vetris

Just running a petrol pump doesn't pay much

2010-10-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

Just running a petrol pump doesn't pay much

N. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI, Aug. 10

AMID allegations of favouritism in allotting petrol bunks and the continuing disruption in Parliament, talk to a cross-section of petrol dealers and all of them are unanimous in their view that business is difficult, competition intense and profit margins tight.

Then, why does anybody want to pay several lakh rupees to get a dealership? How will they recoup their investment? When these questions are posed to the dealers, all that they say with a wink is: "You should know."

What is, perhaps, left unsaid is that such dealers will have to dilute both the petrol and diesel to make huge profits.

A Chennai dealer, who has been in the business for a few decades, answers without any hesitation that it is quite common to adulterate petrol with naphtha and diesel with kerosene, because of which the profit margins are much higher.

According to the dealers, profit from selling petrol and diesel is hardly anything to talk of. The dealers get as commission one paise per rupee of the price of petrol or diesel. Which means that if the petrol is priced at Rs 31.64 a litre in Chennai, a dealer will get 31.6 paise per litre as commission, and with diesel priced at about Rs 20 a litre, 20 paise per litre sold.

Is this enough to meet their expenses and make a profit? Hardly, say the dealers. However, the profit for them comes mainly from the sale of lubricants and engine oils, and the car wash and service facilities that most petrol bunks have. The profit on a litre of engine oil, according to the dealers, can be as much as Rs 10-15.

There are three types of petrol and diesel dealerships — where the oil company owns the land and a dealer runs it; where the dealer owns the land as well as the bunk; and, finally a company-owned and company-operated bunk or COCO in oil company parlance.

Irrespective of the kind of ownership, the companies make all the investment in the facilities — the number of filling pumps and the underground tanks to store the fuel. The dealer has to bring in the working capital to buy petrol and diesel and make money by selling the fuel.

Over the last few years, the companies have been gradually converting the second category of dealerships — where the dealer owns the land and operates the filling station — into the first category, where the companies own the land and the dealer operates the facility alone. This, according to company sources, is to ensure greater control and also provide more amenities such as convenience stores and ATMs.

According to the officials, the companies' investment in a petrol bunk, excluding the cost of land, will be about Rs 1 crore. Normally, the dealers will be required to store up to two days' requirement of petrol and diesel. Some of the dealers point out that they have earned their reputation of selling quality fuel and of accurate measure over several years and for this reason alone, they would be patronised by motorists not living in the vicinity of the petrol bunks. However, with the companies certifying the quality of fuel in almost all the bunks, those who had earned a reputation are slowly losing business, according to one dealer.

His argument runs like this: "Earlier, even those not living near the bunk used to come here to fill up petrol because of our reputation. At that time, there was no certification from the company about the quality of petrol or diesel supplied by us. But now with most bunks being certified by the companies for the quality of fuel, the same motorists do not find the need to go out of their way and come to my bunk."

According to some dealers, the convenience stores that have been set up in most petrol bunks do not bring them any major income while they have to spend a lot on air-conditioning and posting a sales person. In bunks that have convenience stores and ATMs, the dealers have been told not to have vehicle wash and service facility. The dealers have taken this up with the companies as it is a loss of income for them. The dealers' expenditure includes paying salaries for the attendants in the bunks, their uniform and electricity charges.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2002/08/11/stories/2002081101320100.htm

The ABC of Owning a petrol pump

2010-10-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

How many people do you think bid for a petrol pump when an oil company puts one up for auction?

10? 20? 100? 1,000? Believe it or not, whenever an oil company issues an advertisement in a newspaper announcing the sale of a pump, an average of 5,000 people bid for it. Only one lucky person will get the allotment.

"This is what happens when supply is less and demand more," says Prakash Genani, former president, Petrol Dealers Association, Thane and Raigad district. "At present, there are sufficient petrol pumps in most cities in India. The real demand is in the small town and districts, where there is a real need. And this is why there is such a rush for pumps."

Those who are interested in applying for a pump have to fulfil a few simple criteria:

S/he has to be able to pay an application fee that ranges between Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.

His/Her annual family income must not exceed Rs 200,000.

None of his/her blood relations should own a petrol pump.

S/he should fall in the 18 to 60 age group.

S/he should file his income tax returns.

S/he should have a domicile certificate.

S/he will have to prove that s/he will be able to generate funds from the bank or from individual businessmen.

If s/he belongs to a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, s/he should possess his/her caste certificate. War widows and ex-servicemen, too, must possess proper certificates proving their eligibility. The government also gives special allotments to people who are outstanding in their respective fields like art, music, literature, etc.

Why, though, do people have this fascination for petrol pumps? It just so happens that this is one of the most profitable businesses one can run, as there are many different ways to make money.

To begin with, the station owner gets a commission of 53 paise on every litre of petrol sold. On diesel, he earns a commission of 33 paise. The commission on different lubricants used for cars, motorcycles and trucks ranges from Rs 6 to Rs 7.

Besides, all petrol pump stations run service stations as a side business and this brings in extra income. Some of them use the extra space to run stores, travel agencies or rent it out to automobile mechanics.

On an average, a good petrol pump sells around 200 kilolitres (200,000 litres) of petrol and 100 kilolitres (100,000 litres) of diesel per month. Besides, it earns an average income of Rs 20,000 from the sale of lubricants and Rs 25,000 from the service stations. Thus, a net amount of Rs 184,000 goes straight into the owner's pocket.

There are expenses too. If a pump employs 15 people at an average salary of Rs 2,500, the total salary comes to Rs 37,500. If four more people are employed at the service station, their salary will average out to another Rs 10,000. The accountant will charge Rs 8,000 and his assistant will earn Rs 3,000. The electricity bill comes up to another Rs 20,000.

Even if the total expenditure averages out to Rs 76,000 a month, the net income on a petrol pump doing good business will average around Rs 100,000.

The real income, however, comes from the sale of adulterated gasoline. "The petrol sold in India is always mixed with 20 per cent naphtha. Pure petrol is not available in most petrol pumps here. If we provide pure petrol, the margin of profit will be too low," says a dealer on condition of anonymity.

Naphtha costs Rs 17 per litre, while petrol costs approximately Rs 33 per litre; so you can imagine the killing a pump can make by selling adulterated petrol. The only risk comes in the form of surprise checks by the petroleum ministry's anti-adulteration cell.

Another way of making money is by fudging the meter. This means pump owners retain one per cent of the fuel due to you when you go to fill your car. For example, if you fill one litre of petrol in your car, the pump meter will show one litre but your car would have received only 990 millilitres.

The kind of investment needed to own a petrol pump depends on the category under which it has been allotted.

Under Category A, the land, pump, cabin and everything else comes from the oil company. The owner just has to run the show. Under Category B, the dealer has to buy the land; the rest of the equipment is provided by the company.

If your pump falls in Category A, then you just have to run the show -- the company will provide you with everything you need. But if you belong to Category B, then you have to incur the cost of the furniture and buy the land. Your contribution could come up to a few lakhs, depending upon where you are buying the petrol pump and the kind of investment you want to put in. Every petrol pump also has to have a huge underground storage tank for petrol and diesel, where the quantity of fuel stored depends on your pump's output.

And how are petrol pump owners selected?

Every city/district has a three-member committee that decides on the allocation of petrol pumps. The committee consists of a retired high court or sessions court judge and two officers from any of the four oil companies -- Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Indo-Burma Petroleum. The judge, who is the committee's most important member, can allot 200 points whereas the oil company officials have 100 points each. The candidate who gets the maximum points from the committee gets to own the gas station.

This is why Petroleum Minister Ram Naik argues he had no role to play in deciding who should get a petrol pump. The Opposition, however, lays the blame solely at his door; they claim it is Naik's responsibility to appoint the judges and, therefore, he has to take moral responsibility and resign as most of the accused dealers who were allotted pumps are supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party, of which Naik is a member.

When the scam was exposed, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee cancelled all petrol pump allotments issued after January 2000. But the old dealers, who got their pumps before the eighties, say it is nearly impossible for allotments to escape undue influence until such time as these allotments are made by the oil companies themselves.

A dealer, speaking on condition of anonymity, explains, "How can retired judges have the maximum points to decide on the allotment of petrol pumps? They don't know how this business runs. It is best that the oil companies allot the pumps because they know their business and will ensure they get best returns from their dealers."

"In fact, till the eighties, the pumps were allotted by the companies themselves. Then, the politicians realised they could make a killing if they got the right to do so. They brought the allotment under their jurisdiction, starting a controversy that has lasted over two decades."

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/aug/09spec1.htm

An Eye for Business

2010-09-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

An Eye for Business

He began by taking charge of his family-run a retails pharmacy chain and today runs 31 secondary and tertiary eye care hospitals across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

Dr Arun Murugaiyah (38)
Chairman, Vasan Healthcare Group

Born in the town of Tiruchirappalli in 1969, Dr Arun did his MBBS from Annamalai University.

Why an entrepreneur

He wanted to pursue further specialisation and dreamt of building a multi-specialty hospital in the town. But he became an entrepreneur because of a twist in fate. The untimely death of his father compelled him take up his family business of one pharmacy retail outlet in the town of Trichy in the name of Vasan Medical Hall (VMH).

"Within a few months of analysis, I found immense potential in retail drug sales. VMH had regular prescriptions from more than 200 loyal doctors since many years. Thus I decided to further nurture the potential in the trust capital of the business in hand," says he.

The first move

With small capital investments, Dr Arun started a slew of drug outlets in the city in strategic locations. He chose areas where large population of working middle class were based. "Every shop was lined up with a trained set of sales boys who will respond to every prescription across the counter and render quick service. No prescriptions were returned back and relationship-building strategies with referring doctors were devised," says he. His strategy clicked and initial success encouraged him to further expand his network of outlets to more densely-populated clusters in the town and also to bordering areas of the town.

Over the years

Soon, VMH attracted a footfall of more than 10,000 people a day in each outlet. Today, VMH is a chain of 27 outlets in Trichy and Madurai. Success of one concept gave rise to birth of another concept. During the process of developing the chain of pharmacy outlet, Dr Arun found that most of the referring doctors had large patient base in various specialties, practicing in attached clinic at their residences, after their work in Government hospitals or major hospitals in the town.

"Most of these practitioners had ambitions of upgrading their facilities to meet the demand of patients, but had no resources or acumen to do so. I compiled a pool of 40 doctors from various specialties, and offered them a common working place with all state-of-the-art support equipment in daycare diagnosis," says he. Thus was born the first model of Vasan Medical Centre (VMC), which started its first centre in Trichy.

The centre offers spacious consulting rooms with paramedical support staff, common equipment, minor theatres and all administrative support for managing the clinic. “Each doctor was given time slots in the centre, and their patients managed well with efficient patient care team. This model also gained quick success and accommodated more doctors from different areas," says he.

In 2001, one of the leading group of eye care service provider in the south, approached Dr Arun for strategic alliance in eye care hospital in Trichy. "As ophthalmology was not an organised healthcare segment in south India during this time, I decided to tap the opportunity and started the first eye hospital in the town," says he. Thus was born Vasan Eye Care (VEC). As a pilot project, he invested only in secondary eye care facilities and later in tertiary care segment of eye care. Eventually, he expanded his services network to key markets in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Acquisition of Dr Prem's Eye Clinic in Chennai was one of the significant acquisitions of VEC.

Today, VEC has 31 secondary and tertiary eye care hospitals across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra. He has more than 200 ophthalmologists and 2,000 paramedics working in his eye care enterprise.

Mistakes made and lessons learnt

He claims he made no serious business mistake, but had overcome various market challenges and backstabbing of key doctors and associates in the business process. "During the initial stage of expanding our network, I faced flak from aggressive competitors who tried to downplay my vision, and criticised me about my approach to penetrate and network which was totally innovative and revolutionary," says he.

Fear and apprehension

"I had no apprehensions about the success of my business model as there was a naked lacunae and it was all about who taps the opportunity first," says he.

Overcoming roadblocks

Earlier challenges lay in roping in experienced doctors to join his hospitals. "I had to do beyond the limited retention exercises and also offer attractive perks to make doctors join my upcoming hospitals. Today, we are at luxury of choosing the best talent among hundreds of applications for employment," says he.

Any degree in management?

No. "But I am a voracious reader and keep myself updated of all business developments across the world. I have travelled extensively during the initial stages to understand the successful business models. Before venturing into any new business model, I personally inspect a similar model, do my own research and analysis, and weigh all pros and cons,” says he.

Tips for entrepreneuship

"Healthcare is a passion more than a business. The secret of success in any healthcare business is passion to evolve it with great involvement," he says passionately.

An entrepreneur that he admires in healthcare

“Dr Prathap C Reddy, who has passion and carries the fire among the entire team down the line. All successful eye care models today evolve around passion of individual entrepreneurs like G Venkatasamy who built Aravind Eye Care System, GN Rao, who built LV Prasad Eye Care, and Dr SS Badrinath who built temple of vision, Sankara Nethralya,” says he.

The road ahead

Dr Arun has set his sails in a voyage towards 50 eye hospitals by this year and 100 eye hospitals by the year 2010.

Looters in Loafers

2010-04-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

Looters in Loafers

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Last October, I saw a cartoon by Mike Peters in which a teacher asks a student to create a sentence that uses the verb “sacks,” as in looting and pillaging. The student replies, “Goldman Sachs.”

Sure enough, last week the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the Gucci-loafer guys at Goldman of engaging in what amounts to white-collar looting.

I’m using the term looting in the sense defined by the economists George Akerlof and Paul Romer in a 1993 paper titled “Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit.” That paper, written in the aftermath of the savings-and-loan crisis of the Reagan years, argued that many of the losses in that crisis were the result of deliberate fraud.

Was the same true of the current financial crisis?

Most discussion of the role of fraud in the crisis has focused on two forms of deception: predatory lending and misrepresentation of risks. Clearly, some borrowers were lured into taking out complex, expensive loans they didn’t understand — a process facilitated by Bush-era federal regulators, who both failed to curb abusive lending and prevented states from taking action on their own. And for the most part, subprime lenders didn’t hold on to the loans they made. Instead, they sold off the loans to investors, in some cases surely knowing that the potential for future losses was greater than the people buying those loans (or securities backed by the loans) realized.

What we’re now seeing are accusations of a third form of fraud.

We’ve known for some time that Goldman Sachs and other firms marketed mortgage-backed securities even as they sought to make profits by betting that such securities would plunge in value. This practice, however, while arguably reprehensible, wasn’t illegal. But now the S.E.C. is charging that Goldman created and marketed securities that were deliberately designed to fail, so that an important client could make money off that failure. That’s what I would call looting.

And Goldman isn’t the only financial firm accused of doing this. According to the Pulitzer-winning investigative journalism Web site ProPublica, several banks helped market designed-to-fail investments on behalf of the hedge fund Magnetar, which was betting on that failure.

So what role did fraud play in the financial crisis? Neither predatory lending nor the selling of mortgages on false pretenses caused the crisis. But they surely made it worse, both by helping to inflate the housing bubble and by creating a pool of assets guaranteed to turn into toxic waste once the bubble burst.

As for the alleged creation of investments designed to fail, these may have magnified losses at the banks that were on the losing side of these deals, deepening the banking crisis that turned the burst housing bubble into an economy-wide catastrophe.

The obvious question is whether financial reform of the kind now being contemplated would have prevented some or all of the fraud that now seems to have flourished over the past decade. And the answer is yes.

For one thing, an independent consumer protection bureau could have helped limit predatory lending. Another provision in the proposed Senate bill, requiring that lenders retain 5 percent of the value of loans they make, would have limited the practice of making bad loans and quickly selling them off to unwary investors.

It’s less clear whether proposals for derivatives reform — which mainly involve requiring that financial instruments like credit default swaps be traded openly and transparently, like ordinary stocks and bonds — would have prevented the alleged abuses by Goldman (although they probably would have prevented the insurer A.I.G. from running wild and requiring a federal bailout). What we can say is that the final draft of financial reform had better include language that would prevent this kind of looting — in particular, it should block the creation of “synthetic C.D.O.’s,” cocktails of credit default swaps that let investors take big bets on assets without actually owning them.

The main moral you should draw from the charges against Goldman, though, doesn’t involve the fine print of reform; it involves the urgent need to change Wall Street. Listening to financial-industry lobbyists and the Republican politicians who have been huddling with them, you’d think that everything will be fine as long as the federal government promises not to do any more bailouts. But that’s totally wrong — and not just because no such promise would be credible.

For the fact is that much of the financial industry has become a racket — a game in which a handful of people are lavishly paid to mislead and exploit consumers and investors. And if we don’t lower the boom on these practices, the racket will just go on.

Carpet Area Vs Built Up Area Vs Super Built Up Area By Nisheeth Ranjan

2010-03-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

Carpet Area Vs Built Up Area Vs Super Built Up Area

By Nisheeth Ranjan

The terms built up area, super built up area, salable area and carpet area pop up again and again for an Indian real estate buyer. The apartment that is sold as a spacious 1500 sq ft apartment, is actually not 1500 sq ft if you count its actual covered area, or carpet area.

Definitions -

1. Carpet area - The actual area you use. The area on which 'you can put a carpet'.

2. Built up area - Carpet area + area of walls and ducts. Around 10% more than the carpet area. A terrace is considered as half the actual area for calculating built up area. Some projects charge dry terrace same as internal rooms.

3. Super built up / Salable area - Built up area + markup for common spaces like lifts and stairs. Usually 25% more than the built up area.

Let us take an example.

This is a small apartment whose salable area, or super built up area is 892 sq ft. Let us calculate its carpet area by summing up all its rooms -

Room           Dimensions (ft & inch) Carpet area in sq. ft.

Living Room         10′ x 15′-9″          157.5

Dining Room         7′ x 7′-8″                53.6

Bedroom 1         11′-9″ x 10′-9″         126.3

Bedroom 2         11′-9″ x 10              117.5

Toilet 1         8′-6″ x 5                  42.5

Toilet 2         8′-4″ x 4′-3″             35.4

Terrace                 10′ x 5′-9″                57.5

Kitchen                 11′ x 8′-6″             93.5

Here is the details of one of the apartments at Kumar Periwinkle in Kharadi we are talking about.

Now terraces are generally considered by halving their actual area. So, area considered of the terrace is 57.5/2 sq ft = 28.75 sq ft.

So, the total carpet area for the rooms of the flat comes to be approximately 655 sq ft. Now there is a passage area at the center of the flat, which looks approximately 11 feet by 5 feet, which adds 55 sq ft more to the area.

So, approximate carpet area of the flat = 710 sq ft.

Now, the salable area as given on the website is 892 sq ft. This is the area which is billed to you by multiplying it with the square foot rate.

This difference is what super built up area is all about. As far as I have seen, a thumb rule is to take 1.25 as the multiplying factor to calculate super built up area (i.e. salable area).

So, if we multiply by this factor, 710 * 1.25 = 887.5 sq ft is approximately the answer we are supposed to arrive at.

But this rule of 25% is no written rule, and this multiplier can vary. Ideally, this multiplier should be more for the schemes where more space is given to amenities and common areas. This area is supposed to include the common amenities that are built but are not directly charged to the customer. But there are no concrete formulas for this. The agreement that you will sign with the builder, should have all the details like carpet area in it. But you will probably see the agreement in detail only after you decide to buy your home there.

So are you getting cheated when you actually get a 700 sq ft apartment when you thought you got 900 sq ft? Not really... The key is to ask for the carpet area of the apartment you are buying, and verify it by doing a calculation as given above, and also verify the dimensions actually on the ground if possible. As long as we have open market economy, you will always have choices. So, if you find that a project has a multiplying factor of 25% for super built up area and another has 30%, the simplest thing you can do, is get the carpet area of the actual rooms and find out the per sq ft rate based on carpet area, to compare the two projects.

Apart from this, there are also several extra bills like electricity backup charges, parking charges, maintenance charges for amenities, society formation charges so on and so forth. So, you need to consider and compare all of these charges before thinking of choosing the right project to buy a property. Give a hard thought to how many of the amenities you are actually going to use, and how much you are getting charged for them. Will it be simply better to buy into a no-frills project and join a gymkhana club rather than paying maintenance charges for the swimming pool you are not going to use?

Simply create an excel sheet and put all the parameters of the property in it, like carpet area, parking charges etc. Use that sheet as your basis of taking decision and not the glossy marketing brochures they give you!

Zamanzar.com is currently ranked within the TOP 10 real estate portals in India according to Alexa traffic rank. The company was started in 2007 by Nisheeth Ranjan, a graduate of Cornell University and Stanford University, after having worked in Silicon Valley, California for more than 10 years. Zamanzar.com provides an end to end solution for buying/renting/selling residential or commercial real estate across India. The real estate portal has more than 200,000 property listings and offers online and offline services for buyers, renters, owners, agents, and builders. These services include online marketing, property tours, property appraisals, title checks, financing, negotiation, legal paperwork, property registration etc.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nisheeth_Ranjan

The Troubles - Americs's imminent demis

2010-03-26T02:55:00.000-07:00

The Troubles

Declinists have always projected America's imminent demise. For a change, they're onto something.

By Andrew Nagorski | Newsweek Polska

Mar 16, 2010

Call it America's Age of Angst. The buzz of negativity seems to be everywhere. DECLINE AND FALL: WHEN THE AMERICAN EMPIRE GOES, IT IS LIKELY TO GO QUICKLY reads the cover headline for British historian Niall Ferguson's article in the current issue of Foreign Affairs. Faced with an unemployment rate near 10 percent, a ballooning deficit, and a grueling partisan battle over health-care reform, both President Barack Obama and his Republican critics in Congress are complaining loudly about the government's inability to get things done. In the meantime, there's a growing sense that others—here, China is always first on the list—are steadily chipping away at America's leadership position in the world.

The messages from the White House are somewhat schizophrenic. In his State of the Union Message, Obama expressed frustration about the gridlock in Washington. "I have one simple question: How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?" he asked. "You see, Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China is not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany is not waiting. India is not waiting." While claiming that he will not accept second place for the United States, he made it sound like that's where the country is heading if it doesn't change course.

Vice President Joe Biden, who is dependably blunt, echoed that sentiment, charging that "Washington right now is broken." But in an interview with Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, he also lashed out at the "ridiculous" talk of America's decline. "Give me a break," he complained. Alluding to historian Paul Kennedy's 1988 book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers that argued the United States was next in line for a fall (in fact, it was the Soviet empire that crumbled the following year), Biden noted that such predictions have been wrong before and are likely to be wrong again. "So many people have bet on our demise that it absolutely drives me crazy."

Biden has a point. But this time, the anxiety seems like more than a feeling. It is more deeply rooted in concerns about long-term trends, and warning lights are flashing in several places. It's harder now to shrug off the America-in-decline theories than ever before.

In his Foreign Affairs article, Ferguson points to two of the most troubling trends. According to one projection by the Congressional Budget Office, America's public debt could skyrocket from 44 percent of GDP before the 2008 financial crisis to 716 percent in 2080. If legislative reforms don't expand the size of government, the CBO dials the projection back to 280 percent. Hardly reassuring either way. As are the projections Ferguson cites about China's GDP overtaking U.S. GDP by either 2027 or 2040, depending on which calculation you choose. And India, he notes, is projected to overtake the U.S. in 2050.

The opinion pages are full of self-flagellation and unflattering comparisons. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman described walking through Los Angeles International Airport and noticing how shoddy it looks, despite periodic attempts to cover up its aging. "In some ways LAX is us," he wrote. "We are the United States of Deferred Maintenance. China is the People's Republic of Deferred Gratification. They save, invest and build. We spend, borrow and patch."

Even in the high-tech fields where America has traditionally led the way things seem grim—especially regarding government institutions and infrastructure. "The United States is fighting a cyber-war today, and we are losing. It's that simple," warned Mike McConnell, President Bush's director of national intelligence, in The Washington Post. "As the most wired nation on Earth, we offer the most targets of significance, yet our cyber-defenses are woefully lacking."

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence of America's shortening shadow, too. The EastWest Institute, my current employer, holds a Worldwide Security Conference in Brussels every winter. In 2009, almost every session was dominated by speculation about what the Obama administration would do. This year, discussions on major topics like Afghanistan and cybersecurity included mentions of the United States, of course, but frequently the focus was on regional players with little reference to Washington at all. The group seemed simply to understand that Obama is too preoccupied with domestic problems to deliver on his earlier promises of intensive international engagement.

There's even something in the air. Malcolm Beith, a former NEWSWEEK colleague who holds dual British and American citizenship, dropped in on me recently. After a long stint in New York, he spent the last couple of years in Mexico City as the editor of a local English-language newspaper. "New York reminds me much more of London now," he observed. "It seems humbled." Humbled by the financial crisis and, perhaps, and by the sense that it no longer is quite as much the center of the universe as most New Yorkers like to imagine. Despite all the talk of Obama's popularity abroad, a new Democracy Corps–Third Way poll shows that 51 percent of Americans believe their country's standing in the world has declined during his brief presidency.

In Washington, this is all grist for fury. Obama and other Democrats routinely lambasted former president George W. Bush for his "arrogance"; Republicans today say Obama apologizes for America rather than defending its interests. In both cases, the accusers blame the other party's leader for the decline in America's standing.

The reality is that everyone—here and abroad—worries when the United States appears too arrogant, and when it appears indecisive or weak. Striking the right balance has never been easy. In the 1960s, Arkansas Sen. William Fulbright, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, published The Arrogance of Power, a book castigating his own party leaders for the Vietnam War. The title of his book became a catchphrase for the country's critics, particularly antiwar protesters in the United States and abroad.

But by in the late 1970s, government had swung in the opposite direction. President Jimmy Carter's reaction to the energy crisis demonstrated the perils of hand-wringing in public. In what was dubbed his "malaise" speech, he warned of a crisis of confidence "that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will." The cause of this psychological crisis, he intoned, was a breakdown in values. "In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption," he declared, admonishing people to conserve more and spend less. But such pronouncements about America's alleged sins won him few friends at home or abroad, and he was dismissed as a weak leader. Carter lost his bid for reelection in 1980 to a very different kind of politician, Ronald Reagan.

Just because we've been through these debates, prophesies, and recriminations about America's alleged decline before isn't a reason to simply shrug all of this off, as Biden wants to do. As many commentators have pointed out, the Greek economic crisis is symptomatic of underlying problems that are evident across Europe and in the United States. Obviously, the U.S. system is considerably more stable: Washington's current budget deficit may be only a little smaller than that of Greece—9.9 percent of GDP, compared with Greece's 12.7 percent—but other indicators suggest the relative balance, strength, and innovative power of the American economy.

Yet the key word here is "relative"—as in relative to whom. One American Sinologist recently returned from a conference in Beijing where the Chinese participants discussed the theories about U.S. decline. "The Chinese said, yes, the United States is in decline as compared to China, but not in relation to the EU. And certainly not in relation to Russia, which is in a much steeper decline," he reported.

What does all this say about America's latest bout of angst? Yes, there are good reasons to be worried about the country's status if it cannot exert more fiscal discipline, stimulate investment, and remember its place in the world around it. But many of those problems are shared by others, too. If Americans are smart—and there's every reason to think they are—angst can be productive, generating new determination and new solutions. Don't blow off the problems, but don't count America out yet.

Nagorski is vice president and director of public policy at the EastWest Institute and the author of The Greatest Battle: Stalin, Hitler, and the Desperate Struggle for Moscow That Changed the Course of World War II. This article also appears in NEWSWEEK Polska.

Find this article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/234965

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

2010-03-26T02:38:00.000-07:00

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

Six billion dollars later, the Afghan National Police can't begin to do their jobs right—never mind relieve American forces.

By T. Christian Miller, Mark Hosenball, and Ron Moreau | NEWSWEEK

Published Mar 19, 2010

From the magazine issue dated Mar 29, 2010

T. Christian Miller is a senior reporter with ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. For more of Miller's previous reporting on defense contractors, go to www.propublica.org/contractors .

Mohammad Moqim watches in despair as his men struggle with their AK-47 automatic rifles, doing their best to hit man-size targets 50 meters away. A few of the police trainees lying prone in the mud are decent shots, but the rest shoot clumsily, and fumble as they try to reload their weapons. The Afghan National Police (ANP) captain sighs as he dismisses one group of trainees and orders 25 more to take their places on the firing line. "We are still at zero," says Captain Moqim, 35, an eight-year veteran of the force. "They don't listen, are undisciplined, and will never be real policemen."

Poor marksmanship is the least of it. Worse, crooked Afghan cops supply much of the ammunition used by the Taliban, according to Saleh Mohammed, an insurgent commander in Helmand province. The bullets and rocket-propelled grenades sold by the cops are cheaper and of better quality than the ammo at local markets, he says. It's easy for local cops to concoct credible excuses for using so much ammunition, especially because their supervisors try to avoid areas where the Taliban are active. Mohammed says local police sometimes even stage fake firefights so that if higher-ups question their outsize orders for ammo, villagers will say they've heard fighting.

America has spent more than $6 billion since 2002 in an effort to create an effective Afghan police force, buying weapons, building police academies, and hiring defense contractors to train the recruits—but the program has been a disaster. More than $322 million worth of invoices for police training were approved even though the funds were poorly accounted for, according to a government audit, and fewer than 12 percent of the country's police units are capable of operating on their own. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the State Department's top representative in the region, has publicly called the Afghan police "an inadequate organization, riddled with corruption." During the Obama administration's review of Afghanistan policy last year, "this issue received more attention than any other except for the question of U.S. troop levels," Holbrooke later told NEWSWEEK. "We drilled down deep into this."

The worst of it is that the police are central to Washington's plans for getting out of Afghanistan. The U.S.-backed government in Kabul will never have popular support if it can't keep people safe in their own homes and streets. Yet in a United Nations poll last fall, more than half the Afghan respondents said the police are corrupt. Police commanders have been implicated in drug trafficking, and when U.S. Marines moved into the town of Aynak last summer, villagers accused the local police force of extortion, assault, and rape.

The public's distrust of the cops is palpable in the former insurgent stronghold of Marja. Village elders welcomed the U.S. Marines who recently drove out the Taliban, but told the Americans flatly they don't want the ANP to return. "The people of Marja will tell you that one of their greatest fears was the police coming back," says Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, who took over in November as chief of the U.S. program to expand and improve Afghanistan's security forces. "You constantly hear these stories about who was worse: the Afghan police that were there or the Taliban." The success of America's counterinsurgency strategy depends on the cops, who have greater contact with local communities than the Army does. "This is not about seizing land or holding terrain; it's about the people," says Caldwell. "You have to have a police force that the people accept, believe in, and trust."

More than a year after Barack Obama took office, the president is still discovering how bad things are. At a March 12 briefing on Afghanistan with his senior advisers, he asked whether the police will be ready when America's scheduled drawdown begins in July 2011, according to a senior official who was in the room. "It's inconceivable, but in fact for eight years we weren't training the police," replied Caldwell, taking part in the meeting via video link from Afghanistan. "We just never trained them before. All we did was give them a uniform." The president looked stunned. "Eight years," he said. "And we didn't train police? It's mind-boggling." The room was silent.

Efforts to build a post-Taliban police force have been plagued from the start by unrealistic goals, poor oversight, and slapdash hiring. Patrolmen were recruited locally, issued weapons, and placed on the beat with little or no formal training. Most of their techniques have been picked up on the job—including plenty of ugly habits. Even now, Caldwell says, barely a quarter of the 98,000-member force has received any formal instruction. The people who oversaw much of the training that did take place were contractors—many of them former American cops or sheriffs. They themselves had little proper direction, and the government officials overseeing their activities did not bother to examine most expenses under $3,000, leaving room for abuse. Amazingly, no single agency or individual ever had control of the training program for long, so lines of accountability were blurred.

Coalition efforts to build an Afghan police force were painfully slow at first. By 2003 the U.S. State Department decided to speed things up by deploying the Virginia-based defense contractor DynCorp International, which had held previous contracts to train police officers in Kosovo and Haiti. The company began setting up a string of training centers across the country. After the Defense Department took a role in overseeing that work in 2005, it squabbled constantly with State over whether the training should emphasize police work or counterinsurgency.

Neither the State Department nor DynCorp was prepared for the job they faced. Most of the recruits are rural villagers who have never been inside a classroom. Roughly 15 percent test positive for drugs, primarily hashish. Few know how to use a toothbrush or drive, and nearly 90 percent are illiterate. In 2005 DynCorp opened a new police academy on the outskirts of Jalalabad, and within a few months the academy's drains backed up. Maintenance workers discovered that the septic tanks were full of smooth stones—a toilet-paper substitute used by many rural Afghans. DynCorp had to bring in backhoes to repair the problem, and the company had to add two days of classes in basic hygiene.

The ANP still takes just about anyone who applies. "Our recruits are unemployed youth with no education and no prospects," says Police Col. Mohammad Hashim Babakarkhil, deputy commander of Kabul's central police-training center. Since January 2007, upwards of 2,000 police have been killed in action—more than twice the figure for Afghan Army soldiers. U.S. officers say as many as half the police casualties were a result of firearms accidents and traffic collisions.

It's practically impossible to produce competent police officers in a program of only eight weeks, says a former senior DynCorp executive, requesting anonymity because he continues to work in the industry. But that was the time frame State and Defense set for the course. "They were not going to be trained police officers. We knew that. They knew that," the former executive says. "It was a numbers game." In fact, the course has now been cut from eight weeks to six in order to squeeze in more trainees. ("We believe the training is appropriate under the circumstances," says Assistant Secretary of State David Johnson. DynCorp spokesman Douglas Ebner says the basic-training course is part of a more extensive 40-week program, and is supported by further "field monitoring, mentoring, and advising." Training hours have been extended to make up for the lost weeks, he says. DynCorp does "not make the policies, recruit the police candidates, or design the program," he adds, saying the company has "fully met" its objective of providing highly qualified police trainers.)

Whether or not recruits have mastered their subjects, almost everyone graduates. Even if they fail the firearms test, they're issued a weapon and put on the street. Only the Interior Ministry can flunk a candidate, and that rarely happens. "There were a lot of Afghans who seemed to have some patriotism and wanted to make their country better," recalls Tracy Jeansonne, a former deputy sheriff from Louisiana who worked for DynCorp from May 2006 to June 2008. "But a lot of the police officers wanted to be able to extort money from locals. If we caught them, we'd suggest they be removed. But we couldn't fire anybody. We could only make suggestions."

A former midlevel DynCorp official calls the program "dysfunctional." Requesting anonymity because he doesn't want problems with his former employer, he displays dozens of weekly reports sent to State and military officials; almost all include some mention of an Afghan police officer or commander as "corrupt." Yet of the 170,000 or so Afghans trained under the program since its inception, only about 30,000 remain on the force, according to State and Defense officials. "In terms of retention and attrition, we can say there's a problem," says Steve Kraft, who oversees the program for the State Department. The cops' base salary and hazardous-duty pay were recently raised to match Afghan Army levels, but no one knows if those changes are really helping. "Once they leave the training center, we currently don't know whether they stay with the force or quit," Kraft says. "The bottom line is, we just don't know."

And what has become of all the billions of dollars this program has cost America? Government investigators aren't entirely sure. Fundamental questions are raised in an audit of the Afghan police-training program released in February by the State and Defense departments' inspectors general. When State finally sent an "invoice-reconciliation team" to review expense receipts submitted under one particular contract, it discovered that $322 million in invoices had been "approved even though they were not allowable, allocable, or reasonable." What's more, the auditors said, half those invoices included errors.

The lapses don't stop there. The audit says State Department officials "did not conduct adequate surveillance for two task orders in excess of $1 billion." According to the auditors, State's contract supervisors didn't adequately oversee the use of government-owned property, failed to maintain contract files properly, and sometimes neglected to "match goods to receiving reports"—meaning, evidently, that they didn't verify that the U.S. government had actually received the goods it had paid for. (DynCorp's Ebner responds: "We are fully engaged with the Department of State to ensure complete and thorough reconciliation of all invoices, and recognize and welcome the emphasis on sufficient oversight personnel to complete this process.")

Those failures should have been no surprise. The audit also found that State routinely short-staffed its contract-monitoring office in Afghanistan. At one point, only three contract officers were on the ground overseeing DynCorp's $1.7 billion training contract. A former DynCorp official who worked in Afghanistan, asking not to be named because he remains in the government contracting business, says he asked the State Department repeatedly for concrete goals for the police contract but never got firm answers. "I'd ask them: 'Please explain to me what a successful training program was. What are the standards you want us to apply?' There was no vision for the future." (Assistant Secretary Johnson says, "From the start, our training program was based on a clear, professionally developed curriculum ... A simple head count of the number of individuals on the ground ignores the substantial back-office support our contract oversight personnel had from Washington.")

A new set of difficulties arose last summer. Caldwell's predecessor, Gen. Richard Formica, decided that Defense should take direct control of the training contract. To avoid a lengthy bidding competition, he suggested folding the police-training mission into an existing anti-drug and counterterrorism program overseen by the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command. Bids were limited to companies already under contract to the missile command, effectively shutting out DynCorp. In the end, only two firms wound up bidding: Northrop Grumman and Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater.

DynCorp fought back. In December the company filed a formal protest to block the Defense Department from seizing control of the contract. Last week the Government Accountability Office upheld DynCorp's complaint and suggested that the competition be open to all comers, including DynCorp as well as Xe and Northrop. DynCorp's CEO, William Ballhaus, recently told investors that the company's contract had been extended until July in any case; now it seems the new bidding process will take much longer.

At Kabul's police training center, a team of 35 Italian carabinieri recently arrived to supplement DynCorp's efforts. Before the Italians showed up at the end of January for a one-year tour, the recruits were posting miserable scores on the firing range. But the Italians soon discovered that poor marksmanship wasn't the only reason: the sights of the AK-47 and M-16 rifles the recruits were using were badly out of line. "We zeroed all their weapons," says Lt. Rolando Tommasini. "It's a very important thing, but no one had done this in the past. I don't know why."

The Italians also had a different way of teaching the recruits to shoot. DynCorp's instructors started their firearms training with 20-round clips at 50 meters; the recruits couldn't be sure at first if they were even hitting the target. Instead the carabinieri started them off with just three bullets each and a target only seven meters away. The recruits would shoot, check the target, and be issued three more rounds. When they began gaining confidence, the distance was gradually increased to 15, then 30, and then 50 meters. On a recent day on the firing range only one of 73 recruits failed the shooting test. The Italians say that's a huge improvement. (DynCorp says its civilian police advisers are "highly qualified"; the average trainer has more than a decade of law-enforcement experience.)

Caldwell also says it's just easier to work with paramilitary police units, such as the Italians and the French gendarmerie, than with contractors. Active-duty police units have a coherent and disciplined chain of command, Caldwell says. "When I bring in a contractor unit I'm getting a different group of folks," he says. "It may be someone who was a state patrolman, a local sheriff, or a policeman from New York City, each operating under different standards and with different backgrounds." Everything has to be negotiated. "If I say to my contractor that I want to make a change, he may say, 'Well, I'm not sure if that's really the best way,' " says Caldwell. "But if I can bring in a gendarmerie force, they're ready to go ... and take instructions well."

By the end of October, Caldwell hopes to build the force to 109,000 members, including an "elite unit" that so far has roughly 4,900 members. That outfit is called the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP). It'll be used for particularly sensitive assignments like Marja. ANCOP members get 16 weeks of training, and they're required to have at least a third-grade proficiency in reading and writing. So far, reviews from Marja are mixed. "The new police are more organized, committed, responsible, and helpful than the previous police, who were more like a criminal gang," Assadullah, a school principal, tells newsweek. (Like many Afghans, he uses only one name.) Local shopkeeper Hajji Noruddin Khan disagrees. "We are as disappointed with the new police as we were with the old police," he complains.

Quality matters. "In the rush to increase the number of trained police officers, we must remember that the end goal is a civilian police force capable of promoting good government, not a paramilitary adjunct for the counterinsurgency fight," warns Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, the top U.S. Marine commander in southern Afghanistan, puts it more succinctly: "I'd rather have one well-trained cop than 10 untrained." Besides, the fact is that no one is quite sure how many Afghan police there really are. The Americans are only now in the process of trying to create a database that will positively identify and track recruits. Without such data, it's more than difficult to catch "ghost" troops who exist only as names on the payroll, not to mention possible Taliban infiltrators.

But the buildup continues, and so does the training. On the firing range just outside Kabul, one of the few decent marksmen is Khair Mohammad, an illiterate 24-year-old from northern Afghanistan. "I've already had a lot of practice shooting at the Taliban," he says. He's been a cop for two years, serving one year in Kandahar and another on checkpoints just outside Marja. "I lost a lot of friends in the fighting," he says. Now he's getting his first taste of formal training, and hoping to join ANCOP. He figures he'd earn about double the $180 a month (including combat pay) he's been getting. His trainers are doing their best to make him worth the extra salary. "One thing the police don't know is good relations with the people," says Carabinieri Lt. Col. Massimo Deiana. "We're trying to train them to respect and relate to people." If such a skill is teachable at all, it could be far more important in the long run than knowing how to shoot straight.

With Sami Yousafzai in Kabul

T. Christian Miller is a senior reporter with ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. For more of Miller's previous reporting on defense contractors, go to www.propublica.org/contractors

Find this article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/235221

Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership

2008-07-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership

By Richard Stengel

Nelson Mandela has always felt most at ease around children, and in some ways his greatest deprivation was that he spent 27 years without hearing a baby cry or holding a child's hand. Last month, when I visited Mandela in Johannesburg — a frailer, foggier Mandela than the one I used to know — his first instinct was to spread his arms to my two boys. Within seconds they were hugging the friendly old man who asked them what sports they liked to play and what they'd had for breakfast. While we talked, he held my son Gabriel, whose complicated middle name is Rolihlahla, Nelson Mandela's real first name. He told Gabriel the story of that name, how in Xhosa it translates as "pulling down the branch of a tree" but that its real meaning is "troublemaker."

As he celebrates his 90th birthday next week, Nelson Mandela has made enough trouble for several lifetimes. He liberated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite white and black, oppressor and oppressed, in a way that had never been done before. In the 1990s I worked with Mandela for almost two years on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. After all that time spent in his company, I felt a terrible sense of withdrawal when the book was done; it was like the sun going out of one's life. We have seen each other occasionally over the years, but I wanted to make what might be a final visit and have my sons meet him one more time.

I also wanted to talk to him about leadership. Mandela is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint, but he would be the first to admit that he is something far more pedestrian: a politician. He overthrew apartheid and created a nonracial democratic South Africa by knowing precisely when and how to transition between his roles as warrior, martyr, diplomat and statesman. Uncomfortable with abstract philosophical concepts, he would often say to me that an issue "was not a question of principle; it was a question of tactics." He is a master tactician.

Mandela is no longer comfortable with inquiries or favors. He's fearful that he may not be able to summon what people expect when they visit a living deity, and vain enough to care that they not think him diminished. But the world has never needed Mandela's gifts — as a tactician, as an activist and, yes, as a politician — more, as he showed again in London on June 25, when he rose to condemn the savagery of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. As we enter the main stretch of a historic presidential campaign in America, there is much that he can teach the two candidates. I've always thought of what you are about to read as Madiba's Rules (Madiba, his clan name, is what everyone close to him calls him), and they are cobbled together from our conversations old and new and from observing him up close and from afar. They are mostly practical. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place.

No. 1
Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it
In 1994, during the presidential-election campaign, Mandela got on a tiny propeller plane to fly down to the killing fields of Natal and give a speech to his Zulu supporters. I agreed to meet him at the airport, where we would continue our work after his speech. When the plane was 20 minutes from landing, one of its engines failed. Some on the plane began to panic. The only thing that calmed them was looking at Mandela, who quietly read his newspaper as if he were a commuter on his morning train to the office. The airport prepared for an emergency landing, and the pilot managed to land the plane safely. When Mandela and I got in the backseat of his bulletproof BMW that would take us to the rally, he turned to me and said, "Man, I was terrified up there!"

Mandela was often afraid during his time underground, during the Rivonia trial that led to his imprisonment, during his time on Robben Island. "Of course I was afraid!" he would tell me later. It would have been irrational, he suggested, not to be. "I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world." But as a leader, you cannot let people know. "You must put up a front."

And that's precisely what he learned to do: pretend and, through the act of appearing fearless, inspire others. It was a pantomime Mandela perfected on Robben Island, where there was much to fear. Prisoners who were with him said watching Mandela walk across the courtyard, upright and proud, was enough to keep them going for days. He knew that he was a model for others, and that gave him the strength to triumph over his own fear.

No. 2
Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind
Mandela is cagey. in 1985 he was operated on for an enlarged prostate. When he was returned to prison, he was separated from his colleagues and friends for the first time in 21 years. They protested. But as his longtime friend Ahmed Kathrada recalls, he said to them, "Wait a minute, chaps. Some good may come of this."

The good that came of it was that Mandela on his own launched negotiations with the apartheid government. This was anathema to the African National Congress (ANC). After decades of saying "prisoners cannot negotiate" and after advocating an armed struggle that would bring the government to its knees, he decided that the time was right to begin to talk to his oppressors.

When he initiated his negotiations with the government in 1985, there were many who thought he had lost it. "We thought he was selling out," says Cyril Ramaphosa, then the powerful and fiery leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. "I went to see him to tell him, What are you doing? It was an unbelievable initiative. He took a massive risk."

Mandela launched a campaign to persuade the ANC that his was the correct course. His reputation was on the line. He went to each of his comrades in prison, Kathrada remembers, and explained what he was doing. Slowly and deliberately, he brought them along. "You take your support base along with you," says Ramaphosa, who was secretary-general of the ANC and is now a business mogul. "Once you arrive at the beachhead, then you allow the people to move on. He's not a bubble-gum leader — chew it now and throw it away."

For Mandela, refusing to negotiate was about tactics, not principles. Throughout his life, he has always made that distinction. His unwavering principle — the overthrow of apartheid and the achievement of one man, one vote — was immutable, but almost anything that helped him get to that goal he regarded as a tactic. He is the most pragmatic of idealists.

"He's a historical man," says Ramaphosa. "He was thinking way ahead of us. He has posterity in mind: How will they view what we've done?" Prison gave him the ability to take the long view. It had to; there was no other view possible. He was thinking in terms of not days and weeks but decades. He knew history was on his side, that the result was inevitable; it was just a question of how soon and how it would be achieved. "Things will be better in the long run," he sometimes said. He always played for the long run.

No. 3
Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front
Mandela loved to reminisce about his boyhood and his lazy afternoons herding cattle. "You know," he would say, "you can only lead them from behind." He would then raise his eyebrows to make sure I got the analogy.

As a boy, Mandela was greatly influenced by Jongintaba, the tribal king who raised him. When Jongintaba had meetings of his court, the men gathered in a circle, and only after all had spoken did the king begin to speak. The chief's job, Mandela said, was not to tell people what to do but to form a consensus. "Don't enter the debate too early," he used to say.

During the time I worked with Mandela, he often called meetings of his kitchen cabinet at his home in Houghton, a lovely old suburb of Johannesburg. He would gather half a dozen men, Ramaphosa, Thabo Mbeki (who is now the South African President) and others around the dining-room table or sometimes in a circle in his driveway. Some of his colleagues would shout at him — to move faster, to be more radical — and Mandela would simply listen. When he finally did speak at those meetings, he slowly and methodically summarized everyone's points of view and then unfurled his own thoughts, subtly steering the decision in the direction he wanted without imposing it. The trick of leadership is allowing yourself to be led too. "It is wise," he said, "to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea."

No. 4
Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport
As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. His comrades in the ANC teased him about it, but he wanted to understand the Afrikaner's worldview; he knew that one day he would be fighting them or negotiating with them, and either way, his destiny was tied to theirs.

This was strategic in two senses: by speaking his opponents' language, he might understand their strengths and weaknesses and formulate tactics accordingly. But he would also be ingratiating himself with his enemy. Everyone from ordinary jailers to P.W. Botha was impressed by Mandela's willingness to speak Afrikaans and his knowledge of Afrikaner history. He even brushed up on his knowledge of rugby, the Afrikaners' beloved sport, so he would be able to compare notes on teams and players.

Mandela understood that blacks and Afrikaners had something fundamental in common: Afrikaners believed themselves to be Africans as deeply as blacks did. He knew, too, that Afrikaners had been the victims of prejudice themselves: the British government and the white English settlers looked down on them. Afrikaners suffered from a cultural inferiority complex almost as much as blacks did.

Mandela was a lawyer, and in prison he helped the warders with their legal problems. They were far less educated and worldly than he, and it was extraordinary to them that a black man was willing and able to help them. These were "the most ruthless and brutal of the apartheid regime's characters," says Allister Sparks, the great South African historian, and he "realized that even the worst and crudest could be negotiated with."

No. 5
Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer
Many of the guests Mandela invited to the house he built in Qunu were people whom, he intimated to me, he did not wholly trust. He had them to dinner; he called to consult with them; he flattered them and gave them gifts. Mandela is a man of invincible charm — and he has often used that charm to even greater effect on his rivals than on his allies.

On Robben Island, Mandela would always include in his brain trust men he neither liked nor relied on. One person he became close to was Chris Hani, the fiery chief of staff of the ANC's military wing. There were some who thought Hani was conspiring against Mandela, but Mandela cozied up to him. "It wasn't just Hani," says Ramaphosa. "It was also the big industrialists, the mining families, the opposition. He would pick up the phone and call them on their birthdays. He would go to family funerals. He saw it as an opportunity." When Mandela emerged from prison, he famously included his jailers among his friends and put leaders who had kept him in prison in his first Cabinet. Yet I well knew that he despised some of these men.

There were times he washed his hands of people — and times when, like so many people of great charm, he allowed himself to be charmed. Mandela initially developed a quick rapport with South African President F.W. de Klerk, which is why he later felt so betrayed when De Klerk attacked him in public.

Mandela believed that embracing his rivals was a way of controlling them: they were more dangerous on their own than within his circle of influence. He cherished loyalty, but he was never obsessed by it. After all, he used to say, "people act in their own interest." It was simply a fact of human nature, not a flaw or a defect. The flip side of being an optimist — and he is one — is trusting people too much. But Mandela recognized that the way to deal with those he didn't trust was to neutralize them with charm.

No. 6
Appearances matter — and remember to smile
When Mandela was a poor law student in Johannesburg wearing his one threadbare suit, he was taken to see Walter Sisulu. Sisulu was a real estate agent and a young leader of the ANC. Mandela saw a sophisticated and successful black man whom he could emulate. Sisulu saw the future.

Sisulu once told me that his great quest in the 1950s was to turn the ANC into a mass movement; and then one day, he recalled with a smile, "a mass leader walked into my office." Mandela was tall and handsome, an amateur boxer who carried himself with the regal air of a chief's son. And he had a smile that was like the sun coming out on a cloudy day.

We sometimes forget the historical correlation between leadership and physicality. George Washington was the tallest and probably the strongest man in every room he entered. Size and strength have more to do with DNA than with leadership manuals, but Mandela understood how his appearance could advance his cause. As leader of the ANC's underground military wing, he insisted that he be photographed in the proper fatigues and with a beard, and throughout his career he has been concerned about dressing appropriately for his position. George Bizos, his lawyer, remembers that he first met Mandela at an Indian tailor's shop in the 1950s and that Mandela was the first black South African he had ever seen being fitted for a suit. Now Mandela's uniform is a series of exuberant-print shirts that declare him the joyous grandfather of modern Africa.

When Mandela was running for the presidency in 1994, he knew that symbols mattered as much as substance. He was never a great public speaker, and people often tuned out what he was saying after the first few minutes. But it was the iconography that people understood. When he was on a platform, he would always do the toyi-toyi, the township dance that was an emblem of the struggle. But more important was that dazzling, beatific, all-inclusive smile. For white South Africans, the smile symbolized Mandela's lack of bitterness and suggested that he was sympathetic to them. To black voters, it said, I am the happy warrior, and we will triumph. The ubiquitous ANC election poster was simply his smiling face. "The smile," says Ramaphosa, "was the message."

After he emerged from prison, people would say, over and over, It is amazing that he is not bitter. There are a thousand things Nelson Mandela was bitter about, but he knew that more than anything else, he had to project the exact opposite emotion. He always said, "Forget the past" — but I knew he never did.

No. 7
Nothing is black or white
When we began our series of interviews, I would often ask Mandela questions like this one: When you decided to suspend the armed struggle, was it because you realized you did not have the strength to overthrow the government or because you knew you could win over international opinion by choosing nonviolence? He would then give me a curious glance and say, "Why not both?"

I did start asking smarter questions, but the message was clear: Life is never either/or. Decisions are complex, and there are always competing factors. To look for simple explanations is the bias of the human brain, but it doesn't correspond to reality. Nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.

Mandela is comfortable with contradiction. As a politician, he was a pragmatist who saw the world as infinitely nuanced. Much of this, I believe, came from living as a black man under an apartheid system that offered a daily regimen of excruciating and debilitating moral choices: Do I defer to the white boss to get the job I want and avoid a punishment? Do I carry my pass?

As a statesman, Mandela was uncommonly loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and Fidel Castro. They had helped the ANC when the U.S. still branded Mandela as a terrorist. When I asked him about Gaddafi and Castro, he suggested that Americans tend to see things in black and white, and he would upbraid me for my lack of nuance. Every problem has many causes. While he was indisputably and clearly against apartheid, the causes of apartheid were complex. They were historical, sociological and psychological. Mandela's calculus was always, What is the end that I seek, and what is the most practical way to get there?

No. 8
Quitting is leading too
In 1993, Mandela asked me if I knew of any countries where the minimum voting age was under 18. I did some research and presented him with a rather undistinguished list: Indonesia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea and Iran. He nodded and uttered his highest praise: "Very good, very good." Two weeks later, Mandela went on South African television and proposed that the voting age be lowered to 14. "He tried to sell us the idea," recalls Ramaphosa, "but he was the only [supporter]. And he had to face the reality that it would not win the day. He accepted it with great humility. He doesn't sulk. That was also a lesson in leadership."

Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make. In many ways, Mandela's greatest legacy as President of South Africa is the way he chose to leave it. When he was elected in 1994, Mandela probably could have pressed to be President for life — and there were many who felt that in return for his years in prison, that was the least South Africa could do.

In the history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him — not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage. "His job was to set the course," says Ramaphosa, "not to steer the ship." He knows that leaders lead as much by what they choose not to do as what they do.

Ultimately, the key to understanding Mandela is those 27 years in prison. The man who walked onto Robben Island in 1964 was emotional, headstrong, easily stung. The man who emerged was balanced and disciplined. He is not and never has been introspective. I often asked him how the man who emerged from prison differed from the willful young man who had entered it. He hated this question. Finally, in exasperation one day, he said, "I came out mature." There is nothing so rare — or so valuable — as a mature man. Happy birthday, Madiba.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1821467,00.html

Will and settlement of property

2007-08-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

C. H. Gopinatha Rao

There is a large gap in the amount to be spent after death compared to settling when one is alive. It is high time the Law Commission took initiatives to set right this discrimination.

A WILL is the disposition of the assets made by a person during his lifetime intended to take effect after death. When a person dies without making a will, he is said to have died intestate, that is, the property is inherited by the heirs according to the law of succession. In this case the heirs need to obtain a legal heir certificate.

When a person dies after making a will, it can be enforced only after a probate is issued. A probate is identified as the copy of the will certified under the seal of the court of competent jurisdiction. No right as executor or legatee can be established unless a court of competent jurisdiction in India has granted probate of the will under which the right is claimed or has been granted. Probate can be granted only to the executor appointed by the will.

A petition for the probate is to be filed in the court concerned along with the will. The petitioner should remit court fees of value equal to specified percentage (3 per cent in Tamil Nadu) of the value of assets to be inherited. The assets may include immovable properties for which to arrive at the stamp duty the value should be worked out.

In Gorhandas Hargoindas vs Municipal Commissioner Ahmedabad (1964) 66 Nm LR 68, 78 AIR 1963 Sc 1742 1747, the Court stated that "... annual value or rateable value is arrived at by one of the three methods:

Annual rent fetched by land or building where it is actual let,

Where it is not let, rent based on hypothetical tenancy, particularly in the case of buildings, and

Where either of these two methods is not available, by valuation based on capital value... "

It has been held by the Bombay High Court, in a petition filed by Madhusudhan Dwarkda Vora vs Superintendent of Stamps that the wealth tax rules provide a method for assessing the value of unutilised surplus land where the difference between the unbuilt area and specified area is less than 20 per cent of the aggregate area. The same method must be applied for the grant of probate.

Relevant extract of Rule 3 of Wealth Tax Act

Where Rule 3 is applicable the value of the immovable property being a building or land appurtenant thereto or part thereof shall be amount arrived by multiplying the net maintainable rent by 12.5.

The net maintainable rent in relation to an immovable property shall be the gross maintainable rent as reduced by

The amount of taxes levied by any local authority in respect of the property, and

A sum equivalent to 15 per cent of the gross maintainable rent.

Gross maintainable rent

Where the property is let the amount received or receivable by the owner as annual rent or the annual value assessed by the local authority in whose area the property is situated for the purpose of levy of the property tax or any other tax on the basis of such assessment whichever is higher.

Where the property is not let the annual rent assessed by the local authority in whose area the property is situated for the purpose of levy of property tax or if there is no such assessment or the property is situated outside the area of any local authority, the amount the owner can reasonably expect to receive as annual rent had such property been let.

Where the owner has accepted any amount as deposit (not being advance payment towards rent for three months or less) by the amount calculated at the rate of 15 per cent per annum on the amount of deposit outstanding from month to month for number of months (excluding part of a month) during which such deposit was held by the owner in the previous year and if the owner is liable to pay interest on such deposit the increase made in this clause shall be limited to the sum by which the amount calculated as afore said exceeds the interest actually paid.

Rent received or receivable shall include all payments for the use of the property, by whatever name called, the value of all benefits or prerequisites whether convertible as money or not obtained from the tenant or occupier of the property and any sum paid by a tenant or occupier of the property in respect of any obligation which but for such payment would have been payable by the owner.

Example for the adjustment to value arrived at under Rule 3 for unbuilt area of plot of land:

Mr X was the owner of a property at Chennai with an extent of 7,200 sq ft of land and a building with 3,000 sq ft on the ground floor and 1,500 square feet in the first floor. X passed away in 2002 leaving a will and the Registrar valued the property in 2003 at Rs 40 lakh as per their guidelines.

Valuation of the property as per Rule 3 of the Wealth Tax Act

Extent of land: 7,200 sq ft

Extent of building in the ground floor: 3,000 sq ft

Extent of unbuilt area 7,200 sq ft - 3,000 sq ft = 4,200sq ft.

Percentage of unbuilt area = 4,200sq ft/7,200sq ft*100 = 58.33 per cent

Specified area for Chennai = 60 per cent.

Percentage of unbuilt area is less than the specified area. Hence Rule 3 is applicable without adjustment.

The property is owner occupied throughout.

Annual value filed by the Corporation of Chennai: Rs 16,380

Gross annual income: Rs 16,380.91 - 18,000

Deduct property tax and other taxes: (-) Rs 3,000

15 per cent of gross annual income: Rs 2,700

Net annual income = Rs 18,000 - Rs 5,700 = Rs 12,300

Value of the property: Rs 12,300*12.5 = Rs 1,53,750

The value of the property is only Rs 1,53,750 when worked out by application of Rule 3 of the Wealth Tax Act against Rs 40 lakh assessed by the Registrar.

According to the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act the fee chargeable for the grant of probate or letters of administration shall comprise a fee at the rate of 3 per cent on value if it exceeds Rs 5,000.

When the application is made within one year of the death of a person, the market value of the estate on such a date is to be worked out for payment of fees.

A circular released on January 11, 2002 by the Inspector-General of Registration, Government of Tamil Nadu (Circular No. 45794) mentions, "The stamp duty payable for the instrument of settlement in favour of a member or members of a family is based on the value as set forth in the settlement and not the market value." Incidentally, gift tax has also been abolished under the Income-Tax Act.

This means that a man seeking settlement in his lifetime ends up spending far less on stamp duty to be paid than when he is dead. The court fees payable at the rates prescribed under the Court Fees Act may vary in the other States.

Besides this, immovable property in territories other than West Bengal, Mumbai and Chennai require no probate for wills made by Hindus.

A living person making a settlement in favour of his family members has to pay a stamp duty of 5 per cent (4 per cent stamp duty and 1 per cent registration) for the property valued at his discretion and not the market value. If the property changes hands after his death through probate the court fee paid is 3 per cent of its market value of the property.

For example, if the market value of the property is Rs 50 lakh, he can settle at 5 per cent of Rs 1 lakh or even less, which will cost only Rs 5,000. In the latter case the amount to be spent is Rs 1.5 lakh. Thus, there is a large gap in the amount to be spent after death compared to settling when one is alive. It is high time the Law Commission took initiatives to set right this discrimination by recommending to the government, an amendment to the Act.

(The author is former National President, Institution of Valuers.)

Mukesh Ambani on retail and SEZ plans

2007-01-18T22:23:00.001-08:00

Mukesh Ambani on retail and SEZ plans

January 19, 2007 | 09:57 IST

If Dhirubhai Ambani was a larger-than-life patriarch and Anil was the public face of Reliance, Mukesh Ambani was an enigma. Those who knew him well credited him with leading Reliance's turbo-charged growth over the last two decades.

But very little is publicly known of his beliefs, vision and motivation. In his most expansive interview ever to MoneyLIFE, a personal finance magazine, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani tells MoneyLIFE editors Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu, what drives him and his business decisions.

Here is the third and last part of the interview:

And then you got into retailing. . .

Within organised retailing, we are really talking of agri-based retailing. For a variety of reasons, our economy did not get a chance to develop a sustainable value chain in the foods business.

The US and Europe saw large players in foods by the '50s and '60s; but in India, food has always been a disorganised, fragmented value chain. We believe that India's purchasing power will be food-dominated. The first thing we need is safe to eat food that will, in turn, meet many other needs.

But all kinds of mindless legislation remains in place and other players like Hindustan Lever have tried to get around it without real success.

True. But we are in a different era. It is easier for people to see the value proposition -- 28% of our GDP comes from agriculture, but 60% of the people depend on it. So, if we want to make a difference to this 60%, we will have to bring agriculture to its true potential.

Having looked at it obsessively for the past year, I feel that we can convert all our disadvantages into an opportunity. We have fragmented landholdings; but we can integrate that with technology. With proper inputs, there is no reason why Indian farmers cannot become world-class. What is missing? It is distribution.

We now have an opportunity to straightway catch the next wave of distribution logistics. We don't have to go through what the world went through and we can build what even the US will not have by 2010. That is possible today. In terms of sheer money, it may take Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion).

In the earlier days, it was impossible for corporates to think of this. Today, it is possible for the world to finance it and for you to execute a distribution network. We are not big believers in contract farming. So we have removed the 'r' out of cont(r)act farming. I believe that everyone should be able to relate to market economy. If you produce something, you should be able to sell it at a market price.

What is the model that will deliver your vision?

We are working at putting the most modern technology in farms at Indian costs. I always say whatever the US implements in dollars we should be able to do it at exchange rate of Rs 10, then we would be globally competitive.

When we start off, this looks impossible. Then we think through it, value-engineer it and come close to it. That is the cost part. Then comes the quality issue. While we are working at improving the offering to the Indian consumer, we are ultimately interested in connecting the Indian farmer to the global market. Global consumers have to accept Indian agricultural products.

We all know India has a huge competitive advantage -- we have the largest arable land, focused sunshine, sensible utilisation of water in 30% of land. The question is what should we do to make the US market -- the most difficult market in the world -- accept our produce. For that, we need traceability. It is a simple technology, which we are giving the farmers. It needs certification and verification processes -- to us it is like a process plant. You can then get the output, sort it and grade it.

At what point to grade is a decision that Reliance will make, at the farm level or at the intermediary's level. . . what is least-cost, what works, what everybody is comfortable with.

Coarse products are easy, the problem with fresh produce is perishability -- it becomes worthless in seven days. That is why farmers are not producing fresh. That is the tallest mountain for us to climb. . . to put in place distribution and logistics to handle fresh. If we can send fresh produce through technology and distribution from any farm in India to anywhere in the world at their quality standards, then imagine the arbitrage.

What is the arbitrage? Can you give us an example.

We talked of IT. What is IT? It is the arbitrage between the per hour rate in the US and India. We have gone from zero to $20 billion in exporting software, employing about 1 million people in 10 years. These million people changed the brand of India, consumption pattern and gave us the confidence that we can do everything.

The arbitrage has narrowed but is still there. It will disappear in a few decades by which time our software exports may be $100 billion. From a million people, it will benefit 10 million people. If that is what has happened in software, imagine what will happen in agriculture.

Is there this kind of arbitrage in agriculture?

Let me give you some numbers. Take potatoes, the most common food across the world. From Bill Gates to my driver, everybody eats potatoes. Now, plot the prices. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar get about Rs 4-5 a kilo; in the Middle East, the wholesale price is about Rs 25-30 a kilo. In the US, Sam's Club, it is Rs 90 a kilo. In Europe, it is Rs 110 a kilo. The arbitrage is 1:20. If we get our produce right, and if the US market is opened up, you will be surprised how quickly we reach $20 billion.

The food market is much bigger than the software services market. And the money goes straight into the hands of millions of farmers. The spinoffs are enormous -- jobs, houses, durables, a whole new consumption boom will start in rural areas.

What about the front end -- the retailing sector?

The most employment-intensive industry in the world is retail and our next generation needs these jobs. India has a strategy for the next generation of doctors, engineers and biotech graduates, etc. But for the country as a whole, what we need to resolve is how to create sensible jobs for undergraduates and or those even less educated.

Organised retail alone can absorb these people in large numbers. We estimate about 1.5 million jobs from this sector over the next three years. In the process, we will reduce the cost to consumers by 20% and increase the efficiency of farmers thrice over. Farm incomes can go up 600% to 900% over the next few years from the current base.

By higher prices or higher output?

Higher output. The country produces 150 million tonnes of fresh produce today. We can go to 300-400 million tonnes fairly quickly over a few crop cycles, as long as we can move those millions through the system and have world-class quality.

This means that when you go to the market -- doesn't matter whether it is Reliance or Bharti -- you should have the confidence that you are buying quality and it is safe to eat. After meeting the needs of Indian consumers, how do we take advantage in fresh through exports and value added industry such as processing?

It's really a yield-productivity-distribution story that we are involved with right now. Our strategy is fundamentally different from the others.

In what sense?

Most other retailers come in when purchasing power has developed. That's what Wal-Mart did in China. India is also at that inflection point, so retail chains would come in and start in the urban areas and move backward.

Ours is a diametrically opposite strategy. We are driven by creating purchasing power first. The farmers will have purchasing power and their staff will have purchasing power. Today, the farmer with two acres of land has five people in his family. It is like running a factory, but one that is only running 20% of the time because 80% of the time he cannot sell his products.

He doesn't have the inputs to produce the right quality. What we have to do is win his trust and bring him to his true potential so that he can run his two acres at 90% and increase his income by nine times. Once we do it, it is such a big market that there is a place for at least 5-6 players like us. We can't do it all alone. But we can show the way.

It is like in telecom; when we said we will get 10 million phone users, a lot of people laughed. Today, there are 3-4 guys who are getting a million customers a month. We think exactly the same needs to happen in farms. When that happens, we will have created purchasing power.

We will start at the bottom and sell them their first cooking range, first washing machine, first bed -- whatever is needed to improve quality of life. All this will create sustainable employment. That is really retail as we see it. We need to execute it well and prove some of these hypotheses. We might be wrong in some of them so we will have to fine tune, adjust and learn.

We only have a superficial knowledge about the true rural India -- the power structure, how to operate in tehsils, what are their true concerns, etc. But we think we can significantly change purchasing power and how we live. That's what motivates us.

How far have your progressed in your plans?

We have pilot projects in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal. In all three places, we are very encouraged. There will be some big learning involved but the potential undoubtedly exists.

You also have massive plans for SEZs. What is the thought process there?

The logic of SEZ is simple. India is long on talent and we need to create as many jobs as possible in manufacturing and services.

India's land bank is about 750-800 million acres. Out of this, 500 million acres can be potentially farmed, but today only 300-350 million is arable and used for agriculture. We need to bring the remaining 150 million acres into productive use. More than 100 million households rely on this land base. India is creating 800,000 engineers a year and 400,00-500,000 semi-professionals. So we will bring in about 2 million professionals into the workforce annually over the next 20 years. We need to create jobs for them.

Government jobs and self-employment in manufacturing are not enough. It is large companies that create employment. That's the reality. So we have the supply of talent that can potentially be of the highest quality and lowest cost for 10 years and we also have large markets here.

What is missing? It is integrated infrastructure and a reasonable assurance of facilities that are good for at least 10 years. My target company would want to come to India but operate near the big metros. This is the example that you learn from Shanghai or Shenzen. That is where our SEZs with integrated infrastructure come in -- they provide an integrated airport, seaport, transportation, power and housing -- all at sensible costs.

When I put out a comparative chart, I should be able to tell big employers: this is how we compare with Singapore, Dubai, Shenzhen or Malaysia and Korea. On every parameter, I should beat others in cost and quality of infrastructure. India might be short of infrastructure but here you have guaranteed infrastructure and talent.

You are near Bombay and Delhi and have access to the Indian market and global markets. So ours is an employment-led SEZ. The strategy is first to get the employer. I think we can create 5 million jobs in each of the two 25,000-acre SEZs. But we need many more just to make sure that most of our educated youth is occupied.

The criticism is that SEzs are really land plays. . .

Most people don't understand that the residential commercial piece is also a big cost element in SEZs. For employers to attract and retain talent, India has to be almost as attractive as the US. So I have to provide for the cost of living -- housing, shopping environment and everything else exactly like the US, but at an Indian cost.

We have a big talent pool in the US and they are coming back with huge enthusiasm. For our agri-business, we are now bringing back a lot of talented Indians from the US who have worked in Wholesale Foods, Kraft, etc.

We offer to protect their savings in a job here. If you earn $100,000 a year there, you also spend $80,000 and save $15,000-$20,000. We say, if you work for us in India, we will ensure you save $15,000 dollars a year and are part of something exciting without a loss to you.

But this doesn't work without a scheme. If you ask me to build a power plant, I cannot give that power at 3 cents or 4 cents, unless I put up a 2000 MW project. It's the same for an airport, seaport and all the other stuff. You need to spread costs over a sensible size to keep unit costs low.

These projects will take time to fructify. When do you expect to start getting returns?

Both agri-business and SEZs will make a sustainable return in the long run and we have a strong enough balance sheet to sustain these. At the end of the day, it will leave us with the satisfaction of having tried to show the way. The easiest thing for me is to go to London and New York, sit in a hotel, talk to investment bankers and buy 10 companies.

Are you going to do that too?

(Laughs) Depends on the value we get and what excites us. But that's the easy stuff. What does it take? It's deal-making followed by a PR pitch to justify it. That doesn't give me the same satisfaction: of saying that we tried our hardest to blaze a new trail or change the status quo. There are 300 to 400 of us who think the same way.

Young people want to go to Punjab and stay there for a month to figure out what works. In telecom, when we said we would go into six lakh villages, a lot of our friends thought it's all talk. Even the regulator was sceptical. Today, it is rural areas that are making more money.

I have noticed that talent is automatically motivated by larger goals and some of the brightest people want to do things that are different. After we hire from the IIMs and IITs every year, we run them through a six-month induction programme where we teach them the Reliance way and let them choose where they want to work through a competitive framework.

Each business makes a presentation. In the '90s, finance and treasury was the in-thing. Then, it was marketing. In the last two years, most bright young people want to work in rural areas. This is a big mindset change.

In retailing, they are saying, we don't want to do merchandising; we want to create those rural markets. In that sense, it is great fun. I always tell my young guys, we are going on an expedition together. When you do that we need to support each other because we can get lost quickly.

In this wide canvass, aren't you looking at the education sector?

Education is one of the many services we aim to offer. I personally worked for three months on education and healthcare as part of Prime Minister Vajpayee's advisory. It is a tougher mountain to climb.

Education is the first aspiration of Indians, no matter what the prosperity level. In that sense, you have a ready customer.

(Laughs) To learn what you said, we spent crores of rupees. After our restructuring, we wondered what we should be getting into and got the best brains together to visualise where the big opportunities are. We studied what people want to spend their money on at all income levels and in different geographies.

People first want to spend money on food -- that is common across the world. The second, in India, is education. In many parts of the world, it comes way down the list of priorities. So, there is a huge opportunity.

What has been your best investment so far?

Our best investment has been in technology and in developing skills. For instance, we invested Rs300 crore in technology that gave us unparalleled transparency and accountability within the organisation.

It allows us to spend Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) a year and sleep in peace. We were among the first to introduce videoconferencing in India. In the 80s, we invested in helicopters to go to Patalganga to save time. People saw it as flashy lifestyle. For us, it was facilitating investments.

The other big investment we are now making is in talent. We are developing a culture of creativity that will, in turn, create critical product-service differentials. You must see our life sciences business to appreciate this. Another way to say this is that we are investing to build the skills and experience of our people so that they can then believe in their conviction, take risks and deliver results. Let me also answer the flipside.

We have not invested well in marketing ourselves. It is partly because of my trait. I believe that if my conviction is right, I will not need to go and explain myself to anyone. I believed that ultimately everyone will figure out what you are. We are changing this approach.

In the name of Ambedkar

2006-12-11T04:20:00.000-08:00

In the name of Ambedkar

The late Kanshi Ram was the hellraiser of the 1990s. His shirt always unbuttoned, hair uncombed, a towel around his neck, the Bahujan Samaj party leader was keen to maintain his distinctive identity. "I am not like your Maharashtra Dalit leaders who spend their time building statues in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar," he told me. "When we come to power, we will bring genuine empowerment instead of renaming universities and building statues," he claimed. 16 years on, Kanshi Ram's legacy has taken a rather different turn. Spread right across Uttar Pradesh are districts, parks, auditoria named after Dr Ambedkar while statues of the man dot virtually every village and town square across the state. The desecration of one such statue in Kanpur has already led to a conflagration in Maharashtra.
Why is it that there are more statues of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar in India than any other historical person of the last millennium? In her book "Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India", social scientist Gail Omvedt has suggested that the statues have played a major role in political assertion in contemporary India. She writes:"The raising of the statues has represented a claim to pride and public space. Their opponents also take them as such and express their hostility to Dalit assertion by putting "garlands" of chappals around such statues - actions which have often led to severe rioting and police firing. With all of this, it is clear that in the "politics of flags and statues", Dalits have placed Ambedkar at the top of the world."
Ironically Ambedkar himself would have hated being a statue. In 1943 he wrote, "India is still par excellence a land of idolatry. There is idolatry in religion and in politics. Heroes and hero worship is a hard if unfortunate fact in India's political life. Hero worship is demoralizing for the devotee and dangerous for the country." The hero worship of Ambedkar has perhaps been the greatest failing of the modern dalit movement.
As Arun Shourie writes in his controversial book, "Worshipping False Gods": "Statues, dressed in garish blue, holding a copy of the Constitution - have been put up in city after city." Not only does the writer seem to find them aesthetically repugnant, but also symbolic of the bankruptcy of the Dalit leadership.
Yet, critics like Shourie fail to realize that Ambedkar today is an enduring symbol of the most potent weapon in electoral politics: the politics of identity. While this may at times have reduced a multi-faceted personality to a caste leader (and in the context of Maharashtra's Dalits to even a Mahar leader at times), it has made him a reverential figure among his followers. For them, Ambedkar is more than just the Father of the Constitution, he is in fact the Father of the most politically powerful idea of our times: social justice.
Ambedkarism is seen as a genuine vehicle of social mobility. The demand for an equitable society - as exemplified in the clamour for reservations - is seen to be far more "real" and "achievable" at an individual and collective level than even Gandhi's battle for a humane society. By invoking Ambedkar, his followers are seen to be asserting a more basic desire for a more "inclusive" society,a demand that is fundamental to any social or economic change in contemporary India. It's a demand which is universal enough to ensure that no political party can afford to ignore it. Which is why every political party - from the Congress to the BJP to the BSP - has attempted to appropriate Ambedkar. Which is also why no party can dare to oppose the raising of an Ambedkar statue. Which is also why when a statue of Gandhi is garlanded with chappals in Gujarat, there is no major flare-up, but when an Ambedkar statue is desecrated, there is a near-spontaneous eruption.
But this is not just about identity politics. Ambedkarism today rules over the Republic Of Rage, the angry Dalit street which feels it has been left out of development. To that exent, the mob violence that follows the damage to an Ambedkar statue is not simply Dalit anger at having their icon humiliated. It is also an attempt at "revenge" by all those groups who feel alienated from a socio-economic system that still benefits only a limited few. Not surprising then that the violence has spread to those towns in Maharashtra where the pace of growth has been the most uneven, and where Dalits and other social groups feel they are being left behind by the newly dominant caste and class interests (Nashik with its ersatz shopping mall culture and real estate boom is a classic example).
At the same time, the emotionally surcharged responses to the statue demolition also reflects the weakness of the movement which his supporters claim to represent. Ambedkar spoke of the need to "organize, educate and agitate" as the three-pronged strategy that would ensure Dalit emancipation. Far from being organized, Dalits, especially in Ambedkar's home state Maharashtra, are badly splintered. Education has slowly created a creamy layer among a section of the dalits without making a difference to the vast multitude. And it requires a ghastly incident like the Khairlanji rape and murder to get Dalit groups to revive their agitational spirit. And even this spirit rapidly descends into competitive lumpenism as can be evidenced by the incidents of arson and rioting in parts of Maharashtra.
Unfortunately, the statue cult is the obvious short cut when you run out of real options to empowerment or refuse to engage in a genuine debate on Ambedkarism. The Gandhi-Godse ideological conflict as reflected in a play like "Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy" can still be listened to and debated, but try and question Ambedkar's philosophy and you risk immediate isolation. A Mayawati and Kanshi Ram could get away by abusing Gandhi, but could any national leader or public intellectual even question Ambedkar's teachings and expect to survive? Interestingly, in the entire fracas over the Kanpur incident only one politician, the BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh Lalji Tandon has had the courage to question the manner in which Ambedkar statues are mushrooming across the state. Speaking in the UP assembly, Mr Tandon asked whether some of the statues are simply being put up as part of a land-grabbing exercise, and asked why no one was incensed when statues sprung up overnight next to garbage dumps? To Dalit leaders, these questions will be seen as an "upper caste conspiracy" to tar Babasaheb's name, but the fact is that not every statue is being built out of genuine veneration. Often, the motive is cynical vote catching.
Maybe those who truly believe in Ambedkar need to return to their leader's teachings. Ambedkar's dream was that simply exercising the vote was meaningless unless caste was totally eradicated. That politics was about acquiring power to change society not acquiring power simply to rule. There is no doubt that there are daily Khairlanjis in India: savage, bestial attacks against Dalits continue. Yet sadly, Ambedkar's intellectual legacy has been lost. The intellectual struggle for a just society through achievement, new ideas and a sustained critique of the brahminical order has been given up in favour of mob violence and the brute demonstration of electoral power. The leaders of today's Dalits have forgotten Ambedkar's vision even as they shout out his rallying cry. Priyanka Bhotmange is raped and killed and Bhaiyalal Bhotmange's life is destroyed. But Ambedkar is powerless: he looks on simply as a mute statue.

The Early Signs of Pregnancy Checklist

2006-11-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

Pregnancy Symptoms

The Early Signs of Pregnancy Checklist

Do you have questions about pregnancy symptoms? By popular request, here is our early signs of pregnancy symptoms checklist. One web page that explains common pregnancy signs and symptoms, including the very earliest signs of pregnancy.

Remember... when in doubt about the earliest pregnancy symptoms, be sure to do a home pregnancy test. To be absolutely sure, have a pregnancy test done at your doctor's office.

The Early Signs of Pregnancy Checklist

The following are common early signs of pregnancy. However, symptoms of pregnancy are not the same for every woman. In fact, your own symptoms may actually be different from one pregnancy to another.

Pregnancy symptoms can also vary in their intensity, frequency and duration. The following early signs and symptoms of pregnancy checklist is only a guideline.

Also keep in mind that many of the earliest pregnancy symptoms can appear similar to routine pre-menstrual discomforts.

If you are not trying to conceive, you might think it is just your period coming on again, when in reality you may be experiencing very early signs of pregnancy.

If you are trying to conceive, you may be frustrated when you think you may be experiencing early symptoms of pregnancy but they are only pre-menstrual symptoms.

You will experience a wide variety of physical and emotional changes during pregnancy. These may include any or all of the pregnancy symptoms listed below.

Although each of these are considered typical early symptoms of pregnancy, they may happen earlier or later than the order in which they appear on the following list.

Remember, some of the earliest signs of pregancy may be subtle, not obvious. Whenever there is any question that you might be experiencing early signs of pregnancy, do a home pregnancy test.

Early signs of pregnancy: #1

Missed Period

Perhaps the most obvious early symptom of pregnancy is when you've missed your period. This possible sign of pregnancy is often what causes women to search for more details about the other pregnancy symptoms.

Some women might only experience a much lighter period compared to their usual. You might not experience any of the pregnancy signs listed below until around the time you notice you've missed your monthly cycle.

Early signs of pregnancy: #2

Just "Feeling" Pregnant

This early pregnancy symptom may be the reason why you are checking this list right now. Many women believe they have an intuition about pregnancy signs. Their intuition is often proven correct.

Maybe you just feel different; tired, moody, queasy, lightheaded. You may also have heartburn, constipation, or find yourself making more frequent trips to the restroom. Perhaps you feel a dull ache or stiffness in your lower back, you have sore breasts or they seem overly sensitive, or you are simply not feeling like your usual self.

Early signs of pregnancy: #3

Breast Tenderness

One of the very noticeable early signs of pregnancy is tender, swollen, somewhat sore breasts. You may notice this pregnancy sign at bedtime when you are trying to get comfortable and go to sleep, when exercising or showering, or when getting dressed.

When you become pregnant, your body begins preparing your breasts for producing milk and breastfeeding. Hormones start increasing. In addition to breast tenderness and swelling, your nipples may feel sore or extra sensitive. Some women notice their nipples darken in color.

Your breasts play an important role in childbirth. They are naturally sensitive and become far more so when pregnant. This is one of the most obvious early symptoms of pregnancy.

Early signs of pregnancy: #4

Fatigue

One of the earliest pregnancy signs for some women may be fatigue and exhaustion. You may start going to bed sooner, or find it harder than usual to get out of bed in the morning. If you are working, by noon you may feel like you need to lie down. Exercising seems like too much effort. A simple activity like shopping may leave you feeling wiped out and lightheaded. This early pregnancy symptom is caused by all of the changes that your body is going through, plus the increasing levels of hormones.

If you know you are pregnant, try to take frequent rests or naps of 15 minutes to a half-hour whenever possible. Explain to your family, friends and coworkers that you need these naps. Ask for their help in blocking out rest times for you.

Early signs of pregnancy: #5

Frequent Urination

An early symptom of pregnancy that others may notice you experiencing is frequent trips to the restroom. Your family or friends may comment that you seem to be going off to the ladies room quite often lately. One cause of this pregnancy symptom is that the swelling uterus can put pressure on your bladder.

Also, pregnancy causes extra body fluids to be processed by your kidneys and bladder. That means more trips to the restroom. Sorry to have to say this, but this symptom of pregnancy may remain constant for nine months.

Early signs of pregnancy: #6

Nausea

One of these pregnancy signs of queasiness, nausea and vomiting can take you by surprise when you least expect it. These early pregnancy symptoms may come as soon as a week into the pregnancy. Many women experience nausea in the morning when they have coffee and/or eat something on an empty stomach. This is known as morning sickness (see below). Other women notice nausea in the afternoon or evening. Others feel queasy all day.

This pregnancy symptom may often be helped by eating smaller, more frequent snack size meals. Many women say saltine crackers and milk seem to be helpful. This is an early symptom of pregnancy that seems to show up about a month after pregnancy has begun. It tends to level off once you are into your second trimester and your body adjusts to all the many changes it is going through.

Early signs of pregnancy: #7

Dizziness and/or Fainting

One of the more surprising pregnancy signs is dizziness and/or fainting. Going up stairs, standing up suddenly after sitting for a time, or just having to stand in line at the grocery store can make you feel light headed. You might even faint. As the uterus swells it compresses arteries in your legs. This can drop your blood pressure and make you dizzy.

A common early sign of pregnancy is that you may feel faint when you have gone a while without eating. This is due to low blood sugar, because that is your baby's main source of food. You want to eat frequent, healthy snacks to keep your blood sugar up. Stock up on portable lunch box foods you can take with you. Such as apples, bananas, grapes, yogurt cups, carrots and celery, cheese and crackers, small cartons of milk, juice boxes, granola bars, boxes of raisins, etc.

Early signs of pregnancy: #8

Food Cravings, or Aversions to Foods

A well-known cliché is the pregnancy sign-symptom of craving certain foods or unusual combinations of foods. For example, one woman said she craved midnight snacks of warm peach pie topped with vanilla ice cream. Everyone has a funny story about food cravings.

Taking a good pre-natal vitamin supplement and a pure fish oil capsule may ease some cravings and help prevent extra weight gain (see below) ... and of course it is doctor recommended for the health of your baby.

Less well known but equally common pregnancy signs are aversions to certain foods. You may find that some foods you previously enjoyed are no longer appetizing. One woman told us she had always liked pizza, but couldn't stand it at all while she was expecting. Just the smell of it made her feel nausea. This problem may come and go for some women. For others it could last throughout pregnancy.

Early signs of pregnancy: #9

Sensitivity to Aromas

Another related early symptom of pregnancy is a heightened sensitivity to aromas. Even a favorite aroma, such as the smell of a food or perfume, can make you gag. The smell of fresh mowed grass, the smell of a gas station, smells of various foods, household cleaners, perfumes, cigarette smoke, etc., can all cause you to feel nauseated (see nausea symptom above). This is thought to be yet another side effect of the estrogen that is flooding your body.

Early signs of pregnancy: #10

Morning Sickness

This pregnancy symptom is well known, and it is related to the nausea symptom. It can be caused by a variety of factors. Your body is craving food and you have not eaten all night so your tummy feels queasy. Your body has way more hormones coursing through it than normal and this can . You are sensitive to aromas and foods, so your morning coffee may not agree with you. The usual breakfast you typically have may not settle well in your stomach during this time. One woman usually had a scone along with a coffee late' for breakfast, but found that during pregnancy it made her feel sick. She changed to tea and toast and that worked well for her. Each woman is different and will have different foods that may or may not contribute to morning sickness.

Early signs of pregnancy: #11

Heartburn and/or Constipation

This pregnancy symptom is caused by the uterus starting to swell and pushing against the stomach and other organs as it grows. Also, increasing levels of hormones may slow down digestion and bowel functions to allow the body to absorb as much vitamins, minerals and nutrients as possible from foods. Taking a quality prenatal multi-vitamin-mineral supplement is important to help your body get the nutrients it needs for your growing baby.

The slower emptying of the stomach may also cause the release of increased stomach acid to aid digestion, leading to a feeling of heartburn. Soda crackers and sparkling water can help. Smaller more frequent meals are easier to digest. Drink plenty of water and eat fruits, vegetables and perhaps some raisin and bran cereal to help regularity. Some daily vitamin formulas also contain digestive enzymes (from pineapple and papaya fruits). These can help with digestion.

Ask your doctor before taking any kind of antacids as some contain aluminum and should be avoided. These two pregnancy symptoms can last throughout your term.

Early signs of pregnancy: #12

Mood Swings and Irritability

With all of these symptoms of pregnancy to deal with, along with raging hormones, is it any wonder you may experience some mood swings and irritability? There is also the emotional adjustment period to your new responsibility. Your world has changed. Even when your pregnancy is carefully planned, it is normal for your mind to suddenly be filled with questions about the timing, your career, finances, insurance, labor and delivery, motherhood, even the future costs of college.

It is perfectly normal to feel mixed emotions, excitement and depression, joy and sorrow, laughter and tears. Your partner may be very confused by this and may not seem to be supportive. Explain that your mood swings are very normal signs of pregnancy and that you need support and understanding.

You are the one doing all the hard work here and it is not asking too much for your partner to be patient, loving and to have plenty of hugs and kind words of support ready when you need them. Most fathers-to-be want very much to be supportive, they just need instructions. No one has ever told them anything about pregnancy symptoms. It is all a mystery to them.

We encourage you to email or print-out this early symptom of pregnancy checklist so your partner can read it too.

This early symptom of pregnancy may decrease in the second trimester. Meanwhile get plenty of sleep, eat right, take your prenatal vitamins and get some moderate exercise by taking short walks.

Early signs of pregnancy: #13

Higher body temperature

One of the pregnancy symptoms that takes a while to gauge is higher than usual body temperature. You may have been feeling a little bit warm lately and wondered if you are coming down with a cold or something. Take your temperature and see if it is higher than it normally would be.

If you've been trying to conceive and hoping to get pregnant (it's a tough job but somebody has to do it), your doctor may already have suggested that you keep a record of your body temperature every day. If your temperature is higher than usual and it stays high for two weeks in a row, something is obviously going on with your body. You may be pregnant (or you may have a low grade fever). Prolonged periods of increased temperature are a cause to seek your doctor's opinion.

Early signs of pregnancy: #14

Low Back Pain

Early pregnancy symptoms of low back pain can be “a real pain,” literally. This low back pain is caused by several factors. First is your weight change. You gain some weight because you are pregnant, your uterus gets bigger, and your baby grows larger every week. Next, your posture and torso are thrown out of alignment. This weight is mostly in the front of your torso, which pulls on your back. It is like wearing a backpack on your front instead of your back. This changes your posture and puts a strain on your back.

Lack of your typical night’s sleep is another factor. You may be laying on your side and trying to get comfortable. The weight of your womb is pulling on your back muscles as you lay there too. Get a maternity pillow as that can help make you more comfortable.

Finally, your hormones and body changes have some effect too. Your body is getting ready for birth and so some of your joints and ligaments are loosening up to make delivery possible. All of these changes added together can cause the early pregnancy symptoms of low back pain. It is estimated that about half of all women will experience this pregnancy symptom.

Early signs of pregnancy: #15

Implantation Bleeding

One of the less known pregnancy symptoms is the slight bleeding and spotting that can be caused when the fertilized egg begins to implant itself into the uterus. This is known as "implantation bleeding" and it usually takes place between 3 to 6 days after fertilization.

Once the egg becomes implanted in the uterus - congratulations, you are no longer wondering about pregnancy symptoms, you are indeed pregnant. At this point you might notice a little bit of red or pink spotting. Not all women experience implantation bleeding so it is not considered one of the most obvious pregnancy signs.

Early signs of pregnancy: #16

A Positive Pregnancy Test

If you are worrying about possible early symptoms of pregnancy, you can put your mind at ease with a pregnancy test. More than just a pregnancy symptom, this is scientific proof positive of whether you are expecting a baby or not.

Pregnancy tests work best if you wait to take them until at least a day or two after you miss your period. Even if the pregnancy test result is negative you should try it again a few days later to be sure. The best pregnancy tests are the ones done by your doctor or medical clinic. However there are some very high quality at home tests available too.

Early signs of pregnancy: #17

Bloating and Weight Gain

Yes the unavoidable weight gain is also a sign. Your clothes are getting tighter, you are feeling bloated, the weight showing on the scale is going up... you are getting bigger and that is simply part of being pregnant.

However your odd food cravings may not be as strong if you are taking your prenatal vitamins and fish oil capsules. The cravings may be due to your body's need for special nutrition. The importance of pre-natal vitamins and fish oil capsules

Your doctor will tell you that if you are trying to conceive, or you believe you may be experiencing early pregnancy symptoms, you should be taking daily pre-natal vitamins. Vitamin supplements offer support for trying to conceive, for your health and for the health of your baby.

Your body is under great nutritional demands to feed the growing little person inside you. For example, the March of Dimes encourages women to take a multi-vitamin containing folic acid, (a B vitamin).

Folic acid can help prevent birth defects. Help your body and your baby's body get the nutrition it needs. Take a quality pre-natal vitamin with folic acid.

Many pregnant women are now also taking a high quality pharmaceutical grade quality fish oil supplement. This gives you the important nutrients of DHA and omega-3 for healthy babies.

It has been shown in clinical studies that diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil which provides DHA, will help to provide nutritional support to a baby's visual, nerve and brain function.

Fish oil capsules vary in quality. Distilled pharmaceutical grade fish oil is thought by many to be the very best quality. Don't take any chances on the quality of some "mystery fish" oil ... the very best kind we've ever found in our endless research is this amazingly good fish oil.

Warning: Do not take flaxseed oil during pregnancy. Don't try to get omega-3 that way. Get it from fish oil instead. Flaxseed oil can have an effect upon estrogen and hormones, like soy can. It is for postmenopausal women, not pregnant women!

Talk to your doctor. Be very careful to avoid most herbs and supplements when pregnant or nursing. Take prenatal supplements and the best quality fish oil pills only.

Fusing Phule And Ambedkar

2006-10-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Fusing Phule And Ambedkar

Kanshi Ram redefined and expanded the scope of parliamentary democracy in India by successfully fusing Phule's advocacy of the bahujan with the Ambedkarite idea of negotiating space for a communal minority in a political majority.

S. ANAND

In 1971, when Kanshi Ram was an employee in the munitions factory of the DRDO in Pune, he picked a quarrel with a senior officer, and allegedly struck him, over the non-appointment of a young, qualified Dalit woman. This led to his eventual quitting the government job. There is this great Indian myth that once the Dalits or other backward classes enter the realm of modernity and become a part of the apparently seamless middle class, caste would disappear, caste would wither away. Urban Indians are not casteist, it is believed, except in matrimonial columns. By 1965, Kanshi Ram and his fellow Dalit and backward class employees realized that was hardly the case. Dalit employees were routinely humiliated on an everyday basis at their workplace. And Kanshi Ram deeply resented that. If this were the fate of an educated, employed Dalit, what would her fate be in the feudal-rural scenario? Even in his early 30s, as an organiser, he nurtured his support base among the Dalit and Backward Caste government employees; the very first organization he established with his colleagues in 1971 was the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities Employees Welfare Association in Pune. The objective: to counter the harassment the shoshit (oppressed) employees faced.

In 1996, in New Delhi, Kanshi Ram slapped a TV journalist and BSP workers assaulted other members of the media. What the provocation was we shall not know, for there was no one to report that, as Kenneth J. Cooper, then the Washington Times correspondent in New Delhi, discovered. He was shocked by the manner in which the Indian media had reported the happenings at Kanshi Ram’s residence. Cooper, a witness, wondered: Is there no one to report the Dalit side of the story? He then asked senior journalist B.N. Uniyal, among others, if there were no Dalits in the capital’s media. Cooper went on to write an article in Washington Times about the absence of Dalits in the Indian print media. Uniyal made a search for Dalit journalists and even published an article about his vain search in The Pioneer. Not much has changed in the last ten years, as a survey by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in May 2006 indicated.

Be it in 1971 when he struck a higher official or in 1996 when he slapped an overbearing journalist, Kanshi Ram was animated by the same spirit to defend the self-respect and dignity of Dalits . In 1973, he established the All India Backward and Minority Employees Federation (BAMCEF), and in 1981 formed the came DS4 (the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti), a precursor to the Bahujan Samaj Party founded on Ambedkar’s birthday, April 14, 1984.

Since 1919 when he made his first political intervention on behalf of the Depressed Classes in the Southborough Commission till his death in 1956, B.R. Ambedkar tended to articulate the Dalit issue as essentially one of a ‘minority’ problem. In positing Dalits as India’s biggest minority group that needed political and societal safeguards, Ambedkar was reacting to the Muslim self-perception in colonial India. The British adjudication and manipulation of the politics of numbers, using Census figures, were crucial for these early debates on the scope of democratic representation in India.

Kanshi Ram, unarguably the biggest leader to emerge from among Dalits in the post-Ambedkar period, and someone who succeeded in the realm of parliamentary democracy in which Ambedkar repeatedly failed, drew heavily from Ambedkar’s political resources. However, he decided to deploy a different strategy at the ground level.Surely, the consolidation of Uttar Pradesh’s 22 percent or Punjab’s 28 percent Dalit populations alone would not ensure victories in elections; but such a consolidation would force the tormentors and opponents of Dalits to come to the bargaining table.

Kanshi Ram realized that if the Dalits had to wrest their share in political power on their own terms, they needed allies. In this sense, he was more a follower of Jotiba Phule (1827–1890). At the heart of Kanshi Ram’s politics was the concept of the ‘bahujan’—the oppressed majority, a quintessential Phule formulation that believed in the organic unity of the Sudras (BCs and BCS) and Atisudras (Dalits and Adivasis); (something with which Ambedkar differed since he saw the Sudras as essentially erstwhile khsatriyas and the untouchables as fallen Buddhists). Following Phule, Kanshi Ram believed that the Sudras and Atisudras needed to join hands with Muslims and other minorities to combat the Brahmin-Baniya-Rajput combine. The logic that drove this postulation was that if democracy was the rule of the majoritarian voice, then why was it that in Indian democracy only the voice of the dwija castes was heard? In the early phase of his political career, Kanshi Ram believed that the Dalits and their immediate tormentors in the rural landscape—OBCs—could join hands. The mastermind of coalition politics in Uttar Pradesh sought to first forge an alliance at the societal level before seeking to fortify it at the political level. This was not easy, as we shall see.

The birth of the BSP in 1984 did not happen in the most conducive circumstances. Rajiv Gandhi swept to power on a sympathy wave. The BJP’s hindutva agenda was looming large and Rajiv played along, allowing the shilanyas and the telecast of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana. Not the best of times for a man without any previous political foothold in Uttar Pradesh—born on March 15, 1934 is a Raidasi Sikh family in Khawaspur village, Ropar district, Punjab and bred on Phule and Ambedkar’s ideas in Pune—to pose a challenge to both the Congress and BJP. The challenge could bear fruition only when the OBCs and Dalits joined forces, Kanshi Ram reckoned. One of the early DS-4 slogans was ‘Brahmin, Bania, Thakur Chor, Baki Sab Hum DS-Four’ (meaning, Brahmins Banias Thakurs are crooks, the DS-4 are their victims). In the 1993 UP assembly elections ‘Tilak, Taraju, Talwar. Maaro Unko Joote Char’ was on every BSP worker’s lip. This slogan to give the boot to the oppressors was not just imbued with anti-caste sentiments but anti-hindutva as well; the tilak invoking the Brahmins, the taraju the Baniya and the talwar the militant Kshatriya, all in the service of hindutva. This was essentially an inversion of anti-Dalit traditional rhymes that equated chamars with chors (thieves).

An alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajawadi Party followed. This remained an uneasy alliance at the core because the OBC mindset was such that it would never accept a Dalit as leader. Sharing power with OBCs proved a tough task. Be it a Brahmin like Lalji Tandon, or OBCs like Mulayam Yadav or Kalyan Singh, they resented the idea of being headed by a Dalit . (Even an MBC of Nishad caste like Phoolan Devi preferred to join the Samajwadi Party, a reflection on how the Kanshi Ram-Mayawati leadership could not be stomached by most non-Dalits .) Moreover, in rural UP, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989 (PoA Act) assumed meaning whenever the Mayawati-led BSP was in power. While the media preferred to highlight only her excesses with Ambedkar statues and parks, under her regime the PoA Act came to be termed the Dalit Act and UP became the only state where it was not possible to casually insult a Dalit and get away with it.To refer to a Dalit with contempt—which caste Hindus had done as matter of convention and traditional right—became a crime that could result in a FIR and booking under Section 3 (I) X of the PoA Act. Police officers were given instructions to fearlessly implement the Act, both unprecedented and never emulated in any other state under any other regime. The implementation of the Act went a long way in recognising and restoring a sense of self and dignity among the Dalits of UP. This was seen by the caste Hindu society and the media—inured by routine, everyday humiliation of Dalits —as the registering of false cases in the name of the Dalit Act. (According to a study, the UP Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission says 80-85 per cent of the cases brought before it are genuine.) In these cases, the OBCs were named as the primary tormentors of Dalits . The Dalit -OBC political alliance in Lucknow could not be translated into a Sudra-Atisudra social harmony. The slew of FIRs, with OBCs shown as aggressors, strained the BSP-SP alliance. This was a fundamental societal contradiction that Kanshi Ram could not resolve. The echoes of the free and fair use of the PoA Act could be heard in faraway Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where the BC and OBCs groups demanded the repeal of the Act.

It is an irony of our times that in her last term as CM, Mayawati sought to dilute this very Act in order to please her ally, now the Brahmin/Thakur/OBC-filled BJP. In July 2002, the Mayawati government issued a directive signed by chief secretary D.S. Bagga and special secretary Anil Kumar with respect to the PoA Act which instructed the entire administrative machinery, to prevent ‘misuse’ of the Act and asked them to direct the state’s penal and executive bodies to be ‘extra careful’ about registering the cases under the Act.

How and why did Kanshi Ram ally alternately with BJP and SP and even the Congress—in other words, with BCs and OBCs, as well the Brahmin-Baniya-Thakurs? Here, we need to invoke Ambedkar on the place of minorities in the midst of communal and political majorities. He argues in his neglected, late work Thoughts on Linguistic States:

People who rely upon majority rule forget the fact that majorities are of two sorts: (1) Communal majority and (2) Political majority. A political majority is changeable in its class composition. A political majority grows. A communal majority is born. The admission to a political majority is open. The door to a communal majority is closed. The politics of a political majority are free to all to make and unmake. The politics of a communal majority are made by its own members born in it. How can a communal majority run away with the title deeds given to a political majority to rule? … This tyranny of the communal majority is not an idle dream. It is an experience of many minorities.

Kanshi Ram understood that what was being played out in Indian democracy was the rule of communal majority in the name of the rule of the political majority. For a communal minority like Dalits , the only way to democracy was by kneading its way into the forces that constituted political majority in electoral politics. Dalits could not join the communal majority constituted by Baniyas, Thakurs and Brahmins, for, as Ambedkar says, the door to communal majority is closed. But they sure could join the political majority, since the class and caste composition of the political majority could change. This was manageable through alliances. Under Kanshi Ram’s stewardship, the BSP practically demonstrated what Ambedkar had theoretically formulated. In this sense, Kanshi Ram redefined and expanded the scope of parliamentary democracy in India.

If Kanshi Ram did not ally with one force, it was with the Left. The Left of course had hardly a presence in Uttar Pradesh. At the national level the CPI and CPI(M) preferred to do business with the ‘secular’ Mulayam, Karunanidhi or even Jayalalitha, but refused to engage with the BSP.

Kanshi Ram painfully realised that Phule’s bahujan concept would not work under Dalit leadership. Kanshi Ram therefore successfully wedded Phule’s advocacy of the bahujan with the Ambedkarite idea of negotiating space for a communal minority in a political majority. With this premise, within a decade he managed to build a national party that became the sole challenge to the supremacy of the Congress and the BJP in the Hindi heartland.

State Of Denial

2006-10-05T00:04:00.000-07:00

In March 2006, Rumsfeld invited six of the Pentagon’s regular outside advisers in to be briefed and ask questions. One was Ken Adelman, a longtime Rumsfeld friend and vehement early supporter of the war who had become entirely disillusioned over the administration’s handling of the postwar. His relationship with Rumsfeld was almost over.

“What metrics would you use for success in Iraq?” Adelman asked Rumsfeld. “You know, for winning the war?”

“Oh, there are hundreds,” Rumsfeld replied. “It’s just so complicated that there are hundreds.”

“Wait a minute,” Adelman insisted. “A former boss of mine always said identify three or four things, then always ask about, get measurements and you’ll get progress or else you’ll never get any progress.” The former boss was Rumsfeld himself, who had driven the point home to Adelman 35 years ago, when he worked for Rumsfeld at the Office of Economic Opportunity. What are they? Adelman insisted.

Rumsfeld said it was so complicated that he could not give a list. “Hundreds,” he insisted.

Adelman believed that meant there was a total lack of accountability. If Rumsfeld didn’t agree to any criteria, he couldn’t be said to have failed on any criteria.

“Then you don’t have anything,” Adelman said. He left as disturbed as ever. There was no accountability.

IT professionals, dress for success

2006-08-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

IT professionals, dress for success

Sunder Ramachandran |
August 09, 2006 | 11:22 IST

In case you hadn't realised it, you are judged in the first 30 seconds of your interaction with your boss, colleagues or clients. Which is why dressing appropriately can have a�positive impact, giving you the edge over your competition. Here's our dressing guide for some common scenarios that professionals in the IT industry�encounter at work.

Client meetings

You need to make a positive impression as you are representing your organisation. Dress conservatively and stick to business formals. Black trousers, blue shirt and striped ties are good combo. It is safer to wear trousers in dark grey, black or deep navy, at least for your first meeting with the client, as they give an impression of professionalism.

. A crisp white/blue shirt on top will help you command formality and respect.

. A red tie on a blue shirt or dark blue striped tie will also give you a professional look. Make sure you match the colour of your tie with your trousers.

. Have a formal jacket ready in black or navy blue -- universal colours that can be worn on top of any attire.

The weekly conference call

You need to provide updates about the progress of a current task to your counterparts or clients through video conferencing. Wear business casuals. This refers to no jacket-no tie kind of attire. Khakis, slacks and dress shirts are acceptable as business casual. You can club a corduroy trouser in black or brown with a formal striped shirt and leather shoes in black or brown. Do not wear T-shirts on a Thursday though. Your business casual-day outfit should be formal enough that you can throw on a jacket and meet a client, if you suddenly need to.

The project meeting

Your boss calls for a meeting to brief everyone about the new project and assign responsibilities. You need to project the image of a leader to walk away with critical and high impact tasks. Go for a crisp white shirt over a grey or navy blue trouser. Beige or brown trousers with an off-white shirt are also a good option. Team them with a classy brown belt and shoes in the same colour. Stick to neutral colours like off-white, brown, beige and grey.

Review with the boss

This is when you need to have a progress report ready for your boss so he can decide the course of action for the rest of the week. Try cool colours that convey that you are at ease and in control. Formal shirts in blue, turquoise, sea green or light purple are great options. Team up a beige trouser with a purple shirt or try a grey trouser with a spring green formal shirt.

Time out with colleagues

So, it's a Friday and the team has planned a pizza party or small get-together. Try teaming khaki trousers with a plain or striped collared T-shirt. Avoid wearing jeans to work. Instead, wear khakis, chinos, corduroys or other non-denim slacks. Round neck T-shirts are a definite 'No'.

A T-shirt with the company logo is good; a shirt with jazzy tag lines may show snobbishness. A shirt with a competitor's symbol is definitely a 'No' Fridays do not include the option of not shaving, so make sure you are well groomed!

Shirts: Must haves

. Quality shirts: Shirts take centre stage when you're not wearing a jacket.

. All cotton: Buy cottons that have been treated to resist wrinkles.

. Collar details: The best shirts have removable stays, which hold the collar's points and keep them in place. Never wear a button-down collar with a suit; opt for a spread collar instead.

. Stitching and seams: A high quality shirt has single needle stitching and 22 stitches per inch, and cross-stitched buttons for durability. The design on any patterned shirt should meet perfectly at the seams.

. Standard versus fitted cut: Select a cut to accommodate your build. Dress shirts come in either a fitted cut or standard cut, which is looser.

. You can have a size 16 neck and a 30" waist or a 40" waist. Obviously, most commercially available shirts are cut to accommodate both, which means that those on the smaller end can find themselves blowing out to parachute proportions. So, take a little time to find a shirt that fits as closely as possible.

Dressy trousers

. Avoid cheap polyester varieties. Polyester's main claim to fame is carpets. Go for cotton or wools in winter.

. Almost all pants, aside from jeans, require ironing. Turn the pants inside out. Hang warm pants immediately to avoid wrinkling. Fold them through a suit hanger to avoid crushing them in a pant hanger.

. Avoid spot-cleaning pants just before ironing. Any wet spots may become permanent stains if ironed.

Formal jackets

. Get your formal jackets hand-stitched and fully canvassed, not 'fused' (i.e. glued) or semi-canvassed. This is basic, and makes a world of difference.

. If you want to wear a jacket every day, don't go for Super 200's -- ie a finer fabric -- because you'll wear it out in no time. For everyday wear, go for something under Super 100's -- the suit should hold up much better. Mention this to your retailer, who will guide you accordingly.

. Get a jacket with high armholes that fits your shoulders and you will get that 'waisted' look. Navy or midnights blue are good standby jacket colours. If you opt for a black suit, keep your contrast colour a bit more sombre -- scarlet, grey or blue.

Stylish leather shoes

. Buy only quality leather shoes, as they will last long. Shoes from brands like Red Tape and Bata will not cost you more than Rs 1,500 and are a worthwhile investment.

. Want to keep your shoes looking as good as new? Learn how to shine them like a pro. Clean dust and dirt from the surface with a shoeshine brush or damp cloth. Use a shoe polish brush to apply a conservative amount of polish to the surface of the leather, and brush in circular motions until it has a dull coating. Get into tight spots using an old toothbrush. Wait 15 minutes while the polish dries. Get a gleaming shine with a clean cotton cloth, such as a pair of old socks or T-shirt.

Remember -- looking successful is just as important as being successful.

Are you ready to have a baby?

2006-08-08T00:56:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to have a baby?

Kanchan Maslekar |
August 08, 2006 | 11:11 IST

Some couples prefer to wait and get 'settled' before having children. Others let nature take its course. And some couples are convinced they don't want kids at all. Irrespective of which category you fall into, having a baby is a full-time job, and also an expensive one. We list 10 parameters to help you decide if you and your partner are ready to welcome a new member into the family. If you satisfy six or more criteria, the answer is Yes!

1. You are in a stable relationship with your partner

Will having a baby help you repair a bad marriage? No. This is a myth. It is you and not your child who will make you love each other. Maria Antao, a child counsellor at Fathima Convent, Goa cautions young couples to get to know each other first before they consider welcoming a third entrant.

2. You have the money

A baby comes with a host of financial attachments, which only increase with time. Expenses could vary from baby products and doctors' bills, to toys, clothes, schooling, further studies, summer camp, tuitions, religious ceremonies, etc.

Make a list and start saving. We have a list of smart saving ideas you can rely on, from principles when investing for your child, to protecting your child's future, how to start saving, saving for new borns, saving for your child's education�and investing for your child.

3. You have the time

Okay, you are financially settled. However, money cannot love your child. "Your child needs your time, which cannot substitute for all the fancy clothes and toys in the world," says Maria. This refers to both moms and dads who need to understand how they will make time for their child, especially if both are working or have demanding careers.

4. You have tackled potential 'issues' in advance

If both of you are from different religions, communities, cultures or countries, all of these could be become a bone of contention during child rearing. Discuss these in depth before junior arrives. "You don't have to agree on everything, but you need to agree on how you will compromise, " says Maria.

5. You and your partner are healthy

"In the case of a person suffering from TB, a baby should be conceived only after nine months of treatment. Jaundice infected partners should avoid conception for three to four months after treatment," says Dr Minali Gada of Gada Maternity Hospital, Malad. She cautions those planning on a baby to check their sugar levels and blood pressure before conception. Minali also advises couples in their early 30s to get a medical check-up and consult a gynaecologist to ensure there are no complications.

6. You have a strong support system

Having help during and after pregnancy, and during those first few years before your child goes to school, makes the journey easier. With nuclear families, having house help cannot be ruled out. Lack of help is likely to put a strain on your relationship, so make a note of all the people who can be roped in for support.

7. You are ready for body changes

Pregnancy is likely to bring about changes in an expectant mother's body, in the form of weight issues and stretch marks. Women need to be comfortable in their skin and not feel pressurised to lose weight. "Reassurances from husbands that they find their wives attractive helps beat weight-related stress," says Maria. After pregnancy, mothers' should give themselves about nine months to get back in shape.

8. You are ready for sleepless nights

Be ready for�disrupted sleep patterns, lesser 'me time', a reduced sex life and�lesser couple outings, with immediate effect post the birth of your baby.�You must be�prepared emotionally before the due date. Also, be conscious of the fact that having a baby right after marriage can put a strain on your relationship.

9. You want a baby and are not having one due to parental pressure

A sure sign that a woman's biological clock is ticking is when you will distinctly feel a mothering urge to cuddle or hug a child. This is brought about by a chemical change that takes place in the body. Fathers feel ready when they are financially secure and know they can provide for a child. Another sign that you are ready is when you have already chosen your babies' names. However, unless you have your child for the right reasons, 'parenting pleasure' can soon turn to 'parenting pressure', making you regret having one, through no fault of the child.

10. You will accept your child

Couples contemplating a child should also reflect on the possibility of having a physically or mentally challenged child. Although it is a scary thought, make sure you and your partner are united on what you would do if this were to occur.

Are you comfortable with your EMI?

2006-08-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

Are you comfortable with your EMI?

Larissa Fernand
July 27, 2006 09:08 IST

Part 1: What is an EMI?
Part 2: How EMIs are calculated

In the final part of our series on Equated Monthly Installments, we outline what you must know before taking that loan.

When arriving at the EMI, a financier will not just go by what you want. They will objectively look at your income to determine whether or not you can afford to pay the EMI.

Generally, they will not allow the EMI to go higher than 35% to 45% of your gross monthly income.

This, however, is just a broad figure. It not only depends on your income but also on how many loans you are servicing and how many dependents you have.

Let's say you are married with a working spouse and have no dependents. Your chances of a higher EMI are much better than someone who, say, does not have a working spouse but also has four dependents (spouse, child, parents).

Also, the more the number of loans you are servicing, the greater the strain on you and lesser the amount of income left with which you can pay�your�day-to-day expenses.

Ultimately, it depends on you. Here, we tell you how to be smart.

Don't go by percentages

Let's say you have two individuals: Anil and Jayant. Let's say�Anil earns Rs 15,000 a month while Jayant earns Rs 50,000.

Thirty-five�percent of Anil's salary is Rs 5,250; 35% of Jayant's salary is�Rs 17,500. Anil will be left with just Rs 9,750; Jayant still has�Rs 32,500.

Don't go by percentages here;�look at the actual income and actual figures.

How much of an EMI are you comfortable with? Will you have�to stretch too much with the balance amount? Or, will you be comfortable?

If you have to make too many sacrifices to accommodate a high EMI, you may find�you can only do it in the first few months. After that, it will put too much of a strain if you cannot even afford to eat out on and off or watch a movie without carefully counting each rupee.

Moreover, if you have other loans to pay,�you cannot cut down on those payments. So, look carefully at your outflow (expenses) and inflow (income) before making up your mind.

Tax benefits

If you are taking an education loan or home loan, you will get tax benefits. So, it does not matter if you stretch out these payments over time. In this way, your EMI too will be smaller.

But, if it is a personal loan or a vehicle loan -- these do�not give you any tax benefits -- then don't keep the tenure (period of the loan)�too long.

Salary increases

If you foresee great pay hikes in the coming years,�you may not mind living on a tight budget the first year or two. Then, as your salary increases but your EMI stays constant, you will be able to comfortably repay your loan.�

Opting for high EMIs makes sense if you foresee rapid or substantial increases.

Interest rates

If your loan has a high interest rate, don't dilly-dally with repayment. Clear it as soon as you can. This is especially true for personal loans, where the interest rate can go up to 21% per annum.

Let's work it out

Loan amount = Rs 1,00,000

Rate of interest = 12% per annum

1-year EMI = Rs 9,333

2-years EMI = Rs 4,931

3-years EMI = Rs 3,470

So you totally pay out Rs 1,11,996 for a one-year loan, Rs 1,18,344 for a two-year loan and Rs 1,24,920 for a three-year loan.

Finally, when looking for a loan, don't go by what interest rate a company is giving you, go by actual EMIs. Let's say two banks are offering you a home loan or personal loan. With a fixed loan amount and fixed repayment tenure, ask them what the EMI will be.

Since some calculate on a monthly reducing basis and others on an annual reducing basis, go by actual EMIs.

Or, a bank may say�they will give you 35% of your income while another may say 40% of your income. Here too, ask what the EMI will be with a particular tenure and loan amount.

Only when you get an actual EMI figure will you be sure what you are getting into.

Understanding EMI

2006-08-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

Understanding EMI

Larissa Fernand
July 25, 2006 09:32 IST

In our advisories, we have a number of readers who write in with queries regarding EMIs.

The acronym for Equated Monthly Installment, this is the amount you will have to pay every single month when clearing your loan. It could be a home loan, a personal loan, a vehicle loan, a consumer durable loan or an education loan.

This is the first of a three-part series on explaining what they are, how they are calculated and what you must know to make it work for your benefit.

The EMI combines principal and interest

It is an unequal combination of principal (the actual loan you have taken) and interest rate.

In the earlier years of loan repayment, it is mainly the interest payments that are being made while the principal amount is much less. Towards the end of the repayment tenure, it is more of the principal that is being repaid, not interest.

Loan amount: Rs 1,00,000
Rate of interest: 8.75% per annum
Tenure: 10 calendar years
EMI: Rs 1,254

Let's say�the EMI payments start from January 1, 2006.

Financial year	Interest paid	Principal repaid
Jan 2006 - Mar 2006	Rs 2,175	Rs 1,587
Apr 2006 - Mar 2007	Rs 8,349	Rs 6,699
Apr 2007 - Mar 2008	Rs 7,736	Rs 7,312
Apr 2008 - Mar 2009	Rs 7,069	Rs 7,979
Apr 2009�- Mar 2010	Rs 6,343	Rs 8,705
Apr 2010 - Mar 2011	Rs 5,550	Rs 9,498
Apr 2011 - Mar 2012	Rs 4,685	Rs 10,363
Apr 2012 - Mar 2013	Rs 3,742	Rs 11,306
Apr 2013 - Mar 2014	Rs 2,711	Rs 12,337
Apr 2014 - Mar 2015	Rs 1,589	Rs 13,459
Apr 2015 - Dec 2015	Rs 531	Rs 10,755

So, while the EMI remained constant every month,�you were paying a higher component of interest when you began repaying your loan and a higher component of principal�towards the end.

The EMI stays constant

Though the EMI is an unequal combination of interest rate and principal, it stays constant.

There are a few exceptions though.

i. You prepay�part of the loan. In this case, it is obvious�that the amount of your remaining�EMIs won't remain the same if you leave the duration of your loan constant.

ii.�You have taken a floating rate loan where the interest rate keeps changing. In this case, the EMI will change as the interest rates�change. Of course, some have the option of the EMI not changing but the tenure increasing or decreasing.

iii.�You opt for a loan where the EMI keeps increasing over the years. To give�an example, let's say you have a 10 year loan. The EMI stays constant for three years, then rises for the next three years and rises again for the last four years. This will help young individuals who cannot afford a huge EMI at this point but can do so as their earnings rise.

What determines the EMI

Four factors go into the determination of EMI.

The principal amount

This is the actual loan amount taken. Obviously the larger the amount, the greater the EMI.

Rate of interest = 8% per annum
Tenure = 10 years

EMI for a Rs 8,00,000 loan = Rs 9,935
EMI for a Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) loan = Rs 12,419
EMI for a Rs 12 lakh (Rs 1.2 million) loan = Rs 14,903

The rate of interest

Another obvious one, the higher the interest rate, the higher the EMI.

Loan amount = Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million)
Tenure = 10 years

EMI for 8% per annum = Rs 12,419
EMI for 8.5% per annum = Rs 12,701
EMI for 9% per annum = Rs 12,985

The tenure

The longer you take the loan for, the lesser the EMI. The faster you want to repay it, the higher the EMI.

Rate of interest = 8% per annum
Loan amount = Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million)

EMI on a 5-year loan = Rs 20,871
EMI on a 10-year loan = Rs 12,419
EMI on a 15-year loan = Rs 9,736

How the�interest rate is calculated

It could be calculated either on monthly reducing basis or on an annual reducing basis. Monthly reducing basis means that, every month, the principal amount paid will be taken into account when calculating the next month's interest.

Annual reducing basis will take into account the principal amount repaid every year before calculating the remaining principal amount.��

Rate of interest = 8% per annum
Loan amount = Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million)
Tenure = 10 years

EMI on an annual reducing basis = Rs 12,419
EMI on a monthly reducing basis = Rs 12,133

This means there is a�difference of Rs 34,320 over 10 years. Which means, the more frequently it is computed, the better.

Now that you have understood the basics of EMI, tomorrow we will tell you how exactly the EMI is computed.

EMI Calculation

2006-08-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

How EMIs are calculated

July 26, 2006 09:30 IST

In Understanding EMI, we explained the basics of an Equated Monthly Installment and what it consists of.

Today, we tell you how the EMI is mathematically determined. Though this is a complicated formula, all you have to do is figure it out on MS Excel.�

Here we give you step-by-step directions.

Loan details

Let's say�these are the basic details of your loan

Amount = Rs 1,00,000
Tenure = 10 years
Rate of interest = 8.75% per annum

Using these�figures, we shall explain how you can calculate the EMI for any particular�amount.

What is my EMI?

Open Microsoft Excel
Go on to an Excel sheet
Click on the�fx option; you will find it on the menu at the top of the page
You will get Function Category, click on Financial
On the right hand side, you will get Function Name, click on PMT
Click OK

A box will appear.

Rate	8.75%/12
Nper	120
Pv	100000
Fv	0
Type	0

Rate: Insert the interest rate here. When adding the interest rate, add the interest rate figure. Don't just put 8.75, put 8.75%. Always divide by 12 to indicate the monthly payments.

Nper: This is the number of months you will take to repay the loan. Do not put in the number of years, but number of months. So 10 years would be 120 months.

Pv: This is the total loan amount. Do not put any commas here. So do not write it as 1,00,000 but as 100000.

You will see Formula result, which is the answer. Here it is -1253.267504. Or, if you click OK, you will get $1253.27.
Of course, we go by rupees so your EMI will be Rs 1,253.27 (rounded off to Rs 1,254)

What is the interest component of my EMI?

Let's say you are repaying your loan but want to know how much is interest payment and how much is the principal amount. You can find this per EMI.

Here's how.

Open Microsoft Excel
Go on to an Excel sheet
Click on fx option, you will find it on the menu at the top of the page
You will get a Function Category, click on Financial
On the right hand side, you will get Function Name, click on IPMT
Click OK

A box will appear.

Rate	8.75%/12
Per	16
Nper	120
Pv	100000
Fv	0

Rate: Insert the interest rate here. When adding the interest rate, add the interest rate figure. Don't just put 8.75, put 8.75%. Always divide by 12 to indicate the monthly payments.

Per: This is the installment you are referring to. Let's say it is the 16^th installment of the loan.

Nper: This is the number of months you will take to repay the loan. Do not put number of years, but number of months. So 10 years would be 120 months.

Pv: This is the total loan amount. Do not put any commas here. So, do not write it as 1,00,000 but as 100000.

You will see Formula result, which is the answer. Here it is �668.8227439. Or, if you click OK, you will get $668.82.

Since we go by rupees, the interest component of your Rs 1,254 EMI is Rs 668.82.

The balance is principal repayment. But, if you want to directly check the principal amount, we show you how.

What is the principal component of my EMI?

Open Microsoft Excel
Go onto an Excel sheet
Click on fx option; you will find it on the menu at the top of the page
You will get Function Category, click on Financial
On the right hand side, you will get Function Name, click on PPMT
Click OK

A box will appear.

Rate	8.75%/12
Per	16
Nper	120
Pv	100000
Fv	0

Rate: Insert the interest rate here. When adding the interest rate, add the interest rate figure. Don't just put 8.75, put 8.75%. Always divide by 12 to indicate the monthly payments.

Per: This is the installment you are referring to. Let's say it is the 16^th installment of the loan.

Nper: This is the number of months you will take to repay the loan. Do not put number of years, but number of months. So 10 years would be 120 months.

Pv: This is the total loan amount. Do not put any commas here. So do not write it as 1,00,000 but as 100000.

You will see Formula result, which is the answer. Here it is -584.4447605. Or, if you click OK, you will get $584.44. Since we go by rupees, the interest component of your Rs 1,254 EMI is Rs 584.44.

Assisted Marriage

2006-07-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

On Sundays, Indian families with children of marriageable age practice an ancient ritual. They awaken before dawn and restlessly await the auspicious arrival of the Sunday paper. Once it is delivered, they say a short prayer before they scour the papers for the coveted Matrimonial section.

While arranging marriages is an obsession as old as the Kamasutra, it has taken on a few modern avatars: matrimonial newspaper ads and websites being the parental arsenal of choice for securing eternal happiness for their unwed children.

One lazy Sunday as my friends and I were lounging over chai and cigarettes, we decided that we needed to find a suitable girl for the eligible bachelor in our midst. As I was combing through the matrimonial section full of ‘fair, slim, professionally qualified, homely girls and innocent-divorcees’ I spied an ad for Muslim brides and found one that sounded eerily like me. When I read it to my father over the phone amid fits of laughter, there was silence at his end. He had indeed listed my profile on the Matrimonial pages.

This was not the first time that my parents had brought up the issue of marriage. The pressure to get married started when I was very young. Twelve months old to be exact. When my father, who was away at the time of my birth, learnt that he had a daughter he wasted no time in promising my tiny hand in marriage to his friends’ son.

When I grew older, my parents would haul me off to dinner parties and weddings where I would be introduced to a different assortment of eligible bachelors. Later they began preparing my resume and passing it on to anyone and everyone who was connected to a potential partner. I discovered the existence of my resume, drafted by none other than my father, only because I started getting strange calls from my relations, and sometimes random strangers, asking me about my qualifications, complexion, and cooking skills.

After graduation, while my parents began looking for a suitor in earnest, I went on to pursue a masters in Bombay and began to work there as well. My decision to leave home was fraught with tension and guilt. There was a lot emotional blackmail, tears and threats, but in the end we struck a bargain; I could do as I pleased as long as I met the men they lined up.

I met a dizzying array of men. One quizzed me on my religious knowledge, another spoke in painful detail about his academic accomplishments; another magnanimously proclaimed ”I will allow my wife to work”; an America returnee who couldn’t stop talking about his BMW and ”Game room”. When I in turn asked them about Amitav Ghosh, David Lynch or Green Day I only drew blank stares.

I also had to deal with a volley of questions from the prospective in-laws. I was looked up and down, all my proportions sized up, and then interrogated on my language skills (English, Hindi, Urdu), culinary dexterity (Maggi instant noodles) and deference to elders (non-existent).

After one too many of such meetings, when my parents showed me yet another picture of a prospective candidate, I told them that this was the last time I was going to do this. No exceptions. However, when I read his resume, my interest was piqued. He had a degree from IIT (India’s top engineering school) and a PhD from an Ivy League University.

When we met his family they welcomed us with such warmth, I soon forgot why I was there. They had a bookshelf full of my favorite authors (always a good sign) and soon we were talking about everything from politics to the latest Bollywood blockbuster. Later when they asked me what I was looking for in a husband, I actually was puzzled why they were asking me that! I mumbled something I deemed suitable and soon phone numbers were exchanged and he was to call me.

Our first phone conversation lasted two hours. That progressed to emails and more phone calls. We talked about our work, about films, books, living abroad, college, elections, news, anything and everything. We never once mentioned the ‘M’ word.

So was there a moment when I realized that he was the One? Not really, but to his credit, not only did he know who Amitav Ghosh was, he even knew someone related to him!

We met each other soon after and decided to get married. When I told my friends however, most of them were mystified. They couldn’t understand why I wanted to get married this way. Some felt this was some ”betrayal of the sisterhood”. Others wanted to know if I had caved in to parental pressure. Maybe, but I had been on the arranged marriage circuit a while, and this was the first time I had actually contemplated getting married. My first thought was, “Why did they find him? Why couldn’t I?” But they did and I would have been a fool to say no just to prove a point.

So does arranged marriage work? It’s been nearly two years since we have been married and we are, dare I say it, happy. We share doing the dishes and the laundry, I don’t make perfectly round rotis and sometimes a meal is just Maggi, but the most important thing is that we see each other as equals. So in the end arranged marriage did work out for me.

My parents saw each other for fifteen minutes before they got married, my husband and I talked for nearly six months before we did. My parents faced more parental and family pressures than I did. I had the freedom to say no, my parents did not have the luxury of choice.

Nowadays, arranged marriages are no longer just decided by the parents, both young men and women play an active role in the process of looking for their life partner. In these ”semi-arranged” or ”arranged-love marriages”, the only thing you have to be sure of is that you do want to get married. So all I can say, is keep an open mind, you never know if you’ll get lucky. I know I did.

URL:: http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/pb/Story.aspx?g=0&id=114&lang=1

Buying property? 8 GREAT strategies

2006-07-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

Buying property? 8 GREAT strategies

Almost all of us have reason to thank our grandparents and great-grandparents for their foresight in investing in real estate and gold. They may have done so because there was no other investment avenue open to them.

But real estate is still a great investment option, as it gives you capital appreciation and rental income. "It's an investment option since it fights inflation," says Veer Sardesai, a Pune-based financial planner.

So, how do you combine a real asset like real estate with financial assets like stocks to provide the growth impetus to your wealth? The answer lies in understanding the different wealth-enhancing roles of real estate during various stages of life. Here are eight strategies that you could adopt:

1. Start early

Start saving for a home the moment you begin your career. "These are the golden years for saving," says Gaurav Mashruwala, a Mumbai-based financial planner. "Invest in the largest affordable real estate early on in life. This should be your primary residence," says Sardesai.

Early acquisition helps you to repay your home loan

well within your working life. Also, the EMI as a percentage of your salary decreases as your pay increases, making the outflows more affordable. "If you lock into the interest rate for the loan, the interest outflow will be less than the compounding effect of inflation," says Mashruwala. And, of course, there are tax advantages.

Mumbai-based media professional Rajit Desai, 31, used this strategy to great effect. He booked a flat in Borivali-East in December 2000 when he was living in his uncle's flat and didn't have a rent outflow. He took a home loan at a fixed rate of 12.50 per cent per annum and later opted for a floating rate. Slide in the interest rate reduced his loan tenure from 15 to 10 years.

Salary hikes helped him pay higher EMIs. Now married, he says, "The value of my property has appreciated and I plan to sell it and acquire a bigger one." The appreciation has indeed been substantial. He bought the flat at Rs 1,751 per sq ft; the rate now is Rs 3,800 per sq ft. Desai gains even if he doesn't move to a bigger house. Once he repays the loan, he plans to invest the amount that now goes as EMI in mutual funds.

2. Stick to your budget

Yes, you want a home that your family will fit into, but don't over-stretch your budget. When there's a boom in the market, brokers may encourage you to go overboard and buy a bigger house in a better location. Don't give in.

Ideally, look for a property for which you can arrange the down payment, which is typically 15 per cent of the cost of the property. So, you can go for a home costing Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) if you can pay Rs 1.5 lakh (Rs 150,000).

Otherwise, find out the EMI you can afford. It shouldn't exceed 40 per cent of your take-home pay. Experts suggest that you settle for the lower of the two property price figures arrived at by the down payment and EMI approaches. Remember to factor in costs such as stamp duty and brokerage.

3. Invest in real estate MFs

After you've invested in a house, it may take time for you to buy a second one. Instead, consider regular investments in REMF or real estate mutual funds which will be available soon in India. These are mutual fund schemes that invest directly or indirectly in real estate and will initially be closed-ended.

Units will be listed on the bourses and NAVs declared daily. "Returns will be 10-12 per cent, in line with the current market yields," says Deepak Sankhye, manager, investments, Trammel Crow Meghraj.

4. Invest in a second property

Once you've acquired a house and perhaps invested in REMFs, consider buying a second property, which you could rent out. "If you already have a property in your name, take the second property in your spouse's name to save wealth tax," advises Mashruwala.

Tarkesh Gupta, 35, a New Delhi-based Manager (HR) at Dabur Pharma, bought a house in Laxmi Nagar in 2000. He then invested in a society flat costing Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) in Indirapuram in 2004.

He recently moved into this flat, whose value has appreciated to Rs 38 lakh (Rs 3.8 million), and plans to rent out his first house. "I want to hold on to the house for at least three-four years before taking a decision on selling," says Gupta. Infrastructure is expected to improve in East Delhi due to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and Gupta expects more capital appreciation for his flat.

5. Explore emerging areas

Real estate prices will go up in the long term due to the huge demand for housing, though there may be short-term blips. While substantial gains can be made from investment in the metros, you can expect to profit from the considerable appreciation in investments in emerging areas such as non-metros and suburbs.

Should you invest in plots of land? "Land as such does not give you any rental yield. Apart from that, you will have to spend time and money protecting it from encroachments," says Sanjay Verma, joint managing director, Cushman & Wakefield (India).

But, says Jayant Varma, executive director (north) Knight Frank India, "Investing in land is certainly a good option. A new trend is emerging where investors are focusing more on tier-II and tier-III cities as land is still cheaper there." Warns Sankhye: "The risk in investing in land is extremely high. One must ensure a clean title and be diligent."

6. Diversify your portfolio

As your wealth increases, maintain your exposure to real estate by investing in residential and commercial properties. The two categories of real estate investments have different cycles and diversification helps by spreading your risk, though investment in commercial property tends to be costlier than residential property.

You can buy a small commercial property next to an upcoming project or a shop in a mall and rent them out.

7. Invest rental income

You might pay the EMI for the loan you take for your second or third real estate acquisition from the rental income from them. Once the loans are repaid, invest the rental amounts in assets like stocks, equity mutual funds, REMFs and gold to diversify your portfolio since experts recommend that real estate should make up no more than 30 per cent of your portfolio.

Beverly Mathews, 33, a Mumbai-based PR professional who lives with her parents, bought a one-bedroom house at Powai for Rs 13 lakh (Rs 1.3 million) in 2000. "Investment in property was more of a forced saving and it also helped build an asset over the long-term," says Mathews.

Recently, she rented out the property and gets Rs 10,500 per month as rent. The EMI on her home loan is Rs 11,571. She has also started investing in mutual funds to diversify her portfolio.

8. Right size your investments

Managing real estate investments becomes difficult once you retire. That's why you should sell them over time, except the home you live in. The proceeds can be re-invested in regular income creating assets such as annuities. Some of them can be invested in higher risk instruments like equity funds to beat inflation.

While real estate is undoubtedly a great tool for wealth creation, it has its downsides. You need to make a large initial investment. The advent of REMFs will remove this drawback as you will be able to invest even small amounts in them.

Also, real estate is highly illiquid, especially when compared to financial assets like stocks, so you need a long-term investment horizon. But there's still enough lustre in it to make it investment worthy.

There are numerous wealth creating opportunities that will arise from real estate; stay alert to exploit them.

URL for this article:
http://www.rediff.com///money/2006/jul/27property.htm

Great Things About Marriage

2006-07-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

EMOTIONAL/SOCIAL/PHYSICAL

Marriage allows people to overcome feelings of loneliness and incompleteness by forming a complementary union, and provides a relationship of mutual care, respect, and protection. (Source: Bridget E. Maher, "The Benefits of Marriage," Family Research Council, February 18, 2005).

Married people are happier and healthier than widowed, divorced, separated, cohabiting or never-married people, and tend to live longer than those who are not married. (Sources: Charlotte A. Schoenborn, "Marital Status and Health: United States, 1999-2002," Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Number 351, December 15, 2004; Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially (New York: Doubleday, 2000) 50-52))

Unmarried people spend twice as much time as patients in hospitals as their married peers and have lower activity levels. (Source: Lois Verbrugge and Donald Balaban, "Patterns of Change, Disability and Well-Being," Medical Care 27 (1989): S128-S147).

Married people experience the lowest rates of mental disorder among all social groups of people, and are less likely to commit suicide than unmarried people. (Sources: David Williams, et al., "Marital Status and Psychiatric Disorders Among Blacks and Whites," Journal of Health and Social Behavior 33 (1992): 140-157; Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially (New York: Doubleday, 2000) 50-52).

Marriage protects women from domestic and general violence. (Source: Jan Stets, "Cohabiting and Marital Aggression: The Role of Social Isolation," Journal of Marriage and the Family 53 (1991): 669-680; Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1992," U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, (March 1994), p. 31, NCJ-145125).

Marriage provides the highest levels of sexual pleasure and fulfillment for men and women. Sources: Robert T. Michael, et al., Sex in America: A Definitive Survey, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1994), p. 124-129; Edward O. Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 364, table 10.5; Andrew Greeley, Faithful Attraction: Discovering Intimacy, Love and Fidelity in American Marriage, (New York: Tom Doherty Association, 1991), see chapter 6).

WORK/INCOME

Married people enjoy greater wealth than unmarried people - and the longer they stay married, the more their wealth accumulates. (Source: Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially (New York: Doubleday, 2000) 97-123).

Married employees are generally happier and healthier than employees who are divorced, cohabiting, or unpartnered, and on average, they earn higher wages than their single counterparts and have lower absenteeism. (Sources: Maggie Gallagher, Why Supporting Marriage Makes Business Sense, p. 2, 7 (Corporate Resource Council, 2002); Linda Waite & Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially, p. 97-123 (Doubleday: New York 2000)).

CHILDREN

Married parents give children the best chance of becoming happy, healthy, and morally upright citizens in the future. (Sources: Mary Parke, "Are Married Parents Really Better for Children?" Center for Law and Social Policy, May 2003, p. 1; Bridget E. Maher, "The Benefits of Marriage," Family Research Council, February 18, 2005).

Married parents tend to have better parent-child relationships. (Source: Sandra L. Hofferth and Kermyt G. Anderson, "Are All Dads Equal? Biology versus Marriage as a Basis for Paternal Investment," Journal of Marriage and Family 65 (February 2003): 213-232).

Two Splits Between Human and Chimp Lines Suggested

2006-05-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

Two Splits Between Human and Chimp Lines Suggested

By NICHOLAS WADE

The split between the human and chimpanzee lineages, a pivotal event in human evolution, may have occurred millions of years later than fossil bones suggest, and the break may not have been as clean as humans might like.

A new comparison of the human and chimp genomes suggests that after the two lineages separated, they may have begun interbreeding.

The analysis, by David Reich, Nick Patterson and colleagues at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., sets up a serious conflict between the date of the split as indicated by fossil skulls, about 7 million years ago, and the much younger date implied by genetic analysis, as late as 5.4 million years ago.

The conflict can be resolved, Dr. Reich's team suggests in an article published in today's Nature, if there were in fact two splits between the human and chimp lineages, with the first being followed by interbreeding between the two populations and then a second split.

The suggestion of a hybridization has startled paleoanthropologists, who nonetheless are treating the new genetic data seriously. The earliest human-lineage fossil remains, like Sahelanthropus, seem clearly to have been bipeds, walking on two feet, but the ancestors of chimps presumably walked on their two feet and the knuckles of their hands, as do modern chimps.

"If the earliest hominids are bipedal, it's hard to think of them interbreeding with the knuckle-walking chimps — it's not what we had in mind," said Daniel E. Lieberman, a biological anthropologist at Harvard.

Hybrid populations often go extinct because the males are sterile, Dr. Reich pointed out, so hybrid females may have mated with male chimps to produce viable offspring. The human lineage finally re-emerged from this hybrid population, Dr. Reich suggests, explaining the younger genetic dates, while the very early fossils with humanlike features may come from the earlier period before the hybridization.

David Page, a human geneticist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, said the design of the new analysis was "really beautiful, with all the pieces of the puzzle laid out." Whether the hybridization will turn out to be the right solution to the puzzle remains to be seen, "but for the moment I can't think of a better explanation," he said.

These crucial events in early human evolution are hard to judge dispassionately, Dr. Page noted. "We'd like to have a more Victorian view of our genome," he said, "and this reminds us that we are really animals and gives us a glimpse of our past and of a story that we might like to have told in a different way."

Geneticists have previously made estimates of the human-chimp lineage split, chiefly by drawing up a primate family tree, based on the number of DNA differences in a small section of the genome, and then anchoring the tree to some well-attested date in the fossil record, like the split between orangutans and the other primates.

One such approach, in 2001, suggested the human and chimp lineages split somewhere between 4.6 and 6.2 million years ago, but recent discoveries of fossil skulls have pushed the likely date backward. The Sahelanthropus fossil, found in Chad in 2002, had upright gait, humanlike teeth and lived around seven million years ago.

The Reich team's study is a far more detailed analysis of the human and chimp genomes, and also draws on DNA sequences from the gorilla, orangutan and macaque to iron out ambiguities. Overall, they calculate that the human and chimp lines must have split finally apart at the earliest 6.3 million years ago and more probably 5.4 million years ago, a sharp discrepancy with the Sahelanthropus date.

But besides averaging genome-wide differences in DNA to get on overall fix on when the two species split apart, they have also been able to scroll along the genome and estimate the relative age of each small section.

A principal finding is that the X chromosomes of humans and chimps appear to have diverged about 1.2 million years more recently than the other chromosomes. Females have two X chromosomes, males one X and one Y chromosome.

One explanation for this finding, Dr. Reich's team says, is that there was a hybridization between the recently separated chimp and human lineages. Although the genetics does not specify whether it was the chimp or human lineage that emerged from the hybrid population, Dr. Reich said he favored the idea that it was the human line.

The reason is that chimpanzee ancestors, well adapted for living off fruit in tropical forests, seem to have been adept at spinning off variations, such as gorillas who live on vegetation, and the human lineage, which exploited the drier woodlands that opened up between the forests.

Hybridization could have speeded adaptation to this challenging new environment and is something the emerging human lineage would have had more use for than the chimps in their stable environment, Dr. Reich said.

But the males in hybrid populations are often sterile. So the females may have had to mate with males in the chimpanzee lineage in order to produce viable descendants. In principle, they could have mated with males of the human lineage, but genetic evidence rules out that possibility, Dr. Reich said.

The Reich team's analysis is the first to have examined speciation in such a detailed way at the genomic level. Their suggestion that new species can form through a hybridization event is quite novel — biologists have often assumed that hybrid populations would die out because of hybrid sterility.

David Pilbeam, a paleoanthropologist at Harvard, said the Reich team's report was one of the most interesting he had seen, but he found it unlikely that chimplike quadrupeds and early bipeds would have produced fertile offspring, given their different developmental programs.

Instead of invoking hybridization, Dr. Pilbeam suggested that another explanation might emerge for the very recent date implied by the genetic data for the human-chimp split. The genetic information itself gives relative ages, which are translated into real time by reference to a timescale established by early ape and monkey fossils.

If the splits implied by these fossils are in fact more ancient than currently believed, this might pull the genetic date far enough back to make the hybridization hypothesis unnecessary.

There has long been a tension between paleoanthropologists and geneticists, who look at human evolution from very different perspectives. But the conflicts have often had fruitful outcomes.

"The last 20 years has been a never ending collision between the molecular evolutionists and the interpreters of the fossil record," said Dr. Page, noting the latest was particularly sharp because of the hybridization idea. A specialist in the X and Y chromosomes, Dr. Page sounded not displeased with idea that the final divorce between chimps and humans should have centered on the X chromosome. "That was the last paragraph to be written in the separation agreement," he said.

Men lose too much to impress women: Study

2006-05-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

Researchers at the University of Michigan claim that persistent male quest to impress their female counterparts cause them to die earlier than females.

Males compete aggressively for female attention and that costs them a part of their lifespan.

"Women live longer in almost every country, and the sex difference in lifespan has been recognised since at least the mid-18th century," said Daniel J Kruger, a research scientist in the U-M School of Public Health and the Institute for Social Research. "It isn't a recent trend; it originates from our deep evolutionary history."

"This whole pattern is a result of sexual selection and the roles that males and females play in reproduction," Kruger said.

"Females generally invest more in offspring than males and are more limited in offspring quantity, thus males typically compete with each other to attract and retain female partners," he added.

Kruger and co-author Randolph Nesse say the difference in life expectancy stems from the biological imperative of attracting mates and involves chimpanzees and other species.

In earlier times human males had to wrestle each other to get a woman, it is similar to the current situation where in the peer pressure to succeed sexually has not changed much.

The rivalry takes a toll, weakening male immune systems and human males belonging to lower socio-economic levels tend to have higher mortality rates compared to their higher-status peers.

Females still bear the greatest burden of raising a family and giving birth, hence they remain very choosy in selecting a mate.

Therefore to impress women, men remain prone to risky behaviour like smoking, reckless driving and violence, just as they have been for millennia and just as other male animals are.

"Men compete for resources and social status, which are criteria men are valued for in mate selection," LiveScience quoted Kruger as saying.

Another study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, had similar conclusions.

It cited "excessive risk taking, aggression and the suppression of emotions by boys and young men" as being directly related to lower life expectancy in men.”

The study was published in the spring edition of the journal Human Nature.

Techie-to-Manager Tips

2006-04-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Techie-to-Manager Tips
by Allan Hoffman
Monster Tech Jobs Expert

While management positions are increasingly open to techies with business skills, competition is intense. To land one, you'll need to stand out, so follow these 12 tips to put yourself in the lead:

1. Expand Your Vision

Techies sometimes have a narrow worldview, says Bruno Zerbib, director of product management at InfoVista. To move into management, he says, you need to "acknowledge the value and skills outside of your organization." Unless you recognize the roles of marketers, sales professionals and others, you will struggle to move beyond your role as a techie.

Start thinking macro rather than micro, says Allison Gross, vice president of staffing and consulting firm Comforce. "The higher up in an organization you are, the broader your vision has to be."

2. Think Outside Your Company and Industry

"Look externally for solutions," counsels Andrea Michalek, president of consulting company 1-800-CTO. "By bringing external ideas and best practices to their manager's attention, you can quickly establish a reputation for being in the know."

Zerbib agrees. Reading leading-edge business books -- and discussing their ideas -- can lead colleagues and higher-ups to recognize you as someone with interests beyond technical issues.

3. Be a Motivator

Management requires you to motivate others, but learning this skill isn't easy. "We learn to motivate by watching others," says John Baldoni, author of Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders. "Look to the examples of good teachers, coaches and managers."

4. Solve Problems

Techies must translate their passion for problem solving into a management context. "By moving into management, they will have the opportunity to problem solve in a team format, in fact, guiding the team to solve problems," says Baldoni. "They will also have the opportunity to teach others not only technical skills but also problem solving ones, too."

5. Get in Front of Management

Unless you make your interest in management known, you may not get a chance to move up. Seek out opportunities -- presentations, meetings and even email -- as a way to demonstrate your knowledge of industry as well as your facility with more than just technical concepts.

6. Network

Aside from helping you meet others, Gross says, networking organizations provide a forum to gain leadership and communication skills.

7. Wield Influence

Managers need to exert their influence, and techies can demonstrate this ability on team projects. "You need to get others to work with you, to do what you want them to do," says Robert Monroe, visiting lecturer at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. "One of the best ways is to have good ideas, but you need to be diplomatic and political in how you present those ideas."

8. Stretch Yourself

Businesses want to see would-be managers step up to the plate, even if it means seeking out projects at the edge of their abilities. "Take on assignments that take you out of your comfort zone," suggests Monroe.

9. Be a Communicator

Would-be managers, says Gross, "have to embrace the idea of learning how to write, learning how to speak and learning how to behave within meetings." Even emails should be crafted with care and sensitivity in order to demonstrate your intelligence, knowledge and thoughtfulness.

"The earlier you pick up those skills, the better the career trajectory you can set up for yourself," says Monroe.

10. Dress Up

If you want to be a manager, you will need to stop donning slackerwear. Gross's advice: "Always dress the part for the position you want, not for the one you're in."

11. Get an MBA

Don't discount your education. Standards vary from one industry (and company) to another, but the MBA is widely valued among those moving into management.

12. Determine If Management Is for You

Techies must also consider whether management is the right choice for them. "Most engineering, research or IT folks love what they do," says Baldoni. "They have been recognized and promoted due to their technical expertise. Moving into management means giving up what they love best."

Surviving Marriage

2006-04-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

Surviving Marriage

Nowadays, couples begin their marital life riddled with worrying statistics. If the four-year itch doesn’t get you, the seven-year itch just might. Here’s how to cope

The rise in the number of divorce cases across the globe has become a cause of concern among young couples. The thought of marriage makes them more anxious than ever. So much so that when they finally do tie the knot, they enter the relationship unsure if it's going to work.

But many marriages do survive. How do they do it? We look at the different stages of married life, and how to make sure your union has a happy ending.

THE ‘ITCH’

Most of us already know that a marriage has its ups and downs. Even statistics show that the quality of a marriage takes a dip in the early years, and stabilises only to take a dip again – one during the early years of marriage, normally known as the 'four-year itch', and then again around the eighth year of marriage, known as the 'seven-year itch'.

SIGNS OF THE ITCH

• Disagree with each other more often
• Become less affectionate
• Share fewer activities
• Blame, criticise and ridicule each other
• Concentrate on being right rather than working together

TACKLING THE STAGES

The LUI (loving under the influence) stage: This is the stage that could lead to a relationship and marriage. You have stars in your eyes and your heart beats to the rhythm of love. Scientists call it the PEA rush. When in love, your body is flooded with the endorphin PEA (phenoethalymine). PEA boosts your feelings of well-being and sexual desire. When this stage evolves into commitment, it's called the honeymoon stage.

Watch out for: Try to look past the romantic haze and see whether you share similar interests and values, before tying the knot. Also, if you feel more anxious than happy, get out. If you decide to commit, enjoy this period and make the most of it.

The LD (let down) stage: The biggest myths about love is that it's forever. So, when the euphoria starts to fade we think that love wasn't true after all. One reason for the let down feeling is that PEA production is beginning to decline. And because we see the other person as the source of that warmth, we don't take it seriously.

The LD stage can happen at one year, four years and again at seven years. After that, marriages tend to stabilise. However, these feelings of discontent can strike at any time in a marriage.

Watch out for: This is the period that can make or break a relationship. However, most marriage counsellors feel that in the end, it has nothing to do with itches, endorphins or primitive urges. Instead, it has everything to do with two people, and their willingness to make their marriage worthwhile.

You should not think in terms of 'working' on your relationship, but should rather focus on 'giving it attention'. If a marriage succumbs to the four- or seven-year itch, it is most likely because the couple concerned ignored their problems rather than solved them.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Consult your partner before making plans or decisions. You both will get to do more of your own thing

• Set aside time to talk on a daily basis, even if it's just for 20 minutes

• Take time to dress up and go out on dates

• Focus on your own behaviour. What are you putting into the relationship? Does it make it grow or stunt it? Then take one step at a time to change the negative things

• If nothing helps, you might need to see a marriage counsellor

• Don't throw away your marriage because it looks difficult. You will most likely only repeat the same pattern in your next relationship

• Consider a happy marriage as a gift to yourself - and a legacy for your children.

Eighteen IIM-A graduates reject foreign shores for India

2006-03-15T02:12:00.000-08:00

Eighteen IIM-A graduates reject foreign shores for India

Jumana Shah

AHMEDABAD: Is India shining? You bet it is. As many as 18 students of the country’s topmost B-school, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, have rejected international job offers and taken up appointments in India at salaries that are one-fifth of those offered by international firms.

The reason? “The action is here. This is the right time to be in India. The opportunities lie here,” the enthusiastic lot told DNA on Monday.

The campus placements at IIM-A concluded on Sunday, a day ahead of schedule as all students had been placed by the second day itself.

Seventy per cent of the total 241 students were placed in India and 30 per cent took up overseas appointments. Six students dropped out of the final placement process to start their own ventures in India. “We are convinced that we will do as well if not better than our peers abroad. India surely has what it takes to be in the global league,” said the duo Vineed Ladia and Aravind Venkatraman, who want to open an education services company in Ahmedabad in partnership.

UK-based Barclays Bank, which offered the highest salary of $185,000, picked up three students from IIM-A — Siddharth Mehla, Mayank Navlakha and Mayank Ahuja. While Mayank and Siddharth will be based in Singapore, Manan may be in London or New York.

IIM-A director Bakul Dholakia seemed to be stuck between a rock and a hard place when the media cornered him over his announcement that Manan’s pay packet had not been finalised yet and may be higher than $185,000 — insinuating that IIM, Bangalore may not have beaten IIM-A to the top slot. Dholakia manoeuvred his way through with the standard ‘no comments’.

Siddharth, Mayank and Manan, all from middle class families, are thrilled with their job offers. But Prabhjeet Singh, who rejected a $110,000 offer from London-based Lehman Brothers for a Rs14 lakh consultancy job with McKinsey in Delhi, is equally excited about kickstarting his career.

“The economy is crackling, opportunities are right here. I know Indian market and I can add more value here than sitting in a bank in London. My elder brother Jasjeet of the 2003 batch in IIM-A too rejected an overseas offer to stay back in India and he has never regretted the choice,” Prabhjeet said confidently.

Electrical engineer Shraddha Vaid also said she’d never contemplated an overseas offer. “I always wanted to contribute to India’s development. I will be working with an infrastructure consultancy firm called Feedback Ventures,” she said.

Dholakia explained the trend. “The economy is looking up and so are we and the job offers. We have had 27 new companies on campus this year and the process finished a day in advance. Nearly ten companies had to be sent back empty-handed,” he said.

COPYRIGHT© 2005 DILIGENT MEDIA CORPORATION LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Never Give Up

2006-03-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Thank You and Best Wishes

2006-03-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Siebel Business Analytics Family,

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you the news that we were not able to come to a mutually acceptable go-forward role and position for me with Oracle Corporation. Given that management preferred a short transition period (which I understand and respect), Charles Phillips has on an interim basis taken over responsibility for the analytics organization and those who were reporting to me (with those of you in the BI/Analytics development areas having already been moved into Thomas Kurian’s organization as previously communicated by Oracle).

So where do I begin? Well let me start by saying that I am unable to adequately communicate the depth of my respect, admiration and appreciation for the talent and quality of all on the Siebel Business Analytics (and before that nQuire) team -- and how grateful I am to everyone for all of your hard work and your level of commitment. It has truly been my privilege to work with all of you, and an honor to lead such a great team. We have accomplished some pretty amazing things, and I am very proud of what we have been able to achieve together. I hope you to are proud – and that you realize what a special “run” we’ve had together.

While many great things have been accomplished to date, you should know that I expect to see even greater things from all of you in the future. I genuinely believe that Oracle is a great company, and that this represents just a tremendous opportunity for the BI/Analytics business and those on this team. I wish all of you, everyone at Siebel, and all at Oracle nothing but success going forward. While I am unable to join you in this next leg of the journey -- and I’ll deeply miss being part of this special group -- I will always remain your #1 fan and biggest supporter.

Thank you very much for all that you have done to provide me with the incredible experience of the past nine years since our quest began -- and for wonderful memories that I will carry with me forever.

If there is ever anything I can do to help you in any way, please let me know.

Best Wishes,
Larry Barbetta
Larry_barbetta@yahoo.com
(952) 200-6500 (cell)

At home, it's not just profits that matter

2006-02-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

Guy Dollé, the embattled chief of the European steelmaker Arcelor, may have been wrong to resist Lakshmi Mittal's takeover attempt. But his opposition to the bid contained a kernel of truth: National ownership really does matter.

It is easy these days to see corporations as the new countries - as vast, ubiquitous entities that make political borders irrelevant. Exxon Mobil's revenues now exceed the total economic output of Saudi Arabia or of Indonesia. Foreign investors care less about where a stock comes from than the return it offers.

Dollé dissented from this widening consensus - but for the wrong reason. He argued the case of national ownership in the outdated language of protectionism. A "company of Indians," as he called Mittal Steel, would not run European steel mills the way Europeans would.

Moreover, only those with local understanding, he suggested, would be able to extract the most economic value from Arcelor's mills. Comments like Dollé's fuel a common perception among the global business elite that all arguments for national ownership are merely protectionist throwbacks.

On the contrary, my work on developing-world corporations, with Krishna Palepu at Harvard, demonstrates that companies rooted in a particular country are more likely than footloose multinationals to make a nation's problems their own.

Indeed, national ownership matters for a reason that Dollé ignored: Companies identified strongly with a particular country more often find it in their interest to invest in public goods for the country - from roads to universities to national branding campaigns.

And because they do so precisely out of economic self-interest, this alternative case for national ownership is about creating more efficiency - not less.

Examples abound. Infosys, the Indian software giant, is a major driver of India's economic success. But it is also hostage to what the larger economy achieves. Thus it has invested considerably to promote Brand India, for example, by sponsoring the "India Everywhere" campaign at the World Economic Forum in Davos, touting Indian democracy and Bollywood. It is hard to imagine IBM, active though it is in India, underwriting that kind of campaign.

For Infosys, the India story is part of its founders' ethic. Westerners' opinions of India will rub off on how they see Infosys - value that would be lost on IBM. Similarly, whether Bangalore has a world-class airport matters to Infosys, but not as much to IBM.

In Thomas Friedman's "flat world," it does not matter whether IBM goes east to employ a thousand software engineers for its clients or Infosys goes west to find clients to employ the same number of people in India. But it cannot be argued that India should be indifferent to the two.

Developing-world companies also have to invest in infrastructure whose paucity constrains them, even if that investment benefits others substantially.

More than a decade ago, Compañía de Teléfonos de Chile (CTC), the Chilean phone company, was the first Latin Amercian company to raise capital on a U.S. stock exchange. This brought it, and Chile, into direct contact with sophisticated financial intermediaries on Wall Street, and catalyzed the development of Chilean capital markets, today among Latin America's best.

A global phone company doing business in Chile would not have had to care as much about Chilean markets.

Schools and universities are a key part of institutional infrastructure. Today, Koc and Sabanci are responsible for impressive universities in Turkey. The availability of educated talent in Turkey matters more to these companies than it might to a European corporation operating in Turkey.

Over the long run, the most important proving ground for emerging-market firms may be the vast, rural hinterlands of the developing world.

Much of the world consists of poor village dwellers, as in India, where they constitute two-thirds of a billion-plus population. Corporations are on the frontlines of catering to the less-fortunate. But it is usually indigenous entrepreneurs, rather than multinationals, who realize that the rural poor constitute an emerging market inside an emerging market.

Commercial interventions in rural areas often spur further development which, in turn, is more likely to benefit local entrepreneurs than multinationals.

ITC has introduced an electronic platform to facilitate rural commerce in India. This platform creates an environment of transparency in the village, spurring markets for agricultural produce, in turn raising the productivity of entire villages.

Indigenous companies are better positioned to capitalize on the broad opportunities that result. ICICI, India's leading private-sector bank, has identified rural financial services as its next big opportunity. As ICICI executive Nachiket Mor told one newspaper, "We can't simply go there and say, 'I'm a financier; I don't know anything else.' If you don't know anything else, the customer is going to give you the residual of whatever happened to his life. If he's not able to sell his sugar cane, if he's not able to sell his grain, if he's not able to get good value for his milk, he suffers and - you know what? - you suffer."

So, in order to collect on its loans, ICICI has resolved to solve the farmer's problems rather than merely mitigate their impact through erudite risk management. With the amount of local knowledge needed, and the patience before seeing returns, it's no wonder multinational banks will think twice about venturing this far afield. And it would be right for them to exercise caution.

Similarly, in China, Ningbo Bird was faster off the block in selling cellphones to rural dwellers than was Motorola, and Wahaha beats Coke and Pepsi in the villages.

The cost structure of multinationals and their need to get the quickest and highest returns available at present makes it much less attractive to them than to indigenous entities to venture outside the major metropolitan areas.

Corporate nationality has important practical implications. The Mittal-Arcelor affair is only the most prominent case of a multinational rooted in emerging markets bidding for a Western firm.

When protectionists claim that corporate nationality matters, their duplicitous motives should not mar their overall point, which is correct: that where companies come from really does count.

And instead of rejecting them on those grounds, the West should embrace the Infosyses of the world as the world's last best hope for solving developing countries' chronic afflictions.

(Tarun Khanna is Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School.)

The Riddle of Job Interviews

2006-02-15T06:19:00.000-08:00

The Riddle of Job Interviews

It's the latest twist in hiring techniques -- asking brainteaser questions on obscure subjects to test for mental agility. Be prepared!

You're on your way to that all-important job interview, and this time you're prepared. You found the company's home page on the Web and checked Nexis for the latest news. You've rehearsed your answers to the questions they're bound to ask: Why do you want this job? Where do you see yourself in five years?

Those are the wrong questions. Sorry, you're not prepared.

Blame it on Microsoft. Ever since Microsoft made headlines for its unconventional approach to interviewing (key question: How many gas stations are there in the United States?), more and more companies are looking for that certain approach that will uncover just the right quality of mind.

To help you really prepare, here are some brainbusters that are making the rounds in the world of knowledge work.

Say your interview is at Goldman Sachs. The problem (1) is likely to involve eight balls, one of which is slightly heavier than the others. You have a two-armed scale, which you are allowed to use only twice. Your challenge: find the ball that's heavier. Another typical Goldman Sachs brainteaser (2) is to ask you to calculate the number of degrees between the hour hand and the minute hand of a clock (nondigital) that reads 3:15.

At Smith Barney, the problem (3) involves water instead of balls. You have two containers, one holds five gallons, the other holds three. You can have as much water as you want. Your task: measure exactly four gallons of water into the five-gallon container.

Bankers Trust offers this familiar puzzle (4) : You wake up one morning and there's been a power outage. You know you have 12 black socks and 8 blue ones. How many socks do you need to pull out before you've got a match?

Another Wall Street puzzle (5) involves the truthtellers and the liars. It goes like this: You're trying to get to Truthtown. You come to a fork in the road. One road leads to Truthtown (where everyone tells the truth), the other to Liartown (where everyone lies). At the fork is a man from one of those towns -- but which one? You get to ask him one question to discover the way. What's the question?

One management consulting firm asks (6) why manhole covers are round. Another asks
(7) how many barbers there are in Chicago.

The National Economic Research Association (NERA) goes straight to the economic hypothetical cases -- but watch out for the twist. Its question (8) : The government is building a highway through your neighborhood and you're forced to sell your home. How do you arrive at your asking price? One firm that finances large public works projects asks (9) how many cubes are at the center of a Rubik's Cube.

But based on our research, the one group you want to look out for are the mergers and acquisitions boutiques. There, be prepared for a question that is downright bizarre. For example, at Rothchild Inc., they are likely to ask you to solve this problem (10) : You are in solitary confinement. It is Friday afternoon and you absolutely must have a cigarette. The only person who can give you one is the guard outside your cell. What do you do?

Remember, the job is riding on your answer!

Answers (in order):

Put three balls on each side of the scale. If the arms are equal, you know the heavy ball is one of the two remaining. If the arms are unequal, take the three balls on the heavier side, pick two and weigh them against each other.
The hour hand will have moved one-fourth of an hour; therefore there will be 7.5 degrees between the two hands.
Fill up the three-gallon container and pour it into the five-gallon container. Do it again -- and there will be one gallon left in the three-gallon container. Empty the five, pour in the one, fill the three again and pour it into the five-gallon container -- and you've got four.
To get matching socks, you need to pick three -- there are only two colors, after all.
To find the way to Truthtown, simply ask the man, "Which way is your hometown?" Then go whichever way he points: if he's from Liartown, he'll point to Truthtown and if he's from Truthtown, well, you get it.
Manhole covers are round so that they can't fall into the manhole.
Obviously no one expects you to tell them the precise number of barbers in Chicago; they want to hear you go through a line of thinking. The variables you'll want to consider are the population of Chicago and the percentage that's male; the number of haircuts the average male has per year divided by the number of days in the year, taking into account the number of days per year barbershops are open; and the number of haircuts an average barber can give per day. By the way, there are 550 barber shops in Chicago; 6,273 active barbers in Illinois; with 66% of the state's population, Chicago has roughly 4,140 barbers.
To get a job at NERA, calculate the price of your home using conventional valuation methods -- but remember to throw in the value you attach to your memories for however long you've lived there.
There is only one cube at the center of a Rubik's Cube.
To get the guard to give you a cigarette (and this really is the preferred answer to this question), threaten to kill yourself by smashing your head against the wall of your cell. That gives you leverage with the guard -- he'd be tied up doing paperwork about your suicide, so he'd miss weekend time with his family (it's Friday afternoon, remember?) -- so he'll give you a cigarette.

Warren Buffett, Unplugged

2006-01-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

Warren Buffett, Unplugged

The hands-off billionaire shuns computers, leaves his managers alone, yet has notched huge returns. He just turned 75. Can anyone fill his shoes?

By SUSAN PULLIAM and KAREN RICHARDSON
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 12, 2005; Page A5A

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

OMAHA, Neb. -- Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and insurance executive, was in his office here this summer when he received a faxed letter about a company he'd never heard of.

The letter was from an adviser to Forest River Inc., an Elkhart, Ind., recreational vehicle maker. He proposed that Mr. Buffett buy the company for $800 million.

Mr. Buffett liked what he saw: The company had a big market share and little debt.

The next day, Mr. Buffett offered to buy Forest River and to let its founder, Peter Liegl, continue running it. He sealed the deal, at an undisclosed price, in a 20-minute meeting one week later. As the meeting wrapped up, Mr. Buffett told Mr. Liegl not to expect to hear from him more than once a year. Says Mr. Liegl: "It was easier to sell my business than to renew my driver's license."

Mr. Buffett has relied on gut instinct for decades to run Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Watch him at work inside his $136 billion investment behemoth, and what you see resembles no other modern financial titan. He spends most of his day alone in an office with no computer. He makes swift investment decisions, steers clear of meetings and advisers, eschews set procedures and doesn't require frequent reports from managers. Occasionally he picks up the phone, calls his broker and trades $100 million or more of stock.

A TRUE SPECIALIST

James Maguire is a "specialist" with one of the premiere jobs in the business¹: He is responsible for trading Berkshire Hathaway.

On a recent Wednesday, he received only 13 phone calls, including one wrong number. There were no urgent confabs with his staff. He found time to work on new lyrics to "Love Me Tender" for a birthday party for his friend Bill Gates, and to demonstrate a newspaper-throwing technique he learned while delivering papers as a boy in Omaha.

The older Mr. Buffett gets -- he turned 75 in August -- the more his minimalist approach poses thorny questions for Berkshire. How will his successor be able to take over when so much of Berkshire's DNA resides in Mr. Buffett's head? And in the wake of a recent investigation into a controversial transaction by a Berkshire subsidiary, would a different management style have helped Berkshire avoid trouble?

Mr. Buffett says he has no immediate plans to step down and does not intend to name a successor beforehand. Mr. Gates, Microsoft's chief executive and a Berkshire director, praises Mr. Buffett's hard-to-imitate management style. "It's baffling to think who else could do it," he says.

The uncertainty troubles some outsiders. In April, Fitch Ratings revised the ratings outlook on $7.5 billion of Berkshire's high-investment-grade debt to "negative" from "stable." Fitch analyst Donald Thorpe says the credit-rating firm doesn't "believe that Mr. Buffett's talents can be easily replaced, or that Berkshire's current investment strategies would be sustainable in his absence."

Though his empire has grown, Mr. Buffett says his routine has changed little over the years. He says he spends the better part of most workdays thinking and reading. He fields a handful of phone calls, and on most days, he confers with the chiefs of a few Berkshire subsidiaries. He seldom holds meetings. "There isn't much going on here," he says of his office on a typical day.

Mr. Buffett, with a personal net worth of $43 billion, is the nation's second-richest man, after Mr. Gates. His nearly 55-year record has brought him recognition as one of the best investors ever, earned him fierce loyalty from Berkshire shareholders and inspired legions of investors who attempt to ape his moves.

Mr. Buffett calculates that since 1951, he has generated an average annual return of about 31%. The average return for the Standard & Poor's 500 over that period is 11% a year. A $1,000 investment in Berkshire in 1965 would be worth about $5.5 million today. Over the past decade, Berkshire shares have tripled in price, returning twice as much, in percentage terms, as the S&P 500. Berkshire's Class A shares closed yesterday at $90,500. In recent years, the company's growth has slowed, as Mr. Buffett has become wary of deploying cash reserves due to market conditions. (See related article.²)

Berkshire Hathaway, of which he owns about 31%, is a large and complex business. It has substantial stakes in Coca-Cola Co., Wells Fargo Co. and American Express Co. And it boasts 42 subsidiaries in businesses ranging from insurance to ice cream to bricks.

Mr. Buffett believes that managers of these companies ought to be left to run their businesses without interference from him, and without having to hew to any unifying corporate strategies or goals. "We delegate to the point of abdication," Mr. Buffett says in Berkshire's Owner's Manual, a six-page manifesto posted on the company's Web site.

This approach sets him apart from other chief executives. Former General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jack Welch, for example, decentralized management but closely monitored his managers, who had to meet strict goals. Microsoft Corp. requires that its offices and businesses around the globe coordinate their efforts so the company's products fit together.

Even the job of investing Berkshire's $45 billion stock-investment portfolio -- bigger than all but eight of the 7,063 U.S. stock mutual funds tracked by Lipper Inc. -- is far less systematic than it is at most investment firms. Berkshire has no investment committee or asset-allocation guidelines, and Mr. Buffett does not meet with analysts or advisers.

Despite its size, Berkshire has no public-relations, human-relations, investor-relations or legal departments. It holds no quarterly earnings calls for investors and analysts, and gives no guidance on future earnings. Its headquarters is staffed by just 17 employees.

Berkshire's audit department is a one-woman show: Rebecca Amick, 53. A lone employee, 44-year-old Mark Millard, executes the trades Mr. Buffett directs for Berkshire's $25 billion bond portfolio and for its $16.5 billion in foreign-exchange investments.

Marc Hamburg, the 56-year-old chief financial officer, oversees financial reports produced by Berkshire's 42 units and regulatory reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also writes news releases, which, until a few weeks ago, he sent to the media via fax machine. Mr. Hamburg has a finance staff of seven, far fewer than the dozens of workers most big companies assign to each aspect of his job. When financial reports for the SEC are due at the end of each quarter, Mr. Hamburg explains, "people work very hard."

Mr. Buffett tells the chiefs of his business units not to produce any special reports for him. When Berkshire was acquiring wholesale food distributor McLane Co. in May 2003, for example, he told Chief Executive Grady Rosier that whatever reports he was producing for its then-owner, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., would be fine for Berkshire. Mr. Rosier says Mr. Buffett has never pushed for more detailed information. "Warren just doesn't call," he says.

Mr. Rosier called Mr. Buffett recently to discuss two company jets. "Warren, I have two Learjets, a 1981 and a 1982," he says he told Mr. Buffett. "They are nearly 25 years old now, and I am thinking about getting a new airplane. Is that an issue?"

AN OWNER'S MANUAL

Excerpts from Warren Buffett's "An Owner's Manual":

Charlie [Munger] and I are the managing partners of Berkshire. But we subcontract all of the heavy lifting in this business to the managers of our subsidiaries. In fact, we delegate almost to the point of abdication: Though Berkshire has about 180,000 employees, only 17 of these are at headquarters.

Charlie and I mainly attend to capital allocation and the care and feeding of our key managers. Most of these managers are happiest when they are left alone to run their businesses, and that is customarily just how we leave them. That puts them in charge of all operating decisions and of dispatching the excess cash they generate to headquarters.

Most of our managers are independently wealthy, and it's therefore up to us to create a climate that encourages them to choose working with Berkshire over golfing or fishing. This leaves us needing to treat them fairly and in the manner that we would wish to be treated if our positions were reversed.

"That is your decision," Mr. Rosier recalls Mr. Buffett replying. "That is your company to run." Says Mr. Rosier: "Wal-Mart left us alone, too. But not like this."

Over the years, not all of Berkshire's investments have been winners, of course. In 1998, Mr. Buffett bought NetJets Inc., a fractional-use aircraft leasing company, for $725 million of cash and stock after a 20-minute meeting with its founder. Despite fast revenue growth, the company posted losses in each of the past three years -- including a pretax loss of $41 million in 2003 -- amid tough competition in Europe. Dexter Shoes, a Maine shoemaker purchased by Berkshire for $420 million in stock, stumbled for eight years. It was absorbed in late 2001 by another Berkshire unit, which took a $219 million write-off.

On occasion, problems of such severity arise that Mr. Buffett abandons his hands-off approach. Trouble surfaced several years ago at General Re, Berkshire's reinsurance unit, due to bad underwriting policies and a complex derivatives business. Mr. Buffett moved to reduce the company's exposure to derivatives, financial instruments that are tied to the value of stocks, bonds or other securities. He later called them "financial weapons of mass destruction."

Earlier this year, regulators began investigating a transaction General Re did in 2000 with American International Group Inc. They are examining whether AIG manipulated its books to mislead investors, and whether executives at the Berkshire unit knew the transaction was improper. Mr. Buffett has told investigators he didn't know details about the questionable transaction. Investigators have not accused him of any wrongdoing.

On that recent Wednesday morning, at just before 9, Mr. Buffett pulled his slate-colored Lincoln Town Car with vanity license plate "THRIFTY" into a parking garage in downtown Omaha. Mr. Buffett, exhibiting no apparent signs of reduced vigor, walked swiftly toward Berkshire headquarters, which occupies a single floor of a nondescript office building. Recently, on the advice of his doctor, he adopted a three-day-a-week workout regimen with a personal trainer. "I always feel good," says Mr. Buffett, whose diet is heavy on hamburgers and soft drinks.

He chatted briefly with his assistant, then hurried into his modest-size office and shut the door. There is no computer in there, nor is there a stock-quote machine or stock-data terminal. He keeps a muted television set tuned to CNBC, the financial-news network. Although he occasionally carries a cellphone on the road, he does not use one in Omaha. He keeps no calculator on his desk, preferring to do most calculations in his head. "I deplore false precision in math," he says, explaining that he does not need exact numbers for most investment decisions. On the cabinet behind his desk are two black phones with direct lines to his brokers on Wall Street.

He had barely settled into his seat when one of them rang. It was John Freund, his longtime broker from Citigroup Inc.'s investment-banking unit. Mr. Freund briefed Mr. Buffett on a stock position he had been building for Berkshire. "If we bought a couple million, that would be fine," Mr. Buffett said, giving Mr. Freund a parameter for how many shares he wanted to buy that day. (Mr. Buffett declines to identify the stock.)

By the end of the day, Mr. Buffett had bought $140 million of the stock for Berkshire's investment portfolio -- equal to the entire asset value of many mutual funds.

Even with such heavy trading, Mr. Buffett's desk isn't littered with stock research. "I don't use analysts or fortune tellers," he says. "If I had to pick one, I don't know which it would be."

Mr. Freund says that when Mr. Buffett is buying stock, he pays little attention to some factors that shape other investors' decisions, such as the economic climate. "He doesn't wait to see what the Fed is doing" to make a trade, Mr. Freund says. Mr. Buffett also can move more quickly than his other clients, he says. "There is no investment committee," the broker explains. "That allows him to make immediate decisions."

Mr. Buffett gives Mr. Freund wide latitude to execute transactions. In 2003, for example, Mr. Buffett was buying shares of Chinese oil company PetroChina Co. Mr. Freund would often call Mr. Buffett at about 9 p.m. Omaha time, when the Hong Kong market was open, an hour at which Mr. Buffett is typically relaxing at home in a sweat suit, playing bridge online. He interrupted his games to place orders.

One night, when a 200-million-share block of PetroChina came on the market, Mr. Freund phoned Mr. Buffett to gauge his interest. "Let's bid," he recalls Mr. Buffett saying. Later that night, a Hong Kong broker called back to tell Mr. Freund he had bought the shares on Mr. Buffett's behalf. Mr. Freund rolled over and went back to sleep without bothering to wake Mr. Buffett with details of the trade, as some other clients would want. Mr. Buffett built a position that eventually totaled $488 million, according to a regulatory filing.

Mr. Buffett deliberately keeps the outside world at bay, believing it is the best way for him to remain "rational" as an investor. If he is interested in investing in a company, he studies the financials himself. "I've created a good environment," he says. "All I have to do is think and not be influenced by others."

Last year, Mr. Buffett says, he began buying Korean stocks for his personal brokerage account, investing a total of $100 million in roughly 20 Korean companies. He says that the investments were too small to be appropriate for the Berkshire portfolio. "These were not Berkshire-size remotely," he says.

He picked the stocks, which he declines to name, by leafing through a reference book compiled in Korea and provided by Citigroup to some clients. The book devotes a single page to each listed company. "You look for solid-looking companies at very low multiples of earnings, and sometimes with the added bonus of lots of excess cash," he said. After the shares rose in price, he unloaded some of them, though he still calls them cheap.

This year, Mr. Buffett's name surfaced in published reports about potential investors in Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of this newspaper. Mr. Buffett, whose company holds an 18.1% stake in Washington Post Co., declines to comment, as does a spokeswoman for Dow Jones. The Bancroft family, which holds a controlling stake, has said the company is not for sale.

Mr. Buffett, an Omaha native, learned about investing under the tutelage of the classic "value" investor Benjamin Graham, who preached buying beaten-down stocks with good underlying value. He became a broker in 1951 at Buffett-Falk & Co., his father's stock-brokerage firm in Omaha, before going to work for Mr. Graham in New York three years later. In 1965, Mr. Buffett bought control of Berkshire, a foundering New Bedford, Mass., fabric mill. He soon purchased National Indemnity Cos., an Omaha insurer, which gave Berkshire $20 million of assets.

In the ensuing decades, Mr. Buffett added several large insurance companies, including General Re and Geico, a national auto-insurance company. He also bought an eclectic mix of manufacturing and retail companies, from paint company Benjamin Moore & Co. to underwear maker Fruit of the Loom Inc.

After speaking with Mr. Freund that day, Mr. Buffett received calls from the chiefs of three Berkshire units. None of the conversations were lengthy. He spent most of the time listening, not advising. "A few of the [Berkshire] CEOs think if they talk to you, you'll tell them what to do," Mr. Buffett says. A prerequisite to a Berkshire purchase of any company is trusting that company's managers to make decisions, he says.

Around midday, a call came in from David Sokol, chief executive of Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy subsidiary. Mr. Buffett put his hands behind his head and cradled the phone against his shoulder, nodding when Mr. Sokol told him that MidAmerican had received a government approval for its pending acquisition of utility PacificCorp. for $5.1 billion in cash, plus $4.3 billion of assumed debt. Mr. Buffett, sipping a Coke from a Styrofoam cup, soon ended the conversation.

Mr. Buffett tends to stick to investments for the long haul, even when the going gets bumpy. Mr. Sokol recalls bracing for an August 2004 meeting at which he planned to break the news to Mr. Buffett that the Iowa utility needed to write off about $360 million for a soured zinc project. Mr. Sokol says he was stunned by Mr. Buffett's response: "David, we all make mistakes." Their meeting lasted only 10 minutes.

"I would have fired me if I was him," Mr. Sokol says.

"If you don't make mistakes, you can't make decisions," Mr. Buffett says. "You can't dwell on them." Mr. Buffett notes that he has made "a lot bigger mistakes" himself than Mr. Sokol did.

That afternoon, Mr. Buffett phoned Ajit Jain, who runs the reinsurance business of National Indemnity. Hurricane Wilma was gaining force in the Gulf of Mexico. During the five-minute talk with Mr. Jain, conversation turned to Mr. Buffett's decision last year to slash Berkshire's exposure to "super cats," or catastrophic events. "If this year's hurricanes had happened last year, or two to three years ago [before Mr. Buffett cut the exposure], what percentage more would our losses have been?" Mr. Buffett asked Mr. Jain.

"One-hundred percent, worst case," Mr. Jain replied. Despite the reduced exposure, Berkshire has since reported net income of $586 million in the third quarter, down 48% from the year-earlier period, due in part to about $3 billion of hurricane-related losses.

Judgment calls such as Mr. Buffett's move to reduce hurricane exposure make his succession a difficult issue for Berkshire. Mr. Jain, 54, is believed to be one of the three candidates Mr. Buffett has recommended to the board to succeed him. In all likelihood, Mr. Buffett has said, his job will be split into three pieces: a CEO in charge of operations, a chief of investments and a chairman. Mr. Buffett declines to identify his candidate for the critical CEO position.

Succession has been a big topic of conversation of late at board meetings, directors say. "We delayed it until late and then devoted a lot of time to it," says Charles Munger, Berkshire's 81-year-old vice chairman and Mr. Buffett's closest associate.

"The chance of getting another Warren is zero," says Mr. Munger. Nevertheless, he brushes off concerns that Berkshire will suffer for it. He says it is likely Berkshire will continue to be run in a decentralized fashion "with enormous discretion in the subsidiary units and a hatred of bureaucracy." The three candidates recommended by Mr. Buffett present Berkshire with "a number of good options," he says.

Mr. Buffett has allowed about $40 billion of cash to accumulate at Berkshire because he hasn't found many attractive investments over the last couple of years. Some investors doubt that shareholders would stay patient if anyone other than Mr. Buffett had such a large cash horde, "especially when it is competing with so much hedge-fund money and mergers-and-acquisition activity these days," says Thomas Vandeventer, a portfolio manager at Citigroup Asset Management, which holds some Berkshire shares. Cash doesn't generate income, and some investors want their money fully invested.

It's unlikely that any successor would choose investments or acquisitions quite like Mr. Buffett does. He says he knows an attractive acquisition candidate when he sees it. "If I don't know it in five to 10 minutes," Mr. Buffett says, "then I'm not going to know it in 10 weeks."

Write to Susan Pulliam at susan.pulliam@wsj.com³ and Karen Richardson at karen.richardson@awsj.com⁴

Corrections & Amplifications:

A conversation during late September between investor and insurance executive Warren Buffett and Ajit Jain, a manager of a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary, happened on a day when Hurricane Rita was gaining force in the Gulf of Mexico. This article incorrectly identifies the storm as Hurricane Wilma. In addition, Bill Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corp. This article incorrectly identifies him as chief executive of Microsoft.

British boozing takes a serious toll

2006-01-11T02:08:00.000-08:00

International Herald Tribune

By Sarah Lyall The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2006

LONDON Britons have long been known for their love of alcohol and their belief that among the naturally repressed drinking is an essential prelude to relaxation and joie de vivre.

Shakespeare's plays are teeming with merry, sozzled characters who are at their funniest, punniest and bawdiest when drunk.

But Britons are just as notorious for their tendency to segue seamlessly from drinking into brawling, to overdo it and then behave like loutish hooligans.

This sets them apart from even their hard-drinking counterparts in Northern Europe and causes widespread dismay among health care workers and police officers forced to deal with drinking-related illness, injury and crime. Part of the problem is that in British pubs, now able to stay open later under a recent law, drinking is not a Continental-style accompaniment to a meal or conversation, but an end in itself.

"You'd never find Sartre in an English café for two reasons," the writer George Steiner is quoted as telling Jeremy Paxman, in Paxman's book "The English" - "A, no Sartre. B, no café."

The country's confused attitude toward drinking, its habit of celebrating it and condemning it by turns, was evident last week when Charles Kennedy, the convivial leader of the Liberal Democratic party, resigned from his leadership post after admitting he was an alcoholic. While he claimed that he was cured, members of his party said that his drinking - never a secret - had finally so hampered his political performance that they had lost confidence in him.

There were several key parliamentary debates, for example, for which Kennedy simply failed to show up, forcing aides to fill in for him at the last minute. There was a disastrous, sweating, stumbling speech at a party conference, another debacle at the London School of Economics and a time when he gave almost incoherent answers to a reporter asking basic policy questions. His aides always blamed fatigue or illness for his behavior, but it was clear to those who knew him that Kennedy could not hold his liquor.

Kennedy's problem was not drunkenness per se, but an impolitic failure to function effectively while drunk. British politics has historically been full of men who drink and are proud of it, too. William Pitt the Younger liked a bottle or three of port a day. The late Alan Clark, a minister and bon vivant in Margaret Thatcher's Tory government, described in his diaries about how, after sharing three bottles of wine with a friend, he found himself publicly "sneering at the more cumbrous and unintelligible passages" in the party-written speech he was then called on to deliver in Parliament. "Helter-skelter I galloped through the text," he writes, with some pride. "Sometimes I turned over two pages at once, sometimes three." Although a fellow legislator rebuked him for being "in this condition" (it is considered poor manners to actively accuse another member of being drunk, and the insult "not sober" was reportedly banned in 1945), Clark did not lose his job.

Churchill began each day with a whisky and soda; he "slurped through the war on a tidal wave of Champagne and brandy," writes Ben Macintyre in the Times of London. Drink also featured heavily in the life of George Brown, a Labour foreign secretary in the 1960s, who is once said to have stumblingly invited a guest in flowing purple robes at a reception in Peru to dance. But it was not to be.

"First, you are drunk," the guest is said to have replied. "Second, this is not a waltz; it is the Peruvian national anthem. And third, I am not a woman; I am the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima."

For Britons, alcohol is a relaxant, an emollient, a crutch, an excuse. In her book "Watching the English," the social anthropologist Kate Fox argues that drinking does not turn English people into unattractive louts, but rather allows them to express the unattractive loutishness latent in their character: in other words, they drink so that they will have license to behave badly.

"By blaming the booze, we sidestep the uncomfortable question of why the English, so widely admired for their courtesy, reserve and restraint, should also be renowned for their oafishness, crudeness and violence," Fox writes. Their antics have earned them a notoriety across Europe, from northern cities where boozed-up Britons go on bachelor weekends to southern resorts where young people on package tours disgust the locals by their fighting, vandalism and public displays of vomiting and al fresco sex.

The British tendency to binge on alcohol is taking a toll on the nation's health. Last week, The Lancet medical journal reported that in the last half-century, Britain has had the largest increase in Europe of deaths from cirrhosis of the liver, an effect of excessive drinking. While cirrhosis-related deaths in other European countries have declined by 20 to 30 percent since the 1970s, cirrhosis deaths among men in Scotland doubled in the 1990s; among British women, it increased by almost half.

Such statistics are reported regularly in newspapers like the Daily Mail, which has given extensive coverage to the problems of drunken behavior in British city centers and which opposed the new licensing law. But the Mail and other popular newspapers cannot make up their minds where they stand. Their pages are also full of admiring reports about the inebriated antics of pop stars and other celebrities. The puerile, alcohol-fueled behavior of the contestants on shows like "Big Brother" is presented as amusing and high-spirited rather than alarming and depressing.

This fall, when the English cricket team defeated Australia in the epic series known as the Ashes, the players embarked on a 36-hour orgy of drunken carousing in dozens of different bars. Andrew Flintoff, the star of the series, boasted to the Sun about how he "drank and drank and drank," appearing on national television with muddied speech, bloodshot eyes and an unsteady gait.

Writing approvingly in the Daily Star tabloid, Michael Booker said that the cricket team had validated the behavior of ordinary Britons who "enjoy one too many sherbets every now and again." Although binge drinking is not a good idea all the time, Booker added, "now and again the only thing that will really do - and I won't be popular with Mrs. Booker by saying this - is a pant-wetting, day-night blowout."

Since then, the English cricket team has stumbled. But in that brief, shining moment of inebriated celebration, they seemed to be saying that in Britain, it does not matter how much you drink, as long as you do your job.

Life is beautiful

2006-01-02T22:52:00.000-08:00

The crux of happy living lies in learning graciously from one's mistakes, says Archana K Sudheer

A lady, who had just opened a decorating shop, went to call on a rich prospective client. She was nervous as she had heard that the old woman had turned down many others before her. She did not suppose she would get the job. On reaching the client's house, she nervously surveyed the huge mansion. The old woman suddenly appeared and said, "Have you ever made a mistake?""Why, of course!" replied the decorator. "Fine," replied the old woman, "you can take the job. I didn't want to fool about with someone who had not had a chance to benefit from previous mistakes."This story epitomises the good of learning from one's past mistakes. This is just the way human life works. Not only is it beneficial to accept one's ignorance and learn from it, but it is also a rare virtue. Regrettably, this is usually not the case. The world is moving at such a fast pace that people are in the race to be the best in life. The tendency arises to portray oneself as flawless and without ignorance. No one wants to be left out in this mad race. The impediments that appear along the way are just brushed aside, only to find them occurring again in the track of life. It is only when humans accept that they have erred, that the race will be smooth.A haughty person never has the benefit of learning more because he thinks that he already knows a lot and there is nothing more he can acquire. This a dangerous proposition as it will definitely lead to a downfall. It is through understanding our ignorance and taking healthy measures to correct it that we can climb the rungs of success.Unfortunately, this is a rare virtue nowadays. People are busier building weak mansions for themselves than solid foundations. What good is a house without a foundation? It is of no worth and cannot withstand any sort of storm. Sometimes, this lack of acceptance of one's ignorance may be out of fear of failure.Many of us, terrified by the possibility of failure, deprive ourselves of the chance to change and do better. The prospect of turning the other cheek might just terrify some of us, since it could be perceived as lack of guts or lack of boldness. But it is just the opposite.George Bernard Shaw once observed: "A man learns to skate by staggering about." Many major achievements of great personalities have sprung from disastrous experiences. They have served as stepping stones to success. It is said that the young Winston Churchill made so many mistakes that he was damned by the Press for "his lack of discretion and judgement". Yet, he had the rare virtue to learn from it and he succeeded in life.The crux of happy living is, thus, to laugh at our ignorance and learn from them. Only then will the world be a better place to live in and will we be able to make others happy.

Catch-22 (logic)

2005-11-28T04:33:00.000-08:00

Catch-22 (logic)

Catch 22 has become a term, inspired by Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22, describing a general situation in which A must have been preceded by B, and B must have been preceded by A. Symbolically, (~B => ~A) & (~A => ~B) where either A or B must come into being first. A familiar example of this circumstance occurs in the context of job searching. In moving from school to a career, one may encounter a Catch 22 where one cannot get a job without experience, but one cannot gain experience without a job.

Note that this common use of the term represents a slightly different problem from the prime example in the novel. The prototypical Catch 22 considers the case of a U.S. Army Air Force bombardier who wishes to be excused from combat flight duty. In order to be excused from such duty, he must submit an official medical diagnosis from his squadron's flight surgeon, demonstrating that he is unfit because he is insane. However, according to Army regulations, any sane person would naturally not want to fly combat missions because they are so dangerous. By requesting permission not to fly combat missions, on the grounds of insanity, the bombardier demonstrates that he is in fact sane and therefore is fit to fly.

Conversely, any flyer who wished to fly on combat runs implicitly demonstrated that he was insane and was unfit to fly and ought to be excused. Naturally, such flyers never submitted such requests. Of course, if they did, the "catch" would assert itself, short-circuiting any such attempt to escape from combat duty.

The fictional "catch", called in the novel Catch 22 in U.S. Army Air Force parlance, gives its name to the novel which is about the basic illogicality of war even in the way it was waged in "modern times" (the book was published only 15 years after World War II, and was therefore considered a commentary on modern war and current events).

This is symbolized as C (being excused from flying) necessitates A (a request) and ~B (not being insane, without which there would be no request) and A also necessitates B (being insane, which must be the basis for the request). Symbolically, ((A => ~B) & (A => B)) => C or, more simply, (A => ~B & B) => C.

In other words, if you do ask to be excused, this is a sign of sanity, and yet you can't be excused if sane. If you do not ask to be excused, you must be insane, but cannot be excused unless you ask. This refers to the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario.

The term is also sometimes informally used to represent logical conundrums that match neither of the above patterns. An example would be the chicken or the egg problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22

For love of life

2005-11-21T03:28:00.000-08:00

For love of life

A few relationships appear like a flash-in-the-pan but leave their imprint forever, says Subhajit Sankar Dasgupta
It was indeed a great morning, fresh and revitalising. I woke up with a smile on my face, hugged my mom, and began assisting her in kitchen. I could sense an element of astonishment in her eyes, as she had never seen me helping her so enthusiastically.

And, there were reasons for that. On that day, I was supposed to shed my 'boring' schoolboy image for an 'exciting' college dude. I bathed, wore my best clothes and left for the new destination. It was to be my first day in college.

As I entered the classroom, I saw a number of students looking at me. I introduced myself to some of them, as I never wanted myself to be left alone. Just then, I saw a girl in the corner of the room. I wanted to introduce myself to her, but my legs failed me. I could only stare at her with my heart full of admiration. She was a fair-complexioned girl with good height. Of course, she wore small spectacles that made her look more attractive. I still do not know what fascinated me about her, as she was certainly not the epitome of beauty.

What can one term this instant liking for a girl? I thought it was just an infatuation, which would be over within a few days. But this did not happen. The fever only increased and I wondered whether this attraction would end at all. The time came when thinking of studies never got me going to college, but the slightest thought of that girl did. I could not help telling about this problem to one of my best friends. Amused, he promised help. But he did what I had never imagined in my wildest of dreams - he talked about me to another girl, whom I had never met earlier. That day I preferred to run away from the college, and remained absent for a couple of days.

Finally, I decided to talk to the girl myself. Fortunately, one day, I found her alone in the class room. I was not the one to miss this opportunity. I introduced myself to her and, soon, we began to behave as if we were long-lost friends. We talked on wide-ranging topic - from hobbies to books. To my surprise, she who was Priya asked me whether I could lend her the book on Jane Eyre. I readily agreed to bring it the very next day.

Within the next few days, I started giving Priya phone calls at the slightest of opportunities. Studies took a backseat, and she remained the only focus of my life. Soon after the examinations were over, Priya called me up, saying, "My father has got transferred to Chandigarh. We are all accompanying him. I have to leave the college. Thanks for all your affection."

I kept smiling till she was there with me. But gloom enveloped me as soon as she bade me goodbye. As the saying goes, "Nothing is permanent in the world." My love (or infatuation, if that pleases you all) soon vanished, but not without trace. Today, when I look back, I thank God for what He gave me. The separation only made me focus on studies, which helped me get a decent job. Now the memory of Priya is too distant.

Today, the only thing I remember is the misty eyes of my mother who hugged me when I got this job. No excuses, no repentance! And, life moves on.

A matter of the heart - VTEC Motor

2005-11-14T18:51:00.000-08:00

A matter of the heart

Petrolheads rejoice - Honda bungs a VTEC engine into the City. SRIRAM NARAYANAN tells you more

The VTEC motor is never guilty of unwanted noises - it produces only music that makes your hair stand on thrilled end

There's this thing with Hondas, especially in India. It's something very subtle, and at the same time, prudent. And this would need a keen eye to notice it in the first place. Whether it's their cars, their bike or their scooters, Honda always has the simplest of purchase deals for you if you are buying one of their products. Go to the showroom, see the car or bike for yourself, drive it about and if you like it, pay the money and it's yours. No free plasma TV, no free holiday in Goa, no celebrity endorsements, no freebies and no fine-print. Come, pay money and take delivery, as simple as that. It's not the sign of a company being 'consumer-unfriendly,' it's more the sign of a company that's confident of its products; the kind of confidence which springs from the fact that you wouldn't buy a car because you could get your family a holiday in doing so. You buy a car because it's the one for you. And Honda, with its decade-long tenure in our market, seems to know exactly what you want.

However, it didn't look like the manufacturer had read the customer that completely, a short-ish while ago. You see, when Honda pulled out the iconic, old City for the 'MPV squashed to the size of a car' version, I and others of my ilk thought of it as blasphemy, or dare I say, over-confidence. The old City did have its quirks, but at that time, there was nothing that could come close to it in terms of performance at its price, not to forget the fact that it was fun to drive, efficient and reliable too. It also came in a VTEC guise too for those who wanted keener performance.

No, we don't like the idea of VTEC just because it sounds, well, cool. VTEC, better described and lesser known as 'variable valve timing and lift electronic control' is Honda's proprietary technology that makes a difference to the performance and volumetric efficiency of an engine. You could directly skip the next few lines if you aren't interested, but for the interested ones, here's the point behind a VTEC.

TUMMY TUCK With a nose and boot job, the City is sleeker to look at today. A 100 bhp VTEC mill under the hood completes the new picture of pur

Tech to the max

Now, you may have come across words of wisdom like, 'a constant speed of 60 kph will deliver optimum fuel efficiency.' True, because at lower speeds, you would simply be left with unburned fuel and at higher speeds, you would be burning too much fuel. What the VTEC system does is to finely regulate the opening and closing of the inlet valves according to the engine's revolution. At low revolutions the valves open just a little, allowing only a trickle of fuel to flow in. At higher engine revs, the valves open nice and wide, allowing more fuel to flow through. In other words, the engine is fed only as much fuel as is needed at any given engine speed. This is the reason you never burnt too much fuel in slow, city traffic and when the prospect of an open road lay ahead, the Honda City VTEC never held itself back. The figures speak for VTEC - while the old 1.5 City gave you 10.4 kpl in the city, a 1.5 VTEC returned 11.9 kpl. This, despite offering you 6 bhp more power that the 100 bhp 1.5!

So there, VTEC is not just a cool-sounding name; it works as well. With such credentials around, the new City with its love-it-or-hate-it looks and a comparatively feeble, 77 bhp non-VTEC engine was a bit of a wet blanket for Honda aficionados. You could simply say the new City did not carry through much of its predecessor's peppy charms. But it did bring in some new ones - yes, this was Honda showing they understood customer feedback. And therefore, unlike in the older City, we got great interiors, more cabin space, slightly better fuel-efficiency, better ride and build quality and a lower sticker price - all very welcome. Now, we get a slight cosmetic freshening-up, a new ZX nametag and a VTEC mill as part of the line-up. Frankly, the City ZX VTEC is a car a lot of buyers have been eagerly waiting for.

So, what is new? For one, there's been a conscious effort to wean the car away from its MPV looks. Viewed side-on, you will see less rake at the front and rear windshields. The bonnet seems slightly more elongated and is 65 mm longer. The front bumper juts out further from the body and the rear is less bulky. While the wraparound tail-lamps remain, additional units have been added to make them wider, making the rear appear fuller. On the whole, the changes to the exterior of the City are very subtle. You may find it difficult to pinpoint specific changes, but these minor specifics make a difference - yes, the City does look better today.

More horses for the course

Honda surely must have come across many people hanging on to the old City, just because the new one wasn't much fun to drive. And a new VTEC powerplant sorts just that out now. While driving the new City around, we found at 1,500 rpm, the power, unlike a typical petrol, doesn't come on strongly. This is where the VTEC is budgeting its valves and sensibly rationing fuel for you. At 3,500 rpm, the motor slowly gets into its groove, while 4,800 rpm brings on a motor which is ready to respond to every command of your right foot, the valves generously feeding the engine with petrol. This is great when you need a surge of power to overtake slow-moving traffic. The hallmark of the VTEC is that the motor never feels thrashy and is never guilty of unwanted noises - it produces only the kind of well-oiled music that makes your hair stand on thrilled end. Even at 160 kph, you won't feel any coarseness or signs of a car telling you it's reaching the end of its tether.

One complaint with the City was the plastic feel of its electric power steering system. And that has now been tackled, extra feedback being dialled into the equation. If you have been an avid City driver, you will notice this new one feels sharper and is more than ready to change direction than the current version. What's admirable is that Honda have bought in the best-loved bits of the earlier City and further beefed up an already excellent package - the athletic performance of the old City VTEC mated to the enhanced practicality of the current one.

Since we haven't thoroughly road-tested the machine as yet, there's more to the City ZX we are yet to discover. Interestingly, this Honda has come up at a time when most of India's first-generation of new cars are going through a generation change. Ford is almost out with the new Fiesta. Hyundai is readying the next-generation Accent for our roads. Mitsubishi and Skoda have new things up their sleeve with the Lancer Cedia and the new Octavia respectively. At any other time, we would have unhesitatingly told you that the City VTEC is the best mid-size car you can buy. But after having driven the new Ford, we feel the City, with the VTEC has upped its game by just the right amount to tackle the Fiesta. Their locking horns would be a spectacle and a good one at that... but that's another story. Watch this space!

* * *

TECHNICAL DATA

HONDA CITY ZX VTEC

How much?

Rs 8.41 lakh

(ex-showroom, Mumbai)

How big?

Length: 4,390 mm

Width: 1,690 mm

Height: 1,485 mm

Kerb weight: 1,060 kg

Wheelbase: 2,450 mm

Fuel tank capacity: 42 litres

Luggage volume: 500 litres

Engine

Layout: 4-cylinder 1497cc VTEC,

petrol

Max power: 100 bhp

Max torque: 13.50 kgm

Installation: Front, transverse, front-wheel drive

Steering

Electric power-assisted

In remembrance; peter drucker: 1909-2005

2005-11-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

In remembrance; peter drucker: 1909-2005

Drucker can’t die

Even at 95, Drucker was the youngest business, management, societal and economic thinker alive

Gautam Chikermane

One of the three things I wanted to do after I became financially independent was to work for Peter Ferdinand Drucker. Preferably in a job that allowed me to see how he worked, what he read, how he thought, and finally, how he translated them into articles and books that influenced top leaders and executives. Of corporations. Of non-profits. Of countries. He always seemed “just there, around the corner”, so there was no hurry. Yes, he was in his mid-nineties and the spectre of mortality did raise its head. But then, Drucker was so young, so vibrant, so full of new ideas. How could he age, leave alone die? But on November 11, eight days before he turned 96, he passed away, leaving behind a work that will live on till civilisations do. It will influence more thinkers and leaders than any other single individual’s work. Best known as the ‘father of management’, he had become a subject, a course, if not a field, in himself. Something like Plato, Keynes or Ved Vyasa. His work sweeps from history to art, finance to technology, organisations to people. All of which will continue to breath life into ideas. As someone who has been following management and organisational behaviour in particular and seeking the unseen in general, I can say without batting an eyelid that even at 95, Drucker was the youngest business, management, societal and economic thinker alive. And the youngest futurist, even though he claimed not to be one. But what he wrote, the ideas he nourished were pretty much like looking into a reverse rear view mirror that showed a crystal-clear future. How else could he have written books like The Post-Capitalist Society (1993) and articles like ‘The future that has already happened’? In this preface to his 1998 book, Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management, he predicted that before 2010 the age at which people will actually retire in developed economies will be 75; that economic growth will not necessarily come from increasing inputs, but from increasing productivity; that there will be no single dominant economic power because no country will have the population base to support such a role. Knowledge, he said, makes resources mobile, and this will change the way organisations run. And 1,285 words later, he concludes: “Predictions? No. These are the implications of a future that has already happened.” This is his style. From his first book, The End of Economic Man: The Origins of Totalitarianism (1939) to his last, The Effective Executive in Action (to be published early next year), the one hallmark of the man has been his being way ahead in observing, capturing, analysing new trends and fresh ideas and translating them into insights that are digestible, touchable by the rest of us. Three full decades before ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’ became the buzzwords of intellectual currency, in mid-to- late-1990s, Drucker had coined the terms, ‘knowledge worker’ and ‘knowledge society’ and stamped their importance, their place in a future that we’re living in today. Over the three-quarters-of-a-century long career, much of which he echoes through his life - he says executives should be ready for a career spanning three or four decades or that the career of individuals is getting to be longer than those of the companies they work for - he’s written 39 books, each a masterpiece. Mathematically, that’s about one book in two years. Drucker is a great addiction I got hooked on to rather late, with his Drucker on Asia: A dialogue between Peter Drucker and Isao Nakauchi (1997). This dialogue between Drucker and the Japanese retail tycoon was so engrossing that I sat up reading this book delving into issues of disaster, the role of merchants in it and the rise of China, reaching my office bleary- eyed the next morning. The most endearing part of that book, something I later excerpted while launching the first edition of a magazine, was the seven things Drucker did to reach where he had. We titled the excerpt, ‘What makes Peter Drucker Peter Drucker’ and we got many letters telling us how life-changing this three-page piece was. A sample: seeking perfection in work because Gods notice it (learnt from Verdi and Phidias), understanding what’s required from a new job and not continuing to do the old job (from a senior partner of a securities firm), and knowing that finally what you’ll be remembered for is the difference you make in lives of people (from Schumpeter). But what I found most appealing is what he learnt as a journalist: to explore new subjects. “Every three or four years I pick a new subject. It may be Japanese art; it may be economics. Three years of study are by no means enough to master a subject, but they are enough to understand it. So for more than 60 years I have kept on studying one subject at a time. That not only has given me a substantial fund of knowledge, it has also forced me to be open to new disciplines and new approaches and new methods - for every one of the subjects I have studied makes different assumptions and employs a different methodology.” The result was that in the next few years I ended up reading most of what Drucker had written. The technological innovation of the Internet, which Drucker likened to the railways and not electricity like other thinkers did, helped and like a devoted pupil, I followed Drucker as he wrote articles and books, gave interviews. Anything I could lay my eyes on that had his signature. Google wasn’t born then, but on Yahoo, my most commonly-used search string would have been ‘Drucker’. I was then editing a financial magazine and married many of his insights with stock market research. Understanding risk, in this most primal, most basic form, for instance: “It is no accident that the word ‘risk’ itself in the original Arabic meant ‘earning one’s daily bread.” I found myself relating subjects as far out as cosmology to assess the potential of economies and companies. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles (1985), a gripping account - possibly the only one - of the subject gave me direction into evaluating ‘new economy’ businesses. This consumption had one side effect. Drucker likes to experiment with his ideas. So, you will find him writing for magazines like the Atlantic Monthly and The Economist, which helped him get feedback. With which he would sharpen the articles, which finally would get published as a collection in a book. I would find this rather irritating, almost like being cheated out of something fresh. But which journalist can complain the weight of his ideas like planning for the second half of one’s life, the growth and mushrooming of non-profits, faith in the free market but with reservations about capitalism and so on? Never did I imagine I would be writing his obit. A book review, yes. An analysis of his work, sure. An interview - absolutely! But as I write these words, I feel a dull aching in my heart, an uneasy vacuum when I realise that this consultant’s consultant, this guru’s guru, this man who has directly influenced the likes of Churchill and Welch, the 20th century’s most influential philosopher has gone without leaving an intellectual heir. He will rest in peace, but his ideas will continue to drive the rest of us.

URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=81915

Ramvilas Paswan's Rise to Power

2005-10-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Ramvilas Paswan's Rise to Power

A Political Profile

Md. Sajjad
Lecturer, Centre of Advance Study
Department of History
AMU, Aligarh

The Dalit politician, Ram Vilas Paswan was born in 1947 in a backward village of India's north Bihar, in a relatively prosperous Dusadh family. His grandfather had only 2 acres of land which was enhanced to 30 acres (even though mostly flood prone) by his father and uncle. His father had an urge to educate his children. There was no school in the village, hence he hired a tutor, first a Bania, then a Kayastha. He was admitted to 4th standard in a school, few kms away from his village, where he could reach by crossing 2 rivers, one by boat another by wading upto the waist. Untouchability was not the issue in the school as there were no upper caste students. He studied in High school by staying in the Harijan hostel. He survived on tuition taking grains from home, and also on a scholarship of Rs 10 a month. He did his BA from Patna again living in Harijan hostel. The scholarship paid to him was irregular and delayed in the way as the govt. employees in Bihar get their salaries. He received his last installment of scholarship only after becoming MLA in 1969.
At the college he paid more attention to politics than to studies. His claim about his politicization is dated back to an incident in his own village.

An ailing Chamar had gone into a debt to his Brahman employer for a sum of Rs. 50 which the Brahman claimed to have had spent on the medicine for the Chamar.Thereafter,.for the next 10 years he went on paying the interest on the 'debt'. He paid upto Rs 300/-.
Again he borrowed Rs 75/- from the Brahman by mortgaging his tiny plot of land to arrange his daughter's marriage. He was forced to forfeit the land to the Brahman. Bereft of the piece of land, he was forced to migrate to Purnea to work as a labour. brought Rs 350/- of savings, which was demanded by the brahman. The refusal resulted into the chamar being bound hand and foot. When the chamar was about to be thrashed by the Brahman,Mr. Paswan struck the Brahman in fury and the got the Chamar released. The younger generation of the Dalits stood by Paswan and the brahman had to leave the village for good, just for the humiliation of having been beaten by a Dalit.

After BA and before completing his LL B, Paswan qualified at the provincial civil service(BPSC) exam and was selected as Dy.S.P.in the reserved quota for the Scheduled Castes(SC). But before joining the police training, he had already come into contact with some socialists and had worked in the vicinity, moving on cycle. He got the ticket from Lohia's Sanjukt Socialist Party(SSP) and won the 1969 Assembly elections from a constituency reserved for SCs. By that time, he says, he was greatly attracted towards the Naxalite movement but he never joined it formally.

In 1970, he served 7 month imprisonment in Bhagalpur jail. Became a close colleague of JP in 1974 and went to jail during the Emergency(1975-1977),Won the Lok sabha elections in 1977 and kept winning since then, except in 1984. In 1989, he won by a record margin of over 5 lakhs votes from Hajipur, getting a space in the Guineas' Book of World Records. Besides Lohia and JP, he is greatly influenced by Chaudhary Charan Singh, Karpuri Thakur and VP Singh.

He got the cabinet berth as the Union Labour and Welfare Minister in the VP Singh's cabinet. He claims to have got extended benefits to Dalits and the OBCs. He got the credit of having installed Ambedkar's statue in the Central Hall of the Parliament, which was a long standing demand of the Dalits. He also claims to have persuaded the govt. to extend reservation benefits to the Mahars( a Dalit caste of Maharashtra to which Ambedkar belonged) who had become Buddhists.

He worked for Mandalization and reservation of seats in the govt. job for the OBCs. His object(both in govt and opposition) was to promote himself as a strong leader of the other castes like the OBCs and the Muslims. However, thus far no Muslim politician of any eminence owes his/her political rise to Paswan. In fact among the Muslim politicians, particularly of Bihar, it is a common belief that Laloo and Paswan won't ever allow any Muslim to emerge as a leader with an independent base. They prefer only handpicked sycophants to be dumped quite easily.

Here only, Paswan committed a great mistake, to the best of my understanding of the political developments in Bihar since 1990.

Laloo yadav managed to become the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990 and succeeded in emerging as the only greatest leader of the downtrodden. Paswan's Prime ministerial ambitions prompted by VP Singh for consolidating his own base among dalits persuaded him not to contest for the CM-ship. Thus he lost a historic opportunity to Laloo against whom he is yet to succeed to any significant extent.

By 1980s, he had also started facing competition from Kanshi Ram to become the ''Dalit Leader" of India. This forced him to establish "Dalit Sena" in 1983.To monopolise the legacy of Ambedkar, he had also launched a magazine, Nyaya Chakra, edited by himself. Paswan could make little dent only after the erosion of the base of the Congress among the Dalits in late 1980s. Paswan's own support base among the Dalits is limited by the Chamars, who are in greater number in Bihar, compared to the Dusadhs.

His leaning towards Ambedkar was relatively late, probably because of the fact that in Bihar's Dalit Movements, Ambedkar was not very popular.

After the fall of VP Singh, Paswan again got a berth in Devagowda's cabinet in 1997.He was the minister for Railways- a classic source of patronage. Here, he claims to have promoted Dalit interests; regularised the positions of thousands of temporary sweepers of the Railways.

When the Congress pulled down the Devegowda govt, Paswan was one of the possible names for Prime ministership. it was however, IK Gujral, who got the hot-seat.
Paswan claims to have some inclination towards Naxalism but at the same time, he also recognizes that the structural change will now be difficult to bring about in the short run. That it's too late for radical land reforms. The major way ahead is to train dalits so that they could have marketable skills. Therefore, he demands extension of reservation in the private sector jobs.

"Whatever his youthful origins, Paswan is far from a social revolutionary. He is against the assertion of any animus against the upper castes; his second wife is an upper caste Sikh. ''His overall goal is to work towards ensuring the Dalits and the other groups their fair share of social engineering", say Mendelsohn & Vicziany in their recent work on the Untouchables of India.

In early 2002, while still in the Vajpayee cabinet, he had developed some ill will against the BJP, of course, for his own political gains. He apprehended Mayawati's rise at his cost; and his political base in Bihar, in opposition to Laloo had become precarious. By that time Laloo had also started losing his popularity among the sections of educated middle class of Muslims and other downtrodden. Paswan thought that with the upper caste Hindus and disillusioned Muslims, he could make significant political ascendancy. The opportunity came with the Godhra-Gujarat communal riots of 2003. He broke away from the BJP led NDA govt and engaged himself in deft political footworking. Allied with the Congress-Laloo(UPA), he secured some seats for his LJP in the 14th Lok sabha elections of 2004, only to part from from Laloo soon on the portfolio of Railway ministry while still continuing in the UPA govt. He embarked on recruiting feudal criminal upper castes to his LJP which contested the Bihar Assembly elections in February 2005.Inflicting considerable damage upon the Laloo's RJD with his LJP securing 29 seats. The mandate was unworkably fractured, hence the President Rule was imposed, moments before his upper caste and Yadav MLAs were about to desert him and cross over to the JD-U led NDA in Bihar under Nitish Kumar.

Now, while preparing for the next Assembly elections, he is finding himself on muddled crossroads. Most of the poll pundits(whose prophesies are often proved wrong) think that Paswan's LJP does not stand a good chance in the forthcoming Assembly elections. This aspect, nevertheless, requires a more informed analysis to which one should turn only after few months from now. Before that, it will be too early to say any thing. Suffice it to say here that Janardan Thakur(a renowned journalist of Bihar and author of few books including," All the Janata Men" and "Forty Faces"), in his last mentioned book, i.e, "Forty Faces" had profiled about Paswan that he is successful only as a second rung leader, not as the most prominent leader of the political party he belongs to.

One is still waiting, whether Paswan will be able to prove the observation of Janardan Thakur wrong.

Reading to understand

2005-10-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

Reading to understand

B.S. WARRIER

Heard about the 4R and SQ3R method? These are defined ways to learn more effectively.

GATHERING POINTS: Silent reading usually leads to better comprehension. PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF

Instances when we should read aloud have been touched upon earlier in these columns.

But most of the time, we shall not be reading to enjoy poetry, or correct errors in pronunciation. So, it is not necessary to read aloud always. In fact, reading aloud has its own defects.

Suppose, we are reading a newspaper to quickly have an idea of the important news items. By reading aloud, we cannot do that. On the other hand, silently glance through the headlines and read selectively. We read only what is of interest to us. This is possible by reading silently and not loudly. By reading aloud for a long time, we feel tired because of wastage of energy. Hence, for studying for a long time, we have to read silently.

There is yet another defect in loud reading. We go on reading at a steady speed. Certain ideas may be difficult to grasp.

To digest them, we may have to pause, think for some time and then proceed. A loud reader may not be able to do this. He goes on reading a whole lesson at a stretch at the same speed and then think that he has studied the chapter. The truth is that he has passed through the sentences without following what they meant. You may read silently while studying lessons. Read slowly when you find a passage difficult. Read fast if you feel that a certain portion is easy. If you come across something which you know well, skip it. All these are simple steps which anybody can easily follow.

Experts have made detailed study on reading and have suggested some good methods. We shall go into a couple of them that help improve study habits.

The 4R method

Keep in mind four words starting with the letter R: read, recall, reflect and review.

Read: not just read mechanically, but read carefully, understand every point, question anything unclear, and find the answer to the questions.

Recall: Stop after a portion has been read, try to remember what you just finished reading, go back to the text if you cannot remember something, and try to write the formula or draw the sketch, if any, in the portion you have read. You should be thorough with what you have learnt. Only after making sure that you have learnt it well, should you proceed further.

Reflect: After some time when you are free, you may try to think about what you have learnt. Perhaps you will be able to connect the new knowledge with something you already have in mind. This will help you keep the ideas firmly in the mind, and to apply the knowledge in a new situation.

Review: After a long time, you may try to look back on what you studied. At this stage, you may have forgotten certain things you had studied earlier; but you can quickly bring them back to mind by glancing through the text.

The SQ3R method

The letters stand for survey, question, read, recite, and review.

Survey: Before you start reading, go through the title, headings, subheadings, pictures and their captions, graphs, charts and maps. You may also look at the chapter summaries, conclusions and review questions.

Question: While surveying, raise questions such as why you should read the text, what prior knowledge you have on this subject, and how reading this will help you.

Read: This is the most significant activity. Read with full concentration, focusing your mind on the lesson content, underlining the most important phrases and merging pictures or graphs, if any, with the explanation in the text. Adjust your reading speed to suit the difficulty-level of the passage you are reading.

Check if you get the answers to the questions you had raised in the beginning. Try to find answers to the questions at the end of the chapter.

Write what you find to be very tough, and also the matter you have to memorise, such as poems or definitions. Solve numerical problems. Try to draw sketches from your memory. Read again what you could not grasp fully in the first reading. Use a dictionary to get the meaning of words. Make notes covering the essential points. Read in manageable chunks.

Recite: Soon after reading a section, try to summarise in your mind what you just finished reading.

Try to recite it in your own words. Which means that you have to speak it aloud. This is the most effective method for transferring material from one's short-term memory to long-term memory.

If necessary, improve your notes. Answer the questions orally.

Recitation enriches learning, since it involves seeing, saying and hearing. This process powerfully hammers the material in your memory.

Review: This has to be done at intervals to confirm fully your learning. You should be able to answer all the questions. Any area which is not clear to you should be learnt again.

The Market Maestro

2005-09-29T00:58:00.000-07:00

The market maestro

Mega-investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has raked in crores by betting big on India and he’s still on a winning streak, says Paran Balakrishnan

What makes Rakesh Jhunjhunwala different from other mere mortals who put their money in the stock market? Back in 1985, Jhunjhunwala, a green-behind-the-ears chartered accountant started out by investing a few thousand rupees in the market — and he didn’t have a father or an uncle in the business. Today, he’s worth anywhere between Rs 750 crore and Rs 2,500 crore, depending on which estimate you believe. He shrugs off questions about his wealth with a terse, “what does it matter.”

One way or another, there’s no question that Jhunjhunwala has been on a roll in recent months. In February, one of his big bets paid off handsomely. American company Standard & Poor’s made an offer to buy Crisil, the Mumbai-based financial services company. Jhunjhunwala owns about 14 per cent of Crisil and could make Rs 60 crore if he sells to S&P.

Or, step back three months when Jhunjhunwala announced that he had accumulated a 5 per cent stake in Mid-Day Multimedia, the feisty Mumbai-based multimedia company. Today that’s reckoned to be a smart buy because media stocks are climbing once again.

But this is all in a day’s work for the man who is often described as the Warren Buffett of the Indian stock market. Remember that Warren Buffett, who started investing in the ‘50s is now worth around $41 billion and is the world’s second richest man. Buffett earned this vast wealth by picking well-managed companies that were slightly undervalued and then putting big bets on them.

Quite simply, Jhunjhunwala has followed a similar, diligent and methodical approach and built up a giant fortune over the last 20 years. Mid Day reckoned a year ago that he was the most influential man in the Indian stock markets. Says one associate, “Companies want him to invest because the moment he picks up a stake, awareness increases. He has a Pied Piper effect.” Adds Jhunjhunwala, “I like to identify good companies and stay with them.”

But Jhunjhunwala’s life has changed in more ways than one in recent months. For a start, he now has an 18-month daughter and she has changed his life beyond recognition after 18 years of marriage. “It’s so nice to see her smiling face when I go home,” he says. “But other people have been through the same thing,” he adds quickly.

The birth of his daughter coincided with an overhaul of his working style. For almost two decades, he was a one-man stock-picking organisation. “I had nobody. I was doing everything on my own,” he says.

Today, his Rare Enterprises (named after Rakesh and his wife Rekha) which operates from the 15th floor of a tower block in Mumbai’s Nariman Point, has a select team of nine or 10 analysts and another half-a-dozen backroom boys. “I want to use other people’s skills. And I want my legacy to live beyond me. I want perpetual life for my business,” he says.

Jhunjhunwala himself is constantly keeping an eye on the five screens that flicker in front of him. He talks in bursts and his attention always wanders back to the screens. His office is decorated with plaques of his stock market heroes. On the way in there’s Sir John Templeton, followed by the inevitable Warren Buffett. Also, there’s Buffett’s guru Benjamin Graham (see box). Inside the office, there’s a plaque with the 10 rules of investing just next to the door that leads to a large sea-facing balcony. Jhunjhunwala himself is constantly tossing off one wise saw after another. “Never be afraid to make mistakes,” is followed by “Have faith in India and the gods.” Or, there’s another favourite: “I am not in a profession but in a passion.”

Get one thing straight. Jhunjhunwala isn’t a stock market player in the mould of Harshad Mehta or Ketan Parekh, whose fortunes soared and then tumbled. Jhunjhunwala plays an entirely different game. Says an associate, “They were market manipulators and tried to dominate the market. Rakesh invests in business that has the potential of going up.”

In short, he’s what is termed a value investor (see box) and will stay with a company for years. Typically, he is likely to spot a mid-sized company that he likes and then accumulate a sizeable stake in it — also, he doesn’t manage anyone else’s money. It’s all his own.

About a year ago, for instance, he took a big stake in, and then joined the board of Praj Industries, a medium-sized engineering company. He has also, at different times, bought sizeable stakes in companies like Lupin Labs, Matrix, and Geometric Software. It’s rumoured that when Jhunjhunwala takes a big stake in a company, it can be upto Rs 50 crore. Also, he’s on the board of several favourite companies.

But Jhunjhunwala has always specialised in staying apart from the herd. Back in 2000 when tech frenzy was at its peak, he was playing an entirely different game. While everyone else was hoovering up tech stocks of any kind and watching as values shot through the roof, he was buying humble public sector stocks. He admits that it was a tough few months during which he had the occasional sleepless night. “Other people were laughing at me and I had self-doubts. After all, we are all human.”

In those days he was buying stocks like Shipping Corporation of India, Bharat Electronics and several others. “I made a call on the public sector that has turned out to be good,” he says modestly.

There have been other times when he spotted good value early and also moved in the opposite direction from the herd. In 1985 he made his minuscule entry in the market by snapping up a small number of shares in Tata Tea. He had been fascinated by the markets even as a boy, and he entered full-time after passing his chartered accountancy exams (his father was an income tax officer). “I was always on my own. I lived in a joint family with no need for a regular income. Sporadic earnings were fine.”

About three or four years later, he began to rake in sizeable amounts of cash. In 1989 most market players were gloomy about Madhu Dandavate’s budget but Jhunjhunwala sensed that the Sensex might move upwards. “In 1989 others were bearish and I was bullish. I made money on that budget,” he says in a matter-of-fact fashion. Three years later, he was right once again. “In 1992 (during the Harshad Mehta boom), I made money in the rise and during the fall. I got it right both ways,” he adds.

Amazingly, he hasn’t had too many bad moments though he admits he’s made mistakes. In March 2001 around the time of the Tehelka scandal, he was bullish but the market went down. He says his biggest stockpicking error was probably NIIT, which he bought in October 2001 and sold a few months later. “I didn’t lose on it. But I judged it wrongly,” he says.

How do other players in the market view him? For a start, they keep an eagle eye on every move he makes. Usually when he buys into a share, it immediately moves upwards because others want a share of the action. “Every stock he buys sees an upsurge,” says an associate.

The fact is that most market players believe he’s scrupulously honest. “He has 100 per cent integrity,” says one market analyst. “He doesn’t play the market or create prices like other so-called investors.”

They also believe he’s in a league of his own. “He’s one of the smartest investors in the Indian market. His understanding of the broader issues that affect the market is excellent. This encompasses everything from stockpicking to buying at the right price and selling at the right price to monitoring the stock and making use of every opportunity to create wealth. Usually, people are only good at a couple of these things but he’s a blend of all these,” says a large market participant.

Then, there’s his famed bullishness about India. Outside his office are two sculptures of a bull and a bear respectively. But Jhunjhunwala is usually viewed as an optimistic bull, who has unwaveringly put his money on the Indian economic story. “This country is going through a giant change,” he says. “In a country in which 30,000 people are being born every day it doesn’t pay to be bearish. As an investor, I am always optimistic.” And, for Jhunjhunwala optimism has paid off in a spectacular way.

Playing the value game

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has always prided himself on being that rare creature on the stock market: a value investor. But what is a value investor and how is such a beast different from the other players on the market? Basically, value investing is a tough business that advocates buying stocks on the cheap. In other words, the trick is to hunt out under-priced stocks and then wait patiently for the market price to climb.

Talk about value investing and the first names that spring to mind are world-famous marketmen like Warren Buffett who is probably the most admired investor in the world today. Or, there are other slightly less famous figures like Sir John Templeton, the founder of the eponymous mutual fund company (acquired by Franklin Resources in 1992) who was the first person to practise global value investing. But the man who is regarded as the founder of value investing, and who strongly influenced even Buffett, is Benjamin Graham.

Graham advocated the “margin of safety” concept. That means any stock you buy should be worth much more than its cost. He believed in investing in low-risk, high-return stocks and disagreed with the more widely-touted risk-return theory, which states that the higher the return, the higher the risk. So how does one find such stocks? By avoiding popular stocks as they are already fully priced and also by steering away from growth stocks, which, because they are usually popular, tend to perform poorly in bad markets.

In a way, investors like Buffett and Templeton have thrived by being contrarians. For instance, Buffett stayed clear of tech stocks during the boom. And in 1939 when World War II broke out, Templeton bought $100 worth of every one of the 104 stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange that was then trading under $1 per share (37 of these companies were in bankruptcy). Three years later, he had a profit on 100 of the 104 stocks.

How can you and I get into the value investing game? It’s tough. You have to find neglected stars — the big favourites like Infosys, ITC are usually fully priced. So, the trick is to hunt out well-run, mid-sized companies that can grow steadily. And it’s getting tougher to find neglected stars.

If you do want to be a value investor, it’s necessary to pore over the balance sheets of relatively unknown companies. It will need lots of time, effort and market-savvy. Happy hunting.

Aarti Dua

The Billionaire Club

2005-09-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

The Billionaire Club
A Business Standard Publication

The Billionaire Club - December 2004 / January 2005

The other billionaires
Meet the wealthy whose wealth is not always evident

Let’s face it – it’s tough to determine how wealthy an Indian businessman is. One measure of wealth is the value of his shareholding in his companies, the yardstick The Billionaire Club uses. But a lot of individuals may not own companies but may have invested in them. They might also own one listed company and several unlisted ones or vast property or, all of these.

Examples of such people abound in the media, in the packaging and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries, in sports and the arts. Several media barons own companies that are either not listed or have a couple of listed companies and other unlisted ones. The first family of the newspaper world, the Jains of Bennett, Coleman & Company, publishers of “The Times of India” and other newspapers and magazines, falls in this category.

Bennett, Coleman earned a profit of Rs 514.38 crore for the year ended July 2004, according to data furnished by the Mumbai-based Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Bennett, Coleman is sitting on reserves of over Rs 1,800 crore, according to CMIE. So the family’s net worth would be at least Rs 8,431 crore.

Media magnate Aroon Purie, who runs news magazine “India Today” and other magazines and television company TV Today is richer now thanks to the higher market capitalisation of his company – Rs 525 crore. His net worth will be substantially higher, given his interests in his unlisted magazine business.

The promoter of the Chennai-based Sun network Kalanithi Maran is believed to be worth an estimated Rs 1,000 crore. The network has nine channels in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and other languages, and accounts for over 80 per cent of the television advertising market in the south.

Vikram Thapar runs the cash rich but unlisted Coal Sales, the Chennai-based Sivasailam and Krishnamoorthy families own the South India-based, 47-company (only two of which are listed) Amalgamations group, with Rs 2,300 crore in revenues and a net worth estimated at Rs 900 crore a few years ago. The Rs 1,300 crore, Mumbai-based closely-held ARJ Allana group with interests in meat exports is believed to have a net worth that’s close to Rs 500 crore. Then there’s the Ramesh Chauhan-led Parle group and the Chennai-based FMCG and packaging group CavinKare, owned by C K Ranganathan. It’s not clear how much both businessmen are worth.

Broker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is worth at least Rs 750 crore

Consider too broker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, known as a canny investor in companies who often takes a long-term view of their future prospects. The Mumbai-based Jhunjhunwala has stakes in a clutch of companies and banks, including Crisil, Karur Vysya Bank, Titan, Matrix, Lupin, Geometric Software Solutions, Praj Industries, BEML, Nagarjuna Construction, Bharat Electronics, Bilcare and the Industrial Development Bank of India. At today’s market prices, these and other investments that Jhunjhunwala has nurtured would easily be worth Rs 750 crore.

Look too at construction baron Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, the single largest investor in Tata Sons with a stake of over 18 per cent, who in his personal capacity sold 1.2 million Tata Consultancy Services shares worth around Rs 100 crore around the time the company was listed. The very private Mistry’s net worth was estimated conservatively at Rs 7,000 crore in 2001 and he owns a 200-horse stud farm in Pune and other property.

India’s billionaires are also to be found in sports and the entertainment industry.

Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar got a Rs 100 crore fee for product endorsements a couple of years ago and runs a restaurant in Mumbai, the former at least ensuring that his foot is firmly on the crease. Actor Amitabh Bachchan, whose net worth was estimated at Rs 170 crore three years ago, has lent his tall frame and deep voice to endorsing products ranging from paints to batteries and chocolate to chyavanprash. Endorsements alone could have earned him a packet this year. And he’s starring in more films than many younger stars.

In the arts, painter M F Husain became a billionaire this year when he was paid Rs 100 crore for a set of paintings that he will churn out over the next few years. With that deal, Hussain officially stepped into The Billionaire Club – barefeet, perhaps.

This list is by no means an exhaustive one. Several real estate tycoons like Mumbai’s Hiranandani brothers (estimated net worth: over Rs 1,000 crore) and the Rahejas (estimated net worth: over Rs 500 crore) are obviously billionaires, as could be their major counterparts in the capital. So too could the Roys who control the Sahara group.

All these men are unquestionably wealthy and can’t be overlooked.

Securing land, rights and dignity

2005-09-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

India Explained, India Empowered

Securing land, rights and dignity

PARIMAL DABHI

AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 19 Dinesh Hamir Chavda, a Dalit from Bharad village in Surendranagar district, owns 13 acres land and harvests crops worth at least Rs 2 lakh every year. But till 1998, he along with his four brothers was a daily wage labourer, working in the fields of upper caste people. The land he got under the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act, 1960, was usurped by upper caste people in his village who did not allow him to enter what used to be his field.

There are many Dalits like Chavda who were given their right to ownership of land thanks to the Ahmedabad-based organisation, Council for Social Justice and its secretary Valjibhai Patel. Patel, a Dalit, has become synonymous with the Dalit struggle in Gujarat. He has worked tirelessly to get justice through the law in a number of cases, for the empowerment of the Dalit community across the state.

Valjibhai prepared the villagers to fight against the upper castes to claim their rights, and got 138 acres of land for various Dalit farmers of Bharad after a long struggle of three years. Now the Dalits live with respect and pride alongside the upper castes.

Devjibhai Chavda, for whom Valjibhai got 4 acres of land back, says,‘‘Earlier, we were afraid of high caste people, but with the support of Valjibhai we feel empowered. He has taught us the spirit of struggle. Now, no upper caste person speaks to us in a high-handed tone. They have understood that we know the law and can land them behind bars.’’

Bharad is a village of 4,000 population, and Dalits contribute 350 people to the total population. In all, the Council for Social Justice and Valjibhai have secured 1,400 to 1,500 acres of land in 230 cases in Surendranagar district for Dalit farmers, who are now engaged in farming this land.

Apart from the possession of land, Valjibhai has effectively used the mechanism of the Public Interest Litigaton (PIL) to guard the rights and interests of Dalits and backward communities. So far, he has been directly or indirectly involved in almost 50 PILs and in a number of them the decision has been in favour of the Dalit community. Consider:

	How the CSJ works for Dalits

			• Upper caste people in the Gujarat village of Bharad usurped land from Dalit farmers • Ahmedabad-based Council for Social Justice and its secretary Valjibhai Patel got 138 acres of land for Dalit farmers of Bharad after a long struggle • The Council got possession of 1,400 to 1,500 acres of land in 230 cases in Surendranagar district for Dalit farmers • Valjibhai has effectively used the mechanism of the Public Interest Litigaton (PIL) to guard the rights and interests of Dalits and backward communities

• A Dalit girl from Moksi village of Vadodara district was allegedly raped by the nephew of an MLA in 1998. Valjibhai got a case of rape registered and sought justice for the girl. He also arranged for her rehabilitation. The girl recently married.

• CSJ had two Dalit children, who lost their parents in an accident, rehabilitated through a PIL in 1998.

• CSJ organised compensation for seven persons (including six women and mostly Dalits) who lost their vision in faulty cataract operations in 1999-2000 at a cataract removal camp.

• The High Court ordered an engineering company on the outskirts of Ahmedabad to stop the practice of manual scavenging on its premises following a petition by the safai workers of the company and CSJ in 1998.

• CSJ filed a PIL demanding the consideration of reserved category students in the open category if they qualified on merit in medical colleges in 2000. The request was upheld by the Gujarat High Court. The government issued a circular in this regard.

• In 1998 CSJ challenged the government’s resolution to take Rule No. 6 off the list of admission rules for medical and engineering courses. According to Rule 6, Socially and Economically Backward Class students get admission on reserved seats provided the difference between the marks obtained by the SEBC students and those by open category students is not more than 5 per cent.

• When the state government decided to utilise the services of non-government and voluntary organisations to monitor students appearing for their board exams in 1998, Valjibhai, anticipating harassment of minority and Dalit students by organisations like the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal, challenged the order. The government filed an affidavit to cancel the order.

• CSJ filed a PIL to exempt minority educational institutions from central admission rules in 1992. The plea was accepted.

Unlike other NGOs, CSJ does not accept financial aid from the government or from funding agencies. It functions on its own money and the service of like-minded people.

Valjibhai, who took early retirement from the ONGC says, ‘‘Basically, I’m a man of struggle and believe more in field agitation and demonstrations to secure rights. But with the changing political and social scenario it is becoming more and more tough. Being a post graduate in law, I have sought justice through the law for the last 10-12 years.’’

A 70-year-old Valjibhai says, ‘‘I will get this done before I die.’’

URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=78454

Marc Benioff vs Siebel

2005-09-19T01:55:00.000-07:00

Siebel/Salesforce.com war of words update by ZDNet's Dan Farber -- I checked in with Marc Benioff to get his response to Siebel exec Bruce Cleveland's note, which took issue with some of salesforce.com's claims about the Siebel/Oracle mating and said that Benioff was "running scared." First, Benioff told me that all the vendors will benefit from the shaking and moving in the CRM space. "Oracle, [...]

Tunnel vision as policy

2005-08-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Tunnel vision as policy

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Tunnel vision as policy

Moral of the tsunami story: self-reliance can be the perfect recipe
for self-destruction

Wiser in hindsight as always, India is now considering measures to
protect itself against the kind of natural disaster that rocked the
nation on Sunday. The tsunami brought with it the realisation that it
does not pay to be isolated from scientific collaboration on an
international scale, given the indubitable fact that had we been
linked to systems like the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, we may have
been able to save thousands of lives. Escaping a tsunami is, after
all, a fairly simple exercise which involves running away for a
kilometre or so from the shoreline when it hits. Therefore monitoring
its progress and warning vulnerable communities becomes absolutely
crucial.

But for this to happen India needs, first of all, to discard one of
its most valued mantras which has become a national ideology:
self-reliance. Self-reliance can sometimes be the perfect recipe for
self-destruction, as the recent tragedy demonstrated. We are
justifiably proud of our pool of scientific talent but if it should
result in a fortress mentality, or cause us to reject the option of
benefitting from enormous advances in the technology and methods of
weather prediction, it does not help us. Tunnel vision cannot be
policy, especially in an area like weather forecasting, where
developments taking place hundreds of kilometres away crucially
impinge on national welfare and well-being. At least twice in the last
two decades, India has been the victim of its own ignorance. In 1987,
we were clueless about the El Nino phenomenon and paid a heavy price
because we were unprepared for the unprecedented drought that
descended upon us. While the US had intimation of a major El Nino
visitation at least six months in advance, we were left staring
blankly at the cruel blue skies which signified a failed monsoon. On
Sunday, we had to learn that lesson all over again.

It is time, then, to seriously consider a tsunami alert system for the
Indian Ocean that is linked with the one that is already in operation
for the Pacific Ocean. Such systems read and put out relevant data
which monitors around the world — from undersea gauges to satellite
transmitters — pick up. Indeed the tragedy behind the present tragedy,
as this newspaper has reported, was that 26 countries were alerted
within 15 minutes of Sunday\'s disturbances on the Pacific Ocean floor
but India was not on that list. In our moment of grief and shock, let
us seize the moment and work towards instituting such a monitoring
system which will help not just India but all the nations in the
region.

Sunday, we had to learn that lesson all over again.
It is time, then, to seriously consider a tsunami alert system for the
Indian Ocean that is linked with the one that is already in operation
for the Pacific Ocean. Such systems read and put out relevant data
which monitors around the world — from undersea gauges to satellite
transmitters — pick up. Indeed the tragedy behind the present tragedy,
as this newspaper has reported, was that 26 countries were alerted
within 15 minutes of Sunday's disturbances on the Pacific Ocean floor
but India was not on that list. In our moment of grief and shock, let
us seize the moment and work towards instituting such a monitoring
system which will help not just India but all the nations in the
region.

URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=61729