Kaleidoscope...Be Kurious..!

Applying the Pareto Principle in Real Life

2011-05-19T16:31:00.013+05:30

Pareto Principle or the "principle of vital few" states that roughly 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. It is a very common anecdote used to describe several business problems & their solutions- like 80% of the revenue comes from 20% of your business i.e.core competency but fascinatingly it has several unique real life applications:

(1) 80% of the exam comes from 20% of the course content!

(2) 20% of the people you know account for 80% of the total amount of your mobile bill..!

(3) 80% of the wealth in India is in the hands of 20% of the population

(4) 80% of the times you wear clothes which form 20% of your wardrobe

(5) If you are a regular at quiz competitions, you would know what i mean-80% of the questions are answered by 20% of the participants

(6) In races, for ex: horse racing, 80% of the races are won by 20% of the horses

(7) If you invest in equities- 80% of your profit would be coming from 20% of the portfolio(out performer stocks), likewise if you are running into losses you would observe that 80% of your losses are due to 20% of the entire portfolio (laggard stocks)

(8) In the music and entertainment industry, one would observe- 80% of the popularity or fame is achieved by 20% of the work done (though generalizations can't be made, but this phenomenon has been observed quite often),
Ex: If an artist has 3 hit singles out of an album of 10 songs, his/her album would sell even though the rest of the album is not worth listening

(9) & Finally, 80% of the happiness in your life is due to 20% of the activities/events that take place :)

Do note that the numbers '80' & '20' do not matter here, it can be much higher like '95' & '5' but the main concept to be kept in mind is that certain activities account for majority of the output in your life

-By: Tejas Singh

Understanding the Dynamics of the Oil & Gas Industry

2011-02-05T12:35:00.007+05:30

Inflation is sky-rocketting these days and one of the major factors impacting the rising inflation includes the rise in prices of oil related commondities.

When reading articles about the oil & gas industry in newspapers and magazines there's industry specific jargon that one may not be aware with. To acquaint with the same, this article looks at some of the commonly used terms. While reading, you would also understand how oil industry actually works..

Firstly we shall bifurcate the oil and gas industry according to the nature of work done-it can be divided into mainly two categories-upstream and downstream sectors. The upstream sector includes companies engaged in exploration and production of oil & gas. The downstream sector is into the refining as well as the selling & distribution of oil & gas products. So all the products made from oil refining-including LPG, gasoline & diesel oil are produced by the downstream sector. Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) are part of the downstream sector. Popular OMC's in India include Indian Oil, HPCL, BPCL etc. Upstream companies in India include-Oil India, ONGC & GAIL.

Although the prices of petrol have been deregularized and there is much hue & cry amongst the price-sensitive aam aadmi, the fact remains that diesel & LPG is adminstered at prices lower than the international prices. OMC's suffer heavy losses due to difference between the selling price(i.e. the price at which is sold finally to the Indian consumers) and the market price (the price at which it is sold internationally). This is called under-recoveries. The burden of under-recoveries is borne by the government (which provides cash compensation to OMC's), Upstream Co.'s (in the form of price discounts to OMC's) & finally by the OMC's themselves. The large chunk, however is borne by the government which is almost equal to 70%. One may think that the losses of OMC's should subside due to deregualtion of petrol last year. However, the irony here is that petrol constitutes only a tiny portion of the fiscal burden that the government has to bear due to under-recoveries. Diesel and LPG consitute the large chunk.

Recently oil touched the $100 per barrel mark (& rising...) due to the political turmoil in Egypt and the middle east, this would definetely hit the balance sheets and financial reports of OMC's bad.

Although OMC's suffer heavy losses due to under-recoveries, the concept of losses and under-recoveries should not be used interchangably. Under-recoveries occur due to difference in the market price and the selling price of oil products whereas losses occur if cost exceeds the selling price.

If we carefuly look at the quarterly and the annual financial statements of OMC's, we would find there is great variablity in the profitability position amongst consecutive time intervals. This is due to the fact government compensation to the OMC's for under-recoveries is often delayed. Due to this OMC's profits yo-yo widly according to when they receive the compensation from the government. When there is delay in compensation, OMC's infuse huge amounts of cash to keep the show going.

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A quick trivia: After the collapse of Bretten Woods, one of the key reasons why the US Dollar bounced back was because oil per barrel was denominated in terms of USD. Sufficient oil reserves & a resurgent demand of US currency helped the US Dollar get back on track..!

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By:Tejas Singh

The LAWMAN- Section 138 of The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881

2010-12-26T23:15:00.000+05:30

What would you do when your creditor is standing in front of you and you have an empty pocket or on a general ground, what do a businessman do to its supplier’s payment if he don’t have sufficient funds? The easiest way a debtor can think of making a payment is through a cheque, no matter whether in his bank account, he has sufficient funds or not. Atleast he was getting the goods on time against which he was making payment for. What a general feeling would be, that the debtor made a big fool of his creditor. So here I write this article to make you realize the big repercussions you might have to face for the smartness you performed.

This smart man should have realized that Indian lawmakers are smarter. This case of Dishonor of cheque comes under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act 1881. The lawmakers with time realized that this offence is much higher than what can be called as corporate offence and that people take it lightly. They therefore transformed it into a criminal offence.

According to law, a person who draws such kind of cheque has following punishments-

Ø Fine which may extend upto double the amount or
Ø Imprisonment whose term may extend upto 2 years or
Ø Both

But there are some requirements which need to be fulfilled for this kind of punishments to be exercised or in other words, this law to be applicable. They are:-

That is all about how Law deals with these smart people. But over the time it was realized that people can try to find loopholes even in this.

Like I give you an example:-

Suppose the drawer is informed about this law and still has drawn a cheque without sufficient bank balance.

Now what he does is, he gave a command to his bank to have “Stop Payment” of that particular cheque.

When creditor sues him in a court under this section, he vehemtly refuses, feeling that section doesn’t apply to him as it says the dishonor reason to be “insufficiency of funds” and here it is “Stop Payment”. The drawer feels he has an easy escape, but sorry to him as it is not that simple.

For this simple reason the judges have given law words “insufficiency of funds” a wider meaning which include-

ü Stop Payment
ü Closure of Account (Another smartness, after drawing he might close his account in bank)
ü Signature differ (yes this is also punishable under section 138, you might be feeling that this could happen unintentionally as well but then if he is genuine, he must have made payment in those 15 days of grace period!!!!).

This is generally known as mischief rule.

So in future never try such smartness, less you may have to face some real difficulties.

By- Aman Maggu

Our Fatboy- Air India, Truly Indian!

2010-12-20T22:54:00.001+05:30

Our oldie, goldie Air India, given birth by J.R.D. Tata in 1932 with an aim to have India's own flying baby, is upset with this cruel world where a company, which was till two decades ago the sole bread winner in the airspace of the country, is no longer asked for by its fellow countrymen, let alone the swarms of foreigners coming to India to smirk at the slum dogs here. Tata's baby, which has grown up since, and exponentially, especially around the belly area, is seeming to be too heavy for its step daddy, our government, which can't stop it crying. Adopted in 1953 and scientifically experimented upon in 2007 when it was merged with its half brother, Indian Airlines, the experiment has gone haywire (as usual) and given life to such a monster (NACIL- National Aviation Company of India Limited) that the step daddy is desperately trying to find its mother so that it can save itself from the responsibility.

Its current godfather, Mr Praful Patel is feeding the fat NACIL at regular intervals, be it Rs 800 Crores past year, Rs 1200 crores in the coming weeks or Rs 3000 Crores promised in the coming 2 years. The fatboy is all too happy to have such a sincere godfather. But what can the godfather do, when the fatboy is threatening to go on a suicide mission if it is not nourished adequately. Why should it bother when the employer of the stepdaddy is giving him handsome salary (the taxpayer) because the employer can't fire the stepdaddy (these trade unions have five year contracts but all of them have the same shitty employees). Its another matter that the stepdaddy doesn't have money for distributing the grains to the poor family members of the employer.

Hunger list of the fatboy is long- Rs 40000 crore worth of loans outstanding, including Rs 12000crores in working capital loans, expenditure of Rs63 crore for every Rs 50 crore earned. Net Loss of Rs 5500 crore in 2009-10. And when the daddy tells it to loose some weight, it just is too lazy and unwilling to shred those precious fat cells giving warmth under the belly.

The godfather is thinking of a magic wand to make the fatboy leaner and meaner, having an IPO in the market, considering the heart whelming response in the recent PSU issues. Seeing the morale of Mr Praful Patel, we are also thinking of having an IPO of Kaleidoscope, encouraged by our potential investors' warm smiles in the farewell video. Atleast we will have a greater subscription than the NACIL.

But hey, next time, if you are planning to fly, try Air India. You will face some problems ( may be a lot of them) but there is light at the end of the dark tunnel ( or so we are made to believe). May be the baby will stop crying or atleast will stop 'leaking' on our shirts!

By- Rahul Bansal

The paradox of 'race', racism and sport

2010-12-07T20:20:00.012+05:30

The word 'racism' has been tossed around the past few years in almost every sphere of life —ranging from politics, to the military and the world of sports — the term is used to excuse and disregard a whole host of sins. Sometimes acceptable, often not, charges of racism against minorities are almost very common today.

Sports signifies sportsmanship and brings about a strong feeling of unity. Sports can empower, influence and inspire millions.

There is a popular belief that sport is a merit based game - largely free from the damaging effects of racism. But the truth lies in the fact that more often or not, fortunately or unfortunately, these terms have been associated with each other for quite some time now.

The paradox of race, racism and sports, which started as a political issue some time back has now become a source of mind games for some against those players whose ancestors have a faced a life of misery with this sensitive issue. As early as 18^th century, when the Americans introduced the game of Golf and blacks were forced to serve as the “caddies” assumed their supremacy over the game and the Blacks, serving it as a statement for the world.

Sport provides enough evidence of racial and biological differences between white, black and Asian athletes.

During 1936 Berlin Olympics Games, Jesse Owens caused an uproar by winning four gold medals and thus eradicating Hitler’s ideas of “White Supremacy”. This historical incident not only led to Hitler’s failure to acknowledge the greatness of Owens but also resulted in US President Roosevelt refusal to invite Jesse to white House as he couldn’t afford to offend conservative voters by being seen with Owens who was by then one of the most famous black sports people. He even had to stay and eat in ‘black-only’ hotels when they travelled. The few ‘white-only’ hotels that let the African American athletes stay made them use the back door instead of the stairs and the elevator.

Racism in Sport is a problem which is manifest around the world. It has led to a wide range of controversial incidents which have been reported in the media.

Dean Jones, the former Australia Test batsman turned TV commentator, was sacked in 2006 by his employers, Ten Sports, for calling South African cricketer Hashim Amla a 'terrorist' on live television. In a twist to the controversy, Jones said that his remark was not directed at Amla but to his South African teammate Nicky Boje.

Broadcaster Kelly Tilghman was suspended from The Golf Channel after joking about Tiger Woods being "lynched in a back alley" during final round coverage of the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

People might just have a perception that racism is prevalent only in sports where Western countries seem to dominate but the facts contradict this argument. It is as prevalent in other sports like cricket, golf and athletics.

Racism is also seen as something that comes with the cultural background of the sportsperson. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was jeered by the crowds wearing blackface and chanting nasty comments at him in Spain, a country known for its racism intolerance.

Some movies like Goal and Bend It Like Beckham have emphasized the extent of racism in sports. Derogatory terms are generally used to entice players resulting in a number of mishaps on the field. Agitated and offended players often get engulfed into a brawl resulting in a much affected match.

The governing bodies of some sports have implemented specific policies to control racism however in some countries and competitions racism in sport continues to be a significant human rights issue.

The scenario of the Sports industry is under going a much awaited transformation. A perfect example to support this line of thought is IPL that is taking place every year. Players from various backgrounds come together for only one cause, and that is to win the IPL trophy. These matches broke all notions of sports and racism that had crippled the minds of players and audiences for so many years. Pakistani player cheered for their Indian teammate while the Australians backed up their English counterparts. The matches enabled the world to be concised to something as small as the “Kolkata Knight Rider or “The Delhi Daredevils”

The just concluded Football World Cup in South Africa provided an opportunity both to take a fresh look at the issue of racism in sport, and to enhance sport's tremendous potential to undermine racism, xenophobia9racial intolerance) and similar forms of intolerance in wider society.

In many sporting nations across the world, a sport is akin to a religion. People who can’t understand each other due to linguistic differences still share a love for the same sport. It is for this reason that the fight against racism must triumph, that the love for sport doesn’t diminish.

-By:Rishabh Kant

The story of Low Interest Rates in Japan-"Cheap Money"

2010-11-01T08:53:00.007+05:30

Japan is a land of savers. The high rate of savings rate is largely attributed to the demographic trends in the economy-the Japanese population is aging rapidly & as older people have a lesser propensity to consume-they tend to spend less of their income.

The period 1991-2000 is termed as the "Lost Decade" in the history of Japanese economy. It was considered to be a period of stagnant growth because the Japanese economy was bearing the after-effects of the speculation bubble of late 1980's.

So, the early 1990's saw-the high savings rate coupled with a slow economy. The slowing down of the economy increased the level of job insecurity in a country where citizens were used to lifetime employment. To ensure they have enough money in their hands to meet contingencies-the savings rate increased even more which drove down borrowing. All these factors led to the presence of "cheap money"- that is loan available at unbelievably low interest rates-with short term borrowing often below even 1%.

Due to sharp difference interest rates offered by Japanese bank & a U.S. bank (say), the U.S. investors took advantage of the cheap interest rates by investing their money in Japan & converting them into dollars later. But all this involved a lot of gamble! If the yen appreciated in value more than the interest rate advantage of borrowing the yen, the U.S. investor would actually LOSE money. This happened during the time when sub-prime crisis was at its peak (2007-2008) & there was declining interest rates in the U.S economy.This period saw the fall in dollar relative to the yen and many investors lost their money due to this.

Indeed, if we were to strictly follow the theory taught in the books of international finance-low interest rates will be offset by anticipated appreciation while high interest rates will be offset by anticipated depreciation.

Another interesting thing to note is the difference in the savings & consumption habits of a Japanese and an American. They are extremely opposite-poles apart..! The Japanese like to save & the Americans like to live for today-& consume. The age of consumerism without doubt haunts the American economy.

-Tejas Singh

Still a Long Way to Go for China to attain Financial Liberalization...

2010-09-16T22:54:00.001+05:30

What is Financial Liberalization

Financial Liberalization is the process of breaking away from a state of financial repression (which is commonly associated with govt. fixing of interest rates to its adverse consequences on the financial sector as well as on the country's economy). So Financial Liberalization is freeing interest rates, reducing reserve requirements to eliminate the directed credit schemes, while stabilizing the price level. But it is a narrow definition, an obsolete one.

Now, Financial Liberalization also involves easing of portfolio restrictions on banks, changes in the ownership of banks, encouraging competition among banks, integration of domestic entities to international markets and changes in the monetary policy. It includes a freely functioning of foreign exchange markets and eliminating restrictions on current payments and transfers.

What is the state of Banking System in China

(We will be limiting ourselves to the banking system in China after 1949 when the present govt. of People's Republic of China (PRC) came into power.)

Rapid nationalization and consolidation of Chinese banks took place in the initial years of PRC taking over and banking sector was the first sector to be completely socialized. However during the 1980's, banking system expanded and diversified to support reforms. First Stock Exchanges were opened in 1986 which were although small in size of operations like the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Now lately, Chinese banks are functioning more like banks than before. China's banking system has remained in the government's hands even though banks have gained more autonomy. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is China's central bank which formulates and regulates its monetary policy. PBOC has full autonomy in applying the monetary instruments like setting interest rates for commercial banks. China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) took over the supervisory role from PBOC in 2003.

The Big Four

There are four mammoth government owned banks in China controlling majority of the money in the financial system of China.

1- The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (CBC) is the largest bank in China.

2- The Bank of China (BOC) specializes in foreign exchange transactions of trade finance.

3- China Construction Bank specializing in medium to long term credit for long term specialized projects like infrastructure and housing.

4- The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) specializes in providing funds to China's agricultural sector and offers banking services to farmers and other rural institutions.

In 1995, the operations of the ‘big four’ were commercialized. These are the first tier banks.

There are also second tier banks in China which are having much better asset quality and profit base. These were supposed to be run by private players but even now, major shareholders of these banks are local governments, and state owned and State controlled enterprises.

There are also more than 200 foreign banking institutions in China but they only play a limited role. Throughout the history of PRC, banking system has exerted close control over the finance and money supply.

Firstly, the interest rates for Chinese banks as well as foreign banks holding the deposits of Chinese citizens are regulated. But from 148 categories of interest rates, only 34 categories now reside under the regulation of the govt. The interest rates for rest are simplified or market driven.

Secondly, at the present indirect financing remains the main channel of financing for business companies. It implies that the stock markets have a very limited and highly regulated role, in case companies want to raise money, where companies (firms) can directly borrow from the public (households). Majorly, they will have to access banks which have all the deposits from general public and borrow the money. Due to this, assets of the banking sector are above 80% of the total assets of the entire financial sector. The BIG FOUR accounted for more than 61% of the loans. Second tier banks have assets somewhere around 14% of the total.

Major Restriction - All govt. departments, publicly and collectively owned economic units and social, political, military and educational organizations were required to hold their financial balances as bank deposits. They were also instructed to keep just enough cash to meet daily expenses. Payments for goods and services exchanged by economic units were only done through banks. “This helped to minimize the need for currency and minimize black money”, is what they say. It meant that besides one’s petty expenses, all other monetary transactions were to be done through banks. Considering that the online banking has just been introduced in China in August, 2010, one could imagine how restrictive and harassing this regulation has been for the Chinese corporations and institutions.

China is slowly de-regulating its banking system to keep pace with the rapid development it is encountering in the past decades. But there is still a long way to go for PRC to become financially liberal and stimulate savings and investments. The sequence of reforms, as in China national policy, is to liberalize the interest rate of foreign currency before that of domestic currency, lending before deposit. Large amount and long term before small amount and short term. As the first step, PBOC liberalized the interest rates for foreign currency loans and large deposits but the interest rates for savings deposits and loans in local currency will still take a long time before being liberalized.

There are still many weaknesses in the regulatory and legal system of China. For eg. there is no legal code to handle bankruptcy of financial institutions nor any regulations governing electronic transactions etc. Beside low capital base of asset quality, banks in China also suffer from poor corporate governance and lack of adequate risk management skill.

I recently saw news on the net that – Chains To Launch New Internet Banking System on August 30, 2010. It will allow depositors to check their separate bank accounts information and make "real-time" inter-bank transfers at one place. It’s mainly online banking system introduced very late in a booming economy hindering growth of commerce. Well.. better late than never.

By- Rahul Bansal
A sincere thanks to Amrita Ma'am for helping me.

Capitalism is a flawed system but other systems are much worse...

2010-09-13T20:17:00.009+05:30

If perfection were really an available option, the choice of economic and political system would be irrelevant. In an imperfect world, with limited resources, [the basic problem of economics-scarcity!], the choice is not between capitalism and socialism but imperfect capitalism and imperfect socialism. Note that no country can be purely capitalistic or purely socialistic in nature. [See Notes at the end of the article if you want to know what exactly capitalism, socialism & communism mean]

Despite all its faults, if we were to closely observe the disordered picture of economic progress that we have made in the 20^th & 21^st century-capitalism as the choice of economic system is the clear winner.

Indian Scenario

First let us look into the Indian scenario. Our country has been steadily becoming more capitalistic in nature over the years. In fact, capitalism accounts form 3/4^th of our GDP. A sector wise analysis substantiates this.

Crops are planted & produced in our country according to expected prices/profits. Of course, other variables matter such as rainfall, irrigation and fertilizer use. But the driving force is profits. Capitalism, therefore, defines 17 per cent of India’s GDP, namely agriculture.

Services account for 55% of GDP, if you deduct the government’s share-there is still 40% of the GDP contributed by the private sector.

Some 2/3^rd’s of the manufacturing sector/industry which accounts for 28% of GDP, is purely private. That is another 18% approximately. Moreover most PSU’s are more profit oriented than ever.

Therefore we can comfortably say that capitalism accounts for approximately 75% of our country’s GDP.

Strength of Capitalism

Strength of capitalism lies in the incentive structure mechanism that is integral in a capitalist society. A simple example would help explain why capitalism is better than socialism.

Suppose, there are 4 students in a class- Rahul, Vishal, Aakriti & Tejas. They are awarded grades according to their performance.

The grades awarded were: Aakriti: “A”, Rahul: “B”, Vishal: “C”, Tejas: “D”

According to new rules, the college authorities decide that each student shall be given the same grade i.e. “C”. The new move de-motivates high performers like Aakriti and Rahul as they don’t have any incentive to perform better. Lack of incentive mechanism reduces everyone’s performance and efforts as they know irrespective of how they perform; they are going to get the same grade. Anyone who complained about the new system was chucked out of the chool or suffered severe punishment.

The earlier performance based incentive mechanism represents capitalism in real life, while the new system stands for socialism.

The case of Soviet Union and China-Transition from Socialism/Communism to Capitalism

Prior to 1991, the soviet economy was the second largest in the world, but during its last years as USSR, it suffered huge budget deficits and severe shortage of food, which ultimately resulted in its collapse.

From 1949-1978 China was a soviet style planned economy, during the Era of Mao’s regime. After the death of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping began to reform the economy and transformed into market oriented economy-this started from 1978. The rest as they say is history-China’s meteoric rise as an economic powerhouse pulled millions out of poverty and its economic muscle is only next to U.S.

Even Fidel Castro in a recent interview has admitted that the Communist model has failed in Cuba!

SOCIALISM-The Big Lie of the 20^th Century?

Many term socialism as the big lie of 20^th Century. The strength of capitalism over socialism can be attributed to basically 2 reasons:

(a)Profits & Losses (b) Prices determined by Market Forces

Profits and Losses: In a centrally planned economy there is no way to accurately determine the success or failure of various programs. Which programs should be expanded or which should be contracted/terminated? –cannot be determined in a socialist economy.

In capitalism, since the firms operate with profit motive, there is greater efficiency and competitiveness to deliver superior customer service. Take for example: the telecom services sector in India,there are numerous competitive players in the market like Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Tata etc. offering so many different schemes to woo the Indian mobile phone user.

Prices determined by market forces: Capitalism ensures that market prices transmit information about relative scarcity and then efficiently co-ordinates economic activity.

Example: Take the example of OPEC oil crisis of 1970’s. OPEC countries restricted the supply of oil, hence the oil prices increased drastically. Consumers started driving less, car-pooling more, and started using public transportation for commuting. Producers in turn got the incentive of exploring and developing alternative fuels of energy resources.

In Socialism, since price of commodities are set by the government, they are either too high or too low- [in most cases] which leads to constant shortages or surpluses. The commodity prices do not change with the market forces of demand and supply which leads to problems.

Not all is right with Capitalism

Ill effects of capitalism are not due to capitalism but due to corruption of capitalism. There are numerous examples- right from Enron, WorldCom, Satyam to the recent BP oil disaster.

Obsession with the “bottom line” means that the broader concerns of stakeholders are sacrificed for the narrower interests of shareholders.

What we don’t need is “Crony Capitalism” where success of a business is dependent on favoritism-shown by ruling government in the form of tax breaks, government grants and other incentives. Take for example: the recent Vedanta controversy-if Anil Aggarwal had managed to strike a deal with the government for expanding its operations in tribal-occupied Orrisa through favoritism shown by the government-it would have been an example of crony capitalism. {But we must commend the firm stance taken by Jairam Ramesh, the environment minister and PM Manmohan Singh against the issue}

We need Sustainable Capitalism: is a new brand of capitalism which takes into account the long term view includes socio economic development and environmental sustainability.

Fall of Lehman Brothers and the Financial Meltdown-Is Capitalism to Blame?

Contrary to the popular perception, 2008 financial crisis did not take place primarily due to the ill effects of capitalism but due to seriously flawed monetary policy put in place over 2 decades ago by former fed reserve chairman- This encouraged the era of consumerism in America-people began consuming beyond their means as credit was easily available on artificially low interest rates. It increased the risk taking propensity of the average American consumer. However, one should note, that the seriously flawed monetary policy was the primary reason, not the only reason behind the financial collapse.

If Keynesian economics were to work, the current global meltdown would be shallow and short lived-the massive infusion of stimulus capital would have turned around the US economy in a short time. [Keynesian economics-advocated the intervention of central banks via fiscal and monetary policy to undo balances]

But U.S. economy is still deep down a rabbit hole-U.S. will take at least a couple of years to fully recover.

Lessons to be learnt: Many economists worldwide are preaching a new brand of Capitalism called “Controlled Capitalism”, in controlled capitalism-we need limited but controlled interventions in the free market, leaving to self regulate for most market.

From the above discussion we conclude that imperfect capitalism which is sustainable and controlled is the best choice amongst all other systems.

Note:

To put it in simple terms:

Capitalism means the economy in the hands of private sector

Socialism means the economy in the hands of public i.e. Government

Communism: is a broader term than socialism, it includes both the economy and the political system.

However the objectives of socialism and communism are largely the same.

The only exception is China-which has a Communist Government and a imperfect capitalist form of economy-

Political System: China has a one party system i.e. the People’s Party of China (PPC) controlling the political system. China’s media is highly controlled-In a report released by “Reports without Borders” in 2005-China ranks 159^th out of 167^th in its annual freedom world index. Censorship of Media is a common practice to silence criticism about the government.

Economy: After the era of Mao Zedong came to an end mainly from 1949-1978, China has largely been a capitalist economy and has become an economic powerhouse over three decades of market oriented reforms and becoming a more globalised and liberalized economy.

I leave you with this a deep thought- a quote by Winston Churchill
"The inherent vice of Capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings, the inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery!"

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By: Tejas Singh

A Case Worth a Study- BRITANNIA Industries

2010-09-11T22:51:00.003+05:30

Chairman - Mr. Nusli Neville Wadia

Managing Director- Ms. Vinita Bali

The story of one of India's favourite brands reads almost like a fairy tale. Once upon a time, in 1892 to be precise, a biscuit company was started in a nondescript house in Calcutta (now Kolkata) with an initial investment of Rs. 295. The company we all know as Britannia today.

The beginnings might have been humble-the dreams were anything but. By 1910, with the advent of electricity, Britannia mechanised its operations, and in 1921, it became the first company east of the Suez Canal to use imported gas ovens. Britannia's business was flourishing. But, more importantly, Britannia was acquiring a reputation for quality and value. As a result, during the tragic World War II, the Government reposed its trust in Britannia by contracting it to supply large quantities of "service biscuits" to the armed forces.

As time moved on, the biscuit market continued to grow… and Britannia grew along with it. In 1975, the Britannia Biscuit Company took over the distribution of biscuits from Parry's who till now distributed Britannia biscuits in India. In the subsequent public issue of 1978, Indian shareholding crossed 60%, firmly establishing the Indianness of the firm. The following year, Britannia Biscuit Company was re-christened Britannia Industries Limited (BIL). Four years later in 1983, it crossed the Rs. 100 crores revenue mark.

On the operations front, the company was making equally dynamic strides. In 1992, it celebrated its Platinum Jubilee. In 1997, the company unveiled its new corporate identity - "Eat Healthy, Think Better" - and made its first foray into the dairy products market. In 1999, the "Britannia Khao, World Cup Jao" promotion further fortified the affinity consumers had with 'Brand Britannia'.

Britannia strode into the 21st Century as one of India's biggest brands and the pre-eminent food brand of the country. It was equally recognised for its innovative approach to products and marketing: the Lagaan Match was voted India's most successful promotional activity of the year 2001 while the delicious Britannia 50-50 Maska-Chaska became India's most successful product launch. In 2002, Britannia's New Business Division formed a joint venture with Fonterra, the world's second largest Dairy Company, and Britannia New Zealand Foods Pvt. Ltd. was born. In recognition of its vision and accelerating graph, Forbes Global rated Britannia 'One amongst the Top 200 Small Companies of the World', and The Economic Times pegged Britannia India's 2nd Most Trusted Brand.

Today, more than a century after those tentative first steps, Britannia's fairy tale is not only going strong but blazing new standards, and that miniscule initial investment has grown by leaps and bounds to crores of rupees in wealth for Britannia's shareholders. The company's offerings are spread across the spectrum with products ranging from the healthy and economical Tiger biscuits to the more lifestyle-oriented Milkman Cheese. Having succeeded in garnering the trust of almost one-third of India's one billion population and a strong management at the helm means Britannia will continue to dream big on its path of innovation and quality. And millions of consumers will savour the results, happily ever after.

MILESTONES

1892

The Genesis - Britannia established with an investment of Rs. 295 in Kolkata

1910

Advent of electricity sees operations mechanised

1921

Imported machinery introduced; Britannia becomes the first company East

of the Suez to use gas ovens

1939 - 44

Sales rise exponentially to Rs.16,27,202 in 1939

During 1944 sales ramp up by more than eight times to reach Rs.1.36 crore

1975

Britannia Biscuit Company takes over biscuit distribution from Parry's

1978

Public issue - Indian shareholding crosses 60%

1979

Re-christened Britannia Industries Ltd. (BIL)

1983

Sales cross Rs.100 crore

1992

BIL celebrates its Platinum Jubilee

1993

Wadia Group acquires stake in ABIL, UK and becomes an equal partner

with Groupe Danone in BIL

1994

Volumes cross 1,00,000 tons of biscuits

1997

Re-birth - new corporate identity 'Eat Healthy, Think Better' leads to

new mission: 'Make every third Indian a Britannia consumer'
BIL enters the dairy products market

1999

"Britannia Khao World Cup Jao" - a major success! Profit up by 37%

2000

Forbes Global Ranking - Britannia among Top 300 small companies

2001

BIL ranked one of India's biggest brands

No.1 food brand of the country

Britannia Lagaan Match: India's most successful promotional activity of the year

Maska Chaska: India's most successful FMCG launch

2002

BIL launches joint venture with Fonterra, the world's second largest dairy company

Britannia New Zealand Foods Pvt. Ltd. is born

Rated as 'One amongst the Top 200 Small Companies of the World' by Forbes Global

Economic Times ranks BIL India's 2nd Most Trusted Brand

Pure Magic -Winner of the Worldstar, Asiastar and Indiastar award for packaging

2003

'Treat Duet'- most successful launch of the year

Britannia Khao World Cup Jao rocks the consumer lives yet again

2004

Britannia accorded the status of being a 'Superbrand'

Volumes cross 3,00,000 tons of biscuits

Good Day adds a new variant - Choconut - in its range

2005

Re-birth of Tiger - 'Swasth Khao, Tiger Ban Jao' becomes the popular chant!

Britannia launched 'Greetings' range of premium assorted gift packs

The new plant in Uttaranchal, commissioned ahead of schedule.

The launch of yet another exciting snacking option - Britannia 50-50 Pepper Chakkar

2007

Britannia industries formed a joint venture with the Khimji Ramdas Group and acquired a 70 percent beneficial state in the Dubai-based Strategic Foods International Co. LLC and 65.4% in the Oman-based Al Sallan Food Industries Co. SAOG.

2008

Britannia launched Iron fortified 'Tiger Banana' biscuits, 'Good Day Classic Cookies', Low Fat Dahi and renovated 'MarieGold'.

Source- Powerbrands

Ketan Parekh Scam: The Stock and Bull Story

2010-09-05T19:34:00.017+05:30

Ketan Parekh is a name which rings a bell in our minds as the man behind one of the biggest scams of Indian stock exchange in 2000-2001. Through this article, I have explained the modus operandi of the “Ketan Parekh Scam” in a simple language without any technical jargon so that even a layman can understand. But before that, let’s get aware about an interesting fact, both Ketan Parkesh & Harshad Mehta, another big swindler of Indian stock exchange are the “infamous” alumni of the same school in Gujarat. God knows what is taught in that school!!!!!

Ketan Parekh-also known as the “Bombay Bull” was a known broker of Indian stock exchange. Over the years, Ketan built a network of companies mainly concentrated in Mumbai. According to market sources, although he was a big broker, he didn’t have enough funds to buy large stocks. He borrowed funds from various companies and banks for this purpose. He used to raise loan from the banks by offering shares as collateral security. The companies in which KP held stakes included Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL), Mukta Arts, Tips and Pritish Nandy Communications. He also had stakes in HFCL, Global Telesystems (Global), Zee telefilms, Crest Communications, and PentaMedia Graphics . Ketan selected these companies for investment with help from his research team, which listed high growth companies with a small capital base. According to media reports, KP took advantage of low liquidity in these stocks, which eventually came to be known as the 'K-10' stocks.

The shares were held through KP's company, Triumph International. In July 1999, he held around 1.2 million shares in Global. KP controlled around 16% of Global's floating stock, 25% of Aftek Infosys, and 15% each in Zee and HFCL.

He started trading of these shares within the network of his own companies at no profit no loss with the malafide intention of creating buying pressure for shares of K-10 .Continuous trading by Ketan Parekh within the network of his own companies make other brokers in the market believe that something is happening inside K-10. Thus brokers started buying shares of K-10 for themselves and also urge their clients to buy these shares. The buoyant stock markets from January to July 1999 helped the K-10 stocks increase in value substantially. HFCL soared by 57% while Global increased by 200%. As a result, brokers and fund managers started investing heavily in K-10 stocks.

Mutual funds like Alliance Capital, ICICI Prudential Fund and UTI also invested in K-10 stocks, and saw their net asset value soaring. By January 2000, K-10 stocks regularly featured in the top five traded stocks in the exchanges. HFCL's traded volumes shot up from 80,000 to 1,047,000 shares. Global's total traded value in the Sensex was Rs 51.8 billion.

As such huge amounts of money were being pumped into the markets, it became tough for KP to control the movements of the scrips. Also, it was reported that the volumes got too big for him to handle. Analysts and regulators wondered how KP had managed to buy such large stakes.

At that time Ketan thought of selling his shares but it is said that some senior officials of Zee telefilms told him to continue trading till the share value reach Rs 1000 mark and thus Ketan continued. He finally sold all his shares of zee at market price of Rs 1100. Though he earned enormous profits but due to sudden selling of huge number of shares and consequent fall in trading led to a fall in the markets and thus share price fall drastically to around 200 again. Investors lost heavily and many committed suicide. That was what Ketan did.

This scam created a historical impact on financial status of Bombay Stock Exchange and also on faith of investors in its working. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was highly criticized as being reactive rather than proactive. The market regulator was blamed for being lax in handling the issue of unusual price movement and tremendous volatility in shares over an 18-month period prior to February 2001.

Analysts also opined that SEBI's market intelligence was very poor. Analysts commented that if the regulatory
authorities had been alert, the huge erosion in values could have been avoided or at least controlled. Ketan Parekh was sent behind bars immediately though was later released on bail. Currently he has been prohibited from trading in the Indian stock exchanges till 2017. One would have thought that after this scam the regulatory authorities would have became more strict and effective and than we come across the Satyam scam!!!!!!!!

By: Aman Maggu

For reading about the harshad mehta scam: click on the following link: http://kaleidoscopeonline.blogspot.com/2010/02/harshad-mehta-from-pied-piper-of_25.html

CHINA's Growth Story-The Way Forward....

2010-08-25T17:41:00.008+05:30

THE BIG QUESTION: Will the economic miracle run out of steam?

China’s growth story so far has been spectacular to say the least. According to data released on 16^th of August, the world’s no. 1 exporter has surpassed Japan to become the 2^nd largest economy; just behind the U.S. -Japan had managed to keep its second spot in terms of economic muscle for the last 43 years, so dethroning Japan was a significant milestone. But “wait” before you think everything’s fine with the dragon economy-it is slowly, but surely losing its steam.

There’s no denying the fact that it had recorded a massive 11.9% GDP growth in the first quarter of 2010. But Q2 figures haven’t been that encouraging-10.3% is the growth rate, a sharp fall of about 1.5%. There are several economic threats that are haunting the Chinese economy.

A major contributor to the slowdown has been the “Real estate bubble” that has been building up. Excessive investment and speculative purchases is driving prices in the real estate sectors to unsustainably high levels. The government has phased out $586-billion stimulus spending, tightening curbs on lending and checking spiraling property prices, and thereby cooling growth in the property sector. Curbs on spending would directly and proportionally affect growth in the coming time.

Second factor that seems to plaguing the Chinese economy is the apparent upsurge in workers who have begun pushing for higher wages and better working conditions. According to estimates by Deutsche Bank –“the minimum wage increase is to be around 20 per cent in most provinces and cities”. Another report by World Bank mentioned that the average rural wages rose 16.4 per cent in the first quarter of the 2010 from a year earlier.

The third problem that China faces is rising raw material prices. China's export growth remains strong, though rising costs for raw materials have eroded the country's cost advantage. It would be worthwhile to note here that during the first half of 2010, the total value of imports and exports, accounted for nearly 37 percent of the Chinese GDP.

Other factors include the steep fall in Industrial Production. It experienced a surprisingly sharp slowdown to a growth rate of 13.7%, down from 16.5% in May 2010. Some economists are also worried that stagflation -- inflation coupled with lower growth -- could emerge, although it seems highly unlikely.

It is imperative for China to raise the bar when it comes to the quality of economic development. In 2009, China’s urban rural divide widened to its highest since 1978. The fact of the matter remains that China is still a developing nation over 40 million below the poverty line. Overtaking Japan in terms of GDP is not going to change the basic truth. China’s per capita income is over 10 times lower than Japan’s and its population is 10 times bigger. It is a rapidly ageing country and its one child policy shows signs of becoming a burden.

China’s growth is not sustainable. It has polluted rivers, severe air pollution & large scale deforestation. By 2020, China is expected to have 400 million tonnes of rubbish, which is equal to the entire waste generated on the planet in 1997.

Despite all this, the Chinese are optimistic about their economy. The government has said that a slowdown is good in the long-term as policymakers try to reduce the country's heavy reliance on exports and investment to drive growth. The government sees this phrase as mid course correction period rather than a slowdown of the economy. The focus is now being shifted to domestic markets to compensate for slowing of export markets. China has more than one million-millionaires today. Relatively strong job creation in the recent times has helped support robust consumer demand which is strengthening China’s inward growth.

A long-term estimate by the World Bank research suggests that China's annual economic growth rate will fall to an average of 7 per cent in 2016-2020 - about the level the government has said is its target for sustainable growth.

So, to sum it all, China faces a lot of economic challenges in the form of above mentioned problems. However through effective policy formulation, they can slowly get back on the track of growth-growth which is both sustainable and inclusive.

-Tejas Singh

Adolf Hitler & His Ideology

2010-08-15T09:24:00.010+05:30

"By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise."-Hitler's views on totalitarianism

Adolf Hilter is a name which we all have heard a lot but know quite little. As we all know Adolf Hitler was an absolute dictator of Germany, who was actually extremely patriotic and a German nationalist. He was not only anti- Jew but was a bundle of "anti-" attitudes - anti-democratic and anti-Republican. He was an ardent Social Darwinist, which means that he believed that the process of survival of the fittest by natural selection should be artificially speeded up by the government, for example by killing 'incurables' and various 'undesirables'.

Hitler joined the well known Nazi party in 1922 because he was anxious and furious over the defeat of Germany in World War I and very harsh provisions of treaty of Versailles. And he was of belief that it was entirely because of Jews and republic government of Germany. He through his magnetic and ironic charisma was able to inspire millions of fellow Germans that Germany is in grave danger. He was able to persuade them to take “life or death struggle” to save their country.

IN 1933 Hitler became the chancellor of Germany and took power in his hands. In 1934, upon the death of German President Hindenburg in August 1934, he consolidated himself as absolute dictator.

Hitler had two dreams. The first was to bring together all Germans in a vast 'Greater Germany'; the second was the expansion of Germany into the virtually 'boundless' territory of the Soviet Union. After all, Germany has briefly defeated Russia in 1917-1918, but this victory had been of no practical use while they faced defeat in Western Europe. In Operation Barbarossa he gambled all - and lost disastrously.

In fact during second world war also , when Germany was facing huge success initially and had already defeated and captured the arch rival France and huge portions of east Europe including Austria , Hungary ,Czech republic , Slovakia ,Poland , Hitler’s main concern and anxiousness was to taste the rich fruits of Soviet Union .

This was in February, 1942 when German army attacked Stalingrad, a city in Soviet Union that turn out to be the turning point of the war. The people of the city come out in support of army and German army faced one of its major defeats. It was amongst the bloodiest in the history of warfare, with the upper estimates of combined casualties coming to nearly two million.

Hitler completely underestimated the power of Soviet Union. Then the Soviet Union bounced back and turned out to be the main reason for defeat of Germany in Second World War. Germany faced forces from both sides, Soviet Union from east and Britain with other allied powers from west. And on 30th April 1945, Russian army entered Berlin and Hitler committed suicide on the same day with newly wed wife Eva Braun. And with this come the end of the most terrified dictatorship ever in the world.

By: Aman Maggu

Five MYTHS about IMMIGRATION

2010-08-14T23:00:00.001+05:30

Keeping in view the latest Bill by Barack Obama penalizing firms having more than 50% people working on job visas, here a reality check. Its an older post of kaleidoscope but is more relevant now.

Source- HT
(The author wrote addressing the US citizens)
Despite the fact that US is a nation of immigrants or perhaps because of it immigration continues to be one of America’s most contentious topics. The new law in Arizona authorising police to arrest individuals who cannot show documents proving that they are in the country legally has set off a fresh bout of acrimony. But as in the past, much of the debate is founded on mythology. Here are some of the myths:

1.)Immigrants take jobs from American workers

Although immigrants account for 12.5 percent of the US population, they make up about 15 percent of the workforce. They are overrepresented among workers largely because the rest of our population is aging: Immigrants and their children have accounted for 58 percent of US population growth since 1980. This probably won’t change anytime soon. Low US fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigration is likely to be the only source of growth in what we call the “prime age” workforce workers ages 25 to 55 in the decades ahead. As record numbers of retirees begin drawing Social Security checks, younger immigrant workers will be paying taxes, somewhat easing the financial pressures on the system.

Immigrants tend to be concentrated in high- and low-skilled occupations that complement rather than compete with jobs held by natives. As a result, immigrants experience higher employment than natives during booms but they suffer higher job losses during downturns.

2.)Immigration at an all-time high; most came illegally

The historic high came in 1890, when immigrants made up 14.8 percent of US population. Today, about two-thirds of immigrants are here legally, commonly known as “green card” holders. And of the approximately 10.8 million immigrants who are in the country illegally, about 40 percent overstayed their visas.

It’s worth noting that although the unauthorized immigrant population includes more people from Mexico than from any other country, Mexicans are also the largest group of lawful immigrants. Apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border have declined by more than 50 percent over the past four years. This decline is largely due to the recession, but stepped-up border enforcement is playing a part.

3.)Today’s immigrants are not integrating into society

The integration of immigrants remains a hallmark of America’s vitality as a society. Although some people complain that today’s immigrants are not integrating into US society as quickly as previous newcomers did, the same charge was leveled at virtually every past wave of immigrants, including the large numbers of Germans, Irish and Italians who arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Today, as before, immigrant integration takes a generation or two. Learning English is one key driver of this process; the education and upward mobility of immigrants’ children is the other. On the first count, today’s immigrants consistently seek English instruction in such large numbers that adult-education programs cannot meet the demand, especially in places such as California.

However, the unauthorised status of millions of immigrants can interrupt integration. For example, illegal immigrants are ineligible for in-state tuition, making higher education out of their reach.

4.)Curbing illegal crossings will make us safe

The job of protecting the nation’s borders is immense, encompassing nearly 7,500 miles of land borders, 12,380 miles of coastline and a vast network of sea ports, international airports, ports of entry along the Mexican and Canadian borders and visa-issuing consulates abroad.

Our southwest border is more a classic law enforcement challenge than a front line in the war on terrorism. Antiterrorism measures rely heavily on intelligence gathering and clandestine efforts that are unrelated to border enforcement.

The seasoned enforcement officials contend that if we provided enough visas to meet the economy’s demand for workers, border agents would be freed to focus on protecting the nation from truly dangerous individuals.

5.)Reform cannot happen in an election year

The politics of immigration can be explosive, especially as elections near, with the result that Congress infrequently updates immigration laws. However, all the significant immigration bills enacted in recent decades were passed in election years.

This list dates back to the Refugee Act of 1980, which established our system for humanitarian protection and refugee and asylum admissions. Next came the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which made it illegal to hire unauthorised immigrants and provided amnesty for 2.7 million illegal immigrants. The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the number of visas allotted to highly skilled workers. And the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act charged immigration agencies with implementing significant new law enforcement mandates.

Legislative attempts to make urgently needed changes fizzled in the House in 2005 and in the Senate in 2006 and 2007, and the to-do list for this Congress is substantial. But ruling out immigration reform, whether because Congress has other priorities or because it’s an election year, would be a mistake. The outline for immigration legislation that Senator Charles Schumer (NY) and his Democratic colleagues unveiled last week, together with the uproar over the Arizona law, may help convince lawmakers that there’s no time like now.

METER JAM IN MUMBAI AND Other Major Cities

2010-08-12T22:39:00.003+05:30

Today I felt and understood the real meaning of "One India One Practice". I felt that the auto drivers of Delhi are rude and so choosy about which passengers to ferry, where to go and what to charge because of huge demand for such services in a place like Delhi where people are tripping off its brink. Most of you must had such bitter experiences where auto rickshaw driver wasn't going in the direction where you wanted to go (oh! my bad luck), overcharging ( dear see the inflation rates) and his meter seems to have died a premature death with no chances of revival. But now I know, its a universal practice here in India. You could find those rude and overcharging rickety autos and taxis in all major Indian cities.

Its what the METER JAM organised today, 12th August showed. People from around the country told their stories of when the auto or taxi drivers refused to carry them when they needed to be at some place urgently or when the little pocket money saved by the students for the next movie is demanded by the drivers because he will settle for no less. People pledged on www.meterjam.com not to hire the autos and taxis on Thursday to show THEIR unity against the auto and taxi unions. Ones who had cars ferried others to their places and many took buses and Metros to their destinations.Well, a staggering 37,000 people in Mumbai alone joined the campaign with Delhi being the second city from where large number of people also participated along with people from Bangalore and Chennai.

It was the first time that the harassed passengers around the county had a way of showing their anger and protest against these injustices happening everyday in every corner of the country. Our state governments issue special helpline numbers and guidelines against such illegal practices of the auto and taxi drivers but these numbers are defunct or inefficient everytime. Maybe it has just become another source of earning dirty money by our cops and transport officials. The campaign has given hope to the people and are already asking to hold such campaigns every month or even every day till such malpractices are weeded out.

If you also want to show your protest and be a part of this campaign against the dadagiri of auto and taxi drivers, voice your views and log on to meterjam.com and tell those rude drivers that they can no longer take us for granted and we are not at their mercy. Suffer No longer, No more.

By Rahul Bansal

US bleeding due to Wikileaks!

2010-07-28T00:55:00.002+05:30

Forget Osama Bin Laden. US latest obsession must be Julian Assange, the man behind Wikileaks, who with a handful of others is day by day putting online more records and information depicting the hollowness of the claims made by the powerful leaders of the world, with the major target being the US.

US is running for cover since a massive leak of more than 92,000 top secret documents titled- "Afghan War Log" containing day to day reporting of the soldiers and intelligence reports. But now US is trying to show a bold face, telling the world that they had nothing to hide and all the info contained in those leaked documents was already shared with the concerned countries including India. But what they are failing to explain is why billions are poured into Pakistan when they have sufficient proof that ISI is funding Taliban or why civilian causalities were reported as enemy deaths. The documents clearly show the failing US led NATO forces there and why the war was not merited from the beginning.

But the world attention is also on Julian Assange, a former computer hacker from Australia who decided that he wanted to do his best to make all secrets public. His special attention is on US, but their website has also revealed documents about the toxic materials being thrown in the oceans alongside African coasts, affecting elections in Kenya by exposing corruption among many other projects.

How Wikileaks operates

WikiLeaks, which runs on funding from donors, has been rather secretive about how it operates. But essentially the idea behind the site is this: People who have access to controversial or classified documents can send them to the site, either through the internet or through the mail. Then a group of volunteer editors for the site decides what information is authoritative, what information is important, and publishes it accordingly. In this way, the site differs from traditional "wikis," such as Wikipedia, which can be edited and changed by anyone at any time. Only approved information ends up on the WikiLeaks site, but anyone is free to submit documents he or she believes should be made public. WikiLeaks offers these whistle-blowers anonymity and, to a degree, legal protection.

Technical backbone

Since WikiLeaks is in the business of publishing information that governments and multinational corporations want kept secret, the site employs some technical tricks that aim to keep it from crashing or being hacked.

The site keeps servers on multiple continents, and its sensitive information passes through countries -- such as Sweden, Iceland and Belgium -- that have offered WikiLeaks a degree of legal protection.

"We use this state-of-the-art encryption to bounce stuff around the internet to hide trails -- pass it through legal jurisdictions like Sweden and Belgium to enact those legal protections," Julian Assange said. The fact that WikiLeaks' servers and volunteers are all over the globe makes it, in effect, the "world's first stateless news organization." This is key to the site's ability to protect itself.

"WikiLeaks is organized so that if the crackdown comes in one country, the servers can be switched on in another," he writes. "This is meant to put it beyond the reach of any government or legal system." Assange reportedly has spent his life developing the tech skills needed to set up such a system. "As a teenager in Melbourne, Australia, he belonged to a hacker collective called the International Subversives." He eventually pleaded guilty to multiple counts "of breaking into Australian government and commercial websites to test their security gaps, but was released on bond for good behavior."

Julian Assange is on a mission and world is waiting to see his next revelations. But what should be also noticed here is the continuous failure of successive US govts to achieve their slated targets- capturing Osama, eradicating Taliban from Afghanistan, finding nukes or chemical weapons from Iraq, or now getting hands on Julian Assange. It seems their bad luck is just not stopping.

The Curious Case of Chinese Currency-Yuan..

2010-07-08T17:14:00.010+05:30

These days, i have been catching up on a lot of news concerning China. I have been fascinated by the astute manner in which they come out with different strategies-be it politics, economics or foreign affairs.

There are many strategic instances which can be quoted, like how smartly China has slowly and steadily made Tibet as part of their territory. And very recently their have been talks between Zardari and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to build a railway line from China to Pakistan which would enable China to have a stronghold on the Indian border [with increased military base to attack if needed]

But, what i am going to discuss in detail is the changing phase of Chinese economy. Their currency, Yuan [Also known as Remnibibi] was in the spotlight recently. As we all know Chinese products are known for being cheap and quite a large chunk of the Chinese economy relies on exports. It had been pegged 6.83 to the USD since July 2008. Recently it was under heavy criticism from the US for not allowing Yuan to appreciate. China was accused of being a monopolist in the export industry [as they were literally stealing away the export business of other countries]. But things are slowly changing. I read a lot in the newspapers about how China is under pressure from other countries including India and US to allow Yuan to appreciate. Come to think of it, is China really "losing out" if Yuan appreciates? If you got your economics right- not so much, especially not the people of China. Read on, you will know why..

Ask yourself a question, essentially what are exports? They are -global demand for goods and services in the economy. Too much reliance on any component of demand is bad, in this case it is the exports. For instance, if there is a slump in global demand due to recessionary trends, Chinese exports will suffer and therefore the demand. Now if Yuan appreciates, the domestic demand would increase as the purchasing power of people in China would increase [taking the assumption that the Chinese are purchasing imports to satisfy their domestic consumption]. This would help the Chinese economy to reduce its dependence on exports. This would also mean more income in the hands of poor labourers which are paid abysmally low [which is how the Chinese are able to export products at such a cheap rate].

Now, it remains to be seen at what rate People's bank of China allow the Yuan to appreciate. China can play a clever game here, if the rate at which their currency appreciates is low, they can still maintain their world leader status as far as export market is concerned. Side by side, they would also steadily increase their domestic demand. This would further strengthen the Chinese economy. It's because of such clever strategies that i like to address China as- "our shrewd neighbour-China!!"

-Tejas Singh

BREAKING NEWS: There is No Indian Cricket Team, and there Never Was

2010-07-03T21:41:00.000+05:30

Alas! But true. There is only one team, BCCI ki team, and not India ki team. BCCI has time and again proved that the only thing that matters to them is money, and not the national pride, or India, for that matter. You may have also noticed several times when their members have given preference to monetary contracts instead of options which may have been a pride for India.

First, there was the IPL. One may argue that it was the best option at that time but simply postponing the IPL after the Indian democratic elections could have been an option also. It would have been a nice thing to do, giving the largest democracy in the world respect for the democratic functions it performs, instead it became a matter of one person's ego and he was even praised for that. But that is understandable. Millions were at stake due to contractual obligations, and why does it matter to BCCI if the INDIAN Premier League actually happens in India or not, when the democracy of India was given second preference after the "billion dollar baby".

Second, India is not playing in the Asian Games. IOA president, Mr Suresh Kalmadi, has openly said that BCCI is not participating in the Asian games because there is no money in that. "It has become commercial...cricket has become very commercial. (In Olympic and Asian Games) There are only medals, no money. So, I don't think anybody from cricket world will be interested in taking part," he said. BCCI cited international commitments for not taking part in Asian games, where cricket is debuting in T20 format. "They (BCCI) had done it in Malaysia Commonwealth Games also. They sent a second string team there. So I was never keen and I did not put cricket into Commonwealth Games. I knew they won't make it, they will back out at the last minute. They said they would come to Asian Games, but they backed out. I knew this," he said.

Kalmadi was referring to the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur where India sent a second-string squad, while most of the frontline cricketers played against Pakistan in Canada. I need not add further.

Third, BCCI not agreeing to pre/postpone the India-Australia 2 tests to be played between Oct 2-14 in India, clearly clashing with CWG. Three ODIs are also to be played after the tests. CWG schedule was decided four years ago and BCCI was clearly informed about the time table of the event. But, hey, BCCI has control over 75% of the money in the world cricket. How can anybody tell them to adjust to the CWG, even when it is a matter of national pride for Indian citizens. Instead, we should thank them for giving us the option of either watching the world athletes fighting to get a medal for their country or the BCCI squad fighting it out on a cricket pitch, winning thousands as prize money, lakhs as salaries but zero medals. Mr. Kalmadi has clarified that a year ago, he had requested the then BCCI president Sharad Pawar not to schedule any cricket series on Indian soil during the Games. But, its highly unlikely that without any serious order or threat of disbanding them, BCCI will change their schedule to adjust India in it.

So, we were mistaken for a long time that the team for which we were cheering was an Indian team. But it was a team of a billion dollar enterprise called BCCI(Billionaires Control Cricket in India), run by billionaires to make more money. So never again say its India ki team, its BCCI ki team. R.I.P. Indian Cricket Team.

By- Rahul Bansal

Passing over the baton-all about the CWG 2010 baton..

2010-06-28T08:56:00.017+05:30

CWG 2010

As we all know this time common wealth games are scheduled to be held in Delhi in month of October between 3rd and 14th October. So I thought of sharing with you some interesting facts about this year’s games baton.

The Queen's Baton relay began when the baton containing Queen Elizabeth II's message to the athletes, left Buckingham Palace on 29 October 2009. Our President Pratibha Patil herself joined the ceremony in London and received the baton from the Queen.

The baton, packed with high-tech cameras, sound-recorders and LED lights all made in India, contains a message to the athletes from the queen that will be opened and read out loud at the launch of the Games in New Delhi on Oct 3 at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at the opening ceremony. And you know what is the most interesting part, even we can send a message to the baton.

The baton was designed by Michael Foley, a graduate of the National Institute of Design. It is a triangular section of aluminium twisted into a helix shape and then coated with coloured soils collected from all regions of India. The coloured soils are a first for the styling of a Queen's Baton. A jewel-encrusted box was used to house the Queen's message, which was laser-engraved onto a miniature 18 carat gold leaf – representative of the ancient Indian 'patras. The Queen's baton is ergonomically contoured for ease of use. It is 664 millimetres high, 34 millimetres wide at the base, and 86 millimetres wide at the top and weighs 1,900 grams.

The baton has already travelled 70 nations and has entered India on Friday through wagah- Attari border in Amritsar. The baton’s entry is marked by hope and message of Peace for all. This unique and soothing moment saw school children exchanging peace messageswritten on hundreds of handkerchiefs.

The baton will travel across 100 cities of India before reaching Delhi on September 30, 2010. And the Baton’s journey will end on 3rd October at the opening ceremony in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

So like me I know u all must also be waiting eagerly for common wealth games to start. And also for our lovely shera, the official mascot of 19th commonwealth games.So lets take a pledge to make this games a success and the best ever commonwealth games. After all its nation’s call and nation‘s honour is at stake.

-Shared By: Aman Maggu

For facts about CWG: see

http://kaleidoscopeonline.blogspot.com/2010/02/contributed-by-vishal-suri-commonwealth.html

Saina (not Sania) Nehwal- World's 2nd

2010-06-27T22:35:00.000+05:30

In the times when Sania Mirza was getting all the attention of the media, Saina Nehwal was having trouble pressing the fact that her name is not Sania and its S-A-I-N-A, and she plays badminton and not tennis. Now the stars have turned opposite and while Mrs. Malik may be enjoying her days with her hubby-chubby, and flying out of the competitions in the initial stages, Saina is making India proud by winning third international tournament in a row and becoming the World 2nd best badminton player now.

Today, she won the Indonesian title by successfully defending it, beating Japan's Sayaka Sato by 21-19, 13-21, 21-11, in the encounter which lasted 45 minutes. Saina had won Singapore Opens before by thumping Tsu Ying Tai of China 21-18, 21-15 with in just 29 minutes. She had also grabbed the India Open Grand Prix title before the campaign in Singapore and Indonesian open 2010 is the third Super Series which she achieves.

So who's she? Saina Nehwal (born March 17, 1990) is an Indian badminton player. Currently ranked number 2 in the world by Badminton World Federation, Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World JuniorBadminton Championships. She has also won two Gold Medals.

Saina's rise follows back-to-back title triumphs at the India Open Grand Prix and the Singapore Open Super Series respectively. She is first Indian woman to win a super series tournament (equivalent to Grand slam in tennis) when she annexed the 2009 Indonesia Super Series.

Previously coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner, Saina is the reigning Indian national junior champion and is currently coached by Indonesian badminton legend Atik Jauhari since August 2008, with the former All England champion and national coach Pullela Gopichand being her mentor.

After a long time, now she is getting the attention of Indian media and people, which she was deprived of in the past.

Nokia-Losing Ground?

2010-06-25T11:05:00.005+05:30

Recently one of my friends wanted to purchase a low end phone, so I went with him to the one of the mobile stores in my locality. My friend, like many of us, has great faith in Nokia as a brand. So he straight away asked the shop keeper to show only Nokia models. You know what was the shopkeeper’s reply?-he said, “Arrey sir, No one buys Nokia now, have a look at Micromax, Karbonn & Samsung mobiles, they are value for money, with so many features at such a low price” At first I thought he might get some sort of commission by selling the cell phones of the above mentioned brands. But keeping the commission part aside, there was definitely some truth in his statement. A research published recently confirms this. According to the data collated in the research about the performance of Telecom firms in India-Nokia has lost a big chunk of market share from 2008-09 to this fiscal year [i.e. from 64%, its market share has slipped to 52.2%]. Nokia’s loss has been the gain of rival companies like Samsung and other local firms like Lava, Karbonn & Micromax. Other established players like Sony Ericsson and Motorola have also severely lost out on market share.

Other way of looking at the results of the research is that no telecom firm can boast of holding the majority of market share for such a long time. Also Nokia can be accredited for "introducing" mobiles in the Indian market back in the late 90’s and the early 2000’s. After all who can forget the 5110-brick model with the antenna sticking out! In those days 'a cell phone' and 'Nokia' were almost used synonymously. It brings alive those nostalgic memories...!

The major problem that Nokia is facing now is that it is facing severe competition from the low-end and high-end segment; it is squeezed like a sandwich in between. As far as the economical segment is concerned, local players give the customers value-for-money as many of them import cheap parts from China [In this way they can give more features at a lower price]. So many, local companies have emulated Blackberry and QWERTY keypad model types now, which was previously available only at a high price. In the high end segment, a lot of customers prefer iPhone and top Blackberry models to its Finnish counterpart.

The second problem is that Nokia has not been able to come with a revolutionary product in recent times which would suit the pocket and would provide superior customer satisfaction. It has been taking cues from the market and following the trend. Take for example, Blackberry’s QWERTY keypad phones were a hit, then Nokia thought of coming with its own version of the phone.

Now let’s see what the future has in store for Nokia, will the co. be able to bounce back, what do you think?

Animal Farm: Book Review

2010-06-22T00:07:00.009+05:30

A true masterpiece written by George Orwell, Animal Farm was gifted to me by one of my friends who is herself an avid reader. She was surprised by the fact that I had not read the novel before, and told me it’s not just any other novel. When I finished reading this fable, I couldn’t agree more.

Animal Farm is one of those novels which can be interpreted as a just-another fable “OR” a satirical take on the failure of communism, [particularly pointing out to the collapse of the Soviet Union & highlighting Russian History] and totalitarian rule [which is the deeper meaning that the author is trying to convey].

It’s a short story which starts off with the animals in the farm being displeased about the way Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm treats them. Hence, they decide to start a revolution against Jones to drive him away from the farm, so that they can lead a better, happier life. They are able to achieve this and they start with “animal farm”, where initially all the animals-pigs, dogs, horses, donkey, amongst others are equal [they all address each other as comrades]. With time, things change and pigs take control of the farm, one of them; Napoleon is the seen as the father of animal kind. The other animals are brain-washed into believing that pigs and Napoleon as a leader are helping them lead a life they always dreamt of [free from human control]-and they are more satisfied & happier under the leadership of Napoleon, than in the time when Jones owned the farm. In this way, the pigs slowly turn from fellow comrades to sly dictators who killed anybody who opposed them.

Each character in the story is carefully crafted by Orwell as they symbolically represent people in real life that we can relate to. The obvious comparison that came to my mind was Napoleon (the pig leader) with Kim Jong-il, see http://kaleidoscopeonline.blogspot.com/2010/03/north-korea-dictatorship-game.html. But if we take Russian History in to account, the author is representing Joseph Stalin, the ruthless ruler. Snowball, another pig is shown as Leon Trotsky, who was thrown out of Russia and was accused of being a traitor several times before being shot mysteriously by the Russian Police. The other pigs represent the political class who are ruling the nations using clever tactics to disillusion the public by giving them phony hopes and promises. Old Major, the boar with good intentions, who gave a stirring speech to urge the animals to start a revolution at the starting of the story, represents Karl Marx, the father of communism. The horses, Boxer and Clover, represent the laborious working class who gullibly believes in whatever their leaders say. The dogs, guards of the pigs, characterize faithful and loyal party workers who keep the public in terror, so that their leaders can boss around and nobody disobeys them.

The ending of the story shows the pigs, walking on their hind legs and dressed up as humans. It portrays that how leaders become corrupt overtime. All power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely-That’s the main underlining message that comes across.

Forget Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, George Orwell's “Animal Farm” is the real-deal when it comes to politics. I strongly recommend you to grab your copy; it’s an absolute delight to read.

Gaza Strip: A territory fighting for existence

2010-06-10T19:06:00.014+05:30

Have a look at the video and you will gasp in horror and disbelief. The plight of the children shown in the video is deeply moving & it can force you to pause and think...

The Gaza strip has been an issue of burning importance as far as world politics is concerned. It has been a strife-torn territory which has had a long history of conflict-ridden events, leading to unrest and loss of lives of innocent civilians, which has been condemned by NGO’s , human rights organizations and the UN.

Everything in Gaza seems to be in shambles, right from the economy to the living conditions and the socio-politico situation. Just to give a little bit of background about Gaza to those who don't know-It's one of the Palestinian territories [a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea] which shares it's borders with Egypt and Israel.It is under control of Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic organization which is labelled as a terrorist organization by U.S, E.U. and Israel amongst many other countries. Gaza largely comprises of refugees from the 1948 Arab Israeli War [in which Israel had to fight to separate itself from Palestine and rest of the Arab world]

Gaza has witnessed severe attacks due to the bitter enmity between Israel and Palestine with Hamas supporting the latter. According to Hamas, Israel is an occupier of the historic Islamic land which formed the Palestine. Since 2001, Palestine has fired 8600 rockets to Southern Israel, nearly 6000 of them since Israel had withdrawn from Gaza strip. In response to the attacks, Israel had launched a series of air strikes against targets in Gaza. This lead to widespread damage in Gaza, amongst the targets struck were UN warehouses, refugee camps, schools, police stations, hospitals etc. Hamas was accused by Egypt for using the border to secure long distance missiles to attack Israel.

Now, due to strained relations with both its neighbours, especially Israel and strict internal- external security checks, restrictions of trade etc the economy is not able to grow, GDP is low. During the time when the relations with Israel were not so bitter, Gazans used to go to Israel to earn a livelihood. Severity of ties with Israel has lead to large scale unemployment. Israel is now accused by the UN for strangling the Gazan economy. The only help or support from Israel now is humanitarian aid which is provided to Gazans. This was the reason why Gaza was so much in the news recently. A ship carrying humanitarian aid was shot at by the Israeli troops, Israel cited security reasons saying that it cannot let a ship go unverified, Israel wants to know what is being imported to Gaza so as to be sure that no weapons are being transported to Gaza for war purposes. This incident drew severe criticism from human rights activists, and the Arab world against Israel. Several Islamic nations like Turkey and Pakistan saw ordinary citizens staging demonstrations to show their anger and agitation against this incident.

For the people of Gaza, the shadow of death keeps lurking over their head, with rockets crashing here, there, and virtually everywhere...they are surely living on the edge. When they wake up every morning, i know they must be thanking God that they lived to see the light of another day.

-Tejas Singh

Things you were always Kurious to know but never really bothered to find out #1: How Are Cyclones Named?

2010-06-07T14:20:00.004+05:30

Starting with this article, we are starting this new section in which we will answer some of the questions that you ponder about every now and then ....but were either too lazy to look up or could not get any definite answer, so here's presenting:

"Things you were always Kurious to know but never really bothered to find out"

#1-How Are Cyclones Named?

I began wondering about this question when one day while i was watching Times Now, and read the headline....Cyclone Phet might hit Gujarat, emergency warning given to the habitants...(although now it has diverted, thank god..!)

Phet, what an interesting name...!

The decision to give these short and often attention-grabbing names over the North Indian region was taken collectively by 8 countries, namely: Bangladesh, India, Maldieves, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Oman and Thailand in the year 2000.

For this purpose a meeting of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) & United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) was held which laid down the naming convention for cyclones.

Groups of countries in other parts of the world also devise a similar convention for naming cyclones.

Each country had given a list of 8 names, hence a comprehensive list of 64 names was prepared. It was also decided in the meeting that each country would take turns to name the cyclone.

According to our very own, Met Dept. , it makes easy for the media to report about the cyclone and increases public awareness and preparedness against the calamity...

Cyclone "Laila" which had struck Tamil Nadu was named by Pakistan....the cyclone that followed Laila was "Bandu"-the name given by Sri Lanka.

And by the way, Phet is a "Thai" word meaning diamond....so Thailand gave this one...

So now you know, that the Met Dept--doesn't just name the cyclone according to any random name that comes to their mind, or on his/her spouse's or children's name.....They actually have a method to do this :D

You are free to contribute to this section by sending across other interesting stuff to enrich your knowledge and others as well...And as always, Be Kurious...!

BP Oil Spill - Only Profit Maximisation can be the only reason

2010-06-05T00:22:00.000+05:30

Likley path of the oil for four months following the spill. The colors represent the concentration of the oil. 0.20 (dark red) means the oil is 20% as concentrated as it is directly over the spill site.

On April 20, an oil rig operated by oil giant British Petroleum exploded, killing 11 workers. In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, BP announced that there was no leak from the destroyed rig. The U.S. Coast Guard validated this claim. BP contended that, in any case, a possible leak would be small, easily contained and not likely to reach land.

But in subsequent days, evidence of a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico emerged, forcing BP and the U.S. government to acknowledge the catastrophe, while minimizing it as much as possible.
It is impossible to predict the level of environmental destruction and the devastation of workers’ lives along the Gulf Coast. In fact, even the amount of oil that has already been leaked—and the leak continues unabated—is difficult to establish, given that the main sources of estimates of the volume of the oil leak are BP and the U.S. government, hardly objective sources of information. So far, the leaking BP well has spewed out as much as 630,000 barrels, making it the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Who bears responsibility?
Far from being an unavoidable accident, the Gulf of Mexico disaster is the result of a reckless drive by BP and its competitors to maximize their profits at the expense of the environment and the people whose lives will be wrecked by its destruction. BP received permission by the U.S. government to conduct extremely hazardous oil drilling a mile deep into the ocean floor. What is more, to protect its bottom line, BP actively lobbied the U.S. government to avoid having to provide real contingency plans in case of an accident, such as the one that happened. It is this ceaseless pursuit of profit that has made it possible for BP to make $5.6 billion in profit in the first quarter of 2010 alone. BP’s profits for the year 2010 are expected to total a staggering $23 billion.
BP worked hard to thwart the possibility of the passage of a new rule to make deep-sea drilling safer. On Sept. 14, 2009, BP sent a letter to the U.S. government, stating: "While BP is supportive of companies having a system in place to reduce risks, accidents, injuries and spills, we are not supportive of the extensive prescriptive regulations as proposed in this rule." BP’s safety plans for the well site states that in case of an accident, "due to the distance to shore (48 miles) and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts are expected."

A history of criminal activity
Far from being a "good corporate citizen," BP is a corporation that has made its huge profits through a history of crimes around the globe. Originally named the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the company was founded in 1908, as the first company plundering the oil reserves of the Middle East. Anglo-Persian was renamed Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1935 and was subsequently renamed the British Petroleum Company in 1954.

-Drilling an oil well, c. 1910.(Anglo-Persian Oil Co.)

The British government owned a majority share of the company and what little revenue was handed to the Iranian government was paid back to British and other European creditors. In 1947, for example, AIOC reported after-tax profits of £40 million, while giving Iran a mere £7 million.
The company subjected Iranian workers to deplorable working conditions, paying Iranians considerably less than foreigners. But revolution in Iraq in 1953 made the oil less accessible to BP.

BP also had its hands in Iraq, as one of the key concession holders of that country’s oil. The nationalization of Iraq’s oil in 1972, which was the continuation of a process of the 1958 revolution in Iraq, was a blow to BP and other oil giants. The genocidal sanctions on Iraq, which cost more than a million lives, and eventually the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which continues to this day, have been carried out by imperialist powers to restore the immense profit-making opportunities of oil giants, including BP. BP has just gained virtual control of the Rumaila oil field in Iraq, possibly the second largest oil field in the world.

Struggle for justice
Capitalist corporations always cover up their crimes by blaming them on accidents, mishaps and individual errors. The capitalist government, at the service of these same corporations, does its best to conceal the magnitude of the devastation and shield the offending corporations from significant financial losses. Just after the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster, this is abundantly clear. Despite the media coverage of the spill, Exxon Corp. never completely cleaned up the devastated areas. The disaster was largely blamed on one drunken captain, as opposed to Exxon’s consistent safety violations and its refusal to prepare and fund cleanup equipment to contain leaks caused by possible accidents.
It took nearly 20 years for the 30,000 native people of Alaska, whose lives have been devastated by the Exxon Valdez disaster, to get any compensation. And even then, the Supreme Court reduced the amount that Exxon had to pay by 90 percent, from $5 billion to only $500 million. "What more can a corporation do?" said Chief Justice John Roberts, justifying the decision.
The Obama administration has claimed that it will make BP pay for this disaster. But in the absence of a mass movement, BP will pay only minimally. The people, particularly those directly impacted by this disaster, cannot afford to wait for 20 years of litigation and then finally get paid a pittance for the life-altering consequences of this disaster. And, with a giant oil company on one side and poor and working people on the other, it is clear whose side the government will be on in any litigation.

Trinidad & Tobago's 1st Woman PM -Kamla Persad of Indian Origin

2010-05-27T20:30:00.005+05:30

Trinidad and Tobago’s People’s Partnership leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has been nominated the first woman Prime Minister of the country after her coalition led by her won a thrashing majority and ended the ruling party’s 43 years in power.

Outgoing Prime Minister Patrick Manning conceded defeat after being in power since 2002.

For the first time since independence in August 1962, a coalition of four other parties joined to meet head-on the ruling People’s National Movement which has been in power for 43 years.

The five parties are Ms. Persad-Bissessar’s United National Congress, Congress of the People (COP), the National Joint Action Committee, Tobago Organisation of Peoples, and the Movement for Social Change.

These parties came under the banner of the “People’s Partnership”, with each party maintaining its own symbol on the ballot paper.

Her spectacular rise started on January 24 last year when she successfully challenged her mentor, Basdeo Panday, for the leadership of the United National Congress which he had founded 20 years ago.

Ms. Persad-Bissessar was a topper in law school and she did her MBA and diploma in education from the University of the West Indies.

She was the first woman attorney general and also served as minister of legal affairs as well as minister of education

Her forefather was amongst the 148,000 Indian labourers who were brought here between 1845 and 1917 to work on the sugar and cocoa plantations. The Indian diaspora comprises 44 per cent of the population of 1.3 million people.

[Contributed By Aman Maggu]

1892	The Genesis - Britannia established with an investment of Rs. 295 in Kolkata
1910	Advent of electricity sees operations mechanised
1921	Imported machinery introduced; Britannia becomes the first company East of the Suez to use gas ovens
1939 - 44	Sales rise exponentially to Rs.16,27,202 in 1939 During 1944 sales ramp up by more than eight times to reach Rs.1.36 crore
1975	Britannia Biscuit Company takes over biscuit distribution from Parry's
1978	Public issue - Indian shareholding crosses 60%
1979	Re-christened Britannia Industries Ltd. (BIL)
1983	Sales cross Rs.100 crore
1992	BIL celebrates its Platinum Jubilee
1993	Wadia Group acquires stake in ABIL, UK and becomes an equal partner with Groupe Danone in BIL
1994	Volumes cross 1,00,000 tons of biscuits
1997	Re-birth - new corporate identity 'Eat Healthy, Think Better' leads to new mission: 'Make every third Indian a Britannia consumer' BIL enters the dairy products market
1999	"Britannia Khao World Cup Jao" - a major success! Profit up by 37%
2000	Forbes Global Ranking - Britannia among Top 300 small companies
2001	BIL ranked one of India's biggest brands No.1 food brand of the country Britannia Lagaan Match: India's most successful promotional activity of the year Maska Chaska: India's most successful FMCG launch
2002	BIL launches joint venture with Fonterra, the world's second largest dairy company Britannia New Zealand Foods Pvt. Ltd. is born Rated as 'One amongst the Top 200 Small Companies of the World' by Forbes Global Economic Times ranks BIL India's 2nd Most Trusted Brand Pure Magic -Winner of the Worldstar, Asiastar and Indiastar award for packaging
2003	'Treat Duet'- most successful launch of the year Britannia Khao World Cup Jao rocks the consumer lives yet again
2004	Britannia accorded the status of being a 'Superbrand' Volumes cross 3,00,000 tons of biscuits Good Day adds a new variant - Choconut - in its range
2005	Re-birth of Tiger - 'Swasth Khao, Tiger Ban Jao' becomes the popular chant! Britannia launched 'Greetings' range of premium assorted gift packs The new plant in Uttaranchal, commissioned ahead of schedule. The launch of yet another exciting snacking option - Britannia 50-50 Pepper Chakkar
2007	Britannia industries formed a joint venture with the Khimji Ramdas Group and acquired a 70 percent beneficial state in the Dubai-based Strategic Foods International Co. LLC and 65.4% in the Oman-based Al Sallan Food Industries Co. SAOG.
2008	Britannia launched Iron fortified 'Tiger Banana' biscuits, 'Good Day Classic Cookies', Low Fat Dahi and renovated 'MarieGold'.