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India's central bank, the RBI, said inflation is expected to moderate to 7% by March 2012. RBI's economic growth forecast for India was lowered to below 7.6% for 2012.

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As this editorial in the Hindu points out enabling land acquisition for industry is still one of major problems facing India as it struggles to modernize its economy and create manufacturing jobs. Amendments to the land acquisition law was a top priority of the Modi government in its first year in 2014-2015. The effort stalled with Opposition resistance and opposition of farmers groups. Even as India moves up in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index it still remains below the top 50. The prime minister of Singapore on a visit to India made it clear that these problems restrict the level of investment in India and the speed of its modernization effort. As the Hindu editorial points out the need to win farmers votes has prevented further moves to amend land acquisition laws so that industrial development can move ahead. This can be costly for India if it means fewer jobs created, and costly for the government in its effort to win votes without being able to show the results of modernization in new development, new infrastructure and new jobs created.     ...

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Douglas Wilson was born in Annapolis, Maryland, before his father, a Baptist pastor, moved the family to Idaho in the American West.  Wilson started a Christian revival movement from Christ Church, Idaho, which is based on his views of Calvinism and the original teachings of Christianity dating back to the Mayflower Compact of 1602 set in Geneva, which outlined the vision of the early colonists to America of the relations between the church and the government, setting forth their vision. This is America going back to the earliest days in 1600, of Britain and Northern Europe, and the settlement of a vast continent 185 years before the drafting at a convention for the new Republic, of the United States of America the 13 original colonies in 1787. The original roots of the Nation in the Geneva Compact of 1602 can still be seen in Geneva, Switzerland, near the Calvinist cathedral in the center of the French Swiss town of Geneva, that acted as a crossroads for the prominent ideas on Christian thought at the time. From it's earliest days for the colonists since 1602, the Tynsdale Bible of the 16th century that brought it into the English language from Latin and Greek, and its offshoot the Authorized King James Version of the Bible of 1611 formed the basis of civilized life in the American colonies, and helped the colonists seek a new world in the wilderness that was the North American continent in the years 1600 to 1780. In the early years of the 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, and further west into Ohio and Michigan- vast untamed forests, mountains, lakes and rivers. From 1780 to the 1880 this wilderness extended into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming upto the Pacific. Ideas of Common Prayer in schools and in everyday life informed the society of the time and was integrated in all parts of life. Only after 1780 were the ideas of separation of church and state developed by Madison and Jefferson for the constitutional framework of orderly government and respect for rights of citizens to practice their faith. At no point was it intended to take the Common Prayer out of schools, which is essentially a new idea from the 19th century. There is mention of Asian religions Buddhism and the religion of the Upanishads in India in the argument against prayer in schools,  yet it is a fact that this is only a theory as immigration from China, Japan, and India was actively discouraged, and also banned in many ways, till the Irish Kennedy administration in 1960. And it is also a fact that Mohandas Gandhi the leader of India drew great inspiration from the King James 1611 version of the Bible, and it helped him deepen his religious beliefs in the Upanishads to create the modern Indian state for 1.4 billion people in Asia. Most of the hymns of the Christian faith were known to Gandhi and formed part of his beliefs, when the Common Prayer itself started disappearing from American schools in a post war reaction to colonialism, imperialism and racial discrimination, such that it depleted the very reserves of civilization, of wisdom and thought, of science and technology, that helped create America out of the wilderness. ...

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It is shocking to see the virtual lack of cultural or other people to people contacts between the two largest regions in Asia, and most populous regions in the world, India and China. There appears to be a near total lack of understanding on both sides at the university and government level of the importance of setting up these contacts, so that misperceptions do not exist on either side and better relations can be built using such contacts. Rana Mitter, a expert on Modern China at Oxford University, says in an interview in the Times of India, that India and the 1962 conflict occupy less attention in the Chinese mind because other issues such as the relations with the U.S., ASEAN and Japan, take up more space. Mitter says India should emphasize its pluralism, democracy, and peaceful engagement in its external relations.  Mitter puts less emphasis on the 50 day standoff between India and China on the border at Doklam, Bhutan region, when he responds to a question about the risks of a conflict. He points to a bigger problem that affects relations between the two countries- the lack of exchanges that bring Chinese students, faculty, and government personnel to India, the difficulty of obtaining visas. This lack of cultural exchanges between the two countries is a major issue, considering also that trade and business exchanges are taking place and growing during this lack of cultural exchanges.  As a result it appears that business and economic relations guide the China-India relationship today, with people in China's key ministries and government, in universities and local government, lacking an understanding of India. Mitter makes this clear that cultural exchanges need to be established. Even a search for China- India dialogue brings up little information with a location in Beijing but none in India. It is mind boggling that the relations between the two most populous regions in the world are based on a huge lack of contacts and exchanges that would improve perceptions and understanding.  Britain's effort offers a model to follow as Tsinghua University in Beijing, as part of China's C9, has set up cultural exchanges with British universities in the ongoing cultural exchanges between Britain and China. ...

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On the eve of 2024 elections on a scale never seen in the world from Rajasthan desert to Himalayan mountains to the sea, PM's site looks at the themes for development that have evolved into slogans and captured the imagination of India. Development For All, Development With All, is the "Sabka Vikas, Sabka Sath" slogan that has captured the imagination and vision of the young generation of Indians. For development at speed and scale to reach 2047 with the transformation of India into a modern nation with infrastructure and per capita incomes similar to the US, EU, China or Japan. 2047 is the centenary year marking 100 years of India as an independent nation. In the interview with ANI shown alongside PM Modi discusses the problems of modernization of a region of immense diversity, history, and cultures. 2047 providing a point of focus for achieving the transformation, a transformation that is being taken up with the cooperation and support of the US and the European Union that are building a new supply chain which integrates India as a major manufacturing nation . ...

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Foxconn Technology Group, largest assembler of iPhones, plans to reduce its dependence on Chinaby building plants in India. Foxconn head, Terry Gou, plant to visit India after next month. The continued trade tensions between U.S. and China are leading to many companies looking at diversifying their supply chains away from China.Manufacturing high end phones in India would help Apple get around the 20% tariff on imported phones because Apple is losing market share with its high prices. Foxconn already makes phones in India for Xiaomi. Foxconn is also looking at Vietnam.

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Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says-

"We intend to be able to cooperate in co-designing the reactors, co-developing them and co-producing them, we feel this will allow us to tackle complications faced in other conventional projects," he said. This approach to build smaller modular reactors because it comes with less cost and which can be reassembled at the usage site is a new field. 

India is putting $1.2 billion in nuclear research.

India sets goal for 100GW of nuclear energy 2047.

Five Indian built nuclear reactors by 2033.

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This report in the WSJ shows Cubans lacking water for washing, sanitation, and having electricity blackouts or electricity for only 4 hours a day. Cuba lacks money to buy oil. The economy has long been shown to be frozen in the past without the technological change seen in other countries in the developing world. It shows the only model that works is one of good governance, access to US and European capital and technology for modernization, close relations with the US, building domestic knowledge base and engineers for  modernization, as sine qua non essental conditions in the Modern World since 1950. China and India tried under Mao and Nehru under socialist regimes but failed. The Monroe Doctrine is not for the US, it is an essential pre condition for countries in the western hemisphere on which the other essential conditions are laid to create modern societies. China and India with the essential conditions achieving modernization under Modi and Deng and his successors. It is true that Cuban dictator Batista's regime was a bad one in the 1950's, yet the answer is not to put in its place or as a reaction to this an idealistic version which like human nature is prone to corruption and decline, but build on sound and firm ground foundations tsuch as these essential conditions and sine qua non that stand the test of time and are good for the American continent. ...

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Apple relies on Chinese suppliers for about 90% of its products. So reliant is Apple on China that it is slow to make changes to adapt to president Biden's policies for a new US Asian Economic Framework that builds new supply chains. By contrast Samsung has largely stayed out of China using supply chain manufacturing in Vietnam and other countries. India and Vietnam are major alternatives and only India can offer the well trained workforce and supplies of land, labour, incentives and facilities that China offers. This makes Apple a laggard in the changes that are happening today to supply chains bringing manufacturing closer to home and making products in countries allied to the US in Asia. This includes South Korea, Japan, India and Vietnam as production hubs for parts and assembly of advanced technology products. Apple is only now beginning the task of building supply chains outside China and returning manufacturing to the US which will bring back US technological leadership by 2030, American policy set by president Biden. ...

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This opinion of the Editorial Board of WSJ says it is not clear why Taiwan has been excluded from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that includes most of South East Asia including Indonesia, and India, South Korea, Japan, Australia. The Biden administration plans to deepen economic ties with Taiwan. WSJ says this is a mistake and Taiwan should be included in the new Asian alliance led by the US. IPEF is a Asian alliance built around 4 pillars of digital economy, transparency and good governance, Asian security and rule of law, and rapid economic technological progress. Biden administration Commerce minister Raimondo says it will increase investment in the alliance countries for supply chain renewal and shift of investments away from China and into India, Vietnam. President Biden and Jake Sullivan see it as pulling in investment into the US for infrastructure and technology and into allies such as India who have the pool of manufacturing workers to compete with China in a new supply chain. Mr. Modi also sees it as he is focused on digital economy, good governance, and infrastructure with speed and scale at high levels to match rising aspirations for the economy in India. It is designed in a way that lets US, Japan South Korea and India to fill in the needs and strategies over the period to 2030 and 2040 so that US and Europe and the Free World in Asia and Latin America, Africa can preserve democratic values with matching technological and economic strength. ...

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Peter Hessler was a teacher in Sichuan province of China before living in Tibet and writing this article for The Atlantic.  It gives some insights into both the thinking of Chinese people and Tibetan people and the changes happening around them. Inevitably changes would have come to Tibet from outside or without China's takeover of Tibet in 1950, would have come in some other form, as it has in neighboring Nepal, Afghanistan, says Hessler, without some of the loss of some of the positive aspects of culture and of Buddhism.  Even in India feudal system of zamindars prevailed in villages into the late British period and the early Nehru period but has gradually disappeared over time, so that change has potential over time to happen, and comes inevitably.  Here he shows- the immigrants from Sichuan province, over 120 million people in the province, and part of a floating population of migrant workers in China, looking for jobs or economic opportunity, and some taking up life at the high Himalayan altitudes for 2-3 years or even 8 year terms. The belief Hessler says among Sichuan immigrants that high altitude was bad for the lungs over long periods and shortened life. The lack of women with a disproportionate number of men making the journey to start a new life in Tibet, the hardships, the enterprising nature of Sichuan immigrants in the shops and retail that Tibetans lacked the enterprising skills to do, the difficulties living with two cultures side by side, the lack of any incentive to learn the local language. The feelings of Tibetan people that they are somehow losing their culture and identity. The sense among immigrants that this is not their first choice of place but somehow would have to do till they go back and find someone to marry during brief trips back home to Sichuan. There is something timeless about this essay, as changes unfold, no one unambiguous trend, a more complex situation.  China's sense that the west has violated its sovereignty under the British and foreign powers in the nineteenth century. The feeling that somehow Tibet is part of this sense of China regaining what it had lost to the foreign powers. Without the realization that Tibet has served as a gift of nature, a given mountainous buffer that helped two Asian civilizations prosper in the Ganges and Yangtse river valleys, thousands of miles apart. And both having the similar experience with the British and foreign powers in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and both recovering modernizing at the same pace.    The sense China has, says Hessler, that it is about China's sovereignty following a Qing dynasty entry into Lhasa in 1792, even though the Qing saw Tibet as a buffer state running its own affairs separating it from the British Empire on the other side of the Himalayas. Very little contact between China and Tibet for centuries simply because using yaks and mules it would take several months from northern China to Tibet crossing mountain ranges at 15,000 feet. The British saw this as a buffer state in the same way as happened also with the Mughals in the 15th to 18th century, and the Empires between the 11th and 15th century in India.  Because opium was shipped from Bengal under British colonial rule causing great poverty in India against the will of the Indian people, the same sense of violation of sovereignty existed in exactly the same way in the perception of foreign powers in India, so that the notion of violation of one's self respect being shared was serving no useful purpose in this context between China and India.     ...

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The renewable energy and coal projects of India's Gautam Adani are shown here in this report Emily Schmall and Hari Kumar in the NYT. The Financial Times looked into Mr. Adani's projects and financing and found that much of it comes from a scale of risk taking and business innovation, timely delivery that few businesses in India have an affinity for. As a result he has taken on a role of lead innovator for projects of scale in both coal and renewable solar energy for India.

 

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US Trade Representative Tai and India Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will meet in New Delhi November 22-23 on Tai's visit to New Delhi, Seoul and Tokyo to strengthen trade and investment ties for Indo-Pacific region. Following Modi's meeting with Biden in Washington DC the discussions with Tai will reconvene the India US Trade Policy Forum in 2021, and push forward with the negotiations for the Investment Incentive Agreement to increase investment in development projects in India. All aspects of investment, trade and industry will be covered as India builds a closer relationship with US in its drive for economic development that also strives to achieve goals for renewable energy.

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In inflationary times in the world's largest populated country- that Rs 40 or about 50 cents US still gets you a South Indian vegetarian meal at Sangeethas restaurant chain in Chennai, India is the result of the efforts of many people. On its 40th anniversary the 34 branches in Chennai (and 23 overseas) has struggled with inflation to offer the 40 Rupee meal in India. Partly from the dedication of P Suresh and Sanjana Suresh, the founders.

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Meeting between prime minister Modi of India and prime minister Sharif of Pakistan is unlike anything that has happened between leaders in the region since independence in 1947. Sharif told NDTV: "I intend taking up threads from where Vajpayee and I left off in 1999." Modi says Sharif touched on some emotional things in his conversation. Sharif told Modi about his visits to his mother once a week, and how Modi's visit to his mother seen by Sharif when visiting his mother touched both of them deeply. Rarely has a visit been captured in poetry in the manner Sharif did in answering a question, when he recited an Urdu couplet: "cling to the tree and hope, for spring is in sight."

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About the reorganization of IBM under Sr. Vice President Robert Moffat Jr. that is underway. The idea is to make IBM more efficient by increasing the productivity of its people and reduce costs. There are over 200,000 people in the IBM services business. Operating margins increased by 2.3% to 10.3% with productivity improvements in the 1st quarter of 2006. IBM's revenues declined by 1.2% in the 1st quarter to $11.6 billion. This IBM Tech services restructuring will be watched closely by Indian IT and IBM's competitors. Moffat hopes to attack the IT tech services business with a new format to improve productivity and reduce costs, and bring IBM' strengths such as research capabilities to bear. The format is being a virtual factory with competency centres of excellence across the globe. The question is can Moffatt pull this off and convince a bureaucratic large organization to overcome inertia and do things differently. Especially as Indian IT is smaller and not yet affected by Big Company Syndrome. What Moffatt is attempting to do is to create a virtual global factory with specialized centres of compency in different global locations so that work can be transferred from one location to another- much as we see in the automobile industry- based on who does best what at what cost. Nilekani of Infosys, says American competiitors are "seeing it as a compelling threat after years of putting their head in the sand." They are responding to megatrends but not fast enough, according to Business Week. This may be attributable to the fact that Indian IT is younger, smaller, faces more competition inside India, and is more agile for these reasons compared to an IBM or an EDS. Hamm points out that IBM is shifting to a new posture as a globalized business, one that puts behind it its days as a multinational company or MNC, no more MNC geographically based independent country businesses, not an outsourcer as frequently assumed when IBM shifted some jobs overseas recently. The new IBM is an organization that builds on competency centers across the globe with concentration of skills and talent in different locations worldwide. It uses the competency centres to pull together the best people and sequence of operations to meet customer needs. ...

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Food insecurity issues India faces with climate change are covered in this report in NYT. The government is releasing stocks of subsidized tomatoes after extreme heat followed by floods destroyed part of the tomato crop. Floods are affecting all parts of India during July 2023. 

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Speaking at a fireside chat at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C. Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman describes the task of lifting hundreds of millions from poverty in India done over the last 10 years. When China did this for about 400 million people by 2000 it had the support of the people of the US and Europe and the US opened its doors to favor China in its supply chain. How will the US and European Union respond to the same situation in India? This was accomplished in the US and Europe by the 1930's building on the work in the 1900 period. "We are reaching near saturation in providing the basic facilities to the people of the country. Have we removed these many number of people from poverty and lifted them out." "And that is to give them some good house to live in which is made of concrete and not of thatched roof with toilets in them, with drinking water reaching them through pipes, electricity, and a good road, not just the village, but also to streets in the village, and then connect them to the nearest highway; connect them with good transport facility and so on. And financial inclusion so that each member of the household has a bank account and they get every such benefit, which has to reach them, but directly into their bank account rather than through a middle agency. On skilling people "We are now focusing very much on skilling people, each according to their level. Skilling centers are now spread all over the country. The gradation of the skilling varies according to the individuals. Businesses and private sector entrepreneurs are also tied into it so that there is a link between the kind of training businesses want and actually those who are getting the training so that immediately they can get recruited. There will be a lot of skilling emphasis. On expanding the formalization of the economy getting rid of "the grey layer" India's digitization programme will be going on at full throttle and it'll cover most aspects of our lives. Today it covers health, education, and financial transactions. We expect it to move on to other areas as well so that there is greater ease of living and transparency, the economy gets even more formal. And therefore with that, you find  the economy gets its full strength coming on board, rather than having a second layer, which remains in the grey area. ...

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The Rupee is moving close to 80 to the US dollar with increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve. The IMF expects the Rupee to go past 94 to the dollar in 2029. India's Reserve Bank is interested in carefully managing the steady decline so that business decisions can be made with some measure of stability. The weaker rupee will help increase exports at a time when India's is raising its logistics capabilities and creating the capabilities on the ground that will give India a key role in the new supply chain the US and the EU are building in Asia.

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The great university of ancient Buddhist India is located at Rajgir, Bihar. Nalanda University was built in 5th century AD and was the largest center of Buddhist learning for all of Asia from India, China, Vietnam to Korea and Japan. It's new campus was opened by PM Modi on June 19, 2024. Near it is the Mahavihara Budhhist temple renovated from ruins at a UNESCO heritage site. Excavations were done in the British period by the 1860's bringing to light the ruins of Nalanda, the wonder that was Buddhist India. Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in Bihar and his last years were spent at Kusinagar in Bihar, all in the vicinity of Nalanda University, a center of ancient learning that is older than all European Universities, and is only now becoming known throughout the world.

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The choice of Arvind Subramanium as top advisor to the prime minister and finance minister of India, is likely to be received positively. Subramanium is a fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics. He has served in the IMF and the GATT organization that preceded the WTO. Subramanium's appointment complements the appointment of Rajan from the University of Chicago at the Reserve Bank of India. Financial markets and foreign investors are likely to see his appointment as a step in the direction of new policies from the Modi administration to increase growth and investment.

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China's prime minister Li Keqiang visited India in May 2013 with a trade delegation to improve trade ties with india. Trade between India and China is growing rapidly, with the growth in imports of telecommunications and power equipment, and consumer manufactured goods. Trade was at $76 billion in the year ending March 31, 2012 and is expected to reach $100 billion by 2015, making China the largest exporter of goods to India, according to Indian government data. The trade is lopsided with India's trade deficit increasing by 42% to about $40 billion in the last fiscal year. India is seeking improved access for its information technology and pharmaceutical companies to the Chinese market to correct the imbalance.

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India is providing additional financing to Serum Institute of India and vaccine manufacturers to increase vaccine supplies. It is also importing Sputnik vaccine from Russia and approving production within India of Sputnik vaccine. These steps are being taken to accelerate vaccinations. By early May vaccination will be open to anyone over 18 years.