Best of both worlds

MotoGP legend as well as V8 Supercar and Japanese GT Sports car star, Wayne Gardner has certainly known the best of both worlds, but doesn’t shy from taking sides…

Generically speaking, cars are faster, and safer. Where do you think bikes score over the four wheeled counterparts?

Generally speaking, cars are safer because you're driving in a steel shell, but most bikes are much faster and more nimble, and they give you a complete feeling of freedom – bikes win hands down for fun. For safety, cars are definitely the winner, but the flirt with danger and exposure to the elements on a bike can't be beaten!

They say bikes are the cruising envy of drivers. Cars, especially SUVs or large vehicles, mention ‘space’ as a selling point to give them “the illusion of the freedom to cruise.” Your comments...

I don't believe you'll ever replicate the feeling of a motorcycle in a car because you're still within a controlled environment. However, if cruising to you means sitting back in a lounge chair and relaxing, then I guess a large vehicle can provide a 'cruisy' ride for some – those that have never ridden a motorcycle that is. The closest you can come to a motorcycle in a car – and it's still a long way off – is in a fast convertible, at least you can feel the wind in your face.

How does bike racing compare with car racing?

Nothing could ever replace the excitement of motorcycle racing for me. However, I took up car racing because my competitive nature needed another challenge as a form of weaning myself off motorcycle racing. I moved to cars purely from a safety point of view – as I got older, my self-preservation mechanism kicked in! Car racing is extremely competitive and unlike motorcycle racing, the performance of the car is a lot more important than driver ability. For me, it was a huge challenge and a learning opportunity to understand car set-up and performance. What did surprise me was the corner speed of cars as opposed to motorcycles – the breaking points were so much later and higher, which took some adjusting and helped my search for the adrenalin rush. Racing motorcycles will always be my passion but car racing helped me satisfy my competitive nature at the time when I still needed the fix.

You’ve handled both machines. Which of them is more "obedient" in the hands of its master? And which one "spoils" you more?

A motorcycle is definitely more obedient because when you ride a bike, it becomes an extension of you and you are totally united with the bike. So, you are really driving the machine. In a car you are strapped in a seat in a large shell, and it feels much more like the vehicle is taking you for a ride, rather than you driving it. You just don't have that one-on-one relationship that you do with a bike.

Define for us: 1) The quintessential bike guy (or girl) and 2) The quintessential car guy (or girl)

The average motorcycle rider is a passionate and emotional person. Motorcycle riding is driven by passion. They are down-to-earth and have a good sense of adventure.

I think the average car enthusiast is driven by image, style, and speed. Their car is a reflection of their success. They are high achievers and strive for comfort and style in their life.

Of the many you own, which is your favourite machine? I don't have any of the Hondas or the Ford F100 (unfortunately) anymore. I now drive an Audi Q7 and a Volvo XC60 convertible. I did love my F100, but unfortunately all the family didn't fit – so now I just feed my passion and ride my new Honda CBR1,000 Fireblade for fun. I guess the real love of my life is my 1987 World Champion NSR500 which is now in a museum at Bathurst, NSW, so that everyone can enjoy it. I can't ride it anymore but it gave me one of the best gifts of my life (my World Championship) and so it has my loyalty forever!! My kids also now race Dirt Track and so we have quite a few more race bikes in the garage!

In closing, I'd just like to sum up with my belief that cars are a mode of transport whilst bikes are a way of life!

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Ideas felled by the gun: Kennedys and Luther King Jr

It's been almost five decades since John F. Kennedy was hit in his head and throat when three shots were fired at his car. The presidential convoy was passing through the main commercial district of Dallas, driving from the airport to the city centre. A bystander alleged that shots were fired from the casement of a construction across the road. The President buckled into Jackie Kennedy’s arms, who was heard crying out “Oh no”. The President’s limousine was immediately driven at speed to the Parklands Hospital. He died 35 minutes after being shot. Within hours of the shooting, a cop approached Lee Harvey Oswald, believing he matched the description of the killer. The cop was shot dead. Oswald was arrested straightaway, suspected of being the assassin. Shortly afterwards, he was charged. The suspect was never tried as he was shot dead two days later.

So it’s over: the Kennedy epoch in which the political realisation of the majority of my American cohort was born. It was John and Robert Kennedy whose lives actually thrilled American political principles and whose murders surely catalysed, as Norman Mailer previously asserted, a “general nervous breakdown”. It was that disastrous psychic rage that gave birth to the “youth culture” of the Hippie era, with its blend of lofty romanticism and self-absorbed bliss – which, as it happens, was a predominantly fitting cenotaph for the Kennedy dream. As I spent much of that period at Berkeley, where we made up what became the international student revolution; this is what I can analyse in retrospect.

It is nearly unfeasible to overrate the impact that the presidential campaign, the poll triumph, and then the assassination of President Kennedy had on a suggestible fresh legion of Americans who were rising from the Eisenhower years and a phase of conventional stagnation. Experts had termed our direct predecessors “the silent generation”.

All that optimism, all that pledge, the Peace Corps, the initial official acknowledgment of the objectives of the civil rights movement, the splendid oratory of Kennedy's speeches were doused in what was then an “unimaginable act”.


The jolt was literally astounding. I can still, to this very day, evoke it in all its intuitive passion, as can, I am sure, approximately every American who had been conscious then. When Bobby Kennedy, too, was killed, there was a philosophical sense of ineffectuality. Possibly it was at that instant that the movements entered properly into their nihilistic stage. For, there was still a faith then that the Kennedys were two typically good men who personified the most excellent aims of America. That was, obviously, before we learned the reality about their personal lives. But strangely, even after we came to know of the inconsistency between the personal and public ethics of the Kennedys – in John Kennedy’s case, a sexual promiscuity bordering on the pathological – and of the squalid arrangements that were made to obtain women for JFK by his kin, the legacy was not entirely shattered.

On the other hand, you simply cannot listen to the name Martin Luther King, Jr and not imagine death. You may heed the words “I have a dream,” but they will undoubtedly only dole out to emphasise a picture of a plain motel terrace, a large man made small, a pool of blood. Although King was among the most famous figures of his era, when he was alive, it was death that eventually defined him.

He ate, drank, and slept death. He bopped with it, he lectured it, he dreaded it and he stared it down. He looked for avenues to lay it sideways, this weight of his own transience, but eventually recognised that his steadfast resolve on a non-violent end to the ill-treatment of his folks could just end violently.

Since the age he started speaking in public, King was preoccupied by death – assaulted by the pledge of obliteration for seeking an end to humiliation to African Americans and the commencement of parity with whites. He dishevelled the feathers of white chauvinists who grew further resolute to bring him down. There were outstanding physical threats to King.

In an illustration of bare hostility, two white cops tried to wedge his entry into a Montgomery courtroom for the trial of a fellow who assaulted one of his comrades. Regardless of a caution from the cops, King jabbed his head in the courtroom looking for his solicitor to help him get in. His behaviour put a match to cops’ rage. The cop twisted his arm behind his back and shoved him into detention. A photographer happened to click the picture.

The shot of Dr King, clad in a natty tan outfit, fashionable gold watch and a cool snap-brim fedora, flinching as he is shoved to imprisonment, is an iconic civil rights image

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When Charisma Confronts Fate

mundane are not the only things common to South Asian nations. Another bizarre distinction they share is a history of assassinations of leaders. It started with Mahatma Gandhi in January, 1948 and looks be on a brief ‘pause’ mode since December, 2007 when Benazir Bhutto was sacrificed at the altar of South Asian history. In between, in the late 1970s, her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was ‘judicially’ assassinated by a military strongman called General Zia-ul Haq who himself died mysteriously in a plane crash in 1988. No country has been spared the trauma; no ruling ‘family’ has been spared the agony and the despair. Even as you read this, India is paying tribute to yet another victim of assassination – Indira Gandhi whose grandson Rahul Gandhi is preparing himself to become Prime Minister in 2014.

It is too early for objective history to be written on the impact these assassinations had on the trajectories taken by these nations. But some of these assassinations clearly look as portents of tragic history set to be repeated again, and again. Back in the 1950s, Sri Lanka, like India, was a newly independent nation grappling with existential issues like identity politics and the treatment of minorities. Solomon Bandaranaike was the charismatic Prime Minister of the country. He is the one who first gave a voice and a direction to ‘Sinhala’ nationalism at the cost of minority Tamils. He was shot dead by a Buddhist Sinhala monk who was convinced Bandaranaike was sacrificing Sinhala interests and pampering the Tamils. The genie was unleashed and continues to torment and traumatise the island nation even 50 years after the assassination. The genesis of V. Prabhakaran, the now dead leader of LTTE, can surely be traced to that one act of madness by a ‘Buddhist’ monk in 1959 (Ironically, it was the LTTE, formed to fight against Sinhala majoritarianism, that assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1991). For the moment, civil war in Sri Lanka has paused after an orgy of killings, assassinations and violence. But the ghosts of Solomon Bandaranaike and the monk who shot him still torment Sri Lanka.

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The turkish trick!!

In near future, Russia and Turkey are all set to spar

The Turks and the Russians certainly have some thing in common. If not any thing then at least their ambition of becoming more powerful - especially in their region. If Russia is trying to revamp its influence over erstwhile Soviet region, then Turkey is leaving no stone unturned to capture the centre-stage of geopolitical arena.

Energy is no doubt the major issue in Turkish strategic thinking. As Turkey continues to industrialise, its thirst for energy is all set to increase. With Turkey being the largest supplier of low-cost goods to the Russian market, the influence of Turkey’s soft power can be easily felt over the Russian land. Since most of Russian corporations (heavy industry) can’t afford expensive western imports, Turkey found its foot into Russian economy by providing them economically affordable alternatives. Moreover, Turkey has a significant intervention and trade-ties in former communist states like Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. For the uninitiated, most of the Balkan states are already members of the European Union. Furthering this trade related ties, Russia is Turkey’s chief trading partner, with energy accounting for a huge pie. Talking in numbers, presently Turkey depends on Russia for 65-70 per cent of its natural gas and 40 per cent of its oil imports.

Even the Europeans have being eying Turkey as an energy transit hub for routes that would bypass Russia altogether. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is one such route that is still stuck in the initial stages. Thus, Russians seem to have all the more reason to pressurise the Turks not to get into this pipeline deal, as it would cost Russia its energy trade with Europe and eventually a big client.

The second potential source of energy for the Turks is the Central Asia region. If there is something that may increase the friction between the Russians and Turks, its going to be this region. The hurdle that Turkey faces over this region is that it does not directly adjoin the region. The only help it would get to attach itself with a central Asian nation, who would be more than happy to deal with Turkey, is from Azerbaijan. However, the core of Azerbaijan does not share its borders with Turkey. Instead, it is on the other side of Armenia. Armenia has sold itself to the Russians to keep its Turkish foes at bay, thanks to their bitter past. Russia has been building up a substantial military presence in this small Caucasian state. But then things seems to be changing as Turkey and Armenia will sign landmark deals in the near future to normalise ties, in a major step towards ending nearly a century of hostility over their bloody history. This would eventually open many gates for turkey, which are currently inaccessible. It’s beyond any apprehension that these two nations who are all set to rewrite their power equations, will soon collide into each other. With their ambition overlapping, their relation may turn sour quite soon. In the short term they may continue their trade ties which may mutually benefit each other, but in the long term their interest are for sure to clash. It’s all a matter of time. In future this piece of region will be interesting to watch out for...

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Reining in the Rogues

The govt has set up a committee to prevent fake surrenders

For some reason, it’s taken the Assam government three decades to do what it should have done earlier: ensure that militancy in the state did not grow into an industry with ‘surrendered’ militants ruling the roost. It is now that the government has set up a committee to prevent such ‘fake surrenders’.

It all started in the early 1990s when then Congress chief minister late Hiteswar Saikia tried to weaken the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), creating a monster called the Sulfa or surrendered Ulfa. These men became a law unto themselves. Most of them became gangsters. These former militants act like private armymen of political establishments, becoming rich overnight. Ironically, after joining the mainstream, these men are not even punished for the crimes they committed as a rebel. But now all of that will come to an end.

Khagen Sharma, additional director general of police and spokesperson for the Assam Police, tells TSI that the new committee will now screen possible surrendered candidates and ensure that only hardcore militants are allowed to do so. There are, of course, questions that will forever remain unanswered: why were the security forces allowed to stage manage ‘surrenders’ with village boys made to hold single and double-barrel guns? Sceptics say it was done to impress the Centre.

Indications, though, are that the government is beginning to learn from its mistakes, and is tightening the screws on the system dealing with the entire surrender procedure. Rules for surrendered militants, who were often allowed to retain their weapons on grounds of ‘personal security’, thereby giving them the opportunity to become hoodlums, are now being made strict. For one, surrendered militants, who will continue to be put up in designated camps, will be monitored for three years before being given Rs 1.5 lakh for rehabilitation. Also, the government will no longer accept surrender by soft members such as courier boys and sympathisers.

Besides, any surrendered militant found to have indulged in extortion or kidnapping or other crimes will not receive any favour from the government.

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The dissolution of old empires

More than 30 years ago, Sharad Pawar was a young stormy petrel who created history. He ditched the Congress party (then led by Indira Gandhi) and formed a government in Maharashtra with him as the Chief Minister. More than a decade ago, he rebelled against the ‘foreigner’ daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi and formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). During his second ‘revolt’, Sonia Gandhi became a persona non-grata; but only for a while. This time around, the ‘Maratha’ strongman’s party will again be in power as an ally of the Congress. But the grand dreams that Sharad Pawar had of upstaging the Congress are all but over. In the 2004 assembly elections, his party actually won more seats than the Congress. This time, it is way behind the Congress. And it does appear as if his daughter Surekha Sule will inherit the Pawar mantle even as she starts losing an Empire.

This has clearly been an election of hubris and déjà vu. Most pundits were of the opinion that the Congress led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will sweep the assembly elections in Haryana since the opposition was badly fragmented. In the end, the voters ended up scaring Hooda who barely managed to scrape through with a narrow victory (At the time of going to press). The lesson for both Pawar and Hooda is stark and clear: Voters inevitably have a nasty habit of springing surprises if you become overconfident. Hooda will now be a much wiser politician while time is clearly running out for Pawar. In the future, Sharad Pawar and NCP have no choice but to play second fiddle to the Congress. He can’t form a government even if he now ditches the Congress and hitches up with the Shiv Sena.

There is yet another trend that the three assembly election results have reinforced. The era of anti-incumbency is rapidly receding and in danger of becoming a distant memory. Narendra Modi in Gujarat, Shivraj Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh, Sheila Dixit in Delhi, Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh, the late YSR Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and of course the Manmohan-Sonia team at the Centre have all defied anti-incumbency to get elected. Perhaps the only prominent politician who did succumb to anti-incumbency was Vasundhara Raje Scindia in Rajasthan. Does that mean that the average Indian voter is satisfied with the governance delivered by governments ­— both at the Centre and in the states? A straightforward yes would be foolhardy because even Congress insiders admit that the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra has delivered appalling governance in the last many years. Take out Mumbai and Maharashtra slips to rank number 11 in terms of per capita income. The state leads in farmers’ suicides; power cuts have now become the norm and heavy rains now routinely cripple the city of Mumbai. Clearly, if just governance was the parameter, the voters would have decisively booted out the Congress-NCP alliance.

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Once bitten, twice shy

The CPI(M)-led LDF will not repeat the mistake of hugging Madani in public this time as The congress-led udf readies for the battle for three assembly constituencies in kerala, says Anu Warrier

During the last Lok Sabha polls, a CPI(M) Politburo member from Kerala was sad that the state had only 20 constituencies. As the results came out, he boarded himself up inside Delhi’s AKG Bhavan. Party committees blamed chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s remarks, his studied silence on controversial issues and the LDF’s relationship with Abdul Nasser Madani’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the loss of 16 seats. Now, the party faces yet another litmus test. The three Assembly seats, which fell vacant after the representatives got elected to the Lok Sabha, go to polls on November 7.

As usual, the fight is between the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF. Unlike the parliamentary elections, this time both fronts are reluctant to claim victory. The constituencies as well as the warring fronts themselves have been in considerable flux.

In an attempt to come clean in front of the voters, the LDF has made sure that CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan does not hug Madani this time. Vijayan had supported Madani, who was in jail for nine years as an accused in Coimbatore blast case, against all odds in the Lok Sabha polls. He had even challenged the CPI, another key LDF constituent, to protect the interests of the PDP chairman on Ponnani seat. Now he keeps mum on his party’s relationship with PDP. To add to that, Madani has fielded his candidate against G. Krishnaprasad, the CPI nominee in Alappuzha. But in Ernakulam and Kannur, where CPI(M) candidates are in the fray, PDP has offered support to the LDF. However, the CPI(M) leadership has assured other LDF constituents that the front will not share dais with any party that is not a part of the front.

Another major change has been chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s ouster from the party’s supreme committee over charges of factionalism. Achuthanandan, who was always vocal in criticising the official faction of the party, is virtually silent after the Politburo action against him. He even inaugurated the LDF poll campaign at Kannur, where his archrival and Pinarayi-confidant M.V.Jayarajan puts up a hard fight against A.P. Abdullakkutty, the former CPI(M) MP who changed sides after getting booted out from the party just before the Lok Sabha polls. The UDF has another advantage in Kannur. The Janata Dal (S) faction, led by M.P. Veerendra Kumar, has officially joined the UDF. Moreover, there is no history of an LDF candidate winning the Kannur Assembly seat.

The bypolls in Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Kannur have become a trial of strength for both the fronts. The seats, held by UDF, fell vacant after the representatives were elected to the Lok Sabha and the LDF has made this an issue for campaign. The UDF wants to prove that the victory in the parliamentary election was not a fluke. The LDF, on the other hand, is determined to wrest at least one seat this time to show that the Lok Sabha poll result was just a one-time occurrence.

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Life line…Finishing line…Diminishing line…!

If nanotechnology invades the realm of sport, will it dilute skill and competitive spirit, or will it raise the bar of perfection more than just a little bit higher, tsi finds out...

A man is doing an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, and another is under water, scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen... Sounds like a scene straight out of a sci-fi flick but in fact, this could very well become a reality in the not-so-distant future, so claims Ray Kurzweil, the man who has also suggested that nanotechnology could pave the way for immortality in as little as the next 20 years.

One of the many questions that a scenario like this throws up is that, if indeed every person could sprint like an Olympian, then would we still host these games and competitions? If skill and hard work, the very cornerstones of competition, are replaced by technology, then will these ‘robots’ masquerading as humans compete in an arena where human error and skill are the deciding factor between triumph and defeat? “The charm of competition and the spirit of sports would be lost for ever if such health enhancers put every individual at the same pedestal,” opines Jugraj Singh, hockey gold medalist at the Asia Cup and Junior World Cup. If these nanobots could reverse ageing, I would wish that legends like Dhanraj Pillai come back and change the face of Indian hockey once again,” adds Singh. Living forever and being with our loved ones is something we dream of, but if this dream becomes a reality and no one dies a natural death, soon we’ll have to device an automatic switch-off programme which manages the ever-growing population on the face of the earth. “Personally, I would never want to live forever. Although I always wish for the wellbeing of my dear ones, but if I had the chance to give this technology a shot and make someone immortal, it would be someone like Lance Armstrong, who in spite of enduring great suffering, has still retained the will to live and compete,” says ace pugilist, Akhil Kumar, Arjuna Awardee and a gold medal winner at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. It is true that the spirit of a soldier and a sportsman is worthy of admiration. The never say die attitude has always carried them a long way regardless of the hurdles. Every technology is good if we know how to use it for the right reasons. It is essential to live within the realms of nature and respect its laws. Like two sides of a coin, even nanotechnology would have its downside. The way humans have now seemingly tapped the way to cheat death, soon, man would find ways to compete again and make life more interesting. “A sportsman’s spirit is different. Even if these nanobots bring all humans at par as far as health is concerned, an athlete would work hard, develop further skill and soon find a way to be better than the others...” Olympic Bronze Medalist, Sushil Kumar signs off.

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Long Live the Dead

In 1964, Robert Ettinger, a physics professor, published The Prospect of Immortality that set off a minor revolution in the process of thinking about the dead or, more precisely, return of the dead. If a person’s body could be frozen immediately after death — Ettinger had suggested — future technologies might make it possible to bring the same back to life. Ettinger's thesis became the rallying point of a new philosophy, or shall one call it the science of Cryonics.

This might have been just an idea when Ettinger made it but technological progress in the next few decades made it something that needed to be looked into.

Accordingly, the ALCOR Society was incorporated in the US in 1972. ALCOR (Allopathic Cryogenic Rescue) is also the name of a constellation. Five years later, its goals were redefined and its name changed to ALCOR Life Extension Foundation.

Between then and now, the foundation has preserved more than a hundred human bodies at its facilities at Scotsdale in Arizona. It has now more than eight hundred members, including several scientists and computer engineers, who have signed up for preservation of their bodies when they die.

Jerry Lemier, president and CEO of the foundation, points out that it is not freezing but vitrification that is used to preserve the bodies. This means that bodies are kept at temperatures of 130 degrees below zero without any ice formation in the system. With other technological interventions, the bodies are preserved as natural a state as possible. Second, only bodies which are not brain dead are preserved. For brain is the key to revival of life. Heart is a mere tool, a motor. And finally, the processes used have been cleared both on grounds of religion and ethics.

The Cryonists firmly believe that nanotechnology and genetic engineering will one day make it possible to bring these bodies back to life. In their view, it is like restarting an engine. The critical factor in this exercise is that the brain should not be dead. These cadavers are preserved in the same way as human embryo is stored.

Cryonics has had its critics who think it is all baloney. Jean Medawar, biologist and author, has argued that money spent on the project is "money wasted".

Cryonists counter this saying that science can make a lot more things happen than most people can imagine. After all it was no less a person that Sir Richard Woolley, Astronomer Royal of Britain, who had dismissed all talk of space travel as “utter bilge". That was in 1956, barely 53 years ago. Today, space travel looks like a future industry and Richard Branson has been selling tickets to prospective space voyagers.

Then there are the votaries who are no less eminent and vehement in their assertion of support. Futurist and author Arthur Clark, among them, had made a number of technological predictions that eventually came true. He has affirmed: "Although no one can quantify the probability of cryonics working, I estimate it is at least 90 per cent - and certainly nobody can say it is zero."

For those who are still not convinced, the Cryonists simply quote Gandhi in support of their optimism: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win."
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Humble, Honest, Hilarious...HARMAN

Harman Baweja hasn’t exactly bolted off the blocks in his Bollywood career, but he is primed for a tryst with destiny with Ashutosh Gowarikar’s “What’s Your Rashee?”. Aakriti Bhardwaj finds out what Harman’s Rashee says...

Let’s begin at the beginning… How was growing up?

How were my growing up days? Wow... I could write a book on that! They were fun actually. I’ve had great schooling in Jamna Bai Narsee in Mumbai, then I did one-year of Hotel Management in Switzerland. Then I came back and joined Mithibai then I went to UCLA film school and after that I did a course in LA. So yeah, quite an interesting childhood!

And how did acting happen?

Well, I was very good at fancy dress in first, second and third standard so I guess somewhere I was bitten by it then. And I was also good at dramatics and debates and used to participate in inter-school and inter-college debates and dramatics. So I guess I was always inclined toward it.

Your first two movies “Love Story 2050” and “Victory” didn’t exactly set the box office on fire yet. Now Ashutosh Gowariker took you as the lead actor. What do you think impressed him?

I would say that it is a question you should ask him! I’m presuming he saw just beyond numbers. That would be an obvious presumption on my end but I’m sure that question should be probably answered by him. I’ve played my part, as a performer. And the kind of director that he is, I’m sure he is not going to okay a take from anybody for his film if he is not okay with it. I still happen to be the protagonist of his film along with Priyanka but I’m sure he wouldn’t even okay an extra’s or junior artiste’s shot till he is not okay with the performance.

How was it working with Ashutosh, one of the most sought after directors in India? How different is his approach to cinema?

With Ashu sir, it’s almost like an honour to work with him so early in my career. But one thing that I have to say is that we have this entire image of Ashu sir that he is going to be a really strict person, a tough task master and everything is going to be very quiet and hush-hush on the sets. You know it’s the cinema that he has made which precedes his image. But he is actually a very funny person, he is someone fun to work with. He has always got his poker face running through the day. I always keep telling him ‘you know “What’s Your Rashee” (WYR) is closest to your personality than any other films you’ve made’ because he is really funny and WYR is a romantic-comedy so it’s that space which he is always in. I’ve been a cinema student; I’ve done my schooling in cinema for three years so for me it’s very exciting to watch him work. I happen to like pretty much everything about him. He works in an organised way and has an eye for detail. Be it the number of cups kept on a table or the motivation of an actor to get up and move left or to say a certain line. At the same time he is so receptive to any suggestion from any department, not just the actors but also from the DOP (Director of Photography) to someone from the sound department to the art department; if there is a valid suggestion, he will incorporate it.

You’ve been linked and broken up with Priyanka Chopra numerous times. What is the true status of your relationship?

I think we have always been great friends from the word go. We have been made to break-up and patch-up and get engaged and then break up again that now I’m confused myself as to what is the real status. But we are just good friends and I think that we have been that through this film.

Do you think that there is a set look or style for lead actors that the audience or people in the industry expect?

It’s an interesting question. I think the answer lies in the fact that there is something called the lowest common denominator which means that a wide array of people will find a certain look acceptable. So that is why one would feel that most actors probably fall under one space because that is probably what is acceptable. I presume that would be the reason. Beyond that I haven’t done my thesis on that so I have no clue!

You have been often compared to Hrithik Roshan for your looks and dancing style but do you feel this comparison with an established star hindered your growth to prove yourself as an actor?

Yeah... I mean I won’t say it hinders the growth as an actor because that is internal, that is up to me how much I put in my growth as an actor. I won’t crucify anybody who does that because I feel it’s sort of natural. When I meet somebody in person and feel that they have a hint of a resemblance with somebody I know, I bring it up and say ‘hey you look like one of my cousins or one of my friends from school’ and I think most of us do that on a daily basis. I think it’s only natural and then you see the person 10 times over and you forget about the comparison. So I think it’s only that the more people see you they start realising that it’s not that.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Konkan railways - The right track

Konkan Railways, which connects Mumbai to Mangalore, via Goa, on the western coast, is an engineering marvel. But more than that, it is a delightful ride: the tracks snake through stunning landscapes. In 1990, the Konkan Railway Corporation was set up with E. Sreedharan as its CMD. It set itself the challenging target of completing the project in five years. Despite many reverses, controversies and delays, the railway was up and running before the end of the decade.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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IIT, Elitism - Island of excellence amid a mediocre ocean?

I actually used to think being an IITian is nothing great. When I came back to India in 1985, I saw a matrimonial ad which specifically mentioned about only IIT alliances. It was only then that I realised the perceived importance of my institute. However, back then, there was no elitism about IIT. The fundamentals were taught clearly so that we could pick up any stream later in life. However, today the scenario has changed completely. I feel the biggest contribution of the IITs to the country is yet to come.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Langar seva & bhandara - Vegetarian feast for one and all

An old joke in Punjab goes thus: a man put in an advertisement in a newspaper for a domestic help which said that there would be no salary but the worker would be provided with two meals every day. When a worker reached the person, the latter gave him a tiffin carrier and said, “Have your two meals at the gurdwara and fill the tiffin for me and bring it home!” Langar is a Punjabi word for vegetarian food served in gurdwaras for free. The food is cooked by volunteers and all people irrespective of caste, creed, religion or social status sit together and eat.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Classical dances - Mudras and moods

There are many Indias, ever changing and chameleon-like. One India vibrates through time with the pulse of music and dance. The world of Indian classical dance remains one of India’s greatest assets. From the sculptured elegance of Bharatanatyam and the ebullient spring of Kuchipudi, to the gentle sway of Manipuri and Odissi, the endless twirls of Kathak and waves of Mohiniattam, Indian classical dance offers the performer and the viewer a path to transcendence. The newly inducted Sattriya of Assam also joins her sisters in the mutual goal of evolved rhythm and imaginative poetry to portray the range of human experience.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Holi - The colors of spring

It is said that the colour of Holi is better than any individual colour. And this celebration of Basant is not just limited to colours; flowers also play an important role in it. It appears as if nature itself has worn a red stole. Love, pampering, teasing and enjoyment are an inseparable part and parcel of this festival. And it is not only the weather that plays the seductress; there are relations that have their own charm. Nanad-Bhujai, Devar-Bhabhi, Jija-Saali, the festival dispel the shyness in the relationship and strengthen it. The seduction is compounded by nature itself. Mahua, Kadamb, Mango, Palas and Amaltas trees, among other things, emit fragrances that leave people a little high. Therefore it is only logical that the festival reflects the mood.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Coaching classes - Grooming the future

The education the government provides still reeks of Macaulay. The course content, though enriching and informative, fails to help candidates land jobs. So students turn to coaching institutes. Bureaucrats who run the education system are totally out of touch with the present day needs of students. Coaching institutes, on the contrary, have a planned and scientific approach to things. They are, therefore, as much a necessity as a compulsion. They are likely to remain so until the government changes its approach.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Flouting rules - No rules please, we are Indians

Don't we love cocking a snook at rules and regulations? People of this vast nation that won freedom from the British the hard way still seem to be fighting imaginary adversaries. We violate traffic rules, throw garbage wherever our heart desires and go all out to prove how tough we are by breaking basic norms of decency. How dare the municipal corporation tell us where to urinate and where not. We relieve ourselves on roadsides and on public walls at will. Our cities have turned into free-for-all urinals. In India, lovers are frowned upon if they hold hands or kiss in public, but it's perfectly to urinate or defecate out in the open. We spot a board that says "Photography prohibited" and we do everything we can to assert our freedom by posing before that very board and going click, click, click... Rules are made to be broken. Park your car under a no-parking sign, pluck flowers from gardens that are out of bounds and jaywalk with gay abandon meters away from a zebra crossing or a subway. We are Indians and we don't like to be dictated to.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Cops masked as scribes

The arrest of a Lalgarh-based activist by policemen posing as journalists has ignited a firestorm of criticism in West Bengal, reports Chandrasekhar Bhattacharjee

Police are expected to go after impersonators; not become impostors themselves. Yet this is exactly what the West Bengal police are being accused of. Posing as journalists of two non-existent publications – one as a reporter of Asian News Agency of Singapore and the other as a camerman of Tazaa TV channel of Kolkata – they arrested Chatradhar Mahato, the most vocal face of Lalgarh’s Police Santras-Birodhi Janaganer Committee (People’s Committee against Police Atrocities).

Angered by the police action, Press Club Kolkata has shot off letters to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, state Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti and Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, condemning the manner in which Mahato was arrested.

This masquerading by the police as media persons has also drawn the ire of prominent intellectuals. Mahasweta Devi, poets Sankhya Ghosh and Joy Goswami, theatre personalities Bibhas Chakraborty and Kaushik Sen, novelist and green activist Joya Mitra and the Association for People’s Democratic Rights (APDR) have begun a mass dharna at Esplanade – just as they did when Nandigram erupted.

Says Premananda Ghosh, president of Press Club Kolkata: “We have nothing to say about the arrest. But by posing as journalists these cops have certainly endangered our lives. They even used Press identity cards. People will lose faith in journalists, and this is what we are protesting against.” As Arundhati Roy points out, the cops’ motive was to make sure no news of atrocities in the Lalgarh and Junglemahal areas came out.

Journalist associations and district journalist bodies in West Midnapore, Burdwan and elsewhere have all come down heavily on the police. In the initial days of the Lalgarh mayhem journalists had felt free to report from the troubled areas. But after the Joint Forces Operation only a few “embedded” scribes were allowed in – though even they came under the police baton after they were spotted photographing police atrocities on innocent women, children and tribals.

Says Chandan Routh, a staffer of the Kolkata-based Dainik Statesman who saw it all: “All this is bound to create deep mistrust between us and common people.” A high level source in a central security agency told TSI on condition of anonymity that the police action was particularly reprehensible because Mahato is not a Maoist. According to him the Centre has advised the state not to arrest him because it would only make the task of the joint forces even more complicated than it already is.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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A golden miss

After sugar, now it’s time for gold to play spoilsport. With the bullion hitting its life time high at the beginning of the festival season, household buyers of the yellow metal may stay away from the glitz this year, says Deepak Ranjan Patra

“Every year I used to buy at least one gold ornament during Dussehra. But this year I don’t think I will be able to buy any. My husband is working in a private sector company. Due to slowdown he has got no increment this year, which means our budget for the upcoming festivals will remain more or less same as last year. With price of everything rising thick and fast, I don’t think with the same budget I have any chance to buy any gold jewellery.” This is what visibly upset Jyotsna Patra, a home maker from Bhubaneswar, shared with us while discussing about her plans for this year’s festival season. But then, she is not the only one.

The great Indian festival season is certainly the time for sweets, clothes, jewellery and loads of fun. But the story this year seems to be a lot different. While the sky rocketing sugar prices have already threatened to take the sweetness away from those sweets; jewellery, especially gold, now seem to be slipping out of the hands of the aam aadmi, who generally enter inside those glitzy shops only during the festival season. After all the yellow metal is already hovering around an unprecedented price level of Rs.16,000 per 10 grams. And this is certainly not a price that the common man would like to pay when she goes to buy some gold during this year’s Dhanteras (a day considered auspicious for buying gold) as a lucky charm. Moreover, gold at Rs.16,000 and that too right before the festival season is just the tip of the iceberg. If you go by what Sajjan Jindal, Chairman, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has to say, then buying gold this season will certainly be the biggest pain for many. As per him, “The bullion is likely to gradually see spurt in its prices and stay around Rs.18,000 per 10 grams by Diwali from current levels of around Rs.16,000 per 10 grams.”

Jindal’s words may come as a shocker to those who are not tracking the precious metal on a regular basis. For those who are in the business it’s just a little expansion of the way the bullion has behaved over the past few months on the back of heavy demand from different corners of the market to weather out the bad days. And hence, it has been an investor-led rally for the precious metal rather than a consumer-led demand, which normally used to be the case in India. Sighting the reason for the high gold price forecasted by ASSOCHAM Jindal adds up,

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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A walk in the woods

A man-made forest is no oxymoron but a one and a half acre wide reality brought to life by the efforts of K V Dayal. T Satisan explores what is the enchanting result of man taking nature into confidence…

In the dense forest, the facade of the home of environmentalist K V Dayal was adorned by a heavy bronze bell. Jaitha Dayal, lady of the house and wife of KV Dayal came out to greet us; Dayal was away for a meeting of Nature Club, a conclave of people endeavouring towards organic approach to agriculture. We decided to take, in the meantime, a round of the forest that has supplanted the once-barren Muhamma region in Alappuzha district of Kerala, thanks to the efforts of this 62-year-old nature enthusiast.

As we stepped into the forest sprawled over one and a half acres, teeming with trees of various geographic origins, the drop in mercury was palpable; we felt the temperatures fall by at least two degrees! From the British Walnut tree – the one that provides essential timber for the interiors of the regal Rolls Royce – to the Rangoon Bamboo to the regular coconut palms and papaya and cashew trees, they were all there – tall and disease free.

When Dayal returned from the meet, I gave vent to my curiosity – how did he manage to convert the white, sugary, dry sand of Muhamma into the fertile land that now hosts the rich woods? Having bought the land in 1982, his coconut trees fell prey to disease which ultimately led to total crop loss and eventual death of the trees. His quest for a solution led him to an edition of Soochimukhi, a prominent environment issues magazine, which had carried the Malayalam translation of some part of the seminal, “The One-Straw Revolution” authored by Japanese agricultural expert, Masanobu Fukuoka. Dayal was so influenced that he thereafter regarded Fukuoka as his unseen guru, so much so that his photo still adorns the foyer of Dayal's house. The first mantra he learnt from Fukuoka was ‘not to dig and shuffle the soil of agricultural land’. He learnt more from Joncy Jacob’s (founder of Soochimukhi) Organic Farming Council classes and activities. He earnestly attended many classes, including those on Onam, a day normally reserved by Keralites for family and feasting. The classes, he recalls, proved to be eye openers.

In keeping with Fukuoka’s ideas, Dayal realised the importance of natural farming, and left his one and half acre land idle for pest and wild bushes to flourish. Within three years, the whole area had been overrun by flora and fauna of the wild variety. His father, a traditionalist, pressed for digging and ploughing the land with spades. He obliged. But as soon as the digging started, the labourers found that the land had turned wet and moist, completely unbecoming in a place like Muhamma known for dry land where it is difficult to grow any vegetation, especially during summer. He then left the land like it was for another year, and the results were encouraging.

In those days, he attended another training camp, in Wayanad. The star attraction was an agricultural expert, Dr Venkat, who propagated renowned naturalist Bill Mollison’s Perma Culture (‘permanent agriculture’) concepts in India. Venkat insisted that sun is the only source of energy; its energy should always be conserved, and greenery is the medium for it. Whatever grows on the soil should be allowed to get assimilated back into it, so that the sun’s energy is absorbed into the soil. Burning dry leaves and branches is not at all scientific – it in fact kills the micro organisms that make the land fertile.

When Dayal came back from the Wayanad camp, he sowed all sorts of seeds in his land that had been left to the mercy of the elements, and definitely not in vain. Flowers bloomed; bees, butterflies and birds made it their playing ground and before long, rich vegetation burst forth. Dayal now lets the leaves accumulate on the land twice a year.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Europe's fret is US' greed

Is fining US firms deliberately reflecting it’s insecurity?

Rules are meant to be broken. Well, this might be a famous aphorism in Asia but aptly inapplicable in Europe. Europe is a classic example which, on one hand, can attract big MNCs but on the other hand, can be too harsh on them when they indulge in fraudulent activities or bribery. Apparently, it is unique in itself in treating the MNCs.

The case of Microsoft is a famous one. The IT giant was heavily fined when it failed to meet the regulatory norms set up by the European Commission (EC). In 2008, the antitrust regulators fined a whopping $1.3 billion for not being able to comply with the antitrust laws since 2004 and thus bringing the total amount of fines on Microsoft to a gigantic $2.5 billion. In 2009, EC imposed a fine of $1.45 billion (£1.06 billion) on American giant, Intel Corporation on the ground that illegal anticompetitive practices of Intel would harm the continuation of a healthy competitive market. The EC, in fact, has gone unique in this century with its antitrust activities. It fined Archer Daniels Midland, along with 13 other leading pharmaceutical companies, which the EC suspected were seeking to control the European vitamin market. The most horrifying one was when EC blocked the $43 billion merger deal between General Electric and Honeywell on the ground that American firms are targeting and buying European firms to retain their growth. Surprisingly, the deal was allowed by the US regulators.

Recently, BAE Systems, an European giant engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defence, security and aerospace systems, has been given a deadline this month to negotiate with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for being allegedly involved in bribery in relation to the sale of aircrafts and air defence equipments to Czech, South Africa and Tanzania. This would mean that if BAE systems fails to negotiate with the SFO, as the director Richard Alderman avowed, it will end up paying a fine of millions from the £2.5 billion-plus contracts with these countries.

The region has always been a bright prospect for MNCs since decades. It is flooded with Foreign Direct Investment inflows. With new opportunities, South-eastern Europe as well as Commonwealth of Independent States are becoming more attractive. According to UNCTAD, these states attracted around $69 billion dollar foreign investments in 2007. The region is further attributed with one billion consumers.

Though fining MNCs is not a new phenomenon, it's unique way of treating MNCs is giving scope for debate. Undoubtedly strictness proves that the region is having stringent regulatory framework but sometimes its over-reactive regulatory approach seems to be biased against foreign firms, especially Americans. Many a time, American firms are ending up to be victims of Europe's strict regulation. It has also been witnessed that Europe often ends up debating the US vs Europe on issues like the GM crop. The US too fined £500 million to German's Siemens for bribery. However, fining the BAE system indicates that laws are common for all in Europe but the examples of Microsoft, Intel, GE and others epitomize that Europe is apprehensive of American firms and their aggressive approach. Does it mean that Europe is insecure? Hard to conclude but still debatable.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Is Pond’s drying up?

A heritage brand from the stable of India’s largest FMCG company. Is Pond’s drying up?
When it comes to ‘beauty’ and ‘elegance’, who’d be a better expert than Pond’s? After a year of silence, the brand from the stable of HUL now promises to bring back youth into the lives of the aged Indian women with its recently launched ‘Age Miracle’. According to the company, it would be offered through 1,000 outlets spread across 23 cities and towns in India. And so comes the primary question – will the brand survive the attempt once again, after its failed foray into anti ageing capsules years back? And while there are already strong competitors riding high on the strong retail formats, the brand surely seems to have a difficult ride in the horizon. According to Juhi Ramakrishnan, Director, mConsult, Group M’s marketing consultancy division, “All these international brands may have a strong equity back home but in India they are still small. Pond’s share of voice in the category in India has been longer. It has a ‘do good’ kind of imagery which has a positive connotation for the brand.’’ And while Pond’s Institute failed to live up to the hype generated, the brand too seems to be heading downhill, as it slipped 25 spots to the 73rd position in the 2007 rankings. Undoubtedly, it needs an anti-aging cream too...

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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The Leviathan of Libido - IIPM News

The sexual scandals of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are bordering on bizarre, say Sutanu Guru & Saurabh Kumar Shahi

During an electoral rally in 2006:

“I will try to meet your expectations and I promise from now on, two and half months of absolute sexual abstinence until Election Day on April 9”

During a meeting with New York Stock Exchange officials and investors in 2003:

“Italy is now a great country to invest in…today we have fewer communists and those who are still there deny having been one…Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries…superb girls”

While denying in June, 2009 that he paid an ‘escort’ money to spend the night with him:

“I have never paid a woman…I have never understood what satisfaction there is if the pleasure of conquest is absent”

You have guessed wrong. These outrageous statements have not been made by a Hollywood star or a punk brat who has made waves in the world of rap music. Nor is he a Richard Branson style flamboyant entrepreneur who loves to flaunt ‘beautiful’ women even as he makes billions. Nor is he the promoter of a soft porn Empire a la Hugh Heffner.

He happens to be Silvio Berlusconi, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Italy, arguably the most economically prosperous and successful country of Europe in recent times. And yes, God knows how many males across the world who seek salvation and resurrection of a different kind through Viagra will be flaming red with envy when they get to know that Berlusconi is almost 75-years-old.

As life expectancy grows around the world, Berlusconi is living proof that carnal expectations seem to be inextricably linked. This media tycoon turned right-wing politician has a knack of getting away with virtually anything. He flirts flagrantly with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He casually and contemptuously insults leaders of other countries and claims he was just joking. And he wins elections. It seems that voters in Italy have consistently chosen to overlook the vaudeville escapades of their leader; perhaps just as American citizens rewarded Bill Clinton with unprecedented approval ratings after he was almost impeached for his White House dalliances with the intern Monica Lewinsky.

But this theatre of the absurd might just be beginning to unravel for Berlusconi. In May, 2009, his long suffering second wife Veronica Lario publicly announced that she was filing for divorce. The last straw apparently was Berlusconi attending the birthday party of 18-year-old Noemi Letizia, a ‘bombshell’ who loves to call him papa and loves even more to spend time with him. Letizia is sure that ‘Papa’ will sponsor her career either as a showgirl or a politician (Berlusconi created a storm this year when he nominated young and attractive girls to contest elections for the European Parliament. He has gone on record to say that right-wing women politicians are “more beautiful and that the Left has no taste even when it comes to women”).

Berlusconi's wife lamented that the Prime Minister of Italy had not even bothered to attend the 18th birthday bash of his own son and claimed she “cannot remain with a man who consorts with minors… and is not well”. Since then, newspapers and other media outlets have unleashed a frenzy of stories of the escapades of Berlusconi. The Man has retaliated by suing many of them but has failed to stop the growing tide of titillating stories about his adventures. And finally, it does appear that voters in Italy might just be getting tired of all this theatre.

For us in India, this might appear comic, hilarious and even ethereally unreal (After all, can you imagine even a state level leader – forget the Prime Minister – of India getting embroiled in such deliciously juicy and salacious scandals that are reported by India’s 24 hour news channels with relish?). But there are serious issues that lie buried below the brouhaha over Berlusconi. And the most important one is about the conduct and behaviour of a public representative and a leader. It is about the role of Caesar’s wife and the old tale about her need to be above suspicion. Should a leader be “infallible” when it comes to his or her personal life/ Should a leader set an example for all other citizens by consistently displaying “family values”?

Traditionally, there has been a deep divide between continental Europe and the Anglo-Saxon countries – particularly United Kingdom and the United States of America. In the latter, it has always been the kiss of death for a political career if a married politician is ‘found’ to be cavorting with the ‘other woman’. Not many of you will perhaps recall, but there was a promising Democrat politician called Gary Hart whose Presidential ambitions died in the late 1980s when the ‘paparazzi caught him in the act’. Back in the 1960s, many a career in Britain was doomed to infamy and exile when it was discovered that the Soviet spy agency KGB was using the ‘other woman’ to ‘compromise’ public leaders. (India, of course, is firmly in the Anglo-Saxon alliance of morality).

In continental Europe, both the media and the voters seem to be far more relaxed. It is only long after he finished his Presidency that the French media revealed that Francois Mitterand had fathered a love child. And the French didn’t really bother when their President Nicolas Sarkozy divorced his wife and married the Italian model Carla Bruni. Nor have the Italians been very upset with the calisthenics of their leader Berlusconi. But the tide seems to be turning now and the ageing Berlusconi might just realise that too much of a good thing can be bad for your career. Incidentally, it was about 20 years ago that Berlusconi divorced his first wife and married Veronica Lario. Interestingly, his first glimpse of Veronica was as a topless artiste on stage.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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The Leviathan of Libido

The sexual scandals of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are bordering on bizarre, say Sutanu Guru & Saurabh Kumar Shahi

During an electoral rally in 2006:

“I will try to meet your expectations and I promise from now on, two and half months of absolute sexual abstinence until Election Day on April 9”

During a meeting with New York Stock Exchange officials and investors in 2003:

“Italy is now a great country to invest in…today we have fewer communists and those who are still there deny having been one…Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries…superb girls”

While denying in June, 2009 that he paid an ‘escort’ money to spend the night with him:

“I have never paid a woman…I have never understood what satisfaction there is if the pleasure of conquest is absent”

You have guessed wrong. These outrageous statements have not been made by a Hollywood star or a punk brat who has made waves in the world of rap music. Nor is he a Richard Branson style flamboyant entrepreneur who loves to flaunt ‘beautiful’ women even as he makes billions. Nor is he the promoter of a soft porn Empire a la Hugh Heffner.

He happens to be Silvio Berlusconi, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Italy, arguably the most economically prosperous and successful country of Europe in recent times. And yes, God knows how many males across the world who seek salvation and resurrection of a different kind through Viagra will be flaming red with envy when they get to know that Berlusconi is almost 75-years-old.

As life expectancy grows around the world, Berlusconi is living proof that carnal expectations seem to be inextricably linked. This media tycoon turned right-wing politician has a knack of getting away with virtually anything. He flirts flagrantly with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He casually and contemptuously insults leaders of other countries and claims he was just joking. And he wins elections. It seems that voters in Italy have consistently chosen to overlook the vaudeville escapades of their leader; perhaps just as American citizens rewarded Bill Clinton with unprecedented approval ratings after he was almost impeached for his White House dalliances with the intern Monica Lewinsky.

But this theatre of the absurd might just be beginning to unravel for Berlusconi. In May, 2009, his long suffering second wife Veronica Lario publicly announced that she was filing for divorce. The last straw apparently was Berlusconi attending the birthday party of 18-year-old Noemi Letizia, a ‘bombshell’ who loves to call him papa and loves even more to spend time with him. Letizia is sure that ‘Papa’ will sponsor her career either as a showgirl or a politician (Berlusconi created a storm this year when he nominated young and attractive girls to contest elections for the European Parliament. He has gone on record to say that right-wing women politicians are “more beautiful and that the Left has no taste even when it comes to women”).

Berlusconi's wife lamented that the Prime Minister of Italy had not even bothered to attend the 18th birthday bash of his own son and claimed she “cannot remain with a man who consorts with minors… and is not well”. Since then, newspapers and other media outlets have unleashed a frenzy of stories of the escapades of Berlusconi. The Man has retaliated by suing many of them but has failed to stop the growing tide of titillating stories about his adventures. And finally, it does appear that voters in Italy might just be getting tired of all this theatre.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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The alumni re'union

Unions can mark the beginning of a new social renaissance

Recently it has been observed in the sub-continent that their most prized possession or much touted about demographic dividend are actually adopting a wrong path. Students (a big part of this demographic dividend) are considered as one of the most important agents of change. In numerous incidences, these students and students' unions have helped in toppling governments and bringing about positive changes. For example, Nepal’s restoration of democracy in 2006. But lately, in most parts of these third world countries, students' unions seem to have adopted the path of violence, crime and power-politics.

Some of the universities are heavily affected by criminal activities and there are times when dangerous arms and ammunitions reach the students. Hence, many nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh (in some parts of India) have started banning these unions. Take for instance India, where recently a group of students from a powerful union killed a professor and finally were left unpunished due to lack of evidence (again due to power-politics, as no one dared to testify against them). Likewise in Pakistan, student unions are banned (since late 1980s) as most of them are more like gangsters and rogues, instead of noble students working for the welfare and grooming of the fellow students. Unions like National Students Federation (NSF), Muslim Students Federation (MSF), Peoples Students Federation (PSF), All Pakistan Mohajir Students Federation (APMSO) and others are more involved in blood activity and nasty disputes. Last year, students' union literally burnt Bangladesh as they caused violence in University of Dhaka, thus killing nearly 300 people and leading to a long period of curfew. But then, it doesn’t mean that these unions were always bad. Be it Education Not for Sale (ENS) campaign in the UK, student movement for free Tibet, Tuition Reform Action Coalition in New York University, Kyoto Now! a student-led movement… the list seems endless.

Instead of entering politics and protesting for petty issues and power gaining exercise, it would be very fruitful if the same group of influential people stood for a change and entered politics – of course, for a positive change. Students should rather exploit these unions as an avenue to participate in elections, represent fellow students’ concerns, negotiate with the concerned authorities for the greater good and motivate students in contemporary civic and political life. This will eventually inculcate democratic practices amongst students, some of whom are likely to be statesmen and leaders of tomorrow. Students’ union also can act as a platform for the youth to demand better educational services from the universities and prepare vibrant denizens for democratic practices.

It is the youth that can bring peace in the subcontinent and also unite them- socially, culturally, politically (if not geographically) - and bring about a new social renaissance. And the most important point is that this uprising should not be for anyone else but for students themselves. As this will not only create a better world for others but also for themselves. After all, the oxford dictionary defines students union as ‘a building on a college campus dedicated to social and organisational activities of the student body.’

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Reality shows - Vulgar confessions

It is highly immoral to divulge the darker side of life simply to make money

Dr Aruna Broota

Consulting clinical psychologist

I get very upset when I watch this new TV serial Sach Ka Saamna. It should have been titled Apne Ko Bechna! This serial has had a most deleterious impact on our society and family relations. India has always been celebrated for its social integrity, moral values and strong family bonding. Many things happen in life. But it is wrong to divulge the darker side of it simply to make money. It was painful to hear the anchor asking the participant whether he would sleep with another woman if he was sure his wife would not come to know of it. And it was just as painful to hear the participant responding in the affirmative and the “yes” being followed by frenzied clapping from the audience. Then the anchor wanted to know whether he had had physical relations with a girl younger than his own daughter! Yes, said the man, to more loud clapping.

All this should shame the serial’s producers to their feet. I ask, is this anything to rejoice about? It is quite possible that the man’s daughter is mature enough to listen to such stuff — but what about children from conservative and close knit families? Don’t you think they would feel traumatised?

My work is with children, mainly adolescent girls. I know their psychology well — know that they watch this programme very keenly. Not because they enjoy its contents, but because they like seeing the participants making money from their confessions. For these children too want to make easy money — the means be damned.

It is being said that the serial has been adapted from an internationally acclaimed show called Moment of Truth, which has a huge fan following in the United States. Well it may suit the American mindset which holds private space to be sacred. I can understand that. Nor for that matter am I averse to having a relationship myself. There is nothing in the least wrong with that and it is good to be pragmatic. Also, many of our young boys and girls spend 8 to 12 hours working in liberal workplaces. But then all of us, including them, have been brought up in a culture that is poles apart from that of the Americans.

It is quite obvious that the worst sufferers are the programme’s adolescent viewers. Just imagine what it must be doing to their minds! To think that such puerile confessions earn them Rs 1 crore — the bait the programmers dangle before their audiences, all of whom are dying to become crorepatis overnight!

No one will dispute that these stage managed shows grossly violate the sanctity of conjugal life; or that they pollute young and vulnerable minds. Yes, what are we teaching our children through such vulgar tamashas? Remember that in children and adolescents hormonal changes occur at a much faster rate than in adults; and more particularly in girls, who these days become physically active at age nine. All the more reason why these shows should be banned, seeing how deeply they damage child-parent ties. Such recklessness is a sure recipe for destroying familial ties.

Sex can be very beautiful when it is controlled and there is no vulgarity in it. And well, if in these fast-paced times we can’t stop such shows, we can at least do them in a way so that the damage is minimal. But then that calls for sensitive monitoring, which is completely absent here. We all know how little the censor board does about such content. And after the advent of internet, there is absolutely no control over content, which circulates freely in cyberspace. Go to Google and see it for yourself. My question is simply this: if one can’t watch a show with our families, why allow them to be made at all? Of course, as I said, adults are hurt much less than children whose ability to discriminate between good and evil is extremely limited. One day the father of a girl came to my clinic and started talking about the DPS MMS scandal. His daughter was sitting right in front of me, and there he was asking me whether I had seen the offensive MMS clipping. I said hadn’t and felt no desire to see it either. But just imagine what must have been going on inside the mind of this little girl.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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This is the house that jack...

Karunanidhi wouldn't have expected such a ruckus

When MLAs in Tamil Nadu went to Chief Minister Karunanidhi seeking allotment of 2,400 sq feet of prime land near Chennai (for housing purposes), he predictably agreed. Reason: The DMK is a minority government run with Congress support. Gnanasekaran – the Congress MLA who led the move – had no trouble getting the signatures of 105 MLAs. But some sections of people in the state are at odds with the decision. The question some are asking is – if each legislator is allotted a spacious flat in the MLA hostel, why this new requirement?

Gnanasekaran gives his defence saying his demand is justified. After all, he says, there are several states where MLAs get houses in colonies just as journalists do, "All sections of people are given houses; so why make an exception of MLAs?”

CPM MLA Balabharathy disagrees, “This is a selfish demand. In Chennai city alone, one lakh people live without patta land. Considering there is such huge land scarcity, how can the government give away the land to MLAs?” Agrees Thamazharuvimanian, senior political activist and writer: “Every five years, 234 MLAs get elected. If this practice becomes the norm, a time will come when the rest of us will need to go to the Bay of Bengal to find shelter! There are leaders like Jeeva in this state who lived in huts all their lives." A convoluted logic, surely; but the writer makes a better point when he says, "Most MLAs own crores of rupees. All of them should seek housing loans like ordinary people.”

Gyanasekaran makes his relevant point by commenting, “It is not as though we are asking the land for free... We will pay at the rate fixed by the Housing Board." Sensing opportunity, the Communist parties have been joined by the Bharatiya Janata Party in opposing the move. The vice-president of BJP’s state unit says this is setting a dangerous precedent. “Other things apart, it will also push up real estate prices in the locality,” he fears. Some critics point out that many of the flats in the MLA hostel are occupied by their relatives.

It is true that MLAs recently got their salary raised to Rs 50,000 per month after putting in a request through the relevant chambers. Coming at close heels of this raise, the 'housing' request was surely expected to raise a few hackles. But the noise level the issue has reached has surprised even the CM.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Let the music play

It is time for the world to ‘hear’ in between the lines!

When recently (July, 2009) United Airlines denied to pay compensation to Canadian singer Dave Carroll (after his guitar got broken), Dave composed a song titled United Breaks Guitars and uploaded the same on YouTube. The song became instant hit, alluring four million users in just 10 days, resulting in drop of the airline’s share price by whopping 10 per cent or $180 million! Welcome to the world of Resistance by Music. This incident is not a recent phenomenon, but has a long history attached to it.

During early 1940s, rock-n-roll raised voice against the growing British Invasion and through its soundtrack gave voice to youth rebellions. In 1950s, Brazil’s bossa nova used its music to raise many local issues as well. During the Vietnam war songs like, Edwin Starr's War, Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower, Wars of Armageddon, Jimmy Cliff's Vietnam - to name a few, talked about peace and melancholic mood of society. In the US, during late 1960s, Black Power Movement fuelled the popularity of rap and hip-hop music. The members and supporters of this movement used rap and hip-hop music to highlight issues like racial dignity, self-reliance and economic empowerment of Black Africans. Similarly, artists raised their voice against Bush Sr. (when he sent troops to Kuwait in 1991) through their songs like "I Wanna Kill Sam" and "Bush Killa". A number of south-African pop artists after being exiled, were able to bring issues pertaining to apartheid to the world’s attention.

Music has the capability to revolutionise people who listen to it. Hip-hop has affected many different cultures and societies in affirmative ways. In Sweden, NGOs incorporate graffiti and dance to engage disaffected immigrant and working class youths. Indigenous youths in Bolivia, Chile, Indonesia, New Zealand and Norway use hip-hop to advance new forms of identity. Numerous African and French artists use hip-hop and other modern (youth appealing) form of music to address environmental justice, policing and prisons, media justice and education, per se.

Seun Kuti created the famous Afrobeat to give a voice to Nigeria's disenfranchised and spread awareness on endemic corruption and the abuse of youth through his music. Asian Dub Foundation (a British electronica band) since last 15 years, has been singing messages of social change while Nuno Santos of Portugal is trying to redress injustice against migrants through his music. Many institutes are delivering messages on Green revolution, against the ongoing demonstrations opposing the Iranian regime, Mexico drug abuse, Brazil's social unrest through their music.

As music galvanises with almost any type of culture ­— its size, scope and reach can not be confined to any geography. Even today musicians, singers and artists — from Elvis Presley to Michael Jackson, the list seems endless — use art, music and soundtracks to raise latent issues about cultural, environment and politics. Along with reaping huge monetary returns, music is equally an astonishing source of youth's expression. Before this peaceful medium of resistance takes the shape of violence, it would be better for the world to de-encrypt the message hidden in the lyrics. United Airlines finally learnt its lesson as it had to offer Dave $3,000 ­— so if United Airlines can learn, then why not the whole world? Until then, let the beats of this 'sacred drums of resistance' roll…

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tinderbox state

Punjab is skating on thin ice as long-dormant militant outfits rear their heads in the face of continuing government apathy and ineptitude, reports Jagtar Singh

A July 30 e-mail addressed by Babbar Khalsa to journalists in Patiala set the cat among the pigeons. The militant outfit claimed responsibility for the murderous attack on Rashtriya Sikh Sangat leader Rulda Singh, who succumbed to his injuries a few days later. This was not an isolated incident.

A day earlier, Lily Kumar, a follower of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, had been gunned down in Patiala. This Dera, headed by the controversial Baba Ram Rahim Singh, has followers in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It has the power to influence political permutations and combinations in the region in general and the Malwa area of Punjab in particular. The Dera has been at loggerheads with Sikh religious organisations for some time.

The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat is an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar. When the Akali Dal-BJP combine came to power in Punjab in 1997, the Sangat had tried to spread its tentacles in the border state. The activities of the Sikh Sangat and its parent body, RSS, provoked hardliners in the state. The Akal Takht, the supreme Sikh institution for prayer and politics, had to take a stand against the RSS much to the discomfiture of moderate Akalis. Rulda Singh, who had his religious training in Damdami Taksal, considered to be the fountain head of militancy in the 1980s, shot into prominence when he came into contact with some militant leaders settled overseas, particularly in Europe.

This interaction was part of an RSS initiative to put an end to the legacy of the dark days of Punjab militancy. The Sikh Sangat considers Sikhs to be part of the greater Hindu family. In a recorded interaction with some leaders, Rulda Singh had claimed that he was close to BJP leader L.K. Advani.

Senior police officials who have been in the forefront of the fight against militancy are keeping their fingers crossed. Preferring anonymity, one officer says, “These two incidents cannot be dismissed as isolated. The situation calls for a close watch.” And there are striking similarities between the current situation in Punjab and that which prevailed in 1978.

However, this perception is not shared by Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, Institute for Development and Communications and Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Committee constituted by the Punjab government. “These are only sporadic incidents but they need to be taken seriously. There is no chance of resurgence of any extreme political articulation,” he says. There is, he argues, no external stimulus to aid and abet a renewed spurt in militancy in Punjab.

The flare-up in the late 1970s stemmed from simmering tensions between Sikhs and Nirankaris. The first militant killing was of Nirankari chief Baba Gurbachan Singh in 1980 to avenge the killing of 13 Sikhs in Amritsar by Nirankaris on Baisakhi day of 1978. The second leader to be targetted was also a Nirankari. The sect had come under attack allegedly for denigrating the Sikh theology.

Today, it is the Dera Sacha Sauda that has earned the ire of Sikh organisations. The head of the sect had appeared at a congregation in a dress associated with Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru. As it had done in the case of the Nirankaris, the Akal Takht issued a hukamnama (edict) against the Dera.


The similarities do not end here. Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister in 1978. Of course, his government had been dismissed by the time Baba Gurbachan Singh was gunned down in 1980. However, he had come under fire from leaders like the then Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, for pussyfooting on the Nirankari issue. This was one of the allegations levelled against him in the chargesheet submitted by Tohra and the then Akali Dal President, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Sadhu Singh Bhaura while resigning from their posts in 1979.

Badal is Chief Minister again and he is once more under severe attack from the radicals for his soft approach towards Dera Sacha Sauda. One prominent Sikh religious leader spearheading the campaign against the Dera is Takht Damdama Sahib chief, Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh, an appointee of the SGPC. The tone and tenor of his speech at a recent meeting in Bathinda district, which discussed the situation arising out of arrests made by the police following the attack on Dera Sacha Sauda followers, cannot be dismissed.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Honduras imbroglio

Washington suspends $18 million in aid but deadlock persists

It seems farce has no limits when it comes to Latin America. In the newest act of a political theatre complete with false starts and building expectancy that has been dejected at every turn, a fresh roadmap by Honduran pro tem President Roberto Micheletti to break the two-month old crisis in Honduras is being flaunted as a “breakthrough”.

A representative for Micheletti, who was affirmed after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was detained by the junta and excommunicated on June 28, proposed this week that the new plan introduced would award Zelaya reprieve, letting him come back without facing detention, as had formerly been conveyed. Micheletti also proposed abdicate the post of president — provided Zelaya offers to return the favour. Charges against Zelaya comprise sedition and abuse of power.

However, no matter how much the bid is touted as a fresh move ahead, it is not likely to do much, if anything, to resolve the deadlock. A higher US State Department bureaucrat later told reporters that “the return of Zelaya as the elected president, and to finish out his term, is still a core tenet” of whichever resolution proposed. In that context, this new proposal is as good as dead.

As well as, if both Micheletti and Zelaya abdicate, the presidency, in the light of the provisions laid out by the Honduran Constitution, would automatically fall into the lap of the next in line, which in this particular instance, is the head of the Supreme Court — which had the dubious distinction of agreeing to Zelaya’s ouster.

Meanwhile, to intensify pressure, Secretary of State for the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking into consideration additional sanctions, after her team, as per a circular by a State Department bureaucrat, suggested that the Zelaya ouster be labelled a “military coup,” an authorised determination that would essentially lead to the deferment of $215 million in US aid for Honduras. Many Hondurans, including Zelaya, and the global community, have frowned over what they say as the “lukewarm” reaction of the US.

Washington has, before now, suspended about US$18 million in aid. If it is termed as a “coup”, things will further complicate for Honduras as the US law forbids aid, at least in principle, “to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree.” And that is not enough. Other contributions channelled through US Millennium Challenge Corporation will also stop immediately causing much trouble to the impoverished nation.

“The larger question here is that up to what extent Obama regime is ready to coerce the de facto Micheletti regime? If, god forbid, it stands by and tolerates the consolidation of the putsch, other regimes in the continent will have severe misgivings about the regime’s intents to reconstruct ambassadorial and political associations with other notions, and to its obligation to democracy,” said Elvia Valle, a seasoned statesman from Liberal Party, while reacting to a question posed by TSI.

The Pentagon, in the meantime, is continuing its military operations at the US base in Soto Cano—the largest in the region—where a platoon of American soldiers and a plethora of civilian contractors are working very closely with the Honduran military. On the other hand, deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya confirmed in Nicaragua’s capital Managua that he would discard any crisis resolve roadmap presented by the Honduran pro tem regime that demands he surrender his presidential claim. In spite of international resistance over the past two months, Roberto Micheletti says it will not be pressured into stepping down.

The unwillingness of the US to pressurise Micheletti, stems from the fact that it does not want Zelaya, Hugo Chavez’s friend, to return and strengthen South America’s Leftist league.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Separated at birth?!?

Given the present foreign policies, EU can't afford to alienate the US

“When all said and done, Great Britain is an Island, France the cape of a continent, America another world.” This is the doctrine of Winston Churchill, which he shared with Charles de Gaulle. The US and the Europe are truly two different countries with divergent interests. Let us travel back to the past a bit to understand properly the genesis of these two richest and most powerful land spaces on the earth. These two rich brethren worked in close harmony for much of the twentieth century, mainly to defeat the common enemy viz. Germany in the first two world wars and then the Soviet block during the Cold War. During the World Wars, Britain was still holding on to the pivotal position of a great power with the support of its empire, which was still almost half the world. But cold war was an American thing, and by then the US had amassed enormous wealth and military prowess to replace Britain as a superpower. But after the cold war was won by the US and her West European allies, their economic and political interests began to drift apart. The NATO countries of Europe did not need the American protection any more and this heralded a doom for future friendly relation. On the contrary, new opportunities emerged for NATO when the erstwhile Soviet controlled East European states showed keen interest to join the US bandwagon. It showcased a perfect opportunity for them to cut deep into the Russian periphery, who quite naturally was infuriated by American advancements.

It was observed that after the Cold War NATO’s objective went through a rapid transformation from a defensive security confederacy to a war mongering offensive one, to establish hegemony in the unipolar world by flexing her muscle in the name of war on terror. Although Afghan war was supported by the European friends of the US, the Gulf war showed growing disquiet ness in Old Europe. France and Germany showed open opposition to the Anglo -American intention. Most importantly there was an American pessimism prevailing in most part of Europe, as the ruling parties of Spain and Italy, who supported the invasion, were voted out of power. The euphoria in the streets of Madrid or Rome in the hope of sweeping changes when Obama won the election last November was widely noticed by all. Unpopularity of Bush had reached to such an extent that America’s special friend Britain too, along with France and Germany, had to step in to convince the US against a military strike on Iran. It was their own interest that they wanted to protect, by building a healthy relation with Russia on the eastern front and Muslim world on the south end.

However, when the US tried to lead the unipolar world, it could not do so without the support of European Union. But EU wants a more pluralistic world that consist of several power groups, with themselves as one of the important ones, which will be governed by their own model, which they derived after second World War. Notwithstanding, and everything said and done, Europe cannot afford to alienate the US, but all they can do is to provide proper checks and balances to their high handed foreign policies.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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A botched up affair

CBI pulled up for shoddy probe in Parag Das case


One of the most high-profile cases in Assam was ‘closed’ after the court acquitted Mridul Phukan – the prime accused in the journalist Parag Das murder case due to “lack of solid evidence”.

The high court also pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to furnish substantial evidence against Phukan, a surrendered ULFA militant, who was charge-sheeted by the agency along with three others (who died during the course of the 13- year-long investigation).

However, unsatisfied with the verdict, Bubumoni Goswami, chairman of a human rights organisation Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS) – founded by Das – told TSI that it would now take the case to the people.

“The many loopholes in the CBI case prevented the court from passing the right judgement.” The CBI will now file a review petition, Goswami said. “We hope for a fair verdict this time around.” Says Manoj Barua, general secretary of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), a prominent youth organisation of the state: “We want the government to reopen the case and look into it once again carefully.”

According to Dilip Patgiri, member of the People’s Consultative Group (PCG), which has been mediating between the terrorist organisation ULFA and the state government, the CBI failed in its task because the witnesses kept changing their statements. Worse still, soon after his acquittal, Phukan said on TV that during five days of interrogation the CBI had asked him “nothing” about Das’ killing.

His counsel SI Rashul, says, “We are very happy with the outcome. My client was framed for a crime which others had committed.”

As for the Das family, things could not have got any worse. “We did not get the justice we had sought. Justice was both delayed and denied,” says Jyoti Das, Parag Das’ younger brother. AJYCP’s Barua says Das’ family would now file a petition at the Gauhati High Court for a review of the case.

Das, executive editor of Asomiya Pratidin, was killed allegedly by surrendered militants in 1996.

The daylight murder had drawn flak from both the scribe fraternity and rights activists. Many in the state, along with the Assam Journalists’ Association, had been demanding for a decade that the investigation into the murder be speeded up. Finally in 2000 things came to a tipping point. Some prominent citizens filed a PIL to speed up the tardy investigation. Scribes have been on the edge, because since late 1980s twenty- six of them have been killed. Known for his anti-establishment views, Das had a cult following in Assam. Never before has faith in the state machinery been as low as it currently is.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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…Being Shahid - "IIPM Press Release"

Acting is in your blood but when did you realise that it is your calling? Umm... I don’t know actually. It was a process. I think with time things just happened in a way where I got offered a few ads and I started doing them and I enjoyed doing them. And then I started thinking about the fact that it’s actually fun doing this. Then I got serious about it and I started assisting in direction so it just happened and it happened on its own. I didn’t really plan it as such. But I guess somewhere deep inside I was curious about it and so it interested me and once I got into it I fell in love with it.

How much support did your parents give you?

Oh they were completely supportive. The biggest support they could give me was that they gave me total freedom to decide what I wanted to do and they put their faith in me that my decisions would be something that they would back up and I think that was huge.

You once said that Aamir Khan is the person who inspires you and Shah Rukh Khan is the one you like. Enlighten us…

The kind of career chart that Aamir Khan has followed is huge. He has always tried to do something new, which is very inspiring for a newcomer. I think Shah Rukh is somebody who is completely self-made; he has made it on his own. Each and every regular guy on the street can stand up and say ‘you know what? If he can do it so can I!’ and I was one of them. These are the people you have looked up to and they are icons for you. They are very inspiring.

You’ve always played the quintessential lover boy or taken up roles like that.

But aren’t you afraid of being typecast?

I’m doing different films now. I have four films coming up this year and in all of them I’m playing different characters. So hopefully there should be enough variety for the audience to feel that they would like to see me doing different things.

You are doing your dad’s film. Are you looking forward to it because he is your dad and you have a certain comfort level with him?

No, not really. I’m really looking forward to it because to begin with he is a great actor, somebody whose work I have always seen and always wondered how he comes up with it and what goes on in his mind to conceive what he conceives. As an actor maybe I’ll get a little bit of a sneak peek into it when I work with him. So that is something which I’m very excited about and secondly, I think it took dad four years to actually say ‘yes’ that I have the subject that is right for you. So I have great faith in the fact that he is not doing it because we are father and son and I am not doing it because we are father and son. We are doing it because we feel it is right and that’s how it should be.

You’ve been linked with many of your co-stars but who is your favourite co-star?

I can’t name one, I’ll name a few on the basis of the fact that I think on screen our chemistry really rocked. “Ishq Vishq” and “Vivah” with Amrita, “Jab We Met” with Kareena and right now I really had fun working with Priyanka on “Kaminey”.

You’ve been both on stage and in front of the camera. How different are the two and which one do you prefer?

Honestly, I haven’t done too much of stage. I think both have their own appeal. Obviously there is an immediate acknowledgement of a performance when you are on stage and therefore there is that joy. But on 70 mm you get the opportunity to chisel what you are doing and you have to wait for the results to come out which has its own appeal in a different way.

Everything is also dependent on the director. So it’s more of a process rather than an individual performance. So yeah, it’s different.

“Kaminey” releases next week. Looks like it is going to be a banner year for Shahid Kapoor…

There are four films releasing this year, so it’s a busy year for me. There is obviously "Kaminey", there is a film with Yash Raj, there is a dance film with Ken Ghosh for which obviously Marty (James Martin Kudelka) had come down and there is a special appearance in a film in which I’m playing a teacher, which I thought was quite exciting because I’m only 27, which is a pretty young age to be playing a teacher but it was exciting, a different take. Our perspective towards teachers is only of old people and there are so many young teachers that one comes across.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Better to jump than run...

The Dark Continent can improve, if they adopt the latest technology

Nelson Mandela, the last protagonist of African cause, observed after getting freedom from the apartheid – “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”. True, Africa has freed itself from the yoke of colonialism, still ‘The Dark Continent’ lags behind in infrastructure, industries and technologies to say the least.

The Internet facility, which is the mainstay of globalisation, still eludes some African countries. East Africa for example, still does not have fiber optic cable; instead they rely on satellite links, making their Internet access very slow and highly expensive – thus unaffordable. However, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki’s proactive initiative have resulted in installing three fiber optic submarine cables, which will not only benefit Kenya, but the entire region. The Internet connections will be speeded up in Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and parts of Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. The venture costs $130 million and the money was spent from Kenyan exchequer.

Further down south, Zambia is also instating fiber optic link to improve the service, along with Namibia. It is a joint venture between Zambia Electricity Corp (Zesco), and South Atlantic West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3), a Namibian corporation. This will expropriate Nigeria as well, and has made it an Internet service provider's hub over there. The uncanny truth is that ever since SAT-3 entered the Nigerian market, it has thrown the local operators out of business. Notwithstanding the turn of events, sole dependency on SAT-3 may be over soon as there are couple of optic fiber projects coming up. Nigeria is determined to penetrate the Internet service deep into the hinterland, for improvement of communication, business efficiency, education and healthcare.

In the sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria has the highest number of Internet users, the figure being 10 million. In spite of the upstanding figure, the penetration is shameful 6.8 per cent. Nigeria is followed by South Africa, 4.5 million connections with 9.4 per cent penetration level. North African countries are better off in this respect. Egypt is leading the table with10.5 million users and Morocco with 6.6 million.

Although the great divide between the rich and poor countries on Internet penetration looks staggering, gradually and surely the gap would be closed by the developing countries. In an endeavour for digital advancement in developing countries, the universities of China, Malaysia and Hong Kong have come together to form a common forum. With a combined effort they will publish an online journal called 'Electronic Journal on Information System in Developing Countries'. Academicians, think tanks, and policy makers can use this journal free of cost. The funding is also coming thick and fast. A Japanese conglomerate, called Soft Bank is funding $200 million; where as World Bank International Finance Corporation is ready to shell out $500 million. According to World Bank president James Wolfenson, “Providing access to the Internet in developing countries is as important as securing housing and clean water”.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Management of religion!

Haryana govt wades into Sikh shrine management issue

The notified historical Sikh shrines in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh are managed by the Amritsar based SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) – a statutory body under the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. SGPC – dominated by the Akali Dal – manages the gurdwaras in Haryana with an annual budget of about Rs 500 crore. Besides managing the shrines, this body plays a very significant role in guiding Sikhs on religious matters too.

Accusing the ‘poor’ management of gurdwaras in 2004, seven SGPC members from the state then had demanded a separate religious body for Haryana. A committee set up under Agriculture Minister HS Chatha submitting its report in February this year; and favoured a separate SGPC. But now, this move by the ruling Congress government in Haryana proposing a separate Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for the state has rocked the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The Akali Dal and the BJP have accused Congress of “meddling in the religious affairs of the Sikhs,” claiming that ahead of the assembly polls, the Congress is trying to get a toehold in Akali politics and to sway 1.3 million Sikh population in its fold. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal accuses without flinching, “It’s yet another conspiracy by the Congress to divide the SGPC and Sikhs”.

But Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda has seemingly been quite balanced on the issue, “I am willing to go in for a referendum. I am ready to abide by whatever the Sikhs decide. This has nothing to do with elections.” The fact also is that unlike what critics are claiming, the final decision rests not with the Haryana CM but with the Centre. A change can only be brought through an Act of Parliament. At the same time, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar also claims that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is actually against disturbing the present status quo. Makkar also wants that a legislation should be enacted to allow the SGPC and Sikhs of Punjab to take control of the main shrines.

But experts on Sikh affairs maintain that the Centre should instead go in for the All-India Gurdwara Legislation to solve the issue. Given the fact that gurdwaras in Delhi are managed by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (and not the SGPC) set up under a separate Act in 1971, it's now anybody's call.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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The patriotism Paradigm

The depiction of patriotism on the silver screen has metamorphosed from a portrayal of passion into a mere plot device finds Subhash K Jha

Face the farce. Mahendra Kapoor’s ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ and Manna Dey’s ‘Ae Mere Pyare Watan’ are dreams that have gone from the flag to flak. No one wants to watch films about a social awakening any longer. Raj Kumar Santoshi’s “Halla Bol” was proof of it. Films that once gloriously addressed the question of patriotism like Ramesh Sehgal’s “Shaheed” and Manoj Kumar’s “Upkar” are passé. Aggressive self-interest is in. “Rang De Basanti” marked the end of an Iraq.

‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti Sona Ugley /Ugley Heere-Moti…’ - the man, Gulshan Bawra, who wrote this paean to patriotism is no more. And what we do have, laments Manoj Kumar that one by one, they’ve all gone. The man who wrote this lyric, one-half of the duo Kalyanji-Anandji that composed this immortal song and also the man who sang it.

A sobering thought. This isn’t the passing of an era. It’s the passing of an aura. Gone are all those guys who we thought could change the world and the way we look at it. There was a time when Manoj Kumar churned out the flag-waving hits in a swirl of patriotism.

Besides “Rang De Basanti” the most patriotic film in the last 15 years was Mani Ratnam’s “Bombay”. I remember Shekhar Kapoor saying after the violence erupted over Mani Ratnam’s “Bombay” that Hindu-Muslim love stories are a no-no at the box office. Happily the parameters of the permissible are changing. And today who knows what works, what doesn’t? What we need to understand is a movie mogul’s need to address an issue that should concern all of us.


Today patriotism is aligned to terrorism. Terrorism and its distending dimensions have been a matter of grave concern for filmmakers. At the height of the Punjabi insurgency Gulzar came forward with “Maachis”. Who but the awesome Gulzar Saab could combine violence and poetry? Tabu looking into an unidentifiable horizon in the distance singing “Paani Paani Re” in the divine voice of Lata Mangeshkar remains one of the strongest images of a world overtaken by deathly strife. Gulzar Saab attempted to explore the parameters of terrorism a second time in “Hu Tu Tu”. Ominously he hasn’t directed a film after that. Somewhere he failed to connect the story of a human bomb (the gloriously resplendent Tabu) with the audience.

Santosh Sivan desperately wanted to cast Tabu as the human bomb in “Terrorist”. Since Gulzar Saab beat him to it he settled for Ayesha Dharker who gave a ball-of-fire account of the hardcore Sri Lankan suicide bomber who has a change of heart at the last minute.

Manisha Koirala blew up not just herself but also Shah Rukh Khan in Mani Ratnam’s “Dil Se”. Guess it comes from being brought up in the laps of luxury. Mani has his terror trilogy “Roja”, then “Dil Se”, finally topped by the finest of the trio, “Kannathil Muttamital” in Tamil. Recently Tulip Joshi played a suicide bomber in Pooja Bhatt’s “Dhokha”. One aspect of Hindi cinema’s current tryst with terrorism that invites attention is the sheer volume of ‘action’ that underlines the drama. Characters somersault nimbly into the horizon to beat the baddies. And you wonder if terrorists are the latest villains in masala kingdom after smugglers rapists and politicians.

Filmmakers in our country have always been more committed to winning laurels and making a name than carrying forward the social message of their films. Manoj Kumar's films have always been about patriotism. But does his personal conduct anywhere suggest he believes in the ‘Meri Desh Ki Dharti’ theory that he made into a booming formula?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Consumerism - Enslaved by machines - "IIPM News"

India can disconnect with mechanical civilisation in a healthy, non-disruptive way

Prasanna

Noted theatre person and writer

The root cause of most contemporary ills is our deeply entrenched consumerist culture. Automated machines spread their wings in Europe and America some two centuries ago. It took a little longer for these to enter Third World countries.

As the machines started producing bulk goods, impoverished farmers migrated to cities; poor villagers became labourers; and cities witnessed an unprecedented expansion. Along with this, capitalism took birth. None of the opposition to capitalism could provide an effective alternative to this mechanical civilisation of ours. Not only several socialist nations, but we Indians who proclaim Gandhian thoughts, have also surrendered to this unbridled mechanisation.

It is true that machines have made our work a lot easier. They have lessened distances, delayed deaths, cooled us in the scorching summer, appreciably pushed up food production and enabled us to build our homes, streets and bridges. But when technology becomes profit-oriented and a source of economic power, it morphs into something that is anti-people. For instance, machine debris is piling up at an alarming rate, and overuse of fuels has resulted in global warming – with the result that environmental pollution has crossed acceptable limits. There is no balance between rain and crop yields. So there is no way out, other than detaching ourselves from machines. We have two options: either we reject modern technology or perish along with it.

But it is also of utmost importance to detach ourselves from machinery without causing any pain to mankind, which has definitely benefited to a certain extent from the use of machines. It is our over-dependence on machines that is so worrisome: For machines aren’t attached to us, it is we who are attached to machines. So the call is entirely ours. The process of detachment should take place in our lives and not in any factory. But many among us would rather reform this mechanical culture than do without machines altogether. Yet while this reform is possible, reforming mankind is not. Machines may go away, but human greed won’t.

Two-and-a-half centuries ago the industrial revolution changed the face of the world by changing the lives of human beings.

At that time humankind had warmly welcomed mechanical civilisation. It is this civilisation that ushered in the rational revolution, the democratic system, science, socialism, women’s emancipation, literature, art and more. Machines injected great dynamism into human lives and, as a result, many positives emerged from it.

But now in the first decade of the 21st century we are seeing another transformation. Mechanical civilisation is getting old; and man, supposed to behave rationally with the support of machines, has instead become gluttonous and hedonistic. If the ‘haves’ are ruining their lives in the pursuit of wealth, the have-nots are destroying life thinking about lack of wealth.

There is a life beyond money; there are human relationships, nature and environment. But this kind of thinking is becoming increasingly rare. When mechanical civilisation arrived, it impacted differently on different people. If this civilisation brought the ‘age of enlightenment’ to the Europeans, for countries like India it opened the dark era of colonial oppression. If the Europeans, with the help of machines, enlarged their territory as well as trade, we lost what we had in the name of colonisation. In just a few decades Indians, who were leading a respectable life exporting indigenous spices and handlooms, were compelled to import textile mill cloth. Indeed it took just two decades for us to come under the subjugation of the British. As I said earlier, it is possible for us to shed our machine addiction. All we need is determination. We have to stop imitating the West. It is possible for India to disconnect with machines in a healthy, non-disruptive way. It is indeed surprising that traditional farming, rural handicrafts, small industries and desi lifestyles – all of which were marginalised with the advent of this mechanical civilisation – are still around. Though beaten, exhausted and deprived – these are still active. The traditional industries represent the real richness of our country.

Look at the contradiction: the traditional production industries which have been blamed for the slow pace of development have survived the thump of recession. The politicians who had been talking about the industrial revolution, the green revolution and global marketing are once again singing the song of ‘inclusive growth’. Capitalists plan to produce a movie on Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital”! And western countries are chanting Gandhian thoughts. India had no role in fixing machines or laying the edifice of modern science; but it is uniquely placed to lead the ‘machine detachment movement’.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Kapil Dev - A Hurricane of a rebel - "IIPM Press"

The players involved with the Indian Premier League might be reaping the fruits of two successful seasons of the action-packed league and the frills that come with it, but they have one man to thank for it. No, it’s not Lalit Modi but the Haryana Hurricane, Kapil Dev who was, in a way, instrumental in the formation of the IPL. When Zee boss, Subhash Chandra decided to form a rebel league (ICL) Kapil stood by him, sending jitters through the rank and file of the most powerful cricket board in the world. The BCCI reacted by labelling him a rebel and alienating any player, past or present, associated with the breakaway league. Within a few days, the ‘Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century’ and India’s only World Cup winning captain (ODIs) turned into a villain. Though Kapil’s league may have lost out to a cash-rich board-backed IPL but it was he who actually ignited the idea of league cricket in India.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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IIPM News - In debt of microcredit

There are a handful people in this world who invest their time and effort in transforming lives through selfless single-mindedness. One of them is the recipient of the prestigious Grameen Foundation Humanitarian Award (2009), Marshall Saunders, a key ally in the microfinance movement towards eradication of poverty. In an interview with Spriha Srivastava, Saunders talks about his Mohammed Yunus-inspired microcredit initiatives in Mexico

How did you get drawn to philanthropy and micro-finance?

In 1988, I took a seminar where I opened myself to letting myself think about things and being touched by circumstances of other people and the world… all that I had avoided before. It became essential for me to do whatever I could to help my fellow human beings. Microcredit seemed to be the most powerful idea that I could find, and so I threw my heart and soul into it for the next two decades.

How did you get associated with Md Yunus?

I read about Dr. Yunus in 1989 and thought that the idea he was writing about was the most powerful and exciting idea that I had ever heard of. I read everything that I could find about him and then one morning I called him. It was the beginning of a two-decade long friendship. I don’t see him much but he is one of my heroes.

How difficult is it to deal with people when it almost always requires changing their mindset and introducing them to something new?

I have interviewed women who told me that their husband would not allow them to take a loan. And I have spoken to men who told our staff to leave their wives alone. But once the woman begins to generate an income and help with expenses, it’s welcome by all members of the family. In Mexico, many of our borrowers have been abandoned by their husbands. And many of them have children and have never been married. They have been in a relationship which they call “free association”, which doesn’t seem to work very well for the women.

In regard to micro-finance, how is the situation in India different from other countries?

My work in India did not involve going to the field and meeting people. I spent only two days in rural India talking to the poor. Only one time did I go to the field in Andhra Pradesh, and though it’s bad enough in rural Mexico, the women I met there were poorer and seemingly in more desperate circumstances than the women in rural Mexico.

What kind of progress – in terms of people being open to the idea of micro-finance and efforts in eradication of poverty – have you seen in India? How does it compare with other countries?

It’s obvious to me by the success of the microcredit programs in India that the idea is well-received. I was also impressed by the educational level of the bank workers in the programs that I saw. Many had advanced degrees in economics, sociology and NGO Administration. In Mexico, “Grameen de la Frontera” can only find high school graduates for this kind of work. So I guess having a social conscience has penetrated to more young people in India than in Mexico.

How would you rate the current propensity for philanthropy?

I believe that “sensate” is a good word to describe the vast majority of people today who could be philanthropists, that is to say those who have substantial money with which they could make a contribution. Many are chasing after the latest and biggest house, car, vacation, sumptuous dinner, etc. Those are fleeting experiences and the real joy in life is in contribution and creating a just, peaceful and sustainable world.

You’ve been committed to this cause for 20 years. What keeps you motivated? What roadblocks have you encountered?

The thing that kept me motivated has been visiting the women who receive the loans. When the money is in her hands, she sees a new possibility for herself, and especially for her children. That inspires me. It hasn’t always been easy though. The difficulties have been with managing people and, of course, the occasional scare regarding whether or not we would have sufficient money to fulfill our loan obligations to the poor women who were counting on us.

Now, what kind of change do you dream to bring about?

Ahh. This is the last epoch of my life… I am 70 now! But I do expect to see a major shift in humanity. I expect that there will be a breakthrough of enormous proportions and we will begin to see ourselves as one. I am building a national and, hopefully, international network of citizen teams that will lobby to create the political will in our governments for a stable and sustainable climate. This includes empowering ordinary people like me to actively exercise our personal and political power. It’s called Citizens Climate Lobby. www.citizensclimatelobby.org

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

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• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

Arif Mohd. Khan - A leader who lost his way

Arif Mohammad Khan turned his back on a thriving political career when confronted with a difficult choice. At Rajiv Gandhi's behest, in Parliament, he valiantly defended the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case. He took on the Muslim conservative establishment. But Rajiv had a sudden change of heart and decided to oppose the judgment. Arif quit the Congress.

What happened next was less edifying. Arif joined the BJP. The support of the progressive sections of the Muslim community evaporated. A string of political errors cost him dear and India lost one of its most promising minority leaders. Today his isolation is complete.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

REBELLION - Memories of a Mutiny - "IIPM Press Article"

While Ramgarh’s people condemned Operation Blue Star, they were cold to the mutineers as well, recalls Mahendra Kumar

The news of the soldiers’ operation at the Golden Temple in Amritsar came to us regularly, but from unconfirmed sources. At the time of Operation Blue Star the broadcast and print media were much less active than they now are. For the most part people depended on the BBC or the AIR, or waited for the next day’s newspapers from Ranchi and Patna. Rampur’s former member of the legislative assembly, Yamuna Sharma, still remembers the day – June 7, 1984 – when it had looked like all was finished.

Ranjit Mishra, who was just 20 years old at the time, recalls the unnerving calm that pervaded the Sikh Regimental Centre. It was around 7:30 A.M. of June 7 that the people of Ramgarh heard of the soldiers’ mutiny. They were rebelling against Operation Bluestar. People had begun collecting outside the regimental centre on the national highway, stood on the roof of houses nearby, and even on tree tops to catch a glimpse of the goings on inside its premises. Some 400 to 500 armed youth had made it till the highway, hopped into which ever vehicle passed their way and started moving towards Hazaribagh. It was only then that people realised that they were all rebellious recruits.

Numbering some 1,500, they had broken into the armoury and killed the centre’s commandant, Brigadier S. C. Suri, after they were stopped. Pramod Aggarwal, a businessman, was on the crowded highway when the recruits came, and he remembers how within minutes it was deserted by the general public. For, though they harmed nobody in Rampur city the recruits’ approach was excessively aggressive. All were armed and firing blindly. Clearly, they were ready to kill and get killed. Since television had not yet arrived, news of successive developments was slow to travel. Recalls Yamuna Sharma: “Mr Narayanan of the Intelligence Bureau, who was posted in Ramgarh at that time, got all the news that was unfolding at the centre. He was informed of mutinous gatherings outside and instigating speeches. Mr Narayanan’s network was so live wire that he was the first to learn that the commandant had been killed.

One thing was very clear: the rebelling recruits had nothing against the ordinary citizen. They just spoke of going to Punjab and of their religion being in danger. Between Ramgarh and Varanasi they looted several petrol pumps for fuel, and in nearby Kuju ransacked a small hotel. Says its owner Trilochan Sharma: “Around 40 youngsters trooped inside my hotel and began plundering the food. When I protested, one of them pointed his rifle at me. The workers ran away and I had to beg them to spare my life. However, barring stray incidents the only thing those recruits wanted was to reach Punjab as early as possible.”

Though people were against Operation Blue Star, they had no sympathy for the mutineers either. And the people of Ramgarh made it plain that they condemned the rebellion.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

Will Christmas be merrier? Duh

Should the online advertising industry try to freeze the economic meltdown?! Dumb meets dumb...
To start on a positive note, the number of windows popping up aka online ads are on a decline since the past few months. Positive for the surfer, given the irritant value that comes combined with pop up ads. According to ComScore’s AdMetrix data, internet surfers were exposed to 12% less display-ad impressions per page view than they were a year ago. Whether it’s a conscious decision of the advertisers present on the digital media or just a mere coincidence, the fact is that the falling growth rate of the online ad industry is good news for advertisers! Surprised? We called it, dumb meets dumb. Well, a study conducted by Dynamic Logic, Starcom and DoubleClick in 2007 found that a 15% increase in ads on a page results in about a 10% decline in click-through rates. Well, if that is not a positive correlation, read on to get confused a bit more.

The global online ad industry is supposedly valued at somewhere around $23 billion and has registered a double digit growth from the past five years. Fortune 500 companies like Google, with more than 98% of their revenues from online advertising, are leading examples of the power of this industry. Expectably, the tanking economy contributed towards the cutting of advertising budgets of many companies. But most interestingly, there was a set of companies who shifted to the digital media in the period of this economic meltdown. Before you award us the Pulitzer, do read the inference, which is quite simple. The group of companies were those who were earlier relying on the traditional mass mediums to keep their brands very much in the sight of the consumer. Simple analysis shows how, in order to save increasing advertising costs in traditional media, these companies moved their budgets more towards online advertising in order to equate brand recall with investments. But the question then comes, when – and if – the global economies start moving out of the negative phase and recessionary trends, would these companies withdraw their current budgets from the online space?

And if that will be the case, it would surely result in making times worse for the players in the online advertising industry. Anjali Hegde, Vice President, Interactive Avenues does confirm, “As the worldwide economies will stabilise, the online ad agency will see a fall in the growth rate.” However, Hegde takes no time to highlight the fact that smart marketers – given the positive feedback with their initial online advertising experiments – will still stick to digital arena in the long run. Talking on similar lines, Deepak Singh, Director, Young Turks asserts, “The online ad industry will see a fall in growth rate as the economies will recover from this downturn. However, the fall will not be very significant.” Clearly, the prevailing economic slowdown is perhaps a blessing in disguise for the online ad agencies and online advertising media as – given their relatively lower advertising rates – they seemingly have a sustainable and strong competitive advantage over their nearest rivals, namely print and electronic media. Also is the fact that once a client, who perchance had never tested and tasted the power of online advertising, does so, there is good enough chance that the client might just stick on, irrespective of the rival media offering similar rates of advertising. Well, Christmas is just around the corner and it just seems it’s the start of an unexpected war of the fallen worlds... Duh!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
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IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
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India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

IIPM News - Who loves debt?

No one really, given the market sentiments after the global credit squeeze. But Cisco Capital begs to differ, finds out 4Ps B&M’s Savreen Gadhoke

Of late, there has been an upsurge in the small and medium business (SMB) segment in the country. And riding this high tide in the sector are the various IT companies. A study titled ‘IT opportunity in the SMB sector’ by Zinnov Management Consulting reports that this segment in India spent nearly $6.6 billion during 2007-08, which is 30% of the total expenditure on IT in India during the year. Indeed great news for the IT sector, but what about a time when funds are quickly drying up? Indeed, for the SMBs, it is getting difficult by the day to maintain the expenditures for keeping pace with speed at which technology is getting upgraded, reinvented and reinnovated! And that’s where Cisco Capital comes in, to help solve the financial problems that the SMBs are facing to buy/utilise latest in the field of technology. Cisco Capital is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems and therefore a captive financing arm of Cisco. It however also deals directly with high-end enterprises and high end customers. It was incorporated in 2005, with an initial corpus of $150 million. It is dedicated to providing financing solutions and options to Cisco’s channel partners and its customers. In an exclusive interview with 4Ps B&M, Gautam Munish, Country Manager, Cisco Capital, discloses how Cisco Capital helps organisations derive maximum from investments in technology...

Why does Cisco need a financial services arm at all?
Cisco Capital deals in finance... rather a centre point between technology and finance. Cisco has two kinds of options whereby they invest their money – through equity investments (Cisco Venture Capital) and Cisco Capital (which is asset-backed lending practice). Cisco Capital is more focused on the debt side. We are more of a sales enabling arm rather than an entity which is focused on bottomlines.

How do you differentiate yourself from a standalone financier?
A standalone financier primarily takes only credit risk. But we, apart from taking a credit risk, also take what you’d call ‘market risk’, which is nothing but us assuming genuine residual position in the kits that we are manufacturing. So what we are offering are called Fair Market Value (FMV) leases, whereby companies who sign-on FMV leases significantly lower their total cost of ownership and also protect themselves from likely technology obsolescence issues. So if you look at the two paradigms of making any asset investment, you are firstly bothered about whether this asset will last you for the defined economic life that you have in mind. And secondly, it will help you to keep your total cost of ownership under control. Through the Cisco Capital involvement, by just getting an insurance cover on technology life cycle, they are also ensuring (because of the residual positions that we are assuming) that their total cost of ownership is also significantly lowered. These are the two tenets on which we distinguish ourselves from a standalone financier.

What are the main funding options that you provide to your channel partners & customers?
For our SMB customers, we run a special concessional scheme, whereby SMBs have the possibility of getting funding from us under our Easy Lease programmes at an interest rate of 7%. For the multi-year service contracts that Cisco offers, we also give our SMB customers funding at an interest rate of 0%. So with these options, we feel that we’ve hit the right places in the market places as far as SMBs are concerned.

Keeping in mind the original line of business of Cisco, how are Cisco Capital and the parent company finding symbiotic synergy?
By virtue of us knowing what the typical life span of technology looks like, the minute we start educating a customer, they see us more as business advisors rather than box-sellers. We are the ones who are holding the credit risk, market risk, interest rate risk and the asset risk. At the end of the day, the client also feels that he is the one who is getting all the benefits. He stops looking at us merely as vendors and takes us as business partners. So that is how we get more aligned to the practices that Cisco follows as an organisation. And because we are aligned, we share the same vision. We can educate the customer a lot better and be seen as the right kind of business advisor in the market place.

What is the total size of Cisco Capital in terms of business volume?
That’s something that we typically don’t comment on. But just to give you an idea – we have a CAGR of 80%. But we expect this to obviously slowdown because the base is getting to grow...

Are you planning to launch more funding options soon?
We realise that the advanced technology that we sell, has a longer deployment cycle as compared to foundation technologies. But an issue that our partners are experiencing is that while they need to pay Cisco for the purchase that they are making from us, they are being pushed back in realising their payments from their end customers. So we are coming out with a solution that will help our partners bridge that gap.

Cisco Capital, 2010! What will it be?
We have 14.5% penetration in the parent organisation and we expect this to move up by several percentage points by 2010. We will ensure not just business growth but also that per employee productivity rises. We see ourselves as a truly global financial services organisation and I can only see it getting better. As our businesses expand, as our portfolio gets to be bigger, how we monitor our bigger portfolio, how we stay on top of all the asset migration that our customers will end up opting for, how we will manage the entire life cycle of the asset for them – we feel that we will be in for a long haul, and we will be seen as a credible set up not just for now but for times to come.

Your experience with Cisco Capital...
I was the first person to join when Cisco Capital was formed. The entity was not even in existence though we had got the registration done. So I’ve seen Cisco capital through the last three and a half years from being a non-existent organisation to a feasible sized entity today. I’ve worked with big brands in the financial services. While those were very good, I think that this is a semi-entrepreneurial kind of a venture that has really tested my abilities. My experience with Cisco Capital has been extremely fulfilling.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

Another ‘City’ ready to sleep! - "IIPM-News"

As if the debacle with financial services and auto sector wasn’t enough, here’s another one: Retail. With Circuit City filing for bankruptcy, one wonders who’s next by Pawan Chabra

They say that developing countries like India and China need to maintain steady economic growth of 7-8% to lift millions out of poverty. Unfortunately, for countries like US, who are staring at prospects of economic degrowth, the challenge seems to be with respect to millions that are not in poverty yet. The challenge increasingly would be how to keep them there; as companies, one after another are sounding the alarm about not so impressive times ahead.

After the crunch in financial services and auto, retail is the next source of bad news. Circuit City, the second largest consumer electronics retail chain in US has recently filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11, which has created a chaos in US retail industry.

In a situation where analysts are quite sure of a dull Christmas season ahead for retailers this year, Circuit City’s bankruptcy has given signals of a very rough road ahead to the other retailers in US. As John Crossman, President Crossman & Company states, “Retailers are very desperate for a bright festive season ahead and the industry need a big holiday season. We will see some big winners and big losers this time.” Crossman’s prediction seems true enough as, in a letter posted on Circuit City’s website, Jim Marcum, VP & CEO, Circuit City Stores, Inc. said, “This (bankruptcy) filing will give us the time and resources to address our financial challenges.”

City’s filing for bankruptcy has given many sleepless nights to giants in the IT industry as almost all IT stocks fell down drastically as soon as news of the filing spread. HP is the biggest unsecured creditor of Circuit City as City owes $118.8 million to HP, followed by many others who’ll now have to reframe their strategies to stay profitable in these bad times.

The irony in this case is that Circuit City’s closest rival Best Buy (who has also eaten Circuit City’s share of earnings) recently registered $2.15 billion in operating income, maintaining a surplus due to which many market experts are considering that City’s quagmire is a case of internal mismanagement. But then there is an another set of market experts who still expect many more retailers to stand in the chapter 11 list in times to come. Doron Levy, President, Captus Business Consulting, who belongs to the latter category, asserts, “We will see some more bankruptcies in the near future, but I really see consolidation on the horizon for many chains. Some have really strong business models, but are not managed correctly. I do have some specific retailers that I could foresee going into bankruptcy and eventually disappearing form the retail landscape all together.” Talking on the same lines, David .J. Livingston, retail consultant, DJL Research points out, “I think we will see an onslaught of closings among the small specialty stores located in shopping malls. This will result in the downfall of several real estate investment trusts which own these malls.” Though unfortunate, but retail is always affected in some or the other way from the roadblocks in the growth of any industry for that matter. So, the position of the retailers in the economic chain today is simply determined by what they sell. The slowdown in spending, though, would have an impact virtually across the horizon.

It’s not only retail outlets who are tightening their belts; online retailers are also joining the bandwagon as they are cutting their marketing and promotional budgets to stay profitable. Adding to that, online retailers are using tactics like free shipping to attract more buyers. And the decision seems wise enough. As per a study by Hitwise, the click-rate of online retailers is going down drastically. But then, market experts are still very much in favour of growth in online retail in the coming times. The annual holiday survey by Deloitte, clearly showed that Online spending is the 2nd best shopping destination for consumers after discount departmental stores. And the sheer power of online retailing gets more clear if we go by growth figures as National Retail Federation has announced a 2.2% projected growth in overall retail sales, which stands too low in comparison to the 12% projected growth in the online sphere. So, we can be sure of one thing – online retail will grow in times to come due to the simple reason that the fundamentals are quite compelling at the moment.

But you can’t be that sure of the growth in the overall retail sector as the prevailing turmoil may not end in the short-run. The only point favouring the growth of US retail industry is that there are many big retailers like WalMart, Tesco et al who are still in an expansion mode. Livingston emphasises, “Even though the economy has been difficult, there are still many retailers expanding. Wal-Mart continues to build stores with varied formats. Target is building, Tesco is building. Perhaps not at a fast pace, but they are.” But we can expect many more not-so-huge retailers going out of business in times to come. This will surely be one Christmas that they won’t forget in a hurry.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

ART V/S COPY! - "IIPM Article"

Monojit Lahiri attempts a checkout on a time-tested ‘war’ that frequently invades the ‘creative’ space of most ad agencies!
As every moron knows, an ad comprises of words and pictures. The word component is the domain of the Copywriter and the visuals, the Art person. Interestingly, although their combined creativity, skills and craft went into the making/creation of the ad, they functioned separately. This meant that the Copywriter wrote his stuff and handed it over to the Art person – usually with some guidelines – who then proceeded to visualise it in an appropriately meaningful manner. The duo also (frequently) came from different ‘social’ stratospheres. The Copywriter, usually, came from a Convent/Public School background, was fluent in English and totally comfortable with both the command and nuances of the language. He was also heavily into what this world offered – theatre, poetry, literature, cinema, cocktail parties… this invariably made him the ‘spokesperson’ of the creative team and the front guy during briefing, interaction and presentations. The Art guy, a hugely gifted person, normally was an Art School/College product, not terribly comfortable either with the English language or its fancy manifestations. He/she was happy to do the work assigned to the best of his/her ability and go home, quite content to live in the shadows…

In the year 2008, does the Art-Copy divide still exist – in any form? Does the subliminal khunnas in the Art guys still remain with the Copy brats for constantly stealing their thunder, unfairly? Do the Copy-hotties still luxuriate in the old smugness… or in this new world-order, is all that a thing of the past with convergence finally replacing conflict?

Ogilvy’s talented Delhi-based Creative Director, Titus Upputuru takes first strike. “Weird as it may sound today, this kind of crazy division of labour did exist, once! Three things slammed it out. One, the concept of ideation [replacing the earlier juvenile words and pictures ying-yang] that demanded collaboration, shared thinking and brainstorming. Two, the tacit recognition by the Art guys that there is a world of difference between Art [aesthetics and design by-the-book] and Art Direction [creating powerful seductive communication that will sell in the market place] putting an end to the dreaded, old-fashioned Art College syndrome! Lastly, the entry and popularity of Design Yatra – an art-specific fest held every year, where hot-shot globally acclaimed Art and Design Gurus come down to India [Goa?] every year to conduct workshops with our art guys.”

Redifussion Y&R’s brilliant NCD, Sagar Mahabaleshwkar agrees. He remembers the time when there was a distinct LOC between the Copy and Art guys and believes that the globally renowned Young & Rubicam were the ones who demolished this divide and got them together. “In India, I think, Ogilvy followed this model early on with the Piyush Pandey-Sonal Dobral team leading the way. They were brilliant and successful all the way. Soon, others followed.” The creative honcho believes that this had to happen in response to the paradigm shift and changing contours of the new consumerscape as also the direction in which communication was headed.

“The era of smart words and pretty visuals were over. In a fiercely competitive market place, ads that were clutter-busting and powered with solid persuasion-quotient were the ones that were most likely to make a difference. Hence, joint brainstorming was the obvious solution. This resulted in the Art-College type Art guys recognising the significance of a well-argued, convincing communication capsule and the Copy guys recognising the fact that, many times, a powerful visual with minimum copy could do the trick. It was a learning curve for both providing a win-win situation for all concerned.” He cites the hilarious example of the globally revered creative Guru, Neil French, who once asked him if he knew why Art Directors went bonkers… and Copywriters didn’t! “Seeing my blank expression, he explained, that unlike writers who leveraged reason, argument and logic in their work, the Art person just freaked out on imagination, with all cylinders firing. This put so much pressure on one side of the brain that at one point, they flip their lid!” Ogilvy’s poster-boy Creative Director [impishly?] chooses to rain on this parade! Sumanto Chatopadhaya reckons that while the scary teller-system approach of Copywriters passing on copy to the Art person through a cubby-hole for visuals is over, the Copywriter still remains the public face of the team. “The reasons are obvious. English is the language of business communication and the writer is, mostly, more articulate and confident in that language than his Art partner. This allows for a higher degree of comfort level during interaction with clients. Also, for TVCs, usually script ideas emanate from the writer. Of course there are exceptions like my colleague Rajiv Rao, an Art person, who is brilliant and sufficiently articulate when he chooses to make a point. But then exceptions prove the rule, right? Hey, I hope my Art Director colleagues and associates don’t kill me after this sound byte!”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

A bullet and mayhem

Those who had built Greece are setting it ablaze...

The forensic report of the death of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, who was shot down by a policeman in the Exarhia district on December 6, 2008, fortifies that he was killed by a direct shot and not otherwise. And the rest is still 'not' history. Within the first one-and-a-half-hour, the Greeks were on the roads of Athens, protesting and burning Greece. Later, all cities of Greece were engulfed in demonstrations and riots (similar to one in 1985). The noteworthy point is that this riot was just not confined to Greece and its vicinity, but spread across the whole of Europe (Paris, Rome, Berlin, Frankfurt, Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen et al).

The three-week long riot was not the result of a shootout, but it actually acted as a catalyst for the youth to raise their voice and gave them a chance to showcase their frustration against the government's lousy policies and bad governance. The Greek youths are suffering because of mass unemployment (unemployment rate in age group 15-24 stands at 22 per cent, as per OECD) and highly competitive exams that eventually and sadly do not promise a promosing future in the job market. The education system does not promote free thinking and civil participation. Even after Athens being the 29th most expensive city the salary levels (only for those who manage to get a job) is far too low as compared to other similar economies. The riot not only echoes the stagnant political system and weak economic condition of Greece but also the weak police force. After the fall of dictatorship the Greek Police never underwent any reform or received any kind of support from the politicos and are still deprived of professionalism and modern training (suffer from corruption and are trust deficit). The police are not even allowed to enter the campus of any educational institute, making them incapable of stopping protestors (who take advantage of this loophole).

These youths flooded the whole of virtual world with their messages against the government, eventually resulting in small riots all over Europe. The rioters, comprising anarchists and extremists, do not represent the entire population of Greece. The rioters, this time, are attacking banks and public institutions, instead of proposing alternative plan for the government.

Instead of burning their own country, wouldn't it be better if the youth participates in governance and politics to improve the conditions? These riots are actually acting as an opportunity for criminal gangs as they are busy looting banks and wealthy institutes. It's now time for not just Greece but many other European nations too to embrace the change the way India and China have. Or else thanks to Asia, jobs would continue to dry up and Europe might just turn out to be the next burning Africa in the making.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
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IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
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The legacy of Razaakars

To avoid joining India, the Hyderabad Nizam helped create a Muslim terror outfit in 1947, and unfortunately that communal divide in what is now Andhra Pradesh, lives on, says Naresh Nunna

His massive palace in the mien of that of the Shah of Iran is one of the hottest tourist destinations in southern India. Now called the Salarjung Museum, it is fabled for its priceless artifacts, statues, jewellery, startling paintings, gorgeous chandeliers and yes, scores of chiming clocks. When they chime all together at noon, they create an ambience that is magically musical. Nizam’s Hyderabad was the largest princely state of India. And yet, though the clocks remained, time ran out for the Nizam’s in 1948.

In 1740s, the State of Hyderabad comprised most of the Deccan Plateau. Mir Qamar-ud-din Asaf Jah became independent of the Mughals and established his kingdom in 1724. Like all princely states under Muslim rulers, Hyderabad too had a Hindu majority. By 1798, the ruler seemed surrounded on all sides by hostile enemies and was forced to come under British protection, though the Nizam’s internal independence stayed guaranteed.

In 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad was Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, a man of vast wealth. Dreaming of an independent state, he sought Dominion Status from the British. But the idea was rubbished by Lord Mountbatten. The Indian government was averse to a forced takeover and agreed to conclude a Standstill Agreement. It was hoped that this would open negotiations and the eventual peaceful accession of the state. But the Hindu leadership went against this and the Congress fished in troubled waters.

“It was the Arya Samaj under Swami Ramanand Tirth which led the anti-Nizam movement. Most of his followers joined the Congress by 1946-47,” historian Vavilala Ramalinga Deekshithulu told TSI. According to him, Muslim elites, in turn, set up the Majlis-e-Ittehad ul-Muslimeen, or Organisation for the Unity of Muslims, and believed that Hyderabad's Muslims were its natural hakim kaum, or ruling race. It was deeply influenced by the work of the 19th century revivalist Sayyid Ahmad.

Besieged by the Congress’ demands for democratic elections and the Arya Samaj’s religious mobilisation, Osman Ali Khan responded to the growing violence by proscribing both organisations. He turned to the Majlis for support. In response, Qasim Rizvi, who was in the Nizam’s army, set up the Razaakars as a paramilitary Islamic force. Majlis leaders candidly stated their objective was to “keep the sovereignty of His Exalted Highness intact, and to prevent Hindus from establishing supremacy over Muslims”. In 1947, Rizvi unleashed his forces in support of the Nizam’s claims to independence.

“The leadership of the Arya Samaj also gave a communal colouring to the struggle, with a call for ‘liberation’ of Hyderabad,” an analyst on Telangana affairs, Kesava Rao Jadav told TSI. The acceptance of this term – liberation – by other political parties has lent indirect support to the interpretation of this period in Hindu-Muslim terms. Such an interpretation, which emphasises the religious aspect of liberation from autocracy, becomes a handy tool for sectional political mobilisation.


The Nizam's autocracy undoubtedly had an anti-Hindu streak. His administration was largely Muslim, Urdu was imposed on the people. The Nizam administered a system in which religious affiliation was a key source of legitimacy. Although Muslims made up just 10 per cent of the population, they held three-quarters of all state jobs. And of the seven major feudal estates, six were controlled by Muslim notables.

During the course of this struggle, the people built up a powerful militia comprising 10,000 village squads members and about 2,000 regular guerillas, defending the peasantry against the armed attacks of the Razaakars and Nizam's police. “However, Hindu landowners formed part of Nizam's support base. A section of Dalits joined the Razaakars, and a number of Hindu monasteries lent support to Nizam,” renowned journalist and Telangana expert Dr Ambati S Raju told TSI.

Ironically, thousands of Muslims along with Hindus, who collectively opposed Osman Ali Khan, were killed before the Indian Army swept in in September 1948. The surrender of the Nizam on September 18, 1948, did represent for the people of Hyderabad state liberation from the repressive hold of feudal autocracy, not communal supremacy, as some have interpreted. Historians also often suppress the fact that thousands of Muslims were massacred by Hindu communal elements after the take over. “Because of communal enmity towards Muslims, the heinous atrocities in Marathwada and Hyderabad-Karnataka region were buried on the sly,” Sangisetti Srinivas of Hyderabad Central University said. Several thousand Muslim men were killed, their women raped or forced to commit suicide. Muslim properties were burnt and their agricultural lands grabbed, forcing large-scale migration to Hyderabad city, he added.

Muslims suffered insecurity with the trifurcation of Hyderabad. The official language was no longer Urdu, so thousands of Muslim employees, who only knew that, became jobless. This deprivation, which began in the early 1950s, got accentuated with the systematic exploitation of Telangana. Rizvi was eventually captured and imprisoned. He was finally expelled to Pakistan – some say he fled – in 1957, but the story did not end there. The Majlis was reborn in 1957 under the leadership of the affluent cleric and lawyer, Abdul Wahid Owaisi. Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, his son, took over in 1976. Salahuddin sons, Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi and MIM floor leader in Andhra Pradesh legislative Assembly, Akbaruddin Owaisi are, in turn, now its most visible faces.

But repeated communal violence marred the Majlis’ repute. The decade of 1960s saw riots in eight years. After 1978, the trend took a turn for the worse. Except for the period 1986-89 (the NTR’s regime), riots took place virtually every year between 1978 and 1993, often many times in the same year. Majlis leaders had the resources to defend the city’s Muslims, and slowly became their sole spokespersons. With the Congress and the Majlis locked in political duel, Hindu nationalist forces were able to represent themselves as the sole credible defenders of their interests. Violence served the political interests of all sides, bestowing a unique inheritance of communal hatred in the minds of present generation.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Read these article :-
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Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
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The Sunday Indian Story - Bhatkal: Islam’s dual face?

This quaint port-town is home to an ancient peace-loving Muslim community, but now jehadis are using it too, worries Satish Chapparike

If a historian, a linguist, a theologian and an architect want to go together on a vacation this tourist season, where do they go? Well, unless they want to completely stay away from work, and if they are willing to mix work and pleasure, there’s no place like the picturesque port-town of Bhatkal, on the National Highway 17, between Mangalore and Karwar. Home to an amazing community of Muslims, the Navayaths, it offers a startling mix of religions and cultures that is perhaps seen only there.

Bhatkal is a strange amalgamation of Hindu, Jain and Muslim cultures, languages and religions. Within a two square kilometer area in old Bhatkal town, there are more than 50 mosques, temples and basadis. Around 1,500 years ago, this natural port was a small village dominated by Jains and Hindus. During the reign of Vijaynagar dynasty’s ‘Pepper Queen’ Ambakka, an ascription given by the Portuguese whom she had defeated, Bhatkal became the main trade centre, and Persian-Arab traders started descending in hordes, bringing their horses and taking away the most valuable spices from these foothills of the Western Ghats.

Over time, Some Persian-Arab traders decided to settle here and that sect got the name ‘Navayaths’, or newcomers. Their roots were firmly anchored in the Arab world. But now Bhatkal and Navayath are synonymous and this community of around one lakh is distinct from other Muslim communities of the country. There were many theories about their actual place of origin and the process of settlement.

In the “History of Mysore, Vol I”, Colonel Wilkes says, “This sect belongs to the house of Hashem. During the early part of the 8th century AD, Iraq was under Caliph Abd-al-Malik Marwan and Hajaj bin Yusuf was the Governor. During the period of his notorious rule of Yusuf many people fled from the Iraq and followed the Arab traders and settled in the different part of the west coast of India.”

But the unique character of the Navayaths and their concentration only in and around Bhatkal refutes this theory. In his 1955 book “Navayaths of Kanara”, Victor D’Souza rejects the ‘single ancestor’ idea. One theory says Navayaths originated in Iran and another says they are from Yemen. "The Arab sailors and traders who came to India have generated Muslim communities in different parts of India. Among them, at least three different communities are known by the generic name of ‘Navayath’. It has been found that Navayaths are scattered in Pakistan, Srilanka, Hyderabad, Tamilnadu, Nellore, Arcot, Kolar, Hassan, Goa and Ratnagiri. These Navayaths, unlike the Navayaths of Bhatkal, have totally adopted the local culture,” says D’Souza.

Some believe that during the early days, some Arab traders who settled in Bhatkal also married local Jain women and the present generation is their descendent. There are many historical evidence of Jain influence in Bhatkal. The ruins of Jettappa Nayakana Chandranathesvara Basadi in the centre of old Bhatkal town tell numerous stories about Jain dominance. But Jain women spoke Kananada, and had this theory been correct, then their offspring would have spoken Kannad instead of Navayathi.

One spectacular aspect of the Navayath culture is their series of traditional houses on the side of old Bhatkal’s siens (streets). The cluster makes the ‘Navayath Keri’, and each house is an antique splendour. With around 20 feet frontage and 100 to 120 feet depth, the wooden houses are a treat to the eyes. Male guests are allowed only to the first room, called ‘vasro’. Beyond that the entire house belongs to family members. The origin of Navayathi language is also an interesting evolution. “Some say nine languages like Persian, Arabian, Urdu, Konkani, Kannada, Malayalam and others make up the language,” says Moulana Abdul Alim Qasimi, the Editor of Naqshe-E-Navayath, oldest Navayathi fortnightly news paper.

“From the last two decades, the entire sect has started giving importance to education. Before that, trade and services were our bread and butter,” says Parvez Kashimiji. No doubt about that. Anjuman Hami-e-Muslimeen, the educational society that actually changed the face of Bhatkal and the Navayaths is a landmark in coastal Karnataka. “A few years ago, all the Navayath parents wanted their sons to go to the Gulf and send money back every month. Whereas now, most of them want their children to have good education and then go for job hunting,” says Kashimiji. “But recent developments are a little bit worrying,” he admits.

There is reason behind that worry. Once a famous and historic Arab trade centre, then the house of Navayat’s, Bhatkal is nowadays known as an epicenter of Jihadi movement in India.

Though Bhatkal is one of the communally sensitive areas in Karnataka and has been so for the last few decades, what is happening here now is unprecedented. The shocking Judicial Commission Report on the 1993 riots (by Justise K Jaganaath Shetty) reveals the other face of this lovely town. Investigations into the recent blasts and the latest attack of terror in Mumbai show that Jehadis are using this area frequently.

But the people are hopeful, yet. “May be there will be a few anti-national elements within us. Those are exceptions. Our community is living here for more than 1,500 years and we are Indians. We respect our nation and we are ready to protect it. People say we were born in the wombs of Jain mothers. We believe in peace like the Jains, and Bhatkal Navayaths are committed to this nation and this motherland,” says Moulana Abdul Alim Qasimi. Much reassuring words during the highly disturbed period!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
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B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
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Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

Why india needs this green movement

Just read these statements and ask yourself honestly if you have not uttered any one of them:
“Some of my best friends are Muslims, but…”
“Muslims always support the Pakistani cricket team”
“There is no historical record of Muslim invaders destroying any temple in India”
“Muslims are being systematically and deliberately discriminated against by both the State and the society in India”

Each one of these misleading, prejudiced and dangerous statements reflects the troubled nature of a special relationship between Islam and India, a relationship that could well be destroyed by the twin forces of bigotry and victimhood. Muslims and Islam in India are always seen through eyes that have been blinded by either prejudice, or denial. This has prevented a dispassionate discourse and is threatening to destroy a dispassionate discourse between the two largest communities of India – Hindus and Muslims. The future of India is tied inextricably with the future of Islam in India and it is time for both Hindus and Muslims to shed the rotting baggage of prejudiced history and look inwards. Without this, Islam in India will have an even more troubled future and India will then have no future.

Let''s start with the first two statements. Both are so laughably prejudiced that it should be easy for citizens of a modern, functional democracy to dismiss them outright. But the problem is that India is not a functional democracy in the true sense. Politics in India is still all about identities – caste, ethnicity, region and religion – while politics in a true functional democracy is about fulfilling the aspirations of citizens. The biggest challenge is for both Hindus and Muslims to transcend the politics of identity. And mere education will not suffice – some of the most bigoted Hindus and Muslims I have met are highly educated. As India keeps getting hit by terror attacks, it will be easy for bigoted Hindus to propagate the first two statements. But, the good news is that an overwhelming majority of Hindus have never subscribed to such views and it is for Muslims to recognise this as a fact when so called protectors of ‘Muslim’ rights push them further into imagined and real ghettos.

The partition of India and the creation of Pakistan has done virtually irreparable damage to Muslims who opted to stay back in India. As Pakistan descends even further into a vortex of neo-fascist and neo-military jehad, things will become even more difficult for Muslims in India. But there is nothing much that either Hindus or Muslims of India can do with Pakistan. What they can do is reaffirm in small simple ways the idea of India being an open society where all religions have an equal status. The bigger role in this task has to be performed by Hindus. It is only through repeated ‘actions’ that Hindus and the Indian society can convince the Muslim that the very talk of Islam being in danger in India is ridiculous.

If the onus is on Hindus when it comes to the first two statements, it shifts to Muslims when it comes to the later two. Denial and victimhood are two dangerous diseases that Muslims have to cure, albeit with the help of Hindus and Indian society. Thanks to a particular breed of Marxist historians (many of whom viscerally hate the very idea of India as a nation), the history of Islam in India is propagated as a glorious example of co-existence. Sure, co-existence has been the leitmotif for a larger share of India’s relationship with Islam. But it would be foolish to deny that the relationship also involved conquest, plunder and destruction of temples. Sure Islam in India as reflected through the Sufi tradition is a glorious legacy. But also sordid is the destruction of temples. That is a fact; a historical fact. Muslims must acknowledge that and both Hindus and Muslims must acknowledge that such practices (Babri Masjid being a modern day shame) have no place in contemporary India.

But the most pernicious and dangerous disease that Muslims need to tackle is a sense of victimhood. That is what led to the creation of Pakistan and that is what could destroy the future of India – including the future of the 160 million Muslims who live in the country. Even a child in India knows that the organs of the Indian state – particularly the police – are cruel, oppressive and brazenly undemocratic. For most cops, religion is less important than the status of the person they target. The police routinely pick up poor suspects and give them third degree even in cases of minor theft. If community-wise data on victims of police torture were kept, I wouldn’t be surprised if more than 80 per cent were Hindus. That’s a fact. What both Hindu and Muslim Indians need is police reforms. Sure there have been cases where innocent Muslims have been arrested and tortured after a terror attack. But to jump to the conclusion that there is a planned and systematic conspiracy by the Indian society to discriminate against Muslims is false and ridiculous.

Both Muslims and Hindus in India need to look more at Indonesia and Malaysia rather than Pakistan and West Asia.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

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MODIFIED FOR YOUR PLEASURE

A lowdown on what you could do with your car for a few bucks more...

Ever since The Fast and the Furious and Dhoom (the movie it apparently inspired in Bollywood) spun their tires on the silver screen some 5-6 years ago and left some seriously impressionable kids (and more than a few adults) drooling at the sight of amazingly curvy, deliciously proportioned and meticulously modified cars, nothing has ever been the same. Oscar Wilde said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Well, in this case it has been both in equal measure. The Fast and the Furious was inspired by the American culture (specifically Californian) of modifying cars, where enthusiasts and gear heads lovingly tuned and modified almost every nut and bolt of their cars, to get them to look and feel just right, just like a modern day Picasso. Transplanted to India by two blockbuster movies, the same culture took hold without the requisite base to support it. Meaning, that after seeing the movies, everybody wanted to modify their cars but didn’t have the faintest clue as to how to go about it resulting in a lot of copycats. “I hardly meet any car owner who has any knowledge about car modifications; they look at others and come to me saying that they want this look or that look. They pick up technical terms like turbochargers and free flow exhausts from the internet and ask me to install the component, without knowing what it does,” laments Piyush, owner of a car modification garage in Lajpat Nagar. Finding the problem widespread in our research, we at B&E magazine decided to give our readers a brief intro course on the do’s and don’ts of modifying cars and how to keep things in your specific budget while still managing to look cool.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
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IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
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Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)