No excuses, please
by NINA REDDY
It's possible to stay fit and active at home, at work or even while travelling. Here's how you can do it.
A daily dose of exercise or physical activity is no more a luxury or for a select few. It is for the general population at large - whether one is young or old, man or woman; it is one of those choices you make if you wants to be healthy, energetic, productive and fit.
To move on from the usual mundane overdone excuses of lack of time, motivation or resources it's a “no excuse” time. Ultimately whom are we fooling but ourselves? To be physically active is possible whether at home, at work or at play. Let's explore various possibilities that are actually doable.
At Home: It's convenient, comfortable and safe to work out at home. You set a good example for your children as well. Combine exercise with other activities like watching TV. If you buy exercise equipment, it's a one-time expense and other family members can use it. It's easy to have short bouts of activity several times a day.
Try these tips
Do housework yourself instead of hiring someone else.
Work in the garden or mow the grass. A riding mower doesn't count! Rake leaves, prune, dig and pick up trash.
Go for a short walk before breakfast, after dinner or both! Start with 5-10 minutes and work up to 30 minutes.
Walk or bike to the corner store instead of driving.
When walking, pick up the pace from leisurely to brisk.
When watching TV, spend a few minutes pedalling on your stationary bicycle. Throw away your video remote control.
Instead of asking someone to get you a drink, get off the couch and get it yourself.
Stand up or walk while talking on the telephone.
Walk the dog.
Keep exercise equipment in good repair and use it! Your precious treadmill is not meant to dry your clothes.
Park farther away at the mall and walk the extra distance. Wear your walking shoes and sneak in an extra lap or two around the mall.
Stretch to reach items in high places and squat or bend to look at items at floor level.
At the office: Most of us have sedentary jobs. Work takes up a significant part of the day. What can you do to increase your physical activity during the work day? Here are a few ideas
Brainstorm project ideas with a co-worker while taking a walk.
Stand while talking on the telephone.
Walk down the hall to speak with someone rather than using the telephone.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Or get off a few floors early and take the stairs the rest of the way.
Walk while waiting for the plane at the airport.
Use the fitness centre or swimming pool at your hotel during the business trips.
Take along a jump rope in your suitcase. Jump and do calisthenics in your hotel room.
Participate in or start a recreation league at your company.
Form a sports team to raise money for charity events.
Join a fitness centre near your office. Work out before or after work to avoid rush-hour traffic or drop by for a noon workout.
Schedule exercise time on your business calendar and treat it like any other important appointment.
Get off the bus a few blocks early and walk the rest of the way to work or home.
Walk around your building for a break during the day or during lunch.
At play: Play and recreation are important for good health. Look for opportunities to be active and have fun at the same time.
Plan family outings and vacations that include physical activity (cycling, hiking, backpacking, swimming)
See the sights in new cities by walking, jogging or bicycling.
Make a regular date with a friend to enjoy your favourite physical activities. An exercise buddy keeps you motivated and also makes you answerable.
Play your favourite music while exercising.
Take dancing lessons. Hit the dance floor on fast numbers instead of slow ones.
At the beach, walk, run or fly a kite.
When golfing, walk instead of using a cart.
Play singles tennis or racquetball instead of doubles.
At a picnic, join in on a game of volleyball.
At the lake, rent a rowboat instead of a motorboat.
Travel Tips: Always keep your walking shoes and swim wear handy as most hotels have a gym/pool. If not, explore the city on foot, you see so much more
When you have nothing on hand, you have the suryanamaskar. Learn the right way from a yoga teacher. Just 12 suryanamaskars gives you a good workout.
If you can pack a theraband, you can finish a good strength circuit on your own. Use the water bottles as resistance as well.
Push-ups, squats and crunches do not require gadgets.
With all these options open one is spoilt for choice and of course all your escape routes sealed! Enjoy being healthy and alive! Cheers to a great life!
Nina Reddy is director, O2 Health Studio, Chennai.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
the Lepcha community, their rich culture and their woes
ESSAY: Beacon of the eastern Himalayas
Subrata Chowdhury profiles the Lepcha community, their rich culture and their woes
HISTORIANS and anthropologists are divided on the origin of the Lepchas but quite a number of them believe the lines go back to Mongolia. This, they deduce, was where it all began thousands of years ago and that a considerable section of this tribe — numerically one of the largest in the east — moved southward and came to settle in present day Sikkim.
It is stated in the Chunakh Akhen, an ancient Lepcha history book, that Pohartak Panu, Lepcha king of Sikkim, had sent an army contingent to help the Hindu king Chandra Gupta Maurya repel an attack by Greek invader Alexander the Great. That was in the fourth century BC.
There are many stories marked with glory concerning this ethnic race, undoubtedly one of the oldest in the Indian subcontinent. This tough and hardworking clan makes up a chunk of the population that helps the wheels turn in the magnificent but challenging mountain tracts starting from the northern Dooars ending up in Tibet and beyond.
Life up there is not easy. It’s a demanding task to live and sustain oneself, except for a few landed and privileged ones. There is no industry at that altitude other than cottage- and handicraft-based ones. Bamboo-craft is the mainstay and the varied items resulting from this artful pursuit find a wide market within the country and outside. The Lepchas in Sikkim are, of course, mostly employed in government and non-government organizations, while some run their own businesses and others are engaged in agriculture or handicrafts.
The Lepchas settled outside Sikkim, all around the North-east, take to a little agriculture in scattered patches in valleys or on slopes cleared of woods that yield two types of paddy, Dumbra and Ongrey-Zo. The quality of the rice husked from these types is of a very fine grain. During the celebrations ushering in the Lepcha New Year, Nambun, or during a marriage ceremony, the aromatic rice is cooked and served with much gusto. Kunchung is the Lepcha name for the maize they cultivate uphill and Mongbree, the millet they grow, is mostly a staple food.
Civil works, like removing boulders or bulwarking the base of the gradients against possible landslides, are other opportunities for uneducated and impoverished members of this hill tribe to earn a living.
The Lepchas who spread to West Bengal’s Darjeeling district a long time worked, till not too long ago, as labourers, but have, of late, embraced education as an honourable means to an end. Many Lepcha youths are well educated and are employed in the electronic and Information Technology fields.
Predominantly Buddhists, a significant portion of Lepchas, by the turn of the 19th century, converted to Christianity, perhaps owing to British rule. The Lepcha culture is full of absorbing folklore and a bibliophile would find much interest in browsing through their history.
The Lepchas believe they were born of a union between Fodongthing an Nazaongnyoo, the male and the female created by God from the sanctimonious snow peak of Kingtsoom Zaongboo Choo, the Lepcha name for Mount Kanchenjungha. This, in fact, makes a Lepcha a devout lover of nature. Like Kanchenjungha, they worship other peaks, too, and have Lepcha names for each.
An offshoot of history can be referred to here that relates to King Turve. It is narrated in Lepcha scriptures that the king was a very courageous and resolute person who had taken the responsibility to reform, mobilise and unify the Lepchas into a cognizable mass in his kingdom of Sikkim, which was considered one of the most powerful kingdoms in the subcontinent then. King Turve, or The Punu, the Lepcha term, is said to have demarcated his kingdom into as far a part of Darjeeling in association with the Limbu tribe and had his capital in the vicinity of Kurseong.
The Punu Turve ruled during the first half of the 15th century and mustered an army that could fight any type of war, from guerrilla to front-to-front combat.
That the Lepchas have age-old roots in the North-east is evident from the fact that most of rivers, valleys, ravines, gorges, mountains and places around the eastern Himalayas bear Lepcha names. The names of Sonada (the Sleeping Place of the Bear), Mirik, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Pokharibong, Darjeeling (Darjulang) and Lebong (Aleybung) deserve mention. The Lepcha language is called Rongring and is a little akin to Tibetan and Burmese. The Gazetteer of Sikkim states that the Lepcha script was officially introduced by Chador Namgyal, the third Chogyal of Sikkim. But it is a matter of controversy.
Many historians say that it was done several hundreds of years earlier and accredit a few luminous names to it.
The sartorial taste of the Lepchas is unique and of a very colourful nature. Thokro-Dum is the name of the traditional men’s wear and the ladies wear Dumvum. Both garbs equip a person from head to foot and stand out as trademarks.
But the amenable and peace-loving Lepchas staying in West Bengal, especially in Darjeeling, are a bit discontented of late. Though domiciled in the state for a long period, they are not considered citizens of the state.
According to Bhupendra Lepcha, a 32-year-old lawyer from Sonada and convener of the Lepcha Youth Association, the state government categorises them as “Sikkimese” in the “Security Certificate” issued to them since 2004. As a result, they are not considered eligible for recruitment in the state police or armed forces. Some 200-odd Lepchas, including 16 women, had gone on a hungerstrike for an indefinite period at College Square in Kolkata from 8 September, 2010. The latest information says they are patiently awaiting a hearing by the state government which has so far turned a deaf ear since the 3 September when Bhupendra led a delegation to Writers’ Buildings following a demonstrations in Siliguri from 8-14 August.
source; the statesman
Subrata Chowdhury profiles the Lepcha community, their rich culture and their woes
HISTORIANS and anthropologists are divided on the origin of the Lepchas but quite a number of them believe the lines go back to Mongolia. This, they deduce, was where it all began thousands of years ago and that a considerable section of this tribe — numerically one of the largest in the east — moved southward and came to settle in present day Sikkim.
It is stated in the Chunakh Akhen, an ancient Lepcha history book, that Pohartak Panu, Lepcha king of Sikkim, had sent an army contingent to help the Hindu king Chandra Gupta Maurya repel an attack by Greek invader Alexander the Great. That was in the fourth century BC.
There are many stories marked with glory concerning this ethnic race, undoubtedly one of the oldest in the Indian subcontinent. This tough and hardworking clan makes up a chunk of the population that helps the wheels turn in the magnificent but challenging mountain tracts starting from the northern Dooars ending up in Tibet and beyond.
Life up there is not easy. It’s a demanding task to live and sustain oneself, except for a few landed and privileged ones. There is no industry at that altitude other than cottage- and handicraft-based ones. Bamboo-craft is the mainstay and the varied items resulting from this artful pursuit find a wide market within the country and outside. The Lepchas in Sikkim are, of course, mostly employed in government and non-government organizations, while some run their own businesses and others are engaged in agriculture or handicrafts.
The Lepchas settled outside Sikkim, all around the North-east, take to a little agriculture in scattered patches in valleys or on slopes cleared of woods that yield two types of paddy, Dumbra and Ongrey-Zo. The quality of the rice husked from these types is of a very fine grain. During the celebrations ushering in the Lepcha New Year, Nambun, or during a marriage ceremony, the aromatic rice is cooked and served with much gusto. Kunchung is the Lepcha name for the maize they cultivate uphill and Mongbree, the millet they grow, is mostly a staple food.
Civil works, like removing boulders or bulwarking the base of the gradients against possible landslides, are other opportunities for uneducated and impoverished members of this hill tribe to earn a living.
The Lepchas who spread to West Bengal’s Darjeeling district a long time worked, till not too long ago, as labourers, but have, of late, embraced education as an honourable means to an end. Many Lepcha youths are well educated and are employed in the electronic and Information Technology fields.
Predominantly Buddhists, a significant portion of Lepchas, by the turn of the 19th century, converted to Christianity, perhaps owing to British rule. The Lepcha culture is full of absorbing folklore and a bibliophile would find much interest in browsing through their history.
The Lepchas believe they were born of a union between Fodongthing an Nazaongnyoo, the male and the female created by God from the sanctimonious snow peak of Kingtsoom Zaongboo Choo, the Lepcha name for Mount Kanchenjungha. This, in fact, makes a Lepcha a devout lover of nature. Like Kanchenjungha, they worship other peaks, too, and have Lepcha names for each.
An offshoot of history can be referred to here that relates to King Turve. It is narrated in Lepcha scriptures that the king was a very courageous and resolute person who had taken the responsibility to reform, mobilise and unify the Lepchas into a cognizable mass in his kingdom of Sikkim, which was considered one of the most powerful kingdoms in the subcontinent then. King Turve, or The Punu, the Lepcha term, is said to have demarcated his kingdom into as far a part of Darjeeling in association with the Limbu tribe and had his capital in the vicinity of Kurseong.
The Punu Turve ruled during the first half of the 15th century and mustered an army that could fight any type of war, from guerrilla to front-to-front combat.
That the Lepchas have age-old roots in the North-east is evident from the fact that most of rivers, valleys, ravines, gorges, mountains and places around the eastern Himalayas bear Lepcha names. The names of Sonada (the Sleeping Place of the Bear), Mirik, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Pokharibong, Darjeeling (Darjulang) and Lebong (Aleybung) deserve mention. The Lepcha language is called Rongring and is a little akin to Tibetan and Burmese. The Gazetteer of Sikkim states that the Lepcha script was officially introduced by Chador Namgyal, the third Chogyal of Sikkim. But it is a matter of controversy.
Many historians say that it was done several hundreds of years earlier and accredit a few luminous names to it.
The sartorial taste of the Lepchas is unique and of a very colourful nature. Thokro-Dum is the name of the traditional men’s wear and the ladies wear Dumvum. Both garbs equip a person from head to foot and stand out as trademarks.
But the amenable and peace-loving Lepchas staying in West Bengal, especially in Darjeeling, are a bit discontented of late. Though domiciled in the state for a long period, they are not considered citizens of the state.
According to Bhupendra Lepcha, a 32-year-old lawyer from Sonada and convener of the Lepcha Youth Association, the state government categorises them as “Sikkimese” in the “Security Certificate” issued to them since 2004. As a result, they are not considered eligible for recruitment in the state police or armed forces. Some 200-odd Lepchas, including 16 women, had gone on a hungerstrike for an indefinite period at College Square in Kolkata from 8 September, 2010. The latest information says they are patiently awaiting a hearing by the state government which has so far turned a deaf ear since the 3 September when Bhupendra led a delegation to Writers’ Buildings following a demonstrations in Siliguri from 8-14 August.
source; the statesman
The History of Conspiracy against Hinduism
OPINION: The History of Conspiracy against Hinduism
source: THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE]
BY DIRGHA RAJ PRASAI
Dirgha Raj Prasai
Two Hundred years ago, the great King Prithvi Narayan Shah expressed –”Nepal is true Hindustan” when India (present Hindustan) was not in existence, where there were more than 25 nations in India. The creator- Prithvi Narayan Shah had unified more than 54 small fiefdoms to build a large, expanded and strong Nepal. The British Empire, spreading in Asia, after getting hold of its influence in India had eyed on mountainous region of Nepal. At that time, it was not an easy task to fight British imperialistic force in the mid 18th century. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the great King, fought and won the British forces and saved the National sovereignty and Hindu identity. But, now Nepal is in danger position. Nepalese all around the world and Nepal’s well-wishers are anxious about the conspiracy designed by some deviant party leaders (agents of RAW and CIA), against the Monarchy and Hinduism.
The Gayatri Mantra is a highly revered mantra in Hinduism- is applied from Baidik period which is written in Sanskrit: ‘Om ! Bhur Bhuvah Svah ! Tat Savitur VarenyamBhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayaata’= ‘Let us meditate upon the glory of Ishwar, Who has created this Universe, Who is fit to be worshipped, Who is the remover of all sins and ignorance. May He enlighten our intellect?’ Ms, Esha Deol has contributed showing Gayatri Mantra on her body.
Since 2005, in the name of Secularism, the foreigners specially- RAW & CIA are active in Nepal to abolish the Hindus identity for Christianity. Some leaders of Congress, UML, Maoist, these self-serving secularists– agents of foreigners, refuse to see that Theocracy is alive and well internationally. Just look at all the Islamic states, Israel, as well as many European states that proclaim them secular but practice hard-core evangelical proselytizing Christianity. So what was wrong with Nepal being the sole Hindu state in the world? ‘OM’ is a symbol of Vedic Knowledge- Hindus, Buddhist’s Mantra. It provides a fine example of Symbolism. Symbolism is needed in all fields of human knowledge like science, religion and politics. Spoken sounds of words are expressed as Alphabets and Numbers with Symbols by writing. ‘OM’ and ‘OM Mani Padme Hum’ is a language of Sanskrit.
About 950 years ago the Muslims invaded India. Their aim was to conquer, convert, destroy and loot. Due to their notorious attacking they were successful. At that time Muslims burned many Hindus- temples and erected mosques on top of the burned out temples and on other locations also. In the ruling time of Muslim in India, English imperialist-East India Company invaded India with Christianity. They came first as traders, secondly-Bible and third was sward where they were building their own military force, secretly, to take over India and they were getting help from Great Britain to do so, and they succeeded. The British bribed the military by paying salaries to fight for them, to control Muslims. Many Sikhs, Indians joined the British military and betrayed Hindus-(Bhagavaan daas Tyaa) Hindus have always opened their hearts to all faiths across the globe, protected them, sheltered them, nourished them, never abused them, never terrorized them, and only allowed them total freedom to practice their faith without demeaning them, terrorizing them, destroying their places of worship and forcing them to convert. If we want to know the historical facts of invade by Muslims and Christians we should understand the reality and its pre-historical accounts.
In 1520 the Muslim ruler Baber came, plundered, ruined, and demolished Rama Temple and built Babri Masjid using the demolished debris. The events of December 6, 1992Hindus attacked the Babri Masjid, they were only taking over their sacred place and thousands of history. No nation can afford to ignore the history. History of mankind has not started on 1528. Among the excavation yields ASI mentioned were stone and decorated bricks, mutilated sculpture of divine couple, carved architectural members including foliage patterns, amalaka, kapotapali, doorjamb with semi-circular shrine pilaster, broken octagonal shaft of black schist pillar, lotus motif, circular shrine having pranjala (watershute) in the north and 50 pillar bases in association with a huge structure. This should give some idea of the magnitude of the distortion involved in turning Babar into a tolerant person, let alone a prince charming. And when in a particularly happy mood, he composed the following dirge: ‘For the sake of Islam I became a wanderer; I battled infidels and Hindus. I determined to become a martyr Thank God I became a holy warrior.’ http://savetemples.org
Similarly, the Taj Mahal was a pre-existing structure before but it was said to be built by Shah Jahan. We have all heard how the Taj Mahal, which is considered one of the great wonders of the world, was built as the preeminent expression of a man’s love for a wife. That it was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in commemoration of his wife Mumtaz. But the truth is that the Taj Mahal was never built by Shah Jahan. Some say the Taj Mahal pre-dates Shah Jahan by several centuries and was originally built as a Hindu or Vedic temple/palace complex-known as-’Tejomahalaya’ (powerfull Siva), the Hindu King Jai Singh. This is not unlike the many other buildings that were acquired by the Muslim invaders to be used for their own purposes. The point to consider is how much more of India’s history has been distorted if the background of such a grand building is so inaccurate. The evidence that shows the Taj Mahal and many other buildings may not have been of Muslim origin.
‘The architecture is definitely of Hindu orientation and could very well have been designed as a Shiva temple; the issue of the arch and the dome; how the invader Timurlung (1398) took back thousands of prisoner craftsmen to build his capital at Samarkhand and where the dome could have been incorporated into Islamic architecture; how it was not Shah Jahan’s religious tolerance that could have been a reason for Hindu elements in the design of the Taj.’- Stephen Knapp, www.stephen-knapp.com I think- the automatic falling the droops of water managed for the Lord Shiva who converted after for the queen Shah Jahan’s body. So, we request to all Hindu nationalists in the world including Nepalese and Indian people and party leaders not to minimize the reality of Hinduism and Buddhism, the basis of world civilization. We should conscious to save the sovereign-identity of Hinduism.
source: THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE]
BY DIRGHA RAJ PRASAI
Dirgha Raj Prasai
Two Hundred years ago, the great King Prithvi Narayan Shah expressed –”Nepal is true Hindustan” when India (present Hindustan) was not in existence, where there were more than 25 nations in India. The creator- Prithvi Narayan Shah had unified more than 54 small fiefdoms to build a large, expanded and strong Nepal. The British Empire, spreading in Asia, after getting hold of its influence in India had eyed on mountainous region of Nepal. At that time, it was not an easy task to fight British imperialistic force in the mid 18th century. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the great King, fought and won the British forces and saved the National sovereignty and Hindu identity. But, now Nepal is in danger position. Nepalese all around the world and Nepal’s well-wishers are anxious about the conspiracy designed by some deviant party leaders (agents of RAW and CIA), against the Monarchy and Hinduism.
The Gayatri Mantra is a highly revered mantra in Hinduism- is applied from Baidik period which is written in Sanskrit: ‘Om ! Bhur Bhuvah Svah ! Tat Savitur VarenyamBhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayaata’= ‘Let us meditate upon the glory of Ishwar, Who has created this Universe, Who is fit to be worshipped, Who is the remover of all sins and ignorance. May He enlighten our intellect?’ Ms, Esha Deol has contributed showing Gayatri Mantra on her body.
Since 2005, in the name of Secularism, the foreigners specially- RAW & CIA are active in Nepal to abolish the Hindus identity for Christianity. Some leaders of Congress, UML, Maoist, these self-serving secularists– agents of foreigners, refuse to see that Theocracy is alive and well internationally. Just look at all the Islamic states, Israel, as well as many European states that proclaim them secular but practice hard-core evangelical proselytizing Christianity. So what was wrong with Nepal being the sole Hindu state in the world? ‘OM’ is a symbol of Vedic Knowledge- Hindus, Buddhist’s Mantra. It provides a fine example of Symbolism. Symbolism is needed in all fields of human knowledge like science, religion and politics. Spoken sounds of words are expressed as Alphabets and Numbers with Symbols by writing. ‘OM’ and ‘OM Mani Padme Hum’ is a language of Sanskrit.
About 950 years ago the Muslims invaded India. Their aim was to conquer, convert, destroy and loot. Due to their notorious attacking they were successful. At that time Muslims burned many Hindus- temples and erected mosques on top of the burned out temples and on other locations also. In the ruling time of Muslim in India, English imperialist-East India Company invaded India with Christianity. They came first as traders, secondly-Bible and third was sward where they were building their own military force, secretly, to take over India and they were getting help from Great Britain to do so, and they succeeded. The British bribed the military by paying salaries to fight for them, to control Muslims. Many Sikhs, Indians joined the British military and betrayed Hindus-(Bhagavaan daas Tyaa) Hindus have always opened their hearts to all faiths across the globe, protected them, sheltered them, nourished them, never abused them, never terrorized them, and only allowed them total freedom to practice their faith without demeaning them, terrorizing them, destroying their places of worship and forcing them to convert. If we want to know the historical facts of invade by Muslims and Christians we should understand the reality and its pre-historical accounts.
In 1520 the Muslim ruler Baber came, plundered, ruined, and demolished Rama Temple and built Babri Masjid using the demolished debris. The events of December 6, 1992Hindus attacked the Babri Masjid, they were only taking over their sacred place and thousands of history. No nation can afford to ignore the history. History of mankind has not started on 1528. Among the excavation yields ASI mentioned were stone and decorated bricks, mutilated sculpture of divine couple, carved architectural members including foliage patterns, amalaka, kapotapali, doorjamb with semi-circular shrine pilaster, broken octagonal shaft of black schist pillar, lotus motif, circular shrine having pranjala (watershute) in the north and 50 pillar bases in association with a huge structure. This should give some idea of the magnitude of the distortion involved in turning Babar into a tolerant person, let alone a prince charming. And when in a particularly happy mood, he composed the following dirge: ‘For the sake of Islam I became a wanderer; I battled infidels and Hindus. I determined to become a martyr Thank God I became a holy warrior.’ http://savetemples.org
Similarly, the Taj Mahal was a pre-existing structure before but it was said to be built by Shah Jahan. We have all heard how the Taj Mahal, which is considered one of the great wonders of the world, was built as the preeminent expression of a man’s love for a wife. That it was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in commemoration of his wife Mumtaz. But the truth is that the Taj Mahal was never built by Shah Jahan. Some say the Taj Mahal pre-dates Shah Jahan by several centuries and was originally built as a Hindu or Vedic temple/palace complex-known as-’Tejomahalaya’ (powerfull Siva), the Hindu King Jai Singh. This is not unlike the many other buildings that were acquired by the Muslim invaders to be used for their own purposes. The point to consider is how much more of India’s history has been distorted if the background of such a grand building is so inaccurate. The evidence that shows the Taj Mahal and many other buildings may not have been of Muslim origin.
‘The architecture is definitely of Hindu orientation and could very well have been designed as a Shiva temple; the issue of the arch and the dome; how the invader Timurlung (1398) took back thousands of prisoner craftsmen to build his capital at Samarkhand and where the dome could have been incorporated into Islamic architecture; how it was not Shah Jahan’s religious tolerance that could have been a reason for Hindu elements in the design of the Taj.’- Stephen Knapp, www.stephen-knapp.com I think- the automatic falling the droops of water managed for the Lord Shiva who converted after for the queen Shah Jahan’s body. So, we request to all Hindu nationalists in the world including Nepalese and Indian people and party leaders not to minimize the reality of Hinduism and Buddhism, the basis of world civilization. We should conscious to save the sovereign-identity of Hinduism.
Yojna Bhawan-Planned failure
By Jay Dubashi | Sep 18, 2010
It seems they didn't consult an astrologer before they selected the plot in Delhi's Sansad Marg for the mansion known as Yojana Bhavan, which houses the Planning Commission. Nothing has gone right for it during all these years. Its five-year plans have not worked, its projections have gone haywire and most of the men who ran it - economists, politicians and babus - have vanished without trace.
The commission has always been a controversial body. In fact, within days of its announcement, union finance minister Dr John Mathai resigned in a huff, protesting against it being set up. Nehru accepted the resignation promptly as one less headache, but nothing really went right after that. Nehru said that the commission would be an independent body of experts and would guide the government. Here he was wrong. Whatever else the commission may have been, it was not an independent body. Nehru himself was its chairman, but in the initial years, the agency was run by a man called P C Mahalonobis, a leftist-leaning statistician, who almost ruined it.
I met Mahalonobis a number of times but we never really hit it off, as he was a slippery customer, though a very clever one. He spoke in big numbers, so many millions of this and so many millions of that, which must have fascinated Nehru, who always thought in big terms. But the millions meant nothing. The country's GDP growth rate was confined to 3.5 per cent a year, one of the lowest in the world, which some mischievous people promptly termed Hindu rate of growth, though Nehru was not much of a Hindu, nor was Mahalonobis.
The man who really shook up the commission was improbably a businessman from Poona, S L Kirloskar, who headed the famous business group named after the family. At that time, companies had to go by production targets laid down by the commission. Kirloskar planned for a big expansion of his oil engine business, but the demand never went beyond a fraction of the official figure. He suffered a big loss, and complained loudly to everyone in the government, including the new prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and that too at the annual meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) which Kirloskar headed that year, and which was inaugurated by Indira Gandhi herself. I was present at Kirloskar's speech in which he pulled no punches. Indira Gandhi was furious, for here was a mere businessman who was criticising.
Within months, the commission had been downgraded, though the five-year plans emerged year after year, like telephone directories. When the Janata government came to power in 1977 after the Emergency, and I found myself in the government, the first man to call on me was Kirloskar, with a mischievous smile on his face and the bluest bow tie I have seen outside Westminster. In fact, for years afterwards, whenever Kirloskar came to Delhi, he made it a point to see me, though his bow ties grew less and less blue, but by that time I had ceased to be in the government.
I have never really taken kindly to the commission and its armchair experts picked up from stray universities. After 30 years of producing plans on a conveyor belt, it gave up the ghost in 1991 when we were forced to open up the economy and the plans became useless, as they served no purpose. But the commission still goes on and one sees commission members on this and that TV channel, though even union ministers like Kamal Nath do not take them seriously.
I still maintain that a fine building like Yojana Bhavan in a prime location in the capital should not be wasted on a government office but should be converted into a posh department store and handed over to Macy's of New York. The location - right in Sansad Marg and next to cash-rich Reserve Bank - is wonderful and there is enough parking place. Perhaps our good friend Montek Ahluwalia will give it a thought!
source;valueresearch
By Jay Dubashi | Sep 18, 2010
It seems they didn't consult an astrologer before they selected the plot in Delhi's Sansad Marg for the mansion known as Yojana Bhavan, which houses the Planning Commission. Nothing has gone right for it during all these years. Its five-year plans have not worked, its projections have gone haywire and most of the men who ran it - economists, politicians and babus - have vanished without trace.
The commission has always been a controversial body. In fact, within days of its announcement, union finance minister Dr John Mathai resigned in a huff, protesting against it being set up. Nehru accepted the resignation promptly as one less headache, but nothing really went right after that. Nehru said that the commission would be an independent body of experts and would guide the government. Here he was wrong. Whatever else the commission may have been, it was not an independent body. Nehru himself was its chairman, but in the initial years, the agency was run by a man called P C Mahalonobis, a leftist-leaning statistician, who almost ruined it.
I met Mahalonobis a number of times but we never really hit it off, as he was a slippery customer, though a very clever one. He spoke in big numbers, so many millions of this and so many millions of that, which must have fascinated Nehru, who always thought in big terms. But the millions meant nothing. The country's GDP growth rate was confined to 3.5 per cent a year, one of the lowest in the world, which some mischievous people promptly termed Hindu rate of growth, though Nehru was not much of a Hindu, nor was Mahalonobis.
The man who really shook up the commission was improbably a businessman from Poona, S L Kirloskar, who headed the famous business group named after the family. At that time, companies had to go by production targets laid down by the commission. Kirloskar planned for a big expansion of his oil engine business, but the demand never went beyond a fraction of the official figure. He suffered a big loss, and complained loudly to everyone in the government, including the new prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and that too at the annual meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) which Kirloskar headed that year, and which was inaugurated by Indira Gandhi herself. I was present at Kirloskar's speech in which he pulled no punches. Indira Gandhi was furious, for here was a mere businessman who was criticising.
Within months, the commission had been downgraded, though the five-year plans emerged year after year, like telephone directories. When the Janata government came to power in 1977 after the Emergency, and I found myself in the government, the first man to call on me was Kirloskar, with a mischievous smile on his face and the bluest bow tie I have seen outside Westminster. In fact, for years afterwards, whenever Kirloskar came to Delhi, he made it a point to see me, though his bow ties grew less and less blue, but by that time I had ceased to be in the government.
I have never really taken kindly to the commission and its armchair experts picked up from stray universities. After 30 years of producing plans on a conveyor belt, it gave up the ghost in 1991 when we were forced to open up the economy and the plans became useless, as they served no purpose. But the commission still goes on and one sees commission members on this and that TV channel, though even union ministers like Kamal Nath do not take them seriously.
I still maintain that a fine building like Yojana Bhavan in a prime location in the capital should not be wasted on a government office but should be converted into a posh department store and handed over to Macy's of New York. The location - right in Sansad Marg and next to cash-rich Reserve Bank - is wonderful and there is enough parking place. Perhaps our good friend Montek Ahluwalia will give it a thought!
source;valueresearch
“India as a Global Leader in Science"
Vision Document of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Released
The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today released a vision document titled “India as a Global Leader in Science” prepared by the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. The document was released after the meeting held today with Chairman, SAC Prof C N R Rao. The Minister of State (Independent charge), Shri Prithviraj Chavan was present on the occasion.
The vision document envisages India becoming a major scientific player in about 20 years, provided that we usher in the right kind of structural and administrative reforms, and create a favourable environment for carrying out innovative work in India. The document notes that all the requirements for such a thing to happen indeed seem to be within our reach, especially with the improving economic situation. “We need to provide adequate support for basic science as well as science required for solving man’s pressing problems. A high percentage of the Indian population is very young unlike in the rest of the world and we have to fully make use of the bright young talent as well as the institutions that we have created. This will require major educational reforms as well. By minimizing bureaucracy and promoting creativity and quality, there is every likelihood that India can be one of the very best performers in science in about 20 years, sharing such a position with the most advanced countries of today. If such a thing happens, this will further contribute to economic and industrial development in a major way”, the document states.
The Prime Minister hoped that the ideas in the vision document will inspire the scientific community and all concerned to help build an inclusive, economically and socially vibrant, creative and an enterprising India, and to pursue excellence in science and technology for global good.
>
SBS
(Release ID :65850)
The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today released a vision document titled “India as a Global Leader in Science” prepared by the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. The document was released after the meeting held today with Chairman, SAC Prof C N R Rao. The Minister of State (Independent charge), Shri Prithviraj Chavan was present on the occasion.
The vision document envisages India becoming a major scientific player in about 20 years, provided that we usher in the right kind of structural and administrative reforms, and create a favourable environment for carrying out innovative work in India. The document notes that all the requirements for such a thing to happen indeed seem to be within our reach, especially with the improving economic situation. “We need to provide adequate support for basic science as well as science required for solving man’s pressing problems. A high percentage of the Indian population is very young unlike in the rest of the world and we have to fully make use of the bright young talent as well as the institutions that we have created. This will require major educational reforms as well. By minimizing bureaucracy and promoting creativity and quality, there is every likelihood that India can be one of the very best performers in science in about 20 years, sharing such a position with the most advanced countries of today. If such a thing happens, this will further contribute to economic and industrial development in a major way”, the document states.
The Prime Minister hoped that the ideas in the vision document will inspire the scientific community and all concerned to help build an inclusive, economically and socially vibrant, creative and an enterprising India, and to pursue excellence in science and technology for global good.
>
SBS
(Release ID :65850)
QUEER INK - THE IDEA Not just straight talk
BY ARUN JANARDHAN
Past life Shobhna S. Kumar was already a well-travelled social entrepre- neur--born in Fiji, raised in Syd- ney, Australia; worked a bit in the US--when she moved to India eight years ago.
It was when she broke her ankle two years ago and could not literally travel anywhere that she decided to become a businesswo- man as well.
After 20 years in the develop- ment sector, during which she worked with a multiple strata of people, she wanted her life of “transitions“ to make one more--with Queer Ink.
She says about her partner, who does not wish to be identi- fied: “We have been together eight years, we both had lives prior to this. We used our retire- ment funds to start Queer Ink because we believe in it.“ Eureka moment Kumar found that a lot of queer literature in India was academic, but the number of publications were not representative of the number of queer people in India.
“My idea is to have a platform w her e all ma ter ia l, even in regional language, is available and to encourage people to write and publish,“ she says.
Through her years of travel in India, Kumar realized that people could not find the books they wanted. People were just not comfortable going to a book store fearing unwarranted attention, which is how the idea of an online store germinated. Then two years ago, laid up at home with a broken ankle and unable to go anywhere, the inability to find books that would help “keep my sanity“ added to the frustration. Inten- sive research followed: talking to publishers, emailing people till it all came together in mid-2009 when they gave the first contract for the design of Queer Ink's business identity. This followed a soft launch in April among friends and family, and from 2 July,the website could be accessed by anyone.
Genesis Kumar, 43, brings in the “non- profit element“ into the purely business venture but her partner, a corporate employee, adds the expertise of a businesswoman.
The site gets about 250-300 hits a day worldwide--5% of these are orders. Kumar says they were not expecting any orders in the first six months. Now, they find that a higher concentration of people look at the site over the weekend, and then repeat the next week- end. By the third Sunday, there are orders.
“Before, you had to know somebody who knew somebody to get a photocopy (of a book or magazine that was either not available in book stores or people were too shy to buy),“ says Kumar. “Now, you can own the book. I read somewhere that there were seven queer maga- zines in India but that's not the right number. Local NGOs have their own magazines plus publi- cations in other languages. They are all over the place.“
Queer Ink, says Kumar, is an online book store for all things queer, in India and South Asia.
She defines queer literature as anything that's not mainstream, “anything which does not fit in that little box of society“. She says it does not have to be only sexu- ality based. Queer Ink, for instance, does not sell erotica, but it does keep romance novels.
Reality check An early problem was when one of the Indian payment portals refused the contract for the web- site because they sold queer books on it. “They did not like the content but liked the online busi- ness,“ says Kumar. Queer Ink then went to an American com- pany and now, after upgrading, has an Indian portal.
Plan B The “store“ functions out of the couple's second bedroom in their suburban Mumbai home, with about 2,000 books worth `8 lakh stored in three cupboards.
“If it fails, it fails,“ Kumar says of their business. They feel it would not be feasible to have a regular book store--not just because of Mumbai's high rents, but also to be able to get enough visitors.
Secret sauce Kumar says she has spent consid- erable time on the selection of books, having read 80% of them, which are “sensitive to Indian cultural and society norms“ while following all cyber laws. The site also encourages people to write, which has resulted in them being inundated with short stories they now want to publish. She says Queer Ink works because of its resource of reading material and the complete discretion that it offers buyers. Starting capital `8 lakh Raising the money The couple's retirement fund and other savings.
First customer Kumar remembers her first customer's name: Sabina.
After the website link was sent to a few friends in April, the opening sale of `3,000 came within a few hours.
Biggest difficulty Developing the website www.queerink.com
EMAIL
arun.j@livemint.com
URL http://www.queerink.com
http://www.livemint.com
http://www.livemint.com/coolideas.htm
BY ARUN JANARDHAN
Past life Shobhna S. Kumar was already a well-travelled social entrepre- neur--born in Fiji, raised in Syd- ney, Australia; worked a bit in the US--when she moved to India eight years ago.
It was when she broke her ankle two years ago and could not literally travel anywhere that she decided to become a businesswo- man as well.
After 20 years in the develop- ment sector, during which she worked with a multiple strata of people, she wanted her life of “transitions“ to make one more--with Queer Ink.
She says about her partner, who does not wish to be identi- fied: “We have been together eight years, we both had lives prior to this. We used our retire- ment funds to start Queer Ink because we believe in it.“ Eureka moment Kumar found that a lot of queer literature in India was academic, but the number of publications were not representative of the number of queer people in India.
“My idea is to have a platform w her e all ma ter ia l, even in regional language, is available and to encourage people to write and publish,“ she says.
Through her years of travel in India, Kumar realized that people could not find the books they wanted. People were just not comfortable going to a book store fearing unwarranted attention, which is how the idea of an online store germinated. Then two years ago, laid up at home with a broken ankle and unable to go anywhere, the inability to find books that would help “keep my sanity“ added to the frustration. Inten- sive research followed: talking to publishers, emailing people till it all came together in mid-2009 when they gave the first contract for the design of Queer Ink's business identity. This followed a soft launch in April among friends and family, and from 2 July,the website could be accessed by anyone.
Genesis Kumar, 43, brings in the “non- profit element“ into the purely business venture but her partner, a corporate employee, adds the expertise of a businesswoman.
The site gets about 250-300 hits a day worldwide--5% of these are orders. Kumar says they were not expecting any orders in the first six months. Now, they find that a higher concentration of people look at the site over the weekend, and then repeat the next week- end. By the third Sunday, there are orders.
“Before, you had to know somebody who knew somebody to get a photocopy (of a book or magazine that was either not available in book stores or people were too shy to buy),“ says Kumar. “Now, you can own the book. I read somewhere that there were seven queer maga- zines in India but that's not the right number. Local NGOs have their own magazines plus publi- cations in other languages. They are all over the place.“
Queer Ink, says Kumar, is an online book store for all things queer, in India and South Asia.
She defines queer literature as anything that's not mainstream, “anything which does not fit in that little box of society“. She says it does not have to be only sexu- ality based. Queer Ink, for instance, does not sell erotica, but it does keep romance novels.
Reality check An early problem was when one of the Indian payment portals refused the contract for the web- site because they sold queer books on it. “They did not like the content but liked the online busi- ness,“ says Kumar. Queer Ink then went to an American com- pany and now, after upgrading, has an Indian portal.
Plan B The “store“ functions out of the couple's second bedroom in their suburban Mumbai home, with about 2,000 books worth `8 lakh stored in three cupboards.
“If it fails, it fails,“ Kumar says of their business. They feel it would not be feasible to have a regular book store--not just because of Mumbai's high rents, but also to be able to get enough visitors.
Secret sauce Kumar says she has spent consid- erable time on the selection of books, having read 80% of them, which are “sensitive to Indian cultural and society norms“ while following all cyber laws. The site also encourages people to write, which has resulted in them being inundated with short stories they now want to publish. She says Queer Ink works because of its resource of reading material and the complete discretion that it offers buyers. Starting capital `8 lakh Raising the money The couple's retirement fund and other savings.
First customer Kumar remembers her first customer's name: Sabina.
After the website link was sent to a few friends in April, the opening sale of `3,000 came within a few hours.
Biggest difficulty Developing the website www.queerink.com
arun.j@livemint.com
URL http://www.queerink.com
http://www.livemint.com
http://www.livemint.com/coolideas.htm
10 common mistakes of start-up entrepreneurs
YOUR IDEA - 10 common mistakes of start-up entrepreneurs
BY ROSALIND RESNICK
When it comes to starting a successful business, there's no surefire playbook that contains the winning game plan.
On the other hand, there are about as many mistakes to be made as there are entrepreneurs to make them. i Recently, after a workout at the gym with my trainer--an attrac- f tive young woman who's also a dancer/actor--she told me about a Web series that she's producing and starring in together with a few friends. While the series has gained a large following online, she and her friends have not yet incorporated their venture, i drafted an operating agreement, trademarked the show's name or done any of the other things that businesses typically do to protect their intellectual property and divvy up the owners' share of the company. While none of this may be a problem now, I told her, just wait until the show hits it big and everybody hires a lawyer.
Here, in my experience, are the top 10 mistakes that entre- preneurs make when starting a company: 1. Going it alone It's difficult to build a scalable business if you're the only person involved. True, a solo public rela- tions, Web design or consulting firm may require little capital to start, and the price of hiring even one administrative assistant, sales representative or entry-level employee can eat up a big chunk of your profits. The solution: Make sure there's enough margin in your pricing to enable you to bring in other people. Clients generally don't mind outsourcing as long as they can still get face time with you, the skilled professional who's managing the project.
2. Asking too many people for advice It's always good to get input from experts, especially experienced entrepreneurs who've built and sold successful companies in your industry. But getting too many people's opinions can delay your decision so long that your com- pany never gets out of the starting gate. The answer: Assemble a solid advisory board that you can tap on a regular basis but run the day-to- day yourself. Says Elyissia Was- sung, chief executive of 2 Chicks With Chocolate Inc., a Matawan, New Jersey, US, chocolate com- pany, “Pull in your (advisory) team for biweekly or, at the very least, monthly conference calls.
You'll wish you did it sooner!“
3. Spending too much time on product development, not enough on sales While it's hard to build a great company without a great product, entrepreneurs who spend too much time tinkering may lose customers to a competitor with a stronger sales organization. “I call (this misstep) the `Field of Dreams' of entrepreneurship. If you build it, they will buy it,“ says Sanjyot Dunung, CEO of Atma Global, Inc., a New York software publisher, who has made this mistake in her own business. “If you don't keep one eye firmly focused on sales, you'll likely run out of money and energy before you can successfully get your product to market.“
4. Targeting too small a market It's tempting to try to corner a niche, but your company's growth will quickly hit a wall if the market you're targeting is too tiny. Think about all the high school basket- ball stars who dream of playing in the NBA. Because there are only 30 teams and each team employs only a handful of players, the chances that your son will become the next Michael Jordan are pretty slim. The solution: Pick a bigger market that gives you the chance to grab a slice of the pie even if your company remains a smaller player.
5. Entering a market with no distribution partner It's easier to break into a market if there's already a network of agents, brokers, manufacturers' reps and other third-party resel- lers ready, willing and able to sell your product into existing distri- bution channels. Fashion, food, media and other major industries work this way; others are not so lucky. That's why service busi- nesses such as public relations firms, yoga studios and pet- grooming companies often strug- gle to survive, alternating between feast and famine. The solution: Make a list of potential referral sources before you start your busi- ness and ask them if they'd be willing to send business your way.
6. Overpaying for customers Spending big on advertising may bring in lots of customers, but it's a money-losing strategy if your company can't turn those dollars into life-time customer value. A magazine or website that spends $500 (around `23,300) worth of advertising to acquire a customer who pays $20 a month and can- cels his or her subscription at the end of the year is simply pouring money down the drain. The solu- tion: Test, measure, then test again. Once you've done enough testing to figure out how to make more money selling products and services to your customers than you spend acquiring those cus- tomers in the first place, roll out a major marketing campaign.
7. Raising too little capital Many start-ups assume that all they need is enough money to rent space, buy equipment, stock inventory and drive customers through the door. What they often forget is that they also need capital to pay for salaries, utilities, insur- ance and other overhead expenses until their company starts turning a profit. Unless you're running the kind of busi- ness where everybody's working for sweat equity and deferring compensation, you'll need to raise enough money to tide you over until your revenue can cover your expenses and generate positive cash flow. The solution: Calculate your start-up costs before you open your doors, not afterwards.
8. Raising too much capital Believe it or not, raising too much money can be a problem too.
Over-funded companies tend to get big and bloated, hiring too many people too soon and wast- ing valuable resources on trade show booths, parties, image ads and other frills. When the money runs out and investors lose patience (which is what hap- pened 10 years ago when the dot- com market melted), start-ups that frittered away their cash will have to close their doors. No mat- ter how much money you raise at the outset, remember to bank some for a rainy day.
9. Not having a business plan While not every company needs a formal business plan, a start-up that requires significant capital to grow and more than a year to turn a profit should map out how much time and money it's going to take to get to its destination. This means thinking through the key metrics that make your business tick and building a model to spin off three years of sales, profits and cash-flow projections. “I wasted 10 years (fooling around) thinking like an artist and not a business person,“ says Louis Piscione, pres- ident of Avanti Media Group, a New Jersey company that pro- duces videos for corporate and private events. “I learned that you have to put some of your creative genius towards a business plan that forecasts and sets goals for growth and success.“
10. Overthinking your business plan While many entrepreneurs I've met engage in seat-of-the-pants decision making and fail to do their homework, other entrepre- neurs are afraid to pull the trigger until they're 100% certain that their plan will succeed. One law- yer I worked with several years ago was so skittish about leaving his six-figure job to launch his busi- ness that he never met with a sin- gle bank or investor who might have funded his company. The truth is that a business plan is not a crystal ball that can predict the future. At a certain point, you have to close your eyes and take the leap of faith.
Despite the many books and articles that have been written about entrepreneurship, it's just not possible to start a company without making a few mistakes along the way. Just try to avoid making any mistake so large that your company can't get back on its feet to fight another day.
Rosalind Resnick is the founder and CEO of Axxess Business Con- sulting Inc., a New York consulting firm that develops business plans and financial projections for start- ups and early stage companies. She is also the author of The Vest Pocket Consultant's Secrets of Small Business Success.
Write to wsj@livemint.com
BY ROSALIND RESNICK
When it comes to starting a successful business, there's no surefire playbook that contains the winning game plan.
On the other hand, there are about as many mistakes to be made as there are entrepreneurs to make them. i Recently, after a workout at the gym with my trainer--an attrac- f tive young woman who's also a dancer/actor--she told me about a Web series that she's producing and starring in together with a few friends. While the series has gained a large following online, she and her friends have not yet incorporated their venture, i drafted an operating agreement, trademarked the show's name or done any of the other things that businesses typically do to protect their intellectual property and divvy up the owners' share of the company. While none of this may be a problem now, I told her, just wait until the show hits it big and everybody hires a lawyer.
Here, in my experience, are the top 10 mistakes that entre- preneurs make when starting a company: 1. Going it alone It's difficult to build a scalable business if you're the only person involved. True, a solo public rela- tions, Web design or consulting firm may require little capital to start, and the price of hiring even one administrative assistant, sales representative or entry-level employee can eat up a big chunk of your profits. The solution: Make sure there's enough margin in your pricing to enable you to bring in other people. Clients generally don't mind outsourcing as long as they can still get face time with you, the skilled professional who's managing the project.
2. Asking too many people for advice It's always good to get input from experts, especially experienced entrepreneurs who've built and sold successful companies in your industry. But getting too many people's opinions can delay your decision so long that your com- pany never gets out of the starting gate. The answer: Assemble a solid advisory board that you can tap on a regular basis but run the day-to- day yourself. Says Elyissia Was- sung, chief executive of 2 Chicks With Chocolate Inc., a Matawan, New Jersey, US, chocolate com- pany, “Pull in your (advisory) team for biweekly or, at the very least, monthly conference calls.
You'll wish you did it sooner!“
3. Spending too much time on product development, not enough on sales While it's hard to build a great company without a great product, entrepreneurs who spend too much time tinkering may lose customers to a competitor with a stronger sales organization. “I call (this misstep) the `Field of Dreams' of entrepreneurship. If you build it, they will buy it,“ says Sanjyot Dunung, CEO of Atma Global, Inc., a New York software publisher, who has made this mistake in her own business. “If you don't keep one eye firmly focused on sales, you'll likely run out of money and energy before you can successfully get your product to market.“
4. Targeting too small a market It's tempting to try to corner a niche, but your company's growth will quickly hit a wall if the market you're targeting is too tiny. Think about all the high school basket- ball stars who dream of playing in the NBA. Because there are only 30 teams and each team employs only a handful of players, the chances that your son will become the next Michael Jordan are pretty slim. The solution: Pick a bigger market that gives you the chance to grab a slice of the pie even if your company remains a smaller player.
5. Entering a market with no distribution partner It's easier to break into a market if there's already a network of agents, brokers, manufacturers' reps and other third-party resel- lers ready, willing and able to sell your product into existing distri- bution channels. Fashion, food, media and other major industries work this way; others are not so lucky. That's why service busi- nesses such as public relations firms, yoga studios and pet- grooming companies often strug- gle to survive, alternating between feast and famine. The solution: Make a list of potential referral sources before you start your busi- ness and ask them if they'd be willing to send business your way.
6. Overpaying for customers Spending big on advertising may bring in lots of customers, but it's a money-losing strategy if your company can't turn those dollars into life-time customer value. A magazine or website that spends $500 (around `23,300) worth of advertising to acquire a customer who pays $20 a month and can- cels his or her subscription at the end of the year is simply pouring money down the drain. The solu- tion: Test, measure, then test again. Once you've done enough testing to figure out how to make more money selling products and services to your customers than you spend acquiring those cus- tomers in the first place, roll out a major marketing campaign.
7. Raising too little capital Many start-ups assume that all they need is enough money to rent space, buy equipment, stock inventory and drive customers through the door. What they often forget is that they also need capital to pay for salaries, utilities, insur- ance and other overhead expenses until their company starts turning a profit. Unless you're running the kind of busi- ness where everybody's working for sweat equity and deferring compensation, you'll need to raise enough money to tide you over until your revenue can cover your expenses and generate positive cash flow. The solution: Calculate your start-up costs before you open your doors, not afterwards.
8. Raising too much capital Believe it or not, raising too much money can be a problem too.
Over-funded companies tend to get big and bloated, hiring too many people too soon and wast- ing valuable resources on trade show booths, parties, image ads and other frills. When the money runs out and investors lose patience (which is what hap- pened 10 years ago when the dot- com market melted), start-ups that frittered away their cash will have to close their doors. No mat- ter how much money you raise at the outset, remember to bank some for a rainy day.
9. Not having a business plan While not every company needs a formal business plan, a start-up that requires significant capital to grow and more than a year to turn a profit should map out how much time and money it's going to take to get to its destination. This means thinking through the key metrics that make your business tick and building a model to spin off three years of sales, profits and cash-flow projections. “I wasted 10 years (fooling around) thinking like an artist and not a business person,“ says Louis Piscione, pres- ident of Avanti Media Group, a New Jersey company that pro- duces videos for corporate and private events. “I learned that you have to put some of your creative genius towards a business plan that forecasts and sets goals for growth and success.“
10. Overthinking your business plan While many entrepreneurs I've met engage in seat-of-the-pants decision making and fail to do their homework, other entrepre- neurs are afraid to pull the trigger until they're 100% certain that their plan will succeed. One law- yer I worked with several years ago was so skittish about leaving his six-figure job to launch his busi- ness that he never met with a sin- gle bank or investor who might have funded his company. The truth is that a business plan is not a crystal ball that can predict the future. At a certain point, you have to close your eyes and take the leap of faith.
Despite the many books and articles that have been written about entrepreneurship, it's just not possible to start a company without making a few mistakes along the way. Just try to avoid making any mistake so large that your company can't get back on its feet to fight another day.
Rosalind Resnick is the founder and CEO of Axxess Business Con- sulting Inc., a New York consulting firm that develops business plans and financial projections for start- ups and early stage companies. She is also the author of The Vest Pocket Consultant's Secrets of Small Business Success.
Write to wsj@livemint.com
KARIGARI DESIGN - Designs that talk
BY ANINDITA GHOSE
Past life i Before she began churning out Cannes-nominated designs from t a corner space in a stock Mumbai mall--packed between a travel agency and a clothes store-- 30-year-old Neha Shah worked as an account director in Ogilvy and Mather.
The 2006 Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, gradu- ate has had stints at Ogilvy, Lowe, and award-winning copywriter Pushpinder Singh's advertising start-up Saints and Warriors (where she was the first employee).
But that was to learn the ropes. The intention was never to go up the corporate ladder. “I never wanted to be a CEO of any other company but my own,“ she says.
Shah comes from an advertising bloodline. Her grandfather set up Mercantile--one of India's oldest ad agencies--around 55 years ago.
When she quit Ogilvy in 2008, it was to try her hand at what she calls the family business. But Mer- cantile worked with financial cli- ents (“That's where the money is,“ she sighs), which offered her scant creative opportunities.
Shah tried to develop her own design operations while at Mer- cantile till she was asked to leave.
“My uncle told me that I couldn't go on using the office space for my start-up,“ says Shah.
Sitting on one of the quirky angular shelves designed in-house are three tokens of design excel- lence that Karigari Design Inc., launched in early 2009, has already bagged--a Cannes Lions Design Finalist (2009), a One Show Design Bronze (2010) and a D&AD in- book nomination (2010). They're all for a set of visiting cards that Karigari created for its third cli- ent--The Backpacker Co., a com- pany that “guides“ backpacking trips around the world. Karigari printed their visiting cards on easy- to-carry-and-use soap strips! Eureka moment “Being in the business of ideas, I have one every day,“ says Shah.
While she's long had goals to set up her own design space, seeing the landmark New York Times sig- nage--a 110ft-long logo con- structed at the paper's New York's headquarters in 2007--brought her up to speed.
Genesis Shah set up shop with her per- sonal savings of about `3 lakh.
She had no major material expenses and assumed that the modest seed money would cover rent and salaries. She struck gold with a small assignment for the Union ministry of tourism. Shah's team proactively pitched the idea for a paper bag for the Incredible India campaign.
The folks at the tourism ministry liked it enough to print 100,000 bags for internal consumption.
The exposure led to more work, bigger in scale. Karigari has designed the logo and merchan- dise for the Indian contingent of the Commonwealth Games 2010. The Backpacker & Co. came soon after.
Reality check Traditionally, advertising agencies took a 15% cut of their clients' total advertising budgets. This is as low as 5% now. In this scenario, secur- ing a stable financial future is a big challenge for Shah. “I'm not selling detergent, I'm selling ideas and the cost value is subjective,“ says Shah, who recalls a local jeweller who gave her `10,000 in cash for a store design campaign and a lot of bless- ings in lieu of the full payment.
Plan B “I put all my savings into this so there really was no Plan B,“ says Shah.
Secret sauce Self-belief. “It really burns your heart when you have to write two cheques every day while you're still not making any money...the only thing that keeps one going is a ridiculous degree of self-confi- dence,“ says Shah.
EMAIL
anindita.g@livemint.com
BY ANINDITA GHOSE
Past life i Before she began churning out Cannes-nominated designs from t a corner space in a stock Mumbai mall--packed between a travel agency and a clothes store-- 30-year-old Neha Shah worked as an account director in Ogilvy and Mather.
The 2006 Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, gradu- ate has had stints at Ogilvy, Lowe, and award-winning copywriter Pushpinder Singh's advertising start-up Saints and Warriors (where she was the first employee).
But that was to learn the ropes. The intention was never to go up the corporate ladder. “I never wanted to be a CEO of any other company but my own,“ she says.
Shah comes from an advertising bloodline. Her grandfather set up Mercantile--one of India's oldest ad agencies--around 55 years ago.
When she quit Ogilvy in 2008, it was to try her hand at what she calls the family business. But Mer- cantile worked with financial cli- ents (“That's where the money is,“ she sighs), which offered her scant creative opportunities.
Shah tried to develop her own design operations while at Mer- cantile till she was asked to leave.
“My uncle told me that I couldn't go on using the office space for my start-up,“ says Shah.
Sitting on one of the quirky angular shelves designed in-house are three tokens of design excel- lence that Karigari Design Inc., launched in early 2009, has already bagged--a Cannes Lions Design Finalist (2009), a One Show Design Bronze (2010) and a D&AD in- book nomination (2010). They're all for a set of visiting cards that Karigari created for its third cli- ent--The Backpacker Co., a com- pany that “guides“ backpacking trips around the world. Karigari printed their visiting cards on easy- to-carry-and-use soap strips! Eureka moment “Being in the business of ideas, I have one every day,“ says Shah.
While she's long had goals to set up her own design space, seeing the landmark New York Times sig- nage--a 110ft-long logo con- structed at the paper's New York's headquarters in 2007--brought her up to speed.
Genesis Shah set up shop with her per- sonal savings of about `3 lakh.
She had no major material expenses and assumed that the modest seed money would cover rent and salaries. She struck gold with a small assignment for the Union ministry of tourism. Shah's team proactively pitched the idea for a paper bag for the Incredible India campaign.
The folks at the tourism ministry liked it enough to print 100,000 bags for internal consumption.
The exposure led to more work, bigger in scale. Karigari has designed the logo and merchan- dise for the Indian contingent of the Commonwealth Games 2010. The Backpacker & Co. came soon after.
Reality check Traditionally, advertising agencies took a 15% cut of their clients' total advertising budgets. This is as low as 5% now. In this scenario, secur- ing a stable financial future is a big challenge for Shah. “I'm not selling detergent, I'm selling ideas and the cost value is subjective,“ says Shah, who recalls a local jeweller who gave her `10,000 in cash for a store design campaign and a lot of bless- ings in lieu of the full payment.
Plan B “I put all my savings into this so there really was no Plan B,“ says Shah.
Secret sauce Self-belief. “It really burns your heart when you have to write two cheques every day while you're still not making any money...the only thing that keeps one going is a ridiculous degree of self-confi- dence,“ says Shah.
anindita.g@livemint.com
EDYOUNET - Easy virtual learning
BY VEENA VENUGOPAL
Past life Ram Mohan had been running Devki Infonet, a software com- pany, for about 12 years. The com- pany makes e-learning software that links students living in the US and UK with teachers in India. He tried selling this in India but it didn't work well because of the ow penetration of computers.
Eureka moment Mohan, 42, decided to turn the challenge of selling e-learning in India into an opportunity. “Pro- viding this software in India to only students who have comput- ers was not a feasible idea. We fig- ured out that the idea has to be community learning,“ he says.
Community learning, where stu- dents would sit together in one classroom and share one screen, would take the pressure off indi- vidual students to own comput- ers. The classrooms, which have arge TV screens shared by multi- ple students, are run by fran- chisees. It costs about `5 lakh to set up a franchisee centre.
Genesis Once he firmed up the idea, Mohan got his team of software developers to work on it. There were several challenges. Existing virtual classrooms mostly used sat- ellite technology. This had two dis- advantages--the classroom wouldn't be interactive, it would ust have the teacher lecturing a bunch of students who had tuned n; and they were expensive too. A satellite-based studio would cost at least `18 lakh to set up. So Mohan looked at the Internet.
“We felt there was necessity that whatever the teacher writes should be displayed in front of the students. If the teacher has a Pow- erPoint presentation, video clip- ping or if they are teaching com- puter application--the desktop of the teacher should be visible to the students. So we had to incorporate all these features,“ Mohan says.
On Edyounet, which started in October last year, students can talk to the teacher in real time.
They can also write on the board and have that made visible to the teacher and other students. The teacher can also write part of an equation and have a student in Chennai and another in Delhi write the remaining.
Reality check The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India are now offering classes through Edyounet.
It has 15 franchisees and an aver- age of 20 students a centre. Con- vincing people and getting them to invest in a new idea has been diffi- cult. Also, bandwidth providers couldn't understand or believe in the concept. “We had to create a custom-created real time connec- tivity. If it was one studio and mul- tiple locations, it would have been easy. But here, the studios can be anywhere and the students can be in any number of places,“ he says.
Mohan is trying to set up a stu- dio in Dubai now. This will help set up language courses to be taught by native speakers. For example, a German national in Dubai could take German lessons for a student in a village in Andhra Pradesh.
“Can you imagine how this will transform education in non-urban India?“ Mohan asks.
Plan B Mohan does not have a Plan B at the moment. On the contrary, he is confident that in a year's time, the concept would have taken off and there would be a significant num- ber of students enrolled for various classes. He is also converting the company from a sole proprietor- ship to a private limited company.
Secret sauce Using the Internet as a medium and then developing pro- grammes on open-source Linux.
This helped slash costs to about a third of those in the satellite- based system.
EMAIL
veena.v@livemint.com
BY VEENA VENUGOPAL
Past life Ram Mohan had been running Devki Infonet, a software com- pany, for about 12 years. The com- pany makes e-learning software that links students living in the US and UK with teachers in India. He tried selling this in India but it didn't work well because of the ow penetration of computers.
Eureka moment Mohan, 42, decided to turn the challenge of selling e-learning in India into an opportunity. “Pro- viding this software in India to only students who have comput- ers was not a feasible idea. We fig- ured out that the idea has to be community learning,“ he says.
Community learning, where stu- dents would sit together in one classroom and share one screen, would take the pressure off indi- vidual students to own comput- ers. The classrooms, which have arge TV screens shared by multi- ple students, are run by fran- chisees. It costs about `5 lakh to set up a franchisee centre.
Genesis Once he firmed up the idea, Mohan got his team of software developers to work on it. There were several challenges. Existing virtual classrooms mostly used sat- ellite technology. This had two dis- advantages--the classroom wouldn't be interactive, it would ust have the teacher lecturing a bunch of students who had tuned n; and they were expensive too. A satellite-based studio would cost at least `18 lakh to set up. So Mohan looked at the Internet.
“We felt there was necessity that whatever the teacher writes should be displayed in front of the students. If the teacher has a Pow- erPoint presentation, video clip- ping or if they are teaching com- puter application--the desktop of the teacher should be visible to the students. So we had to incorporate all these features,“ Mohan says.
On Edyounet, which started in October last year, students can talk to the teacher in real time.
They can also write on the board and have that made visible to the teacher and other students. The teacher can also write part of an equation and have a student in Chennai and another in Delhi write the remaining.
Reality check The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India are now offering classes through Edyounet.
It has 15 franchisees and an aver- age of 20 students a centre. Con- vincing people and getting them to invest in a new idea has been diffi- cult. Also, bandwidth providers couldn't understand or believe in the concept. “We had to create a custom-created real time connec- tivity. If it was one studio and mul- tiple locations, it would have been easy. But here, the studios can be anywhere and the students can be in any number of places,“ he says.
Mohan is trying to set up a stu- dio in Dubai now. This will help set up language courses to be taught by native speakers. For example, a German national in Dubai could take German lessons for a student in a village in Andhra Pradesh.
“Can you imagine how this will transform education in non-urban India?“ Mohan asks.
Plan B Mohan does not have a Plan B at the moment. On the contrary, he is confident that in a year's time, the concept would have taken off and there would be a significant num- ber of students enrolled for various classes. He is also converting the company from a sole proprietor- ship to a private limited company.
Secret sauce Using the Internet as a medium and then developing pro- grammes on open-source Linux.
This helped slash costs to about a third of those in the satellite- based system.
veena.v@livemint.com
IDEAS
PHOKATCOPY - He is no copycat
BY HIMANSHU BHAGAT
Past life All of 23, Harsh Narang graduated last month from the Indian Insti- tute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, with a five-year MTech degree in math and computing. As he puts it, student life was easy and the course-load, manageable. It left him with time to try out other things--help out an IIT professor with research in mathematical finance, intern at a university in Germany, work at an interna- tional investment bank's trading desk, and intern with a tech start-up firm on campus.
Working at the bank and the tech start-up were contrasting experiences--the bank was a 9-5 job in a structured environment in an air-conditioned building that housed 1,100 people and the start-up was a room with “six peo- ple and six machines“. Narang loved the vibe at the start-up.
Eureka moment Towards the end of Narang's third year, it was time to come up with an original business idea for one of those B-school busi- ness plan competitions where the team with the best idea gets a nice wad of cash. He and four of his IIT batchmates got to work. “We started going through our `pain points',“ he says. “Pain point“ is not management- speak; it merely refers to things that can be such a pain in day- to-day college life--such as hav- ing to shell out money for all that photocopying a student has to do. “About 500 sheets a month,“ Narang estimates.
And an idea was born--why not let college students photo- copy for free and stick an ad for a chocolate bar on the other side of the sheet? That way, the choc- olate maker pays for the photo- copy and the student can use the money saved for movies and pizza. The clincher, says Narang, was when he came up with the name for the service--Phokat- Copy. It sounded just right.
“With that name, I knew I had to go with it,“ he says. “It was gut feeling.“ Genesis The PhokatCopy idea won Narang and his team five B-Plan prizes. Somewhere along the line, while pitching it to judges at various competitions, Narang actually got sold on it himself. “I realized that I had to try this plan out in the real world,“ he says. “Otherwise I would always have this regret.“
In June 2009, while still in his final year, he, along with three friends, set up PhokatCopy Stu- dent Advertising Pvt. Ltd. The initial capital came from his par- ents and the money they had won in B-Plan competitions. The main task ahead was to sell his business model to potential advertisers--companies that would want to target the college crowd. By end-July they had their first customers--Career Launcher, Café Coffee Day, Nir- ula's and Fastrack.
His original plan after gradua- tion was to intern with a bank in Germany. But he got increas- ingly drawn into the busi- ness--the day he collected his German visa, he cancelled his plane ticket to Germany. The same day PhokatCopy got a prized customer--Apple Inc.
This was in August.
Reality check There have been hurdles aplenty. Narang points out that making cold calls to companies' marketing departments is never fun; the response is often indif- ferent or even rude. Nine out of 10 people don't have the time to listen to you. To keep them- selves motivated, the team members maintained a pleasant, informal working environment and gradually learnt how to make a pitch.
“We reached out to a lot of advertisers,“ says Narang, “and finally managed to convince some of them.“ The biggest change in plan was to not make the service free upfront. Phokat- Copy operates through photo- copying shops around campuses in Delhi and there was nothing to prevent the photocopy guy from getting free sheets from them and just giving it to the raddiwallah.
S o t h e m o d e l w a s refined--now a student pays for his PhokatCopies and gets a scratch card in return. He then registers on the PhokatCopy site, keys in the unique scratch card number and voila! The money paid for photocopies gets added to the student's cellphone pre- paid account. So if you spend `40 on photocopying 20 sheets, you get `40 credit on your cell- phone prepaid card. Narang says 95% college students have prepaid phone cards. So it's a perfect fit.
Narang also realized that it made business and ethical sense to use environment-friendly, wood-free paper (made from sugarcane pulp) and eco- friendly printer ink.
Plan B Harvard Business School loves to take failed entrepreneurs for its MBA programme! Secret sauce Passion. “I had an idea and I had to make it work,“ Narang says.
Entrepreneurship is not a glam- orous affair but he loves the idea of making an “impact“, as he puts it. Already catering to 50 colleges in Delhi, Narang esti- mates that PhokatCopy is reach- ing 75,000 students. Soon, the service will also be provided to 20 colleges in Mumbai.
EMAIL
himanshu.b@livemint.com
BY HIMANSHU BHAGAT
Past life All of 23, Harsh Narang graduated last month from the Indian Insti- tute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, with a five-year MTech degree in math and computing. As he puts it, student life was easy and the course-load, manageable. It left him with time to try out other things--help out an IIT professor with research in mathematical finance, intern at a university in Germany, work at an interna- tional investment bank's trading desk, and intern with a tech start-up firm on campus.
Working at the bank and the tech start-up were contrasting experiences--the bank was a 9-5 job in a structured environment in an air-conditioned building that housed 1,100 people and the start-up was a room with “six peo- ple and six machines“. Narang loved the vibe at the start-up.
Eureka moment Towards the end of Narang's third year, it was time to come up with an original business idea for one of those B-school busi- ness plan competitions where the team with the best idea gets a nice wad of cash. He and four of his IIT batchmates got to work. “We started going through our `pain points',“ he says. “Pain point“ is not management- speak; it merely refers to things that can be such a pain in day- to-day college life--such as hav- ing to shell out money for all that photocopying a student has to do. “About 500 sheets a month,“ Narang estimates.
And an idea was born--why not let college students photo- copy for free and stick an ad for a chocolate bar on the other side of the sheet? That way, the choc- olate maker pays for the photo- copy and the student can use the money saved for movies and pizza. The clincher, says Narang, was when he came up with the name for the service--Phokat- Copy. It sounded just right.
“With that name, I knew I had to go with it,“ he says. “It was gut feeling.“ Genesis The PhokatCopy idea won Narang and his team five B-Plan prizes. Somewhere along the line, while pitching it to judges at various competitions, Narang actually got sold on it himself. “I realized that I had to try this plan out in the real world,“ he says. “Otherwise I would always have this regret.“
In June 2009, while still in his final year, he, along with three friends, set up PhokatCopy Stu- dent Advertising Pvt. Ltd. The initial capital came from his par- ents and the money they had won in B-Plan competitions. The main task ahead was to sell his business model to potential advertisers--companies that would want to target the college crowd. By end-July they had their first customers--Career Launcher, Café Coffee Day, Nir- ula's and Fastrack.
His original plan after gradua- tion was to intern with a bank in Germany. But he got increas- ingly drawn into the busi- ness--the day he collected his German visa, he cancelled his plane ticket to Germany. The same day PhokatCopy got a prized customer--Apple Inc.
This was in August.
Reality check There have been hurdles aplenty. Narang points out that making cold calls to companies' marketing departments is never fun; the response is often indif- ferent or even rude. Nine out of 10 people don't have the time to listen to you. To keep them- selves motivated, the team members maintained a pleasant, informal working environment and gradually learnt how to make a pitch.
“We reached out to a lot of advertisers,“ says Narang, “and finally managed to convince some of them.“ The biggest change in plan was to not make the service free upfront. Phokat- Copy operates through photo- copying shops around campuses in Delhi and there was nothing to prevent the photocopy guy from getting free sheets from them and just giving it to the raddiwallah.
S o t h e m o d e l w a s refined--now a student pays for his PhokatCopies and gets a scratch card in return. He then registers on the PhokatCopy site, keys in the unique scratch card number and voila! The money paid for photocopies gets added to the student's cellphone pre- paid account. So if you spend `40 on photocopying 20 sheets, you get `40 credit on your cell- phone prepaid card. Narang says 95% college students have prepaid phone cards. So it's a perfect fit.
Narang also realized that it made business and ethical sense to use environment-friendly, wood-free paper (made from sugarcane pulp) and eco- friendly printer ink.
Plan B Harvard Business School loves to take failed entrepreneurs for its MBA programme! Secret sauce Passion. “I had an idea and I had to make it work,“ Narang says.
Entrepreneurship is not a glam- orous affair but he loves the idea of making an “impact“, as he puts it. Already catering to 50 colleges in Delhi, Narang esti- mates that PhokatCopy is reach- ing 75,000 students. Soon, the service will also be provided to 20 colleges in Mumbai.
himanshu.b@livemint.com
IDEAS
APORV.COM - Made by hand, sold online
BY PAVITRA JAYARAMAN
···························· Past life Sudip Dutta, 33, graduated as an engineer in 1999 from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sci- ence (BITS), Pilani, and worked in India for six years before moving to the US. After working there for five years with the sales department of a technology company, he returned to India with the aim of starting Aporv.com, an online plat- form that sells handicrafts made by artisans across India. In San- skrit, Aporv means “unique“.
“Having been involved with BITS.aid, the first college-based volunteering organization in India, it was clear to me at the start that any venture (I start) would have (a) social angle to it,“ he says. “And the profit-making factor of the idea had me single-minded in thinking in this direction.“ Dutta adds that they aim to make Aporv.com the one platform for all things Indian and handmade. His core team comprises three friends, Subhra Banerjee, Shashikanth Khandel- wal and Deepak Kumar, who are currently working pro bono for Aporv, and are based in the US.
Eureka moment Having dabbled in sketching and painting for a long time, Dutta says the idea seems to have been in his mind all the time.
Genesis Dutta moved to Bangalore in 2009. He travelled to various places to meet artisans or con- tacted them through middlemen and non-profit organizations, consulting his US-based partners over email and telephone. They eventually tied up with 350 arti- sans and groups. After a year of strategizing and working on the website, they were ready to launch on 5 June. They have had around 42,000 visits to the website since.
Apart from online orders, the company has also landed its first corporate client, Infosys Technolo- gies. “Infosys has given us orders for corporate gifts and in-house gifts as well. Doing business with such a recognized name at such an early stage is good news for us,“ says Dutta. The start-up does not have a retail store and believes that its online presence will have a wider reach than any retail chain can hope to have.
At the moment, Aporv.com ships only in India, but they plan to change that by November. In time, they plan to set up Aporv.org, a non-profit organization. “Part of the profit from Aporv.com will be diverted to Aporv.org, which will work on health, education and water for villages,“ says Dutta.
Reality check Artisans are often apprehensive about business deals, and more so if a middleman they have worked with is eliminated. It took a lot more convincing than Dutta had imagined.
Plan B If it doesn't work out, Dutta has the option of going back to a day job.
But having packed up from that world and invested his savings in this venture, he'd rather call it Plan D, while B and C are to make Aporv work.
Secret sauce Handicrafts is the second biggest occupation in India after agricul- ture, so the production rate is proportionately high. Judging from the number of clicks the site gets, they know it is safe to assume that there is a huge mar- ket demand. To counter the touch-and-feel factor that retail stores have, Aporv.com has a no- questions-asked return policy. “If you don't like it, send it back to us,“ says Dutta, pointing out that this is a unique experience for most Indians.
EMAIL pavitra.j@livemint.com
URL http://www.aporve.com
BY PAVITRA JAYARAMAN
···························· Past life Sudip Dutta, 33, graduated as an engineer in 1999 from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sci- ence (BITS), Pilani, and worked in India for six years before moving to the US. After working there for five years with the sales department of a technology company, he returned to India with the aim of starting Aporv.com, an online plat- form that sells handicrafts made by artisans across India. In San- skrit, Aporv means “unique“.
“Having been involved with BITS.aid, the first college-based volunteering organization in India, it was clear to me at the start that any venture (I start) would have (a) social angle to it,“ he says. “And the profit-making factor of the idea had me single-minded in thinking in this direction.“ Dutta adds that they aim to make Aporv.com the one platform for all things Indian and handmade. His core team comprises three friends, Subhra Banerjee, Shashikanth Khandel- wal and Deepak Kumar, who are currently working pro bono for Aporv, and are based in the US.
Eureka moment Having dabbled in sketching and painting for a long time, Dutta says the idea seems to have been in his mind all the time.
Genesis Dutta moved to Bangalore in 2009. He travelled to various places to meet artisans or con- tacted them through middlemen and non-profit organizations, consulting his US-based partners over email and telephone. They eventually tied up with 350 arti- sans and groups. After a year of strategizing and working on the website, they were ready to launch on 5 June. They have had around 42,000 visits to the website since.
Apart from online orders, the company has also landed its first corporate client, Infosys Technolo- gies. “Infosys has given us orders for corporate gifts and in-house gifts as well. Doing business with such a recognized name at such an early stage is good news for us,“ says Dutta. The start-up does not have a retail store and believes that its online presence will have a wider reach than any retail chain can hope to have.
At the moment, Aporv.com ships only in India, but they plan to change that by November. In time, they plan to set up Aporv.org, a non-profit organization. “Part of the profit from Aporv.com will be diverted to Aporv.org, which will work on health, education and water for villages,“ says Dutta.
Reality check Artisans are often apprehensive about business deals, and more so if a middleman they have worked with is eliminated. It took a lot more convincing than Dutta had imagined.
Plan B If it doesn't work out, Dutta has the option of going back to a day job.
But having packed up from that world and invested his savings in this venture, he'd rather call it Plan D, while B and C are to make Aporv work.
Secret sauce Handicrafts is the second biggest occupation in India after agricul- ture, so the production rate is proportionately high. Judging from the number of clicks the site gets, they know it is safe to assume that there is a huge mar- ket demand. To counter the touch-and-feel factor that retail stores have, Aporv.com has a no- questions-asked return policy. “If you don't like it, send it back to us,“ says Dutta, pointing out that this is a unique experience for most Indians.
EMAIL pavitra.j@livemint.com
URL http://www.aporve.com
IDEAS
TYPE FOUNDRY - A man of many letters
BY KRISH R AGHAV
Past life It started, strangely enough, with a guest lecture. In 2006, Indian Type Foundry (ITF) co-founder Satya Rajpurohit was a third-year stu- dent at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. The college had invited noted Holland-based typographer Peter Bilak to speak to its students, and Bilak expressed interest in working with Indian scripts. Rajpurohit, 28, had been dabbling in similar areas, and he emailed Bilak with an offer to help.
In 2007, Bilak invited Rajpurohit (who was now interning with Linotype GmbH, an international type foundry, in Frankfurt) to his studio in The Hague. Bilak was impressed with his work, and the two started development on a new typeface called Fedra Hindi, which would act as the Devanagari companion to Bilak's Fedra English (“A font is one of the technological forms of a typeface,“ Rajpurohit says. “Just like an MP3 is a possible form of a piece of music“).
Eureka moment “Designing a Latin (English) type- face is much easier in comparison to Indian typefaces,“ Rajpurohit says. “Devanagari itself is so com- plicated--with more than 800 characters across languages.“ Work on Fedra Hindi took two years to finish, and Rajpurohit graduated in the meantime, in early 2009. In September the same year, while discussing how best to release Fedra for the Indian mar- ket, Bilak and Rajpurohit decided to start the Indian Type Foundry.
“The advantage with a type foundry is that all you need is a couple of computers and a good printer. Most small foundries don't need a physical office, as all of the work is digital,“ Rajpurohit says.
Genesis The Indian Type Foundry went live at the end of September 2009, and the first requests for licences started trickling in within the first month. It took, however, about six months before the results began to show. TV channel Star Plus came on board a few months ago, and uses Fedra Hindi as part of its new corporate identity. Nokia Global and Reserve Bank of India also signed up soon after, using the font in various promotional campaigns.
Reality check “India is a tough market to work with,“ Rajpurohit says. “Clients don't understand the need for high-quality typefaces.“ Most regional language fonts are designed by firms such as Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), which essentially make them as companions to software they've coded.
“These fonts are made by engi- neers, not designers,“ he says. “As a result, they're of poor quality and they're not compliant with most international standards.“
Piracy is another problem.
“We're careful about putting up PDFs of our fonts online,“ he says.
“Most people, and this includes large broadcasting houses and corporations, have no qualms about using pirated fonts.“ Plan B “We're not looking back now!“ Rajpurohit laughs when asked about a Plan B. “We knew, going into this, that it would take two- three years before we can expect anything.“ India, he says, is a mar- ket ripe for “future investment“ as “education and design sensibili- ties“ start to trickle into firms and media houses.
Secret sauce “We spend a lot of time on our fonts, and we do an incredible amount of research,“ Rajpurohit says. His online Flickr feed is filled with handwritten samples and photographs of writing in dif- ferent languages, part of the field- work necessary for designing a new typeface.
The ITF's new typeface family, Kohinoor, took over a year to per- fect. Currently available in Tamil, it will expand the Foundry's reper- toire to 10 Indian languages.
EMAIL
krish.r@livemint.com
BY KRISH R AGHAV
Past life It started, strangely enough, with a guest lecture. In 2006, Indian Type Foundry (ITF) co-founder Satya Rajpurohit was a third-year stu- dent at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. The college had invited noted Holland-based typographer Peter Bilak to speak to its students, and Bilak expressed interest in working with Indian scripts. Rajpurohit, 28, had been dabbling in similar areas, and he emailed Bilak with an offer to help.
In 2007, Bilak invited Rajpurohit (who was now interning with Linotype GmbH, an international type foundry, in Frankfurt) to his studio in The Hague. Bilak was impressed with his work, and the two started development on a new typeface called Fedra Hindi, which would act as the Devanagari companion to Bilak's Fedra English (“A font is one of the technological forms of a typeface,“ Rajpurohit says. “Just like an MP3 is a possible form of a piece of music“).
Eureka moment “Designing a Latin (English) type- face is much easier in comparison to Indian typefaces,“ Rajpurohit says. “Devanagari itself is so com- plicated--with more than 800 characters across languages.“ Work on Fedra Hindi took two years to finish, and Rajpurohit graduated in the meantime, in early 2009. In September the same year, while discussing how best to release Fedra for the Indian mar- ket, Bilak and Rajpurohit decided to start the Indian Type Foundry.
“The advantage with a type foundry is that all you need is a couple of computers and a good printer. Most small foundries don't need a physical office, as all of the work is digital,“ Rajpurohit says.
Genesis The Indian Type Foundry went live at the end of September 2009, and the first requests for licences started trickling in within the first month. It took, however, about six months before the results began to show. TV channel Star Plus came on board a few months ago, and uses Fedra Hindi as part of its new corporate identity. Nokia Global and Reserve Bank of India also signed up soon after, using the font in various promotional campaigns.
Reality check “India is a tough market to work with,“ Rajpurohit says. “Clients don't understand the need for high-quality typefaces.“ Most regional language fonts are designed by firms such as Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), which essentially make them as companions to software they've coded.
“These fonts are made by engi- neers, not designers,“ he says. “As a result, they're of poor quality and they're not compliant with most international standards.“
Piracy is another problem.
“We're careful about putting up PDFs of our fonts online,“ he says.
“Most people, and this includes large broadcasting houses and corporations, have no qualms about using pirated fonts.“ Plan B “We're not looking back now!“ Rajpurohit laughs when asked about a Plan B. “We knew, going into this, that it would take two- three years before we can expect anything.“ India, he says, is a mar- ket ripe for “future investment“ as “education and design sensibili- ties“ start to trickle into firms and media houses.
Secret sauce “We spend a lot of time on our fonts, and we do an incredible amount of research,“ Rajpurohit says. His online Flickr feed is filled with handwritten samples and photographs of writing in dif- ferent languages, part of the field- work necessary for designing a new typeface.
The ITF's new typeface family, Kohinoor, took over a year to per- fect. Currently available in Tamil, it will expand the Foundry's reper- toire to 10 Indian languages.
krish.r@livemint.com
IDEAS
HUTKAY FILMS - Shooting the bride
BY AMRITA ROY
Past life As a senior assistant editor at The Indian Express, and after 10 years in journalism, Leher Kala, 34, had a feeling that her career had pla- teaued. For two years she toyed with the idea of venturing out on her own but the security of a steady job in times of global eco- nomic crisis held her back. Finally, in April, Kala launched Hutkay Films Pvt. Ltd to make short, snappy, high-definition “celebra- tion movies“ of events such as weddings, anniversaries, corporate events and award ceremonies.
Eureka moment One serendipitous day, while rearranging her bookshelf, she chanced upon the video of her own wedding. “I can't begin to tell you how mortifying it was,“ remembers Kala. It had amateur written all over it. “I looked terri- ble. My husband looked terrible.
There were random shots of peo- ple about whom neither of us had any clue. It was boring, and it was interminable.“ While she and her husband had a hearty laugh over the shoddy video, Kala realized that traditional wedding videos, a few years down the line, are good only to raise a few laughs.
In an earlier life, Kala had worked in the Hindi film industry and as a journalist with the Aaj Tak television channel, and she was confident that she could have documented the wedding much better. “I know people whose wedding budgets are around `3-4 crore. They want the best of everything, yet for footage of their weddings, the truly once- in-a-lifetime experience, they were paying `15,000-20,000 to random videographers. I won- dered if they wouldn't want a professionally shot and edited album,“ Kala says.
Genesis That seed of an idea germinated into Hutkay Films after a chat with her former boss at Aaj Tak. “I knew I could do it, but I needed to know if it was a saleable idea. He not only endorsed my idea, but said it had huge potential since nobody else was doing anything similar,“ says Kala. With his endorsement, the usually risk- averse Kala quit her job in Janu- ary. In February, she got her first client--Vasant Nath, a script- writer and film-maker who was getting married in April.
Over the next couple of months, Kala set up office in a space provided by her husband, registered the company, hired a full-time secretary and an accountant and a part-time cam- eraman and editor and was ready for business. A 30-minute film on the mehendi, sangeet, shaadi and reception includes interviews and anecdotes from guests and relatives, old photographs and a narrative about the couple. “For the first film, Vasant and Vani's Prem Kahani, I met the couple's friends and relatives to learn about their story: how they met, when did they fall in love, who proposed and how. While shoot- ing I focus on only the people who are important to the cou- ple,“ says Kala.
Hutkay Films has produced 11 movies, including one on the launch of the Delhi Art Gallery at the DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, Delhi, and two films for the The Indian Express, including the FE Best Banks Award. The rates vary depending on factors such as the length of the event and where it is being held. “Corpo- rate events are shorter and better organized, so the rates are less than weddings. Weddings, typi- cally, are four-day affairs mini- mum. And there are numerous rituals to be shot. The wedding day itself demands a day-long shoot. I have four people work- ing with me for the shoot.
Besides, the editing process takes about two weeks. This adds to the cost factor,“ says Kala.
Kala is now working on a baby video. “A baby video is shot over a year, one day every month from 0-12 months. These were not what I had in mind when I started, but as people got to know about Hutkay, they came up with their own ideas. They wanted me to document their special moments, be it a 40th anniversary or a baby's first year, and the original idea evolved,“ says Kala.
Reality check It has been a challenge convinc- ing some clients that the 30-minute length is what makes the film fun. “If you're shooting for four days, they think you'll give them a 2-hour movie. Convincing them that it would kill the movie and make it utterly boring is a task,“ Kala says. So she strikes a compromise: She makes her ver- sion of the 30-minute movie but she puts the additional unedited footage on the DVD too.
Another problem has been try- ing to keep a check on overheads.
“To start with, I did not have any money for cameras and other equipment, so I hired those. That adds to the overhead. But now I'm buying a camera and getting my own editing set-up. Hutkay Films now has a signature tune and I've commissioned 3D ani- mation for the titles and credits.
The graphics is proving the cost- liest,“ she adds.
Plan B That's something Kala doesn't even want to think about. And she is quietly confident she will not need to (in the four months since she's been in business, she says, she has recovered her initial investment and met her over- heads). Instead, she plans to invest in equipment and hire some part-time staff to be able to take on more work. “If at all I need a Plan B, there's always journalism,“ she says, grimacing at the thought of going back to a job with fixed hours.
Secret sauce The simplicity and uniqueness of the idea are its greatest strengths, says Kala. And the first-mover advantage. “The market's huge and untapped.“
EMAIL
amrita.r@livemint.com
BY AMRITA ROY
Past life As a senior assistant editor at The Indian Express, and after 10 years in journalism, Leher Kala, 34, had a feeling that her career had pla- teaued. For two years she toyed with the idea of venturing out on her own but the security of a steady job in times of global eco- nomic crisis held her back. Finally, in April, Kala launched Hutkay Films Pvt. Ltd to make short, snappy, high-definition “celebra- tion movies“ of events such as weddings, anniversaries, corporate events and award ceremonies.
Eureka moment One serendipitous day, while rearranging her bookshelf, she chanced upon the video of her own wedding. “I can't begin to tell you how mortifying it was,“ remembers Kala. It had amateur written all over it. “I looked terri- ble. My husband looked terrible.
There were random shots of peo- ple about whom neither of us had any clue. It was boring, and it was interminable.“ While she and her husband had a hearty laugh over the shoddy video, Kala realized that traditional wedding videos, a few years down the line, are good only to raise a few laughs.
In an earlier life, Kala had worked in the Hindi film industry and as a journalist with the Aaj Tak television channel, and she was confident that she could have documented the wedding much better. “I know people whose wedding budgets are around `3-4 crore. They want the best of everything, yet for footage of their weddings, the truly once- in-a-lifetime experience, they were paying `15,000-20,000 to random videographers. I won- dered if they wouldn't want a professionally shot and edited album,“ Kala says.
Genesis That seed of an idea germinated into Hutkay Films after a chat with her former boss at Aaj Tak. “I knew I could do it, but I needed to know if it was a saleable idea. He not only endorsed my idea, but said it had huge potential since nobody else was doing anything similar,“ says Kala. With his endorsement, the usually risk- averse Kala quit her job in Janu- ary. In February, she got her first client--Vasant Nath, a script- writer and film-maker who was getting married in April.
Over the next couple of months, Kala set up office in a space provided by her husband, registered the company, hired a full-time secretary and an accountant and a part-time cam- eraman and editor and was ready for business. A 30-minute film on the mehendi, sangeet, shaadi and reception includes interviews and anecdotes from guests and relatives, old photographs and a narrative about the couple. “For the first film, Vasant and Vani's Prem Kahani, I met the couple's friends and relatives to learn about their story: how they met, when did they fall in love, who proposed and how. While shoot- ing I focus on only the people who are important to the cou- ple,“ says Kala.
Hutkay Films has produced 11 movies, including one on the launch of the Delhi Art Gallery at the DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, Delhi, and two films for the The Indian Express, including the FE Best Banks Award. The rates vary depending on factors such as the length of the event and where it is being held. “Corpo- rate events are shorter and better organized, so the rates are less than weddings. Weddings, typi- cally, are four-day affairs mini- mum. And there are numerous rituals to be shot. The wedding day itself demands a day-long shoot. I have four people work- ing with me for the shoot.
Besides, the editing process takes about two weeks. This adds to the cost factor,“ says Kala.
Kala is now working on a baby video. “A baby video is shot over a year, one day every month from 0-12 months. These were not what I had in mind when I started, but as people got to know about Hutkay, they came up with their own ideas. They wanted me to document their special moments, be it a 40th anniversary or a baby's first year, and the original idea evolved,“ says Kala.
Reality check It has been a challenge convinc- ing some clients that the 30-minute length is what makes the film fun. “If you're shooting for four days, they think you'll give them a 2-hour movie. Convincing them that it would kill the movie and make it utterly boring is a task,“ Kala says. So she strikes a compromise: She makes her ver- sion of the 30-minute movie but she puts the additional unedited footage on the DVD too.
Another problem has been try- ing to keep a check on overheads.
“To start with, I did not have any money for cameras and other equipment, so I hired those. That adds to the overhead. But now I'm buying a camera and getting my own editing set-up. Hutkay Films now has a signature tune and I've commissioned 3D ani- mation for the titles and credits.
The graphics is proving the cost- liest,“ she adds.
Plan B That's something Kala doesn't even want to think about. And she is quietly confident she will not need to (in the four months since she's been in business, she says, she has recovered her initial investment and met her over- heads). Instead, she plans to invest in equipment and hire some part-time staff to be able to take on more work. “If at all I need a Plan B, there's always journalism,“ she says, grimacing at the thought of going back to a job with fixed hours.
Secret sauce The simplicity and uniqueness of the idea are its greatest strengths, says Kala. And the first-mover advantage. “The market's huge and untapped.“
amrita.r@livemint.com
IDEAS
Rahul Cherian, 36, co-founder and policy head of Inclusive Planet, is an alumnus of National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore.
He is also a specialist in copy- right law and a disability policy activist. He was running his own law firm in Chennai until Inclu- sive Planet happened.
Sachin Malhan, 31, co-founder and CEO of Inclusive Planet, is another NLSIU alumnus, and co- founder of two companies: Law School Tutorials, an outfit to pre- pare students for legal entrance examinations, with centres in around 50 cities, and Rainmaker, a talent management services firm for the legal industry, which he led until March 2008.
Reuben Jacob, 35, co-founder and chief technology officer for Inclusive Planet, is the CEO of Acrodelon Technologies, a technology incubation company based in Kochi. Cherian and Mal- han know each other from their NLSIU days, while Jacob is Cherian's friend from school.
These three form the core of the founding team.
Eureka moment Cherian participated in a confer- ence of the World Blind Union in Washington, DC, in 2008. One of the items on the agenda was drafting an international treaty to make it binding for governments to make reading material accessi- ble to the blind, the print-im- paired (i.e., those who can see but cannot easily make sense of words and text) and those with visual disabilities. Indeed, a majority of the members at the gathering were themselves print- impaired. Cherian thought a con- sistent interface was necessary if serious change had to be brought about. The meet was inconclu- sive but Cherian came out with ideas. “That's when it struck me,“ he recalls. “`How do visually disa- bled people use technology?'“ He came back and brainstormed with a few friends, who would go on to form the company called Inclusive Planet.
Genesis Launched in October 2009, Inclu- sive Planet's USP is to make information via the Internet accessible to those who are visu- ally challenged. It does this by making visual information (such as written text) available in audio files. The website enables the visually impaired to find, share and access materials such as books and documents relevant to their study or leisure material, in formats amenable to them. It has around 4,200 active members, from places such as Turkey, the US, Canada and Latin America.
On the website's different message boards (called “chan- nels“), you will find ongoing dis- cussions on issues relating to those with visual disabilities--and a lot more. Topics can extend from “How do the sighted see you?“ to “Myths about vision loss and blindness“, to casual subjects such as “The lighter side of disability“. People post com- ments on these channels and continue conversations while exchanging thoughts, informa- tion and banter.
One of the most popular chan- nels on the website “Love, actu- ally“, is something like Facebook for the visually disabled and print-impaired. There is no charge for using the site www.inclusiveplanet.com Inclusive Planet raised money through contributions from well- known names in the field of technological entrepreneurship, such as Rajiv Kuchhal, former Infosys vice-president; Jawad Ayaz, technologist and serial entrepreneur; Kiran Gera, vice- president of the Saarc Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs Coun- cil; and Sandeep Farias, formerly country director of Unitus.
Reality check “Our focus is to create digital world accessibility for those who are visually challenged,“ says Malhan. “But doing that is not easy, as there are many gaps that need to be addressed. For instance, how does one make the online information from websites communicable to the print-im- paired? Within the information systems that exist, there is a gap of accessibility as far as the latter is concerned,“ he adds.
For revenue, Inclusive Planet also started a services arm that develops customized software to make online information accessi- ble to the visually disabled and print-impaired for companies.
Plan B “There was no Plan B. This just had to work!“ insists Cherian.
Secret sauce Remain simple, accessible and relevant. “In future, we want to reach a stage where the site is in autopilot mode,“ exhorts Malhan. Starting capital `4 lakh Raising the money Pooled own resources before contributions from technological entrepreneurs came in.
First customer The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehradun, was the first customer of the services arm of Inclusive Planet.
Biggest difficulty To keep developing methods to make information so accessible to the visually challenged that there is no difference from the sighted. Last year, we shifted our quest from cool jobs to cool ideas, because there weren't many jobs to be had, and were amazed at the kind of ideas people were building their businesses on. This year, we uncovered 13 more gems--ideas so simple, yet so cool that they want to make you cry for not having thought of them first.
EMAIL
rahul.j@livemint.com
He is also a specialist in copy- right law and a disability policy activist. He was running his own law firm in Chennai until Inclu- sive Planet happened.
Sachin Malhan, 31, co-founder and CEO of Inclusive Planet, is another NLSIU alumnus, and co- founder of two companies: Law School Tutorials, an outfit to pre- pare students for legal entrance examinations, with centres in around 50 cities, and Rainmaker, a talent management services firm for the legal industry, which he led until March 2008.
Reuben Jacob, 35, co-founder and chief technology officer for Inclusive Planet, is the CEO of Acrodelon Technologies, a technology incubation company based in Kochi. Cherian and Mal- han know each other from their NLSIU days, while Jacob is Cherian's friend from school.
These three form the core of the founding team.
Eureka moment Cherian participated in a confer- ence of the World Blind Union in Washington, DC, in 2008. One of the items on the agenda was drafting an international treaty to make it binding for governments to make reading material accessi- ble to the blind, the print-im- paired (i.e., those who can see but cannot easily make sense of words and text) and those with visual disabilities. Indeed, a majority of the members at the gathering were themselves print- impaired. Cherian thought a con- sistent interface was necessary if serious change had to be brought about. The meet was inconclu- sive but Cherian came out with ideas. “That's when it struck me,“ he recalls. “`How do visually disa- bled people use technology?'“ He came back and brainstormed with a few friends, who would go on to form the company called Inclusive Planet.
Genesis Launched in October 2009, Inclu- sive Planet's USP is to make information via the Internet accessible to those who are visu- ally challenged. It does this by making visual information (such as written text) available in audio files. The website enables the visually impaired to find, share and access materials such as books and documents relevant to their study or leisure material, in formats amenable to them. It has around 4,200 active members, from places such as Turkey, the US, Canada and Latin America.
On the website's different message boards (called “chan- nels“), you will find ongoing dis- cussions on issues relating to those with visual disabilities--and a lot more. Topics can extend from “How do the sighted see you?“ to “Myths about vision loss and blindness“, to casual subjects such as “The lighter side of disability“. People post com- ments on these channels and continue conversations while exchanging thoughts, informa- tion and banter.
One of the most popular chan- nels on the website “Love, actu- ally“, is something like Facebook for the visually disabled and print-impaired. There is no charge for using the site www.inclusiveplanet.com Inclusive Planet raised money through contributions from well- known names in the field of technological entrepreneurship, such as Rajiv Kuchhal, former Infosys vice-president; Jawad Ayaz, technologist and serial entrepreneur; Kiran Gera, vice- president of the Saarc Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs Coun- cil; and Sandeep Farias, formerly country director of Unitus.
Reality check “Our focus is to create digital world accessibility for those who are visually challenged,“ says Malhan. “But doing that is not easy, as there are many gaps that need to be addressed. For instance, how does one make the online information from websites communicable to the print-im- paired? Within the information systems that exist, there is a gap of accessibility as far as the latter is concerned,“ he adds.
For revenue, Inclusive Planet also started a services arm that develops customized software to make online information accessi- ble to the visually disabled and print-impaired for companies.
Plan B “There was no Plan B. This just had to work!“ insists Cherian.
Secret sauce Remain simple, accessible and relevant. “In future, we want to reach a stage where the site is in autopilot mode,“ exhorts Malhan. Starting capital `4 lakh Raising the money Pooled own resources before contributions from technological entrepreneurs came in.
First customer The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehradun, was the first customer of the services arm of Inclusive Planet.
Biggest difficulty To keep developing methods to make information so accessible to the visually challenged that there is no difference from the sighted. Last year, we shifted our quest from cool jobs to cool ideas, because there weren't many jobs to be had, and were amazed at the kind of ideas people were building their businesses on. This year, we uncovered 13 more gems--ideas so simple, yet so cool that they want to make you cry for not having thought of them first.
rahul.j@livemint.com
Thursday, September 16, 2010
SIKKIM-RAJASTHAN AUTO RUN
Six foreign participants of Rickshaw Autumn Run injured
FROM IBNLIVE.COM
Bhagalpur (Bihar), Sept 14 (PTI) Six foreign participants of the Gangtok to Jaisalmer ‘Rickshaw Autumn Run, 2010′ were injured in a collision between two auto rickshaws near Kharik in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district today. Official sources said the collision took place when one of the autorickshaws carrying some of the tourists stopped after being grazed by a speeding truck and the other came up and hit it. The injured were admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical hospital at Bhagalpur for treatment, the sources said. The 3500 km-long Rickshaw Autumn Run had been flagged off from the Sikkim capital yesterday. The run has been organised by UK-based ‘The Adventurists’ and a total 71 teams comprising of 175 members from more than 20 countries were participating in it.
Six foreign participants of Rickshaw Autumn Run injured
FROM IBNLIVE.COM
Bhagalpur (Bihar), Sept 14 (PTI) Six foreign participants of the Gangtok to Jaisalmer ‘Rickshaw Autumn Run, 2010′ were injured in a collision between two auto rickshaws near Kharik in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district today. Official sources said the collision took place when one of the autorickshaws carrying some of the tourists stopped after being grazed by a speeding truck and the other came up and hit it. The injured were admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical hospital at Bhagalpur for treatment, the sources said. The 3500 km-long Rickshaw Autumn Run had been flagged off from the Sikkim capital yesterday. The run has been organised by UK-based ‘The Adventurists’ and a total 71 teams comprising of 175 members from more than 20 countries were participating in it.
Amendment in the Labour Laws Act, 1988
- withdrawal of the Labour Laws Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005, and introduction of the new Bill approved
The Union Cabinet today approved withdrawal of Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amednment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005 from Rajya Sabha, and introduction a new Bill, namely, Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendment Bill, 2010 (Appendix-III) in the Rajya Sabha in the ensuing Session of Parliament aftermaking of changes of dafting as consequential nature, if any, in consultation with the Legislative Department.
The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act, 1988 presently provides for exemption by way of allowing 'very small' establishment (employing up to 9 workers) to maintain only one register and submit one return and 'small establishments' (employing 10 to 19 workers) to maintain three registers and submit one return.
The passage of the Amendment Bill will benefit establishments employing up to 40 workers in maintaining registers and submitting returns electronically under 16 Labour Laws.
The main features of the amendments are:
„X The coverage in terms of number of Acts will be increased from 9 in the Principal Act to 16.
„X The existing method of defining establishments as 'very small' and 'small' in the Principal Act would continue. The dispensation enjoyed by the 'very small' establishments by way of maintaining only one register and submitting one return will also continue. However, the 'small' establishments would cover those establishments employing between I0 to 40 workers as against 19 in the Principal Act. They would be required to maintain only two registers as against three at present and submit one return.
„X Registers/records can be maintained in computer, floppy, diskette or on other electronic media and return submitted through e-mail.
The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha to expand the coverage of the Act. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour advised that the provisions of the bill be discussed with the employers' and employees' organizations and amendments redrafted on the basis of consensus reached.
As the amendments proposed in the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005 have the effect to substantially delete a number of clauses and would require negative voting as per laid down procedure , it is now proposed to withdraw this Bill and introduce a new simple Bill relating only to changes which are required.
********
AD/HS/VK
(Release ID :65805)
- withdrawal of the Labour Laws Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005, and introduction of the new Bill approved
The Union Cabinet today approved withdrawal of Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amednment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005 from Rajya Sabha, and introduction a new Bill, namely, Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendment Bill, 2010 (Appendix-III) in the Rajya Sabha in the ensuing Session of Parliament aftermaking of changes of dafting as consequential nature, if any, in consultation with the Legislative Department.
The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act, 1988 presently provides for exemption by way of allowing 'very small' establishment (employing up to 9 workers) to maintain only one register and submit one return and 'small establishments' (employing 10 to 19 workers) to maintain three registers and submit one return.
The passage of the Amendment Bill will benefit establishments employing up to 40 workers in maintaining registers and submitting returns electronically under 16 Labour Laws.
The main features of the amendments are:
„X The coverage in terms of number of Acts will be increased from 9 in the Principal Act to 16.
„X The existing method of defining establishments as 'very small' and 'small' in the Principal Act would continue. The dispensation enjoyed by the 'very small' establishments by way of maintaining only one register and submitting one return will also continue. However, the 'small' establishments would cover those establishments employing between I0 to 40 workers as against 19 in the Principal Act. They would be required to maintain only two registers as against three at present and submit one return.
„X Registers/records can be maintained in computer, floppy, diskette or on other electronic media and return submitted through e-mail.
The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha to expand the coverage of the Act. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour advised that the provisions of the bill be discussed with the employers' and employees' organizations and amendments redrafted on the basis of consensus reached.
As the amendments proposed in the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2005 have the effect to substantially delete a number of clauses and would require negative voting as per laid down procedure , it is now proposed to withdraw this Bill and introduce a new simple Bill relating only to changes which are required.
********
AD/HS/VK
(Release ID :65805)
Second Day of the eighth assembly’s third session (part II)
DIO EAST | IPR-SKM
16 September, Gangtok: The two days Eighth Assembly and third session part-II of the Budget Session-2010 of Sikkim Legislative Assembly (SLA) concluded on 16th September 2010. The session began with the legislative Business. The Chief Minister Mr. Pawan Chamling who is also the Minister In-charge of Finance Revenue and expenditure Department had introduce the Sikkim Casinos ( Control and Tax) Amendment Bill No.14 of 2010 and the Sikkim Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill No.15 of 2010 which were considered and passed unanimously by the House.
The Sikkim Ministers, Speakers, Deputy Speaker and Members of Sikkim Legislative Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Amendment Bill, Bill No. 17 of 2010 and the Sikkim Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, Bill No. 18 of 2010 which were introduced by the Minister in-charge of Parliamentary Affairs Department, Mr. D.N Takarpa on the first day of the session was also considered and unanimously passed by the House.
In the Financial Business, the house also unanimously considered and passed the Supplementary Demands for Grand 2010-2011 which was presented by the Chief Minister, Mr. Pawan Chamling who is also the Minister in-charge of Finance Revenue and expenditure Department on the first day of the session.
The Chief Minister, Mr. Pawan Chamling introduced the Sikkim Appropriation Bill, Bill No. 16 of 2010 for the First Supplementary Demands for Grants 2010-2011. The Statements of objects and Reasons of this Bill is introduced is in pursuance of clause (1) of Article 204 read with Article 205 of the constitution of India to provide for the Appropriation out of the consolidated fund of the state of Sikkim of the money required to meet the expenditure charged on the consolidated fund of the state of Sikkim and Supplementary grants made by the Sikkim Legislative Assembly for the expenditure of the government of Sikkim for the financial year 2010-2011. The Bill was unanimously considered and passed by the House.
The Chief Minister, Mr. Pawan Chamling also presented the Separate Audit Report of State Bank of Sikkim 2004-05. He also laid the copies of the Sikkim Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Fiscal Establishment) Rules 2010, the Sikkim On-line Network Lottery (Amendment) Rules 2010 and the Sikkim State Lottery (Amendment) Rules, 2010.
The Speaker SLA, Mr. K.T Gyaltsen announced the presentation of the Annual Reports of the Department which was also laid on the table of the House.
Mr Ugen T. Gyasto Bhutia, Member of the SLA moved the Private Member’s Resolution No.1 of 2010 “seeking early implementation of the report submitted by Prof. B.K Roy Burman Commission for declaring the remaining entire indigenous Sikkimese communities as schedule Tribes”. Mr. P.L Subba, Member of SLA seconded the Resolution. The House unanimously adopted the Private Member’s Resolution No.1 of 2010.
While delivering the vote of thanks the leader of the House Mr. Pawan Chamling, said that the purpose of holding the two day session was to disburse the remaining arrear of the government employees of the state and also emphasized on the releasing of the arrear before Dasai Festival. Today, Sikkim Government Employees are the highest paid in the country, and the passion and zeal in the working system in all employees should be there to serve the interest of the people, he said. The state government has created a conducive environment to the employees by facilitating various supports and same should be reflected through their utmost responsibilities, he added. The Chief Minister reiterated that his government has spared no effort to convert the state into a land of opportunities and progressive human activities, despite the state being handicapped by geographical constraint. Therefore, the officials of all departments should strictly implement the plans and policies of the government in welfare of the people. Mentioning about the timely distribution of salaries, he said that Master Roll and Work Charged salaries should be given on time. He also urged the officials to release the land compensation of the land owners, old age pension, and other allowances as well as the suppliers bills at earliest by all concerned department.
Sharing his views on the report submitted by Prof. B.K.Roy Burman Commission, the Chief Minister said that the report is meant for the protection of the rights, privilege and interests of indigenous Sikkimese people and needs to be discussed by the civil society.
The Leader of the House further said that the Bills unanimously passed by the House are for the benefit of the people at large and also for the development of future generation of the state. He stressed that real sense of development is only be possible through the cooperation and coordination from all sections. The ongoing plans and programmes of the government would be successful if and only if these are implemented in time. He also thanks the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and all Member of SLA and entire Officials and staffs who involved in the smooth holding the two days Session.
The speaker, in his vote of thanks, thanked the Leader of the House for presentation of first Supplementary demands for grants and other bills during the session. He also thanked other members of SLA and Chief Secretary and Senior Government Officials and others involved in the two days Session.
DIO / EAST
DIO EAST | IPR-SKM
16 September, Gangtok: The two days Eighth Assembly and third session part-II of the Budget Session-2010 of Sikkim Legislative Assembly (SLA) concluded on 16th September 2010. The session began with the legislative Business. The Chief Minister Mr. Pawan Chamling who is also the Minister In-charge of Finance Revenue and expenditure Department had introduce the Sikkim Casinos ( Control and Tax) Amendment Bill No.14 of 2010 and the Sikkim Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill No.15 of 2010 which were considered and passed unanimously by the House.
The Sikkim Ministers, Speakers, Deputy Speaker and Members of Sikkim Legislative Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Amendment Bill, Bill No. 17 of 2010 and the Sikkim Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, Bill No. 18 of 2010 which were introduced by the Minister in-charge of Parliamentary Affairs Department, Mr. D.N Takarpa on the first day of the session was also considered and unanimously passed by the House.
In the Financial Business, the house also unanimously considered and passed the Supplementary Demands for Grand 2010-2011 which was presented by the Chief Minister, Mr. Pawan Chamling who is also the Minister in-charge of Finance Revenue and expenditure Department on the first day of the session.
The Chief Minister, Mr. Pawan Chamling introduced the Sikkim Appropriation Bill, Bill No. 16 of 2010 for the First Supplementary Demands for Grants 2010-2011. The Statements of objects and Reasons of this Bill is introduced is in pursuance of clause (1) of Article 204 read with Article 205 of the constitution of India to provide for the Appropriation out of the consolidated fund of the state of Sikkim of the money required to meet the expenditure charged on the consolidated fund of the state of Sikkim and Supplementary grants made by the Sikkim Legislative Assembly for the expenditure of the government of Sikkim for the financial year 2010-2011. The Bill was unanimously considered and passed by the House.
The Chief Minister, Mr. Pawan Chamling also presented the Separate Audit Report of State Bank of Sikkim 2004-05. He also laid the copies of the Sikkim Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Fiscal Establishment) Rules 2010, the Sikkim On-line Network Lottery (Amendment) Rules 2010 and the Sikkim State Lottery (Amendment) Rules, 2010.
The Speaker SLA, Mr. K.T Gyaltsen announced the presentation of the Annual Reports of the Department which was also laid on the table of the House.
Mr Ugen T. Gyasto Bhutia, Member of the SLA moved the Private Member’s Resolution No.1 of 2010 “seeking early implementation of the report submitted by Prof. B.K Roy Burman Commission for declaring the remaining entire indigenous Sikkimese communities as schedule Tribes”. Mr. P.L Subba, Member of SLA seconded the Resolution. The House unanimously adopted the Private Member’s Resolution No.1 of 2010.
While delivering the vote of thanks the leader of the House Mr. Pawan Chamling, said that the purpose of holding the two day session was to disburse the remaining arrear of the government employees of the state and also emphasized on the releasing of the arrear before Dasai Festival. Today, Sikkim Government Employees are the highest paid in the country, and the passion and zeal in the working system in all employees should be there to serve the interest of the people, he said. The state government has created a conducive environment to the employees by facilitating various supports and same should be reflected through their utmost responsibilities, he added. The Chief Minister reiterated that his government has spared no effort to convert the state into a land of opportunities and progressive human activities, despite the state being handicapped by geographical constraint. Therefore, the officials of all departments should strictly implement the plans and policies of the government in welfare of the people. Mentioning about the timely distribution of salaries, he said that Master Roll and Work Charged salaries should be given on time. He also urged the officials to release the land compensation of the land owners, old age pension, and other allowances as well as the suppliers bills at earliest by all concerned department.
Sharing his views on the report submitted by Prof. B.K.Roy Burman Commission, the Chief Minister said that the report is meant for the protection of the rights, privilege and interests of indigenous Sikkimese people and needs to be discussed by the civil society.
The Leader of the House further said that the Bills unanimously passed by the House are for the benefit of the people at large and also for the development of future generation of the state. He stressed that real sense of development is only be possible through the cooperation and coordination from all sections. The ongoing plans and programmes of the government would be successful if and only if these are implemented in time. He also thanks the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and all Member of SLA and entire Officials and staffs who involved in the smooth holding the two days Session.
The speaker, in his vote of thanks, thanked the Leader of the House for presentation of first Supplementary demands for grants and other bills during the session. He also thanked other members of SLA and Chief Secretary and Senior Government Officials and others involved in the two days Session.
DIO / EAST
Genetic therapy cures thalassaemia
by R. PRASAD
Nearly 10,000 children born every year in India suffer from thalassaemia major, an inherited disease that is caused by an abnormality in haemoglobin (an oxygen-carrying protein) production. This results in ineffective production of red blood cells, thus causing anaemia. This necessitates regular blood transfusion. It not only affects the quality of life of children but also cuts short their life span.
A paper published online in Nature today (Sept 16) reports the first case where gene therapy on an 18-year-old teenager has successfully cured the disease.
Transfusion free
The therapy was performed three years ago in June and the person has not required any blood transfusion since June 2008, a year after the transplantation was conducted. However, the patient remains mildly anaemic. The frequency of transfusion requirements was 2-3 red blood packs given once a month before the therapy.
“At present, approximately three years post-transplantation, the biological and clinical evolution is remarkable, and the patient's quality of life is good,” note the authors.
Since no red blood transfusion was required since June 2008, the authors consider this case as a “clinical success.”
The procedure
First the patient's diseased haematopoietic stem cells taken from the bone marrow were separated. They then transferred a functional beta-globin gene capable of producing red blood cells into the haematopoietic stem cells. The beta-globin gene was introduced into the patient's haematopoietic stem cells using a viral vector (HIV-derived lentiviral vector).
With the gene successfully transferred, the patient was subjected to a high dose of chemotherapy before transplanting the genetically modified haematopoietic stem cells. High dose chemotherapy treatment ensured that all diseased stem cells were destroyed. This ensured that the effects of the genetically modified stem cells introduced were not diluted and hence the outcome not compromised.
Destroying the diseased stem cells through chemotherapy prior to undertaking bone marrow transplantation to treat thalassaemia patients is routine.
Following the treatment, the haematopoietic stem cells containing the modified gene started to produce healthy blood cells.
According to a News and Views piece in the same issue of Nature, the levels of genetically modified cells rose from less than 2 per cent in the first few months to 11 per cent at 33 months after transplantation.
Need for caution
However, there is great need for caution. The genetically modified stem cells appear to have altered the expression of a gene that controls the behaviour of blood stem cells, causing a mild, benign expansion of these cells.
While the effect seen in the patient may be responsible for much of the therapeutic benefit, the possibility that the behaviour is a prelude to cancer cannot be completely ruled out.
The paper notes that the increased levels of a particular protein (HMGA2) that is implicated as a potential cancer stimulus was present in only half of all the haematopoietic cells circulating in the patient's blood.
Based on this fact, the authors note that “there is no evidence of a malignant or pre-malignant state” in the patient.
Earlier experiments
It must be remembered that earlier experiments of introducing genetically modified haematopoietic stem cells led to cancer. The first time it was tested about ten years ago, a murine leukaemia virus vector was used. Several patients developed cancer.
In a later trial, a retroviral vector was used to introduce the genetically modified beta-globin gene. But the result was the same — patients developed cancer.
Though HIV-derived lentiviral vector was used in this case, there has been some benign proliferation of cells that have a protein which is often implicated in cancer.
Hence many more trials and more investigations are required before genetic therapy for curing thalassaemia can be considered as a viable alternative.
The advantage
The advantage with genetic therapy is that the therapeutic gene (beta-globin gene) is made in the laboratory and inserted into the vector and transplanted into the body.
This makes redundant the need to look out for a donor, leave alone donors with a perfect tissue match as the recipient's, as is the case with bone marrow transplantation.
Though stem cells harvested from cord blood do not require perfect tissue match, a perfect tissue match, nevertheless, vastly improves the chances of the transplant's success.
source: The Hindu
by R. PRASAD
Nearly 10,000 children born every year in India suffer from thalassaemia major, an inherited disease that is caused by an abnormality in haemoglobin (an oxygen-carrying protein) production. This results in ineffective production of red blood cells, thus causing anaemia. This necessitates regular blood transfusion. It not only affects the quality of life of children but also cuts short their life span.
A paper published online in Nature today (Sept 16) reports the first case where gene therapy on an 18-year-old teenager has successfully cured the disease.
Transfusion free
The therapy was performed three years ago in June and the person has not required any blood transfusion since June 2008, a year after the transplantation was conducted. However, the patient remains mildly anaemic. The frequency of transfusion requirements was 2-3 red blood packs given once a month before the therapy.
“At present, approximately three years post-transplantation, the biological and clinical evolution is remarkable, and the patient's quality of life is good,” note the authors.
Since no red blood transfusion was required since June 2008, the authors consider this case as a “clinical success.”
The procedure
First the patient's diseased haematopoietic stem cells taken from the bone marrow were separated. They then transferred a functional beta-globin gene capable of producing red blood cells into the haematopoietic stem cells. The beta-globin gene was introduced into the patient's haematopoietic stem cells using a viral vector (HIV-derived lentiviral vector).
With the gene successfully transferred, the patient was subjected to a high dose of chemotherapy before transplanting the genetically modified haematopoietic stem cells. High dose chemotherapy treatment ensured that all diseased stem cells were destroyed. This ensured that the effects of the genetically modified stem cells introduced were not diluted and hence the outcome not compromised.
Destroying the diseased stem cells through chemotherapy prior to undertaking bone marrow transplantation to treat thalassaemia patients is routine.
Following the treatment, the haematopoietic stem cells containing the modified gene started to produce healthy blood cells.
According to a News and Views piece in the same issue of Nature, the levels of genetically modified cells rose from less than 2 per cent in the first few months to 11 per cent at 33 months after transplantation.
Need for caution
However, there is great need for caution. The genetically modified stem cells appear to have altered the expression of a gene that controls the behaviour of blood stem cells, causing a mild, benign expansion of these cells.
While the effect seen in the patient may be responsible for much of the therapeutic benefit, the possibility that the behaviour is a prelude to cancer cannot be completely ruled out.
The paper notes that the increased levels of a particular protein (HMGA2) that is implicated as a potential cancer stimulus was present in only half of all the haematopoietic cells circulating in the patient's blood.
Based on this fact, the authors note that “there is no evidence of a malignant or pre-malignant state” in the patient.
Earlier experiments
It must be remembered that earlier experiments of introducing genetically modified haematopoietic stem cells led to cancer. The first time it was tested about ten years ago, a murine leukaemia virus vector was used. Several patients developed cancer.
In a later trial, a retroviral vector was used to introduce the genetically modified beta-globin gene. But the result was the same — patients developed cancer.
Though HIV-derived lentiviral vector was used in this case, there has been some benign proliferation of cells that have a protein which is often implicated in cancer.
Hence many more trials and more investigations are required before genetic therapy for curing thalassaemia can be considered as a viable alternative.
The advantage
The advantage with genetic therapy is that the therapeutic gene (beta-globin gene) is made in the laboratory and inserted into the vector and transplanted into the body.
This makes redundant the need to look out for a donor, leave alone donors with a perfect tissue match as the recipient's, as is the case with bone marrow transplantation.
Though stem cells harvested from cord blood do not require perfect tissue match, a perfect tissue match, nevertheless, vastly improves the chances of the transplant's success.
source: The Hindu
Pharma Sector has Long-term Potential
By Sanjay Kumar Singh |
We spoke to Sailesh Raj Bhan, fund manager, Reliance Pharma Fund, to find out what accounts for the current buzz in the pharma sector. Excerpts from an interview with Sanjay Kumar Singh:
What are the opportunities available to Indian pharmaceutical companies in the global generics market? And what are their strengths in this domain?
Indian companies are well positioned due to their regulatory and chemistry-related skills which will help them gain disproportionate market share in the global generics markets. India has the second-largest number of US FDA-approved facilities. This reflects its strong regulatory skills, which is a pre-requisite for growth in the generics business. Moreover, strong process reengineering capabilities that lead to cost-effective integrated manufacturing will enable Indian companies to garner large market shares in the global generics market.
What are some of the challenges that they face, especially in the more stringently regulated global markets?
Apart from meeting stringent regulatory norms of international manufacturing processes, Indian companies have to fight legal battles with Global Big Pharma companies to enter the markets faster by preventing evergreening of patents. The litigation costs are very high and the hit rate can be variable. That adds to uncertainty. Hence only a handful of Indian companies are focusing on that route. Getting market share in the case of speciality products requires huge investment in sales force, etc. Until they have a comprehensive basket of products, the cost would be prohibitive.
What are some of the factors that are causing global pharma companies to outsource manufacturing to India?
Big Pharma companies are passing through a phase of declining growth rates in developed markets. They also have fewer new products in the pipeline. To counter these pressures on revenues and products, and also to reorient their business models towards investing more in R&D, outsourcing is happening in a big way. Indian companies are cost effective and reliable suppliers to global companies.
What are some of the strengths of Indian companies in the area of contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS)?
Indian companies are among the most competitive manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and fully integrated for a large number of products. In CRAMS, the fast turnaround time in delivering clinical phase materials and developing scalable processes makes the case for Indian companies stronger. In 2012 and 2013 a large number of patents will expire. Hence, the pressure to get better returns from their investments will increase even more for Big Pharma. This will drive the demand for CRAMS work from Indian companies. Even today a very small portion of manufacturing for patented products of Innovators happens in India. That too can scale up.
Why have there been a spate of acquisitions by global pharma companies of Indian players' businesses in recent times?
Growth in developed markets is negligible due to patents expiring. Hence Big Pharma has become interested in buying out companies from emerging markets that are in the branded generics space. Industry estimates suggest that over 30-40 per cent of growth of Big Pharma companies is likely to come from emerging markets including India, China, Brazil, and Russia, where populations are large and affordability is growing. Hence to grow their global sales an emerging market growth strategy is necessary. This can come only from branded generics. Hence the interest in acquiring these assets. We will see more activity on this front as Big Pharma wants a greater market share in emerging markets.
What are the factors driving growth in the domestic pharma market?
Rising disposable income and adverse disease profile are two important
factors driving growth. India has a large number of diabetes, hypertensive, and cancer patients. This is leading to strong growth in spending on chronic treatments. Moreover, Indian companies, which had limited distribution and marketing presence in rural areas, are now expanding their field forces in large numbers to expand reach.
Of the three segments - global, domestic, and CRAMS - which one are you most bullish about?
All the three markets offer different type of opportunities. Strongly positioned players in each of these segments will benefit. The global generics story will see benefit from the next phase of patent expiries. The domestic market will benefit from investments in distribution locally. And CRAMS will benefit from global cost pressures and strong positioning of Indian companies in this segment.
What are some of the positives that you look for when investing in a pharma company?
The robustness of the business model and management's track record in scaling up its business operations without diluting shareholder returns are two important criteria for us. We also look for initiatives towards developing differentiated product pipelines, brand building capabilities, and investments in emerging opportunities such as biopharmaceuticals.
And what, in your view, are some of the negatives that an investor should avoid while investing in this sector?
Avoid companies where you see disproportionate dilution of capital and lack of deployment of resources to create a pipeline of products for the future.
The category average return of Equity:Pharma funds was 95.91 per cent and your fund's return was 118.60 per cent in 2009. What were some of the strategies that helped you post such a robust performance?
The focus has been on owning companies with strong business models and having a diversified portfolio across all sub-segments of the pharma sector.
Will the pharma sector continue to perform in future as well?
The pharma sector has good long-term potential given the strong advantages India has in this field. Indian companies are well positioned compared to their global peers. And hence they should do well over the medium term.
This interview appeared in the August 2010 issue of Wealth Insight
By Sanjay Kumar Singh |
We spoke to Sailesh Raj Bhan, fund manager, Reliance Pharma Fund, to find out what accounts for the current buzz in the pharma sector. Excerpts from an interview with Sanjay Kumar Singh:
What are the opportunities available to Indian pharmaceutical companies in the global generics market? And what are their strengths in this domain?
Indian companies are well positioned due to their regulatory and chemistry-related skills which will help them gain disproportionate market share in the global generics markets. India has the second-largest number of US FDA-approved facilities. This reflects its strong regulatory skills, which is a pre-requisite for growth in the generics business. Moreover, strong process reengineering capabilities that lead to cost-effective integrated manufacturing will enable Indian companies to garner large market shares in the global generics market.
What are some of the challenges that they face, especially in the more stringently regulated global markets?
Apart from meeting stringent regulatory norms of international manufacturing processes, Indian companies have to fight legal battles with Global Big Pharma companies to enter the markets faster by preventing evergreening of patents. The litigation costs are very high and the hit rate can be variable. That adds to uncertainty. Hence only a handful of Indian companies are focusing on that route. Getting market share in the case of speciality products requires huge investment in sales force, etc. Until they have a comprehensive basket of products, the cost would be prohibitive.
What are some of the factors that are causing global pharma companies to outsource manufacturing to India?
Big Pharma companies are passing through a phase of declining growth rates in developed markets. They also have fewer new products in the pipeline. To counter these pressures on revenues and products, and also to reorient their business models towards investing more in R&D, outsourcing is happening in a big way. Indian companies are cost effective and reliable suppliers to global companies.
What are some of the strengths of Indian companies in the area of contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS)?
Indian companies are among the most competitive manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and fully integrated for a large number of products. In CRAMS, the fast turnaround time in delivering clinical phase materials and developing scalable processes makes the case for Indian companies stronger. In 2012 and 2013 a large number of patents will expire. Hence, the pressure to get better returns from their investments will increase even more for Big Pharma. This will drive the demand for CRAMS work from Indian companies. Even today a very small portion of manufacturing for patented products of Innovators happens in India. That too can scale up.
Why have there been a spate of acquisitions by global pharma companies of Indian players' businesses in recent times?
Growth in developed markets is negligible due to patents expiring. Hence Big Pharma has become interested in buying out companies from emerging markets that are in the branded generics space. Industry estimates suggest that over 30-40 per cent of growth of Big Pharma companies is likely to come from emerging markets including India, China, Brazil, and Russia, where populations are large and affordability is growing. Hence to grow their global sales an emerging market growth strategy is necessary. This can come only from branded generics. Hence the interest in acquiring these assets. We will see more activity on this front as Big Pharma wants a greater market share in emerging markets.
What are the factors driving growth in the domestic pharma market?
Rising disposable income and adverse disease profile are two important
factors driving growth. India has a large number of diabetes, hypertensive, and cancer patients. This is leading to strong growth in spending on chronic treatments. Moreover, Indian companies, which had limited distribution and marketing presence in rural areas, are now expanding their field forces in large numbers to expand reach.
Of the three segments - global, domestic, and CRAMS - which one are you most bullish about?
All the three markets offer different type of opportunities. Strongly positioned players in each of these segments will benefit. The global generics story will see benefit from the next phase of patent expiries. The domestic market will benefit from investments in distribution locally. And CRAMS will benefit from global cost pressures and strong positioning of Indian companies in this segment.
What are some of the positives that you look for when investing in a pharma company?
The robustness of the business model and management's track record in scaling up its business operations without diluting shareholder returns are two important criteria for us. We also look for initiatives towards developing differentiated product pipelines, brand building capabilities, and investments in emerging opportunities such as biopharmaceuticals.
And what, in your view, are some of the negatives that an investor should avoid while investing in this sector?
Avoid companies where you see disproportionate dilution of capital and lack of deployment of resources to create a pipeline of products for the future.
The category average return of Equity:Pharma funds was 95.91 per cent and your fund's return was 118.60 per cent in 2009. What were some of the strategies that helped you post such a robust performance?
The focus has been on owning companies with strong business models and having a diversified portfolio across all sub-segments of the pharma sector.
Will the pharma sector continue to perform in future as well?
The pharma sector has good long-term potential given the strong advantages India has in this field. Indian companies are well positioned compared to their global peers. And hence they should do well over the medium term.
This interview appeared in the August 2010 issue of Wealth Insight
Research institutions seeks to put scented orchids of Sikkim in world map
Ingenious project underway to develop production protocols and extraction of essential oils from scented orchids
GANGTOK, September 14: Taking Sikkim’s rich assets of orchids to uncharted frontier, two leading institutes here are jointly working on a research for commercial exploitation on scented orchid species of the Himalayan State which is widely accepted as the Land of Orchids.
With Sikkim Himalaya region harbouring around 450 species of orchids and being the place of origin for around one third of the reported species of orchids and given the fact that orchid cultivation here is more than a hundred years old tradition, the State is also known as the Land of Orchids.
Till now, the commercial use of orchid species like Cymbidium orchids here had revolved around for ornamental purposes but should a joint project ‘A value chain on selected aromatic plants of Northeast India’ undertaken by National Research Centre for Orchids (NRC) based at Pakyong and College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology which comes under Central Agriculture University based at Ranipool in East Sikkim, a lot of attraction is expected to be generated on scented varieties of orchids found in Sikkim.
According to NRC, there are around 70 species of orchids in Sikkim which produce aroma.
“We are working on one aspect in the project. Our role is to conduct research and develop planting materials through tissue culture. We have to first develop production protocols and methods for a large scale of cultivation of scented orchids”, said NRC director Dr RP Medhi. He added that many people are familiar with orchids only as cut flowers.
The people are little aware about the scent of orchids and orchid fragrance ranges from lemon, jasmine, hyacinth, orange, chocolate, coconut, vanilla and menthe, said the NRC director.
The NRC is presently working on five scented species of orchids found in Sikkim-Aerides odoratum, Dendrobium crysotoxum, Coelogyne cristata, C. flacida and Zygopatalum intermedium. The NRC at Pakyong had been established in 1996 and comes under Indian Centre for Agriculture Research (ICAR).
In response to a query, the NRC director said that no information about any research conducted on scented orchids in part of the world is available so far which means the project in Sikkim is the first in the world.
“World demand for aromatic plants and their products are increasing, future prospects in India lie on focusing on value added products, consistent drive and quality and ensuring competition through enhance productivity. The aromatic orchids need to be brought under large scale cultivation to maintain their continuous supply and the small and marginal farmers in Sikkim needs to be encouraged to grow aromatic orchids”, said Dr Medhi. He added that the project on scented orchids being a totally new concept, the quantity of fragrant essence which can be extracted as well as the market value of the same has still to be worked out.
However, the very fact that a scent of orchids is on sale, itself is going to attract lots of attention in the aromatic market, Dr Medhi said.
On the other hand, the College of Agricultural Engineering & Post Harvest Technology dean, Prof PK Srivastava said that the role of his institute is to provide engineering support on how to harvest and extract essential oils from the orchid species.
“We have already set up a pilot extraction plant at the institute for extracting essential oils from scented orchid species and other aromatic plants that can be cultivated in Sikkim. Even after extraction of essential oils from the orchids, some fragrance will be left on the plants which we are planning to use for making incense sticks”, said Prof Srivastava. He said that his institute will also be providing training and marketing linkages to the farmers who take up cultivation of scented orchid species in future.
“Once the farmers take up cultivation of scented orchid species, we will allow the farmers to use our extraction plant. We can also develop a portable extraction plant for farmer self help groups”, said the dean. He added that an extraction plant cost starts from Rs. 1.5 lakhs.
Regarding the market potential of scented orchids, the dean said that it is difficult to say as such work on scented orchids is being done for the first time. However, he added that the products from scented orchids will definitely have a high value in the markets.
source;sikkim express
Ingenious project underway to develop production protocols and extraction of essential oils from scented orchids
GANGTOK, September 14: Taking Sikkim’s rich assets of orchids to uncharted frontier, two leading institutes here are jointly working on a research for commercial exploitation on scented orchid species of the Himalayan State which is widely accepted as the Land of Orchids.
With Sikkim Himalaya region harbouring around 450 species of orchids and being the place of origin for around one third of the reported species of orchids and given the fact that orchid cultivation here is more than a hundred years old tradition, the State is also known as the Land of Orchids.
Till now, the commercial use of orchid species like Cymbidium orchids here had revolved around for ornamental purposes but should a joint project ‘A value chain on selected aromatic plants of Northeast India’ undertaken by National Research Centre for Orchids (NRC) based at Pakyong and College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology which comes under Central Agriculture University based at Ranipool in East Sikkim, a lot of attraction is expected to be generated on scented varieties of orchids found in Sikkim.
According to NRC, there are around 70 species of orchids in Sikkim which produce aroma.
“We are working on one aspect in the project. Our role is to conduct research and develop planting materials through tissue culture. We have to first develop production protocols and methods for a large scale of cultivation of scented orchids”, said NRC director Dr RP Medhi. He added that many people are familiar with orchids only as cut flowers.
The people are little aware about the scent of orchids and orchid fragrance ranges from lemon, jasmine, hyacinth, orange, chocolate, coconut, vanilla and menthe, said the NRC director.
The NRC is presently working on five scented species of orchids found in Sikkim-Aerides odoratum, Dendrobium crysotoxum, Coelogyne cristata, C. flacida and Zygopatalum intermedium. The NRC at Pakyong had been established in 1996 and comes under Indian Centre for Agriculture Research (ICAR).
In response to a query, the NRC director said that no information about any research conducted on scented orchids in part of the world is available so far which means the project in Sikkim is the first in the world.
“World demand for aromatic plants and their products are increasing, future prospects in India lie on focusing on value added products, consistent drive and quality and ensuring competition through enhance productivity. The aromatic orchids need to be brought under large scale cultivation to maintain their continuous supply and the small and marginal farmers in Sikkim needs to be encouraged to grow aromatic orchids”, said Dr Medhi. He added that the project on scented orchids being a totally new concept, the quantity of fragrant essence which can be extracted as well as the market value of the same has still to be worked out.
However, the very fact that a scent of orchids is on sale, itself is going to attract lots of attention in the aromatic market, Dr Medhi said.
On the other hand, the College of Agricultural Engineering & Post Harvest Technology dean, Prof PK Srivastava said that the role of his institute is to provide engineering support on how to harvest and extract essential oils from the orchid species.
“We have already set up a pilot extraction plant at the institute for extracting essential oils from scented orchid species and other aromatic plants that can be cultivated in Sikkim. Even after extraction of essential oils from the orchids, some fragrance will be left on the plants which we are planning to use for making incense sticks”, said Prof Srivastava. He said that his institute will also be providing training and marketing linkages to the farmers who take up cultivation of scented orchid species in future.
“Once the farmers take up cultivation of scented orchid species, we will allow the farmers to use our extraction plant. We can also develop a portable extraction plant for farmer self help groups”, said the dean. He added that an extraction plant cost starts from Rs. 1.5 lakhs.
Regarding the market potential of scented orchids, the dean said that it is difficult to say as such work on scented orchids is being done for the first time. However, he added that the products from scented orchids will definitely have a high value in the markets.
source;sikkim express
Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management bill placed in the Supplementary Budget Session, PD Rai connotes it a ‘bold step’
Gangtok, 15 September: The third session (Part-II) of the Eighth Sikkim Legislative Assembly commenced today wherein the Chief Minister Mr Pawan Chamling, who is also the Minister in charge for Finance, Revenue and Expenditure tabled and introduced two bills in the house – The Sikkim Casino (Control and Tax) Amendment Bill, Bill No 14 of 2010 and The Sikkim Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill, Bill No 15 of 2010, during the Legislative Budget Session.
Mr Chamling also presented the First Supplementary Demands for Grants 2010-11 during the financial business session. Discussion and voting on the grants will be carried out on 16 th September 2010.
At present, Sikkim is the state in the country which has not yet enacted the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act and passing this bill is obligatory if it wants to keep receiving central funds. With this enactment, service fiscal regulations will be put in place to further curtail wasteful expenditure and enhance transparency.
“Government of India said that it is important that all the states to legislate the bill; other states have already legislated the bill, the only last two states were West Bengal and Sikkim and it is a very welcome step of Sikkim Government and I congratulate the state Chief Minister for taking this bold step”, said the state MP, Loksabha, Mr PD Rai, after the bill was placed in the house. Furthermore the pressure has came from the 13th Finance Commission that award a link to the bill, he added.
Other two Bills namely the Sikkim Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Members of Sikkim Legislative Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Amendment Bill, Bill No 17 of 2010 and the Sikkim Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, Bill No 18 were also introduced by Mr DN Thakarpa, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
Discussion and voting on these four Bills will be carried out on 16th September 2010.
During the session, Chief Minister Mr Chamling also unveiled Notional (unscaled) map of Sikkim.
source:Haalkhabar.net
Gangtok, 15 September: The third session (Part-II) of the Eighth Sikkim Legislative Assembly commenced today wherein the Chief Minister Mr Pawan Chamling, who is also the Minister in charge for Finance, Revenue and Expenditure tabled and introduced two bills in the house – The Sikkim Casino (Control and Tax) Amendment Bill, Bill No 14 of 2010 and The Sikkim Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill, Bill No 15 of 2010, during the Legislative Budget Session.
Mr Chamling also presented the First Supplementary Demands for Grants 2010-11 during the financial business session. Discussion and voting on the grants will be carried out on 16 th September 2010.
At present, Sikkim is the state in the country which has not yet enacted the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act and passing this bill is obligatory if it wants to keep receiving central funds. With this enactment, service fiscal regulations will be put in place to further curtail wasteful expenditure and enhance transparency.
“Government of India said that it is important that all the states to legislate the bill; other states have already legislated the bill, the only last two states were West Bengal and Sikkim and it is a very welcome step of Sikkim Government and I congratulate the state Chief Minister for taking this bold step”, said the state MP, Loksabha, Mr PD Rai, after the bill was placed in the house. Furthermore the pressure has came from the 13th Finance Commission that award a link to the bill, he added.
Other two Bills namely the Sikkim Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Members of Sikkim Legislative Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Amendment Bill, Bill No 17 of 2010 and the Sikkim Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, Bill No 18 were also introduced by Mr DN Thakarpa, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
Discussion and voting on these four Bills will be carried out on 16th September 2010.
During the session, Chief Minister Mr Chamling also unveiled Notional (unscaled) map of Sikkim.
source:Haalkhabar.net
Turmoil in Tibet: Early 20th Century Images at Bonhams
The photographer was John Claude White, Political Officer in Sikkim
LONDON.- An album of important photographs taken during the controversial British Mission to Tibet in 1903-04 is for sale at Bonhams Travel and Exploration, India and Beyond sale in London on 5 October (£10,000-15,000). The album can be traced to a member of the Mission – Lieut. William Pyt Bennett - and is believed to be the first with such a provenance to appear at auction.
The photographer was John Claude White, a Political Officer in the Indian state of Sikkim, and joint leader of the expedition with Major Francis Younghusband. Officially the mission’s purpose was to settle a border dispute between Sikkim and Tibet but it turned into a full scale invasion with the aim of establishing a strong British presence and, crucially, thwarting Russian ambitions in the area.
At the village of Guru the expeditionary force killed around 700 lightly armed Tibetan monks in a show of force which, some have claimed, bordered on massacre. When Younghusband arrived in the capital, Lhasa, in August 1904, the intimidated Tibetan government quickly signed the Lhasa Convention which effectively turned the country into a British protectorate. Two years later a separate treaty with China saw Britain agree not to annex Tibet in exchange for an undertaking from the Chinese to prevent anyone else from doing so. This achieved the major British strategic aim of keeping the Russians out.
One of White’s images shows the ‘Council of Four’ – the representatives of the Dalai Lama who signed the Lhasa Convention with the British. Another depicts the Regent for the Dalai Lama who had fled to Outer Mongolia. There is a stunning photograph of Tibetan nuns and several images of the invasion route taken as the British army made its way through the country to Lhasa.
Bonhams Director of Books, Maps and Manuscripts, David Park, said, “These are amazing early images of a country which was long closed to the West. They are also a reminder of an event in British political and military history which, though now largely forgotten, was highly controversial at the time. The Tibet Mission can be seen as one of the last significant moves in the ‘Great Game’ between Russia and the British for influence in Central Asia which had dominated the region since the early 19th Century.”
source;artdaily.org
The photographer was John Claude White, Political Officer in Sikkim
LONDON.- An album of important photographs taken during the controversial British Mission to Tibet in 1903-04 is for sale at Bonhams Travel and Exploration, India and Beyond sale in London on 5 October (£10,000-15,000). The album can be traced to a member of the Mission – Lieut. William Pyt Bennett - and is believed to be the first with such a provenance to appear at auction.
The photographer was John Claude White, a Political Officer in the Indian state of Sikkim, and joint leader of the expedition with Major Francis Younghusband. Officially the mission’s purpose was to settle a border dispute between Sikkim and Tibet but it turned into a full scale invasion with the aim of establishing a strong British presence and, crucially, thwarting Russian ambitions in the area.
At the village of Guru the expeditionary force killed around 700 lightly armed Tibetan monks in a show of force which, some have claimed, bordered on massacre. When Younghusband arrived in the capital, Lhasa, in August 1904, the intimidated Tibetan government quickly signed the Lhasa Convention which effectively turned the country into a British protectorate. Two years later a separate treaty with China saw Britain agree not to annex Tibet in exchange for an undertaking from the Chinese to prevent anyone else from doing so. This achieved the major British strategic aim of keeping the Russians out.
One of White’s images shows the ‘Council of Four’ – the representatives of the Dalai Lama who signed the Lhasa Convention with the British. Another depicts the Regent for the Dalai Lama who had fled to Outer Mongolia. There is a stunning photograph of Tibetan nuns and several images of the invasion route taken as the British army made its way through the country to Lhasa.
Bonhams Director of Books, Maps and Manuscripts, David Park, said, “These are amazing early images of a country which was long closed to the West. They are also a reminder of an event in British political and military history which, though now largely forgotten, was highly controversial at the time. The Tibet Mission can be seen as one of the last significant moves in the ‘Great Game’ between Russia and the British for influence in Central Asia which had dominated the region since the early 19th Century.”
source;artdaily.org
Not so sweet: Antibiotic sting in Indian honey
Antibiotics fed to bees for commercial purposes are dangerous to consumers
That spoonful of “guaranteed pure” sweetness may be hiding a bitter secret. Branded honey sold in India is likely to be contaminated with harmful antibiotics, according to a new study by the Centre for Science and Environment.
CSE's Pollution Monitoring Laboratory tested 12 leading brands of honey sold in Delhi, including those made by Indian companies such as Dabur, Himalaya, Patanjali, Baidyanath and Khadi as well as by two foreign companies based in Switzerland and Australia. Scientists found high levels of six harmful antibiotics in 11 samples, with only the Indian Hitkari brand coming out clean.
The contamination is the end result of a murky chain, which begins when antibiotics are fed to bees to prevent disease, promote growth and increase honey production to meet commercial targets. When they make their way into your daily spoonful of honey, these substances could damage the blood, kidneys, liver, bones and teeth. More importantly, they create resistance in the body to prescribed antibiotics when you really do fall ill, says the CSE report.
Most developed countries have banned or strictly regulated antibiotics in honey, and Indian companies must meet those standards when they export their products. However, in a stinging example of double standards, most Indian companies are dumping their contaminated honey on the domestic market, since there are no regulations here, says CSE.
Dabur Honey — which has captured 75 per cent of the Indian market — had the antibiotic Oxytetracycline at nine times the level that is permitted for exported honey. It also had significant amounts of two other drugs completely banned for use in honey. If the sample was placed for export to the United States or the European Union, it would have been rejected.
Interestingly, Dabur was recently involved in a controversy in Nepal, where leading newspapers claimed that the Dabur honey was substandard and used harmful chemicals. The company dismissed it as part of a Nepali “smear campaign” against Indian products, but the sticky claim has now come from an Indian source.
Nectaflor Natural Blossom Honey, made by Narimpex of Switzerland, had the largest number — five — of the six antibiotics that it was tested for, including the highest levels of ampicillin and erythromycin, both of which are not permitted for beekeeping in any country. It would be illegal to sell it even in Switzerlanditself. Similarly, the Australian brand, Capilano Pure & Natural Honey, which is sold in 40 countries, violated standards set in its home country.
“It is clear that foreign companies are taking advantage of the lack of regulations in India. After all, if our government does not care about the health of its people, why should these companies care?” said CSE director Sunita Narain, at the release of the study on Wednesday.
“We have standards for antibiotic contamination in the honey we export. The government even tests and certifies that exported honey meets health and safety regulations. But we do not have any standards for domestic honey. This is clearly unacceptable,” she said
Antibiotics fed to bees for commercial purposes are dangerous to consumers
That spoonful of “guaranteed pure” sweetness may be hiding a bitter secret. Branded honey sold in India is likely to be contaminated with harmful antibiotics, according to a new study by the Centre for Science and Environment.
CSE's Pollution Monitoring Laboratory tested 12 leading brands of honey sold in Delhi, including those made by Indian companies such as Dabur, Himalaya, Patanjali, Baidyanath and Khadi as well as by two foreign companies based in Switzerland and Australia. Scientists found high levels of six harmful antibiotics in 11 samples, with only the Indian Hitkari brand coming out clean.
The contamination is the end result of a murky chain, which begins when antibiotics are fed to bees to prevent disease, promote growth and increase honey production to meet commercial targets. When they make their way into your daily spoonful of honey, these substances could damage the blood, kidneys, liver, bones and teeth. More importantly, they create resistance in the body to prescribed antibiotics when you really do fall ill, says the CSE report.
Most developed countries have banned or strictly regulated antibiotics in honey, and Indian companies must meet those standards when they export their products. However, in a stinging example of double standards, most Indian companies are dumping their contaminated honey on the domestic market, since there are no regulations here, says CSE.
Dabur Honey — which has captured 75 per cent of the Indian market — had the antibiotic Oxytetracycline at nine times the level that is permitted for exported honey. It also had significant amounts of two other drugs completely banned for use in honey. If the sample was placed for export to the United States or the European Union, it would have been rejected.
Interestingly, Dabur was recently involved in a controversy in Nepal, where leading newspapers claimed that the Dabur honey was substandard and used harmful chemicals. The company dismissed it as part of a Nepali “smear campaign” against Indian products, but the sticky claim has now come from an Indian source.
Nectaflor Natural Blossom Honey, made by Narimpex of Switzerland, had the largest number — five — of the six antibiotics that it was tested for, including the highest levels of ampicillin and erythromycin, both of which are not permitted for beekeeping in any country. It would be illegal to sell it even in Switzerlanditself. Similarly, the Australian brand, Capilano Pure & Natural Honey, which is sold in 40 countries, violated standards set in its home country.
“It is clear that foreign companies are taking advantage of the lack of regulations in India. After all, if our government does not care about the health of its people, why should these companies care?” said CSE director Sunita Narain, at the release of the study on Wednesday.
“We have standards for antibiotic contamination in the honey we export. The government even tests and certifies that exported honey meets health and safety regulations. But we do not have any standards for domestic honey. This is clearly unacceptable,” she said
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