Social Orientation

In the recent past, there has been a welcome quality change in
the outlook among the Indian carpet dealers. Started by Anisa
Carpets Limited, who were the first to apply for a certificate in
handmade carpet industry for
Social Accountability from BSI and got it only last year which
is proudly displayed in their Bhadohi and London office.

A few months back I met Indra Mohan Srivastava, Management
Consultant of Constraarch - Mansys, who told me that many
carpet exporters have applied for this certificate in recent
past and SA 8000 certificates will be bestowed to them
in the near future. 

Indra Mohan told me that Consraarch has two offices in
Uttar Pradesh, one in Moradabad and other in Lucknow.
He further told me that Contraarch are enlisted consultant
with New York Based Social Accountability International (SAI)
and without their recommendation this certificate can not
be issued. He visits Bhadohi often to complete the cases
and also to market this service.  

I believe this is a very welcome sign and hope that more
and more carpet dealers will get connected to this and
ISO. They shouldn't only get connected to it just to observe
the by laws set by BSI but they are needed to go some
extra miles. 

There are many justifiable reasons for taking that extra
mile. One genuine reason is that we are carrying with
us a stigma - stigma of child labor - on our shoulder for
over a decade. I believe by going that extra mile will
help us mitigate this dishonor.  

We need an image makeover. That is possible only
when we prepare ourselves for going that extra
distance. SA 8000 and ISO can help us greatly for
that image change.  

We have already suffered greatly. No one believes
us if we say that our carpets are free from child labor.
For over a decade we are using labels declaring that
carpets being exported are free from child labor.
When will we get rid of this practice? Perhaps,
SA 8000 has come our way as a blessing in disguise.
It, most probably, is going help us get rid of our
tarnished image. Won't it?

--------------------------------

Notable note:

Do you know that Sachin Tendulakar's total
tax exemtion was Rs. 8.87 crore during
1998-99 and 2004-05?

“The new way of watching TV” and “All the things you love about TV, fused with all the fun and interactive power of the internet.”

The website of Joost so announces on it home page. Joost
is basically internet TV.Its quality is high. Download the
beta version of the client software. You will find
it far superior than other video on the internet. Overall,
the video quality isn’t as
good as TV but the advantages are many.

But wait! You can not see its TV program unless you get
an invite. In the meantime enjoy IBN Live 

On Anvil: Relief For Exporters

Fast appreciation of rupee has hit hard to the Indian exporters. Most of the exporters make their invoice in dollar term as such they are losing more than 8 per cent.

Exports grew at a very healthy rate for the last three years however, it seems exports are decelerating. According to the all India figure, released by Department of Commerce, export growth has decelerated to 5.2% in January, 7.8% in February and 8.84% in March 2007 and, no one has any doubt that the single most decelerator is the appreciation of rupee.

An internal study conducted by the Commerce Ministry reveals that the textile industry, one of the largest employment generators in the country, appears to be severely hit by the hardening of rupee.

What is true with textile industry is also true for carpet industry because most of our exports are price sensitive and mostly invoiced in US dollar. In that situation it would be hard to meet the target set by carpet exporters.

Government is deliberating to find mechanism to offset the losses to exporters. Support packages are on its way and are expected to be cleared within a month. The packages that are on the anvil are: refund of certain taxes; reducing premium on insurance cover on exports; reducing ECGC premium rate by 10%; enhance duty drawback by 5% and rates of duty neutralization schemes like Duty Entitlement Pass Book; reducing interest rate on pre and post shipments to 6%; paying interest on Exchange Earner’s Foreign account; Service Tax exemption etc.

In the last two month the rupee has risen by 13% which is having an impact on orders besides it is also causing employment loss. It is expected that export will dip drastically if these measures are not taken immediately.

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Enjoy the video: Rjnikant Ka Baap

BlackBerry

Just launched BlackBerry Pearl is now available is now available in Pearl White and Piano Black colors. Among the feartures what is notable is that it provides location-based service.
You simply need to enter your destination. A map appears showing the way.
Other features of that this mobile incorporates are such as personal e-mail, instant messaging, and Web browsing. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera with 3 zoom levels (up to 5X), and built-in flash.
The BlackBerry Pearl also features "myFaves" that allows users to have quick, one-touch access to their favorite five friends and family members. In addition to calling, instant messaging, and texting, sending an email to one of the five favorites is also just a hit away.
For complete information Click Here
Won't it be a great device for exporters who frequent their business jaunts so very often?

George Bush’s watch gets stolen

Bruce Schneier’s posts have detail of this theft. Bush was in Albnia when this happened – cheering in Fushe Cruja. Bush is wearing the watch in a 50 second clip but it is missing 14 second later.

America denies the alleged theft. But you can see this video

DOMOTEX Middle East 2007

Sultan bin Saeed Al-Mansouri opens DOMOTEX Middle East 2007

Opening DOMOTEX Middle East 2007, the region's only specialised flooring and carpet exhibition, Al-Mansouri said: 'It is very important to have a local flooring industry of high quality, and what I have seen is very encouraging, since many companies from the region, such as those from Saudi Arabia, are competing on an international level.'

The event is open until 8pm on Wednesday (June 13) at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

'This is an important exhibition, particularly with the tremendous growth in the real estate sector the UAE is witnessing, namely in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Ajman,' added Al-Mansouri.

'I have seen companies exhibiting flooring products that are also environmentally friendly, which is in line with the construction trends in the region.'

DOMOTEX Middle East 2007 features 269 exhibitors from 37 countries, including first-time representation from Cyprus, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Norway and Poland. In addition to the country pavilions from Belgium, China, India and the USA, this year's show also welcomed the country pavilion debuts of Afghanistan, Austria, Germany and The Netherlands.

For full story see Ameinfo.

Courtesy: Ameinfo

Bhadohi 1972

Year 1972: Curfew was clamped in Varanasi. CARY WOLINSKY, a 25-year-old photojournalist Boston was confined to his room in a Varanasi hotel. He was here for stories for National Geographic and other photo magazines. Luckily, he met Naseeruddin Ansari of Bhadohi. Ansari told him about his business and invited him to Bhadohi and he was enamored with appealing sight of the town. What followed was visual odyssey through the vibrant culture of textiles across a dozen countries including India.

Wolinsky’s works will be showcased at the Pucker Gallery in Boston from June 9 to July 8. Many of them, I believe will cover photographs from our carpet industry. Just take dip at HARSH KABRA’s beautifully illustrate Voyages of Discovery