CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

18/12/2014

India’s tech opportunity: Transforming work, empowering people | McKinsey & Company

Millions of Indians hope for a better future, with well-paying jobs and a decent standard of living. To meet these aspirations, the country needs broad-based economic growth and more effective public services. Technology can play an important role in enabling the growth India needs. The spread of digital technologies, as well as advances in energy and genomics, can raise the productivity of business and agriculture, redefine how services such as healthcare and education are delivered, and contribute to higher living standards for millions of Indians by raising education levels and improving healthcare outcomes.

India’s tech opportunity: Transforming work, empowering people

Empowering technologies in India

McKinsey’s Noshir Kaka and Anu Madgavkar discuss how India could transform its economy by employing 12 technologies.

A dozen empowering technologies

A new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report identifies a dozen technologies, ranging from the mobile Internet to cloud computing to advanced genomics, which could have a combined economic impact of $550 billion to $1 trillion a year in 2025. The selection of the 12 technologies for India was based on a similar process established by MGI’s earlier work on disruptive technologies.1 For India, we used additional criteria to identify the technologies that would have a direct impact on the country’s economic and social challenges in the coming decade. As a result, we include technologies such as electronic payments, which are well established in other parts of the world but not well developed in India. By 2025, however, electronic payments could help 300 million Indians join the country’s financial system.

We group the 12 technologies into three areas: digitizing life and work, smart physical systems, and energy technologies:

digitizing life and work—the mobile Internet, the cloud, the automation of knowledge work, digital payments, and verifiable digital identity

smart physical systems—the Internet of Things, intelligent transportation and distribution systems, advanced geographic information systems (GIS), and next-generation genomics

energy—unconventional oil and gas (horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing), renewable energy, and advanced energy storage

Each of these technologies has the potential for rapid adoption in India between now and 2025 (exhibit) …

via India’s tech opportunity: Transforming work, empowering people | McKinsey & Company.

Posted in Economics, India alert, Technology | 1 Comment »

Tags: adoption in India, africa, Backup, Business, Cisco Systems, Cloud computing, Cloud storage, Computing, Computing platform, Data breach, Data center, India, technologies

16/12/2014

India’s Senseless Ban on Uber: Rape Is the Real Problem – Businessweek

The alleged rape of an Uber passenger by her driver in New Delhi on Friday and his arrest over the weekend is another sad chapter in India’s ongoing battle with violence against women. While official statistics suggest the country witnessed 25,000 rapes in 2012, survey evidence suggests numbers perhaps 10 times as high.

The government’s response to the incident was to immediately ban Uber operations in Delhi. Alhough this might offer a welcome sign of political commitment to tackle violence, it doesn’t make sense. The police in India have been accused of multiple rapes, and tourists have been raped on a train and in a traditional Delhi taxi this year; the government has not shut down the police force, the railways, and traditional taxi services. It has singled out Uber, perhaps more because it is a high-profile, politically weak service than because of any risks riders may face.

In fact, there are good reasons to think Uber can provide a safer experience than India’s traditional transportation options do. Unlike the vast majority of rape cases in the country, the alleged perpetrator in the Uber case was arrested within hours of the incident. That’s not a surprise: Uber’s procedures guaranteed that there was considerable information available on the suspect. The company provided police with the name, age, and photo of the driver, along with his bank verified address, car details, and trip and route data. That’s a much higher level of knowledge than passengers have when they hail a cab off the street.

via India’s Senseless Ban on Uber: Rape Is the Real Problem – Businessweek.

Posted in India alert, rape, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Arrest, Background check, Delhi, India, Law enforcement in India, New Delhi, Rape, Taxicab, Uber, Uber (company), Uber driver accused, Violence against women

16/12/2014

Logistics Hold India’s E-Commerce Companies Back – Businessweek

Laxminarayan Krishnamurthy figured a Samsung (005930:KS) Galaxy Core 2 smartphone would make a perfect gift for his wife. So he ordered one from New Delhi-based e-retailer Snapdeal.com. When the package arrived, it contained a brick and a bar of soap but no phone. When he contacted the company, Krishnamurthy was told the phone was stolen by unscrupulous middlemen transporting the package. So he took his complaints to Facebook (FB).

Logistics Are Holding India’s E-Commerce Companies Back

“Had ordered a samsung mobile through snapdeal and we got a soap bar!!!” Krishnamurthy wrote. “The worst customer service ever received!!! Beware of snapdeal guys!!”

Anjana Swaminathan, a Snapdeal spokeswoman, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

via Logistics Hold India’s E-Commerce Companies Back – Businessweek.

Posted in eCommerce, Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Amazon.com, E-commerce in India, Flipkart, India, Intel Core 2, Internet and Mobile Association of India, Krishnamurthy, Laxminarayan Krishnamurthy, LED-backlit LCD display, National bank, New Delhi, perfect gift, samsung mobile, Snapdeal

16/12/2014

China Wants its Nuclear Reactors ‘Made in China’ – China Real Time Report – WSJ

When a unit of North Carolina’s Curtiss-Wright Corp. won a roughly $300 million deal in 2007 to supply components for new reactors in China, industry officials trumpeted China’s nuclear boom as good for U.S. business.

Today, Chinese companies are competing for that business—and foreign companies risk getting left out. Meanwhile, Curtiss-Wright’s contract is caught up in a legal dispute, while Chinese authorities blame the company in part for the delay of a landmark nuclear project. As the WSJ’s Brian Spegele reports:

U.S. and other foreign companies are now struggling to keep their hold in China, the industry’s biggest growth market and a rare bright spot more than three years after the Fukushima disaster in Japan put many of the world’s nuclear projects on hold. Yet China is increasingly turning to local companies to build crucial parts for multibillion-dollar nuclear projects, a result of Chinese industrial nationalism and frustration over U.S. supplier problems.

With the global nuclear industry focused on China, the Chinese government has used the heft of its huge market to secure transfers of key technology and gradually localize production. In the process, China is achieving a political aim to source sensitive manufacturing at home and satisfying a practical need to avoid complications posed by faraway suppliers.

One of those supplier issues has surfaced in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, where Pennsylvania’s Westinghouse Electric Co. is building the first of four of its most advanced, commercially available reactor, the AP1000, in China. Local authorities blame two-year delays in part on quality problems related to Curtiss-Wright. In a written statement, Curtiss-Wright said it has “refined and improved our design processes” as a result.

…

Still, despite the challenges, opportunities remain for international providers, said Rosemary Yeremian, president of Strategic Insights Inc., a Toronto-based consultancy. China is new to the global nuclear stage, and partnerships bring quality and other assurances, she said.

via China Wants its Nuclear Reactors ‘Made in China’ – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, nuclear energy | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Avian influenza, Beijing, Bologna, Cape Town, Changxing County, China, Zhejiang

16/12/2014

China jails businesswoman in railway graft case for 20 years | Reuters

A court in China sentenced a well-known businesswoman to 20 years in jail for corruption on Tuesday, saying the woman with ties to a disgraced former railways minister was guilty of bribery and illegally running a business.

Ding Yuxin, also known as Ding Shumiao, helped 23 businesses win railway construction contracts and funnelled 49 million yuan (£5 million) worth of kickbacks to former railways minister Liu Zhijun, state media has previously reported.

She also “offered sexual favours to Liu by arranging an unidentified number of women for him”, the official China Daily reported last year.

In a brief statement on its microblog, a Beijing court said the evidence in the case against her was clear, ordering she also pay a fine of 2.5 billion yuan and have assets worth 20 million yuan confiscated.

It gave no other details.

via China jails businesswoman in railway graft case for 20 years | Reuters.

Former top planning official jailed for life in China over graft | Reuters

Posted in China alert, corruption, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Acceptable use policy, Beijing, China, Chinese yuan, communist party of china, Liu, Liu Zhijun, Xi JinPing

15/12/2014

China Breaks India Monopoly on Nepal Economy as Investment Grows – Businessweek

In the dusty outskirts of Kathmandu, south of the Himalayan mountain range that holds the world’s highest peaks, Chinese engineers in orange hard hats oversee construction of Nepal’s first eight-lane highway.

Highway Construction

The $45 million upgrade of a road circling the Nepalese capital is one of dozens of projects helping China challenge India’s dominance in a country that is sandwiched between them. Until recently, the Himalayas served as a natural barrier that prompted Nepal to trade more across its flat border with India.

“China is growing in importance,” Ram Sharan Mahat, Nepal’s Finance Minister, said in a Dec. 4 interview in Kathmandu. “Because of new trade horizons and the cheap pricing of Chinese goods, Chinese trade vis-a-vis Nepal is growing.”

via China Breaks India Monopoly on Nepal Economy as Investment Grows – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Economics, GeoPolitics, India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Arun River, China, China Breaks India Monopoly, China-Nepal, Himalayan mountain range, Himalayas, India, Kathmandu, Narendra Modi, Nathpa Jhakri Dam, Nepal, Ram Sharan Mahat, South Asia, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

15/12/2014

This Is What India’s Radio Cabs Are Doing to Make Women Safer – India Real Time – WSJ

Indian authorities and radio taxi operators in the national capital have stepped up security measures to ensure passenger safety in the aftermath of an alleged rape of a female passenger by a driver contracted to the international car booking service Uber Technologies.

Transport authorities in New Delhi have ordered radio fleet taxi companies and web-based operators to submit database of their drivers whose credentials need to be checked and have asked them to come up with a revised safety plan to be put in place by early next year, a Delhi police official, who did not wish to be named said Monday.

“A list of around 20,000 drivers has been submitted so far out of which the background details of more than 10,000 still need to be verified,” he said.

Last week, Delhi’s transport department barred Uber from operating its ride-hailing system in the national capital until it got the proper licenses. Uber on Thursday said it would suspend its service in the capital while it reviewed its screening processes. The department had stated that only six registered radio taxi companies would now be allowed to continue operating in New Delhi.

The cab operators in New Delhi, for their part, said they have certain safety rules in mind that they would submit by Dec. 31 to the transport department.

via This Is What India’s Radio Cabs Are Doing to Make Women Safer – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in Affluence, Economics, India alert, rape | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Aeronáutica Industrial S.A., Background check, Capital city, Delhi, Financial institution, Government of Delhi, India, national capital, New Delhi, radio taxi operators, Rape, taxi companies, Uber, Uber (company), Uber Technologies

15/12/2014

The Chinese Military’s Response to Unannounced Drones: Blow ‘Em Out of the Sky – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Earlier this year, a court in suburban Beijing said it was preparing to try employees of a Chinese drone company on charges of “negligently endangering public safety” after an unmanned aircraft disrupted commercial flights and led the air force to scramble helicopters in response.

The drone flight in question happened on Dec. 29, 2013, in the eastern Beijing suburb of Pinggu. Operated by employees of Beijing UAV Sci-Tech Co., the drone forced several commercial flights to alter their flight paths and caused others to be delayed. According to reports in October, the People’s Liberation Army dispatched helicopters to force the drone down.

In Sunday’s report, the People’s Liberation Army Daily said the drone was in fact shot out of the air.

The shooting came after an unidentified object showed up on military radar, according to the report. Air force commanders ordered several regiments to prepare for battle and dispatched six ground teams to the area where the object was detected. Minutes later, the air force identified the object as a small aircraft and immediately notified the Beijing Military Area Command, as well as the public security bureaus in Beijing and neighboring Hebei province.

A military helicopter was dispatched to investigate further. “The drone continued to ignore warnings and fly in the direction of Beijing Capital Airport,” the newspaper said. “The Beijing Air Force commander made a firm decision: Avoid densely populated areas and use a shotgun to bring the target down.” (It wasn’t clear from the report what sort of weapon that would be, leaving China Real Time to wonder whether they used a shotgun-like weapon attached to the helicopter or whether a crewmember popped off a 12 gauge through an open window.)

After the helicopter opened fire, the drone fell. As the helicopter descended to check on the drone, it discovered the three operators next to a car. The trio and their car were immediately taken into custody, the newspaper said.

via The Chinese Military’s Response to Unannounced Drones: Blow ‘Em Out of the Sky – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing Capital Airport, Beijing, Beijing Military Area Command, Beijing UAV Sci-Tech Co., children, China, commercial flights, Death, Hebei, Mandarin Chinese, military helicopter, People's Liberation Army, Sichuan, Yongqing County

15/12/2014

About 300 Chinese said fighting alongside Islamic State in Middle East | Reuters

About 300 Chinese people are fighting alongside the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Monday, a rare tally that is likely to fuel worry in China that militants pose a threat to security.

China has expressed concern about the rise of Islamic State in the Middle East, nervous about the effect it could have on its Xinjiang region. But it has also shown no sign of wanting to join U.S. efforts to use military force against the group.

Chinese members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) are traveling to Syria via Turkey to join the Islamic State, also known as IS, the Global Times, a tabloid run by China’s ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, said.

“According to information from various sources, including security officers from Iraq’s Kurdish region, Syria and Lebanon, around 300 Chinese extremists are fighting with IS in Iraq and Syria,” the Global Times reported.

via About 300 Chinese said fighting alongside Islamic State in Middle East | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Dissident, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Chinese people, Durand Line, East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Islamic state, middle-east, People's Daily, Syria, Uyghur people, Xinjiang

14/12/2014

After Swacch Bharat, Modi wants ‘drug-free India’ – The Hindu

Voicing concern over the “devastating” drug addiction menace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said society as well as the government will have to work together to fight this problem and that a helpline would be set up soon to assist those seeking solutions.

In his third Mann Ki Baat programme on radio, he said the menace is a “national pain” but instead of the youth mired in the problem, drugs should be shunned.

He said drug addiction is “a malaise filled 3D — darkness, destruction and devastation — as it leads to the dark alleys of destruction and devastation“.

The Prime Minister said a thinking process should begin to ensure that the country is rid of this problem and added that he will try to involve celebrities from the cine world, sports and other fields to campaign for a “drug-free India”.

via After Swacch Bharat, Modi wants ‘drug-free India’ – The Hindu.

Posted in drug addiction, India alert, Social & cultural | 1 Comment »

Tags: DD Bharati, drug addiction, India, Narendra Modi, New Delhi, OPEN Forum, Prime minister, Substance dependence

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon