Modi

Unfazed by serial blasts at his rally, Narendra Modi on Sunday tore into bete noire Nitish Kumar on his home turf, saying he was an “opportunist” who had “betrayed and backstabbed” Jaiprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and also people of Bihar for Prime Ministerial dreams.
Visiting Bihar for the first time from where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar kept him away during the period of their alliance, the BJP prime ministerial candidate repeatedly attacked Mr. Nitish for snapping of JD(U)-BJP ties in June. He alleged that Mr. Nitish was playing hide and seek with Congress, against whom his mentors JP and Lohia fought all their lives, and was dreaming of becoming the Prime Minister.
“One who shunned Jaiprakash, why can’t he leave BJP. He fought all his life to free the nation from the Congress and the one who claims to be Lohia’s disciple has stabbed him in his back and is now playing hide and seek with Congress.

Whether his followers will forgive him or not, the souls of Lohia and JP will never forgive his deeds,” Mr. Modi said addressing a mammoth public meeting here at the Gandhi Maidan.
Just minutes before he spoke, six serial bomb blasts rocked the venue of the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate’s rally, leaving at least five dead and 66 injured. Modi did not refer to the blasts in his speech but appealed to his followers to reach home safety.

More...

Editorial Team

N. Ravi has taken over as Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, and Malini Parthasarathy as Editor of The Hindu. Arun Anant is no longer the Chief Executive Officer of Kasturi & Sons Limited, the company that owns and publishes The Hindu Group of publications. N. Ram has become Chairman of KSL and Publisher of The Hindu and Group publications; and N. Murali, Co-Chairman of the company. These decisions were taken by the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting on Monday.

In consequence, Siddharth Varadarajan, who was made Contributing Editor and Senior Columnist, The Hindu, has submitted his resignation.

The Board also decided to allocate specific responsibilities to other Directors.

The decision to make deep-going changes was made chiefly on the ground that there were recurrent violations and defiance of the framework of the institution’s longstanding values on the business side, and recurrent violations and defiance of ‘Living Our Values’, the mandatory Code of Editorial Valuesapplicable to The Hindu. The whole effort is to restore employee morale, good industrial relations, and the trust of this newspaper’s more than two million readers.

The existing editorial arrangements for Business Line, Frontline, Sportstar, and The Hindu (Tamil) will continue unchanged and the process of professionalisation, now involving a mix of shareholder-Directors and other professionals, will continue.

The 135-year-old institution reaffirms its commitment to its core editorial and business values, and excellence in journalism.

- N. Ram, Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Limited

Keywords: The Hindu, KSL

More...

Industrialisation

The emerging significance of developing countries, which gathered momentum after 1980, is beginning to shift the balance of power in the world economy. It could lead to a profound transformation in the next 25 years. This unfolding reality must be situated in the historical perspective of de-industrialisation and industrialisation in the developing world over the past two centuries.

In the mid-18th century, similarities between Europe and Asia were far more significant than the differences. Indeed, demography, technology and institutions were broadly comparable. And, in 1750, Asia, Africa and Latin America accounted for almost three-fourths of manufacturing production in the world economy. Much of it was located in Asia with a concentration in China and India.

Profound influence

The Industrial Revolution in Britain during the late 18th century, which spread to Europe over the next 50 years, exercised a profound influence on the shape of things to come. Yet, in 1820, less than 200 years ago, Asia, Africa and Latin America still accounted for almost two-thirds of the world’s manufacturing production. China and India were the manufacturing hubs that contributed 50 per cent of world industrial production even in 1820.

The revolutionary changes in the methods of manufacturing unleashed by the Industrial Revolution transformed economic life, as industrialisation spread to Europe yielding sharp increases in productivity, output and incomes. It also led to the demise of traditional industries in Asia, particularly in China and India, reducing their skill levels and technological capabilities over time.

Between 1830 and 1913, the share of Asia, Africa and Latin America in world manufacturing production, attributable mostly to Asia, in particular China and India, collapsed from 60 per cent to 7.5 per cent, while the share of Europe, North America and Japan rose from 40 per cent to 92.5 per cent, to stay at these levels until 1950. The industrialisation of Western Europe and the de-industrialisation of Asia during the 19th century were two sides of the same coin.

More...