Minister Kamal Nath visits Chicago for Trade ... - Embassy of India

4BilateralVISITSTop US Senators visit IndiaAthree-member U.S. Congressional delegation(CODEL) visited India on February 20, as part of athree-nation tour of India, Pakistan andAfghanistan. The Senators visited India after observing theelections in Pakistan on February 18. The delegation comprisedSenator Joseph Biden (Democrat-Delaware),Senator John Kerry (Democrat-Massachusetts) andSenator Chuck Hagel (Republican-Nebraska). SenatorBiden is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee. Senator Kerry is the chairman of the SFRC'sSub-committee on Near East and South and Central AsianAffairs. At a press briefing before the delegation’s departure,Senator Hagel said: “So we have got a very significant universeof common interests here with India that we need toenhance and we need to build on and try to strengthen aswe go forward. And these kinds of visits and exchanges helpdo that.”In New Delhi, they called on Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and discussed with him the entire spectrumof bilateral relations, including the civil nuclear initiative,and regional developments. The Senators expressedThe Sixth Meeting of the India-U.S. HighTechnology Cooperation Group (HTCG)was held in New Delhi on February 28-29,2008. The Indian delegation was led byForeign Secretary Shivshankar Menon andthe U.S. delegation by Under Secretary ofCommerce for Industry and Security MarioMancuso. The architecture of the HTCGinvolves private sector participation as anintegral part of its working format. Theindustry engagement on the first day, withwide participation of a cross-section ofIndian and U.S. industry, identified the areasof common interest requiring specific actionby both sides for enhancing high technologytransfers to India. These were considered bythe two government delegations who agreedon a comprehensive plan to respond to theindustry’s recommendations.Highlights of the action plan include atimetable for reviewing export controls inrespect of India while building on innovativeefforts already underway for simplifyingexport controls. India recognized and welcomedthe U.S. Administration’s announcementof their Dual Use Export Control ReformInitiative. On the Validated End User Programwhich was notified by the U.S. Governmenton October 2, 2007 as a U.S. initiative tosimplify export licensing requirements forIndian companies, both sides agreed thatForeign Secretary Shivshankar Menon withUnder Secretary of Commerce for Industryand Security Mario Mancuso during theSixth India-U.S. HTCG meeting in New Delhi.further discussions were required as U.S.export control polices should keep pace withthe transformed relationship between Indiaand the U.S. On nanotechnology, the twosides agreed to focus on commercial applicationsof cost-effective solutions for the benefitof society in the areas of health, energy,potable water and sustainable development.On biotechnology, both governmentsagreed to support advanced technologytransfers that would stimulate capacity buildingin life sciences. They also agreed toengage in harmonization of regulatory systemsin medical devices, pharmaceuticals andbiotechnology with the ultimate objective ofimproving market access. On IT, the two sidesagreed to focus on further collaboration inPrime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh meeting with a group of U.S. Senatorswho called on him in New Delhi on February 20. (From L-R) U.S.Ambassador to India, David C. Mulford, Senators Chuck Hagel, John Kerryand Joseph Biden. National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan and PrincipalSecretary to the Prime Minister T.K.A. Nair are also seen.support for the broad-based relationship between India andthe U.S. They also shared their assessment of the schedulefor the consideration of the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreementby the U.S. Congress in the context of theCongressional calendar for 2008.Indo-US HTCG meeting held in New Delhitrade on advanced electronics and software,high performance computers, encryption andnext generation technologies. In defense, theGroup agreed on an ambitious plan to givean impetus to high technology transfers andtrade that would address all issues related tolicensing and India’s defense offsets policy,encouraging collaborations at all levelsincluding small and medium enterprises. Thetwo sides looked forward to a series of timeboundactions in these areas to raise hightechnology commerce to the next level ofbilateral cooperation.In his keynote remarks on the Industry Dayof the HTCG, Minister of Science & Technology,Kapil Sibal said, “The strategic partnershipbetween India and the U.S. is a truly globalpartnership. It holds the potential of benefittinghumanity by helping the world face up toemerging challenges of the 21st century —such as global warming, terrorism and economicsecurity of the masses — through cooperationin frontier areas of technology.”The High Technology Cooperation Groupconstituted in 2003, had identified fourbroad areas of priority focus for promotingand facilitating bilateral commerce inadvanced technology items between Indiaand the United States: Defense and StrategicTrade; Biotechnology; InformationTechnology; and Nanotechnology.March 2008India Review

BilateralVISITSUnion Minister Kamal Nath launches “Investingin America: The Indian Story” in ChicagoCommerce and IndustryMinister, Kamal Nath launchedthe “Investing in America: theIndian Story”, a joint initiative of theUS-India Business Council (USIBC)and Federation of Indian Chamber ofCommerce & Industry (FICCI) inChicago on February 19. The initiativeaims at highlighting the multiple contributionsmade by Indian companies tothe U.S. economy.‘The Indian story’ tells the stories ofsome of the top Indian companiesoperating in America including theTata Group, Ranbaxy Laboratories,HCL Technologies, Mahindra U.S.A.,Satyam Computer Systems, EssarGroup, Wockhardt, Thermax, ITCGroup, Bharat Forge America, KotakMahindra, and Jet Airways, amongothers. The audience learnt about thevalue that these companies of IndianCommerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nathspeaking at the launch of roadshows. RonSomers, President USIBC, Ambassador RonenSen and USTR Ambassador Susan C. Schwab(seated from left to right) are also seen.origin were adding to the Americaneconomy through technology innovation,employment generation and inmany other ways.In his remarks on the occasion,Minister Nath highlighted the impressivegrowth in Indian investments inU.S. This was complemented by arapid increase in U.S. exports to India,which had grown much faster thanIndia’s exports to the U.S. in 2007.“India was not worried about thisbecause trade and investment has to bea two-way street. We are glad that thetraffic is increasing on this street — inboth directions,” Minister Nath said.U.S. Trade Representative AmbassadorSusan Schwab was also present at theevent and congratulated the Indiancompanies for their contribution to theU.S. economy.Ambassador Ronen Sen also spokeon the occasion and welcomed thegrowing vigor and diversity of theIndia-U.S. partnership. “From mangoesto the moon — its scope is indeedvaried and limitless. Last year, we witnessedthe arrival of first Indian mangoesin United States. Soon, for thefirst time, NASA equipment will be carriedto the moon on an Indian spacevehicle”, he said.6First India-US SME Summit takes place in ChicagoTo promote further economic and commercialco-operation between their Small andMedium Enterprises (SME) sectors, a U.S.-India SME Summit was jointly organized onFebruary 20 in Chicago by Federation ofIndian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(FICCI), U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC)and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.The inspiration for the event came fromCommerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nathand U.S. Trade Representative AmbassadorSusan Schwab and it was timed to coincidewith the fifth meeting of the Trade PolicyForum, which they co-chair.In her key note remarks on the occasion,Ambassador Schwab said that she andMinister Nath “saw that the smaller companies— with their incredible entrepreneurialpotential — were not as involved in trade”between the two countries as they could beand wanted to find a way to help. This summitprovided the answer as was aimed ataddressing the many unique challenges thatthe SMEs faced in trying to globalize.Ambassador Sen, who gave the openingremarks at the summit, pointed to the twowaynature of trade, investments, and jobcreation between India and the U.S. He said:“This is as it should beand these healthy twowaytrends will reinforcethe long-termstakes in taking thepartnership betweenour two countries to itsAmbassador Sennatural level. The SMEcommunities on both sides have an importantrole in expanding the scope and impactof this collaboration.”The summit’s content was designed togenerate awareness of further opportunitiesfor SMEs in both the countries, especially inthe manufacturing sector through leveragingthe opportunities offered by global supplychains. It sought to address the question ofhow SMEs could amplify the global competitivenessof firms of all sizes. Besides casestudy presentations on ‘SMEs — Indian andU.S.’ — which had successfully leveraged theglobal supply chain, there were panel discussionson ‘A Vision for Future Opportunities’;‘Enhanced SME Partnerships: Engineeringand Manufacturing’ and ‘Financing SMECompetitiveness in a Global Economy’.Over 50 businessmen from 45 IndianSMEs participated in the summit, covering awide range of sectors including agricultureand food processing, automotive components,engineering goods, chemicals/fertilizers,electrical goods, bio-technology, pharmaceuticals,medical equipment, logistics, watertreatment/waste management, plastics,IT/consultancy, wood products, textiles, giftitems, leather, financial services and consultancy/tradeadvisory services.Indian SMEs are already doing well, contribute40 percent of the country’s manufacturingsector output, 6.75 percent of GDP, andprovide employment to about 20 million people.More than 50 percent of the Indianexports are contributed by SMEs of whichabout 15 percent are through indirect exports.With India’s manufacturing emerging as anew engine for growth, New Delhi looks atU.S. an excellent partner to consolidate itsposition as a global manufacturing hub inthe coming years. Chicago and mid-westernstates of U.S., which together form the manufacturinghub of the U.S., can play a specialrole in exploiting the synergies.The summit concluded with about 150matchmaking meetings on February 21 connectingIndian and U.S. SMEs and major MNCsto each other for new business opportunities.March 2008India Review

EconomyNEWSInformation and communication technologymarket to reach $24.3 billion by 2011: GartnerDriven by the increasinguse of technology bysmall and mid-sizedbusinesses, the country’s informationand communicationtechnology market is estimatedto grow 20.3 percent annually toreach $24.3 billion by 2011,industry research firm Gartnersaid recently.“The growth will be driven bychief information officers(CIOs) continuing to build andconsolidate the basic IT infrastructure,in addition to smalland mid-size businesses increasinglyleveraging technology todrive business growth and efficiency,”it said.The total Indian ICT market was$9.6 billion in 2006, including hardwareand software.Though worldwide IT budgets areexpected to increase by 3.3 percent in2008, slightly higher than 2007,Indian firms would report strongerthan-averageIT budget increases ofaround 13 percent.“This increased spending by IndianCIOs is directed primarilytoward building new businesscapabilities, with 30 percent ofIT spend allocated for businessgrowth and 19 percent towardbusiness transformation,” thefirm said.The Indian technology landscapewas evolving rapidly, drivenby sustained growth in theoffshore services sector withstrong domestic growth.Indian firms are spending theirbudgets more on hardware andsoftware than on people, Gartnersaid, adding this is significant asIndian firms continue to build ontheir infrastructure.The HR component of the IT budgetwould grow as the emphasis shiftsfrom implementing standard (generic)solutions to creating unique productsand services, it added.7IBM launches deliverycenter in NoidaIBM India expanded its operationsin the northern State of UttarPradesh with the inauguration of anew Global Delivery Center in Noida. This is IBMGlobal Business Services’ first such center in Noida.In a second phase of the expansion, IBM willopen another center in the vicinity, which is expectedto be fully operational by mid-2008. Both thecenter will house around 3,000 employees once fullystaffed, the company said in a release.These centers will enable IBM to increase its existingapplication services portfolio to support a growingglobal client base. With the addition of thesecenters, IBM’s global delivery operations will be providedfrom six locations — Bangalore, Hyderabad,Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Gurgaon/Noida in India.The center will be an integral part of IBM’s globaldelivery network, spread across three dozen countriesaround the world.“IBM will increase its operations in Noida by hiringtechnology graduates and IT professionals withskills in IT strategy and architecture, business consulting,enterprise solutions (SAP, Siebel, and Oracle),testing, and business intelligence,” said RajeshNambiar, general manager and vice-president,Global Delivery, IBM India.DuPont hires 600 scientists forIndian R&D facilityThe Rs. 1 trillion U.S.-based scienceand technology company E.I. du Pontde Nemours and Co. has chosenHyderabad to set up its first research centeroutside the United States.Being set up with an investment of Rs. 2 billion, the center will start itsfirst phase of operations in April.“India has a top quality science and technology talent. We are looking atleveraging this talent for our next level of growth,” said S.T. Tsay, regionaldirector, Asia-Pacific, Human Resources, DuPont.While the center’s primary focus will be on research in the biotechnologysector, other research work will be focussed on biofuels, renewableenergy and life sciences.The company has already signed up 100 engineers, scientists andresearch associates in disciplines across biotechnology, chemicals andmaterial sciences. “India is strategic to us in terms of human capital. TheIndian education system produces high quality engineers and scientists.And the fact that these people are fluent in English is an added advantage,”said Tsay. He is overseeing the hiring activity for the knowledgecenter.DuPont has more than 5,000 scientists working for it in different locationsacross the world. The Indian team will work closely with them. Anumber of new hires have been sent to the Central Research andDevelopment Center in the U.S. for initial training.March 2008India Review

EconomyNEWSIndia to buy six Lockheed transport aircraftThe U.S. defense and aerospacegiant, Lockheed Martin, hassigned a deal with the Indiangovernment worth an estimated$1.1 billion to sell six Super HerculesC-130J military transport planes.“We are proud India chose theC-130J to meet its airlift needs,”Orville Prins, vice-president for businessdevelopment in India forLockheed Martin Aeronautics, toldreporters at the recent defense expositionheld in New Delhi.“They will soon join the ranks ofseven countries who experience firsthand the outstanding capabilities of theC-130J Super Hercules,” Prins said,even as the company made a strongpitch for its F-16 multi-role fighters.He said the aircraft’s heavy-lift capabilities,advanced cockpit avionics andversatility in adverse terrain and flyingconditions will help it exceed India’sunique requirements for an advancedtactical air lifter.The C-130J model is the latest versionof the Hercules C-130 that hasbeen configured for landing and takeofffrom a grassy field or dirt patch thesize of a football field. It can climb andget out of a threat area fast. Namedafter the mythical Greek figure, thefour-engine Hercules is one of the oldesttransport aircraft in the world thatwas introduced in the 1950s and isbeing used in 67 countries.The cost of the Super Hercules dealhas not been disclosed but indicationsfrom Washington place the package atnearly $1.1 billion, which outstrips thecost of the two earlier deals put together.The U.S. government will guaranteesupplies of equipment and infrastructureunder its foreign militarysales program but not commercialdetails such as offsets that is left to themanufacturing company. Both the F-16IN warplane and the C-130J haveinherent capabilities to meet the longtermrequirements for military aircraftin India, Prins said.8US firm Astonfield to build energyprojects in West BengalAstonfieldManagement Ltd, aU.S.-based infrastructureprojectmanagementcompany, willbegin construction of renewable energyprojects in West Bengal this year.The firm has received official allotmentsfrom the West BengalRenewable Energy DevelopmentAgency (WBREDA).The first three projects granted to itare a 10 MW biomass unit atGangarampur in South Dinajpur, a 5MW solar-PV unit in Bankura districtUS firms keen to explore oil and gas in IndiaAroad show that theIndian governmentorganized in Houstonrecently, to showcase the57 exploration blockscurrently on offer for bidding,elicited enthusiastic response frominternational oil and gas companies, accordingto an official statement.and a 1 MW manure-to-power unit atKalyani in Nadia.Of the three projects, the 10 MWbiomass project will cost approximatelyRs.600 million while Rs.1 billionwould be spent for the 5 MW solarpower unit and Rs.80 million for the 1MW of manure-to-power project.When completed, the 5 MW solar PVinstallation in Bankura will be thelargest solar facility in India. The groupintends to spend Rs.20 billion onrenewable energy projects over the nexttwo years in India. Astonfield had earlierannounced their India presence inBangalore last year and begun theirwork in West Bengal.“ENI, Total, British Petroleum, StatoilHydro and Harvest Natural Resourceswere key among the oil and gas companiesthat participated in the Houston roadshow,” it said.According to the petroleum ministry, ofthe 57 exploration blocks being offered thistime for bidding, 19 are in deep water, ninein shallow water and 29 on land.Mindteck acquiresUS companyMindteck (India) Ltd., a global technologyand IT services company, hasacquired the U.S.-based Infotech Consultingand plans to acquire three more companiesin the U.S., Europe and Asia by the end ofMarch, a top company official said recently.The Pennsylvania-headquartered InfotechConsulting is a small company with around200 staff and valued at $21 million by consultingfirm Ernst & Young.The acquisition is through cash and shareswap, Mindteck marketing manager JaideepSikdar said. Infotech Consulting has revenueearnings of $31 million. Mindteck paid $1.5million in cash for the deal and the rest wasthrough the offer of around 785,000 sharesat Rs. 98 per share. “We got a premium asour share closed at Rs. 55 on the BombayStock Exchange,” he added.Earlier, Mindteck group chief executiveofficer Pankaj Agarwal, who foundedInfotech Consulting in Pennsylvania in1996, said at a press meet that Mindteckwould buy one more IT firm in the U.S., onein Britain and a third one in Singapore.Investments in the four acquisitions willcome to $30.6 million and will help raisethe company’s revenue to $75 million fromthe present $27 million, he said. Acquiringa British firm is part of the strategy toexpand the company’s presence in Europeto reduce dependence on the U.S.March 2008India Review

Global chipmaker Intel willinvest more than $1 billion inIndia over the next three yearsas it seeks to prepare light-weight personalcomputers in partnership withIndian and foreign hardware firms.“We are focussing on a number of newinitiatives for enabling easy availabilityof personal computers (PCs) andbroadband Internet in India,” IntelTechnology India marketing and operationsdirector John A. McClure said inMumbai recently.The company is partnering withEconomyNEWSIntel to invest over $1 billion in Indialeading foreignand Indian computerhardwarebrands like ASUSTechnologies,HCL, Wipro andZenith for preparinglight weighteasy-to-use internetplatforms.The company is working on differentdesigns for specific market segments.It is also preparing to introduce Wimaxtechnology in India, the fastest wirelessBB technology available at lower costthan optical fibers. “This is the besttechnology to bridge the PC-broadbandinternet gap in India,” he said.Intel’s biggest role in India would be tocontinue to develop affordable internetplatforms with the latest technology,McClure added.“Today, India is the seventh or eighthlargest PC market, poised to becomethe third or fourth largest by 2012,”McClure said. According to him, onlythe BPO industry had benefited fromthe “flattening of the world”.9Tata Industries, Boeing to formjoint venture in IndiaTata Industries Ltd (TIL) will forma joint venture company withaerospace giant Boeing Co. towork in the $500-million defense-relatedaerospace sector in India and alsosupply Boeing’s international customers. Under the agreementsigned by Boeing and Tata, the joint venture companywill be established by June 2008 and build Boeing aerospacecomponents.“This joint venture between Tata and Boeing is an importantpart of our strategy to build capabilities in defense andaerospace,” said Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Group. “Ilook forward to the joint venture becoming a world-classfacility in India.”In the first phase of the agreement, Boeing would potentiallyissue contracts for work packages to the joint venturecompany involving defense-related component manufacturingon Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet for the U.S. Navyand Royal Australian Air Force, CH-47 Chinook and/or P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft.Venture capital firms invest$543 million in 2007Venture capital firms invested $543million across 98 deals in Indiaduring 2007, according to a studyby Venture Intelligence in partnershipwith the U.S.-India Venture CapitalAssociation. The amount invested during2007 was slightly higher compared to 94 deals amountingto $500 million in 2006.“With early stage investments accounting for about 66percent of all investments during the year, the resurgence inseed and first round investments has been a key highlight of2007,” said Arun Natarajan, Founder & CEO of VentureIntelligence, a firm that tracks venture capital and privateequity investments. Over 50 percent of the VC investmentsduring 2007 were below $5 million including 23 percentbelow the $2 million threshold, the US-IVCA/VentureIntelligence study showed. With 65 investments worth about$377 million, the IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) industryretained its status as the favorite among VC investorsduring 2007, the study indicates.Equifax Inks Indian Credit PartnershipEquifax Inc. has recently partnered with two Indiancompanies to establish a credit-scoring firm in India,where a blossoming economy offers fertile opportunity.The Atlanta-based credit research company has teamed up with a subsidiary of theTata Group conglomerate and CRISIL Ltd., a ratings and research company in India, tosell credit research to banks. The partnership submitted an application to India’s centralbank, Reserve Bank of India, which in April had asked for applications to registercredit-information businesses.The Indian economy was ripe for the types of services this partnership would sell,Equifax said. Banks were lending more as the Indian economy grew 6 percent to 9percent a year, the company said, while people were earning more and adopting moreexpensive lifestyles. Equifax, with $1.84 billion in annual revenue, sells credit researchand other analytics to businesses.India’s exports up 21.7%India’s merchandise exports were up 21.7 percentduring the first three quarters of fiscal 2007-08,growing to $111.05 billion from $91.20 billion in thecorresponding period of last fiscal.Official trade data released on February 1, however,showed that in rupee terms, the growth was significantlylower at 7.74 percent during the periodunder review, indicating the sharp appreciation ofthe Indian currency this fiscal.Imports were up 25.97 percent during the firstthree quarters, growing to $168.87 billion from$134.05 billion. In rupee terms, the imports were up11.54 percent, the data showed.March 2008India Review

10Tata Chemicals Ltd. (TCL) hasacquired U.S.-based soda ashmakerGeneral ChemicalIndustries Products Inc., (GCIP) for$1.05 billion, to become the world’ssecond-largest producer of soda ash.The announcement was made exactlya year after Tata Steel, another TataGroup company, acquired British steelmajor Corus.TCL is now the third-largest manufacturerof soda ash and sodium bicarbonatein the world, with a productioncapacity of close to three million tonsper annum (MTPA). The acquisitionEconomyNEWSTata Chemicals snaps up US firm for $1 billionCII: Enterprise supportindustry set to boomThe Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) said on January 31 that India’senterprise product support services exportwould rise to $10.7 billion by 2012 from thecurrent $1.4 billion.“There is a significant growth momentum.The support services industry in India willgrow to accommodate 15 percent of theglobal enterprise product support workforceby 2012, requiring 60,000 employees incomparison to approximately 9,800 employeesin 2007,” CII said in a statement.The CII Mission on Knowledge and Skillsannounced the launch of Global EnterpriseProduct Support (CII-GEPS) Forum, to facilitateIndia’s transition to a preferred destinationfor enterprise support services. The forum hasbeen formed with the support of companiessuch as Avaya, CA, EMC, IBM, Microsoft,Oracle and Yahoo. Formally announcing thelaunch of the CII-GEPS Forum, its spokespersonRajeev Shroff said: “The forum has beenformed to maximize the potential of theenterprise product support industry in India.”NY firm to invest $250 mn in Bharti InfratelNew York-basedprivate equityfirm Kohlberg KravisRoberts has said it isinvesting $250 millionin Bharti Infratel, a subsidiaryof leading telecom serviceprovider Bharti Airtel in the towersbusiness.The investment will be madeby KKR’s Asia dedicated privateequity fund and its global privatewill add another2.5 MTPA to taketotal capacity to5.5 MTPA, nextonly to the U.S.-based FMC Chemicals.The companyhad bought63.5 percent stakein the U.K.-basedBrunner Mond Group for about Rs.5.08 billion in December 2005. It alsoholds a 33 percent stake in Indo MarocPhosphore SA (IMACID), Morocco,which makes phosphoric acid.The latest acquisition will help TataChemicals make half of its soda ashfrom natural soda ash, which costsonly half the production cost for manufacturingsynthetic soda ash. TCL isone of the largest synthetic soda ashproducers in the world, along with afew players in China.Soda ash is mainly used in glass anddetergent production and it contributed40 percent of TCL’s revenuesof Rs. 45.63 billion for the first ninemonths of 2007-08. The rest of therevenues are from its fertilizer andother inorganic chemicals business.Insurers’ annual IT bill to triple to$9 billion by 2012, finds new studyAfter having relied ontraditional ways ofdoing business forlong, insurance companiesare now embracing information technologyin a big way and their ITexpenses are expected to rise three-foldto over $9 billion by 2012.According to a new report by globalconsultancy firm Celent, the Indianinsurance companies would spendclose to $3 billion on IT in 2008, withlife insurers alone accounting for nearly$2.6 billion.Matching the rate of growth in premiumcollection, the IT expenseswould also grow to $9.4 billion in thenext five years.In its report titled ‘Insurance marketin India: Market and IT Overview’,Celent said that companies needed toequity fund, the companysaid in a filing withstock market authorities.Bharti Airtel said theinvestment will be inaddition to the$1 billion invested in BhartiInfratel by Singapore’s TemasekHolding, The Investment Corp ofDubai, Goldman Sachs,Macquarie, AIF Capital, Citigroupand India Equity Partners.invest heavily in technologyin the coming years as theywould need to replace theircore systems while the operationalexpenses for IT would startdeclining only after this transition iscompleted.As of now, “insurers are very relianton traditional ways of selling to the endcustomer through the broker andbranch network”, Celent said.According to the study, a large partof the budget would go for hardwareand software, while staffing and telecomwould also attract significantinvestments on this front. Hardwareand software would see 34 percent and31 percent, respectively, of the total ITbudget, telecom and staffing would see14 percent each, while services wouldattract 7 percent.Warner Bros in pact with Prime FocusWarner Bros MotionPicture Imaging, theHollywood studio’s 4k postproduction facility, withfilms like ‘Ocean’s 13’ to itscredit, has entered into astrategic alliance withPrime Focus, the India-based postproduction house with operationsin U.K., U.S., Canada and India.The tie-up will allow bothcompanies to move contentseamlessly from facility tofacility, using the mostcost-efficient method,enabling them to processwork in the time zone thatmost closely meets individualfilmmaker’s needs andschedules. Prime Focus has 1,500people and operations out offacilities in India, London, NewYork, Winnipeg, Vancouver andLos Angeles.March 2008India Review

Bioinformatics market todouble by 2010EconomyNEWSThe Indian bioinformaticsmarket is poised to double by2010 — from $32 million to$62 million by 2010, according to areport by research firm ValueNotesOutsourcing Practice.Bioinformatics means the applicationof information sciences to biology. Itdeals with creation and maintenance ofextensive electronic databases on variousbiological systems.The survey — BioinformaticsOutsourcing for Life Sciences: TheIndia Opportunity — noted that theneed to optimize costs and enhanceresearch had led to increasing adoptionof bioinformatics tools and services.The global bioinformatics market isexpected to grow at a CAGR of 16 percentover 2007-2010, which will catalyzethe Indianbioinformaticsoutsourcingmarket to growat 25 percentper annum during2007-2010.Around 90 percentrevenues ofthe Indianbioinformatics market is derived fromoutsourcing activities, the report said.“Outsourcing agreements generallyinclude software and database developmentand support services. Overseasclients usually conceptualize the productand outsource parts of product ordatabase development,” said ArunJethmalani, managing director,ValueNotes.More people to have mobile phonesIndia, with its high economicgrowth and immense disposableincome, will play a crucial role inglobal telecom explosion, with thenumber of mobile users set toovertake those without it for the firsttime in 2008.According to International TelecommunicationsUnion, a U.N. agency, theglobal mobile penetration rate is set toreach 50 percent in early 2008, fromjust about 12 percent in the year 2000.Going by projections by the U.N.agency, the worldwide mobile subscriberbase wouldcross the 3.3-billionlevel this year. Thismeans that every10th mobile useracross the world willbe an Indian, wherethe domestic industryis eyeing a total of more than 300million subscribers in 2008.“At current growth rates, globalmobile penetration is expected to reach50 per cent by early 2008,” ITU said inits January newsletter.Wal-Mart to source IT expertise from IndiaU.S. retail giant,Wal-MartStores Inc., onFebruary 20 said it willcontinue to source technologicalexpertise fromIndia by working withthe country’s leading tech firms.“Today IT is truly a global businessand as we deepen our relationship withIndia, it only made sense that we takeadvantage of the 24-hour developmentcycle that India offers,”Michael T. Duke, vicechairman,Wal-MartStores Inc., said in astatement.Last year, Wal-Mart entered intoa joint venture with India’s BhartiEnterprises for wholesale cashand carry operations, a segmentwhere India allows 100 percentforeign direct investment.Satyam to expand tieswith MicrosoftH yderabadbasedinformationtechnologycompany SatyamComputer Serviceson February 19 announced various strategicinitiatives to expand the scope and scale ofits multi-dimensional relationship withMicrosoft Corporation, including the settingup of a 350-seater dedicated delivery centerin Hyderabad to deliver futuristic solutionsusing Microsoft technologies. The centerwas inaugurated by Moorthy Uppaluri, chiefexecutive officer of Microsoft IT-Global.Satyam is a strategic service partner toMicrosoft’s global IT sourcing and productdevelopment outsourcing. Satyam’sengagement involves building Microsoft IPand solutions in futuristic products and yetto-be-releasedversions. Satyam also collaborateswith Microsoft to address the needsof common enterprise customers and provideenhanced business value.In September 2006, Satyam launchedtwo business intelligence (BI) facilities on aMicrosoft platform, in Singapore andShanghai.BT sector to occupy140 mn sq ft by 2010The Indianbiotech industryis set to growand occupy 140million square feetby 2010.“Even though the country presently holdsa minimal market share of 2 percent of theglobal biotech market, it has immensepotential to develop as a key player by2010 and is expected to generate $5 billionrevenues, creating employment for a millionby 2010 through its products as well asservices,” said international real estate consultantsCushman & Wakefield in its ‘BioReality in India Report 2008’.In addition to Bangalore, Hyderabad,Chennai, Pune and Mumbai, tier-II and tier-III cities like Vadodara, Coimbatore, Goa,Mysore, Madurai, Kolkata, Gurgaon,Thrissur, Nagpur and Thiruchirapalli haveemerged as the preferred destinations forbiotech facilities. But tier-I cities (Bangalore,Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai)with better infrastructure and talentpool, the two most important factors in settingup a biotech facility, score over others.11March 2008India Review

DiasporaNEWSNooyi among 10 best women CEOs: ForbesPepsiCo’s India-born chief Indra Nooyi is among the Forbes’ list of 10 best women chief executiveofficers of large corporations based on their total returns to investors since each woman tookthe top job.Nooyi is ranked 10th on the U.S. business and finance magazine’ list published on February 22. Hercompany has annual revenues of $39.47 billion, far more than the revenue of other companies on the list,most of which have yearly revenues ranging between $1 billion and $10 billion.Catherine Burzik, head of Kinetic Concepts, a medical technology company, and No. 2 to Meg Whitmanof eBay, heads the tally. PepsiCo under Nooyi, who took over as CEO in October 2006, gaveinvestors annual return of 9.4 percent, and 13.1 percent cumulative. The Standard & Poor’s(S&P) annualized return is 2.6 percent while the industry average annualised return is 0.4percent, according to the magazine. In comparison, Kinetic Concepts, under Burzik, gave atotal return of 37.6 percent annual and 50 percent cumulative. The S&P annual return is0.1 percent while the industry average annual return is 9.6 percent.Paying a compliment to the women CEOs on the list, Forbes magazine said stock performancehad as much to do with corporate leadership as it had to do with the state of themarketplace. The magazine said that of about 1,000 public companies with at least $1 billionin annual revenue, there are 30 female chief executives in its database.12Indian origin woman amongtop 15 women in businessIndian-origin Cisco officialPadmasree Warrior has beennamed one of the top 15 mostinfluential women driving innovation(and revenue) in corporate America.Warrior, the chief technology officer(CTO) at Cisco Systems, has beenranked among the top 15 women inbusiness by a magazine.The PINK magazine’s Top 15 Women in Business —‘The Innovators’ list identifies remarkable women leaderswho use ideas to transform companies every single day.From Michelle Gass, just promoted to senior vice-presidentof global strategy at Starbucks, to Union PacificRailroad’s Diane Duren, who developed a new train routethat delivers millions in revenue annually, these women createchange in their organizations — the kind that births newgenerations of products and has an immediate impact on thebottom line, says the magazine that caters to America’scareer-focussed women.Warrior, who joined Cisco in December 2007 afterstepping down as vice-president and CTO of Motorola, hasbeen known as a driving force behind innovationat Motorola. Industry watchers say she astutely harnessedthe creative powers of engineers at Motorola.Warrior, 47, raised in Vijayawada in AndhraPradesh, India, holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineeringfrom IIT Delhi and an M.S. degree in chemical engineeringfrom Cornell University. In 2007 she was made Doctor ofEngineering, Honoris Causa by New York’s PolytechnicUniversity.In a top-order rejig at eBay Inc., Meg Whitman has resigned asits CEO, while the world’s largest internet auction firm hasbrought in India-origin former finance head Rajiv Dutta to theboard. In a late night announcement on January 24, eBay said thatWhitman would step down as its president and CEO on March 31and would be replaced by John Donahoe, currently head of itscore auction business.The company also announced that Rajiv Dutta, currently presidentof its PayPal unit, has been named executive vice-president ofeBay Inc. and would replace Donahoe as president of the auctionbusiness unit — eBay Marketplaces. Dutta, who will report toDonahoe, has also been elected to eBay’s board of directors.Whitman, the outgoing CEO who had joined eBay in 1998, wouldcontinue to remain on the board.Dutta, an economics graduate from St. Stephen’s College inDelhi and an MBA from Drucker School of Management inCalifornia, is a 10-year eBay veteran and has previously served asthe company’s chief financial officer and president of Skype, eBay’scommunications business.Dutta has successfully led PayPal to achieve more than $65 billionin payment volume and three consecutive quarters of acceleratingrevenue growth. “Dutta will apply his experience, strategicabilities and leadership skills to accelerating growth in the company’score business,” the company said. TheeBay Marketplaces unit, to be headed byDutta, accounts for more than 70 percentof the company’s revenue.Indianto headeBay’s coreauctionbusinessMarch 2008India Review

Ashok Mago chairs NationalUrban LeagueAshok Mago,Chairman of theBoard ofNational Urban Leagueof Greater Dallas participatedin its AnnualMeeting Luncheon onFebruary 22. The eventwas held at the HiltonAnatole Hotel. Thetheme of the Luncheonwas ‘The LegacyContinues: Passing theTorch’.Mago is the onlyIndian American ever to serve as aChair of any of the affiliates of NationalUrban League.The Urban League isthe oldest and largestcommunity-basedmovement in the UnitedStates devoted toempowering AfricanAmericans and others toenter the economic andsocial mainstream. Themission of the UrbanLeague of GreaterDallas is to enableAfrican Americans andothers to secure economicself-reliance, parity,power and civil rights and others toenter and enhance their position in thenational mainstream.Eight Indian Americans reachIntel science talent finalEight Indian American highschool students, five of themgirls, have been named among40 finalists for the Intel Science TalentSearch 2008 contest.Avanthi Raghavan, ShravaniMikkilineni, Hamsa Sridhar, ShivaniSud, Isha Jain, Vinay VenkateshRamasesh, Ashok Chandran and AyonSen get at least $5,000 in scholarshipsand a laptop. They will next competefor 10 scholarships — including thetop award of $100,000 — in March inWashington, DC. The eight talentedstudents were selected from over 1,600individual entrants for the nationwidecompetition, often called the “juniorNobel Prize”, administered annually bythe Washington based Society forScience & the Public. “A high proportionof Indian American finalists speakswell for the community, and we welcometheir participation,” Rick Bates,spokesperson for the organizers, said.The project, Ashok Chandran, 17, ofNesconset, New York, submitted forthe competition, studied the linkbetween smoking and breast cancer.He tested the hypothesis that nicotineDiasporaNEWSwould alter mammary cell gene expression,creating a cellular environmentakin to that of a breast cancer cell.Isha Himani Jain, 17, of Bethlehem,Pennsylvania, has identified a cellularmechanism underlying bone growthspurts in zebra fish, similar to the waychildren’s bones grow. She had alsowon, in October, a $100,000 scholarshiptopping the Siemens Competitionin Math, Science and Technology forthe same study, which has been publishedin a journal.Avanthi Raghavan, 17, of Orlando,Florida, submitted a project studyingthe mechanisms of protein transportcritical to the survival and virulence ofthe malaria parasite, which accountsfor over two million deaths every year.The project of Shivani Sud, 17, ofDurham, North Carolina, focuses onidentifying stage-II colon cancerpatients at high risk of recurrence andthe best therapeutic agents for treatingtheir tumors. Hamsa Sridhar, 18, ofKings Park, New York, developed alow cost optical tweezer system thatuses laser light to trap and suspendmicroscopic particles.Indian American doctorgives $1 mn to US collegeAn Indian American neurosurgeonof Michigan has donated$1 million to a local collegetoward improving facilities and supportingneedy students. Harish Rawal,59, who practises in Jackson,announced the donation in Decemberfor the Jackson Community College(JCC) to help pay for its renovatedallied health and nursing classrooms,and an endowed scholarship for financiallyweak students. The donation, oneof the biggest in the college’s history,will rename the new facility as theRawal Centre for Health Professions. Agraduate from B.J. Medical College,Ahmedabad, Rawal studied surgery inChicago before moving to Jackson 28years ago and founding the GreatLakes Brain & Spine Institute.Institute on Religion andPublic Policy appointsPriya AbrahamThe Washington-based Institute onReligion and Public Policy on February7 announced the appointment of India-originjournalist Priya Abraham as its newdirector of communications. Priya has asuccessful career in print journalism.“Priya’s journalistic abilities are wellknown and well regarded, and will be atremendous asset to the Institute onReligion and Public Policy and to the issueof religious freedom,” the institute said in astatement. Most recently, Priya spent fouryears as WORLD magazine’s Washingtonbasedinternational affairs reporter, whereshe covered global politics, culture andU.S. foreign policy. She has interviewedprominent world leaders such as SouthernSudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit andZimbabwe’s opposition leader, MorganTsvangirai. Along the way, she developedspecializations in human rights, religiousfreedom and Africa.Priya holds a bachelor’s degree inInternational Communication from TexasChristian University, and her early professionalexperience includes an internship atThe Oregonian and a Pulliam Fellowship atthe Indianapolis Star.She was born and raised in Zambia toIndian immigrant parents and moved tothe United States in 1998.13March 2008India Review

ScienceNEWSIndia plans new supersonic cruise missileThe BrahMos supersonic cruisemissile, one of the most successfulproducts of Indo-Russian military collaboration, is aboutto get a successor.The new missile in its hypersonicversion will fly much faster thanBrahMos. After the successful developmentof BrahMos, both India andRussia will develop the missile jointly.Though in the conceptual stage, thenew hypersonic missile will have greatkinematic energy, range and a powerfulscramjet engine to make it a precisionlethal weapon. Kinematics is thestudy of pure motion without regard toforce, momentum or energy.The kerosene-fueled missile isbelieved to be much cheaper than thedesign concepts worked out in manywestern countries.“The hypersonic missile will have aspeed of Mach 5 (five times the speedof sound),” A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEOand managing director of BrahMosAerospace, said during the defenseexposition held recently in New Delhi.“Today we are flying BrahMos at Mach2.8. From that we are going to increaseto Mach 5. So, the program involvesdeveloping a new scramjet engine togain that hypersonic speed.”“It is not against any particularcountry. We are a peace-loving nationand we are developing missiles underthe Integrated Guided MissileDevelopment Programme (IGMDP)to protect ourselves from aggression.”When asked about the export potentialof the BrahMos, he said: “Variouscountries are interested in buying it,but we have not made up our mindwhom to sell it to.”The unique feature of this missile isthat it can collect air from the atmosphereduring its flight stage, liquefy it,separate the oxygen and store it onboard for subsequent flights.14Online protein encyclopedia pioneeredAn international teamled by an Indian biologisthas pioneeredan online encyclopedia ofhuman proteins that will helpaccelerate biomedicalresearch and drug discovery.The February 2008 issue of the prestigiousjournal Nature Biotechnologydescribes how the scientists’ creation,dubbed “Human Proteinpedia”, wouldhelp biologists around the globe byserving as a community portal forsharing and integration of human proteindata. “This is an encyclopedia bythe scientists, for the scientists,” saidAkilesh Pandey, a scientist at the JohnsHopkins University of theU.S. who led this effort incollaboration with the nonprofitInstitute of Bioinformaticsin Bangalore, whichhe founded six years ago.Like Wikipedia — theonline encyclopedia that anyone canedit — the Human Proteinpedia will bean online encyclopedia that any biologistwith proteomic data can edit.However, unlike Wikipedia, the contributorsare expected to provideexperimental evidence for the data. “Allthe public data contributed to HumanProteinpedia can be queried, viewedand downloaded,” Pandey said.Indian firm promotes science learning with insectsVery soon kids willbe learning sciencewith the help ofcreepy-crawly bugs. APune-based software companyHarbinger Grouphas partnered withEntomological Foundation, a not-forprofitorganization in the U.S., to teachscience through insects with the help ofinnovative game-based multimediacontent.The product will bedesigned for third andfourth graders.April Gower, executivevice-president of theFoundation, said: “This isa special initiative becauseeducating children about the excitingworld of insects and their role in ourenvironment through the use of interactivemultimedia activities is quite achallenging task.”March 2008India ReviewTest tube baby centerinaugurated in IndiaHealth MinisterAnbumaniRamadoss onFebruary 7 inaugurateda test tube babycenter at the All IndiaInstitute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) inNew Delhi. This isthe country’s firstsuch center in any government-run institution.The test tube baby center, medicallyknown as an In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) center,will help tens of thousands of womensuffering from infertility to conceive at “anaffordable price”.“Nearly eight percent of couples in Indiasuffer from infertility and this center willcertainly help them in getting a baby,”Ramadoss said after inaugurating the center.“This is the first IVF center in the publicsector and another milestone for the prestigiousAIIMS,” he added.He said the center would also carry outresearch in areas like embryonic cell andstem cell therapy.Suneeta Mittal, head of the departmentof gynaenecology, heads the center.“This is an important facility at AIIMS,which will not only help the poor people ofthe country who suffer from infertility butalso serve as a platform for comprehensiveresearch in the field,” Mittal said.

Ambassador’sJOURNALAmbassador hosts luncheon for members of WoodrowWilson Center, gives keynote speech at Japan SocietyAmbassador Ronen Sen addressedthe Members of the Board andCouncil of the Woodrow WilsonCenter for International Scholars at aluncheon hosted by him at his Residenceon February 4, on the occasion of theannual meeting of the Council. Thosepresent included The Honorable JosephGildenhorn, Chairman of the Council,David Metzner, Vice-Chairman, TheHonorable Lee Hamilton, President of theWilson Center, and Sam Donaldson,President of the Council.On February 8, Sen had a brief meetingat the Embassy with senior executives ofmajor U.S. defense companies proceedingto India to attend the annual DEFEXPO2008. The meeting was organized at theinitiative of Ron Somers of the U.S.-IndiaBusiness Council.The annual Mid-Winter Gala of theWashington National Opera was held onFebruary 9, at the Carnegie MellonAuditorium under the patronage of theAmbassador and Mrs. Sen. The theme ofthe Gala was the ‘Taj Mahal by Moonlight’ and featuredspectacular settings and colorful presentations from India.The Members of the Board of the American-Israel PublicAffairs Committee (AIPAC) hosted a dinner on February11, in honor of Ambassador Sen and Deputy Chief ofMission, Ambassador Raminder S. Jassal. AIPAC PresidentHoward Friedman and President-elect David Viktor wereamong the speakers on the occasion.Sen addressed a Roundtable on ‘InternationalCollaboration to Combat Terrorism and Insurgencies’organized by the George Washington University onFebruary 12. The session was moderated by Frank Cilluffo,Director of the Institute of Homeland Security Policy, andYonah Alexander, Director of the International Center forTerrorism Studies, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.On February 15, Sen was the keynote luncheon speakerat the Japan Society. He spoke on India-Japan relations andIndia-Japan-U.S. trilateral cooperation. The event waspresided over by President of the Japan Society, RichardWood, and Chairman of the India Policy Forum, Bal Das.The event was attended by around 50 senior corporate representatives,the Consul-General of Japan, MotoatsoSakurai, and the Consul-General of India, Neelam Deo.On February 20, the Ambassador spoke at the inauguralsession of the first India-U.S. Summit on Small & MediumEnterprises in Chicago, organized by FICCI and USIBC incollaboration with the Chicago Council on World Affairs.Gala Chair Caroline Boutte, Women’s Committee President Mandy Delk, Ambassador Sena dnGala Vice Chair Kim Nettles. Photo: Russell Hirshon.The previous evening, he addressed a roadshow called‘Invest in America — The Indian Story’, also held inChicago.Sen addressed a large dinner meeting of the World AffairsCouncil of Orange County in California on February 20.On February 21, Sen was the Chief Guest at the inaugurationof the exhibition entitled Rythms of India: The Art ofNandalal Bose (1882-1966) at the San Diego Museum ofModern Art. This was a pioneering project, marking thefirst comprehensive traveling exhibition of the legendarypainter, who led the renaissance of art in India and enjoyedthe patronage of Rabindranath and Abanindranath Tagoreand Mahatma Gandhi, and is known as the Father ofModern Indian Art. The Museum’s Director, DerrickCartwright, read out messages from the Hon’ble Speaker ofLok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee, and the Minister ofTourism and Culture, Ambika Soni. He acknowledged thevaluable collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and theNational Gallery of Modern Art in India. The large gatheringof distinguished guests, including Ambassador Sen,Consul-General B.S. Prakash, President of the Museum’sBoard of Trustees, Pam Cesak, the painter’s grandson andHarvard Professor Supratik Bose, were shown around theexhibition by the Curator Sonia Quintanilla.During the month, the Ambassador had meetings withSenators and Congressmen, most notably a call on theNancy Pelosi, Honorable Speaker of the U.S. House ofRepresentatives, on February 26.15March 2008India Review

Trends inSOCIETY16INDIA: The hub of innovationIndians have been innovatorssince time immemorial.Experts attribute the growth ofIndia’s innovation quotient tovarious factors, including theinnate abilities of its people, the vastopportunities that are available in thecountry and the role played by the governmentin promoting indigenousproducts.Aryabhatta, Bhaskara, Lagadha,Panini, Madhava, Nilakanta andPingala have shaped human thoughtthrough their innovative works.Lagadha wrote the world’s first everastronomical text in 1300 BC. Thegreatest contribution of ancient Indiawas made by Pingala, who in 400 BCinvented the binary numerical system,which incidentally now happens to bethe basis for all computing devices.Cut to the present: Information technologygiant Hewlett Packard (HP)chose Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley,to produce the next generation ofproducts for the world market.Incidentally, a majority of theresearchers in Hewlett Packard’s labare Indians. Microsoft selectedHyderabad to locate its research lab,which is developing software for locallanguages around the world, includingIndian languages.It is not just the IT sector though. Anumber of traditional industries arerelocating their research and developmentfacilities to India because ofthe immense talent available in thecountry. For instance, energy majorRoyal Shell Group has its secondlargestresearch and developmentunit, Shell Technology Centre, inBangalore, a testimony to India’spower of innovation.At HP’s research center, a team isworking on a product called ScriptMail, a device that makes electroniccommunication easier for people, whospeak languages that cannot be typedon a standard keyboard.It contains a pad with a small monitorattached to it. A user has to positiona piece of paper on the pad and write inany language with an electronic pen.Script Mail immediately recognizes thelanguage and the words written aredisplayed on the monitor. This deviceeliminates the role of the keyboard.It is not just foreign multinationalswho have encashed onMarch 2008India Review

Trends inSOCIETYIndia’s innovatory capabilities. TheIndian Institute of Technology-Mumbai has developed a ‘compactmedia center’ for schools, which donot have adequate computer equipment.It puts a range of home entertainmentsystems and a personal computerinto a single black box of aboutone cubic foot in volume.It has a 120-gigabyte hard disk, aPentium 4 processor, a modem, ahard disk, a DVD drive, USB portsto connect external devices, and a televisiontuner.It is a television and a personal computerrolled into one, but it does nothave a monitor. The black box containsa projector with SVGA resolution,which can beam a 300-inch high imagesharply on the wall.Infrastructure Leasing and FinancialServices of India are now marketingthe device, consisting of a wireless keyboardand a mouse, to educationalinstitutions under the brand name ‘Kyan’.Priced at $3,200 per unit, a single‘K-yan’ can tutor a large classroomof nearly 100 students in schoolswhich cannot afford multiple personalcomputers.The Hyderabad-based Institute ofInformation Technology is alsoattempting something new. It is developinga software that translates Englishinto Indian languages. Termed‘Shakti’, the software has the power totranslate English prose into threeIndian languages — Hindi, Marathiand Telugu. Work is on to develop thesoftware to recognize other languages.Even in medicine, India is spearheadinginnovation.The Aravind Eye Care Centre, inMadurai, has developed an inexpensivecataract surgery method. Designed byophthalmologist G. Venkataswamy, thecenter can carry out a cataract surgeryfor as low as $50 to $300, comparedwith over $2,000 in the U.S. The priceincludes the cost of a locally madeintraocular lens that is inserted duringthe surgery.It seems Indian innovators have apenchant for computing devices. Somuch so, the government hasembarked on an ambitious projectto develop a sub-$100 laptop forthe masses.The Union Human ResourcesDevelopment Ministry is working witha group of experts from the IITs, theIndian Institute of Science (IISc) andthe Vellore Institute of Technology tohelp develop this low-cost laptop.The aim is to at least get the manufacturingcost reduced to the maximumpossible extent since marketingA number ofindustries arerelocating theirR&D facilities toIndia becauseof the immensetalent available inthe country. Energymajor Royal ShellGroup has an R&Dunit, ShellTechnology Centre,in Bangalore, atestimony toIndia’s power ofinnovation.costs will not be involved. A Bangalorebasedfirm has already made a mark atthe international level with its innovativehand-held computer called‘Simputer’.Conceptualized at the IndianInstitute of Sciences (IISc), Bangalore,this ‘simple and low-cost’ computingdevice made it from the drawingboards to the production stagein 2002.It was developed by EncoreSoftware, one of the teams working tocommercialize the ‘Simputer’, andmake it relevant to the millions on thewrong side of the digital divide, keptout by high cost of computers.Each Simputer, which sits comfortablyin an adult’s hand, uses a ‘smartcard’ device. This could even be usedfor micro-banking applications to helpthe common man. A ‘soft modem’would enable the Simputer to dial-up acentralized server (and download relevantinformation like vegetable prices)or connect to the internet.Priced at around $200, the Simputeris versatile and inexpensive. This innovationcould drastically change the waythe common man does his computing.There has been growing interestfrom countries like Cuba and thePhilippines, for this product designedby a team of computer scientists atIISc. It will be useful for the averageIndian’s educational, communicationand entertainment needs.There are a number of other highlysuccessful indigenous products developedby India. They include the $200suitcase-size voting machine; theSkybus and an anti-collision devicedeveloped by Konkan RailwayCorporation; construction feats suchas the Delhi Metro Rail, and theBandra-Worli Sea link project, nowunderway in Mumbai.With an army of talented scientists,engineers, technologists and evengraduates, well-versed in science, mathand English, India hasan enormous pool of skilledresearchers and qualified personnel,who will ensure the continued flowof innovative products and servicesover the coming years.17March 2008India Review

Short STORY18ShadowBy Brinda CharryThe story is about two women who are socially very far apart, but whoselives are in fact remarkably similar.Brinda Charry is a writer and broadcaster. Besides short stories and essays publishedin leading newspapers, she is the author of the novel, The Hottest Day of the Year.Her stories have been selected as winners in contests orgainsed by the Asian Age1999, Hindu-Picador, 2000 and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association,2001. Shadow was first published in Katha Prize Stories-12 in 2002.Long ago, when I’d beennewly married, there’dbeen sparrows on therooftops, and many morecrows, and sometimes Icould see the ground covered withpigeon droppings. Now there was onlythe wind tugging at the sheets andveshtis from my hands, making thesaris billow boisterously.But when I finished and went downstairsI knew someone else would followme, also carrying a pile of freshlyfolded clothes in her arms.Sometimes, in the middle of themorning, long after the boys and theirfather left home, as I stood by thestove, the flame hot on my face, I couldfeel her standing behind me.“Who’s there?” I would ask sharplywhen I saw a shadow behind myreflection as I combed my hair beforethe mirror — “Is anyone there?” Butwhen I turned around there would onlybe the looming shapes of the furnitureand the silence of the familiar rooms.Later that day, I went down the roadto get the clothes ironed. The man whodid the ironing wasn’t there, nor washis pushcart, and the streets wereunusually deserted. Someone raced byon a bicycle. “What are you doing outdoors,amma?” he shouted as hepassed me. “You’d better get homesoon!” an old man limping hurriedlysomewhere warned.As I retraced my steps I wonderedwhat the matter was. We lived just offthe Muslim quarter. When the four ofus sat down to dinner I learnt thatthere had been trouble in the city. Itwasn’t yet very clear what started it —an intercommunity love affair, a quarrelbetween neighbors, or a casualinsult, which had grown into a communalriot. That night I started awakeat the sound of shouts and running feetand wondered if it was only anotherdrunken brawl or part of the riot.Once a week, I would go to the littleshed in the garden to fetch coconutsfor the week’s cooking. That morningwhen I entered it, my feet were wetwith dew from the grass. I went furtherinto the room wondering why therewere no cobwebs blocking my way as Iknelt down to grope for the bags.There was a rustle behind me —someone else was crouching in thecorner of the shed.“Who’s there?” I asked. My voicesounded unexpectedly loud in thesilence. The rich smell of champa andjackfruit floated in through the opendoor. “Is someone there?” I heard asound somewhere between a snarl anda sob and turned around. A log slid offthe woodpile behind me. It coweredlarge and trembling in the darkness,dressed in what looked like a blacksheet. My shadow had come alive.We stared at each other in silence fora minute and then she whispered,“Please. There is no need for you to befrightened.”Her voice was low and harsh and sheherself was a large woman, much tallerthan me, not fleshy, but big-boned andbroad-shouldered. Her burqa wassplattered with mud. She’d flung theveil behind and I saw that her face wasbrown, slightly marked with smallpoxscars and what looked like nail marks.Her eyes were hard with fear as shestared at me, a forty-year-old brahminwoman, small and pale, wrapped in acrumpled home sari.“What are you doing here?” I asked,but she did not reply.“If you don’t tell me what you areMarch 2008India Review

Short STORYdoing here I will have to call thepolice.” I realized that my voice wastrembling.At the word police she looked up andafter a moment’s silence said sullenly,“There’s no need for you to do that.I’m only taking shelter.”“From what?”“Last night there was trouble where Ilive.” She jerked her head in the directionof the slum. “Many huts wereburnt. I was alone. Frightened that I toowould be killed.” She looked away,hard stony tears suddenly filling hereyes.There was nothing I could think of tosay. I stared at the ground in discomfort.“So you came here?” I asked aftera moment’s pause.“Yes.”“But how did you get into the compound?”She had climbed over theback wall. It was over seven feet high.“Someone is calling you,” she said. Irealized that the doorbell was beingrung. The sound traveled through thehouse, the kitchen and the garden andreached us as a faint tinkle.When I returned after picking up thepackets of milk that had been left onthe doorstep and stopping in thekitchen to collect slices of bread andsome water for her, I almost expectedher to be gone. But she was still there,her burqa now drawn close around her.I noticed she’d tried to smooth heruncombed hair.I stood at the door. “Are you going tostay here tonight?” I asked.“If you let me.” She looked at me,her gaze unwavering.“You can stay if you want to,” I said.I sometimes wonder now at how easilyI said that.As I turned to go she caught the edgeof my sari. “Will you tell them I’mhere?”“You don’t have to worry about that.I hardly ever go out of the house.”“Don’t even tell your family.” Shewas trying hard to keep the note ofurgency out of her voice.I hesitated for a second. “I won’t tellthem,” I promised though I didn’tquite understand why she wanted it tobe kept so absolutely secret.“God will bless you,” she whisperedafter me as I stepped out into the sunshine,and I was filled with a strangegratitude, which again I didn’t quiteunderstand.Mukundan and Srikanth didn’treturn home that night. The troublethat began near our house had spreadthrough the city and they telephoned tosay that they were staying with friendswho lived close to their college.Are you married?” I asked her on thethird day. She had finished her meal,had a bath and changed into one of mysaris, looking large and awkward withouther black burqa, which hung on thewashing line I had strung up betweenthe coconut trees. Today she seemedrelaxed, less anxious, as she sat leaningagainst the kitchen door.She shrugged and smiled wryly. “Iwas married when I was fourteen,” shesaid, “He was nearly forty.”When I was fourteen I was playinghockey for the school team. I had wornshort skirts and my legs had turnedfinely muscled and brown after a coupleof months.“I lived with him for six years,” shecontinued.“And then?”“And then I had enough.”“Did he ill treat you?”“A couple of days after marriage Idiscovered he was not right in thehead. It ran in his family. My parentshad known this long before.”She’d sold vegetables and worked ina couple of houses to feed him and her.I heard a soundsomewhere between asnarl and a sob andturned around. A log slidoff the woodpile behindme. It cowered largeand trembling in thedarkness, dressed inwhat looked like a blacksheet. My shadow hadcome alive.“He was incapable of much else but Ifound that he was crazy aboutwomen,” she said. “Pawing at all thewomen in our layout, following themdown the streets, his mouth open, staringwith his great big watering eyes.And then, one day, he tried to do godalone knows what to an eleven-yearold.A mere child whom they hadthought unnecessary to put in purdah.”“They stopped him before it was toolate — thank god. But they nearly beathim to death. They didn’t tell the policeonly for the sake of the girl’s reputationand also because he was an idiot. Butthey beat me after they finished withhim. “Can’t you keep him satisfied?”they asked. “That’s your job — to keephim satisfied. Keep him away from ourwomen and girls.”“I had had enough,” she repeated.“So I took him to the interstate bus terminaland bought him a ticket toBombay. You’re going to Mysore, Itold him, ‘go pray at the shrine of thesaint Habib for your well-being’.” Hewas excited, he loved bus-rides and Ihad given him fifty rupees and a packetof cigarettes. I didn’t see him again.”I stared at her in horror but her facewas expressionless.That was twenty-four years ago, shesaid. Her daughter was born a monthlater. She now lived in Mysore with herhusband. “She’s happy I think,” sheadded contentedly.What of my own marriage? I hadbeen married when I was twenty to myhusband — a young businessman whowas just beginning to do very well.It had been good at first. We wouldroam the city by bus; I would wait forhim to come home in the evenings. Butgradually, I don’t quite know when,possibly at that time when his businesswent through a slightly bad patch, he’dbegun spending more and more time atthe shop. When he was home he tookto poring over his account books. Andthat went on even after things began togo well at work. About ten years agoI’d said that I wanted to get back tocollege or to find a job. “Rubbish!” he’dresponded. “There’s no need for you tomake money!” Fifteen years and twosons later I began sleeping downstairs.19March 2008India Review

Short STORY20So for twenty-two years now it hadbeen only the house, the little street, thetwo boys who communicated less toeither of us, as they grew older, and aloneliness, which yielded shadows that,tiptoed behind me.Mukundan and Srikanth came homeafter two days. The newspapers saidthat the situation was under control —after fifteen people had been killed andmany more injured. “Amazing howthese things get so crazy,” Srikanthremarked over dinner. Mukundanshrugged. “Can’t live with people toodifferent from you, you know. Lookeverywhere, all over the world.” Sincewhen had he begun to sound so veryconfident, so absolutely sure of himself.Are things better now?” was all sheasked me that night. “That’s what theysay,” I replied.“Maybe I should go now...,” sheadded.For the first time since so many yearsI have a friend visiting, my very ownguest. Please stay as long as possible.“I will have to take a bus out of thecity,” she continued.I was surprised. “But why? You livejust behind here, don’t you?”“Yes, but I will have to leave the city.”“Why?”“I’ve killed a man.”He’d become her lover a short whileafter her husband had gone. “I was stillyoung then. I needed a man,” sheexplained. He was her uncle’s son.They didn’t stay together for anylength of time.“Were you happy with him?” Iasked. She ignored the question.Of late he had begun to complainthat she was getting old. But no, hehadn’t stopped coming. In fact hebegan coming more often because hehad taken to gambling and neededmoney.“Did you give him any?”At first nearly everything she’dearned, living on yesterday’s leftoversand discarded clothes. Only in memoryof the stray moments of pleasureand happiness he had given her whenshe was younger. But soon she’d hadenough. He began stealing the moneyshe forgot to lock away, and the radiosomeone had given for safekeepingdisappeared.He’d come that night when the riotsstarted. She didn’t want him to stay,but let him in because he said that therewas trouble out in the streets. He’dsoon begun asking for money.“I have nothing,” she had saidthough she had fifty rupees knotted inher sari.“Bloody whore,” he had spat, “whogot rid of her husband and slept withanother man.”She’d shrugged. “How does thatmatter now?” she’d asked. “After allthis while. I am going to be a grandmotherin two months’ time.”“I’ll tell your son-in-law,” he’d said.“I’ll tell him I slept with both motherand daughter.”She’d struck him then. The blow hadbeen stronger than intended and he’dfallen over, his head hitting the door.“He died immediately,” she said,looking up at me bewildered. “Hishead fell to one side like a doll’s.”I remained silent.“Is it so easy to kill someone?” sheasked.“I don’t know. Perhaps he didn’t dieat all.”“Oh no. I know. He was dead.”She’d then stepped over him and runout of the house. The streets wereseething with people struggling to gethome, people looking for trouble.There was a policeman at the streetcorner who’d looked at her curiously.So she’d turned into a lane. It was adead end and she had climbed over mycompound wall.It was dark. I lit a candle for her. Shewould put it off when they came home.I had to go back and get things readyfor dinner. Later I would slip out andfetch her a plateful of food.“Will the police come for me?” sheasked.“I don’t know,” I said helplessly. Herlife was too big for me. Her shiftingshadow on the wall was that of a giantheroine in some epic story.“But don’t worry,” I added, “manypeople have been killed in the riot in thelast few days. They may not find out.”“The best thing to do might be tostay a little longer,” I said when Ireached the door. Her eyes were largeand softer than usual in the candlelight.Her hands, which were spread out onher lap, were trembling slightly but theywere large powerful hands — strongenough to cook and clean, to embroiderher daughter’s wedding clothes, tohew stones at construction sites, tocaress, to kill.I sometimes wondered if we hadseen each other before. Surely so manyyears could not have passed by withoutus meeting?When I was about eight years old,the marriage of the goddess at out localtemple was to be celebrated. My motherand I were to take part in the celebrations.I was dressed in red and myhair was fragrant with jasmine andcoconut oil. I had twirled around thefront room of our house as my mothergot ready, my heart as light as my silkpavadai which caressed my ankles.The devi was a proud, confidentbride and I was certain that I too wouldlook like her on my wedding day. Iwaited for her to flick out her fiery redtongue and slyly lick off the droplets ofghee and honey, which had accidentallylanded on her cheek.After the celebration while my motherand her friends sat down leaningagainst the pillars of the temple, I hadwandered out to the narrow lane outside.A little girl had stood in tatteredsalwar kameez at the gates of the temple,one nail-bitten hand twisting thediscolored sequins off her clothes. As Istared at her she had looked up at meand smiled.“You want to come inside?” I hadasked, eager for a playmate and shehad nodded.March 2008India Review

Short STORY21We had played in the dark coolnessbehind the temple hiding and seekingeach other behind the gods anddemons whose names neither of usknew. Because I was sure that no oneelse would be there now, I had takenher into the innermost shrine to see thegoddess. My new friend’s eyes shonewith wonder in the dying flame of thelamp. And because she looked so splendidlybeautiful then and because Iwanted to look as much like her as possible,I took the red bindi off my foreheadand stuck it on the temple wall.When I heard my mother and theother women calling out for me, shescrambled out through a side entranceand as I walked away holding mymother’s hand, I saw her running inthe opposite direction, her face flushedwith the heat, her head uncovered aswe had lost her dupatta somewhere inthe darkness of the temple.Twelve years later I had paced upand down the hospital corridors, mystomach tight and smooth with pregnancy.I marveled at the little dot of lifewhich had been growing inside me andwhich would soon lie in my arms,warm and moving.A woman had then been wheeledinto the labor room, mountainousunder her white robe, her fair facegrown paler, her earlobes and wristsglistening with gold.“Ya Allah!” I’d heard her screambehind the closed doors and I felt thefirst pains dart up my thighs to myhips. As she moaned and writhed herchild into the world, I had stood outsidelistening, trying to pray for both ofus, and after a while her agony and herhope had driven me into labor.The next two days were long ones.The boys stayed home because collegeshadn’t yet reopened after the trouble.She could not leave her room and Icouldn’t visit her except to give herfood. I was worried. Would they discovershe was here and come? Hadsomeone seen her killing the man andreported to the police? I started atevery knock on the door. Thehouse was large and lonely again. Ifelt restless — like a young girl separatedfrom her lover.“What happened to my cricket bat,Ma?” Srikanth asked me.“I don’t know. Isn’t it there in itsusual place behind your bed?”“No,” he said impatiently, “I’mlooking for my old bat. My highschool bat.”“It’s probably been thrown away.”“Can’t be. You don’t ever throwanything away. You’ve probably put itin the shed.”Last week when she and I hadcleaned the place, a bat had been leaningagainst the door.“There’s no bat there,” I said firmly.He didn’t hear me. “It’s probablybeen eaten up by termites by now,”he grumbled and strode out intothe afternoon.“I’ve just cleaned that shed. There’sno bat in there!” I called out after him.“I’ll look anyway.”“There is no need for you to go inthere.” I said, hurrying after him. “I’vejust cleaned it.” I caught at his arm andtried to stop him.He had grown much taller than meand looked down, his jaw set stubbornly,frowning, just a little puzzled. “I cango look if I want to, can’t I?” he asked.“No, you can’t.”“Why not? This is my appa’s house.And my house too, isn’t it?”“It’s also mine.”I knew I was sounding quite unlikemyself, almost ridiculous. But I hopedour raised voices would wake her up;prepare her for the sudden burst ofsunlight that would stream in when hepushed open the door.Mukundan came to the kitchen door.“What are you doing here?” he askedhis brother. “There’s a phone call foryou — Aruna I think. I’ve been yellingout to you for the last five minutes.”Srikanth stopped mid-stride andwent into the house brushing past me.When I went into her room to getthe bat before he came back, we didnot speak to each other. I carried thedusty old bat upstairs to the boys’room. But Srikanth had left home tosee his friend, Mukundan said.“Really Amma,” adding irritably,“why on earth did you have to makesuch a fuss when Srikanth wanted tolook for his bat? I could hear the twoof you up here.”I could feel his eyes looking at mecuriously as I walked out of the roomwithout responding.It was hot that night and I couldn’tsleep. I stood by the kitchen window.All of a sudden the house seemedsmaller. Its walls had moved silentlyinwards threatening to close me in. I’dnever quite felt that this alien spacetruly belonged to me or I to it. Butsomehow, over the last few days thegarden had become mine. A thin sheetof lightning suddenly lit up the sky andI noticed a shadow slipping out of theroom and towards the toilet. Just whenit was returning, quietly, like a silentghost flitting through the trees thekitchen light behind me was switchedon and its orange glow swamped thegarden.“What are you doing here at this timeof the night?” my husband asked me.“Nothing.”Could he too see her standing frozenby the door of the shed? My heart beatfast. After a minute he turned andpouring himself a glass of water,switched off the light.“Go to sleep,” he said sharply. “It’sridiculous, standing here at this time ofthe night. I just can’t understand youanymore.”I waited to make sure she’d got inbefore I returned to bed.It was dark when she left for herdaughter’s place. She had been withme for nearly a week. I led her throughthe house. “There’s no need to climbover the wall this time,” I’d said.Our twin shadows danced on theceiling and the walls amidst the otherstrange shapes made by the night. Thefront door creaked and rattled when Iopened it for her, but they didn’t wakeup. As we stood for a minute on thedoorstep she clumsily took my hand.“I’m homeless for now,” she whispered,“but maybe you will come to mesometime.”“Maybe I will,” I said.She hurried into the street,unafraid, defiant. There was a veryslight drizzle but I stayed at thedoorstep further into the night.MarMarch 2008ch 2008India Review

Oscar winner Hollywood actor GeorgeClooney recently accompanied U.N.Assistant Secretary for PeacekeepingOperations, Jane Holl Lute, to India.On January 28, Clooney attended a partyhosted by Vivek Katju, Additional Secretary,(International Organizations), Ministry ofExternal Affairs, at Villa Medici in the TajMahal hotel. Well cosseted with his own securitydetail, as well as an entourage, he dropped innext door to shake hands with some journalists.In a casual gray suit, with an open-necked white shirt,Clooney lived up to his suave leading-man image.Later, along with Lute, Clooney called on DefenseSecretary Vijay Singh.Clooney has been actively involved in calling for a solutionto Sudan’s Darfur crisis. He traveled to China andMovie NEWSGeorge Clooney visits India as UN peace messengerEgypt in 2006, when he asked these countriesfor greater pressure on the Sudanese governmentto force them to find some way out of therefugee problem. With 9,357 troops engaged inU.N. missions, India is the third-largest supplierof peacekeepers, behind Pakistan (10,610)and Bangladesh (9,856). India also hosts theSecretariat of the International Association ofPeacekeeping Training Centers at the UnitedService Institution of India’s Center for UnitedNations Peacekeeping (USI-CUNPK).Clooney said he was too new to the job of a U.N.messenger of peace to talk about it. “I do not want totalk, I want to listen first,” he said, as he pointed out thathe was the “son of a newsman”. He then swept out assmoothly as he had come in, smiling with the familiarcrease on his forehead.Tom Cruisein ViveckVaswani’snext film?Schwarzeneggerto act inBollywood film22Producer-director Viveck Vaswaniis believed to be in talks withHollywood superstar Tom Cruisefor his next project. After completing hiscurrent film, ‘Dulha Mil Gaya’, Viveckplans to begin work on an English filmcalled ‘Hotel, Motel and Patel’.A source close to the director said thatVaswani had approached the actor’sagents who had shown a positiveresponse. “The film is basically about afamily called Patels who move into amotel where a Hollywood star — whichwould be played by Tom if he agrees —would move in.”“Viveck would need Tom for a very littletime. He explained that to Tom’sagents who then asked for the entirescript to be sent across for Tom and hispeople to go through. And it all seemed tobe going well till the writers’ strike beganin Hollywood,” adds the source. Vaswanihas confirmed the fact that he had been indiscussion with Cruise over the film. Buthe remained tight-lipped about the filmand the actor’s contract.Producer Sajid Nadiadwala hasroped in Hollywood actor ArnoldSchwarzenegger and singer BeyonceKnowles for his next magnum opus‘Kambakth Ishq’. ‘Kambakth Ishq’will be directed by newbie SabirKhan in Los Angeles in May.Apparently the producer has a fewsurprises up his sleeve. Says asource, “Sajid has managed a castingcoup in ‘Kambakth Ishq’.Schwarzenegger has agreed to playan interesting cameo in the film. Andthat is not all. Pop sensation Beyonceis all set to do a bootylicious act inthe film. The film stars the super hitpair of Akshay Kumar and KareenaKapoor.”“Akshay plays a Hollywood stuntmanand hence the presence ofArnold. Our desi action hero will beseen with the international actionicon. Everything is almost finalized.”Aishwarya and Mallikaamong most desirablewomen in the worldBollywood glamour queenAishwarya Rai Bachchan and sultryactress Mallika Sherawat havebeen named in the “Top 99 MostDesirable Women” list of the onlineAskMen magazine.Aishwarya at No. 27 and Mallika at No.66 are joined by Indian-American modeland food show host Padma Lakshmi atNo. 66.Over five million AskMen.com readerscast their votes to identify the femalesfrom the worlds of music, fashion, sport,and entertainment who have the characteristicsthey value in a potential companion,like intelligence, humor, charismaand ambition.Katherine Heigl, Emmy winningactress of the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ TV series,and the star of box-office hit ‘KnockedUp’, takes the top spot for the 2008 listthat was released on January 31.March 2008India Review

Travel &TOURISMLAKSHADWEEPCluster of emeralds23Known as the smallestUnion Territory of India,Lakshadweep consists of 36islands, 12 atolls, three reefsand five submerged banks. About300-400 km off the coastline of thesouth Indian State of Kerala,Lakshadweep has a lagoon area of about4,200 sq km, 20,000 sq km of territorialwaters and about 400,000 sq km ofeconomic zone.ISLANDSANDROTH is the nearest island to themainland. It has an east-west orientationunlike other islands lying in the northsouthdirection. It is the largest island ofLakshadweep. Thick vegetation, mainlycoconut groves, add to the beauty of theisland.MINICOY is the southern-mostisland in Lakshadweep. It has one ofthe largest lagoons. In terms of culture,Minicoy is quite different from thenorthern group of islands. The islandersare mostly seamen. The island has a villagesystem known as ‘Avah’, meaning acluster of houses headed by an electedelderly man.KADAMATH is 8 km long and 550meters wide at the broadest point.Lagoons on the east and the west andsandy beaches on the southern tip makeit an ideal spot for tourists. Kadamath isfamous for its aesthetically-built touristhuts amid coconut palm groves. Kayaks,pedal boats, yachts, skiing boats andglass-bottomed boats are available. Thescuba diving center in the island hasbecome a major attraction for watersport enthusiasts.KALPENI is known for its scenic beauty,the small islets of Tilakkam and Pittiand an uninhabited island on the northcalled Cheriyam. A huge shallow lagoonencloses all of them. A peculiar featureof this atoll is the huge storm bank ofcoral debris along the eastern and southeasternshorelines.KAVARATTI has been the headquartersof the Union TerritoryAdministration since 1964. Do not missthe marine aquarium and the DolphinDrive Center.BANGARAM is an uninhabited islandranked among the best gateways of theworld. It has emerged as a water sportdestination with facilities for scuba diving,beach games, swimming, snorkelingand deep-sea fishing.March 2008India Review

• WINTER GAMESIndian Army recruits from the High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) practise at the skiresort of Gulmarg in Kashmir. The ski resort was abuzz with activity as the NationalWinter Games kicked off from February 18-22 in Gulmarg amid heavy snowfall.EMBASSY OF INDIA2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20008Tel: 202-939-7000; Fax: 202-462-7276E-mail: indembwash@indiagov.orgWebsite: www.indianembassy.orgCONSULATESConsulate General of India3 East, 64th Street,New YorkN.Y. 10021Consulate General of India540 Arguello BoulevardSan FranciscoCA 94118Consulate General of India455 North Cityfront Plaza Drive(NBC Tower Building)Suite #850 Chicago, IL 60611Consulate General of India1990 Post Oak Blvd. # 6003 Post Oak CentralHouston, TX 77056Tel: 212-774-0600Fax: 212-861-3788E-mail:indiacgny@aol.comWebsite:www.indianconsulateny.orgTel: 415-668-0662Fax: 415-668-2073E-mail:info@cgisf.orgWebsite:www.cgisf.orgTel. 312-595-0405 to 0410Fax. 312-595-0416E-mail:cg@indianconsulate.comWebsite:chicago.indianconsulate.comTel. 713-626-2148/49Fax. 713-626-2450E-mail:cgi-hou@swbell.netWebsite:www.cgihouston.orgPrinted and Published by the Press & Information Office, Embassy of India, 2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, D.C., 20008Content, design and production by IANS. www.ians.inEMBASSY OF INDIA2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW,Washington, D.C. 20008Tel: 202-939-7000;Fax: 202-462-7276FIRST CLASSFirst ClassU.S. PostagePaidSilver Spring, MDPermit No.3966