IIPM Editorial

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The giant’s not dead? Praise the...

With the Sybase deal, SAP’s new management has shown a welcome display of strategic intent, but SAP has a number of questions to answer with respect to its role in the changing IT environment by Virat Bahri

Be it their love for 99.9999% quality in everything they buy, their passion for cleanliness, their preference for pre-planned programs or their steadfast belief in the superiority of their institutions; Germans have numerous interesting & peculiar cultural traits.

If there could be two words to personify SAP (based on most of its corporate history), they have to be – quintessentially German! A high regard for stability, integrity and best in class product offerings have been characteristic of this company. But its major drawback has been its relative apathy in accepting and adapting to the changes in the marketplace; and its steadfast commitment to the organic route for growing its product suite. The same is said for its enterprise software application as well, stable, reliable, but harder to customise for organisations in today’s fast-paced world.

And the player that took the greatest advantage of this was Oracle; led by a highly aggressive, no holds barred Larry Ellison, who unleashed a massive acquisition spree over the past decade to take Oracle from a database company to an ERP giant that is now a serious competitor to SAP, in a rivalry that is ‘to the headlines born’. The recent $5.8 billion acquisition of Sybase by SAP is seen as an attempt to change the status quo. Interestingly, investors don’t seem to realize the deal’s potential yet. SAP’s share price closed at €36.05 on May 12 and had dropped to €34.39 by May 21. Yet, this is a very interesting move for SAP’s future.

In February this year, Leo Apotheker resigned from his fairly short stint as SAP CEO (appointed in May 2009) after a humbling year for SAP, with revenues at €10.67 billion, a drop by 8% yoy and profits at €1.7 billion, down by 5.3% yoy, the first annual revenue drop since 2003. “Apotheker ruffled feathers with partners, customers and employees in his tenure, and had the misfortune to make those missteps at a time of punishing global economic conditions,” comments Warren Wilson, Senior Analyst, Ovum Inc. Moreover, according to the Gartner report for 2009, SAP remained the leader in the Business Intelligence (BI), Analytics and Performance Management space, but its market share dropped from 23.4% to 22.4% yoy; while, IBM, Oracle and Microsoft made some gains. New co-CEOs Bill McDermott & Jim Hagemann Snabe promised while declaring the annual results, “We will leverage the latest technologies, such as virtualization, cloud & in-memory to ensure that our business solutions are easy to implement, use, and seamlessly integrate...” But analysts lament that SAP’s vision for the emerging IT landscape isn’t up to the mark.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Friday, August 6, 2010

F-bomb diplomacy!

All Obama requires to ensure that US is seen as a great ally by the world is to force US officials to control their urge to humiliate people

That Americans use the F-word quite conveniently in their daily communication is no Brezhnevian state secret. But the fact is that the usage of this word and the philosophy it propagates (of course figuratively) – of caring two hoots – unfortunately has filtered into the attitude of American officials when they deal with representatives of other nations, and in fact even with their own ilk.

First, some examples of how brilliantly even top US officials have gone over the board in their executive communication:

December 2003: US presidential candidate Senator John Kerry uses the F word in an interview in the magazine Rolling Stone.

June 2004: During a heated exchange at the US Senate, VP Dick Cheney tells Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, “Go f*** yourself!”

May 2007: US Senator John Cornyn objects to John McCain’s perceived intrusion into a Senate meeting on immigration, to which McCain replies, “F*** you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room.”

August, 2009: Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff, at a weekly strategy session featuring liberal groups and White House aides [on a plan to run advertisements against conservative Democrats] reportedly rebukes them by calling them “F***ing retarded!”

March 23, 2010: US VP Joe Biden whispers into Obama’s ear, “This is a big f***ing deal” (for the healthcare plan).

April 22, 2010: Cheney appears on The Dennis Miller Show and takes a compliment about his “F*** yourself” comment from the host and responds, “That’s sort of the best thing I ever did.”

Why are these examples shocking? To understand that, imagine your own country’s Vice President speaking the same words Dick Cheney spoke in public! Or the words US Vice President Biden spoke. The hypothesis is not even a conjecture anymore. The fact is that American officials, while being quite comfortable with their “hire and f-off” attitude – both in language and behaviour – have started assuming that the same attitude can be blindly exercised upon the representatives of foreign nations.

And it’s not that the cases of such verbal and behavioural transgressions by US officials is not known. In April this year, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the way he was being treated by American officials and frustratingly announced that he might even join the Taliban if US interference into Afghan affairs didn’t stop – and this when Karzai knows that the reason he is in power is because of the US government’s support.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Big, fat, hairy & audacious...

Quite a few global IT giants have proved that it takes just one big killer product or application to enter the Fortune 500 league. Finacle was supposed to be that for Infosys! Today, it contributes just about 4% to Infosys’ revenues. What went wrong? by Virat Bahri

Five innovations in the last year have been Treasury-in-a box (for treasury operations), Advizor (to enable delivery of products through a self service channel), Direct Banking (an enabler of branchless banking expansion) and a core banking solution for Regional Rural Banks and inclusive banking. Apart from catering to the demand for core banking solutions in Europe and North America, Finacle has to encounter a new, contrasting mindset in the Asia Pacific. Cyrus Daruwala, MD-Asia Pacific, IDC Financial Insights, comments to B&E, “In India, as with the rest of Asia Pacific, instead of big-bang rip-and-replace approach, banks are focusing on key modules and point solutions within and around core systems (like deposits, loans, channels, payments). This is compelling core players to reassess the way they position and pitch their “we do everything” approach to a more modular approach, catering instead to the banks’ gaps and requirements.” The winners will be banks who can demonstrate that besides a comprehensive suite of abilities, they can also handle individual applications like mobile, rural banking, et al will be the winners in the long run.

Creditably, Finacle has firmly established itself at par with the best in the world. Gartner released its Magic Quadrant for international core banking in July last year, where it compared core banking solutions on two parameters – ability to execute and completeness of vision. Based on these, it divided products into four categories – leaders, challengers, nichers and visionaries. Finacle finds itself in the leader’s quadrant, along with products from SAP, Oracle Financial Services, Temenos Group, Callatay & Wouters, FNIS and Fiserv.

Finacle has shown an impressive growth trajectory in the past few years, but global market trends portend far greater opportunities ahead. And while it may not be the killer application that will take Infosys to the Fortune 500 list, it will remain one of their core areas of competitive advantage, an advantage they have to preserve and strengthen, even if it involves taking the M&A route, which they have long been cautious about, since consolidation in the core banking space is long overdue and happening at a quicker pace now, especially towards ancillary capabilities in the space. That is perhaps the only area where Finacle has to pick up in pace.

Virat Bahri

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

A recipe for world’s best recipes!

Gourmands crown the best chef in the world, and we set off on a quest to discover the secrets of the culinary masters...

With India making the world notice (and appreciate) its various strengths, comparisons with the pioneers of the world have been inevitable. While the daily grind of reviews and comparisons our country goes through doesn’t draw my attention, it is the world lists of the likes of the ‘top 10’ and ‘top 50’ and ‘top 100’ that make me anxious. Perhaps this restlessness stems from the eagerness to learn about the distance covered on the fine line between ‘their’ suave and ‘our’ graceful manners. Well, to my relief, this year’s results of the prestigious list charted out in a glamorous culinary art event in London, ‘The S. Pellegrino’s World’s Best Restaurants’, bring us to number 54 from last year’s 70. It is the restaurant Wasabi of The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai that made us proud through its ‘vast range of delectable vegetarian dishes besides the seafood selection flown in fresh from around the world – exotic Kumamoto oysters, shrimp tempura and sashimi at the Sushi Bar.’

But there’s a 42-seats Danish restaurant, Noma in Copenhagen that has surprised the world by unexpectedly displacing the King of Gastronomy, Ferran Adria’s restaurant, elBulli (Roses, Spain) from the world No.1 position. It is the novelty of Noma’s chef, Rene Redzepi’s recipes and the nobleness of his ideology of creating an eco-friendly menu that must have led to the 100,000 email booking requests at the restaurant since grabbing the top slot in the last week of April ’10. Redzepi tries to cook with products that surround him and with extremely seasonal products. Noma’s chefs work with farmers, nature and wild products and try to bring something uniquely Nordic on the plate. Their style has greatly appealed to the gourmands who till last year couldn’t get over Ferran Adria’s unique experiments with food from all over the world. Choosing to close elBulli for six months in winters, during which time they created and reinvented recipes for the next season, Ferran, in an earlier interview with us had said, “It is not a question of being courageous, but a question of whether you’re free; for if you’re free then only you can be creative.” It seems that under Franco and his predecessors’ callous domination, culinary freedom was the only vent for Spaniards who have given the world delicacies like tapas, paella, flan and churros and have taken three out of the five top positions in the world’s best restaurants list this year!

If, creativity is all it takes, it is not surprising to see the imaginative aces of one domain experimenting with dishes from around the world. The restaurant chain, Veda has been conceptualised and set up by renowned fashion designer Rohit Bal to bring out brand India through a wide range of “truly Indian delicacies”. Cultural mingling has led to the diffusion of the Indian taste in restaurants and that’s why, “Veda has kept an ancient feel in the restaurant’s ambience and the right flavour of spices to keep the exact Indian taste, what you often get by not experimenting with the recipe,” tells Vishesh Nanda, Manager, Veda.

Well, I don’t care whether we reach the ‘world’s best lists’ by holding tight our old traditional ways or by adding changes to them in moderation or by developing all-together new flavours, I only demand to see India at the top of these lists!

Swati Hora

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The Views

Abdul Basit, Spokesperson, Foreign Office, Pakistan

On resumption of talks
It is a welcome step. However we do not want photo-ops only. We met and both the parties articulated their positions. India links the talks with action taken in the Mumbai attack case, while we think that the composite dialogue must continue. In the run-up to Bhutan, foreign secretaries should have met but India unfortunately links this to Mumbai attacks trial. We are not against meeting. We would love to have the Indian foreign secretary here. However, if we meet to reiterate our position, then that would be a waste of time. We want these meetings to produce something concrete.

On Mumbai attacks trial
The trial is progressing. We have arrested seven accused. Our intelligence agencies did manage to fill the gap in evidence that was provided by India. The culprits will be brought to book. But to link it with talks is not done. India took more than a year to bring one terrorist to book. How can it expect us to do the same with seven accused in less time?

On terror camps
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is a banned organisation. When you say dismantle the terror camps, what do you mean? I have been reading in Indian newspapers that there are umpteen terror camps. Where are they? Give us the proof. Can you kindly give us the coordinates so that we can act? Similarly, before the Mumbai attacks India was claiming that it had information that such and such attacks are being planned. We requested through the formal channel for information. But it never came. We are also battling terror. You had one Mumbai but we had many.

On Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek
We have come a long way since 2004. A number of CBMs have been implemented. The composite dialogue has helped. The ceasefire has been holding. That’s the greatest achievement. Enormous progress has been made on Siachen and Sir Creek. We believe the dialogue will help it take further. Kashmir struggle is a legitimate struggle and there is no two ways about it. It has been recognised through the UN resolution. If you close your eyes the problems won’t disappear.

Monday, August 2, 2010

The 3 pm blackout!

They have always been the most profiled names in the history of international sports – the English Premier League. Multi-million transfers, a long list of sponsors, a plethora of broadcasting rights and a huge fan following; and then came the mountain of debt on a deranged balance sheet! Can the clubs even survive? by Amir Moin

On February 12, 2010, Portsmouth got the worst end. The club, famously known as Pompey, became the first team in the history of EPL to seek protection from creditors after UK authorities tried to force its closure over unpaid taxes. The south-coast club went into administration, a form of bankruptcy, to avoid being closed down over tax back-payments of $18.1 million. The club has a total debt of $90 million. And the issue is not simply EPL isolated. The loss profile has now spread across the complete European continent. According to a report by Union of European Football Association (UEFA), in 2009, the reported income of the 732 European top division clubs in 2009 was $14.9 billion – the problem is, this covered just 95% of their total expenditure! Worse, the combined liabilities of these clubs stood at $23.54 billion. Jan K. Mons, Consultant, JKM Consultancy, Netherlands tells B&E. “According to a proposal by UEFA, some clubs will not play overseas any more. It now seems that from 2015, UEFA will exclude clubs which have not been able to breakeven for 3 years in a row after having been warned.”

So what’s the way out of this discomfiture? The answer for the issue lies in simply one factor within the cost markups – and those are the player wages. Analysts like Palmer tell B&E that payments to players are senseless, and worse when considered in the backdrop of the slowdown (“How do you explain ManCity paying $23.5 million pounds for a player like Jo, and then lending him out to Galatasaray? Do they not scout these players before signing them?” says Palmer). Jerry Garner, Founder and MD of US-based Digital Broadcasters Association says to B&E. “The players are getting paid way too much, especially when you look at their overall skill level. Many players in this era such as Ronaldo, Rooney, Beckham, and Messi stand out, but it’s due to the fact that everybody else is so poor. I believe a reasonable salary cap should be introduced in the EPL.”

In their mad rush to try to come out tops on the Premiership, the managers of various clubs have forgotten that their primary objective is actually towards their shareholders to whom the clubs owe their existence. Even celebrity managers like Alex Ferguson (of Man-U) have little grounding, if at all, in business management – one reason Manchester United has a CEO, David Gill. But the larger than life coaches have historically downplayed a CEO’s span of control. Experientially, the only two issues managers had to worry about were how to source players and how to coach players. The same managers misused shareholders’ money over decades splurging on excesses as money had been flowing in freely. Today, with their backs to wall, these managers are coming up too short to the ask when required to consider cost efficiency ratios, forcing shareholders to take up debt. In short, there are three routes from here – one, drill down the wages across the board and kick out non cost effective players; two, retrench managers who do not accept prioritisation of profits; three, if nothing works, apply for bankruptcy!

In UK, 3 pm is the standard kickoff time for all evening games. It is illegal to broadcast live on TV any 3 pm game on a Saturday (this ensures more stadium attendance). This peculiarity is known as the ‘3 pm blackout’! If losses and debt continue to mount the way they have been doing at EPL, the 3 pm blackout could just become a seven day affair quite easily sooner than later!

Amir Moin

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Saturday, July 31, 2010

A long legacy of hatred

Poland and Russia are warming up... Don’t be fooled!

When the Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred, killing all on board including Polish President Lech Kaczynski on board, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev himself flew down to attend the President’s funeral. Poland accepted Russia’s sympathy and affection. The countries released a joint declaration too. Interestingly, Poland imports 90% of oil and 60% of gas from Russia (or is allowed to import by Russia). Are Russia and Poland, for the lack of a better word, chumming up and – as global think tanks now purport – bringing in the long absent eastern front against the West?

The truth is numbingly far from that. Russia and Poland have had no love lost for each other, and irrespective of the current moves, will not in the distant future either. Russia and Poland have fought several wars against each other. The Polish victory at Warsaw against Russia in 1918 spoiled Lenin’s plan to spread communism across Europe. That formally made them enemies. Later, the Polish alliance with the Nazis gave the Soviet Union all the more reason to attack. Polish ambitions to join NATO and EU and pursue independent diplomatic relations with the world and with post-Soviet states has also antagonized Russia as did Poland’s support to Ukraine’s Orange Revolution.

Also, regular acrimonious combatting on issues like the destruction of Polish Republic in 1939 and the Katyn massacre of 20,000 Polish officers by Russia cannot be forgotten for a long time. Neither would the fact that Poland first took Georgia’s side during the South Ossetia war. Worse, Poland’s bilateral agreement to install a US missile defence shield in Poland has prompted Russia to declare it as Russia’s next military target. In 2009, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski even asked US to deploy more troops in Poland to fight any Russian invasion. Friends? Oh please, take a walk...

Akram Hoque

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Friday, July 30, 2010

Exclusive Darkness at noon

Dependants of jawans killed by Maoists struggle to stay afloat. A report from Orissa by B&E’s Dhrutikam Mohanty

Two years of anguish have gone by since Mase Madkami’s husband, an SGO jawan, lost his life in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists. But life hasn’t returned to normal for the 25-year-old woman. She lives in the southern Orissa village of Udupa, 25 kms. from the Malkangari district headquarters. Her hut, located in a distant corner of this tribal hamlet, has four rooms. Her husband, Ganga Madkami, was the family’s sole breadwinner. Today, the responsibility of their eight-year-old son and Ganga’s ageing parents is on Mase’s frail shoulders.

We reach her house at dusk. Her son, Sunadhar, is studying in the front room. Mase is busy cleaning a lantern. Udupa does not have electricity. In a while, the lantern will be the only source of light in this benighted home. “I never imagined I’d ever have to see such dark days,” Mase begins to narrate her tale of woes. “Five days after the incident, the chief minister handed out cheques to the families of the martyrs. He also promised each affected family a job, a plot of land and other government benefits. He had tears in his eyes. We had reason to believe that we’d be taken care of by the government.”

But Mase’s hopes were dashed. “For six months I ran from one office to another to get my dues. I finally received Rs. 4 lakh as compensation and Rs. 10 lakh for his life insurance. But I am still waiting for the promised job and land,” she says.

Her problems have increased manifold with the passage of time. She has to travel to Bhubaneswar every month to collect the family pension. Being a single lady, she is usually accompanied by somebody from the village, which entails additional expenses. At times she has to travel to the state capital more than once for the same purpose. Sometimes the officers concerned are not available. At other times, the processing of her payment is deferred. “We are illiterate poor villagers and don’t know much about government procedures. But running around like this for what was promised to me is actually hurting me more than my husband’s death,” says Mase, tears welling up in her eyes.

Given the constant drain on her limited resources, she is worried whether her son would be able to complete his education. She says, “Including my old father, I have four dependants. Tell me, how will I manage to continue paying for my son’s education?” Despite a government announcement of financial assistance for the education of the children of martyrs, Mase hasn’t received any payment. Sunadhar, on his part, wants to follow in the footsteps of his late father and join the police force. But will a heartless bureaucracy, which operates from the comfort and security of air-conditioned offices, allow this hapless boy to fulfill his dream? The story of 23-year-old Manini Devta is much the same. She had married SGO jawan, Kanhu Charan Devta in 2006. A year later, she gave birth to a baby boy. The family was a picture of happiness. But a landmine blast on July 16, 2008, at MV126 village changed everything. Kanhu died aged 26, leaving behind his young wife, one-year-old son and his old parents. Her entire life still ahead of her, Manini is struggling to survive. She stays with her in-laws in a small dwelling unit in Malkangiri’s police colony. Kanhu’s old parents have been mental wrecks ever since they saw the lifeless body of their son. Manini tells B&E, “I don’t know what to do now. Though we have received an amount as compensation, we are yet to get a piece of land or a job as promised by the government. Whatever we receive as pension is exhausted in running to different offices in the state capital. It is becoming increasingly tough for me to handle the day-to-day household expenses.”

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Who’s the liar here?

Neither has a clean record, yet the eventual choice wasn’t too surprising

The war of word

s between Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the former Sri Lankan Army Chief Sarath Fonseka doesn’t seem to be any close to ending; despite the fact that Rajapaksa has gone well ahead of Fonseka in the political race. Both are national heroes (Rajapaksa, thanks to the inherited political dynasty along with the strong leadership during the crisis to defeat LTTE and Fonseka for ending the three decade long battle against LTTE); yet, both are now seen by global commentators to be indulging in double-speak, if not lying altogether. Wondrously, their diatribes and repartees at each other are on their way to attaining folklore status in the hall of comedic dialogues. It’s unbelievable that neither Fonseka nor Rajapaksa are realising that the world today views their accusations at each other with hilarity. We bring to you some golden nuggets:

March 2010, Presidential nominees are declared:
Incumbent President Rajapaksa comes to know that Fonseka will contest in the Presidential election.
Rajapaksa: “He is a fool!”
Fonseka: Charges Rajapaksa with trying to “sideline” him with “unfounded fears” and says he is “disgusted and disillusioned” with the manner in which Rajapaksa is treating him.

The issue of rights of minorities in Sri Lanka:
Rajapaksa: “We will ensure equality and equity among all the ethnicity... I believe the solution should be given to them after discussing it with them.”
Fonseka: “China is ruled by Chinese, England by the Englishmen and Germany by Germans. This is because these countries are ruled by the majorities... What is wrong in saying that this country, which is historically ruled by Sinhalese, will be ruled by the Sinhalese...”

On their relationship with India, being extreme in nature:
Rajapaksa: “India is our neighbour.
We must have good relations whether in war or in peace.”

Their views on Presidential election and results:
Fonseka: “Government violated election laws, manipulated & misled people.”
Rajapaksa: “This is why the people trusted us and continues to trust us. You should ensure its continuity.”

On freedom of Press, social justice and democracy:
Fonseka: “if elected President, will ensure that Sri Lanka enjoys democracy, social justice as well as freedom of the media.”
Rajapaksa: “We never subjugated the path of democracy. We did not believe in alternative routes and did not mislead the people by holding bogus referendums.”
Admittedly, the two opponents have drastically different agendas on their minds. And they clearly don’t have characters you’ll boast to your grandmother about (Fonseka is even a convicted rapist). But even if one assumes that both of them really do not mean what they speak, whom should India choose to side with? The answer is a clear no-brainer with Rajapaksa winning the sweepstakes.
Rajapaksa statements have – at the least – attempted to provide a sensible outlook to his people. After the election, when questioned on his work post the war, he said, “There is no point in having just peace, we need to be efficient and have fast growth... We have to build an efficient and productive country.” Compare that to Fonseka’s global agenda after the war, “I am not going to save anyone who has committed war crimes... The country has been suffering for too long. Now that the nation has got rid of terrorism, you cannot leave the country in the hands of a dictator.”
The crux is while Rajapaksa’s victory doesn’t make him the unanimous choice of common Sri Lankans, Fonseka was not a glorious choice for the future of Sri Lanka either, perhaps less so. Given that, as has been the rigmarole rote rule across the world, it is better to try one’s luck with an evil one has tasted, than with one right off the gates of hell...

Akram Hoque

Monday, July 26, 2010

INDIA: ROAD SAFETY

120,000 dead!
In road accidents; now, why doesn’t that rankle you?

On the one hand, Indian government recently gave a green signal to the draft legislation which will facilitate setting up of a national-level body that would recommend standards for design, construction and maintenance of highways, road safety standards for motor vehicles and trauma centres for the country. Then, on the other hand, the recent Global Status Report on Road Safety, released by the World Health Organisation, reveals that India leads a group of ten countries with a horrendous road safety record.

Massive road accidents are not a one time event in India but daily affairs. As per most recent government figures, about 1.2 lakh people lost their lives in 2007 due to road accidents. On an average, more than one lakh people lose their lives due to road accidents in India every year. This is in spite of the government allocating crores of rupees towards road safety every year. But like most projects, a large pie of this amount remains unused and unspent. Talking in numbers, in 2004-05, out of Rs.40 crore meant for road safety, only around Rs.35 crore was actually utilized; in 2005-06, Rs.30 crore of the Rs.43 crore allocated was used; while in 2006-07, only Rs.43 crore of the Rs.47 crore was used.

What’s most remarkable is that among those dying of road accidents, pedestrians and cyclists make up the majority. In spite of having a very low population to vehicles ratio, the mortality rate in India in road accidents is 8.7 per 100,000, compared to 5.6 in the UK and 6.7 in Japan. Going by an official report, the social cost of accidents in India is estimated to be around Rs.55,000 crore (in the years 1999-2000), which constituted 3% of the GDP for the year.

In the last few decades, a large part of the investment was directed towards making flyovers and better roads for motorists, but not much heed was given to pedestrians and cyclists. In short, every possible policy measure was adopted to make lives of motorist much safer. It’s only the recent years that have seen subways and dedicated cycle paths. More, of course, needs to be done.

Sray Agarwal

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎