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Saturday, August 26, 2006

Finally!!!

UP court stays subsidy to Haj pilgrims

It took a while for someone to go to court on this. And, it took a right wing hindu organization symapthizer to do it. But, what the court has ruled is absolutely right. A secular state has no business supporting its people's religious trips.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Now Playing...The States vs. The Colas

This is a theater of the absurd. First, some NGO finds that Pepsi and Coke have chemicals in excess of the minimum residue levels (MRL) established by the government. According to India Today India is one of the few countries that have MRL on such products. So far, so good.

soon, some state governments in India jump on this and promptly ban colas. And, US is upset with the situation that it "warns" India. I am sure that will be enough for some of these politicians in India to wag their fingers back and call it nationalism. But, tell me how many people in India drink these colas. And, how many people depend on water. Why don't we talk of MRLs in the drinking water supply, vegetables and food grains. Why can't these states that were quick to ban the colas do something about the problems with chemicals, pesticides in other food items that are more commonly consumed?

US would do better if it would stop issuing such stupid statements that hurt the fragile egos of the Indians. India has a slow but reasonably good legal system that can provide recourse. Interestingly, the US reaction came even before any strong reaction from the cola firms.

Maybe, we should consider a statuatory warning on the cola bottles like the ones on cigarette packages and focus on the real issues.

Finally, I am TTB (thrilled to bits) to see fellow Chennai-ite Indira Nooyi as the CEO of Pepsi. Lets all drink to that.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Find the odd one

When I was young I used to love doing these puzzles where I had to find the odd item. This item below in italics is a table from a latest "India Today" article. Item 2 certainly seems to be the odd one out. There is no denying the writer is really smart throwing all related and unrelated statistics at you


- 44% fewer Muslim students complete senior school compared to non-Muslims

- Lack of one night's sleep results in a 30 per cent drop in cognitive performance. Poor decision making, irritability, loss of temper and short-term memory loss follow.

- Only one in 101 Muslim women is a graduate versus one out of 37 non-Muslims

- 31 million more Muslims to be educated by 2011 to match today’s literacy level of non-Muslims

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Oil for food and food for thought

Report implicates Indian ex-official - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

So, the official report of the indian study to investigate on the allegations made by Paul Volcker's report is out. Actually, it has been "leaked". According to it the Congress party is not to be blamed but Natwar Singh and his son is at fault. If you recall Volcker's report had listed both the Congress party and Natwar Singh. Natwar used the leaked indian report to claim his innocence. He says since the report clearly states that he did not monetarily benefit from it he is innocent. And, of course, Congress party says the report vindicates them, too.

Here is the deal guys. Saddam would not have dealt with Natwar Singh had it not been for the fact that this joker was a member of the Indian government, a Congress government. And, our democracy is supposed to be an example of collective responsibility. So, Congress cannot say that they are innocent. And, Natwar can't say he is innocent because he did not gain from it. Even Robinhood who robbed the rich to give to the poor did rob. He did break the rule of the land. And, Natwar is no Robinhood. He is, just like many others, another ordinary criminal who gets elected to the Indian Parliament.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Fired about the public corporation(s)

This week the firm I work for announced that they were going to cut 15% of their workforce. Now, I am no stranger to layoffs, having survived about six rounds of layoffs back in 2001-2002 at my then employer. But, it is always interesting to see how these things work.

Back in 2001 the firm I worked for laid off a whole lot of people, good number of them were staffed on projects at client sites. They all were given an hour or two to get out. And, they left without any opportunity to transition their work. And, we were left to figure out how to keep the projects going. But, they did get better over the next few layoffs. They started asking folks who were on projects to stay on till the end of the assignment in return for a better severance package.

As for the current saga, I believe we will be told over the next two weeks if we are affected. Now, I am not sure how they released the number to the public if they have not identified who is staying and who is going. And, why would you keep the employees waiting for two weeks. I bet the employees are going to be very productive during these two weeks.

The options backdating scandals seems to be picking momentum. I wonder if there would be a stock buyback scandal soon. A number of corporations are doing buybacks claiming the stock is underpriced. At the very same time senior management is cashing in on their options. Nothing illegal about selling the options if you have filed the necessary papers. But, is it ethical. And, I am sure some of these guys can co-oridnate their sale with the planned buyback well in advance.