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Showing posts from February, 2014

Book Review : The Scam : From Harshad Mehta To Ketan Parekh

About the Authors: Debashis Basu is a Chartered Accountant since 1983, and has also worked in Business India, Business World, Financial Express, The Times Of India and Business Today. He is also a member of the Task Force of SEBI on the creation of IndoNext Market Segment Sucheta Dalal majored in statistics and LLM. She has 22 years of investigative reporting behind her spanning the Harshad Mehta scam, CR Bhansali Scam, Enron, bad loans in banks, corporate investigative reports as well as regulatory lapses. She received the Chameli Devi award for outstanding journalism, and the Femina Woman of Substance award both in 1993. She is a member of the primary market advisory committee of SEBI THE SCAM is more of an investigative report on the 2 defining stock market scams of recent times - 1991-1992, made famous by Harshad Mehta,, and the Ketan Parekh escapade of 2001. The report - for it is more of a report than a book - is exhaustive in its material, stunning in its scope

Illness, Money and Treatment

It was a Tuesday afternoon; I had been at home for the past 2 days as was feeling under the weather with a mild fever, and a total lack of appetite. At around 2 pm - 3 pm, I got hit by severe chills and a sudden escalation of temperature to the high 104s. My doctor had already ordered a precautionary blood test, results awaited. But I couldnt even wait that long, and collapsed on the way to the Doctor's clinic. The results: Recurrent Typhoid. I was admitted, to the nearest hospital for in-patient treatment - an experience that opened my eyes, and exposed me to both the good and the bad side of Corporate Medicine I had luckily kept a few thousand in my home for once(I stay alone), which was critical. One day's total medication alone turned out a princely sum of 2077/- only. This was to me, a first time in-patient, a jaw-dropping number. But at the same time, it was a very very disturbing number: this was for Recurrent Typhoid, which though admittedly severe and dangerous,

A Trade War Beckons...?

Thereby have been 2 interesting developments from The USA - one expected, one rather unexpected. 1)  Trade Sanctions 2)  Solar Panel This takes the cake : "“In many areas, however, IPR protection and enforcement challenges are growing, and there are serious questions regarding the future condition of the innovation climate in India across multiple sectors and disciplines .”" From article one. It seems to be a harbinger of things to come - with wide ranging sanctions against India on a series of sectors, with a single minded view to benefiting the USA only. This is despite India's latest IPR regime being a significant improvement over the past - although poorer people do stand to be hit even there - as well as a timed framework being in place. A clear case is being made out for India being rogue state, and apparently, only India is being singled out - and only USA is complaining. Food for thought, methinks. The second article {the one on solar panels} is

Internet and Digital Media- 2: Big Hurdles

This is the second part of the article  Online And Digital Media Part of the credit for this article goes to Team Blogadda, who had a superb programme on Social Media, including sessions with industry experts like Anagh Desai and Lakshmipathy Bhat. The interaction during the entire event of Blogadda Awards {WIN14}, especially with the mentioned experts, enabled me to connect the dots in my mind, and cement my ideas into a firm shape. A part of the credit also has to go to Mr Vivek Sapru, my Senior during my tenure at Amity University as a visiting faculty, my discussions with whom also helped me see some direction As I noted in the conclusion  of my previous article, this medium has the potential to reach into the gut of existing business models, and rip them apart from within. The other alternative is that this medium has the potential to cause a steady with definite change in existing business models, and change the face of business as we know it today. However - and this i

Reality Series - 2 : Indian Culture - and The Indian Nation

This is the second article in the reality series. The other article can be found at :  /india-time-to-face-reality-1 Wikipedia describes Indian Culture as "The culture of India refers to the way of life of the people of India. India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food, and customs differ from place to place within the country. The Indian culture, often labelled as an amalgamation of several cultures, spans across the Indian subcontinent and has been influenced by a history that is several millennia old" -  /Culture_of_India Most of us Indians take justifiable pride in the above, for what wikipedia has stated is either the simple truth, as as close to the truth as it is possible to be. Any general discussion on what defines India, or India's strengths, unfailingly veers around to the above within the first few sentences. This is ingrained into us from the very beginning of our lives, and the bombardment of the above upon our senses contin

Book Review : Red Jihad

Red Jihad - Author Sami Ahmed Khan This book is yet another from the up-and-coming brigade of Indian Fiction writers, and is unique in its treatment. It is a refreshing change from the standard terror attack plot from Western authors that we are now beginning to get used to, which is a welcome development. That alone makes it worth a read; and if you add the other two factors - a total absence of vulgarity, and  an interesting plot - and you have yourself a good eminently readable book. It is not best in class - far from it; but it is a good book nonetheless. THE CHARACTERS Biplob Roy - The Prime Minister;; takes time - but takes over... General Malhotra - Quick Reactions. Quicker Apologies Basheer - Whose man is he anyway - ISI, or Terrorist? The Jihadi... Agyaat - Just that. Agyaat - Unknown, yet known. The Red guy... Lt General Asif Chowdhury - Misguided Patriot for the Pakistanis Shahid Abbasi - Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Roomie of Biplob Roy... T