Tag Archives: indian
Technology and protest: A town crier in the global village
Posted on 02. Sep, 2010 by admin.
A cross-border fraternity that strives to be seen, heard and heeded NEARLY four years ago, a web-based political movement set itself the modest task of “closing the gap between the world we have and world most people everywhere want”. Calling their group Avaaz, which means “voice” in several languages, the founders aimed to reproduce globally some of the success which their progenitors—like America’s Moveon.org, and Australia’s Getup!—had enjoyed in national political arenas. By its own lights, the movement, using 14 languages and engaged in a mind-boggling list of causes, has had some spectacular successes. Within the next few months, membership will top 6m. The number of individual actions taken (from bombarding a politician with a well-aimed message, or funding a poster campaign, to helping provide satellite phones to Burmese monks) is estimated at over 23m. Among the recent developments Avaaz claims to have influenced are a new anti-corruption law in Brazil; a move by Britain to create a marine-conservation zone in the Indian Ocean; and the spiking of a proposal to allow more hunting of whales. …
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Mergers and acquisitions: Waiting for a wave
Posted on 26. Aug, 2010 by admin.
FIRMS with interim bosses usually opt for the quiet life, but the lack of a permanent boss did not stop Hewlett-Packard (HP) from launching a bidding war on August 23rd. The computer giant offered to buy 3Par, a data-storage firm, for $1.5 billion, topping the $1.15 billion offered a week earlier by Dell, a longtime rival of HP. On August 19th Intel, a chipmaker, splashed out $7.68 billion to buy McAfee, an antivirus-software firm. Nor is the fun confined to high-tech. On August 17th PotashCorp, a firm that mines potash, from which fertiliser is made, received and promptly rejected a $38.6 billion offer from BHP Billiton, a mining giant. BHP is now pursuing a hostile bid. Investment bankers are delighted. This quarter will probably see more mergers and acquisitions (M&A) than any since the crash (see chart). Is a new merger wave, widely predicted in the past year, finally breaking? M&A is a confidence game, reckons Carsten Stendevad of Citigroup’s corporate-finance advisory arm. That makes the recent increase in activity surprising, since business confidence has been weak, he says. However, the coincidence of several deals happening at once may make other bosses pluck up the courage to make a move. “It’s the front-page effect,” says Mr Stendevad. Not everyone thinks such deals are wise. Yet, even allowing for macroeconomic uncertainty, conditions are ripe for a surge in them. For a start, potential buyers are brimming with cash. Firms in America and Europe built up record reserves during the crisis, out of fear. If they don’t spend them, investors will demand bigger dividends or share buy-backs. The tough economy has helped the top firms in many industries to strengthen their position, in terms both of market share and of stockmarket valuation. These firms are now well-placed to do the sort of consolidating deals that tend to deliver better results to investors than the supposedly “visionary” strategic mergers that are more common when the economy is booming. So far, the bosses of weaker firms have typically resisted takeovers by telling their shareholders that the market is undervaluing their shares and that they will soon perk up. These shareholders may now be losing patience. Publicly traded firms are reluctant targets, but there are many willing corporate brides in the portfolios of private-equity firms. Having raised a stack of cash and often paid over the odds during the bubble years, private-equity firms are under huge pressure to return some money to their investors. Many would like to raise new funds, which is easier if you can show that the previous one wasn’t a complete disaster. At the same time, some private-equity firms have regained their taste for acquisitions: witness Blackstone’s $4.7 billion purchase of Dynegy this month, the biggest private-equity deal since 2007. A growing share of new deals will be in emerging markets and involve raw materials. For example, Vedanta, an Indian mining and energy firm, recently announced it was buying a majority stake in Cairn Energy’s Indian oilfields for $8.5 billion. The trend of emerging-market multinationals buying firms in rich countries faltered after the market crash. Acquirers such as Lenovo, a Chinese firm that bought IBM’s personal-computer business, found they had not got their money’s worth. But with stronger growth in emerging markets filling the coffers of local firms, their appetite for adventure in the old world is returning. So, too, in the offices of the sovereign-wealth funds that got burned last time. Sovereign funds invested around $12 billion in corporate acquisitions in the second quarter of this year. That is modest, but a big leap from $1.1 billion in the first quarter. The next few weeks will be crucial. M&A activity may slump as quickly as it surged as bosses return from their summer holidays to find the economy still in trouble. But history suggests that once a merger wave begins, it can grow quickly. Mr Stendevad of Citigroup points out that in the first two years of the rebound in deals after the recession of the early 1990s, global M&A volume rose by 25% and 24% respectively. In the first two years of recovery after the downturn of 2000-01, it grew by 40% and 43%. Will history repeat itself? Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator
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Security and the environment: Climate wars
Posted on 08. Jul, 2010 by admin.
Does a warming world really mean that more conflict is inevitable? AS THE planet warms, floods, storms, rising seas and drought will uproot millions of people, and with dire wider consequences. Barack Obama, collecting his Nobel peace prize, said that climate change “will fuel more conflict for decades”. He took the analysis not from environmental scaremongers but from a group of American generals. The forecast is close to becoming received wisdom. A flurry of new books with titles such as “Global Warring” and “Climate Conflict” offer near-apocalyptic visions. Cleo Paskal, at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, predicts that floods, storms, the failure of the Indian monsoon and agricultural collapse will bring “enormous, and specific, geopolitical, economic, and security consequences for all of us…the world of tomorrow looks chaotic and violent”. Jeffrey Mazo of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, also in London, calls climate change an “existential threat” and fears it could usher in “state failure and internal conflict” in exposed places, notably Africa. …
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Diasporas: A new sort of togetherness
Posted on 20. May, 2010 by admin.
With new technology and new concerns, emigres reinvent themselves AT A Hindu temple in Chicago, hundreds of people of Indian descent, professing many faiths, turned up from across Illinois and farther afield to hear a speaker from back home. But the meeting on May 15th was not the usual style of diaspora politics, in which a nation’s far-flung children are urged to cheer for the homeland. The man they came to see was Jayaprakash Narayan, head of a movement called Lok Satta which opposes corruption and wants electoral reform. And the aim of his month-long American tour, which includes venues like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Google headquarters in California, is to get support from Indian-Americans for a drive to correct some of India’s failings. That sounds a lot better than passing round the hat for hardline Hindu nationalist causes, something else that occurs in the diaspora. …
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I am not resigning: Lalit Modi
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
Despite presssure mounting from all quarters, Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi Tuesday put up a brave front and said he was not stepping down from his post. “There is no chance of resigning. I will present all my facts at the Governing Council meeting,” Modi told reporters at the airport after landing from Dubai.
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Section of Congress slandering me, says Praful Patel
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Tuesday rejected media reports alleging his involvement in the IPL controversy, and accused “a section of the Congress of spreading a slanderous campaign” against him. Patel, who is also general secretary of the NCP, denied reports that he was a “proxy owner” of an Indian Premier League team. “I do not have anything to do with cricket, IPL, BCCI (Board for Control of Cricket in India) or the bidding process. There is no question of holding any kind of stake,” Patel told NDTV news channel. Some media reports had said two central ministers were involved in the cash-rich IPL, which opposition parties have described as “gambling” and a place for all wrongdoings, including money laundering and betting. Speaking to reporters outside Pparliament House, Patel said: “The Congress party per se is not involved in the controversy, but a section of it is spreading a slanderous campaign against me.” Welcoming the government’s decision for a probe into the funding of IPL, Patel said: “I am happy the government has ordered a probe into it, and now the truth will come out. I have nothing to do with IPL, this I can assure you.” He told NDTV that his daughter works as a junior intern with the IPL. “That’s the extent of my involvement,” Patel said. Denying his and party chief Sharad Pawar’s links with the Adani Group of Ahmedabad or the Videocon group from Pune, Patel said: “Anyway they didn’t win the bids… If we were so powerful, they would have got the teams.” Reports said the two NCP leaders supported the two business groups that lost the bids last month for two new franchises – Kochi and Pune. Earlier in the day, NCP leader and daughter of Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule said her family had nothing to do with the controversy and termed as untrue allegations that Praful Patel was also involved in the IPL franchise business.
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PCB appoints Irfan Qadir to hear players’ appeals
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
A retired justice will, within the next 10 days, begin hearing appeals from leading Pakistani cricketers against bans and fines imposed on them by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Tafazzul Rizvi, PCB’s legal adviser, said Tuesday that former justice Irfan Qadir will be hearing the players’ appeals. “The PCB Governing Board has nominated the name of Justice (retd) Irfan Qadir to hear the players’ appeal,” said Rizvi. “The hearing will start within ten days,” he added. Last month the PCB imposed heavy fines and penalties on seven leading international cricketers following disciplinary problems during tours of the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and Australia. Former captain Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan were banned indefinitely for ‘infighting’. Shoaib Malik, who has recently married Indian tennis star Sania Mirza in Hyderabad, was banned for one year and fined Rs.2 million ($24,000) for violation of players’code of conduct. All-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who appealed earlier this month, was handed the same fine and punishment. Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal were also heavily fined. The penalties came after a month-long inquiry by a committee set up to investigate Pakistan’s dismal performance on the tour of Australia, where they lost all three Tests, five one-day matches and a Twenty20 international. Except for Yousuf, who has decided to retire, all the players have filed appeals against the PCB punishments.
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Hurt Tharoor says he is ready for ‘thorough probe’
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
Two days after being forced to quit over his alleged links to the Kochi IPL franchise, former minister Shashi Tharoor Tuesday said he had done no wrong and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to probe the charges of impropriety and corruption hurled against him. As the Lok Sabha listened with rapt attention, Tharoor, speaking for the first time after his resignation as minister of state for external affairs, said his conscience was clear but he felt “deeply wounded”. “I am deeply wounded by fanciful and malicious charges made against me and I have requested the prime minister to have these charges against me thoroughly investigated,” an emotional Tharoor said amid loud thumping of desks by his Congress party colleagues. The former UN diplomat and bestselling novelist said: “I have done nothing improper or unethical, let alone illegal. Nonetheless, in view of the ongoing political controversy, I have no desire to be an embarrassment to the government and believe that my departure at this stage will allow the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues to focus on the great challenges facing our nation.” Saying his resignation was in line with “the highest moral traditions of our democratic system”, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said he also wanted to let parliament continue its legislative business stalled by opposition members demanding his sacking. Tharoor, 54, was blamed for misusing office in favouring his Dubai-based friend Sunanda Pushkar to secure sweat equity in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Kochi franchise worth Rs.70 crore. Some critics alleged that Pushkar was Tharoor’s front — a charge both of them have denied. Dressed in a spotless white kurta pyjama with a tricolour scarf draped around his shoulders, Tharoor said that his career as a public servant was unblemished by any financial taint. “I am new to Indian politics but I have a long record of public services, unblemished by the slightest taint of financial irregularity… I have led an unblemished life of personal integrity and probity and it is important to me that my name is cleared (of the charges),” he said. The former UN official said he had returned to India after long years of international service “because I had always cherished the desire to make a difference in my own country”. “I returned to India because I believe in an India of openness and straightforwardness, not of hypocrisy and double dealing… I believe in an India of pluralism and diversity, not of religious bigotry and caste politics.” He also underlined his connections to Kerala — his home state. “I am proud to represent the capital of Kerala, a state that in so many ways is a trailblazer for India’s progress, though in other respects it seems to have been left behind in the race for 21st century development.” He said it was a “great privilege” for him to have served the government and the Congress under the leadership of Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson and party president Sonia Gandhi – “two of the finest public servants our country has ever had”. The resignation, he said, marked a new beginning for him. “I am heartened by the love, friendship and loyalty I have received from well-wishers in Thiruvananthapuram, across my home state Kerala and throughout (the) country. I am determined to continue to do my best for India and for the ideals that brought me back here.”
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Pranab, Pawar, Chidambaram meet over IPL row
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
In the backdrop of the Indian Premier League (IPL) row and the probe ordered by the government into its funding, three senior ministers – Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram and Sharad Pawar – met Tuesday in parliament house. The 15 minute-meeting between the three ministers was held amid reports that IPL commissioner Lalit Modi may quit or may be asked to step down. What transpired during the meeting was not immediately known, but sources said they discussed the IPL controversy. The row over the cash-rich IPL erupted after its chief Lalit Modi said on his twitter account that Shashi Tharoor had asked him to suppress information about his friend Sunanda Pushkar’s stake in the IPL Kochi franchise. Following the political storm over the issue, Tharoor quit as minister of state for external affairs Sunday.
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BSNL employees strike hits services in northeast India
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
Telecommunication services were affected in northeast India Tuesday as the employees and officers’ associations of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) struck work indefinitely to oppose the proposed disinvestment in the public sector body. “Over 2,000 employees and officers of BSNL across the seven northeastern states took part in the nationwide strike,” Joint Action Committee (JAC) of BSNL unions and associations convenor Tirthankar Choudhury told reporters in Agartala. All categories of employees and officers of BSNL took part in the strike. Nine trade unions, including Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the All India Trade Union Congress, are supporting the strike. Choudhury said the central government has been planning to implement a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for 100,000 employees across the country. “We strongly oppose the scheme.” In the wake of the strike, the BSNL authorities said efforts were being made to ensure services are not disrupted. “All efforts are being made to ensure that the services are not disrupted and no inconvenience is caused to our customers and people,” BSNL general manager Deb Kumar Chakraborty told IANS. The striking employees are organising picketing in front of the BSNL offices in Guwahati, Agartala, Shillong, Imphal and scores of other places.
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