RisingCitizen

FDI in Retail: Will it help the economy?

2011-12-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

If one has read my last article, it would be clear that the UPA Govt has not passed a single legislation this year that can help the economy nor has it shown any interest. All of a sudden when rupee began to reach 53 against dollar the fear began in the government. Depletion of dollars and no major reform eroded the growth projection to less than 7% and decreased the confidence of India in the eyes of the world. It was a desperate attempt to inject dollars and hence in between the Winter Session the Govt decided to clear FDI in single brand to 100%. It had to finally backtrack after the entire opposition including its own allies protested against this.

FDI in retail is a huge legislation as its impact can be felt across farmers and traders which are the biggest vote banks for Congress and BJP respectively. But does FDI in retail help the economy? Does it help the farmer? Does it help to control inflation?

The answers for this can be understood if the existing scenario with facts are presented. Let's look at it.

60% of what farmers produce gets consumed in villages (over 6 lakh villages).
40% makes it to the market for everyone else to consume.
The current Agriculture Produce Marketing Act (APMC) prohibits farmers to sell to anybody who doesn't have APMC license. There are exceptions to this in several states notably Punjab and Gujarat.
40% of this 40% that reaches the market gets wasted as there is no storage facility at the APMC yard nor does the govt has ever bothered to set up cold storage facilities in proportion to what is produced. It has set up in some places, but not adequate for all fruits and vegetables.
40 million people get employment because of the existing unorganized retail or mom-pop stores. 200 million people lives depend on this 40 million. (Source)

The amount of wastage in 2011:

So, how does this 40% reach the consumer?

There are anywhere 6-7 layers between a farmer and a consumer(follow the chart below). The farmers go to village Haats, Shandies etc that are setup on a regular basis (daily, weekly or bi-weekly) and are either held at the village or 6-20 km from the village. So, the farmer travels. The farmer also goes to APMC yards where there are government agents and middlemen (commission agents) who purchase from the farmers and pass on to wholesale dealers, retailers and thereby consumers. Each layer adds a price and hence the consumer ends up paying a huge price and the farmer gets only a portion of it as profit. The rest is eaten up by the middlemen.

Hence, farmer sells say potato at Rs.2 per kg while consumer buys at Rs.12 per kg which means Rs.10 is eaten up by middle men. Neither there is regulation nor control on the prices or the profits the middlemen make. This is one of the major reasons of high inflation in India. I had explained this in my earlier article - Why onion prices have skyrocketed? .

Further, farmers don't get the correct price and the weights are not accurate as well.

EXCESS WASTAGE, INFLATION CAUSED DUE TO MULTIPLE LAYERS and NO PROFIT FOR FARMERS - clearly 3 major problems in the existing model.

The current organized retail stores in India (prominent ones):

Big Bazaar, Spencers, etc constitute only 5% of organized retail while the unorganized retail is still 95%. Each of these stores may look like they are making profits, but their losses run into thousands of crores. (Source: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/truth-vs-hype/the-truth-vs-hype-of-big-retail/218151)

Will the entry of foreign players help the current scene? If yes, how?

Again, looking at the chart which showed 6-7 layers in the existing model between a farmer and a consumer, the entry of foreign players will reduce it to 3-4 layers, a cut down of 3 layers in most cases.

The foreign players like Walmart, Carefour, Tesco have huge presence across the world. They have the expertise to manage such huge distribution issues and have applied technology to the fullest extent. When such players come in they will directly deal with farmers and get the produce from them. They would ensure that farmers are given better price, weights are checked properly and storage facilities set up for excess quantity to prevent wastage. Basically transparency sets in.

To maintain any cold storage facility is not a rocket science. However, for 60 years no Govt or any law has accelerated this process. Yes, these storage facilities require electricity, water but that's precisely what Govt has spelled out that 50% of investment that such companies would make must be in this sort of back end infrastructure. In other words what Government could not do these companies are expected to do!!

As an example, look at how Walmart has opened stores in Punjab and how it is helping them get better prices and ensure transparency in the system. This is not to say Walmart is sincere in what it does and our middle men and small stores are not. It's just there are many practices which such stores have which others do not. Such an expertise is needed to propel competition in this sector ultimately benefiting the customer. In Punjab today Walmart has tied up with farmers on contract farming basis and such stores not only regularly take the harvest/produce from farmers, but ensure a clean mechanism of making payments. They don't have to travel much as Walmart has set up a network of centers to do this collection. The farmers are also trained on how to increase the yield and productivity that helps them and Walmart. Here's more to read on this.

These are the pictures of Walmart store in India. As of today 100% FDI in single brand is not allowed and hence Walmart has tied up with Bharti and called it - "Best Price Modern Wholesale".

A single store hires 35,000 and has changed the way the whole supply chain system works there. Think of this - If one store can employ 35,000 and if Walmart can open 10 such stores they would employ a mammoth 3,50,000 people and train them with better customer friendly practices and update them with technology. How many small stores can create such a huge employment at the same time? In today's world the next generation doesn't want to join their parents' business of mom and pop stores. Think of what opportunities such stores can have if they could tie up with such multi giants to supply their products as is happening in Punjab?

In short - EXCESS WASTAGE IS AVOIDED, BETTER PRICES ARE GIVEN TO FARMERS and SMALL STORES BENEFIT FROM TIE UP WITH SUCH GIANTS:

Can FDI in retail help control inflation? Will prices come down?

This is definitely a grey area. It has mixed shades. Take a look at this video here. According to this, the 5% organized retail which exists in India haven't helped much in bringing prices down. In many cases prices at such stores are more than the ordinary retail store (Source). So, will inflation be able to come down?

The fact we have to consider here is that 5% doesn't bring competition but 20-30% will surely do. Presence of multiple stores will propel competition. If Hyundai and Maruti alone were the cars in India there would not have been lower prices. If Airtel and Spice were the only cellular service providers prices of calls would not have come down. Presence of different companies spurs competition. One could not think of buying any other car for the range Rs 4-5 lakh a few years ago other than Maruti. Now, there are several cars to choose from for that range. Similarly, a handful of stores being a part of organized retail doesn't help.

On the other hand a logical thought that comes to one's mind is how could these stores sell at a lower price when their operating costs are so high - rent, electricity, water, labor charges etc. Many stores actually got closed like Subiksha as they did not have the expertise of the back end. Big Bazaar, Spencers are all incurring operating losses. So, will multiple stores help? We cannot definitely say. That is why this area is a shady area with no clear visible impact in India. Hence this must be done on an experimental basis.

The government has this condition that such stores must be set up in cities with population more than 1 million and currently there are 51 cities in India that satisfy this condition. This has to be experimented. Only then can it be determined if inflation can truly be controlled. Contrary to the claims of both who oppose this legislation and those who want it to be enacted have no proof of all that they claim regarding inflation is indeed true.

Can foreign companies dump goods from different parts of the world? If so, what about - Made In India - products?

As it is many customers today get to see products from different countries. So, this is not new. However, Walmart for example gets 80-90% of its goods from China. China is the biggest beneficiary. If these stores are allowed to operate in India they will surely dump them into our markets. No doubt the consumer benefits, but goods and products made in India will not reach the consumer. Hence, the government has put the condition that 30% of products such stores would sell in India must be from Indian suppliers. This is good, but must be increased to 40%. By doing so, such stores can also get an opportunity to sell goods made here to other countries and make additional profits. Who knows tomorrow Indian mangoes may be available in America in Walmart and become dominant there?

This is a very important clause and must be carefully implemented. There might be a need for a regulator to monitor if the stores are indeed sourcing 30% from Indian counterparts. If the stores do not take this seriously it will cause losses to a lot of small stores who would have dreams of tying up with them. This is definitely a genuine concern for retailers.

Will the small stores eventually shut? No, this is an exaggerated fear

How many stores have closed because of Big Bazaar and Pantaloon? Hardly any. In fact the unorganized retail continues to show 15% growth while organized retail has come down from 25% to 15% in the last few years. Why is this so? This is because a consumer would prefer to go to stores at a walking distance even if the cost is Rs.1 more than a store for which he has to travel a small distance. Most housewives cannot depend on their husbands or use transportation to get small items. They would prefer to go to near by stores. It is this particular attribute of Indian retail mindset that still keeps the small stores going. There are other personalized services these stores may offer. In many places they offer door-to-door delivery, deferred payments, cash payments accepted and many more which the big stores may not offer. Simply because it doesn't work out to them. Since Big Bazaar cannot come up in every street it cannot displace the small retailers. It may hit their profits but cannot shut them down. If it had to then it would have been visible by now.

The real estate prices are too high for such giant stores to be set up everywhere. Hence, they must be allowed to change the whole supply chain and bring in clean and efficient mechanisms.

This chart explains how FDI in different countries has helped them and why the govt's idea of India specific model is actually good.

Images courtesy: Source

In conclusion I feel FDI must be allowed in cities to start with and depending on how it would control inflation and farmers should be applied across the country. For whatever reasons BJP is opposing looks wholly opportunistic. Congress at one point too opposed this. It is not too late when this would become a reality. For sure FDI in retail will come about.

The Govt stagnates the growing Indian economy

2011-11-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

The year 2011 has been the worst year for India as far as policy initiatives, policy implementations and legislations are concerned. Not a single piece of reform has been taken up by the Govt. From the beginning till the end other than the discussion on the Lokpal, Govt did not do anything substantial on reforms. It has been just sleeping.

If recession plagues the West, inflation plagues India. Inflation is a sign of economic growth, but excessive inflation is a sign of huge mismanagement of the economy.

The Indian economy has clearly slowed down. The growth levels have been reduced from 9% to less than 7%. High inflation, high interest rates (auto, personal, credit, home and virtually everything), low growth and lower industrial growth has now taken the sheen of the India growth story.

The rupee has gone to new record levels of close to Rs.53 against the dollar. This is a new record. This appreciation means imports will get costlier. The oil prices will rise and adding to the RBI's interest rate hike the inflation will go northwards without a stop. The government doesn't want to take any step. The Govt has not even passed many of the bills which can usher in new economic spurt such as Companies Bill, Direct Tax Reforms, Land Acquisition Act, FDI in aviation, The Seeds Act and many more.

For one year other than just talking nothing has the PM nor the Congress party done anything new in the economy. The thought probably is India is rising and there is no need to act. This is a colossal mistake.

Let's take some numbers. Industrial growth has slowed to <2% this year. No major projects, proposed projects have been getting delayed due to the same reasons like Land issues and delayed environmental clearances. Clearly, the Govt has not defined new rules under which Land can be acquired for any project and if acquired what sort of compensation will it give to farmers. How long will the govt take to bring in that bill? Rahul Gandhi has been shouting for this bill to make political gains over Mayawati, but has not been bothered to push through that bill to make it to the Parliament to discuss it.

Car sales have slowed down, investment in real estate has slowed down. The amount of dollars that flooded the Indian market in 2009 has clearly reduced to drastic levels. The result is the rupee falling to Rs.53. The compounding crisis of the Europe has also hurt our exports(both goods and services). Neither the Govt nor the RBI have any tools to control this. The only way the govt can bring in the dollars is to increase the confidence in the Indian economy by passing some key legislations like the ones mentioned earlier.

Of 183 countries in the world, India ranks 165th for starting a new business - mainly because of complex rules and red tapism. The new Companies bill drafted by the Govt has to be pushed through the Parliament.

India's electricity and energy sector continues to pose significant problems for the growing industry. No major initiative has been done to drastically improve this sector either.

Looks like the Congress Govt has become lazy, incompetent and over confident. Their over confidence may be that no matter what happens they will continue to be in power. I am alarmingly shocked that when many European nations have had regime changes and new technocrats rather than politicians have taken center stage, our very own technocrat PM Singh lacks political will to bring in changes. His relevance as a technocrat stands completely hollow now. I don't know how many in India think that life has gotten any better ever since the second time PM has been voted back in 2009. It was a golden opportunity that India missed now that the US and Europe's economies have declined.

The time has come to take action. The govt said it has cleared FDI in retail to flood the market with dollars again to counter the depletion and the deterioration of the Indian rupee and economy. There are almost 40 key legislations and none seems to be passing this Parliament session. The opposition party BJP must shout slogans or raise the level of the debate in Parliament but should not stall the passage of many of these bills.

Indian growth story can continue only when the government can take tough policy decisions. Now that the economies of the West are in the dark, it presents a golden opportunity for India to shine. This only can happen if the government wakes up from the sleep.

Reach 1 of Bangalore Metro rolls out

2011-10-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

Bangalore for long had wanted the Metro. It started smoothly and later went on a rough patch. With 3 deadlines finally passed reach -1 of Phase-1 was opened for public on Oct 20th 2011. It is 3rd in the country to have a system of this kind and on par with international standards as far as tracks, coaches, signalling is concerned. The excitement that was visible when Delhi metro first started was similarly visible even in Bangalore. I still remember when I boarded the first metro of Delhi - the red line - I was wondering if I was indeed in India !!!

Bangalore Metro is South India's first metro. This has made the people of Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad even more restless and are eagerly waiting for their own metros to be completed.

If the excitement and the way people thronged the stations is an indication of anything then it is the rising expectations of the people who are desperate to see how the other parts of the Metro completely finish without missing deadlines.

The stops, the frequency, timings are given below:

The fares are as below:

However, some of the salient features include:

Improved sign boards and clear display of information at the station and inside the train.

Stainless steel coaches and ballastless tracks(used in high speed trains in China and Japan which require less maintenance) .
Can sense another train, if any, on the same track and automatically stop at a safe distance. (Wonder why Indian Railways cannot adopt this?)
Wi-fi connectivity in the stations and inside the train (not available in Delhi or Kolkata metro).
Disabled friendly ramp
7 km journey in 12-14 minutes
The ticket system is either through SMART CARDS or SMART TOKENS which are different from each other. They can be refilled through ATM's, mobile banking, net banking. I feel this is the best feature because it is very efficient and user friendly.
Of course the common features like using a preloaded card is also there.
Integration of bus and metro tickets.
Completely computerized signalling system (like in Delhi Metro)
Emergency call button
CCTV inside and outside the train
The display board inside the train indicates what the next step is and when it will arrive in 3 languages (hindi, english and kannada)
Standard gauge
Electricity for the train will run on a third rail next to the main track. It has an opening at the bottom at points from where the train draws its power. The third rail is covered with a yellow shroud, and a person falling on the track won't be electrocuted
Uninterrupted power supply will be given to it

Flip side:

Train frequency is 15 min (it will be reduced eventually depending upon the demand)
Metro will not reduce traffic congestion drastically (may be 10-20% reduction) and it is too much to expect that given the fact that Delhi, London, Tokyo continue to experience traffic issues and overcrowded trains
At least until the metro is completely over one cannot expect any changes.

Pic courtesy" skyscrapercity, google, youtube, timesofIndia
Feeder buses:
The places where feeder buses serve is in the chart below:

There are lots of questions which can be answered slowly over time. Will Metro be maintained clean? Will there be sufficient patrol of it like in the Delhi Metro? How frequently will the train develop technical snags? Will the escalators work all the time and if it needs maintenance how quickly will be repaired? Will the feeder buses which pick up and drop to nearby areas work correctly and effectively?

Modi v/s Rahul: Who would win?

2011-09-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

It is 2011 and 2014 is 3 years away. In 3 years one never knows where the 2 parties - Congress and BJP would be? As of now, everyone thinks Congress will fail. Congress is too clever at political strategies before the election. They can throw surprises by announcing schemes, or programmes that will make them the hero of the media and the poor. One of the legislation - National Food Security Bill (though has several loop holes) can be Congress's trump card against corruption. It is another matter that this bill will cause incomparable increases in inflation causing further damage to Indian economy.

3 years down the lane - the media, the aam aadmi may forget all the movement led by Anna Hazare. Media may project Congress as the only party to launch such a scheme that will bring down poverty in a single shot. People may forget all the corruption and scandals and think that Congress is still the savior. People may think that both BJP and the Congress stand the same with respect to corruption, but still support the Congress.

At present, why this issue of Modi v/s Rahul? It is very hilarious that a US report conducted by its think tank can cause such a reverberation in India. Modi's announcement of his Sadbhavana mission is being stretched too far by everyone. Neither BJP has projected Modi as its PM candidate and nor has Congress projected Rahul as its PM candidate. Still everyone is speculating that this will be the reality.

Modi:

The ghost of 2002 never seems to leave Modi. The Supreme court has not found any strong evidence to file even an FIR against him, but it has some strong words for him. Still it has decided to hand over the case to courts in Gujarat. No one knows what the verdict would be. If the High Court proves him guilty, he is bound to have immense losses, but if not he will win handsomely.

If Modi indeed is proven guilty he will have to be punished and there can be no doubt about it. What I admire about Modi is not his character, but his governance. I have a series of articles collected from various national, international media and case studies from IIM Ahmedabad under Modi's governance in my blog.
More than anything else, read this report published by the US which states Gujarat is the best governed state in India followed by Bihar. One can never deny that Modi's rule has given the maximum progress to Gujarat that it leads far ahead than all states in India since 2004. Some people claim Gujarat is progressing for the rich. If that is the case, can anyone explain how is agriculture growing at 10% when the entire national average is 3%? Who is using the 1000 check dams constructed by the govt in Saurashtra (a drought prone zone a decade ago that is now fertile)? Who is benefiting from 24 hour electrification of more than 90% villages that have transformed the lives of farmers? No state has been able to achieve this - states ruled both ruled by BJP and Congress. Just look at the roads that exist in Gujarat. Gujarat is one of the only states in the country where ports are well connected to major cities in the state that has boosted maritime trade.

Some people including the Congress in Gujarat claims that doing business is in the DNA of the Gujarati and so Narendra Modi has not anything much. If that is the case then Gujarat must have been the number 1 state in India since 1947. There should not have been any poverty in the state. There should have been only rich people. No state can achieve progress without the government facilitating an atmosphere where businesses can thrive and farmers can progress.

No one can forget what happened in 2002 and no one can ever let injustice happen to anyone. People often forget that Modi has been re-elected twice by the people. He has not become the CM through a military coup but through a free and fair election.

Some people have called 2002 riots a holocaust. Every communal riot is a holocaust. Even those which occurred during the Congress rule (This was in 60's and 70's when BJP did not even exist) .

Rahul:

I frankly admit that if Rajiv Gandhi was alive today and stood for elections, I would have really wished him become the PM again. Manmohan Singh is far far better than Rahul Gandhi. Manmohan Singh may not take decisions at the right time, but he has a statesmanship approach when he wants to talk to his worst detractors. When the entire nation rose in support of Shri Anna Hazare (my hero these days), I expected Rahul Gandhi at least to come out and say that he would convince his party and the government that the voice of the youth will be heard and Anna Hazare's peaceful protest shall be respected. Where was Rahul Gandhi when Kapil Sibal and P.Chidambaram decided to arrest Anna? Where was Rahul Gandhi when the entire Parliament was discussing the issue of Lok pal bill? I salute Pranab Mukherjee who stole the show from the Congress side in Parliament. An old Pranab was far capable and convincing than a young Rahul who was absent. My biggest problem with Rahul is that when the time arose that India needed leadership from the side of the Congress he let everyone down.

The Reality: Congress still has a higher chance of winning in 2014 than the BJP.

The big strategy which BJP has to adopt is not to declare anyone as its PM candidate (more so that of Modi). This was the same strategy which Congress adopted in 2004.

Let's not forget that Congress still has a presence in almost every state unlike the BJP. If Modi is projected as the PM candidate, the chances are that several allies may desert the BJP because of a fear of loss of vote banks. In that situation BJP has to win around 200 seats on their own which seems highly impossible. So either way it is a tough road ahead for the main opposition party if it projects Mr. Modi as the PM.

People are the ultimate deciders of the 2014 election, but people must exercise enormous caution specially now that India is one of the rising economic powers of the world. The challenges and complexities are high and we need a leader who has proven something and not just talked. We need a leader who can rise to the occasion and take tough measures and decisions to take the entire society on the path of growth. We cannot be slow and steady, but fast and tough.

How did India escape the global recession of 2008?

2011-08-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

Everyone these days is talking about economy. Ever since the world markets crashed and the US rating went down from AAA to AA, it has been a matter of growing concern. Two countries which continue to prevent the whole world falling into recession include India and China.

Even now Brazil, Chile and many countries are learning from India how to manage capital flows (international money flowing into markets). India truly went beyond the regulated norms of IMF (international monetary fund) to use a variety of techniques in tandem to prevent a collapse. This is a fact that India was chosen as one of the top contenders for G-20 - a forum where developed countries wanted the inputs from developing countries like India and China to help in their revival. Let us feel proud as Indians on this Independence Day despite all the complaints we have from our corrupt politicians. We continue to grow!!!

How did India escape the recession in 2008 when the mighty US and Europe fell like a deck of cards?

The answer is not simple and I have tried to answer in a simple manner in this article.

Prior to 2007, the global liquidity was very high. Cash was surplus and money was flowing into emerging markets quite rapidly because the return of investment was quicker especially in India and China. India was growing since 2000 when the Vajpayee led NDA government brought in huge reforms leading to 6% growth unseen in the earlier years. The country was expanding and was giving higher returns on investment from foreign countries. Then came the Congress led UPA Government. When UPA govt introduced National Rural Employment Scheme (NREGS), it brought cash into the hands of the unemployed; sufficient enough to buy pulses, simple clothes and many more. Although there is corruption in the implementation of NREGS it truly added life to the rural economy.

Remember: India saves 33% of its earnings compared to 40% w.r.t Chinese and 1/5th of what India produces is only exported. The rest is used for domestic consumption. This is a unique economy unlike China which heavily survives on exports. However, even when export demand crashed, China continued to grow (still growing) as it is spent huge amounts in infrastructure in its own land.

The Indian economy was such that it was heavily dependent on domestic banks for its fiscal needs. This was the case till 2005-06. From the late 2006 large parts of govt funding began to come from these foreign investments which directly come as cash or investment like FDI (Foreign Direct Investment). This was the reason that Govt's foreign exchange reserves came to more than 30 billion$ to around 300 billion during that time. But in any emerging market this capital has to be controlled because if this depletes suddenly, the govt will have nothing to fund its own programmes.

The Indian debt market (the market in which the investor gets Govt Bonds in return for investment - the largely dominant debt market component) has been till now restricted enabling both the Govt and the central bank (Reserve Bank of India - RBI) to manipulate as per the needs instead of a free flow. This is perhaps the biggest macroeconomic feature India has. If the debt market is allowed unhindered the capital accumulation can be very high and the RBI would not be able to control this.

In other words to summarize things explained in the previous paragraph it means there is a limit on the extent and the amount to which bonds can be issued by RBI on behalf of the govt. Just because a foreigner wants to invest in return for a bond doesn't simply get to do this. Also, the corporates across various sectors cannot borrow how much ever money from international market.

No one knows if India has the capability to completely go to a system where such limits do not exist. But by restricting so, RBI can control both exchange rate (the rupee-dollar rate fluctuation) and price stability (where the inflation and deflation - neither of them happens over a certain time and prices remain stable).

Given this scenario in early 2007, due to rising capital in the market the RBI resorted to further cap the inflow, restricted overseas borrowing for corporates beyond a certain amount. The central government disposed off huge amounts as loans in a regulated manner to people (education loans, home loans, auto loans etc) which spurred the domestic growth further. That is why from 2005-07 the growth rate was close to 9% in addition to rising incomes.

After disbursing a huge amount of its reserves as loans, RBI stopped further easy lending of loans by hiking interest rates. At the same time the govt sterilized huge sums of money through

a) Market Stabilization Bonds (this is a mechanism by which excess dollars will be absorbed by the RBI. RBI in return will inject the equivalent Indian rupees in the market. If these rupees continue to flood, RBI would sell Govt bonds and the money raised would be given to government to fund its fiscal needs and the govt would have to pay interest on it to RBI). Market Stabilization Bonds is truly a new thing implemented in India.

b) increased the cash reserve requirements for banks (banks need to maintain cash as reserve and not spend it as loans).

Despite this the surge continued even further. In mid 2007, the RBI raised interest rates after seeing an overheated economy. Adding to rising interest rates there was a huge inflation already because of govt's mismanagement of food distribution ( a problem that plagues India till date).

RBI''s options were so less to contain this money flood. Economics is not physics as explained by RBI Governor (Subbarao in a speech. Click here). Unlike physics where human influence doesn't change underlying facts, human behaviour can definitely impact an economy and again it is humans who have to act to control it.

By mid 2007 the trade and financial integration of Indian economy with the world had gone deeper.

RBI could have easily allowed the rupee to appreciate but it could not do so as exports could be hurt. It could not lower interest rates as it would have overheated the economy. The only thing it then began to do was some out of box thinking like imposing further caps over overseas borrowing (loans above the limit had to be left overseas itself), prohibited foreign currency conversions into rupees and many more as explained in this detail paper. IMF provides a lot of guidelines to help countries in this regard, but India's case was very unique. So, RBI had to resort to some extra ordinary actions.

All these steps prevented a collapse of the Indian economy during the great global recession in late 2008. It only shows how RBI acted like a great watchdog. However, the fact that should not be underestimated is that our growth rates slipped to 6% during that time and our exports which grew by 25% during 2005-08 dropped to 12% eroding lots of money from the middle and poor people involved in these.

In addition to these the corporates who were getting easy international loans had to resort to domestic banks for survival and expansion. This was all in addition to stock market crashes even in India where thousands of crores were withdrawn from the market.

Post 2008, Indian economy began to grow mainly because of domestic consumption again and govt's stimulus which cushioned the exporters against heavy losses. Due to increasing spending on national highways, new projects to increase electricity generation, higher incentive on manufacturing, increasing number of IT presence of MNC's, growing auto sales and many more Indian economy showed a robust growth of 6% better than growth rates of the West.

How is the economy now in 2011? What lies ahead?

The answer to this question also is not too very positive(Click here). The inflation continues to grow alarmingly. The govt totally is not initiating any reforms to improve the supply side of food. The UPA-2 seems to be caught in enough scams and misgovernance that it has stopped functioning. Already there is slowdown in industrial growth and infrastructural growth and this is slowing down the economy to below 6%. We are still doing better than Europe and the US, but we can do much better to compete with Chinese economic growth.

Hope the sense of judgement prevails and the govt would initiate the much needed Land Acquisition Act which is badly needed for a desperately growing India.

Jai Hind!!

The Govt drafts Lokpal legislation which is meaningless

2011-07-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

When Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi said that corruption has to be removed and she will support the movement started by Anna Hazare I suddenly thought may be she will be instrumental in making this legislation a reality. But Congress party doesn't seem to show any interest. It is shocking that Manmohan Singh whose honesty has never been questioned is now being called honest king of a corrupt government. He doesn't even express how his own government's anti-corruption legislation is toothless. Ask a common literate man to read the draft given by the Government and he/she will just say it is -"NONSENSE".

Read govt's version here.

As per govt, Lokpal will

a) Not have police powers, cannot file a FIR and will be an advisory body.

Then why establish it? The Central Vigilance Commission is already there doing this job and advises government to act on it, but the Govt never acts.

b) Only if Lok Sabha speaker/Rajya Sabha Chairman gave permission action would be taken against the corrupt MP's or MLA's:

This is the funniest part. How can the speaker decide on if action has to be taken against a MP or not? Will the speaker's judgement be so trustworthy? Never. This is the most nonsensical part of the legislation.

c) People cannot file complaints to the Lok Pal.

For whom is this Lokpal? For people or the government's corrupt officers to protect themselves? The government's logic is people might misuse the lok pal. How can the government conclude this?

d) CBI and Lokpall will not be inter connected.

Then CBI which is already corrupt will continue to promote corruption and Lokpal would not be able to do anything.

e) Punishment is 6 months to 7 years and not necessarily all the money/assets will be seized/recovered:

Which means a politician will be ready to go to jail, but his assets will be with him even after he comes back from jail. This is more crap than Ekta Kapoor's crappy serials. How can a honest PM accept for a legislation like this, especially someone who opened up this country for reforms.

f) Lokpal won't be applicable for cases against judges:

This is a tricky part and I agree with the Govt's view that if judges are brought under Lokpal who will investigate against Lok pal itself if it turns corrupt? Not involving judiciary is not as much a big concern than not taking effective action against MLA, MP and bureaucrats.

g) The PM cannot be investigated in the matters related to foreign affairs, defense and security until the PM demits office.

This is understandable and is not a big issue. Really for the public - the "aam aadmi" for which this Govt works as per the claim, the PM is not a problem. The local bureaucrats, MLA, MP's are the problem. Hence, Anna Hazare would do a big mistake if he breaks talks with the Govt over this reason. This can be handled even at a later point after the legislation is brought in. Think of it - How many Indians feel any difference even with a honest PM like Singh? Does a honest PM make any difference?

The PM is not a reason to worry, but the local MLA definitely is.

Anna Hazare's version of Lokpal contains provisions that will create a super body that will consume all major investigative agencies and will apply to everyone. This is good, however a super body means that powers must be carefully defined.

I seriously fail to understand how can the Congress party even propose such a legislation which would not do anything. And I can't believe even if this legislation gets passed, it will enthuse people if any.

The tragedy of the nation is that the principal opposition party neither indulges nor inspires this nation as to how they would like the Lokpal.

It looks like India need of a strong leader who can act and deliver.

The future of Rahul Gandhi's strategies

2011-06-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Indian media is known to hype matters on several issues much like international media. For the past few years, it has been over hyping Rahul Gandhi and his future. No one knows if this over hype may actually become reality and one day we see Rahul Gandhi as the PM.

However, as a citizen Rahul Gandhi must do more than held press conferences or sleeping in Dalits homes. India is not 1970 where these things translated into sympathy and people voted that person. In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tamilnadu Rahul tried to deliver the power of youth, but failed miserably. If present India is to this state, it owes a lot to Gandhi family for all good and bad reasons. If his predecessors - Rajiv, Indira and Nehru did a lot good to this nation, they did far worse when it came to corruption and lack of transparency in governance and even eliminating poverty.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi made this remark - "I have seen the violence unleashed on your men and women. By seeing what has happened here, I feel ashamed to be an Indian. The state government is tormenting its own people. I was travelling with the Assistant District Magistrate and he told me that it is like Naxalism has reached here" (click here)."

I am surprised and shocked at this naive statement made by him. He made this when he declared that in Bhatta Parsaul village in Uttar Pradesh (UP) where farmers were protesting against land acquisition for Yamuna Expressway. He said women were raped and farmers were killed who were protesting. He showed a site of bodies and said they were buried there. When a team of forensics held the investigation they found everything was false. The ashes contained that of animals and not that of human flesh (Link).

Why did Rahul Gandhi do this? Simply because it is elections time in 2012 and he wants Congress to win UP state. Winning this state paves the way for a clear majority Congress at the Centre. Remember Congress lost all the Muslim and Hindu vote banks in 1992 after the Babri Masjid Demolition and never has Congress recovered from it again till now.

Rahul tried to imitate what Indira Gandhi did in the late 1970 when she rode an elephant and visited Belchi village and highlighted that the Central Govt is insensitive to the atrocities on Dalits and she came back as PM. But India is not the same as it was in 1970. Today, people look for leaders who can think out of the box solutions to solve India's problems.

Rahul further declared he would bring in Land Acquisition Bill in monsoon session of Parliament this year and get it passed.

Here is a series of questions to him:

Why didn't Rahul protest like this when farmers were shot in Nandigram and Singur for Tata's project by the West Bengal Left Govt who was an ally with Congress at the Centre? Why didn't he come out on the streets and say - "I am ashamed to be a part of the Central Govt where one of my allies can order such a shootout on farmers who do not want to give up the land".
Why doesn't Rahul Gandhi feel ashamed that despite the slogans of "Garibi Hatao" in 1970 by Indira Gandhi, poverty is still 30% in India?
Why doesn't Rahul Gandhi feel ashamed at his own party government in Delhi? Why? Every other day a woman is raped in Delhi. No one is concerned - neither the Govt led by a woman herself Sheila Dikshit or the party. I am ashamed to see the capital city as "rape" capital. I am ashamed that a woman is either kidnapped, raped or killed in Delhi and the govt doesn't act over it. If the capital can't be safe, how can India be which is ruled by his party for the past 7 successive years and almost 50 years since Independence.
How can his party support Mayawati and remove her name in CBI's list of investigations and later blame her for all the state govt's problems?
This country was ruled for a full term by the non-Congress PM Atal Vajpayee for just 7 years. So, why blame any other party or regional party for the failure of India's problems? Congress party is not the same anymore which gave us the Independence. Rahul must re-invent Congress's vision before he can show he can make a difference to this country.
Why didn't you protest when farmers in Vidharbha in Maharashtra (which is also being ruled by Congress for the past 10 years) committed suicide for not enough support from the state Govt? You were considered the crown prince of India since then.
Why is that the Land Acquisition Act (which was so much in the mind of the PM Singh to get it passed way back in 2004) has not been passed? It should have been passed right after farmers were shot by Left Govt in West Bengal. Only for the sake of vote bank politics the Congress govt from 2004-09 was silent.
Why don't you force the govt and your party to take a strong action against all the black money lying abroad which could be brought back.

Rahul Gandhi, definitely, has the zeal and age as a factor on his side. However, even before you are elected you you need to convince India why it should buy your speeches? Why your silence on several matters that are troubling "aam aadmi" of which you represent is so high? Why don't you speak out what your solution is to the problems of India.

It is not as if BJP is crystal clear on corruption and issues of the country. They too fail to give a vision as to how they would sort out issues like Land Acquisition and corruption. However, it is to the credit of the Opposition led by Left and BJP that Congress govt was brought on its knees and exposed such large scale corruption never seen in India before. There is a lot for the present Govt to learn from Land Acquisition Acts in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. There is a lot that the present Govt can learn from Right to Service Acts passed in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. They are simple, but are proving to be effective solutions.

Indians know that they are growing. 8-9% growth is not alone going to help Congress. There are matters far troublesome which no one wants to address. In a scenario like this I would say Rahul's strategies have clearly failed.

There is a far more social revolution India needs and that can happen only if social problems are addressed through an economic reform, which is not impossible. It just requires an iron will.

The New Delhi Airport Express link opens with check in facility

2011-05-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

In my last article (CLICK HERE) about the New Delhi Airport Express link I had mentioned that this is going to be one of its kind in India. It missed its deadline in Sept 2010 and finally opened in Feb 2011. The reviews have been good if not great and there are many plans drawn to improve the experience of this express link.

It is beyond doubt that this is helping a lot of commuters who want to reach the airport from the heart of the city or Delhi-Gurgaon expressway area (NH-8). This train connects the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in 18 minutes and the train runs with a speed of 135 km/hr. The total length = 22.7 km of which 15.7 km is underground and the rest elevated.

From the NEW DELHI RAILWAY STATION to the airport the cost is Rs.80/- and upto Dwarka Sector 21 is Rs.100/-. The frequency is 20 minutes and it runs from 5 am to 11 pm.

And finally, one can check in luggages at New Delhi Station and Shivaji Stadium. For more, one can visit this site of Delhi Airport express.

Remember: If you are a person who drives on Delhi's roads you would better appreciate the massive importance this link would give you instead of taking 45-60 minutes to reach the airport from the heart of the city through road.

The stations also show the flight timings. These stations are guarded by Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF). This was done after hectic discussions with Ministry of Home Affairs.

Flip side:

1) Sign boards need to be improved.
2) Check in counters are less in number
3) Ridership is 8000 per day which is low compared to the intended capacity.

72 year old man forces Government to act against corruption

2011-04-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

Every layman on the streets of India – be it literate or illiterate can talk lengths and depths about corruption in India and how it affects him/her. For almost 40 years, the anti-corruption bill has been put on the backburner and every time a weak version of it had been introduced in Parliament. Every time it had been defeated and no urgency was shown either by Congress or BJP.

The bills introduced in 1996, 1998 and 2001 included the PM also subject to scrutiny. However, after Manmohan Singh came in, the PM was removed from its ambit (No one knows why). Irrespective of Congress or BJP the bill has not been taken seriously with respect to implementation. Every time the bill lapsed and was sent to further review. Already 3 such committees have studied and modified the bill, but in vain.

Existing Mechanism:

Anybody (any govt officer) can be booked under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, but requires state/central government permission to drag the person to court. So, essentially a citizen can only expose (that too if the citizen is still alive after exposing), but no legal mechanism be easily started. Simply put - the Congress or BJP would ask ministers to resign and keep on boasting about taking actions.

With the government reeling under multiple scams (2G, ISRO-Antrix, Commonwealth, cash-for-votes, Adarsh society, IPL, Quatrochi, Central Vigilance Commission appointment of Thomas - wonder how can so many scams emerge and PM doesn't even know about it. It is carelessness and abysmal leadership by a clean PM) running into 16 times India’s current deficit, the people now have very thin line of patience.

In early 2000, the Lokayukta was set up in 18 states but no powers were given to prosecute the officers. Today, only Karnataka has a fairly successful Lokayukta. However, its powers of prosecution have never been fully sanctioned. This has made the body meaningless. Yes, it does expose officers, but who wants just that.

What’s going on now?

A trigger was just required. It finally took 72 year old Anna Hazare to sit on a fast and force the PM to draft the bill by a committee consisting of 50% government officials and 50% civil society members.

The reason: No parliament member alone can draft the bill which could slit his own throat when he/she is involved in corruption. The current bill (also known as Govt version of Lokpal bill has loopholes) mainly creates the body and exposes officers but doesn’t give powers to prosecute and drag officers to court. Hence, a set of people namely – Santosh Hegge (Former Supreme court justice and currently Karnataka’s lokayukta chief), Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal (RTI activist) drafted the JAN LOK PAL Bill whose salient features include:

CBI, CVC will be merged into this agency.
The body will be independent of judiciary, executive and legislature just like Election Commission.
The body will have a citizen forum where public an express grievances/complaints and the officers have to execute and punish the guilty within 2 years of the report filed.
The body also would protect the whistleblowers.
All property and assets would be seized from the accused once proven guilty.

Joining Anna Hazare was retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi whom we all know and Swami Agnivesh. No politician was allowed to share the dias with Anna. Slowly, a lot of RTI activists, “India against corruption” NGO activists began to join. Facebook, Twitter, blogs were soon flooded with support for Anna. 4.3 million people joined to support in just 3 days!!!!

People joined the movement and lit candles at the India Gate at the very place where people celebrated at midnight cheering Team India for winning the WORLD CUP CRICKET last week. Protests, rallies were held in various cities – Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and many others.

Have a look at how bollywood fraternity joined – Farah Khan, Anupam Kher, Hritik Rshan, Aamir Khan, Anupam Kher, Diya Mirza, Juhi Chawla, Madhur Bhandarkar and many more expressed their support either by physically joining the protest or tweeting and attracting lots of fans and citizens. The movement spread even to New York city where there is going to be a huge gathering of Indians on April 9^th at Times Square.

THIS IS AN UNPRECENTED MOVEMENT. The last time such a movement happened was when Mumbai witnessed 26/11. The people seriously wanted safety and Chidambaram has done a remarkable job by personally monitoring the security and making the new body National Investigative Agency to finally look into all matters of this kind. Hope we get some equally good output from the government this time too.

The Govt was forced now to accept a demand and make Santosh Hegde, Anna, Kejriwal to form members of the committee which will be co chaired by Pranab Mukherjee (Finance Minister) to finalize the bill.

I hope that a real good legislation comes out quickly and gets passed quickly. If it doesn’t people should continue their agitation and not stop. This revolution is a must before we can really overtake the world.

The following questions, however, must clearly be legislated before the bill is passed:

1) How will this anti-corruption body be constituted?

2) Who would be elected?

3) How will he be elected? Will there be a fixed term?

4) What qualification is necessary for the members?

5) How independently can they function?

6) What will happen to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and CBI?

7) What if this LokAyukta becomes corrupt?

The classic example is that CBI has been misused over and over by everyone in power and the Karnataka Lokayukta has not been given powers to act against corrupt officials. The Karnataka govt which wants to support Anna Hazare should first enact and give powers to Lokayukta. It is only then the CM would set a precedent.

It is very important that the govt considers who would be called a whistleblower and how is he protected if he is involved in exposing corrupt official.

Even if the above questions are not answered, clearly this movement shows there is impatience and growing anger against corruption in India.

India becomes world's 3rd largest SMALL CAR MANUFACTURER

2011-01-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

It is 2011 now. Try watching any old Hindi movies of 70's and 80's. You will notice 2 standard cars on an average - Ambassador and Fiat. These were the only 2 cars one could possess until the entry of Suzuki (Maruti) in 80's. Thanks to Sanjay Gandhi and Indira Gandhi. He insisted that a common man must have a car and Indira Gandhi allowed for the collaboration of Suzuki with Indian govt thus creating the first auto revolution in India.

Post liberalization, auto production has been growing, but in the latter half of the 2000 decade, car production has tremendously increased. Today, on Indian roads, you will find an amazing variety of cars from Maruti to Nissan, from Volkswagen to BMW. The people have so many choices that if you still possess the Maruti Esteem, please think of synchronizing with the market. It is very old to have it!!

Have a look at some incredible statistics: (Source1 and Source2).

There are about 13 foreign companies (BMW, Fiat, Ford, GM, Honda, Hundai, Benz, Mitsubushi, Nisan,Toyota etc), 6 domestic companies (Tata, Chinkara, Mahindra, etc) involved in car production in India thereby heating up the market.

Car manufacturing total units as per 2009:(Source)

BIGGEST ADVANTAGE INDIA HAS:

Cheap and skilled labor. Almost 10-15% costs lesser against US and Europe - a huge gain for multi national companies
Huge market size.
The Auto Policy of 2002 that allows foreign companies to directly assemble/manufacture cars instead of collaboration route with local companies which China mandates.
Volkswagen, Hyundai, Nissan, Mitsubushi are investing in heavy R&D (research and development) to develop small cars customized to Indian roads. Huge job opportunities to people.
Hyundai cars made in India are a huge hit in Russia, Taiwan, Latin America and Africa.
Indian tractors are a huge hit in the US. US is still the largest market for Indian tractors.
Pune has emerged as the hub of research of tractors mainly led by Mahindra and Mahindra and Deere
The Govt's new policy of emission standards - Bharat Stage III that is pressurizing car manufacturers to produce fuel-efficient and low emission output cars.
The growing number of RURAL PEOPLE PURCHASING CARS. It shows signs of a growing urban class.
An urban middle class of 300 million - almost 1/3rd of the population.
Banks making car loans easier - from 17% interest rate to 13-14% interest rate. (It is now bound to increase because of inflation).
Reduced costs of raw materials - almost 11% cheaper than US or Europe.
Lower manufacturing tax (8% excise duty).
Small cars suit most people because of crunching parking spaces and suits most middle class homes with respect to price/cost.
Unlike China which has been always having issues with non-safety components, The Auto Policy of India ensures that the foreign companies are putting the best practices and components in cars. Shocked about China...It is true....This is from CHINA DAILY newspaper
The cost of steel in India is one of the cheapest in the world.

INDIA OVERTAKES CHINA IN CAR EXPORTS:

Between 2008-2010 when the Europe and the US car companies where drowning in recession, India overtook China in car exports. Which means cars manufactured in India were exported in huge numbers than China. Here's the bloomberg report and times of india news confirming this. The biggest bet India has taken is that people will continue to buy small cars and hence the demand will always be there. However, we don't know how far will we go, though the future looks optimistic. The rising inflation which is burning the pockets of the common man, and huge deficit in city roads (highways are expanding) are continuing to be show stoppers for zooming car sales.

A bloomberg report which was published in Sept 2010 says that in less than 10 years sales of Mercedes Benz in India is going to be that of U.K as the growing number of millionaires are on the rise in India.

Hynudai exports 50% of its cars produced in India. It's i-20 and i-10 models are a huge hit overseas. Even several models of Maruti are being produced only for the purpose of exports.

Nissan expects to export 250,000 cars by the end of 2011. Fiat is planning to get $1 billion worth of auto components from India.

Britain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and South Africa are countries that received exports worth $4.5 billion last year. This year it is expected to jump to $12 billion.

TATA NANO makes headlines in the US and forces China to invent such a vehicle.

Tata Nano is truly India's invention. With almost 10 patents in its favor, Nano is making inroads. However, due to the entry of many other companies giving several luxury features in cars, and production not matching the demand quickly, Nano sales have been going down. The management is aggressively marketing Nano by offering a lot of incentives and warranties.

Looking at the new research output which India has given to the world, China invented a similar one - Jiangnan Alto in Aug 2010.

INDIAN CARS - TRULY MADE BY INDIAN CAR COMPANIES - A HUGE HIT OVERSEAS:

Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata are truly most successful indigenous car production companies of India. The new electric car by TATA INDICA called VISTA is a huge hit in Bangkok. It promises 200 km on a single charge and acceleration of 0 to 100 km in 10 seconds. Nano, Vista and Indigo Manza are being exported to Mexico, Brazil. The order is for 100,000 cars. The demand may go up to 300,000. Here's the livemint article.

Mahindra's diesel trucks are going to hit US roads - Made in India, Drive in America. As it is tractors are the largest exported item to US market. The target is to capture at least 5% of US market. If this happens on a full fledged scale, it is a huge phi-lip to Indian auto industry.

Mahindra's jeeps run on ITALY's roads. Click here for the picture.

But, what is the share of India's exports on a global scale?

It is 1%, which is a very small number, but in less than 5 years, the industry expects to go up to 3% and if that happens then the expectations would be beaten and not just met.

Future Outlook:

The future of auto industry is very positive. Just to gauge this statement, look at the following developments happening. The list below is just some. Many more will happen.

Mini Cooper to hit Indian roads soon.
Bridgestone and JK Tyres plan to set up plants to manufacture tyres in Indore and Pune.They plan to produce 10,000 units of passenger tyres per day by 2020.
Harley Davidson sets up a plant in Haryana to manufacture 2 wheelers.
GM begins simultaneous production of petrol and diesel cars in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
101 BMW's sold in a single day in Aurangabad (Maharashtra).
Volkswagen and Toyota are bringing out their own newly designed cars - Made in India - exclusively for Indian roads with a price tag of Rs.6 lakh.
Hyundai is making profits - at least 50% by exporting cars made in India.
US still remains the largest destination for exporting Indian made tractors.
Here's the list of 10 hot cars being launched this year with its features.

Challenges before India's auto growth

It is very important that production of components keeps pace with demand.
Power supply shortages
Infrastructure bottlenecks
More emphasis on R&D and management skills
Customer service skills and more customer friendly measures/discounts.
More emphasis that needs to be given to safety and fuel-efficiency.
It is very important that Indian auto industry starts investing in bringing more hybrid vehicles, vehicles which run on green energy. This is very crucial.

What are the bad effects of such an unprecedented growth?

Because of such an exponential growth, the number of cars on the road have increased leading to traffic mess in cities.
The traffic management is getting more challenging.
More parking spaces and open areas are required which puts a lot of stress on cities and highways.
Safety could be a big issue if the small car manufacturers do not take adequate measures to suit Indian roads where driving is a hell.

THE IMPACT OF CAR PRODUCTION ON THE ECONOMY:

This booming auto industry is changing the economic landscape of India. Aurangabad was a sleeping city in the past decade. Now with BMW setting up plant, Aurangabad is booming. So many malls are being set up, apartments are being built, real estate is heating up, jobs are being created.

Another example is how Kanchipuram has changed. Earlier known for temples and sarees, it is now a huge production base for Hyundai. Read this BBC article that captures the details of this news item where 300,000 cars are produced annually.

Chennai has become DETROIT OF INDIA. Chennai is home to

5 global car majors production facilities.
2 commercial vehicle production facilities.
3 earth moving companies.
tyre major and 100 major auto component manufacturing companies.
1.28 million cars are produced from this city (in the region Tiruvalluvar to Maraimalainagar)
It is home to National Automobile Testing center.

More can be read from this WASHINGTON JOURNAL - A NEW DETROIT RISES IN THE SOUTH.
Another interesting newspaper article is NEW YORK TIMES - MORE CARS COMING FROM INDIA.

According to industry experts, 22 million jobs are created till date because of the growing auto industry. Halol in Gujarat has now become the new industrial hot bed after Nano plant has been set up. Many more companies are targetting the same place to compete with Tata.

Tier-II and Tier-III cities are increasingly being penetrated so that car manufacturers can reach semi-urban and rural areas.

At present 5% of India's GDP comes from auto sector which is significant with respect to industrial contribution which is about 20%.. 17% of Indirect taxes to Govt comes from this industry.

I hope that industry sets new benchmarks in automobile industry and become a major contributor to the Rising India story.

Why have onion prices skyrocketed? Solution?

2011-01-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

Onion is one of the most common vegetables used in every household - be it in a poor, middle class or rich family. For everything onion is used. The rising onion prices brought down the government of Delhi headed by Sushma Swaraj in 1998. Exactly last year around this time, I had written an interesting and a well researched article - Why vegetable prices are soaring? Read this article just to refresh the mind and it would be easy to follow the content below.

This is what the most intelligent political minister (apart from Manmohan Singh whose intelligence is never allowed to come out free and fairly) in the current Government led by Congress who is also a Harvard university graduate gave a statement like this.

"Inflation is high, food inflation is very high... we are not sure whether we have all the tools in hands to control food inflation,"

It is like saying in Hindi - "Saawan jo aag lagaaye use kaun bhujaaye" - i.e If rain which is supposed to extinguish fire itself sets fire, then who is going to extinguish it? If a govt which claims that it is AAM AADMI allows the prices to escalate and then say they have no tools to control, who will help the AAM AADMI? While it is true that there is no single formula to contain inflation, the Govt can do several things to ensure that the prices are in check. Simply raiding on hoarders, cracking down on speculators won't work. How can we convincingly say that the real culprits are being booked for? Several times there is a nexus between the officials and the hoarders and hence it is not effective. Banning exports is a tried and tested idea.

None of these are able to bring down the prices of onion. In the wholesale market, people purchased onions at Rs. 34/- while from the retail at Rs.80/- What a difference. The margin is more than 120%. What is causing this difference? The profit margin can be at max 30% but not 120%. Who is eating away the money? Why are consumers helpless?

If you carefully analyze my earlier posted article on "Why vegetables prices are soaring high?", it would be aptly clear that there is no regulation on how prices can be increased and decreased. Anyone sets arbitrary prices and that penetrates the market ultimately making the consumer suffer. The farmer never gets the right money. The consumer ends up paying entirely jacked up price.

The middle layer which consists of hoarders, speculators, commission agents really capture the market. The commission agents get almost 6% paid in several markets in Delhi. These commission agents bring the wholesaler to suppliers and get the profit. In Bangalore, several truck load of onions were auctioned in the market. Here's an article that explains how onions were auctioned in markets in Bangalore.

When prices dip below, the farmers strike. The middlemen say they are not be blamed. This has distorted the demand supply chain. The govt simply says due to excess rains onions were destroyed in Maharashtra, but couldn't the Govt take enough steps? It simply will not. As long as our system depends on the Govt to deliver, we will fail to see it.

Here's another article proving that hoarders control the prices and consumers are hurt the most.

Here's the chart printed in Times of India newspaper indicating the profit margins made in different cities.

So, what's the solution?

It's high time that government gives a serious thought to contract farming and/or allow FDI in retail. In contract farming there is usually a legal agreement between companies/corporates and the farmers. It works both ways - companies assure good prices and farmers assure regular supply. The classic case is how GUJARAT FARMERS are progressing due to contract farming in cotton. Another classic case is PUNJAB farmers and Pepsico have joined hands and are making farmers rich, spurring rural growth.

If just one or 2 companies enter the market, they can create a monopoly. However, if several companies come into the focus, prices will have to come down for each of them to survive. There is no way for Govt to regulate the prices and assure right prices to farmers through the APMC yards or mandis. These are to protect the farmers, but they are destroying them.

These APMC yards and government godowns are not good enough to store any vegetables or any farm products. Contract farming will ensure that the supplies are stored and processed correctly.

What makes contract farming more productive is that companies will emphasize the need for using efficient water irrigation techniques, better seed inputs, fertilizers and guide the farmers. These ensure that the crops are healthy and fetch high value. The knowledge imparted to farmers is immense that they can give it to the next generation while the market and the consumer benefit the most.

Just think - When BSNL had monopoly over telecom industry, what service and quality did we get? The moment Spice, Vodafone, Airtel and several such companies came into the market, the prices dropped so low that India perhaps has the lowest cellphone tariffs in the world. It is another matter that our broadband hasn't caught up that much. That day is also not far when even this problem will slowly fade away.

There are people who will always complain against capitalization of agriculture. The fact is the existing system is in no way better and is only causing immense distress to the farmer and the consumer. Regulation can be done, but the initiative has to be taken. Convince me as to how the existing system is helping the farmer, forget the AAM AADMI.

Will someone in the govt listen? Definitely, "No". This is because Congress is assured that it will win the next elections when Rahul Gandhi will become the PM. There is an over confidence and complacency set in the minds of the Congress. The opposition BJP must support contract farming as it allows in its own state of Gujarat and Punjab. It should not catch in votes of the people who will vote against contract farming.

The Govt is busy in drafting National Food Security Act. What use will such an act do if we don't plug the loopholes in our transportation and distribution mechanism of food? There is no denying that Congress party built this country, but will it allow to ruin now?

The AAM AADMI wants solutions. The growing Indian market requires urgently these bold steps. It is important to remove the layer of immense profiteering by several hoarders, middlemen and commission agents.

It simply is pinching the pockets of every Indian. The rising prices of onions has made onion items removed from several restaurants both in Bangalore and Mumbai. WATCH THIS VIDEO FOR THIS. They are charging extra if a person orders Onion Dosa, Onion Sambar etc. It looks like everyone has to jump to the Jain diet of not having onions and garlic.

The corruption termite bites India big time

2010-12-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

The corruption termite has bit and continues to bite India big time. This time it is the largest in money post independence - $40 billion. Unfortunately, it is Congress again at the Center of the controversy. In 1980's corruption in Bofors case made Congress lose power. In 1996, P,V. Narasimha Rao corruption cases made Congress lose power. Now, Manmohan Singh stands to lose power. However, a weak BJP is no threat to Congress. As long as journalists like Sheela Bhatt, Vir Sanghvi - all these continue to idolize Congress and claim that is the only party of governance, Congress will be the darling. It is not as if BJP is clean as it claims. The hope Manmohan Singh being the PM which so far lit up the heart of an Indian is today shut off. I am amazed at how Dr. Singh could not act and allowed his government to run like that of Narasimha Rao govt.

First, it was the CWG games scam, then came housing scam - how many more to go - Mr. Singh.? The real India has 2 sides. On one hand, it is growing like never before with 9% growth and all the world turned towards us, and on the other hand the corruption continues to grow and swell too.

The intention of writing this article is to give readers a chance to understand how Manmohan Singh allowed the biggest corruption to take place under him and he did not act at all. His deafening silence is admission of his guilt. PM is not corrupt, but by not acting against the corrupt (despite 3 times notice served to A. Raja), he admits his guilt. Let us study how all it happened in simple terms.

First, prior to A. Raja becoming the Telecom Minister, the policy of First come first serve basis (FCFS) was followed to allot new entrants who wanted to provide cell phone service. Basically, according to FCFS policy, the date of application by the new entrant was the criteria in processing the application. Based on the dates, all the entrants/bidders were auctioned as per the prevailing market price of the spectrum.

However, page 66 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report shows how Raja changed the system of FCFS without the approval of The Cabinet, Telecom Regulatroy Authority of India (TRAI), Finance Ministry and Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee. He used the criteria of agreement to Letter of Intent (LoI) as the criteria instead of the application date. The letter of Intent (LoI) is the letter given by the Telecom ministry as a document of agreement stating that the operator can provide the service after paying the respective fees. Before giving any LoI, the Minister studies the company profile, takes the recommendations of TRAI and Department of Telecommunications (DoT). All these rules were flouted by A. Raja

Let's look back as how events unfolded.

Around June 2007, 575 applications were received who wanted to buy 2G spectrum to provide cell phone service in the booming telecom market in India. At that time the subscriber base had jumped to 350 million from just 4 million in 2001. Although 575 applications were received the spectrum was scarce and only 150 applicants could be alloted the spectrum. However, A Raja chose to play with the system and he decided to allot the spectrum to only those companies which he had prior contacts with. Real estate companies which had no prior telecom experience started applying. The queue was getting formed illegally and Raja now decided to favor some companies over the other. Spice, Idea who were waiting to provide services in Delhi and Maharashtra and applied in 2006 got pushed to the end while SWAN and UNITECH who applied in 2008 got shortlisted. The spectrum was sold to them at 2001 prices instead of the current market price.

When this came to the notice and Raja had still not issued the LoI, The DoT sent a letter on Oct 27, 2007 asking Raja to follow the auction mechanism.

The PM Manmohan Singh also shot a letter on Nov 2, 2007 asking Raja to follow the transparent auctioning mechanism. However, Raja continued to write tricky and clever detailed letter - that following such a mechanism is harmful to telecom sector.

Dec 26, 2007 - The PM acknowledges receiving the letter and did not even send an objectionable letter mainly because DMK pressurized the PM not to act - A brazen act of cowardice. I question Sonia Gandhi as to why and how she could tolerate all this. This is where PM's mistake lies.

Dec 27, 2007 - DoT warns Raja again on issuing LoI to the new companies and asking to stop violating all norms that were in the rule book.

Dec 31, 2007 - Finance Secretary retired and the LoI given by Raja to Finance Ministry to sign did not get approved.

By Jan 10th, 2008 - the new Finance Secretary is brought in and the LoI's signed. This was not brought to the notice of Finance Ministry or even the EGOM headed by Pranab Mukherjee taking everyone by surprise.

How did this decision go through? How could Manmohan never follow up this? Was he under constant pressure from DMK? What about Sonia Gandhi. It can't just happen that she is not aware of these things. How could she turn a blind eye?

Despite giving licenses to 125 companies, only 35 operate till now. The remaining are not even in the market. So, who were these companies who were given spectrum and the spectrum at 2001 prices? Who is accountable for this money which runs to 1.76 lakh crores or $40 BILLION - enough to fund the entire country's defense, road and pro-poor schemes for almost 4 years.

This is how CAG report says: For more, also read this:

The entire process of allocation of UAS (Unified Access Service) licences lacked transparency and was undertaken in an arbitrary, unfair and inequitable manner. The Hon'ble Prime Minister had stressed on the need for a fair and transparent allocation of spectrum, and the ministry of finance had sought for the decision regarding spectrum pricing to be considered by an EGoM. Brushing aside their concerns and advices, DoT , in 2008, proceeded to issue 122 new licences for 2G spectrum at 2001 prices, by flouting every canon of financial propriety, rules and procedures," the 77-page report says.
Source: Times of India - click here

When it so happened that 2 companies SWAN and UNITECH declared that they sold 45% and 60% of their stake to Etislaat and Telenor respectively - the TRAI and the CAG were alarmed to see that without a single customer the spectrum that they purchased was sold to foreign companies. The profit these companies made is the amount that had to be paid to the Govt. Many of the recipients of the spectrum are fictitious companies. Many of them didn't even qualify for bidding.

The Supreme court came down heavily on Mr.Singh and asked him why he did not bother to answer the PIL filed by Subramanyam Swamy and why he acknowledged Raja's letter. CLICK HERE

The PM doesn't want to answer. Can his silence mean his guilt? Clearly, Manmohan has failed. His responsibility to act has failed and his intellect is of no use to either this country or himself. How can the media never blame him for anything? Sonia Gandhi asks ministers to resign and questions BJP that they cannot do the same. If BJP cannot do the same, it is their problem. But as a lady whom the entire media calls the Goddess - a saint - durga maata (I hate such journalists who idolize Sonia. I will understand Indira, but never Sonia. Sonia doesn't even come 1% close to Indira Gandhi's life style), what is she doing to prevent corruption in the country. It is time for you to act Madam, not to accuse BJP. Talk what you would do against these people. Merely, resignations are not going to help. A month ago, she gave a speech (click here) admitting that corruption has reached every sphere of India and she is worried about it. Does she forget that culture of corruption started during the Gandhi family that ruled this country for 50 years? Was it not her husband Rajiv Gandhi who had been involved in Bofors scam and yet no conviction has been made. For 5 years that Congress was in power during Narasimha Rao, what did Congress do? How will the Congress President act against her own party and government?

Power of Indian democracy - Bihar elections

2010-12-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

About 20 years ago (if my memory is not mistaken), there was a Telugu movie - BHARAT BANDH. It was a heart rendering, scary movie of a political turmoil in India where a corrupt, mafia and a ruthless politician resorts to every possible treachery and becomes the PM of India. It is here when he converts the country to a state of anarchy where women could be raped anywhere, people could be killed at will and law and order could be rewritten at will. This movie, according to me, was a depiction of what Bihar was turning into at that time.

Under Lalu's rule, Bihar had become a JUNGLE RAJ. Kidnapping, rape, murder - were so common that when my parents once went to Gaya, the auto driver said he cannot drive after 6 p.m. as he was scared of his life. I could not believe my parents were travelling in their own country, a democracy which they cherish and celebrate every year. Is this a state in my country? Is this the very state from which Chandragupta Maurya established the first Indian empire driving away the Greeks with a powerful army shocking even the mighty Europeans? I, at once, felt this is not India.

Every time during Lalu's raj, booth capturing was common. People's votes were tampered. This is the state Lalu left. This is the state in which people feared life and not death. (The state then saw the largest number of out flux of Biharis to every part of India esp, Delhi and Mumbai).

For more than 15 years, caste played such an important role in Bihar. Politicians exploited this to the core. This time, however, after seeing that a GOVT can deliver, people from all castes, religions voted for JD(U) -BJP combine. In fact, several Muslim constituencies overwhelmingly voted for BJP.

Bihar's 2010 elections whose results came about a week ago proved something else. A leader, a worker emerged - Nitish Kumar. The way Nitish Kumar worked for the past 5 years (2005-2010) is truly an inspiration. Having put 54,000 criminals behind bars, constructed roads, hotels, buildings, bridges, he scripted the largest turn around in growth amongst the poorest states in India. Nitish won 206/243 seats. Congress was crushed, Lalu was decimated. This is the power of Indian democracy. The people vote for the leader who shows something on the ground, who stands firm and who never tolerates corruption. Nitish has given a reality and a hope upon that reality that he will convert Bihar into a developed state. This is not a typical promise every CM makes. He proved to a very big extent he can deliver and then rekindled the hope. Hope he delivers.

I had earlier written an article in Jan this year (click here) showing how Bihar is experiencing a revolution - social and economic. I will not repeat the same here. Bihar today is buzzing with roads, malls, colleges, education institutes, improved law and order. In fact, Delhi has become "rape capital", while Patna has become a safer place for women. 50% reservation for women in panchayats and local bodies is already enacted and is slowly bringing about a revolution in Bihar.

Just read this article to know what the ordinary people in Bihar feel about about ever since law and order has been established.

Bihar's poor girls are now given free bicycle so that they can go to schools. This has decreased the school drop off rate and increased their enrollment.

Nitish, after election, decided to enact RIGHT TO SERVICE BILL which makes it mandatory for state govt officials to give citizen services in a time bound manner. This step is to curb the red tapism and corruption.(Hope, this kicks off and works as expected)

Nitish Kumar writes a blog too....!!! Here's the link.

So, is everything perfect in Bihar? No, social parameters in Bihar are still the lowest. 33% is women's literacy rate - it is the lowest in the country. Bihar has the highest school drop off rate. Agriculture and industrialization hasn't yet taken off. All this can take place only when law and order is placed. Electricity needs is also Bihar's greatest challenge. Mass employment generation is the need of the hour. Corruption still exists. Of course, for a state that has not seen progress for 15 years, it is a long way to go. Unlike several other states - TamilNadu, Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat - Bihar lagged behind for 15 years.

Bihar needs to aggressively follow the dual policy of agricultural growth coupled with industrialization. This is exactly what Modi is doing in Gujarat bringing massive employment opportunities to people.

Some people remarked as to why I am so happy writing about Bihar. My comment to such a remark is this..".I am not a BIHARI, but I am an Indian. Whenever any of the poor states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh develop - the entire country grows with it. These poor states are the reason why India lacks behind. It is these BIMARU states that are holding back India's development. These states have the highest population density and the least governed parameters. Hence, the success of these states is very critical to India's rise."

Rahul Gandhi has a serious thing to do. Inspire an Indian to vote for him. Explain why should one see him as the future PM candidate. I don't see any charm other than age that acts as his biggest strength (apart from the obvious fact that he is a Gandhi). Rahul gave almost 6 speeches, stayed in Dalit's houses, made huge promises. None of his speeches was either inspiring nor had a vision to be happy of. I wonder why media continues to hype him. In fact, I was glad when media reported this question - Is Rahul over rated? Click here to watch the video. Congress just got 4 seats out of all 243 seats it contested (losing 5 seats from the last time)

Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi and in fact Sheila Dikshit stand as better contenders to PM than Rahul Gandhi.

Why is Indian economy so important for Obama?

2010-11-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

From 3 hours when Eisenhower visited India to 3 days of Obama visit, India has come a long way and so is the recognition of India's rise by the sole great power - United States.

If one followed the print or electronic media last week, one would be flooded with emails, videos and articles of Obama's visit to India. On one hand, some have exaggerated to the core saying it was extra-ordinary, wonderful and path breaking while on the other some have said it was too much hype. One of the most interesting facts was that every speech of Obama talked about American jobs. There is nothing unusual about the President talking about his own countrymen amidst the mid-term election defeats back in his country. One of the things he knew was that the slow pace of recovery has made people impatient. If the US cannot pump money into the market to simulate the economy, the easiest way is to export its own goods and get the trade money into the market. This is simple economics that Obama and his 200 member CEO team had in mind and came to India.

Can India be of this great help to the US? Does the world's sole super power need India's help to bring life back into its economy? Is this a reality we live in where Asian countries - India and China have become indispensable not just to the US, but also to the world?

INDIA IS A MILITARY POWER : IT's A REALITY

The answer is "yes". India first showed its military power by a single invasion of East Pakistan in 1971 shocking the world (thanks to Smt. Indira Gandhi) and the second instance when we conducted Pokhran -II (under Vajpayee). The latter incident made the world realize that India cannot be taken easily. It is a matter of great prestige that since then US and Indian armed forces (air force, navy and army) have conducted several joint operations (almost 50 such exercises that has been an excellent training for both) learning from each other. India today has the 4th largest army in the world and is a rising military power (It is another matter that our indigenous defence development is not strong). Last week when Obama came, he signed several billion dollar deals of defence equipment, machinery and fighter planes. The US just from military sales to India made more then 10 billion dollars money. This is beneficial to India as India gets the best technology and the latest weaponry. Our defense forces can't expect more than this. Could any Indian imagine this 10 years ago? No way because despite our poverty, unemployment and corruption plaguing us then and now, we have shown that as a democracy we can grow despite the government. Indians are sharp enough that given a chance they can take over the world. In his visit to India, Obama so categorically said he is removing DRDO, ISRO and other defence organizations from the "restricted entities list". This means that all these establishments can now trade and have technology transfer with the US - something India badly needs. It is an achievement for India.!!!

Once this happens, expect outsourcing even in this field as India will continue to develop on its own and export.

Let us not forget that for India, Russia has been a very reliable source of ammunition while US may be reliable now, but may become unreliable a decade later.

INDIA IS A RISING ECONOMIC POWER: IT's A REALITY:

This might surprise everyone, but the fact is Indian exports to US has exceeded US imports to India. US wants to reverse this. Hence, they came with such a big CEO team to have deals with Indian business counterparts. The following chart shows trade surplus which India has because India's exports to US has exceeded than US imports to us.

Note: Our trade surplus has been rising and is 7 billion dollars because of exports of jewelry, spices, software and garments. Of the total trade with the world, US trade with India is around 2% ,which Obama did mention in his speech in Mumbai. He wants this to increase and it is beneficial for Americans because they tend to get jobs. Look at this - US finalizes deals with SpiceJet, Air India and Jet to buy $28 billion dollars worth of aircraft. In turn, this will create 280,00 jobs in the US.

India withstood the global recession because of in-house demand that continues to drive the economy to 9%. Unlike China, India is growing on the basis of domestic demand and not on exports.

Another startling statistic is that accordingly to FICCI-Maryland Univ study, Indian corporates acquired as many as 372 American firms and created 127 new companies (greenfield) during 2004-09. Of these, 85 companies alone supported 40,000 jobs for the US workforce.

US companies also want to invest in roads and highways - something which India needs as there is an expansion boom going on.

Obama and his economic team believes that trade with India can multiply if India opens up its retail market allowing access to the middle class population, thereby benefiting both India and US. However, opening the retail market to US is a step that needs to be taken with utmost smartness and being cognizant of the huge middle class which controls the retail market. This is a lengthy discussion that is beyond the discussion of this topic.

INDIA and US in CLEAN ENERGY:

India has invested heavily in wind and solar and it requires further research impetus from the US. Hence, Obama announced a joint research center for this and also for nuclear energy and shale gas. In the long term India gets to benefit from this.

INDIANS ARE IMMENSELY CONTRIBUTING TO US ECONOMY: IT's a REALITY

There is no elaboration needed and this is no joke at all. Just to give the numbers. There are currently almost 10,000 Indian American owners of hotels/motels in the U.S., owning over 40 per cent of all hotels in the country and 39 per cent of all guest rooms; the study says they own more than 21,000 hotels with 1.8 million guest rooms and property valued at $129 billion. These Indian-owned facilities employ 578,600 workers.

The U.S. Census Bureau adds that there were 231,000 businesses owned by Indian Americans in 2002, which employed 615,000 workers and had revenues of over $89 billion. (The Census Bureau conducts the survey every five years, and the results of the 2007 survey will be available in a few days). A study led by Vivek Wadhwa for Duke University and the University of California, Berkeley, found that Indian immigrant entrepreneurs had founded more engineering and technology companies during 1995-2005 than immigrants from Britain, China, Japan, and Taiwan combined. Of all immigrant-founded companies, 26 per cent had Indian founders. SOURCE:

THE IMMEDIATE AREA WHERE US and INDIA CAN HAVE A WIN-WIN CASE:

If one is aware, it is a sad reality that 40% of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural produce goes wasted because of improper storage and processing facilities. India has to rely on retail expertise on the American ones to ensure this wastage does not happen by letting the retail market organize itself. The farmers and the end customer both lose here. The farmers don't get the right price, the consumer ends up paying abnormal price and the middlemen gets all the cake. The creation of a healthy supply chain involving farmers is a must. However, what India should resist is the dumping of American goods without strengthening the Indian supply chain. No longer India can depend on the Govt or govt's policies in organizing the retail chain. The US will stand to greatly benefit because the Indian retail market is so immense that any role they plan in making this happen will benefit them monetarily. We have seen how Reliance (in-house) has failed despite opening retail stores simply because they lack management and business practices which the US best follows.

In short, the point is we are at a point where the US and India can not only generate jobs for each other, but also India stands to benefit greater if it allows controlled market access to the US. This way the PM will talk about the role of India in creating the jobs in the US.

India becomes world's 5th largest installed wind power

2010-11-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

Some facts fascinate the growth of India. This is surely one of them. INDIA is the WORLD's 5th largest in terms of installed electricity through wind power. Here is the report from the WORLD WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION OF THE WORLD confirming this. From a mere 4000 MW in 2005, we have now reached 13,000 MW in 2010. China is ahead with 25,000 MW. It is a journey that is taking the world by storm. India is not only producing electricity using wind energy, but also exporting wind turbines and blades to US, Europe, Africa. The components are also Indian made (80%). Now, one understands why Obama keeps talking of green jobs going to India and China.

How many have traveled to Kanyakumari? On the way you will see 100's of wind mill turbines on both sides of the road. I didn't realize the enormous benefit these turbines can give to Indian energy needs back in 2005. Today, I am amazed at the way wind energy is being tapped in the country.

There are about 18 private companies generating wind energy in India viz; Suzlon (5th largest in the world in wind energy generation and is an INDIAN COMPANY), Vestar, Gamesa, Enercon, RRB Energy, Shriram Leitner, Regen Power, a small number of companies in Coimbatore. By 2012-13, we are expected to grow to 18,000 MW. and by 2020 - 65,000 MW. The 11th 5 year plan targets 9000 MW and we have already generated 5035 MW.

Here is the top 10 electricity producers of 2009 (using wind energy). We have increased by 2000 MW in every year since 2005.

This is very interesting because in India the energy need is increasing exponentially as people are coming out of poverty and income levels are rising.

Today, the grid power capacity is 148 Giga Watt (GW) and only 16 GW comes from renewable energy (just more than 10%). However, this is all set to reach 90 GW in the next few years.

2 Classic examples of how this is changing the lives of people in some parts of India where it is heavily generated:

Dhule, Maharashtra:

Dhule has the largest windfarm in Asia. 800 Turbines generate about 1000 MW of Electricity.

Here's New York Times Article showing how an Indian company Suzlon is now going overseas with huge orders to export wind turbines and blades and how it is revolutionizing wind energy generation.

Odanthurai, TamilNadu

Population: 7500 and 9 villages get electricity from wind and there is no power cut (Evert major city faces power cuts, but not these villages), in fact have excess, which they sell to other panchayats or state government. Because of this, the number of houses have gone up from 250 to 1650 and no longer people want to go to cities.

This village has 350kW windmill, solar panels and biomass gasifier which generate enough electricity that they make money by selling it to TamilNadu Electricity Board.

TAMILNADU, MAHARASHTRA and GUJARAT are the top 3 producers of electricity through wind energy in India.

Nowadays, with the set up of so many companies, the latest standards and practices are being used. However, transmission losses are inevitable, but the kind of technology that is being used in the generation is slowly showing its efficiency in this aspect.

Recently, Siemens entered the market and has begun to generate electricity.

On the flip side, the private companies should get incentives when they sell power. The charges they get is lesser than the ones generated from coal and water. Hence, the government has to make this lucrative. The usual problems like land acquisition, getting forest clearances delays in getting these has slowed down the momentum. Here are the some of the incentives government is giving to private companies that generate power from wind energy.

At the national level, wind power development benefits from fiscal and financial incentives, including provision of 80% accelerated depreciation; a ten-year tax holiday; and favorable provisions on wheeling, banking and third party sale. Eighteen out of the twenty-nine Indian states now have in place Renewable Purchase Specification (RPS) with mandatory purchase requirement of green energy of up to 10% and have introduced preferential tariffs for electricity produced from renewable sources

The scene as of now looks very optimistic with every major private company willing to investment in electricity generation as Govt badly needs them to meet the energy requirements.

Unlike solar, wind energy is not uniformly available in India. The west, north west and south India are the best suited while north and east are not.

So, have our electricity problems vanishing? The answer to this is "yes" and "no"....Yes, because the electricity generation is slowly shifting to private players who are more easily meeting the planned targets. No, because the share of coal and water in electricity generation is still close to 90%. This has to increase, but expecting from private players can be much more forthcoming than the government.

The closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games

2010-10-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

Did Delhi meet the expectations? Here's detailed article on how BBC reported. To the people of India, it is great news that, yes, indeed, DELHI WENT BEYOND EXPECTATIONS AND DID A TERRIFIC JOB OF HOSTING IT.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2010/10/did_delhi_live_up_to_expectati.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/matthewpinsent/2010/10/welcome_to_the_village.html

The second article above shows the GAMES VILLAGE WAS EXCELLENT. The athletes to which BBC spoke only praised it and they loved it.

One should not forget that unprecedented security and no outbreak of dengue helped India a lot. Many countries even canceled their trips to India because of these reasons. Media exaggerated several such issues, however, India came out with flying colors as no incident of these kinds ever happened.

This is how AUSTRALIAN HERALD reported - In the end we all were all love with India - they were gracious hosts - but we never fell for the Games' organising committee.

The closing ceremony was not as dazzling as the opening one, but nevertheless it was good. What made India proud was that it came second in the medals tally. It was also India's highest CWG medal tally since 1934.

There was also this complaint that for most sports people did not turn up to cheer the athletes. This was mainly because of the corruption and the way India's image was tarnished. However, as India won more medals, the crowds started coming in.

The Games showcased India's sporting talent. Something unusual to see as cricket is often the most hyped and loved game in India.
I paste below the pictures of the closing ceremony (source: skyscrapercity and google images)

The night India dazzled and the world saw the spectacle

2010-10-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

Everyday, when media continued to expose scandals, corruptions, defects, controversies surrounding the Commonwealth Games (even before it started), common man's embarrassment levels reached its zenith. Even till date this is going on. The whole games event proved 2 points - 1) the way the government works hasn't changed although India and the people are progressing ahead 2) India has great sports talent - 101 medals won is the biggest proof.

There were numerous complaints from the athletes. Some of them include - leaking water pipes, cracks in the walls, flooding issues, plumbing problems etc.

Below are the awesome pictures of the opening ceremony. It was definitely mind blowing. The music, the effect, the aerostat, the performance, acoustics, - all were very perfect and wonderful. India that is rich in its heritage and culture was at its best display. Bala and his team who are famous for Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, Vande Mataram and many such wonderful tracks proved their mettle that night.

I dedicate that night to Bansi Kaul (Show Director), Ana Singh(costume designer for "yoga" and "Rhythm of India" segments, Seerat Narindra ("Tree segment"), Ashima Leela (Swagatham song and costume designer for 1150 children) , Viraf Sarkari (managing 7000 artistes from across India and used modern technology and aerostat to showcase the rich heritage of India), Omung Kumar (who designed the way Gandhi sketch came out showing the FATHER OF NATION).

Rehman song was a show stopper, his JAI HO was very good, but not the theme song of CWG. It was badly executed and I am shocked by Rehman's composition.

This brilliant aerostat costing Rs. 80 crore rose to 20 m in height and converted itself into a giant screen on which images were projected throughout. The colors and images changed based on the theme.

A brilliant fireworks display was one of the star attractions. The fireworks started in a circular fashion and went around the entire stadium and then finally into air.

The giant display of Buddha that came out from the bottom of the stage showed the "Padmasana" pose and the 7 chakras.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW: ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ON THE NIGHT

All forms of Indian dance one after the other - Bharatnatyan, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Kathakali, Odissi, Manipuri and Mohiniattam were performed with great artistes.

It is this wonderful team who gave a real positive feeling at the beginning of the games amidst all the dirty politics that tarnished India's image.

The crappy thing was how Doordarshan was the only one who got broadcast rights. The commentary was totally out of sync with the brilliant performance. This is how the foreign media (Australia and UK) reported the opening ceremony:

Source

Source

Source

An amazing Bandra-Worli Sea link - pictures and update

2010-09-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

It took 10 years to build this engineering marvel - Bandra Worli Sea link. Despite having extremely good workforce and a determined spirit to complete, the bridge took so many years mainly because of the way Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation stopped funding several times to Hindustan Construction Company, which executed this mammoth construction. Design changes were made every now and then. So, this resulted in a delay of 5 years. While China built 7 such links in the past 10 years, we have built one. We do not have to match China this way. Neither do we have scope for 7 sea links nor a need to do it. Mumbai Metro which is going at a fast pace will help a lot in reducing travel time when compared to driving on roads. However, a construction of this nature being completed is truly a news to cherish. It drastically reduces travel time between Bandra and Worli which is clogged like any other city road in India.

This is the only bridge from India to have featured in Discovery channel. Here's the link to the video.

Underestimating the complexity of the bridge is foolish. This was built on Arabian Sea with pillars having to be drilled deep into the ocean rock (15 m) and pillars had to withstand huge wind speeds. I post the pictures of the sea - link in this article.

TOLL: Rs. 50 one way and Rs.75 for both ways. No 2 or 3 wheelers allowed.

Where does this link begin?
On Bandra End: At the intersection of Western Expressway and S.V. Road
On Worli End: Abdul Ghaffar Khan Road (Worli sea face) and Annie Besant Road.

First, let's compare the time taken to cover the two w.r.t existing road and the new link.

	Driving Distance	Driving Time	No of Signals	Speed
Before Sea Link	7.7 km	38 min	23	15 kmph
Using Sea Link	4.7 km	18 min	0	50 kmph

So, there is significant amount of time savings. There is no problem driving on the bridge. No two wheelers/three wheelers allowed. It is tolled. However, the problem comes at the Worli end where the design of the bridge connecting the main road causes traffic jams. It is here that it had to be corrected.

Despite a promised speed of 80 kmph, the speed is reduced to 50 because of high probability of traffic accidents. Not a huge issue though. It has 4 lanes on each side. The total 8 lanes were thrown open in March this year while the 4 lanes were opened on June 29, 2009.

The picture below will give some quick stats about this project.

Let's look at some videos:

Here's the fireworks at the time of opening:

Pics courtesy: google images and skyscrapercity
Whether critics like it or not, the sea-link is a new marvel and wonder for Mumbai and for India.
More about the bridge can be studied here.

In another 10 years I hope we see Worli-Haji Sea Link and Nhawra Sewri Sea Link completed.

Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games Venue Pics and update

2010-08-21T23:34:00.000-07:00

The Common Wealth Games(CWG) 2010 in Delhi has become "Corruption Wealth Generation (CWG)". What else can you expect when Govt does all the construction? It is extremely sad and unfortunate that despite having extremely good private builders and construction companies in India, none of them were used for the Delhi games venues. Just look at how our highways, airports and ports are expanding and modernizing. It is simply because, private builders together with Govt money, are involving a huge pool of manpower and resources and delivering very good projects. We have operational inefficiencies, but structural inefficiencies are unacceptable. It is the structural inefficiencies which these private ones remove. Imagine Delhi Metro being done by the Govt. They would have never done it. Imagine Hyderabad airport done by the Govt. They would have never done that. While it is true that every project in India cannot be good just because a private builder builds it (There are examples like the Bangalore airport itself - all set to expand now!!) - Commonwealth games venues are an exception. Here, it was required that the govt from the beginning plan and execute involving private builders. They would have not only provided vision, but also superior materials and good finishing. It is reported that the main venue - JLN Stadium was done after taking inputs from various people outside India - only God knows how much is this true.

In 2003, we won the bid and construction started in 2007. For 4 years, other than Delhi Metro, no other construction for CWG was even started. The laziness and negligence plagued the authorities. Why blame the State Govt? The Central Govt should have taken a pro-active approach in ensuring these game venues construction go good. I am astonished how Sonia Gandhi allowed this to happen when her husband (Late Rajiv Gandhi) and mother-in-law (Late Indira Gandhi) delivered a fantastic Asian Games in 1982. Why Manmohan Singh kept quiet and never bothered to monitor how these games venues are being constructed? 21 agencies including Delhi Jal Board, Sewage Board, Public Works Department - all worked clashing with each other. They inflated prices. A 4 lakh equipment was charged 10 lakh and the remaining 6 lakh went into the pockets of these officers. The budget ballooned to 35,000 Crores from a few hundreds What a corruption? This scale of corruption....Shame!!! The money was also diverted from Pension schemes, welfare schemes.

The venues - many of them are not complete. A month ago some of the venues didn't have proper restrooms (under construction), some had false ceiling which was worn out, some had flooring which was worn out - obviously if you put in cheap quality, this is what you get. Some debris is still seen outside. The heavy rains that lashed Delhi affected some of the venues. The water just entered some of them. Some caused leakages and seepage. National prestige is at stake. India seems to have missed the point.

It took the Commonwealth Federation President - Mike Fennell, finally, to say that all venues are fine except cleaning needs to be done in the surroundings and games village (where athletes are going to stay) have to be completed on time. If any task is done at the eleventh hour, it is either incomplete or shabbily done.

I present in this blog the pictures of the venues and wherever possible, the pictures of Guangzhou where 2010 Asian Games are going to be held . THe venues are opened 200 days before and we haven't even finished with less than 60 days to go....What a delinquent attitude...!!!

Dhyan Chand Stadium
Venue	Hockey
Capacity	25,000

Bejing's Hockey Stadium

Karni Shooting Range
Venue	Shooting

Shooting range in China:

R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex
Venue	Tennis
Capacity	6000

Here's GUANGZHONG Tennis complex

Siri Forts Complex
Venue	Badminton, Squash
Capacity	10,000

This one is really beautiful. There have been no issues so far.

S.P. Mukherjee Aquatics
Venue	Swimming
Capacity	5000

This one has the maximum problems...

The pic below is that of GUANGZHONG

Talkatora Indoor Stadium
Venue	Boxing
Capacity	3500

Thyagaraja Sports Complex
Venue	Netball
Capacity	6000

FULLY POWERED BY SOLAR ENERGY !!!! Good!!!

Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium
Venue	Cycling, Gymnastics, Wrestling
Highlight	2^nd largest in Asia and largest indoor stadium in India. It is OCTAGONAL in shape
Capacity	Gym(14000), Cycling(4000), Wrestling(6900)

Cycling

The one in China is below:

Gymnastics (very good)

Wrestling Area:

Ludlow Wrestling (outside IG Stadium)

Yamuna Sports Complex
Venue	Table Tennis
Capacity	5,000

Could not get proper pictures and it still is getting finishing touches.

And finally, the main Jawarhalal Nehru Stadium - where the opening and closing ceremonies would be held:

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Venue	Opening, closing ceremonies, Athletes, Lawn bowling, Weightlifting
Highlight	PTFE (Poly-tetra fluore ethylene) membrane roof largest in Asia.
Capacity	78,000

Look at what GUANGZHONG Main Stadium (below) - It will amaze everyone. I really expected the main stadium where crores of rupees were spent would turn out be something like the one below

(Images: Google, skyscrapercity)

The best part of the Games is that Delhi Metro has made travel much easier. It is all set to complete 200 km by the end of August this year. Delhi also got an airport express link and an international airport. Lots of flyovers, bridges are inaugurated. All the Games venues are well connected by Delhi Metro - something really good !!!

Let's hope we do deliver the games in full spirit...Let India win the highest number of medals.

Here are some numbers at a glance

The numbers are taken from the source:click here

Remembering Vajpayee and Indira - The 2 best PM's of the country

2010-08-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

Never before I recollect since I took interest in understanding Indian politics, have I felt the need for a strong leader for a weak nation we have become. Maoism, Kashmir valley uprising, internal security issues - many more are crippling India today like never before. We are growing, we are a rising power, our ports, airports, roads have never witnessed growth like this. This will continue. The youth of the country will increase and so will their expectations. On this 64th Independence year, I remember and salute the 2 heroes who continue to inspire me and make me feel proud to be an INDIAN. It is very true that Sardar Patel is the 3rd leader I take great inspiration from.

There is something that strikes the tallest leaders of Indian politics - Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The two sat opposite each other in the Parliament for decades, but always sat on the same side when it came to India. National decisions taken by the 2 leaders signify the fact that India is a democracy where miracles can happen. The spirit of patriotism rekindles even recollecting the toughness the 2 leaders exhibited in terms of crisis after crisis that plagued their rule. It is often said that crisis comes to those who have the capacity to absorb and shine again. The 2 leaders had it and they shined. Their power is required even today for a desperate India seeking to reach the skies.

Even after 63 years of India's independence - the two leaders who are still wanted in the place of the PM post are Indira Gandhi and Vajpayee. (Source). It is true that both leaders have faults and issues - but who is perfect? Perfection is a mirage, excellence is reality. The 2 leaders excelled and the reality is this.

No one can forget the way Indira Gandhi demonstrated the power of India during 6 instances which stand as a testimony that if a leader is strong, any team/nation can win and never see defeat. Indira Gandhi knew and demonstrated one thing - use force if required to protect the integrity of India.

1) The war with Pakistan in 1971 that created Bangladesh - that blow was so strong to Pakistan that from 1971 - 1989 (18 years) - they never looked back at Kashmir (India).

2) The Green and White Revolution that made India self-sufficient in food and milk production. It also ended the help we were getting from the US. Remember, India was called the BEGGING BOWL till we became self-sufficient in food. India is the largest producer of fruits, vegetables and milk in the world.

3) Pokhran Nuclear test in response to sanctions from US. This test was the stepping stone for India becoming a nuclear power.

4) When she crushed terrorism, separatism, fundamentalism. She crushed the anti-India spirit of the Tamils (who wanted a different country), Punjabis (The khalistan movement which wanted a different country)

5) Nationalization of banks which helped our country survive the 2008 economy downturn.

6) When she gave a green signal to make India a rising power in space - the reason why India was able to launch the cheapest (in terms of cost, not quality) moon mission ever undertaken by any country. The below picture is the first rocket launch by India in 1980.

Who can forget how Vajpayee made India strong economically, socially and globally? Today, we credit a lot to Manmohan Singh. The Indian economy became strong only because of the economic policies of a non-economist Vajpayee. It is true that 1991 - Manmohan initiated, but Vajpayee deepened the reforms. Vajpayee knew and demonstrated one thing - take and implement bold decisions even if it comes at the cost of losing power.

Here are 11 instances which make Vajpayee my favorite hero and role model in politics:

1) The famous speech where Vajpayee decided not to take any monetary support even if his government doesn't survive in a vote of confidence. The result vajpayee lost the Parliament confidence, but came with a thumping majority in 1999.

2) Kargil War which India won and made Pakistan the enemy in the eyes of the world.

3) Within the first 30 days of coming in power (could have rested as 40 years or so he was the Opposition leader), he gave full powers to Abdul Kalam to make India a nuclear power. The result: India became very strong and the entire world was alarmed to see how India could do it by fooling the CIA satellites.

4) Made a strong pitch for strengthening the relations with the US. He was the first PM to make a speech showing the power of India in the White House amidst clappings from everyone.

5) How Vajpayee exposed Pakistan in the world's eyes that US began to accept what India taught and

concluded. No one did a better job than him. He talked about peace and also war at Kargil.

6) In one sitting of Parliament in 1999, he asked his cabinet to clear extremely major policy reforms because of which INDIA GROWTH STORY began - decentralizing Telecom Sector, Creation of Foreign Policy Board that reduced red tapism and allowed entry of FDI that increased to 200 billion $, decentralizing insurance sector and bringing in foreign players, abolishing URBAN LAND CEILING ACT which made land available for all the malls and huge retail surge we see today.

7) Introduced the Golden Quadrilateral Project that not only changed the roadways scene, but also brought in thousands of jobs, innovation and expertise in the highways - a fact which is very important

8) When India's image was enhanced in the world forums - G8, G-20, New York, UK. Vajpayee has the record of the maximum international tours ever made by an Indian PM. Everywhere he went, India was considered serious and a rising power. All the image of a rising power we see today is because of how Vajpayee portrayed the power of India during his tenure.

9) When Vajpayee solved the Sikkim border dispute with China in a manner that stunned the Congress.

10) How can one forget the time when US imposed sanctions harshly on India and within 6 months Vajpayee got it removed with sheer diplomacy. When it comes to foreign policy none beats Vajpayee.

11) When Vajpayee conducted free and fair elections and Kashmir saw democracy coming in their state for the first time. Their love for India began

If these two leaders were in power today - there would have been no Maoism, there would have been no way China could have had a nuclear deal with Pakistan, there would have never been the problem of states fighting on linguistic lines and most importantly Kashmir valley would not be burning.

SWADES movie in real life - An inspiration

2010-07-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

How many movie scripts turn themselves to real stories? It is, however, another fact that several movie scripts are based on real stories or incidents. SWADES - a patriotic movie, was one of the best movies made in Bollywood. The core theme of the story was awakening Indians to do something(or give back) possible for their society - more so who are outside India. It requires great courage to be a character like Mohan Bhargava (played by Shah Rukh Khan) in real life. For some, such a character seemed impossible. Reality, sometimes, is far more different than conclusions drawn by the mind.

So, this blog article brings you the case of Gyanesh Pandey - a Bihari who left for US long ago in search of better prospects and now has returned permanently. His research and knowledge is lighting up villages in Bihar. The parallel between the movie and this case study is the core theme.

Note: Most of the facts presented in this article are taken from a detailed article that appeared in Rediff. The source is this link. Also, this article is not about the technical aspects of the working. Every such mechanism will have its pros and cons. Nothing is perfect. What is sure is that it is changing the lives of thousands of people in villages.

Gyanesh Pandey is an electrical engineer who studied and worked in US for several years. Later 2 other friends - Ratnesh Yadav and Manoj Sinha joined. Manoj studied microprocessors and worked in US. The team researched and concluded through various experiments and developed a low cost model of generating electricity from husk. Husk is a product that goes waste in almost all villages. While Gyanesh is the engineer returned back, Manoj is the MBA graduate taking care of business aspects. The Chief Strategy Officer is Charles Ransler. Manoj and Charles are students of Univ of Virgina - Darden School of Business. The business plan they demonstrated won the most Innovative Award in Texas in 2008. Here is the link of the univ website.

The above picture is that of Charles and Manoj.

The system they engineered does not burn rice husk but heats it up instead. A clean-burning mix of gases is produced that drive an engine. The engine turns a generator that produces electricity. Such gasifiers can be easily made locally.

This is what MIT Engineering Magazine published - Turning Abyss of Darkness into Islands of Light

Here's the company on Facebook

The company they set is HPS - Husk Power Systems. The website is http://www.huskpowersystems.com/

EFFECT:

Even the waste can be used as a manure and the process reduces carbon emissions drastically - almost 200 tonnes.
120 villages in Bihar get 6-12 hours uninterrupted supply of power - 12 hrs is significant from having no electricity at all. The villagers have mobile phones but no electricity to charge and they would walk miles to get them charged for Rs.5-10 before they got electricity.
3 villages in Uttar Pradesh too get power.
50,000 villagers are getting electricity - something they have never dreamt of seeing in their lifetime.
24 hours can be given but there is no such demand for now as villagers are beginning to realize the benefits of electricity.
Gyanesh has become GOD for people -
Future plan is go up to 200 villages by year end and select villages in Maharashtra later. By 2014 to reach 2000 villages across India.
West Champaran, Tumukha and several villages in Bihar are getting electricity - These have been extremely backward regions of India
32 plants set up till date
The Central Govt and Bihar Govt are ready to tie up with the company to generate electricity.

1 PLANT = can generate electricity for upto 5 villages (depending upon number of households - 2000 to 4000)

Each plant = Rs.15 lakh to set up and distribute

Each plant can supply 32 Kilo Watt of Electricity

Funding - done by Universities in US, World Bank = $4 million and $75,000 from Shell Foundation

Efficiency = close to 99%.

Rs. 120 for running a fan and 2 CFL bulbs is charged from people while Rs. 80 is the charge for taking a connection.

(SOURCE)

As Gyanesh himself says (SOURCE) - “The entire village would be asleep by 8:30 – 9:00 pm. But now they stay up much longer. They don’t panic if they forget to carry a torch light. Now they don’t have to pay to charge their cell phone - they can do it at home. Earlier, small businesses would charge the villagers Rs 5 - Rs10 just to charge a cell phone.”

"This is the best experience of my life…Electricity can seed a lot more than just some lumens of light. It can affect each aspect of roti, kapda and makaan (food, clothes and shelter). And the way we do this ensures that every single individual who interacts with us goes feeling a little bit better about things.”

"This is certainly a welcome change in the villages. People can work longer if they wish to at night. Children who used kerosene lamps are able to study better. Women can do the cooking at a convenient time instead of rushing during the day time.Snake bites and burglaries have also decreased. Shopkeepers do business for a longer time. Electricity will also help set up small-scale units in the villages."

As far as his motivation to do this, here is what he says - "But the good thing is I had the drive, a motivating factor from within, to work in India. No one pushed me to do this."

Just imagine if even 10 such innovations can reach Indian villages - what power they can unleash. Progress can be made through simple ideas and these guys have proven it. I salute these heroes...

Further study can be done from the materials below:

Green electricity for Bihar villages

Power from husk

Rice husk lights up villages

Univ Of Virginia - Powering villages through husk wins Business Plan Competition

Bihar to get 200 MW of energy from paddy husk.

Power husk to light up TamilNadu and Bengal villages.

New York Times - Husk to power Indian villages

Read the interview on this site by the guys themselves

Features of the new Delhi Airport - T3 Terminal

2010-07-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

Some people have questioned if it is necessary to have an airport of such a magnitude. The answer is "yes." Just take the fact - 2006-07 and 2007-08 Delhi airport received about 22 million passengers. Here's an article that says since 2006, Delhi is witnessing the highest growth in aviation traffic in the world. Moreover, Delhi in 2008 surpassed even Mumbai, which for decades was the busiest airport in India.

Here's how international media covered it:

Washington Post Article
The Guardian (UK)
Business Week
BBC Article 1
BBC Article 2
CNN

In 2007, when my flight landed in Delhi, I had to depend on a local bus (provided by Delhi airport) to move from international to domestic. Those buses were so dirty, had no lights and had shattered windows. The road itself was so congested and I had to encounter street traffic. The old airport was so dirty, stinking and no proper air conditioning. I even saw the maids carrying old style broom sticks and buckets with phenol to clean the filthy toilets. Not even automatic flushing mechanism was there. My viewpoint is not mine alone. Look at what BBC reports are the issues with the old airport (prior to 2007).

In 2009, the airport was totally transformed. It was so good. The maintenance, cleanliness, service was tremendously improved. The toilets were dramatically changed. I used to always get complaints (from news and print media) that with very few gates international flights were given priority and domestic flights always delayed. What Delhi needed was a spacious airport because Delhi is the capital city and the international passengers would always prefer Delhi as the starting point.

Delhi always had huge land and that is why expansion was possible. There are 3 runways and they are sufficient (not enough as the plan now is to expand T3 to T4 and T5 and build additional runways). Mumbai always had and is having space issues. Hence, the Aviation Minister - Praful Patel was saying to the media, that now the emphasis is on constructing the Navi Mumbai Airport (will complement Mumbai airport). For this, land and designs have been approved. They are waiting for environmental clearances ( this is exactly what Praful was arguing that we need to get the clearance quickly else Mumbai can't handle even one new flight). What Delhi has done is to have a solution before it goes the Mumbai route of overcrowding and clogging.

If airport express link is an unheard construction in India, this massive airport is an unthinkable feat in India post Independence. If you can't believe, look at what BBC covered. The snapshot of the same in Indian media is as below.

Features of the new parking complex (source: Hindustan times):

Parking complex is connected via bridges to reach to and fro from the airport building.
It can house 4300 cars at the same time.
Largest parking complex in India.
Will have automatic ticket dispenser system that charges based on the time used.
Uses Space Availability Display System (SADS) - a new system - first of its kind in India by which the incoming car will be shown where it can be parked (instead of searching around everywhere).
Has 7 floors including the terrace (can be used for parking).
The parking complex features Flight Info Display System to know the schedule of flights.
Has CCTV cameras and Public Address System.
Ground floor is 19263 sq m while other floors are 19155 sq m.

Salient Features of the airport:

Some tasks become trendsetters. This airport is definitely a trendsetter in India. Simply because this was built in 37 months - much ahead of the schedule.
The airport can be reached by a fast, high speed airport express link (covered earlier in my blog)
The airport has a huge parking lot that can house 4300 cars at the same time and is the largest parking complex in India. It has about 5 floors and has a new Parking system which will tell the incoming cars as to where the parking is available so that one does not search the whole parking lot.
The airport has 48 gates, 78 aerobridges (the largest number for any single terminal in the world). The 78 aerobridges are shared amongst the 48 gates.
For the past 2 years, the capacity of passengers in the airport has been around 22 million. The new airport can handle 34 million passengers. Overcrowding has always been a problem in Delhi.
The terminal T3 is not the end. T4 and T5 are going to come by 2020. They will act as extensions of T3. The combined capacity of T3, T4 and T5 would be close to 70 million. Such a growth is not exaggerated, it will be reached if Delhi becomes an aviation hub.
Delhi surely will be soon the aviation hub in addition to the already existing Bejing, Dubai, Singapore airport hubs.
The scale at which this has been done is a testimony to the fact that if private people are involved (reliable ones) they can construct great structures even in a bureaucratic democracy like ours.
This airport would showcase that we are moving towards rapid changes in ports, highways and airports (leave alone intra-city roads).
At least I feel that the airport reflects many facets of Indian lifestyle and culture, although more could be expected in terms of what architecture we have.

Some Issues/concerns (only time can say would these be short-term or persistent):

Of the 96 immigration counters, half would be for arrivals and the other half for departures. When there is a huge crowd, will all counters on either sides be open?
Will the immigration officials be cool, calm and friendly? Or will they be rude, outspoken and unfriendly? Even if airports are made huge, maintained clean, the officials often cast a lasting impression.
Will there be any effective complaint center where passengers can place complaints? Even if there is one, will it be effectively implemented?
Can the airport ensure that all its hi-tech gadgets function properly? Malfunctioning may occur even at the best airports, but the frequency would be very low. Can this be expected from the new airport?
Will the ground transportation be well-organized? At many railway stations in India, pre-paid taxi system works very good - can we expect the same from the new airport?
The Govt plans to introduce a new bill aiming at effective management and maintenance of airports by private stakeholders than Airports Authority of India (AAI). This is required and still we have no clue when this will be implemented.
Last year, the newly opened domestic terminal's roof could not withstand the heavy unexpected downpour of Delhi, which by far, was the highest recorded rainfall in the city. There were leakages. Can this happen in the new one too?
The 100 room transit hotel may be not sufficient if you consider the extreme winters/foggy conditions Delhi faces every year when 100's of passengers are stranded.
Will the CAT-III systems that ensures that flights can take off even when visibility is very low work, there have been enough reports and instances where this equipment has failed several times.
Will the flights take off on time? There has always been the complaint of both Bejing and Delhi with Delhi's 45% flights delayed and Bejing 38%.
Will the giant Shiva statue will be razed so that the effective length of the new runway (largest in Asia) will continue to be used completely.

A majority of passengers have always complained about Delhi airport's impoliteness and sheer rudeness of immigration officials. This per se is not managed by the airport, but by the Govt of India. This is where dramatic improvement needs to come. And a suitable help desk with proper agents and information is another critical area. This is definitely maintained by the airport staff and must be good else the efficiency is lost. Cleanliness, sign boards, maintenance has been fairly better since 2008. This is definitely a training aspect without which no airport in India will improve in quality even if huge airports are constructed.

Pictures of IGI Airport T3

2010-07-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

97 walkalators:

Domestic and International Check in Areas:

Main Canopy Area using Northern Light Concept (abundant natural light)

Huge Retail Area:

Aerobridges, dock stations:

The dock stations have 3 colors representing Indian spices - Red, Green and Yellow.

SINGAPORE: 65 DELHI: 78 Aerobridges:
Has Lounges, Shower rooms, prayer rooms, restaurants, bars, fast food outlets - 20,000 sq m of Commerial Area.

Videos:

Retail Space description video

Pics and videos courtesy: google images, skyscrapercity and youtube

An update on Unique Id Project - AADHAAR

2010-06-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

UNIQUE ID is the greatest, toughest and the most complex test for Indian software industry's expertise and efficiency. If India is the world's software services mecca, Unique Id is its biggest challenge to show its prowess. UID can bring out a social transformation never seen before and if it fails, it will be the biggest disaster in Indian software industry.

There are literally millions of people across India who cannot get a SIM card, cannot get a ration card, cannot get a PAN card, can't open a bank account simply because there is no proof of their identity. On the other end millions of people manage to get fake Driver Licenses, fake Ration cards, fake Electoral ID and even fake PAN. This is a headache not only for govt and government agencies, but also for Election Commission. One of the main reasons corruption thrives is also because of this extremity.

Some STARTLING STATISTICS:

India has

70 million PAN cards
60 million passports
90 million Drivers License
240 million bank account holders
170 million LIC policy holders
150 million Below Poverty Line cards (BPL)

Quick Update:

In my earlier article, Unique Id is it worth it?, I did mention that there are huge challenges in implementation, technology, storage and usage. The project though has gone far ahead from then till now and there is a proper structure with efficient people, and honest officials and have already begun to implement the Unique Id in certain districts and villages.

Very recently, there was a competition which received 2000 entries and finally the logo was unveiled by a farmer and the project was named AADHAAR - which means support.

Tumkur, Mysore, Nalanda (Bihar), some villages in Andhra - the pilot biometric collection has been kicked off. The targets that are set up are 2500 profiles within 20 days and so forth.

Note: I made all tables below based on several articles in paper and news media.

Here's a detailed technical paper as to how and why unique Id's will be generated and how it will include alpha numerals in the numbers

For these, refer to Documents section under http://uid.gov.in/. There are lots of documents, memorandums of understandings, how the process will be executed and so forth.

THE SCOPE AND POTENTIAL OF UID DATA:

While UID will not be mandatory, slowly everyone will mandate the usage forcing everyone to have one. The ENROLLMENT FEE IS Rs. 25. However, the coastal and border region inhabitants will have to mandatorily enroll to know who is an illegal immigrant and who is not. This is very crucial. The non-availability of distinction is one of the main reasons a lot of terrorists escape.

A crucial area where UID is expected to make wonders is the way of identifying extremely poor people (people below poverty line or BPL). Once their biometrics are identified, the systems will be changed to ensure it is only those who get the real welfare benefits like food, subsidized kerosene, employment benefits, etc. Even if UID is able to achieve a 15% change, it will force it to become more than 70% as Govt would want to call itself transparent and garner votes. 42% malnutrition and 75% of Indian children suffer from anemia - data is enough to understand how corruption cuts off the real beneficiaries from Govt's welfare programs.

Another huge scope of this project is bringing banking to people who are outside its gambit. Almost 50% of people don't have any bank account. Even if we reach 100 million through UID, it would have done great wonders to Indian economy and people. Currently, government has mandated all wages, government payments, pensions, compensations, etc to be dispersed only through bank accounts. But with absence of bank accounts, corruption thrives and there is no way to track them. Hence, RBI has tied up with UID so that it can provide banking services to all those whose names enter UID database.

LIC has tied with UID to share its database to ensure the UID can verify the identity as majority of them would not give wrong address on an insurance policy.

Income Tax is planning to issue biometric PAN once UID is in place so that the number of fake PAN will reduce.

Rampant corruption has plagued those places where people work as laborers under Rural Employment Gaurantee Program and the govt has decided to use biometric verification to plug the leaks in wages being sent to people who do not have bank accounts.

What would be the attributes of Unique Id?

If you notice, Unique Id will only act as an identification service. So, it can be used as a web service and interfaced with all other agencies and govt/private organizations to verify people in their respective databases are indeed the right people. So, UID won't store more than this, but is going to be the single point of confirmation/verification for all departments and agencies.

So,what is the enrollment procedure?

The process is explained visually from the document published on the site,

If you notice there is the usage of the word "registrar" which could be any agency/organization which can help in verification. These are (could be more than the list below) listed as below:

The real open ended questions are many. Some of them that struck my mind are as below:

How will UID be generated for people who have no identifiable documents? They will be introduced into the system without proper identification. In some villages the only verification registrar used is panachayat offices and Election Commission records. But will all those records be genuine? If not (so many are full of errors), what is the way the person will be identified other than by generating a number for them?
No one knows how much personal information will be exposed and to whom and how. It can be serious privacy breach. Hence, Nilekani is working towards a draft legislation which has to be passed in Parliament and there is going to be a fierce discussion on this.
Can states misuse the info if they are allowed to manipulate? Who will be given read-only access?
What private agencies can share this data and what rules govern their usage?
Will people remember their 12 digit number?
When the verification step is involved, will it be done against all the registrars or only a few of them? If few are involved, will it be genuine? If all are involved, will it not be an overkill?
One of the listed registrars is Gas agencies. How can gas agencies verify if they don't have any computerized mechanism? Definitely, not all have it.
All other agencies which plan to use UID will have to modify their softwares (if at all they have) to adapt to the data in the format UID will provide. This may be a headache only for banks as only they have computerization to the maximum extent.

Plans of promoting UID Enrollment:

Practical Challenges Seen in the Pilot test in selected villages:
Interesting Case Studies can be read here

Who is providing the biometric gadgets to this project?
An Indian based company 4G Identity Solutions: Website: http://www.4gid.com/
Florida based Crossmatch Technologies. Website: http://www.crossmatch.com/
Source:

Why Left, BJP - both are correct on Nuclear Liability Bill?

2010-06-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Imagine an American nuclear supplier is operating a nuclear plant and there is a leakage and it spreads everywhere killing hundreds of people and paralyzing generations after that. Imagine the radiation bringing infertility to women. Imagine in such situations, these suppliers go scot-free and no compensation is given by them. All that the govt has to do is pay and eventually because of corruption the money never reaches the victims. More so, these companies can't be tried by the court. This is exactly going to happen if PM Manmohan Singh passes this legislation in India. We will be digging our own grave. Manmohan Singh would be creating the 3rd biggest foreign policy mistake ever (The first two done by Nehru regards to Kashmir and China). INDIAN LIFE IS NO CHEAPER THAN AMERICAN ONE !!!!!

India does not have a law that can try any such companies (national or international) in courts in case of an incident like Bhopal Gas tragedy.

The below clause was added and then American nuclear suppliers were upset that they can be subjected to Indian lawsuits and thereby pressurized Manmohan Singh to remove it. This infuriated both the LEFT and the BJP. Their contention was simple. If Bhopal Gas Tragedy doesn't open the eyes of the Govt, what else will?

Section 17(b) allows nuclear operators, who are otherwise strictly and absolutely liable for any nuclear accident, to exercise a ‘right of recourse' against their suppliers if the latter have been grossly negligent in any way. And Section 46 clarifies there will be no derogation from existing Indian laws on criminal and tort liability for any company whose negligence along any part of the nuclear supply chain might be responsible for an accident. Both of these provisions, U.S. nuclear industry sources say, would expose American suppliers to law suits in India.

SOURCE: LINK

2 major objections to the draft which is drafted only to please American companies:

1) Compensation amount:

Nuclear radiation is even deadlier than the Iso Cyanide Gas that killed lakhs of people. For such deadly radiation effects, the liability cap is Rs. 500 Crore, which is peanuts. While the same suppliers liability would be in billions in the US, they want to sell the risk at a low premium. Any charges beyond Rs. 500 Crore up to Rs.2133 Crore will be borne by the Indian Govt - which means taxpayer money used for a fault of an external operator? Such an enormous amount is neither in the capacity of the Govt (unless they use taxpayers money) nor will the money reach the victims ever in the case of an unfortunate incident.

The government is convincing everyone by saying that there is a civil and criminal liability amount which is not capped at Rs.500 Crore but will apply later, if required. This won't happen as the case that would be presented would be that Rs.500 Crore is the settlement amount these companies will give and escape.

The claims period is 10 years. Any claims made beyond this period is invalid. Can't the govt have a clause that one can claim only if sufficient evidence is provided...but no, Govt won't do it.

The LEFT VIEW IS clearly stated in the article

http://www.hindustantimes.com/A-losing-proposition/H1-Article1-541861.aspx

Their view point is absolutely correct. While the US puts a cap of $10-12 billion, why India gets only Rs. 500 Crore?

2) No easy way of putting the companies to court in case of an unfortunate leakage/radiation:

This article (click here) clearly shows that these American suppliers will wash their hands off when gross negligence is caused by them and the Indian Govt will have to bear the liability charges and no way they can be subjected to Indian courts.

BJP's point of view in addition to compensation amount is that while FDI is not allowed for foreign players to enter into India, why not add the clause that only Indian public sector companies operate in India so that private American players have no role to play.

Here's what an expert scientist from Baba Atomic Research Center (BARC) explains why this legislation is full of flaws and can cause immense losses to India.

Another good article to read why BJP and the Left are opposed to the Bill is this (Click)

People should remember that a few days ago there was radiation scrap found in Delhi Univ outskirts and it killed one person and the hospitals and the doctors were not equipped to deal with such a mess.

So, the government should think twice before falling to the trap of the corporates.

To understand more, watch the videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omg8YJmX-AI&feature=channel

BP Oil Spill and Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984

2010-06-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Bhopal Gas Tragedy - INDIA's HIROSHIMA in 1984

Imagine you are sleeping in the night. As you have even begun to sleep, you smell toxic gases and feel suffocated. You end up either vomiting and later die or fall unconscious and eventually die. Imagine you are not alone and 14,999 more people experience the same and becomes a blatant case of a genocide committed by someone who let these gases out. This was what happened on the fateful night of Dec 3, 1984. So many people killed and lakhs of people post the tragedy were affected over the next 5 years. Even today there are so many born with deformities remnant of the tragedy. IT WAS CLEARLY INDIA's HIROSHIMA.

I was just 3 years old and so were many 3 year old who died. Thousands of children of my age died even before they smiled. Even before their innocence was lost, they were lost forever. Death came so suddenly and so cruelly.

If Jallianwallah Bagh massacre was one of the most tragic events in the early 19th century Indian history, this Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the next most tragic event in the latter part of 19th century. It is recorded as the worst industrial disaster, ever.

Even 25 years later the lakes around contain the toxic gas and people still drink it. Partial blindness, paralysis, impaired immune systems all struck lakhs of people in just a few years.

People who committed this crime and people involved in letting the criminals escape - hell is too less a punishment and any sort of mercy to such criminals is a limitless sin.

Just to recap: On the fateful night of Dec 3rd, 1984 - Water was sent in the pipes to clean up Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. Water had to be kept in isolation from this gas called METHYL ISO CYANIDE. The safety norms were not adequate and water reached tank 610, set off a reaction and deadly gas METHYL ISO CYANATE leaked out of vent gas scrubber tower and reached outside killing people instantly (around 15,274 on the spot and more than 5.73 lakh victims maimed). The gas when reached outside was too late for people to respond and evacuate.

Ref: click here

Union Carbide was a plant (factory) set up in Bhopal and was an American company headed by Warren Anderson. His Indian arm was headed by 7 people (all of whom were sentenced to only 2 years of jail and Rs.25,000 fine and eventually got bail within hours of the judgment). There is no case which can be worse than this, to say - JUDICIARY IS A BLOT on the Indian democracy. Such decisions not only reduce faith, but eliminate any hope of justice people have in the country's law.

Within 5 days of the leak, the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh - Arjun Singh's personal aircraft was sent to Warren Anderson and he flew and so far is absconding. He has never returned for a trial. This is the highest level of inhuman tendency and no demon or beast I can recollect can be worse than this. Carnivorous animals kill out of their own natural Karma, while the cruelty of such people (both Warren Anderson and the people who helped him abscond) is born unnaturally out of their own minds just to indicate they are a blot of humanity and human values.

In 1996, the criminal charges(Section 304) that could give sentence of 10 years reduced to a case of negligence (Section 304A) whose punishment could just be 2 years. This was done under pressure from the Ministry of External Affairs led by the Congress Govt in 1996. This act is the highest level of utter negligence by any democratically elected govt towards its own people.

The company was running its operations post 1984 and later bought by Dow Chemicals USA, and Dow now says it is no longer connected with it.

My faith in God has so far not shaken, but events like these shake my faith in God. More so, I ask God - "Why do you wait to take innocent peoples lives so cruelly and let off the cruel people so mercifully. At your doorsteps justice is always delivered, but justice after death makes no sense as the living must see how powerful you are."

DOUBLE STANDARDS OF CORPORATES in USA and INDIAN GOVT:

Today, BP Oil spill is creating an outrage in the US. Every newspaper and everyone including the President has called for strict action and have sued the company. The disaster is enormous. While the US can put pressure on a company causing eco disaster, shouldn't it also consider handing over Anderson at least once for a trial? In a press statement, US says it is satisfied with the judgment on the Bhopal gas tragedy - how can a democratic nation be so merciless at commenting on a judgment involving so many thousands and lakhs? While the settlement amount for Gas tragedy is 473$ million (which is peanuts), the liability amount that US has raised on BP is $10 billion.

While Obama in a press speech said he wants to know whose a** to kick, the Indian govt cannot take such a step because it involves extradition from the world's super power which is near impossible. When India can't get Dawood, it can never get Anderson. It is the weakest response to ever expect from any country. The dubious standards of Indian govt in 1984 or 1989 - the turning points in the case is the worst manifestation of governance of complacency and reminds us of NAZI period of Germany where toxic gases were used to kill the living people.

India neither has the courage nor the adequate laws to handle such cases and nothing more can be done. I expect PM Singh to consider the matter with utmost concern.

Chief Judicial Magistrate who gave the judgment made a correct statement (although the judgment is a mockery of judiciary) - Reference Link

"Bhopal tragedy was caused due to worst of American, Indian cultures" (Court's judgment)

For more of the tragedy, read:

Link1

Link2

An Update on Indian National Highways - Part II

2010-05-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

By no means one can doubt the govt's intent to build highways, upgrade existing ones and new expressways since 1998. Right from 1998 till now, the thrust has only been increasing. Increased private sector participation has created a momentum like never before. Yet there are some serious shortcomings on why we cannot aggressively pursue and proceed like what China is doing. Let's not forget, China too faces the same problem. However, why compare with China? Simply because China and India have some of the same problems w.r.t population density. The fact remains being a communist country, the state can virtually control everything.

CHALLENGES or PROBLEMS and RELEVANT SOLUTIONS: (the order is the most complex first, the last is the least complex one)

1) Chinese problem was that of LAND ACQUISITION which India faces today. As China proceeded in the 1990's, it faced the legal problem of how to take land from farmers for construction of roads. This research paper gives some insightful details of how China aggressively took farmers lands for construction of highways and how several farmers have not been getting adequate compensation and participation in the post-completion of highways. In 1998, China passed compulsory Land Acquisition Act. Some of its features:

BENEFITS FARMERS ARE GOING TO GET IN LIEU OF GIVING UP LAND

Raised compensation level to 6-10 times the annual output value of the acquired land in the preceding 3 years.

Farmers and their kids would get access to public schools and access to public goods at subsidized prices.

Other social welfare schemes such as medical insurance, pension and retirement benefits

THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE FARMERS WHO HAVE GIVEN UP LAND

Farmers don’t get adequate compensation as compensation guidelines are ambiguous.

What constitutes a public purpose is also undefined. Some industrialists acquire land in the name of public interest which is a violation of the law.

There is no clear definition of property rights for the farmers, village organization and land tenure.

The farmers get false promises that they would be trained in the right skills to build either the roads or new industries that may come up. But it doesn’t happen. So, in effect they lose the land, lose their income and are deprived of new skills.

The point below violates the very law of acquisition which promises better living standards for the farmers whose land has been taken

CLICK here to read the article about the same.
Or Read this

It is very clear that in developing economies like India and China planning and construction of roads began after several decades when people settled everywhere. People who understand the above table can easily understand what happens to farmers when their land is acquired at extremely low prices than prevailing in the existing market. So, while the question remains how we acquire land, India has drafted its own LAND ACQUISITION ACT way back in 1984. However, our ACT has some of the same loopholes as China. Unlike in China where land is acquired and there is no easy way out, in India farmers can go for a prolonged litigation and this litigation delays many projects. It is not that farmers do not want to give up land, it is the question of compensation. The market value/sale deed value is intentionally kept low to avoid stamp duty and hence the govt rules of compensation is too low for farmers to give up such huge tracts of land.

Farmers are interested to give up land, but there is no adequate compensation given and that is why they go to courts. Litigations prolong lot of cases. In some cases, the settlement is quick and final. 80% of cases in China too go to courts, but the govt has a way of quicker way of settling disputes unlike India which does not mandate quick resolution. China enacted such a law in 2010 and India should eventually do. CLICK HERE

Rs.8000 to Rs.10,000 CRORE worth of projects get entangled in legal disputes.

Solution: Amend the Act to use a different formula for compensation and speeden up dispute resolution.

2) Lack of Proper Funding model:

Earlier, the govt would give all the money, but as land and material prices went exponentially high, banks and other sources had to be pitched. The govt even moved to VIABILITY GAP FUNDING - wherein 40% of the money Govt would bear to pay throughout the construction period. The remaining money has to be borne by the contractors and they go in for Banks. However, banks don't trust many of the projects and builders. They consider some projects as unviable for funding.

The Govt went in and made 100% FDI in road investment to attract foreign players. Land acquisition delays continue to repel the foreign players from entry. Malaysia, UK, Canada, China and US have been asked to invest.

Solution: Govt has decided to raise money from capital gains tax exemption bonds, external commercial borrowing, infrastructure bonds, term loans and loans from agencies, banks and financial institutions

3) Lack of managerial ability - Simply speaking, this is the biggest mammoth exercise that requires great managerial skills which political system cannot consistently give.

Solution: Ensure that the right candidate can be fixed by the Govt like Mr.Shreedharan of the Delhi Metro.

On THE POSITIVE SIDE:

1) There are so many market players ready to investment. Reliance, L&T, Sadhbav Engineering, Nagarjuna, GMR, IVRCL Tatas, Birlas, Hiranandani's etc that is pitching in crores of rupees.
2) Banks have been asked to lend more money.
3) Lot of policy hurdles have been removed. They are listed below:

Road developers can now sell their equity stake in a project after executing it and no longer have to keep collecting tolls and allow sub contractors to take over

A conflict-of-interest clause said that there should be no more than 5% of cross-holding between rival bidders has been increased to 25%

In order to attract smaller companies, the restriction has been put in place by which a company which doesn’t achieve financial closure in 3 projects involving more than Rs. 3000 Crore each, it can’t bid for more.

Land Acquisition process is expedited by involving different states and almost all states have agreed to it.

(views of Mumbai Pune expressway and Ahmedabad Vadodara expressway part of Golden Quadrilateral)

STATISTICS:

AS OF April 30, 2010 (http://nhai.org/) Highways that connect more than 100 important and major cities including METRO's which are 4/6 laned:

	% completed	Achieved (km)	Target (km)
Golden Quadrilateral	98.97	5786	5846
North South East West Corridor	69.41%	5067	7300

PACE OF COMPLETION PER DAY
SET TARGET	20 km/day
ACHIEVING TARGET	12 km/day

Conclusion: We have scope for almost 40-50000 km that are under various stages of bidding and implementation. Some are yet to be awarded. However, the most important achievement is that almost all major city highways are covered with 4-6 lanes.