Showing posts with label Manmohan Singh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manmohan Singh. Show all posts

Saturday, January 14, 2012

America And India: Parallels

English: india against corruptionImage via WikipediaIn India they had Anna Hazare. Well, they still have him. America has had the Occupy movement. Similar stuff. In India they are going after sites like - guess - Facebook and Google. First it was for disrespecting Sonia Gandhi. Now they are saying it is about porn and hate speech. In America you have SOPA.

The oldest and the largest democracies have more than one thing in common. My favorite would be Hollywood and Bollywood.
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Saturday, May 07, 2011

Economic Reforms In India

My friend Ashutosh Tiwari posted an article of his on his Facebook wall. It was first published in the Nepali Times.

Guru Of Business: Ashutosh Tiwari
During the 'licence raj' in the 70s and the 80s, while India was posting its so-called 'Hindu rate of economic growth' of around 3.5 percent a year, Bollywood portrayed industrialists as villains. These were rich men who lived in palatial buildings, befriended politicians for licenses and permits, smuggled goods, evaded taxes, and exploited labourers....... Since the mid-90s, however, with India's annual economic growth averaging about seven percent, Bollywood has churned out decidedly pro-capitalist movies. The bad industrialists are gone. So too are the pitiable poor who tug at the heartstrings of socialists everywhere. It's not labour and factories that make up the plots of today's movies. Instead, they are about the intra-family relationships of wealthy multi-generational clans with roots in India and branches elsewhere.
The current Prime Minister of India started economic reforms in the country in 1991 when he was Finance Minister. Thanks to those reforms India has seen almost China like growth rates for almost a decade now.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Indian Railways

India Broadband Spectrum Bids















Clogged Rail Lines Slow India’s Development
As the world looks to India to compete with China as a major source of new global economic growth, this country’s weak transportation network is stalling progress. ..... India must invest heavily in transportation to achieve a long-term annual growth rate of 10 percent — the goal recently set by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh. ..... the political realities of India’s clamorous democracy stand in contrast to the forced march that China’s authoritarian system can dictate for economic development. ..... A 40,000-mile, 150-year-old network, Indian Railways is often described as the backbone of this nation’s economy. And in fact it is moving more people and goods than ever: seven billion passengers and 830 million tons of cargo a year. ..... Political analysts say that the current railway minister, Mamata Banerjee, has been distracted by her party’s campaign to win elections in her home state of West Bengal. ..... migrant workers, for example, can travel from Mumbai to their homes in Bihar, 1,050 miles away, for 500 rupees ($11). ..... To subsidize passenger travel, the railways levy some of the highest freight tariffs in the world. India charges $395 to move a ton of freight one kilometer — four times what American companies charge and twice as much as in China. ..... the Delhi Metro, a 118-mile subway system.
A Rail Minister Distracted by Parochial Issues
Occasionally, she shouted back at her opponents, mostly older men, telling them to shut up and let her finish. ......... One of her campaigns forced Tata Motors, India’s largest auto company, to abandon a factory complex where it had planned to produce a new $2,500 car, the Nano. Tata has since moved the factory to Gujarat State, on the opposite coast of the country. ...... “But at the moment her main aim is to be chief minister of West Bengal.”




Indian Railways is the worlds largest employer and one of the biggest and busiest rail networks in the world, carrying some 17 million people and more than one million tonnes of freight daily. It was, however, until very recently, a loss-making organisation heading for bankruptcy. Starting his term in 2004 with a budget of just $200 million with which to save the national institution, Indian Railways Minister, Lalu Prasad engineered a dramatic turnaround. In 2007, Indian Railways revenues amounted to $6 billion. This impressive success story has also been featured in the textbooks of prestigious academic institutes worldwide as a case study. Minister Lalu Prasad is a key ally of India's governing coalition led by the Congress party. He was also the former Chief Minister of the state of Bihar which his Rashtriya Janata Dal party governed for 13 years until 2005.
My Political Resume, Reshma 2010, And September 14

Laloo Yadav: Future Prime Minister Of India
Laloo Should Be Brought Back As Railway Minister
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