Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Strike: loss is in the air

Air India strike shows a highly unprofessional attitude

A beautiful nation is not a gift; it is a result of good vision, continuous effort, strong political will and many more. But beyond this, perhaps small but more important factors are good governance, efficient bureaucracy and less corruption. Many of these are the factors which made Singapore, a tiny island nation an Asian country to qualify as the 'First world nation'. On my recent visit to Singapore (as a part of the IIPM GOTA programme), while in a conversation with a taxi driver, I came to know about Singapore efficient and corruption free culture. He told me numerous incidents where one was not allowed to contest election since he had committed a crime, perhaps a decade before.

But the worse was yet to come. On May 26, 2010, we (I along with 17 of my students) were running exhaustively at the airport after knowing that Air India employees are on a strike.There was news that the strike was pre-decided, if that is so, then Air India should not have issued tickets for those particular days and even if they have issued the tickets, the management should have some efficient mechanism to ensure that passengers would have alternative flights to reach respective destinations without hassle and harassment on time. Well, no such arrangement was on place. In fact, there was hardly any Air India employee to provide any kind of information and guide hundreds of clueless passengers at the airport. And more interestingly, this one or two days strike also gave another reason to show why the government undertaking entity is struggling to make profit. Each passengers paid to Air India about Rs.20,000, on an average for their journey. And Air India spent approximately Rs.81050 (about Rs.24,150 on accommodation and food, Rs.6900 on transport and about Rs.50,000 for alternative flights via Bangkok) on each of these passenger — who were in a few hundreds in number. Meanwhile, the Aviation ministry releases press brief that it’s not going to interfere over the issue, it will back the management’s decision completely. What was even more interesting was that our stay at Bangkok airport, for over six hours, never made us realise that we are in the same nation which is being torn apart through riots since years. The arrangement and flight procedures inside the airport was perfectly in place and it was made sure that the internal disturbance don't harm the business of airlines.

In a casual conversation I asked a receptionist of Hotel Mandarin Oriental Singapore, where we were staying as we were waiting for an alternative flight arrangement, that can employees of Asia’s one of the most successful airlines, Singapore Airlines, go on strike on similar context? He confidently said no though it doesn’t mean that their demands can’t be heard and met by respective authorities. Strike is illegal while employees have all the rights to raise their demands.

It’s high time for us to wake up, at least, for the sake of the nation. This small incident exemplifies the uncivilised manner we deal with issues. There is no logical reason harassing hundreds of commuters who have nothing to do with the strike's agendas (whether they are selfish or greedy in nature). Similarly, there is no point that Aviation Ministry should be so careless on such issues especially when no airlines, even public run airlines are making big money.

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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Thursday, June 17, 2010

A different act

No one can match Salman Khan when it comes to attitude and the right one at that. Salman was to be interviewed recently for an award function, which was completely scripted. The organisers were putting up an act where Salman was to be questioned on Katrina Kaif upon which he was to get offended and walk away. This was to be used by them as a part of television promotions. But Salman didn’t want to stoop to this level for publicity and refused to abide by the script. For Salman, not every publicity is good publicity!

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 15, 2010

Legacy on its last leg?

Will the Shehnai have to reconcile to the fact that there may not be another Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan? The son who was his successor is dead; the others are struggling, and there’s little other than memorial concerts to keep the tradition going. Puja Awasthi reminisces of the time when there was hope…

Ustad Nayyar Hussain Khan “Bismillah” passed away following respiratory problems at a Varanasi hospital on December 17, 2009. To me, he had begun to fade away in July of that year itself, when, as I got up to leave that baithak plastered with photographs and awards (including the Bharat Ratna) of his father the late Bismillah Khan, he thrust a couple of brochures (titled Music Represents Soul) and visiting cards in my hand and said, “Kaam dilwao. Koi bhi kaam chalega. Shaadi aur party mein bhi bajayenge.” (Get me work. Any work will do. I will play at weddings and parties.) I did not fail to notice that the Ustad’s name was bolder than Nayyar’s on the card. And that here was a man aged 70, the second son of a legend who had put a simple wind instrument to his lips and coaxed such sweetness from it that it ceased to remain an accompaniment to flashier ones, begging for work. The Ustad would neither have understood nor approved.

But when like Nayyar Khan, you live with four brothers, one sister and 30 children and grandchildren, in a lane that’s named after your father in a narrow, white house with 10 rooms, you have responsibilities you cannot shrug. And Nayyar Khan, being the successor to his father had to bear them all.

Such is Varanasi’s association with the Ustad that when he had passed away in August 2006, there were many who lamented “Bharat Ratna chala gaya” (The Bharat Ratna has gone). To his own family it was as though life had been sucked out of all those who had been left behind.

“My Abba had a generous heart but a sharp tongue. Nobody who came to our home would leave without a meal. After a concert, the cooks would work overtime to cater to those who came to congratulate him. Some had even named our home Bismillah hotel. But after him, the staunchest of his well-wishers have disappeared. There is just the occasional phone call. Yes, there are problems,” Nayyar had said going on to detail how he even had to haggle about the number of musicians he could take in his group for a performance. No one would of course have dared to make such talk to the Ustad. Yet, Nayyar was looking forward to a tour of the USA this year. “Before every performance, I tell the audience that they should listen to me as Ustad Bismillah Khan’s son, not as the Ustad himself and grant me some grace,” he had said.

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 09, 2010

IN THE COLONEL’S DEN

A change in counter-insurgency tactics has helped Pakistan smoke out Taliban from FATA, but the real challenge will be to consolidate the gains.

Imageries are beautiful. But they tend to stick. Time flies by, but the imageries remain ensconced in the human mind. They start affecting judgement. Imageries are dangerous. Much of what we visualise about the Tribal Areas in Pakistan comes from the imageries drawn by Rudyard Kipling and Orientalists like Robert Wilkinson-Latham. Their writings on these areas are vivid and enriching. But there is a problem there. These writings are a century old and the Tribal Areas have moved ahead. We and our imageries are yet to.

So as our Mil MI 17 hovered above Bajaur agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, popularly called FATA, we were in for a shock. The area is not a “muddy mountainous hamlet of aboriginal tribes” as some western analysts would have us believe. With metalled roads, stone-brick houses and schools, the place can give an average village from the Bimaru states in India a run for its money. In fact, the entire brouhaha over it being inaccessible is just that: brouhaha. So what is it that has fed the insurgency? Of course, the terrain. Modern insurgencies have been terrain-based. Here and everywhere.

So, first the geography. Nestled at 2800 feet above sea level, Bajaur is one of seven—and the northernmost—agencies of FATA. Spread over 1290 sq km, the agency has more than a fair share of rugged frontier hills. While it shares its east, south and north boundaries with other agencies, on its west is the unruly and ungoverned Afghan province of Kunar. A perfect stage for insurgency. At least that is what Colonel Muhammad Nauman Saeed thinks.

In the traditional attire of Bajaur Scouts—the paramilitary that he spearheaded in the battle against Taliban—Colonel Nauman Saeed looks every bit the no-nonsense man that he is. For him, the battle has been up close and personal. In fact too close. On September 9 last year, when the convoy of Major General Tariq Khan—who was also serving as Inspector General of Frontier Corps—was ambushed near Nissarabad, Colonel Nauman himself mounted a tank and led a Quick Response Force to extricate the crew. His tank received multiple hits by RPG-7s, but the Colonel stopped only after Khan was extricated. He makes it a point to lead all the operations himself. The confidence shows when he talks.

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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Monday, June 07, 2010

Time to move on...

Bollywood’s dusky girl, Lara Dutta feels that her 30s have given her “a sense of liberation” from the “angst and confusion” of the 20s. Though films like "No Entry" and "Partner" have got her noticed, her screen presence in "Blue" reminds one of her beachwear charm that earned her the highest points at the swimsuit round way back in 2000 at the Miss Universe contest. While she's tasted real success with comedy, the sexy lass seems ready for a shift and plans to move to some new genre of films other than comedy.

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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