Friday, March 15, 2013
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Social Media Censorship: A move to block hate speech or to ‘please’ someone else
Article quoted Mr. Kapil Sibal that the guidelines have been necessitated because the companies that own these Web sites have refused to remove ‘objectionable' content despite several requests. So, I thought let us inquire what is ‘objectionable’ content according to Government of India. Google Transparency Report provides statistics related to the requests made by different states to remove content from Google but, this report actually confused me.
It was mentioned that in total 358 items are requested to be removed by both state and local law enforcement agencies of India during the period of January to June 2011. The report further described that out of those 358 reported items 236 items (2 out of 3) were critical of a local politician. However, the Google report have no mention of the name of that politician but, I think the following news reports from The Hindu and New York Times do give us a hint of who that politician might be.
1. “Sibal warns social websites over objectionable content”. The Hindu. December 6, 2011
2. “India Asks Google, Facebook to Screen User Content”. New York Times. December 5, 2011
Mr. Sibal further justifies his stand by saying that hate speech must be blocked. But Google Transparency Report clearly shows that in this case also government’s actions are very different from what it is saying. Out of a total of 358 items reported by Indian Government both at state and local level, a mere 8 items (2%) were requested for the reason of Hate Speech and on the other hand a total of 255 items (71%) were requested to be removed for the reason of government criticism.{1}
Only thing which I hope from this new row of controversy is that this might lead to a good discussion among intellectuals and help us get some good laws for these and similar newly arrived technologies.[2]
References
1. Google Transparency Report. Google. Retrieved on December 7, 2011.
2. “The Government’s listening to us”. The Hindu. December 1, 2011.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Economics behind Oil prices in India
There are numerous reports in media in which different officials claim different reasons for rising oil prices in India. I find these 2 the most prominent one:
- “LOSSES” to Oil marketing companies
- Rising prices of Crude Oil in international market
Second reason obviously lead to losses if selling price is not changed, so I thought why not look at the economics behind these things in detail.
At the first instant it comes to mind that why not look at the profit (net income) of the oil marketing and other oil related companies in India. Following is the net income of major oil marketing and other oil related companies in India.
| Company Name | Net Income* (2010-11) | Net Income* (2009-10) |
| ₹ 18,924.00 crore (1) | ₹ 16,767.55 crore (1) | |
| ₹ 7,445.48 crore (2) | ₹ 10,220.55 crore (2) | |
| ₹ 2,887.73 crore (3) | ₹ 2,610.52 crore (3) | |
| ₹ 1,546.48 crore (4) | ₹ 1,537.62 crore (4) | |
| ₹ 1,539.01 crore (5) | ₹ 1,301.37 crore (5) |
*Net Income = Net Sales (Revenue) - Cost of goods sold - SG&A expenses (combined costs of operating the company) - Depreciation & amortization - Interest expense (cost of borrowing money) - Tax expense
It may be noted that first two of these companies are Maharatna and the third one is Navaratna and we know that one of the condition for a public sector unit to be credited with Maharatna title is its net profitability of at least ₹ 2,500 crore consecutively for last 3 years.
I could not find the meaning of “Under Recovery”, the term used in context of losses to these companies. However, I ended up on a news report at CNBC site where Finance Ministry has asked Oil Ministry about what “Under Recovery” is.(6)
Now let us do the math behind the losses.
International Crude Oil prices are varying between US$ 80 to US$ 125 per gallon and mostly it was around US$ 110. One barrel = 158.973 liters. Exchange Rate US$ 1 = ₹ 50.
1 liter of import will cost ₹ 34.597 Now, if we add refining cost (Gross Refinery Margins) which according to CRISIL report was ₹ 4.76/liter** in 2007-08 assuming a constant inflation of 10% it will amount to ₹ 7.66. This gives us a total cost of petrol to ₹ 42.257*
Now if we calculate the different kind of taxes, which are mentioned below, we arrive at a final figure of ₹ 73.02
- Excise duty : ₹ 14.35 per liter
- Customs duty : 7.5 percent
- Sales tax or VAT : 20 percent. (PIB)
A total tax of ₹ 30.766/litre i.e. 42% of the oil cost is tax amount on a product of such importance. However, this will give a significant revenue to the government and considering the fact that petrol has a negative externality associated, it (tax) is correcting the consumption pattern of petrol. Interesting thing to note is that how that tax money is utilized and how much of it goes back into the petrol system in the form of subsidy to “gross under-recovery losses” to oil marketing companies.
* I have deliberately left out various kind of operating and other cost as they are partly covered in the calculation of GRMs and they are very small portion of the cost.
** This figure is different in different texts but this is the highest which I found.
Bibliography
- Annual Trends for Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Bombay Stock Exchange: http://www.bseindia.com/bseplus/StockReach/AdvanceStockReach.aspx?scripcode=500312
- Annual Trends for Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Bombay Stock Exchange: http://www.bseindia.com/bseplus/StockReach/AdvanceStockReach.aspx?scripcode=530965
- Annual Trends for Oil India Ltd. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Bombay Stock Exchange: http://www.bseindia.com/bseplus/StockReach/AdvanceStockReach.aspx?scripcode=530965
- Annual Trends for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Bombay Stock Exchange: http://www.bseindia.com/bseplus/StockReach/AdvanceStockReach.aspx?scripcode=500547
- Annual Trends for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Bombay Stock Exchange: http://www.bseindia.com/bseplus/StockReach/AdvanceStockReach.aspx?scripcode=500104
- Oil Min must disclose under-recovery math: Fin Min. (October 21, 2011). Retrieved November 9, 2011, from CNBC Money Control: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/oil-min-must-disclose-under-recovery-math-fin-min_604067.html
Saturday, June 25, 2011
There are reasons to believe in a better world
Recent Coca-Cola video posted below is a new addition in a long list of inspiring commercials by MNCs. These advertisements not only promote their product but also give a positive and strong message to the viewers.
Are these videos affect people? How much they positively encourage the people?
Saturday, January 29, 2011
3 lessons to nonprofits (from Coke): Melinda French Gates
Friday, January 28, 2011
President’s address on Republic Day eve
Above is the word cloud of President’s address to nation on the eve of Republic Day. Apart from a high frequency of India and nation, words like ‘development’, ‘growth’, ‘welfare’, ‘financial’ and ‘economic’ shows how much importance is being laid on the economic growth of the country and it also reflect the recent global recession. Internal security is still the issue for India with words like ‘security’, ‘terrorists’ and ‘terrorism’ appearing in quite a decent frequency.
But words like ‘technology’, ‘R&D’, ‘green energy’, ‘education’ etc. which are engine to sustainable development are still missing. This however doesn’t reflect that our government is working on sound principles. Complete ignorance of words like ‘jobs’, ‘poverty’ and ‘MDGs’ also implies a not so solid foundation'.
If we compare it with the address US president Barack Obama on the same day to US congress we will find a contrasting difference in the priorities and ideals, both the nations are going on.
Original text for the speech of Mrs. Pratibha Patil can be found at: http://presidentofindia.nic.in/sp250111.html
Original text for the speech of Mr. Barack Obama can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-state-union-address