India's Richie Riches

Motown October snippets

Car sales fell to the lowest level this year in October, with the festive month providing little cheer to the sector hobbled by costlier loans, high fuel costs and labour unrest at market leader Maruti Suzuki. The traditional step-up in demand seen during the festive season was clearly missing as the second-biggest carmaker, Hyundai Motor India, also reported a decline in sales, compared to the same period last year. Maruti’s sales slipped more than half, down 52% to 51,458 units, compared with 1,07,555 cars sold last October. The company, which also posted its worst quarterly results on Saturday, with a 60% slide in profit for the July-September period, attributed the decline to the recurring workers’ unrest that led to an output loss of more than 40,000 cars. Production loss impacted the company’s exports, which fell 64% to 4,137 units in the month. Hyundai posted a 5% decline in its domestic sales to 33,001 units, while exports declined by a sharper 12% to 15,325 units. Cumulative demand during October was down 7.5%. Tata Motors, however, reported a marginal growth of 3% in passenger vehicles sales, due to rise in demand for its small cars Nano and Indica even as bookings declined for bigger cars from the Indigo range. Japanese carmaker Toyota Kirloskar Motor, which entered the mass car market last year, posted a 63% growth to 10,762 units, on the back of sales of Etios and Etios Liva models. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra also posted a 10% rise in sales to 18,756 units, driven by robust demand from the rural markets. The two-wheeler segment continued to fare better than cars, with market leader Hero MotoCorp (erstwhile Hero Honda) sales up 1.32% to 5.12 lakh bikes and scooters in October.

Manipur blockade update

The economic blockade on NH-2 and NH-37, imposed by the Sadar Hills District Demand Council for 90 days in pursuit of its four decade-old demand for creation of a separate Sadar Hills district, came to an end on Monday midnight, paving the way for celebration of Kut, the biggest festival of Kukis, on Tuesday. The agitation ended after an assurance from the state government to upgrade the Kuki-dominated Sadar Hills area in the Naga-majority Senapati district to district status, after submission of a report from the District Reorganization Committee. The assurance was made in the form of a MoU signed between representatives of the state government and leaders of the agitating SHDDC. This followed a marathon meeting between the two parties at chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s residence-cum-office. SHDDC president Ngamkhohao Haokip said they would maintain a ‘wait and watch’ policy on the government’s assurance for now. However, since the United Naga Council-sponsored blockade continues on the same highways, the impact of the stir is unchanged.

Arunachal gets a new CM

Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Nabam Tuki was sworn in as the seventh chief minister of the state on Tuesday, bringing to an end a political crisis that has lasted four months. Governor general (retd) J J Singh administered the oath of office to Tuki, 47, at a function at the Raj Bhawan. Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former DoNER minister B K Handique, Congress general secretary Dhaniram Shandil, along with Lok Sabha members Takam Sanjoy and Ninong Ering were present. Tuki, the first CM from the Nyishi community, succeeded Jarbom Gamlin who was in office for six months – he was sworn in after CM Dorjee Khandu died in a chopper crash on April 30 this year. “I will make sure the rule of law prevails in Arunachal. I swear to give my heart and soul to the onerous job not only as a leader but also as a friend and brother to all irrespective of tribe, caste, religion, gender as well as political affiliations,” Tuki told reporters. Tuki added that his government would respect all issue-based agitations staged in a democratic manner and try to resolve these by taking the organizations concerned into confidence. “I will work on the roadmap set by Khandu, who worked for a developed Arunachal,” Tuki said. He said he had summoned top police officers to take stock of the situation in the state capital. Asked when would he lift prohibitory orders, the CM said it would continue for some time. Earlier in the day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi nominated Tuki as the new Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader. Born on July 7, 1964, in Ompuli village in Sagalee sub-division of Papum Pare district, Tuki was first elected to the assembly in 1995 from Sagalee and served as deputy agriculture minister in the Gegong Apang ministry. He was also the transport & civil aviation minister in 1988. He is also the president of Arunachal Cricket Association.

Somewhere in Paschimbanga....

Delhi hikes minimum property rates

For the second time this year, the Delhi government announced a steep hike in circle rates in a bid to garner more revenue and check the use of black money in property transactions. Circle rates are the government’s valuation of land in the city — differentiated into eight categories, A to H — below which a realty deal cannot be registered. After doubling the circle rates in February this year, the government on Monday further revised the rates with a hike in the range of 15% to 250%. The new circle rate regime is unlikely to affect real estate prices in the city. If anything, the hike may result in a price correction in certain areas as the black money component in property deals comes down. Property analysts said even the revised rates were much below real property values in the city. The city government expects the revised rates to bring in additional revenue to the tune of Rs 800 crore annually. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit said the revision was an attempt to bring circle rates closer to real property prices, although these were still lower than market values in many posh colonies. According to senior revenue department officials, in most cases, the actual rates of properties are not shown on paper due to which the government suffers loss in revenue in stamp duty and registration fees.

The 7th billionth citizen

Nargis Yadav of Dauraha village on the outskirts of Lucknow was declared the symbolic seven billionth resident of the world on Monday. Nargis was born at :20am at Mall block’s community health centre to farmer couple Ajay and Vinita Yadav and weighed 3kg at the time of birth. Steering clear of making statistical claims of Nargis being the seven billionth individual on the earth, Plan International, the UK-based civil society organization behind the identification exercise, maintained that Nargis’ birth was more symbolic in nature. Executive Director, Plan India, Bhagyashri Dengle, said, “It is not possible for us or anyone to claim that one child is the seven billionth baby. However, since the United National Population Fund had estimated that the world’s population would breach the seven billion mark on October 31, we decided to celebrate the arrival of the first girl child at this health centre on this day and call her the seven billionth baby. Nargis is a symbolic child.” In 1999, the UN had designated Bosnian baby Lorrize Mae Guevarra as the world’s six billionth resident. This time, however, it decided not to weigh in, encouraging individual countries, instead, to identify their own “symbolic” seven billionth baby. As a result, news of the arrivals of several seven billionth children poured in from various corners of the globe, including at least three claims from within UP. To celebrate Nargis’ arrival as a milestone in the girls’ right to survive, Plan International, the only international organization involved in the endeavour, also identified six other girls, born between October 30 and 31, who will be sponsored by seven eminent woman ambassadors. “We wanted to maintain continuity with the digit 7. Five children who have been sponsored were born on October 30, while two were born on October 31. Nargis was the first baby girl born on the 31st,” Dengle added. In a formal ceremony organized by Plan India, Dr Ashok Mishra, CMO, Lucknow, handed over Nargis’ birth certificate to her father Ajay Yadav. Birth certificates of the other six children, identified as Shweta, Nisha, Mohini, Sangeeta, Manhika and Reeta, were also handed over to their fathers by sponsors and Plan India representatives.