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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 01 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

25 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com

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continued on page 26

India’s Surveillance Plan Said to Deter BusinessBy Vikas Bajaj & ian austen

NEW DELHI (NYT): In the United States, law enforcement and security agencies have raised privacy concerns with a new proposal for electronic eavesdropping powers to track terror-ists and criminals and unscramble their encrypted messages.

Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, says it is willing to meet “the lawful access needs of law en-forcement agencies.”

But here in India, government au-thorities are well beyond the proposal stage. Prompted by fears of digital-era plotters, officials are already demand-ing that network operators give them the ability to monitor and decrypt

digital messages, whenever the Home Ministry deems the eavesdropping to be vital to national security.

Critics, though, say India’s campaign to monitor data transmission within its borders will hurt other important national goals: attracting global busi-nesses and becoming a hub for technol-ogy innovation.

The most inflammatory part of the effort has been India’s threat to block encrypted BlackBerry services, widely used by corporations, unless phone companies provide access to the data in a readable format. But Indian officials have also said they will seek greater access to encrypted data sent over popular Internet services like Gmail,

Skype and virtual private networks that enable users to bypass traditional telephone links or log in remotely to corporate computer systems.

Critics say such a threat could make foreigners think twice about doing business here. Especially vulnerable could be outsourcing for Western cli-ents, like processing medical records or handling confidential research proj-ects, information that is typically trans-mitted as encrypted data.

“If there is any risk to that data, those companies will look elsewhere,” said Peter Sutherland, a former Canadian ambassador to India who is now a con-sultant to North American companies

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

26 Indo American News • Friday, October 01, 2010 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comB U S I N E S S I N d I A

continued from page 25

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India’s Surveillance Plan Said to Deter Businessdoing business there.

S. Ramadorai, vice chairman of In-dia’s largest outsourcing company, Tata Consultancy Services, echoed that sentiment in a newspaper column on Wednesday. “Bans and calls for bans aren’t a solution,” he wrote. “They’ll disconnect India from the rest of the world.”

Few doubt that India has valid se-curity concerns. In recent years, at-tacks against India have included the use of sophisticated communications technology — as when the terrorists who stormed Mumbai two years ago communicated with their Pakistani handlers by satellite phone and the Internet. Or when Chinese hackers infiltrated India’s military computer networks this year.

But critics say that India’s security efforts, which they describe as clumsy, may do little to protect the country, even as they intrude on the privacy of companies and citizens alike.

“They will do damage by blocking highly visible systems like BlackBerry or Skype,” said Ajay Shah, a Mumbai-based economist who writes exten-sively about technology. “This will shift users to less visible and known platforms. Terrorists will make merry doing crypto anyway. A zillion tools for this are freely available.”

Senior Indian officials, though, argue that they have no choice but to demand the data that could help thwart and investigate terrorist attacks.

“All communications which is done by Indians or coming to and fro into India — and where we have a concern about national security — we should

have access to it,” said Gopal Krishna Pillai, the secretary of India’s Home Ministry, which oversees domestic security.

During the Mumbai attacks, he said, officials could not gain access to some of the communications between the terrorists and their handlers.

Some legal experts indicate that In-dian law — which has few explicit protections for personal privacy — is on the government’s side. But they also say India is trying to enforce the law in unnerving ways.

“The concern of corporate users and general users of BlackBerry is that if this is allowed, the government will become the single biggest repository of information,” said Pavan Duggal, a technology lawyer who practices be-fore India’s Supreme Court. “And we have no idea how this information will be used and misused in the future.”

The Indian government has also clamped down on the importation of foreign telecommunications equip-ment, saying it wants to ensure that the technology does not contain malicious software or secret trap doors that could be used by foreign spies.

The technology and security debates playing out here are not new or unique to India.

During the 1990s, for instance, American security officials tried un-successfully to restrict the use of en-cryption because of worries that law enforcement would not be able to monitor communications. Now, in legislation the Obama administration plans to introduce next year, officials want Congress to require all services

that enable communications — in-cluding encrypted e-mail systems like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically able to comply if served with a wiretap order.

Currently, other countries includ-ing the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia are trying to impose various measures similar to India’s.

The debate here, though, is compli-cated by the fact that despite private industry’s technology prowess in this country, in technologies like cryptog-raphy Indian law enforcement agen-cies still lag significantly behind their counterparts in the United States and other advanced countries.

The Indian government says it is intent on improving its code-cracking skills. But “in the interim, it has this very blunt instrument,” said Rajan S. Mathews, the director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, a trade group. “It comes to the operators and says: ‘I’m going to make you responsible for giving me access,’ ” he said.

Mr. Pillai, the Home Ministry sec-retary, said the government was not opposed to the use of encryption to protect the privacy of legitimate elec-tronic communications. But he said that as government-licensed entities, network operators were obliged to give law enforcement officials a way to decode messages when required or to block communications that they cannot decipher.

But network providers say they may not always have the technical ability

to do that. In much of the world — in-cluding for business users in India — companies and individuals now often use encryption systems that generate new code keys for each message and lack a convenient master key that could unlock everything for government viewing.

Google, for its part, has enhanced the encryption for its Gmail service, making it harder for hackers and the Indian government to read messages. Mr. Pillai said his ministry had begun conversations with Google and Skype, the Internet phone company, which also uses strong encryption, to provide access to decoded data.

Representatives for Google and Skype said that they could not com-ment because they had not yet received formal demands from the Indian gov-ernment.

Meanwhile, government officials have demanded that the maker of BlackBerry, Research In Motion of Canada, set up a server computer in In-dia from which law enforcement agen-cies can gain access to unencrypted versions of messages when they need to. The government has given R.I.M. until the end of October to comply.

The company has said that it is will-ing to meet “the lawful access needs of law enforcement agencies.” But the company says it cannot provide unencrypted copies of messages of corporate users because of how the BlackBerry system is designed, noting that even R.I.M. cannot decode them.

“Strong encryption has become a mandatory requirement for all enter-prise-class wireless e-mail services

today,” R.I.M. said in a statement in late August, “and is also a fundamental commercial requirement for any coun-try to attract and maintain international business.”

Vikas Bajas reported from New Delhi, and Ian Austen from Ottawa. Heather Timmons contributed report-ing from New Delhi.

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28 Indo American News • Friday, October 01, 2010 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.como p I N I o N

Only Our Fears Can Encircle UsInstead of being alarmed at China’s growing inroads in the region, India needs to take a hard look at its own role and find new ways to win neighbors and increase influence in the region

By suhasini haidar(HINDU): No one would accuse

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being alarmist. So when, addressing the Heads of Missions last month, he spoke of paying close attention to “global powers exercising influence in the Indian Ocean Region,” it was assumed that the Prime Minister was genuinely concerned about China’s growing role in the region. When he spoke to editors some days later about his concerns on China again, the assumption was sealed.

India’s growing concern rose from two factors — the first, Beijing’s sudden decision to provide North-ern GOC General Jaswal with a stapled visa, saying his command includes a ‘disputed’ region; and the other, newspaper reports that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had approximately 11,000 soldiers in Gilgit-Baltistan, digging tunnels and posing a direct threat to India across

the LoC.Meanwhile, the reported build-up

in PoK was aggressively denied by Beijing and Islamabad, both insisting that the troops are there to help con-tain flood damage, and the impending threat of the Hunza dam overflowing, and also to work on the Karakoram Highway project. India’s suspicions that China’s army is now securing its land route to the Arabian sea via PoK have nonetheless grown, given that China has also wrested control of the Gwadar port back from the Singaporean Port Authority. The development ties in with the fear of India being choked by a strategic “String of Pearls” — a U.S. Defence Department term for China’s ambi-tions for bases in the Indian Ocean Region. With Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Chit-tagong in Bangladesh, and the Sittwe port in Myanmar, it would seem the

string is slowly turning into a choke-chain for India.

At one level, the fears of China overrunning Pakistan to open a front with India may seem far-fetched, even hysterical. At another, it may be a much needed wake-up call for

India to reassess its preparedness to counter an increasingly assertive Chinese military. At an entirely dif-ferent level, New Delhi’s alarm could be most constructive if India takes a closer look at why China is making a speedier headway with so many of our neighbors.

Take Sri Lanka that has many rea-sons to welcome Indian investment. Whether it has been the tsunami, the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Indian agen-cies have been at the forefront to help. And yet, as Sri Lanka recasts itself as the Singapore of the region, it is China that is its biggest infrastructural inves-tor, bagging many coveted projects. Much of it is a result of Indian apathy – the Hambantota port, for example, was offered to India first. New Delhi’s lack of interest in developing this strategically located harbor was eas-ily the gain of China, which worked double time to complete the project with $60 billion funded from China’s Exim bank, building the port, the city centre, the airport, a stadium, and a massive convention centre. Many in India worry that Hambantota’s future could include a Chinese naval base too.

While Indian concerns about Ham-bantota are well known, little is spo-ken of the port project that India does have, in the northern town of

Kankesenthurai (KKS). Originally, after the tsunami, the project was handed to the Dutch, but after In-dia showed interest, the Sri Lankan President tore up that contract and invited India to build the port. Yet 18 months later, this harbor near Jaffna has seen little by way of construc-tion; even a feasibility survey taken in June 2010 has not yet been final-ized. Meanwhile Hambantota will receive its first ship in November, some six months ahead of sched-ule. The contract for the Colombo port has just gone to a Chinese consortium — no Indian company having even tried to bid for it. Given that the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)-Sampur coal 500-MW plant is already delayed years beyond its 2011 deadline, it is hoped that other projects India

has committed itself to including the northern rail line, the Palaly airport and the Jaffna stadium will be dealt with more expeditiously.

In January this year, a historic agreement with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seemed to redefine how India would deal with its neighbors. Amongst a slew of agreements came India’s $1-billion credit line — for 14 infrastructural projects. Even while the agreements were being finalized — Dhaka deliv-ered some of the most wanted United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants. Despite opposition cries of a sell-out, Sheikh Hasina’s India deal won her accolades in Bangla-desh. Yet it took eight months before Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee flew to Bangladesh to operationalize the credit line, and by the time he reached, India had decided to change its earlier offer of $1bn at one per cent interest to 1.75 per cent — terms that took many in Dhaka by unpleasant surprise. Also, unless India relaxes its trade barriers to Bangladeshi goods, it will be accused of exploiting the tran-sit rights only for its own benefit.

Meanwhile China has moved into the delay gap on projects like the Chittagong port with ease, funding much of its refurbishment, as also the construction of the second Padma bridge, as it vigorously pushes MoUs on road links via Myanmar and a rail

line connecting Beijing to Dhaka — as part of a $2.2-billion Chinese package on infrastructure.

A bolder move, but one that would win many hearts is to consider lift-ing tariff and non-tarrif barriers and duties unilaterally in the South Asian Association for Regional Coopera-tion (SAARC) region altogether. Sus-pend the reality of our relations with Pakistan for a moment to think about the impact of ending such protection-ism in a year that has so devastated Pakistan’s economy. According to estimates, the destruction of standing crops on two million hectares has virtually wiped out Pakistan’s staple revenue from export of cotton, rice, and sugar. With 77 million people likely to go hungry, and Pakistan’s projected growth likely to fall by half to about two per cent, it is only natural that China’s interventions in flood relief, rebuilding destroyed roads, schools and bridges, aid and trade will grow. The question is: will India watch with its customary alarm but do nothing?

On our other frontiers, it must be said, the government has made some moves — increasing development aid to Afghanistan to $1.2 billion and discussing a $1-billion dollar credit line to Myanmar as well. De-scribing some of these initiatives at Harvard University this month, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said: “Today, with sustained high economic growth rates … India is in a better position to offer a significant stake to our neighbors in our own prosperity and growth.” It is equally important to stand that assumption on its head, and consider India’s stake in the prosperity and growth of its neighbors. Whether it’s Mauritius or Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ban-gladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan or yes, Pakistan — these are countries with close cultural, linguistic, historic ties to India no other country can match. As a result, it shouldn’t be possible for China or any other superpower to encircle a country like India. The only thing that encircles us is our fear that they will.

Suhasini Haidar is the Deputy Foreign Editor, CNN-IBN

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Chinese President Hu Jintao


29 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com I N d I A

Food Insecurity in Urban IndiaConsiderable sections of the urban population may face serious food insecurity even while the urban economy grows.

By Venkatesh athreya(Hindu) Over the two decades of

rapid growth of the Indian economy, the urban economy is generally per-ceived as having done very well. However, high urban economic growth need not by itself imply im-proved living standards for all urban residents. In particular, the recent and continuing phenomenon of rising food prices reminds us that consider-able sections of the urban population may face serious food insecurity even while the urban economy grows rapidly.

Evidence from the National Sam-ple Surveys of 1993-94, 1999-2000 and 2004-05, ably marshaled by the National Commission for En-terprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), has shown that the rate of growth of employment in urban India fell sharply between 1993-94 and 1999-2000 as compared to the period 1987-88 to 1993-94, but it picked up smartly in the period 1999-2000 to 2004-05. However, practically the entire growth of employment in this latter period was in informal work, and the quality of employment, as indicated by wage/income levels, insecurity, other conditions of work and coverage in terms of social pro-tection, was extremely poor. This has serious implications for urban food insecurity, since a large segment of the urban working population is mostly without productive assets and relies primarily on wage or mar-ginal self employment to survive. In other words, a large segment of the urban population faces food insecu-rity in terms of access to food. Such employment-linked food insecurity is especially severe in small and me-dium towns which have been largely bypassed in the urban growth that has occurred.

Rapid growth of the urban econ-omy, largely unplanned, has also meant haphazard growth of urban centres and proliferation of urban slums lacking in basic amenities such as decent shelter, safe drinking water and toilets and sanitary facilities. This has implications for the absorption dimension of food security, since lack of safe drinking water and sani-tation leads to poor biological utilisa-tion of food and repeated episodes of morbidity.

A recently completed study of urban food insecurity explores these issues through an exercise of con-structing an Index of urban food insecurity for the major States (M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai (2010), Report on the State of Food Insecurity in Urban India, being released in Delhi on September 25). Using several outcome indica-tors such as the incidence of anae-mia and chronic energy deficiency among women in the fertile age group, and of anaemia and stunting/underweight among children below three years of age, as well as some in-put indicators such as the percentage of urban population without access to safe drinking water and that without access to toilets, the study shows that the period of economic reforms and high GDP growth has not seen an

unambiguous improvement in urban food security across all States.

A comparison of the Index values for the periods 1998-2000 and 2004-06 suggests a rather modest improve-ment of the urban food security situa-tion as measured by official data. But there should be a qualifying remark: that the data on access to safe drink-ing water and to toilets may in many cases overstate the actual access on the ground, in view of the reality of non-functioning or provision, or inad-equate functioning or provision.

The overall marginal improvement in urban food security in India as measured by the composite Index in all its variants is accompanied by a significant improvement in the poorer States. The fact that the pic-ture looks much less rosy when a purely outcomes-based measure is used suggests that there is no room for complacency on the issue of ur-ban food security. If anything, it is disappointing that urban economic growth has made little dent on urban food insecurity.

While the poorer States have done better than before, they account for only a small part of the country’s urban population. On the other hand, States such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana, which are relatively more urbanised, have done poorly. This suggests that the food security situation may have worsened rather than improved for a sizeable segment of the urban popu-lation between 1998-2000 and 2004-06. Considering that urban inequal-ity has worsened in the period since 1991, the implications for the food security status of the urban poor or slum-dwellers are worrying.

What can the government do to address the challenge of urban food security?

Points for ActionExpansion of productive and remu-

nerative employment needs to be en-abled through special assistance to the numerous small and tiny enterprises in the urban economy from credit to marketing support to infrastructure provision, along the lines suggested by the NCEUS. Based on an Urban Employment Guarantee Act, urban employment schemes can be de-

signed and integrated in a synergistic manner with the need to improve urban amenities, especially in the small and medium towns.

Urgent action is needed to improve access to safe drinking water and to toilets. Special attention needs to be paid in this regard to small and me-dium towns which happen to be most poorly provided for in this respect.

Interventions in flagship pro-grammes such as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mis-sion (JNNURM) and other urban schemes should focus on the needs of small and medium towns and on the

needs of slums in all cities, taking care to address the needs of the poor with regard to shelter, water, san-itation, drainage and nutrition education. Urban infrastructure cannot and must not mean only flyovers and six-lane roads in the metropolitan cit-ies. The urban Pub-lic Distribution Sys-tem must be made universal. However, it is important to recognise that the PDS is only a part of a comprehensive food security strat-egy. Policy must ad-dress hidden hunger.

It must also address the special needs of the vulnerable sections such as street children, orphans, HIV-AIDS

patients and so on through such ini-tiatives as community kitchens. De-signing and implementing a nutrition literacy movement across all urban centres will also be worthwhile.

Promotion of urban and peri-urban agriculture, especially horticulture, can make a vital contribution to food and nutrition security. It can also be a source of sustainable livelihoods. Issues of governance in urban food and nutrition programmes need to be addressed through, among other things, democratic decentralisation and local body capacity-building.

Finally, urban food security is as much a matter of the fiscal policy framework as it is of programme implementation on the ground, and a precondition to achieve targeted outcomes is adequate outlays. Eco-nomic reforms therefore need to be ‘reformed’ if inclusive urban de-velopment that addresses the needs of urban food security for all is to occur.

A cartoon depicting the rotten food grains issue, which appeared in The Hindu recently.

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30 Indo American News • Friday, October 01, 2010 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comI N d I A N d I A S p o r A

WASHINGTON (TOI): Growing up near the air force base in Dayton, Ohio, Tejdeep Singh Rattan knew he wanted to serve in uniform. When the military discouraged him, he persisted but again got a cold shoulder.

When he was turned away a third time, Rattan - an observant Sikh with a turban and beard - became suspi-cious.

“I was, like, I don’t know what’s go-ing on,” he said. “I was very introverted at the time. I never felt the need to fight back. But I said I really want to do this, and you guys are sending me out again and again.”

The 31-year-old is now US Army Captain Rattan, since July the head dentist at the Fort Drum base in New York.

In what appears to be a quiet shift, the US military since last year has allowed Rattan and two other Sikhs to serve while retaining their turbans and beards, which are required by their faith.

Rattan and another Sikh who re-ceived approval last year - Captain Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, a doctor - said in interviews that their superiors had welcomed them warmly.

Kalsi, 34, said that on his first day of training at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, a first sergeant pulled him out of the crowd and told the soldiers about the Sikh’s long ordeal to enlist. “These were his words: ‘The Army is made up of different shades of green, and if you have any objection to him being here, you need to tell me now,’” Kalsi said. “It was great; everybody clapped.”

The US Sikh com-munity - esti-mated at more than half a mil-lion - suffered hate crimes after the Sep-tember 11, 2001 attacks by assailants who falsely associated the religion founded in India with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

“I think the only way for that percep-tion to be eliminated is when young Sikhs come up and say: I want to serve in the military,” Rattan said.

“For me, I said whatever it takes, I’m going to fight this thing - I’m going to serve. Maybe if nothing else comes out of it, people will know who Sikhs are,” he said.

Sikhs have a historic military culture and have long kept their articles of faith in the militaries of Britain, Canada and India.

Small numbers of Sikhs for years served in the US armed forces without incident. But in the 1980s, the post- Vietnam War military moved to in-Vietnam War military moved to in-Vietnam War military moved to increase conformity and banned displays of religious identity for new recruits.

The Supreme Court in 1986 upheld

the military’s right to prohibit a Jewish officer from wearing a yarmulke. In response, Congress approved a law requiring the military to approve sol-diers’ religious apparel if it is “neat and conservative.”

Army spokesman George Wright said that it evaluated each Sikh soldier’s request based on “unique facts and individual circumstances.”

“It is the Army’s policy to accom-“It is the Army’s policy to accom-“It is the Army’s policy to accommodate religious practices as long as the practice will not have an adverse impact on military necessity,” Wright said. But lawyers for the men believe the US military has developed guid-the US military has developed guid-the US military has developed guidance - a general guideline, but short of an official policy - to accommodate Sikhs.

U.S. Army Quietly Allowing Sikh Soldiers to Enlist in MilitaryMost recently,

the Army on Au-the Army on Au-the Army on August 30 accommo-dated a new recruit, Simran Preet Singh Lamba, after ini-tially denying him. Lawyers closely watched his case as he will undergo rank-and-file train-rank-and-file train-rank-and-file training and is not in the medical field.

“I think the Army, and De-fense Department more broadly, took nine months to take this decision because it was a big decision,” said Amandeep Sidhu,

a Sikh American lawyer whose firm McDermott Will & Emery represents the men pro bono.

Sidhu voiced hope that eventually the army would “go that one step further and amend the uniform regula-further and amend the uniform regula-further and amend the uniform regulation in a way that would allow Sikhs to serve without having to automatically go through the extraordinary hoops.” Critics have in the past argued that the military needs to ensure conformity and that easing rules could be a slippery slope with precedent for other issues. President Barack Obama’s adminis-tration is cautiously moving to allow gays to serve openly in the military, a hot-button political issue.

Sikh activists have enlisted the help of the US Congress. Forty-one House

members and six senators wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates last year to voice concern after Kalsi and Rattan initially heard they could not be accommodated.

“No one should have to choose between his religion and service to our country,” said Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat of New York.

Harsimran Kaur, legal director of The Sikh Coalition, a rights advocacy group, hoped that pressure from Con-group, hoped that pressure from Con-group, hoped that pressure from Congress and closed-door talks with the military would bring an official change in policy.

“A lawsuit is always a means of last resort as it automatically puts both sides in an adversarial posture,” she said. “We would very much hope that the Army makes this change on its own, because we want them to understand it’s in their best interest as well.”

“It shows folks abroad that the United States and the US Army practice what they preach, that we not only tolerate religious diversity and freedom of reli-gious, but we celebrate it,” she said.

Captain Kalsi, who recently gradu-Captain Kalsi, who recently gradu-Captain Kalsi, who recently graduated from training and will soon start serving as an emergency doctor at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, said that religious tolerance “goes to the core of being an American.”

And for Sikhs, the military “is in our blood,” said Kalsi, whose father, grand-blood,” said Kalsi, whose father, grand-blood,” said Kalsi, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather served in the Indian or British militaries.

“I want to be able to pass this on,” Kalsi said. “I want my son who’s now a year-and-a-half old to someday say - yeah, I’m fifth-generation military.”

U.S. Army Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan is the first Sikh allowed to complete officer basic training while wearing the traditional turban and full beard since the Army altered the dress code, which had made exceptions for Sikh soldiers, in 1984.



Indo American News South Asia

News of the Diaspora

Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi Sees Great Growth, Hurdles for IndiaNEWYORK (DNAI): PepsiCo Inc

chairman and chief executive Indra Nooyi has a clear message for her homeland of India -- improve your infrastructure, work force and sanita-infrastructure, work force and sanita-infrastructure, work force and sanitation, attract more foreign investment, and develop faster.

At a panel discussion on Tuesday evening hosted by the Yale-India Ini-tiative, Nooyi said it was tough for her to talk about India, since she has “one foot there and one foot here.”

She called India a “must-invest” market, citing its demographics, ample work force and pace of innovation.

“We see a growth market for the next 50 years at least, which is not the case in many of the other markets we participate in,” said Nooyi, the highest-ranking Indian-born woman in corporate America. “We are in India for the long haul.”

Still, Nooyi said she wanted to talk about India constructively in terms of what can be done better, “so you can attract more investment and India itself can develop faster.” The biggest obstacle is infrastructure, she said.

“If I use the word ‘appalling,’ that would be a bit of an understatement,” said Nooyi, who hails from the south-said Nooyi, who hails from the south-said Nooyi, who hails from the south

ern city of Chennai. “When we talk about reaching every nook and corner of India we need an infrastructure. ... We need power 24 hours a day in every part of the country. We need water.”

“I’m not saying developments haven’t been made, but it’s not as fast as it needs to be,” added Nooyi, who has a reputation for being a demanding manager.

The next two obstacles are a work force that largely lacks the proper skills and a poor level of health and hygiene, she said

“We think that if you improve edu-“We think that if you improve edu-“We think that if you improve education you can improve the hygiene standards in India and you can reduce the incidence of disease,” said Nooyi. “And the economy itself will become much more healthy going forward.”

In 1989 PepsiCo established its busi-ness in India, where it now has more than 36 bottling plants including 13 owned by the company and 23 that are franchise-owned. In the latest quarter, its beverage sales volume rose at a dou-its beverage sales volume rose at a dou-its beverage sales volume rose at a double-digit rate. Nooyi, who played in an all-girl rock band in her youth and now enjoys ballroom dancing, came to the United States to attend Yale School of Management. She graduated in 1980. Now a US citizen, she has worked for

PepsiCo since 1994. She was named to the top job in October 2006.

Nooyi, who turns 55 in October, told Reuters that she is completely focused on making PepsiCo “the de-fining corporation of the 21st century.” But further out, she sees a possibility of public service.

“I want to go to Washington and fig-ure out how to give back to the United States,” she said following the panel, which was co-sponsored by the Ameri-can India Foundation which counts Nooyi’s sister, Chandrika Tandon, as a trustee and board member.

Regarding the US economy and its impact on Pepsi’s business, Nooyi noted some “stabilisation” in the past few weeks.

“The funny part is the traditional economic statistics, whether that’s un-economic statistics, whether that’s un-economic statistics, whether that’s unemployment or new business creation, those numbers don’t look very opti-mistic. But foot traffic in convenience stores is up. People are spending.”

She said high-end consumers are spending “like there’s no end in sight” because they’’re sitting on cash and not investing. On the other hand, lower-income consumers are shopping “ex-

ceedingly carefully,” she said.Consumers are putting off purchases

of higher ticket items like furniture and cars, and therefore have more money to spend on basic consumable goods like PepsiCo’s soft drinks and snacks, Nooyi said.

“The basic necessity sector is grow-“The basic necessity sector is grow-“The basic necessity sector is growing quite well,” she said. “What I worry about is if the economy does not see growth in construction, manu-not see growth in construction, manu-not see growth in construction, manufactured goods. ... If those industries don’t come back, what happens to the consumer downstream? That’s the big unknown.”Indra Nooyi

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32 Indo American News • Friday, October 01, 2010 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comI N d I A

Wikipedia to Open India Office SoonMUMBAI (TOI): Wikipedia, the world’s free

online encyclopedia that is one of most visited sites after Google with 375 million visitors a month, will shortly be launching an India office - probably in Mumbai - besides setting up an India Chapter of the Wiki Foundation, the owners of Wikipedia and its other arms, in Bangalore said.

“We will be launching the Wiki Foundation’s India Chapter in Bangalore shortly and an India office of Wikipedia by early 2011,” Wikimedia Foundation Chief Global Development Officer Barry Newstead told PTI in an interaction here today.

On whether opening an India office involves setting up a server here, he said, “Our servers are based in the US only, and India will have a caching centre to make the site faster.”

“We have already registered the India Chapter

under the Karnataka Charitable Societies’ Act and soon we will be launching this actively,” Newstead said further.

On the location of the proposed office, he said, it could be either in Mumbai, New Delhi or in Bangalore as it is yet to be finalised.

Newstead, who left his plum job with the Boston Consultancy Group to join the executive management team of Wikimedia as chief global development officer in June 2010, is here to scout for a national programme director for India and to choose the best city to open the India office.

“I always have a passion for education and knowledge, and hence my decision to make a ca-reer working on social issues,” is how Newstead described his decision to quit his BCG job and take up this low-paying job.

Fast Rising Yamuna River Threatens Floods Near Taj

AGRA: The flood situation in the Agra region took an alarming turn as the water level in Ya-muna crossed the medium flood level of 152.09 metres Sunday evening, submerging most of the Taj Heritage Corridor and the waterworks, cutting off supplies to half of this Taj city

The river level is feared to touch 152.4 metres Monday morning, according to officials here.

More colonies and ghats were under water and the district authorities continued to per-suade people to shift to safer areas.

A youth who couldn’t resist the temptation to jump into the swollen river remain untraced. Police said Ramesh, 25, jumped into the river close to the ‘Gyarah Sirhi’, a historical land-mark on the river bank.

Police personnel looked for his body but failed to find it till late Sunday night.

The alarming rise in the river’s level affected the Agra Water Works which failed to supply drinking water to almost half the city.

The Yamuna water submerged most parts of the controversial Taj Heritage Corridor sandwiched between the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. The Mantola nullah drain water entered the moat of the Agra Fort.

‘The sickening collection of polythene bot-tles and bags into the drain and the dirty water accumulating in the moat will create enormous problems for the civic administration in the post-flood stage,’ said an official of the munici-pal corporation.

Water had already submerged the popular Taj

Ganj cremation ghat and the electric cremato-rium was closed Sunday. The Dussehra ghat adjacent to the Taj was knee-deep in water, while the artificially developed park at the rear of the Taj Mahal was under water, most washed away by the flood fury.

‘Humans could not clean the river Yamuna, but nature has done it for us this year. Heaps of polluted garbage and illegal structures in the flood plains have been washed away. One hopes people will learn a lesson and not play with nature,’ said green activist Ravi Singh

Meanwhile tourists visiting the Taj Mahal were advised to stay away from the swollen river. Colonies in the Balkeshwar and Dayal-bagh areas have been inundated.

At least a dozen localities along the banks have been badly hit by the floods. In the rural segment, district authorities said the situation was worsening as more villages were cut off. Crops have been destroyed in Manoharpur, Tanaura, Bahadurpur and parts of Etmadpur tehsil.

In the historic Bateshwar, 70 kms from the city, the 101 Shiva temples along the Yamuna bank have been hit hard and water entered the compounds of many temples threatening the foundations.

More than 30 villages in the Bah tehsil had been badly hit by the Yamuna floods.

The main sewage drains of the city were choked and backflowing, creating hygiene problems.

Visitors to the Taj Mahal in Agra were treated to an unusual sight -- the generally dry Yamuna River rising to a medium flood level of 152 m.


33 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com I N d I A

Schools Re-open in Kashmir After Three Months SRINAGAR: It was one of a series of

measures announced by the government to address the surge in violence in the region.But there were reports of limited attendance

at the schools after a leading separatist leader called on parents to keep children at home.More than 100 civilians have been killed

since June.The BBC’s Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says

most school teachers have turned up for work, ignoring hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s call to stay at home.But students said they were having a difficult

time reaching their schools because of the lack

of transport and stone-throwing protesters in some areas.“The decision to open schools is stupid. My

daughter has gone to school. What happens if she is hit by a stone on the way back?” said Bashir Ahmed, a parent.Over the weekend, the central government

announced a raft of steps to address the dramatic surge of violence in the valley.The government’s measures include

compensation for families of those killed during the recent months of violent clashes between pro-separatists and Indian security forces.


34 Indo American News • Friday, October 01, 2010 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com

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36 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010 ONLINE EDItION: www.indoamerican-news.com

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37 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010ONLINE EDItION: www.indoamerican-news.com I N D I A

India in Pictures

A Kashmiri man walks in front of closed shops during curfew in Srinagar last week. Photo: Nissar Ahmad >>>

School children, with their family, try to make way through barbed wires in Habbakadal area of Srinagar on Tuesday. Photo: Nissar Ahmad

A teacher supervises a class as students returned to schools, which were closed for more than 100 days, in Sringar. Photo: AP

India’s ace shooter Gagan Narang holds the Queen’s Baton for Commonwealth Games 2010 in Hyderabad. Photo: K. Ramesh Babu <<<

A securityman with a sniffer dog patrols outside the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Photo: PTI

The Patel Chowk Metro Station. Delhi Metro will reserve a coach exclusively for women from October 2. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Rapid Action Force jawans patrolling in Lucknow outside the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court just after the verdict of Supreme Court in the deferment case on Ayodhya. Photo: Subir Roy

Send your travel photos to: [email protected]


38 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010 ONLINE EDItION: www.indoamerican-news.comI N D I A - E c o N o m y

the Walmart Foundation to Increase Women’s Development Partnership

New funding applies successes and learnings from prior programs to educate and empower more women in Peru, Bangladesh and India

BENTONVILLE, (PRNewswire): The Walmart Foundation announced plans to increase its women’s devel-

opment partnership with CARE to $3 million, expanding its $1 million, one-year partnership initiated last year. The funding will empower women in Peru, Bangladesh, and India by developing new skills and creating new opportuni-ties through education, literacy and job training programs in agriculture and factory settings.

“We are excited by the positive dif-

ference we have made in the lives of women through the work we have done in partnership with CARE and are

looking forward to building on these successes to do even more,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chair-man of Walmart and CARE board member. “These proj-ects will create new jobs and advancement oppor-tunities for women in the work place, as well as help to build and improve their confidence.”

In Bangladesh, the new funding will enable 2,500 women to take advantage of an expanded curriculum to build their reading, writing, math and analytical skills, as well as promote health and nutrition awareness. With this addition, a total of 5,000 women will build life-long skills that will increase their income-earning potential.

In India, Walmart and CARE will create additional women owned-and-operat-ed cashew processing insti-tutions, expanding into 18 new villages. This extension will help an additional 500 women in the cashew farm-ing and processing sector achieve more equitable and consistent incomes, total-ing 1,250 women impacted

through the partnership.In Peru, the project will extend its

work into more provinces and new products, helping in total more than 1,600 households improve their ag-ricultural operations and creating ap-proximately 700 new jobs in the region. The project also includes strategies to empower women to take a stronger leadership role in their family farms

and communities, including training in how to better market their produce and support in implementing women’s business networks.

“Walmart’s support has made a sig-nificant difference in the lives of thou-sands of women, and their families, in Bangladesh, India and Peru,” said Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE. “This new funding is a testi-mony of Walmart’s long-term commit-ment to provide women with the skills, knowledge and opportunities that will enable them to reshape the future for themselves and their families. By le-veraging our collective resources, we can bring about lasting impact in the fight against poverty.”

Globally, women make up 70 percent of the one billion people living on less than a dollar a day, work two-thirds of the working hours, produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only 10 percent of the world’s income and own less than 1 percent of the world’s property. Equipped with the right tools, research shows that women are the solution to breaking the cycle of poverty.

Together, Walmart and CARE are working hard to ensure women are part of the solution in the fight against global poverty.

CARE President and CEO, Helen Gayle is happy with Wal-mart’s decision to fund literacy and job training programs for young and middle aged women in Peru, Bangladesh and India. The programs help women to expand their reading, writing, math and analytical skills, while promoting health and nutritional issues as well. These women are being taught life skills that will help them keep earning incomes to sustain their families for life.

Eduardo Castro-Wright, Vice Chairman of Wal-mart and board member of CARE feels that these programs will help create more equal opportunities for women in these nations

India’s Rich to Retain Superfast GrowthMUMBAI: With the high net-

worth individuals (HNWIs) popu-lation showing a robust growth of 33.2 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region last year, India and China are likely to remain the fastest-growing HNWI segment in the world, a report said.

Emerging Asia (China, India, Indonesia and Thailand) is fast be-coming the main engine of growth in the Asia-Pacific region and its HNWI segment showed a robust growth of 33.2 per cent in 2009, with wealth up 40.4 per cent, ac-cording to the 2010 Asia-Pacific Wealth Report released by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini, in Mumbai.

India and China were the only two major Asia-Pacific countries in which industrial production ac-tually rose in 2009, as they enjoyed a more diversified export market and broader domestic demand.

Hong Kong and India, which experienced the world\’s largest decline in HNWI population and wealth in 2008, experienced the strongest resurgence in 2009. The population of HNWIs grew 104.4 per cent in Hong Kong, almost reaching pre-crisis levels and 50.9 per cent in India, the report said.

HNWI wealth in Hong Kong and India jumped 108.9 per cent and 53.8 per cent, respectively, amid strong growth in both mar-kets and macro-economic drivers of wealth.

“The strong economic resur-gence in India has been boosted primarily by the country\’s stock market capitalisation which more than doubled in 2009 after drop-ping 64.1 per cent in 2008,” Mer-rill Lynch Wealth Management, India, Chairman, Pradeep Doka-

nia, said.“The increased confidence by

Indian HNWIs facilitated by the strength of the underlying econ-omy which grew 6.8 per cent in 2009 has resulted in a surge in HNWI wealth in the region,” Do-kania said.

“China and India will lead the way in the Asia-Pacific region with economic expansion and HNWI growth is likely to keep out-pacing more developed eco-nomics,” he said.

China\’s rapid GDP growth is expected to slow a little to 8.3 per cent in 2011. Going forward, Chi-na is expected to focus on balanc-ing its economy by boosting the service sector and driving private consumption.

However, India\’s growth is ex-pected to keep accelerating with GDP forecast to expand 8.1 per cent in 2011 after a gain of 7.8 per cent in 2010 due to the significant expansion of private consumption and investment, the report said.

The report said the Reserve Bank of India is expected to tight-en monetary policy progressively in 2010 to make sure its economy does not overheat as the global fi-nancial crises recedes.

The proportion of Asia-Pacific HNWI assets allocated to cash-based instruments dropped to 22 per cent in 2009 from 29 per cent in 2008 and fixed income invest-ments accounted for only 20 per cent of assets, unchanged from 2008.

However, HNWIs from China and India allocated a very high 85 per cent and 82 per cent, respec-tively, to the home region invest-ments, it said.

Quotes on India: A Nation that’s Going Places• “The market outlook for renewable energies in India is extremely positive and we see huge potential for

the wind and solar business in the near future.” - Dr. Armin Bruck, Managing Director, Siemens• “India has a huge opportunity to become a food basket for the world.” -Scott Price, President and CEO,Wal-Mart, Asia

Why India is the Place for Business• “India is a very important market for Ford Motor company. We are

here in a big way. We are doubling our plant capacity in Chennai.” - Mark Bentley, Manager, Ford Global Licensing • “Given the rapid development of India’s economy and infrastruc-

ture, this is exactly the right time to bring the world’s greatest motor-cycle to one of the world’s largest motorcycling nations.” - Matthew Levatich, President and COO, Harley-Davidson Motor Company

• “Compared to China, India has a much stronger and self-sufficient skill base... India is truly the powerhouse of the future.” - Michael Maedel, President, JWT Worldwide


39 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010ONLINE EDItION: www.indoamerican-news.com

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India to Move all Zoo Elephants to Wildlife ParksNEW DELHI (AP): All elephants

living in Indian zoos and circuses will be moved to wildlife parks and game sanctuaries where the

animals can graze more freely, of-ficials said.The decision affects around 140

elephants in 26 zoos and 16 circus-es in the country, said B.K. Gupta, an officer at India’s Central Zoo Authority.The order followed complaints

from animal rights activists about elephants that are kept in captivity

and often chained for long hours, Gupta said.The elephants currently living in

zoos or circuses are to be moved

to “elephant camps” run by the government’s forest department and located near protected areas and national parks. There they would be able to roam and graze freely, but “mahouts,” or tradi-tional elephant trainers, would still keep an eye on them.Some elephant experts, howev-

er, were skeptical about moving

the elephants to wildlife preserves, many of which are under pressure from encroaching human habita-tion.

“Special facilities have to be created, perhaps outside the wildlife sanctuaries. It may add to the pressures faced by natural habitats,” said Raman Sukumar, a pro-fessor of ecology at the Indian Institute of Sci-ence, Bangalore.Increasingly, research

shows that elephants in the wild have longer life spans and better health and reproductive records than those in captivity, Sukumar said.Zoo elephants often die

prematurely and contract diseases or suffer obe-sity and arthritis more frequently than in their natural habitats, he said.India has an estimated

28,000 wild elephants living in forest reserves and national parks, mainly in the southern and north-eastern parts of the country. Anoth-er 3,500 elephants live in captivity, many of them in temples, or work-ing in logging camps where they are used to lift timber. No decision has been made about them.

Elephant camps are being organized by the government’s forest department which are located near protected areas and national parks, where elephants can be safe under the watchful eyes of their trainers

GUWAHATI: (NTI) An incessant downpour over the past fortnight has inundated the Pobitora Wild-life Sanctuary in Assam. Wildlife wardens have moved the animals to safer places.The Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary

is famous for its one-horned rhi-noceros.Reportedly, the gushing waters of

the River Brahmaputra have sub-merged 95 percent of the area. This in turn has prompted game

wardens and rangers to initiate possible remedial measures to save the animals and stop them from wandering away from their regular habitat that encompasses over 38 square kilometres of area.The Conservator of Forests, the

chief wildlife warden, forest rang-ers, security personnel and villag-

Floods Affect Wildlife SanctuaryKnown for One-Horned Rhinos

ers are keeping a round-the clock watch on animal movement. This is the third time this year

that the River Brahmaputra has in-undated the sanctuary.“The entire Pobitora is submerged

in flood waters. In fact, just two or three camps are saved, or else are submerged in the floods,” said Deepak Mahanta, a game warden.“For the past seven to eight days,

we all are on continuous duty for the safety of animals of the sanc-tuary. I got the information that the rhinos are moving out of the wildlife preserve,” said Suklesh-war Rajbongshi, Deputy Game Warden of the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is located around

60 kilometres from Guwahati.

The one-horned rhino at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is now safe thanks to the game wardens and rangers who have moved the animals to safe ground even before the Bhramaputra river could endanger the lives of the many animals that live there




41 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010ONLINE EDItION: www.indoamerican-news.com m o v I E r E v I E W

By Dr. Shoma ChatterjiKOLKOTA (IT): One out of

three women faces violence be-hind closed doors, but even a very small intervention can help in overcoming this. A brilliant audio-visual campaign called Bell Bajao! (Ring the Bell) urges men to take a stand against domestic violence. Ring the bell and intervene in a situation of abuse - the campaign’s premise is that this simple act is all it takes to bring domestic violence to a halt.Bauddhayan Mukherji is the man

behind Little Lamb Films, founded in 2008. The firm makes advertis-ing films and is deeply involved in public service advertising. Among its memorable assignments is a film for a project called Friends Without Borders where kids from India and Pakistan write letters to each other. “Some of these have won awards as well but that is not what keeps us going. The motivation comes from the work itself,” says Mukherji. He is cur-rently in the limelight because his Bell Bajao! series of one-minute films on domestic violence has not only won numerous prestigious awards, but has also been screened at Cannes 2010.One film from the series was

screened in Cannes 2010 last month as one out of six short films chosen for a section called “Speak Out Against Domestic Violence” Short Films Contest with entries from the Netherlands, Mexico, the UK and the US. It has won a gold and a silver at Goafest (2009), two golds at the Indian Documentary Producers Association Awards, a

Spikes Asia Gold, a Community Engagement Award at the Media That Matters festival in New York, a special jury mention at the Ex-pression En Corto Film Festival in Mexico and the Best Public Service Advertisement award at the UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards, India, 2009.The Bell Ba-

jao! campaign was launched by Breakthrough in August 2008, in collaboration with the Minis-try of Women and Child Devel-opment. Break-through is a New York-based NGO working in India. The campaign is an entire series of brief films, each one featuring a man, who, alerted by a woman’s screams, walks over to the house and rings the bell on a variety of pretexts such as asking for a cup of milk or retrieving a lost ball. The campaign asks men to do their part to ensure women live a violence-free life.“Before Bell Bajao, I had worked

with Breakthrough on their pre-vious campaign for HIV AIDS and Women. It was critically ac-claimed and won awards. Bell Ba-jao happened next. Breakthrough had briefed its agency Ogilvy on the campaign. The concept came from the Ogilvy team. Each proj-ect has equilibrium. At times we

reach it, at times we fail. On Bell Bajao, I think everything just fell in place. A rare occurrence I must say,” says a happy Mukherji. These films are almost without di-

alogue, with powerful visuals that strike home instantly. The man’s shouts rip through the neighbour-

hood that could be yours or mine. As he screams at and thrashes a woman, the character played by actor Boman Irani can’t take the injustice of domestic violence, and he walks over and rings the bell. Under the pretext of request-ing to use the telephone, he drives home the point that he knows the shameful secret of the husband who opens the door: the man is a wife-beater. As Irani walks away, you get the feeling that one bell and a severe look will make sure it was the last time the man raised his hand on the woman.The campaign looks at domestic

violence from the sensitive man’s

point of view. It is an awareness and intervention campaign. The second season of the campaign is now on, and is also done by Baud-dhayan Mukherji. How does it dif-fer from the first season? Mukherji says, “One shows an old retired man coming to a neighboring door

with the excuse of delivering a wrongly delivered letter. It is just an excuse for him to ring the bell. What he comes up with is a blank postcard. That is when the penny drops for the abuser, whose realization is now ex-plicit - he knows that the old man knows!.“Season One was

the initial campaign. Post-release of the same made the en-tire nation stand up and watch Bell Ba-jao! People actually

walked across and rang the bell. Season Two picked up three real life incidents and reconstructed them. These were chosen from the hundreds of ‘excuses’ we received in the mail,” explains Mukherji.The campaign echoes the senti-

ments of a small section of men who feel they have a role to play in addressing violence against wom-en. In India, traditional efforts to tackle violence against women have concentrated on empowering women to assert themselves and prevent violence. This approach excludes men from the process of transformation and binds them to their patriarchal mould. There

is a lack of safe, non-threatening platforms for men to talk about problems that lead to violent be-haviour including issues of gender and sexuality. There is the need for positive role models among men, who assert a gender sensitive so-ciety and can engage other young men in the discourse.“The campaign asks you to take a

stand. It eggs men on to kill the ‘It is not my business’ mentality,” ex-plains Mukherji. Sonali Khan, Di-rector, Creative Communications, Breakthrough, says, “Ending vio-lence against women has been a focus of women’s organizations because women are both victims as well as survivors of violence. Women have agency. The campaign hands men the re-

sponsibility of a proactive role. It uses the power of popular culture, media, and education to transform public attitudes and promote val-ues of equality, justice and dig-nity.Sonali did fret for a while over

whether this was taking away from women a chance to raise their own voice. “I realized that when it comes to violence faced by wom-en, men too need a voice. They ex-perience violence and imbibe vio-lence as a behavioral norm. This vicious cycle has to be broken.” That’s why the campaign makes men the natural allies of violated women. It is for “the silent men, who are not violent themselves but hesitate to take action. What if they take a stand? What if they start ringing the bell?” Well, they would save many women from be-ing thrashed behind closed doors.

One-Minute Films: Bell Bajao! (Ring the Bell) against Violence on Women

Bell Bajao, (Ring the Bell) on women abuse urges action on the part of men and society, who have kept silent far too long.


42 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010 ONLINE EDItION: www.indoamerican-news.comS P o r T S

By Dileep premchanDranNEW DELHI (Cricinfo): There

was a time when an Australian tour of India was a rarity, a brief shower after seasons of drought. After Richie Benaud and Neil Harvey triumphed in India at the end of the Eisenhower era, it was another decade before their suc-cessors made a successful jour-ney back across the Indian Ocean. Messrs Lawry, Chappell, McKen-zie and Mallett won a hard-fought series, but it had its share of con-troversies, especially off the field, where Doug Walters was accused by India’s reds of having a quarrel with the Vietcong.

Another 10 years would pass be-fore a side without stars - who were busy being part of Kerry Packer’s revolutionary caravan - came over and were easily beaten.

The likes of Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee never played a Test in India, and it was quite an achievement when their unherald-ed successors came over in 1986 and drew a three-match series that included a memorable tie on the Coromandel coast.

By then, touring India had be-come less of a hardship and more of an adventure. The 1969 tourists once jeered their own manager af-ter he thanked their hosts in Guwa-hati and hoped to be back soon. By the time Allan Border’s men criss-crossed the subcontinent to win the World Cup in 1987, the play-ers were more used to the unique rhythms of subcontinent life, less prone to lose focus over heat, dust or an upset tummy. It still took an-other decade for the Test side to return, though, and a heavy defeat in the Nayan Mongia Test of 1996 showed how much remained to be done if Australia were to become masters of all they surveyed.

These days, any talk of India and Australia tends to end up with a discussion of the epic 2001 series, but if anything, it was the crushing defeat in 1998 that forced Austra-lia to rethink their India strategies. Thrashed in Chennai despite hav-

Indian tactics in Nagpur, justi-fied or not, spoke of a team that couldn’t wait to head home.

Two years on, Australian cricket is still in a transitional phase. The bowling is far short of the standards set in the McGrath-Warne era, and a batting line-up with the incon-sistent Marcus North at No. 6 no longer intimidates as it once did. Ricky Ponting appears to have left his best years behind him - mind you, people said the same of Ten-dulkar before his Indian summer - while the retirements of Hayden and Gilchrist have robbed the side of two of the biggest game-chang-ers of the modern era.

What Australian cricket’s rela-tive decline has also done is allow India a glimpse at its own future. Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman won’t be around forever, while Anil Kumble has already gone. Yuvraj Singh already appears to have been filed under the could’ve-been-a-contender category, while none of the young bowlers has strung together even two seasons of consistent achievement.

Dileep Premachandran is an as-sociate editor at Cricinfo

ing taken a first-innings lead, and hammered out of sight in Kolkata - Sachin Tendulkar had scores of 155 not out, 79 and 177 in the se-ries - it took an exceptional spell of swing bowling from Michael Kasprowicz in Bangalore to lend the scoreline some respectability. For an Australian team that had slowly and methodically ticked all the boxes on the road to great-ness, it was a devastating blow, even if the absence through in-jury of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie was a mitigating factor.

They had won three successive Ashes series in England, while the Waugh twins’ defiance at Sabina Park had finally ended two de-cades of West Indian hegemony in 1995. More importantly, they had seen off the challenge of South Af-rica, with Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett imperious at the Wander-ers, and Mark Waugh playing an innings for the ages in Port Eliza-beth in 1997.

A few months after India, they would go to Pakistan and win there too. The set was complete, or nearly so. India remained uncon-quered, the final frontier for a side that Mark Taylor and Waugh led to greatness after the years of revival and consolidation under Border.

With neither side possessing imposing bowling strength, this should be a series dominated by the bat. For Australia, much as in 1986, this is a time to build up and look to the future. For India, this and the forthcoming series are a chance to consolidate the No.1 ranking

It’s easy to forget how close they came to ending the jinx in 2001. A dazzling counterattack from Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden saw them romp home in Mumbai, and despite the dramatic defeat in Kolkata, it appeared to be business as usual in Chennai once Hayden found his range and started to hammer away like a blacksmith on an anvil.

At 340 for 3, it was Australia’s Test to lose. Then Steve Waugh bizarrely handled the ball off Harbhajan Singh and the game changed. With the crowd suddenly rediscovering its voice, Austra-lia were bowled out for 391 and India’s batsmen, confidence sky-high after Kolkata, pushed forward ruthlessly. It was still a tense fin-ish, though, with an unbelievable Mark Waugh catch to dismiss Lax-man inducing an almighty stutter before Harbhajan, hero of the In-dian Lazarus act with 32 wickets,

Uneasy lies the head ... Ricky Ponting puts on his helmet before a session at the nets in Mohali.

steering one behind point for the winning runs.

McGrath, who lost kilos to dehy-dration on that final afternoon, and Gillespie bowled magnificently. They would have their retribution three years later, in a series where fortunes ebbed and flowed. Beat-en easily in Bangalore, India were frustrated by rain on the final day in Chennai. There’s no guarantee that they would have chased down a tricky target, but with Sehwag in resplendent form, it was the crick-et lover who was the loser once the heavens opened.

Then came Nagpur and green-wicketitis. History records that it was India’s heaviest defeat, by 342 runs, but six years on we still have no answers to why a pitch was prepared that so blatantly fa-voured the opposition’s strengths. Gillespie, then bowling like the best in the world rather than the knackered Ashes misfit of the fol-lowing year, took nine and India’s unbeaten home record against Australia was history.

The controversy didn’t end there. If Nagpur played into the pacemen’s hands, the pitch at the Wankhede was so loaded in favour of spin that even Michael Clarke took 6 for 9. Australia should have won easily, but lost their nerve while chasing a miniscule target, as they had at both The Oval and Sydney nearly a decade earlier.

Given the excitement and drama of the three previous series, the one played in 2008 was a damp squib. Once India escaped with a draw in Bangalore, courtesy a doughty rearguard from Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan, it was pretty much one-way traffic. Delhi produced a high-scoring draw, but either side of it, India won handily in Mo-hali and Nagpur. That Brett Lee managed just eight wickets and that Cameron White, an object of some derision in the Indian chang-ing room, was the only Australian slow bowler to feature in all four games, said plenty about Austra-lia’s travails, and whinges about

India vs. Australia test Series: Going from Hardship to Hunger for Success

JOHANNESBERG: Chennai Super Kings achieved the double — the Indian Premier League and Champions League titles — when it outplayed Eastern Cape War-riors by eight wickets in the final at the Wanderers.

The Chennai outfit, led by Ma-hendra Singh Dhoni, carried too many punches for the Warriors. First, Warriors was restricted to 128 for seven. Then CSK cantered home after Michael Hussey (51 not out) and M. Vijay put on 103 for the first wicket in 14.5 overs.

This said, it was spinners Mut-tiah Muralitharan and Ravichan-dran Ashwin who turned the title clash CSK’s way. The in-form Davy Jacobs had blitzed a 21-ball 34 when Ashwin consumed him on the reverse sweep. The War-riors never really recovered.

CSK Become t20 Champs

Babulbhai


43 Indo American News • Friday, October 01 , 2010ONLINE EDItION: www.indoamerican-news.com S T A r T A l K

Read our online edition: indoamerican-news.com

Julia Roberts: “India is a Magical Place”By Ny Ny oel Doel Doel e Se Se ouza

CANCUN (TOI): I met Julia at the Ritz Carlton in Cancun Mexico, dressed in an ETRO outfit, Marni shoes and her own personal jewel-lery by Me@Ro. Currently riding high on the success of her latest film Eat, Pray, Love, Julia talks about her numerous experiences while filming, her domesticated life and journey of self-discovery...

Your character in the film enjoys food; tell us about your own relation-ship with food?

I love to cook and I love to eat, so it’s a close, produc-tive relationship. My mom was a great cook and she raised us on really good food. So, it’s just about know-ing how to handle food and prepare it with fresh and yummy ingredi-ents. Plus, I have my own vegetable garden.

Now to the sub-ject of love, what does it mean to you?

It means just being there abso-lutely; no limits to what you would give, receive or be open for another person in your life.

How drastically has your life changed after marriage and kids?

I don’t have the luxury of sitting around too often, but honestly, I don’t know what I did with all my spare time! I had tons of it and I didn’t appreciate it. But it’s terrific now. I can’t always get a pedicure, but I’m so happy that I don’t care if my feet look bad.

Being Julia Roberts, how dif-Being Julia Roberts, how dif-Being Julia Roberts, how difficult is it for you to be a regular mom in your daily life?

It’s not difficult; I have no com-plaints about it. We, as a family, lead a balanced, regular life, like all other families on our street and at the school. I am very clear about being treated like everybody else in this regard, whether to photog-

raphers, other parents or any sort of perimeter entity.

When you want quiet time, where do you go?

There’s one little room in my house that’s filled with all my clut-ter, my sewing machine and knit-ting stuff—that is my quiet spot. Sadly, I don’t get to spend much time there.

What does self-discovery mean to you?

It is hoping to get to a place where you are comfortable with who you really are, what that means to you, the kind of person you’re going to be, what your moral compass is and the road that goes alongside. One never ever stops pursuing the greater understanding of them-selves and the world.

Did you ever take a trip to help you discover yourself?

I used to go on a vacation every year by myself; it worked as a re-start button to evaluate the time that had gone by. I’d read a good book, get a suntan and just connect with myself. I don’t think you nec-essarily have to travel to do that, but just take a moment to simply exhale.

What is your impression about India?

With Julia Roberts, the sky is the limit, literally speaking. She has proven beyond doubt that she is an actress par excellence. For her India is a magical place, a whole new experience each time she visits it. “India is a relentless place, in a positive and negative way”

Columbia Pictures Plan B

India is a magical place. I’ve been there a number of times, and every time I go, it’s a whole new experience. I was there at the be-ginning of this year as my husband was working there, so the kids and I joined him. Visiting new places and sharing it with the family was really special. India is a relentless place, in a positive and negative

way. But the people here are kind and gener-ous, and we re-ceived tremen-dous support as a film crew that we just couldn’t ask for more!

You wear a sari in the film; did you select it?

No, I didn’t get to pick it, but I’ll let you in on a little se-cret. Since it’s so time consum-ing to put it on and take it off, they managed to construct it as one piece so that I could snap in and out of it easily!

You’ve been in the movie busi-ness for two decades, but the star system is now obsolete as stars don’t guarantee a movie’s success anymore. What are your thoughts on the current trends in the film industry?

Show business has certainly changed and I think a lot of that has to do with the amount of me-dia and media outlets that exist. It’s not really treated in a magical way anymore. Everybody wants to know how the tricks are done and what the actors do 24 hours a day; it kind of takes out the fun of the movie-going experience.

What according to you was a life-altering experience?

I’ve had so many! Meeting my husband, having my children, being best friends with my best friends since I was a child; these are the things that shape your life.



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