Passionate About India: The latest Sunday Indian Cover Story!!! Who holds ...

Passionate About India: The latest Sunday Indian Cover Story!!! Who holds ...:

It is the race of a lifetime. Who is most likely to be the Prime Minister of India in 2014? That is the billion rupee question that this issue of TSI seeks to answer. In an exclusive survey, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi emerge as the two frontrunners. But by all accounts, it is going to be a close fight.

Read more:   http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-latest-sunday-indian-cover-story.html

Passionate About India: 18 at 80! An enigma called Yash Chopra!

Passionate About India: 18 at 80! An enigma called Yash Chopra!:


 In 1984, I was just 13 and way too young to know about a man called Yash Chopra. Having been brought up on just three films – The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and Sholay (my brother, sister and I were allowed to watch the first two almost every Sunday if we wanted to, and Sholay whenever dad was in an exceptional mood!) – Mashaal was unbelievably only the second Hindi film we had been allowed to watch. Mashaal was like a cult classic! Dilip Kumar was like my father, high on principles and therefore always winning enemies; and those days, I was often made to feel like the vagabond that Anil Kapoor played in the movie. The film made me feel good, for, as Anil Kapoor changed and became a hero, I felt I also had a hero inside. My dad liked the movie not because he ever believed that he would have a role reversal in his life like Dilip Kumar had in the movie, but because watching such a role reversal at least made him happy somewhere deep inside, for very often, we all feel like hitting back with a vengeance. He also loved the dialogue, “Zamana bahut kharab hai Tolaram.” It was only the second Hindi film he had ever liked, and we added another Hindi film to our really short list of films to be watched when we were being good children! All other times, our black and white portable TV set used to be kept locked up inside a big Godrej almirah that we, like most middle class families, had those days. Slowly and steadily, over the years, we were allowed to watch more movies

Read more:   http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/09/18-at-80-enigma-called-yash-chopra.html

Typos: HERE BE MONKS TOO

Typos: HERE BE MONKS TOO:

Speaking of Charlie Bronson, it is not enough to know that he is an intensely violent man who has little control over his impulses. His friends insist that he is a delightful chap who has the deepest sense of integrity who would never let his buddies down. And yet Charlie would be the first to confess that he is ashamed of himself for having let his family, especially his mother, down and for having broken the hearts all who wished good things for him on the outside. He always wanted to be good and walk the straight and narrow, but his demons were always too strong for him. 

 

Read more:   http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/09/here-be-monks-too.html

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: DEMOCRATISE RADIO

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: DEMOCRATISE RADIO:

Despite such restrictions, there are a number of CRSs that have sized up the need, aspirations, and discontentment amongst communities especially in the rural and tribal belts. The fact that a CRS can play a stimulating role as the harbinger of social, linguistic and communal harmony can’t be denied. Mangalore based community radio Sarang 107.8FM is a case in point. The local folks like farmers, fishermen, students, workers and everybody, pitch in to the local programs that teaches them about health and hygiene, road safety, water conservation. A CRS based out of Kutch in Gujarat, airs programs that deal with female feoticide, menace of dowry and women’s education. The station is run by Kutch Women Development Corporation and is immensely popular among Kutch women for its daring programs that revitalise the thought process of rural women. 

 

Read more:   http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/09/democratise-radio.html

IIPM Review: Review on IIPM

IIPM Review: Review on IIPM:


 The Indian Institute of Planning and Management was founded in 1973, it has grown to become one of the most respected business schools in South Asia . Its unique focus on national economic planning and highly researched management process control techniques has rewarded it with having the most exhaustive linkages with all facets of the corporate world. The Integrated and Full Time Programme in National Economic Planning and Entrepreneurship provided by IIPM (which are superior to standard MBA and BBA programs), alongwith IIPM's Fellowship, Executive Education (and Global Opportunities and Threats Analysis programs where students visit organizations like the United Nations (Geneva), World Bank, ILO, Nestle S.A. Vevey, IMD Lausanne, Credit Suisse etc.) have created some of the highest standards in the management field.

Read more:   http://iipmreviews.blogspot.in/2012/09/review-on-iipm.html

IIPM Review: Company Speak and Review on IIPM

IIPM Review: Company Speak and Review on IIPM:

BERGER PAINTS: S. Bhattacharya (Sr. General Manager Corporate HR and Personnel)

“ It has been wonderful experience to be a part of IIPM’s placement process. The overall process was handled quite professionally and we are impressed with the quality of education imparted and exposure given to the students. The managers of IIPM have been a good profile match with respect to culture and competence in our organization.”

Read more:   http://iipmreviews.blogspot.in/2012/09/company-speak-and-review-on-iipm.html

IIPM Review: IIPM Review: Honoring stalwarts of modern literatu...

IIPM Review: IIPM Review: Honoring stalwarts of modern literatu...:


 IIPM India recently felicitated some leading literary figures from India and Bangladesh at the Surama Chowdhury International Awards ceremony for 2012. This is the highest literary award of Asia with the prize money amounting to $100,000 (approximately 60 lacs). Sunil Gangopadhyay, Samaresh Majumdar and Prafulla Roy from India, and Imadadul Haq Milan and Selina Hossain from Bangladesh were honoured at the event for their contribution to literature.

Read more:   http://iipmreviews.blogspot.in/2012/09/iipm-review-honoring-stalwarts-of.html

IIPM Review: Review on IIPM MBA Course

IIPM Review: Review on IIPM MBA Course:

The importance of including studies in national economic planning processes can be explained with an example of natural science. At one level of knowledge it appeared that the Sun revolves around the Earth. At a higher level of knowledge it was discovered that the Earth rotates around its axis and also revolves around the Sun. Similarly, present MBA course structure concentrating only on market segments by individual profit making units. This fails to explain the potentiality of market expansion through distributive justice. Potentiality of business is always in harmony with growth rate of national economy. That is why business expands much more rapidly in China compared with expansion of business seen in India in the past. Knowledge of national economic planning potentiality will encourage the owners of capital to demand collectively the raising of living standards of the people at the bottom. 

 

Read more:   http://iipm-iipm-iipm.com/iipm-rankings-ranking-india.html

Passionate About India: Why nobody believes that this government is bold, ...

Passionate About India: Why nobody believes that this government is bold, ...:

So the fiery and often unpredictable “Didi” of Indian politics, Mamata Banerjee is all set to do what many felt was inevitable. Even as I write this, I honestly don’t know if the Trinamool Congress will actually walk out of the UPA or not. Nor do I know how Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Karunanidhi will act. Some friends tell me that the countdown to the end of this UPA regime has begun and that it is a matter of time before the Manmohan Singh government falls without completing its full term. Some other friends tell me that the Congress has legendary “management” skills in this field and will ride out of the storm. They point out to how a minority Manmohan Singh government won the trust vote in 2008 and how a minority P.V. Narashima Rao government won the trust vote in 1992.

 

Read more:   http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/09/why-nobody-believes-that-this.html

Advertising - Big Idea: A SALUTE TO KERSY KATRAK

Advertising - Big Idea: A SALUTE TO KERSY KATRAK:

Yup, KK was my rockstar, the sexy pied who got me – and many others – into the business and shaped the ad world’s earliest ideas of what advertising can do and should be, insisting as only he could, that people who truly love this business must remember never to be compromised; remember that they have not forfeited their right to dream or lost the ability to re-imagine and re-context the world as they believe it should be…

That was Kersey Katrak, the inspirational samurai, the glamorous gladiator forever seducing the edgy, freaky, quirky and courageous to abandon all Jurassic notions to take that much needed sabbatical from their dreary, boring safety-net-fitted life and finally that leap of faith and touch heights sublime… Kersey passed away in 2007.

 

Read more:   http://monojitlahiri.blogspot.in/2012/07/a-salute-to-kersy-katrak.html

Advertising - Big Idea: AMUL GIRL

Advertising - Big Idea: AMUL GIRL:

In fact, a host of celebs enthusiastically raise their hands wishing to respond in Amul’s India, a compilation of essays by knon personalities including Amitabh Bachchan, Rajdeep Sardesai, Harsha Bhogle, Shyam Benegal, Shobhaa De, Alyque Padamsee and others. For instance, Big B believes “it is a departure from the straight, in-your-face pronouncements of products, offering a winning three-fold-edge over others – brand, humour and topicality.” Columnist Shobha De reckons that their “lovable, wonderful, non-intrusive style could never have been strategically planned. It was bound to have emerged, intuitively, in a blinding flash of inspiration.” While sexy Sania Mirza enjoys their relevance and “play on current events”, ex-Wall Rahul Dravid happily confessers that for him and his brother, they were a fun-part of their growing-up years in Bangalore. “Years later, to be featured, felt nice!” says Drivid. Cricket Commentator Harsha Bhogle is up next, perceiving these iconic ads as “charming chronicher of our times, not with the weightiness and gravitas of historians & academicians, but delightfully light-weight & tongue-in-cheek”, while veteran Ad-Pundit Alyque Padamsee reckons that they stole a march over those great Maharaja-led Air India ads because they were – and remains – more rooted and gloriously in-sync with the India story. “Also the ability to combine audacity with humour that is never loud, low-brow or insensitive, and always audience-friendly is remarkt-able,” says Padamsee. 

Read more:  http://monojitlahiri.blogspot.in/2012/08/amul-girl.html

The Fascinating World of Marketing: BRAND SALMAN, ENDEARING AND ENDURING

The Fascinating World of Marketing: BRAND SALMAN, ENDEARING AND ENDURING:

So will the good times last forever? Well, soon we will have Dabangg-2 to find out. For now, we can say that he has hit upon formula number one for delivering hits. According to Kaveri Bamzai of Today Group: One, his movies have catchy songs with easy recall. Two, he wears affordable clothes in his movies, something any tailor can copy. Three, he adorns cool, inexpensive accessories like the heart shaped glasses of Dabangg. Four, in each movie he makes a dramatic entry in the first frame, say by kicking open a door. Five, Khan always rescues a girl in peril. But only he can be the sex object, not the leading lady. Six, he does not disappoint his fans who love to see his bare 42 -inch chest. Seven, his dance steps are very easy to copy, like the biceps dance of Bodyguard. Eight, he cracks silly jokes (I am not a fool, you think I am in a nursery school) which invite laughter from his fans. Nine, his onscreen names – Lovely Singh, Prem – reflect his professional transition. And, Ten, with a deadly squint he sizes up his opponent first and then delivers a deadly dialogue, of the Mujhpe ek ehsaan… type (in Bodyguard). 

 

Read more:   http://kk-srivastava.blogspot.in/2012/09/brand-salman-endearing-and-enduring.html

Typos: GAME FOR MORE

Typos: GAME FOR MORE:

Common folk in sack-cloth and clogs, make way for a noble man’s horse. His silken robes and noble steed shine blinding white, against the brown and grays of the plebeians that walk amongst the hopeful, wagging strays. A slave, tall and burnt brown in the sun, holds an umbrella over his master’s head as he trots in time with the horse, down the road past marble platforms, where traders sell the soft est silks from the east, the finest pearls from the oceans south, and the prettiest slaves from lands beyond the Bosphorous. You follow them as hawkers call out to the ‘master’, for they’d only dare to sell him the very best, or so they claimed. The master rode on, gazing on all that pleased his eye but stopping not till he reached a cul de sac, where a crowd had gathered around a raised platform.


Read more:  http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/09/game-for-more.html

Business is Marketing: IT’S COMMONSENSE SILLY!!!

Business is Marketing: IT’S COMMONSENSE SILLY!!!:


 If you watched the Olympics, you would not have missed the neon green shoes on the feet of some 400 athletes. Well it’s not the first time that athletes have worn Nike shoes during the Olympics, but it is definitely the first time that they have worn this color. Earlier, Nike used to make shoes that matched the uniforms of the athletes. The shoes ‘matched’, which means that they blended with the uniforms. Nike did not like that for nobody really noticed them. Martin Lotti, the designer at Nike, was not happy just designing shoes; he wanted to be noticed. So he chose a color that was bound to stand out – be it the racing track, the boxing ring, or any other event. He colored his shoes neon green and made every athlete wear them. There was no chance that anyone could miss them. So while Adidas was the official sponsor of the game, it’s once again Nike’s shoes that got noticed.

Read more:   http://rajitachaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/09/its-commonsense-silly.html

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: HAPPY POVERTY!

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: HAPPY POVERTY!:

Mother and younger sister dependent was something that I could still understand, what I could not understand is how could two brothers, elder to him, be dependent on him along with their respective families. On asking him, he said that his brothers have never worked for a livelihood and would never do the same in future too. However, the reason sounds more intriguing – they have three BPL cards – one for the mother and the other two for the other two families respectively. And on account of the BPL (Below Poverty Line) card, they get enough free food from the government under various poverty eradication schemes. And with a small piece of land at their disposal, whatever short they fall, they make up. For them even electricity is free. So, when for all the necessities for survival are at their service, for what do they need to earn? Schooling is free and hospitalization is free too, though none of them upto the mark. So, for these people where there exists no threats and no sense of urgency, why do they even need to work for a livelihood? 

 

Read more:   http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/09/happy-poverty.html

Typos: CHARLIE’S DEMONS

Typos: CHARLIE’S DEMONS:

About 150 miles north from Foyles, stands a forbidding structure. There, where the cold biting north wind wears down both man and stone, this monument to misery stands tall and gaunt. In its stony folds it holds monsters in the skin of man – pedophiles and serial killers… one had punched a 10-month-old who choked on a broken tooth and died. Another had raped and murdered a pre-teen. There are cannibals, brain eaters, serial killers and other such depraved beasts walking in chains in that ‘Monster Mansion’ called Wakefield prison. If you made your way past these demons marked by the devil, and went into the furthest darkest corner of this dungeon, past the barbed and bladed wires, the thick concrete walls and row upon row of men in uniform, their cold stares and thick truncheons, and came upon a steel door with a tiny hatch, open it at your own peril, for beyond the door, in the clammy quiet of the prison walls, you can hear the tread of heavy feet dragging thick chains along the concrete floor.

Read more:   http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/09/charlies-demons.html

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: THE DROPPING IMMUNITY

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: THE DROPPING IMMUNITY:


The child mortality rate of 5 deaths in every 4 minutes is something that should have ideally given nightmares to any sensible policymaker. But forget that, what is more shocking is that nothing concrete is done even when these deaths are mostly caused by preventable diseases. The blame squarely lies on the union and state governments as well as the public sector pharmaceutical companies. John Hopkins University estimates that over 3.71 lakh Indian infants perish from pneumonia every year. The picture is bleaker than sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan and even Afghanistan. This breakneck expansion of the disease is because Indian government never cared to introduce newest generation of pneumonia vaccines that would have successfully shielded 23 common strains of the disease to proliferate.


Read more:     http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-dropping-immunity.html

Passionate About India: An intolerant and irrelevant government's draconia...

Passionate About India: An intolerant and irrelevant government's draconia...:

The completely shameful arrest of Aseem Trivedi has brought to light again this prevailing archaic law whose legitimacy can only be comprehended after going into its historical milieu and the reason why it was drafted. As I wrote last year during the Binayak Sen case (Read my two related editorials at http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2011/01/binayak-sen-victim-of-state-and.html and http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/-change-sedition-law-free-binayak-sen/13763/), in the Indian context, sedition dates back to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, wherein the objective was to forcefully suppress the democratic aspirations of a particular section of society. The skeleton of this section was derived from the common law of seditious libel, meant to control press and publications during that time. This law, regardless of being touted as curbing resistance, is nothing but a rotten remnant of the colonial past with the sole intent of suppressing potential paradigm change-makers. In its current state, the yardstick that gauges the amplitude of disaffection and the resultant violence is very vaguely defined and is highly subjective. 

Read more:  http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/09/an-intolerant-and-irrelevant.html

Sutanu Guru: HOW DR. MANMOHAN SINGH BEATS V.P. SINGH HANDS DOWN...

Sutanu Guru: HOW DR. MANMOHAN SINGH BEATS V.P. SINGH HANDS DOWN...:

The second reason why Dr. Singh has been such a monumental failure is his inability or unwillingness or both to move even an inch ahead on administrative reforms. Back in 2004 when he was appointed Prime Minister, Dr. Singh had singled out administrative reforms as his most important priority. And why not? Governance in India is in an appalling state because the entire administrative framework has virtually collapsed. There is simply no accountability and both the tehsildar and the secretary level IAS officer treat the citizens as subjects to be lorded over. Our sister publication The Sunday Indian has done a story on how the IAS lobby has stolen the country. One would have thought that Dr. Singh would be well acquainted with the perils of Indian bureaucracy since he was himself a bureaucrat for most of his adult and working life. But in the last eight years, he has not lifted a finger to make even small, cosmetic changes to India’s rotting steel frame. The consequence has been brutal and devastating: the quality of governance is at an all time low and India’s record in delivering health, education and sanitation is actually worse than ever before. He has been unable or unwilling to even prevent bureaucrats holding sensitive posts to retire and take plum private sector assignments in a brazen defiance of norms and law.

Read more:   http://www.sutanuguru.com/2012/09/how-dr-manmohan-singh-beats-vp-singh.html

Passionate About India: America's Great Game and the shameful ruin of Syri...

Passionate About India: America's Great Game and the shameful ruin of Syri...:


 Within a month after the military spending bill was passed, Obama ordered a new and highly incisive war strategy, which had its roots in this bill. Obama signed a secret order that empowered the US army to help Syrian rebels against the Assad government. This order will also allow CIA, in particular, to aid the rebels with all sorts of tools and techniques (including arms and resources) to fight Assad’s regime. To put it in better words, it would allow rebels to augment their revolt to a level of full-fledged war, of course with full support from America. US has now forced even its so-called fair weather allies – namely Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and many more – to help these rebels in all possible ways they can.

Read more:   http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/09/americas-great-game-and-shameful-ruin.html

Typos: TIME FOR THE TIGER

Typos: TIME FOR THE TIGER:

In one of the interviews in the aftermath of the court’s ban, Dubey came down heavily on the resorts protesting the ban by saying that their business practices were exploitative. And here one’s got to agree… the man has a point. Tiger tourism is a ‘million dollar business’ but little from those millions ever reaches the local population or benefits the tiger. The state governments and the corporations grow fat on the tourist cream while the tiger and the local forest tribes squabble over their share of the forest. This impoverished state of neglect and conflict makes it easy for interest groups to make willing poachers out of regular villagers and setting of this cycle of destruction. And the blame for this rests squarely on the shoulders of the government and resort owners.

Read more:   http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/09/time-for-tiger.html

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: OUTSOURCE BPL HOUSING

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: OUTSOURCE BPL HOUSING:

According to Jairam Ramesh, the proposed amount is a Planning Commission’s recommendation made in 2011, with further addition of allocation that will reach the total cost to Rs 80,000 for hilly areas and another Rs 9,000 needed to construct toilets should be incorporated in the IAY budget. And he left no stone unturned to convince the MoF that it’s not his economic propaganda but an indepth research made by Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, published in 2009. However, despite such plans, nothing much was done. IAY is riddled with leakages which lead to huge cost and time overruns. On the contrary, huge unspent amount lying with various state governments is another indicator of the poor implementation of IAY. For instance, the total unspent balance is a humongous Rs 2,500 crore with a state wise allocation of Rs 825 crore in Gujarat, Rs 581 crore for Karnataka, Rs 550 crore for West Bengal, Rs 427 crore for Odhisa, Rs 420 crore for Assam and Rs 200 crore for Uttar Pradesh.

Read more:  http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/09/outsource-bpl-housing.html