To get back on track

It has been close to 1111 days since I last blogged. The plan is to get back to regular blogging, just for my own sake. Hence this post. This blog would have lost all its regular readers, if there were any! So I will start blogging again. Don't know when :)

Scams in India....It Never Ends

Today's morning news broke the arrival of new scam – food scam in UP and Land allotment irregularities in Tamilnadu. The news reader referred to the UP Food Scam as “Mother of all Scams”. I am not sure whether the news reader recollects that the same term was used for 2G Spectrum allotment irregularities about a week ago in the same news channel.

Two weeks ago, there was 2G, before that Commonwealth and Adarsh. In about 10 secs, I was able to note down the following scams; Satyam Computer Services Fraud; Justice Dinakaran – land grabbing case; Mining Scam – Jharkand; Mining Scam – Bellary; IPL ; Karnataka Land Allotment; Adarsh ; Commonwealth Games; 2G Spectrum Scam; Food Scam in UP; Land Allotment Scam in TN….It Never Ends.

Gone are the days when a person involved in corruption was looked down upon. Instead of social stigma, there is a wide spread social acceptance.

After seeing these scams, I myself realize as to how we are used to ‘palm greasing’ even for basic things – Gas connection, Drivers License, and many more things for which we have the Right to access and demand, still we need to go the extra 'penny' to get things done.

Transparency International, the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption, ranks India at 87th position in Corruption Perception Index with 3.3 points.

The case of despair becomes even stark when the ex-boss of an anti-graft commission, Pratyush Sinha, threw his hands up in despair, saying his job was thankless and lamenting that increasingly materialistic Indians were becoming “utterly corrupt”.

Global Financial Integrity, an American think-tank, in a report suggested

From 1948 through 2008 India lost a total of $213 billion in illicit financial flows (or illegal capital flight). These illicit financial flows were generally the product of: corruption, bribery and kickbacks, criminal activities, and efforts to shelter wealth from a country's tax authorities.

Two points that need attention in the report are related to growth of economy and income distribution.

In the post-reform period of 1991-2008, deregulation and trade liberalization accelerated the outflow of illicit money from the Indian economy. Opportunities for trade mispricing grew and expansion of the global shadow financial system—particularly island tax havens—accommodated the increased outflow of India's illicit capital flight.

There is a statistical correlation between larger volumes of illicit flows and deteriorating income distribution.

There is a lot of simmering in the public on this raging issue of scams. These scams could plague the nation’s development. There are some NGOs formed to fight for anti-corruption. I for one believe, it is not for an NGO or any group to stop corruption (I am not demeaning the work done by them).

It is for the people to take collective responsibility. Most importantly, offenders should get punishment and this will bring in a sense of social correction. Judiciary and other Government agencies should bite and not merely bark.

“Right to Know” Vs “Right to Privacy”

There is enough written, discussed and debated on the Wikileaks in every possible forum. I am no pundit to comment on the implications no more than what is already been done to death. But the development over the last couple of days on handling the leaks is something that requires attention.

Everyone is gunning for Assange’s head, typical reaction we see from our politicians and bureaucrats, to bring an end to this leak menace. Servers were traced and shunted out, Interpol notices were issued against the Wikileak founder; so in essence, there is a massive hunt for human and physical infrastructure that helped created these leaks. Is shutting down the servers or finding Assange going to solve the problem? What if Assange is murdered tomorrow? Is anything going to change? I have my sincere doubts.

I think it is a classic case of missing woods for the trees.

The fundamental is – Wikileak has shown that technology exist to allow individuals to leak data while maintaining anonymity. With or without Assange, this model can survive. Assange has planted an idea – to enable anonymous leaking and make information public.

Technology made it easier for the Government and their agencies to snoop around the lives of individuals; the reverse is what we are seeing now. Individuals, alone or working together are snooping around the offices of the government. So, going forward government’s functioning should take into account the “secret-keeping” strategy as part of its functioning. From now on, this is going to be the situation that the government has to live-with.

Basic question is – Can such leaks be prevented? Yes. Those with the permission to access the sensitive materials refuse to divulge any information, this can be prevented. But this is highly unlikely. As long as individuals have their own moral and social sense – these leaks and scandals will continue.

To cap such leaks, the Government might lay severe restrictions on the flow of information and restrict few people to the sensitive data and information. This will constrain the information sharing between different governments agencies for the fear of leaks. This can hamper the normal functioning of the government.

There is always going to be a dilemma when "right to know" starts interfering with the “right to privacy”. For instance, medical records or transcripts of individuals are under the ambit of “right to privacy”. What if an individual is having some ailments is also the ‘Head of State’? Should this information get reported? That is where the challenge comes as to how are we going to interpret the data and information.If we have to stop any such leaks, our debate should be centered around things that determine leaks and not on the leaks.

Is Google taking on Wikipedia?

Google unveils its new online tool, Google Knol, defining it as "Unit of Knowledge". This tool helps people to share their knowledge. Currently, the tool is under development and only selected few are allowed to use it.

Are Diesel Vehicles facing a Ban in the Capital?

....If one goes goes by the statement made by Delhi Environment secretary J K Dadoo at roundtable of the automotive industry and civil society,

"We will come down with a strong hand and ban registration of diesel
vehicles in Delhi if everything else fails,"

My View:

• The sale of Diesel vehicles are surging at the rate of 40-50% in Indian market. With many auto makers lined up for India launch, this move could well be a bomb-shell for their future plans.
• Ofcourse the level of pollution is increasing at an alarming rate, which has to be met with stringent emission norms, but banning the diesel vehicles, even private vehicles is altogether a different proposition.
• It is a known fact that public transport buses and some heavy vehicles run on polluted or rather suspect quality of diesel and coupled with poor maintenance is one of the main reason for increase in air pollution. Whereas, the private cars are maintained properly and thus using the same yard stick for all the categories of diesel vehicles is a mypoic view of policy making.
• Nobody can stop a Delhi resident from buying and registering the car outside Delhi and bring it to Delhi

Stringent norms and tougher implementation are the requirement of the day and not a ban.

Counter View:

• Diesel is one of the most highly subsidised fuel next to LPG, and all those subsidies can be put into better use than using it to polluting the city.
• Let diesel be only as fuel for tractors and other agriculture machineries/equipments, rather as fuel for high-end private cars

BJPs Timing

On the eve of 1st Phase of Gujarat Polls, BJP announced Mr. L.K.Advani as its Prime Ministerial candidate for the forthcoming National Elections.

One cannot but help wonder about the timing of the announcement.

- It could be a signal that BJP wanted to give to the people of Gujarat, considering that it might create any last minute vote-swing in its favor.

Or,

- Is it a message to Narendra Modi & Co, that whatever happens in Gujarat Election, his claim in National Politics is still far away!

Otherwise, why was a person with dwindling support from RSS after his remarks on Jinnah was given a chance to claim the throne???

Salute Dada

I was one of them who had also thought that the days of Bengal Tiger in Internation Cricket is over. But after his performance in the last 6 months, he deserves an apology....

I take a bow and Salute Dada, wishing him a great days ahead.

Chinese Premier Breaks all Walls...

"Only an open and inclusive nation can become strong and prosperous, while a nation that shuts its door to the world is bound to fall behind."

"China's opening up policy is a long-term one. Opening up has brought great benefits to more than one billion Chinese. It is the right policy for China and has the support of the people, and it will therefore not change. To deviate from this policy will only impede China's development and we will lose popular support. This is the fundamental reason why China will stay on the track of opening up."

These were part of the speech that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expounded on china's open door policy in a speech during a gala dinner held in honor of him by Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Singapore.

What was more interesting about this speech was, the Premier admitting the days of bamboo curtain and subsequent regressive years, before a foreign audience!!

Focus Energy

Not less than a week ago, after i had commented on $100 plus Oil Prices and the change in market dynamics, on Dec 7th, US government has amended Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, which was first enacted in 1975 to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks.

As i had mentioned, the bill seeks to improve the operational efficiency of the current fuel usage and also has lots of provisions to increase renewable fuels. Other countries should also take a cue and enact similar Energy policies with distinctive national requirements.

Some of the highlights of the Energy Bill are:

- Provisions to accelerate the electrification of transportation

- 40% increase in fuel economy requirement by 2020

- Increase the renewable fuel standard to 36 billion gallons per year by 2022

- elimination of about $13 billion in tax subsidies for big energy companies

Resource: H.R.6: Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by House)

Will have to wait and watch as to how the automobile manufacturer's and green house lobby react to the bill.

Ticket Booking Experience in Hyderabad

Getting bored over the weekends, with nothing do to, decided to watch some movie just to while away...Watched the trailer of Khoya Khoya Chand and felt it would be a decent watch.

Watched Khoya Khoya Chand at Sensations - Insomnia, Hyderabad. The movie was tasteless but what was interesting was the ticket booking experience at Sensations.

While standing at the counter to book tickets, i was asked to bend a little. I was wondering why? Then he flashed a camera and took my photo and the electronically generated tickets had my photograph and a barcode imprinted on it. It took me a few seconds to realise what was happening.

My surprise did not end here...

At the Screen entrance, there was a person sitting with a Computer and a Barcode reader. On flashing our tickets, the tickets were read using barcoding machine, photograph was verified with the person carrying the tickets and then marked Confirmed in the system. Automatically, those seats were marked red in the seating chart on the screen. Phew!!! It was too much...

Even Prasads and PVRs, some of the most popular Cineplexes in Hyderabad do not have such process in place for ticket booking. This was truly amazing.

With such a ticket booking system in place, the Thetre ensures the following:

1) Prevent Black Market tickets

2) Security and Safety for movie goers

3) No need to safegaurd the ticket counterfoils, for you dont know who will come and claim our seats!

4) Thus ensuring the correctness in ticket booking, thus making the movie watching hassle free

Next attraction in these theatres were the cost of tickets. For Rs. 60, we got balcony seats which was quite unusual for a person like me coming from Chennai where we are forced to shell out a minimum of 100 bucks to get a decent seat in the hall. Also the facilities were decent.

Overall, it is a good concept worth emulating across all Cinema Halls in the Country.

Khoya Khoya Chand

Set in the '60s film industry, Khoya Khoya Chand is a story of a leading actress Nikhat (Soha Ali Khan), superstar Prem (Rajat Kappor) and a struggling director Zaffer (Shiney Ahuja). Do i need to elaborate on the story anymore? A perfect traingle plot, that stresses more on castings, costumes, sets and their like than storytelling.

Plot, where friends become foes and foes become friends without a problem. The film potrays the not-so-perfect relationships, not-so-popular bollywood theme. Though at some point, it was become more tough to digest the kind of romance potrayed. I wonder whats so special about selecting the '60s as background for the movie.....when the theme had all the relevance to the current crop of bollywood movies.

If Sudhir Mishra has attempted to engross the audience with an emotional romantic movie set in a Bollywood backgroud, then i must say he has failed miserably.

After leaving the movie hall, you dont want to remember anything about the movie...except the hummable titile song.

After all this, if i had to tell the truth, the movie was unwatchable!!!

Life of Pi

I always carry with me at least couple of books whereever i go, whether or not I read them. One such book that has been with me for more than 6 weeks was 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel and i could mange only 20 pages during that time. My relocation to Bangalore brought salvation for the book.

On reading the following outline...

"The story of Pi, an unusual boy brought up on a zoo in India. Pi's father decides to move the family to Canada, but when the ship taking them across the Pacific sinks Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orang-utan, a zebra with a broken leg and a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker. Somehow he must survive."

was drawn into it and immediately bought the book without any hesitation.

This was one of the book that shall give you an indication of how strong is human survival instinct during the most adverse times.

The narration is too simple and realistic from the mind of a 16 year old boy. The narration was wrapped with very fine sense of humor, which made it a good reading. Though at somepoint the narration was dragging (not boring!), which made me flip through few pages, still made a good read.

This book had won Booker Prize and defintely not the one to be missed.

Where is Dollar heading...

spine-chilling views from Standard Chartered for Indian Exporters!

Some Positives from Rising Oil Prices...

There is lot of concern on the rise in oil prices, and its impact on global economy. There are plethora of views on Oil Price contribution to slowing down of US juggernaut.

However, i see a change in market dynamics of operation of conventional enery producers coupled with the prominence of green-power sources.

- Higher oil prices can be a good motivator for enterprises to improve their Operational Efficiency

- For years, alternative source source of energy (wind, solar, etc) championed by the people worried about global-warming, has been side-lined until recently because they were too costly to compete. But the soaring oil prices can change the market dynamics.

- These renewable energy can't offer overnight relief to the skyrocketing oil prices, because viable green alternatives are not easy to find. Hydrogen powered cars are not expected to hit the market soon. This will draw the world's attention to the need to diversify energy portfolio and raises people's awareness of the cost of energy and where energy comes from.

Lets understand and operate in an inflationary economy of $100 -plus barrels of oil than worry about its crippling effects on Economy.

After a Long hiatus..

...attempting a new innings....

I keep telling myself that i should start blogging..it has been a real long hiatus. inspite of goading myself to start blogging, i had failed miserably.I hope to post somethin regularly.......keeping fingers crossed

Exactly a week ago, in Bulls Ring, Wanderers, South Africa, the fifth and the deciding ODI between Australia and South Africa ended up becoming more than just a decider for the series. It went down as one of the best ODI in Cricketing history. Setting an himalayan target of 434 for South Africa, and then SA romping home was one of the most spectacular thing to watch.

But today, there was another ODI happening thousand miles away from Bull Ring, in the sub-continent between Srilanka and Pakistan. Pakistan restricted Srilanka to 130 and set themselves an easy target. But it became a very closely contested contest and eventually Pakistan won by 4 wickets.

Two different versions of ODI, one entertaining every moment and the other deathly boring. Why is there such variations in preparing the tracks? Should the Cricket Governing body enforce certain code of conduct for the ground conditions in the future???

The Unthinkable

Batting Maestro,Sachin Tendulkar, playing his 132 test match against England today at Wankhade stadium, Mumbai his home became the most test capped player to represent India.

He walked on to the crease when India crawling with the loss of its openers needed all his batting skills to rescue India. But he flirted with disaster when he nicked Anderson to wicketkeeper after making one run.

Disappointment written large all over his face, eyes downcast walked backed to the dressing room after yet another failure at the middle. Then happened the unthinkable, he was booed by fans on his home ground.

Thought the man who has been treated as God for Indian cricket has nothing special to offer, but it would certainly be remembered by Tendulkar but for wrong reasons......

I was really shocked by the treatment meeted out to him:-(

Chi-doku - Only Bubbly...no Bounty

Chidhu, our Finance Minister, P.Chidambaram was prompt for his Date! On February 28, 2006 he presented the General Budget (Chi-doku) for the financial year 2006-07 in Lok Sabha.

The man, who made a dream budget in 1997, made his fifth budget as a “No Big Bang” budget. The philosophy seems to “Don’t touch anything when the economy is doing well”. With a bit of tweak here, twist there he has managed to do the same. Alas, he managed to keep the index firm on its rising trend. Sensex closed nearly 36 points high at the end of the day.

The primary focus of the budget was on social and infrastructure sectors. The service sector was given a bit of facial and the personal tax was left untouched.

Massive investments are proposed to develop 1000km Express highways. Also, there was assurance that by June 2006, 96% of the Golden Quadrilateral project will be completed. In the power sector, Chidhu has proposed to generate few more thousand watts. For the other two important cogs of the Power sector wheel, transmission and distribution, he has made the Prime Minister at the helm of affairs to establish an Empowered committee of Chief Ministers and Power ministers. He has also said that more than 50 million rural connections will be rolled out in three years time. These are some of the highlights of the budget on the Infrastructure front.

Allocation of funds to Primary education and health care is a welcome aspect of this budget. In the outlay for education, most of the money is channeled for Primary education. I felt more funds should have been allocated for higher studies and R&D.

The index rose steadily till the announcement of hike of 25% in Security Transaction Tax (STT) was made. There was a momentary panic in the market and it lost close to 70 points in the rally till the next announcement. Nobody will complain when they are asked to pay tax when they made gains. On the contrary when the investor is asked to pay tax for the loses he has made, it’s sure to raise enough eye brows on the market. FM then followed with an assurance to the foreign investors by increasing their investment limit in the Capital markets and setting up of an investor protection fund, which is a step in the right direction to bolster the confidence of the retail investors. But the disbursion mechanism needs to be worked out correctly. After this the Sensex downfall was arrested and became firm.

There was a no change to the personal tax framework. I was expecting the limit to be raised from 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh. But the real good news was there were no new taxes that were imposed. I would not have been surprised, if he had levied few percentage points cess for Petroleum, just kidding! So the only good news for poor souls like us, there are couple of avenue for investment, in the form of Fixed deposits in Scheduled banks, with a rider that the minimum lock-in period of five years. The ceiling for investment in Pension funds has been increased from Rs.10, 000 to Rs.1 lakh.

“Charity needs face”, seems to be message from FM. Any anonymous donations made to the social organizations will not be recognised for tax purposes. So, be proud and show your face to the world and let them know about your generosity.

FM has decided to issue PAN Suo moto and hence direct person to apply for PAN on a case-by-case basis. In the fine print, it has been mentioned that the next list of transactions for which quoting will be made mandatory will be announced shortly. What skeleton does that cupboard hold? Let us wait and watch.

This article will not be completed without the mention of Service tax. It has been increased to 12% from 10%. For a common man like me, what interests in the budget is how much more will I get (cash inflow) and how much should I spend (cash outflow). He has made Shoes, Umbrella, Packaged foods, Pastha cheaper and making it affordable. But after consuming all these when I ask for my bill, I will be charged 2% more than the normal. This means there is an offset for the price reduction.

FM wants the GST to converge. Already the equilibrium level is at 14%. So we can expect further increase of service tax. What we have seen is just the beginning.

After reading the transcript, it looks like Chidhu has forgotten the word “Disinvestment”. Only two companies are under consideration for privatization. Also the target is set at a modest Rs.3500 cr. After rubbing cold shoulders with Left on many occasion, probably he thought this is not the best of times.

It is very evident that, FM has made some conscious decisions to make this an “aam-aadmi” budget.

I wish.......

I wish i had an idea like this. Damn cool stuff.

I know it need brains!

Bangalore - The Brand

Bangalore - The Brand
In the last few years, the golden goose of Bangalore, IT companies started complaning about Infrastructure issues in the city. At one stage, some of them even mentioned about the possibilty of moving out of the state while evaluating their future expansion plans. With the present Government taking little effort to address the issue, there is a growing concern that they might actually be forced to divert their attention away from Bangalore. But, so far nothing of such magnitude has happened. But the recent turnuot of events might send some jitters. First, it was the IISc attack. City's transition from an IT destination....to Soft target for terrorism was a jarring jab in the ribs for many. Second is the actions of the ambitious Gowda family that could well be the killer blow to the City.
Sorry for raising the topic 'India-China' again, but i have no other option. We all have been told that China is fast emerging as a super power. And there are so many reasons attributed to their success story. The only reason i attribute is "Policy stabilty". This is one of the key issue or a pre-requiste for any business to thrive. Nobody wants to wake up to new policy everyday. This is a nightmare, if you are a busniessman. In such situation you are better off doing nothing!
What we lack in India is "Policy stabily", which stems from political instabilty. Every party that comes to power have their own idealogy that is diagonal to one another. This kind of situation leaves a confusion in the minds of entrepreneurs and they look out for different place. With the recent politcal actions, Bangalore might have to face such situation. All those development work that were eventually done by the present government will get halted. All those contracts will be re-tendered and new contracts will be signed. Because the new government does not want to lose out this oppurtunity.
The city's growth has been fuelled by the IT companies for years and if archaic policies of Gowda family were persued relentlessly, then the Golden goose will take its wings to another city.