Aaishwari Chouhan takes you through investment opportunities and incentives provided by the Government of Goa which make it an excellent investment option.

Being one of the largest economies and also a very rapidly developing nation, India is one of the best investment destinations on the global map. Strategically located, the nation has access to the vast domestic and South Asian Market. It boasts a huge and fast-developing consumer market of up to 300 million people, comprising the market for branded consumer goods and projected to be growing at 8% per annum. The demand for several consumer products is growing as high as at over 12%per annum.

In India, foreign investments from Non-Residential Indians (NRI) are always welcome. Although approval is mandatory, in the sixty categories of industries all approvals are automatically taken care of. India is also one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the world, spanning almost all areas of manufacturing activities.

A nation with such huge population with youth being in majority on the population graph, India has enough manpower. Also, with emergence of world-class business schools, training to the available manpower is no longer a very big hassle. Thus, India is one of the very few nations to provide skilled manpower and professional managers at a competitive cost. The country provides one of the largest pools of technicians, scientists, engineers, managers and trainers in the world.

The mineral base in India is quite rich with mining activities happening in several states on a large scale and on a commercial basis. The export of the ore obtained from mining is very important, in getting into the nation some much-needed foreign currency; thus making the economy stronger.

The country also has a long history of market economy, infrastructure, and boasts the sophisticated financial sector. A vibrant capital market with over 9,000 listed companies and market capitalization of US$ 154 billion (March, 1996); India is definitely much stronger on the economic aspect than it seems. Well-developed R&D infrastructure and technical and marketing services are yet another feather in our cap.

For the NRIs, policy environment provides freedom of entry, investment, location, choice of technology, production, import and export. The policies also offer a well balanced package of fiscal incentives.

A sophisticated legal and accounting system, the ease of Rupee being convertible on Current Account at market determined rate, free and full repatriation of capital, technical fees, royalty and dividends are some of the benefits offered for NRI investment in the country. Also, free use of foreign brand names, the use and acceptance of English as the corporate language here, no income tax on profits derived from export of goods and complete exemption from Customs Duty on industrial inputs and Corporate Tax Holiday for five years for 100 per cent Export Oriented units and units in Export Processing Zones are a few more add-ons from a business-investment point of view.

Also, Corporate Tax applicable to the foreign companies of a country, with which agreement for avoidance of Double Taxation exists, can be one which is lower between the rates prevailing in any one of the two countries and the treaty rate.

For Goa in particular, with a land base of 4000 sq. km. and a population of 11.7 million (Census 1991), the state offers certain incentives which include subsidy of 25% of equity up to Rs. 2.5 million for new units and expansion projects. Sales tax exemption on finished products for SSIs (15 years), medium-and large-scale units (12 years) and Income-tax deduction on 20% of profits of hotels and industrial units make the investment profit-oriented.

Loans of up to Rs. 0.5 million to selected entrepreneurs, repayable in 11 years, with 8% interest on a 5% margin is yet another offering from the state government. Rebates of 25% are also provided on commercial water-and power supply tariff for new units. NRIs can also avail 50% stamp duty exemption on bonds/mortgages in favour of state FIs/Scheduled commercial banks.

The state provides assistance of up to Rs. 2 million on a 15% margin for competent technicians/technocrats. It also grants permission for NRIs to import plant and machinery and raw materials with their own foreign Exchange. Price preference of 15% on purchases by government departments from registered units is facilitated.

Availability of sheds on a hire-purchases basis, with 10% down payment and the rest payable over 10 years is one of the most preferred state incentives. Duty free import of capital goods, components, and raw materials for 100% export-oriented units and total exemption from central excise duty and other levies for 100% export-oriented units help in generating greater returns for all NRI investments in the state.

State-identified priority sectors include Electronics, Industrial Estates, Infrastructure Development, Marine Products, Mining, Technology Products and Tourism.

The Urbanisation Ratio (1991) in Goa is 41% while the literacy rate is 77%. With around five ports, over ten industrial zones and parks and a well-connected transport system, Goa is definitely one place whose advantages and incentives every Indian would want to partake in.

Roopnarain Persaud takes stock of the economic and political situation in the Caribbean region, along with its implications on Indo-Caribbeans population.

Economy and economic opportunities

For over a century sugar was designed to be the dominant export commodity from the Caribbean region. This was/is the agricultural produce that Caribbean economies depend upon they are dependent upon purchases and quotas by European countries. In this manner European countries continue to have power and control over Caribbean economies and politics in the Caribbean. The cultist political 'leaders' and corrupt government officers as a result of 'independence' for Caribbean countries did not bring about much change in the structure and composition of Caribbean economies.

Of recent time, however, we have seen some changes in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Trinidad and Tobago has resources of oil and natural gas commodities in high demand in the western industrialised economies. Guyana has a fully developed rice-producing industry with available land for increased production capacity. Indo- Caribbeans in Guyana have pioneered rice production, growth, and development. Guyana and Suriname have large developable natural resources of bauxite, gold, and primary forests. (Guyana under the presidency of an Indo- Caribbean, Bharat Jagdeo, has chosen to grant mining rights of its unique gold to Canadian companies and its primary forest timbers to China. Its natural deposits of bauxite have been sold to Russia for mining!) It is believed that Guyana has the single most important source of manganese.

The fabled and legendary 'Caribbean Sunshine' and Caribbean beaches are in high demand by European and North American tourist. And, as is to be expected, countries in the region are competing heavily with each other for the so called 'tourist dollar.' Jamaica, it is believed, benefits much from the American single, white, female tourists who visit often for personal pleasures. Tourism, especially eco-tourism, can be successfully and economically developed in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname with capital investments in appropriate transportation infrastructure. Labour costs is comparatively cheap and of comparative high quality.

However, the greatest economic opportunities can very well be in the expansion and growth of agriculture. There is a hungry world to feed - in the Caribbean itself, in India, and in Africa. Guyana and Suriname have developable land and Trinidad and Tobago has resources of fuel and natural gas, immediate sources of energy.

Bio-energy is available for harnessing: windmills can make much use of the constant and prevailing North East Trade winds (that were responsible for taking Columbus and his sailors to the Caribbean.) The Caribbean region is in the tropics, a geographic region that has sunshine year round. Solar energy can be harvested constantly and at comparatively low cost.

Further, sugar cane can be harvested and used for the production of ethanol, a bio-renewable source of fuel. (Brazil is currently making much use of this source of renewable and eco-friendly source of fuel). That is of course, not to suggest that investing in these economies is easy, quick or a 'done deal.' But with proper and appropriate planning and legal recourse and in a consortium, it can be accomplished to reward investors with significant financial and social returns on their investments.

Political scenario

Politics in the post-colonial Caribbean region displays two affective and effective features: (1) “divide to rule” and (2) voting along racial lines. Both of these features were/are politically designed and socially applied.

After the notorious period of slavery and with the advent of indentured labourers from India, the political stage was set for “divide to rule” and voting along racial lines. Afro- Caribbeans, now “free”, as a group, tried to bargain, with their labour as a chip, with the European plantation owners. This ushered in the “trade union” movement. Most naturally, Afro-Caribbeans saw and interpreted the labour supply provided by indentured Indians as a threat to and in competition with the demands they made for their labour. This early rivalry was beneficial to the European plantation owners who exploited it for their benefit by maintaining a supply of labour at minimum costs while keeping profits high.

For a brief period of time Afro-Caribbeans and Indo- Caribbeans were willing and able to see that the common exploiter was the European colonial plantation owners. They joined their interests, meager resources, and forces together to, essentially, sell their labour to the plantation owners. The “trade unions” with a majority of Afro- Caribbean members soon began to gain some strength and later metamorphosed into political parties. The demand and struggle for “independence” commenced. Thus, like elsewhere in the world, the “independence” movement had its genesis in the demands of labour as a group.

After some decades of political and social struggles, sometimes violent struggles, many of the colonies were granted “independence”, or so they believed. In Guyana, for example, “independence” was granted by England when the PPP party won the first general election. The PPP party, at that time, included both Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese. The British was soon to engineer politically to change this unified approach by dividing Guyanese along racial lines to “divide to rule.” Dr. Chedi Bharat Jagan, an Indo-Guyanese, was the first democratically elected premier in Guyana. The British out-maneuvered him and his PPP by making him accept a political system known as “Proportional Representation” in exchange for their granting of “independence” to Guyana.

Politics of the post “independence” period is marked with the demarcation and accentuation of racial differences between Afro-Caribbeans and Indo-Caribbeans. Afro- Caribbeans were favored by the European colonists (who were Christians) because they readily and easily converted to Christianity. Indo-Caribbeans who were self reserved struggled to maintain their Indian culture and religious beliefs as Hindus or Muslims and were suffered by the now expatriate but non-the-less exploitative, controlling, and manipulative European masters. This manipulation continues up the present in the British-mindset of the elected and administrative personnels as well as in the legal, political and social structures and institutions perpetuated by either the Indo-Caribbean or Afro-Caribbean self-styled “leaders.”

At a point, Indo-Caribbeans became the majority racial group in Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname as well as the wealthier of the now two competing racial groups Christian Afro-Caribbeans against Hindu/Muslim Indo-Caribbeans and vice versa: politics along racial/religious lines commenced in earnest.

Currently there a r e t w o government and political leaders of Indian descent in the Caribbean region: President Bharat Jagdeo in Guyana and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Trinidad and Tobago. Other English speaking countries have government and political leaders of African descent Jamaica and Barbados, for example.We can expect a stable political process in the Caribbean as Democratic practices are enforced by Caribbean nationals, especially by Indo-Caribbeans.

Arnab Acharya travels back in time to unveil the charms of one of the most walked-upon lanes in the city of Kolkata. Though much has changed over the post-Independence decades, the Street still tells tales of alluring times. 

If streets had faces like us humans, would they grow from young to middle-aged to old? Would they perish like do those who tread upon them? 

In the hot middle of the year, after finally getting over the business of climbing a seemingly-endless flight of stairs at the Metro station, you find yourself at Central. But like everything else, the place is not the same as It was an epoch ago. The age and time I'm speaking of, was a time when my grandfather went to college, sharing a rented room with other young men on Bhabani Datta Lane, or of the relatively recent era when my parents frequented the place. 

Protesting whom?

This is Post-Colonialism Calcutta nay, Kolkata (somehow, that name nomenclatured by the British has charms of its own, which are not easy to ignore). In our desperation to get rid of the 'Colonialism' tag, we have found away. I say 'we', simply because, isn't it our collective responsibility, at the end of the day? Well, the way is Non-Cooperation. The Medical College once had marble stairs; decades of meticulous neglect have performed a remarkable, almost reverse- alchemism, changing marble to something worse than coarse stone and broken concrete. The Morgue is fuller than the hospital wards, and there's the acid-odour of urine and a lot of rotting smell to greet you. 

I am taking you through the campus of the Medical College, since this one's a short-cut, compared to coming to College Street via Colootola Lane. 

A slight detour 

Before you come to College Street proper, and are lost in the maze of myriad subjects Literature, Medicine, Engineering, Geography, AIEEE, JEE, IIT-JEE, ICSE, CBSE, NIOS, Madhyamik, you will need some replenishment of energy… Yes, that's Calcutta University; we shall come here presently. But first, let us cross this road. 

You can see on a yellow board: 'Surya Sen Street'. My forefathers (no, they aren't T-rexes) knew it to be Mirzapore Street. The street we are walking upon, is wider, more congested than the street that I've heard of in their stories. It is jam-packed with shops on the pavements, pedestrians on the road, sharing survival space with vehicles. 

There are tiny shops selling everything from hair pins to cell-phone covers and files. This surely wasn't the picture a few decades back. 

PutiramModak 

Anyone who has been to College Street knows the allure of this century-old mishtir dokaan (sweetmeats shop). No, they don't sell their notoriously-famous dhaakai-porota anymore. But their kochoori-chholar daal are magnetic, enough to pull you there. Those, of course, who have seen better days, find cause to complain about the deteriorating quality, but not we. The chhaanaar pora captivates and holds us in ecstasy. 

You walk a bit more 'Kalika' famous through the ages for its variety of telebhajas, mangshor chop, chingrir chop, bhetkir chop, mochar chop, beguni, aloor chop each bite a tram ride into el paradiso. Just as you are about to get inspired by the Poetic Muse, and are on the verge of composing a 'Paradise Re-regained', a man with an umbrella, in his satanically maniac rush, pushes you, leaving youto salvage your beguni from the apparent fall. 

Round this off with a yummy, though not spitefully healthy, glass of daaber shorbot from 'Paramount'. Though fallen from past glory, the places I'm talking about are visited and revisited with religious regularity by the food-lovers of the city. 

Back to College Street 

CU stands tall; no, it is not an imperialist educational institute anymore. In fact, today's examinees, sitting for their year-end graduation exams are best described as gamblers. The transparent opaqueness of examinations is not an oxymoron here, but a reality. 

And to know, St Stephen's (oh, yes, the hallowed college of Delhi, the best in the nation) too was once under this university, you feel a bit proud, curse DU, then curse CU back again. Calcutta University, shortened to CU, is shortened in more aspects than just name. The curriculum is dinosauric; the extra-curriculum is politics. 

Fair enough. No other comment shall be 'politically correct'. 

Hare School and Presidency College 

Presidency boasts of a 'rich and varied heritage' with the ikes of Netaji and Amartya Sen as alumni and Derozio and others as teachers. The canteen contains more smoke than food. Everyone is smoking cigarettes (Health Ministry be damned!), or worse stuff than that. That's liberalism. Liberalism is not about getting rid of age-old dogmas, it's not about looking beneath the skin, it is not about a liberal mindset. Liberalism is a wonderful shamiana. If you have experienced the ecstasy that LSD gives, if you have been on hashish or marijuana, or better home, bhang and siddhi oh, you are such a liberalist! 

Liberalism is about not frowning, if you're spending your free periods as well as pass-subject periods in the canteen, but frowning ferociously if you're missing a class or two a week, since you've got a month-long workshop to attend. It's the very system that's botched. There's no easy solution out of it.  

A slice of history 

The entire College Street is lined with bookstalls that sell more guide books than text books. It is a commercialised, easy guide to Success Road. The houses on Bhabani Dutta Lane that have seen centuries, are now dilapidated. Bookstalls choke the street, and it smells terribly. It was a residential area, once upon a time. 

However, as you sit in the 'Coffee House', waiting for your fishkabiraji and coffee to arrive sometime in the next 1 hour 20 minutes, after which you have a class with your HOD, and the ceiling fans were from the ceiling where the plaster is chipping off, you can't help feeling like a part of history. 

That's the old charm, the magic of College Street: untouched, unhampered, even through the generations…

Ujjwal Khullar takes you on a Color and Creativity guided tour of the souvenirs of Rajasthani royalty.

Renowned for its blue pottery, handcrafted Lac jewelry, mojaris, puppets, textiles, leather work, embossed Bajots and wooden furniture, Rajasthan is well and truly a shopper's paradise. While all these are a great buy for one self, people also love them as gifts.

Take for instance, mojaris, which are the traditional foot wear of the land. These exquisite hand crafted pieces, which once adorned the feet of kings and queens, are now mostly worn on special occasions. An interesting trivia about mojaris these are crafted in such a manner that they can be interchanged and worn on either foot! Available in various hues, designs and styles, they stand testament to the land's fascination with colors. Churning out comfortable yet royal mojaris out of wood, cloth, leather and thread is an exquisitely special craft. The ornamentation is done with beads or embroidery. Interestingly, different designs are made in different districts . For example, in Jaipur, the designs are subtle and delicate. “They are so different and beautiful! I'm very fond of footwear, but have not seen any such thing before!” exclaimed Shilpa, a guest from the southern part of India.

Blue pottery, an ancient Persian art form is a mosaic of color schemes featuring blue, green, yellow, brown and white. Made out of Egyptian paste which is glazed and low fired, the decorative items mostly carry motifs of animals, birds and flowers. Classy and fragile, the beautiful flower vases, pots, jars, ash trays, surahis and even door knobs immediately catch the eye. According to interior designer Sheet al Nakarani, “Blue pottery lends a touch of class to interior décor.”

Renowned for its jewelry industry, Rajasthan is one of the world's largest centers for hand cutting of gems. A source of many precious and semiprecious stones like ruby, emerald and topaz, it is the place to be to shop for extremely attractive hand crafted jewelry. Known for its Theva, Kundan, Minakari, Silver and Lac jewelry, the land boasts of artists whose beautiful designs for anklets, bangles, pendants and necklaces are desired by women the world over.

The glittering glass or precious stones on beautiful bright colors of lac jewelry; the gold on red, blue or green background in Thewa jewelry portray flora-fauna, while scenes from Hindu mythology or Mughal courtly scenes are depicted in the elegant kundan minakari All these are a glimpse into the royal traditions of the state. In Jaipur, the hub of jewelry is Jauhri bazaar (market of jewelers). The famous jewelry of Jaipur has made its way into films like Jodha Akbar, Umraao Jaan and Devdas. Jaipuri jewelry is much sought after by would-be brides for their weddings.

Another interesting souvenir is the embossed bajot, which is a low lying table that can be found at Bapu Bazaar. Mostly on a silver background, the fascinating minakari is coiffed in various shades to showcase the intrinsic and exquisite artistry of Rajasthan.

Bikaner is world famous for Usta the art of gold embossing on camel hide. Mohammad Haneef, Hisamud- din Usta, Javed Hasan, Ayub Usta and Iqbal are some of the leading Usta artists. While the art originated in Iran, it flourished in India during the Mughal period. Major manifestations of the art can be seen at places like Phool Mahal, Chandra Mahal, Karan Palace and Ajmer Dargah Shareef. Articles of Usta art range from hand bags to table lamp covers.

Made on fine translucent cloth called Masuria Malmal the delicate Kota Doria saris of Kota are woven in such a way that a special type of pattern called Khat appears in the weave. The beautiful lightweight saris are made using various techniques of design like hand block printing, embroidery, or tie and die.

The elegant and traditional wooden furniture; the light weighted and warm quilts of Jaipur, the hand block printing of Sanganer and Bagru; the strikingly colorful clothes ranging from a casual kurti to lehengas in bright colors with bandhej and leheria (tie & dye) hand block prints, zari, the stylish bags and stoles; the leather goods ranging from wallets to handbags of Jaisalmer…. each of these depicts just how much Rajasthanis love colors in their lives. As Craig, a tourist from Ireland commented, “I am taking these things as souvenirs of Rajasthan's history and its love for art and creativity. I loved to visit the colorful markets of Rajasthan and was amazed at the creativity on display.”