Friday, February 12, 2010

To save fragile India…

…it's time to have strong federal laws to avoid any future mayhem

The week which was shadowed by the news of an impending 9/11 type attack on Indian skies by the jihadi elements across the border and a crucial meeting of the Indian Home Minister in Raipur to fine tune the nitty gritties of Operation Green Hunt against Maoists, two related incidents require special attention. The first is the candid confession of the Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (to the visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates) that his country is not in a position to guarantee that there would be no repeat of 26/11 type attack on Indian soil. The second incident is with respect to the ‘soft approach’ of Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren towards the Maoists at a time when the whole country is bracing up for an all out assault on this menace.

While Gilani might be right in his honest and candid acknowledgement of the failure of the Pakistani establishment to contain the ever growing fangs of the jihadis and while it might also be true that Pakistan itself has been reeling under a series of such attacks, the question that remains unanswered is whether India should continue to remain a sitting duck and pay for the inability of Pakistan to contain such so called non-state (but incubated by the state) actors. If Pakistan cannot contain them, then shouldn’t India have the right to get inside the Pakistan and neutralise the rogue elements hatching the plot of the next mayhem? If Pakistan feigns being a victim of the same terrorism that has been tormenting India for long, then shouldn’t it allow Indian armed forces to fight alongside the Pakistani forces against the rogue elements? Well, someone should have asked this question to Gilani and the rabbit would have instantly come out of the hat. The world has been a witness to the bogus trial of the chief of LeT, Hafiz Sayeed in Pakistan and how he has been getting clean chits in spite of the clear writing on the wall of his involvement in 26/11. No prize for guessing what US would have done if 26/11 had happened there.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Striving for alternative fuel

A varsity is taking help from farmers to produce biofuel

With oil reserves depleting in the Middle East, a university in Bangalore is working overtime to produce alternative energy. Scientists at the University of Agricultural Science (Gandhi Krishi Vignyana Kendra), Bangalore, are involved in a project that would make India self-reliant in fuel consumption.

The visionary project was started in 2006. Farmers have also been roped in to help scientists produce alternative fuels. Under this programme, the university established a Bio-fuel Park Project in Madenur near Hassan — 200 kms from Bangalore. Besides, scientists have unleashed a campaign to identify plants that can be used to produce bio-fuel. To date, some 300 plants have been identified. However, scientists are not homing in on edible oils.

Says Dr. Balakrishna Gowda, professor of the UAS: “The project is destined to achieve its goal without having an impact on the food security of the state. The positive thing about the whole programme is that we are getting help from farmers”.

He further added: “In European countries research is also going on to find out alternative fuels. But they are far ahead in research. All told, the problem there is that they are using agricultural land to cultivate bio-ethanol crops. Whereas in India, we are not touching agricultural lands. We use only waste lands, bunds, public lands and degraded lands.”

Under this project, seedlings are distributed among the farmers to be raised on bunds, backyards and waste lands. And it has been successful. With farmers’ cooperation, the university has been able to establish 325 Biofuel Seed Farmers’ Association (Jaivika Indhana Beejagala Belegarara Sangha) in the state. The domestic and large-scale oil expelling units, designed by experts, have been distributed to farmers. And they use it to extract oil from seeds. Every care is taken that the oil cakes, which are available after extraction of seeds, are not wasted. Farmers are encouraged to use them as manure in their farms. In Hassan district, more than 8 lakh bio-fuel species have been planted in thousand acres. Some 57 villages have been declared “Complete Bio-fuel Village” and scientists involved in the project have organised more than 900 awareness meetings across the state.

Says Dr. Gowda: “Today five per cent bio-fuel is being blended in conventional petrol. But this will be increased with the production of oil crops. We are gratified with the success rate. So far, it has been above 65 per cent.”
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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, February 05, 2010

Let's be honest about Jyoti Basu

Sutanu guru gives 5 reasons why india cannot afford his ideology, politics, economics and legacy

It is a peculiar trait we Indians share: even those we love to hate acquire such a halo after death that we hate to deny we love to hate them. The death of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh was simply crowded out by the traumatic 26/11 attack in 2008. Yet, even then, we preferred to praise the man who should easily be ranked as the worst Prime Minister that India ever had. Something similar seems to be happening with the allegedly best Prime Minister India never had. Yes, I am talking about Jyoti Basu, the bhadralok Marxist whose death seems to have triggered paroxysms of naïve nostalgia and hypocritical hype. The passing of an era is a term that is being bandied about even by his former opponents who hated his guts and ruthlessness. If you go by media reports after his death, Jyoti Basu should be up there with the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru; in fact, some have even compared him with Mother Teresa. Typically Indian, and so typical of our habit and tradition to praise those who have passed on and carp about people who don’t want to hide uncomfortable things under a dusty carpet.

But really, let's face some uncomfortable facts before we pronounce Jyoti Basu as the best Prime Minister that India never had and one of the greatest political figures of modern India. If you think Basu was a leader who cared for the poor and the downtrodden, here is what Magsaysay Award winner, author and activist Mahasweta Devi has to say, “Jyoti Basu did very little for the adivasis of the state. I met him on several occasions and appealed to him. My entreaties fell on deaf ears”. Sure, you might think that the respected Mahasweta Devi is prejudiced because of her single-minded devotion to adivasis and tribals. Sure, you can put blinkers and prefer to ignore opinion. But, can you ignore facts? Here are some facts that even die-hard believers of the ‘Left is Always Right’ dogma need to mull over:

l From being one of most industrialised states till the late 1960s, West Bengal is now one of the most backward. Close to 30,000 industrial enterprises were closed down and more than 27,000 units became ‘sick’ in the hey days of the Basu era of ‘Marxist Pragmatism’.

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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, February 02, 2010

An MBA for PM?

Politicians would have been the least expected to have mba qualifications. B&e’s priyanka rai found out quite a handful...

Lawyers have dominated national politics since at least the days of the struggle for Independence. A look at the educational qualifications of the new council of ministers shows the first signs of a culture change in Indian politics. Today, we have many with a black cap showing off their MBA degrees – at least three ministers from the young brigade, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and Jitin Prasad are MBA graduates. In fact, many young MPs like Deepender Singh Hooda, Naveen Jindal, Milind Deora and P. D. Rai also belong to the not expected MBA brigade.

Deepender Hooda, son of the Chief Minister of Haryana and a Member of Parliament from Rohtak constituency believes that his MBA degree helps in adding value to his political career in many ways. “It helps you definitely; it trains your mind to adopt a particular approach to deal with situations in a more organised way. You get the bigger picture of the situation and you know then how to approach [the problem] in what way and solve it in very organised manner,” says Hooda. However, Jitin Prasad, Minister of State for Gas and Petroleum, also an MBA, though not denying the benefits an MBA degree has in politics, tales a different perspective, “I would like to see this in a different way that whosoever is entrusted with the responsibility in the electoral politics, a good education background always helps – whether it is a Law Degree or a Management Degree or some other qualification.

To take a conscious and judicious decision, a mix of your education as well as a sense of ground reality is always helpful.” But then, if contemporary politics is all about leadership skills and decision making abilities, wouldn’t having an MBA degree really help? “You start thinking in terms of projects not profits. There are many politicians I know with good intentions. They want to work but fail to deliver because I believe, they get engrossed in the process. Their approach, thinking is more process oriented whereas the other approach is deadline oriented (result oriented),” explains Hooda, who has worked with Reliance Industries Ltd, Infosys Technologies Ltd. (as a Software Engineer) and with Sabre Holdings, Dallas (USA) for two years. Hooda admits that he gains by applying the MBA strategies learnt in work to his constituency as well: “I apply the knowledge I have gained from my education, apply the strategies and I get the work done on time in my constituency.”

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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, January 25, 2010

“Timely availability of seeds at convenient place is very important”

Dr. LK Pandey, National Sales Head, Sungro Seeds talks about the industry in an exclusive to B&E

Good seeds means a good crop. Sungro Seeds, which has been associated with the industry has tried to come up with high yielding seeds. In an interview with Vikas Kumar, Dr. LK Pandey, National Sales Head, Sungro Seeds Ltd. talks about the challenges faced by the seeds industry and what is Sungro trying to do to solve them

B&E: Scarcity of better quality seeds at required time and place discourages farmers from replacement of their own saved seeds with good quality seeds? How do you view this trend?

LKP: Timely availability of seeds at a convenient place is a very important factor in seed business. However, it hardly deters farmers to use high quality hybrid seeds. In fact competition has made a different scenario where seeds of more than one brand are present at any seed retail counter. Therefore, it is a matter of particular brand choice which farmer has to take rather than non-availability of products of any crop. Sungro like any other system oriented company has an annual planning system broken into monthly requirements and weekly requirements of all important segments or growing regions. It accordingly makes logistical arrangements for timely seed availability at every place of requirement.

B&E: Seed Multiplication under National Agriculture Research System needs major strengthening. How do you view this policy?

LKP: The seed industry has become customer driven where product features and quality is decided by customer preferences. As of now various choices are available in the market which helps customers to choose the best. The present NARS System should involve private sector also to make available right product at right time.

B&E: What are your views on prices of seeds particularly of hybrids and affordability among farmers?

LKP: Traditionally, farmers used to do maximum savings in seeds, though it makes only a fraction of total investment on inputs like fertilizer and pesticides. When we talk about the seed price in terms of kilogram then it appears exorbitant. However, if we think about total amount of seed required in one acre area then it looks reasonable and affordable.

B&E: What are the major achievements of Sungro Seeds till date? And what will be the next area for you?

LKP: In the year 2008-09 Sungro achieved sales turnover of Rs 45 crores by marketing almost 150 products of 26 crops throughout the country. We are market leader in cauliflowers, radish, cabbage, carrot, brinjals, okra, bitter gourd, chilli and tomatoes. Its products are demanded by vegetable growers all over India and overseas due to high quality and affordable price. Now, by mapping all the districts and every market segment, Sungro is planning to reach out to all vegetable growers in the country with the help of a large distribution network. We also export our products in many countries.
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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