Thought Beans Blog

It has been more than 10 years since the Hassan- mangalore train route is stopped. The railways have been running goods train on the route for quite sometime but they are yet to start a normal service. This is one of the magnificent routes & I have childhood memories of going on this route. The bus transpost on Bangalore- Mangalore route is lucrative & may be one of the lobbies behind stalling of starting the service. Opening this route increases the tourism & employmentin the region. When Chinese can connect Beijing with Tibet through railway line against such hazardous conditions, why the hell it takes 10 years to link Hassan to Mangalore? We love to talk about our great economy, globalization, IT, future is India & what not but when compare ourselves with the Chinese efficiency we are no where.

Sanjaya’s Exit from American Idol, who has created ripples & spurred late night chat programs is sure to be remembered in the US television industry for a long time. Though his singing was not very good, he managed to get through all the stages. This is because of his home state support, Indian support, his ever changing hair styles & that charming smile he had. Even the websites like vote for the worst, howerd stern’s radio shack jack pummeled him to the top spot.

The latest quarlerly results from yahoo has disappointed the wall street. This can be seen from the negetive analysis being given to latest results. Profits are down & new search platform Panama has not raked in the enough moolah. Yahoo introduced panama with much hype & though wall street & others welcomed it, numbers are down. There is a bit of soul searching for Yahoo’s CEO. The CEO is already on the firing line by wall street. Yahoo made a big mistake not buying G way back in 2003 for $3 billion dollars. Ever since MSN’s exit from Yahoo’s ad platform, Yahoo is finding the going difficult. The new venture with ebay might prove to be a big money spinner for yahoo. Who knows one day Google might bid for Yahoo?

The shootings in Virginia tech is the bloodiest in the US campus shooting history. Innocent students have become target for unknown shooter. This has again raised debate for gun control in the US. Even Prez Bush has condemned the attack & called for Gun control laws. 32 students had never imagined they would be the target on that fateful day. It would take months to find out the motive behind this henious act. Also expect a few hollywood documentary movies as well. Let us pray for the bereved families.

Forget gold rush in the west, Corn gold rush is the newest race in the US. With etahnol production booming, corn prices have touched an all time high. many midwest farmers have never seen such a gold rush for Corn. Companies are requesting farmers to supply them directly for long term contracts. The price for a bushel is averaging $4. As per the analysis, this is going to affect other indusry as well. Corn is also a major food product in the US. With increase in the prices, americans would also make shift in their food consumption. How long will the corn sustain the run ? Corn is mainly used for production of ethanol & with USA’s objective of not depending on foreign fuel, this is creating corn gold rush in the US.

The power shortage in India this summer has resulted in load shedding across the country. There is not enough private investment in Indian power industry. Even the few private operators have run into lots of problems with the state governemnts like Enron. Also the cost of power is high. All the ministers keep talking about the investments in the power sector but none so far. The state power boards are running under losses & there is a huge T & D loss in India. This is nothing but power theft & power boards consider this as T & D loss. The central govt should formulate policy for easier investment in power. The hike in power tariff is a tool for state govt’s to exhort money from the common man. The entire power sector is in a disarray & only God can untangle the web.

India has lost out in the race to get Nasdaq country specific index to China. India has only 7 companies listed in the index, while China has more than 30 companies in the index. The India specific index would have helped India get a global recognition, increase the investor confidence & also would help improve the FDI to the country. Every other day, we see Indian companies mulling for nasdaq listing. But only a few have made it to the mecca of tech stock exchange. Only Cognizant & Infosys have had virtual bell opening in Nasdaq for Indian companies from India. Indian govt should help companies to list in Nasdaq. After the loss of Intel’ fab plant, this is another big blow. This is once again, time for introspection.

With the release of British sailors, a major diplomatic standoff between Britain & Iran has been avoided. For Iranian Prez, it was a victory over the west. But how far this would help Iranian prez, is difficult to gauge. Pressure has been mounting on the UN for more sanction on Iran, With Iran going ahead on Uranium enrichment. The arrest of the sailors will also give a good reason for the EU, US & UK to come toghether for more sanctions on Iran. There is also another school of thought, which says US is secretly planning attack of Iran. The recent movie 300 is an attempt at hurting the psyche of Iran. The sailor capture incident is just a tip of the iceberg. The ball is now in the court of Iranian president to act.