Medak, which is almost 100 kms from Hyderabad, is an apt choice if you want to enjoy a short and brisk trip. We booked a cab for the entire day and started at 9am for Medak. The way to Medak was really eye soothing with greeneries all around and free from the hustle and bustle of city life. Medak is famous for its Church, which is considered to be the second largest diocese church in the world after Vatican and first in Asia. The church can accommodate nearly 5000 people at a time. Then there is Medak fort which was built somewhere around 12th century during the reign of Kakatiyan Ruler, Prataparudra. We reached the place at 11.30am and decided to visit the fort first. The strategically located fort stands as a silent testimony of the mighty Kakatiya dynasty. It’s famous for its 3 main entrances – Prathama dwaram, Simha dwaram and Gaja dwaram. The fort also offers a spectacular top-down view of the Medak town. The fort is a good trekking spot as well. Having visited this marvelous citadel, we planned to go to the cathedral. Medak Church is the second largest diocese church in the world after Vatican City, a proud piece of detail which was unknown to me before the visit. The magnificent cathedral is the finest example of Gothic architecture in India. It is largely made up of white granite and took 10 years for completion (1914-1924). Apart from the architectural splendor, I was enthralled by the 3 brilliantly painted stained glass windows inside the church which depicted different stages of Jesus Christ’s life – nativity, crucifixion and ascension. It was nearly 1.30pm, we were mighty hungry and so it was the time to have lunch. We chose one of the several benches in the garden encompassing the church for our alfresco lunch and opened our lunch pack, extra careful because of the monkeys roaming freely all around. After lunch we started for Pocharam Wildlife sanctuary which is 15kms from Medak. But after arriving at the place, the local security people told us that the sanctuary is not open for visits on account of a heavy rain and also a permission is needed from the Medak Forest Officer. So it happened that we couldn’t go inside the sanctuary. We instead planned for Pocharam water project built on river Aler. Fishing is a favorite occupation among the people over there. We found some fishermen getting the bait ready in hope of a big catch. It’s a good picnic spot too. Pocharam reservoir marked the end of our trip and we returned back to the city at around 5 in the evening. A great trip it was !
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Can Indian Goods compete with its Foreign Counterparts??
Our country is the second largest in terms of population; we
have around 66% of the population in the working age group and with a literacy
rate of ~74%, India is a fast-developing country or apparently so. Ironically we
are also the country with an unemployment rate of ~10%, one of the highest
amongst countries. We are excessively dependent on foreign goods, starting from
mere toothpaste to fashionable clothes; we find the imprints of foreign brands.
The adoption rate for locally made products are very limited compared to
branded goods which is indeed a dampener for our economy. Whereas going by the positive
statistics, this shouldn’t have been the case. But time and again 2 key indices
has been ignored – ‘Quality’ and ‘Durability’. Local products score very low in
terms of these two most important parameters; we have little or no faith on
domestic goods. In a country where quality and customer satisfaction often
takes a back seat, how can we hope to progress?
It
is high time we start addressing these stumbling blocks or else we will risk
losing out entirely on the growing consumer base. With the ever increasing
demand, our country should try on increasing and retaining customers by
improving the quality and standard of products. Quality norms must be stricter
and should leave no ground for customer complaints. Customers should be
encouraged to come up with complaints; a reward system should be in place so as
to make the process ‘actually’ work. Although in the current scenario this
looks like a far cry, but am hopeful of a day when we also will be proud to own
something which is ‘Made in India’.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Green Shoots – Is it really an indicator of recovery?
“Bull-markets are born in pessimism; grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die of euphoria.”
The term ‘Green Shoot’ is used to refer any signs that point towards recovery or renewal. The phrase gained popularity after Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, told CBS Program ‘60 Minutes’ in mid of March that he sees green shoots of recovery in the economy and that the recession will come to an end ‘probably this year’. This interview is one of its first kinds by any sitting chairman of Fed in last 20 years.
Let’s now look at the points that support this hypothesis.
First and the most important indicator of economic recovery is the health of the financial markets. Financial markets worldwide had been largely volatile and reacted negatively in the last few months of recession. But slowly it’s getting stable in the recent weeks with improved confidence amongst the participants. Government has gone to great lengths to infuse liquidity in the cash starved system and ensures that the market sentiments are restored. Some steps taken by the government includes:
1) US Treasury chief Geithner had announced a scheme to buy back $1 trillion toxic assets and bad mortgage loans.
2) Several rounds of Fed rate cut: 50 basis points cut on October 29, 2008 followed by the large 75 basis point cut made during a special January 22, 2008 in response to the stock market turmoil that January, as well as a 50 basis point cut on January 30, 2008, a 75 basis point cut on March 18, 2008, and a 50 basis point cut on October 8, 2008.
All these measures taken by the government helped to improve the market confidence to some good extent. Lately banking firms such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase had posted better than expected earnings report which played a great role in restoring the market confidence.
The second most important pointer of revival is the recent shape of Housing Sector. Real estate sector has been developing in Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. US housing sector has also started showing signs of recovery. New home sales went up for the third consecutive month in June to an annual pace of 384,000 homes (In January, the figure stood at 329,000, showing a rise of 16.7% in less than half a year, which is a significant improvement) the most November 2008; also the number of new houses fell to the lowest amount since February 1999, according to the Department of Commerce. The housing sector in the UK also points towards a rebound especially as the nation's biggest residential property and most used real-estate web site, Rightmove, posted that prices in London rose on an annual basis for the first time this year. Rightmove, released its house prices for the month of July coming in at 0.6% which is higher than the prior decline of 0.4% while on the year they also eased their pace of decline to -3.1% from the previous -5.5 percent.
Though green shoots are evident in only some particular sectors, but the belief that the worst has happened, has given fresh new hopes to the investor class and Equity markets is witnessing signs of resurgence.
The term ‘Green Shoot’ is used to refer any signs that point towards recovery or renewal. The phrase gained popularity after Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, told CBS Program ‘60 Minutes’ in mid of March that he sees green shoots of recovery in the economy and that the recession will come to an end ‘probably this year’. This interview is one of its first kinds by any sitting chairman of Fed in last 20 years.
Let’s now look at the points that support this hypothesis.
First and the most important indicator of economic recovery is the health of the financial markets. Financial markets worldwide had been largely volatile and reacted negatively in the last few months of recession. But slowly it’s getting stable in the recent weeks with improved confidence amongst the participants. Government has gone to great lengths to infuse liquidity in the cash starved system and ensures that the market sentiments are restored. Some steps taken by the government includes:
1) US Treasury chief Geithner had announced a scheme to buy back $1 trillion toxic assets and bad mortgage loans.
2) Several rounds of Fed rate cut: 50 basis points cut on October 29, 2008 followed by the large 75 basis point cut made during a special January 22, 2008 in response to the stock market turmoil that January, as well as a 50 basis point cut on January 30, 2008, a 75 basis point cut on March 18, 2008, and a 50 basis point cut on October 8, 2008.
All these measures taken by the government helped to improve the market confidence to some good extent. Lately banking firms such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase had posted better than expected earnings report which played a great role in restoring the market confidence.
The second most important pointer of revival is the recent shape of Housing Sector. Real estate sector has been developing in Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. US housing sector has also started showing signs of recovery. New home sales went up for the third consecutive month in June to an annual pace of 384,000 homes (In January, the figure stood at 329,000, showing a rise of 16.7% in less than half a year, which is a significant improvement) the most November 2008; also the number of new houses fell to the lowest amount since February 1999, according to the Department of Commerce. The housing sector in the UK also points towards a rebound especially as the nation's biggest residential property and most used real-estate web site, Rightmove, posted that prices in London rose on an annual basis for the first time this year. Rightmove, released its house prices for the month of July coming in at 0.6% which is higher than the prior decline of 0.4% while on the year they also eased their pace of decline to -3.1% from the previous -5.5 percent.
Though green shoots are evident in only some particular sectors, but the belief that the worst has happened, has given fresh new hopes to the investor class and Equity markets is witnessing signs of resurgence.
Aadhaar…..will it really change the face of India???
The 16 digit biometric Unique Identification number which is to be assigned by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is named as Aadhaar meaning foundation.
The issue of UIDs is mainly aimed at the poor section and will provide identification to that segment of Indian population which needs it the most. With UID cards, they can now gain access to a variety of banking services which had been previously difficult since they couldn’t open any bank accounts. Not only this, they can also have a way in to a number of government schemes. It will serve as a single and exclusive measure of identification and Ration Cards, Voters ID, Driving License, PAN cards etc will carry UID number. Once rolled out, UID numbers are intended to make the basic government services hassle free. It would also enable the government to channelize the subsidies to the right recipients and if used in an appropriate manner, will minimize frauds. It is expected to stop the illegal immigrations and thus thwarting terrorist activities.
In spite of all these advantages, there is still a hint of apprehension which overshadows the whole system. Since UID numbers will be also issued by Government, it remains to be seen whether the process would be clean or will be dimmed by manipulations. Another challenge would be constant upgradation of the whole procedure once the issuance is complete. Considering the diverse nature of Indian population and the fact that the majority of population still resides in rural areas, implementation of the whole project would be the biggest challenge. Firstly, there should be a widespread awareness across the nation and then it has to be ensured that 100% of the population has registered to this system.
It is really an excellent initiative taken by the Indian Government and if implemented successfully will no doubt transform the entire system and make life easy.
The issue of UIDs is mainly aimed at the poor section and will provide identification to that segment of Indian population which needs it the most. With UID cards, they can now gain access to a variety of banking services which had been previously difficult since they couldn’t open any bank accounts. Not only this, they can also have a way in to a number of government schemes. It will serve as a single and exclusive measure of identification and Ration Cards, Voters ID, Driving License, PAN cards etc will carry UID number. Once rolled out, UID numbers are intended to make the basic government services hassle free. It would also enable the government to channelize the subsidies to the right recipients and if used in an appropriate manner, will minimize frauds. It is expected to stop the illegal immigrations and thus thwarting terrorist activities.
In spite of all these advantages, there is still a hint of apprehension which overshadows the whole system. Since UID numbers will be also issued by Government, it remains to be seen whether the process would be clean or will be dimmed by manipulations. Another challenge would be constant upgradation of the whole procedure once the issuance is complete. Considering the diverse nature of Indian population and the fact that the majority of population still resides in rural areas, implementation of the whole project would be the biggest challenge. Firstly, there should be a widespread awareness across the nation and then it has to be ensured that 100% of the population has registered to this system.
It is really an excellent initiative taken by the Indian Government and if implemented successfully will no doubt transform the entire system and make life easy.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
A trip to Vizag
It was a Good Friday and a long 3-day weekend. So we decided to get out of this routine life and visit some places. Since Vizag is a nearby tourist spot from Hyderabad, we booked train tickets for Thursday. It was Friday, 7.30 in the morning when we reached Vizag. We had reserved a hotel on the beach road beforehand and we directly reached our hotel. It was a lovely hotel with a beautiful sea facing room and I instantly came to like it. The view of Ramakrishna Beach and Dolphin’s Nose from our room was marvelous.
First thing which we did was to book a cab for 4 of us from the travel desk. We decided to start at 10.30AM. After having a light breakfast, we set out for the day.
1st Day - Vizag City Tour:
We started our trip with a visit to Kali Mata Mandir which is situated alongside the beach road. The next place was Vishakha Museum, located on the Beach road. Vishakha Museum has some finest collection of artefacts, life-size portraits and several weapons. Then we stopped at some nearby restaurant to have lunch. After lunch, we set out for Kailashgiri hills, one of the main attractions in Vizag. The place is rejuvenating with cold breeze blowing incessantly. I loved the panoramic view of the Bay of Bengal from Titanic view point. Indeed, the sight of Rushikonda and Ramakrishna shorelines from an altitude of 360ft is spectacular. Kailashgiri is also known for the grand 40ft statue of Shiv-Parvati and the Floral-Watch. Our next stop was the hill temple, Simhachalam, where Narasimha, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, is worshipped. The temple is an example of architectural splendor with its intricately sculpted structures. By the time we came back to Vizag, it was dusk and we decided to stop by the Rushikonda beach. After a refreshing walk on the beach, we moved on to visit the famous Submarine Museum – Kursura. INS Kursura is a Russian built submarine and turned into a museum on Feb 27th, 2001 after it was decommissioned from use. Since then it has remained as one of the most interesting tourist spots in Vizag. We finally put an end to our city tour with a visit to the Matsyadarshini Aquarium. This aquarium has one of the finest collections of marine species, some of which are of a rare variety.
2nd Day - Trip to Araku Valley:
Next morning we started for Araku valley, located on the Eastern Ghats and is at a distance of 112kms from Vizag. On the way to Araku, we saw TYDA, an eco-tourism project and a nature camp which is an apt place for bird-watching, trekking and rock-climbing. The scenic beauty of Araku valley was enthralling. We first went towards the botanical garden at Padmapuram. A beautiful rose garden and some exotic variety of flowers and trees will mesmerize you. You will also find some stone sculptures and tree houses over there. A short drive from this horticultural garden took us to the Tribal Museum. The museum puts on view scenes from the daily lifestyle of the local inhabitants. As we entered, we found all delicately crafted handicraft items on a show. Then there was a view of Dhimsa, a famous tribal dance. I felt as if these wooden figures of men and women can come into life anytime..!! After this, we went towards the famous Borra Caves. On the way we found the whole valley covered with coffee plantation, known as Ananthagiri Coffee Plantations. It was really a pleasing sight. Next spot was Borra Caves, a human brain shaped cave, with million year old formations of stalactites and stalagmites. It was breathtaking to see nature’s grandeur. The whole cave was illuminated in yellow and green lights. It was interesting to find some of the limestone structure taking the shape of some mythological figures. It is really a must see place. We stopped at Haritha, an APTDC hotel, to have our lunch. On our way back, we stopped by a viewpoint called Galikonda viewpoint, the highest point of Vizag which is at a height of 3700ft above sea level. This place offers a magnificent view of hills and the valley around. We concluded our trip with this.
3rd and the Final Day – Few other places:
We got up very early and went to Rushikonda beach to take a bath. The dawn at Rushikonda beach was so stimulating. We splashed water, played it in till we were full. After that, we went to hotel to freshen up. Since few hours were left, we planned to go to the Vizag harbor and Dolphin’s Nose point before we leave. Dolphin’s Nose is located in the southern part of Vizag and is known for its Light House. It is a rock with a height of 174mtrs and is situated at an altitude of 358mtrs above sea level. This wonderful place marked the end of our trip.
First thing which we did was to book a cab for 4 of us from the travel desk. We decided to start at 10.30AM. After having a light breakfast, we set out for the day.
1st Day - Vizag City Tour:
We started our trip with a visit to Kali Mata Mandir which is situated alongside the beach road. The next place was Vishakha Museum, located on the Beach road. Vishakha Museum has some finest collection of artefacts, life-size portraits and several weapons. Then we stopped at some nearby restaurant to have lunch. After lunch, we set out for Kailashgiri hills, one of the main attractions in Vizag. The place is rejuvenating with cold breeze blowing incessantly. I loved the panoramic view of the Bay of Bengal from Titanic view point. Indeed, the sight of Rushikonda and Ramakrishna shorelines from an altitude of 360ft is spectacular. Kailashgiri is also known for the grand 40ft statue of Shiv-Parvati and the Floral-Watch. Our next stop was the hill temple, Simhachalam, where Narasimha, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, is worshipped. The temple is an example of architectural splendor with its intricately sculpted structures. By the time we came back to Vizag, it was dusk and we decided to stop by the Rushikonda beach. After a refreshing walk on the beach, we moved on to visit the famous Submarine Museum – Kursura. INS Kursura is a Russian built submarine and turned into a museum on Feb 27th, 2001 after it was decommissioned from use. Since then it has remained as one of the most interesting tourist spots in Vizag. We finally put an end to our city tour with a visit to the Matsyadarshini Aquarium. This aquarium has one of the finest collections of marine species, some of which are of a rare variety.
2nd Day - Trip to Araku Valley:
Next morning we started for Araku valley, located on the Eastern Ghats and is at a distance of 112kms from Vizag. On the way to Araku, we saw TYDA, an eco-tourism project and a nature camp which is an apt place for bird-watching, trekking and rock-climbing. The scenic beauty of Araku valley was enthralling. We first went towards the botanical garden at Padmapuram. A beautiful rose garden and some exotic variety of flowers and trees will mesmerize you. You will also find some stone sculptures and tree houses over there. A short drive from this horticultural garden took us to the Tribal Museum. The museum puts on view scenes from the daily lifestyle of the local inhabitants. As we entered, we found all delicately crafted handicraft items on a show. Then there was a view of Dhimsa, a famous tribal dance. I felt as if these wooden figures of men and women can come into life anytime..!! After this, we went towards the famous Borra Caves. On the way we found the whole valley covered with coffee plantation, known as Ananthagiri Coffee Plantations. It was really a pleasing sight. Next spot was Borra Caves, a human brain shaped cave, with million year old formations of stalactites and stalagmites. It was breathtaking to see nature’s grandeur. The whole cave was illuminated in yellow and green lights. It was interesting to find some of the limestone structure taking the shape of some mythological figures. It is really a must see place. We stopped at Haritha, an APTDC hotel, to have our lunch. On our way back, we stopped by a viewpoint called Galikonda viewpoint, the highest point of Vizag which is at a height of 3700ft above sea level. This place offers a magnificent view of hills and the valley around. We concluded our trip with this.
3rd and the Final Day – Few other places:
We got up very early and went to Rushikonda beach to take a bath. The dawn at Rushikonda beach was so stimulating. We splashed water, played it in till we were full. After that, we went to hotel to freshen up. Since few hours were left, we planned to go to the Vizag harbor and Dolphin’s Nose point before we leave. Dolphin’s Nose is located in the southern part of Vizag and is known for its Light House. It is a rock with a height of 174mtrs and is situated at an altitude of 358mtrs above sea level. This wonderful place marked the end of our trip.
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