Shantha Kumar's Blog

More than once today, I have heard 'powerful' people remark that there is no problem in evacuating wind power or solar power or for that matter any power in Tamil Nadu. I was present at the Confederation of Indian Industry - TN Renewable Energy Conference 2016. In the inaugural session, the Minister for Power in Tamil Nadu remarked that the problem in power evacuation of wind has nothing to do with grid or transmission systems. He asserted, it is a problem connected with infirm nature of wind. 'Make it firm, Gentlemen'. 'Use your minds. Do some research. Find some way to make it firm'. If only the solution is so easy! Later after the inaugural session, we had more techie talk. We had the Director Operations of none other than the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation declaring vehemently, that there is no short fall of evacuation capacity. 'We can evacuate all of your wind power; all of your solar power. We have the capacity. We have augmented it'...

Edit Blog I was referring to how history is really a sequence of social changes and wars are really driven by such social changes. Not just wars, kings are made and un-made by those actions of the society.  India had a major social change wrought by the influx of Hindu thought overruling the thoughts of Jains and Buddhists who ruled the roost then. This thought introduced into the country, some good things and some bad things. Two important concepts stand out for critical review. One, the thought of Karma. Two, the thought on Education. They said and accepted that Karma decides how you are born and how you lived in this world. As per Hindu doctrine brought in by the then priest class, four different varnas existed and the birth into the varna was because of your earlier karma. Any reference to something which can never be proved is so easy to hold. So what happened was, any disease was thought of as a karma. If you had leprosy it was because of your karma. If yo...

British East India Company did not have anything to sell in India except Opium that they obtained on the way to India. After more than six hundred years, after the Roman sea-trade withered, Europeans were again trading with India over the sea. Romans found the sea route long time back. But then, we cannot discount the huge service East India Company did to this world. They created the first real MNC. And what an MNC it was! They acquired wealth within a matter of fifty years! From 1600 to 1650, the company grew by more than 10000 times in asset worth and value! The East India Company was not only the richest company in the world by 1650 but also it was richer than Britain! And when the British Government decided to dissolve the company in 1857-8, after the first war of Indian Independence, Britain grew richer to an unbelievable extent. Nobody talks of why the company that was so successful, created Singapore and Hongkong for the world, should be dissolved in one stroke by the...

I was reading a book titled '1857'. Every Indian would know the significance of the year. It was a detailed presentation of what transpired that year over a period of six to seven months and how the Indian princes and princesses, literally committed harakiri by fighting not in unison.  But what it reinforced was my understanding of the Indian History that the fall of India was not due to technological superiority as many historians would portray nor is it due to any grand strategy that the British had. History as we read in our books is mostly wars, kings and generals. Unfortunately, history is made not by any of them but by the social circumstances that are in vogue then. These social changes happen gradually over decades; sometimes over centuries and millenniums. Unseen and unsung. These changes bring about wars, kings and generals who are noted in history as the change makers. But in reality, they are the outcome of these social changes. British came to India to t...

Two kids in school, thirteen year olds, fought with one another. Let us call them A and B. One of them, the boy A broke the nose of the other. Complaints were made and the matter went to the Principal of the school. Mother of B was all worked up. Look at the way A has broken by son, B's nose. All bloody and harsh. A is a rogue, a rowdy and has to be punished strongly so that he learns his lessons. Mother of A on the other hand says that the fight could have gone either way. It was just fate that B ended up with a broken nose. It could have been A easily. And will mother of B talk about it the same way if it had been the other way round. For one, most of the 'crimes' of the juvenile are minor in nature. And your own point of view will determine the way you think and behave about such juveniles. Don't we not find neighbouring women who cry hoarse about your kids as if their kids are absolute nice ones. Right, Nirbhaya is an heinous crime. No doubt. When we mak...

So, once more the parliament is going to adjourn the winter session without passing the GST bill. One more year to roll by before we can think of and talk of GST! What a sham! Who is to blame for this ruckus? Is it the Opposition, Congress or is it the Government, BJP? Let us take a look at the history. Congress brought in the concept of GST way back in 2003 / 4. All the initial teeth that was set in the first draft slowly gave way with every passing day and opposition by the then Opposition Party, BJP and the communist parties. While Congress wanted taxes to have a more central leaning, the others wanted a state leaning. Neither the Congress yielded nor the others. There are good and bad arguments for either of them. There is no question of who is right and who is wrong. Both of them are right in their own ways. While so, only an accommodation and a policy of dropping clauses that are not comfortable could have brought the GST out. But unfortunately, this never happened...

From the vague vantage point that I occupy today, I write this article. Therefore, the information I am privy too is very little except most that is available on the media. Based on this information, I give you another vague perception of what to expect. However, the lines of progress are clear. GST has grown old under discussion stage itself and has lost most of its original charm. 1. There will be a central GST and a State GST. Sounds very similar to Central Sales Tax and the State Sales Tax. Only advantage, no two numbers. One number but two accounts to pay. You make a mistake, you pay the penalty. They don't adjust between themselves! Same as today. Yes, of course, the Excise is not there! That is a big saving. 2. Who does the scrutiny or audit checks? The fight is still on. Both want the right to do the audit. Because that is where they can make their money. Who would leave that out? From the way, it is progressing, both will end up making the audit on our accounts. Res...