Jairam will do well to mind his business

The New Indian ExpressFirst Published : 25 May 2011 11:33:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 26 May 2011 12:41:33 AM IST

Jairam Ramesh is known as much for his carefully coiffed hair as for his penchant for becoming involved in controversies. Last year, he was asked to hold his tongue after having criticised — and that, too, on foreign soil — the home ministry’s “alarmist” outlook towards China. More recently, he conceded that he had been under pressure to overlook environmental norms — his special charge — for the sake of major industrial projects. Now, his unwarranted potshots at the IITs and the IIMs have drawn flak from the institutions as well as his own colleagues while his party has chosen to look the other way.


His contention, however, that the IITs and IIMs are world class because of the students and not the teachers is not as logical as it should have been. For the students to attain a certain intellectual level, they need inspiration and academic guidance from the faculty. To describe the latter, therefore, as virtually useless because of the paucity of research papers is to overstate the case. Not surprisingly, the remarks have been called “unfortunate” by the science and technology minister, Ashwini Kumar, while the HRD minister, Kapil Sibal, has only conceded that no Indian educational institution is ranked very high globally without specifically endorsing Ramesh’s statement.

Ashwini Kumar’s comment, however, that he was “better equipped” to speak on the subject and that he did not approve of “decrying the IITs and IIMs lock, stock and barrel” underlined the point that Ramesh should have stuck to his own portfolio instead of trespassing into the fields of others, as he did both about the home ministry’s policies on China and the national highways authority’s inadequate re-forestation efforts, which was construed as a dig at the surface transport minister, Kamal Nath.

As a recipient of the distinguished alumnus award from IIT, Mumbai, Ramesh can claim to have the right to speak about his alma mater, but only as a private citizen. As a minister, he should observe greater restraint lest such off-the-cuff remarks and the consequent irritated responses show the government to be speaking in many voices

Krittika is a victim of US racial outlook

The New Indian ExpressFirst Published : 26 May 2011 10:56:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 27 May 2011 12:55:26 AM IST

The recent wrongful arrest of Krittika Biswas in New York has raised a whole lot of questions. Daughter of a diplomat at the Indian Consulate at Manhattan, she was arrested for “sending obscene e-mails to her teacher”. She underwent physical and mental torture for no fault of hers, as it was established that the e-mails in question were sent by a Chinese student. That she was promptly released does not mitigate the harassment she had to undergo. It will take a long time for her to get over the shock. Biswas is well within her rights to sue the New York city police for the cruelty meted out to her.


Even if the charge against her constituted an offence that warranted police intervention — ideally, it should have been handled by the school authorities themselves — the police should have given due consideration to the fact that she was a diplomat’s daughter. Their argument that diplomatic immunity was available only to the embassy staff, and not to the consulate staff, is unacceptable. In that case, the US consulates in Chennai and Kolkata, for instance, won’t be able to claim such a status. What’s worse, they did not even show the courtesy of informing her parents while taking her away to the police station.

It’s obvious the police had no prima facie evidence against her. It is not the first time that Indian diplomats have suffered at the hands of various wings of the US administration, the pat-down received by Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar in Mississippi being a case in point. If anything, this smacks of racial prejudice against the brown people. The policemen who thoughtlessly arrested a young girl on a baseless charge need to be taken to task, which is possible only if the Government of India takes up her case in right earnest

Govt should'nt act as broker for industry

The New Indian ExpressFirst Published : 26 May 2011 10:52:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 27 May 2011 12:54:46 AM IST

It was as if the government was waiting for Mamata Banerjee to resign from the Union Cabinet before pressing the accelerator on its land acquisition initiatives. Such a view will seem credible since the latest proposals penned by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council are exactly what the former railway minister had opposed during the Singur and Nandigram agitations. Her point then was that the West Bengal government was using the 1894 law to grab land for the corporate sector. Now, the NAC has done exactly that by suggesting that the government should acquire all the land even if its purpose was to serve the private industry.


In a society where land is valued more than life, this is bound to create more problems. The argument that the government acquisition will stop private entrepreneurs from cheating innocent villagers is untenable as the government has enough powers to prevent this. Instead of using law to deprive farmers, the government should let the private sector buy all the land it needs directly from the farmers at the market prices and on their conditions. At best, it can acquire 10 per cent of the land for development of infrastructure after the entrepreneurs have bought 90 per cent from farmers without using coercion or deceit.

The other suggestion about moving ahead with the acquisition if 75 per cent of the landowners agreed is problematic as it ignores a ground reality that many rural communities are not homogeneous groups, but societies splintered based on caste and creed and skewed power relationships. An artificial attempt to forge consensus in these communities could lead to social strife and even violent clashes. As Union minister for rural development Vilasrao Deshmukh has himself pointed out, NAC’s suggestion to club the compensation and rehabilitation packages under one law is impractical, because displacement-related rehabilitation is required in other circumstances such as natural calamities also. The fact that the Sonia-led NAC and the ministers of the Manmohan Singh government speak in many voices on such an important policy issue only underlines the complexities of two power centres in the process of governance

Enforce International Air Safety standards

The New Indian ExpressFirst Published : 27 May 2011 10:24:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 28 May 2011 12:30:48 AM IST

Thursday’s air crash near Delhi which claimed 10 lives, might have been averted if a number of precautionary measures were taken. First was the need to warn the air ambulance coming from Patna about the deteriorating weather conditions in Delhi. Considering that even Boeings coming from the east found it difficult to stick to their flight path because of the high winds, the tiny nine-seater had no chance of survival unless its flight path was diverted. Although the meteorological department did issue a warning late in the evening, it wasn’t in time for the single-engine turboprop and its ill-fated passengers.


It is only now that the civil aviation ministry has called for equipping all small planes with black boxes and making it mandatory for all medical flights to be in two-engine planes. For the present, the absence of a cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder in the crashed plane means that the real causes of the crash will never be known. All that can be surmised is that the aircraft was being badly tossed around by the gusty winds, considering that the pilot reported bad weather when the plane had virtually stalled and was then found ascending to 14,000 feet even after being told to descend to 11,000 feet.

The belated, knee-jerk reaction of the aviation authorities has underlined yet again their lackadaisical approach to safety regulations. Such laxness is all the more regrettable considering that April and May have been fatal months for air travel with 37 people having died in the period. They include the former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister, Dorji Khandu, and 18 tourists who were travelling in a helicopter in the northeast. Given the increasing popularity of air travel even by the middle classes and the rise in air traffic, the urgency of bringing the safety regulations to international standards is obvious. But, as the scandal of fake pilots showed, the ministry and the DGCA have been unable to get their acts together

Set timeframe for presidential pardon

The New Indian ExpressFirst Published : 27 May 2011 10:25:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 28 May 2011 12:31:45 AM IST

Nobody questions the President of India on the grounds on which she accepts or rejects a mercy petition. Pratibha Patil would have had the right reasons to reject the mercy petitions of a Khalistani militant and a murderer from Assam. The rejection became newsworthy as it was the first time since 2004 that the president rejected such a petition. What is most distressing is that the decision came only after one of the condemned prisoners approached the apex court seeking an end to the uncertainty on his petition. In both cases the petitions have been pending with the president for several years.


Though the president alone has the power of pardon, her decision is based on the advice given by the Union home ministry which, in turn, draws upon a report from the state, where the incident occurred. It would be improper to say that the president is just a cog in the wheel of the bureaucratic process, though it won’t be all that untruthful. While the Constitution invests the president with this power, it has not set any timeframe for a decision. It’s this lacuna in the system that has allowed bureaucrats to sit almost interminably on mercy petitions, while the petitioners rot in the jails.

As long as all those on the death row are entitled to plead for mercy, there will be no shortage of such petitions. This is all the more reason that a reasonable period is set for deciding such petitions, given the fact that it is an injustice to keep their fate hanging. Criminologists are one in admitting that certainty of punishment is the best deterrent against crime. Yet, the mercy petitions of, say, Afzal Guru, who attacked Parliament in 2001, and Ajmal Kasab, one of the perpetrators of 26/11, have been pending with the president for no rhyme or reason

BSNL may court private equity funds for tower unit

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bsnl-may-court-private-equity-funds-for-tower-unit/436605/


Mansi Taneja / New Delhi May 24, 2011, 0:35 IST

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is planning to rope in private equity investors, including telecom companies, to pick up stake in a new company that will be floated by hiving off the state-run telecom major’s towers.

This is the first time that BSNL is looking for private sector investment. It has over 40,000 towers across the country, which, based on previous deals, are valued at around Rs 16,000- Rs 20,000 crore.

In the last few months, most tower company acquisitions have been undertaken at an average value of Rs 50 lakh per tower. Since BSNL towers are exclusively used by the company, they may fetch a lower value. The company is in talks with other telecom players to rent out this capacity.

“We are considering to hive off our towers into a separate company. This will enable us to unlock the true value of towers. Subsequently, we may look at inducting private equity investors, including telecom companies,” a senior BSNL official told Business Standard on the condition of anonymity. He did not say what percentage of the equity would be divested.

If permitted by the company’s board, BSNL will have to seek government’s approval to go in for private equity.

“The move, if implemented, will become an additional source of revenue for the company in these difficult times,” the official added.

Spinning out the tower business into a separate entity and then getting in investors has been a common strategy for most Indian telecom players. Bharti, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have spun off their towers into a common company called Indus Towers, which has over 100,000 towers. Tatas have also tied up with independent tower company Quippo to set up a joint venture to manage their towers.

Last year, Reliance Communications had started talks with GTL Infrastructure to sell its tower unit. The deal was valued at Rs 50,000 crore but was later called off, reportedly over the issue of high valuation. At that time, Reliance had about 50,000 towers while GTL had about 30,000 towers. Reliance, subsequently, engaged in discussions with financial investors for its tower unit.

BSNL has the advantage of having towers in remote areas, which can be used by other companies to expand.

A committee under Sam Pitroda, set up to find ways for revival of BSNL, had also suggested that it create a separate subsidiary for towers and all related infrastructure to monetise the assets.

Increased competition and dipping rates have taken a toll on the PSU, which was once among the top three players in the mobile industry. For the first time since its inception in 2000, BSNL posted a loss of Rs 1,823 crore in 2009-10.

'We will go for acquisitions for strategic reasons'

Q&A: Vineet Nayyar, Chairman, Mahindra Satyam

'We will go for acquisitions for strategic reasons'
K Rajani Kanth / May 24, 2011, 0:33 IST



In just two years after taking over Mahindra Satyam (the brand identity of Hyderabad-based information technology outsourcing company Satyam Computer Services), its parent company Tech Mahindra is looking at inorganic growth to take Satyam, which it had nursed back to health, to do a marathon. Mahindra Satyam Chairman Vineet Nayyar shares with K Rajani Kanth the company's mergers and acquisitions strategy, investment plans and new verticals that show promise for the future. Edited excerpts:

How has 2010-11 been?
I think it has been a good year. We had indicated earlier that the company was almost mortally wounded when we took it over. Like any other patient, it was in the ICU for a while. I do believe that phase is over and (the patient) is now convalescing.


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In the beginning of the year, our Ebitda (earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was four per cent. It went up to six per cent and has now gone up to 13 per cent. We are satisfied with the pace and the growth in the company. We are also putting up new buildings and structures in Hyderabad for our new employees for new projects which are coming in. So, by and large, the progress is satisfactory. My personal feeling is that the performance is much better than I expected.

What is the investment that is being infused into creating new infrastructure?
Capital expenditure for our Hyderabad and Chennai campuses is between Rs 300 crore and Rs 400 crore. In our Hyderabad SEZ, spread across 26 acres with a built-up area of 400,000 sq ft, the first tower has come up and 4,000 associates have already moved in. We have started working on the next tower too, which will accommodate another 4,000 employees. We are building a large campus in Chennai and expect the Phase-I to be inaugurated in a few months. Ultimately, we will put in about 8,000 employees in Chennai. But, to begin with, there will be 3,000 to 4,000. In addition, we are thinking of putting up two towers in Visakhapatnam. The planning is done and work will start shortly.

Mahindra Satyam has Rs 2,753 crore cash and bank balances as on March 31, 2011. How are you planning to utilise it? Are you looking at acquisitions?
It's our careful husbanding that has kept this money available to us. If an opportunity presents itself, we are always looking for acquisition deals. But we do acquisitions not for purely growing the company but for strategic reasons. To get into areas where we are not present. It will obviously be technologies .. that’s where we are in. The possible size of such deals depends on the opportunity. It could be a larger deal or a string of pearls. The cash is available with us.

Your rivals are already making big strides on the cloud computing. What about Mahindra Satyam?
We already have a special task force on cloud computing. In fact, we are already doing it. Cloud has just started, so how it will evolve globally we don’t know. People do believe there is a lot of potential for it. We are doing it, and if an opportunity presents itself, we will exploit it.

What will be your focus for the next two years?
It will be on segments that we have been specialising in. Media, manufacturing, engineering, and banking and finance are the verticals we are in and these will be the areas that we will be heading for.