By putting up Pratibha Congress has betrayed India

By M.V. Kamath

It does not matter whether, in the end, Pratibha Patil wins or loses. In her choice the nation has already lost. The general belief is that she will win because of the cumulative vote of 5,97,645 votes that she is expected to get. The point is made that even if Vice President were to mop up every other vote, it would only add up to 4,98,826 or about a lakh votes less than what Pratibha Patil is expected to get—unless, of course, there is large-scale cross-voting. Such an eventuality cannot be dismissed out of hand, politics being politics.

Dr. A.P.J.Kalam now is out of the race, which is just as well. Sonia Gandhi has seen to it that he will not get a second chance. For one thing, the point is made that traditionally an elected President will not get a second-term. But considering that it was Dr Kalam who had raised the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s ineligibility to the Prime Ministership because of her alien past, it would have been a miracle if the Congress president stood by him at this crucial hour.

It is clear that the Congress had originally no women in mind for the post of such high honour as the presidentship; to claim that it had, would be sheer hypocrisy….. if not downright lie. Pratibha Patil’s name emerged only after five Congress leaders—all men—were first considered and then, under Leftist pressure, rejected to their utter embarrassment and eternal shame.

Think of them, all well-known figures, each distinguished in his own way, men like Pranab Mukherjee, Karan Singh, Shivraj Patil, Arjun Singh and Sushil Kumar Shinde. All of them were humiliated. For the Congress, therefore, to claim that it was their idea to have a woman President is pure humbug and large-scale cheating of the public. It will fool nobody.

Till she was nominated, Pratibha Patil was almost totally unknown outside her native Jalgaon. When her name was announced, the usual reaction was: “Pratibha who?”. What comes as a shock is to learn that she had stuck to her maiden name: Patil. What that signifies is anybody’s guess. Is it a form of extreme feminism currently in favour among young married women to retain their individuality? Is it an assertion of one’s identity, not to be diluted through marriage? Is it a way of showing that she is essentially a Maharashtrian and refuses to accept a Rajasthani identity though the surname ‘Patil’ is by no means confined to geographic Maharashtra? No explanation is available. It certainly is an affront to tradition. But even as a true-blue Maharashtrian, what has been her contribution to Maharashtra?

As Shobha De, the columnist, relevantly notes: “Pratibha has no known track record of having done anything of consequence for women in all these decades of being in public life. Even as the Governor of Rajasthan (a state that has to be visited to believe how repressed its women are in this day and age) Pratibha has not covered herself with special glory in this sensitive area. So I fail to understand why she is being thrust on us as a Joan of Arc slaying demons that stand in the path of women’s progress. This is simply not the case.”

De, incidentally, is a Maharashtrian, Shiv Sena kindly note. So is Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in chief of CNN-IBN and a columnist besides who wants to know who is bothered, that in her selection was also the humiliation of another son of the (Maharashtrian) soil, Shivraj Patil. “Smt Patil”, writes Sardesai, “has revealed no glimmer of threatening talent, no unsettling flamboyance, no unnecessary excellence or extraordinary charisma that her supporters and patrons might undoubtedly have hated or seen as a rival power centre.” Indeed, her body language and her utterances expose her low caliber from any point of view.

Yet another columnist, Santosh Desai (The Week) stressed the point that for Pratibha to become President not because she is worthy but because she is a woman is to “mock the cause of empowerment of women”. Also, he added: “To assume that women alone must represent the cause of women is to shrivel our democracy into a market where different vested interests collide and compete.” Besides, to expect only a woman President always to defend the interests of women is asking for the moon. It was a man, Raja Ram Mohan Roy who fought against suttee (sati). Not a woman. What did K.R. Narayanan do as President to raise the status of dalits or Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to raise the educational standards of Muslims? Forget the fact that Pratibha Patil’s brother has been charged with a grievous crime. Forget the fact that the sugar factory of which Pratibha Patil was founding chairman owes a bank some Rs 19 crore—and not a paise has been repaid. The cooperative bank in Jalgaon set up by Pratibha Patil ostensibly to empower women had its license revoked in 2003 by the Reserve Bank of India which charged the bank with a faulty loan policy and a policy which largely benefitted her own relatives. It is shocking to learn that the bank waived loans given to two of Pratibha’s nieces, one, Anjali Dilipsingh Patil who got a waiver of Rs 29.86 lakh, a sister-in-law Rajkaur Dilipsingh Patil who got a waiver of Rs 2.47 lakh and yet another sister-in-law Kavita Aravind Patil who got a waiver of Rs 8.59 lakh.

According to reports, in all, a dozen of Pratibha’s relatives were granted loans totalling Rs 2.2 crore, most of them declared Non-Performing Accounts (NPAs). After an RBI inspection of the bank in 2002, it was declared “sick”.

The gross NPAs of the bank, that is, loans that have gone bad, amount to 65.8 per cent of the total loans and advances. A Writ Petition filed by the bank’s depositors in the High Court says: “Because of the influence of Respondent 8 (Pratibha Patil), the bank has given various loans to the relatives and to a sugar factory of which she is a Director. Her relatives have not paid back the loans. Most of the loans were given without security. Most of the loans are closed.”

“With the cancellation of the bank’s license and commencement of the liquidation process, the bank is closed and people (have) lost their jobs.”

All these facts were long suppressed, but now they are coming out in the open. That the Shiv Sena has not taken all this into consideration but has allowed itself blindly to be taken in by the fact that Pratibha is a Maharashtrian, is a disgrace.

Are we to have Presidents by state rotation and caste considerations or strictly on merit? Are we Indians first and Maharashtrians next, or the other way round? At this rate we would soon find Gujjars and Meenas demanding that the next President must be from their caste and then sub-castes may take a lesson from them. What the present situation shows is a betrayal of all principles by the Congress. Worse, it is a betrayal of India. If the Congress does not understand this, it understands nothing.

Some Pics taken by my Sweet Heart

Cement giant LAFARGE mortgages Indian land to foreigners

See what these Multinationals are up to In India?? Is anybodz listening???



Lafarge, the world’s largest cement manufacturer, has mortgaged to Bangladesh banks land it was given in Meghalaya to set up a $225 million limestone plant.

Nongtrai, a Khasi tribal village near the India-Bangladesh border, leased 100 hectares of community forest to Lafarge to extract limestone. Village headman Binlinda Lyngdoh says the village allowed the company into its forest because it wanted economic development. That faith may have been broken though.

A CNN-IBN report has proved that Lafarge got permission to enter the forest based on a misleading environment impact assessment report, which was describes the plant site as rocky and barren.

The company has also told the Supreme Court that its plant is on a wasteland—a claim challenged by the Environment and Forests Ministry. B N Jha, Chief Conservator of Forests with the Ministry, insists the company’s mining site is on a forest and not on a wasteland. “If you ask me this area has one of the richest forests—no topsoil, thick canopy cover—and even a layman can see that this is a forest and not wasteland,” says Jha.

Local activists allege that Lafarge has mortgaged to seven banks, including two in Bangladesh, the 100 acres forestland it got from Nongtrai villagers on lease. The Bangladeshi banks are called Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh and Arab Bangla Bank.

“They have mortgaged the land to a bank in Bangladesh. Tomorrow, if they cannot pay the loans does it mean Bangladesh can take over the land in India?” asks human rights activist Dino Dinpep.

The company, in an e-mailed statement to CNN-IBN, said it had the Reserve Bank of India and the Meghalaya Government’s approval to mortgage the land. But does that mean if Lafarge defaults on its bank loans then will land under India's sovereign control be transferred to Bangladesh?

People in Meghalaya are debating if Lafarge is bringing them economic development or taking away their land and mortgaging it to banks in Bangladesh.

Aap ki ankho mein kuch (kishore kumar and lata mangeshkar)

Patna Museum to be modelled on Singapore Museum

The display of antiquities, light arrangement in the galleries and others in the Patna Museum may soon be modeled after the Singapore Museum. The culture department is planning to impart a modern, technologically advanced look to the interiors of the Patna Museum.

It is planning to work over the development project in collaboration with the Singapore Museum, seeking technological support and guidance from Singapore. A MoU for the joint venture is to be signed soon between the two museum officials.


Confirming this the culture secretary, Anjani Kumar Singh said in Patna on Saturday that the department had taken initiatives to join hands with the Singapore Museum. It had sought their technical support for the modernisation of the Patna Museum.

“A team of the Singapore Museum officials led by Gauri Krishnan visited the Patna Museum recently to study the number of antiquities, galleries, the display of museum collection and others. We are now waiting for the study,” he said.

Patna Museum is widely known for its rich collection of Natural history and Buddhist antiquities. But their display had remained to be the old and needed to be modernised, he added.

In Singapore there is a Civilisation Museum, offering visitors an opportunity to witness the development of civilization, especially in the region. The display of the collection and the light arrangement there are highly advanced and impressive.

The department is planning to adopt those technical advancements. It is also considering consulting architects there for any renovation in the galleries, he informed.

The culture secretary said that the department was also planning to organise an exhibition of art and antiquities of Bihar in Singapore in November this year.

“The South East Asia Summit is expected to be held there at that time and so the event will be attended by number of foreign delegates. The exhibition will provide a good opportunity to popularise rich cultural and architectural heritage of the state across the globe,” he said.

He said that technical expertise of the Singapore Museum officials would be sought in the exhibition also, he added.

New Seven Wonders that will be unveiled in Lisbon on 07-07-07.

Al Jazeera’s English news channel is still not available in India or in the United States. But in a triumph of technology over television cartels, the pioneering satellite channel is available on the web. It even has a YouTube channel.

Riz Khan, the former BBC-CNN hand has a show on it, and in this discussion talks to Bernard Weber on the New Seven Wonders that will be unveiled in Lisbon on 07-07-07.

Lights from India now illuminate homes in Afghanistan

TECH-SOLUTION: Dr. Ranganayakulu Bodavala with his LED-based home lights at Chintapally in Andhra Pradesh.

tiny organisation in this village in Andhra Pradesh’s Nalgonda district is now a part of international efforts to reconstruct Afghanistan, supplying home lights based on LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology.



The small lantern-type lamp, developed by “Thrive” (jumbled acronym for Volunteers For Rural Health, Education and Information Technology), has been illuminating about 4,000 homes in the provinces of Kabul and Maidan Wardak in Afghanistan since November 2006. A consignment of 3,000 lamps is all set to reach there this month, according to B. Ranganayakulu Bodavala, founder of Thrive.



“[The illumination provided by] our light is undoubtedly equal to a half a dozen kerosene lanterns and it can also be recharged with solar light,” Dr. Ranga, who has an MBA besides a Ph.D. in information systems, said.



United Nations Emergency Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) entrusted the task to the organisation to convince Afghans that this form of lighting is the most suitable in the absence of kerosene supply. As the $1.4-lakh project has come to an end, many local women are requesting Thrive to continue it, ready to pay from their savings.



Community participation is the key. “Each battery in the lamp lasts for three to four years and the village volunteer appointed by us recharges it once in a week. Our volunteers carry back-up batteries to replace the used ones,” Dr. Bodavala said.



As part of Columbia University’s Millennium Village project, Thrive despatched 500 lamps to Kenya. Another 300 were sent to Cambodia under an international project. Some non-governmental organisations have been working with Thrive to illuminate more off-grid areas in India. It is implementing a project for 10,000 Kondh homes in Koraput district with World Bank support.



The organisation imports LEDs from Japan, control circuits from the United States and batteries from China. It has produced 16,000 LED-based lights and is planning to go for mass production at a sprawling complex here to meet national and international demand.

A dramatic President

The netizen, Abdul Kalam, replies to around 70 emails every day. It's mostly enthusiastic school children whom the President prefers to converse with. So when Ajay Kumar, editor of an obscure portal, the BiharTimes.com, casually sent Kalam an email in January, inviting him to the three-day Global Resurgence Bihar Meet, it was a shot in the dark. Neither Kumar nor the Bihar government, the co-organiser of the meet, could believe it when Kalam wrote back accepting the invitation.

Today Biharis adore the 76-year-old Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam with as much vengeance as they hate their own politicians. In the last five years, Kalam has visited Bihar four times, prompting a Patna-based journalist to rave, "No president has shown so much interest in the development of Bihar. In that way he is even ahead of Dr Rajendra Prasad, the country's first President, who was from Bihar."

When he became the country's 11th President on July 25, 2002, replacing the dalit scholar-diplomat K R Narayanan, the BJP-led NDA immediately hailed him as a "secular" trophy. Though Muslim, Kalam is the very antithesis of the Hindu-chauvinist stereotype of the Indian Muslim. He is fanatically vegetarian, reads the Bhagwad Gita, plays the veena, and is known to invoke not the Koran but the Hindu sages Thiagarjaswamingal and Thiruvalluvar.

The nomination of Kalam to the country's highest post was not celebrated in traditional Muslim pockets. The late Islamic scholar Rafiq Zakaria had upset many of his friends in the Sangh Parivar when he penned a provocatively titled newspaper article, "What is Muslim about Abdul Kalam?" and went on to prove that Kalam had never shown interest in the affairs of the Muslims.

Kalam may not be comfortable among the people of his faith, but is certainly fond of many other species. Like the flowers and birds that he has painstakingly patronised in the Mughal Gardens. When the shy, silver-maned scientist called on nonagenarian writer-columnist Khushwant Singh at the latter's Sujan Singh Park house in Delhi earlier this year, the President took along 100 red roses as a gift.

He confessed to the adorable "dirty" Sardar, "I have documented the birds and trees in Rashtrapati Bhavan. There are 140 species of birds and 200 varieties of trees, some 30 of them unique." Apart from turning the well-maintained Mughal Gardens into a veritable zoo, Kalam has also created a science museum at the 340-room mansion. Models of missiles, rocket launchers and photographs depicting India's military might decorate the visitors' room at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"It looks more like a scientist's den than the President's drawing room," recalls a journalist who has been Kalam's guest a few times. Working late into the night (a habit he carries from his days in the Indian Space Research Organisation and Defence Research Development Organisation where he would be sequestered in the labs for weeks on end, often in shorts and a banyan).

Kalam sleeps five hours a day. And has a very deep relationship with idli-sambar. "He eats with his hand, digging his fingers deep into the sambar bowl," says a Mumbai journalist who has dined with him. Kalam is cautious enough not to walk into a trap.

A journalist who interviewed him a decade ago recalls how the scientist ensured that the interview didn't get published before he had okayed it. "He sent a defence officer on a motorbike to get a hard copy of the interview (the internet had not arrived then)," recalls the journo. "After deleting certain sentences, Kalam called me and told me to carry only the corrected version. I objected, arguing that I had him on tape. But he would not listen and ultimately we carried what he had okayed."

Though he has deftly built up an image of a humble, shy scientist, Kalam has been known to be pushy. A source who has closely watched Kalam says that the during Pokhran II in 1998, the then Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman R Chidambaram, the real architect of the nuclear test, was left in the shade while Kalam hogged the limelight. "The media, including the New York Times credited Kalam with the test even when Kalam's only contribution was the missile part," says the source.

A keen career planner, the much-revered "missile man" has almost frimed up his next vocation, which he will no doubt plunge into once he vacates the former Viceregal Lodge in Lutyen's Delhi. He has already ignited the minds of millions, including Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, with the idea of reviving the ancient Nalanda University. The Rs 1,000-crore project is being aided by China and Japan is under way and Kalam may head it.

Kalam is not about to walk into the sunset. He would rather walk into the arms of millions of Biharis, including those of BiharTimes.com editor Ajay Kumar.

Pratibha Patil: The truth behind the allegations

Arun Shourie has brought to light well researched points on the allegations against presidential candidate Pratibha Patil in two articles on the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank case and the background of the alleged murder coverup. So, what do these well researched articles have to say?

Here is some of the background on the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank. She was chairperson of the bank since its inception in 1973 till it was closed down by the RBI in 2003. Shourie claims in his article that she virtually ran the place. Arun Shourie told CNBC-TV18, " She established it, it's on her biodata as governor of Rajasthan. It's a close connection and she is proud fo the fact. Secondly, even in 2002 documents, she's referred to as the founder chairperson. Third, there is a resolution dated January 22, 2002 of the bank's board of directors, that she will appoint all the officers of the bank, and who will do what."

"The more important point is that when the bank was being liquidated, there is a communcation from the manager of the bank to the then chairperson in 2003, that these negotiations with the employees were taken in the presence of Pratibha Patil."

And despite being around at the bank for 30 years, she claims not to know how many of her relatives, nephews and nieces took loans from the bank.This bank was placed on the list of weak banks by the RBI in 1997 and because Patil didn't take any steps to rectify the situation, the bank had to be shut down to protect the depositors, who were small-time depositors anyway, like flower-sellers, ragpickers etc.

Shourie adds, "There is a case going on in the Bombay High Court about this bank and Pratibha Patil is respondent No. 8 today." What's more, an internal audit of the bank also revealed the fact that she had mismanaged the bank, and she simply can't wriggle out of the situation today, saying she had no clue about it.

Then there are charges of nepotism that can't be easily shrugged off either. She extended loans to her brothers and other relatives totalling Rs 2.25 crore was declared non-performing assets, NPAs. A further Rs 41 lakhs that works out as interest on this amount was waived off. So, while the bank's depositors were the poor and the marginalised women of society, the chairperson seems to have turned a blind eye to the fact that her relatives were misusing the bank's funds.

Even the bank's union - the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Karamchari Sangh formally wrote letters and memos, claiming that Pratibha's brother, Dilip Singh Patil, installed a bank phone in his home and conducted stock market business on it, and ran up a bill of Rs 20 lakhs. The bank also entended unsecured loans to her sugar cooperative and she go her relatives jobs in the bank, when it should have gone to qualified people from the scheduled castes.

Shourie explains, "It's not just the union but also the chief administrator appointed for the liquidation of the bank, who also asked all these questions." And what's more when the situation got to hot for Pratibha Patil to handle, she may have threatened the union, which they also insinuated as much in a letter. Shourie goes on to say that, it could go further than just mere threats.


If she did indeed resort to threats, then was she hiding more than just the mismanagement of her bank. Could she be hiding her brother's involvement in a murder conspiracy as well? Shourie believes, it could be so. He says, "The working president of the Congress in Jalgaon, Rajiv Patil said in September 2005, that GN Patil was responsible for the murder (of district Congress committe President, VG Patil). This story was a eight column heading in the local papers back then."

On Sept 28, 2005, eight days after the murder of VG Patil, Rajiv Patil wrote to the Minister of State for Home at the Centre, Manikrao Gavit telling him about the allegation that Pratibha Patil's brother, GN Patil was somehow involved in the murder conspiracy. Gavit got in touch with the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and asked him to investigate the matter. Eventually, even the two people caught for the murder corroborated this by stating in a letter, that these people has instigated them.

Rajni Patil, the widow of the murdered man, VG Patil, stated in a clear letter written on March 5, 2007, that boldly says that her husband was killed because he started inquiries into the funds collected for the Kargil and tsunami victims, which had disappeared, "under GN Patil's presidentship of the district Congress committee."

Patil was asked to stop those inquiries but he persisted. Rajni Patil goes on to say.."The supari (contract) to murder my husband, VG Patil was given by Dr Ulhas Patil and Dr GN Patil." So much so, after writing this letter to Sonia Gandhi, the widow even met her. Also, four delegations from Jalgaon went to meet the Congress leaders. So, it was entirely unlikely that the Congress hierarchy was unaware of the allegations made against Pratibha Patil and her involvement in trying to protect her brother.

Then there is also the fact that after all this, even the CBI stepped in to investigate and it even took them 20 months to put the spotlight on GN Patil, because may be there was political pressure put on them as well.

Shourie says that, the fact that there was pressure put on the CBI can be inferred. He also says, if people - including the Prime Minister - wants all the information mentioned in his articles, he's more than willing to give them the 700-odd pages that he had to sift through. But he knows the Prime Minister won't ask for them.

Zenica-The place where I live

Comparing China and India

Growth at 9 per cent for the next 13 years would still only get us a real GDP that China will have surpassed by 2007

With 9.4 per cent GDP growth in 2006-07 on the heels of 9 per cent of the previous year, some in India have begun to believe that we are poised to give China a run for its money. It may be a tactically good move to herald the arrival of India, and to tell global investors that it is time to actively pursue the India option.



It also true that in sectors such as IT, IT-enabled services and those that need strong engineering and systems inputs, India scores higher than China. And there is hard evidence that, despite many disadvantages, Indian companies perform far better than most of their Chinese counterparts — be it in profit margins, return on capital, or shareholder returns.



However, to claim that India can now play catch-up with China is a huge exaggeration.



To understand how far behind we are in economic terms and, thus, how much more we need to focus on reforms and governance, here is some evidence.



The life expectancy at birth of an average Chinese is 71 years; for an Indian, it is 64 years. In China, infant mortality is 31 out of 1,000 live births; in India, it is 85 per 1,000.



For people of 15 years and more, the average literacy rate in China is 91 per cent; in India, it is 61 per cent. For those in the 15-24 years bracket, China’s literacy rate is 98 per cent, versus India’s 76 per cent.



Let’s now move on to GDP. Without adjusting for purchasing power parity, China’s GDP (at both constant prices and exchange rates) is $2,600 billion — three times that of India’s at around $850 billion. China’s per capita GDP is almost 2.7 times that of India’s.



With an output of 423 million metric tonnes (MT), China’s steel production is 10 times that of India’s. The Middle Kingdom produced 1.24 billion MT of cement last year; India’s output was 168 million MT. India did very well to manufacture 1.5 million passenger cars in 2006-07; China produced 5.2 million in 2006.



What about infrastructure? In 2006, China produced 2,830 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of power and, for the first time, was power surplus. In contrast, India produced 664 billion kWh with a 14.5 per cent peak power deficit. China already has around 45,000 km of barriered, restricted access, multi-lane dual carriageways. Let’s forget barriers and restricted access, as on 31 May 2007, we had 6,989 km of four or six-lane dual carriage national highways.



Telecom is an Indian success story. In 2006-07, we had 166 million mobile subscribers. By March 2007, the number of mobile subscribers in China was 463 million.China’s exports are eight times that of India’s; and imports four times greater. In 2006, China’s total value of exports and imports was $1,761 billion (or 69 per cent of its GDP). India’s was not even a fifth at $307 billion, or 37 per cent of GDP.



Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China during 2006 added up to $63 billion. India had a landmark year, with FDI at around $9 billion.



While beyond a point, it does not amount to much, the fact is that China’s foreign exchange reserves are now at $1,200 billion (that’s $1.2 trillion), while India’s is $208 billion.



Unless our political class decide to commit collective hara kiri, I have no doubts that India will continue growing at an average of around 8 per cent to 8.25 per cent over the next decade. Indeed, with a greater focus on infrastructure, we can even raise the decadal compound annual growth rate to a bit over 9 per cent. You know where that 9 per cent growth will take us? To a real GDP of around $2,950 billion in 2020 — a level that China will have comfortably surpassed in 2007.



In other words, 13 years of focused, unrelenting slog can get us to today’s China. That’s great. But China won’t be waiting for us to get there. So let’s get real. And realise that reforms have only just begun.



P.S. Are the Congress socialists and the CPI(M) listening?

Who'll be the Global Soft superpower?

China is soaking up resources in Africa and Latin America. And everybody else is eating their hearts out. Or are they? In its desire to lay hands on pretty much every mineral and fuel source it can find, China has laid out the diplomatic red carpet in these two regions. But while China has been totally unstoppable, India is moving in its slow, slightly chaotic way to improve its footprint in Africa and Latin America.


While the ambitions of the emerging powers may intersect, the approach and quality of China and India’s presence in these regions could not have been more different. In fact, you can almost distinguish between the Indian model and the Chinese model. But however you look at it, the underlying competition is one for soft power supremacy in a huge chunk of the world.


The Chinese model is pretty straightforward — exchange between money and diplomatic influence in return for unfettered access to natural resources. Take Africa. China first came into contact with Africa when their legendary explorer-conqueror Zheng He returned from Kenya around 600 years ago — with a giraffe. Today, China’s blitzkrieg through Africa, building roads, railways, power plants, football stadiums, writing off loans and removing tariffs bears no resemblance to Zheng’s adventures. In return, China gets loads of oil, timber, copper and other raw materials.


The Indian model is very different. From India’s freedom struggle and subsequent commercial success of the Indian diaspora in Africa, the non-aligned movement etc, India has been a subterranean constant. The difference was, India was more an inspiration than a way to fill coffers.


But China forced India to think differently. Today, India has certainly become more ‘business-like’ in its approach, though it stops short of being purely mercantilist. Senior Indian officials involved in India’s diplomatic push in these regions summarise the difference in approach. ‘‘China’s is resource-based investment, Indian investment concentrates on capacity building.’’


India’s big China jolt came in 2004 when it lost out on a huge oil bid in Angola. China blew India away with a $2 billion grant in comparison with a measly $200 million Indian offer to develop Angola’s railways. It made India sit up and take a hard look at its diplomacy and investment push in Africa. The story was no different in Latin America. During the 2007 World Cup, India made heavy weather of building one stadium in Barbados. China built six, and it doesn’t even play cricket.


But also, by 2007, the Angolans had joined a general buzz against China in Africa. Zambia was the first to start, after a Chinese-owned copper mine blew up. The Zambian opposition launched riots led by their fiery leader Michael Sata, to the extent that Chinese president Hu Jintao took the Chambishi copper belt off his schedule when he visited Zambia in February.


Angolans have complained bitterly about lack of job opportunities which the Chinese presence has worsened, and sources say Chinese companies have been pulled out of a refinery project. In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki warned against a ‘colonial’ relationship with China .


In Zimbabwe, China’s getting into bed with Robert Mugabe has not gone down well with the locals. The crux of the matter is: Chinese investment brings with it Chinese labour (many reportedly from prison camps) the growth of Chinese ghettos and little for the local population, but lots for corrupt dictators. The often irrational fear that China may be silently invading Africa is now commonly expressed.


India has taken a different path. Indian investments are largely private sector, riding on the back of the lines of credit given by the Indian government. They are also generally more equitable for the locals. Intent on keeping costs down, Indian companies find it easier to employ locals. In the process, locals end up with a greater stake in the Indian projects.


In Mexico, Indian IT giant TCS has set up a global delivery centre in Guadalajara with the declared intention of hiring 5000 staffers. The idea is to be close to its US customers. According to company reports TCS has a presence in Brazil, Uruguay and Chile — and all with local talent. Indian IT company FirstSource has just set up office in Argentina employing about 300 locals.


Mexico is the biggest beneficiary of Indian investment — over $3 billion — its proximity to the US and low costs working to its advantage. Dr Reddy’s Labs bought a Roche facility in Mexico and populated it with Mexicans. The result: Latin America is beginning to look at Indian companies as ‘partners’ not out to rob them of jobs and resources, as the Chinese are now believed to be doing. Indian energy major Reliance is reportedly planning a huge investment in Colombia, in collaboration with its US stakeholder Chevron, that is likely to run into several billion dollars.


In Africa, Reliance is planning a push into Sudan’s oilfields in a few years when the current political crisis has settled, an investment, company insiders say, that will be around $3 billion. And in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, India is the second largest stakeholder.


China has taken more flak on its investments in Sudan than anywhere else for its cynical policies — CNPC is the majority stakeholder in both Petrodar and Greater Nile and China reportedly lifts about $2 billion of oil per year. But China has also supplied weapons to Khartoum for the genocide in Darfur and shielded the Bashir regime from international sanctions in the UN Security Council. Its only after the international NGO circuit started dubbing the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the ‘genocide games’ that Beijing decided to act.


This has been a lesson to India as well. In 2005, Manmohan Singh refused permission to ONGC to invest in two big oil deals in Nigeria because of due diligence concerns. Although India is also in Africa for economic reasons, there is an effort at humane-ness. In fact, India’s big push is to get Africa connected and educated. Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, and Mauritius will be the initial countries for the Indian government’s $1-billion pan-Africa e-network project, a joint initiative with the Africa Union (AU).


The project aims to develop Africa’s information and communication technologies by eventually connecting all of the 53 African countries to a satellite and fibre-optic network. It’s ambitious and imbued with virtue. India also plans to export its open university system, among the largest in the world, to Botswana and Uganda, among others in Africa.



Of course, India is no China when it comes to focused attention to resources, but strategists in the government are convinced this is the way India would like to go in Africa — a more inclusive presence. These are aspects of Indian soft power that India believes will pay greater dividends in years to come. More than the Chinese model.

The new Nalanda

This could be the New Bihar Story. From the thousand-year-old ruins of an ancient university, a blueprint is being unveiled to build a world-class institute of learning...

Nearly 90 km from Patna lies a morsel of the past. Though dead and mostly buried, it jibes at the present: it speaks of a legacy that the state of Bihar perhaps so undeservedly lays claim to. Till recently, no one listened to the ruins of Nalanda. Now, their silence is being heard.

In a visionary gesture, the Nitish Kumar Government has decided to revive the university that was perhaps the biggest international seat of learning between 5th and 12th centuries AD, the first residential academic centre that attracted scholars from as far as China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey. Some of these countries, including China and Japan, are now coming together to bring Nalanda to life.

“You can gauge the enthusiasm from the fact that the issue figured in the recent talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao and then with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. It also figured in the East Asian Summit held in January in Philippines this year and is likely to be raised again at the summit in November in Singapore,” says N.K. Singh, Deputy Chairman, State Planning Board.

Though countries from East and Southeast Asia—for whom Bodh Gaya and Nalanda were crucial pilgrimages—had always wanted to revive the university, it took concrete shape when it was pursued by outgoing President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He had outlined the contours of the proposed university during his special address to the Bihar Legislature last year. Of the 10 suggestions for a prosperous Bihar, revival of the university figured as crucial.

The Nitish Administration lapped up the idea, with the Chief Minister taking a keen interest in the project. He, perhaps, realises that the project can transform Bihar’s image in the international arena and yield long-term benefits for the state in terms of investment. Within a short span and at a surprising pace, the Government identified around 500 acres of land for setting up the international university and had a bill enacted by the state assembly. “By next week, we hope to take possession of around 450 acres,” says Nalanda District Magistrate Anand Kishore.

The proposed university will be situated 16 km from the ruins of Nalanda at the foot of the hills in Rajgir (earlier known as Rajgriha) and start functioning from 2009. It will be unique in the sense that it will be owned jointly by several countries, especially from South and Southeast Asia. The University Act clearly talks about setting up a consortium of international partners and friendly countries, and the project has already attracted the attention of some of the most dynamic economies of East and Southeast Asia, ringing hope in a state lagging far behind in all indices of development. The Nalanda project hopes to revive the historical ties this region enjoyed in areas like trade, science, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy.

Possibly the first of its kind in the world, it intends to recreate the spirit of its ancient counterpart. “The architecture and the buildings for the university and its campus shall be carefully designed so as to reflect its vision and mission as set out in the objectives of the university,” the Act for the university states.

History has it that Nalanda was an architectural marvel and its sprawling campus could accommodate nearly 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. It had a nine-storey library, eight compounds, 10 temples, meditation halls, classrooms, lakes and parks. The ancient university was multidisciplinary and the scholars jostled to take lessons in subjects ranging from fine arts and medicine to philosophy and astronomy. Mathematics and politics were the other crucial disciplines along with warfare. Nalanda’s most celebrated scholar was perhaps Chinese traveller Hieun Tsang, who not only studied here but also taught and spent nearly 15 years at the university. In fact, India and China have recently erected a memorial at Nalanda to honour Tsang.

The Union Government has also set up a Mentor Group, which would be headed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, have members drawn from different countries and Foreign Secretary as its ex-officio member-secretary. Singapore Foreign Minister George Hui, Wangei Hui, Director, Institute of Indian Studies, Beijing, Prof Sugata Bose (Harvard), Lord Meghnad Desai and Prof D.N. Jha of Delhi University are some who have consented to be members.

“The Mentor Group will give a report on pedagogy, syllabus, academic calendar, funding and organisational structure of the university. The group’s first meeting is scheduled in the middle of July in Singapore. After that it will hold three more meetings in Tokyo, Beijing and India to give a final shape to the plan. The report is expected by the end of the year,” says Singh.

“The report will be given a final shape in consultation with the university’s Visitor—likely to be Kalam after his term as President ends—and it will then be submitted to international agencies for funding,” says Bihar Human Resource Development Secretary Madan Mohan Jha. Nitish Kumar will formally offer the Visitor’s post to Kalam after he leaves the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The Bihar Government has already had a detailed project report (DPR) prepared by Educational Consultants of India Limited (EDCIL) for the establishment of the university, which is expected to incur a total expenditure of Rs 630 crore and an annual recurring expenditure of Rs 375 crore. Once international funding is assured for the University of Nalanda, the state government hopes that its other projects for developing tourist infrastructure would also receive international support.

To begin with, the new university will have seven Schools of Learning, including Philosophy and Buddhist Studies, Information and Communication (Informatics), Basic and Applied Sciences, Development Studies, Natural Resource Management, International Studies and Languages. The final structure will, however, depend on the report of the Mentor Group.

In the first phase, the university will offer only postgraduate, research, doctoral and post-doctoral degrees, and it expects to attract students from several countries. A scholar of international repute will be the university’s chancellor.


According to the DPR, in the first year, the university will have 1,137 students and the number will increase to 4,530 by the fifth year. The university will maintain a 1:10 teacher-student ratio and a minimum proportion of academic and non-academic staff in the ratio of 70:30. The faculty members shall be so selected that they are culturally tuned to the vision and mission of the university.

Realising that history could repeat itself in the modern context, the Nitish Kumar Government has already chalked out an ambitious plan to develop Nalanda and Rajgir as per international standards. A state-of-the-art tourist park, township, airport and golf course have been planned, targeting foreign investments, which will be used to build world-class infrastructure in the region to help boost tourism.

The biggest challenge before the state, Centre and others involved in establishing the university would be to arrange funding and get the best faculty. Only then can it hope to attract students from across the world. Only then may the clamouring ruins of Nalanda finally fall silent, the dead past laid to rest.

Rare Stamps from British India

US heritage body wants Ram Sethu preserved

World Monuments Fund, an international preservation organisation that brings out World Monuments Watch List of endangered sites, has said that the Government of India should be made to realise that it’s more valuable to preserve Ram Sethu than demolishing it.

Marilyn Perry, chairman of the Fund, said in an interview on the sidelines of the function to release the list of endangered sites of the world in its New York Madison Avenue office that the Federal Government could consider sending scuba divers underwater to collect sand deposits and analyse them in the laboratory. “The government could leave the disputed area untouched and make it as a tourist attraction by sending tourists in glass bottom boats to see what’s inside the sea.


That could compensate for whatever is the revenue loss of diversion. They could also invite international team of scuba divers to come and take underwater photography and tests to find out whether the rock formations still exit. It’s easy to demolish but hard to construct anything again,” she said.


Agreeing that the Fund is not a world policeman and its requests may fall on deaf ears, she said an alternative vision of the value which government officials may not see should be created. “They often only see the water and the revenue and not the archaeological importance beneath the sea. The organisers of the movement could use mass media such as television and also make a film and show to the people to create awareness. We have to create enough documentation that the bridge was ancient and that it’s sacred to both India and Sri Lanka as it demonstrates historic connections. Instead of being frightened of the national government, the organisers should mobilise local people to support the movement. You always need local support and can’t do anything without them.”

On listing Ram Sethu as an endangered historical monument, she said unfortunately the nomination for this year was already over. “The question is how to find a mechanism in this case to publicise it extensively to gather public opinion. We need to know how the Sri Lankan government and people feel about the demolition. There is no question of wrong and the right in any issue and the answer is finding consensus. How much can we save or are there any alternatives to the project without destruction? The government could be made to realise that it’s more valuable to preserve the site. Often, the Fund may not be able to convince the governments as we do not don policemen’s role. We could not stop the construction of a dam in Turkey as the government would not listen to us. The dam would flood some of the great archaeological sites yet the government was adamant,” she said.

Bonnie Burnham, president of the Fund, said the movement against the project should be tenacious in getting the public voice heard. “If we could convince the Federal Government on Taj Mahal, which would have been affected by developments, I am sure we can find a way out for this issue too. Fortunately, lot of heritage bodies in India came together and provided their support to stop an action that would have had an adverse impact on the world monument. Joint voices really do make a difference. The organisers should rope in bodies like INTACH,” she added.

“In India, I hope there will be a much greater development of NGOs at local level. There is no more awareness now and private sector can really play a role. Heritage of India is too rich for the government to take care of by itself. Voice of the private sector will have a clout on such matters. In India as of now, it’s really not easy for foreign NGOs to get established due to extremely laborious legal process. There are not strong incentives for philanthropy. Changing laws related to both the issues would have a huge impact and there is very strong interest among foreign NGOs to get involved with India’s heritage. There is no infrastructure that supports the government efforts. No community exists that does not have something important to say on Indian heritage,” she added.

Five e-mail habits that waste time and cause problems

Few communications tools give you as much exposure as e-mail. Unfortunately, mistakes in your e-mail will receive that same exposure as well. Depending on who sees your e-mail, your job, reputation, or career could suffer. Fortunately, avoiding these mistakes is easy. Here are five e-mail habits that annoy me (and maybe you as well), and what you can do differently. I’ll share another five in my next article.

#1: Vague or nonexistent subject line

Professor Woodward, who taught me contracts last year at Temple University Beasley School of Law, gave me one of the most useful pieces of advice I have ever received. “When arguing a case,” he often said, “make it easy for the judge to rule in your favor.”

Apply that same principle to e-mail. That is, make it easy for recipients to know what your message is about. If you’re like most people, you have an in-basket that summarizes your incoming messages, probably by date, sender, and subject. Don’t you love it when you can get the information you need simply from the subject line? The sender has made it easy for you and has saved you time.

On the other hand, how often have you received an e-mail without a subject or one that’s labeled, for example, “Phone number you requested.” Why couldn’t the sender have said, right in the subject line, “The phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx”?

When sending an e-mail that concerns a particular person, give details in the subject line, along with the name. For example, if Joe Brown has been promoted, make your subject line “Joe Brown has been promoted.” Do not use only the name as the subject. If you send out an e-mail with just the subject “Joe Brown,” recipients may mistakenly believe that Mr. Brown has passed on.

In the event you do need to transmit such sad news, be explicit. For example, say “Joe Brown RIP” or “Passing of Joe Brown” or “Joe Brown [year of birth] - [year of death].”

#2: Changing the topic without changing the subject

Have you ever read an advertisement for an item that’s on sale, then gone to the store only to discover that that item is sold out? By law, the store has to give you a rain check, because of abuses in the past. In the old days, the store would simply try to sell you something else instead, a practice known as “bait and switch.”

E-mail users employ bait and switch all too often, usually out of laziness. For example, you send a note to a co-worker about subject 1. That co-worker later needs to send a note to you on subject 2. However, instead of creating a new note and labeling it “subject 2,” he or she simply replies to you, discusses subject 2, but keeps the subject line as “subject 1.” Annoying, isn’t it? When you send e-mail, make sure the subject line matches the actual subject. If you’re going to send a note via a reply, change the subject line to match the actual subject.

A few months ago, during a period of really cold weather, a neighbor sent an e-mail to all the residents of our development regarding a neighborhood telephone directory, and titled it “neighborhood directory.” A half hour later, I received a reply-to-all message from another neighbor with the subject “Re: neighborhood directory.” When I accidentally clicked on that message, I read that the sender’s heater had broken and that he was asking to borrow blankets and kerosene heaters. He did get what he needed and did later get his heater fixed. However, had he given his note a better subject heading, he might have had a faster response.

#3: Including multiple subjects in one note

Covering multiple topics in one note involves less sending and hence less e-mail traffic and volume. However, your recipient might overlook one or more of those topics. It’s better to keep to one topic per message.

#4: Sending before thinking

When you were small, your mother probably told you to count to three before responding to someone (mine told me to count to 10). Why did she say that? She knew that answering before thinking can lead to problems.

Make sure you really mean to say what you’ve written. People can interpret your words differently from what you meant. A statement made in jest to someone via e-mail may have a greater chance of being misinterpreted than one made in person. Also, be careful about reacting and replying too quickly to an e-mail that upsets you. As Proverbs 12:16 says, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”

I’ll talk more about it in a future article, but legal implications offer another reason to think before sending. E-mail can be subject to “discovery” by attorneys for a party that might be suing your employer. That is, the things you write in your e-mail could end up in the hands of those attorneys and could be used as evidence against your company in a trial. So before you send an e-mail, imagine that you’re on a witness stand having to explain it.


#5: Inadvertent replying to all

Before hitting Reply To All, make sure you really need to do so. Does everyone need to see your response? Does your response benefit everyone else? Or are you sending merely a private response or addressing a personal issue with the sender? In these situations, it’s better just to do a simple Reply. Otherwise, your private disagreement becomes public (and embarrassing) knowledge.

Be aware that if you receive a message because you’re part of certain message groups (e.g., a Yahoo group), your reply might go to everyone in the group even if you just hit Reply.

Do you recognize yourself in any of these mistakes? The good news is that once you recognize these issues, it’s easy to address them.

Baat Niklegi to phir door talak jayegi

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BOSNIAN PROMOTIONAL FILM “ENJOY LIFE” WINS GRAND PRIX TOURIST 2007

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – Bosnian promotional film “Enjoy Life” produced by Refresh Production has won the first prize at the Second International Festival of Tourist Film, which took place in the historic city of Plock, the capital of region Mazovia in Poland.

The Festival featured over one hundred films from Austria, Denmark, Japan, South Africa, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Poland, Lithuania, Turkey... Apart from the films on tourism, the Festival also included roundtables on the role of tourism as an integrative industry that connects people, civilizations and cultures and helps to understand them better.

The symposium “Future of tourism in Europe and promotion of countries and regions through tourist films” focused on the topics of expanding and improving economic in the economic sector.

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Now, BIHAR govt plans to make 'waves'

A bicycle mechanic, Raghav, recently made waves by sending radio waves from his small shop at Mansurpur village in Vaishali district. The "Radio Raghav" FM station was an instant hit among people residing within 10 km radius of Mansurpur village.


Now, realising that radio is a powerful mediun to interact with the masses at the grassroots level, the state government is seriously planning to launch its own FM stations — community radio stations (CRSs). The state government has already prepared a pilot project with the help of IIM students. The technological know-how is being prepared by students of IIT (Kanpur) and IIT (Mumbai).


To begin with, the state government has selected 10 schools of Patna and Nalanda districts to operate these FM stations. These schools would transmit the programmes, the contents of which would be prepared and developed at the Soochana Bhavan. The government would help these schools in obtaining FM frequency from the information and broadcasting ministry.


Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, during his visit to IIM (Ahmedabad) in November, 2006, had talked to some of the students there and had asked them to prepare a blue print for community radio stations. Nitish had said such radio stations would bridge the gap between the state headquarters and the villages, by using cost-effective means of information through entertainment.


State information and public relations department (IPRD) secretary Vivek Singh, who is monitoring the creation of community radio stations, told TOI that it would be a powerful medium to communicate with the people.


The IPRD secretary said the IIM team, comprising management professor Rajnish Sinha and IIM (Ahmedabad) students Kaushlendra, Abhishek, Irfan and Rahul, has worked out the financial viability. These students have also given presentation before the secretaries of different departments, including MM Jha (HRD), Anup Mukherjee (rural development) and special secretary (CM secretariat) Chanchal Kumar.


According to the plan, the schools will be stake-holders while the principals concerned would be presidents of the school community radio stations. Though the initial cost of setting up a transmission centre is estimated between Rs 5-6 lakh, the IPRD secretary said, students of IIT (Kanpur) and IIT (Mumbai) are being approached so that the transmission cost could be reduced.



The state government is planning to set up 800-1,000 community radio stations, having services in Bhojpuri, Magahi, Vajjika, Maithili and Angika.

Patna girl in final round of Indian Idol 3

The melodious voice of this Patna girl has shot her to fame following her entry into the final round of Sony's Indian Idol 3 programme. In the final round Deepali, a Patna Women's College student, will compete with 12 other contestants.

Needless to say, her feat has brought immense joy to her parents Rita Kishore and Dinesh Kishore, the latter a sub-inspector attached to special branch of the Bihar police.

Interestingly, Deepali wanted to become a radio jockey. But given her performance in the Indian Idol show, it'll not be surprising if she ends up as one of Bollywood's most-sought-after playback singers. "Deepali is now aiming at becoming a playback singer in Bollywood. For her, the sky is the limit now," her parents told.

Besides giving credit to their daughter and her trainer — Sony's music director - both Dinesh and Rita also showered ample praise on people who voted for her through SMSes in the piano round. Deepali was among the 10 finalists among 28 contestants in the Piano round held in mid-May and which was telecast from June 1 to 9.

Her parents said programme panelists Udit Narayan and Alisha Chinai, music director Anu Mallick, lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar and special guest Kailash Kher all appreciated Deepali's musical talent.

"But Alisha had special praise for her," chipped in Rita with a sense of pride.

The final round is set to be interesting given that there would be two wild-card entries, besides a finalist from Indian Idol 2, Jolly Das, who couldn't appear earlier due to illness. While the two wild-card entries will perform on June 15 (Friday), Deepali will have a brush with other contestants in the subsequent programme.

Deepali, in fact, was selected from among 5,000 contestants during the audition held at Kanpur from March 12 to 14. Post-selection she was among the 128 contestants in the preliminary round.