A British goodbye for TATA?

Jamshedpur boy- born and schooled. Of course I'd be a fan of TATA. The greatest Indian company that ever was. Not because of the immense profits they boast of, but because of the ethical bedrock on which those profits were made.

You run a poll here of the most respected Indians- and see who comes out on top- it'll be Ratan Tata- industrialist extraordinaire- Tata Sons chairman, and arguably india's greatest philanthroph. Who else would set up an entire plant to manufacture $2000 cars for the masses?

The Tatas are massive anglophiles. The love story dates back to 1907 when Jamshedji Nuseerwanji Tata set up TISCO in a remote village called Kalimati with the blessings of then British viceroy, the Earl of Minto. JRD Tata, the founder of India's first commercial airline, which later became Air India, was spawned of a French mother, and his first language was French. Yet, he studied engineering at Cambridge, and remained a lifelong anglophile despite his close ties to France.

Ratan Tata has simply carried on with that tradition. With india's growing prosperity, the Tatas became one of India's biggest overseas investors. First came Tetley, followed by high profile Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus and finally the jewel in the crown- Jaguar- Land Rover, formerly owned by Ford. All are, of course, British companies.

Yet, with the economic downturn, Britain has treated the Tatas very shabbily. When Tata asked for a £340 million loan to tide them over the difficulties at Jaguar Land Rover, the British government proposed such harsh terms and extreme oversight, that even the normally accomodating Ratan Tata balked. This despite the fact that TATA have bent over backwards to minimise job losses, choosing to cut hours and freeze pay instead.

Today, Tata's investment in Britain has run into further trouble. A Corus steel plant in Teesside faces closure because four long-term steel buyers, including companies in Italy and South Korea, are about to renege on a ten year business agreement.

This is catastrophic for the Tatas. Buffeted by the world downturn, hit by falling car sales and plunging steel prices, they have been losing money in their biggest markets. They need help from the UK government, where their principal investments lie.... and it's not forthcoming.

The reason it's not forthcoming is because the UK authorities have been bitten badly by the almost total collapse of their banks, particularly Royal Bank of Scotland and the Lloyds-HBOS group, which are now majority public owned. Former bank bosses have walked away with millions of pounds in severance and pensions and left behind smoking ruins, requiring massive taxpayer bailouts. The British government has watched impotently and vowed that they won't be taken for suckers ever again. More oversight, greater regulation, more big brotherhood.

Ratan Tata though, is not Sir Fred Goodwin. What Britain does not know is that TATA has an ethical CV that would put the greatest of well run companies to shame. They look after their employees, put welfare before profits, development before short term gain. I know. I was a beneficiary.

How do I tell Gordon Brown or Peter Mandelson though? If the Tatas go down in flames, Britain would have lost one of its most benevolent and caring investors and it'd be an absolute, crying shame.

Applications of Calculus in Medicine....continued

Here's a second example, courtesy mathhelpforum. I recommend this site to anybody who has the remotest interest in Maths. It has some of the best contributors I've seen on math blogs on www, always ready to help out, and with some amazing problem solving skills.

Applications of Calculus in Medicine

I'll be using this part of the blog to illustrate some applications of calculus in Medicine. Here's the first one. To enlarge, please click on the image.