Can Wall street's pain be Dalal's gain?

The Safron Surge

The congress leaders must be thinking as to what went wrong for them.Karnataka was the most recent battleground lost.This is in contrast to the BJP leaders who must be extremely upbeat after their victory in Karnataka and are now looking forward to the Battle of Delhi.BJP's victory in Karnataka marks the first time that a BJP led govt. will be formed in the southern states.

BJP now has control of 11 states in India while the congress has only 2 states in which it has formed a govt. on its own.Later this year,elections will be held in Madhya Pradesh.It will interesting to see,who takes Madhya Pradesh.In the coming general elections,the BJP can now play a lot of cards to its advantage,namely the Price Rise issue,delay in the Afzal excecution case,increase in crime and terrorist activities(also making a point that POTA should not have been scrapped) and also the fact that a BJP-led coalition is a leftless one (which will defenitely appeal to the private sector) .However,congress to0 can actually win these elections but to do so it needs to sort out its leadership issues.One of the main reasons why congress has lost in the recent state elections is that it hadn't managed to project any leader whereas BJP had projected B S Yeduriappa in Karnataka and Narendra Modi in Gujarat.It is now high time that congress projected a prime ministerial candidate.I would personally vouch for Dr. Manmohan Singh from the congress' perspective but he just doesn't appeal to the lower sections of the society who dont care whether the prime minister is from harward or oxford.Another card that the congress can play is the IIT issue.Over a fortnight,the number of IITs has increased from 7 to 13 and with IT BHU also going to be converted into IIT,the total number will be 14.Furthermore ,the govt has also started a lot of other institutes as well.This will defenitely go well with the young voters.Congress can and will defenitely play the reservation card .The left is defenitely on their way out and are not expected to capture as many seats as they did in 2004.

No. of seats from the left's perspective:

2004 66

2008 35(based on a few exit polls conducted by various agencies)

Quite frankly,I am happy to see the back of the left and hope that in the eventuality of the congress forming the govt,it should be a leftless govt.The left has always tried to sacrifice national economic growth for their vested interests.The Indo-US nuke deal was probably the best thing that happened to India and in the current circumstances of high crude prices,it is now all the more important for India to pass the Indo-US deal for India to safeguard its energy security.

Anyways,it is interesting to see what happens in the general elections and we will defenitely find out this time next year.One thing is for sure,BJP does have the upper hand at the moment and congress seriously needs to get its acts right othwerwise they can start preparing to sit in the opposition for the next 5 years.

US Elections-The Indian perspective

Elections in the United states: Indian Perspective

India and the United States have always shared a blow hot, blow cold
relationship. The United States wants to forge a new relationship with India
because India has nuclear weapons, is a fellow democracy, is the fastest
growing economy, and in the next 25 years will be the world’s fourth largest
economy beating France and Germany. So what happens now that the US is
headed to get a new President?

Many US Presidents have visited India in hopes of establishing an amicable
nuclear relationship. They have all gone back unsuccessful. The main reason
why India is visible on the world map nowadays is because it is a nuclear
power. Why would the Indians want to give that away?

So, with Presidential elections round the corner, will India be affected?

Possibly not. The reasons are:
· India is an important world entity, to which both the Congress and the
Democrats agree.
· If the Democrats were to be elected, they would support the nuclear
deal because it is a question of national security for the United States.
· The Indo-US relationship has become stronger because of the
proposed civil nuclear deal.
· Clinton re-opened the India-United States relationship in 2000 by
visiting India. Bush has taken the relationship ahead by visiting India
and renewing connections. Clinton is a Democrat and Bush is
Republican. India has benefited from both.
· India, China and Pakistan are all competing to become a powerful
world economy. United States will be giving India a new development
faucet to derive its energy while safeguarding its own interest.
Whether it is trade, investment or agriculture, India and the United
States are working eye to eye.

For the first time ever, the relationship between the United States and India
is being formed on an equal ground. The reason is that India’s economy is
growing at an amazing rate, and India’s economy is very important from a
global perspective.

The big question is that once elected, could any of the Presidential
candidates change the dynamic relationship between the United States and
India?

First let’s have a look at the republican candidate John Mc Cain. He ,being a
republican candidate means that India need not hurry with the passing of the
Indo-nuclear deal as John McCain is one of those who has always supported
the deal. Rumors have also started floating up that, if at all John McCain was
to become president, then Bobby Jindal may actually be made the vice
president .Definitely, India has a lot to gain from this eventuality.

Democrats have always been Indophile, in fact a majority of them always
seen India as a key ally of the United states but also a majority of them
are/were non-proliferators which means there could be more obstacles as far
as the Indo-US deal is concerned .However, if Hillary Rodham Clinton was
that democrat who was to win the race, then India could benefit from this. It
is also said that American Indians raised close to $2bn for Clinton’s
campaign.

Senator Barrack Obama seems to be the uncertain party as to whether is
actually keen on taking the Indo-US relationship to another level but
nonetheless in his electoral speeches, he has hinted and given an indication
that he cannot neglect India because of her growing stature in the world
politics.

Anyway, exactly a year from now, we will have an answer to this very
intriguing question.

The great Indian Story-Can it last?

India is witnessing a boom like anything else we have seen in these past 60 of our independent years.The today's Indian is a confident Indian.He hopes for a better future.A few decades back,a typical Indian in the west was perceived as a snake charmer or a farmer and so on.Well ,A majority of us are still all those.But in the west,today,we are perceived as great thinkers,visionaries,"mathe-magicians" and software wizards.Today ,facilities have become much better than what they were a decade back.But this growth story is now threatened due to many factors.I analyze a few of these factors.

However,problems of Fuel price rise ,slow rate of development of our infrastructure.Emerging instability at the center etc. are beginning to hamper this growth story.Already ,fuel prices have reached an all time high of 135$ a barrel and has already propelled inflation to 7.6%.The common man is now strained as far as his budget is concerned.And,what more ,the poor(about 300 million) are going get only poorer.One way of curbing the fuel prices could have been to introduce a better public transport system.But unfortunately ,our transport system simply sucks big time.

Infrastructure is the foundation on which any vibrant economy can survive.In India,we are faced with a dubious task of revamping our very poor infrastructure.This is where involvement of the private players becomes even more important.But then again,"Thanks to the far sighted Left that is happening ,isn't it!!!!".

Also another hindrance is the emergence of the the regional parties.This has led to a decrease in the stability at the center.As the UPA govt has found out,it really doesn't need any opposition does it when they have the left.The above has led to a situation where the govt has not been able to bring in Big reforms.this sends out a wrong signal to the foreign investors.

In conclusion,it is to be seen whether we are able to sustain our famous growth story.

Hurray for the Mumbai Indians

2 weeks back,who would have expected that they would be a force to reckon with in the IPL.Jayasuriya "overthrew" the kings,pollock stopped the riders and bravo "uncharged" the chargers.That has been the story of the Mumbai Indians in the IPL since the disastrous start to their IPL campaign.

If Jayasuriya proved that he was still the explosive batsman that he is,Pollock proved that he is still the most accurate bowler in the world.Mumbai Indians now have a serious chance of maybe ,even winning the IPL.They have mixed experience with youth well.The trio of Jayasuriya,Pollock and Tendulkar haved proved that experience and talent finally makes all the difference in the world.

Is it the end of the Fed-Ex?

Long gone are the days,when the mighty star would just walk on to the court and opponents would shudder at his feet.His majestic stroke play would leave spectators wondering whether they are seeing a sporting match or ballroom dance or an art exhibition.That in nut-shell describes the gr8 swiss maestro,the one and only roger federer.

This was the man until last year.This year,he has won only 1 title.What adds to his worries is that he has lost to the most unpredictable ,most recently his loss at the Rome masters to Stephanek.The big question is whether he can hold on to the no. one slot this year.

With a poor run this year already...the French open seems to be definitely out of his reach.It would be very interesting to see what happen.The day he looses at Wimbledon ,one could say.....it is an end of an era in Tennis