1 Bumper crops, no storage in India (San Francisco Chronicle) Four bumper crops over the past five years in the states of Punjab and Haryana - the "granary of India" - illustrate a core problem: India can grow plenty of food but cannot store or transport it well enough to nourish its 1.2 billion people. Warehouses are overflowing and huge quantities of wheat and rice are stored in fields under tarpaulins and thin plastic sheets, risking decay. India's grain production is expected to reach around 253 million tons this year, nearly 10 million tons more than the previous year.
Food Minister KV Thomas says the government has partnered with the private sector to attract investment in building warehouses, and new storage spaces will be available by the end of the year. However, activists, opposition parties and even some of the ruling Congress Party's coalition partners have called the rotting grain a scandal. They have condemned the waste when nearly half of India's children under age 5 are malnourished. "The rotting of food grain is tantamount to criminal neglect in a country which has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition globally and the largest proportion of hungry people," said Biraj Patnaik, an adviser to India's Supreme Court on food policy issues. Economists say selling the grain to the poor at subsidized prices would expand the fiscal deficit.
2 Cotton prices at 21-month low (San Francisco Chronicle) Cotton tumbled to a 21-month low, trimming costs for clothing retailers after the US forecast rising inventories and as industrial output slowed in Asia. World stockpiles will climb 10% to 73.75 million bales in the season that starts Aug. 1, the US Department of Agriculture said last week. Industrial output slowed in China and shrank in India, adding to concern that the global economy will weaken as the European debt crisis worsens. Rains are improving prospects for crops in Texas that were hurt by drought last year.
3 Writers are on double-shift in e-book era (The New York Times) The e-book age has accelerated the metabolism of book publishing. Authors are now pulling the literary equivalent of a double shift, churning out short stories, novellas or even an extra full-length book each year. They are trying to satisfy impatient readers who have become used to downloading any e-book they want at the touch of a button, and the publishers who are nudging them toward greater productivity in the belief that the more their authors’ names are out in public, the bigger stars they will become.
The push for more material comes as publishers and booksellers are desperately looking for ways to hold onto readers being lured by other forms of entertainment, much of it available non-stop and almost instantaneously. Publishers say that a carefully released short story, timed six to eight weeks before a big hardcover comes out, can entice new readers who might be willing to pay 99 cents for a story but reluctant to spend $14 for a new e-book or $26 for a hardcover. Jennifer Enderlin, the associate publisher of St. Martin’s Paperbacks, said the strategy had worked for many of her authors, who saw a big uptick in hardcover sales, book over book, once they started releasing more work. “I almost feel sorry for authors these days with how much publishers are asking of them,” Ms. Enderlin said. “We always say, ‘How about a little novella that we can sell for 99 cents?’ ”
4 Who made that clothespin? (The New York Times) The survival of the spring-hinged clothespin into the modern era is an unlikely story of Darwinian selection. From 1852 to 1887, the US patent office issued 146 separate patents for clothespins. The first design that resembles the modern clothespin was patented in 1853 by David M Smith, a prolific Vermont inventor. His “spring-clamp for clothes-lines” offered an elegant model of “two levers” hinged so that “the two longer legs may be moved toward each other and at the same time move the shorter ones apart.” Smith’s design was later improved by the 1887 patent of another Vermont inventor, Solon E Moore, whose great contribution was the “coiled fulcrum,” made from a single wire, which joined the two grooved pieces of wood at the center of the clothespin.
Samuel Pryor of Salem, NJ, received the first American patent for a clothespin in 1832. But his model was lost in a fire that destroyed the US patent office four years later. It wasn’t until the late 1840s that clothespins began to be mass-produced. The first designs were generally a single piece of bifurcated wood with a nob at the top. David Smith, in his patent application for his two-piece clothespin, explained that the advantage of his spring clamp was that it could not “be detached from the clothes by the wind as is the case with the common pin and which is a serious evil to washerwomen.”
5 India as a dumping ground for drugs (Soutik Biswas on BBC) India has more than 10,500 drug makers with a domestic turnover of nearly $9bn. Yet, something is rotten with the way drugs are tested and sold in the country. A parliamentary panel investigation has found serious issues with the way approvals for foreign drugs are given and clinical trials are being carried out.
Here are some of the startling findings: Of the 42 drugs picked up randomly for scrutiny by the panel, the health ministry could not provide any documents on three drugs - pefloxacin, lomefloxacin and sparfloxacin. Reason: their files were untraceable. Of the 39 drugs on which information was available, the panel found that in the case of 18 drugs, adequate clinical trials had not been conducted - many of the drugs had been tested on fewer patients and in fewer hospitals than what is legally mandated. Every month, on average, the authorities say, one drug is approved in India without trials.
This is not all. The panel expresses concern over the continued sale of potentially harmful drugs in India years after such products were banned or withdrawn in developed countries and the prevalence of "sub-standard" - 7-8% of total sales - in the market. Is India condemned to becoming a dumping ground for drugs? The government has now announced an investigation into the workings of India's main drug regulator, days after the panel's report.
6 Anti-social networks (Johannesburg Times) Too many children have more virtual buddies than real friends. University of KwaZulu-Natal associate professor for information systems Manoj Maharaj believes that most children who use social networks Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp are too busy with their virtual friends to make real ones. And, he said, these children are slowly losing their social skills. "They withdraw into living on this [virtual] island to the extent that they don't even know their neighbourhood. They don't play outside or even go out long enough to be away from their virtual friends.
"They befriend people in the virtual realm but might never speak to that person in reality, even if they go to the same school. The introvert child becomes even more withdrawn. The long-term effects are very concerning," he said. "These children cannot face reality, have difficulty making decisions, cannot relate to real people, and cannot form intimate relationships. "Parents, the community, the media and the education system must unite to educate children on the proper use of the social media and reinforce their social skills."
7 Changing the world, one well at a time (Khaleej Times) In Afghanistan, water is scarce or, if available, often dangerous to drink. This tragic situation has struck a chord with a Dubai-based student. Aqil Rashid, a 15-year-old Pakistani, is passionate about changing the lives of Afghans living in a world where every day is a struggle to survive. The student has raised funds to dig three wells in Afghanistan and recently won the Just Falafel ‘Help Us Help You’ community outreach campaign competition for his work so far and vision for the future.
His prize for winning the competition is a scholarship for the university of his choice. The student has already started to put plans in place to change the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. He has raised significant funds for the cause and is planning to step up the campaign this year. He said: “The wells are in the process of being dug; I’ve raised funds for three wells, which is $30,000. And each well on a minimum will impact the lives of 700 human beings. So we’ve named it the ‘One Well, 700 Lives’ initiative.”
8 Double whammy for India Inc (The Economic Times) Indian companies are being squeezed by rising input costs and slowing demand, resulting in earnings and revenue growth slowing down compared to recent quarters. An analysis by the Economic Times Intelligence Group of 600 firms that have announced results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 shows that net profit reported by companies, excluding those in banking and financial services and oil and gas, slid 2.5% from a year ago while revenue growth slipped to 14%, relatively slower compared to the previous quarters. Net profit fell for the third consecutive quarter though the decline was not as marked compared to the 12% fall logged in the December 2011 quarter and 38% in the quarter prior to that.
9 India’s vital signs failing (Dilip Cherian in The Times of India) The hits just keep on coming. We’ve had the Standard & Poor’s downgrade, a collapsing sensex, an eroding rupee – and on Friday the news that industrial output in March contracted by 3.5%, bringing the average industrial growth rate for the last fiscal year almost as low as it was during the global financial crisis in 2008-09. But the enormity of the negativity surrounding India’s economy has even deeper roots than these problems. We can call the fundamental factors causing that negativity the ‘triple whammy’.
The ‘triple whammy’ or the three E’s that i am focussing on came dramatically into focus last month when Adidas announced a Rs 1,350 crore hit and sacked its local Reebok management. Then, it proceeded to announce that 300 shops bearing the Reebok logo and 200 with Adidas logo would also be closed. The blame was squarely placed on the Indian executive management for fudging the books. The big theme that resonated across the corner offices of global corporate headquarters was simply this: There is now reason to worry about Indian employees! By casting aspersion on the quality of Indian executives, Adidas had delivered a resounding blow to the corporate Indian psyche. This is the first of the three eroding E’s.
The second E is worse. It is now recognised as a seething virus across the corporate landscape – a lack of faith in the nature of Indian enterprise. The fracas that took place in 2009 between Daiichi Sankyo, the Japanese buyers of Ranbaxy, and the original owners is merely the most obvious example of it. The US Food and Drug Administration banned the import of Ranbaxy medicines because of unresolved concerns over quality audits at two of its factories in India. Daiichi was forced to reveal a $3.8 billion loss on its Indian acquisition barely six months after the deal! Global distrust about big ticket acquisitions of Indian enterprise had reared its ugly head.
As if whammy E-1 and E-2 were not enough, the government too contributed its bit to the third E – ruining the business environment. Just one example should suffice. In the aftermath of the 2G scandal, when the Supreme Court announced this February that licences were cancelled, its forthcoming spectrum policy and auction parameters made global corporations go cross-eyed. Whether posturing or otherwise, giant telecom majors from across the world have subsequently had to inform their boards that they are taking massive hits on their balance sheets. Global head honchos have had to issue ultimatums to the Indian government that they might consider withdrawing. Whammy E-3 has now been delivered. The message that has gone out is that the government of India no longer cares about attracting investment.
Food Minister KV Thomas says the government has partnered with the private sector to attract investment in building warehouses, and new storage spaces will be available by the end of the year. However, activists, opposition parties and even some of the ruling Congress Party's coalition partners have called the rotting grain a scandal. They have condemned the waste when nearly half of India's children under age 5 are malnourished. "The rotting of food grain is tantamount to criminal neglect in a country which has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition globally and the largest proportion of hungry people," said Biraj Patnaik, an adviser to India's Supreme Court on food policy issues. Economists say selling the grain to the poor at subsidized prices would expand the fiscal deficit.
2 Cotton prices at 21-month low (San Francisco Chronicle) Cotton tumbled to a 21-month low, trimming costs for clothing retailers after the US forecast rising inventories and as industrial output slowed in Asia. World stockpiles will climb 10% to 73.75 million bales in the season that starts Aug. 1, the US Department of Agriculture said last week. Industrial output slowed in China and shrank in India, adding to concern that the global economy will weaken as the European debt crisis worsens. Rains are improving prospects for crops in Texas that were hurt by drought last year.
3 Writers are on double-shift in e-book era (The New York Times) The e-book age has accelerated the metabolism of book publishing. Authors are now pulling the literary equivalent of a double shift, churning out short stories, novellas or even an extra full-length book each year. They are trying to satisfy impatient readers who have become used to downloading any e-book they want at the touch of a button, and the publishers who are nudging them toward greater productivity in the belief that the more their authors’ names are out in public, the bigger stars they will become.
The push for more material comes as publishers and booksellers are desperately looking for ways to hold onto readers being lured by other forms of entertainment, much of it available non-stop and almost instantaneously. Publishers say that a carefully released short story, timed six to eight weeks before a big hardcover comes out, can entice new readers who might be willing to pay 99 cents for a story but reluctant to spend $14 for a new e-book or $26 for a hardcover. Jennifer Enderlin, the associate publisher of St. Martin’s Paperbacks, said the strategy had worked for many of her authors, who saw a big uptick in hardcover sales, book over book, once they started releasing more work. “I almost feel sorry for authors these days with how much publishers are asking of them,” Ms. Enderlin said. “We always say, ‘How about a little novella that we can sell for 99 cents?’ ”
4 Who made that clothespin? (The New York Times) The survival of the spring-hinged clothespin into the modern era is an unlikely story of Darwinian selection. From 1852 to 1887, the US patent office issued 146 separate patents for clothespins. The first design that resembles the modern clothespin was patented in 1853 by David M Smith, a prolific Vermont inventor. His “spring-clamp for clothes-lines” offered an elegant model of “two levers” hinged so that “the two longer legs may be moved toward each other and at the same time move the shorter ones apart.” Smith’s design was later improved by the 1887 patent of another Vermont inventor, Solon E Moore, whose great contribution was the “coiled fulcrum,” made from a single wire, which joined the two grooved pieces of wood at the center of the clothespin.
Samuel Pryor of Salem, NJ, received the first American patent for a clothespin in 1832. But his model was lost in a fire that destroyed the US patent office four years later. It wasn’t until the late 1840s that clothespins began to be mass-produced. The first designs were generally a single piece of bifurcated wood with a nob at the top. David Smith, in his patent application for his two-piece clothespin, explained that the advantage of his spring clamp was that it could not “be detached from the clothes by the wind as is the case with the common pin and which is a serious evil to washerwomen.”
5 India as a dumping ground for drugs (Soutik Biswas on BBC) India has more than 10,500 drug makers with a domestic turnover of nearly $9bn. Yet, something is rotten with the way drugs are tested and sold in the country. A parliamentary panel investigation has found serious issues with the way approvals for foreign drugs are given and clinical trials are being carried out.
Here are some of the startling findings: Of the 42 drugs picked up randomly for scrutiny by the panel, the health ministry could not provide any documents on three drugs - pefloxacin, lomefloxacin and sparfloxacin. Reason: their files were untraceable. Of the 39 drugs on which information was available, the panel found that in the case of 18 drugs, adequate clinical trials had not been conducted - many of the drugs had been tested on fewer patients and in fewer hospitals than what is legally mandated. Every month, on average, the authorities say, one drug is approved in India without trials.
This is not all. The panel expresses concern over the continued sale of potentially harmful drugs in India years after such products were banned or withdrawn in developed countries and the prevalence of "sub-standard" - 7-8% of total sales - in the market. Is India condemned to becoming a dumping ground for drugs? The government has now announced an investigation into the workings of India's main drug regulator, days after the panel's report.
6 Anti-social networks (Johannesburg Times) Too many children have more virtual buddies than real friends. University of KwaZulu-Natal associate professor for information systems Manoj Maharaj believes that most children who use social networks Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp are too busy with their virtual friends to make real ones. And, he said, these children are slowly losing their social skills. "They withdraw into living on this [virtual] island to the extent that they don't even know their neighbourhood. They don't play outside or even go out long enough to be away from their virtual friends.
"They befriend people in the virtual realm but might never speak to that person in reality, even if they go to the same school. The introvert child becomes even more withdrawn. The long-term effects are very concerning," he said. "These children cannot face reality, have difficulty making decisions, cannot relate to real people, and cannot form intimate relationships. "Parents, the community, the media and the education system must unite to educate children on the proper use of the social media and reinforce their social skills."
7 Changing the world, one well at a time (Khaleej Times) In Afghanistan, water is scarce or, if available, often dangerous to drink. This tragic situation has struck a chord with a Dubai-based student. Aqil Rashid, a 15-year-old Pakistani, is passionate about changing the lives of Afghans living in a world where every day is a struggle to survive. The student has raised funds to dig three wells in Afghanistan and recently won the Just Falafel ‘Help Us Help You’ community outreach campaign competition for his work so far and vision for the future.
His prize for winning the competition is a scholarship for the university of his choice. The student has already started to put plans in place to change the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. He has raised significant funds for the cause and is planning to step up the campaign this year. He said: “The wells are in the process of being dug; I’ve raised funds for three wells, which is $30,000. And each well on a minimum will impact the lives of 700 human beings. So we’ve named it the ‘One Well, 700 Lives’ initiative.”
8 Double whammy for India Inc (The Economic Times) Indian companies are being squeezed by rising input costs and slowing demand, resulting in earnings and revenue growth slowing down compared to recent quarters. An analysis by the Economic Times Intelligence Group of 600 firms that have announced results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 shows that net profit reported by companies, excluding those in banking and financial services and oil and gas, slid 2.5% from a year ago while revenue growth slipped to 14%, relatively slower compared to the previous quarters. Net profit fell for the third consecutive quarter though the decline was not as marked compared to the 12% fall logged in the December 2011 quarter and 38% in the quarter prior to that.
9 India’s vital signs failing (Dilip Cherian in The Times of India) The hits just keep on coming. We’ve had the Standard & Poor’s downgrade, a collapsing sensex, an eroding rupee – and on Friday the news that industrial output in March contracted by 3.5%, bringing the average industrial growth rate for the last fiscal year almost as low as it was during the global financial crisis in 2008-09. But the enormity of the negativity surrounding India’s economy has even deeper roots than these problems. We can call the fundamental factors causing that negativity the ‘triple whammy’.
The ‘triple whammy’ or the three E’s that i am focussing on came dramatically into focus last month when Adidas announced a Rs 1,350 crore hit and sacked its local Reebok management. Then, it proceeded to announce that 300 shops bearing the Reebok logo and 200 with Adidas logo would also be closed. The blame was squarely placed on the Indian executive management for fudging the books. The big theme that resonated across the corner offices of global corporate headquarters was simply this: There is now reason to worry about Indian employees! By casting aspersion on the quality of Indian executives, Adidas had delivered a resounding blow to the corporate Indian psyche. This is the first of the three eroding E’s.
The second E is worse. It is now recognised as a seething virus across the corporate landscape – a lack of faith in the nature of Indian enterprise. The fracas that took place in 2009 between Daiichi Sankyo, the Japanese buyers of Ranbaxy, and the original owners is merely the most obvious example of it. The US Food and Drug Administration banned the import of Ranbaxy medicines because of unresolved concerns over quality audits at two of its factories in India. Daiichi was forced to reveal a $3.8 billion loss on its Indian acquisition barely six months after the deal! Global distrust about big ticket acquisitions of Indian enterprise had reared its ugly head.
As if whammy E-1 and E-2 were not enough, the government too contributed its bit to the third E – ruining the business environment. Just one example should suffice. In the aftermath of the 2G scandal, when the Supreme Court announced this February that licences were cancelled, its forthcoming spectrum policy and auction parameters made global corporations go cross-eyed. Whether posturing or otherwise, giant telecom majors from across the world have subsequently had to inform their boards that they are taking massive hits on their balance sheets. Global head honchos have had to issue ultimatums to the Indian government that they might consider withdrawing. Whammy E-3 has now been delivered. The message that has gone out is that the government of India no longer cares about attracting investment.
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