Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Terror regroups

The army might have uprooted many militant groups operating from Pakistani soil, but it has not deterred terror outfits from regrouping and striking back, writes Shahid Husain

The attack on Lahore's Jinnah Hospital on May 31 by the militants in an attempt to free their wounded fellow Moaz alias Amir Moavia, who was being treated there, amply demonstrates that malignant aggression has penetrated deep in Pakistan society. Moavia was injured during a recent attack on two worship places of the Ahmadis. The Ahmadis are considered religious outcasts of sorts by almost all the Muslim religious factions, though the Pakistan Constitution asserts they are equal citizens.

One of the Pakistan’s top defence analysts, Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi, explains the phenomenon and thinking behind the attacks in a conversation with TSI, “The attack on Ahmadis puts forth two things: First, it was a soft target that the militants used to assert their ability to challenge the Pakistan state and the provincial government; secondly, it also relates to the extremely negative sentiments the orthodox Muslims have about the Ahmadis,” He adds, “The militants must have thought that the people would sympathise with their action, which was actually the case.”

A large number of fundamentalist groups have cropped up in the impoverished Pakistan since 2001. Links between many of these new and existing groups have strengthened, say experts, giving rise to fresh concerns for stability. Successful army operations against the militants in Swat and South Waziristan under the leadership of General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani have forced militants to re-group themselves and co-ordinate with each other in more ways than one— be it in terms of logistics or collection of funds. Leadership elements of al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, along with other terrorist groups, have made Pakistan's tribal areas their home and now work closely with a wide variety of Pakistani militant groups. They find many sympathisers amongst the educated middle and upper middle class.

Hassan Abbas, a fellow at the Asia Society, writes that Punjabi Taliban network is a loose conglomeration of members of banned militant groups of Punjabi origin that have developed strong connections with the Pakistani Taliban, Afghan Taliban, and other militant groups based in FATA and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The Punjabi Taliban provide logistical support for attacks on cities in Punjab province and include individuals or factions of groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and their various splinter groups, along with small cells unaffiliated with any large group. The Punjabi Taliban are distinct from the traditional Pashtun Taliban, experts say. They are usually more educated and more technologically savvy.

Since there is also greater coordination between all these groups, say experts, lines have blurred regarding which category a militant group fits in. For instance, the Pakistani Taliban, which were committed to fighting against the Pakistani state, are now increasingly joining insurgents fighting U.S. and international troops across the border in Afghanistan. U.S. Central Command Chief General David H. Petraeus, in a CFR interview, says the groups have long shared a symbiotic relationship. “They support each other, they coordinate with each other, sometimes they compete with each other, [and] sometimes they even fight each other.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Which colour do you 'need'

Ever wondered why the colour of money is usually green and workplaces are often painted blue and yellow? And why black is not a colour for an auspicious occasion while red is the choice of colour for most brides? Aakriti Bhardwaj sets out to find if interpreting colours correctly will indeed lead us to the pot of gold that lies at the end of the rainbow.

While driving back from work one day, I heard an RJ on a radio channel dishing out advice to people for various problems through the usage of colours. A caller rang in and said, “I’m in love with this girl, who is my boss. She is going to London in 10 days and I need to tell her that I love her and I don’t want her to go.” The on-air colour therapist cum RJ Rochie Rana advised him to use red, pink and purple in his office. The week after, I tuned in again to find out about the fate of Mr Romeo. He apparently had walked up to his girl and proposed. “I think even I love you,” was the reply the lucky man received! But how could mere colours make someone fall for a person? Desperate to figure out how colours can fix our problems, I fixed an appointment with Rochie Rana, a colour therapist, pranic healer and an ex-radio jockey.

“There are two ways to look at colour therapy,” said Rochie, my shepherd for the day, lounging on a chair in a café sporting a black attire and sipping on a yellow drink. “One is colour therapy that originated along with ayurveda. In India, the principle was really simple, they understood colours affect people. Brides always wore red, that was colour therapy because they understood that red is the colour of sexual desire. It is the colour of bonding sexually, as in ancient India there were arranged marriages, so it helped women to feel more comfortable. They wore henna on their hands, as yellow is the colour which stopped them from feeling tired and helped cool their nerves as they worked in the kitchen and in the field. This is the Indian version, which started with ayurveda and it became really big while colour therapy was left behind. Then came Pythagoras (the man behind the Pythagoras theorem), who understood that every colour has a wavelength and every wavelength of every colour was constantly hitting your mind and giving you certain messages, and it had an effect on your mind, body and soul. Green was a natural master healer. Colour therapy is very old but Pythagoras actually is the man who gave colours their vibrational modalities, and therefore made it very scientific.”

Colour therapy is often criticised, for the placebo effect alone may help heal some patients. “You can verify it” Rochie said with a defensive look that stemmed from her love for her art... sorry science! “It’s empirical. Pythagoras said there are vibrational modalities. It is certified by doctors across the world. There are psychological institutes that dwell upon colour therapy. The University of Massachusetts always stands by the effect of colours on marketing and sales. For instance, no restaurant will have insufficient red or orange because those are the colours that make you want to eat. We don’t work on placebo effect.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Saturday, June 19, 2010

It Pays to Unbelong

West’s shifting of the goalpost on Iran and its disregard for the Turkey-Brazil brokered Nuclear Swap deal has jeopardised the legitimacy of the UNSC, says Saurabh Kumar Shahi

Just a week before the Turkey-Brazil brokered Nuclear Swap deal, I, like many other Iran watchers, was pretty optimistic about its outcome. We had info that the deal will cover all the aspects of the previous deal that the West offered last October. However, a European diplomat friend of mine pricked my confidence just a night prior to the announcement. Casually, he put forward a question which I was not prepared for. “What if we shift the goalpost?” he said, with a smirk on his face. I did not take it just as another bout of cynicism which many diplomats suffer from. I, at least, was sure what fate awaits the deal. As the week unfolded, both I, and over and above, my diplomat friend, were right.

As it happened, the US had yet again shifted the goalpost on Iran in order to warrant that the face-off wasn't resolved even with Iran’s concession on the Uranium swap deal. And also, by doing so, the US has abandoned its own Uranium swap deal bid. Now, this should come as no revelation since experts have long maintained that Uncle Sam's present stance, like its earlier stands, was purely intended to drag out the confrontation rather than resolve it. The matter is now pretty clear: the US still persists on zero enrichment in Iran, a presumably unattainable touchstone proposed to avert a resolution.

Several of the pro-western analysts decrying Turkey-Brazil Swap deal--popularly called Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) deal--are harping on the fact that Iran never stopped producing enriched uranium since the Americans put forward the first version in October last year. This, according to them, means that albeit some of the low enriched uranium goes to Turkey, “the residual would be adequate to produce a theoretical nuclear weapon if Iran ever wished to exercise Article X of the NPT and broke out of the NPT regime. This analysis, nonetheless, completely discounts the fact that the initial offer by the US never reflected that Iran should stop enrichment. So, discontinuing the enrichment was by no means a part of the bargain.


“Actually, this aspect was the real disclosure of the initial proposal, for it was broadly understood as an implicit US acceptance of Iran’s right to enrich Uranium. It was, in effect, LEU generated at Natanz that was to be swapped over for new fuel cells,” says noted Iranian watcher and proliferation expert Cyrus Safdari, while talking to TSI. Moreover, the alarm of Tehran achieving “breakout capacity” is hogwash and relies merely on pretexts as, technically speaking, any nation with a nuclear programme could hypothetically produce bombs. Going by the IAEA’s own assessment, presently 42 nations can swiftly make nukes if they so desired, which essentially means that it is not an Iran specific issue. On the posturing front, the regime in Washington has suffered a credibility setback of biblical proportions. Therefore, understandably, the US is acting swiftly to reclaim the initiative and summon up the impetus. And to do that, Washington will need not merely to unravel the deal, but essentially discredit the whole idea of parley and negotiations with Tehran. However, above all, the regime will do whatever possible to badly humiliate Turkey and Brazil and show them their “right place”.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Friday, June 18, 2010

Water woes intensify

When it was predicted about a decade back that the next World War would be fought for control of water, sceptics dismissed it as a mere hyperbole. Now, with killings over water being reported from across the country, the spectre of the past is becoming a scary reality. The TSI team of Anil Sharma, Raju Kumar and Nishant Bhadreshwar takes stock

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in want of a wife must be a good provider. However, what the word ‘provider’ encompasses has acquired a new meaning in Rajasthan. Here, a man must be able to provide water to the family apart from other things. Sounds like a leaf out of Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’, but the acute water scarcity in the state has made a lot of people wary of marrying off their daughters in villages where women would inevitably have to trudge for miles everyday to fetch some water. “Often, women have to walk for miles to collect water. Many people are reluctant to marry off their daughters into such communities,” says Rameshwar Chaudhari, a resident of village Chopra Dhotra in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. His village is facing severe water crisis.

Rajasthan, spread over 10.4 per cent of the country’s geographical area and sustaining more than 5.5 per cent of the human population and 18.70 per cent of the livestock, has only 1.16 per cent of the total surface water available in the country. This year, the ground water situation has turned alarming in the state with only 30 water blocks out of the total 237 left in the safe zone. With increase in the population and subsequently the demand for water for various purposes, the state is already in the middle of a terrible water crisis. The per capita annual water availability in the state is about 650 cubic meters against the minimum requirement of 1,000 cubic meters. “I am 60 years old and have never seen a situation like this. We get water only once or twice a month and even that comes with low pressure. It takes over half an hour to fill a bucket,” says Kamla, a resident of Naulakhi in Sri Ganganagar district. The crisis has also become so acute in Atru in Baran district that the water department—in spite of spending Rs 20,000 daily on the supply of water—is finding it difficult to meet the local demand through tankers.

The local administration in Akhlera in Jhalawar district, having a population of over 12,000, is now planning to engage 150 plus tankers to supply water. The only source of water in the town, Amalvada Deh dam, is drying up fast. Similar situation has emerged in Sojat Road in Pali district where the administration has demanded a special 65 wagon water train to overcome the crisis. Women in Bhilwara town of Rajasthan recently blocked the road in front of the municipality, demanding increased water supply. “We want more tube wells to be dug up so that we can get water,” says Kamla, a housewife. Water is being supplied once in every five days in the town famous for its textile industry.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Just for laughs

If laughter is the best medicine, then he is currently Bollywood’s resident pharmacist. In a conversation with Spriha Srivastava, the irrepressible Sajid Khan reveals the tricks of how he tickles everyone's funny bone…

You have a comical streak when it comes to facing the camera. Why haven’t you acted in your own films?

I don’t think I’m a good actor. Hats off to those who can do it all – write, direct, act. I don’t think I can do all this together. When I’m involved in a film, I totally lose myself in it. I’m involved with everything related to the film. In fact, my doses of cigarettes increase, I put on weight etc. I like to get involved with every detailing of the film because I want to make a film which I would want to watch as an audience and have fun. I don’t think doing more than direction in a film can work for me.

What is comedy according to you?

Comedy is action and reaction. When there’s an action, the reaction is what makes people laugh. For example, in "Housefull", all the actors are displaying some action and Arjun’s role is only to react. That reaction is what will make people laugh. So, comedy has to have a balance between action and reaction.

Was filmmaking your childhood dream?

Oh yes! Like most people in India, even I have grown up watching films only. I have made fun of films, criticised them, done spoofs of them on TV… and that’s because I love movies more than anyone else. In fact, I’d confess that I’m not a good director. I’m a very good audience. I know exactly what the audience wants to see.

How do you draw the cues of humour for your script?

I am little crazy! But it’s real life observation. For example, there was once a situation where my secretary was diagnosed with cancer. He got tests after tests done for that. It went on for six months and it was confirmed that he had pancreatic cancer. After six months he was told that he actually has diabetes and has to control consumption of sweets. Out of excitement and relief I said, "Ye to bahut khushi ki baat hai… ye le muh meetha kar le!" (This is great news. You must have some sweets). And this situation turned out to be so funny that I have used it in my film.


Tell us about “Housefull”.

This film is a romantic comedy entertainer. All the stars in the film – Akshay, Riteish, Deepika, Arjun, Jiah, Lara - have a unique role and I think this is going to be Akshay’s most defining role ever. Jiah will be seen as never before. Lara is doing what a Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi did in the eighties, from a comedy point of view. This is not a madcap cinema or leave-your brains-at-home kind of a movie. It took me two years along with two other writers to pen the script. In this movie all these stars come together in one house and each character go through different things in their life. I don’t expect any critical acclaim or any ‘Best Director’ award from this film. But I can guarantee that each and everyone will enjoy this film.

At the sets of “Housefull”, who made you laugh the most?

Oh everyone. But Randhir Kapoor was exceptional, offscreen! He is a very funny man. Also, Akshay and Riteish make me laugh a lot. And you have to meet Arjun after he’s two drinks down. He’s the funniest man on earth then.

Do you necessarily have to maintain a light atmosphere on the sets to get the best out of actors?

Yes, I guess so. I don’t think any film unit can be called a happy film unit if they don’t have a tear in their eye on the last day of shooting. According to me, this indicates that every person, right from the guy who does the lighting to the biggest of actors, have enjoyed and worked as a family. On my sets, we are always pulling each others’ leg.

Were there any pranks played on the sets of “Housefull”?

Sajid directs the question to Jiah, seated in the same room, to narrate the prank played on her in Italy. Jiah – “Akshay and Riteish had dumped all the cutlery of the hotel that we were in, in my bag. So while going out, all the knives, forks, butter, jam etc was discovered from my bag and I was highly embarrassed. Everyone was looking at me!”

What do you think is most important in a film?

I think the script is the most important part of a film. Only a good script can make a film work. Stars are only there to attract audience into the theatre to watch a film. But eventually, it’s the script that makes the stars work. Aamir Khan’s “3 Idiots” made billions at the box office. But I feel if Aamir Khan was replaced, the film would have done equally well because the script was very well laid out.

Which movie do you wish you had directed?

"Dostana". When I saw the film, the first thought that came to my mind was that wish I would have made this film. I could stop myself from laughing throughout the movie.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Legacy on its last leg?

Will the Shehnai have to reconcile to the fact that there may not be another Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan? The son who was his successor is dead; the others are struggling, and there’s little other than memorial concerts to keep the tradition going. Puja Awasthi reminisces of the time when there was hope…

Ustad Nayyar Hussain Khan “Bismillah” passed away following respiratory problems at a Varanasi hospital on December 17, 2009. To me, he had begun to fade away in July of that year itself, when, as I got up to leave that baithak plastered with photographs and awards (including the Bharat Ratna) of his father the late Bismillah Khan, he thrust a couple of brochures (titled Music Represents Soul) and visiting cards in my hand and said, “Kaam dilwao. Koi bhi kaam chalega. Shaadi aur party mein bhi bajayenge.” (Get me work. Any work will do. I will play at weddings and parties.) I did not fail to notice that the Ustad’s name was bolder than Nayyar’s on the card. And that here was a man aged 70, the second son of a legend who had put a simple wind instrument to his lips and coaxed such sweetness from it that it ceased to remain an accompaniment to flashier ones, begging for work. The Ustad would neither have understood nor approved.

But when like Nayyar Khan, you live with four brothers, one sister and 30 children and grandchildren, in a lane that’s named after your father in a narrow, white house with 10 rooms, you have responsibilities you cannot shrug. And Nayyar Khan, being the successor to his father had to bear them all.

Such is Varanasi’s association with the Ustad that when he had passed away in August 2006, there were many who lamented “Bharat Ratna chala gaya” (The Bharat Ratna has gone). To his own family it was as though life had been sucked out of all those who had been left behind.

“My Abba had a generous heart but a sharp tongue. Nobody who came to our home would leave without a meal. After a concert, the cooks would work overtime to cater to those who came to congratulate him. Some had even named our home Bismillah hotel. But after him, the staunchest of his well-wishers have disappeared. There is just the occasional phone call. Yes, there are problems,” Nayyar had said going on to detail how he even had to haggle about the number of musicians he could take in his group for a performance. No one would of course have dared to make such talk to the Ustad. Yet, Nayyar was looking forward to a tour of the USA this year. “Before every performance, I tell the audience that they should listen to me as Ustad Bismillah Khan’s son, not as the Ustad himself and grant me some grace,” he had said.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Russia, France for MRCA

With no-strings-attached access, complete transfer of technology and the IAF’s familiarity in operating Mirage and MiG 29 aircraft, the lethal and all-new combat platforms of MiG 35 and Rafale should be India’s choice, Tathagata Bhattacharya writes

It has been almost 10 years now that the Indian Air Force (IAF) projected a requirement for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA or MRCA). It was touted as the biggest defence aviation deal of the decade. We are virtually into another decade and the procrastinating Indian defence establishment still has not decided upon the procurement. As the six competitors near completion of the trials, it looks like the deal will finally materialise this decade. And it is likely the deal size will increase to about 200 aircraft, depending on requirements. The deal is valued between of $12 and $14 billion.

Any discussion on what aircraft suits India best has to factor in various parameters. And since the aircraft are going to be in service for at least 40 years and, thus, play a significant role in the transformation of IAF from a tactical air wing defending the country’s airspace into a strategic force capable of domination of far-away skies, the choice has to be in sync with IAF’s future procurement plans.

The IAF, in 2025-2030, should ideally have about 60 squadrons looking after the varied needs of air defence, air superiority, multi-role, deep penetration strike, reconnaissance and electronic warfare. While the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (PAKFA) would constitute the higher end of the spectrum and will be the frontline stealth fighter for establishing air superiority, the indigenous LCA Tejas air defence warplanes will make up the lowest end of the rung. As many as 200 FGFA and at least 200 LCA are likely to be in service by 2030. Adding the 280 Sukhoi 30 MKIs to the list, India will have 34 squadrons of fourth and fifth generation Beyond Visual Range (BVR)- capable aerial combat platforms. The 120-odd upgraded MiG 29s and Mirage 2000s will be in the last leg of their service then. The indigenous stealth Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA), which has already passed wind tunnel tests, should also be operational by then. Detractors will jump and point to the delays of the LCA project. LCA was India’s first attempt to build a world-class light combat aircraft from the scratch. Slowly but surely, India has been able to develop an R&D and building infrastructure which should be able to see MCA through. Ideally, this infrastructure should have followed the development of the HAL HF-24 Marut way back in the 1960s. And though IAF sources would hardly acknowledge it, the LCA goalposts were moved too often (thrice) to suit the changing requirements of the IAF, leading to its delay.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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