Wednesday, November 30, 2005

a habit of yours

Arun Shourie was in campus,and he was showered with some nice intros,all praises
( well deserved , of course) and when he finally delivered his speech he started off with an urdu piece


Ye teri Ankhon ka sukun
(The solace of ur eyes)

Ye teri saanson ki dhadkan
(This heaving of ur breath)

Ye sab kahin ek rangin shararat hi na ho
Jise hum samazh baithe hai pyar ka andaaz
(Which we have taken to be a token of love)

Wo tabssum
(that smile)

Wo takalum
(that way of talking)

Kahin teri aadat hi na ho
( is not ,i hope, a habit of yours, )



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Friday, November 25, 2005

Sania needs check on her arrogance - 'Indian Express'ing Views or News

Here's an interesting news item from express webs site.
The title goes ---> 'Sania needs check on her arrogance'
Its all about interview of Peter McNamara, a trainer at Tennis Australia,who was in Delhi recently.
Now the point is nowhere in the article does Peter use the word 'arrogant' , but 'express' is arrogant enough to use a title like that for their news item.Maybe sania is arrogant maybe not ,but this is crappy journalism from 'the indian express'.


the article goes.....

Sania needs check on her arrogance'
Express News Service
Posted online: Thursday, November 24, 2005 at 1245 hours IST

"New Delhi, November 24: Peter McNamara, an elite trainer at Tennis Australia, is here to give the under-14 kids some vital tips in Aussie methods, to develop skills both on-court as well as off it during the Asia-Pacific training camp at the DTA this weekend.

Advertisement
This will be part of the Aviva ballkids contest where over 300 kids from the country will participate to have a shot at next year’s Australian Open.

During a chat with media persons, the Aussie, who watched Sania Mirza from close quarters last year at the Open, said the Hyderabadi had the potential to be among world’s top 10 by early 2007: ‘‘I won’t be surprised if she achieved it before next year-end.’’

On the obvious issue of her being arrogant to media, McNamara said that is something she should stop doing. ‘‘Players world over know that it (the media) makes them the stars. So, taking them along is the right way to making progress.’’ He said Sania has both the charisma and talent on court. ‘‘But she should also have the talent off it to handle the media. Naturally, there will be some uncomfortable questions. She should be prepared to answer them, though it may not be easy always. She cannot shy away from it because some personal questions are asked. She must understand that the public would want to know what a celebrated player like her has to say on certain things.’"

Source: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=58846&headline='Sania~needs~check~on~her~arrogance'#compstory


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Monday, November 21, 2005

Arun Shourie @ SPJIMR

“Bureaucrats like to take things easy but not at this ministry”. In official circles his ministry was described to be one where "everybody has to burn the midnight oil without any attendant perks or powers."

He has published seventeen books till now on topics as diverse as Economics, Politics, Religion, Hindutva, History, Communism, Journalism etc., He is currently working on a new book “Turning India Towards the Future”. Some of his famous and controversial writings include “Worshipping False Gods”, ”Eminent Historians”, ”Mrs. Gandhi’s Second Reign” and “Missionaries in India”, “Indian Controversies” and many more.

Arun Shourie , one of the most dynamic leaders of this era , is credited with introducing a new style of aggressive, independent investigative journalism in India. As editor of the English-language daily, The Indian Express, Arun Shourie exposed major scandals and government corruption, including what is known as “India’s Watergate.”

Arun Shourie would be visiting SPJIMR campus tommorrow

Topic of Discussion: Nexus between Business and Politics : What is and What should be.

Some of his speeches , interesting site


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Thursday, November 17, 2005

MBA student batters girlfriend to death, gives himself up

some sad news..

MUMBAI: It could be frustration, obsession or family pressure but it resulted in the death of a young woman. On Monday night, Pratik Gupta, an MBA student clobbered his girlfriend Megha Doshi to death with a stone and then coolly walked down to the nearby Juhu Police Station with bloody hands and clothes to surrender.

The bizarre incident occurred at around 9.30 pm near NM College, Vile Parle, Mumbai on Monday. The police have registered a case of murder against Pratik. He has been remanded to a fortnight's police custody.

Pratik is a Second Year student of the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), while Megha had passed out in 2004. She was working with a broking firm, MK Share Brokers.
.......................................
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=10039



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Monday, November 14, 2005

Analysis of Global Imbalances

The following are the key reasons analyzed by our team , as part of our group assignment in macro-economics and also followed by suitable remedies to solve the global imbalances.A timed assignment this was,and more importantly ,the conditions were, google free and limited number of words ( no long stories),and,boy,we did score pretty high.

The major reasons for CA deficit of US are:

  • US savings rate are very less.
  • Foreign funds financed the difference between US savings and investment.
  • Value of dollar decreased vis-a-vis Euro but Asian countries prevented their currencies from rising.
  • Slowdown in the economy during 2001-02 leads to decline in CA deficit because of slowing imports.
  • Slowdown of economies of major trading partners.

Reasons for high Forex reserves with Developing countries, Japan and the EU

  1. Exports driver of economic growth
  2. FII and FDI
  3. Local demand catered to by local industries
  4. Depreciation of US$ temporarily arrested by growing forex reserves of developing countries who invested heavily in US T-bills.

Effects of high current account surplus of Non-US countries:

  1. Inflation due to increased money supply
  2. Increase in real estate prices leading to possible burst.
  3. Low return on investments in US Treasury bonds.

USD : the global currency

  • USD is the choice currency of international trade , deriving its strength from economic and political clout of US.
  • US Fed follows a flexible exchange rate mechanism and avoids interfering in the forex markets.


US Debt:

  1. The external debt of the US government has risen to more than 25% of the GDP and is growing at an increasing pace.
  2. This will continue to grow with higher interest payments, even if the trade stabilizes.

Emerging Euro:

  • Euro is fast emerging as a long term potential substitute to USD.
  • However strength of Euro will depend on the stability and growth of EU.
  • ECB follows similar policies as US – Fed. i.e a flexible exchange rate mechanims.But ECB is not agaisnt the idea of defending Euro.

Recovering Japan:

  • Japanese economy is showing signs of recovery after slump over the last 5 years.
  • JPY is maintained at a flexible market determined rate,however Japanese central bank has interfered in the past ,in 2003, to maintain competitiveness of Japanese exports.
  • But Japan has free capital mobility.

China’s growth:

· China pegs its exchange rate artificially ( at 8.28 ) and is hugley undervalued w.r.t to USD.· Reasons for China peg are due to large trade surplus with US, fuelled by export growth ,and usefulness of peg during ASEAN crisis.

India:

India maintains a flexible exchange rate , with intervention by RBI at times.


SUGGESTIONS / GUIDELINES

Recommendations for India and China:
  • Diversify trading partners – will minimize risk associated with US as main trade partner. Eg: EU, Australia
  • Also expand forex baskets – Maintain reserves in a diverse range of complementary currencies to reduce dollar associated risks.
  • Regional treaties and understandings to increase regional trade relationships – promote regional co-operation and development and trade.
  • Reduce purchases of dollars and deregulate exchange rate – allow depreciation of US$ by encouraging trade with other strong currency blocks.
  • This will help them free of burden of large reserves.
  • Greater freedom in monetary policy .
  • Allowing more imports into their countries, resulting in a more balanced global economy.
Recommendations for USA:
  • US on its part should avoid a narrow focus on exchange rate as the sole reason for trade imbalance.
  • US should make an attempt to reduce the cost of doing business and educate and retrian its workers to move into other roles up the value chain.
  • US should move towards a gradual increase in interest rate.
  • Reduce Fiscal and Current account deficit – by reduced spending
  • Increase taxes – reverse the tax breaks.
  • Increase interest rates to combat inflation. This will counterbalance depreciation of US currency, and inflationary tendencies in the US economy.
  • For reducing the current account deficit the US exports (major EU and Japan) should increase at a faster pace than their import.
  • The tight monetary policy of European central bank and restrictive labor and trade regulation in EU are not allowing US exports to grow.
  • Permitting more immigration of skilled population will reduce the dependency ratio of the population which will curtail transfers and increase revenues.




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Thursday, November 10, 2005

How an amount of 200$ changed Manikyamma's life

Manikyamma - Kirana Shop : Muchavaram - Khammam

BASIX disbursed a loan of Rs.10,000 to Manikyamma, for her Kirana shop at Muchavaram village. The loan was through the SHG - Sarojini Mahila Mandali.

Her husband is an electrician and earns around Rs.500 per month. They have two school going children. They have agricultural land of two acres from which they get an income of 15,000 per annum. This year they have not sold their rice as the prices are quite low and they are waiting for them to go up. This is the case with most of the farmers who are waiting desperately for the prices to go up hence the payment to the SHGs also is delayed due to this reason.

Manikyamma is a quiet woman. She shyly tells you that she has had her education upto the 7th standard. The kirana business is mainly taken care of by her. One finds that the provision in her shop is in full stock which she has arranged decoratively. Her daily income is around Rs.150 and during season i.e. January-March it increases to Rs.300. Women find it very convenient to operate from home because they can take care of their household duties also at the same time.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

diwali

Well, Diwali vacation it is ,but sadly no rest ,am kind of running around ,too many things on personal front
probably my worst diwali - not a single firecracker on the big day :)

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