Fakir Mohan Senapati: His Search for Authentic Oriya
There was dawn of literary realism earlier in Oriya than in Hindi : The days of Munshi Premchand in Hindi came long after Fakir Mohan Senapati had introduced realism in Oriya literature.
Fakir Mohan Senapati (1843 - 1918) lived at a time when Oriya cultural identity was under question and under attack by more influential cultural elements of that time. These politically and socially powerful cultural elements were motivated to declare Oriya cultural elements as inferior counterpart of them and were making attempts to influence British government of that time capable to take decisions to see Oriya from their lens to gain more prestige and power. Oriyas were scattered in 3 adjoining states. It was the period of cultural war and Oriya was at receiving end.
Fakir Mohan Senapati was driven by the need to protect and save the language and the culture of people around him from this onslaught. His writings reflect maturity of the Oriya nationalism. He wanted to write in authentic Oriya language: he tried his best to avoid borrowing words from Persian, Bengali and using Sanskrit words in his works.
Gourishankar Ray (editor of Utkal Dipika) influenced him by the severe criticism of word and style choice in his (Fakir's) 'History of India: Volume I' published in 1869. Thereafter, He looked for where he could find samples of most uncorrupted Oriya language. He found it in the language of rural peasants of his time who were least exposed to external forces and culture in those days. This was the Oriya which had been shaped from time immemorial by all cultural forces that were interacting with one another to define Oriya identity. He strove to preserve this Oriya full of Tadbhav and Desaj words resulting from legacy of this interaction.
Source
1. P. Mohapatra , Article in Orissa Government E-Magazine , April 2005
2. Gaganendra Nath Dash, "Fakir Mohan Senapati's Discovery from Below: Decolonisation and Search for Linguistic Authenticity", Economic and Political Weekly, November 18, 2006.
3. S. P. Mohanty, A classic novel and the literary view from below, Feb 2006
4. A Book Review: Chha Mana Atha Guntha in English
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Instinct, Intelligence and Culture
Instinct vs Intelligence
Saying is:
"Man learns his behavior (and uses his intelligence)
whereas Animals simply act on instinct"
Reality is not so simple.
* Instinct : that is not learned. that is genetically coded to lack adaptation.
* Intelligence : ability to learn, to adapt to environment.
Ants - can memorize path through a maze, can apply this learning to other mazes.
However, the range and complexity of learned behavior in human beings >> those in other species.
Chimpanzees raised in human households
* learn as well as human infants of same age for a few years
* but they soon reach limit of their learning capacity
* then they are overtaken by human youngsters.
Human beings
* almost no instinct
* every behavior is learned in response to environment
* though the learning (/adaptation) curve may vary with age.
Artificial Neural Networks:
Learning/adaption is the target of neural network machines.
They consider an animal/human brain nothing but a machine that can learn and they try to emulate this brain.
Culture
A newborn human baby lacks all the behavior pattern of its society.
It has to learn a lot, has to learn a way of life. It adapts its behavior to rewards and punishments awarded to its actions by its surrounding, its family and society.
Culture of a society is collection of learned items shared by members of that society.
Culture, which is learned, can be very different from society to society.
A 40 feet long hall, one North American and one South American talking to each other, talk started at one end of hall and finished at other end, North one steadily stepping back and South one steadily advancing. Why??
Issue is their learned comfort zone: for North Am his counterpart comes too close, for South Am his counterpart is too far.
Wolf-Children of Midnapur
This is a well documented case.
Two girls, under the age of 8, reportedly were found in a wolf-den in Bengal in 1920. They walked on all fours, howled like wolves, preferred raw meat, and lacked any form of speech.
Though an extreme example, their behavior was well within the norm of wolf-culture.
Source: "Sociology - Themes and Perspectives", by M. Haralambos, Oxford Unversity Press, 1980
Instinct vs Intelligence
Saying is:
"Man learns his behavior (and uses his intelligence)
whereas Animals simply act on instinct"
Reality is not so simple.
* Instinct : that is not learned. that is genetically coded to lack adaptation.
* Intelligence : ability to learn, to adapt to environment.
Ants - can memorize path through a maze, can apply this learning to other mazes.
However, the range and complexity of learned behavior in human beings >> those in other species.
Chimpanzees raised in human households
* learn as well as human infants of same age for a few years
* but they soon reach limit of their learning capacity
* then they are overtaken by human youngsters.
Human beings
* almost no instinct
* every behavior is learned in response to environment
* though the learning (/adaptation) curve may vary with age.
Artificial Neural Networks:
Learning/adaption is the target of neural network machines.
They consider an animal/human brain nothing but a machine that can learn and they try to emulate this brain.
Culture
A newborn human baby lacks all the behavior pattern of its society.
It has to learn a lot, has to learn a way of life. It adapts its behavior to rewards and punishments awarded to its actions by its surrounding, its family and society.
Culture of a society is collection of learned items shared by members of that society.
Culture, which is learned, can be very different from society to society.
A 40 feet long hall, one North American and one South American talking to each other, talk started at one end of hall and finished at other end, North one steadily stepping back and South one steadily advancing. Why??
Issue is their learned comfort zone: for North Am his counterpart comes too close, for South Am his counterpart is too far.
Wolf-Children of Midnapur
This is a well documented case.
Two girls, under the age of 8, reportedly were found in a wolf-den in Bengal in 1920. They walked on all fours, howled like wolves, preferred raw meat, and lacked any form of speech.
Though an extreme example, their behavior was well within the norm of wolf-culture.
Source: "Sociology - Themes and Perspectives", by M. Haralambos, Oxford Unversity Press, 1980
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Embedded Business Data
priced $9.75 ~ 400 Indian Rupees, apiece in 50k quantities
Features:
+ ARM926EJ-S core @ 216 MHz
+ Video Processing Subsystem (VPSS):provides hardware acceleration for resizing, histogram generation and on-screen display.
- no C64x+ DSP core
+ coprocessor for MPEG-4 and JPEG processing.
+ less than 400 mW for HD encode
+ less than 1 mW when in "deep sleep" mode.
VPSS & Coprocessor ~ (equivalent to) 640 MHz C64x+ DSP dedicated for task done by them.
DVEVM development board
priced US$ 495 ~ 20,000 INR
+ DM355 + MPEG-4, JPEG and G.711 codecs.
+ Also provides a copy of Monta Vista Linux
Q2 2007- (source: http://www.eetimes.eu/201202742)
- Nokia - 37% of market share - (Finland, European Company)
Samsung - 13.7 % ( 37 million phones) - (South Korea, Asian Co.)
Motorola - 13 % - (USA Co.)
Sony Ericsson - 9 % - (Japanese European Co.)
LG - 7 % - (South Korea, Asian Co.)
Regional-Sub-Nationalism: Need for It in Bihar
See the source below.
Author argues that India cannot develop leaving Bihar undeveloped. In the last one decade or so Bihar has registered a negative growth (-1%) in GDP. Author argues that millions of small mutinees are taking place in Bihar, but unlike in other states/regions these mutinees have not fused into a subnational movement to create a sub-national loyalty among people of Bihar.
Bihar - unlike other states/regions - has been occupied with national agenda from preindependence. It gave sacrifices on issues like locating of industrial projects & institutions and others and bowed before strong subnationalism voices from other regions to uphold nationalism. The culture of earlier united Bihar made it happily subsidize Indian industrialization though it has been mineral-rich and deserved better.
In other regions, people valued their local culture, local cuisines, local music and others. In contrast, things with local identity never got place of preeminence in Bihar despite having a rich sub-altern culture. Only now 'Chhatt' festival is becoming convergence point of people of Bihar.
Author argues that: Sub-nationalism is required in Bihar to put focus of people there, political parties there back on Bihar. To create this sub-nationalism, Bihar needs to increasingly find pride in its local culture.
The regional nationalism and all India nationalism are not needed to be contradictory, in India they are complementary. Author gives example that two songs of Rabindranath Tagore, one meant for Indian nationalism (Jana Gana Mana) and the other for Bengali subnationalism (Amar Sonar Bangla), which eventually became the national anthems of two countries India and Bangladesh, indicate the feasibility of concurrent commitment to separate but not incompatible identities.
Bihar which has given so many sacrifices for betterment of whole of India now needs the support of India by allocation of more resouces for Bihar, just like a sick child is supported by a family till he/she recovers. Only in animal kingdom, weaks are neglected, deprived or even killed.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Chakma Refugees and Arunachal Pradesh
Chakma and Hajongs orginally belong to Chittagong Hill Tracts and Maimensinh district repectively of Bangladesh.
Chittagong Hill Tracts was known as Korpos Mohol till 1860s. The tribals here are collectively known as Jumma who mainly follow Thervada Buddhism. Chakma had historically ruled certain regions in this area and follow Hunyan sect of this Thervada Buddhism. Originally, their language was of Tibeto-Burman root.
Religious persection by then Pakistan, eruption of ethnic riots, and displacement caused by Kaptai Hydel Project forced them to migrate to neighboring Tripura India in around 1960s. As Pakistan goverment refused taking these people back and Tripura goverment was under pressure caused by heavy presence of these refugees, they have to move further east.
That time Central Gov't of India thought of settling these refugees in NEFA, now Arunachal Pradesh (AP). That time till 1965, NEFA was under Ministry of External Affairs.
However, this settlement and presence of these Chakma and Hajongs refugees is not liked by people of AP. AP has been enjoying a 'Special Protected Area' status since preindependence under Bengal North Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Accoring to this regulation, even Indian citizens of other states could not develop any permanent stake in the state. Valid question is why then Gov't of India did not consult locals about this settlement?
Irrespective of whoever's mistake, the local poltics in the Arunachal Pradesh has made the life of these refugees miserable. Giving citizenship to them and their resettlement are big issues: They are living in India for more than 40 years. State Gov't had stopped issuing trade licenses to them and banned their employment in 1980s. Their settlements are destroyed with complicity of State Govt's. There is economic blockade of these refugees enforced by local organization like AAPSU. They are locked into vicious cycle of poverty.
(Source:
Economic & Political Weekly, April 14, 2007, by Chunnu Prasad
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/chakma.htm
http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF42.htm
)
Chakma and Hajongs orginally belong to Chittagong Hill Tracts and Maimensinh district repectively of Bangladesh.
Chittagong Hill Tracts was known as Korpos Mohol till 1860s. The tribals here are collectively known as Jumma who mainly follow Thervada Buddhism. Chakma had historically ruled certain regions in this area and follow Hunyan sect of this Thervada Buddhism. Originally, their language was of Tibeto-Burman root.
Religious persection by then Pakistan, eruption of ethnic riots, and displacement caused by Kaptai Hydel Project forced them to migrate to neighboring Tripura India in around 1960s. As Pakistan goverment refused taking these people back and Tripura goverment was under pressure caused by heavy presence of these refugees, they have to move further east.
That time Central Gov't of India thought of settling these refugees in NEFA, now Arunachal Pradesh (AP). That time till 1965, NEFA was under Ministry of External Affairs.
However, this settlement and presence of these Chakma and Hajongs refugees is not liked by people of AP. AP has been enjoying a 'Special Protected Area' status since preindependence under Bengal North Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Accoring to this regulation, even Indian citizens of other states could not develop any permanent stake in the state. Valid question is why then Gov't of India did not consult locals about this settlement?
Irrespective of whoever's mistake, the local poltics in the Arunachal Pradesh has made the life of these refugees miserable. Giving citizenship to them and their resettlement are big issues: They are living in India for more than 40 years. State Gov't had stopped issuing trade licenses to them and banned their employment in 1980s. Their settlements are destroyed with complicity of State Govt's. There is economic blockade of these refugees enforced by local organization like AAPSU. They are locked into vicious cycle of poverty.
(Source:
Economic & Political Weekly, April 14, 2007, by Chunnu Prasad
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/chakma.htm
http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF42.htm
)
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Habib Tanvir and Chhattisgarhia Theater
Habib Tanwir was born in Sept 1923, he matriculated from Raipur in 1942, and graduated from Nagpur in 1945. He moved to Bombay and then to Delhi to work in theater. He married Monika Misra who was an actress/director.
In his early thirtees, he went to London and studied in Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts for 3 years.After this, he went for a short Europe tour and sang Chhattisgarhi songs at bars to cover travel expenses.
When he was back in India, he felt the need to unlearn what he learnt in London and it took him nearly 14 years, 1958 to 1972, in this. In this 1958 to 1972 period, most of his plays with his set of rural actors trained in Chhattisgarhia Nachaa were more or less failures. He identified two factors for these failures: avoidance of mother tongue and lack of freedom of movement.
He addressed these. Then came
(source:
1)http://india.indymedia.org/en/2003/09/7941.shtml author Sudhanva Deshpande
2)http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2315/stories/20060811001208800.htm author Shayoni Mitra
3) http://sundaytimes.lk/070527/TV/tv_4.html
4) http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/01/02/stories/2005010200570500.htm
5) http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/midsummer-nights-dream-tanvir-habib-1993/
6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieQtsrRuOSc&list=PLC2ECB01055A8C1D1
Habib Tanwir was born in Sept 1923, he matriculated from Raipur in 1942, and graduated from Nagpur in 1945. He moved to Bombay and then to Delhi to work in theater. He married Monika Misra who was an actress/director.
In his early thirtees, he went to London and studied in Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts for 3 years.After this, he went for a short Europe tour and sang Chhattisgarhi songs at bars to cover travel expenses.
When he was back in India, he felt the need to unlearn what he learnt in London and it took him nearly 14 years, 1958 to 1972, in this. In this 1958 to 1972 period, most of his plays with his set of rural actors trained in Chhattisgarhia Nachaa were more or less failures. He identified two factors for these failures: avoidance of mother tongue and lack of freedom of movement.
He addressed these. Then came
- his first significant Chhattisgarhia play 'Gaon ka Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damaad' in 1972,
- next 'Charandas Chor' in 1973-4 which won the Edinburge Fringe First Prize later,
- 'Mitti Ki Gaadi' a chhattisgarhia adaptation of Sudrak's classic in 1977 ,
- 'Bahadur Kalarin' an oral rural tale,
- 'Shajapur Ki Shantibai' based on Brecht’s Good Person of Schetzuan in 1978, and
- 'Lala Shohratrai' based on Molière’s Bourgeois Gentleman in 1981.
(source:
1)http://india.indymedia.org/en/2003/09/7941.shtml author Sudhanva Deshpande
2)http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2315/stories/20060811001208800.htm author Shayoni Mitra
3) http://sundaytimes.lk/070527/TV/tv_4.html
4) http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/01/02/stories/2005010200570500.htm
5) http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/midsummer-nights-dream-tanvir-habib-1993/
6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieQtsrRuOSc&list=PLC2ECB01055A8C1D1
Child Malnutrition and India's Future
The child malnutrition is the largest human development gap that India faces. Unfortunately, its prevalence is much more than what one expects from GDP per capita or data on various measures of poverty for India. This is what UNICEF 1993 report on Progress of Nations called South Asian Enigma. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan - in that order - are worse than whole of Africa when child malnutrition level is adjusted to GDP per capita.
Though there is close relationship between poverty, hunger and malnutrition, non-hunger factors are also helping the malnutrition level to be double of poverty level. These other factors are namely gender discrimination and poor access to health-care.
Change in context because of influence of market, state and semi-urban culture has led to change in dietary pattern - prevalence of rice and wheat - and has rendered traditional knowledge of feeding practices ineffective.
Poverty creates malnutrition by insanitary conditions and therefore recurrent illness. Poverty deprives a child of his/her mother's time to play and feed him/her. Without such warmth of parental care, child's physical, emotional and intellectual growth lags.
In Chhattisgarh, more than half of children (60%) are malnourished. In India, this number varies from 46% to 70%. This tells us that despite 100 million population of India, we cannot expect to see a similar large number of engineers, doctors, scientists or sportpersons helping to build and elevate status of India in coming decades.
(source: http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/5271.pdf author: T Sundarraman)
The child malnutrition is the largest human development gap that India faces. Unfortunately, its prevalence is much more than what one expects from GDP per capita or data on various measures of poverty for India. This is what UNICEF 1993 report on Progress of Nations called South Asian Enigma. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan - in that order - are worse than whole of Africa when child malnutrition level is adjusted to GDP per capita.
Though there is close relationship between poverty, hunger and malnutrition, non-hunger factors are also helping the malnutrition level to be double of poverty level. These other factors are namely gender discrimination and poor access to health-care.
Change in context because of influence of market, state and semi-urban culture has led to change in dietary pattern - prevalence of rice and wheat - and has rendered traditional knowledge of feeding practices ineffective.
Poverty creates malnutrition by insanitary conditions and therefore recurrent illness. Poverty deprives a child of his/her mother's time to play and feed him/her. Without such warmth of parental care, child's physical, emotional and intellectual growth lags.
In Chhattisgarh, more than half of children (60%) are malnourished. In India, this number varies from 46% to 70%. This tells us that despite 100 million population of India, we cannot expect to see a similar large number of engineers, doctors, scientists or sportpersons helping to build and elevate status of India in coming decades.
(source: http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/5271.pdf author: T Sundarraman)
River Teesta and Sikkim
Teesta is the lifeline of Sikkim. Sikkim folklore is full of myths on how humans settled and civilization flourished along the course of Teesta, and how Lepchas skillfully built cane-bridges across the river.
In one ancient Lepcha myth, an angry Teesta caused deluge when he lost a race to his lover, the sacred river Rangit. Mount Tendoung, annually worshiped by Lepchas on August 8, gave refuge to all living creature including Humans. The rest of Sikkim was flooded and all life perished in that great deluge.
(Source : http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/10953.pdf author Vibha Arora
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sikkimpolitical.png
)
Teesta is the lifeline of Sikkim. Sikkim folklore is full of myths on how humans settled and civilization flourished along the course of Teesta, and how Lepchas skillfully built cane-bridges across the river.
In one ancient Lepcha myth, an angry Teesta caused deluge when he lost a race to his lover, the sacred river Rangit. Mount Tendoung, annually worshiped by Lepchas on August 8, gave refuge to all living creature including Humans. The rest of Sikkim was flooded and all life perished in that great deluge.
(Source : http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/10953.pdf author Vibha Arora
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sikkimpolitical.png
)
India: Cost of Electricity from Nuclear Reactors
All below in context of India:
NPC - Nuclear Power Corporation
DAE - Department of Atomic Energy
HWB - Heavy Water Board, part of DAE
Source is http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/10958.pdf, (author: M V Ramana).
DAE does poor accounting and refuses to provide performance figures even to official and parliamentary committees. The cited paper tries to show that heavy water production in India is highly subsidized, and if it is taken into account it will contribute to significant real cost of electricity generated by nuclear reactors.
Heavy water is produced by HWB in India. HWB uses two different technologies for this production, both imported from other countries.
Its Kota and Manuguru (AP) plants use H2S water exchange process using Canada's design.
Its Vadodara and Tuticorin plants use NH3 hydrogen exchange process imported from French GELPRA after 1969 agreement with France. Tuticorin plant construction was helped by Japan also with France. Talcher plant, its operation suspended since 1994, was established with help of German firm UHDE.
(this summary is in progress)
All below in context of India:
NPC - Nuclear Power Corporation
DAE - Department of Atomic Energy
HWB - Heavy Water Board, part of DAE
Source is http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/10958.pdf, (author: M V Ramana).
DAE does poor accounting and refuses to provide performance figures even to official and parliamentary committees. The cited paper tries to show that heavy water production in India is highly subsidized, and if it is taken into account it will contribute to significant real cost of electricity generated by nuclear reactors.
Heavy water is produced by HWB in India. HWB uses two different technologies for this production, both imported from other countries.
Its Kota and Manuguru (AP) plants use H2S water exchange process using Canada's design.
Its Vadodara and Tuticorin plants use NH3 hydrogen exchange process imported from French GELPRA after 1969 agreement with France. Tuticorin plant construction was helped by Japan also with France. Talcher plant, its operation suspended since 1994, was established with help of German firm UHDE.
(this summary is in progress)
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Novartis, India, MSF and Patent Law
Novartis is a pharmaceutical company based at Basel, Switzerland.
Novartis filed a writ petition in Chennai High Court to declare 3(d) of Patent Acts 2005 non-compliant with WTO's Agreement on TRIPS. TRIPS is trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights.
Trial began in March 2007, and in August the High Court dismissed the case on account that it does not have jurisdiction to test compatibility of a State Act with an international treaty.
3(d) of Patent Acts 2005 prevents from obtaining patents on new form of a known substance without bringing any significant enhancement in the known efficacy of the substance.
Novartis filed the case when its application for a patent on a certain cancer drug was rejected on the ground that this new drug was just a new form of older one without any significant enhancement in its efficacy. Novartis sold drug internationally under brand name Gleevec at 12-13 times the price at which Indian manufacturers were offering generic versions in Indian market.
Gleevec cost USD 32000 per year for a 400 mg/day dose.
Indian patent law allows for any party to oppose a patent before it is granted. In 2005, cancer groups filed the first ever 'pre-grant opposition', against Novartis' patent application for Gleevec.
Commentators from Doctors without Borders (MSF) wrote that patents in violation of 3(d) will deny entry of generic version manufacturers in medicine market. However such comments appear vague: if new forms are not significant enhancement how such patents can prevent generic versions from competing?
84% of AIDS-drugs used by MSF are generic medicines produced in India.
source:
1) http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/2007/08-06-2007.cfm
2) http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/10944.pdf
Novartis is a pharmaceutical company based at Basel, Switzerland.
Novartis filed a writ petition in Chennai High Court to declare 3(d) of Patent Acts 2005 non-compliant with WTO's Agreement on TRIPS. TRIPS is trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights.
Trial began in March 2007, and in August the High Court dismissed the case on account that it does not have jurisdiction to test compatibility of a State Act with an international treaty.
3(d) of Patent Acts 2005 prevents from obtaining patents on new form of a known substance without bringing any significant enhancement in the known efficacy of the substance.
Novartis filed the case when its application for a patent on a certain cancer drug was rejected on the ground that this new drug was just a new form of older one without any significant enhancement in its efficacy. Novartis sold drug internationally under brand name Gleevec at 12-13 times the price at which Indian manufacturers were offering generic versions in Indian market.
Gleevec cost USD 32000 per year for a 400 mg/day dose.
Indian patent law allows for any party to oppose a patent before it is granted. In 2005, cancer groups filed the first ever 'pre-grant opposition', against Novartis' patent application for Gleevec.
Commentators from Doctors without Borders (MSF) wrote that patents in violation of 3(d) will deny entry of generic version manufacturers in medicine market. However such comments appear vague: if new forms are not significant enhancement how such patents can prevent generic versions from competing?
84% of AIDS-drugs used by MSF are generic medicines produced in India.
source:
1) http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/2007/08-06-2007.cfm
2) http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/10944.pdf
Struggle of Google in China
Google, despite its all efforts, is finding it hard to compete with Baidu.com. Chinese company Baidu.com owns nearly 60% of China's internet search market while american Google just owns 25% of this market.
Google hired Kai-Fu Lee a seasoned executive from Microsoft to charge up its operation in China. However, Microsoft did its best to prevent Lee from joining Google by bringing a court trial.
Kai-Fu Lee is working on strategy of partnerships with local web companies, to isolate Baidu.com and to extract better operating deals from Chinese government in future: one such revenue-sharing partnership is with Tianya, a Chinese social-networking site, and others similar are with portals run by SINA Corp. and Tom Online Inc. of HongKong billionaire Li Ka-Shing.
(source: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2007/gb20070830_573882.htm?chan=globalbiz_asia+index+page_technology )
Google, despite its all efforts, is finding it hard to compete with Baidu.com. Chinese company Baidu.com owns nearly 60% of China's internet search market while american Google just owns 25% of this market.
Google hired Kai-Fu Lee a seasoned executive from Microsoft to charge up its operation in China. However, Microsoft did its best to prevent Lee from joining Google by bringing a court trial.
Kai-Fu Lee is working on strategy of partnerships with local web companies, to isolate Baidu.com and to extract better operating deals from Chinese government in future: one such revenue-sharing partnership is with Tianya, a Chinese social-networking site, and others similar are with portals run by SINA Corp. and Tom Online Inc. of HongKong billionaire Li Ka-Shing.
(source: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2007/gb20070830_573882.htm?chan=globalbiz_asia+index+page_technology )
Nokia and India
This is summary of ://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2007/gb20070831_914354.htm?chan=globalbiz_asia+index+page_top+stories .
CEO of Nokia since May 2006 and earlier President and COO of Nokia, Mr. Kallasvuo, was on 3 days tour of India last month August 2007.
India, after China and ahead of USA, is 2nd largest market of Nokia. Nokia has a 70% share in Indian mobile handset market.
Nokia Siemens Networks has received, last month, a contract of INR 3000 million (300 crore) from Aircell, controlled by Maxis, to build and operate GSM network in Kolkata. It has also received an order of US$ 500 million from Idea Cellular.
Nokia employs 9000 people in India, has a manufacturing facility in Chennai, and has announced to locate its global headquarters of Nokia Siemens Networks service unit in India.
Incidentally, in China, Chengdu R&D Center is going to be one of the biggest R&D center of Nokia Siemens Networks worldwide by 2008 year end. Chengdu is 4th largest city in China.
Nokia N-series and E-series, mid-tier and high-end devices, generate 1/4 of Nokia's sales in India. There is a big replacement and upgrading market. Therefore Nokia CEO thinks that India can not be classified as an emerging market or an entry market where just low-end phones are sold.
In both China and India, distribution challenges are bigger. Building distribution to get to the rural market is a challenge. Nokia is seeing similar things happening in Africa from mobile-handset market point of view which it saw in India some 5-6 years ago. Nokia learned to build distribution in markets where one has to really build it oneself.
This is summary of ://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2007/gb20070831_914354.htm?chan=globalbiz_asia+index+page_top+stories .
CEO of Nokia since May 2006 and earlier President and COO of Nokia, Mr. Kallasvuo, was on 3 days tour of India last month August 2007.
India, after China and ahead of USA, is 2nd largest market of Nokia. Nokia has a 70% share in Indian mobile handset market.
Nokia Siemens Networks has received, last month, a contract of INR 3000 million (300 crore) from Aircell, controlled by Maxis, to build and operate GSM network in Kolkata. It has also received an order of US$ 500 million from Idea Cellular.
Nokia employs 9000 people in India, has a manufacturing facility in Chennai, and has announced to locate its global headquarters of Nokia Siemens Networks service unit in India.
Incidentally, in China, Chengdu R&D Center is going to be one of the biggest R&D center of Nokia Siemens Networks worldwide by 2008 year end. Chengdu is 4th largest city in China.
Nokia N-series and E-series, mid-tier and high-end devices, generate 1/4 of Nokia's sales in India. There is a big replacement and upgrading market. Therefore Nokia CEO thinks that India can not be classified as an emerging market or an entry market where just low-end phones are sold.
In both China and India, distribution challenges are bigger. Building distribution to get to the rural market is a challenge. Nokia is seeing similar things happening in Africa from mobile-handset market point of view which it saw in India some 5-6 years ago. Nokia learned to build distribution in markets where one has to really build it oneself.
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