Kudos your website is more effective than RTI act. Continue with your whispers and exposures.

R K Khanna

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Here is an exclusive interview of K P Magudapathy, Head - Cocoa Operations,with Cadbury that is pioneering Cocoa operations in India

1. Who pioneered cocoa cultivation in India? Where did it all begin?

Though cocoa is believed to have been introduced into Sri Lanka and India in the 18th century, Cadbury introduced the first ever cocoa plantation project in India in 1965 through a demonstration farm at Chundale in Wyanad district of Kerala.

2. Since then how many states have adopted cocoa cultivation?

Majority of the cocoa cultivation takes place in Kerala. In addition, Cadbury has also initiated cocoa cultivation in coastal Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu gradually extending its wings to the large state of Andhra Pradesh.

3. What are the benefits of growing cocoa as a crop?

Cocoa is an ideal intercrop in coconut, arecanut and oil plam. Cocoa grows well in the interspaces between coconut or arecacnut which otherwise is unused land. Research at the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) and practice at farms have proven that cocoa and coconut complement each other.

Moreover, cocoa is less labour intensive compared to other horticultural crops. This enables the farmer to earn an additional income without much investment. Another important aspect of cocoa is that it is a perennial crop with peaks in April to June and September to November enabling the farmer to earn during the monsoon season when there is no other income from his farm.

4. How does Cadbury help in Cocoa cultivation?

Cadbury has a team of 42 technically qualified and experienced professionals located strategically in all the cocoa growing areas of South India.

From offering cocoa seedlings at subsidized prices to the farmers to free technical advice on the cultivation practices, Cadbury ensures its participation in every stage of cocoa cultivation. Cadbury's cocoa department produces over 20 lakh hybrid seedlings annually and distributes seedlings to farmers in Kerala, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

5. Does Cadbury provide any technical assistance to the farmers?

Cadbury's technical staff travel all over the Cocoa growing areas giving farmers advice and assistance in all aspects of Cocoa cultivation. Cadbury's technical team advises and assists the farming community on all aspects of cultivation like planting, upkeep, pest & disease control, organic farm practices, fertilizer application, harvesting and post harvest processing.

6. How does Cadbury reach out to the farmers?

Cadbury adopts an innovative training approach through seminars and field demonstrations similar to FFS (farmers field school) developed by FAO to impart knowledge about Cocoa cultural practices to farmers. It is an interactive and knowledge oriented approach to improve farm management increasing productivity and farmers' income. Farmers are encouraged to share their experience for the benefit of all. The challenge is to reach more farmers and motivate them to take up cocoa cultivation. It is heartening to note that knowledge transfer has taken place to over 65000 Cocoa farmers through the committed team. The testimony of this lies in the fact that the productivity per tree in India at over 1.1 kg is among the best in the world.

Ms Zohra Chatterjee to JS I & B !

Ms Johra Chatterjee is being tipped to be new Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. She is 1979 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Sujata Mehta to be Ambassador to Spain

Sujata Mehta is being appointed India's Ambassador to Spain. She is 1980 batch Indian Foreign Service officer.

Anil Wadhwa to return

Anil Wadhwa is expected to move out from Poland.1979 batch IFS officer Wadhwa is presently India's Ambassador to Poland.

Sen gets six months extension

PR to the United Nations Nirupam Sen has been granted six months extension in his tenure.Why extension was granted to 1969 batch IFS officer Sen is anybody,s guess.

Now IAS officers will learn from China

Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has decided to dispatch 150 bureaucrats of the 1991 batch to China on learning trip. Now the young bureaucrats will go to China to learn as to how China had surpassed India on the economic front and development initiatives. The Indian bureaucrats would learn from their Chinese counterparts during the training.

Outstanding choice of Officers by Finance Minister

Chidambaram can not be faulted at least on one count. He has always chosen his officers with care. Take the example of the most recent appointment in Finance Ministry. Mrs. Sindhushree Khullar (IAS 1975 AGMUT)comes as Additional Secretary. She has a Masters from Delhi University, followed by another Masters from Boston University and an MPA from the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. People who go for this MPA programme are called Mason Fellows; former Mason fellow include several Cabinet Secretaries like P.K. Kaul, T.S.R. Subramaniam, Kamal Pandey etc. and former Finance Secretaies like Gopi Arora, Dr E.A.S. Sarma.

In early March, Mrs. Meena Aggrawala (IDAS 1981) joined as Joint Secretary in Expenditure department of Finance Ministry. She is a graduate of IIT Chennai. The two other lady officers in Finance Ministry with such high qualification are Mrs. Rita Menon, Additional Secretary (IAS 1975 UP)who has an MA from Delhi School of Economics and Mrs Shyamala Shukla (IAS 1991 Maharashtra) who has a MPA from Harvard's JFK School of Government.

Finance Secretary Ashok Jha (IAS 1969 AP) himself graduated from Delhi School of Economics; Banking Secretary Vinod Rai (IAS 1972 Kerala)& Expenditure Secretary Dr Sanjiv Mishra (IAS 1972 Gujarat) both went to Delhi School of Economics (for MA) and Harvard's Kennedy School (for MPA).

Dr Anoop Pujari (IAS 1980 Karnataka)has a PhD from Boston and teaches at Harvard every year. Dr K.P Krishan (IAS 1983 Karnataka) has a PhD from IIM-Bangalore.

Unlike on other ministries, posting in Finance Ministry is decided on entirely on the basis of merit it seems. Preponderance of women officers show that there is gender sensitivity too.

Bureaucratic reshuffle in Maharashtra soon

A major bureaucratic reshuffle is expected to take place in Maharashtra in a week or two.

Virk to get posting in GoI this week ?

Former DGP of Punjab S S Virk is expected to get posting in the Government of India this week end.Meanwhile facing arrest Virk has moved to the court for grant of anticipatory bail.

Readership goes down

With two to three exceptions ,circulation of all the print media i.e. magazines & newspapers, circulation has been dropping steadily. The only media where circulation is galloping is internet. This has happened for the first time ever since India became independent in 1947.The latest survey carried out by Media Research Users Council (MRUC),the internet media is growing by 20 per cent.

Power equations changing in UPA

It seems that Power equations in the UPA are fast changing.In the Delhi Home Minister Shivraj Patil is emerging as the most powerful man of the UPA Government.In several recent incidents the Prime Minister's intervention in security matters has reportedly been turned down by Patil.Even National Security Advisor(NSA) nowadays is giving his directions to top officials in the Home Ministry and not to the Minister.

Any answer of the CBDT bosses ?

Why the Investigation Wing led by Member CBDT-.P.K.Misra silent on the Hassan Ali case ? When they have discovered Rs.35000 Crores why there is silence on the part of the DG Mumbai -S.S.N.Murthy and P.K.Misra ?.Did Mishra cancel press conference on this subject at the last minute ?. Is there a political pressure ? .

Ms Singh to be Divisional Commissioner Mumbai !

In all probability Ms Valsa Nair Singh will be new Divisional Commissioner Mumbai.She is 1991 batch IAS officer.

Do you know this about Indian cricket?

(a) Do you that one of the former skippers of the Indian cricket has invested in Windmills to save Income Tax?.

(b) Do you know that another former cricket captain's wife has a flourishing fashion store? All cricketers-domestic to internationals, are clients of her store.

(c ) Do you that there is another ex-captain of the Indian cricket team from whose Mumbai's Gymkhana(BCCI) located locker, thousands of American Dollars came tumbling down when that was opened ?.

(d ) Do you that another ex Captain's family ,used to spend Rs.One lakh per month on servants to act like Caddies?This has been going on since he started playing cricket.

(e )Do you that this former skipper of the Indian cricket team after his retirement from active cricket has turned into an ardent devotee of Bacchus?.

(f) Do you know that from this former skipper Income Tax recovered Rs.171 crore of unaccounted wealth

(g)Do you know that Income Tax department from one of the ex skipper of the Indian cricket team found more than a dozen imported cars and scores of master pieces of wrist watches & several pairs of shoes? .

Trivedi is back to UP

IG BSF Dilip Trivedi is back to the parent Uttar Pradesh cadre after completion of central deputation tenure. He is 1978 batch IPS officer.

1991 batch IAS gets super-time scale in Orissa

1991 batch IAS officers have been cleared for the promotion to the rank of super-time scale in Orissa. They are Mssrs Satyabrat Sahu, Madhu Sudan Padhi, Vijay Arora, PK Mohanty, SN Sarangi, BK Dhal, and RB Nayak.

Shukla is MD of CZEDC in MP

Sanjay Shukla is new CMD of the Madhya Pradesh Central Zone Electricity Distribution Company. He is 1994 batch IAS officer. Meanwhile Shivpuri Collector Manohar Agnani has been transferred.

IAS changes in Uttar Pradesh

Satish Kumar Agrawal has been appointed Principal Secretary Commercial Tax.R Ramani has been moved to the Board of Revenue.Lalit Shrivastava will now be Chairman of the State Roardways Transport Corporation.Kamini Chouhan Ratan will be Joint Chief Electoral Officer.

FORUM

A good selection of Madhukar Gupta

A very good selection for the coveted post. Madhukar is a fine man and an excellent executive. Congratulations.

A K Shukla

Gupta brothers are sons of illustrious Police Officer

The (Madhukar)Gupta brothers are sons of a very illustrious Police Officer. Their father Dr Anandswarup Gupta was IPS Officer of UP cadre and topper of 1939 batch. He has the rare distinction of being founding Directors of Bureau of Police Research and Development, Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, and first Police Chief of Himachal Pradesh Police when the new State was carved out of Punjab. He also was Member-Secretary of Gore Committee on Police Training. Dr Gupta was a thinking police officer and an intellectual giant. He has authored a few books. His book 'Police in British India' is referred and quoted by many acclaimed foreign historians in their research publications on Empires and Colonisation.

Kamlendra Prasad

This is not qualification of Gupta

That Madhukar Gupta has " handled the Babri Masjid agitation" will not exactly instill confidence in his capabilities at all.

Manish Kumar

Aaj Ki Aawaz

Pawar says that now BCCI will introspect,
And of course his boys he'll protect!

If Pawar had any shame he'd resign and vow never to come near cricket,
To force him to do this outside his home and Office we'll have to picket!!

But to find out the cause of this loss we have to get to the bottom of it all,
Basically it's BCCI that is responsible for Indian Cricket's fall.

Board for Canning Cricket in India is what BCCI stands for,
And their motto is ' Yeh Dill maange more'!

BCCI Board , Greg and Team should be sacked,
Cricket prowess, strategy and grit this team lacked!!!

For a year India should not play International Cricket… build a team from scratch,
Let the players slog it out on the domestic circuit match after match!!!

Laloo says he can play better cricket than World Cup Cricket Team,
Says any day his family cricket team karr sakthi hai inn ko cream!!!

After India 's loss our life is no longer jinga lala (like in Tata Sky),
Hrithik ko quandary mien hai daala,

Now no one wants to view the match in his personal theatre on the humongous screen,
In fact watching the World Cup no Indian would like to be seen.

In UP if elections are held today BJP and BSP will share the honors neck to neck,
At each other's heels BJP and BSP karr rahe hai peck!!!

SP is third and Congress fourth….. why is Congress not being able to pull away??
Why in fourth position it continues to stay???

But one heartening point for Congress is that Mulayam's Muslim Vote bank has shrunk,
And mind you he's lost a sizeable chunk!!!

Madhumita murder accused Amarmani is now a SP candidate…. Mulayam karr sharam,
Look at this man's dush karam!!!

Amma says that TN Budget was a damp squib….. insipid and dull,
But her Party men kept on saying that Amma Budget ko karr rahi hai mull!!

They said she's misplaced her reading glasses so she'll read the fine print in a day or two,
And then she'll start to pompously boo!!!!!

However PC has praised the TN Budget… Jaya says it was expected of PC,
Says PC's comments are pc….poor and comical is what she means by saying pc!!!

Amrinder's tryst with corruption cases has begun,
Now it's evident why he's on the run!!!

He dreads that he'll be put behind bars…… put in jail,
Just the mention of returning and he goes pale!!!

And if Amrinder is put behind bars how will he get ready everyday???
Out of compassion in his jail cell with him his five attendants will be allowed to stay!!

Bhattal's lying through her teeth when she says Amrinder will be back in a week,
You can see the smirk on her face ….. maybe it's tongue in cheek!!!

Amrinder will soon be declared a PO …… because he's not coming back…. not as yet,
In Patiala now on whether Amrinder will return or not people are placing bet after bet!!

The motto of Amrinder is ….. show your back and run away,
Live to fight another day!!!

Shouldn't both Amrinder and Chahal be asked about FE details for their overseas stay???
From where are they getting the money joh overseas woh karr rahe hai pay!!

CBI report literally shows Pandher to be innocent….. can it be so???
As if in this House of Horrors he used to rarely go!!!

Pandher's guilt is obvious from his attachment to Koli..... attachment ka kya hai raaz???
In fact insiders say that very often with Pandher Koli had the audacity to get naaraz!!!!

Has a rich and connected man been able to buy his way out????
This is what the evidence karr rahi hai shout!!!

Like Manu seems he's been able to literally buy his way out,
Pandher has won the first bout!!!

Returning to cricket…. on Sunday Indian Team will be praying that Barbados wins,
And they get another opportunity to wash their sins!!

Miracles will never cease….. and more so when Bookies have a say,
Though India is not playing on Sunday could turn out to be India 's day!!!

Hoping against hopes....... but alas Bangladesh kicked India out,
And Sri Lanka heleped too...on SAARC now we have a reason to doubt!!!

Bharat Kumar
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CORPORATE

Two new Directors in Coal sector

Radhe Shyam Singh General Manager in South Eastern Coalfields Ltd(SECL) Bilaspur will be elevated as the Director (Personnel)after retirement of present incumbent i.e. K. K.Shrivastava, later this year. Likewise, Kachhap Chief Personnel Manager with Coal India Ltd(CIL) Kolkata will become Director Personnel in Bharat Coking Ltd. (BCCL), Dhanbad.

Oil India Director Interview on March 28

PESB will hold interview for the post of Director (Exploration) Oil India on March 28.The post is falling vacant following the superannuation of S K Patra later this year.

ED of BHEL punished by CVC

CVC has recommended the BHEL bosses to reduce the basic pay of one of its ED V Kamalanathan.

NTPC for Simhadri-II

The Board of Directors of the National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) of which CMD is T.Sankaralingam has accorded investment approval for Simhadri Super Thermal Power Project - Stage -II having two units of 500 MW each. This project shall be an expansion of existing Simhadri Super Thermal Power Project having a capacity of 1000 MW, which is presently under commercial operation.

Subhash Ghai's "Disney MGM studio" like venture in India

Subhash Ghai run film Institute in Goregaon(Mumbai)has become a major hit with Hollywood & NRIs. Applicants from all over the world are thronging to his place for taking a course.In fact now he has plans to build something on the lines of "Disney MGM Studio." He is,already learnt to have acquired 100 acres of land in Lonawala,near Mumbai.

Sen is IOC GM in Kolkata

Debashish Sen has taken over as GM of the Indian Oils in Kolkata.

Ram Gopal Verma's "Factory" closed?

Has Ram Gopal Verma's much famed "Factory"-the movie making company , been closed?Answer to this question is ye because it seems to have disappeared into oblivion.It is so because banks,after a series of flop films bankers have refused to finance his ventures any further.