News on India

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No Surprise There is nothing surprising about the disclosures of an eight-month-old US State Department correspondence with the US Congress that makes it clear that its nuclear cooperation with India will end once the latter conducts a nuclear test. How many of us really think the US would continue to support India’s nuclear pursuit, however civilian, if New Delhi were to explode a bomb due to extraordinary pressures? Which means the secret letter — today’s bone of contention in India’s nuclear politics — that the US State Department wrote to Tom Lantos, then chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in January was just a way of reassuring the US lawmakers that nothing so exceptional would be made in the evolving nuclear cooperation framework with India except for bringing a responsible nuclear power like India into the folds of the international nuclear regime after separating its civilian and military nuclear facilities. In other words, if there is anything exceptional, it is the recognition of India’s nuclear responsibilities — which does not mean India cannot test a bomb, but which rather means India, as a responsible nuclear weapon state, will not be party to any clandestine nuclear proliferation initiative. As for India, if it is to decide on conducting a nuclear test, it will make full preparations to face the consequences, not take a plunge without prior planning and building a strategic reserve. This is what Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar points to when he says that the US disclosures on the nuke deal do not take away anything India wanted and there is ‘‘adequate protection’’ for its strategic programme in the civil nuclear deal with the US. In fact Dr Kokodkar said that India knew about the secret letter sent to the US Congress. On his part, defending the Prime Minister and his commitment to Parliament, Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told a news channel that ‘‘precisely, nothing has changed’’ after the US disclosures and ‘‘the leak (correspondence) is consistent with the 123 Agreement itself’’, adding that the deal provides for a modality to be adhered to by the two countries in the event of a change of environment — that is, in the event of India conducting a nuclear test. Having said that, there is also nothing surprising about the Manmohan Singh government’s reluctance to say long ago what the US letter asserts. The government knew about the letter, says Dr Kokodkar. Imagine a situation when the government would honestly speak to the people of the country and convey the message that it was going ahead with the deal just in order to benefit from unrestrained international nuclear commerce and that no power on earth would prevent India from conducting a nuclear test should the need arise, despite the deal’s eventual death following the test. Who would have won then? Obviously the UPA government. But did the government at any point of time ever harp on what the US would actually do in the event of India going ahead with a nuclear test despite the nuclear cooperation? Not at all. This of course is not surprising as we said, because the government itself was not confident of its defence of the deal. So now we have words like ‘‘nothing has changed’’. This, one would accept, given especially the character of the US. But the UPA government could have surely come up with a bit of its own character. That was missing. And that is the tragedy.

Why it’s Interesting Elections to the US Presidency have always been a heady mix of politics and refined common sense, of articulate positioning and appeal to popular tastes, of hindsight and insight into what could follow. If Democratic candidate Barack Obama is looked upon as a radical reformist who might change the way the world perceives America, rival Republican John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate is being viewed as an effective Republican assertion of conservative values. Palin is a mother of five, her last child was born with Down’s Syndrome who she did not abort despite the knowledge of the disease, and her 17-year-old unwed daughter is pregnant — nor has Palin asked her to abort. All this is so much public that we Indians tend to confuse it all with sensationalism and American lifestyle. However, the truth is that Palin’s personal life is being projected as Woman Perfect in America — upholder of family values, and advocate of issues such as opposition to abortion that will attract the conservatives. Can you think of this happening in India? Take people like Barack Obama and Sarah Palin again. They were non-entities when they came into the scene (so was Bill Clinton when he started out). Now they are a cause to celebrate. This happens because America is incredibly democratic, hence so interesting.

Asom Flood: It’s a National Calamity JP Rajkhowa The current third wave of devastating floods in practically all districts of Asom, due to the flooding of the Brahmaputra and its numerous tributaries, have already made 1.2 million people homeless apart from inundating lakhs of acres of land and a toll of 26 human lives. This wave follows the previous two equally devastating waves in July and August, which caused unbelievable miseries to the people of Dhemaji and North Lakhimpur districts in particular, in terms of loss of life, valuable land, and cattle population and wildlife. The historic river island Majuli is badly affected now, with about 1.5 lakh people marooned and the sattras facing the brunt as well, threatened by continuing erosion by the Red River. The Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and Pobitara Wildlife Sanctuary are under water, and from the television clips shown by the local electronic media, these two wildlife habitats, with many rare and endangered species, are faced with the dangerous fury of floods. Poachers and other unscrupulous elements are reportedly having a field day. On the other hand, even the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC restricting the speed of running vehicles in the KNP area on NH 37 has failed to impress upon the reckless motorists to slow down to allow the fleeing animals cross the highway to reach the high grounds and hills on the Karbi Anglong side. If we count the two previous waves of floods in the current year, the devastation caused in terms of loss of human lives and cattle population, damage to land under crops as well as homestead lands, roads, bridges, residential houses and other buildings, loss of precious lands due to erosion, the suffering faced by the affected population in terms of diseases, deprivation of food and belongings and loss of livelihood, the ravages caused would not be lower, if not worse, than the recent floods in Bihar over the past 15 days or so. If we recall the havoc caused by the 2004 floods — the most devastating in the previous 50 years — in terms of intensity of damages caused in every way, the current, much-hyped Bihar floods would simply pale into insignificance. T he situation was so grave that apart from the Revenue/Relief Departments, the Joint Control Room at Dispur was running 24 hours a day and a Control Room was started at the Chief Secretary’s residence as well from 8 pm to 8 am till the floods receded. In view of media reports about anomalies at some places in distribution of relief items, I had personally visited the worst affected areas in Morigaon and Kamrup districts. At least six IAF helicopters were requisitioned and used for rescue and relief operations of marooned people from inaccessible areas. I distinctly remember how we had passed anxious moments before 40 marooned schoolchildren of Rangia Navodaya Vidyalaya and teachers were rescued to safety by two IAF choppers, when all efforts by the Army recovery teams in motorized boats could not succeed due to heavy currents of the Puthimari. Hearing the news of the marooned children, I personally proceeded towards Rangia, but could not move beyond Kamalpur, as the surging waters had overtopped several kilometres of NH 52, besides washing away a bridge as well, making the highway non-functional till a temporary bailey bridge was built up by the Army. The Indian Army had done a marvellous job, not only in relief and rescue operation, but by restoring life-saving communication by putting up at least seven bailey bridges in record time, both in the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys. This small recollection is to point to the seriousness of any flood situation in Asom. Although there are pressing demands from the people of the State and organizations cutting across party lines to declare the Asom floods a national problem, which was also brought home to the Prime Minister during his visit to Asom, the Centre is not impressed. So the Asom floods continue to be Asom’s own problem, regardless of the gravity of the situation. While the Bihar floods have attracted the attention of the nation, thanks to the hypersensitive ‘national’ media, the Asom floods of 2004 as well as the current floods have failed to attract them even for a few hours. Our heart goes to the suffering people of Bihar, but it also a fact that Asom too is suffering. The people of Asom are not only hurt, they are also terribly agitated over the Centre declaring only the Bihar floods a national problem with an immediate relief of Rs 1,000 crore, and with the Prime Minister himself appealing to the nation for generous assistance to the PM Relief Fund for assisting the affected population and doing nothing of that sort for Asom. In 2004 or even thereafter, the Indian Railways or the northeastern segment of it did not take any initiative in rushing relief materials, clothes, blankets, mosquito nets, mattresses and the like to Asom from Bihar or any other region of the country, for sharing the miseries of millions of flood victims in Asom. In respect of Bihar, the Indian Railways has been directed to ensure donation of one day’s salary by each of its employees for Bihar floods, though no such graceful gesture was considered for Asom. Is it because Asom is not represented in the UPA dispensation by a powerful Minister like Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has a ‘special hold’ on the UPA ministry? Again, the Union minister from Bihar started a number of bhojanalayas on his own to feed thousands of starving flood victims. Could not any of the Central ministers from Asom or the 21 MPs and powerful ministers of Asom government devise any means of their own to organize and distribute relief to the Asom victims, other than just promising things? Could not they all join hands together, sit on fast or do some real Gandhigiri at the right places in New Delhi till the Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson are moved and declare the Asom floods a national problem too? Would the people of Asom be reassured of the temerity and tenacity of their representatives to do so for their people, whose leaders they are and whose cause they are supposed to represent even now? Would they stop politicizing the real problem of Asom and refrain from twisting it this way or that way? Another significant development is the reported joint appeal by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to the MPs of all parties to donate at least Rs 10 lakh from their MPLAD funds towards relief and rehabilitation operations going on in the flood-affected areas of north Bihar. The Lok Sabha Speaker has already contributed Rs 10 Lakh from his MPLAD funds and a month’s salary. The people of Asom feel sad and dejected that no such humane gesture was ever made for Asom. In a bid to outsmart other profit-making PSEs, the ONGC, which has no operating oil fields in Bihar, has already donated a massive amount of Rs 53 crore for Bihar floods, as against a pittance of Rs 1 crore for Asom where it has many oil fields. When one talks of bringing the militants of the Northeast to the mainstream, why does one fail to ensure justice and equity for all the constituent States of the Union, regardless of size and the number of MPs a State sends to Parliament? Barring the two AGP MPs who have voiced their strong note of protests to the Prime Minister for discriminating against Asom, other MPs do not at all appear to be concerned. Now a god-given opportunity has come to the secessionist ULFA, which has promptly condemned ‘‘the discriminatory, exploitative and imperialist attitude’’ of the Centre towards Asom, in order to draw public sympathy for boosting its own sagging morale, strength and image. When 17 districts are already facing the fury of floods in Asom, with more than 1.5 lakh acres of land under water, 26 people already dead and affected people still thronging in large numbers the hundreds of relief camps, and the local media reporting every day on short supply of food and other essential items, we have the pompous statement from our Chief Minister that there is ‘‘no dearth of fund ’’ for Asom, and that the Centre has already given Rs 700 crore in advance for tackling the floods. This statement has been made at a time when a number of organizations have demanded a Rs 1,000 crore relief and rehabilitation package for Asom too, as done for Bihar. We find it hard to digest such a statement from the Chief Minister, who was otherwise pressing the Centre for declaring the Asom floods a national problem. Has this Rs 700 crore ‘gift’ already nullified his earlier demands placed before the Centre through so many memoranda? Should we presume now that Asom does not have a flood problem to be called a ‘‘national calamity’’? What has happened to the much-promised implementation of the Central Task Force Recommendations on the most disastrous 2004 floods and the promised constitution of a Northeastern Water Resources Management Authority for tackling floods and erosion in Asom on short-, medium- and long-term basis? Now the question is: Would the Prime Minister rise to the occasion and make a dispassionate assessment of the people’s mood and repeat the Bihar example by declaring the Asom floods a national calamity in order to ensure that the people of the State — the younger generation in particular — would not drift from the mainstream? We believe that the sagacious Prime Minister would still re-examine the whole issue and take a right decision to save Asom from the fury of floods and a host of other problems that arise out of neglect of the State. (The writer was Chief Secretary, Assam)

the OP-ED page

An Anatomy of Lakhimpur Floods Paniram Xaud Blame games played around the hydrological extremes of the kind of Lakhimpur-Dhemaji floods of mid-June will lead the State or other concerned to nowhere if the parameters floating around the flood events vis-à-vis wrangling between the State and the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Ltd are not analysed in engineering terms and also in terms of relevant clauses stipulated in the National Water Policy-2002 (NWP 2002). The results of such analyses will go a long way to form the set of terms of reference in reservoir operation elsewhere in the neighbouring States at upstream and the impending catastrophes in Assam districts at downstream vis-à-vis claims for compensation from any agencies by the flood-ravaged State of Assam in accordance with the relevant clauses of NWP-2002. The anatomy and physiology of the Ranganadi hydro-power project reveal: Dam height-EL 571m, Full Reservoir Level-567 m, Gate level-El 544 m, Top of Gate-EL 556 m and Tunnel Intake Level-EL 547.939 m. NEEPCO has claimed to have released the detained water by operating the gates the moment the river inflows made the detained water to rise to the level of 567 m merely to save the hydraulic structures of the power project. However, given that the water released at EL 567 m from the project is alleged to have been the main cause of the flash flood referred to on the fateful day, there is a need to have a postmortem on the gate operations vis-à-vis water releases sans flood warnings/ forecasts. Given the set of other viable options to lessen the impact or hazards due to the said water release, the consideration of the water level at EL 567 m (being the reservoir capacity level) as the sole criterion for water evacuation in one go in the form of a flood wall from the detained water body (along the river) on the fateful day needs to be reviewed critically. Students of reservoir operation are of the view that the downstream impact could have been lessened by a mere change in schedule/modality of reservoir operation vis-à-vis water releases from the detained water body on June 13, 14, 15 and on the subsequent days. Had there been an initiative for releasing water in incremental instalments much before the water level reached EL 567 m, there would have been less impact of the hostile events. Even the reported water release in one go (by opening all the gates barring one) at El 567 m (reservoir capacity level) to save the project cannot be taken kindly since there is a provision of 4-m ‘‘free board’’ over EL 567 m to accommodate the incoming water in the event no water could be released from the detained water body under certain circumstances. Regarding safety of hydraulic structures of the kind of dam, barrage, weir, bridge, culvert etc, these are designed to withstand mega flood of a particular magnitude that is a design flood of a particular return period. Thus a design flood governs the importance and economics of any hydraulic structure vis-à-vis hydro-power project. As a matter of interest for analysing the instant case, analysts may like to know if the hydro-power structures referred to were exposed to near proximity of a 100-year return period flood (6,990 cumecs for Ranganadi river at project site). The NEEPCO authority’s own statement suggests that it was 2,120 cumecs at 5 am of June 14, 2008. Then where is the justification of water release at one go for the safety of the hydro-project at a time when the observed discharge was much below even a 50-year return period design flood of 5,849 cumecs? Anatomy of Lakhimpur floods vis-à-vis their postmortem should suggest a set of newer/additional terms of reference/parameters in dam-break analyses for all hydro-power projects in Arunachal Pradesh merely to streamline the modalities for reservoir/gate operation in relation to water releases from them. In this context, it may be mentioned that over the last few decades, the Brahmaputra Board and Central Water Commission have investigated and prepared reports on a good number of hydro-projects of inter-State ramification in Arunachal Pradesh with provisions of flood cushion in the reservoirs to accommodate floodwater for some specified period before scheduled releases with flood warnings to moderate the floods in a downstream riparian State. Given the Assam woes and agonies due to periodic floods in the State over the decades, the people may like to retrace if there is any relief for them in the National Water Policy as it is binding on all States. Clause 17.2 of NWP-2002 states: “Adequate flood-cushion should be provided in water storage projects, wherever feasible, to facilitate better flood management. In highly flood-prone areas, flood control should be given overriding consideration in reservoir regulation policy even at the cost of sacrificing some irrigation or power benefits.” Clause 17.3 of NWP-2002 says: “While physical flood protection works like embankments and dykes will continue to be necessary, increased emphasis should be laid on non-structural measures such as flood forecasting and warning, flood plain zoning and flood proofing for the minimization of losses and to reduce the recurring expenditure on flood relief”. Clause 17.5 further adds: “The flood forecasting activities should be modernized, value added and extended to other uncovered areas. Inflow forecasting to reservoirs should be instituted for their effective regulation.” Thus, given the said clauses, the impending Lakhimpur floods should have outweighed other considerations while operating the gates at Ranganadi hydel project during the fateful days in June 2008! As a matter of fact, the water ramified as a floodwall moving towards Lakhimpur on the fateful day of June 14 is not regarded as a resource but a source of terror (unwanted water demon) for the people of Lakhimpur. From that point of view, the entire phenomenon should come under the ambit of “polluters pay principle” as stipulated in the NWP-2002 to suggest the flood-ravaged State of Assam to ask for compensation from those whose eco-hostile activities elsewhere in water resources sector cause damages in the State and bring miseries to the people. Given the emerging issues in the water resources sector of Assam, the water resources experts need to address them in the State Water Policy (SWP), which has been frequenting the relevant corridors for ratification before its enactment.

Protect the Wildlife Tokheswar Borah Article 48-A of the Directive Principles of State Policy states, “The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forest and wildlife of the country.’’ Conservation of forest and wildlife is the most complex for an administrator to deal with. It requires conscious effort for systematically dealing with the problem from the viewpoint of wildlife conservation. Different strategies had been worked out with a view to containing the problem under the purview of explicit policy guidelines. However, it has remained a distant dream. In his thought-provoking piece, “Indigenous Knowledge in the Conservation and Use of World Forests”, Dorrel A Posey says, “Conservation has always been a cultural question, although environmentalists have acted for decades as though the preservation of nature had nothing to do with the human species. Today, however, experienced environmentalists and conservationists recognize that unless people have direct stake and interest in conservation, even the best designed projects in the world stand little chance for long-term success.” Deforestation has posed a serious threat and endangered the lives of wild animals. The forests are home to wild animals. The importance of forests has been universally realized. But most of the sanctuaries have villages within their boundaries and wildlife populations are in proximity to the villages. Due to increase of human population and land-hungry people within the vicinity of forest areas, the problem has become more alarming. Take the case of elephants. They live in forests and hilly areas where tall grasses abound. They are mainly vegetarian and fond of grass, shrubs, leaves and twigs. Due to scarcity of food, which is a result of encroachment of forest areas, the elephants come out of forest areas, travel in herds and move from one place to another in search of fodder. The villagers in turn drive them out to save their crop, and thus it becomes a man-elephant conflict. The man-elephant conflict continues to grow unabated. The rampant destruction of forests by illegal encroachers, in the vicinity of the forest areas, to meet their selfish motive has made the situation alarming indeed. From the year 2001 to 2006, the number of human causalities was 239 against 265 elephant deaths of which 60 were natural deaths and other deaths were caused by tiger attack, disease, infighting, senility, poisoning, electrocution, accident and poaching. The poachers hunt elephants for ivory. The Kaziranga National Park, which is famous for one-horned rhinos, also houses wild buffalos, tigers, swamp deers and a whole lot of other rare species. In Kaziranga, it is the large-scale poaching of rhinos that has caused a serious concern. Since 1965, poachers have killed 710 rhinos. This is a great loss to Assam. There is a superstitious belief among people that the rhino horn contains aphrodisiac properties. SM Nair, an environmentalist, says: ‘‘The horn is keratinous in composition, being a modification of the hair, and has no medicinal or aphrodisiac properties, contrary to the commonly held belief. Large-scale poaching of the rhino horn because of the above misinformation has led to a decline in its population.” As another case in point, the large-scale cutting of trees by illegal encroachers at the Balipara Reserve Forest located adjacent to the Nameri Wildlife Sanctuary has led to several ecological damage, threatening the lives of wild animals and species. Illegal trade in animal skin has been responsible for the killing of a large number of tigers and leopards. Unabated hunting of wildlife for pleasure has also posed a serious threat to the survival of wildlife. Habitat destruction has an adverse impact on wildlife and a direct bearing on the environment which provides animal food and breeding ground for wildlife. As environmentalist David A Murno rightly said on the 44th North American Wildlife and Natural Resource Conference in 1979 at Toronto, “Conservation is on the brink of massive failure. Paradoxically it also faces opportunities for success that it has never had before.” Dr SM Nair, Programme Director, Centre for Environment Education, New Delhi and founder Director of National Museum of Natural History, says “Conservation does not mean just preserving wildlife as it is at the cost of man. Conservation involves sustainable or wise utilization of natural resources. We depend on nature for all our needs. If we overexploit these resources, it will not last for ever.” Conservation of wildlife needs a well-defined policy to create professional cadre of personnel fully trained in all aspects of conservation of wildlife and sanctuary management. (The writer is Special Officer to Commissioner, North Assam Division)

The Singur Episode Arindam Gautam The recent spate of developments in Singur has brought unprecedented woes both for Tata Motors as well as the CPI-M led government in West Bengal under the stewardship of the Buddhadev Bhattacharjee. The backdrop of the entire episode was that Tata Motors had chalked out a plan to roll out the cheapest car named Nano from their factory at Singur. For this purpose they were allocated 650 acres of land by the State government. At the very outset there was furore regarding the inexplicable secrecy surrounding the deal. Later on, however, despite much reluctance, most of the circles gave way to the State government’s decision. But all of a sudden when the ruling party allocated further 450 acres of alleged arable land to Tata Motors for setting up ancillary industries, it led to a spurt of bandhs and protests in the State. This was spearheaded by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee who had been the calling shots from the very beginning. Ms Banerjee maintains that the government has clandestinely taken away arable land from poor peasants who have no other way to sustain themselves. Of course, during her exercise to emerge as the messiah for the farmers, Ms Banerjee’s possible attempts to consolidate vote banks cannot be ruled out. On the other hand, the Chief Minister maintains that the 450 acres of land in question are an integral part of the small car project, and that both the factory and ancillary units should stay at the same place. The CM justified his statement by saying that the ancillary units would not only supply their products to Tata Motors but would cater to other car manufacturers too. Other automobile companies are also waiting for the ancillary industries to come up. If they get ancillary here, they too would set up their factories in West Bengal. Mr Bhattacharjee, however, maintained that the government had given adequate compensation to the farmers for their land and also devised specific rehabilitation programmes for the peasants. But Ms Banerjee would not budge. Entangled amidst such political quagmire, it seems that Tata Motors are the worst sufferers. It is on account of the activities of the Trinamool that the Tata workers at going through a harrowing time. As such, they are not able to report on duty on time, and works in the factory have gone out of gear. Therefore has risen the speculation that they would not be able to roll out Nano in the stipulated time. If this were to take place, it would mean great loss to Tata Motors. However, a shrewd industrialist like Ratan Tata would not allow that to happen. There had been occasions in the past when Mr Tata walked out of deals which were not executed as per the terms and conditions. The Tatas have in the past walked out of Bangladesh and Orissa. They even walked out from the very profitable deal of setting up a domestic airline in collaboration with Singapore Airlines when the government placed conditions they deemed unreasonable. In fact, in a recent meeting with the media, Mr Tata has categorically stated that if they felt like there was a view that they should not be there or what they have been doing should be altered, then they would, despite reluctance, move out. Although that would mean some loss on the infrastructure they have built to roll out the car from Singur, comparatively West Bengal would suffer greater losses. It is because several States like Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu have put up red carpets to welcome the Tatas. It needs mention that in the past, due to Communist and regionalist ideologies, West Bengal slipped into economic irrelevance and the Singur project was a part of the efforts of the present CM to usher in a new era of industrial and economic resurgence in the region. Moreover, if today the Tatas move out of the State, it would send a wrong signal to industries that have been proposing to set up their bases in West Bengal. West Bengal would then no longer remain a prospective investment destination. However, in this process to recoup industrial growth in West Bengal, the peasants’ viewpoint too cannot be neglected. It needs no mention that land is the only fixed asset whose price augments with time. The monetary return that has been promised will probably not suffice. It is better to provide them with pecuniary compensation or perhaps a job in the factory. Offering a job too has several implications. They may not have the requisite skill to learn new things or they may not be very willing to leave their ancestral occupation. Another solution may be to issue shares to the farmers proportionate to the amount of the land instead of money. It might then be beneficial, as apart from the money being kept at a secured place, they will be also getting dividends from time to time. But again the big question is: How would the farmers react to a piece of paper (share certificate) in return for their land? Moreover, Mr Tata too might be reluctant to issue share certificates to them. It is, therefore, imperative that all political parties shed off their personal agenda and ego, gauge the reality of the situation, and devise appropriate strategies to resolve the Singur impasse.

book review How’s Economy? MK Sarma After a long gap we have in our hand a book — Under a Tinsel Still Tough, by Dr BK Mukhopadhyay — that aptly analyses India’s economic and social scenario, backed by up-to-date data. The coverage, information and analytical skill deserve appreciation. As far as the economy is concerned, tough challenges lie ahead. The global economy has faced insurmountable difficulties with crude prices exhibiting a skyrocketing trend coupled with US-led sub-prime crisis and gold prices touching a 29-year high level, apart from the glaring instances of poverty, inequality and regional imbalances. The Indian economy grew by 9.1 per cent in 2007-08 and high interest rates are expected to moderate the growth to a certain extent, but even then the GDP would grow between 8 to 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal. Though China has been posting double-digit growth, India’s performance has been highlighted in many international ratings in the recent past. Keeping in view the moderate problem-ridden growth path in the global economic trends, such performances definitely deserve high appreciation. In fact we are now optimistic about achieving a 10 per cent G D P. No doubt, India is capable of attaining a sustained economic growth of 9 to 10 per cent over the next seven to ten years, provided there is right discipline on the fiscal front. The Finance Minister is not incorrect when he says that ‘‘growth rate could even cross 10 per cent on a good monsoon, coupled with the right policies, new initiatives and better governance’’. Thus there is need for speeding up economic reforms, especially in the banking, insurance and pension sectors to mop up additional resources for long-term investments. As far as the foreign sector is concerned, there still exists a huge gap — exports stood at $100 billion against imports of $4,140 billion (2005-06). Given the above, Dr Mukhopadhyay, a well-known economist-writer, has presented his book with a remarkable difference. Though it has been especially marked for the MBA/BBA students, it can well cater to the needs of academicians, policy planners, analysts and social scientists. The introduction itself is a part to be read with all seriousness, followed by complete description of the global economic trends. The eight chapters have been suitably divided: India’s changing scenario; agriculture scene; industrial scene; infrastructure scene; trade and services scene; banking and finance scene; and finally a beautifully added coverage on management topics. The appendix itself is loaded with many facts and figures, which will be of immense help to students pursuing business environment/Indian economics as one of their subjects. Coverage like energy security, corporate governance, financial inclusion, micro-finance, white revolution, HRM, risk management, among others, deserve a special mention. One hopes that the second edition would soon come up. In that case it would be better if the writer were to add something more on the current economic scenario. source:sentinel assam editorial 07.09.08