Comment: India's economy has basic flaws

At a time when parts of England are besieged with burning social unrest, the United States of America is downgraded in the midst of her worst internal political squabble and the fear of contagion of bad debts in Europe is spreading globally, India is pondering whether it can meet her targeted GDP growth of 9 per cent with a decent rate of inflation. Though apparently it seems that except for the occasional volatility of the Sensex, much of India has been able to shield herself from the social, economic and political heat of the recession-stung West, a closer look reveals the structural weaknesses ingrained in her whole system.

True, the economic liberalisation in the 1990s unleashed raw energy latent in selected areas and ushered the country into a new era but signs of bottlenecks have already surfaced and if not addressed properly, they could choke the engine of growth. Before we diagnose the sources that might put brakes on the speed of economic growth, it is imperative to take stock of what has come to pass so far.

NRIs continue their pro-Anna rallies in US

Washington: In cities across the US, a large number of Indian Americans turned up for rallies and protest march being held in support of anti-corruption agitation launched by social activist Anna Hazare, whose fast entered the sixth day on Sunday.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the "lackluster response" from the Indian government, participants of the rallies in the US on Saturday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to act expeditiously to consider Hazare's demand.

Lessons from Mumbai blasts, Norway massacre

As I write, I hear some of the most tragic news stories from all over the world: Mumbai is racked by explosions yet again; a suggestion is put forth to end "Islamic terrorism" in India by disenfranchising Muslim citizens unless they admit to their Hindu ancestry; a European ultranationalist guns down scores of young people at a camp while detonating a bomb in the government headquarters in Norway; the American debt ceiling question is resolved with disastrous long-term consequences; the one hundredth and thirteenth anniversary of United States colonial control of Puerto Rico quietly passed. In their enormity as well as their everydayness, these are moments when the cross of History sits heavily on our collective shoulders.

As humans, we have taken History very seriously for the last two hundred years or so. Too seriously, as a matter of fact. We would be hard-pressed to find a country that does not teach History mandatorily in its education system. Perhaps there are exceptions that I am unaware of. But for most part and from a tender age, in the classrooms of citizenship that our schools invariably are, students are taught History - their history, as a people united under the sign of the nation. The History we are taught in schools rarely represents us as inhabitants of the expansive living world and only occasionally acknowledges us as members of a vast humanity. Our History primarily trains us to become citizens of a nation and denizens of a particular region within it.

Why globalisation is no antithesis of Hindutva

Two things happened twenty years ago. Manmohan Singh was brought from Geneva’s economic think-tank South Centre and appointed finance minister in a deal forced upon India by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when the agency was approached to bail the nation out of its debt crisis. Singh supervised the transition of India from a socialist-democracy to a capitalist market economy, a process often referred to as liberalization-globalization. Two decades later, the man heads the Union government and is called by the corporate media as the best Prime Minister India has seen since Nehru (although the man they would actually like to see at 7, Race Course is Hindutva icon Narendra Modi. Refer to the public endorsements by Ratan Tata and Sunil Bharti Mittal). But more on that later.

Anshu Jain sees execution as his forte

Frankfurt: Deutsche Bank crowned India-born investment banking chief Anshu Jain and German banker Juergen Fitschen co-chief executives on Monday, ending a drawn-out succession process.

Jain, the 48-year-old head of investment banking, will take over from Josef Ackermann in May 2012, and will rule alongside Fitschen, the 62-year-old Germany chief who has been with the Frankfurt-based bank for the past 24 years.

Anshu Jain is the new co-CEO of Deutsche Bank

Berlin: Deutsche Bank has appointed Anshu Jain as the co-CEO to succeed Management Board Chairman Josef Ackermann, who leaves office in May next year. Jain, 48, the head of Deutsche Bank's highly successful investment banking division based in London, will take over the leadership of Germany's largest bank together with his management board colleague, Juergen Fitschen, when Ackermann makes way for them one year ahead of his current term expiring in May, 2013.

Deutsche Bank made the announcement on Monday evening after a special meeting of the supervisory board ahead of its regular meeting on Tuesday, at which the bank will announce its quarterly results.

The Delhi (Under)Belly of Indian cinema

Remember Marine Drive where a little boy kicking a tin can metamorphoses into a brooding Amitabh Bachchan in Ramesh Sippy's Shakti? Or Juhu or Chowpatty on whose beaches numerous screen lovers swore by their love by serenading to their leading ladies? Remember Mud Island where the cache of gold and drugs would land for Bollywood's immortal bad guys from Ajit to Amrish Puri? Or the dingy and dark bylanes of the city that formed the backdrop in numerous gangster films together constituting a genre called Bombay Noir? In fact, it could easily be argued that the city, with its climate, crime and capital was the perfect site for what came to be known as Bollywood.

However, I don't know if you have noted this, but I find something curious happening with the Indian cinema – the slow but definite disappearance of Mumbai (or Bombay, to be more precise cinematically) from the Indian films and the simultaneous filling of that space by the national capital, Delhi (both New and Old). Actually, the phenomenon is not so recent. It started a few years ago with films like Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Rang De Basanti which he soon followed with Delhi 6. But the trend has recently acquired a force that may give birth to a whole new genre in Bollywood: the Delhi cinema. Think about the volume: Delhii Heights, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Dev.D, Love Aaj Kal, Do Dooni Chaar, No One Killed Jessica, Aisha, Band Baaja Baraat, and of course, Delhi Belly (I am sure I missed a few).

Panchayat polls in Kashmir: Yes, we did

The recent successful Panchayat (local bodies) election in Jammu and Kashmir was a real turning point and a much awaited good dose of good news in this otherwise long suffering region. The percentage of polling varied from a high of 90 per cent to the relatively less spectacular 72.4 per cent.

These variations aside, the elections were a spectacular success. The people made their preference know unambiguously. They want peace, they need development and above all they want to get on with their lives and stop being helpless pawns in esoteric and complex geo-strategic games.

Merger and acquisitions: India Inc steps on the gas

Perceptions of a new and emerging India have been given credence by the success of Indian businesses on the global stage and rising Indian investments abroad. Successful takeover of global brands by India Inc. have often been cited to predict that the country would become a dominant power in the 21st century.

Indian activities in the arena of mergers and acquisitions have indeed increased manifold over the last one decade. According to India Brand Equity Foundation, the trust run by the Union ministry of commerce and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), outward investment to the tune of $80 billion has been made between 2000 and 2010; the UK and the US have emerged as the favoured destinations.

India faltering on poverty alleviation

People, Left, Right or Centre, would possibly agree that an internally weak country can’t negotiate with the rest of the world from a position of strength. Internal strength of a country cannot be measured just in terms of resources at its disposal, military power, technological expertise and production capacity. Strength of its people is a country’s biggest asset. Economic empowerment of the masses is critical to emergence of a strong India.

Waking up to this reality like the rest of the world, India became a signatory to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 1990. The first goal is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day. In 1990, 37.5 per cent of Indian people were living below the poverty line, measured by the old standards. The bigger goal is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.