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

23/04/2012

* Solar giant turns the desert green and blue in Gujarat

The Times, London: “Asia’s mightiest solar power farm has been switched on in the Indian desert state of Gujarat. It is part of a drive to transform the region into one of the world’s leading green energy producers and to provide electricity to some of the 400 million people who still have no access to it.

The Gujarat Solar Park, which spans a remote 3,000 acres near the border with Pakistan, started generating 214 megawatts of electricity, sufficient to power 90,000 British households, over the weekend. The huge array of solar panels outstrips China’s 200MW Golmud Solar Park as the biggest in Asia. An official said that eventually the facility would reach a capacity of 1,000MW (edit – equivalent to a nuclear power station), bigger than any other single existing solar power plant in the world.

India, which is heavily dependent on imported coal, oil and gas for its energy requirements, is still chronically short of electricity and is aiming to build 20,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2020.”

via Solar giant turns the desert green and blue in Gujarat | The Times.

Posted in Ecology, Good news, India alert, Infrastructure | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, environment, Gujarat, India, Solar power

19/04/2012

* Agni-V launch: India demonstrates ICBM capability; China reacts cautiously, says India not rival

Times of India: “Reacting cautiously to India’s test of Agni-V missile, China on Thursday said the two countries are not rivals and enjoy “sound” relations though the sources in the Chinese establishment feel that the launch can give rise to another round of arms race in the region.

“China has taken note of reports on India’s missile launch. The two countries have sound relationship. “During the recently held BRICS meeting in Delhi the leadership had consensus to take the relationship further and to push forward bilateral strategic cooperative partnership,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a media briefing in Beijing when asked about the launch.

In Delhi, the diplomatic sources in the Chinese embassy said the “Agni-V launch can give rise to another round of arms race in this part of the world. “They were also critical of the media commentary on the successful launch of the nuclear capable 5000 km-range Agni-V missile, saying it sounded provocative. Asked whether China was concerned as most of the country would come under the Agnis range, Liu said in Beijing that “both the countries are emerging powers. We are not rivals. We are cooperative partners. We should cherish the hard earned momentum of cooperation.”

via Agni-V launch: India demonstrates ICBM capability; China reacts cautiously, says India not rival – The Times of India.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Defence, Diplomacy, GeoPolitics, India alert, Military | 1 Comment »

Tags: Agni-V, Beijing, BRICS, China, Delhi, India, Intercontinental ballistic missile, missile launch, politics

18/04/2012

* India to test fire long-range missile

BBC News: “India is due to test fire a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The locally-developed Agni-V missile has a range of more than 5,000km 3,100 miles and is expected to be launched in the eastern state of Orissa.

Visual description of the approximate range of the (Indian) Agni ballistic missile series. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Analysts say the Agni meaning “fire” in Hindi and Sanskrit missile family is to be the cornerstone of Indias missile-based nuclear deterrent. The missiles are among India’s most sophisticated weapons. In 2010, India successfully test-fired Agni-II, an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range of more than 2,000km 1,250 miles.

Defence analyst Rahul Bedi says the successful test flight of the Agni-V missile, which is capable of delivering a single 1.5-ton warhead deep inside nuclear rival China’s territory, will strengthen India’s nuclear deterrence once it comes into service by 2014-15. It is 17.5m-tall, solid-fuelled, has three stages and a launch weight of 50 tons. It has cost more than 2.5bn rupees $480m; £307m to develop.

Only China, Russia, France, the US, and Great Britain have such long-range missiles. Israel is thought to possess them.”

via BBC News – India to test fire long-range missile.

Let’s hope this doesn’t start a military space race between India and China. Both countries must surely haev better things to invest their money in than nuclear missiles!

North Korea Isn’t The Only Country Testing Long Distance Missiles (businessinsider.com)
Agni V – The Project which will be revolutionary missile weapon (buildingthegateways.wordpress.com)

Posted in Chindia Alert, Defence, GeoPolitics, India alert, Military | 2 Comments »

Tags: Agni, Agni-II, Agni-V, China, Chindia, Chindiapedia, India, Missile, politics, Sanskrit

18/04/2012

* Who’s Returning to India and Why?

WSJ: “A recent front page article in the New York Times documented the migration of second generation Americans back to their ancestral countries, including India, China, Brazil and Russia.

India’s faltering growth may be disappointing, but it’s still much more rapid than the continued stagnation of the U.S. economy. In certain fields, at least there are still opportunities to be seized in India by those with a taste for adventure.

Labor economists call this kind of migration the “reverse brain drain.” Ironically, the migrants are often the kids or sometimes grandkids of the original “brain drain,” skilled workers and professionals who left India and other developing countries in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s to seek opportunities in the booming U.S. economy.

In fact, a more accurate term for the highly mobile skilled workers of today, favored by labor economists, is “brain circulation.” These people are agile and will seek out opportunities wherever they exist. So if things don’t work out in India, they might return to the U.S. or try their luck somewhere else.”

via Economics Journal: Who’s Returning to India and Why? – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Chindia, Chindiapedia, economy, India, Reverse brain drain, United State

14/04/2012

* Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khans detention: US apologises, India talks tough

Cover of My Name Is Khan

Times of India: “The US customs and border protection authorities have expressed “profound” apologies for the Shah Rukh Khan detention incident. However, taking the incident seriously, external affairs minister SM Krishna has asked the Indian ambassador to US, Nirupama Rao, to take up the matter with the authorities. Reacting strongly to the detention, Krishna said it has become a policy of detention and apology by the US which cannot continue.

Earlier, Shah Rukh Khan was detained at a New York airport for over two hours by immigration officials after arriving from India in a private plane with Nita Ambani, to address students at Yale University here. While Nita, wife of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, and the rest of their group were cleared immediately, Khan was stopped and was given immigration clearance only after about two hours, sources told PTI. 46-year-old Khan was to address a press conference at 2pm and deliver his lecture at 4pm at the Yale University. However, he arrived for the press meet three hours behind schedule and his hour-long lecture started at about 6pm.

“Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kicked the star out of stardom,” Khan said with some sarcasm addressing the students at the University. He added that he always has his “small victories” even in such circumstances. “The immigration officials always ask me how tall I am and I always lie and say 5 feet 10 inches. Next time I am going to get more adventurous. If they ask me What colour are you, I am going to say white,” Khan said.”

via Shah Rukh Khans detention: US apologises, India talks tough – The Times of India.

Life imitates art. Shah Rukh Khan starred in a film called “My name is Khan” – which was subtitled and I’m not a terrorist – is mainly about him being stopped at US airports after the 911 Twin Towers terrorist action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_Is_Khan – “Upon its release, the film broke many box office records.^[9] My Name is Khan was the highest-grossing Bollywood film overseas at the time. Within four weeks, the film crossed the 70 crore (US$13.97 million) mark in India and became the first film of 2010 to do so. In the overseas markets, the film grossed 110.34 crore (US$22.01 million).^[10] My Name is Khan is currently the sixth highest grossing Bollywood film with a worldwide gross of 200 crores.^[11] The film was released in India on DVD on 28 April 2010. Blu-ray in India, plus a DVD release worldwide followed on 10 August 2010.^[12]“

Posted in China alert, GeoPolitics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: celebrities, Chindia, Chindiapedia, India, media, My Name Is Khan, politics, Shah Rukh Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Yale University

06/04/2012

* Indian jewellers meet Sonia, demand duty roll back

The Hindu: “Agitating jewellers and bullion traders on Friday called on Congress president Sonia Gandhito press for their demand for

removal of excise duty on unbranded jewellery. “We today met Sonia Gandhi and requested her to tell the government to roll back excise duty on unbranded jewellery, reduce customs duty and lower TDS on sale of jewellery,” All India Swarankar Sangh President Madhukar Chachad told reporters after the meeting. Ms. Gandhi, he said, “has assured us that she will forward our demands to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for further action”.

Ahead of the meeting of jewellers with Ms. Gandhi, the Congress had asked the government to look into the demands of jewellers, who have been agitating for more than a fortnight. “Congress has asked the government to consider the demand of jewellers sympathetically,” AICC General Secretary and media department chief Janardhan Dwivedi said. Bullion traders and jewellers are protesting since the presentation of the Budget which had imposed excise duty on unbranded jewellery, raised customs duty on gold and proposed TDS requirement on sale of on sale of jewellery.”

via The Hindu : News / National : Jewellers meet Sonia, demand duty roll back.

The purpose of the excise duty is to try and divert Indians from investing in ‘economically inactive’ gold into ‘proactive investiments’ such as stocks and shares or even property. If this works, India will stop being the world’s number 1 importer of gold and China will become number 1.

Posted in China alert, Economics, India alert, Investment in tangibles | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Chindia, Chindiapedia, Congress, Excise, India, jewellery, Pranab Mukherjee, Sonia Gandhi

03/04/2012

# Does a country’s national games mimic its mindset?

Chess Set (Shatranj in Iranian), glazed fritware, 12th century. New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have a hypothesis that a country’s mindset mimics its national sports and games.

For instance, the Chinese and Japanese are keen on chess and Go. These are games of strategy and take a long-term view. Indians say they invented chess. In any case they do play it well. Perhaps not as good as the Russians. Wonder why the Russians lost the ‘cold war’?

The British play soccer – a very dynamic game, but also cricket which is one of strategy and patience. These games may explain the divergent behaviour of the British – colonial conqueror and commonwealth sustainer?

Americans love their football and baseball. Both are what I call start and stop games. You play a set of tactics and then regroup. I wonder if that explains the lack of clear success in wars like Iraq and Afghanistan?

The Middle East used to play a game from which polo was derived. Their game involved riding on horses and trying to capture and throw the head of a goat (or in medieval times, the head of a defeated enemy) into the opponents’ goal. Individual courage and devil-may-care ruled the tactics. Perhaps that means the West will never ‘win’ in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Don’t forget that Iran has both Middle East roots and also claim to have invented chess. The term ‘check mate’ comes from ‘shah mat‘ meaning the king is dead in Farsi.

What do you think of my hypothesis? What are India’s national games? Kabaddi? Hockey? Cricket? How do these explain the Indian mindset?

Tags: Afghanistan, Checkmate, Chess, Chindia, Chindiapedia, India, Iraq, Kabaddi, middle-east, mindset, Russians, Strategy game, United States

02/04/2012

* Trade Groups: Foreign Firms Giving Up on India

Wall Street Journal: “A group of international trade and industry associations claiming to represent some 250,000 companies have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly criticizing the proposal, tucked away in the budget, to tax transactions potentially as far back as 1962.

“This is now prompting a widespread reconsideration of the costs and benefits of investing in India,” the letter said, adding that confidence in doing business here has been undermined. Hello China, Brazil, and Indonesia in other words.

The controversial proposal, which would impose tax on the exchange of an Indian asset by two companies outside India, already has sparked howls of protest among foreign companies. It would reverse a recent Supreme Court ruling on the issue in favor of Vodafone Group PLC of the U.K. and be retroactive in its impact. It would potentially affect hundreds of corporate acquisitions. Many foreign companies say they now feel singled out for financial punishment as the government seeks to narrow its troublingly high fiscal deficit.”

via Trade Groups: Foreign Firms Giving Up on India – India Real Time – WSJ.

It seems that India has acquired the habit of shooting itself in the foot now and then. This is one of these occasions.

India Foreign Trade Data (February 2012) (awardz.wordpress.com)

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Chindia, Chindiapedia, India, manmohan singh, Supreme Court, WSJ

30/03/2012

* More Chinese investments in India soon

Times of India: “China has committed to facilitating Indian exports into Chinese markets to address the yawning trade imbalance between the two countries. Chinese president Hu Jintao said this to Manmohan Singh in his hour-long meeting with the PM at the end of the BRICS summit on Thursday. This will be Hu’s last summit as Chinese president.

In return, the PM invited Chinese investment in manufacturing and infrastructure projects in India. Chinese companies are kept out of several strategic sectors, but there is a significant change in the Indian government’s approach to Chinese investment.

With the two leaders kicking off a year of friendship celebrations, the overwhelming sense from the meeting was that the two nations are determined to get along, despite many difficulties and differences of outlook. Singh and Hu announced “expanded” foreign office consultations, and launched three new dialogues with China – on West Asia, Central Asia and Africa. India and China pursue markedly different policies in Africa, though with the same stated aims.”

via More Chinese investments in India soon – The Times of India.

In the 50s, PM Nehru and PM Chou met and agreed Panchsheel, the five principles of peaceful coexistence. The press coined a phrase Hindi Chini bhai bhai, meaning Indians and Chinese are brothers. It looked like the slogan was reflecting reality until in the late summer of 1962, due to the long-standing border dispute (legacy of British Raj) Chinese tanks rolled over the Himalyas and reached the oil fields of Assam in the East and also in Ladakh in the west. Since then matters have thawed. BRIC (and now BRICS) was invented. This news release is good news, at least for India and China.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Diplomacy, Economics, GeoPolitics, Good news, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: British Raj, China, Hu Jintao, India, manmohan singh

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

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

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