Coal Wars

Title: Coal Wars – The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet

Author: Richard Martin

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9781137279347

Pages: 274

Coal was used since ancient times for heating. But its true potential was realized only in the 18^th century when it fueled the Industrial Revolution that proved to be a watershed moment in human history. The world we now live in owes its origin to the coal-fired boilers of that era, which led to the manufacture of steel. Industry and transportation was dominated by coal for nearly a century. With the discovery of oil, coal took a backseat in the transportation sector, but with cheap electrical energy produced by burning coal, it again rose to prominence in national economies right up to the 1990s. Alternatives to coal came in the form of nuclear power and natural gas. Coal is cheap, but dirty. The noxious gases and toxic substances it releases into the atmosphere pose a serious threat to human health. Stringent air quality rules imposed after the Second World War cast a shadow on the coal industry. Massive investments and complicated technologies were required to retrofit the coal plants to make it compliant to the new environmental regulations. Added to this was the concern about excessive carbon dioxide emission due to coal burning and human-induced climate change. Richard Martin narrates the story of how and why the coal industry’s days came to be numbered, with examples from the U.S. and China, world’s  leading consumers of coal. He is one of America’s foremost writers and analysts on energy, technology and foreign affairs. He is the editorial director at Navigant Research, the premier clean energy research and analysis firm. He is a regular contributor to major magazines and has authored a book on thorium power movement.

Climate change is now an accepted scientific paradigm, but there are business executives still voicing dissent or doubts over it. They generally represent coal, oil and other conventional energy corporations, whose incentive to continue with the status quo can easily be discerned. Regulatory pressure on reduction of output from coal mines is building up in the U.S., but not in other countries, as narrated by Martin. However, the Green Lobby got a shot in the arm in the steep fall in natural gas prices around 2013, as a result of revolutionary growth in shale gas output in the U.S. Now, the society has a much cleaner alternate fuel at its disposal. Coal burning constitute 44% of carbon dioxide emissions, and almost half of world’s electricity is produced in coal-based power plants, which is expected to fall to 40% in a few years. As Martin observes, decline of coal industry in the U.S., and perhaps in the entire world, is irreversible. New, efficient natural gas power plants could be set up with the same amount of money required for setting up pollution control measures in a coal plant. Solar energy and other renewable sources like wind present other alternatives. Utility companies resist any change from established ways. Every rooftop solar array is another few dollars a month out of the pockets of power companies. In order to meet the rising costs, they’ll be forced to ramp up the energy rates, which will make more customers drop out of the grid and opt for distributed power generation. This will create a death spiral, ending up in the death of grid, as the book suggests just a bit too fancifully. Solar producers now export energy to the grid with net metering, and if the utilities’ lobbying is successful, they might be burdened with a solar surcharge to meet the spiraling costs of grid maintenance.

The book presents an abstract estimate of the U.S. energy scenario. Out of 580 coal power plants there, more than 90% are greater than two decades old. Coal power plants are phased out gradually, as the cost to adhere to clean air laws make the activity unprofitable. By 2020, an expected 49,000 megawatt will be retired out of service from a total of 340,000 megawatt – more, if gas prices stay low. In America too, the impact on states which produce dirty coal like Kentucky and West Virginia is more, whereas in Wyoming, the production is still healthy but the future prospects are not rosy either. On the world stage, Germany and Japan is returning to coal as both have decided to shut down their nuclear stations for political reasons. European Union is committed to environmental norms, and they have a peculiar 20-20-20 rule in place. This means that, by 2020, Europe will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, increase use of renewable sources to 20% of total energy consumption and improve energy efficiency by 20%. Coal corporations have not been alert to rise up to the challenge. They are harking on to arguments about energy poverty and TINA (There Is No Alternative) factors, where coal is touted as the only cheap option for power generation. Some regions have gone for alternate industries to accommodate the labour force that will be rendered jobless by the end of coal. Cultivation of hemp is one such option in some areas, where it can be blended with coal in power stations for burning in boilers. Being a mildly psychedelic substance, other legal issues also have to be taken into account.

Martin makes a tour of China’s Shanxi and Hangzhou provinces to assess firsthand the future of coal industry in the world’s largest consumer of coal. In addition to vast, proven indigenous resources, the country has gone for imports on a large scale from the U.S, Australia and Indonesia. No industry is so dependent on what happens in China as the global mining sector. The author finds signals on the ground that China has woken up to the challenge, by closing down small-scale, inefficient mines and consolidate them into efficient, huge coal clusters. China’s coal peak is expected by 2020, but the author makes a guess that it is highly optimistic and 2030 may be a more realistic option. We find a curious fact on China in the book. Whereas in other countries, the environmental organizations are founded and run by individuals and concerned citizens, the government takes that role in China. Of course, these GOs (obviously, they can’t be called NGOs) have made some real effort on the ground and reaped major gains. Street protests over environmental concerns are eagerly taken up by Chinese society, which sometimes even turn violent. Is this a clever tactic of the regime to divert public attention from negation of civic rights to another issue where the government is perceived to be seriously concerned to curb air pollution? The autocratic regime has entered into a virtual contract with the people it governs – guaranteed growth of personal wealth and affluence to the citizens in return for unquestioned political obedience. This makes the uninterrupted operation of the nation’s factories an imperative for the rulers, who, like the proverbial man riding a tiger, is afraid to dismount. The environmental movement in China has succeeded in relocating a major proposed coal-fired power plant in Shenzhen, but couldn’t do anything about such a facility in environmentally fragile Hainan island, where the government ignored protests. However, Martin reposes optimism on China on account of three factors which he enunciates – dynamism of the people as compared to Americans, cooperation with the U.S, at least on matters related to climate change and its belief that every crisis equals risk plus opportunity for the country.

The book is written mainly with an American audience in mind. Most of the chapters describe the American scenario. The chapter on China is really the result of an afterthought to make it appealing to international readers. The cases of Germany and Britain are confined to the epilogue and there’s no mention of India, whose burgeoning appetite for coal has the potential to upset the climate change apple cart. Barack Obama and his ambitious program of curtailing coal is given due prominence. In the first half of the text, the author’s sympathies appear to lie with the sad plight of coal workers when their livelihood is disintegrating moment by moment. But in the latter part, the hidden claws are revealed and Martin goes for the jugular of coal industry. At times, it may feel like irresponsible criticism of that industry, with no viable alternative to offer. This book promotes natural gas as the panacea for the ills of coal, but that also is not entirely devoid of threat to clean air. Pollution with burning gas is less, but still significant. Improved fracking methods resulted in gas prices plummeting in 2014, which had a knock-on effect on coal prices. Now, both fuels are uneconomically priced, as far as the producers are concerned. If coal could be taken off the stage now, it will present a windfall to gas companies. Martin’s feeble attempt to extol the virtues of solar and wind power doesn’t hold much water on an industrial scale, at least for the time being. Natural gas, especially U.S. shale gas producers stand to gain considerable benefit in case any influential political leader takes this book a little too seriously. Lack of a brief history of the development of coal over the ages is a serious drawback to the book.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Kerala and Freedom Struggle

Title: Kerala and Freedom Struggle

Author: Sreedhara Menon A

Publisher: DC Books, 1997 (First)

ISBN: 9788171307449

Pages: 175

Kerala is a small strip of verdant land sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea on the southwest coast of India. Historically, the land was divided into three regions – Travancore, Cochin and Malabar. The first two were ruled by native princes and Malabar was part of the Madras province of British India. So, in the strict sense of the term, freedom struggle took place only in Malabar, as the other two regions came out of monarchy a little later than India’s independence in August 1947. But this does not mean that agitations had not taken place in these princely states. Organized movements for responsible government had been going on for decades. In fact, a legislature based on universal adult franchise came into being in Cochin in 1948, the first among all the states of India, even before the new Constitution of India granted that right to all citizens in 1950. Prof. A Sreedhara Menon narrates the tale of the struggle for freedom in Kerala with an added emphasis on the impact it exerted on later social life in the state. The author was a former professor of history who taught for thirty years in government and university service. He has also served as the president of the South Indian History Congress and authored several books and district gazetteers of Kerala. Menon also glimpses on the excessive influence of politics in the academic circles of Kerala in the Post Script.

Kerala’s freedom struggle also marks its departure from the medieval period. Kerala’s provincial kingdoms of the Zamorins, Cochin and Travancore came under the sway of the British, which stood as the paramount power by the end of the 18^th century. Local kings were not even allowed to address the governor as ‘my dear friend’! This transition was rather smooth after the British subjugated Mysore under Tipu Sultan. The Kerala kingdoms were the vassals of Tipu and quite predictably, they accepted the suzerainty of the victors with little demur. Even before the total dominance around 1800, the British had established points of presence on the Kerala coast for purposes of trade and defence. There was an uprising in Attingal in 1721 in which 140 Englishmen were killed, when the hosts of a festival to which they were invited suddenly pounced on them. This was an act of treachery, but of course, anything is right in love and war. However, it is not fair for the author to take pride in comparing the incident to the Battle of Plassey, which was still 36 years in the future, in which only 29 Englishmen were killed. A historian making unnecessary and irrelevant comparison of unrelated historical events should be viewed with an extra dose of skepticism. Again, Menon claims that uprisings against corrupt and autocratic diwans (minister under a king) are to be considered as upsurge against the British. This argument is also objectionable. It is true that the diwans were appointed on the recommendation of the British; but their self-centred actions had fomented trouble for which the British were not politically responsible. Often when public outcry arose, they were conveniently removed from responsible positions by the British themselves. However, the revolts of Pazhassi Raja and Veluthampi Dalawa may be construed as direct challenges against the foreign power. Their struggles were isolated and old fashioned. Veluthampi desperately tried to obtain support from outside, but all were in vain. The crushing of these revolts in 1805 and 1809 respectively may be considered as the definitive end of the medieval era in Kerala. English education came in its wake. People studied European history, literature, Western political thought with its emphasis on individual liberty and political freedom. Kerala’s social ground was ready for a transition to modernity that required social reformers to exert their moral pressure to do away with some of the most heinous customs in the world such untouchability, child marriage and polyandry. Sree Narayana Guru, Ayyan Kali, Chattambi Swami and Vaikunta Swami put into place a total social revolution that readied Kerala to step into modernity by the 1920s.

Freedom struggle in the ordinary sense of the term began only with the Khilafat and non-cooperation movements of 1921 towards which Muslims in Malabar were attracted in large numbers. However, the agitation was soon suppressed by the regime’s military might. At this hour of frustration, the fanatic spirit that lay dormant in Muslim minds came out in the open and erupted as a communal riot of the worse kind ever seen in India. Hindus were killed and forcibly converted on a large scale. Their women were abducted and forcibly married off to Muslims. Even now, there are no clear statistics on the number of Hindus killed or converted. Menon, however, adopts an apologetic stand, which should be expected as this book was written at the behest of the Leftist government in power which always put forth an appeasing sentiment wherever militant reaction was expected. He claims the rebellion as caused by political, economic and communal factors. It was at once an anti-British political upheaval, an agrarian revolt and a communal flare up. The author conveniently ignores hundreds of communal disturbances in the region ever since the defeat of Tipu Sultan. Menon chooses to bury his head in the sand. (Interested readers may read my review of K N Panikkar’s book on Malabar riots titled ‘Against Lord and State’ here). He is not so accommodating on the Communists. He lays bare the core truth hidden in Leftist propaganda about their struggle against the British. In Kayyur, a policeman not on duty was chased by an armed crowd, who later jumped into a river where he was drowned. This is the famous Kayyur riot that took place on March 28, 1941. Four communists, Madathil Appu, Kunhambu Nair, Chirukandan and Abu Baker were arrested and condemned to death. In the meanwhile, the political winds took a U-turn. The Communist party had called for the strike in the first place to protest against Britain’s involvement in the Second World War which it thought to be an imperialist war. However, in the middle of the war in June 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union who was his ally till then. Communists worldwide suddenly took a diametrically opposite view of the war effort and came out in wholehearted support to the government. Anyway, the four comrades were hanged on March 29, 1943 as victims of the opportunism shown by the party. Similarly, the Karivellur Incident (December 20, 1946) which saw two protesters killed in police firing was due to an issue on the sale of paddy and has nothing to do with freedom movement. The unnecessary waste of human lives in Punnapra and Vayalar runs in the same vein. These revolts gave the party something to show as their contribution to the freedom movement, but Jawaharlal Nehru was already in power as interim prime minister during this period. How can they be thought of as freedom struggle then? Malabar was the region in which nationalistic struggles took place, under the leadership of Congress. In Travancore and Cochin, the onus was on having responsible governments. Non-cooperation (1921) and Civil disobedience (1930) agitations got enthusiastic support in Malabar.

The book narrates some noteworthy points on the society of Kerala. Menon writes on the overweening political intervention in every sphere of intellectual activity that is a bane of Kerala. He began writing the book on the special request of the State’s Director of Public Relations. He completed the work within two weeks, but on the final day, a government order was received which constituted a committee for the exercise. The committee comprised of two others in addition to the author, including P Govinda Pillai, who was a diehard Marxist theoretician. Also, the committee was burdened with seeking advice from EMS Namboodiripad, who was a Marxist politician and scholar. This brings into focus the sad plight of history writing which is dominated by Leftists. Peeved at this slight, Menon resigned from the committee and found a private publishing house to bring out the book. With clear references in the book to the Communist Party in not so flattering terms, the government’s apprehensions were not entirely off the mark. Menon narrates a few little known incidents that are interesting to read. When the agitation for entry of untouchables inside Guruvayur temple intensified, the government held a referendum among upper-caste Hindus of Ponnani taluk, in which the temple was located. The results were a glowing tribute to the spirit of tolerance and accommodation. 77% of the people supported temple entry, while only 13% opposed and 10% abstained. Readers are also surprised by the description of a Hindu – Christian riot in Kerala, where the Christian community had long been influentially dynamic, but peaceful. The Christians turned against a meeting held at Thrissur in 1921 by the Congress to promote non-cooperation campaign. They pelted stones against the speakers, in which C Rajagopalachari was personally injured. The meeting was disrupted and it grew into a communal riot that lasted several days. It is also chilling to note that support to the demand for Pakistan was widespread among the Muslims of Malabar, who congregated under the banner of the Muslim League. Abdul Sattar Sait, its regional leader, migrated to Pakistan as soon as it came into being. The antipathy of the communists and Muslim League was the prime factor in turning the Quit India revolt in Kerala into a damp squib.

The book is nicely written, but has the ring of a text book written all over it. The author has acknowledged it and justifies it with the lack of sufficient text books on the subject. The book was written in a period of two weeks, ruling out extensive research. The vast experience of Menon as a reputed professor of history more than compensates for any shortfall. The chapter on legacy of the freedom struggle on Kerala’s literature, politics, art, social life and others seems to be imported in one piece from an unrelated source. While most of India’s historians are leftists as a result of careful pruning at the top echelons of historical associations, Menon displays a refreshingly impartial viewpoint. The whiff of fresh air brought in by the author drives out the stale and stagnant miasma of communist propaganda from an important chapter of Kerala history. The author has included a select bibliography and a basic index.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 2 Star

The Emergency

Title: The Emergency – A Personal History

Author: Coomi Kapoor

Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9780670087587

Pages: 389

India is admittedly the world’s largest democracy. We use to take pride in it, often made all the more magnificent when compared to other nations comparable in wealth to India. We proved to the world that democracy is not a rich man’s fad. This country’s dedication to democracy is all the more remarkable, considering the prodigious variety of languages, religions, castes and ethnicities. It is no secret that Western democracies are generally single-language, single-religion establishments. Even though Indians have thus a lot to be proud of, they shouldn’t lose sight of the moment in history, forty years ago, when the nation teetered precariously on the edge of falling into the doomed depths of dictatorship under Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister. Indira Gandhi is notorious for bringing the country to the threshold of bankruptcy by indulging in unabashed populist measures by exercising government control in all business enterprise and saturating the system with nepotism and corruption. When her chair was threatened by a court verdict, she declared a state of Emergency and assumed autocratic powers. She suspended civil rights, clamped censorship on the media, incarcerated people who protested and ruled with an iron fist. Surprisingly, she could call the shots without much demur from any corner. Coomi Kapoor, a political journalist for 40 years and the consulting editor of the Indian Express, tells the story of the nineteen months of Emergency, which will forever be a blot on the nation’s political history.

Indira Gandhi won a landslide victory in 1971, trouncing her opponents from the split-away faction of Congress. Close on its heels came India’s spectacular victory against Pakistan in the Bangladesh war. Indira’s star was on the ascendant. Even opposition leaders praised her, Vajpayee once likening her to goddess Durga! It just felt that Indira can’t lose an election. But at the same time, she wanted to pep up her popularity further, by bringing in more stringent socialist agenda and economically irresponsible measures in the country’s finances. Privy Purse was abolished and outrageous amounts were earmarked for projects in the public sector that were funneled into the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats. Within two years of her victory, Indira’s hold on the country became tenuous. A veteran freedom fighter and socialist leader, Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), returned to active politics from social work to fight against corruption and degeneration he observed everywhere in India. His protest movement amassed massive public support. Stung by the huge rallies convened by JP and his growing stature, Indira and her son Sanjay decided to put an end to democracy for the time being and impose dictatorial rule. On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court declared Indira’s electoral victory from Rae Bareilly null and void, finding gross violation of electoral procedures and misusing government machinery for her propaganda. She appealed to the Supreme Court, which refused to issue a comprehensive stay order. One June 24, Justice V R Krishna Iyer permitted Indira to continue as prime minister, but restrained her from voting in parliament and drawing the salary of an MP. A few days back, the ruling Congress was voted out of power in the Gujarat assembly. On June 25, JP exhorted total revolution in the country at a gigantic rally in Delhi. This was the proverbial last straw. Unwilling to consider stepping down even for a minute, her coterie decided to declare an Internal Emergency in the country, without even informing the cabinet. Coomie Kapoor has neatly summarized the sequence and establishes that the ruling caucus had long been preparing to enforce something of the sort.

The author lived through the horrors of Emergency, where her own husband was detained under the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Rules (DIR) which allowed the police to place in custody suspects without judicial review. Indira and her heir apparent Sanjay gagged the media by imposing crippling censorship of the content. The guidelines of news censoring itself couldn’t be made public. Even parliamentary proceedings were cleared only after it passed through the censor. V C Shukla, one of Indira’s protégés who controlled the broadcasting ministry appointed police officers to select the news for publishing. Even then, Indian Express stood rooted to its principles, while The Hindu and the Times of India literally ate out of the government’s hands. L K Advani’s famous remark that the Press crawled when they were only asked to bend refers to these spineless newspapers. Political detainees had a tough time ahead. They were not disclosed the reason of their arrest. Third degree torture was the norm to make them talk. Even when courts allowed bail to them, the released persons were immediately rearrested under some other pretense. Indira never showed any remorse for her repressive tactics in silencing the media. Some of the Supreme Court judges also danced to her tune. In a 4-1 majority verdict, it suspended civil rights including the right to life, in April 1976. Justice H R Khanna, the lone dissenter, lost his promotion as the Chief Justice of India as a result.

Government’s stranglehold on the media was multifaceted. While it bullied those who protested, official advertisements were lavished on the tame. Censors kept a tab on all topics, and didn’t even permit frequent reports of crime appearing in newspapers, so as to prevent the people from reaching the conclusion that crime was surging. Government media sang only the eulogies of the mother and son. All India Radio was jokingly referred to as All Indira Radio. A number of films were produced on them by the Films Division of Information and Broadcasting Ministry. V C Shukla extended his control to commercial films as well. Actresses reported of his unwelcome advances for granting favourable decisions. Singer Kishore Kumar at first refused to toe the official line. His songs were banished from radio and TV till he capitulated. Many MPs were behind bars, which smoothed the government’s way in parliament. Question Hour, Calling Attention motions and parliamentary business initiated by private members were dispensed with. Representation of the People Act was amended retrospectively to prevent the courts from unseating the prime minister. This annulled the verdict of Allahabad High Court which ruled against her. The 42^nd constitution amendment granted Lok Sabha the power to extend its term as it wished, without holding fresh elections.

It is curious to observe the antecedents of a few people and organizations which vociferously trumpet civil rights now, when in fact they were licking the feet of the regime during Emergency. M F Husain portrayed Indira as goddess Durga astride a tiger. This was the height of sycophancy, but court painters in the Middle Ages would have done the same. The Communist Party of India (CPI) sided with the government and shared power with the Congress in some states. Quite probably, they might’ve been operating under instructions from the erstwhile Soviet Union, judging from their lack of compunction in voting into law a slew of measures that tightened the noose around the neck of democracy. D K Barooah, the Congress president, brought out slogans that showed total submission to Indira and her family. His refrain “Indira, teri subah ki jai/ Indira, teri shaam ki jai/ tere kaam ki jai, tere naam ki jai” (Indira, we salute your morning, your evening, your great works and your name) was an instant hit among unthinking Congress workers. The RSS was banned and many of its cadres kept the flame of dissidence alive in the country, but its supreme leader Balasaheb Deoras negotiated with the regime while in jail. Even though advertisements were also scrutinized, a few escaped the censor’s notice and came out. Kapoor mentions an obituary note in an English paper as “D’O Cracy, DEM beloved husband of T. Ruth, loving father of L. I. Bertie, brother of faith, hope and justice, expired on 26^th June”! The date chosen was the date of declaration of Emergency.

Quite unlike other works on Emergency, this book brings out the terrible events through the eyes of a journalist author. The first seven chapters, forming a half of the book narrates the author’s own experiences while the latter half presents character sketches of Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan and also the blatant misuse of power and public money in sanctioning loans on flimsy grounds to Sanjay’s indigenous small car project. Another topic of active coverage is Sanjay’s 5-point program that included sterilization. A total of 10.7 million people were forcibly sterilized to fill the quotas Sanjay Gandhi had set. Those who were thus sterilized often included unmarried men. The book is neatly structured and impartial. It includes a collection of photographs of the major actors, a section on Notes and a good Index. Arun Jaitley has penned the Foreword to the book.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star

Business Maharajas

Title: Business Maharajas

Author: Gita Piramal

Publisher: Penguin, 1997 (First published 1996)

ISBN: 9780140264425

Pages: 474

Businesses are sometimes likened to empires. Just like a real empire, every business concern encounters aggression from all corners, not necessarily armed ones. This mandates an intelligent, powerful and far seeing emperor at the centre. Such maharajas fend off predatory moves by competitors, devices plans for the routine administration and put in place programs by which more revenue could be earned. In a large business empire, the leader sits at the centre, sensitive to the slightest tremor on the web. This book showcases seven prominent business houses led by Dhirubhai Ambani, Rahul Bajaj, Aditya Birla, Rama Prasad Goenka, Brij Mohan Khaitan, Bharat and Vijay Shahs and Ratan Tata. Their combined turnover runs into billions of dollars and they employ millions. India looks at its entrepreneurs with suspicion and a touch of derision. Books like this bring out the human being in them – his fears, hopes and happiness. Reading about the buildup of a business empire, we wonder at how commonplace each step is, requiring nothing more than commonsense and a pinch of logical thinking. It is such ordinary steps that build magnificent edifices people wonder at. The history of a successful business entity thus instills confidence among people that such feats are not beyond their reach. Gita Piramal is a freelance journalist with a doctorate in business history. She has authored many books and is writing and commenting on the corporate sector for many decades. This book also brings to light some of the horrible stories of how a corrupt, socialist government meddled in industry and made a mess of it all.

The most tragic feature of the License–Quota–Permit raj of the socialist era of post-independence India was the blatant intervention of the government in business. The bureaucrats who actually dabbled in this often had only a fleeting idea of what a business is, and was guided by left-leaning politicians, who corrupted the system. They even controlled capacity expansion of private industrial establishments. The production target was fixed by the government and you were not allowed to exceed it. Whenever it announced some liberal measures, it was solely intended to be of profit to a particular business house which greased the palms of Indira Gandhi and her sycophants. In 1971, she allowed the import of polyester filament yarn, against export of rayon fabrics to assist Ambani. After he built a filament yarn plant in India, it was withdrawn in 1979. Again, the country curtailed production of synthetic fabrics, which led to a spurt in smuggling that in turn helped the politicians in the form of kickbacks from smugglers. Sometimes, the decisions were so blatantly stupid that we’d be amazed at the thinly veiled pandering to some arcane socialist principle. In 1984, it granted a PTA (purified terephthalic acid) plant to Reliance, but will not give permission to its competitors, who received it only after the liberalization agenda was put in place in 1991. By then, Reliance could make a head start. Government even interfered in the management of private companies. It denied the extension of partnership of Bajaj with Vespa in 1971, citing that the company had become a monopoly. However, the real reason was that Kamalnayan Bajaj sided with the opponents of Indira when Congress split in 1969. This was at a time when people had to wait for years after booking a Bajaj scooter to take delivery! Flawed ideological affiliations of short-sighted politicians wreaked havoc in the industry when such people found power in their hands. George Fernandes, a socialist trade-union leader turned minister, drove out Coca Cola and IBM from India. He also compared the business community to rats. Nehru was also not free from the allegation of shortsightedness. He denied approval to Birla to set up an integrated steel plant in Bihar, on the flimsy argument that such plants were reserved for the public sector. This greatly upset Birla, who had already found a U.S. partner for the plant. In the end, Nehru allowed to set up Hindalco, as some kind of consolation.

The one thing we note repeatedly in the book is that there is no clear cut path to success. These winners have each taken an unknown trail through the wilderness to reach glory. There are countless others who fell by the wayside and we will never come across their stories. The diversity of the successful entrepreneurs in their modus operandi is humongous. Ambani, whose name was said to be an acronym for ambition and money, was a proponent of backward integration. He began with textiles, which is an end product for consumers, and worked his way backward through the intermediate chain like polyester, petrochemicals, refinery and finally, oil exploration. Sometimes, fights between industrialists broke out, who go all out in devising means for humbling the opponent. One such illustrative case is described by the author, which must be mentioned. The newspaper Indian Express carried a series of stinging articles against Ambani and Reliance in 1986-87, causing much harm to its business interests. This was later turned out to be designed to favour Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing in their tussle against Reliance. Wadia’s closeness to Ramnath Goenka, who controlled Indian Express, was legendary. People like Vijay Shah were very flamboyant, while Ram Prasad Goenka was reclusive to the point of not even divulging the names of books he was reading so as not to present an opportunity for others to gauge his personality! Then again, some are attracted to high risk-taking, while others are averse to it. Birla never made a product that required large-scale promotion and stayed away from consumer products which were risky. Businessmen like Tatas were thrifty, while others like Vijay and Bharat Shahs were extravagant. When the opulence at Shah’s daughter’s wedding exceeded all limits, public protest marred the proceedings. The boasting of the Shahs reproduced in the book – if true – is a challenge to the rule of law. He claims to have made the Thai government fall in line to grant him tax exemption by threatening to walk out. He organized traders’ protest against taxmen who raided his offices to search for income tax evasions. His construction companies were notorious for not honouring their commitment to handover residential flats at the proper time.

Gita Piramal has done a wonderful job in compiling a book of this kind that is also eminently readable. Credit must be given to her in formulating criteria to select the businessmen who were to be covered in the text. The author hit upon three parameters for objective analysis – look into the past and the future, territorial dominance and talent from established business families. The third criterion ruled out professional managers and self-made entrepreneurs like IT stalwarts. Vijay Mallya is curiously omitted, which is all the more prescient considering the financial scams he fell into. The book was published in 1996, and the information is hence slightly dated. It is high time a revised version hit the stands. The book includes the family trees of all seven clans, which is a nice place to scout for some very good baby names for those so inclined! An impressive bibliography and a basic index add value to the work. A set of photographs would’ve added more interest.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star