Showing posts with label iipm-press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iipm-press. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Reflections on a changing China

Arthur C. Wheaton, Director, Western NY Labor & Environmental Programs and Faculty of Industrial Relations at Cornell University’s School of Industrial & Labour Relations, after spending more than two weeks in cities across China, writes on the country’s evolving economic and social environment

In June, I boarded an Air Canada flight from Toronto (Canada) to Beijing International Airport with my Chinese-born wife and our nine year-old daughter. Designed to help teach our daughter about Chinese culture and to improve her Mandarin language skills, the trip was our first to mainland China in eight years.

We were fortunate to be able to visit some of the same families and places that were part of our first trip. The contrast between then and now in lifestyle and other trends was astonishing. On both trips, I filtered much of what I saw through my lens as an automotive industry specialist for Cornell University’s ILR School. Cars are a reflection of what has shifted in many elements of Chinese life and I will report here on some of the changes.

First, it is impossible to summarise China’s economic and social conditions. With more than 1.3 billion people living in China, there are too many perspectives to consider for a short answer. Statistics and data on China’s economy are available from sources. What is unclear is how accurately those numbers reflect the reality of the people living there. The statistics and economic data tend to focus only on the highly developed regions of China and might not apply to all of China.

According to Helen Wang, author of The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World’s Largest Middle Class..., there are more than 300 million Chinese who are considered middle class. That is nearly the population of the entire United States. The middle class has a growing discretionary income and a growing force in the Chinese economy. A lot of Chinese, especially young women consumers, are smitten with luxury brands. They associate Western luxury brands with quality of life and sophistication. They want restaurant meals, health club memberships and travel. They want to see the world. The restaurant business and malls are therefore doing very well in the country.

I can confirm from my own experiences that the love of quality and luxury goods described by Helen Wang is accurate. Thanks to insights from friends on this trip, I hope to provide to B&E’s readers a few glimpses of the economic and social conditions of China today. Our friends either live or work in Beijing, Xi’an, Shenyang, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Lanzhou or Zhengzhou. Their are into banking, retail, stock trading, financial management, teaching or are military officers and government officials in China.

The changes in the economic and social statuses of the families in the eight years since my first visit are marked. All the families could be described as middle class to upper middle class. When I met these families in 2004, only one owned a car. The rest relied on public transportation, bicycles, taxis and friends. Today, all of them do.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Thursday, March 28, 2013

“Sometimes, we Wonder why We are in The Airline Business at all!”

Operating costs have always been The Biggest Hurdle to Profit-Making for Domestic Airlines. It was no Different with Jet Airways. Sudheer Raghavan, CCO, Jet Airways, talks about how Jet Worked to return to Profitability since FY2007-08, and on The Most Recent Taxation Policy Recommendations by The Government.

Life in the domestic airline business has been characterised by pain. Since the start of FY2006-07, airlines in India have been caught in a dust-storm of ever rising fuel and operational costs, unfriendly taxation policies, crippled infrastructure, negative earnings, high debt and pricing issues. Although matters have improved over time, during the past five financial years, airlines in the country have burnt money to the tune of $4-4.5 billion. Even the once very profitable and India’s largest private carrier Jet Airways scampered around for the past three years with its tail on fire. No more. Good news is – compared to any time during the past five years, Jet’s P&L account looks healthier today, with net profits for the first nine months of FY2010-11 – amounting to Rs.13.42 billion (having recorded Rs.20.36 billion in negative bottomlines since FY2007-08). Even its balance sheet will appear prettier starting FY2010-11 – with the company set to reduce Rs.10 billion of debt each year, starting 2011, which will reduce its debt load from the peak of Rs.130 billion that it has accumulated so far. And much of this turnaround story has been scripted since Singapore-born Sudheer Raghavan stepped on-board Jet Airways in September 2007, as its EVP – Commercial. Today, Raghavan, leads Jet’s commercial activities as its CCO and handles everything from commercial strategy-making to cargo handling, e-commerce, marketing & customer services. Who better than him to quiz on the cost-cutting strategies that Jet undertook to become a leaner, more logical flying machine, and the policy headaches that still stare at the airline.

B&E: IATA agrees that multiple taxes and others levies have already been killing the profitability of airlines in India for a long time now. And at present, thanks to Union Budget 2011-12, we have the newly proposed hike in Service Tax. Will the airlines pass it all on to the passengers?
Sudheer Raghavan (SG): The hike in Service Tax will directly impact the profitability of the airlines. So, in this regard, we are left with little option but to allow the price of the ticket to reflect the impact. All the burden will have to be borne by the consumers, as the airlines – whose balance sheets are already over-stretched – are completely helpless. Even the stocks of listed airlines dipped after the budget increased the Service Tax on air travel by 2% from the present 10%. The industry needs relief, and not additional taxes.

B&E: So, do such multiple taxes put your airline in serious financial dire straits?
SG: Yes. Not just Jet Airways’ but the entire sector’s future is questioned. We already have so many taxes; and by imposing more of them, the policy makers are shackling us. We are in the industry that is affected by everything – weather, volcano and many more natural calamities. And to add to those, now, our policy makers are increasing and adding new taxes. Sometime, we wonder why we are in the airline business at all! With costs and taxes rising, prices will rise, and demand will fall – how are we to become a healthy sector then? And all that while on one hand, after some tough years, we are trying to get more efficient and recover costs. Why labour the airlines with this massive tax? The policymakers have to understand our situation.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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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Saturday, January 05, 2013

IRAN: ELECTION

Iran’s done well as a democracy

So much so that French President Nicholas Sarkozy branded the election result as a fraud and attributed the subsequent unrest as the result of Ahmedinejad’s failures in his first term. There were also many discreet protests against Obama’s as well as Sarkozy’s victory but these were never brought into limelight by the western media. Such petty gestures only show the Western world in a poor light, and elevate Ahmedinejad further in the eyes of the Iranian people.

In fact, Iran has proved to be a fine example of a democracy in this election. Going by voter turn out rate, Iran fared better than many successful democracies. Iran had voter turnout of 85%, slightly better than France, which had 84% in its 2007 presidential election and the US, which had a mere 61% voter turnout in 2008 presidential election. Rather than wasting their time in wishing Ahmedinejad away, the western world would do better to accept the reality and look to improve their relations with Iran. 


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Saturday, December 22, 2012

India’s most high profile sibling rivalry

It’s slated to be the largest non-pharma deal this year (till date), if successful. But the Bharti-MTN deal is much more than that, for it can potentially be a major game changer in corporate India’s most high profile sibling rivalry – that of the Ambani brothers

Guess who benefited from this public demonstration of the bitter spat and subsequent split? Sunil Bharti Mittal and Airtel because Mukesh and the thousands and thousands of his employees switched over to Airtel connections!

The reverberations of that ‘switch’ are being felt even today; even as the second instalment of the UPA regime settles down to govern the country. You guessed it right again. We are talking about the latest bombshell that was dropped by Sunil Mittal recently when Bharti announced a ‘New Deal’ (You can call it an agreement, a merger, a reverse merger, an acquisition or whatever word takes your fancy!) with MTN, the South Africa-based telecom giant. An excited Sunil Bharti Mittal has said on that deal, “We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse. This opportunity also represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South cooperation.”

One year ago, it looked as if Anil Ambani was all set to steal the thunder from Sunil Mittal when ‘agreement’ talks between MTN and Bharti collapsed and Reliance Infocom emerged as the new and favourite suitor. One year down the road, you could say that the wheel has turned full circle and the lead established by Sunil Mittal and Airtel as the unquestionable number one telecom player from India now looks unassailable.

Some simple facts – most of them known to you by now – will establish why Sunil stands taller than Anil. The $23 billion deal – the largest non-pharma deal in the world in 2009 so far – will create an entity that will automatically become the fourth largest mobile service provider in the world with more than 200 million subscribers. Just recently, when Airtel had announced celebrations to mark the accomplishment of a 100 million subscriber base, Sunil Mittal had already hinted to this magazine (see exclusive interview) that the 200 million milestone will come far more quickly. If the deal goes through – as most analysts and insiders expect it to – what Sunil had hinted at will have already happened! And it will happen thanks to a mind bogglingly complex ‘agreement’ that will involve both cash and fresh equity. Once the deal goes through, Bharti will hold slightly less than 50% of MTN equity while MTN, in turn, will hold a 36% ‘economic interest’ in Bharti. The term ‘economic interest’ is jargon being bandied about right now because there is still some confusion about how much equity foreign investors can hold in an Indian telecom entity. As of today, foreign investors, including the largest shareholder Singtel, hold almost 74% of the equity in Bharti – the limit allowed as per existing rules.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.



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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

REFORMS: THAT IS, IF YOU THOUGHT YOU’LL BE BORED TO DEATH,

In other words, the reasons for our super-obsession with criticising India!

Similarly, corporatisation as well as structural reforms in the Indian Railways can make it the real catalyst for unleashing economic revolution across India by making railway stations act as commercial hubs. In the same league, doing away with the typical sickening License Raj that is plaguing the education sector and replacing it with a professional and visionary education (regulatory!?) authority, which pro-actively motivates private players, can do wonders!

In the last seventeen years, India has witnessed many an ‘economic’ reform, but few ‘structural’ ones. To simply disregard the potential that governmental organisations have, is easy. But the cup, my dear mistress, is as empty as your imagination or character wants it to be. Well, I am not Victor Hugo, but I still ended up with three lovers – poverty, illiteracy and disease. Look how imaginative I am Helen, look how imaginative...


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Bottoms up approach...

...to building India and making it look beautiful

Nano has shown to the auto industry that “there exists a fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.” But why aren’t others taking a cue from management guru C. K. Prahalad’s wisdom & of course, the inspirational work of the British born Indian architect late Laurie Baker? “ I don’t think that the real estate sector is thinking of any low cost housing projects. This is mainly because the land & construction costs are too high for any builder to venture into this arena. The problem can be met by greater public-private participation only,” says Alok Agrrawal, Principal Sun Apollo, a private equity fund, with expertise in reality sector. More importantly, “The homeless or poor have to be involved in the process that leads to their having homes,” says Pratima Joshi, Director of Shelter Associates, an NGO into housing homeless. She adds, “Occupants of government’s housing scheme for the poor, Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana, weren’t satisfied with the dwellings given to them. If dwelling schemes served to them, doesn’t suit them, they will slide back to slums.” Perhaps, it is the jaded mindset in the industry, which prevents them from looking at the bottom of the pyramid. Otherwise, what stops the reality sector from building low cost houses for India’s 170 million slum dwellers? The companies should not totally leave the un-glamorous jobs to the government.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
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
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
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

India hasn’t really arrived as an automotive hub

India hasn’t really arrived as an automotive hub as recent data seems to suggest; but it cannot be denied that the country is staring at quite a few phenomenal opportunities, analyses virat bahri of B&E

If you see actual export figures of different players, it’s evident how the rest have hardly managed to even start leveraging India’s so-called prowess as a manufacturing base. And a lot has got to do with the cash for clunkers programme in Europe. Governments in Europe began to offer significant scrappage incentives to car buyers interested in exchanging their old cars for new ones. Small car makers have particularly benefited. In an exclusive to B&E, H. S. Lheem, MD, Hyundai India admitted, “Scrappage program announced by the Governments of various countries like Germany & Japan helped a lot and I believe that this year, we will export over 2.7 lakh vehicles.”

Ashvin feels that “perception is more to do with the brand than country of production.” So true carriers of the ‘made in India’ brand are companies like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra; and they still fare quite badly on the export front. The reasons are not hard to realise. No true blue ‘made in India’ car has ever generated as much hype as the Nano. When the car was launched, many global analysts admitted that Nano is an excellent innovation… but largely for the third world; and that reflects the perception a ‘made in India’ brand still carries there.

But a world struck by recession and exorbitant fuel prices is indeed seeking frugal solutions; and therefore, this perception can work to India’s advantage. Auto expert Tutu Dhawan comments, “The number of i10s and Suzuki cars that you see today on European roads is amazing. Worldwide, people (now) realise that you need small, more fuel efficient cars.” And that’s India’s strength; a fact that’s not entirely lost on automotive manufacturers. That is precisely why GM, Toyota, Ford, Nissan et al are all ramping up their small car initiatives in the country; as the success of such efforts will open more vistas for them.

It doesn’t make much sense to be China-focussed; Chinese car makers are too focussed on their domestic market (and on other emerging markets), which is at least five times the size of India’s.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
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
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
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Shoo the shoe away!

Only running is not sufficient anymore! There’s more you have to do to make up for what you made technology do for you!

In this day and age, there are two contrary styles of living that people choose from. While one goads one to mindlessly immerse oneself in the material world, the other involves abhorring (at least pretending to) whatever technology has to offer and thus, ‘go back to the basics’. There is a growing list of lifestyle fads that lean towards the latter style, and the latest one involves going a step backwards in evolution and re-training your feet (almost genetically) to run barefoot!

A latest research, which must surely be disappointing for the ‘running shoe’ makers, says running barefoot improves performance and brings out primal running mechanics in athletes. The advocates of barefoot running blame shoes as the origin of most foot-related injuries. In fact, author of the book Take Off Your Shoes and Walk, Simon J. Wikler D.S.C., reveals that renaissance marked the beginning of foot-related problems and the modern-day foot disabilities are all a result of elevated heels and the pointed toes of present-day footwear. In fact, the author has been heard saying, “Most adults’ foot troubles would either not exist or would be much less bothersome if properly-shaped shoes had been worn during childhood or, better yet, if those people had gone barefoot.” Even a study had found that children who were allowed to go barefoot often had ‘less deformed toes, greater flexor strength, more ability to spread the toes, denser muscles on the bottom of the feet and greater agility than those who had never gone barefoot.’


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Friday, October 05, 2012

ARINDAM CHAUDHURI ON, WHY OBAMA IS OF NO USE TO INDIA

Praising American presidents has not been quite my forte! However, I celebrated Obama’s Presidential victory wholeheartedly (read my editorial in The Sunday Indian, issue dated November 9, 2008) because I almost believed that he held a promise that American presidents in the past have rarely held! He really could have been the change the world was waiting for. Recession had shown its ugly face once more in the greedy capitalist world and Bush had left a near criminal legacy behind. There was no better a time for Obama to prove his worth. But forget bringing the world out of recession, Obama has not even been able to do anything to bring the USA out of recession! Of course, if we were to believe the Nobel Committee and its choice for the Nobel Prize in Economics this year, then there is nothing wrong with the capitalist system and nothing much to be done at all but match the existing unemployment with the existing jobs vacant in various companies! Ludicrous... just like their Peace Prize to Obama was!

Obama’s campaign was all about “Yes, we can!” The truth is he hasn’t accomplished much of what he had promised – especially during his election campaign. Among his other failures, he has failed to keep one of his key promises – on closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, and also on providing relief for illegal immigrants. Even after a year, Gitmo is still active; and no concrete steps have been crafted for illegal migrants. What is now a global joke is that his promises of closing Gitmo and solving other human rights issues were part of the parcel that won him the coveted Nobel Peace Prize!

It was Obama who initiated talks on global warming and announced his plans to organise a series of climate talks. Back in 2008, Obama had projected himself as a “citizen of the world”. But then, this same Obama, the perceived harbinger of optimism, now blames developing nations for global warming! This reminds me of President George W. Bush who, during his tenure, discarded the Kyoto Protocol on similar grounds. In similar manner, during a State-of-the-Union speech on January 27, 2010, Obama promised something that is quite the opposite of what he had stood for in his campaign days. Instead of talking about green jobs and climate change policy, he discussed his plans on nuclear power, oil, gas, coal and bio-fuels! That’s change indeed!

Nobel laureate Obama’s biggest global failure has perhaps been regarding the Iraq and Afghan issue, where he had committed during a formal announcement of a new Iraq strategy at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, on February 27, 2009, that “under the new plan, the US will remove all combat troops (from Iraq) by August 31, 2010.” Systematically delaying the troops’ withdrawal has been akin to breaking the promise. Similarly, Obama still is to remove his troops from Afghanistan – where there is blatant genocide being carried out under the garb of a peace process – and is finding all possible excuses to stay back. One wonders if the Nobel Peace Prize winner is actually unable to shift out of Afghanistan due to the $1 trillion worth mineral wealth in the land! The mother of all disasters in terms of doing the opposite of peace though is that, on October 25, 2010, the Obama administration ‘waived’ off sections of a law meant to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers in Africa, thus making it easier for countries in the dark continent to make use of underage troops. In a memorandum to Hillary Clinton, he wrote, “I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the [Child Service Prevention Act]”. And for records, recruiting underage soldiers is a human rights abuse in most of the nations. Even Noam Chomsky stated in an interview last month that President Obama “is involved in war crimes right now. For example, targeted assassinations are war crimes. That’s escalated quite sharply under Obama. If you look at WikiLeaks, there are a lot of examples of attacks on civilians.” Yet, Obama retains the coveted tag of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Scrutiny-US TERRORISM REPORT: INACCURATE

The Country Terrorism Report published by The US seems more led by an Ulterior Agenda, as the report ignores the wolves and castigates the sheep when it comes to deciding who sponsors terrorism and who doesn’t

But the most hilarious part is that the report ignores Pakistan in this “state-sponsored terrorism” group. While Pakistan has refused to hand over the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack suspects to India despite being provided with enough evidence against Hafiz Saeed (leader of Jama’at-ud-Da’wah), many US government representatives have many a time acknowledged and accepted that Pakistan as a nation has sponsored terrorism for long. But the report presumably doesn’t accept that premise.

As per the report, 75% (of total 11,500 attacks & 13,200 deaths) of terrorism attacks and deaths occurred in South Asia. But irrespective of that, no South Asian nation has been accused of being a “state sponsor” of terror or has been reported for not coordinating in counter-terrorism activities.

Cuba as a nation has a relatively “unblemished” record for fighting terrorism – few globally would debate that. Similarly, Sudan has worked as a cooperative partner in global counterterrorism efforts against al-Qaeda in 2010 but still appears on the list. The Venezuelan government officially “rejected” the report describing it as “plagued with false affirmations, political preconceptions, and veiled threats.” Its Foreign Ministry states that “the US State Department tends to classify as ‘terrorists’ or ‘complacent with terrorism’ those governments and political organizations that do not bow down in the face of its imperial intentions.”

Looking at the fine print in the report, that allegation does not appear to be too far off the mark.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
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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.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Wednesday, June 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.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

Read these article :-
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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.

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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