SURESH KALMADI, 66 years old and 6 feet tall, likes to live life kingsize, though he doesn’t smoke or play any sport. He undoubtedly sees himself as a colossus striding the national stage, conjuring up sporting extravaganzas for an awestruck public that should be grateful somebody had the gall and imagination to put India on the map. “I have no time or inclination for small events. Anything big and massive immediately calls for my attention,’’ he proclaims.
The high point of Kalmadi’s career was reportedly his closeness to Rajiv Gandhi and Arun Singh during their heyday but he undoubtedly doesn’t see his low point as the scandal-ridden run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. “Don’t worry, we will explain everything to the public,” he told the group close to him this month. All the delays, incompetence and financial jugglery will be forgotten, he believes, once the grand show unfolds on 3 October, a spectacle he says will be grander than that of the 2008 Olympics at Beijing — the city where the president of the International Olympic Committee, Dr Jacques Rogge, gave him the ANOC Award (Association of National Olympic Committees) for his contribution to the Olympic movement and for promoting Olympic sports in India.
KALMADI, who built his empire on the good old Congress patronage network, has an unflappable air even now, which goaded Sharad Yadav last week to call him “thick-skinned” in Parliament. At a recent press conference, Kalmadi parried a question on whether he intends to resign as CWG Organising Committee chairman with the complacent reply: “As long as I have the confidence of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, I don’t need to resign.”
Though he lacks the panache of IPL czar Lalit Modi and the brashness of Vijay Mallya, who too dreams of bringing F1 racing to India , what he seems to have in common with them is a go-getting ability and deal-making genius. His success, says a sports administrator once close to him, rests on his ability to gauge the price of the man across the table. But now that the public is talking of “height of greed” and “height of corruption” instead of “height of success”, his entire career has come under scrutiny.
Holier than thou Kalmadi suspended Games joint director Darbari over corruption charges
Kalmadi has stayed IOA chief for a decade by setting up 35 federations for obscure sports like tug of war and roll ball, each worth three votes
Pune, which sends him to Parliament, and where a high school is named after his father, is Kalmadi’s home turf. After graduating from Fergusson College , Pune, he went to the nearby National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla and then trained as an air force pilot. He flew fighter planes in the two Indo-Pak wars in 1965 and 1971. By 1977, he was cutting his political teeth in the Youth Congress and in five years he was ensconced in the Rajya Sabha as an MP with the help of his mentor Sharad Pawar. He has been in Parliament, elected 3 times to the Lok Sabha, for 30 years now. But he did not forget his city, gifting it the Pune Festival and the Pune Marathon, the latter one of the richest international events held every year.
Kalmadi’s personal fortune was built on the self-confessedly biggest Maruti dealership in the country, the Sai Motors chain. He also owns Bajaj two-wheeler showrooms and petrol pumps all over the city. He also owns the most expensive commercial complex in Pune, and lives in a mansion on Dr Ketkar Road in the heart of the city. Another residence on Baner Hills, in his brother’s name, is the lone residence on the edge of a biodiversity park being built by the Pune Municipal Corporation. His brushes with glamour include frequent cocktail parties featuring fashion shows and the Bistro restaurant in Delhi ’s Hauz Khas village, run by his wife Meera and socialite Bina Ramani. (The government declared the place unlicensed and sealed the premises five years ago.) Despite these signs of prosperity, Kalmadi declared his assets at just Rs. 10 crore while filing his papers for the 2009 Lok Sabha.
As undisputed king of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the past 16 years, he seems unfazed by the outrage over the CWG consuming nearly Rs. 28,000 crore, more than the annual education budget. Or about the construction delays and the alleged corruption in awarding of tenders and inflation of costs.
Ironically, though the IOA and the government are both under fire now, they waged a curious battle against each other 2 years ago. In a petition argued in the Delhi High Court in 2008, the IOA was resisting further scrutiny and claiming itself to be a private body while asking for a further Rs. 1,780 crore from the government. The latter responded with a withering assessment of the IOA’s independent standing, calling it an “assetless organisation” and asking it to be made a public authority, open to scrutiny under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Almost 2 years later, despite the organisation becoming RTI-compliant, the IOA’s sense of entitlement is only surpassed by its rapacious, unapologetic loot of the treasury. In order to cling on its dubious autonomy, the IOA continues to say that the money given to it by the government is a ‘loan’, one it intends to repay. However, the ‘loan’ is unsecured. This is entirely convenient for Kalmadi & Co., as there is no real price to pay for incompetence. The scams that have been revealed over the past month are entirely predictable in the light of this.
LAWYER RAHUL Mehra, a crusader for accountability in the Indian sporting establishment, won a battle that would ensure that the president of IOA cannot be in the post for more than 12 years. This means that when Kalmadi’s term ends in 2012, he cannot stand for election again. However, Mehra does not believe the ‘hoax’ that the IOA will return the money to the government. “Till date, they have not returned a single penny they have taken from the government,” he says. “We will see new excuses coming out, such as bad publicity before the Games hurting revenue and so forth.”
Even the sources of revenue raise questions about the proposed commercial viability of the project at the time of winning the bid. The ‘lead partner’ of the CWG is Indian Railways and other PSUs such as NTPC and Air-India provide a substantial percentage of the largesse. The myth of multinational corporations vying with each other for a piece of the Games pie stands fairly and roundly busted. Ideally, these PSU sponsorships are an extended loan acting as a facesaver for the CWG.
But the current Games are only part of the IOA’s continuous attempt to milk public funds. In the failed 2014 Asian Games bid, for which the IOA received Rs. 2 crore, bizarre and unrealistic expenses come to light. In an invoice dated 20 December 2006 of the event management company Wizcraft, a welcome dinner at Kalmadi’s house is billed at Rs. 4.33 lakh. Another farewell dinner at secretary-general Randhir Singh’s house comes to Rs. 2 lakh. The question remains — why was an event management company hired for dinners that were held at private residences? Another Rs. 1.24 crore was spent “towards preparation of final bid to host the 2014 Asian Games”.
Political innings Backed by the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, Kalmadi became a Rajya Sabha MP in 1998
Even as recently as 17 August, Randhir Singh pushed for the ‘need’ to bid for the 2019 Asian Games, despite Sports Minister MS Gill stating earlier this month that India would not bid for it. But bids are not about winning and losing any more, as the two failed bids for the Asian Games in 2006 and 2014 demonstrate. More bids simply mean more funds that will disappear into a black hole.
Larger questions need to be asked about the IOA’s status as a body, one bankrolled on government funds, but accountable to no one.
When the Central Vigilance Commission revelations blew the lid off the whole scandal on 29 July, it did not seem that Kalmadi, in many ways the identifiable face of the Games, was personally implicated. But after a series of exposés, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clipped his wings on 14 August, giving a new Group of Ministers headed by Minister of Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy overriding powers over the OC. More devastatingly for the OC, a Com-mittee of Secretaries was attached to Jaipal Reddy to oversee all the preparations and take decisions accordingly, thus rendering Kalmadi powerless. Manmohan also ordered “thorough investigations’’ saying, “Those found guilty should face severe and exemplary punishment.’’
As of now, Kalmadi has no powers. He will report to the Committee of Secretaries every day till the Games start. But he is still hopeful and is still in media focus. The NDMC building in Connaught Place which houses his office on the ninth floor, is under siege. Scores of television reporters with their flashy vans wait outside the building 24x7 just to get their byte of the day.
SURESH KALMADI, with his long innings in sports bodies, is no stranger to controversy. Former Indian hockey captain Pargat Singh has accused him of running a “sports mafia”. But he remains firmly ensconced as president of the IOA, thanks to votes from 35 sports federations you may not even have heard of: atya patya (a game played in Karnataka), bobsled, biathlon, carrom, tug-of-war, croquet, muay thai, roll ball, sepak takraw, tenikoit, trampoline, thang ta and cycle polo. None of these figure in the Olympics yet they determine presidentship of the IOA. Kalmadi has granted recognition to federations promoting these sports and has given each three votes. There are a total of 103 federations, including 35 National Sport Federation and 32 State Olympic Associations.
Kalmadi’s IOA is a private body. It has taken loans worth thousands of crores from the government and paid back nothing so far
Now, the Formula 1 Grand Prix is being brought to India by Kalmadi’s family, with his son Sumeer having stakes in the firm JPSK, which signed a Rs. 1,600-crore deal with the UK-based F1 organiser. JPSK acquired 2,500 acres for the project, with 1,000 acres to be used for the race circuit, the rest to be developed as real estate. JPSK’s request for $36.5m to be paid to the F1 administration was refused by MS Gill on the grounds that F1 is not a sport. For the Kalmadis, this was probably just a hurdle that will be doggedly overcome.
There has been a murky stage in his political career too, when he hit a low in 1998 after the Congress gave the ticket to Vithal Tupe, ostensibly on the grounds that Kalmadi lacked a mass base. However, he managed to contest as an independent candidate backed by the Shiv Sena and BJP, despite Bal Thackeray calling him a “con who changes colour every hour”. Before the 2009 election, when the BJP was considering giving outside support to Kalmadi, Thackeray was asked if he had any objections. He retorted: “I have no intention of allowing this to happen. The Pune seat has been allotted to the BJP to field its own candidate. If Kalmadi contests on a BJP ticket, I would hate the idea. But if he stands as an Independent supported by the BJP, the Shiv Sena will certainly put up a candidate against him. We will not accept this kind of compromise in politics.”
Kalmadi, however, does not stand on principle. Riding high on international networking and his MP status, he seems to have forgotten that public money — he had about Rs. 2,500 crore at his disposal — is not meant to be splurged. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s preliminary report suggests he has been spending it wantonly. Specifically, that 52 out of 53 air-conditioners bought for CWG are lying unutilised. In 2009, he bought 1,000 gift items for Rs. 6.24 lakh but gave only 500 of them to visitors. As oc chief, he set up administrative guidelines that all contracts over Rs. 25 lakh be audited. But he subverted the same rule by awarding contracts to 11 firms instead of one for furnishing the IOA office.
After refurbishing IOA Bhawan at a cost of Rs. 4 crore, he declared the building too small and decided to rent rooms at NDMC. He paid advance rent of Rs. 9.2 crore in May 2008, but shifted only in October.
The stream of charges continues. He is accused of inflating prices of ‘overlay services’ and allotting tenders to favoured firms. More recognisable as the face of the CWG than the mascot Shera, suddenly all the delays and corruption are being attributed to Kalmadi, although examination shows that much of this can be laid at the doors of the NDMC, Delhi Government, CPWD and PWD — for Kalmadi has no direct involvement in construction of infrastructure. The flak has been neutralised by the PM’s intervention, but it will start again from 14 October, after the closing ceremony.
He has given a contract worth Rs.230 crore to Deepali Tent House. They had earlier been rejected by his own officers for over-pricing
Investigations have found a trail of dodgy practices, a bag of dirty tricks used by Kalmadi’s close-knit team, mainly drawn from Pune. These loyalists are joint director general of the CWG Raj Kumar Sacheti (from Alwar, Rajasthan), assistant director general Sangeeta Valenka (from Pune), joint director general VK Verma, a Central Secretariat Service officer and a former director at the Defence Ministry, joint director general TS Darbari and treasurer M Jayachandran, a retired Railway Accounts officer. Darbari and Jayachandaran became sacrificial goats when their services were suspended for their alleged involvement in awarding contracts to AM Films for the Queen’s Baton Relay.
SACHETI, A low-profile accountant, moved from the modest Dev Nagar in Delhi to owning two houses in Green Park . He and his aide RK Kaushik are already under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate. As for TS Darbari, he has been writing frequently to the Ministry of Sports, trying to influence project awards and purchase decisions.
Kalmadi’s modus operandi was ingenious: find a foreign firm to act as a partner in crime, then tilt the rules in such a way that no domestic competitor met the requirements. Kalmadi’s killer clause in all the tenders is that the companies making bids should have “relevant experience of working with sports events”. Thus a firm which manufactures generators was disqualified because it had never supplied its products for a sports event. That is why gensets are coming from abroad — so are furniture, treadmills, toilet paper and sanitary napkins.
Each of these foreign firms which have been awarded contracts has an Indian partner. Sources say eventually every product will be procured from India and the foreign company-led consortium will supply it as its own.
The latest is that Doordarshan and foreign broadcasters, who have already landed in India , want to test their equipment, but they are unable to do so because gensets are yet to come from abroad! Kalmadi has selected a multinational company, Pico, along with its Indian partner Deepali Designs and Exhibits for providing gensets, which are priced 10 times higher than those manufactured in India .
Tainted legacy The Vits Hotel in Pune, originally meant to be a hostel for the Youth Games
But the most shocking sleight-ofhand came when the Ministry of Infor- mation and Broadcasting floated tenders for construction of broadcast compounds in stadia this February. The real cost of the project is about Rs. 50 crore. Kalmadi’s office highly recommended Deepali Tent House owned by a nephew of BJP’s Sudhanshu Mittal, more popularly known as ‘Tentwala’. Under pressure, the ministry shortlisted Deepali among the 3 companies for the project. But Deepali’s rates being highly inflated, ministry officials tried negotiations to bring down the price. Deepali did not budge an inch. The ministry dumped all 3 companies to evade pressure and opted for a public-sector undertaking.
As if to compensate, Kalmadi got Deepali a lucrative deal of Rs. 230 crore from the OC for supply, installation, testing, commissioning, operation, maintenance, de-commissioning and removal of CWG overlay clusters. Under the contract, Pico-Deepali’s scope of works includes not only tents but marquees, prefabricated units, portable toilets, containers, security fences, wooden structures, metal structures, furniture, public display LED boards, floor finishes, material handling equipment, gensets, cabling, UPS, aircon, lighting, civil construction, hypoxia machines and athletic exercise equipment.
Another scam with the IOA at the centre involves hiring of Australian firm SMAM for finding sponsors for the Games. For the 2008 Youth Commonwealth Games held in Pune, SMAM was paid a 15 percent cut on an estimated sponsorship of $30 million. SMAM could get only Coca-Cola on board, but it was allowed to take a cut on sponsors like BSNL and SAIL. For 2010, SMAM was expected to get 23 percent commission even on such in-house sponsors, though it did not bring in a single private one. But when the media trained its guns on Kalmadi, he terminated the contract with SMAM, which has threatened to sue.
The preliminary CAG report finds that Kalmadi arbitrarily hired Fast Track Sales as a consultant for international broadcasting rights merely on the recommendations of Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennel and CEO Mike Hooper. The report says no detailed technical evaluation of the bidders was carried out before approving Fast Track. The selection of a consultant without due diligence and deficiencies in services resulted in a projected revenue loss of Rs. 24.6 crore.
The debris and fraud of the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune is a revealing taste of what Kalmadi has in store for New Delhi
DESPITE ALL the tall claims of administrative acumen, Kalmadi has not exactly covered himself in glory in delivering what he promises. Approval of Delhi as the venue came in 2003. But the CAG report says the plan was finalised as late as August 2007, the project and risk management experts were appointed only in March 2008 and the masterplan finalised as late as November 2008. That’s when it was sent for Commonwealth Games Federation approval. In other words, 5 years were frittered away. Until July 2009, the OC was still considering the architectural drawings for venues such as the Nehru Stadium. These delays resulted in a rush to finish projects that has made Delhi look like a disaster zone during the monsoon.
Kalmadi has offered a reason for the delay: he was busy with the 2008 Youth Commonwealth Games. But it was he who insisted on holding this event of no sporting significance, which in fact was staged for only the third time in 108 years of the history of the Commonwealth! Instead of Delhi being the venue, Kalmadi hijacked the Youth Games to Pune as the 2009 election approached.
At a cost of Rs. 1,118 crore of public money, the city was spruced up to win votes and influence people. A visit to the Balevadi Stadium, which hosted this non-event, revealed that it houses 114 families of Congress workers on the pretext that they have work inside the stadium. Typical generosity at public cost for personal gain.
Estranged After a series of corruption scandals, Manmohan Singh has clipped Kalmadi’s wings
In fact, the Youth Games offer a revealing glimpse of Kalmadi’s unsporting modus operandi:
• Renovation of stadia appears to be a top favourite. The Pune Administration constructed Balevadi Stadium at a cost of Rs. 500 crore for holding of the National Games. Kalmadi undertook a renovation that was as good as new construction, spending Rs. 318 crore. His man Ajay Shirke, a realtor, was given the contract.
• Construction of a hostel for budding athletes was another trick up his sleeve. The idea was that such players would come to Pune for training after the 2008 Games. But the hostel adjacent to Balevadi Stadium was not ready in time and players were housed in hotels at exorbitant tariffs.
• Then came the double whammy: the incomplete hostel did not serve the cause of sports at all but became a 4-star hotel. Land on which no commercial activity is possible because it lies in the green belt is now one more feather in the cap of Vithal Kamat, who has a chain of hotels in Goa and Maharashtra . Kamat has been given a longterm lease for which he pays only Rs. 1.57 crore a year, whereas the market value of this site is no less than Rs. 1,000 crore at prevailing rates, realtors say.
Kalmadi’s modus operandi was ingenious: find a foreign firm to act as a partner in crime, then tilt the rules to keep Indian companies at bay
Small change also flows into various pockets in other ways. The 2003 Afro- Asian Games in Hyderabad , IOA’s brainchild, were the first and last ever held. When the then Union minister of state for sports, Uma Bharati, had asked for details of the Rs. 6 crore spent, IOA evaded a reply. Finally, Kalmadi changed the treasurer and fulfilled the formalities.
The CAG report alleges that various CWG associations were provided hotel accommodation and travel grants to the tune of Rs. 38 lakh, but the OC could recover only Rs. 17 lakh from them. Then, Rs. 1.8 crore was given to fellow sports organisations for conducting seminars and refresher courses. There is no provision for this under the government rules.
Kalmadi is already rich beyond most dreams but old habits die hard. But in sports, his chosen field, once a game is over, somebody leaves the field triumphant, the other defeated. The prime minister has now shown Suresh Kalmadi the red card. Either he learns to play the game by the rules, or the CWG 2010 could be his swan song.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Most Dangerous Jobs in World...!!!
COMMERCIAL FISHING: 129 deaths per 100,000 people employed in the industry and 61 injuries per 100,000 for 2008.
The US BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, lists the following safety
and hazard material for data gathered in 2008.
One of the most dramatic changes has been within the Fishing Industry, which suffered extremely high occupational death rates in the 1990s. It fell to Number Three on the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs List in 2006, but rose to Number One in 2007 and reamins in the top position for 2008. It is dangerous and increasing in danger. The deadilist catch is becoming deadlier to the catchers.
The Fishing Industry exeprienced 400 deaths per 100,000 employees in 1990s Alaskan fishing and shellfishing. In 2002, US commerical fishing deaths dropped on average, but raised significantly in 2006, raised again in 2007, and increased yet again in 2008. Fishing is a high-paying job
for the months of active work, but it is dangerous and entails challenging working conditions.
A Cable TV show, Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Network, shows real crab fishers in the Bering Sea. They make a living working many hours a day, 7 days a week, often in the dark, without a break for long stretches of time. They must perform the catch within the window of opportunity, or lose their income for the year. New ship hands sometimes cannot take the pressure and the amount of hard work and long hours required. Reruns of Deadliest Catch may be avaiable on broadcast bnetwork TV in your local area, and the website offers online video archive viewing.
Dangerous Jobs That Changed Positions
• The Timber Industry includes loggers, lumberjacks, and helpers. It held the Number One spot for many years with 92.4 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2006 - a decrease from 118 in 2002. In 2008, fatalities increased to 116 Deaths per 100,000 workers and Timber is Number Two in the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs in the USA.
One of my pain-management patients was a timber cutter that had been sucked into a buzz saw. He was cut diagonally through the upper body from shoulder to hip and survived, in great pain, living on disability income. Others are hurt and killed by falls, trees falling on them, vehicular accidents, and in other ways.
• The occupation of Farmer or Rancher became more deadily and dangerous in 2008, raising it to Number Three with 40 deaths/100,000 workers.
• Structural Iron and Steel Industry workers remain in the Number Four slot, with a slight decrease to 46/100,000 deaths. (In 2007, it was 76 deaths per 100,000 emplyees).
• Sanitation Workers or Garbage Collectors -- and Recyclers -- rose to the Number Five most-dangerous-job spot with 37 deaths/100,000 workers. Garbage Collectors and Professional Recyclers were not even in the Top 10 for 2002. These jobs have increased in numbers and have become more dangerous jobs.
With the increasing number of buinesses, dwellings, and vehicles in America, drivers and material movers are at increased risk for traffic-related accidents and/or being some other way injured by their machinery.
• Aircraft work-related fatalities increased significantly in 2006, bringing Aircraft Pilots to the Number Two spot in the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs (82.2 deaths per 100,000) This number decreased to 72/100,000 in 2008 and Aircaft Pilots dropped to its current Number Six spot.
Dangerous Jobs Become More Dangerous
Another word on Garbage and Recycling -- Collectors of Refuse and Recyclables - Garbage Collectors and Professional Recyclers are Number Five. They were not even in the Top 10 for 2002. These jobs have increased in numbers and have become deadlier. With the increasing number of buinesses, dwellings, and vehicles in America, drivers and material movers are at increased risk of traffic-related accidents and/or being some other way injured by their machinery. Drivers of trucks and other srots of commerical vehicles are more at risk as greater numbers of vehicles are put onto the streets as populations grow.
• Roofers are still in the Number Seven spot on the list. 2008: 34 deaths and 3 injuries/100,000 workers. A roofer I know was inujured not only on wounds and broken bones suffered in trips-and-fall claims, but also in the dreased hot asphalt 2nd and 3rd degree burns that are an occuational hazard. burned over 25% of his body as well, he was unable to work again.
• Coal Miner - and other ore miner - has risen to Number Eight in 2008 with 22 deaths/100,000 miners. A number of high profile mining catastrophies have occurred in recent years to drive up the number of deaths and injuries per 100,000 workers. Coal Miner may rise again in 2009 BLS figures and again in 2010 compilations.
• MERCHANT MARINER, another seagoing job, has risen in danger to the Number Nine Most Dangerous Job with 23 deaths and 5 injuries/100,000 workers. The sea now holds two of the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs by 2008 figures.
• Millers - These grain handlers/ginders and flour-makers are now in the Top 10 with the Number Ten position, at 12 deaths/100,000. In Ohio in 2008, at least two missing persons were later found suffocated in their farm's grain silos, having fallen in. The milling machinery is dangerous as well.
THE SECOND TOP 10 -- Numbers 11 to 20
• Power Line Installer - 30/100,000
• Police Officer - 16/100,000
• Fireman(woman) - 7/100,000
• Oil and Gas Crew - 24 deaths/only 1 inujury/100,000
• Cement Makers - 13 deaths/3 injuries//100,00
• Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs fell in the Top 20 Most Dangerous Jobs in 2007 to Number Sixteen in 2008 at 21 Deaths/1 injury//100,000.
• Nearly 50% of all work-related injuries happen amongTruck Drivers or Material Movers -truckers, step-van deliveries, forklifts, trash collectors, recyclers, cabbies, movers ("Two Men and a Truck"), chauffeurs. 22 deaths and 0.4 injuries//100,000 in 2008. This is a reduction out of the Top 10 for 2007.
• Constructor Equipment Operators - 16/100,000.
• Slaughterhouse - 2 deaths and 0.4 injury per 100,000. Read fast food antion for an eye-opening account in one chapter of the repeated injour and exploitation of one such worker.
• Security Guards - Increasing in danger at 8/100,000; more dangerous statistically than Police Officers (see link below).
The US BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, lists the following safety
and hazard material for data gathered in 2008.
One of the most dramatic changes has been within the Fishing Industry, which suffered extremely high occupational death rates in the 1990s. It fell to Number Three on the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs List in 2006, but rose to Number One in 2007 and reamins in the top position for 2008. It is dangerous and increasing in danger. The deadilist catch is becoming deadlier to the catchers.
The Fishing Industry exeprienced 400 deaths per 100,000 employees in 1990s Alaskan fishing and shellfishing. In 2002, US commerical fishing deaths dropped on average, but raised significantly in 2006, raised again in 2007, and increased yet again in 2008. Fishing is a high-paying job
for the months of active work, but it is dangerous and entails challenging working conditions.
A Cable TV show, Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Network, shows real crab fishers in the Bering Sea. They make a living working many hours a day, 7 days a week, often in the dark, without a break for long stretches of time. They must perform the catch within the window of opportunity, or lose their income for the year. New ship hands sometimes cannot take the pressure and the amount of hard work and long hours required. Reruns of Deadliest Catch may be avaiable on broadcast bnetwork TV in your local area, and the website offers online video archive viewing.
Dangerous Jobs That Changed Positions
• The Timber Industry includes loggers, lumberjacks, and helpers. It held the Number One spot for many years with 92.4 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2006 - a decrease from 118 in 2002. In 2008, fatalities increased to 116 Deaths per 100,000 workers and Timber is Number Two in the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs in the USA.
One of my pain-management patients was a timber cutter that had been sucked into a buzz saw. He was cut diagonally through the upper body from shoulder to hip and survived, in great pain, living on disability income. Others are hurt and killed by falls, trees falling on them, vehicular accidents, and in other ways.
• The occupation of Farmer or Rancher became more deadily and dangerous in 2008, raising it to Number Three with 40 deaths/100,000 workers.
• Structural Iron and Steel Industry workers remain in the Number Four slot, with a slight decrease to 46/100,000 deaths. (In 2007, it was 76 deaths per 100,000 emplyees).
• Sanitation Workers or Garbage Collectors -- and Recyclers -- rose to the Number Five most-dangerous-job spot with 37 deaths/100,000 workers. Garbage Collectors and Professional Recyclers were not even in the Top 10 for 2002. These jobs have increased in numbers and have become more dangerous jobs.
With the increasing number of buinesses, dwellings, and vehicles in America, drivers and material movers are at increased risk for traffic-related accidents and/or being some other way injured by their machinery.
• Aircraft work-related fatalities increased significantly in 2006, bringing Aircraft Pilots to the Number Two spot in the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs (82.2 deaths per 100,000) This number decreased to 72/100,000 in 2008 and Aircaft Pilots dropped to its current Number Six spot.
Dangerous Jobs Become More Dangerous
Another word on Garbage and Recycling -- Collectors of Refuse and Recyclables - Garbage Collectors and Professional Recyclers are Number Five. They were not even in the Top 10 for 2002. These jobs have increased in numbers and have become deadlier. With the increasing number of buinesses, dwellings, and vehicles in America, drivers and material movers are at increased risk of traffic-related accidents and/or being some other way injured by their machinery. Drivers of trucks and other srots of commerical vehicles are more at risk as greater numbers of vehicles are put onto the streets as populations grow.
• Roofers are still in the Number Seven spot on the list. 2008: 34 deaths and 3 injuries/100,000 workers. A roofer I know was inujured not only on wounds and broken bones suffered in trips-and-fall claims, but also in the dreased hot asphalt 2nd and 3rd degree burns that are an occuational hazard. burned over 25% of his body as well, he was unable to work again.
• Coal Miner - and other ore miner - has risen to Number Eight in 2008 with 22 deaths/100,000 miners. A number of high profile mining catastrophies have occurred in recent years to drive up the number of deaths and injuries per 100,000 workers. Coal Miner may rise again in 2009 BLS figures and again in 2010 compilations.
• MERCHANT MARINER, another seagoing job, has risen in danger to the Number Nine Most Dangerous Job with 23 deaths and 5 injuries/100,000 workers. The sea now holds two of the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs by 2008 figures.
• Millers - These grain handlers/ginders and flour-makers are now in the Top 10 with the Number Ten position, at 12 deaths/100,000. In Ohio in 2008, at least two missing persons were later found suffocated in their farm's grain silos, having fallen in. The milling machinery is dangerous as well.
THE SECOND TOP 10 -- Numbers 11 to 20
• Power Line Installer - 30/100,000
• Police Officer - 16/100,000
• Fireman(woman) - 7/100,000
• Oil and Gas Crew - 24 deaths/only 1 inujury/100,000
• Cement Makers - 13 deaths/3 injuries//100,00
• Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs fell in the Top 20 Most Dangerous Jobs in 2007 to Number Sixteen in 2008 at 21 Deaths/1 injury//100,000.
• Nearly 50% of all work-related injuries happen amongTruck Drivers or Material Movers -truckers, step-van deliveries, forklifts, trash collectors, recyclers, cabbies, movers ("Two Men and a Truck"), chauffeurs. 22 deaths and 0.4 injuries//100,000 in 2008. This is a reduction out of the Top 10 for 2007.
• Constructor Equipment Operators - 16/100,000.
• Slaughterhouse - 2 deaths and 0.4 injury per 100,000. Read fast food antion for an eye-opening account in one chapter of the repeated injour and exploitation of one such worker.
• Security Guards - Increasing in danger at 8/100,000; more dangerous statistically than Police Officers (see link below).
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Shahrukh not just an actor...
Shah Rukh Khan smilingly admits that punctuality is not one of his virtues, having made us wait five hours for the first interview. But then, in conversations spread over two days, a chilled out Khan tells Dhiman Chattopadhyay and Anusha Subramanian about plans for his growing business empire, on why he is passionate about everything he does and the lessons he has learnt in his journey towards becoming India's most successful "actorpreneur" till date. Edited excerpts from a candid interview.
By: Dhiman Chattopadhyay and Anusha Subramanian (Business Today)
Please define Shah Rukh Khan the businessman. Is business a means for you to invest the money you earn, or are you passionate about actually building businesses?
(Laughs) I am not a businessman, honestly. I am Zero on 10. I am not as intelligent as people think I am. If I were a businessman, I would be happy with how KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL team owned by SRK) has fared till now. They were the first team to become profitable and they continue to make profit. But am I happy? No, I am not, I'd rather win the tournament, even if it means making a financial loss.
So what made you start up Red Chillies Entertainment- was it a business vision you had or an avenue to invest your earnings from films?
I never really thought of being an entrepreneur when I started Red Chillies (in 2002). Yes, there was this feeling about wanting to contribute something to the entertainment industry, but then or now, I do not see myself as a businessman in the true sense of the term like you say Mukesh Ambani is a businessman. And most definitely, my enterprises are not just a means to invest my hard-earned money. These businesses are my passion. You will notice that they are all related to the entertainment industry. If you ask me in one sentence to say what my aim is, then it is to help promote all these very talented people working with me, so that one day each of them can become producers, film makers, do their own VFX work; and that all the divisions give me a busy time once my acting career is over.
The Rs 1500 crore hero
What is your core business philosophy?
When things go right, everything goes right. I believe in striking when the iron's hot. My basic philosophy is very retail-like: "Subah ko dukan kholo, raat ko shutter down karo" (open the shop in the morning, close it at night). I have seen people like Mukeshbhai (Ambani) and Lakshmisaab (Mittal). I have sat at their meetings and tried to understand what they say and do. They are awesome. I am nowhere close to them. For me, "bijli paani ka kharcha nikal jaaye" (if I am able to pay electricity and other bills and salaries I am happy)-that is how you start business.
So, you do not start a business to make money?
No, that is not the main reason. I didn't buy an IPL team to make crores of rupees. For two years now, we have made a profit, but not because of the cricket! My theory is simple: If I am going to be earning from a business that is not working because of the business, then it is redundant. This is where I feel I have a certain amount of honesty left in my business. I still haven't sold my soul. If my team is not going to play good cricket this year then woe be upon the fact that they make money this year. It amounts to zilch. I can make money by dancing at weddings and I do. Why do I have to stress about the controversies, feel sad when the team loses?
The sports industry seems to take up a lot of space in your mind. Why?
Because I want sports to be a big thing in this country. I feel bad when I hear we are lagging behind in (preparations for the) Commonwealth Games. Look at our stadiums! I wanted to do a promo shoot for Chak De! I went to Pune because I was told that the Balewadi Stadium was the best. And we made it look better because of the ad. How cheap is it that a guy who comes to shoot for a night does up the stadium better than it should be done by the sports people! I want my son to come and say, "Dad, I want to play hockey." I want that option to be there.
I feel sad when I see sports suffering. Athletes come from small nations and win every race here. Their facilities are far better than in India! I am a genuinely good hockey player. I have played in the Ambedkar Stadium (in Delhi), in Bombay also.... But when we went for Chak De! in Australia it was completely different. I couldn't play on the astroturf field. I thought to myself, I haven't seen this in my country. Look at football. Every developing nation is fantastic in soccer because it is the cheapest game to play- Surinam, Nigeria.... I want to inculcate a sporting consciousness. I am a movie star. I endorse so many things. Why can't I endorse sports in my own way? I had wanted to make a stadium. I spoke to Nike, but it didn't work out. Now, this is my way of giving back.
How involved are you with your various businesses? Day-to-day running, key decisions, finances?
Finances? Zilch. But yes, in creative decisions I am totally involved. I let my boys and girls take the business decisions. There are people to manage the finances, do the deals, take decisions on the spot. My job is to provide creative inputs, come up with concepts and ideas to take a division forward in the general direction I visualise what could be in the medium to long term. You want to know how uninvolved I am in day-to-day activities? I haven't been to one of my offices for almost two years now! But yes, as I grow older, I am focussing more on how to centralise things. So, the new office in Khar that will be complete by end of 2010 will bring all of Red Chillies' divisions under one roof. My idea then is to go to office only on Saturdays and Sundays, so that the boys have to work twice as hard (laughs) and be present on those days as well. Jokes apart, I am proud of the people I have hired. They don't just work hard but each of them thinks of the business as their own. They think of ways to improve matters, not just like employees working to a mechanical plan.
What are the key goals you have set for yourself and your businesses over the next three to five years?
The past four years have been spent starting new businesses. The baby steps are over. The next couple of years will be crucial. I have set two basic agendas: First, I need to consolidate my existing businesses before getting adventurous again. Second, personally, I need to get more professional as an entrepreneur... learn to sound like one at least (laughs) and be a bit more handsoff- in a sense worry less if things are going okay or not-so that I can spend more energy building the creative side. After all, whatever we do, will be in the creative field.
Hollywood studios such as Walt Disney have evinced interest in picking up stakes in Red Chillies. How open are you to the idea of such partnership and stake sales?
I like my things to be mine-well, at least till I am able to prove that I have done most of what I set out to achieve. I like to invest in my own stuff! (Laughs). I also look at it from the other person's perspective and I can never look into your eyes if I have lost your money. When I am sure I will not lose any money in business X, Y or Z, I may want a partner. Not now.
As an actor and entertainer, what is your view on involving your family in your career?
Of course, I am an actor and an entertainer, first and last. But I am strangely formal with my family. And I never bring my family on the sets because I can never act in front of them. I say this with due respect to many of my women co-stars who bring their moms to the sets-I know they need the security or the feeling that they have people around. I have never really told my children how I do what I do. Being a movie star is a strange part of my life that my family does not know about.
I think the Discovery Travel and Living documentary (Living with a Superstar - Shah Rukh Khan) is the first attempt to bridge that gap. I saw some of the episodes after they were edited and I am really glad about what I've said about my wife and my family and my sister-things I will never be able to say to them directly. I am strangely formal with my family. I have still not opened my wife's cupboard. I do not open her handbag. I knock on my kids' door. My wife says "Are you mad?"-she is a Punjabi-"Why are you knocking. Just enter." But I can't get into personal spaces.
What is the next business opportunity that you see?
I am an entertainer. So, it has to be in that genre. I understand only that. Internet is one of the possible options. But not immediately.
What SRK's men have to say about the man
"SRK doesnt make you feel that you are working for him but with him. So whilst he is certainly the boss he does not behave like one." - Samar khan, Head, Red Chillies Idiot Box
"He has a keen sense of business, and knows instinctively what will work and what may not. But seldom has he tried to veto us if most of us have backed a project he is not sure about." - Keitan Yadav, COO, Red Chillies VFX
"We are blessed that we are part of SRK's company... but the flip side is that there is pressure because of the brand name we carry with us." - Sanjeev 'Bobby' Chawla, Head, Films, Red Chillies Entertainment
Lessons Learnt (And one I haven't!)
IN TOUGH TIMES, do not try to cut costs. Try instead to increase your income. This is something my mother would always tell me - my first lesson in enterprise.
THINK BIG. If you want to jump eight metres, aim for 16. You may not be able to jump 16, but to aim higher than the others is important. This is something Mukeshbhai (Ambani) taught me.
ALL BUSINESSES and friendships remain strong till they are profitable for both parties.
DRESS CASUALLY at work-not shabbily but casually. People need to be comfortable, feel cool, to be able to give their best.
I NEED TO LEARN this-Close deals fast! Haggling over small things is a waste of time.
By: Dhiman Chattopadhyay and Anusha Subramanian (Business Today)
Please define Shah Rukh Khan the businessman. Is business a means for you to invest the money you earn, or are you passionate about actually building businesses?
(Laughs) I am not a businessman, honestly. I am Zero on 10. I am not as intelligent as people think I am. If I were a businessman, I would be happy with how KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL team owned by SRK) has fared till now. They were the first team to become profitable and they continue to make profit. But am I happy? No, I am not, I'd rather win the tournament, even if it means making a financial loss.
So what made you start up Red Chillies Entertainment- was it a business vision you had or an avenue to invest your earnings from films?
I never really thought of being an entrepreneur when I started Red Chillies (in 2002). Yes, there was this feeling about wanting to contribute something to the entertainment industry, but then or now, I do not see myself as a businessman in the true sense of the term like you say Mukesh Ambani is a businessman. And most definitely, my enterprises are not just a means to invest my hard-earned money. These businesses are my passion. You will notice that they are all related to the entertainment industry. If you ask me in one sentence to say what my aim is, then it is to help promote all these very talented people working with me, so that one day each of them can become producers, film makers, do their own VFX work; and that all the divisions give me a busy time once my acting career is over.
The Rs 1500 crore hero
What is your core business philosophy?
When things go right, everything goes right. I believe in striking when the iron's hot. My basic philosophy is very retail-like: "Subah ko dukan kholo, raat ko shutter down karo" (open the shop in the morning, close it at night). I have seen people like Mukeshbhai (Ambani) and Lakshmisaab (Mittal). I have sat at their meetings and tried to understand what they say and do. They are awesome. I am nowhere close to them. For me, "bijli paani ka kharcha nikal jaaye" (if I am able to pay electricity and other bills and salaries I am happy)-that is how you start business.
So, you do not start a business to make money?
No, that is not the main reason. I didn't buy an IPL team to make crores of rupees. For two years now, we have made a profit, but not because of the cricket! My theory is simple: If I am going to be earning from a business that is not working because of the business, then it is redundant. This is where I feel I have a certain amount of honesty left in my business. I still haven't sold my soul. If my team is not going to play good cricket this year then woe be upon the fact that they make money this year. It amounts to zilch. I can make money by dancing at weddings and I do. Why do I have to stress about the controversies, feel sad when the team loses?
The sports industry seems to take up a lot of space in your mind. Why?
Because I want sports to be a big thing in this country. I feel bad when I hear we are lagging behind in (preparations for the) Commonwealth Games. Look at our stadiums! I wanted to do a promo shoot for Chak De! I went to Pune because I was told that the Balewadi Stadium was the best. And we made it look better because of the ad. How cheap is it that a guy who comes to shoot for a night does up the stadium better than it should be done by the sports people! I want my son to come and say, "Dad, I want to play hockey." I want that option to be there.
I feel sad when I see sports suffering. Athletes come from small nations and win every race here. Their facilities are far better than in India! I am a genuinely good hockey player. I have played in the Ambedkar Stadium (in Delhi), in Bombay also.... But when we went for Chak De! in Australia it was completely different. I couldn't play on the astroturf field. I thought to myself, I haven't seen this in my country. Look at football. Every developing nation is fantastic in soccer because it is the cheapest game to play- Surinam, Nigeria.... I want to inculcate a sporting consciousness. I am a movie star. I endorse so many things. Why can't I endorse sports in my own way? I had wanted to make a stadium. I spoke to Nike, but it didn't work out. Now, this is my way of giving back.
How involved are you with your various businesses? Day-to-day running, key decisions, finances?
Finances? Zilch. But yes, in creative decisions I am totally involved. I let my boys and girls take the business decisions. There are people to manage the finances, do the deals, take decisions on the spot. My job is to provide creative inputs, come up with concepts and ideas to take a division forward in the general direction I visualise what could be in the medium to long term. You want to know how uninvolved I am in day-to-day activities? I haven't been to one of my offices for almost two years now! But yes, as I grow older, I am focussing more on how to centralise things. So, the new office in Khar that will be complete by end of 2010 will bring all of Red Chillies' divisions under one roof. My idea then is to go to office only on Saturdays and Sundays, so that the boys have to work twice as hard (laughs) and be present on those days as well. Jokes apart, I am proud of the people I have hired. They don't just work hard but each of them thinks of the business as their own. They think of ways to improve matters, not just like employees working to a mechanical plan.
What are the key goals you have set for yourself and your businesses over the next three to five years?
The past four years have been spent starting new businesses. The baby steps are over. The next couple of years will be crucial. I have set two basic agendas: First, I need to consolidate my existing businesses before getting adventurous again. Second, personally, I need to get more professional as an entrepreneur... learn to sound like one at least (laughs) and be a bit more handsoff- in a sense worry less if things are going okay or not-so that I can spend more energy building the creative side. After all, whatever we do, will be in the creative field.
Hollywood studios such as Walt Disney have evinced interest in picking up stakes in Red Chillies. How open are you to the idea of such partnership and stake sales?
I like my things to be mine-well, at least till I am able to prove that I have done most of what I set out to achieve. I like to invest in my own stuff! (Laughs). I also look at it from the other person's perspective and I can never look into your eyes if I have lost your money. When I am sure I will not lose any money in business X, Y or Z, I may want a partner. Not now.
As an actor and entertainer, what is your view on involving your family in your career?
Of course, I am an actor and an entertainer, first and last. But I am strangely formal with my family. And I never bring my family on the sets because I can never act in front of them. I say this with due respect to many of my women co-stars who bring their moms to the sets-I know they need the security or the feeling that they have people around. I have never really told my children how I do what I do. Being a movie star is a strange part of my life that my family does not know about.
I think the Discovery Travel and Living documentary (Living with a Superstar - Shah Rukh Khan) is the first attempt to bridge that gap. I saw some of the episodes after they were edited and I am really glad about what I've said about my wife and my family and my sister-things I will never be able to say to them directly. I am strangely formal with my family. I have still not opened my wife's cupboard. I do not open her handbag. I knock on my kids' door. My wife says "Are you mad?"-she is a Punjabi-"Why are you knocking. Just enter." But I can't get into personal spaces.
What is the next business opportunity that you see?
I am an entertainer. So, it has to be in that genre. I understand only that. Internet is one of the possible options. But not immediately.
What SRK's men have to say about the man
"SRK doesnt make you feel that you are working for him but with him. So whilst he is certainly the boss he does not behave like one." - Samar khan, Head, Red Chillies Idiot Box
"He has a keen sense of business, and knows instinctively what will work and what may not. But seldom has he tried to veto us if most of us have backed a project he is not sure about." - Keitan Yadav, COO, Red Chillies VFX
"We are blessed that we are part of SRK's company... but the flip side is that there is pressure because of the brand name we carry with us." - Sanjeev 'Bobby' Chawla, Head, Films, Red Chillies Entertainment
Lessons Learnt (And one I haven't!)
IN TOUGH TIMES, do not try to cut costs. Try instead to increase your income. This is something my mother would always tell me - my first lesson in enterprise.
THINK BIG. If you want to jump eight metres, aim for 16. You may not be able to jump 16, but to aim higher than the others is important. This is something Mukeshbhai (Ambani) taught me.
ALL BUSINESSES and friendships remain strong till they are profitable for both parties.
DRESS CASUALLY at work-not shabbily but casually. People need to be comfortable, feel cool, to be able to give their best.
I NEED TO LEARN this-Close deals fast! Haggling over small things is a waste of time.
He is the King... The Richest Actor in India..!!!
The fast, furious and fleeting appearance of King Khan in Gurgaon takes the revellers' breath away. Even more breathtaking, however, is that SRK flew back to Mumbai the next morning, richer, reportedly by Rs 5 crore that was paid for his 10-minute cameo.
December 31, 2009: Time: Close to the witching hour. Location: A party hotspot in Gurgaon on New Delhi's outskirts to which a city-based gutkha baron has invited hundreds of celebrities and wannabes to usher in the New Year. A string of performers-from singer Shankar Mahadevan to starlets such as Minissha Lamba-strut their stuff. Suddenly, out of nowhere emerges an eminently recognisable bundle of nervous energy-a certain Shah Rukh Khan. He jokes, shakes a leg and does a quick song-and-dance routine. The fast, furious and fleeting appearance of the 44-year-old Badshah of Bollywood takes the revellers' breath away. Even more breathtaking, however, is that SRK flew back to Mumbai the next morning, richer, reportedly by Rs 5 crore that was paid for his 10-minute cameo.
November 2009: SRK is shooting a new ad for direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dish TV-a film in which SRK as a senior citizen relives his romantic heydays thanks to the pictures beamed by Dish TV on the telly. Between shots he quizzes company COO Salil Kapoor on the DTH business, and is keen to know how it works. He also doesn't lose the opportunity to tell the agency, McCann Erickson, that the ad was conceptualised by him. "But what impressed me most was his knowledge of consumer behaviour and marketing. He could easily give a lecture at an IIM on the subject," says Kapoor. The ad is shot over three days after which SRK walks away with a Rs 7-crore cheque.
February 12, 2010: My Name is Khan, produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, is slated for release. The story of an autistic Mumbai Muslim who marries a Hindu could add some Rs 10 crore to SRK's kitty if audiences lap it up. Eleven days prior to this, Shah Rukh rang the opening bell at the New York-based NASDAQ stock exchange, an honour usually reserved for CEOs.
February 26: Discovery Travel and Living's 10-part series, Living with a Superstar-Shah Rukh Khan, will go on air. The biggest Indian show on TV, with a budget of nearly Rs 20 crore, delves into different shades of SRK's life: As a father, a husband, a businessman, and of course, an entertainer. SRK personally will not earn much from this show. Red Chillies Idiot Box, an arm of SRK's Red Chillies Entertainment, which is co-producing the show, stands to gain much of the spoils. Discovery has already sold all ad inventories for this show.
Every step he takes, every move he makes, somebody's out there watching him-and somebody's out there willing to pay a small fortune to see him perform. Whether he's acting, or endorsing a brand, or just being himself at an awards ceremony, SRK mints money. And let's not forget the company he owns along with wife Gauri: Red Chillies Entertainment, which has diversified into highgrowth areas of entertainment like visual effects, television commercials, television programming, in addition to the mainstay of film-making. Put all these interests together and you have a superstar with a net worth of roughly Rs 1,500 crore, making him arguably Bollywood's richest star.
Bollywood's Richest Actor
THE Rs 1,500* cr HERO
BRAND ENDORSEMENTS : Rs 238 cr, 34 brands; charges Rs 7 crore for each
SHOWS AND EVENTS: Rs 75 cr
ACTING IN FILMS: Rs 12 cr Per film or a share of the profit
RED CHILLIES ENTERTAINMENT (Including Kolkata Knight Riders): Rs 500 cr
MISC. ASSETS: Rs 10 cr Includes luxury cars, designer watches, etc.
REAL ESTATE: Rs 650 cr Includes homes in Mumbai, London and Dubai, and other real estate investments
December 31, 2009: Time: Close to the witching hour. Location: A party hotspot in Gurgaon on New Delhi's outskirts to which a city-based gutkha baron has invited hundreds of celebrities and wannabes to usher in the New Year. A string of performers-from singer Shankar Mahadevan to starlets such as Minissha Lamba-strut their stuff. Suddenly, out of nowhere emerges an eminently recognisable bundle of nervous energy-a certain Shah Rukh Khan. He jokes, shakes a leg and does a quick song-and-dance routine. The fast, furious and fleeting appearance of the 44-year-old Badshah of Bollywood takes the revellers' breath away. Even more breathtaking, however, is that SRK flew back to Mumbai the next morning, richer, reportedly by Rs 5 crore that was paid for his 10-minute cameo.
November 2009: SRK is shooting a new ad for direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dish TV-a film in which SRK as a senior citizen relives his romantic heydays thanks to the pictures beamed by Dish TV on the telly. Between shots he quizzes company COO Salil Kapoor on the DTH business, and is keen to know how it works. He also doesn't lose the opportunity to tell the agency, McCann Erickson, that the ad was conceptualised by him. "But what impressed me most was his knowledge of consumer behaviour and marketing. He could easily give a lecture at an IIM on the subject," says Kapoor. The ad is shot over three days after which SRK walks away with a Rs 7-crore cheque.
February 12, 2010: My Name is Khan, produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, is slated for release. The story of an autistic Mumbai Muslim who marries a Hindu could add some Rs 10 crore to SRK's kitty if audiences lap it up. Eleven days prior to this, Shah Rukh rang the opening bell at the New York-based NASDAQ stock exchange, an honour usually reserved for CEOs.
February 26: Discovery Travel and Living's 10-part series, Living with a Superstar-Shah Rukh Khan, will go on air. The biggest Indian show on TV, with a budget of nearly Rs 20 crore, delves into different shades of SRK's life: As a father, a husband, a businessman, and of course, an entertainer. SRK personally will not earn much from this show. Red Chillies Idiot Box, an arm of SRK's Red Chillies Entertainment, which is co-producing the show, stands to gain much of the spoils. Discovery has already sold all ad inventories for this show.
Every step he takes, every move he makes, somebody's out there watching him-and somebody's out there willing to pay a small fortune to see him perform. Whether he's acting, or endorsing a brand, or just being himself at an awards ceremony, SRK mints money. And let's not forget the company he owns along with wife Gauri: Red Chillies Entertainment, which has diversified into highgrowth areas of entertainment like visual effects, television commercials, television programming, in addition to the mainstay of film-making. Put all these interests together and you have a superstar with a net worth of roughly Rs 1,500 crore, making him arguably Bollywood's richest star.
Bollywood's Richest Actor
THE Rs 1,500* cr HERO
BRAND ENDORSEMENTS : Rs 238 cr, 34 brands; charges Rs 7 crore for each
SHOWS AND EVENTS: Rs 75 cr
ACTING IN FILMS: Rs 12 cr Per film or a share of the profit
RED CHILLIES ENTERTAINMENT (Including Kolkata Knight Riders): Rs 500 cr
MISC. ASSETS: Rs 10 cr Includes luxury cars, designer watches, etc.
REAL ESTATE: Rs 650 cr Includes homes in Mumbai, London and Dubai, and other real estate investments
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Wonder how / when products morph into something else?
The 'shelf-life' of products has decreased from decades to months : In the
'good old days', you could be sure of having the same old Ambassador or Fiat
car for years, the only difference being the addition of a cigarette lighter
or some such trinket with different versions being distinguished as 'Mark
1', 'Mark 2' etc.
Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?
Your guess is : Sony, Canon or Nikon.?
Answer : none of the above. The winner is Nokia, whose main line of business
in India is not cameras, but cell phones.
Reason being : most people don't really need a camera, but will use them, if
these cameras come bundled with cellphones.?
Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the stand-alone camera
outright? At present, cameras in cell phones are not so sophisticated, most
not having a Flash or better quality lenses, but its just a matter of time,
before?these are on the market.
Who is the biggest in the music business in India ??
HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma ??
Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30
seconds or so), Airtel makes more money per day than what music companies
make by selling music albums (that run for hours).
Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service
provider with the largest subscriber base in India.?
That sort of competitor is difficult to detect... even more difficult to
beat (by the time you have identified him as a competitor, he has already
gone past you in sales).?
But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing
easy, you can't be farther from truth.
Nokia confessed, that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit
that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future.?
But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you??
If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It
is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails... as it is about
hidden competition
Know what the latest computer war is about ??
What is tomorrow's personal digital device gong to be ??
Will it be a jazzed-up Mobile or a Palmtop with a net-phone ??
What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak?
Explanation ??
Sony defined the market in the field of Audio... remember the Walkman /
Discman ??
What did Apple do to Sony ? Sony never expected an IT company like Apple to
encroach into their audio domain.?
Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has
both audio and video capabilities.?
So, what about cameras ? ? ?"Elementary, dear Watson".?
Kodak had defined its business as Cameras.?
Sony re-defined its business as digital cameras, which led to the downfall
of conventional cameras.
In the digital camera, the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn
between going digital and sacrificing money on film technology or staying
with films and getting left behind in digital technology.?
Undecided, it tried to do both and lost its market share to Sony.?
The same was true for IBM, whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing
the true potential of the PC. Today, Chinese manufacturers are dominating
this field.
Bill Gates declared that the Internet is a just a passing fad !?
Google is now challenging its domination of the computer field, not in
hardware, but in software.?
The point is not who is today's competitor ??
Today's competitor is obvious. He can be countered.
Its the hidden competitor, who sneaks in from out-field, totally redefining
the rules of the business.
Who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India ? Singapore
airlines? No, neither was it Air India / Indian Airlines.
The answer is Video-conferencing and webex services of HP and Cisco, who
have suddenly made physical travel redundant, since you can now
tele-conference or see your complete team in several countries real-time,
without having to leave the Office.?
Who is the biggest competitor in the Travel business ? ?Not the airlines or
the railways or even the transport companies.
Senior executives in India and abroad were compelled to use
video-conferencing to shrink travel budgets. Internet came to their rescue.
?
Remember the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies ??
Outsourcing has meant that the techie can stay at home and earn much the
same, without having to leave the country.?
India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They are now
going a-begging. Blame it on recession ?! ?
Maybe...but then again, its really not smart to have to emigrate and spend
in dollars, when you can earn abroad and spend it at home.
Remember the VCR craze ? Between 1988 and 1991, the prices of the now
defunct VCR crashed to one-third of its original level in India.?
Similarly, the PC's price has plummeted...lakhs to a few thousands.?
India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly
different. So were the icons.?
> The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag.?
The filmi gods were the Khans ...Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan.?
The film line was all about big money.
That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 overs cricket.?
Then came IPL and the two markets merged into one.?
IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to
the length of a 3 hour movie.?
Cricket became the film industry's competitor !?
On the eve of IPL matches, movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners
requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls, to hang
on to their audiences.?
If IPL is to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films
have to sequence their releases, so as not clash with IPL matches.
As far as the audiences are concerned, both serve the same purpose in India
'3 hour tamasha' (entertainment).?
Look at the products that have vanished in the last 20 years.?
When did you last see a Black and White movie ??
When did you last use a Fountain pen ??
When did you last type on a Typewriter ??
The answer for all the above is "I don't even remember !"?
20 years back, what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning ? The
answer is ?the?ubiquitous?alarm clock.?
The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be
physically keyed every day, to keep it running. It made so much noise, by
way of harsh alarms, that it woke up the entire colony.?
What do we use today for waking up in the morning??
Cellphone !?
An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning, thanks to the
entry of the digital clock and now the cell phones.?
Swiss watch companies are as scarce as water in the Sahara. The IT industry
proved to be their downfall.
You never know behind which bush your competitor is hiding !
Nowadays, you can't be sure, whether the product that you buy today, will
even exist next year.?
VCRs, LPs, Tape-decks have already become extinct.
Even Laptops have all but?disappeared from the consumer's Radar, with the
appearance of sleek new Netbooks :)
Wonder how / when products morph into something else??
'good old days', you could be sure of having the same old Ambassador or Fiat
car for years, the only difference being the addition of a cigarette lighter
or some such trinket with different versions being distinguished as 'Mark
1', 'Mark 2' etc.
Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?
Your guess is : Sony, Canon or Nikon.?
Answer : none of the above. The winner is Nokia, whose main line of business
in India is not cameras, but cell phones.
Reason being : most people don't really need a camera, but will use them, if
these cameras come bundled with cellphones.?
Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the stand-alone camera
outright? At present, cameras in cell phones are not so sophisticated, most
not having a Flash or better quality lenses, but its just a matter of time,
before?these are on the market.
Who is the biggest in the music business in India ??
HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma ??
Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30
seconds or so), Airtel makes more money per day than what music companies
make by selling music albums (that run for hours).
Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service
provider with the largest subscriber base in India.?
That sort of competitor is difficult to detect... even more difficult to
beat (by the time you have identified him as a competitor, he has already
gone past you in sales).?
But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing
easy, you can't be farther from truth.
Nokia confessed, that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit
that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future.?
But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you??
If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It
is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails... as it is about
hidden competition
Know what the latest computer war is about ??
What is tomorrow's personal digital device gong to be ??
Will it be a jazzed-up Mobile or a Palmtop with a net-phone ??
What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak?
Explanation ??
Sony defined the market in the field of Audio... remember the Walkman /
Discman ??
What did Apple do to Sony ? Sony never expected an IT company like Apple to
encroach into their audio domain.?
Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has
both audio and video capabilities.?
So, what about cameras ? ? ?"Elementary, dear Watson".?
Kodak had defined its business as Cameras.?
Sony re-defined its business as digital cameras, which led to the downfall
of conventional cameras.
In the digital camera, the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn
between going digital and sacrificing money on film technology or staying
with films and getting left behind in digital technology.?
Undecided, it tried to do both and lost its market share to Sony.?
The same was true for IBM, whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing
the true potential of the PC. Today, Chinese manufacturers are dominating
this field.
Bill Gates declared that the Internet is a just a passing fad !?
Google is now challenging its domination of the computer field, not in
hardware, but in software.?
The point is not who is today's competitor ??
Today's competitor is obvious. He can be countered.
Its the hidden competitor, who sneaks in from out-field, totally redefining
the rules of the business.
Who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India ? Singapore
airlines? No, neither was it Air India / Indian Airlines.
The answer is Video-conferencing and webex services of HP and Cisco, who
have suddenly made physical travel redundant, since you can now
tele-conference or see your complete team in several countries real-time,
without having to leave the Office.?
Who is the biggest competitor in the Travel business ? ?Not the airlines or
the railways or even the transport companies.
Senior executives in India and abroad were compelled to use
video-conferencing to shrink travel budgets. Internet came to their rescue.
?
Remember the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies ??
Outsourcing has meant that the techie can stay at home and earn much the
same, without having to leave the country.?
India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They are now
going a-begging. Blame it on recession ?! ?
Maybe...but then again, its really not smart to have to emigrate and spend
in dollars, when you can earn abroad and spend it at home.
Remember the VCR craze ? Between 1988 and 1991, the prices of the now
defunct VCR crashed to one-third of its original level in India.?
Similarly, the PC's price has plummeted...lakhs to a few thousands.?
India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly
different. So were the icons.?
> The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag.?
The filmi gods were the Khans ...Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan.?
The film line was all about big money.
That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 overs cricket.?
Then came IPL and the two markets merged into one.?
IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to
the length of a 3 hour movie.?
Cricket became the film industry's competitor !?
On the eve of IPL matches, movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners
requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls, to hang
on to their audiences.?
If IPL is to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films
have to sequence their releases, so as not clash with IPL matches.
As far as the audiences are concerned, both serve the same purpose in India
'3 hour tamasha' (entertainment).?
Look at the products that have vanished in the last 20 years.?
When did you last see a Black and White movie ??
When did you last use a Fountain pen ??
When did you last type on a Typewriter ??
The answer for all the above is "I don't even remember !"?
20 years back, what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning ? The
answer is ?the?ubiquitous?alarm clock.?
The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be
physically keyed every day, to keep it running. It made so much noise, by
way of harsh alarms, that it woke up the entire colony.?
What do we use today for waking up in the morning??
Cellphone !?
An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning, thanks to the
entry of the digital clock and now the cell phones.?
Swiss watch companies are as scarce as water in the Sahara. The IT industry
proved to be their downfall.
You never know behind which bush your competitor is hiding !
Nowadays, you can't be sure, whether the product that you buy today, will
even exist next year.?
VCRs, LPs, Tape-decks have already become extinct.
Even Laptops have all but?disappeared from the consumer's Radar, with the
appearance of sleek new Netbooks :)
Wonder how / when products morph into something else??
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pirates..an evil..?? Think again...
Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as "one of the great menace of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell -- and some justice on their side. ?
Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages. ? Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out
in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century." They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy." This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves. ? The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas. ? Yes: nuclear waste.
As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention." ? At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters." ? This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia
- and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas." William Scott would understand those words. ? No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies.. But the "pirates" have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country's territorial waters." During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America's founding fathers paid pirates to protect America's territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different? ?
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn't act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, we begin to shriek about "evil." If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia's criminals. ? The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate
smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber? ? POSTSCRIPT: Some commenters seem bemused by the fact that both toxic dumping and the theft of fish are happening in the same place - wouldn't this make the fish contaminated? In fact, Somalia's coastline is vast, stretching to 3300km. Imagine how easy it would be - without any coastguard or army - to steal fish from Florida and dump nuclear waste on California, and you get the idea. These events are happening in different places - but with the same horrible effect: death for the locals, and stirred-up piracy. There's no contradiction. ? Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent newspaper?
Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages. ? Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out
in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century." They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy." This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves. ? The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas. ? Yes: nuclear waste.
As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention." ? At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters." ? This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia
- and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas." William Scott would understand those words. ? No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies.. But the "pirates" have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country's territorial waters." During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America's founding fathers paid pirates to protect America's territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different? ?
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn't act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, we begin to shriek about "evil." If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia's criminals. ? The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate
smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber? ? POSTSCRIPT: Some commenters seem bemused by the fact that both toxic dumping and the theft of fish are happening in the same place - wouldn't this make the fish contaminated? In fact, Somalia's coastline is vast, stretching to 3300km. Imagine how easy it would be - without any coastguard or army - to steal fish from Florida and dump nuclear waste on California, and you get the idea. These events are happening in different places - but with the same horrible effect: death for the locals, and stirred-up piracy. There's no contradiction. ? Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent newspaper?
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Why in the down trodden city of **Calcutta**..???
> Soon after independence and in the early 50s Calcutta was one of the best
> cities of India and also considered as the commercial capital of our country
>
>
>
> Those days, Calcutta was still quite a regal, sophisticated, beautiful
> and a clean city, as the British had left it, with some very imposing and
> fine buildings such as the Calcutta High Court, Great Eastern Hotel,
> buildings in Dalhousie Square incl. Writers Building, Grindlays Bank,
> Imperial Bank ( now known as State Bank of India), the Statesman Office ,
> the Grand Hotel in Chowringhee etc etc., not forgetting the beautiful
> Victoria Memorial surrounded by its lovely gardens and the St. Pauls
> Cathredal.
>
>
>
> Calcutta was also famous for its beautifully maintained Maidan, with
> hundreds of trees and dotted with sports clubs?one could even play golf on
> the Maidan.
>
>
>
> Alipore, a very green suburb still has its beautiful Horticultural
> Gardens , well known for its annual flower show in winter. South Calcutta
> was famous for its lake surrounded by trees and Park Circus its poor cousin,
> also had a fairly decent ? park? where we apprentices from Gorachand
> Road enjoyed our evening walks.
>
>
>
> North Calcutta had the very popular Star Theatre, the Mirror Palace ,
> Rajbari and a little beyond Bentick St was the very fascinating China Town.
>
>
>
> Those days the city had some very posh hotels and restaurants, like the
> famous Great Eastern Hotel and the Grand with its very popular restaurant
> the ?Scheherazade? and its ballroom at the ?Princes?. Other very popular restaurants
> were Firpos, Flurys, Trincas and Kwality and a very good Chinese
> restaurant on Park St. which I think was named Peiping. Our favorite used
> to be the very reasonably priced ?Magnolia? on Park St with Patricia singing
> away as well as ?Mocambo? on Free School St. with the famous and very
> popular Pam Crain at the mike
>
>
>
> Besides the very popular hotels and restaurants Calcutta was also well
> known for its club life . The posh clubs being?Bengal Club, Tollygunge Club,
> Royal Golf Club, the famous Calcutta Cricket and Football Club which claims
> to be the second oldest sports club in the world, the Saturday Club, the
> Royal Turf Club, Calcutta Rowing Club, the Dalhousie Institute ( very
> popular with the Anglo Indians ) and of course the various football clubs
> such as Mohan Bagan, East Bengal, Mohd Sporting, and others who had their
> club houses on the Maidan
>
>
>
>
>
> In 40s and 50s Calcutta was the commercial capital of India and well known
> companies such as Duncans, Shaw Wallace, Andrew Yule, Imperial Tobacco, now
> known as India Tobacco Co (ITC) , Metal Box, Imperial Chemical Industries
> (ICI), Shalimar Paints, J.Thomas, Macneil & Barry, Mckinnon & Mckenzie,
> Jessop, Kilburn, Dunlop, the Birla group, and many more, besides a whole
> lot of tea companies had their head offices in Calcutta
>
>
>
> The city transportation system was also quite good in our time and the
> Calcutta Tramways Co had a fairly efficient service. We used to hop onto
> a tram at Park Circus and reach Esplanade in about 20 minutes --- the
> fare 10 paise (old currency )
>
>
>
> Calcutta was also the largest and the busiest port in India, right up to
> the 70s, and at times there used to be over a hundred ships in port with
> every berth in the King Georges Dock (now known as Netaji Subhash Dock),
> Kidderpore Dock, river jetties and buoys occupied and at times double banked
>
>
>
> Maximum number of ships used to be repaired at Calcutta, in fact even some
> foreign passenger and cargo ships used to specially come to Calcutta for dry
> docking and be laid up for repairs / survey just like these days we send
> our ships to Colombo, Dubai, Singapore and China for heavy repairs and
> dry docking . To cater to the ship repair business there were some very well
> equipped marine repair workshops such as Garden Reach Workshops, IGNR later
> known as the CIWTC Rajabagan Dockyard, Shalimar Works, Hoogly Docking and
> last but not the least the Calcutta Port Trust workshops which catered to
> its large fleet of port craft and dredgers. All these marine workshops were
> well known for their highly skilled manpower.
>
>
>
> In other words, besides being the commercial capital, Calcutta was also the
> shipping capital of India. It was obvious that Calcutta with its excellent
> ship repair facilities was ideally suited for training of marine engineers,
> more so since the deck cadets were being trained on the Dufferin at
> Bombay, and therefore setting up the DMET at Calcutta was fully justified
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *The decline of **Calcutta**?..*
>
>
>
> It is indeed very unfortunate that the shipping scene has drastically
> changed as far as Calcutta is concerned. The port was very busy right up to
> the mid 70s but started deteriorating, thanks to frequent strikes / labour
> problems, and its inability to cater to deep draft ships. The prevailing
> political situation in West Bengal, Naxalite activities, labour
> problems, strikes, ?gheraoes?, and the huge shortage of electric power,
> resulting in frequent load shedding was the beginning of the end.
>
>
>
> Companies started shifting their operations out of Calcutta and some just
> folded up. Trade and commerce at Calcutta suffered
>
>
>
> As for the city of Calcutta and its ?down trodden ? condition, you will be
> surprised to know that up to the late 40s, the streets of the then
> Calcutta were hosed down early in the morning at about 5AM every day by
> the staff of the Calcutta Municipality ! (If you do not believe me, please
> ask your parents / grand parents re the same). The rot started with the
> influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan, living on the streets in the
> city with no proper rehabilitation (unlike the refugees from West
> Pakistan ) , down turn in the state economy, and due to the rampant corruption,
> indiscipline and breakdown of civic services of the notorious
> Municipality of Calcutta
>
>
>
> The ruling Left Front continued to harbor anti private industry policies
> for 30 years. By the time they realized the damage caused to West Bengal?s
> economy and tried to attract private investment, the Trinamool had picked up
> the baton , and now its back to square one!
>
>
> cities of India and also considered as the commercial capital of our country
>
>
>
> Those days, Calcutta was still quite a regal, sophisticated, beautiful
> and a clean city, as the British had left it, with some very imposing and
> fine buildings such as the Calcutta High Court, Great Eastern Hotel,
> buildings in Dalhousie Square incl. Writers Building, Grindlays Bank,
> Imperial Bank ( now known as State Bank of India), the Statesman Office ,
> the Grand Hotel in Chowringhee etc etc., not forgetting the beautiful
> Victoria Memorial surrounded by its lovely gardens and the St. Pauls
> Cathredal.
>
>
>
> Calcutta was also famous for its beautifully maintained Maidan, with
> hundreds of trees and dotted with sports clubs?one could even play golf on
> the Maidan.
>
>
>
> Alipore, a very green suburb still has its beautiful Horticultural
> Gardens , well known for its annual flower show in winter. South Calcutta
> was famous for its lake surrounded by trees and Park Circus its poor cousin,
> also had a fairly decent ? park? where we apprentices from Gorachand
> Road enjoyed our evening walks.
>
>
>
> North Calcutta had the very popular Star Theatre, the Mirror Palace ,
> Rajbari and a little beyond Bentick St was the very fascinating China Town.
>
>
>
> Those days the city had some very posh hotels and restaurants, like the
> famous Great Eastern Hotel and the Grand with its very popular restaurant
> the ?Scheherazade? and its ballroom at the ?Princes?. Other very popular restaurants
> were Firpos, Flurys, Trincas and Kwality and a very good Chinese
> restaurant on Park St. which I think was named Peiping. Our favorite used
> to be the very reasonably priced ?Magnolia? on Park St with Patricia singing
> away as well as ?Mocambo? on Free School St. with the famous and very
> popular Pam Crain at the mike
>
>
>
> Besides the very popular hotels and restaurants Calcutta was also well
> known for its club life . The posh clubs being?Bengal Club, Tollygunge Club,
> Royal Golf Club, the famous Calcutta Cricket and Football Club which claims
> to be the second oldest sports club in the world, the Saturday Club, the
> Royal Turf Club, Calcutta Rowing Club, the Dalhousie Institute ( very
> popular with the Anglo Indians ) and of course the various football clubs
> such as Mohan Bagan, East Bengal, Mohd Sporting, and others who had their
> club houses on the Maidan
>
>
>
>
>
> In 40s and 50s Calcutta was the commercial capital of India and well known
> companies such as Duncans, Shaw Wallace, Andrew Yule, Imperial Tobacco, now
> known as India Tobacco Co (ITC) , Metal Box, Imperial Chemical Industries
> (ICI), Shalimar Paints, J.Thomas, Macneil & Barry, Mckinnon & Mckenzie,
> Jessop, Kilburn, Dunlop, the Birla group, and many more, besides a whole
> lot of tea companies had their head offices in Calcutta
>
>
>
> The city transportation system was also quite good in our time and the
> Calcutta Tramways Co had a fairly efficient service. We used to hop onto
> a tram at Park Circus and reach Esplanade in about 20 minutes --- the
> fare 10 paise (old currency )
>
>
>
> Calcutta was also the largest and the busiest port in India, right up to
> the 70s, and at times there used to be over a hundred ships in port with
> every berth in the King Georges Dock (now known as Netaji Subhash Dock),
> Kidderpore Dock, river jetties and buoys occupied and at times double banked
>
>
>
> Maximum number of ships used to be repaired at Calcutta, in fact even some
> foreign passenger and cargo ships used to specially come to Calcutta for dry
> docking and be laid up for repairs / survey just like these days we send
> our ships to Colombo, Dubai, Singapore and China for heavy repairs and
> dry docking . To cater to the ship repair business there were some very well
> equipped marine repair workshops such as Garden Reach Workshops, IGNR later
> known as the CIWTC Rajabagan Dockyard, Shalimar Works, Hoogly Docking and
> last but not the least the Calcutta Port Trust workshops which catered to
> its large fleet of port craft and dredgers. All these marine workshops were
> well known for their highly skilled manpower.
>
>
>
> In other words, besides being the commercial capital, Calcutta was also the
> shipping capital of India. It was obvious that Calcutta with its excellent
> ship repair facilities was ideally suited for training of marine engineers,
> more so since the deck cadets were being trained on the Dufferin at
> Bombay, and therefore setting up the DMET at Calcutta was fully justified
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *The decline of **Calcutta**?..*
>
>
>
> It is indeed very unfortunate that the shipping scene has drastically
> changed as far as Calcutta is concerned. The port was very busy right up to
> the mid 70s but started deteriorating, thanks to frequent strikes / labour
> problems, and its inability to cater to deep draft ships. The prevailing
> political situation in West Bengal, Naxalite activities, labour
> problems, strikes, ?gheraoes?, and the huge shortage of electric power,
> resulting in frequent load shedding was the beginning of the end.
>
>
>
> Companies started shifting their operations out of Calcutta and some just
> folded up. Trade and commerce at Calcutta suffered
>
>
>
> As for the city of Calcutta and its ?down trodden ? condition, you will be
> surprised to know that up to the late 40s, the streets of the then
> Calcutta were hosed down early in the morning at about 5AM every day by
> the staff of the Calcutta Municipality ! (If you do not believe me, please
> ask your parents / grand parents re the same). The rot started with the
> influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan, living on the streets in the
> city with no proper rehabilitation (unlike the refugees from West
> Pakistan ) , down turn in the state economy, and due to the rampant corruption,
> indiscipline and breakdown of civic services of the notorious
> Municipality of Calcutta
>
>
>
> The ruling Left Front continued to harbor anti private industry policies
> for 30 years. By the time they realized the damage caused to West Bengal?s
> economy and tried to attract private investment, the Trinamool had picked up
> the baton , and now its back to square one!
>
>
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