Well I can always talk about economy, travel and photography but every now and then there are things or exceptions that need to be addressed and today happens to be one of those days. Just as criticism is important for quality improvement appreciation is equally important for boosting moral and credit must be given when due….in case of India they have achieved a significant milestone for the country in the area of space exploration. Indian lunar project Chandrayaan has been very successful, I had been watching it’s progress and was holding my breath as space missions are very tricky. Slightest mistake could be fatal. It’s not a car in your garage where if something goes wrong you could just call a toll truck and get it fixed.
These are instruments millions of miles away in space……..out of anyone’s reach. So these space projects tend to draw huge attention and also tend to prove extreme engineering challenges. When missions are completed successfully they truly are achievements for any country not just for India.
Chandrayan’s success has proven that Indian space research organization or ISRO can execute space projects successfully. Congratulation ISRO……….you have made Indians proud all over the world their blessings are with you.
Here are few facts that Indians must know….I guess will only make them more proud.
It’s a fact that you don’t have to speak English with American ascent to be successful in space exploration. And that happens to be the case at NASA as well :).
Why stop at that………ISRO is also going to provide BETTER maps of India. BETTER than Google earth provides !!!
Moonshot fires vision of Indian Google Earth
By James Lamont in New Delhi
Published: November 14 2008 00:55 | Last updated: November 14 2008 00:55
After conquering the moon, Indian scientists have their eyes trained on Google Earth.
Only weeks after the blast-off of India’s first unmanned moon mission, the country’s space agency plans to launch its own equivalent of Google Earth, the virtual globe programme, using its satellite network to create a high resolution web-based mapping system. The service, covering only India, will be offered at no cost to web users..
Now read ahead what ISRO’s success has done…………seems that those Indian scientists finally have had enough at NASA and some want to head back home………….__:). NASA scientists ring up ISRO, seek opportunities in ‘desi’ missions
Saturday, 25 October , 2008, 22:24
Last Updated: Saturday, 25 October , 2008, 22:36
Bangalore: Several NASA scientists — of Indian origin and foreigners alike — are knocking the door of Indian Space Research Organisation looking for opportunities to work in future ‘desi’ space missions following the success of Chandrayaan-1 launch, a senior ISRO official said today. http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14784608
-Let me highlight some key fundamental differences for you………….
With the launch of Chandrayaan, India space scientists have sent several key messages.
Nair asserts three points. First is the meager ISRO annual budget of one billion dollars, compared to the 20 billion dollars of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Secondly, with this small budget, India is the only country to use hi-tech space research for development, with a combination of satellites for telecommunications, weather forecasting, crops and education. “Even western nations have recognised this,” he says. “We are sharply focused on our objectives and work in mission mode,” he says.
The third is that ISRO uses 80 percent of its budget for development-related missions and the remaining 15 percent for advanced research and missions such as Chandrayaan, Nair said. ( did you get it ? Read again Chandarayaan was developed from the 15% of the budget (left over), if NASA were to do this project they would have spent million more in dollars, I think this might be yet another outsourcing industry developing in India).
- Compared to other space-faring nations, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) missions are cost-effective. Chandrayaan cost ISRO 80 million US dollars, compared to Japan’s Selene mission’s 480 million dollars, or China’s Change-E1 mission that cost 187 million dollars. The European Space Agency (ESA’s Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology (SMART-1) in 2003 cost 140 million dollars.
Ironically, it was the U.S. that once led the technology embargoes against ISRO, many of which are expected to be lifted, following the passing of the Indo-U.S. nuclear cooperation deal by the U.S. Senate this month.
While we are at the subject let us check other scientific achievements India had earlier this year.
Do you think Intel designs best chips ? Think again if it’s actually Intel ? Landmark launch of Indian Intel chip
By Joe Leahy in Mumbai
Published: September 15 2008 22:30 | Last updated: September 15 2008 22:30
Intel is to launch the first microprocessor for the mass market that it has developed almost exclusively at its design center in Bangalore in a milestone for the research and development of computer hardware in India. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b537008-834c-11dd-907e-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=a6dfcf08-9c79-11da-8762-0000779e2340.html
Watch this video to know - what Chandrayan’s mission is all about it seems that so far no country has done it. Indians are the first to even attempt it.
What Indian Lunar mission is doing is not even done by Americans.
Here is a link to see pictures taken by ISRO’s Chandrayaan ( it’s a Sanskrit word means Vehical for Moon).
To all Indians if these many achievements don’t not make you proud. I don’t know what would….best regards….please pass it on to your other Indian friends….
I am back in US, returned from India. Vacation is over jet lag is not. You read enough about my vacation etc but nothing about economy in India. Let us get started….
So how is economy in India ? Well, it’s definitely not good that much I can tell you. Big ticket items are seeing lower sales and real estate like everywhere else in the world has slowed down quite a bit.
Big ticket items – such as Air Conditioners, Washing Machines, Refrigerators and Dishwashers and some big screen TVs. They are all experiencing slower demand, lower sales numbers. We (me and wife) went into few showrooms during our visit in India to see what’s available and how much does it cost, we could then compare cost in India for the same item, with cost in US. Even before I give you this cost break down first interesting observation that I had that day (it was a weekday ) was that the showroom we visited had 11-14 sales people and there were only 2 serious buyers in the shop me and my wife. During our 40 minutes stay in the shop only 4-5 other customers visited and I did not see any of them buying anything.
It’s not easy to compare cost because products offered in ASIA are slightly different than those offered in North America. ASIA has PAL TVs and North America uses NTSC format for Televisions. However TVs going digital and HD so, with these new formats old differences are taking a back seat ( I think).
TVs that are manufactured in India by foreign companies do well in pricing when compared in India and abroad. But those which are imported from abroad seems to be expensive.
Same TV in US costs only 1527 USD. http://www.gosale.com/4939619/samsung-ln46a650-46-1080p?gclid=CPD-1cO87pYCFQrFGgodHhqUrA
Same TV costs almost $1000 more to purchase in India. If you’re wondering why in my comparison it’s not the same model number then my answer is that model sold in ASIA is named correctly using LA, L for LCD and A for ASIA where as the same series 6 model sold in US is named as L for LCD and N for North America. Rest of the number a650 is same and then again what AL means in the last on ASIAn model I don’t know. But you still get the point ! I don’t think Samsung re-invented their Series 6 model line for US or North America so in my mind the comparison is fine.
With these type of comparisons seems to me that electronic items are expensive to purchase in India. Thanks to the government, amount of excise duty, import duty, landing charges that are put on foreign merchandise is huge. I think it’s done on purpose to keep products made locally in demand (cost advantage).
Why is that ? My guess is Samsung may be the brand but it’s possible that it’s being manufactured locally in India and/or it has been exempted from being a luxury item and taxes on them are reduced.
Check this news article that indicates that I might be right….
Samsung’s existing manufacturing facilities in India include production facilities for flat colour televisions, including LCD TVs, colour monitors, refrigerators, washing machines and GSM handsets. The company’s R&D operations in India include hardware R&D at Noida as well as software R&D development centres - Samsung India Software Center (SISC) at Noida, for consumer electronics products and Samsung India Software Operations Unit (SISO) at Bangalore, for telecom software development. Source: chennaionline
http://www.chennai365.com/news/samsung-unit-launched-at-sriperumbudur/
From the article…..The Company is manufacturing 21? and 29? flat and ultra slim models as well as LCD models in the screen sizes between 19? to 32? at this facility.
So the bigger TVs could be imported hence the price difference.
In my previous trip to India series I was doing a comparison for cars. Honda Civic costs approx 15,00,000 in India (on road or may be a little bit higher) or approx 31,000 USD. http://www.carwale.com/new/CarDetails.aspx?car=1206
By comparison Honda Civic in US costs only 15,000 USD or approx. 17,000 on Road. http://www.edmunds.com/honda/civic/2008/index.html
In other words everyone in India who is driving a Honda Civic is actually worthy of driving a Mercedes in US. Check this out…
Seems to me that imported products are artificially made expensive in India by it’s government to keep the consumption low and keep the locally made products in competition by giving them a price advantage over imported ones.
Problem is people in India don’t make as much money doing similar jobs as they do in US. That is why jobs keep moving to India. However materialistic things are either more expensive or cost the same in India as they do in US. Something for your to remember.
If Indian government ever let go of the controls (tax ) just imagine what will be the lifestyle of Indians at the same time if taxes are increased or prices shoot north in US imagine what will happen in US. With prices this low people are defaulting with higher price current lifestyle will sure be gone away fast.
Biggest problem if one wants to shop around in India is price information, it’s not available on the net. Stores/Showrooms will advertise in the local news paper about the price but they will never put that info on the net. You may call the store over phone and they won’t tell you the prices.
Only way you can find out price for sure is by visiting the store and that takes too much time………..
Anyway if you’re planning to visit India or move back to India plan your budget see what you can and cannot bring back to India from abroad. But it all requires work…………in case you want to save money.
Here is the kicker……..education that should be cheaper in any country is most expensive in US however (in comparison) it only costs pennies to educate people in India.
Now how about job market ? Credit ? Overall economy…Etc. well it’s all slowing down and India is finally getting a taste of being a global player.
—It was largely believed that India escaped US Subprime mess….well it might have but now it’s on it’s way making it’s own subprime mess. Read ahead and if all this sounds familiar then you know where it’s heading……….Indian subprime in making..
As you know layoffs lead to un-employment and then it leads to no income and then things just get worse…as people may not be able to payback their loans. ‘Banks may see rise in bad loans’
Mumbai, Nov. 6 Mr O.P. Bhatt, Chairman, State Bank of India, has said that he expects no slowdown in credit growth in the current fiscal, but banks may see a rise in their bad loans due to moderation in the economic growth. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/11/07/stories/2008110752570100.htm
[views and opinions expressed here are mine and you need not agree with them. You should not make any financial decisions based upon material you read on this website. For that you must contact an expert in the relevant area of your need.]
I missed an important post on my trip to Goa about their songs and dance. I have updated the post now you can listen to some Goa music/songs and see dance pictures by clicking here
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