India - Environment Scan

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

POLITICAL AFFAIRS

Sino – Indian ice breaking measures.

At 14,000 meters above the sea level at Bum La, Sino-Indian border along Arunachal Pradesh, Indian and Chinese army personnel pledged brotherhood and friendship to tide over the recent friction over alleged Chinese intrusion into Indian territory on 1st October 09 to jointly celebrate the 60th anniversary of the formation of the People’s Republic of China.
Despite the nausea suffered due to lack of acclimatization by family members of army personnel, the spirits of revelry by Chinese and Indian army were not dampened. Col Yang Zi Zing who headed a 200-member Chinese delegation said that India and China are natural allies and that we must take measures to strengthen Sino-Indian friendship. Brig. C.P. Mohanty, Indian Army said that India appreciates China’s goodwill gesture in making Indian soldiers a part of their 60th anniversary celebration.
Since a decade Sino-India ice breaking sessions are being held at the borders. On the Chinese 60th anniversary, the two-and-a-half hours meeting between officials of Chinese and Indian army culminated with their family members exchanging gifts and taking pictures.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

POWER

Recent amendments in the Indian Power policy.

The aversion by state electricity boards to privatise power distribution has succeeded. Mega power projects were incurring delays because majority of Indian states did not want to privatise power distribution. Although States like Delhi and cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Noida and Kolkata have privatised power distribution.

This allows even states that have a monopoly over power distribution to access power from mega units. Thermal power plants that can produce at least 1,000 MW and hydel plants that can generate at least 500 MW a year are called mega power plants. Such national shame that even after two decades the Indian government will again set up a committee to study the problems of the power sector.
The current amendment in its Mega Power policy has removed the pre-condition for states to privatise their power distribution business for buying power from mega units. This change in the policy would encourage setting up of mega power plants as well as local production of super critical power equipment.
The government also waived the requirement of inter-state sale of power for getting mega power status. Previously only those projects were given mega power status that had inter-state power sale deals.
Benefits of mega power policy have been extended the to the supercritical power projects to be awarded through international competitive bidding with the mandatory condition of setting up indigenous manufacturing facility.
Supercritical technology is more environment-friendly and efficient. But the developer using this technology have to buy equipment from those having production in the country. Now only state-owned BHEL has such facility.
To create a level playing field for private players, the Indian government has decided that the 15% price preference available to local bidders in case of public sector projects would not apply to tariff based competitive bid projects of these state-run companies.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

AUTOMOBILES

Nissan derives Low Cost strategy advantage in manufacturing in India.

To achieve low cost advantage, Japanese auto maker Nissan Motor Co has unveiled the initial design of its new global small car that will be produced in five countries, including India, China and Thailand.
To be globally competitive and as part of its value chain analysis, it has been decided to start production in May 2010 at Chennai.
The factory is being built by Nissan and Renault S.A.
With Chennai port access, it will be easy to ship and sell these cars in more than 150 countries.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

AUTOMOBILES

Panamera to use Best Cost strategy option in India.

Luxury German car maker Porsche currently offers the 911, Cayenne, Boxter and Cayman models in India. With the launch on Thursday the Panamera sedan in India within five months of the global launch shows Porsche is upbeat on the Indian market.
Ideally we feel that with Panamera, Porsche will use Best Cost strategy option as Panamera is a four seater which offers the sporting agility of the 911 and the space of the Cayenne.
Porsche has introduced three variants of the Panamera — S, 4S and Turbo — in the price range of Rs 1.41-2.01 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi).
Porsche follows August 1-July 31 year. They have a target of 50 Panameras in India this year. They have already received bookings for 13 units. They are upbeat on India as India’s GDP has recovered so well that they may not be able to service the demand. Anticipating the rising demand they may ask for more Panameras later.
Their target to sell 200 porsche in India seems achievable as they have sold 135-140 units by end of September. A majority of their total sales in India came from the Cayenne (an SUV).
Barriers to Entry has resulted in Import costs. The import duty is 110 per cent.
Porsche has two outlets currently, in New Delhi and Mumbai. They plan on having centres in Hyderabad, Kochi, Bangalore and Chennai in the south and Ludhiana and Ahmedabad.
They hope to achieve a target of having centres in six cities by 2010.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

POLITICAL AFFAIRS

India honours ElBaradei with Indira Gandhi Prize

Four years after ElBaradei and the IAEA he heads were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, President Pratibha Patil presented the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to ElBaradei for his impassioned opposition to the use of nuclear energy for military purposes and his steadfast espousal of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, sustained over many years. India Mohamed ElBaradei for his role in the success of India's global civil nuclear deal.
Manmohan Singh commended the IAEA chief for bringing about a fundamental transformation in the way India looks at atomic energy. The Indian Prime Minister described ElBaradei as a an international civil servant of the highest order and a world statesman .
The Indian Prime Minister thanked ElBaradei for supporting India's civil nuclear initiative and appreciated his deep understanding of the "intrinsic links between peace, disarmament and development.
The Indian Prime Minister said that without ElBardei the successful conclusion of India's civil nuclear initiative would not have been possible.
ElBaradei played a pivotal role in India clinching the safeguards agreement with the IAEA, which paved the way for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) clearing New Delhi's re-entry into international nuclear commerce Sep 6 last year.
Dr Manmohan Singh said that Nuclear energy is vital to meeting India’s energy and developmental needs. He further highlighted the potential of applications of nuclear energy in agriculture, medicine and industry.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

LUXURY RETAIL

Glocalisation strategy by Mont Blanc

Montblanc has come out with a glocalisation strategy by launching commemorative a rhodium-plated, jewel-encrusted fountain pens bearing Mahatama Gandhi’s signature inlaid with a saffron-coloured opal which is priced at £15,500.
Each pen comes with an eight-metre golden thread designed to appeal to the Focused Differentiation luxury market segment which is symbolic of the cotton Gandhi spun and wove as part of his drive to promote Indian cottage industry.
As a Public relations measure Montblanc to avoid negative publicity which may be whipped up by vested interests and to appeal to the luxury market niche, Mont Blanc gave Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of Gandhi a cheque for £91,000 to help him fund a charity he runs to improve child nutrition and education.
India is undergoing a consumer boom as can be seen by the entry of Dior, Bulgari, Rolls-Royce and Montblanc into the country.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

Mega power policy eased to encourage projects


The aversion by state electricity boards to privatise power distribution has succeeded. Mega power projects were incurring delays because majority of Indian states did not want to privatise power distribution. Although States like Delhi and cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Noida and Kolkata have privatised power distribution.

This allows even states that have a monopoly over power distribution to access power from mega units. Thermal power plants that can produce at least 1,000 MW and hydel plants that can generate at least 500 MW a year are called mega power plants. Such national shame that even after two decades the Indian government will again set up a committee to study the problems of the power sector.

The current amendment in its Mega Power policy has removed the pre-condition for states to privatise their power distribution business for buying power from mega units. This change in the policy would encourage setting up of mega power plants as well as local production of super critical power equipment.

The government also waived the requirement of inter-state sale of power for getting mega power status. Previously only those projects were given mega power status that had inter-state power sale deals.

Benefits of mega power policy have been extended the to the supercritical power projects to be awarded through international competitive bidding with the mandatory condition of setting up indigenous manufacturing facility.
Supercritical technology is more environment-friendly and efficient. But the developer using this technology have to buy equipment from those having production in the country. Now only state-owned BHEL has such facility.

To create a level playing field for private players, the Indian government has decided that the 15% price preference available to local bidders in case of public sector projects would not apply to

This amendment permits states controlling the power distribution system to purchase power from mega power units in an effort to boost such projects.
States will now have to give an undertaking to carry out distribution reforms as laid down by the ministry of power, which makes privatisation of distribution mandatory in the future as per the changes in the mega power policy approved by the Cabinet.
The Central government has diluted its stand on the condition of privatisation of distribution by power purchasing states which will be replaced by the condition that power purchasing states shall undertake to carry out distribution reforms as laid down by the ministry of power.
This current amendment increases the market for promoters of mega power plants as previously the condition of not allowing states that have not privatised distribution of electricity to purchase power from mega power plants curtailed market growth.
The Cabinet has also decided to do away with the condition requiring inter-state sale of power for getting mega power status. Previously only those players were granted mega power status which had inter-state power sale agreements.

Benefits of mega power policy have been extended the to the supercritical power projects to be awarded through the International Competitive Bidding (ICB) route with the mandatory condition of setting up indigenous manufacturing facility.

Although the supercritical technology is very environment-friendly and efficient but the developer using this technology has to source equipment from vendors having manufacturing facility in the country.

The government has further allowed the developers to procure equipment of the mega power projects without undertaking the ICB route provided that either the project has been awarded or requisite quantum of power has been tied up through tariff based competitive bidding.

To provide a level playing field to the private players, the government also decided that the 15% price preference available to the domestic bidders in case of PSU projects would not apply to tariff based competitive bid projects of these state-run companies.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

POLITICS

Dynastic politics in India an off-shoot of Caste System

Hindu religious ideology explains how the four Varnas were founded. According the Rig Veda, the ancient Hindu book, the primal man - Purush - destroyed himself to create a human society. The different Varnas were created from different parts of his body. The Brahmans were created from his head; the Kshatrias from his hands; the Vaishias from his thighs and the Sudras from his feet. The Varna hierarchy is determined by the descending order of the different organs from which the Varnas were created. Other religious theory claims that the Varnas were created from the body organs of Brahma, who is the creator of the world.

The psychological theory talks about Sattva qualities include wisdom, intelligence, honesty, goodness and other positive qualities. Rajas include qualities like passion, pride, valour and other passionate qualities. Tamas qualities include dullness, stupidity, lack of creativity and other negative qualities. People with different doses of these inherent qualities adopted different types of occupation.

According to this theory the Brahmans inherent Sattva qualities. Kshatrias and Vaisias inherent Rajas qualities. And the Sudras inherent Tamas qualities.

Like human beings, food also inherents different dosage of these qualities and it affects its eater's intelligence. The Brahmans and the Vaisias have Sattvic diet which includes fruits, milk, honey, roots and vegetables. Most of the meats are considered to have Tamasic qualities. Many Sudra communities eat different kinds of meat (but not beef) and other Tamasic food. But the Kshatrias who had Rajasic diet eat some kinds of meat like deer meat which is considered to have Rajasic qualities. Many Marathas who claim to be Kshatrias eat mutton. The drawback of this theory is that in different parts of India the same food was sometimes qualified to have different dosage of inherent qualities. For example there were Brahmans who eat meat which is considered Tamasic food.
As a tool of social engineering, caste system came into existence. In order to secure their status the Aryans resolved some social and religious rules which, allowed only them to be the priests, warriors and the businesmen of the society. As in most of the societies of the world, so in India, the son inherited his father's profession. And so in India there developed families, who professed the same family profession for generation in which, the son continued his father's profession. Later on as these families became larger, they were seen as communities or as they are called in Indian languages, Jat. Different families who professed the same profession developed social relations between them and organized as a common community, meaning Jat.
Later on the Aryans who created the caste system, added to their system non-Aryans. Different Jats who professed different professions were integrated in different Varnas according to their profession. Other foreign invaders of ancient India - Greeks, Huns, Scythains and others - who conquered parts of India and created kingdoms were integrated in the Kshatria Varna (warrior castes). But probably the Aryan policy was not to integrate original Indian communities within them and therefore many aristocratic and warrior communities that were in India before the Aryans did not get the Kshatria status.

Most of the communities that were in India before the arrival of the Aryans were integrated in the Sudra Varna or were made outcast depending on the professions of these communities. Communities who professed non-polluting jobs were integrated in Sudra Varna. And communities who professed polluting professions were made outcasts. The Brahmans are very strict about cleanliness. In the past people believed that diseases can also spread also through air and not only through physical touch. Perhaps because of this reason the untouchables were not only disallowed to touch the high caste communities but they also had to stand at a certain distance from the high castes.
After the tragic death of YSR Reddy, chief minister, Andhra Pradesh, some of YSR's followers campaigned to install his son as his successor.
Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of YSR only weeks ago had successfully contested parliamentary elections. He had never held any portfolio but within hours of his father's death, YSR's party wanted to appoint him the chief minister of a large and prosperous state. The Congress leadership at the centre under Sonia Gandhi does not want to relent on this issue. By the way, after Indira Gandhi's death, her son Rajiv Gandhi came back into politics. But Rahul Gandhi has not yet contested for the Prime Minister's post and this could be the reason that Congress leadership is not keen to suddenly propel Jagan Mohan Reddy as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Many reasons have been cited for Congress disinclination to oblige JM Reddy. The Congress party at the Centre wants to show that it calls the shots and if it relents to the demand of followers of YSR, it will set a precedent and other Chief Minister's would think of carving their own independent fiefdoms.
Further Congress party is aware that if JM Reddy is made the Chief Minister, it will open a pandora's box as both nationally and internationally it will open Congress party for criticism.
We must not get carried away by Congress leadership's attitude towards Jagan Mohan Reddy, but read between the lines as the list of candidates released for the forthcoming state elections in Maharashtra is peppered with names of Congress party leaders from this State. Maybe Congress party feels that it is alright to do so during elections time and in other times it has to maintain its holier than thou status.
Roots of dynasty politics run so deep that even the son of the president of India has secured a party nomination. This has been done to topple his challengers which include an erstwhile powerful lone wolf congress loyalist who fell out of favor with the congress leadership at the centre.

Most of the other political parties also follow the leader in dynasty politics. The ruling elite in regional parties have ensured that their successors are in the power game. It has to be seen as a profession and its roots go back to the caste system.

Mr Karunanidhi and his clan have a say in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), TamilNadu , by the way it is also a partner in the governing coalition in Delhi.

Take another example of the Sangmas from Meghalaya, and whodoes not know about
Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family's hold in the RJD in Bihar. The Badals clan run the Akali Dal in Punjab, the Thackeray clan runs Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the Chaudhary Charan Singh clan have great influence in parts of Uttar Pradesh.

A very fascinating side of Indian politics is the case of Mayawati of BSP, Chief Minister of UP and Jayalalitha, leader of AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. These two single women are fabled for their autocratic ways.

The fresh blood which has been injected in both the houses of parliament shows that most of the young MPs are scions of their parents who had considerable hold in their respective states. Whether it be a Gandhi, Abdullah, Pawar, Scindhia, Pilot, Prasad, Yadav, Sangma, Satpathy, Choudhary, Deora, Dutt...etc.,

With due respect to the ability of these scions from various political dynasties in India, these may be very intelligent and hardworking children of political dynasties of India but in the regions which they represent it will not be wrong to say that they have also usurped the right of ordinary Indians to secure nominations from mainstream political parties to contest elections. Another scion of a political family is Sachin Pilot, a normally very sure-footed and smooth-talking management graduate, second-term MP and a minister in the central government.


To understand Indian politics, one needs to understand that the Indian vote bank votes on caste ideologies. These scions of ruling family or others have vote banks which holds their families in favorable perception.

Indian democracy is about understanding the Indian caste system as voters cast their votes based on their religious ideology or caste ideologies.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

ECONOMY & FINANCE

India to get $ 3bn aid from World Bank for Ganga cleaning projects

There have been delays in the hydro electric projects as they have been shelved temporarily as talks were on for cleaning Ganga. The ministry of environment and power have been asked to submit a report in 60 days.

Hindus have long believed that the water of Ganga has a special purity. Studies conducted in 1983 on water samples taken from the right bank of the Ganga at Patna confirm that escheria coliform (E.Coli.), fecal streptococci and vibrio cholerae organisms die two to three times faster in Ganga than in water taken from the rivers Son and Gandak and from dug wells and tube wells in the same area. However, despite the natural resilience of the Ganga, the alarmingly high volume of pollution poses an ever increasing threat to the health and life of the river.The principal sources of pollution in the Ganga are domestic and industrial wastes. Conservative estimates put the effluents flowing into Ganga at approximately 1.7 billion litres each day out of which 1.4 billion litres is untreated. The Ganga basin is home to over 300 million people, out of which 20 million live in densely populated cities directly along it banks. Most of the urban centres lack proper sewage treatment facilities. 88% of the pollution originates in 27 cities located along the banks. While industrial pollution accounts for only about a quarter of the whole problem, it is by no means insignificant since most of it is concentrated in specific areas and the effluents are more hazardous. The state of Uttar Pradesh alone is responsible for over 50% of the pollutants entering the river along its entire journey to the sea. Domestic and industrial pollution, combined with deforestation, use of pesticides and fertilisers and other factors, have rendered the water of Ganga unfit for drinking or bathing.Upstream from Varanasi, one of the major pigrimage sites along the river, the water is comparatively pure, having a low Bio-Oxygen Demand (B.O.D.) and Fecal Coliform Count. However, once the river enters the city these levels rise alarmingly. Measurements taken at the city's various bathing ghats during a few years ago show that the average B.O.D of the water rises by over 1300 percent. The average Fecal Coliform Count at the ghats is over 6000 times what it is before the river enters the city. The Ganga Action Plan launched in 1986 by the Government of India has not achieved any success despite expenditure of over five billion rupees. Even though the government claims that the schemes under the Ganga Action Plan have been successful, actual measurements and scientific data tell a different story. The failure of the GAP is evident but corrective action is lacking.
The Indian government plans to spend Rs 15,000 crore over the next 10 years to make the Ganga river pollution free. This was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the National Ganga River Basin Authority meeting which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and was attended by chief ministers of Uttarakhand and Bihar and cabinet ministers from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh besides Union minister for forests and environment, Jairam Ramesh, urban development minister, Jaipal Reddy, water resources minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, minister of state for science and technology, Prithviraj Chavan, and deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, also attended the meeting.
World bank has offered a loan of $1 billion for this project. The Indian government is in the process of receiving a five to seven years loans in decent terms. Mr Jairam Ramesh , Environment and Forest Minister said that India is expecting to get an aid of 3 billion dollar from the World Bank for preparing projects to clean the river Ganga. The Indian Environment & Forest Minister was hopeful of reaching an agreement with the World Bank President on his visit to India in December.
The Indian government had previously created NGRBA, under the Environment (Protection) Act as an empowered authority to adopt a new holistic river basin approach to the cleaning of the river Ganga and address the issue of minimum ecological flows, besides pollution abatement works.
It was decided at the meeting that the on-going sewage treatment projects would be put on fast track and states will formulate projects for critical pollution hotspots and major towns near river Ganga and its tributaries by November 30, 2009. The India 2020 mission objective is that no untreated municipal sewage and no untreated industrial effluents will be allowed to flow into river Ganga without full treatment.
The current scenario is that Industrial discharges, sewage, pesticides and the rotting remains of dead bodies have increased pollution levels in the river over the years despite government promises to clean-up country's most sacred river.
It was decided at the meeting that the centre will be responsible for the operation and maintenance cost of the existing sewage treatment plants on the river for the next five years. The Indian government has already allocated Rs 1,300 crore for the same.
The current sewage treatment capacity is about 1,000 mld against 3,000 mld sewage being generated in the towns along Ganga. An estimated investment of Rs 15,000 crore over next 10 years will be required to create the necessary treatment and sewerage infrastructure. Municipal waste accounts for 75% of the pollution in the Ganga.
The Indian government has forgotten that in ten years the population is bound to swell and so would the industrial waste and sewage disposal into the river. Therefore by the time a sewage treatment capacity of 3,000 mld is attained, the total sewage and industrial disposal might have climbed much higher levels.
State governments have been asked to prepare a detailed report on the pollution clusters along the river by November.
While ongoing sewage projects will be put on the fast track. The states have been asked to prepare detailed project reports for critical pollution.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

ECONOMY & FINANCE

Give developing nations more rights at WB: FM

India has experience in poverty alleviation, education, cooperatives, women’s thrift and credit groups and large-scale wage employment program such as the NREG program can help other developing countries in Africa become wiser. Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian Finance Minister said that for the World Bank’s South-South Experience Exchange Facility (SSEEF) India would be a proactive partner.
The SSEEF, launched in October 2008, is a multi-donor trust fund that provides a cheaper way for developing countries to share their knowledge and expertise in overcoming poverty. Donors from seven countries such as China, India, Mexico, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, have given a commitment to support the trust fund. Mr. Mukherjee said that donor countries would continue to support this financing facility and the important South-South development agenda. He suggested that this was an opportunity for developing country-partners to learn from each other. He said the South-South learning system created a new opportunity in development. He said that many developing countries may lack adequate financial resources, but may have rich development knowledge with which each one of the developing partners can exploit and derive competitive advantage.
Pranab Mukherjee said that other developing countries can learn from the experience curve of India especially in poverty alleviation, education, cooperatives, women’s thrift and credit groups and large-scale wage employment programs such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program.
During the G20 Pittsburg meet, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India will be endowed with higher voting rights, which had been endorsed by other G20 leaders also. The Indian Prime Minister said that the quota issue needs to be addressed and the quota distribution should reflect the relative weights of its members in the world economy. This needs to be addressed by early 2011. Other developing countries could learn from India’s experience in implementing economic reforms, namely in the development of IT sector, building of infrastructure through the Private Public Partnership model, setting up of centers of excellence in engineering and management education.
The Finance Minister of India addressing a meeting of the development committee in Istanbul said that they have agreed to shift 5 percent to under-represented countries . Pranab Mukherjee suggested that the primary criteria in any methodology for realignment should be the economic weight of the country. He suggested that the decisions taken at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburg should be taken forward.
Voicing his opinion for more rights to developing and transition countries, Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said World Bank should consider a 6% shift in voting rights to give them a level playing field.
Pranab Mukherjee said that GDP at purchasing power parity should be the key factor they should keep in mind while addressing any reforms. According to the Indian Finance Minister IMF has allocated USD 10 billion in addition to the capital allocated by it for India and he further reiterated that the voting power in International lending firms must be decided on the purchasing power parity.
Although the per capita income for the $1.2-trillion Indian economy may still be low because of an excessively large population of 1.17 billion, but when we consider the purchasing power parity, India ranks among the top five emerging economies.
Mr Mukherjee said that the developing countries need financial resources at a lower rate and World Bank seems to be that reliable lender and he said that all must work to increase the resources of world bank.

[abhishek]

We have witnessed in India that "people do not cast their vote but they vote their caste". This perception of the people needs to be changed.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

If they do not vote by Caste, then they would vote by their Religious Ideology or Political Ideology or Individual Ideology.

Catch 22 situation.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

INDUSTRY & SERVICES

It's official, 3G auction will be late

While the developed world readies itself to adopt fourth generation or long term evolution technological standards, Indian Government agencies have been toying with the idea of auctioning 3G spectrum for about two years now.
The Indian Telecom Minister said the 3G auctions had had a positive response from global players. Once the bidding process is through, the successful 3G bidders will be issued Universal Service Licence and will be eligible for 2G spectrum also when it is available. Mr Raja also said that foreign companies have shown interest in participating in the 3G auctions that will generate a revenue of Rs 25,000 crores for the Indian government".

The delay has been because of disagreements between ministries to the failure of the government and telecom regulator TRAI to agree on terms of the auctions. DoT was supposed to release the information memorandum (IM) that contains all the details of the auction including availability of radio frequencies across circles, policy changes, the rules of the auction and mode of payment among several other issues to all potential bidders by September 29, but failed to do so.
The Indian government thinks that 3G mobile services would allow fast access to high-end data services, including video streaming and high-speed Internet.
Although there is buoyancy for mobile phones in India and Indian customers are looking oking forward to more information, faster data access and multimedia services through their mobile phones. 3G technology is here to turn this dream into reality. It's a technology anxiously awaited by telecom operations and subscribers in India.
Radio spectrum refers to a range of radio frequencies. The bandwidth of a radio signal is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies of the signal.For example, in the case of a voice signal having a minimum frequency of 200 hertz (Hz) and a maximum frequency of 3,000 Hz, the bandwidth is 2,800 Hz (3 KHz). The amount of bandwidth needed for 3G services could be as much as 15-20 Mhz, whereas for 2G services a bandwidth of 30-200 KHz is used. Hence, for 3G huge bandwidth is required.
While 2G stands for second-generation wireless telephone technology, 1G networks used are analog, 2G networks are digital and 3G (third-generation) technology is used to enhance mobile phone standards. 3G helps to simultaneously transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging e-mail, and instant messaging. The highlight of 3G is video telephony.
4G technology stands to be the future standard of wireless devices.
India is planning to allocate 2G airwaves to successful bidders in its forthcoming 3G spectrum auctions in a move seemingly designed to encourage bids from foreign operators. The concession will be included in an Information Memorandum (IM) to be published by India's telecoms ministry in the next few days. However, the document - which contains details of the long-awaited 3G auctions scheduled for 7 December - adds that the allocation of second-generation airwaves will be "subject to availability."
International operators have voiced an opinion that since they are not in India they will only enter the market provided they are allowed to offer fully-fledged mobile services, which would also require 2G spectrum..
The Indian minister said that foreign telecom companies are asking for more time since the auction dates clash with the Christmas break.