Toothpaste manufacturers misguiding the consumers through advertisements

Advertisements have since long been used to promote the products and carry the information regarding the USP of the products to the potential consumers. Innovative advertising has been instrumental in selling innumerable products that were at par with the rest of the breed. However, there are times when manipulative, misleading and misguiding advertisements are used to lure the consumers into buying certain products.
Take the instance of several advertisements related to toothpastes which are based on false, deceptive and fraudulent features. Companies highlight them in such a way that people affirm their faith in them and, later on, when they come to know about the actual position, it is too late. There are no legal checks on such misleading and misguiding advertising practices by the government which are defrauding the public in a big way.
One such advertisement that may not have escaped your notice talks of the presence of fluoride in while other talks of the paste enriched with salt. These advertisements are merely sales gimmicks and may not be beneficial for your well-being.
Dr. Aseem Prakash Tikku, Dean Students Welfare at Lucknow’s King George Dental Sciences University agrees that advertisements talking of fluoride or salt in toothpastes may always not be best for the users. Says Dr. Tikku: “Fluoride is definitely anti-carious and helps fight tooth decay. It is widely used in toothpastes abroad. But the chief reason is that fluoride content is low in water and therefore enough fluoride does not reach them through diet. In India the circumstances are different. As it is we take lot of it in diet and water too, at places, contains excess fluoride. If we do not tell all this and adds fluoride as supplement, what will be its benefit?”
The same is the case with advertisements talking of salt in toothpastes. Advertisers do not tell that salt could be bad for the patients of high blood pressure. If salt is kept on tongue, part of it is bound to reach the stomach. Therefore, entire family continue to use these pastes without realizing that they might be doing harm to some members of the family.
Clarifies Dr. Tikku “Pastes act as lubrication and contain mint as freshener that makes us feel good. Otherwise, you can brush your teeth with water as well.”
When asked about the actual role of toothpaste in the cleansing process, Dr. Tikku tells that the role of toothpaste is negligible when compared to the role of toothbrush and the technique of brushing. He adds, “You keep using paste on finger; it won’t clean your teeth.”
The need of the hour is for the Government to make strict guidelines so that proper message reaches the consumer through advertising campaigns. “Toothpaste is just one product related to our profession. There are innumerable other products like those related to the cosmetic and health industry where guidelines need to be set,” avers Dr. Tikku and says that media too should be more vigilant and impart its duty in carrying forth the relevant information and awareness to the public.
Dr. Tikku rues the fact that the advertising campaign of toothpastes has even reached the villages and incited the rural folks to start using them. “Till the time village folks used neem, which is a good antiseptic and mouth cleanser, their teeth never decayed. This is a time proven truth. But upon seeing the advertisements these people too left neem and shifted to toothpastes. There was nobody to tell them of the right technique of brushing and hence their teeth too started decaying. Eventually, there was greater loss than benefit.”
Moral! People are advised not to believe and follow the advertisements blindly. One must consult their doctors or apply brain before accepting what is being said as true.

Outdoor advertisers at loss over shifting government policies

Drive is currently on at Lucknow to remove the hoardings from prominent places. It started on the pretext of removing political hoardings from top of government properties but the overenthusiastic Municipal Corporation employees roped in other legitimate hoardings as well, leading to sleepless nights for even those outdoor advertising agencies who wish to keep their dealing fair. Every now and then, Municipal Corporation comes with similar drives to torment the advertising agencies. Only recently, a drive was carried on from Amausi airport till Faizabad road on the pretext of the Chief Justice’s visit to the city. What was the relation of Chief Justice’s visit with this drive still remains a mystery but as part of the entire drive, lot many hoardings, whose payment had been collected by the corporation till March 31, 2007, were removed, thus leading to severe financial losses for the agencies concerned. Aziz Haider talked to prominent people involved in the business of outdoor advertising to know their view on these frequent drives by the municipal corporation.

Rajneesh Rawat, Managing Director of Origins Advertising Pvt. Ltd., has greatest number of hoardings in the city of Lucknow. In fact, his agency is presently the number one agency in UP in the business of outdoor advertising. Rawat is of view that though no industry could remain bereft of problems, there should not be problems for those doing legitimate business. Says Rawat: “There are clear-cut guidelines. Though I agree that all agencies do not follow these guidelines, we try to abide by them to the extent possible. But when the drive occurs, we and others are all treated with the same stick irrespective of the fact that we have got the sanction from the municipal corporation after paying fees for each of the hoardings.”
Rawat’s case is a perfect example of how all suffer because of the mischief of one or few of the agencies. This chiefly happens because laws are not followed strictly.
Rawat cites the case of Delhi where banning the hoardings also closed the sources of revenue for the corporation and eventually it had to resort to tax hikes to generate money that it needed. Finally, the corporation had to look at its ban afresh and when it gave the go-ahead finally, it started getting about 400-500 crore worth of revenue through outdoor advertising. “It was the common man who benefited. Unfortunately, we do not think that way,” adds Rawat.
Rawat argues that when the administration has already sanctioned hoardings to respective agencies after taking fee for them, they should not take those hoardings back in the legal way. He fears that such drives will catch on as the elections draw near. He says: “Earlier there were no such problems even during election period but now the nuisance has increased.” And adds: “Why should the hoardings be removed if a particular person is visiting the area? We are doing legitimate business.”
Tariq Khan, a prominent outdoor advertiser and director of Fourth Pillar Academy cites lack of political will, entry of small operators and lack of cohesive unity between the various advertising agencies as the root cause of the problem. Says Khan: “In my view the solution is possible through a joint working mechanism between the Municipal authorities and representatives of the industry. Outdoor Advertising Association will monitor and point the illegitimate or hazardous hoardings to the authorities. But presently the committee has no representatives from the Association and hence no way to pass our views to them. If we wish to do something directly, nothing will happen. Nagar Nigam should involve us and we will sort out the problems for them.”
Khan agrees to the lack of cohesive unity among the advertising community though he says that the problem is not rampant in Lucknow. He says that earlier Prime Ministers and Presidents of the country have visited Lucknow but no hoardings were removed. “Why now?”
Khan points that when the authorities have already taken payments till the end of financial year it is their duty to safeguard the hoardings. Instead what is happening is that Corporation officers come now and then to remove them even so the corporation itself has collected money for those hoardings.
Another Khan associated with the outdoor advertising industry is Jamal Khan, who is currently the president of the industry’s association. Jamal Khan’s sleep has once again been taken away by the current order and he is running pillar to post to get the matter sorted out. The association recently met Akhilesh Yadav, which enabled them to get some respite but going by the recent trend, nobody concerned with the outdoor advertising in the State can rest at peace that his hoardings would remain intact till the time for which they have deposited the payments with the Corporation. Wonder when the Corporation will come out with a foolproof plan that will work to everybody’s satisfaction!

Another school of excellence in Lucknow

Another school promising progressive approach and commitment to excellence has come up to expand the educational horizons of Lucknow, courtesy the third branch of Delhi Public School in the city at Jankipuram. This was revealed by Mr. Mukhtarul Amin, Pro-vice Chairman, DPS Lucknow who is already Pro-vice Chairman of DPS Kalyanpur, DPS Bareilly, DPS Riyadh and DPS Jeddah.
Talking to Hi Time Express, Mr. Amin highlighted that the dominant characteristic of learning at the Delhi Public School, Jankipuram was passionate and interactive process in which children are allowed to explore and evolve. “This is the hallmark of all our branches and we are committed to build such an environment,” he said. Mr. Amin also elaborated on the role of parents and teachers in child development. “This is a very sacred pact, the very foundation on which we are setting forth to guide, shape and build character,” added Mr. Amin.
Boasting of a child-centred approach, DPS Jankipuram too will work towards evolving a culture towards passionate and interactive learning process where children will have the freedom to explore and evolve. “Only total development of the child give him an opportunity to face the world on equal terms and equip him in all areas and to take on the global opportunities being provided to him in this fast paced world,” Dr. Amin added. “Art, graphics, carpentry, drawing, painting, sculpture are areas that a student can learn to be a part. A visit to exhibitions, galleries, art shows, theatre and music concerts are encouraged and a special section to encourage design and technology has been created to solve problems and turn ideas into reality. The school campus is also equipped with the state of the art audio-visual teaching aids, computers, modern classrooms and a sports complex that includes a huge swimming pool.”
Shada Kashif, Director DPS Jankipuram, Anu Dhingra, Principal, DPS Indira Nagar and Madhu Khanna, Headmistress at DPS Jankipuram too were present on the occasion of the inauguration of the branch. The three agreed and expressed resolve that they were geared up to lead this school as the foremost institution in its category in the city of Lucknow.

Spend thrift BSNL ignores public concern

Public money and time does not matter at BSNL

In a recent interview with Hi Time Express (published March 10, 2007), Dr. Shakeel Ahmad (Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology) had criticized the media for singling out BSNL and writing adverse stories on it. Dr. Ahmad even said that he had asked BSNL officials to concentrate on this issue and handle the media more carefully. He also pointed out that media was ignoring the fact that telecom operators were giving lifelong offers when their license was valid for not more than 8 years.
Agreed that media may not have been critical of private operators to the extent that it writes against BSNL but what can the media persons do when they get story after story against BSNL, that too without much effort.
Hi Time Express presents one such issue out of the countless that can be brought to print. The issue relates to a man named Ram Kumar Awasthi, who is the residence of Nauranga Ghatampur near Kanpur. An exchange was already operational at Nauranga but when the need arose to build a tower at Nauranga, Ram Kumar Awasthi, whose residence is about 200 metres from the exchange, was contacted. An agreement was finalized between him and the BSNL officials, based on which a tower was constructed at Awasthi's house about one year back by Nokia, the executing agency working on behalf of BSNL. In fact, Nokia too sublet this to another company RN Infra Communications, who hired a contractor Shamshul to erect the tower on Awasthi’s property.
The tower had been standing for about one year but for reasons best known to the BSNL officials they decided not to shift the exchange there in spite of Awasthi agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions originally decided with BSNL. Awasthi lays the blame on some BSNL officials who demanded money from him and upon his refusal to pay them refused to shift the tower to the new site. The entire plan was stranded even though the tower continues to stand on Awasthi’s property, for which he has received no payment till the last information received to us.
When contacted, T.N. Shukla, GM-BSNL at Kanpur says that BSNL has done no agreement with Awasthi and its exchange is already operational since years. He says: "If somebody erects a tower somewhere, what can we do? We have not given the order. Why should we be bothered if we are not to pay?"
Mr. Shukla is right that BSNL has neither given permission nor done any expense on the construction of tower. That is why BSNL has not released the payment for construction of the tower to Nokia, who have stopped the payment to RN Infra Communications, who have further not paid to Shamshul. If Shamshul has not paid to the labourers employed to construct the tower, we do not know. Neither has any payment been made to Awasthi in whose house the tower stands.
Contrary to what Mr. Shukla says, Prabhat Sinha, Project Manager at Nokia says that construction could not have been initiated without BSNL’s permission: "We are doing project for BSNL. Acquisition is done by BSNL and rent is also paid by them. They give us the location and only then we make the tower for them."
Likewise, Vijayan Pandey of RN Infra says that the tower was constructed after an agreement was reached between BSNL and Awasthi, about 200 metres away from the exchange. He says that they would not have commenced worked on the site if there had been no agreement. Moreover, why would have Awasthi allowed the construction of tower on his land without an agreement?
There is no doubt that an entire tower could not have come up if BSNL had not given the go-ahead to the execution agencies. But why did the BSNL officials back out still remains a mystery.
Mr. Sinha further says: "Terms must have been written in the agreement. Unless agreement is not made, tower would not have come up." And says: "We too are the aggrieved party. After we constructed the tower, we were told that the location is not right. Our money too is at stake on that site. We are talking about resolution."
The signing authority BSNL which gave the entire order to Nokia, who passed it on to RN Infra and then to Shamshul, are now backing out and saying that they never gave the orders to construct the tower.
When contacted, Vikas Jain, Chairman of RN Infra says: "We have taken up the case with BSNL. I was told BSNL is in negotiation with the owner. My experience is that BSNL never does the agreement in advance. It is an understanding, construction starts and then the formalities are completed. Some dispute must have occurred afterwards."
What about loss of money and energy? Why can't BSNL finalize the terms and conditions in advance and then initiate work?
Mr. Jain gives the solution that if no agreement comes through, they will seek permission to dismantle the tower. Again more money and energy will be spent. And says: "I am also the sufferer. We are not allowed to talk to BSNL directly. We are making presentations through Nokia."
Both Nokia and RN Infra’s official line refutes BSNL's claim that the tower was built without their permission. There is something fishy somewhere. TN Shukla’s views clarification in this regard lacks credibility while AK Mishra – DGM Marketing at BSNL-Lucknow refused to entertain Hi Time’s query in this regard. CMD-BSNL and other top officials and also the MoS-Communications and Information Technology chose not to respond to the mail sent in this regard. Wonder whether Dr. Shakeel Ahmad was apt when he talked of better media management for BSNL!

Cricket Murdered

If apprehensions regarding murder of Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer are true, this will be the murder not only of a senior ex-cricketer alone but that of cricket at large. The entire Pakistani team ahs been asked to stay back at Jamaica by the local police who are looking at the prospects of involvement of some key players in Bob Woolmer’s death in mysterious circumstances in his hotel room at Jamaica.
Pakistan and betting has been nearly synonymous till now. Several key players have been accused of this though West Indies, South Africa and India too have not been spared of the blame.
Ex-cricketer Sarfaraz Nawaz’s comments have further added fuel to fire and enhanced suspicions of the relation between Woolmer’s death and betting. That Pakistani team lost two easy games right at the beginning of the tournament further strengthens the point. Nawaz has said that Woolmer was writing a book on the role of betting in cricket and his death could have been planned by bookies who were afraid that their nexus would get exposed.
If all this is true, Woolmer’s death could turn the tide either ways. It is time that ICC takes the death of Woolmer seriously and starts looking beyond the burgeoning coffers so that the chapter of betting gets permanently silenced from world cricket. Or there is a chance that Woolmer’s death would silence all those who might have spoken out against the prevalence of evil practices in the game. As it is, the bookies have shown their long army by planning and executing Woolmer’s death (if true).
Media’s role too is important. It has been doing stories about how the bookies operate. But no spy camera has until now reached the player’s dressing rooms. Indian police that had been tracking the calls of visiting cricketers have not revealed whether they did the same in the case of Indian cricketers. Neither have they commented whether they could muster guts to bring such a conversation to public if they find out anomalies as they did in the case of South African cricketers. And when the media truly got a story, courtesy Manoj Prabhakar, attempt was made to brush the issue under the carpet and Prabhakar was silenced into oblivion by revealing stories of his misconduct and financial irregularities by one of his companies.

And we will also play cricket

It is strange how our worthy media ignored the comments of Rahul Dravid after the win of Indian cricket team versus Bermuda by a convincing margin. In a press conference, Dravid said that his team members were not bothered by the booing fans, adverse comments in the media or other fallouts of humiliating losses, like that suffered in the game against Bangladesh, and the only thing that was of concern to them was the safety of their near and dear ones back home.
This is to be remembered that our media too is equally hysterical as the rest of the fans. A manifest example of this is that there were several papers and TV channels which were talking of India being the top contender till the news of the humiliating defeat poured in. Next morning, India was the minnows, capable of doing nothing. Dravid was being criticized, salvos were being fired at Sehwag and several changes were suggested. Things changed once again after the ‘thundering’ victory against the real ‘minnows of the game – Bermuda – whose coach Gus Logie is on record saying that he will be satisfied if his team reaches the three figure mark in batting. That Bermuda went off to score lot more runs must have been hugely satisfying for him.
Coming as it is, as an aftermath of a great win, the overjoyed media persons ignored the wide-ranging implications of Dravid’s comment, which if taken verbatim implies that the Indian team is least bothered about the sentiments with which the Indians back home view cricket. Had it not been for the physical loss and safety of their relatives, they would have not cared for the patriotic fervour which we at times exhibit towards our cricket. Such remarks and the ignominious defeat when the market was favouring Indian win further strengthens the fears of bookies ruling the roost till then. Pakistan’s defeat and the subsequent death of Bob Woolmer has further strengthened the point that Dravid and his men would have played more freely, winning and loosing at will, had there been no fears of fans attacking their houses or assaulting their relatives.

The New Age Jallads

Country’s law goes backstage as sharp-shooters decide who is to be killed

The term jallad is synonymous with ruthlessness, barbarity and death. During medieval times, the jallads were associated with the King’s durbars; their chief role being to send a prisoner sentenced to death to the gallows.
Even now, in various prisons across the country, it is the jallads who execute the prisoners convicted to death by the courts. In the recent past, these jallads have been brought to notice courtesy the media and stories related to the humane and no so humane side of their lives have been aired and published. Debate is also raging whether such men are a boon or bane for the society.
The new age jallads are different. They are the group of policemen for whom it does not matter whether the criminal has been tried in the courts or convicted of crime. They are a law unto themselves, a law outside of the existing law that governs the country, and seldom abide by the rules and regulations that the Police Department has framed for them. They are the encounter specialists, a term much hyped by the media, courtesy Daya Nayak, the man famed for killing in encounter 83 people in four years outside the framework of country’s law. Wonder why our esteemed judiciary is silent on this account!
Not that these encounter specialists are not to be found in UP. Only recently, the alleged encounter of Atru has much defamed the image of the UP Police when a woman named Gita from Mohammadabad (Farrukhabad) claimed that the person killed in the encounter was not Atru but her brother Kailash alias Attar Singh. This is another matter that police continue to stick to the stand that it was Atru, hobnobbing with them for past 10 years, who had been killed. If the man killed by the police in encounter was indeed Kailash, then who is to be blamed for killing of the innocent truck driver whose death orphaned three children, Muskan (6), Vishal (4) and Vikas (2).
Today, UP Police Headquarters too has certain people demarked as ‘encounter specialists’. Even those who do not carry this tag know that encounters, particularly when the elections are round the corner, would ensure them a raise in position and salary. Fake killing of Kailash is a result of this itself.
What is most worrying is the fact that these ‘encounter specialists’ have now been given a sanction by the people. This clearly suggests people’s dying faith in the systems of the country, including judiciary. Other than certain human rights activists who loathe these policemen, the public as well as the police have more or less given sanction to these ‘specialists’. What used to be called fake encounters till some time back are now ‘encounters’ with the policemen even claiming gallantry awards for doing so.
Debate is raging whether this unique, unofficial policing ‘institution’ needs to be checked. Allegations have been made that these policemen are a law unto themselves hobnobbing with criminals themselves. A local Mumbai journalist recently alleged that Daya Nayak, the most well-known of the encounter specialists, was in the pay of city’s mafia bosses. He cited the illegitimate assets of the SI, drawing not more than 9000 rupees a month, to strengthen his case. Police Commissioner AN Roy was forced to issue a personal report vouching for his man’s honesty.
To an extent these policemen are doing a good job, particularly in Mumbai where the crack team of five policemen has broken the back of the city’s once notorious crime syndicates. But that they have done so at a terrible cost necessitates that such killings should be checked. More than 600 suspected criminals are alleged to have been shot in cold blood, if the human rights groups are to be believed, without allowing them to seek justice from the country’s law.
Daya Nayak is not the only policeman who is involved in encounter killing. Pradeep Sharma claims a total of over 100 “successful” encounters with suspected criminals. Another specialist Vijay Salaskar has more than 30 encounter deaths to his credit.
Daya Nayak and Pradeep Sharma, both defend themselves by saying that they killed the other person when they fired towards them. If that is so, why are they called ‘encounter specialists’? Moreover, why is it that all the rest of the country’s policemen do not ‘encounter’ criminals when they go on performing their duty.
Fact is that encounter or extra judicial killings are not new phenomena for Indian state, though it has changed its position or acceptability in the public psyche for past few years. This is courtesy the Mumbai film industry for making several films ‘inspired’ by the real life of an encounter specialist. After the box office success of such films, one can say that the act of extra judicial killing, which otherwise is a gross violation of the Judicial system, the very aspect of our Constitution (by denying the fundamental right to live), the civil liberties and the human rights, has now got legitimacy in the Indian society.
That is why until people like Kailash continue to be killed in such encounters, the work of these modern day ‘jallads’ will continue to raise eyebrows.

If reservation cannot be given on religious basis, it can neither be denied: Muslim organizations

Muslim organizations in the country are gearing up to counter the major political parties of the country over denial of reservation to Muslims as per Article 341 of the Indian Constitution. As per them, denial of reservation to Scheduled Caste Muslims is nothing but a conspiracy as Scheduled Caste persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist community continue to get reservation under the provisions of this article. Syed Mahmood Naqvi, Editor of a prominent Urdu paper - Hadees-e-Dil - and President of Muslim Friends Society and Dr. M.A. Siddiqui (Vice President - All India United Muslim Morcha) have separately initiated the cause of Muslim reservation under provisions of Article 341. It is to be reminded that when India became free, the section of society that was lagging behind the rest was given the benefit of reservation under the newly formed constitution through Articles 340, 341 and 342. Article 340 dealt with the reservation of the backwards and in this those who were from similar profession were given the reservation, even so belonging to whatever religion. Article 342 dealt with the reservation of the Scheduled Tribes and whosoever came under this category, to whatever religion he or she belongs, if he was an Indian, he was entitled to benefits under reserved category. Till this date, Muslims who belonged to backward class or scheduled tribes are being given reservation under Article 340 and Article 342. PM Sayeed is an example who remained an MP from a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes for about 37 years. But the maximum percentage of Muslim population comes under Scheduled Caste category and it is here where special laws were framed to deny Muslims of reservation. Most of the people who embraced Islam during medieval period were Dalit Hindus who accepted this religion because it promised equality to them. The Dalits also converted in large numbers to Buddhist, Sikh and Christian religion due to the same reasons. These Dalits were educationally, financially and socially backward and it was requisite that they be given reservation like other Dalits. Prior to 1950, from 1935 onwards, Dalits irrespective of their religion, were being given the benefit of reservation. However, in 1950, Dalits were divided on religious lines and those belonging to other religions were kept out of reservation. As per a special Presidential order of 1950, it was stated that only Dalits belonging to Hindu religion would henceforth be given reservation. It was also stated that if these Muslim Dalits convert back to Hinduism, they would become entitled to reservation. This was contrary to Articles 14,15,16 of the Constitution which sees no distinction or division of benefits on the basis of religion. In fact all others, other than Hindus, were denied reservation under Scheduled Caste category but when Master Tara Singh led an agitation in 1956, Dalit Sikhs were brought under the reservation. Later in 1990, Dalit Buddhists too were allowed benefits under Article 341 but Muslims, majority of whom would have benefited from it were denied and a special clause inviting Muslims to reconvert to Hinduism was placed. Dr. MA Siddiqui whose organization All India United Muslim Morcha has been spearheading the campaign to bring Dalit Muslims under Article 341 says: "This was done because of a conspiracy to devoid Muslims of a chance of development at equal pace with the rest of the society. If the Sachar Committee report mentions the pitiable situation of the Muslims, it is all courtesy this order. While on one hand, people are talking of Muslim appeasement, truth is that Muslims lagged behind because of a conspiracy. The planners didn't realize that if 15 crore people, which is a size bigger than the population of many countries, remain behind, how can one expect the nation to develop." Avers Syed Mahmood Naqvi of Muslim Friends Society: "If Congress is really serious about doing something for the Muslims, it should amend the past mistakes and bring out concrete proposals to benefit the deprived lot among the Muslim community." This is to be mentioned that even the Sachar Committee report has suggested that Muslims should be given reservation under Article 341 but Arjun Singh, Minister for Human Resource Development, recently commented that the Government was not bound to act according to Sachar Committee Report as regards to Article 341 thereby casting a doubt on Congress's intentions regarding this. Trying to join Article 341 with vote, All India United Muslim Morcha is claiming that henceforth Muslims would vote for the party that makes its stands clear on this issue. "We are going from village to village, asking Muslims not to ignore this," says Dr. Siddiqui adding that now is the time that Muslims should vote on issues related to development rather than other trifle issues. Dr. Siddiqui claims that 70% of Muslims come under Scheduled Castes and providing the benefits under Article 341 will help the community develop socially, economically and politically.
Not that all politicians are against giving this benefit to the Muslims. Ram Vilas Paswan is the torchbearer of this thought. Even Nitish Kumar and Laloo Prasad Yadav have voiced support to this cause. Raghuvansh Prasad's bill is pending in the Parliament, CPM too has rallied support and individuals belonging to Congress like Supriya Aron and Manzoor Ahmad have supported the issue. Mulayam Singh Yadav got a bill passed from the Assembly and though his MPs in the Parliament are yet to take stand on this issue, he has shown that he would like the Muslims to avail benefits of Article 341. But Congress has not made its stand clear, tied as it is between trying to appease Muslims as well as the Hindus. Says Naqvi: "Reservation has long remained a ploy for gathering votes and now is the time to do something for the underprivileged masses." Dr. Siddiqui adds: "When Congress announced 5% reservation to Muslims, we knew this could not be given under the guidelines of the Constitution and the orders of Supreme Court. It was a mere gimmick to get the Muslims on their side. What Congress can definitely do is to allow reservation under Article 341. If it does so, we will ask our well-wishers to vote for the Congress. But until then we are favouring Mulayam Singh Yadav who has shown some inclination to do something for the Muslims.

Arrogant Chidambaram ignores common man’s plight

It seems the electoral defeat in two states, blamed largely on rising prices, was not enough to make Congressmen rise out of slumber. The Rs. 680,521 crore ($ 148 billion) general budget for 2007-08 was expected to address these issues and the issue of common man in general but it seems that the bespectacled Chidambaram is yet to come out of his nattily dressed attire and well-appointed apartment in New Delhi and apathies with the 70% of India’s poor population.
There’s no doubt that the Finance Minister has failed to deliver yet again. His business card identifies him as a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India and it is high time that he is left to that. If the Finance Minister of a largely poor country looks at the crème 20% to formulate his budget, what else do you have to say? Fact remains that the budget, though having inbuilt populist programs, had nothing concrete in terms of benefiting the common man. Even the benefit to the minorities, much talked about in the context of Sachar Committee Report, has not been elaborated.
Though huge amounts have been given to agriculture, the scenario has reached the nadir already, due to opening of the sector to industrialists and the encroachment of foreign companies in the farmer’s territory. And you believed this country was still agrarian with about 70% of India associated with it. Yes they still are but majority of them continue to live in abject penury with no benefit reaching them.
It is this reason that Chidambaram came under attack from his own party members who blamed his economic policies and failure to rein in inflation for the Congress party’s defeat in elections in two states – Punjab and Uttarakhand. Most of them would have continued with their silence if Chidambaram’s actions had not started adversely affecting their political fiefdoms.
Budget gave a shot in the arm to the ailing BJP whose president Rajnath Singh lost no time in showing that he was skeptical: “The budget proposals do not address the basic issues like curbing prices. This budget will stoke inflation and not reduce it,” he said.
Senior BJP leader LK Advani too dubbed the General Budget as “betrayal of aam admi” saying it showed the Congress had learnt no lessons from its electoral defeat in Punjab and Uttarakhand. He added that the rising cost of food stables brought the fall of the Congress from power in Punjab and Uttarakhand and ridiculed Chidambaram’s proposals to slash prices of pet food.
“At a time today when aam admi finds dal costly, the Finance Minister exults over the fact that he is reducing prices of food for pets like dogs and cats,” Advani said. What Mr. Advani is not aware perhaps is that our Finance Ministry, due to the vagaries of his lifestyle, is more exposed to dogs and cats then the poor man of the country.

Eyeing somebody else’s wife

Attempt to deter Khan from canvassing for Congress
Amar Singh is in a storm once again. That too for a remark jokingly accusing him of eyeing a lady with wrongful intents! And the remark has been made by none else but the King Khan of Bollywood, who is reported to have nearly come to blows with Amar Singh on at least one previous occasion. Blow up of this small incident is being seen as SP’s attempt to deter Shahrukh from canvassing for Congress in the forthcoming UP election.
When Shahrukh Khan commented on Amar Singh at a recent film awards function, nobody had guessed that this comment would turn into a political battle with Samajwadi Party workers as well as members from other organizations protesting outside the actor’s residence ‘Mannat’ in suburban Bandra and Congress workers coming up to defend the actor in another protest. The Samajwadi Party, however, denied it had anything to do with the protest though the party MP Abu Azmi confirmed that some of SP’s workers were participating. Shahrukh on the other hand clarified that the comments were meant in ‘pure jest’ and he did not mean to hurt anyone’s feelings.
It so happened that Khan light-heartedly described Amar Singh as Darinda or fiend at the Awards function, thus leading to condemnation and slogan shouting by those affiliated to SP. Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh even told media persons that he would retaliate by publicly humiliating King Khan for his crude joke against him. Singh said “I found more ‘darindagi’ in his language than in my eyes. I will also humiliate him publicly someday and then apologize to him and say that it was said in black humour.”
However, critics of Amar Singh said that SP workers including Amar Singh should not have taken the comment seriously as all that the King Khan said during that evening was usual satirical talk about himself and many others in the audience. Some even cited that Singh was acting so out of guilt and the Khan’s comment had actually revealed the truth. One person even confessed to seeing the leaked CDs about Singh in which he was found to have made lewd comments about several well-known female actors of Bollywood.
There are others who are citing hardcore politics behind this entire episode. Rumours are already circulating about Shahrukh Khan canvassing for Congress Party in the forthcoming elections of UP whereas Amitabh Bachchan and family will surely be contesting for the Samajwadi Party. It is being said that SP was already looking for an excuse to attack Shahrukh and give him a taste of what to expect if he was to think of entering the dirty arena of UP’s politics. Shahrukh has surely learnt the lesson perhaps and Amar Singh has shrewdly reserved his decision of ‘publicly humiliating’ Shahrukh till the day SRK lands on UP’s soil.
It is to be remembered that is not the first time that duo have had a spat in public. In 2004, during the Zee award function in Dubai, Singh and Khan got into a heated exchange. Singh, who calls Amitabh Bachchan his brother, felt that it was not appropriate for the organisers to give Big B a sitting arrangement on the 12th row. The function was organised by a close friend of Shah Rukh.
Last year before holi both the personalities had differences and those were sorted out at a Holi function organized by Bachchans at their home. But this time there won’t be any invitation for SRK at Bachchan’s house. So where will you patch up King Khan!

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History of arguments Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has had arguments and fights with Shahrukh on earlier occasions as well. At the Zee Cinema awards last year, Singh admitted to differences with Khan but said they kissed and made up after the superstar called him up."I did have an argument with Shahrukh at the Zee awards in Dubai. But it wasn't a scuffle...The experience that I and Amitabh Bachchan had the Zee awards was no less than horrific," Singh had said. "It was I who convinced Bachchan to go to the awards. We chartered a plane to get there so that he could return to Mumbai the next morning to catch his connecting flight to Chennai. "When we reached the function we were given seats in the 14th or 15th row along with the general public...and there was no one from the fraternity to welcome Bachchan. Forget about me, I'm no one in the film industry. But how could Bachchan be treated this way? "Of the 100 years of Indian motion pictures 30 years belong almost exclusively to Bachchan. Not just me, there was a public outcry against Bachchan's treatment even during the function. I couldn't take it." "When we got up to leave, the organizers caught us and began to request us to not leave. Then a scuffle took place between me and (organizer) Morani right there in full public view. "Then Zee's (chief) Subhash Chandra came and slapped Morani. We were then moved to the front row. We weren't comfortable. However, I was taken backstage to give away an award. Then Shahrukh came over to defend Morani. "I said the organisers behaved wrongly. To this Shahrukh said, 'Amar Singh, 'aap kafi goondagardi kar rahen hain (You are being quite a bully).'"I replied, 'Amitji ke saath agar koi aisa vyavhaar karega to main goondagardi karoonga (If someone behaves like this with Bachchan, I will be a bully).' "To be fair to Shahrukh, he told Morani, 'Amitji aur Amar Singh bahut upset hain tum jaake maafi maango. (Bachchan and Singh are very upset, you go and say sorry'. Morani apologized. He should've done so much earlier. "Had Bachchan been there alone, he'd have suffered the humiliation in silence. That's the kind of person he is. It was fortunate that I was around. I reacted the way I should have. The morning after the fiasco, "Shahrukh called me in Mumbai to say he was only joking about the goondagardi (bullying). He is King Khan. We've to take what he says on its face value. "I've more important things to say than brood over such things. I don't let grievances grow in my heart. I told him what I had to. The matter is closed...I told him it didn't matter even if he was serious. Because it was a matter of pride of me to be if I am called a goonda (bully) for protecting my elder brother's honour. I thanked Shahrukh for joking...There was never any scuffle between Shahrukh and me.""I don't have anything against Shahrukh because I don't want to come into films and he has nothing to do with politics. I don't even have anything against Subhash Chandra either. God bless him."
However, things have changed now! Shahrukh is planning entry into politics and it is reported that he has made up his mind about supporting Congress in the UP elections.

Ban online trading of essential items

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Instead of immediately banning futures trading in farm products, P. Chidambaram has announced setting up of a committee which will give its report in two months. This is in spite of the clear writing on the wall in the light of continuous rise in retail prices of onions, sugar and other essential items. Who is calling the shots at the Finance Ministry? Who is concerned about the plight of the poor?

COMMODITY prices have always known to influence voting patterns in elections and political parties have a history of colluding with sympathetic businessmen to inflate or deflate prices of essential commodities to swing votes. Not too long ago, soaring onion prices - that were alleged to have been engineered - helped the Congress beat the ruling BJP in Delhi at the 1998 election. It is being said that the same method was used to increase the sugar prices in Maharashtra recently, thus leading to rise in the share price of companies like Bannari Amman Sugar, Dhampur Sugar and Bajaj Hindustan.
In spite of Congress personally benefiting from allegedly engineered prices till some time back, it is surprising why P. Chidambaram and company under the patronage of the so-called guru Dr. Manmohan Singh continued to look the other way while the prices of essential commodities continued to rise unabated due to speculative futures trading. As late as July last year, the Government continued to deny any move to ban futures trading in spite of concerns raised in this regard by those aware. On the sidelines of a FICCI meeting, Union Consumers Affairs Secretary, L. Mansingh, had said in July 2006: “There is no question of banning future trading in essential commodities. Future trading has stabilised volatility in prices." In September last, The Tamilnadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for a ban on online trading of all essential commodities and its President, S. Rethinavelu, said since the withdrawal of stock holding limits and licensing requirements under the Essential Commodities Act in 2002, the items have been transported and sold without any constraints all over the country.
Only when a hue and cry was raised by some sections of the media mirroring concern over rising prices of food articles and demand to ban futures trade in farm products, the Government has woken up and said it would study the impact of this on prices of essentials. It has also announced setting up of a Committee headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, which will give its report in two months. However, P. Chidambaram still did not confess that speculative trading was responsible for price rise and sidetracked the issue in his budget speech by blaming global commodity price and supply constraints as reasons for increase of prices of essential commodities like wheat, pulses and edible oils.
It seems that the Government is playing in the hands of some vested interests and their like-minded media groups who are carrying the pleas from investment gurus such as Jim Rogers (a big commodity bull) to let in foreign investors and speculators into the Commodity Markets. The Government is not realizing that if that happens, then rampaging commodity speculation will push up the prices of essential commodities so high that it can only lead to a bloodbath.
Physical commodity contract design in India too remains lopsided and favours the speculators. In the US, commodity contracts are physically delivered while in India this system of mandatory physical delivery was done away with due to reasons best known to our worthy gurus of market economy. Consequently, large scale speculators and investors, least related to the industry, came in leading to bullish prices.
There are still two months for the Abhijit Sen committee to give its recommendations. Till then P. Chidambaram has ruled out new contracts in wheat and rice in the futures market. However, it is too little done too late. If Abhijit Sen is really sincere about the plight of the poor, then we already know what his recommendations are going to be. There is no other path to ban all such trade with immediate effect.

“BSNL needs better media management”: Dr. Shakeel Ahmad

Born 2nd January, 1956, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad is serving the 14th Lok Sabha as MP from Madhubani in Bihar and is presently in the Central Government in the capacity of Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. HTE's Aziz Haider chanced to interview Dr. Ahmad on his recent visit to UP. During the interview, Dr. Ahmad talked of varying issues ranging from the condition of UP under Mulayam rule to the affairs of minorities and the telecom industry. He said the Indian telecom industry has come a long way and now it’s time for the country to be the nerve centre for the world. Excerpts from an interview:

Q: Where do you see the telecom industry at present?
A: A host of telecom services are being provided in the country - from plain vanilla telecom apps to cutting edge Wi-Fi; however, connecting the remote villages continues to be an uphill task. These fruits of the telecom revolution should reach the village population as well. We need to increase the tele-density of the country and that's how we can accelerate the process of bridging the digital divide.
Q: What are you doing to take the telecom revolution to the villages?
A: There are one lakh panchayats in the country. In all those one lakh panchayats we are going to start one information centre each through an expense of Rs. 6000 crore. Government has already given this scheme a go-ahead.
One information centre will have one telephone, one computer with internet broadband facility. This will facilitate our e-governance programme. We will train the Panchayat representatives on use of computer and internet. This will be on the lines of Andhra Pradesh where all the village sarpanchs work on internet.
Q: Don’t you agree that the BSNL system is failing?
A: I do not agree with this. There was a meeting of head of circle in Delhi recently. I told them that they should keep this in mind why media always writes adverse stories on BSNL. I ask the media, when we have given license for 20 years to these telecom operators and about 12 years have already expired out of those 20, how come they are giving lifelong offers. Why do the media not write against these companies?
Q: What is the Government doing in this regard?
A: The Government has taken note over this. We have written to TRAI and they are contemplating action.
Q: Where does the telecom industry need improvement?
A: The quality of service (QoS) in telecom need to improve.
Q: You hail from the minority community. What are your views regarding the Sachar Committee report?
A: Minority alone cannot do anything for itself. Majority should take the minority along the path of development. They should come forward and help the Muslims in their efforts at self-development. This is the need of the hour.
Other than the majority community working out plans to benefit the minority, the Muslims should also plan their future. Those who are not strong are blown away by the wind.
Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh need to be praised for taking the bold step of tabling this report. This is a milestone in the right direction. Muslims should take cue and start striving for the path of progress and development.
Congress chose the path of the brave by being non-partisan and secular at the time of Independence. Otherwise it was easy for the Congress to make India a Hindu-rashtra. But it decided to be a party of the masses rather than the party of a particular religion, sect or caste. Congress may have suffered few setbacks due to its policy but it was the path that needs to be commended and appreciated.
Q: Have any specific instructions been given to ministries to plan special schemes for minorities?
A: Proper plan will be chalked out after discussion takes place in Parliament. But this is definite that the Government is very much concerned about implementing the Sachar Committee report. We will try to do our best so that attempt is made to bring the section that is lagging behind, at equal level with the rest. Government may form some nodal agency or give guidelines to all ministries to do something has not been decided yet but this is certainly our concern.
Q: What do you have to say about education among Muslims?
A: They are definitely lagging behind. You people write that madrasas are brewing grounds for militancy. But only 4% Muslims are sending their children to madrasas. I am of opinion that more madrasas should be opened so that more students become educated.
Q: This means Mulayam is right when he distributes computers to madrasas?
A: Mulayam has a dual face and giving computer is a part of that. What has he done to enhance the level of education among Muslims? What has he done to give more employment to Muslims? He talks of Muslims but gives jobs to people of a particular caste.

Noose tightens around Mulayam

Morals, ethics or sheer hard-core politics?

Noose is gradually tightening around Mulayam’s neck in the State and the Election Commission’s announcement of holding the elections in 7 phases is another step in that direction. This shows that the Commission has taken serious note of apprehensions of Congress, BJP and BSP regarding fair and non-partial role of administration and police machinery during the elections. The decision of the Commission not to take services of local police has come as a setback to the SP Government that was busy deploying police force of its choice at crucial police stations. Even the DGP had finalized arrangements to oversee the progress at various cities through Internet while sitting at his office at Lucknow. The decision of the Commission implies that this tested loyal force of Mulayam will sit and watch while the centrally deployed forces take care of law and order during election period.
In this regard, Congress has been largely successful in its mission of removing Mulayam from power prior to election to some extent. Though it has not been able to impose President’s Rule in the State till now, next two days are crucial for Mulayam as Congress may still wish to implement its agenda. Congress has just 25th of February to impose article 356, after which it will become more or less certain Mulayam will carry the bat till the results of the elections.
The noose is being tightened around Mulayam not because Congress has suddenly discovered that law and order has been lacking under his rule. Neither is this decision being made because of the ‘ethics’ over crossing of BSP MLAs and the subsequent Supreme Court’s decision. And if you feel, the Nithari killings or large-scale abduction of children could be the reason, you are once again wrong.
The Congress has been looking elsewhere when all these continue to happen. Not only did Congress ignore the State going from bad to worse during the last three and a half years, but also supported SP in the State. Today, if all these issues are being brought to the forefront it is because Congress has begun preparations for the forthcoming Assembly elections and Congress’s think-tank has decided that it would gain a handful of more votes and few more seats if the elections were to be held under the Governor’s rule.
That is why Congress appears hell-bent on enforcing Article 356 in the State and if there is one reason why Congress has failed to do so until now it is because of CPI’s tacit understanding and consequent unflinching support for Mulayam. CPI therefore is the only hope for Mulayam and unless CPI itself negotiates a few ‘big deals’ for itself and backs down, Congress will have some difficulty in carrying forth its agenda.
The reasons that Congress are putting forth now were all in existence all through the last three and a half years. Supreme Court’s decision that 13 MLAs came out of BSP prior to the remaining 37 may have given a boost at the moment but truth remains that Congress knew right from day one that horse-trading had taken place that resulted in the BSP MLAs deserting their party. It appears nothing but a joke now when the Congress says that it is withdrawing support because it fears further horse-trading in the house by the hands of SP.
Not only the Congress, its new ally Ajit Singh too remained with the ruling party and enjoyed the benefits of being in power all through and deserted company only prior to the elections.
If we talk of BJP, the party too has no moral right to ask for Governor’s rule consequent to Supreme Court ruling. Kesrinath Tripathi became Speaker of the House from BJP’s quota and it was he who had allowed the BSP’s breakaway factions to sit in the house. Fact is that only BSP seems to be having the right to oppose SP at the moment on this issue.
But what to say of politics, because of which all morals and ethics are being put aside in the name of morals and ethics itself. Otherwise we all are already aware of the moves that various political parties are going to take in the near future. Watch out for the political field and interests of each of them and you too may do the guesswork!

Youths beckon Rahul to lead

Youths associated with Congress in the State of UP seem to have only one demand at the moment. They, in unison, are pitching for Rahul Gandhi to take complete control of affairs in the State prior to elections.
It is believed that Rahul Gandhi spearheading the campaign will give great boost to moral of the Congress workers in the State and further consolidate the vote bank by roping in voters at the periphery and also from upper caste, scheduled castes and the minorities, thus leading to greater vote-share and more seats for Congress in this crucial election.
Hi Time assessed the mood of certain senior Congress leaders in this regard. Most of them, barring a few, were confident that Rahul’s entry as head of the Party in the State will go a long way in enhancing Congress’s prospects in the elections. However, a few leaders who opposed this cited that time was not right for Rahul’s entry and Congress should keep this card close till the time of Lok Sabha elections.
Amethi and Rai Bareilly too are jubilant at the prospects of Rahul’s portrayal as head of the party in the State. Mashan Miyan of Nasirabad whom Hi Time spoke to said that Rahul’s entry at helm of affairs will usher in the period of rejuvenation for the party at a faster pace than expected. The entire Uttar Pradesh needs development similar to what has taken place in these two districts and Rahul’s leadership will ensure that the same will happen. Judging by Rahul’s nature, it is certain that he will leave no stone unturned to carry forth the commitments.
Soniaji, the Congressmen are looking at you to release the biggest and most capable weapon in your arsenal not only for the development of party in the State but also for the development of the State of Uttar Pradesh on the whole.

Who is to blame for Samjhauta deaths?

Another train blast has taken place killing 68 people. During the last ten years, 272 lives have been lost in train blasts. This includes the seven series blasts in Mumbai trains on July 11 last year that killed 185 and wounded people in hundreds. A little before, on 11 March, 2003, 11 people died due to a blast in a Mumbai train. 33 people gave away their lives in Brahmputra Mail in Assam on 30 December, 1996.
These are just few incidents that show that terrorists have repeatedly used trains as medium to spread terror. Not just in India, they are doing the same internationally as well; blasts in London and Madrid are a pointer to this.
The Samjhauta Express train blast earlier this week was not just aimed at killing a few more innocents and spreading the message of terror; they were also aimed at ripping apart the cordial ties between India and Pakistan. This is so because this train and its name itself were symbolic of the delicate thread of brotherly relationship that hangs between the two countries and chaos.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil has gone on record saying that he was aware who was responsible for the blasts but would not like to name them at the moment as this would have adverse impact. Moreover, there are reports that intelligence agencies had already forewarned the government about likelihood of such an attack. Even general people were aware of the threat to this train, in particular, and rest of the trains in general. Why did the Government and Railway authorities in particular failed to take any preventive measures? The very fact that 12 passengers in the train, including Pakistani nationals, were traveling without passports and there were only seven security persons in the train comprising 16 coaches is an indication to this.
Moreover, the Haryana police is claiming that two persons boarded the train from Old Delhi Railway Station and alighted from it about 15 minutes before the explosions when the train had slowed down near the Deewana station. Clearly they had no valid tickets to be traveling on this train whereas people without passports and valid visas are not allowed to board the Samjhauta Express. These two even had heated arguments for 20 minutes with the security personnel on board the train. Even the sketches of these people have been released. Why were no attempts made to stop these people from getting down? Is it so easy for a person to alight from a high-security train? If people can alight midway, there are all possibilities that others can board it too.
It is worthless to claim that so and so was behind the attack? No doubt, direct hand of Jaish or Lashkar-e-Toiba cannot be ruled out. But who is to be blamed for utter failure to take care of the security. Samjhauta Express is not like any other trains which stops at every other station to take in or drop passengers. All the passengers had boarded the train from Delhi, which has been under terrorist attacks on countless occasions and a minimum amount of security is expected at the station.
What is the point of red alert now? People’s baggage is once again being screened at the stations from the day the blast occurred. The same was being done till a few days after the previous similar attacks in Mumbai and elsewhere. Terrorists are not fools like us who would plan another attack in the near future. They are sure to lie low until this ‘alert’ converts into ‘slumber’ once again.

The raging price war

Panic has gripped the Government over the sudden spurt of prices in the country. It has resulted into a series of decisions including banning export of some goods, allowing easier import of some others, reducing or eliminating Customs duties, invoking restrictive storage laws and delisting a couple of essential commodities from the bourses. Unfortunately, these steps have come as too little too late. This is so because financial analysts were already citing apprehensions from a few months now regarding the continued swelling of inflation. And the reactions when they have come are being seen as knee-jerk and topical rather than a well-planned effort to counter the problem.
As it is, it was being said that the fruits of much-touted economic growth have not reached large sections, especially in the rural areas. In fact, the fallout of rapid growth was that the pockets of multinationals and big Indian companies continued to swell, even with additional money generated from the rural areas. Galloping inflation is sure to rob the poor further and hurt the lower middle class as well, though a little less grievously. Under present conditions, the benefit of high prices paid by consumers does not flow back to primary producers, but is siphoned away by middlemen and speculators who enjoy a free run in an economy of shortages. Government has done little to better the plight of agriculture sector as well as the physical market while the manufacturing sector has been reeling under the burden of excess demand, leading to shortages of essential commodities. This demand cannot be countered with increased imports as the high global market prices have not allowed it to remain conducive for our economy.
Measures taken by the Government are not sufficient. In fact, it failed to act on time and the present inflation is courtesy our deviated policies. Otherwise, inflation is not an overnight phenomenon.
Even announcing the cut in fuel product prices is being seen more as a political ploy to dampen the BJP’s stirrings against the general price rise, rather than a sincere attempt to go to the root of the problem. Crude oil prices have as it is fallen recently, though they have started looking upwards post Bush’s fresh tirades against Iran. Once the prices will rise again, the Government can easily reverse the cut.
Clearly, the country is paying a heavy price for the omissions and commissions, primarily in neglecting the farm sector which has not allowed us to take proper remedial steps towards augmenting supplies and controlling prices. And finally when we did take some decision, it was primarily a negative one, which is not going to have any worthwhile impact in the future. Banning export of wheat and wheat products and putting an embargo on milk powder export is the buzz world whereas till only sometime back the companies from abroad were coming to India, purchasing the wheat in bulk, taking it back and then reselling it to India in times of need. That was one extreme, what we are doing now is another extreme, which is going to have only short-term impact. We are so paranoid that we are bent upon closing even the smallest window of export.
The Government has to consider a range of fiscal and speedy delivery mechanisms to tackle the current price rise that shows little signs of abating. Long-term solutions will have to be incorporated in the forthcoming Budget if we wish the situation to remain in control.
All this show that our revered saints of market economy were either not vigilant or were differentially focused when it comes to reading the signals and acting in time. Consequently, it has gone on defensive, and without any effective ammunition to fight the rise in prices all of a sudden, it is appearing to be an impotent force trying to show it is still virile.

Lead poisoning leads to impairment

Lead is a crucial component of human anatomy. But a bit more of it and there’s trouble in store. Anaemia, impairment of intelligence and several other impairments are direct offshoots of increased lead content, which is generally called lead poisoning. This was revealed by Dr. Abbas Ali Mehdi of KGMU in an exclusive discussion with HTE.
Dr. Mehdi has been involved with research related to lead poisoning for several years now. His studies on lead content level among painters have revealed that the lead content is several times higher, which could have adverse impact on the health of these painters and could even lead to renal failure in some cases.
Blood samples of 18 such painters were sent to Kolkata’s Vivekanand Institute of Medical Sciences as there is no lead analyzer presently available in Lucknow. Results have revealed lead content was 6 to 7 times more on average. “Normally 2 micrograms per dl of lead is present in blood but samples of these painters contained up to 20 micrograms of lead presence. In one case, this was as high as 27 micrograms as well,” Dr. Mehdi informed.
Consequently, Dr. Mehdi is spearheading a campaign to formulate a society that will exclusively conduct research in this area. In this regard, he has already tied up with NGO Prithvi Innovations, whose caretaker Anuradha Gupta has been involved in few researches in this field. Era Hospital, a prominent hospital in Lucknow, has been persuaded to install a lead analyzer machine in its premises.
Dr. Mehdi is hoping that once the society comes into shape, they would be able to conduct lead related research among other groups as well. These include the tannery workers, battery, lock, bangle, pottery and bulb industries and the toys that are coloured with bright colours. He fears that lead content could be as high as that among painters in several of these industries but not much can be said at the moment as there is no proper study to supplement the view.
Elaborating on the urgent need in this regard, Anuradha Gupta says that lead has a peculiar characteristic of following the calcium in the human body. Wherever there is calcium, lead goes and deposits itself. Hence high levels of lead could result in difficulty in walking and movement of limbs as well. Even lactating mothers, with high lead content in their bodies, can pass on this poison to their children. Children are particularly at risk as there have been reports of high lead content in herbal medicines, including Chawanprash.

The project is being promoted by George Foundation and St. John’s Academy of Health Sciences in Bangalore who are funded by international agencies like WHO, UNICEF and World Bank and wants a UP Referral Centre to further augment their work in this regard.

Dual face of the United States

The United States has shown its dual face once again. North Korea was labeled part of the “axis of evil” only in January 2002 when Washington went public with its accusations of nuclear activity at Yongbon. Thereafter, defying international pressure, North Korea went ahead with a nuclear test. Now that it has tested the bomb, the United States is patting its back over the deal with this ‘rogue’ state, as per which Pyongyang will declare all its nuclear facilities and shut them down.
Analysts feel that making Pyongyang declare all its nuclear facilities and shutting them down is likely to prove arduous. This is so because the country is believed to have numerous mountainside tunnels in which to hide projects. This is to be remembered that North Korea conducted its only nuclear test deep inside a mountain. Therefore it is perfectly possible that weapon’s research could be continued at other, undeclared sites.
At the same time, the United States has promised fuel to the North Korean regime. This much-needed support will in fact help preserve the regime. In 1994 too, Bill Clinton had persuaded Pyongyang to freeze its plutonium-based nuclear weapons program in return for aid and funds to build light water, power-producing reactors. But it backed down and went ahead with nuclear research. Fact remains that America has rewarded the communist regime, which left the Non Proliferation Treaty four years ago, for defying the world with its test, while at the same time it is fighting tooth and nail to deny Iran the same privilege, which has reiterated time and again that it will limit itself to peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Nobody can deny now that the US has engaged in this exercise because it wishes to calm fears of conflict in one corner of the world, while it pursues war in others, viz. Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, including Iran.
The dual face of the US is evident also from the fact that while on one hand it is leaving no stone unturned to strangulate Iran on its attempt to go ahead with nuclear research, Clay Sell (Deputy Secretary of Energy) and Robert Joseph (Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security) in a press briefing at Washington DC on February 16, 2006, talked of the urgent need for all developing countries to look at nuclear power as the energy substitute, something that Iran claims to be doing.
Look at the urgent need for taking optimum benefit out of nuclear resources that the two are talking about: “There are over 130 nuclear reactors under construction, planned or under consideration around the world today. The U.S. has not ordered a nuclear power plant in over 30 years and we have 103 nuclear power plants in this country. We have more than any other country, but we have not built one in about 30 years. And so we are anxious to get back into the nuclear generation business ourselves.”
And then the two talks of the benefits: “I would like to spend just a moment to elaborate just a little bit more on the benefits; why we need such a dramatic expansion of nuclear power. Here in the United States we are serious about reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, particularly coal and natural gas for electricity generation. We want to be able to meet this increasing energy demand in a way that does not significantly increase our carbon emissions. We want to develop technologies that allow us to recycle spent fuel.” It is clear that they can do it, but not Iran.
Speaking further on US’s recent Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, they said: “There are seven key elements of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership and I will quickly tick through each one of those and then we'll open it up to questions.
“The first element is to expand dramatically the use of nuclear power here in the United States. We think -- today, we have 100 nuclear reactors; many of those are going to start phasing out in the coming decades. We think we really need to be, from a public policy standpoint we're shooting for 300 reactors in 2050; that's a significant increase. That's what we think would be appropriate to meet our energy needs as well as to manage our greenhouse gas emissions and that's going to require significant advances in technology.
“Another key aspect of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership is teaming together with a number of nations on advanced reactor technology. And a lot of the reactors that are on the market today are of great scale and they're appropriate for the most advanced electricity grids where there are huge load demands. And we would like to develop, in partnership with other nations, advanced reactors that are passively safe, that could have a lifetime of the reactor cores, that are possibly meltdown proof, that can be built on a modular basis, can perhaps even be factory built, shipped to a country and deployed. There are tremendous opportunities with advanced reactor technology that we think are critical and that can be developed in a way that will allow us to safely bring the benefits of nuclear power to the developing world. And working in partnership with other nations in developing these technologies is a key part of our initiative.”
And conclude that they dream of a world with much more nuclear power (sans Iran, of course). “So in conclusion, we really hope to envision a world with much more nuclear power, with much greater nuclear energy security which comes from energy diversity, a world that advances significantly our development goals, a world with much less carbon and pollution intensity, a world with much less nuclear waste and a world with less proliferation risks and less stocks of fissile material.”
What few have noticed till now is that the US is talking of a Global Nuclear Energy Partnership when it has not built a nuclear power plant following the Three Mile Island accident nearly 30 years back. Says a US expert on the subject: “Three Mile Island was the only serious accident in the history of nuclear energy generation in the United States, but it was enough to scare us away from further developing the technology: There hasn't been a nuclear plant ordered up since then.”
This is in spite of the fact that more than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions -- or nearly 10 percent of global emissions -- of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power.
If this is so why has the US not done so for the past 30 years? Was just a mere accident enough to reason to deter it? Russia didn’t stop doing so after Chernobyl where 56 people died from radiation or burns. There was no casualty in the Three Mile Island accident, whereas more than 5000 coal-mining deaths occur worldwide every year. In fact no one has died of a radiation-related accident in the history of the U.S. civilian nuclear reactor program. (And although hundreds of uranium mine workers did die from radiation exposure underground in the early years of that industry, that problem was long ago corrected.)
Are there other serious issues that we are not aware of? Considering the US’s dual standards, one can presume there must be some more uglier and serious reasons than a mere apparently insignificant accident for stopping construction of nuclear power plants.
Answer perhaps lies in the speech of Clay Sell and Robert Joseph themselves. Other countries that US is aligning with as part of its Global Nuclear Development Partnership, and that includes India, are shortly going to become guinea pigs not only for latest experimentations in nuclear use but also as a dumping ground for nuclear wastes. Say the two US experts: “It makes the challenge of disposing of that waste a very significant challenge. And so we want to reduce the quantity, the radio toxicity and the heat load of the waste that we ultimately have to dispose of. And we also want to capture the energy value which is in spent fuel. And if we are able to do that, we can optimize and make our geologic repository in the United States at Yucca Mountain much more efficient.
“If we keep our policy and we don't recycle in the United States, we will have to build nine Yucca Mountains over the course of the century, if we just keep Yucca Mountain at 20 percent of our -- if we just keep nuclear power at 20 percent of our electricity generation. If we recycle and can burn down those wastes in a way that we are proposing, we will be able to use -- that one Yucca Mountain will be able to last for the entirety of the century.”
This is to be remembered that Yucca Mountains, Nevada have been chosen as first long-term geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the US. The Government plans to start using it from 2017 while at present the US stores this waste at 126 sites around the nation; these materials are a result of nuclear power generation and national defense programs.
India and other similar countries will not only be giving their territory for disposal but also providing money to the US for further research on areas which has prohibited the US Government from building new Nuclear Power Stations till now. Not realizing all this, many in India were taken aback with the Bush administration, which has always wanted to uphold the non-proliferation regime, but decided to reach an understanding with India on nuclear energy. Unable to find a logic, many of us thought it was all about China.

Mulayam Rules

Surpreme Court’s latest verdict in which it has disqualified the 13 MLAs who had left BSP three years back from the primary membership of the Legislative Assembly has further confirmed the chances that the next Assembly elections will be held under SP rule, though under strict vigilance. Fact remains that whatever permutations and combinations are used, odds continue to favour Mulayam.
On 25th January last, Mulayam had won the vote of confidence in the house. At that time Mulayam needed 197 votes in his favour but eventually got 223. After disqualification of 13 MLAs by the Supreme Court, the count of MLAs in the Assembly has got reduced to 380.
This is to be reminded that out of 404-member Assembly, 2 members have died and 9 MLAs do not have the voting right. As per calculations, Mulayam now needs 191 votes in favour and he has 210 MLAs with him. If the other group of 24 MLAs who left the BSP too are disqualified, then Mulayam will need votes of 179 MLAs while he will have 188 MLAs favouring him. There is every likelihood that these 24 MLAs too would be disqualified as the Supreme Court has ruled that the decision of the Speaker to consider these 24 MLAs as another group called Loktantrik Bahujan Dal was incorrect.
However, the Speaker has maintained till now that since there were 37 MLAs who had left the BSP and decided to support the BSP, it comes within the parameter of one-third members and hence cannot be disqualified. But the Speaker overlooked the fact that all the 37 MLAs had not announced their decision together and 13 MLAs had left BSP initially, which was followed by another 24 leaving the party two days later. What nobody talks of is the motive and ethics behind the decision of these MLAs. It was a clear case of horse-trading and falling ethics within our political system. The Supreme Court’s verdict of disqualifying the 13 MLAs and asking the Speaker to reconsider his decision regarding 24 MLAs is a pointer to this. Unfortunately, the decision has come too late as the Mulayam government is already on verge of completing the tenure of this Assembly.
It remains to be seen now what new tactics the Congress, the BSP and the BJP will use in their attempt to oust Mulayma, prior to the Assembly elections, when it has become more or less certain that Mulayam continues to rule the House.
These parties have already started saying that Mulayam should resign considering the fact that he was not in majority three year back. They have also begun pressurizing the Governor to take decision to oust Mulayam from power and usher President Rule in the State. But on the other hand, Mulayam is jubilant as the Supreme Court has refrained from taking any decision against his government and instead asked the Speaker to reconsider his decision regarding the fate of 24 MLAs. Mulayam is now gearing up to go for another vote of confidence on 26th February. Unless some unprecedented developments take place, it is very likely that he will emerge victorious yet again.

Mulayam continues to rule still…
Out of the 404-member Assembly, two have died and 13 have been disqualified under the order of Supreme Court. This is the present position:
SP 152
BSP 67
BJP 83
Congress 15
Others 56
Nominated 1
Independents 6
Vacant 2
Devoid of voting rights 9

“Mulayam has no right to continue’: BSP leader
Shiv Kumar Gupta is a prominent leader of BSP who has been given the task of strengthening the Party’s base among the Vaishya community. This arduous responsibility has been given by none other than Mayawati herself.
Talking to this correspondent, Gupta feels that Mulayam Singh has no right to continue in office, particularly after the decision of Supreme Court disqualifying the 13 BSP deserters and raising a question mark on the continuance of 24 others in the Assembly. Gupta says that the Court verdict has amply demonstrated that Mulayam had not won a majority on 9 September, 2003, when these BSP MLAs were paraded in the house in support of SP. This shows that Mulayam’s government was not in majority at the time when he formed the government. When asked regarding the BSP’s National General Secretary and MP, Satish Chandra Mishra’s comment urging the Governor to impose President’s Rule in the State, Gupta said that this is exactly what the Governor should be doing now.
Businessman turned politician, Gupta contested for Assembly elections from Mahmoodabad. Recently, he contested for the Mayor post in Lucknow but failed to capture good number of votes. In this regard, Gupta says that since he contested the election as an Independent and not on party symbol, it is wrong to see it as failure. Gupta is now eyeing Lucknow Central or Lucknow East seat for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

White garbs, black deals

Goons and white-collared criminals enjoy the protection of not just in the States of UP and Bihar. Penetrate a little inside the working of corridors of power and you would find the same happening in Delhi. Even the supposedly clean white-collared and white-dressed profession of Indian army could not wipe out the accusations of shady deals.
Former naval chief Adml. Arun Prakash’s wife’s nephew Ravi Shankaran, key accused in the naval war room leak case, is being ‘protected’ by Ministry of External Affairs, which has been reluctant to approach the British authorities for extradition despite the request of CBI pending with it for about 8 months.
Shankaran is a declared absconder and said to be the main link between the secrets leaked from the naval war room and the Rs. 18,898-crore Scorpene deal. Yet, his ‘high connections’ enabled him to sneak out of the country. Who could have stopped him from doing so when key men in the army were his backers?
Consequent to his escape, the CBI requested the MEA on two occasions, viz. May 18, 2006 and Oct. 27, 2006. Even Interpol issued a red corner notice against him on May 12, but MEA, under the stewardship of Pranab Mukherjee, is sitting on the request even though under the provisions of Article 12 of the Indo-UK extradition treaty, the Government of Indian can seek his arrest and subsequent deportation to India.
Such is the sensitive and explosive nature of evidence available with CBI that when it submitted 369 pages of classified data, including crucial file notings and procurement-related information, to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini, it handed them in a sealed packet with the plea that it be kept in her safe custody and not be made public. It is believed that these documents could cause severe embarrassment to the defence establishment as they prove that Abhishek Verma, retired naval officer Kulbhushan Parashar and Ravi Shankaran were tapping ministry of defence officials for classified information. Sources reveal that the three were passing the documents relating to the army and navy’s weapon and equipment requirements to international armament firms. CBI’s chargesheet says clearly these people were “spying on behalf of several multinational firms” and were inciting defence personnel to spy on their behalf. So far, the CBI has tracked Rs. 6.2 crore which, the agency alleges, was paid as bribes to defence personnel.
It was in May 2005 that the IAF’s intelligence wing found that secret information was being leaked from the navy’s war room. While navy headquarters dismissed three allegedly involved officers without a showcause notice or a trial, no action was taken against the civilian recipients of the data, including Ravi Shankaran.
Unless Shankaran is arrested and brought back, some of the vital links in the investigation relating to Scorpene deal will continue to elude the investigating agencies. This puts question mark on the Governments’ willingness to bring back the key accused. The irony of ironies is that the same people who left no stone unturned to pressurize the Mulayam Singh government to give the Nithari killings case to CBI are attempting to strangulate the CBI in its attempt to bring back the key accused who has also been declared an absconder.

Election fever begins

Punjab, Uttaranchal and Manipur are the last states to go to election before the turn of the mother of all battles for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh. Hi Time Express’s Aziz Haider explores the highs and lows of the mood in these states when they are readying to go to polls.
Voting for 117-member Punjab assembly will take place on February 13, while the 70-member Uttaranchal assembly elections are to be held on February 21. In Manipur, the elections will be held in three phases, on February 8, February 15 and February 23. The counting and results will take place at all the three places on February 27.

Tough fight in store at Punjab; BSP the dark horse
Punjab is going to polls on February 13. There are 1039 candidates in the fray fighting for the 116 assembly constituencies in Punjab, while the election to the Valtaoha assembly segments has been countermanded following the death of the CPI candidate there.
The campaigning has reached its peak as we write this peak. Only recently, Congress dispatched Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on a State visit, wherein he addressed rallies in Patiala and Ludhiana.
Speaking at Patiala, the PM said: “We have our Congress-led government at the centre. If you re-elect the Congress in Punjab, I can assure you that my government (in the centre) will give full support to the state government. We will make Punjab the number one state in the country.” Wonder what has been done for past two years when there are Congress led governments, both in Punjab and Centre.
Holding the Shiromani Akali Dal responsible for the dark period of Sikh terrorism in Punjab during 1982-92, Manmohan Singh urged the electorate to compare the achievements of the Congress and the Akalis.
'Please compare the Congress rule with that of Akalis. They did not allow any development to take place,' he said.
Sonia Gandhi too has also personally entered the fray and will be addressing several rallies during the last few days prior to election with an aim to catch the voters during the last moments.
The major highlight of these elections is the great number of dissidents, both in the ruling Congress’s camp and the major contender Prakash Singh Badal’s camp. However, there is a general opinion that though it may not come to power, BSP is set to influence the outcome of several assembly seats in these elections.
The position of Congress is particularly bad, which during the last few years of Capt Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister witnessed rebellion from the sitting MLAs twice, which threatened to rock the Congress government in the State.
Presently, Congress is faced with an acute problem of dissidence in its ranks as rebels are opposing the official Congress candidate in 27 assembly segments. These rebels continue to remain in fray despite Capt. Amarinder Singh and PPCC president Shamsher Singh Dullo trying their level best to persuade the rebels to withdraw their nominations against the official candidates. Consequently, AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi has announced that all Congress rebels who are opposing the official candidates automatically stood expelled from the primary membership of the party for six years.
Consequently, all the 27 rebel candidates of Congress stand expelled.
Meanwhile, Akali Dal (Badal) too has not remained without dissidence. The party has expelled six rebels who refused to withdraw their nomination papers against official candidates after the expiry of the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.
All is not well for Akali Dal (Badal) since it received a major political set back in Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections sometime back where his party lost the mandate to its core rival Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) led by Paramjit Sarna.
It is widely believed that this loss is going to reflect on the Punjab elections. SAD (Delhi) led by Paramjit Sarna got clear cut majority in DSGMC by winning 28 seats, where as Akali Dal (BADAL) got 12 and SAD (Panthic) got 6 seats in the house of 46. SAD (Delhi) is said to be having tacit support of Bibi Joginder Kaur Tohra, wife of late Gurcharan Singh Tohra. Also, SAD (Panthic) had support of former Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh, which also has mustered some support against Akali Dal (Badal). Badal had removed Bhai Ranjit Singh from Sri Akal Takht Sahib when he tried to intervene on the issue of dispute between Badal and Tohra.
This loss of Akali Dal (Badal) has given some relief to Congress, reeling under dissidents and incumbency factors. However, the road continues to be uphill for Congress party.

The Chief Minister lives life king-size
Capt. Amarinder Singh, the Chief Minister of Punjab, has left all other CM’s behind when it comes to opulence and ostentatious living. Therefore, while our own Mulayam has to sneak out to Sahara land to enjoy ‘some moments of peace’, the Punjab CM blatantly displays his wealth so much so that he flies in to capital Chandigarh every morning from his palace in Patiala.
Hailing from the royal family of Patiala, Capt. Amarinder Singh is also known for lavish parties where wine flows like water and delicacies from all over the region spread out in sumptuous menus in front of the guests. Recently, Capt. Amarinder Singh’s large-heartedness has been witnessed by the local journalists who have announced great bounties on the members of the fourth estate. As regards to his ministers, they have been given luxurious Camrys to reach office while the CM’s own office was modernized after spending more than 3 crore rupees.
All this blatant display of wealth is being carried out by the Congress CM in spite of Party President Sonia Gandhi’s strictures to party men to follow a code of conduct. She had said in one of her statements: “The lifestyle of many of our leaders can put us to shame. I am pained by the way they flaunt their wealth – whether it’s during marriages or birthdays. It seems as if our sympathy for the poor is a joke. I’m strictly against this vulgar display of wealth…”
In spite of such clear remarks, it is apparent that they have fallen on deaf ears. And with Punjab Chief Minister openly flouting Sonia Gandhi’s guidelines on austerity, it is obvious that some Congressmen pay no heed to President’s directives when it comes to spending their wealth.

Sonia wooing voters in Manipur too
Voting for the first phase of the Assembly elections in Manipur has already taken place. Observers believe that the campaigning has largely remained lackluster but during the last few days when Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed a few major public rallies.
Maintaining the territorial integrity of Manipur is a major poll plank for Congress in the backdrop of the demand by the NSCN (IM) outfit for the integration of all the Naga-dominated areas in the region into a greater Nagalim. In her rally, Congress president categorically stated the government was ‘seriously and genuinely’ considering the recommendations of the Jeevan Reddy Committee on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958.
The Centre has been engaged in a long-drawn process of negotiation with the Naga militant outfit for more than a decade now ever since the government signed a ceasefire pact with the outfit.
Meanwhile, Azang Rongmei, general secretary of the united Naga Council (UNC) called upon every Naga to understand why the Indo-Naga talks sojourned after Manipur elections and expressed his views that the election will play a catalytic part in a "win-win" situation for both ends.
President Naga Women Union Manipur, Grace Shatsang gave a key note address on Naga issues where she stated the rights of the Nagas and their land for which their forefathers struggled. The coming election is the election of "Nagas integretion vs Manipur integration," she added.Thousands and thousands at a gathering shouted the slogan "Long live Naga-lim" three times in unison after the speaker.

BJP giving Congress a run for its money at Uttaranchal
BJP stands a great chance of victory in the forthcoming elections in Uttaranchal. This is in spite of Narayan Dutt Tiwari’s recent public comments that the Congress was to retain its hold over the State. Fact remains that even ND Tiwari knows in his heart that it will be extremely difficult for him to cross the half-way mark this time and it is this reason why he has already announced that he won’t be a candidate for Chief Minister in case the Congress was to return to power in the State.
In the previous elections, the BSP had also registered its presence in the state by winning seven seats in Haridwar and Uddham Singh Nagar. In fact, it was BSP, securing 10.93% votes, which damaged the BJP and prevented it from coming to power. BSP is to play a significant role this time as well though SP will continue to remain on periphery like on last occasion when it contested 63 seats but at the 57 seats its candidates could not save their deposits. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) too could upset the calculations this time. The party got 5.49% votes and four seats during the last elections.
In the previous elections the BSP had also registered its presence in the state by winning seven seats in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. In fact, the victory of BSP damaged the prospects of BJP. The BSP had got 10.93 per cent votes. The SP had, however, contested 63 seats but at the 57 seats its candidates could not save their deposits. But later it won the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat, and may now open its account in the state assembly. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) had bagged 5.49 per cent votes with four seats. Three seats were won by independents. The CPI had fielded 11 candidates and the CPM had fielded five candidates last time but they all lost their deposits.
If we look at the outcome of the last assembly polls in Uttaranchal held in February, 2002, the Congress had received 26.91% votes (36 seats) while the BJP bagged 25.45% votes with 19 seats. Compared to the Congress, the BJP had bagged just 42,000 less votes out of the total 28,63,886 (54.34%) polled last time. This time, Congress is already reeling under several cases of corruption and the negative fallout of remaining in power for the past five years. Though more than 8 lakh new voters have been added in the State, who are going to play a crucial role in the elections, if we keep in mind the last year’s position, mere one per cent swing in favour of BJP will bring the party to power. Analysts feel that this is most likely to happen.
It is perhaps this reason why prominent Congress leaders skipped Uttaranchal and concentrated on Manipur and Punjab this election season.

Conquering the World

India Inc. is surely going places! Taking over Corus is another feather in the cap of indigenous home-grown firms that have begun to reverse the order of takeovers. Only recently Videocon-Daewoo deal worth $684.78 mn showed that Corus is just not a stray deal and India Inc. has actually come of age to compete with the world’s best, even on their home turf.
Clearly, the axis of corporate power is seeing a major shift and the sure winners are Asian countries – India and China. The buyout of Corus (formerly British Steel) has in particular given a jolt to the Europe as it was this company which had provided the infrastructural backbone for the expansion of the English empire in the 18th and the 19th century. The tide has been reversed now. Summing this up, a prominent British newspaper headlined its story: “The Empire Strikes Back”.
The most significant change is that Indian businessmen who were till recently interested in smaller markets like Africa and Asia are flexing their muscles among the corporate world of Europe and Americas. It is estimated that out of the total investments done offshore by Indian companies, Oil and Gas and Pharma and Healthcare sectors together account for nearly 35%, followed IT companies that account for about 13% of all investments. The total amount of investments done offshore by Indian companies can be gauged from the fact that even after the takeover of Corus, being termed as the biggest global takeover by an Indian company, investments by Indians in the manufacturing sector a miniscule 10% of the overall investment.
Other than Tatas and Videocons, several more of Indian firms have been in news recently for similar takeover. These include Suzlon Energy, M&M, Ranbaxy Labs and the AV Birla Group. Even relatively lesser known Indian companies like Subex System which purchased UK-based Azure Solutions for $140 million.
Other companies which have been in the forefront of international ventures recently include AV Birla Group, whose MD, Kumar Mangalam Birla, is now on prowl looking for to buy global firms. The recent buyout of the Canadian Minacs was only one such step.
Ranbaxy too is eyeing new markets vigorously. Its CEO, Malvinder Singh has recently been on global acquisition spree. Presently, the company has eight overseas plants from where nearly three-fourth of its revenue comes.
A major acquisition was carried out by Suzlon Energy recently, which acquired Belgian Hansen Transmissions which is the world’s second largest maker of gearboxes. Tulsi Tanti, CMD, Suzlon Energy bought Hansen because gearboxes are a major component for Suzlon’s turbines. With another company in his arsenal, Suzlon is now gearing up for more global ventures.
Other significant acquisitions in the recent past include Tata Tea buying the food and beverage firm Energy Brands, USA ($677 mn), Wipro buying three US-based companies, mPower, cMango and Quantech, for a combined $58 mn, ONGC Videsh taking over Ominex of Columbia ($425 mn), Aban Lloyd buying the Norwegian oil major Sinvest ($425 mn), Dr. Reddy’s taking over Betapharm, Germany ($571.77 mn) and also Jeco Holding, Germany (140 mn euros), Ranbaxy taking over Terapia, Romania ($324 mn) and Videocon buying CPT major Thomson, France (240 mn euros).
This is not to speak of Reliance, which now divided two-fold, has become manifold stronger with both Mukesh and Anil Ambani looking for fresh M&As on global level. Though the two brothers have recently been concentrating on strengthening their domestic fiefdoms, the two cannot be excluded when one talks of M&As globally.
This is also not to speak of the Indian businessmen settled abroad like Mittals who are shoulder-to-shoulder with Tatas, when it comes to steel.