The Indian market has matured a lot since the past 20-25 years. Up to 15 years back there were a lot of restrictions on our economy and market. M&M is one example .. another is Bajaj .. there used to be waiting lists of 10+ years .. just to get an already outdated scooter from Bajaj! M&M, Bajaj, Ambassador .. they continued selling age old products to the Indian market because of their monopoly. There simply was no other option. Can you imagine waiting 10 years to get a scooter? I am not exaggerating ..
Then the market opened up .. other companies were now allowed to sell their products in the Indian market. Kinetic came long, so did Maruti. Telecom opened up to private players .. waiting for phone lines reduced .. and slowly became history. Even the old monopolies wisened up .. the competition forced them to become lean and more efficient and come up with better products.
So we would think India would have learnt a lesson here. About how monopolies are restrictive and how the consumer is the one who suffers.
We have been reading about farmer suicides for a long time now. Have you given a thought to why actually they commit suicide? What exactly brings them down so much .. makes them so miserable. Lots of people are dirt poor in our country. So its not plain poverty. Its injustice. Its the pain of knowing that they could have done much better had it not been for the market restrictions. It all boils down to restrictions.
In India theres a law mandated by the APMC - Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee. It mandates that farmers cannot sell directly to the consumers. They can only sell to APMC approved traders. This is nothing short of atrocious. And yet it doesnt stop. Also - in the selling process .. the farmers cannot quote a price for their products. They have to come to the market where APMC traders trade .. and this can be pretty far from their villages .. and then the traders bid for their produce. A farmer can select whichever bid is highest or thinks is most appropriate. If he is not satisfied with any bid - he is ‘free’ to take his produce back to his village. I hope you see that there is plenty of opportunity for exploitation of the farmers here. Theres no competition among the bidders for the farmer’s produce. The traders easily fix prices among themselves and keep them below par. Once the farmers come to the market with their produce .. there is no way they will go back without selling it. Else they end up paying the cost of transporting is both ways .. and still theres no telling when they will sell it next and whether they will be given a fair price.
As long as laws like these are present .. its not difficult to see why the rural folks are not happy with the way things are going. The urban populace is seeing a rapid growth of income .. across classes .. but the rural areas are still shackled down by idiotic laws which should have been scrapped long back. Unless any govt realizes this and acts on it .. theres a remote chance that the urban growth is mirrored in the rural areas.
June 8th, 2007
I haven’t written in a long time. There simply wasn’t much to write about. The endless stream of news-nuggets regarding corruption, the incessant traffic violations one encounters during the daily commute, the rise of the Indian economy, the move back to Pune .. all seemed too .. blasé somehow.
Then there came this. ‘The daughters of Bihar’ tells of the new initiative to bring millions of children to educational institutes, and shows poignant stories from the recently held festival to celebrate the girls who go to school facing tremendous odds. Rediff always seems to come up with very insightful articles and features just when I think it has joined the rest of the crappy media. Its a feature about how theres a big initiative for girl’s education in Bihar. Just having read about how criminals are finding the going hard under Nitish Kumar’s rule in Bihar .. it made me wonder about how much really can be achieved, done or at least tried by the willing when in power. Nitish Kumar had definitely talked a lot about how he wants to change things .. starting from the bottom up. Things like not having separate washrooms in Police stations for people of different castes! It may surprise us, but just think how deeply the lines were drawn and how the castes were kept divided before this.. only to help the political class take advantage of the divide by playing on it.
After seeing the current going ons everywhere, and having witnessed first-hand during the Orrisa cyclone how big the government machinery actually is and despite having so much potential for doing good, how inept, inert and impotent it can be; these two articles were definitely a breath of fresh air. Glad to see the much-maligned Bihar trying to turn a new leaf.
May 29th, 2007
AOL launched its India portal this week - http://www.aol.in - and is hoping to capture a decent market share in India’s high growth online user base. AOL will offer news, music, videos, email - basically the whole hog - in its new portal.
The homepage seems to be distinctly ‘yahoo’ style to me. Its a lot cleaner than the AOL I have used before and looks like they are keen on capturing a decent chunk of the market. The AOL search thingy says its ‘enhanced’ by Google. Yeah right. [Google owns a part of AOL]. If I am not getting anything new - why would I change from Rediff / Yahoo to AOL now?
Even in the US - AOL is popular used because of their isp service. People who don’t know any better continue using the AOL junk browser cluttered with ads that comes default with the service. With the notoriety that AOL has managed to garner for itself, I doubt any sane person would be using the AOL portal had it not been their de-facto homepage as dictated by their internet service. Their IM service is widely popular in the US but even that userbase is being eroded by yahoo and msn these days.
To put it simply - I doubt that AOL has anything distinctly new to offer that will make users here migrate from their current portals.
April 27th, 2007
Life in India has changed a lot. At least for the people I have around me .. they are all in well paid jobs, confident about their future, and enjoying the change as its happening. IT careers are booming, there is tremendous growth; and if you are a quality, hardworking, enterprising employee the possibilities are staggering. However, I have heard a lot of criticism of the younger IT-employed generation regarding their spending habits. Namely that they spend too much, they are trying to mirror western habits of spending more and saving less, they don’t plan for the future.
This sojourn in Pune … much better than the standard 20 days trips .. has given me a wonderful chance to experience and think on all of this. And it has been very intriguing until now. Anywhere, where there is prosperity in a sector .. obviously that money is going to trickle down. The well-paid employees are using their new found purchasing power everywhere. It helps that they are all young and have this excess money to splurge. The migration of the graduates to the IT sector has created a resource crunch in the traditional employment sectors - thus they too are witnessing a growth in salaries. I am not sure how many of them are practicing sound investing policies and how many are running thru their expenses, saving a bit and spending the rest, but I am sure they are not financially irresponsible. All I can say is that they are not as tight on their purse-strings as their parents were.
This growth has created a competition among the nouveau-rich for services. Consequently, they are ready to pay more for these services. Bais [maids] are getting paid better and better. Women are coming in from Bihar and UP to work as maids. Restaurants and catering services are doing insanely great, child-care services are mushrooming everywhere, dabba-wallahs and tiffin providers are doing roaring business. The Cab business has exploded .. all the IT companies require their services .. good drivers are paid well and hail from fringe areas of the city. Anybody in the urban areas who is enterprising and ready to work hard has the potential to provide some useful service which is in demand.
This trickle-down effect is important as it improves the standard of living for a larger section of the population. And do remember ..the much criticized, young generation is largely responsible for this.
April 20th, 2007
After months of Introspection and a lot of change, I am making an attempt at extrospecting again. If thats a word. In the months in between I have changed homes, jobs, continents and a whole lot more. And it has been all good. It isnt like there wasnt enough to write about - what with coming back to India .. that itself can make for months of writing .. the comparison, the critique, the food, the friends, the nouveaue-rich; not to mention the world-cup debacle. But thats all typical writing. Lets ignore all that and make a fresh start.
Not now. From the next post.
Enjoy.
April 18th, 2007
The MP govt’s proposal to introduce Surya-Namaskar [literal translation: Sun Salutations - a sequence of movements in yoga which are supposed to exercise the entire body] as a regular activity in Govt. schools has run against some unexpected resistance from Muslim organizations.
Many Muslim leaders have termed the move anti-Islamic and even said that if the government does not cancel the programme, they will not send their children to schools and colleges on that day because Islam does not permit bowing before anyone except Allah.
Opposition Congress, too, has criticised the state government for the yoga programme. Congress leader Manak Agarwal said, “Children should be studying in educational institutions. There’s no need to learn yoga in schools.”
This has definitely crossed the border of ridiculousness and has entered full-scale stupidity. Yoga is linked more to physical and mental well-being than Hinduism. And Surya-Namaskars are much more yoga than actual salutations to the Sun. If the Muslim bodies and the Congress cannot fathom such things by themselves, my sympathies to anyone who tries to talk sense to them.
It is a matter of shame that the world over Yoga is recognized as a natural and holistic way to relax, keep fit and maintan overall health, but we continue to crib and fight over superficial differences which noone really even cares about. I think it was a good move by the MP govt to try and inculcate a bit of yoga into the school program .. Allah knows our nation as a whole needs to improve our exercise regimen. And teaching it at a young age is definitely a good choice.
I was trying hard to not comment on the sycophancy shown by the Congress in this issue as I know it will irritate me and I hate being irritated. But what the hell .. I’ll just practise some yoga to cool off. So yes .. the Congress seems keen to totally ignore the meat of the issue and concentrate on opposing ANY decision/proposal by the goverment. Same goes for the BJP too actually. The opposition party doesnt really care about the issue. All they care about is that they are in opposition and probably mix up the word as meaning they must oppose each and every word of the ruling party without trying to think about it.
January 13th, 2007
A much awaited flight by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched 4 satellites into orbit today. It carried a satellite of India’s highly successful IRS series - CARTOSAT2, a reentry capsule - SRE, Indonesia’s LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina’s nanosatellite, PEHUENSAT-1.
After a disaster with the INSAT-4CR around 6 months back while launching the communications satellite, I must say ISRO has come back with a bang. [The GSLV will aim to launch the INSAT-4CR later again this year.] The simultaneous launch of 4 satellites is commendable, however much hinges upon the successful reentry of the SRE.
The reentry capsule is critical for ISRO’s ambitions for a manned mission anywhere. India is aiming for an unmanned lunar mission in 2008. The capsule will orbit the Earth for about 2 weeks after which it will be brought back and recovered for reuse. ISRO and India as a whole will be looking forward to a successful recovery of the Space Capsule Recovery Equipment as it will launch India into a very elite club of countries having satellite re-entry technology and is also a step towards having a reusable Satellite Launch Vehicle.
India also hopes to provide an efficient and cost-effective launch facility for other countries. Indonesia’s LAPAN-TUBSAT is an earth observation satellite while the Argentinian nanosatellite PEHUENSAT-1 (built by students in Argentina) will serve the educational, technological and scientific fields. The PSLV’s next launch will set into orbit an Italian satellite which will serve as an Astrophysics lab.
January 10th, 2007
America rules. Last week, the FDA approved a drug for obese dogs. It apparently reduces appetite and fat absorption to produce weight loss. Great. Now you don’t have to walk your dog either. So both the owner and the dog can lie in front of the TV and watch old reruns of Cheers. [I can’t wait to see how many people misuse this and take it themselves.]
This drug - ‘Slentrol’ - is a whole new breakthrough in pet relations all together. Now your old fat dog will thank you for being so considerate. A hundered cable channels to choose from, is able to be with owner constantly AND still can finish off the leftover gravy and biscuits from yesterday’s dinner! And to top it off none of that romp-in-the-park business any more! No running around sniffing strange odors, no chasing squirrels and no more meeting foreign dogs! Stuckups!!
Congratulations America, our dogs are now finally able to experience true American life.
Of course, sideeffects include vomiting, loose stools, diarrhea, lethargy and loss of appetite.
January 8th, 2007
[A brief Interlude]: I know interludes are supposed to be in between, but I am sure we can overlook that minor detail. I am writing after so long I actually had to search for what to click on in order to get the page on which I can write new posts. I thought it was pretty funny.
So the Taj Hotels people are coming up with their second hotel in the States! Being a fan of almost all things TATA, the Taj Hotels are no exception. I think they are a fine hotel chain with ambition and the capacity to become well recognized globally. I have documented having a lot of fun at the Taj Holiday Village, Goa. A couple of years back the Tatas warmed the depths of my cold heart by leasing and agreeing to manage the Pierre in New York .. a landmark hotel if there was one. Today I read that Indian Hotels, which operates the Taj group has agreed to buy the Boston Ritz Carlton. And .. the hotel will be renamed to be the Taj Boston.
Over the years, the TATAs have matured into a classy conglomerate with truly global ambitions. Tata Tea, Tata Steel have also been in the news recently for their other acquisitions. The Tata Motors stock has been doing well on the NYSE and I have kicked myself several times for not buying it when I wanted to and holding off. Overall, I would say the Tatas continue to show grit and ambition and are poised to achieve greater status as India’s premier group of industries. Wah Taj!
November 10th, 2006
I am taking an evening class this Fall in a college nearby. Heres all I wrote in the 2 hours today..
Here I sit - in a class, trying to control my hunger.
I plan, I try, I ignore in vain; my plans lay asunder.
The profs a talkin, the clocks a clockin .. right in front of me.
I fidget I stretch I scream I stare and remind myself of the fee
I’ve paid for this, so many things I miss; I should really concentrate.
My minds a twist, I need to piss; shouldn’t have had that distillate.
Distractions aplenty - lure me everywhere; I have no will power.
Stomachs rumbling, pretty girls smiling; my gaze for a moment does hover.
Pay attention! Learn accounting! And stop with the goddam verse!
Class is over, gotta go now; I care not if the last line doesn’t rhyme.
September 7th, 2006
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