Showing posts with label Arindam chaudhuri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arindam chaudhuri. Show all posts

Friday, July 13, 2012

Professor Bryan T. Kelly of Booth School of Business - How Government Guarantees Shape Asset Prices

Professor Bryan T. Kelly of Booth School of Business and co-authors (Prof. Hanno Lustig of UCLA and Stijn Van Nieuwerburg of New York University) undertake a field research to understand how government intervention and economic outcomes offer new insights into the effect of bailouts on the value of the banking sector.

The analysis reveals how the anticipation of a bailout impacts the well know implied volatility skew for financial sector index puts, and for a basket of individual bank puts. Since the guarantee only kicks-in when things get especially bad, the deepest out-of-the-money puts (those furthest to the left) are most severely impacted. And because it is the system, and not the individual banks, that are being insured, it is the index skew and not the basket skew that is most affected. As a result, the bailout guarantee, or the “Bernanke put” as it is more affectionately known, bends the index skew downward.

What is the upshot? Besides explaining the puzzling behavior of banking sector put options during the crisis, we demonstrate how information in the divergence between index options and the basket of options can be used to identify how guarantees affect banks’ cost of capital and, ultimately, their total market value.

Using a model of financial disasters matched to the behavior of crashes over history, they are able to attribute as much as half of the market value of the US financial sector during the crisis to the bailout guarantee. According to our estimates, the average government support of banking sector equity amounted to $0.65 billion before the crisis (2003-July 2007), and rose to $42.44 billion during the crisis (August 2007-June 2009), peaking at well over $150 billion along the way. At best we can only speculate about what kinds of resources the government consumes to implement this guarantee that props up bank stocks. But we can be certain that those resources ultimately come from taxpayer pockets.

This model also solves the problem of how to measure systemic risk in a world where the government distorts market prices. Why does this matter? History tells us that economic downturns following financial crises are deep and persistent. Smarter measurement of systemic risks and clearer understanding of the impacts of preventative government policies on asset markets helps to successfully avoid crises when possible and better navigate them when they strike


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Friday, July 02, 2010

Act

Hollywood hottie Megan Fox moved out of the “Transformers” franchise recently, and stepping into her shoes is Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. While 24-year-old Megan had angered Michael Bay, director of the “Transformers” series, by asserting in press interviews that her role in “Transformers II” didn’t require ‘a great deal of real acting’, it’s interesting to note that newbie model Rosie has no acting experience at all! Megan, meanwhile, has a plum role in “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” to concentrate on, in which she is to play a ‘beautiful mermaid who uses her powers of persuasion to trick Jack Sparrow!’ Well, with all this talk about acting, we can’t wait to find out if she can actually act!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

You Cannes or you can’t

Though the 63rd Cannes Film Festival was an unusually low-key affair, the closing night Palme d’Or triumph for a Thai artist-filmmaker helped the show end on a high note, writes Saibal Chatterjee

Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul receives the Palme d'Or from French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg

The 63rd Cannes Film Festival shunned excess. It attracted fewer stars, delivered a lower dose of razzmatazz and its ‘selection officiel’ did not have the usual complement of films. It was probably symptomatic of a world only just beginning to emerge from a meltdown. However, the carnival-like atmosphere that inevitably engulfs the world’s premier film festival was anything but missing. It was business as usual on the French Riviera.

As the excitement surrounding the race for the Palme d’Or peaked, the jury’s choice of winner left a sizeable chunk of attendees a tad perplexed. For Thai avant-garde filmmaker Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul’s singular triumph at was more than just a vindication of his brand of personal cinema.

The decision of the nine-member jury headed by Hollywood maverick Tim Burton to award one of cinema’s biggest prizes to Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was nearly as much about art and politics.

But that is the way it almost always pans out in Cannes. The festival revels in springing surprises. It celebrates ground-breakers.

Weerasethakul is nothing if not one. His exquisite Uncle Boonmee, the first Asian film to win the Palme d’Or since 1997, pushes the boundaries of the cinematic medium with unwavering precision and intent – the defining attributes of the 39-year-old filmmaker’s art. His cinema makes no concessions to the norms of the mainstream Thai movie industry dominated by action flicks, period epics and horror tales.

In matters more mundane, the inventive director has for years been a vocal opponent of the censorship laws in place in his country and the Cannes award for his latest film is a tribute to the spirit of creative freedom that he represents at a time when Thailand is in the throes of unprecedented civil strife.

The political significance of this year’s Palme d’Or, therefore, was not lost on anybody. But, then, Cannes and politics have always gone hand in hand.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The myth of security council

Does permanent membership in the UN Security Council matter?

Iranian President Ahmadinejad and his Zimbabwean counterpart Mugabe recently have urged for reform in the UN Security Council. Well, their calling for reforms may not egg on the world community into serious consideration but the issue for some nations has become of extreme importance, undoubtedly. Germany, Japan, Brazil, India along with South Africa, Egypt and many others are fighting wholeheartedly to secure permanent membership in the Security Council. Japan's former PM Junichiro Koizumi, his Indian counterpart, Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Brazilian President Lula urged nations to support them. This, invariably, creates an impression that they are in a rat-race, well, but for their betterment?

One side of the story is countries like India are suffering from countless severe issues from internal instability, terrorism, poverty and others. Thus, permanent membership in the Security Council may seem simply foreign policy glamour. The other side of the story is that domestic issues are of serious concern and need immediate domestic policy interventions. But then, can that be at the cost of foreign policy concerns? The People's Republic of China joined the Security Council in 1971 when it didn’t have economic prosperity as it has today and it had the same problems that India still suffers from.

Reforms in the UN Security Council are important to bring more democracy into the world's most powerful body as Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General said, “We are the ones who go around the world lecturing everybody about democracy. I think it is time we apply it to ourselves, and then show that there is effective representation.” More importantly, influential nations should join the Council for the interest of the world community to oppose US hegemony. The world might not have seen devastating wars like that in Iraq or Afghanistan, had India, Brazil, Japan or Germany been able to use a veto power. Moreover, even if permanent membership doesn't directly guarantee that age-old plights of developing countries in the IMF and WTO would be removed overnight, it will definitely enhance global integration. It might not give India or Brazil a status equal to that of the US or Russia, but it will certainly guarantee the end of a colonial attitude prevailing within and without for centuries. It’s clearly unfair that only 5 out of 191 nations enjoy the liberty of veto power and dictate the terms of world affairs while 186 nations wait for their two-year term of the non-permanent membership. If a nation is responsible to take care of the plight of its citizens, it also has the responsibility to take care of the poor, hungry and homeless Afghanis, who are victims of vulnerability. Ergo, the Security Council membership should be targeted not to fulfil one’s ego, but to ensure global equality.

But will the above mentioned nations be allowed to join? Japan is the 2nd largest donor to UN projects. Germany is a strong economy, donor and more importantly, a much more open nation than many western countries. Even India and Brazil fulfil all ‘written’ possible criteria to join the Council. But then, there’s much a slip between the cup and the ‘written’ lip.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Not a garden city anymore

In the name of development many trees are being felled

Bengaluru is fast turning into a desert. To improve the city’s infrastructure, the government has planned train projects worth Rs 1,000 crore and for that trees will be felled. This week, the state government announced railway projects worth Rs 600 crore including local rail, mono rail and high speed rail link projects. The city’s urbanisation drive has led to a massive tree felling. According to official sources, in the last two years the garden city has lost nearly 5,000 trees.

Shockingly, half of Bengaluru’s greenery has been destroyed for road widening, flyovers and other projects. By now more than 300 lakes have dried up. Besides, some 50,000 trees have been axed for various development works. In 2008, a joint survey conducted by Bengaluru Environment Trust and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)showed that the city has less than 7 per cent of its area under tree cover. In fact, the tree cover has come down to less than 50 per cent in a few decades. Now Bengaluru has only 15 lakh trees in its green belt. Dr A. N. Yellappa Reddy, environmentalist and former Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, says: “Nearly 50,000 trees have been felled for Namma Metro and other projects. A lot of damage has been done to the environment in the name of development during the last decade. There is hardly any tree left in the city. If the government continues with its projects then even the existing trees will perish. There is nothing left to protest.”

Environmentalists are vehemently opposing the Metro project as they know that more trees will fell. Besides, a portion of Lalbagh — the world’s famous garden of the city — will also be destroyed. But the authorities are least bothered about it. They have gone ahead with their projects. Currently, several trees were felled on the Mysore road for widening it. The BBMP is trying to revive the greenery by planting saplings. “We have already planted some eight lakh saplings in the last three years,” says Shanthakumar, a forest conservator, who works with the BBMP. But, environmentalists are not convinced. They aren’t sure whether these actions will get the required results.

“Who will donate four-square feet land for greenery when a square feet is worth Rs 5,000? People need to understand the value of having trees around. They should plant new ones in their areas. Felling of trees has an impact on the environment also. It has led to warm weather and heat waves in the city. Air circulation has also reduced due to the dense residential development and loss of tree cover,” says Yellappa Reddy.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Marriage trap

In a cluster of villages in rural Bangalore, child marriages are robbing young girls of the right to college education. B S Narayanaswamy and N K Suprabha investigate

Young Kavya’s life would have been very different had she not stood her ground when it really mattered. A year back, when she was only 15, her parents, upper caste and middle class, asked her to brace herself up for a 'bride show' in her school. Kavya refused. All hell broke loose at home. But the girl did not budge. However, her classmate in Uyyamballi high school, Deepu, like many others, could not resist family pressure.

Today, Deepu is married to a boy of her own caste while Kavya goes to college to pursue higher studies. She is determined to make her mark in life and the Pre-University College in Dodda Alahalli village of Kanakapura taluk, 60 km from Bangalore, is helping her prepare for a higher purpose.

“That was the most horrible moment of my life,” says Kavya, recalling the day she had to take on her parents. “It is common for girls here to be married off before they can enter college. Deepu got married when she was a 10th standard student. But I was very clear about my future.”

Unfortunately, in this part of Karnataka, the likes of Deepu constitute an overwhelming majority and gutsy girls like Kavya are a rarity. In the last five years, over 1,000 arranged child marriages have taken place in Kanakapura. School premises are openly used as a setting by prospective bridegrooms to check out their future brides.

“Most of the girls get engaged in 10th standard and they get married as soon as they finish their exams. Every year we receive plenty of such wedding invitations from our students,” says Jyothi, headmistress of Dodda Alahalli high school.

Girls get pushed into matrimony before they are ready to make up their own minds. Parents use every emotional ruse in the book to have their way. They evoke the issue of family honour to browbeat young girls into submission. They are actually desperate to prevent inter-caste marriages, the possibility of which increases once a girl gets into college and mixes with students of the opposite sex with relative freedom.

In high schools, girls are often pulled out of a classroom when a bridegroom comes calling. Says Anil Gummanahalli, physical training teacher at Uyyamballi high school: “Sometimes a groom visits a girl’s house without a prior appointment. So the girl’s parents come to the school along with the groom. I myself have sent many girl students from an ongoing class for this kind of vadhu pariksha. It's quite commonplace.”

Elagahalli high school headmaster Shivarudrappa also confirms that many such vadhu parikshas have occurred in nearby schools in recent times. While these bride shows happen under the very nose of the law, the law-keepers are either blissfully unaware about the social menace or are simply inacapable of taking action against the wrongdoers under the law.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Old warhorse rides back

Uma Bharti, the OBC face of the Ram Mandir movement, may be re-inducted into the BJP and is likely to lead the party in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Rai reports

Dogged by its own problems, confronted with one internal crisis after another, the 30-year-old BJP is struggling to find direction. It has failed to come up with an effective plan which would give the party a firm footing in the electorally significant state of Uttar Pradesh.

According to party insiders, BJP is not only all set to re-induct senior estranged leader Uma Bharti but also give her the charge of UP to galvanise BJP’s rank and file. The BJP leadership feels she is the rare politician who successfully combined mandir with mandal and is the best weapon to counter Mayawati in a state where caste is the king. The idea to launch Uma Bharti as the face of BJP in UP reportedly came from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who believes she can strengthen the party in Uttar Pradesh. Senior RSS leaders believe that she fits the bill of a “charismatic leader” the party so badly needs to take the SP and the BSP head on.

Moreover, being a firebrand woman leader, Uma is also seen fit to be pitted against BSP supreme and state chief minister Mayawati who is also known for her aggressive style of politics. “She is not new to UP. The party needs a dynamic face that is distant from local factionalism and at the same time understands the internal dynamics of the state,” says a senior BJP leader. Uma Bharti had once been a credible OBC face of the party. Since she belongs to the Lodh community, many leaders believe she would compensate for the loss of Kalyan Singh, another leader from the same community. With her entry, the BJP leadership feels, the operation to transplant backward caste vote bank on a Baniya-Brahmin system can materialise.

Uma was also at the forefront of the Ram Mandir movement and was a star campaigner of BJP during the movement, which had played an important role in the party’s expansion across the country.
But, in the quintessential BJP style, the party is divided over this issue. Party sources say BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Mohan Bhagwat want to welcome Uma back in the BJP ranks, whereas senior leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan are not too happy about this move. Apart from these senior leaders, many other BJP central leaders are also opposed to it as she has a history of bitter clashes with some of them. Former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP stalwart L.K. Advani has reportedly given the green signal to Uma Bharti’s re-entry in the party. Sources close to him confirm the news but don’t see it happening too soon.

Uma Bharti was expelled from the BJP in 2005 after she had attacked senior leaders, including then president Advani. She stormed out of a party meeting after insulting the leader. Uma had shouted about “rootless Rajya Sabha members who plant stories” in television channels and newspapers and had challenged Advani to take disciplinary action against her. That left the BJP leadership with no choice but to suspend her from the primary membership of the party. She then formed her own party called Bhartiya Janshakti Party. Uma Bharti recently resigned from the post of president of her own party. This move is seen as the first step to mend fences with the BJP.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Monday, June 07, 2010

Bad Mash Company

A crumpled mess of implausible storytelling glazed with over the top stylisation

If making a good movie is like crafting a statue out of stone, “Badmash Company” takes the Lego blocks assembly shortcut mashing together a few borrowed cons (some may faintly remind you of “Matchstick Men”, a Nicholas Cage starrer released in 2003) to churn out a wasteful effort. In fact, you suspect if any effort was involved at all in scheming up the story of four friends who try to make some fast money via dodgy means. Everything is a fair game – from sneakers to gloves to even the mortgage market – for our con artists extraordinaire led by Karan (Shahid Kapoor), who start with simple sneaker smuggling in a pre-liberalised India and then set their sights on pulling off cons in the Big Apple. How four ordinary Indians with seemingly little in terms of connections can pull such far fetched and ambitious heists is beyond comprehension.

Implausibility aside, the film appears too stylised (Yash Raj Films love their costumes and their locations grand and slick but you’d be surprised to see how glam pre-liberalisation India looked!) for you to be interested in the characters, who by the way are lazily etched anyway. The story is pretty predictable and the fact that our ‘Friends & Co.’ (that’s what the four dub themselves) touch everything from the mortgage market to the stock market besides getting Michael Jackson to start a fashion trend will make you want to yank your hair out. The acting is conspicuous by its absence; Meiyang Chang and Vir Das have too little screen time to really matter and Anushka Sharma is just about there. Shahid Kapoor tries to be all he is not and fails miserably. The film is a poor mash up of borrowed content and artificial intent.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Friday, June 04, 2010

Rift turns polls colourful

Soumya Bandopadhyay says the civic polls will decide the course of the 2011 Assembly polls in West Bengal

Thank God! The alliance is no more! Otherwise the election to 81 civic bodies including Kolkata and Salt Lake would have turned colourless. There is a general ‘Feel Good’ wind doing the Left Front’s corridors. But whether a division of opposition votes really translate in the Left Front’s victory is a million dollar question. It will also answer whether this division is the only factor which has enabled the Left to be in power for nearly 33 years. Perhaps, it’s an opportunity for Mamata Banerjee and her party to negate this myth. This is the biggest attraction of these civic polls.

For Alimuddin Street satraps, who have forgotten class struggle and have turned arrogant, flamboyant and patronising towards party cadres, combating the stormy political weather of change, which started since the Singur-Nandigram days, was impossible. The Trinamool onslaught in south Bengal left the Left at its defensive best in the last three and a-half decades. The ever-growing blind and unquestionable mass support to Mamata had another truth to it. The masses were mainly demanding the ‘end of CPM rule’.

As people of different colours and creed have joined that stream, the Congress leadership too, acknowledging people’s wishes, got their state leadership to join that force. Whenever elections were held in the post-Singur-Nandigram period, the state Congress leadership had to obey the dictum of its high command — be it Panchayat election or by-polls to Bishnupur (West), Bowbazar or Sealdah or the Lok Sabha election. But, now the flute is playing a different tune. And the Trinamool, Pradesh Congress and the Congress high command, all have been conductors in this grand orchestra.

The question is, despite honouring all the demands of Mamata Banerjee till date, why did Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not force the state leadership to listen to the Trinamool supremo?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Greece’s problem is only temporary and its capital will flow again

Like in Poland, Hungary too in early 1990s faced rapid institutional change and severe economic downturn — when a reform package known as “legislative shock therapy” was announced. The main points of this package were debt restructuring and vigorous privatisation, especially for the public sector and the banking system. These changes were successfully implemented to create one of the strongest financial sectors in the region with a well governed market.

Therefore, it can be deciphered that investors have short memories — Greece will get over its current crisis and capital will start flowing again — as it happened in Russia, Poland and Hungary. Also it is a fact that ex-communist countries could only dream of the kind of support Greece is getting from its European partners. Under the plan, Euro zone nations (comprising of 16 states) would provide $570 billion, while the rest $75 billion is offered by the European Union Commission. IMF will also provide a backing of $325 billion, half of what euro zone leaders have granted.

It is an opportunity for the West European nations to get their acts together. One sometimes wonder, had the problem be with Ukraine or any other similar nation— who is also seeking EU membership, just like Greece — would it receive same kind of attention as its neighbour! It’s anybody’s speculation.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

India can’t manufacture SIM cards as per requirements

It is not that the Indian Parliament is oblivious of the fact. Even parliamentarians are worried about this grave danger. BJP MP and member of the parliamentary committee on IT and communications Rajendra Aggarwal asks for a ban on SIM cards coming from China. He also seeks an audit check of the SIM cards which have already reached the country. He says, “The government should take immediate steps in this regard. The SIM cards which have come from China should be put to security audit. I am not against trade with China but the trade which puts our security in danger should be stopped.” The same apprehension is expressed by Prabhat Jha, MP and also a member of the same committee. He says, “Import of SIM cards from China is inviting danger.”

If the Chinese hackers hack the secure unique authentication key of the Indian SIM cards which are in china and pass it on to terrorists planning to spread violence in India, it can lead to a disaster. In countries like US, instances have been found where terrorists have cloned SIM cards and used them to not only talk to their handlers but also to trigger bomb blasts. The terrorists which attacked Indian Parliament also used a cloned phone. Now, when the government is strict about the verification of identity before issuing mobile connections, the possibility of using cloned phone increases. If the secure unique authentication key of a SIM is known, then any mobile number of the Indian network can be put on the Pakistani mobile network. A defence officer says, “We found a mobile with a terrorist and were stunned to find that the SIM of Indian network was working on Pakistan mobile network. It becomes very difficult for Intelligence agencies to trace such mobile numbers.”

Even then, DoT keeps its eyes closed. The way in which interests of Chinese companies are being safeguarded hints at a big scandal. TSI has in its possession the report of the committee under the chairmanship of the member technical of the DoT which was submitted on April 1, 2010. The committee was set up by the department of telecommunication to give security clearance to equipment and software bought by the cellular companies. This report has a few parameters for obtaining security clearance and the list of 15 equipment and software for which cellular operators will require the government’s permission. But the circular issued on December 3, 2009, asked the operators to take security clearance from the department if they bought any software or equipment. According to this circular, even SIM cards require security clearance. The sources informed TSI that while the list of the equipment and software which needed security clearance was being finalised, it had even SIM cards on it. But it was removed at the last moment. Why was this done? Was it the carelessness of the department or a planned omission? It will get clear only after an inquiry.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Monday, May 03, 2010

The bankrupt Punjab State Electricity Board is bifurcated

PSEB had a staggering debt of Rs. 16000 crore with fiscal deficit at Rs. 9000 crore. The market value of the total assets of PSEB is about Rs. 30,000 crore. The new companies would start from zero balance and would not inherit the legacy of the financial mess.

The engineers' associations have finally welcomed the move as the government has allayed the apprehensions of the stakeholders like the employees and the farmers. The government has convinced them that it was mainly the management system which had undergone a change and these sections would not be affected in any manner. The service conditions of the employees would remain the same. The farmers would continue to enjoy the facility of free power for the farm sector. Dalit households would also get the same facility of free power as earlier. The government took pains to make the situation transparent saying it was not privatisation but only corporatisation.

However, Dr. Joginder Dayal, member of the CPI national executive would not share this perception of the state government saying, “It is just the first step towards privatisation. Moreover, the states where the power boards have already been dissolved have not benefited in any manner and the consumers have to cough up more than before”. West Bengal has already implemented the Electricity Act, 2003 where the CPI is a partner in the government. Of course, power tariff is much higher in neighbouring Haryana where the power board was trifurcated much earlier. However, there are some states in India where unbundling of the power supply board has been a spectacular success.

As per the policy announced by the state government, the chiefs of the two companies, along with the directors, would be appointed through an open process. The criteria for the selection are being given final touches. The Chief Secretary heads the committee for this purpose. Of course, the final decision would be taken by the political leadership. Powercom would have a total of eight directors, one each for generation, distribution, commercial, finance, human resources development and general administration, besides two nominees from the state government. The other company, Transco, would have four directors.

IAS officer Anurag Aggarwal, who heads the two power companies as part of an interim arrangement, says: “The new teams would comprise professionals and experts from the technical cadre. The teams would have the required capability and clear mandate to take the performance of the power sector to the higher level of efficiency."

Punjab was the first state to achieve total rural electrification. However, of late, the quality of power has been very poor. Though the farm sector is being provided free power for more than a decade, the supply has been erratic. Even urban areas are subjected to long power cuts and the situation is worse during the peak load demand as generation has been stagnant for about a decade. Now it is to be seen as to how much functional autonomy the two new companies enjoy. The state government would have to ensure timely payment of subsidy on account of free power supply to different sections of society for the success of power reforms, apart from taking other required measures. Mere restructuring in itself is unlikely to achieve the pupose.

The industry has welcomed this initiative of the Badal government. Regional chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council SC Ralhan says: “The move would definitely be a great benefit to the industry. However, the situation would become clear in the coming months. Of course, it has opened up the power sector in the state as mandated by the Electricity Act. It is the work culture which also needs to be changed by introducing better accountability at every level.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A little big girl

A Lucknow schoolgirl invokes RTI to rid the street outside her school of a garbage dump, reports Puja Awasthi

Aishwarya Sharma, who turned nine this month, created history of sorts by becoming the youngest person to file a Right to Information (RTI) application and see it through to get results. Sharma’s application, filed on November 30, 2009, wanted to know why an overflowing garbage disposal site, where pigs and dogs roamed freely, should exist right across her school and be a possible source of infection to her and the other children.

Sharma’s mother Urvashi has been an RTI activist for long and has recently set up an RTI helpline, yet it was only recently that Aishwarya began to pay attention to what her mother was doing. “The swine flu scare was all over. But no one, not even parents, was willing to pay any attention to that possible source of infection that stood right across our school,” says the girl who has just been promoted to Class Four.

Coached well by her mother, Aishwarya prattles that the RTI is what “allows you to rectify anything that is wrong. It is a tool to weed out corruption,” faltering when asked what precisely does Section 6 of the Act that she so often quotes say.

The RTI route was not the first that Aishwarya took. She initially wrote to chief minister Mayawati’s office in October 2009 asking for the garbage dump to be removed. When no answers came, she took the RTI way, dipping into her own piggy bank to pay the Rs 10 that is to be attached to every RTI query. In her baby handwriting, guided by her mother, she had three pointed queries for the chief minister’s Public Information Officer: one, was there any rule which permitted the building of a garbage disposal site near a school; two, if the garbage were to become a source of infection for the children in her school, who would be held responsible; and lastly that she be given a photocopy of the file into which the first letter she had sent to the CM had gone.

In February this year, she received a response from the city’s civic authorities (Lucknow Nagar Nigam), informing her that the city’s Health Officer and the Mayor had directed that the site should no longer be used for disposal of garbage and that a fresh site be built elsewhere. “But they did not answer any of my questions,” she points out. In less than a month, the girl was at it again: writing a fresh application to the Appeals Officer at the Nagar Nigam asking why her queries had not been responded to precisely and why had she not received copies of the orders of the two authorities mentioned in the reply.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Monday, April 19, 2010

The Indian journey of Maruti Udyog Limited

The Indian journey of Maruti Udyog Limited started with the first unit of the Maruti 800 being delivered by the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; and since then, there’s been no looking back for this automaker in the country. Apart from the changes in the shareholding patterns, which transformed a public sector unit into a subsidiary of the Indian automaker (Maruti Udyog Limited to Maruti Suzuki India), the company has even transformed its small-car maker image over the years gone by and will soon be stepping into the Honda and Toyota’s playfield with the launch of Kizashi well slated to take place by the end of the calendar year. “Maruti not only provided India with efficient wheels but also brought a work culture not only in the automobile industry but also the Industry as general. They brought in a culture in the industry where not only the workers and other staff was treated as equal but the big bosses and owners were also made to mix with the staff and workers,” exclaims auto expert Tutu Dhawan. The company attributes the credit of its one-million unit sales tag to the aggressive growth that the industry is enjoying and increasing exports. Now with one million in reach, the company is gearing up to march for the next one million. Notably, Business & Economy did a cover story last year on ‘Who Will reach the Two million mark first?’ in the Auto Special issue dated 29/10/2009 wherein Maruti Suzuki was obviously the front runner in the unit sales war in the Indian automotive market followed by players like Tata Motors (taking cue from Nano) and Hyundai Motors India (with mind-boggling export figures). But the way forward isn’t that smooth for the company as the competitors are increasingly eyeing its bread-and-butter hatchback segment to enhance their own prospects in the Indian market.

Be it Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford or General Motors, the automakers have decided to jump into Maruti’s playfield with the launch of their respective small cars. With Chevrolet Spark and Beat already running on the roads, accompanied by Volkswagen Polo and Ford Figo, other automakers are also scaling up their pace to transform their small car dreams into reality.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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