Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

'More cities should play in the league'

How much is HIL going to benefit Indian hockey in the long run?
It is one of the best things to have happened for Indian hockey. Never before have so many Indian players got the opportunity to play in so many matches for so long. So it is not only benefiting Indian hockey, it is also helping the players. I have seen all the matches. Almost all the matches were of high intensity and high voltage. So I feel it will boost the morale of the players, especially the youngsters.

Can you name youngsters who are doing well in HIL?
Though he is already playing for India, I am really impressed with the performance of Akash Deep. Among the older players, Gurbaj Singh and SV Sunil are playing well. I think there is a good mixture of young and older players in this league.

How do you assess the response of the fans?
The fans are coming to watch the matches. They are appreciating the close contests as well. I think this is just a beginning. In the future there will be huge change in the standard of this league. And that will provide a boost to the potential of the players as well.

Will the improvement impact India's showing in international tournaments?
As I have already said, we can see the change happening because Indian players have never played for such a long stretch with and against top foreign players like Jamie Dawyer, Moritz Fuertse, etc.
Can you tell us what the speciality of Delhi team is. They have done really well in the league?
For me the USP of the Delhi Waveriders is they gel together very well. Almost all the players, whether they are from India or abroad, are equally good. They are all virtually of the same standard. There shouldn't be a huge gap in the experience of two players. For example, in the Punjab team, a few of the players are not as experienced as Jamie Dawyer is, so how can you expect them to keep pace and perform well?

Would you like to see any changes being introduced in future editions of HIL?
I would like to see more teams based in different cities playing in the league. This would allow more hockey fans to see the matches in their own cities and that will generate more opportunity for the players as well.

Would you like to see WSH players being roped in for HIL?
Yes, there were so many good players in World Series Hockey. There were so many big names who played in WSH. They should be given an opportunity to play in this league as well. Every player nurtures the desire to perform well in his chosen sport and if there are quality players who turned out in WSH, why should they be barred from playing in HIL?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

“A lot of our key people have come back from Bolivia”

Sushil Maroo, Group CFO, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. discusses raw material prices as well as the situation with the Bolivia project

B&E: You have a planned capex of around Rs.80 billion for FY ‘13. How are you planning to spend this money?
SM: We are planning to divide this money almost equally for our steel and power businesses. We have major expansion plans going on in both businesses. We are setting up a DRI-based plant in Orissa, which will have an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. Our pellet mill is about to be commissioned. We are also setting up six power plants of 135 megawatts each. Two of them are already commissioned and work is going on in the remaining four. Apart from this, we are also working on a 2400 MW power plant for Jindal Power Ltd. in Raigarh. We have already acquired land for these projects. Therefore, expenditure on land is all for future purposes. So, all the expenses that I have just talked about are basically towards acquiring the necessary equipment and infrastructure.

B&E: International prices of coking coal have gone down significantly in the last 2-3 quarters. Do you think that the industry is set to gain from this in the long term?
SM: The Chinese steel industry is growing at an aggressive pace. Since they are consuming a lot of coking coal, there is a sustainable demand for it. Coking coal prices were down for a while. But from $145, they are again touching a level of $200. There are only two major consumers of coking coal – India and China. Production is not rising rapidly in India. So, it depends on the pace of production in China. If they continue to go this way, coking coal prices will not remain down in the long run. To add to the worries of Indian producers, the rupee has depreciated significantly. So, we are also incurring a notional foreign exchange loss. For JSPL, 100% requirement of coking coal is fulfilled through imports. Our current requirement for coking coal is about 1.3 million tonnes, which is further increasing as we are undertaking expansion plans.

B&E: You have been trying to tap one of the largest iron ore resources in the world in Bolivia. There have been a lot of issues there. What do you think are the most important lessons from this experience, which you or any other steel company can keep note of when negotiating with a foreign government?
SM: We were looking at Bolivia because there was iron ore as well as natural gas promised to us by the Bolivian government, when the MoU was signed back in 2007. But till date, the government has not been able to provide us with the gas as the contract is yet to be signed. We are not sure about what is going to happen there. The detailed contract should have been finalized by now. We cannot wait till eternity for the Bolivian government to come out with a solution. The situation led to a dispute and encashment of two bank guarantees by the government. The lesson is that when you are negotiating with foreign authorities, you must be commercially and contractually very clear. Whatever you want from the government, you should try to get it upfront on the table, otherwise the situation can get very tough. The gas supply contract, which was not signed in 2007, became a problem in 2012. The second lesson is that you must have enough space for the arbitration clauses if you are going for signing an international contract so that your rights are not affected if there is any sudden change in the circumstances.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Learning to live with Terror

Fighting terror can’t be held ransom to vote bank politics, believes Ranjit Bhushan

The spectre of terror, which has haunted India for a better part of the last three decades – first Punjab and then Kashmir, and then onto mainland India – was never brought out more starkly than it was in November 2008 when the deadly attacks in Mumbai were brought home by live media coverage to a disbelieving Indian public.

The sheer audacity and scale of the slaughter and the impotence of the Indian security mechanisms to put deterrents in place until a lot of damage had been done exposed people to their own vulnerabilities as never before.

Have lessons been learnt? More importantly, is there a bipartisan approach on terror attacks? By the looks of it, some more time would pass before such a consensus emerges. While leader of opposition, L. K. Advani, and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, have traded charges on whose government is more prone to terror attacks – UPA 2004 to 2009 or NDA 1999 to 2004 – it would be safe to say that the Mumbai attacks remain UPA’s Kandhar. There may have been no shameful ministerial escorts for hardened killers as in Kandhar, but the shifting of IPL, which had the potential to be a sporting brand as big as Wimbledon, on grounds that India was unsafe for hosting such events, falls in the same category of ‘crawling when asked to bend’. In other words, there is now no difference between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Monday, January 21, 2013

Homosexuals embark on a new fight...

After the fight for acceptance, homosexuals embark on a new fight...

While this tussle between the law-makers and the affected party has existed since years, the revoking of Article 377 has brought forth this issue in India. “I would absolutely want the government to re-consider this clause, but till now we see no signs of any such thing happening. It took years for us to get breathing space in the society, so the possibility of gays being allowed to donate blood looks bleak”, mentioned Charlie, a homosexual.

Common sense dictates that laws ought to be formulated according to the needs of a country rather than to blindly follow an existing rule. If the debate is that homosexuals are more likely to be carriers of HIV because of engaging in unprotected anal sex, then isn’t there an equal chance of being infected with HIV due to unprotected peno-vaginal sex? And if the answer to that is a yes, then why should there exist a discrimination on the basis of gender preference for a generous gesture like donating blood? Being the most powerful and advanced country in the world, the guidelines given by the US were considered sacrosanct by all, but in the recent past, countries like Tasmania and Australia have challenged the laws on gay blood donation.

Such a ban, however necessary, is discriminatory and would perhaps cause dissonance. To avoid such a predicament, it’s imperative to develop laws and rules that support the progress of a society and take it forward. But, perhaps for now, all we can do is hope!
 

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

“Govt. has promised to reimburse the royalty but we have got only sympathy”

A.K. Hazarika, Director (Onshore) ONGC in an exclusive interaction with B&E

B&E: ONGC currently has seven on shore fields in India. Can you give us the current standing of these fields across the country?

AKH: We have total of seven assets out of which six assets are producing both oil and gas and one is producing only gas. Currently all the six assets produce a total of about 8 million tones of oil and the total quantity of gas produced by all our assets are around 5.7-5.8 billion cubic meter of gas.

B&E: Cairn has made a major onshore discovery of the Barmer field in Rajasthan in which ONGC holds a 30% interest. Can you throw some light on the discovery and your collaboration with Cairn?

AKH: The region was earlier being explored by both Shell and ONGC. Unfortunately both of us failed to discover any fruitful fields in the region and Shell gave this field to Cairn Energy. Exploration is more of a gambling, who gets what no body knows. Cairn Energy was lucky enough to find hydrocarbon fields after drilling 14-15 wells. Now though discovery has been made by Cairn the catch is that the government has given those blocks on nomination basis but the licensee is ONGC. And as per the policy all the royalty for this blocks production has to be borne by the licensee. Today ONGC owns 30% of the blocks but it has to pay royalty of the rest 70% also. Thus ONGC has to give 100% royalty for being the licensee for the entire production. This is going to badly impact the financial standing and profitability of ONGC. Though the government has promised to reimburse the amount but we have got nothing but sympathy from the government so far. And as the production has already started and it is very high so our loss would also be very high. We are happy for the country but this has definitely put ONGC’s financials in trouble.

B&E: What are the challenges for ONGC as far as onshore fields are concerned?

AKH: The last major onshore field discovered by ONGC was in 1984, since then unfortunately we haven’t been able to make any major field discovery. All the fields that have been discovered date back to the 1960s, 70s and 80s with minimum period of discovery being of 25 years. Now for any field its life cycle begins to decline after 15-18 years. Thus all the onshore fields of ONGC have already passed their maturity and are now in declining phase of production. Efforts are made through new technologies to sustain and maintain reserve pressure to derive optimum output.About 85% of the wells are not self producing today as reservoir pressure have gone down.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)
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Saturday, December 22, 2012

India’s most high profile sibling rivalry

It’s slated to be the largest non-pharma deal this year (till date), if successful. But the Bharti-MTN deal is much more than that, for it can potentially be a major game changer in corporate India’s most high profile sibling rivalry – that of the Ambani brothers

Guess who benefited from this public demonstration of the bitter spat and subsequent split? Sunil Bharti Mittal and Airtel because Mukesh and the thousands and thousands of his employees switched over to Airtel connections!

The reverberations of that ‘switch’ are being felt even today; even as the second instalment of the UPA regime settles down to govern the country. You guessed it right again. We are talking about the latest bombshell that was dropped by Sunil Mittal recently when Bharti announced a ‘New Deal’ (You can call it an agreement, a merger, a reverse merger, an acquisition or whatever word takes your fancy!) with MTN, the South Africa-based telecom giant. An excited Sunil Bharti Mittal has said on that deal, “We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse. This opportunity also represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South cooperation.”

One year ago, it looked as if Anil Ambani was all set to steal the thunder from Sunil Mittal when ‘agreement’ talks between MTN and Bharti collapsed and Reliance Infocom emerged as the new and favourite suitor. One year down the road, you could say that the wheel has turned full circle and the lead established by Sunil Mittal and Airtel as the unquestionable number one telecom player from India now looks unassailable.

Some simple facts – most of them known to you by now – will establish why Sunil stands taller than Anil. The $23 billion deal – the largest non-pharma deal in the world in 2009 so far – will create an entity that will automatically become the fourth largest mobile service provider in the world with more than 200 million subscribers. Just recently, when Airtel had announced celebrations to mark the accomplishment of a 100 million subscriber base, Sunil Mittal had already hinted to this magazine (see exclusive interview) that the 200 million milestone will come far more quickly. If the deal goes through – as most analysts and insiders expect it to – what Sunil had hinted at will have already happened! And it will happen thanks to a mind bogglingly complex ‘agreement’ that will involve both cash and fresh equity. Once the deal goes through, Bharti will hold slightly less than 50% of MTN equity while MTN, in turn, will hold a 36% ‘economic interest’ in Bharti. The term ‘economic interest’ is jargon being bandied about right now because there is still some confusion about how much equity foreign investors can hold in an Indian telecom entity. As of today, foreign investors, including the largest shareholder Singtel, hold almost 74% of the equity in Bharti – the limit allowed as per existing rules.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.



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Friday, November 30, 2012

http://iipm-college.blogspot.in/2012/11/will-policy-makers-ever-take-technology.html

Reforms can help realise India’s economic potential, provided there are ‘real’ reforms!

India’s economic reforms are at risk. The acceleration of GDP growth in the last decade has been nothing short of amazing, but the benefits are distributed very unequally across regions of the country and social classes. Intellectual opposition to reforms stems from justified concerns about these negative aspects of growth, from nationalism or anti-western attitudes, and in some cases nostalgia for the days of socialist ideological purity. Political opposition to reforms is partly for tactical reasons, but it also comes from states and groups that have fallen behind. The spread of violent movements adds to the risks. These developments can be serious deterrents to investors in India’s economy – both domestic and foreign ones. But stopping or reversing reforms is not the answer. What India needs is strengthening and extension of the right kinds of reforms. What are they?

This is hardly a recipe for turning away from markets; indeed, historical evidence shows that a state-controlled economy stimulates bureaucratic caution and inertia, not innovation and entrepreneurship. Nor is it a recipe for isolation from international trade; once again the evidence on the economic costs of isolation and the benefits of trade is overwhelming. However, it is a warning against letting markets rule unchecked. Adam Smith warned us about businessmen conspiring against the public good, and his warning remains just as pertinent in today’s world with its Enrons and subprime lenders. Unlike some other economists, Rodrik is not supportive of inflationary fiscal and monetary policies. Finally, and most importantly, he emphasises the need for social cohesion; if a significant part of the population feels that it has little stake in the economic progress of the country, that can lead to social disruptions, prevent further progress and wreck what has already been achieved. What does this perspective imply for India? Let us begin by identifying the binding constraints. In my judgment, the most important ones come under the category of “inadequate infrastructure.” I mean not just physical infrastructure such as transportation, communication, and power supply, but also, and perhaps more importantly, institutional and organisational infrastructure, especially the mechanisms for regulation and for contract enforcement.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Monday, November 26, 2012

The auto quagmire and gasps for breath...

B&E’s Karan Mehrishi dives deep into the auto quagmire and gasps for breath...

But it’s not as if GM’s alone in the bloodbath. Ford is not too far behind when it comes to sharing in the scathing hits. When William Clay Ford Junior gave an interview to Planman Media a couple of years back, he had just entered India and was typically gung-ho about cutting it clean very soon. In the first week of August 2008, Ford reported the biggest and worst one quarter loss (April to June 2008) in the history of the corporation! $8.7 billion! Year 2007 loss: $2.7 billion! Year 2006 loss: $12.6 billion!

Not surprisingly, while annual sales have regularly fallen or remained stagnant at GM (2006: $205 billion sales; 2007: $181 billion; 2008 six months: $80.6 billion) and Ford (2006: $160 billion; 2007: $172 billion; 2008 six months: $85 billion), the sales at Toyota (2006: $179 billion; 2007: $202 billion; 2008 six months: $118 billion) and Honda (2006: $84 billion; 2007: $94 billion; 2008 six months: $54 billion) have been constantly rising. But more importantly, companies like Toyota and Honda have raked up humungous profits year after year! Toyota had profits of $11.6 billion, $14 billion and $6.18 billion in 2006, 2007 and the first six months of 2008. While Honda, during the same periods, had profits of $5 billion, $5 billion and close to $2 billion!

Compared to the accumulated profits of $44 billion in the last three years of the fuel-efficient focused Japanese Big 2, the Detroit Big 2 had accumulated losses of a mind numbing $82 billion in the same period!!! What gives?!?! That’s when I came across four extremely critical issues that could surely define the reasons why the global auto industry dies sooner than later...


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Technology and dating communities

Technology and dating communities stay in step with the changing times...

Two years ago speed dating came to India with the first event being held in Mumbai. Speed dating is at times described as a, ‘formalised matchmaking process’. In truth, it is nothing more than throwing an equal number of guys and girls together and each guy gets some three minutes to chat with every dame before moving on to the next. Sounds like a dream come true, right? Well, it has its own catch; you would get the girl’s number only if she has also shown an interest in you.

And oh, guys get charged more for the same services! Why? Well, isn’t it obvious? Although yet to take-off fully in India, the concept has proven to be sound and successful and usually safe. The reason could be that as a society we are yet to fully de-stigmatise dating as a concept, with people who take the help of dating agencies labelled as losers or of a loose moral character. Take Sanjana for example, she runs a ‘friendship circle’ (another name for what essentially is a dating agency) in Delhi called Cool Friends. “Our aim is to find like-minded friends for people in this unfriendly world,” she says with a straight face when asked about the friendship circle.

With metros like Delhi and Mumbai serving as a veritable melting pot for all of India’s religions and countless castes, it is getting harder for parents to insist that their child marries within the ‘community’. This, coupled with ever greater interaction between young people of different regions (with the coming of age of the Internet and greater mobility overall) has ensured that dating has been demystified, although risks remain.

“I started dating a guy I met through Facebook. He really seemed wonderful and funny. But I later found out that along with his age, he had lied about many things. He turned out to be four years younger to me after claiming that he was three years elder!” says Monica laughingly. Well, at least he was not a repressed freak…


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Monday, November 12, 2012

To bypass US, make a US of us...

The Tatas with near hundred companies have created a captive economy which can sustain in lean times by supporting each other. India needs to emulate the same to avoid pinpricks of global recessions...

The US is nowadays the favorite whipping boy of the world. If it does well in it’s economy, it is blamed for its carbon emissions and replacing the cultivation of foodgrain with the production of biofuel. Therefore when the economy of the US starts faltering, ideally the world should be happy as it gives the right kind of opportunity to dethrone the sole remaining superpower of the earth. A slowing American economy is also a harbinger for reduction in the level of carbon emissions as bankrupt Americans coupled with more bankrupt banks would consume less thereby consuming lesser fuel. But alas, even in it’s demise, the world abuses it. When it booms, the Americans are asked, ‘Why are you booming?

Your consumptions and insatiable appetite would someday ruin the world’, while at the first impression of a slowing down in the American economy, it is then abused again, ‘Why the hell are you slowing down? Why can’t you manage your own backyard properly? Don’t you realize that many millions across the world would be unemployed if your economic machine stops rolling?’ One should pity the Americans. It’s like damned if they do and damned if they don’t. But why is it that for all the hype of emerging economies all across the developing nations, the world’s well being is still dependent on the consumption pattern of 300 million Americans? And for a change, is it possible to forgive the poor Americans and think about alternatives so that the world can be relieved of the typical cycle of recession and boom while out rightly relegating the FIIs to oblivion for their ‘fair weather friend behavior’ and the habit of pulling the carpet beneath the feet and catching nations off guard especially when they are about to celebrate their newfound economic well being? Look at India. While everyone was expecting that the sensex, after having a stupendous run for quite sometime and having breached the magic figure of 20,000 would embrace 30,000 soon, things went awry.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Bottoms up approach...

...to building India and making it look beautiful

Nano has shown to the auto industry that “there exists a fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.” But why aren’t others taking a cue from management guru C. K. Prahalad’s wisdom & of course, the inspirational work of the British born Indian architect late Laurie Baker? “ I don’t think that the real estate sector is thinking of any low cost housing projects. This is mainly because the land & construction costs are too high for any builder to venture into this arena. The problem can be met by greater public-private participation only,” says Alok Agrrawal, Principal Sun Apollo, a private equity fund, with expertise in reality sector. More importantly, “The homeless or poor have to be involved in the process that leads to their having homes,” says Pratima Joshi, Director of Shelter Associates, an NGO into housing homeless. She adds, “Occupants of government’s housing scheme for the poor, Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana, weren’t satisfied with the dwellings given to them. If dwelling schemes served to them, doesn’t suit them, they will slide back to slums.” Perhaps, it is the jaded mindset in the industry, which prevents them from looking at the bottom of the pyramid. Otherwise, what stops the reality sector from building low cost houses for India’s 170 million slum dwellers? The companies should not totally leave the un-glamorous jobs to the government.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, October 15, 2012

POSCO INDIA: SOUNG-SIK CHO

After Cho’s failure to get the Orissa project up and running, Posco must look for an Indian CMD

“During his four-year association with Posco India, Cho has a very little success to talk home about. During Cho’s tenure, violence at the proposed site delayed the implementation of the Rs.510 billion plant,” states S. Pattnayak, former chief Public Relation Officer, POSCO India, who had worked closely with Cho for over two years, and isn’t very positive about the work culture of the former CMD. “Although he is a good human being, and a good communicator, he was unable to build a cordial relationship between Korean & Indian employees,” says Pattnayak.

However, it would be completely one-sided, if we were to only consider Cho’s failures. During his tenure at the helm of affairs, Cho was able to obtain the state government’s recommendation to obtain a prospecting license for Posco in the iron-rich Khandadhar reserve. This was done despite stringent opposition. Besides, the company also obtained stage-I of the forest land diversion proposal clearance from the government. “But the ground reality is that there is not a single work done on the base level. And this is because of the mere negligence of the state as well as central governments. So I do not think it is a failure of Cho, I think it is the failure of Orissa government,” avers Dillip Satapathy, Orissa bureau chief, The Business Standard.

Despite this, Cho was left with no option but to vacate the coveted seat after three years at the top due to his inability to get the Orissa project up and running. Pattnayak pin-points, “Koreans do not tolerate failure, and Cho got punished for the same.” An announcement on the new CMD would probably come in any moment. The next CMD will have to make up for the weaknesses of Cho and ensure he can balance the cultural differences smoothly. In that sense, it would not be a bad idea to have an Indian candidate at the helm to better improve the chances of success.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Friday, August 31, 2012

Mending legal loopholes can make India the pioneer of surrogacy tourism

Dr. Nayna Patel, who pioneered surrogacy in India, highlights the exhaustive procedure involved in allowing a woman to become a surrogate mother. “As giving birth is a very emotional thing in a woman’s life, we don’t permit every woman for surrogacy. The most important criterion is that she should be married with at least one child of her own. So, apart from having the experience of pregnancy, it would ensure that the surrogate mother easily relinquishes the child to the contracted parents,” said Dr. Patel.

“Women who approach me to become surrogate mothers belong to the lower strata of the society. We have a lot of NRIs who come in need of surrogate mothers. So, it’s almost like an exchange system – a womb in exchange for a large sum of money!” said Dr. Patel. A surrogate mother can earn about three lakh rupees. A gynecologist at Batra Hospital, Dr. Bela brought forth a striking aspect. “Surrogacy laws in India have many loopholes. I’ve seen a lot of problems occur with respect to money,” she mentioned.

While the legal experts sort out the rules of this new industry, a proposed bill prohibits contact between the surrogate mother and the child. Surrogacy tourism could be an invaluable cash resource for our economy. Creating a legal space for it might wash away the stigma attached to it too, making people realise the goodness of this deed.


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Monday, August 06, 2012

KANDLA PORT TRUST

When Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of the kandla port, the vision was truly a grandiose one. while one cannot deny the achievements of this port, Akram Hoque of B&E also warns of critical shortcomings

To be quicker, the port authority is trying to meet equipment requirements. It has 12 wharf cranes of various capacities from 2 tonnes to 25 tonnes and 9 weighbridges from 40 MT capacities to 100 MT. It also has 12 cargo berths. “A lot of developmental changes have happened in the last decade,” says M. Chauhan, an officer with the Pest Control of India, a regular visitor to Kandla since 29 years. Kandla Port Trust’s Dadlani accepts to me that there is “stiff competition from major and small ports” around the Kandla port. “I think Mundra is giving the toughest competition to Kandla. Mundra is efficient, has bigger space and is modern. The entire port is covered with green trees and is connected by 6-way lanes,” says Vijender Singh. Since the government of Gujarat is preferring privatisation in developing smaller ports, they are becoming extremely competitive.

That brings us to the other big challenge for Kandla – environmental concern. In our visit to Kandla, we could not find too many trees in the surrounding area. Major commodities for export and import are coal, wood, fertilisers and crude oil, which are unfortunately big polluters. There is also a chance of crude oil leakages. The neighbouring air, water and space is extremely dirty and polluted. The cleaning process is inadequate; creating a very unhealthy atmosphere, unlike Gandhidham, which is a direct consequence of Kandla port and its prosperity. Moreover, illegal and unstructured houses of local workers near the port make it look a slum area. The Kutch region, where Kandla is located, suffers year-round water shortage. And while individual companies, like IFFCO Kandla, have been certified for ‘ISO 14001 Environmental Standards’, I could not find the Port Trust supporting an official line in this regard.

Apparently, India’s largest port has more problems to handle than just professional and competitive. Nehru’s temple, this surely can be in the future, as the promise for achievement is much more than the despair of failure. For me, the temple lives to see another day.


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