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Tabled by the government in the Assembly yesterday is a document titled ‘District-wise Vested Land (Non-Agricultural) in West Bengal available for Industrial and Commercial Purposes’. Total amount of such land is 22,412.761 acres.
By any yardstick, this quantity is paltry, what with SEZs asking for tens of thousands acres for each such. This is the land already acquired by the government, and presumably ready for disbursal.
But what queers the pitch is the fact that nearly 73% of this fallow land is located in Jalpaiguri district and the hilly terrains of Darjeeling district, the latter having as much as 10,831.55 acres of it.
Unfortunately for the government, the East Medinipur district where both Nandigram and Haldia are located, the amount of non-agricultural vested land is just about 19.79 acres, while Hooghly district, home to the proposed Singur car factory of Tatas, has 96 acres under government control.
It is obvious that the government cannot accommodate all the land-requiring industries that have queued up at its door for setting up facilities. Which means the left government has a tall task on its hand to meet the onrush of demands by companies needing land.
It remains to be seen how the demand-supply situation is managed by the government in coming days, especially in view of stringent opposition by various political parties. [Collated from ET, Kolkata, March 31]
It’s a landmark event in the annals of Indian medical history. The highest claim for compensation thus far has been filed by US-based NRI doctor Kunal Saha in the Supreme Court yesterday. It amounts to Rs.1.43 billion or Rs.143 crore. [Image Source]
Dr. Kunal Saha, presently an AIDS researcher, has made the claim against 5 city doctors - Sukumar Muherjee, Baidyanath Halder, Abani Roychowdhury, Balaram Prasad and Kausik Nandy – and AMRI Hospital where his wife Anuradha was treated but she later died there allegedly because of negligence.
Dr. Saha’s fight for justice went through several ups and downs. First, the Alipore Court found Dr. Mukherjee and Dr. Halder guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced them to 3 months' rigorous imprisonment with a fine Rs.3000 on May 29, 2002. This ruling was later reversed by the Calcutta High Court in March 2004.
Meanwhile, in June 2006, the Delhi-based National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) dismissed Dr. Saha's compensation case after 7 years of hearing.
It’s ultimately in the Supreme Court that the fate of the case lies. Significantly, the apex court has tagged a ‘criminal appeal’ made by Dr. Saha with the above compensation claim, and both are now expected to be decided on together.
To his credit, Dr. Saha is not only fighting the case till the very end, he has also pledged that if he wins any money as compensation, he would donate the entire amount for the promotion of healthcare in India. To that extent, he has formed a humanitarian society, People for Better Treatment (PBT), to help victims of medical negligence.
It’s with bated breadth that the country awaits the judgment by the apex court. This article is based on this report at m&c.
Kolkata may as well be a city of heritage. This is the hope expressed by the city mayor in a workshop yesterday in which a British delegation took part. Not that the city lacks heritage structures. Thanks to the Raj era, Kolkata can truly boast of magnificent edifices that are located mainly in the whereabouts of Esplanade and Dalhousie Square.
It was a workshop on Delivering Urban Regeneration Projects where the mayor, presiding it over, expressed the hope. Attended by no less than the chairman of London Rivers Association, George Nicholson and Deputy High Commissioner, Simon Wilson, the workshop also saw participation by Guy Butler, Senior Development Manager of $15.6 billion UK-based international property group, Grosvenor and Phillip Davies, a planning development director of English Heritage.
The need to bring in makeover to the city is long overdue. What better start could it be than renovating the city’s heritage structures! True, many pockets in the city are suffering from an overwhelming urban decay that has happened over past many decades in absence of proper planning.
Yet the city reverberates with life and the urge of its dwellers to carry on despite odds. But this cannot go on forever, especially since big business is starting to flow in after a long hiatus. It’ll be a phenomenal job to undo many ills that plague the city, and that calls for not only some amount of willingness to let in fresh air, but also expertise to effect the changes in a way that enhances the overall image of the city.
It’s here that the British experts can play a vital role. To quote The Telegraph, Grosvenor is ready to do such restoration work in Calcutta if it earns them “the right to develop commercial properties adding up to a critical mass”, its representative Butler said.
Well, why not? But then perhaps it’s better said than done. Given the state’s murky politics, who knows such an initiative may be eyed with suspicion (even though the fact remains that it is DFID money that KMC is using for many development works)!
The onus is therefore on KMC and state government to work out some sort of consensus, if not agreeable by all, to start city’s makeover without delay. As the adage goes, better start than never.
A pan-India urban problem, conspicuous yet hardly addressed properly, is that of stray dogs. The menace of dog-bite, and even death resulting from it as recent incidents in Mumbai, Bangalore and elsewhere have proved, is on the rise. But there is no ready solution in sight because the municipal authorities, who are supposed to catch the dogs and sterilize them in dog pounds are found wanting.
They cannot be blamed much, pitted as they are against the powerful love-for-animals lobby. A few days back the newspapers carried a picture of celebrity canine lovers like Debasree Roy and Tapas Paul marching on the road to express solidarity for the cause of not doing cruelty to animals.
Pity they carried cute doggies everyone would like to cuddle, instead of stray dogs. The message is simple.
Whatever the NGOs, People For Animals (PFA) or Love and Care for Animals would like to tell us from rooftops, nobody wants to touch the ‘untouchable dogs’, but that doesn’t mean they would spare any effort to denounce any ‘wrong’ done to them even if fellow human-being suffer because of them.
I do not count myself among the branded animal lovers. I do not wear it on my sleeves to advise others that come what may, you cannot do any harm to stray dogs. Because I know if I’m bitten by one, I stand to suffer from a dreaded disease. Since I’m not like Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa, I therefore strongly believe that there must be some steps to control population of stray dogs on city streets if only for the safety of people.
KMC has a dog pound at Dhapa Math Pukur off EM Bypass. As this news reports, KMC has handed over its management to PFA nearly 10 years ago. Another at Behala is now run by Love and Care for Animals.
The Dhapa dog pound is in despicable condition. Not surprising, since one needs money and ability to run such affairs. It’s one thing to pick faults of others, quite another to do it oneself faultlessly. PFA of course points finger at non-caring attitude of KMC, which may be true. But pray tell me, which agency will at own cost run an establishment dictated by others?
The result is pretty obvious as the report explains. From what Surojit Ghatak, dog staff chief of KMC says, “We attach more importance to either mass complaint or complaints lodged by councilors regarding sick dogs or similar problems”, it is clear as daylight that canine problem is here to stay for foreseeable future.
In a World Health Organization (WHO) conference in Switzerland, it has been suggested that male circumcision is an effective step to reduce HIV infection.
As we know, circumcision is a customary must for many people, and in such cases male children are circumcised a few months after birth.
WHO feels this new finding may help fighting the menace of rising HIV in many countries. Read the Newscom/UPI story below:
Bus already plies, and now in 3 months time, trains will run to the Bangladesh capital. Initially, the trains will stop 35 km short of Dhaka at Joydebpur since this length doesn’t yet have broad gauge line.
Gede this side and Darshana across the border are the stations where respective customs and immigration checks will take place. At present, several pairs of local EMU trains run from Sealdah to Gede everyday.
A good 100 minutes from Sealdah on main line is Ranaghat Junction, from where the branches go to Santipur, Bongaon, Krishnanagar (on way to Lalgola and beyond) and Gede. Gede is just about 117 km from Sealdah.
Looking at the schematic above (taken from TT), it is clear the train route is more in length in Bangladesh than India, and it’s almost like a half-loop from Kolkata to Dhaka.
The total length is 330 km and journeying is likely to take 8 hours in addition to time it would take for mandatory clearances at the border.
Though train journey is usually more comfortable than traveling by road, it’s early to say if the former will turn out more popular.
The chance is bus operators will see dwindling numbers, since already the direct bus service starting from Ultadanga is suffering because of shuttle service from Esplanade to the border and similar service thereafter from across the border to Dhaka.
There is one difference between train and bus route. Buses ply along NH-34/35 via Petrapole-Benapole to enter Bangladesh, while the train route is further north.
Meanwhile, as Eastern Railway is gearing up to start direct rain service, necessary clearance from the central government is still awaited. Security is a big concern, what with blasts recently occurring in Samjhauta Express from Delhi, leading to tragic deaths.
As the Nandigram episode of March 14 gradually unravels, it’s clear that the government is firmly on the backfoot. The refusal to hand over land has now assumed an alarming dimension. Forget industrialization, even land for infrastructure projects already undertaken or planned shortly are hard to come by.
NH-35, that links Barasat with Bongaon on way to Petrapole on Bangladesh border cannot be widened because people are unwilling to handover land. This is a central government project undertaken by NHAI (National Highway Authority of India), a long needed one, aimed at improving road connection.
Similar troubles are brewing up for improving NH-34 too, as also plans to improve village roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna.
If not utilized, funds that are allocated under such schemes are returned. And once that happens, it becomes doubly difficult to get fresh allocations. Which means whatever has been done so far or planned for taking up remain unfinished.
Perhaps it’s game for some people to keep the burning issues simmering for as long as they serve their interests. It’s not they who care if in the process the state suffers. Bengal has suffered for long, and now it seems its destiny will not be any different for many more years to come. The flicker of hope that seemed so real even a few months back now looks elusive as ever.
Though the 'SEZ earth' is shaking in Nandigram, the tremors are being felt in faraway states like Tamil Nadu and Punjab. Another controversial issue may likely be large-format organized retail. Not without reason that the left parties have recently suggested that big retail joints may be allowed only in suburbs.
If agreed to, this will spare countless small city shops an uncertain future. As if on cue, the Pantaloons Group is planning a string of large format retail malls along the entire stretch of NH-34 up to Siliguri, starting with a 2.8 lakh sq ft mall in Madhyamgram near Barasat named Pathapadap, which will be the group’s largest single-location retail outlet (ref: ET, Kolkata, March 27).
Since the competition is intense, and further since no one knows what the government will decide on the issue, what is happening is that every large group is hastily chalking out its own strategy.
An example is that of Reliance group. Following Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) intention to renovate Park Circus market, Reliance has submitted a proposal not only for it but also for 18 more KMC markets like Entally market and New Market.
Already, Lake Market and College Street market are undergoing massive facelifting. To this will now get added other ones. According to KMC’s calculation, at least Rs.100 crore is required to renovate its markets, which it doesn’t want to cough up citing cash crunch.
But that won’t any longer be a hurdle, given the obvious interest on part of biggies like Reliance. Don’t we know, make hay while the sun shines!
Badurjhola, translated to English, would mean ‘hanging like bats’. If anything that comes to mind when one sees the rush-hour local trains in Kolkata, it must be this term, badurjhola. For millions across the suburbs of the metropolis, local trains are the only viable connection. [Image source]
The trains are more or less crowded throughout the day and late into evening. However, when it is peak-hour, people pack in like sardines in a tin can. Indian Railway on its part has thought precious little to improve journey conditions.
Unlike Mumbai, where there are not many routes to ply and the distance too is not much except perhaps Kalyan Junction on Central Railway, local trains in Kolkata run on multiple routes and have pretty long distances to cover.
But compared to Mumbai, despite occasional nuisance there like bhajan singing, local train service in Kolkata is abysmal. Trains run late, often cancelled without any notice, ‘infested’ with mobile hawkers and insensitive card players, and of course the frequency is much lower than in Mumbai.
Now, at long last there perhaps is some succor for travel-wary passengers. Number of coaches per train is slated to increase to 12 instead of 9 at present. This means the length of platforms at all stations has to increase in order to accommodate the lengthy carriage.
In Eastern Railway’s Sealdah main section, a couple of galloping locals to Kalyani do have 12 coaches. But they do not, rather cannot, stop at all places. From Sealdah the first stop is at Dum Dum, then all the way to Barrackpore, and then Naihati before reaching Kalyani.
Obviously, one or 2 such Kalyani Supers will not solve the sardine-like passenger condition. If not the ‘valiant’ daily goers, visitors like Katie and Annie (see post, Life in Kolkata), having once experienced the ordeal will never again venture into traveling in local trains. Which is why, the railways’ step of increasing number of coaches will bring long-needed relief and is therefore welcome.
After yesterday’s stormy debates on road, in markets, on TV and almost everywhere about India’s cricket debacle, it is much cool today. Now and again when I switched on the TV, which I normally do everyday to take in the latest happenings all over the world, all that would float in was nothing else but dissection of same old issues again and again.
Of all the channels out there, perhaps Star Ananda takes the cake of being the most worthless. One of its big stories was a couple of youth shaving off their heads to mourn India’s poor show. The commentator went on ranting at the novelty of the protest (he boasted that such 'unique' protest can happen only in Kolkata). What was disgusting was that the same clipping was shown time and again which obviously meant they had no other story on hand then.
The other possibility could be that some pig-headed news editor thought that such repetitious nonsense would bring in waves of viewers. This makes me wonder how in just a year’s time Star Ananda has degenerated into a pompous yet empty channel. According to me, 2 things are constant in their scheme of things: making money any which way possible, and creating unnecessary hype.
Both in high doses go against the norm of fair journalistic practices, and have the potential to drive away viewers. But then do they care? Let me give a few examples.
Bollywood films that ‘presumably’ pay handsome fees are dealt on endlessly in news-like manner before their release relegating actual news to backburner. Even otherwise there is too much emphasis on Bollywood news.
Late night fares are equally disgusting. Mouchak for example deals flirtingly on one or other aspects of home-making – never a sense of serious journalism, so to say – switching on quickly to chosen vendors (do they also pay?) who display their items. And then there is that ridiculous Ke Okane.
Contrast these with their mainline programs like Baire Dure or Khela Suru. These are progressively becoming non-programs, shrinking and shrinking further. What pricks more is that good quality investigative journalism no longer makes the cut, what with increasing stress on sensation creating items only (like drink-party in Ruby Hospital, Bob Woolmer’s probable cause of death, and so on).
In a way, Star Ananda’s degeneration is reflective of too much greed for money. It had hoped for reaching the ‘star’ in a short span of just 1 or 2 years. What that star is I don’t know, but if you talk of quality, Star Ananda comes nowhere.
It becomes easy to fall back on such top channels like BBC or the desi NDTV (or even the newly launched Times Now) for comparison. But alas, there cannot be any comparison at all.
Coming to think of it, BBC and its like appear to have stringent quality control on what they telecast, and the people manning them have profound integrity and experience to serve people with the best possible. More importantly, despite so many years behind them, these channels haven’t ever thought it prudent to gatecrash into all-too-apparent brazen moneymaking, which is so unlike the newly born Star Ananda.
One feels sorry for the cricket-only millions of India. True, a good number of participating teams never play cricket (Ireland, Holland, Bermuda, Scotland, for example), and are only there to fill the ‘quota’.
Also true is that the actual game at any time is played by only 13 men, while the remaining 7 recline on sofa in pavilion, or go shopping outside. Again it’s true that the game is so leisurely that players near the boundary line can afford to give one or 2 autographs, or look cheeringly at the beauties in the gallery.
Yet, for all what I call its minuses, cricket is the numero uno sport in India. Or, is it? Well, not quite. A miniscule percent of people keep track of the sport at state or club level.
An even smaller populace will remember the names of players at state level. But when the team plays at national level, it’s time for us to come out of woodwork. Overnight, aunts and grannies become experts in the game, not to speak of uncountable uncles and grandfathers.
Now there is no place to hide the face. My respect for such world-beating events like World Cup Soccer or Summer Olympics suffers humiliation when I’m to call the present cricket mela at Windies as World Cup too. But then what to do?
Ok, it is World Cup Cricket. India is on the verge of saying the tourney goodbye. Scores of advertisers and TV channels are now biting their fingers, because if India does move out, very few people will take the trouble of watching the other games of the tourney, especially those played at odd hours. So much for the popularity of cricket in India!
I’m not to shed even a crocodile tear for the media who would suffer loss at India’s exit. Time they understand their folly. They’re creating monumental harm to other Indian sports. Why mourn if they loose heavily? In fact I’ll be glad if they suffer loss on this count.
One never ceases to know the unknown. The outer space has always fascinated me like it has countless others. In the past, I've had opportunity to present here some breathtaking pictues of Saturn and Jupiter (see this post, Jupiter's push). Now, here is an opportunity to see how the sun's electrifying magnetic field works. This video is released yesterday by NASA (report by AP).
About a month back in my post, 1 lakh crore, I wrote how Kolkata’s real estate scene is expected to see big-bang investments in near future. I also felt gung-ho about the fact that US’ Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), world’s largest real estate and investment management company, has started a Kolkata office. [Image source left]
Seems not all of our readers share the euphoria. I received an anonymous comment that went thus:
Nice to see that Kolkata is attracting a lot of investment. It quite some time now (sic). But I should say that companies like JLL or any other foreign real estate consultancy always MISGUIDES buyer as employees working in such companies have no idea about real estate markets and eventually the buyer has to pay more than normal.
I felt a bit skeptical at the comment, but after reading a March 20 ET story (titled, It’s time for a reality check on land banks), I now appreciate the commenter to my post does indeed have a valid point. What does the ET article say?
Reputed international property consultants, eager to make a quick buck and not wanting to miss out on a hot growth sector, willingly oblige real estate companies in jacking up valuations and creating hype. An example given is that of Mumbai’s property developer, K Raheja Corp (excerpt below).
K Raheja Corp recently valued a 4-acre property in Bangalore’s upmarket Whitefelds area at a whopping rate of Rs.44 crore per acre. The actual going rate: Rs.7-8 crore per acre.
Another example by ET (excerpt):
Yet another company, just ahead of an IPO, valued its properties in Bangalore on what is called the macro analysis method. They calculated the value based on the average of the highest transactions in the city in recent times. Any responsible valuer would have done the valuation by visiting the properties, found out the actual rates based on location, approach and so on.
Clearly therefore, there is a growing nexus between property developers and foreign consultants, and as always the gullible investors are being taken for a ride. It doesn’t surprise therefore that all the recent real estate entrants to the capital market have seen their share prices nosedive as if there is no bottom.
ET report says that Sebi (Securities & Exchange Board of India), the stock-market watchdog, is alive to this alarming situation and will hopefully take corrective actions shortly.
As such mid-afternoon traffic on the busy NS Road in BBD Bag is nothing less than a hell of chaos. To that if there is an addition of mad scramble among bystanders to collect banknotes out of thin air, one may imagine what would ensue. Precisely that is what happened yesterday in front of 14 NS Road beside the Standard Chartered building.
For many it’s a dream of a lifetime. In real life it’s something that perhaps can only be imagined in movies. It’s about raining of 100 rupee notes emerging from the building. The shower lasted for quite awhile (some say 15 minutes), heavy initially, sporadic later.
Not many though could cash in, which is understandable because it would have needed an extremely agile sporty ability to reap bonanza in the melee.
The police came soon, went up the building to the terrace. But alas, by then just about all the banknotes have rained. More than willing to find the cause, they rued that they didn’t have ‘advance’ information of it.
But the police were not alone to blame their ‘ill luck’. There were several others, Nazrul Islam for example, who had to remain content with seeing it all happen. Didn’t he want to be right under the money rain. You bet he did, but all he could do was push and shove, push and shove till he found he couldn’t move an inch ahead.
Will something like this happen again? Bookies are not willing to bet. But of course, they are right. We all know such things can happen once in blue moon, kabhi kabhi.
Are you good in writing and editing? And have good command on the usage of English as the Americans like? If yes, oportunity is knocking on your door.
You can look forward to a lucrative editing job from across the seven seas. Cost-cutting along with superior service is such a dream-cum-true for many US companies that they are outsourcing regular works to India and other countries. India has seen boom in such back-office works like medical transciption, call centers, correcting legal documents, and suchlike. Now, editing jobs of big media houses and publishing industry too are moving in.
Global outsourcing of content and other services in the publishing industry is pegged at $2.5 billion. In India outsourced publishing service business is doing a turnover of Rs.1000 crores annually. Recent industry analysis show that the newspaper industry in the developed world is ready to outsource its non-core and core functions to destinations such as India to achieve cost cutting.
Correcting grammatical mistakes is not a big deal per se. Just copy+paste the narration in MS Word, and the errors automatically surface. There're other software as well. The reason I mention this is because actual content creation will not be outsourced.
An average Indian is good in grammar, but poor in writing. Not a surprise since writing is rarely actively encouraged in schools and colleges (see my post, Local language websites). I quote Hindu again on this:
American English is far more vibrant than Indian English. It will therefore be difficult for Indian journalists to rewrite copy. However, they will be able to handle outsourcing that is limited to simple editing and page making. Also, it will be easier to handle work for a magazine than a newspaper... The main hurdle will be rewriting. Indians write long, convoluted sentences that may put off Americans.
But if you believe you have all it takes to write the way they want, consider starting at Elance, Guru among others.
About a week has passed since the latest incident at Nandigram, the government is still seen fumbling at the rapid turn of events. There have been protests, some symbolic like the intellectuals resigning from their coveted posts, others violent like those taking to streets to damage public property. Even proceedings at the assembly/parliament are being stalled daily.
The question that is now uppermost in many people’s mind is what now? This is a million-dollar question because the situation today is vastly different from what it has ever been in past 3 decades or more. Let there be no doubt that had this ‘defiance’ on part of Nadigram’s people occurred during any of their previous tenures, the ruling party would have crushed it without much of a murmur. Keshpur is a testimony of that.
Today, as the state is on the verge of industrial takeoff, every sound of dissonance is getting snowballed into major conflict. In a way, it’s the morass the ruling party has created by scaring away all forms of development in the name of struggle against the so-called privileged that is responsible for the present situation. The misdeeds of yesteryears are now striking back.
There is a strange dichotomy in Bengal today. On one hand, its fertile lands, nearness to ports, strategic geographical location, some good educational institutes, availability of ‘skilled’ manpower, and most importantly the newly reformed investor-friendly outlook of powers-that-be are driving in investors in droves.
On the other, violent protests are raging everywhere whenever there is a talk of land acquisition. The principal opposition party, despite all its breast-beating and concern for land-losers, singularly lacks any alternative plan for development. It doesn’t have any, not because no economist worth his/her salt dons its ranks, but because there just isn’t any.
Bengal has to prosper through industrialization, that too on farmlands only. This is a natural progress of any economy, whether one likes it or not. Just as computers couldn’t be barred from every sphere of our life despite the left’s vehement protests in early 80s, similarly big industries must happen to Bengal if only because that is how the economy of a state or a nation develops.
But when? Will it be another decade or so before the reality dawns on us? Or, will it be in coming years? Everything depends on how the ruling party conducts itself. That its landslide victory in last assembly elections is a proof of people’s vote for rapid industrialization is already proved as a misnomer. The onus is therefore squarely on it to win people’s hearts and minds by explaining that industrialization is and will be the only answer to improve the quality of their lives.
If that takes time, let that be. We have already lost precious decades to do what we should have done long back, so that hordes of talents wouldn’t have left the state for better avenues elsewhere, so that there wouldn’t have been any hunger, illiteracy, lack of proper health facilities, unemployment and struggle for mere survival.
If you ask me, I’d suggest the government should proceed like we used to answer our exam scripts. Answer those first, which you know you can write well, tackling the difficult ones later. Similarly, the government must first proceed wherever the going is relatively smooth, for example expanding the Asansol-Durgapur belt, letting Jindals and Tata Motors to come up with their facilities fast.
Once those happen, and everyone sees how big industries can improve lifestyle of common people, the path to more industrialization will become smoother. It doesn’t matter what some armchair opinion givers feel about it, what is of paramount importance is the improvement of Bengal’s rickety economy in the long run.
Again it doesn’t matter who in the power does it – the present government or the unlikely possibility of an opposition government. As Deng Xiao Ping once famously said, it doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches mouse.
Upon touching JFK International Airport yesterday – another in Los Angeles later – Airbus A380 created an aviation history. Never ever before, such a huge aircraft of the enormity of A380 that can easily cover a whole football ground wing-to-wing has made a trans-Atlantic voyage. A380 is Airbus Industrie’s dream come true. What is it that it has that has stirred up so much sensation? If you see the image above, the reason of its awaiting with bated breath will be clear.
A380 dwarfs every other aircraft that dots the sky today. It’s a double-decker plane having doors at both levels. Which means 555 passengers it can accommodate (853, if only economy class) can board it simultaneously at two floors. Which also means not every airport can manage A380, which is why JFK Airport has spent close to $200 million to upgrade facilities to welcome the giant aircraft.
Just how mammoth an A380 is? It’s 73 meters long and 24 meters high (equivalent to 8-storey building). Its 4 engines, 2 on each side, can fly up to 8000 nautical miles at a stretch. Its interior is like that of a 5-star hotel, and will have a dance bar, a spacious lounge, relax room, and of course enough space to roam around to beat the boredom of long journey.
So, will India see A380s touching down? In near term, very unlikely (though the super jumbo will be commercially flown only sometime next year). One understands modernization of Mumbai and Delhi airports will be in keeping with ability to have A380 flown in, park, turn around and flown out efficiently. Also, at the other end, the terminal buildings will not only need matching gates at 2 levels, they must also have double-deck aerobridges as well.
Industry experts are already predicting that double-deck super jumbos are the answers of future aviation requirements. This may appear optimistic since the once-famed Concorde supersonic had to end flying in 2003 after a 30-year tenure if only because of unmanageable costs. Will that be A380’s fate too? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, for ‘flying’ enthusiasts, it’s going to be a yearlong wait before being able to board a super jumbo. Worth waiting, won’t you say!
One of Google’s favorite hunting grounds in Kolkata is St. Xavier’s College. Time and again it has sourced fresh graduates from here. It has other affinities for the college as well. One recalls last year’s Wordmaster writing contest, held on Mahashtami day that took place in the dimly lit auditorium of the college. The contestants had to write keeping the paper on their lap.
And now, joining Google in the race to tap fresh talents from the college are who’s-who of ‘knowledge’ industry like Cognizant, TCS, IBM, Accenture and Wipro. Not to be left behind are big corporates such as Maruti Udyog, Coca Cola and Glaxo.
Google of course needs scores of college fresher, who are well conversant in English, to police the burgeoning English-language AdWords campaigns from across the world. Text ad selling is bread and butter for Google, and so presumably this section needs more manpower. One only hopes there is enough upward mobility for the young grads from general disciplines in tech-heavy Google.
Apart from St. Xavier’s, JU and Ashutosh College too are having fair contributions to these companies. It’s now common to find placement cells in the institutes, unheard of till couple of years back, that liaise between the corporates and the students.
On a ride in Metro sometime back, I came across people in the know of things discussing that one of the reasons big companies are picking up from Kolkata colleges is that the dropout rate – or, shall we say attrition rate – is low among those hired from here.
Since companies spend good amount of time and money to locate persons to man their requirements, high attrition, especially among super-fliers from IIMs, is something that is a drag on their resources, not to speak of possibility of lost business. But that is a different story for another day.
RPG Group’s retail venture has been through acquisition of Spencer’s, the mainly south-based supermarket chain. It’s in Chennai that an Englishman JW Spencer started a department store in 1860s on the city’s spinal chord, Mount Road (Anna Salai). Later, after a devastating fire in 1983, the entire stretch of land, which is quite sizeable, was taken up for building a super mall.
And super mall it is. Spencer’s Plaza is the largest integrated shopping mall in Chennai, now said to be commanding at least a million square feet of space. Many of RPG Group’s other retail forays like Food World made their smallish debut at Spencer’s Plaza. My favorites at the plaza, when I lived in Chennai early 90s, apart from enjoying coffee at Food World’s stand-in counter, was to scout for fresh additions to craft items at Ajanta Art Gallery (I don’t know if it’s still there).
Cutting down to present, RPG Group is now launching Spencer’s stores in Kolkata starting this month. It now has 4 formats – express, daily, super and hyper. There will be 7 Spencer’s stores, 4 daily, 2 express and 1 super coming up across the city in 2 months. Thereafter, it’ll be the turn of 3 hyper-stores, each about 50,000 sq ft to go for, at South City, Mani Square (on EM Bypass near Apollo Hospital) and RB Avenue.
With Pantaloons launching their largest shopping mall at Kankurgachi few days back, clearly Kolkata is emerging as a hot destination for large-format retail ventures.
How fast does news fly? In a flash I’d say. I happened to be searching Google News for other reasons, and then thought let me see what comes up for ‘Nandigram’. There are at least 335 articles for ‘Nandigram’, the latest being less than an hour old. Agencies like Reuters, AP and AFP continuously fork out news from every corner of the world, which are then picked up by Internet editions of newspapers across the globe.
Since Bengal is ruled by the left, there is in any case lot of interest for news emanating from here, especially when the state is trying to embark on rapid industrialization.
Not to be left behind, even Taipei Times’ report titled, Police, villagers clash in India, is already viewed 402 times at the time of this writing. One may ask is there other reason as well?
In my opinion, yes. The union government is about to finalize SEZ (Special Economic Zone) policy, a concept that has seen meteoric industrialization in China, and earlier in city-state Singapore as well as to some extent in Malaysia.
Global biggies are anxiously waiting to see what happens, and indeed big Indian industrial houses too are eyeing the opportunities that SEZs will provide through various incentives and tax sops. Not surprisingly, US’ Kolkata consul-general, Henry Jardine lost no time in meeting the state chief secretary soon after the Nandigram news broke out to assess likely fallout.
Be that as it may, here is another March 15 account of Nandigram, this one from AFP.
That movement of traffic in most city thoroughfares is an utter chaos doesn’t need iteration. Sometime back I posted a short video to YouTube on traffic on Dhakuria Bridge (see below), and the only comment I’ve received so far is from a Bong in US, that just says ‘chaos’.
According to me, the trouble with our decades-old transport minister is that while he loves to dream big every now and then, he cares very little to improve the situation on ground within available means. Thus while new trendy CSTC buses are being put to use, the ones purchased not long back already look unworthy to travel in. Then again, for the sake of a few hundred ramshackle private bus owners, he has been largely successful to scuttle the air pollution norms that would have let millions of city-dwellers breathe unpolluted air.
The latest to come out of his bag is the proposal to build an elevated ring road that, if implemented, would surely bring long-needed succor to traffic movement in the city. He announced this in yesterday’s conference arranged by Federation of Automobile Dealers Association. Let’s have the plan first.
As I can decipher from an outline sketch in today’s ABP, the ring road starting from Kidderpore, would proceed along DH Road up to New Alipore entry point, then going along Tollygunge Circular Road, turning right at Tollygunge Phari, taking the route of Anwar Shah Road and proceeding straight up to EM Bypass.
From there it will be following the arterial road till Ultadanga, proceeding thereafter along Canal West Road, passing Shyambazar on way to Kashipur lock-gate on Strand Road. Turning left, the ring road will travel the longest portion of its loop till it reaches Kidderpore.
There are many ifs and buts in the plan. First of course is money. The entire stretch of nearly 55 km will cost Rs.5500 crore, and it’s not clear where the money will come from. The newly appointed City Traffic Planner, Bibhas Sadhu says that if money is arranged in time, the whole work will not take more than 4 years to complete.
Another concern could be that of the fate of several flyovers being planned along the ring road. Examples are 2 privately planned Anwar Shah Road flyovers (see this post, Private flyovers) and the one being talked about at Ultadanga crossing. The ring road does plan to include 14-15 flyovers at main junctions, but will they include those being planned?
Kolkata suffers as much from lack of road space as from bad planning, lack of coordination among various implementing agencies, and complete disregard of inconvenience on the road. From past experience, there is not much reason yet to rejoice at another proposed road project even if it has all the promise to undo the present hardship to quite an extent.
When McDonald’s opened its first Kolkata outlet last Friday (March 9), inaugurated by Big B, did it hope for endless footfall? Vikram Bakshi, the MD of McDonald’s north and east division, appears to think so. Here is what he has to say in today’s TT:
McDonald’s has been awaited for long by Calcuttans and we were anticipating great consumer interest… We are geared up to effectively manage such a response.
And why not! Many food joints mistake apparent staleness in the city’s yuppie-like ambience as an indication of its non-readiness to taste new fares. Nothing can be farther from truth. Someone who has been witness to great days of Park Street eateries will vouch that Kolkattans are ever ready to indulge in as many varieties of food as one can think of. Not without reason the city probably has the largest number of Chinese restaurants in the country.
McDonald’s opening has meant that Kolkattans now have another great food destination. Not far from McDonald’s is another popular eatery, KFC, which too enjoys heavy footfalls. And when Subway opened at Woodburn Park, it ‘suffered’ so much crowd that it had to close for few days till fresh supplies reached from elsewhere.
As of now, McDonald’s is almost like an anchor store in a large mall that is single-handedly attracting hordes of janata. And since 45 minutes is what one has to wait for in queue on the pavement leading to the joint, many are spilling over to other restaurants, unable to keep hunger in check or pressed for time.
No one is complaining though, except that there is a sudden increase in traffic on Park Street, and it’s the police who are facing the brunt of the onrush.
After yesterday’s police action at Nandigram that resulted into death of several people, there have been many condemnations. Most notable of them was from the governor. He did not condemn as such, but was pained that the police opened fire on protesters who clearly were not militants or extremists or anti-national elements.
He may be right in his assessment of what actually transpired at Nandigram, because after all many information that are available to him and the political class are not known to common people. It is therefore necessary for us to go by various TV and newspaper reports and form an opinion.
Today’s TT has 2 specific accounts about the situation in Nandigram – first a picture of a road neatly dug to completely prevent vehicles to ply, and second a report that says that Maoists are arming the Nandigram villagers.
Going by the two, it becomes very clear how and why the entire stretch of Nandigram became a Muktanchal or liberated zone for more than 2 months. Liberated from whom? And, liberated by whom? If the concept of Azad Kashmir or Khalistan or similar such in the North East cannot be tolerated in a democratic India despite many people there wanting so, there is no reason why Mukta Nandigram can be.
It is unfortunate that the poor and mostly illiterate people of Nandigram have been misled by self-serving political activists into believing that the place would become an independent area if they maintain their ‘struggle’. The result of this is the unfortunate death of many people yesterday.
There is no doubt there cannot be any Muktanchal. There just cannot be any, industry or no industry, land or no land.
ONGC finished Rs.807 on NSE after yesterday’s trading. It’s a huge winding down from the recent peak of Rs.910. True the post-budget meltdown all around is responsible. But, according to ONGC management, so too is the oil regulatory authority, DGHC (Directorate General of Hydrocarbons).
In a recent letter to oil ministry, the normally reticent CMD of ONGC has complained that the DGHC’s rejection of its gas find last month in KG basin’s (Krishna-Godavari basin off Andhra coast in the Bay of Bengal) ultra-deep well is the reason for sharp erosion in the share value.
DGHC looks like acting in a partial manner because it duly approved similar claims by Reliance Industries not long back. Since ONGC too adopted the same testing means to ascertain the discovery, that too in presence of DGHC representatives, it is peeved at the regulators’ volte-face.
For the record, ONGC’s estimated discovery of 14 trillion cubic feet of in situ gas reserves at KG basin must rank as one of the largest made by it in a long time. But for all that, losing Rs.23,000 crore in market capitalization in just a week’s time is very hard to digest. The current stock market situation doesn’t guarantee a quick return to top levels either. Perhaps the FY-07 results will do the favor. Some broking houses have put a buy on the scrip with a target at around Rs.1135. [Collated from ET, March 13]
The retail bug has firmly bitten IOC (Indian Oil Corporation), the country’s oil-sector behemoth. And why not? At a time when Reliances and Bhartis are actively scouting around for space to jumpstart their retail foray, IOC is already a step ahead in that it has good amount of space in its filling stations through the length and breadth of the country.
As such, IOC, shackled as it is by the government’s whims being the majority stake-holder, is not usually keen to venture into non-core areas, and organized retail is miles away from oil business. But then, global oil biggies like British Petroleum have successfully started it, and so why not IOC!
IOC is learnt to have mandated Technopak to do a feasibility study on its planned retail venture. After all, IOC does have Convenio stores in many of its outlets already. If Technopak’s findings are favorable, it may not be long before we see IOC too sporting giant retail stores in the filling stations.
All these go to show how strong is the growth possibility of organized retail in India. Some say its growth may even be more than the nation’s GDP growth in foreseeable future. According to some accounts, when the giant retail stores in US like Wal-Mart set up their facilities in the outskirts of big cities, it helped improving the roads since large number of people would drive down there for different necessities.
Will something of the sort happen in India? Only time will tell.
His smile may not be as endearing as Derek O’Brien’s, and his hair may already be thinning. But if you omit these 2 minuses, Siddharta Basu must reign as the most prolific quizmasters in India of all time. We’ve had several of them on TV every now and then, but Siddharta has not only held his ground firmly, he is even expanding vigorously, going by recent reports. [Picture source]
Siddharta was born in Kolkata’s Keyatala in 1954. His grandfather, Santosh Kumar Basu was city’s mayor. His jamaibabu (elder sister’s husband) is none other than eminent historian Prof Nemai Sadhan Basu, the Vishwabharati VC from 1984 to 1989.
Siddharta’s education has mostly been in Mumbai and Delhi and he is a graduate in English literature from the prestigious St. Stephens College of Delhi (postgraduate from Delhi University).
Since 1977 his career was involved in documentary filmmaking for Doordarshan. But then hailing from Kolkata, the birthplace of quizzing in India, his destiny would lead him to excel in that field. He did several quiz programs on Doordarshan, but without doubt the first major break for him came when he started hosting Mastermind India on BBC World.
As one who saw every Mastermind episode, I must say his command on English is awesome. Watching the rapid-fire section that needed him volleying questions without pause, I didn’t find him slipping even once. Siddharta later went on to compile the bestselling quiz book, Mastermind India with Siddharta Basu in 6 volumes.
Siddharta’s next stop for collecting loads of fame – some say it’s his biggest success – has been the game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). It started in 2005 with Amitabh Bachchan as anchor, and when its 2nd edition debuted, KBC scored the highest-ever opening in the history of country’s TV.
Currently, it is his company, Synergy Communications, floated in 1996, that is producing the 3rd edition of KBC, this time with Shahrukh Khan as the anchor. Between KBC 2 and 3, he did a stint for Sony Entertainment (SET), producing Jhalak Dikhla Ja, which too turned immensely popular.
Of late, Siddharta’s Synergy Communications has entered into an agreement with Anil Ambani’s Reliance group to produce several educational and fun programs for kids and teenagers to be run in different channels.
Sometime back, Mumbai’s Adlabs Films is learnt to have acquired majority stake in Synergy Communications for an undisclosed sum. Some say Synergy’s value is in the region of Rs.500 million. If so, it’s a great feat indeed.
Calcutta University (CU for short) has a checkered history. Checkered, because while up to mid-70s of the last century, having formally started in 1857, it walked tallest in the annals of higher education in the entire Asia, the last 3 decades or so have seen steady decline in its standard as a whole. So much so that today one can cite many reasons why not to study at CU. Conducting exams is one. [Image source]
A 2-part article in ABP (March 9-10), quoting Onkarsadhan Adhikary report, succinctly narrates how irresponsible and lackadaisical is the approach of CU in deciding the fates of thousands of pupils every year, especially in postgraduate levels.
What does the report, the result of a study by Onkarsadhan Adhikary after visiting Pune, Mumbai and Chennai universities, submitted to the CU’s faculty council say?
There is no rule as to within how many days must the results be declared. Because of this lacuna, the postgraduate results almost always are delayed, though there’s some regularity at the undergraduate level. If examiners delay in checking papers, there is no rule to penalize them except deducting 10% from their honorarium. This is so less a punishment that it has clearly not stopped the bad practice.
A host of other faults has been pointed out in the report. Taken together, the picture that gets painted about CU is decidedly worrisome.
The way CU is run, there is no doubt that nothing would probably change had it not been for UGC’s insistence to ensure that all university results must be declared by end-June so that fresh classes can start latest by end-July or beginning of August. There are other guidelines by UGC too, all directed toward making universities accountable so that overall standard of imparting quality education improves.
CU has no alternative other than towing UGC’s lines. In doing so, it’s fumbling time and again. Tragic indeed for a university that has seen some of the world-famous personalities of this country and elsewhere walking down its hallowed portals once upon a time. That was when CU commanded respect from allover world. Now, it’s only the moan of failure that hounds CU.
A chance like this is a rare occurrence. For those who do not have any roof on their heads and can hardly afford to think beyond the next square meal, Malay Saha’s generosity has been hard to believe. But there he was, looking for beggars and ragamuffins in lanes and by-lanes of Sodpur to invite them to come at his son’s wedding and partake in the feast. Here is the AFP story dated March 9 about the incident.
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At last the Sunderbans Development Council (SDC) is waking up to protect its turf. The council, working against heavy odds like paucity of funds and inaccessibility of the unique mangrove forests famous for Royal Bengal Tigers, has nevertheless made the place what it is today. Tourists can visit the fringes of the dense forests, venturing deep inside if conditions suit and permissions are given.
But all that involving the tourists have so far mainly been private initiatives, and many tour operators have milked good amount of money despite the obvious trouble going there.
The SDC proposes to cut short the journey time from Kolkata, at the same time making the visit memorable. 30 km from the city has come up an attractive eco-tourism park at Kulti-Ghusighata beside the Bidyadhari canal. From a jetty there, SDC will run fast-moving launch service to various far-flung points in Sunderbans via Raimangal and Matla rivers.
Now, most tour operators take visitors by bus to Sonakhali, after which it's travel on water. Individual goers prefer traveling by train to Canning or by bus via Ghatakpukur to Sonakhali after crossing Matla river. After that it's crossing another river on way to Gosaba from where Sunderbans starts.
In both cases, the traveling time is not less than 4 hours, and it's here that SDC's package scores over the other routes. SDC plans 2d+1n and 3d+2n options to choose from. It's also trying to rope in the state forest department for arranging accommodation in forest bungalows for spending the nights.
All in all, if SDC's initiative succeeds, it will herald a new beginning in popularizing Sunderbans as one of the main attractions in South Bengal. [Collated from ABP, March 11]
Tabled by the government in the Assembly yesterday is a document titled ‘District-wise Vested Land (Non-Agricultural) in West Bengal available for Industrial and Commercial Purposes’. Total amount of such land is 22,412.761 acres.
It’s a landmark event in the annals of Indian medical history. The highest claim for compensation thus far has been filed by US-based NRI doctor Kunal Saha in the Supreme Court yesterday. It amounts to Rs.1.43 billion or Rs.143 crore. 
About a month back in my post, 
Google of course needs scores of college fresher, who are well conversant in English, to police the burgeoning English-language AdWords campaigns from across the world. Text ad selling is bread and butter for Google, and so presumably this section needs more manpower. One only hopes there is enough upward mobility for the young grads from general disciplines in tech-heavy Google.
His smile may not be as endearing as Derek O’Brien’s, and his hair may already be thinning. But if you omit these 2 minuses, Siddharta Basu must reign as the most prolific quizmasters in India of all time. We’ve had several of them on TV every now and then, but Siddharta has not only held his ground firmly, he is even expanding vigorously, going by recent reports. [
Calcutta University (CU for short) has a checkered history. Checkered, because while up to mid-70s of the last century, having formally started in 1857, it walked tallest in the annals of higher education in the entire Asia, the last 3 decades or so have seen steady decline in its standard as a whole. So much so that today one can cite many reasons why not to study at CU. Conducting exams is one. [
