The Competition World

By - Dhiraj  Singh,  Director (M&C), P.I.B T he Government has decided to allow Foreign Direct Investment   ( FDI)  upto  51% in multi brand retail. This means that global retailers can come to India with a local partner and set up stores in the country.  Till now FDI was not allowed in multi brand retail.  However, there were big multi brand retail outlets owned by Indian entities.  This decision is an enabling policy that will open up new windows of opportunity to modernize the retail sector particularly for agricultural products and the small-scale sector. The benefits would be for all : The farmer  will get a better price for their produce as middlemen will be removed   and retailers will buy directly from farmers.  Farmers’ losses from wastages specially   in  vegetables and fruits will come down. The small scale sector  will find new buyers and cheap and better quality source for their products. Consumers  will get better prices and greater variety from these stores.  The ent

E very single atom in the universe carries an unimaginably powerful battery within its heart, called the nucleus. This form of energy, often called Type-1 fuel, is hundreds of thousands of times more powerful than the conventional Type-0 fuels, which are basically dead plants and animals existing in the form of coal, petroleum, natural gas and other forms of fossil fuel. Imagine a kilometre-long train, with about 50 freight bogies, fully laden with about 10,000 tonnes of coal. The same amount of energy can be generated by 500 kg of Type-1 fuel, naturally occurring Uranium, enough to barely fill the boot of a small car. When the technology is fully realised, one can do even better with naturally occurring Thorium, in which case the material required would be much less, about 62.5 kg, or even less according to some estimates. Energy and economy   Today, India finds itself going through a phase of rapid ascent in economic empowerment. Our focus for this decade will be on the d