CONNECTING INDIA WITH ITS DIASPORA

Vol 3 Issue 3 March 2010

PRAVASI BHARATIYA

Budget 2010-11
The Finance Minister presents a growth-oriented
roadmap that is also fiscally prudent

MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS

 CONNECTING INDIA WITH ITS DIASPORA
PRAVASI BHARATIYA SEWA
If you are an Indian living overseas and
looking at investing in India or crediting
money to banks in India, then log on to
www.nriconnect.co.in
Vol 3 Issue 3 March 2010

PRAVASI BHARATIYA

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Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
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An initiative of the
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
 FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK CONTENTS
T
ime: 4th century BC. Key Player: Kautilya, Economist,
Thinker, Strategist, Adviser and Superstar Author on State-
craft. Reference Manual: Arthasastra. Client: Emperor Chan-
dragupta Maurya. Country: Vast expanses of modern-day
12
India. Key Message: The Ruler must be guided by Vision, Mission and
Motivation in the art of governance. A message that has stood the test
Growth,
of time regardless of culture, geography and history, cast in stone as
it were.
Prudence
The Arthasastra continues to resonate with principles of sound gov- Finance Minister
ernance and management, many of whose modern-day precepts seem
to have unconsciously drawn abundantly on the iconic treatise. Refer-
Pranab Mukherjee
ring to economics and financial administration and the importance of does a deft balancing
prudence, Kautilya says that prudence must be guided by Justice act to table a growth-
(nyaya) and Ethics (dharma) which, in turn, will ensure that all oriented but fiscally
stakeholders get equal opportunity to earn a living. But, it should also
prudent Budget — the
provide for investment for future growth. So, we have two key princi-
Printed and Published by
Mithlesh Kumar on behalf of the ples: Growth, most certainly, but prudence too.
fourth of his career
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs This seems to have been the cornerstone of Budget 2010-11 present-
Akbar Bhavan, Chanakyapuri, ed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Contrarian pulls were of
New Delhi — 110021
Website: http://moia.gov.in the essence. On one hand, the Budget had to be growth oriented (high
www.overseasindian.in public expenditure on infrastructure and social sectors and lower
taxes to ensure higher disposable income in the hands of citizens),
6 Saudi sojourn 18
Consulting Editor The Prime Minister’s visit to
K.G. Sreenivas and, on the other, it perforce needed to lay down a fiscally prudent
Saudi Arabia helped firm up
Global village
(lower fiscal deficit and government borrowing) road ahead. The The ‘other India’ must
Pravasi Bharatiya is a monthly tasks, therefore, pulled in different directions — it called for a deft,
bilateral strategic ties
publication. The views expressed in this between the two countries also have access to high-
balancing act. As noted economist and Fellow of the Delhi-based Cen-
journal are those of the contributors and speed data and broadband
do not necessarily reflect the views of the tre for Policy Research, Dr. Partha Mukhopadhya, says: “In the cir-
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA). cumstances he seems to have squared some circles.”
services, says Sachin Pilot
All rights reserved. No part of this journal may
The key features of this year’s $221.75 billion budget has been a sig-
be produced, stored, or transmitted in any
form or by any means — electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording,
nificant tax relief for individuals, higher outlays for infrastructure
development and social welfare schemes, and many fiscal steps aimed 32 Peopling the 36
or otherwise, without the permission of MOIA. at ensuring inclusive growth. Which brings us back to Kautilya’s colosseum My Name Is Khan
Arthasastra which recommends, with such prescience, the impor-
Editorial correspondence and The CWG creates history
manuscripts can be addressed to tance of prudence, especially in troubled economic times. India has
pravasi.bharatiya@gmail.com come out relatively secure from the recent global financial and eco-
Organising Besides raking in
nomic crisis. Therefore, it’s time to consolidate the gains made in the
Committee has millions world over,
Designed and produced by IANS
(www.ianspublishing.com) on behalf of
the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
past years and ensure collective and inclusive growth. This issue of
Pravasi Bharatiya takes you through the Budget story.
34 Sea secrets received an
overwhelming
MNIK seeks to recast
stereotypes
Scientists have response from
On the international front, India and Denmark have signed a bilat-
Printed at found over 5,000 aspiring
ANA PRINT-O-GRAFIX PVT LTD eral social security agreement to protect their workers in either coun-
T-B, A-Wing try against double payment of social security contributions. Denmark
new marine volunteers
Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II is home to nearly 13,000 Indians, most of whom are either profession- species that lay
New Delhi-110020
als or are self-employed. The agreement will also provide for portabil- deep,
ity of the benefits at the time of relocation to home country or any unexplored
third country.
Read about these and more in the subsequent pages. We wish to
draw your attention to cinema in particular. My Name is Khan, which TRAVEL 40 BOOKS 44 NEWSMAKERS 46
izoklh Hkkjrh; dk;Z ea=ky;
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
evoked powerful emotions and feelings across the globe, was a movie Natural paradise Dawn of light Amnesty’s Indian head
which genuinely attempted to recast stereotypes with reference to
www.overseasindian.in Meghalaya is the land A Polish philosopher Salil Shetty will take over
Islam and our Muslim brethren across the world. A compelling view-
ing in fractious times such as ours…
of majestic mountains roots for treating light from Irene Khan in
—K.G. Sreenivas and sparkling lakes as a cosmic mother June 2010
4 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 5
 NEWS
RIYADH CALLING
ndia and Saudi Arabia signed

I the Riyadh Declaration late on

February 28 night to put their
seal of approval on rapidly
growing ties that are moving
towards a strategic partnership cov-
ering security, economic, defence,
technology and political areas, and
including joint combat of terrorism.
The ‘Riyadh Declaration — A New
Era of Strategic Partnership’ was
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah
signed by Prime Minister Dr. Man-
bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud signing documents related to the Riyadh declaration,
mohan Singh and Saudi Arabia’s in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 28, 2010
King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al
Saud at a ceremony at the Al Rawad
Palace in Riyadh.
“The two leaders reviewed the sta-
tus of implementation of the his-
toric Delhi Declaration signed in
Riyadh Charter
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing the Majlis Al Shura, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 1, 2010 2006, and expressed their satisfac-
tion at the steady expansion of the new declaration, keeping in “The two sides agreed to enhance
Saudi-India relations since the sign- view the development of relations cooperation in exchange of infor-

SAUDI SOJOURN
ing of the Delhi Declaration,” the
new declaration read. “They re-
emphasised the importance of full
implementation of the Delhi Decla-
ration through exchange of visits at
ministerial, official, business,
The Prime Minister’s Saudi Arabia visit was the first by an Indian PM academia, media and other levels.”
after Indira Gandhi in 1982, and helped firm up bilateral strategic ties The Delhi Declaration, signed
during the historic visit of King
Abdullah to India in 2006 as the
ndian Prime Minister Dr. Man- chief guest on India’s Republic Day,
between the two countries, and the
potential for their further growth,
the two leaders decided to raise
their cooperation to a strategic part-
nership covering security, econom-
ic, defence and political areas.
“The two leaders reiterated their
mutual desire to develop as knowl-
edge-based economies based on
advances in the areas of informa-
tion technology, space science and
mation relating to terrorist activi-
ties, money laundering, narcotics,
arms and human trafficking and
develop joint strategies to combat
these threats,” the declaration stat-
ed. Dr. Singh and King Abdullah
also called for preservation of
Afghanistan’s sovereignty and inde-
pendence.
“They supported the efforts of the
people of Afghanistan to achieve

I mohan Singh on March 1 con-

cluded a historic three-day visit
to Saudi Arabia during which
10 bilateral pacts were signed and
the Riyadh Declaration was sealed
to firm up ties between India and the
influential Arabic Gulf nation.
In a rare honour accorded to a for-
eign dignitary, Dr. Singh was invit-
ed on March 1 to address the Majlis-
ash-Shura, the Saudi parliament,
where he not only sought invest-
ments from the Islamic kingdom, but
In a rare honour
accorded to a
foreign dignitary,
had charted out a new path of coop-
eration between India and Saudi
Arabia across a range of fields
including security, bilateral trade
and investment, culture, and sci-
other frontier technologies,” it stat-
ed. The two leaders renewed their
condemnation of terrorism, stating
that it was global and threatened all
societies irrespective of race, colour
stability and security, protected
from exploitation by terrorist
organisations, while upholding the
values and principles of the consti-
tution of Afghanistan,” it stated.
Dr. Manmohan ence and technology. According to or belief. — Aroonim Bhuyan/Riyadh
Singh was invited to address the Majlis-ash-
Shura, the Saudi parliament, where he said
India would grow at 9 to 10 percent for
the next 25 years
Landmark extradition treaty

also pressed the need for Pakistan to
“act decisively against terrorism”.
Dr. Singh said the challenge of ter-
rorism was immense in Afghanistan,
where a Taliban suicide attack on
February 26 in Kabul left 17 people
dead, including nine Indians. The
Prime Minister also said that India
would grow at the rate of 9 to 10 per-
cent for the next 25 years.
Dr. Singh visited the King Saud
University, where an honorary doc-
torate was conferred on him. He left
the Saudi capital for home after
attending a function at the Indian
embassy where he met representa-
tives of the 1.8 million Indian expa-
triate community.
The Saudi visit was the first by an
Indian prime minister after Indira
Gandhi’s in 1982. Dr. Singh and
Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz
signed the ‘Riyadh Declaration — A
New Era of Strategic Partnership’ on
February 28.
A pathbreaking extradition treaty
was signed to enhance the existing
security cooperation between the
two countries. Many other agree-
ments were also signed.
Besides the king, Dr. Singh also
met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince
Saud Al-Faisal, Petroleum and Min-
eral Resources Minister Ali Al-
Naimi and, Commerce and Industry
Minister Zainal Alireza.
Dr. Singh arrived to an unprece-
dented welcome in the Saudi capital
when, setting aside protocol, the
Saudi crown prince and the entire
cabinet turned up at the airport to
receive the Indian leader. King
Abdullah officially welcomed him at
a grand ceremony where a guard of
honour was presented and a state
banquet thrown in his honour.
A
pathbreaking extradition treaty
was among five pacts signed
between India and Saudi Ara-
bia in the presence of Indian Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin
Abdul Aziz in Riyadh on February 28.
“The extradition treaty will follow
the standard format such treaties fol-
low across the world,” Latha Reddy,
secretary (east) in the External Affairs
Ministry, said. “It will lay down the
procedures to be followed by both
countries. How you present an extra-
dition request, how the procedures
are to be followed and the grounds
Minister for Health and Family
Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad
exchanging documents of pacts on
transfer of sentenced persons and
the extradition treaty in Riyadh
for making an extradition request.”
The second pact was on transfer of
sentenced prisoners to their own
country. “We hope this treaty will
facilitate the transfer of Indian pris-
oners back to India where they could
serve the remaining (part of the) sen-
tence (given by a Saudi court)”.
The third pact was on cultural coop-
eration. The fourth was on scientific
and technological cooperation
between India's Department of Sci-
ence and Technology and Saudi Ara-
bia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science
and Technology (KACST). The fifth
pact was on peaceful uses of outer
space between the Indian Space
Research Organisation and KACST.
— Aroonim Bhuyan/Riyadh

6 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 7

 NEWS
INDIA-DENMARK DEAL
Dr. A. Didar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, and Danish Minister for Employment, Inger
Stojberg, signing a Social Security Agreement between India and Denmark, in New Delhi on February 17, 2010
Protecting workers
India to sign social security agreements with Canada, South Korea,
Czech Republic, Sweden, Australia and United States
ndia and Denmark on Febru-
I ary 17 signed a bilateral social
security agreement to protect
their workers in either country
against double payment of social
security contributions, as also loss
of such contributions and benefits.
The pact was signed in New Delhi
by Overseas Indian Affairs Secre-
tary A. Didar Singh and Danish
Minister for Employment Inger
Stojberg.
“The workers sent by Denmark-
based companies to their Indian
subsidiaries, or those sent by Indi-
an companies to their subsidiaries
in Denmark will be exempt from
social security contributions under
the host country’s legislation,”
Singh said.
There are about 13,000 Indians in
Denmark, most of whom are work-
ing as professionals and self-
employed persons. While working
abroad, these employees will only
8 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
PACT POINTS
v The social security agreement
signed between India and Den-
mark is aimed to protect the
workers in either country
against double payment of
social security contributions, as
also loss of such contributions
and benefits.
v There are 13,000 Indians in
Denmark most of whom are
working as professionals and
self-employed persons.
v While working abroad, these
employees will only be subject
to the social security regula-
tions of their home country.
v The agreement also provides
for portability of the benefits at
the time of relocation to home
country or any third country.
Indian students
NZ BOUND
here has been an over three-
T
fold increase in Indians get-
ting student visas to study
in New Zealand in the past
five years, authorities said.
As many as 9,591 Indians were
issued students visas for the finan-
cial year 2008-09 compared to 2,972
for the year 2004-05, said Immigra-
tion New Zealand. From July 1, 2009
to January 31, 2010, a total of 5,544
Indian student visa applications
have been approved.
India stood second, after China,
among 194 countries on the New
Zealand immigration list. Despite
China holding the first position, the
number of Chinese students coming
to New Zealand has decreased from
52,059 to 26,518 in the past four years.
Richard Howard, an immigration
adviser, said: “In view of the recent
spate of attacks on the current batch
be subject to the social security reg-
Conference visa rules tightened
ulations of their home country. The
agreement also provides for porta-
bility of the benefits at the time of
relocation to home country or any
third country.
“This agreement will also help
enhance trade and investment
between the two nations on account
of reduction of corporate expenses
An international meet in progress at
on social security and would ensure Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi
social protection of migrant
professionals,” Singh said.
T
ightening up visa procedures,
The two countries will set up a the Union Home Ministry on
joint working group to opera- February 18 asked all central
tionalise the agreement. ministries and state chief secretaries
India has already signed similar to strictly adhere to the revised pro-
agreements with Belgium, France, cedure for grant of visas to foreign-
Germany, Switzerland, Luxem- ers coming to India to attend inter-
bourg and the Netherlands. national conferences and seminars.
“Presently, we are in a move to Security clearance for grant of con-
sign similar agreements with Cana- ference visa will be required for par-
da, South Korea, Czech Republic, ticipants from Afghanistan,
Sweden, Australia and the United Bangladesh, China, Iran, Iraq, Pak-
States,” the secretary said.
In figures
v As many as 9,591 Indians were
issued students visas for the
financial year 2008-09
compared to 2,972 for the year
2004-05.
v From July 1, 2009 to January 31,
2010, a total of 5,544 Indian
student visa applications have
been approved.
v India stood second, after China,
among 194 countries on the
New Zealand immigration list.
in Australia and UK’s decision to
temporarily stop accepting student
visa applications at its three centres
in north India, the number is expect-
ed to increase more this year.”
— Amandeep Kaur/Hamilton
istan, Sri Lanka, Sudan and in respect
of foreigners of Pakistani-origin and
stateless persons, the Home Ministry
said in a statement. “These instruc-
tions have been issued so as to
ensure that all organisers of such
international events strictly adhere
to the time line for submitting their
proposals to this ministry at least six
weeks before the commencement of
the event,” the ministry said. “This
would ensure that security clearance
for the event and for the participants
could be suitably assessed,” it said.
Participants from other nations can
obtain a conference visa from the
Indian mission concerned on pro-
duction of an invitation letter from
the organiser, event clearance from
the Home Ministry, administrative
approval of the nodal ministry and
political clearance from the Ministry
of External Affairs.
India a priority,
says John Key
I ndia is a priority relationship for
New Zealand, Prime Minister
John Key said in Wellington on
February 16 while welcoming
Rahul Gandhi, great-grandson of
India’s first prime minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru.
A member of the
Indian parliament,
Gandhi visited
New Zealand at
the inaugural Sir
Edmund Hillary
Fellow, a fund set
John Key
up to recognise the
special contribution the conqueror
of Mount Everest made to relations
between the two countries and
Nepal. The aim of the fellowship is
to build a constituency for New
Zealand among the emerging lead-
ers of India and Nepal, Key said.
He said that India’s leading
regional and international status
and its economic significance made
it strategically important to New
Zealand.
Vayalar Ravi
discharged
O verseas Indian Affairs Minister
Vayalar Ravi, who was being
treated at the Madras Medical
Mission Hospital in Chennai after
suffering injuries in a road acci-
dent in Liberia, was discharged on
February 22. Minister Ravi met
with a road acci-
dent in Liberian
capital Monrovia
during an official
visit and was ini-
tially treated at the
John F. Kennedy
Vayalar Ravi Hospital there. He
was then air-lifted to Abidjan in
the Ivory Coast, from where he
was flown back to India in a spe-
cial Indian Air Force flight.
The car in which Ravi was trav-
elling also had Shamma Jain, Indi-
an envoy to Liberia, and both were
injured.
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 9
 NEWS
ENERGY SECURITY

Sedimentary
Blocks of ASSETS
India is drafting a new regime to auction hydrocarbon reserves
Basins
he sedimentary basins of India,

I
ndia is working on a new poli-
cy to auction hydrocarbon
assets for exploring oil and gas
reserves on a perpetual basis,
with a database being drawn up of
all the country’s potential reserves,
Petroleum Secretary S. Sundareshan
has said. “The Directorate General
of Hydrocarbons is working on what
is called a national data repository
— a database of our potential oil and
gas assets. This should be ready in
the next four-five months,” he said.
“Then we will have a new policy,
an open acreage system. Oil and gas
blocks will then be on offer through
A BIT OF HISTORY
I n 1866, the first well in India was
drilled by Mr. Goodenough of
McKillop, Stewart and Co, follow-
ing clue of oil detected in the feet
of an elephant carrying logs.
In 1889, Digboi well No. 1 was
started by W.L. Lake of Assam
the year and not based on rounds.
But I’m not assigning a time frame,”
Sundareshan told IANS in his first
substantive interview since he took
charge on February 1.
“The next round of bids may be
the last under the existing licensing
policy,” he said, referring to the
upcoming ninth round of auctions
under what is called the new explo-
ration licencing policy.
In the existing regime only a lim-
ited number of oil and gas blocks
are identified and offered for the
domestic and global companies to
bid. In the proposed new regime,
called the open acreage licencing
system, a database of all such blocks
will be made available in the public
domain and a company can
approach and bid for a particular
block anytime during the year.
“The choice of selecting a block for
auction will be with the investor —
and not with the government,” he
said. “We will sign the agreements
T onland and offshore up to the 200m
isobath, have an aerial extent of
about 1.79 million sq. km. So far, 26
basins have been recognised and they have
been divided into four categories based on
their degree of prospectivity as presently
known. In the deep waters beyond the 200m
isobath, the sedimentary area has been esti-
mated to be about 1.35 million sq. km. The
Self sufficiency total thus works out to 3.14 million sq. km.
in oil and gas Over the past 12 years, the unexplored area
is something no one has come down to 15 percent which was 50
percent in 1995-96. Credit for this goes in
in this ministry, at large measure to the surveys carried out by
least, can ignore. the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons
(DGH) established by the government of
This will be an India in 1993. The DGH has been entrusted
important goal. A with several responsibilities like implemen-
tation of the New Exploraton Licencing Pol-
difficult goal, but we icy, matters concerning Production Sharing
must work towards Contracts for discovered fields and
exploration blocks, promotion of investment
this. There is no in the Exploration and Production (E&P)
choice sector and monitoring of E&P activities. (Source: Directorate General of Hydrocarbons)
S. Sundareshan

Eyeing A quick primer

Railways and Trading Co. Lake
urged his boys “Dig boy, dig”,
giving birth to Digboi.
for these blocks shortly.”
Sundareshan said he would hope
to “resolve once and for all” the
issue over pricing of transport and
cooking fuels for oil marketing com-
panies. The oil ministry will also
come out with a policy on availabil-
ity and pricing of natural gas not
only from the Krishna-Godavari
KEY PLAYERS
sector participation is required to
supplement the public sector and
bring in the required investments and
basin, but also future discoveries.
“Self sufficiency in oil and gas is
something no one in this ministry,
at least, can ignore. This will be an
important goal. A difficult goal but
we must work towards this. There is
no choice,” he said.
— Arvind Padmanabhan &
Murali Krishnan
THE NEW SYSTEM
I n the existing regime — where
eight rounds of auctions have
taken place so far — only a limited
number of oil and gas blocks are
China
T he Indian govern-
ment has
approved the partic-
ipation of ONGC
Videsh Ltd (OVL) and GAIL in the
construction of a Chinese pipeline
and also make additional invest-
ment of over $1.3 billion in the
development of Myanmarese
hydrocarbon blocks.
The Cabinet Committee on Eco-
nomic Affairs on February 18
approved OVL’s investing $167.84
Hydrocarbon assets: These mainly
consist of oil and gas reserves. Oil
and gas blocks are identified and
offered to companies for bidding.
Discovery: It means the finding,
during petroleum operations, of a
deposit of petroleum not previously
known to have existed, which can be
recovered at the surface in a flow
measurable by petroleum industry
testing methods.
Barrel: A quantity or unit equal to
158.9074 litres (42 United States gal-
lons) liquid measure, at a tempera-
to time pursuant to the terms of this
Contract.
Crude Oil: ‘Crude Oil’ or ‘Oil’ or
‘Crude’ means all kinds of hydro-
carbons and bitumen, both in solid
and liquid form, in their natural
state or obtained from Natural Gas
by condensation or extraction, but
excluding Natural Gas.
Gas Field: Means, within the Con-
tract Area, a Natural Gas Reservoir
or a group of Natural Gas Reservoirs
within a common geological
structure or feature.

T
he Indian economy is a net
importer of almost all forms of
energy. This fact, coupled with
India’s growing energy needs, has
intensified discussions on energy
security for the country. The govern-
ment is actively seeking private par-
ticipation in the energy chain and is
also promoting acquisition of oil and
gas reserves overseas. Strong private
technologies. Policies have increas-
ingly recognised the need to promote
private investment. Private interest in
oil and gas exploration and in power
sector has increased significantly. At
the same time, both the government
and private sector companies are
looking to acquire equity in energy
assets abroad. (Source: Directorate
General of Hydrocarbons)
identified and offered for the
domestic and global companies to
bid.
In the proposed new regime,
called the open acreage licensing
system, a database of all such
blocks will be made available in the
public domain and a company can
approach and bid for a particular
block anytime during the year.
million in a pipeline being con-
structed by China National
Petroleum Corp to transport gas
from offshore A-1 and A-3 blocks in
Myanmar. GAIL has been approved
investment of $83.88 million in the
Chinese pipeline, allowing OVL and
GAIL to take 8.35 and 4.17 percent
participating interest in the pipeline
to transport gas from Myanmar’s
A-1 and A-3 offshore blocks.
ture of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.56
degrees Celsius) and under one
atmospheric pressure (14.70 psia)
Contract Area: Contract Area
means, on the Effective Date, the
area described in Model Production
Sharing Contract and delineated on
the map attached or any portion of
the said area remaining after relin-
quishment or surrender from time
Oil Field: Means, within the Con-
tract Area, an oil reservoir or a
group of oil reservoirs within a com-
mon geological structure or feature.
Commercial Production: The pro-
duction of Crude Oil or Condensate
or Natural Gas or any combination
of these from the Contract Area and
their delivery at the Delivery Point
for regular production and sale.

10 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 11

 COVER STORY
BUDGET 2010-11
cally prudent (lower fiscal deficit and government bor-
rowing). The tasks were contradictory and Mukherjee
had to do extensive tight rope walking to meet both the
contradictory objectives.
“In the circumstances he seems to have squared some
circles,” said noted economist and fellow of the Delhi-
based Centre for Policy Research, Dr. Partha
Mukhopadhya. “This budget is also influenced by slow-
down fears — hence, government spending will remain
high enough despite reigning in the fiscal deficit some-
what, while there are tax reliefs which should spur
domestic demand and help the recovery process.”
The key features of this year’s $221.75 billion bud-
get has been a sizeable tax relief for individuals, the
beginning of a gradual phase out of the three rounds
of stimulus packages announced by the government
during the last fiscal through hikes in excise rates and
minimum alternate tax, stepped up outlays for infras-
tructure development and social welfare schemes and
WAY FORWARD: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee leaves for Parliament House to present Budget 2010-11, in several measures aimed at ensuring high but inclu-
New Delhi on February 26. Ministers of State for Finance S.S. Palanimanickam and Namo Narain Meena, and sive growth.
other officials are seen.
Individuals stand to gain on account of a revision in
tax slabs. But they will have to pay more for cars,
We hope to breach
the 10 percent
growth mark in the
not-too-distant
future
cigarettes, petrol, diesel, cement, jewellery and a host
of consumer goods, even as they will shoulder higher
airfares owing to the new service tax on air travel.
Presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha, the Lower
House of the Indian Parliament, Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee also estimated a lower fiscal deficit
of 5.5 percent of gross domestic product, against the
revised estimates of 6.7 percent for this fiscal (See Chart
on page 14).
He said 46 percent of the plan allocation will be set
aside for infrastructure alone and 37 percent for social
welfare programmes, while outlays for rural and urban
development schemes, as also for education and health-

GROWTH, PRUDENCE
care have been substantially hiked.
“Today, as I stand before you, I can say with some
BUDGET ALLOCATIONS confidence that we have weathered the crisis well,”
Mukherjee said in his 100-minute speech. He proposed
TOTAL BUDGET EXPENDITURE the following tax slabs for individuals: No tax for an
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee does a deft balancing act to table a 2009-2010 2010-2011 annual income of up to Rs. 160,000, a rate of 10 percent
Rs. 10208.38 billion Rs. 11087.49 billion 8.6%
growth-oriented but fiscally prudent Budget — the fourth of his career for up to Rs. 500,000, then 20 percent for up to Rs.
RAJIV AWAS YOGANA 800,000 and finally 30 percent on anything higher.
2009-2010 2010-2011 At the peak rate this will entail a saving of up to Rs.
ndia’s Finance Minister, 74-year old veteran politi- Thunuguntla, equity head of India’s fourth-largest 50,000, and an overall hit of $5.2 billion for the exche-

I
Rs. 1.5 billion Rs. 12.70 billion 746%
cian Pranab Mukherjee, is known to be a man of share broking firm, the Delhi-based SMC Capitals Ltd. quer. “The proposal to reduce the tax slab will benefit
NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR
many parts. But that he was also an expert in “While the budget is growth oriented with public 60 percent of all tax payers,” Mukherjee said, bringing
tight- rope walking became evident on February expenditure slated to go into all the right areas, it also 2009-2010 2010-2011 cheer to people.
Rs. 6.2 billion Rs. 10 billion 61%
26, 2010 when he presented the fourth Union budget of lays down a roadmap for bringing down the budget But he also sought to hike the minimum alternate tax
his career as Finance Minister and the second for the deficit to prudent levels,” Thunuguntla said. PRIMARY EDUCATION to 18 percent of book profits from the present 15 per-
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its Mukherjee had a tough task on hand. On one hand, 2009-2010 2010-2011 cent, though he lowered the surcharge from 10 percent
second straight term after being voted back to office in he had to ensure that the budget was growth oriented Rs. 268 billion Rs. 313 billion 16.79% to 7.5 percent, which will have a direct impact on the
May last year. (high public expenditure on infrastructure and social bottomlines of large companies.
POWER SECTOR
“Given the global as well as domestic circumstances, sectors and lower taxes to ensure higher disposable The Finance Minister also sought to restore the 5
this is a very well-balanced budget,” said Jagannadham income in the hands of citizens) and on the other fis- 2009-2010 2010-2011 percent basic duty on oil and 7.5 percent each on
Rs. 22.3 billion Rs. 51.3 billion 130%
petrol and diesel, and imposed a Rs. 1 excise on these
WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT two fuels.
v Petrol and diesel prices to go up as basic duty but not deposited by the specified date to be 2009-2010 2010-2011 On augmenting resources, he said $5 billion was
of 5 percent on crude petroleum, 7.5 percent increased from 12 to 18 percent per year Rs. 73.5 billion Rs. 110 billion 49.6% raised by way of divestment in state-run companies
on diesel and petrol and 10 percent on other v Total budget expenditure Rs. 11,087.49 bil- during the current fiscal, adding that he was budget-
ROADS & HIGHWAYS CONSTRUCTION
refined products restored; central excise duty lion, an increase of 8.6 percent over last year ing for $8 billion for the ensuing year.
on petrol and diesel enhanced by Re. 1 per litre v Plan allocation for power sector, excluding 2009-2010 2010-2011 With regard to major policy reforms, the Finance
Rs. 175.2 billion Rs. 198.94 billion 13.5%
highlights
BUDGET

v Taxes on large cars and SUVs increased 2 per-
cent to 22 percent
v Income up to Rs. 160,000 per year exempt
from income tax; up to Rs. 500,000 to be
taxed at 10 percent; income of Rs. 500,000-
800,000 to be taxed at 20 percent and income
above Rs. 800,000 to be taxed at 30 percent
v If tax is deducted on payment by way of any
expense and is paid before the due date of fil-
ing the return, such expense to be allowed for
deduction; interest charged on tax deducted
Rajiv Gandhi rural electrification programme, Minister promised to implement the direct tax code
doubled from Rs. 22.30 billion in 2009-10 to NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH MISSION (DTC) and the goods and services tax (GST) from April
Rs. 51.30 billion in 2010-11 2009-2010 2010-2011 next year and assured a simplified foreign investment
v Spending on social sector increased to Rs. Rs. 139.3 billion Rs. 154.4 billion 10.83% policy soon, even as excise rates were hiked across the
1,376.74 billion, which is 37 percent of the board by 200 basis points.
DEFENCE
total plan outlay He said three challenges remained for the economy
v Rs. 1,473.44 billion allocated for defence 2009-2010 2010-2011 — to quickly revert to high growth of 9 percent and
v Allocation on primary education raised from Rs. 1417.03 billion Rs. 1473.44 billion 4% cross to double-digit expansion through high public
Rs. 268 billion to Rs. 313 billion NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT SCHEME investment in such areas as infrastructure while
v Forty-six percent of allocations will be for 2009-2010 2010-2011 ensuring fiscal consolidation; make growth more inclu-
infrastructure development Rs. 391 billion Rs. 401 billion 2.6% sive and improve governance to ensure a better pub-
lic delivery mechanism.

12 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 13

 COVER STORY
BUDGET 2010-11
Fiscal consolidation
s part of the fiscal consolidation ECONOMIC SURVEY
A process, for the first time, the
government would target an explic-

E
ncouraged by reforms and the strong macro-eco-
it reduction in its domestic debt- nomic fundamentals, the Economic Survey has
GDP ratio, Mukherjee said. Within predicted that India would return to a high 9
six months, the finance ministry percent growth in 2011-12 towards becoming the
would bring out a status paper giv- world’s fastest growing economy in four years. The pre-
ing a detailed analysis of the situa- budget Economic Survey (2009-10), presented by
tion and a roadmap for curtailing Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament, also
the overall public debt. This would recommended a “gradual rollback” of stimulus
be followed by an annual report on measures after assessing sectoral impact.
the subject. Projecting economic growth to touch up to 8.75
The Finance Minister’s budget percent in 2010-11 and 9 percent in the next year, the
deficit figures have, however, come Survey said: “It is entirely possible for India to move into
under some criticism. It has been the rarefied domain of double digit growth and even
argued that despite a reduction in attempt to don the mantle” of the fastest growing
the fiscal deficit, the actual revenue economy in the world within the next four years.
deficit at over 70 percent would still Some highlights:
remain too high for 2010-11 as well n Outlook for India’s trade sector in 2010 has
as for the next few years. This is brightened
because a more than 70 percent rev-
While India’s debt burden is about 82 THE GROWTH TURNPIKE: A highway recently converted
into a four-lane expressway. Stepped up spending on road n Bank credit to the commercial sector shows revival
enue deficit would mean the govern- percent of GDP, for the U.S. it will be 100 projects is a key instrument of boosting growth through
high public spending.
since November 2009
ment would be spending more than n Proposal to double rural houses to
70 percent of what it borrows on con-
percent of GDP in two years according to 12 million through the Indira
sumption and only less than 30 per- their own estimates. It is already 100 percent Awaas Yojana in the next five years
cent on investment that would help for the UK and for Japan it is a diture is concerned. Far too much is still being spent n Core industries, infrastructure ser-
it earn returns that can be used to on consumption and less on projects that would bring vices show recovery signs in the
service the debt. That in turn means whopping 197 percent in benefits in terms of returns to government or in middle of overall industrial growth
to service the debt the government terms of alleviating poverty, he said. n Employment increases by 500,000 in July-September
would have to earn at least a 30 percent return on the spending and how much is capital spending — but quarter compared to first quarter of current fiscal
investment it makes (30 percent of total borrowing) so overall spending and government borrowing is being Improving investment n Gross domestic product expected to grow 8.25-8.75
as to earn a return of about 9 percent of the total bor- brought down despite enough scope for government to percent in 2010-11
rowings — that is enough to meet the cost of borrow- spend more if private sector investments continue to environment n Centre, states need to begin fiscal consolidation, cap
ing. This is unlikely as even private companies find it lag because of the global slowdown. This is what is good debt levels
well nigh impossible to earn a return of 30 percent on about the budget — prudence in spending but enough hile pointing out that foreign direct investment n Food subsidy should be given to households, instead
their investments. spending scope to counter any remaining slowdown
“If you look at the global scenario, India’s overall fis- hangover,” Mukhopadhya said.
W flows at $20.9 billion during April-December, 2009
against $21.1 billion for the same period the previous
of routing through the public
distribution system
cal situation is better than for most other countries,” Mukhopadhya, however, felt that there has not been year was steady despite the decline in global capital n Poor families should be given food
said Thunuguntla. “While India’s debt burden is about much improvement as far as the quality of the expen- flows, the Finance Minister said the government will coupons to buy at discount from
82 percent of GDP, for the U.S. it will be make FDI policy more user-friendly by consolidating any shop
100 percent of GDP in two years accord- all prior regulations and guidelines into one compre- n Liberalise foreign investment norms in education,
ing to their own estimates in the Bud- DEFICIT AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP hensive document. “This would enhance clarity and healthcare sectors
get for 2010. It is already 100 percent for 8 predictability of our FDI policy to foreign investors,” n Sustaining current levels of domestic petroleum
Percent
the UK and for Japan it is a whopping Fiscal Deficit he said. prices not viable
7
197 percent,” he said. Revenue Deficit
6 6.7 The government would also set up an apex level n Expenditure restraint can help contain deficit at
“In 2009, the U.S. ran up a deficit of 6 Primary Deficit Financial Stability and Development Council with a budgeted levels
5.3
$1.4 trillion or about 11.2 percent of 5.5 view to strengthen and institutionalise the mechanism n High inflation due to supply-side bottlenecks
4.5
GDP, the highest in 60 years, when its 5 4.5 for maintaining financial stability. n Growth in telecom to continue with
4 4.1
growth was negative 1 percent,” he 4 The government would also increase the capitalisa- monthly additions exceeding 17.6 mil-
4 3.5
said. “Compared with that, India’s 5.5 tion of public sector and regional rural banks so that lion connections
percent deficit with more than 7 per- 2.7 they can maintain a comfortable capital to risk weight- n Share of central government expendi-
3 3.6 2.5 2.6 3.2
cent growth is heavenly,” Thunugunt- 2.6 ed asset ratio and have adequate capital base to sup- ture on social services up by 19.46
1.9
la said. 2 1.9
port increased lending. percent in the current fiscal
1.1
“The distinction between revenue Recognising that the global recovery was still very n Foreign exchange reserves rise to $31.5
deficit and fiscal deficit is in some 1 fragile, the finance minister announced that the 2 per- billion in current fiscal to $283.5 billion till end
sense meaningless because you have 0.4 -0.2 -0.9 cent interest subvention on pre-shipment export cred- December 2009
capital spending in non-plan spending 0 0 0 it would be extended for one more year till March 31, n Balance of payment situation improves due to surge
and you have revenue spending in plan -1 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011, for exports covering handicrafts, carpets, hand- in capital flows and rise in foreign exchange reserves,
(R.E.) (B.E.)
spending, so it is impossible to say R.E. = Revised estimates B.E. = Budget estimates looms and small and medium enterprises. accompanied by rupee appreciation
exactly how much is consumption -2 Mukherjee announced that to spur agricultural

14 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 15

 COVER STORY
BUDGET 2010-11
growth, the government would follow a four-pronged
strategy covering (a) agricultural production, (b) reduc-
tion in wastage of products, (c) credit support to farm-
ers, and (d) a thrust to the food processing sector.
To increase production, the government will take up
a special initiative to extend the green revolution to the
eastern states of Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, east-
ern UP, West Bengal and Orissa. Also, 60,000 “pulses
and oilseeds” villages will be organised in rain-fed
areas during 2010-11 and the government will provide
an integrated intervention for water harvesting, water-
shed management and soil health to enhance the pro-
ductivity of the dry land farming areas.
Similarly, Mukherjee announced steps to reduce
wastage, increase credit availability to farmers and
boost infrastructure development for the food process-
ing sector.
Infrastructure
oming to infrastructure development, Mukherjee
C said: “Accelerated development of high quality
physical infrastructure, such as roads, ports, airports
and railways is essential to sustain economic growth.”
He said in the budget for 2010-11, the allocation on
infrastructure development has been
raised to Rs. 1,73,552 crore which
accounts for over 46 percent of the To increase agricultural production, the
total plan allocations. government will take up a special
He further said that to make a vis-
ible impact in the road sector, the
initiative to extend the green revolution to
government has targeted construc- the eastern states of Bihar, Chhatisgarh,
tion of national highways at the pace
of 20 km per day and the allocation
Jharkhand, eastern UP, West Bengal
for road transport has been and Orissa
NATION BUILDING: The budget puts great emphasis on infrastructure development as the government thinks it
essential to sustain economic growth.
16 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
increased by over 13 percent from Rs. 17,520 crore to
Rs. 19,894 crore.
For the railways, the Finance Minister said that this
year the railways had been provided Rs. 16,752 crore
as budgetary support for 2010-11 which is about Rs. 950
crore more than what was provided last year.
For the power sector, the Finance Minister has dou-
bled the allocation from Rs. 2,230 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.
5,130 crore in 2010-11. He also announced that a Coal
Regulatory authority will be set up to facilitate reso-
lution of issues like economic pricing of coal and
benchmarking of standards of performance.
Inclusive development
he Finance Minister announced several initiatives
T to ensure inclusive development. “For the UPA gov-
ernment, inclusive development is an act of faith,” he
told Parliament.
“In the last five years, our government has created
entitlements backed by legal guarantees for an indi-
vidual’s right to information and her right to work.
This has been followed-up with the enactment of the
right to education in 2009-10. As the next step, we are
now ready with the draft Food Security Bill which will
LITERACY LEVERAGE: A class in progress in a rural school. The budget has made a 16 percent higher allocation on
school education as part of the government’s goal of ensuring inclusive growth.
be placed in the public domain very soon,” Mukherjee
said. “To fulfil these commitments, the spending on
social sector has been gradually increased to Rs.
1,37,674 crore which now stands at 37 per cent of the
total plan outlay in 2010-11. Another 25 per cent of the
plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural
infrastructure. With growth and the opportunities that
it generates, we hope to further strengthen the process
of inclusive development,” the Finance Minister said.
For example, the allocation for school education has
been increased by nearly 16 percent from Rs. 26,800
crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 31,036 crore in 2010-11. Similar-
ly, the plan allocation for the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare has been increased by a little over 14
percent from Rs. 19,534 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 22,300
crore in 2010-11.
Rural development
or the UPA government, “development of rural
F infrastructure remains a high priority area,”
Mukherjee said. “For the year 2010-11, I propose to pro-
vide Rs 66,100 crore for rural development,” he said.
This represents a 4 percent hike. But of this as much
as Rs 40,100 crore is for the Mahatma Gandhi Nation-
al Rural employment Guarantee Scheme as against Rs.
39,100 crore for 2009-10. The spending on rural housing
has been increased from Rs. 8,800 crore last year to Rs.
10,000 crore this year while the allocation for building
rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak
Yojana has been maintained at Rs. 12,000 crore.
The Finance Minister also announced enhanced allo-
cations for housing and urban poverty alleviation and
extension of interest subvention for housing loans up
to Rs. 10 lakhs where the cost of the house does not
exceed Rs. 20 lakhs. He also announced an allocation
of Rs. 1,270 crore for the Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum
dwellers and urban poor, up from Rs. 150 crore last
year as the scheme is now ready to
take off. The allocation for micro, small and medium
enterprises has also been raised to Rs. 2,400 crore from
Rs. 1,794 crore last year, the Finance Minister said.
Mukherjee announced several initiatives for workers
in the unorganised sector, the most important of which
is the decision to set up a National Social Security
Fund for unorganised sector workers with an initial
allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore.
The budget also provides for skill development, a 50
percent increase in the plan outlay for Women and
Child Development, recasting of the National Literacy
Mission to improve the female literacy rate, an 80 per-
cent increase in the plan allocation for Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment, and a nearly 50 per-
cent increase for the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Greater transparency
n this area again, the Finance Minister announced
I several initiatives such as formation of a Financial
Sector Legislative Reforms Commission to rewrite and
clean up financial sector laws most of which are very
old, and bring them in line with the requirements of
the sector. He also announced the implementation of
the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms
Commission, and a much higher allocation for the
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which
is set to issue the first set of unique identification num-
bers for citizens in the coming year. Mukherjee also
proposed setting up of a Technology Advisory Group
under the leadership of Nandan Nilekani to look into
various technological and systemic issues involved in
rolling out IT projects aimed at effective tax adminis-
tration and financial governance system, and setting up
of an Independent Evaluation Office to undertake
impartial and objective assessments of the various pub-
lic programmes and improve the effectiveness of the
public interventions, and establishment of a National
Mission for Delivery of Justice and Legal Reforms to
help reduce legal backlog in courts and also help
improve the legal environment for business.
“Considering the various constraints within which
the finance minister has worked, this is a very good
budget, as he has addressed all the three challenges
that he outlined at the beginning of the budget speech
as best as possible,” Mukhopadhya said.
“No doubt the stock markets have welcomed the bud-
get as it has been better than their expectations,”
Thunuguntla said by way of signing off.
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 17
 ECONOMY
INTERVIEW SACHIN PILOT

Global
We want to make our country
BSNL, HCL tie-up
much more wired than it is
to provide rural
today. That’s a very good way
broadband services
of getting people together...

BROAD VISION: Sachin Pilot
ndia is charting a grand
VILLAGE
“The ‘other India’ must also have access to
high-speed data and broadband services...”
dering Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“We are close to launching a pro-
gramme of putting up these towers
in villages where the population is
less than 500 people and sometimes
less than 200. It will be deployed by
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd,” said
the minister at the IANS head office
in New Delhi on March 10.
“You will hear more on this very
S
tate-run telecom operator
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd
(BSNL) and software solutions
provider HCL Infosystems signed an
agreement on September 16, 2009
to work together on the National
Broadband Penetration Programme
(NBPP), a nationwide initiative to
accelerate spread of information
technology in rural India.
Highlights of NBPP To implement the project, BSNL
will leverage the Universal Service
n The National Broadband Pene- Obligation Fund (USOF) set up by
tration Programme (NBPP) is in the Department of Telecommuni-
line with the government’s aim cations (DoT), which has granted
to reach 100 million broadband subsidy to the state-owned com-
subscribers by 2014. pany for providing broadband ser-
n The Universal Service Obligation vices in rural areas at cheaper rates.
A NEW DAWN: Rural folk may soon experience broadband connectivity.

I
scheme targeting its rural out-
back to reach telecom and
broadband services to each of
its 626,000 villages, using funds to
the tune of $3.5 billion lying
unutilised in a dedicated fund.
Outlining the contours of this
ambitious programme in an inter-
action with IANS, Minister of State
for Communications and IT Sachin
Pilot said that 11,000 communica-
tion towers will be set up for the
purpose — several in villages bor-
soon.” He said all service providers
— private or state-run — have been
allowed to install telecom towers to
receive signals within 500 metres
near the international borders to
strengthen the existing communi-
cation system in rural areas. “This
will also check interference from
foreign telecom networks,” he said.
Pilot said many of the towers will
be in the tribal belts of Nagaland,
Tripura, Mizoram and Assam in the
northeast, as the government’s pri-
Fund (USOF) set up by the
Department of Telecommunica-
tions offers subsidy to con-
sumers to the extent of Rs. 4,500
per connection.
n HCL will set up two call centres,
one for enquiry and the other for
technical support (toll free nos)
n BSNL is offering Broadband
@512 Kbps at highly subsidised
rates of Rs.99 and Rs.150 per
month package.
(Courtesy: BSNL)
ority, as opposed to that of private
players, was to get villages into the
telecom loop as well.
“Private operators go where the
money is,” he said, adding the
finance will come from the Univer-
sal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)
that is collected by the government
from private players to meet the
demands of rural connectivity.
Around Rs.17,000 crore ($3.5 bil-
lion) is lying in the fund. Pilot, who
is an alumnus of the Wharton Busi-
ness School and St. Stephen’s Col-
lege in New Delhi, said communi-
cations will be a great unifier and
bridge the digital divide so that the
“other India” in the hinterland also
has access to high-speed data and
telecom. “We want to make our
country much more wired than it is
today. That’s a very good way of
getting people together. That’s why
we have to leverage these opportu-
nities before us,” he said.
— IANS
USOF will provide a subsidy of
Rs.4,500 per broadband connec-
tion that BSNL will roll out through
its 27,789 rural and remote tele-
phone exchanges. A customer can
avail the service by paying Rs.2,250
followed by Rs.300 per month for
the computing device and sub-
sidised broadband package at
Rs.99 or Rs.150 per month.
Personal computers will be avail-
able at HCL’s Touch outlets across
more than 4,000 towns.

PROJECT ARROW
puterised banking services. “We
picked some 1,000 post offices in
500 districts over the past year and
spent Rs.160 crore. The look and
feel, the aesthetics, the uniform
fter upgrading 1,000 post have all changed. They are like a
the country and more than 450,000
people working out of them.
“Our job is not to make profit,
but deliver services to people. For-
tunately, we still enjoy a lot of
goodwill. We now send our people

A
Under this unique offices across the coun-
endeavour, expect try, India Post is giving a
corporate look to 727
more post offices more with better services under
across the country to one roof as part of its “Project
acquire a corporate Arrow”, said Sachin Pilot, Minis-
ter of State for Communications
look soon. Also, and IT. “The look and feel of these
customers can expect post offices will be different,” Pilot
told IANS during an interaction,
better services adding these offices will be fully
computerised with additional fea-
tures like electronic funds trans-
fer, instant money order and com-
one-stop shop for people looking at
a host of services,” he said. “Once
the atmosphere is more welcom-
ing, footfalls will increase. And
once the footfalls increase, more
revenue will come in. And once
more revenue comes in, it moti-
vates our employees.”
“We have started getting results
as well. In the last quarter of 2009,
these 1,000 post offices saw a 23-
percent jump in revenue,” said the
minister. The government has
around 150,000 post offices across
for training and give them incen-
tives,” Pilot said, adding he was
personally monitoring progress
with a video conference every two
weeks with all the 30 postmasters
general across the country.
“The video conference is live. We
analyse the data, it is web-enabled
— so no fudging of data. We are
actually tracking it so minutely
that if four speed posts have
returned, then I ask the concerned
postmaster-general to explain,” he
said.

18 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 19

 ECONOMY
INDO-ZAMBIA BANK
Shukla was quick to emphasise
that financial fundamentals were
strong. “We have been pretty aggres-
sive in expanding credit. In the last
three years, credit has grown by
50 percent, deposits have grown by
30 percent and capital adequacy
ratio is 40 percent,” he said. The
total deposits are now 679,764 mil-
lion Kvacha (Rs. 6.8 billion/$130 mil-
lion).
In fact, it has perhaps the lowest
proportion of gross non-performing
assets (NPA) to gross advance
among banks in Zambia. “Here, the
banking sector NPA to gross
advances is 13 percent, which has
increased from eight percent two
years ago... Ours is less than one per-
cent. I think it is the best rate among
The main branch and the banks here,” said Shukla, a
Head Office of the native of Mumbai, who has been in
Indo-Zambia Bank
in Lusaka
Lusaka since September 2008.
The increase in NPA in the Zam-
bian banking industry was due to
G.H.R. Haminza, General Manager of
the bank
Twenty-five years
on, the bank still
exists and thrives,
with 12 branches, 260
local employees, nine
Indian chief
is scope to further expand bank
operations. “All Indians who want to
set up any business here, naturally
tend to come here directly,” said
Shukla.
With Indian bankers, all of them
on deputation for four years, work-
ing closely with local employees, it
is not surprising that some of their
ways have rubbed on them. G.H.R.
Haminza, the bank’s senior-most
Zambian employee, who joined in
1989, got trained in the Central Bank
of India. He was on attachment to
the Bank of Baroda and is currently
General Manager.
He even sports a steel bangle,
known as kara, on his right wrist.
“I saw an Indian working with me
trying to open a bottle of coke with
this, instead of a bottle opener. So I
said give it to me. Now I wear it,”
Haminza told IANS. With one out of
four board meetings held in India,
Haminza considers himself well-

Banking on CULTURE
the aggressiveness in giving loans.
“They were even sitting in malls and
giving loans. And here once you lose
your job, it is difficult to repay the
personal loans,” explained Shukla.
With Indian companies increas-
The bank is the first ever project in which three Indian banks came ingly coming to Africa and Zambia
together on an overseas platform, each contributing share capital for investment opportunities, there
travelled in the sub-continent, hav-
managers, one ing visited remote places like the
Andaman Islands and Sikkim. “I
Indian managing have seen more of India than most
director and a Indians,” Haminza, said, adding:
Zambian chairperson “I am perhaps more Indian than
most.”
— Devirupa Mitra/Lusaka

n the ground floor of a chairperson. Fluorescent lights illu-

O squat building in down-

town Lusaka, tellers sit
inside tiny wooden cabins,
counting out money. The busy scene
is as ordinary as at any other bank,
but the provenance of this financial
firm is a rather unique experiment,
beginning nearly 6,600 km away —
in India.
The Indo-Zambia Bank, as is
evident from its nomenclature, was
born of a mixed parentage of three
Indian state banks and the Zambian
government in 1984.
Or as 57-year-old Satish Shukla,
the bank’s managing director,
described: “It is a joint venture of
four cultures”. It is also the first ever
project in which three Indian banks
— Bank of India, Bank of Baroda
and Central Bank of India — came
together on an overseas platform,
each contributing 20 percent
towards the share capital, with the
rest held by the Zambia government.
The bank came into existence dur-
ing the heyday of the Non-Aligned
Satish Shukla, 57, is the Managing
Director of the Indo-Zambia Bank
Movement, when Zambia’s Kenneth
Kaunda and India’s Indira Gandhi
were striding the global stage pro-
pounding South-South cooperation.
Twenty-five years on, the bank
still exists and thrives, with 12
branches, 260 local employees, nine
Indian chief managers, one Indian
managing director and a Zambian
minate the high-ceiling hall, which
is filled with employees working and
flitting between scores of desks,
piled with files, while clients sit on
recessed window seats or stand
patiently in a queue.
Not that it has always been easy.
It survived the crisis in the banking
industry in Zambia during 1995-97,
when eight banks folded up.
Their secret — “We have been run-
ning the bank in a typical conserva-
tive Indian manner,” Shukla told
IANS.
While the global recession did not
impact Zambia in the last two years
because of its small economy , it did
go through a turbulent time in 2008
due to the sharp drop in the price of
copper — the county’s life blood.
With profitability under strain,
plans to open new branches were
shelved for 2009-10. But, with copper
prices having relatively bounced The customer service area of the
back, “next year we would definite- main branch of the Indo-Zambia
ly aim to open two-three more Bank in Lusaka.
branches.”

20 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 21

 ECONOMY
AMAZING WOMAN

HANSIBA: A some persuasion, 50 women joined

us. To see if there indeed was a mar-
ket for their ethnic product, we had
a show in Mumbai and Delhi and it East India COMPANY
global brand
was a big hit,” she said.
“The market loved the richness of
the ethnic embroidery and the beau-
ty of the handcrafted product. For
the women, this was literally like a
now has INDIAN owner
At 92, Hansibaben is still working at new lease of life,” she said. Accord- When Sanjiv Mehta took over the company, he took a sabbatical
ing to Nanavaty, the men of these
innovating the traditional craft families are mostly dependent on
from all other business to understand its history

ith just around a

It’s difficult to
decide which story
is more amazing —
W month to go for the re-
launch of the East
India Company — the
world’s first multinational whose
forces once ruled much of the
that the woman globe — its new Indian owner says
he is overwhelmed by “a huge feel-
after which ing of redemption”. It’s been a
Hansiba, as the long, emotional and personal jour-
ney for Sanjiv Mehta, a Mumbai-
brand is called, was born entrepreneur who completed
70 when the whole the process of buying the East
India Company (EIC) in 2005 from
journey started. Or the “30 or 40” people who owned it.
that 15,000 rural Acutely aware that he owned a
piece of history — at its height the
women manage the company generated half of world
Sanjiv Mehta, CEO of the East India Company, with the company’s Coat of
trade and employed a third of the
entire supply chain British workforce — Mehta, now
Arms, granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600.

of the company and
take care of their
families
Hansibaben, 92, in her village in Patan district of Gujarat.
wenty-three years back, Thirty percent of our products are the rain for farming and most of the
the sole owner, dived into the com-
pany’s rich and ruthless past in
order to give it a new direction for
the future.
With a $15-million investment
and inputs from a range of experts
— from designers and brand
researchers to historians — Mehta
At an emotional level, as an Indian, when
you think with your heart as I do, I had this
huge feeling of redemption — this
indescribable feeling of owning a company
that once owned us

T Hansibaben was just anoth-

er artisan in a little known
village in Gujarat. Today, at
92, she has a cloth brand named
after her which has reached such
heights that international names
are scurrying to have tie-ups with it.
It’s a little difficult to decide
which story is more amazing — that
the woman after which Hansiba, as
the brand is called, was 70 when the
whole journey started and she is
still working at innovating the tra-
ditional craft. Or that 15,000 rural
women manage the entire supply
chain of the company and take care
of their families.
“Today, we have tie-ups with
international brands in the US, UK,
Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
exported,” said Reema Nanavaty,
director of the NGO SEWA and the
woman largely responsible for start-
ing the Hansiba initiative.
“Our clothes have also been show-
cased in the Madrid fashion week
and the New York fashion week,”
Nanavaty told IANS, sitting at her
office in Ahmedabad on January 17.
Nanavaty said: “When I first went
to the Datranai village in Patan dis-
trict here 23 years back, and spoke
to the women to market their craft,
they looked at me with suspicion.
After all, I was a woman with short
hair, they said!
“It was only Hansibaben, then 70,
who believed in me and gave me a
sample of her work. We made the
payment immediately. Then with
youngsters migrate to the city for a
living. With their handicrafts now
bringing in money, the familes sud-
denly had a much-needed safety net.
“We set up the Self Employed
Women’s Association Trade Facili-
tation Centre in which the artisans
were the main shareholders — 65
percent of the sales went to them
directly,” she said. Finally, in 2003,
Hansiba, the brand was launched,
named after the woman who first
joined the movement. “Hansiba was
very well received,” said Nanavaty.
Hansiba will showcase its collec-
tion in a fashion show in Delhi in
March and its protagonist, the 92-
year-old Hansibaben, is expected to
walk the ramp!
—Azera Rahman/Ahmedabad
is today poised to open the first
East India Company store in Lon-
don’s upmarket Mayfair neigh-
bourhood in March.
And then there is the inevitable
— and daunting — task of launch-
ing in India, a country whose
resources, army, trade and politics
the company had controlled for
some 200 years. “Put yourself in
my shoes for a moment: On a
rational plane, when I bought the
company, I saw gold at the end of
the rainbow. But, at an emotional
level, as an Indian, when you
think with your heart as I do, I
had this huge feeling of redemp-
tion — this indescribable feeling of
owning a company that once
owned us,” he told IANS. With its
own Elizabethan coat of arms —
now owned by Mehta — the com-
pany was made responsible for
bringing tea, coffee and luxury
goods to the West and trading in
spices across the globe.
“When I took over the company,
my objective was to understand its
history. I took a sabbatical from
all other business and this became
the single purpose in my life,” said
Mehta. He travelled around the
world, visiting former EIC trading
posts and museums, reading up
records and meeting people “who
understood the business of that
time”. “There was a huge sense of
responsibility — I didn’t create
this brand, but I wanted to be as
pioneering as the merchants who
created it,” he said. “The Eliza-
bethan coat of arms stands for
trust and reassurance, but we are
not repeating history. It took me
four years to do the brand posi-
tioning and put up the mile-
stones.” The ‘relaunched’ compa-
ny will have its headquarters on
Conduit Street in Mayfair. “It’s
also a major ambition to bring
Indian products to the rest of the
world,” Mehta said.
— Dipankar De Sarkar/London

22 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 23

 ECONOMY
INDIA STORY

Growth pegged FDI limit needing

at 7.2 percent
PM’s council says growth would accelerate to
8.2 and 9 percent over the next two years
New Delhi after a review of the
Indian economy.
The high-profile council also
expected the industrial and service
sectors to continue to expand strong-
ly through both these years and
hoped the government’s priorities
and initiatives on infrastructure
would proceed along desired lines.
“On this basis, we are making an
initial estimate that the economy
would grow by 8.2 percent in 2010-11
and by 9 percent in 2011-12,” said
cabinet nod up
India plans seed reserves
I ndia on February 11 doubled to
$240 million the limit for foreign
direct investment proposals that
require prior cabinet approval. A
The game plan is to
build sufficient seed
meeting of the Cabinet Commit- reserves from next
tee Economic Affairs, presided
over by Prime Minister Dr. Man-
year to be quickly
mohan Singh, raised the limit made available to
based on recommendations by the
commerce and industry ministry.
farmers affected by
At present, all proposals with a drought or flood
total project cost of up to $120
million are approved by the ments. In states like Punjab,
finance minister, and those above Haryana and Madhya Pradesh
are placed before the cabinet. where wheat is produced more, we
will stock wheat seeds and in south-
ern states like Andhra Pradesh and
Ford India to Tamil Nadu, we will stock rice
export Figo seeds,” Kumar said on the margins
of the first Indian Seed Congress,
organised by the National Seeds

he Prime Minister’s Eco-

Rangarajan, after presenting the
review to Prime Minister Dr. Man-
T he Indian arm of global auto
maker Ford Motor will com- Association of India.
“Similarly, seed reserves for corn,

T
nomic Advisory Council on
February 19 predicted
India’s growth for this fiscal
at 7.2 percent, and later accelerating
to 8.2 percent and 9 percent, respec-
tively, over the next two years.
“The council expects a bounce
back in agricultural gross domestic
product in the next year and main-
tenance of the desired trend growth
mohan Singh.
The council noted with concern
the price movements in the current
fiscal that has resulted in very high
rates of inflation in food products,
both primary articles and manufac-
tured items. “The danger of this
spreading to other commodities
exists, especially in the backdrop of
the strong recovery that the Indian
mence exports of its small car Figo
and diesel and petrol engines to pulses, edible oils and other food
South Africa and Asean countries, crops will be stored in states where
the company said on February 4. they are produced more,” Kumar
“We will be shipping out pointed out.
fully built Figo and As such an ambitious project
engines (diesel involves substantial cost involving
and petrol) to procurement, storage and mainte-
South Africa and nance, Kumar said the central gov-
Asean nations,” ernment would have to pick the
ndia plans to build seed bill and it would be shared by the

of 4 percent in 2011-12,” Chairman C.
Rangarajan said at a press meet in
INDIAN IT & BPO INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE
60
50
50
economy has been making since the
summer of 2009,” it said.
56-57
Ford India president and man-
aging director Michael Boneham
said after inauguration of Ford’s
new engine plant near Chennai.
UK group to
build highways
I
reserves to ensure national
food and income security to
millions of its farmers, reeling
under the impact of a deficit mon-
seeds will be located
soon and a harsh drought in 2009, a
top official said on February 12.
“We are working with the seed
industry to produce surplus high-
yielding, pest and disease-resistant
respective states. “The game plan
A depositary of is to build sufficient seed reserves
from next year to be made avail-
able to farmers faster in emergen-
across the country cy after they are affected by
in different states drought or flood,” Kumar averred.
Admitting that Indian agricul-
ture and millions of farmers were
still monsoon-dependent due to

40
47
A group of key British construc-
tion companies have set up a
consortium to build roads and
seeds to build reserves that can be
used in the event of crisis arising
inadequate water resources and
incomplete irrigation projects in
5.5% YoY growth 13-15% YoY growth
$ billion

highways in India, Road Transport out of droughts or floods during the many states, Kumar hinted there
30 and Highways Minister Kamal Nath monsoon,” union Agriculture Sec- was no guarantee that another cli-
said in London on February 2. The retary T. Nanda Kumar told mate variability may not occur in
20 16.64
12.8 14.34 British-India Roads Group met reporters in Bengaluru. the short term. “Maybe, five years
10 Kamal Nath on February 1 and will Noting that despite monsoon fail- down the line, we may have either
12% YoY growth 15-17% YoY growth sign an agreement with the gov- ure and drought in many parts of deficit or excess rainfall resulting
0 ernment within two months. The the country, supply of food grains in either drought or flood. Both sit-
2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 group has over 20 British firms and was not affected due to surplus uations create problem to farmers
(Projected) will enter into pacts with Indian stocks and seeds from the 2008-09 seed corporations build-up every and food productivity. In such dis-
Export earnings Domestic market revenues (Source: Nasscom) partners to facilitate India’s ambi- bumper crop, Kumar said the pro- year. “A depositary of seeds will be tress situation, seed reserve will
tion to build 20 km of highways posed seed reserve would be inde- located across the country in dif- help farmers to access seeds for
Note: Government IT spend is estimated to reach $ 5.4 billion in 2010-11 per day over the coming years. pendent of the stock the National ferent states and made available to timely sowing of food and cash
from $ 3.6 billion in 2009-10, including $ 897 million in e-governance alone Seed Corporation of India or state farmers depending on their require- crops,” Kumar added.

24 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 25

 DIASPORA
WHITE HOUSE
SEEKS ‘TIPS’
The White House has invited top Indian-American executives to help
find ways of cutting costs to make the US bureaucracy leaner
he White House has invited
T dozens of America’s top
executives, including Pep-
sico’s India-born chief exec-
utive Indra K. Nooyi, seeking tips on
how the U.S. bureaucracy can
become leaner and meaner. Besides
Nooyi, Microsoft chief executive
Steve Ballmer, Craigslist founder
Craig Newmark, Sprint Nextel chief
executive Dan Hesse, and Facebook
co-founder Chris Hughes are among
those expected to attend.
The idea is to find ways to cut
costs and getting federal agencies
to place a higher priority on better
serving the public, in areas includ-
ing immigration, education and the
census, The Washington Post
reported. White House officials
hope tips from the executives may
help translate private sector’s
entrepreneurial zeal to federal agen-
cies as they turn to new technolo-
gies, such as web and text messag-
ing, to make that all happen.
The Census Bureau spent $600
million on a project to make its 2010
count electronic, but the effort
failed and the census will be con-
26 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
ducted by paper this year. “We see
a big gap in technology from the
private sector and the federal gov-
ernment in terms of productivity
and service quality,” said Jeffrey
Zients, the Deputy Director for
Management of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget.
Zients, federal Chief Information
Aneesh Chopra Indra Nooyi
Officer Vivek Kundra and federal
Chief Technology Officer Aneesh
Chopra told The Post in a group
interview that they invited execu-
tives from various industries who
have demonstrated excellence in
cost management, customer ser-
vice, and the use of high-tech tools
to achieve those ends.
One challenge facing the adminis-
tration is that federal workers aren’t
Ramakrishnan is India Abroad Person ‘09
ndian-American Nobel laureate
I Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
has been named the India
Abroad Person of the Year 2009 by
the ethnic weekly newspaper.
A total of nine awards were pre-
sented in seven categories at the
seventh annual India Abroad Per-
son of the Year Awards gala on
March 5. Prominent members of the
Indian-American community
attended the event, held at the
National Museum of the American
Indian in the magnificent Alexan-
der Hamilton U.S. Customs House
in New York.
The first to be honoured was the
India Abroad Young Achiever 2009,
Kavya Shivashankar, winner of the
Scripps National Spelling Bee 2009.
The India Abroad Gopal Raju
Award for Community Service 2009
went to the South Asian Council for
Social Services (SACSS) and its
Executive Director Sudha Acharya
for SACSS’s long support and
motivated by the shareholder pres-
sures and corporate bonuses of the
private sector. The executives will
break out into three working groups
and then present their ideas to all
KAMLESH
DAVE TO
attendees, including Valerie Jarrett,
a senior adviser to President Barack
Obama, and Peter Orszag, director of ADVISE
the Office of Management and Bud-
VIRGINIA GUV-ELECT
V irginia’s Republican Governor-
elect Bob McDonnell has
appointed long-time fundraiser
Dr. Kamlesh Dave to his transition
team for economic development.
Dave, a cardiologist practising in
Chester, Virginia, is the first Indi-
Vivek Kundra an-American to be inducted into
the governor-elect’s inner circle of
get, The Post said. The government advisers. Born and raised in
has started to implement some of Ahmedabad, Dave is a leading
the ideas. It’s cut nearly a dozen social activist. He was recently
information technology contracts unanimously elected president of
that appeared wasteful. the new Republican Indian Com-
The U.S. Customs and Immigra- mittee, a political action body.
tion Services is using text messages Dave did his internship at Cornell
to inform applicants for citizenship University in New York and
when their paperwork moves worked in Manhattan and parts
through the seven steps of the appli- of New Jersey for several years.
cation process.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
empowerment of South Asian
immigrants in America.
Priyamvada Natarajan, Professor
of astronomy and physics at Yale
University, was named the India
Abroad Face of the Future 2009, an
award which recognises the
promise of future achievement.
Poonam Alaigh is just
what the doc prescribed
ew Jersey’s Republican
N Governor Chris Christie
has named an Indian-
American doctor, Poonam Alaigh,
as the commissioner of the state
Health and Senior Services Depart-
ment, a cabinet post. Alaigh, 45, has
a multifaceted background in
health care and administration,
including hospital practice, hospi-
tal administration, managed care,
pharmaceutical medicine, and
health care policy. “It is important
we have a qualified team with the
attitude and willingness to get to
work, make tough decisions and
strive for results. These appoint-
ments will assure that the status
quo isn’t acceptable and the health
and education of New Jersey’s citi-
zens will be in the best of hands,”
Governor Christie said, announc-
Mathematician Manjul Bhargava,
the youngest Full Professor at
Princeton University, and the inau-
gural India Abroad Face of the
Future 2008, was also present.
Investment banker Sreedhar
Menon was awarded the India
Abroad Award for Lifetime Service
to the Community 2009.
The India Abroad Publisher’s Spe-
cial Awards for Excellence were
presented to National Public
Radio’s Morning Edition Executive
Producer Madhulika Sikka, The
Washington Post Managing Editor
Raju Narisetti, and Otterbein Col-
lege professor Abhijat Joshi, best
known as the co-writer of Bolly-
wood blockbusters 3 Idiots and Lage
Raho Munnabhai.
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
Jhumpa Lahiri’s publisher Ajai
Singh ‘Sonny’ Mehta, the editor-in-
chief of Alfred A Knopf, was given
the India Abroad Award for Life-
time Achievement 2009.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
introduces Poonam Alaigh.
ing Alaigh’s name. Alaigh said her
first priority is to help the governor
balance the budget. Currently
director of Horizon Blue Cross Blue
Shield of New Jersey, she is also
working as an assistant professor
in the department of family prac-
tice at the University of Medicine
and Robert Wood Johnson Univer-
sity Medical School.
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 27
 DIASPORA
Po-Land
OF SPICES
Growing popularity of Indian food has set off an Indian restaurant boom in
Poland, with samosas and chicken tikkas becoming favourites among Poles
here may be an economic
T
slump in Poland, but the
growing popularity of Indi-
an food has set off an Indi-
an restaurant boom in the Polish
capital and other cities with
samosas, chicken tikkas, biryani
and what is known as mango
lassi hooking Poles, many
of whom have begun
cooking Indian
dishes in their
homes.
“It is amazing but true that in
the past six months around a dozen
28 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
new Indian restaurants have come
up along with six old ones. To cater
to the demands of Warsawoians,
restaurants like Aarti, Namaste
India, Buddha Bar, Bombay
Masala, Ganesh and many others
have been opened largely by Sind-
hi businessmen,” said Devender
Singh, owner of Maharaja, the first
Indian restaurant here that has
been in business since 1992.
“Earlier, most of these business-
men were dealing with fabric busi-
ness. Now all of a sudden these peo-
ple see a gold mine in restaurant
business,” Singh told IANS.
“Now you go to any corner of
Warsaw you will find an Indian
restaurant close to your liking. To
open a new restaurant in a posh
street like Nowy Swiet, or for that
matter in the club-stoned small
streets of Old Town, where rents
are exorbitant, is quite costly. Still
these businesmen have taken a risk
to compete with other continental
and Polish restaurants. One has to
appreciate their business sense
even in these recessionary times,”
J. J. Singh, president of Indo-Polish
Chamber of Commerce and Indus-
try, who himself is a partner in Bol-
lywood Lounge, told IANS.
The success of Bollywood Lounge,
a favourite hub for the young crowd
on weekends, has prompted Singh
and his partners to open another
branch in Gdandsk.
Similarly, branches of Namasta
India Lounge of Ashok Manani and
India Lounge have come up in War-
saw in the last three months to
encash on the success of Bolly-
wood Lounge.
“We at the Indian-Polish Cultural
Committee are happy with the ever-
growing numbers of Indian restau-
rants coming up in many Polish
cities, such as Krakow, Poznan and
Gdansk. One can open a modest
Indian restaurant with two Indian
cooks and three Polish waitresses,
provided one gets cheap accommo-
dation. A big part of the success
goes to the Polish tourists who have
been to India in the last five years,”
Janusz Krzyzowski, president of the
committee, said.
“Some 90,000 people have visited
India in the last five years. They
are the new converts and now
mountain has come to Mohammad
to satisfy their demands.” “Once
you are hooked to Indian food, it
becomes a life-long addiction,” said
Boguslaw Zakrezewski, an Indophile
and a former ambassador. Many
Poles, he said, have also started
cooking few Indian dishes in their
own homes, thanks to spices
available in Indian shops.
— Surender Bhutani/Warsaw
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
Warsaw University
Indian study
centre set up
in Poland
A
n Indian Centre for Con-
temporary Research has
been set up by the Euro-
pean Union at Warsaw University
to cater to a growing interest in
India in Europe.
“It will act as a bridge between
Indian universities, particularly
Jawaharlal Nehru University and
Central University of Hyderabad,
along with other EU-funded
centres in the European Union
countries,” said Marie-Theresa
Duffy Hausler, the representative
of EU in Poland.
“The centre will take up a Mas-
ters Course on Indian Studies
shortly and that too in English
language, so that it could meet
the requirements of EU students,”
said Pawel Wajczehowski,
Poland's vice minister for foreign
affairs.
“It is a great day for India that
EU has given a proper status to
the emerging power of India,”
said Rajesh Vashenav, the Indian
charge d’affaires at the inaugura-
tion ceremony of the university.
“We are ready to host the first
joint seminar in January 2011,”
said Prakash Sarangi, pro-vice
chancellor of the University of
Hyderabad.
The EU Commission selected
Poland and Denmark among 27
countries. The centre will get spe-
cialists from other European
countries along with teachers
from India.
29
 DIASPORA
TEMPLE
of Learning
A state-funded school in Britain is adorned
with a marvellous marble temple that boasts
of Vedic ethos and vegetarian meals
dorned with classroom
A
shrines and a grand mar-
ble temple, Britain’s first
state-funded Hindu school
has opened its doors to the British
media after fending off allegations it
would promote religious segregation.
Krishna Avanti Primary School
opened up its eco-friendly com-
pounds to show its Vastu-inspired
architecture and design, yoga ses-
sions, Vedic ethos and vegetarian
meals. And the sponsors of the
school in northwest London, which
has the largest concentration of
Hindus in Britain, immediately
announced plans to open up sec-
ondary Hindu schools to cater to
mounting demand in London,
Leicester and other cities.
The showpiece of the school,
which does not charge fees, is an
eye-catching temple built from
30 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
hand-carved Makrana marble from
Rajasthan, the same marble that
was used to build the Taj Mahal.
The smart school buildings are
wood-clad, their roofs covered with
grass and the “eco-friendly” com-
pound includes a pond, a wildlife
garden and an amphitheatre.
Before the opening of the school,
which is funded by a charity and
partnered by the International Soci-
ety for Krishna Consciousness
(ISKCON), Hinduism was the only
major religion without a faith
school in Britain.
Headteacher Naina Parmer says,
“We’re not an exclusivist ghetto. As
a faith school one of the key things
is we’re an inclusive faith. The chil-
dren learn about other religions.”
“We play classical music in the
ISKCON: A
short history
The International Society for Krish-
na Consciousness, ISKCON, was
first incorporated in 1966 in New
York by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada. ISKCON today is a
worldwide confederation of more
than 400 centres, aiming for self-
sufficiency, 50 schools and 90
restaurants. In recent decades, the
movement's most rapid expansions
in terms of numbers of member-
ship have been within Eastern
Europe and India. ISKCON spreads
the practice of bhakti yoga (devo-
tion to God), in which aspirant
devotees (bhaktas) dedicate their
thoughts and actions towards
pleasing the Supreme Lord.
communal areas as it is calming
and it also embraces the fact we are
British.” Ten percent of the chil-
dren are white.
Unlike other schools in Britain,
Krishna Avanti Primary School recy-
cles rainwater, uses water pumps to
warm up water for under-floor heat-
ing and has intelligent building man-
agement systems that control room
temperature. As with a nearby
ISKCON temple — housed in an
estate donated by the late Beatle
George Harrison — the school serves
lunch cooked from vegetables that
are grown on the school grounds.
I-Foundation, an organisation
that helps raise government and
private funds to build schools, has
proposed a secondary school that
would cater to up to 600 pupils.
An ISKCON
temple
Indian
American
top mentor
ndian-American professor Ken-
I
neth S. Sajwan of Savannah
State University (SSU) has
received an award for excellence in
mentoring, from U.S. President
Barack Obama.
Sajwan, coordinator of the envi-
ronmental science programme at
SSU, was among 100 math and sci-
ence teachers to get the award from
Obama as he announced a $250 mil-
lion public-private initiative
designed to improve national math
and science education. Nationally
recognised as a leading scholar and
researcher in the field of environ-
mental science, Sajwan’s works
have been seen in more than 100
publications.
He received a Masters’ of Science
degree in agronomy in 1975 from
PIO appointed senator
ndo-Canadian
I
businessman
Vim Kochhar
was nominated to
the Canadian sen-
ate by Prime Min-
ister
Harper.
Stephen
Vim Kochhar
When he takes
oath, 73-year-old Kochhar will
become the first Indian-born sena-
tor in Canadian history. Kochhar is
among five new members appoint-
ed to the upper chamber of the
Canadian parliament.
Founder and CEO of the Vimal
Group of Companies in Toronto,
Kochhar came to Canada in 1967
after finishing his engineering
degree from the University of
Texas. He became a Canadian citi-
zen in 1974.
Currently, there are 105 members
in the Canadian senate which
includes 51 from the ruling Conser-
Kenneth S. Sajwan (left)
J.N. Agricultural University in
India and earned a doctoral degree
in post-harvest technology from
Indian Institute of Technology in
1980 and another doctoral degree in
agronomy and environmental qual-
ity from Colorado State University
in 1985. American students, Obama
noted, currently rank 21st in sci-
ence compared with students
around the world, put the U.S. at a
disadvantage on issues such as
medicine, energy and security.
vative Party and 49 from the oppo-
sition Liberal Party.
Known for his community work,
Kochhar set up the Canadian Foun-
dation for Physically Disabled Per-
sons. He was also instrumental in
starting the annual Great Valentine
Galas, Rolling Rampage for
wheelchair athletes, the Canadian
Helen Keller Centre, Rotary
Cheshire Homes for the Deaf-Blind,
the WhyNot Marathon for the Par-
alympics, and the Terry Fox Hall of
Fame.
Since the opposition majority in
the Senate till now held up many
government legislation, the Cana-
dian Prime Minister said: “The
opposition have abused their Senate
majority by obstructing and evis-
cerating law and order measures
that are urgently needed by Cana-
dians. These new senators are com-
mitted to community safety and jus-
tice for the victims of crime.”
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
MARTINS GETS
TOP OZ HONOUR
I ndian-origin
researcher of
Alzheimer’s dis-
ease, Ralph
Martins, has
been named
Australian of
the Year 2010 Ralph Martins
by the government of Western Aus-
tralia. Peter Varghese, Australian
high commissioner to India, said:
“The award signals Martins’ contri-
butions to research on Alzheimer's
disease.”
OZ DAY MEDALS
CONFERRED
V .P. Unnikrishnan, secretary of
the Federation of Indian Com-
munities, Queensland, has
received two Australia Day
Achievement Medals for his con-
tributions to society there.
Both these awards are to recog-
nise individuals who made note-
worthy contributions to the com-
munity and department over
many years. It was his road design
at the Sydney Olympics, which
ensured smooth flow of traffic
from the city of Sydney to the Syd-
ney Olympics village.
INDIAN LINGUIST
EXCELS
A n Indian linguist, M. J. Warsi,
has been awarded a $25,000
grant by the South Asian Language
Resource Centre (SALRC) to devel-
op a South Asian languages cur-
riculum in the U.S. A gold medal-
list from Aligarh Muslim Universi-
ty, Warsi teaches linguistics at
Washington University. An Indo-
Aryan language and linguistics
professor in the South Asian Stud-
ies at the department, Warsi has
also authored many books help-
ing understand the efficacy of the
common contact in languages and
culture.
31
 SPORT
COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2010
PEOPLING
THE COLOSSEUM
The CWG Organising Committee has received an
overwhelming response from aspiring volunteers,
from homemakers to corporate chieftains
here is a buzz around the
T
imposing Commonwealth
Games Organising Com-
mittee Headquarters near
Connaught Place these days as
scores of excited students, profes-
sionals, homemakers, ex-service-
men, teachers and people from the
corporate world flock to it to join as
volunteers for the October 3-14
Games.
The aspiring volunteers await
their turn for a one-on-one inter-
view for being part of the 30,000
needed for the Games, though the
Did you know
n The logo of the Commonwealth Games is inspired by the Ashok Chakra. Spiralling upwards,
it depicts the growth and development of India.
n It has a distinctive colour scheme in which green signifies life and energy, purple adds a
hint of mystery and excitement, while pink adds an element of surprise and luxury to the Games
look, reflecting the resplendent glory of India.
32 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
number of applicants is several
times that number.
Sudhir Mital, the special director-
general looking after the Rs.180 mil-
lion ($4 million) image-building vol-
unteers programme Delhi United,
said the response was so over-
whelming that receiving applica-
tions online had to be discontinued
for a while.
“To make the programme social-
ly inclusive, we have categorised
applicants under different heads.
For 5,000 volunteers in the general
category, our portal has received a
whopping 29,000 applications, forc-
ing us to discontinue the service,”
Mital told IANS.
It is amazing to find the kind of
people who want to be associated
with the Games in some form or
other — from specialist volunteers
to generalist.
“We have a number of applicants
from top corporate houses. They
are willing to take off from their
work to join the Games,” Mital
said.
The rest of the 25,000 volunteers
will be recruited from the Tourism
Ministry, Delhi University, Nation-
al Cadet Corps, National Service
Scheme, and sports and physical
training institutes.
“The volunteers will be the most
visible face of the Games. From the
moment a visitor lands at the air-
port till the time he leaves, he will
be interacting with volunteers the
most. Therefore, the volunteers pro-
gramme is a key component in the
Games framework,” Mital
said.
— Azera Rahman
What’s that? A Soleckshaw
ere come the ‘Soleck-
H shaws’. Thousands of
athletes and officials tak-
ing part in the Common-
wealth Games here this year will
get to travel in solar rickshaws —
a zero carbon vehicle.
“We are introducing a fleet of
1,000 Soleckshaws (the name of
solar rickshaws) for the Common-
wealth Games players,” Rajesh
Kumar, a senior scientist at the
Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR), told IANS.
“These Soleckshaws are the
greenest transport vehicles. They
will also help the cause of the Green
Games as promised by the Delhi
government,” said the scientist,
who has been coordinating with the
state government for this project.
Over 7,000 players and delegates
from over 70 countries will reach
Delhi to be a part of the Common-
wealth Games from October 3-14 in
the national capital.
It was developed by the Durgapur- A soleckshaw powered by solar panels
based Central Mechanical Engi-
neering Research Institute, one of India's effort in providing a life of The Green
the 30-odd laboratories of CSIR, the
apex science research body in the
dignity to people.
“It will enhance the dignity of Code
country. human labour by diminishing
The technology has been trans- drudgery and exhaustion involved
ferred to three companies — one in pulling traditional rickshaws. T he Games
has insti-
each in Faridabad, Hyderabad and This will put India in a better light tuted a Com-
Kolkata. among the global community. It’s a monwealth
“These zero carbon vehicles will model for sustainable develop- Games Delhi A CNG
bus in Delhi
ferry players inside the Games vil- ment,” he said. 2010 Ecological
lages and help them reach sporting The scientist said use during the Code that outlines ways of cutting
venues from Metro stations,” Games would help the acceptance down on carbon emissions during
Kumar explained. level of the vehicle and increase the mega sporting event, laying
He said this effort would give spe- self-employment at the grassroots. stress on clean fuel, water conser-
cial status to the country for its aim The solar rickshaw would not use vation and waste management.
of reducing carbon intensity even any fossil fuel and hence there was The ecological code will also assess
during a mega sporting event and no question of polluting the envi- the impact of the Games on land,
popularise the vehicle among the ronment. energy, water, air and carbon while
masses, who may adopt it quickly He said the solar rickshaws would delineating its environmental
in several cities. be supplied by three companies. vision. The code emphasises exten-
Soleckshaws are optimally “We will have full support for sive afforestation, energy conser-
designed, pedal operated, motor this. It will support the Green vation, reduction in water con-
assisted green pedicabs which draw Games concept as well as make our sumption, encouraging waste-
their power from overhead solar product a marketable one later,” water treatment, encouraging the
panels. said Anil Sahoo, manager of the use of clean fuel such as CNG in
The solar panels absorb energy Hyderabad Battery Limited, one of buses and creating awareness
from sun, which powers the pedal- the three companies, which are con- among Delhiites about preserva-
driven vehicle. Kumar said intro- verting CSIR lab rickshaws to tion of biodiversity.
ducing these rickshaws will herald marketable ones.
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 33
 SCIENCE
MARINE LIFE
SEA SECRETS: OVER
They were the sea’s best kept secrets — until now. Scientists have
found over 5,000 new marine species that lay deep, unexplored.
cientists working on the
S world’s first ocean census —
a decade-long project —
claim to have found over
5,000 new marine organisms that
were not known to mankind all this
while.
A network of 2,000 scientists from
82 nations have been working since
the year 2000 to prepare an inven-
tory of marine organisms in the
world, which will be released in
London in October this year. The
project costs around $650 million.
“We have found more than 5,000
new marine species and many more
are lying in jars yet to be analysed,”
Jesse Ausubel, programme coordi-
nator of the Census of Marine Life
(CoML) scientific steering commit-
tee, told IANS during a trip to India.
Scientists engaged in the census
have observations on 200,000 to
250,000 forms of marine lives which
will be available in an online ency-
clopaedia. But they think it is just
the tip of the iceberg and millions
of more species living in the sea are
yet to be discovered.
“We are all eagerly waiting for
October 2010 when we will present
the first census of marine life as we
This Crassota jellyfish was found by
the Census of Marine Life.
34 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
Anthomastis cascade was discovered in the Tasman Fracture Zone.
don’t have any mals are moving to cooler waters
details about due to heating of the oceans or from
marine organ-
isms. It will
have details
shallow water to deeper due to pol-
lution or harmful methods of fish-
ing,” said Pioner, who also heads
about the small- the Australian Institute of Marine
est organisms, Science.
the microbes, to The scientists found that there
the very largest, are a large number of undiscovered
Jesse Ausubel, the blue whales, species in the deep sea.
Programme which live in the “About 90 percent of species we
Coordinator,
CoML sea,” said recovered in the deep sea were new
Ausubel. to science. Bigger species have been
“The first census will not only explored but species of the small
advance knowledge about life in the size between 500 micron and 1 mm
global ocean, including the first
Clione limacina (Sea Angel)
ever complete catalogue of marine
life, but will serve to inform deci-
sions about how best to manage and
preserve the resources that live
below the surface around the
world,” said Ausubel.
Ian Poiner, chairman of CoML,
said: “We want to know how cli-
mate change, more acid in the
ocean, more pollutants and more
sound are affecting marine life and
we cannot find this until we have a
comprehensive baseline of marine
life.”
“Now that we will have an inven-
tory of marine life, say, by 2020 or
2030, we can say that certain ani-
5,000 SPECIES FOUND
have maximum diversity on earth.
They live at 1,000 to 2,000 metres
depth and get enough food and ener-
gy to survive,” said Myriam Sibuet,
vice-chairperson of CoML. The
international scientific steering
committee of CoML has simultane-
ously started genetic barcoding of
old and new species. DNA barcod-
ing is a method that uses a short
genetic marker in an organism’s
DNA to identify it.
“Initially, we are trying barcod-
ing for over 50,000 of the 200,000
species and have taken species of
Space technology to identify
WHALE SHARKS OFF GUJARAT
ndian scientists will try to dis-
I tinguish individual whale
sharks off the Gujarat coast,
using a technique employed by
NASA to identify galaxies.
Just as each tiger is distinguished
by its stripes, whale sharks too can
be identified through a unique pat-
tern of spots that form points of
numerous triangles on their bodies,
say experts.
As the whale shark grows, the dis-
tance between these spots increas-
es, but angles of these triangles
remain the same, thus identifying
the whale shark. The method is also
used by NASA to identify galaxies.
This initiative is part of a study to
understand the migratory pattern,
breeding and habitat of whale
sharks for future conservation mea-
sures, says Dhiresh Joshi of the
NGO Wildlife Trust of India (WTI)
that is working on the project in
partnership with the Gujarat forest
department.
It involves taking underwater pic-
tures of whale sharks and storing
them in a global database managed
by the NGO Ecocean.
If whale sharks spotted here are
also sighted elsewhere in the world,
some of the major groups like mol-
luscs, gastropods, sea cucumbers,
and microbes. We have already bar-
coded 10,000 species,” said Sibuet.
Scientists in the census were also
impressed with the high level of
Indian participation in the census.
“In India, we got a chance to
explore new technology that can be
used for exploring the ocean. It has
opened up new vistas for other pro-
grammes,” said Mohideen Wafar,
chairperson of the Indian Ocean
team of CoML.
— Richa Sharma
A whale shark
it will help reveal their migratory
path to the Arabian Sea through the
oceans. Initially, the forest depart-
ment and WTI will be the main col-
laborators of the project. Later, fish-
ermen will be roped in too, for
sighting and the photo identifica-
tion programme, says Joshi.
Each time a whale shark is pho-
tographed, details of the location,
water conditions and other factors
are recorded. The photographs help
identify individual whale sharks,
facilitate population estimation by
the ‘mark recapture’ method and
migratory pattern, he added.
Joshi says past record shows that
whale sharks aggregate in larger
This transparent sea
cucumber was spotted some
1.7 miles under the sea in the
Northern Gulf of Mexico.
numbers off Gujarat than off any
other state in India.
A survey by the NGO Traffic
India recorded over 500 whale
shark sightings between 1999 and
2000.
“From the satellite images it is
clear there are large plankton
blooms off the coast of Gujarat com-
pared to any other maritime state
and this could be the reason for
such frequent sightings,” Joshi told
IANS.
Ecocean has received support
from the UN Environment Pro-
gramme to promote the global
whale shark library.
— Sanjeeb Baruah
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 35
 CINEMA
SUPER GROSSER
‘My Name Is Khan’
CREATES HISTORY
Reiterating the fact that Shah Rukh Khan is the king, MNIK becomes
a global phenomenon, with the biggest openings ever for a Bollywood
film in the UK and the United States
hat he is a bigger draw
T than Hollywood superstar
Tom Cruise with the Indi-
an diaspora in the UK and
the US, is an earlier-known fact.
This time Shah Rukh Khan has
gone a step ahead. His latest film,
Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan,
has become a global phenomenon.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says,
“It has made the biggest opening
ever for a Bollywood film in the UK
($1.4 million in its opening week-
end), and also in the US ($1.86 mil-
lion in the first weekend). This reit-
erates the fact that Shah Rukh is
king in the overseas market.’’
The film has also taken several
other foreign markets by storm. It
has broken the record for the
biggest initial for a Bollywood
movie in the UAE. And is the first
Hindi film to release in Egypt
across eight theatres. In the first
week of March, the film released in
nine theatres across Jordan, Syria
and Lebanon.
On its opening day, MNIK raked
in Rs. 250 million worldwide — the
first of its kind.
High on the praise he has
received from the Indian and for-
eign media, an ecstatic Karan said,
“MNIK is the first global film that
has actually come from Bollywood.
It has penetrated far deeper than
36 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
the parameters of the diaspora mar-
kets and has found patronage in
countries like Poland, Germany and
Russia where no Bollywood films
have found such a huge favour. We
have already added 25 odd prints
across the Middle East — Oman,
Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, heart-
ened by the phenomenal first week
collections in UAE.’’
Fox Star Studios, Red Chillies and
Dharma Productions are smiling
their way to the bank because in
the Middle East countries, the print
counts that stood at 61 will go up to
71 by the first week of March. This
is almost double the print tally for
most Hindi films. In Singapore
alone, the film has done phenome-
nal business at the ticket windows
which is a record for Hindi film.
And the great word of mouth con-
tinues to keep it on top, says the
local distributor. Australia and
New Zealand have ended their first
week collections with record ticket
sales. In Hong Kong, the film is run-
ning to packed houses.
What has warmed the cockles of
Karan’s heart, though, is his recent
trip to the prestigious Berlin Film
Festival where SRK, Kajol and he
walked down the red carpet.
Reports say there were 3,000 ecstat-
ic fans braving the minus 10
degrees temperature to participate
in their moment of glory. Sources
say that when Shah Rukh got the
1,800 lucky viewers who finally
made it into the auditorium to
dance to the ‘Sajda’ number, he won
Germans for life.
In India, despite controversy and
calls to boycott the film, hundreds
of thousands thronged cinema halls
across India, and MNIK opened to
packed theatres.
But Khan has a long journey
ahead. Karan and Shah Rukh still
have a couple of aces up their
sleeve. “We will be releasing the
film in many other countries across
Europe and America right till the
month of June,’’ says Karan. “The
actual assessment can therefore be
made only after July, when the real
numbers of the film start showing.’’
Karan added.
The film is also being dubbed in
German and Polish so that the non-
Hindi speaking SRK fans also get to
enjoy MNIK. “Every country has a
different requirement. In Poland, it
will be released with Polish subti-
tles. In Germany, we want the film
to go down much deeper to the Ger-
man audience and that particular
market prefers films to be dubbed.
So that's why we are dubbing it in
German and Turkish,” Vijay Singh,
CEO of Fox STAR Studios India,
said.
More than a name
“My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist”
hese words today signify the majority of Muslims who live in con-
T stant fear that they will be branded terrorists simply because
they follow Islam. This unfortunately is the latent fear
the majority of our Muslim brethren nurture — of being
branded terrorists simply because they follow Islam!
There couldn’t have been a better time for a film like
My Name Is Khan when a growing number of people are
victims of what some call “travelling while a Muslim”. A
passenger, whatever be his religion, bearing a first name
or a surname like Muhammad, Khan, Rahman or any other
Arabic name, must endure extra security checks and humil-
iation at international airports. One of the initial scenes in
the film has an American airport security officer jestingly
asking Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) what message he
wanted to give to the President of the United States, “You
know where Osama is?” The scene captures a certain
mood, paranoia, fear and disdain for Muslims in the US
post 9/11.
In the last few years, many Bollywood films have
attempted to tackle the issue of terrorism. Many often
claim to have helped ‘remove’ the stereotypes about Mus-
lims. But these storylines have failed miserably. The cen-
tral point being the characterisation of the key players in
the story, linking ‘Islamist terror’ with Islam. In almost all
these films, the protagonist who stood against terror was
either a modern and educated Muslim or a non-Muslim. In
the former case, not because he did not have any theolog-
ical understanding of Islam but because he had lived in the
West! And that leaves the stereotypes and confusion intact.
This is why My Name is Khan is such an important film.
The film tackles the subject head-on and triumphs. The
protagonist, as well as various other supporting Muslim
characters, are shown comfortable leading a normal ‘Muslim’
life. They pray, they wear the hijab, and they have a social life
too outside their Muslim families. They have strong traditional roots
but are not inclined towards any larger ‘plot’. The film acknowledges the
problems within Muslim communities and brings out into the open what is dis-
cussed under the closet, but then counters them not from outside but from inside. MNIK’s
central character stands out against the system not in spite of his upbringing and ‘religion’,
but because of it. MNIK is the story of Rizwan Khan, an Indian Muslim immigrant to the
US who is disabled by Asperger’s Syndrome. Rizwan can think only in black and white, right
or wrong and has little appreciation of social nuances. So he does things straight out of his
heart — be it offering namaz in public spaces, reciting the Surah Ikhlas while passing
through airport security, offering Zakat at the 9/11 charity, donning traditional clothes, or
dismissing his neighbour’s culinary skills on her face. Various other characters are authen-
tic and taken straight out of daily life, be it that of Rizwan’s brother, his sister-in-law, or the
Gujarati motel owner. Khan’s life changes after his son becomes a victim to anti-Muslim
‘hatred’. One of the most poignant scenes in the film is where Khan’s wife Mandira (Kajol) is
near hysterical and lashes out at him: “My son was killed because his name was Khan, if his
name was Rathore, he would be living. He was killed because I took on your name.”
Bollywood has been faulted for timing, for its films on 9/11 and its effects have appeared 10
years after the tragedy. Hence the most often asked question: “How is this relevant to us today?”
After Mumbai’s 26/11 tragedy, the film becomes an effective vehicle for the message of toler-
ance, harmony and peace. Not least, in the wake of the Shiv Sena’s anti-SRK tirade and subse-
quent vandalisation of cinema halls. MNIK has a universal story to tell. — By Nandini S. Sen
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 37
 CINEMA
FILMFARE AWARDS

A Bollywood twist AUTUMN

And the BLACK With the market for graphic novels growing
OF A STAR
LADY goes to... big, publishing houses in India are roping in
Bollywood filmmakers for racy stories
raphic novels, the illus-
Big B shocked to see
robust Shashi Kapoor
in wheelchair

T
wo vastly different
films swept up an
equal number of
trophies at the 55th
Idea Filmfare Awards held
year owing to SRK’s elbow
injury. Wasting no time at
all, the irrepressible duo
launched their antics on the
red carpet itself, and kept
elor of the industry fended
them off pleading oonchi
hai building, lift teri band
hai.
Katrina Kaif was
G trated avatar of the con-
ventional storybook, are
gradually making their
presence felt in the country, offer-
ing a wider bouquet of Indian and
A mitabh
Bachchan
was shocked to
see Shashi
Kapoor, his co-
at a glittering ceremony at pulling out the gags thick another class act with a foreign titles and even roping star of Trishul,
Yash Raj Studios in Andheri and fast through the medley of recent songs in Bollywood filmmakers for Deewar and so
recently. evening. In this, they were leading from yaar nazar racy scripts. many other hits,
While Vidhu Vinod ably supported by good nahin aata and hai Westland Limited and Tranque- confined to a
Chopra’s 3 Idiots snapped up friend Karan Johar and junoon to her signature bar Press, an upcoming publishing wheelchair at the Filmfare Awards.
most of the popular awards actors Siddharth and Shruti. hit Tera hone laga hoon house promoting young writers Amitabh was supposed to pre-
— Best Film, Best Director, Salman Khan stole the from Ajab Prem Ki from across the globe, “has extreme sent the Filmfare Lifetime Achieve-
Best Story, Best Screenplay, show by dancing wildly to Ghazab Kahani. plans to promote the segment”. ment Award to the 71-year-old
Best Dialogue and Best Sup- the kind of songs that front- Shahid Kapoor’s tal- “Suddenly, the film industry is actor, but could not attend. How-
porting Actor, Anurag benchers love him for. As a ent at dancing is a fore- interested in the graphic novel as like Corridor, The Barn Owl's Won- ever, Amitabh saw pictures of the
Kashyap’s Dev D won six as bevy of hopeful chorus gone conclusion and an extension of what it is doing — drous Capers, Kari and The Hotel At event later and was shocked — just
well. The Best Actor award dancers begged baraat leke this time he chose a supplementing it,” Paul Vinay The End of the World. like so many of his other fans.
went to Amitabh Bachchan aaja, the most eligible bach- theme that struck an Kumar, executive editor of West- A year ago, four illustrators/writ- “...the affable (Filmfare) editor
for his performance as a instant chord. As he land Limited and Tranquebar ers, Sarnath Banerjee, Vishwajyoti Jitesh Pillai had asked me if I would
progeria-afflicted child in did a mean moon- Press, said. Ghosh, Parismita Singh and Orijit give the Lifetime Achievement
Paa, while Vidya Balan walk, the audience’s The publishing house is talking to Sen joined hands with Amitava Award to Shashi Kapoor and I had
walked away with the Best thoughts went back filmmaker Anurag Kashyap to Kumar to set up the Pao’s Collective agreed with great pleasure. I
Actress trophy for the to the colossal loss “develop a series of graphic novels”, — India’s first platform to promote missed that more than the expec-
same film. of the past year— which will be scripted by him and graphic novels. tation of winning the best actor
Led by a line-up of stal- Michael Jackson. illustrated by Westland, Kumar Since then, almost every contem- award. Seeing him confined to a
warts who turned out in Another warm tribute said. “We are also discussing a porary popular literature series — wheel chair, was something I could
strength, the Hindi film was reserved for the graphic novel project with ad be it Indian or foreign — has flood- never associate Shashiji with,”
industry raised a toast to its living legends. The whizkid R. Balakrishnan (Balki) of ed the country. Amitabh posted on his blog.
members who hit paydirt at audience rose as one Paa fame. It is in a nascent stage,” The format is trying to fill the gap
the box-office and won criti- when actor Shashi he said. between television and fine print to
cal acclaim as well. Much to Kapoor and composer “I think a younger and more visu- lure new and younger segments of A unique film
Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra
the delight of the spectators,
and director Rajkumar Hirani
Khayyam were ally trained generation identifies readers, said publishers at the fest in Puri
show hosts Shah Rukh Khan at the Filmfare Awards
awarded this year’s with the text-image composite. recently held World Book Fair in
and Saif Ali Khan were back Lifetime Achieve- Those who’ve grown up with comic New Delhi.
after taking a break last
ceremony where their film
3 Idiots bagged six awards. ment Awards. books are comfortable with the idea
of reading images. Then there are
“The genre, which had a slow
start in the 1990s, is now coming
N o juries, no awards... just sun,
sand, sea and film screenings
inside makeshift tents. These were
the more adventurous readers who into its own. One of the reasons some of the unique features of the
ROLE OF HONOUR Critics’ Award Best are constantly seeking new forms why graphic novels were slow to Bring Your Own Film Festival
Best Film: 3 Idiots Actor (Male): Ranbir and ideas,” Karthika V.K., chief edi- capture the market was the high (BYOFF), recently held in Puri. Hun-
Best Director: Raj Kumar Hirani | 3 Idiots Kapoor | Wake Up Sid, tor and publisher of HarperCollins- cost of production,” Chandrakant dreds of filmmakers, artists, cre-
Best Actor (Male): Amitabh Bachchan | Paa Ajab Prem, Rocket Singh India, said. Baua, publisher of the Mumbai- ative men and women and stu-
Best Actor (Female): Vidya Balan | Paa Critics’ Award for Best Actor The graphic book, which existed based Shree Book Centre, said. dents participated in BYOFF. It was
Best Supporting Actor (Male): Boman Irani | 3 Idiots (Female): Mahie Gill | Dev D as comic books in India till the The Shree Book Centre dis- the seventh edition of the festival,
Best Supporting Actor (Female): Kalki Koechlin | Dev D Best Story: Abhijat Joshi, 1980s, evolved as picture novels in tributes graphic versions of popular initiated by a group of filmmakers
Best Music: A.R. Rahman | Delhi 6 Rajkumar Hirani | 3 Idiots the mid-90s when Goa-based illus- titles like the Hardy Boys, Nancy to provide a hassle-free platform
Playback (Male): Mohit Chauhan | ‘Masakali’, Delhi 6 Best Debut (Directors): Ayaan Mukherji | trator Orijit Sen published River of Drew, Biggles, Agatha Christie, to people to showcase their cre-
Best Playback (Female): Kavita Seth | ‘Iktara’, Wake Wake Up Sid, Zoya Akhtar | Luck By Chance Stories (1994) about a young activist Iznogoud, Quick and Flupke, ativity. BYOFF made its debut in
Up Sid, Rekha Bhardwaj | ‘Genda phool’, Delhi 6 Lifetime Achievement Awards: Shashi Kapoor, campaigning against the Narmada Doomsday and Birth of a Monster 2004 and more than 3,500 people
Critics’ Award for Director: Nandita Das | Firaaq Khayyam Dam Project. series. The price of graphic novels have participated over the past
The book led to a spurt in the pub- ranges between Rs. 190 and Rs. 699 few years.
lication of similar illustrated novels on an average, publishers said.

38 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 39

 TRAVEL
FOSTERED BY
MOTHER NATURE
Nestling in the eastern Himalayas, Meghalaya is the land of majestic
mountains, deep gorges, sparkling lakes and mesmerising waterfalls,
says Kamini Kumari
small state situated in the
A hilly terrains of Garo-
Khasi Mountains, Megha-
laya is an upcoming eco-
tourism destination with its abun-
dant flora and fauna. Meghalaya lit-
erally means ‘abode of clouds’
which describes the climatic phe-
nomenon of torrential rains in the
region. The state is blessed with
spellbinding natural beauty with
over 250 species of flowers,
sparkling lakes, dazzling rivers,
lush green mountains, gushing
waterfalls and thriving wildlife.
This spectacular north-eastern
state of India has it all.
Garo-Khasi Hills
eghalaya was declared the 21st
M state of India in 1972 by uni-
40 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
fying the regions of the Garo and
Khasi mountains. The Khasi hills
region is characterised by an
imposing plateau marked by deep
gorges and steep slopes. The green-
ery spread across the river valleys
is breathtaking with over 150
species of grass. The place also
boasts of a number of ancient
monoliths and table stones as tall as
6 metres.
The Tura peak of Garo hills, 657
metres above sea level, offers an
arresting sight of the mighty
Brahmaputra river flowing down
the plains. Its catchment area is
clearly visible from the peak, offer-
ing one of the country’s most rare
sights. The Nokrek Biosphere
Reserve in the Garo hills region is
one of the least disturbed forest
tracts of the Himalayan ranges. It
also houses the mysterious Siju
cave, which has water dripping
continuously from its walls and is
yet to be explored completely.
Cherrapunji: Earth’s
wettest place
egarded as the wettest place on
R earth, Cherrapunji’s yearly
rainfall measures over 11,430 mm.
Tucked away in the Khasi hills, 56
km from Shillong, Cherrapunji was
the first British outpost in the east-
ern part of India.
Over 1300 metres above sea level,
this breath-taking enclave is also
famous for its limestone caves and
orange honey. A place where rever-
berating waterfalls leap into deep
gorges forming splendorous rain-
bows.
Umiam Lake — also known as
‘Bara Pani’ — in Shillong
Top: Locals playing the betting game ‘Teer’
Below: A root bridge in Cherrapunji
Shillong: ‘Scotland of
the East’
he state capital is a very attrac-
T tive hill station luring you with
its sparkling lakes, numerous
waterfalls and pine-tree forests. The
place still has an English aura
attached to it, with locals address-
ing it as ‘mini London’. Shillong
has a host of attractions making it
a popular tourist destination. It
boasts of an 18-hole golf course sit-
uated in the heart of the city. Estab-
lished in 1898 by officers of British
Civil Services, golfers from all over
the world come here to test their
skills. The densely forested Shillong
Peak, 1,965 metres above sea level is
an ideal place for camping. A steep
curvy road will take you to the
point from where you can have a
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 41

look at another of Mother Nature’s
wonders — the snow-capped peaks
of the Himalayas and the plains of
Sylhet. Then there are the mes-
merising waterfalls that are equal-
ly phantasmal. The Bishop falls, the
Elephant falls, the Beadon falls and
Crinoline falls are the best known.
Adventurous
Meghalaya
ndowed with over 750 caves,
E many of them unmapped and
unexplored, Meghalaya is literally
the “cave capital” of the country.
Venture into the tenebrous Siju
caves, the stalactite Mawsynram
caves, the stalagmite Mawsmai
caves, the water dripping Syndai
caves and you will experience dark
mysteries. The Tura peak is the
best option for trekking and rock
climbing. The wild currents of the
Simsang river make for a perfect
white water rafting location. The
tall Pine trees are a bird watcher’s
delight, the most preferred destina-
tion for wildlife photographers.
Flora and Fauna
A magnificent waterfall in Cherrapunji
eghalaya has a forest cover of
M about 43 percent of the state’s
total area. These subtropical forests
Teer are one of the richest botanical
habitats of Asia. The place receives
A betting game, Teer is played with great passion and is hugely pop-
ular in the state. Archers take aim at a fixed target, called skum, made
of bamboo slats tied together, approximately 4 feet in height. Within 180
abundant rainfall supporting a vast
variety of floral and faunal biodi-
seconds, the archers are required to shoot with their allotted number of versity. There are the mysterious
arrows at the target placed at a distance of 150 feet. If out a total of 1,000 ‘sacred groves’, small pockets of
arrows, 850 implant themselves on the skum, then that archer wins. Those forests preserved by the tribal com-
who place their bets on the winning archer receive double the amount munities for hundreds of years.
that was at stake. The game offers tremendous scope to become a world- They remain protected from any
renowned sport and has already become a part of Meghalaya’s ethno- sort of exploitation and harbour
social identity. many rare plant and animal
species.
The Khasi hills showcase more
Festivals than 2,000 flowering plants in a
mong the Garos, the most important festival is the Wangala or the radius of 16 km. There are over 150
A Hundred-drum Festival held in the months of November and Decem-
ber. This is a harvest festival celebrated in honour of Saljong, the Sun God
species of ferns, mosses, fungi and
lichens. More than 250 species of
of fertility. The festival marks the end of the period of toil in the fields, bring- orchids, 25 species of balsams, 20
ing a good yield of crops. Everybody — young and old join in the festivi- species of palms and wild species of
ties. The men beat the drums and move forward in rhythmic union. Dore- apples are available in the area.
gata Dance Festival is another interesting festival, in which women try to The eastern region of the Garo
knock off the turbans of their male partners, using their heads. Another hills provides a natural habitat for
dance that requires exquisite skill is the Chambil Mesara or Pomelo Dance. mammals, reptiles, birds and
This is a solo dance form, in which the performer dangles a pomelo or any insects. It has a considerable num-
other fruit on a cord tied to his waist and then hurls it round and round. ber of wild elephants, boars, deer,
leopards, apes and monkeys. There
42 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010
How to reach
Road: National Highway-40 runs
across the state. It connects
Shillong with Guwahati, which
in turn is connected to other
major cities of the country.
Railways: Shillong is connected
by North Frontier and North
Eastern Railway via Guwahati
Railway Station, which is about
127 km from Meghalaya.
By Air: Shillong is connected by
helicopter service from
Guwahati. Guwahati Airport is
over 120 km away.
are approximately 500 species of
butterflies with some of them being
very rare. Meghalaya has three
wildlife sanctuaries, the
Nongkyllem sanctuary, the Siju
sanctuary and the Bhagmara sanc-
Young girls getting ready before participating in the
tuary, which is also home to the Wangala Dance Festival
insect-eating pitching plant,
Nepenthes Khasiana.
Meghalaya is a state comprising
many natural wonders. The hot
springs of sulphur water at Jakrem,
64 km from the state capital, are
believed to have curative medici-
nal properties. The trees of the
sacred groves are considered aus-
picious and are worshipped by the
locals. The caves are believed to be
a part of “divine intervention” as
many of them have giant forma-
tions in the shape of shivalingas
with water continuously dripping
over as if to anoint them.
Meghalaya is an amalgam of cul-
tural diversity, rich heritage, mass-
scale festivals and the tribes.
The best time to visit is during Above: The famed cane products crafted by
the months of March to July when the Khasis
monsoons come to a halt. Below: A tea garden in Shillong
Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 43
 BOOKS
NEW PHILOSOPHY

Dawn of light Solo wins C’wealth

Writer’s Prize
TOP 10 BESTSELLERS
...in India in March
Polish philosopher Henryk Skolimowski says in his new book that Fiction
ndian novelist Rana Das-
mankind has to transcend matriarchy, patriarchy and anarchy to treat
light as the great cosmic mother...
fter matriarchy and patri-
I gupta’s Solo and Pak-
istan-based
Daniyal Mueenuddin’s
In Other Rooms, Other Won-
author
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest
Author: Stieg Larsson
Publisher: Quercus

A
archy, the world is gradu-
ally moving towards an
age of light or ‘lumenar-
chy’, says noted Polish philosopher
and Indophile, Henryk Skolimows-
ki, who considers himself “more
Indian”, in his new book Let There
Be Light: The Mysterious Journey of
Cosmic Creativity.
“If we go back 7,000 years ago in
time, society was dictated by god’s
essential laws — justice and com-
passion. But there has been gross
violation of the law by patriarchal
societies. All patriarchal religions
are ungodly and inhuman. Matri-
archy was symbiotic. The motto of
matriarchy was ‘live and let live’,
but the motto of patriarchy was ‘I
have to live’. We cannot live with
patriarchy any longer and neither
can we return to a matriarchal set-
up. Where do we go from here?” asks
the 80-year-old philosopher.
“Mankind has to transcend matri-
archy, patriarchy and anarchy to
treat light as the great cosmic moth-
er — the source of all energy and
nourishment,” Skolimowski says.
“This is the essence of ‘lumenar-
chy’, an idea that I propounded for
the first time on February 18 this
year. It is an extension of my theory
of ‘lumenology’ or the understand-
ing of light and its role in the entire
cosmos and in the human world for
millions of years as all-pervading
and all-helpful,” he says.
The philosopher says that in the
long run “the seekers of light would
like to establish a ‘Society of Lume-
nologists’, whose members will come
from such diverse cross-sections as
sun worshipers, moon and star gaz-
ers, students of solar science,
philosophers, artists and all the hid-
den worshipers of light”.
Skolimowski’s work is targeted at
overcoming human angst caused in
part by the “dominance of modern
technology sowed by industrial rev-
olution and the imbalance in human
relationship with nature”.
He is the author of 40 books and 600
articles, including a book on Indian
spirituality and environment, Danc-
ing Shiva in the Ecological Age.
“I am more Indian and Hindu than
many in the country. When I first
came to India 22 years ago, it was
poorer. Now, prosperity has grown
and with it the dawning of con-
sciousness,” he says.
Price: Rs. 495
ders were recently declared
regional winners of the Com- 2 States: The Story of
monwealth Writer’s Prize for My Marriage
2010 in the European and Author: Chetan Bhagat
South Asian categories. Publisher: Rupa
While Solo was declared the Price: Rs. 95
best book, In Other Rooms...
was selected as the best first The Palace of Illusions
Rana Dasgupta book by an author. Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Presented by the Commonwealth Foundation with Publisher: Picador India
support from the Macquarie Group Foundation, the Price: Rs.395
global winners of the award will be presented on April
12. A five-day literary event in the run-up to the awards The Museum of Innocence
ceremony on April 12 will begin on April 7 with a series Author: Orhan Pamuk
of interactive literary sessions. This is the first time that Publisher: Faber and Faber
the event will be held in New Delhi, which will also host Price: Rs. 599
the Commonwealth Games in October.
The two books from the South Asian and European The House on Mall Road
regions will have to compete with winners from Africa, Author: Mohyna Srinivasan
Caribbean and Canada next month for the global prizes Publisher: Penguin Books
in the best book and the best first book categories, direc- Price: Rs. 325
tor of the Commonwealth Foundation, Mark Collins,
said. Other regional winners include The Double Crown Non-fiction
(Best Book) by Marie Heese and I Do Not Come to You
By Chance (Best First Book) by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani The Last Sunset
from Africa; Galore by Michael Crummey (Best Book); Author: Amarinder Singh
Under this Unbroken Sky (Best First Book) by Shandi Publisher: Roli Books
Mitchell from the Canada and Caribbean region; and Price: Rs. 695
The Adventures of Vela by Albert Wendt and Siddon
Freefall: America, Free Markets, and
Rock by Glenda Guest in the Southeast Asia and Pacif-
the Sinking of the World Economy
ic region.
Author: Joseph Stiglitz
Collins said the entries this year had been “absolute-
Publisher: Allen Lane
ly outstanding and competition was fierce”.
Price: Rs. 499

India’s Economy
The Scientific Indian: A Twenty-first Century Muskoka Maharani Indian Essentials
Author: Shankar Acharya
NEW RELEASES

Guide to the World around Us By David McMahon By Various Authors

and Rakesh Mohan
By A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

N uclear capability, self-

sufficiency in food pro-
duction, an array of indige-
nous satellites and missiles,
an unmanned Moon mission
— India’s achievements in
the scientific domain in
recent years have been spec-
tacular. But, according to the
country’s best-known scien-
tist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and his close associate Y.S.
Rajan, we’ve only just begun.
H arry Barnsley, an Australian newspaper
reporter, faces the sack if he cannot pro-
duce a scoop. Then the paper’s Anglo-Indian
advertising director, Charmaine D’Souza, tells
him to fly to Muskoka, north of Toronto,
where her Indian-born aunt Serena lives. Ser-
ena had helped capture a German spy during
the Second World War, but has remained
tight-lipped about the affair. Will Serena reveal her secret to
Barnsley?
David McMahon’s atmospheric novel gives us a rare glimpse
into the lives of ordinary Anglo-Indians in pre-Independent
India, even as it breaks the biggest story of the decade.
I ndian Essentials is a light-hearted, tongue-
in-cheek ode to India, celebrating 60 years
of the Indian Republic. In this quirky collec-
Publisher: Oxford
Price: Rs. 795
tion, twenty writers and social commentators Victoria & Abdul: The True Story
ponder the mysteries of the Indian psyche Of The Queen’s Closest Confidant
and try to make sense of one trait — the Author: Shrabani Basu
phenomenon or cultural value that is Publisher: Rupa
quintessentially Indian. From the Indian Price: Rs.395
male’s penchant for public urination to the
Indian female’s obsession with gold, from Biryani
the jhatkas of Bollywood to the melas of Allahabad, from our Author: Pratibha Karan
embarrassingly frank matrimonials to how seriously we take Publisher: Random House India
our copulation problems, nothing is spared scrutiny. Price: Rs.795

44 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 45

 DIASPORA
NEWSMAKERS

EX-DD ANCHOR JOINS

OBAMA TEAM
ecunderabad-born Suresh

S Kumar, who was also a for-

mer Doordarshan sports
and news anchor, has become
Making investment in India easier for overseas Indians.
the most senior Indian American
in the U.S. commerce depart-
ment. Indian head for
President and managing part-
ner of KaiZen Innovation, AMNESTY
Kumar served as a special advis-
er to the Clinton Foundation and
was a news anchor with Doordar- Suresh Kumar
S alil Shetty, an Indian who headed the UN
Millennium Campaign, is the next
Secretary-General of Amnesty International
shan from 1970 to 1985.
“I could not help but reflect on the incredible journey — the global human rights watchdog. He
from Mumbai via Indonesia, Singapore and Canada takes over the job in June 2010, succeeding
that brought me to the United States 16 years ago,” Irene Khan.
Kumar told lawmakers during his confirmation hear- “I feel privileged to be given this amazing
ings. Kumar’s confirmation has made him the second opportunity,” said Shetty, who becomes the
most senior Indian American in the Obama adminis- first Indian to head the human rights body.
tration after Rajiv Shah, administrator of the US Agen- Shetty will lead its 50th anniversary
cy for International Development (USAID), who is also expansion plans, said Amnesty.
in-charge of U.S. relief efforts in Haiti.

INDIAN-ORIGIN HAFIZ IS
NEW OIC ENVOY
For details contact:

R ashad Hussein is the latest high-level Indian-Ameri-

can appointee of the Obama White House. Rashad,
who has been a deputy associate White House counsel, takes
over as Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Confer-
Shefali Chaturvedi
Chief Executive Officer, OIFC
& Director, CII
249-F, Sector 18, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV
ence (OIC).
President Barack Obama described Rashad in glowing
Gurgaon - 122 015, Haryana, INDIA
terms: “A lawyer and a close and trusted member of my Tel: +91-124-4014060-67 / 4014071
White House staff”. Fax: +91-124-4014070
Announcing the appointment on February 13 in a video Website: www.oifc.in
message to the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar,
Obama’s avowed purpose was to broaden the “outreach
strategy towards the Muslim world” he laid out last year in
Cairo.
“Rashad has played a key role in developing the partner-
Rashad ships I called for in Cairo. And as a hafiz of the Quran, he is
Hussein
a respected member of the American Muslim community,”
Obama added.
Rashad posted a message on the White House blog, saying
he was “honoured and humbled” by the appointment.
lR;eso t;rs
Ministry of Overseas Confederation of
46 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 Indian Affairs Indian Industry
BEYOND THE ROCKS

L
ocated at about 400 metres from the southern-most tip of Kanyakumari, the Vivekananda Rock Memorial stands
tall at the Vivekananda Rock. The Rock juts out at the convergence of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the
Bay of Bengal, making the structure a visual treat. Built in 1970, the memorial commemorates the visit of Swami
Vivekananda who is believed to have meditated on the rocks. Legend has it that he attained enlightenment on the rock,
and subsequently became a reformer and philosopher. Regarded as a sacred place, the rock has been traditionally
known as ‘Sripada Parai’, meaning that it has been blessed by the ‘sacred feet’ of Goddess Kanya Kumari.
Built on a total area of 4 acres (16,200 sqm), the memorial consists of two main structures, the Vivekananda
Mandapam and the Shripada Mandapam. The former houses a life-size bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda. The calm
atmosphere of the Vivekananda Mandapam makes it an ideal place for meditation. The Shripada Mandapam is the
main sanctum surrounded by an outer platform. It has a projection on the rock that resembles a human foot, which is
regarded as Sri Padam.

lR;eso t;rs

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs

www.moia.gov.in
www.overseasindian.in