The funny side of Indo-US nuclear deal

Back in the year 2005, when i was pursuing BSc at Vel's College in Chennai, i preferred to stay in the hostel. But, to my amazement the conditions in the hostel were not fit for survival. Yukk food and erratic hostel inmates and so on... It was then I realized that unless i keep myself engaged with something or the other, the hostel nightmares will keep on haunting me. So, i subscribed to Indian Express newspaper and within no time started relishing it. I was not having any idea of nuclear deal till, i started reading the newspaper and it was then i came across the "Nuclear Deal" controversy.

In the year 2005, Manmohan Singh (MMS) signed an accord with the US president for the supply of Nuclear fuel to India. Since then, there has been lot of "Halla and Gulla" over this deal by the so called Left parties. Back in 1974, we conducted nuclear tests to show the world that Indians doesn't lag behind in nuclear capabilities. Since, then there were embargo against us and the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) were not allowed to supply nuclear fuel to us. Again in the year 1998, when Honorable Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister, we conducted nuclear tests and after that we were severely starved of the nuclear fuel for our reactors.

Down the line several years passed on and India surged ahead on the road map of growth and development. Due to ever increasing population of our country, power became a critical factor for growth. Already the fuel was in short supply and we were running out of time to replenish the reactors. This Indo-US deal was supposed to be a landmark deal which will help India produce certain amount of power which in turn help in bridging the gap of demand and supply.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, who himself is a reformer, has transformed the economy of nation is coming to terms when it comes to Nuclear deal. The UPA government is supported by some MPs of left parties and their support is critical for the survival of government. Left parties has been opposing the deal for quite sometime and they do not want this deal to be operationalized. There fears are, that we'll not be allowed to conduct nuclear tests once we sign this deal, our foreign policy will be dictated by the US.
I don't know the specific reasons why left parties are opposed to this deal, simple funda- they want to humiliate Dr Manmohan Singh and in turn want to grab the limelight by projecting themselves as the only concerned party for the growth of nation. There only intention is to be pro Chinese, since they draw their ideologies from China. But, they are not aware of this startling fact that China themselves have one nuclear treaty with US. The bosses sitting in China are directing the left parties in India to block the progress of Indo-US nuclear deal, by hook or crook.

Our potential threat in the current scenario is China and they indirectly (read left parties) have been blackmailing the Union of India by stalling major economic decisions, reforms process, SEZ and the nonsense "Bandhs" & "Hartals" against the petro price hike. I have been forced to think, why left parties shed crocodile tears all these years from 2004 till 2008. Everytime, the government thought of some developmental work, they were the first ones to raise hue and cry, threatening to pull out from the government, which they never did. ( They also knew, once they are out of the government, in the next Lok Sabha elections they will not get even 10 seats).

Talking in the context of Nuclear deal, the Russian ambassador in New Delhi urged India to sign the deal with the US to enable Russia to step up its interaction with India in the nuclear arena. No wonder Russia is the competitor of US, but still they are supporting our cause. Yet our communist parties claim that the Indo-US deal is just a cover for India voluntarily subjecting itself to US strategic goals. This charge is so absurd that it is necessary to probe deeper into the real purpose of the Left’s opposition to the deal. I hope the Chinese role can be self explanatory for Left's behaviour.

To sum up, we need this deal very badly for our fuel starved nuclear reactors. As India is growing, her power needs are also multiplying. So, rather than indulging in petty politics of being an anti American, let's keep our fingers crossed for the clearance of this deal and after that India will be on song and it will usurp to become supreme nation....
JAI HIND

Bihar on song - Development marching ahead

As the name of an eastern state Bihar comes to any Indian's mind, the general notion and assumptions force him/her to think, oh poor Bihar, lagging Bihar, corrupt Bihar, flooded Bihar and so on...

These lines are not something which is very new to all of us, but yes about the wave change which has gathered momentum in Bihar will be very refreshing and new to us. For long years, rather decades Bihar was dumped into the lurches of destiny by some mean politicians who were least bothered for the inclusive and overall growth of Bihar and their only aim was to fill up their coffers.

Those politicians who ruled over Bihar were very well, aware that the Bihari's were a force to reckon with and hence if they (Bihari's) went ahead to the world of glory and success, it will spell disaster for the shameless politicians. So, in order to stem the growth of bihari people the mean politicians blocked the very supply of development funds meant for school education and other projects. Simple reason, to fool them and they doesn't wanted them to know about their rights.
The outcome was obvious, large number of Bihari's started migrating to other states in India to earn their livelihood and don't forget about the students too. (Even I've migrated to Chennai in the year 2004 to pursue my higher education).

In economics or rather in management we use one term which is known as year over year or year on year (YOY), to represent the growth of the companies or say economies. As bihari's kept on migrating from Bihar, the rulers were having free hand to exploit the economy and they ruined it. The YoY of Bihar was dismal. In the sowing season poor peasants were moving to the developed belt of Punjab to work as labors. Anyhow, the conditions which they faced there were not congenial, but nevertheless it was better off than bihar.
Due to the huge influx of labors from Bihar, Punjab and other state's economies were booming (Bihari's are proven and known hard workers) and at the same time Bihar was in troubled waters.
Slowly people realized that the government which was ruling over them doesn't deserved their support, so in the 2005 assembly elections a new government headed by an extremely talented chief minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar came to the helm. People wanted change and thats what Nitish Kumar promised in his election manifesto. Development works started gathering the momentum. Bihar was the first state to simplify the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) by providing the information through phones. Highways, roadways, water connections everything started falling in line and slowly Bihar is on to a development song.

Now, farmers in Punjab who utilized the services of Bihari labor are facing the heat. The regular supply of cheap labor from Bihar has dried up, as the bihari workers are finding employment back home itself. And this has happened due to the initiatives taken by the Nitish Kumar government.
Why Bihar is surging ahead? Some bullet points:

1.) Increased economic activity:
The increased economic activity in the state is a story that is beginning to attract attention as the first real evidence becomes visible. Bihar's economic growth has become a moment of crisis for other states, who have for long fueled their growth on the backs of low-paid Bihari workers.
The construction companies in Nashik are already facing the huge shortage of manpower, as Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena wanted that migrants, especially Biharis should leave the state with immediate effect. They drove them away from Maharashtra, little they know that these workers, many with the construction company are not going to return back. Simple reason, conditions back home in Bihar has improved and they need not to come back to Nashik.

2.) Increased connectivity:
Road works in the state will tell the story. In the first two years after the NDA govt. assumed office they have spent Rs 4722 crores on the improvement of road. As compared to the previous government the NDA government has spent considerable amount of sums towards the overall development of bihar. In this year alone the Bihar govt. will be spending Rs 300 crores on roads. Lot of construction work has begun in Bihar itself, so where is the need for the people to move out of the state in search of jobs.

3.) Increased expenditure on education & health:
There has been remarkable improvement in the expenditure on education and health. Earlier where only 39 patients were being checked at the Primary Health Centers (PHC), now 150 patients are being attended. The state's ability to utilize funds has grown by leaps and bounds.

The Bihari labor is no longer treated with disdain, he is a valued and most sought after worker and now no longer a trip back home during chhath means loss of job.
And very recently Surat mill owners association requested the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi to appeal to the Bihari workers so that the workers return to surat after Chhath and Durga Puja...

Friends, Bihar has a lot to offer and a lot to cheer.. The fertile grounds, unlimited resources, amazing hard working peoples and together we can...

The worrisome factor - Inflation

Well, we're talking of soaring inflation rates which is a cause of worry for every citizen concerned. Not in India, this has been the hot potato for every country concerned. And this hot potato can't be dropped all of a sudden.

Whenever the word inflation comes to our mind, what we start thinking??? Inflation is causing us to pay more and all that.. As per oxford dictionary, inflation is a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money. As per economic definitions, inflation is may be defined as- more money chasing few goods.

The topic of Inflation is very sensitive and in the past, the governments have paid heavy prices for not controlling its soaring rate. Many economists believe that high rates of inflation are caused by high rates of growth of the money supply. If we look on the factors that determine moderate rates of inflation are more varied: changes in inflation are sometimes attributed to fluctuations in real demand for goods and services or in available supplies (i.e. changes in scarce), and sometimes to changes in the supply or demand for money. In the mid-twentieth century, two camps disagreed strongly on the main causes of inflation at moderate rates: the "monetarists" argued that money supply dominated all other factors in determining inflation, while "others" argued that real demand was often more important than changes in the money supply.
Inflation can be measured in multiple ways, like different price indices that affect different class of people. It can be done by Consumer Price Indices (CPI), Cost of living Indices (COLI), Gross Domestic Product Deflater (GDP Deflater), etc.

The general people or "The aam aadmi" wants to know, why the government has not been able to stem the soaring inflation rate?
As far as I'm concerned, there are no concrete ways to completely stop the inflation rate, but there is every possibility to keep it under control, rather comfort zone where it doesn't hurts or burn a hole into the "Aam aadmi's pocket"....

1.) Repo rate: Repo rate is the rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends money to other banks. Now when the inflation rates are zooming, the government (RBI) increases the repo rate by some basis points, which results in the rise in the interest rates on the loans. This encourages more savings by the people and the money gets parked into their savings acounts in the banks. When the rates are high people automatically stop spending more and hence it helps in checking the inflation rate. Moreover the increase in repo rate is not a welcome move, but definitely it helps in getting hold of inflation upto some extent.

2.) Rise in petroleum prices: As on 14/06/2008 the price of crude oil is $135 per barrel, which was a reason enough for the government to increase the price of petroleum products in order to save the bleeding navratnas, rather Oil Marketing Companies (OMC). This step will further add fuel to the inflation fire. But, one should remember that our OMCs were running out of cash and government was keeping the prices of petro products artificially low, which was not in favour of OMC. Finally, the government was forced to take the difficult decision of increasing the prices. And due to this, there has been further increase in the prices of essential commodities. We can't overcome the petroleum problem unless we start using it effectively. The respective state governments has to slash the sales tax duty in order to contain inflation marginally.

3.) Growth rate & Inflation: Our economy has shown impressive growth rate over the years and the GDP rate has been well over 8% mark. It'll show continuous improvement in the coming years also. Some economists have argued that, in the past inflation levels were low and it was good for us. But, as far as I'm concerned, in the past when the inflation levels were very low (say 2-4%), our growth rate was dismal. Whereas as the economy opened up and more FDIs and FIIs started pouring into our country, GDP rate surged ahead and alongside that inflation levels also increased. Purchasing power of people increased, now there is sizable population in the middle class category, which is a good sign for our economy. I'd prefer to have, say a growth rate of 10% and inflation rate of 6% as compared to the growth rate of 5% and inflation rate of 2%. Because, more is the GDP rate of our country, more is the chances of we becoming a developed nation.

4.) A ray of light at the end of tunnel: Well, all is not over for us and let's not loose heart over it, that inflation has burnt a hole into our pockets. Where growth is there, inflation will be also there. And moreover, as the crude oil prices calm down we'll see a downward trend in the inflation rate.

So, dear friends let's not loose heart and hope for the best, because in 2020 we are gonna rock the world... Hey world here comes India, at it's very best....