Paulson Pill, Bernanke Balm,India Inc,FDI and Missionaries of Post Modern Manusmriti and Apartheid

Paulson Pill, Bernanke Balm,India Inc,FDI and Missionaries of Post Modern Manusmriti and Apartheid

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 69

Palash Biswas

Huge price of street politics
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, in a letter emailed to The Telegraph editor Aveek Sarkar, assesses the Singur situation and warns of the consequences if the “attrac ... | Read..
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Bailout proposal sent to Congress seeks authorization to spend as much as $700 billion to buy troubled mortgage-related assets. By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.
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Calcutta Telegraph
Governor urges WB govt, TC to continue talks on Singur
Economic Times - 1 hour ago
20 Sep, 2008, 2240 hrs IST, PTI KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Saturday asked both the government and the Trinamool Congress to persevere with their discussions in the interest of a solution to the continuing Singur impasse at a ...
Singur impasse: Buddhadeb meets Governor, sticks to stand Times of India
Buddha did not do adequate homework on Singur: Dasmunsi Press Trust of India
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Will the RBI hold its interest rates?
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There is fresh optimism with the market abuzz about the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) holding interest rates in its monetary policy review in October 2008.
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Atomic power to be part of Integrated Energy Policy: Plan Comm
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20 Sep, 2008, 1511 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission will move Cabinet next month for approval of an Integrated Energy Policy that will include atomic power as part of efforts to fuel the growing economy, Plan panel said today.
Montek Singh wants a tribunal for regulating energy sector Business Standard
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"Capitalism as we knew it - free-market capitalism - seems to be dead," declared Rob Cox, editor of financial website breaking views.com.

It happens to be the latest news break from United States of America which waged Non Stop War against Marxism to sustain Capitalism.Our Marxist friends in India depend too much on the sponsored Economists like Dr Amartya Sen and Md. Yunus. The West Bengal government is well known to be fed by the feedback from Abhirup Sarkar, Dipankar Dasgupt and Arjun Sengupta. The Marxist in India run blind on the super Highway of capitalist Marxist Development while Globalisation and Capitalism are challenged in USA itself.

Who may stop the Missionaries of Post Modern Manusmriti and Apartheid believing in miracles of Paulson pills and Bernanke balm! Their vision is limited into Worldwide Indices only. Yes, it is true for the time being that a massive bout of short-covering by FIIs, mainly hedge funds, saw Indian markets surging the most in two months as regulators in the US, the UK and Australia took steps to curb bets that stock prices of banks and brokerages will fall, easing concern that the crisis in the financial markets will worsen.

Mind you, the Anand Bazaar Group of Publications supported US aggression in Iraq. It launched Brand Buddha. It supports blindly the Marxist ways of Capitalism. This newspaper group always opposed communist movement in India. It is against any democratic movement and opposes every mass mobilisation. It is engaged war footed to ensure the sovereignty of market and it has launched a misinformation campaign against Singur and Nandigram Insurrection. It has always opposed Left front during Jyoti Basu tenure. suddenly it has turned out to be a better mouthpiece for CPIM than its official mouthpiece. Anand bazzar has published the Bengali version of amartya letter written to Aveek sarkar, the owner editor of Anand Bazaar.

Amartys Sen is also known to be engaged in rescue operations to bail out the Marxist Gestapo.

The Cabinet gave its approval to review the print media policy and allow publication of foreign magazines’ Indian editions.

Foreign magazines can come out with Indian editions with local as well as global content at cheaper prices. As of now, foreign publications are allowed to take out only facsimile editions.

Now we have to enjoy the Glossy Indian Edition of Play Boy and so on!

“The Cabinet on Thursday approved the reviewing of the Print Media Policy by allowing Indian editions of foreign magazines to publish news and comments—periodicals falling under the news and current affairs category with 26% foreign investment,” Mr Dasmunshi said. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decided to provide Rs 79-crore bailout package for 10 sick PSUs.

We have to understand the changing role of Indian Media in this connection. Thus, however irrelevant it may sound, I have to insert some autobiographical content relating media role in different parts of India.

FDI in media has killed the spine of Indian media. It is no more committed to public cause. it is rather engaged in defence of the capitalist corporate MNC interests and the journalist involved have adopted the role of agent sub agents. Editorial staff is degenerated. The institution of Editor is merged into the financial capacity of CEO.

FDI policy of the GOI completes the Viscous circle!

The Super Slave Indian Prime Minister advised his Cabinet colleagues to stay alert on the global financial turmoil following the fall of Lehman Brothers and the crisis faced by Merrill Lynch. He was confident that there would be no impact on the Indian economy. “The PM asked the ministers to stay alert on the global financial situation,” rural development minister Mr RP Singh said. CPI-M leader Mr Sitaram Yechury feels the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch should prompt the government to reconsider liberalisation of the country’s financial sector.

I am afraid to admit that Democrat Presidential election strategy seem rather Faulty, Vague and suicidal!

Our Dearest Friend Barrack Hussein Obama perhaps may have to pay heavily if he survives to win!

I don`t understand the logic of all out attack against low profile Hockey Mom Sara Palin!

Just see how Republican Presidential candidate Vietnam war Vetaran Mc cain is allowed to play so wide open!republican are not so generous to spare any space for Obama. rather they seem very liberal for the Democrat Vice president candidate Bidden.

Look! How the Sub Prime crisis and the resultant Global Financial Depression plus Credit crunch go abegging!

Democrat fielding seems very arrogant to me. They loose so many match winning catches!

I know well that no one amongst us, the black untouchables worldwide would dare to choose the historical role of Barrack Obama! But we may simply visualise how White Hillary votes and Non White racial communities swing sharply away!
Neither we may dare to wear the progressive, initiative,secular masks of Amartya lot!

Global ruling class would never allow martin Luther King`s dream come true!

Indian ruling hegemony would never allow Untouchability and Caste System to be abolished. apartheid sustains as the Missionaries of Post Modern Manusmriti and apartheid playing Die Hard!

Just read the lot of Globalisation spokesmen as famous as Dr Amartya sen and Md. Yunus!

Obama has to be defeated if not assassinated, thus, the Oval House and Federal Bank of USA are so active to dilute the global financial crisis. So crude oil prices tamed! So dollar revitalised!

Well, I am proud to be recognised as an Uttarakhandi Bengali!

This status is despised in West Bengal where I am treated as an Outsider! But it links me to the Great Himalayas changing the landscape of my total existence!
I feel the soothing touch of the sacred virgin environment of the Everest and the Man Sarovar in my soul!

I tried my best lifelong to replicate the lifestyle prescribed by my teachers like Pitambar Pant and Tara Chandra Tripathi.Tripathi convinced me to write in Hindi communicating the Indigenous people of India. He drove me hard to learn English so that I may address the Gloabal Resistance! My teachers tried their best to make me socially, historically relevant. I am lucky that they never tried to discipline me and discard anarchic elements of my personality.

During my Graduation days, in DSB college the beautiful ladies in the English Department Mrs Madhulika Dexit and Mrs Anil Bisht extended their kind hands to make my love of literature, language and culture aesthetically enhanced.

I was shocked to face untimely demise of our Uttarakhandi Economist Dr Chandresh Shastri.He had been our Icon. But Professor Shekhar Pathak and his wife, Dr Uma Bhatt , most friendly influenced me during my studeis most. I am happy to remember my college days while I got support from every department of the institution. I was an Arts student but mathematics Professor Mrs kavita Pandey cared for me. Entire Hindi department led by Dr Batrohee helped me. I was very welcome in chemistry, Physics and botany departments. I loitered everywhere in the college. Sociology, Economics, Political Science,History, Geography, Geology.. everywhere. It was possible only in the DSB in seventies, I believed. It helped me to understand the things out of my limit. I was never afraid of any discipline of Knowledge whatsoever and it is the legacy of my college, my home.

Our whole lot was interested to replicate the Kumuini Folk poet Girda! He was the kumuini version of Ginsberg for us!

kapilesh Bhoj, Zhor Alam, Harua Daree, Pawan rakesh and me! It was a complete cabinet. We studied everything available, We did everything on agenda. We travelled everywhere. The Naini Lake was our source of Inspiration.

yes, those were the Golden days in the Heaven! But I was destined to loose the Paradise. I had to be spirited like the Satan!

Snowfall alaways encouraged me to die young like Keats, Shelley, Browing, Caudwel, Sukanta Bhattacharya, Dhoomil or Amrita Shergil! But I had decided long before that I woudn`t die without a real fight!

I read the Romantic poets but I never intended to be a solitary Reaper. i had to go Miles! I never expected to be a happy, effluent person detached from the rest of the world.I never bought any share or a lottery ticket to open the doors of Fortune. I never prayed to god.

My teachers closed all the short cuts for me. i had to chose the toughest long route. I had never been afraid of the heights as I am basically a Kumuini. Though I loved the Valleys and the Lakes!

In Nainital Terai, just after the deforestation, I shared my childhood with the New Born Independent India. Our people could not recover from the haunting memories of partition and displacement. They were refugees in their own country. But we , the children were happy to be the first Independent Generation of India. It was an exciting experience. We were always eager to hoist the Tricolor any time. We hoped good thing to happen which never happened.

Our people scattered all over the country were never represented. We were predestined to be enslaved, bonded with inherent inequality, injustice!

But we enjoyed participation, sharing, brotherhood, combined society, enlightenment and empowerment.


We happened to be an integral part of, more or less, an aboriginal tribe seeking shelter in an alien land. We were emerging from the ashes like the phoenix wings. We had to establish our identity in Nainital and rest of the country out of Bengal. We had no Hamlet or Macbeth reining our psyche.But we the indigenous black untouchables, the bengali refugees thrown out of the geopolitics of Bengal rediscovered a set of ready made elite Totems!

What were the Totems?

They were Rabindra Nath Tagore, Bankim, sharat, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda and his Guru Ramakrishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Krishna consciousness, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and INA, Satyendra Nath Bose, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Master Surya Sen and Khudiram, Abbasuddin and folk poet Vijoy Sarkar, Jtra and kavigan, Sukanta Bhattacharya and so on.. Rabindra sanget was compulsory. Every village had a Bengali school. We identified ourselves with Bengali nationality and forgot our Caste Identity. It was total liberation from the age old caste system and we elevated ourselves. All of a sudden, we wiped out the legacy of complex social order and inherent inequality and injustice. We were as equal as others were. rather we learnt to dominate others. We were practicing untouchability against others and thus became pseudo Caste Hindus! And this status was universally recognised. Hence,we fought for the right to learn Mother Tongue which identified us with powerful Bengali nationality. but our people never demanded reservation or quota during 20th century. We passed and got jobs in general category.

It was a Myth recreated. We were living in a superstition of caste Hindu consciousness.

Yes, those were the days of Missionary journalism. I had to read out edits of Bengali, English and Hindi dailies in my childhood. Vivekananda Mukhopaddhyaya was the most respected person in our eyes.

A reporter of Press Trust of India, based in Bareilly was the closets friend my social activist father had..He was the man who ensured the entry of my father in the closest circle of Indian Power Politics. ND Tiwari and KC Pant were great leaders. But I never liked them. I was the fan of the reporter, NM Mukherjee!Who stood rock solid with our people in their movements and insurrections! his mission was the most crucial Print in my psyche which perhaps led me into professional journalism quite unconsciously. My daily routine of reading various newspapers in my childhood mad me the tough most guy in our circle who would criticise everything and stand like rock when my people would demand. My popularity graph rocketed sky high and it continued in every part of the country where ever I worked. I never sought favour or gain. I just had to distinguish between just and unjust. True and false.Then I would jump into the fire. i was rather very successful until 1990. But LPG equation went against me as the Media changed its role and I was not relevant at all in mainstream media! I was sidelined and I am sidelined. They have closed all avenues of my sustenance. But I sustain. I have a readership. I have an audience. I have some friends whom I may call from anywhere and they would bail out me.

But it is not so easy for others who seek career in Media. who want footage and promotion. Who are always on the firing line!

Thus. the Missionaries of Indian journalism happen to be the fossils of a lost clan.

My involvement as an Eco activist in Uttarakhand pushed me deep into journalism. Thus, I could not replicate my heroes. I could not replicate either Chandresh or Shekhar for which I longed so much! So much.

United Uttar Pradesh provided our people the mileage we would have never dreamt of in Bengal! Sucheta kriplani, the chief minister in sixties and SM Bannerjee, the three time MP of Kanpur and the Delhi based famous couple, Nikhil Chakrabari and Renuka Chakrabarti enhanced our status in North India. My sister was named after Renuka!This rather boosted our moral to dominate others. thus, we were isolated from the rest of Indigenous back untouchable brothers and sisters. We may not compensate this.

I dared to destroy this privileged Myth of Benagli Nationality status in Uttarakhand in my fiercest journalistic adventure when I was a just an M.A Previous student in DSB. Rajiv Lochan shah launched Nainital Samachar and we all were in the team. it was during 1977. Indira was dislodged. I stood against my father and opposed Emergency. I had been a star attraction in Terai belt during mid term election in March 1977.But the scenario changed quite dramatically while I violated the Sentiments of superiority of my people.

In those days, we had no mainstream newspaper edition from anywhere in Uttarkhand. We had to wait for the Mufassil editions published from New Delhi and Lucknow. We used to get Danik Basumati by mail almost a week late. All India Radio and BBC were the prime sources of information in those primitive days in Uttarakhand.

No one dared to write against the Land Mafia and Big farmers except one, the socialist leader of Terai, Jagannath Mishra who was shot dead in daylight in Gadar pur Bazzar just 9 km away from my home. I was a student in Dineshpur High School. Since then, no body tried to write on Terai.

I was dare devil enough to focus on Terai. My father supported me.My friends in Hills, too. I choose to expose the Land mafia as well as the social fabrics in Terai.I was dealing with social realism with rhetoric hitherto alien. In fact, I tried to replicate Asian Drama, written by Gunnar Myrdal.

With the publication of the third instalment, My own people began to react vehemently. I was addressing their problems and was supporting them. I could not convince them. They alleged that I was destroying their Identity identified with caste Hindu Icons of West Bengal.Threat letters poured in .My people wanted my blood..

but I continued the campaign along with wildest reactions!

Meanwhile, Shekhar, Girda and me reported on the Pantnagar genocide, 13the April, 1978. Girda was spotted in Rudrapur, near Pantnagar and had been pulled out of the bus in which he was travelling for an All India Radio recording to be held in New Delhi.
It was a warning. But I didn`t care. In October , 1979 I was sieged in a Puja pandal in Shakti farm and the Mob wanted to lynch me on the spot. Some of my friends got an escape route and I was safe. I could not step out of my home during 1978 to 1979 as I had to face the wrath of Bengali refugees!

But I accomplished my mission!

I accidentally landed in Dhanbad, the coal capital in the Jharkhand part of United Bihar. Where I engaged myself in a local daily. I launched a campaign against the Coal mafia. I learnt Mining and I began investigation into Mines accidents. very soon, I was very popular in Dhanbad. it sustained until this date. I have a permanent readership base in Jharkhand and that is why I selected Dhanbad and Jamshedpur to launch my interactive anti Imperialism Novel AMERICA SE SAVDHAN, BE AWARE OF AMERICA IN 1994 while I had shifted in Kokata.

I wrote byline stories daily and consumed pages after pages.The newspaper was identified with me. It continued during 1980 to 1983. Suddenly,the management struck a deal with the Coal Industry and began to defend the criminals. it turned out to be anti labour, anti people. The people who praised me, turned foes as they doubted my integrity and could not believe that anything could happen without my consent. People rushed from everywhere from Jharkhand and Bihar just to abuse me. they would not allow me to eat, take a bath or sleep. I just resigned and shifted to Ranchi.

Then I realised the Media was changing!

I decided not to write byline stories in commercial publications. I followd the policy and tried to create space elsewhere.

Currently, I am virtually out of mainstream journalism in India. Little mags blacklisted me as I am dead against the capitalist ways of a Marxist Government.


The statesman reports from Kolkata:Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee today met Governor Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi and complained to him that while he was away in Delhi the state government announced, “in flagrant breach of the accord reached at Raj Bhavan on 7 September,” a fresh rehabilitation package for farmers whose land had been acquired for the Tata Motors' small car project at Singur.

The Governor told Miss Banerjee that he would talk to the state government on the issue, Miss Banerjee later said at a Press conference. Minutes after Miss Banerjee's meeting with the Governor, the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said the Singur stalemate could be resolved if the Opposition accepted the new rehabilitation package advertised in all newspapers by the state government.

The Trinamul chief, who was accompanied by two other party leaders, told the Governor that when the committee, set up as per the Raj Bhavan agreement to determine the modalities to locate maximum land from within the project, was yet to complete its findings, the state government announced its revised package and virtually dissolved the committee.

“I told the Governor that the committee was to have submitted its report to him and that the Trinamul representatives could locate 300 acres from within the project area that could be returned to the unwilling farmers. But it was rendered null and void because of the unilateral decision of the state government to dissolve it,” Miss Banerjee said. She urged the Governor to intervene and “see to it” that the Raj Bhavan accord was implemented in toto. “We earnestly want the Singur impasse to be over in the interests of the people and farmers. We also hope good sense will prevail on the state government and the accord signed in the presence of the Governor will be implemented in letter and spirit,” the Trinamul chief said.


Washington:The extent of the US government's reach into the operations of private companies has been unprecedented. On Tuesday it took control of the world's largest insurer, American International Group Inc. The week before it took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together guarantee nearly half of the $12-trillion US mortgage market.The Bush administration, moving to prevent an economic cataclysm, urged Congress on Friday to grant it far-reaching emergency powers to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in distressed mortgages despite many unknowns about how the plan would work.


In United States of America,The Federal Reserve, through its power to raise and lower interest rates, exercises more influence over economic growth and the level of employment than any other government entity. That unusual role dates from the 1970s, when the executive branch and Congress pulled back from the use of fiscal tools — vast New Deal spending and targeted tax cuts — as a means of regulating prosperity.

Meanwhile, Fanning the hopes of private industry, the Government of India on Saturday said it would consider allowing 49 per cent foreign investment in the defence sector "on a case-to-case basis." On the other hand,the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved amendments to the Agriculture Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Act for registration of intellectual property and patent rights by APEDA. This would help APEDA in protecting India’s farm products like Basmati rice from patent violations. After the amendment is passed by Parliament, APEDA will be able to fight violation cases abroad. “If Basmati is registered by India under GI, producers from other countries cannot sell their rice as basmati,” an expert said. The government may introduce an ordinance to amend the APEDA Act.


The government is planning to modify the shortlisting norms for public-private partnership (PPP) projects in highways to allow more private players in the bidding process. The finance ministry is mulling a decision to amend the model concession agreement (MCA) to increase the number of qualifying bidders for road projects.

Amending the request for qualification (RFQ) criteria to raise the number of players from the current six to 10 would promote competition and enable better price discovery, said a source. Under the current bidding procedure, only six players are shortlisted at the RFQ stage so as to keep only serious players in the fray.

The move comes close on the heels of the amendments to the request for proposal (RFP) stage made earlier this month to restrict the participation of a single party to two projects only so as to give a chance to other road developers. The change was made as the road sector is crowded by a number of medium-sized players, which were getting left out due to the presence of larger infrastructure players.

“Larger infrastructure players have been shortlisted repeatedly for a number of projects as the marking system favours those who have experience not only in the road sector but also in other areas such as power, airports, ports and railways,” a senior government official added.

The change in the RFQ will also enable players with expertise specifically in the road sector to come on board for consideration. With a kitty of small, medium and large players available at the final bidding stage, the government is likely to get a better pricing for the road projects.

Road developers had filed a case in the Delhi High Court stating that limiting the number of players and the current marking system lead to cartelisation in the sector. According to industry sources, the finance ministry may suggest the move to increase the number of bidders in the court in its next hearing sometime at the end of this month.

"We will stick to the policy of allowing 26 per cent FDI in Indian defence sector. We will consider allowing 49 per cent FDI only on a case-to-case basis, if the industry is able to convince us," Defence Minister A K Antony told an Assocham seminar on Defence Procurement Policy in New Delhi.

Stating that India favoured openness in its defence deals, Antony assured the industry there would be no more "veil of secrecy" surrounding the tendering process.

"We believe in open deals. There will be no more veil of secrecy in the Request for Proposals. Details would be made available to all industry representatives by placing the tenders on the net, except in the most sensitive cases, which is a minuscule number," he said.

Claiming that the government believed openness would ensure speedy procurement, the Minister said best equipment at affordable prices would be the norm for allotment of contracts.

"Earlier, only a select few companies got the RFP. But with the implementation of the new Defence Procurement Procedure-2008 (DPP-08), we will ensure every industry gets the tender details. That way we ensure transparency and also widen the vendor base," he said.

BHAVNAGAR: The government is closely monitoring the balance sheets of the Indian arms of the troubled US entities-Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch-to avert direct impact on the country's economy, Government of India Secretary, Financial Service, Arun Ramanathan said.

Ramanathan was in Bhavnagar on Friday to attend the first central board meeting in post-merger of State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) with State Bank of India (SBI).

Chairman of SBI OP Bhatt, while clarifying about the impact of SBI's exposure of five million dollar in Lehman Brothers, said: "The impact of exposure in Lehman Brothers will be marginal as it has been fully provided for and we hope to retrieve 60-70 per cent of the amount."

The sub-prime crisis that erupted afresh in the US due to filing of bankruptcy by the Lehman Brothers, had adversely impacted the Indian capital markets.

Sounding a word of caution, the chairman SBI said: "We need to be more watchful on sharp rate of assets build up in the banking sector because the history says non-performing assets(NPAs) tend to go up."

Bhatt categorically stated, "Since March last year NPAs of SBI have declined, and we as an institution are more careful now in the wake of financial turbulence."


Washington:If Congress approves the necessary legislation next week, the government could become the biggest player in the US financial sector, taking control of hundreds of billions of dollars in shaky mortgage-related assets that are at the centre of the credit crisis.

As Wall Street tottered on the brink of collapse and the US government unveiled one the largest market interventions in its history, stakeholders from every side weighed in with incredibly stark views of the country's economic future.

The assessments did not just focus on the country's short-term economic health. Many believe this week's events could drastically change the way the US does business.

Reliance starts pumping crude from Krishna-Godavari basin

New Delhi/Mumbai, Sept. 19Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has put an end to speculation regarding its ability to exploit hydrocarbon from its offshore asset in Krishna-Godavari Basin, on schedule. It has been able to flow crude oil for the first time from the deepwater area.

Sources told Business Line that the company has started crude oil production off the Andhra Pradesh coast and an announcement is expected to be made by the company’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Mukesh D Ambani, on Sunday. RIL started pumping crude oil from its Dhirubhai 26 field in D6 Block from September 17.

RIL’s D6 Block (KG-DWN-98/3), which is predominantly a gas rich area, has attracted attention not only for its finds but also for the controversies regarding who would be the beneficiary of the gas.

The current oil output is expected to be over 200 barrels per day. Sources maintained that oil production from the field will be ramped up slowly.

The Block is held by a consortium of RIL and Niko Resources of Canada. RIL is the operator of the block with 90 per cent stake. The D26 field has been found to have oil, condensate, and associate gas.

While the oil would be sold to refiners, the associate gas, sources said, would be injected back. The FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading system) installed by RIL earlier this week has the facilities to handle all – oil, condensate and associate gas. Therefore, nothing would go waste, sources explained.

Sharing row


The find came into the public domain when the younger brother decided to slug it out in the court on the issue of sharing of natural gas with RIL. Reliance Natural Resources Ltd of the Anil Ambani group and RIL are currently in litigation in the Bombay High Court over sharing of natural gas from the K-G Basin fields. The court has restrained RIL from selling it to third parties. The next hearing is on September 30.

The oil output from the D 26 field is expected to rise to 10,000-15,000 barrels per day soon and finally taken to 34,000 barrels per day (1.7 mtpa).

FPSO system


The FPSO, which has been contracted for $ 733 million, has a production capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day and can store up to 1 million barrels.

It has been stationed at the oil production site and shuttle vessels will be used for offloading oil from the FPSO and carrying the produce to the coastal refineries.

This will help eliminate the need for piping the oil to the shore for onward transportation to refineries. RIL, however, may not refine the oil at its existing and soon-to-be commissioned Jamnagar refineries. Indications are that the crude will be sold to public sector refiners like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation’s Visakhapatnam refinery and Indian Oil Corporation’s subsidiary, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

RIL has invested $ 2.234 billion in the oilfield. It is investing $ 5.2 billion in phase-I of its gas field development plan, production from which is expected by the end of this year.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092051840100.htm


EDMUND L. ANDREWS writes for New york times from Washington:

The US Treasury will propose a $500 billion to $800 billion government programme to take toxic mortgage-related assets off the books of US financial firms, banking industry sources said on Friday.

The sources said the government would acquire residential and commercial mortgages and mortgage-backed securities under the proposal, which needs Congressional approval.

A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment. The moves capped a week in which financial markets faced their most serious confluence of crises since the Great Depression in the 1930s and threatened national economies and the worldwide banking system.

Henry M. Paulson Jr., the Treasury secretary, made it clear that the upfront cost of the rescue proposal could easily be $500 billion, and outside experts predicted that it could reach $1 trillion.

The outlines of the plan, described in conference calls to lawmakers on Friday, include buying assets only from United States financial institutions — but not hedge funds — and hiring outside advisers who would work for the Treasury, rather than creating a separate agency. Democratic leaders immediately pledged to work closely with Mr. Paulson to pass a plan in the next week, but they also demanded that the measure include relief for deeply indebted homeowners, not just for banks and Wall Street firms.

At the end of a week that will be long remembered for the wrenching changes it brought to Wall Street and Washington, Mr. Paulson and Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, told lawmakers that the financial system had come perilously close to collapse. According to notes taken by one participant in a call to House members, Mr. Paulson said that the failure to pass a broad rescue plan would lead to nothing short of disaster. Mr. Bernanke said that Wall Street had plunged into a full-scale panic, and warned lawmakers that their own constituents were in danger of losing money on holdings in ultra-conservative money market funds.

People involved in the discussions on Friday said that Mr. Paulson said he did not want to create a new government agency to handle the rescue plan. Rather, he said, the Treasury Department would hire professional investment managers to oversee what could be a huge portfolio of mortgage-backed securities.

He indicated that he wanted to buy securities only from United States financial institutions, a decision that could anger legions of foreign institutions that poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the American mortgage market in the housing boom, and have customers located here.
Basic questions remained unanswered as of Friday evening, including how much of the mortgage market the administration hoped to buy up. The broader economic questions were even more daunting. What were the dangers in letting the government borrow another $500 billion — which ultimately might have to come from foreign investors — at the same time the deficit was already skyrocketing?
Would this epic bailout lead to the same kind of runaway inflation that plagued the United States throughout the 1970s?
But as the stock market zoomed for the second day in a row, mainly in response to hopes of a sweeping bailout plan from Washington, President Bush and lawmakers alike focused on how fast they could deliver as much government help as necessary.
“Given the precarious state of today’s financial markets — and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people — government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential,” President Bush said in a speech in the Rose Garden at the White House.
News of the giant rescue plan sent stock markets soaring around the world. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 368 points, or 3.35 percent, on Friday, after having jumped 410 points on Thursday on early rumors of the plan. The rally erased the losses from earlier in the week and allowed stock prices to end higher for the week. Perhaps more important to Fed and Treasury officials, the credit markets showed signs of thawing as well. Yields on three-month Treasury bills had sunk to almost zero on Wednesday and Thursday as investors fled from most debt securities and poured their money into the safest and shortest-term Treasuries. But on Friday, the yield on three-month Treasuries had edged up to 0.99 percent — still well below normal, but much closer to normal than before.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve and Treasury deployed additional tens of billions of dollars to prevent an investor panic and flight from the nation’s money market mutual funds. Such funds, totaling $3.4 trillion in assets, are held by tens of millions of individuals and are traditionally considered as safe as bank deposits. But they had come under pressure in recent days as investors began to pull money out faster than the funds could sell assets.

Reuter reports from Washington:The United States surged into action on Friday to launch an all-out attack against the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, readying a plan to tap hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to buy up toxic mortgage-related debt.
Capping a week that has reshaped Wall Street, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged Congress to quickly agree on a program for huge purchases of bad debts held by banks and other financial institutions.
Lawmakers promised fast action on the plan, which two banking industry sources put in the $500 billion to $800 billion range.
Losses on mortgage-related debts have choked the financial system, forced lenders into bankruptcy and led the economy to what President George W. Bush called a "pivotal" moment.
"America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges, and we are responding with unprecedented action," Bush told reporters in the White House Rose Garden.
After having taken a series of other emergency steps that failed to erect a firewall against the spreading credit turmoil, U.S. authorities turned their attention to the underlying problem -- the rising tide of bad mortgage debt.
Paulson offered few details on Treasury's proposal but said he would work through the weekend and next week with Congress to get a program put in place. The proposal being sent to lawmakers would run only a few pages, a source said. A congressional aide said staff on Capitol Hill would be briefed on the plan on Saturday morning.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, said the chamber would likely take up a bill to implement the program early next week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers would stay in town past their hoped-for adjournment next Friday if needed to pass it.
"We must now take further, decisive action to fundamentally and comprehensively address the root cause of our financial system's stresses," Paulson said at a news conference.
"We're talking hundreds of billions. This needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get at the heart of the problem."
U.S. stocks, which chalked up their best day in six years on Thursday as talk of the more aggressive approach spread, soared again on Friday. The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average closed up 368 points, or about 3.4 percent.
The news also caused waves in the U.S. presidential campaign. Republican hopeful Sen. John McCain knocked the Treasury for taking a haphazard approach to the crisis, while rival Democrat, Sen. Barack Obama, supported the latest moves.
$1 TRILLION
Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have already put close to $1 trillion of taxpayer money on the line to try to keep credit flowing.
At a meeting with congressional leaders on Thursday night, Paulson and Bernanke made the case for aggressive action to get ahead of events that could devastate an already weak economy.
"When I heard his description of what might happen to our economy if we failed to act, I gulped," Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said, referring to Bernanke's appraisal.
A congressional aide on a telephone conference call between the Fed, Treasury and lawmakers on Friday said Bernanke issued a stark warning: "If Congress doesn't act soon, there will be an economic meltdown."
Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith declined to comment directly on the accuracy of the chairman's reported remark, but confirmed that he painted "a dark scenario".
At his news conference, Paulson said the latest plan was the best hope of ultimately protecting the public purse and avoiding a grave recession.
"I am convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative -- a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion," he said.
A Treasury official said hedge funds and non-U.S. financial institutions would not be allowed to offload troubled assets under the plan.
The banking industry sources said "reverse auctions" would be held to purchase $50 billion tranches of debt, which could include residential and commercial mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. One source said the purchases would then be made in further increments of $10 billion and that five outside asset managers would help run the auctions.
A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on those details, although the Treasury did confirm asset managers would be hired.
PILING ON DEBT?
The White House said it was too soon to say how the plan would impact the nation's debt, and said it was possible many of the funds could be recovered as markets stabilize and currently bad assets are sold off.
An industry source said there would be no limit on how long the government could hold the debt, which would have had to have been on selling institutions' books as of September 15.
A congressional aide said the issue of whether the government should receive warrants in companies offloading assets was under discussion. In addition, Democrats signaled they might try to use the legislation to put some limits on CEO pay and possibly extend further help to distressed homeowners.
The plan is reminiscent of the Resolution Trust Corp, a government agency set up to help the nation out of the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s. The RTC, however, took whole institutions under its wing, whereas the new fund under discussion would remove bad assets from the balance sheets of financial institutions to help revitalize them.
One financial source briefed on calls made by the Treasury to Washington lobby groups said the Treasury feels it has the authority to take on these assets directly, and therefore won't need to set up a separate agency.
EMERGENCY ACTIONS
The emergency effort marked the latest dramatic government bid to prevent credit markets from freezing up over huge losses on subprime and other mortgage debt.
These have forced U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc into bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch into a hasty marriage with Bank of America, the Fed to bail out troubled insurer American International Group, and the government to seize control of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"The federal government must implement a program to remove these illiquid assets that are weighing down our financial institutions and threatening our economy," Paulson said.
The Treasury also said on Friday that it would siphon up to $50 billion from a fund established in the 1930s to conduct foreign exchange market intervention to backstop the rattled U.S. money market mutual fund industry.
This long-safe corner of financial markets, home to some $3.5 trillion of deposits, has increasingly appeared at risk of falling victim to the year-old credit crunch. Money market fund assets dropped by a record $169.03 billion in the week ended September 17 as jittery investors pulled money out.
The Treasury said it would back money market funds whose asset values fall below $1 a share. Separately, the Fed said it would lend money to banks to finance purchases of certain assets from money market funds.
Paulson also said the administration would step up a program announced this month to directly buy mortgage-backed securities in the market, and said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would also increase their buying to try to get credit flowing.
"They are absolutely petrified of ... a run on financial assets," said Boris Schlossberg at GFT Forex in New York.
Huge price of street politics
- AMARTYA SEN ON THE SINGUR SITUATION
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, in a letter emailed to The Telegraph editor Aveek Sarkar, assesses the Singur situation and warns of the consequences if the “attraction of street activism” persists and the Tatas pull out.
Thank you for asking me about my assessment of the Singur situation. I have, in fact, been trying to follow the events as closely as possible, and I must confess I am greatly concerned about what is going on. It is a complex subject, and we have to consider many different issues together.
First, as I argued in my two Telegraph essays on December 29 and 30 last year, unlike the Nandigram decision, which was (I believe) significantly mistaken, the Singur project with the Tatas was basically sound. West Bengal badly needs industries and new employment and income earning opportunities, and Tatas with the ancillary enterprises would help in that greatly, and also encourage a new image of West Bengal as being no longer hostile to industrial investment.
Second, it is a pity that the plot that the Tatas wanted for the factory, based on their concerns (including closeness to Kolkata), is not only well suited for their project but also fertile for agriculture. It would have been easier if the location were different, but that is no longer a possibility. I am not concerned here so much about the aggregate loss of agricultural land, since that is relatively small, and the income and employment gain from economic expansion in the Singur region would be incomparably larger. What is not, however, small is the loss for those owners of land who did not want to part with their plots, and that is a serious issue.
Third, I argued in my Telegraph essays that (1) it would have been much better to buy the land involved without any compulsion, rather than acquiring it (acquirement has to be the last resort, not the first move), and (2) even with acquirement, giving a 40% higher price than the existing market price was not adequate, since with the entry of industries the land prices would rise much more than that. Of course, if Tatas move out now (as seems likely), the land prices in and around Singur would drop dramatically as Singur returns to its old economic state. That should be a big concern right now for the political protesters, but on the part of the Government of West Bengal, there was a strong case for offering a higher price originally as part of the Singur project, since — with the Tatas there — land price in Singur would be much higher than what the government initially offered and paid.
Fourth, the new compensation offer made by the government is much more reasonable. The higher land prices now offered (combined with the other facilities that have also been offered, including employment arrangements) make it a good compromise.
Fifth, the protesters might be persuaded by their political leadership that their interests would be best served by getting back their old piece of land. Attachment to particular plots is certainly an understandable desire. But the world in which all this will happen will be very different. The Tatas have made clear that they will move out if they get less land than they have been given (they judge that they need that land for the viability of their project). Not just Maharashtra, but also Karnataka and Uttaranchal, among other states, seem to be ready with alternative offers much more favourable to the Tatas. Indeed, there is good reason to expect that the Tatas are very much in the process of relocating, unless there is a fairly immediate breakthrough (which now seems unlikely). With their departure from West Bengal will come a huge fall in land prices all around Singur, and also loss of job opportunities that will affect the local population. I am not sure how much the leaders of the protest movements have thought through these issues.
Sixth, for West Bengal as a whole, it would be a huge economic setback, if the Tatas do move out. Its impact would not be confined only to the economic loss from the withdrawal of investments of the Tatas and the ancillary producers, but also from the general sense across India that the politics of West Bengal makes it nearly impossible to base any new economic move in the state, and that the single-minded politics of the street can drive out any new enterprise.
That politics might change over time once the terrible consequences of industrial and economic stagnation are more widely appreciated and understood. But for the moment the political attraction of street activism seems dominant, supplemented intellectually by the old physiocratic illusion of prosperity grounded only on agriculture. The latter piece of romantic thought cannot but fade over time with the influence of realism (no country has ever achieved much prosperity on the basis of agriculture alone). But at this moment realism looks like a distant dream.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080920/jsp/frontpage/story_9861298.jsp
Contention of Tata Motors opposed
KOLKATA, Sept. 19: Can the people of the state be barred from knowing details of an agreement between Tata Motors and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), a portion of which has already been read out in a standing committee meeting of the state Assembly, Mr Kalyan Banerjee submitted before Mr Justice Dipankar Dutta of Calcutta High Court today. Appearing for Mr Partha Chatterjee, Leader of the Opposition, he was opposing an interim order of this Bench restraining the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of the state from disclosing the agreement over setting up of a small car factory at Singur by Tata Motors for a period of two weeks.
The people should have information about the functioning of a government to ensure participatory democracy, it was submitted. With the WBIDC entering into an agreement with Tata Motors, it has to be seen whether the state government is really acting in public interest.
Secrecy in government functioning would promote corruption. Moreover, the state commerce and industries minister had undertaken before Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi at Raj Bhavan to give a copy of the agreement to the Leader of the Opposition, it was submitted.
Though a copy had been sent, two annexures are missing from it. It remains to be seen how public interest is affected even if the competitors of Tata Motors reach an advantageous position by it, it was submitted.
The Tata Motors' contention that it is a third party and as such entitled to notice by CIC does not hold water, it was submitted. The agreement has been reached between Tata Motors and the WBIDC which makes the Tata Motors either the first or the second party, it was further submitted.
The contention that Tata Motors is not a third party is misconceived, Mr Samaraditya Pal appearing for Tata Motors submitted. Commercial confidence has been reposed on the WBIDC by Tata Motors and full disclosure of the agreement would betray it. The CIC is an appellate body and it is not his duty to serve a notice on Tata Motors, Mr Raghunath Chakraborty, appearing for the CIC, submitted. It is the duty of the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) to do so, it was further submitted. The matter will come up for hearing again on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, economist Dr Arjun Sengupta, who is also the chairman of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, said if the Trinamul Congress chief, Miss Mamata Banerjee, continues to harp merely on the demand for returning land from Tata Motors project site, it would only “boomerang” on her. Dr Sengupta who also met the Governor and later agriculture minister Mr Naren De said that neither alternative land nor attractive compensation would benefit the small and marginal farmers. He also called for paying prospective value of the land. The state government had only paid the market price of land for farmers in Singur. According to Dr Sengupta, the farmers could be trained and with compensation money could set up enterprises in non farm area. Renowned physicist, Dr Bikash Sinha also deplored the current impasse on Singur.
The chief minister also had to explain the situation at Singur to a delegation of French Senators visiting the city. n SNS
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=223216

Economy Stays Stuck as Consumers Cut Back

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: September 3, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/business/economy/04economy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
The nation’s economy failed to pick up speed in August and the final days of July, as rising prices and a weak job market prompted consumers to reduce spending and shop at discount stores to try to conserve cash.
Economic activity stayed “weak, soft or subdued” across the country, according to the Federal Reserve Bank’s beige book, a regular snapshot of the economy. The latest edition of the survey, released on Wednesday, signaled that the economy spent the summer in a rut, with consumers feeling little relief from the government’s tax rebates.
Although gasoline and oil prices began to subside in August, many businesses reported that they felt squeezed by relatively expensive raw materials. In at least half of the 12 Fed districts — including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and New York — businesses said they had been forced to raise prices, potentially stoking inflation faster.
“The Fed found a whole bunch of different adjectives to describe weakness in growth, and a whole bunch of adjectives to describe price pressures,” said Ethan Harris, chief economist of the investment bank Lehman Brothers. “What it’s describing is basically stagflation.”
Officials at the Fed have been more circumspect in their outlook, cautioning that while activity will probably slow for the rest of the year, the economy will avoid the mix of fierce inflation and stagnant growth of the 1970s.
Still, the combination of weak spending and higher prices last month reinforced expectations that Fed policy makers would keep interest rates steady when they met on Sept. 16. Fed officials, including the chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, have signaled a determination to control inflation, but they cannot raise interest rates as jobs dry up, house values continue to fall and banks confront a still-treacherous financial landscape.
Indeed, the beige book painted a gloomy portrait of the economy. To say the least, August was not an easy time for businesses to raise prices. Consumer spending slowed, or stayed slow, in nearly every district, according to the report. When Americans did shop, they opted for big-box discount stores and nonbranded products.
“Consumers were concentrating on food, staples and other necessary items while reducing spending on discretionary items,” the report said. Sales of clothing, electronics and jewelry declined in several regions, and demand for furniture and many household products dropped sharply.
“The consumer story does not look very encouraging,” said Brian A. Bethune, an economist at the research firm Global Insight. “Consumer spending remains weak. Auto sales were universally weak.”
With the government still pondering a second round of tax rebates, there appeared to be little on the horizon that could lead Americans to start spending again. Consumer spending declined in July after adjusting for inflation, the Commerce Department reported last week. Fewer purchases will have a substantial ripple effect throughout the economy; spending usually accounts for more than two-thirds of overall economic growth.
Wages rose moderately in August. The real estate market, however, worsened or stayed soft, with most districts reporting less demand for both residential and commercial properties. And activity at manufacturing businesses declined, despite an unexpected rise in demand at factories.
In July, factory orders rose 1.3 percent, more than economists had forecast, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. The increase comes after a 2.1 percent rise in June.
Export sales have propped up many American businesses throughout the current downturn, but there were some signs that foreign demand was starting to ease.
“A number of districts reported that export orders were bolstering manufacturing activity, but manufacturers in several of those districts have noted some recent slowing in growth from this source,” the report said.
The anecdotes contained in the beige book, which is compiled through interviews, phone calls and surveys mailed to hundreds of businesses, are used by Fed officials as a companion to the quantitative data on the economy compiled by its staff.
Among the more positive spots of the report, agricultural businesses said they had felt some relief from a recent drought, energy and mining activity was strong, and banks reported steady demand for commercial and industrial loans.
The beige book appeared to have little effect on investors in the stock market, which moved in and out of negative territory. The Dow Jones industrial average finished about 16 points higher, and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 0.2 percent.


India Inc's billion-dollar club shrinks by 38%
20 Sep, 2008, 0610 hrs IST,Vivek Sinha, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The global bear hug and the swing in the rupee-dollar exchange rate have shrunk India Inc’s billion-dollar club. The number of companies with market capitalisation (M- cap) exceeding billion dollars has shrunk to 139 from 227 at the peak of the bull run, a drop of 38%.
ET analysed the market value of listed companies between January 10, when the Sensex hit an alltime high, and September 19. The sharp fall in the stock market has been led by sectors affected by the global financial crisis, such as real estate, power and financial services. A host of real estate and infrastructure companies, including Purvankara, Omaxe, Parsvnath, Anant Raj Industries, Ansal Properties , Gammon, Peninsula Land and Sobha Developers have slipped below the $1-billion mark due to the fall in their share prices. Other companies that dropped out of the billiondollar M-cap group include Voltas, Max India, Ashok Leyland, Adlabs, GVK Power, Godrej Industries , Edelweiss, India Infoline, Motilal Oswal, JM Financial, Religare, Jet Airways, CESC, Ispat, and Century Textiles.
While the sharp fall in stock prices shaved off the wealth of many bigwigs of India Inc, some companies dropped out of the billion-dollar club due to the rupee-dollar exchange rate movements. The rupee was quoting at 39.2 to a dollar early this year, but has now weakened to 46.
Companies that may have figured in the billion-dollar club if the exchange rates had not moved adversely include Jubilant Organosys, Bajaj Holdings, GVK Power & Infra, Mphasis, Oriental Bank Of Commerce, Tata Tea, Petronet LNG, IRB Infra, Godrej Industries, Sterling Biotech, Cadila and Voltas. The list of top 10 most-valued Indian companies has seen three changes between January 10 and September 19.
Infosys, BHEL and L&T entered the top chart, while Reliance Communications, ICICI Bank and DLF slipped down the ranks. The number of PSUs among the top 10 most-valued companies has now gone up to six — BHEL, ONGC, NTPC, MMTC, NMDC and SBI. There were 36 listed companies in India with a M-cap exceeding $10 billion at the height of the bull market. This number has now shrunk to a mere 22. Companies, which have slipped out of this list, include Unitech, Reliance Capital, Sterlite, Tata Steel, Suzlon, Power Grid, Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Infra, Mundra Port, Cairn India, JSPL, Gail, GMR Infra, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Company/India_Incs_billion-dollar_club_shrinks_by_38/articleshow/3505176.cms


Tata investment in Africa is worth billions
19 Sep, 2008, 1144 hrs IST, IANS
DURBAN: As one of the first Indian companies to enter Africa almost six decades ago, the Tata Group, through its affiliate Tata Africa, now has a presence in 11 countries, with investments there worth billions of rands.
Tata Africa Managing Director Raman Dhawan was speaking at a gathering where the first Tata scholarships for post graduate students of the University of KwaZulu Natal were made here Thursday.
"The Tata Group's historical connection with Africa dates back to 1909 when Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, also called on the support of the Passive Resistance Movement against (what would later be called) apartheid in South Africa. And Tata got actively involved at that time," Dhawan said.
Emphasising the importance of honesty, integrity and transparency to the students, Dhawan explained these basic principles of the Tata Group, "The Tata Group is one of very few that has managed to successfully traverse three centuries in its 140-year existence because the founders used a very simple but forward-looking concept, what comes from the people must go back.
"In Tata Sons, which is the apex body of the group, 66 percent of the profits go into philanthropy and therefore there are many social institutions and other organisations such as the Tata Memorial Hospital, recognised as one of the leading cancer research institute sin the world."
Dhawan summed up Tata's diverse interests in South Africa, "We obviously could not invest in South Africa (because of apartheid isolation), and our operations in South Africa started only about 13 years ago. During that period the group has engaged in various activities.
"We are a very diversified group, so currently what we have in South Africa is automobiles, we make bus bodies in Johannesburg and we are looking to assemble vehicles as well.
"One of the largest investments of Tata in South Africa is in your province, the ferrochrome smelter in Richards Bay that makes 130 tons of ferrochrome."
Dhawan mentioned the current huge activity in the telecoms sector by the second national fixed line licensee, Neotel, in which Tata has a major stake; as well as Tata Consultancy Services, "one of the jewels in the Tata group", which is also operating in the IT sector South Africa and the rest of the continent.
"We are also now constructing two hotels, the first one has started in Cape Town and the second one will be in Johannesburg. In fact we also tried to build a hotel in Durban, but due to some issues we could not start that, but we will come back as and when those issues are resolved. We look forward to be back here in Durban to build that hotel."
Dhawan said the total investment by Tata in South Africa, when all the projects are completed, should be about 10 billion rands.

Metro Cash & Carry fate in Kolkata hangs on Forward Bloc
19 Sep, 2008, 1929 hrs IST, PTI
KOLKATA: German wholesale giant Metro Cash & Carry has hit a political roadblock in the opening of its first outlet in Kolkata with Left Front constituent Forward Bloc resisting renewal of its APMC licence.
METRO Cash & Carry sources said the company was ready with infrastructure but the APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) licence, which was unilaterally withdrawn in June 2007, has not been renewed.
The state government had issued the APMC licence in 2005 and renewed it twice in 2006 and 2007. The APMC licence is issued by the Agri Market Board which is controlled by Forward Bloc. Food products comprise a critical part of the company's wholesale trade.
Forward Bloc state general secretary Ashok Ghosh told PTI, "This is not an administrative issue now. It has become a political matter and a decision must be reached on a political level. We have written to Left Front chairman Biman Bose seeking a bilateral meeting with him."
He said his party was opposed to opening large stores by big business houses at the cost of small trader and farmers. Agriculture minister Naren De said, "I will look into the matter once the concerned officer resumes office on Monday."
Metro Cash & Carry has so far invested Rs 140 crore and employs 350 persons at the Kolkata store.
Spencer's to focus on food & bakery services
20 Sep, 2008, 0321 hrs IST,Writankar Mukherjee, ET Bureau
KOLKATA: Spencer’s Retail has decided to focus on food and bakery services in its stores in a bid to position itself on the ‘retailtainment’ platform. The RPG retail flagship intends to create a food court in each of large format stores by carving out around 3,000 sqft.
While the food courts will be rolled out under the ‘Modern Menu’ brand, plans are also afoot to replicate such food courts in Spencer’s top 1,000 small-size outlets. The decision to foray into food and bakery services was triggered by Spencer’s consumer research which revealed that a shopper spends an average of 90 minutes in the stores during weekend.
“Hence, the need to evolve the stores as a retail entertainment destination was felt. It will create an experience for consumers and increase the average bill size,” a Spencer’s Retail spokesperson told ET.
Spencer’s has thus tied up with reputed food joints, restaurants and coffee shops to set up shop-in-shop within the food courts. This includes tie ups with Flury’s, Monginis, Bread Talk, Daily Breads, Pizza Corner, Nirula’s, Cafe Coffee Day, Barista and Tiffany for such shops.
“The food and bakery services will contribute around 5% to our turnover. We have agreed upon a 15-20% revenue sharing with partners,” the spokesperson added.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Retailing/Spencers_to_focus_on_food__bakery_services/articleshow/3504863.cms

Retail industry to touch Rs 18.1 lakh cr by '10: Report
17 Sep, 2008, 2034 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Spiralling income and rising economic growth will see the Indian retail industry touch Rs 18,10,000 crore by 2010 with organised retail expected to constitute about 13 per cent of the total market to reach Rs 2,30,000 crore, said the India Retail Report 2009.
The India Retail Report 2009 compiled by research group Images F&R Research said, despite the hue and cry over the perceived impact of organised large retail on mom and pop stores, modernising the retail sector would engage around 15 million people in various activities by 2010.
At present, the 13,30,000 crore Indian retail market is growing at 10.8 per cent of which the organised retail sector's contribution is 5.9 per cent at Rs 78,300 crore, the report said.
"This modern retail segment grew at the rate of 42.4 per cent in 2007, and is expected to maintain a faster growth rate over the next three years, especially in view of the fact that major global players and Indian corporate houses are seen entering the fray in a big way," it said.
Organised retail is expected to touch Rs 2,30,000 crore (at constant prices) by 2010, constituting roughly 13 per cent of the total retail market.
The report is based on rising economic growth rate of 8-9 per cent and a hike in average salaries by about 15 per cent which may trigger the rate of consumption.
On the employment front, the study said, "Modernising retail will see some 15 million people engaged in retail and retail support activities by 2010 - including front end retail operations, supply chain management, logistics, process and infrastructure development and supplies."
Food and grocery dominated the retail segment with 59.5 per cent share valued at Rs 7,92,000 crore, followed by clothing and accessories with a 9.9 per cent share at Rs 1,31,300 crore.
Food security flak at meet
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: Malati Bariha is a mother of three girls. This tribal widow of Kudumuha village in Sundergarh district has never seen a single government employee in her area. Neither she gets old age and widow pension nor she has any Antyodaya or BPL card.
“My girls are growing up and we do not have a place to stay,” she says. Malati earns a living by going for daily wage labour that is grossly insufficient to feed her and her family. Her community sometimes helps her out with a meal or two and there have been days she and her daughters go to bed hungry. Yet hers is not a case of “starvation” so far the government definition goes.
Scores of similar stories relating to hunger and malnutrition were heard at the Peoples Tribunal on Hunger and Public Policy in Orissa here today.
“The government either takes refuge in the narrow definition of starvation death and argues that most deaths occurred due to disease and not starvation. In some cases, the victim is blamed for ‘superstition’ or ‘ignorance’ for consuming inedible roots, tubers or mango kernels,” the tribunal observed.
“This insistence on death as a proof of starvation should be given up. Continuance of a distress situation is enough proof that a person is starving,” said N.C. Saxena, the commissioner of Right to Food.
“Starvation is also rarely an isolated instance, but reflects instead prolonged denials of adequate nutrition to households, communities, or social categories,” he observed.
“Long-term unaddressed malnutrition and endemic prolonged phases of hunger must be recognised as situations of starvation, and the duty of the state to prevent deaths of persons who are living with starvation,” said Harsh Mander, special commissioner of Right to Food.
The Supreme Court Commissioner’s Office, in collaboration with various organisations in Orissa, conducted a rapid survey of government food, work and social security schemes in April-June 2008.
The survey — done by 40-odd organisations — covered 62 gram panchayats of 48 blocks in 13 districts.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080920/jsp/nation/story_9859517.jsp
Consent’ to shipyard
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Tamluk, Sept. 19: The Bengal government said it had obtained consent for acquisition of nearly 440 acres out of the 492 required for a shipyard in East Midnapore after the last day for hearing farmers’ objections.
Owners of 250 acres in Geonkhali have given their consent in writing.
Additional district magistrate Srikumar Tarafdar said: “We completed our hearing today and owners of 55 acres objected to the acquisition. So we take it that the rest are willing to give up their land.”
Bharati Shipyard has proposed the Rs 2,000-crore shipyard to be built in collaboration with the Apeejay Group.
The administration today heard the farmers who had lodged objections to the acquisition at Deulpota, one of the four mouzas identified for the project. “We heard some 150 farmers who own about 2.26 acres,” said an official.
At Deulpota, 154 acres have been marked for acquisition.
Nearly 250 landowners of Bhangagora and Badur mouzas had given their consent to the acquisition of 176 acres on Tuesday. In the first hearing in August, owners of 17.88 acres had opposed the acquisition.
The Trinamul Congress-led Save Farmland Committee in Geonkhali accused the administration of lying and said about 300 farmers owning about 250 acres had not given their consent.
Around 400 committee supporters demonstrated in front of Tarafdar’s office today and they nearly came to blows with a group of CPM supporters, including farmers who have already pledged their land for the project. The hearing was delayed by two hours because of the commotion.
“Nearly 300 farmers owning about 250 acres have refused to give up their land. But while lodging protests with the district magistrate in June, some of them forgot to mention the quantity of land they owned. The administration rejected their petitions,” alleged Goutam Das, a convener of the committee.
He warned that the administration would be making a “grave mistake if the unwilling farmers were forced” to give up their land.
“We will launch a Nandigram-type agitation in Geonkhali if the administration exercises force while acquiring the land for the shipyard.”
Nandigram, where a bid to acquire land for a chemical hub had turned bloody last year, is only about 50km from Geonkhali.
East Midnapore Trinamul president Sisir Adhikary said the shipyard could not be allowed at the cost of farmers. “We will prevent any such move.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080920/jsp/nation/story_9861323.jsp
Mamata sees end to impasse
INDRANIL GHOSH & BARUN GHOSH

Mamata Banerjee on Friday. Picture by Amit Datta
Calcutta, Sept. 19: Mamata Banerjee today said the deadlock over Singur would be broken soon.
Following pleas from ail- ing CPM patriarch Jyoti Ba- su and governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for a resolution “for the sake of Bengal and its people”, Mamata said in the evening: “I believe the Singur problem will be resolved soon.”
In a 90-minute meeting, Mamata told Gandhi that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had violated Trinamul Congress’s agreement with the government, reached in presence of the governor, and announced a compensation package for all farmers whose land had been acquired. “We requested him (Gandhi) to get the government to honour the September 7 agreement and roll back the package. We hope they (government) will see reason,” she said.
The government lost no time in making it clear that it did not have any intention to roll back the package, which, it claimed, was a product of the agreement.
The chief minister said: “In the presence of the gover-nor, the government and the Opposition had discussed the Singur issue, on the basis of which the package was announced…. A solution can be reached if the Opposition accepts this package.”
According to Mamata, the agreement entitles her to 300 acres inside the project and another 100 outside — figures that have been shot down by the government. She has also sought to offer her own interpretation to the phrase “land to the maximum” in the pact.
Gandhi heard the Trinamul chief, who repeatedly professed her “full faith” in his office, but did not offer any explanatory statement. He promised to find out the actual position from the government.
Mamata refused comment on Basu’s appeal to accept the package, but she used the same key words at a news conference to underscore her eagerness for a settlement. “I seriously want a solution to the Singur problem in the interest of Bengal, industrialisation, agriculture and, above all, its people…. I have requested the governor to talk to the government to find a solution.”
There was frenetic activity in Left and Trinamul circles since morning after it became clear the Tatas were pursuing an alternative site for the project. The CPM got Basu to issue the appeal and Trinamul MLA Partha Chatterjee called on the governor to tell him how CPM cadres were “forcing” farmers to accept the package.
Reports from Singur said 11 farmers who were earlier unwilling to take the compensation collected their cheques today. “About 20 to 25 of them submitted applications,” said Hooghly district magistrate Neelam Meena.

Dilip Barik, 38, whose father owned three cottahs in the project area, was one of them.
“We decided to collect our cheque after the government announced the additional benefits. I don’t want them (Trinamul) to know that I’m at the DM’s office to submit the application. A villager in our area had been ostracised for giving up his land. No one spoke to him, he was not allowed to visit the barber and his family was not allowed to collect water from the tube well. He had to surrender to the Trinamul leaders for a reprieve,” said Barik, a jute mill employee from Bajemelia.
Krishna Kolay, 36, of Gopalnagar submitted an application for a job. “We gave up our land willingly. We have heard that the new package offers a job to a member of every landloser family. I have done MA in history and want a job,” said Krishna, whose husband is an electrician at the Tata project.

WITH INPUTS FROM UTTAM DUTTA IN SINGUR
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080920/jsp/bengal/story_9861683.jsp
CPM gets Basu to plead for truce
BISWAJIT ROY

Jyoti Basu
Calcutta, Sept. 19: The CPM state secretariat today egged Jyoti Basu on to read out a statement urging the Opposition and the unwilling farmers to accept the new compensation package and “co-operate with the government” to end the Singur stalemate.
“The Singur project is very important.… The state will witness economic progress and employment will increase with its implementation,” the CPM patriarch said.
“More investment will come to the state as the project takes shape…. The state’s image will suffer in the country and abroad if the world-class project is not implemented here. All should welcome the development of the state irrespective of their political position.”
He didn’t name the Trinamul Congress or the unwilling farmers but urged “all concerned” to accept the government’s new compensation package. “I appeal to those who are opposing the project to rise above politics in the interest of the state and co-operate with the state government to resume work at the project.”
CPM state secretary Biman Bose joined him in urging Mamata to “see reason” and end her agitation demanding the return of 300 acres from the project site.
Mamata refused to respond to Basu’s appeal.
The party’s initiative came in the wake of Mamata’s visit to Basu’s house in an apparent bid to drive a wedge in the CPM. The move was mooted when party general secretary Prakash Karat and Bose called on Basu yesterday.
Bose went to Basu again after the weekly state secretariat meeting today, which both chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and industries minister Nirupam Sen attended.
Basu, 94, who has a blood clot in the brain, had returned home after 10 days in hospital only on Tuesday.
CPM secretariat members, however, ruled out any administrative step if the Trinamul chief refused to budge. “Mamata wants violence, the imposition of Section 144 (prohibitory orders), police action and dead bodies. We won’t oblige her. Let the people realise her real intentions,” said party veteran Benoy Konar.
Another reason for the reluctance to take any such step is Ratan Tata’s assertion that he wouldn’t like to run a factory with police protection, secretariat member Madan Ghosh said.
“We are still trying to make the project happen. But it is no more in our hands. Everything depends on the Tatas and Trinamul,’’ said Konar.
PIL thrown out
The Calcutta High Court today refused to hear a PIL moved by a Delhi-based NGO demanding its intervention to ensure the Tata Motors project stayed in Singur.
“How can the court interfere in the matter?” the division bench of Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice S. Banerjee said and dismissed the plea.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080920/jsp/bengal/story_9861684.jsp
It's festive mood in West Bengal
18 Sep, 2008, 0104 hrs IST,Sutanuka Ghosal & Basistha Basu, ET Bureau
KOLKATA: A wide section of Kolkata’s retail segment is going berserk just now with pre-Puja offers. Step into a Pantaloons, a Big Bazaar, a Westside or any of the numerous wayside shops that trade in typical puja merchandise, and you will find offers vying with each other to go one better.
From “Take one, get one free” or “Buy two and get two free” to discounts ranging from 5-70%”, Kolkata is ablaze with offers. It is the festive season mood.
The best however, isn’t this. “Cash assistance to landlosers and bargadars so that they are able to buy agricultural land of their choice, 300 days wages at NREGA rate to affected agricultural labourers and unrecorded bargadars, 10% of the award money to those who have not received compensation......”—this pre-puja offer by Bengal to Singur's residents takes the cake.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Retailing/Its_festive_mood_in_West_Bengal/articleshow/3495993.cms
Pantaloon Retail total income jumps 52 pc
20 Sep, 2008, 1902 hrs IST, PTI
MUMBAI: Pantaloon Retail, a part of Future Group, on Saturday said its total income has rose by 52 per cent to Rs 5,052.67 crore in FY'08 as compared with Rs 3,328.77 crore during the last fiscal.
Pantaloon Retail follows the July-June financial year. During the period under review, the net profit of the company increased by 111 per cent (excluding extraordinary income) to Rs 125.97 crore, a press release issued here said.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 119.99 crore in FY'07, which included an extraordinary income of profit from sale of investments of Rs 88.87 crore.
The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of 30 per cent per equity share of face value of Rs 2.

Farmers to vote on Mumbai special economic zone
20 Sep, 2008, 1311 hrs IST, IANS
PEN (MAHARASHTRA): In a path-breaking move that can trigger major policy changes, farmers in this paddy-growing coastal sub-district of Maharashtra will Sunday participate in a referendum to decide the fate of Asia's biggest Special Economic Zone (SEZ) being developed here by Reliance Industries (RIL).
Faced with the firm refusal to part with 3,417 hectares (8,542.5 acres) of land from about 10,000 farmers in 22 villages who have their farms by a nearby dam, the district administration will record their statements on whether or not they want the tax-free enclave to come up in their region.
While there will be no ballot papers or boxes to put them in, polling booths of sorts are being set up in the 22 villages in the Pen tehsil (sub-district) where administration personnel will note down the villagers' say after checking their land ownership documents, Raigad district collector Vinayak Nipun told IANS.
And with a bid by Mumbai SEZ Ltd, the RIL subsidiary implementing the project, to stall the first of its kind democratic exercise failing in the Bombay High Court Thursday, people opposed to the SEZ have stepped up their campaign against the upcoming project that promises to boost the region's economy.
The opponents are happy that their agitation has resulted in the government agreeing to go for a referendum - which they are confident of winning - even as Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal continue to simmer over much smaller chunks of land.
Though nearly 10,000 hectares of land is under acquisition for the project coming up over 14,000-hectares spanning 46 villages in Pen, Panvel and Uran tehsils of Raigad district, the government encountered the toughest resistance in Pen that falls in the Hetavne irrigation dam command area.
The Hetavne project, for which gazette notification was issued in 1981, is almost complete. Till now, Rs.3.29 billion has been spent on the project against the estimated Rs 130 million.
A whopping Rs 683.4 million would be needed to bring alternative land under irrigation if the 3,417 hectares in the existing command area were to be given away for the SEZ project, its executive engineer R M Kulkarni had stated in his submission to the land acquisition office last year.
Senior Peasants and Workers Party leader N D Patil went on a fast two months ago, forcing Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to promise that a hearing will be held for the farmers.
Deshmukh subsequently modified the promise by directing the district collector to hold a referendum.
"Sixteen farmers had gone on an indefinite fast in July last year," said Vaishali Patil, coordinator of the committee heading the protest against the SEZ project.
Protesters have also held demonstrations and blocked roads besides making representations to the government, Patil told IANS, but added that the agitation was peaceful unlike that in Singur and Nandigram.
"It is exasperating that the government kept issuing land acquisition notices to farmers despite the SEZ Act providing against acquisition of irrigated land," Patil said.
She expressed satisfaction, however, that ultimately a referendum was being held and said at least 80 percent of farmers would vote against the project.
An RIL official told IANS that the company has challenged the government's move to hold referendum as the 'in-principle' approval has already been granted for the project.
According to him, the move violated the agreement the government has entered into with the company.
"The government has accepted the company's rehabilitation plan which offers farmers the best possible deal including Rs.1 million plus compensation per acre, 12.5 per cent for developed plot in the project area, a suitable job to one person per family and training," he added.

Govt acquires 2,000 hectares for renewable energy SEZ
17 Sep, 2008, 1521 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Government on Wednesday said it has acquired 2,000 hectares of land to develop a special economic zone for renewable energy in Nagpur, which would become operational within 2-3 years.
"2,000 hectares of land has been acquired for the Renewable Energy SEZ in Maharashtra and it would become operational in 2-3 years time," Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar told reporters here.
This SEZ is being developed by the Maharastra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).
A European firm is understood to have committed investment worth 3.71 billion euros (Rs 22,000 crore) in the SEZ.
Government is focussing on non-conventional energy sources, including wind and solar power. Various tax benefits have been given for investments in the renewable energy area.
India has emerged as a major supplier of equipment for wind power, led by Pune-based Suzlon Energy.


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Books by Amartya Kumar Sen





Development as Freedom - 2001 - 383 pages
Development as Freedom - 2001 - 396 pages
Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives - 1997 - 454 pages
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Amartya Sen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amartya Sen is interested in the debate over globalization. He has given lectures to senior executives of the World Bank and is a former honorary president ...
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Amartya Sen I was born in a University campus and seem to have lived all my life in one campus or another. My family is from Dhaka - now the capital of ...
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Official Nobel Foundation website, with press release (including summary of his contributions to welfare economics), and extensive (8000-word) ...
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Amartya Sen
Prof. Amartya Sen. This page will automatically be redirected to Prof. Sen's latest Website in 5 seconds. If the URL does not change please click HERE.
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Harvard Econ Department - Contact Info for Amartya Sen
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Brief biographical notes from India Today. [registration required]
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It may be a slight exaggeration to claim that "Welfare Economics" is but a synonym for Amartya Sen, but few economists have taken that field as far, ...
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Hunger is quiet violence: Amartya Sen
26 Apr 2007 ... India has done badly on three issues: fighting hunger, providing adequate health, and gender inequality, says the Nobel Laureate.
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Amartya Sen Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics
Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, at the Nobel Prize Internet Archive.
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Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation - Google Books Result
by Amartya Kumar Sen - 1981 - Social Science - 257 pages
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News results for Global financial Crisis

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