There are a lot of negative cliches around Indian government owned companies, also called public sector units (PSUs). The fact that both BSNL and BPCL have had to be bailed out in the recent past are evidence that things aren’t too great in the PSU universe. The rot in Air India which has occurred through decades of being a PSU is so much & so deep that it will take the Tatas atleast 2 years just to clean it out before it starts to rebuild Air India into the great airline it once was before it was stolen from them by Indira Gandhi.
Anyway, while PSUs of all type have generally been struggling, there are a few shining bright – And they are our defence sector PSUs – India’s very own Military Industrial Complex! 🙂
A quick 1-liner on what do these companies do:
HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) – Manufactures fighter planes, aircrafts, helicopters, avionics & communications equipment BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd) – Manufactures advanced electronic products for ground and aerospace applications BDL (Bharat Dynamics Ltd) – Manufactures guided missiles, underwater weapons, air-borne products & allied equipment MZDK (Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd) – Manufactures submarines, destroyers & warships for the Indian Navy as well as associated support vessels, some of which are also used by offshore oil companies. GRSE (Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd) – Builds and repairs primarily naval vessels like corvettes & destroyers and also commercial vessels BEML (Bharat Earthmovers Ltd) – Manufactured heavy trucks and other heavy transportation equipment.
So let’s look at them, starting with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd).
As India embarks on the next steps in Indo-US relationship with PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, undoubtedly his address to the joint session of Congress and his public mega event(s) will probably take centre-stage. What will probably go unnoticed is the MOU between GE and HAL, shepherded by the US DoD, to jointly manufacture the F414 jet engine. This MOU also includes TOT (Transfer of Technology) to India, making this the first time US would have ever done so in a defence deal with India.
The GE F414 Jet engine…
The F414 will be used in the new Tejas fighter, currently under development – the Tejas Mk2. It will also propel Indian fighter planes manufacturing from the LCF (Light Combat Fighter) to the MWCA (Medium Weight Combat Fighter, in the same category as the Mirage, Jaguar or the Grippen.
As a shareholder of HAL, I couldn’t be more thrilled as I glance into my future and see yet another boost to the robust growth that its share price has seen since 2018 when it was listed on the stock markets through an IPO (and when I bought into it first). Over the past 5 years, HAL has seen its market capitalisation grow a mind-blowing 6x – from 18000Cr to nearly 115000Cr. It has ended up becoming the 4th most valued PSU beating BPCL and sitting only behind the 3 energy giants of ONGC, Coal India & IOCL, while quickly catching up to IOCL.
It’s not just HAL though. Many more defence PSUs have shown remarkable growth, both over the past year and more-importantly, over the past 5 years.
So let’s see their current market capitalisation.
Now, market capitalisation (& growth thereof) means nothing unless it is put in perspective. Hence, what is truly remarkable is that they have ALL almost always beaten the BSE Sensex in performance. Some of them by a little and others by a HUGE margin…
Both 1-yr and 5-yr comparisons of the stock prices of these 5 PSUs & the markets show a large outperforming of them of the BSE Sensex.
Recent update on Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. – Massive jump in the stock after India announced 3 additional Scorpene submarines to be constructed by MDL under license from the French. These are expected to include the new air-independent-propulsion-system.
So, why is all this happening?
PSUs have pulled up their socks. They have gotten efficient, gotten themselves good management and are fulfilling orders in time, on budget and without rejections (due to quality) – all of which have historically been their bugbears. Possibly they are responding positively to the private players entry into defence manufacturing with Mahindra & Tata making a play in that space. Whatever be the reason, I’m glad its happening. And these PSUs are (finally) getting their act together.
Listing of PSUs has worked. It has made them more accountable and their failures (and successes) more public. This seems to have galvanised the atrophied managements of these behemoths into getting into shape.
Make in India seems to be working. Not just in mobile phones manufacturing, but clearly in defence manufacturing as well.
GDP growth impact is showing. Over the past 8-9 yrs, the budgeted annual defence expenditure as a % of GDP has been more or less the same. However, since the GDP itself has grown (notwithstanding the Covid years), clearly the funds availability for purchases have gone up.
India’s armed forces are placing orders & OROP is not as much a hindrance as expected. Since OROP had increased the govt’s armed forces pension bill a lot, hence there was some worry among people that there may not be enough budgets to buy defence equipment each year. Clearly, despite OROP, our armed forces seem to have enough annual budgets to place proper-sized orders.
All-in-all, this is fantastic news and I hope this trend continues for a long long time. It’s a good start, but as a particular gent named Mr Frost once said – “Miles to go…..”
Jai Hind! 😊🇮🇳😇
P.S. I am a shareholder in atleast 2 of these companies and have been one for years.
P.P.S. Some graphics taken from the coverage of The Print on this subject.
While NOTHING in the world justifies Russia’s attack on Ukraine, whatever their reasons may be, and the horrible loss of life, the entire conflict carries with it, several Lessons for India:
1) There is no soft power without hard power. We need to aggressively build economic & military hard power. In today’s world, nuclear deterrence works. We should be thankful for Bhabha, Sarabhai, Indira, Shastri, Kalam, Ramanna, Vajpayee and everyone else involved in making India a nuclear weapons state. If Ukraine still had nukes, no way Russia invades them.
2) Peace is not absence of conflict but good management of conflict. Don’t be scared of conflict. Learn to manage it and hit back when needed. We need to understand why our divines Shiva, Durga, Ram & Krishna are always featured with the Trishul, Bow-Arrow, the Sudarshan Chakra. Shastra (weapons) are an inalienable part of shaastra (policy).
3) There is nothing called a global rules-based-order when international rules can always be re-written / ignored based on who is breaking them. Lectures on human rights, sovereignty, freedom, etc are geopolitical tools for ‘The West’. They mean nothing in reality and are a facade for ‘The West’ to do whatever they want. Whenever they want to attack a country or cause regime change, all this nonsense appears or disappears as needed…
Also, the United Nations is a joke when it comes to enforcing a global rules-based-order or any kind of order. I would say they’ve become impotent but that would mean that there was a time when they weren’t. Today the UN is possibly even a bigger joke than the WHO. And I didn’t think that was possible…
4) Whether there is an international treaty or not, promises made or not, groupism encouraged or not, a nation’s own security / self-interest will always supercede their ‘friendship’ with other nations. Sadly, Zelensky and Ukraine found that out the hard way. The US & Europe led them up the garden path of NATO membership and then left them hanging when it really got serious…
Sad. But true!
5) Self-sufficiency in energy & arms manufacturing, as much as possible, is an absolute necessity. Also, don’t rely on a single source for a majority of your weapons. Diversify. Especially now that China & Russia are now super-friendly.
6) Weaponisation of ‘global institutions’. Anything ‘global’ that is institutional, can be weaponised by the US whenever it suits them. From financial protocols like SWIFT to civilian airspace to international sporting bodies, satellite connectivity, creative industries, etc. India should try to have atleast one globally powerful tool of leverage in all these areas. We already own global Cricket, so that’s a good start.
7) Even private international companies will take political sides. Figure out how you can ring-fence or pushback against it. Data localisation is a must. All local data MUST remain on servers physically located in India. Support your domestic companies so that they in-turn can go global. Also, don’t depend only on global brands for core functions but build you own. UPI-RuPay are excellent examples. Everyone should have a bank account in an Indian bank & have at least one RuPay credit & debit card in case Mastercard & Visa pull their services (like they have in Russia). Also, we need to start using MapMyIndia as much as we use Google Maps, atleast when we’re in India.
What India had ended up doing with RuPay / UPI, other countries are learning from it. Now Indonesia is also planning to drastically reduce, if not ditch altogether Visa / MasterCard.
8) Institutional racism still very much active globally. Both in the media & in nations. Your geography and skin colour determine how much the world (media, politicians, heads of state, the UN, etc.) will support you or even care about you. Please don’t be sucked into the DEI nonsense being peddled by the woke media brigade. When inconvenient, your whole country will be dropped by them.
9) Western coalitions, groups / camps are nothing but well-funded land-grabprograms taking over parts of the world as ‘theirs’. It’s best to stay out of any of them. Ukraine is finding out the hard way that putting yourself in a position where US missiles could be on your land which is less than 100 kms away from Moscow, is not a joke. The way ‘the west’ led Ukraine up the garden path to self-destruction through their dangling of the NATO carrot should be a case-study on how the US has used an entire nation as an equivalent of a tethered goat to achieve the financial goals of a country’s military industrial complex. Forget NATO membership, ‘the West’ has not only refused to send troops to fight the Russians, but they have also rejected Zelensky’s EU membership request. And to top it off, they have refused to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine. At some point in the near future, we will know how much this ‘support’ of Ukraine joining NATO came because of ‘lobbying’ by the MIC…
10) ‘The West’ will hate you or love you based on what is convenient to them. Until they got into a Russia conflict, Ukraine & Zelensky were horrible, corrupt, authoritarian, neo-nazi, anti-LGBTQ & a dangerous place for journalists. And now, all of a sudden, it is this democratic utopia worth saving? How come? 🙄🙄🙄
11) ‘Global’ media is completely partisan favouring the US / Europe / ‘the West’. India should build strong media narrative influence globally. Indian businessmen should buy into newspapers, TV channels & social media platforms at a global level or start our own to operate globally (well done to Zee for building WION), so the narrative against India can be controlled. Western media has, over the years, legitimised some wars, even thought they were completely illegitimate and has de-legitimised some others, no matter how legitimate they were.
Finally the Economist has found a war that it doesn’t like…
Further, Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin & South America are uninvolved in the Ukraine war. Yet the ‘global’ media narrative screams “World War”. When questioned how this is a ‘world’ war, their rhetoric is that “It could happen to you too” so you should be involved. When this “world war” and “it could happen to you” nonsense is peddled by global media, we need media of our own to push back as well. Further, when ‘global’ media writes complete horseshit about India, filled with fakery (remember when they said that 20% of India was protesting on the roads?), we need one or more of out own media outlets to push back. Right now, the NYT / WaPo can get away with publishing whatever they want, with only Indians on social media countering them. We need a globally impactful Indian-owned media outlet to do so too.
12) India needs to be ready to fight back being ‘cancelled’. Commonplace, everyday Russian people, products, goods & services are being ‘cancelled’. Russian vodka taken off shelves. Russian musicians & performers denied a platform. Russia hit back too, including threatening to leave the 1 American astronaut behind on the International Space Station while they rescued their own astronauts (they didn’t eventually). India needs to be armed & ready to hit back as well, if it comes to that. We need to figure out what is that one (or many) piece(s) of leverage we have against ‘the West’ and we should not be queasy to use them as leverage, if needed. I have a feeling all the Indian software companies which are handling all the back-end softwares for the world have that leverage in their hands (Maybe?)…
——————————
P.S. I have a 13th point as well but since it was about a lesson we have already learnt and applied well, I’m adding it here…
13) Leverage India as a market and as a counterbalance to China. The way we have completely stonewalled noises from the global media and done our own thing by increasing oil purchases from Russia significantly is brilliant and creditable. While the overt signalling is that India is doing this to protecting our population from hyperinflation, India’s covert communication with western capitals has been – “If you want to continue to access India as a market, please STFU about India’s increasing oil imports from Russia and also remember that India is the only country standing up to China in Asia, if not the world. So let us do what we’re doing and we’ll let you sell your stuff to 17% of humanity.” And THAT is why most western capitals have supported India’s increased purchases. I hope we do more such leveraging in the future…
Anyway, this was a shortlist. Happy to hear about any more lessons that you think India should learn from the Russia-Ukraine war…
India and Canada have had a long relationship. The number of Indians, primarily among them Sikhs who have migrated to Canada is immense. Furthermore, hundreds (if not thousands) of Indian students opt to study in Canadian universities annually. Historically, even the 2 sovereign countries have had decent trade relationships with each other, one example of which is that Canada, being a large grower of pulses, once had India as one of its biggest customers. Not anymore though.
However, in the recent past, things that were in the making for decades have finally come to a head. And while 2021 made things worse, 2023 has completely blown up the Indo-Canadian diplomatic relationship.
Here’s a short story about how Justin Trudeau’s ugly vote bank politics and pandering to extremists has put him alongside Pakistan as a terror supporter.
20th century & Migration
The Indian Canadian community began to form around the late 19th century – early 20th century, pioneered by men, the great majority of whom were Punjabi Sikhs – primarily from farming backgrounds – with some Punjabi Hindus and Punjabi Muslims, and many of whom were veterans of the British Army. Decades of small waves of migrants continued till 1961, when the total number of Indians in Canada was estimated to be approx 6500.
Then over the next 3 decades, that number jumped enormously to reach 423000 by 1991. Many of these were genuine economic migrants, out to seek a new land of opportunities, but many of them were also asylum seekers who had run away from India to escape government crackdowns against Sikh separatism or the excesses of government overreach in the fight against unrest in Punjab (and there were many excesses, not to mention the Sikh genocide of 1984). That said, there were also many who were just criminals who found seeking asylum to be a good fig leaf under which to hide their criminal antecedents and hence migrate to ‘Kannedda’. There are several articles, stories, anecdotes about how both Canada (& Germany) accepted these ‘asylum seekers’ with no review, no evaluation and did not bother to check with the Indian diplomatic missions whether they were in-fact genuine. In my opinion it was on account of the ‘white man’s burden’ syndrome. Where the ‘white west’ believed that they & their society and way of life was superior to the ‘coloured east & south’, so if someone was running away from there to ‘the west’, it was natural & expected and of course the Indian diplomatic missions should not be consulted to check someone’s potential criminality…
Anyway, it is some among these migrants who landed up between 1961 and 1980, who brought the seeds of Khalistan / Sikh separatism with them to Canada. While their numbers were small & economic cloud limited, they kept quiet about it as they had no financial and political muscle, but by the mid 1980s, that had started to change. So much so, that on June 23, 1985 they carried out the worst terrorist attack to date that Canada has ever witnessed – the Air India ‘Kanishka’ bombing which killed 329+ people, most of them being Canadian citizens. The bombing was the handiwork of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a Khalistani terrorist outfit and the mastermind was Talwinder Singh Parmar.
The ‘Kanishka bombing’ is the worst act of terror in Canada’s history. Yet only one man – Inderjit Singh Reyat – was convicted and that too decades after the bombing. He too has since been released after he served his sentence and is currently free. The mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar was never convicted (he was finally killed in 1992 by Punjab Police when he returned to India).
So here Canada had a situation where a handful of radical Sikhs were able to generate Sikh vote banks, on the backs of regular hardworking non-radical sikhs, through their gurudwaras & jathedars. From among them emerged several politicians, the primary troublemaker among them being Jagmeet Singh – who is currently the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Canada. Set up in 1961 as a combination of organised labour & the political left, the NDP was a proper lefty party for a long time, until it was hijacked by the radical sikhs about 2 decades+ ago.
2015 – Mr Trudeau comes to power
So, in 2015, Justin Trudeau & Canada’s Liberal Party came to power after 12 yrs of Conservative rule, with a decent sized majority winning 184 seats in a house of 338 . I remember the global euphoria about the “good-looking young liberal who had defeated the bad-old conservatives” in Canada. I must admit that even I was hoping for good things from him, even though I didn’t really really hear any gravitas from him. Also, upon close scrutiny, one sees that Mr Trudeau had had no major display of professional excellence before he became the Liberal Party’s leader.
2017 – the Khalistani-closeness starts
Then, just a couple of yrs into his governance, for reasons best known to him, there were signs of some rather strange ties between his Liberal Party and Khalistani separatists & extremists. One may have passed it off as domestic political pandering but this was more than that. It was active encouragement.
This pandering to radical Khalistani separatists has caused a lot of trouble for him over the years, especially during his visit to India in 2018, when he was publicly rebuked by then Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh who called out the then Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan (who was part of Trudeau’s delegation) for being a Khalistani sympathiser (which he was).
Trudeau was also delivered a polite diplomatic version of an insult by PM Modi who did not come to receive him at the airport, met him just once during his visit and engaged in none of the usual fanfare & bonhomie which PM Modi has indulged in with various other heads of state.
Of course, none of them have been handed over since. 😡
On top of all this, the Canadians made things worse, when they invited Jaspal Atwal, a member of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation, who was convicted for attempted murder for trying to kill Punjab Cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in Vancouver in 1986, to an official event hosted by PM Trudeau during the India trip. The pictures of Sophie Trudeau & Atwal together, which appeared in the media, painted a horrible picture and made things worse. Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jaspal-atwal-invite-dinner-sophie-1.4545881
This trip was probably the worst that Indo-Canadian relationship could get. And I’m not even talking about all the jokes & memes that were made of the outfits Trudeau wore during his visit, which were, at best, comical.
2019 – Electoral problems for JT, his love for Khalistanis increases to a point where it becomes official state policy
Then, in the 2019 Canadian elections, The Liberal Party dropped to 157 seats, becoming a minority government, supported by the NDP (yes, the same NDP with Jagmeet Singh as its leader)
So the question that all Indians have is – since the NDP is an official part of the Canadian government, is support to the Khalistan separatist movement official state policy of the current Canadian government?
So its 2020 now, and the Wuhan virus hits us all. The pandemic runs riot globally with all governments releasing millions of dollars in aid & payouts to its citizens to enable them to survive the economic downturn caused by the lockdowns.
So does Canada…
And therein emerges the political opportunism of PM Justin Trudeau. At a time when his country was haemorrhaging millions of dollars just to support its citizens, he was actually thinking about how to use this crisis of humanity to his political benefit. 🤬
So, in an attempt to augment his political power and try to win back a majority, he calls for early snap elections, halfway through his current tenure (which would otherwise end in 2023). This election ended up costing Canada 610mn$ (Canada’s GDP in 2019 was 1.8tn$).
Can you imagine how horrible it is to spend an additional 610mn$ at a time when there is already so much money flowing out of your country’s coffers, just because you want more power than you already have??? Ugh!!!🤬🤬🤬
Anyway, all this was in vain. Nearly every single party won exactly the same number of seats as earlier, with a +/- of 2-4 seats over the 2019 elections.
Honestly, so much money being spent for so little change, is possibly second only to what the US have spent in Afghanistan. 🤷🏻♂️
Not only was it a waste of money, but it emboldened the NDP further, on account of them getting almost the same number of seats as earlier. The Trudeau govt continued in a minority government, supported by the NDP, except Trudeau’s govt was now even more beholden to the NDP, whose leader supports terrorists.
2023 & The Tableau celebrating Indira Gandhi’s assassination in Brampton.
So there was a tableau reenacting & celebrating Indira Gandhi’s assassination which was part of a parade in Brampton a few weeks ago.
How T F does Canada allow this?
Celebrating the killing of former Prime Minister of India is not ‘freedom of expression’. It is celebrating an act of terrorism – a hate-crime by all norms. What kind of a supposedly democratic country, of the 21st century, does this?
I guess one whose government relies on Khalistan terrorist elements for their vote bank and is willing to aid & abet celebration of terrorists & terrorism.
This is obscene, to say the least.
2023 June/July and the despicable call to violence and the killing of Indian diplomats
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist, the chief of a pro-Khalistani outfit Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) was shot dead in Surrey, British Columbia. on June 18, 2023. Nijjar was responsible for promoting the secessionist and terror agenda of the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun – run ‘Sikhs for Justice’ (SFJ) and calling for all kinds of ridiculous ‘referendums’ in Canada on Khalistan.
After Nijjar’s assassination, the following posters were released. and put up all over Toronto, calling for a rally on July 8th and also calling for the murder of / violence against Indian Diplomats.
This is clearly INSANE. That Trudeau’s government would sit back on this, do nothing and allow this call to violence by a bunch of terrorists is despicable.
India has served a demarche on Canada against this. The Trudeau govt has been asked by the Indian government to take strong measures to prevent protesters from congregating close to missions and consulates or desecrating the Indian national flag or throwing projectiles into the Indian diplomatic premises in Canada.
When asked abot these posters, Trudeau said “We have an extremely diverse country and freedom of expression is something that we have. But, we will also make sure that we are pushing back against violence and extremism in all its forms.”
IMO this is discourse that is not only soft on terrorism but is borderline encouragement of terror.
Let’s all wait to see what ‘good boy’ Justin Trudeau does about this, now that he has said that they are ‘pushing back’. Let’s see if he displays the same ruthlessness he displayed when he cracked down on the protesting truckers a few weeks ago, or does he pander to his vote bank & abdicate his responsibility of combating terrorism.
If he does the latter, India should move the FATF against Canada, asking Canada to be grey-listed where they can occupy the same august position that Pakistan once occupied – as a supporter of terrorism. Further India should downgrade the diplomatic status of Canada from a High Commissioner to a Charge de Affairs and put out public calls & notices to Indian students to NOT go to study in Canada.
India owes this to all its 1.4bn citizens including millions of Sikhs both within & outside India who are nationalists, patriotic, India-loving people who not only have nothing to do with this Khalistan nonsense but in-fact abhor it!!!
In Conclusion
I don’t know what Canadians think about their PM’s behaviour towards India and his alliance with the NDP and I honestly don’t care but unless a clear stand is taken by the Trudeau government against the NDP, its leader & against Khalistan terrorists, the already-at-rock-bottom Indo-Canadian relations will only get WORSE, if that is at all possible… 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
P.S. Here are 3 of videos which deconstruct the stark hypocrisy of ‘good-boy’ Justin Trudeau.
Found some awesome rarely clicked photographs, from a few years ago. 😊📷
They’re photos of Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga taken from above.
So, a long time ago, when Kingfisher Airlines was still around, they used to have a Mumbai-Guwahati flight. I happened to be on one such flight and about a couple of hours into the flight, the pilot announced that it was a lucky day for the passengers sitting on the window seats of the left hand side of the plane, since it was a rather rare day when the air was very very clear and that we had the possibility of sighting Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga on this flight and that he was taking a minor detour from the standard flightpath. Luckily I was sitting on the left hand side window seat and while my vision was partially blocked by the wing, I still managed to get excellent sighting of both.
P.S. First 7 photos are of Everest and the last 5 are of Kanchenjunga.
Before the current railways ‘broad gauge’ (distance between the rails) of 5’6″ came about, there was the ‘standard gauge’ of railroads of 4 feet, 8.5 inches.
Now isn’t that an exceedingly odd number?Why was that gauge used? Well, because that’s the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first railroads globally.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that’s the gauge they used.
So, why did ‘they’ use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same axles, jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England. You see, that’s the spacing of the wheel ruts which were already formed on many English roads.
So who created ruts on those old roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including in England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And the ruts on many of those roads were formed by the Roman chariots, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
Therefore for decades and decades the standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches was actually derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
I’m sure at some point atleast one of the more curious engineers building these railroads must have looked at the specifications and thought – “What horse’s ass came up with this gauge?”
And herein lies the hilarious story. Because Imperial Roman chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two horses – so 2 horses’ asses.
So the answer to the curious engineer’s question is – not one horse’s ass but 2 horses’ asses. 😅
Now, here’s how all this links to space travel…
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The first ever SRBs were made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses’ behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse’s ass.
Now imagine what all else is determined by an ancient horse’s ass… 🤔😁
Bureaucracies live forever. Remember this when you decide specifications for almost anything or start following any specifications simply handed down to you. 😉😅
Yes, while it’s highly odd to have the words Rath Yatra, Trump & ISKCON mentioned in the same sentence, here’s a true story of how Donald Trump enabled New York’s first ever Rath Yatra…
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava organisation. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra is an important annual festival held in India. As per the Hindu calendar Vikram Samvat, the Rath Yatra begins on the Dwitiya Tithi in Ashadha, Shukla Paksha. Currently, it falls in the month of June or July in the Gregorian calendar.
The first Rath Yatra of Mahaprabhu Jagannath kicked off on the streets of NYC in 1976, on the 10th anniversary of ISKCON, with assistance from the then unlikeliest of places – from the office of the then-emerging American real-estate businessman – Donald Trump.
Rath Yatra in NYC…Rath Yatra in NYC…
This is how the story goes…
About 47 years ago, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was planning to organise the first ever Rath Yatra in New York City.
However, challenges were aplenty. The two primary ones being the permission to use Fifth Avenue and the location near Fifth Avenue where the Raths could be built.
On behalf of the Hare Krishna Movement, Tosan Krishna Das who was in charge of getting the permit had submitted a written proposal to the authorities. The Police department had initially said yes but again they said no as there was mayor’s edict since 1962 against allowing new parades on the Fifth Avenue. With no option left, Tosan finally approached the Chief of Police in Manhattan with a special request. Nobody had any clue about how the chief would respond to the application. But after a careful review, the police chief signed the papers with a smile. “I don’t know why I am doing this, the chief said. And then he signed it.” revealed Tosan.
While the grant of parade permit at the Fifth Avenue was secured, which was nothing short of a miracle, a second miracle was needed – of finding a huge empty site close to the starting point of the parade route, where the Raths / Chariots could be built. It was not going to be easy.
The best option was the Pennsylvania Rail Yard nearby. So they knocked at the doors of every person possible who owned a piece of the yard, but in vain. They explained to everyone the requirements they had to build the massive wooden Raths/Chariots. Everyone said No. They were concerned about legal issues, insurance risks etc. Many of the firm owners who were approached reportedly said they were in the process of selling the property at the Pennsylvania rail yard and didn’t want to take a chance. Desperation of devotees reached peak, hopes were nearly shattered.
A few days later, someone told them that the then ‘upcoming’ real-estate businessman Donald Trump had purchased a major piece of the old railway yard.
There were concerns approaching him firstly as a dozen other landlords they had asked for had already said no, so “Why would Trump be any different?” as well as his flashy, high profile lifestyle.
Nevertheless, the devotees went to his office with a big basket of Maha Prasadam and a presentation package. His secretary took it but warned the devotees, “He never agrees to this kind of thing. You can ask but he is going to say NO.” But the devotees kept their faith in Mahaprabhu they say, and the miracle happened.
Three days later, Trump’s secretary called up the devotees saying, “I don’t know what happened but he read your letter, had a bit of the food you left, and immediately said – “Sure, why not?””
The secretary then said, “Come on down and get his signed letter of permission.” Yes, Trump had signed the papers giving permission to use the open rail yards for construction of Rath Yatra carts.
Like others, Trump also could have easily rejected the proposal. Devotees thought the Police chief was no exception either. Why both of them agreed is still a question unanswered. Devotees cite it as a blessing of Mahaprabhu Jagannath.
349 years ago, today, we lost a lady who was not only a brave & consummate ruler but also gave India & the world one of the greatest warriors & kings ever – Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Shraddhanjali to Jijabai Shahaji Bhosale! 🙏🏻
When Shivaji was 14 years old, Shahaji Raje handed over the Jagir of Pune to him. Of course, the responsibility of managing the Jagir fell on Jijabai. Jijabai and Shivaji arrived in a Pune which had been devastated by repeated malgovernance & pillage by Nizamshah, Adilshah and Mughals, the condition of Pune was very bad. Under such adverse circumstances, she along with Dadoji Kondadeo redeveloped the city of Pune and parented one of India’s greatest kings while doing so. She was also a skilled horse rider and could wield a sword very skillfully.
The world is forever grateful to Jijabai for giving us Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj & for inspiring him to greatness!!!
Had a fabulous time at the Aquila Safari Game Reserve near Cape Town…
Had Fantastic sightings of Lions, Zebras, Giraffes, Antelopes, Ostriches, Elephants and the best one was a mother Rhinoceros and her little baby, who also (thankfully) wandered around very close to our vehicle. 😊🦏🦁🦓🦒🐘😁
There are a lot of negative cliches around Indian government owned companies, also called public sector units (PSUs). The fact that both BSNL and BPCL have had to be bailed out in the recent past are evidence that things aren’t too great in the PSU universe. The rot in Air India which has occurred through decades of being a PSU is so much & so deep that it will take the Tatas atleast 2 years just to clean it out before it starts to rebuild Air India into the great airline it once was before it was stolen from them by the Indira Gandhi government.
Anyway, while PSUs of all type have generally been struggling, there are a few of them which are shining bright. And they are our defence sector PSUs.
And they’re definitely worth investing in, like I have (full disclosure).
So let’s look at them, starting with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd).
As India embarks on the next step of Indo-US relationship with PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US next week, undoubtedly his address to the joint session of Congress and his public mega event(s) will probably take centre-stage. What will probably go unnoticed is a planned MOU between GE and HAL, shepherded by the US DoD, to jointly manufacture the F414 jet engine. This MOU is expected to also include TOT (Transfer of Technology) to India, making this the first time US would have ever done so in a defence deal with India.
The GE F414 Jet engine…
The F414 will be used in the new Tejas fighter, currently under development – the Tejas Mk2. It will also propel Indian fighter planes manufacturing from the LCF (Light Combat Fighter) to the MWCA (Medium Weight Combat Fighter, in the same category as the Mirage, Jaguar or the Grippen.
As a shareholder of HAL, I couldn’t be more thrilled as I glance into my future and see yet another boost to the robust growth that its share price has seen since 2018 when it was listed on the stock markets through an IPO (and when I bought into it first). Over the past 5 years, HAL has seen its market capitalisation grow a mind-blowing 6x – from 18000Cr to nearly 115000Cr. It has ended up becoming the 4th most valued PSU beating BPCL and sitting only behind the 3 energy giants of ONGC, Coal India & IOCL, while quickly catching up to IOCL.
It’s not just HAL though. Many more defence PSUs have shown remarkable growth, both over the past year and more-importantly, over the past 5 years.
BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd), BDL (Bharat Dynamics Ltd), Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MZDK), GRSE (Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd) & BEML (Bharat Earthmovers Ltd) – ALL of them have seen robust growth in their market capitalisation.
A quick 1-liner on what do these companies do: HAL – Manufactures fighter planes, aircrafts, helicopters, avionics & communications equipment BEL – Manufactures advanced electronic products for ground and aerospace applications BDL – Manufactures guided missiles, underwater weapons, air-borne products & allied equipment MZDK – Manufactures submarines, destroyers & warships for the Indian Navy as well as associated support vessels, some of which are also used by offshore oil companies. GRSE – Builds and repairs primarily naval vessels like corvettes & destroyers and also commercial vessels BEML – Manufactured heavy trucks and other heavy transportation equipment
So let’s see their current market capitalisation.
Now, market capitalisation (& growth thereof) means nothing unless it is put in perspective. Hence, what is truly remarkable is that they have ALL almost always beaten the BSE Sensex in performance. Some of them by a little and others by a HUGE margin…
Both 1-yr and 5-yr comparisons of the stock prices of these 5 PSUs & the markets show a large outperforming of them of the BSE Sensex.
So, why is this happening?
PSUs have pulled up their socks. They have gotten efficient, gotten themselves good management and are fulfilling orders in time, on budget and without rejections (due to quality) – all of which have historically been their bugbears. Possibly they are responding positively to the private players entry into defence manufacturing with Mahindra & Tata making a play in that space. Whatever be the reason, I’m glad its happening. And these PSUs are (finally) getting their act together.
Listing of PSUs has worked. It has made them more accountable and their failures (and successes) more public. This seems to have galvanised the atrophied managements of these behemoths into getting into shape.
Make in India seems to be working. Not just in electronics (mobile phones) manufacturing as we see it, but clearly in defence manufacturing as well.
GDP growth impact is showing. Over the past 8-9 yrs, the budgeted annual defence expenditure as a % of GDP has been more or less the same. However, since the GDP itself has grown (notwithstanding the Covid years), clearly the funds availability for purchases seems to have gone up.
India’s armed forces are placing orders & OROP is not as much a hindrance as expected. Since OROP has increased the govt’s armed forces pension bill a lot, hence there was some worry among people that there may not be enough budgets to buy defence equipment each year. Clearly, despite OROP, our armed forces seem to have enough annual budgets to place proper-sized orders.
All-in-all, this is fantastic news and I hope this trend continues for a long long time. It’s a good start, but as a particular gent named Mr Frost once said – “Miles to go…..”
Backdrop of the (once) good relationships between India & Canada
India and Canada have had a long relationship. The number of Indians, primarily among them Sikhs who have migrated to Canada is immense. Furthermore, hundreds (if not thousands) of Indian students opt to study in Canadian universities annually. Historically, even the 2 sovereign countries have had decent trade relationships with each other, one example of which is that Canada, being a large grower of pulses, had India as one of its biggest customers.
However, in the recent past, things haven’t been so good. And while 2021 mDe things worse, 2023 has set the relationship back by decades.
Here’s a short story about how Justin Trudeau’s ugly political opportunism has made things worse for the India-Canada relationship…
2015 – Mr Trudeau comes to power
So, in 2015, Justin Trudeau & Canada’s Liberal Party came to power after 12 yrs of Conservative rule, with a decent sized majority winning 184 seats in a house of 338 . I remember the global euphoria about the “good-looking young liberal who had defeated the bad-old conservatives” in Canada. I must admit that even I was hoping for good things from him, even though I didn’t really really hear any gravitas from him. Also, upon close scrutiny, one sees that Mr Trudeau had had no major display of professional excellence before he became the Liberal Party’s leader. That said, he did have nepotism on his side.
On top of all this, the Canadians made things worse, when they invited Jaspal Atwal, a member of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation, who was convicted for attempted murder trying to kill Punjab Cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in Vancouver Island in 1986, to an official event hosted by PM Trudeau during the India trip. The pictures of Sophie Trudeau & Atwal together, which appeared in the media, painted a horrible picture and made things worse. Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jaspal-atwal-invite-dinner-sophie-1.4545881
This trip was probably the worst that Indo-Canadian relationship could get. And I’m not even talking about all the jokes & memes that were made of the outfits Trudeau wore during his visit.
2019 – Electoral problems for JT and his Khalistani-love increases, becomes official state policy
Then, in the 2019 Canadian elections, The Liberal Party dropped to 157 seats, becoming up a minority government with the support of the NDP.
So the question that all Indians have is – with the NDP being an official part of the Canadian government, is support to the Khalistani separatist movement an official policy stance of the Canadian government???
So its 2020 now, and the Wuhan virus hits us all. The pandemic runs riot globally with all governments releasing millions of dollars in aid & payouts to its citizens to enable them to survive the economic downturn caused by the lockdowns.
So does Canada…
And therein emerges the political opportunism of PM Justin Trudeau. At a time when his country was haemorrhaging millions of dollars just to support its citizens, he was actually thinking about how to use this situation to his benefit politically. It’s quite horrible, but given that he is a politician, it is fair game, I guess…
So, in an attempt to augment his political power and try to win back a majority, he calls for early snap elections, halfway through his current tenure (which would otherwise end in 2023). This election ended up costing Canada 610mn$ (Canada’s GDP in 2019 was 1.8tn$).
Can you imagine how horrible it is to spend an additional 610mn$ at a time when there is already so much money flowing out of your country’s coffers, just because you want more power than you already have??? Ugh!!!
Anyway, after all this, the result was still NOTHING…. As nearly every single party won exactly the same number of seats as earlier, with a +/- of 2-4 seats over the 2019 elections.
Honestly, so much money being spent for so little change, is possibly second only to what the US have done in Afghanistan. 🤷🏻♂️
Not only that, but the NDP getting almost the same number of seats as earlier has emboldened them further. The Liberal Party continues in a minority government, supported by the NDP, except the Liberal Party is now even more beholden to the NDP now, whose leader supports terrorists who want the breaking up of India.
2020-21 and Canada’s ridiculous meddling in India’s internal affairs
For reasons best known to him and either to showcase his ultra-liberalism or to continue to pander to his political allies, Mr Trudeau gets embroiled in an unnecessary issue about the ‘farmers protests’ happening in India. Now, this ‘protest’ has nothing to do with his country (or does it?)(see para as under as to how Canada would suffer if Indian agriculture diversifies), so he really had no business showing ‘support’, but I guess he had his reasons… And that ended up with him pissing off a vast major number of Indians in addition to the Indian government, even more.
Not just that but his position on these protests and the position that Canada has taken in the WTO against Indian agriculture is a 180 turn, showcasing the worst kind of hypocrisy
Canada, Pulses & India…
India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of pulses. In 2015, Canada was exporting $1.5Bn worth of pulses to India each year. Over the past 5 yrs, through crop-diversification incentives, India has increased its pulses production. It has also managed to move its imports away from far-away Canada to close-by Myanmar. So much so, that in 2019 only $320mn worth of pulses were being imported from Canada.
Since not too many countries in the world consume a lot of pulses, Canada has not been able to divert those exports from India to elsewhere and hence there has been a noteworthy dent in Canada’s economy because of this.
Now imagine if more farmers of Punjab & Haryana who are today growing wheat & rice (which nobody wants and is rotting away in warehouses), start to grow pulses. If we do end up importing any pulses at all, they will be from Myanmar.
It is directly in Canada’s financial interest that Indian agriculture does not diversify, which it will once the impact of the #FarmReformsBills is seen on ground.
No wonder Justin Trudeau is supporting these ‘farmers’.
2022 & the truckers
And now that Canada’s truckers are protesting against his vaccine mandates & other things (their reasons for protest are too many to list here), he has been name-calling them, abusing them and accusing them of things like violence, racism, vandalism, anarchy, etc etc – the very same things that were done by the ‘protestors’ in India who he was ‘supporting’ in 2020-21, under his ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘freedom to protest’ tropes.
The ruthlessness of Justin Trudeau’s politics was out there for all to with him invoking the Emergency Act against these protestors. He has been getting a social media shellacking from Canadians, Indians & the world while the ‘international media’ gives him a free pass to trample over Canadians (literally). I hope this makes him sit up and introspect on his hypocrisy and slide down the cesspool of despicable politics, but I doubt it will.
2023 & The Tableau celebrating Indira Gandhi’s assassinatiom in Brampton.
So there was a tableau reenacting & celebrating Indira Gandhi’s assassination which was part of a parade in Brampton.
How does Canada allow this? Celebrating the killing of former Prime Minister of India is not freedom of expression. It is celebrating an act of terrorism.
The Kanishka airplane bombings are the worst terrorist attack to ever happen in Canada. It was carried out by Khalistani terrorists.
What kind of country, in the 21st century does this? One whose government relies on Khalistani terrorist elements for their vote bank and is willing to enable a celebration of terrorists & terrorism.
This is obscene, to say the least.
In Conclusion
I don’t know what Canadians think about their PM’s behaviour towards India and his alliance with the NDP and I honestly don’t care but unless a clear stand is taken by the Trudeau government against the NDP, its leader & against Khalistani terrorists, Indo-Canadian relations will only get WORSE.
——————————————–
P.S. Here are 3 of videos which deconstruct the stark hypocrisy of ‘good-boy’ Justin Trudeau.
