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8 things India Inc, govt must do against Pakistan
The three-day-long terror strike on the country's financial capital was devastating in terms of its reach and impact. It has left Corporate India badly shaken and the elites numb.
It is no more about bombs being thrown at bus stations or trains getting blasted. It is no longer about only Nagpada or Govindpuri residents losing limbs and lives. Terror has now climbed up the value chain.
As the new age entrepreneur Kiran Majumdar Shaw told a Bangalore newspaper, "So far, the terrorists targeted common people. Now the society's elite, the business sector, is the target. What happened in Mumbai is a loud wake-up call for all of us to do something to protect ourselves."
Corporate India did not bat an eyelid when Mumbai train blasts took place, or when Sarojini Nagar was burning on a Diwali day, or Hyderabad was weeping two years before.
But today, every corporate captain is angry, and so are the celebrities who people Page 3 of newspapers, due largely because the attacks on the three top hotels were directly aimed at those who frequent these places, for business or pleasure (contrast this with the scant coverage of the carnage at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, for example, where commoners were involved).
All the same, the bleeding-heart liberals would be back to their routine ways after a few days. They will lament that the captured terrorist has not been given his favourite food and not allowed to watch TV or use his cell phone; they will say his human rights are violated. Just wait for the chorus.
Of course, this time it will be between Page 3 and the jholawalas (activists) and that should be an interesting match to watch, but that's another story.
In the last ten years, not a single session of any seminar sponsored by the CII or Ficci or business/general journals has focussed on terrorism. When this writer once broached the importance of talking about it, a senior business captain said it is for the government to deal with.
Many of those seminars gave importance to Musharraf and now Zardari, as if they are going to provide any solution when they are a part of the problem.
Now, at least, terrorism is being realised as a problem facing the country.
Let us summarise what the real situation is and what the corporate sector should do if we are serious in fighting terrorism on our soil.
1. Recognise and treat Pakistan as a terrorist state. The state policy of Pakistan is terrorism and their single-point programme is to destroy India. This needs to be internalised by every business baron including the owners of media.
2. Now, the elite of Pakistan are more angry, since India is growing at 7% and they are given CCC rating and stiff conditions for borrowing from the IMF.
Many an academic from that country, who I have met in global conferences, has openly lamented that nobody talks about Indo-Pak relations anymore, but only Indo-China or Indo-American, etc. They want to be equal but they are in deep abyss.
3. Pakistan is the only territory in the world where an army has a whole country under its control. This is an important issue since studies have found that a large number of corporates in Pakistan are ultimately owned by the Fauji Foundation (FF), Army Welfare Trust (AWT) Bahria Foundation (BF), Shaheen Foundation (SF) all owned by different wings of armed forces (See paper presented by Dr Ayesha Siddiqa-Agha on 'Power, Perks, Prestige And Privileges: Military's Economic Activities In Pakistan' in The International Conference on Soldiers in Business -- Military as an Economic Actor; Jakarta, October 17-19, 2000).
Hence, do not try to think of Pakistan without its army, irrespective of who rules that country temporarily and nominally. At least 70% of the market capitalisation of the Karachi stock exchange is owned by the army and related groups.
4. There are three groups in India, who are obsessed with friendship with Pakistan. One is the oldies born in that part before partition and who are nostalgic about the Lahore havelis, halwas and mujras. The second is the Bollywood and other assorted groups, who look at it as a big market. The Dawood gang has financed enough of these useful idiots. The third is the candle light holding bleeding heart liberals (BHLs) who cannot imagine India doing well without its younger brother taken care of.
All three have been proved wrong hundreds of times, but they are also opinion makers. Shun them, avoid them and ridicule them.
5. We should categorically, unambiguously, unequivocally boycott Pakistan in all aspects for a decade or more. Be it art, music, economy, commerce, or other hand-holding activities. That army-controlled state has to realise that it has done enough damage to global civilisation.
More than 100 acts/attempts of terror recorded in the world since 9/11 have had their roots in Pakistan. More than 40% of the prisoners in Guantanamo are Pakistanis.
6. We should recognise that it is our war and nobody in the world is going to wage it on our behalf. What the Americans are thinking, or what the Britishers are going to do, will not help. A determined country should have a sense of dignity and independence to fight its war.
We should stop interviewing leaders from that country who mouth the same inanities that "you have not produced any proof." The Government of India should perhaps create a museum of proof between India Gate and North Block.
I am amazed that a country of a billion is required even to furnish proof. If one-sixth of humanity says that the terrorist state of Pakistan is the root cause of global terrorism -- it is factual. Let us not fall into the trap of providing proof to the culprits.
7. We should realise that a united Pakistan is a grave threat to the existence of India. Hence, we should do everything possible to break up Pakistan into several units. This is required to be done not only for our interest, but for world peace.
8. We have made a grave blunder by suggesting in the international fora that "Pakistan is also a victim of terror." That is a grave error and it will haunt us for decades. They are perpetrators and our government is in deep illusion if it tries to distinguish between organs of power in that country thinking it is like India.
There is only one organ, namely its army (with ISI as a sub-organ) in that country, which owns and controls at least 70% of the GDP in that country.
If we want the world to treat Pakistan for what it is, then we should start practising it. Always call it the 'terrorist state of Pakistan' and never have any illusion that it is going to be any different.
If corporate India, including electronic/ print media, starts practising this, we should see results in a few years. Are the elites listening?
Courtesy :The author is professor of finance and control, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and can be contacted at vaidya@iimb.ernet.in. The views are personal and do not reflect those of his organisation.
Under license from www.3dsyndication.com.
What is 3G spectrum? How does it help you?
It's boom time for mobile phones in India. And people are looking forward to more information, faster data access and multimedia services through their mobile phones. 3G technology is here to turn this dream into reality. It's a technology anxiously awaited by telecom operations and subscribers in India.
How long do you have to wait?
Not very long! India is all set to launch 3G mobile telephone services by June 2007.
According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Nripendra Misra, a total of 32.5 MHz is available for allocation within the next 6-9 months.
Trai has also recommended auctioning 200 MHz for broadband wireless access services like Wimax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) and has proposed a national frequency management board to oversee spectrum availability and its efficient use.
He hopes that the allocated spectrum would be enough for the next two years and said Trai would recommend freeing up more spectrum for those who lose out in this auction.
So what is 3G spectrum all about? Read on.
What is spectrum?
Radio spectrum refers to a range of radio frequencies. The bandwidth of a radio signal is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies of the signal.
For example, in the case of a voice signal having a minimum frequency of 200 hertz (Hz) and a maximum frequency of 3,000 Hz, the bandwidth is 2,800 Hz (3 KHz). The amount of bandwidth needed for 3G services could be as much as 15-20 Mhz, whereas for 2G services a bandwidth of 30-200 KHz is used. Hence, for 3G huge bandwidth is required.
How is 3G different from 2G and 4G?
While 2G stands for second-generation wireless telephone technology, 1G networks used are analog, 2G networks are digital and 3G (third-generation) technology is used to enhance mobile phone standards.
3G helps to simultaneously transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging e-mail, and instant messaging. The highlight of 3G is video telephony. 4G technology stands to be the future standard of wireless devices.
Currently, Japanese company NTT DoCoMo and Samsung are testing 4G communication.
How will 3G services help you?
3G services will enable video broadcast and data-intensive services such as stock transactions, e-learning and telemedicine through wireless communications
All telecom operators are waiting to launch 3G in India to cash in on revenues by providing high-end services to customers, which are voice data and video enabled. India lags behind many Asian countries in introducing 3G services.
What is Trai's recommendation on 3G pricing?
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended auctioning radio frequencies for 3G telecom services at a reserve price of Rs 1,050 crore (Rs 10.50 billion) to companies seeking to offer nationwide high-speed Internet and streaming video.
The base price for spectrum in cities like Mumbai and Delhi and Category A telecom circles is Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million); in cities like Chennai and Kolkata and Category B circles Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million); and in all other cities Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million).
What are the frequency bands and quota for CDMA?
Trai has recommended three sets of frequency bands - 450 mhz, 800 mhz and 2.1 ghz. For CDMA players like Reliance [Get Quote] and Tata Teleservices [Get Quote] 1.25 MHz each is offered. CDMA operators are free to bid both in the 2.1 GHz and the 450 MHz bands, but they will be allocated spectrum only in one. The pricing of these two bands is linked to the auction in the 2.1 GHz band.
CDMA operators will pay the same as the second-highest GSM bidder. And if there is more than one claimant in the 450 MHz band, the reserve price will be half of that arrived at in the 2.1 GHz band. Another rider is that if the highest bid is a quarter more than the lowest, the lowest bidder has to raise its bid to 75 per cent of the winning bid.
But CDMA operators are likely to face problems. Operating 3G services on 450 MHz is a problem because we they do not have dual-band phones that work both in 450 MHz and in 800 MHz (the band in which CDMA operates in India).
What are the issues regarding 3G for providers and users?
3G has successfully been introduced in Europe. But several issues continue to hamper its growth.
High spectrum licensing fees for the 3G services
Huge capital required to build infrastructure for 3G services.
Health impact of electromagnetic waves.
Prices are very high for 3G mobile services.
Will 2G users switch to 3G services.
Takes time to catch up as the service is new.
What are the issues regarding 3G pricing?
Pricing has been a cause of concern. Spectrum auctions ran into billions of euros in Europe. In Europe, spectrum licensing fees were collected years before the 3G service was developed and it required huge investments to build 3G networks, hitting mobile operators' margins.
However, in Japan and South Korea, spectrum licensing fees were not applicable as the focus of these countries were national IT infrastructure development.
Which companies have applied for 3G license?
3G spectrum has been provided to GSM players like BSNL, MTNL [Get Quote], Bharti, and Hutch to carry out an interface check on a non-commercial basis ahead of the start of 3G mobile services.
Trial spectrum has been given for a period of one month. This will be only 1/1000th of the actual 3G spectrum capability. Apart frm PSU majors, spectrum for carrying out 3G trials has been given to all those who have applied under the National Frequency Allocation Plan on the 2.1 GHz band. GSM players operate on 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz, while CDMA players operate on 800 MHz.
What is the pricing issue in India?
While Tatas have welcomed Trai's Rs 1,400-crore (Rs 14 billion) base price for a nationwide rollout of 3G services, the rest of the players find the price too exorbitant.
Bharti-Airtel is disappointed with the pricing as they were expecting it to be Rs 300-400 crore (Rs 3-4 billion). The reserve price is a disincentive for telecom companies in India. Bharti has appealed to lower the prices specially for rural penetration.
The Cellular Operators Association of India and the Association of Unified Service Providers of India are studying TRAI's recommendations and have not given their comments.
However, Trai chairman Nripendra Misra has said that there is no reason to worry as players will not bid exorbitantly and derail the auction. Misra said telecom operators had matured from their experiences and global developments, and would bid sincerely.
Where was 3G spectrum first introduced?
Japan was the first country to introduce 3G on a large commercial scale. In 2005, about 40 per cent of subscribers used only 3G networks. It is expected that during 2006 the subscribers would move from 2G to 3G and upgrade to the next 3.5 G level.
The success of 3G in Japan also shows that video telephony was the killer application for 3G networks. Downloading music was the biggest draw in 3G services.
In how many countries does 3G exist?
There are about 60 3G networks across 25 countries . In Asia, Europe and the USA, telecom firms use WCDMA technology. The WCDMA standard provides seamless global evolution from today's GSM with support of the worlds' largest mobile operators.
WCDMA technology is built on open standards, wide ranging mobile multimedia possibility, and vast potential economies of scale with the support of around 100 terminal designs to operate 3G mobile networks.
3G services were introduced in Europe in 2003.
3G
A radio communications technology that will create a "bit pipe" for providing mobile access to internet-based services. It will enhance and extend mobility in many areas of our lives.
In the near future, mobility won't be an add-on: it will become a fundamental aspect of many services. We'll expect high-speed access to the internet, entertainment, information and electronic commerce (e-commerce) services wherever we are - not just at our desktop computers, home PCs or television sets.
3G services will add an invaluable mobile dimension to services that are already becoming an integral part of modern business life: Internet and Intranet access, video-conferencing, and interactive application sharing.
| 2G Wireless The technology of most current digital mobile phones Features includes: Speed: 10kb/sec Time to download a 3min MP3 song: |
| 2.5G Wireless The best technology now widely available Features includes: Speed: 64-144kb/sec Time to download a 3min MP3 song: |
| 3G Wireless Combines a mobile phone, laptop PC and TV Features includes: Speed: 144kb/sec-2mb/sec Time to download a 3min MP3 song: |
We are not just talking about "road warriors" who spend their entire lives travelling. It's more a question of supporting new, flexible working practices where employees need access to a wide range of information and services via their corporate intranets, whether they are at their own desk or anywhere else.
Employees who spend some of their working at home. Accountants that carry out audits at client premises. On-site maintenance engineers who need access to detailed instruction manuals, mobile emergency services who need a video link with a hospital or doctor for specialised advice. These are a few situations where 3G will play a valuable role.
| Key features of 3G systems are a high degree of commonality of design worldwide, compatibility of services, use of small pocket terminals with worldwide roaming capability, Internet and other multimedia applications, and a wide range of services and terminals. |
| 3G System Capabilities |
| Capability to support circuit and packet data at high bit rates:
|
| Interoperability and roaming |
| Common billing/user profiles:
|
| Capability to determine geographic position of mobiles and report it to both the network and the mobile terminal |
| Support of multimedia services/capabilities:
|
We're likely to see 3G services enter our day -to-day lives in all sorts of new ways: for example, in shopping, especially Internet "mail order" (e-commerce), banking, or playing interactive computer games over the Net.
We'll think nothing of sitting on a train and using a mobile palmtop with Internet browser to log into our bank accounts. While on-line we'll be able to check our accounts, pay a few bills and click on a screen icon to immediately set up a video-conference to discuss our account with a bank clerk.
On vacation, we'll be able to use our mobile palmtops to obtain local tour guides, make a last-minute reservation at a hotel, find and call the nearest taxi firm, and send video postcards. We'll expect location-independent mobile access to a personalised set of services that matches the way we live and work.
Increasingly, machine-to-machine communications will also be enabled and enhanced with future mobile network technology. Domestic appliances will have built-in radio modems to provide remote control and diagnostics. Our refrigerators will have built-in sensors that detect which items need restocking and automatically send a reminder message to our Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). We could even get the refrigerator to send an order direct to our local store. Likewise, vending machines will be able to tell the warehouse when they need restocking.
SmartGWT 1.0: A Q&A with Sanjiv Jivan
Earlier this month, SmartGWT 1.0 was released. SmartGWT is an API for building GWT applications using the SmartClient Javascript component library. SmartGWT was developed by Sanjiv Jivan, the same developer who previously lead gwt-ext development, and subsequently ceased his involvement due to licensing issues.
InfoQ had a chance to discuss SmartGWT with Sanjiv Jivan and get his perspective on the new project, comparisons to gwt-ext, and the plans for the project.
What are the main features that SmartGWT supports?
InfoQ had a chance to discuss SmartGWT with Sanjiv Jivan and get his perspective on the new project, comparisons to gwt-ext, and the plans for the project.
What are the main features that SmartGWT supports?
SmartGWT makes the complete APIs of the SmartClient AJAX RIA platform available in GWT. SmartClient is very different from other Ajax libraries in that it provides not only a very complete widget set, but also handles the hard problems involved in building enterprise applications: not just loading and displaying data, but propagating user changes back to the server, and handling all of the consequences of those changes - server validation and other error handling, cache updates across multiple components, etc.
SmartGWT's data-aware widgets - such as Tree, Grid, Calendar and several others - provide complete end-to-end user interactions like tree reordering, dragging events in a Calendar, which automatically generate appropriate server requests to update data with a simple protocol that's easy to customize. This subject is key in understanding the true value SmartGWT provides and a more detailed introduction can be found here.
A few other features worth mentioning:
- SmartGWT supports live grids that not only lazy load rows from the server on demand, but also lazily render columns as the user scrolls horizontally. Most browsers can't handle rendering a large number of columns in tables and the lazy rendering capabilities of SmartGWT grids makes displaying large tables a breeze without a performance hit. The TreeGrid which supports multiple columns, editing, lazy loading of nodes, and virtual scrolling is also very powerful and something that many applications require.
- Adaptive sorting and filtering in grids is pretty neat feature. When the data is filtered down to a number that fits in the local buffer, additional filters applied by the user no longer results in roundtrip calls to the server and data from the local buffer is used. It transparently reverts back to making calls to the server when the the data required to fulfill the request is not in the local buffer. This makes a huge difference in the real-world responsiveness and performance of enterprise apps, by cutting down on trips to the database and giving users instant responses instead
- Relogin: For applications requiring authentication, if a request is made and the session has timed out, SmartGWT makes it easy to implement a workflow where the user is prompted to relogin and on being authenticated successfully the original transaction is resumed without loss of data or context
What is the primary difference between gwt-ext and SmartGWT?
Besides the obvious difference in the actual functionality provided by each underlying library, in gwt-ext, there a is a fair amount of glue code to "fix" inconsistent API's and funky rendering behavior in ExtJS. In working with SmartClient, everything pretty much worked right away. The widget component hierarchy is consistent and object oriented so a direct translation to SmartGWT worked out real well.
SmartGWT also uses the standard GWT 1.6 event API which is much cleaner and flexible compared to its predecessor. As a result users no longer have to deal with listener adapter classes.
Another important difference is that SmartGWT has the full support of SmartClient where users can make feature requests, expedite bug fixes, get support and training and not worry about hitting a roadblock. Additionally, users have the benefit of a commercial friendly LGPL licensed library. Its the best of both worlds.
Having worked with both ExtJS and SmartClient, how do the two component frameworks compare?
ExtJS is certainly feature rich and looks sharp. It was the reason that I started gwt-ext a while ago when Ext was LGPL. However when working on GWT-Ext, there were a lot of corner cases, gotchas, deferred rendering workarounds and inconsistent class hierarchies in Ext where glue code had to be added to "fix" some of these inconsistencies. For example some layouts allow you to dynamically add new components while a couple of key layouts don't support it. Also another key issue is that a good percentage of widget properties cannot be changed after the widget has been rendered, and in some cases users need to set a property and sometimes they need to call a method to accomplish the same thing.
SmartClient has been developed over the past 8 years and it is extremely stable and virtually bug free. The component model is consistent and it is highly dynamic allowing users to change most properties post-render with the changes reflected immediately. It has significantly more functionality and handles server integration really well. If you browse the SmartClient forums, a few things become quickly apparent:
- You almost never hear that "this feature is not available / supported". Pretty much everything that users request is available.
- The number of bugs reported in next to zero.
- You don't find any unanswered questions.
Another thing that you'll notice if you view the source of the samples in their Showcase is that so much can be done with so little code. A master-detail screen that also sends updates to the server can be written with as few as 10 lines of code when passed a reusable DataSource definition.
Do you have any comments for users on SmartGWT being a wrapper over SmartClient versus being a complete rewrite?
A common misconception that users have is that any third-party library written in GWT magically runs fast, is completely leak free, and renders perfectly on all browsers. As an example a TableGrid written by a third party in GWT from scratch could still perform really poorly, and not display consistently on all browsers. There are obviously several aspects to GWT that helps avoid leaks and such but this does not mean that any third party code written in GWT is 100% leak free. What actually matters is that the framework code is well written and carefully tuned and well tested.
The reality is that SmartClient is fast and stable and provides an excellent base for SmartGWT. In fact, in my experience, SmartClient actually does a better job of solving browser inconsistencies than pure GWT third party libraries. SmartClient offers an accurate and consistent cross-browser layout with an object-oriented skinning system that doesn't require deep CSS expertise or knowledge of browser quirks.
In May you blogged about your decision to step down from the gwt-ext project due to the controversial licensing changes with ExtJS. How has that decision been received by the community?
The community has been very understanding and the other team leaders of gwt-ext have also stepped up and done a great job. Most importantly the community that really grown and its great to see users helping other users.
I've had conversations with the gwt-ext team leads and they have expressed that having an option for users that feel limited with gwt-ext to migrate to SmartGWT is a healthy option. Assistance will be provided to users who are interested in migrating. Ofcourse the gwt-ext project will continue to run the way it currently is.
The evolution of SmartGWT to version 1.0 has been very quick, even assuming you started development in May. Were there lessons you learned in developing gwt-ext that you were able to apply to SmartGWT?
Working on an open source project is mostly about personal satisfaction and the "feel good" aspect of being involved in a project that is of use to several other users. It is also a great learning experience that helps personal development.
On the technical side of things, I was able to apply my learnings during the development of gwt-ext towards SmartGWT while improving upon the common issues faced by the users. I also learned it was very important to pick a project that doesn't involve politics and something that is motivating.
It was extremely distressing to frequently receive emails from the owners of Ext, LLC threating to sue me if I didn't play along with their plans. For instance they wanted me to switch to GPL or else they would find me in violation of their license. Again, no details were provided. I also received another threat where they said that I would hear from their lawyers within 24 hours if I didn't allow them to post on the gwt-ext forum. And this was after I put in a lot of effort building a project which directly supported growth and sales of their own library.
In contrast, the folks at SmartClient have been fully supportive of SmartGWT, providing technical assistance and a safe home for SmartGWT which will be operated under their umbrella. They even wrote a public letter indicating that they will not switch licenses of their LGPL offering. It feels great to be back working on technical stuff with what I consider a superior product.
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