Why is PM Scared of Lokpal?

By SiliconIndia, Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 03:48 Hrs

Bangalore: "Why is an honest Prime Minister like Manmohan Singh scared of Lokpal?" - Team Anna asked months back and today, amidst mounting pressures from the civil and the political class in the country, the Congress Party is yet to find an answer. Manmohan Singh had initially offered himself to be brought under the purview of Lokpal Bill; however, during the course of dialogues, PM mysteriously choose to take a U-turn on the issue.

The opposition parties seem to have come together for this single cause and sharing the stage of protest with the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, they demanded in unity for the inclusion of Prime Minister and Grade-C bureaucrats under the Lokpal's ambit.  The opposition parties are all set to take up the issue during the all-party meet on Wednesday. BJP has decided to move an amendment motion on Lokpal if the demands for inclusion of prime minister, lower bureaucracy and Citizens' Charter are not met.

The civil society argues that non-inclusion of prime minster under the purview of Lokapal will shrink the scope of the proposed anti-corruption law and termed the government move a retrograde step.  It strives for a flawless anticorruption law that includes not just a small band of officers, but everyone right from top to bottom in the administrative ladder – a law that can ensure an honest investigation and an honest prosecution.

Meanwhile Shiromani Akali Dal MP, Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal alleged that it's an attempt from the UPA government to shield the PM-in-waiting, Rahul Gandhi against any prosecution in the future.

Anna Hazre had earlier questioned the real power of the prime minister on this issue and said, the PM is ‘scared’ of being brought under ombudsman's purview, may be because he was “remote-controlled” by someone.

The agitating group is firm on its demand to bring the Central Bureau of Investigation under the ambit of the Lakpal and a key member of the civil society, Kiran Bedi claimed that there is a total consensus on the fact that the investigative wing should be taken out of political control. “The only confusion remaining is whether the Lokpal should include the investigative agency or it should oversee the agency,” she told in a debate in NDTV.

In this era of coalition governments, the Congress Party fears that subjecting the prime minister of the country under any investigation can trigger instability. However, the reports emerging from different sources of late indicate that under severe pressure from within the allies, opposition and civil society, the government may consider bringing Prime Minister and Group C employees under the ambit of Lokpal with certain conditions.

Syrians go to polls amid strikes, killings

Syrians were voting on Monday in municipal elections held amid a general strike called by the opposition and as security forces killed another seven people as they pursued a crackdown on dissent.

The elections committee, in a statement received by the news agency, said "voting is proceeding in a democratic spirit," adding that voting turnout was "good."
It did not elaborate. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven people were killed in the flashpoint regions of Homs and Idlib on today, while strikes were observed in Daraa, cradle of nine months of anti-regime protests, and near Damascus.
Opposition activists have urged citizens to intensify a civil disobedience campaign launched on yesterday in a bid to bring down the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Polling stations opened at 0600 GMT, with 42,889 candidates vying for 17,588 seats, and were due to close at 2000 GMT.
Information Minister Adnan Mahmud told AFP the elections were part of a reform package pledged by the authorities to promote democracy and would be followed by legislative polls in February.
"These elections are taking place on time in line with a reform programme," Mahmud told AFP.
"They are taking place although some are trying, in vain, to stop them through terrorist acts carried out by armed groups who are terrorising the citizens," he said
Last week local administration minister Omar Ghalawanji said a special indelible ink would be used for the first time in the municipal elections "to prevent any fraud."
"I voted because we want to contribute to the reforms (pledged by Assad) and chose the best" candidates, said Zeina, a 35-year-old woman, as she emerged from a polling state in the central Ummayad Square of Damascus.
Ahmad, a pro-regime taxi driver, said the vote was essential "as a response to those calling for a strike."
But a regime opponent, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he did not expect a huge turnout.
"I am surprised that elections are taking place under such circumstances," he said.
"Cities gripped by the uprising are not concerned by these elections."
The dissident said he expected voting to be limited to areas where protests against the Assad regime have been scarce or non-existent such as Aleppo, Syria's second city and economic hub.
There have been little or no anti-regime protests in large urban areas like Aleppo and in many part of the capital Damascus

FDI in Multi-brand retail Sector

FDI in Multi‐brand Retail sector
Where is the need??
Raising political and economic questions seldom discussed.
Mukul Kanitkar
Vivekananda Kendra, Trivandrum
madhyachal@gmail.com
www.uttarapath.wordpress.com
Index
I. The Context
II. The Present Debate
A. The Issues discussed at present:
III. Let us discuss the Real issues
A. Is Media the right forum of policy debate? :
B. Political issues:
1. Domestic politics:
2. Food Security:
3. International Geo-politics:
C. Economic Issues:
1. Need of FDI? :
2. What's the bargain? What did India get in return?
3. Technical Upgradation? In Retail?? :
4. Are we Capital starved? :
5. Source of FDI:
6. Is there any economic Rationale for FDI? :
7. Mala-fide? Ignorance?? What's behind the decision??
IV. The Mind‐set of policy makers
A. An Overview of Reforms:
B. Role of domestic Liberalization:
1. Role of foreign capital needs a close look??
C. Adverse effects of Globalization:
D. Other effects of Reforms:
E. The second Landmark 1998:
F. The Ugly side of Reforms:
G. Blind Followers of the West:
V. Real Reforms needed
A. Technical input in right areas:
B. Community base micro-capital Generation:
C. Rationalizing the Tax structure:
1. Arthakarnti Proposal.
D. Recovery of Black money stashed abroad:
E. Decentralize Rural Development model:
F. Constitutional reforms:
VI. Conclusion
The Context
The union Cabinet takes a decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail
sector. Though it is an executive decision, as the parliament is in session,
naturally it is taken up by all the political parties. The allies of the
government take a firm stand. Opposition is united across the ideological
boundaries. The government has to bow down. The decision is suspended
pending consultation to create broad consensus among the stakeholders. But
though the decision is in suspension the issue is far from dead and buried. It
is better to discuss it logically in the comparative calm rather than racking
up unrelated issues in the political haste. This issue paper aims at discussing
the real issues involved in the Policy of inviting FDI in general and in its
implications in retail sector in particular. It is an observation that the present
debate has bye-passed these real issues and is focused on the side issues.
This is an attempt to discuss the wide implications of the mind set that not
only invites and welcomes FDI but projects it as the only panacea for all the
economic problems of the great country of 120 crores.
The Present Debate
The issue of FDI in multi-brand retail sector is much deeper than what meets
the eye. It is not just an issue of wrong timing or lack of political consensus.
The political parties may support or oppose any issue on popular
considerations. One can not blame them for that. The manner of opposition,
claims for and against the issue is also sometimes aimed at the gallery
rather than being serious matters of policy considerations. We are
witnessing all kinds of claims and counter claims on the issue of FDI in retail
sector.
The Issues discussed at present:
Inflation control, Employment generation, Future of Small retailers, Farmers
well being- Are these the real issues or side issues given prime attention due
to vested interests?
The government is not clear on its policy objectives. The 4 page note on
which the cabinet took the decision was illusive on the specific aim and
objective of the policy. For public consumption some tall claims are being
made by the prime minister, finance minister and also the commerce
minister. One claim is about controlling price rise. Discussing the logical and
practical merit of the argument is of no use. The main question is, 'Is
inflation in food prices the real motivation for this policy decision?' If so, will
the decision be revised if the inflation is not controlled? The other populist
claim is, 'This will create millions of jobs.' Again the same question is job
creation the main objective then the choice could have been some other
sector like manufacturing, IT hardware and infrastructure development
which would have created much more jobs for even the unskilled labour. The
FDI in retail sector is feared to displace more self employed people than it
ever can employ. The difference between the two is very large in-fact
multifold. There is a need to refer to the data available on these companies
in the west about this crucial factor. Many studies have shown this
downward trend in employment opportunities due to entry of big players in
retail in US as well as Europe.
These two claims about inflation and employment could be explained as
responses to the actual fears of the public also articulated by the political
parties. But what is the real objective behind the policy? The government
must come out with the real aim behind this decision.
The opposition is equally superficial in some of its arguments. The fear of
large corporations eating up small retailers may be a real threat but is not a
convincing economic argument. Politically it is very sound issue as it touches
millions of families which are dependant on the retail business directly or
indirectly but these threats can be dealt with some regulations. The present
policy decision has provision of allowing foreign investors to open outlets
only in cities with population in excess of one million. But again the question
remains, 'Is the protection of small retailers the main issue in opposing the
FDI in multi-brand retail?' Though the studies in the west as also in the East
Asian countries show that the big retail chains displace small retailers
completely, Indian conditions are not the same. Studies on effect of
domestic retail giants like Big Bazaar on the small retail business have
shown mixed trends. According to one study Audacious Kiranas vs Organised
Retailers by Abhinava S. Singh, Siddharth G. Das and Mamta Mahapatra
(published in - http://www.scmsgroup.org/scmsjim/pdf/2008/scms%20journal%20July-
20Sept.%202008.pdf#page=93), "Although initially there was a mass exodus of
consumers (87 percent) shifting to Big Retailers, our findings suggest that a
majority of them have come back (68 percent) to the old and reliable
Kiranas"
This has cultural reasons also. For us in India human relations are more
important than mere impressive mechanization.
Another issue raised in this connection is about the relation of retail stores
with the farmers. Those opposed to FDI claim that it will ruin the farming
community by hard bargain and aggressive policies followed by the large
corporate. The government claims that it will benefit the agriculture sector
as it will remove the middleman. Direct purchases, efficient supply chains
and contract farming will give more returns to the farmers. This will also
bring down the food prices claims the government. Again, if the government
is serious about farmers plight it can take more direct policy measures like
banning speculative trade of farm produce in the commodity market and
streamline the agriculture produce markets (mandis). You will not need FDI
in retail to give more returns to farmers or bringing down food prices as a
side effect. At the same time a detailed study of the practices of multibrand
retail giants in direct purchases from farmers and supply chain
management adopted by them in the countries of their origin and also in the
Asian countries like Thailand and Indonesia where they have operations
need to be done before any such claims are entertained.
Let us discuss the Real issues
Is Media the right forum of policy debate? :
Both political and economic discussion of the issue was taking place in the
media, as the highest policy debating forum, the parliament was made
dysfunctional by its own custodians. The popular perception deliberately
created by the government spokespersons put the blame on the opposition
but the real responsibility of running the parliament lies with the ruling
combine. It seems the major political partner of the ruling coalition is too
arrogant to have much needed flexibility of approach and political honesty.
The sad result is -- it has to keep on bargaining on key issues even with its
so called allies and external supporters. But that irony is a subject for
another detailed discussion.
Political issues:
The political debate in the media is centered more around the timing of the
decision than the merits and effects of the policy in itself. One can
understand the anxiety of political parties and leaders who have to face the
people regularly. Their electoral fate depends on the popular perception.
Hence it is natural for them to take postures to suit the time. They indulge in
shameless u-turns on policy issues depending upon on which side of the
Loksabha speaker their benches are. But it is baffling that so called political
observers and experts in the media have not discussed the political fall-outs
of this important policy decision of the cabinet.
Domestic politics:
Issues to be debated politically should include the ideological mutations,
diversions and even contradictions of the political lot. There is also a policy
conflict involved with bill for food security being pushed on one hand by the
super cabinet, the NAC and this blatant attack on the food sector on the
other. The issue of multi brand retail sector along with the looming danger of
introduction of contract, corporate farming is directly related to the food
security of the country. This needs serious consideration.
Food Security:
Even if we accept the economic claims that the FDI will help in ensuring the
food security in the rural sector by favorably affecting agriculture marketing,
the political question remains, 'Is it sound geo-political move to out-source
the food security of the country to foreigners even to a marginal extent?'
The experience of the agriculture rich African nations need to be deeply
studied in this connection. With influx of Food giants PepsiCo and
MacDonald's in contract farming and cattle raising in many African countries
like Kenya the results have been far from glossy. Famines followed by
political uncertainty in Rwanda, Namibia and Ethiopia also need to be
examined from this angle of corporate involvement in agriculture sector and
its impact on food security and political stability of these countries.
International Geo-politics:
Another geo-political issue hardly discussed in this connection is the
prudence of opening capital flow in basic sectors. The FDI in Multi brand
retail is not just an economic issue is amply clear by the enthusiasm with
which the US ambassador jumped in to promote the decision of Indian
government. With banks, International financial forums and multilateral
commercial, industrial, and environmental conventions increasingly
becoming battlegrounds for regional and global geopolitical diplomacy, the
flow of capital across the frontiers does not remain a mere economic issue.
This needs to be studied in depth by the political analysts. China with its
trade surplus with almost every country except Taiwan and a whopping 3
trillion USD investment in the US is way ahead in this game of financial
diplomacy or to express it more alarmingly 'Capital Imperialism'. India with
its great domestic savings and surplus capital available unused in the banks
has a great potential to put some competition. But it demands a complete
overhaul of political point of view of political establishment, diplomatic
bureaucracy and political thinkers in the country towards economic issues.
Economic Issues:
The national discourse on the economic reforms in general and on the issue
of FDI in Retail sector lacks originality and intellectual honesty. The debate is
mostly steered by the interested players indulging in a wide spread
perception management campaigns. Media understandably is influenced by
its sponsors which includes government to a great extent. Government
spending on audio- visual and print publicity is one of the main sources of
existence for many media establishments. The other major revenue source
is the corporate world. So naturally the voice of the large population can be
heard only by way of street protests, peaceful or otherwise.
The main culprit for the lack of honest debate in the national interest is the
'intellectual class' How many Indian universities have the requisite infrastructure,
trained manpower, know-how or even the will power to conduct
scientific studies related to policy issues? The result is that we lack an
informed debate on policy issues of long term national importance. The
present issue of FDI in retail sector is one such issue. It demands not only a
political consensus but a thorough national debate on basic economic issues.
Need of FDI:
Let us discuss some basic economic questions about FDI. When and why
does a country need capital from foreign sources? Simplest of the answer is
when you do not have enough domestic capital to be invested in the
economy for the growth engine to keep firing. Another reason could be that
some sector or area of economy needs impetus in the form of new
technology which can come only with an investment attached to it. Third
logic could be you need to deal in international trade; hence there will be
give and take. You give some and in return get some. The government
needs to explain these three points.
What's the bargain? What did India get in return?
The US has been pressing India for the FDI in retail but before agreeing to it
did India get a bargain? They could have got some concessions for their
export of agricultural produce or for the textile industry. What's the deal? Let
the country know as that can be only one logical reason for the policy
decision. The other two possible factors do not count in this case.
Technical Upgradation? In Retail??
There certainly is no new technology on offer from the international retail
giants. We already have our own multi-brand retail chains. Their technology
is as good as any of the international corporate in the field. In fact Vishal
Mega mart and Big Bazaar are real management success stories, beginning
from scratch growing to a great height with tremendous expansion. Reliance
fresh had largest capital to start with but relatively not so successful a
venture for Ambanis. It has become a bit of burden on the group. Big Bazaar
of Biyanis is also under pressure for extra push in the form of added capital.
Hence these big brothers in India are all lobbying hard for the FDI. That will
help them survive at this crucial juncture.
Are we Capital starved? :
In fact India has surplus Capital available. We generate more domestic
capital in one year than the whole FDI in 2 decades.
As an economy India is not short of capital in the domestic market. In fact
we have surplus capital available with our economy in plenty. According to
RBI's annual report the gross domestic Capital generation in 2008 was Rs.
1845513 Crores and is increasing every year. (See the tale below)
(http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/AnnualReportPublications.aspx?Id=1013)
There is no official statistic available for the capital surplus with the banks
but the market studies by some agencies give figures for different banks.
When we add up the capital surplus figures for 2010-2011 for top ten Indian
banks the figure comes to Rs. 17663665 Crore
(http://business.mapsofindia.com/india-company/top-10-bankingcompanies.
html).
The total FDI received last year is just Rs. 113485 Crores. (US$22697 Million
to be precise, converted at present rate of 50 Rs approx. would have been
quiet less at the time it was invested as Rupee was much higher at that
time) This comes to be just 6% of the Gross domestic capital generated and
mere 1% of the surplus capital in the top ten Indian banks. This tells the
story. We have huge amount of capital unused in our own kitty and yet we
are inviting FDI in a sector which is very crucial to our National interest.
Source of FDI:
There is another very crucial angle to the FDI story. In the last decade total
FDI received is Rs 351731 Crore or US$ 81010 million. The largest investor
country wise is Mauritius. www.indiaonestop.com providing the data from
official source of Union Commerce ministry comments on the country wise
chart, "The country wise figures for 200-01 to January 2009 reveal Mauritius
in the leading position accounting for about 43.3 percent of total FDI inflows
into India. The US and UK is far behind it with 7.72 percent and 6.41 percent
respectively. FDI from Mauritius during this period stood at $ 35180 million.
In terms of Rs it stood at Rs 1527677 million. FDI by US and UK during this
period stood at $ 6171 million and $ 5153 million. In terms of Indian
currency it comes to Rs 271491 million and Rs 225415 million respectively."
The FDI inflow from Mauritius in the 2009 was US $ 11208 million whereas
its GDP (PPP) that year is US $ 16630 million. So the country is investing
almost 65% of its GDP in India. Does that sound plausible? But it is a fact.
We must study this interesting phenomenon very closely before we jump
into any economic calculations about FDI. Why Mauritius? Whose money is
this? Is it real Capital from foreign FIIs or corporate coming to India for
business? Not much data about the detail of this capital flow through
Mauritius is available in the open source. But the experts in international
investment investigating the Black money issue have an idea. They tell us it
is the dirty money stashed away which is coming back to our market this
way. It is not only tax evasion related black money. Most of it is generated
by way of dirty and antinational means of corruption, kickbacks in
international contracts, drugs, illegal arms, terror money etc. This is
transported by the infamous havala transactions and parked in the tax
havens. This dirty money is given a chance to come back in Indian market in
the form of FDI. The criminal is allowed to enjoy this investment legally
without any punishment or even detection.
So! Is there any economic Rationale for FDI? :
The economics of FDI in retail sector thus fails to convince its need,
relevance or even the rationale for the policy decision. No Capital shortage,
no technological advancement and nothing in return; this sums up the
economic calculus of the cabinet decision taken in an apparent haste without
any attempt for political consensus. Their is no urgent need for foreign
exchange either. We have a comfortable cushion with total forex reserve as
in Mar 2011 at US $ 304,818 million with the balance of payment deficit
being at just US $ 13050 million. Further more this discussion on the
economic mathematics of FDI with the major share coming from a country
like Mauritius also brings back the more important issue of National security.
When simple mathematics works out against any necessity for the opening
of retail sector to FDI, why the government is bent upon taking this
decision?
Mala-fide? Ignorance?? What's behind the decision??
Usually when such illogical decisions are forced on the nation their is either a
vested interest working behind the scene or a weak statesman in utter
foolishness leading the nation into a hopeless situation. There are interesting
revelations when one goes little deep in the FDI analysis. One chart shows
the foreign technology transfer approvals from 1991 to 2008 under the FDI.
http://www.indiaonestop.com/FDI/foreigntechnologytransfer.htm
Mauritius does not find place in the top five countries is no surprise. The fact
that US is topping the list with more than 22% approvals is also not
astonishing. What is most curious in is that the 5th place is occupied by Italy
with over 6% of the approvals. Very interestingly in the FDI inflow list Italy
does not find place in the Top 15 countries. The traditional technological ally
of India Russia or the recent world leader China is also not seen in the top 5
countries with technology transfer approvals. One can not say if this throws
some light on how decisions are being taken in Indian government, but one
thing is clear that there is not much relation in FDI inflow and technology
transfer. So the argument that FDI improves the technology in that sector
does not hold ground on imperial experience of past 2 decades.
The Mind‐set of policy makers
Coming back to the discussion on hand, the present Prime minister is tagged
weak but not even the strongest of his critiques can dare call him a fool. Not
at least in economic matters. So why is he pressing for such a useless
policy? The answer to this puzzle lies in the Paradigm that governs the
economic thinking in the establishment. We are the victim of following the
alien models, which have failed miserably in their own land of birth. Till 1991
we followed the socialist model and after that we are trying hard to ape the
US led western model of free market economics. We will not go into the
current state of affairs in the western economies but instead would look
within. The policy decision about the FDI in retail sector is being touted as
second generation reforms by the government and the economic analysts
alike. It will be interesting to take an overview of our national experience of
the 'Reforms' post 1991.
An Overview of Reforms:
The first generation reforms were initiated by a minority government in
1991. That it was a politically weak government without clear majority in
parliament is not a mere coincidence. Facing the challenge of communal
tension the political genius of PM Narasimha Rao gave full freedom to his
world-bank pensioner, finance minister. This proved an unintended blessing.
Dr Manmohan Singh aggressively advocated economic reforms but
cautiously implemented the same bit by bit. The first part of the first
generation reforms was labeled liberalization, other two being termed as
Privatization and Globalization. Though very difficult to bring about, when
proposed, liberalization was well received across the political and ideological
frontiers. In fact except the adamant left everyone welcomed this much
awaited move. The country paralyzed by license, permit and inspector raj
heaved a sigh of relief. The legal dismantling and the restructuring of almost
all the government departments was not done in a day. Laws were changed
to make things easier. Technology was used to make the permits, chalan
and reporting in tax departments and others more accessible to the public.
Single window interface with the public was introduced in many
departments. Except for the changes in labour laws other things were
smooth and well appreciated equally by the business world and people at
large.
Role of domestic Liberalization:
Liberalization of policies had another effect. The Indian potential was
unleashed. The barriers between states were also raised. Inter state trade
was fully opened. The quality Basmati Rice from Punjab can now be sold in
the rice eating states like Tamilnadu and Bengal. This was not possible
before 1991. This openness of the market gave a great opportunity to hence
marginalized innovators in the Indian economy. This domestic intra national
phenomenon is yet not explored fully. A deeper study as to the rise of
domestic players in the economy as a result of 1991 reforms is long
overdue.
Role of foreign capital needs a close look??
One of the reasons why such study is not taken up is that the mainstream
economist and policymakers are convinced that the entry of foreign capital
as well as competition offered by the multinationals is the only cause behind
the great Indian story. This needs to be researched carefully. There are
obvious sectors like automobile where we see the influence of international
players. The competition not only gave a boost to quality in this field but
also gave a wide range of choice to the customers. To think that the
aggressive loan marketing was behind the automobile boom would be a wild
jump inspired by the very visible advertisement explosion. It would be
interesting to know the exact share of financed vehicle compared to the cash
purchases, especially in the two-wheeler category. Nevertheless, this was
globalization in action. The opening of market for foreign brands in the
consumer goods section had a very visible impact. The market as was known
in the 1980s changed completely. It was a pleasant shock for the middle
class consumer. To go to the market and purchase whatever one wishes was
a dream come true to this generation used to long waitlists and scarcity in
almost every thing.
Adverse effects of Globalization:
But has the international competition tonic worked similar wonders in all the
sectors of our economy? Certainly not. The very prospering textile industry
got a jolt after the signing of WTO. Though the then commerce minister
fought a great deal to extract a better deal for India than what the
developed countries then were ready to give, the textile sector was one of
the many casualties of this historical blunder. Still Indian textile industry is
a force to recon with, but the diversified, decentralized nature of the
production was hit sharply by the change in policy. Surat and Ahmadabad
saw thousands of looms going out of work. Gwalior, once known for the
textile mills, even today the audio tape in the shatabdi train tells it as one of
the features Gwalior was known for, now hardly has 1-2 units functioning.
More than 1.5 crore families were affected by this. Globalization effect needs
to be studied more objectively than the advertizing market reviews or the
protestor's exaggerations. What we need is a pure disinterested academic
exercise.
The soft drink market is again an example where the domestic players are
totally wiped out. There were many local soft drinks in the market before
1991. Campa-cola and fanta being the largest of the local brands. Parle and
Godrej had a very prospering beverage business. But most of it was taken
over or simply purchased by the two giants Pepsi and coke. The whole
market has changed thereafter. In other FMCG products the competition has
become increasingly lopsided. The more diverse and localized products are
finding it very difficult to stand on their own. We are not talking about the
likes of Nirama or Ghadi in detergents. But the smaller manufacturers in
almost all the districts. Many are still surviving on sheer quality advantage
and loyalty of their consumers. It again is a relationship for us.
Other effects of Reforms:
The liberalization part of the reforms was thus very effective. The
globalization part has mixed results. There are many other things in the
story. The exponential growth of services sector is one very important
factor. The BPO and other out sourcing opportunities were cashed by many
Indian entrepreneurs. There was phenomenal jump in the salary structure of
the private sector followed by the 5th and 6th pay commissions in the
government also. This increase in purchasing power led to real estate boom.
As the rates of property skyrocketed the NRIs from Middle East and other
parts of the world jumped on the bogie. Soon in major cities the property
prices went out of reach of the common man. The native of the land could
only be the seller. Many did not mind selling their land in exchange of fat
amount and a small flat in the complex. As such the concept of real estate
is a very notional thing. Land prices go up with every transaction in the
neighbourhood. But the bubble had to burst. It has in some metros and a
slump has come in many other big cities. In relatively smaller urban cluster
the real estate is still on the rise.
The second Landmark 1998:
Pokaran changed the psyche of the nation.
1991 is considered to be a landmark in the shift. But there is another date to
be remembered-- 11th may 1998, the Pokaran day. This changed the psyche
of every Indian whether in India or abroad. The confidence was palpable. We
could feel it in the coffee shop discussion same evening. Every one was
thrilled. The professional efficiency, complete secrecy and precise execution
shown by the nuclear test was told and retold like an epic. It was not just a
pride for the strategic ability. It was more like, "Yes! We can do it." India can
do it was the message. The scientific or technological achievement was not
as great as the Integrated missile programme, Space technology
achievements or the super computer but the patriotic fervor attached to the
nuclear test was unmatched. This changed the whole out look of Indians to
look at themselves as a nation. Apart from this psychological and strategic
impact there was an economic fall-out. Economic Sanctions were imposed by
US, followed by all the developed countries including Japan. Japan was
major donor to India in urban infrastructure development. It was said by an
economic observer that the bomb was exploded in Pokaran in Rajasthan but
the tremors were felt in the North block. The Finance ministry officials
termed the decision as suicide. It was felt that the nation on course of
economic reforms had been derailed. But the result was something
unimaginable. The whole nation geared up. There was hardly any impact felt
except for technological block-out. But there also we developed many
indigenous technologies during that period in Space and defence sector.
IRSO and DRDO became icons of Indian capability in research.
Immediate crisis was of balance of payments. With the stoppage of even the
aid funds and loans from outside the challenge was on the foreign exchange
reserve. But the RBI declared the India Development bond and later the
resurgent bonds for the NRIs. The Diaspora responded with renewed
enthusiasm. Financial prudence mingled with nationalistic pride motivated
the NRI's to invest in the bonds. The bonds received overwhelming response
many times the initial target set by the government. The average Indian
started taking pride in the achievements of their fellow countrymen. The
NRIs have been achieving great things in scientific and economic field all
over the world but there was hardly any mention of these achievements
back home. But post 1998 it all changed. We started believing in ourselves.
Hotmail fame Sabeer Bhatia and Intel's Vinod Dham became household
names.
This coincided with two major reform related activities. The disinvestment
was in full swing. Government was off-loading all its non paying assets. This
brought in a lot of capital in the domestic market. The PSUs were also
restructured and made more corporate in management. Many government
companies were formed like Department of telecommunications commercial
activities were made into a company -BSNL. Even the state electricity boards
were trifurcated into companies. This coincided with the great infrastructure
building projects of linking the Highways, the golden quadrilateral along with
Pradhanmantri Sadak yojana to link Lakhs of villages. These gave impetus to
the steel and cement production and had cascading effect on the domestic
market. The Sanctions were lifted within three years. The world came to
recon India as an emerging power. The Elephant was moving. The basics of
Indian economy gave it a sound platform. Population which was seen as a
burden was now called demographic dividend. The whole perspective
changed.
The Ugly side of Reforms:
The story is not all glossy. There are many hiccups. Rationalizing subsidies
was a great challenge. The political scene had also changed almost parallel
to the reforms. The days of single party rule were over. The era of coalition
politics had its own dynamics. This acted as a break for many reform as
many policy decisions had to be postponed, hold back or even completely
given up for political considerations. In the hind sight many of these breaks
seem to have done good to the economy. Rather than getting on to the
roller coaster of reforms and completely turning into a western economy
India progressed cautiously at its own typical Indian pace. There are other
questions about the fruits of growth reaching to the masses equitably. The
statistical data suggests that the gap between the poor and the rich has
been widening. Poor have become poorer. Their number has gone up
substantially. This shows that blindly following the global financial model
may not suit Indian conditions.
Blind Followers of the West:
Now we have 20 years of experience of this reformed economic model. We
are told we have not ripped all the fruits because we have not done enough.
Look at China we are told. But have we learnt the correct lessons is the real
question. As pointed out earlier due to lack of impartial, objective academic
study we really do not know the real movers of our robust economy. If we
go by the set rules and follow the Free market model of the west there is all
the possibility that we would also end up in the same soup. Some things are
taken for granted by our economic intellectuals while talking about the
reforms. We have not checked their validity. The first and foremost is about
the foreign investment. We are told more of it the better. Hence increase the
sectors, increase the percentage and roll out red carpets. All state are
organizing big festivals to attract foreign investments. We are told you have
to change your laws to suit them. We are told the tax structure is to be
widened then only we can reduce the fiscal deficit. Competition is the only
solution. Look at the automobile sector where the foreign competitors have
forced our own manufacturers to improve etc.
This is the mind set under which the decision to allow FDI in the retail sector
is taken. It may be the genuine opinion of the decision makers that it is for
the good of the country. Giving them this benefit of doubt we can still
logically proceed to analyze the need and texture of next generation of
reforms. It is not always true that increasing the dose of the same medicine
will give a better result. We have to diagnose the patient and then give the
medicine according to the ailment.
Real Reforms needed
We definitely need reforms, but what are they. Do we need more capital? Do
we need more competition? or is it something else that we need.
Following are few points on the type of reforms urgently needed for India to
be able to sustain the growth and convert its potential into reality.
Technical inputs in right areas:
Taking the home conditions into account not the needs of the investor.
We need to understand the lay of the land. We have to look at India from its
own eyes. We have to take into consideration its own strengths and
weaknesses. Like population we may be on the wrong footing in assessing
our own strengths. Population can be used as strength if we have labour
intensive policies. Educating our masses is not a one year programme so in
addition to that we must have opportunities for the uneducated and
unskilled labour. If this national perspective is taken into consideration we
will know we have more prospect of employment generation in IT hardware
sector than the software. We need FDI and technological support from
friends like Taiwan in this sector.
Community base micro-capital Generation:
Cooperative has been a successful model in some regions.
Our community based capital generation has proved to be a great boon.
More than 1200 such community based commercial and industrial clusters
have been identified by researchers. The great Noble prize winning
experiment of Mohammad Yunus of Bangladesh in micro-financing has been
in practice in India for centuries. The community based entrepreneurship can
be an innovation in micro capital generation. Co-operative is another
successful model in this field. Amool in Gujarat and sugar and cotton cooperatives
in Maharashtra have proved to be better suited for Indian
environment. There is ample scope of improvement in this sector. But the
great strength of this model is that it is participatory, everyone involved is a
stake holder. This gives opportunity for more equitable growth. This is just
one aspect of our very rich social capital waiting to be cultivated and
harvested by the society free from governmental intervention. We do not
need any policy to promote these communities to produce and trade. What
we need is to give them complete freedom from the limitations of the state
machinery which is the legacy of the colonial rule. It was the British Raj
which in the first place had deprived the community life of its economic
creativity and freedom to express it in a suitable economic activity. After
independence we have done little to revive this spirit of our masses. The
liberalization has given a limited scope and many of these traditional
communities have worked wonder.
Rationalizing the Tax structure:
Minimum tax from maximum people and no multiple taxing of economic
activity.
The tax structure demands rationalization. Just by tightening the rules and
forceful recovery we may raise the revenue of the government but that
won't address the issue. There is no study of un-taxed economic activity in
India. We are not talking about illegal tax evasion. But most of the trading
activity in India is not in the Government radar. We are running a parallel
economy which is estimated of the same size of the GDP if not more. This is
not necessarily black money. No doubt most of it is born out of tax evasion
practices. But there is legitimate, diversified, small-scale economic activity
which can not be taxed. It is so un-organized that to try to tax it will break
down the whole machinery. Hence we conveniently ignore it. On the other
hand we tax the organized activity over and again. The same thing is taxed
so many times. This illogical taxing promotes evasive practices. This can be
cured with a very simple innovation.
Arthakarnti Proposal.
It was first suggested by a small scale industrialist and has now evolved into
a movement by name Arthkarnti. The proposal is so simple that the modern
economist used to complexity is baffled. Arthakranti proposes a single tax
model. It advocates that all the taxes except customs be replace with one
tax. They have named it transaction tax. It has to be a small fraction, say
2%. That is all the tax that will be levied on the transaction once for all. On
every deposit in the bank 2% will be deducted by the bank. 0.65% on behalf
of Union Government, 0.65% for the state 0.35% for the local body like
Panchayat or Municipal Corporation and remaining 0.35 % for the banks
administrative expenses. With total computerization of the bank operation
this is just a matter of developing the relevant software. The calculations
made by the experts show that this small amount will fetch more revenue to
the government than what it gets at present. To promote maximum
transactions to be done through bank, Arthakranti proposes a parallel step
to stop the big currency notes. These two steps taken simultaneously will
widen the tax net to almost all the transactions and will also curb the
generation of Black money in the economy.
Recovery of Black money stashed abroad:
Legal options under present laws, New laws, Check on Hawala, Banning the
Participatory notes.
Another major reform demands the recovery of Black money stashed
abroad. The legal avenues under the existing national and international laws
or need for legislating, amalgamating new laws/ordinances can be discussed.
But there can be no two opinions that the huge amount parked unutilized in
the tax havens must be brought back into the legal economic machinery.
This may eliminate the need for any foreign investment. Instead we will be
in a position to bail out the crisis ridden European nations. We have to start
with banning the participatory note completely and immediately. They have
proved to be the dark horses in the stock exchange. Their flow has been
controlling the bullish and bearish trends in the share market robbing the
small genuine investor of hard earned money.
Decentralize Rural Development model:
A decentralized development model is the need of the hour. Rather than
following the international standards of development which demand
urbanization of majority rural population, we need to evolve our own modus
operandi to suit our realities. It will be easier to for us to equip our villages
to be centers of vibrant economic activity rather than displacing majority of
rural population to the cities converting them into a big slum.
Constitutional reforms:
A political system rooted in the national historical and cultural moorings.
There is a dying need for reform in our political structure. The Westminster
model of democracy needs a revamp. Taking the vastness of the land,
enormity of population and inherent diversities into account we need a
model of our own. The present constitution has served us well, better than
many of our contemporaries for last 6 decades but that is no reason to
continue the same, unchanged. It is high time we constitute a fresh
constitution draft committee and then debate and approve it in specifically
elected constitutional convention. We the people of Bharat need to give unto
ourselves a fresh Constitution.
Thus, we need to prioritize our national reform agenda. One can not say that
first do the above then only other reforms can be taken up. A Country as
large and as complex as ours will definitely have to work on many fronts. As
the scope of this paper was limited to FDI related reforms we have not
discussed many required reforms in many other fields of national life such as
education – primary and higher, natural resource management, Energy
security etc. But definitely the above listed reforms must be taken up on
priority. They are obviously more important than the FDI. In fact without
these reforms FDI is useless and even counterproductive.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that FDI policy in general and FDI in multi-brand
retail in particular need to be looked into from more fundamental point of
view. The geo-political issues, threats and challenges must be studied
thoroughly. The economic alternatives also need to be explored. There is no
doubt that India needs to continue the reforms and next generation of
reforms are urgently needed, but the context and content of such reforms
need to be rooted in the soil and should cater to the realities of the land
rather than the theories of the international cartels.
Indian society has an economic potential to regain its past glory. As was
expressed by William Dalrymple in article titled, "Empire strikes back" in the
Telegraph, UK in 2007 –
"Extraordinary as it is, seen from the wider perspective the rise of India and
China is merely nothing more than a return to the ancient equilibrium of
world trade. Today, we Europeans are no longer the gun-toting, gunboatriding
colonial masters we once were, but instead are reverting to our more
traditional role: that of eager consumers of the much celebrated luxuries and
services of the East."
The basic foundation of Indian economy is very sound but we need to build a
suitable edifice on this foundation to realize its full potential

FERA Not Janlokpal > POTA for Executive, Judiciary, Legislature

FERA Not Janlokpal > POTA for Executive, Judiciary, Legislature

At Anna’s one day agitation only Half Pants and Unemployed Politician came forward to support Anna Team. We need strong institutions – Executive, Judiciary and Legislature. Janlokpal is intended to cripple them all.  We need to improve Selection & Promotion procedures for all three institutions.

Janlopal is POTA for Executive, Judiciary and Legislature – anyone can make complaint and cut down any person to size – no one shall recover from False Complaints and shall not get lost reputation and compensated for losses similar to majority implicated in POTA cases and confined to jail for years.

The event participants were led by Arun Jaitley who Terminated FERA to let Scamsters toot India and Introduced POTA to target Muslims as Law Minister. He has not contested any elections though a Career politician.

There have been 15-16 Prime Ministers in India including re-elections etc but Banias and Traders ‘Corrupted’ them all. 99% of corruption in India is due to Amabanis and Traders – mainly banias.

India needs to revive FERA since 99% of Corporate Crimes have foreign connections.

We already have RTI to deal with local corruption but we need to induct qualified professionals in local institutions than political agents who work to shame India to benefit from RTI.

We already have Quality Standards but need implementations.

We need to weed out Career Politicians mainly Half Pants and limit Tenure of Members of Parliament to Four Terms Lok Sabha - Rajya Sabha together. 

Ravinder Singh

India and China to eventually come under emission curbs

India and China to eventually come under emission curbs

Dec. 11: The world’s nations negotiating for years on strategies to combat climate change have agreed for the first time to work towards a new pact that would force all big polluters, including emerging economies such as India and China, to curb their greenhouse gas emission.

A UN climate change conference in Durban concluded this morning after negotiators from more than 190 countries agreed to consider a new document that would carry “legal force” and apply to both the industrialised countries and large emitters among emerging economies.

Any pact that covers all major greenhouse gas emitters within the same legal framework contrasts with the existing Kyoto Protocol, negotiated in 1997, which imposes legally binding cuts in emission only on industrialised countries, not on the developing countries.

The Durban conference agreed to extend the Kyoto Protocol for a second period —from January 2013 to December 2017 — and decided that the new pact would be implemented from 2020 onwards.

But what implications the yet-to-be-negotiated pact would have on the greenhouse gas emission trajectories of India and other large emitters is unclear because negotiators also agreed to take into account India’s demand that the principle of “equity” should dictate future negotiations.

“The removal of this distinction between the industrialised countries and the developing countries is disturbing,” said Prodipto Ghosh, a former environment secretary and a former climate change negotiator for India.

If the principle of equity does get embedded in the actual text of the new pact, Ghosh said, there would be no constraints on our (economic) growth,” he told The Telegraph. But if the agreement considers merely the size of countries’ emissions, it could have some adverse impact.

The Durban outcome follows two weeks of gruelling negotiations which, at times, reflected the intensity of disagreement and, according to a Venezuelan delegate, even led to threats and coercion.

India’s environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan told the conference that she is “disturbed to find that a legally binding protocol... negotiated 14 years ago (the Kyoto Protocol) is now being junked in a cavalier manner”.

Natarajan said India was not happy with reopening the text, a Reuters report said. “But in the spirit of flexibility and accommodation shown by all, we have shown our flexibility.”

Venezuela’s climate envoy Claudia Salerno said she had received threats because of her objections to the draft texts, Reuters reported. “The most pathetic and the most lowest threat ... we are not going to have the Green Climate Fund” designed to help poor nations tackle global warming from emissions.

The conference delegates agreed to raise “the level of ambition” to work towards emissions management that would keep the average rise in global temperatures below 2°C in a bid to reduce the risk of catastrophic impacts of global warming and climate change caused by the greenhouse gas emission.

“India’s proposal on equity has been included in the work plan for the next conference,” said Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment, a non-government agency that has been tracking climate change negotiations for two decades.

In its argument on equity, India has asserted that its per capita greenhouse gas emission is much lower than those of several industrialised nations and that the emission gap must be bridged through “differentiated” responsibilities. In other words, the industrialised countries have to do a lot more than should be expected from the developing countries.

Both Narain and Ghosh cautioned that future negotiations are likely to prove tougher. India will have to ensure that equity is incorporated into future agreement,” Ghosh said.

Cameroon's president forms new government

Two months after the Oct. 9 presidential elections and over one month after being sworn in, the Cameroonian President Paul Biya on Friday named members of the new government which will be comprised of 37 ministers, besides assistant ministers and state secretaries.Newly introduced posts include that of minister for procurement contracts and secretary of state at the defense ministry in charge of the ex-fighters and war victims.
The current government structure is comprised of 37 ministerial posts including the deputy prime minister, minister in charge of relations with councils in addition to assistant ministers and state secretaries.
Those appointed in government include the Director General of the Afriland First Bank Alamine Ousmane Mey who was appointed the Finance minister, Atangana Kouna Basile was appointed as the minister for Energy and Water.Eyebe Ayissi, the ex-finance minister was appointed as the minister for the Supreme State Council.Essimi Menye, the ex-foreign minister will now serve as the Agriculture Minister.
Laurent Esso, the ex-secretary general at the presidency was appointed to serve as the Justice Minister.
Aba Sadou will be in charge of the newly created Ministry of Procurement Contracts.
Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo was appointed as Minister for External Relations.
Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o remains as the Defense Minister while Issa Tchiroma Bakary will remain as the Communication Minister.

Sagar31News_6th CMS Vatavaran Environ & Wild Life Film Festival

Think Tibet Insight Film Festival at Manchester

‘Passport photos’ the documentary film by Black Coffee Productions and Think Tibet was screened at the Insight Film Festival at Manchester.

The 2-day festival held on the 3^rd and 4^th of December focuses on films of faith, offering a forum through which faith can be explored, discussed and understood.  Lobsang Thardoe, program and project manager of Think Tibet represented the filmmakers and producers at the festival. He participated in the workshop by FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE on script writing and screenwriting workshop by Henry Swindell, writer manager for BBC writers’ room north of England.

On the second day of the screening, he was invited to speak on the film and about Tibet. Speaking of his experience, Lobsang says, “It was wonderful to be here at the Insight Festival. I had the opportunity of meeting the Lord Mayor of Manchester, who was the Chief Guest, and speak briefly about Tibet.” Passport Photos was selected out of 300 documentaries received from worldwide and received an official selection award.

Lobsang will meet supporters of Tibet and other associates of Think Tibet in London and Manchester.

‘Passport photos’, is a short documentary film comprising of a collection of conversations with young urban Tibetans, all named Tenzin. They talk about their lives, families, dreams and what it means to be living in exile.

The film ‘Passport Photos’ competed its post-production work in 2010, the film was first premiered at the IBN Arabi Film Festival in Murcia, Spain on January 31, 2011. Following the rave reviews and critics’ thumps-up for this niche film, it was screened at seven other 2011 International Film Festivals; Vientianale International Film Festival, Laos, Dawson City International short Film Festival, Canada, MCM International Short Film Festival, Netherland, Outbox International Short Film Festival, Lebanon, Kimera International Film Festival, Italy, Australian Refugee Film Festival, Australia and I’ve seen Films International Film Festival, Italy.

The film “Passport Photos’ has been directed by Preetam Koipillai in collaboration with Tenzin Jangchup Lingpa and Lobsang Thardoe.

The film has screened in eleven countries in thirteen international film festivals during 2010-2011.

Sagar31News_Power Summit 2011BloombergUTV,Jaypee,Moserbaer

Ashwin in top 20 of ODI ranking

Ashwin in top 20 of ODI

Following his consistent performance in the recent past, India's R Ashwin broke into the top 20 of the ICC ODI bowling charts for the time in his career, while batsman Virat Kohli moved one rung to be placed fourth in the latest ranking released on Wednesday. Rohit Sharma, up 21 places to 35th, also improved thanks to his three half centuries in the ongoing series against the West Indies, but opener Gautam Gambhir lost seven places to be placed alongside South Africa's JP Duminy at 19th position. With 620 points, Ashwin was ranked 18th, a jump of three places. The ever-improving Kohli has garnered 766 points and is placed alongside India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has lost a place. South Africa's Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers and Jonathan Trott continued to keep the top three spots.

On Proposed Sports Bill 2011:Minister Ajay Maken

06.12.2011 06:26:00 - Nksagar-Sagar Media Inc:New Delhi: Proposed Sports Bill 2011: Industry Perspective. Mr Ajay Maken, Hon’ble Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports,briefed the media at Maharani Hall, The Claridges, 12 Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi - 110011,On Proposed Sports Bill 2011: Industry Perspective meet organized by CII said, the core of the bill be maintaining accountability and transparency in sports.

(live-PR.com) - Union Minister for Sports Mr. Ajay Maken has underlined the need for maintaining accountability and transparency in sports for getting good results.He said that there is need for the efficient and transparent sports federations in the country to enhance the level of sports. Expressing concern over the lack of coaches he said that adequate coaches are needed to strengthen the
sports in the country. Sports Minister Ajay Maken has asked the Indian Olympic Association, IOA, to object to the Dow Chemical’s sponsorship issue in upcoming Olympic games with the International Olympics Committee, IOC.

Proposed National Sports Development Bill (NSDB) has regulations which has potential to strengthen the hands of the government and interesting features of the bill is that it should not threaten the independence of National Sports Federations (NSF) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA), according to a chamber of commerce FICCI survey.

Draft of the bill falls far short of the expectations of NSFs and professionals as it does little to address the problems dogging the overall development of sports which has to have ingredients right from planning and managing of hybrid sports activities in the country and taking care of man,management and its logistics which appears an uphill task.

During the interaction representative south campus colleges of Delhi University in addition to CEO's and senior officials of corporate India exhibited live interest in sports, but question raised by media and corporate person were mostly pertained within the radii of influence of HRD Ministers and the anchor kept on brooding with no road paths and minister turning late many left the interactive session reveals that there is an imperative need to bring transparency and accountability in the functioning of sports,activities in hamlet,town,city and metros with NSFs.

Contact information:
Sagar Media Inc

Libyan In(ter)vention: False facts fatal for Gaddafi

Russia's foreign ministry has downgraded relations with Qatar, following an incident in which the Russian ambassador to the country was assaulted by border security guards. RT discusses what's behind this diplomatic scandal with James Corbett, editor of the independent news website Corbett Report dot com.

India to Host Fourth International Tax Dialogue Conference

India to Host Fourth International Tax Dialogue Conference-: India is hosting the 4th International Tax Dialogue Conference (ITD) Global Conference on Tax and Inequality. More than 250 foreign delegates are expected to take part in this three day conference being held at Vigyan Bhawan from 7th to 9th December. The conference would be inaugurated by the Union Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. A number of prominent academics and representatives of regional and international organizations will also be present at this high level conference which will have senior level representation from over 100 countries.

Islamist voted sixty five percnet in Egypt poll

Islamist parties -- the liberal FJP linked to Muslim Brotherhood and radical Salafists were cruising ahead with 65 pc votes in the first round of Egyptian parliamentary polls, as the secular parties were trounced in regions in the first post-revolution elections.

Muslim Brotherhood's new Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) received roughly 40 percent of the vote and the main Salafist Al-Nur party between 20 and 25 percent, the state media reported on Sunday. The main liberal coalition, the Egyptian Bloc, won only 15 percent.

Egyptians will return to the elections on Monday for run-off votes from the first round of their parliamentary votes, whose final outcome will not be known until other parts of the country vote in two more rounds. The process will not be complete until 11^th January.

"We call upon everyone, and all those who associate themselves with democracy, to respect the will of the people and accept their choice," Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement after the first-round vote.

The vote drew an official turnout of 62 percent. "Those who weren't successful ... should work hard to serve people to win their support next time," its said.

Latest results from the Egyptian elections indicate that Islamist parties are likely to have a strong majority in the new parliament, the BBC reported.

However, most candidates will have to go through to two further rounds of voting over the next six weeks. BBC described the elections as "arguably the first fully free and fair election in Egyptian history".

"This is the first chance to see the strength of the Islamists, who look likely to win at least half of the seats in the new parliament. There are two very different sets of Islamists, and it is not at all certain that they will work together," it said.

Language Inquisition: Estonia bans speaking russian

Curtains Come Down on the 42nd International Film Festival of India:

Curtains Come Down on the 42nd International Film Festival of India:  ‘Porfirio’ Bags Golden Peacock for Best Film, Asghar Farhadi Receives Best Director Award -:


The Columbian film ‘Porfirio’ directed by Alejandro Landes and produced by Franciso Aljure has bagged the coveted Golden Peacock Award for the Best Film at the 42nd International Film Festival of India 2011, while the Silver Peacock Award for the Best Director went to Asghar Farhadi for his film ‘Nader and Simin-A Seperation’. The Indian film ‘Adaminte Makan Abu’ won the Special Jury Award. Director of the film Salim Ahamed received the award which consists of a Silver Peacock, Certificate and a Cash Prize of Rs. 15 Lakhs, in the presence of the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Shri Choudhury Mohan Jatua, the Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Digambar Kamat and the famous actor Suriya best known for his roles in films like ‘Kaakha Kaakha’, ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’ who was the Chief Guest of the closing function here today.

The Best Actor award of Rs. 10 lakh went to the Israeli actor Sasson Gabay for his role in the film ‘Restoration’ whereas the Best Actress Award was won by Nadezhda Markina for her role in ‘Elena’.

The above films were chosen by a five member Competition Jury comprising Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Laurence Kardish, Lee Yong Kwan, Tahmineh Milani and Dan Wolman.

The festival concluded today with the screening of the English film ‘The Lady’ directed by acclaimed French Director Luc Besson, which starred Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis in lead roles. At the closing ceremony, a one minute silence was observed to pay tribute to the departed soul of Brazilian Director, Oscar Maron Filho, who passed away during the festival.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Shri Choudhury Mohan Jatua said that the International Film Festival of India gives a rare opportunity of viewing the best of international films. Expressing his happiness at the success of the festival, he hoped that the trend keeps on continuing in the future.

Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Digambar Kamat said that as everything comes to an end, the 42nd International Film Festival of India also has culminated into a glorious end. He spoke about the great satisfaction that the delegates experienced during the festival and said that the festival has moved from strength to strength.

Shri Suriya, the chief guest at the closing ceremony said that it is his first appearance at the International Film Festival of India and he was really excited to be there. He said that creative content needs to be shared across the nation and outside.

Festival Director, Shri Shankar Mohan said that the International Film Festival of India is an endeavour to bring in the best of cinematic talents from across the world and gives an opportunity to filmmakers to showcase their creative talents. He thanked the jury members, delegates and officials for making the festival a success.

The eleven day cinematic extravaganza which began on November 23rd with the screening of the Portuguese film ‘The Consul of Bordeaux’ witnessed the screening of a variety of diverse films from India and from across the world. Special attractions of the 42nd International Film Festival of India included ‘Retrospectives’ of eminent filmmakers like Luc Besson and Phillip Noyce; ‘Homages’ to cinematic luminaries like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Leacock, Sidney Lumet and others; ‘Festivals Kaleidoscope’; ‘Country Focus on USA’; ‘Russian Classics’; ‘Spotlight on Poland’, Documentaries along with first time packages like ‘3D Cinema-The Third Dimension’, ‘Sketches on Screens’, ‘Soccer in Cinema’ and others.

During the course of the festival besides film shows, a host of film related events like Master Class, Open Forums, Film Bazaar by NFDC, 3D Visual Experience Summit and the Short Film Centre were also held to facilitate interaction and business meets in this sector. Master Classes taken by Hugh Welchman on ‘Realising Animation’, Resul Pookutty on ‘Weaving the Magic of Sound in Cinema’ and Phillip Noyce on ‘From Concept to Film, the Phil Noyce Way’, were great hits.

PC Monitor sell-throughs in top 30 Indian cities grow 17% in 3Q 2011 over 2Q 2011

PC Monitor sell-throughs in top 30 Indian cities grow 17% in 3Q 2011 over 2Q 2011
LED sales grow 88%, LCD sales start to decline signifying a generational shift in technology

Bangalore / New Delhi November 29 2011: The overall India PC Monitor sell-throughs in top 30 cities touched 7.41 lakh units during the July-September 2011 quarter recording a 17% sequential growth on account of pre-festive buying, according to a recent study by IT, Telecom and Entrepreneurship research firm CyberMedia Research.

Table 1. India 30-City PC Monitor Sales (lakhs of units) by Form Factor and Growth Trends: July-August-September 2011 vs. April-May-June 2011*
Form Factor   2Q 2011

Form Factor	2Q 2011 (April-June 2011)	3Q 2011 (July-Sept 2011)	Growth (3Q 2011 over 2Q 2011)	Contribution 2Q 2011 (April-June 2011)	Contribution 3Q 2011 (July-Sept 2011)
LCD	4.4	3.8	-14%	69%	51%
LED	1.9	3.6	88%	31%	49%
Total	6.3	7.4	17%

* Source: CyberMedia Research India 30-City Monthly PC Monitor Market Review, November 2011

In the overall India PC Monitor market, LG retained leadership position with 31.3% share in terms of sales (units shipped) while Samsung and Acer took the second and third spots, respectively. AOC and Dell completed the top five.

In terms of LCD sales, Samsung led the pack with a 27.6% units share followed by LG and Acer, respectively during 3Q 2011. For LED sales, LG retained the top spot with a 36.6% units share. Acer and AOC grabbed the second and third places, respectively, says the CyberMedia Research study.

How the India PC Monitor market pans out by region
The present coverage of the CyberMedia Research study indicates that southern India contributes a hefty 39% of all PC monitor sales, followed by western, northern and eastern India, in that order. Among the top 5 players, LG has close to equal contribution from southernIndiaand westernIndia, while Acer and Dell have more than half of their sales originating from southernIndia. Samsung had a high proportion of sales from southernIndia, as well. However, AOC remained almost evenly distributed across the regions.

The India PC Monitor market by screen size: The 15.6" is moving out, or is it?

Table 2. India Standalone PC Monitor Market Sell-throughs by          Screen Size: 2Q 2011 versus 3Q 2011

Screen Size	2Q 2011 (April-May-June 2011)	3Q 2011 (July-August-September 2011)
18.5'' W	40.3%	40.4%
15.6'' W	29.4%	28.9%
20'' W	22.5%	23.1%
21.5'' W	5.4%	5.7%
Others	2.4%	1.9%

* Source: CyberMedia Research India 30-City Monthly PC Monitor Market Review, November 2011

"Samsung re-entered the 15.6” W monitor category with an LED offering after a period of one year. However, in general all major vendors are gradually reducing focus on the 15.6” W LCD segment due to low margins. This opened a window of opportunity for small vendors like Beetel, Intex, Simmtronics and others in the 15.6” segment leading to their growth in certain pockets of the country", stated Sumanta Mukherjee, Lead Analyst, PCs, Peripherals, Accessories and IT Channels, CyberMedia Research Infotech Practice.

“Over time aesthetics has emerged as a differentiator as vendors are launching ‘slim’ or ‘ultra-slim’ monitor models. The underlying business logic is to build brand preference and thereby command a premium in a highly commoditised market. New technological enhancements like 3D and HDMI are also attracting customers' attention. Vendors like LG, Dell and AOC launched IPS or In-Plane Switching panel based monitors as a means to signal technological superiority”, Sumanta added.

Challenges Ahead
"Weakening of the Indian Rupee vis-à-vis the US Dollar led to a second round of price increases by vendors this year. Distributors in a few cities stocked up on larger inventories to avail the benefits of an impending price rise", stated Narinder Kumar, Analyst, Peripherals, Accessories and IT Channels, CyberMedia Research Infotech Practice.

"A majority of standalone PC monitors are still sold, bundled with assembled PCs. A sudden drop in supply volumes of internal hard disk drives caused a sharp increase in prices of this key component. This will continue to hamper assembled PC sales over the next few quarters, consequently affecting standalone PC monitor off-take", Narinder concluded.

Notes for Editors
The CyberMedia ResearchIndia30-City Monthly PC Monitor Market Review, November 2011 is:
1)           Based on sell-throughs of Tier II dealers across the top 30 cities.
2)           Covers 5 major vendors, namely, Acer,AOC, Dell, LG and Samsung.
3)           Does not include Institutional and LFR (Large Format Retail) sales by vendors.
4)           Includes models based on LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and LED (Light Emitting Diode) technologies. The MTV (Monitor Television) form factor represents less than 1% of sales and hence, is not shown as a separate category.

The top 30 Indian cities covered as part of this study are classified under the following geographical regions:

East	North	South	West
Bhubaneswar	Chandigarh	Bengaluru (Bangalore)	Ahmedabad
Guwahati	Delhi	Chennai	Vadodara (Baroda)
Kolkata	Ghaziabad	Kochi-Ernakulam (Cochin)	Bhopal
Patna	Gurgaon	Coimbatore	Indore
Ranchi	Jaipur	Hyderabad-Secunderabad	Mumbai
	Lucknow	Hubli-Dharwad	Pune
	Ludhiana	Madurai	Raipur
	Varanasi	Thiruvanthapuram (Trivandrum)	Surat
		Visakhapatnam

              
– ENDS –

About CyberMedia Research
A part of CyberMedia,South Asia’s largest specialty publisher, CyberMedia Research (CMR) has been a front runner in market research, consulting and advisory services since 1986.

CMR offers research and consulting services – insights, market intelligence, market sizing, ecosystem mapping and go-to-market services – covering the Information Technology, ITeS, Semiconductor & Electronics, Telecommunications, Government, SMB & Entrepreneurship, Smart Infrastructure, Energy and Healthcare & Life Sciences verticals.

Cyber Media Research Ltd., an ISO 9001: 2008 company, is a member of ESOMAR (www.esomar.org) and the Market Research Society of India (www.mrsi.in).

CMR’s forthcoming studies include stakeholder satisfaction surveys, mega spender assessments and market mapping studies for these domains.
For more details, please visit http://www.cybermediaresearch.co.in or http://www.cmrindia.com .

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