Movie Review: Special 26

Gameplay, conmen style!

Clever. Very clever. Director Neeraj Pandey, in only his second prominent Bollywood undertaking, takes the audience for a nice little ride with this intricately executed low-budget heist-drama. While Special 26 may drastically differ from his first, A Wednesday!, in theme, look and morality, it employs the same formula of masterful storytelling.

Set in the 80s, Special 26 is based on real events from the same period.

Ajay Singh (Akshay Kumar) and PK Sharma (Anupam Kher), along with their accomplices and the assistance of Sub-Inspector Ranveer Singh (Jimmy Shergill), conduct a CBI raid at a minister’s house. They insult, slap and threaten the minister while they confiscate his cash and belongings.

Only, they are conmen and SI Ranveer among those conned! In steps (genuine) CBI officer Wasim Khan (Manoj Bajpayee). What happens next? I guess there is only one way to find out…

The seasoned actors are all memorable. The heroine (Kajal Aggarwal), although marginalised, delivers when called upon. Add humour, emotion and enthralling background scores and the ride is well worth it.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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A tale of two secretaries

John Kerry and Chuck Hagel are likely to bring fresh perspective in their respective departments. And that will be the best thing to happen to the United States in decades, says Saurabh Kumar Shahi

In the recent political history of the United States of America, none of the administrations have been so dependent on its Secretaries of State and Defense for its future course as President Obama's administration is dependent on John Kerry and Chuck Hagel. And as things stand, it won't be an exaggeration to say that how history will remember President Obama will largely depend on how these two perform, especially so after a rather dispirited and lackluster first term by the president.

The very basis of both the appointments (Chuck Hagel's appointment remains yet to be approved by the Senate as this story goes to print) is that President Obama in his second term really wants to clear a few messes and more importantly, he wants to do it without venturing into the world of intervention. And hence, both the names.

Let's come to John Kerry first. As the new Secretary of State, he is expected to bring sweeping changes as far as nuances in the foreign policy is concerned. He has a fantastic personal relation with the president and has been sent by him far and wide to solve foreign policy cauldrons. And, most of all, he comes without any excess baggage.

“The area in which Kerry may be able to have the greatest impact is redefining the meaning of national security for Americans. He recognises that the main threats to the United States no longer come from foreign armies or what George W Bush liked to call 'evil-doers'. His most encouraging statements are those that suggest he recognises the enormous security challenges posed by climate change, global energy politics and economic troubles at home,” says Stephen Kinzer, celebrated US diplomat and foreign policy expert.

When Obama dropped Susan Rice from the scheme of things following protests, he did himself a favour. Rice was hardly someone who could have intervened either in the Middle East peace process or in the Af-Pak cauldron without being judgmental. In fact, she was proudly described by Zionists of all stripes as “Israel's Gladiator in the UN”. With that kind of reputation, she would have proved a non-starter.

Quite opposed to that, Kerry believes in the diplomatic vision of negotiations and keeps threats as the last resort. So, if you are expecting another round of threats warning Iran of “obliteration” a la Hillary Clinton, you would be disappointed. It is not for nothing that his appointment was welcomed by Tehran.

“We hope that he (John Kerry), given his personal characteristics, will be able to at least help revise part of the US government’s approaches and anti-Iran policies and will help reduce the loss of lives and financial losses inflicted on regional nations and the people of the United States caused by the US foreign policy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told the Fars News Agency.

Also, unlike most of the top bureaucrats and appointees in the State Department, John Kerry shares an excellent rapport with the top Pakistani leadership, both in the civil as well as military structure. His insistence on involving Pakistan in the Afghanistan solution, rather than bypassing it, will ensure that the countries sit together and work out a deal rather than play out through propaganda channels. He in fact went on record to say that the US did not give Pakistan its due for providing intelligence about Osama Bin Laden.

It is therefore expected that in coming months, a new form of synergy will develop between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US to deal with the situation following the pull-out in 2014.

If Kerry is a tough nut, Hagel is even tougher. Notwithstanding his rather tepid performance during his confirmation hearing, Hagel is known for his plain-speaking. And that is why his confirmation process was a baptism by fire. However, he has some clear ideas on how the US should behave militarily and he'll speak his mind when he is confirmed.

Considering rising deficit, it is expected that he will recommend (and see it through) some cuts on the Defence front. This might include recommendations to wrap up some of the military bases, curtailing the Air-craft Carrier Strike Groups and forgetting intervention as an option on the table.

On other matters, including relations with Russia, Hagel's views are closer to those of President Obama than the Republican camp where he previously belonged.

It is also expected that jointly, Kerry and Hagel will craft a policy that does not revolve around Israel and keeps the US interest on the top. The greatest harm that the US did to itself in the last decade or so was that it did not put any effort into making nations realise that its interests might match those of Israel's but they are not joint at the hip. That needs to change and bot Kerry and Hagel know that. It can be started by inviting Iran for direct talks and rolling back illegal unilateral sanctions that are based more on Israeli pressure than any tangible evidence that Iran has a clandestine military nuclear program.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Crisis in civilisation

Be it the Left or the trinamool, the political culture in the country and the state have merely fostered undemocratic practices and vandalism, Read an opinion piece by Sunanda Sanyal, an educationist and social thinker...
Tagore says in Crisis in Civilization that it’s a sin to lose faith in man. At the age of 80, I haven’t lost faith in the polity of Bengal. Commoners have become aware that in Bengal, the political culture has gone wrong. Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former governor of West Bengal, read a paper at the Bose Institute in Kolkata. According to one newspaper, he said, "politicians want power in order to loot the nation. Politicians, for example, organise looting of the natural resources. Under the circumstances, politics is money, money is politics."

Tapan Datta, a Trinamool Congress activist, was murdered because he opposed the illegal filling of a tank. His wife blames a minister for the crime. But I blame the whole episode on the Left, because it set no example of fair governance. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former Chief Minister (CM), divided polity into us and them and the CM himself pelted back every stone that ‘them’ threw at ‘us’. He is reported to have ‘blown up’ the innocent people at Nandigram. But it is he who also said that he didn’t want to send in the state police force.

The present rulers in West Bengal are no better. The Chief Minister, who assured us that she would end partisanship when she became the Chief Minister, dishonours the past promise she had made. Syndicate raj – cartels of businessmen, ending all competition – is one of them. Goondaism among students is another. I think, present-day politics is based on goondaism. It’s the continuation of the previous Raj, the Left Front (LF) Government, led by the CPI-M. I trust Bengal’s polity won’t suffer goondaism any longer.

Back in the 1960’s, I happened to be very close to the CPI-M. There should have been a change for the better by 1977 when it came to power. But since 1987 it had been worsening politics as it resorted to rigging for reaching power. This was preceded by terrorism. For example, teachers were used in voter enrolment drive. Schools, colleges and universities provided the catchment area for young goondas. Led by the CPI-M, the LF did not allow other political groups to submit their nomination papers. So much for the democratic process for which student union elections should prepare the students. I remember when the president of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), attached to the CPI-M, came on TV and announced that they had 17 lakh members. The SFI would deploy the entire ‘election apparatus’ for the benefit of Leftist candidates.

The ‘entire election apparatus’ included youth, groups of motorbike riders, booth jammers – practically rigging some 100 odd assembly constituencies. That is, coming to power by whatever means.

Can such politicians be of help to polity? The only difference between the present ruling clique and the preceding one is that the former were a lot more organised, regimented and disciplined. They could, therefore, somewhat contain factionalism. But the present regime cannot.

The common complaint is that where the LF had a couple of factions, the Trinamool Congress has several for each district. So you ultimately end up greasing the palms of each one of the factions.

Bengal’s intellectuals aren’t comfortable either. The nations of the world have amassed, for internal security, such arsenals with which the world could be destroyed many times over. The late Amlan Datta, former Vice Chancellor of Viswabharati University, hoped that a Renaissance of sorts might save the world. It would of course be different from the one ushered in by Raja Rammohun  Roy and witnessed in undivided Bengal.

It‘s unlikely that such a Renaissance would be championed by a Bengali and that person would not be a Leftist after all because the man who introduced Leftism into India, MN Roy, said, “A year after its unhistorical victory in Russia, the revolution failed in Germany, where it ought have triumphed if Marx was not a false prophet.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

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Mamata can do better

Her regime has come as a disappointment to those who had held high hopes from her

Paradoxical as it may sound, a common Bengali, who a year ago perceived Mamata Banerjee as the symbol of change and reform, now believes that the lady occupying the office of the chief minister has turned into an autocrat. After being swept to power following a historic win last year, she has seemingly betrayed the hope and aspiration of the people. People who brought her on the promise of reform: creation of jobs and a concusive atmosphere to compete with the other developed states, feel frustrated at her maverick-style politics and illogical political actions.

Her move to table a no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh government has been met with contempt. People realise that her actions smack of political immaturity and would prove to be counter productive for the state and its people. They cite the gains of Bihar where the NDA Chief Minister Nitish Kumar maintains a cordial relation with the prime minister and is getting huge funds.

Even some Trinmool leaders have been sceptical of Mamata’s no-confidence move. How, after all, was it going to benefit Bengal? She had no reply or logic to justify her action. It was simply her hurt ego that forced her to adopt such extreme postures. She has courted the state’s formidable Muslim vote bank and uses Muslim idioms and phrases to reach out to her audience. But her personal dislike for Manmohan Singh is so acute that she even approached the BJP soliciting its help in the Parliament. This was clearly distasteful to the Muslim clergy. Shahi Imam of the Tipu Sultan Mosque, Noor-ur-Ramhan Barkati who had extended unequivocal support to Mamata described her move as “unfortunate”. As if this was not enough, she has started praising Narendra Modi, the controversial Gujarat chief minister.

Mamata trounced the Left Front on the promise of ushering in change and a complete transformation of the body politic as well the society. But instead of heralding a new era, the chief minister started on another course: taking on perceived ills of the society.  Her clarion call on marriages is something of a classic: please do not marry Left cadres, was her sage advice to the people of the state.

She conveniently forgot social equations and realities. People who migrated to West Bengal in 1951 from erstwhile East Pakistan and later in 1971 from Bangladesh constitute the main support base of the Trinmool Congress. Though some native Bengalis too have supported Trinmool, the fact remains that they continue to be the support base of the Congress. Her call was severely criticised by the intelligentsia; in fact it marks the beginning of their disenchantment with Mamata. Her main supporter, Jnanpith and Magsaysay award winner Mahasweta Devi, has turned critic and described the Trinamool government as ‘Fascist.’ They perceived it as an attempt to divide the monolithic Bengali society.

Her year-long tenure has seen a sharp division among intellectuals who once backed her, with some believing that she was ‘autocratic’ and ‘intolerant to criticism’. Educationist Sunanda Sanyal, litterateur Mahasweta Devi, actor Kaushik Sen, writer Nabarun Bhattacharjee, Bengali poet Sankha Ghosh, all have been critical of the chief minister. Sunanda Sanyal says, “Certain traits in her seem autocratic to me. Professors should not have been arrested, neither should newspapers have been banned in state libraries. She is following in the footsteps of the previous Left Front governments. This is certainly not a change for the better”. Kabir Suman, famous singer, musician and rebel Trinamool Congress MP, said “Once I used to write songs praising her qualities. I can’t do that anymore.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Guarding the streets of an Uncivil Society

The streets are burning with indignation and hurt. Yet another brutal rape screams through the night and you would have thought, so what? We will carry on with our lives, too blasé to care, too busy to dare… You would have thought a silent prayer for the poor victim and an even more earnest prayer to keep us and ours safe is all it would end with.

But we seem to have a conscience after all. We could manage to let go of our mall-walks and movie halls to gather and make some noise, to fight for the right to have a voice. But will that be enough to make our streets safe and every woman secure? Stricter laws, quicker justice, and political and executive will to implement both will surely help but would that really happen? Cynicism is not only fashionable but a survival mechanism in this country. Faith in the government, irrespective of the party in power, has only led to disappointment, frustration and a repeated sense of betrayal over the years. The politics of this country hasn’t gotten any cleaner or more committed over the years, but the electorate has… We are angrier, abler and louder, and we have greater belief in our potential to effect a change.. so let’s keep the faith in our strengths and keep pushing for a better, safer tomorrow the only way we can- by communicating, connecting and building up sustained pressure to secure a commitment from an evasive and toothless center which had supported a president who, during her years at the helm, had commuted the sentences of mass murderers and brutal rapists.

So what should we do until the government pulls up its dirty smelly socks? A lot of noise is being made about self defense programs for women and I agree… I have, on this very platform, urged women to pick up a practical and intelligent martial art like Krav Maga to defend themselves against attackers.

And I maintain that every girl, no  matter what her limitations, should spend a few hours a week practicing a martial ar. It will do her mind and her body a world of good. But when I read that the fact that the girl fought  back and bit her attacker drove him berserk which lead to the girl getting bludgeoned to the brink of death before being raped made me wonder if there were other options. Martial arts tactics are extremely effective measures against a single attacker but against multiple assailants, defiance can set egos ablaze, leading to near fatal consequences.

Call me a fool, but more than the presence of a man, it is the presence of his best friend, a dog, that can protect a woman from even a gang of potential rapists. Allow me explain my point by examining three aspects of the problem…

The Rapist(s)
Most amount of research and ‘experts’ are of the opinion that the rapist is a bully looking to dominate and subjugate a victim. His assumption, at the point of attack is that his quarry is far weaker and he is merely putting her in her place. Therefore, unlike a motivated criminal like a murderer, robber or other similar assailants, a rapist hasn’t considered the possibility of bodily harm to his own self. A man bent on murder or even a hold up is a far more desperate criminal and assumes a degree of personal risk in his endeavour. The rapist on the other hand is seeking pleasure and immediate gratification. He does not consider pain. He simply does not expect it and therefore, like a predator, picks what he assumes is weak prey. Which is why defiance triggers a fight or flight response.

A predator, be it a lion on the savannahs or a rapist in a city bus, is a bully and (under the circumstances, even a lion is) a coward. He attacks what he considers would be easiest to prey on, and when he meets resistance, he will run if there’s even the slightest risk of injury, unless bolstered by the strength of numbers that ensure that the victim would be overpowered, this time with a vengeance.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
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 new nuclear age

The emergence of a multipolar nuclear power system is disturbing. New rules for diplomacy and arms control are needed to control this threat

North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile in mid-December was followed by a flurry of global condemnation that was almost comical in its predictability and impotence. But the launch underscored a larger reality that can no longer be ignored: the world has entered a second nuclear age. The atomic bomb has returned for a second act, a post-Cold War encore. This larger pattern needs to be understood if it is to be managed.

The contours of the second nuclear age are still taking shape. But the next few years will be especially perilous, because newness itself creates dangers as rules and red lines are redefined. This took at least 10 years in the first nuclear age, and this time may be no different.

In the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia, old rivalries now unfold in a nuclear context. This has already changed military postures across the Middle East. Part of the Israeli nuclear arsenal is being shifted to sea, with atomic warheads on diesel submarines, to prevent their being targeted in a surprise attack. Israel is also launching a new generation of satellites to provide early warning of other countries’ preparations for missile strikes. If Iran’s mobile missiles disperse, Israel wants to know about it immediately.

Thus, the old problem of Arab-Israeli peace is now seen in the new context of an Iranian nuclear threat. The two problems are linked. How would Israel respond to rocket attacks from Gaza, Lebanon, or Egypt if it simultaneously faced the threat of nuclear attack by Iran? What would the United States and Israel do if Iran carried its threat to the point of evacuating its cities, or placing missiles in its own cities to ensure that any attack on them would cause massive collateral damage?

Pakistan has doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal in the last five years. Its armed forces are set to field new tactical nuclear weapons – short-range battlefield weapons. India has deployed a nuclear triad – bombers, missiles, and submarines – and in 2012 tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, giving it the ability to hit Beijing and Shanghai. India almost certainly has a multiple warhead (known as a MIRV), in development, and has also launched satellites to aid its targeting of Pakistan’s forces. In East Asia, North Korea has gone nuclear and is set to add a whole new class of uranium bombs to its arsenal. It has rehearsed quick missile salvos, showing that it could launch attacks on South Korea and Japan before any counter-strike could be landed.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Is the government setting it right for illegal miners?

The mining ban in Karnataka, transport bottlenecks in Orissa, and a rising pendency of applications awaiting action from various state governments have not augured well for the Indian mining sector. Although the reopening of a few mines in Karnataka could bring some reprieve, issues related to the regulation, taxation and fiscal policy are bound to further stress miners
 
Over a year after the Supreme Court (SC) imposed a complete ban on all mining operations in Karnataka, on environmental grounds, mining is set to partially resume in the state after the SC-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) accepted the reclamation and rehabilitation plans for some of the mining companies. The SC, in its order on April 20 this year, had allowed mining to partially resume in the state. About 20 mines, which fall under category ‘A’ (where no illegalities were found by the CEC), were accordingly approved. In the next six months, it is expected that around 50 mines in Karnataka with an annual output capacity of 15 million tonnes (MT) could restart operations.

In FY2011-12, the mining sector witnessed a negative growth of 0.9% as against a 5% growth a year before. “Worldwide, production is rising, but in India we seem to be moving in the opposite direction,” says H. C. Daga, Senior Vice President, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI). In fact, overall production during the current fiscal year is likely to fall to 140 MT from 169 MT recorded in FY2010-11. In April this year, when the mining sector registered a growth of -3.1%, India’s industrial output grew by 0.1%.

While steel mills continue to import iron ore (imports stood at 3 lakh MT in FY2011-12), exports, which stood at 96.93 MT in FY2010-11, fell to 60 MT in FY2011-12. Lower exports have in turn prompted miners to slash overall production as domestic steel makers lack the technology to utilise iron ore fines or inferior grades. “Iron ore exports will likely fall to no more than 40 MT this year from about 60 MT last year,” says R. K. Sharma, Secretary General, FIMI.

The mess in the mining sector, which prompted the apex court to take some harsh measures, can largely be attributed to the ease with which unbridled corruption was allowed to flourish. The complete absence of oversight and connivance at every level invited such wrath of the SC that it has now taken a serious toll on the entire industry. “The CEC survey team has found that 18 mines had not carried out any violations. SC closed all mines, good or bad,” says Sharma of FIMI, adding, “You can’t brush everyone with the same broom.” Former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice (Retd.) Santosh Hegde, who had recommended the Karnataka ban to the SC, believes that it is a price the industry and its stakeholders have paid for the crimes of a few greedy mining firms, which flouted every rule in the book to make a quick buck at the expense of genuine people. “The state government should change the mining policy to ensure the natural resources are not exploited for profit trading and exports but mined for value-addition by manufacturers through transparent bidding process,” he says. The ban on mining in Karnataka came after a report prepared by Hegde recommended an immediate halt on private mining. The SC was later told that mining was being done in a reckless and irresponsible manner with the prime objective of over-exploitation of iron ore for purely short term private gains.

“Illegality is a matter of governance. If the government wants, nothing illegal can take place. It’s just not possible. At every stage, there is a government machinery involved. Ultimately genuine mine owner gives way to mafia,” argues Sharma, pinning the blame of Karnataka’s mining mess on the governance machinery. A case in point, according to him, is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Janardhan Reddy, who was recently reported to have offered crores in bribe to a judge for bail. “Till the political bosses and bureaucrats join hands, nothing illegal can take place. We have all regulations you can think of, but what good is a regulation that cannot be implemented,” says Sharm

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
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The saffron leadership finds itself busy dousing in-house fires

At a time when it should ideally have been gunning for the UPA government’s head for its failures, the saffron leadership finds itself busy dousing in-house fires. With just over a year left for the big elections, the BJP leadership looks surprisingly bent on giving the Congress another term on a platter.

Voices of dissent from senior party leaders like Yashwant Sinha, Ram Jethmalani and Shatrughan Sinha have added to BJP’s woes. At the forefront of the campaign to oust Gadkari from the president’s post, Jethmalani today stands suspended from the BJP for indiscipline. When Jethmalani, a former senior Supreme Court lawyer, entered the Rajya Sabha in June 2010 as a BJP candidate, it was said that he was being rewarded for taking up the case relating to former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah’s bail. Contrary to the party’s claims of morality, the party’s decision to show Jethmalani the door shows its reluctance in taking a moral stand. “The BJP is clearly not as strong a party as it was, say, 10-15 years ago. This is what has probably kept the BJP leadership from taking any decisive stand on the allegations against the party president and also take a clear position on corruption,” says political observer Suvrokamal Dutta. He believes that if Gadkari had decided to step down on moral grounds, it would have led to a huge gain of credibility among the masses for the BJP. However, in the absence of any such move, BJP is in no position to level any corruption charges at the Congress. Insiders tell B&E that action against the party president has been deferred in view of the elections in Gujarat and that once the results are announced early next month, there is a possibility that Gadkari could face the music. However, other than the central leadership that is reeling under charges of impropriety, there are several BJP-led states that have also been accused of corruption charges. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh are the biggest examples where the BJP leadership has failed to act or take a clear stand on corruption. And the weaknesses of the opposition party have definitely emboldened the Congress. “The BJP is the only political party in the country with two sitting national presidents accused of corruption. But in this too, the BJP’s double standards were exposed. Bangaru Laxman, who was from the tribal community, was immediately removed and side-lined. But the same party, along with the RSS, stood like an impenetrable shield when Nitin Gadkari’s corruption was uncovered,” says Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Ajay Singh, adding that the BJP’s double standards on dealing with its corrupt politicians are in the open for all to see.

Despite all its promises, the BJP has also been unable to reach the masses to campaign against corruption under the Congress leadership. Since it was caught napping on occasions such as the CWG scam, Coalgate and several others, BJP has wasted some wonderful opportunities to gain political mileage. And with the current state of affairs, it looks destined to waste quite a few more in the coming months. Consequently, a party that looked headed for victory as the other logical alternative to lead India a few months ago may be really headed towards returning the privilege to UPA yet again.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

India’s National Solar Mission is helping create conditions for the rapid scale-up of solar capacity and technological innovation. But although it appears to be going great guns in some states like Rajasthan and Gujarat, it will need greater push and deployment across the country in order to meet its overall objective.

In fact Rajasthan alone, which is expected to be the leader in setting up solar plants, can meet India’s total power needs by covering a fraction of its desert with solar panels. The state’s dry and sunny climate, ideal for setting up solar projects, has so far attracted 722 companies for setting up of solar power plants of 16,900 Mw capacity. Rajasthan and Gujarat have attracted the largest investments as their geography and climate are conducive for solar energy radiation. Out of a total 1,100 Mw new project allocations, Rajasthan received a lion’s share of 80% through competitive bidding in the first phase of the National Solar Mission.

But of late, Gujarat has proved to be more than a match to Rajasthan in setting up solar projects in the state. The world’s largest solar power station and a cluster of 17 thin-film solar PV systems, is situated in a single park at Charanka village in Patan district in Gujarat, which already has nearly 200 Mw of solar power generation capacity, according to SunEdison, one of the global solar leaders that has set up plants in the state. Other states too are taking the lead. For instance, Tamil Nadu has announced the creation of 3,000 Mw of solar power generation capacity in the state over the next three years. The state government proposes addition of 1,000 Mw of solar power generation capacity each year for the next three years by creation of solar power generation facilities.

What is it that is goading state governments and private players to create incentives for driving up the scale for solar energy production? In the words of Inderpreet S. Wadhwa, CEO, Azure Power, “Considering the acute power shortage that the country is facing, solar energy has really high prospects in India. In the days to come, you will only see the scale of production going up, improved distribution and the final cost going down.” According to the draft of the 18th Electric Power Survey of India, India’s power shortage during peak consumption hours—between 8-11am and 5-8pm—will surge from 124,995Mw now to 199,540Mw in 2016-17 and 283,470Mw in 2021-22. The power shortage situation is all the more alarming considering that the country’s per capita electricity consumption, at 700 kilowatt/hour, is less than one-third the global average; yet it faces a 10.2% shortage during the peak hours.

Under the circumstances, ramping up solar power capacity appears to be the best bet for bridging the country’s yawning power deficit. India’s demand for primary energy is expected to leap from 400 mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent) to 1,200 mtoe by 2030, by which date the per capita consumption of electricity is expected to have tripled from its current 660 kWh/ to 2,000 kWh. Currently, 75% of this electricity is generated from coal and lignite, among the dirtiest sources of energy. In contrast, solar energy has the estimated physical potential for meeting 94% of India’s additional electricity needs by 2031-32. And with advances in solar technology, the cost of solar energy is becoming comparable to or less than that of electricity from coal and oil fired generating stations once their externalities and current subsidies are factored in. Three years ago when the National Solar Mission was launched, the price of every unit of solar power was Rs.18, which has now come down to Rs. 7 per unit. A KPMG India estimate believes that price of solar energy will further come down at a pace of 5-7% per year for the next three to four years.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Ready for big-bang retail growth?

The government’s decision to liberalise FDI in multi-brand retail is being seen as a bold move to spur foreign investment in India. But allowing global retail giants in the country may not bring in the promised dividends.

Call it a coincidence but the underlying irony was hard to miss. On the same day that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced his government’s decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail – signalling a red carpet welcome for foreign supermarket chains – a Washington-based web newspaper carried a detailed story on how Wal-Mart, America’s largest retail chain, has been displacing nearby businesses. The irony was that all along in recent months Singh’s UPA government was fighting to dispel similar concerns being voiced by the Opposition as well as UPA allies on allowing global retailers like TESCO, Carrefour and Wal-Mart to set shop in India. After failing to rally support for greater FDI in muti-brand retail, the UPA government eventually went ahead and issued the notification for liberalising FDI rules in the retail sector on September 20.

What has followed since (apart from the exit of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress from the UPA combine) has been a series of high decibel TV discussions and polarised debate over the pros and cons of FDI liberalisation in retail and how it will play out in India. On the one hand, we have the government and the Congress cheerleaders dubbing the move as ‘big bang reforms’. At the other end of the spectrum is the Opposition’s rhubarb decrying the move as retrograde and one which would spell doom for local kirana stores and render a huge chunk of our population jobless.

While some have argued that the government’s hurried push for reforms has been guided by the intent to divert the nation’s attention from the coal scam that saw the Congress-led government cornered, there are others that say that the latest push for reforms comes in the wake of the rapidly gathering perception about the government being stuck in policy paralysis. Reform votaries contend that allowing FDI liberalisation in retail will lay to rest the growing impression about the government’s policy inertia and will to bring in the much-needed foreign investment to India. But whether one chooses to call it a reform or a diversionary agenda, there is no gainsaying that this time around, unlike that of November 2011, the government is in no mood to withdraw its decision. So whether one likes it or not, FDI in retail is here to stay.

The politics that preceded or followed the decision to allow higher FDI in retail misses the key point. The crux of the matter does not lie in the kind of impact assesment that self-proclaimed pundits in the media, the government, the Opposition or the academia have been bruiting about. Also, the government’s defence that the move to allow foreign retailers in multi-brand retail will fix these issues is simply a case of wishful thinking and one that the policy fails to address. That’s because the bottlenecks that have impacted the retail industry in the past are likely to persist in the future as well.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

“It’s like killing two birds with one stone”

Dr. Partho Mishra, VP & GM, Service Provider Access Business Unit, Cisco India, discusses how Cisco leverages the benefits of dual-use technologies

B&E: How relevant is reverse innovation for India at large and for Cisco’s R&D operations here in particular?
Dr. Partho Mishra (PM): The potential for engineering and technology in India is immense in the last 10 years, and the analogy I can give is this. In the 1960s, Japanese manufacturers had these el cheapo cars. In the 1970s, they started developing small but best in breed cars. By the end of the 1980s, the Japanese were dominating the US market with models like Lexus and Infiniti. Reverse innovation is a part; there is a huge opportunity for India out there in terms of IT, telecom, computing. If you look at our capabilities, there is capital available to fund the development, and all the information required to develop a product is readily available, as compared to 20 years ago. We should capitalise on all that. At Cisco, reverse innovation is only a part of our agenda, which is to solve problems specific to emerging markets, because we believe that as the GDPs of these countries grow, we will benefit. For instance, look at the Smart Connected Communities idea. If we can build on that, and make people cross a certain threshold, it opens up new possibilities, like being able to provide services on that infrastructure like telemedicine, remote education, et al. If you can replace poor physical infrastructure with great virtual infrastructure on top of that, you can enable things.

B&E: How do you qualify a reverse innovation opportunity?
PM: Even if there is no opex/funding constraint, the reality of the situation is that we have more work to be done than there are people. When we have situations where we are able to have du-al-use technologies (which we are designing for emerging markets, but can sell to other markets), we can kill two birds with one stone. There lies the engineering challenge – how can you design a product that can scale up and down? It’s something like what car manufacturers have started doing in the last 10 years. They build a common chassis and skins change. We approach it in a very similar way. Like for the ASR 901, we have different SKUs, but we took the various scale, features and power consumption requirements into account when we were developing this product.

B&E: You are optimistic on India’s R&D potential. Are there critical need gaps that need to be filled?
PM: Intellectual capital and seed capital is available, and so are global commercialisation opportunities. But we need technology leaders who will say, “Five years down the road,that’s what’s coming, and that’s what we should be building.” In India, we still have a services mentality. Let me go and develop x software and y hardware. It is so incremental and risk averse. If I were to dedicate 500 engineers to doing this, I am going to get a very predictable ROI. The other thing is that if you go to the core of any start up in Silicon Valley, you may have 100-200 engineers. In addition, they also have 3-4 system architects. They are the brains, who know everything about how everything works together there. There are too many of them at Silicon Valley. In fact, if you walk into a Star-bucks, you’ll find such people there. That’s a critical piece missing in India, but it is fast coming up.
 

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
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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