What is common to Harsad Mehta and Lalit Modi? Former
made the investing in equity and the Mumbai Stock Exchange very popular and
controversial at the same time and the later monetized the craze of cricket in India through
Indian Premier League in short IPL.
Many other sports have gone through the same path successfully. Indian Art
needs a benefactor like that to make the Mutual Funds in the country and the
young investor communities sit up and take a view of Indian Art as an asset
category that could create immense value in short to medium term and
substantial amount of wealth in the long haul. Indian Art scene is full of news
and promise as it commands huge following and attracts bids with mind boggling
figures in International Auctions. That apart, the traditional International
Art collectors like Qatar Govt., and New York Art Museum with deep pockets have
shown considerable interest in collecting Indian Art across various mediums to
show case Indian ethnicity, its diverse & rich culture, colors and a
mindset of its own to their discerning guests, art lovers and art collectors.
If Indian Mutual Fund Industry could invest 0.01 to 0.05 of their resources in
Indian Art for next five years; then, it could create a new asset category with
substantial returns. Investment in Art would be as complex & challenging
exercise as it is with equity. Mutual Funds allocate their resources in equity
with a portfolio of Small Caps, Medium Caps and Large Caps; identically, in Art
they have to create a portfolio of assets in Art with Small Budget Art Work---
collections of emerging artists, Medium Budget Art Work--- collections of
nationally recognized artists, Large Budget Artwork--- collections of
internationally famous artists. Mutual Funds have to recruit professional
investment managers and Asset Management Company as they do for their equity
portfolio. This would create a new opportunity for Mutual Funds to make money
while developing a new discipline of excellence that would deliver a new
excitement and drive in the market place. At the same time it will allure a
mass of new and young investors with double income and considerable amount of
disposable funds for investment. Mutual Funds need to recruit domain experts,
tie up with art galleries across the country and abroad for buying and
displaying their portfolio of Art from time to time. Further, they could set up
auction house to monetize their own investment and for other individual art investors
to facilitate developing an eco-system for a new asset category that hold
immense promise and performance. This will have a far reaching socio-economic
impact while monetizing the creative talent pool of the country in a scale and
a size that has not been seen before or can be predicted; but, two things are
for sure this mammoth exercise could ignite the creative spirit in the country
and a novel way for value creation.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Pastoral Township into Cosmopolitan City
Transformation from a Pastoral Township
into Cosmopolitan
City
While waiting at
the meeting point in front of Pal Height Mall in Bhubaneswar lighted a cigarette to cut the
boredom and pain of waiting for some body. To my surprise my mind traveled back
35 years in time while looking at the brightly lit up four lane road now with
LED lamps, constantly moving traffic in both directions and evening shoppers
lazily strolling into the Mall for a bite at newly opened KFC. As my memory was
telling me this four lane road was non-existent then in 1978; when, my father
bought a piece of land not far from where I am standing now. We moved to occupy
our newly built house in 1980 consequent upon the transfer of my father from an
interior district head quarter. All five siblings were agog with excitement to
live in our own home in the State
Capital City,
Bhubaneswar.
Our new home was located at the edge of a residential area called Acharya Vihar
about 2.5 kilometers from the nearest bus stop. There was a small bridge on the
NH-5 behind our home a small stream of water continue to flow and empties
itself into a down stream lake at Vani
Vihar. The barbed fencing of central poultry farm with very thick under growth
was just finishing in front of our home. My father had planted hundreds of
Banana and coconut trees facing the National
Highway; that earned the place the sobriquet of
Banana Farm little later as cycle rickshaw pullers at the bus stop would
immediately understand the location if any body says “Kadali Bagicha” in Odia
language. There were very few houses in the vicinity and still fewer traffic.
We used to count how many cycles and two wheelers in our fingers; though
National Highway was occupied by long distance cargo vehicles from Howdah to
Madras and the other way round. We notice some innocuous cargo being
transported in huge tractor trailer with 34 wheels; that we came to know later
as boilers. We used to take the muddy road from the National Highway to reach our home. Then Bhubaneswar was considered
as a one horse town. Then Unit-1, Master
Canteen and Ashoka Market complex constituted the main market of the town and Entire Township
depended on those areas for shopping and recreation. In the centre of the town
there was huge open space in front of State secretariat called parade field
which was later converted into Indira
Gandhi Park
after her death. Then Bhubaneswar was cute little city with wide roads lined
with tall trees, traffic was so miniscule that in half an hour you can tour the
entire city in a two wheeler. Now 35 years later that pastoral town has
converted itself into a growing cosmopolitan Metro City
with population over one million. City now boasts of globally acclaimed
institutions like IIT-Bhubaneswar,
AIIMS, NISER, XIMB, and Institute
of Physics, two multi
disciplinary Private Universities like KIIT & SoA and countless private
engineering & business schools. All major ICT organizations have opened
shop in the city to take advantage of skilled manpower. You can buy any
globally reputed brand car from of the shelf; as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Land
Rover and Jaguar make car show rooms littered in different parts of the city.
You can also fly in and out of the city from Biju Patnaik
International Airport.
Social life has taken a high with youngsters
trooping into discotheques to shake a leg after a busy day. Food joints have
moved places and all kinds of food from Badapao to Pizza, Pasta to KFC are now
available at your door steps. Chinese fast food joints and Momo shacks are
popping out of each street corner that city dwellers are lapping it up as you
would notice long queue at each of those of places. City has swelled its
waistline to 40 kilometers dia. All major roads are four lanes with LED
lighting, all parts of the city now well connected by town bus &women
specials and city is thriving with traffic, life and charm of its own. Soon it
could become one of the preferred destinations to live and work in the eastern
part of India.
E-MAIL:streben.market@gmail.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Indian Surfing Festival-2015
Indian Surfing Festival was organized from 6th-8th February 2015 at
Ramachandi Beach near Konark Temple. This was the fourth edition of
the festival which has generated quite an interest in the State and
across the country. Having missed the previous three editions of the
festival; on the last day of the festival I set out with my wife and a
niece in tow. After nearly two hours of travel from Bhubaneswar we
reached the Lotus Resorts near Ramchandi Beach, the host of the
festival. By the time we reached the main draw of the festival were
over and we are left to soak ourselves with the ambience of the
festival which was a look alike of Kalangut Beach Festival of Goa with
all the colorful huts on the beach, Bamboo Installations, Art Display,
Camp Fires, High Voltage Music and generous spread of food & drinks.
First, three of us bathed ourselves on the soft and kind rays of the
setting sun on the beach font. After a while we reached for the food
court on the beach to challenge our taste buds with some Pasta and
Fish Fry with Potato Fingers and followed by some fresh filter coffee.
The net result was Intoxicating experience of life time. Only regret
was though the Surfing Festival was supported by Tourism Department of
Govt. of Odisha and a Bhubaneswar based Software Company MindFire
Solutions; not many Odia families were seen at the festival. My guess
was at least 1000-2000 Odia families could have visited the Indian
Surfing Festival for recreation and entertainment for their Bachha
Party; that could popularize this festival and create buzz across the
country for its further development. Local Public support and
participation is crucial for any tourism and cultural products. All
employers in the twin city and other parts of the state should
encourage their associates to take leave and visit their tourist and
cultural interest in the State; to Ignite their Creativity while
reflecting substantially in the financial statement of the
organization and improving the Research & Development profile of the
State over a period of time. Shall we?
CLASH OF IDEAS OR PERSONALITY?
Bikash Choudhury
Rahul Gandhi proceeded on a two weeks of leave of absence from the
Congress Party and important Budget sessions of Parliament. Gandhi
scion is no green horn in politics to behave in so immature fashion.
Apparently he listened to RSS chief’s statement on Mother Teresa
before it was delivered and therefore he immediately planned for his
holidays knowing fully well his job of reviving the grand old and much
tired Congress Party is being done meticulously by Sangha Parivar FoC.
Yogi Adityanath and his ilk are continuously harping on Ghar Wapsi,
India as Hindu Rastra and many others which have started to vitiate
the conducive atmosphere for socio economic progress for which BJP got
an unprecedented mandate on Governance and Development last summer.
Interestingly, BJP member of parliament Yogi Adityanath says “India
does not have problems of poverty or development” and Praveen Togadia
of VHP is very concerned about the marginal fall in Hindu population
without knowing the demography also a function of socioeconomic
progress and the same could happen with Indian Muslims also if they
were put in a fast track upward socioeconomic mobility by GoI and
respective State Governments. Irony is one of the most powerful prime
minister of recent times is helplessly watching his positive mandate
being torn apart non-other than the Sangha Parivar from the sidelines;
and, sadly comparisons are being drawn of him and Man Mohan Singh,
his predecessor. People are very inquisitive to know what has changed
in these nine months that RSS chief all of a sudden became insecure on
his seat. The answer lies on the massive mandate Modi received on
Governance and Development and his subsequent actions on foreign
policy and domestic affairs that might have propelled a few of PM’s
ambitious cabinet colleagues to impress upon the RSS chief to test the
waters on the contentious agenda which could clip the wings of Modi a
bit or pull him down a notch lower; knowing fully well that Modi works
to a plan and his agenda on Governance and Development would take
little time to bring the fruits for the people.
Those who have listened to RSS Chief Sri Mohan Bhagwat’s speech on
Rakshaya Bandhan at Bhubaneswar last year that apparently went on for
ninety minutes must vouch for his deep incite on spirituality,
religion, culture, science and metaphysics. His recent pronouncements
must have come as a shocker. One would agree with him on the baggage’s
of history where Hindus have to pay Jijiya Tax to practice their faith
in their own land and their places of worship and globally acclaimed
educational portals like Nalanda University were raised to ground
without any intervention or provocation. Further, tell tale account of
East India Company and British Empire that lorded over our country for
centuries and siphoned off huge wealth of our Nation including
Kohinoor Diamond and Peacock Throne. However, it is neither desirable
nor appropriate to revisit history selectively. One should keep the
current predicament of innocent and loving people of Pakistan
subjugated by their own military in this context. It is said often
that “best of Ideas stretched to the extreme turns toxic” as the
Talibanisation of Islam has become for Pakistan & Afghanistan;
identically, fundamentalism and extremism in Hindu faith would prove
catastrophic for the country. No individual, organization or faith is
above some correction; however, we should accept the same, acknowledge
that and leave to move on for the benefit of a flourishing society. It
is now left to the reader’s judgment if it were a clash of Ideas or
Personality?
FIX IT MR. PRIME MINISTER
Bikash Choudhury
Patia is a small hamlet of Bhubaneswar which has recently seen both
vertical and horizontal transformation. This locality of the city has attained
stardom with the inception and growth of private University KIIT that supports
over 20,000 students from across the country and abroad. Prime Minister and
Presidents and captains of Industry visit this area while visiting the KIIT
University Campus. In last six months this locality has seen a dip drop in
house rents and thousands of properties looking for customers at the same time.
The booming Real Estate Sector and Education Industry now languish with very
poor demand. Job prospects for young professionals not looking all that bright.
And, story apparently not much different all across the country. Strange and
surprise is in spite of new central Govt. taking some very good initiatives not
much has changed on the ground since the
days of UPA and it seems the result of
good economics may take another 18 months to see the light of the day.
Apparently, Govt. has not taken a bold move to capture some low hanging fruits
like say operalisation of multi brand retail policy taken by previous UPA Govt.
and public sector reforms. At least Govt. could leave it to the better judgment
of State Govt. On multi brand retail and
chop and chew that public sector which are guzzling public money and produce
very little. Union Govt. has ushered in the Digital India program; however, it
has not till date pull up the useless BSNL to speed up the broad band speed;
most of the time in a city like Bhubaneswar you only get a speed of 10 KBPS
against a promise of 100 KBPS. Why this problem can’t be fixed immediately? If
this problem were fixed in short term, then union Govt. would look good and economy
also would pick up speed. Recently, Mumbai
City was under water and
its life lines disrupted; how long this city has to wait for good roads and
rain water evacuation arrangement? Mumbai city apparently contribute about
25-30% of Union Govt. revenue which ask for basic infrastructure restored. If
Chinese can build 44 K.M long sea bridge in 4 years; can’t we build world class
roads for Mumbai in 18 months? NDA Govt. got a boot in 2004 for India Shining
campaign and once again it can be striped of power in 2019 if it does not
deliver in the short run. Fix it Mr. Prime Minister.
How to speed up Economic growth in the country?
Bikash Choudhury
Mumbai and Kolkata are two metros notorious for abysmal standards of
roads that consume road users in flesh and blood and at the same time
guzzle disproportionately high amount of fuel and rubber in
automobiles. There is high probability of these savings can be
reflected in the growth numbers of the country as it did earlier after
2004 on the back of two very successful Infra development programs
viz., Pradhan Mantri Gramya Sadak Yojana and Golden Quadrilateral
Project. Mumbai city has 1889 K.M of roads totally and 90% of those
roads are in pitiable condition on top of it the vehicle population in
the city has swelled to 23.3 lakhs and that tests the robustness of
automobile and its driver and passenger and eventually takes a heavy
toll on the economic life of the city. Identical condition prevail in
the city of Joy Kolkata and this challenges can be turned into an
opportunity for the National economy if this were converted into world
class roads in 18 months time as the gigantic scale of operation for
road construction would kick in the numbers. NDA Govt. should become
proactive and crack the whip to bring around the Civic body of Mumbai,
Maharsatra State Govt. and Private Industry operating from the city to
pool in the necessary resources and technology to give shape to the
biggest infra project in a short period of time. Our activist prime
minister should look at the road project of Mumbai and Kolkata to perk
up the reputation and image of his Govt. in very short period of time.
5th WAVE
Bikash Choudhury
If we travel back
in History for little over five hundred years in time then one would have experienced
‘0’ wave where India was peaking in
economically and politically. India
was also a maritime power enforcing and influencing the sea lanes of those
times. Indian organic Agriculture was highly productive and our principal
exports were Food, Agro and Forest products.
Apparently, those times Indian rulers were contended economically and believed
in peaceful co-existence. However, this did not last long. Soon they were over
powered by greed to accumulate land mass and consolidate political power for
their legacy; which, later prompted them to scheme one against another and many
times in collaboration with foreign/external forces who had designs to rule and
exploit the ‘Golden Goose’. Therefore, Europeans attempted to find the safe sea
route to India
and established trade successfully. Eventually, they became the rulers of India for over
three centuries. Wave Zero contained the seed of economic and political decline
in the shape of Political Disunity among then Indian rulers. As time would have
it; shrewd Europeans captured the opportunity impeccably.
Centuries later, our Independence movement took shape which
remained largely peaceful with few exceptional violent acts in between that contained
the “Wave-1”. That saw great leaders emerge out of the same British education
system; however, led Indian men towards complete freedom and Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi a non-resident Indian took the bull by the horn and
integrated disparate Indian people under his banner of ‘satyagraha’
which almost nearly achieved its objective of freedom; however, Lord
Mountbatten found to be a smarter operator with much better Idea from
colonizer’s point of view and ended up giving freedom to two parts of India
having many more divisions and sub-divisions the burden of which we carry even
to this day. Britishers clearly out witted Indian leaders in the charms offensive
and gave their final seal over freedom with partition in a combo offer which
Indian leaders could not refuse to accept. And, Gandhi courted death at the
hands of one of his own country men out of frustration and betrayal by his own
close followers. Therefore, first wave also ended up being a loser except the
limited liability of Independence
of a truncated Nation. Despite partition and bloodshed across the borders of India and Pakistan;
euphoria of being a free country took the people and their leaders by surprise.
However, India
was fortunate to have two immensely gifted leaders with towering personality
with diverse background and temperament; they come together in the larger
interest of their countrymen to give shape to fledging Nation and that became
“Wave-2”. Nehru and Patel managed to unite all the princely States behind
Indian Nationality; but, could not manage the affairs of Kashmir
having seen shrewd lawyer Mohamed Ali Jihnna from very close quarters.
Ironically, that has remained the “Achilles Heel” of India even today. But, during this
Wave-2 movement great Institutions were established; that took the
socio-economic-political life of this country a notch higher and serving the
Nation even today. No body could believe that a Statesman and a Global leader
of Nehru’s stature could make such a simple error of judgment with our
engagement with the Chinese and our North West Frontier Defense which rattled India and
finally took the life of Nehru who passed away a sad man.
“Jai Jawan and Jai Kisan” slogan started the “Wave-3”
which was later catapulted by Mrs. Indira Gandhi and her master stroke of
“Garibi Hatao” followed by discontinuation of Privy Purse of erstwhile Princely States, Nationalization of Commercial
Banks and liberation of Bangladesh.
However, Mrs. Gandhi did not help the cause of India by aligning too much with USSR and
imposing first and last emergency that suspended democratic rights of people.
Mrs. Gandhi was made to pay up for this very expensive mistake and she lost her
election to parliament while her party lost power at the centre. She did not
get the time to kiss and make up though she returned to power.
Rajiv Gandhi credited to have initiated the
“Wave-4” with his spotless Mr. Clean image and his visionary steps with
introduction of ICT in the country. The benefit of which is being reaped by
millions of young people today and they are able to own a house and a SUV
before clocking 30 years in their watch. Rajiv also started Ganga Action Plan,
Indira Gandhi National Open University and opened a forward looking foreign
policy with engagement on USA
and China
those served India
immensely little later. Rajiv was out witted by wily Politician J.Jayavardhane
of Sri Lanka and made to fend for himself; that expensive error of judgment finally
took his life in his prime. But, Bofors case was foisted on Rajiv by colonial
conspirators and some Congress Party & Bureaucratic insiders due to his
inexperience, lack of execution capability and skill to judge people;
fortunately, his better half gifted with such qualities and immense political
skill and maturity. Our only pouting leader in Narasingha Rao and Manmohan
Singh together brought the curtains to the 4th Wave with their
relentless pursuit of economic liberalization that managed to capture near
double digit growth and creation of jobs after a few years. “M’ae Atal Bhi Hoon ur Bhiharivi” those were
the words of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who managed to over throw the Hindu Rate of
growth with his two Iconic initiative of “Prime Minister Gramya Sadak Yojana
and Golden Quadrilateral Project” that enjoined our villages with four
metro cities and managed to substantially enhance the “Intensity of Human
Activity” that resulted in phenomenal economic growth after 2004. A
decade thereafter were a series of missed opportunities; Manmohan Singh, one of
the most economic literate prime minister drove a nail in the coffin of Indian
Economy during his decade long tenure with indecision and silence.
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