We are shutting down mines and our few factories, convinced that these actions are pro-poor. We de-industrialise Coimbatore and Ludhiana, by forcing 16-18 hour power cuts on them, even before we have successful industrialisation. Incidentally, while by no means the only one, power-cuts were a significant factor in de-industrialising West Bengal. Some 20 years ago, I had gone to pay a visit to Mr Dugar, who was my company’s landlord in Kolkata. After several generations of Dugars doing business in difficult terrains in Assam, he was busy selling his tea gardens in Assam and buying some in Munnar. I congratulated him on the improvement of the power situation in Kolkata. “Dugar saab, ab to power cuts ka problem chala gaya hai, aapke Kalkatte mein.” He actually started crying.
“Rao saab, aisa mat kahiye. Kalkatte key sab kaarkhaane band ho gaye hain. Isi liye power ka problem kum ho gaya hai. Yeh koi tareeka hai power cut ki samasya ko solve karne ka? Yeh to bahut hee bura hua hai.” As you look at the chunks of land all around Kolkata, Howrah, Sealdah, Garden Reach, where factories are shut, the equipment is rusting, grass is growing in areas that were earlier paved, one begins to understand Dugar. In the coming years, get prepared to see these sights in other parts of the country too. There is a saying: What Bengal thinks/ does today, the rest of India thinks/ does tomorrow. We are determined to create a de-industrialised moonscape across India. All of India in 2035 could, and probably will, look like Bengal does today.-wrote Jerry Rao
Category: Quotes
The British market regulator Financial Services Authority (FSA), has fined Indian origin broker Tariq Carrimjee of Somerset Asset Management LLP, a sum of £89,000. It has banned him from performing any roles in regulated financial services, that is broking. Carrimjee is the son-in-law of the Attorney General of India, Goolam Vahanvati.
Confirming the imposition of the fine, David Cross from the press office of the FSA, told this newspaper that Carrimjee was referring the case to the United Kingdom’s Upper Tribunal for appeal. “Carrimjee has been prohibited from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by any authorised or exempt person or exempt professional firm. He was found to be recklessly assisting one of his clients to manipulate the closing price of global depository receipts (GDRs) related to two companies,” Cross said. This is what the FSA’s decision says as well.
There was no response to the email queries sent by this newspaper at the email address of Somerset Asset Management at the time the story went to press.
The decision notice says that the FSA “has decided to: a) withdraw Mr Carrimjee’s individual approvals, pursuant to section 63 of the Act; b) make an order pursuant to section 56 of the Act prohibiting Mr Carrimjee from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by any authorised or exempt person or exempt professional firm; and c) impose on Mr Carrimjee a financial penalty of £89,004, pursuant to section 66 of the Act, for breaching Statement of Principle 1.”
Carrimjee, who is the director of the London-based Somerset Asset Management LLP, was allegedly involved in manipulating the closing price of the GDRs of two companies, Reliance Industries Limited in October 2010 and Gazprom in April 2010, Russia’s largest gas producing company.
In its decision notice of 26 March, which was made public last month, the finding in the case indicated “a serious lack of integrity on the part of Mr Carrimjee”.-from Sunday Guardian
Categories
25% of Goans on the road
Question:Turning to Goa’s economy, about a quarter of the state’s population is dependent on mining, which was banned by the Supreme Court last year to stop illegal extraction. Have you been able to clean up the system?
Answer:I have started. We are recovering some money that was not paid, and we are filing court cases against the guilty. But the blanket mining ban is hurting us – the court may be right in its perspective, but why can’t it find a solution for so long? Judges like to say justice delayed is justice denied: and here I am with 25 percent of my revenues gone, 25 percent of my people almost on the roads, and the court is not hearing me. There is nothing more criminal than that.
-Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of Goa said in an interview
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Are business leaders like Shudras?
“The Lok Sabha has just cleared the most destructive piece of legislation in India’s history so far. The occasion affords another opportunity to look at the timeless nature of the class system in India. Technically, the trading community is a member of the third varna. In Shah Jahan’s time, as now, they were despised. In that age, they were left alone; In the democracy that prevails today their status, politically, is worse and is no better than that of shudras. In the run-up to the vote on the food Bill, one business leader after another appealed to the powers that be to defer the Bill. To no avail. Their voice carries no weight in matters of state.”-from Mint
It has become harder for me, because the importance of my skills is receding. Part of my advantage, is that my strength is economic forecasting, but that only works in free markets, when markets are smarter than people. That’s how I started. I watched the stock market, how equities reacted to change in levels of economic activity and I could understand how price signals worked and how to forecast them. Today, all these price signals are compromised and I’m seriously questioning whether I have any competitive advantage left.
Ten years ago, if the stock market had done what it has just done now, I could practically guarantee you that growth was going to accelerate. Now, it’s a possibility, but I would rather say that the market is rigged and people are chasing these assets, without growth necessarily backing confidence. It’s not predicting anything the way it used to and that really makes me reconsider my ability to generate superior returns. If the most important price in the most important economy in the world is being rigged, and everything else is priced off it, what am I supposed to read into other price movements?-said Stan Druckenmiller