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Motown February 2010

Exports grow 11.5% in January

India’s merchandise shipments rose 11.5% in January, continuing the uptrend for the third consecutive month on rising overseas demand as economies recover from slowdown. Exports increased to $14.34 billion in January against $12.86 billion in the same month a year ago. In November and December, exports had grown 18.2% and 9.3%, respectively, after declining for 13 months since October 2008. Imports too turned positive on the back of growing economic activities, rising 35.5% to $24.7 billion from $18.22 billion. As a result, trade deficit nearly doubled to $10.36 billion in January 2010 from $5.3 billion in the same month last year. This is the second consecutive month of growth in imports after falling for 11 months in a row. However, exports during the April-January period were still negative as for most part of the 10-month period outward shipments saw big drops. During this period, consignments declined 17.8% to $131.93 billion against $160.43 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Mumbai's Sealinks update

The Maharashtra Cabinet has finally rolled out its ambitious plan to connect Haji Ali to Nariman Point, and it’s not going to be a direct sea link or a tunnel. If all goes as planned, there will be a 2.2 km sea link from Haji Ali to Priyadarshini Park, which will then connect to Malabar Hill via a 3.8 km part underground, part cut-and-cover tunnel. A small flyover from Malabar Hill will open out at Girgaum Chowpatty . From there, motorists can either exit at Tambe Square near Wilson College and head to Pedder Road via the yet-to-be-constructed flyover or continue on their journey to Nariman Point via a 4.6 km cut-n-cover tunnel along the coastline. This much-talked about cut-and-cover tunnel will have a glass roof and will be built along the beachfront, parallel to Marine Drive. A second small flyover will then connect Nariman Point to Cuffe Parade. Already, however, the government is facing opposition from residents and transport experts, and it will not be a smooth ride. For one, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) — which is overseeing the project — will have to get the required go ahead from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority. Activists and residents along this stretch, especially those at Pedder Road, say this is a classic example of “wrong planning’’. “The Malabar Hill to Girgaum Chowpatty connection and the Pedder Road flyover’s landing will meet at Tambe square near Wilson College, resulting in a bottleneck,’’ said one urban planner. Similarly, a number of residents at Priyadarshini Park have objected to the digging of a tunnel and allege that the state did not conduct a feasibility study before approving the plan. There are also doubts over whether this massive undertaking will be completed in the near future given that the Bandra Worli Sea Link alone to nearly 10 years. “The plan is wrong on every count. It took many years to complete the Bandra Worli Sea Link due to legal and environmental issues, which resulted in an escalation in the cost of the project and the subsequent high toll,’’ said transport expert Ashok Datar. “Why are we taking more car traffic to already congested south Mumbai through such costly projects?’’ he asked. Residents, too, have expressed doubts over whether the government’s plan will pan out in the near future. “The Pedder Road flyover was mired in residents’ objections for over a decade. A cut-and-cover tunnel along the Marine Drive coast seems to be a distant dream in comparison,’’ said Piyush Bhagat, a resident of Mahalaxmi. Meanwhile, MSRDC’s acting MD Sonia Sethi countered the claims. “The MSRDC is aware of Tambe Square’s importance in the future and will design dispersal in such a way that it will not get clogged,’’ she said, refuting allegations that the MSRDC did not study the direct underground tunnel option between Haji Ali and Nariman Point. “The present option has been chosen after a long and through process with the help of experts,’’ she said. The MSRDC is also planning a water transport project between Nariman Point and Borivli in order to decongest the roads. Existing Bandra Worli Sea Link Length : 4.6 km

Status : Carriageway for northbound traffic top open on March 16

Cost Rs 1,700 cr

Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link Length : 6.4 km

Status :Contract given to Reliance Infrastructure-Hyundai Consortium and work is expected to begin soon

Deadline : 2015

Cost Rs 4,500 cr

Sea link connecting Haji Ali to Priyadarshini Park Length : 2.2 km

Status : Design approved by state government

Cost Rs 1,500 cr

Underground tunnel from Priyadarshini Park to Malabar Hill Length : 3.8 km

This will be part underground, part cut-and-cover tunnel

Status : Design approved by state government

Cost Rs 2,250 cr

Malabar Hill to Nariman Point :A flyover from Malabar Hill will open out at Girgaum Chowpatty. From Chowpatty to Nariman Point, glass roofed cut-and-cover tunnel will be built along Marine Drive

Length : 4.6

Status : Permission has to be granted by the environment dept

Cost Rs 2,250-3,000 cr Costs are estimates

A combination of road and bridge is also being designed to connect Bandra to Versova over the 10 km coastal road. This route, too, will also have a cut-and-cover tunnel at Juhu and Goregaon Chowpatty .The state government has shelved its initial plan of building a direct link from Haji Ali to Nariman point and has now split the project into several phases. This, said officials, will work out to be a more affordable option. But the estimated cost of Rs 6,750 crore for the new plan is of little relief to the MSRDC, which is presently facing losses amounting to over Rs 2,400 crore. The government is hoping for a 20% grant from the Centre to complete the project. “But the Centre has already rejected funds for the Bandra-Worli and Worli-Haji Ali sections under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The reason given was that the project was started even before the commissioning of the JNNURM scheme. If we co-relate the Haji Ali to Nariman Point link project with the Bandra-Worli and Worli-Haji Ali sea links, we will not get the grant,’’ said a senior MSRDC official on the condition of anonymity. According to a senior engineer even the design of the Haji Ali-Nariman Point section is completely different.

Chandrayaan’s the finding of the millennium

India’s Chandrayaan-1 is becoming like Sachin Tendulkar: reaching new milestones with every stride. The prestigious Rs 386-crore mission’s latest lunar mark is the discovery of 600 million metric tons of water ice on the moon’s north pole. The discovery was made by a Nasa payload on board Chandrayaan-1 called Mini-Sar (miniature synthetic aperture radar), a lightweight instrument that weighs 10 kg. It found more than 40 small craters with water ice, the size of the craters ranging between one and nine miles. Scientists say the discovery of water ice anywhere on the moon is extremely important because it can serve as a natural resource for astronauts on future lunar landing missions. The ice could be melted into drinking water or be separated into its components of oxygen and hydrogen to provide breathing air and rocket fuel for launching interplanetary missions from the moon. In September 2009, Isro’s moon impact probe and the hyper spectral imaging camera (Hysi), along with Nasa’s moon minerology mapper, announced the discovery of water molecules on the moon. But, these were not large deposits. In contrast, the Mini-Sar is stated to found huge quantities of water ice. Former Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair, who was at the helm of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, has described Chandrayaan’s latest finding as pathbreaking. “It’s the finding of the millennium. Chandrayaan-1 has paid itself 10 times more than its value. In recent memory, no other mission has given rise to water findings as Chandrayaan-1,” Nair said.

Economy should absorb fuel price hike: PM

PM Manmohan Singh’s statement that there would be no rollback of fuel prices confirms that the hike had been thought through, having been influenced by the considerations of inevitability as well as given that no big election, except in Bihar, is scheduled this year. Also, he did not agree that hike would add to the already-high inflation. “The increase in fuel prices, the direct effect on the wholesale price index will be no more than 0.4%. There will be some escalation but my hope is now that the rabi crop is coming into the market, prices of wheat, sugar, oilseeds, pulses that have caused a great degree of concern will see some moderation and that the economy has the capacity to absorb this hike in oil prices without setting in motion an inflationary spiral.’’ Singh’s response tests the resolve of Mamata Banerjee as well as the DMK to escalate matters if their views are not heeded.

Flashback 1971

"She suckered us. Suckered us.....this woman suckered us." So said an enraged US president Richard Nixon of Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi after learning that war had broken out on the subcontinent on Dec 3, 1971, and Indian forces had made a decisive push towards then East Pakistan that it recognised as Bangladesh three days later.
Nixon, who had met Gandhi just a month earlier in Washington, had sought assurances from her that India would not take any precipitate military action pending efforts by the US to find a political solution that would not "shatter the cohension of West Pakistan" and end up "overthrowing President Yahya (Khan)" who was pivotal to America's China initiative afer 22 years of diplomatic freeze.
Nixon had then made it clear to Mrs Gandhi that "nothing could be served by the disintegration of Pakistan" and even warned darkly that "it would be impossible to calculate with precision the steps which other great powers might take if India were to initiate hostilities".
Gandhi's 'aloof indifference'
Nixon's presentations were heard with "aloof indifference" by Mrs Gandhi, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was quoted as telling author Kalyani Shankar in her just published book "Nixon, Indira and India - Politics and Beyond.
Nixon's frustration at not being able to make Mrs Gandhi back off from war reflected in his telephone conversation with Kissinger on Dec 6. Almost fumbling for words without breaking into expletives at the turn of the situation in the subcontinent at a time when Yahya Khan's propping up was imperative for American foreign policy interests, Nixon wondered if he was "too easy on that goddamn woman when she was here".
Even as Kissinger tried to pacify a fuming president by saying he was only following advice to be "gracious" to a visiting dignitary, Nixon agreed at one point with Kissinger that he should have probably "brutalised" her and followed up by threatening: "But let me tell you she is going to pay. She is going to pay."
Nixon even asked Kissinger whether the Chinese would make threatening moves towards India. But the Chinese, much to the chagrin of the Americans did not agree to "intimidate the Indians", as the author points out, because the Chinese thought that "independence for East Pakistan was a foregone conclusion.
"It (China) was prepared to endorse UN proposal for a standstill ceasefire and forgo a demand for mutual troop withdrawal," the book states.
When even the Soviets refused to put presssure on New Delh for a ceasefire, Nixon ordered the Seventh Fleet into the Indian Ocean in a threatening gesture. The Fleet, consisting of an aircraft carrier and four destroyers, was to move towards Karachi with the publicly stated aim that they would stand by for "possible evacuation" of Americans although the intention was to browbeat India in case the government in New Delh did not agree to an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal.
India did finally agree to a ceasefire, but that was only on Dec 17 after Indian forces marched into Dhaka (then Dacca). There was a ceasefire also in the west with India assuring that it had no desire to seize the territory of West Pakistan, an assurance it delivered to Wasington via Moscow.
The book provides a fascinating insight for foreign policy researchers into the Nixon era and his famous tilt towards Pakistan based on now declassified 'top-secret' documents and top-level telephone transcripts pertaining to Nixon's visit to India in 1969 and Mrs Gandhi's visit to Washington in 1971 that were obtained from the United States National Archives and the National Security Archives.