Monday, September 10, 2012

The truth lies in the middle

Amusingly, while India suffers malnutrition, US suffers obesity

Underweight children remain a devastating problem in many developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malnutrition is the chief reason behind burgeoning child mortality, causing 2.2 million child deaths a year. Not only infant deaths, malnourished children even affect future generations. They grow up with worse health and lower educational achievements. It is not only because of shortage of food but is also often due to the lack of nutritive food.

According to the Global Hunger Index, South Asia has the highest child malnutrition rate of the world, where India alone contributes to around 5.6 million child deaths every year. Over 50% of Indian children are underweight, mainly due to shortage of food and ineffective delivery mechanism, which further make 7 million under the age of five severely malnourished; and other developing nations aren’t so different in that regard.

Developed nations, on the other hand, are fighting with obesity. As per WHO estimates, over 22 million children under the age of five are estimated to be overweight worldwide. In US, the number of overweight children has doubled since the past two decades.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

Give them pocket-less trousers!

Corruption remains our Achilles Heel. Indian vigilance departments should now start employing innovative ground-level Anti-Corruption Tactics to reduce the incidence of this malaise

January, 2010: Supreme Court of India upholds that “dismissal is the only form of punishment for those involved in corruption and misappropriation of public money, even if the embezzled amount is meagre.” With more than 3.8 million employees working under the Central Government, the tracking of corrupt activities and points of corruption is becoming virtually impossible. But there’s a bigger worrying trend; one that is not noticeable to the non-critical eye, but one that warns of an apparent move away from legally nailing the accused.

The government recently revealed that there had been merely 2,439 cases of corruption in the last three years (year ending March 2010). While that figure clearly is unbelievably low (and speaks volumes about the lack of intent in catching corrupt officials), even in that scenario, only 732 cases ended up in conviction. This boils down to a 30% conviction rate for public servants accused of corruption. Although overall, the figure of 30% might seem a great start, the worrying trend is that this percentage has been continuously falling. Where 2007 saw 688 registered cases of corruption against public servants and 238 convictions – a conviction rate of 34.59% – this figure dropped to 29.03% in 2008 (with 216 out of 744 getting convicted) and further to 28.93% in 2009. If one were to see the percentage of convictions post the January 2010 Supreme Court guideline, then the figure is more shocking – 22.64%.

In Delhi itself, more than 305 employees of Delhi Development Authority are facing corruption charges currently. According to MCD’s Vigilance department, around 4,299 cases have been pending against 3,350 officials since two decades! No wonder that India ranks a dismal 84th in a list of 180 countries in the Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perception Index.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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Thursday, September 06, 2012

Three years of niggling arguments with Eva Morales

After almost three years of niggling arguments with Eva Morales, Bolivia’s President, Naveen Jindal finally convinces Bolivia to sign on the dotted line for a possibly mammoth global coup of a deal; B&E analyses the critical road blocks and opportunities going forward 

In recent times, JSPL has expanded its presence in offshore locations in Asia, Africa & South America. With its captive coal & iron-ore mines, JSPL has been successfully using backward integration to ensure sustained value creation. As CEO Vikrant Gujaral has himself said, “The integrated steel producer model is the most profitable in the entire industry.” In India, though, JSPL has been facing the coal ministry’s displeasure over its utilisation of coal mines allocated to it. The ministry has noted that the company has not been using the Utkal and Ramchandi coal blocks that were allocated to it in Orissa. JSPL was also facing environmental hurdles with respect to its 2400 MW steel plant in Raigarh, but these hurdles have been cleared with the granting of environmental clearance and production is expected to commence soon. Two more steel plants are planned at an investment of around Rs.440 billion. Another potential threat is the recent policy decision that directed miners to share 26% of profits with people impacted by the mining operations. The company has itself come out to oppose such a ruling, saying that the allocation should be a percentage of operating cost. That said, the Bolivia move for JSPL could well be a make or break investment project. Make, because if the project comes through without hitches and glitches, JSPL – with its captive capacity – will be on its way to become one of the world’s top ten steel and power players. And break, because all in all, Bolivia is a country that was not too long back in the past riddled with political uncertainty and class revolution. Morales himself came to power as a result of a popular uprising by the poor class against the rich. In other words, JSPL would have invest in magnanimous amounts of reinsurance to protect themselves against sovereign risk once the project finally starts. But that is, once it starts. In a country like Bolivia, if it’s taken three years for the government to hand over land, one really doesn’t have to wonder too hard on how much longer it could take further for the actual plant to initiate operations.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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Wednesday, September 05, 2012

India’s population could solve its energy crisis. Here’s how...

While this technology would reduce carbon emissions and fairly cut down electricity costs, the implementation of this experiment sure demands a huge budget. Says Mr. Narasimhan, “If I look at it, technically, body heat can be used for various purposes, but I doubt if a technology like such is economically viable or not. Even if the proposal is passed by the European countries, I’m sure it will demand a huge budget.” This brings us to the question that whether or not the technology can be brought to India. “Oh, that will take years!” exclaims Mr. Narasimhan. Sure, it might take years, but wouldn’t this proposition have a better success rate as well as supply rate of heat energy if also set-up in more populated countries like India? India has millions of people who travel by train and the country also has hot and sweaty weather conditions which can, perhaps, generate heat energy for most of the countries!

It might be a very far-sighted conjecture, but if the budget is worked out and if in some years this technology is brought to India, it might lead to a situation where our country would not have to depend on other developed nations for funds for economic development. India could then sustain itself by producing and distributing heat by using its population – a major hindrance to the country’s development today – to its advantage in the future!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Men have begun to take pride in being metrosexuals

While men have begun to take pride in being metrosexuals, ladies are letting go and hoping to redefine sexy and be proud of their body hair!

On the other hand, electrolysis and laser treatments, which are the so-called permanent hair removal techniques, come with serious fallouts if they’re not in safe hands. “People generally go in for such treatments due to pure cosmetic reasons. Just as trends keep changing, it is a matter of choice and an individual’s personal fashion preference. Although, most laser treatments are FDA approved, it is essential to opt for the right doctor or a qualified laser technician,” opines Dr. Chiranjiv Chhabra, Dermatologist.

Hirsuitism (excessive hair growth) could be due to several reasons ranging from hormonal changes and excess production of testosterone in the body, to depression. A healthy lifestyle is thus a sine qua non for not only hair related issues, but also for overall well-being.

In a world where men are turning metrosexual with shaved chests and more, women choosing to retain their natural insulation like the cave-women of yore, is role-reversal at its best! The corporate arena as well does not welcome such a fashion in the best of spirits. Promotions and acceptability can become an issue for working women, especially those who are working in the hospitality industry. Although how confident one feels walking around with fuzz all over one’s face is a personal question, the bottom line remains that a neat and clean look shall never go out of fashion


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Monday, September 03, 2012

Wedding bells for the Doll!

Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, who is dating British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, has reportedly been feeling broody and is keen to have kids. The couple, who split earlier this year owing to tight career schedules, quickly got back together, and they are now believed to be planning their wedding. Guess the 32-year-old ‘The X Factor’ judge and Hamilton must’ve realised that the X factor isn’t easy to find again and again!


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Saturday, September 01, 2012

MAY DEBT DO US...

It was an extremely difficult year for DLF Ltd. And things really started looking up only towards the end of the year. however, Debt remains a worrying issue for the company, as does the uncertainty of Realty Demand in the Current Inflationary Scenario. by Praveen Kumar

In the year 1981, the driver of a four-wheeled SUV with an overheated engine stopped to request for some water to lower the temperature of his vehicle’s engine. The location was an area adjoining empty fields at the periphery of Delhi border, in Haryana, a state of India. While the vehicle was cooling off, a conversation ensued between the two gentlemen, which later became the urban-development policy of the country, followed till the present-times. The supplicator was none other than Rajiv Gandhi, who later became the prime minister of the country. And the benefactor was no other than KP Singh, DLF’s chief.

Singh recalls, “We arrived at a same wave length and it took me no time to persuade him off the archaic urban development rules prevalent in those days.” Impressed by Singh’s knowledge about the area and his vision on the urban development, Gandhi spent more than two hours with him in that locality. Later on, while repaying Singh’s gesture, Gandhi did his best in trying to sway the Haryana state government to amend commercial-development restrictions on farmland.

And in the next two decades, DLF, which acquired over 4000 acres of land in Gurgaon, Haryana, changed the entire landscape of the area to develop it into a world-class city. The company is today building houses, apartments, office towers, hotels, cinemas and shopping malls across the country. DLF Ltd, as a company, got listed on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges on July 5, 2007, making Singh and his family – who together hold more than 80% stake, nearly $30 billion – one of the richest families of the world.

In 2008, Forbes declared him richest real estate baron in the world having a net worth of $30 billion. However, due the global meltdown, his wealth saw a sharp decline and the Forbes 2009 list of the world’s billionaires estimated his net worth to be just $5 billion.

The real estate sector isn’t out of the storm yet and neither is DLF Limited. The company’s revenues dropped further by 15% to `24 billion and profits declined by 50% yoy to `7.7 billion yoy for FY 2009-10. The developer missed its stated target by 16%, and achieved 12.6 million sq. ft. (msf) with an average realisation of `5700 per sq. ft. The company’s Group Executive Director Rajeev Talwar commented to B&E, “We were certain that there is bound to be a tight leash on targets of sales and revenues in downturn. But expenditure targets have to be exceeded, since that is the time when you have to concentrate and focus on execution and delivery.”


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