Thought Beans Blog

The string of terrorist attacks since the last 2 to 3 years on major Indian Cities has resulted in Innocent civilians losing their lives. Though it goes beyond doubt that terrorist outfits from the surrounding countries are  responsible for it, the govt is unable to take any action. The entire country has become a mute spectator for the brutal acts. After a few days, the entire incident is forgotten. Does this mean, the govt is going soft on the neighboring countries who are harboring the terrorist outfits. What we are lacking is the political will to act. First it was Bombay, then Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur & the list will go on & on. The media will discuss this for a few days & then no more news about it. The terrorists have found a safe heaven in India & they are roaming the lenght & breadth of the country freely at their will. It is hightime the Govt wakes up & taken a stern action.

Prius, Toyota’s petrol/electric hybrid vehicle, has crossed the magical number of 1 Million units in sales worldwide. Introduced in 1997 in Japan & in US & Europe later on has been the best selling hybrid vehicle. With the recession, high gas prices, global warming & other important factors, the prius sales is at an all time high. The milege hungry customers have increased the sales of the Japanese cars worldwide. But the increase in the cost of raw materials is affecting the Japanese manufacturers. The Detroit is finding the going tough with all the 3 makers facing high energy costs, gas guzzling SUV’s, pension problems, tougher environmental rules by the US among other factors. Toyota Prius has caught the fancy of the celebrities worldwide.

There have been serial blasts in Jaipur in a span of 20 minutes. More than 50 have been killed & 100’s are injured. There is possibility of the use of RDX in the blast due to the high number of deaths. This is the first time Jaipur has become the target. Many innocent lives have been lost. center has rushed NSG & RPF to Jaipur. There is possibility of involvement of the terrorist groups. Home ministry has sounded alert all over the country

The Bellary politics has taken a curious turn with Divakar Babu of JDS defecting to Congress. With this, the fight is between the Cong & BJP. eEllary which traditionally has been the Cong bastion went to BJP in the last election courtesy the BJP mining lords. This has casued considerable heartburn among the Congress since then & congress is pulling out every card to defeat the BJP in its own turf. There is also rumor that Congress has entered into a secret alliance with the JDS there by helping it in the elections. The JDS also wants BJP defeted because of the allegations of janardhana Reddy’s 150 crore scandal by the JDS. So BJP has been trapped by cong & JDS in both Bellary & Shikaripur. How far will this benefit the parties is a wait & watch game.

The Karnataka Elections will serve as an indicator for the coming assembly elections. For the first time, Karnataka has had a coalition goverment & it was short lived. The Kichdi government right from the beginning had problems & the assembly was dissolved very early. Though different exit polls are predicting different kind of results, we’ll have to wait & see what the verdict will be. The development of northen karnataka has been a neglected one for decades & with the rampant landgrabbing & other issuses, south karnataka is a different story. BJP is hoping that it could win the sympathy votes of the people & come to power. S.M Krishna is the media savvy face of the party. It remains to be seen what role will Krishna play post elections. JDS is hoping that, it will get just enough seats to call the shots. The UPA led central govt will be watching the election results keenly for the next general elections.

Putin sworn in as new PM of Russia a day after Dmitry Medvedev took over as its president. He has vowed to put a check on inflation & bring back the good ol’ glory days of Russia. Putin wants to bring down the inflation to single digit. The west has criticized the power transfer in Russia with Putin still able to call the shots. The new president doesnt have backgrounds of Kremlin & will have to walk a tight rope. There is also speculation that Putin may return to power after a gap of 4 years. During Putin’s rule, Russian economic conditions improved a lot with the Petro dollars. The Russia has made a wonderful comeback in the global political & economic landscape. It has also emerged as a top destination for Luxury markets.

The Subprime mess in the US has resulted in billions of dollars of loss & thousands jobless. The major investment & financial companies across the world have been hurt badly. It would take years to heal the problem. The new housing sales in the US have declined & the stock markets are on a roller coaster. The rising food prices have also affected the food consumption habits. The SG of France has suffered billions of dollars loss in the trading by a rogue trader. Thousands of employees are being given pink slips by the wall street firms & the economy of NYC will be affected a lot. The americans who were used to cheap credit for house mortgages are finding it tough to repay the loans & hence resulting in the subprime mess. The fire sale of Bear sterns, an 80 year old instituion to JP morgan for a very small amount shows the damage subprime has done. The federal reserve in the US has also come under huge pressure to cut the rates

The May elections in Karnataka will be watched keenly by the COngress led UPA at the center. After the reorganization of the assembly segments, Karnataka is the first state to go for elections. The mounting inflation, price spiralling, farmers loan waiver & other factors will have an effect on the elections. There is lot discontent among the various party members owing to seats being given to new comers. Also this time it is the mining & the Real estate lobby which will have a say in the elections. Many high profile police officers who had quit in the hopes of getting party tickets were in a for a shock when the party supremos rejected them. With EC’s strict election guidelines, politicians are finding the going tough.  With the change in the assembly segments, many trusted segments for the parties have gone away with. In old mysore region, there is a fight among JDS, Cong & BJP. BJP which has a small presence in the region is trying very hard to gain a foothold there. In the coastal areas, it is a fight between the COng & BJP. In the Hyderabad & Bombay karnataka region, again it is a fight among the three though JDS presence is marginal.

Delta & Northwest have agreed for a merger creating the world’s biggest airlines subject to regulatory approvals & shareholders. The increasing fuel prices & rising inflation world over have put a dent on the  profit margins of the airlines & hence there is consolidation among the airlines industries. Northwest is buying Delta for $3 billion. They have a fleet strenght of 800 & the combined entity is valued at $11.2 billion. Airlines are increasingly finding the global economic turmoil difficult to manage. Even in the Indian airspace Kingfisher took a stake in the Air Deccan. Small airlines with no frills service are proving to be a big competitor for the big airlines & they are thinking of cutting down the costs.

The MSN’s bid for Yahoo has opened a can of worms with major players in the web like AOL, Google & News Corp all coming to the picture now. When MSN bid for Yahoo, it was like an another bidding war. With Yahoo rejecting the bid, it made way for other biggies in the web world to enter the fray. It seems Google’s CEO Eric Schimdt has also sought the advice of former investement banker who played a key role in the IPO of amazon, Netscape & others. To ward off the bid, Yahoo introduced many HR policies which would put a big hole in the packets of Microsoft. Yahoo is also mulling a plan of aliging with  AOL & testing the Google adsense ads. News Corp also entered the scene with MSN & trying for Yahoo. Congress is also considering whether yahoo’s testing of Google ads will have FTC into the picture. So the ball is in the courts of Yahoo now as to which way it will stike it. Would it be an advantage for MSN or will Yahoo stike an Ace.