widely by all people be them, young, old, rich, poor,
male, female, sensitive, harsh, all in all by a variety of people. As per a
survey made by an American newspaper, if the posts of these websites
are not closely watched and censored as per need arises, there shall be
thousands of illegitimates posts on the walls of these websites which
are not supposed to be there publicly similar to the banning of
illegitimate poster on the physical walls.
Just to make the point clear that censorship on networking websites
has many ideas involved, let us remind ourselves of one Indian
mythological and one Indian historical event for the same. Lord
Krishna told Arjuna that Karma is greater than anything else in the
whole universe. This conclusively leads to destruction of the evil in
that era. Now connect it to present situation. Condemning publicly the
acts of people/group of people/govt though not ethically good but
practically necessary. Unless they shall know that they are wrong, they
are bound to be wrong in future as well.
The historical event that is against of censorship on networking
websites in terms of censorship of right to speak is what happened
during struggle of independence, when newspapers were banned and
meetings of group of people were totally not allowed. This led to
nothing but growth in anger of common masses which can be the
reason of downfall of entire empire and the history is full of such
examples.
Today is the era when you forbid a thing and you have to explain the
whole world around your that very action. Besides, people are
determined to know that if found guilty of hiding one’s selfish deeds
behind that there will be a mass condemn for that. That was the
reason, the present telecommunication and Information and
technology minister –Kapil Sibal faced such a bitter reply from the
common masses as well as from the owners of networking websites.
The censorship demanded by him and his ministry was totally for the
selfish ends of their political party. They were unable to present a
single valid reason behind their this demand and their digging into this
area.
The censorship in news right now was very much similar to the case
where you are declined to the right of speech and right to life as well. If
in a DEMOCRATIC country, there is such a violation of fundamental
rights and people have no say, the downfall can be easily foreseen.
However coming back to censorship on networking websites in
general, as mentioned earlier that it is necessary*.*conditions apply.
But the care must be taken that originality and facts don’t get lost
during this fragmentation. If it can create revolution in its own way, it
should be allowed to. Because Change in itself is generally a
betterment. To ensure its a betterment, yes there should be
censorship.
All in all, ’EXCESS OF EVERYTHING IS BAD’, then it is eider censorship
or freedom of speech. Hoping to have both be in sync.
 The Truth vs Hype of FDI
There are always many facts of any realistic situation in today’s world,
especially in a country like ours, where democracy is deemed above
anything else, and where the right to freedom of speech and
expression is used (and misused) over and over again. Unlike countries
like U.S., where there are only two major political alliances (the
Democratic and the Republicans), we have, in India, apart from the two
dominating alliances, a host of other fronts, all of them persistently
engaged in scuffles over every single agenda, sometimes not even
paying much attention to what their stands mean, to themselves and to
the country.
Same has been the case with the issue of introduction of Foreign Direct
Investment (F.D.I) in the Indian retail market. The government has
decided to open up the Indian retail market for global players through
F.D.I. in multi-brand retail with a 51% threshold (i.e. they can have
only 51% equity in the investment) and 100% ceiling in single-brand
retail. There are several versions of the possible outcome of this
scenario floating in the different spheres of the country. But the
different interpretations ought to be backed with rational reasons.
Broadly, there are two different views with regard to the decision of
the Indian government to allow F.D.I. in Indian retail market, one
supporting it and the other opposed to it. The first argument is put
forward by the government itself, quite obviously supporting its
resolution. The government claims that 10 million jobs will be created
in the retail sector in the next 3 years (though without floating any
judicious explanation). It mandates a minimum investment of 100
million U.S. dollars (approximately 500 crores rupees) for the foreign
companies, with at least half the capital to be invested in back-end
infrastructures, including cold chains, refrigerations, transportations,
packing, sorting and storing. Now, this is no secret that India, amongst
the other developed and developing nations of the world, falls way
behind when it comes to infrastructures( as has been recently pointed
out by Ernst & Young that most of the multi-national companies
backing out of India cite lack of proper infrastructures as their key
concern). Hence, under these circumstances, this step can be deemed
most welcoming. Another very influential agenda pointed out by the
government is the nuisance of middlemanship. FDI in retail will ensure
procurement of raw materials, especially of fruits and vegetables,
directly from the farmers, thus filtering out the roles of middlemen.
The price that a farmer gets for a kilo of onions today is about half the
price at which retailers and vendors sell the same stuff to the
consumers. Another proposal buoying this idea is that a minimum of
30% of the value of manufactured items procured should be sourced
from small and medium Indian enterprises. The government backs its
decision with a host of other reasons, e.g., the presence of foreign retail
majors will ensure supply chain efficiency. It also alludes to examples
of some other nations (China, Thailand etc.), though they fail to explain
why the same system will be beneficial to our country as well.
The second version includes the views of the opposition and those who
consider this decision to be inconsistent with the nation’s
development. There are over 1.2 crores shops in India, employing over
4 crores people, 95% of which are small shops run by self-employed
people. The opposition claims that the move will lead to large-scale job
losses. Since there is no compulsion to procure all the raw and
manufactured materials from Indian sources only, it may lead to
domestic agro-industries getting haywire. The move can also lead to
market prices being controlled by the foreign giants, further causing a
slump of traditional Indian markets and monopoly in the markets. The
fact being pointed out by the opposition that any comparison being
made between India and someone like China is bogus, is crushingly
genuine.
Both these versions of possible upshots are anything but restrained.
And going by the history of our nation’s reaction to issues pertaining to
the common-man’s life, a lot of hype is being created over the situation
and the issue, by and large, is being blown out of proportions. These
extremist views, being largely politically motivated, are far from being
the truth. The truth, in fact, lies somewhere in the middle. Firstly, a
sheer glance at the whole matter at hand gives anyone the fair idea
that this move is going to do more good than harm. Since the
government is not directing anything against the Indian domestic
enterprises, they can co-exist with the big guns of the world, and a
healthy competition is never a bad idea in today’s world. They should,
in fact, look forward to work in liaison with these companies. If the
idea to introduce F.D.I means that the farmers are going to get their
worthy rewards and the masses are going to have access to better
qualities of commodities at better prices, then this step should be
welcomed with open arms, even if this means that a handful of people
will be driven out of jobs. Because while choosing between two evils,
one should always go for the lesser evil.
However, if the government is backing its decision purely on the basis
of examples and references of nations like China and U.S., then it
should also keep in mind the grave differences between the highly-
disciplined systems of theirs and the ever-worsening chaotic
conditions of our system.
The bottom line is that any step of any nature taken by the government
is always going to benefit a particular section of the society and at the
same time, is going to be harmful for another section. But the million-
dollar question is whether this decision has really been taken with a
chaste heart, or is just an another example of greedy politics.
 HAS ANNA'S AGITATION LOST STEAM?
Anna’s movement is a very old one. It has a long history of about 20
years . It plays a significant role in important laws such as –Right of
Information, The e-governance plan etc. Its beginning can be traced
from Maharashtra from where it gained a national platform in a slow
,steady and systematic manner. It has also been understood by all the
enlightened class people of India. Anna’s active role against corruption
gained huge publicity on national platform. Starting from June 2011 ,if
we chronologically trace the events we find that Anna’s April 2011 fast
was refreshed by the government crackdown at Ramlila Maidan. The
Lokpal committee constituted under the chairmanship of Mr. Pranab
Mukherjee could not complete the task of giving the nation a strong
Lokpal.
The public support which we had seen in August 2011 agitation was an
unprecedented one and had successfully made the government bow
before itself .So, it would be definitely incorrect to say that Anna’s
movement has lacked public support. It should be remembered that it
is backed by Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal. Besides bravery ,the
selfless septuagenarian has a friendly nature towards general public
.His personal positive mindset with his grave and determined nature is
very important. He has won many prestigious national level awards-
Padmabhushan, Padmavibhusan etc . The fast was only of three days at
Azad maidan ,Mumbai due to Anna’s deteriorating health. Some
regional reasons were responsible for less number of people at Azad
maidan .Moreover, Azad maidan is in out skirts of Mumbai. Local
government didn’t provide support at that time. Another hurdles like
chilly weather were also responsible. Local policemen ,city buses ,auto
rickshaw appeared non- cooperative.
Anna’s agitation has not yet been politicized .He openly offers to
criticize and oppose the corrupt and supports the anti corruption
movement. Least importance has been paid to money .Money is called
means to an end and is not an end, but it seems that money has
become an end. Top govt. Officials and civil servants do not feel shy in
being called the ill-educated group of the nation.
The August charter is a strong evidence in this regard-The citizen’s
charter ,lower bureaucracy under Lokpal and establishment of a
lokayukta in states. Anna’s agitation is for – rampant corruption
prevalent in India , electoral reforms in India. This struggle is
omnipresent. The current mood of team Anna and current status of
lokpal bill is a proof of this assertion. Anna is determined to bring a
strong lokpal. Anna’s agitation not only includes the economic aspect
of corruption but socio-political aspect also. Electoral reforms is the
best type of socio-political reform.
It has been rightly said that –‘The test of democracy is freedom of
criticism.’ If a country’s democracy passes this test ,it is well and good.
But, in the recent past we all have noticed that Indian democracy has
to still pass this test .It is surrounded by many unscrupulous political
parties for their selfish and malicious intentions. They have also kept
the movement alive. After the movement, common people have a
different perspective of corruption. Anna has made the people
understand that the pace of development in 64 years of independence
could have been better. Corruption can be rooted out by two
significant means –building up of a high quality character and strict
laws with punishments. Really, unity is strength and if all the
countrymen unite against this cancer of corruption, we can cure it.
Mass support by national religious leaders-Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
National reputed institutions like IIT’s and IIM’s and y the general
people can bring wonderful results. Several states like Gujarat and
Bihar have taken leadership in this direction. They have implemented
Anna’s lokpal at state level. These states have scaled great heights in
progress and development .The USA report certifies it.
Keeping these facts in mind ,it is the duty of elite section of Indian
society to understand and spread that Anna’s reforms will promote
overall national welfare. The favourable atmosphere created after
complete reform will stop brain drain. India will take steps for its all
around development –defence, research ,medicine, education to fulfil
the dream of India 2020.This lesson can be learnt from China where
prime importance is paid to Chinese language and with efficient
approach they are presently having world’s best brains according to a
recent survey of under 14 years age children.
So, it becomes our prime duty to deeply understand and appreciate
Anna’s approach to adhere towards our dream of a fully developed
nation with its former glory regained. Let us keep Anna’s movement
alive in our hearts for the noble cause and for our dream nation.
 Lokpal Bill fiasco
Lokpal is an independent ombudsman body (Legal Representative) in
India which will deal with the corruption. It was first introduced in
1968 in the Loksabha(Lower house) by Shanti Bushan.But it failed to
pass in the Rajyasabha(Upper house).Eight futile attempts were made
to pass the bill since the introduction. Another attempt was made by
UPA II on 27th December 2011, which was passed in Loksabha but it is
pending with Rajyasabha. Congress passed the bill in the Loksabha
with the help of SP and BSP walking out, showing their opposition with
the intention to help the government to pass the bill by reducing the
required vote. Many amendments were raised by main opposition
party BJP and the left but none of them succeeded in getting them
passed because Congress was adamant in accepting the opposition's
demands.
As the bill passed in the Loksabha it was placed before the Rajyasabha
where the Congress is minority which was forced to accept the
amendments. Here the largest ally TMC opposed the bill and
introduced the amendments. Two amendments were taken in hand by
most of the opposition parties. One for autonomy of the CBI and the
other for the creation of Lokayukta in states should be left with the
state governments. If the Congress accepts the amendments in the
Rajyasabha then the bill needs to be placed again in the Loksabha for
the approval, so that the bill cannot be passed in the winter session. If
the bill was put to vote in the current form then sure it would be
rejected because of minority. So the Congress tried hard to appease
TMC to support the bill in its current form but couldn’t. So the congress
tried its best to avoid voting by keeping in mind that if the bill after
voting failed, then it would cause great embarrassment to the
government.
In order to avert voting congress executed two tricky plans. They want
to run out of time so that three days of extended session will get over.
As per the plan, first they brought quota for minorities issue which
leads to disruption and the session was adjourned for about 15
minutes.
Next with the help of RJD MP, they scripted a most embarrassing ploy.
An RJD MP directly went to the Minister of State in the Prime
Minister's Office V Narayanasamy’s place where he was proceeding
with the debate with his blurred voice and pulled the paper from his
hands, tore and threw it.
But with a large heart Narayanaswamy continued with his speech
which no one understood .For every point made by the opposition, he
gave ridiculous answers. In simple words he gave poll campaign
speech like "What the BJP and other parties done”. No valuable or
counter point in his an hour long speech which was with the intention
to run out of time. Finally clock ticks for 12 am and they succeed in
running out time and Rajysabha was adjourned sine die.
As usual after everything there would be some blame game among
government and the opposition. Here also it took place without any
exception, but eventually more words were released against Congress,
even from its allies. Opposition rightly called it as “a murder of
democracy ". Once again we, the people of India failed to get anti-
corruption bill because of the inept government and the opposition.
 Reasons Behind Rahul Gandhi entering into politics
Rahul Gandhi better known by the sobriquet ‘RG’ in the party circle
arrived in the mainstream politics during mid of the past decade. A
graduate from Trinity College, University of Cambridge Gandhi scion’s
entry into politics didn’t appalled many. Politics comes naturally to Mr.
Gandhi, who since coming to active politics has been heralded as PM in
making.
In the words of Mr Rahul Gandhi “ There is a work that my father had
started, a dream he had dreamt. I come to you today saying, allow me
to carry that dream into reality”.These words of Rahul urged the
country to accept him as the successor of a quintessential figure of
India National Congress, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, who has revolutionised our
country. Till 2003, Rahul Gandhi didn’t conform to the request of his
supporters of joining active politics. In March 2004 Lok Sabha
elections, Sonia moved to the Rae Bareli constituency leaving the
patriarchal constituency of Amethi for Rahul to contest and to bring
him into the foray. In his first interview with foreign media, Rahul
portrayed himself as a uniter of the country and condemned “divisive”
politics in India, saying that he would try to reduce caste & religion
tensions. The result being a pompous victory by margin of over
100,000 votes.
Till 2006 Rahul Gandhi eschewed to hold any political office. In 2006 at
Hyderabad in high profile congress campaign for the 2007 assembly
election Rahul Gandhi was again urged by the congress camaraderie to
step ahead and become the iconic youth face of congress to take on the
reins of leadership. Consequently in sep. 2007 Rahul acceded as
general secretary of All India Congress Committee and also took
charge of youth congress and NSUI. With a sound political acumen and
vision of the party Rahul created a think tank for the beleaguered
Indian Youth Congress , for which he interviewed a bunch of 40 pre-
screened people. The organisation has been revamped since Rahul
took over the charge.
Rahul had been confronted and quizzed at JNU, considered to be
influenced by leftist, on hierarchical politics in India, visit to dalit
house, economic growth & education reforms. In 2009 Lok Sabha
elections once again Rahul was able to woo the voters leading to a
victory margin of over 3,33,000 votes.
As we know, nothing comes with ease; same has been the case with
him too. He has been marred with controversy in a brief carrier
spanning over 8 years. His remarks over 7/11 terror attack,
comparison of RSS and SIMI , sukanya devi case and ilk issues have
also irked the public. Though one may say that as a part of Gandhi
dynasty lead him into politics but then it is one’s charisma & persona
that sustains them in a long run. Further it is also pertinent to recall
once again that prior entering into quagmire of Indian politics and
confront with its vexed issues he had done a lot of ground work, to
firm up his foothold, sine qua non to fulfil the dream that his father has
dream
 2G Scam Chidambaram
In India, the menace of corruption is evident from a long time. The
Ketan Parekh’s Securities scam in 2001,Navy war room spy scandal
2006,cash for vote scandal 2008, Madhu Koda mining scam
2009,Commonwealth games scam 2010 are just a small list of big
scandals in recent years but the actual list can’t be quantified here. The
problem of Corruption is also evident from the Transparency
International’s Corruption Perception Index, in which India ranked
95th out of 178 countries.
The latest and the biggest of all scandals had surfaced in 2010 as 2G
Spectrum scam, when CAG showed large-scale irregularities in the
spectrum allocation. As per draft CAG report placed before Supreme
Court, the 2G Spectrum scandal involved undercharging mobile
telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses and the short
fall of money is estimated to be Rs. 176,645 Corore. The main person
accused of this scam was the then Telecom Minister Mr. A Raja. It is
also believed that Mr. P Chidambaram, the than Finance Minister, also
favored Telecom Minister in the scam. The Janta Party chief Mr.
SubramanianSwamy deposed against Mr. Chidambaram in a Delhi
court to prove his alleged complicity in the 2G spectrum scam. Swamy
alleged that Chidambaram was involved in giving licenses on 2001
prices and that he endorsed Raja’s actions and decisions. Swamy said
that he produced before the court documents from CBI that showed
Chidambaram gave permission for allowing Unitech and Swan
Telecom to sell their equity to Norway’s Telenor and UAE-based
Etisalat respectively. He added that Chidambaram ‘disregarded’ a
home ministry advisory and allowed the foreign companies to buy in
the Indian companies, compromising national security. The Delhi court
on 04 Feb 2012 dismissed Mr. swamy’s plea to make Chidambaram a
co-accused in the 2g case. However, Mr. Swamy has cleared that he will
go to the higher court to seek out the matter.
The evidence shown by Mr. Swamy definitely shows a relation of Mr.
Chidambaram with 2G case and the ruling of the lower court is very
surprising. The co-accused plea is based on prima facie evidence.
Unless Mr. Chidambaram’s case is fully investigated like Raja, no one
can say that he is culpable or not. It can also be estimate that a scam of
this scale is not possible without the involvement of senior
Government Ministers like Mr. Chidambaram, who held a not
negotiable ministry in relation to financial matters at that time. In this
case, the Court should have directed for an investigation rather than
dismissal. Mr. Swamy should continue his fight and Mr. P
Chidambaram whose election results is questionable and still in Court,
should not feel that he is free. As a representative of the people, he is
answerable to the Nation for his knowledge of the 2G facts & wrong
practices. In case founded guilty of not performing his duty properly
then like everyone else he should also get corresponding reward. The
fate of Mr. Chidambaram will only be clear in due course.
 Economic Growth Of India In 2011
India,a billion's country,a country with diversity in every aspect be it
culture,religion,colour, caste,wealth,thoughts and so on.People of this
country have seen all kind of situations be it acute shortages(as before
the year 1991) or developed situations.
It was in the year 1991,when India entered into a much debated and
highly speculated era of economic growth . The country was poor as
the foreign exchange declined to minimum,and the expectations were
very high.The policy of liberalisation and globalisation brought in by
the then finance minister , Dr Manmohan Singh,was some hope to the
people who were facing acute shortagesand poverty. Those policies
turned into country's favour and better growth was recorded and
adding extra percentages to the GDP every year.The growth of country
was near about 10 percent before the recession of year 2008.
Recently the growth in the year 2011 was recorded near about 7.5
percent against the speculated rate of over 10 percent.This coupled
with recent scams(2G ,CWG) created a much debated atmosphere in
the entire country .Because with population extending to 1.21 billion
and the growth rate of the country falling is not expected ,as the
burden of this negativity will fall mostly on poor people.
The rate at which our need expands doesn't match with the required
growth rate of our country.The recent released data revealing over 50
percent of our population to be poor and 42 percent malnourished
children is very shocking.Moreover out of three malnourished children
of the world ,one is indian.This is not desired in a developing country
like india which has immense potential.Comparing the development of
our country with that of japan in the last sixty years reveal how much
we lack behind in every field .
Therefore the growth that we have recorded in the year 2011 is not
sustainable because thera are many fields where country lack bahinds
and need an extra cover over them.All these requires that people are
very honest and never deny from their rights and duties .Government
must give a nod for making this country a better place for nurturing
young talents and also must come out with new ways of defeating
poverty . Because only when we are able to address poverty we can
address the slow growth rate as with this more and more people will
involved in the developmental process.
India is one of the fastest growing country of the world.Decrease in
growth rate of the is a setback forit. government must come out with
some strict economic measures to to make country's economy more
robust to global setbacks.India should become self sufficient in every
field by means of new and improved technologies.
This will reduce country's dependent on other countries.And also
situations like the one we saw in the year 2011 wont repeat.For all
these people's participation is required and also any kind of corruption
must be prevented .
 Economic Growth Of India In 2011
INDIA of today is quite different from what it used to be in the past, as
for as growth chart is concerned, it has changed to better. Common
people agree that more opportunities have emerged and atmosphere
have become conductive for commencement and growth of business.
On the whole, we can say, Indian economy is growing at good rate.
The main sectors that are responsible for growth of economy are
Industry and service, Agriculture, trade, public finance, money credit
and prices. The IIP recorded a 5.9% growth in November 2011
compared to 6.4% in previous fiscal year. In fact there was a negative
growth in one month fearing the severe job losses, but in the following
month there was positive sign of growth. The contraction is due to the
poor performance in mining (after the ban on mining in Karnataka
following the verdict of supreme court) and manufacturing sector.
The prospect of Agriculture sector shown a steady improvement as
agricultural GDP for first half of current financial year has witnessed
growth of 3.6%. The price of pulse and vegetable has in fact
experienced a fall in price. Similarly, price of manufacturing food
products has witnessed lower level of inflation following the hike in
the interest rates by RBI indicating inflation finally coming under
control.
The export target of 2011-12 was estimated at $300 billion. Export
performed well in first half of 2011-12 and significant deceleration in
third quarter. There was 36% growth in first half of 2010-11 and
25.8% in 2011-12. Following the deceleration the expected value of
import may not be met. Import demand remained strong.
The fiscal deficit of India is projected to be 9.5% of GDP in2011. The
central government fiscal position remained weak despite some
recovery in second quarter. The poor performance is due to 1)
substantial amount of direct tax refund in the order of Rs 46,847 crore
in Q1:2011-12 as compared to Rs 15,758 crore in the corresponding
quarter of last fiscal, 2) foregone amount of revenue on account of tax
cut on petroleum products, and 3) dismissal performance of non-tax
revenue due to slippage of revenue on account of disinvestment of
state run companies. Overall there has been significant fall in deficit to
GDP ratio.
Inflation was high from past eighteen month, policy inertia has hurt
spending and industrial output and, now, capital outflows have pushed
the rupee to new low. Thirteen interest rate increases have failed to
arrest inflation, which is close to double-digits. Till inflation comes
down significantly and the RBI starts reducing the interest rates, high
interest costs will weigh on corporate profitability.
Over all we can see growth in the economy in 2011 but failed to meet
our expectation, that was projected in beginning of fiscal year. Proper
policies to curb inflation at the right time will avoid the cost of growth.
 Economic Growth Of India In 2011
The India economy grew at a rate of 6.9% in the last financial year (per
Press note: Advance estimates of national income, 2011-12 released by
the Central Statistics Office [CSO press release]). This figure falls short
of the initial target of 8.2%. This essay will examine the reasons behind
the decline in the growth rate. Next, the issue of sustainability of/
improvement from the current growth rates will be examined; this
issue entails an inquiry into the problems ailing the economy at
present and an assessment of the response to those problems.
Fall in the growth rate are due to both internal and external factors.
Internal factors include monetary tightening in the economy and a
slack in investments. Monetary tightening, as evident from thirteen
rounds of increase in interest rates from March to December 2011,
increased the cost of borrowing money in the economy. This is bound
to affect the Aggregate Demand in the economy by affecting
Consumption and Investments. Consumption of interest rate sensitive
goods like houses and cars will rise at a slower rate with such a move.
Such a result may, however, by offset by a rise in consumer confidence
witnessed by India in 2011 (Seventh Round of Consumer Confidence
Survey, conducted by RBI).
A rise in interest rates also reduces the profitability of investments,
consequently reducing investment levels. Declining business
expectations and confidence (per NCAER Survey on Business
Confidence) and persistent inflation are additional factors
exacerbating the problem relating investment rates. That the
investment rates are falling is evident from the Reserve Bank of India’s
statement that there has been a sharp decline in new corporate fixed
investment since H2 of 2010-11 and this trend continues. (RBI,
Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments, Third Quarterly Review,
January 23, 2012). Reduced investment levels, in turn, adversely affect
the aggregate demand and the long-run aggregate supply. A stagnation
of the long-run aggregate supply not only has ramifications for growth
rates, but also for inflation levels. This problem is acutely apparent in
the agriculture sector, which is plagued with low productivity. The
growth rate in the sector has been fluctuating over the years in
response to the weather. 2.5% growth was registered in the sector
over the last year. The dependence on weather can be reduced and
higher growth rates can be achieved through technological and
institutional investments in the sector. Other internal sectors,
including mining, manufacturing, construction etc. also registered
lower growth rates than previous years (per CSO press release, p7).
The slack in investments characterizing the various economic sectors
needs to be pulled.
External factors affecting the growth rates are a global slowdown,
reducing the demand for exports and rising import expenditure. While
there was a growth in export revenue of 24.9%, the growth in import
expenditure was 32.2% (CSO press release, p7). Turbulence in the
Euro-Zone and the uncertain economic outlook of the US are possible
factors affecting the demand of exports. Increase in imports of price-
inelastic crude oil is a factor causing an increase in import expenditure.
The price of crude oil has remained consistently high over the year.
Import expenditure outstripped export revenue; the net export
revenue was thus negative in 2011 and this put a downward pressure
on the Aggregate Demand in the economy, thus resulting in lower
growth rates. The next issue that will be discussed is the sustainability
of the 2011 growth rates. This will be discussed in light of the
following problems: inflation, fiscal deficit and current account deficit.
High and persistent inflation rates will deter investments and, as has
been established above, this will adversely affect growth levels. As
purchasing power of money falls, consumption is also likely to fall, also
affecting growth. Aside from purely economic considerations, inflation
is likely to cause public outcry, especially given India’s socio-economic
fragmentation since inflation will hit the poor the worst. This brings in
the question of inclusive growth- are we willing to have high growth
figures benefiting the privileged few, and the rest languishing with
crippling inflation? India has been facing inflation rates near 8%. The
monetary policy response has contained inflation, while sacrificing the
year’s growth figures. Expected inflation rate in March 2012 is 6.5%.
The response was apt given the pressing need to contain inflation. In
the long run, however, we need to identify other fundamental,
structural weaknesses and eradicate them. Supply side policies, which
increase the full-employment level in the economy, will be more
appropriate in the long run since they can address the problem of
inflation without compromising growth. In this respect, investments in
infrastructure and technology are paramount. Investing in the labour
force through skills and education programmes are also helpful steps
in this direction.
India’s fiscal deficit (estimated at 5.6% for the financial year ending in
March 2012) is problematic in that it limits the government’s ability to
invest in infrastructure projects in the future. Such investments may
prove to be crucial in providing the economy an impetus for growth.
The economically inefficient yet politically attractive option of
subsidies and handouts should be done-away with in favour of
government spending on infrastructure/ labour force development
projects to sustain growth in the long run. An alternative to subsidies
worthy of consideration is social business (can be entirely public or
public-private or wholly private ventures). A successful example of a
private venture into social business is the Grameen micro-finance
scheme in Bangladesh. Such a venture is preferable to subsidies, which
breed dependence, fail to provide adequate incentives for skills
improvements and solve the symptom instead of the disease. There is
a need to rebalance public spending from consumption to investment
to ensure a more sustainable growth.
The current account deficit for the past financial year is expected to be
3.6%. There is a need to balance the current account to ensure that the
consequent depreciation of the rupee does not hinder growth
significantly through inflation and rise in import expenditure, which
may offset any gains accrued from increased price competitiveness of
exports. The growth rate of the economy in 2011 was affected by both
internal and external factors. The underlying problems characterizing
the economy in 2011 need to be addressed to ensure sustainable
growth rates.
 Disputes over National Counter Terrorism Center
India both geographically and demographically is a vast country, which
makes it quite easy for the terrorists from outside and inside the
territory of India to operate with ease. Moreover, this being the vary
reasons for the inability of security agencies of the country to act
against such terrorist activities effectively. The terrorist attack of
26/11 in Mumbai further revealed the deficiencies in our counter-
terrorism architecture in terms of inadequate intelligence and lack of
coordinated follow up action even on the intelligence that was
available. Consequently, a year after the 2008 terrorist attacks, home
minister Mr. P Chidambaram while speaking at the Centenary
Endowment Lecture of the IB on December 23, 2009, underlined the
need to set up two new organizations- the National Intelligence Grid
(NATGRID) and the NCTC.
It took over two years for the NCTC proposal to finally get the Cabinet
Committee on security nod and was decided to start appointments of
directors and core team of officials by March 31, 2012 so that the
agency can start working from 2013. The NCTC proposal was pending
for long as different ministries like Defence and Finance had expressed
some reservations over its proposed power and function. Moreover,
different states also registered their protest against some of the
powers of the NCTC like, provisions, which made possible for its
functionaries to “arrest anybody” and to “operate in any state”.
According to Chief Ministers of the states of Tripura, Tamil Nadu,
Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, these provisions will
disturb the federal structure of the states. Moreover, they said that the
anti-terror body was too overbearing and not in line with the federal
structure. Apart from these states, Punjab and Gujarat opposed
outright the concept of a dedicated counter-terror body like NCTC.
The ministry of home affairs is trying its level best to satisfy the
questions raised by the states. The center has assured the states that
the counter-terrorism body will work in synchronization with the
states. The coordination with state government shall be built into its
operating system through state nodal officers and standard operating
procedures. This will take care of apprehension that any counter terror
action by NCTC can be conducted without involving the state
governments. The center may accept the state governments demand
that the authority and functions of the standing council be defined in
the NCTC order itself. There is a need to build coordination between
state and center over NCTC, while also ensuring that secrecy is not
compromised. The fear of the states over the power of arrest given to
NCTC was clarified by MHA explaining that under section 43A of UAPA
(Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), a person arrested by NCTC would
be immediately handed over to the nearest police station, followed by
his investigation and prosecution by the state police itself. Moreover,
the power to arrest were neither new nor excusive like, the Narcotics
Control Bureau, NIA, CBI and even BSF (within 15 Km of the
international border) have been exercising similar powers for long.
The political parties of India should raise themselves above the
limitations of politics and should support the formation of a body like
NCTC. The government should formulate such provisions to help
fighting against terrorism in a more efficient manner rather than
ending up in forming another investigating agency.
 Disputes over National Counter Terrorism Center
From the Mumbai terror attacks of 1993 to 2008 Mumbai terror strike,
and several in between, minor or major, posed a serious question on
the ability of Indian Intelligence services (IB, RAW). These agencies
primarily engaged in the activities to track down any possible and
potential terror threat to India’s national security. But are they doing
their duties with utmost responsibility? Is a person’s life in our country
meant nothing to such security organizations, who sometimes die in a
train blast or in an open fire at the station terminal? Many more
questions like this are there in every Indian mind seeking answers,
right from 1993 to 2008, but unfortunately hasn’t got a pragmatic and
concerned answer from our administrators and security leaders yet,
besides false and stale sympathetic vows they took after each and
every attack.
National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), a national level agency
which would under take the investigation, interrogation and
indictment of all terror attacks in the country and the cuprits involved,
is one such step in the direction to counter terrorism in the country.
But unfortunately, met with the severe resistance from the states’
administrations, as they thought it would challenge the federal nature
of our democracy. The bone of contention is considered to be the Sec
43(a) of the act which would empower the NCTC “to arrest and detain
any person if the body feels that the subject is associated with a terror
act (even potential)” on its own.
This provision has been widely criticized by states (primarily non
congress and even congress allies) alleging central domination on state
powers and authority. Law and order is a state subject and in this case
NCTC will have overriding powers and none of the state police will
have the mandate to interfere. Though Sec 43(b) says that the body
will have to submit a reason of arrest to the concerned person as well
as inform the closest police station of the state regarding the arrest.
The NCTC Act is based on the lines of the US Anti-Terrorism initiative,
also known as NCTC, which has more or less the same provisions, but
the only difference is that the leaders there are more concerned about
their people’s security and here in our country, they are more
interested in pouring every critical issue, irrespective of the degree of
criticality, in the political cauldron and draw out their respective cheap
vested interests in order to make the reform process cumbersome and
leave it indecisive.
At the national level, we have security agencies like Intelligence
Bureau (IB), Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and Commando Forces
and at State-level we have Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and police
forces to take up with the issue of terrorism, which has grown in
menacing proportions in the last decade or so. Terror attack on
Parliament on 13th Dec 2001, 2006 Ayodhaya terror attacks on Babri
Masjid by LeT, 2006 & 2010 Varanasi bombings of which IM took
responsibility, repeated strikes in Delhi and 2011 Delhi High Court
bombing, all are the tight hard slaps on the faces of our security chiefs
and Defense & Home Ministry. Besides losing our military brave hearts
and innocent civilians, we Indians have started losing something else
too, which is more horrendous and worrifying as far as citizens of a
Republican country is concerned, and that thing is the faith on our
administrators and the sense of security that we are safe within the
boundaries of our nation.
 Economic Growth Of India In 2011
India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The
Indian economy is characterized by population bursts, poverty,
unemployment and child labour. These rising issues have become a
major concern for the Indian economy but yet have proven to bring a
raise in the Indian economy for the 2011 year. This economic burst
will not be sustainable for the Indian economy in the approaching
years.

Researchers have found that India is becoming a very populous nation.

It readily has an increasing birth rate and statistics show that the
numbers will keep growing. India’s population is expected to reach 1.5
billion in 2030, accounting Indians’ to occupy 20% of the human
population on earth. If the population bursts continue then the
economy of India will go downhill. It will have an effect on many
factors that play a role in the economy. This will not only make life
harder for people who are already on the verge of poverty but make
those who are under the poverty line have a harder time surviving.
Poverty is a growing concern in India especially when the nation has
been estimated to have a third of the world’s poor. Population bursts
are causing poverty in the society, making it harder for families to gain
access to their daily necessities. The increase in poverty is the leading
cause of children being malnourished and underweight. If this
continues than there will not be a future generation to run the Indian
economy. Due to the baby boomers and poverty on the line Indians’
are on high demand for jobs.
The unemployment rate is increasing slowly due to the baby boomers.
The poor are looking for any job opportunities viable to the. Although,
many don’t have the proper education and don’t meet the criteria for
the jobs due to not sufficient education, a major issue due to poverty.
Indian officials need to make more jobs for the people and offer free
education to children throughout middle and high school. At this rate
many children will remain uneducated and will be a victim of child
labour.
To make the economy boom the nation needs to put a stop towards
child labour. It is very unhealthy for these children to work for long
periods of times in an unhealthy environment. Just like other nation
India needs to set aside money to help under privileged families meet
their basic needs. Indians need to pitch in and work together to make
the economy grow. On this rate not only will the Indian economy
decline but also we will be endangering the future of our young
generation. In order to have a sustainable economy we need to stop
the population bursts, poverty, unemployment and child labour by
educating the citizens of India.
 Disputes over National Counter Terrorism Center
Ever since the Mumbai blasts of 1993 have occurred the threat of
terrorism has grown significantly in India and over the years sporadic
events of terror have made news every time an act took place. 26/11
was also one such act but the manner in which it was carried not only
reminded us of the growing threat of terror but also managed to
expose some serious loopholes that exist in our system of national
security. Comprehensive reforms in national security began henceforth
and recently one of the primary institutions slated to be setup under
such reforms was proposed by union HM P. Chidambaram. It is the
national counter terrorism centre (NCTC).
The body of NCTC is made on the similar lines of its US counterpart
(with some changes made to suite Indian requirements) whose main
objective is to counter any terrorist activity that might take place India.
It is being seen as a huge step in dealing with the evil of terrorism
However the detailed provisions governing the body have raised a lot
of questions especially amongst the state govts with allegations like
infringement of federal setup. This along with some other disputes are
explained as follows-:
CENTRE V/S STATE :
The main cause of the dispute is considered to be section 43(a) of the
act which empowers the nctc “to arrest and detain any person if the
body feels that the subject is associated with a terror act(even
potential)” on its own. This provision has been widely criticized by
states (primarily non congress) alleging central domination on state
powers and authority. Law and order is a state subject and in this case
NCTC will have overriding powers and none of the state police will
have the mandate to interfere. Note- although sect 43(b) says that the
body will have to submit a reason of arrest to the concerned person as
well as intimate the closest police station of the state regarding the
arrest.
OVERBURDENED :
The proposed institution of NCTC will have investigation , intelligence
and operational powers vested with it. critics say that not only the
powers are extraordinary but it is too much for a single body to handle
effectively. Intelligence should be the only prerogative of NCTC and the
rest should be handled by the already existing setups of police and
central agencies.
DRACONIAN IN NATURE :
NCTC has can be considered as POTA with a different name .we all are
aware of the human rights violation that had let to repealing of the
POTA. Now the NCTC has sought to work on same lines, the only
difference being that it is now a more centrally dominated body.
The above mentioned are the major disputes encircling the NCTC ,but
it is important to consider a wider picture too . The same old
apprehension of federal structure being distorted must not undermine
the wider concerns of terrorism which is a serious threat to national
security. Political points must not be scored at the cost of ignoring
terrorist threats. Moreover the concerns of the states can always be
resolved by a dialogue (speedy) but striking down the whole
institution as a whole will not be a sagacious step.
The centre can further strengthen its stand by ensuring open and
transparent working of the body to an extent that it does not create a
terror image amongst its own citizens itself ,which many fear it may.
Also the operational and investigative powers should be vested with
existing bodies so that NCTC can fully concentrate on its sole objective
of integrated intelligence gathering from across the nation rather than
creating confusion with other bodies on matters of investigative and
operational jurisdiction. A synergy must exist b/w central and state
institutions to reap the desired results of this proposed setup.
It must be revisited that India is a union of states and not a federation,
which necessitates the centre to play a crucial role in all activities
concerned with the welfare of people .NCTC is a need of the hour and
rather than looking at narrow concerns of infringement of state rights
(which can be resolved by a consensus and also showing some trust in
centre) a more important concern of counter terrorism must be
addressed after all it is our country as a whole which is a victim of this
menace of terrorism and the solution too lies in dealing with it as a
unit rather than in fragments.
 Collapse of Kingfisher Airlines
“Kingfisher! King of good times” is seeing its worst time in recent
months. All the ‘service with glamour’ provided by Vijay Mallya is not
looking so glamorous at the closed ticket counters. Several flights have
been cancelled and Government is swinging between the idea of
shutting down or not shutting down the service. The losses incurred by
the kingfisher is around 7000 crores. Revenue department is also
blaming the airlines for tax evasion of another 2000 crores. His shares
tumbled around 19 percent at BSE. Airlines, along with its owner, are
facing its worst financial crunch.
There are numerous reasons for the present condition of the kingfisher
airlines. Every big business needs an expert team of CEO and other
officers look into the day to day activities. But here the scenario was
different. Mallya kept this business under his direct control and this
was one of his biggest blunders. This caused a major mismanagement
and confusion among the employees. Administration of India’s second
largest aircraft service was going down the lane. Mallya group
continuosly blamed Government for the dismal performance of
airlines. According to him, raising fuel prices and slow GDP growth has
contributed to their misery.
To balance all this, they started cutting the salaries and perks of their
staffs. They didn’t get their salaries on time due to which they refused
to come back on job. Sometimes they also vented their anger and
misbehaved with the passengers adding fuel to the fire.
Another reason for its collapse is the takeover of Air Deccan in 550
crore acquisition. There were mixed reactions, some saying that it can
be a disaster and some saying it to be a wonder. Kingfisher owned
around 26 percent stake. Major advantage was that engineering and
aircraft cost decreased due to almost same routes. But Kingfisher
incurred losses of Air Deccan also. That’s when Vijay Mallya tried his
luck and gave birth to a new low cost carrier ‘Kingfisher Red’. It was
awarded death sentence in few years although low cost carriers were
at its best. He provided goody bags and air hostesses provided a
beautiful sight with their 24*7 ‘Pan Am” smiles. So customers started
choosing Kingfisher Red over its mother brand because of same
facilities with cheap prices. Kingfisher Airlines started incurring losses
as it was typecasted as mainly the aircraft for the riches. Mallya started
decreasing business class seats and routes to compensate the losses.
But unfortunately, it all backfired.
Again when Mallya was already in turmoil, he tried another shot to
ruin himself. He did not cared about his domestic flights and started
the service on the international routes where competition was even
higher with better facilities. This again provided him with losses. To
compensate for these losses Mallya took loans from banks including
SBI and many private banks with share from its UB group as collateral.
It even collateralised its brand name ‘Kingfisher’. Now the group is
asking for some time and easier interest rates that may help it to
recover. But with rigid attitude of banks, its looking like a no win
situation for Mallya group. Tax authorities have already froze its bank
account for the nonpayment of dues. According to civil aviation
minister, Ajit Singh, Government will not bail out the airlines. He said
that it is the responsibility of the owner to get himself out of the crisis.
He, however, added that Government does not want the private
companies to shut down their business. Finance minister has already
stated that SBI will not provide fresh loans for the debt ridden private
companies as they did not adhere to the provided guidelines. Amidst
all these problems, Kingfisher’s condition is worsening day by day.
Mallya, who did not leave a single business sector ranging from F1
team to cricket team to kingfisher calendar is paying heavily for
neglecting one of the most risky and competitive business of aviation
industry. Now only time will tell that what will be the future of this
‘once most stylish and attractive’ aircraft carrier. Everyone’s fingers
are crossed and are expecting the airline to come out of this mess
before Vijay Mallya starts screaming ‘Mayday’.
 Collapse of Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher , Sony and Kodak have one thing in common . i.e. They are
finding it difficult to reinvent themselves. They are trying hard to be a
phoenix but will they truly rise from the ashes or simply fade away is
the real question.

Let us take the issue of Kingfisher here. One of
India's most high profile airlines few years back , now in shambles. It
is really interesting to ponder that in same market scenario, one of
the competitors of Kingfisher is flying high and high. Yes, Indigo
Airlines is the most profitable airlines in India. The question is the
difference between discipline or grandeur. What makes one company
succeed, while another, in the same operating environment, falter?
One of the reason is Mr. ( or Dr. in which degree?) Vijay Mallya
flamboyant nature.

Kingfisher was launched as an all-economy,
single-class configuration aircraft with food and entertainment
systems. After about a year of operations, the airline suddenly shifted
its focus to luxury. When an airline keeps changing its model and
takes to random expansion, there is no time for the airline to stabilize.
After Kingfisher’s plunge into luxury came its next folly—a merger
with Air Deccan, an airline formed by Captain G R Gopinath in 2003. I
believe the fall of Kingfisher airlines started the very day when they
bought Air Deccan. Capt. Gopinath , the owner of Air Deccan can be
termed as shrewd but smart investor who knew when to part with his
investment , just at the right time. The all-economy configuration of
Air Deccan was rebranded and called Kingfisher Red, which continued
to operate as its low-cost wing till recently.

Kingfisher ended up
spending Rs 550 crore on an airline that had losses of over Rs 550
crore. It is widely believed that Kingfisher merged itself with Air
Deccan so that it could classify as an airline with five years of
domestic flying in 2008, thus fulfilling requirements to fly
international routes. The fact that Jet had meanwhile swallowed Air
Sahara didn’t help, fuelling a competitive race to be the biggest airline
around. Essentially, jet fuel prices began to sky-rocket and soon
touched $150. Then came the 2008 recession that made fundamentals
in the airline industry worse, which is when the airline launched its
international operations.

Some companies just fail to learn—either
from the examples that its peers may have set for the industry, or
from its own past mistakes. Now, Kingfisher has decided to change its
model yet again—discontinuing its Kingfisher Red brand and
completely converting its fleet to a dual class, full-service
configuration.

Kingfisher was gifted to Mr . Sidhartha Mallya by his
father on his birthday i.e. a Near Zero experience in running a
company and the later CEOs appointed by Mr . Mallya couldn’t bring
any significant result too . His over indulgence in petty things like
parties and Kingfisher Calendar also lead to inadequacies in his
finances. .IPL is also one of the reason for Kingfisher downfall because
it is known that many of the money was diverted to IPL from
Kingfisher airlines, resulting which they defaulted in Loans and
recently became a NPA (non performing asset) to its leading bankers
like SBI .

The lack of trust was shown recently when Mr Mallya
asked the government of India to bail him out. The new minister Mr.
Ajit Singh clearly told that the Government will not bail out private
airline because Air India is itself in need to bail out. I personally feel
that Mr Ajit singh made a good decision because When Kingfisher
doesn’t give public anything in return of its profit , then why is it
asking for Public hard earned money ( income tax money) to bail him
out.

The lack of management and top of it the soaring petrol prices,
the airport charges added to Kingfishers humiliation. Frequent
cancellation of flights , nonpayment to employees, rude staff laid the
ground for Kingfishers grave. Kingfisher reputation took a beating when it
was known that employees tax were not submitted to government on
time since the last three years! Government of India also freezed 40
Kingfisher’s bank account. Latest news is that Kingfisher employees have
been not paid three months salary. We all know how we feel when our
salary is delayed by a day, imagine what happens to them when they are
not getting salary for last three months. How do you expect the employees
to keep a smiling face to its customers when they themselves are crying .
A company which forgots its employees, is also soon forgotten. A classic
example is Kingfisher airlines. Mr Mallya had to sell 49% of his ownership
of Force India( F1 car) to Mr Subrato Roy to get kingfisher going ( owner
of ailing airline Air Sahara , years back) , but it too failed to save the
airlines from tatters.

I still have hope from Mr Mallya that he will
refrain from over indulgence and concentrate on his fragile business. It’s
time he and his son become responsible and start this company from
scratch instead of late night parties and IPL and took inspiration from
Indigo airlines who proudly claimed themselves as Low cost airline and
exceeding the customers delight in every way they can.
Collapse of Kingfisher Airlines
Many of the management gurus and experts were perceived to be
behind the global recession of 2008, but there is only one man who’s
mismanagement could have done this…yes the Big Bang collapse of
India’s most fashionable and luxurious airline brand – “Kingfisher“.
There are several reasons for the much touted financial collapse of
Kingfisher which was foresaw by Gopinath and many other experts on
Kingfisher board itself.
First of all, Mallya’s inability to strategize and place the critical airline
business on the national and global front, which is totally different
both in nature as well as in approach, than his liquor business. His
attitude of ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ in airline venture caused him much harm
than good as he didn’t delegate the business operations and decision
making rights to other skilled executives who could have taken much
better decisions than him. Secondly, he has mastered the art of
squandering away opportunities, first when he acquired Air Deccan
and then ignoring the microeconomic conditions prevailing within the
country’s boundary (where there is a sustained large market for Low
Cost Carrier Airline) as majority of people belongs to the economy
class, he continued to take care of the elite and executive classes.
Thirdly, he always considered Air Deccan as his step child and
continued allocating globally operating flight slots to Kingfisher
,completely ignoring the core competence of Air Deccan in operating
flights on international skies which otherwise could have generated
profits for the ailing airline carrier.
Not able to cope up with ever mounting debts due to insufficient
passenger traffic on such routes and increasing fuel prices, he then
resorted to salary cuts and pay loss of the airline employees which
further aggravated the airline woes as the employees started venting
out their frustration in the form of misbehavior and mistreatment of
passengers which broke the cordial link between the airline and its
loyal customer base. One of the board members of UB group correctly
pointed out that “at the time of thinking about starting a new venture,
had Mallya would have started the telephony business (which was one
of the viable option mooted then), the scenario could have been
different. If he could have worked on his strengths, he might had
achieved a lot better than this.” Airline business needs a long term
vision and strong determination, infact every business does, and both
have been seen missing in Mallaya’s approach so far.
There is another critical feature to this failure is that he has been over
indulged and wasting away resources in Kingfisher calendar activities
and of course, the multi crore rupee event, IPL where he had diverted
huge sums of money from his core businesses. Despite asking GoI to
bail his debt-ridden airlines out (accumulated losses stands at 8200
crores), he better would have invested this money in restructuring the
Airlines’ organization structure and strategize the course of action to
be taken with his top executives and lenders. Government, though did
the right thing not to give away any relief package to him as the
national funds are meant to be used in bailing out national ventures
(Indian Airlines in this case) first rather than a private one, and that
too until and unless it is of some strategic importance to the nation and
Kingfisher is surely not fits into the picture.
Lastly, the kingfisher should learn from its competitor, Indigo who is
faring quite well in the domestic skies as a LCC airline and eyeing to
explore international skies soon. The one important thing that allows
Indigo to set such high aim is the ability of its promoters to think long
term and stick to it rather changing vision frequently, lack of which
certainly hurt the Kingfisher badly. I seriously hope Mallya would learn
from his past mistakes and come out with a business model which
would be profitable as well as sustainable in the long term and bring
back the ‘Good Times’ for his father’s and UB group creator Vittal
Mallya’s soul.
 Anna protest against corruption: Is he still a crowd maker?
Anna Hazare, an ex-army man from Ralegan Siddhi, who shook the
nation by his non violent ways by sitting on indefinite fast, is a role
model for many. He along with his activist group started a campaign
‘India against Corruption’ which struck the chord of every Indian.They
drew large support from people of India who already had enough with
the corruption fever. Anna Hazare, who had history of getting his
terms by indefinite fasts, proved again that this non violent way is still
effective.
Many years back, he transformed his village Ralegan Siddhi from a
poor, deprived, diseased village into one of the most developed villages
of india. He changed the village ecologically and financially, developing
grain banks and rectifying minor issues like alcohal, drugs etc. In 1991,
he started Bhrastachar Virodhi Jan Andolan and caused suspension of
few corrupt forest officials. In later years, he fought for many reasons
and almost every time his demands were agreed upon. In 2011, he
demanded a stronger Lokpal bill to fight against corruption. Santosh
Hegde drafted the Jan Lokpal Bill which was rejected by the Prime
Minister calling it undemocratic. On May 5, 2011 Anna Hazare started
‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ and started demanding a stronger Lokpal bill at
Jantar Mantar in Delhi. He was supported by a large number of
celebrities and politicians. It drew a large support from every people
who were already very much dissapointed by the inefficiency of
Government and corruption in each and every department. Media and
people made him as “Second Gandhi” who is fighting for the cause of
Indian people. After this, Government made a drafting committee
including members from both Government and Anna’s team. In August,
Anna launched his second attack on Government that drew even more
supporters from every part of country. This time, Anna wanted even
more stronger Lokpal bill. Again he started his fast on 27th December
but had to withdraw it due to health problems.
In December, the crowd at MMRDA ground was shockingly low. Only few
thousand people showed up. But the answers to this question that why the
support base of Anna fell, can be many. The first and the main reason can
be the corruption among the Anna team members itself. As the
Government started enquiring about the accounts of many like Kiran Bedi,
Arvind Kejriwal etc, a large number of irregularities started coming up. It
started projecting an image that many of Hazare’s team members are
corrupt and using money of people in wrong works. Another reason was
the rigid attitude of Anna Hazare. He Wanted to centralise too much power
in the hands of Lokpal by including PM and Judiciary under Lokpal’s ambit.
Judiciary and PM symbolises India and represents country on the
international front. So it was not necessary to include them under Lokpal.
After this, regular press conferences of Anna and his team caused many
remarks and comments which were not digested by the common man.
Government branded him as the puppet in opposition’s hand as initially
Anna started publicity against the UPA. He was branded as ‘Anti Congress
Pro BJP’. He also supported RSS and Narendra Modi which didn’t go well
with minorities. Then one of his biggest blunders was support of slapping
by an agitated person to Union minister Sharad Pawar. It was contrary to
his Gandhian non violent image. Along with this, all members of Anna’s
team kept on commenting everyday which bored the common people.
Media tried to make Anna Hazare superhero of this century but after
sometime, it appeared that the superhero has lost his powers. Everyone
wants result in this dynamic society. But the constant and monotonous
ways of the team Anna forced people to change their TV channels. Many
analysts branded the Lokpal bill as unconstitutional also. Debates started
that whether the bill is pro-democratic or anti-democratic. The period from
August to December proved as the image destructing period for Anna’s
team. Government also left no stone unturned to prove that Anna’s team
are themselves swimming in pool of corruption. This psychological attacks
split the team also. Two members of Anna’s team backed out saying that
Anna has lost the way in middle. This all created a negative impression in
the mind of rural and urban people and biased their thinking patterns.
Kisan Baburav Hazare, no doubt, is an honest man. But, being honest only,
is not everything mainly in a country in which every strata of people is
suffering from this epidemic of corruption which is hampering the
development. Anna Hazare became a lamp that ended all its oil after
sometime pushing people back again in the darkness of confusion. Anna
Hazare could have compromised on some points in the Lokpal bill which
would have atleast not projected his rigid mentality. Due to this, Lokpal bill
may have been passed and his team would have been getting some
creditibility. Also his wrong choice of team backfired. He should have
walked alone and should have judged peole correctly. Now only a new
miracle and very solid agenda can bring him back. He needs a new policy
with strong leadership. Till then, he will have to wait.
 Union Budget 2012-13: Crucial or Non-crucial
Union Budget, often succeeds Economic Survey every year, is the
forward looking economic statement which reflects the macro & micro
economic aspects of the economy and the strategies and course of
actions taken by the Govt. in the form of allocations, schemes & outlays
to bolster growth & development process. Economic Survey can be
seen as the balance sheet of the previous year’s economic and social
transactions within the economy, showing various assets and liabilities
in various sectors of the economy. Every year, before the budget
presentation, there is so much talks about what the govt. has in the
offing for the common man which sometimes gets culminated with
rejoice and sometimes with despair. This year’s budget has invoked
mixed reactions from various communities which raises a debate
whether the introduced reforms are crucial or just rhetoric.
Let’s start with the tax reforms which are considered to be the most
significant part of the budget as it affects the ‘middle-income’ economy
directly. Exemption limit for the salaried persons has been raised from
Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs. 2,00,000 which surely can’t be considered a
substantial increase because this year people were expecting higher
exemption on the back of high inflation & rising food prices. But by
looking at the higher fiscal deficit figures of the order of 5.9% of the
GDP, the move looks reasonable as the govt. is trying to boost the
average tax collection to compensate the deficit problem. In the
Financial Sector, QFIs (Qualified Financial Investors) are allowed to
invest in the corporate and govt. bond market marks a welcome move
that might see large FII inflows, which got subdued after the recession
in the wake of slow recovery in US markets and Europe sovereign debt
crisis, which would strengthen the investors’ sentiments in the market
but due to the fluctuating nature of portfolio investments, the
approach has be cautious. Early implementation of DTC and
GSTNetwork would be the landmark events to watch out for in this
fiscal.
In the social sector, widening the reach of “Aadhaar” in 200 identified
districts and linking social welfare schemes with the biometric
platform (e.g. NREGS & PDS) could well be the unprecedented move
towards the social inclusion process. The allocation of 5.75 lakh crore
to the agriculture & allied sector, aimed at achieving the much touted
4% growth in the sector for which the economy has been yearning
since the announcement of last 5-year plan, could bring in efficient
markets and handsome returns to the farmers. Allowing 100% and
51% FDI in single-brand and multi-brand retail respectively hasn’t
achieved a consensus yet but the parliament would surely look to
come up with a cognitive outcome keeping the impacts of the move on
the unorganized sector and the farming community. Increase in excise
duty from 10% to 12% has caused worries in the industry as the
declaration would likely to hit the manufacturing sector dearly.
Increase duty on artificial gold ornaments has attracted wrath from
jewelers across the country.
Every change has its costs as well as benefits, it’s up to us to minimize
costs and maximize benefits. This year’s budget has some goodies to
offer which might well work out to be the hit of the year.
Universalization of RTE & NFSB will pose a daunting task in front of
the Govt. but the success lies in the integrated community-driven effort
and by making sure that being a responsible citizen of the country,
each one of us should do one’s bit to reduce corruption in our daily life
and brings in transparency so that the agenda which the Govt. has set
forth to achieve, could do so in a holistic manner.
 Corruption case against Jagan Mohan-split
Lord Acton, the British historian wrote - "Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad
man."
A corruption charge against any minister who has turned hostile
towards the ruling party is not a new phenomenon. YS Jagan Mohan
Reddy, former MP of Congress and son of Late YSR Reddy (Ex Chief
Minister of A.P.) was charged under prevention of corruption act for
his assets amounting approximately Rs. 365 crore. He left Congress in
2010 because Congress had given another candidate’s name for the
seat of Chief Minister instead of Jagan’s name. This made Jagan furious
who was one of the most deserving candidates for the Chief Minister’s
seat in Andhra Pradesh. There were also hopes among the people that
the son of Late YSR Reddy would be the new successor after he died
under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash. The injustice made
Jagan launch another party named YSR Congress (after his dead
father). But, this did not go well with the Congress party. They used
every trick in the book to curb his growing power in the state. They
launched a monumental, devastating and permanent injury to his
reputation by misusing the CBI and naming him in a disproportionate
assets case.
CBI which has often been dubbed as ‘Congress Bachao Institution’
(Save Congress Institution) is known to have misused its power when
it has to save the government or teach a lesson to the erring ministers.
It makes one ponder on the question – Why were such allegations
made against Jagan Mohan Reddy only when he left the Congress
party?
Many cases where Congress ministers have come under the scanner
have been in limelight only because they have been Supreme Court
monitored cases. For eg. 2G, CWG (where the Shunglu Panel
investigated the scam), Adarsh Scam,etc. How ironical is it that only
when Supreme Court monitors cases where there has been
involvement by the Congress ministers, we see Congress ministers
coming under limelight and not when CBI independently investigates.
Every government has been accused of misusing the CBI for their own
interest. That is why the government in power often allows its
ministers to go unpunished. We saw that it was a major demand in the
Jan Lokpal Bill to make the CBI independent and remove its
functioning from the clutches of the government.
This is a prima facie case where Jagan Mohan has to pay the price for
going against the ruling party. Till the time he was in Congress, he
wasn’t accused of having illegitimate money to the tune of 360 crores.
Now, when he left the ruling party, the Congress sends CBI after Jagan
to howl him. The issue to be debated here is not whether Jagan is an
honest man or a corrupt man. The issue that comes to the forefront is
that why is CBI misused by the Congress to such an extent. Kalmadi
still hasn’t got any punishment even after the Shunglu panel accused
him of gross corruption. He still walks in and out of the CBI office as if
it is just another day at work. He has been not behind the bars only
because of his loyalty to the ruling party.
Patriotic Indians should question such gross abuse of power by the
ruling party and not let the innocent get punished.
 UP : Miscary for Congress and Rahul.
The state of Uttar Pradesh state polls has historically been the testing
for comparatively new and battle ground for veteran politicians, the
most populous state in the country provides with a certificate of
achievement which can propel the party to the national scenario. Heir
Apparent Mr. Rahul Gandhi was put to test in these fields of Uttar
Pradesh, which was supposed to be his authentication of leadership
that has always been present in the family. He would have emerged on
the national scenario in a better and a bigger way had the performance
of the party been better (much better). This would have proved that he
was capable of leading the Grand Old party of India in future, not just
because he's the scion of the Gandhian dynasty but because he would
have been the leader to turn around the fortunes of the party in the
state which has the highest number of people on the electoral roll. In
the state of Uttar Pradesh party’s performance for the past 15 yrs has
been in declining mode and has not been able to secure majority in the
state even once in the past 5-6 state polls.
What followed were years of campaigning, numerous padyatra's, and
uncountable speeches. The humble approach of padyatra's and that of
overnight stays at dalit houses were beginning to make some impact,
most of the techniques and moves of Mr. Gandhi were falling into place
though marred with bicker tooting with the authorities over many
issues, Mr. Gandhi was being able to project his image of pro people in
the far flung areas of the state, Though he was not able to penetrate
much in the bastions of the BSP; areas dominated by the Jatava's, he
did make some headway in most of the area's of the state.
The nursing of the campaign was proper and adequate in all aspects
but it went only till the crucial time of the polls came, the campaign
lost steam and vigor around the polls and all the work done as now we
know went down the drain. The party rather than trying to get closer
to the voter became more involved in brick battering with BJP and
likes. By engaging BJP a void was created at the crucial point which
was filled by the Samajwadi party, with renewed leadership of
Akhilesh Yadav , SP was able to create confidence in the minds of the
voters at the most imp time ,politically speaking , they made there
mark when it mattered the most.
Congress and particularly Rahul Gandhi after carefully planning and
working diligently in the past couple of years lost that vision when the
time of delivery came, Rahul failed to rise to the occasion and deliver
and fell flat.
Had there been a clearer vision with Mr. Gandhi at the poll time, He
would have been able to maintain the legacy of his late father, Mr. Rajiv
Gandhi whose charismatic leadership helped the party secure the
highest number of seats ever won by the party. (411 out of 542).
 Will india meet surplus electric power production in 2013?
Energy is the most fundamental requirement of every nation as it
progresses through the ladder of development. Of course, once it
reaches a relative degree of development, the energy demand becomes
more stable. There is a distinct and categorical correlation between the
energy consumption and income of a nation — each reinforcing the
other. Every step into progress comes with an addition of demand for
energy — cars, ships and aircraft to move, hospitals to give quality
healthcare, education, as it follows the model of e-connectivity,
production of more and better goods, irrigation for better farming.
In India, the electricity is being generated from different sources such
as using Coal, Hydro electric power plants, Solar Energy, Wind power,
Nuclear Fuels etc. But more than 50% of electricity is being generated
from Coal which is also called as Type-0 fuel. The Jharia coalfields in
Jharkhand constitute the richest coal-bearing area in the country: they
contain large quantities of high grade coking coal. Also in India power
generated through nuclear power plants such as Kudamkulam,
Tarapur and Kakrapur, wind power plants such as Muppandal, Tamil
Nadu and recently Gujarat government started 500MW solar power
plant. Apart from this India buys electricity from Countries like Bhutan
and Nepal. In India, overall energy consumption per year is 1,
50,000MW and per capita usage of electricity in developed counties
like US is Fourteen times more than in India. It is easily understood
that as country progresses, is energy needs also increases. According
to the 12th Planning commission, it is understood that more focus will
be on manufacturing sector which has more energy requirement.
Being India the 8th largest producer of Wind energy and has the larger
scope of generating solar electricity from different states like
Rajasthan, Gujarat etc, there is a lot of opportunity in India for the
energy production which requires only initial capital and little
maintenance.

In addition to that, Type – I fuel -Thorium is 90th element in the

periodic table, slightly lighter than Uranium and available in the purer
form. It is believed that the amount of energy contained in the Thorium
resources is more than the combined total energy that is left out in
Petroleum, coal, other fossil fuels and Uranium. So being largest owner
of Thorium and also being amongst the nations which will see highest
surge in power demand with its growth, India has an opportunity to
pursue its existing nuclear program with more focus on R&D using
Thorium as a long-term option. Various Technologies for Thorium
based plants are already being developed and deployed on a test basis
in India which has a promising future. Also there is comparatively less
impact on ecology when India adapts to Nuclear energy rather than
depending more on Coal.
So it is clearly understood that India will have more electricity need in
2013 than 2012 and India will be a electricity surplus country in 2013
provided it better make use of the existing resources and more focus
on using Type-1 fuel than Type - 0 by overcoming the internal
aggressions such as Kudankulam Nuclear power plant and by
maintaining good relationship with other nations because India is
more dependent on other countries like France, US, Germany, Australia
for the nuclear fuel. Also steps taken by government such as newly
introduction of Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation act,
2011 will helpful for better make use of our nation's natural fuel
resources for our country's benefit. In India, Power theft is a very big
concern because nearly 20-30 % of the electricity is wasted by power
theft. So this must be prohibited at any cost. Also government should
make people aware about the necessity of saving power for the future.
 Centre - State hassle over NCTC
National counter terrorism centre better known as NCTC is a premier
organization designed to deliver an edge to the government in its fight
against terrorism. Terrorism is a very widespread and flexible
phenomenon. Incidents of terrorism happen every now and then. To
counter these threats, it was decided by the present U.P.A. government
to establish an organization specifically dedicated to the task of
fighting terrorists. It was to work under Intelligence Bureau, and was
armed with powers like making arrests to carry out its functions
smoothly. However the coming of NCTC has caused quite a stir in the
governance sphere in India. Many states have accused that the powers
given to NCTC are an encroachment on the powers and a clear
violation of the demarcation of powers between centre and state given
under the constitution of India. Some voices have arisen that there is
no need of NCTC because the existing agencies are adequate to fight
terrorism.
Hence first we need to examine as to why there is need of NCTC. All
police and intelligence agencies in India have their designated roles. All
the police agencies in India are assigned the role of law enforcement,
crime control and crime investigation. While the intelligence agencies
are already burdened with the herculean task of gathering, analyzing
and developing the field inputs. Hence the present structure has a
scope for a specialized agency in fighting terrorism. And the formation
of NCTC is a step towards fulfilling that void. Among the contentions of
the states the most prominent is that it is a device indented for
encroaching upon state’s power by the centre. They cite the provisions
in which NCTC is given the power to make arrest in any state, which is
the power enjoyed by the police of the respected state. However it is to
be understood that the NCTC will not be making any arbitrary arrests.
All its activities will be regulated by the provisions of the Criminal
Procedure Code(CrPC) and Indian Penal Code(IPC). And thus it will be
following guidelines like obtaining an arrest warrant before making
any arrest and producing the suspect before a magistrate within 24
hours of the arrest. It is quite evident that although it may seem quite
odd, all the procedures of NCTC are regulated by law.
Coming to the role of NCTC, it will be the only organization that will
specifically play the pivotal role of fighting terrorism in India. India has
always been very prone to terrorism, but what has troubled
authorities is the diverse and varied form of terrorism. Whether it be
the NSCN-IN, ULFA or BODO, separatist movements in northeast,
Khalistan movements in Punjab or hired foreign mercenaries in
Kashmir. All have their different reasons of origin and required
different types of approach for solving them. And Indian agencies had
to learn by trial and error in the process wasting precious lives and
resources. Thus having a specific organization, wholly dedicated to the
aim of fighting terrorism will be a big help. Not only that terrorism in
21 st century has developed different dimensions like cyber terrorism
and sleeper cell terrorism. Now-a-days increasing numbers of states
have established their own counter-terrorism organization like
Mumbai ATS, UPSTF, Delhi STF etc. In this case, NCTC will become a
mother organization and help in better coordination of these
organizations and increase in their potential.
Creation of NCTC will be followed by establishment of a database
listing all the details about terrorists. Thus it will help in stopping all
the terrorist activities by identifying their working method and also
stop further attacks by blocking them. Moreover it will also help in
better co- ordination between intelligence and police agencies and will
also relives the pressure from the police so that they could solely focus
on the role of guarding society and law enforcement. Keeping all these
in mind, it can surely be said that NCTC is the need of the hour and the
states should rest assured that it will only facilitate their governance
not encroach upon their working.
 Should Sachin Tendulkar conferred Rajya Sabha nomination or
Bharat Ratna?
Not long ago, Sachin Tendulkar a name which binds 1.2 billion people
together in our country was conferred with a nomination in upper
house of the Parliament and the question which has been raised is -
whether inducting the cricketing great into Rajya Sabha is a prudent
decision or not? While people may argue that Tendulkar deserves
everything that he is bestowed upon but his nomination into
Parliament has raised a few eyebrows. The common consensus among
the people is that Politics or Parliament is not the place for a sports’
bigwig where the issues regarding the development of country are
placed above the decisions relating to caught behind or run outs. Now,
as a matter of fact the million dollar question is - should the master be
awarded Bharat Ratna – The highest award for any civilian in the
country or a seat in the Parliament?
Sachin Tendulkar, a champion batsman with numbers that are hard or
possibly impossible to emulate has been a great ambassador of Indian
cricket for the last two decades. The credentials, the feats of this man
particularly the ton of tons was just an imagination before he pulled it
off. The records and feats will be cherished by the cricketing fraternity
for the unforeseeable future. But outside the cricket stadium
Tendulkar has been a true role model conducting himself with dignity
and humility. He has been an inspiration to hundreds of thousands in
our country. These credentials and the respect that he derives are
already enough for Bharat Ratna but a seat in the political stadium has
been a bone of contention. A parliament is a place where decisions,
deliberations and debates regarding policies of national interests and
various legislative bills are held for which one has to be well
acquainted with all socio-economic aspects, the political situation in
the country because of which Tendulkar just doesn’t fit into the
scheme of things. The duties that are supposed to be discharged by
Tendulkar may require sound decision and policy making ability which
would be a tricky task for the little master than smashing a six off Brett
Lee.
Looking deeper into this nomination it won’t be a bad idea to induct
the sportsmen into policy making and administrative roles that would
help to run sports ministry or any other sports managing body more
efficiently. This would help for the welfare and overall holistic
development of the sporting community. The young and aspiring
sportsmen would be benefitted from this sort of a policy. The huge
talent pool of players not just from cricket but from other sports would
not be wasted which is the case right now. May be Tendulkar can drive
a change, but then again Sachin Tendulkar has not been popular as a
leader.
Tendulkar, without a shadow of a doubt deserves Bharat Ratna for he
has achieved everything that a civilian could achieve in the field of
cricket but does he merits a seat as an MP needs to be recapitulated
since MPs from diverse backgrounds such as sports and cinema have
seldom done anything substantial to the decision making and
development. The move could be a political gimmick of the
government to just politicize the game which already has many
politicians as the chairmen of various state run cricket associations.
At the end of the day, its Tendulkar’s call whether to duck this political
bouncer and continue being the face of World Cricket or to start a new
innings on an all together different pitch.
 Centre - State hassle over NCTC
The ongoing debate between Centre & various States’ administrations
on the scope & structure of the National Counterterrorism Centre
(NCTC) invokes several misgivings on the efficacy of our federal fabric.
The Home Minister has led a callous show from the Centre &
opposition parties in the states have maliciously taken advantage to
gain as many political points as offered. While the political circus
remains without a ringmaster, the innocent, ordinary Indian remains
uncertain if his bus or train ride to office or shopping time with family
is safe & secure from extremists who brazenly and mockingly strike,
abduct, hijack etc. seemingly at their own whims & free will.

Although the Centre continues to generate much hula hoop around the
highly ambitious NCTC fact remains our track record – botched
operations like Dantewada incident where 76 CRPF jawans were
brutally ambushed & RAW reported Pakistani shopkeepers & traders
as terrorists, abductions of government officials, prolonged trials of Taj
& CST assailant Ajmal Kasab & Afzal Guru led LeT attackers of the
Parliament - continues to pain the blood & kin of victims and lowers
citizens’ confidence. Nevertheless the evolution & nature of the
ongoing debate, which has engrossed national thinkers & international
observers focused upon counter-terrorism, is noteworthy.
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission in its June ‘08 report
“Combating Terrorism” suggested a federal agency to investigate
terror offences under CBI among other recommendations. After the
November ‘09 Mumbai terror attacks at the Intelligence Bureau
Centenary Endowment lecture the Home Minister P. Chidambaram
took the dais to propose the bold new NCTC. Chidambaram
ambitiously envisaged a body subsuming NIA, NSG, NTRO etc. together
with the Multi Agency Centre supported by the National Intelligence
Grid (NATGRID) – accessing about 21 categories of database entries
(railway, air travel, income tax, credit card & bank account statements,
etc.). However a truncated version within the Intelligence Bureau was
approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in January ’12
empowered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for arrests,
searches & seizures.
Response to the NCTC at the Chief Ministers’ conference was highly
critical of the proposed body. Opposition CMs Narendra Modi, J
Jayalalitha, Naveen Patnaik, Nitish Kumar & Prakash Singh Badal as
well as alliance CMs Mamata Banerjee & Omar Abdullah amongst other
seasoned bureaucrats voiced concerns on various aspects of the
proposed setup. Principle among these was the anticipated
infringement of state subjects of ‘Public Order’ and ‘Police’ by
empowering NCTC to arrest/search/seize “in situations where
immediate action is required” on intelligence inputs without informing
state administrations. Such power resting in the secretive IB – a non-
constitutional, non- accountable body - was also a concern for them.
The presence of a multitude of agencies – Intelligence Bureau (IB),
Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC),
National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI), Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), etc. also begged a question on the need
for an additional organization.
The NCTC also adds to various bones of contention between Centre &
States such as abolition of cascading taxes under proposed uniform
goods and services tax regime, feeble state-level Lokayuktas in Lokpal
institution, rehabilitation & resettlement clauses in the proposed Land
Acquisition bill & proposed amendments to RPF & BSF acts to
empower them with authority to arrest. However as we lurch through
blasts, ambushes & abductions, the criticality of concerted &
synchronized Centre-State efforts towards a counterterrorism body to
face our complex internal security challenges cannot be emphasized
further. Encouragingly the NIA met ATS units of 28 states & UTs -
formed four sub-groups to streamline investigation process, Maoist
influx, Northeast insurgency & fake currency
circulation and also called for coordination to track & nab 75 ‘wanted’
people. But we should bear in mind, the NIA’s role shall commence
after an incident has occurred.
Jihadists plan centrally & attack while Maoists roam jungles
transgressing state borders freely. Counterterrorism has a great
responsibility towards the citizenry in rooting out forces inside &
outside our borders that incite, fund & provide resources to such
activities while the State has to ensure youth have several avenues of
constructive opportunities. Turf wars will be best avoided by utilizing
the best skills of each participant. It would be erroneous to not utilize
the collated intelligence of the Centre from across monetary,
communication, freight, satellite, etc. surveillance networks and the
understanding of local languages, terrain & population available with
state police & ATS units. The US NCTC operates under the Directorate
of Intelligence with experts from CIA, FBI & the Pentagon collecting,
collating & assessing information to share with policymakers. After
9/11 Bill Clinton stood aside President George W. Bush when he
declared War on Terror & ten years hence President Barack Obama
had George W. Bush by his side when addressing from Ground Zero on
Osama’s killing. Unfortunately, we lack leaders of vision who will
prevent our going from one crisis to the next with our lives reduced to
mere statistics.
 Should Sachin Tendulkar confer Rajya sabha nomination or
Bharat Ratna?
Short time back, it was a million dollar question that when will Sachin
would be honored with the highest civilian award of the country as the
adornment was obvious but the time of occurrence was vague, but
now the deliberations are gaining tempo, this time in the Upper House
of the Parliament, that should Sachin be welcomed to a place where
actually he doesn’t belong to? Obviously the bird’s eye view will tell
that politics is surely not the place for a sports’ personality to be where
concerns are placed more upon the economic and social issues rather
than the decisions regarding run outs or LBWs. Now the question is -
should the great batsman be awarded the Bharat Ratna or a
parliamentarian seat in the country’s political stadium?
Sachin Tendulkar, no doubt is an achiever of a rare kind, has
consolidated more than 30,000 international runs in all forms of the
game altogether, a century of centuries to his name – a feat which no
other cricketer has managed to pull off, which will be cherished in the
cricketing community for the eternity and a true sportsperson whose
cricketing career, besides few controversies, is as immaculate as the
country’s national flag. These credentials are enough for him to
bargain for the Bharat Ratna, but a seat in the parliament is still a
blurred prospect. A parliament is a place where deliberations and
debates regarding legislative bills and national policies are held for
which one has to be well versed with the country’s socio-economic
aspects, the demographics and the prevailing political environment
within the country and Tendulkar just doesn’t fits into the picture.
Sports ministry could be one department where the prospects are
somewhat encouraging for the master but there too policy-making
would be a lot more challenging task for him than facing Lee &
McGrath at the Australian pitches.
If we take a closer look at the idea, then introducing sportsmen in
policy making is not that bad, especially if they are to be taken for the
welfare of sports community because as the persons from the same
community and environment, they are more enlightened to take
decisions rationally and constructively keeping in mind the vagaries
and threats faced by the neglected lot of the sporting world and how to
encourage youth to take sports as their career and make a buoyant
atmosphere for the exploitation of the immense talent present within
the nation’s boundaries. Ministry of Youth & Sports Affairs so far has
been miserably failed, on the one hand, to spur the growth of other
sports like Football, Squash, Volleyball, for that matter, in the country
and on the other, is not been able to arrest the leaching effect which
the commercialization of cricket has had on our national sport Hockey
so far. Sachin has been one of the greatest ambassadors, not just for
the world cricket but for the entire sports fraternity worldwide and
could might well prove to be a leader to reckon with.
Does he deserves the Bharat Ratna, yes, but does he deserves to be an
MP, needs to be revisited further because MPs from sporting world
and cinema have not contributed anything significant to the policy
making and the betterment of our country so far. It might well be the
move to politicize the great game of cricket further, already marred by
the ‘fixing’ bug, by strengthening the corruption nexus thriving in the
cricketing world. At the end, it is up to the great master who could
choose to remain the mascot of the cricket and continue to inspire the
young generations of the cricketers to come or start his second innings
on the pitch where he would surely be dealing with lots of political
bouncers and swingers and that too with a little skill.
 Petrol price hike and its effects on our day to day life
Petrol has become an indispensable part of our day-to-day life, and we
can’t imagine our life without it. But the petrol prices are sky
rocketing, and it is eventually going to affect each and everything that
we use in our day to day life. Poor people are already working hard to
earn square meal a day and this hike is definitely going to paralyze
these already-burdened people. Within three years petrol price has
increased 10 times and is still increasing. It is nothing but adding fuel
to the fire. Petrol hike directly or indirectly affects all the major sectors
like transportation, textiles, auto, FMCG etc, for manufacturing &
transportation. This affects the prices of daily essential commodities
which are transported on a daily basis. Banking sector is also expected
to suffer due to high inflation level.
Increase in fuel price will also increase in food price. This will have a
more severe impact on poor people because poor households spend
more than half of their income on food and only a tenth on fuel. It is a
chain reaction once started will affect all. Increase in petrol price
will increase the transportation cost, increase in transportation cost
will increase in price of goods, and this increase in price of goods
would gradually force the people to loosen their pockets even more,
and so on like this, the chain will further propagate. These ups and
downs push more people into poverty and leading to a more pathetic
situation of those already poor. This has obviously sent shock waves to
the common man who is trying hard to make both ends meet. Price
hike affects only the low wages or fixed salaried middle class families
as compared to higher wages salaried class. The existing middle class
is squeezed and many of those striving to attain the middle-class
standard find it persistently out of remit will bring no negative impact
on government employees as their DAs will be increase accordingly.
Rich and corrupted people are least bothered of it. Business class like
auto-rickshaw drivers shall transfer the burden to common people so
they are also safe. Common people if doing business shall also pass the
burden to customers and chain reactions. The community that suffers
the most is the common people or “aam aadmi”.
So what are we thinking? For the situation to get worse or are we
waiting for such a heroic person who’ll bring us out of this situation.
No, we, the people are the one to do something and control the
situation. Stop blaming government and think how to solve it. We
Indians import oil from different countries. We don’t have enough oil
to meet our requirements. So we have to depend on import of oil. If
there is increase in international price then we have to bear price hike
in India also. Then value of rupee in comparison with dollar is
becoming weaker in international market. Increase in number of
vehicles also causes hike in petrol prices. So the thing we can do is to
reduce oil consumption by using public transport for travelling to
routine places like our office, markets etc. Use of high capacity
transport system like train, ships instead of trucks and carrier vans.
Use of cycles to go to nearby places instead of bikes or cars. Cutting off
fuel supply or switching the engine off when traffic is halted for long.
Developing alternate sources of energy like solar energy etc.
Development of bio-diesel, and government should allocate more
funds for developing alternate sources of energy as well as develop
high capacity goods and public transport system. At last but not least I
want to say petrol is a natural resource and limited in nature. We have
to use it judiciously so that our future generations can also use it, and
thus lead to sustainable development. As someone has rightly said,
“Natural resources are not something we inherit from our forefathers
but something we borrow from our children”
 Dollar increase against rupees
Over the last few months India’s growth has slowed down. One of the
clearest indicators of this is the falling value of the Indian rupee. With
the financial crisis in Europe at its peak, foreign direct investment
(FDI) into the country has fallen steeply. This has increased India’s
trade deficit. While the value of goods being imported into the country
is as high as ever, Indian exporters are finding it difficult to sell their
goods in the weakened International market. As a result while few
people are selling dollars to buy rupees, many of them are selling
rupees to buy dollars. Thus the value of the rupee is depreciating.
Also with the oil companies demanding to be paid in dollars, the Indian
government is forced to shell out a higher price (in terms of rupees) to
buy crude oil leading to the petrol price hike in the country and the
widespread resentment against the Indian Government. With the
increase in transportation cost associated with this rise in petrol,
Indian manufacturers are faces with increasing operational costs
further impacting the export market. This is also a major cause of the
widespread economic inflation in the country. At the same time, BPO’s,
NRI’s and others who are paid in dollars are enjoying a greater income
and thus profiting from this scenario.
The Reserve Bank of India is trying it’s best to arrest this fall by selling
dollars and buying rupees. It has also increased the maximum limit on
foreign direct investment recently to try and reduce the trade deficit.
However, with the investors wary of investing money into risky
markets after the Greek fiasco, this step is unlikely to yield results in
the near future. Though the RBI has been pretty laid back till now,
Experts are hoping they will bring implement some major policy
changes in the near future which might help strengthen the rupee.
Hopefully the government will be successful in its attempts to arrest
this fall and the Indian growth story will continue unabated.
 Will INS Vikramaditya War ship add strength to our Indian navy?
A country’s power is derived from its military capability. A country’s
military capability also determines its capability to exert influence on
global scale.
The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the Indian armed forces. The
primary objective of the Navy is to secure the maritime borders. India
also uses its Navy to enhance its foreign relations. In recent years, the
Indian Navy has undergone considerable modernization to replace
aging equipment currently in service. One such modernization is,
replacing the aging INS Viraat aircraft-carrier with INS Vikramaditya.
INS Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev class aircraft carrier built by the
former Soviet Union during the cold war period. INS Vikramaditya is
the new name for Admiral Gorshkov. The Admiral Gorshkov entered
service in 1987, but was deactivated in 1996 because it was too
expensive to operate on a post-cold war budget. This attracted the
attention of India, which was looking for a way to expand its carrier
aviation facilities. After a series of negotiations, India and Russia
signed a deal in 2004 for the sale of this ship. The announced delivery
date for INS Vikramaditya was August 2008, but with issues
compounded by the ongoing cost overruns for upgrading the ship, its
induction in to the Navy is scheduled on December 4, 2012. INS
Vikramaditya is equipped with MiG-29K Fulcrum fighters and Kamov
anti-submarine helicopters.
The Dock trails of INS Vikramaditya were began in March 2011, to test
the main power generation units and radio-electric armament. Indian
navy personal also began their training in December 2011. On April 19,
2012, it was announced that all internal systems are functioning and
the ship was entirely self-contained. The sea trails for INS
Vikramaditya were begun on 8th June, 2012, which are scheduled for
120 days.
Indian Navy’s long term objective is to be able to respond to emergent
situations far away from main land. The ‘String of Pearls’ theory of
China and increasing Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean may put
India at a military disadvantage. So India needs to develop a grand
strategy to counter the Chinese aggression in the Indian Ocean. INS
Vikramaditya will have to play a crucial role in achieving this objective.
INS Vikramaditya, like any other aircraft carrier, will increase the
reconnaissance radius drastically. In war situations, using aircraft
carriers navy can send aircrafts to destroy enemy ships before they
come within the range of the ships. Aircraft carrier is essentially a
moving air base with aircrafts, which can provide air cover to the fleet.
With a stronger navy India can increase its influence on maritime
countries. INS Vikramaditya with Kamov anti-submarine helicopters
provides the Indian navy also a tactical advantage against sub-marines,
which cannot fire back on helicopters.
To conclude, induction of INS Vikramaditya will significantly increase
the overall effectiveness of the Indian Navy. This will be a milestone in
the road map of the Indian Navy, to become a Blue-water navy.
 Will INS Vikramaditya War ship add strength to our Indian navy?
In modern times, aircraft carrier for any navy across the world forms
one of the most essential part. If any country wants to flex its muscles
in the high seas then an aircraft carrier is more than a necessity. India
is one of the few countries currently owning an aircraft carrier, INS
Viraat. Though the life of the sole aircraft carrier is coming to an end
and to replace the ageing soldier INS Vikramaditya is being inducted
into the navy. It's projected that the induction would take place by end
of 2012 or early 2013.
INS Vikramaditya was originally built as Admiral Gorshkov in Russia
during the cold war but was later on was put up on sale in the year
1996 as it was not feasible to maintain such a carrier on a post cold
war budget. Since then India and Russia had been on the negotiating
table for the purchase of the kiev class carrier. Finally in April 2004, It
was agreed that the ship would be free and India would only play for
the refitting it desired.
India demanded the hybrid carrier to be converted into a full carrier
by removing the missile launchers and other weaponry system from
the foredeck of the carrier to make space for the STOBAR (short take
off and assisted recovery) system. The things demanded by India to be
modified also included the boilers to be replaced by diesel types; the
hull has been modified and enlarged to add more stability.The
complete Gorshkov package would also include MiG 29k all weather
planes, Kamov Ka 31 helicopters, advanced radar system and many
other small things.
Though many skeptics are wary of this carrier but most of the experts
in the industry has maintained that after refurbishing the carrier
would fulfill most of the current needs of the Indian navy and add the
requisite muscle, after the initiation of the work as the cost overruns
and revision cause stale mate between the two countries, Russia even
expressed its desire to continue the refurbishing and induct it into its
own navy. The carrier comes with a life expectancy of about 20 yrs but
our navy system expert’s gauge the carrier should last for about next
30 yrs. The most important aspect of this buy is not for it to act as a
short term transition carrier as INS Viraat is retired and INS Vikrant is
still being developed, its main role lies along with the indigenously
developed INS Vikrant, It will allow the Indian navy to deploy its
resources more effectively and would be able to maintain different
enemies at different locations, As aircraft carriers play such a pivotal
role in modern warfare system as they not only acts as offshore
refueling points but they also act as support system in the form of men,
material, strategy etc, and its not just for the navy but for the other
arms of the defense establishment also. The skeptics still argue about
Vikramaditya being a second class warship but in USD $ 2.2 billion, it’s
a steal as compared to the cost for a newly built aircraft carrier of the
same specifications, size and firepower. The addition of power to the
Indian navy would come not just with the MiG 29 planes or the ‘Helix’
copters but also from the range of movement of Indian forces it would
facilitate, along with the requisite machinery and other heavy goods
which might prove to be too costly for airlifts.
In conclusion INS Vikramaditya is another step in the journey of India
and its people towards a more stable and secured future.
 "God Particle" Found? will it be a Historic Milestone in science
Almost 50 years after the physicist Peter Higgs gave theoretical proofs
about existence of it, the Higgs Boson, has now been successfully
detected along with concluding data about its existence. But what is
special about this particle? Is it wise to call it the ‘God Particle’? And
what is the reason of so much media excitement on this?
Obviously, discovery of ‘Higgs Boson’ or actually, to be more accurate,
a particle which shows properties very close to ‘Higgs Boson’ as
theorised by Peter Higgs has become a model of scientific approach of
understanding nature and it is a proof of how much can be achieved
just by strong will and vision. What happened at CERN is obviously a
great discovery, but that’s not the end, and obviously it was not the
beginning. Unknown to most people is the fact that the particle found
at CERN is one of fewer than 20 building blocks all known matter is
made from. In fact, in 1980s CERN made discovery of W and Z Bosons
which were also very important in the standard model but it didn’t get
as much attention as Higgs or in a way nothing compared to it. So, if it
is not that much new to the physicists, then what makes it really
special and worthy of so much media coverage.
Well, as long as media is concerned there are number of facts which
together made it ‘The Big Show’. The amount of money which had been
put in creating the LHC and making it run is just eye popping. Also, a
theory given almost half century back finally became experimentally
verified. Apart from that, the technological advancement in
communication and involvement of scientists from different regions of
the world at such a large scale resulted in the big buzz.
The most distinguishing feature of the particle is its associated field
which gives mass to other particles within the field. And the fact that
we are much familiar in handling things which have mass rather than
what gives mass makes it hard to explain, and this ‘Hard to explain’
part is also one of the reason of naming it the ‘God Particle’ by some
media groups. Calling ‘Higgs Boson’ discovery historic is easy but if
instead of being amazed we try to understand it then we will know
that this step in science was result of more than 50 years of theoretical
and experimental work and every step that led to this is as much
prized and an achievement for human race as is this one.
As exciting is this discovery, there are innumerable problems in world
which are not solved by it. I do not say this to downplay this great
discovery but rather to light up the multifaceted nature of science.
There is still a lot to be researched and this is just another chapter in
the book of science like all other which led to it and many the others
which will be found because of it.
 Who deserves to take the seat of president? either sangama or
Pranab Mukerjee ?
The President is the constitutional head of our country. Electorally he
is the first citizen of India. He is the person who parameterizes the
characteristics of the distinguished community of India. Consequently,
such an honour should be bestowed upon a person who is the
distinguished personality of the country. He should be a person above
any party, religion, caste, creed, gender or language discrimination. He
is the one representing the India.
In the upcoming presidential elections we had seen 106 nominations
out of which all but two were rejected. The contest is only between
Pranab Mukherjee and PA Sangma. As to who is more deserving to the
post of the President, I would wish to enumerate the contribution of
both for the country. Pranab Mukherjee no doubt is the oldest member
of the Parliament and a favourite of many.
His political career has seen the rise of the India from a small country
to major power. His career has seen remarkable achievements. Being a
member of the Indian National Congress, he has the distinction of
being a member for various high profile Ministries which include
Defence, External Affairs, Revenue, Shipping, Transport,
Communication, Economic affairs, Commerce and Industry. He has
headed the Lok Sabha and the Congress parliamentary party and the
legislative party. Adding to his honour, he has been conferred many
prizes which consisted of Padma Vibhusan, second highest civilian
award in India, outstanding Parliamentarian in 1997, best finance
minister in 1984 by the magazine Euromoney. He played a major role
in the signing of the Inida- U.S. nuclear pact without India having
signed the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. He has done
indispensable task for Indiia. He has been a parliamentarian for four
decades which is quite a long time to gain an experience and give
something to India. Referring to his dignity and popularity, he seems to
be the best candidate for the highest seat of the dignity. Pranab
Mukherjee would no doubt do a justice with the honour already
attached to President.
Quite contrary, PA Sangma has not been any notable contributor to
India. In fact in a recent statement, the chief minister of his state
Meghalaya questioned Sangma of his contribution to the country. PA
Sangma demands of vote from the tribal MLAs and MPs. He hopes for a
miracle. He tells himself the representative of the tribal community of
India. This statement of him really do not favour him. The President
should be above the feeling of community division. But, Sangma
demands for vote from the tribal community. Especially, this attribute
makes him unfit for contesting the election. India is a socialist,
sovereign and democratic country. One should respect its idols and
should not demand for vote merely because he belongs to a certain
community.
Seeing the attributes of both the contestants and the works of each of
them, I would really say, Pranab Mukherjee is the most deserved
candidate to become the President of India. He would really keep the
head high of every Indian

.
 Who deserves to take the seat of president? either sangama or
Pranab Mukerjee ?
The president of India is the shielder of the Indian constitution and the
formal head of the republic of India. He is elected by the members of
the parliament from among a nominated group of candidates. Since the
president is the first citizen of India, hence he must be a person of
colossal knowledge and comprehensive understanding of the affairs of
the country. The Indian President is conferred with prestigious powers
which should be utilized in the best way possible to contribute
towards national interest and development at the international
level.Currently Presidential elections have been contested in India to
select it's 13th president.
The contest was all set between UPA’s trouble shooter and former
Finance Minister Pranab Mukerjee and former Lok Sabha speaker P.A.
Sangma. I would like to throw light on the accomplishments and
competency of both the politicians in order to discern the worthy
candidate who deserves the seat of the President.
Pranab Mukerjee, in his sparkling career, had earned the opportunity
to serve the nation at various posts such as finance ministry, defence
ministry and external affairs department. He proved his merit by
performing his duties and fulfilling his responsibilities at all the key
positions. He also is one of India’s most experienced and prudent
politicians. Serving the country for over four decades. accolades such
as "Padma Vibhushan" were bestowed on him and he was also named
the "The Best Finance Minister" by Euromoney Magazine. PA Sangma,
on the other hand, has very little to his credit. He was the chief
minister of Meghalaya as well as the Speaker of Lok Sabha. Apart from
this he did not happen to leave any notable impact in the Indian
politics.
In terms of personality and disposition, Mr. Mukerjee has a wide edge
over his opponent. He has a vast public life with immense utility and
experience. Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called him “man for all
seasons”. Mr. Mukerjee enjoys a clean public image. He began his
career as a teacher and later a journalist. Thus his connectivity and
understanding with common man is a vital factor for his being a
favourite for presidential polls. He has declared himself as
"Everybody's President". While Mr. Sangma, in recent past gave air to
controversies. He had been portraying himself as the representative of
tribal India and termed the president poll as Anti-tribal. Further he
was against his opponent’s nomination in the contest, raising
objections now and then. Earlier he resigned from NCP (of which he is
the founder member) after opposition against his presidential
candidature. He has little support to back him.
From the competency point of view, again Pranab Mukerjee gains
ground. The president has to maintain relations and ties with other
nations and negotiate treaties as well. During his reign as the Finance
Minister of India, Mr. Mukerjee has been praised for his “uniform and
prudent” leadership qualities. In addition, if elected as the president,
his suggestions and advices regarding the annual budget could be
requisite. He can be expected to make the best use of the financial
powers held by the president. In an event as this, Mr. Sangma has
nothing of the essence to contribute. His faith on miracles can’t be of
purpose in matters as listed above. His controversial statements and
dependence on tribal votes make him inapt to hold the presidential
post.
It is thus clear that Pranab Mukherjee leads his opponent P.A. Sangma
as the one deserving the seat of the President. In my opinion, he would
be of material service in contributing towards the welfare of India and
it’s citizens.
 India declares drought: How will it affect country economy
With the pillars of economy already shaking due to lingering inflation,
sluggish growth, low industrial produce and a high fiscal deficit, the
impending prospects of a drought have only added to the woes of the
policymakers. The Monsoon brings 75% of India's annual rainfall and
as of August 11 has been deficient by 16 per cent, which is a serious
cause of concern for the economy. Agriculture accounts for about 14.6
per cent of the country's GDP and provides employment to around
45.5 per cent of the rural population. Also, only 40% of the cultivable
area in the country is under irrigation. The northwest, which is India's
grainbelt, has received 38 per cent less than normal rainfall and the
condition in central regions is no better with 22% deficient rainfall.
With great reliance placed on monsoons, the drought has greatly
affected the farm sector especially with respect to kharif crops such as
rice, coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds.
India has had five severe droughts in the past 40 years. The last
drought in 2009 saw 23 per cent deficient rainfall which resulted in
the lowering of the food grain output by 16 million tones thereby
pushing up food prices and consequently sending headline inflation
into double digits. According to CRISIL's report, the headline
Wholesale Price Index inflation is likely to go beyond its estimate of 7
percent due to the scarcity in rains and resultant price escalation on
food items during financial year 2012-13.
Agricultural production in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka
and Madhya Pradesh is hit the most by poor rainfall. Drought has
reared its ugly head causing a surge in food prices especially in the
case of rice, soya and sugar. Moreover, with the US too experiencing
drought this year, the soya availability will be affected globally,
rocketing oil prices.
The government has taken potential steps to cut irrigation costs,
supply alternate crops, increase fodder supplies for livestock farmers,
limit exports, lower import tariffs and incentivise the use of irrigation
pumps. Also, in order to save standing crops, a diesel subsidy scheme
has been approved to help small and marginal farmers in addition to
an enhanced ceiling on seed subsidy to partially recompensate the
farmers for the expenditure in resowing or for purchasing drought-
tolerant seed varieties. Although such relief measures are the need of
the hour, they will not only widen the existing fiscal deficit but will also
put to test government's ability to strike a balance between fiscal
expansion and fiscal consolidation.
Fortunately, due to a record food grain (rice, wheat, coarse cereals and
pulses) production of 257.44 million tonnes in 2011-12, the
government has stocks amounting to ten million tonnes of rice and
wheat. This must be deployed judiciously to address the present
situation. Also, the government needs to keep a check on its exports
and imports since it is during the times of drought that exports fall and
imports surge to compensate for the fall in domestic production. This
will further add to India's already high current account deficit. The
dismal monsoon will also have an impact on the asset quality of farm
loans, if the Central Bank decides to reschedule the loan payments in
the worst-hit states.
The condition might improve in the coming wees but the persistent
climate change is likely to increase the frequency and severity of
droughts in the future. Although it is no doubt the government's
responsibility to effectively implement drought relief measures and to
stand prepared to face similar situations in the near future, it is our
duty as well, as responsible citizens, to use water efficaciously,
rationally and in the larger interest of the society.
 Why Indian athletes are falling back in Olympics 2012?
Its time to celebrate, for India has won 6 medals in Olympics for the
first time. This is the best performance from the country. Last year, we
could bring home, an individual Gold and this time most number of
medals ever. But these strides are too small and a tally of '6' is a
pittance for a country which is home to world's second largest
population and one of the fastest growing economies.
Indian contingent this year was the best both in quantity and quality
consisting of 86 sportspersons, in form and high on expectations. Many
of them despite having clinged gold in CWG, Asian games and
international championships, unfortunately, could not convert that
success to medals in Olympics.
What went wrong?
Our sports stars are highly capable but are not Happy Individuals.
Olympics being the biggest sporting event draws the best
sportspersons from across the world who fight their heart out to make
it to the podium. In this throat cut competition the sportsperson has to
deliver his/her best, both physically and psychologically. And this is
where our stars are falling back.
Now lets take a closer look into the ground realities. The truth of
Indian sports is that it is a sleeping dragon, hiding and forgotten most
of the time but blowing fire only when Olympics are around.
Firstly, there are structural and logistical gaps in facility chain and
infrastructure provided by govt to sports development. Major
upgradations indeed have taken place in boxing, hockey, track events,
wrestling, weight lifting & shooting in recent times. But still
sportspersons and their coaches time and again complain that these
facilities are neither of international standards nor lined on latest
technologies. And most of other sports like swimming, rafting, tennis,
badminton are growing outside the umbrella of sports authority,
confining them to privileged only.
Secondly, the sportspersons do not receive as many incentives as
claimed on the paper by authorities, which is a demotivator indicating
that they are an ignored lot. Third is lack of professionalism. Neither
the sport nor sportsperson's needs are taken seriously. The delivery of
goods is not timely. Management is more cynical than analytical.
Fourthly, Indian athletes are always behind their counterparts when it
comes to Stamina. Absence of a disciplined nutrition plan and guidance
of a professional dietician or nutritionist at the sports centers is the
reason to this. And also they are more prone to injures, fractures,
ruptures, muscle tears. This was seen this year too. Scientific and
technical aspects of the sport are not inculcated in the training. Study
on impact of stretching, lifting, landing, footwork and adoption of
techniques to minimize the stress on body are not focused upon
Fifthly, the training is solely sports oriented with least work done on
psychological robustness of the sportsperson. Focus, stress busting
techniques and counseling help the athlete a lot on the field. After
failing in the qualifier round, the statement given by Deepika Kumari's-
"I am too young to cope with the stress" is an example of this setback.
Hockey team which displayed a game of dismay, has a story to tell.
Political influence, non merit selections and poor training facilities are
the main causes of the poor performance.
Last but the most important is lack of international exposure. Many of
our sportspersons find it difficult to adjust to foreign climate and food.
Also they find foreign crowd to be not supportive and fall to home
sickness.
All these factors acting together left India far behind its potential this
year too. Indeed the overall performance and rankings of Indian
players have improved but could not reach top three medal earning
slots once again.
 India declares drought: How will it affect country economy
During recent times, India is passing through one of its worst economic
crisis having to deal with problems like, low growth, high inflation,
high fiscal deficit and the highest ever trade account deficit. In fact,
Standard and Poor rating 2011-12 has downgraded the rating for
Indian economy from "Stable" to "Negative" In such a situation,
occurrence of a drought will mean dooms day for Indian Economy and
will push India further into a quagmire.
During the last decade India has already faced three droughts and the
government has again on 2nd August , 2012, officially declared another
drought like situation in many parts of the country. Monsoon rainfall is
14 percent below average in India, which depends on rainwater to feed
more than 50 percent of its agricultural land. Some of the worst
affected states are Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra.
However, the driest region is the northwest, which, according to
India's Meteorological Department, had received only 80 percent of its
long-term average rainfall as of on August 23. This region envelopes
some of the most productive agricultural states in the country,
including Punjab, which produced 27.2 million metric tons of food
grains in 2010-11. Other major producers in India's northwestern
region include Rajasthan and Haryana, as well as the more north-
central Uttar Pradesh.
Drought can be defined as an extended period of months or years in a
region with little or no precipitation. A drought affects all aspects of
our society, be it economic, political or social. For the time being, we
limit our focus on its economic repercussions. The direct impact of a
drought on Indian economy is in the area of agriculture. Though the
contribution of agriculture in the GDP has dropped down to 13.9%, it
continues to employ a large part of the rural population and provides
livelihood to them. A weak monsoon and hence a crop failure will deal
a blow to hundreds of millions of desperately poor agricultural
labourers, small farmers and their families. Such dire situations will
force the farmer to borrow loans from exploitive moneylenders which
would then trap them into a vicious cycle of debt and poverty. School
drop-outs, malnutrition and in the worst conditions suicide would
define the conditions of these agricultural families during drought. We
have already read about the suicides of farmers in the Vidarbha region
of Maharashtra during the drought of 2009.
Rain water is extremely essential for agriculture as even today Indian
agriculture primarily depends upon it for irrigation facilities. Drought
affects the Kharif crops and has negative implications for India's rice
yield and hits the economy of our country known to have paddy-
culture. For the country's food security too droughts are threatening
particularly at a time when the country's population is increasing
rapidly. Occurrence of a drought will adversely affect the agricultural
production by lowering the produce. This in turn would lead to high
food insecurity in the nation. At the national level this food shortage
and insecurity would lead to high inflation with extreme hike in prices
of food grains making survival difficult for the poor. In such a grave
situation, the Government may be forced to import food from other
countries compromising on our trade balances. The adverse impact of
food shortage leading to food import from other country at terms
dictated by them are all known to us. Prior to Green Revolution India
had to import wheat from USA at terms dictated by the US
government.
In addition there will not be surplus of agricultural products like,
Basmati rice for export to overseas country. This will further aggravate
the trade deficit for our nation. A loss of crop also results in lower GDP.
It is not only the agriculture sector which will face adversities but also
all other related sectors. For example, the agro-based industries will
suffer a drop in the production level and incur huge losses due to
shortage of agricultural raw materials, people involved in the
backward and forward linkages with the farming sector like, people
and organizations dealing in fertilizers, pesticides, transportation and
entire supply chain for the food articles will also have low levels of
activities and thus will be adversely affected.
Moving on from agriculture, drinking water problems would constitute
one of the basic problems faced by one and all. The occupation of
animal husbandry would be hard hit due to degradation of green
pasture lands and loss of fodder. Further, India receives a lot of its
economic resources from forests and drought reduces this forest
cover. Lack of rainfall also increases the chances of forest fires leading
to loss of trees and the resources
Hence, it is clear that drought crushes our nation and it is important to
control it. Apart from and more important than the government's
initiative is our own initiative. We must ourselves try and conserve
water in the form of water harvesting and saving. Only then will we be
able to save our economy from the economic harm this devil inflicts on
us.
 ISRO launches 100th mission:PSLV C 21
“Hopes becomes Happiness, When Dreams becomes Reality”
India, ruled by the British for more than 200years, finally with the
legendary struggle it got independence in 1947. the nation with much
of its resources taken by the British during its era, which holds 75%
agro based industry have to plan for its development. Our eminent
leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr.Radhakrishnan, and Smt.Indra
Gandhi had fore seen the nation’s development and took so many
decisions that make “India” a superpower in all fields of agriculture,
industrialization, education and sustainable resources in its near
future.
With the 2nd five year plan in 1956-61 drafted mainly emphasized on
the promotion of industrialization, India known for its ancient science
and cultural method, and had great mathematicians, astronomers.
Development in industrialization showed way for rocket science also.
The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was
found in 1962 with Dr.Vikram Sarabhai as its chairman.
After this the epoch of ISRO (Indian space research organization)
begins in 1969 under the chairman ship of honorable
Dr.K.Radhakrishnan with the motto “space technology in the service of
mankind”. ISRO is among the 6 world’s largest government space
agencies. Indian space research organization in Bangalore developed
its first satellite “Aryabhatta” who was a great mathematician and an
astronomer, and was launched in 1975 with the help from Soviet
Union launch vehicle. Then the Rohini Satellite the first Indian satellite
to be placed in orbit with the Indian made launch vehicle SLV3
(Satellite launch vehicle).
After this ISRO developed two main type of launch vehicle system. one
is PSLV(polar satellite launch vehicle) and GSLV(geosynchronous
launch vehicle). the PSLV is mainly designed for placing satellites in
polar orbits and GSLV in geostationary orbits Though ISRO facing some
difficulties in GSLV it will overcome the issues within short span of
time. It also developed ASLV (augmented satellite launch vehicle))
which is not in use at present.
The ISRO developed satellites in collaboration with many other nations
for the betterment of human race. It developed remote sensing,
telecommunication and multi-purpose satellites.
INSAT (Indian national satellite system) the multi-purpose satellite
launched for promoting All India radio, doordarshan, Indian
meteorological department and telecommunication.
IRS Indian remote sensing satellite launched for the observation of the
Earth surface and changes occur in it. Many satellites were launched in
this series. It is the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites for
people use in operation today.
RISAT radar imaging satellite for providing multi polarization and
multi resolution of the spatial arrangement. RISAT 1 was sent to space
on April 2012 with c-band synthetic aperture radar.
ISRO also launched the CHANDRAYAN 1, the first satellite to moon by
India. It also plans to develop a manned satellite to probe in moon in
coming days. And with numerous tie-up projects with other nations
through the help of ANTRIX- commercial wing of ISRO.
ISRO launches its 100th mission, the PSLV C21 lifting off from the
Satish Dhawan Space Research Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra
Pradesh in 9 September 2012 witnessed by our Prime Minister
Dr.Manmohan Singh was successful and placing two foreign satellites
in orbit. It carried SPOT-6, a 712-kg French earth observation satellite
and injected it into an orbit of 655-km altitude, inclined at 98.23
degrees to the equator. Proiteres, a 15-kg Japanese microsatellite, was
put into orbit as an additional payload. With this mission, the ISRO has
launched 62 satellites and 38 rockets. It has so far injected 28 foreign
satellites into orbit.
PSLV had placed 22 satellites in c series consecutively though 1 failed
remaining 21 satellites were launched successfully. With the launch of
PSLV C21 India became an example for developing nation. This
achievement by ISRO brings pride and honor to our nation. This also
proves the nation’s strength and self-reliance to the other super power
nations. And it’s the time to wish our nation and ISRO for its future
missions to MARS.
 US Election 2012: Mitt Romney or Barack Obama
The next United States presidential election is to be held on Tuesday,
November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election
in which presidential electors, who will officially elect the president
and the vice president of the United States on December 17, 2012, will
be chosen. Incumbent President Barack Obama is running for a second
and final term during this election. His major challenger is former
Massachusetts Governor, Republican Mitt Romney. Two other
candidates have attained ballot access sufficient enough to
mathematically win the election by a majority of the Electoral College:
Gary Johnson, former New Mexico Governor who is the Libertarian
Party nominee; and Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee.
As we all are aware about the news that Barack Obama is completing
his tenure as US President in November 2012 and now again US
citizens have the right to make their decision that Obama will continue
or they want a new face. So November 2012 will be of great
importance as whole world has close eye watch on this election. All the
global scenarios will be decided by this polling fair. So its an
international fair which will be enjoyed by all the nations.
In this election one major issue which is going to be the key player is
the double dip recession which is faced by the country since 2007.
Another issue is unemployment of youth. Both of the issues are of
great concern and the candidate who makes the great and truthful
promises will be in the power. Anti incumbency factor for Barack
Obama will be there as no remarkable milestone is achieved by him so
far.All the major developments were done in the reign of George Bush.
Obama remained in fame due to his foreign policy and strong attitude
towards the terrorism as his major success was the assassination of
Osama Bin Laden. But he is still the charming face of the youth
population and in Asian countries he has the fame and names both. On
the other hand the candidate of Republican Party Mr. Mitt Romney is
the strong contender of the post of US President.
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American
businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of
Massachusetts (2003–07). he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Brigham
Young University and, in 1975, a joint Juris Doctor and Master of
Business Administration from Harvard University. Romney entered
the management consulting industry, and in 1977 secured a position at
Bain & Company. Later serving as its chief executive officer, he helped
bring the company out of financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded and
led the spin-off company Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm
that became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the
nation. His net worth is estimated at $190–250 million, wealth that
helped fund his political campaigns prior to 2012.
Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as
bishop of his ward and later stake president in his home area near
Boston. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate
election in Massachusetts, losing to long-time incumbent Ted Kennedy.
In 1999, he was hired as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing
Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The visibility he gained from
this stint gave him the opportunity to relaunch his political aspirations.
Romney was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002 but did not
seek re-election in 2006. During his term he presided over the
elimination of a projected $3 billion deficit through a combination of
spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes;
Massachusetts also benefited from unanticipated federal grants and
unexpected revenue from a previously enacted capital gains tax
increase. He helped develop, and signed into law, the Massachusetts
health care reform legislation.
The first of its kind in the nation, it provided near-universal health
insurance access via state-level subsidies and individual mandates to
purchase insurance. Romney ran for the Republican nomination in the
2008 U.S. presidential election, winning several primaries and
caucuses but losing the nomination to John McCain. In June 2011, he
announced that he would seek the 2012 Republican presidential
nomination. By May 2012, he had won enough caucuses and primaries
to become the party's presumptive nominee, and on August 28, the
2012 Republican National Convention made him the official nominee.
These thing shows that Romney can be the best option to make country’s
economic condition well and he will work more consciously on the welfare
of citizens.
So all these qualities of Mr. Romney will help him to defend himself against
the Barack Obama who is a mass leader of the nation. Now it’s a time to
keep eyes on both these candidates that who will win the crown.
 Coal allocation scam
Another scam in a history of Indian. Coal mining controversy is major
fraud in 2012, which involved Rs 1,86,000 Cr loss to exchequer . This is
serious allegation against Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh
who is in a serious scrutiny of the CAG which leads to protest against
the leading political party NCP and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh asking for his resignation.
Social activist Arvind Kajrewal and IAC(India against corruption)
activist marched to the Prime Minister, Congress and Bhartiya Janata
party’s member’s residence in Delhi. The Police had to use tear gas and
water cannons to prevent crowd entering in these residences
The CAG report claiming loss of 1,86,000 to national exchequer by not
ensuring transparency during the period of 2004-2009. The Controller
and Audit General (CAG) has arrived estimated loss based on the
average cost of production and sale price of open cast mines of Coal
India during 2010-2011. The PMO also suspected for delaying a
decision on competitive bidding which is under Regulation and
Development Act 1957 which could have been implemented way back
in 2006. The process of competitive bidding was initiated way back in
2006-09, after correspondence amount various ministers for 2 years
the later it was dropped though Development of legal Affairs and law
secretory of the time stood against the decision.
One of the biggest beneficiary of the coal allocation is Anil Ambani’s
Reliance Power Limited(RPL). Un November 2007, Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan requested Prime Minister to RPL
to use the surplus coal of captive blocks of Sasan Plant. The
recommendation of Empowered group of Minister was considered and
it was granted , the decision resulted in a benefit Rs 29,033 Crore with
a net present value (NPV) 11,852 crore to the project developer. The
reort says 25 firms including Essar Power, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata
Power and Jindal steel and power gained Rs 1.86 crore from coal
allocation.
The coal allocation scam resulted in a deadlock in the parliament
Loksabha as well as Rajhasabha for four consecutive days. BJP Leader
Sushma swaraj and Arun Jeithely arguned that since Dr Singh was in
charge of coal mining during this period and he should take moral
responsibility of the ‘Coalgate’ scam and resign from the post.
Advocate M.L Sharma have filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the
supreme court seeing for cancellation of 194 blocks based on illegality
and unconstitutionality. As a result of this litigation, the Supreme Court
of India, in its September 2012 hearing has ordered the government in
power on basis of not following policy of competitive bidding for coal
allocation. The interminister group (IMC) has recommended de-
allocation of 4 coal block.
Union Coal Minister Saipradad Jaiswal along with UPA leaders rejected
the CAG report. According to Union coal minister the policy which
adopted for coal allocation blocks was not faulty. The CAG report is
based on few aspect of the coal allocation. The Prime minister of India
Dr. Manmohan Singh in his defect made statement regarding First CAG
charge to parliament directly instead of discussing with PAC (Public
Account committee) addressing the finding of the Final CAG report.
Hereafter Primer Minister’s statement.
Stretching 32 points paragraph, Singh’s main argument makes below
main points –
-Firstly, computation of extractable reserves based on averages would
not be correct.
- Secondly, the cost of production of coal varies significantly from mine
to mine even for CIL due to varying geo-mining conditions, method of
extraction, surface features, number of settlements, availability of
infrastructure etc.
- Thirdly, CIL has been generally mining coal in areas with better
infrastructure and more favorable mining conditions, whereas the coal
blocks offered for captive mining are generally located in areas with
more difficult geological conditions.
-Fourthly, a part of the gains would in any case get appropriated by the
government through taxation and under the MMDR Bill, presently
being considered by the parliament, 26% of the profits earned on coal
mining operations would have to be made available for local area
development. Therefore, aggregating the purported financial gains to
private parties merely on the basis of the average production costs and
sale price of CIL could be highly misleading. Moreover, as the coal
blocks were allocated to private companies only for captive purposes
for specified end-uses, it would not be appropriate to link the allocated
blocks to the price of coal set by CIL.
-The major mines and lignite bearing states like West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Orissa were opposite party
were ruling and in opposed to switch to the process competitive
bidding.
Before getting into any conclusion regarding sole responsibility of the
scam, we should have keep in mind all prospective. Since 1993,
allocation of captive coal blocks was being done on the basis of
recommendations made by an inter-Ministerial Screening Committee
which also had representatives of State governments. Allocation of coal
blocks to private companies for captive use commenced in 1993, after
the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 was amended. This was
done with the objective of attracting private investments in specified
end uses
Bhartiya Janata Party whose demanded for resignation of Prime
Minister owing the moral responsibility of scam however BJP should
have grabbed the opportunity UPA governments offer to have
discussion on the issue. This can be possibility, BJP is avoiding the
discussion with government because audit report turned out to be
equally guilty unflattering itself. According to CAG report two of them
major states Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan had opposed the competitive
bidding. The then chief minister of Chhattisgarh Dr. Raman Singh
wrote a letter to PM saying bidding in coal blocks would make steel
industry unviable and Vasungharah Raje, past CM of Rajasthan
opposed saying it is against Sarkaria commission recommendation.
Hence, it is clear that not only leading party is involve in the ‘Coalgate’
scam, whoever is involved in it one this is for sure, the corruption of
India are growing day by day which is impacting the economy and
growth of India. As a citizen of India, we should choose the wise leader
for country, The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.
 Does really politics divided the anti-corruption movement
(anna hazare/kejriwal)
Team Anna led people’s campaign against “Corruption” invigorated the
civil society in such a way that at every nook and corner you will find
corruption as a debatable agenda. The corruption has ingressed so
much in our life style that it seems legitimate when we seek public
service and have no issue to give monetary benefits to obtained
coveted services typically one such most common is when police
personnel comes to obtain a character verification for issuance of
passport. The question arises, why we are so sensitive now? Why we
accept it like a lameduck earlier. The vision which Team Anna took is
laudable and assisted by media moguls of the 21st century and certain
enlighten elites revolution has started in a big way to tackle the
vulnerabilities of “Corruption”.
A recent spat among Team Anna has created a rift in their ways to
reach a common goal, “Corruption free Society”. A section led by
Arvind Kejriwal is set to hunt a politically motivated solution not
likened by Anna Hazare who views politics as a root cause of all
corruption. Anna has its own contention which may not be practical in
contemporary scenario. The government failure to act amid political
turmoil to give a facelift to anti corruption activities within the
government and illusion created to set things right has frustrated the
general public. The “aam aadmi” is ramshackled with each new day
comes as a story of a new form of corruption.
The fasting agitation adopted by the Team Anna is in the same path as of
our “Father of Nation” which has not borne any rich fruits. The
disenergised faction of Team Anna in dearth of Government support and
those if any is of vested interest opposition for their vote bank politics and
leaves no option but to follow a new approach. The new approach is in the
same platform i.e “political driven”, a level playing field phenomena.
Asking, Does really politics divided the anti-corruption movement(anna
hazare/kejriwal)?. The answer is yes. The inactivity of Government and if
does any has a hidden interest for their own benefits have created such an
environment why Team Anna has no option but to come up with “political”
solutions through enlightening voters and choosing deserving candidates
which are not a product of “Inheritance” of their family name and fame but
the ones who are truly aware of ground situations to trigger some
refinements of ruing class.
 Views on Foreign Direct Investment
Recently the issue of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is dominating
the Medias with the clamorous protests and supports from all over
India each state, each political party and even each individual is having
their own views on the FDI. Foreign Direct Investment alias FDI is the
investment by a foreign country in the production of another country
either by expansion of the operations or by purchasing companies in
the country.
As a country investing in other countries has eye on the cheap labour
and resources in the target country or tariff free access to the market
of the country. Whereas, the host country receives foreign funds for its
development, new technologies, experience, expertise and new job
opportunities. The FDI is opposite to the portfolio investment where is
investor is least bothered in the management. The Foreign direct
investor may acquire the voting power in the enterprise. He can
acquire the company or its wholly owned subsidiary, acquire shares of
an associated enterprise, and merge an unrelated enterprise and can
participate in the equity joint venture.
Considering the FDI in global scenario, the United States of America is
the largest recipient of FDI of $194 billion, followed by China with $85
billion, in 2010.In India FDI started in 1990 with less than $1 billion
investment. In 2010-12 the sectors such as services ,
telecommunication, construction activities and computer software and
hardware attracted unprecedented in flow of FDI to India making it the
most sought destination after China. From $44.8 billion investment in
2010, there was an eight fold increase in March 2012.On September
2012, by FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act), government of
India announced permission FDI in aviation up to 49%, in the
broadcast sector up to 74%, in multi-brand retail up to 51% and in
single-brand retail up to 100%.The choice of allowing FDI in multi-
brand retail up to 51% has been left to each state. It is this decision for
allowing FDI in retail sector that triggered wide spread agitations in
India.
It is undisputed fact that the foreign investments has booted up the
Indian economy in recent decades that even a lay man can realise by
comparing the economic situation of the citizens over the decades.
Indian streets are characterised by small retail shops and a good
proportion of population finding their living hoods in retail sector. The
perspective on FDI changes as from which level of the society we are
viewing it. For a retailer, he fears his business when rivals enormous
potential is going to compete with him. As a purchaser, he will be
happy to be exposed to select from the wide variety choices and he will
get a satisfaction of purchase of his will and also at reasonable costs.
The economists view the FDI in terms of the money flow into the
economy and its impacts. Similar apprehensions happened when the
indigenous retail marketing giants were introduced. People are
attracted to the retails shops because of the benefits they are able to
avail at reasonable costs. And despite the fears the petty retails shops
also surviving, thanks to the Indian demographic features. The retail
market in India is highly unorganised with some people holding
monopoly of procuring products from the farmers, so that the farmers
are the least benefitted group in the supply chain. The FDI in the retail
sector can help in goods procurement at reasonable rates as the
information on market demand; prices etc become easily available
thus eliminating the middle man from the supply chain.
India has prohibited FDI in sectors such as Business of chit fund, nidhi
company, agricultural or plantation activities, real estate business, or
construction of farm houses, or trading in transferable development,
lottery business including government /private lottery, online
lotteries, etc, gambling and betting including casinos etc,
manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes, activities /
sectors not open to private sector investment e.g. Atomic Energy and
Railway Transport (other than Mass Rapid Transport Systems) for
protecting better interests of the country. Opening of above said
sectors to FDI should be prevented in the coming years also.
The disadvantage from FDI arises when the economically powerful
investor can control the competitive enterprises in the market which
can lead to the monopoly in pricing and due exploitation of the market.
Proper policies and regulations should be adopted for avoiding this
trend. The sovereignty of the country should not be surrendered to the
foreign hands at any costs or means.
The Indian labour laws, complicated legal procedures and wide spread
corruption are causing investors to shy away from investing in India.
India was ranked far below, lower than Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Srilanka, in the ease of business index released by the International
finance Corporation (IFC) the private sector arm of the World Bank has
ranked India 116 out of the 155 countries surveyed. In this contest
even if government is attracting investments via tax holidays, low tax
rates, SEZ(special economic zones) etc, it will be difficult to attract
foreign money. Steps should be taken to make labour laws more
flexible, reduce intricacies in legal formalities and increase the morale
of the country for economic reforms to be effective, otherwise steep
decrease in investment growth can be foreseen.
 Indian People vs. Price Hike
The deteriorating global market due to the repercussions of global
recession of 2008 has brought fiscal losses and unemployment in a
large geo-economic area. Alike many developed and developing
nations, India failed to keep her insulated from the ramifications of the
global slowdown. Consequently, the economic monsters of fiscal-
deficit and deteriorating currency imbued the vicious scourge of Price
Hike into the market. A juxtaposition of the current face price of any
arbitrary commodity in the market with that of the price before 2008
could insinuate the manifold increase in prices. The statistical data
from the competent institutions like NSSO, RBI, Ministry of Finance,
PMEAC and the Planning Commission corroborated the uncomfortably
high percentage of inflation ranging near double digits from 8.0% to
11.0% at different quarters of the current financial year based on
Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Taking account of the price hike in essential domestic commodities like
food stuff and LPG could reveal the plight of millions households. The
prices of milk and vegetables ratcheted in recent days have instilled
upheaval in domestic budget of middle class families. The unruly price
hike of diesel and petrol increases transportation costs which has
cascading effects on the market commodities. The price of petrol in
2008 was nearly ` 45.00 per litre which has crossed an alarming high
price line of ` 70.00 per litre throughout the country with little
aberrations. The price of diesel experienced an exorbitant price hike of
around ` 20.00 per litre from erstwhile low rate of approx. ` 30.00 per
litre. The Indifference Curve of every middle class family has been
lowered due to the constrained budget line which in turn diffuses
dissatisfaction and engenders social unrest. The burning example of
which is the contrived situation in the middle-east countries viz
Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, etc.
Inflation is the term used to denote the percentage growth in prices of
goods and services with respect to their prices in some relevant base
year. The perplexing price rise is a matter of studies for the eminent
economists of every epoch. As a matter of fact, the effect of price rise is
both negative and positive in economic terms. Enumerating the
reasons of price rise we encounter terms like, monetary inflation,
black-marketing, unmatched demand and supply, market monopoly
and business accession. Let us demystify the terms one by one, starting
with monetary inflation. The problem of monetary inflation indicates a
situation of excessive money supply in market which corrodes the real
value or the purchasing power of currency. Hence, each unit of
currency could fetch fewer amounts of commodities and services.
Black-Marketing refers to the depraved act of a few manufacturer and
stockiest who hoard the product in godown to artificially inflate the
price in order to reap larger profit in future. The unmatched demand
and supply has both negative and positive effect on prices of goods and
services. If the demand is more than the total potential of supply then
the price rises and if the supply is more than potential demand then
the price fells. Market monopoly and business accession are two faces
of the same coin. When a big giant manufacturer takes over the
business of several small enterprises, the competitions in the market
evaporate, precipitating back monopoly into the market.
Price hike is akin to a viral disease which insidiously affects a larger
section of society and brings infrastructural annihilation. Apart from
the direct conundrums, it leads to a sudden drop in demand due to
contained purchasing capacity of buyers. The drop in demand is
counter balanced by drop in production which means drop in
exigencies of variable factors of production, e.g. labour, raw-material,
running cost, etc. The drop in labour-requirement unleashes
devastating unemployment and under-employment in society. The
capitalists face another species of problem simultaneously where the
expenditure on fixed factors of production remains equal to the pre-
fall demand situation because the fixed factors cost are levied on
infrastructure, long-run investment, insurance premium, rent, etc.
which are inert to short-run aberrations in total quantity produced.
Hence, it bolsters the increase in Average Total Cost of production.
This double faceted situation, on one hand deteriorate the purchasing
capacity of market while on the other hand it incur loss of capital and
thus lead to shut-down of factories in financial crisis which in turn
further aggravate the problem of unemployment thus lowering further
the purchasing capacity.
Trade deficit is yet another implication which is a negative effect of
inflation or the price hike where the domestic market gets dearer. It
promotes imports over exports which results in loss of foreign
exchange. Besides, the difference in imports and exports result in trade
deficit. The price hike has a good effect on an economy at initial level
and under a comfortable zone of 2%-3%. It leads to growth in
economy by increasing demand. Thus result in employment
opportunities. An economy toils to fend off the exaggeration of
inflation through monetary policies and fiscal policies. The central
bank of a nation is equipped with the tools like bank-rate, cash reserve
ratio and bank security. When the inflation crosses the level of ease to
the level of discomfort, the central bank of a nation, Reserve Bank of
India in ours case, increases the bank rate i.e. Repo Rate, Reverse Repo
Rate and Marginal Standing Facilities. This result in higher interest
rate on loans which deter public from taking loans whereas promote
saving to attract higher interest from the bank. In both the case, the
cash is revoked from the market which helps to resist the fall in real
value of currency. The Cash Reserve Ratio is required to be maintained
by the commercial banks to the Reserve Bank of India which also help
in revocation of liquidity from the market. The bond and securities
sold by the Reserve Bank of India to the commercial banks is yet
another apparatus to revoke the liquidity from the market. Besides, the
government levies taxes of different forms to curb the inflation.
Price hike or the inflation is a necessary evil of a growing economy
such as ours which could be tamed through suitable and sustainable
measures. The efforts of economists have formulated several tactics to
maintain the inflation at the zone of comfort. The problem of price hike
is a problem faced by common people; hence it is the infallible duty of
the Indian Government and the Economists to bring it under control
whereas it is the duty of the People to proliferate the technical aspects
of inflation among unapprised masses.
 Why Digitization Hits Metros In India….?
Digitization has sneaked into every aspect of our life. This article
written 20 years ago would have taken a week to reach the civil service
India by post and more cumbersome was the procedure to reach the
readers that is us. The latest directive of TRAI for digitization of cable
T.V is another initiative to bring the advances of technology to our
door step. But will this make the idiots box smarter only time will tell.
Lets put on the cloak of the subscriber ,the cable operator , the
government and analyze the issue.
The idiot’s box is no more a box now, with the advent of LED’s LCD’s
the T.V has been in a way reinvented. The picture resolution and
clarity of these high definition displays cannot be appreciated by
analog T.V signals and the viewer has to invariably compromise on the
clarity. This is like living in a cage with a sports car.
This new direction of digitization has literally hit the metros as this is a
compulsory undertaking. The first wave of digitization which dawned
though the DTH was optional. It opened up the T.V broadcasting
market to new players. But off late the revenues for the DTH operators
has been declining owing to the fact that there is an increase in
number of DTH platforms and rise in fixed-free bundled offers. This
new govt direction will give a new impetuous to these DTH operators
which also includes a public sector platform in the form of DD direct.
The subscriber or the end user is set to gain from this digitization as it
will give his finger tips the power of choice. The digitization will bring
in the benefits of “pay for use” and offer better viewing experience due
to enhanced picture resolutions. The increase in competition between
the broadcasters will invariably lead to viewers getting more bang for
their buck. The users are also set to gain from the fact that digitization
enables a more interactive T.V viewing and also piggy backing of other
value added services like the broadband though the cable network. But
the shortage of set top boxes and the issue of hike in the monthly
subscription fee by many cable operators brought in a little bitterness
to this whole exercise.
The cable operators are obliged to provide signals in a digitally
addressable mode which the users will be able to access though set top
boxes (STB). Indian TV market is 3rd largest in the world with 146
million households. The Indian cable T.V space is composed of two
kinds of service providers, the cable operators, the multi service
providers (MSO) who operate in large areas like the DEN network. The
cable operators have been demanding more transparency in financial
contracts between broadcasters and MSO’s. They are also demanding
the non-encryption of free to air channels so that subscribers can view
them through the STB. The digitization will ensure transparency in
cable business and is expected to increase the average revenue per
user to around Rs 142 & subscription revenue for broadcasters thus
paving way for value added services like video-on-demand and even
ad-free channels. Digitization will also ensure that all Pvt channels are
carried and carriage fee (fee charged by the cable operator to the
broadcaster) will be abolished, this will help reinvigorate the sick TV
broadcasting industry.
The government on its part has been rational on its part by introducing
the digitization in phased manner.
1st phase around 10 million TV homes in 4 metros,
2nd phase will be implemented in all cities with population over 10
lakhs,
3rs phase all urban areas having municipal corporations
And by 2014 the whole country will be under the digital umbrella. The
government is also eying the US$ 2 billion of overseas investment
waiting to flow into Indian cable space and it believes the digitization
in metros will open the flood gates. The government is also furthering
its cause of connecting every village with broadband trough this digital
revolution.
The government initiative and TRAI directive for digitalization of cable
TV in metros and gradually the whole country is not a miracle drug for
all the problems plaguing the 32,000 crore worth Indian broadcasting
industry but it is indeed the much needed a palliative therapy which
will lessen the industries ailments and enable it to stand firm against
the blizzard of overseas competition expected to reach our coasts soon.
Let’s stay tuned and hope that this wave of digitization will encompass
the masses of this country and bridge the chasm of digital divide.
 Why sc tells Karnataka to give water to Tamilnadu immediately?
Our great founding fathers of CONSTITUTION OF INDIA have always
envisaged that “INDIA IS UNION OF STATES” rather than federation of
states which is imbibed in article one. But, the amenity between many
states of India has abridged even after independence. The relation
between the states of Tamilnadu and Karnataka has always been
abortive before and after independence because of Kaveri water
dispute. The genesis of the conflict rests in two controversial
agreements one signed in 1892 and 1924.The Kaveri river is 802 km
long has 32,000sqkm basin area in Karnataka and 44,000sqkm area in
TN .
The GOI constituted a board in 1990, after 16 years the tribunal
delivered its final verdict on February 5th 2007. In this the tribunal
allocated 12km annually to TN, 7.6km3 to Karnataka, 0.8km3 tokerala,
0.2km3 to Pondicherry. The actual release of water by Karnataka to TN
is to be 5.4km3 the TN govt has accepted the verdict while Karnataka
govt unhappy with the decision due to failure of monsoon and drought
conditions prevailing in the state , filed a revision petition before the
tribunal seeking a review. On 19th September 2012 the supreme court
slammed the Karnataka govt for failing to comply wit the directives of
the Cauvery River Authority(CRA) headed by the prime minister, to
release 9,000 cusecs of water everyday to TN from September 21 till
October 15th to save the standing crops in delta region(samba
cultivation)
A bench of justices D.K JAIN and MADAN B.LOKUR criticized Karnataka
for not respecting the decision taken by the country’s PM and warned
the state if it failed to comply with the directive of CRA. Karnataka
agreed to release 10,000 cusecs of water till sep 20th as a goodwill
gesture. Further SC did not accept any further plea by TN and further
waited for the CRA to come out with solution. But, it failed as
KARNATAKA and TN rejected the PM award. As a result there was
acetic situation between two states , bandhs and dharns took place in
two states. The Cauvery monitoring committee at meeting on 11th oct
ordered Karnataka to release a further 8.85tmcft of water to TN from
oct 16th to 31st . As we can notice the ambience in both the states has
not bought felicity every year. But, as we know gallons of water is
draining away out to Indian seas due to no proper infrastructure for its
effective utilization. If this is done in a proper and planned manner
may be in future we can avoid the fiasco of such verdicts which is
taking place every year and in every state, then the states allay
themselves and the amenity be bridged very strong. For ensuring
healthy relation and call the country as titled “union of states” two
conditions are paramount “PEACE” and “UNDERSTANDING”
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to
each other”-Mother Teresa.
“Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by
understanding”-Albert Einstein.
Let the words of these great souls infuse in us the sense of fraternity
and let us uphold the great Indian value of putting social good over self
good. The release of water by Karnataka to T.N will go a long way in
opening the flood gates of friendship between the two states and
outstanding issues can be resolved amicably in this atmosphere of
goodwill.
 OBAMA VS ROMNEY
Presidential elections are never part of sweet talks. The rivalry (US
presidential elections) began with lot of competencies, policies and
aggressiveness.
Romney fuelled the buzz by telling that ‘he wants a V.P. with a vision
for the country that adds something to the political discourse about the
direction of the country’. Romney chose Paul D Ryan as his running
mate, republican with knowledge of development. Romney tried to
repair his damaged image by negative democratic advertising and shift
the trajectory of the campaign, that’ seen him losing grounds to Barack
Obama.
The battle began with the Romney taking the lead in the first
presidential debate. Romney’s key factor was to turn around the nation
in the midst of sluggish economic recovery. He remarked Obama as
“not living up to their promises”. But then, Obama cleared his grounds
by fulfilling the promises made in 2008. He ended up the war in Iraq,
still trying to end up the war in Afghanistan, and focused on 9/11
attack and Osama Bin Laden is dead. The incumbent US president-
Barack Obama slammed Romney on foreign policy and his refusal to
divulge offshore tax arrangement. Romney spooked voters with
accounts of excessive government oversight, while Obama scared them
about Romney’s freeboothing economic philosophy that favoured the
rich.
Pregnancy came up as the issue, where Romney’s advertisement
featured young woman telling her new-born baby, ”dear daughter,
Welcome to America. Your share of Obama’s debt is over $50,000”.
Rape remark came as one of the drawbacks of democrat. Romney
played down social issues and projected moderate stance on matters
like abortion, to court female voters. But he came down, as he gave a
meandering response on equal pay for women. Obama called Romney
as “bullshitter” for his new word “ROMNESIA”.
Obama was hard put to defend from unemployment to soaring gas
prices with his fiery performance, in second and the final debate.
Obama spoke about the video which showed Romney decrying 47% of
Americans, who paid no income-tax, mentioned as freeloaders.
Romney accused Obama of unemployment and outsourcing jobs to
China and India, where Obama lashed out Romney who was against
saving auto industry and for his statement “let Detroit go bankrupt”.
Romney’s camp advertisement which said that Jeep plants were going
to be shipping jobs to china, to which car companies response was
“knock it off”. This issue was held main reason for unemployment, as
Auto industry accounts for one out of eight jobs in Ohio.
Romney’s introduction of race card in polling came up as a criticism for
his foreign policy flip-flops whereas, an endorsement for Obama.
Romney was put to test, due to Obama’s leadership qualities, after
hurricane “Sandy”. Romney showed compassion for victims and called
on supporters to help Americans in need but with no official role in
response. On the other hand, Obama took storm as a opportunity
which allowed him to pose as cool, effective leader, marshalling govt.
resources when citizens need them the most. Sandy posed peril for
Romney, which threatened his closing arguments ahead of the
elections on vote counting.
As each vote counted for both the rivals, Democrats used computer
system to track polling station incidents, while Republicans relied on
network of supporters with smartphone’s to forward any kind of
irregularities to the headquarters.
On the final day of election, Obama spent the day in his hometown
Chicago, playing basketball with his friends and giving satellite
interviews. As for Romney, he continued campaigning on final day too,
with an effort “to keep working until the polls close”.
At the end, battleground with lot of struggle, debates, efforts, declared
its result by re-election of Barack Hussein Obama as their president.
For Obama, he confounded political logic, with a decisive victory built
on strong foundations laid down months ago. The delegate collection
strategy, termed as “Obama’s machine”, and the Bin Laden killing
contributed as the key factors to Obama’s triumph. Obama’s early vote
proved meaningful. In regards of unemployment, the economy was just
good enough.
On the other side, Republicans across the political spectrum anticipate
a prolonged period of self-examination, as their party lose popular
presidential vote for the ‘fifth time out of six elections’.
Finally, this time they (people) defied the strong headwinds of a slowly
growing economy and re-elected their president.