India then and now: Kalam's Mantra

Some views from the great man Abdul Kalam:

The Vision

"I climbed and climbed
Where is the peak, my Lord?
I ploughed and ploughed,
Where is the knowledge treasure, my Lord?
I sailed and sailed,
Where is the island of peace, my Lord?
Almighty, bless my nation
With vision and sweat resulting into happiness."

"In 1991, we were in a precarious foreign exchange reserve condition. We had to pledge our gold to maintain the minimum balance required for our imports. Inflation was high. Land lines were few and mobile phones were a luxury. The people had to wait for telephone connections for months after booking. We had to wait in long queues for the railway reservation. We had very few automobile companies and there was a large waiting list for getting the allotment for a car or scooter. The export performance from software, pharma and other industries were negligible. This was the scene in 1991.

"Today, India is in an ascending economic trajectory, with continuously rising foreign exchange reserves, moderate rate of inflation, global recognition of our technological competence, energy of 540 million youth, umbilical connectivities of 23 million people of Indian origin in various parts of the planet. India as the largest democracy in the world has the reputation for providing leadership to one billion people with multi-cultural, multi-language and multi-religious backgrounds. India has become a trillion dollar economy."


Societal needs

Kalam visualised the following distinctive profile of India to emerge by the year 2020:

1. A nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.
2. A nation where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water.
3. A nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony.
4. A nation where education with value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination.
5. A nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors.
6. A nation where the best of health care is available to all.
7. A nation where the governance is responsive and transparent.
8. A nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed and crimes against women and children are absent and none in the society feels alienated.
9. A nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path.
10. A nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership.


Integrated Action for developed India

"To achieve the distinctive profile of India, we have the mission of transforming India into a developed nation. We have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action:

1. Agriculture and food processing
2. Reliable electric power, transport and infrastructure for all parts of the country.
3. Education and healthcare
4. Information and communication technology
5. Self reliance in critical technologies.

"These five areas are closely inter-related and if progressed in a coordinated way, will lead to food, economic and national security."

"Our story is still unfolding. The global environment, however, needs protection and India's freedom won by suffering and sacrifice has to be alertly guarded, strengthened and expanded. Freedom and independence must be our continuing quest, and in such a manner as to accelerate our evolution as a free nation through a bold and swift development."

"The time has now arrived for India to emerge with a new vision and leadership to make our nation not only enlightened, rich and prosperous, but above all, a safe nation, invulnerable forever to invasion and infiltration across its borders and bring unity of minds."

"Economic prosperity is possible only if we adopt and practice the value system in a society, which is derived out of our civilizational heritage. For all these actions, righteousness in the heart is very essential.

"Knowledge society will emerge only by the enlightened citizens of the nation. Our challenge today, is to bring the societal transformation with value system leading to a prosperous, happy and peaceful nation. It is the responsibility of the developed and developing nations to create peaceful neighbors with inclusive growth devoid of societal imbalance."

"Make it a reality by your attitude of give, give and give of the knowledge and experience you have gained over the years. This will be the singular contribution for which our motherland will be proud of you."

Uneasy Calm

To summarize the current market and the sentiment:

Mergers, Fed cuts, subprime worries, mortgage woes, credit crunch, inflation, housing slump, unemployment reports, financials fall, tech stocks battered, blue chips slide, more selling rocks wall street, earnings mixed, oil climbs, dollar declines, hegde fund dissolves, foreclosures jump, outlook dissapoints... and yet some people deny recession. I love the optimism but I think it would be more beneficial to reevaluate and reconsider a lot of things related to your assets to reduce the financial pinch.

Stock Market

It's been sometime since I wrote on the blog but plan to be post more regularly henceforth.

The last couple of weeks in the market had a lot happening on all fronts.

The JP Morgan and Fed bailout of Bear Sterns was a relief of sorts for (BSC) since it's cash position had significantly deteriorated however the events rattled many investors. The skepticism and anticipation of what happens to the other investment banks and financial institutions led to the falling markets. Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs reported better results than expected which led to the big rally early last week.

The Fed are definitely taking a lot of measures to curtail the recession and has pumped billions into the economy. It cut the discount rate again which matters a lot since that's the rate at which security firms borrow money.

It was good to see that JP Morgan upped the bid to $10 from $2 per share of BSC. (I can't imagine that company which was trading a year back for $170 per share going for $2 per share)
The Dept. of Justice approved the Satellite radio merger between Sirius and Xm Radio.

The combined effect of all this besides the manufacturing/factory report, rise of home sales data, tech stocks rally and the new Bear bid boost the market which finished higher end of last week.

More later..

Talk about Compound Interest

"During the 20th century, the Dow advanced from 66 to 11,497. This gain, though it appears huge, shrinks to 5.3% when compounded annually ... For investors to merely match that 5.3% market-value gain, the Dow--recently below 13,000--would need to close at about 2,000,000 on Dec. 31, 2099." - Warren Buffet

Law is strangling creativity

Martha Stewart Scandal

Read the timeline of events in the Martha Stewart stock scandal

Is Alibaba Worth More Than Google?

Alibaba.com, China’s largest e-commerce company, on Monday launched what is set to be one of the world’s most expensive initial public offerings, seeking to raise up to 11.6 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.49 billion) through a share sale priced at a much higher valuation than investors paid for Google when it came public.

Click here to read the entire Forbes story.