Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts

Friday, May 3, 2013

Of hurricane Sandy & spin docs!

Out of the 15 percent electorate that has already voted early, Obama has an 8% lead over Romney (53%-45%). But it’s clear that this may not quite be the trend of things to come. Romney’s Republican are expected to chug in late for voting...

By the time you read this article, hurricane Sandy would have ensured that much of Romney and Obama’s campaigning in the last week before polling starts officially would have reduced considerably, if not completely destroyed. Hell wait, scratch Obama out of that sentence – and give the biggest backslap to Obama’s spin docs, who’ve managed a Presidential coup by exploiting Sandy the way no one – especially Romney – could have done or thought of.

Even before Sandy had hit the East Coast, Obama’s spin docs had drawn up a schedule of national emergency addresses that the President would give. What better moment to showcase the President’s heartfelt cry for the affected than a brilliantly prime-time telecast national emergency address! And right on cue, the moment Obama finished his October 29 address on Sandy at the White House in front of reporters, out popped the first question asking the President how Sandy would affect the election. Right again on cue, Obama masterfully replied, “I am not worried at this point on the impact on the election. I’m worried about the impact on families and our first responders. I’m worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation. The election will take care of itself next week.” If you’re done with the tearful applause and have already decided that this exemplary paragon of social commitment is the one you’ll vote for in the coming election, we shan’t blame you. Of course, Romney and Paul also jumped into the Sandy-relief act; but guess who gets free airtime in a state of national emergency without being questioned on it? Not them.

One doesn’t need to second guess that if Sandy had changed her path back towards the sea without hitting the coast, where the biggest gasp of disappointment would have come from! But really, all this is trivialising the fact that America has experienced one of its worst storms ever, and the US administration has really made one of the most commendable advance efforts.

Irrespective of Sandy, Obama and Romney – and their camps – are both caught in the heat of partisanship and trying their best to run their opposition down with flamboyant gallery comments. While Obama lost the first televised debate badly to Romney, but came back strongly in the second and third; replying prudently to the volley of accusations ranging from his foreign policies in the Middle East to his ineffectiveness in mending the American economy. But the slam-dunking has continued. More recently, while Romney’s campaign panned Obama as having “sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China,” Biden slammed Romney, “This guy... pirouettes more than a ballerina. Have they no shame?”

Romney has tried to harp on the most pressing questions in the minds of the electorate – of continued high unemployment and economic turmoil. Romney was also firing on all cylinders regarding the defence budget cut by Obama by around $1 trillion over the next decade. Most importantly, Romney insisted that the US is losing its role as the lone superpower and the undisputed leader of the world. With respect to the Middle East, Romney claims that while Obama is pursuing a policy of pacifying the rogue states of Iran and Syria; it should really be the other way round.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Friday, April 19, 2013

“Solar can trade up to 50 GW capacity by 2020”

Alternative energy isn't still the norm not just in India, but around the world. And even when we talk about non-fossil fuels, we end up discussing only nuclear power. But Ratul Puri, the scion of the Moser Baer kingdom, is extremely confident that solar will be a major game changer in the sector.

B&E: Moser Baer has now become the first Indian solar photovoltaic company to install 100 MW of solar power globally. How has the alternative energy business been performing for the company so far?
Ratul Puri (RP):
Certainly, we have generated significant revenues from solar and we see these revenue streams increasing significantly over the next year or two. This alternative source of energy should be able to contribute 20-25% of our top line and an equivalent share of our bottom line by 2015.

B&E: For that kind of revenues to flow in, you must be having some big plans for alternative energy. What are these and how do you plan to achieve them?
RP:
For now, it's solar. We are looking at setting up around 300MW of solar capacity by June this year. We have already commissioned around a 100MW of solar capacity on a global basis and are looking at increasing this capacity to 300MW shortly. Our investment plans in solar this year are a little over Rs.4,000 crore, out of which, around Rs.3,500 crore are in India and around Rs.1,500 crore are planned in Europe.

B&E: Are the finances tied up for meeting your massive targets for developing solar power?
RP:
For ramping our global solar capacity to 300MW, we are looking to raise both debt and equity in the ratio of 75:25. We have raised close to a billion dollars in equity over the past 12 months. That makes us probably one of the most well-funded solar power developers in India. So, capital infusion is not a challenge.

B&E: Apart from India, which other markets are you looking at to exploit opportunities in an untapped non-fossil fuel market?
RP:
Besides India, we are major solar power developers in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. We recently commissioned UK's largest grid connected solar farm. I think our key focus market is the US after Europe. We are already one of the largest solar power developers in Europe.

B&E: Are you looking at other energy sources as well?
RP:
Moser Baer is a well-diversified energy producer and as such we are looking at the entire spectrum of energy options. We are into coal thermal power plants and are developing and building almost 4000MW of coal thermal power plants. At the same time, we are also building hydel capacity. We are into coal mining, both in India and outside India, to meet our fuel requirements. India needs a mix of fuels to meet its energy requirement going forward. Coal thermal cannot do all of it, solar cannot do all of it, gas cannot do all of it. We will end up with a basket and I think that there is going to be an increasing focus on renewables because they provide an ideal solution for meeting the challenges in the power sector today - whether it is land acquisition, availability of coal, etc.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Ravages of substance abuse: economic costs and implications

Substance abuse as a Societal Issue not just has an Adverse Impact on Individuals and Stakeholders, but also Impacts Organisational Performance in ways Unimaginable. There has been no formal Approach to Addressing this ill, but recent initiatives might Succeed in Working out a model that appeals to The Business fraternity as well.

Do you have any idea how much economic and social damage is caused by substance abuse? And are you aware of how much could be done to address the problems if only the business opportunities inherent in finding solutions were better developed and more widely known?


The social and economic costs
Think about the distribution pertaining to the severity of substance abuse in India. It ranges from low to high, with a large proportion of the population in the category of those with little or no use, the lowest level of severity, and with no need for any sort of special treatment. In the US, this category includes roughly two thirds of the population. At the high end are alcoholics and addicts whose problems have been diagnosed and are under going treatment. This is a very small proportion of the population, less than 1% in the US. In between these two extremes, however, are two other groups – those who would be diagnosed clinically as being dependent but who are not receiving treatment and many more whose alcohol and other substance use – though not addictive — is significantly harming their ability to function soundly. You would be surprised at how much of the population falls into these two categories. In the US, for example, some 24 million people are dependent but are not receiving treatment, and another 60-70 million people are not clinically dependent but fall into the category of “harmful use”, i.e. their use of substances has harmful effects not only on themselves but also on those around them. While, we don’t have reliable information for India, we suspect that the proportions are not too dissimilar, with somewhere around one-third of the population needing or standing to benefit from treatment but not receiving it.

Now stop and think for a moment about how substance abuse affects people’s performance in the workplace. Not only are employees less productive than they might otherwise be, but the probability that they will have accidents in the workplace increases and their impact on their fellow employees reduces overall productivity. And these are the people whose level of substance abuse is moderate; despite their involvement with alcohol or opiates, they are able to hold down a job notwithstanding their absenteeism and diminished productivity. They fall into that category described above called “harmful use”. What if there were interventions that employers could use to help them reduce their involvement with substances? How big would the economic payoffs to the companies be? Were they to receive treatment, we can hypothesise that not only would they be more productive in the workplace, they might be more effective in other roles they play in their families and communities. And finally, what about those people who would be defined clinically as dependent and who need treatment but are not currently getting any? What are the costs, economic and otherwise, to Indian society? Estimates of the economic costs alone run into tens of billions of dollars or more.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Investments defended

Defense industry is triggering big money

With Russia’s sale of defence equipments hitting a high of $5 billion and with ostentatious contracts worth over $13 billion, the country surely seems to be back in business. And it sure looks as if Russia will soon give a cut-throat competition to the US, which is not just currently basking in the glorious reputation of being the world’s largest producer of arms but is also apparently a client snatcher of Russia…Ahem…US defence industry or its Russian counterpart, whom to vouch for? A linger followed by some ponder is definitely worth it because the defence industry all over the world is talking millions of dollars, if not more and the military aviation sure seems to play a pivotal role out here…what with an F-22 Raptor worth $339 million, receiving an FOC status in Virginia, with US Army’s AMCOM giving a $42 million contract to DRS Technologies Inc., with CAE bagging a contract worth Aus$180 million from Australian defence forces for training to fly MRH90 helicopters and with Saudi Arabia in talks with Britain over a deal in Eurofighter, worth $8.9 billion (with press reports however contemplating the deal size to be anything between $20 billion to $40 billion). And as if that’s not enough, Hungary, Sweden and Finland are also picking up with their Gripen Fighter Aircrafts and the Nato Helicopter 90 respectively.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

 
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