Showing posts with label Guru and economist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guru and economist. Show all posts

Friday, July 02, 2010

Game for more

TSI Five-O: Adventurous summer fun, Disney style

In the Disney tradition of turning theme rides and fairy tales into full blown movie franchises, “Prince of Persia” also turns out to be pretty enjoyable fun fare. Of course, it is modelled on the highly successful eponymous video game and the elements of adventure that made the game such a favourite come alive on the screen too. Mike Newell, the director, deserves some credit for that and having handled adventure in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, he is no stranger to the genre. The script is not as sliver thin as you might guess with a video game (the original game itself had a great backstory) and the casting also helps with Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley lending solidity to the performances and the action sequences ringing in the excitement.

The plot borrows from the game – the prince has to stop the evil ruler from getting his hands on the sands of time which will unleash an apocalyptic storm that will turn back time – but there are some refreshing twists along the way. Young Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an accomplished warrior who is adopted by the King of Persia. But, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy when the king passes away under mysterious circumstances. Dastan is accused of murder and is on the run with princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), who he encountered at a battle in the holy city of Alamut. While he tries to clear his name with help from the princess, he realises the real conspiracy runs deeper as the evil Nizam (Ben Kingsley) is trying to gain control of the sands of time – a mystical weapon capable of changing the fabric of time. The chase against time offers enough opportunities for showcasing the parkour style fight sequences that players of the video game will recall. First time viewers will love the energy and the excitement as well.

The real stars of the movie are director Mike Newell and the producer with the magic touch, Jerry Bruckheimer. The foundation is well set for the sequels to be rolled out, and the Pirates franchise is any indication, I would say – bring it on! You’ll enjoy the experience whether you were a fan of the game or not but don’t go looking for intellectual stimulation and have fun watching the lovely landscapes and breathtaking action. More importantly, don’t dismiss it as a poor movie cousin of the video game (remember Max Payne and Lara Croft?) either.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Killer roads take a toll

Experts attribute road accidents to overspeeding

Some twenty-five passengers were injured when a bus collided with a truck on the NH 31 at Pathsala in Barpeta district on the night of May 16.

Nearly fifteen schoolchildren were injured when a school bus (AS 15-1616) fell into a ditch on May 22 at Burah in Darrang district.

Local dailies in Assam unfailingly reports about such road accidents. According to government statistics, during the past one decade road accident cases have doubled in the state. In 2000, some 2,429 road accident cases were reported. But the figure increased to 4,869 in 2009. Accidental deaths in 2009 were 1,991 as against 1,032 in 2000. In comparison to all India level, Assam shares 44 per cent of accidental deaths.

In Guwahati city, some 626 motor accident cases took place in 2007; 626 in 2007; 641 in 2008 and 508 in 2008. Among districts Sonitpur registered a maximum 363 accidental cases in 2009. Lower Assam’s Dhubri district and Barak valley’s Cachar district stood second and third with 346 and 306 accidental cases. Out of 4,686 accidents taking place in the state in 2008, as many as 2,683 accidents took place on national highways; 849 were on state highways and the remaining 1,151 on other roads of the state.

City Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Bibekananda Das told TSI that the traffic branch of city police is compiling last five years’ data of road accidents to study them. Only after completion of the process, decision could be taken to prevent accidents, the newly appointed SP (traffic) said. Traffic experts attribute road accidents to overspeeding and even increasing cars on the roads. “Untrained drivers, fake licence holders and absence of civic sense among people are also responsible for increasing number of accidents,” Violet Baruah, SP (CID) told TSI. The problem is further compounded when some drivers don’t obey traffic rules, she said.

According to the rule, mobile phones should not be used during driving and seat belts should be fastened, but only a few people obey them. Drunk driving is also responsible for several road accidents in the state.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Fighting floods, inviting funds

B S Yeddyurappa, the first BJP chief minister in south India, will complete two years in the office on May 30. busy organising the much hyped Global Investors’ Meet to be held in June, he claims it would throw open new avenues of development in the state. Some would agree, others not. B S NarayanaSwamy grills the CM on issues political and social exclusively for TSI

You’ve been in office for two years. Are you satisfied with the work done by your government so far?

A person should not be satisfied with the results at any point. Because once you are satisfied, you are likely to stop working hard. We have done a lot of work in the last two years, but a lot more remains to be done in the coming years.

Your government is going to spend hundreds of crores of rupees on the two-day Global Investors Meet (GIM) next month in Bangalore. How feasible is the move to invite huge investments when the state is facing a severe power crunch?

Some brainless people are spreading the rumour that we are spending Rs 1000 crore on GIM. Actually, the expenditure is not even Rs 100 crore. As for the power crisis, I would like to inform you that the government is not going to provide power to every new industry. Many industries would generate power for themselves and would perhaps give the surplus to us. There’s no need to worry.

I am sure that in terms of the overall development of the state, the GIM will become a milestone. We are expecting to attract huge investments—about four lakh crore rupees, to be precise—in a number of areas such as infrastructure, micro and small enterprises, tourism, education, power and health. We are focussing on development in both rural and industrial sectors and simultaneously to generate employment. Many global industrial giants are participating in the event.

It’s being said that the government is more interested in global investment than in rehabilitating lakhs of people displaced by last year’s massive flood?

During the last two-three decades, more than 350 villages have been repeatedly ravaged by floods. But previous governments did not care to make any arrangements for the rehabilitation of those affected. Last year’s flood was of unprecedented magnitude. Now they (the Opposition) are accusing us of not paying attention to this matter. But the fact is that my government is keen to rehabilitate flood-affected people, and we have already done a lot for them. We have distributed the compensation money and have allotted dwelling units to the affected. We are planning to allot around 10,000 more houses this month. It was delayed due to the model code of conduct for the gram panchayat elections. We have acquired around 5000 acres of land to build more dwelling units for the affected. The process for laying power lines and providing drinking water is on. Why, even union home minister Mr. P. Chidambaram appreciated our efforts and speedy work towards rehabilitation.

According to a recent study jointly conducted by FICCI and KAF (Konrad Adenauer Foundation), 42 per cent of the investors are not happy with conditions in the state. They say starting a business here is difficult…

As compared to the neighbouring states, Karnataka has far better conditions and infrastructure for investment. Perhaps the only difficulty is the power supply. But we have already taken steps to generate sufficient power. I hope Karnataka would be self-sufficient in the power sector very soon.


The Opposition says that the power crisis is not as much about production as it is about distribution? Is it true?

They make these accusations to hide their own mistakes committed during their rule. The power leakage during distribution has come down by 25 per cent in our regime.

Your government has repeatedly been accused of trying to protect some tainted ministers. The Opposition has been demanding their dismissal but you have not yielded so far?

It’s not the Opposition’s job to advise as to who should be in the cabinet and who should be thrown out. It’s the people, and not the Opposition, who decide who is tainted and who’s not. And the people have given their mandate to us. There is no tainted minister in my cabinet. The Opposition keeps levelling such accusation just for the sake of it.

What do you think of the Governor’s show-cause notice to your tourism minister G. Janardhana Reddy, seeking explanation on his alleged involvement in some illegal activities?

I don’t want to comment on this.

Experts have opined that the recently inaugurated Mysore airport has failed to meet international standards…

I have already made it clear that we will extend full support to the agencies concerned for putting in place the safety mechanisms in Mysore airport and the other proposed airports in Shimoga and Gulbarga. We have instructed that passenger safety should be given priority in the construction of these two airports.

Why has your promise of granting more power to the Lokayukta not materialised yet?

The issue will be discussed in the coming Legislative Assembly session. We will take a decision soon.

What’s your opinion on the UPA government’s proposed amendments to the RTI Act?

The central government should not take any decision in this regard in a hurry. It should allow for a national debate on the issue and then consider all shades of opinion before taking a final decision on the amendment to the RTI Act.

Which department in the state has been the best performer in your view?

I would not like to mention any particular department. All the departments are development-oriented though some departments need to initiate more reforms. I am glad to mention that in the rural development area, we are the number one state in the country. Also, Mysore is rated as the second best city in Indian in terms of sanitation and overall cleanliness.

Your government has seen many controversies during the two years of your rule. How do you feel regarding these imbroglios?

We have passed through many agni pareekshas (trials by fire) successfully in the last two years of my regime. We are confident that we will complete the remaining three years just as successfully.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Friday, June 11, 2010

HEART IN THE RIGHT PLACE

From a no-cost hospital to a super-specialty medical facility for the poor – retrenched workers of a sick steel company in West Bengal have masterminded the impossible, writes Chandrasekhar Bhattacharjee
It is a low-cost hospital where humanity breathes in all its glory. At the helm of affairs are a bunch of workers who lost their jobs when the sick Indo Japan Steel Company in Belur, West Bengal, downed its shutters for good.

Swami Vivekananda’s famed Belur Math is just a few meters away and those who run the Shramajeevi Hospital are clearly inspired by the great man’s words: “Who serves people serves God”.

The Shramajeevi Hospital has had a deep impact. Ask truck driver Umashankar. He was in danger of losing both his legs after a speeding car hit him in Durgapur in the early 1990s. At the NRS Hospital in Kolkata he was told that his legs, which had six cracks, would have to be amputated. But in Shramajeevi he was treated for two months and his legs were back to normal. His total bill was Rs 8,000. Umashankar is back at the wheels.

Mohammad Mehyor, 14, had his oesophagus severely damaged after he consumed hazardous acid while working in a factory. Wheeled into the hospital a few days later, his life was in danger. Doctors replaced his oesophagus with a piece of his large intestine. He is 21 today and leading a normal life.

A bypass surgery at this hospital costs no more than Rs 25,000 while private hospitals in Kolkata and elsewhere charge at least Rs 1 lakh. “The heart operation unit started about four years back and has already performed 300 bypass surgeries. At least 20 of these operations have been done completely free of cost,” said Dr Anil Saha, secretary of the Belur Shramajeevi Swasthya Prakalpa Samiti.

he Samiti now plans to build a 500-bed super-speciality hospital at Belu Milki village near Singur to serve lakhs of poor and working people. The new project is being envisaged as something more than just a hospital.

In the process of building the existing hospital, the workers were led by the sole union. It had no political affiliation. In the early 1980s, the secondary steel factory was in the throes of a crisis and went through a cycle of closures and re-openings. “Our neighbours helped us a lot during that period. But once the factory reopened, we would forget their good deeds, said Phani Gopal Bhattacharjee, the mentor of the hospital.

It was to repay the kindness of the neighbours that the workers of the factory came up with the idea of a free weekly medical check-up for the poor. The exercise began in 1982 in a Hindi primary school. “We soon expanded the scope of the operation to include eye surgery camps and minor surgeries,” said Bhattacharjee.

Junior doctors, who were agitating at that point against the authorities not for better wages but improved medical services in government hospitals, stepped forward to help the workers realise their dream of providing affordable healthcare to the poor.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Friday, April 16, 2010

Lessons from the past

The rotational chief minister system was experimented with by the BJP and the BSP in 1998 in Uttar Pradesh where a deal was stuck under which Mayawati was to be chief minister for the first six months of the coalition government following which the BJP’s chief minster nominate would have taken over. BJP got the posts of deputy chief minister and leader and deputy chairman of the Legislative Council. However, merely 28 days after her six months got over and Kalyan Singh became the CM, Mayawati did a volte face and withdrew support.

When the Congress and PDP formed a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir after the 2002 elections, they had decided to share the post of the chief minister for three years each. They had shared power accordingly starting with PDP chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed at the helm. The transfer of power was smooth and Ghulam Nabi Azad took over after three years. However, the PDP never came to terms with the reality and a section of it never actually wanted Azad. In short, they were looking for an opportunity to withdraw support. It came in the form of the Amarnath land issue, following which, PDP left the government in a lurch.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

1848 Princess Tui Inn, Samoa

Lavishing luxuries galore, 1848 Princess Tui Inn is nestled at an ideal location facing the South Pacific Ocean. Serving pure pleasure on a platter to its customers, the 1848 Princess Tui Inn has always been the epitome of warmth and hospitality. The resort provides the most scenic view of the glistening sun, dusty golden sand and not to mention, the azure waters. Blending tradition with culture, the 1848 Princess Tui Inn provides one wholesome experience of sheer bliss! 1848 Princess Tui Inn is a paradise for travellers – those who like to take it easy and also who like to be on the move 24x7 and prefer to go backpacking...

The View: It’s a marvel to watch the refreshing and energising sunrise and the picturesque golden sunsets from the various terraces and patios at the 1848 Princess Tui Inn. The resort, besides offering a spectacular view of the ocean, and with all the natural beauty surrounding it, also presents the visitor with the opportunity of being one with nature.

Archi Type: This luxurious resort has been built with a deliberate reflection of its tradition and a hint of its culture in its otherwise contemporary interiors. The designs and decorations have been aesthetically chosen to suit the taste of its guests from around the world. With beauty, fitness and spa facilities and with choicest elements – best quality woodwork, subtle colour schemes and interesting artifacts – the resort caters to the needs of one and all…

Bon Appétit: 1848 Princess Tui Inn invites its guests to try the various creations of its chef known to blend classic and exotic flavours. Crabs, prawns and shrimps are a delicacy and blend well with the well-known chilled Vailima beer.

Around the Corner: 1848 Princess Tui Inn is conveniently situated in this miniature paradise with almost all fabulous hideaways at a reasonable distance. The spectacular island of Savai’i is just a stone's throw away from Princess Tui, and is the perfect base for visiting Papaseea sliding rocks, Papapapaitai Waterfall, Mataerva Beach and the markets of Apia.

From Under the Carpet: For those who wish to see everything in one place or those who suffer from lethargy, 1848 Princess Tui Inn may not be the best bet.

In Essence: Nurturing a relationship with sheer originality, apparent cordiality and sweet seduction is the hallmark of 1848 Princess Tui Inn.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Monday, April 05, 2010

Will they ever find a medicine to cure this limping cousin?

With legislations hampering the flow of capital into the Food Processing sector, it’s time for an overarching law to save agriculture’s closest cousin. Many hurdles, one goal – make the Food Processing sector shine!

India basks in the glory of diversity and proudly boasts of being a smoothly run sovereign democracy (Naxalism and Kashmir can be relegated to the footnotes for the sake of argument). Today, we sit on our laurels won in IT services and Pharmaceuticals and steadily, every other sector in services is being opened up to allow foreign participation, thereby create greater competencies and economies of scale. However, an interesting characteristic surfaces the moment we delve into the economics of liberalisation since 1991 – the opening up of all sectors to private and foreign investment, over time, have happened during a time when there were very few lives dependent on them for livelihood. Automobiles, telecom, banking, insurance IT, and pharma all were in their nascent stages and driven primarily by educated Indians. But with private money flowing in, a few million white collar jobs have been created and today, the services sector has scampered far ahead of manufacturing in the country. Sadly however, at the same time, the per capita food intake for the country has fallen below many sub-Saharan nations. Disguised employment in agriculture continues to run the vicious cycle of low capital investment, poor quality, fragmented markets negligible profits and again low investment. Amazingly, food processing, the next in the food value chain (post harvest) has borne the brunt of not only being the industry to absorb the massive numbers from agriculture, but also to create many new jobs related to technology and supply chain. But, the legacy of a socialist ideology and the commitments of coalition politics have made the sector languish till date in the dungeon of low scales, low investment and outdated technology.

Firstly, just for a start, the unorganised segment in food processing, will require an investment of about $23 billion over the next ten years (estimated on the basis of output ratio as 2:1 and capital intensity ratio as 5:1 of organised and unorganised sector). But on the credit side, there’s no dearth of roadblocks. According to the The Cooperative Act, cooperatives in the country, are restricted to borrowing only from Cooperative banks, DCCBs and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), thus resulting in only a few (and narrow) pipelines of credit available for food cooperatives to start processing operations. Similarly, the private banks are still prohibited to lend to State warehousing corporations which form the bulk of storage for all food products in India. There has been a constant rhetoric to allow the use of warehouse receipts as collateral for attainig credit from banks, however, till date, there has been no resonating tone from the government on the same.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Outlook Magazine money editor quits
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Saturday, April 03, 2010

So what do we do about cancer?

Cancer has become a major concern worldwide. Billions of dollars have gone down the research river, but the results are only visible in developed countries. B&E’s Amir Moin argues that developing nations are the place where the battle has to be won

Cancer has been haunting human civilization for centuries. To begin with, the world’s oldest documented cancer case was recorded in Egypt and dates back to 1500 B.C. Cancer not only leads to loss of lives, but also results in major economic losses. The US basedNational Business Group on Health, representing 185 of the Fortune 500 firms and providing cover to more than 40 million workers estimated in a recent study that productivity loss for US firms resulting from smoking related diseases cost them $157 billion, even larger than the GDP of New Zealand. In fact, Purdue University’s Health Care Special Report takes the same even higher at $234 billion. This dirge is just the tip. The US Office of Technology & Assessment made an emphatic conclusion post a recent study that smokers, on an average, took 300% more sick leaves than non-smokers. Another research highlights strong evidence thatthe probability of smokers to become disabled exceeds their non-smoking counterparts by 600%! But the real eye-popper is the research report by Cappelli, Pauly & Lemaire of Wharton, which states that obese individuals have 30-50% more chronic medical problems than those who smoke or drink heavily! Researchers with the American Institute for Cancer Research looked at seven cancers with known links to obesity and calculated actual case counts that were likely to have been caused by obesity. The result- more than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat!

The world is coming together to stand up to cancer. But, according to a report released by the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency, 27 million new cancer cases are expected by 2030 growing at a rate of 1% every year. Emerging economies such as India, China and Russia would be the worst hit. According to the report, around 1.3 billion people smoke globally, making tobacco the major avoidable cause of death and disease worldwide. Experts say that tobacco has killed 100 million people in the last century and will kill a billion in the 21st century. Harvard Medical School told B&E, “Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both men and women. Although prostate cancer and breast cancer occur more commonly than lung cancer, lung cancer is a more fatal disease.”

Cancer no doubt has become a big issue. Infact, Harvard Medical School says that cancer is second only to heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States. Cancer kills one in four Americans and is the leading cause of death for women aged 40 to 79 and men aged 60 to 79. Society (common people and the scientific clan included) is doing all it can to spread awareness and at the same time fight this menace. At one end, you have cancer research institutes and the scientific community, working in order to make breakthroughs in the field of cancer cure. On the other hand we have NGOs and other non-profit organizations trying their level best to spread awareness about this deadly disease. For instance, Facebook went colourful a few days back. A strange yet unique – bra colour status updates – made its way into the network, but no one really knew how or why the what-colour-is-your-bra campaign took off. In case you are still confused and don’t see it, women were posting single word updates with the colour of their bra, hence the bombardment of ‘black’, ‘red’, and ‘nothing’ updates from your female friends. The colour update craze was started by women in Detroit who are trying to raise awareness around Breast Cancer. While all this was happening on the awareness front, scientists in Britain made a cancer breakthrough that could pave the way for tailor made treatment of breast tumours and revolutionize the way breast cancer is cured.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Outlook Magazine money editor quits
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Friday, April 02, 2010

Inviting the wolf home...

It may be true that if you’re not on the World Wide Web in the 21st century, you’re practically out of business. But if your business becomes someone else’s business, then you might feel jittery every time you punch in your magic keys. Not everyone on the Internet is as naive as you are... Welcome to the world of illegal hackers!

Con men, burglars, small-time thieves and serious criminals… the web is no stranger to any of these. The Internet sure has given us access to the necessary information and all the knowledge that we might need. But it has also opened the doors of privacy and given unwanted elements access to our personal lives. Compulsive voyeurs or Peeping Toms have been aided with the already there and ever-increasing industry of the ‘Social Networking Sites’. These sites have turned the world around for those who seek comfort while interacting with a long-lost pal. As long as it helps one share and get in touch with buddies, it is good. But the moment undesired weirdos start troubling you with unending ‘Friendship requests’ or meaningless messages, it starts getting uncomfortable. This is when the so-called net-savvy individuals opt for the ‘Block User’ privacy option. In the present day scenario, where status messages have to change with every fresh cup of coffee, resorting to safety measures like blocking a pesky user may not suffice. Informing your dear ones and letting them know where and how you’re going for a vacation or a date or even a meeting (all in good faith) may be just the information needed for those waiting to strike!

Blissful at the look of increasing number of fans and followers or admiring the up-to-mark look of one’s new profile shall soon be passé. Cyber crime is growing by the hour and with every piece of extra information, which may aid even the most uninitiated net-using criminal mind, it is getting simpler too. “There is a huge list of scams such as online earning proposals, duplicate websites, phishing and Spam e-mails, credit card frauds and EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) frauds.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Outlook Magazine money editor quits
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Friday, March 26, 2010

Sweet revenge

India’s version of the Razzies, the Golden Kela Awards, where the worst performances are picked and ‘honoured’, was recently held in the capital. Sajid Nadiadwala’s “Kambakkht Ishq” was among the films at the receiving end of their ridicule, and was crowned the worst film of the year. Kareena Kapoor, who was an all new size-0 in the film, was also given the dubious honour of the worst actress of the year. Apparently, 3,00,000 people voted for these awards, and so revenged the film industry for unloading reels of rubbish at them in 2009 !
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Outlook Magazine money editor quits
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Thursday, March 18, 2010

The road to uncertainty

Pressure is on the govt not to close the transport corporation

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government that had decided to shut down the Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (MPRTC) in 2005 has been unable to do so because of the Central government’s negative response. The government doesn’t know how to handle the explosive situation after the Central government and the surface transport ministry expressed their unwillingness to provide no objection certificate (NOC) to it.

Besides, the Industrial Dispute Act 1947 doesn’t allow any government to wind up Transport Corporation. Since 2005 the central transport ministry has rejected the state government’s proposal to close the MPRTC thrice. After rejecting the proposal for the second time, the transport ministry had declared: “In many countries the transport is operated in public interest.” But this didn’t stop the state government from changing its mind. It approached the central ministries of road transport and highways and labour and employment for the third time on November 12, 2009, seeking its mandatory approval for closure of the MPRTC. But the Central government didn’t accept it. Rather it asked the government to send another proposal on how to restructure the transport corporation.

It was then that the Madhya Pradesh government sought Rs 2590 crore from the Centre. At the same time on January 12, 2010, it posted the proposal to the ministries. Chief minister Chouhan even wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to intervene and resolve the matter. However, both of these were rejected, leaving the government with no other option but to mull on closing the MPRTC for good. The process of closure, Chouhan said, has reached an irreversible stage with 93 per cent of the 10,719 employees having opted for VRS. “Moreover, all the 681 nationalised bus routes operated by the corporation have also been denationalised,” he pointed out. But there is still some hope.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A SWIFT STRATEGY!

the indian Automotive sector as a whole faced tremendous slowdown in demand but market leader Maruti Suzuki posted mind-boggling numbers. B&E Pawan chabra finds out what the company did differently in the last fiscal to achieve this feat

“In times of a slowdown, people do not prefer to take any risk. They prefer purchasing brands on which they have full trust, and in the automotive market, Maruti Suzuki comes on top on these grounds.” This is what Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director, Maruti Suzuki India had to say when asked how the company was able to post stupendous growth in the last fiscal and that too at a time when other auto companies were bleeding.

There is no denying that the Indian automotive industry has seen a slowdown in demand in the last fiscal, but the big daddy Maruti Suzuki, which sells every other car being sold in the country took everyone else by surprise by posting a mind-boggling revenue figure of Rs.20.85 billion for FY09, registering an increase of 16% in the bargain. Despite a 30% dip, Suzuki also posted a cool Rs.12.2 billion net profit, way better than its counterparts.

Maruti Suzuki was quick to identify the effects of slowdown in urban India. “We saw the slowdown hitting urban demand much before others did. So we immediately decided to expand our presence in the rural areas,” avers Nakanishi. The company’s expansion into the rural and the semi-urban areas helped the company to steer successfully from the slowdown blues. “The company bagged a 9% contribution from sales in the rural areas for FY09, which used to be around 3.5-4% till last year,” says Nakanishi. In fact, the decision also made a lot of strategic sense when estimates show that only 19 out of 1,000 people in rural areas own a personal mode of transportation, which leaves very little space for wondering why experts do not label rural areas with very high potential. Maruti Suzuki surely cashed in on this opportunity, but what does the company plan to do going forward with its rural dream?
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

‘One best way to a perfect team?

Incentives, rewards are passé. The new way to boost performance, believes an ad agency, is providing employees with an ‘open’ environment!

While we figure out how our ancestors made the best of naturally available ‘accessories’ like leaves, stones and bones, it isn’t difficult to imagine that for our ape ancestors, the body hair was enough to protect them from the temperature differences. But would you believe us if it was said that perhaps people in the prehistoric era or the great apes could perform their tasks better as a result of being stark naked? Well, a new experiment certainly suggests so! When a design and marketing company, onebestway in UK, wasn’t performing too well and was on the lookout for a way to improve its employee performance, they were “approached by Virgin and asked to take part in an hour-long documentary, filmed over a one week period in June 2009. The objective of the film was not to be naked, but to explore the possibility that they became so bonded as a team that they would be comfortable working naked!”

But does working without a stitch actually boost morale of employees? “It doesn’t boost morale, but it does create a better team. We are closer and we work more quickly because we now feel we have nothing to hide from each other. We speak openly to each other whereas in the past we may have kept things inside, hidden. Additionally, we now have more fun! We have shared something unique and fun so, in a way, the morale is better because we are generally more upbeat and proud of who we are and of what we do,” says Michael Owen, Senior Account Manager and Managing Director, onebestway. If we were to imagine the same experiment being conducted closer home, surely there will be very few takers for this rather radical (to say the least) experiment. But weren’t the employees at onebestway apprehensive too? “Yes there were apprehensions but – to be crystal clear – there was absolutely no convincing and encouraging going on at all,” continues Michael. “The nakedness was never anything more than an exciting and rather scary option. A goal yes, but not one that anyone was encouraged to do beyond what they would naturally want to do for themselves, personally. On the last day of work (with clothes on), people were full of excitement.

They were scared too, as this is a scary thing to do, and no one knew what anyone else was going to do. In fact, no one may have taken their clothes off – this was a possibility. People really ended up enjoying this though, and no one regrets doing it. This experiment was a personal journey for everyone involved. It was not a sexual thing; it was just a liberating and interesting experience. It was difficult to concentrate, but not because people were necessarily looking at each other, but because it is just so unusual. The result of the experiment is that we are faster and braver. We are not afraid to share ideas, thoughts, problems and feelings, and onebestway is a much more adventurous creative agency now.” So, while the world may today hold that professionalism is about clearly drawing a line between one’s personal and professional lives, here the two were intertwined in such a way that nothing that is supposed to be personal, remained personal.

So would such a move really end up in office ‘performances’ improving? Well, we don’t know about that, but there’s at least one sure shot advantage – lower expenditure on work clothes!
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Friday, February 19, 2010

Kirill on a mission

Is it the Orthodox Church that Putin is using in his new diplomacy?

18 Sep-1 Oct ‘09 issue

For the uninitiated, ‘Patriarch’ Kirill, the newly elected Patriarch in Russia, is alleged to have been and to still be a KGB agent. He has been very successful and influential in diplomatic issues, more regional than global. He succeeded to lay down the foundation of Orthodox Church in Cuba and Venezuela, where he is alleged to have secret political dialogues with top level diplomats like Fidel Castro. He is also one of the richest Russians in Russia with a personal wealth over $4 billion. Compare that with the Pope: rich, yes; millionaire, surely; but billionaire? (Even the Vatican operates on a budget deficit these days; one guesses after the billions of dollars payouts globally on child abuse cases).

Moreover, Russian neighbours including Ukraine are not ready to accept Russia’s presence and domination in their territory. On a key multiple tier diplomatic level, Russia desperately needs to keep its existence and influence in the neighbouring states for its economic benefit and to retain supremacy. Thus, as it has exhausted all possible options, PM Vladimir Putin is now all set to launch another contrivance to resolve political and diplomatic issues with its neighbours – the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin is trying to use the Orthodox Church quite cleverly, with the recent visit of Patriarch Kirill to Ukraine evidence of the same. Analytically, the 10-day visit of Kirill to various churches in Kiev and other cities of Ukraine might not seem very successful at the political level on the face of it, but it seems to have laid down a strong positive foundation in the minds of the common Ukrainians with respect to acceptability of anything Russian.

For the Russian polity, some of Kirill’s recent initiatives have been witness to clear political cognizance. His recent statement that it’s very important to increase Russian speaking presence in EU bodies was one of his first political remarks as Patriarch; interestingly, this statement garnered enough support in the Russian polity. But what separates him from his quite normal predecessors is that fact that he is the first Russian Patriarch in known history to consider himself as the universal patriarch for the world in the Christian Orthodox faith.

That is quite a gargantuan consideration, given the expanse he is trying to address. But as his Ukraine trip showed, he is not without his stable followers. Kirill is also trying to strengthen the current weak relation with Georgia. In addition, his recent statement that “there are no conflicts, even most cruel, [and] no human hostility that could ever destroy the church unity, including the unity between the Russian and Georgian Churches” caught the attention of the intellectual Georgian community. Common Georgians look forward to Kirill’s visit more positively in Georgia now more than ever. Kirill’s further attention to control food consumption for joy and save the world from ruin has increased his general popularity and exemplified his knowledge in world economics. His speech in Crimea to thousands of people including Russian and Ukrainian navy personnel urging them for a peaceful cooperation was meaningful. To top the brilliant effort, Kirill even met Obama recently where he talked about universal Christianity. Most importantly, Kirill now aims to visit Islamic countries in two years to convince them to support minority Christian groups through which he aims to strengthen relations with these countries, a job that he seems to be already succeeding in doing with Cuba and Venezuela.

Globally, when Kirill speaks, he is considered a stable, well read and knowledgeable intellectual, discussions with whom will always result in amicable interactions rather than virulent arguments. With his below the surface closeness to both Putin and Medvedev, it is also being conjectured that Kirill is being encouraged and goaded to visit troubled spots and entities with his overtly zero-political agenda. One has to realise that since the time of Mikhail Gorbachev – in fact, both before and after – rare has been the year when one has seen a sane, non-mafiosi (the allusion obviously is to Putin!) and non-military personality speaking on behalf of the Russian philosophy and movement. Given all this, Kirill’s unique positioning and intelligent networking with stakeholder groups is nothing short of brilliant. If Putin is intelligent – which undoubtedly he is – Kirill should never be openly asked to support or reject any of Putin’s political manoeuvres. The fact is that if Kirill is allowed to simply do what he is doing best, Putin just might see his own popularity ratings soar even in Ukraine. When was the last time you heard about a religious leader in either Chavez’s Venezuela or Fidel’s Cuba influencing public opinion with such power?
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Friday, February 12, 2010

Food security - Of lives and livelihoods

Only anticipatory and inclusive action can help us counter climate change risks

M S Swaminathan

India’s leading agricultural scientist

Recent studies have shown that for each 1°C rise in temperature, wheat yield losses in India will be of the order of 6 million tonnes. There will also be similar effects on rice and other food crops. The leaders of G8 Nations who met recently at L’Aquilla in Italy agreed to limit the rise in mean temperature to two degrees Celcius. This will have disastrous consequences on our agricultural production and thereby to national food security. The consequences of global warming are multi-dimensional and can leave unpredictable deviations resulting in various weather conditions and calamities, including erratic monsoon behaviour, water scarcity and higher evapo-transpiration. It will also result in frequent drought and flood, severe pest and disease epidemics, increase in the incidences of malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

Thus, the adverse impact of climate change will cover every aspect of human life. Obviously, the poor nations, who have the least capacity to cope with the fallout, will suffer more adversely than others. There is a need for both anticipatory research and action to address issues related to mitigation and adaptation. At the same time, there is a need for participatory research with rural families in order to enhance their capacity to deal with calamities like droughts, floods and the rise in temperatures.

Action is particularly important in making contingency plans, alternative cropping strategies and compensatory production programmes.

India has about 127 agro-climatic regions. We will have to prepare computer simulation models on different weather probabilities and conditions. This will help to formulate codes of action for dealing with droughts, floods and rise in sea-levels. However, a good weather code should also be prepared to maximise production in favourable seasons. The impact will have to be studied not only on crops, but also on farm animals, fisheries and forests. Seed reserves of alternative crops will have to be built up at the local level. In fact, grain reserves are essential for food security and seed reserves are needed for crop security. Local level Gene–Seed–Grain–Fodder-Water Banks will have to be promoted, so that the community itself will be able to adapt to the new challenges that will emerge.

The impact on women will be even more serious since they are traditionally in charge of gathering fodder, fuel wood, and water and also animal healthcare and post harvest technology. Climate risk saviour crops will have to be identified and multiplied. Rice is one such crop as it can grow under a wide range of altitudes and latitudes.

In coastal areas, bio-shields consisting of mangroves, Salicornia, Atriplex and other halophytes will have to be erected. Sea water farming will have to be promoted through the establishment of agri-aqua farms. This is important since 97 per cent of the total global water availability is from the sea. There is also a need for below sea-level farming since many coastal areas will have to practice agriculture below sea-level as a result of sea water inundation. The latest technologies will have to be taken to fishermen, such as mobile phones providing information on wave heights and location of fish shoals.

Farm animals will have to be protected since livestock and livelihoods are intimately related in most parts of India. Also the ownership of livestock is more egalitarian. Emergency food supply arrangements will have to be made by enriching agricultural biomass with urea and molasses. Ground water sanctuaries will have to be set-up that can be properly utilised whenever there is water shortage.

In the area of mitigation also, local communities can contribute through better farm animal management and conservation farming. Fertiliser trees, such as Faidherbia albdia will have to be planted on a large scale. Finally, there is a need for building a cadre of climate risk managers at the local level. Such managers should be well-versed in the science and art of managing climate aberrations. Every calamity presents an opportunity and therefore, steps should be taken to train vast numbers of community level climate risk managers, who can help in utilising these available resources well. While global thinking and action is essential, it will only be attention to local planning and anticipatory action that can reduce human hardship and save lives and livelihoods.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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