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News Updates - 15 May 2007
Nagpur to rise fast - New York Times
This sport is utterly breathtaking - LA Times
Status symbol trips - Forbes magazine
Ladakh expedition follows
lofty route - Chicago Tribune
Spreading the wealth - Newsweek International
Indian mangoes find an
eager market - Washington Post
‘Second Tier’
city to Rise Fast Under India’s Urban Plan
13 May 2007, New York Times, By Anand Giridharadas
A year ago,
Nagpur, a relatively
small, forgettable city in the heart of India did not have an
air-conditioned cinema. In the sweltering heat of summer, the rich would fly
one hour to Mumbai, India’s financial hub, to see a movie and stock up on
Levi’s jeans, Domino’s Pizza and other big-city treats that they could not
find at home.
But if the government has its way,
Nagpur will become a
destination city itself. In an experiment that is highly unusual for this
most unplanned of countries, the government is doling out money to Nagpur
and other “second tier” cities to help them modernize — fast.
The plan is to provide the kind of modern conveniences, and
infrastructure that will attract more international investors to
India. In doing so, the
government is following the lead of China, where the government has invested
in infrastructure such as roads and airports, taking a
build-it-and-they-will-come approach that has drawn foreign corporations
helping to fuel the country’s boom. India’s government is also hoping its
plan will stop disasters in the making in its largest, teeming cities as
more people move there in search of jobs and a more urban lifestyle.
“One hundred million people are moving to cities in the
next 10 years, and it’s important that these 100 million are absorbed into
second-tier cities instead of showing up in
Delhi or Mumbai,” Montek
Singh Ahluwalia, the Indian government’s chief economic planner, said.
Already,
Nagpur, with an estimated
population of about 2.5 million, is a changed city. So far, the government
has allocated $280 million for projects and has paid for everything from
lush parks to new roads. And investors — drawn by the hope of a boom — have
built several malls and a multiplex cinema, complete with air-conditioning.
A renovated airport will become the cargo hub of India, with a terminal that
will be 100 times larger than the existing one and will handle at least 100
jets at a time instead of the current five.
The government is planning an eco-friendly mass-transit
system to absorb an expected surge in road traffic, years before many
residents even own a car. The government is also building a special economic
zone with ready-to-use water, electricity and fiber optic cable, in the hope
of attracting 100,000 technology jobs to a city long dominated by coal
mining. It is providing tax breaks for companies who set up businesses
there.
Since its independence from
Britain in 1947, the
city-building philosophy of
India
has been, to put it gently, laissez-faire. Except for the recently developed
technology hubs of Bangalore and Hyderabad, India has not added
cosmopolitan, globally connected metropolises to its old ones: Calcutta,
Delhi, Madras and Mumbai. And those cities have shown the strain as more
people have poured in from the countryside in recent years.
So far, the government has pledged to spend $29 billion
over seven years to upgrade 62 cities besides
Nagpur. Grants are given
only to cities that can show good fiscal controls and enact
business-friendly policies like scaling back rent control. No one knows if
India has the stamina to make Nagpur a truly international hub, and then
transform scores of other cities. But many experts say that the plan to
remake smaller cities could be a key to India’s continued economic growth.
“Much of
India’s future will
undeniably be made in the second-tier cities,” said Ashutosh Varshney, a
specialist on Indian political economy at the
University of
Michigan
in Ann Arbor. The existing metropolises “will reach saturation points before
long, or have already reached such points."
The second-tier cities could address the needs of local and
foreign corporations that have complained about soaring land prices and
increasing wages in the country’s most modern cities. Experts say the
government plan could also provide a boost to home-grown businesses. More
international airports, for instance, could help raise incomes for the
country’s hundreds of millions of farmers by making it easier for their
produce to reach export markets.
Nagpur has a head start
on most of the other cities expected to receive government money. Because
the government selected it as the air cargo hub for the country, skeptical
investors have more hope that this obscure city will eventually rank with
the busiest air centers in the world. Today, the
Nagpur
airport is an airstrip. Visitors deplane and walk across the tarmac to enter
the terminal. It takes 30 seconds to traverse the entire terminal from
arrival gate to taxi stand.
The blueprints foreshadow radical change.
Nagpur got its first
international flight just 18 months ago, but it is already planning a second
runway long enough for jets like the Airbus A380 superjumbo. A new terminal,
already being built, is designed to accommodate 14 million passengers a
year. Next to the airport is a vast special economic zone, an
enclave of relative economic freedom designed to attract investors. Boeing
is already setting up a maintenance hub there and in an adjoining technology
park. Indian companies that do outsourcing work for American and European
companies like Satyam Computer Services and HCL Technologies are buying
land.
Some worry that all the change — which has already caused
real estate prices to soar in the city — is fueling a bubble economy that
could burst. Alok Tiwari, the executive editor of The Hitawada, the local
newspaper, said a boom cannot last unless more jobs are created, increasing
buying power.
Yet others say such development will eventually take on a
life of its own, driving the economy by raising people’s expectations and
willingness to work hard to afford the new luxuries appearing before their
eyes. Vishwas Chaknalwar, a developer, put it this way. “Once you wear
Pyramid clothes,” he said, referring to the new Pyramid mall here, “you
cannot wear anything else.”
Top of the page
This
sport is utterly breathtaking
8 May 2007, Los Angeles Times, By Chris Foster
They
may still be celebrating in India, where the World Cup trophy for kabaddi
will remain this year. Kabaddi, you say? Why it's that grueling game of
agility, endurance and, of course, lung capacity. A player — or "raider" —
from one team tries to touch defenders and return home, while holding his
breath, before being caught. Yes, it's tag.
Some may scream in horror, "Holy Arena Football!" but it should be noted
that while the sport was invented in India, there are tournaments in
England, New Zealand and Fairfield, Calif. Does that have Versus executives
frothing at the mouth over a prospective programming lead-in to an NHL
broadcast?
The true pros reside in India, which won the kabaddi World Cup in 2007
behind the play of tournament most valuable player Manpreet Singh, the
sport's Hold-Your-Air Jordan. (Note: players must repeat the word "kabaddi"
rapidly while in action to prove they are not breathing.)
Still, kabaddi does share something with every other sport: clichés. Said
Dinesh Kumar, India's captain: "I want to give the credit to my coach in my
village and the Indian team coach who made this possible for us."
Top of
the page
Status-Symbol
trips
23 May 2007,
Forbes magazine, By Shivani
Vora
London? Been there. Provence? And there. Hawaii? Please, you've got so many leis you could
open a tiki bar tomorrow. Yet it wasn't too long ago that these were
among the hot spots to which luxury travelers flocked. A little while ago, if you had been to London or Rome or any of the other quote
on quote majors, you had really been somewhere," says Michelle Anderson, a
travel specialist at Admiral Travel Gallery, a Florida-based travel agency
that focuses on luxury trips. "These places elicited wows."
So wow-worthy that
today's well-heeled have been there time and again and become, well,
bored with them. The result?
Spending a week in the South of France or taking a family trip to the
Big Island has lost some of its luster, and travelers aren't satisfied
with the same old spots. Instead, they're seeking a crop of
never-before-done destinations.
"[People] today are
much more traveled than other generations before them and have seen
all the classic destinations," says Tom Armstrong, corporate
communications manager at Tauck World Discovery, a Connecticut-based
luxury travel tour operator. "Now, luxury travelers are going further
afield or hitting places that weren't viable before because the
tourism structure wasn't developed in terms of hotels and
restaurants.”
India is high on the list of travelers looking for
never-before-visited spots, say travel agents. They are attracted by
historical sights such as Palace of Winds in Jaipur, tropical Kerala
on the Malabar Coast, and Goa's beach resorts. For example, Indus
Travel, a tour company with locations in Canada and the U.S., offers a
27-day trip to India, with prices starting just shy of $3,000. All
hotels, sightseeing and some meals are included.
If these new
destinations sound exciting but you can't part with your regular trips
to Rome or Provence, don't worry about being unfashionable. "Old places aren't not hot," Bear says. "You can still go to them. It's just
that the list of the places you have to visit just got longer."
Top of
the page
Ladakh expedition follows a lofty
Buddhist route
13 May 2007, The Chicago Tribune, By Margaret Backenheimer
Tucked in the high Himalayas of India's
far north, Ladakh is said to be reminiscent of old Tibet.
This remote region is the subject of the Aug. 31-Sept. 15 "Ladakh Discovery"
tour offered by Journeys International.
The expedition begins slowly, with three nights in Leh, Ladakh's capital, so
that travelers can acclimatize to the 12,000-foot altitude. The first week
is devoted to visiting historic monasteries and nunneries in the company of
Lama Paldin, a witty scholar of Tibetan and Buddhist history. On the
itinerary are Hemis Monastery, also known as the "Lone Place of the
Compassionate Person," and the monastery in Alchi, home to spectacular
Buddhist wall paintings. The next week is given over to trekking (or
traveling by car) to small villages, with a homestay in Rumbak, a climb over
the Stokla Pass and a rafting trip on the Indus
River. An
optional Aug. 26-Sept. 1 pre-trip visit to Dharamsala, India, is possible.
Top of
the page
Spreading the wealth
21
May 2007
issue,
Newsweek International, By
Owen Matthews
A
decade ago, hotels in princely palaces in Rajasthan, India, were the
preserve of wealthy Western tourists. "The only locals you'd see were either
in the fields or serving you drinks," says London lawyer Rory White, a
veteran India traveler. No longer. These days, you're less likely to see
Europeans than wealthy Indians at the Lake Palace in Udaipur.
Across Eurasia, local
middle-class travelers are increasingly choosing to vacation in their own
countries. They've created a boom in domestic travel that has rapidly raised
the level of accommodations and services. Many have traveled on package
tours abroad, and are demanding the same amenities they found overseas, from
spa treatments to high-thread-count sheets. And their demand for upscale
travel is reaching even the most remote corners of the earth, where posh hotels are opening in areas once hospitable only to
backpackers.
India has really
embraced local tourism, offering a huge range of new options for travelers.
Millions of Indians flush with cash are flocking to palaces that have been
turned into hotels and castles with modern world-class spas. Even many
traditional Hindu pilgrimage spots like Varanasi
on the Ganges and Rishikesh in the Himalayas now boast luxury
accommodations. "Low-cost airlines and rising salaries have greatly
contributed to the growth of domestic tourism," says Subhash Goyal,
president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, which hopes that 65
million moneyed people will travel within India
by 2010.
Rakesh Mathur, president
of Welcome Heritage, a joint venture of ITC Hotels and Maharaja Gaj Singh of
Jodhpur, is leading a boom in Indian heritage property hotels. The company
already has a portfolio of 50 resorts and retreats. "We offer a fort resort
at the rim of a desert, a country resort in the lap of a green valley or a
jungle lodge in a wildlife forest reserve," he says. "Our aim is to provide
an experience where you get away from all that is ordinary and enjoy
something exclusive." Half of his guests are wealthy Indians like Ravneet
Kler, a senior manager in a New Delhi travel agency. Last December, Kler
took his wife and 7-year-old son on vacation to Rajasthan. After two nights
in a palace suite adorned with original antique furniture and paintings, the
family set out to enjoy the rural charm of a farmhouse with modern
amenities. Kler rounded off the holiday with two nights at the 14th-century
Kesroli Hill Fort, and was converted to Indian travel for life. "We can now
spend the rest our lives traveling within India, and in comfort and luxury,"
he says.
Indian luxury travelers
have also opened up the former highland backwater of Assam. Welcome Heritage
plans to develop three tea estates, complete with old colonial bungalows and
golf courses, into golf and spa resorts by the end of the year. And at Ananda in the Himalayas, guests can choose from treatments based on yoga and
ancient ayurvedic philosophy in a spa built on 100 acres of virgin forest
surrounding a palace in the foothills of Himalayas.
Travel at home is set to
grow faster than any other sector of the tourism industry, according to
Tourism Futures International, which studies Asian tourism trends. And with
so much to see in Eurasia, it's easy to understand why.
Top of
the page
Indian mangoes Find An Eager Market
23 May 2007, Washington Post, By Walter Nicholls
How much are shoppers willing to pay for the Alphonso, a
particularly sweet and fragrant fist-size fruit known in India as the "king of
mangoes"? Apparently, far more than they have for the common Tommy Atkins or
Ataulfo varieties. For some, the high price is worth every cent when each
juicy bite evokes memories of home.
Last Thursday, the first shipment of Alphonsos for retail
sale arrived at several Washington
area Indian markets. Despite a price tag five times that of the ubiquitous
mangoes from Central and South America, the supplies of this luscious
variety, not previously available in the United States, quickly vanished. ”People are crazy for them," says Sangay Sheth, manager of
Patel Brothers in
Fairfax. At 1 p.m., he took delivery of 50 cases of Alphonsos, 12 to a case.
The store carries other varieties at $6.99 for 12. But when the Alphonsos
arrived, priced at $35 per case, customers snapped them up. "In one hour
they were gone," Sheth says.
Similarly brisk sales were reported at Patel Brothers
stores in Rockville, Hyattsville and Baltimore. Owner Pankaj
Sheth expects a new, larger shipment May 31 and weekly deliveries until the
season ends in late June. For last week's shipment, many customers reserved
in advance. No one complained about the cost, he said. "People who have consumed this fruit routinely, they
understand the price difference," Bhaskar Savani wrote in an e-mail. A
co-owner of the Chalfont, Pa.-based Savani Farms, which is importing the
Alphonsos, Savani supplied the fruits for a May 1 "Mango Celebration" in Washington hosted
by the U.S.-India Business Council and meant to promote trade between the
two countries.
For India, the world's
largest producer of mangoes, the shipments have been a long time coming.
Nearly two decades ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture refused to allow
shipments of Indian mangoes to the United States
because of concerns about pests, including weevils. The Indian mangoes now
for sale are the first fruits to be irradiated overseas and approved for
import, which was a condition of the permission.
California-based Melissa's, one of the country's largest
wholesalers of specialty fruits and vegetables, received 150 cases of
Alphonsos last week for what spokesman Robert Schuller calls "a test run"
and quickly sold them to Central Market, a high-end grocery chain in Texas. Still, for
Schuller, the Alphonsos have arrived at an inopportune moment. "From a marketing standpoint, it's a tough time of year, at
the height of the season. You can buy two mangoes for $1," he says. "You
can't sell this product to all retailers. Only the Indian markets and those
that serve an affluent clientele will take it." For
others, Schuller says, the price probably isn't worth it: "If I went to a
store as any average American, I would turn away from them."
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