NANO – WORLDS CHEAPEST CAR IS A REALITY

Ratan Tata has kept his word on 1 lakh car. He has delivered Nano which will cost around 1.3Lak on road…

People have started expressing their opinion on this new development. Before I get on to their views, let me congratulate Ratan Tata first. He has delivered it against all odds. Auto experts were skeptical about safety and emission standards but the car succeeds in meeting them. He has surely made the country proud with experts from all over the world discussing about the features of the car. Hope the car succeeds globally..

Pachauri, man awarded with Nobel prize for his work in creating awareness on Global warming has said that he gets nightmares on Tata’s one lakh car. Sunitha Narain, environmentalist, CSE (remembered for her role in highlighting presence of pesticides in Pepsi ) and Medha Patkar have seriously spoken against this development of 1 lak car. They fear its going to add to already existing fleet of vehicles contributing more to global warming.

Their arguments are pretty flawed. It’s the policy of the government to define the norms for reducing emissions or improving mass transport systems so that people are discouraged to use private vehicles. You cannot blame Tata’s for coming out with a car for 1 lak. Owning a car becomes accessible to common man. Rural India which can hardly dream of owing a car can realize their dreams with this. By developing a 1 lakh car Tata’s have carved out a product which caters to common man and rural India.

Tata’s have cleverly shown that instead of looking at overseas opportunities to expand their business they are looking at massive power of Indians to own a car. There is a lesson for industries involved mainly in export business. Rural India is hardly explored as a viable market for expansion. Telecom revolution especially advent of mobiles in rural India has proved it wrong. By exploring the rural India market companies in different sectors can expand their activities there by reducing the gap between the haves and have nots. Then only the growth can be termed as inclusive…..

Sachin, Dravid and Sourav – Indian cricket after them ???

Sachin, Dravid and Sourav – the trio mainstay of Indian cricket for over a decade now are not getting younger.

None can disagree with their contribution to the Indian cricket. They might have not won the world cup but their records speak for themselves. Now the question arises who is going to fill that void???

Sehwag, Kaif and Yuvraj were tipped to be the replacement for the trio. But two of them are not even in the scheme of things. Only Yuvraj commands a place in both one-day and test teams. Lot of youngsters have shown flashes of brilliance but consistency is what they are lacking. Dhoni has made remarkable progress in one day cricket and needs to translate it into test arena.

One day cricket may not feel their absence as it is more of a slam bang approach these days. Wielding a long handle has become a fashion these days and Indians with an young team will come up with good results here and there but will they be consistent is a thing to ponder.

Test cricket will take a long time to fill the void created by the trio. Laxman is also nearing 34 and to replace these giants is not going to be easy. They have helped us win series in West Indies, England and drew series against Australia. Who will replace them?

Its time to start picking out few more youngsters who have shown promise and groom them along with the trio. The trio might play test cricket for two more years and by just being with them these youngsters will learn a lot. After their retirement India may not start winning matches but hopefully sharp decline can be avoided.

Hopefully BCCI does something on this front. Kudos to the trio for serving the Indian cricket team with great distinction and treating us to a wonderful exhibition of talent. Indians have won three matches in 7 match ODI series with one more to go. Rahul, Sourav and Sachin have won man of the match award in the three matches played. Great going….

Hope India quickly finds a replacement to this magnificent trio of Sachin, Dravid and Sourav…..

India fastest developing economy?? Reality check...

India is in the fore front across the globe. Indian IT industry or Indo – US nuclear deal or India’s 8 plus percent growth rate is debated across media endlessly by many. Yes sure we are growing at a rapid pace and we are establishing a niche in many sectors. IS THIS GROWTH INCLUSIVE IS THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION???

We might be proud of so many things but the fact remains that close to 26 % of our population is below poverty line.(Less than $ 1 per day) In addition to this 30% population earn less than $2 per day. This growth has not been inclusive. When 1/4th of India still finds to struggle for a decent enough living it makes no sense even if we grow at 10% or more.

The effect of this non-inclusive growth has added a whole set of new problems. Growing threat of Naxalites is one such threat to our country. People in remote areas when they see so much disparity between urban and rural India get disillusioned and are lured into Naxalism. When such people are struggling to make a decent enough living obviously they are an easy target for Naxalites to allure them with money. The fact that almost 1/3rd of India is under the threat of Naxalites bears testimony to this fact. The government is yet to come out with a comprehensive policy on this. One state government declares ceasefire and other takes tough action. It makes a mockery of our system. Law and order is a state subject but Naxalites have no boundaries. Unless the central government comes out with a clear policy Naxalites will exploit the indifferent policies of state governments to drive their movement.

Special Economic Zones ???? It was Singur, Nandigram and tomorrow it might be some other place… Government should come out with a clear policy. The decision of allotting fertile land suitable for agriculture to SEZ makes little sense. If government decides on unfertile land, the compensation paid is too low for farmers. Unless government comes out with a clear cut policy on SEZ many more Singurs are waiting to happen which is surely going to affect country’s growth rate.

Agriculture sector is in shambles. Though it employs more than 50 % of our work force little is being done to bail out this sector. Farmers commit suicide and a compensation package is announced. Funniest part is the cheque given from Prime Minister’s relief fund bounces. That’s the irony. Again Agriculture is a state subject. One government waives all loans at one go when elections are due. Nobody makes an attempt to address the root cause. Unless agriculture is given its due credit we cannot expect an inclusive growth. Packages after packages are announced by various governments but it remains merely on paper. It benefits bureaucrats more than farmers.

The focus of government should be to reduce the income disparity between urban and rural India. If rural people feel let down then it will lead to host of new problems which will in one way or the other affect the growth rate of our country.

When will India become a developed country??? It can only happen when 1/4th of our population which lives below poverty line starts to lead a decent enough life.