Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Monopolising the DoP

I stumbled across this news today and stumbled further as I read it. It sounded funny in the beginning and I laughed my heart out at the imagination of Mr. Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for IT and Telecom, as I read the complete post.
At the end of the post I was trying to find out something that would say “April Fool” or something…. Then I realized, no it’s not April yet and the guy is serious in getting this Law passed and deforming the already deformed structure of Indian Postal Services.

Instead of utilizing his thought (I will not say thoughtS, for he doesn’t seem to have much) in reforming the DoP by ensuring the ‘Reliability’ and ‘Speed’ of postal delivery by DoP, this man is trying to create a monopoly market that too in this century when the entire world is asking for free market free competition. This man sounds as if he is still living in the 18th century.

GOD SAVE INDIA!!!

Friday, February 10, 2006

Jamshedpur... need for Revival

Most of us Jamshedpurian’s are aware and feel proud that Jamshedpur has been selected as the pilot city for Global Compact City program. There is no doubt that Jamshedpur is one among some of the very few cities in India where the living standard, the social culture, the environment is not good but “Best”. I myself have grown up and spent 18 years of my life there, till I was forced to move out of such beautiful city in seek for better higher education and then for better Job.

And the same very fate was met by my batchmates/friends who in need for a good higher education and good job ahead had to sacrifice the pleasure of living in Jamshedpur. And it continues year after year with hundreds of young talent crowd moving out and settling in different cities. Reasons? There are certain things that this city lacks and in which it is not in pace with time. Things, the need of which, other cities like Pune, Noida, Bangalore and Hyderabad have realized and acquired.

Higher Education
It is not that the education in Jamshedpur is not good, it is ‘Best’. But that is only upto +2 level. Beyond that if one looks for a good reputed college where one can pursue Economics/Arts/Literature, he can find none in the city and so the only option they are left with is to move to Delhi/Pune/Mumbai.

Yes we do have an Engineering college (RIT) and a Medical College (MGM) in the city, but again when you compare the standards/facilities provided in these colleges as compared to the one you get in similar regional engineering colleges (or medical colleges) in other cities, the city stands far too behind.
One may argue here is that Jamshedpur has got XLRI, one of the best MBA colleges in India. Yes true, but what I am asking for is a good college to go after +2. Do we have good colleges providing courses which are talk-of-the-time nowadays like Mass-Comm, Interior Designing and Fashion Designing etc?

The city education establishment has a hole, a gap between under-graduation and post-graduation. Some good graduation Colleges for different subjects are the need of the day.
Establishment of such good colleges for higher education would prevent Brain Drain from the city and would also lure more corporate companies, other than those Core Industrial Units (which the City boasts of), to open up offices and establishments in the city.

Job Variety
The city lacks in job variety for the residents. It is full of core-manufacturing units but Industries other than that like Telecom, Financial Consultancy firms, IT, Journalism, Entertainment etc, you would find none.

Why can’t we transform Jamshedpur into a IT-Hub like Pune/Noida/Bangalore? How and in what way do we lack in what those cities can provide and Jamshedpur cannot?
All we need is enough supply of electricity, good road conditions and cheap lands to lure the IT Companies. And I am sure Jamshedpur lacks in none of these requirements.

Jamshedpur has got a good strategic location, similar to that of Pune, both being near to metro city, cheap land, cheap labor etc. Infact Jamshedpur enjoys the privilege of having large resource of minerals and ore mines in the adjoining areas and thus a larger scope of Job for educated and un-educated.

I could go on and on listing several such things that the city should have had by now ranging from Traffic Signals to Movie Halls to Multiplexes to Malls.....
It is time that the authorities governing the city should act now or else it would no longer remain a city that could provide a standard living life-style to its residents. And it would be just another city like Lucknow/Kanpur, which were once the most economically powered cities in India.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Man of the Match 'Faisala' at Faisalabad

I couldn’t understand why R.P. Singh was awarded the Man of the Match Award for the second test in Faisalabad. It’s understandable that award could not go in favor of batsman, because the pitch was in their favor and so it becomes imperative that any good work from the bowler’s side be rewarded, but then why not Zaheer Khan? He took 7 wickets and R.P. Singh took 5. They both bowled almost the same number of over and gave away almost the same number of runs and had almost the same rate.
Considering the fact that getting wickets in this dead track was almost an impossible task, having a lead of 2 wickets is a considerable achievement I suppose.
In addition Zaheer scored (with bat) more runs than R.P. Singh :)

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

RTI... a good thing for India

When the Central Government passed the RTI (Right to Information Act) bill sometime back, I was more than happy. For I knew this is one among several good measures taken by the Government that would help crib the corruption and expose frauds. And a true example is right here. All we need now is to make good utilization of this act and help make India better.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Wanna get Rich?? Forget IIMs.... Get into Politics!!

SC has sent a notice to Mulayam Singh Yadav, seeking explanation for the wealth/property acquired by him/his family members and for allegedly accumulating wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.
This is the list of his properties as was presented by Indian Express:

In the name of Mulayam Singh Yadav
• 23,876.325 sq feet, converted to freehold by paying Rs 40.6 lakh to Lucknow Development Authority
• Lucknow plot in the name of Mulayam’s first wife Malti Devi
• 10,000 sq ft in benami name of Ranvir Singh
• 14 acres in Etawah
• Flat at Friends Colony, Etawah
• Bank FDs: Rs 26 lakh

In the name of son Akhilesh Yadav
• 3,100 sq ft in Lucknow
• House in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow
• One bigha and 6 biswas land at village Kamta, district Lucknow (sold to Lisa Builders)
• Najul land measuring 23,872 sq ft in Hazratganj
• Benami property in the name of RCS Rawat: plot of 300 sq m bearing Plot No. R6/21 at Vipul Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow
• Bank deposits: Rs 25 lakh; bonds and debentures: Rs 4.6 lakh
• Share in other properties worth: Rs 72 lakh
• Agricultural land 16.3 acres in Saifai; Flat at Friends Colony, Etawah

In the name of Dimpal Yadav, wife of Akhilesh
• House in Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Ward Hussain Ganj
• Bank deposits: Rs 16 lakh; Shares: Rs 13 lakh; Jewellery worth Rs 24 lakh
• House at Lucknow; shares in other properties worth Rs 22 lakh

In the name of Pratik Yadav, Mulayam’s son through Sadhna Gupta
• 18 biswas plot in village Kamta; house at 2/8, Vikramaditya Marg

Some years back the same question was raised against Jayalalitha, but the outcome was none. I guess Mulayam will also be able to get over this very easily.
I blame not Mulayam or the Indian politics, but I blame the Indian mass who despite knowing the fact elects these corrupt ministers from their state. And they do it again-and-again.

Shame India!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Jamshedpur.... nurtured by TATA

This is one fine piece of article I received via mail from a friend, on Jamshedpur and the role TATA has played in maintaining and developing the city.

Lakshmi Mittal speaks :

"I visited Jamshedpur over the weekend to see for myself an India that is
fast disappearing despite all the wolf-cries of people like
Narayanamurthy and his ilk. It is one thing to talk and quite another to
do and I am delighted to tell you that Ratan Tata has kept alive the
legacy of perhaps Indias finest industrialist J.N. Tata. Something that
some people doubted when Ratan took over the House of the Tatas but in
hindsight, the best thing to have happened to the Tatas is
unquestionably Ratan. I was amazed to see the extent of corporate
philanthropy and this is no exaggeration.

For the breed that talks about corporate social responsibility and talks
about the role of corporate India, a visit to Jamshedpur is a must.
Go
there and see the amount of money they pump into keeping the town going;
see the smiling faces of workers in a region known for industrial
unrest; see the standard of living in a city that is almost isolated
from the mess in the rest of the country.

This is not meant to be a puff piece. I have nothing to do with Tata
Steel, but I strongly believe the message of hope and the message of
goodness that they are spreading is worth sharing. The fact that you do
have companies in India which look at workers as human beings and who do
not blow their software trumpet of having changed lives.
In fact, I
asked Mr Muthurman, the managing director, as to why he was so quiet
about all they had done and all he could offer in return was a smile
wrapped in humility, which said it all. They have done so much more
since I last visited Jamshedpur, which was in 1992. The town has
obviously got busier but the values thankfully haven't changed. The food
is still as amazing as it always was and I gorged, as I would normally
do. I visited the plant and the last time I did that was with Russi
Mody.

But the plant this time was gleaming and far from what it used to be.
Greener and cleaner and a tribute to environment management. You could
have been in the mountains. Such was the quality of air I inhaled!
There
was no belching smoke; no tired faces and so many more women workers,
even on the shop floor. This is true gender equality and not the kind
that is often espoused at seminars organised by angry activists. I met
so many old friends. Most of them have aged but not grown old. There was
a spring in the air which came from a certain calmness which has always
been the hallmark of Jamshedpur and something I savoured for a full two
days in between receiving messages of how boring and decrepit the
Lacklustre Fashion Weak was.

It is at times such as this that our city lives seem so meaningless.
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had created an edifice that is today a robust
company and it is not about profits and about valuation. It is not about
who becomes a millionaire and who doesnt'. It is about getting the job
done with dignity and respect keeping the age-old values intact and this
is what I learnt.

I jokingly asked someone as to whether they ever thought of joining an
Infosys or a Wipro and pat came the reply: "We are not interested in
becoming crorepatis but in making others crorepatis."

Which is exactly what the Tatas have done for years in and around
Jamshedpur. Very few people know that Jamshedpur has been selected as a
UN Global Compact City, edging out the other nominee from India,
Bangalore.
Selected because of the quality of life, because of the
conditions of sanitation and roads and welfare. If this is not a tribute
to industrial India, then what is? Today, Indian needs several
Jamshedpurs but it also needs this Jamshedpur to be given its fair due,
its recognition. I am tired of campus visits being publicised to the
Infosys and the Wipros of the world. Modern India is being built in
Jamshedpur as we speak.
An India built on the strength of core
convictions and nothing was more apparent about that than the experiment
with truth and reality that Tata Steel is conducting at Pipla.

Forty-eight tribal girls (yes, tribal girls who these corrupt and evil
politicians only talk about but do nothing for) are being educated
through a residential program over nine months. I went to visit them and
I spoke to them in a language that they have just learnt: Bengali. Eight
weeks ago, they could only speak in Sainthali, their local dialect. But
today, they are brimming with a confidence that will bring tears to your
eyes. It did to mine.

One of them has just been selected to represent Jharkand in the state
archery competition. They have their own womens football team and whats
more they are now fond of education. It is a passion and not a burden.
This was possible because I guess people like Ratan Tata and Muthurman
havent sold their souls to some business management drivel, which tells
us that we must only do business and nothing else. The fact that not one
Tata executive has been touched by the Naxalites in that area talks
about the social respect that the Tatas have earned.


The Tatas do not need this piece to be praised and lauded. My intent is
to share the larger picture that we so often miss in the haze of the
slime and sleaze that politics imparts. My submission to those who use
phrases such as "feel-good" and "India Shining" is first visit
Jamshedpur to understand what it all means.
See Tata Steel in action to
know what companies can do if they wish to. And what corporate India
needs to do. Murli Manohar Joshi would be better off seeing what Tata
Steel has done by creating the Xavier Institute of Tribal Education
rather than by proffering excuses for the imbroglio in the IIMs. This is
where the Advanis and Vajpayees need to pay homage. Not to all the Sai
Babas and the Hugging saints that they are so busy with. India is
changing inspite of them and they need to realise that.

I couldn't have spent a more humane and wonderful weekend. Jamshedpur is
an eye-opener and a role model, which should be made mandatory for
replication. I saw corporate India actually participate in basic
nation-building, for when these tribal girls go back to their villages,
they will return with knowledge that will truly be life-altering.

Corporate India can do it but most of the time is willing to shy away.
For those corporate leaders who are happier winning awards and being
interviewed on their choice of clothes, my advise is visit Tata Steel,
spend some days at Jamshedpur and see a nation's transformation. That is
true service and true nationalism.


Tata Steel will celebrate 100 years of existence in 2007. It won't be
just a milestone in this company's history. It will be a milestone, to
my mind of corporate transparency and generosity in this country. It is
indeed fitting that Ratan Tata today heads a group which has people who
are committed to nation-building than just building inflluence and
power. JRD must be smiling wherever he is. And so must Jamsetji
Nusserwanji. These people today, have literally climbed every last blue
mountain. And continue to do so with vigour and passion. Thank god for
the Tatas!"

Friday, December 23, 2005

Stin(k)ing Politics and Media...

A lot was said during the infamous “Shakti Sting” operation that the conduct of trespassing into private spaces should not be allowed.
Noted Director Mahesh Bhatt opposed the Sting Operation and went ahead to say that it was aimed at "catching eyeballs" and boosting TRP ratings.
Condemning the way the sting operation was conducted, director Sawant Kumar had said, "had the actor been caught luring an innocent victim, it was understandable. But having a journalist pose and enact a drama is different... it appears to have been staged to trap him".

Like Bhatt and Sawant Kumar there were many from the Entertainment Media who joined the protest against the Sting Operation and raised a huge hue n cry.

Now the *same* episode has been repeated in the field of Politics, where 11 MP’s were caught negotiating for money to raise questions in the parliament. No Director/Actor or the like from the Entertainment Media had raised their voice this time in support of these MP’s.
This Sting appears all fair and just to these very gentlemen’s now. Why the disparity? If it was *privacy* then, it’s *privacy* now.

Only difference is that the people in Entertainment Media was baited with what they like (hot babes i.e.) and the people in Political Media was baited with their likings (money i.e.).

Political Media atleast took a corrective approach by suspending these 11 MP’s. But the Entertainment Media took no action of banning Shakti and the like from their Industry.

Why? Are the men in Entertainment Media even more immoral than these corrupt Politicians?