history of indian archeology

The story of Indian archeology during the colonial period is one of accidental discoveries, committed individuals and unexpected developments. This new book captures all three elements in a chatty writing style that, while scholastic in its detail, is not heavy in technique. The three most important elements in the book deal with the imperial agenda in Indian archeology, the fascinating story of the discovery of the Indus Valley civilisation and the comparative differences between Roman and Indian archeological techniques. The books outlines the fact that the discipline of archeology worldwide is only 300 years old.

In India the emphasis of the archeologists was driven by their personal desires. The pioneers of Indian archeology, Alexander Cunningham and John Marshall, had two primary interests — to peer into the history of Buddhism and the fascination with Alexander’s encounter with India. It is not surprising therefore that John Marshall, who is credited with the discovery of the Harappan legacy, worked for 20 years at Taxila in Pakistan. He visited Mohenjodaro only after announcing its discovery by his subordinates in London Illustrated News.

The book brings to light the fact that Harappa in particular was ill served given the techniques of archeology that destroy several layers of priceless materials from the past. The combined destruction brought on by the construction of a nearby railway line which used Harappan bricks in its construction, as well as a slash and find method, destroyed a lot of clues of the past.

The history of museums in India makes for interesting reading, as does the detailing of the loot that the British took from India. Loot was of course for the British Empire and the British Museum in London has perhaps more loot than any other single building in the world.

At the same time the book outlines the role of the British Empire in particular and that of Viceroy Curzon in reviving and sustaining institutional interest in India’s past. The book is a must read for those who are enthralled by the story of how India recovered its history through diligent digging of a few individuals fascinated by things lost in the foggy ruins of time.

Pakistan and Islam

The Islamic republic of Pakistan, to paraphrase Baron Clausewitz, is fogging the war on terror. Like a
geopolitical Jekyll and Hyde, a great game seems to be on. The brave US soldier, in the shadow of the great Himalayan mountain passes, guns drawn, sees in Pakistan at once friend and foe. The international community is like that nervous soldier with a finger perpetually on the trigger.

Inside Pakistan, too, the same scene repeats itself. There is no let-up in suicide terror bombings even after an elected government took power. The support for Sharia law and an Islamic state has far greater acceptance in Islamabad then is generally believed. In this respect, Pakistan has more in common with Algeria than Turkey.

All this would matter for little to the outside world, but for one inconvenient fact. Pakistan is the only Islamic state with nuclear weapons. Armageddon is near should those weapons fall in the wrong hands. And a lot of wrong hands hide in those caves on the Afghan border. Thus, even though an economic basket case, humiliatingly dependent on Saudi handouts and American largesse, Pakistan is a problem.

The trouble in Pakistan is neither structural nor political. It has a far deeper root. It is a dilemma inherent in the nature of Pakistan's state. The country was premised as a homeland for the believers. Islam is in its DNA. The founder of this republic, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, was of the opinion that only an Islamic republic can ensure Muslim rights and their way of life. He rejected the secular idea that formed the founding notion of India.

At its founding, the state had to negate both the older civilisation of India and her democratic polity, and only the Islamic way would do. The struggle underway now is between those who demand the Islamic way and those who try to uphold the idea of Pakistan but cannot offer a non-Islamic alternative statehood.

Thus, an Islamic republic that came into being through a surrogate political process is demanding real parents. In the process it has opened the old dilemma of Islam and democracy. In theory, this problem is of course stark and obvious. Unlike republics such as India, where sovereignty is enshrined in the individual, the Islamic way derives it from Allah. The one person, one vote idea has no resonance. The will of Allah should override universal franchise and personal choice.

This premise of a nation of Islam survived for a large part through American support. The US chose to bypass democratic institutions in favour of the Pakistan army. Most generals that ruled the country have studied at American military schools. The current low-profile chief of the Pakistan army, General Parvez Ashraf Kiyani, has done three courses in the US. This includes the elite course at the staff command at Fort Leavenworth.

This American support and Pakistan's role in the Afghan jihad is well documented. It fostered through the dictator, General Zia ul-Haq, in the 1980s, a near realisation of Pakistan's Islamic founding ethic. Those chickens are now truly coming home to roost.

The secular Turkish model that was sought to be replicated in Islamabad has failed completely. The secular impulse in Pakistan is nowhere near Turkey, where literally hundreds of thousands pour onto the streets in defence of secularism enshrined in the Turkish constitution.

The world faces a challenge. A radical fringe in Pakistan with a great deal of mass support is demanding its own tryst with destiny - an Islamic republic with a social and judicial system based on the Sharia. Pakistan's rulers have flirted with Islamic forces in the past. But now that these forces threaten to spin out of control and engulf Pakistan, the country's rulers are at their wit's ends.

There lies the problem. How Pakistan deals with its dilemma will be of great importance not only to them but also to the rest of the world.

leveraging india's soft power

An economic growth rate of nearly eight per cent, a robust military infrastructure and the nuclear weapon capability have come together to define India’s search for security and status in the emerging world order.

However, little attention is paid to a completely different set of sources that can be leveraged by India to consolidate its place in the global scheme of things. This influence becomes visible, from the capability to nurture and leverage, as, in the words of Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye, "soft power".

Soft power has many sources. It is derived from the openness and attractiveness of the cultural aspects of a country that hold an abiding appeal to the international community. It encompasses the allure of its political system, the spiritual foundations on which the country has based its founding ideas and the robustness of its popular culture.

On all three counts, India is almost uniquely placed. Our ability to manage such plurality and mind boggling differences within a widespread and deep rooted democratic polity is of interest to the world.

This appeal is enhanced by the fact that India is in a tough neighborhood. India has on its periphery, a non-democratic, nuclear-armed Islamic republic in Pakistan, and a totalitarian regime in China that has a particularly nasty human rights record — not to mention a rabid Bangladesh and a despotic Nepal.

Democracy is the master weapon in India’s soft culture arsenal. This is not just a vague notion of goodness but a very real tool in international affairs and of interest to like-minded powerful democracies like the USA and Japan. To nurture this power, India has already taken a step by participating in the UN Democracy Fund with a large role for itself. This should help the world in finding alternatives to despotism and look at strengthening democratic institutions from around the world.

The second consideration of soft power, is in the spiritual ideas that inform a nation’s history. India can, and indeed does, lead the world in this. From interest in Japan and China in Buddhism, to India’s historic role as a soft power in places as far as Indonesia—the country is well placed to leverage the spiritual advantage. With Germany, we have historic roots of language and culture, while with the UK there is the colonial connection—and with America, it’s democracy.

The consumer dimension of this spiritual power should not be underestimated. Every time a future leader of the outside world comes to India as a backpacker, or a star like Madonna takes up yoga, this soft power permeates their inner space of a foreign constituency. Such bonding is all the more powerful given its voluntary nature.

The third leg of the soft power triad is the power of our popular culture. The fact that Indian movies are now screened in places as diverse as Afghanistan, Egypt and Leicester Square is proof of India’s appeal to the world. Indian movies are shown in scores of countries and have an estimated market of US$2 billion. The fact that Pakistan refuses to allow Indian movies, is proof of the fear that closed societies have of soft power. India must leverage this advantage with the systematic aim of deepening and enlarging this constituency in Pakistan.

These are the opportunities, but what is the reality? On the world scene India has failed to really put soft power into practice. The vibrancy of such assets as Indian food in Britain or yoga in the USA has developed largely by default and by the initiatives of the private sector rather than by a concerted diplomatic effort. Institutions such as the ICCR have understood the need to go beyond our ancient traditions and move into the present day and age of popular culture, but they need to do more.

India has the enormous advantage of a wide spread—and increasingly affluent—diaspora. With the exception of China, the country has the world’s largest non-resident community. The role of this group of 20 million people in spreading India and what it stands for, cannot be underestimated. With overseas people of Indian origin, the country has an embedded advantage.

In places like Mauritius their political presence is significant. In the United States and in Europe, Indians are affluent and slowly moving into the political arena. In the Arab world, the Indian diaspora is the only plurality on offer. The triad of soft power thus gets a leg up through this incredibly powerful overseas community.

As India makes its play in the global empire of ideas, it is discovering that it has a very good hand. When played in synch with the country’s emerging economic might and military capability, soft power could be an ace in our pack. It is both a multi billion dollar marketing opportunity, and in the context of countries like Pakistan, is a diplomatic tool of increasing utility which will pay huge dividends in the future.

Leveraging india's soft power

Indian Media

Indian Media

Ranbaxy sale - innovate or perish

Just when Indians were rejoicing the takeover of iconic British brands Ford and Range Rover by the Tatas, Daiichi Sankyo spoiled the euphoric mood.

In what has been the biggest takeover of a listed firm in India's history the Japanese major paid $4.6 billion in cash for Ranbaxy.

This is not just another takeover. It holds valuable lessons for corporate India as well as the government regarding India's emergence as a global player.

For many years Ranbaxy was held as an example of an Indian multinational that bravely went where few Indian companies had gone before.

In the world of drugs, Ranbaxy was betting big. It was trying to move beyond the generic space where Indian firms can reverse engineer off patent drugs.

It had also benefited in its early days from lax patent protection. This allowed the firm to grow in size by profiting from volumes of scale.

The change came when Ranbaxy set itself a target of developing original drug compounds through proprietary research route.

Alas, the strategy proved to be its undoing as an independent firm. India's economy still lacks firms with the wherewithal to make path-breaking discoveries.

Over the last three years this painful weakness of corporate India was becoming all the more obvious. Ranbaxy was unable to come up with even a single original blockbuster drug discovery. The rights India signed away in the WTO deal were coming home to roost.

With a patent regime loaded in favour of the West, developing new drugs was proving prohibitively expensive. Drug after drug developed by Ranbaxy ran into American and European patent regimes.

On the generic front too there was competition from smaller, more nimble firms. Few know that Ranbaxy was not even in the top five generic drug developers worldwide.

Unable to make patent breakthroughs Ranbaxy was at a stage where it may have discovered that it could reach just so far on its own and no further.

The sale by itself is not bad news for the promoters. After all, the firm was established in 1962 with an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh and gave a return of Rs 10,000 crore to the investors.

It is in the genius of the capitalist system that it provides for several exit routes to entrepreneurs. So everyone, the promoters of Ranbaxy, its shareholders and the Japanese firm gained by getting the correct combination at the right price.

However, for corporate India the deal comes as both a shock and a loss. This deal exposes the fact that across industries Indians are still incapable of being thought leaders.

Soul-searching has already begun in the Indian corporate world. Several firms across industries could be potential take-over targets since their growth formula depends on incremental volumes and cost arbitrage unlike global leaders that are innovative thinkers and have proprietary research in their portfolios.

Particularly vulnerable are firms in the IT, textile and pharma sectors. Even top firms like Wipro make less than 4 per cent of their turnover from products and patents.

A very large percentage of second-rung IT firms are nothing but glorified code developers. India Inc needs to take a long hard look at its current globalising strategy. Instead of the easy way out where you fill in the gaps in the international trading system based solely on cost advantage, corporate India must invest in research and development.

This is a longer, costlier route to becoming world-class companies but it is also a surer way of ensuring sustainable success.

On the government's part, it would do well to use the proposed $2 billion sovereign fund to buy the right technology which can later be auctioned to Indian firms so as to provide them a firm footing in the exclusive club of original ideas.

Ranbaxy's takeover has a stark message for corporate India. Innovate and prosper or the big fish will gobble you up.

sania needs to face facts

Sania Mirza has succumbed to pressure from the conservatives back home. No sooner had she landed in Hyderabad, she gave a terse statement about pre-marital sex being anti-Islamic, and anti-Indian.
The worry is not just that she has turned her back on what is after all an innocuous reality of our times - pre-marital sex. The real concern is that she has gone a step further and said that it is something she opposes not just because it is against to what "….she stands for as a Muslim" but also because it's contrary " …for what she stands for as an Indian girl." The latter part of her assertion is something a large number of Indian girls would vehemently disagree with.
Sania is the face of cultural schizophrenia of a rapidly modernizing India in a global world. In a society that is as sexually repressed as India, the onslaught of television and print media and the globalization of culture are bound to throw up a modern non- repressed counter culture. Anecdotal evidence at coffee shops and campuses across the country is enough to gather an estimate about the growing strength of this emerging counter culture. It is this new and yet emerging section with modern moorings that needs to be nurtured and encouraged. Comprised mainly of the youth, this group can be an important voice of reasonableness and openness in the new India. They will have an ally in the media which has traditionally been liberal and open in these matters.
Till her latest statement, Sania Mirza was the poster girl of this counter cultural revolution. Indeed, if there is a true young global Indian, it's her. At 19, she has traveled the world and ranks amongst the top few in a truly global sport. Many thought that this articulate and seemingly intelligent person could be placed in the assemblage of someone who epitomized the new, freethinking India.
With her statement, she has disappointed almost everyone who looks up to her. The Muslim woman, fighting a daily battle to articulate her rights, would be the first who would be seething with anger at Sania's statement. This silent majority would now wonder how they can carry on when someone as empowered as Sania couldn't stand by her comment in public. She also alienates the secular youth, who liked the bohemian attitude of her one-liner T shirts. This group does not like anyone who is a put on. You can be sure that those who got her the mega endorsement contracts would be soon undertaking fresh market surveys to reassess her ranking amongst this target group within India.
However the most dangerous outcome of Sania volte face is likely to be the cynicism fostered by the communal elements ever present in everyday India. This confirms their prejudices that Muslims are not open to change. One can almost see such people dance in glee at Sania's retraction. The other interesting thing about the two statements, is in their geography. Sania was her usual confident self in New Delhi but as soon as she reached Hyderabad it was time to be proper all over again. This reflects poorly on her and hints at family pressure in the whole affair.
The irony of the whole debate is that Sania plays an individual sport. The issue of pre-marital sex is - at the end of the day - an individual decision. Role models taking a stand one way or other must keep this in mind. The "good Indian girl" argument is absurd and representative of backward thinking and deserves total rejection and scorn.
Sania and India need to figure out that it is possible to globalize on our own terms but only we have the courage to embrace modernity and defy the moral mob. One need to look no further than the robustness of the Indian tradition which is defined by plurality, tolerance and openness. Winning the right of holding on to a dissenting thought is the first step in this battle. If Sania does not grasp this, she will end up losing this match.

Mukteshwar in the abode of the free god

Mukteshwar perched at 7,500 ft in the lower Himalayas is not a hill station, nor is it on the way to anything of significance. It just is. Off the map, and unconcerned. Kumaoun has deeper woods and greater diversity of fauna than most parts of India. Being here is a treat in itself.
We leave Delhi excited at the thoughts of deep Deodar woods, heady fresh mountain air and that unique quiet you find among forested slopes. The road from Delhi takes only seven hours. We add a couple of hours, making allowance for a dip at the holy Ganga at Gharmukteshwar. A must do is to take a boat ride here looking for the elusive Ganges dolphin. Alas, elusive it remains, because the river pristine as it appears, is polluted by the nearby sugar mills.
Back in the 4x4 and the journey is smooth once you leave Uttar Pradesh behind. However, the saving grace of UP is the lunch at Rampur. This former fiefdom of the famous Nawab Ahmed Ali Khan Bahadur is known for its great dog breed — the Rampur hound, a unique Rampuri designed dagger and exquisite food. We sample with relish a big spread of kebabs — succulent as they come. Also on offer is distinctive Haleem, a lentils and mutton combination cooked with clarified butter over large copper pots overnight. Slow food movement may be catching on in the rest of the world but here it’s a way of life.
An hour from Rampur racing through a teak and sal forest, starts the climb. We pass the pleasant Lake District of Bhimtal. Two more hours through meandering greens and we arrive at the hotel Win Cliff, elevated above a high ridge overlooking Mukteshwar. Red bricks, minimalist architecture with green potted plants, and wood panels blend in with the surroundings.
Mukteshwar has a unique offering for those who are serious rock climbers. At the edge of the western rock end of this tiny town, the rock face is jagged, with sheer drops of up to 600 feet. A bunch of mountaineering enthusiasts run this camp. With a little bit of training and a whole lot more of enthusiasm, you can climb about, securely hooked from a line. The cool mountain air makes this adventure a little easy to bear. However undertake it only of you derive joys from making the body dog tired while negotiating sheer drops that even with a secure hooked line could cause serious damage should you miss a footing. The rock formations here are so famous that the government is seriously thinking of a year-round professional camp from 2008.
The next morning we meet the owner of the hotel, who, to our surprise, is an IIM graduate. This is absolutely the place to stay in Mukteshwar. The view below is of valleys sloping down a good 2,000 ft and more. There are views of farms and hamlets, and the occasional jungle fowl cackling noisily away.
Directly opposite in the far horizon is the great Nanda Devi ice face. This is a massive peak at over 21,000 ft that makes even Mukteshwar look but a hillock. On a clear day this astonishing mountain is an in-your-face encounter with the great Himalayas, and one is unlikely to ever forget it. This, you say to yourself, is it. The view was the reason we did not visit just another hill station. Alas, mists encircle the patron goddess of Uttrakhand and before we know it, she has disappeared — enveloped by the Himalayas.
The next day is for a short ride to the hunting lodge of the legendry Jim Corbett. The tales immortalised in the book Man-eaters of Kumaoun are based largely in these parts. It is in poor shape and has little by the way of memorabilia about the great man. However, the setting is so picture perfect it makes up for all the shortcomings. Once here you can choose from a myriad bunch of mountain roads that the goatherds take for pasture land below. We pack a picnic lunch and walk six kilometers to reach a wooded meadow. Delhi is so far out of reach it’s almost forgotten!
Another must visit, an ancient Shiv Temple from which the town gets it name. This is the abode of the free god. It has a curious intensity, a peculiar, almost primeval pull. The old sadhu is almost out of a coffee table book. Long matted locks and lots of vibhuti. He tells me that we have met in a previous life and that I was a penniless wanderer. Guess not much has changed in this life either. A long discussion on the meaning of life and death, on tracing lineages, on the concept of time follows. A most fulfilling three quarters of an hour of matters spiritual.
From Lord Shiva to Corbett, from ecological beauty and sheer magnificence of the great Nanda Devi, from walks in wooded nooks to enveloping silence of a glittering equinox, Mukteshwar offers all this and a lot more. So go over, stay and generally do nothing much else while there. Get away to sample a bit of heaven while it lasts. We bumped into two “property developers” just as we got ready to depart.

internet privacy a real poblem

Privacy International (PI) is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations. PI has conducted campaigns and research globally on issues ranging from wiretapping and national security, to ID cards, video surveillance, data matching, medical privacy and freedom of information and expression. Dr Gus Hosein, Senior Fellow with Privacy International, spoke with Ninad D Sheth. Excerpts:
What are the major privacy issues facing the Internet?
The first threat is storage and use of your ‘transactional data’, which is regarding your navigation of the web, who you send emails to and when, who you communicate with and where you are, and what you search for, what entertainment you seek, what items you read. The second threat is monitoring of communications and this is done by both Companies and governments. Companies want to advertise to you (like Gmail) and governments want to know what you are up to. A third concern of privacy is advanced services and applications. Social networking sites potentially hold much information about you, though some do calendaring and email services done by third parties. In fact, any service that stores your personal information on a central server, particularly when that information was previously held on your own computer (email, calendar, journal, etc.) may be open to abuse.
Government policy in countries such as China has caused concern that privacy if ignored could land people in jail! Is it true that the Chinese government has substantial staff dedicated to snooping on net users?
China certainly leads the world in this domain. But according to reports, Saudi Arabia is not very far behind. Many countries are expending more and more resources to enhance their internet surveillance capacities.
How important is Internet privacy for corporations? How easy is it to snoop on non-public networks for enforcement and other state bodies?
It is a highly competitive market environment and there is great concern whenever Companies risk losing control over their own information. If governments and other Companies discover product development plans, accounts information or strategic plans, this could be devastating.
How easy is it to snoop?
Increasingly Companies are making use of public networks for communication. Like, Companies make use of the public telephone network. So, when governments want to snoop on their conversations, they only need to approach the third-party company with a warrant. This way, Companies will not know that their privacy is being invaded.
You have been critical of Google as far as standards of privacy are concerned. Does the stand still exist?
We expressed concerns about the industry as a whole. In recent months, we have been engaging with these Companies, including Google, and we have noticed that many of these Companies truly want to make their services more privacy friendly. They are realising that their entire business models rely on consumer confidence and trust.
How serious is the threat of a rogue employee in one of the search firms?
Rogue employees with access to the company’s files have been a threat. With advanced networking, it is increasingly becoming easy for information to be removed from organisations without any knowledge to security officials. One should also be wary of the ‘stupid employee’. There are cases of employees leaving laptops and other confidential information unattended. Companies must take steps to secure data within and beyond their network.

The what if's of India

Every so often we sit down and think about what could have been in our lives. What if one had ended up marrying a childhood sweetheart say, or had opted for science—instead of liberal arts, or immigrated abroad and so forth. We as people think about it, smile, shrug and move on.
Now, historians are considering the if's of history seriously. A recent book dwells into the major what ifs of the world, (What If? The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been, by Robert Cowley & Stephen E. Ambrose)
For a what if to be truly worth considering it has to be plausible. Wishful thinking cannot form the basis of alternative history. So the right questions are important. A popular issue of Outlook went overboard while publishing a series of what ifs, though most of it were too macroscopic to fall in the realm of possibility. The small twists are really provocative. A close shave. A death defied. A war won or lost by chance. Indian history throws up at least three such cases which could conceivably change its course.
The most interesting case of how India could have been radically different by minor alteration in her history comes from the Mughal Empire. The year was 1657. Ill health of the emperor Shahjehan precipitated fratricide, common in succession struggle to the Mughal throne. Historians believe that with the backing of his father the emperor, an army at Delhi, and a strategic depth till Lahore, Prince Dara Shikoh had it going for him. One battle well fought, and the course of Indian history would have turned on its head. All he needed was strategic priority and a bit of luck. He messed up his priority by sending his best troops to fight his brother Shouja at Varansi. He ran out of luck when his other brother, Murad Baksh teamed up with Aurangzeb. As an emperor he would have been Akbar reloaded. He was tolerant and inclined towards Hinduism and Sufism. At that time India was the centre of Islam and a powerful Sufi influence could have turned even the crusading zeal of Islam on a more tolerant course. Finally Dara could have led to an Indian renaissance given his interest in the arts.
The second counterfact is even more interesting. Mohammad Ali Jinnah died barely an year after taking over as the Quaid- e- Azam of Pakistan. During the later years of the freedom struggle this suave lawyer was already afflicted with tuberculosis. Had this been known, there is a distinct possibility of a grand compromise that may have avoided the partition of India. He could have been offered the prime ministership of India while the Congress could have just counted the hours.
Thirdly, what if Sardar Patel and not Nehru had become the first prime minister of Independent India? Mahatma’s favour for Nehru was apparent but still many have pondered this many times over. His succession was in fact seriously considered before Nehru won the coveted crown. Should Sardar have become PM, India would certainly have been a very different country.
He was unlikely to accept a ceasefire in Kashmir in 1948 given that on the ground India was winning the war and the troops had reached beyond what is today the line of control. India may have embarked on a free market regime much earlier than China. Unlike Nehru no go slow was likely to have occurred on the nuclear weapon option either. India may even have even on the side of the United States in the cold war. And most importantly, India may not even have had the successive dynastic premiers it ended up with. Wishful thinking borders on allegory. But in history as in life counterrfactuals are full of wistful possibilities.

once upon a crime

It's intrusive, it's all-pervasive, and it has the makings of a bestseller. It's the latest buzz on TV. Fact is, eight of the top 10 shows on news channels are crime reports. That's the whodunnit part. Here's more...
There's a common modus operandi for these crime reports - a vigilant approach, dark and sinister sets, sometimes with a cellphone in the background mingling with the hushed conspiratorial tones of those who host these shows.
Finally, there's the hush-hush talk. Here, the criminal (accused, not convicted mind you - but that's but a little detail for TV channels) is produced before the camera and the anchor combines the three roles of cop, judge and jury. If the reality component of these shows, given the crusading manner of the TV hosts, doesn't grip you, there's more to come. The crime is dramatised and it's always way beyond terrible, more so because the criminal, more often than not, is an overweight, moustachioed bad guy playing the cliche to the last detail.
Aaj Tak has a programme called Jurm Aaj Tak, which trawls through recent FIRs in faraway places in Meerut and Bulandshahar. The anchor, Shams Tahir Khan, goes into a low-tone mafioso drawl to add to the effect. It doesn't add up though. Sony has a show called Crime Patrol, which is hosted by Shakti Anand.
While the pumped-up host gives the impression of a cop who's about to pounce on a criminal, the show doesn't really live up to expectations in that, sometimes, 'lesser' crimes are blown up to make them interesting. "It is after all a crime show and we do need to spice it up sometimes just as we sanitise the show a little bit sometimes," says Anand.
"One thing is for sure, crime sells big time in middle-class India." Does it bother Anand that some of the cases are still in court and the alleged criminal hasn't actually been convicted? "We have a role to play as the media. Even if a case is highlighted, we take care not to be biased," he maintains.
Star's Red Alert isn't different from other crime shows on TV, what with its share of hushed whispers, wailing sirens and other stuff that goes into making these potboilers on TV. Says the host, Jitendra Dixit: "Red Alert aims at raising civil awareness about crime and those that subvert the laws of society. It is easy to sensationalise and dramatise things while doing this, but the show hasn't been designed on these lines."
The way these TV crusades are shaping up it appears time is not far when Indian TV will do a trial like the celebrated O J Simpson media circus in the US. The awesome reach of TV gives the anchors power to play cop without any checks or curbs on their crusades. The reason why so many channels have so many crime shows and there's one channel in the pipeline that will be exclusively dedicated to crime isn't far to fathom. These shows are targeted at the voyeuristic instinct of the middle-class family man and his wife - it's sort of cheap thrill and means getting acquainted with big crime and its perpetrators. Indeed, blood and gore sells almost as well as soaps in developed markets such as the US and Europe.
Ratings for crime-based reality shows are far greater than talk shows of news channels and the academic discussions on TV. What's more, if reality crime shows are at the top of the ratings game in the West, they're slowly getting there in India.
Says Sulina Menon, CEO, North of Carat: "There is serious interest in these shows, which are throwing up impressive numbers. But production quality has to go up a long way before they can become top drawer attractions."
Shoaib Ilyassi, whose copy of America's Most Wanted became popular, now has a new show on India TV. Says Illyasi: "We have already been instrumental in catching 24 criminals though this new show. The public wants to know about crimes and demands accountability from the police. I believe that we cater to both these aspects."
So, come tonight, and couch potatoes will once again be taken through a whirl of sirens and guns, cops and robbers. Let the hunt begin.

absulute Goa

My last visit to Goa was at the turn of the millennium, right after my wedding. The honeymoon — as my wife reminds me on the odd occasion — is long over. So I was keen to know if the same will hold true for my attachment with this exquisite sea-facing dreamland.
Since I was paying my way — and, alas, not on a junket — I chose a no-frills airline called Spice Jet. It is frighteningly no-frills! They do not even have life jackets; in case of trouble over the sea you pull the seat from your bottom, hug it close and pray hard.
Destination Goa attracts blondes of all manners. Just before takeoff, a pretty young French backpacker parked herself next to me. Now my French isn’t much but conversations tend to start on short hauls. The blonde asked me if I had “done” Goa before.
Unlike backpackers out to ‘do’ India with a vengeance, I do not ‘do’ a place. It is much better to discover the place by walking around, meeting the local historian, dropping by an off-the-map eatery, and generally taking time to soak it in.
With the death of distance these days no one wants a relaxed look. Travel is bereft of either exotica or adventure. The destination has taken over; the journey does not really matter. There is a frenzied need amongst the middle class to ‘do’ a destination, if possible within the dreaded two-nights-three-days straightjacket.
In the 1990s, Boeing proudly announced in its ad line — tomorrow you can be anywhere, thus, by definition, ruling out that adrenalin flow which comes from going down the road less taken as in the olden days of travel.
The charm and romance of travellers like Francis Younghusband or Richard Halliburton has long gone. By contrast, the air-conditioned traveller of today is the new consumer of global haunts, the outsider breezing past without bothering to look in. The digital culture has shrunk distance unbelievably. Microsoft’s tag line asks you where you want to go today. Between Boeing and Microsoft, the world has become a TV screen and the magic-carpet traveller has been reduced to a couch potato.
Entire communities, most notably the Gujaratis and the Bengalis, have a fixed idea of visiting spaces through the vulgar mass tour groups with special diets thrown in. The Gee Wiz American is the crassest incarnate of the modern tourist. The Japanese, taking digital pictures of everything that moves come a close second.
Modern travel is entirely soulless. There no excitement of arrival and none of the abiding pleasure of finding. All that matters is a picture with a grin in front of the Parthenon. Inevitably, the merry-go-round ends with a dinner at the local McDonalds.
As I drank yet another feni on a moonlit Palolim beach, I had uneasy thoughts that another crass American Denis Tito had already “done” space as a tourist. The final frontier has been crossed.
At the Goa airport on my way back, I bought a lottery ticket promising riches (actually, a crore). I said to myself, what good is it even if I win? In Goa you realise that the best things in life cost little. A feni, reading a book by the beach, or chatting up the blondes. For the one out to seek Goa and not ‘do’ her, she saves her charms, like true love. Goa remains a one-night stand that lasts a lifetime.

wine boom in in india

A survey by France-based Vinexpo, the premier event organisers for those in the wine and spirits trade, presents a happy picture for India. Its assessment is that the enormous growth in India’s wine market will account for 150 million cases by 2010. This is triple the consumption level of wine in India today.
Lifestyle changes upward mobility and perceived health advantages are driving the preference for wine. Interestingly, while the wine market is growing by 30% a year, that for spirits is lagging behind at 25%.
With growth has come curiosity for the different sorts of wine and to satisfy this curiosity there are wine clubs mushrooming like never before.
In Mumbai, at the Oberoi’s, they have this Italian restaurant Vetro. You order the food and a surprise awaits you. The restaurant has started an extensive wine library and at any time you can indulge in a wine tasting session with up to five whites and five reds. What’s more, these are offered on the house! The purpose is simple. The hotel wants you not to be scared of ordering a wine. Just enjoy the sampling, relax, see what you like and the next time you will have a better idea perhaps of what you want to order.
Last month Banglore saw the launch of the Wine Society of India, with a bunch of software types trying to deconstruct subtleties of Chardonnay.
In Delhi too there are at least six wine clubs that invite people across professions to come for a sampling more then once a month. These are structured events with a lot of jargon. For those who want to be initiated though, it is almost like a tribal ritual. A lot of the members comprise lunching ladies who want to sound knowledgeable about wine. It probably works out as: knowing wine names means being sophisticated.
This buzz has also hit the embassy circles. They are pitching in with products from their countries, so a lot of the sampling is on the house. The Chilean, Australian and Italian ambassadors in Delhi are known to promote wine from their respective countries and periodically hold wine tasting events.
Now for the downer. Despite the buzz that wine is creating in India, let’s face it, the market is still tiny. It is worth only $50 million in value. And, the per capita consumption is what gives it away — Indians ‘consume’ only two teaspoons of wine per head per year. Wine makers have obviously figured out that the market from here can only grow.

wildlife tv as voyer feed

Legendary crocodile hunter Steve Irwin died doing what he loved, diving the depths off the Australian coast searching for yet another creature and tempting fate. Even as the world mourns a man who did more than anyone else to bring wildlife to the drawing room, his methods have brought up important questions that have divided the naturalist community.
While some believe that his style popularised wildlife among the masses, for others it reduced wildlife to a sideshow for couch potatoes. That Steve had no scientific training was another criticism towards his cowboy approach masquerading as ecological knowledge.
By intruding into the space of diverse fauna across the world, Steve trivialized the many complexities involved in the relationship between an animal and its ecology, thereby peddling a sort of eco-porn.
His was a brand of spectacle where enthusiasm made up for rigor, audacity substituted scrutiny and showmanship replaced information. When one grapples with a 350-pound anaconda in the remote Amazon basin, or gets up, close and personal with a 20 foot Nile crocodile, the line between wildlife documentation and circus-entertainment blurs. It was this that troubled serious and committed wildlife photographers and filmmakers and true lovers of ecology.
Steve of course was aware of the limitations of his stunts and had argued that all he was trying to do is to take away the unjustified fears that people have of wild animals they perceive as dangerous. However in realty, the effect was quite the opposite. Animals that in their natural surrounding would most likely leave humans alone were portrayed as dangerous beasts that can be ‘tackled’. The fact that Steve was seeking and provoking the animals was left unsaid. This important fact was never put into context by the producers of his dramatic documentaries. A lot of this change has to do with the changing nature of those who fund wildlife programming. The transformation happened with pay television taking roots in the developed economies. The sober, scholastic approach best underlined by the work of David Attenborough for the BBC was replaced by an emphasis on production quality and viewer interactive stunts. This meant that the "color" of the story became the overriding priority for the producer. To achieve this color, many a time wildlife encounters were simply set up. Tigers, surrounded by trekkers astride elephants, were seen huddling for the camera with bait tied all around. Similarly, fights were deliberately provoked between wild African elephants. The audience of course only saw the action and not the artifice. In a famous case it was reported that Britain-based John Downer Productions had used a plastic Solomon fish to film grizzlies in the Alaskan wilds. But as long as the bears bared their fangs, who cared if the fish was fake.
Even as the world mourns Steve's death, it is perhaps time for all involved, the channels, the production companies but most important of all the viewer to choose between wildlife as informed documentation or the sexed-up version, which, while pleasing to the eye, is not the 'real thing.' The wild is a primeval, lonely space that can be best understood on its own terms. It is time for the mass media and its audience to respect those terms.

princess yacht now in india

Top-end luxury yachts are sailing into tap the super rich in India. Forget Bentley’s and business jets—Princess Yacht is here. These exclusive hand- made boats are 50-ft beauties. For the uninitiated, the price list is of great interest: they start from $500,000 for a 35-foot boat and go up to $7 million for a P95, a boat which is almost 100 feet tip to tip.
Says the 32-year-old Delhi-based entrepreneur, Vishal Choudhry of Aquamarine, the company that will sell Princess Yachts in India, “There is no experience like being on the high seas in a yacht. The endless ocean, the well-appointed private space in the yacht is the ultimate in luxury. We see a definite market in India and plan to sell three to five boats each year. We have already four enquiries for the P42, the first boat that comes this November. The rest will follow over the next one year.”
The bigger market is not in just stand-alone purchases of these yachts but in fractional ownership. Analysts see these boats as a great entertainment and event opportunities, and the market for fractional ownership is believed to be worth over Rs15 crore annually.
Says Olympian sailor Ashim Mongia, who now runs a yacht consultancy in West Cast Marine in Mumbai, “Fractional ownership has a huge market potential in India. We need better handling and many more marinas to tap into this potential. Currently most boats anchor off Bombay or Goa. However places like Cochin and Pondicherry need to be developed.”
Princess is offering the entry-level P42 in the fractional ownership mode. For Rs 30 lakh, this will give you access to the boat for four weeks. You can sail from Mumbai to Phuket or drop anchor and have fun just off-shore. Options include full crew, food and beverages and maintenance for an extra charge.”
That India may be seriously lacking in infrastructure has not prevented other top yacht makers from entering here. Waiting to drop anchor are two other top brands — Sunseeker of Britain and Fereddi. Sunseeker sold a massive 105-foot boat reportedly for $15 million to an undisclosed buyer in Goa recently and Fereddi has done a deal for 55-footer with another underscored Indian buyer.

french connection india

Pondicherry is like a first day cover, launched with much fanfare and forgotten. It is one of those places we always want to go to but somehow give a miss in favour of destinations more famous. Doing so is a mistake, for not only is Pondicherry very beautiful — it is also unlike another place in India.
A former French enclave, it has a living legacy with a large French population in residence. Thankfully the enforced racist hue of the old is gone. In colonial days the place was divided between Ville Blanche an exclusive white town, and Ville Noir the dark quarter for the natives.
The first thing that strikes you is the unique blend of French and Tamil architecture. Pondicherry has, what INTACH describes as talking streets. In places such as the rue Romaine Rolland, French architecture in all its glory is on display. Arched windows, ornate roof work in metal and wood as well as imposing doors ensconced by ancient facades and ageless trees...
The Tamil quarter is a contrast in style, with its own set of buildings from the past, standing as if forgotten by time. One must visit the Vaysial Street for examples of interactive housing that is the trademark of a Tamil layout. A front veranda with a mini orchard and a more intimate veranda inside. The remarkable feature of Tamil buildings is the arched platforms that provide some resting place for passers by and vertical columns done with inlay and art. The wonder in Pondicherry is that both quarters are so distinct and yet a 15-minute walk from each other.
The fun actually starts even before you arrive in town. Stop by at almost any place en route and an alluring beach is at hand. And there are backwaters and coconut groves, occasional fish sellers, sailboats at rest, half-finished sand castles, cascading surfs and a lot more. Surely one of the best rides in India for scenic beauty.
The place to stay is a truly unique heritage hotel, the Duplex, named after the famous General who founded Pondicherry. It is a 200-year-old French colonial building with an incredible 16-foot high door in black shining rosewood. The door opens up into an imposing courtyard and there is a giant tree that provides a green screen over the entire place. There are arched delicate French windows and wooded doors and entire wood ceiling and colonnades of festooned brick that are from the original house where Duplex once lived. But the rooms are designed in an ultra-modern way with glass and steel. German minimalism meets French tradition in this wonderful heritage hotel.
Once you get the hang of the architectural joys you can make way for some natural ones. The first visit is the botanical garden set up by the French East India Company 181 years ago. This place has fallen on somewhat bad times owing to government neglect. Yet it is a green mini paradise for those who like a quiet walk. There is a toy train too which chimes along through the 7,500 sq mt garden but a walk is much more fun. It costs Rs 2 to board but needs 50 passengers to start. But you can pay Rs 100 and be the only passenger if you so wish. The fact that ensconced in this space are over 2,000 trees of 700 different species from all over the world give it a unique living diversity.
Next day we are off to famous Auroville, which is flanked by a beach. This centre of universal brotherhood, started way back in 1968, now has nearly 50,000 people from all over the world. We spend some time looking around the ashram, have a great lunch at a famous bakery and make our way back to the hotel.
The next day one gets up real early for a rare treat. At Auroville we bump into someone who makes catamarans, the famous Tamil fishing boats. The word catamaran apparently comes from the Tamil word kattu, which means to tie, and maram, which means tree wood. You had better be a great swimmer to go on one of these as waves can throw one overboard without warning. These twin-hulled wooden beauties are the best way to do the sea off the coast of Pondicherry. You bob up and down over the waves and the surf, you fish, you relax, you get thrown off. By the time you hit the shore, you are hungry beyond belief. Time to tuck into chef Kumar’s famous offerings at the best French restaurant in Pondicherry back at the hotel. The meal is wholesome imported French duck done crisp and in cranberry sauce with a 1994 light French red wine. Rest of the day you just walk the fabulous Pondicherry waterfront. The waterfront is a contrast, with an imposing statue of the Mahatma. And, a few metres down another one of the imperialist Duplex, and in the middle an architectural wonder — a singlememorial for all those Indians who died for the French empire in the world war. So even on a day off you have some busy evenings in Pondicherry.
Culinary Pondicherry
* The best bar: Without question le Club run by a French national of Indian origin! The expat crowd loves the place with its 600 different drinks in the beverage list inculcating some rare collectors French wine and a lot of old rare whiskey.
* The best stake: Satsang.The best stake house with 25 varities. Must sample medium prime tenderloin with blue cheese, a fillet that will leave you yearning for it once you are back in Delhi and at Rs 200, not too heavy on the pocket either
* Best sit-down dinner: Chef Kumar’s at Duplex; Best French food east of Paris. Try the duck and don’t miss the lobster.
Superb starters, colonial façade, and unlike a French restaurant, first-class service. Meal for two would be Rs 1500.
* For Chettinad food: Ramanpillai’s: Spicy as hell, lots of fresh fish and squid dishes. Meal for two would be Rs 500 approximately.

globalisation is good for india as well as the MNC's

Consider the numbers. Walmart the world largest retailer sales $375 billion worth of stuff from its format retail stores world wide . This astounding figure is put in perspective when you consider that it is much bigger than the GDP's of Pakistan which in 2007 was a comparative meager $1.275 billion. If that is not enough, Citibank with all its troubles is a firm with a turn over of $2 trillion which is double the GDP of India.
There is no doubting the fact that globalization has spurred multinational firms to record size . The very structure of these firms with bases where the best return on investment are possible allow then to leverage global opportunities and grow. In itself this should be a good thing. For instance countries where there is a labor surplus with good infrastructure can attract MNC investment and help their own populations and economies to grow. The resultant purchasing power improvement can help create viable middle class as well. Indeed India is also as much a gainer from globalisation as these massive MNC's. With a large pool of labor and a vast market the mnc's invested as much as $16 billion in 2007 in India and are likely to invest another $25 billion in 2008
So what is the problem with the MNC's size? There are plenty of issues and surprising both the Indian left and the American right share concerns. the foremost significance is that it is perceived that the multinational of their sheer size and spread are beyond sovereign regulations of individual countries.
This is a misleading assessment. Countries where robust regulations exist or evolve can in fact use MNC's to their advantage. China is one such example which after making the MNC's invest in access of 300 billion dollars over the last fifteen years have now changed regulations and restricted MNC's investments as well as profit reparation. The Chinese have also come up with a government owned firm that will invest $200 billion some of it in these vary MNC's. This is the creativity of globalist which allows sensible countries to benefit from the MNC/s. The sovereign state of today is not yesterday's banana republic The fact is that dependence works both ways in globalisation. A win win situation should not be made into a scare story just because individual firms have leveraged the global opportunity to grow.

india's tiger crisis

The story of the vanishing tigers of India is a crisis way beyond the environment. The royal Bengal tiger, now down to a mere 1400 in number has fallen prey to a crippling crisis of governance and astounding indifference towards this magnificent big cat.
The failure shows that in India governance in tiger conservation has nothing to do with ground realities. For years, project tiger flogged the myth of 4000 plus cats when it was clear from habitat loss and rare sightings that the number was fictional. The bureaucratic stonewalling resulted in a lost decade when action should have taken place to ensure tiger numbers do not reach what many scientists consider a critical low. It is shameful that the number of tigers today is lower than at the time of the launch of project tiger. At that time, there were an estimated 1800 tigers in India.

It took the Indian express to expose the lie in Sariska. The Prime Minister's subsequent intervention hasn't done much beyond ensuring that a scientifically sound count takes place.

A combination of four factors has decimated the tiger in India.

Indian forest were opened for "development" through an amendment to the Indian conservation act in late 1990's under the regime of Narsimha Rao. India is fast realizing that economic development cannot come without costs - and in this case it costs the pelt of the tiger. The loss of habitat and prey is killing more tigers than poaching.


The second reason is that at the level of the states the tiger simply is not a priority. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, for instance there are an estimated 1200 vacancies for forests guards and it is there not surprising that the state faces the specter of empty forests. Ranthmbore and Bandhavgrah have seen the most decline in numbers. What is more, the Indian forest act is toothless and even third time offenders get quick bail in poaching cases. The law needs to be tightened up as a priority.

The third complexity in the tiger puzzle is external. China and Tibet remain the world's largest consumers of tiger parts. It is such an ingrained part of the Chinese culture that in that country tiger farms - akin to a poultry complex - tigers are raised and butchered exist as a routine. Tiger is on the menu across China - especially in prosperous coastal towns. It is estimated that 70 percent of the worldwide trade in tiger parts ends up in China and the rest in other Chinese hands in south East Asia.

The fourth less studied problem for the tiger turned out to be so called scientists and conversations who work in its name. None of them stuck close to the knitting. Instead of scientific research and conservation they branched out into the hotel and resort business. Most of the famous name you here talking tiger have their own resorts - some in brazen violence of environmental laws. Few of these were even demolished for illegal construction in Ranthmbore, Panna and elsewhere. The costs of maintaining bureaucracies like the world wildlife fund with its fat salaries far outweighs any success they may have achieved. The tiger mafia is the least explored but most immediate threat to tiger survival.


So is it too late? Maybe not. But tough calls need to be taken. It is now clear that tigers and humans cannot coexist. There is need to ensure that India spends money in relocating people out of tiger zones where possible. All success like Corbett and Nagaerhole are in places with the minimum human interference. The law needs more teeth. An urgent diplomatic effort with China in world fora is critical for the short term survival of tigers. The corrupt tiger NGO's need to be brought to book with none spared. All this will need political will and economic resources to come together. It is now time to ensure that the second rung parks such as those in Karnataka get the best protection. Tiger are big cats and they reproduce fast - if a stable environment is put in place. This can make tiger revival a possibility. Lastly African style high value tourism model should be adopted to fund sustainable tiger conservation. Today too many tourists are having a free ride in tiger parks. In 1947 we had 50,000 tigers in India if you want the next generation of Indian to see the tiger's unforgettable gait in the jungle civil society will have to force the political class to act. And in India that is a tough call especially when time is as critically short as in the case of the tiger.

the ball is in play

Americans have cruel saying, “ If you are so smart how come you ain't rich?” The nay Sayers about the astronomical sums offered at the Indian players league auction need to keep that one in mind. Obviously the barons who bid know something that others do not.

By any estimation the bid was a grand success. Half a dozen players went for more than a million dollars a contract. Each ball that Harbhajan Singh bowls for the Mumbai team for example is worth 100,000 rupees. A no ball by him will put an opportunity cost of 50,000 on his personal account. An impressive 50 million dollars was splashed on the first among equals on the cricket pitch during the course of this momentous auction.
This may seem outlandish, but so did Kerry packer’s pajama cricket back in the 70’s. That created history. In a television driven, trillion-dollar economy that is today’s India with cricket as a prime pastime for at least 300 million citizens, the sums offered do not look odd. The IPL deal needs to be placed in the context of the larger picture where entertainment and sports sponsorship are estimated to be a $16 billion business. A large chunk of this in the sports domain comes from the game of cricket.
Like in cricket, so in life there will be winners and there will be losers. Some teams who have the firepower and the stadia that can manage to charge the 500 rupee a ticket that the league is banking on to make money will do well. So on paper Mohali and Calcutta are likely to do well. Others may have given way to irrational exuberance.
In the end the cake of the sport business is beings baked afresh. The IPL is a refreshing and even revolutionary idea from a board known to ignore basic necessities like training and equipping its sportsmen. In the end the hype will matter for little. It will be the paying fans loyalty to the twenty format and his city that may determine the glory of this incredible and audacious endeavor. It is important that the IPL works since it will add depth and dimensions to a beloved sport that sociologist Ashis Nandy famously described as an Indian game that the British discovered accidentally.

indian stock market anchors need transperancy

Media needs to be more transparent
Switch on any business channel on television and you have the same picture. An anchor sits in a plush studio with two “experts” gleefully telling the viewers which stock to buy, and which to dump. By the way of exposure you have a half a second clip which tell you that the said “expert “ holds stock in the very company he is pontificating about. This has clearly irritated the country’s stock exchange watchdog the securities and exchange board of India. Its out going chairman Mr. Damodaran made this much plain in a recent interview to the Indian Express. When a regulator held in wide esteem as a sensible overseer takes notice of the media it raises several questions.
In the United States, especially post Enron, there are specific provisions that channels have to follow including a detailed discourse of number of stocks and likely investment positions in the futures markets before they come on television and speak on a particular stock. None of this alas is in existence in the Indian media.
The lack of such disclosure has the potential to create a herd mentality in bull runs. It can also hurt the retail investor given the fact that some of the large business houses hold a significant percentage as ownerships in business channels. Thus if an industrialist has a major stake in a media house that owned a television channel and comes up with an IPO it can be a case of conflict of interest for him to manipulate a stock.
The real concern is that although SEBI has made two attempts to work out a self-regulating code of conduct for the media there has been no response from the media. This arrogance may cost the media some of its dearly loved freedom. When self-regulation is absent, inevitably governments find ways to impose their will.The media needs to heed this wake up call and line up a code of conduct that makes their manner more transparent. Such a move will help them, their viewers and the retail investors. Not so doing could cost the media its credibility and some of its freedom.

eliminate caps on corporate pay

The recommendation to eliminate the 11%-of-profit salary cap for company directors that is currently enforced is sensible and long overdue. The JJ Irani Committee is right in pointing out that corporate compensation is best left to market forces. In the age of global deals and mega takeovers, directors' salaries cannot be held hostage to arbitrarily dictated caps by the government. In competitive times, the corporate sector needs flexibility in determining exactly how the finances are to be used in engaging resources to optimise operations and achieve the desired results, and this includes human resources. What value who brings to the business, and what it is worth in rupees, dollars or beach holidays, is a matter of internal knowledge. It may be a matter of disclosure and discussion between a company and its shareholders, but the government certainly has no locus standi here at all. The only external regulator should be the market, and the government's job is to ensure that there is sufficient competition. So, if a company mis-allots its funds, it will find itself edged out of business by firms that do a better job of it.

As for the charge that directors are 'overpaid', there is little evidence to show that any systemic imbalance has arisen out of high salaries in corporate India. In fact, there is reason to believe that companies are paying people only as much as needed to access their skills. And these vary vastly, as evident in dozens of other fields of human endeavour that get more media exposure. It is just that this variation is something that external observers are not necessarily equipped to appreciate in the corporate arena. Higher competition tends to activate the variation, resulting in divergences in pay. In such a scenario, any arbitrary cap can create an artificial imbalance that will eventually curtail corporate India's competitive advantage. This is not to argue that there is no such thing as an 'outrageous salary'; as some instances from the US have recently shown, scandals do occur, but it is the self-corrective mechanism of the market—shareholders protesting, for example—that adequately takes care of them. Corporate governance exists for a reason, and that reason is to make sure that the company serves the interests of its shareholders. Salary caps do nothing of the sort.

deconstructing delhi metro

There is a new vigour to Delhi’s urban culture and it’s literally subaltern. It is fuelled by the speed, efficiency and a quite wondrous pride in the metro train line that is transforming the commuting culture of this ancient city.
The pride part is imperative. For too long the capital and its inhabitants have had much too blasé an attitude about the city they call home. This was captured memorably by Naipaul in India: An Area Of Darkness — the shocking apathy of spiting without looking, peeing at every available lamppost, and driving down the wrong side of the road without a care. Now, this has been replaced by a collective restraint and admirable dignity and a strange sense of ownership.
It is this sense of ownership, which the Metro has uniquely succeeded in inculcating in Delhi’s citizens. They see in it a symbol of an emerging India and they want to preserve its purity.
On the Metro it appears that there is citizen schizophrenia. On the road the old rage still dominates, with every kind of vehicle jostling for space in the most chaotic manner possible. In the Metro, the same citizen turns respectful of public convenience and decency.
What explains this dichotomy? I think it is because Delhi has never before seen the like of the Metro —efficient, cool and modern — and likes what it now sees.
The subway offers a forty-kilometer ride in 25 minutes flat, with none of the jerks associated with surface travel. What is more, thanks to the air-conditioning, the whole ride is easy — literally no sweat. And with the punctuality on which you can set your clock, the Metro is now the ultimate arbiter of time and space in a city that expands in all directions, way beyond the 80-kilometre ring road. Page 2 of 2 (Jump to page 1)A facility so perfect can be almost frightening for a citizenry used to terrible rickety buses and quarrelling drivers. It seems Delhi’s denizens believe they don’t deserve such superb service; that if they spoil it, the metro train will somehow disappear just as magically as it made its miraculous appearance.
It took me just one commute from the poor district of Seelampur in the east of Delhi to Pragati Maidan, to become a fully paid-up fan. That day 265,000 people reportedly travelled on the commuter line between 9 am and 9 pm. And yet the platforms were clean, there was no half-finished burger lying about, nor were there any paan stains. Also, unlike Mumbai’s suburban local train, the pushing and shoving were absent.
Here’s another unexplained miracle: the Delhiwallah, ever callous towards the fairer sex, has seemingly reformed on the Metro. Ever since it started there has not been one single reported incident of offensive behaviour against women on the Metro. While the close circuit cameras may have played their part, the body language is decidedly different, too.
My high point of the discovery of the Metro Republic came when I came across a rich dude with a gold chain on his broad chest and the keys to his Ford Ikon dangling casually on his belt, board the train at Chandni Chowk and calmly hanging around with co-passengers who had never owned a car but had now a billion-rupee publicly owned train to cart them around.
Mumbai locals are said to be great levellers because they crush them all in the morning Churchgate fast. But thats not funny. When Mumbai gets its own Metro — it will be another republic.

T 90 india's tank troubles

India’s top tank T 90 is not battle-readyNinad D Sheth Thursday, July 20, 2006 22:34 ISTThe Russian-made T 90 is having trouble with its Indian-made ammunition, affecting the force’s preparedness.NEW DELHI: The premium tank of the Indian Army, the T 90, has serious troubles with its ammunition. The problems came to light last quarter but are yet to be sorted out. According to sources in the Army, while the matter has been taken up with the ordnance factory board, the indigenous ammunition already with the Army is lying unused.Instead, the Armored Corps has shown a preference for Russian ammunition. Among the possibilities is a move to import additional ammunition from Russia till the gaps in the current supply are sorted out. The T 90 uses a 125 mm smooth bore gun and the Indian made ammunition has problems in its packaging and the rate of fire that can be safely carried out. The unreliability of the Indian made shell is so serious that the army did not use it in critical numbers in the last two war games that were carried out in Punjab and Rajasthan. The T 90 is the front line tank of the Indian armored corps and India has 125 of these tanks. A further order for 400 tanks is pending with the Russians. In defense parlance, the tank force of the armored divisions is considered the core of the army’s offensive capability. The fact that there are problems with ammunition, points to a lapse in operational readiness of the Indian army. Sources say that this can compromise the new “cold start doctrine” of the Army. This envisages offensive operations at very short notice. Senior army sources say that for any cold start option, a reliable and strong chain of ammunition supplies is a prerequisite. The problem is all the more serious given the fact that as a weapon fighting system, the T 90 is comparable to the best in the world including the M1a1 Abrams tanks of the US. It is also the Main battle tank of the Russian army. However, without the right ammunition, the tank is of little use. Says General (Rtd) VP Malik, “The T 90 was introduced during my tenure. It is a first class weapons system. However, if there are flaws with the locally produced shells, it is a serious problem. When dealing with ammunition there has to be a very strict level of quality control and the problems once identified must be speedily sorted out.”Till such time that Indian factories come up with a shell that the army can trust or the bureaucracy gives speedy permission for further imports of Russian ammunition, the battle preparedness of the elite armored corps will continue to suffer.

T 90 india's tank troubles

India’s top tank T 90 is not battle-readyNinad D Sheth Thursday, July 20, 2006 22:34 ISTThe Russian-made T 90 is having trouble with its Indian-made ammunition, affecting the force’s preparedness.NEW DELHI: The premium tank of the Indian Army, the T 90, has serious troubles with its ammunition. The problems came to light last quarter but are yet to be sorted out. According to sources in the Army, while the matter has been taken up with the ordnance factory board, the indigenous ammunition already with the Army is lying unused.Instead, the Armored Corps has shown a preference for Russian ammunition. Among the possibilities is a move to import additional ammunition from Russia till the gaps in the current supply are sorted out. The T 90 uses a 125 mm smooth bore gun and the Indian made ammunition has problems in its packaging and the rate of fire that can be safely carried out. The unreliability of the Indian made shell is so serious that the army did not use it in critical numbers in the last two war games that were carried out in Punjab and Rajasthan. The T 90 is the front line tank of the Indian armored corps and India has 125 of these tanks. A further order for 400 tanks is pending with the Russians. In defense parlance, the tank force of the armored divisions is considered the core of the army’s offensive capability. The fact that there are problems with ammunition, points to a lapse in operational readiness of the Indian army. Sources say that this can compromise the new “cold start doctrine” of the Army. This envisages offensive operations at very short notice. Senior army sources say that for any cold start option, a reliable and strong chain of ammunition supplies is a prerequisite. The problem is all the more serious given the fact that as a weapon fighting system, the T 90 is comparable to the best in the world including the M1a1 Abrams tanks of the US. It is also the Main battle tank of the Russian army. However, without the right ammunition, the tank is of little use. Says General (Rtd) VP Malik, “The T 90 was introduced during my tenure. It is a first class weapons system. However, if there are flaws with the locally produced shells, it is a serious problem. When dealing with ammunition there has to be a very strict level of quality control and the problems once identified must be speedily sorted out.”Till such time that Indian factories come up with a shell that the army can trust or the bureaucracy gives speedy permission for further imports of Russian ammunition, the battle preparedness of the elite armored corps will continue to suffer.

anand milk town india

A city of milk and NRI honeyANAND
The tenth and concluding part in our series on the explosive economic growth of small town India.
India’s best-maintained six-lane expressway connects this city—famous for the billion-dollar Amul brand—with Ahmedabad. The average speed on the expressway is 110 km per hour, but the pace of change and action in Anand is even faster. The city boasts a rich and consuming middle-class. It’s Patel rap at play. A vast majority of the residents of this town are non-resident Patels from the motel trade in the US. The city is, by and large, clean and free of the grime associated with small town India.
Take the case of Raoji Patel, a man in his seventies, who, after being thrown out of Uganda, went to England where he owns 11 corner stores. Now retired in Anand, he has opened charitable temples and a hospital. It is this philanthropy combined with the cooperative model of Amul that ensures a broader base of prosperity. Says Mohitbhai Shah, a farmer in nearby Petlad suburb: “If you have six cows, you have an outlet that gives you a fair price. I think the farmer is happier in these parts than in the rest of India.”
The NRI income and well-off farmer are attracting the attention of corporate India. Bharti and Subhiksha are already here. Plans by Reliance, Aditya Birla group as well as Adani are also afoot. Comments Aditya Bhatt, a management consultant: “Anand has many advantages. The infrastructure is excellent, they have one of the best universities in India in the nearby Vallabh Vidya Nagar and they also have access to capital. All major banks such as HDFC and ICICI have a big presence here. When you combine local entrepreneurship with the money order NRI Economy, you have the making of a boom.”
This is reflected in the realty boom; the last three years have seen a tripling of property prices. At the Fame Adlabs theatre, ticket prices can go up to Rs 200 for the reclining seats. Several grand villas, though largely empty since NRIs come only for a couple of weeks a year, contribute to keeping land prices buoyant.
The famous Amul Dairy has a curious visitor from Seattle: Kirsten Grote of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She is here to study the Amul model so that it can be leveraged for the foundation’s agricultural initiatives. And there is plenty to learn at Anand. Says BM Vyas, MD of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, the apex body that Markets the Amul brand: “People come here all the time; they want to learn and hopefully replicate the success of the Anand model. It makes us happy that the city is seen as an inspiration across India for building capacity for broad-based enterprise.
“It has also gained from access to high technology in sectors such as the machinery and electronic industry; both have a sizeable presence with a big plant by Elecon that manufactures electronic equipment and at least three new entrants planned over the next two years.
Says Vivek Bhandari, director of Indian Rural Management Institute, Anand: “This is a traditionally wealthy place that is also logging on to the globalised context. You have a cosmopolitan culture thanks to the NRIs and because it is midway between Ahmedabad and Vadodara on the Mumbai grid, there is also prosperity through connectivity.” Add to that an 80% literacy rate and you have the makings of progressive workforce.
As Indians grow richer, Anand is sure to gain. As far as Anand is concerned, it would prefer to let them drink milk; that way the city keeps on growing and returning a large income to farmers all around. It is a bottom-of-the-pyramid story that started even before CK Prahalad was born.

boom town jalandhar

A city going hammer and tongs
Jalandhar, for long the poor cousin of Ludhiana, is fast coming into its own. The city is a case study for globalisation at work. Its growth story is unique in two respects: it’s exports-led and manufacture-driven; and it lies in the Doaba area of Punjab, home to a staggering 6 million non-resident Indians—a population equal to that of New Zealand’s.
A major trigger for growth is a property boom, which appears speculative. Says real estate consultant Arjit Kapooria, “On the Grand Trunk Road that flanks the city, the government-auctioned price for an acre of land three years ago was Rs 50 lakh. Today, in the smae area, it’s a staggering Rs 4 crore.
A large part of this growth is fuelled by the buying spree of NRIs.”
Land authorities estimate that NRIs have ploughed Rs 300 crore into buying property in the doaba in the last five years. Add to that the industrial growth, and the exuberance in the property market appears rational. Reliance and DLF are looking for large plots. Fourteen malls are under construction in the Jalandhar area and Radisson has set up a 5-star hotel in the heart of the city.
The driver for this growth is connectivity between Jalandhar and nearby towns. As one approaches Jalandhar, one can see work along the highways for miles around. The Ambala-Jalandhar road is being six-laned; so’s the one connecting the city with Ludhiana.
Exports are where Jalandhar really shines. With Indian exports growing 27% in 2006, these are good times for the city. It leads India in the exports of hand tools, Sports goods and leather. Says Surjit Jolly of the Sports Goods Manufacturing Association, “Sports goods are a true free-market story.
We get no sops from the governm-ent, yet we export Rs 600-crore worth of goods.
If, like Pakistan, we get non-duty imports for raw material, this industry can become a Rs 5,000-crore business within five years.”
Jalandhar is also a focal point for leather with estimated exports of Rs 300 crore last year. However, like elsewhere, globalisation and competition have also brought pain to the city. It is consolidation time, and smaller units are finding survival difficult. The high duty on machinery that the industry needs is also an impediment to growth.
Since Jalandhar is a manufacture-driven growth story, it has created enormous employment opportunities. With an estimated 3.5 lakh migrant workers from eastern UP, Bihar and Orissa, social tension is also growing. Locals can’t do without the labour and yet there is an undercurrent of resentment. I decide to visit a local liquor shop at the eastern edge of the city. It is a tough and dangerous place. Fights break out without warning over trivial issues.
I am sitting next to Hamid Rahim from Barabanki in UP. He and his friends work at a foreign Sports goods manufacturer’s outlet. The working conditions, they tell me over packs of country liquor, are as bad as before but the pay is better.
Semi-skilled labour gets about Rs 2,000 a month plus overtime. Even then there is shortage of labour. Says Rahim: “The real issue is lack of proper places to stay. If we had hygienic dormitories, we could save so much more money.” Is Jalandhar Inc listening?
On my last day in town, I meet the perfect example of the change that in engulfing this city. In Model Town, the downtown shopping arcade, I walk into a very busy shop swarming with youth. It’s a tattoo shop. I chat up Pammi Ahuja, 23, who is looking for a new kind of globalisation-induced opportunity. Having finished her airline course and English diction course, she has recently been hired by a foreign airline. She is morose though as she can’t have a tattoo (the airline forbids them). Globalisation, however, is leaving a mark on her life perhaps without her even realising it in this bustling city of Punjab notorious for female foeticide.
In Jalandhar, you realise that for India to sustain job growth, industrial production and manufacture hold the key. A recent Cap Gemini report hinted that India might yet become a manufacturing hub of the world to compete with China. For that to happen, a thousand Jalandhars will need to boom.

indian forests in terminal crisis

Ever since the mid 1990’s when the Narsimha rao government amended the conservation act and threw India’s forests open for commercial purposes including mining, the forest cover has be rapidly dwindling. On the face of it a one time loss due to the tsunami and gains in some states seem to point to an environment balance. There is still a sizable loss of 728 sq kilometers of forests and degradation of another 630 square kilometers throughout India. Thus when one looks at the latest state of the forest report the devil is found in the details.

A lot of the blame lies with corporate India whether it is setting up a bauxite mine over a tiger forest in orrissa or a power plant in Madhya Pradesh. So much so that a supreme court appointed committee had recently ordered canceling of 49 projects on forest land that had seemingly got relevant clearance.
The most serious loss of forest cover is in states such as Andeman and Nicobar and Assam along with Manipur and Madhya Pradesh. These very states were previously thought to be green cover bastions and are the ones which have shown most forest loss. One can safely add Arunachal Pradesh to that list. That sate is India as it used to be, with 83 per cent forest cover. However the recently announced package by the Prime Minister that calls for 10,000 crore invested in roads and railways across the state is bound to degrade forest cover here.

The reason why forests matter even in this age of globalization is three folds. For on thing Indian forest is a source for more than 250 million tribal and non tribal persons across the country. Forest products by value constitute more then $45 billion annually to India’s economy including timber and non timber products and proactive large scale employment. Lastly India is home to one of the world most diverse fauna and flora which if not nurtured could be lost for ever.

The real story of the forest loss of India is in its imbalance. Over the last twenty years the continuing erosion of forests in Central and north India has meant that the north east of India that has only 7 per cent of India landmass has in more than 25 % of her forest cover. This imbalance has created vast swaths of India without significant forest cover. The related f\degradation of river and outer resources is most immediate here.

A new law to empower tribal to have right to forest produce and land has divided the conservation community. Some believe that this may be death knell of the forests as viable cover as well as the tiger. Past record however suggests that such a doomsday scenario is misplaced. If anything the Gandhian idea of self reliance is more relevant today then ever before in the context of tribal rights over the forests. The tribal, once having ownership, is likely to use the forest as resource not as something to plunder on the sly. The empowered tribal and sensible regulations can together save the last of India’s forest cover. India and the world will be worse off if the forest s is not saved through political will directed at arresting the current slide.

interview with Steven roach Morgan Stanley

Steven Roach is chief economist and managing director of Morgan Stanley worldwide. He has more than three decades of experience in economic forecasting, economic policy and the global financial markets. His responsibilities include overseeing the entities gamut of financial and economic research by Morgan Stanley, including country indexes and other financial forecasting products. He spoke to Ninad D Sheth on the global economy, its growth and weak spots:

The global economy is on a roll. There is growth everywhere.

Yes. The US, the primary engine of the world economy, had a very robust year, China grew officially at 9 per cent but in my view it was more like a whopping 12 per cent, India notched double digit and even Japan of all places had 4 per cent. Only Europe seems to have forgotten how to grow but still managed 1.4 per cent. There is an upswing. The issue is whether this is sustainable. There are too many fundamental gaps leading me to question the ability for the world’s leading economies to sustain growth.

How serious is the US deficit as a source of global financial instability on a 1 to 10 scale?

The US deficit is a serious, but secondary, issue. I would rate it 6 on 10, however, the dismal US savings rate is the largest single cause of worry for the global economy. This is 9 on the 10-point scale. The shopping addiction of the US household, which fuels a large part of global growth, is unsustainable and needs to be urgently tackled. US savings rate is at a historic low.

Is the Bush administration concerned?

Unfortunately, the administration is moving in the opposite direction. The tax cuts and the fact that there has been no movement on the interest rates combine to make a dangerous blend. Indeed, there is no appetite currently in Washington for a correction. The overriding theme seems to be to continue with the tax cuts and not allow for a rise in the interest rates. The only way the US can grow is to get capital from abroad. Thus, with so much money coming from foreign lands, there comes a point when this financing becomes unsustainable.

BPO has emerged as a major US issue. What is the worst case scenario likely to be?

I sincerely think the worse is behind us in the BPO backlash. The jobless recovery happening in the US is the real cause of this backlash fanned by populism in an election year. I do not think we can blame the layoffs to outsourcing. However, there is no doubt that outsourcing will hurt net new job creation. To stem the flow of outsourcing through government-sponsored incentives would be a very expensive choice.

So is the Bush administration committed to free trade on this issue?

George Bush is committed only to one thing, re-election. If he sees his numbers slipping, there is no preventing an about-turn on the outsourcing issue. The administration is currently in combat mode for re-election. This is not an issue of ideological commitment to them at all. He changed his mind on steel and went protectionist. He can do it on the outsourcing issue as well.

So should India worry about a protectionist phase in the US?

Yes, it should. However, China has much more to worry on this. Already, there are two very significant Bills in Congress with bipartisan support that attack China. China is an obvious target because of the incredibly huge trade surplus that it has with the US. However, should push come to shove, India with the attendant issues of outsourcing could become a victim of politics scoring over economics? The real problems are domestic — in the low savings, the poor education. But it is human nature to blame someone else for one’s own problems and this is exactly what is happening in the US.

How is India placed to leverage the labour arbitrage?

India is well placed, perhaps, in the best position as far as the outsourcing opportunity is concerned. It has a brand equity as well as ground strength in knowledge workers. These are well- educated people with a high motivational level and well-connected globally in cutting edge IT sectors. With a conducive environment, India can use this to immense benefit.

You are an old time China watcher. As the Indian economy takes off, what are the lessons India need to learn from the Chinese miracle?

The Chinese have a very powerful growth model. It is based on a currency pegged to the dollar, complete emphasis on infrastructure for manufacturing and a very business-friendly environment for foreigners. India, even today, lags on the last two counts and need to sort it out for a sustained bull run.

Do you see China devaluing her currency?

No, I don’t. What they will do — and some of this has already begun — is to tighten the credit in the economy and cool it down a few percentage points. A lower growth rate of 9 per cent will help China and I think there are other creative solutions — not devaluation — that the Chinese will opt for.

And the dollar?

I think that it will slide more. The fundamentals point to a much lower value for the dollar.

Is Morgan Stanley bullish on India?
Yes, we are. We believe that India is a real opportunity.