Stonewalling transparency

There is a unanimous opposition from political parties to the CIC order that puts them under the ambit of the RTI Act. Parimal Peeyush has the details.

There was distinct unanimity on television screens after an order by the Central Information Commission (CIC) put six national parties under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Setting ideological and personal differences aside, the political class has united in their quest to prove why the act does not and should not apply to them and that the CIC had acted beyond its mandate.

On June 3, 2013, a full bench headed by Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra, held that the ‘‘INC, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP and BSP have been substantially financed by the Central Government under section 2(h)(ii) of the RTI Act. The criticality of the role being played by these political parties in our democratic set up and the nature of duties performed by them also point towards their public character, bringing them in the ambit of section 2(h). The constitutional and legal provisions discussed herein above also point towards their character as public authorities... it is held that AICC/INC, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP and BSP are public authorities under section 2(h) of the RTI Act.”

In October 2010, NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Subhash Chandra Aggarwal had filed RTIs seeking information regarding contributions received by the various political parties. In response, except the CPI, all other parties refused to disclose information stating that they don’t fall under the purview of the RTI Act. Subsequently, a complaint was filed with the CIC in March 2011 requesting that political parties be declared as public authorities.

Since then, political parties have launched an all out attack on the CIC for going beyond its mandate and explaining how and why they just could not be held accountable. And the consensus was breathtaking. Said Congress’s Janardan Dwivedi,‘‘It is not acceptable. Such an adventurist approach will damage democratic institutions’’.  Sharad Yadav, Janata Dal (United) believed that the ‘‘CIC has acted outside its jurisdiction. The government should step in.’’ Congress’s archrival, BJP’s Nirmala Seetharaman, concurred. ‘‘Political parties are already giving information to the Election Commission (EC) and the Income Tax (IT) department. How many authorities are we going to respond to?’’ The CPM could not agree more with the BJP. Says CPM’s Nilotpal Basu, ‘‘this order opens doors to interference in the internal functioning of political parties. There also needs to be clarity on whether political parties are public bodies in the sense as laid down by the Constitution.’’

Political parties are wary when it comes to transparency in their own functioning. Their major contention: we cannot be defined as pubic authorities since we have not been established or constituted by and under the Constitution, nor by any other law made by Parliament or the State Legislature, nor are these bodies owned or controlled by any appropriate government.

The CIC agrees but declares them as public authority due to the substantial funding they receive from the government in the form of land, accommodation, free air time on state-run Doordarshan and All India Radio, electoral rolls, income tax exemptions and other services availed at highly subsidised rates.

Other major points that parties have raised include ambiguity on being answerable to multiple authorities and that the information, particularly related to funding of political parties, is already being furnished to the IT department and the EC. But critics are unimpressed. “They do not know the ABC of the RTI Act. There is a misconception that they will now be answerable to two authorities - the EC and the CIC. RTI Act does not say that public authorities are accountable to the CIC. It says that they are accountable to the public. The role of the CIC comes much later,’’ RTI activist and petitioner in this case Subhash Chandra told TSI.

Another concern is interference in internal party affairs. However, activists point out that there are provisions under Section 8 of the RTI Act that enables them to withhold information. “It is the fear of the unknown that is making political parties so wary,’’ says founder member of ADR Jagdeep Chhokar.  He adds,‘‘When the RTI Act was being implemented, there was stiff opposition from the bureaucracy. Later, a survey revealed that over 60 per cent of RTI petitions filed came from government servants. In the present context too, it is the political leaders who are scared of RTI, not the rank and file,’’ he adds.

Parties are apprehensive on the issue of funding, most of which comes in the form of donations. Under the Representation of People Act, 1951, parties are required to submit contribution details received in excess of Rs 20,000 from any person or a company. Politicians however do not include in it multiple donations made by the same person, entity or company aggregating Rs 20,000 or above during the year. Political parties have also adopted the coupon system for collecting funds by issuing of coupons in lieu of receipts to donors for cash contributions. Since these are cash donations, it becomes all the more difficult to establish the identity of the donor. This implies that a lot of cash donations received remain unaccounted for in the books of accounts as only those amounts would be recorded for which a receipt has been issued.

Data obtained through RTI makes a strong case for transparency. Income of political parties from 2004-05 to 2010-11 shows steady growth. The total income of INC went from Rs 222 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 307.08 crore in 2010-11. This was followed by the BJP whose income rose from Rs 104 crores in 2004-05 to Rs 168 crores in 2010-11 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which registered a growth from Rs 4.2 crores in 2004-05 to Rs 115.7 crores in 2010-11.

When it comes to the share of donations received in excess of Rs 20,000 in total income, BSP has declared that the party has not received any donations above Rs 20,000 though its total income from the party's ITR has been declared at Rs 17267.84 lakh; of the national parties, 57.02 per cent of total income for CPI has been received through donations above Rs 20,000 while BJP’s donations above Rs 20,000 amount to 22.76 per cent of the total income. Of the regional parties, RJD (56.13 percent) and TDP (37 percent) derive maximum income from donations above Rs 20,000.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
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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Movie Review: The Great Gatsby

The best Gatsby...

F. Scott Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby, has historically proven to be a tough beast to tame for the big screen. There have been four attempts previously and none of them were good. Try staying awake through the one made in 1974 , for example.

This time, Baz Luhrmann steps in along with an all star cast, takes a good shot at it and succeeds. Why does he succeed? Just by looking at the scenes, or his earlier work, you would understand that Luhrmann’s greatest strength is his style and flair with which he directs. And The Great Gatsby, desperately needed that to make it a success.

Talking about the plot, the film shows America in all its early 1900’s glory. The new rich made the country a place where everything was larger than life - the great American dream was beginning, and in such a setting the mega star cast was really well chosen.

Leonardo DiCaprio and his real life friend Tobey Maguire play the characters of Gatsby and Nick Carraway respectively, in a manner only they can. DiCaprio’s performance makes this the best Gatsby so far, delicately balanced by Maguire’s charmingly delicate performance. Speaking about charmingly delicate, Amitabh Bachchan, even in his small cameo, makes a hearty mark as Meyer Wolfsheim.

Overall, the film carries with it all the style of its director and cast. However, what made the story so popular and loved, was not the dazzle but its heart. That is where this film falls short and becomes just a feast for the eyes, not so much for the heart

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
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IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

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The Miracle that Matters

Imagine.. A ledge, high, very high, more than three miles high above the waters of the nearest sea... High above the clouds, where shards of ice fly like witches on brooms in winds that howl like banshees and where snowy glaciers still carve out morraines like they have since time began...   Looking down on all of creation, from the roof of the world sits that ledge...

And on that frozen ledge sits a man.. the high winds and the sun have carved their own story on his craggy features. He sits with his eyes closed and his long dark hair piled into an untidy mop on his head. Now imagine that on in those frigid and giddy heights, he sits naked in the snow, wrapped in a coarse blanket. But that blanket does not keep him warm for it has been dunked in the icy waters of nearby river. To wrap that blanket around one’s body is to feel the cold congeal into a blade that seems to saw through bone... through every bone. But if you are there already and can see him there on that cliff then you must also see the steam rising from the blanket that covers the man’s body... You stare in amazement as the steam rises like mist from a river. You wonder what fire burns in this man’s core that can dry a blanket like it was wrapped around not flesh and blood but an industrial oven.

Most of us would have died of hypothermia while the frost bit through our extremities. But here this man sat on his seat on the crag, calm and serene while ice turned to smoke all around him. Is that a miracle, you ask. And answer is it is not, for there are many monks that wander in the frigid wastes of the Himalayas, both in India and in Tibet,  who are adepts at the art of raising a fiery storm through their yogic powers that would keep them warm on  the coldest nights. This drying of a wet cold blanket is almost a rite of passage for yogis and monks across many  orders. The Tibetans call it ‘tumo breathing’ and some Western explorers have learnt this art too.

It is said that Alexandra David-Neel, one of the first Western women to travel to Tibet in the early 1900s, learnt this ancient technique of generating internal heat from the monks.  During her 12 years in Tibet, Alexandra found many opportunities to be grateful to those from whom she had learnt this art for without it, she too might have perished in cold vastness of Tibet’s passes where many explorers, unable to meet the harsh demands of this beautiful yet unforgiving landscape, have given up and left to meet their maker. Alexandra David-Neel’s accounts of her journeys to the roof of the world are replete with accounts of yogic masters performing miracles every day. I came across these accounts while digging up stories to validate the claims made by the subject from last week’s column – The five Tibetan rites of rejuvenation.

Another miraculous feat that these monks from the mountains seem to have mastered is the art of ‘lum-gom’ trance walking. Trance walkers have trained their bodies to cover long distances in effortless leaps. Explorers to the Tibetan plateau, even Western scientific research teams have claimed that they have seen these yogis bounding across the rugged mountains in long leaps in a manner that seemed to suggest that they were floating through the air. Both ‘tumo’ and ‘lum gom’ are techniques that are taught in monasteries on the high passes. They involve special breathing and visualization techniques. And unlike stories of masters from other cultures, these miracles aren’t restricted to a few individuals and are relatively common across different sects.

Perhaps the most popular legends that have floated out of these secretive mountains that kept Tibet secluded from the rest of the world have been tales of amazing longevity. At a 100, it is said these masters have merely entered their youth. Early explorers to Tibet have claimed that they have met masters who been around for more than 200 years. Unfortunately, there aren’t very many gerontologists who have studied these yogis but if you were to look to go to places like Dharamshala and meet the oldest lamas who have made India their home, you will see 80 year olds walking up the steep mountain trails with the kind of vigour that would do men half their age proud. They may not live well beyond the ‘usual 100s’ but these Tibetan yogis definitely live their years well. I don’t know if it’s the mountain air, their Spartan lifestyle or their yogic practices that give them this youthful constitution, but whatever it is, it really works.

But these are miracles I have only read about or heard. Except for the rather fit octogenarian lamas I came across in Dharamshala and Mcleodganj, there isn’t much I can personally vouch for. But there is one miracle that this Tibetan meditative life path has given ample evidence of to all who chose to ask and it is this…

When the Chinese army invaded Tibet in 1949, it did what invading armies do. Resistance was crushed. Defenseless monks were  tortured and killed and a cultural and religious purge was followed by attempts at Hanification of Tibet. More than a million people lost their lives, perhaps brutally. Every Tibetan home would have lost a loved one or more. Tibet should be a country seething with anger.

And yet, every Tibetan I have met in my travels has spoken of the Chinese invaders with a degree of compassion. Some have said that they hold no ill feelings towards the Chinese even though they suffered at the hands of the invaders. Some lost loved ones, others lost homes and livelihoods. And yet they feel that they had earned this suffering through their actions in another life. The Chinese were mere puppets in the hands of their own karmic fruits.  In a film about the yogis of Tibet, I saw a young monk admit that he felt a degree of  anger and resentment towards the Chinese. His family had suffered unspeakable atrocities and had seen libraries and monasteries destroyed. But then, the monk added that (unlike his elders) he perhaps felt this anger because he hadn’t progressed enough in his practice.

In an interview in the same film, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, recounts this story about a monk who had been jailed and tortured by the Chinese. After his release, the monk escaped into India where he met His Holiness. One day, the Dalai Lama asked him about his time in prison and the monk replied that there were times when he felt that ‘he was indeed in danger…’. And when His Holiness asked about the nature of this danger’, the monk replied that at times while he was being tortured, he was indeed in danger of losing compassion for the Chinese

I had met the Dalai Lama for an interview about two years ago. And the words that I still remember from that day were in response to a question about what should one’s response be to an oppressor, be it a nation or an individual like let’s say, an Osama or a Hitler? The Dalai Lama had just smiled and said we should remember that it is the oppressor who needs compassion far more than the oppressed because while the latter has already endured a karmic cycle, the former has only begun to sow the seeds of his sins.

And this approach of treating one’s enemy like a teacher and forgiving him or her all his sins is perhaps the greatest miracle that has emerged from those passes in the mountains. Heat that vaporizes ice, leaping across miles or living a very long life might all be miracles worth chasing.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

The Mamata factor

Powerful state units of the Bengal and Kerala CPM are preparing for a showdown

While Trinamool Congress might have unleashed a reign of terror in Bengal against CPM leaders, the April 9 Delhi incident where CPM cadres decided to heckle and insult chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Finance Minister Amit Mitra, has brought the Left party’s influential West Bengal and Kerala units on a collision course.

Following the Delhi attack, Trinamool has already launched a violent retaliatory campaign but more than anything else, it was the action of CPM’s Delhi unit that has further vitiated relations between the central leadership, read general secretary Prakash Karat, and the West Bengal unit. Tempers are running so high that the state CPM has accused Karat with ignoring the state unit before embarking on adventurism of this kind.

Veteran Leftist leader Ashok Ghosh, secretary of the Forward Block, openly sought a clarification from the state CPM leadership, particularly from CPM secretary Biman Bose, asking ``how long should we suffer for the blunders committed by your party?” Leader of another Left constituent RSP’s Khitij Goswami, too toed the same line and questioned the rationale of the Delhi action at a time when the Left was facing the Trinamool onslaught as well as trying to consolidate its position which was drastically eroded in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The CPI(M) had traditionally thrown its weight around at its smaller partners and even the `historic’ defeat has not helped change this equation. While Left constituents are angry with big brother, within the CPM, leaders have questioned this so-called party programme of the Delhi unit directly under the control of Karat. The incident has revived the old battle lines between general secretary Prakash Karat and Buddhadeb Bhattacharyya, who is unhappy at Delhi’s unilateralism.  Bhattacharya’s anger is justified. For the first time since Mamata came to power, CPM had an opportunity to push the government into a corner and was brimming with the possibility of revival.

The Delhi episode has put paid to their plans. Biman Bose, sources say, had informed Karat of their displeasure. According to reports, people protesting in front of Planning Commission were all members of CPM’s local committee in West Delhi and not its affiliate Students Federation of India (SFI). The Delhi action was carried out by party full timers

Apparently to deflect peoples’ attention and to gain the confidence of state leaders, Karat wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee urging him to decide whether West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan’s ‘political intervention’ in seeking an apology from the party Politbureau for the Delhi incident was justified. To the utter dismay of Karat, this action has failed to mollify the state leadership with even front partners viewing it as a gimmick, a ploy to hide his own failures.

These leaders privately admit that Narayanan was right. After all the Chief Minister and Finance Minister were attacked. They do not feel it was highly improper for the governor of a state, who holds a constitutional post, to declare that a political party or its leaders have ‘forfeited their right to function within a democratic framework’. These leaders feel that Karat should have had the moral guts to confess his wrong instead of blaming the governor. The governor said that CPM was entitled to voice complaints, but could not resort to using rods against ministers. He even suggested that this ``premeditated” attack was “serious enough to warrant a public apology from the CPM Politbureau.’’

The anti-Mamata demonstration was planned to protest against the attitude of the West Bengal government towards the custodial death of SFI leader Sudipta Gupta in Kolkata.

West Bengal CPM leaders and Karat have been at logger heads for quite some time and state leaders blame the general secretary for this miserable state of affairs in its once strong hold West Bengal. They say Karat forced his dictates against the will of the state unit and eventually the party had to suffer huge electoral losses.

While CPM leaders do not intend to intensify their agitation against the Trinamool government for the moment as it would send a wrong message to the people, Karat and his associates want the state to embark on a militant form of agitation. Even secretary of Delhi CPM, Puspendra Grewal, a Karat protegee has come out justifying the action.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
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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Rising above revulsion

Sanjeev Sinha, one of the earliest breakout painters of Bihar’s 1980s generation, seeks reconciliation and harmony amid the disruptive and disturbing contrasts in contemporary reality by K.S. Narayanan, Photos by mukunda de
Life is not a dream. Careful! Careful! Careful! ……another day we will watch the preserved butterflies rise from the dead

As haunting as these immortal lines of 20th century Spanish poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca, Sanjeev Sinha’s 23 new artworks titled Am I?, showcased in the Visual Art Gallery of India Habitat Centre in the national Capital early this month, provided a strong jolt. The opening saw a host of esteemed guests, including Raj Liberhan, Director, India Habitat Centre; art curator Alka Pande: Rajeev Lochan, Director, National Gallery of Modern Art; Kapil Chopra, President, Trident Hotels; Anurag Sharma, Director, United Art Fair, and the who’s who of the Capital’s  glitterati and chatterati.   
                
Am I? – the question in the title of the show suggests the turbulence and the array of thoughts struggling to find expression within the artist who seems to be on an endless search on the issue of existence.

One of Sinha’s paintings showed several speared teddy bears. They shake us out of complacency and compel us to instead act and take charge before there is nothing left. The innocent eyes of the bears tug at the heartstrings and urge one to reflect on matters of the contemporary world. By portraying such a picture by use of toys that symbolise innocence, the artist at the same time points out how society has remained a mute spectator to the murder of innocence and innocents.

Juxtaposing a fairy world akin to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ along with a world steeped in faith, Sinha places the innocence of a Barbie doll alongside the ferocity of Goddess Kali.

Another work carrying a pious Buddha is surrounded by various emotions like passion, romanticism and appreciation of natural beauty, implying the intrusion of different objects while you are in such a mystic position. In the work titled Gentle Bite, he has portrayed a Barbie doll inside a turtle surrounded by the butterflies. This seems to signify the artist’s craving for the pleasant and happy world of eternity.

The turtle, Sanjeev explains, is believed to be auspicious in mythology and one of the longest living creatures in the world. In the work titled Gentle Bite XV, he has made a cobweb and behind that there is a huge spider that has created the whole system signifying the world.

Says Shaji Mathew of Studios and Galleries who is engaged in promoting residencies for budding artists: “There is lot of violence. Too much of a contrast too and difficult to digest as well. Probably it is looking at present-day violence while peace loving variety of art work is far less.”

This is because besides treating his subjects with techniques of realism, Sinha uses stark colours, primarily black and red, to evoke an intense feeling of passion and radical approach towards this worldly issues.

Also seemingly banal devices like the use of a burning matchstick in several paintings make the artist relate to real situations.


According to Sinha, wood acts both as a saviour and a means that takes the stranded person to the safety’s shore, and also the carrier of fire that could destroy everything.

Though this was the popular feeling of those who viewed the exhibition, there were others and experts who had read both the artist and his art well.

Take for instance Vikash Nand Kumar, art historian and curator who curated Sinha’s work. He observed that at the very first instance the Am I? exhibition may sound radical and gloomy and shrink us with a feeling that it is not very pleasant or soothing. “But as the viewers go through the body of work and fathom its depth they would understand its gist. We must realise these works are in proximity to the reality of our contemporary lives and then might sense the cathartic pleasure of watching these works.”

No doubt these works carry the blend of thoughts that he wants to put on canvas using objects symbolizing philosophical implication, political mystification and spiritual assimilation.

Bihar-born Sinha is a globe- trotter has imbibed various cultures, traditions and art practices that have led him into a gamut of experiences. He has exhibited in galleries and museums in India, the Netherlands, France, England and Japan in group and solo shows.

Calligraphy, Korean clouds, Tibetan flags, Buddha’s head, the world of flora and fauna, mythology, et al, find a place in his compositions. They are the tools with which he expresses himself. Watching everything around him as an observer, his works give a peep through the lens that generally remains black in the foreground, thus being in direct interaction with his works and creating layers of depth on his canvas.

Some figures are of powerful women like Kali. Of a naked Kali and a Barbie in a bathtub. One is black. One, white. One is wild. One is innocent. But even in the wild one there is innocence.

What does Sinha hope for as an artist? “I hope people understand that my paintings are not decorative but symbolic. I’ve incorporated elements from arenas like politics and capitalism and the misuse of religion. But you have to look closely at them.”

At a time when art lovers look at Santiniketan, Kolkata, Mumbai and Vadodara as the centres of excellence, Sinha is the unspoken leader of the young Bihar art generation that emerged in the 1980s. He was the first artist from Bihar of his generation to have won the prestigious Lalit Kala Akademi award and create a niche for himself in Europe’s art centre. Since then, Sanjeev has bagged several national and global fellowships and honours.

Having closely watched Sinha’s artistic journey over the years, poet and art critic Vinod Bharadwaj says the exhibition depicted the creative pangs of that terrible phase when one has to look for the right names for objects in the wake of the violent gang rape of Nirbhaya or Damini in the glow of meaningful peace.

Recalling the words of German dramatist Bretolt Brecht, In the earthquakes to come, I very much hope – Bharadwaj says: “In Sanjeev’s artistic journey there is always the ray of hope amid violence, anarchy and assaults”.

Commenting on the artist and his art, Seema Bhalla, another art historian, observed: “Through his work Sanjeev Sinha seems to be asking himself, what is he? Is he a mere spectator or a participant? Or is he optimistic or pessimistic? He keeps pondering on many sensitive questions and asking himself “Am I…?” It is difficult to remain unaffected after watching his works as they force one to think”.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

Movie Review: Django Unchained

Is that a nigger on a horse?

Welcome to Tarantino’s history lesson number 2. In our last outing, Inglourious Basterds, we learnt that Hitler didn’t commit suicide but was assassinated by French revolutionaries.

Now we get to know that in the antebellum era, a time when black slavery was at its heights, a black slave called Django, gets to ride a horse, eat white cake and shoot white people.

Tarantino makes you fall in love with cinema once again. He truly shows what this art form is capable of. Django Unchained tells the story of a freed slave who treks across the United States with a bounty hunter on a mission to rescue his wife from a cruel plantation owner.

Jamie Foxx plays Django; a role which has to be played with just the right amount of hesitation and steadily growing confidence as Django’s mentality slowly evolves from that of a slave to a man who bows to no one.

 Dr. King Schultz, the bounty hunter who frees Django, played by the amazing Christoph Waltz is the star of the film. Having played an impossible role earlier in Basterds, Waltz returns to sizzle the screen with an impeccable performance as the bounty hunter who trains Django to live his life as a free man.

Leonardo DiCaprio appears as Calvin Candie, the plantation owner with a hell lot of charisma but with a deviant streak of cruelty. Having been warned by his house slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) of Django and Schultz’s plans, Candie is killed by Schultz before all hell breaks loose. Django is finally confronted with an epic western shootout, which he finally wins and takes his wife safely away.

The word “nigger” is sprayed around as if it was running out and Tarantino often crosses the line with bloody slave fights and gruesome revenges. But hey, it wouldn’t be a Tarantino film otherwise. Go watch it. It will be one of the best films you see in your lifetime…

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

Of Kingmakers and Emperors Without...

Nitish Kumar has been anointed as the new kingmaker by the media. he needs to be wary of hubris and the voter.
 
“He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me....".  There is many a Congress leader who could be playing this teen fantasy game while thinking about Nitish Kumar. Now that the DMK has done what it should have done about three years ago, Nitish Kumar becomes even more crucial. To borrow language from the ISI of Pakistan, Nitish Kumar and his party can provide "strategic depth" to the Congress when it faces an angry, frustrated and vengeful electorate in 2014 (if not earlier!). During his so called Adhikar rally organized in the capital, the Bihar Chief Minister gave enough hints that he, his vote bank and his allegiance could be up for grabs. So don't be surprised if the media keeps a relentless focus on Nitish Kumar and his future plans. In fact, his acolytes have stated a fantasy scenario that could called Nitish as Prime Minister. And why not, surely he has better credentials as a politician and administrator than Manmohan Singh, I.K. Gujral, H.D. Deve Gowda and V.P. Singh! If only a pesky upstart called Narendra Modi was not hovering on the horizon! But there is no mistake about this: Nitish Kumar is the favour of the season and the latest kingmaker of Indian politics.

But it might be instructive for the Bihar Chief Minister to read up on contemporary political history and learn some lessons. Kingmakers of Indian politics have a nasty habit of acquiring a common disease called hubris. And the Indian voter has a nasty habit of exposing kingmakers as emperors without clothes! Let's go back a bit to 1989 when V.P. Singh was riding the Bofors bandwagon towards power in Delhi. One of key charioteers of this bandwagon was the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao who had acquired cult status as a film star, and who had humiliated the mighty Congress. He was the loudest and most vocal voice of an emerging anti Congress alliance across the country. And what happened then? V.P. Singh did manage to humble Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress to emerge as possibly the worst Prime Minister that India ever had (tough competition from Manmohan Singh!). But voters had something else in store for NTR. His party Telugu Desam was decimated and humiliated in the 1989 Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The kingmaker had lost his crown and throne.

In the tumultuous days of 1999 when a tea party enjoyed by Sonia Gandhi and J. Jayalalitha led to the collapse of the Vajpayee government which lost a no confidence motion by just one vote, Sharad Pawar emerged as the new kingmaker. Sensing an opportunity - something which he couldn't grab in 1991 when the Congress preferred a safe P.V. Narashima Rao to an ambitious Pawar - the Maratha strongman revolted against Sonia Gandhi and formed his own party called NCP. The calculations back then were quite clear. Kargil was yet to happen and not many expected the NDA led by Vajpayee to win a decisive victory. So there was every chance of a hopelessly hung parliament and who more qualified than Sharad Pawar to play kingmaker and dream of his own Kingdom? But the Indian voter had other ideas. Sharad Pawar was forced to eat humble pie and share power with the Congress in Maharashtra, failing to even have the NCP take the post of the Chief Minister. Vajpayee, of course, was voted back with a comfortable majority. Ever since, the halo around Sharad Pawar has been dimming consistently. Even his most loyal and die hard loyalist now knows that Pawar as Prime Minister is a fantasy.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

Who directed Ek Tha Tiger, Khiladi 786,Son Of Sardar ? Who Cares? !

Monojit Lahiri probes the status of today’s B-town directors, rocking the fashionable Rs 100 crore club and discovers, shockingly, that most of them are invisible!

The redoubtable genius, stormy and controversial polish director Roman Polanski (Knife in the water, Rosemary’s Baby) had once categorically stated that “the director is always a superstar. The best films are best because of nobody, but the director. You speak of classics – Citizen Kane, 8 ½, Seven Samurai, Gold Rush and City Lights – it’s the director who is the star. He and he alone makes and creates the film.”  Actually, Europe has always been the Camelot for directors. Comparatively, in Hollywood, they were – thanks to the feudal studio system – on a tight leash. The director was usually a hireling along with the writer, cameraman and wardrobe lady. He was apprenticed at the studio where he got his tutoring and he tunneled (as best as he could) through someone else’s choice of cast, script and editor, as effectively possible. Sure there were exceptions (Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Ford, Billy Wilder) but then, most of them were Producer-Director. The rule was simple. The Producer ran the show and the studio put its stamp upon it.  Formulae were sacred. Directors were not, and eminently interchangeable at will!

In year 2013, doesn’t this diktat apply scarily to B-town as well?  Does any mainstream director have the guts to say, ‘I think of myself not as a director, but a filmmaker; someone who strategically and creatively uses people and equipment to make a personal expression that will resonate with my audiences?’ Before anything, however, let’s get some facts straight and perspective in place.  As SRK has repeatedly pointed out, stars in Bollywood dominate the minds and hearts of the Indian audience and their presence remains the single biggest magnet for the insane popularity and craze of the blockbusters.  The truth is there for all to see. The late Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra may have propelled some of Amitabh Bachchan’s greatest box-office successes (Zanjeer, Namak Halal, Sharabi, Muqaddar ka Sikander, Amar, Akbar, Anthony; Coolie, Mard) but what has been their scorecard before and after the Big B connect happened? Farah Khan’s twin successes were also with SRK (Main Hoon Na & OSO) and flops with Akki (Tees Maar Khan). And so on and so forth…

Cut to the present scenario. The recent Ajay Devgn starrer, Son of Sardar was a hi-decibel, hi-profile offering chewing miles of publicity due to its public spat with Yash Raj Film’s (YRF) Jab Tak Hai Jaan (JTHJ), remember?  Now, can you remember the name of the director?  Okay, who is the director of Akki’s return to the Khiladi franchise, Khiladi 786?  Next, the biggest, YRF’s Dhoom 3 is one of the most eagerly awaited release of 2013, both because of the dazzling and popular franchise value and the first-time-pairing of Aamir Khan (playing baddie!) and Kat Kaif. Guess who wields the megaphone? Do I see an entire ocean of blank faces? Chill. Not your fault, guys. The age and ritual of celebrating the director -  Bimal Roy, Mehboob Khan, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor,  Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar and Basu Chatterjee among others – is clearly over and it’s the star who categorically calls the shots in the mainstream universe. Get any one of the Khans, Hrithik, Ajay or Akshay or even Saif  and chances are half your battles are over in terms of funds, audience connect or media exposure. Chuck in Katrina, Priyanka, Kareena or Deepika and the project, overnight, takes a life of its own! Which production house? Who’s directing? Who cares?! For your information, the director of Son of Sardar was Ashwini Dhar and the director of Khiladi 786, Ashish R. Mohan. For the Dhoom 3 project, the earlier helmsman Sanjay Ghadvi (now on a huge downer with two back-to-back bombs Ajab Ghazab Love and Kidnap) has given way to a Vijay Krishna Acharya, best known for a flop named Tashan.  Clearly, the powers are that have clearly seen and read the writing on the wall and run with red-hot star-charisma rather than promoting the director. When you have Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Aamir–Katrina as your headliners, does anyone give a damn about anything else? Sure there are exceptions – Karan Johar, Rajkumar Hirani, Rohit Shetty, Sajid Khan, Aditya Chopra – but (quite honestly) they too depend mostly on star power. Don’t agree? Okay, check out their strike rate with non-stars…

The one area, however, where the director as a visionary and moving force works is the crossover / small films. Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Shoojit Sarkar, Sujoy Bose, Anurag Basu, Habib Faisal and gang have proved that they are the real stars and actors are their great, gifted collaborators helping them to flesh their vision with the appropriate passion and purpose. It is amply clear from Wasseypur and Shanghai, Vicky Donor and Ishaqzaade, Sahib, Bibi… and Paan Singh Tomar; who called the shots and whose shadow coloured the narrative. Critic Rauf Ahmed wraps up this discourse offering his learned observations. “There is a huge, mistaken belief that today’s movie-going audiences, unlike early times, are smart, sharp, knowledgeable and discriminating and will dismiss any film that is not focused and does not engage their attention. While it is true that this audience base has indeed powered several unknown non-glam directors and non-starry projects to win attention, awards and modest returns, for the larger part, clearly it is star power that has rocketed the big projects up, up and up!  Undoubtedly, the director had a part to play in the success of the hits, but can you honestly think of JTHJ without SRK, Dabangg 2 without Salman, Rowdy Rathore sans Akshay, and Talaash without Aamir? And how many people know (or care to know) and remember the name of the extremely talented Reema Kagti as the person who helmed Talaash?”  So, as SRK always reminds us, directors are wonderful and actors are great… However, in India and B-town, it is the stars who dazzle!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

BBA Management Education

Movie Review: Lincoln

Portrait of America
The phenomenal Daniel Day-Lewis plays Lincoln with the immersive, invested method acting, only he is capable of. This is acting at its finest.

It is chilling to find an actor play a character with such impeccability where every little mannerism is taken into account and every little run of words carefully practiced.

Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln is one of his most audacious projects till date. The expectations about such a film are just too great. Spielberg simply ignores those expectations and in doing so transcends them.

Lincoln covers the final four months of Lincoln's life, focusing on the President's efforts in January 1865 to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the United States House of Representatives.

For those who find politics too boring, this film isn’t much about politics. Even though, it talks about bills and amendments, the film ultimately shows the inner nature, flaws, weaknesses and workings of democracy’s greatest defender.

In adapting just a small part of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, the 2005 bestseller about Lincoln and his Cabinet, screenwriter Tony Kushner blows the dust off history by investing it with flesh, blood and indomitable spirit.

Lincoln doesn’t spend time in flashbacks and backstory. It is all about forward thrust and urgency; verbal fireworks taking over visual stimulation. It is remarkable to see Lincoln using every single twist and turn in the book to pass the amendment and abolish slavery once and for all.

Spielberg, Kushner and Day-Lewis dare greatly in giving us this complex, conflicted portrait of a great American leader. The result, glitches and all, is a great American movie.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

BBA Management Education

Global Left is changing

successful experiments in Europe and Latin America are proof that the Left is not just alive, but has shun dogmas writes Saurabh Kumar Shahi 
In the slew of bad news coming out of European economies, readers can be forgiven if they missed a couple of good news. While relatively sound economies like Germany and Poland have started showing signs of slowdown, as the bad apples, Italy, Spain and Greece, show no signs of recovery; Ireland and Iceland have come up with alternative treatments that have stunned the world. Discarding the capitalistic and liberal economic measures, both the countries took some stringent measures and have bounced back. Ireland is expected to post a growth rate of 1.8 percent whereas Iceland is expected to grow at 2.4 percent.

So what is the remedy? Some stringent Leftist policies. Unlike the US and other economies where corporate giants and banks were bailed out when common people suffered from raised taxes and austerity measures, Iceland did exactly the opposite. It paid off loans for consumers and threw bankers in jail for corruption. Let homeowners wipe out debt up to 110 percent of the property value. It is not only declared loans indexed in foreign currency illegal and allowed middle-class debtors to pay back in its local currency, it went after the bankers responsible for the collapse and brought them to book. So, what appeared as a vicious cycle in other nations was effectively managed by the Icelanders.

Ireland too took some stringent steps. In contrast to the neighbouring Britain where an ‘export led recovery’ was grossly undermined by the chauvinistic view that people in developing countries were desperate to purchase British goods because of the so-called inherent prestige, the Irish held no such pretensions and instead adopted the basic comparative advantage road towards recovery. Who says Global Left is dead?

If European examples are unbelievable, the experiment in Latin America has shown miraculous results. The personal charisma of leaders like Hugo Chavez, Lula and Evo Morales, and their experiment with enlightened Socialism has borne results that are undeniable and incomparable. Even if you compare some basic indices in these countries to the pre-socialism days, the contrast is stark. And the best part of it all that it has been achieved without capitulating financially or politically to the First World. So what is it that has led to this revival?

First, unlike the Left in India, the Global Left has not been shy in reinventing itself and its message. There appears to be little appetite for dogma and every country has adopted the local ethos in the message of Socialism. So, for example, an ardent Communist in Latin America can be a regular Church-goer. The idea is neither to get stuck up with dogma neither  to let religion rule one's senses. As long as it is in the private sphere, it is ok. This has helped Left parties expand their base.

Even in France where the Socialist Party won the election, the leader Francois Hollande tried to achieve maximum maneuverability that can be achieved within the European Union system and managed to send the message to the masses that an alternative economic system is possible.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

Flirting with danger

From times immemorial, man has been drawn towards the unknown – be it Ferdinand Magellan and his trip around the world or Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in their quest to conquer the highest mountain peaks in the world. As these men challenged the limits of their endurance and courage, there were hundreds others who stood behind them with vital support – both economic and moral. While India has had its fair share of daredevils, mass support and more importantly media exposure has largely been absent. For example, Colonel Kotiyal, who has been atop Mount Everest twice and back, is a completely unknown figure. However, there is growing a breed of Indians who are making a name for themselves in the international community by nurturing as well as indulging into the spirit of adventure.

Take Anchal Khurana for example. While she is not exactly a popular public figure, the circle of people who take an interest in sky-diving know her well as someone who is doing her bit to make the sport accessible in India. She is running the Kakini Enterprises which is working specifically to provide opportunities to more and more people to jump from the skies, quite literally. Her team of instructors have got the ratings in free fall and tandem jumps, having made their mark in para jumping in the armed forces.

Anchal's work has not been easy nor is she anywhere near her goal. A lot of work and streamlining remains to be done before skydiving becomes a popular sport. “This sport needs meticulous preparations and a lot of money to train people. You require an aircraft or a helicopter to jump from and then you require a parachute which will cost upto Rs 5 lakhs" says she. Apart from money, there are a number of permissions that need to be taken like clearances from the Director General, Civil Aviation, the nearest Airport and the local administration.

Similarly, Ajit Chouhan and his band of friends have been hard at work to promote adventure sports in the backwaters of Raigarh. Self funded, this group of 13 that calls itself the Friends Foundation has started organising a congregation of a whole gamut of adventure sports since 2012 in an event they call ‘UDAAN – flight to your dreams’. Ajit talks about the interesting story behind this initiative: “All of us are into business and whatever time we get, we try participating in one of the many adventure activities. And then suddenly it struck us,: if instead of going on individual adventures, we did this on a larger scale, it would let both our families and other people participate. Thus, in February 2012, we made a beginning.”

TSI visited Raigarh and witnessed this event which is one of the few platforms where every activity in the adventure category is available. Para gliding, hang-gliding, para sailing, bungee jumping, rappelling, hot air balloon, all terrain biking; these are are just a few of the  activities that were on offer. What is interesting to note is that a large part of the adventurers were women. Many of them had come with their families, like Natwar Aggarwal, who was encouraging his teenaged daughters to jump off from a huge height with bungee cords tied to their feet. Kakini Enterprises was a part of it as well, with the response being overwhelmingly large. “We had to turn people back even though they were ready to pay us as much we wanted,” says Anchal.

There has been some positive response from the government as well. Many states have come up with their own plans to help in organising adventure sports and activities. Speaking to TSI, Chattisgarh Tourism Minister Brij Mohan Aggarwal said, “I was not aware that UDAAN is so well organised and is of this high scale. We are giving them a support of Rs 10 lakh and are busy formulating policies to help such activities.” TSI got to know that the Chattisgarh state government recently took the help of professionals to devise methods to make Chattisgarh a adventure sports hub. Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh are helping to get such activities organised as well, and for good reason.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

BBA Management Education

Who rules next?

Prahlad Kakkar (Ad Film Director)

Ranbir Kapoor will be the next big star because he has the charisma, he has the pedigree, he has the talent and girls love him! Until now, it was the Khans who ruled because of their talent and charisma. Also, they were very different from each other. Shahrukh was a romantic hero, Salman was the maar dhaad type and Aamir was into very serious roles and very strong story lines. Right now, Salman is on a winning streak though.

To be a superstar, one has to have a very strong female following. That’s it! Women are very particular about whom they like and whom they don’t like. If there is a ‘female’ side to an actor then that’s the part that keeps him alight and that’s the part that makes him likeable because that’s what women look for. These days it’s not about roaming around flexing your biceps and saying ‘mere dole feel karoge?’ Women will any day go for a guy who would say ‘give me five minutes and I’ll change your life’. And Ranbir has that!



Anupama Chopra
(Author, Journalist and Film Critic)

There has to be something special in an actor for him to be a superstar. The Khans have been ruling the industry for over two decades now and each one of them has a special quality. Salman has the ability to project a larger-than-life character and he does it effortlessly. Aamir is a great actor and has this incredible instinct when it comes to choosing films. Shahrukh has been the greatest romantic hero. So, special qualities about them made them superstars. And talking about the next one to take over, I think it will be Ranbir Kapoor. He is exciting and is talented and everyone has huge expectations from him. He will be the next one to rule the industry. 

Arbaaz Khan
(Actor, Director and Producer)

There is no question about the fact that Salman is the most bankable actors now. It’s all there for everybody to see that, today, the gap between him and his contemporaries has also widened a bit. He is clearly and surely head and shoulders above the rest in terms of box office success. From any point of view, he is the star.

Rakesh Roshan (Director and Producer)

I don’t agree with this concept of superstars. All the actors are there in this race, which has no finishing line. Sometimes one is ahead and sometimes it’s the other. Yes, some actors have ruled the industry for many years and that is not only because of their acting, but because of their charisma. Some actors have a personality or something to do with their appeal that immediately attracts the audience. And that’s why The Khans, Hrithik, Akshay have got so much love. Now who will rule the industry in 2013 will really have to do with the box office success of movies, but among the new crop of actors, I think Ranbir Kapoor is the one who has a lot of potential and will make it big.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

BBA Management Education

Parties Play The Caste Trump Card

With national political parties finding themselves out on a limb in Karnataka, it’s the caste-based regional outfits that are calling the shots. Will the political cookie in this southern state crumble the way of Uttar Pradesh?

Karnataka is gearing up for Assembly elections in April. With the fortunes of the ruling BJP and the Congress hitting the skids in the state, caste-based regional formations are likely to gain in the post-poll scenario.

Karnataka is set to go the Uttar Pradesh way. UP is India’s largest state and is accustomed to electoral fragmentation on caste and community lines. Karnataka, only one third the size of UP, is not. So, if a hung Assembly is what the April elections yield, the development would mark a paradigm shift in Karnataka politics. Congress, BJP and Janata Dal are the three parties that have traditionally jostled for seats in the Vidhana Soudha. Two new forces have lately jumped into the fray. Former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and Badava Shramika Raitha Congress (BSR Congress), led by B Shriramulu, the right hand man of jailed mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, are likely to queer the pitch for the national parties by taking away a chunk of their votes.

While none of the five contenders are in a position to sweep the polls, KJP and BSR Congress could both wrest enough seats to give the principal parties a run for their money. But in the run-up to the elections, none of the political formations is keen to get into any alliances, preferring to wait and watch the for eventual outcome. For Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), the April polls could be just another electoral battle. But for BJP and KJP, it would be an acid test. The BJP would be out to demonstrate that it has the strength to live down Yeddyurappa’s exit. For the party leaders who have been instrumental in pushing Yeddy out of the BJP, the likes of KS Eeshwarappa, Ananth Kumar, Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar, the upcoming election would be an opportunity to prove a point.

Yeddy too, would be determined to make the BJP, a party he served for four decades, pay for the folly of neglecting a regional mass leader with the backing of the dominant Lingayat community.

The BJP will also have to contend with the BSR Congress. Yeddy’s mass support and the Reddy’s money power had catapulted BJP to power in Karnataka in 2008. With both now gone, it would be an uphill task for the party to retain power. BJP is unlikely to win more than 50 to 60 seats. In that eventuality, it would be back on the Opposition benches.

In the past, the Congress has had to suffer the consequences of sidelining Veerendra Patil, who was not only a mass leader but also had control over the party’s rank and file. This was something that Yeddy lost no opportunity to remind the BJP’s central leadership of.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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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State governments have not augured well for the Indian mining sector

The mining ban in Karnataka, transport bottlenecks in Orissa, and a rising pendency of applications awaiting action from various state governments have not augured well for the Indian mining sector. Although the reopening of a few mines in Karnataka could bring some reprieve, issues related to the regulation, taxation and fiscal policy are bound to further stress miners

While the mining industry can be partially held responsible for the current mess and its adverse impact on allied industries, there are examples where the state governments have been accused of creating instability in the business environment. Currently, there are over 40,000 mineral concessions and about 25,000 renewal applications pending with different states. In Orissa, for instance, even a company like Tata has not been given renewal of their mining leases by the state government. “We have a huge reserve in this country, but production is not being encouraged. Instead, imports are being allowed,” says former Planning Commission Additional Secretary L. P. Sonkar. “Not only that, people are even trying to remove import duty. It’s strange,” he adds. In Orissa, there has been violation of environmental law. If production increases beyond the permissible level, there are provisions in the Environmental Protection Act where you can penalise the companies. “But to restrict the movement for people who have not been carrying out operations illegally, like they did in Karnataka, is not right,” says Sharma, referring to Orissa government’s transport restrictions.

As per the data available with the steel and mines department of the Orissa government, in the first quarter of the current fiscal, traders in Joda mining circle (the largest mining circle in terms of iron ore production in the country, accounting for 25% of India’s total output) lifted 57% less iron ore for export purpose over last year’s figure, despite sharp rise in production. Even for FY2012-13, the state government has capped the iron ore production for Joda mining circle at 40 MT. As a result, a maximum of 400 trucks can be allowed in a day to carry material from this circle for the purpose of export.

Even the proposed Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill (MMDR Bill) 2011, which wants mining companies to share 26% of their net profit with the local community, has had miners worried for long. They fear that the new profit-sharing formula could well be an end of the road for the industry. Countering the industry’s contention that the proposal to allot shares to project affected persons (PAP) will change the holding pattern of the firm with time and, thereby, is not a workable idea, the ministry has argued, “The concept of allotting the share to the PAP is to inculcate a sense of belonging among them with that mining company. They will be a part of the process by attending the general body meetings of that company.”

The MMDR Bill 2011 laid in the Lok Sabha is currently being debated by the Standing Committee. The bill provides for hefty fiscal burdens on miners in addition to what they already pay to the state governments and other utilities by way of fees, tax, royalty, freight, etc. “The MMDR Bill will ruin the mining industry. With such stringent laws, you will not get any FDI or technology. Domestic firms that invest will also suffer from negative growth and only illegal miners will prosper,” says Sharma. Another major point of contention is states getting full powers of grant of mineral concessions.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

BBA Management Education