In other words, 2/3rd merchandise came from India to UAE.DUBAI: India has featured in the list of leading exporters to UAE free zones last year with a total export value of USD 30 billion (110.4 billion dirhams), or 66 per cent of the total value of the country's imports.
ramana wrote:And where does UAE re-export that stuff from India?
NEW DELHI—In 1930, Indian physicist C. V. Raman won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of inelastic photon scattering, known as the Raman effect. The phenomenon became a powerful tool for analyzing matter—but it was other countries that used the basic knowledge to invent Raman scanners. That still causes heartburn here. In a new report, a blue-ribbon panel cites Raman as one egregious example of India's systemic failure to capitalize on basic research findings.
The report, released last week by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, offers a stinging indictment of India's scientific frailties, noting that science here is “severely hampered by oppressive bureaucratic practices and inflexible administrative and financial controls.” Titled India as a Global Leader in Science, the “vision document” also offers a blueprint for strengthening Indian science—one that will require heaps of money to implement.
“We would need to redouble our efforts and hope that the ideas in the vision document will inspire the scientific community,” Singh said in releasing the report. The first of its kind, the report is getting mixed reviews. Goverdhan Mehta, an organic chemist at the University of Hyderabad and past president of the International Council for Science in Paris, says the recommendations are sound. “If India is to become a formidable force, incremental approaches will just not work. One needs to leapfrog,” Mehta says. Others are unimpressed. It is a “very environment-friendly document since it has recycled so many old ideas,” scoffs one senior scientist.
Commissioned by Singh's office, the panel, led by the chair of the prime minister's scientific advisory council, C. N. R. Rao, a chemist at Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, flatly declares in its report that “India is yet to become a major force in global science. … Indeed India's relative position in the world of science has declined in the last twenty years.” It blames inadequate investment in science both by the government and by industry. That has led to a disconnect between basic research labs and industry, says chemical engineer Raghunath A. Mashelkar, now president of the Global Research Alliance in Pretoria. The paradigm of “science being born in India but products being born overseas has to be overturned,” he says.
“To begin to contribute significantly to world science,” the report says, India's share of scientific papers should rise from the present 2% or so to “something like 10%” over the next 10 years. It also urges Indian researchers to claim more intellectual property: The panel calls for a 10-fold increase in international patents owned by Indians, from 1900 in 2007 to about 20,000 by 2020. And training scientists should get a major boost: India should produce about 30,000 science Ph.D.s a year by 2025, up from 8420 in 2006. To meet those targets, the government should double science spending by 2020, the panel says. It also seeks a $250-million-a-year venture capital fund to develop basic research findings. And the panel calls for the creation of a National S&T Council along the lines of the U.S. National Research Council to help India address urgent issues such as water, energy, and food security.
“We will seriously try to implement the vision,” India's Science Minister Prithviraj Chavan told Science. Any new funding initiatives would be considered in the 2011 budget. Rao is not optimistic. “I feel a bit depressed and discouraged by the state of Indian science,” he says.
Gujarat no longer competes with the rest of India but with China instead. The rate of growth of the state GDP from 2002 till date has been, on average 12.80 %. That's as good as China's and way above the Indian average of 7.7% or even Gujarat's own past performance of 3.52% per annum in real terms from 1997 to 2002, as per data from the Central Statistical Organization.
One of the quietest yet proudest achievements for Gujarat in the last decade has been the astonishing 9% rate of growth of agriculture per annum, which is three times the national average.
A recent World Bank study on Gujarat's highways reveals that its superlative performance can be benchmarked by global standards. It lists several institutional and organizational factors that set it apart from other Indian states.
Cato Institute, the high priest of political liberalism, has done a detailed study on port-based development, which says that in 2007, Gujarat's ports handled 176.6 mt of cargo, making it India's biggest handler of traffic.
World Bank data reveals that, as a proportion of India's output, Gujarat accounts for 39% of industrial output, 25% of its textile production, 40% of pharmaceutical products, 67% of petrochemical production, and 20% of exports.
V-governance or vibrant governance could be added to the global public policy lexicon as Gujarat shows that it has overtaken the rest of India on roads, agriculture, ports, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals. In other words, it is actually disintermediating, cutting India out of deal-making and hardsell and directly engaging with the world on several economic dimensions.
Gujarat's economic progress has been a quiet yet puissant tale. A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to lead a global investment delegation to the state. Two facts hit one right between the eyes. One, the average Gujarati is eager to do dhanda and we were, in fact, met by sarpanches often in trendy, torn designer jeans with maps and data, enthusiastic to attract investment. Two, the quality of roads even in small towns like Dahej, beat even the legendary US I-94 hands down.
But not everything is perfect. Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy shows that Gujarat has dropped, on average, about 26% of its signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) over the past seven years. However, it has managed to garner promised investment running into several billion dollars. It would be difficult for any government anywhere to convert every MoU into actual investments and so to believe that the entire Rs 18 lakh crore promised investment would come in, is at best aspiration, and at worst, hype.
The state's per capita electricity consumption is almost twice India's average of 704.2 kWh (2007-08). An impressive 99.7% of its villages have electricity (compared to the national average of 84.4%), according to the Central Electricity Authority. The Jyotigram power project is an intelligent rationing of power that bifurcates electricity supply with parallel lines and feeders for agricultural and non-agricultural use. The state has also invested about Rs1,000 crore in a parallel power grid and laid 56,000 km of high transmission lines and 22,000 km of low transmission lines.
What else? Ahmedabad's BRTS, the ambitious rapid transport system that's being developed by the Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board, is being replicated in other states. Last year's UN Public Service Award went to Gujarat for improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in public service, perhaps on the grounds that there is no 'Adarsh' to sully its image — so far. And the state has perhaps the smallest cabinet in all of India — just 15 ministers, which may indicate that there is good governance in practice rather than merely in theory.
It all sounds exemplary but there is one important area where Gujarat has some serious catching up to do - its human development indicators. The government is trying hard to increase literacy, reduce the school drop-out rate and enhance its people's sense of wellness in accordance with the UN well-being index, but it has a long way to go.
Even so, the economic turnaround makes us wonder — what does Gujarat have that other states don't? Strong leadership and institutions that ensure good governance perhaps? Now, it needs to develop more of a social conscience and get to work on its human development index.
Thanksto its functional institutions of democracy, India will become a very desirablekind of superpower, free of corruption; entrepreneurial and resource and energyefficient, says Anil K Gupta
First, India's emergence as a superpower will show that itis possible to lift millions of people out of poverty within one generationwhile embracing pluralism, a free press and a vibrant multiparty democracy.
Second, India has the potential to serve as a leading exampleof how to combine rapid economic growth with fairness towards and inclusion ofthose at the bottom rungs of the ladder. In a democratic system such as India'swhere even the poorest people exercise their political rights actively, fairnessand inclusion will be even more critical for social stability than in China. Asit becomes a great power, these values will likely become an enduring part ofthe country's DNA.
( there are some indications that corruption at low level has marginally declined compared to the past, but still a long way to go)Third, the prospects are high that, by 2025, Indiawill likely emerge as one of the world's least corrupt developing economies.While widespread corruption is a reality in almost all developing economies (aswell as some of the developed ones), India is one of the very few developingeconomies with a free press that continues to be vigilant and merciless inexposing the corruption. It is very likely that a vigilant and free press willensure that the likelihood of getting away with corruption will decline rapidly- with salutary deterrent effects.
Fourth, India will likely emergeas one of the world's leaders in leveraging information technology (IT) to boostthe effectiveness and efficiency of its institutions - the corporations, thegovernment and as well as civil society organisations.
Fifth, India will almostcertainly become a leading example of efficient resource utilisation, especiallyin energy. India relies on imports for a bigger proportion of its oil & gasneeds than any other large emerging economy.
Analternative scenario is that the country's industry, government and consumerswill respond vigorously to the imperative for ever-greater resource efficiencyand the development of renewable energy sources. Given the ambitions andingenuity of its people, I am inclined to bet on the latter scenario. In theprocess, efficient resource utilisation is likely to become an embedded part ofthe country's psyche and behaviour.
Sixth, India is likely to emergeas one of the world's leaders in market-driven innovation. Adversity combinedwith ingenuity has always been the mother of innovation.
Think nowabout the fact that even as India grows to become the world's third largesteconomy, it will still be one of the world's poorest countries (in per capitaterms) for the next two to three decades. Low income levels will continue toprovide a very large opportunity to India's entrepreneurs to emerge as theworld's leaders in frugal innovation i.e., the design, production, and deliveryof products and services that are ultra low-cost. Virtually all of thisinnovation will be market- rather than technology-driven and is likely to becomean integral part of the country's corporate DNA.
Last but not least,India in 2025 is also likely to emerge as one of the world's mostentrepreneurial societies. Given a culture of individualism, Indians are "born"entrepreneurs. They also benefit from the fact that, relative to China, India'seconomy depends far more on pure private sector enterprises than on state-ledones.
India will not emerge as a superpower unless it is smartabout managing the evolutionary process of getting from here to there. The seedsfor the tree that India as a superpower will be are being planted rightnow.
A year is not a long time in the life of a country, much less a civilisation such as India. But India has over the past year, surged back from a dip in its growth caused by the global economic slowdown. The resurgence is testimony to the strength of India’s evolving economy, sound policies, and the energy and enterprise of its people.
India’s sustained growth, and the promise of revitalisation it holds for the world economy, has helped make it a major player on the global stage.
India’s experience is a magnet to others. Take food security and food price volatility, a subject of vibrant debate in India. Dairy farmers from Zambia and other African nations have learnt from farmers at the Anand cooperatives about India’s “White Revolution” in milk production.
The World Bank Group also has drawn from India’s experience in other areas: our new access to information policy draws on freedom of information laws in India and the United States.
The World Bank’s innovation with India offers experience for others. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has given 20 million children an education through creative initiatives such as schools on boats. Some 90,000 people in Mumbai were resettled constructively as part of a project to build new roads through the densely-populated city.
Efficient and transparent project management, continuous monitoring, greater accountability of institutions, and a focus on long-term sustainability are required to support high and inclusive growth. These transformations often encounter obstacles and sometimes face resistance. But India is developing a shared vision, clearer policies, and skilled people to achieve that goal. Investing in high quality education for all Indians will be critical for broadening opportunities.
Rapid and sustained economic growth can make heavy demands on natural resources, such as land, water, and forests. The associated impacts on people's health and well-being are often underestimated. Environmental degradation can hurt poor people, making the management of environmental risks an important part of any responsible growth strategy.
The debate on the environmental dimension of economic policies is good for a democracy, and India is the world’s largest. Your democratic debate will bring solutions to light: clearer norms for quarrying or mining in tribal or forest lands; better river-basin planning for operating hydropower projects; guidelines for building roads close to protected areas -- all initiatives to foster better development.
As India builds on its success and turns to the challenges ahead, the WB Group will share our experience to help build better, smarter and “greener” infrastructure for this and future generations. And we will, in turn, share India’s experience with others. Ours is a lasting and deepening partnership.
Youngsters from rural Tamil Nadu are powering the growth of Dell's manufacturing unit in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. Their own lives have transformed significantly in the process.
....GM at the Sriperumbudur unit, “I am thrilled with the performance of these people. They are not only fiercely loyal — our attrition is limited to girls leaving after marriage and a few men joining the army — they are also very hardworking. I've had some girls asking why there were no orders on a particular day, and saying, ‘I want to produce, I don't want to go home'!”
And, when there is a huge workload, “we have to pull them out of the shift and say ‘go home, please'!”
After six decades, it is a sense of betrayal that assails me. Independent India’s is a history of missed opportunities. The democratic system that has taken root is now under unprecedented threat. Fissiparous tendencies, self-seeking politicians with money and muscle power, growing climate of intolerance and social inequality are ominous. The leaders in whom we have reposed our faith have feet of clay. No effective reforms in governance to check gargantuan level of corruption and misrule are in sight. The rulers give scant respect to social commitments enshrined in the Constitution. We have failed to enforce the basic norms of accountability by powers-that-be. After sixty three years of freedom, India remains a land of poverty and pestilence. Islands of progress and advent of new billionaires have not made any dent in India’s poverty.
Ends on positive noteHave we lost our sense of national pride? When our VIPs are routinely subjected to humiliating body searches at US airports, they choose to ignore it. A former defence minister keeping quiet after being strip-searched by US airport security staff is a classic example. Remember the virginity tests that Indian girls willingly underwent to get eligibility for UK visa some years ago. Many Indians don’t hesitate to stoop to any level for a US visa. A Green Card seems the ultimate goal. A few years ago, I was shocked to see hordes of bright young boys and girls waiting endlessly, braving the sun, before the US Consulate in Chennai for visas.
I feel the gravest threat to our polity comes from corruption that has spread its tentacles to every segment of our society. The failure to punish the high and mighty, accused of malfeasance and self-aggrandisement gives a wrong signal to honest law-abiding citizens. At least some sections of the urban middle class have started envying the corrupt. This portends disaster for the nation. I am an incorrigible optimist. All is not lost.
I have faith in the youth of the nation to rise to the occasion and initiate a cleansing process by consigning to dustbins of history the thugs and pindaris who rained misery on us by masquerading as our leaders. Then, every Indian can hold his/ her head high. Kalmadis and Rajas will come and go, but India will survive.
Wow. IIT-K and all that. Nice! What abt yield? Was it affected?Forget fertiliser: to get your plants growing nicely you don't need poo, you need carbon nanotubes.
Sabyasachi Sarkar and colleagues at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur have developed a technique to dissolve carbon nanotubes in water, allowing them to be taken up by plants without damaging them. When the team fed their nanotube solution to chickpea plant seeds they found it more than doubled their shoot length and increased their root growth and water uptake.
I see potential for a second green revolution only, in our non-irrigated and semi-arid regions. Bravo! Kindly ensure water-tightThe nanotubes increase the prominence of channels in the plants that allow them to absorb much more water.
The technique could help farmers to make maximum use of the available water when growing crops in dry and drought-hit regions, says Sarkar. "The channels can extend to the upper parts (of the plant) to give better water and micro-nutrient management for the healthy growth of the plant," says Sarkar.
patenting regime only. Can't escape the cheenis copying w/o royalty but the rest, Des can charge. Also, simpler, cleaner, healthier, less risky and all that! Yay.It could also improve the use of plants for cleaning up land affected by toxic chemical spills, he says, as the nanotube channels can very quickly absorb ions like cadmium. "So if someone wants to get rid of toxic ions from contaminated soil, such plant therapy can absorb them," says Sarkar.
jai bharat.Researchers have previously shown that water insoluble carbon nanotubes can enhance tomato plant seed growth. However, the needle-like nanotubes did this by rupturing the surface of the softened germinating seed. In contrast, the water soluble nanotubes do not pierce the seed's coating, preventing any risk of damage to the plant. Instead, Sarkar's nanotubes pass through the seed's existing water channels.
Actually any increase in the supply of carbon will accelerate plant growth. Sometimes, CO2 gas is pumped into greenhouses to increase growth.Hari Seldon wrote:Green Machine: Plants grow faster with nanotubes in their veins
I fail to see what this is doing in the nation on the march thread.
C supplied from CO2 and nanotube is not SAME. Infact nanotube Csupply would hinder the plant growth as it will disturb normal miniral uptake. Plant need C in green parts for photosynthesis and not in stem or branches.Pranav wrote:Actually any increase in the supply of carbon will accelerate plant growth. Sometimes, CO2 gas is pumped into greenhouses to increase growth.Hari Seldon wrote:Green Machine: Plants grow faster with nanotubes in their veins
I was running the images in my mind even as i was reading these words.Its making my day.Singha wrote:
I want to see vast gleaming pagodas , temples and towers all along the ganga and yamuna, as long back highways speed big trucks and cars up and down this ancient valley....large clusters of industrial sheds every few miles....the beat of the hammer on the anvil...the noise and hum of industry and trade.....it can be done....it has cities with 1000s of years of history in trade and industry. it can rise again and complete the circle of rebirth.
Your contention is wrong. When Jharkhand was part of Bihar, state of Bihar was producing 40% of the nation total mineral wealth. Jharkhand wasn't a burden on Bihar at all. Jharkhand was the better part of Bihar. Seperation of Jharkhand from Bihar was a big blow to Bihar.Theo_Fidel wrote:WRT UP first it needs to be bifurcated. Western UP and Eastern are way too different. It is not an accident that Bihar is growing now after Jharkhand was split off. If this not possible, next..
It also comes down to the investment rate. This is what has got Bihar growing. It tax collection is only ~ Rs 5000 crore. The center supplies it Rs 35,000 crore as grant. The center does this for all under performing states as a form of pump priming. UP should be able to finagle at least 50,000 crore out of the center. The question then becomes if it is organized enough to absorb this money.
Call of duty: Harvard students to learn from Taj employeesThe heroic response by employees of Mumbai's landmark Taj Hotel during the 26/11 terror attacks is now a case study at Harvard Business School that focusses on the staff's selfless service for its customers and how they went beyond their call of duty to save lives. The multimedia case study 'Terror
at the Taj Bombay: Customer-Centric Leadership' by HBS professor Rohit Deshpande documents "the bravery and resourcefulness shown by rank-and-file employees" during the attack.
The study mainly focusses on "why did the Taj employees stay at their posts (during the attacks), jeopardising their safety in order to save hotel guests" and how can that level of loyalty and dedication be replicated elsewhere.
A dozen Taj employees died trying to save the lives of the hotel guests during the attacks.
"Not even the senior managers could explain the behaviour of these employees," Deshpande is quoted as saying in HBS Working Knowledge, a forum on the faculty's research and ideas.
Deshpande said even though the employees "knew all the back exits" in the hotel and could have easily fled the building, some stayed back to help the guests.
"The natural human instinct would be to flee. These are people who instinctively did the right thing. And in the process, some of them, unfortunately, gave their lives to save guests."
A documentary-style account of events, the case includes video interviews with hotel staff and footage of the attack.
It shows how leadership displayed by people in the bottom rank to the top levels in the organisational hierarchy helped in saving lives.
It also focusses on the hotel's history, its approach to recruiting and training employees, the Indian culture's "guest is God" philosophy and how the hotel would recover after the attacks.
Another key concept of the study is that in India and the developing world, "there is a much more paternalistic equation between employer and employee that creates a kinship."
Terming it as one of the "hardest cases" he has worked on, Mumbai-native Deshpande said it was hard to see people confront their trauma again.
"We objectify it, keep emotion at a distance, but after 15 minutes of questions with a video camera in a darkened room, there are deeper, more personal reflections of what happened," he says in the HBS Working Knowledge.
Deshpande said Taj employees felt a sense of loyalty to the hotel as well as a sense of responsibility to the guests.
He cites the example of a general manager who insisted on staying put and help direct a response to the attack even after learning that his wife and sons had died in a fire on the hotel's top floor.
"Nothing in the employees' training could have prepared them for such an unprecedented situation," Deshpande said.
Deshpande has taught the case in the School's Owner/President Management Executive Education programme.
It can also be taught as an example of managing the post-crisis recovery of a flagship corporate brand, he added.
Singha saar is writing book !!!! Allah is indeed graciousHari Seldon wrote:^^^Amen....made myday too. Singha saar, when's your book coming out? Autographed copy requested here only...
Theo fidel ji.UP should not just be bifurcated.Instead it should be divided in atleast 4 parts.Western Up,Bundelkhand,Awadh and Purvanchal(eastern up).If they can carve more that is even better.Theo_Fidel wrote:WRT UP first it needs to be bifurcated. Western UP and Eastern are way too different. It is not an accident that Bihar is growing now after Jharkhand was split off. If this not possible, next..
It also comes down to the investment rate. This is what has got Bihar growing. It tax collection is only ~ Rs 5000 crore. The center supplies it Rs 35,000 crore as grant. The center does this for all under performing states as a form of pump priming. UP should be able to finagle at least 50,000 crore out of the center. The question then becomes if it is organized enough to absorb this money.
Ten years ago this week an earthquake registering 7.6 struck the Gujarat region of India, but what has happened to the region since then?Emily Buchanan went to the worst affected area in Gujarat where she found the region has made a remarkable recovery
http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=0A function was organised on 28.01.2011 at Ennore Port to commemorate the achievement of aggregate cargo handling capacity of Indian Port Sector crossing One Billion tonnes. The occasion coincided with the inauguration of three major projects with a total capacity of 15 MTPA implemented at Ennore Port, namely the Common User Coal Terminal, Iron Ore Terminal and Car Terminal. With inauguration of these three projects, the capacity of Indian Port Sector has reached to 1011 million tonnes per year.
This is pure BS. Even after Jharkhand was separated, Bihar was ruled by Lalu/Rabri and it continued the downhill path. Only after Nitish Kumar was elected, it started the recovery. It would still have recovered if Jharkhand was part of Bihar because the real cause for recovery was the change of leadership. Please give credit to where it is due, and not to some intangibles.Theo_Fidel wrote:It is not an accident that Bihar is growing now after Jharkhand was split off.
Wow, glad to see the progress there!!jagga wrote:Watch This Video Guys
May god give us 29 Narendra Modi's. 1 as PM and rest as CM of 28 states.
Gujarat's recovery 10 years after earthquakeTen years ago this week an earthquake registering 7.6 struck the Gujarat region of India, but what has happened to the region since then?Emily Buchanan went to the worst affected area in Gujarat where she found the region has made a remarkable recovery