[As received on Whatsapp] 
 
EXPERIENCE OF INDIAN MANAGEMENT  IN CHINA

 I am the Vice President  of a medium sized Indian corporate .  We are one of the largest manufacturers of Drum Closures in the world.  These are a closing devices used in the manufacture of 200 litres Steel drums.  It is a very high precision engineering product.  We are also one of the largest  manufacturers and exporters of scaffolding system out of India.  These are also highly engineered precision products.

It is a common practice in these days in the business circles to compare India and China in almost all spheres .  In every forum or platform the discussion inevitably veered around China - India comparison. In this article, I want to share the  experience  of   starting and operating business in China .  You may make your own comparison with the conditions in India based on your own experience .  I am a patriot to the core and am no fan of China .  However the business and economic considerations compelled our group  to consider putting up a factory in China for producing drum closures and scaffolding for Chinese and international markets.  We considered the availability of cheaper raw material, highly productive labour, very low logistic cost and good sized domestic market in China as the reasons enough to invest in a factory in China.

We were aware about volatile Indo-Chinese relations and the risk involved in operating in China.  They have some typical laws and their legal system tend to favour Chinese .  We had developed high level of indigenous manufacturing technology which is economic and competitive.  There was also fear of Chinese learning and copying our technology. In spite of all these fears we decided to go ahead by taking reasonable precautions.  We decided not to take any Chinese partner.  Apart from the fear of  loss of technology there is also a law in China that Chinese citizen holding minority interest also has a veto power in the company.  Hence we decided to go on our own.

In 2006 we started searching for a suitable location.  We wanted to be close to East Coast but in a location where the labour was cheaper than the developed eastern provinces and the laws permitted generation and disposal of effluent.

In 2008 after many discussions and considerations we located an Industrial Zone Quanjiao  in a small town about 50 km west of Nanjing which met most of our requirements.  After obtaining initial information about the zone, we decided to meet zone authorities  personally and  to see the area .  I and one of my colleagues reached the zone office in the morning at about 10.00 AM.  To our surprise we found that the zone authorities had made elaborate arrangements to welcome us.  Local party chief and few other senior officials were also present . We felt awed and nervous.  We told the zone head that we had visited  only for a survey and do not have a plan to sign any deal.  The zone chief informed  very politely that they were sure that we would be satisfied with the land and the conditions.

They then explained  their proposals and showed  various sites in the zone.  After we showed our interest in a piece of land they made a final offer which was substantially more attractive than the offer made in the mail earlier.  We asked for few more facilities which they readily agreed and after about 4 hours the deal was signed.  We were  amazed at their helpful and cordial approach all through the discussions and their determination to get first foreigner to invest in their industrial zone.

 After signing a short MOU , we informed them that we need to go to Nanjing and speak to a lawyer to form a company.  The zone chief mentioned that if we have trust in them they would form the company with all approvals free of cost.  By this time we had already started trusting them and  agreed to their proposal.  They had also got a local Bank Manager with all the necessary forms for opening the bank account.  All this in a day's work!

Within a week we got company registration with the name and registration number and the company documents were given to us within 2 weeks.  The bank account was opened within one week thereafter.  Hence within less than one month we were  able to buy the land with all the registration and approvals  and also open the bank account.

One officer in the zone was nominated to give us all the required assistance.  We mentioned about the need for an architect.  Promptly he gave us names of about 5 architects who were already active in the zone.  After some discussions with architects we finalized one  from Nanjing and gave him details of  the building  requirements.  We once again approached the officer of the zone  for help to find  some contractors for construction.  Within one day he give list of 8 or 9 civil contractors who were doing construction activities in the zone.  We floated the enquiry to all the contractors and finalized one of them.

The building was constructed in about 4 months and in 6 months time we were able to start the production.  In my last 30 years of experience in India I  have yet to see a factory starting within 6 months.

We have been in production for last 10 years and are quite satisfied with our working in China.  I would now like to share some of my experiences of operation in China. 

1)   Even though the labor wages are higher than India, the cost per piece works out to be cheaper because of high productivity of the labor.

2)   The zone we selected is located in a small town with a population only about 1,50,000.  The zone was also one of the most ordinary typical industrial zone of China.  In spite of this the internal road of the zone are wide, concreted with shady trees on both sides, good landscaping and very clean and organized.  The zone offer 5 basic services of providing electricity, water and sewerage connections at the factory gate, levelled land and road connectivity.  I have yet to see an industrial estate of similar quality and services anywhere in India.

3)   The workers are provided free lunch every day by the company.   This is the common practice in China.

4)   Every year during Chinese New Year all the business in China remain closed for 10 days.  Apart from these there are few holidays during Labour day in May ,National Day in October , Dragon boat festival in June. There is no PL,CL system.

5)   The factory laws in China is very well defined and there is no room for any discretion.  The 5 star Insurance is compulsory for each and  every employee which covers Endowment , Accident ,Unemployment , maternity/paternity and hospitalization .  For the compensation for injury during working is well confined depending on the nature of injury.  The compliance of factory rules are done once at the time completion of construction and then there is no further inspection.  In fact during our more than 10 years operations we do not have any inspector visiting our factory for any reason.

6)   We submit VAT returns online every month and every month our VAT refund due is credited.  There is no human interaction or any failure. In fact no one can issue Invoice which they call Fapio with their own logo or style . Each and every seller has to by pre-printed Invoice/Fapio from the Sales Tax department and can issue only those Invoices to their customers. Seller has to buy one devise from tax department which gets connected between computer and printer and data gets transferred to tax department automatically.

7)   There is a very high degree of safety and security and there is no theft.

8)   There are no aggressive unions.  In fact the wages and benefits are well defined and there are no negotiations.  The working is peaceful.  There is no political or bureaucratic intervention. After every Chinese New  year, our area's Mayor visits our factory with entire HOD of departments like Electricity ,Labour,Zone etc. to discuss on any issues if faced by us.This is amazing.

9)   All the government offices are fully accountable.  If any application for any license or permit is not settled in 30 days then the same is deemed to be approved.

10) In spite of Indo-Chinese tensions from time to time due to situation in the borders the Chinese workers and staff are very cordial and friendly.  They are all aware about the tensions but it has not affected our or any other Indian establishment.

11)  There are no other taxes or dues except VAT, Income Tax, Custom Duty and local taxes.  These are all well-defined and there is no room for disputes.  All assessments are done online.

12) The government of China response very quickly to changing international situation.  For example when President Trump slapped 10% Custom Duty on Chinese products, within one week government of China increased the VAT rebate by 4% and also devalued their currency .  Thereby nullifying the custom duty in US and at the same time making Chinese goods more competitive in the rest of the world.  This is their usual speed of response.

These are some of cuff observations of operating in China.  Clearly China has unmatched ease of starting business as well as ease of doing business.  It is because of this  combination that the invisible transaction cost are almost NIL in China.  This propagates downstream and upstream  giving over all competitiveness to the Chinese products.

If the Government of India follow the China model of ease of starting business and doing business then I am sure India can overtake China as world manufacturing hub because intrinsically Indian entrepreneur  is more seasoned, matured and experienced than Chinese counterpart.

JAI HIND !!!

------------------
Best Regards,

 *Deepak Mishra
Vice - President*
Technocraft Industries (India) Ltd.

Swami Aatmadevanandaji - Short Talks - आनंद की ओर (May, June, 2020)

|| ॐ श्री गणेशाय नमः || ॐ श्री सरस्वत्यै नमः || ॐ श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः || Short Talks by Swami Aatmadevanandaji (Hindi) - आनंद की ओर (May 23rd, 2020 - June 5th, 2020) Talk 1 (May 23th, 2020) Talk 2 (May 24th, 2020) Talk 3 (May 25th, 2020) Talk 4 (May 26th, 2020) Talk 5 (May 27th, 2020) Talk 6 (May 28th, 2020) Talk 7 (May 29th, 2020) Talk 8 (May 30th, 2020) Talk 9 (May 31st, 2020) Talk 10 (June 1st, 2020) Talk 11 (June 2nd, 2020) Talk 12 (June 3rd, 2020) Talk 13 (June 4th, 2020) Talk 14 (June 5th, 2020)

How history distorted Savarkar's ideology 

The nationalist icon’s efforts to protect Hindu culture and religion from proselytisers has been given the colour of Hindu aggression - a travesty of truth.

Uday Mahurkar @udaymahurkar 

The writer is deputy editor, India Today.

26-05-2015

Disclaimer: The following article has been copied verbatim from the URL - How history distorted Savarkar's ideology (https://www.dailyo.in/politics/veer-savarkar-hindutva-conversion-indian-muslims-congress-partition-of-india/story/1/3916.html). The reason for copying it here on my blog is because the link to this article as it appears in a certain search ("savarkar status") on Google works, but copying and pasting the same link in the browser independently does not lead to the article. All rights to this article are owned by the respective author/s and publisher/s and I am replicating it here only to assist interested readers. I claim no credit for this article.

History often becomes captive in the hands of ideological zealots and hero worshippers. The ideological campaigners distort history as much as those resorting to hero worship. Both of them don't want to tolerate an opposing view, howsoever, truthful it might be. In the process, the distortions that creep into history lead to tensions and imbalances, thus disturbing social harmony. In fact, that has been story of Indian history so far.

A classic case in modern times is that of the great revolutionary and Hindutva icon, Swatantra Veer Savarkar, who spent as many as 27 years in jail and under prison restrictions - from 1910 to 1937 - for his legendry revolutionary activities against the British rulers. In 1923, while undergoing his jail term in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, or Kalapani, he coined and defined the term "Hindutva". And after his release in 1937, he led an unsuccessful political movement to prevent the Partition of India as president of Hindu Mahasabha.

Savarkar baiters have often accused him of contributing to India’s Partition because of what they see as his "divisive ideology", which sought to create a wedge between Hindus and Muslims. In the process, they have gone to the extent of almost absolving the main architect of India's Partition along religious lines - Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Savarkar's legitimate grievances against a section of Muslims have been sought to be twisted to depict him as a non-practical, insensitive, anti-Muslim zealot.

However, facts, which in Savarkar's case are the biggest casualty, depict a different picture of him. In fact, there isn't a greater example of distortion of history by ideological zealots than in the case of this famous revolutionary. The manifesto of Savarkar's Hindu Rashtra as mentioned in the well-written work on him by biographer Dhananjay Keer puts the record straight. According to the book, Savarkar's Hindu Rashtra manifesto not only allowed full freedom to the religious minorities to practise their religion, but also called for the intervention of the state with all its force in case the right to practise religion of a religious minority was being hindered in any way. However, according to the manifesto, "Hindu Rashtra won’t allow creation of a nation within a nation in the name of religious minoritism". Seen in the backdrop of the political atmosphere of minority appeasement that is sapping the energy of our nation today, one can say that Savarkar had seen through this danger several decades in advance.

Keer’s book gives another example of Savarkar's balanced stance on the Muslim issue. In the early 1940s, a group of Lucknow-based Muslims were so impressed by the Congress' efforts to forge Hindu-Muslim unity in the national struggle that they passed a resolution declaring that any Muslim slaughtering a cow would be considered an enemy of Hindu-Muslim unity and socially boycotted. When Savarkar read about it in a Mumbai newspaper he immediately issued a statement appreciating the Muslim gesture. He said: "If such gestures keep on coming from Muslims then Hindu-Muslim unity is possible." In 1938, when press reporters started comparing him with Jinnah during his visit to Lahore, Savarkar himself set the record straight: "Myself and Jinnah are not the birds of the same feather because I stand for equality and no concessions while Jinnah is for more and more concessions for Muslims and doesn't stand for equality." This statement of Savarkar's virtually demolishes the smear campaign against him.

While addressing a group of Indian students on Dusshehra day in London in 1909, Savarkar had said "Hindus were the heart of Hindustan but just as the beauty of the rainbow is not impaired but enhanced by its varied hues, Hindus will look more beautiful across the sky by assimilating all the best from the Muslims, Jews and Parsi and other civilisations." The great revolutionary Asaf Ali was present at this meet and so was Gandhiji. Significantly, Asaf Ali later said that it was one of the finest speeches he had ever come across.

But in 1923 Savarkar came out with his epic work "Hindutva" warning about the dangers to Hindus from members of proselytising religions. The book is today a Bible for Hindu nationalists. After giving a precise definition of Hindutva, it lays down a set of guidelines for protecting Hindus and the Hindu religion from aggressive designs of the campaigners of converting religions. But it doesn't advocate second grade status to religious minorities and, in fact, supports equal treatment for all religions unlike many Muslim countries where Hindus can’t build a temple or cremate their dead even today.

So the question is what forced Savarkar to come up with his Hindutva theory within just 14 years of his 1909 speech? The answer lies in his study of the behaviour of the members of other religions that he did during his incarceration at Kalapani. He found that some of the jail staff comprising Muslims, along with Muslim prisoners, were neck-deep in converting some of the gullible Hindu prisoners into Islam. In addition, he had gained deeper knowledge of history now. He had read how in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries the Portuguese rulers converted the Hindu population to Christianity through torture and death in Goa and Konkan, and how even a ruler like Mughal emperor Shahjahan, sold as a liberal by modern historians, had converted the entire family of the Bundela ruler of Orchha, Jhunjhar Singh, to Islam and forced his women relatives into his own harem as a mark of punishment for his rebellion. In fact there is unimpeachable evidence now to show how the builder of the Taj Mahal used to devise strategies to convert Hindus into Islam through inducements and other means.

Having read these portions of medieval history, what came as the last straw for Savarkar was the Congress' trade off with a section of pan-Islamic Muslims in 1920 on the issue of Khilafat. While seeking the support of Indian Muslims for the Independence struggle, the Congress entered into a trade off and announced support to the Indian Muslims' pan-Islamic movement seeking reinstatement of the Sultan of Turkey by the Britishers (who had unseated him) on the ground that "he was the Khalifa of the Islamic world". This move by Congress ignoring that it would sow the seeds of religious appeasement and strengthen pan-Islamism played a major role in pushing Savarkar towards the Hindutva theory. So what is seen as Savarkar's Hindu supremacist view is actually a Hindu protective view based on organic thinking by a man who had seen the danger to Hindus in the face of threats from proselytising religions but still advocated equal treatment for all religions in his "Hindu Rashtra".

In other words, Savarkar’s efforts to protect Hindu culture and religion from the designs of the proselytisers has been given the colour of Hindu aggression, which is a travesty of truth. The concluding paragraph of his book "Hindutva" nails the lies of his detractors: "When Hindus come to hold a position when they could dictate terms to the whole world, those terms cannot be different from which Gita dictates or the Buddha lays down. A Hindu is most intensely so when he ceases to be a Hindu."

In many ways, time has vindicated Savarkar, whose crucial predictions on national security issues are coming true. About Pakistan, Savarkar had said, "Till a state based on a intolerant religious foundation was India's neighbour she would never be able to live in peace". The repeated aggressions of Pakistan on India from 1947-48 to Kargil, the latest being the 2008 Mumbai attack and the merciless beheading of Indian soldiers, has proved Savarkar’s prediction correct time and again. Savarkar was always for strong military response to any kind of foreign aggression. When Pandit Nehru gave a knee-jerk response to Chinese aggression in Tibet in 1950 and then came up with the Hindu-Chini Bhai-Bhai theory in the 1950s, Savarkar issued a stern warning in 1954 saying that such kowtowing to China after its aggression in Tibet would whet its appetite and he won’t be surprised if China felt encouraged to attack India and swallow its land in the time to come. He was proved correct eight years later when China attacked India in 1962 and swallowed a large chunk of its land.

There are other interesting facts about him, largely unknown. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev had met Savarkar in Ratnagiri in late 1920s and drew inspiration from him before embarking on their revolutionary activity. Even Subhas Chandra Bose’s decision to leave India and join Japan-Germany axis in World War II was based on Savarkar’s advice that in international politics, one's enemy’s enemy should be seen as a friend and befriended. The only leader who has lived up to an extent to Savarkar’s vision on foreign policy and national security so far is Indira Gandhi. And the only leader who can live up to it in future is, perhaps, Narendra Modi, based on his foreign vision so far.

About the religious minorities, Savarkar had said that they should get equal treatment, but they shouldn’t be appeased as that would encourage them to come up with more and more unjust demands in the name of selective justice and at the cost of majority rights. Time has vindicated Savarkar even on this. The demands of at least a section of Indian Muslim leadership, which wants to encroach upon the rights of the majority, thus causing social disharmony, are unending even after six decades of independence. The 2012 statement of Maulana Ahmed Bukhari of Delhi said it all. He said, "Only a weak government is in benefit of Muslims in India as a strong government invariably ignores Muslim’s demands and problems." The statement indicated the insatiable nature of demands of a section of Muslims in a country where the Haj pilgrimage is subsidised, but not so much the pilgrimage of members of other religions.

More, the Bukhari view is the very antithesis of a strong and united India as envisioned by all patriotic Indians, moderate Muslims included. On the flipside, let us let us examine in what shape India would be today had Savarkar's maxim of equal treatment for all - read Hindus, Muslims and Christians - been followed? Most would agree that India would have been largely free from the religious rancour that has hindered its progress in many ways.

Unfortunately, Savarkar's supporters, including top RSS leaders, have always taken a Hindu apologist view while defending him, praising him for his revolutionary activities, but remaining silent on his views on religious minorities as well as non-violence on which he held a completely different view from that of Gandhiji. While Gandhiji was for complete non-violence, Savarkar was for non-violence and not complete non-violence. Savarkar advocated that an aggressor should be paid back in the same coin. So, in a nutshell, Savarkar’s supporters take an utterly defensive stance while defending him against onslaughts from his ideological rivals, thus leaving him virtually defenceless on issues that concern the future of the nation and to which Savarkar’s thoughts provide a solution.

Significantly, while under prison restrictions in Ratnagiri town from 1924 to 1937. Savarkar led the most powerful movement against untouchability in Indian history apart from Gandhiji’s. But there are a few uncomfortable facts about Savarkar, which his diehard followers try to brush under the carpet. For example, when Sardar Patel was trying to merge the princely states into the Indian Union a virulently anti-Congress Savarkar - who had been wrongly implicated by the then Congress government in the murder of Gandhiji (before being acquitted) and as a result was in bad mental shape - supported the movement of Travancore, another princely state, against merging with India. This move went against his own advocacy of a strong and united India.

Clearly, the path to a bright future, whether in case of a nation or an individual, is embedded in drawing lessons from undistorted history. And that is the reason why removing distortions from history is the need of the hour.
 

What is Achievement?!

The Bhagavad Gita 6:20-23

In the stage of perfection called trance, or samadhi, one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.