India Empire August 2018 by India Empire

India-Business, Diplomatic, Political and Diaspora Connectivity

Editor’s Desk

t may not be out of place to say that some Indian athletes have shown world class abilities and talent at the Jakarta Asian Games of 2018. The gold haul has been only seven in athletics—three less than the 10 golds Indian athletes won at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi. But some of the performances do show that Indian athletes are ready to shine on the world stage, beyond the map of Asia. Jinson Johnson, a lithe Indian army man, won the 1500-metres race in style. His time of 3.44.72 would have fetched him gold at the Rio Olympic Games of 2016, and that’s saying a lot. The winner there had a time of 3.50.00. To beat someone like the favored Johnson in the 800-metres, Manjit Singh had to run the race of his life. He did, and had even Johnson gushing. Johnson barely managed silver by edging out Qatar’s Abubaker Abdalla in a photo-finish. The 1-2 in 800-metres augurs well for India in this very gruelling track event. Then there was Neeraj Chopra, all of 20, who performed heroically, saving his best for the javelin event. By throwing a distance of 88.06 metres Chopra, India’s official flag-bearer at the Games, broke his own national record. Importantly, his powerful throw would have easily fetched him a bronze at the Rio Olympic Games of 2016. Another man set for the world stage, surely. The other standout gold-winning performance was by Swapna Barman in the women’s heptathlon, the first ever by an Indian. Barman combined endurance with an indomitable will in an event where the heptathlete has to compete in a gruelling mix of seven track and field disciplines. Teen sensation Hima Das from Dhing in Assam who only in July was crowned the under-20 champion after winning the 400-metres race at the World Junior Athletics Championships in 2018 in Finland, ran bravely to win silver in Jakarta in the same event. On way to her medal Das set two national records in two days. She also helped the Indian 4x400 metres quartet bag gold at the Games. In a befitting reply to her detractors, Dutee Chand, 22, originally from Jajpur, Odisha, won silver in both the 100-metres and 200-metres races. In 2014, Chand had been dropped from the Indian Commonwealth Games contingent by the Athletic Federation of India on the grounds that hyper-androgenism had made her ineligible to compete as a female athlete. It was an abject humiliation and a cruel blow to her career prospects. The move received wide criticism from across the globe. A Canadian firm represented her in a pro bono case and eventually for lack of evidence the AFI ruling was lifted. She returned to the tracks in 2016. There are several other stories of interest in this issue. Here’s hoping you have a good read.

Sayantan Chakravarty (sayantanc@gmail.com)

iNDiA

empire Volume 14 No. 3 August 2018 www.indiaempire.com RNI No.: DELENG/2005/16693

GLOBAL ADVISORY BOARD Mr Inder Singh, Dr Rami Ranger, Dr Kamalanathan Sappani, Mr Mridul Pathak, Ms Priya Tandon Editor Sayantan Chakravarty Consulting Editor Yogesh Sood (Business and Commerce) Sipra Das (Photography) Kul Bhushan Jayant Borkar (Mumbai Affairs) Sanjay Sharma (BJP Affairs) Paras Ramoutar (Caribbean Affairs) Vishnu Bisram (New York) Premchand Ramlochun (Mauritius) Liladhar J. Bharadia (Kenya) Jay Banerjei (Toronto) Head—Art and Print Jaydev Bisht Additional Contributions From Rituraj Baruah, Bhaswati Mukherjee, Radhika Bhirani, Paras Ramoutar, Yogi Ashwini, Taponeel Mukherjee, Amit Kapoor, Chirag Yadav, Saket Suman Registered Office: N-126, II Floor, Greater Kailash I, New Delhi - 110 048. Contact: +91.11.2923.3647, +91.11.2923.1515. Our Associate Offices: Hyderabad: Abhijit Bhattacharjee, Tel: +91.9848033874. Mauritius: 28, Cnr. Jasmins and Lataniers Avenue Résidence Sunsetville, La Caverne, Vacoas 73310 Republic of Mauritius Trinidad and Tobago: 61 Main Road, Caparo, Trinidad, W.I. Canada: Suite 209 885 Progess Ave, Toronto, ON M1H G3G Canada New York: 260, Madison Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10016 ADVERTISEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTIONS Email: contactindiaempire@gmail.com info@indiaempire.com sales@indiaempire.com M: +91.9899117477, +91.98116.27971 Printed, published, owned by Sayantan Chakravarty. Editor is Sayantan Chakravarty. Published from N -126, II Floor, Greater Kailash I, New Delhi 110 048, INDIA. Printed at Archana Advertising Pvt. Ltd., C-78, Okhla Industrial Area, Ph-1, New Delhi 110020. All rights reserved throughout the world. Any kind of reproduction in any media is prohibited. All disputes are subject to jurisdiction of courts in Delhi.

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Sayantan Chakravarty is in a select group of 12 writers chosen by Scholastic Education to promote advanced English literature for schools worldwide. Included in the group are Nobel Laureate William Butler Yeats, R K Narayan (Padma Vibushan and Sahitya Award winner), journalist and poet Walt Whitman, writer Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), poet Nissim Ezekiel (Sahitya Akademi Awardee), writer Jerome K Jerome (author of Three Men in a Boat), poet Edward Lear, Roald Dahl (16th on Time Magazine’s list of greatest British writers). Sayantan Chakravarty’s stories featured in Best of Indian Express of 25 years and among select stories in Best of India Today’s 25 years.

CONTENTS

WINNING MOMENTS .......................................... 34 Indian tricolor flies high in Jakarta Asian Games ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE .................................... 26 Remembrance by Amitabh Bachchan

AUGUST 2018

CUBA ................................................................... 15 Opportunities to invest AGE OF AWAKENING ......................................... 30 India will go past Britain soon in economy size SERBIA ................................................................ 32 At peace in Belgrade square

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Business and

Governance

business and governance

Committed to Ease of Business—PM

eiterating that his Government is fully committed to promoting ease of doing business and ensuring robust economic growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said it has taken several “affirmative actions” in the last four years in this direction. “Over the last four years, my Government has consciously and diligently worked on several fronts to resolve issues being faced by the economy. It is because of these efforts that our economy is today growing at a rate of over 7.5 per cent, the highest among major economies,” Modi said in an interview to the Times of India published in August. He said that while the Government encourages ease of doing business, it is unsparing in bringing unscrupulous elements to book. The Prime Minister also listed the unprecedented reforms his Government initiated in terms of disinvestment and taxation. “The emphasis is on simplifying processes, be it incorporation of a company, induction of a director, or payment of income tax or GST. In the World Bank ranking on Ease of Doing Business, India has moved up from 142 to 100, proving we are an enabling environment for companies,” Mr Modi said. He said his Government has taken a “major decision” to change its approach towards central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) for “efficient management of public assets, unlocking wealth to the shareholders and creating wealth for the public.” “New instruments for disinvestment include listing of CPSEs through IPOs (initial public offering), mergers and acquisitions of CPSEs, and listing of exchange traded funds (ETFs). Since 2014, Government has realized over Rs 2 lakh crore from disinvestment of PSEs. In 2017-18, Government realized a record Rs 1 lakh crore. “This can be compared to the performance of the preceding 10 years (2004-05 to 2013-14) during which the cumulative collection was Rs 1.08 lakh crore. We have realized double the amount in less than half the period,” Mr Modi said. The Prime Minister pointed out that on the direct tax front, income tax return forms have been rationalized to make them taxpayer-friendly and the income tax department has eased norms for scrutiny of assessments. The first slab of income tax up to Rs 5 lakh has been reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for non-corporate tax payers. “For the law-abiding, the procedures and processes are being simplified; for the unscrupulous there is no escape. As part of our mission against black money and corruption, my Government has struck off the names of around 2.6 lakh shell companies and 3.09 lakh directors. Names of 55,000 companies more ❐ will be struck off this month,” the Prime Minister said.

india empire | aUGUST 2018

Tourism PoTenTial

Mr Neiphiu Rio

inVesT in oDisHa

Mr Naveen Patnaik

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio in August said that the state held immense potential in the tourism sector, which will not only boost economic activity but also help create jobs for youths. “We need inflow of tourists throughout the year. The tourism industry must generate revenue all year round and not just during the 10-day Hornbill Festival in Kohima,” he said at the Independence Day event at the Secretariat Plaza in Kohima. He said that he was confident that the tourism roadmap in Nagaland will significantly contribute towards overall economic growth of the state in the years to come. Quoting a non-governmental study, Rio said that by a conservative estimate, about Rs 51 crore was infused into the local economy during the Hornbill Festival last year. “This festival alone creates thousands of job avenues in multiple sectors and gives opportunities to the youth through innovative and creative ideas while promoting Brand Nagaland to the international community,” the Chief Minister said. Rio said his government will hold similar festivals in every district of the state to coincide with various tribal festivals to promote state tourism and economy to generate more jobs. He added that the state is also pursuing the matter pertaining to the upgradation of the Dimapur Airport and increased air connectivity of Nagaland with other northeastern states and the rest of India.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has invited a business delegation of Fujian province of China to participate in the Make in Odisha conclave scheduled in November this year. A six-member Fujian delegation led by H.U. Changsheng (head of the organisation of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee) in August met the Chief Minister at the state secretariat to seek business ties with Odisha. The Chief Minister said a state delegation led by Odisha Industries Minister Anant Das will visit Fuzhou on August 31 to showcase the investment opportunities to Chinese industries. While showcasing the investment potentials of the state, the Odisha delegation will invite the Chinese investors for the biennial investors' meet scheduled from November 11-15. The Chief Minister said resource-rich Odisha is one of the top three states of the country in attracting live manufacturing investments. He also informed the Chinese team about the conducive business environment, infrastructure and skilled workforce of the state. The Chief Minister said Odisha intends to facilitate growth in six focus sectors: food processing, electronics manufacturing, petrochemicals, textiles, metal down streams and tourism.

Bengal’s silicon Valley HuB West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in August laid the foundation stone of a Silicon Valley hub proposed to come up over 100 acres of land at New Town, a satellite city of Kolkata. Officials said Reliance Jio will set up a data centre spread over 40 acres in the area. “Not just the state and the country, the Silicon Valley hub will be a top IT destination in the whole world,” Ms Banerjee said on the occasion. She said that the state is industry and technology friendly and had one of the least attrition rates with low operational costs.

“We are happy that the Reliance Group is setting up a new state-of-art data centre in Kolkata. New projects of Amazon, Fujisoft, new IT Parks at Purulia, Malda and Siliguri were also launched today (Monday),” the Chief Minister said. Finance Minister Amit Mitra said that Bengal had collaborated with Amazon Internet Service and FujiSoft for high-end IT solutions. Information Technology major Infosys in August announced commencement of work on its new software development centre spread over 50 acres in New Town.

Ms Mamata Banerjee

aUGUST 2018 | india empire

business and governance

Pune 1, Delhi 65

une is the most liveable city, followed closely by Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai in a ranking of 111 Indian cities with the national capital ranked at a lowly 65 on the Ease of Living Index released by the Government in August. Thane is the fourth Maharashtra city that made it to the top 10 in the list. Other cities ranked among the best 10 are Tirupati, Chandigarh, Raipur, Indore, Vijaywada and Bhopal. Notably, none of the cities in big states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have made it to the top 10. Chennai has been ranked 14, Hyderabad at 27 and Bengaluru at 85. Kolkata had refused to participate in the survey. Gurugram is at the 88th spot. Rampur in Uttar Pradesh is at the bottom of the list that has Jammu and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir at 95 and 100. The Ease of Living Index was launched by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in August. The survey based on four parameters—governance, social institutions, economic and physical infrastructure— was conducted in 111 cities across the country. It is an

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initiative of the ministry to help cities assess their liveability on the bases of global and national benchmarks. The survey was started to encourage cities to move towards an outcome-based approach to urban planning and management. Its framework comprised four pillars— institutional, social, economic and physical—which are further broken down into 15 categories and 78 indicators. The minister said evaluation of cities was done on a 100point scale with the institutional and social pillars carrying 25 points each, five points for the pillar on economic and 45 points for the physical pillar. A ministry official said the cities submitted data on more than 50,000 points. Secondary audit of 10,000 documents, physical audit of 14,000 units and survey of more than 60,000 citizens were completed which led to finalization of the index. The assessment standards, according to the government, are closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and will provide a strong impetus to India's effort for systematic tracking progress of the goals in the urban areas. Of the 17 SDG goals, eight are directly linked to India’s ease of living assessment framework. ❐

Creating 15,000 jobs—isro head

he plan to put an Indian into space, on its own, for the first time by 2022 will create as many as 15,000 jobs, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Sivan has said. “We estimate that the human space mission will generate about 15,000 jobs over the next few years,” Mr Sivan told IANS. The ISRO wants to take up the manned spaceflight in collaboration with multiple state-run scientific institutions, academia, Mr K. Sivan industry and start-ups. The space agency aims to take Indian astronauts into space to a height of 350-400 km above the earth and orbit around the planet for at least a week by 2022. The astronauts will also be conducting experiments in space, details of which are yet to be decided by ISRO. “The human spaceflight will be a national project and not just ISRO's, as we will be collaborating with several institutions, academia and the industry,” Mr Sivan told the media. Mr Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot, is the only Indian citizen to travel into space so far. He was part of the crew on Soyuz T-11 launched on April 2, 1984 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, a part of the then Soviet Union. The ISRO will be working with the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Bengaluru for training the crew and the Indian Air Force, which will select the crew, as well as with the private sector, which will be involved in research and development, Mr Sivan said. The ISRO Chairman addressed the press conference in this tech hub hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his Independence Day address in New Delhi the country’s plan to put an Indian into space by 2022 on its own.

Admitting that the space agency was “surprised” by the Prime Minister’s human space mission announcement, Mr Sivan said the technological preparations for the project were on track since 2004. “The announcement came to us as a surprise. We were not expecting it,” Sivan said, adding that ISRO, however, has been developing several critical technologies required for the mission like the crew module and the crew escape system. “It is not an unrealistic schedule. We are confident of achieving it even before 2022,” Sivan said. The opportunity of exploring space will enhance the country's science and technological capabilities, while inspiring the youth, he added. India’s attempt to reach space by 2022 is about six decades after a Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space and orbit the earth in 1961. The US, Russia and China are the only three nations to have launched manned space flights. The ISRO is yet to finalise the exact timeline of tests before a manned mission can take off, as it plans to have two unmanned test flights onboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk 3. In the run-up to the first manned mission, said to be the largest project undertaken by the Indian space agency, the ISRO will conduct the next unmanned test flight by 2020. “There will be two unmanned flights before the manned mission, for which the astronaut suit is also being developed,” said Mr Sivan. The ambitious human space mission is expected to cost about Rs 10,000 crore, in addition to the already spent Rs 300 crore in developing the technologies for ❐ the mission, like the crew module.

aUGUST 2018 | india empire

business and governance

QUARTERLY LEDGER

Q1 Rs 270 crore profit Tata Chemicals in August reported a 14 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit from operations to Rs 270 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 as compared to Rs 236.52 crore in the year-ago period. Its income from operations on consolidated basis was at Rs 2,769 crore, up by 10 per cent from Rs 2,527 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Q1 Rs 1,934 crore profit Tata Steel in August reported more than double the consolidated net profit at Rs 1,934 crore in the quarter ended June 30, as compared to Rs 921 crore in the year-ago period. Its consolidated revenue from operations during the quarter was at Rs 37,833 crore, up 22 per cent from Rs 30,973 crore in the corresponding period last year. Executive Director and CFO Koushik Chatterjee said: “The performance in this quarter has been very strong and the India operation delivered a stand-out performance.”

Q1 Rs 703 crore profit Energy exploration and production major Oil India in August reported an exponential increase of 56.19 per cent in its standalone net profit for the first quarter of 2018-19. According to the company, its net profit during the quarter under review rose to Rs 703.22 crore from Rs 450.24 crore reported for the corresponding period of 2017-18. Crude Oil price realisation increased by USD 23.59 per BBl to USD 72 per BBl in Q1 FY 2018-19.

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sTanely as airBus inDia HeaD Global aerospace major Airbus has appointed Anand E. Stanley as President and Managing Director of the company’s India subsidiary. According to a company statement issued in August, Mr Stanley, 41, succeeds Pierre de Bausset. He will take charge on October 1, 2018. “Anand will successfully leverage the large Mr Anand E. fleet of our products flying in Stanley India, our support and services capability, the quality of our engineering team and the deep links that have been forged with local aerospace and defence industrial partners,” Mr Patrick de Castelbajac, Airbus Executive Vice President Strategy and International was quoted as saying in a statement. Stanley will pursue the consolidation of Airbus businesses in India “with a view to further reinforcing the position of the group for longterm success and growth in India.”

amazon inVesTs $400 million more The US-based world's largest e-tailer Amazon invested an additional USD 400 million (Rs 2,700 crore) in two of its Indian subsidiaries, said business intelligence platform Paper.vc in August. “Our tally of Amazon’s total investment in its Indian subsidiaries, including this, is USD 3.6 billion (Rs 25,241 crore),” Paper.vc founder Vivek Durai told IANS from Chennai. According to documents Amazon filed with the regulators at a meeting on August 6 in Bengaluru, the board of directors of Amazaon Seller Services Ltd approved allotment of 270 crore equity shares of Rs 10 face value for Rs 2,700 crore to the Singapore-based Amazon Corporate Holdings Ltd and an additional 124,753 shares to Amazon.com Incs Ltd without premium. The board of directors of Amazon Retail India Ltd on July 31 agreed to allot 10 crore equity shares of Rs 10 face value for Rs 100 crore to its shareholders (Amazon Corporate Holdings and Amazon.com) without premium on rights basis. Ahead of the retail giant Walmart taking majority stake (77 per cent) in India's e-tail major Flipkart for USD 16 billion in May, Amazon invested Rs 2,600 crore in its India operations. “The Amazon board has consented to allot 260 crore shares of Rs 10 face value aggregating Rs 2,600 crore to the shareholders on rights basis in the ratio of their shareholding,” said Amazon Services Ltd in a filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) on May 8. Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos had earlier committed to invest a whopping USD 5 billion in India to cash in on the rapid growth in e-commerce business.

empire feature

UnLockinG A TRiLLionDoLLAR oppoRTUniTY Digital & regulatory evolutions have transformed the lending landscape Lending an impetus to financial inclusion A recent report by BCG indicates that over the next five years, digital lending is an unmissable 1 trillion-dollar opportunity. This has been spurred on by lending undergoing a massive transformation, especially in developing economies that are likely to become data rich before being economically rich. India has been leading the charge in this transformation with its government initiatives like Aadhaar, Bharat Bill Payment System, India Stack, GSTN, and consent architecture to create a data-rich footprint for citizens and reducing the operational cost for provisioning financial products. Furthermore, it has been projected that the APAC region’s middle class will span more than 3.5 people. Concurrently, this will create a demand growth 1000 times larger than that of the industrial era, which will result in strong and sustained economic growth in these regions. Reimagining legacy systems In the history of lending, the lower middle-class population was always considered less creditworthy by lenders due to lack of data or credibility for majority of potential customers. This was primarily due to knowledge asymmetry and the presence of legacy systems in the market. Banks and NBFCs will need to move towards high volume, low value transactions to cater to massive new demand and stay relevant in the market. They will need to enable data-driven decisions, which cannot be orchestrated on physical mediums due to massive cost & time incurred. The current legacy systems used by lending institutions also fail to achieve processing efficiencies due to lack of transparency and absence of data in a structured format. Lending institutions using legacy systems will need to completely redesign every aspect of their business and technology stack to power this change. Unfortunately, with the rise of emerging fintechs, banks and NBFCs have limited time to accelerate their businesses. Lending institutions that can’t support digital and algorithm-driven

lending in this changing landscape are mostly going to become obsolete. How can banks and NBFCs change the game? Banks and NBFCs need a new-age lending system that is agile, scalable and secure. A new age lending system can provide them with the flexibility to customize and personalize loan products tailored to the specific needs of a wide range of customers, leveraging their (customers') digital footprints to enhance credit decisioning. Kuliza’s flagship lending product, Lend.In, combines Digital Origination Suite comprising of Omnichannel Workflow Manager, Digital Experience Manager, Credit Engine and Integration broker with its Operational Intelligence Suite comprising of Cognitive Data Hub, Early Warning Systems, Lending Analytics etc. to provide end-to-end lending solutions to automate any given business process while having a significant impact on both top-line and bottom line of enterprises. Lend.in enables banks and NBFCs to achieve the following: ● Build the entire loan journey in a matter of days. ● Define the workflow parameters with ZERO knowledge of coding, saving loads of effort. ● Omnichannel origination and interaction integrated across mediums. ● 70+ pre-integrations to enable straight-through processing of loans and also accelerating speed to market. ● Data-driven AI-powered Early Warning Systems & Credit Decisioning. Lend.In will act as a catalyst for lending institutions enable digital and data driven lending, and in the process prepare them to be the market leaders in the future. —To learn more about Kuliza’s flagship product Lend.In, visit www.getlend.in and for more information about Kuliza, visit www.kuliza.com. ■

aUGUST 2018 | india empire

business and governance

“India key for Airbnb growth” By Rituraj Baruah

or online hospitality services platform Airbnb, the Indian market is of strategic importance as the company targets a global user-base of one billion by 2028 from the current 300 million, according to a company official. “India is one of the key growth markets for us. It is also a strategic priority for the company…and teams across our global offices are working to create a lot of tools for India,” Amanpreet Bajaj, Airbnb’s Country Manager for India and Sri Lanka, has said. Mr Bajaj said that that the online service provider would continue to invest in the medium to long term in the Indian market and so far it provides services for around 100 cities in the country with over 35,000 properties. He added that, “at a global scale, we want a billion people to have used Airbnb by 2028. If this number has to go from 300 million to 1 billion, you can’t keep India out. India will contribute very heavily in this.” In the process of providing services in the country, the official said partnerships with tourism and other Government departments play a major role. The company has tie-ups with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and the North East Tourism Development Council. “…Our partnerships with state governments are in the direction to make sure that there is an Airbnb for everyone in the remotest part of India,” Bajaj said, adding that the firm also has a partnership with the National Commission of Women for “creating more women entrepreneurs.” Mr Bajaj said the company had a target of creating 50,000 hospitality entrepreneurs by 2020 in India out of which it wants at least 15,000 to be women. In the process of creating entrepreneurs in the travel and hospitality segment, the company’s Experiences platform would play a major role, he said. The specialised platform offers tourists local experiences such as adventure sports, cuisines, visit to small-scale industries including handicrafts among others in collaboration of local hosts and people having expertise in a particular craft, the company said. The platform was launched in 2016 with 500 experiences across 12 cities globally and now the platform offers over 15,000 experiences in over 800 cities, Mr Bajaj said. The online platform last week announced a partnership with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority to

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Mr Amanpreet Bajaj

provide tourists with local and traditional experiences in the country through the Airbnb Experiences platform. Talking about the scope of the experiences platform in India, Bajaj said the service has been launched in Delhi and Goa so far and the response has been positive. “Because Goa and Delhi were big markets in terms of Airbnb anyways, so we wanted to provide experiential services as well,” Bajaj said. In Goa the company started with 20-22 experiences around a month and a half back and now it has increased to 40, and in Delhi, it provides around 50-60 experiences, he said. Regarding competition in the hospitality market and coming in of more players in the alternative accommodation segment, Bajaj was of the opinion that more players in the segment would only create more options for travellers and eventually benefit the industry. “Till the time we are creating options for consumers, everyone in the industry will benefit.” ❐

Meghalaya for better connectivity Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma in August underlined the need for improved connectivity with the neighboring countries for transformative growth of the northeastern region. “Regionally integrated development approaches with the backing of digital connectivity can help India’s northeastern states and it eastern neighbors to revolutionize the economic scenario in this sub-region,” he said. Mr Sangma was addressing a two day seminar ‘Shillong Dialogue’ India and Sub Himalayan Eastern Neighbours: Shared Borders, Shared Opportunities: “Transforming Geo Spaces to Celebrating Ideas, Skills, People” in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong. “Most of the northeastern states share their borders with the neighboring countries and therein lies a huge opportunity for developing trade and economic growth which will be mutually beneficial to the region, our country as well as the neighboring countries,” the Chief Minister said. Noting tourism as a sector with immense potential for employment generation and economic growth, Mr Sangma stressed the need to develop infrastructure and facilities to improve tourist flow to the region. The Chief Minister also pushed for more cooperation in the agriculture and allied sectors and termed digital connectivity as an enabling factor for transformation of the region. “Digital connectivity will lead to faster and more efficient market linkages,” he said. The two-day consultative dialogue is being organized by Asian Confluence to deliberate on shared opportunities, challenges and the geo-spaces of possibilities and come up with concrete ideas to root the

Mr Conrad K Sangma

larger vision of regional connectivity and prosperity at the ground level in the sub-region, comprising of the seven North Eastern states of India and the eastern neighbors of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal.

New Israeli visa centre

Mr Hassan Madah

With hopes of attracting more Indian travellers from the southern region of India, Israel will open a visa application centre in Hyderabad by October this year, an Israeli official said in August. “We have a lot of demand from the southern regions of India like Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and hence, we have decided to open a visa application centre in Hyderabad,” Ministry of Tourism Director (India and Philippines) Hassan Madah said in Delhi on the sidelines of a roadshow. “In near future, we will open more visa centres in the south,” he said adding that Israel will hold more roadshows in Bengaluru, Cochin and Chennai to attract travellers. In March 2018, Air India launched its direct flight operations from New Delhi to Tel Aviv, the fastest non-stop flight connecting India with Israel, he said, adding that the airline is increasing flights in the route. In addition to this, Israeli airline El Al currently has three weekly non-stop flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv. Israeli carrier Arkia has also expressed interest to begin operations connecting the two countries, he said.

aUGUST 2018 | india empire 13

dipLomatic neWs

CLOSER TO NSG MEMBERSHIP By Bhaswati Mukherjee

gainst the background of intense speculation about US President Donald Trump’s growing indifference to India’s security needs and the landmark India-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement came the dramatic announcement of the “Tier 1 waiver” for India. This exception from the export control regime will allow the US to export sensitive technology to India without individual licences or approval from Congress, where anti-India interest groups used to hold them up through filibusters. The waiver is historic and marks a new stage in the India-US strategic partnership. No other country in the region has ever been granted such a waiver, normally allowed only for the US’s NATO partners or key allies like Japan and South Korea. Only 36 nations currently have this status. It also brings India one step closer to full NSG membership, a goal so tantalizingly close and yet denied because of Chinese intransigence and insistence on linking it with Pakistan’s membership. Commonly referred to as Tier-1 of the US Department of Commerce’s Strategic Trade Authorisation licence exception, the waiver will not only ensure a much required high-tech upgrade for India's lagging defence industry but will also promote the ‘Make in India’ initiative. It will bring US defence companies for the first time into India. The competition with other foreign companies already in India, including from France and Russia, will eventually translate into a win-win situation for the country. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross described it as a “very important change” in India’s status, noting that “US companies will be able to more efficiently export a much wider range of products to Indian high technology and military customers. India’s new status will benefit US manufacturers while continuing to protect our national security”. Also, he added that “it finally reflects India’s status as a major defence partner of the US”. Ross said this new designation reflects India’s membership in three of the four multilateral export control regimes, as well the development of its national export control system. He asserted that US companies will be able to more efficiently export a much wider range of products to Indian high technology and military customers. He said India’s new status will benefit US manufacturers while continuing to protect its national security. Speaking at a panel discussion of the first Indo-Pacific Business Forum organised by the US Chambers of Commerce, Indian Ambassador Navtej Sarna highlighted that the Trump administration’s decision acknowledges the security as well as economic relationship between the world's 18 india empire | aUGUST 2018

two largest democracies and boosts their defence partnership in a big way. “It is a sign of trust not only in the relationship but also in India’s capabilities as a valued economic and as security partner. It presupposes that India has the multilateral export control regime in place, which would allow the transfer of more sensitive defence technologies and dual-use technologies to India and without the risk of any proliferation,” Sarna noted. India is a member of three of the four international export control regimes including the Australia Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). These developments, along with the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with US, have also strengthened India's case for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. NSG membership is now vital for India since this group controls export and import of highgrade nuclear related technology. India has been repeatedly checkmated by the Chinese veto, cleverly disguised in the plea of equating India and Pakistan's pending membership applications. In September 2008, the NSG had approved an exemption allowing its members to conduct nuclear trade with India. Following this, India signed nuclear cooperation agreements with Russia, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Canada, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia and Australia. India continues to participate in international nuclear trade. In arguing for NSG membership, India has portrayed itself as a responsible nuclear power, pointing to its positive record on non-proliferation and consistent support for complete nuclear disarmament. Ultimately, the Trump administration has given a timely and important signal that India remains a vital strategic partner in the region. Washington demonstrated through the waiver for India (which remains outside the NPT regime) that the country is a vital ally in maintaining international peace and security. This, in turn, expands India's strategic space, enabling it to leverage its enhanced relationship with the US in order to upgrade its relations with other partners and bringing closer its future NSG membership. It puts India in a category of major global players and New Delhi as an in❐ dispensable destination for leaders across the globe. —The author is a retired Indian ambassador

DIASPORA NEWS

diaspora—iffm aWards in meLbourne

SANJU WInS

BEST FILM By Radhika Bhirani

ajkumar Hirani’s Sanju in August walked away with the Best Film honor at the Westpac IFFM (Indian Film Festival of Melbourne) Awards night in Melbourne. While Manoj Bajpayee won the Best Actor award for his yetto-release Gali Guleiyan, Rani Mukerji was named Best Actress for her performance in Hichki. Rani who impressed with her performance as a woman faced with Tourette’s Syndrome in Hichki walked away with a second honor as well—an ‘Excellence In Cinema’ award. Veteran actress Simi Garewal, looking elegant as ever in her trademark pristine white, gave away the honor to Rani,

20 india empire | aUGUST 2018

who has been a part of the film industry for over two decades. An overwhelmed Rani thanked her fans world over for loving her and her work through the years. Hirani won the Best Director for Sanju, a biopic on the life of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, while the IFFM Vanguard Award went to actor Ranbir Kapoor for his “breakthrough performance” in bringing alive Sanjay’s tumultuous life journey on-screen. The director told IANS that he is happy with the recognition for the movie and is excited about showcasing the movie at La Trobe University here, with Sanju co-writer Abhijat Joshi and actor Vicky Kaushal.

Vicky won the supporting actor honor for his well-deserved performance as Kamli in Sanju, and Richa Chadha won it too as she won the jury’s heart with her powerpacked role as a brothel owner in Love Sonia. The jury members for the fest, launched by Mitu Bhowmick Lange, comprised Simi Garewal, Sue Maslin, Jill Bilcock, Nikkhil Advani and Geoffrey Wright. Wright, known for the Russell Crowe-starrer Romper Stomper told IANS that he was mighty impressed by the variety that Indian cinema currently has on offer. He said he feels that “perhaps it has gone from recreation to being serious cinema”. India’s colourful and diverse culture was very much a part of the awards celebration as there were the beats of the dhol, performers dressed in traditional Indian classical attires, Odissi dance, Bhangra and more. Composers Sachin-Jigar added the chutzpah with some of their Bollywood tracks. The inclusion-themed ninth edition of the gala gave a Diversity Award to Freida Pinto who shot to fame and prominence first with her role in Oscar-winning drama Slumdog Millionaire. In her upcoming film Love Sonia, Freida is seen in a never-seen-before avatar. Tabrez Noorani-directed Love Sonia which opened the IFFM gala and left the audience moved with a story around sex trafficking, won the Best Indie film. A special mention in this space went to Gali Guleiyan, which marks Dipesh Jain’s debut as a director. The Equality in Cinema Award was given to Mahanati,

the widely acclaimed Telugu and Tamil film on the life of south Indian actress Savitri, who made a mark in the 1950s and 1960s. Actor Ali Fazal, who was the jury of the short film competition, chose To-let as the Indian winner and the Australian winner was Found which is on Islamophobia. Richa also gave away the IFFM Heroes Award, which celebrates real life heroes who have done good deeds. IFFM with Rani hoisting the Indian flag as part of Independence Day celebrations at the Federation House also offered a stage for a dance competition, bringing the huge and diverse Indian community of Melbourne together. ❐

aUGUST 2018 | india empire 21

diaspora

Trinidad pays tribute to Nobel Laureate Naipaul By Paras Ramoutar

n August, the nation of Trinidad and Tobago mourned the death of their national-icon and Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul, with many calling him “one of greatest gifts to the world”. Mr Naipaul was in the town of Chaguanas. Three newspapers gave prominence to Naipaul’s death with front page articles as his death was announced. He was just a few days shy of his 86th birthday. Mr Naipaul went to study at Oxford University, having won a scholarship. He was knighted by Her Majesty, the Queen in 1990, and in 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He also received Trinidad and Tobago’s highest award, the Trinity Cross. His sterling career commenced in the 1950s when he went on to quickly distinguished himself as a writer of considerable skill. During the 1970s his writings focused on post-colonial culture in the Caribbean. Prime Minister Keith Rowley highly praised the late author. “He was unwavering in his resolve to tell his stories as he saw fit. Moreover, his strength of character was responsible in no small part for his renowned success. This proud son of Trinidad and Tobago established himself as an icon in the literary arts on the global stage and his world renowned achievements caused his birthplace to shine in a positive light, the PM said. A former Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs feels that Naipaul’s work should be a focus of study in the subject of international relations as his writing demonstrated his concerns on colonialism and neocolonialism. “This should be the focus for further and advanced studies as the whole concept of international relations has taken new paradigms and awareness,” he said. Mr Jerome Teelucksingh, senior lecturer in University of the West Indies, described Naipaul as a genius. “ Mr Naipaul had certain talents and certain gifts and sometimes he came across harsh, crude, he had idiosyncratic behavior, some people saw him as eccentric or odd, but we have to remember that sometimes being a genius comes with certain flaws. We have to recognize the genius and also recognize ❐ the flaws within the genius,” he said.

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Mega renewable energy plan Down Under India-born British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta has launched a USD 1 billion, one-gigawatt renewable energy plan based in South Australia’s mid-north that he says will lead the country’s industry transition to more competitive power. The first of a number of projects slated for the upper Spencer Gulf region will include a 120 MW lithium-ion battery bigger than the 100 MW battery built by Elon Musk’s Tesla in South Australia in 2017, according to details released by Mr Gupta’s energy company Simec Zen from its Cultana Solar Farm. The project will produce 280 megawatts of power and feature 780,000 solar panels, generating enough electricity for 96,000 homes. The Cultana Solar Farm will begin construction in early 2019, employing 350 workers during construction, reported ABC News. “Today’s event is symbolic of our desire to develop and invest in new-generation energy assets that will bring down Australia’s electricity prices to competitive levels again,” Mr Gupta said in August. “Solar will be the main base of our ambitions in Australia but we will have some wind and we have lots of storage solutions.” When completed, Gupta’s battery will surpass the battery built by Tesla as the largest in the world, reports said. However, the Gupta Family Group (GFG) Alliance has no intention to stop there with plans for pumped hydro projects and expanded solar farms being developed for South Australia.

Mr Sanjeev Gupta

“All of these projects will not only improve reliability and greatly reduce the cost of electricity in our own operations, they will also provide competitive sources of power for other industrial and commercial users, while at the same time playing a key role in the market’s transition towards renewables,” he said. “We have a strong conviction that traditional carbon-intensive generation sources do not have a long-term future as the predominant source of power in Australia and globally. “We believe the world is undergoing a momentous transition to renewable power as the cost of renewables drops dramatically and quickly,” he added.

Cannabis for psychosis

Dr Sagnik Bhattacharyya

A single dose of the non-intoxicating compound of cannabis—cannabidiol—can help reduce brain function abnormalities seen in people with psychosis, results of a clinical trial, led by an Indian-origin doctor, has revealed. Psychosis is a mental disorder characterised by a disconnection from reality. Brain activity in the people at risk of psychosis remains abnormal compared to the healthy ones. But in people who had cannabidiol, the abnormal brain ac-

tivity was less severe than for those who received a placebo, suggesting cannabidiol can help re-adjust brain activity to normal levels. The results suggest that cannabidiol may normalise dysfunction in striatum, parahippocampal cortex, and midbrain—brain regions which are critically implicated in psychosis—and this may underlie its therapeutic effects in psychosis, the researchers explained. “Our results have started unravelling the brain mechanisms of a new drug that works in a completely different way to traditional anti-psychotics,” said Sagnik Bhattacharyya from King’s College, London, U.K. For the study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, the team studied a small group of young people who had not yet been diagnosed with psychosis but who were experiencing distressing psychotic symptoms, along with healthy controls. All participants were studied in an MRI scanner while performing a memory task which engages three regions of the brain known to be involved in psychosis. “One of the main advantages of cannabidiol is that it is safe and seems to be very well tolerated, making it, in some ways, an ideal treatment,” Bhattacharyya said. “If successful, this trial will provide definitive proof of cannabidiol’s role as an antipsychotic treatment and pave the way for use in clinic,” he noted.

aUGUST 2018 | india empire 23

coLumn: yogi ashWini

mind and body

GUrU GYAN By Yogi Ashwini Yogi Ashwini

ome time back a Western psychologist came up with a ‘grand theory’. The theory goes on to explain how the concept of Guru is fake, and how miracle experiences that one gets in the presence of a Guru are nothing but a psychological tactic. The psychologist conducted an experiment where he placed a subject amidst a hired group of people. The group was shown two lines, A and B and asked which is longer. Everyone in the group said line B was longer, the subject was a little confused and answered hesitatingly that to him line A appeared longer. The same experiment was repeated for many days together, after which it was observed that the subject started agreeing with the group answer. Even though line A was longer than B, because of the group effect, he actually started believing line B to be longer. This according to the psychologist is the working model for all the Gurus in the world. He alleges that at every Guru’s ashram, there are some who are trained to say they had a divine experience and the new participants due to the tendency to conform, find themselves repeating what the group is saying. Despite having no such experience, they force believe that they too are seeing and experiencing what the others claim to experience. The thing about Kaliyug is that asurik vritti prevails. It is this vritti that makes it so difficult for the modern man to walk on the path of spirituality, leading him/her to think it does not exist or that it is a waste of time or that he/she is losing head. So when such psychologists come up with such absurd theories, it is covered extensively by the media and due to the effect of media, majority accepts it and calls it a grand theory. It is not a grand theory, it is foolishness. At Dhyan Ashram, practitioners (new and old) hailing from different religions, geographies and professional backgrounds—doctors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, engineers, homemakers—are testimony to the power and efficacy of yoga under the sanidhya of Guru. Each has his/her set of unique (individual) experiences which they have had without any auto-suggestion. In fact, a basic guideline to each sadhak at Dhyan Ashram is to share their experience with their Guru alone, for sharing them in public reduces their power (unless instructed otherwise by the Guru). Some of the leading

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doctors of the country have validated the science of clairvoyance and its healing abilities of Sanatan Kriya practitioners. In fact, I was once lecturing at the Oxford University, London where, as usual, the crowd was unwilling to accept the power of Guru. So then I asked few of them, if they would like to have a live demonstration of the power of yoga and Guru. They agreed. I made them do dhyan for about fifteen-twenty minutes after which each one, though hesitantly, had a unique experience to share—these people were all educated, some even from the media. The next day, I asked them if they would like to continue now that they had a first-hand experience. The common response was, ‘No. I think I am losing my mind because of this.’ So, even after having an experience, the mind is unwilling to accept. Psychology is a nascent science and has a lot to learn from our ancient wisdom. The ancient masters studied the human mind and behaviour in depth, and 4,500 years ago (compare this to modern psychology which came 500 years back) gave us detailed treatise on the mind and its modifications in the form of Patanjali Yogsutras. The yogsutras are an encyclopaedia of psychology. You might be surprised that 4,500 years back Patanjali had listed ‘bhranti darshan’ (thinking the yogic sciences and its related experiences to be false) as one of the distractions of mind that prevent one from walking the path of spirituality! And Patanjali got this gyan under the sanidhya of a Guru only. I would repeat here, what I told the media who had come to interview me during that Oxford visit—We are over one crore Indians and we can export yoga to you in as many ways, but if you really want yoga, you have to accept the Guru, for Yoga is not possible without Guru. And Guru is someone who does not jump like monkeys or breathe like an animal or charge you a fee or asks you to visualise or force believe anything, Guru gives you the experience, your individual experience, and that experience guides you ❐ through.

—Yogi Ashwini is the Guiding Light of Dhyan Foundation and can be reached at www.dhyanfoundation.com

UNION MINISTERS INTERVIEWED BY

Mr Nitin Gadkari Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and Shipping

Mr Dharmendra Pradhan When Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

Mr Ananth Kumar Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers

Mr Anant Gangaram Geete Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises

Mr Chaudhary Birender Singh Minister for Steel

Ms Smriti Irani When Minister for Human Resource Development

Mr Radha Mohan Singh Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Mr Narendra Singh Tomar When Minister for Steel and Mines

Mr Ram Vilas Paswan Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Ms Uma Bharti When Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Mr Thawar Chand Gehlot Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment

Mrs Sushma Swaraj Minister for External Affairs and Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs

Mr Shripad Y Naik Minister of State (IC), AYUSH

Mr VIjay Goel When Minister of State (IC) for Youth Affairs and Sports

Mr Babul Supriyo Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Ex) Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (IC)

PictuRes BY: siPRA DAs

(May 2014 onwards)

remembering former pm ataL bihari vaJpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924-2018)

Piloted second generation economic reforms: India Inc

ndian industry paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee following his demise in August, saying the iconic BJP leader ushered in the second generation of economic reforms that promoted India’s rapid growth. “The second generation of economic reforms introduced under his visionary leadership contributed greatly to a facilitative investment climate which in turn promoted India's rapid growth,” CII President Rakesh Bharti Mittal said. "FICCI mourns the loss of former PM Atal Bihari Vaj26 india empire | aUGUST 2018

payee. It is a very sad day for India. He was one of the most dynamic leaders who ushered in an era of reforms, progress and took the country forward,” FICCI President Rashesh Shah said. Mr Vajpayee is remembered for various policy actions that led to rapid growth in telecom, power, financial sector, insurance, agriculture, education and national highways that contributed hugely to unlocking the nation's economic potential. “He won laurels for his views and ideologies that always aimed at cementing the diverse and complex nature of Indian polity and its society and at the same time put in a great deal

“AN ExTREMELy RARE HuMAN BEING”

—AMITABH BACHCHAN

stalwart, a poet, a writer, an enlightened mind and a compassionate being leaves this world—that’s how megastar Amitabh Bachchan began his tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose demise in August left the nation mourning. Mr Vajpayee died on August 16 at the AIIMS Hospital in New Delhi after weeks of being hospitalised. He was 93. “He was an admirer of my father and his works and there were many an occasion when I would be present at their meetings,” Amitabh, son of late prolific and celebrated writer Harivansh Rai Bachchan, wrote on his blog. He said his father knew Mr Vajpayee, who was then a student. Mr Harivansh Rai, he says, was very impressed by Mr Vajpayee’s oratory skills, which was his virtue. “His oratory powers were unmatched and the usage of words exemplary. They were filled with the power of pronunciation. The rendition of the word was enough to give it meaning... One did not need to understand the language--that was his brilliance. Some of his public speeches and ones done in the Houses of Parliament are testimony. A poet, a writer, a politician, a Prime Minister... an extremely rare human,” Amitabh wrote. The actor also wrote about the special bond Vajpayee shared with his father. “Despite his prominence as a leader of eminence, Atal ji never hesitated to meet up with my father... Particularly on one occasion when my father was admitted to AIIMS hospital in Delhi, Atal ji visited him to ask after his condition. I was there. His compassion and concern was most gracious.” Mr Bachchan said, “It was Atalji who agreed to launch and honour the occasion when a ‘stamp' was inaugurated in my father’s name. It was in Lucknow.” Big B, 75, also recounted the birthday routine when Vajpayee would ring him on his special day, and he would ring the politician on his birthday.

of efforts for sustained economic development of the country,” PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Anil Khaitan said. As a mark of respect, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has appealed to the traders and business establishments in Delhi to remain closed for a day. “Atal ji was a political saint who laid new dimensions to Indian polity. His unflinching patriotism, oratory skills and the whole life will be an inspiration to nation. His death has caused a political void which can’t be filled,” CAIT President B.C. Bhartia said. Captains of Indian industry recalled how Vajpayee remained a strong proponent of industrial and economic development through market reforms for a strong India. “A great economic reformer, as a Prime Minister he was always guided by a strong conviction that liberalization would help us realize our economic potential and ultimately open the doors to becoming a globally competitive, strong and resilient economy,” Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said. Mr Vajpayee can truly be called the “Father of Modern Telecommunication in India” having ushered in the National Telecom Policy in 1999, Mittal added. Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan N. Tata said: “All of us who knew Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee are saddened to hear of his passing away. He was a great leader with a great sense of compassion and humour. He will be remembered fondly by a vast number of us.” Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said: “India has lost a true son of the soil, who rose from a very humble background to lead the country at a crucial juncture... While Atal ji may not be physically present amongst us now, his beliefs and his reform oriented ideas will continue to enlighten and guide us.” Apollo Hospitals Founder and Chairman Prathap Reddy said: “He put the nation on the fast track with initiatives like the Golden Quadrilateral project, the New Telecom Policy, the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and the Fiscal Responsibility Act that laid down the path for future governments to follow.” Mahindra Group Executive Chairman Anand Mahindra tweeted: “The leadership lesson that I learned from my interactions with him was that no matter how significant your achievements while in office, you ultimately earn the affection of people through ❐ your humanity and your humility...” aUGUST 2018 | india empire 27

remembering former pm ataL bihari vaJpayee

A B VAjpAYEE’s pRimE minisTERship: An infRAsTRUcTURE pRimER By Taponeel Mukherjee

nfrastructure and economic policies under Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s prime ministership provide us with some crucial pointers on creating high-quality infrastructure. The liberalisation of the early 1990s had provided a platform for economic growth. Vajpayee used the platform to set the foundation for some of the most critical infrastructure assets in India through the National Highway Development Policy (NHDP) and National Telecom Policy (NTP), 1999 (building on NTP, 1994). While discussions have focused on “what” was delivered through the effective policies, it would be prudent to assess as to “why” the policies succeeded. Policy features around pricing, management of risk and clarity of regulations were the fundamental reasons why the policies could deliver impact. The first of these was rational pricing. The NTP, 1999, changed the payment scheme for telecom companies from a license fee to a revenue-sharing model with the government. Resolution of issues around paying high license fees and the subsequent growth that the telecom sector saw is a good template for how revenue-sharing models have a significant impact on infrastructure creation and consequent usage. The government must ensure that while projects are 28 india empire | aUGUST 2018

auctioned at competitive bids, irrational pricing must not creep in. Additionally, infrastructure by definition involves high upfront costs. The ability of the infrastructure developer to share revenues from a project that is operational is far higher than paying high upfront license fees that possibly add to constrained balance sheets. The crucial point is that while infrastructure developers and the private sector must be disciplined through the right pricing mechanism, revenue structures that burden developers with significant upfront costs create barriers to infrastructure creation. Secondly, there was standardization of contracts. The development of the Model Concession Agreements (MCAs) was initiated under the Vajpayee government to facilitate the NHDP. The MCAs were instrumental in promoting the flow of private capital into road construction. As the years went by, the MCAs were improved upon with more data available. Well-designed MCAs that were enhanced continuously allowed for better contract design and risk-management of infrastructure projects. The most significant learning from the MCAs and the

impact they had on infrastructure facilitation is the need for standardized and well-implemented contracts for each infrastructure sector. The sectors are complex with each having its unique features. Besides, each varies on financial and social returns that infrastructure assets deliver. Therefore, contracts that are well defined and consistent create greater clarity around policy and risk. This, in turn, allows market participants to gauge their interest better to partake in the sector. The third factor was revenue allocation. The period also set the ball rolling regarding creating a clear policy on financing infrastructure through the various available financing avenues. The NHDP used fuel cess, toll collections, budgetary support and borrowings to finance projects. The foundation for an effective financing scheme was laid out, a foundation that was built on in the years to come. Essentially, each infrastructure sector will need clarity on the financing aspect. The clarity pertains to issues such as what percentage of the financing will the operational asset be able to provide (through user charges) versus the budgetary support required. Having greater clarity at the sector—or even project—level assists in the planning and

allocation of budgets to the most crucial sectors. Finally, we saw the separation of licensing and policymaking from service provision. NTP, 1999, did this in the telecommunications sector. Separation of the policymaking division from the service provider was a significant development and one which greatly facilitated a competitive market with a regulator that was independent of market players. For infrastructure sectors in which private sector participation is deemed to be necessary, it will be critical that there is a clear demarcation between the regulator and participants. For private participants to commit long-dated capital, it will be essential to show them a level playing field. In summary, Vajpayee’s prime ministership laid the foundation for mission-critical infrastructure through policies and templates that were built on by subsequent governments as well. A better understanding of “why” these policies could lay the foundations for modern infrastructure in India give us critical pointers on the direction we must head in today. ❐ —Taponeel Mukherjee heads Development Tracks, an infrastructure advisory firm aUGUST 2018 | india empire 29

conquering the raJ

The Age of

t took just over seven decades after the British left India, but recent growth trends make it clear that this year the latter will overtake its erstwhile coloniser to become the fifth-largest economy in the world. A few months ago, World Bank data revealed that India had already muscled past the French economy in 2017; another minor coloniser of the Indian subcontinent. At this pace, it is estimated that around the centenary of Indian independence, the power balance that existed for most of the past 2000 years will be restored, where China and India would be much larger economies than that of Europe or America. India has come a long way in its 71 years of independence. The average Indian is today seven times richer than what he was in 1947. The education and health standards, despite being severely wanting, have witnessed significant gains as well. While only 18 percent of the population was literate in 1951, the figure has now risen to account for approximately three-fourth of the country. The gross enrolment in elementary education is also reaching near universal levels, although a lot of challenges remain to be addressed in the actual learning imparted. On the health front, Indians who used to survive to an average age of 32 at the time of independence, now live up to 68 years of age. Infant mortality rate has declined from 146 in 1951 to less than 34 as

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of today. But, all of this seems less of an achievement when seen in relative terms. If the Human Development Index (HDI) is taken an approximation of social indicators, India still ranks 131 out of 188 countries in the world. On the economic front, an average Indian has an annual income of USD 1,940, which puts India firmly in the category of “lower-middle income” economies by the World Bank. By comparison, China, which was at the same level of per capita income as India from its independence till 1980, has achieved “middle income” country status with a per capita income of USD 8,827. At best, India could be where China is today in the next decade or so. And only if it continues growing at that pace can India become larger than Europe and America by the middle of the century. It is the hope of such progress that excites the world about India. But this prospect presupposes a kind of sustained growth that no country has ever managed, with a unique exception of China. Brazil underwent a brief high-growth phase of around 8 percent annually from the late 1960s to early 1970s. Similarly, Thailand became the world’s fastest-growing economy for the decade beginning from 1985 before it was interrupted by the Asian financial crisis. Only China managed to sustain such rates for much longer than a decade, but that is a model which cannot, and

AwAkening By amit Kapoor and Chirag Yadav

pected it to fall apart at some point due to its diverse mix of probably should not, be replicated. Yet if India manages to achieve the feat by the centenary people and interests. However, taking everyone’s interests into account and of its independence with an estimated population of 1.7 billion, it will bring more people into prosperity than any other discussing and debating policies probably also slowed down the growth process for India. It is often country in the history of the world. It will argued that it might be better for also be the first democracy in the world to And throughout economies to grow under authoritarian do so rather than turning into one while it rule initially and slowly turn into a democgrew prosperous, which was the case with its independent racy as people become more prosperous America and Britain. This is exactly where history when a and aware of their rights. India perhaps the Indian economy and its growth differs leader has gone adopted democracy too soon. But India from the rest of the world and why its awry, the demohas led the way in making economic adachievements are still wonderous despite cratic machine has vances while taking the interests of its entheir relative deficiencies. tire population into consideration. And The founders of independent India voted him or her throughout its independent history when chose to adopt the path of democracy at out of power, albeit a leader has gone awry, the democratic a time when large swathes of the populawith some lag in machine has voted him or her out of tion were unaware of the concept. Indian the mid-1970s power, albeit with some lag in the midleaders chose the path of universal adult 1970s. The Indian democracy is the mirafranchise at a time when not even advanced Western powers had taken it up and at a scale that cle in its last 71 years of independence. Whether it is where nobody in history had done before. As the eminent educa- we stand today or where we are headed in the future, the tionist, Sunil Khilnani, put it in Idea of India: “India became wheel of democracy plays a guiding role. It might take longer a democracy without really knowing how, why or what it to get there but that is probably the price of its resilience. ❐ meant to be one.” Yet the democratic spirit allowed the sur—Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute for Competitiveness and vival and progress of the country when almost everyone exChirag Yadav is senior researcher, Institute for Competitiveness.

aUGUST 2018 | india empire 31

feature on serbia

AT pEAcE in BELGRADE sQUARE By Saket Suman

32 india empire | aUGUST 2018

t the magic hour, just past midnight when the rest of the world is in a slumber, lovers gather “near the horse” to give wings to desires that seldom find expression during the day. And what do they do? They laugh and make merry, caress their lovers, dance their hearts out and sing melodies that soothe the atmosphere. They use the cacophony of the city’s vibrant nightlife as a little night music to snatch fragments of joy from their otherwise humdrum lives. Republic Square is Belgrade’s central point and the main gathering venue for locals and visitors alike. In its concept and planning, it is in line with most other European town squares and, in fact, one can also draw similarities with New Delhi’s Connaught Place (now called Rajiv Chowk). Just as the Central Park is the meeting point around which the inner and outer circles run in India's national capital, there is a bronze statue of Prince Michael on a horse at the centre of Republic Square and surrounding it are some of Belgrade’s most recognisable public buildings, including the National Museum and the National Theatre. But while the city’s distinct architecture--shining in the faint moonlight--draws visitors for photographs and selfies, Republic Square also has a lot of open spaces, fountains, benches to sit on and just be with oneself, along with a large number of eateries, bars and cafes dotting the various lanes that emerge from the Square. “Meet me near the horse,” is what they say in local terms to refer to the oft-frequented spot by young lovers--as also the middle-aged and old--seeking nothing more than moments of indulgence in each other’s company. The day is usually bright during the summer with colourful flowers in full bloom greeting passersby, but this place adorns an altogether different look during the magic hour, starting at midnight and ending close to dawn. This is when the day is done and the crowd is gone--and adventure is set in motion. Notably, the culture and lifestyle of people living in this part of the world is such that the little things in life have enduring relevance to them. Dining out is not a once-a-week phenomenon for most localities but rather an almost customary act. It is affordable too, wine is cheap and entry to most nightclubs free. Therefore, what strikes one most past midnight at Republic Square is the coming together of carefree couples, who breathe life into the city square, and lull the atmosphere in some sort of a soothing song. One may also be amazed to see people dancing outside bars,

not as an organised event or anything of the sort, but as an everyday act. The dance sessions take place in the open and they last for hours, while scores of couples await their turn. They are not bothered about recording their dance moves or clicking a picture in their lovers’ arms. They live in the moment and live it to the fullest. It is also a relief for travellers from a country like India where the “mall culture” seems to have disrupted the entire cityscape. The areas surrounding the Republic Square are dotted by numerous shops and cafes but they are not confined in a given area and sealed off within walls. The open spaces, fountains and gardens create the atmosphere that a setting such as this requires. Above all, the magic hour at Republic Square is an experience worth having for travellers. There is not an itinerary that one is required to stick to, or a list of cafes and nightclubs to explore; instead, it is an overall experience, of which the traveller too becomes a part, that can only be relished and felt from the heart. Belgrade also ranks high among the safest European cities. Walking down the streets surrounding Republic Square, one can spot numerous women going about their tasks and there is no fear or hesitation in their eyes. India is seeing a rise in solo women travellers in recent times and given that an Indian national does not require a visa to visit Serbia for a period of less than 31 days, along with an almost-equal currency, it may also be a good option for Indian backpackers. Turkish Airlines operates daily flights to Belgrade from New Delhi and Mumbai, via Istanbul. Hostels and hotels are easily available in most parts of the city, start❐ ing as low as Rs 1,000 (USD 15) per night. aUGUST 2018 | india empire 25

cover story: asian games in Jakarta

WINNING MOMENTS Sipra Das in Jakarta

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PictuRes ÂŠ siPRA DAs

The impressive opening ceremony of the Jakarta Asian Games

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cover story: asian games in Jakarta

LEFT: Jinson Johnson won gold in the 1500-metres race. His Jakarta timing would have fetched him gold in the Rio Olympics of 2016. RIGHT: Neeraj Chopra won the javelin event with an impressive, world class throw

The 4x400-metres quartet wraps the tricolor in joy after winning gold

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here is something primordial about a man, long locks of hair swaying in the wind, running in and leaping to hurl a javelin, much a like guided spear, high into the air, and far into the distance, with all the strength in his body. It is as though an ancient hunter, looking for an invisible prey, is going at full throttle. This visual treat gets even more athletically romantic if the end result is a gold medal—which in this case happened to be at the Jakarta Asian Games 2018. Meet Neeraj Chopra, 20, India’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony of the Games, and the gold medal winner in javelin. By hurling the slender metal shaft to a distance of 88.06 metres, Chopra broke his own national record. Like a true champion he reserved his best for the moment that mattered the most. This phenomenal power throw would have easily fetched him a bronze at the Rio Olympic Games of 2016. Considering that he is just 20 and perhaps still gaining strength, he can indeed go very far in the world of javelin. Chopra hails from Panipat, a city 90 km to the north of Delhi that was the venue of three epic battles over the last about 500 years. No wonder he turns the field of competition into a battlefield. Then there is Jinson Johnson from Kerala. He was aiming for gold in the 800-metre race but was upstaged by Manjit Singh of Haryana with metres to go. Johnson had to settle for silver, behind the more aggressive Manjit. But that loss only helped Johnson find greater resolve to stick it out in the tough 1,500-metre group that also included Manjit. The Indian army man from Kozhikode, Kerala ran a fine tactical race and towards the end showed that he had the strength in his legs and the endurance in his upper body to sprint past his fellow runners in style and register a handsome win. Instead of collapsing on his knees after that terrific run Johnson went around carrying the Indian flag around the stadium with a smile. It showed he had plenty left in the tank even after that burst of speed towards the end. Significantly, Johnson’s time of 3.44.72 would have won him gold at the Rio Olympic Games of 2016—the winner in Rio, Matthew Centrowitz of the USA, had a time of 3.50.00. Manjit who too sprinted hard towards the end could, however, finish fourth in this race. While flag-bearer Chopra and Johnson did India proud, there were some other riveting and heart-warming performances. With just days to go before the conclusion of the Games, India had a tally of 15 golds. The other standout gold-winning performance was by Swapna Barman in the women’s heptathlon, the first ever by an Indian. Barman combined endurance with an indomitable will in an event where the heptathlete has to compete in a gruelling mix of seven track and field disciplines. They include the 100-metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-metres, long jump, javelin and 800-metres. Barman has six toes on each foot. Apart from the obvious discomfort she goes through while running and leaping, the Jalpaiguri girl developed a severe toothache a couple of days before her events came up. She conquered her pain, though, along with her opponents. Now after the win all she wishes is that someone sponsor customized shoes to help her improve further.

P V Sindhu bagged silver and Saina Nehwal the bronze at the badminton event

The Indian women’s team (top) and men’s team (below) with the archery silver medals

Aprinder Singh secured gold in the triple jump. While there were gold medals in other events, two young girls from eastern India made the country proud on the tracks. Teen sensation Hima Das from Dhing in Assam who only in July was crowned the under-20 champion after winning the 400-metres race at the World Junior Athletics Championships in 2018 in Finland, ran bravely to win silver in Jakarta in the same event. On way to her medal Das set two national records in two days. She also helped the Indian 4x400 metres quartet bag gold at the Games. Dutee Chand, 22, originally from Jajpur, Odisha, won silver in both the 100-metres and 200-metres races. It was a befitting reply to her detractors. In 2014 she had been dropped from the InaUGUST 2018 | india empire 37

cover story: asian games in Jakarta

Wrestler Bajrang Punia won gold in the men’s freestyle 65-kg category

Manjit Singh ran splendidly for gold in the 800-metres

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat won gold in the women’s freestyle 50-kg category

Dutee Chand bagged silver in the 100 and 200-metre races

Hima Das won silver in the 400-metres and gold in the 4 x 400-metres relay

Dharun Ayyasamy won silver in the men’s 400-metres hurdles

Sudha Singh clinched silver in the women’s 3,000-metres run

dian Commonwealth Games contingent by the Athletic Federation of India on the grounds that hyper-androgenism had made her ineligible to compete as a female athlete. It was an abject humiliation and a cruel blow to her career prospects. The move received wide criticism from across

the globe. A Canadian firm represented her in a pro bono case and eventually for lack of evidence the AFI ruling was lifted. She returned to the tracks in 2016. Overall, some Indians can hold their head high for their standout performances at the Jakarta Asian Games. ❐

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