RUSSIA INDIA

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RUSSIA INDIA

www.rus-ind.com
RUSSIA & INDIA 4-2012
RUSSIA
&I N D I A
Partnership
for
the
Future
The special edition of Business Council for Cooperation with India
№4 2012
FROM SUMMIT TO SUMMIT
Russian-Indian
privileged partnership
in action
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
President Vladimir Putin
to present Russia
at the 16th Petersburg
International Economic Forum
BRICS: THE POLE OF NON-WESTERN
WORLD
Moscow and New Delhi are
building new geo-economics
AGNI-V IN SPACE:
NORMAL FLIGHT
India joins Global Missile Club
KUDANKULAM NPP:
STEEPLECHASE
The protests against the key project
of Russian nuclear engineers
instigated from abroad
…also in this edition:
THE BANGALORE WONDER. A REPORT FROM THE INDIAN SILICON VALLEY •
DOWNSHIFTERS IN THE LAND OF MAHABHARATA. WHY RUSSIANS LEAVE FOR INDIA •
CRICKET IN NEW FIELDS. A CULT INDIAN GAME IN RUSSIA • CINEMA. RUSSIAN ACTOR
STARRED AS RAJ KAPOOR •
POLITICS & DIPLOMACY
FIRST PERSON
ДЕЛОВОЙ СОВЕТ
ПО СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВУ
С ИНДИЕЙ
USINESS COUNCIL
OR COOPERATION
WITH INDIA
Mr. Sergey Cheremin
is a Chairman of the Board
of the Business Council
I
Dear Friends!
am sincerely happy that you are holding in
your hands a new issue of the Russian-Indian Business Council’s Magazine “Russia
& India: Partnership for the Future” on the
days of the 16th Petersburg International
Economic Forum. Our project recently marked
the first anniversary since the date of official registration in May 2011. The pilot issue came out
in the autumn of 2010. As we had planned, the
magazine became a weighty word in the development of Russian-Indian partnership and a floor
for direct dialogue between business people of our
countries. It contributes to the exchange of current analytical information and innovative ideas.
This year, the city on the Neva hosts the forum under the slogan “Effective Partnership.” St
Petersburg awaits the world’s leading politicians,
business persons and experts. The forum traditionally includes Russian-Indian business dialogue. We expect the partners from the two countries to discuss the issues of economic, scientific
and high-tech cooperation, as well as the integration of Russian and Indian business communities. It is absolutely topical for both states which
pursue the policy of economic modernization and
follow long-term development strategies.
In March 2012, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa) member-states
held a summit in New Delhi and the 2nd Business Forum took place on its sidelines. A business
mission of Russian innovative companies recently
visited the Indian capital. The Business Council
for Cooperation (DSSI) with India and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) met in a joint session. This substantial
dialogue proved very effective: several new cooperation guidelines were proposed in New Delhi,
and the DSSI and ASSOCHAM signed a cooperation agreement.
I would like to express the hope that the positive
impulses from New Delhi will reach St Petersburg
and that joint work will continue. I also hope that
aside from the themes announced on the magazine cover, the readers will find much useful and
interesting information in the current issue.
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
1
Contens
4
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Chronicle of scientific and technical communications
4
Propitious Climate of Bangalore
52
Successful Meetings
6
Women’s best friends
56
The Precious Attraction of India
58
The Bricks of a New World Order
10
BRICS Business Forum 14
“We need to create greater investment opportunities…”
16
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
20
44
2
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
Sikhs, the disciples of chieftains and wise men
61
Mumbai is the “Gateway of India”
64
AYURVEDA: old is gold
68
Kudankulam Passions
20
Krishna Followers in Russia 72
Agni-V poised for launch 23
Russian actor to play the role of Raj Kapoor
74
Russia–India: Submarines to choose
24
Journey Beyond Three Seas
76
Non-system approach 28
Lost Illusions
78
India arms itself with new helicopters
32
Downshifters choose hospitality
82
Living with the Bat
88
India is exploring outer space. In creating your own,
34
58
CULTURE
68
SPORT
don’t be shy to borrow from others
34
Nano Breakthrough in Russian¬Indian Cooperation
38
SPLAT: innovations for beauty and health
40
Russian Technologies for Indian Programmers
42
Charming Indian Auto
44
Tata Dynasty’s Empire
48
20TH CENTURY
Svetlana Alliluyeva: Romance with India
92
88
82
92
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
3
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
Chronicle of scientific
and technical
communications
or offering technology, the IndoRussian Science and Technology
Centre can network him or her with
partners in either country.
RISTC delegation
in New Delhi
From 25 to 30 March 2012 a
delegation of the Russian-Indian Scientific and Technological Center (RISTC) visited New
Delhi to participate in the Russian
business mission to India and 4
Business Forum of the BRICS.
RISTC was represented at the
Forum by the Director-General
of the Centre S.Y.Sukonkin and
Deputy Director-General of L. I.
Kornauchova.
During the sessions of the Forum discussions were held on such
issues as improving financial relationships of the BRICS countries,
cooperation in energy security,
the role of information technology and innovation, the means to
improve the business partnership
between the BRICS countries.
As part of the Russian business
mission a database on a companies – technological leaders in
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RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
India was prepared, new business
contacts were established, and
further prospects of cooperation
with Indian partners were discussed. The Agreement on cooperation between Russian-Indian
Business Council and the Association of Chambers of Commerce of
India was signed.
The RISTC delegation accompanied by the Deputy Trade Representative of Russia in New Delhi
Mr. Sergei Sizov held talks with
Indian company Sanshadow Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
During the talks the areas of
possible cooperation were discussed, and following the discussions an agreement on cooperation between RISTC and Sanshadow was signed.
Delhi Unit inauguration
Delhi NCR branch of the IndoRussian Science and Technology
Centre (IRSTC) has been inaugu-
rated on April 25, 2012 at Gurgaon,
Delhi NCR by Dr T. Ramasami,
Secretary, Department of Science
& Technology, Government of India, and Academician A.O. Gliko,
Director General, RAS Institute of
Physics of the Earth, who are also
the Co-Chairs of the Joint Council
of the Integrated Long Term Program – the flagship of the IndoRussian S&T cooperation program.
Moscow branch of the IndoRussian Science and Technology
Centre was inaugurated during the
Summit level meeting in Moscow
in December 2011. Now the two
branch offices will work in tandem
to facilitate and promote transfer
and commercialization of innovative technologies developed jointly
or independently by Indian and
Russian scientists. If an Indian or
Russian business person or entrepreneur has a proposal for technology partnership and its commercialization, whether seeking
Tatarstan-India:
fruitful cooperation
In April 2012 Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Tatarstan
have agreed to set up a joint working group of specialists to develop
strategic partnership in petrochemical and oil refining sectors,
especially in crude oil refining.
India’s imports from Tatarstan
already include synthetic rubber,
trucks and helicopters, instrument-making products. Tatarstan’s imports consist mainly of
medical products, food, raw materials and equipment for the foodprocessing industry. There are
also plans to promote cooperation
in culture, education, research,
sports and tourism.
FGFA: facing delay
but worth waiting
The Ministry of Defence of India has announced a two-year delay
in the joint Indo-Russian project,
Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft
(FGFA).
But still Indian designers remain optimistic saying that the
FGFA project would provide invaluable experience in testing and
certifying a heavy fighter aircraft
that is bigger and more complex
than the Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), India’s foundational
aerospace achievement.
In January 2010, Russian company Sukhoi test-flew a prototype
called the PAK-FA, the acronym
for Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi
Kompleks Frontovoi Aviatsy (literally prospective aircraft complex of frontline aviation). Now,
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
(HAL) will partner Sukhoi to
transform the bare-bones PAKFA into an FGFA that meets the
Indian Air Force (IAF)’s requirements of stealth (near-invisibility
to radar), super-cruise (supersonic cruising speed), networking
(real-time digital links with other
battlefield systems) and worldbeating airborne radar that outranges enemy fighters.
The IAF clearly wants a topof-the-line FGFA. According to
Ashok Nayak, who spoke to Business Standard as HAL’s chairman before retiring last October,
the IAF has specified 40-45 improvements that must be made
to the PAK-FA. These have been
formalised into an agreed list between Russia and India, the Tactical Technical Assignment.
“Our boys will learn the Russian
language, their way of working,
their design rules and their design
norms,” says Nayak.
But the most valuable learning,
say HAL executives, would take
place during the FGFA’s flighttesting. “Unlike the basic design
phase which we missed out on,
we will actually gain experience
during flight testing. This phase
throws up dozens of problems,
and we will participate in resolving these, including through design changes,” says N.C. Agarwal,
HAL’s design chief.
Despite the continuing imponderables, HAL believes the FGFA
project provides genuine technological skills, far more useful than
licensed manufacture. Agarwal
says, “We will pay some $6-7 billion to France for the license to
build the Rafale in HAL. In the
FGFA project, a similar sum would
bring in genuine design knowledge
that will help us in the future.”
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
5
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
Successful Meetings
In June 2012, St Petersburg is hosting the 16th international economic forum (SPIEF), the key floor in Russia
to discuss macroeconomic issues at top-level. Although
the forum has become a routine annual event for Russia’s second largest city, like the Hermitage or Victory
Parade, it is difficult to overestimate its significant in the
stability and prosperity of the region.
6
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
Forum helps you
It all began under the aegis of
the CIS parliamentary assembly
and with the support of the Russian government in June 1997.
Nobody could imagine then that
more than 1,500 persons from 50
countries all over the world would
attend the forum. The key result
was the signing of the 500-billion-rouble loan agreements between the governments of Russia
and Belarus. The next year, there
were 2,600 participants in the forum, including top officials from
the CIS, the Council of Europe,
the UN and UNESCO. An accord
was reached on 700 investment
projects, but a default occurred
two months later, and few believed that someone would take an
interest in Russia in 1999. However, 2,000 business people who
gathered in St Petersburg a year
after the default gave a signal of
confidence to ordinary Russians:
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
“a crisis is double-sided, and recession is inevitably followed by
an improvement in competitive
environment and a new upturn.”
The 7th Petersburg Economic
Forum that took place in the
year of the 300th anniversary of
St Petersburg became a veritable
breakthrough. It was attended by
President of the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Jean Lemierre,
Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) Donald Johnston, and Chairman of the
Latin American parliament Ney
Lopez. The forum inaugurated the
first serious discussion over Eurasia’s socio-economic strategy in
the 21st century, while RussianIndian “round-table” meetings
were the most interesting forum
events. Many think that it was after the Petersburg consultations
that the group of leading develop-
ing nations BRIC (Brazil, Russia,
India, China) ceased to be just an
acronym for economic analysts
and began to turn into a leading
political force in the world.
In 2004, the number of participants in the St Petersburg Economic Forum exceeded 3,000 for
the first time, and UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan delivered
an address to the participants together with Russian President
Vladimir Putin. The largest developing countries were in the focus
at the jubilee 10th forum. At the
new LenExpo exhibition complex, built specially for high-level
forums, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath
and Russian First Deputy Prime
Minister Sergei Ivanov met to ease
the tensions over arms supplies
and renew long-term contracts.
In 2007, the forum launched
cooperation with the World Economic Forum in Davos. The
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012 7
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
Petersburg forum’s higher status
sealed the memorandum of mutual understanding between the
Russian Ministry of Economic
Development and Trade and the
World Economic Forum. More
than 8,000 persons from 76 countries took part in the official program of the forum. Among the
guests were the heads of nine foreign states and three prime ministers. Thirteen ceremonies to sign
agreements worth a total of 13.5
billion dollars took place under
the SPIEF aegis. One day was devoted to an analysis of the Russian
economy and the prospects for its
entering the group of the world’s
largest economies by 2020. In the
post-crisis 2010, the aggregate
sum of contracts signed at the forum exceeded 15 billion dollars.
SPIEF 2012 is expected to
be quite imposing: it will be attended by Vladimir Putin, Dmitry
Medvedev and all the economic
ministers of the new Russian government, as well as the heads of all
BRICS development institutions.
Nuclear power generation will top
the agenda, and again, the Russian-Indian dialogue is expected
to be as significant as before. The
Indian authorities stake on nuclear power plants, and Russia is a
natural, experienced and efficient
partner in this area.
Natural relations
The Bhopal tragedy in 1984
which claimed 18,000 lives held
back the development of India’s
nuclear power engineering for a
long time. Although it occurred at
a chemical plant which had nothing to do with nuclear power generation, the speculations about
possible nuclear power plant accidents frustrated many an energy
program.
India has some 6 billion barrels
of proven oil reserves. This will
only last it for 20 years if it maintains the present-day production
level at some 800,000 barrels a
day. But the demand for electricity
is growing, the price of imported
oil is increasing, and domestic
coal companies do not produce
enough. The first NPP in Tarapur
8
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
was launched in 1969 with U.S.
assistance, but the USA later began to delay uranium supplies. In
1982, India signed contracts with
France to build new NPPs. But it
still badly needed foreign specialists. Russia is building two VVER1000 reactors at the Kudankulam
NPP in Tamil Nadu. There are
many advance technological solutions in the project; India insisted
on carrying out construction and
assembly works on its own. Since
it has no experience in building
NPPs with light water reactors,
the commissioning date was postponed several times. The latest
date was end of May 2012, so it is
possible they will cut the ribbon on
the NPP just before the opening of
the forum, which will give a new
impulse to top-level talks. Anyway, the possibility to upgrade the
NPP to eight nuclear reactors has
already been discussed.
Russian-Indian
accords
reached at the 2011 forum will
certainly make headway. At that
time, Deputy Prime Minister
Sergei Ivanov noted that India
took a special place among Moscow’s partners because machinebuilding products made up almost half of Russian exports to
the banks of the Ganges, while oil
and gas only accounted for 5 percent. According to President of
the Confederation of Indian Industry Balasubramaniam Muthuraman, Indian-Russian trade
reached 8.5 billion dollars a year.
Moscow and New Delhi hiked the
target to 20 billion dollars a year
by 2015. Muthuraman underlined
that small business accounted for
40 percent of the Indian industry.
The Confederation of Indian Industry urges local business people
to more actively participate in
Russian fairs and business conferences. At SPIEF 2011, the Indian delegation comprised over
500 people.
Indian Minister of Industry
and Commerce Anand Sharma
reminded that Russia had helped
his country create large industrial
facilities: metallurgical plants,
electric power plants, and mining
enterprises. Finance and banking could become the new fields
of interaction between the two
states. India is also mulling the
Russian offer to use the Russian
GLONASS satellite navigation
system.
Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajai Malhotra noted that both
countries are easing the visa regulations for business persons. Russian companies now feel more
confident in Indian markets, from
metallurgy to subway construction. India’s population is expected to exceed China’s by 20302035, and the country’s GDP continued to grow even in the midst
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
of the economic crisis. Russia’s
AFK Sistema is considering the
possibility to build an oil refinery
in eastern India, while Severstal
thinks of the project to establish
a new plant with an Indian partner. India displayed an interest in
Russian long- and medium range
planes SuperJet 100 and An-148.
The Petersburg forum should show
whether the recent SuperJet 100
crash in Indonesia has affected
this interest.
Business needs no guardian
Another positive point noted
by Russian and Indian SPIEF
participants was that large business did not require mediation by
politicians in striking mutually
advantageous deals. Russian and
Indian entrepreneurs are building confidence, crucial for longterm projects. Understandably,
administrative levers can be used
both in Russia and India to foil any
project, so multi-billion-dollar
projects still need the authorities’
blessing. SPIEF meetings, with or
without neckties, are a very useful
tool. It is not politicians but the
market that dictates the advantages, for example in the construction of Indian pharmaceutical factories in Russia.
This market suggests that Russian metallurgical giants which
get super profits because of high
prices of steel, have spare funds to
invest in India, where per capita
steel production is ten times lower
than in Russia. The market calls
for continuing Russian-Indian
cooperation in developing BraMos missiles, which Brazil, Chile,
South Africa and a dozen of other
countries are ready to buy. Russia
and India fit each other like pieces
of a jigsaw puzzle. Russians have
a developed defense sector, metallurgy and aerospace. India has
quality mass consumption goods
and an advanced pharmaceutical sector. Russia imports 80 percent of medicines. The two countries have also kept good old ties.
Many young Indians speak fluent
Russian. Their parents studied in
Moscow, and they learnt in their
childhood that the Russian language was important and that Russia was a good friend. A considerable portion of the Indian elite
received higher education in the
Soviet Union.
It is another matter that the
Indian economy has not yet attained the stage of large-scale export of capital. So there is no Indian neighborhood or Indian carmaking plant in St Petersburg yet.
However, there may well be quite
a few such projects in three or four
years. RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012 9
DISCUSSION FORUM
The Bricks
of a New
World Order
By Sergei SERY
The BRICS summit in New Delhi has laid the foundation of new geoeconomics and geopolitics. In
the long term, it will lose the West its leadership
in managing international finance, and the right
to sway the destinies of the world with sanctions
or cruise missiles.
M
ore than a decade ago, Goldman
Sachs’
leading economist
Jim
O’Nil invented a witty acronym
– BRIC – for a new union bringing together Brazil, Russia, India
and China. The western analyst’s
key idea boiled to the following:
in the 21 st century, four rapidly
developing economies of the modern world which represent different continents would set up their
own “club of interests” without
waiting for favors from nature or
international financial institutions. The acronym means “brick”
in English, suggesting that this
forum will become a construction material for the emerging new
economic order, whose urgency
is increasingly obvious due to the
identity crisis of the G-8.
It took five years to implement
the idea which initially looked exotic: BRIC was created in 2006.
New Delhi, India. March 29, 2012. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of India Manmohan
Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao (L-R) pose for a group photo at the fourth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit.
10
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
At first, many were suspicious
and skeptical, seeing a hidden
anti-Western implication in this
informal association. They assumed that Russia, together with
India and China, had taken Brazil
along to add more weight to their
group, and were starting, in an un-
derhand way, a revolution in the
world economy and finance. A
revolution by the BRIC states to
depose Wall Street fat cats holding complete dominion over geoeconomics: the financial speculators, such as George Soros or Warren Buffett, and the dispassionate
World Bank and IMF managing
directors. The latter were always
ready to lend a helping hand to
the developing economies in trouble, but only if their governments
swore on the Bible to follow the
principles of the liberal or AngloSaxon development model.
The discussion over what kind of
association BRIC is never stopped
ahead of the meeting of its leaders in the Indian capital in early
March 2012. By that time, South
DISCUSSION FORUM
Africa had joined the “quartet,”
adding “s” to the acronym and
pluralizing the “brick.”
Vladimir Putin, when he was
prime minister, reminded about
BRICS’s huge but not fully tapped
potential in his article “Russia in a
Changing World,” published in the
“As South Africa jointed the
forum, BRICS acquired a truly
global format, accounting for over
25 percent of the world’s GDP,”
Putin said naming the BRICS’
objectives and describing the association’s niche in the world
economy. While acknowledging
In an attempt to arrange new relations with international financial institutions, BRICS is giving a
serious thought to another ambitious project – the
establishment of a financial institution of their
own – a BRICS Development Bank.
newspaper Moskovskiye Novosti
before the New Delhi forum. “This
unique body is the most obvious
demonstration of the transfer from
unipolarity to a fairer world order.
It brings together five countries
with a population of almost three
billion people and the largest developing economies, tremendous
labor and natural resources and
vast domestic markets.
that “we’re only getting used to
work in this group, getting accustomed to each other,” the Russian
premier predicted that “when the
“five” BRICS states expand to the
full, its influence on international
economics will be quite large.”
It was the theme of “expanding
to the full” that the BRICS forum
in New Delhi addressed. Its slogan “BRICS partnership for the sake
“We discussed foreign policy issues; special attention
was drawn to the situation in conflict areas, including
the situation in Syria,” Dmitry Medvedev noted. “It is
important not to permit outside interference in Syria’s
affairs, and give the opportunity to its government, on
the one hand, and the Opposition, on the other, to
begin dialogue.”
of global stability, security and
prosperity” – raised the forum’s
level quite high. The summit in the
Indian capital at which President
Medvedev represented Russia did
not become a routine assembly of
the five leading economies of the
non-Western world just to wag a
finger at the USA, the EU and the
IMF with the World Bank or have
the BRICS leaders photographed
against the background of the Red
Fort and other New Delhi places
of interests.
Setting up BRICS’ own system
of settlements and loans in the
national currencies, to be used in
mutual trade and investments, was
one of the main accords reached at
the New Delhi forum. Five BRICS
banks – Russia’s Vnesheconom12
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
DISCUSSION FORUM
bank, the China Development
Bank, the Export-Import Bank
of India, the Brazilian Development Bank, and the Development
Bank of South Africa signed two
key documents. The first agreement envisioned extending loans
in national currencies and the second confirmed the letters of credits within the framework of the
mechanism of BRICS inter-bank
cooperation.
The idea of the accords is to rid
the “five”(in business cooperation between the member-states)
of perpetual fluctuations of two
world reserve currencies, the
U.S. dollars and the euro, which
gain and fall intermittently on the
wave of numerous factors, from
the Greek crisis to the threat of
war with Iran. Presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko explained that
the decisions by the BRICS forum in New Delhi were expected
to enhance the role of the national
currencies in settlements between
the member-states. Overall, there
have been increasingly insistent
calls in the world for creating a
new reserve currency as a substitute of the dollar and the euro. The
BRICS leaders considered the issue in New Delhi, but it is yet unclear which currency it will be –
the Chinese yuan, the Russian
rouble or some other currency.
Another landmark decision at
the BRICS summit was the coordinated initiative to reform the IMF
and other international financial
institutions, to let BRICS countries
play a large role at them. In practical terms, BRICS seeks to have
its quotas raised at the IMF. The
IMF management reform began
in 2010 and is expected to be finished before the annual meeting of
the Fund and the World Bank. The
revision of the quota formula must
be completed by January 1, 2013,
while the quotas should be revised
by January 1, 2014. The West and
non-Western world should meet
each other halfway, which will be
to either side’s advantage. At the
meeting in New Delhi, the BRICS
leaders announced that if the IMF
raised their quotas, it could count
on additional financial injections.
The BRICS’ New Delhi declaration notes that a successful reform
of the quotas will increase the IMF
resources.
The IMF leadership which
lacks funds is already pinning
many hopes on BRICS money.
Last autumn, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde made
it clear in her statement to the
BRICS leaders, including President Medvedev, as she urged them
to increase loans to the IMF.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov elaborated on the
idea to set up a BRICS financial
institution. “In February 2012,
India suggested setting up a new
BRICS Development Bank, in the
run-up to the meeting of the G-20
finance ministers and national
banks governors. Initially, it was
proposed to create the bank to assist African countries. However,
as an incentive for BRICS to participate in the establishment of the
DISCUSSION FORUM
bank, India clarified its position
and suggested that the new Bank,
aside from poorest countries, give
loans to BRICS states as well.”
The BRICS leaders said in the
New Delhi declaration that it was
necessary to establish a new bank
to accumulate resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects. The projects would
be implementable not only within
the five BRICS states, but also in
many developing countries which
so far have been watching BRICS
as interested onlookers.
However, BRICS has been unable to make tangible progress in
the establishment of a Development Bank. After the meeting, the
BRICS finance ministers were instructed to study the implementability and viability of the initiative
and present their conclusions at
the next summit in South Africa
in 2013.
Lastly, the big “five” of the
non-Western world, perhaps for
the first time, did not limit themselves to geo-economics at the
BRICS summit in New Delhi, but
tried to grope for ways of interaction in geopolitics. According to
Dmitry Medvedev, the BRICS
leaders noted a considerable disproportionate representation of
nations and continents at the UN
Security Council at the present
time. “Russia supports India, Brazil and South Africa as powerful
candidates for admission to the
UN Security Council,” the Russian president stated.
BRICS noted in its statement
the inadmissibility of using the
UN to “cover up the policy towards replacing undesirable regimes and imposing unilateral formats to resolve conflicts.”
BRICS firmly object to using force against Iran . “We must
avoid political disruptions that
create volatilities in global energy
markets and affect trade flows, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh said.
As the New Delhi forum clearly
showed, BRICS are putting together new geoeconomics and geopolitics in the world, step by step,
brick by brick.
New Delhi, India. April 2, 2012. Brazilian Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina, India’s commerce secretary, Anand Sharma, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming, Rob Davies, South Africa’s minister for trade and industry, L-R, at the
fourth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit.
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
Russian Minister of Economic Development E.Nabiullina and Indian Minister of Commerce and
Industry A.Sharma (center)
BRICS Business Forum
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa) Business Forum was held on the same date
as the summit of the organization. This time, it
was India’s turn to host the summit and the forum. Russia was represented at the forum by the
delegation of officials from 18 companies working
in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medicine, energy
effectiveness, and information and nuclear technologies.
T
he permanent secretariat set up last year
arranges ties and interaction
between
the business circles of
the member-states, and prepares
BRICS business forums. The secretariat that includes the Business
Council for Cooperation with India, researches promising markets
and informs business persons about
mutual investment and cooperation
opportunities.
As preparations were underway
for the BRICS business forum this
last March, a decision was made to
organize, jointly with the Russian
Ministry of Economic Development, a business mission for Russian
innovative companies.
The business mission was timed
with the BRICS summit and stayed
14
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
in India from March 26 through
March 28, 2012.
Taking part in the business mission were such companies as NIS
GLONASS, Rostekhologii, Sitronics, R-Farm, Farmasintez, Technopromexport, Neutron Technologies,
Severstal, Hevel and Akvelit.
The Russian business people’s visit
was organized and supported by the
Russian trade mission. By Russian
participants’ request, the trade mission arranged 14 separate meetings
with dedicated Indian companies
and organizations. Russia’s R-Farm,
Farmasintez and Akvelit (pharmaceutical, medicine) had theme meetings at the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and
Fertilizers and the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, as well as talks
with such companies as Ranbaxy,
Cadila, Torrent, Jubilant, Carborundum Universal, and the Sun Group.
A series of meetings was arranged for
Hevel (solar energy) and Neutron
Technologies which were entering
the Indian market for the first time.
On March 26, representative of
Russian companies visited the Indian Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare, the Ministry of Chemicals
and Fertilizers, and a number of Indian companies: BELL, Sanshadows
Consultants, BHEL, NTPC, ECIL,
Cadila, Carborundum Universal,
Torrent, IVRCL, Jubilant Life Sciences, Panacea Biotec, and Venus
Remedies.
The key event in the business mission program was the interactive
meeting between the Russian delegation with representative of more
than 30 Indian companies at the Federation of the Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industries (FICCI)
President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin and Chairman of the
Board of the Business Council for Cooperation with India (DSSI) Sergey Cheremin
on March 27. At the plenary session,
welcome addresses were delivered by
Sergey Cheremin, Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Moscow
government, chairman of the board
of the Business Council for Cooperation with India under the Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, head of
the delegation N.Reznik (who also
presented the Russian Ministry of
Economic Development), R-Farm
chairman of the board A.Repik, and
official representative of the NIS
company in India A.Bondarenko
who presented the GLONASS satellite navigation system.
On the same day, the Business
Council for Cooperation with India and the Associated Chambers
of Commerce and Industry of India
(ASSOCHAM) held a joint session.
ASSOCHAM Director Rajkumar
Dhoot, ASSOCHAM Secretary
General D.S.Rawat and all the ASSOCHAM leadership held a welcome
reception for the Business Council
delegation led by Sergey Cheremin.
The “round table” meeting was both
friendly and business-like: several
guidelines for joint work were proposed, and the Business Council and
ASSOCHAM signed a cooperation
agreement.
On March 28, 2012, members of
the Russian delegation took part in
the 2nd BRICS Business Forum to
continue the establishment of business contacts. President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry Sergei Katyrin moderated
the second session of the Business
Forum which addressed BRICS co-
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
DSSI and ASSOCHAM are signing a cooperation agreement
operation in energy security with an
emphasis on green and renewable
energy. Katyrin noted in his report
that these issues have special significance for Russia. He called for forming, even now, an advance long-term
BRICS interaction strategy within
the scope of world energy development (at least until 2050), which
would reflect the priority issues in
enhancing energy effectiveness and
energy conservation and developing
alternative energy sources.
Sergei Katyrin underlined that
Russia was open for constructive
proposals and that it was ready to
promote the BRICS initiatives towards substantial progress in world
energy cooperation and implement
large-scale joint modernization
projects in power generation.
Following are the results of the
forum:
The Business Council for Cooperation with India under the Russian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the ASSOCHAM signed a
cooperation agreement;
Non-Commercial Partnership
– Russian-Indian Scientific and
Technological Center and Sanshadow Consultant Pvt.Ltd signed
a framework scientific and technological cooperation agreement,
and Russian Minister of Economic
Development E.Nabiullina, at
a meeting with Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry
A.Sharma, informed him about
the business mission, emphasizing
the involvement of pharmaceutical
companies. The parties decided to
arrange a business mission of Indian companies to Russia to promote the cooperation started in
New Delhi.
Russian business mission participants in New Delhi
PERSONA GRATA
projects are presently under implementation. Moreover, the thenPresident Medvedev and he had
jointly met with some Indian and
Russian CEOs and there were “good
prospects in pharmaceuticals, steel,
diamonds and hydrocarbons.”
“We need to create
greater investment
opportunities…”
By Sergei STROKAN
The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India
in Moscow His Excellency Mr. Ajai MALHOTRA has kindly agreed to answer
the questions of the chief-editor of the magazine “Russia&India-partnership
for the Future” Sergei Strokan.
R & I: How would you
characterize the present
state of India-Russia relations?
India-Russia
bilateral
relations are unique, sturdy
and time-tested. They are
characterized by warmth
and mutual respect, and are
exemplary in many ways.
The pillars of our multifaceted cooperation include
space, defence, trade and
economic cooperation, science & technology, atomic
energy, oil & natural gas,
pharmaceuticals and culture.
We have had a rather intense, high level engagement between India and
Russia over the past year. In
the last six months of 2011
alone, there have been visits from India to Russia by
our Ministers of Home Affairs, Tourism, Defence,
Power, Commerce, Steel,
External Affairs, Shipping, and
our National Security Advisor.
The pinnacle of these exchanges
during 2011 was the official visit
16
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
precedented goodwill and
trust between us and boosted
our partnership.
to the Russian Federation undertaken by our Prime Minister,
Dr. Manmohan Singh, in midDecember. It reaffirmed the un-
R & I: How did the Prime
Minister of India view his recent visit to the Russian Federation?
Interacting with the media on the return flight from
Moscow to New Delhi on December 17, 2011, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
described his Russia visit as
“very successful”, adding that
he was “very satisfied” with
its results. He noted that India’s strategic partnership
with Russia is special and
privileged and is steadily forging ahead, while the depth
and range of our relationship
with Russia is growing. Dr.
Manmohan Singh affirmed
that our strong strategic partnership in nuclear energy,
defence and space, will be
buttressed by a stronger economic relationship in future. In this
context, he recalled that President
Putin had mentioned to him that
over 400 India-Russia cooperation
R & I: What important events in
our bilateral relations can be mentioned as remarkable in 2012?
Very important was President
Medvedev’s visit to India in late
March 2012 for the annual BRICS
Summit. We also look forward to
welcoming the President of Russia
to India at the end of 2012 for the
annual India-Russia Summit.
On April 13 this year we celebrate
sixty five years of India-Russia diplomatic ties. Rather uniquely, these
ties were established four months
before India became independent.
We intend commemorating this anniversary on a grand scale and have
drawn up a year-long calendar of
academic and cultural activities,
seminars, exhibitions, and other
events. Amongst them is a Festival
of Indian Films and Culture that
would be held in several Russian
cities and would be inaugurated at
a high level.
In addition, reciprocating the
“Festival of Indian Culture” held
in Russia in 2011, India will later
this year host a “Festival of Russia
in India” as well as “Days of Moscow in Delhi”.
R & I: What trends or sectors in
India-Russia relations are likely to
witness progress in 2012?
Our ties have gained enormous
variety, depth and strength over
the decades and are poised for further diversification during 2012.
PERSONA GRATA
There is tremendous scope for
greater engagement and growth,
especially to make trade and economic cooperation better reflect
contemporary realities commensurate with the status of our over
US$ 1.5 trillion size economies.
Advances in science and technology and structural reforms have
unveiled new growth potential in
both economies. Russia’s modernization programme and economic
reforms, recent WTO membership,
and upgrading of its Custom Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan
to a ‘Common Economic Space’,
have also opened up attractive new
vistas for trade and investment
cooperation. We look forward to
our entrepreneurs exploiting such
openings. Cooperation in hydrocarbons, science & technology, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers,
diamonds, IT, coal, and steel are
amongst key focus areas. We will
also explore creating of a joint investment fund, having a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation
Agreement with the broader Eurasian region, securing greater connectivity through the North-South
Transport Corridor, etc.
Russian and Indian businessmen must maintain regular dialogue and contact in order to
harness such prospects. Both our
countries have recently liberalized the issue of visas for business
travel, which will facilitate business interaction and linkages. We
also need to create greater awareness of investment opportunities
in both countries and each others’ growing capabilities and latest
achievements. Further advancement in implementation of trade,
economic, investment, defence,
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh described his
Russia visit as “very successful”, adding that he
was “very satisfied” with its results. He noted that
India’s strategic partnership with Russia is special
and privileged and is steadily forging ahead, while
the depth and range of our relationship with Russia
is growing.
scientific and technical projects,
cultural exchanges, and strengthened tourism, academic, parliamentary and people-to-people
contacts, can be anticipated during 2012.
R & I: India is the Chair of
BRICS this year. What are the
plans and priorities for BRICS in
2012?
India assumed the Chairmanship of BRICS on March 29 this
year, when the New Delhi BRICS
Summit took place. BRICS has
come a long way since Russia convened its first Summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009. It has grown in
influence with each passing year
and its activities are now closely
watched by the rest of the international community. Our strength as
a group is derived from the fact that
we are not merely rapidly emerging economies, but also have good
bilateral ties with a capacity to cooperate at the international level.
The India-Russia special and
privileged partnership is a case in
point. It is now generally accepted
that the BRICS countries can play
a significant role in promoting
economic and financial stability at
the global level. It is important for
the BRICS countries to show they
can constructively and effectively
engage with the larger international community on a fairly wide
range of issues.
Economic issues have been the
focus of the BRICS agenda since
the very first Summit. The agenda
of the New Delhi Summit was
built upon issues that have been
identified at previous Summits.
Given uncertainties in the global
economy today, this may not be
the appropriate time to unnecessarily widen or dilute the BRICS
agenda. So, the focus is largely
on what are by now traditional
BRICS issues. These are usually
clustered around themes of better
governance of the global economy
and sustainable development or
green economy issues.
Intra-BRICS cooperation is
also an important aspect of BRICS
activities. We live in an era where
human knowledge as well as S&T
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
17
PERSONA GRATA
ist visas by this Embassy has grown
by 24% in 2011 compared to 2010.
We are undertaking fresh tourism
promotion initiatives in 2012 and
expect this welcome trend to continue. Popular Indian destinations
include Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, Goa,
Haridwar-Rishikesh, Kulu-Manali, Ladakh, and Kerala. Russian
tourists are increasingly trying
places that are off the beaten path.
We are thinking of visa-on-arrival for Russian nationals travelling to India on ordinary passports, but its consideration is presently at a very, very preliminary
stage. We will have to wait and see
how it evolves. Meanwhile, India
and the Russian Federation have
a visa-free regime for diplomatic
and official passport holders of
both countries.
30MKI fighter and the T-90 tank.
Russia is India’s largest partner
in military-technical cooperation
and vice versa, and there are good
prospects for further cooperation
in the long-term.
We are satisfied with the pace
of work to upgrade and refit INS
Vikramaditya, formerly Admiral
Gorshkov. We expect our mutually agreed schedule for its delivery to be maintained; its delivery
will mark a major addition to India’s naval capabilities.
R & I: What about the recent media stories about tightening of the
issuance of Indian visas to women
from some CIS countries, including Russia?
The media stories that you refer
to have no basis. India warmly welcomes tourists from Russia and,
indeed, from all parts of the world.
There is no policy to subject visa
applicants from any country to
greater scrutiny or discrimination
on the basis of their gender. We issue visas on the basis of standard
procedures that are common to
most diplomatic missions. India
is a complete tourist destination
and cordially invites all Russian
friends to come and enjoy its hospitality!
R & I: How is Russian tourism
into India developing? Which are
the popular destinations? What
about visa on arrival for Russian
tourists?
Tourism from Russia into India
is developing quite well. In June
2011, we liberalized our visa regime for Russian tourists visiting
India and are now routinely giving six month multiple entry visas
to Russian tourists, compared to
one month single entry visas earlier. This has facilitated tourist
travel from Russia to India. The
number of Russians issued tour-
R & I: What parts of our country have you visited as the Indian
Ambassador to Russia? Any memorable impression? How do you view
Russia as a destination for Indian
tourists?
I have so far visited Arkhangelsk, Kaliningrad, Sochi, St.
Petersburg on two occasions, and
Vladivostok, while I intend to go
to Tver, Novosibirsk and Yaroslavl in the next couple of months.
I have been impressed, wherever I
have been, by the positive changes
underway in Russia, especially
those that have taken place over
NEW DELHI, INDIA. APRIL 2, 2012. Alexander Kadakin (L), Ambassador of Russia to India, and Ajai Malhotra, Ambassador of India to Russia,
at the fourth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit.
are amongst the main sources of
a nation’s wealth. The BRICS
countries can usefully share experiences in capacity building, education and skills development, as
also lessons learnt as well as best
practices arising from facing the
challenges of growing urbanization. We also need to find innovative ways to generate finances for
important infrastructure or environmental projects that contribute to our quest for environmentally sustainable development.
The idea of a BRICS development
bank deserves to be explored, as do
prospects for cooperation between
our stock exchanges, for example.
We need to work together to overcome the impasse in the Doha Development Round, so that a rule
based international multilateral
trading regime that is fair, equitable and addresses the development
agenda, finally emerges. However,
it is not just international financial, monetary and trading institutions that are in need of urgent
reforms. Reform and expansion
of the UN Security Council are
equally necessary if it is to reflect
18
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
contemporary reality and enhance
its credibility and effectiveness in
dealing with global issues.
R & I: This year marks the 50th
anniversary of our military-technical cooperation. What are the main
features of bilateral interaction in
this sphere? Is India satisfied with
the pace of work as regards delivery of the aircraft carrier Admiral
Gorshkov?
India-Russia defence cooperation has for long been an important
pillar of our strategic partnership.
This year we mark half a century of
cooperation in this field. Our defence ties have transformed radically in recent years from a buyerseller relationship to a dynamic
one that goes beyond the purchase
of equipment, to cover joint research, development, and production of advanced defence systems.
Several flagship projects are evidence of this deep-seated change,
e.g., the Fifth Generation Fighter
Aircraft project, the Multi-Role
Transport Aircraft project, besides
those for manufacturing in India
the Brahmos missiles, the SU-
PERSONA GRATA
the last decade. While I retain a lot
of memorable impressions of visits
outside Moscow, the one that immediately comes to mind is a visit
last autumn to the Solovki archipelago in the middle of the White
Sea, near Arkhangelsk. What a
beautiful location! My wife and I
had the opportunity to spend a few
hours visiting the legendary Russian Orthodox Solovetsky Monastery complex and to learn about its
history.
Russia has a lot to offer - friendly
people, rich culture, well-developed art and architecture, colourful
folk traditions, exquisite ballet and
music, eye-catching churches, impressive forts, stunning landscapes,
and so on. Indian tourists are increasingly travelling abroad and
Russia could be an attractive destination. I am pleased that Russia
too is taking initiatives to welcome
tourists from India. This will help
bring us even closer together. RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
19
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
NUCLEAR POWER
NUCLEAR POWER
Kudankulam
Passions
By Sergei STROKAN
The unexpected problems Russian nuclear engineers encountered at the final stage of the construction of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant
in India were masterminded from abroad. The
sensational acknowledgement by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh that the West had been behind
the protests by a group of activists of the Indian
anti-nuclear movement had the effect of exploding
bomb both in Moscow and Delhi. Nobody expected Atomstroiexport’s rivals to play an anti-nuclear
card against the Russians in an underhand way.
But the Indian authorities and Russian specialists
have the resolve to carry the nuclear “project of
the century” in Kudankulam through.
T
he clouds over the
Kudankulam nuclear
power plant, the
flagship of RussianIndian nuclear cooperation, gathered all of a sudden,
with the speed of tree-uprooting
tropical storms that pound the
southernmost part of India in the
state of Tamil Nadu on the shore
of the Indian Ocean.
As preparations were underway
in December 2011 for the visit by
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Moscow, officials
of the two countries were making
proud statements that the construction works at the Kundankulam NPP had entered the final
phase. Unofficially, high-placed
20
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
sources in Moscow and New Delhi
hinted that the commissioning of
the NPP scheduled for late 2011
would certainly enter on the credit
side of the next top-level meeting.
However, the Kudankulam situation at the end of September and
early October suddenly began to
look like a bad dream or collective
madness. Several hundred local
residents, without apparent cause,
announced an indefinite hunger
strike against the first nuclear reactor going online in December
and blocked access to the NPP.
This suspended the construction
works at two 1-MW nuclear reactors of the besieged NPP. By that
time, one of the reactors was 99
percent completed, and the sec-
ond, due to be commissioned in
August 2012, was 93-percent completed.
Several weeks later, thousands
of seasonal workers brought to
the south from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand
hastily withdrew from the construction site. To drive them out,
local protest movement activists
used all means, including the termination of their rental agreements.
The agreement to build the Kudankulam NPP with Russia’s assistance was signed in June 1998 by
the then Russian Atomic Energy
Minister Yevgeny Adamov and
head of the Indian Atomic Energy
Commission
R.Chidambaram.
Russian officials repeatedly underscored the uniqueness of the
project and its complete safety.
The press service of the Atomstroiexport, a leading Russian engineering company which builds
nuclear facilities abroad, Kudankulam is implementing the
Russian AES-92 project with 3rd
generation reactors which meets
all the modern requirements for
nuclear power plants. The main
advantage of AES-92 over older
generation projects is the use of
“several levels of protection and
additional passive safety systems
in combination with standard active systems.
The
People’s
Movement
Against Nuclear Energy set the
tone from the beginning, with its
activists demanding that the Kudankulam NPP be shut down.
They insisted that after the ac-
cident at the Fukushima NPP in
Japan in March 2011, a similar
tragedy could occur in India. One
of the key arguments was that the
NPP was being built on the shore
of the Indian Ocean and was vulnerable to the devastating force
of tsunami, as was the Fukushima
plant. The protesters dismissed
the assurances by Russian representatives that the facility was
absolutely safe. The Kudankulam
crisis was a major embarrassment
for the Indian leadership ahead
of the official visit to Moscow by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and his talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Until
then, the Kudankulam project had
been the symbol of “privileged
strategic partnership” between the
two countries, announced during
President Medvedev’s visit to New
Delhi in 2010.
In an attempt to placate the
protesters, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a government
commission of 15 experts to address the safety concerns of the
people. In the first weeks of the
protest, former Indian President
Abdul Kalam made an urgent trip
to Tamil Nadu, to broker a deal between the authorities and the protesters. The activists of the movement opposed to the Russian NPP
rejected his services out of hand.
“Kalam is another representative
of the nuclear lobby and he will
not be able to convince us,” the
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy said in a statement.
Russia and India were unable to
have the plant commissioned by
their summit last year. The project
was suspended for half a year, although the “Russian captains”Atomstroiexport specialists – did
not abandon “the flagship.”
What did happen in Kudankulam? Did we see growing environmental awareness of the local
residents who were sincerely voicing their legitimate concerns over
what they believed insufficiently
safe nuclear technologies offered
by Russia? As Kudankulam replaced one expert commission
after another, all leading Indian
experts chorused that it was not
possible to find fault with Kudankulam even from the point of
view of the most stringent criteria.
However, the protesters turned a
deaf ear, insisting that that they
would sit-in until the NPP was
shut down. In a sensational interview to the U.S. magazine Science
in late February, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh answered to the
question where the clouds over
Kudankulam had come from.
“There are NGOs, often funded
from the United States and the
Scandinavian countries, which
don’t fully appreciate the need
for our country to increase energy
supply.” For example what’s happening in Kudankulam where local NGO-led protests have stalled
the commissioning of 21000 MW
nuclear reactors,” Singh said.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry
Rogozin was the first Russian government official to respond to this
statement. He referred to the activity of foreign NGOs abroad as
“a usual story.” ”Some NGOs often act as the state lobby,” Rogozin
stated making it clear that there
was “a foreign hand” behind Indian activists’ actions.
Meanwhile, police detective
had to intervene in the Kudankulam NPP situation. The Indian
Home Ministry annulled the license of several NGOs funded
from abroad which had arranged
the Kudankulam NPP protests. Indian Minister of State
V.Narayanasamy said law-enforcement bodies were “thinking
of taking further action.”
“In fact the people who are agiRUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012 21
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
NUCLEAR POWER
DETAILS
Agni-V poised for launch
By Sergei STROKAN
tating near the plant have been
continuing their agitation for the
past three months. People are being brought there in trucks from
various villages,” he said.
The Indian authorities also said
they had sued 16 NGOs suspected
of violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and misuse of
charity funds, and blocked their
accounts. India’s Central Bureau
of Investigation said local NGOs
had received 7.5 million U.S. dollars from abroad to fund the NPP
blockade.
On top of that, India deported
a German national, suspected of
raising funds for the needs of “the
local movement of environmentalists” opposed to the commissioning of the NPP. In a special
operation, local police detained
Sonnteg Reiner Hermann who had
lived on a tourist visa in the town
of Nagircoil, a quiet corner of
the State of Tamil Nadu far from
the key tourist routes. A police
spokesman told local reporters
that law-enforcement agents had
been watching the quiet German
and found out that he was not a
tourist. Sonnteg Reiner Hermann
raised money for the needs of local
NGOs and maintained close contacts with leader of the People’s
Movement Against Nuclear En22
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
ergy S.P.Udayakumar and other
activists.
Curiously, “the German tourist”
took a close interest in Kudankulam from Nagircoil, located several
hundred kilometers away from it.
He was deported to Germany from
Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.
Using a new argument against
Indian NGO activists who were
taking cues from Western colleagues in the continuing blockade
of the station, technical director of
the Nuclear Power Corporation of
India S.A.Bharadwaj announced
“the price of the issue” to the nation in early March. According to
the official, every day of delay in
commissioning the NPP cost the
Indian budget 50 million rupees
(about $ 1 million). The taxpayers had to pay for the stubbornness
of nuclear power opponents who
were manipulating the democratic
freedoms. S.A.Bharadwaj said the
Tamil Nadu authorities, who had
looked into the claims by anti-nuclear power activists, concluded
that the Kudankulam NPP met all
the safety requirements and that
they were resuming construction.
It follows from the explanations of the NPP executives, that
the Nuclear Power Corporation
of India urged the builders who
had left to return to the construc-
tion site. According to preliminary
estimates, the station could start
generating electricity not sooner
than six months after the resumption of works.
The decision by the Tamil Nadu
authorities to support the central
government was an important victory for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet in confronting the opponents to the NPP
projects and their foreign sponsors. Until recently, the local authorities have refrained from siding with the Indian government.
The resumption of works at the
Kudankulam NPP was not possible upon the prime minister’s direct order without their consent.
Such is the Indian political system where the governments of the
states enjoy broad powers.
Today, the Indian authorities
are making it clear that they will
carry the project through despite
the foreign conspiracy against
the Kudankulam NPP. Undoubtedly, the Russian-Indian relations
which were called “all-weather” at
the latest summit will live through
this trouble. These relations will
not become a hostage of local manipulators and their foreign sponsors who are using devious means
to push Russia from the Indian nuclear market..
The test of India’s new
intercontinental ballistic missile was a milestone in the development of the country’s
defense and research
and technological potential
I
n April 2012, India made a
crucial move in developing its
strategic potential as it successfully test-fired the Agni-V
intercontinental ballistic missile. The launch ushered New Delhi
into the world club of nuclear weapons states. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally congratulated
Indian scientists and missile designers on this outstanding achievement.
“Yet we make missiles” is a
half-forgotten line from a popular
Soviet-era song, which aptly describes the sentiment of an advance
nation, proud of its capability to
rise to the heights of scientific and
technical progress.
The
Russian-Indian
space
rocket triumph began several decades after Soviet intercontinental
ballistic missiles had flown into
space. The Indians, too, can now
pride themselves on the ability to
make missiles. They took the first
steps in this field with the assistance
of Soviet specialists, and overcame
the western sanctions slapped on
New Delhi for its excessive – as the
USA and its allies believed – nuclear missile ambitions.
Agni-V, the first Indian ICBM
with a range of over 5,000 kilometers, was launched from a range
on the island of Wheeler in the Bay
of Bengal, State of Orissa, at 08:07,
local time, on April 19. Twenty
minutes later, after flying 5,000
kilometers Agni-V fell in the designated area of the Indian Ocean off
the coast of Indonesia.
Head of the Defense Research
and Development Organization
V.K.Saraswat was the first to announce that the benchmark test
was successful.
“It was a perfect launch and the
missile hit the pre-determined target and the mission met all its parameters,” Saraswat stated.
India is to carry out two more
tests within the next few months,
and is expected to launch production of this class of missiles not
later than in a year.
India’s top political leadership
made comments immediately after
the Agni-V test.
«The nation stands tall today. We
have joined the elite club of nations
(to possess the ICBM capability),»
Defense Minister A.K.Antony said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
said called the launch of India’s
ICBM “another milestone in India's
quest to add to its security preparedness,” and congratulated the scientist
and missile designers on its success.
It will be inducted into the Indian armed forces in 2014-2015. Its
development cost is estimated at
$480 million.
Evaluating the Agni-V test, Indian expert said it was a means of
deterring China in the first place.
New Delhi regards China, as well as
Pakistan, as the main threats to the
country’s security.
Despite diplomatic efforts aimed
at normalizing relations between
New Delhi and Beijing, the old
problems in these relations have not
disappeared. Half a century after
the war of 1962 which ended in India’s defeat, the old problems have
not gone anywhere. The points of
view on how to reach a settlement
of the territorial issues are still far
apart, President of Observer Research Foundation Nandan Unnikrishnan said.
According to the Indian expert,
the development of Agni-V was
long overdue, because until recently, Indian missile programs,
due to shortages of resources and
other impeding circumstances had
been developing slower that its
neighbors’.
OUR REFERNCE.
Agni-V is India’s advance
three-stage solid propellant
ground-to-ground missile capable of carrying a nuclear charge
(the previous model, Agni-III
with a range of 3,500 kilometers
was tested five years ago). It carries MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) payloads. The missile’s
length is 17.5 meters; it masses 50
tons and has a diameter of 2 meters. Its total payload is up to 1.5
tons. Agni-V can be transported
by motor- and railway transport which provides for launching it from different locations.
The ICBM can reach any part of
Chinese territory, including its
densely populated eastern coast,
and Eastern Europe.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
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VIEWPOINT
«S61» «Sindhukirti»
Russia-India:
Submarines to choose
By Vladimir KARNOZOV
Air Independent Propulsion systems are not that important for Russian submarines, unlike European ones. Endurance is achieved by larger battery capacity. Classic acid base batteries give way to lithium-ion ones which increase
underwater endurance by almost two-fold, from nine to 16 days, precisely as
the bulky and unreliable European units.
Supply and Demand
In mid-2010, India’s Minister
of Defense Arackaparambil Kurian Antony approved the plan
codenamed Project 75 (I) to purchase six non-nuclear submarines
worth 10.7 billion dollars. Two
submarines are to be built in the
country which wins the tender,
while other four are to be built in
India under license.
24
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
In accordance with the practice to purchase foreign military
equipment, representatives of the
world’s top weapons and military
equipment exporting countries
were invited to participate in the
tender. In the second half of 2010,
India sent them information inquiries, and is expected to send
requests for proposal in mid-2012.
If everything runs smoothly, the
winner will be announced in 2012,
while the first submarine is to be
handed over to India in 20162017.
Four contenders – Rosoboronexport (Russia), Howaldtswerke – Deutshche Werft GmbH
(HDW, Germany), DCNS holding (France) and Spain’s Navantia
offered, respectively, Amur-1650,
Type 214, Scorpene and S-80.
Under the terms of the Indian
tender, a prototype of the submarine offered for exports must
be part of the bidder’s Navy. The
Russian Navy includes Project
677 head submarine, codenamed
“Lada.” The Amur-1650 is its export version. The German Navy
operates Type 212 submarines, a
base model for the Type 214 export version. France’s Navy only
has nuclear-powered submarines,
but the DCNS holding has already
supplied two Scorpenes to Chile,
and two to Malaysia. Also, France
is in talks over the project to build
six more Scorpenes for India, under a contract with the Mazagon
Dock. The submarine offered by
Navantia, does not yet meet India’s requirements (there is no
analog in the Spanish Navy). But
the situation may change soon:
in 2013-2015, the Spanish Navy
might induct the first S-80 into its
Navy.
The Indian Navy operates four
Type 209 (Shishumar class) submarines and ten Russian submarines of Project 877EKM (Sindhu
type by Indian classification).
Earlier, the Indian Navy had eight
Russian submarines of earlier
projects, but the last of them – the
Wagli – was retired last year after
36 years of service. Specialists estimate that of the current Indian
fleet of submarines, just four will
have remained in service by 2020,
and none by the year 2025.
India is planning to purchase
24 new non-nuclear submarines.
It will assemble 12 at domestic shipyards and have another
12 assembled at shipyards of the
partner country. In 2003-2004,
France won a 4-billion-dollar tender to build six Scorpene submarines. All the six units will be built
at the Mazagon Docks Ltd under
license, with commissioning in
2010-2015. Regrettably, the construction is pacing slower than India originally anticipated.
Underwater rivals
Germany, France and Russia
are longtime rivals in the world
market of non-nuclear submarines. European shipbuilders have
VIEWPOINT
As a bonus, Russia offers its customers the submarines equipped with the Club-C system, manufactured by the Novator firm, an export version of the
Kalibr system, which is standard weaponry on Russian warships. The arsenal of Club-C submarines
includes antiship 3M-54 missiles, anti-submarine
91R misisles and 3M-14 missiles to engage ground
targets. As of today, only Russia offers such weapons for exports.
designed more advanced air independent propulsion systems
(AIP). The Germans claim that
their Type 212 models can move
for 14 days underwater at a speed
of 3 knots without resurfacing.
However, Russian submarines
have an edge in submarine-tosubmarine duels. The Soviet and
Russian specialist paid more attention to lower noise signature to
enable diesel-electric submarines
to effectively fulfill their missions
to protect naval bases and coastal
areas.
They say Project 636 submarines, which are still produced
by Russian shipyards, have more
chances for victory, compared
with new European submarines.
The Amur 1650 advanced model
would look a still better favorite
in a duel, thanks to its design features: a powerful hydro-acoustic
system and lower signature compared with the previous model,
thanks to reduced noise level and
displacement (1,765 tons versus
2,350 tons).
Germany’s HDW has supplied
eight Type 212 submarines to the
German and Italian Navies since
1998. The export version is somewhat larger by displacement (1,960
tons versus 1,450 tons). Nine such
submarines were supplied to Portugal, South Korea and Greece.
Mass media reports on numerous technical faults somewhat
overshadowed the initial success
of these models in the international market. Specifically, the
reports mentioned a higher tilt
after resurfacing in bad weather,
especially in a strong wind, an
insufficiently powerful air independent propulsion system and
fuel cells overheating. Among
other reported shortcomings were
a leaking hydraulics system, periscope vibrations, propeller cavitation, and unstable operation of
on-board systems. In 2010-2011,
South Korea’s Navy temporarily
withdrew its submarines of this
class from combat duty for repairs,
after 30 reported cases of the loss
of bolts on three of them. Though
Germany’s Type 212/214 subs
looked very advanced at the turn
of the century, they were unable to
avoid technical problems during
initial operation. The Germans
must have resolved many of these
problems by now, which would
make the German submarine one
of the favorites at the Indian tender.
Spain’s S-80 is the largest of the
four submarines with a displacement of 2,400 tons. Due to the
world economic crisis, the completion date of the head submarine
project was postponed from 2011
to 2013 and later to 2015, which is
its weakest point. S-80 is a modern
project with a new but untested air
independent propulsion system,
based on an ethanol-to-hydrogen
converter unit.
S-80 is equipped with Integrated Combat System Core designed by Lockheed Martin of the
USA. It certainly guarantees a
high quality, but the USA, when
exporting such advanced systems,
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
VIEWPOINT
normally places restrictions on access codes,
algorithms and software.
Earlier, India placed
a separate order with
France to build six
Scorpene-class submarines. Increasing the
order to 12 units might
benefit the local partner – MDL. France has
no non-nuclear Scorpene-class submarines
in service, but they are
in the armory of Portugal and Malaysia – both
purchased
simplified
1,500-ton versions without AIP.
Media reports said the
submarines built for Malaysia had diving problems. The performance
of several Malaysian
government officials was
questioned in this connection and DCNS lawyers had more problems
to deal with as the com- «S-62» «Sindhuvijay»
pany was accused of using
corruption schemes.
RJ-10 missile against stationary
DCNS designed its own
and moving targets and surface
AIP, called MESMA (Module
ships. Based on Russian Onix,
d’Energie Sous-Marine AutoAlaf and Yakhont developments,
nome). A conventional steam
RJ has a startup mass of some four
turbine power plant is powered
tons.
by steam generated from the comIndia might have various reabustion of ethanol (kept on board)
sons to integrate BraMos missiles
and stored oxygen at a pressure of
in the existing European subma60 atmospheres. There is only one
rine projects. However, it will be
submarine with a true MESMA
difficult to accomplish it in pracAIP at present, last of the three
tice. German designers placed
Agost 90B-type submarines (S137
hydrogen storage and generation
Hanza) ordered by Pakistan. It
reservoirs in the upper part of the
differs from the other two in servhull, right behind the control house
ice with Pakistan’s Navy by diswhich complicates the insertion of
placement (increased from 1,760
an additional section. Also, the intons to 2,050 tons) due to the integration of such a powerful missile
stallation of an additional 200
system requires proper systems to
kW MESMA unit. The submarine
ensure its effective use in combat.
reportedly was unable to reach a
Of the three European contenders,
speed of four knots declared by the
only France has an underwater vermanufacturer and could not even
tical launching experience. Rusmake three knots at trials.
sian specialists can easily install
BraMos missile on Russian submaBraMos for submarines
rines, because Russia has a rich exBraMos Aerospace led by Dr
perience in underwater launching,
Siwathanu Pillai is a joint Indianand, most importantly, BraMos is a
Russian venture. The company
derivative of the Onyx system used
is developing a supersonic attack
by the Russian Navy.
26
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
Russia’s weak points
largely stem from the
consequences of the
system crisis in the defense sector after the
breakup of the Soviet
Union. The construction of Russian submarines in India under
license and the corresponding offset program
(to train maintenance
personnel) requires a
special approach. The
offset program needs
an active participation of large integrated
organizations, such as
the Unified Shipbuilding Corporation and the
Rostekhnologii stateowned corporation.
Streamlined Endurance
Russia began to develop “Lada”-class submarines (export version
is Amur 1650) in the mid1980s. It was conceived as
a sort of interceptor, capable of confronting U.S. nuclear attack
submarines in Russian coastal waters.
U.S. nuclear submarines’ missions
include detecting and tracking Russian nuclear submarines on patrol
as part of strategic deterrence force.
With the view of better accomplishment of missions, Project 677 submarines differed from previous models
by smaller displacement, lower noise
signature, and a more powerful hydro-acoustic system, compared with
Project 636.
At the turn of the century, Russia’s Admiraleiskiye Verfi shipyard
laid down two hulls of batch-produced Kronstadt and Sevastopol
submarines, and launched the construction of an export version. According to the company, the first
hull is 40-percent ready, the second is just 10-percent completed,
while the hull of the export version
submarine is ready for equipment
installation. This is a good start for
fulfilling the foreign customers’ order within a tight timeframe, if they
select Amur-1650.
The five years the St.Petersburgbased company spent on trials,
enabled it to identify the problems that had to be resolved before launching full-fledged batch
production of Project 677 submarines. It is standard Russian practice to test an entirely new type of
vessel in active trials before any
decision-making on batch production.
In 2011, the Sevmash company
(also known as SMP) announced
plans to build diesel-electric
submarines along with Admiralteiskiye Verfi. Sevmash specializes in the construction of nuclear
submarines. The company, based
in Severodvinsk, has built 128 submarines since it handed over a K-3
submarine to a customer in 1958.
The company claims it can build at
least one diesel electric submarine
K-45 - «CHAKRA»
VIEWPOINT
In the Project 75 (I) tender, the AIP issue is crucial
for Russia. By the time the Indian tender committee
starts reviewing the best bids in earnest, the work
to develop AIP for Amur 1650 will have been
completed. Thanks to considerable investments in
new technologies in Soviet times, Russian scientists
gained a huge experience in developing fuel cells,
used in submarines, spacecraft and latest drone
types.
for exports every year without delaying the construction of nuclear
submarines for the Russian Navy.
Sevmash’s significance is that
its participation will be an impor-
tant contribution to Russia’s export opportunities in such areas
as quality and the capability to
meet the tender terms for the offset program. With a 27,000-strong
workforce, it is not only Russia’s
largest shipyard, but also the best
equipped and financially stable
company.
Amur-1650 is offered with the
AIP of the following design: fuel
cells in combination with diesel
fuel reformation and hydrogen
emission through electro-chemical generator. This technical solution provides for not storing oxygen on board the submarine. This
simplifies the solution of coastal
infrastructure issues and ensures
safer operation of AIP submarine.
Interestingly, the Russian Navy
is not particularly interested in AIP
unlike the Europeans: the Russian
Ministry of Defense does not order
R & D for Project 677. It assumes
that endurance can be increased by
larger battery capacity. The classical acid-base batteries are giving
way to lithium-ion ones.
Supposedly, the lithium-ion
battery on Amur 1650 will increase
immersion endurance two-fold,
from nine to 16 days, which compares with the performance characteristics of German AIP submarines. It is also possible that during
Rest for Proposal preparations,
Indian specialists might reject their
previous AIP requirement, leaving
only the requirement for endurance and other immersion parameters. In that event, Amur 1650 will
have the best chances to will India’s Project 75 (I) tender.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
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DETAILS
DETAILS
Non-system approach
AFK Sistema Runs into Problems in India.
By Anna BALASHOVA
Kommersant correspondent especially for R & I
A scandal broke out after AFK Sistema, one of the
largest Russian consortiums, entered the Indian
market. In early 2012, India’s Supreme Court
unexpectedly revoked a majority of licenses of
Sistema Shyam TeleServives LTD, a local affiliate of the Russian consortium, which provides
mobile communication services to 15 million
subscribers across the country. Although President Dmitry Medvedev expressed his personal
concern over the situation at the BRICS summit,
the license revocation problem has not been settled. Journalist Anna Balashova found out the
reason behind India’s decision and the consequences it might have for business ties between
the two countries
R
ussia’s AFK Sistema
entered the Indian
market in 2007 when
it acquired a 10-percent stake in Shyam
Telelink LTD (later renamed to
Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd
– SSTL). As of that time, the local mobile operator based in the
state of Rajasthan had around
100,000 subscribers. Sistema then
increased its stake to 74 percent by
paying a total of 45 million dollars.
Another 460 million dollars were
spent to purchase a license to provide services in all the states and
allied territories in 2008. In 2010,
Russia became a shareholder as
it used India’s payments for the
Soviet-era and Russian loans to
purchase the mobile operator’s
28
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
follow-on offering worth 600 million. Its Rosimushchestvo Federal Agency for State Property
Management came in possession
of 17.14 percent of SSTL shares,
with Sistema’s stake decreasing to
56.68 percent.
Sistema stated its readiness
to invest up to seven billion dollars in the construction of mobile
communication networks across
the country and did not rule out a
merger between SSTL and Mobile
TeleSystems (MTS), its main telecommunication asset.
Several years ago, SSTL began
to work under the MTS brand, but
an analysis of the expediency of
the merger will be appropriate after the Indian company’s clientele
exceeds 150 million. Such was the
reservation made by AFK’s key
shareholder Vladimir Yevtushenkov. As of now, SSTL has more
than 15 million subscribers, and
there is much uncertainty about
the growth prospects.
Bollywood-Style Repudiation
In early February 2012, India’s
Supreme Court ruled to revoke 21
of 22 SSTL licenses. The ruling
was passed within the inquiry into
a high-profile corruption scandal
involving high-placed Indian officials and business persons, including former Telecoms Minister
Andimuthu Raja. The court eventually concluded that the licenses
had been sold underpriced in 2008
and without proper tenders, which
lost the Exchequer $40 billion.
Aside from 21 SSTL licenses,
the court revoked 101 permits
from a number of companies. By
June 2012, all of them should stop
operation in the territories where
their licenses were recalled. In the
meantime, India planned a new
tender for the released frequencies. This time, the national telecommunications regulator TRAI
recommended market prices for
using frequencies, which it believed should be ten times higher
than the price paid in 2008. According to the AFK estimates, 5
MHz frequencies in the 800 MHz
band in which SSTL is interested,
approximately cost $ 6 billion.
The court’s ruling plays in the
hand of large Indian mobile operators whose licenses have not been
revoked.
SSTL and other companies
that lost their frequencies said the
price was unacceptable. Some said
they would have to withdraw from
the Indian market. For example,
Norway’s Telenor invested in the
local Uninor 17 billion Norwegian kroner (some $2.8 billion at
the current exchange rate). After
losing its licenses, it said it was
not ready to pay the TRAI-recRUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012 29
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
DETAILS
ommended sums to get them back.
Telenor and Sistema minority
shareholders call for quitting the
Indian market altogether as there
is no guarantee that multi-billion
investments in new licenses will
pay back.
The companies that had their
licenses quashed, attempted to delay the court’s ruling on the deadline for shutting off their networks
and persuade the Indian authorities to revise TRAI’s recommendations. However, they were unsuccessful.
By the end of March, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
raised the issue at the bilateral
meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the
30
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
BRICS summit. A week later, the
Supreme Court postponed the annulment of the operators’ licenses
by three months to September 7,
and pushed the dates of the tenders to late August. The terms
of the tenders have not been announced yet.
Crossroads
In 4th quarter of 2011, Sistema
posted a loss of 346 million dollars
as the cost of SSTL licenses and
another $349 million of goodwill
(the difference between a company’s book value and market value)
In late February 2012, Sistema
officially notified the Indian government about the dispute within
the framework of the Russian-
Indian agreement on mutual promotion and protection of investments, effective since 1996.
“The annulment of the SSTL licenses contradicts the agreement
under which India commits itself
to provide complete protection and
security of investments and not to
expropriate investments,” the AFK
said in an official statement. If the
dispute is not settled amicably until
August 28, 2012, AFK might complaint to the international court of
arbitration. The Russian Foreign
Ministry also released a statement
on this situation.
Telenor representatives, too,
stated the possibility to challenge
the Indian court’s ruling at international bodies. Furthermor,
Norwegian Trade Minister Trond
Giske recently said the situation
might have political repercussions. The Norwegian government
has a 54-percent stake in Telenor.
VTB Capital analyst Viktor
Klimovich sees two possible scenarios in the development of the
situation. Under the first, the Indian authorities will continue to
demand huge sums for the prolongation of licenses, while the
other envisions a decrease in license prices and the participation of the aggrieved companies
in the tender. In case of the first
scenario, Sistema will withdraw
from the Indian market and start
international litigation to have its
investments returned. It will be a
DETAILS
serious worsening of the investment climate for India. “For Sistema, it also implies the collapse
of its plans, as SSTL was not only
a telecoms project but the starting
point for the Russian consortium
to develop other businesses in India,” Klimovich said.
His colleague Yevgeny Golosnoi from Nomos Bank has serious
doubts that Sistema will be able to
recover the lost profit in a court
action against the Indian authorities: “the company will win if it
recovers the $3 billion dollars invested in the project.”
Yevgeny Golosnoi believes the
Indian market is at the crossroads
now. The telecoms market can
develop along two ways: the first
envisions an allocation of many
licenses. India and Ukraine have
opted for it. Under the pressure of
competition, the players take over
each other or quit the market. The
second way is a kind of oligopoly;
when few companies get licenses
and the authorities regulate their
operation in order to forestall collusion in fixing unjustifiably high
prices of services for subscribers. The terms of the new license
allocation tender have to show
which way the Indian authorities
will select this time. The longer
this period of uncertainty lasts,
the more losses Sistema incurs in
India. Yevgeny Golosnoi estimates
its monthly losses at $50 to $60
million.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
AVIATION
AVIATION
INDIA ARMS ITSELF
WITH NEW HELICOPTERS
India’s Air Force inducted the first 21 Mi-17B-5 helicopters into its army on February 17. Indian pilots
had been looking forward to the equipment – the
new helicopter is custom-made for India’s climate,
flight conditions and combat specifics. It can fly
missions in the Himalayas, deserts and jungle.
By Yevgeny GALYANOV
the Indian Air Force and help the IAF
carry out military, rescue and other
sorts of operations, Antony said.
Mi-17B-5 helicopters have already got a good reputation in India.
Some of the recently supplied Russian helicopters are operated in the
north of the country. India praised
the quality of the new equipment,
and local media outlets reported
New Dehli had plans to purchase 59
more helicopters.
Presentation of the symbolic key of the helicopter Mi-17B-5 to the Defence Minister of India A.K.Antony
weapons-trading company Anatoly Isaikin.
“These helicopters were manufactured in accordance with India’s recommendations and the specifics of
the objectives and tasks set before the
armed forces of this country,” Vertolyoty Rossii (Russian Helicopters)
sales director Sergei Ostapenko said.
“We’re looking at Russian helicopters’ prospects at the ongoing Indian
tenders with optimism,”Ostapenko
added.
India is holding another two helicopter tenders at present, for a multiCEO "Rosoboronexport" Anatoly Isaikin in the helicopter Mi-17B-5
T
he contract to supply
80 Mi-17B-5 helicopters to India was signed
in 2008. The first
batches were delivered
in the autumn of 2011. India has received and officially commissioned
21 such helicopters so far. In all, 80
helicopters are to be included in the
Air Force inventory by 2012. The
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RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
contract is worth 1.34 billion dollars,
according to the Indian mass media.
At a ceremony at the Palam air
base near New Delhi, Indian Defense
Minister Arackaparambil Kurien
Antony said these new Russian helicopters would enhance the capability
of the Indian army.
These multi-purpose helicopters
will add to the operational muscle of
Some newspapers said the country’s interior ministry and other lawenforcement agencies have been eyeing the new equipment, so the number of purchased units might increase
by at least 12.
Taking part in the induction ceremony was a Russian defense sector delegation led by director of
the Rosoboronexport state-owned
The helicopter Mi-17В-5 got into operation in the Indian Air Force on February 17, 2012
Mi-17B-5 is a modern version of Mi-8MT featuring combat use design features. The helicopter is
intended for transportation of cargoes and airborne
troops, as well as external large-size cargos. The
design also provides for minimizing the disembarkation time, which is crucial in combat (36 troops
in 15 seconds).
role helicopter (in which Russia’s Ka226 participates) and an ultra-heavy
lift helicopter (Russia’s bid is Mi-26).
“It’s very good and reliable helicopter. We’re happy to fly these,”
Indian pilot, commodore Rajesh
Isser told RIA.
At a news conference devoted to the
induction ceremony, a documentary
was show about various helicopters
operated by the Indian army and the
Mi-17B-5 capabilities.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
COSMOS
India is exploring outer space
In creating your own, don’t be shy
to borrow from others
By Sergei BABUSENKO
India should be considered not as an ordinary
poor country with a wealth of problems, but as a
power which is making all efforts to resolve these
problems. India is for independence of views and
action and wishes to use the advantages given by
science and technology.
Indira Gandhi
34
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
COSMOS
Aviation and rocket
production development
India first developed rockettype projectiles several hundred
years ago. They looked like steel
tubes tied to guiding bamboo
poles, and had a range of about
one kilometer. The Europeans
learnt about them the hard way in
the battle of Seringapatam (State
of Kerala in southern India), when
the troops led by Tippoo Sultan
fired many such projectiles at the
British army inflicting upon it
heavy casualties, especially upon
the British cavalry.
The gaining of independence in
1947 prompted India to start developing its aviation and rocket
production. In 1962, it founded
the Indian National Committee
for Space Research (INCOSPAR)
under control of the Department
of Atomic Energy. On November 21, 1963, NASA specialists
launched Nike Apache, a small
high-altitude U.S.-made rocket.
That story had a curious twist: the
rocket head containing a set of
scientific instruments, was delivered to the launch site by bicycle.
NASA’s car broke down and they
borrowed a means of transportation from a local postman.
The Soviet Union, the USA,
Great Britain and France then used
the Thumba Equatorial Rocket
Launching Station (TERLS) to
launch their geophysical rockets
for almost a decade. In all, more
than 350 launches were made.
Meanwhile, the Indians were
watching closely and learning. For
the learning to be effective, India
set up the Center of Space Science and Technology which began
to develop domestic analogues of
foreign equipment. The solid-fuel
Rohini RH-75, with a 75-millimeter black powder-fired engine was
the first rocket designed and produced by India. On November 20,
1967, it soared aloft to an altitude
of nine kilometers with a payload
worth one kilogram of scientific
instruments.
It became the key guideline in
the Indian space research program: in creating your own, do not
be shy to borrow from others.
India made a breakthrough in space research in
1969, when INCOSPAR was succeeded by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) led by
Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the Indian Tsiolkovsky.
New Delhi’s foreign policy
has always been oriented toward
multi-vector relations. Unlike
China and the USSR, it had the
opportunity to not only acquire licenses and train specialists abroad,
but also buy assemblies and sets of
space equipment on both sides of
the Iron Curtain.
In the 1960s, Indian student
Abdul Kalam, (who later became
one of the fathers of Indian space
rocket program) studied in the
USA. He managed to get access
to technical reports on the Scout
project to develop a small solidfuel booster rocket. It actually became the prototype of India’s first
booster called Satellite Launch
Vehicle (SLV-3). The first Indian four-stage solid-fuel booster
massing some 17 tons had to take a
40-kilogram satellite to a 400-kilometer high circular orbit.
India manufactured more than
85 percent of rocket parts. The
former parent state indirectly contributed to it. In the early 1970s,
Great Britain shut down the wellknown rocket range Woomera in
Australia. India quickly saw its
chance and bought test benches
and launchers at scrap metal
prices, to make them the basis of
their launching pads at the Sriharikota Launching Range (SHAR)
on the Sriharikota island. By 1975,
India had finalized the key systems of the booster rocket through
tests on geophysical rockets and
the prototype made a suborbital
flight the next year.
The first launch of a space
rocket from SHAR took place on
August 10, 1979. Abdul Kalam was
head of the project.
India took its first step into
outer space with the assistance of
the Soviet Union. On April 19,
1975, a Kosmos-3 booster rocket
carrying Ariabhata, the first Indian satellite, blasted off from the
Kapustin Yar cosmodrome.
India lauched Rohini (RS1)
satellite on its own on July 18,
1980. The development of SLV-3
and the launch of the first satellites marked the establishment of
India’s space exploration.
Unlike Great Britain, India never stopped research after launching its prestige satel-
In August 1972, Vikram Sarabhai pointed out that it
was important to be well up on the latest achievements in space research and keep pace with time, as
India had the opportunity to be among the world’s
leading states. It has human resources and a network of companies. India still relies on imports of
finished products, but there are no reasons not to
aim at complete independence in space research.
Cooperation with foreign countries should be encouraged in all ways, he said.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
COSMOS
India plans its first manned flight for 2016. Building a spaceship is a difficult, but quite feasible task.
Finalizing the booster rocket faces serious complex
problems, whose solution might require the assistance of Russian specialists with a successful longstanding experience.
lite. On May 30, 1981, the third
SLV-3D1 rocket was launched.
The first three stages functioned
normally, but the fourth did not
separate properly and the 38-kilo-
gram RSD1 satellite which had a
camera on board to photograph
the Earth, found itself in an offdesign orbit and ceased to exist in
nine days. Only the fourth launch
of the booster of this series was
completely successful on April
17, 1983, when it put into orbit a
41.5-kilogram RSD2 satellite. The
third Rohini transmitted beautiful
images of the planet.
Rakesh Sharma was the first
Indian who flew into space in
1984. He was included as a space
explorer in the crew of the Soyuz
T-11 (Yuri V.Malyshev was commander and Gennady Strekalov
was engineer). The Soyuz T-11
was launched from the Baikonur
cosmodrome on April 3, 1984 and
docked with the Salyut-7 orbiter.
The crew spent 7 days, 21 hours
and 41 minutes in space. On April
11, 1984, the mission was completed as the astronauts returned
to Earth in the Soyuz T-10 landing
capsule.
The IRS-1C satellite put into
orbit by the Russian Vostok-M
booster on December 28, 1995,
became a landmark in India’s national space program. It was the
first domestic satellite with three
scanners of various spatial resolution. Until 1999 (when the USA
launched its IKONOS-2 unit),
IRS-1C provided operational
footage with the best resolution in
the world.
The IRC-1C data were much
needed in the world market of
space research information (for
example, for online transmission
to a network of foreign stations);
in all 24 stations in 17 countries
were receiving the IRS-1C signal.
Russian specialists played an
important role in developing the
Indian cryogenic engine, which
raised India’s national space program to a new level.
The fact that India won the tender to manufacture communications satellites for Europe in 2006
shows its high achievements in the
field of space technologies.
Achievements, plans and calculations
Rockets are not an end in itself
for India. They should put into orbits various satellites. India is one
of the few countries in the world
with the capability to manufacture
and launch geostationary communications satellites. Indians
36
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
launch weather satellites, remote
probing and Earth mapping satellites. The fact that India won the
tender to manufacture communications satellites for Europe in
2006 shows its high achievements
in the field of space technologies
Back in January 2006, ISRO
unveiled a supersonic combustion ramjet. In a number of ground
tests, stable supersonic combustion was achieved for seven to ten
seconds. India used Russian test
benches. This technology is viewed
as crucial in developing multiple
re-entry vehicles in the future. It
actually started the work towards
COSMOS
developing India’s shuttle Avatar.
Space equipment is used not
only for navigation and telecommunications, but also for direct
solution of the country’s pressing social problems in health care
and education. The INSAT-2C,
launched in January 2007, supports the operation of 300 countryside remote study and medical
treatment centers across India.
As the first step towards orbital
flights, the Indians carried out a
Spacecapsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) with a unit massing some 550 kilograms. It was
put into space by means of a PSLV
booster on January 10, 2007. The
capsule contained the equipment
for technological experiments in
space metallurgy and synthesis of
nano-crystals in the conditions of
microgravity. Of course, the main
purpose of the experiment was to
perfect the technology to return
people from space. It also tested
fibred carbon and phenolic resin
coatings for multiple re-entry vehicles.
The first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008.
The program exceeded all expectations, when molecules of water
were found in lunar soil.
Regrettably, ISRO lost radio
contact with the probe, which
terminated the mission one year
ahead of schedule. However, it is
still viewed as top achievement
even now.
Moscow and New Delhi reached
an accord to step up cooperation
in space research, including moon
research programs, manned flights
and the use of the Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system.
Space research is not always
problem-free.
India announced the plans to
develop a spacecraft in 2008. It is
a descent capsule with a cylindershaped service module resembling Russia’s Soyuz. An upgraded
GLSV rocket had to put it in orbit,
but its reliability was questioned.
Of the seven GLSV launches, only
two are considered fully successful.
A major failure on December
10, 2010 put in doubt a space mission of Indian gaganauts (derived
from the word “gagan” which
means “sky”), when a GLSV
booster blew up after the launch.
It was a disappointment for ISRO
which had planned to use GLVS
for manned spaceships.
A certified a manned spacecraft implies a high reliability
co-efficient demonstrated in test
flights. It also requires extra safety
systems, such as escape capsule
to be ejected in case of in-flight
malfunctions. A manned rocket is
more sophisticated than a satellite
booster.
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh told the RIA Novosti news
agency ahead of his visit to Moscow in December 2011 that Russia had provided a tremendous
support to India’s space program.
He also said he sincerely hoped
that the space agencies of the two
countries would continue to cooperate in the next few years.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
PROJECTS & INNOVATIONS
Nano Breakthrough
in Russian-Indian
Cooperation
By Yulia TKACHYOVA
Russia and India are at the point of breakthrough
in oil and gas cooperation. In the near future, nano technologies which seem fantastic at first sight
will help to double the output of oil and convert
gas into a solid phase, to make shipments easier.
Alexander Khavkin, a leading Russian developer
of new technologies from the Institute of Oil and
Gas Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, tells
R & I correspondent Yulia TKACHYOVA about
innovations in the field of bilateral energy cooperation.
R & I: What is your opinion of India’s energy sector?
Energy issues have priority for
India at present. For example,
coal accounts for up to 53 percent
of power generated in the country,
38
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
and this ratio will not change much
in the next few years. The government has approved a plan to boost
coal-fired energy production capacities. A high demand for coal
is also explained by the fact that
India is a net importer of this fuel,
although it has the fourth largest
coal reserves in the world and is the
world’s third largest coal producer.
According to the prognosis of
India’s Coal Minister Sriprakash
Jaiswal, the demand for coal will
increase by more than three times
to two billion tons a year in the
next two decades. At present, the
country mines 530 million tons of
coal, and imports another 70 million tons a year. India’s aggregate
reserves of all kinds of coal are estimated at 120 billion tons. The leading coal producers are the State of
Bihar and West Bengal, accounting
for almost three quarters of national production. The largest coking coal reserves are found in the
Jharia field in Bihar. Coal is also
mined in Assam (bituminous coal)
and Tamil Nadu (rich deposits of
lignite in Neyveli).
R & I: What other problems does this
branch of industry have?
Coal, which is the corner stone
of local power generation, is difficult to mine. Each produced ton
is expected to claim a miner’s life!
Methane and other hydrocarbon
components of coal gas pose the
greatest danger. Tragic coalmine
accidents warrant the conclusion
that the existing methods to reduce dust escape and contain fires
are obviously faulty.
Despite constant improvement
of mine ventilation methods and
the use of modern gas analyzers,
the human factor is increasingly
prominent as the cause of fires
and explosions. Consequently,
it is necessary to pay more attention to the development of reliable
systems to protect the work area in
coal mines from dust and gas explosions and rule out the negative
influence of the human factor.
There are two aspects to the
problem of extracting methane
from coal beds: reducing methane
emissions in shaft mining and extracting methane as a hydrocarbon product. Since post-accident
mine rebuilding requires tremendous funds, it is time to implement
cost-cutting methods and develop
alternative technologies.
R & I: We hear you’re in talks with a
number of Indian companies over launching your developments. What is the point of
your know-how?
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
It is difficult to explain it
briefly. In general, launching the
nano technologies Russian specialists developed for India, will
help resolve not only social tasks
for the society, but raise its coal
industry to a new level. Let us
adopt a common frame of reference, for example, we might view
slates as a sort of nano-collectors
of methane. This is a field where I
offer to work. Extracting methane
from coal and slates, increasing
the effectiveness of oil recovery
and transportation are the issues
to which we find solutions at the
nano-scale! Explosive methane
accumulates in mines; it is a prime
cause of miners’ death. To prevent
the release of methane into drifts
during shaft mining, we offer to
convert methane in the coalmine
atmosphere into gas hydrate. It
can be used as fuel and transported
by trains or ships. Therefore, we
wish to bring forward an alternative method, which replaces pipelines in gas transportation. There
are many problems associated
with pipelines at present, from gas
hydrate plugs to labor-consuming
pipeline construction projects.
R & I: How do they handle methane
accumulation in mines at present?
Methane is extracted through
wells drilled from the surface.
That is, they bleed off gas to pump
air instead. They reinforce ground
with polymer resin-type mixtures,
and also use hardening mixtures
(concrete, foam concrete, gypsum concrete) in replacing coal
pillars, walling, filling of voids
and damming. Regrettably, all
these methods ignore the nanosize of pores in unworked coal.
Coal is a nano-collector. Imagine how small coal pores must be
– less than 100 nanometers, and
these ultra-small pores are filled
with methane. Furthermore, coal
has a wealth of pores less than 10
nanometers. The available technology of preliminary extraction
of methane from coal is not very
effective. Diluting gas to safe
concentrations with fresh air flow
in prime roadways of a production unit is no guarantee of safe
The first development well was drilled in northern
India’s town of Jawalamukhi on April 20, 1957.
Its location was chosen by Soviet specialists. At
present, ONGC participates in surveys and subsequent development of hydrocarbon fields in 26 Indian sedimentary basins, meeting 30 percent of the
country’s demand for crude. The corporation owns
and operates more than 11,000 kilometers of pipelines in India.
mining. We offer to work with
slates at the nano-level!
R & I: How is India’s oil production
faring?
There is an oil basin in the valley of the Brakhmaputra river in
the east of the country (the State of
Assam). It is India’s oldest oilfield
discovered in the late 1950s with
the assistance of Russian oil industry specialists. The significance of
West India increased dramatically
due to oil and gas prospecting and
production in the State of Gujarat
and on the continental shelf in the
Gulf of Cambay. India’s explored
oil reserves make up 0.6 billion
tons. The country annually produces some 40 million tons, mostly
in offshore mining.
Oil and Natural Gas Corpoation (ONGC) marts its anniversary on August 16, 1956, which
is regarded as the date of the beginning of oil production in India.
Indian Oil Corporation, another Indian oil and gas giant currently owns 10 of India’s 18 refineries, 7,730 kilometers of pipelines and 22,000 petrol stations.
oil and gas beds at the nano-level.
Simply put, we suggest not going
back to a depleted oil stratum but
secure maximum production with
our know-how from the beginning.
Moreover, research and field tests
of our technologies showed their
effectiveness and profitability. R & I: What do you think about hydrocarbon reserves? Do you believe
there is a possibility to increase the
world’s oil reserves by several times?
Indeed, such research work
is underway. Few know that nanotechnology can help increase the
world’s oil and gas reserves, raising
the oil recovery factor from 30 to
60 or 70! We seek to solve the issue of controlling the properties of
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
39
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
SPLAT:
innovations for beauty
and health
S
PLAT is a Russian
designer and manufacturer of innovative
professional oral care
products
SPLAT specializes in the production of high-quality products
unparalleled in the world for professional oral care which are truly
effective, helping people to be
healthy, good-looking and successful. The SPLAT laboratory and
an R & D center develop unique
formulae and combinations of ingredients. As of now, the company
has more than ten Russian and international patents.
The SPLAT research center is
always in search for new convenient forms to ensure the maximum
clinical effect of each product. A
number of its inventions have won
international recognition. This list
includes LUCTATOL ®, an effective composite to prevent tooth
40
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
decay, that inhibits up to 96%
of dental plaque accumulation,
the revolutionary DE-SMOKE ®
phyto-whitening formula that dissolves safely and efficiently the
complex of pigmented tartar left
over by nicotine resins, coffee and
red wine, the Sp. White System®
polishing/safe whitening system,
and a special active form of hydroxyapatite for a deep restoration
of tooth enamel.
Every product coming out of the
SPLAT laboratory is designed to
attain specific objective in the field
of oral care. The line of products
under the SPLAT brand includes
cleaning foams, toothpastes, dental flosses, mouthwashes, and
manual and ion toothbrushes of
the PROFESSIONAL, SPECIAL,
JUNIOR, TRAVEL, and EXPRESS series.
SPLAT unveiled a line of new
products in the spring of 2012
MAXIMUM, a new toothpaste
with whitening effect, is developed
for maximum oral cavity freshening. It is the first SPLAT toothpaste
for adults that includes the unique
LUCTATOL ® anti-decay composite.
Zinc ions with Timol, a natural antiseptic, have astringent and
anti-inflammatory effect and block
the growth of pathogenic bacteria that cause bad smell. An active
form of nanohydroxyapatite (the
key mineral in building soft tissues)
acts like a filling to stop and firm the
vulnerable areas of enamel. A high
concentration of the Polydon®
whitening component removes the
plaque caused by tobacco, tea and
coffee.
SPLAT cleaning foams for teeth
and gums are an innovative product
for everybody who is used to highend life and cares for his health. Easy
use foams do no require water or
toothbrush and remove up to 97 percent of dental plaque, protect from
decay, normalize acid-base balance
of oral cavity, and ensure gentle
whitening of enamel, gum care and
fresh breath in just five seconds.
In the spring of 2012, the company presented five new flavors for
those with penchant for change:
Mediterranean bergamot, spice
ginger, organic aloe & manuka,
highland lavender and Maximum
with a taste of icy mint and sweet
orange.
Anti-bacterial
toothbrushes
with silver ions, a long-expected
novelty, are intended for children
from 2 to 8. SPLAT Junior toothbrushes prevent bacteria spreading, and effectively clean plaque.
Safe for milk teeth and finished to
the finest detail to make the youngest buyers happy.
The upgraded toothpaste formulae for children from 3 to 8 of the
Junior series are now 100 percent
free of abrasive substances. They
do not contain fluorine, coloring
agents, or preservatives, and are safe
if swallowed. For the first time, the
children products’ formula includes
a unique active form of nanohydroxyapatite (mHAP) which has
been proven to strengthen enamel
by stopping its vulnerable places
like a dentist’s filling.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
All SPLAT products undergo
extended clinical and in vitro tests
in Russia, Japan and EU countries
and have the European certificates
for compliance with requirements
of the Cosmetics Directive.
SPLAT manufactures its products in small batches, using the best
components offered by the leading international producers, at its
own up-to-date environmentally
friendly factory in the ecologically clean pristine Valday region.
The manufacturing facilities have
CO2-neutral status and are certified for compliance with GMP
Cosmetics and ISO 9001 standards. The SPLAT products are safe
and suitable for everyday use.
The SPLAT team genuinely believes that it is possible to change
the world for the better and works
to ensure the snow-white smiles
could light up the planet at least
once every second.
Over the eleven years since the
foundation of the company, SPLAT
products have gained more than 12%
of Russia’s domestic market. Customers can purchase them at some
35,000 trade outlets. The produce is
exported to 18 countries, including
China, Malaysia and Singapore.
Oksana ZHENDARSKA, director of economy and development,
SPLAT foreign trade division, tells
R & I about the company’s plans
and development prospects
R & I: Why is the Indian market
important for you?
Emerging markets are important, including India. Its huge potential that attracts investors from
different countries is obvious to
us, too. As of today, the large Russian companies present in the international market only represent
the raw materials sector. SPLAT
wanted to change the situation
and presented innovative products
that won customers in 18 countries
aside from Russia. Health is crucial
for each nation, and I’m confident
that our products will help people
keep flashing beautiful snow-white
smiles, and become more attractive and successful.
R & I: What are the specifics of
oral cavity hygiene culture in India
and how does it differ from Russia’s?
Regrettably, oral hygiene culture in India is far from being perfect. Whereas the consumption
of toothpaste in Russia approximates European standards (some
400 grams per capita a year), it is
around 118 grams per capita in India. There is a justified opinion that
the consumption of hygiene products is indicative of the health of
the nation. We have a long way to
go, and we wish to contribute to India’s oral hygiene culture.
R & I: What key needs in the oral
care market in India do you see
now?
A consumer in India cannot afford much. Local firms offer cheap
products just to clean teeth without
preventive care. Toothpaste is often produced in primitive conditions where any norms of hygiene or
control over the quality of the composite are ignored (which make the
end product much cheaper). There
is no guarantee that such products
are safe for health: they might contain staphylococcus or coli bacillus.
R & I: Keeping these specifics in
mind, which products have you selected for exports to India?
I’d like to recommend toothpastes for children and pregnant
women; you should not economize
on your health. I like this Chinese
saying: Health is one. Money,
beauty and social position are zeroes… If there is “one” in a person’s life, one might get infinity by
adding zeros. If there is not, the zeroes will remain zeroes, no matter
how many of them there are.
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
41
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
HI TECH
Russian Technologies
for Indian Programmers
By Anna GEROYEVA
Russian company and Indian programmers have
found each other.
The Russian company ABBYY is a leader among
world suppliers of optical character recognition
technologies, automated forms processing and
applied linguistics. It has a firm position in the
international market of content management systems and electronic document turnover. ABBYY
brings together 14 international companies world
over. India is one of the most promising markets
for the company. Yelena POSPELOVA, director
general of ABBYY 3A, an international division
for business in emerging markets, tells R&I about
the success the company has achieved in that
country and the world at large.
R & I: You’ve been in the market for over a decade. How did you
fare in 2011, was it luckier than the
previous year, and if so, where were
you successful?
Indeed, we’ve operated in the
Indian market for more than ten
years. The work with emerging
markets always has specifics of its
own, and a company might find
it difficult to fit into the rapidly
changing market conditions. Yet
we succeeded in it, and the year
2011 was no exception: ABBYY
3A reached the level of national
projects in which we participate
42
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
on equal footing with such wellknown brands as Microsoft. Last
year, the number of clients increased dramatically and we had to
hire more personnel.
R & I: At what rate did your sales
grow in India?
The sales of our technologies to
India double each year on the average, which considerably exceeds
the normal growth of the IT market in general. In arithmetic terms,
ABBY business in India grows at 50
percent a year, whereas the growth
rates in the IT industry do not exceed 25 percent. We are truly suc-
character recognition, believes that
the Indian market has a huge potential to use data input software. Our
product is necessary, as the paper archives to be digitized keep swelling.
We work with documents in 200 languages, including Korean, Arab and
Chinese. Our technologies require
tremendous initial investments at
the stage of creating intellectual
property. For India, which gets everything as software development kit
(SDK), beautifully documented
and integrated, launching a new
technology project does not take
more than a month. That is why the
synergy between high intellectual
technologies and the integrator who
has the means to fine-tune the end
solution is truly successful with the
consumers. Among the popular ABBYY products in the Indian market is
the ABBYY FlexiCapture toolkit for
logical form recognition, customized data extraction from forms and
conversion of retrieved information
for further processing or storage. It
is gratifying to see many of our products and solutions finding their consumers in India.
HI TECH
R & I: What are ABBYY 3A’s
competitive advantages?
We’re a unique company offering
an integrated product with broadest functionality. It is unparalleled
in Russia by the number and quality
of languages we support (over 200).
There are such analogues in the
world, but they are scarce.
R & I: Could you tell about the
specifics of the Indian market?
The Indian market has many
skilled engineers capable of taking SDK technology to integrate
in their solutions. India is famous
for its programmers and their solutions, so artificial intelligence or
AI technologies for integration in
original complex software are not
just in demand there, they are vital.
This is what ABBYY supplies. You
might say India and our company
have found each other: they need
our product, and we need their
skilled engineers. A perfect match,
in short.
R & I: What significant projects
have you implemented in India?
There are many such projects;
one of the largest is the children’s
census in the Indian State of
Orissa, initiated by the regional
administration. The head of the
administration set the task to raise
the level of elementary education
in the state, and a children’s census was initiated. We took up the
project, coped with it well and as
a result, the project won an Indian
Prime Minister’s award.
R & I: What are your plans to develop business in India this year?
We’ve worked out a strategy
called “Complete and Not Compete,” where we give the market
and its top system integrators the
SDK technologies and the right to
integrate them in their solutions.
That is, we complement and enrich the solutions by Indian integrators without competing with
them. This is synergy between
countries and mutual advantage.
We plan for our cooperation with
Indian system integrators to be
more intensive and on a larger
scale, by automating data flows
and ensuring easy and quick access
to state services for the population
in state-level projects. cessful because of the growing demand for our products on the part
of large market players.
R & I: Precisely what do you offer
to the Indian market?
ABBYY offers automated data
input technology. As a rule, our
consumers are business process outsourcing companies which abound
in India, government bodies with big
data archives and educational institutions that have to process large volumes of tests taken by students and
applicants during the examination
period. Our company, a world leader
in automated data input and optical
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
Charming
Indian
Auto
By Sergei NIKITIN
T
he history of India’s car
making dates back to
1942 and is associated
with Hindustan Motors Ltd (HM). Understandably, no domestic models were
available at that time, so the Indians
took their guidelines from British
ones.
In the 1950s, HM produced the
first Indian motor car, called Ambassador, a copy of Britain’s Morris
Oxford. Surprisingly, it is still produced as Grand and Avigo models,
and is in demand not only in India
but also on the British Isles. The
vehicle is superb on rundown Indian roads, thanks to an excellent
suspension design. Ambassador’s
main users are taxi drivers and civil
servants.
Contessa Classic, an upgraded
version of Vauxhall Victor (1972), is
another HM’s hit. The author of this
article worked in India in the 1990s
44
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
An Indian car is not science fiction but a hard fact.
It is vehicles, not elephants as many believe, that
are a means of mass transportation in India. They
cannot boast top quality or outstanding design – yet.
India’s leading car manufacturer Tata Engineering
and Locomotive Company (TELCO) perfects its
products year in and year out, offering them not
only in the domestic, but also in the world market.
and drove that car. Compared with
Russia’s Zhiguli 2106 it seemed a
clumsy giant, with an awful air conditioner and slow acceleration. But
once it starts, it is set to run! Insolent
Indian cyclists, who largely make
up Brownian motion in New Delhi
streets scattered away upon seeing
my car without my asking them to
give way.
In my opinion, however, it is not
HM that is associated with the In-
dian car. I would give the palm to the
TATA logo.
Truck as artwork
The bulk of Indian trucks and
buses that ply for hire in the country are this or that licensed version
of Germany’s Mercedes-Benz with
a load capacity of five to seven tons,
bought in 1954.
At present, India produces a
broad range of trucks with payloads
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
of one to 40 tons and 12- to 80-seat
buses. By output of commercial vehicles, Tata is among the world’s top
ten producers.
Indian car-making has charm of
its own. A majority of trucks rolling
off the assembly line are just wheeled
frames with an engine and something resembling a driver’s seat. The
cabin, the body and all rigging are
missing. Indian do-it-himselfers
then turn this chunk of metal into a
true artwork. You cannot meet two
same trucks on Indian roads. As a
woman’s sari, the exterior of each
truck is unique in its own way.
Tata Group scored true success in
1991, as Ratan Tata, a grandson of
the firm’s founder, took the helm.
In 1998, the company unveiled
Tata Indica, the first car of its own
design, a small hatchback with a
1.4-liter petrol or diesel engine
which is also produced by Tata Motors.
Despite certain shortcomings,
the model was tremendously popular. Already in early January 1999,
the number of orders for the car
exceeded 100,000. In 2003, Tata
Group launched exports of Tata Indica to Great Britain. Advertised as
City Rover, its sales soared to one
million in 2008. The secret of success is a low price: just 5,000 U.S.
dollars.
In 1998, Tata Group presented
another model of purely Indian design. Tata Safari, initially equipped
with a 1.9-liter diesel engine, was far
from ideal, while its price differed
little from world prices.
The new CEO proved to be a persistent person. In 2004, the Tata
administration decided to acquire
Daewoo’s truck manufacturing unit.
Tata Novus, the first new offering
from Daewoo tucks acquisition is
powered by a 300 hp engine and has
a 12-speed gearbox. Another truck –
Globus – debuted shortly thereafter.
The next model was Starbus.
In 2005, Tata Motors purchased
a 21-percent stake in another carmaker, Hispano Carrocera, one of
the leaders in bus manufacturing
and bus sales in the European market at the time. Four years later,
it acquired another 79 percent of
shares of the Spanish bus producer
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
effectively taking it over. This became possible after the stunning debut of the overhauled bus Hispano
Divo at the Madrid International
Motor Show 2008.
This is where Tata Motors got carried away. On June 2, 2008, it signed
a deal with Ford Motors Company
to purchase Britain’s Jaguar and
Land Rover. Under the 2-billiondollar agreement, Tata Motors acquired Lanchester and Daimler,
two design centers and two plants in
Great Britain.
Yet, wheeled frames routinely
roll off the concern’s truck assembly
lines, and as routinely, self-taught
domestic mechanics convert them
to fit into the Indian’s idea of what a
vehicle should look like. A tradition,
that it…
Nanotech already available in India
India already has a nano-car unlike Russia, whose nanotech chief’s
Anatoly Chubais’ promised but
not delivered nano-tanks or nanoplanes.
On March 23, 2009, the first Tata
Nano rolled off the assembly line
in the town of Sanand, the world’s
first four-wheeled means of transportation with a price tag under
2,000 U.S. dollars. It was specially
designed for markets of the world’s
least developed countries.
However, the car has not made
much success as an export item.
Its ultra-low cost concept played a
wicked joke on the producers. The
designers economized on everything, reducing car comfort to the
nano-scale. The capacity is dismal:
theoretically, it is a four-passenger car (including the driver) but
in practice it is not. The car lacks
the second wing mirror, a steering
booster, an air conditioner (which
is a big disadvantage for India) and
safety cushions. Also, it only has one
windshield wiper. The trunk is only
accessible from inside the car, as
there is no rear door.
The welded body is reinforced
by front seats welded to the floor,
unadjustable lengthwise. The rear
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
45
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
panel of the car body is solid. The
engine and the 150-liter trunk are
accessed from inside through folding rear seats. The base model
lacks door rubber, exterior mirrors,
heater, ventilation, radio-recorder
and deflectors.
A European would find it wild,
but for an Indian, used to streaking
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
along on scooters, coming in possession of such a car is like flying on
a rocket.
The only base model is powered
by a two-cylinder 1-liter 33 hp engine and has a four-speed gear box,
while the low cost of the car makes
its truly attractive for India’s ordinary residents.
Of course, Tata Motors has more
commercial projects in store. In
2009, it presented a prototype of
Tata Xover crossover, a 5-meterlong 7-passenger jeep.
Tata Motors produces a range of
cars jointly with foreign firms. It is in
partnership with Marcopolo, Brazil’s bus producer, Italy’s Fiat concern (joint production of engines)
and Iveco (design of new commercial vehicles).
As for nano technologies, they are
really available at Tata motors. Together with Reva Electric Car Company, Maini Group of Ganglore and
AEV LLC of USA, it designed an
Indian fuel cell car. The prototype
is mounted on a “flexible” platform,
which is adjusted to the size of the
hydrogen tank.
The Proton Exchange Membrane
(PEM) fuel cell technology generates electricity in a chemical reaction
involving hydrogen fuel and oxygen.
This is something to learn from.
The decision by head company
for Tata-controlled Jaguar and Land
Rover to skip the Deitrot Auto Show
in January 2012 was a measure of the
ambitious tasks India’s car-making
industry is setting for itself. These
premium brands did not attend the
U.S. car show as it coincided with
the Indian one in early January.
Jaguar and Land Rover specialists
have sound reasons to regard India
an important and rapidly developing
market, so the brands need it to offer
their models.
Tata launched the supply of its
pickups and light trucks to European
countries, including Russia, in the
beginning of the 2000s. It arranged
the assembly of several models in
Ukraine and at the Automobiles and
Motors of the Urals (AMUR), Russia, and the former Ural Automotive
Plant in Novouralsk.
Not only Tata Motors
It would be unfair not to mention
other players in India’s car market,
especially because they do deserve
attention.
In 1945, John Mahindra, who
worked as an Indian diplomat in
Washington, decided to give up his
political career for business. Ghulam Mohammed, a high-ranking
46
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Pakistani official helped him in
his undertaking. The new firm the
former Indian diplomat set up was
called Mahindra & Mohammed.
A few years later, Mohammed had
to withdraw from business. He was
replaced by another Pakistani official – Clark Mahindra, brother of
the company founder. Immediately
after the reshuffle in 1948, the company was renamed to Mahindra &
Mahindra.
It selected a Willys – Overland
crossover for the platform, but the
vehicle only debuted in 1965 due to
numerous problems. Though it was
quite appealing, the Indian customer obviously seemed unprepared
for such means of transportation, so
the model never became popular.
The early 1980s marked the
second birth of the company. It
launched licensed production of
several models of famous U.S. Jeeps.
Jeep became the platform for the
first original models of an independent Indian car-making industry:
3-door and 5-door Mahindra Commander vehicles, an 8-passenger
CL station wagon and its truncated
5-passenger version with a large
trunk, called Mahindra Marshal.
The exports of these cars to Germany began in 1993, which was a
breakthrough for India.
In 2002, the company launched
the production of Mahindra Scorpio, its first ever original model. The
4-door SUV was a trailblazer for India. It was exported to many countries of the world and has reached
the U.S. market by now.
A separate chapter in the company’s history was setting up joint production of the famous Logan model
with France’s Renault in 2007. The
cost of Mahindra-Renault Logan
was much lower than the original
model, which made the car popular not only in India, but also in the
whole South Asia.
During 65 years of its existence,
Mahindra operated for no more
than 30 years. It actually stood idle
all other years. However, in the past
few decades it has started brisk business: licensed production of phaetons, crossovers, trucks and minibuses. Next, it began to offer much
more comfortable cars, designed by
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
its engineers. At present, Mahindra
actively works on such autos as Mahindra-Renault Logan.
Maruti Udyog Ltd is another car
manufacturer. In 1973, it set up the
Maruti firm together with Suzuki
Motors in suburban Delhi, to produce Japanese models.
The first model was Maruti 800
(Suzuki Alto/Fronte SB), which
remains the most popular economy
car, and is proudly called the Indian
Volkswagen.
Maruti Esteem (Suzuki Swift),
produced since 1994, is no less
popular with the Indian population.
The original version was powered
by a 1-liter 65 hp engine. Due to the
mounting competition in the Indian
market, the producer equipped the
model with a 1.3-liter 85 hp engine,
overhauled the car design, and installed an air conditioner and a powerful sound system.
During a business trip to India,
the author of this article often met
the above models on Indian roads.
Cheap, unpretentious and quick
moving Marutis are associated with
the busy streets of Delhi, Calcutta,
Mumbai or Bangalore, especially in
the neighborhoods where two bicyclists barely manage to scrape by.
At present, the Indian car industry is experiencing an upturn, and
will certainly surprise the world with
original and affordable vehicles of its
own design in the future. RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
47
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
Tata Dynasty’s Empire
Tata is not just legendary trucks or passenger cars
running along Indian roads. It is the best known
Indian multi-profile corporation bringing together
more than 80 companies. For 150 years Tata has
been the calling card of Indian business. The Tata
family had astounding success as the country’s
key business dynasty which built its empire from
scratch.
By Sergei STROKAN
T
he story of the Tata
clan’s long way to
prosperity began in
Manchester in 1867
where British writer
and historian Thomas Carlyle
was reading lectures at the time.
Jamshedji Tata, 28, was one of
the listeners, who seemed to have
benefited from attendance: he remembered the Carlyle’s remark
that “the nation which gains control of irons soon acquires control
of gold.” Jamshedji was a patriot
of the Swadeshi independence
movement, which called for developing national industry and
for India’s independence, as well
as for independence from British
goods. The idea to assume control
of iron later helped Jamshedji formulate one of the conditions for
making his dreams come alive.
India’s domestic steel making industry had to bring it prosperity
and independence. The other two
elephants, on which India had to
ride into the new century, as Tata
believed, were education and
cheap electricity. But for Jamshedji, formulating these prin48
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
ciples was not enough. Instead
of pursuing a career in economic
research, the educated young man
rolled up his sleeves and rushed to
put his ideas into life.
It is now difficult to judge which
Jamshedji was more – a great
dreamer, a brilliant thinker or a
smart entrepreneur. Anyway, his
projects materialized, even though
it happened after his death. Jamshedji set up his first trade company
with initial capital of 21,000 rupees
(4,500 U.S. dollars) in 1868. Five
years later, he took up textile production and created Central India
Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company. When British
Queen Victoria was declared the
Empress of India, it was renamed
to Empress Mill on August 1, 1877.
Although Tata stuck to liberal
views, he did not parade them for
the time being: a businessman as
he was, profit was his key concern.
In 1887, Jamshedji set up the Tata
Sons partnership which included
his elder son Dorabji and his cousin
Ratanji Dadabhoy.
But it was a long shot before attaining the three key objectives –
building the first steel mill in the
country, providing cheap electricity and developing national education.
Jamshedji Tata was studying
steel-making for several years; he
travelled to Europe and the USA
to borrow the experience of leading corporations. It took him years
to obtain official permission to
build a plant. It was only in 1900
that he finally secured it, and then
he spent several years in search for
a suitable location. Tata never saw
his dream come true: he died in
1904. His son Dorabji completed
the steel mill construction project. In 1907, he founded Tata Iron
and Steel. Nor did Jamshedji Tata
see his second dream materialize
in his lifetime – providing cheap
electricity to India, although he
had made many efforts toward it.
He studied different technologies for a long time, visited the
Niagara Waterfall at the advice
of U.S. industrialist and inventor John Westinghouse in order to
see power generation with his own
eyes. In 1910, he set up Tata Hydro Electric Power Supply.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Yet he did manage to cope practically unassisted with the third
task – developing India’s education, although it cost him a penny.
In 1898, he contributed half of his
fortune to the project to set up a
university in Bombay to train Indian scientists and conduct research. It was only seven years later
that the government agreed to pay
half of maintenance costs. But one
university was not enough for raising the level of education in a huge
country. In the late 19th – early
20th century Jamshedji called for
creating a network of science education institutions in different regions of India. He was the first to
voice the idea of technology parks,
which materialized in Bangalore,
a world-famous technology city.
India’s modern aircraft-making owes much to Tata Group. In
1932, Jamshedji’s distant relative
Jehangir Tata established the first
airline, Tata Aviation Service. He
later headed Tata Group. By upbringing, he was more European
than Indian, as he spent the first 20
years of his life in the native land of
his French mother. Jehangir took
a great interest in aviation since
childhood: he watched famous pilot Louis Bleriot’ flights, had his
first flight at the age of 15, while in
1929 he became the first licensed
civil aviation pilot in India. Tata
Aviation Service linked Bombay,
Ahmedabad and Karachi. It was
the prototype of Tata Airlines, nationalized by the Jawaharlal Nehru’s government in 1953.
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, the founder of
the Tata dynasty, went down in the history of
modern India as one of the personalities who
completely changed the face of the country.
Not only did Jamshedji Tata establish the largest industrial group with an annual income of
some 18 billion dollars, he was an ideologist
of Indian business who helped the country to
overcome the humiliating poverty plaguing it in
the era of the British rule.
Offshore software engineering
began to develop thanks to Tata
Group in 1974, when the first ITcompany, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) concluded a contract
with foreign customers for supplies of its software.
Under Jehangir’s guidance,
the company grew to a giant corporation comprising almost 250
companies of different profiles.
Tata produces chemical products,
household appliances, refrigerators, and cars. In 1991, Jehangir’s
nephew and successor headed
the company. He restructured
the company focusing on the key
fields, such as steel production,
power generation and information
technologies. At present, the official owners of all companies are
not Tata family members, but the
trusts that control part of shares.
Each is managed by its own board
of directors, and the profits derived from the operation of com-
pany are used for their development or charity.
In 1999, the group brought the
dream about a people’s car into
effect. Having rejected joint production, including a joint venture
with Daimler Chrysler -- Tata’s
partner in the production of cars
that seemed to be too expensive
for ordinary Indians -- the company designed the first “domestic”
passenger car Tata Indica that cost
$5,100. The Russian market knows
Tata mainly by its trucks. Several
years ago, Tata Motors’ head office in Bombay made optimistic
predictions that Indian people’s
cars Tata Indica hatchbacks and
Tata Indigo sedans, whose price
compared to Russia’s Lada Kalina, would soon start running
along Russian roads. However,
Indian passenger cars have not
won a niche in the Russian market.
The company burst into the 21st
century thanks to Ratan Tata. He
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
49
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
In 1909, with Tata’s participation the Indian
Institute of Science was established, a large
research and education center at that time.
At present, it has 40 various departments and
centers and the best library in the country. It
annually trains 1,500 scientists and engineers,
and conducts research in aerospace, electronics, power generation and environmental protection.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
about a large industrial and hightech business empire in 1877, as he
started with 21,000 rupees, a small
textile factory and a contribution
of half of his capital for the sake
of developing education in India?
One thing is a fact: as the founder
willed, Tata continues to struggle
for control over iron. One of the
most significant transactions in
the past decade was the acquisition
by Tata Steel of NatSteel, a large
Asian metallurgical company.
Charitable trusts
had to resort to tough methods,
such as cracking down on the mutinous “old guard” who sought to take
his post. At Ratan’s initiative, the
board of directors approved the decision under which the pension age
was lowered to 75 years. Tata’s previous CEO, Ratan’s uncle Jehangir
retired at 87, so it was customary not
to leave business earlier. Once approved, the decision automatically
put a majority of the opponents to
a progressive Ratan within retirement age and they had to step down.
In 2002, Tata assumed control
over VSN Broadband Limited,
the main provider of international
telecommunication services in India. Tata Consultancy Services,
the leading IT company, floated
its shares on the exchange back in
2004, raising more than one billion
dollars in Indian business’ record
largest IPO. A year later, TCS,
together with Microsoft and three
Chinese companies, set up one of
the largest IT outsourcing companies. Did Jamshedji Tata dream
50
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
Tata family members do
not quite fit into the image of
“genuine oligarchs.” They do
not purchase castles abroad or
throw wild parties in Courchevel. Ever since the founding of
the company, Jamshedji Tata
spent a considerable portion of
his wealth on charity. His descendants followed up the tradition, creating a unique system of
charitable trust companies.
One of Jamshedji’s sons,
Ratan, allocated funds to support Mahatma Ghandi’s work
in South Africa and financed research at the London School of
Economics, where he contrib-
uted to the establishment of a
department of sociology. One of
the first teachers at the department was Clement Attlee, who
later became Britain’s prime
minister and it was during his
term in office that India gained
independence. Ratan Tata died
in 1918. He bequeathed his fortune for the needs of education,
arts and culture. Sir Ratan Tata
Trust was set up in the same year.
Jamshedji’s
second
son,
Dorab, passed a considerable
portion of his wealth – shares,
real estate, land and even his
wife’s jewelry, including the
world’s largest diamond “the
Golden Jubilee” weighing more
than 545 carats to the newly
created Sir Dorabji Tata trust.
At present, it finances several
research centers in Bangalore.
Other Tata family members
stuck to the principle spelled out
by famous U.S. steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie in the 19th century: “to die rich is to die disgraced.” They founded several
more trusts. One of them, named
in honor of Dorabji’s wife Meherbai, supports young women
who engage in social work. Others offer grants for innovations
and development of education,
and fund medical research. At
present, these charity organizations control almost 66 percent
of Tata Sons, the Tata Group
founder. Tata’s offices are found all over the world – in the USA, Canada, Brazil,
Great Britain, Hungary and Japan. In the beginning of this century, the
group advanced to international recognition through traditional Indian
business. In 2000, Tata Tea purchased a controlling stake in Tetley
Group, Britain’s largest tea corporation, in the first acquisition of a famous western brand in the history of Indian business.
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
51
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
Propitious
Climate
of Bangalore
From Bangalore to Skolkovo
Vladimir Putin was so impressed
by India’s research center in Bangalore during his visit in December
2004, that he ordered quick solutions in establishing an offshore
software development and IT
center in Russia. They say Bangalore’s experience was among the
factors that prompted the idea to
set up the Skolkovo intellectual
cluster.
When in Bangalore, the Russian
president saw the operation of effective business to fulfill orders to
develop software for various objectives, from optimal movement of
goods in trade networks to the calculation of gas dynamics in aircraft
turbine.
Bangalore, with a population of
seven million, sits on a mere 120
square kilometers, but accounts
for 35 percent of India’s hightech products. The world famous
International Tech Park (ITPB)
includes six high-rise buildings,
each with the name of its own:
Discoverer, Voyager, Innovator,
Creator, Explorer and Navigator,
with an aggregate area of more
than 2,000 square feet (190,000
square meters). The Tech Park
continues to grow, with 26 acres
(110,000 square meters) awaiting
those who wish to become neighbors of Microsoft, Oracle, Motorola, Toshiba, IBM – the international companies that opened
their offices in Bangalore. More
than 10,000 millionaires consider
Bangalore their home.
Bangalore exports approximately
one-third of all Indian software and
IT services provided by 1,500 small
and large companies. According
52
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
than 30 countries and 125,000 personnel engaged in the development
of intellectual software.
Bangalore was once called “pensioners’ paradise” thanks to its propitious climate. Nowadays,
this large research and industrial center is often
called the Silicon Valley of India for numerous
resident IT companies. The city accommodates
manufacturers of machine building, electronics
and aerospace products, as well as telecommunications equipment producers and defense firms.
There are also the Indian Institute of Science and
the National Aerospace Laboratories there. Considering Bangalore’s increasing economic role in
the world, the city is regarded as one of the most
attractive locations for running a business in a
developing country.
Infosys founder Narayana Murthy
to Indian analysts, many of those
who left Bangalore in the 1970s for
higher pay in the United States, later
returned home to start their own
business.
Pioneer’s problems
It is now all too obvious that
Narayana Murthy created a company destined to become a locomotive of the new economy, which
is changing the familiar image of
Mother India before our very eyes.
In 1981, when Infosys was founded,
few could imagine what the information technologies (IT) were
about. Murthy realized what prospects they opened, and jumped on
the foothold of accelerating train in
time. But it was all very nice on paper: there were obstacles, too.
As the businessman himself recalls,
India’s environment in the 1980s was
“extremely business unfriendly.”
Heading a private firm meant a neverending struggle against bureaucracy.
He spent a whole year to get a telephone connection for his company,
and waited three years for a license to
import a computer. “We used to have
a joke: half the people in the country
are waiting for a telephone, the other
half are waiting for a dial tone,” he
said.
The borrowed money only
helped to keep afloat for a while.
But Murthy and his six colleagues
who had been with the firm from
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
the beginning, kept their feet on the
ground. The secret was simple: “You
spent less than what you earned.”
He and his colleagues stayed in very
inexpensive hotels, didn’t have any
cars, sometimes they took buses,
sometimes they walked to the venue
of their meeting.
First success
In the late 1970s and early 1980s,
the world’s demand for custommade software was growing rapidly,
and Infosys founders realized that
this opened broad opportunities for
software suppliers.
Initially they only had one client, a New-York-based company,
which ordered a customized set of
software. The first client is very important. They can make or break a
start-up. India trained many engineers, who were all looking for a job.
The government allocated considerable funds for training technical
manpower at colleges.
“By and large we have recruited
very smart people,” Murthy recalls,
“and smart people, they learn pretty
quickly, they adapt very quickly,
and they think of new innovations.”
Minister Manmohan Singh carried
out reforms to deregulate domestic
business. Exporters were given significant incentives, such as duty free
imports of equipment and software,
an income tax break until 2010 and
exemption of excise duty on industrial goods purchased in India.
“We could travel abroad, we
could travel easily, we could get
consultants from outside, we could
import - all of that,” the pioneer of
high-tech business said. He stepped
down as director general when he
turned 60. Murthy, who is honorary chairman of the board, claims
he measures the success of his company not on the figures and revenues
it generates, but on the happiness it
creates for people.
This would include the public
benefit a company creates and decent remuneration for its personnel.
Many employees of his firm
truly benefited from this policy. At
Murthy’s initiative, employees were
given the opportunity to purchase
company shares. Their prices were
growing so fast that 400 staff became
owners of packages of shares worthy
one million dollars on short notice.
Entrepreneur’s mission
A high tech breakthrough would
be unthinkable without state support. In the early 1990s, Finance
Generations
Sharmila Samuel, an Infosys
medium tier manager, has good
chances to enter the company
Leftist views no obstacle to business
Narayana Murthy, a co-founder
of Infosys and a pioneer of Bangalore developments, initially tried to
actively resist world capitalism and
spend almost all his fortune on this
noble objective. But after USSR and
Bulgarian secret services snubbed
his projects, Murthy invested
250,000 dollars in a new computer
business in Bangalore. Having recruited about a dozen personnel, he
became a representative of the very
world capitalism in the 1990s against
which he had previously meant to
struggle. By the beginning of the
21st century, the volume of Infosysproduced software exceeded that
of the whole Russian IT market by
two times. In 2010, Infosys’annual
turnover reached 4.8 billion dollars;
the company has branches in more
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
administration. After graduating from a university as a system
analysis specialist, she was soon
appointed head of a group of developers for two projects for U.S.
customers.
The objective is a higher quality of products or services the two
U.S. firms provide to their clients.
One offers software to Atlanta
shops. Earlier, a customer paid by
credit card and got a receipt indicating the product’s price, the
change, etc. But after completion
of the project, the receipt added the
customer’s name entry, Sharmila
Samuel said.
The second company has an office in California. Infosys is creating
for it a more reliable protection for
passwords used in financial transactions.
Sharmila was among 200 aspirants to the programmer’s job. The
company only recruited 15, including Sharmila, a representative of a
new generation of India’s growing
middle class.
Propitious climate, good working
and living conditions
The summer in Bangalore is not
very hot, which many foreigners
find suitable as they consider a startup in the city. But the ITPB attracts
Indian and foreign specialists both
by interesting work and good conditions. Infosys and other IT firms
turned Bangalore into a prosperous
enclave, surrounded by a countless private farms that continue to
practice patriarchal lifestyle. The
number of such enclaves that take
a worthy niche in the 21st century
economy is increasing. Aside from
Bangalore, these are Hyderabad,
Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and several other modern technologies
centers.
Sunset of Bangalore’s Miracle?
Whereas sales of software brought
India 110 million dollars in 1990,
the proceeds from sales of these
products in foreign markets reached
2.7 billion dollars in 1999. In 2000,
they exceeded four billion dollars.
By 2005, software sales proceeds totaled 12 billion dollars and continued to grow, exceeding 12 percent
of India’s aggregate experts and two
percent of its GDP.
Today, Bangalore is not only the
capital of IT industry, but also aeronautics, biotechnologies, and space
exploration.
A SECRET OF SUCCESS
But even inveterate enthusiasts
of the development of this industry
have to admit now that it cannot
serve as perpetual motion engine to
pull the Indian economy upwards.
A slower economic growth in the
USA, and a dramatic decrease in
spending on renewing technologies by U.S. corporations could not
but influence their Indian partners.
Even Infosys suffered losses. Last
year, the USA’s Credit Suisse First
Boston lowered the rating of securities in the whole sector, changing
the recommendation from “buy” to
“hold.”
Admittedly, it is an unpleasant
sign. But a majority of Indian analysts believe the unlucky streak will
not last long. The industry is not
expecting any major crisis because
U.S. business persons, while slashing the funds intended for software
and electronic service, will tend to
work with Indian specialists instead
of inviting their highly-paid fellow
Americans.
Brain drain
Brain drain is another persistent
problem plaguing the industry. Directors of many Russian enterprises
and research centers know it only
too well. It is a never-ending process, despite the economic recession
in the USA and especially in Europe. The overseas “headhunters”
select the most promising students
before their graduation. Vandana
Rathi, a human resource expert of a
large firm in Delhi, complains that
she has to explain to candidates with
required skills increasingly often the
benefits they may get for working at
an Indian company. The demand
for skilled Indian engineers in the
West is great.
Prof Ramamurti believes it makes
no sense to try to keep young specialists from leaving. Skilled personnel
now work in one country, now move
to another. It is a sign of time, he
says. It makes no sense to hold graduates. There is only one way to resist
brain drain – train more specialists
and create a good environment for
them at home. Then many will stay
in their homeland or come back after gaining experience. And it really
happens.
54
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
TREND
TREND
Women’s
best friends
By Anna GEROYEVA
Russian diamonds make up 7 to 8 percent of the world market of cut diamonds. A lion’s share of Russia’s precious stones is exported and a mere
3 to 4 percent are sold in the domestic market. Russia prefers exporting
uncut diamonds to using them in domestic jewelry-making. However, high
customs duties and retailers’ surcharge hike the price of jewelry for end
consumers by 45 percent of the real value.
R & I correspondent Anna Geroyeva interviewed Indian businessman
Divyesh D.JOSHI, an enthusiast of Russian jewelry-making, who shared his
views about its prospects.
port jewelry-grade diamonds. We
also buy technical raw materials:
these diamonds are very small and
almost look like powder. Russia
does not process this kind of raw
materials, so we export them to
India which makes use of them. I
should also note that we work with
diamonds in a diamonds market.
Several years ago, Divyesh
D. Joshi founded the Nascent Company in Russia to export uncut diamonds to jewelry-makers abroad.
He intends to expand his business
in the next few years, staking on the
Russian consumer.
R & I: How long have you been in
the Russian market?
We’ve been cutting rough diamonds since 2006 and have accords
with Russia’s Alrosa Company for
supplies of rough diamonds. But
I set up a Russian company. We
cut Russian diamonds here to ex56
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
R & I: What difficulties does
your business encounter in Russia?
Although Russia has a population of 140 million people, and
many could afford gold pieces,
the demand for jewelry is very low.
Things are quite different in my
homeland. Gold items are preferred to other decorations and
people of all ages buy them. Russian youths tend to prefer a new
television or a trip to the seaside to
a new ring or earrings, while older
people would save money. Few invest in jewelry.
R & I: You say Russian retail
gold and diamonds do not sell well.
Why do you think business in Russia has prospects? What is the situation in the market at present?
Imported products admittedly
prevail in the Russian gems mar-
ket, which is disadvantageous to
consumers, the Russian budget
and the economy in general. Russian diamonds make up 7 to 8 percent of the world market of cut diamonds. A lion’s share of Russia’s
precious stones is exported and a
mere 3 to 4 percent are sold in the
domestic market. Russia prefers
exporting uncut diamonds to using
them in domestic jewelry-making.
However, high customs duties and
retailers’ surcharge hike the price
of jewelry for end consumers by 45
percent of the real value. The high
price is not justified, but regrettably, few are concerned about the
consumer’s interests in Russia,
otherwise the current system practiced in the Russian market would
have long been changed. It is no
secret that corruption among Russian officials sometimes exceeds
all permissible levels. I think it is
wrong when people have to pay
three or four times more for gold
in Russia than in European countries or the USA.
R & I: How do you propose to resolve this all-Russia problem?
I believe there is one way out.
It’s easy and difficult at the same
time. Russia needs to launch its
own production of jewelry! It is a
unique country with no problems
with raw materials or labor force.
By setting up specialized companies, you can reach several objectives: employ many people in
craftsmanship, make jewelry out
of raw materials produced in this
country and replenish the Russian budget. I plan to set up such a
company within two years, a small
firm at first. I believe this plan is
quite feasible.
R & I: What difficulties do jewelry makers encounter in Russia at
present?
There are many difficulties.
High manufacturing area lease
rates are the first. In Russia, the
price of rent exceeds that in Central Asia or Dubai by four times.
Also, there are no young people to
employ. The labor force at Russian jewelry manufacturers’ ages
inexorably; skilled workers retire,
and the state has no coherent system to train new ones. Also, Rus-
sia uses old cutting technologies;
few invest in technologies which
increases the price of the product.
R & I: You said the existing Russian companies lack personnel,
skilled workers at jewelry-making
companies are aging, new employees are not coming, and there is nobody to work… Whom are you going
to hire?
Russians, of course! Seriously,
I will carefully select workforce for
my company, handle their training, and see to it that they acquire
quite high skills. You know, I pin
special hopes on Russian women;
they have good eyesight, strong
hands yet soft and gentle fingers.
They will cope with this work well.
R & I: Do you think this practice
is possible in Russia?
I think so. There are many
abled-bodied persons who can afford gold items with gems. Many
female employees have money and
are ready to spend it on jewelry.
Not without reason is it said that
diamonds are women’s best friend.
Simply Russian women have never
been offered this kind of service.
I believe we’ll make a success.
R & I: How do people in your
country feel about jewelry?
Buying gold, making gold and
wearing gold is an art. Everybody
knows it and behaves accordingly.
Our people do not buy gold to wear
it forever. The item can be returned
to the shop to trade in for a new one.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
TREND
TREND
The Precious
Attraction
of India
By Roman BARASHEV
A silver bracelet with amethyst or a garnet necklace used to make an excellent present for women in the USSR. The wives of numerous employees at
the Soviet Embassy, consulates, trade mission, the State Committee of the
Council of Ministers for Foreign Economic Relations, journalists and specialists engaged in Indian-Russian construction projects bought up commercial quantities of precious and especially semi-precious stones. Soviet
ladies allegedly brought up with strict Communist morals and indifferent
to items of luxury and capitalist values, ferried bagfuls of Indian gems to
their Motherland.
Buying any jewelry is no problem in Russia at present. But dozens of thousands Russian tourists prefer doing it on their own in India.
T
he Moonstone by
Wilkie Collins and
Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle’s the Sign of
Four which many of
us read in our youth are centered
on Indian gems, but these stories
are fiction. Russian tsars had real
gems, such as the Orlov and Shah
diamonds.
The 194.8-carat Orlov diamond
is set in the tsar’s scepter, a symbol
of authority specially produced by
the date of the coronation of Emperor Pavel I in late XVIII century. It was found in India and
belonged to Jahan Shah. The dia58
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
mond changed hands many times,
and, according to one version,
Russian Count Orlov bought it in
the XVIII century and gave it to
Empress Catherine on her name
day in 1773. Another version has
it that Catherine bought it herself
at the treasury’s expense, but arranged gift-giving to conceal the
spending.
The story of the Shah diamond
is tragic for Russia. In 1829, mutinous Persians demolished the
Russian Embassy, killing 37 of its
personnel, including famous Russian diplomat, playwright, poet
and composer Alexander Gri-
boyedov. To make up after the
diplomatic scandal, the Persian
Shah sent his grandson, Prince
Hozrev Mirza with precious gifts
to Russian Emperor Nicholas I in
Petersburg. The gifts included an
Indian 88.7-carat diamond. Both
gems are kept at Diamond Fund of
the Moscow Kremlin.
Russia has used Indian gems for
ages. For example, Pink Tourmaline is set in the 1685 Gospel at the
Treasury of the Trinity Lavra of St
Sergius, a major Russian Orthodox Church center.
Legends of Indian gems abound,
probably because India has been
famous for them for millennia.
Jewelry was found during the excavation of Mohenjo-daro, a Harappan civilization center which
flourished in the 23 rd –19 th centuries B.C. Some stories said Indian
gems were brought to King Solomon along with other exotic goods.
India’s present-day jewelrymaking industry is the most dynamic sector, growing at 15 to 20
percent a year, and accounting for
the largest portion of hard currency revenue. Consequently, the
Indian authorities pay most serious attention to it. At least five
colleges train specialists in this
area. These include the Mumbaibased Indian Institute of Gems
and Jewelry (IIGJ) and the Gemmological Institute of India (GII).
The first has operated for more
than 30 years, and the second for
over 40 years.
India is the largest world exporter of jewelry. According to
the Diamonds & Gold of Russia
magazine, India accounts for 60
percent of world exports of precious stones in value terms and 90
percent in quantitative terms. The
country takes care to develop and
strengthen the domestic market.
It is the primary objective of the
All India Gems and Jewelry Trade
Federation (GJF). According to
its chairman Bachharaj Bamalwa,
the Federation brings together
more than 300,000 producers,
and wholesale and retail traders.
It would be wrong to assume that
gems trade is limited to large cities,
where the population’s incomes
are higher. City trade only makes
up 30 percent of retail trade, with
villages and small town accounting for the remaining 70 percent.
India’s gems and jewelry industry
employs 1.3 million people. Liking gems is a national trait.
Still, only a visit to India can
give an idea of how rich it is in precious and semi-precious stones. A
personal impression would not be
as precise as statistics, yet it is far
stronger.
I first visited India for several
months of pre-graduation practice more than three decades ago.
The first thing I did was take a walk
through the Jan Path market in
New Delhi where I purchased a
blood-stone set in a silver frame.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Our University Hindi teacher told
me before my trip to India that it
was my horoscope stone. Years
later, I learnt that blood stone was
a symbol of wisdom and courage,
and helped keep optimism and
willpower. I might lack all these
virtues, for very soon I lost my
bloodstone.
But that happened in Soviet
times far back in the past, when
buying Indian gems in Russia was
next to impossible, while tourist
trips to India were a rare exotic
opportunity. The lucky ones, who
did travel there in groups, could
hardly afford one semi-precious
stone because of a limited amount
of local currency they could use.
There was however robust demand for Indian gems among numerous personnel at Soviet missions, journalists and specialists
who could afford them. The demand tended to prevail among
women and was draining family
budgets.
Soviet ladies allegedly brought
up with strict Communist morals
60
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TREND
and indifferent to items of luxury
and capitalist values, ferried bagfuls of Indian gems to their Motherland. Men used to bring home
Indian jewelry as presents. For example, a silver bracelet with amethyst or a garnet necklace made a
splendid present for women in the
USSR.
Indian gems are popular not just
among Russians. While exploring the Red Fort shopping mall
in New Delhi, I saw many female
tourists from America and Europe, who were buying up jewelry
with as much enthusiasm. No ideology can overcome women’s love
for gems.
For the Indians, the gems are
more than decoration. They are
believed to have magical significance and influence a person’s
life. Back in ancient times, they
designed navaratna, a combination of nine stones as the symbols
of nine planets in Indian astrology: pearl for the Moon, emerald
for Mercury, ruby for the Sun,
diamond for Venus, red coral for
Mars, blue sapphire for Saturn,
yellow sapphire for Jupiter, cinnamon stone for Rahu and cat’s eye
for Ketu.
Navaratna protects from trouble and has a beneficial influence
upon a person’s life. It is also a ritual object when put into the foundation of a house or a temple.
In ancient India, the magical
properties of gems were used in
the treatment of various diseases.
According to ayurvedic concepts,
illnesses befall a person because
of disharmony with the universe.
They say the gems draw the energy
of the universe and help a person
to restore harmony. Jewel therapy
is still practiced in India.
Buying any Indian precious
or semi-precious stones is not a
problem in Russia at present. But
dozens of thousand Russian tourists who travel to India every year
prefer to do it on their own. Even
if you are no lover of gems, walk
around shops with piles of gems of
various colors in any Indian town.
You will feel their magic.
CULTURE
DETAILS
Sikhs, the disciples
of chieftains
and wise men
By Vladimir SKOSYREV
The country with a population over one billion only has 20 million Sikhs. Yet
they take a prominent place in India’s politics, economy and culture, as we
can see from the life and career of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Moscow community
A Sikh in Moscow is not a rare
sight nowadays: a man with a broad
and thick beard, a large turban on
his head and an indispensable iron
bracelet on the right hand. Sikhs are
India’s third largest religious group.
A Sikh temple is called gurdwara,
which literarily means “guru’s
door”. When outside of their homeland, the Sikhs take care to keep the
traditions of their forefathers. The
largest Sikh diaspora centers are
found in Canada, the United States,
Malaysia and East Africa. In the
modern Western world, Sikhs are
often mistaken for Muslims because
of their trademark turbans.
The community of incoming Sikhs
in Russia, mostly business persons
and students, was started in the 1990s.
A Gurdwara committee was registered in Moscow in 1997. The
Moscow-based Sikhs have no temple of their own yet, but their praying assemblies – sangats – can be
held in any quarters which have the
Adi Granth holy book.
The Gurdwara Committee Moscow, a religious organization of
Sikhs that brings together some 500
members, mostly business persons,
was registered in Moscow in May
2003. The Sikhs welcome any visitor, regardless of his nationality or
faith. Reading the Adi Granth holy
scripture, singing hymns, and partaking consecrated food put you in
the atmosphere of spiritual harmony
and love.
Founder Teachers
and the Adi Granth
Sikhism, as a religious movement, originated in northwestern
India in the beginning of the 16th
century. Its founder was Guru
Nanak, born near Lahore in 1469.
He travelled extensively, and even
visited Mecca. He settled in Punjab
in the beginning of the 16th century
where he began to propagate his new
teaching. He and his successors set
up a well-organized religious community of the Sikhs.
The Sikh religion existed in the
form of successive veneration of ten
Gurus from 1469 through 1708. The
10th teacher – Guru Gobind Singh
proclaimed the end of the Guru cult
and said the Guru Granth Sahib,
or Adi Granth, was the last Guru
henceforth and for ever and ever.
The Adi Granth holy scripture,
written and compiled by the Gurus,
is an authentic holy text. Nobody is
permitted to change a line or even
a comma in the 1,430-page Holy
Scripture.
Sikh’s outlook for God,
life and people
The Sikhs believe in one God,
all-powerful and all-pervading.
Nobody knows His real name. The
Sikhs worship by meditating. No
other deities, demons or spirits are
worthy of worship, according to
their religion.
Professing love and brotherly relations to all people on Earth regardless of their ethnicity makes groundwork for their outlook for life.
What kind of person should an
orthodox Sikh be? Firstly, they
must be good people, and seek and
manifest their God-given Faith
and Love, be free in their will and
respect the freedom of others. Love
must be manifested in daily deeds,
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in the simplest and routine things.
Unsurprisingly, Sikhs are always
optimistic, joyful and hopeful.
Any person regardless of his ethnicity, sex and origin can embrace
Sikhism. The Sikhs must keep on
them five objects (five Ks): Kesha
– uncut hair hidden under a turban, Kangha, a wooden comb worn
in the hair, Kara, a steel bracelet,
Kachla, undergarments, and Kirpan, a sword or a dirk worn under
garments. The rule is mandatory.
A sword is never used for asserting
one’s power, threatening or violence on others.
The Sikhs cremate their dead. After cremation, the ashes of the dead
person are poured into a channel or
river. There are no monuments to
the dead. After death, the soul rejoins the God.
Sikhism has no concepts of afterlife heaven or hell, retribution, sins,
karma and rebirth. The Sikhs believe the teaching of retribution in
the next life, necessary repentance,
cleansing of sin, fasts, chastity and
“good deeds” are an attempt by certain mortals to manipulate others.
Golden Temple
The key shrine of the Sikhs, the
Golden Temple, is in the Punjab
town of Amritsar. After the death of
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Guru Nanak in Amritsar where he
lived and preached, it became the
place of pilgrimage and a shrine for
the Sikhs. Its construction began
under Guru Arjun (1581-1606). A
settlement around it later grew into
a large city called Amritsar, by the
name of the lake. The Golden Temple sits in the center of Lake Amritsar. The temple is joined with the
shore with a narrow marble bridge.
Beginning from the 17th century
through the middle of the 18th century, the Sikhs waged a constant war
with Muslim armies. The Muslims
destroyed the Sikh temple several
times, but the Sikhs, in rebuilding it, only made it larger and more
beautiful.
During the rule of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), the temple was adorned with marble, gilding and many gems. The dome was
covered with a massive 400-kilogram gold sheet, which earned it the
name Golden Temple by which it is
known nowadays.
The Golden Temple is an example of combined Indian and Muslim
architecture. Under the Sikh tradition, there are no objects or images inside the temple, save the Adi
Granth Holy Book. It is kept under
a canopy on a pedestal adorned with
gems.
The service in the temple runs
from daybreak till dawn. It begins in
the morning with the reading of the
first page of the Book and ends with
the reading of its last page.
Repast at the temple
Before entering the temple, the
pilgrims immerse themselves in the
water of the holy lake. It is a symbolic purification of the soul and is
not viewed as bathing. Upon entering the temple, the believers take off
their footwear and cover their heads
with a rectangular yellow kerchief.
Then then take a bow with palms
held against each other to the holy
book, say a prayer, and sit down on
the floor to hear the book read.
The Amritsar complex comprises
several temples and hotels for pilgrims and a huge kitchen which caters for all the visitors regardless of
nationality, religion or caste. Daily
attendance of the temple reaches up
to 20,000 people, and on holidays,
their numbers increase five-fold!
A foreigner is allowed to enter the
temple; they must have their heads
covered and take off their footwear
before walking in.
I was lucky to see both the kitchen
and the refectory. When I, in a
crowd of pilgrims, began to move
along the marble bridge across the
pond, the dome of the shrine shone
with gold in the sun, and multicolor garments of women and blue
and scarlet turbans of men made
fanciful reflections in the water.
Amplified through loudspeakers,
the tune of the hymns sang by males
underscored the feeling of festivity
in what was transpiring.
Suddenly the singing stopped
and the pilgrims slowly trod towards
the hall where everything was ready
for dinner. The Golden Temple is
not merely an abode for believes, it
is probably the world’s largest mess
hall offering meals for free.
Bearded barefoot men holding wooden spoons, each the size
of an oar were making a ritual of
cooking around the steaming pots
with pottage of lentils, massing
over three tons. They were putting
generous portions of onions, garlic and red hot pepper in a tasty
smelling soup.
Before repast, thousands of volunteers had washed floors, cut onions, shelled peas, and peeled garlic. They had also washed 40,000
metal plates and spoons. Each can
have a meal at this place without
paying a rupee. Such is the tradition. The communal kitchen was
founded by 3rd Guru Amar Das
in the 16th century. Its purpose is
DETAILS
to put all people on equal footing.
Amar Das wished the Sikhs helped
each other and were ready to work
not only for themselves, but also for
the common good. In the museum
set up at the temple, there is picture
showing a Guru’s wife. She works
at the communal kitchen together
with ordinary people.
Any person, regardless of his
faith, can have a meal at the temple.
In this sense, the abode is a symbol
of variety and tolerance characteristic of India.
Bloodbath in the temple
The Golden Temple has not been
a quiet abode all the time. In the
1970s and 1980s, part of the Sikhs
mutinied, demanding a separate
state in Punjab. The leader of a bellicose sect with his followers took
shelter in the temple. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the army
to clean it of the armed insurgents
in 1984.
Many militants were killed in the
operation, and the temple was damaged. One tragedy came hard on
heels of the other. Two Sikhs – the
commandos from Indira Gandhi’s
guard – killed her in revenge for ordering to storm the temple.
These upheavals did not rock
the state’s foundation or its loyalty
to secularism. In the Indian army,
the Sikhs still account for at least 20
percent of all posts.
Prime minister is a Sikh
Moscow and New Delhi alternatively host top-level meetings. Last
year, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited our country.
He is well-known in Russia, not
only because of the post in the state
which plays an increasingly larger
role in international affairs. Manmohan Singh is also known as an
outstanding economist. As the finance minister in the beginning of
the 1990s, he carried out reforms to
create a favorable investment climate in India. It is thanks to these
reforms that the Indian economy
sharply increased its growth rates.
This outstanding statesman was
born 79 years ago in Punjab to a family belonging to the religious community of the Sikhs. Before him, all
Indian prime ministers were Hindus. Manmohan Singh became the
first Sikh prime minister.
There are just 20 million Sikhs
in the country with a population
over one billion. Yet they occupy a
prominent place in India’s politics,
economy and culture, as the life and
career of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh show.
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Mumbai is the “Gateway of India”
Mumbai is the most cosmopolitan city in India, the
business capital of the country where the famous
Bombay Stock Exchange operates. And it is also
a whirlpool of unbridled exotic experiences that
pump you up with adrenalin 24 hours a day.
By Sergei STROKAN
W
hen we say
India,
we
mean
Goa.
This is what
India still is
for the majority of Russians who
continue to regard this former
Portuguese colony on the Indian
Ocean as the “Gateway of India”.
However the real “Gateway to
India” is an hour away from Goa
by plane, in legendary Mumbai
(Bombay until 1996). Surrounded
by the ocean on one side and by
the jungle on the other, Mumbai
is Goa plus, so to speak, one of the
strangest cities not only in India
but also in the world. The local
lore is intertwined there with the
most bizarre external influences,
which makes this megalopolis with
a population of 15 million the most
cosmopolitan place in India. Be64
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
ing the capital city of the State of
Maharashtra, Mumbai gives you
a plenitude of feelings and exciting experiences, thus proving that
there is more to India than just tea,
monkeys and elephants.
Every person discovers this city
in his own way. And yet, it is better
to start in the central part of Mumbai, which was built by the British
and can take you back to colonial
times: Victoria Terminus, the
largest railway station in Asia, the
building of the University, the old
edifice of the Hotel Taj Mahal on
the embankment, the Gateway of
India, the Triumphal Arch built to
mark the arrival of King George
V of England in 1911. Particularly impressive is the University
complex: the library crowned with
a tower with a chiming clock and
the Convocation Hall designed by
British architect Gilbert Scott.
Institutions and stores in
Mumbai open quite late, and the
streets are surprisingly empty in
the morning, allowing you to take
a quiet stroll before the midday
clamour and heat deafen you and
force you back to your hotel.
After catching your breath, you
will soon feel like venturing out
again after lunch to get drawn into
the whirlpool of city life. A guide
will take you, for a token fee, to
the quarter which, although being
in Downtown Mumbai, lives its
own off-the-beaten-track life. It’s
hard to believe that all this is happening in the city that is reputed
to be India’s financial and business centre, just two steps away
from the famous 19th century
Bombay Stock Exchange. It is the
21st century, but this place is filled
CULTURE
The city got its name from Goddess Mumba Devi,
the patroness of the indigenous fishing people who
lived there since time immemorial. It was built on
seven swampy islands, using sand and struggling
with the water and the jungle. The city sprawls in
a horseshoe form around a picturesque bay, especially if seen from above, with a broad stretch of
sandy beaches behind the seafront balustrades.
with cramped homes, tiny stores,
tailor, ironing and barber shops,
and small temples of different religions. In front of one of them
there is a cow lying in the road and
several women next to it, offering
you a wisp of hay to feed the sacred
animal.
One will also discover many
surprising things when learning
about different faiths in India.
For example, Mumbai is the only
place in the country where the
Parsis live. They believe that the
deceased cannot be buried or cre66
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mated because this will defile the
sacred elements. Dead bodies are
left in special places to be eaten
by vultures. There is a part of the
primordial jungle left intact in one
of the city parks where members of
the sect can carry out their rituals
and that can be entered only with a
special pass.
Another of Mumbai’s landmarks is a huge open air wash
house called Dhobi Ghat. It’s a
very unusual sight: tucked in between a railway station and dwelling houses, there are numerous
concrete wash pens, with hundreds of men toiling away as only
males can work as laundrymen.
They thrash the clothes and then
hang them out to dry. The sight of
Dhobi Ghat at the sunset is quite
striking.
Darkness falls early in India.
But when the heat subsides and
dusk sets in, Mumbai and you with
it begin to live a different life. Unlike, say, New Delhi, which seems
to be a hick town after Mumbai
and goes dormant after nightfall,
this place on the coast of the Indian Ocean bustles with nightlife.
In old Soviet times, our movie
houses played the Indian film
“Bombai Raat Ke Bahon Mein”.
Thirty years on nightlife in Bombay, now Mumbai, appears to be
much more vibrant.
When numerous hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and discotheques
along the coast turn on their
lights, wealthy tourists and the local aristocracy start streaking in.
Dazzlingly beautiful women and
their male partners in rich clothes,
both European and ethnic, flutter
out of sparkling limousines. Many
of them are film stars. Mumbai is
the centre of India’s film industry known as Bollywood. This is
where famous actors live. They
work hard during the day, starring
in three or four films at the same
time (Bollywood cooks films like
cakes), and relax during the night,
drifting from one place to another.
If all of a sudden you feel nostalgia for Bangkok at night, the
easiest solution would be to go to
the red light area. And yet it would
be wiser to choose one of the better places that abound in Mumbai. For example, if you are not in
for Indian food, the Hotel Grand
Maratha has an excellent Lebanese
restaurant called Maroush, which
is known not only for its cuisine but
also for a belly dance performed by
Mexican dancer Amar. She makes
two 30-minutes appearances during the night, walking between the
tables and stirring passions. After
Maroush, you may want to opt for
a quieter time and move one store
down to the Bombay High bar
where you can listen to live mu-
DETAILS
boat. The island’s name comes
from the huge statute of the elephant that was first seen by the
Portuguese upon landing. The
temple consists of seven caves
carved in a mountain, with Mahesamurti being the most spectacular one: a 27 by 27 meter square is
supported by rows of stone pillars.
Rock-cut sculptures of Shiva in
different reincarnations are seen
in niches: Shiva slaying Andhaka;
Ardhanarisvara (a half-man, halfwoman representation of Shiva);
Shiva as Nataraja performing the
Tandava (cosmic dance); Kalyanasundaramurti, depicting Shiva’s marriage to the goddess Parvati; Rudra-Shiva, the Destroyer.
Thirty-five kilometers from
Mumbai are Kanheri Caves, a series of caves with rock-cut sculptures dating back to the 2nd-9th
centuries. Unlike Elephanta, this
is a Buddhist temple. Another
complex of Buddhist caves is located in Karli, 114 kilometres
from Mumbai, and consists of several halls created over two periods
starting nearly 2,000 years ago by
monks who sought shelter during
rains. The facades are decorated
with ornaments and paired figures. Although located seemingly
close, it may take four hours to get
to Karli. But that can’t be helped
as roads in India, including those
leading to its business capital, are
congested not only with cars but
also with animals.
sic performed by touring groups,
or you can order kebab and drive
away to Night Lover in the eastern
part of the city. Its only downside
is high prices (free entrance but a
bottle of beer costs 400 rupees, or
$9, which is an exorbitant price by
Indian standards).
It is better to stay in five-star
hotels in Mumbai such as the
Taj Mahal or the Oberoi Towers, which will make you feel like
an Indian maharaja. On the other
hand, four-star hotels are also
quite decent. One of them is the
Ambassador with a rotating restaurant on the 12th floor, offering
a breathtaking view of the city and
the bay area.
Mumbai’s vicinities deserve a
look too. The easiest way is to take
a trip to Elephanta Caves: a ferry
leaves from the Gateway of India
and an hour or so later brings you
to an island with one of the most
famous Shiva temples. To avoid
crowds, you may want to start off
early to catch the nine o’clock
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PHARMACIA
AYURVEDA:
old is gold
By Mariam SALGANIK
Ayurveda, Science of Life in Sanskrit, is a very ancient scientific system of medicine that developed,
flourished and continues to be widely used in the
Indian Subcontinent. To go back to the sources of
Ayurveda one has to delve really deep into history,
because it was conceived about 2500 years back in
the times of the Vedas. Sometimes Ayurveda is even
referred to as the Fifth Veda.
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A
yurveda’s conceptual base was formulated rather early in
its classical texts and
never changed since
that time. However, this is not to
say that Ayurveda remained static,
it went on developing and expanding but strictly on the foundation
of the initial concepts: like treating organism as a whole and not as
an aggregate of parts, or regarding
human beings as cosmic entities
containing all, that cosmos con-
tains and staying in constant interaction with it.
Till the last decades of the last century Ayurveda was practiced in the
Subcontinent, but after 1974, when
the World Health Organization has
invited attention to traditional systems of medicine, Ayurveda along
with Chinese and Tibetan medical systems started steadily gaining
awareness in the West.
At present Ayurveda is enormously popular outside its homeland, particularly in the USA and
Europe including Russia. Although in Russia Ayurveda has
been virtually unknown, say, 15
years back, now it turning into a
household word.
But then a question might be
asked: what made this ancient
system of medicine popular in
developed, technologically advanced countries with well established health-care networks?
What makes tens of millions prefer spending their money – a lot
of money too! – on this outlandish
treatment? And since the market
– hot as it is – is showing no signs
of cooling, it looks that patients
are not disappointed with the results of Ayurvedic medication!
The very first and easy explanation that immediately springs
to the mind is the mounting mistrust of and confusion over the virtual avalanche of new medicines
churned out by the international
pharmaceuticals. At exorbitant
prices too.
Yet, there is another explanation of a more profound nature:
Ayurvedic approach is different
from that of the modern medicine.
While modern medicine with all
its spectacular progress becomes
more and more specialized and
disease-oriented, Ayurveda remains non-specialized and patient-oriented, which gives it a
certain advantage in management
of chronic and gerontal ailments.
Paradoxically, it is the progress of
modern medicine that increases
the aged segment of population
especially in developed countries,
which gains more from Ayurvedic
treatment than mainstream medicine can offer.
PHARMACIA
According to Ayurveda, macrocosmos in a living being transforms
into three doshas – say, into three
forms of biological energy: vata, that
controls all our voluntary and involuntary movements, pitta, which is
our biochemical lab, and kapha –
that keeps together and lubricates
our system. When the three of them
are in balance, we are physically and
mentally healthy, while their imbalance means disease. Hence, all Ayurvedic treatment is aimed at retention or restoration of this balance.
So – what is Ayurveda? Let me start with a quote
from a classical Ayurvedic text: “mind, soul and
body in combination are like a tripod upon which
the world is sustained”. As for death: it is the reversion of matter consisting in living organism to
its original state. Thus, a living organism is a micro-cosmos that returns to macro-cosmos in order
to sustain the eternal turnover.
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PHARMACIA
Contrary to general notion, Ayurveda is not herbal
medicine. It uses herbal materials along with mineral stuff and other sources. And Ayurveda does not
advocate vegetarianism – in fact, in many cases classical texts prescribe medicated meat soups as part of
treatment. So it is wrong to presume that vegetarianism is obligatory for Ayurvedic treatment or for
Ayurvedic way of life.
The maintaining or restoration
of health depends on our consumption of environmental matter in the right form, proportion,
combination and at the right time.
The timing is very important, because of doshas’ daily, seasonal
and age-related fluctuations.
But what is all-important is the
diet. It is said in the classical texts:
“If you keep a proper diet, what
is the need for treatment? If you
don’t keep a proper diet, what is
the use of treatment?”
Ayurveda insists that all diseases
are psychosomatic, since body and
mind are in constant reciprocal
action. However, the tenet does
not cancel individual predisposition for maladies to affect body
rather than mind or visa-versa.
This, as well as one’s proneness to
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certain ailments or immunity to
certain ailments, depends on individual configuration of doshas, or
a person’s prakriti, to use a Sanskrit term.
According to Ayurvedic theory,
each one of us is born with a certain predominance of one or two
doshas that determins our physical and mental characteristics.
Doshic configurations are as individual and constant as our fingerprints, yet people can be classified
into several prakriti groups in accordance with doshic dominance.
Ayurvedic physician, by identifying your prakriti would know
what ailments you are predisposed
to – and likewise which ones don’t
threaten you – and advise you on
your individual diet, treatment,
way of living etc.
PHARMACIA
Does it sound fantastic, or
too good to be true? In 2007-09
a group of Indian and Russian
specialists including geneticists,
conducted a study aimed at checking the ancient prakriti theory by
methods of modern science. The
results are highly encouraging and
now the institute of Genomics in
New Delhi is working to develop
a diagnosticum that would make
it possible for a physician – not
necessarily an Ayurvedic one – to
diagnose your predisposition for
cooperated with Indian colleagues.
Regretfully, with time the pendulum swung far into the commercial side: mushrooming Ayurveda
centers were – and are – less interested in study and research than
in quick money-making. Well, the
process of commercialization of
Ayurveda is not confined to Russia
alone! At any rate, nowadays Ayurveda is well known in this country and people can benefit from it.
However, having mentioned the
Indo-Russian team’s successful
erly the drugs produce no adverse
by-effects – as opposed to mainstream medicines.
It must be said that efficacy of
Ayurvedic drugs – time-tested
for millennia! – creates a great
demand for them, which by turn
creates environmental problems
as it is only wild-growing plants
that are used in drugs. So far, all
attempts to replace them by estate
plants failed.
An initial meeting with an Ayurvedic physician lasts an hour
chakarma or Five Actions, procedure, designed to cleanse the system on cellular level, to strengthen
and rejuvenate it.
The mounting popularity of
Ayurveda could not but mount
the black side of it. The commercialization of Ayurveda outside
its homeland, development and
spread of what is known as Ayurvedic tourism or else as Hotel
Ayurveda has already made Indian
authorities quite uneasy about the
trend of compromising this great
diseases and help you to keep out
of harm. It would be enough to
send your blood sample to a lab to
identify your prakriti.
They say that Russians are slow
to harness but fast to ride. The
description fits Ayurveda’s introduction to Russia. Russia was
a latecomer to Ayurveda-mania
in the West, but in 1996 Dr. Svetlana Mayskaya invited to Moscow
a team of Ayurvedic physicians
from the famous Arya Vaidya Sala
in Kerala headed by Professor
C.R.Agnives to practice and teach
Ayurveda. It was professor Agnives who actually rocked the cradle of Ayurvada in Russia. Ancient
system of medicine was taught to
medical students and doctors, Ayurvedic research was conducted in
a number of Moscow institutes that
research, I must also say that the
mammoth pharmaceutical companies of India like Dabur India Ltd,
Zandu Pharmaceutical Works or
The Himalaya Drug Company with
its distribution division in America
(Himalaya USA)– to name but a
few, are investing a great deal into
Ayurvedic drugs research and development. Well, buying Liv-52
or Memoria or some other equally
popular drugs in Moscow, we seldom realize that these are ancient
Ayurvedic medicines in modern
forms.
Ayurvedic drugs are composite, some of them consist of dozens of components. Only natural
materials are used in Ayurvedic
drugs– for instance, calcium is
made of burnt seashells. If given
by a physician and taken prop-
or longer, because he –or she –
has to ask you detailed questions
about your health, diet and lifestyle. Then he – or she – will listen to your pulse. In Ayurveda 12
different pulse points are assessed.
The appearance of your skin, lips,
nails, and eyes is also observed.
Mind you – no x-ray, no blood
tests, nothing of the sort! An
Ayurvedic physician doesn’t need
them. Then the physician can
work out an individualized treatment plan, which includes diet,
or rather seasonal diets, yoga
exercise, meditation, and often
massage.
Massages are a very important part of Ayurvedic treatment.
There is a whole array of them at
the physician’s disposal, yet the
crown of Ayurveda is the pan-
historical legacy. Steps are taken
to control the self-styled medical
gurus as well as the drugs they are
using. Alas, it is easier to introduce
control measures than to convince
the gullible that Ayurveda is a system of medicine – not a universal
panacea!
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DETAILS
Krishna Followers in Russia
There are over 100 large Vaishnava centres and several hundred spiritual
groups in Russia. The Vaishnavas attach great importance to family values
and bring up their children to be tolerant, undefiled, free of bad habits, and
respectful of nature and Holy Scriptures. The Russian Centre of Societies for
Krishna Consciousness and spiritual centers hold religious services and teach
canonical texts on a regular basis. The fundamental principles of Vaishnavism
are purity (bodily and mental), severity with regard to sensual desires, pursuit
of truth, as well as mercy and compassion.
By Vladimir IVANOV
I
n November 2011, Indian
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil congratulated
Russian Vaishnavas, the
followers of the Society for
Krishna Consciousness, on the
40th anniversary of this spiritual
movement in Russia.
“Over the last several decades,
ISKCON [International Society
for Krishna Consciousness – Ed.]
has played an important role in
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RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
popularizing the noble and eternal
message of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita
and has contributed to establishment of spiritual harmony in many
countries”, Ms Pratibha Patil’s
message reads in part.
The fact that you have been engaged in this activity for such a
prolonged time attests to your determination”, Ms. Patil went on.
“I congratulate ISKCON Russia
and hope its followers will con-
tinue their service to the people of
Russia with the same enthusiasm
as before. I extend my best wishes
to the worshippers of the Lord
Krishna in Russia in connection
with this joyous event.”
The public relations department of the Russian Centre of Societies for Krishna Consciousness
said that this spiritual movement,
which has become a symbol of religious freedom in the post-Soviet
space, is today developing vigorously in the sphere of social service,
as well as cultural and educational
activities comprising, among other
things, strengthening of RussianIndian relations, propagation of a
healthy lifestyle without alcohol,
cigarettes, drugs, etc.
The Russian Vaishnavas account for a large proportion of
Russian tourists to India. Twice a
year, many Vaishnavas make pilgrimages to the holy places such
as Vrindavan and Mathura (the
birthplace of Krishna), Nabadwip
(the birthplace of the Golden Avatar Sri Chaitanya) Jagannath Puri,
the Himalayas, and southern Indian temples and shrines.
A week of solemn, spiritual and
cultural events in Moscow on June
12-19, 2012 will be the climax of
celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of this spiritual movement in Russia.
The festival will for the first
time involve Soviet Vaishnavas
(as the Krishna followers are usually referred to). The guests of
honour will include Shyamasundara Dasa (Sam Speerstra), who
accompanied Prabhupada on his
trip to the Soviet Union. Sam was
a close friend of George Harrison,
the lead guitarist for Beatles, and
at his request was with him in the
last minutes of his life in November 2001.
Several hundred guests from
different regions of Russia and
other countries will participate in
the celebrations. Their organisers
want to make the festival a meeting place for different generations of Vaishnavas in an attempt
to take a fresh look at the role,
objectives, goals and prospects
of Vaishnavism in Russia and
the world. Meetings, discussions
and interviews with Vaishnavism
trailblazers are scheduled, which
should certainly be interesting to
both those who study the history
of this movement and those who
have just come to know it.
During the festival, two Russians
will be initiated as Sanyasi (the highest monastic rank in Hinduism), thus
bringing the total number of Russian
Sanyasi to four.
DETAILS
Exactly 40 years ago, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada (1896-1977), an Indian religious leader
and enlightener, visited the Soviet Union. The Indian preacher could do it despite the iron curtain
and close attention to foreigners from secret services,
which acted all the more rigorously when it came to
dissidence. In fact, throughout the Soviet period any
religion was considered to be the antipode of the
official ideology and was hardly welcomed, to say
the least.
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CINEMA
Russian actor to play the role
of Raj Kapoor
Singer Vladimir BRILEV will play Raj Kapoor in an
Indian biographical film. The shooting is to begin
in Yekaterinburg in mid-2012, and will continue in
India and Bali. The Russian artist assures he is ready
as can be for work in Indian cinematography: during the interview he demonstrated to an R & I correspondent his singing and dancing skills.
By Anna GEROYEVA
R & I: You are going to play the role
of Raj Kapoor, a theatre and film actor, scriptwriter and producer, who
won India’s all possible awards and
regalia in his lifetime, and is known as
the father of Indian cinema. Do you
think you are ready to play such an
outstanding personality?
I think I am (smiling). As Kapoor,
I have high biological energy, characteristic of the personalities who
achieved everything through perseverance. Life was hard on me: I had
a difficult childhood and youth, I
starved for days on end, my work was
exhausting, I had no home of my own,
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RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
staying at railway stations overnight,
and eating round fried meat pies and
drinking fizz for dinner… I’m just 26,
and by this time, I’ve overcome and
achieved much; I have a house of my
own, I have money, lawyer’s education and even a PhD degree. I might
have assumed I’m established in this
life and relax. But my childhood
dream – to become an artist – has
never given me peace. I worked much
towards making it come true; I have
become an acknowledged singer and
won several professional awards and
that despite the dire predictions by
spiteful critics that neither my songs
nor I have a future! I combine concert
performances with studies at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) to make my other dream come
true – becoming an actor. That is
why I unconditionally accepted Bollywood’s proposal to play the role of
Raj Kapoor in an Indian film!
R & I: Is it the first offer in your
life to star in a film?
Russian producers invited me,
too. I refused because I did not find
their scripts interesting enough.
R & I: Why do you find starring
in an Indian film so appealing? Do
you wish to be a celebrity in a foreign
state, or gain acting experience, or,
perhaps, is it a large fee?
Definitely not the money. Under
the contract, my fee for the film is
purely symbolic: $ 1. Everybody is
astounded to hear this sum. Before
signing the contract with the studio,
I decided it would be fair if I didn’t
get much money for my work.
R & I: Fair to whom?
To myself, in the first place and
the divine forces that are giving me
the opportunity to realize my longstanding dream to play in a film. My
childhood dream is miraculously
coming true – isn’t it enough for a
prize? Indeed, of the film budget of
220 billion dollars, a considerable
sum was due to me, but I refused to
take it in favor of low-income persons, giving away 80 percent for
charity and another 20 percent for
post production, the so-called free
picture runs in India.
I’m hoping that after starring in
this film, I’ll start my acting career
in Bollywood. Indeed, I dream of
becoming an Indian cinema actor. I
promise to make a 100- percent effort; I will be working for viewers.
R & I: Do you think the Indians
will react adequately to you, a Russian actor; are you sure you’ll be able
to forge a good contact with them?
Those people belong to other culture.
They have a different mentality and
world outlook…
I don’t quite agree that there is a
big difference between the Russian
and Indian mentality. We are much
alike, believe me! We are spontaneous, sincere, and capable of love.
Thanks to this likeness, I’ve already
established a contact with an Indian
audience! Perhaps, it happened because India is part of my soul – I’m
being sincere. Indians are truly my
kin. I often visited that country with
guest performances, up to 30 times
a year. And I never got tired, on the
contrary, I sort of charged from the
Indians who did not speak Russia
and did not understand the texts of
my songs, yet were very sensitive
to every word or note. Every time I
was leaving the scene as if charged, I
wished to sing for the audience again
and again. It is an indescribable feeling, when thousands of people sing
together with you.
R & I: You visited India many
times, could you imagine you’d be
working in Bollywood?
When my friends and I flew to New
Delhi for the first time, I dreamed of
visiting Mumbai. As we were still on
the plane I was trying to persuade
everybody to visit the place for a couple of days. I wished to see the picturesque city and Bollywood. But it
so happened I saw film studios and
ethnic flavor in other Indian regions.
Yet we did visit Mumbai. I was set to
see the sights and a bird’s view of the
city then. I was fortunate to be able
to get an insight into the country. I
fell in love with India from the first
minutes of my staying there. On the
day of our arrival, I visited a famous
Indian producer (it was only later
that I learnt he was a person of such
renown). Indians are certainly awesome: hospitable, kind and friendly.
Meeting guests is a veritable ritual for
them, with songs, dances and change
of dishes. Indians are surprisingly
emotional, which I like a lot.
Could you tell about the Bollywood offer?
In late September 2011, the RitzCarlton Hotel hosted the third IndiaRussia Business Dialogue forum, a
benchmark event with information
support by India TV. It was quite
significant for me, too: I was a guest
and it was there that I met Shahrukh
Khan, a famous Indian actor. We had
a long friendly talk. It was a stunning
offer to me from this famous man, respected in the whole world, to play a
role in a new film, and what role, such
a hero. I was amazed to see his assistant opening a notebook and asking
me to look at the photos, my photos!
In those pictures, I looked a bit on
the portly side, which bewildered me.
“It’s not you, it’s Raj Kapoor. You’re
a dead ringer for him,” they told me.
I was flattered to hear it. But, to be
candid, I did not take the offer very
seriously at first. Sometime later, Mr
Prakash Jha, president of a large Bollywood company, phoned me in the
middle of the night. I had been acquainted with Prakash for years, and
CINEMA
he told me everybody in Bollywood
had confirmed the project and that
they were selecting a cast. And the
producers of the film really wished
to see me playing Raj Kapoor. I hang
up and stared at nothing for a while: it
looked as if the fate was meeting me
halfway. And then I finally believed
that this film was no accident and began to take the prospects for working
with Indian film producers in earnest.
What is the film about?
R & I: Under the contract, I cannot
disclose script details or the shooting
crew’s plans. Briefly, it’s a film about
Raj Kapoor’s life, his personal and
human dramas, starving in childhood,
difficult relationship with the outside
world, and the death of his beloved.
According to the film producers’
idea, Raj Kapoor must be known in
all the corners of the world, therefore many roles in the film are performed by famous European actors.
The film will be shot in Russia, India, and, probably, in Bali. The film
director will select wonderful scenic
places, the plot is fascinating, so I
don’t think the viewers will find the
film boring. I cannot tell more!
R & I: How are you preparing for
your role?
I’ve read a lot about this personality using various sources and in different languages to learn his biography
details. His biography is amazing; I
cannot stop wondering at Raj Ka-
poor’s magnetism. Comparing his
life with what was written in the script
of the future film, I see that the authors have brightened up some episodes of his life. But this fact in no way
spoils the film, nor does it change my
opinion of Kapoor. I’m well aware
that this effort will probably be most
self-sacrificing in my life. The snag
in shooting is that all vocal dubbing is
live. I will not lip sync. I will be singing and dancing at the same time!
But I am no stranger to it. (He gets
up from the table, begins to sing and
dance before the amazed café guests
and then returns to the table). I’ve
seen many Indian films, and I’m well
aware of how I will have to work.
R & I: Will you have to change
your appearance to embrace Raj Kapoor’s image?
I look like Raj Kapoor in his youth.
The same shape and color of the eyes,
the same nose. But he was stouter
than I, so I will have to put on at least
ten more kilograms. I will have to let
my hair grow – my hair curls naturally, but it’s not as thick as the Indian’s. Also, I will have to work hard on
my Hindi; I know it a little, but there
is no limit to perfection, as they say.
I am sure the Russian actor’s starring in an Indian film will bring closer
our cultures and benefit Russian-Indian relations in general. We are truly
two spiritually close nations. Over
time, Russia and India will certainly
reassert this fact more than once.
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Journey Beyond
Three Seas
By Anna GOLUBEVA
55 years ago the first Soviet-Indian film “Pardesi” (Journey Beyond Three Seas)
was released. The alliance of two so different, at first sight, film industries
prompted Soviet ideologists to acclaim the movie as “a filmed document showing the whole world one more time that our peoples have shared views on
many foreign policy issues”. Now that the world has changed, we recall, with
nostalgia, the history of that film and its legendary creators whose efforts make
people in both countries remember the “Hindi-Russi bhai bhai!” (Indians, Russians, brothers, brothers!) slogan up to this day.
F
ilm exchanges for release and festivals, national film weeks and
joint
productions…
Fruitful
cooperation
between India and the Soviet Union
in this field started several months
after India’s declaration of independence when Bombay filmmakers invited the USSR to organise a
Soviet film festival in India. In late
December 1950, an official delegation, which included film director Vsevolod Pudovkin and actor
Nikolai Cherkasov, flew to Bombay
to help prepare the festival. Two
years later Soviet people saw the first
Indian film Dharti Ke Lal (Children
of the Earth). Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor, Nargis,
Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Dev Anand,
Chetan Anand, and Nirupa Roy
came to the Soviet Union in 1954.
It was then, during that first visit
by Indian filmmakers and actors to
the friendly Soviet Union, that a remarkable conversation took place in
Moscow, marking the beginning of
long-term cooperation in film production.
“The Soviet side expressed the
wish that the joint film be equally interesting in both India and the Soviet
Union,” Indian screenwriter and
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film director Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
recalled. “Writer Boris Polevoy told
me about 15th century traveller Afanasy Nikitin who had reached India
and lived for three years among peasants in Maharashtra and in South
India. I proposed this story to the
Soviet side, and it was approved right
way. A series of talks followed. I suggested complete parity in the joint
production: two film directors, Soviet and Indian, two cameramen,
and so on. We had to start by striking
up cooperation between the Indian
and Soviet writers: me and Maria
Smirnova.” The film director on the
Soviet side was Vasily Pronin, who
would later create such all-time enduring films as Cossacks (1961) and
Our Home (1965).
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and
screenwriter Maria Smirnova
(who by that time had authored
such well-known Soviet films as
The Rural Teacher (1947) and
The Story of a Real Man (1948),
decided against writing a trivial
script based on a traditional narration and used instead Afanasy
Nikitin’s notes from the journey
that had gone down in the history
of literature as a monument to the
best of the Russian merchantry,
praising courage, honesty and
great-heartedness. In 1468-1474,
merchant Nikitin of Tver made a
real trip to India and described in
detail its everyday life, customs
and traditions. The screenwriters
decided to structure the film as a
series of episodes forming a fascinating mosaic of the main character’s adventures and deep feelings.
It was important to find the right
actor for this role. And it is not
surprising that young Soviet actor
Oleg Strizhenov was chosen to play
the courageous trailblazer. By that
time he had starred in such hits as
The Gadfly (1955) based on Ethel
Lilian Voynich’s novel, The Mexican (1955) based on Jack London’s
story, and The Forty-First (1956)
based on Boris Lavrenev’s novella
of the same name and directed by
Grigory Chukhrai. Progressivelyminded and extremely sensitive
to modern trends, Khwaja Ahmad
Abbas thought that Strizhenov was
the only possible candidate for the
role. In his opinion, no one else
but this actor could convey the
best qualities of Russian character
combined with male charisma and
charm. The Indian cast included
such talented actors and actresses
as Nargis, Balraj Sahni, Prithviraj
Kapoor, and Padmini.
Champa, a simple village girl
with whom the honourable hero fell
in love (attracted by her pure soul),
was played by renowned Indian actress Nargis at the helm of her career.
She was known worldwide from her
works with Raj Kapoor. But by that
time their tandem (Raj and Nargis
starred together in 15 films) had
fallen apart. Ironically, Pardesi and
Mehboob Khan’s epic film Mother
India were Nargis’ last major works.
In 1956, she married actor Sunil
Dutt, left the film industry and devoted her life entirely to the family,
leaving us the memory of her exotic Champa in snow-white attires,
with snowflakes whirling around her
beautiful magnetising face and Afanasy Nikitin dreaming of showing
Russian winter to his beloved one.
What an amazing convergence of
kindred spirits expressed so poetically by the art of cinema.
“When filming in India we saw
over and over again that our work
was striking a chord with people’s
hearts,” Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
reminisced. “Very different people – not so rich tradesmen, students, peasants, fishermen, boatmen and even clergymen – tried
to help us when told that we were
working with Soviet filmmakers.”
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (19141987) is a truly unique personality.
He was a film director, a writer, a
lawyer, a film critic, a journalist
and a screenwriter. Abbas was born
in Panipat in the family of a celebrated poet. He graduated from
Aligarh Muslim University’s law
department and did his LL.B there.
Abbas joined the film industry being a well-known writer and journalist who was actively working
with the Indian press and publishing his own newspaper for a long
time, covering political, art and social problems in the country.
He entered the film industry in
1943 as an advertising agent and
publicist for Bombay Talkies. In
1945, he debuted as a director with
his Dharti Ke Lal (Children of the
Earth) based on Bijon Bhattacharya’s Nabanna (Harvest) story
about the Bengali famine of 1943.
The film shocked with the naturalism of some scenes and earned
Abbas the reputation of one of the
most progressive-minded Indian
film directors. In 1950, Abbas created his own production company
and, together with his colleagues,
made films that combined the features of both Soviet social realism and Italian neorealism. Film
connoisseurs remember that Raj
Kapoor’s best social films, including The Tramp, were based on his
screenplays. It was when Kapoor
went for box office hits and reworked the screenplay for Bobby
that the old friends broke up. Abbas did not like the transformation of his characters from poor
people, as he had conceived them,
into rich men in the film. It’s not
surprising therefore that such an
uncompromising man who sincerely admired the Soviet Union
helped create a film that showed
the closeness of the Russian and
Indian people.
A critical look at Pardesi can
reveal obvious political bias,
straightforwardness and unconcealed naiveté. But the success of
the film in both countries and its
striking emotionality and noble
concept appear to outweigh any
failings in mentality of the bygone
era. Unlike western film studios
that sought to use Bollywood as a
less costly auxiliary component,
Pardesi set an example of equal cooperation between two filmmaking powers that had so similar aesthetic and ethical principles that
they could treat each other with
profound respect and love.
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Lost
Illusions
By Anastasia BELOKUROVA and Boris GRISHIN
Photo by Boris GRISHIN
Rishi Kapoor in Moscow at the premiere of “Chintu ji”
N
CEO Company “Format A Plus” Alla N. Aristova
Indian films were so popular in the Soviet Union that “Sovetsky Ekran” magazine critics often noted ironically: “Sweet passions of nice-looking and idling
people”. But Indian films always brought in more cash than any of the highly
artistic motion pictures made in the so-called socialist camp, and this fact was
never questioned. In the 1990s, Bollywood films gradually disappeared from
Russian screens, giving way to American movies that poured into the country.
However even though Hollywood productions have swept the new Russian
market, interest in Indian films is still there.
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ew Indian cinema
was an enigma for
the Russian audience at first as no
one knew contemporary actors and everyone still
remembered and loved Mithun
Chakraborty, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor.
The first company that started releasing Indian motion pictures in
the market was Triada which cooperated with Indian entrepreneur
Arun Kumar. The Russian company Format A Plus also played
a major role in promoting Indian
films by offering them on different media and publishing its own
glossy magazine “Indian Cinema
World”. The magazine brought
the latest Bollywood news to subscribers in remote villages where
they had no access to the Internet.
In 1996, Mosfilm Studios provided Format A Plus Director Alla
Aristova with 90 copies of Indian
films released in Soviet times. She
and Arun Kumar started making
video cassettes and DVDs with Indian films. Shortly thereafter the
company acquired the rights to
another 200 Indian films, released
mainly in the 1960-80s. No one
expected big profits at that time,
but slowly demand for Indian films
picked up and leading distributors
started buying them again. Format
A Plus also launched the production of advertising booklets that
came along with the videocassettes and discs, thus attracting a
large audience.
In Soviet times, Indian films
were a rarity on television. “Seeta
Aur Geeta” was played several
times and in the late 1980s So-
viet television showed compilations of songs from Indian films
on public holidays. Later regional
cable channels arranged for special viewings of Indian motion
pictures. The current situation on
Russian television is more than
lamentable. Three or four channels play the same old films over
and over again. The satellite channel “India TV” is not widely available and offers a limited variety of
films. There is yet another problem: viewers’ likings often appear
to be at odds with television channels’ policies. In fact, despite the
fact that Shah Rukh Khan does
enormous popularity, Russian
television channels refuse to take
films with him, prefer the old good
“Seeta Aur Geeta” and “Disco
Dancer”, which guarantees them
high ratings.
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CULTURE
CINEMA
Akshay Kumar and A.N.Aristova in Bollywood
Modern Indian filmmaking industry has the world’s biggest audience. True, it is limited mainly
to Asia, but is in fact the biggest
in terms of numbers. This situation appears to be paradoxical for
the Russian motion picture market
where Indian films are virtually
nonexistent. While Bollywood productions beat all viewing records in
the Soviet Union, it would be logical to assume that they can bring
people to movie theatres in contemporary Russia as well. All the
more so since there is a market of
DVDs (the spread of the Internet
is taking its toll of course, but the
audience is still there). However,
Russian distributors do not want to
take Indian films and firmly believe
that there is no demand for them in
the country.
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RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
Naturally, after 20 years of absence in the market and total lack
of information about Indian films,
it’s not so easy to regain the audience which is completely unaware
of modern Bollywood products.
In fact, if you offer an unknown
product, you have to invest in advertising. But this is what Russian
distributors are not going to do:
why do anything and invest if one
can simply play Hollywood films
that have been intensively marketed for decades by the smoothly
going American film advertising
industry? Rare occasions when
Indian films appear in Russian
movie theatres bring about nothing but a bitter feeling of lost opportunities.
In 2009, Rishi Kapoor came
to Russia with his “Chintu Ji”.
The only viewing at Moscow’s
Khudozhestvenny movie theatre
brought in the full house of connoisseurs from across the city. The
news was spread by word of mouth
as there was no advertising or even
a bill with the name of the film and
the actor!
In the same year, a retrospective
show of Indian films was organised
at the Moscow International Film
Festival (it was the Year of India
in Russia). Information about the
films had boiled down to a simple
list of titles and names that meant
nothing for the overwhelming majority of Russian people. The resulting low attendance was not really surprising.
And here is a different story
about Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog
Millionaire”. Formally, it’s not an
Indian film, but Europeans take it
as such as it was shot in India by
mainly an Indian crew with Indian
actors and tells a life story which
is typical for Indian films. Moreover, the film is partly in Hindi, and
even producers looked gloomy
during the shooting, anticipating a
failure, as all “professional” were
confident that people wouldn’t
watch it. But the result proved
otherwise: a big success and eight
Oscars, including the main one in
the “Best Film” category. Global box-office receipts exceeded
$200 million (with a $15 million
budget). Sixteen weeks after the
release, it still was the best-selling
movie in the US. It also made a
surprisingly big success in Russia
and received a Russian National
Film Academy award as the best
foreign language film of 2009.
“Slumdog Millionaire” was distributed in Russia by a newly created company, Volga, and was in
fact its first release in the market.
Needless to say, more experienced
professionals only sneered and predicted an imminent failure of the
company. However the Indian film
brought it success and a special prize
as a top-earning European film in
Russia. The irony is that the film
got Oscars in the US as an American
movie and received awards in Russia as a European one, while actually being Indian in essence.
CINEMA
Rishi Kapoor signs autographs at the premiere of “Chintu ji”
The rekindled interest was
thought to bring Indian films back
to Russian movie theatres, but…
distributors never dared to do
so. Clearly, any other film void
of Oscar-related publicity needs
advertising and investment. The
chance was missed and the situation is unlikely to change unless
there appears some far-sighted entrepreneur willing to invest heavily in advertising skilfully and ardently. The reward would be the
pay dirt of Indian films that will
sweep the Russian market and
bring sizeable dividends. Sooner
or later this will happen anyway.
But if we wait longer, Indian films
will return to Russia with some
transnational film corporation
like Sony Pictures that will commit large amounts of money to
the Indian project. These people
will offer nothing to Russian distributors or ask anything of them.
They will simply say how many
hundreds of copies must be released and at which prime time.
They will get the dividends too. In
fact, Hollywood is already showing interest in Bollywood and it
has grown substantially over the
past several years. Unlike Russian
businessmen, their American colleagues can feel the market. But
what about Indian entrepreneurs?
Is the Russian market of interest to
them?
Format A Plus, Triada and
Russkoye Shchastye (Russian
Happiness), which distribute Indian films for home viewing, have
been pushed out of the market by
rapidly growing Internet services.
People have virtually stopped buying licensed products as practically any film can be downloaded
for free. That leaves film distribution. But modern Indian films
are something new and unknown
in Russia. And new things have to
push their way through the scepticism of “professionals” who know
how to make money only on old
products. This brings associations
with the music market when British Decca Records producer Dick
Rowe turned down the Beatles
at their audition, saying, “guitar
bands are on their way out” and
“the Beatles have no future in
show business”. Decca Records
has long ceased to exist, but Dick
Rowe came down in history as the
man who made the biggest misjudgment in music history.
CULTURE
CULTURE
COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITIES
DOWNSHIFTERS CHOOSE
HOSPITALITY
By Anastasia BELUKUROVA
Photo by Sergei STISHOV
Unofficial statistics say some two million former USSR residents live in India at
present, legally or illegally. They prefer to settle in the northern part of the State
of Goa. Some come for holiday, but then refuse to leave, discarding their passports to stay for good. Others, after a trip to Goa, come to like the local good
things so much that they make India their venue of choice for holiday-making.
Some travel to India for enlightenment, while others wish the feel the rhythm
of life which differs so drastically from cheerless routine existence. And some
simply prefer to put a mite of welcome heat into severe Russian winter.
M
any
Russian
colonies have
appeared
in
northern Goa.
The community largely comprises former
representatives of Russian “office plankton” who swapped their
careers for rustling waves and a
sunny sky above. For many Russian “natives” of the former Portuguese colony, taking part in Bollywood crowd scenes has become
routine. Those with entrepreneurial acumen open a small business
of their own on the coast.
William Somerset Maugham,
a connoisseur of Southeast Asia,
wrote that local climate ennobled
82
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
the character. Unsurprisingly,
an increasing number of Russian
downshifters (the modern yappies
who suddenly preferred alternative lifestyle) have been coming
to the area. The Indian authorities
rightly used it as a legitimate pretext to tighten the visa regime for
Russians. In their opinion, which
differs from Maugham’s, it is Russian tourists who often indulge in
riotous recreation with alcohol
and drugs and worsen the criminal
situation in the country.
“Goa’s precious lands need to
be protected,” parliamentarian
Shantaram Naik said, “Russians
and Israelis have occupied certain
villages in a manner which cannot
be called ideal tourism. We cannot allow any Goan village to be
called ‘Israel Village’ or ‘Russian
Village’”.
By no means are all Russians
drunkards or bawlers. Well-known
Moscow journalist Georgy Mkheidze tells about his impressions
from “staying on the Indian side.”
R & I: When did you first have
the idea to travel to India? Why did
you choose India and did you consider other options in South and
Southeast Asia?
In late 2003, my girlfriend Lisa
and I realized that we were very
tired of working for glossy magazines (she worked for Playboy
Russia and I wrote for FHM).
What had seemed revolutionary
and fascinating a few years ago became boring and disgusting. Also,
we had a feeling that we have found
our bearings in that area – to this
or that extent - and that we were
unable to make further progress.
So we decided to take a time-out,
to take a break and think over what
we really wanted to do.
Georgy Mkheidze was born in Moscow in 1971.
He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of
Culture. In first journalist experience, he took part
in making the Basilisk, the first esoteric miscellany
under the guidance of poetess Margarita Pushkina.
He published his articles in the magazine OM from
1995, and in 1997 through 2000 he was editor of
the cinematography magazine Premiere. Georgy
Mkheidze also edited the cultural section of the
FHM magazine and wrote for Playboy, Jalouse and
Harper’s Bazaar. After the first experience in a television project – the Golod-2 (Hunger-2) reality
show shooting in New York -- he gave up printed
media journalism for television, to become creative
producer of the TNT Hypnosis show and the Who
Doesn’t Want to Be a Millionaire reality show. He
handled Internet television within the framework
of the Snob project for a year. He is currently creative producer of Perets Channel.
CULTURE
At that time, Russia began tentative discussions about downshifting (which became a nationwide trend several years later).
Two years before, Lisa had visited Goa as a tourist; she initially
lived in a hotel in the south of the
State and then retreated to the
north and talked at length about
the good things of the local life.
So we largely understood what we
were going to India for. Thailand
was probably the only other cheap
option with comfortable condi84
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
CULTURE
COMMUNITIES
tions and warm climate (Bali had
not yet become a popular spa for
Russians by that time), but India
seemed (and still does) much more
hospitable, versatile and interesting. Our fluent English was certainly an advantage in the country
where it is an official national language (along with Hindi).
R & I: Could you briefly tell how
you fixed yourself in the new place,
rented a house and got used to new
life? How long did you live in Goa?
Did you continue to work remotely
from Goa?
After acclimatization that lasts
about a month, on the average,
you begin to feel as an old-timer
and sort of look down at new arrivals. We rented living quarters
from the landlord whom Lisa knew
by her visit. Prices of lodgings, car
rent and foodstuffs fall dramatically for you when you live in India
for a long time, which is a pleasant
surprise. Another asset of the local
lifestyle is the opportunity to get
practically everything on credit or
a long-term installment plan, and
the friendliness and trust that seem
impossible between the seller and
the customer in Russia.
We spent almost all three seasons in India (from late autumn to
late spring or early summer). Then
Lisa gave birth to a son and while he
was an infant, we were apprehensive about travelling there, yet in
the recent years, we’ve tried to visit
the place every spring for as much
as possible (regrettably, we now
have to reduce our period of stay).
I know people who work productively while living in Goa, and
thus fully provide for themselves.
They even find time for creativity. I feel respect and admiration
for them – because I myself could
hardly bring myself to work. Pulling myself together to write even
a small article required long and
hard efforts from me. Relaxing (at
least in the early 2000s) was much
more comfortable than working.
Perhaps, the situation has changed
by now, as GPRS Internet is available. I used the opportunity to live
on the rent from tenants of my
apartment in Moscow, so I could
afford to work for pleasure only.
R & I: What did you usually do in
your spare time?
Aside from traditional Goan
pleasantries (the ocean, international get-togethers and trance
parties), travelling was certainly
the key activity. When a Russian
realizes that India is not much
smaller than Russia, he or she cannot but develop a natural wish to
see the delightful and tempting
corners of that country with their
COMMUNITIES
own eyes. As you begin to travel,
you notice that they all seem like
different countries: Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Himachal
Pradesh… By that time, India set
up low-cost airlines which Russia
still lacks. It made trips not only
exciting, but also comfortable.
R & I: Many Russian tourists,
unfamiliar with Southeast Asia
countries, are wary of travelling to
India or other countries in the region for thousands of reasons. Some
dislike ubiquitous beggars, others
fear insufficient sanitary arrangement because of the possibility to
catch a tropical disease. What problems did you encounter?
They were far fewer than they
threatened us with in Russia before our trip. Anti-sanitary conditions in India are grossly exaggerated (especially in the recent
years, thanks to the sensible policy
of the Indian government, even in
megapolices), and hygiene precautions essentially boil down to
elementary rules, such as washing one’s hands and not drinking
running water. We had enough
money, by and large, and Western
Union did help a couple of times
(its offices are within reach even
from a Himalayan village), as did
Indians’ hospitality. We did manage to defuse several conflicts with
local residents peacefully, and
careful driving protected us from
the temptation to drive fast, another mass affliction of Russian
newcomers.
R & I: Do you agree with the
widespread opinion that many Russians find India appealing because
of its warm climate, cheap prices
and incredible feeling of freedom?
I believe so. As I said, we find India’s variety increasingly attractive
year after year; you always have the
opportunity to discover new aspects
you never explored before. For example, I’m now dreaming of living
in Mumbai for a month or two; this
town fascinated me from the first
time I saw it eight years ago, and
I still regard it as one of the most
beautiful cities on the planet by its
architecture and “character.”
R & I: Does India change a Russian?
Indeed it does, as it also changes
any European or American (judging by Gregory David Roberts’
novel Shantaram). Take the new
perception of time for example:
after the first season in Goa, I was
happy to find out upon my return
to Moscow that I no longer had
problems waiting at meetings or
in queues: what had used to make
me nervous turned into the pleas-
ant process of contemplating the
current of the life. It is a very Indian approach to “pauses” in the
rhythm of life; it infuriates the
newcomers to India in the first
week, but then you subconsciously
assimilate and accept it.
R & I: Who did you prefer to communicate with? Your compatriots,
foreigners or local residents?
We deliberately avoided meetings with Russian “spiritual”
CULTURE
tourists, who were coming en
masse for the sake of clichéd and
stereotyped enlightenment: they
aren’t exactly the right kind of
public! Regrettably, communication with the Indians was limited by the language barrier, yet
it did not prevent us from making friends with a couple of per86
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
CULTURE
COMMUNITIES
sons; we also stuck several brief
acquaintances, which we still remember with a feeling of respect
and gratitude. As for Europeans, I
have a close friend, who has lived
in Goa for five years, and who deliberately limited the circle of his
contacts. We tried to practice a
balanced approach there.
R & I: What do you think about
the local transport? Did you use
a motorbike? Is it true that local
buses are “hell on wheels” for Europeans?
To my knowledge, we’ve already traveled over half of the
country – but it is not the reason
to stop and not to visit, say Assam or Darjeeling, or India’s far
south, or Jammu and Kashmir.
We decided from the beginning
that we’ll keep to a certain lower
level of comfort, and “the local
buses” (meaning a torturous invention called “sleeper” for lowincome users) are far below that
level as we soon saw. So we’d recommend travelling around by at
least class 3AC trains (3rd class
with air conditioner), or by planes
which really rival these trains by
prices. Compared with buses and
cheap trains, this surely saves
your nerves and resources when
travelling large distances.
Not only did we use a bike, I’d
say it’s pleasure in its own right:
among tops on the long Indian list
of good things. We started with
motor scooters but soon switched
to bikes which were much safer
and comfortable. You get used to
driving along the “wrong” side of
the road in about a week, while
in a couple of months, you learn
to squeeze past articulated trucks
and buses.
R & I: Some say Goa is not the
true India, but an international
beach hangout with its multi-cultural flavor. Would you agree with
this quite resolute opinion?
To a certain extent, but see no
contradiction here which they
suggest in this connection. My
opinion is rather a compromise:
Goa is a wonderful bridgehead for
travelling about the country; you
always know this compact world
awaits you, and you’ll look forward to returning there after all
your wanderings.
I’m not a great admirer of Indian cuisine, so the happier I was
to find that Goa offers excellent
alternatives which increase year
in and year out. My latest visit
was quite gastronomic as several
dozen restaurants with European
cuisine had opened (from Bulgarian and Greek to Ukrainian and
very nearly Belarussian) with very
decent prices and excellent cooking, far better than the Moscow
average. There is also seafood,
COMMUNITIES
whose prices grew by just 15 to 20
percent at the most in a decade.
So there are no problems in Goa
to find milder food, without curry
or masala.
When travelling, we never denied ourselves the opportunity to
see ancient monuments and architectural masterpieces (Mumbai makes a particularly striking
impression – you might think
of a Victorian London built by a
megalomanic designer with unlimited resource), and see a new
action movie or a thriller at the
cinema. Watching dramas or comedies without the knowledge of the
language is not possible, but with
genre films your intuition helps
more than you might expect. I still
remember some films, and I think
I’ll keep them in my memory forever, for example, the awesome
police action film Khakee, a Bollywood action drama or Sholay,
a restored original version, my
favorite in childhood. It was run
with the Dolby soundtrack on the
occasion of an anniversary of that
greatest hit.
R & I: Whom would you advise to
visit India and in what mood?
I cannot imagine a person who
would not like it there (provided he
behaves properly). As for the mood,
I believe India is huge enough (in all
the meanings of this word) to teach
a foreigner how to come to be fond
of it without causing mutual damage.
R & I: Are you going to return
there for an extended period?
Firstly, I do not intend to stop
going there at least once a year. In a
long term outlook, Goa would seem
to be an ideal place to live in after retirement. I think of investing in a local business. But there’ve been many
rumors that for a foreigner who has
no trusted persons among the locals,
or connections (at least at the level of
village administration) it would not
be the best idea. I’ve started to raise
the issue with local acquaintances.
Perhaps, it’s not as bad as it seems.
SPORT
SPORT
CRIKET
Living
with the
Bat
By Arnold KABANOV
Cricket is the most popular game in India. It was
quite widely spread in Russia before the revolution
of 1917 as well, with four cricket clubs operating
in St. Petersburg alone. In modern Russia, cricket
is played too, though not as much as in India, of
course. And yet, more and more cricket fields appear every year…
M
entioning the
name of Tendulkar, an Indian
cricket
star, is like
casting magic spells in India. A
friend of mine, a Russian cricket
connoisseur, likes to talk about
the beauties of this game with Indians when travelling abroad. And
whenever the name of Tendulkar
comes up, it hits home like a magic
key to the locked door in a treasure cave: it brings a broad smile
on their faces and gets them going. In fact, how can one not talk
with a foreigner who knows how
many points Tendulkar scored in
the latest game against Australia?
Sachin Tendulkar is the cricket
legend, the greatest batsman of all
times, the hero of India’s triumph
at last year’s World Cup. He is a
person of the same magnitude in
his country as film stars are.
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RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
My friend can spend days
watching live broadcasts of key
cricket games, for example between India and Pakistan, and if
the latter lose, it is rumored that
they go back home not as a team in
one plane but by different flights
to avoid the anger of their fans.
Their Indian counterparts react
likewise when their team fouls up
in critical games.
Laymen may find the cricket
rules unclear and confusing. But
a real connoisseur needs no more
than five minutes to explain them.
Every team has 11 players; the
game is played on an oval or round
field with a rectangular pitch at the
centre and wickets at both end of
it; the goal is to score as many runs
as possible in two or four innings.
In each innings one team bats and
the other fields, one bowls and the
other strikes the bowled ball. The
batsman strikes the ball with his bat
so that the fielding team does not
catch it and send it to the wicket.
If the batsman hits the bowled ball
over the field boundary without
the ball touching the field, the batting team scores six runs. If the
ball touches the ground and then
reaches the boundary, the batting
team scores four runs. The batsmen may also try to score points
for their teams by running across
the pitch. And so on and so forth …
Finding a cricket fan in Russia,
let alone a person who would be
at least vaguely familiar with the
rules of this game and would not
mix it up with crocket as in Alice in
Wonderland is a challenging task.
Cricket, first played in England almost five thousand years
ago, became quite popular in
British colonies. And it still is
liked and played in the countries
that emerged to take their place.
In fact, it’s not such a short list.
Apart from India, Pakistan and
England as the country of origin, it
also includes Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sri
Lanka, the Caribbean … Russia is
not there, but those who think that
there is no cricket in Russia are
wrong. On the contrary, the game
has been taking the first but strong
steps in our country. Actually, no,
not the first steps. It is more of a
comeback to Russia.
It was played in the country
before the revolution. Russian
cricket began in St. Petersburg
and was initially played mainly by
and among British diplomats and
entrepreneurs, with local people
joining in later on. Strictly speaking, cricket was no longer something exotic in Russia in the late
19th and early 20th centuries.
There were four cricket clubs in
St. Petersburg alone and overs or
sets of six pitches were not confused with innings any more, and
bats were often taken up by people
in other towns as well.
But in 1917 cricket was basically destroyed. The Bolesheviks
loathed all amusements that they
thought were too “bourgeois” and
“aristocratic”. The “red inquisition” put a final end to cricket.
However several years ago
it sprang back to life in Russia
again. In 2007, an event occurred
that may be considered historic
one day: the Russian team played
the first game against touring
Carmel&District Cricket Club of
North Wales at Moscow State University’s baseball stadium (baseball
and cricket are members of a family of related bat-and-ball games).
There were no Russian names in
the team, though. In fact, the players’ names clearly suggested their
foreign origin from India or neighboring countries such as Pakistan,
Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.
Like in St. Petersburg in the
late 19th century, these were foreigners who had happened to be in
Russia by some twist of fate. And it
was also a foreigner who had initiated the revival of cricket in modern Russia.
Ashwani Chopra of India
and his friends started playing
CRIKET
cricket in Moscow in the middle
of the1990s. They could not find
the necessary equipment at that
time and had to use primitive bats
and tennis balls. As time passed,
equipment became available and
there appeared an organization
that could take cricket to the official level. Chopra and his supporters registered the United Cricket
League, created the Russian
cricket team and played the first
test matches and tournaments.
Luckily, there were diplomats and
managers from Australia, England
and other countries working in
Moscow who missed cricket.
And things got moving. The
United Cricket League succeeded
in “promoting” the game to such
an extent that national tournaments
became a reality: modest in scale,
with only half a dozen clubs participating, but still a major success.
The national team made a
breakthrough, too. In 2008 it was
trailing far behind even minor rivals such as Czechs or Estonians in
Twenty20 tournaments – a short-
ened format of the game at a professional level (in classic cricket
test matches last five days). In
2010, at a tournament in Macedonia, which was the de facto European Cricket Championship, the
team made it to the finals but lost
to the more experienced Hungarians in the last game.
Mainly Indians who had received Russian citizenship or residence permits played for the team.
The International Cricket Council
(ICC) rules are quite mild and allow not only citizens of a country
but also those who have lived in it
for at least five years to play for the
national team. The ICC understands that more stringent rules
may leave many members out, and
this would be bad for this sport.
Strictly speaking, silver at the
2010 European Championship
may not be much of an achievement and is largely disregarded by
the cricket’s big league which is interested only in individual tests and
World Cup games, but it certainly
is an achievement for Russia.
SPORT
SPORT
CRIKET
CRIKET
And wouldn’t you agree that
playing at the Olympic Games is a
very strong incentive that can spur
the development of this sport in
any country?
As for lapta, yes, it’s a bit regrettable, but when feeling sorry for it,
one should remember that Russians’ genetic affection for it may
actually help them master cricket
nuances and subtleties faster. My
friend, the admirer of Sachin Tendulkar, is absolutely convinced of
that. It only seems that there are
too many rules in cricket and that
they are so confusing. This brings up associations with
rugby. Some ten years ago the
general feeling was that Russia
would never have big wins or get
into the cream of the rugby world,
that this is a tightly closed club.
But the persistence of the specialists responsible for the development of Russian rugby slowly tore
down the seemingly insurmountable wall brick by brick. As a result, Russia made its first ever appearance at last year’s World Cup
that riveted the attention of tens
of millions of people around the
world for a month. It did not make
it to the play-off but looked quite
decently against such rugby giants
as Ireland or Australia, and even
scored its first point in the game
with the Americans.
Doesn’t this prove that there is
nothing impossible in sport? And
that even an exotic sport can bring
medals and glory with enough perseverance and hard work? The question is whether it’s worth doing.
Some sceptics say: why does
Russia need this Indian-Australian-British cricket if it has always
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RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
had its own game of lapta? And if
something has to be promoted, it
should certainly be it.
Lapta is in fact a genuinely
Russian game. Pieces of equipment used for playing it found by
archaeologists in Novgorod date
back to the 14th century. And so,
it may be even older than cricket.
Also, it is very much similar
to it. One can say that lapta and
cricket are almost identical. At
least, both have the same goal – to
strike a bowled ball and then try
to make as many runs across the
pitch as possible. Just about everyone used to play it in old times: the
poor, the aristocracy, the peasants
and the intelligentsia. Vladimir
Lenin is said to have played it too.
But then the game fell into oblivion, and wouldn’t it be logical to
revive it instead?
However those who raise their
hands to vote for cricket will always have an unbeatable counterargument – the international status of cricket.
It has just so happened that of
all related bat-and-ball games,
only two – baseball and cricket –
have spread over the world. When
abroad, switch to any big sport
channel and you will surely catch
a baseball or cricket game during
the day.
Although first class cricket
is played on a limited territory
(mainly in former British colonies) its popularity can hardly be
called low. On the contrary, it is
close to that of baseball or rugby.
In Australia some top games were
known to have been attended by
more than one hundred thousand
people.
Here are some more noteworthy statistics related to television.
I bet no one can say offhand how
many people watched the Indian
Premier League Championship
last season. 140 million! The television audience of the World Cup
is even bigger. In fact, only sport
“kings” like football or Formula-1
can boast such figures…
India is not the only country
where cricket is a matter of national pride and a national affection. It is among the top three
sports in England and Australia
as well.
There is yet another important
point to make. In February 2010,
the ICC was admitted to the association of non-Olympic sports recognized by the International Olympic
Committee. And what could that
mean? This means that cricket may
be included in the Olympic Games
in the future. This possibility is already under discussion, and there
are reasons to think that the outcome will be positive for cricket.
Baseball and rugby travelled the
same road. On top of it all, a special
“telegenic” format has been developed for cricket at the Games: it is
the same compact Twenty20, with
the test lasting about three hours.
20 TH CENTURY
PAGES OF HISTORY
Svetlana Alliluyeva:
Romance with India
PAGES OF HISTORY
Svetlana ALLILUYEVA: “For me, Brajesh Singh was
an alien from another world, far richer and more
interesting spiritually than the world where I grew
up.” Mutual understanding was most unexpected
and wonderful: their different backgrounds,
countries, languages, experience and age were
no obstacle. On the contrary, all these differences
seemed to help them understand, pity and love
each other.
Photo agency Associated Press
20TH CENTURY
By Sergo KUKHIANIDZE
Stalin’s daughter Svetlana ALLILUYEVA died in late 2011. She was 85. She
lived the larger part of her life in the United States. The fate of this unusual
woman cannot be conceived without India, although she stayed there for
just a couple of months. But what months!
S
vetlana Alliluyeva
took an interest in
India when she was a
high school student.
The girl, who had
an inquisitive mind, avidly read
books on history, philosophy and
culture of that distant and mysterious country. At that time, she
could not imagine the crucial role
the youthful interest in the coun92
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
try would play in her life. At any
rate, she might have never ventured to make the acquaintance of
Brajesh Singh, an Indian Communist and politician. Their relationship changed her life forever.
Svetlana and Brajesh first met
in a quite unromantic place. It
happened in the district of Kuntsevo, Moscow, in October 1963.
Svetlana was at a hospital for
high-ranking government officials
and members of their families to
have her tonsils out. That hospital
also provided treatment for Soviet Union’s friends from foreign
countries, who were zealous fighters for peace in the whole world.
Brajesh Singh was hospitalized
for nasal polyps surgery. Understandably, Svetlana and Brajesh
were in different wards, yet they
sometimes saw each other – when
strolling along the corridor or in
the dining hall where their tables
happened to be next to each other.
Although Svetlana saw many
coevals among hospital patients
– she was 37-year-old at the time,
had been married twice and had
been bringing up two children –
son Iosif and daughter Yekaterina
– she riveted her attention on this
short gray-haired bespectacled
Indian, who was much older than
she. It was not that his appearance
was appealing, it was his truly gentlemanlike behavior and splendid aristocratic manners (Brajesh
came from the family of a rich
rajah). Also, Brajesh came from
India, the country she had long
adored though she had never seen
it. Singh, 54, worked as a translator at a Moscow publishing house
at the time. He lived alone when
he met Alliluyeva. He had been estranged from his first Indian wife
and two daughters for more than
two decades ago…
Svetlana, much as she wished
to strike an acquaintance with the
man, had no idea how she could do
it. She tried to approach him on
several occasions, but every time
she felt shy and stopped short of
starting a conversation. She even
tried to learn by heart several English phrases to start talking with
the mysterious Indian, but… What
held her back? A simple enough
thing: how could she possibly
come up to a stranger, a foreigner,
and initiate a conversation? But
one day, gathering up her courage,
she asked a nonchalant question,
which came quite easily, “you
must be from India?” He gave a
Brajesh Singh, Svetlana Alliluyeva’s husband.
were much more congenial to him
than Russia…”
Svetlana repeatedly said that
Brajesh had half a mind to quit the
Communist Party.
Of course, not only Svetlana
was aware about Singh’s political views, the Central Committee and even the Politburo knew
about them, too. Is it then surprising that they never let her marry
Singh during the three years of
their life in her Moscow apartment? The ideology patriarchs,
Anastas Mikoyan and the allpowerful Mikhail Suslov, tried to
talk her out of marriage. During
a meeting in Old Square, the latter bluntly told her: “Your father
was very much against marriages
with foreigners. We even had such
friendly smile and a happy nod,
“yes! yes!” “Could I ask you something?” Svetlana pressed with
newly-found confidence. They sat
on a sofa and talked for more than
an hour about Gandhi, Nehru,
and Indian castes… Alliluyeva was
firing questions while Singh was
answering them with pleasure.
Incidentally, he did not know
whom he met that day. Alliluyeva
only revealed him her identity during their next meeting. “I deemed
it necessary to finally introduce
myself,” as she later recalled.
“Singh looked at me through the
thick glasses of his
spectacles and only
said: “oh!” – that
wonderful
English
“oh” which can have
so many intonations.”
He
said
nothing
more. “Singh never
asked me any questions about my father
later, not even when
we lived together. He
did not belong either
to Stalin’s admirers
or those for whom
the Soviet Union was
the ideal of justice on
the earth. He knew
Europe well, and European Communists
were his friends. The
Socialist Yugoslavia
and especially Poland Svetlana Alliluyeva. 26 april 1967. AP Photo.
a law!” But no threats could make
Alliluyeva and Singh separate, as
their relationship was truly warm.
But their happiness did not last
long. Singh died of chronic bronchitis in 1966. He died in Svetlana’s arms. Alliluyeva made the decision to take her husband’s ashes
to India. She had always considered and called him her husband. But her wishing so was not
enough. Even when she obtained
permission from Soviet government bodies, Svetlana was not allowed to leave the country alone.
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei
Gromyko ordered to assign to her
a companion, a Foreign Ministry
employee, to watch her. Mrs Kassirova was a specialist on India.
The trip to India in 1966 was
actually her first journey abroad from the
Soviet Union. Once,
she had briefly visited
her brother Vasily at
his Air Force unit deployed in East Germany. Although she
was staying in India
for a sad occasion, Alliluyeva could not but
admire Delhi. The city
won her heart at once.
“There was a variety
of centuries, countries, and influences
everywhere,” she later
recalled, “pretty Indian women in sari
were driving latest car
models… A yogi stood
on his head and elbows right in the cenRUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
93
20TH CENTURY
Ms Peters arrives in the USA in April 1967.
Ms Peters is answering Life magazine’s questions.
94
RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
20 TH CENTURY
PAGES OF HISTORY
ter of a park…” The Oberoi Hotel
where they had an ice-cream was
comfortable and luxurious the
European way. Multi-storey department stores, ubiquitous advertisements of U.S. films Doctor Zhivago, the Sound of Music,
detective films… In stores, you do
not know which way to look: colorful and unique saris, Kashmiri
shawls, sandals, and bracelets
make you dizzy…
Svetlana saw young men clad
European-style, while elderly
people wore pajamas and kurtas,
a long white shirt worn over trousers or a black long jacket (achkan). Indian women were in sari,
younger girls and schoolgirls wore
dresses with long shalwar or churidar: European dresses were only
worn by women from the West
– there were quite a few here.
Beautiful old trees were planted
on roadsides around Delhi. Monkeys sat on their thick knotty
roots picking lice off their young.
“Oddly, I had a persistent feeling
of d`eja v u... I’ve seen these trees,
and monkeys, and benches... I’ve
long known all this,” she wrote.
Of course, Svetlana had dreamt
of these exotic pictures many times
since she had taken an interest in
India. And when she travelled to
India she saw them with her own
eyes. Not surprisingly, Alliluyeva
did not want to part with them.
She was overfilled with true joy,
which she probably felt for the first
time in her life. After she completed her mission – poured her
husband’s ashes into the Ganges –
Soviet Embassy personnel started
making insistent recommendations that she leave the country
as soon as possible and return to
Moscow. But she was increasingly
reluctant to do it with each passing day. “I did not wish to return
to the terrible world of Kosygins
and Suslovs… India emancipated
and liberated something within
me. Here I stopped feeling myself
a part of “government property”
which I had been in the USSR all
my life… Inside, I had already irrevocably freed myself from this
eternal slavery,” as she would candidly note later.
Perhaps, the book titled Ambassador’s Report by Chester
Bowles, the then U.S. envoy to
India, was the last straw. Allilyeva came across the book when
she was visiting her husband’s
relatives. She found Mahatma
Gandhi quote in it: “It is possible
for a single individual to defy the
whole might of an unjust empire
to save their honor, their religion,
their soul and lay the foundation
for that empire’s fall or its regeneration.»
She learnt it by heart and repeated every day, as if it were a
mantra. Soon Svetlana began to
openly talk about her wish to live
in India for some time. At first,
she shared it with her new Indian
friends and then, in a private talk,
with the Soviet Ambassador to
India Ivan Benediktov. The latter flatly denied her wish. Furthermore, he bluntly warned her
that she would never be allowed
to leave the USSR again. Nothing could stop Alliluyeva after that
talk. She was resolved to ask the
U.S. Embassy in Delhi for political asylum. But how could she get
there, being under constant surveillance on the premises of the
Soviet diplomatic mission?
Svetlana was to have flown
from Delhi to Moscow on March
8, 1967, according to the date on
her ticket procured by Embassy
personnel. She made up her mind
to flee to the U.S. Embassy on
March 6 afternoon. But in the evening of March 5, after agonizing
reflections, she thought better of
it and decided to flee without any
delay. There were so many people
around in daytime. Ironically, it
was on March 5 that her father
died. But the magic of numbers
had nothing to do with it; it was
just that Svetlana wanted to do
it as quickly as possible. Did she
have an escape plan? Alliluyeva
said she did not.
This is what she wrote in her
reminiscences: “I walked out to
call a taxi. It was dark in the stairwell, and I barely dialed the number. The Indian could not understand where he had to drive up:
“the Russian Embassy?” “No,
PAGES OF HISTORY
Ms Peters’s interview to the New York Times.
no, the Russian residence!” I kept
telling him, as the gate watcher
had told me… I stood by the gate,
marking time, strolling to and fro.
My nerves were on edge…” Five
minutes later, an old car appeared
from behind the left corner, a
Delhi taxi. A smiling turbaned
Sikh sat in the driver’s seat, and
another Indian sat next to him.
They opened a car door for her.
“Do you know where the U.S.
Embassy is?”
“Yes, it’s fast beside.”
They turned into a dark side lane
to make a shortcut, what a smart
driver! Then they drove past the
Soviet Embassy, and went round
one side of the U.S. Embassy.
A minute later the car pulled up
near the main entrance. The Sikhs
helped Svetlana take out her suitcase, she gave them several rupees, and up she went on unsteady
legs along a long broad staircase.
“Once I stepped over the threshold, something inside let go, I felt
relief, and everything suddenly
seemed easy and simple,” she recalled.
Just one question: “did they really let her leave the Soviet Embassy that easily? After Svetlana’s
stated her wish to extend her stay in
India, she was under constant sur-
veillance by security agents of the
Soviet diplomatic mission. How
did she slip past them? It seems Alliluyeva decided to skip the details
of her flight in her reminiscences
for this or that reason. A few years
ago, Svetlana Iosifovna’s friend,
a daughter of the Soviet General,
told the author of this article what
really had happened.
Here is her story: “Of course,
Svetlana knew that she was being watched day and night. After
deciding to defect, she washed all
her clothes, including underwear,
and hung them out on the balcony
of the apartment in the Embassy’s
residential quarters. Her watchers
among the security agents saw it
and relaxed, reasoning that “she
could not escape without clothes”
and left their post that evening. In
short, Alliluyeva’s plan worked.
“Having lulled her watchers’ vigilance, Svetlana slipped unnoticed
out of her apartment…” Anyway,
after getting to the U.S. Embassy
that evening, Alliluyeva told the
marine guard at the entrance why
she had come, and he quickly led
her to a small room… A month
later, she arrived in New York,
where she soon publicly torched
her Soviet passport, along with her
Soviet past. RUSSIA&INDIA 4-2012
95
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