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In 1922, Khwaja Nizami set upon a futuristic world tour to gauge the impact of Mahatma Gandhi

2011-11-26T10:58:00.000+05:30

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The relevance of Gandhi is still a relevant topic. Even in Gandhi’s own lifetime, people made fantastic conjectures as to how he would be judged by posterity.

One such contemporary of the Mahatma was Khwaja Hasan Nizami (1878-1955) of Delhi who occupies a place of distinction as a Urdu writer, thinker and religious head. Gandhinama, a collection of his articles on Gandhi was published in 1922 in which he had written an article about recognition of the Mahatma in 2050. He writes: Except God, no one knows as to what opinion would the future generations hold with respect to Mahatma Gandhi… The year 2050 is one such time which will come after one hundred and twenty eight years from now. And in this period, probably every person of the present world would be dead. Therefore, let us imagine this year and hear about the opinions that are held in the world about Mahatma Gandhi.

Unlike H.G. Wells, Nizami did not have a time machine to travel to 2050. Instead, angel Khijra blessed him with a long life of 250 years. Nizami writes: On January 1, 2050, I started on foot from Delhi, because rail, electric cable, cars etc. are now absent in this country, owing to the commands of Mahatma Gandhi.

But let me tell you that everything is very expensive. Wheat sells at the rate of four mounds to a rupee. No one eats meat. Every vegetable is prohibited because life has been discovered in it. Public eats nothing except ghee, milk, bread, jaggery, molasses and salt. Everyone has to consume five sers of milk daily, as per the law. And if a person does not consume five ser milk and is unable to produce evidence of his illness or any other legal excuse, he has to spend five days in jail. Everywhere, ghee and milk is distributed free to travellers because according to Gandhian law to sell ghee, milk, curd and butter milk is a grave crime, while to distribute these free is considered to be a very noble deed.

When I started from Delhi, a dress made of cotton yarn spurned by my own hands was on my body because it is also a law that every person has to wear cloths spurned by his own hands. In Muradnagar, I had to labour for an hour because this too is a law that no one can remain idle. While milk and ghee is given free, flour and salt is earned through labour.

Travelling from Muradnagar and passing through Meerut, Thana Bhawan, Saharanpur and Qadiyan, Nizami reaches Afghanistan. This country is now-a-days under the influence of India. Though its rulers are Muslims, the laws of Gandhiji prevail here. Eating of meat is a crime here as well, though people eat fruits, and considering the condition of that country, they have been legally permitted to do so. From Afghanistan via Bukhara, Nizami travels to Iran and then Russia. He writes: Everywhere on the way, I met believers of Gandhi. In entire west Asia, the laws, traditions and practices of India are current, keeping of arms is illegal; murders take place very rarely. Starting from Iran, I went to Russia. There too at several places, the memory of Gandhi was manifest. Though people of Bolshevik principles lived there but they too have given up the use of arms in memory of Gandhi and they do not have any need for fighting.

From Russia, Nizami travels to Turkey, Germany and comes to France. From Russia, I went to Turkey. There too every Turk was an extoller of Gandhi. They said, ‘In a very difficult time, Gandhi had helped us. For this reason we have promulgated his doctrines in our country. Eating of meat is a crime in our country too, same as it is a crime in India, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia... From Turkey I came to Germany. The Germans have established cheeps in the name of Gandhi, at different places, where I used to be invited and was asked to give discourses on Gandhi… From Germany I came to France. There too I saw the prevalence of Gandhi’s laws, and people welcomed me with a great fervour.

In Paris, Nizami hears the news of disappearance of London. In Paris, I heard that the city of London has disappeared somewhere, and great experts are reaching for it but it is nowhere to be found. I was very surprised at this news. Immediately from Paris I went there and in fact saw that on the banks of the river Thames, where London was situated, the city is not visible. I too reached for it a lot but I could not locate it. Nevertheless, I travelled a lot in other cities of England and everywhere I heard the praise of Mahatma Gandhi. The strange thing is this that though now England does not have any connection with India, every child remembers the events of India, and they breathe a cold sigh when the topic of this country comes up.

After completing this imaginary tour of the world, Nizami returns to Delhi. The conclusion of the general opinion of this world tour was this, that now the fighting and the craze for arms-worship has almost disappeared from the world. Everywhere the women are free and without veil. Idle people are totally extinct. Inhibitions have been shed. Even in Europe the consumption of wine and meat has gone down. There is not so much emphasis on luxurious life. People abhor the electric light. The manual work, as compared to the machines, is considered respectable… If this travelogue were real and true, even then one had to believe that the impact of Gandhi has now become so much popular that his fame would last for centuries. The veracity of Nizami’s prophecy lies in history, albeit in parts.

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Recently released documents offer a blow by blow account of Islamabad's quest for a nuclear device

2011-11-23T11:56:00.001+05:30

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Recently released documents offer a blow by blow account of Islamabad's quest for a nuclear device

One of the biggest headaches of the 20th century that troubled the diplomats all over the world has been 'How to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime'? US, predictably, tried to take the leadership role, but managed to have a mixed record. Nevertheless, the deliberations in the 1970s and 80s give a clear view into how things were operating in those times and how some decisions, had they been taken at the right juncture, could have had long lasting effects.

The recently released documents by the National Security Archive at Washington DC give a blow-by-blow analysis of deliberations that took place between Islamabad and Washington DC in the 70s with respect to the former's quest for a nuclear device. The alarm bell started ringing in Washington DC way back in the late 1970s when it was revealed that a young bright Pakistani metallurgist named Abdul Qadir Khan got hold of the blueprints for a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility.

South Asia, that had seen a war in 1971 was on the verge of becoming a powder keg as India was already in the advance stage of mastering the uncontrolled fission reaction. The US realised that a nuclear Pakistan would make the situation worse. It catalysed the most interesting deliberations in the proliferation's history.

It all started soon after Jimmy Carter assumed office as the US president. Carter was briefed that Pakistan, US's key ally and a Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty non-signatory, had managed to lay its hand on primal elements of a nuclear weapons capability. The Pakistani nuclear subject was on Carter's docket because he brought a fundamental earnestness in reducing nuclear weaponry and in halting nuclear proliferation. His primary, though unfulfilled goal, of massive reduction of strategic nuclear forces, and his reinforcement of CTBT were indicators that he was a serious player hard to browbeat.

In 1973, long before Carter entered the White House, Islamabad had started negotiations to purchase a nuclear reprocessing facility for Plutonium from a French firm. The CIA was famously hoodwinked. However, it was only as late as 1978 that a series of fishy acquisitions detected by British customs led to the revelation that Pakistan was secretly getting hold of technology to make highly-enriched Uranium as a secondary path to the bomb. The “extensive foreign assistance” propositioned by the CIA in its estimate was actually the theft of plans for a gas centrifuge enrichment technology from the Uranium Enrichment Corporation in the Netherlands.

Before this, the Ford regime too had unsuccessfully tried to deter Pakistan from achieving its goal. However, the intelligence on the progress over the bomb quest came a little too late. It was only in 1978 that CIA managed to find that Islamabad was moving fast to construct a gas centrifuge apparatus. It was made possible because of the “dual use ” technology that was provided by A Q Khan through his network in the several western regimes. It triggered a complex effort by the Americans to convince or cajole Pakistan to turn off the gas centrifuge project. The process was multi-pronged and included all sorts of direct and indirect pressures. Not only did the US regime try to pressurise the then Pakistani prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his successor General Zia-ul-Haq, it also tried to collaborate with its other allies and China to convince Islamabad to see the light. It virtually managed to put an embargo over the sale of sensitive technology to Pakistan that the latter so much wanted to give its quest a one last boost.

But Islamabad was not ready to sit quietly and take it. Efforts were met with intense resistance from top players in Islamabad. Pakistan, on its part, maintained that it sees the nuclear capability as an issue of national survival. When it appeared that Pakistan was not easily to be cowed down, Washington tried to extract promise that it will not try to use reprocessing technology to produce Plutonium. It was an important departure from the Carter Administration's earlier stand. However, Islamabad was in no mood to relent. The then foreign minister Agha Shahi curtly told Americans that it was a “demand that no country would accept ” and that Pakistan “has the unfettered right to do what it wishes”. It was mid-1978.

By January 1979, CIA's intelligence estimate indicated that Islamabad was fast approaching a juncture where it “may soon acquire all the essential components” for a gas centrifuge plant. But the biggest bang in the cable was the estimate that Islamabad will manage to fix a “single device” (Plutonium) by 1982 and consequently test a weapon using highly-enriched uranium (HEU) by 1983. However, a note at the end said that 1984 appeared to be the more realistic deadline.

The US appeared desperate to stop Islamabad from achieving it. By this time the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the game changed. It was probably the biggest bet in the cold war and the US wanted to win it at any cost. Pakistan become a key front line state and the sway Washington had on Islamabad, diminished. The relations improved dramatically and, according to CIA analysts, Pakistani officials became convinced that although grudgingly, Washington had “reconciled to a Pakistani nuclear weapons capability ”.

The incident is a classic case that exemplifies the complexity and trouble of the nuclear proliferation diplomacy. Some other policy-making and strategical precedences can and do outflank nonproliferation goals. It also, in many ways, shows how difficult it is to stop an ally from going nuclear.

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The Undercurrents in AP Politics are Turning Bloodier

2011-11-20T10:48:00.000+05:30

Andhra Pradesh Violence: Rayalaseema's Gory Trail

The broad daylight murder of 43-year-old Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias Maddelacheruvu Suri, one of the feared gang leaders of the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, in Hyderabad last week seems to be a scene out of a violent Bollywood flick.

The finger of suspicion is being pointed at Suri’s close associate Malisetti Bhanu Kiran, who allegedly holds benami properties worth crores of rupees of his master. “Had Ravi’s men killed our anna (Suri), we wouldn’t have felt bad, but our own man killed him,” says Vasudeva Reddy, a close accomplice of Suri. Although speculations are rife that Telugu Desam MLA Paritala Ravi’s men could be behind the killing, the police investigations have not revealed anything to that effect. Ravi, a former cabinet minister, was murdered in January 2005.

Suri had reportedly used his friend Moddu Sreenu to bump off Ravi who was allegedly responsible for planting a bomb in a television set that killed seven of his family members in 1995. To avenge these killings, Suri planted a car bomb to kill Ravi in vain in 1997 in Jubilee Hills during the shooting of the latter’s film Sri Ramulayya. As many as 26 persons, including six journalists of a private TV channel, lost their lives in the explosion. “Innocents were killed... I regret it as my target was only Ravi. But I know I will end up on a post-mortem table one day,” Suri openly told media persons soon after his release on conditional bail in December 2009.

The Ravi-Suri rivalry dated back to their warlord fathers' time almost four decades ago. Both Paritala Ravi's father Ramulayya and Suri's father Gangula Narayana Reddy were killed in faction violence.

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In the sporting world, popularity is hard for the players themselves, let alone for the stadium they play in.

2011-11-17T10:51:00.000+05:30

Yet, in the forgetful world of one-timer stadiums, one stadium is proving it has what it takes to host one major event after another.

When the Coliseum in Rome was built many moons ago, it was an arena for Emperors. It was a place where the grandest spectacles took place, where chariot races culminated and where hapless gladiators were thrown to the lions. The Coliseum in Rome stood the test of time. Today, even in a state of ruin, it remains an attraction. In India we have a simple term for it. Paisa Vasool.

Modern Day sporting stadiums are not always built keeping in mind the larger picture. Many are constructed with a specific short-term goal in mind like a one-off sporting event. And then find themselves in a situation of disuse and disrepair. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi went from bad to worse after the 1982 Asian Games and it was only the 2010 Commonwealth Games nearly three decades later that was its saving grace. A few such glaring examples are also found among the hastily constructed stadia for the grand 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa.

There is, however, one stadium that saw action at the FIFA World Cup 2010 and is a glaring exception. A stadium where they saw the future well before the present. A stadium that on January 9, 2010, saw India and South Africa go head to head in a T20 International Cricket match – at the impressive Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

Well before the first Jabulani was kicked at FIFA 2010, the organisers had already begun to plan for life after the World Cup. And this involved not merely speculating about possible future events and initiating the staging of some of them (such as the India-South Africa cricket match) but also finding daily activities that would make the stadium a tourist attraction all-year round. Already a visual landmark of the city thanks to its unique shape, the stadium offers expected facilities such as World Cup hangover tours and fabulous photo opportunities, but also some unexpected draws such as a cable car ride (you can even walk up if you are fit – and stupid – enough) to the very top of the dinosaur like arch roof of the stadium. However, the piece de resistance would have to be something that must be a first when it comes to stadium attractions. A bungee jump from the very top of the stadium that allows you to swing across much of the length of the stadium.

These unique attractions were planned even before any match kicked off at the World Cup as organisers knew that despite being in a big city (and not isolated like Polokwane), there would not be enough sporting events to keep the interest in the arena alive.

Recently at the Champions League cricket tournament, no visitor to the cricket at nearby Kingsmead Stadium felt that his or her visit to Durban was complete without a pilgrimage to the city’s football home. In fact, several members of the visiting Mumbai Indians squad (those not bound by BCCI ‘can’t do adventure sport’ clauses) actually took the plunge from the top of the stadium.

But the high point really, if you think about it (other than the precarious jump off point for the bungee), is just to imagine how many spots in the world can boast that within a space of six months, the likes of Christiano Ronaldo and Kaka on the one hand and MS Dhoni and Jacques Kallis on the other all graced the very same turf playing different sports at the very highest level for their countries! Talk about Paisa Vasool…

(Gautam Bhimani covered the Brazil vs. Portugal match at the FIFA World Cup 2010 at one of the world’s most unique sporting arenas. Three months later he visited the city for the Champions League and found that the stadium was still buzzing. It also hosted the India vs South Africa T20 match on January 9, 2011.)

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CPM leader's remarks on agriculture evoke controversy

2011-11-13T11:45:00.000+05:30

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Kerala politics: Left versus left over GM crops

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) polit bureau member S Ramachandran Pillai sent several of his senior partymen running for cover recently when he eulogised the genetically modified crops and castigated all those who opposed it as superstitious at a seminar in Thiruvananthapuram. Speaking on the topic “Agriculture in the era of globalisation”, Pillai was of the opinion that it would not be possible to enhance agricultural production without exploiting the advances in science and technology. Coming as it was from a party that has traditionally opposed technological advances, contending that it would be detrimental to the interests of the working class, the onlookers and political observers were shocked. The communists' opposition to tractors and computers in the early 1970s and 80s was legendary. Pillai said that the position of the CPM was that biotechnology was to be developed to boost production in the farm sector. He said this was essential especially for a state like Kerala which had a huge deficit in rice and other essential food produce. What was needed, according to him, was drought resistant seeds, and rice that would help fight anaemia that was very common among the poor of the third world countries. He wanted the central government to make public sector investments in GM technology.

The statement took the Left Democratic Front by storm and the Communist Party of India lambasted Pillai and his stance. CPI's Mullakkara Ratnakaran– the state agriculture minister– countered that there was no evidence that GM crops had a positive impact on the farm sector. He said that if the country persisted with such policies poor farmers would be left with no land. CPI state secretary C K Chandrappan fully endorsed Ratnakaran's stance. CPI national secretary A B Bardhan flayed CPM's new stance and demanded proofs that GM crops were safe and not harmful. Forest minister Benoy Viswom, also from the CPI, reiterated the party stand that it will not in any way support introduction of genetically modified crops in the state.

Sensing that things were getting out of control Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan stepped in to say that the state government had decided not to introduce GM crops after studying all the pros and cons. However, he added, that there was scope for more research and study on the technology. CPM Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, too, said that the state government would not introduce BT brinjal.

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IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
Kapil Sibal’s voters want Jan Lokpal, not Government-proposed Lokpal Bill

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Raunchy Bollywood songs hit by legal scanner

2011-11-10T11:43:00.000+05:30

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Uttar Pradesh law & order: Much ado about Something...

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court calls for the banning of two recent Bollywood songs: “Munni badnam hui...” (from Dabangg) and “Sheela ki jawani...” (from Tees Mar Khan), alleging that they have been causing “incidents of violence, eve teasing, molestation, mental harassment and public/private nuisance, all of grave criminal nature”. The High Court in its hearing on January 10 asked the government respondent to present to it within a week any judgment on a similar matter given by the Supreme Court.

The petitioner, Lucknow based social activist Nutan Thakur, has cited half a dozen instances when these songs played in the public arena have caused nuisance. Two cases stand out. One wherein a Lucknow schoolgirl called Sheela, agonised by the constant teasing she had been subjected to ever since the song went on air, attempted suicide. The other incident took place in the village Machali Mankapur, Gonda (UP), on the morning of November 27 last year. One Naresh Soni alias Bacchu was singing the song “Munni badnam hui...” near the shop of Rajesh Kumar Gupta, whose mother was also called Munni. Gupta was miffed and the two started fighting over this. This ended in firing on the spot and the death of an old lady. In yet another case from Noida, at least 25 persons, including some BPO employees, were injured and over 12 vehicles were damaged after a scuffle broke out over the playing of “Sheila ki jawani” in Sector 127 of Noida on December 26 last year. Cases under sections 147, 323, 427 IPS, have been registered at Sector 39 police station.

Based on all these incidents as examples, the petitioner has requested the High Court to make the respondents personally liable for all those unfortunate and serious acts, emanating directly from their irresponsible behaviour, as being completely in contravention of section 5(B)(1) of the Cinematography Act 1952 which does not permit grant of certificate to a film or any part of it, if it is against the interests of public order, decency or morality, or involves defamation or is likely to incite the commission of any offence.

The directors and the producers of Tees Maar Khan and of Dabangg, Censor Board and the Union of India through the Secretary of Information and Broadcasting have been made respondents in the PIL. “I request the court not only to immediately ban these two songs but also to fix some kind of criminal and civil liabilities on the respondents for their wilful and malignant act,” says Thakur.

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Marriage: Pending, not Trending

2011-11-07T10:42:00.001+05:30

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As if Violence and lack of opportunities weren’t harrying the youth of Kashmir enough, the issue of late marriages is now turning into a serious concern. Haroon Reshi explores the reasons…

Shahid Zargar (36) attained a master’s degree from the University of Kashmir, more than a decade ago. He, however, remains unemployed, and is yet to be married. Still waiting for a suitable job to start his marital life, he sees less hope and more disappointment with each passing day. These days Shahid is teaching in a private school in downtown Srinagar, where he earns four thousand rupees a month. “How can one even think of getting married in such circumstances?” he wonders aloud.

Azhar Amin, a 39-year-old ‘boy’ from North Kashmir’s Baramullah town is eagerly waiting for the day when he would get to tie the knot. His problem is different from Shahid’s as Azhar was swept in his youth – like many others – into the militancy turmoil of the early 90s in the Valley. Azhar failed to rehabilitate himself into a normal life after he was arrested for receiving armed training in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 1995. Released in 2001 following a six-year prison term, his search for a partner has drawn a blank till date.

Like Shahid and Azhar, there are thousands of Kashmiri boys and girls in the Valley who are well past the ideal marriageable age owing to reasons of poverty, unemployment, dowry, roadblocks to higher education and conflict situation in the region. According to a recent study, “Emergence of late marriages in Kashmir”, by the sociology department of University of Kashmir, the average marrying age has moved from 20s to late 30s. According to Prof. B A Dabla, who was the chief investigator of the study,

“Conflict has played a vital role in this changing trend. Due to the prevailing situation in the region, it takes our boys and girls 30 to 40 years to attain proper higher education and career development. And then they find themselves over-aged in the marriage market where
ideal wedlock age is pegged between the late teens and late 20s.”

“On one hand, the late-marriage trend has challenged our traditional fabric and on the other it has created many social problems. There’s an increase in cases of mental disturbances, suicides, divorces, immorality, pre-marital sexual relationships and other such things,” Prof Dabla added.

“During the two-decade long turmoil, thousands of young Kashmiri men lost their lives, thousands got injured, many others were jailed and many more disappeared. This loss from the young generation has added to the problem of late marriage, as the skewed sex ratio proves further detriment to getting good matches for girls,” Zarief Ahmad Zarief, a noted social activist tells TSI.

The growing number of bachelors in the Kashmir Valley can be gauged by looking at the estimated figure of jobless youth, which stands at around a million. “We have more than 7.5 lakh unemployed youth registered with the state’s employment exchange, many of them over-age. How could these people afford marriage until they get proper livelihoods?” asks Zarief rhetorically.

The tradition of extravagant weddings is an additional reason for the late marriage syndrome in Kashmir. Most of the parents, belonging to the middle class or lower middle class, cannot afford dowry for their daughters’ wedding ceremony and feasts (wazwan). “It takes years for people to collect and save money for the marriage of their children. Unless we change the trend and make marriage inexpensive, this problem will persist,” says Sumaira Bashir, a 29-year-old unmarried girl. “In many cases, girls after attaining higher education do not want to marry men who are less educated or economically weak,” Ali Mohammad, a marriage broker, shared his observations.

Deferred nuptials are not devoid of adverse biological consequences. “Over-age women find problems conceiving. Late pregnancies often lead to genetic abnormalities like Down Syndrome and other congenital defects in children,” said Dr Sabiya, a physician in a maternity hospital in Srinagar.

Social and religious organisations and scholars have expressed their concerns over the disturbing trend. “I have been saying that the late-marriage trend is absolutely un-Islamic. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) guides us to timely marriage. I frequently urge Imams (person who lead prayers in the mosques) to make people aware that late marriage is a sinful act. The Shari’ah (Islamic law) gives solutions to every problem. We should have faith in God rather than money and job positions,” Moulana Showkat Shah, a leading religious scholar and the Chairman of Jamiat Ahle-Hadith, told TSI.

It was revealed in the census of 2001 that 54 per cent of men and 46 per cent of women were unmarried. Four years later, in 2005, Humsafar Marriage Counseling Cell (HMCC) was established by Islamic Dawa Centre, a religious body of Kashmir, to organise marriages in true religious style and discourage extravagance. According to Fayaz Ahmad Zaroo, director of HMCC, more than one thousand marriages have been conducted austerely since the establishment of this NGO.

The HMCC has also started a weekly audio programme in collaboration with the state-run Radio Kashmir to promote the new thinking around simple marriages. “The late marriage tendency is sullying our religious, social and cultural values and has devastating impact on individuals, families and the nation. Our one-point agenda is to tell people how important it is to make marriage economically affordable for everybody in the society. And we are getting a positive response. But there is need to launch a massive campaign everywhere.” Fayaz told TSI.

A marriage is after all a meeting of the hearts. A campaign for minds over matter (read money) definitely makes sense not only in the Valley, but everywhere else to.

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IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
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Kapil Sibal’s voters want Jan Lokpal, not Government-proposed Lokpal Bill

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Music is the new vocal weapon of protestors world wide!

2011-11-04T10:40:00.000+05:30

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Last year in May, numerous music groups and bands announced their plan to boycott (read “sound strike”) all musical performances in Arizona marking a protest to the new anti-immigration law and requested their fans to file a petition challenging it. This protest won support from Latin performers, Mexicans bands, Colombian singers and many others. It grew to an extent that even many municipalities decided to “cut their economic ties” with Arizona. A similar incident occurred in July, 2009, when United Airlines refused to pay compensation to Canadian singer Dave Carroll (after his guitar got broken in the cargo), and Dave, in return, composed a song titled United Breaks Guitars and uploaded the same on YouTube which attracted four million users in just 10 days, resulting in a drop of the airline’s share price by a whopping 10 per cent - or $180 million!

Music has been an age-old effective tool when it comes to non-violent protests. Hip-hop was used in Sweden by NGOs to engage disaffected immigrant and working class youths. African and French artists, since long, have been using hip-hop and other modern (youth appealing) forms of music to address environmental justice, policing & prisons, media justice and education. South-African pop artists, after being exiled from South Africa, composed music to bring into notice the issues pertaining to apartheid and slavery.

During the Vietnam war, songs like,Edwin Starr's War, Wars of Armageddon, Jimmy Cliff's Vietnam – to name a few – talked about peace and the melancholic state of society. In the US, during late 1960s, rap and hip-hop music were used to highlight issues like racial dignity and economic empowerment of Black Africans. Various other bands across the world are delivering messages on issues like the Iranian regime, Mexico's drug abuse, Brazil's social unrest and many more.

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd helped in the remake of the song "Another Brick in the Wall" featuring footages of street violence after Iran's disputed elections in 2009; this song eventually attracted more than 100,000 hits. Even Bon Jovi performed "Stand By Me" with Iranian pop star Andy Madadian (Madadian's music is banned in Iran) for the same cause.

During their regime, the Taliban banned music in Afghanistan, something that Soviet Russia did in 1930s. Only Taliban chants were allowed to be released. In the US, artists have even gone to an extent where they composed music against Bush Sr. (when he sent troops to Kuwait in 1991) and interestingly titled them as "I Wanna Kill Sam" and "Bush Killa". In order to protest against George W. Bush, there had been protest songs, since 2000, blaming him for the destruction & mismanagement prevailing in the country. Neil Young in 2006 released his album where he sang, "Let's impeach the President for lying." Guns 'N' Roses composed an album on the lack of democracy in china, based on their five tours to China. The album's songs were played over 4 million times on Myspace in one day. But, the album is banned in the People's Republic of China.

Musicians and singers ranging from Elvis to Michael Jackson, have used art, music and sound-tracks to raise latent issues, be it cultural, environmental or political. Such backlash from artists and musicians plays a major role in pointing out dissent, injustice and inequality across the globe. Music is one medium where language gaps take a bow, unity prevails.

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Economic growth alone doesn't guarantee social welfare

2011-11-01T17:38:00.001+05:30

IIPM Mumbai Campus

Miles to go before i sleep...

Just before World Bank President Robert B Zoellick landed in India for his four day trip, a statement by theWorld Bank caught enough attention — "High level of growth in India is helping the international economy recover from the crippling impact of recent financial turmoil." It is undoubtedly a big statement to recognise India as a rising economic power and it is certainly a milestone for India. However, for any nation, economic prosperity is never synonymous to social welfare.

The high GDP growth has created enough news in the international arena; but is it ensuring a proportionate rise in social welfare that Nehru had envisioned?

It can be understood from the very first argument of inequality in India among individuals and regions. One of the primary objectives of setting up the Planning Commission in 1950 was to reduce inequality of wealth and income. India has not achieved much on this. Inequality has only widened with time from 25.8 per cent in 1999 to 36.8 in 2004. Regional differences too have increased significantly over the years. The ratio of per capita State Domestic Product between richest (Punjab) and poorest states (Bihar) has increased from 2.2 times in 1980 to 4.8 times in 2004. More interestingly, with crony capitalism, India has succeeded to increase the number of billionaires in the Forbes billionaire list but it has grossly failed to get more and more money out of them for the social welfare when judged by their philanthropic track record. There are a few big names including Azim Premji who pledged $2 billion to fund rural education or Shiv Nadar, who promised to donate $130 million. While the top 100 richest Indians control 25 per cent of India's GDP, all individuals and companies across the nation make 10 percent of the total charity funding in India, which is very less when compared to the 75 per cent in America. Although it takes 50 to 100 years to built a culture of philanthropy for any nation, it's high time India looks into the issue more seriously.

The suicide rate is rising across the nation among students, farmers and rural population. It is a matter of grave concern that in every 32 minutes, one farmer committed suicide between the year 1997 and 2005. In spite of being the third largest Asian economy, 127,151 people committed suicide in India in 2009 only, according to National Crime Records Bureau. The reality shows that the success story of economic development in the last two decades has fuelled Ambanis and likes to multiply their wealth but an ordinary Indian didn't have a success story to share. Many still don't have access to education, health or sanitation. Housing is gradually becoming a grave concern for professionals migrating to metros.

Capitalism's contribution is bountiful but it lacks proper management which can increase inequality and economic instability. It is not for nothing that Robert Zoellick mentions India while talking about the world, "Its status as a rising economic power is closely connected with how the country manages the next phase of growth."

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Syria dissidents meet in Damascus to discuss transition

2011-06-27T18:09:00.001+05:30

IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri - The New Age Woman

Some 200 Syrian dissidents are due to hold a conference in Damascus on Monday to discuss the country's crisis.

It is the first time such an event is taking place since anti-government protests broke out in March.Many of those attending have spent time in prison in the past for their political activities.

The participants do not represent political parties, and they do not claim to represent activists who have taken part in the recent protests. The Syrian authorities are said to have been informed of the meeting and have not blocked it, but there will be no government representation at the event. The participants says they are not making concessions to the government and they want an end to the violence and killings.

The government is making a show of looking for the middle ground to solve the crisis but they are also seen to be playing for time, says the BBC's Lina Sinjab in Damascus. Aref Dalila, a prominent Alawite opponent of the Assad government who spent nearly eight years in prison for criticising state corruption, says there is no chance the government will make use of the meeting as it is known that its participants reject government policies, our correspondent says.

But there has already been unease expressed by some opposition activists, who fear that holding such a meeting while the violence and repression continue could confer legitimacy on the regime, says the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon. Others have insisted that those taking part must stick to their basic demand, that the regime has to go, and make way for democracy.

The meeting comes three months after pro-democracy protests started, as the authorities in Syria continue with their security crackdown.

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In 1985, the Narmada Bachao Andolan was launched against the Sardar Sarovar Project.

2011-05-31T11:52:00.000+05:30

Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership

From the valley of struggle

Dhadgaon region of Nandoorbar district in Maharshtra has little to distinguish it from others of its kind. Those who flock to the area come mainly from the neighboring villages to get everyday necessities.

But on October 22, it was different. The people who had gathered in this nondescript area did not come to shop; they were there to reaffirm their commitment to a way of life and the struggle to safeguard it.

On the said da which has recast the paradigm of development the world over, completed 25 years.

At Dhadgaon a huge gathering, including social organisations from 20 states, re-committed itself to fight its battle with greater determination while raising questions on the models of development prevalent in India.

The NBA sprung up in November 1985 when in violation of all rules and regulations, the Sardar Sarovar Project over the Narmada river began displacing lakhs of people. From opposition to one big dam, the movement soon became a synonym for resistance to all such dam projects where people were uprooted without compensation and appropriate rehabilitation.

First proposed in 1946, the Sardar Sarovar Project later became a part of the Narmada Valley Development Plan under which 30 big, 135 medium and 3,000 small dams were proposed to be built over the Narmada and its tributaries. Sardar Sarovar, with a proposed height of 445 feet, is the biggest of these dams. The project, which will finally irrigate 18,000 sq kilometers of land, has displaced people from larges swathes in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

In the first phase, besides electricity production, the dam was to irrigate the drought prone areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan. The height of the proposed project was 500 feet. In 1979, the Narmada tribunal, disposing off a host of complaints lodged before it, decided the allocation of water between the four affected states and settled on a height of 455 feet for the dam.

The tribunal also issued strict guidelines for the rehabilitation of the dam oustees. These included, besides a home with all amenities or land in lieu of a home, arable land. However, when the governments concerned began to ignore the tribunal’s recommendations and went ahead with the displacements, the NBA was born.
In the 25 years of its life, there have been many instances when it looked like the movement would fall apart. But every single time those fighting for it came back with renewed vigour and stuck together.

The NBA’s own findings suggest that the harm done by the dam far exceeds the hugely magnified benefits that will follow from it. Plus, governments have brazenly flouted all legal orders which protect the basic and human rights of the oustees to benefit big industrialists while destroying natural resources with impunity.
The movement has also focused on coming up with creative solutions like small lighthouses, the teaching of life skills to children and the promotion of development activities that do no harm to the environment.

In Dhadgaon and in Badwani the next day, it became clear that the oustees had not got their dues and that their connection with the NBA was deep. More than 5,000 people were present at the rally in Dhadgaon.

Children came out with their traditional musical instruments and became an integral part of the rally. As they sang and danced, their fists went up at slogans like “Ladenge, jeetenge” (We shall fight, we shall win).

To cross Dhadgaon and reach Badwani in Madhya Pradesh, the rallyists had to cross as many as ten villages. Even as night fell, the villagers stood by the sides of the paths to welcome those who were part of the rally.

As we speak to people in the affected villages, their sense of betrayal becomes evident. In the holy region of Koteshwar, famous locally for its ancient Shiva temple, the priest Mahadev Puri says, “There is very little compensation for the temple. I understand the pain of those who lost their homes. I pray that the height of the dam is not increased any further or else the loss will be mammoth.”
At Kotdo village, 70-year-old Jayaram says, “Our children are part of the movement. We did not get appropriate compensation.” This reality becomes more evident in villages like Khapadkheda where many claim not to be part of the survey of the affected.

Durji Patedar, resident of Nisarpur village in Madhya Pradesh, says, “So many houses were said to be outside the area which was to drown. Only half of some people’s fields were marked for compensation. The payment we received for our land is blatantly unfair. How can anyone be treated this way?”

NBA leader Medha Patkar says, “There is no truth in the claims of development made for the Sardar Sarovar Project. People have been cheated in the name of rehabilitation and compensation. This is a fight to protect the rights of the marginalised, the tribals and the fishermen. The principles of development being promoted today have only brought ruin."

The anti-dam activist adds: "There have been many instances in the last 25 years when courts have ruled in favour of the NBA, establishing that the questions we are raising are valid. Even today the height of the dam has been stayed at 121.92 metres. It is not only a question of the Sardar Sarovar Dam but of the hundreds of other dams that are to come up around the country."

Patkar further says, "Till a meaningful definition of development is adopted and the valid demand of the oustees upheld, our struggle will continue. This movement is in line with all those other movements of the world that talk of people- oriented development and people’s rights.”

And so the fight continues.

Dr BD Sharma
Veteran social activist

“Those affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project have been cheated by the government from the first year itself. The NBA should move forward with greater determination and expand the scope of its struggle. “

Madhu Bhaduri
Former politician

“New thinking on development is the greatest gist of the NBA. The movement has taught us about inclusive development.”

sunil
National vice-president,
Samajwadi Jan Parishad.

“The NBA has raised important questions on the inequalities of modern
day development. The movement should have widened its scope and become a force to question today’s system, which has not happened as yet.

Swami agnivesh
Chairperson, Bonded Labour Liberation Front

"The NBA has shown the correct path to development. The government should talk to Medha and her associates. If the government does not change its path this movement will intensify."

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A rather unusual take points to the actual realities behind India's newfound buying spree

2011-05-27T10:50:00.000+05:30

Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership

Consumerism: A covert imprisonment

George Orwell – born as Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bihar, on June 25, 1903 – may be laughing in glee in his grave today with a hidden conceit as his words: "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing" ("Animal Farm") ring axiomatically exacting at least in India today. And had he been today at the AC Market near the Gariahat-Rashbehari Avenue crossing in Kolkata, he might have rephrased his words with a biting innuendo about the menace of affluenza.

I went to buy a pair of shorts and a pair of trousers and casually asked the young shop owner about the sales pattern during the pre-Puja days. He shot back ecstatically, "Never, never did we have such a sellers’ market, not at least in my 15 years in retail."

The middle class, more pointedly salaried people in not only private corporate and public sector undertakings but also in government departments and directorates too have the unmistakable feel of affluenza. In every locality, the number of foreign liquor shops rose steadily over the last two decades. Every Saturday or on the eve of clubbed holidays, long queues in the afternoon identify IMFL counters: a reflex of shooting conspicuous consumption which is a threat to the economy. The syndrome is well spread out. Look at the rising sales curve of brand new four wheelers, continuously upping as if never to taper off.

"An average award staff – clerical, technical or running – gets Rs 40,000 a month, after the recent pay revision. This was unthinkable even five years ago," admitted Milan Choudhury, general secretary, West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) Employees’ Union, affiliated to the INTUC. He was talking about the staff under the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, born out of a split in the WBSEB upon the diktat of Asian Development Bank that clamped such conditions before granting a multi-billion rupee soft loan for revamp of the electricity sector. A class IV staff in any petroleum company in the public sector has a take home pay of Rs 45,000 on an average. Most of them have four wheelers. But what alternative do they have? Pathetic to note as it may be, planners at the helm in South Block in New Delhi or Yojana Bhawan never thought of engaging economic research bodies to suggest ways of putting the huge liquid cash, resulting out of significant salary revision of thousands of white and blue collar workers, in productive use and in beefing up welfare objectives that our governments are constitutionally committed to.

Imagine one whose take home pay was hardly Rs 7,000 a month a decade back now returns home with Rs 32,000 - 45,000 plus. How shall he or she plan the vertically upped income. Shall such people eat money? ("Will Indians eat steel", right wing American economist W. Malenbaum commented after learning about the IInd Five year Plan which spelt construction of three steel plants in Bhillai, Rourkela and Durgapur).

If one strolls along the pathways in a shopping mall, one unwittingly gets educated in what can be defined as built environment of consumerism. But this is not confined to the state-of-the-art shopping malls. The contagion has percolated down to the pavement.

A professor-rank lecturer with a Ph.D in a college today earns Rs 80,000 against the Rs 15,000 he would make in the early 1990s. I won’t take into account the unaccounted income through private tuition. A primary school teacher under the state government begins his career with a take home of Rs 10,500 a month while his predecessor in the early 1980s got at the most Rs 800.

A veteran trade unionist who joined the undivided Communist Party of India in the mid-1950s told me in a pensive mood. "Today, our union members, even in steel plants and Central public sector enterprises, reluctantly take part in nationwide strike even at the call of all premier central trade unions. Loss of one day’s salary is more agonising than the loss of economic freedom to the predatory neo-liberals that rule from Washington and destroy livelihoods of millions the world over, including India. But even in the early 1980s, they used to pressure us for strike calls including indefinite strike actions."

To have more liquid cash does not mean more freedom to choose what to purchase or how to spend. Retail chains dictate us what to buy. Consumerism is an invisible toxin but it’s no use blaming the apparent beneficiaries of affluenza which is unlikely to sustain. Salary-inflation induces some kind of powerlessness that accumulates in our ordinary living to escape like hot gasses. "There is a lot of this splintering off into colonies of the instantly righteous. This is happening to all of us. We’re a sleeping monster," aptly wrote Reverend Billy Talen several months back. The US is bloodier than India but we – the victims of ‘alienation’ via consumerism – too are on the same orbit.

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Crook Twisted Tale: Too many characters, too little coherence

2011-05-23T10:10:00.001+05:30

IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Mohit Suri tries to cash in on some contemporary developments (the racist attacks on Indians in Australia) by constructing a story around a reckless and lawless Jay (Emraan Hashmi) who is sent Down Under by Joseph (Gulshan Grover), his guardian. Introducing a couple of love stories into the track, and weaving in some unnecessarily complicated twists, he soon loses his handle on the film’s narrative.

Too many intertwining threads - Suraj loves Suhani (Neha Sharma) but wants to marry Nicole in hopes of getting a permanent residency but Suhani’s sister Sheena has had an affair with Russel who is Nicole’s brother and is now orchestrating the racial attacks (!!!) – weave a tale that cannot decide whether to focus on the love story or the larger message. The performances from the new comers are average and Hashmi doesn’t leave much of an impact either. As a result, the message and the medium both are wasted.

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Jennifer Aniston: Sexy, single' but ready to mingle?

2011-05-20T10:24:00.001+05:30

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting

The 40-year-old actress, Jennifer Aniston, climbed ahead of all the younger actresses to top the list of ‘Hollywood’s Sexiest Woman’. At a press conference, Jen spoke about women of the present generation being independent enough to not want any man’s support to live or even settle down with to have babies. Having had broken relationships and gone through several heartbreaks, if that’s how the sexiest-yet-single woman, Jennifer, consoles herself; good for you girl!

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Eat Pray Love: An endless voyage of self discovery

2011-05-17T14:15:00.002+05:30

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Pray, no more clichés!

An adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat Pray Love”, this idealistic movie is all about self-love. Liz, played by Julia Roberts, separates from her husband, and goes straight into a lover’s arms, only to realise a few fights later that a new boyfriend wasn’t the solution to her woes. Travel, on the other hand, was what her soul yearned for. And so she packs off for a year-long trip to Italy, India and Bali. In Italy she gorges on pizza and spaghetti, in India she learns to meditate and forgive herself, and in Bali she meets the sensuous Javier Bardem and learns to love again.

My grouse against this film is its love for clichés. It bothered me that among the few people Liz meets in India is a minor girl forced into an arranged marriage, and how everything is dirty, and street urchins, mosquitoes and buffaloes are everywhere. Director Ryan Murphy takes us through the film at an incredibly leisurely pace till Liz reaches Bali, where finally “Eat Pray Love” becomes a movie that we want to watch.

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Toy Story!: Channapatna's toys and handicrafts were able to ward off the threat from the whole mass-produced Chinese shebang,

2011-04-21T12:43:00.001+05:30

thanks to some combined public private enterprise. NK Suprabha walks into toy town

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

'The market is flourishing; there is enough demand. It is up to us how fast we finish an order and get to another one,' says Mujeeb, a craftsman of Channapatna, or what is known as the Toy Town of Karnataka. Wherever you look in this town, you will find toys, wooden crafts and people with toys in varying degrees of completion in their hands. Channapatna, situated in Ramanagaram district and 60 km away from Bangalore, is home to more than 5,000 skilled craftsmen who produce wooden and ivory craft including bangles, earrings, toys, even beaded car sear covers.

Channapatna's legacy of toys goes back to the time of Tipu Sultan. More than two centuries back, Tipu had invited Persian artisans to train the locals of Channapatna. They started with carving toys out of ivory; later they switched to rubber, cedar and teak.

A 200-year old legacy however found itself on shaky ground when the markets were flooded with 'Made in China' products; low cost Chinese toys and plastic playthings soon replaced indigenous toys. Livelihoods were threatened, but thankfully not for long. The government and NGOs were able to rein in the damage and transformed Channapatna's state of affairs. 'My friends back home working on toys earn much more than what I do, here in Bangalore. They earn Rs 250 to Rs 300 per day,' says Lokesh, a resident of Channapatna, employed as an office assistant in Bangalore.

Today, many who had migrated to big cities in search of jobs have returned to Channapatna to bolster its lost-and-found glory.' Earlier, it was difficult to find work orders owing to the absence of an organised system in place. Now we get encouragement and work orders from both government and private organisations. That is why residents of Channapatna are happy to stay back,' says Shami Ulla, a local craftsman.

At a government craft complex that TSI visited, nearly 20-25 members were engaged in paring wood on machines to make it easier for craftsmen to carve designs on them. A few craftsmen were on the floor giving final touches to toys and other pieces of art. A major buyer of these handicrafts ' since 40 years ' is Cauvery Emporium; rest of the goods are either sold to local shops or are exported. An area of six acres, with more than 250 families working away at chiselling, making, designing and colouring the handicrafts, is set aside to meet the Cauvery Emporium order.

The land is provided by the government and spending Rs 150 for electricity is not a big outlay, but a major problem is load shedding. 'The government has not fixed salaries. They have just given us a place to work. We arrange wood, lacquer and other necessary materials. It is a good thing that the government buys our product,' says Shami Ulla. Shami Ulla volunteered to take us around town to show us more houses engaged in toy-making. We visited Hanumanthiah and his family who were busy with designing and colouring dolls and idols. His children also helped out after their school hours. 'We earn a minimum of Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 per month. We are required to colour and design and fix the half done art pieces,' says Hanumanthiah. The next house was Rukkamma's ' she and her son were so busy with preparing wooden beads that they answered our queries without taking eyes off the hand driven machine! Rukkamma was rotating a wooden stick and skillfully cut the tip of the stick in the shape of an oval bead with a thread; in 15 minutes she had finished making 15 beads.

As in any other cottage industry, the middlemen here too walk away with the best deal, while the manufacturers make only a meager profit. Rukkamma gets only 75 paisa per bead; the middleman sells the same for Rs 1.50. These beads go to cover car seats that retail for Rs 800-Rs. 1000.'

Decades back, toys were booming business in the country, but that was of course before the Chinese took control of the market. The local produce was pushed to obscurity; it's only in the last 3-4 years that the market is looking up again. 'NGOs are training us; we are learning new designs. We get orders on a regular basis. I earn Rs 200 to Rs 300 daily here. We are however allowed to work only from 10am to 5pm. All other private factories work day and night. If the government allowed us to work late nights, we could earn more too,' says Mujeeb, who works in a government shop floor.

Private enterprises do good business out of this art; fifteen to twenty of such companies get orders from overseas as well. 'There is great demand from UK and the US. Private companies earn around Rs 5 lakh per month by exporting. They get business with their own efforts,' says H.K. Sahukaiah, Planning Officer of the government workshop in the town. The traders still carp about the Chinese deluge though. 'We used to get positive responses from buyers 5-6 years back. But nowadays Chinese items are the rage. People obviously like cheaper goods,' says MP Mariswamy, a trader of toys in Channapatna.

For the locals, income of Rs 5000 to Rs 6,000 per month holds good to lead a fairly decent life in this small town. Besides, nearly 1000 registered members also avail benefits from government schemes to encourage the cottage industry, which include the central government fund for training on new designs, and health scheme, apart from the loan recommendations for providing craftsmen with more facilities.

Channapatna is a fine model of public'private enterprise leveraging local talent for the welfare of the community and to the benefit of the exchequer. May its tribe increase'

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Silent for a cause: Silence is his voice

2011-04-17T10:34:00.000+05:30

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

Protesting against the selling of drinking water, Amrut, a social worker, is completely silent for the last five years, confident that his silence would soon transform into a thousand cries.

At times silence can be more powerful than a thousand words. Cinema and theatre regularly use this tool to sprinkle the element of drama. In real life, too, we use silence to register protest when we are miffed with somebody. But for how long? Hardly a few minutes or may be hours if the case is too extreme. Bute here is a man who is silent for the last five years' five-and-a- half-years to be precise. Why? Well, he is protesting against the price tag some money minded companies have attached with the drinking water. Water is a basic need of human beings and it must not be sold for profit making, feels 53-year-old Amrut. A post-graduate from Bangalore University, Amrut is on his 'Satyagraha of Silence' since March 1, 2005, protesting against the selling of drinking water.

A few books, one set of cloths, a pen and a writing pad to interact with people around and a shawl that protects him from cold are the total belongings of Amrut alias Ambrose. With no permanent house, he usually sleeps on the road side. And yes, he wears no shoes. But unlike MF Husain' the other famous guy who goes without footwear' he hardly gets to walk on expensive carpets and fancy flooring.

Amrut interacts by writing on a piece of paper and through gestures. His passion is more visible in the latter mode. 'Selling of drinking water is a new phenomenon that these profit mongers' the multi-nationals' invented in the era of globalization. New and unique problems need new and unique ways of protest. The ready made protest models won't work here,' he explains of his way of protest.

He recalls the incident that forced him to take up this struggle five years back. It was a hot Bangalore afternoon. A few labourers at a construction site asked for water from a local resident. But the person refused to give them any water. The poor labourers' pockets did not allow them the luxury of buying bottled water from the nearby shops. Amrut, who was watching all this, came forward and fetched water for them. The incident enraged him enough to launch a protest against the selling of water. 'Water is nature's gift and selling it is a crime. Several local and multi-national companies are minting money through this crime,' he writes.

The passionate social worker hates packaged drinking water so much that if he finds mineral water bottles on the stage in any programme he attends, he does not hesitate in raising voice against it. Once he was even beaten up for this and that too by his own party men. It so happened that a few years after the demise of MD Nanjundaswamy, the leaders of the warring factions of the Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha (KRRS) met in Bangalore to discuss the possibilities of a merger. What terribly irked Amrut there was the presence of branded water bottles bought to be served during the meeting. He instantly wrote a placard and displayed it outside the venue, exposing the leaders' real face. (The leaders had promised to wage a resolute struggle against the sale of drinking water just a year ago). 'They brutally assaulted me. I had honestly worked in KRRS for a cause for so many years and this was the way they treated me,' he jots down. He has worked with many other social organisations too. Since 2007, Amrut has intensified his struggle by cutting his food down to one meal a day. He doesn't take even a glass of water till five in the evening! He usually takes his supper at the roadside food venders' in the city or at any farmer's house if he is in the countryside.

Amrut participated in the recently concluded Congress party's padayatra and walked from Bangalore to Bellary barefooted, taking a single meal a day. He became the centre of attraction throughout the walk as the word about him spread. 'I am not a Congressman. I participated in the walk just because they have raised an important issue concerning the ordinary people of the state. For me it was an opportunity to spread awareness about my cause,' writes down an excited Amrut.

Amrut's protest against the anti-begging law was also unique. To register his protest he started begging on the streets of Bangalore. Then he organised his co-beggars and marched to Delhi, begging all through the way, to oppose the law. 'It is the state that has created the circumstances where a section of people is forced to beg. If the government is really concerned about its citizens and is feeling ashamed of having such an inhuman practice on its land, it should address the conditions that have given rise to begging,' he opines.

For the last one year or so, he has started selling revolutionary and progressive books in public programmes, mass protests and demonstrations. He feels that it is not just a means of filling his stomach, but an effective medium of spreading awareness among the people. 'A year back, I was just distributing some progressive literature in front of the Lawyers Bhavan in Bangalore. Some people claiming to be from the Sangh Parivar snatched the papers from me, physically assaulted me and handed me over to the police accusing me of distributing anti-Hindu literature. I took it as a challenge and thenceforth started selling all kinds of revolutionary and progressive books to spread awareness. I sell the books keeping a little profit margin to earn a few bucks for a cup of tea and a roadside meal in the evening,' he conveys with a note of triumph. He is confident that one day his silent protest will translate into thousands of voices for his cause. 'Till then, I will keep it up. I may not be able to see it in my lifetime, but the future generations will surely do,' he concludes.

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Assam's camps of hell

2011-04-13T10:17:00.001+05:30

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

Even after 12 years of the Bodo-Santhal clashes, victims have to live in horrible camps, battle hunger while their girls are trafficked away and forced into the flesh trade
'God sent us as men only for fellow humans to deprive us of basic rights. A piece of bread or a dish of rice is the farthest our imagination can travel. We are those citizens of the largest democratic country of the world who don't posses a pair of dress, don't get a glass of clean drinking water, don't have a proper shelter, not to mention education, sanitation or health care. We are trapped in poverty and there seems to be no wayout' '- thus goes the rant from Maya Tudu, an orphan dwelling in the refugee camp of Kokrajhar.

Maya is a victim of clashes that erupted between Bodos and Santhals during 1996-1998. She often fills her empty stomach with leaves of trees from the nearby forest and quenches her thirst by drinking water from the ponds or the river. Safety, security, peace are words excluded from the vocabulary that describes her life and that of her fellow tribals. This is the fate of thousands of refugees in the districts of Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon of western Assam. Thousands of families from both sides have lost their dear and near ones. Many are quietly suffering from physical and mental handicaps. Those who had taken shelter in the camps as children have now become youths. These youths have nothing to do in the camps. The refugees want to work hard but there is no opportunity. The Bodos, comparatively, have a stronger social and economic status than the Santhals. Hence, many have returned to their villages and have started their lives anew. The refugees left in the camps are mostly Santhals. The government announced some schemes for rehabilitation of the refugees but at the same time declared inhabitants of the camps as encroachers of forest land, thus denying them of the benefits.

Ravi Tudu, an inmate of the Kokrajhar camp, tells TSI, 'Hundreds of armed people raided our village and torched our huts. Many were brutally killed. I somehow managed to escape.'

Since then, almost 70,000 (unofficial figures) unfortunate tribals are believed to be living amid the horrible conditions in refugee camps. Twelve years have passed without any ray of hope.

Lakshmi is a girl of 23. She just has a dirty frock to cover her body. She narrates her experience, 'It was August of 2005. A group of people with a lady came to our camp. They gave us some food and clothes. They tried to lure us by promising work at Kanpur. At first we did not believe them. But after a few days our parents were convinced and 8 girls and 7 boys left with them for Kanpur.' She continues, 'I had dreamt of a good life there. I started working in a house. I was happy. But my happiness was shortlived. The owner of the house started to torture me. He sold me to sex racketeers. For one whole year, I stayed in a red light area. One day I managed to escape. I came to Kanpur railway station. There I met one kind-hearted person. He took me to his home and contacted an acquaintance of his at Kokrajhar. Some days later, the surrendered Cobra Militant Force contacted me and they arranged for my return journey.'

The fourteen other girls and boys are still untraced. There are hundreds of Lakshmis in the refugee camps who are falling prey to sex racketeers. Some have managed to return, most have come back pregnant. They gave birth to their babies in the middle of the most unhygienic conditions. Nobody has bothered to offer them any help. Some of the girls who returned to the camps are Sumita Bale (20), daughter of Paltan Mardi, Phailaguri camp (presently closed), Maya Mardi (24) of Sapkata camp, Manju Tudu (21) of Kochugaon camp and Sushila Kishku (24) of Kochugaon camp. Among them, Sumita was a student of class IX when she was pushed into the sex trade. Another girl, Rumila Murmu (23), daughter of Pradhan Murmu of Kachibari camp, was also sold in UP. Till date, no one has heard from her. Similarly Sushila Kishku (24) was exploited as a sex worker in Haryana. She somehow managed to escape in a pregnant condition. An unfortunate Nita Hembrom (15) of Damrapara camp was brought to Gujarat and she is still untraceable. Maya Mardi tells TSI, 'They lured us on the pretext of jobs in the textile industry at Kanpur. They took ten girls from the camp. At Kanpur, I was forced into flesh trade. I don't know about the fate of the other girls. I was subjected to sexual torture for many months. But one day, I got lucky and managed to flee.

Zebrius Kha-kha, chairman of the Cobra Militant Force, told TSI, 'We took to arms to protect the rights of tribals. We are observing a ceasefire since September 15, 2001. Our main demands are the proper rehabilitation of the victims of the ethnic clashes between Bodos and Santhals in 1996 and 1998. The state government had declared an aid of Rs 10,000 for each of the affected families. It is too meagre. We demand for its increase to Rs 2 lakh. Of late, we met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and requested him to fulfill our demands.'

Kha-kha says, 'It is true that since the clashes of 1996, about 20,000 tribal boys and girls have gone out of the state in search of employment. Many of them were forced into taking up immoral and anti-social activities. We are trying, to the best of our ability, to rescue those unlucky boys and girls.'

A visit to the camps will prove that governmental aid for the victimised families is inadequate. The district administration distributes ration for only 10 days a month. So the refugees face extreme hardship for the rest of the days. Carol Narzary, deputy commissioner of Kokrajhar, says, 'We have taken some steps for rehabilitation of the refugees. We have given Rs 10,000 to each of the families to rebuild their houses on their own land. Many have already constructed them. But the remaining tribal refugees do not own any land. Most of them are possibly encroachers of forest land.'

'The massive increase in human trafficking is a matter of great concern to us. Poverty is the most crucial factor,' says Bosko Sarmako, president of All Assam Adivasi student Association (AASA). Reiterating that AASA has taken the matter seriously, he goes on to say, 'We have rescued many girls during 2005-2007 from different places of the country. Many of them were rescued at various railway stations of the state during the time of transit to other parts of the country. Yet, a large number of young girls are yet to be rescued.'

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Puja Awasthi pays a visit to Ayodhya to gauge people's hopes and apprehensions

2011-04-09T12:12:00.003+05:30

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

'Faith is a wavering thing'

Sometime before October gets underway, a long awaited verdict that has kept Ayodhya, the small temple town, firmly on the map of the world's trouble spots will be announced by a three-judge bench in a courtroom of the Allahabad High Court. Three questions will be answered: Is the disputed spot in Ayodhya the birthplace of Lord Rama? Was the Babri Masjid built after the demolition of the temple that stood there? Was the mosque in question raised according to the tenets of Islam?

But for purely personal reasons, no one waits perhaps more eagerly than the likes of 56-year-old Shakuntala Gupta who lost her husband to what has since been dubbed the 'Temple movement'. In a pale green sari, her voice raspy, Gupta insists she told her husband not to go out on that October day in 1990 when the first kar seva was announced. 'I told him you are all we have, who will look after our five children if anything happens.' But her husband, a devout Ram bhakt who would not start business at his sweetmeat shop without a darshan of the Lord brushed aside her fears. 'I am in the duty of the Lord,' he said.

The city was under curfew and Gupta sat in their narrow home peeping from a window. 'Then a helicopter bearing Mulayam Singh Yadav came. The single light on it was red. It turned green. And there were sudden blasts of firing. The helicopter turned away.' Only later would some boys of the neighbourhood tell Gupta that her husband was one of those killed in the incident.

'If the verdict is for the Hindus, my husband's martyrdom will not be in vain,' says Gupta pointing to a dusty painting underlined, 'Shaheed Vasudev Gupta'. Since then, two of those five children have died, the sweetmeat shop converted into a cloth shop and Gupta's health has steadily gone downhill. 'I live only for the verdict,' she groans. Her feisty 27-year-old daughter Seema, despite claiming non-association with any political organisation, says, 'A cause for which my father gave up his life, can claim my head. But the movement surely shall not die.'

It is a similar feeling that grasps 90-year-old Hashim Ansari, the original plaintiff in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title suit and convener of the Babri Masjid Reconstruction Committee. Some days ago Ansari spoke to a newspaper of his apprehension at what would happen if the court came out with a clear verdict against either community. The correspondent went ahead and attributed a 'There will be mayhem and bloodbath' statement to him, prompting the High Court to slap a notice on him and the publication. In his blue checkered lungi, white kurta and skull cap, guarded by three policemen (only one of whom has a rifle, he points out), Ansari is among the very few living who have seen the 60-year-old suit through. Adjusting his hearing aid, he speaks slowly and clearly, perhaps in fear of being misquoted, 'Fiza kharab hone ka andesha hai', he says which roughly translates into 'There is a fear that the atmosphere might turn bad.'

Quizzed on the next step, he says, 'I am only a plaintiff. The Waqf Board fought the case, the Personal Law Board bore the expenses and the Babri Masjid Action Committee made the arguments before the court. It is the three bodies which have to decide how to take the matter forward if the court's verdict is not in our favour. Who am I to make any pronouncements.'

On the political front his anger runs against all parties. 'The Congress knows it will gain whatever the verdict. The BJP will not let the issue pass easily though as it has amply demonstrated it lacks the skills necessary to run a government and that governments don't function on emotions, certainly not ones at the Centre. We had a Muslim leader in Azam Khan in the Samajwadi Party who was shamed into leaving the party. Mulayam Singh Yadav is no longer a national leader. Mayawati is too busy consolidating her Dalit vote bank. There is no political party which is capable of standing by us,' he says in a pocket size outer room of his home in Panji Tola.

There are many within the saffron fold who are targeting the BJP for playing with the issue and not doing enough when it was in power in Delhi from 1998 to 2004. But the dynamics of governance are different and once in the driver's seat, the party would have realised that it was not convenient to merely disregard legal opinion on the issue and raise a pink sandstone temple on the disputed site. Senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal recently singled out former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani to attack when he called upon the party to 'atone for its sins' in connection with the Ayodhya issue. The party's former president Rajnath Singh spoke of the party's abiding commitment to the building of a grand temple at Ayodhya at the sidelines of a working committee meeting in Lucknow, failing to specify a strategy for the same. The political resolution that came out at the meet also had just two lines at the end that read: 'Ramjanmbhoomi is a matter of faith for all Indians. The party's determination on the Ayodhya issue is firm and the party abides by its previous policy.' The party's president Nitin Gadkari has refused to comment on the issue while Advani has called for 'caution and restraint' befitting a national party. The party is struck by another dilemma. There is no one among the crop of senior leaders, perhaps barring Narendra Modi, who has the credibility to lead the movement. Mahant Gyan Das, chairman of the Akhara Parishad and an influential voice among Ayodhya's sadhus (though criticised for his Iftar parties for Muslims), says the matter is plain. 'You should either have not gone to court. If you did, you abide by its verdict. It is like marriage. It does not depend on whether or not you love your partner. If you are in it, you make sure it works. This cacophony of impending trouble is made up by a few anti-social elements. I appeal to people to get a grip on their emotions,' he says.

Not far from where Das sits in Hanumangarhi is a CD shop called Sri Shail Emporium, manned by the 22-year-old Mohammed Nafeez Khan. Khan's father, Abdul Rehman Khan, is the only Muslim to own two shops in the area. 'What after the verdict,' shoots back Khan. 'In so many years, none of our Hindu brothers have shown any animosity towards us. Not even at the peak of the agitation. Why should we think of shifting our shop if the verdict is pro-Hindu? God does not interfere with livelihood,' he says.

Ram Vilas Vedanti, more popularly known as Vedanti Maharaj and a two-time MP, has been besieged by calls from the media ever since the possibility of a verdict began to blink on the horizon. 'On the basis of the evidence I gave in court, I am convinced that the verdict will be in our favour. I have seen the temple as a child and when the opposing counsel questioned me on its existence, I turned around and asked him: Will any Muslim ever go to a place where there are idols of 12 Hindu Gods? If the verdict is anti-Hindu, the community's anger will be difficult to contain. There will definitely be animosity. I foresee possible terrorist attacks as well,' he thunders drawing up a worst case scenario. But he is quick to put on record his reverence for the court. 'We respect the court. If the verdict is unfavourable, we shall knock on the doors of the higher court,' he says. A lesser heard but influential voice is that of Swami Purshottamacharya of the Sugreev Qila which housed the first VHP office in one small room. 'If under any malicious influence the court gives an adverse verdict, Parliament, the supreme representative of the people, has the power to turn it over. Did it not happen in the Shah Bano case? Muslims should be given land elsewhere to build a mosque and we will do kar seva for it', he says.

At the deserted Ram Janmabhoomi workshop, where the last worker left in 2007 after 65 percent of the work was completed, only a paralysed Ram Lakhan and a few bored policemen are to be seen. There was a time when busloads of tourists would empty out every half an hour at the site. But now that the chisels have fallen silent and the pink columns have started to turn mossy, Ram Lakhan, who claims to have been living there since the workshop was set up, says, 'Faith is a wavering thing. You can't maintain it at the same tempo at all times. Only God can ensure that his temple is built.'

But for those like Shakuntala Gupta, who live in a more human world that thought might just be cold comfort.

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INDIAN FOREST RIGHTS: Indian forests are in danger? Well, there's nothing new about it

2011-02-26T09:59:00.000+05:30

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India's connection with greenery and environment is nothing new. The green colour in our national flag indicates India's relation with land, love for greenery and care for the environment. But our forests and the issue of deforestation are some of the critical issues that India grapples with. Perhaps that's why the forest cover in India had dramatically declined over the years. Before Independence, the forest cover was around 40 per cent of the total land area, which declined to just 22 per cent in 1951, and to just 19 per cent in 1997. Out the total forest area, only 2.54 per cent can be considered as high density forest and even the moderately dense forest cover is merely 9.71 per cent. However, government claims that it has taken a note about the problem of deforestation and forest cover slightly increased to 21.02 per cent in 2007. The Centre passed Forest Rights Act in 2006. The 10th Five Year Plan, however, envisaged to increase forest cover to 33 per cent by the end of 2012. But things have further changed when the Centre recently asked the state government of Orissa to stop acquiring forest lands for the $10.9 billion steel plant project of the South Korean giant Posco. N.C. Saxena, who heads the four-member panel probing into the alleged violation of the Act in the site of the proposed project, confirmed that the project violates the Forest Rights Act.

But all is not well. There have been widespread violations of the laws. Private companies as well as government undertakings are acquiring lands in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa violating the forest rights. Apart from ambiguities on innumerable issues with regard to slum-dwellers' right to reside and other community rights, including minor forest produce, the state governments don't have concrete industrial policy for inclusive growth. In addition, though the Forest Rights Act is in place, it is facing extensive manpower and financial shortage. Another important aspect of the debate is that natural resources enriched states like Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are witnessing huge investment inflows, but their proportionate contribution in eradicating poverty is not satisfactory. Further, there is no adequate alternative rehabilitation policy for thousands of tribal people who are vulnerable to such risks.

Above all, industrialisation is as imperative as aforestation. While industrialisation has to be there to boost productivity, aforestation replace extensive import of wood items. However, restoring environmental sustainability is important as Indian agriculture is extremely vulnerable to irregular monsoon. The per capita forest land has declined dramatically from 1.2 hectare during 1950s to just 0.066 hectares in 1997-98. Significantly, with over 16 per cent world population and 15 per cent of world's livestock, India has only 2.4 per cent land area and a mere 1.7 per cent of world's forest stock. To tackle this, India needs strong political will, administrative back up, budgetary and infrastructure support for implementation. It's high time to ponder over the issue and find solutions becomes more urgent every day.

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DESPICABLE ME: Endearing fare for the whole family

2011-02-22T09:44:00.000+05:30

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'Despicable Me' is an adorable flick for kids and elders alike with some great voices, cute characters and nicely done 3D effects. The kids would undoubtedly adore the various gadgets, grandiose plans and the action. But the humour isn't only for the kids, but for the elders too. The clever use of pop culture clich's and the pun intended is rather interesting in various sequences, such as in the initial conversation with the neighbour and the name of the bank. The voices given by Steve Carell (Gru ' older villain) and Jason Segel (Vector ' younger villain) are worth appreciation, especially Gru's thick accent.

The story begins with an evil Gru starving for his mother's appreciation of his work. In order to prove his worth to his mother, this super-devil approaches the evil-bank for some loan. But the bank also decides to invest in someone young and dynamic such as Vector. Gru, a veteran of the trade, uses his countless minions (small yellow one and two eyed pegs/darts), and extraordinary gadgets, but fails to even get close to Vector, let alone defeating him. In the meantime, Gru discovers three orphan girls and uses them as pawns for his scheme after adopting them. This mastermind then decides to pull off something unheard of - stealing the moon. But soon these little adopted girls peck their way to his cold heart and without his realisation his fondness grows for them too, transforming a devil into a loving daddy.

An interesting and melodramatic series of events entertain all through the movie with action, drama and comedy well packaged together even if the story isn't always a smooth ride.

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AISHA: A sashay down style boulevard, but where's the story road

2011-02-18T10:40:00.000+05:30

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For all its glitzy glossy glaze, 'Aisha' has a few shenanigans to deal with and while the film is great eye candy (fab art design to capture the modern chic; the designer brands pitch in too), it remains an incomplete viewing experience. Sonam Kapoor had the golden chance to own the film (it is titled after her character, after all) but bungles it through a below par performance ' her character may be carefree but it doesn't explain her rather cavalier approach to acting. And while Abhay Deol tries his best, the weak script doesn't give him too many options. Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) is the classical high brow spoilt brat, complete with her sarcastic dismissals and exclamations of 'whatever'. She keeps herself entertained eavesdropping on others' lives and their juicy secrets before moving on to a rather radical project ' transform Haryanvi village girl Shefali into a modern city girl. All the while, there's Arjun (Abhay Deol) trying to get Aisha to quit interfering with other people's affairs.

'Aisha' has pretty deep shades of Jane Austen's 'Emma' that dominate the canvas but its look at the Page 3 kinds in Delhi has nothing new to offer. The characters look authentic but feel hollow and the music barely registers. Just like a Page 3 party, the film opens with a lot of buzz but becomes insufferable soon, thanks to an overdose of chic. If you must go to check out the shoes, be my guest.

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Aamir Khan Live

2011-02-15T15:50:00.007+05:30

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After having maintained a fair distance from the media till recently, aamir khan has decided to open up. in a freewheeling chat about his career and the upcoming 'Peepli Live', which he is producing, neha sarin tries to find out if the man measures up to his 'perfect' reputation

As a creative person, working in the Indian film industry has always been an uphill task and I have been swimming against the tide for most of the way

You played a college kid in 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak' and in '3 Idiots'.

What were the different challenges playing a college kid in these two different films?

Well, the biggest challenge when I was doing '3 Idiots' was my age as I was not of that age anymore. It was a big challenge, not only physically to look that age but also mentally to get into that age and feel young and react in every moment that I am in front of the camera like a 20 year old; that was difficult.

So what did you say to yourself to overcome that?

(Laughs) Well, I got a lot from the writing and the way it was written and'I don't know'I do things instinctively and intuitively. I don't know if I can verbalise it as often I am not able to verbalise things or how I do things. It's a lot by what I feel like doing at that point in time I think in the case of '3 Idiots', I kind of perceived Rancho as a person who has a lot of buzz and has a lot of things going on in his head, so he is never still and physically also he is constantly moving, he is quick in his responses.

After a film is over and done with, how long does it take the character to finally wear off?

(Laughs) That's not easy to say, sometimes it stays longer. I don't become the character in real life really' the character stays with me, his characteristics and mannerisms stay with me for a long time. Often, it's up till I start with my next film.

You have worked with actresses from Juhi Chawla to Kareena Kapoor and from Supriya Pathak to Asin. With whom did you feel you shared the best on-screen and off-screen chemistry with?

Well, Juhi was great to work with, she is a really wonderful person and a great actress. I really enjoyed working with her. Rani is another one, who I think is a great actress and someone I enjoyed working with. I really had a good time with Kareena when I did '3 Idiots' with her. Again, someone who is great to work with and a very good actress. So yeah, there are a number of them. Also, Kajol during 'Fanaa'.

All these years you've stayed away from the media and very recently you have started opening up to them. What caused this change?

Well, I guess, I was not happy with the fact that I am cutting myself off from my audience and the media is a key link between me and my audience. So it was not something I was happy doing. During 'Rang de Basanti' and 'Fanaa', I was not speaking to anyone in the media. And then I did 'Taare Zameen Par', which actually also changed me a lot as a person.

In what way did TZP change you?

It kind of made me more aware of other people and how all of us as human beings have different qualities. Each one of us is unique and different and that's how I should receive people, instead of just assuming that all of us are of a particular kind.

So what made you withdraw from the media, in the first place?

I didn't know how to deal with the media, I just kind of withdrew.

Did the controversies that the media created bother you?

Not the controversies, so much. It's more the intrusion and the intrusive nature of the media as we see it.

Does the constant comparison and the media's crazy desire to put a number on you, bother you? Is it possible to live a real life being a movie star?

No, it doesn't bother me. I don't even take all these numbers seriously. I am actually quite lost in my work and most of the time, I am not even aware of what's being written about me and what's coming out. A lot is written about and its really impossible for me to keep tabs on everything and usually when I am in the film, I am quite lost in that, so I don't know what all is written. So, no it doesn't bother me (grins).

What according to you is the future of cinema and entertainment?

Well, I think cinema, at its core, will always be storytelling and that's what it is' and there'd be newer techniques and newer platforms which will keep coming in and affecting it in different ways but it will always remain a medium for storytelling and I think with technology getting easier to use in so many different ways, to make a film is much more accessible to a common man. He just needs a video camera which everyone has an access to, a computer with a software where one can edit a film and the Internet where you can actually show it. So, all you need is an idea and a story to tell.

You have been around for over two decades and you are still giving newcomers a run for their money. What has kept you well grounded and involved in cinema?

Hmmm'I think I enjoy doing what I am doing and that's how I work'for me, cinema is my life and each film takes at least a year or two years of my time, so it's very important for me to do work that makes me happy, that I enjoy doing, so the process is as important to me as the end result and that's how I work. I've had a great journey and I've had the opportunity of working with a lot of very talented people and I've learnt a lot. I think I like to learn new things and grow as a creative person and that's what keeps me going.

Is that the reason why we saw you play drums at the "Peepli Live" music launch?

Oh! That is something I used to do long back. As a kid, I learnt the drums a little bit and Indian Ocean got to know about it and forced me to join them, it was just a fun thing.

You have been an integral part of the transition cinema, and it has been undergoing transition for so many decades. Where do you think it stands today?

Well, I think for me, as a creative person working in the Indian film industry has always been an uphill task and I have been swimming against the tide for most of the way because the kind of films that I have enjoyed doing and believed in were not considered mainstream by the market till they released and they did well. So, all along I have done films that the market doesn't have much faith in. But it's after the film releases and the audience likes it that it gets the kind of support that the market is a little surprised by. So, I've just done stuff that I like and I believe in. I haven't ever considered changing things as I am willing to take the risks, if there are any.

Like you said, you always swam against the tide, but it's not easy. In the beginning, how badly were you run down and did you ever consider caving in?

Ummm'No, I never considered caving in, it just made me stronger. I was very clear that I wanted to work in a particular way and do a certain kind of films that I believe in and made me happy and I was very clear that if it meant that I don't have a place in the industry, that's okay but I still want to do the stuff that I want to do. So, it was tough in the beginning as I had to prove myself again and again each time. But, I guess that's part of the journey, part of the fun and part of the challenge. And sometimes when I look back at my career, I feel that I'm very fortunate and someone up there is looking out for me because a lot of decisions I took were not very practical, and a lot of them had huge risks involved. So I'm really glad and I feel blessed with the kind of love and support I've received right through my career. So, I am glad it worked out well!

And you also provide these opportunities to newcomers. So what about the story of 'Peepli Live' touched you?

I thought it was very funny and humorous and at the same time, very heartbreaking and thought provoking- so it moved me and touched me and made me laugh and made me think and so that's what attracted me about it. Anusha is a very fine creative mind, someone who has a very unique voice of her own. I felt that if she has something to say and express in her own way, I'd be happy to try and support her.

Is it a sign of success or failure to know that you have people who'd be happy to see you fail?

Neither. I don't think it reflects either of these because it depends what you mean by success or failure and for me, success is a combination of a number of things, one of them being that when we set out to make a film, when I see the film once it's complete. Do I feel we have achieved what we set out to do? That's the first hurdle that we have to cross. If I feel that we have achieved what we set out to do, then I feel that's the first step of success for me, in my own heart and in my own mind and then, I wait to see how the audiences react as its them that I've made it for. It's once when both of these get a tick that I feel we have been successful.

How did Aamir Khan's blog start?

Oh! That happened a few years ago, when the DVD of 'Lagaan' was being released and it was released six years after the film had released in the theatre which is unusually long. So, the distributors of the DVD requested me to start to blog which was originally called 'the Lagaan DVD blog'. That's what it was called in the beginning and I began blogging on that platform but after the first few posts, I realised that I had much more to say than 'Lagaan' or the DVD and it became something else. Then I even converted the name to my own website.

And did that give people an opportunity to know the real Aamir khan?

Well, yeah, that is one of the ways and the other way, of course, is through interviews with someone like you because you are the person, who is actually experiencing me as we speak. And then you would write about and share your experiences of your conversation with me, with so many thousands and millions of readers. So through the media, it is a very important link.

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Waters from hell

2011-01-08T14:29:00.001+05:30

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Rivers and coasts in India's most developed and most polluted state of Gujarat are fast turning into dumps of toxic industrial effluents. As both the Administration and the industry shy away from their responsibilities, its impact will be catastrophic on marine, human and other lifeforms, writes Arnold Christie

A recent police complaint against the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has alleged that leakages in the effluent pipeline from Jhagadia industrial units have contaminated water bodies - fresh water ponds and the Amravati Creek - in Ankleshwar taluka. An edgy GPCB has rushed its officials to collect samples of the polluted water following the complaint from villagers of Dadhal, a tiny village in Bharuch district.

On December 11, 2009, the Ahmedabad Police raided a textile factory in the Narol area and seized a tanker which was dumping concentrated acid in sewage. After analysis, the chemical was found to be hazardous for any lifeform. On July 3, 2010, police filed a chargesheet against four arrested during the seizure. Last week, GPCB has issued closure order against Electrotherm's iron pipe manufacturing plant situated at Shamkhiyali in Kutch. The firm had allegedly started operations without environmental clearance from the Centre and NOC from GPCB.

Millions of litres of untreated effluents were being pumped into the Arabian Sea in Valsad district of south Gujarat. At the vanguard of the legal battle in the Gujarat High Court is the Parsi community that made Sanjan its home after fleeing Iran 1,300 years ago. The crisis has already taken a huge toll on the marine eco system of the region. Ten million litres of toxic chemical effluents have been dumped into the Arabian sea from the Sarigam Industrial Estate off the coast of Sanjan. In April, 2010, Gujarat High Court ordered that 22 units be shut down for lacking requisite facilities to treat effluents. This is the grim reality hidden behind the facade of impressive industrial growth in Gujarat's Golden Corridor - spread from south Gujarat to north Gujarat.

Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh announced after his visit to Ankleshwar in September, 2009, that no new industry would be given permission till they spruced up their facility to meet the laid-down standards. The ministry will not give environmental clearance for new industries in the major industrial areas of Gujarat, at least till August this year. This ban order was issued in January 2010.

These are not isolated incidents. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in March, 2010, declared Gujarat as the 'most polluted state' in the country. About 80 per cent of total hazardous wastes in the country is generated by seven states; Gujarat tops the list. Gujarat accounts for 29 per cent of the 6.2 million tonnes of hazardous waste. Accusing the state government of not taking any remedial action, director of Paryavaran Mitra (Friends of Environment) Mahesh Pandya says, 'Authority and industrialists are responsible for such a polluted environment. If we pursue the state government, they ask the association of industries to clean it up. These associations say it's not their responsibility. Now the toxins are affecting the masses.' Gujarat takes pride as the flag bearer of India's industrial might but it has come at a huge cost. A 400-km stretch between Vapi in south Gujarat and Mehsana in the north is dotted densely by waste dump hotspots. Rivers have become industrial gutters, hand pumps spew coloured water and open land, both government and private, is used to dump wastes. The major polluting units along the rivers include sugar, textile, electroplating, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, tanneries, dyes and dye intermediates, petrochemicals and steel plants among others. According to CPCB, the major reason for polluted river stretches in Gujarat is that effluents are directly discharged by the factories into these water bodies. Millions of litres of untreated effluents are dumped in major rivers like Narmada, Sabarmati, Mahi, Khari, Damanganga, Amalkhadi and in the Gulf of Khambhat. Convener of Gujarat Paryavaran Surakha Samiti Rohit Prajapati says, 'All the shocking figures had been obtained from GPCB and CPCB through RTI. In most cases, the presence of toxins are 300 per cent to over 1,000 per cent more than the levels set by the GPCB. Even the effluent treatment plants set up by the state and the Central governments are not functioning properly, adding to the problem.'

In a shocking revelation, GPCB sources admitted that the wastes discharged in the Damanganga from the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) of the industrial houses in Vapi contained 347 per cent more Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), 432 per cent more Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and 196 per cent more Ammoniacal Nitrogen (AN), a serious health hazard, compared to the GPCB-prescribed norms. The conditions are worse in Ankleshwar where 248 per cent more COD and 1,328 per cent more AN is dumped into the Gulf of Cambay. The effluent channel project of Vadodara dumping waste water into the estuary of the Mahisagar was found to be carrying 300 to 700 per cent more than the prescribed norms of COD, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), AN, TDS, Cyanide, phenols and other hazardous pollutants.

Effluents dumped in the Sabarmati from the industrial estates in Vatva, Odhav, Narol and Naroda around Ahmedabad were found to be alarmingly toxic, 2,926 per cent more of COD, 2,520 per cent more of AN and 780 per cent more of TDS. Industries in and around Vadodara are dumping huge quantities of hazardous chemicals into river Mahisagar and the Gulf of Khambhat. A latest CPCB report finds the effluents 15 times more toxic than the accepted limits.

The Gujarat Government's dream river front project is coming up on the banks of third most polluted river in the country. And it is not surprising that the state is also home to the first two most polluted rivers of the country. They are the Amalkhadi river at Ankleshwar and Khari river near Ahmedabad. The Amlakhadi, which meets Narmada in Bharuch district, has been reduced to an effluent channel by over 1,500 chemical units in Ankleshwar, Panoli, Vilayat, Dahej and Jhagadia. Recently, Jairam Ramesh called Vapi the most polluted town in the country. Forbes and Time have listed it among the 10 most polluted towns in the world. Its three streams ' Damanganga, Kolak and Balitha ' no longer bear a resemblance to flowing water bodies. CPCB has, in fact, categorised both the Damanganga and Kolak rivers as unfit to support life.

The river Han in Seoul, South Korea, was the most polluted river in the world a decade back. Today, it receives no more effluents. We can also follow the Seoul Model and save our rivers. Today, Gujarat's rivers hope that good sense will finally prevail over short-term considerations. Development is necessity but without an environment to sustain life, it will be meaningless.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Munna Shukla

2011-01-07T01:13:00.001+05:30

IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board

Munna Shukla's palatial home looks forlorn these days. The palace of this MLA from Lalganj has not seen any court or courtier for months now. It lacks the pomp and show that it was known for in the past. Now since the king himself is in jail, couriers have found better things to do. Implicated in the murder case of ex-minister Brij Bihari Prasad, Shukla is serving life sentence in Muzaffarpur jail. His kin too give his palace a miss these days. They prefer to stay elsewhere. His wife Anu Shukla keeps visiting once in a while, but mostly, she divides her time between courts in Patna and Delhi. A few caretakers and close aides stay in the house and entertain people who lose their way to the palace. His wife takes care of the complaints of the people from his constituency. His personal assistant Sanjeev Kumar maintains that his MLA does not let the people of the constituency feel that their MLA is out of touch. He is omnipresent. Political dynasties are a common fare but Munna's was a politico-criminal dynasty. One of his brothers, Chotan Shukla, an aide of dreaded muscleman Devendra Nath Dubey, was gunned down in 1994 when he was returning from an election meeting. It was during his funeral procession that DM Krishnaiyah was lynched by the mob led by Anand Mohan and his wife Lovely Anand. While the young DM pleaded for his life, Munna's youngest brother Bhutkan Shukla shot him in the head from close. Bhutkan met the same fate a few years later. The battle between minister Brij Bihari Prasad and the Shukla family was the battle to control the turf of Muzaffarpur. Prasad allegedly drew the first blood when his gunmen killed Chotan. Munna later joined with other upper caste ganglords to kill Prasad. But that was a long time ago.

A few profiteers and aides keep the chairs at his house warm. His wife is doing whatever she can to soothe the people of constituency but patience is running out. His aides maintain that the CM has betrayed his promise to bail him out. Nitish visited his village for a public meeting but gave his house a miss. Only his release, his aides believe, can restore the charisma and fear his name once evoked.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav

2011-01-03T16:11:00.002+05:30

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It was not that criminalisation of politics was the gift of the Lalu-Rabri regime. It was always there in one form or the other. It was just that with the advent of Lalu, the monopoly of upper caste ganglords was broken for the first time. The confidence among the backward castes manifested itself in several ways, including criminalisation. Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav was one such manifestation. And unlike several other musclemen who opted for established political parties, Pappu Yadav entered the political arena as an independent.

When Pappu started his career as an MLA from Singheshwar Assembly constituency in Madhepura, he already had a dozen-odd cases against him. But soon he shifted his base to neighbouring Purnea where Ajit Sarkar of the CPI(M) ruled the roost. Sarkar epitomised everything that Pappu was not and thus was an ideological and political threat to Pappu. Pappu took this animosity to his heart. On June 14, 1998, Sarkar was gunned down along with a few of his cadres. Pappu got implicated and the routine rounds to courts started. People lost count of the number of times he went to the jail and was released. However, unwary of all these, Pappu continued to operate freely from the jail itself. Later he was shifted to Tihar in Delhi. He has such a long list of cases that people say that everyday in this country a court hears a case against him. Pappu's political graph, however, never dipped in between. He became an MP and continued to win. Pappu rules the roost in eastern and north-eastern Bihar. He has caught the imagination of the youth from a particular community. When he saw that his political career was threatened because of the number of cases aginst him, he brought his glamorous wife Ranjita Ranjan to the fray in 2004. However, she lost the 2009 election on a Congress ticket. So, for all practical purposes, Ranjita is politically unemployed these days. However, she is active in her own right. She keeps the Congress rank and file on their toes with her aggressive demeanor. She couldn't see eye to eye with state Congress president Anil Sharma and hence kept pestering him whenever an opportunity arose. Anil, in a singing remark that was obviously directed against her and her husband, said that there was no place for criminals in politics. Her supporters retaliated by disrupting public meetings in several places.

Pappu Yadav's supporters have constituted an apolitical group called 'Yuva Shakti Sangathan' that works for their cause. In fact, the organisation acts as a bulwark to the duo. Ranjita is active and keeps travelling a lot to several cities where Pappu's cases are pending. Their kids study in a prestigious public school in Delhi. They don't come to Bihar very often. Their supporters, as expected, swear that their netaji is an epitome of innocence.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

Cooking a new future

2010-12-27T13:52:00.001+05:30

IIPM Prof Arindam Chaudhuri on Our Parliament and Parliamentarians' Work

Inmates of Gujarat's Sabarmati jail and other prisons develop a new taste for life, reports Rupesh Panchal

Ahmedabad is in the grip of a severe heat wave. The roads wear a deserted look. Many areas of the city look as if they are under curfew. But the scene outside a nondescript food stall near the historic Sabarmati Jail is very different. Even at noon, people wait in a queue to buy hot bhajiya here.

The clientele is varied, but they are all united by their passion for these pakoras that are rustled up by inmates of the jail. 'Jail Bhajiya House' is the favourite haunt of Ahmedabad's snack lovers.

In 2009-10 alone, Jail Bhajiya House achieved a turnover of around Rs 70 lakh. The daily sales are to the tune of Rs 25,000. And the total turnover of bhajiya business run by prisoners across Gujarat jails is a whopping Rs 1.27 crore.

Chandubhai Prajapati, who earned name and fame at Jail Bhajiya House outside Sabarmati Jail, now runs his own venture. Before being sentenced to life in 1983 in a triple murder case along with infamous criminal Babu Bhaiya, he owned a small hotel in Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad.

In his first month in jail, Chandubhai offered help to the jail authorities in preparing delicious bhajiya and other savouries. 'In 1998, the then jail superintendent V.T. Gautam proposed to the then IG (Prison) Vijay Guman that a tea and bhajiya stall could be started outside the jail with Chandubhai's help. The IG approved the idea. The enterprise was an instant hit,' says a senior jail officer.

In just three days, the bhajiya stall made a killing. Senior officers were enthused to take the experiment forward. The bhajiya made by prisoners attracted a steady stream of customers who would queue up outside the food stall everyday. Today jail bhajiya is a household name.

Apart from bhajiya, the prisoners make other popular snacks like fafda-jalebi and managed the sales from the outlet close to the jail. One-time murderers, molesters and marauders found solace in the business of pakoras. Their enthusiasm hasn't waned one bit in all these years. The stall is manned by inmates of Sabarmati Jail. They are brought out from their cells after securing special permission from the Gujarat home department. The jail authorities said only convicts with very good conduct work in the stall. Four teams of ten convicts each work in rotation for a month. None of these notorious criminals serving life terms for offences like murder and rape have never attempted to flee. Says Veluji Saguji Zala, serving a life sentence for murder: 'When I was jailed I thought my life was over. But making bhajiya has given me a new reason to live. Nothing gives me more happiness than seeing satisfied customers. Why would I ever even think of escaping from this place?"

Manish Sukhadiya has a different story to tell. He was booked for dowry harassment and abetting suicide. He was in the food business before he landed up in jail. Making bhajiyas came easy to him. But he has learnt new skills in jail. 'When I return to my business, the lessons I have learnt here will stand me in good stead,' he says.

The inmates take the bhajiya business seriously. They are aware of what consumers want. So they always take appropriate care to ensure quality. By making bhajiya, each prisoner-turned-cook earns Rs 35 daily. Half that amount goes directly into an account each prisoner has at the post office, and the remaining half is retained for personal expenses.

While most of these men engaged in Jail Bhajiya House intend to return their earlier professions once they are free, some have taken the cue from the concept to turn entrepreneurs after their release. After completing his life term for triple murder, Chandu Prajapati set up his own food stall near Jail Bhajiya House where he spent a good deal of his life.

It was the success of the Sabarmati Jail Bhajiya House that got the other jails to replicate it. Apart from Ahmedabad, other prominent jails also achieved good sales of bhajiyas (Rajkot jail ' Rs 82,799, Surat jail ' Rs 47,57,420 and Himmatnagar jail ' Rs 10,26,935).

But bhajiya is not the only thing the prisoners make. Equipped through workshops and training programmes, the prisoners are now gainfully employed in a variety of activities such as making towels, textiles, tents, coats, bags, leather shoes, book-binding, screen printing, cooking bhajiyas, puffs, biscuits, bread, making phenyl, teak furniture, folders, and more. The products are of superior quality and the kitchens maintain an exceptionally high standard of hygiene. All the bhajiya house workers wear uniform and headgear. In the year 2009-10, through bhajiya, bakery items, carpeting, press related work, tailoring, weaving and other works, the jails across the state achieved a total turnover of Rs 7 crore.

The best part is the positive use of the prisoners. Talking to TSI, Additional DGP (Prison) P.C. Thakur says: 'These men are not born criminals. They commit crimes and get punished. But rehabilitating them is our core responsibility. To create a peaceful and prosperous society, we have to make them good and responsible citizens. And that is exactly what we are doing. The prisoners are positively employed. More significantly, they are equipped with a set of skills that will enable them to integrate back into society once they are out, and they will be able to earn for themselves.'

Jail Bhajiya House is now all set to sport a new look. Under the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's town planning scheme, the existing snack outlet is in line for demolition.

A few months back, a new bhajiya outlet was inaugurated at the nearby RTO Circle but its design was not quite satisfactory. Hence, students of National Institute of Design are designing a new outlet which will give the snack shop a professional feel. The Jail Bhajiya House is also going through brand-building exercise.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Redefining success

2010-12-11T16:40:00.001+05:30

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This messiah does not walk on water; his feet are firmly planted on the ground. Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy was educated in the most prestigious of academic institutions ' The Doon School and St Stephen's College ' but he found his moorings in the hinterlands of Rajasthan, where he set up the Barefoot College, now considered a touchstone model of community empowerment and rural development. Starring in the Time magazine's 2010 list of 100 most influential people, Sanjit Roy envisions significant contribution of Bharat to the future of India. An interview with Indira Parthasarathy'

You received some of the finest education one can dream to have in our country. Did Barefoot result because of, or despite that? Did you have to unlearn anything to start Barefoot?

It was Mark Twain who said, 'Never let school interfere with your education.' There is a difference between literacy and education. Literacy is reading and writing and what you pick up in school. Education is what you receive from your family, your community and your environment.

Soon after leaving College, for five years (1967-1971) I worked as an unskilled labourer deepening and blasting open wells for water. That meant going down a 100ft open well by rope and blasting it with explosives. I lived with very poor and ordinary people under the stars and heard the simple stories they had to tell of their skills and wisdom that lectures and university education can never teach you. My real education started then when I saw amazing people ' water diviners, traditional bonesetters, midwives at work. Through an unlearning process I reached this approach of the first Barefoot College of its kind.

Barefoot combines education and environmental activism. Do you think it's high time mainstream education also went for a similar approach?

The CBSE syllabus will be shortly including Barefoot Colleges' initiatives as part of a chapter on Environmental Studies. Since 1993, elected MPs of the seven childrens' parliaments have emerged as environmentally aware future responsible citizens of their villages.

Till 2003, the educational curriculum up till secondary level had a chapter on Barefoot College emphasising its Solar Energy and Rain Water Harvesting initiatives of rural communities.

Children attending schools in Germany study environmental initiatives taken by the night school and Barefoot College students towards spreading environmental consciousness.

What is the biggest impediment an earnest NGO faces in our country?

The main difficulties that I faced in 1971, when we started the Barefoot College, remains even today in 2008. By far the biggest threat to development today, and why the poor will always remain poor, is the literate man and woman who is a product of the formal education system. This system makes you look down on the village. The fact is that the knowledge and skills were used for hundreds of years well before the urban doctor, teacher and engineer turned up in villages.

The biggest obstacle to developing our own Indianness is the mindset of the literate expert who cannot think beyond the box. Einstein's definition of insanity, 'Endlessly repeating the same process hoping for a different result.' There is a far greater number of 'for the rich, by the rich' efforts around us than 'for the poor, by the poor'. How can the distribution be made more equitable?

Distribution can be made more equitable if the Gandhian non-violent approach ' strongly rejecting the classical arrogant top down development approach of the 'experts' ' is instead put into practice incorporating the following beliefs

l Identify, respect and apply existing traditional knowledge and skills and give practical skills more importance than theoretical knowledge.

l There are many more powerful ways of learning other than the written word.

l The demystified decentralised community-managed, community-controlled and community-owned approach put the traditional knowledge and village skills of the rural poor first.

l Taking the people into confidence from the very beginning of the process of planning and implementation, and not after the project is written and approved in places where experience of poverty is merely virtual (like in the World Bank or UN).

Do you think it is practical to suggest mandatory community service for every citizen?

No, it is not practical because anything forced is not going to work. One must not be made to feel community service is a punishment. It is a reflection on our formal system that anyone going back to the village after University or College is considered a 'failure' and mandatory community service will not change this attitude.

Barefoot is reminiscent of Muhammad Yunus' microcredit (Grameen Bank) model. Comment.

There are very few similarities. There are major differences in approaches, in methodologies, in how the Barefoot approach has been scaled up to only work in remote inaccessible villages around the world. While the Grameen Model can be applied in rural and urban situations, the Barefoot model can only work in poor rural communities across the world.

Back when you started Barefoot, Gandhism hadn't even been re-modelled into Gandhigiri. Were you inspired by Gandhian values?

I never read Mahatma Gandhi in school nor did I read him when I started Tilonia (Rajasthan). I read him 30 years later and he made such eminent sense. I did not read Marx and so he was no influence on me. The motivation was to work with the really very poor people and see how best with very little money we could tangibly improve their lives. Free from hunger and want. Free from fear, discrimination, exploitation and injustice. The challenge was all.

With roots in the village community and a deep rooted respect for proper use of water, air, earth and the sun, the Barefoot educators have set an example of how not to waste or over exploit nature resources. They are a living testimony to Mahatma Gandhi's famous saying, 'The world has enough for every man's need but not for one man's greed.' The Barefoot Blueprint

Highlights: From 1972 to 2007, the Barefoot approach has reached three million men, women and children living below poverty line through 20 community based organisations all over India.

Drinking water: 3140 hand pumps installed: 1042 hand pump mistries trained repairing hand pumps in 764 villages in seven states. Reaching nearly one million people.

Alternative energy: Solar lighting to 9347 houses, 274 night schools, distributed 4736 solar lanterns. 289 Barefoot Solar Engineers trained. One 30 KVA micro-hydel plant established in Ladakh providing lighting to 150 families. One Reverse Osmosis (de-salination) plant powered by 3 KWp solar power plant.

Barefoot architecture: Barefoot Architects have constructed 200 houses for the homeless in 76 villages benefiting 3000 families in Rajasthan. Fabricated 178 geodesic domes of scrap metal with ferrocement roofs in 56 villages for 4000 rural artisans in six states.

Education: 714 Night Schools in 673 villages for 235,000 dropouts (170,000 girls) attending school for the first time in eight states

health: Barefoot College is working through a network of 605 traditional midwives: 231 Bare foot doctors, 14 barefoot lab technicians.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Thomas Mann to Ludwig Lewisohn

2010-11-24T12:55:00.001+05:30

IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board

German essayist, cultural critic, and novelist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, Thomas Mann can easily be termed as one of the most enlightened intellectuals of the Nazi era. Thomas Mann moved to Switzerland in 1933 shortly after the Nazis had come to power and begun a campaign of abuse against him. He was formally expatriated in 1936. Among Mann’s most famous works is Buddenbrooks, which appeared when he was 26. In the following letter written to fellow writer Ludwig Lewisohn, Mann laments the death of his friend Menno Ter Braak.

September 30, 1940
Dear Ludwig Lewisohn,

Your book has arrived, has occupied me a good deal, and I would have written to you sooner were it not that my morbidly swollen correspondence, the product of these times, some days keeps me from my own writing. Today I received the news—or rather the confirmation of a report I had not yet brought myself to accept—that a good friend of mine, the Dutch writer and eminent critic, Menno Ter Braak, took his own life when the Germans invaded. It’s heartrending. Two other important Dutch writers have likewise fallen victim to this new variety of world history. The very best are those who are destroyed—which I suppose is only natural when ultimate baseness is victorious. Much trash has found refuge in America because such people raise a ruckus, while the nobler types go under silently. Your book, now: I read it some time ago, very quickly, almost at one sitting, and understandably with keen interest, for American as it is, it breathes in, if not out, a most European atmosphere. In literary terms it is close to the French, English, German spirit, so that I felt at home with it. In addition there was the emotion aroused by the human document—a somewhat mixed emotion, I will have to add, inclining toward the side from which, evidently, a state of being filled with one’s own ego, one’s own fate, one’s own errors and own happiness, one’s own loving and being loved, which antagonizes people—not only out of ill-will and a petty insistence on discretion, but also out of an irritated pudeur. And at least in times of great public tribulations, when there is a certain justification for that feeling. I might put it this way: The book really needs the shield and protection of posthumous publication. Let us assume that your considerable literary achievement were crowned and completed by a few more powerful works; that after you had become entirely what you are, you had departed this earth and friends had published these pages from your posthumous papers—in that case not only would there be nothing to be said against them, but they would be a real contribution. But as it is now, coming out in the midst of life, the book does constitute, if you will (I don’t “will” at all, but others do, so it seems, and I cannot entirely blame them) a kind of imposition, an act of naïveté, which to be sure is probably a condition for your productivity and without which your works (for this is scarcely a work) probably would not have been written—and yet the nakedness does, after all, have something disturbing about it.

As you see: interested, moved, but not entirely in agreement—that is how I feel. A public statement of mine on Haven would necessarily turn out somewhat tortuous, and since I have reservations about the book’s public existence, I have even more about my giving a public opinion on it. Thanks for something so personal had better remain personal. The occasion for my testifying once more to your literary gifts will come again—I prefer to wait for a new work cast more objectively, confident that you will not make us wait long.

Yours

TM

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Water woes intensify

2010-11-02T17:21:00.001+05:30

IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri: The New Age Woman

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

RAJU KUMAR AND NISHANT BHADRESHWAR

Water woes intensify 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. The scenario in the state capital Jaipur is no better, where water is being supplied once in a day, and that too only for an hour. “To add to our woes, we have heard that the government is planning to make it once in 48 hours. How would we live,” says Ashok Kumar Sharma, a resident of the walled city area.

Gone are the days when people would man pyaos to give water to the thirsty. Now, people are manning water bodies to keep the thirsty away from them. Water shortage has forced the residents of a village near Bikaner to maintain a tight vigil on the village water bodies to prevent water theft. “There is always a threat of water theft, so we have appointed watchmen to keep a vigil on our water bodies,” says Bhola Ram, a resident of Pugal village in Bikaner district.

It is feared that the availability would fall below 450 cubic metres by the year 2050. As per the international accepted norms, availability of water below 500 cubic metres is considered as absolute water scarcity. Although the Ashok Gehlot government is trying to take steps to ease the crisis, but so far the problem persists. “We are doing whatever best we can. Supplying water through tankers and running water trains. We have decided to supply water through tankers to more than 10,000 villages during May and June,” a senior official of the water department tells TSI. “We have also decided to focus on community-based water management solutions instead of predominantly engineering-based ones,” he adds.

The situation in the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh is probably worse. Brawls over water are resulting in people eventually killing each other at many places in the state. Incidents of the killing of three people of the same family in Bhopal, two people in Indore, a person in Bilkhiriya village and a person in Devas dot the 2009 calendar. Water woes intensify This year the first incident of killing over water was reported from the Bakshibagh locality of Indore on March 31. A 16 year old girl, Poonam Yadav, was stabbed to death by one of her neighbours. On April 7, Ramchandra of Alot was shot dead by his neighbour. On May 9, a few people killed 60 year old Madholal of Dhakora village in Rajgarh district following a squabble at the village well. A similar incident was reported from the Naryavali village in Sagar district a day earlier where a few people attacked with an axe and injured one Pushpabai at a well.

This is besides the daily squabbles over water in the state capital Bhopal where water is being supplied only once in 48 hours. People have to unfailingly wake up very early in the morning to fill their tanks. Others choose to keep a vigil whole night lest they miss the chance.

Water is hard to find even at 600 feet at some places in MP. Scores of rivers and water bodies have dried up. Gauri Shankar Bisen, a minister in the MP government, accepts that the crisis in the state is real. “There is acute water crisis in the state. We have allocated sufficient funds for the supply of drinking water to all the districts. We are paying special attention to the districts where the situation is more serious such as in Shyopur and Neemach,” he informs TSI.

In Maharashtra, farmers are the worst hit because of the water scarcity. “I had 3,200 trees of pomegranate on my farm. Of them, just 600 are left now. I had to cut down most of them due to lack of water,” says Ranjeet Patil who owns 30 acres of land at chakur town, 13 km off Latur. It’s not that Patil did not try to get water. There are as many as 17 bore wells on his farm but there is no water. The first bore well was 3oo feet deep and the 17th one was dug at 625 feet.

Presently, about 36,65,000 hectare of land is under irrigation in Maharashtra. The figure was12,20,000 hectare in 1960. With no considerable change in the rainfall pattern during the last 50 years, farmers had to rely on the underground water to meet the increasing need. But that too is now out of sight. Ecological Expert Atul Deolgaokar says, “According to a report by ‘International Water Management Institute’, if the use of water for drinking and farming continues in same way, then 70 per cent of the groundwater would be used up by 2020.”

In a survey done in March by the ‘Maharashtra State Groundwater Survey and Development Department’, it was found that out of 47 towns in Konkan division, groundwater level in 11 towns has gone down by one metre. In Aurangabad division it has dipped by one to three metres at different places. And this is what has affected farmers like Patil.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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There is still a lot of ambiguity on how they market themselves

2010-09-21T15:20:00.001+05:30

Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

Though value based that stand might be, NGOs are waking up to the fact that there has to be a judicious mix nevertheless. Says Arindam Paul, Director, Aurobindo Chaudhuri Memorial Great Indian Dream Foundation – GIDF – (a foundation supported by global giants like UNICEF, and funded by GAIL and National AIDS Control Organisation), “Even though we have considerable funding available, the fact is that the scope of work in improving disadvantaged classes is so huge, that no amount of funds are actually enough; one reason we have to keep up the fund sourcing effort regularly.”

If this is the situation, how is it that these new age Robin Hoods actually break through the clutter and ensure that people and authorities notice their efforts amidst growing number of NGOs in the country? In simple terms, how do they ensure brand recall, considering that advertising is not a cost-effective way for most non-profits to increase their fund raising or visibility? “Mass campaigning,” answers Rejitha, Joint Coordinator, Sakhi (a Kerala-based NGO that works for women empowerment). She believes that it’s the mass campaigns that have helped them to take their work to the public and authorities.

But there’re many BTL activities too that NGOs utilise for fund generation. Be it organising rallies and fairs, holding seminars or workshops, these marketers have always given such events an eminent position in their fund raising strategies. So far so good! But if industry experts are to be believed, then NGOs today have also started using new age marketing tools like social media as a much more effective way to increase their visibility. “Staffing for social media and developing a clear strategy can be hard, but it’s definitely more cost effective to implement,” agrees Sarah.

One can see the increased usage of celebrities when it comes to brand endorsements in the NGO fraternity. While Aishwarya Rai Bachchan can be seen campaigning for Smile Train (a charity that works worldwide for children with cleft lip), Sonam Kapoor and Vidya Balan too have stepped forward to raise funds for NGOs Khushi (an NGO working for upliftment of women and children) and Nanhi Kali (which propagates education for the girl child) respectively. GIDF even brought in the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Gledova for promoting fund drives. M. S. Dhoni, Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham, Anil Kapoor… all happen to be endorsing a social cause. Raison d’être: a big proportion of the NGOs strongly believe that celebrities really can take the message to the masses. Henri Tiphagne, Director of People’s Watch (a South India-based NGO working for protection of human rights), says, “It makes the job a lot easier when celebrities represent you completely and correctly.” More so because the sad truth is that media is more likely to highlight the event if a celebrity is attending it.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Royal Enfield Classic

2010-08-03T16:26:00.000+05:30

The legend is back: Royal Enfield made a lot of news in 2009 with the launch of the much-awaited Classic series. The single spring saddle seat and body coloured bumpers are the main attraction of this offering giving a classic biking experience of the pre-independence era to the rider. The bike, which comes in two variants – Classic 500 and Classic 350 currently, has around 3-6 weeks waiting on an average. While the Classic 500 has a twin-spark fuel injection engine, the 350 carries a carburetor engine. The design for this product has been crafted keeping in mind the looks of the cruisers that ruled the market in the 1950s, but it still has a timeless look and has a loyal set of consumers in the country. The Classic series has been accepted by the consumers with open arms and is expected to create another niche under the Royal Enfield’s umbrella in the long-run.

Pawan Chabra

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Despite being offered as a freebie, mobile banking has been unable to make inroads into India’s huge urban subscriber base of over 170 million.

2010-06-24T15:16:00.000+05:30

Now banks have once-again woken up to its potential. What’s the fresh brouhaha over this service that has actually had few takers in India? Manish k. Pandey on a fact finding mission...

IIPM enters into media education

Atul Pathak, a 36-year-old who works as senior marketing manager with a leading telecom service provider, boasts of being a part of that rare breed of professionals (of course, in his age group) who have always acted as vanguards when it comes to the use of technological innovations. In fact, he says it has almost been two years now since he last visited his bank for a financial transaction. Thanks to features like internet banking, he’s been able to save himself from the ritual of queuing up at banks apart from other banking hassles.

So, when mobile banking was launched in India a couple of years back, he was among the first few enthusiasts to take it up with a smile. But, his smooth smile vanished soon enough thanks to an over dose of effort on his part to get a hang of this two-year-old offering by his bank, which appears just as alien to him. “I am still ambiguous about this new channel, its service offerings and smooth processing,” says a visibly confused Pathak.

Even Akanksha Roy, a new-age advertising professional who too is a technology freak like Pathak, is not much of a mobile banking enthusiast. However, her reasons for not being one are little different from that of Pathak’s. “I am still not comfortable with the idea of paying my bills through mobile as I feel these transactions are more vulnerable to frauds,” she tells 4Ps B&M. No doubt, tech-freaks like Atul and Akanksha, or for that matter most of them, have found themselves facing a similar predicament at some point of time when it comes to the use of mobile banking channel. Be it ambiguity towards the service offering or the confusion regarding security threats, most of these tech-savvy consumers still find themselves in the same shoe.

Perhaps, this is the reason why despite being offered as a freebee, mobile banking has not really taken off among the huge urban mobile subscriber base of over 170 million in the country. “The registered user base for mobile banking is approximately 25 million or 7% of total subscriber base in India. In fact, the active user base for such service is as low as 10% of total registered base, which is a negligible number when compared to the huge Indian mobile subscriber base,” agrees Prathima Rajan, Analyst, Celent.

So, what is it that has prompted banks to suddenly go gung ho over a service offering that actually has few takers? Lately, there has been a lot of buzz about mobile banking, which offers twin promises of ubiquity and low cost. Apart from this, mobile banking is being considered as the service of the future, as such it becomes all the more important for banks, technology service providers, application providers, et al, to work together to develop a healthy mobile banking ecosystem in the country. “Phone banking is a very common phenomenon in the global banking world and in India bankers who are not providing such facilities are actually depriving consumers of technological advancements,” avers Rana Kapoor, Managing Director & CEO, YES Bank, which has recently launched mobile banking services in association with Obopay.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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After a short stint with the oldies, Red FM is once again setting its eye on Gen-X.

2010-06-07T17:23:00.000+05:30

But, will it succeed in becoming aaj ke zamaane ka radio station? Finds Pawan Chabra...

It was almost a decade back when the Radio industry in India witnessed privatisation, thanks to the government that finally waved its magic wand over this dying industry and paved the way in for private players. Not many, for sure, would have then known that this humble ‘restart’ would one day lead the industry towards an era where it would find itself loaded with scores of buzzing activities.

Cut to today, and the situation is such that the players in the industry are taking various initiatives to break the already cluttered space to make their presence felt. The players are not only trying hard to beat the competition heat, but are also resorting to various marketing strategies to stay relevant in an industry that has huge potential.

So, when now everyone is talking about ‘youth’, ‘the young’ and ‘Gen-X’, it’s 93.5 Red FM that is among the first few that seems to have identified the need of the hour. In fact, it has been busy revamping its sound and feel for the past one month now. The channel is repositioning itself as ‘aaj ke zamaane ka radio station and not baap ke zamaane ka’ and promises to play songs that are released post 2000 with an aim to become a youth centric channel. Apart from repositioning, Red FM made news a couple of months back (in August) when the company rebranded all its 38 SFM stations under a single Red FM’s umbrella. “Over the last few months, we had introduced songs belonging to a slightly older era since they tested well with our TG. But, we realised that while these songs were popular, by airing them we were confusing our target audience who had come to expect only the latest superhits on Red FM. Thus, the rationale behind the move is to go back to our roots,” explains Anuj Singh, National Marketing Head, Red FM.

However, so far, the repositioning initiatives have been limited to Delhi. “Radio is a local medium and audiences in different parts of the country. For instance, the difference between the audience in North East India and the audience in Andhra Pradesh is same as the difference between chalk and cheese. So while the repositioning will work with listeners in Delhi, it may not achieve the same amount of success in other markets. As of now, we don’t have any plans of extending it to other regions, however if our research leads us to believe that such a repositioning may work in other markets we may revisit our strategy in the future,” Singh reasons the move.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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The Discovery of ‘Rural’ India

2010-05-26T17:03:00.000+05:30

It’s the microfinance institutions that make millions step into consumerism each year, graduating from the economics of necessity to the economics of gratification

India has one of the largest networks of bank branches in the world, but the hundreds of millions of poor in the country are largely out of it. With 52,000 commercial bank branches, 14,522 branches of regional rural banks, 100,000 cooperative bank branches and growing, the country is teeming with institutions that should be able to meet the credit needs of the people who are starved of formal credit. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) came as godsend to try and transform themselves into successful mini-entrepreneurs, which in turn is pushing consumerism in rural India.

Rural India stands a testimony to the growing consumerism. India’s 700 million villagers now account for the majority of consumer spending in the country, more than $100 billion a year. Millions step into consumerism each year, graduating from the economics of necessity to the economics of gratification, buying themselves motorcycles, televisions, transistor radios, et al. As per NCAER, rural households form 71.7% of the total households in India. Spending in this segment is growing rapidly and consumption patterns are closing in on those of urban India. According to MART, rural India buys 46% of all soft drinks sold, 49% of motorcycles and 59% of cigarettes. In fact, this trend is not limited to utilitarian products: 11% of rural women use lipstick. No wonder then that a leading mobile company recently announced plans to roll out a micro-financing offer in 12 states to make mobility more accessible to rural markets and notably, to the female population in rural India. Conducted across over 2,500 villages, the microfinance scheme of the mobile company allows easy payment scheme on handsets to women consumers at a weekly installment of Rs.100 over 25 weeks. Although the level of affordability in rural India is low, MFIs are creating a virtuous circle of higher income, higher productivity & higher consumption.

India, home to 25% of the world’s poor, holds great potential for microcredit. There has been an explosion of MFIs, usually set up by NGOs. A decade ago, India had only 400 MFIs with 200,000 customers between them. Today, we have around a thousand such institutions. Commercial banks, too, have started participating in the movement and the result is that microfinance now serves around 17 million people. This is narrowing the chasm between India’s flourishing cities and rural hinterland.

Spread across 650,000 villages, with an average population of 1,100, rural villagers were long imagined by city dwellers as primitive, impoverished and irrelevant, something to drive past on the way to something else. Millions of poor women are today using small loans to rewrite their present and future. The movement has made them more confident than ever helping them to explore new horizons, new dreams. The most active states are Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Other states where such self-help groups are making a dramatic difference are Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. But poor women, who are in the forefront of the micro credit movement, use the small loans to jumpstart a long chain of economic activity from this small beginning.

Corporate India has carefully timed the announcement of the discovery of the rural Indian market. For the last quarter of the FY09, the country’s business and financial press has run a number of articles to explain how rural markets for consumer products are doing very well, how companies which have products for hinterland have done their balance sheets much good, and how the economic slowdown can be successfully beaten by selling to the rural India. A FMCG company realised the power of rural India. Project Shakti was born out of this realisation, and it has become a case study for business schools and evolved beyond its original goals.

Certainly, the opening of this new frontier of consumer demand from 700 million people could tip India’s role in the global economy from seller to buyer, from a vendor of outsourced skills to a source of consumers for the world’s wares. And that’s the reason why MNCs, from Coca-Cola to Nokia, appear increasingly keen to understand Indian villagers!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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HIP N’ HOT: GANDHI ROCKS

2010-04-30T15:19:00.000+05:30

India’s first family + their heritage = power brand #1

Forget blue-blooded marketers, most Indians these days – whether Gandhi family supporters or not – vouch for the enormous equity that the name ‘Gandhi’ enjoys in India’s socio-political fabric. And while the present credit for the same may go to Sonia and her brood, like most corporate brands with a 100 year legacy, brand Gandhi’s present-day charisma cannot be comprehended completely without taking into account the political legacies of Nehru, Indira and Rajiv. Says sociologist Dipankar Gupta: “The Nehru-Gandhi brand is the only one political brand around that can attract mass voters.”

As a metaphor, ‘Gandhi’ evokes all positive associations with the birth and formative years of India as a modern nation state. And the troika of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka enjoy all these positive brand associations by virtue of their familial connection. Sonia wins points for first being written off as an Italian Roman-Catholic, unfit to lead a Hindu-nation, and then praised for resurrecting the Congress. Rahul Gandhi, with his brand of youthful politics has more recently brought in the relevant youth connect to Congress’ traditional ardour. And Priyanka Vadra is reputed to be the silent force behind the popularity of her mother and brother (she was Sonia’s campaign manager in the 2004 General Elections, and also supervised Rahul’s campaign). Sonia, Rahul & Priyanka – India’s first family is what we call them; brand Gandhi is how we buy their political commodity!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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A Hong Kong holiday...

2010-04-09T12:47:00.000+05:30

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

Hong Kong’s making some extra efforts to boost its tourist inflows. The country’s Tourism Board (HKTB) hosted a ‘Discwover Hong Kong fair’ in Delhi to create the additional buzz about its key tourist attractions. Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Ocean Park Hong Kong, Madame Tussauds Hong Kong and Ngong Ping 360 were a key part of this mega marketing event.

Pallavi Srivastava

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
IIPM Related Links
IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

TATA NANO - AGENCY: LODESTAR

2010-03-25T13:03:00.000+05:30

Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

CHALLENGE: Announced in 2004, launched in 2008 – in the meantime, the Nano buzz had waned. The challenge was to recreate the excitement around brand Tata Nano. Moreover, time on hand was a constraint. Due to the hush hush around the car before the launch, the agency was made aware of the launch just 3 weeks before D-Day...

SOLUTION: They decided to use conventional media in an unconventional way to create buzz. The agency turned the traditional lifestyle auto advertising concept on its head.

PRINT: The news-in-brief columns were renamed as Nano-News columns, while trivia sections were re-branded as Nano Corners. On the day of the launch of the car, a Nano cartoon appeared in R.K.Laxman’s popular cartoon section in The Times of India.

TELEVISION AND RADIO: Pop up ads of the Nano were used during popular sitcoms to catch the attention of the consumers. But the most interesting TV innovation came in the form of “Nano Breaks” in between popular shows. On radio too, Nano Breaks, Nano Destinations (weekend getaways) and Nano Smart Routes (to avoid traffic) were made popular by leading RJs.

AMUL BUTTER: More than 30 million 100 gm Amul butter packs were renamed and sold as Nano butter packs.

MEDIA STRATEGY: The only thing about this campaign that was not ‘nano’ was the use of various media. 35 publication with 380 editions, 80 television channels, 41 radio stations and top ten internet sites were used to create the big buzz for the small Nano.

RESULT: The innovative strategy paid off well. Within two weeks of the launch, the car got 5,00,000 bookings. The car website was flooded with 5.4 million visitors in 24 hours of its launch.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

IIPM Related Links
IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year

...And AMCs need to rethink their push & pull strategies, says Deepak Ranjan Patra

2010-03-06T11:53:00.001+05:30

IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme

Without an established distribution network in place, most of the AMCs at present are dependent on distributors, agents who sell funds for a fee. However, the recent regulatory change, which banned the entry load levied by mutual funds on investors, has created a hurdle for the AMCs, particularly small and new, in becoming aggressive in the retail segment.

Meanwhile, as research reports suggest, the retail segment is expected to be the largest contributor to the growth of the asset management industry in India and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 35%-42% in the next five years. Moreover, during this period the mutual fund industry could see an addition of nearly nine million first time retail customers. If this is considered as a target that the industry is gearing up to meet, then very soon investors will see AMCs bombarding the market with new and innovative marketing initiatives, brushing aside their pre-historic strategy of depending on agents for sale. It will also highlight how different their product is and how it has delivered good returns in their advertisements. So, where will the AMCs be focused now?

Well, as per global consulting firm McKinsey, it’s branding. “Fund performance is necessary but not sufficient for driving the AUM growth. However, a positive perception of the brand induces a positive view of performance, even if the figures don’t bear this out. Strong brands influence perception of fund performance and hence spur growth,” suggests a McKinsey report (Indian Asset Management: Achieving broad-based growth). Agrees Waqar Naqvi, CEO, Taurus Mutual Fund. “Brand always has been a key aspect for the AMCs. But yes, earlier it used to get a little diluted because of the role of agents. But if the thrust shifts away from the old model of generating business, then brand will certainly take a front seat.”

However, distribution will continue to hold a lot of value for the AMCs. Most importantly, with banks, independent financial advisors and national distributors, all playing their roles, the AMCs have to be very careful in choosing their distribution partners. Because those partners will actually be the vehicles riding whom the AMCs can penetrate deep into the retail segment. As per Naqvi, “Owing to the change in regulations, we may soon see slight changes in the way the business happens today.” That certainly confirms the fact that the AMCs market itself will also see good amount of changes. So, don’t be amused if you get to see Shahrukh Khan selling XYZ fund on the idiot box.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
1 lakh copies sold in less than 10 days of Arindam Chaudhuri’s “Discover The Diamond In you”

IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
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It’s time to spice it up!

2010-02-20T13:07:00.000+05:30

IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme

Once the target audience is chosen, then comes the next ‘P’ – Product and in service industry like restaurant the product comprises both food and ambience, which again has to be chosen as per the target audience needs. But be very sure to be unique in your product offerings. And if you can’t find such USP, in that case give service a personal touch, as much as it’s possible like remembering the guest name, his preferences, et al. To give personal touch, start highlighting your key chefs, who can personally mingle with the guest. But then, remember whatever USP you create, it can be easily copied by others. So constantly nurture it. For instance, organise food festivals. In fact, in The Oberoi School I train people specifically on how to organise food festivals cashing in on festivals like Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, et al.

But that’s not the only two crucial imperatives to create a successful restaurant brand. In fact, if that was the case then many entrepreneurs who had other ventures too would have been successful here as being expert in other business they would certainly know the art of creating USP with the right target audience. So, the next biggest challenge is to find a good location for your restaurant. In fact, 50% of Indian restaurants shut down because of the location problem as unlike other businesses here you can’t sell your product through other retail stores. All the five star hotels are very fussy in choosing their locations, but at the same time a five star hotel chain (like ITC) with two hotels at different locations in the same city, might end up having huge difference in revenues from both the hotels and all because of their locations. So choose your location carefully. Agreed that often cost of prime location is too high, in that case concentrate only on one restaurant and don’t think of expansion in the initial phase. Because remember, we are talking about a standalone restaurant concept and why shall people come to you if the location is not comfortable or is unattractive.

Locations, USP, target audience are something which Asian nations like Singapore have been stressing on and when I was working on creating restaurants like Kinara and Hazara, in this country I noticed that by banking on all these three attributes we were able to attract huge tourist from the very beginning. Also when it comes to India remember there’s another value addition that we can do to create a brand and that lies in another ‘P’ – People. Pay your employees more than the market rate and acknowledge their work so that they can feel for the brand. In service industry it’s very necessary that you sustain and nurture talent and see the wonders they do for the brand.

But once the brand is created the next challenge is to sustain its consistency and change menu to be competitive. This is where your people could be helpful, listen to them. Priya Paul is always open to suggestions and that’s the reason The Park restaurants in Kolkata are always full of people. So like any venture, creating a restaurant brand also depends on Ps like – Product (and its USP), Place (location), People (your team) and of course, the target audience.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri’s latest blockbuster book, Discover The Diamond In You

IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
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IIPM B School : King Khan, Bollywood Badshah and Quiz Wiz — that’s Shah Rukh Khan for you

Most Glamorous Brands

2010-02-12T16:52:00.000+05:30

• Kolkata Knightriders
• Force-1
• Louis Vuitton
• Filmfare Awards
• IPL

Two brands right on top of one single category? You should have known this is India and cricket is perhaps even bigger than religion in many cases. So both IPL and the Shah Rukh Khan promoted KKR have been the people’s choice when it comes to glamour. And how can you ignore film stars? No wonder Filmfare awards find a place right here.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri’s latest blockbuster book, Discover The Diamond In You
IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
IIPM Best B School – EVENTS
IIPM conceptualized the grand final of Dare ‘10 — the most prestigious of international B-school student quizzes

It’s called Newton’s 3rd law, Mr. Obama!

2010-01-19T16:50:00.000+05:30

Ned Barnett is a Senior Political Media Analyst with experience of running media campaigns for former US Presidential candidates at state level. He writes exclusively for 4Ps B&M on why Obama’s PR campaign is backfiring...

America’s politicians are typically divided between two parties (there are other parties, but they seldom gain representation in Congress, and virtually never achieve real power, even in local or state elections); and typically, politicians “follow the party line.” However, because they are elected individually and are required to live in and come from the district they represent, they tend to oppose their own party when they fear for their own re-election. By pushing the American people so hard that they feel inclined to push back, the Obama administration has motivated hundreds of thousands of Americans to actually pay attention to politics, to get involved and to CARE.

During the Presidential campaign, Obama’s background as a “hardball” community organiser worked remarkably well – however, now that he’s governing, it is backfiring. Why? Because he seems to not be listening to Americans – and when Americans don’t feel that they’re being heard, they speak louder. Please remember, that in the US, the first element of the Bill of Rights allows us Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly and the Right to Petition the Government for the Redress of Grievances. By not listening to people’s free speech and by ignoring their petition to redress grievances, the Obama administration is courting that backlash.

There is a group – once called “the Silent Majority” – of people who tend to not speak out. They often vote, but they don’t protest or demonstrate. They are used to doing things for themselves, and they are much more comfortable “writing a letter” to an elected official, or the local newspaper, than going out in public with their home-made signs. However, because of Obama’s community organising initiatives and his “Change” agenda during the campaign, they have found the courage to step out of their comfort zone and speak out in public. They are not career protesters or life-long political agitators-for-change – this is not their natural milieu, and because of that, they are more emotionally tied up in being heard (and much more prone to real, sustained anger when they’re not listened to).

I am not implying that America is on the verge of a real revolution (of the armed revolt kind), but please remember this from our history if we want to understand this backlash – that it was not the Stamp Act (taxation without representation) that caused the revolution in 1776 – it was the refusal of King George and his Parliament to listen with interest to the American Colonists’ legitimate grievances that led directly to the Revolution that created the American Republic.

There are indeed precedents where Presidents have used the power of organised supporters (union members for instance) to push hard for their programs – the most obvious example is President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the depths of the Great Depression. He was a master at twisting people into activism, and it was effective. However, without the alternative media of today (cable news, Internet), the opposition was unable to push back. His efforts in passing the Communications Act of 1934 (he became President in 1933) reinforced the mandate that broadcasters had to broadcast “in the public interest” which enabled him to monopolise the media as never before to reach people. However, the times were different – especially the technology – so it is hard to compare them directly.

This is especially important in light of the question about how Obama’s media handling is going to change – I don’t think it will. To date, President Obama has seemed to be “tone deaf” – he hasn’t learned from mistakes (he hasn’t even acknowledged his mistakes – he’ll apologise overseas for America’s past actions, but won’t acknowledge his own mistakes). This is, in fact, remarkable. Even Nixon acknowledged mistakes – only Obama among all of America’s Presidents has refused to admit his mistakes.

Clearly, he’s seen his poll numbers fall – he’s seen how his confrontational tactics, especially in the last few weeks, have only ramped up anger and activity of the opposition Yet, he’s only gotten more confrontational. So – unless he has a real “eureka” moment, he’ll continue as is – waiting out his opposition, seeing if they will continue or – like the opposition in Iran and China – fade out after the initial enthusiasm. That may indeed be the right strategy – in democracies, it’s hard to maintain the focus of the “silent majority” who have jobs to go to, bills to pay, families to raise and other life issues that take them away from politics and re-immerse them in what we call “real life.”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri’s latest blockbuster book, Discover The Diamond In You
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Priti Nair on why Cannes compels...

2010-01-15T11:33:00.000+05:30

India has been shining bright at the Cannes lately. We have been picking up quite a few awards in the recent past and winning the right stuff. So, the hype that we are now seeing about Cannes and India making it big there is not unjustified. Our work is currently in focus and is being appreciated in the global advertising fraternity. Things have really changed for the Indian advertising agencies where 14 years ago people did not even know what you stood for and what you could showcase. They would come up to me and ask how can we speak such fluent English. Now they do not see India as one small country on the map and there eyes light up at our work. This is because they can now acknowledge what we are all about. I think it’s simply amazing. As for the people who get the chance to walk the red carpet and pick up some accolades, there life certainly changes as firstly, they become a focal point for attention and the adulation. There is an obvious celebration that happens for some time before getting back to work as usual. As Cannes happens only once a year, people usually push themselves to win and even our agencies encourage winners. Also, it’s a very nice feeling if you pick up an award for a regular brand; it pushes you in the right direction and encourages people to continue to do good work. Also, I think awards do add a lot of encouragement to the youngsters who are new in the industry, certainly more than the people who have been in the business for quite some time.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
1 lakh copies sold in less than 10 days of Arindam Chaudhuri’s “Discover The Diamond In you”
IIPM fights meltdown, places 2300 students By Education Mail Bureau
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better By Swati Sharma
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Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON

UNLEASHING THE POWER OF THREE

2009-12-30T12:25:00.000+05:30

To start operations in times of slowdown and quickly break into the top ten in the very first year of operations is indeed incredible. These guys can’t stop thanking their strong focus on bancassurance

You don’t just rise to be the numero uno within a year of operation do you? So why did we chose the Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance over other leading players (see chart) in the industry? Well, this new player’s performance has been exemplary, especially when the big bosses of the industry are facing a tough time. In just a year, this life insurer has climbed to the ninth position amongst India’s twenty one private life insurance players (in terms of market share on weighted premium income). Not only this, in April 2009, the company recorded its best sales performance over the previous month than any other private insurer. Guess that’s just one more reason to be counted as a success.

But, when listening to any success story, what strikes first is, how? For a conceptual product, which is actually sold rather than bought voluntarily by consumers, credit for the unprecedented response received by the company goes to its operations based on a bancassurance model, adequate capital, distribution capacity, strong distribution channel and innovative products. Certainly exclusive access to approximately 50 million potential customers and a pan India network of over 4,100 branches does give the insurer an ‘unfair advantage’ over some of its new peers. Explaining the success story, Harpal Karlcut, CEO, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company, says, “Our success is based on HSBC’s in-depth know-how of bancassurance, coupled with the distribution of Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce. Our performance has been delivered entirely by bancassurance.” What is evident is the fact that bancassurance has played a pivotal role in helping the new entrant break the clout of the biggies. The CEO agrees, “Each aspect of our business model has been tailored to bancassurance and the specific needs of each of the three shareholding banks; including products, promotion, training, operational support et al.” But the real success of a marketing strategy for an intangible product primarily depends on its execution and the insurer has taken due consideration of this fact too.

Success has many parameters and it seems this insurer has focused on each of them albeit more on bancassurance. But then, they should not forget this is just the beginning. To reach the top they have a long and winding road to cover. That’s when they’ll need a lot more than mere bancassurance to fulfil any leadership ambitions.

Gyanendra Kumar Kashyap

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri’s latest blockbuster book, Discover The Diamond In You
IIPM fights meltdown, places 2300 students By Education Mail Bureau
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better By Swati Sharma
Event at IIPM
Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON

High Tech Computer Corp. ever heard about it?

2009-10-13T16:41:00.000+05:30

Innovation lies at the heart of HTC, and as company officials claim, 25% of the total workforce is engaged in R&D. Though the company has managed to capture a sizeable presence in India, yet in terms of brand power, it has to make bigger and better marketing efforts, especially when the market has other well-established brands that had moved in much earlier than HTC. Another hurdle for HTC is that, given the fact that it operates in the price points above Rs.10,000, it is clearly gunning the upper crust of the market. Today, the only other player that operates in just the plus Rs.10,000 segment is Blackberry, but its brand is much more recognised and has thus already created a cult following amongst its target group. As Rajeev Makhani, a mobile handset expert and host of Gadget guru at NDTV states, “Blackberry has been widely accepted in the corporate circle, who have actually started a culture of Blackberries. In comparison to that HTC is still small in India.”

Another problem that occured with HTC in the recent past (read: the year 2008) is that, it had made a huge splash by marketing the fact that it has launched the cheapest touch phone, but then the global economic crisis followed and the company suddenly found itself faced against the wall. So where did it go wrong? “What happened with HTC was that it had not hedged against the dollar and was impacted quite adversely and because of that they were unable to launch any new handsets in the Indian market and hence could not keep up the excitement that they had earlier created,” says Ram Makhijani, a telecom analyst. Certainly, any keen observer would have noted the fact that today, HTC only offers 11 products, unlike during 2007, when it had as many as 17! But Sharma dismisses this as the truth as he proclaims, “We are evolving as a company, and what we were doing at that time was right then and what we are doing now is what the time demands from us now.” Defending its claims, HTC also points out that it grew by a whopping 300% during FY‘09 as compared to FY‘08. What’s more, the company plans to sell 1 million units by 2010!

HTC also claims that in its short span there have been a few learnings for them, which they are now applying to the market and is expecting to get good results out of the same. One such learning is that when a person is looking at buying a touch phone especially at such price bands, he/she prefers to get a feel of the same before paying for it and hence, just a dummy may not work. So, HTC has put in place a demo zone at high-end retail outlets to encourage experiential buying.

So, the question remains – will the HTC brand receive more favour in the eyes of Indian consumers? Well, going by Sharma’s confident approach, there is no need to worry for those 25% in HTC’s R&D labs; for the rest (75%) are doing their ‘smart’ selling & branding bit on the field. By the way, I guess HTC could start by disclosing what HTC stands for, as an acronym.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM fights meltdown, places 2300 students By Education Mail Bureau
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better By Swati Sharma
Event at IIPM
2300 IIPM students get jobs
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON

“Outsourcing is an all-weather concept”

2009-08-28T12:43:00.000+05:30

IIPM, GURGAON

Outsourcing of services is now being taken up as a strategy to optimise costs and enhance efficiency with the vision of building significant competitive advantage

Companies outsource services to gain the advantage of the expertise, accountability, shared resources and procurement leveraged through economies of scale offered by the services partner. Building competence in every aspect of business operations involves significant investment of time, effort and money. Developing excellence in every aspect is a near improbability, therefore, corporations rely on outsourcing to attain superior standard of services in a cost rationalised manner. With outsourced services, corporations can enter service agreements with clearly defined output expectations instead of having to hire personnel to undertake these activities. This relieves corporations of the costs, efforts and risks associated with the outsourced functions.

In fact, outsourcing is an all-weather concept. While in good times companies outsource to achieve rapid scaling up of support infrastructure, in lean economic times they do it to achieve cost efficiencies. This was also the case in the early 1990s when companies started to outsource facilities, management and administration services in the UK market experiencing recession at that time. In addition to recession, other Political, Economic, Social and Technological (PEST) drivers that have fueled the growth of outsourcing in mature markets are privatisation, globalisation and public private partnerships. These various initiatives, targeted at increasing efficiency, have employed the services of outsourced partners to manage a myriad of non-core services ranging from the outsourcing of supporting services for military bases, prisons, traffic control systems and public sector infrastructure.

The opportunities for outsourcing in India pertain not only to gaining the standard advantages of specialisation, accountability and cost control, they are also fuelled by the immense opportunities emerging in markets traditionally considered hinterland. The rise of Tier II and Tier III Indian cities as hubs of commercial activity has given rise to the demand for high quality workspaces and superior caliber outsourced services to support operations.

A strategically developed outsourced service has been proven to enhance bottom line performance. It impacts a corporation on many fronts – tacit and obvious. From the perspective of outsourced facilities services, as an example, a strategic approach to outsourcing integrated facilities services can minimise core business downtime, improve productivity, prolong and protect assets, reduce capital expenditure, enhance sustainability, minimise risk, and help to enhance reputation and brand among others. Companies that outsource the management of their facilities and other related functions to experts are capable of focusing on their core competence to increase productivity. Outsourcing of services is, therefore, increasingly being recognised as a short/mid term strategy to optimise costs and enhance efficiency with the long term vision of building significant competitive advantage.

In fact, apart from core competence, which is the inherent basic activity of a corporation to achieve its strategic objective, everything else can be outsourced. For instance, marketing and coordinating sales of cars is the core competence of an automobile brand. Potentially, an automobile corporation can work with specialist service partners to outsource every other aspect including operations and maintenance of the various elements of the production process, recruitment of personnel, payroll administration, logistics, et al, but the short answer to the question of whether core competence can or should be outsourced is “No.” It is interesting to note that when many firms embraced Business Process Reengineering (BPR) in the 1990s, majority limited this activity to their core business. Outsourcing to specialists is a method of introducing BPR and enhancing the efficiency of non-core business services. If the outsourcing specialist is an expert in his field, the risk should actually be keeping these services in-house.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School
Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
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IIPM - Admission Procedure

AJAI JHALA, CEO, BBDO INDIA

2009-08-07T15:25:00.000+05:30

IIPM Best B-school

1. Surf Excel’s ‘Dirt is good’ campaign, which symbolised freedom of expression and freedom to get dirty
2. Tata Tea’s ‘Jaago Re!’ campaign
3. Kurkure’s ‘Tedha hai par mera hai’ ad campaign
4. ‘Darr ke aage jeet hai’ campaign launched by Mountain Dew

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Brand: NIIT

2009-07-25T12:52:00.000+05:30

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

Agency: Contract
It gets you started on computers for as little as Rs.499 helped NIIT draw aspirants to its computer learning shops. Now you know at least a small part of NIIT’s journey from a small outfit in 1981 to a Rs.9.96 billion computer learning factory!

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON

EVE Marketing!

2009-07-21T11:51:00.000+05:30

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

On similar lines, MARS has recently launched a new chocolate ‘Fling’ with the punch line ‘Naughty, but not that naughty’, completely dedicated to women. The chocolate is launched only for the Californian market for now. To attract health conscious women as they avoid calories, this chocolate bar has only 170 calories per bar. MARS’ reasoning behind Fling is to give a permissive indulgence to women at 170 calories a bar, and at a recession-friendly price.

Sporting brand Reebok is also not far behind in this race. It has launched a new gym workout - JUKARI Fit to Fly along with a new fitness product line, especially for women. Katrin Ley, Head of Women Division, Reebok said, “These insights proved women perceived exercise as a chore, were unmotivated and uninspired to exercise but would workout more often if the gym was fun.” The initiative will be supported by a global integrated marketing campaign on online media, outdoor, in store and in print in key markets worldwide during the year 2009.

And this Venus effect is not just limited to US! Coca Cola is coming up with a new ad campaign in Europe ‘I am no superwoman’. The campaign is aimed at ‘have it all’ women who want to use the brand as part of the break from the pressure of their job. The company has given a new look to its website. It would be interesting to see that, will Coca Cola be successful in increasing females spending on the brand. Coke is a mass product and they are not launching any specific product for women but trying to capture their attention through ads targeted at them. Similarly, to catch eve eyeballs McDonalds’ McCafe Coffee sponsored the New York Fashion week held in February. The idea is to grab the attention of the tabloid-reading young women who closely follow the event.

Seems like the marketers are making a sincere effort to please the venus populace. But for brands to ensure that they constantly appeal to the eves, the most important thing will be to ensure that they are actually talking to women on a regular basis. One-off campaigns or product launches here and there will result in just temporary flings with women consumers, while a long term loyalty based relationship with them should be the aim of these marketers.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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After waiting for more than six months, the Jet-Kingfisher alliance stands questioned. Will it ever pay off? Ratan Lal Bhagat delves deeper...

2009-07-06T15:20:00.000+05:30

IIPM : One of the leading and most respected business schools

‘Two’ many cooks spoil the broth...’ That very first word of the commonly cited proverb reads faulty, but in the context of high-fliers, there couldn’t have been a more apt reference! We’re talking about two birds here – perched right atop the ‘market share’ tree (with the combine enjoying 52.7% market share; as per The Ministry of Civil Aviation), but swimming around desperately for lack of direction, bleeding shameful losses (about Rs.20 crore everyday!)... That sounds a tad paradoxical, considering we are talking about a market beating combination – in terms of fleet size, network and footfalls!

In the wake of the global economic downturn, with billions of dollars evaporating into thin air, joining hands with peers is definitely a way out of the mess the aviation players have got themselves into. So while on one hand, we talk about the new cartel being strong and impeccable, there is no doubt that even this one has suffered from the same prime deficiency of such an arrangement – sheer distrust amongst partners! Alright, enough of theory; let’s get to the numbers straightaway... and in the process, question whether the combination (announced in October 2008)has proved worthy for all the publicly loud promises made.

Logically speaking, much talk about synergies (route rationalisation, joint fuel management, common ground handling, code-sharing, interline and special prorate agreements, GDS integration, frequent flyer reciprocity and human resource sharing) meant that benefits from the deal for the now ‘virtual’ leader, should have ideally surpassed the costs of integration by a few light years! But, experts and industry analysts just don’t agree... One such opinion came from Binit Somaia, Regional Director, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), “The alliance is officially still in place. However there do not appear to have been any significant outcomes to date, at least in terms of network and schedule coordination.” And as mentioned before, their bottom-lines continue to bleed profusely and reportedly, each of them is losing a heartrending Rs.10 crore on a daily basis. Then there are self-confessed financials that stand alibi to our argument. For the quarter ending December 31, 2008, Kingfisher reported a loss of Rs.6.26 billion, while Jet burnt a mighty Rs.2.14 billion! Compare this to what they individually lost during the same period a year back (Kingfisher: Rs.1.91 billion and Jet: 0.91 billion), and you’d wonder: a powerful cyclop or just... sickly obese? Read more

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Nano will not affect the sales of Maruti 800

2009-06-10T12:05:00.000+05:30

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

The entire global auto industry is looking forward to the commercial launch of our own indigenously developed Micro Mini car – The Tata Nano

Ever since the wheel got invented, it has never stopped even in the hard days whether there was war or petrol hike or for that matter shortage of crude oil. Only cheaper options were used, from bigger automobiles they came to smaller ones, from four wheels to two, car pools used to tide over the hardship and people moved to public transport. Presently we are facing a sort of crisis although not so serious as happened during the world wars and in mid seventies when oil prices sky rocketed. In the last two quarters there has been a substantial increase in the sales of small cars. Since mid-2008, car sales in Europe have dropped drastically; huge pileups have been noticed outside the car manufacturing facilities, abandoned airstrips & cheaper parking lots taken outside city limits to store new cars by dealerships.

We are now heading for another grand entry into the World of Mini cars; the entire global auto industry is looking forward to the commercial launch of our own indigenously developed Micro Mini car – The Tata Nano! The timing of Nano launch couldn’t have been better. Even Nostrodamus could not have predicted this world wide recession & economic meltdown. Ratan Tata’s promise five years back to deliver to the world a car priced at hundred thousand rupees has indeed come true. The much awaited launch of the Nano has been announced for March 23. Though a lot of water has flown under the bridge in these five years and there has been a price escalation of 15-20%, it is now to be seen what the introductory price of Nano is going to be. Commitments made five years ago were based on pricing of raw material and other input costs at that time. How Tata plans to keep his word is something that one has to wait & see. This of course is compounded by the fact that how long would they hold the launch pricing even if they manage to announce the price at one lakh! Tatas have come a long way since they first introduced their passenger cars, almost two decades have passed and a lot of R&D has been done in critical areas of customer comfort, reliability, pricing and features, styling, etc. Collaborations with other automobile giants like Fiat, using well established technologies have allowed Tata to produce cost aggressive, well performing, decently styled vehicles.

There is often a discussion lurking under the shadow of Tata Nano – how will the Nano launch affect our own tried, tested & trusted Maruti 800? Actually speaking they are two different segments now. In fact the arrival of the Nano has virtually split the Mini A Segment further: Maruti 800 and Nano 600. Let me also add here that the Nano is not, I repeat, ‘not’ going to replace the two wheeler as the popular buzz word goes around. Two wheeler owners may have a Nano for weekend and other occasions use where the family has to move together but one definitely cannot afford to use the Nano to office and back in terms of maintenance and fuel economy. As predicted by the manufacturer, this car is going to give a fuel economy of 20 KMPL a consumption that has already been ‘endorsed’ by the ARAI in case of the Suzuki A-Star. Hence, the novelty and popularity of Nano is going to be the price factor and the small size! It’s going to be a popular second car option in the urban middle income group house-holds.

Already a lot of variants for the Nano are being thought of, hybrid, battery operated, diesel operated and any other researched power option. Because of its size & weight, Nano can be imagined with various innovative propulsion systems. This car’s arrival is going to turn around the future of Tata’s passenger car offerings in the domestic & global market. It may well get to be the hottest seller of the past and the next 25 years and is sure going to turnaround the fortunes of Tata! But then didn’t we hear Suzuki, GM and others planning a Nano beater for India? These car manufacturing boys love their toys and all of them, for a change, are going strategic saying ‘Mine is smaller than yours’ – one industry where Size Does Matter!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Must we dread the ‘N’ word?

2009-06-01T15:17:00.000+05:30

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

The prime concern at this moment for Bernanke, as well as for the US, is to recover from the current recession. For that the financial sector needs to stabilise and the banking sector to normalise its lending. But in the prevailing environment banks are busy saving up for the rainy day (as if it hasn’t already come!). To counter the situation, apart from letting the economy die, the Fed is left with two more alternatives. First, as Paul Donovan, Managing Director, Global Economics, UBS Investment Research told 4Ps B&M, “The Japanese way of stabilising the growth at a sub normal level with a distressed banking system.” And the second option is the Swedish approach of short term nationalisation, which means taking over banks, cleaning them up, and then selling off as soon as possible. While the first one is not at all advisable for obvious reasons, the second option is impractical for the US. As Donovan explains, “The Swedish method is not directly applicable to the US banking system because the US has a large banking system comprising many small banks. It is unlikely that the US will guarantee all creditors of the US banking system as Sweden, which had a few large banks, did. Certainly there are lessons (positive and negative) that can be learned from the Swedish solution. However, each banking crisis has unique causes and requires unique and customised solutions.” Definitely, the US solution has to be unique and customised. It has to be far more punitive.

It’s true that the US cannot takeover all banks, so it must become harsh. Let a few of them close down, and at the same time pick up a few large ones, revamp and make them torchbearers in its fight against recession. This process is not at all alien to the US as Mark Vitner, senior economist, Wachovia Corporation, says, “We have a process that allows the federal government to take over and temporarily run financial institutions. This was done most recently with IndyMac Bank in California.” Bernanke must immediately take a cue from this and make sure that things are back on track as soon as possible; does not matter how.

With ever increasing examples of nationalised banks beating their private counterparts, we must stop throwing good money after bad money, and be bold enough to bolt those responsible for the bad money (losses). So there! If Bernanke fails to do it right this time, obviously to prove his ‘strong supervisory oversight’, who knows which way the cookie will crumble next!

The prime concern at this moment for Bernanke, as well as for the US, is to recover from the current recession. For that the financial sector needs to stabilise and the banking sector to normalise its lending. But in the prevailing environment banks are busy saving up for the rainy day (as if it hasn’t already come!). To counter the situation, apart from letting the economy die, the Fed is left with two more alternatives. First, as Paul Donovan, Managing Director, Global Economics, UBS Investment Research told 4Ps B&M, “The Japanese way of stabilising the growth at a sub normal level with a distressed banking system.” And the second option is the Swedish approach of short term nationalisation, which means taking over banks, cleaning them up, and then selling off as soon as possible. While the first one is not at all advisable for obvious reasons, the second option is impractical for the US. As Donovan explains, “The Swedish method is not directly applicable to the US banking system because the US has a large banking system comprising many small banks. It is unlikely that the US will guarantee all creditors of the US banking system as Sweden, which had a few large banks, did. Certainly there are lessons (positive and negative) that can be learned from the Swedish solution. However, each banking crisis has unique causes and requires unique and customised solutions.” Definitely, the US solution has to be unique and customised. It has to be far more punitive.

It’s true that the US cannot takeover all banks, so it must become harsh. Let a few of them close down, and at the same time pick up a few large ones, revamp and make them torchbearers in its fight against recession. This process is not at all alien to the US as Mark Vitner, senior economist, Wachovia Corporation, says, “We have a process that allows the federal government to take over and temporarily run financial institutions. This was done most recently with IndyMac Bank in California.” Bernanke must immediately take a cue from this and make sure that things are back on track as soon as possible; does not matter how.

With ever increasing examples of nationalised banks beating their private counterparts, we must stop throwing good money after bad money, and be bold enough to bolt those responsible for the bad money (losses). So there! If Bernanke fails to do it right this time, obviously to prove his ‘strong supervisory oversight’, who knows which way the cookie will crumble next!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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“Real estate sector set for a realistic growth”

2009-05-14T13:32:00.000+05:30

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

After an explosive one-off boom period one can now expect Indian realty sector to stabilise and emerge as a better organised sector growing in line with GDP

The last five years in Indian real estate constituted a one-off boom period triggered by the emergence of India as a global investment destination. This is a general phenomenon that every sector goes through before maturity – we can compare it to the Dotcom boom of 2000-2001 or the stock market boom of 2007-2008. The end always comes as a surprise, and can never be accurately predicted.

This is not to say that the good times have come to an end - real estate is one of the basic industries of any economy and will always be an important component. In times ahead, we will see the industry revive and accelerate, though through smaller and shorter cycles. We already know that every industry has a life cycle of explosive growth, stabilisation and maturity, followed by moderate growth. Real estate used to be a niche industry in terms of stock market exposure and private equity funding, but now, it will emerge as a larger, more-organised industry with realistic growth in line with the GDP, and it will represent a better and more sustainable value proposition.

Over the past six months, the real estate industry in India has undergone various changes. Now that the popular myth of India being a de-coupled economy is finally broken, we are faced with new challenges that will see the progression of the industry into the next phase of a general industry cycle.

Consolidation
It is historically established that as an industry matures, it gives way to fewer and stronger players who help to bring some sense in the industry. The coming months will see consolidation in an industry that is on a journey towards equilibrium price discovery, resulting in a win-win for both the developer and the end-user. Developers may not get the high margins, which they were used to, but they can still make money through higher volumes and a faster cash cycle. Consolidation will happen at different levels. Such consolidation will mark the extinction of the fly-by-the-night operators who had entered the industry and had made it deviate from its fundamentals.

Economic Recovery
Both GDP growth and exports growth are slowing down; there is also a pain of rising unemployment. Post Satyam, questions are being raised about corporate governance in India. However, I do believe that India will be able to recover faster than other economies, since its people are inherently savings-oriented, subject to moderate leverage and typified by caution. In comparison to the rest of the world, our growth is still fairly fast, we have the maximum number of people in our collective skilled work force and our financial sector has maintained a cautious approach. We will see the results of this before too long.

Residential Revival
The projection of India needing approximately 22 million units still holds true. Therefore, demand still exists, and increasing affordability in housing will help tap this demand. Also, affordability has to transcend the current far-flung locations and kick in at the suburban levels, closer to CBD areas. Currently, developers must not only complete projects under execution but also re-strategise to sell them quickly. Once they get out of the existing inventory and execution pipeline, they can look at new land parcels and new business ideas.

2009, especially the second half, will bring excellent bargains for investors, as well as for those who have a medium-to-long term view on the industry and the necessary risk appetite. Much will depend on being bang on target in terms of location, product and entry valuation.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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“Move over Mr. Big, this is my playing field!”

2009-04-22T16:30:00.000+05:30

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

From leaner, smaller and more flattened organisations to everything value-for-money and no-frills, the slowdown sentiment has marketers salivating over the rediscovered power of ‘small’ over Indian consumers. Small portions, small housing, small cars, small handsets, chhota recharge, budget travel, et al, are the new big boosters...

What goes around, comes around. Capitalism trounced the saving habit and steered consumers toward conspicuous consumption. But the fall from grace of capitalism’s most iconic symbols (read: Lehman, Merrill Lynch and others of their ilk) is making many cringe at their recent splurging - especially those in the US. Albeit lesser affected, but consumers in India have balked at the fate of their US counterparts. After all, India Shining, outsourcing, 9% growth rate and YouTube had most of India’s 300 million strong middle class happily married to the American dream, replete with plastic money and cheap mortgages. The crash is seeing many of them run for cover. Forced to acknowledge economic fear after almost a decade – Indian consumers are once again tightening their purse strings. And the effect is visible across myriad sectors and consumer segmentations. Read on...

Despite the economic gloom that seems to have cast a feverish shadow over conspicuous consumption globally, Ronald’s India journey is turning out to be a scrumptious ride by comparison. McDonald’s colorful clown character cum mascot simply can’t quit grinning in his various poses at the QSR chain’s 150 golden arches across the country. The optimism is part reflected in the growing number of burger-happy faces that continue to mill around McD outlets in India. Tough times notwithstanding, footfalls are on a rapid incline. Reason? Economic uncertainty is making consumers frugal, shifting their eating out options from fine dining to casual dining (like Pizza Hut) and from casual dining to QSR chains like McDonald’s. Small servings, meagre price tags (burgers at Rs. 20 anyone?) no-frills eating is clearly the way forward (at least for the near – if uncertain – future!). Ask the management at this burger and fries company about the slowdown effect and they feign total ignorance. “Slowdown? What slowdown?” Profitability, they say, has jumped 100% in 2008, with a 25-28% y-o-y. sales growth. System-wide footfalls have also increased simultaneously by 14-18%, and if the gloom persists, the management is expecting both sales and footfalls to increase even more dramatically in the first quarter of 2009.

So when most companies are in downsizing mode, this one’s on a hiring spree, with a plan to hire more than 2,000 new associates over the next two years. But McDonald’s hiring plans are simply an aberration in India Inc., with almost every business house – across financial services to infrastructure and realty – singing ‘small is beautiful’ (read: lay-offs and recruitment freezes). The fight for survival has companies retaliating via cost cutting measures and nimbler, meaner operations, believing that it will give them the ability to cut their losses in these tough times and come back stronger when the economy bounces back.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The real power of ‘small’ is reflected in the recent going-ons in corporate India. When Tata announced his Rs.1,00,000 dream car Nano early last year, competitors merely sniggered. Indian consumers have moved up the value chain, they said, adding that the market has matured beyond small cars. By the beginning of 2009, however, a slew of carmakers had either launched or announced small car plans for the same (mature?) market! Similarly, aviation analysts who could not stop predicting the death of low cost airlines in India (no thanks to the bleeding losses that the carriers continue to make), are now busy heralding a new dawn for the no-frills sector. Agreed that the steep fall in ATF prices have also contributed their bit to this resurgence; yet, the optimism is more pronounced thanks to its value-for-money appeal for India’s slowdown-hit air travellers. Even the big man Anil Ambani is dreaming small these day. The initial tariff plans for his GSM launch specifically target subscribers with sub-Rs.300 mobile expenses. If you don’t listen to consumers you perish and today the Indian consumer has fallen in love with “small”..

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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DRAGON BREATHES FIRE AT THE OLYMPIAD!

2009-04-02T16:58:00.000+05:30

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LEADING HIS TEAM OF 104 MEMBERS, LIU QI WORKED DILIGENTLY FOR SEVEN YEARS TO CREATE A ONE-OF-ITS-KIND SHOW TO BE CHERISHED FOR LONG

The summer of 2008 witnessed the 16 glorious days of the ‘Beijing Olympic Games 2008’ that kept spectators mesmerised at the glitzy venue in China and sports lovers around the globe glued to their TV screens. The unprecedented success of the 29th summer games highlighted the hard work put in by the people who toiled to make the event a memorable one. The real showman manning the magnum opus of the XXIX Olympiad was the President of the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG), Liu Qi. With him at the helm, the Olympiad reached its pinnacle in the Beijing Games, with record 11,000 athletes from 204 countries taking part. “BOCOG under the able leadership of Liu Qi has offered to the world 16 days of exciting Olympic sports competitions, supported by smooth operations,” avers Jacques Rogge, President, International Olympic Committee (IOC) to 4Ps B&M. Liu Qi had penned down the blue print of the entire preparation of the games into three phases. The first phase saw BOCOG roping in renowned marketing partners and sponsors like Volkswagen, Bank of China, McDonald’s, et al. The second phase (2004-2006) was assigned the completion of the construction of the Olympic projects (including 11 stadiums and gymnasiums) along with signing of contracts with the National Stadium, National Swimming Stadium, et al. Working out detailed plan of security, traffic and logistics were also its part. The third phase was devoted to testing the various events (37 pre-Olympic competitions were held to test the facilities) and fine-tuning of the last minute preparations.

A splendid Olympic Village (a 66-hectare compound), state-of-the-art venues, strict enforcement of anti-terrorist measures, et al, testify to the fact that BOCOG achieved the target it had set for itself. The success of the event can be attributed to the minute detailing, proper planning and apt implementation by BOCOG,” declares Rogge. While Liu Qi was honoured with Gold Olympic Order for his work, others in his team bagged Silver & Olympic rings.

At the face of the grand event lay several challenges facing China (from violent protests in Tibet aimed at disrupting proceedings of the Beijing Games, to related protests overseas against the torch relay). But this did not deter Liu Qi. In fact, a study conducted by Nielsen shows that the Beijing Olympic Games attracted a whopping 4.7 billion spectators. Furthermore, according to an assessment by IOC, Beijing Olympics brought change to China in areas as diverse as media freedom, environment and public health. So, do we already see London (the next Olympic venue) sweating and panting to outdo its predecessor’s success?

Ratan Lal Bhagat

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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IACOCCA BE DAMNED!

2009-03-21T13:42:00.000+05:30

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

In his autobiography, the legendary Lee Iacocca postulated downturns do not touch the entertainment & restaurant industries. Pallavi Srivastava refuses to blink...

If you are an ardent reader of Page three pullouts – in fact, we guess even if you aren’t – you would have easily noticed in the past few months the sudden absence of super-big announcements of new projects being rolled out and actors being signed on, factors that have kept Bollywood buzzing for the last few years. Is this an indication of the fact that even tinsel towns get affected by economic downturns, Iacocca be damned? Yes, there are reports about numerous films being shelved, put on hold or failing to get buyers, but the question is, are these indications purely of economic downturn? Weren’t there always cases of films being shelved or put on hold?

For current records, Nagesh Kukunoor (the director of films like Iqbaal, Dor et al) seemingly has no takers for his film Aashayein starring John Abraham. Two movies of Salman Khan (one of T-series and one from Tips) have reportedly been put on hold. Himesh Reshammiya’s Gujju Bhai has been shelved by Studio 18 for now. Vipul Shah’s London Dreams’ deal with the Indian Film Company (IFC) for an exorbitant Rs.120 crore is rumoured to be facing a time glitch. T-Series CEO Bhushan Kumar has asked Director Pooja Bhatt to reduce the budget of new film Kajra Re. Even the much hyped multi-billion dollar Hollywood deals of Indian companies have not been left untouched. Ripest grapevine gripe portends that this years’ most talked about deal between ADAG and Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg is on hold too. And ADAG camp’s package deals with Indian producers like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, et al are also under the scanner.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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MFs sink further into the red!

2009-03-13T14:32:00.000+05:30

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All thanks to the global meltdown, MF industry in India has witnessed value erosion of Rs.759.96 billion in equity related schemes in the first seven months of FY 2008-09. According to the AMFI data, Rs.406.08 billion of this was lost in October alone. Notably, BSE Sensex and BSE-500 also recorded their single biggest monthly fall in October. BSE Sensex plunged by 23.9%, while BSE-500 fell by 27.1% in October. AUM in equity related schemes too declined from Rs.1,890.25 billion as on March 31,2008 to Rs.1,579.13 billion as on October 31, 2008. This fall in AUM is partly due to value erosion in equities & partly due to redemptions that followed them.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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AMD is fighting a similar battle with Intel in India

2009-02-19T17:01:00.000+05:30

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The US too is trying to daunt its biggies from indulging in such monopolistic malpractices. In an ongoing case filed in the US District Court of Delaware, microchip player AMD has charged market leader Intel with pay-offs to Acer, Dell and other major Japanese manufacturers to not entertain similar offers from AMD. In fact, the Korea Fair Trade Commission, after two years of investigation, has already fined Intel $25.4 million in June this year for offering rebates to South Korean computer companies, in a bid to undercut AMD.

AMD is fighting a similar battle with Intel in India, alleging that most state and central government procurement tenders demand only Intel chips in PCs. However, unlike the west, India’s regulatory mechanisms are almost non-existent. The decades old MRTP Act has no claws and despite the New Competition Act of 2002, the Competition Commission of India is still an elusive chimera, for now functioning merely as an advocacy body with limited staff on its rolls.

Those in favour of the Jet-Kingfisher alliance, of course, relate back to the days when the European Commission cleared a similar cooperation pact between Lufthansa of Germany and Scandinavian Airlines System. But they forget that the region had adequate deterrence mechanisms in place. The Lufthansa-SAS alliance was approved on the pre-condition that the airlines take steps to ensure the link does not turn into a monopoly (the carriers had to give up certain slots, flights and agreements with other airlines).

Dealing with cartels has become an omnipresent threat to the global economic well being, especially in these inflationary times. Studies suggest that recent cartels raised prices in Japan by 16.5%; in United States, estimates suggest that hard core cartels can cause prices to up by over 60-70%. Clearly, a lot is at stake for the Indian economy, also tethering on the brink of sky-rocketing prices. Of course, a lot of it is simply attributable to the global economic recession, but then it has always been tough to establish cartels and collusions. If politics makes for strange bedfellows, businesses take the cake for sleeping with the enemy… uhm, figuratively speaking, of course!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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