Is the service sector not as "real" as manufacturing sector.

your concerns are obvious but dont you think all we have done in IT sector so far is services and third party software. It is but natural that 9 out of 10 times services follow manufacturing but the indian companies neglected that and just provided the services. today even after india being a so called IT and ITES giant we do not have a single product to boast in the international market. so where is it leading us and what does it signify? its not that we do not have enough innovation to have a great product, but one thing that we indians lack is the spirit to back our product and idea behind it against all odds and make it a global success. all we want is big bucks no matter how it comes : by selling our product line or the concept behind them or the entire company as in case of sabeer bhatia. why is that no gogle or Yahoo came from india? instead of running away from china's dominance in manufacturing why can't we face it and make a better product. we have had enough of services , not that we leave them but we should also concentrate on other areas of economy as well. this attitude of ours (indians) has cost india lot of self respect. otherwise how would have Kofi Annan dared to offer India a permanent seat at the Security council without veto, even after being the world's 4th largest economy. and to add to it the indian leaders who just want to have their own men in the UN would ask for the same recently along with germany , brasil, japan.
this is a perfect example to show that the indian leadership lack vertebral column. they just dont have it them to stand up and face the world. they cant understand that today india has become as important as china in the world economy and if india withdraws support from UN ( a la China) these same guys would come calling at our doorsteps with veto as well.

communism

communism
Originally uploaded by prawal.

The BHEL saga : Why is there a Huge Noise?

Recently the Indian Government made the decision to divest its 10% shares in the prestigious BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited- a PSU). Following the decision is a huge cry over government not fulfilling its promises of giving employment to the masses. Also the Left parties have been saying that governments decisionis not supported by them.
Well people in BHEL are in a state of shock and disbelief.... If govt can disinvest BHEL, a navratna, then who is saved. They feel threatened by the fact that if privatised the new owner will kick out most of them. Well let me tell you their fears are correct. Reason: most of these are lazy guys who just come to office or factory for the sake of it and receive salary on their attendance, not the amount of work done by them. In Hindi there is a very beautiful phrase for them Chor Ki Dadhi Mein Tinka meaning one who has done wrong wil be scared. This is not the case of BHEL alone, all the PSUs have the same story.
Now comes the question why is Left supporting them? Well what people forget is that the left's agenda has always been to have all the men at a equal position but is it possible?? When nature has not made all equals how can humans make them so? Check out China , rather the only success story in communism (so it appears to be) , there also all kind of divisions are there-- rich and poor, educated and illiterate, powerful and powerless.........
Another thing which Left is not thinking about : " Is Government suppossed to be doing business or building Infrastructure and finding ways to make people's life better??". Looking at the results of the companies (which have been disinvested ) after and before disinvestment will make things more clear. Some people will say but it has benefited the rich more than poor. But why do you forget that it has had good effect on the living conditions of even the normal employees. who gets bonuses if the company performs well?
Left's answer to this but check out by how much have they reduced the workforce? So dear Left Parties why will they keep people on their payroll who either don't have work to do or who don't do the work? And by the way no one was kicked out . People were offered VRS.
Net Result? compnies grew more under private hands than government. same people perform better under private hand than Govt. Thier lifestyle changes . Living standard becomes better. And at the end Indian Econmy grows.

Response to Becker-Posner Blog on--The Failure of the War on Drugs!!

for entire talk log on to:

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2005/03/the_failure_of.html

well the first thing i'd like to say is that there is significant difference between the ideologies of people in countries where drugs has become a major problem and where it still is not one of the big pains.
lets take for example my country India . what oi find here is that the few guys who are into drugs are not at all given respect and considered losers. so even before starting it one has to have a serious thought on what if his parents come to know about it??
what will they think about him??
and so on??
this what if factors are the prime reasons most of the guys who are offered , turn them down. now this comes into picture due to the tradition of joint famioly sytem in india, due to which there is close bonding between parents and their children at all points of time.
here is where the west really loses and the guys who are offered put their friends(those who offer)
above family and they just succumb to it.
If this habit has to be eradicated the most impoprtant thing will be to develop the close bonding between son and parents(even when they are old). so that the son thinks about what if ?? factors before taking drugs.

now i don't agree at all with you guys saying that
drug production and distribution be made legal. sir you seem to be taking sides with the drug consumption and you are treating as something good.
what you need to change is your paradigm on this topic.Just think about the future that once you make drugs production legal big companies will get into it (might be some marlboros will jump in). now they will market it furiously like what they do with cigarettes. now seriously do you think cigarette smoking is a good or decent habit. teen do that to look macho. same will happen with drugs and it will come out as the biggest problem humanity wil face in its history.
wbat you advice will just reduce or remove the so called drug lords from the scene and will bring american companies into the scene.
and once they come into picture it will become really easy to acquire drugs for normal people, and restraing its use will a big pain for the government. drug companies will make all kinds of drugs available to everybody in may be registered franchises but how will you limit the carrying capacity of single person. a man can then purchase 1 months drug requirement at a time from one shop or from different ones and end up consuming them in 3 days .
what do you say on that????

India and China together!!!

Recently i was reading an article in a business weekly on the possibilities of India joining hands with China.Let's face it ,both these countries can coexist in coming era and also become superpowers in future if and only if they recognise each other more as an ally than enemy. India with all its resources is trying to become a developed nation and a permanent security council member. China already has the security council membership but according to analysts predictions it canbecome a developed nation only by 2025 if the current growth rate is maintained.

These two warring parties have the same problems mainly population and poverty. Though China looks green to many but from inside you may find it is also struggling poverty. The FDI in China is huge and the picture seems rosy for future investors too, but take a more careful look. You would see that like India the majority of Chinese are farmers. The cold wind from mangolia just destroys their crops and they also don't seem to have enough rain for their crops due to Himalayas. The problem for the farmers is that they can't own land according to Chinese rules so they cannot even expand when they save some money, this is driving out people from this business. this may create future problems cause a developed country should have a proper balance in the occupation of its people. Also a developed nation should be self sufficient in food grains at all times.
Comparing India, due to poor irrigation, no plotting of land in most of the states, no economic support to farmers and no infrastructure developement in villages the farmer today is rushing towards city in search of some other work. Those who remain commit suicides many a time due to drought or poverty.
It seems that both the countries need to keep their farrmers happy and government needs to take prime measures in this field.

Coming to the much publicised energy area both of them are in a rat race currently to secure their future oil needs. The China National Petroleum is head on with ONGC and Indian Oil on many occassions. What both of these need to understand is that healty competition is good but once you start it with the goal of beating the other, mind you, this mentality will spread quickly in other areas as well which will increas the tension between the two countries. well if the situation worsens there may be a India-China Cold War as well, needless to say the consequences will be devastating for both.

If you look at the root of their differences you will find that China's Socialism is just not adjusting with India's democracy. what Nehru had a vision was a socialist democracy in India with some inputs from Soviet Russia but after the USSr's debacle India saw the future in capitalism and opened its doors to the world.
To realise Mao's dream of developed China being a world leader, Chiese government opted for a capitalist socialism. Using this ideology China developed a lot in last decade. the figures say so.But has China really developed so much as much as it seems on paper!
In a recent survey of 20,000 richest chinese it was found out they were related to the Communist Party of China in some way or the other!!
So it sems that our powerful neighbour shares with us the problem of corruption.

Put all these together we find though a lot is said about our differences, time has come to look at our common problems, realise that our dreams are common, and we stand at the same place at the same time in history.

time has come to join our efforts to realise our dreams. keeping this in mind welcome the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to India and hope that good longstanding friendly relations develop between the two countries.

share markets !!

share markets !!
Originally uploaded by prawal.

The cash boom in Indian stock markets

We all know that after 9/11 the US stock markets haven't been lucrative enough for the investors. And at the same time the economy of the east has been at its best esp. Indian . Now the markets are flourishing in India and cash is pouring heavily in Indian stock markets. But here comes the catch, at this point of time shares of even those companies which have recorded only losses are on the upswing and this can be accounted to the huge cash rush. Foreign investors just invest without finding much about the company, this results in what we see today. But beware that if you haven't done ur research right on the company the shares are bound to lose money at some point or the other.
Just take the example of a company called HFCL . the australian media baron invested heavily in it in 1999. As soon as the news broke everyone was vying for its shares. This resulted in share recording a high of some rs. 2500 odd per share which is extremely high in india. Check it out now and its not even trading at 60paise.(100 paise = 1rs.)
so beware and do all your surveys right before you invest cause there's no shortcut to success.