Movie Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Pakistani Dream

Based on a novel of the same name by Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is everything and perhaps more than what you would expect from a Mira Nair film.

The political thriller begins with the kidnap of an American professor in Lahore, and after that there is no looking back. The entire film is set over a conversation between Changez (Riz Ahmed) and American journalist Bobby (Liev Schreiber).  The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks that are non-linear (and sometimes predictable) in which we see Changez’s journey from living the great American Dream to his return to Lahore after 09/11 attacks and his search for the Pakistani Dream.

The film is quite different from the novel when it comes to the story, and at times you feel it drags on. But where it scores high is the use of soundtrack. It began with a Qawaali sung by brothers Fareed Ayaz and Abu Mohammed which set the mood of the film. Apart from this, the presence of Om Puri and Shabana Azmi, however short their roles were, also helped in giving the film its distinct flavour.

Riz Ahmed has done a good job. I wouldn’t say brilliant as he lacks emotions at times when it is needed the most, but it was decent. Kate Hudson plays his love interest and could have well been forgotten if not for the lovemaking scenes. Liev Schreiber has a few comment s here and there, but other than that he is just the listener. In other words, what holds the film together is Mira Nair’s storytelling style rather than the performances. As in her other films, the settings blend in perfectly with the theme – from Wall Street to the typical teahouse at Lahore.

To conclude, the plot is superb, the direction is good, and the acting is good enough.

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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

"Clean Chit" regime

An inside look at the resilience of corruption and arrogance. By Sutanu Guru

Once upon a time, there lived a rapacious Emperor who specialized in plundering his subjects even while taking the moral high ground. Even his critics (also known as the silent majority) refrained from exposing him because they were quite scared of the Emperor's Cruel and Brazen Intentions (better known as CBI). He reveled and flowered in the presence of sycophants who described his plunder as “inclusive politics”. Once before the Republic Day, he ordered his tailors (now known as spin masters) to design and stitch a gown befitting his unparalleled stature as an Emperor. His spin masters (otherwise known as anchors and pundits) worked 24*7 and wove a gown that was invisible to all but their blinkered eyes. Come Republic Day and the Emperor preened in front of millions of subjects. One of them was a kid who was not familiar with the CBI and hence burst out laughing and proclaimed: But he is as naked as a statue! His parents shrunk in fear as they were aware of what the CBI could do if the Emperor was hurt and angry. But in this tale, they need not have worried. This modern tale has a different twist. The Emperor laughs out loud and says: Of course I know I am naked! But look at my pathetic subjects! They are wearing clothes and trying to hide their embarrassment!!!

Sounds corny and maybe even far fetched. But that just about sums up the state of the relationship that exists between the UPA regime and citizens of India. That fantasy tale also explains the arrogance of the UPA regime which is now as good as – or worse than – the naked Emperor with a fetish for plunder. Perhaps this also explains the Faustian audacity and brazenness with which leading lights of this UPA dispensation have been treating this country and its citizens. The thing is: for various reasons including hubris, they seem convinced they will get away with and end up scripting another monster called UPA-3 after 2014. Each time the UPA regime and its members are enmeshed in a scandal or a scam, each time a UPA courtier is caught with a hand in the till and each time a whistle blower gathers the courage to expose a misdeed, out comes the proverbial “clean chit” in a jiffy.

Some weeks ago, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar was addressing a gathering of the faithful in the hinterland. The state, which is already notorious across the world for record number of farmer suicides, is facing an unprecedented man-made drought and life threatening water shortages. Ajit Pawar was irrigation minister for about a decade when the dams meant to store water went dry in the state. How does he react to this calamity? You must be living in a fool's paradise if you thought Pawar was contrite. In typical UPA style, he ridiculed a farmer and an activist who were on a hunger strike for more than 50 days protesting against dry dams and publicly announced: do they expect me to urinate in the dams to fill them with water? After the usual uproar and outrage, his uncle Sharad Pawar chided the 54 year old Ajit for his ‘youthful impetuosity’, gave him a "clean chit" and made him sit on a token one day fast in front of a Mahatma Gandhi statue. Poor Mahatma Gandhi!. Another colleague of Ajit Pawar pushed the brazenness envelope even further. The Maharashtra Home Minister R.R Patil engineered a diktat whereby he would personally supervise the transfers and postings of even junior policemen in the state. Since offensive words like publicly urinating were not involved, there wasn't much outrage. Remember, R.R Patil was Home Minister when Pakistani terrorists struck Mumbai on 26/11. So incensed was India at his incompetence and blasé arrogance that even the brazen UPA was forced to drop him. But then, the UPA won elections and Patil was back as Home Minister. Oh yes, there were many enquiries into administrative failures during 26/11. But R.R Patil got a “clean chit”.

Ask any objective and unbiased observer (a difficult person to locate nowadays) and she will tell you unhesitatingly that Maharashtra today is one of the worst governed states in the country. And yet, either the Congress or some version of Congress has ruled the state continually ever since the state was formed except a five year stint of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.  The same unbiased observer will tell you that the odds favor yet another UPA victory next year in the assembly elections because of a fractured opposition.

Such cockiness is not restricted to Maharashtra. It was in full public display last year when the whistle blower bureaucrat of Haryana Ashok Khemka made serious allegations against Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The brief story of Robert Vadra is: he started with Rs 50 lakh and bought land near Gurgaon by giving cheques to the owner; cheques that were not encased. Incidentally, nobody seems to know how he got even the Rs 50 lakh! The real estate company DLF then buys the land from Robert Vadra for hundreds of crores. The moment this dubious deal was made public, Khemka was given a punishment posting and a battery of top Haryana officials and Congress spokespersons rushed ahead to castigate Khemka and give a “clean chit” to destiny's son in law Vadra. Subsequent revelations show that Vadra also bought huge tracts of land in Rajasthan mysteriously before their values jumped manifold. Even for this, Vadra was given a “clean chit”. Why is the Haryana government so brazen and cocksure? Well, the man who could topple the Congress government in Haryana, Om Prakash Chauthala is himself behind bars, convicted on charges of corruption and the opposition seems to be in disarray! Forget the political situation in Haryana. What is to be admired and marveled at is the nonchalance with which Congress courtiers  insist that Robert Vadra transformed Rs 50 lakh to Rs 500 crores in double quick time because of his unique entrepreneurial skills and not because of any hanky panky.

Robert Vadra is a lucky entrepreneur. Not just because he has married into the first family of India, but also because he is smart enough not to publicly challenge the first family. Look at what is happening to another “young” entrepreneur Y.S Jagan Reddy, son of the late Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy who was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and one of the favorites of 10 Janpath till he died in a helicopter crash some years ago. It is almost one year since Jagan Reddy was arrested by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation and not Cruel and Brazen Intentions!) on charges of corruption and for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets. Now, according to the CBI, Jagan Reddy amassed hundreds and thousands of crores of ill gotten wealth when his father was chief minister between 2004 and 2009. No action was taken against him; no steps were initiated to prosecute him by any authority even after the death of his father. Till he openly revolted against the Congress High Command and 10 Janpath. Soon after Jagan declared war on his party, and the Congress sensed that it was almost certain to lose Andhra Pradesh, the “caged parrot” was unleashed and Jagan Reddy remains in jail. The million dollar question is: would he be behind bars if he was more patient and not demanded that he be forthwith made the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh? Surely the man himself must be pondering over that inside jail. Meanwhile, Congress leaders remain blasé about Andhra. They know that they will lose the “Telengana” seats to the regional party TRS and the rest of Andhra to Jagan Reddy. But they seem confident that both TRS and Jagan will have no option but to do business with the Congress after 2014. Blessed are the arrogant, more so when they have weapons like the CBI to unleash!

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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

Robert Pirosh to Hollywood

When copywriter Robert Pirosh landed in Hollywood in 1934, eager to become a screenwriter, he wrote and sent the following letter to all the directors, producers, and studio executives he could think of. The approach worked, and after securing three interviews he took a job as a junior writer with MGM. Pirosh went on to write for the Marx Brothers, and in 1949 won an Academy Award for his Battleground script.


Madison Avenue, November, 1934

Dear Sir:

I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady.

I like solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious, valedictory.

I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate, tonsorial, demi-monde.

I like suave "V" words, such as Svengali, svelte, bravura, verve.

I like crunchy, brittle, crackly words, such as splinter, grapple, jostle, crusty.

I like sullen, crabbed, scowling words, such as skulk, glower, scabby, churl.

I like Oh-Heavens, my-gracious, land's-sake words, such as tricksy, tucker, genteel, horrid.

I like elegant, flowery words, such as estivate, peregrinate, elysium, halcyon.

I like wormy, squirmy, mealy words, such as crawl, blubber, squeal, drip.

I like sniggly, chuckling words, such as cowlick, gurgle, bubble and burp.

I like the word screenwriter better than copywriter, so I decided to quit my job in a New York advertising agency and try my luck in Hollywood, but before taking the plunge I went to Europe for a year of study, contemplation and horsing around.

I have just returned and I still like words.

May I have a few with you?

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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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IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Sausage or rat meat?

Food adulteration laws need more teeth to ensure safe food supply

Attention please: the next time you go out to buy mutton, be careful. You may end up purchasing rat or fox meat masquerading as mutton. Shocking, but it's true. Around 20,000 tonnes of rat meat have been sold in the name of lamb meat in the Chinese market so far this year alone. The truth came to light only after Chinese officials began an investigation in January, that too after around 20,000 dead pigs were found floating in a river. Since then, 904 suspects have been arrested and 1,721 factories across China, have been sealed. The Chinese Public Security Ministry revealed that meat dealers have made more than £1 million by selling fake meat packed as mutton and as related products. What is even more galling is that the scandal is not limited to China alone. Counterfeit meat is a common phenomenon across the globe.

 Mao Shoulong, a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, highlighted in his report that “The United States and Europe can’t eradicate these problems either, but they are even more complicated in China.” The ongoing European horse meat scandal is a case in point. In many European countries like the UK, Sweden, France and Ireland, horse meat is being falsely tagged as beef. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland recently confirmed that Tesco’s beef burger contains around 29 per cent of horse DNA. In another report, Stellenbosch University stated in its study that donkey meat was found in South African burgers. The Dutch government too has started an investigation and has recalled 50,000 tonnes of meat (500 million burgers) sold as beef across Europe. In Japan, dolphin and porpoise meat have been illegally traded as whale meat. The Glasgow City Council's environmental services found in an investigation that butchers are selling beef as lamb.

The unnerving part is that the racket has been going on despite the existence of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act in almost every country worldwide. The Act is meant to ensure food safety and curtail food adulteration. But obviously, it has failed to serve its mandate. The 2008 Chinese milk scandal, which victimised around 300,000 people, is the most infamous among all. Even the ongoing meat scandal raises concerns on the credibility and effectiveness of the Act. Clearly, what is required is a holistic and global initiative towards combating adulterated food products. This scandal may not have caused major health problems, but it surely hurts the religious sentiments of many.

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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

Movie Review: Aatma

Fear isn't the key

Stylistically speaking, writer-director Suparn Verma’s paranormal thriller Aatma is anything but conventional. But in terms of substance, it is in the firm grip of the ghoul of the horror genre’s intrinsic limitations.

A dead dad, who was once an abusive husband, returns from the world yonder to lay claims to his angelic six-year-old daughter, and the harried mother fights tooth and nail to protect the girl from harm. That, in a nutshell, is what Aatma is about.

Trouble is that the film isn’t half as scary as it is meant to be. With the screenplay placing all the key cards on the table upfront, the possibility of genuine shocks and surprises are taken out of the equation.

The disgruntled aatma of the title – played by a suitably nonchalant Nawazuddin Siddiqui – turns into a ruthless serial killer, bumping off anybody who threatens to come between him and his daughter.

Aatma looks and feels very different from a run-of-the-mill Bollywood horror flick, thanks to the atypical camerawork and lighting by DoP Sophie Winqvist. If only it had a storyline that match the innate visual energy of the film.

The director resorts to familiar tropes to generate fear. The dialogue, too, tend to get stilted as an effort is made to explicate the strange occurrences around the household.

Inexplicable reflections in the mirror, a rocking chair that sways under an invisible weight, telephones that begin to ring without a warning, a rubber ball that bounces of its own accord and suchlike may suggest the presence of the unknown but do not serve the purpose of sending shivers down the spine.

Apart from the high-quality cinematography, the acting all around is the highlight of the film. Bipasha Basu, Bollywood’s jaded queen of horror movies, makes the most of the limited opportunities that the script offers.

Nawazuddin, too, has little to do except smirk eerily from the shadows. It is a cakewalk for him. Debutante Doyel Dhawan is a promising child star.

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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
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Hanging in balance

Odisha is a classic case of why India's growth story has gone sour. Dhrutikam Mohanty probes.

Why is India’s growth story not going as per the drawing board? Because its politicians and people have developed the uncanny ability to turn every single project into a personal commercial enterprise and public spectacle.

No better example of this economic slowdown than Odisha where some of the biggest industrial projects that India could have witnessed are languishing because of petty politicking, utter lack of vision, downright blackmail and a deeply flawed land compensation policy.

Its best illustration? Posco's Rs 52,000 crore steel plant in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district which was set to fetch the country's largest ever FDI of Rs 52,000 crore. Eight years after the MoU was signed between the state government and the company, the project remains where it was.

In fact, it has deteriorated. What should have by now become  a throbbing business hub, Gobindpur, the site of the proposed Posco plant, is a blood-splattered battle ground, victims of a bloody anti-Posco agitation that rears up every now and then. The Posco project become controversial when the land acquisition process began. Displacement became the core issue and gave birth to a well-organized anti-Posco movement. Though the state government is now working towards acquiring land, questions are now being asked about the veracity of the MoU which lapsed on June 21, 2010.

On March 2, three people were reported killed in Gobindpur. In an ongoing battle of attrition, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity (PPSS), the organization spearheading the movement against the project, said ``Posco and state-sponsored goons' hurled bombs killing three villagers in the district. The district administration says the three who died were in fact making bombs. “We had informed the police but no one came to our help,” says PPSS spokesperson Prashant Paikray.

The killings took place a day before the final phase of land acquisition for the Posco project was to be concluded in an area notified by the Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO).

Amid consistent protests, IDCO has acquired about 2,000 acre of land. The attempt now is to get an additional 700 acre in a topography dominated by betel-veins, agricultural waste lands and sweet water zones.

On March 5, 12 platoons of the state armed police led by the Jagatsinghpur DC and SP entered Gobindpur village and acquired more then 25 betel vines, a source of local livelihood. The move was resisted by force. So just when the world was preparing to celebrate International Women’s Day, local women had no hesitation in marking it by a ‘half-naked’ protest to stop land acquisition. The PPSS alleges that women protestors were assaulted by policewomen.

Though the state government has suspended the acquisition temporarily, tension prevails. An earlier attempt in February to takeover land in Gobindpur was similarly thwarted by local campaigners with the backing of a feverish global campaign led by activists worldwide.

A frustrated Posco is now pulling out all stops to make the project viable. Recently South Korea's Ambassador to India met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and expressed concern. But that in itself may not be enough.

According to the state economic survey 2012-13, the state government has signed MoUs with 94 reputed investors but most of them are stalled for reasons connected to land acquisition, environmental violations and agitations against displacement.

Posco's current status has now invited comparisons with other proposals which have been held up for long periods in Odisha. For instance Tata Iron and Steel's Kalinga Nagar proposal in Jajpur district, where 14 tribals protesting the Tata plant were shot dead by the police in January 2006. Or the Utkal Alumina project, a subsidiary of Birla group's Hindalco. After 20 years and investments of over Rs 500 crore, the 1.5-million-tonne alumina refinery project is yet to see the light of the day. As the company prepared to give a final push to complete the refinery work by the first quarter of 2013, protesters organized a meeting at Maikanch, near the project site in Rayagada, to pay tribute to three persons killed in police firing on agitators protesting  land acquisition 12 years ago.

Last week Kumar Mangalam Birla met Naveen Patnaik with the same request as the Korean envoy – fast track our industrial projects. Though the Aditya Birla group has proposed to set up an integrated aluminum complex with an investment of Rs 11,000 crore, land acquisition has come in the way of it taking off the ground.

Ditto with the world’s largest steel maker Arcelor Mittal. Land acquisition for it’s 12 million tonne per annum (MTPA) steel plant in mining-rich Kendujhar district has not concluded even though a MoU with the state government was signed in 2006. The MoU which expired on December 31, 2011 is now pending renewal.

Along with Mittal the state government had signed MoUs with Uttam Galva Steel and Sterlite group a few years ago: the results, however, do not vary.

Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Alumina is yet another loser. It was forced to shut its one million tonne per annum alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in the state's Kalahandi district due to non-availability of bauxite, 15 years after state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) signed over it’s rights to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills, which houses the primitive clan Dangiria Kandhas.

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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

War And Doom!

The economic bane of dual wars on the US and its allies

An influential section of the commentariat believes that the current economic slump in Europe and the US owes its genesis to, at least partially, to the effect of the twin wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have sucked up precious resources that could have been otherwise used for bolstering and beefing up the strengths of these embattled economies. According to Brown University’s Watson Institute, a mindboggling $4-6 trillion was spent by the US government on the two wars! The figure is 60 per cent of the entire size of the national budget for the period between 2001 and 2012. One only needs to join the dots to figure out why the country’s spending limits on education, health, infrastructure and R&D, among others, was severely crimped during this period.

The war funding, following the policy of the George Bush administration, was mostly supported through external debt. That has now ballooned to $16.7 trillion (as of March 2013), triggering concerns of a sovereign debt default by America. There are already flying insinuations across the US that the nation could be headed straight for a debt crisis, like so many of its counterparts in Europe. In fact, Europe is in even deeper hock. In terms of external debt, Britain is second-in-line to the US, with $9.8 trillion (as of June 2011). As of June 2010, the British exchequer had been drained to the sum of 20 billion pounds on account of the dual conflicts. In a clear demonstration of the war obsession, as against the obsession for furthering the public good, a paltry 557 million pounds have been earmarked for the nation’s development this year.

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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

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.

Read more.....

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
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

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
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

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….
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