| | | Good morning! | | Years ago, when I had the best job in Indian journalism — as editor of Mint, and it was the best simply because I got to work with a team of 7-8 people, each better equipped to be editor than me — I met Lord Anthony Bamford, the chairman of the family-owned company named JC Bamford, or simply JCB, a term that has entered modern lexicon (the OED, no less) to mean just what the company's main product, a backhoe, is: "a powerful vehicle with a long arm for digging and moving earth." Bamford was in India to open a new JCB factory — the company was doing exceedingly well in India and was (and is) a case study in manufacturing complex equipment in the country. That it was doing well was not a surprise; tens of thousands of projects, big and small, across a country on the move, used and continue to use the equipment. Indeed, JCB may have well entered other regional languages, at least in colloquial use. I've heard it used in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Marathi. The ubiquity of the JCB backhoe loader (the machine you see the most) is such that the running joke in our family is that on birding trips to remote locations, we're likely to see a JCB (usually blocking the road) before we see a rare bird. Many years before I met Bamford, in a conversation over breakfast at his company's central Delhi guest house, then L&T chairman AM Naik spoke of the difficulty of finding trained backhoe and earthmoving equipment operators (drivers) in India. That conversation was in the context of a construction boom that was then on, and the big skills challenge (or skilling challenge as some people call it) facing Indian companies. I was reminded of Bamford and Naik by events over the past week that suggest a new source of demand for both JCBs and the men who operate them — state governments and local administrations facing a very unique version of Hamlet's dilemma. To JCB or not to JCB, that is the question. A colleague points out that Uttar Pradesh, which, like in many other areas, was the trendsetter in the use of earth moving equipment as a law enforcement tool, has sometimes used bigger CAT machines. That's entirely possible, but it is JCB that is in the English lexicon. All this talk of bulldozers (the word seems to have become a preferred prefix for politicians who believe it indicates decisiveness and a firm hand) does remind me of poor Arthur Dent, but the editor of this newsletter has warned me about lengthy preambles, and I will desist from digressing — although I would be amiss if I did not remind you, Constant Reader, of one of the many life learnings from the book in which Dent makes an appearance: "Don't Panic." Which offers the perfect segue into the next section, on the Indian economy. | | THINK The latest inflation (6.95%) and factory output (1.7%) data that came out earlier this week foretell of a turbulent period for the Indian economy. With the entire impact of the multiple fuel price increases announced since last month's election results still not manifesting itself in the headline number, it's possible inflation could go even higher. That may push the Reserve Bank of India to increase its policy rate as early as June. All in all, it's not good news. If there's a silver lining to this touch of grey it is that this year's monsoon, like last year's, and the year before's, and 2019's, is expected to be normal. That addresses the risk of poor rains causing a further increase in food prices, or a further dip in rural demand. | | THINK MORE The economy needs a hand — and it could well get one, if India manages to repeat its export performance in 2021-22, a year when it exports (of goods and services) are estimated to have touched almost $670 billion. That number could make India one of the world's top 10 exporters. Bilateral trade deals and Free Trade Agreements could help boost trade and, as a result, exports. After its trade deals with the UAE and Australia, India, it emerges, is now working on deals with the EU and the UK, and may well sign both before the year is out. An FTA with the US is some time away, but could help even more. Strategic congruence apart, trade is one reason why the two countries are working hard on their relationship. And as the recently concluded 2+2 summit of the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries (it became 3+3 with an opening meeting between US President Joe Biden and Indian PM Narendra Modi) showed, both are willing to be pragmatic about the relationship. | | KNOW There's good trade, and there's bad. The seizure, in Assam of five siamangs (a kind of gibbon found in South-East Asia) smuggled into India, either for sale to collectors here or in transit to another country, and the fact that this comes soon after the seizure of some red kangaroos (in West Bengal), again likely smuggled into India, points to a thriving illegal trade in exotic wild animals along India's northeastern border. Some forest officials believe the animals were being shipped from Myanmar. | | LEARN  On August 26, 1883, the most famous volcanic eruption in history took place. This was Krakatoa, in Indonesia, and while it was not the eruption that caused the most deaths (that grisly distinction goes to the Tambora eruption, also in Indonesia, in 1815), it received the most coverage, thanks to telegraph lines (and, in turn, widespread newspaper coverage in the western world). It caused around 36,000 deaths, but, most intriguingly, also resulted in mini-tsunamis in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which scientists, unable to find an explanation, ultimately put down as a coincidence. But they kept working at it — and by the middle of the 20th century had a theory. Pressure waves from the eruption were responsible, they hypothesised. A simulation earlier this century offered further corroboration of this. But it was this year's eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in Tonga that offered conclusive proof of what happened then. There's a fascinating account of this in Quanta magazine. Science whodunits are the best. | | | | OUTSIDE In 2017, the Uttarakhand high court declared the rivers Ganga and Yamuna as living entities, a distinction that immediately bestowed upon them certain legal rights. The Supreme Court promptly stayed that order. I was reminded of that when I read Elizabeth Kolbert's (The author of The Sixth Extinction and Under a White Sky, which has made an appearance in a previous edition of this newsletter) account in the New Yorker of a Florida lake suing to protect its interests. "Should the natural world have rights?" asks the piece. It should — but I'm not sure it will. | | WHAT I'M READING Gideon Rachman's The Age of The Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy Around the World. Before you ask, Constant Reader, yes, it does contain a chapter on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but it also has one on UK's Boris Johnson. It's a fascinating book (but not a new premise; others have written on the same theme in the past but suffers from the need to cover a lot of ground. The why in this case (and the reasons may be different across countries) is more interesting than the how — and may offer answers sought by everyone from analysts to opposition parties in these countries. Still, The Age… is an interesting read, and something tells me it's going to be hugely popular in India. | | WHAT I'M LISTENING TO The Allman Brothers Band's Eat a Peach, keeping with the trend of an album released in 1972 making an appearance in this newsletter at least once a month. This was the first album released by the band after the death of Duane Allman, but because it largely has material recorded before (and live), he appears in all but three songs. It was also the first album released after the band's first successful issue, the live At Fillmore East, which is perhaps their best album ever (although Eat a Peach is a close second). The music is joyful, blues-tinged southern rock, powered by a two-drummer set-up, and interspersed with Duane's magical slide. The best song in the album? Listen to them all. | | Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? Sign up here. | | | | | | Get the Hindustan Times app and read premium stories | | | | | | View in Browser | Privacy Policy | Contact us You received this email because you signed up for HT Newsletters or because it is included in your subscription. Copyright © HT Digital Streams. All Rights Reserved | | | | |
